AN: Good news, I'm alive! So I've read through the comments I've gotten and I appreciate the support. I feel the need to mention though that this isn't going to be a gamer/RWBY crossover. I originally had plans for the boxes to serve the purpose of starting the story in a comedic way. Sorry if you were hoping for a crossover… Regardless, the boxes will have importance, and will be making occasional appearances in this story. Now, let's see what's going on with Zelle, shall we?
Recollections
"Ash darling. come here please." Ash dropped his toy truck that he had been playing with and with a smile dashed towards his mother.
Ash was a boy of the age of seven, standing at around four feet tall. He belonged to the regal Schnee family. As was apparent by his snow-white hair and expensive clothes with the Schnee family crest adorning his shirt. Like all members of the Schnee family, his name had some context to white. For the most part, he was considered a well-behaved child. He had his outbursts though, as children tended to have.
He recently had been playing with his toys before his mother had called him. He especially enjoyed tinkering with things. Often getting into the dust collections without anyone noticing and causing them to burst with their effects. Curiosity at its finest really.
His little legs padded loudly against the hardwood floor as he ran to his awaiting mother. Smiling all the way into the kitchen. His long white hair swaying as he moved. He arrived too the kitchen to see his awaiting mom and the maid Jade. His dad was out on business as he typically seemed to do. It didn't really bother Ash much. His tinkering with his toys and playiing with dust and Jade and mother took up most of his time and attention.
His mother was currently sipping some tea and she seemed sad? Ash approached his mother and asked, "Mom, what's wrong? Why are you sad?"
Ash's mom turned to him with a sad smile and picked him up and sat him in her lap. Jade took this moment to leave the room. It wasn't her place to be here for the upcoming conversation. His mother began to stroke his hair and Ash leaned into her touch.
"Ash darling, I have some bad news." She brushed some hair that was laying against his forehead. Ash looked up at his mother and he could see tears in her eyes.
"Mom, why are you crying? Did something happen?" Ash asked worriedly. He had never seen his mother cry before. It was quite distressing to the small boy.
"Your father. He won't be coming home." This confused Ash. Was father going on extended leave again? This wasn't abnormal for him as his father would sometimes be out of the house for months at a time. However, mom never cried like this. So, Ash tried to comfort his mother.
"It's okay mom. Dad will be back soon. He will just be gone for a few more months, right?" This didn't have the result that Ash was hoping for as his mom was now openly crying.
"No sweety. He's dead. Gone. The White Fang, they killed him." Poor Ash didn't know of the rising terrorist group known as the White Fang at the time. However, he was aware of the meaning of death and what being killed meant. Tears began growing in Ash's eyes.
"No, no, no. Mom this is a joke right. If I've been bad I'm sorry, but when is dad going to be home." Ash's mom just cried harder. Tears were now flowing from Ash's eyes.
"Mom please. Where's dad?! Mom?!" He grabbed her shirt and began crying into her chest. It would be long time before mother and son would separate from their grieving.
Young Ash's world was turned upside down with the death of his father. His mom began keeping a little more distance between her and him though she never neglected his upbringing, always being there for his time of needs. Jade, the house maid, would often be the one to care for him for his physical needs. Making sure to make his food and drink for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Ash himself began immersing his attention into glyphs, the Schnee family semblance, and dust. The bread and butter of the Schnee family. He was considered a prodigy with glyphs being second to Winter, his distant relative. Although his functioned very differently from the -main family Schnees. For one, his primary glyphs were jet black. Second, his had no capable ability to summon defeated foes, instead his stored things. He learned this altercation to the glyphs after consulting the Schnee archives at the main family home in central Atlas after an accident occurred where he stored a large quantity of dust. Where they were stored, not even Ash knew. It was also strange, because due to his storing glyphs, he was incapable of using gravity glyphs. He just assumed it may be due to the similar structure of the two.
Along with this he immersed himself in the properties of Dust. While he wouldn't be the heir, that position belonged to Winter, his cousin. He really wasn't sure he would even be able to call her that. The Schnee family is quite extensive. Their great-great-great grandmas were sisters. So distant cousins were the best he could do. He would take control of a small branch that his father had previously been running in northern Atlas, close to the mines themselves. So, he would do both of his parents proud. He would take control of this branch and make it bloom. He would not follow Jaques ideas though. The Faunus did not deserve to be treated the way they were. Treating them better would mean better efficiency, that's what Ash thought anyway. However, all his plans were ruined during the winter of his thirteenth year.
Ash was studying some texts from the family archive detailing the correct formula to create lava dust. A combination of earth and fire dust that when activated with aura creates magma. Then he heard crashing coming from downstairs. He sighed. They recently hired a new butler, an amateur really. Why his mother decided to do that was beyond him. He got up and opened the door. He would need to figure out the damage of things. He began to walk down the long hallway when something caught his attention. It was quiet. Too quiet. He should hear the butler at least picking up the stuff he dropped. It was late so he didn't expect anyone else to be awake. Then he heard a creak come from the stairwell dead ahead. Every hair stood on end for Ash. The feeling was similar to how he felt after watching a scary movie. When everything at night set him on edge. He heard another slight creak. Ash quickly ducked into the open room to his right, trying to be as silent possible as he did so.
He hid behind the open door in the room he was now in, which was the new butler's room. He heard soft slow footsteps move closer to the door. Ash tensed. Okay this was now a serious situation, this wasn't some paranoia induced from a scary movie. This was a person moving through his house, with his Mom and everyone else here. The steps began moving past him. He needed to get downstairs first and try to get a grasp on the situation. He needed to evaluate the situation before he could decide what to do next. So as the footsteps moved past, Ash glanced around the corner and could see a retreating figure. Moving quickly and quietly as possible, he put socks on that were much too big for him from the Butler's dresser and slid down the banister and jumped on the carpet into a roll. Quickly and stealthily. He didn't have a weapon and none of his glyphs were combat oriented. Jade could fight so he would need to wake her up. Quickly moving across the living room, he reached the kitchen. The light was on, but there was no sound. He looked down and noticed a red liquid coming from inside. Ash gulped, and slowly opened the door.
Inside, he saw a literal bloody mess. The body of his new butler, Bale, he thought his name was, was lying face down in a pool of his own blood with blood coating the counter and kitchenware. Ash had to hold back a gag. However he couldn't ponder this revelation as he realized that everyone in the mansion was in danger. He needed to get Jade. Now. Stealth all forgotten, he practically ran up the stairs to the first door on his right. Opening it, he saw that the covers were thrown over her. He ran and pulled the covers off and said in a rapid whisper, "Jade get up. Bale is dead and -." He cut himself off as he gazed at the blood stained body of Jade staring blankly back at him. Ash paled as he felt his stomach drop. Then he realized that there was one more truly important person in the mansion. "Mom," he whispered. He ran down the hallway no longer caring for stealth. He slid, as he saw the open door to his mother room. Only arriving to see a person with dark grey clothes pulling a short sword from his mother's chest.
Ash's eyes widened, mouth agape. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" He screamed. Unconsciously, creating a glyph in front of the intruder blowing them straight through the window in front of the bed. Ash quickly approached his mom's bed. She looked so peaceful as red began staining her night gown. Ash hesitantly put his fingers against her neck. Nothing. There was nothing. He mechanically glanced outside where he blasted the intruder and saw them lying on the ground below, unmoving. For whatever reason, he took no satisfaction in killing his mother's killer and possibly Jade's murderer. Just numb. Then he felt something strange around his stomach area. Looking down, he saw a blade that was now running through his stomach. Then he heard a light male voice say, "sleep with the fishes you Schnee bastard." The blade disappeared from his stomach and darkness creeped the edges of his vision. Ash fell forward and saw the boots of his supposed attacker as they walked away, he reached for them. However, he was so weak. Eventually the darkness swept over him.
Ash opened his eyes. He couldn't seem to move his body and couldn't see anything. Was this the afterlife. Did his actions condemn him to a purgatory of some sort? As he was thinking that a blue box appeared in front of his face.
[Hmm, yes you will do nicely.]
Darkness overtook Ash once more, for him to never awake again.
…..
"Weiss, what happened. You just drag Zelle in here and tell us that he collapses for no apparent reason. What's up with that?"
"I hate to agree with Yang, Weiss, but it is quite strange that you brought him here instead of the infirmary. Speaking of, we should probably take him there now."
Ash heard voices. They sounded familiar. Where was the pitch black? He could feel his eyelids were closed and light was peering past them. Who is this Zelle they were talking about? Shit, his head felt like it was splitting. He tried to move, but it felt like his entire body was numb. His body seemingly not responding to his actions.
"There isn't any need for that. As a fellow Schnee, I simply can't let people randomly handle my relative."
A sigh was heard from the first voice. "Seriously, you're on about that again? Let it go Weiss. Other than the white hair there is nothing that makes you two look like each other. I understand that you believe that he is some long lost distant relative or something, but there is too much shrouded in mystery here for your story to make any sense from what we've seen."
Zelle was beginning to panic. Fuck. The White Fang got him finally. They must be negotiating with Weiss whoever this Weiss was for him to go free. He needed to find a way out and fast. However, the splitting headache was doing him no good in thinking of a good way to escape. He didn't have any dust on him, so glyphs were out. The more he tried to think the more it hurt.
"I think I have a way to tell it's him."
"Oh, do tell."
"Ash should have had a birth mark on his left hip from what mother used to talk about. If we look for it and it's there, will you believe me then?"
"Maybe, but now I've got other things on my mind." Ash could practically hear her smile. "Momma is interested."
"Yannnggg." The second voice finally spoke up.
Ash began to panic badly. Move, you stupid body. MOVE!
He heard footsteps approach wherever he was lying down at. He heard the shifting of clothing as the woman reached out. With as much effort as he could muster, Ash opened his left eye. He saw a beautiful blonde girl with lilac eyes reaching for the waistband of his pants. Their eyes met and the blonde girl froze, hand in midair. The hand quickly retracted itself behind her as she gave him a large smile that almost made her eyes close.
"Hey there sleepy head. Nice of you to join you to join us in the land of the living."
Ash was confused. She didn't seem like a member of the White Fang. Then again, this could be used to lead him into a false sense of security. Straining his eye, he looked over at the owner of the other voice and saw a small girl in a red cloak and a skirt with black hair that had a red streak in it, and a girl with a very similar skirt and a scar over her eye with long, white, flowing hair. She reminded him a lot of pictures of Winter that his mother had shown him.
"What, grimm got your tongue?" Her smile seemed cheeky, as if she was in on some inside joke.
Just then he felt a weight on his chest and there lied a small black creature staring at him with emerald eyes. Those eyes. They looked so familiar. Just then his headache got twenty times worse, tears stained his eyes. The blonde girl looked unnerved by this for a second and before anyone could react, Ash got control of his motor functions. Screaming erupted from his lips, as his hands sought his head in some form of comfort. He began thrashing about. Arms and legs a flurry of movement. The creature quickly jumped off his chest.
"The pain it hurts so bad. Why does it so much? Mom, dad, please help me! Why me? What did I ever do to deserve this kind of pain?"
Yang took a step back, as did everyone else in the room. Including Blake who had been observing the entire situation from a corner in the room. Ruby was the first one to break out of her shock.
Weiss, Yang, hold his legs down. Blake, help me hold down his arms. We can't let him hurt himself!" RWBY jumped into action and each one tried to hold down a flailing limb. However, they vastly underestimated Ash's strength. Yang managed to grab one his legs but one could see her muscles strain as he attempted to move. "Holy crap, big boy here has a lot of muscle." Yang grunted out. Ruby managed to grab his arm and hold it down. Her body was shaking from the exertion she had to put into trying to hold his arm down though. Weiss and Blake weren't as lucky as those two. They didn't consistently put in hours upon hours into physical strength or consistently carry around a massive scythe-sniper rifle combo. So, when Weiss grabbed his other leg, she was kicked up into the air and smashed against the ceiling. Blake was a little better off and was thrown across the room over Ruby's head as Ash's arm jerked.
The ruckus had apparently alerted their neighbors as team JNPR opened the door to the sight of a downed Weiss and Blake while Ruby and Yang were attempting to hold down Zelle. Ruby heard the door open and saw team JNPR. "Guys, help!" Nora and Pyrrha didn't question it and quickly rushed to hold down their clearly delirious comrade. Nora grabbed the other leg and Pyrrha grabbed the other arm, along with Blake. Weiss got back up and froze his body to the bed.
Everyone was frantically trying to simultaneously hold down the freakishly strong boy at the same time trying to comfort him as he kicked and flailed. No one knew exactly what was happening.
…..
Zelle glanced around. He could almost taste the darkness. He was back where it all started it seems. He didn't think he died again. Unless he died from shock that is. Seriously, him being related to Snow White? Not likely.
His head swiveled around as he attempted to see something. Good news he was able to walk around this time. He felt his feet pad against whatever surface he was walking on. Really, he was waiting for the blue box and was killing time by waiting to walk around the seemingly empty space. This continued for who knows how long until the blue box decided to make its appearance.
[Error: Memory processing lapse]
[Error: Soul print misread]
[Re-integrating soul print, please stand by]
Zelle was thoroughly confused. Soul print? What the hell does that mean? "Hey, what am I doing back here? I thought I was supposed to be reborn and live a new life. I'm pretty sure I didn't die again."
[Sorry User, It appears that there was an issue with some of the protocol and we are currently fixing the issue]
Protocol? Wait, was his entire two years on Remnant a simulation. Did nothing matter? If he died would he just become another number to a program? Was he actually alive and thinking? Was he an A.I. waiting to be scrapped by the system? These thoughts swirled rapidly through Zelle's head. He could begin to hear his rapid heartbeat as his his skin began to feel prickly and hot. His hairs were standing on end as his breaths came short and quick very quickly.
[User has entered a panicked state, enacting protocol 411]
Zelle felt something wash over him. He wasn't sure what it was but he was calm now, his mind slowly filtering away the negative thoughts. His breathing settled and the irritating feeling on his scan had completely washed away. Slowly, he felt utterly exhausted. So very tired. His body slumped before crashing to the floor. The darkness slowly took over Zelle's form till all that remained is the void. A blue screen appeared.
[Soul-Integration complete]
[Overriding Soul Personality Matrix]
The blue screen stayed that way for a while.
[Complete…]
The blue screen disappeared, replaced by a purple box with white text.
[Added Skill: Advanced Glyph Semblance]
[...]
[I hate this]
…..
Zelle had eventually stopped flailing about and had fallen back into what appeared to be a deep sleep. Team RWBY and JNPR were now sitting around as they discussed their current topic of interest. Zelle. Or more of, Yang was arguing with Weiss while everyone else listened.
"He's dangerous! He shouldn't be here! He is obviously too unstable to be able to handle the stress of being a hunter!" Yang practically yelled out, not worried about waking up her teammate in the slightest.
"He will be fine Yang. He is obviously going through a lot of stress after coming to realize that he is Schnee. I believe that he has a mild case of amnesia, but with my help, he should be back to 100% in no time." Weiss argued.
This had been going on for the past five minutes with Yang accusing Zelle of something, and Weiss defending him. Occasionally someone would try to comment but neither girl was willing to listen. Ruby was trying to pay attention but was glancing at Zelle's unmoving body. Blake didn't seem to care too much and was reading a book with some bandages wrapped around her knee. When she was sent flying, she had landed badly on that knee, though with her aura, she would be find in a few hours.
Team JNPR had varying reactions. Jaune seemed unfazed by the entire thing, thinking that the Zelle back in the initiation was much more terrifying than what happened now. Pyrrha was glancing worriedly back at the unmoving white haired boy. Nora was happily humming a song as she sat on the top bunk of the new beds that team RWBYZ had acquired. Ren was sitting in the floor, legs folded, meditating. Neither one of them seemed to care of this incident.
The back and forth arguing continued for another five minutes, with neither Weiss or Yang relenting on their ideals. Finally someone snapped.
"Stop!" Everyone was startled as they turned to look at the source of the voice. Ruby was looking at Yang and Weiss with tears in her eyes. "Just… stop." Her voice petered off at the end. Yang looked mortified that her baby sister was on the verge of crying knowing she was part of the reason while Weiss simply huffed.
"Up shut." A quiet voice sounded out. Pyrrha jumped as the voice originated from behind her. Turning around she saw Zelle looking at her weakly. Pyrrha looked around and realized no one else heard him. The room had descended into small talks among each other as Yang and Weiss refused to look at each other. Pyrrha was about to let everyone know that Zelle had woken up before he put a finger up to his lips. Pyrrha slowly closed her mouth and bent down while everyone began distracting themselves with whatever activity they could find in the small room.
"What did I miss?" Zelle said weakly. Pyrrha gave him a deadpan stare. He got everyone beyond worked up to the point where Yang wanted to boot him out of school and he didn't even know what he did. But Pyrrha was always the helpful one, so she indulged her fellow huntsman. "I don't know much but when me and my team came in you were flailing about screaming at the top of your lungs. It was most concerning." Her forehead scrunched as she looked at him in worry.
Zelle tilted his head, then weakly shrugged his shoulders. "Well it feels as though I just tried to wrestle an Ursa Major so that's a thing. I can't recall doing anything like that. Also I feel like I've seen you before. Well before the initiation I should say. I was going to comment on it when we were in the locker rooms but I felt the need to deal with your idiot captain" Pyrrha felt her stomach drop. She forced a smile to her face.
"Well, I suppose that is to be expected I have made quite a name for myself for winning the Mistral Regional Tournament for four years now." Pyrrha said, making sure to keep her voice even.
Zelle's face fell into one of confusion. Some may say he even looked constipated. "The who, what, where now? What does that have to do with anything? I've never been to Mistral before though the place definitely seems interesting enough."
"Well I also appear on the front of Pumpkin Pete's cereal boxes." Pyrrha's smile became a lot more genuine after his statement. Unfortunately for Zelle his time in seclusion left much to be desired for his social skills and didn't pick up on anything.
"Again, never heard of a Pumpkin Pete's. I mostly ate vegetables, wild game, and bread whenever i felt like buying some." Pyrrha was instantly intrigued and elated by this revelation. Elated that someone else didn't know who she was and would treat her normally and intrigued about what kind of life someone lived in order to not have normal food like burgers or chicken on a regular basis.
However their conversation came to a rude end as people began to pay attention again and saw that Pyrrha was leaning down towards Zelle with a smile on her face. Which would normally be creepy if Zelle's eyes weren't open. Before anyone else could react a blur shot past everyone and Zelle felt an impact him on the chest. Thinking it was Ryo being the bastard he was, he was getting ready to reprimand him only to stop himself as a bundle of black and red was trying to squeeze the life out of him.
Zelle looked weakly around the room and says, "so does anyone want to explain to me what happened and why Little Red here is trying to kill me through hugs." At that, Ruby quickly got up, a blush on her face that was close in color to Pyrrha's hair.
Ren decided he should speak up before Yang or Weiss could speak and began explaining the situation to him as everyone listened in, with Nora exuberantly filling in any details she thought he missed, which was a lot apparently. Thankfully, Zelle wasn't tired enough to believe everything Nora said and was able to make sense of what was being said.
Zelle sighed before slowly sitting up ignoring the the pain in his stomach. Sitting on the edge of the bed he looked at Weiss. "So I want to clarify a few things with everyone since you all are here and I feel like you all deserve answers." He looked around the room as he said this making sure he has everyone attention.
"One, Weiss, I am not this Ash person you think I am." Weiss opened her mouth to say something but Zelle held up his hand causing her to stop anything she was going to say. "My name is Zelle, always has. Always will. I know too well that you aren't going to drop the subject, but I needed to get that out there."
"Two, I owe all of you an apology." The looks he received varied from confusion, to outright disbelief. "I don't know what happened in initiation. I've been hunting Grimm for the past couple of years now and that has never once happened. It should never happen again as far as I'm concerned, but that doesn't excuse me for attacking my future teammates and fellow huntresses and huntsman so I'm sorry." He slowly got up and bowed his head towards his teammates. Brun taught him if you were truly sincere about something, this was the best way to apologize. He winced as he finally put his body perpendicular of his hips. It feels like he tried to burn his muscles with a fire glyph.
After a few more seconds he slowly rose up. He couldn't tell by people's looks with the exception of Pyrrha and Ruby if they had accepted his apology. He mentally sighed. He would have to make it up with his actions later on. After all, actions spoke louder than words.
"Lastly I would like you all to meet my companion." He reached behind him and pulled Ryo out of his hood. He never understood how he got there. He just sort of comes and goes. Seemingly appearing and disappearing as he pleased. Everyone except Ruby immediately got on edge seeing the small dog that had the bone plating and mask similar to the creatures of Grimm. "This little guy is Ryo. Say hi Ryo." Ryo looked up at him and Zelle could swear the little shit was giving him a deadpan.
Blake spoke up. "I-is that a dog?" Zelle found that curious. He never expected Belle to be one to stutter. She always struck him as the calm and cool type. At this point Ruby, Weiss, and Nora had begun to pet Ryo. Zelle found himself in a pickle. To lie, not to lie. That is the question. Tis nobler- ah fuck it, he is just going to pull the band-aid off now.
"Not quite, what you see here is a bonafied Alpha Beowolf. At that Weiss jumped back from Ryo as if he caught fire. Ruby already knew what Ryo was, having deduced the connection from the way he spoke and Nora rode Ursai for fun so she was undeterred from petting the fluffball. Everyone else seemed on edge at that.
Jaune gave a nervous chuckle as he could feel the tensions in the air. Seems like he was the only one that would be able to talk everyone down. "And why, oh why, in Oum's name do you have an Alpha Beowolf in a school that hunts Grimm, let alone as a pet."
Zelle shrugged. "I don't know, one day I woke up and saw this injured guy and was like man he looks hurt. I'm going to take care of him." Everyone, with the exception of Nora who was daydreaming of riding Ryo into combat, deadpanned. Blake felt the need to speak up again.
"Let me get this straight. You happened to wake up find an injured Grimm, nurse it back to health and then kept it? Either you have a death wish or are certifiably insane and I'm not sure which one concerns me more."
Zelle shrugged. "Well at the time I didn't know what Grimm were." His mouth immediately closed shut as he said that. Fuck him and his sincerity. He already sounded insane no need to give them more ammo by saying he came from another world. Well time to bring out the time and true excuse, even if it would give Snow White an edge in her argument.
Sure enough people were looking at him curiously. "Look, I apparently hit my head really hard. One day, I wake up on the edge of the Emerald Forest and little recollection of anything before that day other my name and what aura was." This lie has held the test of time for him thus far, though he could already see the consequence of his actions.
While Nora, Pyrrha, Ruby, and Jaune seemed unperturbed by his statement. The rest look at him with various looks. Ren, Yang, and Blake looked at him with undisguised mistrust while Weiss' eyes sparkled with barely contained joy. He had brief glimpses of who this Ash was. He remembered he was in fact a Schnee and that he felt like he should hate the White Fang, but he would rather not deal with that if he didn't have too.
"Look, this is a lot to take in. I understand that. Just sleep on what I said. I understand any mistrust or doubts about what I said, but Glynda." He abruptly paused. "I mean Professor Goodwitch can confirm everything I have just said. Now it's getting late. Just sleep on what I've said." Zelle patted himself on the back. He didn't need to make friends with everyone, just be cordial enough with them so they would be able to work together.
Everyone agreed to that and a few could see the pain that was Zelle was in and team JNPR left the room quite quickly after that. Zelle looked at his new team. "So since I wasn't here and you all decided to make the death trap beds, I'm assuming everyone has their own sleeping arrangement. RWBY nodded at this. "Good, well until I get me a hammock I'll be sleeping in the forge. My personal are is the door on the far end as you enter." Ruby wanted to protest, but if he was able to sleep somewhere, she was ok with that. She didn't want him to sleep in the floor after all. Weiss was of the same mindset, though the other two didn't care one way or the other.
With everything said and done, Zelle left and headed to his section of the forge. He probably wasn't going to get to sleep tonight. His hunter weapon was just about complete and his excitement to get it done was too much. He looked at Ryo who followed him and pet his head. He had a long night ahead of him, he better get started.
A/N: Thus, we have Zelle's formal introduction as a part of team RWBYZ. Hopefully I won't disappear for nearly as long as I did last time. Life sort of caught up to me and slapped me and the face and kicked me while I was down. But enough pity party. Hopefully, you all enjoy this chapter and will see you all soon!
