Author's note: I'm still alive! Jokes aside, for those who followed me, it's been a long time. I'm in the process of writing again, but honestly, it's been such a long hiatus I realized my fingers were unable to type as fast as they used to.
Anyway, I originally wrote the story of Ultraman Nexus x Worm, but then I decided it might be better for Ultraman stories not to be confined to Earth. And no, it wasn't a typo; I said 'stories' because right now, I am writing 2 Ultraman stories in parallel. One focuses on Nexus and RWBY, which is this story, and the other is a crossover of Ultraman Cosmos and Arknights, tentatively called 'Book of Cosmos: Terra.'
Anyway, hope you enjoy.
*Disclaimer: I don't own either RWBY or Ultraman.
o-0-o
Prologue: Encounter
o-0-o
She was falling.
Falling? Falling to where?
Where she fell from, why she was falling, and for how long she had been stuck in this state were things that she could not recall.
She didn't even know where this was. This…space was, to put it simply, utterly bizarre. As far as the eyes could see, there were only endless streams of lights of various spectrums that were flowing somewhere.
Where did it flow to? She had no idea. Besides, to her, it wasn't as important to know where the lights were headed as much as trying to figure out who she was and why she was stuck in this place.
Each time she tried to remember, though, the results always came out blank, and it always left behind itches at the back of her mind, cravings that would not disappear no matter how much she scratched.
In fact, she could not remember anything about herself other than two words that she presumed to be her name. She could not recall who she was, where she lived, or what she looked like.
…
…
…
No.
There was 'something' else.
Though saying she remembered this 'something' was simply wishful thinking, there was no basis that this 'something' existed other than her gut feeling saying so.
But there was definitely 'something'.
She could not recall what it was, what it looked like, what it sounded like, where it was, and why it stuck with her, but she must not forget that this 'something' was there.
She must not.
…
…
…
She started to hyperventilate; fear of forgetting that 'something' swallowed her thoughts, and her sight blurred as tears dripped from her eyes.
She wouldn't accept it.
She could not accept that this was her fate and she would forever be trapped in this state without ever finding out what this 'something' was.
She would show them, she decided. To whoever or whatever was responsible for her ending up here, she would show them that she could overcome whatever nasty machination they had in plan for her.
"It won't end like this," she gritted her teeth. "It's not going to end like this, you hear me?! I will…I will definitely come back!"
'Come back to where?' she immediately asked herself, confused by her own words. She had no damn clue how to even get out of this torturous situation, much less figure out where she should go.
But, even so, she must go back.
She might not know who she was, what she was like before…before this, but surely…surely, this yearning to return to wherever she came from stemmed from the person she was in the past.
She decided. She would never forget this raw, inexplicable yearning. She didn't know why, but her heart was telling her that it would carry her through until she could regain everything that was taken away from her.
So engrossed she was in her own problems she failed to notice that the space around her had begun vibrating and that the lights has parted as if creating a path to allow something massive to go through.
There was a flash in the distance, causing her to finally notice the oddity of her surroundings.
Squinting her eyes, she noticed there seemed to be a flaming sphere hovering far away from her position.
Hmm?
Oh.
She took it back; that fireball was speeding toward her!
And it was huge!
"A..aaaaaaaah!" she closed her eyes and screamed as the fireball crashed onto her and engulfed her.
…
…
…
'It didn't hurt?'
She was confused. She had thought by now she would feel searing pain all over her body, but instead, she felt only…warmth?
Curious, she slowly opened her eyes, nervous about what she would witness and a tad afraid that her eyeballs would turn into cinder by the flame.
Instead, she thought her eyeballs would fall out of their sockets.
One. Because there was a shining silver giant before her very eyes.
Two. Because she just realized that she was sprawling in its hands, and with its sight focused entirely on her and with no way to defend herself, she suddenly felt very exposed and vulnerable.
In this kind of situation, what would a person do?
Well, wouldn't it be great to have a manual for it? But unfortunately, she didn't have anything that could help her, and as such, there was only one thing that came up to her mind.
"Umm…hi?"
And that was to greet it with an awkward smile on her face.
o-0-o
He heard it.
In these vast and complex, multi-layered realities that made up the Multiverse, he heard a cry from the space between two realities, one where kaijuu proliferated across the universe and one where gods walked the universe still.
Subdued though the cry was, it still resounded in his ears; a hope for salvation and, more distinctly, a determination to break through whatever predicament had befallen them.
Thus, he flew towards the source.
That determination and stubbornness had stirred within his core an impetus that he only had when he encountered those who would shine bright even in the darkest moments.
There was no doubt about it.
Whoever it was that he would meet held within themselves the light of a Deunamist.
o-0-o
On an Island called Patch, in a world called Remnant, stood a modest two-storied house. The house was not fancy by any means; it was spacious enough for six people to live in comfortably, but it could house no more than eight people at normal times; there was a small garden in its backyard, just enough for one person to handle, with signs that the vegetables were diligently looked after.
In this house where a family of three lived, a young girl who had yet to reach the age of four stared at the moon from her bedroom on the second floor. Draped in a red blanket, the young girl gazed longingly at the partially shattered moon, and wondered when her mother would return.
Her father and mother sometimes went out for a long time, though they never went out together. But this was the first time her mother had been away for this long, and she dearly missed her cookies, her bear hug, and her lullaby.
Her gaze then moved toward the other occupant of the room, sleeping on a bed across from hers.
Her big sister's yellow hair was dirty, and her legs and hands were bruised. No doubt, the results of playing all day with their father.
She was quite envious, actually. Looking at how much fun her sister and father played with each other made her want to join the game.
But, each time, they told her that she was not yet big enough…even though she diligently finished her milk every morning!
She, too, wanted to punch at a flying log! Or…or they jumped around in the forest while trying not to get caught by their father.
Even their uncle joined the fun whenever he came to visit!
They always looked like they had a lot of fun.
So, why was it that whenever she asked her father and uncle if her mother could do what they did, they never said anything and only ruffled her hair?
She didn't understand.
Maybe when her mother had come home, she should ask her directly.
Yes, she should do that.
But what could she do to make her mother return faster?
Getting off her bed, she made her way to the windows and was surprised by what had transpired.
"..."
She speechlessly watched as shooting stars blazed across the night sky, leaving momentary marks that dazzled her.
Then, she panicked and quickly clasped her hands.
"Please tell mom to come home!" she prayed, hoping the stars could still hear her wish.
The girl's shoulders jerked in surprise, hearing someone groaning, and she turned to look at its source, which happened to be her sister.
"Uhh…Ruby? What are you doing?"
"Praying!"
"Praying?"
"Yeah! There were shooting stars, Yang! I asked them to tell mom to come home!" the girl, Ruby, enthusiastically said, grinning ear-to-ear.
Her sister, Yang, didn't say anything for a moment, but then she opened her blanket and patted her bed. Ruby knew what it meant: Yang invited her to sleep on the same bed.
In the past, when Ruby woke up in the middle of the night, she used to climb onto her mother's bed and slept with her. Lately, however, she had instead climbed onto Yang's bed, though it was actually because her sister kept inviting her to sleep together.
Yang must have also missed their mother. If only their mother could come home sooner, then they could all sleep on the same bed to make up for all the lost time.
Ruby eagerly climbed the bed, resting next to Yang.
Yang immediately hugged her.
"Yang, too tight!" Ruby complained.
"Sorry, but give me another ten seconds, okay?" Yang pleaded.
Ruby huffed. "Okay, but only ten seconds."
"Haha."
Ruby began counting, but at the count of six, drowsiness beckoned them to the land of dreams, and thus they both fell asleep while still hugging each other.
That night, Ruby smiled as she dreamt of her mother, Summer Rose, her sister, Yang, and her father, Taiyang, with the whole family sitting at the same table, laughing and eating together once again.