Wow, it has been a long time since I last posted anything. More than a year really. Now I know many of you may be asking where I have been doing and the answer to that is personal stuff, jobs, family, and so on.
I've recently came back to RWBY thanks to vol 9 and so far it the volume has impressed me a lot. I've been writing a lot but never really had an idea I could put down that was longer then a chapter before the idea started to fall apart.
I may also in the future post more stories but I also want to return back to my oldest stories and continue them.
And before you say it that does not include the mass react one.
Besides, that I hope you enjoy the chapter and new story
"Jaune, it's so good to see you again" Jaune opened his eyes to see familiar glowing blue eyes peering back.
His eyes snapped open, panic and rage within, as his hand reached for empty air. Looking around he saw his blade resting on the side of his bed and went for it, pulling it out he swung it at the monster. The monster split it's body in half, an amused look on it's face.
"Now, now, Jaune there is no need for such rudeness. What have I done to earn your wrath?" the monster asked.
"Done!? Besides tricking team RWBY to going to the tree, Lewis, and taking over Neo's body! I'll gut you here right now!" Jaune roared.
"Well you are mostly correct, I will give you that" the monster admitted "However, as you can see I am just a simple curious cat. No body possession going on here."
"Neo had an illusion semblance, for all I know this is nothing more than a projection" Jaune retorted.
"Hm, a good guess. Tell me Jaune, what was the last thing you remembered? Besides me taking over that girls body" the curious cat asked.
The last thing? Keeping his eye on the cat he thought back on what happened, they had found Ruby drinking the tea, ascending and falling to the roots of the tree. Then he saw the cat possessing Neo's body as he tried to stop the process. Only for everything to shake violently and the last thing he saw was the tree glowing before everything went black.
"The last thing I remembered was that I just took Neo's body when I saw the tree glowing like a lantern and then both of us appearing here" said the curious cat. "And if I had to guess, judging by your looks, you must have also seen the same thing as I did."
"And what does that matter cat" demanded Jaune.
"Have you looked outside?" the cat pointed to the window.
Turning around Jaune felt his breath hitch and heart stop. Buildings, modern buildings. And he could hear cars and the sound of people walking and minding their own business. Opening the windows he saw people, real people.
"This … this has to be a joke. Is this one your sick illusions!" Stepping back and glaring at the cat.
"Please, if I could have done this I would have done it years ago. No, this is all real I can assure you" said the cat. "I must admit I am awed at seeing remnant. Team RWBY's tales about this world did it no justice. This place makes Ever After look like a pauper's home."
"Then why are you here? I thought you would have already run away to 'explore' this place now" asked Jaune, confused as to why the cat was still here.
"Simple, watch" the cat leapt over to the window and jumped. Jaune panicked and looked down to see no sign of the cat. The curious cat coughed and Jaune turned to see the cat back where it was "As you can see I seem to be stuck to you. No matter how far I go I seem to teleport back to you after reaching a certain distance. It seems that you and I are stuck together."
On one hand Jaune was disgusted by the news. For 20 years he had to deal with this demon cat trying to tempt him into giving despair, to now be forced to live with it for who knew how long infuriated him. But on the other hand, it made him oddly relieved; Now he could watch the cat and make sure it didn't try to manipulate anyone else.
With that knowledge in mind Jaune looked around his surroundings, it wasn't his old dorms in beacon nor was it bedroom back in Ansel. Was he in a hotel? Looking at his scroll sitting on the desk he grabbed and checked the date.
It was the week before he took the bullhead to beacon.
His legs gave away and he fell onto his bed. Confusion, fear, awe, joy, and every emotion under the rainbow was going through his mind. He felt his heart jump into his throat. The sound that came out of his throat was a mix of sobbing and a cry of utter joy.
He was back, somehow he had traveled back into the past.
Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Nora, Ren, Oscar, … Pyrrha. They were all alive! His friends were alright and safe!
But as much as he was overjoyed by the news his suspicions reared back. Why now? After all these years why did the tree send him back, or if was the tree at all? Could it be another power? The brother gods? Or could this be some sort of horrible trick or illusion, if it wasn't the cat could it be another being from the Ever After?
"Cat got your tongue Jaune?" the cat asked.
Right, he should focus on the immediate issue. Finding the how and why he was here could wait. "Just thinking, cat."
"No need to be so cold. Why can't we work together to understand our situation? I am sure we can come to an agreement, we already have so much in common!" The cat suggested.
"The only thing I trust you to do is lie and manipulate others into doing what you want" Jaune spat "I would rather slit my throat then work with you again."
"How cold" the cat gave a fake flinch "Aren't you a little curious of our predicament or how we both got here. Not that I am complaining mind you. Do you even have plan of what to do now, besides that awful to-do list?"
He didn't, but he wasn't going to tell the cat that. If he really did somehow travel into the past, and if this wasn't all some sort of illusion, then his best bet was telling someone about this. Or go find Cinder and cave her head inward. Both sounded like good ideas.
"I have a plan" Jaune answered.
"No you don't. I've had 20 years to understand you and I can tell when you are lying" the cat pointed.
"Then I have an idea of plan" Jaune snarled "The last thing I want is for you to cause any more trouble than already. Bad enough that you are in Remnant."
"Not like I can do much with my freedom" muttered the cat. "Why don't you tell me your idea? I mean ruby and her friends told me so much about Remnant and what lead up to them coming to Ever After so I have a fair guess of what you are thinking; But I would love to like to hear what you say."
"… Get into Beacon, kill Cinder, and prevent the fall of Vale" said Jaune.
"How painfully boring and dull, a very Jaune-esque plan" the cat sighed. "Do you really think you have a chance against Cinder? From what I heard from your friends this women seems to be quite dangerous and tricky to kill. Stubborn women isn't she?"
The cat was not wrong, but Jaune would never say that to it, Cinder was an extremely powerful opponent. With access to the maiden's powers made her nearly unstoppable—he looked at crocea mors in it's unshattered state, how it took only one swing to break the ancestral blade—if he wanted a chance to beat her it needed to be before Vytal festival.
From their he needed either another maiden or have Ruby use her silver eyes then go for the killing blow. He also needed to factor in Emerald and Mercury too, Emerald may have defected over to them in the future but it was far too late and he had no clue on mercury's true allegiances.
It was a daunting task, almost near impossible task many would say.
But then he remembered about the white fang, Torchwick, Neo, the fall of Vytal, the death his partner, the depopulation of Mistral's huntsmen, the fall of Atlas, … Penny. His first tightened around the handle of his blade.
No, he will stop Cinder here and now. Maybe it was a miracle by the brother gods or by another cosmic being but he was given the chance to make things right and he will.
Standing up he went for the door when cat coughed again. "Ahem, going somewhere Jaune and not even asking me to come, how rude" said the curious cat as it followed after Jaune "I hope you remember that I am bound to you so wherever you go I go."
Right, he almost forgot about that.
"So where are we going Jaune. Is it to Beacon? Or maybe somewhere else in Vale?" the cat asked excitedly.
"The Library"
xxx
It amazed Jaune with how easy it was to explain the curious cat. All it took was saying that the cat had aura and a semblance. Most people looked surprised and then shrugged and moved on. A reminder of how common the knowledge aura and semblances were in the capitals of the kingdoms.
It took a while to find a library willing to allow him and the cat in but once he found one Jaune quickly went towards the dust section.
During his time travelling learning how to use dust was a topic he never had the chance to really look into. Even in Atlas most of his training was focused on mastering what he already knew. But Jaune knew that wasn't going to be enough, he needed to expand his range of skills.
"My, my, your people's history is massive" commented the cat. He had thrown the thing a copy of the history of Remnant and so far it has kept the monster quite besides the occasional gibe.
Jaune grunted back and kept reading his book. It was a basic introduction book to dust and he had remembered that he had once read a long time ago. But it was decades since then and a little warm up would be a good place to start.
Dust is the natural occurring element found all amongst Remnant. It is universally used as the main power source for the kingdoms and the backbone for modern weaponry. Dust is found in two states, crystal state and powder state.
Crystal state is the most common variant and what is found naturally throughout the earth. In this state the energy is released over a certain amount of time depending on both the size and quality of the crystal. Powder state is rarer in nature but is common for commercial dust. With powder state all of the energy within is released very quickly and is commonly used in, energy production, vehicles, and firearms.
There are multiple ways to release the energy stored in dust but in modern days the three primary ways is with heat, electricity, and aura. Starting with aura people trained in the art are able to project their aura into dust and release its energy. Unlike the other two methods the amount of aura projected has an effect of how much is released and its potency. It is possible for an aura user to overcharge dust causing them to be more powerful than would naturally be.
That caught Jaune's eye. He wondered if that meant his semblance, aura amplification, would work. If it did … well that opened new possibilities. Maybe he should see if Beacon covered the cost of dust, he remembered prices skyrocketing thanks to Roman.
Jaune continued reading the book and once he was done he picked up another book from the pile he had taken with him. Looking over the various different types of dust and how he could apply it or in some cases reapply it back to his gear.
In Atlas all of them had been given upgrades for their weapons, his was by far the most altered. Hard light and gravity dust were the two he used. However, when he fell in Ever After it became near impossible for him to maintain the gear and over time it rusted and became too damaged for use. Jaune hoped that he could rectify that in beacon.
Maybe he should also invest in adding dust into his blade too.
Sometime later Jaune heard the announcement that the library was closing soon. Leaving the library Jaune made a quick stop to a pet stop to grab food for the cat and groceries.
He had no idea if the cat needed food at all but was also unsure if their might have been changes made to the cat with their arrival to Remnant or if it would somehow affect his body. Plus he had no idea what would happen if the cat died or if he even could now.
"Here, bottoms up" sliding the bowl of cat food to the curious cat.
"What is this?" the cat poked the cube shaped pellets.
"Cat food" said Jaune.
The Cat titled his head and then shrugging took a bite. Only for his eyes to widen and spit it out "BLEH, GAH! What in the word is that!? That is not food, I refuse to acknowledge it as food. I've tasted dirt with better flavor than whatever that was!" the cat exclaimed.
"Well it's all the food you're getting from me" said Jaune as he ate his own meal. Taking a peak he saw the curious cat looking up to him, more important to his own meal.
He ate his meal slowly while looking straight into the cat's eye.
"You will rue this day Arc, mark my words" hissed the cat.
Jaune made sounds of enjoyment as he kept eating.
The curious cat huffed in annoyance and jumped on the table, his attention now on Jaune's scroll. "I have to wonder, have you added anything to your 'master plan' or are you going to wing it? You know I was reading about how the academies had these initiations to weed out the weak ones, I wonder how you are going to explain me to them?
Oh! Wait, I just remembered something! This means I have a chance to talk to Ozma! Oh the things I have to ask. I have so much to talk to him, it is not every day I get to speak with the chosen champion of my creators."
Jaune had completely forgotten about the immortal wizard. Would Ozpin know what was happening between him and the cat? Not like he had other options when it comes to magical experts. Ruby had told him about the truth of Ozpin, his duties, and his relationship with Salem. Maybe he could use that as leverage to get some answers. His biggest worry was that the immortal might think he was insane and would try to lock him up or try to silence him.
"Cat, what do you know about our … predicament?" Jaune asked.
"Why the curiosity?"
"If we are going to live like this it would be wise to understand how this curse works" Jaune answered.
"Hm …" the cat narrowed his eyes "In that case my knowledge about our predicament is limited. I know that the range of our curse is around ten meters give or take. Nor am I able to harm you, and I so wanted to wring your neck and watch you choke."
Jaune rolled his eyes at that. The cat was nothing more than a demon in disguise and had more than once tried to tempt him to despair. With it now somewhat free it would naturally try to break what it saw as the last chains holding it back. "Great to know. Now anything else you want to add or is that all you have for me? I need to know if our curse is magical or not."
"Of course it is magical, do you really think I or anyone in Ever After would be able to make this curse otherwise?" the cat scoffed "All I know else is that this curse is powerful, very powerful. Even I dare not try to tamper with it."
That was surprising to hear from the cat of all things. If even the cat was weary of touching this thing it must have been some truly powerful magic. "Could it be from the tree? It did light up"
"That is what I am assuming too. Which only makes this more odd, never in my existence have I seen the tree act like this. I didn't even think it could do this at all. So why now of all times did it act?" said the cat.
"Maybe it wasn't the tree, like perhaps someone else was using the tree as a conduit of sorts. Would that be possible?" Jaune theorized.
"I … do not know. If it was another being that interfered then I know nothing about it. It seems my knowledge of Ever After was not as expansive as I believed it to be. What an odd feeling" mused the Cat.
Great so not even the cat had much to say on their curse or who could have done it. Jaune wondered if any else made it back to the past or was just him and the cat. The idea of the rest of team RWBY here would be a godsend. He did not want to be alone again and the thought of having others who knew the future would only help further their goals of stopping Cinder and Salem.
And yet there was hesitation and he knew why. Ruby Rose, the last thing he had seen was her looking at them, her eyes empty and broken, as she took the tea and ascended.
His fault, it was his fault for what happened. If he had just kept his anger in check, if he hadn't snap at her then she would have followed after Neo. What he saw their would forever be seared into his mind, he had failed again! Another life taken because he wasn't better enough to stop it!
Pyrrha, Penny, and now Ruby.
How many more would he lose?
NO! Jaune violently shook his head, he could not let himself drown in that grief again. He had to remind himself that he now had a second chance to make things right. This time he would do better, no more failures. He will save everyone this time, he will, he will, he will.
"Get your head in the game Arc. No time to second guesses. Don't waste this miracle" he mentally berated himself.
He would train his team better, make sure that Pyrrha would not be chosen as the next fall maiden candidate, kill Cinder, stop Salem's other agents, and kill Neo. Definitely make her and Cinder scream and agony before they die a gruesome death. Neo was the one who helped push Ruby beyond her breaking point, she would be the first to die for that. Then it was Cinder.
Pushing away his now cold food Jaune gathered some papers and began writing down a training plan for his team. He had a lot of time thinking of new strategies and with Pyrrha now alive he had a lot more ideas.
And after that, he needed to make a call.
xxx
The curious cat watched as Jaune wrote down his plans for his team. He watched for a while until he became bored. Having observed this human do nothing but either save the paper pleasers, survey Ever After, or focus on his martial skills. He had seen enough for one lifetime.
Sighing the cat looked for anything else that could be entertainment. Looking at the TV he leapt on the couch and took the remote, turning the TV and picking a random channel the watch.
Team RWBY had done a poor job of explaining Remnant. This was place was simply amazing, the sheer amount of information … for the first time in the cat's life he could admit that he was overwhelmed. Yes, he will be greatly enjoying his time here, after he took care of his curse.
But he did not forget his true purpose. The find the truth from his creators and why they left him with a vastly inferior race. As much he despised his current predicament it was not all bad, Jaune was close to those whose destiny seemed to be tied with Ozma and the relics. Perhaps if he played his cards he could use the relics to find his answer, or better yet summon the gods back.
Of course he needed a way to deal with Jaune first. Had the girls not run into him he would have had his way out already. The human was the only one that knew his tricks and would do everything in his power to stop him. Oh how he wished he could just slit the man's throat and be done with it. But no, not like anything has ever been simple with him.
It was fine, he had plenty of time to find out more about this world. While Jaune may have been stubborn and distrustful his friends weren't. And if they really did travel back into the past then it meant friends who were all too young and naïve for him, the best type of people.
People who had yet to be hardened by battle and grief, people who had yet to learn that it was unwise to trust random strangers, no matter how helpful.
The cat chuckled quietly as his eyes momentarily flashed to black & white. Oh yes, it would be so fun to make Jaune watch as he turned his own friends against him. The Despair he would feel would satiate him for generations.
The world was his oyster and the only ones that could stand in his way were Jaune, Ozma, and Salem. And he had all the time in the world to see his goals come to fruition. He would make the gods give him the answer he so desperately sought.
xxx Beacon Academy / Headmaster Office xxx
Headmaster Ozpin hated the week before the initiation day. People thought that initiation day was the busiest day for teachers, it wasn't. The real work was done weeks before, paperwork, requisitions forms, supply logistics, making sure that grimm in the emerald grove have been culled enough to be safely used, and so much more.
Which meant late night working non-stop, all to make his academy work properly. It was these moments that made Ozpin wondered why he had taken the job of headmaster in the first place and not pawn it off to someone else. Only to then be reminded by the image of a furious Glynda. That women would skin him alive if he even dared to think of the idea in his head.
Plus there was the issue of Amber.
He should have been more firmer with her and forced her to take additional security. He had foolishly believe Amber and her claims that her skills as a huntress and one of the maidens would be enough. Only for him to receive news from Qrow that she was attacked, pushed to near death, and had lost half of the maidens powers.
Salem, only she would make such a brazen move right under his nose. He should have seen this coming, that she would remain so quiet after the great war should have set off warning bells. Instead he had allowed himself to fall into a false sense of security.
Even after ordering James to bring the best medical professions and tech from Atlas the best they were able to do was keep the women stable in a medical induced coma. While the physical wounds she suffered had healed the spiritual ones … not so.
Somehow Amber's very soul was torn in half and residing in whoever ripped it in the first place. He had an inkling of the magic used, no doubt perverted with the magics of the grimm Salem loved to use. But their was little he could do to help Amber. What they needed was a new maiden and quickly.
He kept his plans close to heart and told no one else. There was a mole within his council, how else would Salem have found out about Amber and her movements. But his plan was hoping to find a new fall maiden candidate among his own students, someone who he could raise as a symbol of peace and hope for future generations.
Already he had a list of potential candidates ranging from fourth years to those who hadn't even done the initiation yet. By the time the Vytal festivals started he hoped to have found his chosen candidate by then.
RING RING RING
How odd, did Glynda or the others forget something? Picking up the phone Ozpin did not recognize the caller, the only ones who knew his phone number were those in his inner circle, the staff, and the council.
Curious he tapped the accepted button. "This headmaster Ozpin speaking, who is this?"
"Jaune Arc, I'm actually one of the people entering into Beacon Academy this year. I think I should be on the list" said Jaune.
"Give me a moment" a few second later he found the name "Well I do see you on the list. Is there something you wish to ask? If not then I must ask how you got a hold of my number."
"That … is a very long story that I feel would be better if I had told it to you in person" replied Jaune.
"In person? Well initiation night is a week off so—" said Ozpin.
"—Now actually. I was hoping we could talk now in person" interrupted Jaune.
"You do know that it was 1AM into the night? Mr. Arc if you truly wish to speak with me then we can work something out. But to have a meeting is not possible" insisted Ozpin.
"No, we need to talk now, Ozma"
…
"I see … in that case I will have a bullhead sent down. Please make sure you are not late" said the immortal.
xxx
"It is not every day I hear someone use my true name" said Ozpin eyeing Jaune and the curious cat. When the immortal waited for them to arrival he was struck by the cat, the sheer magic coming off it instantly made him weary of the two. Was this another ploy by Salem?
"And it is not every day I learn that the greatest threat to Remnant was caused by the worst divorce in history" so this man even knew of that moment too.
Ozpin looked at the cat "And what are you? Are you a creation of Salem?"
"Oh heavens no. I am but a curious cat, created by the brother gods. I must admit I have been dying to see you Ozma, to think I would see the champion of our creators. You must have surely impressed them if they had chosen you as their champion" said the cat excitedly.
"Yes … impressed them" Ozpin muttered.
"Be careful Ozma, this cat is nothing but a demon in disguise. It manipulates others for its own goals and even tried to steal my body multiple times" Jaune warned the immortal.
"Well that's not true at all. I merely guide others to what their hearts desire" said the cat.
"Regardless, I still must ask once again, how do you know so much myself, Salem, and the Gods" insisted Ozpin.
"That is a long story" repeated Jaune.
"Then it is good that I prepared us multiple pots of coffee and plenty of sugar to go with it" said Ozpin motioned to the many steaming pots of coffee on his desk.
"Well in that case, tell me Ozpin … what is your favorite fairy tale"