Legend of Remnant
Chapter 3: Ranger and Snowbell
[Half an hour prior…]
"I am officially lost."
As it turned out, making his way back to civilization was a bit of a challenge for Jaune Arc. Between not having studied the map of the Emerald Forest beforehand, his wandering aimlessly prior to finding the sword, then forgetting which direction he'd previously gone to get to where the limestone and marble ruins were, he wondered if he'd ever find his way back. On one hand, with his new sword in hand, his chances of survival in the Grimm infested forest had increased considerably. On the other, swords did not protect him from dying of thirst, starvation, exposure and Grimm larger than a humanoid.
During his aimless wandering, the voice had deigned to keep quiet, and despite Jaune's constant attempts to get it to speak again, nothing ever came of it. Part of him began to wonder if he'd simply imagined it. Maybe he was going crazy? Was it possible for nerves to become so stressed out that you started hallucinating? He still had that strange sword, but for all he knew, the sword could have just been some relic he'd uncovered while wandering aimlessly in the Emerald Forest.
Jaune stopped to get his bearings, resting against a larger tree and racked his brain to figure out how he'd get out of his predicament. He scratched his head with his free hand and glanced at the tree behind him. He'd tried to follow the moss earlier under some vague recollection of advice his sisters had given him so many years prior when camping in Shion, but it had been so long ago that he couldn't remember the exact advice, or how to use it to get to where he wanted to go. Jaune began to walk around the large tree trunk, inspecting it, and noting that there was indeed moss on it, trying desperately to remember what his sisters had told him.
Oh for Farore's sake, what in Hylia's name are you doing?!
Jaune jumped in place, surprised. It was that voice again! "So you are real...whatever happened to the whole 'silent treatment?'"
After watching you blunder around like a Cucco with its head removed? How you pulled the Master Sword from its pedestal is beyond me.
The young man grit his teeth, hand clenching in a white knuckled grip around the Master Sword's hilt. "I should just go put this stupid sword back in its pedestal if I suck so much!"
If you could even find your way back.
The voice sounded almost smug and Jaune growled. "I don't need this." He raised the sword as if to plunge it into the ground, but the voice spoke up once more.
You'd really throw away your chance of survival just to spite me?
"It's not like you're helping anyway…" Jaune muttered darkly.
Fine. The Goddesses would be furious if I let you die this early on, and we can't afford to have the Master Sword lost.
"Master Sword? Goddesses? Can you explain anything?!" he yelled into the air, a part of him praying that no one was around to hear him looking like he'd gone mad.
You will get your answers when we are no longer in the middle of the Lost Woods. Now, take out that Sheikah Slate of yours so you can use your map.
"...A what Slate?"
...That thing in your pocket.
The voice sounded like it was explaining something to a small child for the fifth time, a mix of exasperation and resignation. Jaune growled, his anger rising, and forced himself to calm down. "It's called a scroll."
A what now?
Jaune sighed and pulled it out, flipping it open. "A scroll. It's a long range communication device that performs a variety of functions."
So a Sheikah Slate.
"The hell is a Sheikah?"
...You...don't know of the Sheikah? This time, it was the mysterious voice's turn to sound confused, although it was also backed with a tone of shock.
"No, I don't," Jaune muttered dryly.
How...how long has it been?
"How long has what been?" Jaune groaned, bringing his attention back to his scroll. "Wait…" He brought his other hand up to smack his forehead, groaning. "Oh my lord, I'm an idiot! My scroll still has connection to the CCT! I could have just brought up a map of the forest!"
Now he gets it.
Jaune pinched the bridge of his nose. "You are the rudest sword I've ever encountered."
I'm not the sword, I'm- oh never mind. Stop worrying about what I'm saying and focus on your surroundings! I can sense intense darkness within this forest.
"You can sense the Grimm?"
Grimm?
Jaune paused, looking up from the now open map of the Emerald Forest. "Yeah, you know, Grimm?"
You mean those Wolfos?
"Those are Beowolves."
No, Wolfos.
There was a meaty thud as Jaune's palm met his forehead and he groaned. "Look, I know I know very little about being a Huntsman, but even I can recognize the most common Grimm."
A moment of silence passed. The names may have changed, but their function remains the same. Keep vigilant.
"Whatever." Jaune muttered. This was getting too surreal for him.
Goddesses, I'm shocked you've lived as long as you have in Hyrule with your level of ignorance.
"High-what? Look, if you're not going to answer any questions, could you please just shut up already?! I get enough insults from everyone else, I don't need some stupid voice in my head telling me I suck too!" Jaune snapped angrily, shouting at nothing in general.
You...you can't tell me you don't know what Hyrule is! This is the Lost Woods, right?
"I don't know what this High-Rule place is, this place is called the Emerald Forest, and I'm trying to concentrate on following this map!
Calm down-
"No! I get lost in this stupid forest, attacked by Grimm, have someone else's thoughts run through my head, get to get insulted by someone who might not even be real," Jaune ranted furiously, power-walking through the forest, paying little attention to the map and no attention to the mysterious voice in his head.
Jaune-
"I lost my family sword, I still don't have a partner, I don't have a relic, I'm probably going to fail this mission-"
Jaune!
"So, I don't need you to remind me of how much I suck, okay! I'm doing my best and you're not helping at all! Acting all stupidly mysterious and then acting like it's my fault for not knowing any of these stupid words you keep coming up with-"
JAUNE!
"WHAT?!" Jaune screamed.
Ahead!
Jaune blinked and brought his attention back from the scroll to the path ahead-
Only to realize that the path ahead lead to a drop-off, and of course, he'd just stepped off it. "Oh shi-"
[Present Time]
Gravity was a harsh mistress.
Jaune had heard that particular quote somewhere, but until the day of Beacon's initiation, he'd never quite understood why. He'd just stepped off of a cliff that, while half the size of the one he'd been launched off of, was still not going to be pleasant when he hit the ground. Of course, fate had spent the day (thinking on it further, his life) mocking him, and it saw no reason to let up on him now. As the world tilted on its axis and Terra Firma gave way to empty air, Jaune all too late noticed that below him on the ground, was a particularly large looking insect-like Grimm with pincers bigger than his torso.
Before he had any time to think more on the impending disaster before him, Mistress Gravity demanded her due and he began to plummet like a stone, right toward the Grimm. He had no time to think, no time to plan, in fact barely any time to even be afraid. All he could do was point his shiny new sword point downward and pray that somehow he'd manage to impale the creature through the weak points in its carapace. Wind whistled past him, trees, foliage and he braced himself for what was going to be one obviously painful impact.
He was right.
Like a falling star, he slammed right into the creature's back, his knees crying out in protest and he swore he might have twisted his ankle something fierce as he landed upon a creature with the consistency and size of a small bus. His sword, however, was either unspeakably razor sharp or it really was magic, because the creature's plating seemed to give way beneath his blade. A sickening squelch sounded loudly all around him as the blade was buried into the back of the creature's skull. The insect gave a great keening noise that had Jaune wincing in further pain, then stiffened and went still, it's tail going limp and hitting the ground.
Silence followed. Slowly Jaune tested his knees by trying to stand, yanking the sword a couple of times to pull it from the Grimm's now slowly dissolving body. His knees protested moving so soon after having been used as impromptu shock absorbers, but after a couple of aborted attempts, he finally managed to bring himself into a standing position. He was alive. Jaune waited a few seconds more, letting the adrenaline die down and listening to the pounding of his heart in his ears drowning out the sounds of the forest around him.
"That was awesome!" A voice cried out from behind Jaune, causing him to jump into the air (much to the displeasure of his already damaged and sore knees) and turning around to find a ginger haired girl grinning wildly at him, teal eyes wide with awe. At her side was a black haired boy with a single magenta stripe through it, who ran up to him, expression openly worried.
"Are you okay?! What's your Aura at?"
"I...what?" Jaune muttered, confused by the term.
"Your scroll; it should show your current Aura level."
Jaune mutely complied, pulling out the scroll, which was thankfully undamaged. "Erm...3%...?"
The boy's eyes widened, but before he could speak a word, a familiar voice cried out, "3 percent?!" Jaune's gaze snapped forward to see the familiar silver eyes of one Ruby Rose as she rushed forward, her own expression openly worried for Jaune's being. "What happened? Where have you been?!"
Jaune opened his mouth, and was interrupted in turn by the beeping of his Scroll, and he glanced down at it to see a message. Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose: Partners. Jaune blinked, then looked back up at Ruby. "Erm...It's a long story? ...partner?"
It was Ruby's turn to be caught off guard, and the silver eyed girl quickly pulled out her own scroll, her gaze flickering over the screen before turning back to Jaune with a relieved smile. "Well, we'll have four years to talk it over then." She then shook her head. "Still, you should be careful! Your Aura is dangerously low!"
"She's right," the black haired boy replied. "That was awfully reckless, falling off of the cliff like that, even if it was to surprise attack the Deathstalker. Still, I'm rather impressed, to be able to aim for the spot between the armor plates even while falling."
Jaune jumped off of the now rapidly decomposing Deathstalker, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Y-yeah, I guess it was…" He found himself unable to meet the boy's eyes. Had he gotten lucky and hit just the right spot? His gaze flickered down to the indigo hilt of the Master Sword and frowned.
"Wow, aren't you lucky, Ruby! You've got an awesome partner!" The ginger girl exclaimed. She turned to face Jaune again and grinned. "By the way, I'm Nora Valkyrie! That over there is Lie Ren! Just be careful, he's really shy." She finished with a sagely air as though imparting the wisdom of the cosmos.
The aforementioned boy simply gave a wry, 'what-can-you-do' smile and shrugged. Jaune nodded. "I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc."
There was a pause, then, "That's it?" Ruby's voice spoke up.
"What do you mean, that's it?"
"What happened to 'short, sweet and rolls off the tongue?'"
Jaune sighed. "Thanks for reminding me of that…" Ruby laughed, which was followed in chorus with Nora, then Ren, and finally Jaune himself couldn't help but laugh. When the laughter died down, Jaune's had faded into a nervous chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck again, and quietly replied, "So um...dumb question, but don't suppose you all could watch my back for a little bit until I'm no longer in danger?"
Nora scoffed. "Like you even need to ask? We're Huntsmen, we look after each other!"
Ruby nodded in agreement. "Of course, I'm your partner after all! It'd look pretty bad if I lost my partner this soon after getting one!"
With a smile, Jaune approached Ruby and Nora with Ren right behind him. "Thanks, guys." A sense of relief washed over him. Things were starting to seem a little more normal now, and to top it all off, his chances of surviving Initiation just went up drastically, now that he had a partner and a couple of other students to help watch his back.
"By the way, Jaune," Ruby started curiously as she glanced over her shoulder, "I had a question."
"What's up?"
"Isn't that a different sword than the one you showed me back at Beacon?"
Jaune froze, his heart falling. In the commotion, he'd forgotten about how the family sword was lost, and he still had yet to find it. He groaned and his shoulders slumped dejectedly. How was he going to tell them he lost it getting catapulted into the forest without a landing strategy, and even more to the point, how was he going to bring across his little problem with the voice in his head? "It's...a long story…"
[Beacon Academy - Auditorium]
"...Weiss Schnee, Pyrrha Nikos, Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna...you shall be Team Snowbell, as lead by Weiss Schnee! (SNBL)"
Jaune watched from behind the stage as the four girls took center stage amit a round of deafening applause. It wasn't surprising; a team with both Weiss Schnee and someone as apparently as famous as Pyrrha Nikos was, was going to get a lot of attention. It was odd though, that everyone aside from Weiss had looked rather stiff and uncomfortable, their smiles plastered on as though they weren't particularly happy with the situation. He was rather jealous; he'd give anything to be on the same team as Weiss Schnee, but alas, it looked like fate hadn't decided to smile upon him. It may have been just as well; he doubted mental issues were a particular turn on for Weiss, and he was certain that he was dealing with one at that very moment.
Is there any particular reason as to why that old sage is announcing each team?
Jaune sighed and tried to ignore the crystal clear voice that it seemed only he was capable of hearing. The last thing he needed to do was ostracize himself to whatever team he ended up in by talking to himself in public. He watched as the four girls shuffled off of the stage with Weiss openly and proudly leading them off. A glance over his shoulder showed a rapidly dwindling pool of potential teammates and he grimaced to himself. The deep seated fear that he was going to end up failing after everything he'd gone through so far was still forefront in his mind. Whether it was just poor showing back at Initiation, or if his forged transcripts were found out remained to be seen.
Ozpin spoke up again, shaking Jaune from his thoughts. "Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc," Jaune let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding as relief washed over him, "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren…" The four of them walked out onto the stage, and Jaune felt his nerves rise once more as he gazed out onto a sea of older students watching them. "...you shall be Team Ranger (RNJR) as lead by Ruby Rose!"
Ruby's eyes widened in surprise and Jaune couldn't help but smile at her, both in congradulations and in relief. He wasn't entirely sure he was up to the task of having to play leader. "Woo-hoo!" Nora cried out, crashing into Ruby with a bear-hug that had the girl blushing in embarrassment, but still smiling at the friendly gesture. As the audience gave a polite, but much less excited applause, Jaune caught Ren's gaze, and Jaune extended a fist. Ren smiled back, and the two silently bumped fists. Things might have gone off to a rocky start, but they were starting to look up!
Doesn't she seem a bit young to be a leader?
Jaune's lips drew into a grimace, once more ignoring the voice. If he had to wait for answers, then so could this particular voice. For the time being, he was going to concentrate on more pressing issues, like following Ruby to find where their dorm was located, and hoping that her sense of direction was better than his own.
The last thing he needed was another strange new weapon with a personality attached to it.
Their dorm, as he found out, was right across the hall from Team SNBL. Ruby had seemed rather delighted with this news, as it meant she was close to her sister, and Jaune was secretly delighted as it meant that he was closer to Weiss. All in all, it was a good location. The actual dorm itself wasn't half bad either. Sure, it seemed a tad small, but living in a house with seven sisters and two parents didn't afford much in the way of space, even in their rather large house. The moment Ruby had stepped into the room and saw four beds, her eyes lit up and she'd turned to them, all but begging them to set up bunk beds, an opinion that Nora quickly joined in with.
Ren didn't seem to know how to say no to Nora, leaving Jaune as the only person who might have had an issue, but he had no reason to care. So it was decided, and the newly minted Team RNJR spent the rest of the evening setting up a pair of makeshift bunk beds. Admittedly, they didn't look exactly the most stable, but luckily Jaune and Ren were able to stabilize the beds with a combination of rope and stacks of old comics that Ruby and Jaune donated to the cause. By the time the sun had set, the team was staring at their new room set up rather proudly.
"I call top bunk!" Both Nora and Ruby shouted simultaneously. Jaune and Ren once again shared a silent, but meaningful glance and smiled. Ren tossed his gear onto the bed below Nora's, leaving Jaune the bed beneath Ruby's.
The rest of the evening went by rather well, with the four chatting amiably about themselves at Ruby's behest. It was quickly becoming apparent that as a team, they were working out rather well. Jaune and Ruby were already friends, and Nora seemed to be eager to make friends with them as well, with Ren following her lead. Best of all, his mental passenger had seemed to get the hint with his silence and had fallen quiet himself, leaving Jaune alone for the time being. It made things easier and reduced the risk of making him appear mad, but in the back of his mind the knowledge of the mysterious being remained.
Even when he was getting read to sleep though, and the room had fallen into silence, the voice deigned not to speak, and Jaune didn't want to wake up his teammates by asking questions to no one, so instead he simply let himself finally drift off to sleep, to prepare for the first official day of Beacon Academy.
...Which is why waking up upon a grassy, windswept plain was not something he was expecting.
Nor was he expecting to wake up to the sight of a young man in a green tunic and gold armor with piercing blue eyes to be staring down at his prone form, the Master Sword in his hands and pointed at his chest. "So," he spoke in a smooth and familiar voice, "we meet at last, Jaune Arc."
A/N: Hey folks! Holy crap, it's been forever since I've updated anything, and I sincerely apologize. I finally got some time off from work, so I figured I could concentrate on trying to update a few things before night shift proceeds to hand me my own ass once more. I'm still working on trying to get back onto day shift, but that might be a while, so unfortunately I can't promise more consistent updates, but I'll do what I can. For the time being, enjoy this first offering.
Signing off for now, this is LaughingLefou.