RWBY: Tales From The Paradox
Welcome to The Kingdom of Remnants
Once upon a time, there was a Queen. She ruled over the world with benevolence, kindness, wisdom and fairness. People prospered, happiness spread across both humans and faunuses. The Kingdom was wide and vast, stretching from one horizon to the other. One can ride until The Beacon was but a small dot, and yet hadn't reached the end of it. Those were the days of the past, the beautiful days.
Then, came the drifter. No one knew who she was, no one knew where she came from. All they knew was that the Queen met the drifter, and she was furious. The drifter walked out of the castle, bathed in Her light, yet dared to call Her a disgrace. That was the first time the people of the Kingdom saw her, and the impression stayed.
She wandered, from the Patch Hamlet, to the high mountains of Haven, even the sky islands of Atlas. She never stopped, she came, she saw, she acted. She led people away from the kingdom, to paths unknown. Some said she enlightened them, showed them the way out of this false dream. To others, she was a witch, luring them to lands of evil and sadness.
Soon, the Queen captured the drifter. Under the judgment of Her courtiers, she was sentenced to an eternal execution, for the sins she committed, for the words she dared to utter, for the will to go against Her Majesty.
Everyday, when the first light of the red sun shone upon the eastern shores, if one dared to turn their gaze toward the burning anger of Pyrrha, to the Queen's Palace, they could see it. A woman, dragged by the Grimm Guard, to the square. The Kingdom's only sinner, the drifter, sentenced to her DEATH. Again, again, and AGAIN!
It was then, the Kingdom slowly crumbled away. Pieces by pieces, it fell. Under the Queen's order, under the forces of nature, for reasons unknown, the Kingdom decayed. Islands after islands, cities after cities, men after men, all gone, all vanished. The Kingdom was but a ghost of its past, a small fragment of what it once was.
Hence, they named it, Remnants.
The guests were mesmerized by the play, which was quite an unsual situation, considering that most of them were on the brink of life and death just a day ago. They sat in an amphitheater, almost as grandeur as the Amity arena. On the stage was the sole story teller, actor, puppet master, historian and the host of the play, a man named Leverian. He frolicked, he danced with his puppets. He told the story of a fairy tale's kingdom, with porcelain dolls as his actors. The central of the set was a red queen, who sat on her throne, witnessing the execution. The executor was a doll dressed in old Mistralian royal clothes, a spear in its hand, a scroll in the other. The criminal, dubbed the drifter, was an even stranger doll. It wore old Vacuan's nomad attire, with a red tipped black hair. The spear came down, pierced through its chest. The queen slammed her fist down on the throne, and the scene played once again.
Pyrrha was feeling uncomfortable. Not only because she had just escaped death not long ago, not because of the mysterious place she was in. No, she felt uncomfortable due to the dolls, the executor to be exact. It reminded her of herself, but so full of raw anger and hatred deep inside. The spear was an exact replica of Miló. To her, it was like she was the executor, delivering her hate upon the poor woman down there, again, again and again.
Jaune noticed it.
"Are you okay, Pyrrha?"
"I am fine. Thank you, Jaune."
She turned to her left, where team RWBY was. She saw her, her savior. She bore a certain familiarity to Ruby, a relative perharp? But she didn't have a chance to meet her personally. She came with the team to check on her yesterday. Her face was ridden with guilt, only relieved when the doctor said that she was okay.
She led them here, said that a play would lighten some of our emotional load. Basically, she asked them to relax. But when the puppeteer told them the name of the play, her face changed into a pained expression,... and blushing?
Ruby asked her what was wrong, but she shook it away.
Maybe she should talk to her sometime soon, at least she had to thank her for saving her life.
Ruby felt like she was tripping. It was similar to that one time she accidentally drank uncle Qrow's 'beverage' due to mistaking it for juice.
She remembered running away, with Pyrrha in her arms, using her semblance constantly to get out of the tower. She was panicking, she didn't know where she should go. Then, a woman, dressed in black and green, called for her by her name to come with her. She didn't know what was going on in her mind, but she followed her through a portal, and passed out on the other side.
She woke up, lying on a bed, with the rest of her team with her. Yang hugged her tight right at the moment she came to be.
"RUBY! Thank dust you are fine."
"Yang… air…" Ruby gasped.
"Sorry, sis."
She turned around, and saw Weiss. She was furious, relieved, but furious.
"You dolt! Do you know how worried we are? Next time, don't just jump out of the tower. Forget that, just don't jump out of anywhere, at all!"
Jumping out of the tower? Did she do that?
"Lucky for us, they were there to help. Otherwise, I would say that we were doomed." Blake said, as monotone as ever.
"Where… are we?" Ruby asked. She realized that she was neither in her dorm room, nor Beacon's infirmary.
"That, we would like to know too." Blake replied. She was agitated.
"After you ran into that portal, they asked us to follow them. We did so, to get you back. She led us to this place, many others were evacuated to here too." Yang said, her hands held Ruby's shoulders firmly. "Professor Glynda is talking to them. Team JNPR are in their room. Weiss managed to ask them to move you out of the infirmary with us."
"I also asked to meet them too, but Professor Glynda said that I should stay." Weiss said, sheepishly.
Ruby sat up straight, still feeling the pain of her strained muscle. She was wasted, beyond exhausted. It was worse than the breach.
"Wait, does this mean… Vale is…"
Her teammates looked at each other. The bitter truth dawned upon her.
"We… failed?"
They gave her a nod. It was more than enough. A single tear ran down from her eyes, followed by many others.
"We did our best, Ruby." Weiss put her hand on Ruby's back, trying to give her some comfort.
"But… But… Vale…" Her voice became frantic.
"Not completely gone. It took a big hit, but not destroyed." Blake said, moved next to her team leader.
"Yang, what about Patch? Did they reach it?"
"Oh, come on, Ruby. It was big, but not that big. Patch is fine, dad is fine." Yang said, but not completely certain. They couldn't reach that far, could they?
They hugged Ruby.
"Shhh, shhh. Let it out, Ruby. Let it out."
And let it out she did. She moaned, tears flowed out like a river. The warmth of her teammate's embrace helped to calm her down.
"Feeling better?" Weiss asked, feeling Ruby's tight grip on her.
"Yeah, thank you." Ruby swept her tears away. She had to be strong, for her team. She was the leader, after all.
The emotional air coated the room was soon swept away with a small knock on the door.
"Sorry, but is this a bad time?"
It was the rider. A mask covered her face entirely. She wore an armored jacket under her white cloak, and a pair of combat jeans with many straps on it. Her pouches secured on the belts on her waist and her chest. What struck them was the emblem on her waist belt. A burning rose.
"Please come in, we are just… sorting something out." Ruby said to the stranger. Her voice was warm and kind, reminding her of her mother, Summer Rose. Especially with her white cloak, and that emblem.
"You are the one on the tower..."
But there was no way, right?
She brought a tray of food with her. Some bread and baked goods with butter, fruits of exotic color, shapes and sizes, and cold cuts of some kind.
"I don't know what you like so I just pick them up randomly. You must be hungry after a night like that."
She placed the tray down on the table in the middle of the room.
"Thank you, miss. And don't worry, we aren't picky eaters." Weiss said, but she looked at the fruits and meat with a certain amount of hesitation. The woman sat down with them.
Under her mask, she seemed to be staring at Ruby. The little girl felt like she was being exposed. They all sat there, quietly
Yang tried to break the ice. She picked a fruit up and took a bite.
"Hmm, it tastes like strawberry. I think you will like it, sis."
She passed her some of the similar fruit, which Ruby quickly nibbled on.
Unfortunately for Yang, that attracted the stranger, as she turned from Ruby to her.
"So you must be Yang?"
"Uhm… yeah?"
"And you are Weiss and Blake, yes?"
They nodded, noticed a faint hint of excitement and pain in her voice.
So they decided to join Yang, except for Ruby. She stared back at the stranger.
"Anything you need help with?" She asked.
"No, I just… want to say thank you, miss." Ruby replied. "You are the one who saved me and Pyrrha back on the tower, right?"
"Well, I wouldn't say I saved you. But I managed to buy sometime for you to escape."
"Can I know your name, please?" She decided to get straight to the question. Part of her hoped it was her.
"..." The stranger hesitated. She was uncomfortable, agitated even. After some internal struggle, she placed her hand under her mask, lifted it up.
Revealed a familiar face to them.
It was similar to Ruby, but older by a decade. She had the same silver eyes and the smile. On her left eye was a faint scar. Her black hair tied half up, half down.
The secret was no longer hidden. She was…
"Mom?" Ruby and Yang spoke, their voices shaken.
Well, that was unexpected.
"Ruby?" Blake was beyond confused. While Weiss was in a silent baffled state.
Rose cringed. She wasn't ready for those reactions.
"They call me Rose. And well, you can say that I am also you." She said to Ruby, while the girl's mouth was agape.
"That is not possible!" Weiss scowled. "What kind of trickery is this?"
"It is no trickery, I assure you." Rose answered with honesty.
"Are you me in the future?"
"No, but that would be convenient, wouldn-"
"Are we in the future? Am I a huntress who fights across time?" Ruby bombard her with questions, too many to be listed, too many to process.
"Let her breathe erm… lil' sis. Wait, can I still call you little sis? Or are you the bigger one now?"
The two voices of reason could only watch as the poor Rose being under her younger self and her sister assault.
"Ruby, let her breathe." Weiss pulled her eccentric partner out, while Blake tried to separate Yang from her.
"Yang, you are crushing her."
Rose stood up, took a deep breath and gave them a forced smile. "How about we finish the meal first, then we can talk after?"
"That would be better." Blake said.
They sat down, the meal ended quickly in silence. But before Ruby could ask a thing, Rose's scroll rang. Her face was relieved for a moment.
"Looks like your friend is up." She showed them the message. It was from a person called Gretchen.
"Pyrrha? Wait, is she okay now?" Ruby asked eagerly.
"I think so. Want to check on her? I can lead the way."
After checking on Pyrrha, Ruby was relieved to know that aside from some minor injuries and exhaustion, Pyrrha was fine. So was the other.
They talked to each other for a while. Rose showed them the way around the facility. She met some of her friends too. Oddly enough, some seemed to recognize her. Was she really in the future?
There was Gretchen, the person who messaged Rose. She was back from a mission, so Ruby guessed that she was a huntress. She was sorry for her, but Ruby didn't know why. At least, Ruby felt that she might be one of her acquaintances.
They talked about Lavos, a huntsman from how they described him. An expert of dust and hand to hand combat, by how Rose praised him. He seemed to be a workaholic, since he left the base for the next mission right after turning in the report from the previous. Gretchen called him irresponsible for leaving 'his mess' for her to fix, while Rose said that it was Gretchen's idea to 'bring them to this place'.
They stopped at an amphitheatre, where many other was gathered around.
"There is going to be a play here tomorrow, how about you come here for a bit? I know that Leverian always has the best story to tell."
"That would be great, but may I ask something? When can we, well, come home?" Weiss asked timidly. Unlike her leader, who couldn't put her childish nature aside while talking to her, Rose was mature. She felt like the leader Weiss wanted to see.
"I can't say for sure. Using the Undercroft can be quite risky sometimes. We should let it calm itself down. If I have to guess, a week should suffice."
"What about our family? Can we at least tell them we are okay?" The last thing Yang wanted to see was her father breaking down crying. It happened once, when Summer passed away. She didn't want her father to become another uncle Qrow.
"Don't worry, time moves slower here. When you are back, I think it would only be a day or two on your side."
"Where are we, exactly?" Blake voiced out their concern ever since they came to this place. But the reply was far from satisfying.
"It is complicated, really. I will try to explain it to you, in time. So, this time tomorrow, will you come?"
"I think so." Ruby nodded. "Can we bring our friends too?"
"The more the merrier." Rose chuckled. "Leverian welcomes anyone in. Honestly, he always has some breathtaking performances, even if no one pays him to do so."
"*Gasp* You are going to make us pay with our breaths, aren't you?"
Yang exclaimed, jokingly.
Rose laughed.
"Meet you girls again soon, I have to get something done. If you need anything, just ask."
And like that, she left them and made it straight to mission control.
"She seems to have brightened up quite a bit." Said the young man as he was going through many files. Planning for attacks and exposing the enemy's weak points wasn't his forte, but the memories of his previous lives helped. Qrow did call him a quick learner too, which he hoped was true.
Sometimes he wanted to bring the old general back from his retirement, but that proved to be harder than it seemed. At least Winter could help him organize the resistance.
"She is. Poor girl, even I feel sorry about her situation." Gretchen sat in the corner of the room, compiling her own files.
"We can only try to help her the best we can. How about your 'problem'? Got them to listen to you yet?"
"Nah, you know me, well, who I was. Can't believe how much I used to idolize her. She even threatened me with her, can you believe that?"
"And him?"
"Neglected. I put him in his own quarter though, let him deal with it himself."
"Lavos is not going to like that." He chuckled. "Could be why he ran straight to another mission."
"Hypocrite."
Oscar shook his head. Even after working with them for almost two years, he still couldn't understand them completely.
"How's Hazel?"
"The old man's fine. He is still in Mantle. Sent in a report last night, remember?"
"In my defense, most of our files are sent anonymously. Can't find a person who uses their real name in this place anymore."
They both laughed at the comment, mostly due to how true it was.
"There's a play tomorrow, are you going to come?"
"After I have some words with our guests. What is the name of the play?"
"The Kingdom of Remnants."
Rose's face went pale when she heard the name of the play, for she knew exactly what it was about.
'Really, Leverian?' He must have some sick sense of humor, doing this play at this kind of time.
At least, she can spend the time with her sister, her friend and her family. How long has she yearned for this chance?
Yet, she felt… empty.
She feared that she couldn't feel anything from them, not anymore.
The fear soon subsided as they came into the amphitheater, replaced by glad eyes. She waved them over to her.
"How's your day, uhm… Rose?" Weiss waved back at her.
"It is fine, how's yours? Do you need us to change something to fit your accommodation better?"
"Everything's fine, we can't thank you enough, really." Ruby thought to herself. 'Still can't get used to this. I am talking to myself. Is this a bad thing?'
"Take a seat, the play's about to begin."
She then turned her gaze over to the other group of guests. She saw a blonde boy, who was helping Pyrrha. With them was a pair of opposite boy and girl, a bombastic oranged haired girl and a calm Mistralian boy.
"They are team JNPR." Yang said. She had some theory since the day they met Rose. "You remember them, right?"
"Yeah… yeah, I do." Rose was hiding something, and Yang knew it.
"Are your friends going to come too?" Blake asked Rose.
"Gretchen is trying to pull Lavos out of work. Kahl might come if Vauban comes, but he isn't really a fan of art of any kind. Trivia is going to come. She planned to broadcast it on her channel today."
"And?" Weiss felt like they were left out of something.
"Oh, Oscar might come, if he wanted to see the last act of the play. But he is kind of uptight lately."
"What about, you know, us? Not literally us of course, I mean our future selves. Are they here?"
"Well…" Rose clearly tried to find words, but she struggled to do so.
"Did… team RWBY disbanded." Ruby's voice was filled with concern. She wasn't a bad leader, was she?
But Rose's reaction told Yang something else. She noticed it, just for a fraction of a second. First, Rose's eyes showed confusion, as if she didn't remember her team's name. Next, it was sorrow, soon replaced with a forced calmness.
"They are… busy, that's all."
"Oh…"
Questions could be pushed aside, as light was turned off, leaving only the center of the stage shone.
"Ladies and gentleman! People of all ages! Men from all lands across the world! I am Leverian, and welcome you all to my masterpiece. A tale of tragedy and hope, of a woman who despite all odds and misfortune, kept her determination to step forward and tamed a kingdom! A drifter, who walked the lands, saved the people, and brought hope to the hopeless. I welcome you all! To the kingdom of Remnants!"