Arc I: Prologue
Chapter 4: A Link to the Past
He was falling.
At least that was certain enough, if the loud rushing of wind and barely being able to hear himself think past his screams were any sign.
Jaune could safely say that free falling from the sky against his will definitely did not rank on the list of things to do before he died. And as if being rejected by two of the most gorgeous girls he met so far was bad enough.
Or perhaps it was his question to the headmaster?
Maybe it was kinda stupid to ask Ozpin if he'd help us in a test to prove ourselves.
However, his thoughts were reduced to nothing as his screams doubled in intensity at the sight of a rapidly approaching spear from direction of the cliffs. Jaune closed his eyes as if he could wake up from it like it all just some dream.
He definitely did not know what to expect after, though there did happen to be the sound of a loud thunk, accompanied by a jolt of pain throughout his back as said spear caught his hood and crudely guided him down past the forest canopy, pinning him securely several feet up on a tree. The shock of the impact forced his eyes open and drove the air from his lungs in with a raspy hrk.
Shaking his head to clear some of the dizziness and looked at the rather ornate red and gold coloured spear pinning himself to tree not two inches above his head.
Ah. Must be Pyrrha's. Feeling grateful for what would've been his demise, he looked in the vague direction of where he came from.
"Thank you!" Jaune yelled, hoping but not entirely certain if his voice would reach to her considering the distance of launch.
"...orry!" Came a familiar and slightly apologetic sounding voice in response.
Nodding his head, Jaune looked around, taking in the rather serene surroundings of the Emerald Forest. No Grimm just yet, but not too far off if the sporadic yelling, gunshots and explosions were to blame.
However, the Grimm wouldn't exactly wait patiently by until he extricated himself from his wooden prison, and this was still Initiation. Jaune remembered that not only did he still have to survive, but to fight his way past opposing Grimm – and race against others – to bring back relics from ruins deep within the forest. If he did not, then there was no succeeding and he would fail the test.
And with going back to see his family at that point, especially with nothing to show for all the trouble, he'd take death by Grimm over that any day of the week.
Jaune twisted himself around, planting his feet on the tree trunk and gripped the spear with both hands, he gave it a mighty pull, looking like an awkward squat perpendicular to the ground.
It budged barely an inch.
"Damn, it's wedged in pretty thick." He tried pulling a couple more times, until giving up and letting himself hang limp.
Maybe I should cut off the top of my hood?
…
Nope. This was a limited edition sweater that I won in a prize from the cereal box. I'm not going let this get ruined!
He glanced back up to the spear.
…any more than it already is.
Fortunately for Jaune, as he began contemplating the likelihood he'd win another one in unblemished condition, two familiar faces popped into view from a short distance away, one of which who immediately broke out into a grin upon seeing him, other a slight frown.
"Hey Jaune!"
"Hmph."
"H-hey, Ruby…"
Face burning with embarrassment, he squirmed around uselessly a little more before shrugging and offering a timid smile.
"You alright up there? Must've been a painful fall with the spear and all that."
"Oh I'm alright. Just, ahem, hanging out."
Ruby formed something between a pout and an amused grin. "Ugh, you sound like Yang! I don't need to hear that from you too!"
Weiss sighed and stepped forward before Jaune could make a proper retort to that. She looked up at him with mild annoyance before glancing back at Ruby. "You two need to stop bantering so loudly. We do not have time to waste, especially considering the Grimm which are most likely on their way."
She fully turned back to Ruby. "Let's go."
"Wait! We can't just leave him here! He'll become food for the Grimm!"
"Ruby…" Another sigh. "We are taking a test to enter a school which teaches their students more than just the basics of fighting Grimm. How can him, or anyone for that matter, expect to become a Huntsman, much less pass when he can't even get down from a tree like this?"
Said words silenced Ruby, and more so Jaune himself. The blonde looked at Weiss, who looked back not with an expression of disdain or annoyance, but rather one of disappointment. It simultaneously motivated him to yank out the spear to prove her wrong, yet with the truth presented in such a harsh way, he could only stop and stare.
"I'm sure Pyrrha will come by and collect her weapon later. Until then, we need to go. And go we must now." Weiss spared him one more glance and turned on her heel, walking deeper into the forest. Ruby looked torn between helping Jaune and following Weiss and offered an apologetic half-smile.
"Jaune... I can't just abandon you here, but she's now my partner and all that, and –"
"Do you…have any spots left on your team, Jaune?"
Jaune and Ruby whipped their heads to look at the source of the question, who had a slight and somewhat playful grin tugging at the corners of her lips.
"Welp! You're saved, Jaune!" Ruby chirped happily before running in the direction of where Weiss left them. "See ya!"
"See you! Heh." Jaune weakly raised a hand up in farewell before lowering it and looking back down at Pyrrha, who came up to stand below him, arms crossed and standing indulgently.
"Or is Team Jaune no longer accepting applicants?"
The leader of said unofficial team pouted, looked away and crossed his arms in response.
"Very funny."
Maybe this isn't the end after all.
He looked back down at her and smiled back.
===/\===
Pyrrha was quite glad, if not a little worried for her newfound teammate.
It comforted her to know that they both would be stuck together for the next four years as students here at Beacon. Out of all the people who she met since coming to Beacon, she would be stuck with the one who didn't praise her as some sort of untouchable goddess. Sure, he recognized her upon Weiss telling him of her fame. Yet instead, after that went back to his own self – acting with his own brand of dorky and goofy.
But as happy as she was, she also knew that her instincts never lied. After all, a renowned fighter with poor judgment does not make, and unfortunately, she knew for a fact that Jaune was perhaps lacking in the same field. And it wasn't just because he was no champion either.
The way he moved about as they were walking through the forest attested to that. How he carried himself no doubt spoke at some level of training, but it was sloppy and he tended to get easily distracted by the little things – a branch in the face here, thorny brush here elicited quiet, angry mutters from the blonde.
And yet she was scared to say anything and drive him away. She was worried of losing who perhaps may be her first true friend since coming here.
But…how do I break this to him?
Pyrrha's mental inquiry was soon answered when she heard a particularly loud thwack and grunt behind her, turning to see Jaune tripping out of a particularly dense thicket of shrubs.
"Jaune!"
The blonde gave an embarrassed grin from his earthen seat. "It's okay. Just a scratch."
Pyrrha felt content to let it go and help him up, but she stopped just short of offering her hand after taking a closer inspection at his face.
"Why didn't you activate your Aura?"
"Huh?"
"Your Aura," Pyrrha repeated, the seeds of doubt and dread beginning to grow.
"Gesundheit."
"Jaune," She narrowed her eyes slightly. "Do you know what Aura is?"
"Uh, pfft. Yeah, of course I know what Aura is." He levelled another camera – winning smile at her. "The manifestation of our soul and all that, right?"
An eyebrow raised. "Yes, that's right. And when we call upon such energy, we can use it to give us strength, or to be a shield against the attacks of our enemies." She pointed to a small bleeding cut on Jaune's cheek. "It also speeds up our healing."
Jaune's smile dropped as he lightly traced a finger over the cut. "Heheh, well, I mean, it doesn't hurt at least?" He tried for another grin, albeit with much less enthusiasm.
Pyrrha gave him a look, which, she was sure, told him exactly how she felt about it.
Jaune's smile died again.
"I guess there's no point trying to hide it any longer, eh?" He scratched the back of his head as he looked away in barely concealed shame. "I don't have my aura unlocked. I…wasn't the best at fighting, with my dad seeing that after a couple of spars. He refused to continue training me since then, along without unlocking my aura to try and dissuade me from doing something stupid."
He looked back up at her. "But hey, I'm here now. That's what counts, right?"
Pyrrha gave him a patient smile and stepped up to him, putting her hands on his jaw.
"Close your eyes. Concentrate and listen to the words which I'm about to say."
"Uh, okay." Jaune closed his eyes, and Pyrrha followed suit.
Back in Sanctum, they were taught the basics of unlocking others' Aura, and the importance of harnessing its power through a mantra, words of which differed individually as they represented a person's innermost thoughts and beliefs. Though she never unlocked another's before – that was left to the teachers – she remembered the lessons well enough along with her words.
Well. It's now or never.
Taking a deep breath, she drew upon her Aura, feeling its warmth and resilience once again rejuvenate her soul. With it, she sought to share it with Jaune, in hopes that it would perhaps spark his own and awaken.
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all."
There.
She could feel what could best amount as mere trickles of his Aura, but it was there, behind some sort of spiritual dam that just needed to be opened.
Pyrrha's brows creased in effort as she further concentrated her Aura into that feeling. "Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul,"
She began to tremble slightly.
"…and by my shoulder, protect thee."
An intense wave of dizziness and exhaustion overtook her, and she nearly collapsed onto Jaune, save for her reflexes jutting an arm out onto his chest to steady herself. Blearily, she opened one eye to see Jaune glowing an intense white light before she fell back and saw nothing but darkness.
===/\===
…
Huh…what?
Oh. Oh no…I'm not dead, am I? Did unlocking my Aura somehow kill me?
The questions began to assail Jaune as he opened his eyes upon quite literally feeling the presence of Pyrrha and the world around him seemingly vanish into thin air, being replaced with only darkness.
His questions were immediately answered for him as what could ostensibly be called the horizon slowly began to brighten, revealing what appeared to be three blazing forms of the purest and vibrant looking red, blue and green light Jaune had ever seen. Said forms raced across the void, leaving behind trails of their respective colours before spinning together around him; overtaken by the brilliant display, it almost reminded him of the spinning light display his mother put up for his youngest sister's bedroom, but ethereal.
"Whoa…"
It was above him that they collided, and the back of Jaune's left hand began burning fiercely under his glove. He had no time to take it off and check it out, for his vision was soon blinded by bright light.
===/\===
He awoke and sat up to see a large field, shrouded in falling rain, illuminated only by the occasional flashes of lightning. He could barely make out the silhouette of a small farmhouse on a hill in front of him, and the outline of a forest further beyond.
What…? Where am I?
His questions were soon answered by the loud whinny behind him, revealing a large man with eyes of the purest evil atop and equally evil looking steed. Jaune gulped audibly as his sneer turned in his direction, and he spoke with a powerful, gravelly voice.
"Ay yos Ganondorf, Gerudo malhyro. Hyron rayyrdryu vryalre ay!"
A veritable wave of fear froze Jaune to the spot and left him helpless as the man summoned a ball of crackling energy and hurled it towards him, screaming as it made contact.
"AAAAAGH!"
===/\===
All that Jaune could hear was ringing, the pain of the…vision somehow all very real yet leaving no trace behind at all.
However, it soon gave way to echoes, as if in a cave. Jaune cautiously opened his eyes, subtly preparing to scream in case of another sudden attack, but instead, said sounds would be replaced by a loud gasp as he took in the scene before him.
Jaune took in perhaps what would be the first time seeing someone killed before his very eyes: two young men with fiery red hair, one fair skinned and the other brown and tan. However, it was more so the sight of the former having driven that familiar sword through the latter's chest, crying as he did so, with the other comforting him and smiling softly which caused him to stop in shock.
He closed his eyes again.
Make it stop.
Please…make it stop!
===/\===
"Please…no more. No more."
Jaune was awash with fear, shock and a multitude of other emotions that also raged in a confusing thunderstorm within his heart. To say he was just one of any of those would've been a gross understatement, except that they all worked in tandem to inhibit the control he had over his senses.
He could at least tell that there was no more cave in front of him. The sounds of the previous visions have long faded away, only to be replaced by the empty, silent void and a small, brightly lit green hill in front of him.
Brightly lit because of the three golden triangles floating softly just above it, radiating a powerful holy aura that Jaune could almost swear as if he felt it before; it was if he discovered the origin of traces of a feeling he could only feel within the deepest corners of his mind.
The back of his left hand began burning fiercely once again.
Wait…of course!
This time he ripped off his glove to discover the sigil of the three triangles once again, outline glowing faintly. Jaune looked up and put two and two together.
Rationality thrown aside and consumed by the desire to claim all of it, he ran towards the glowing artifact, only to stop as a lone figure in black stepped into view from behind it wielding that Gods – damned familiar sword, glowing a furious pale blue light.
Fear. Desperation. Anger.
Longing. A desire for simpler times…
The onslaught of emotions did little to help him as he stumbled back, holding Crocea Mors with a shaky grip out as if it would be enough to ward off his evil counterpart. Dark Jaune raised his sword in reply, the back of his fist beginning to glow with the counterpart to his own symbol, half the bottom right portion a murky black.
His hand began to burn a little more intensely as in response to him seeing it, though oddly enough despite the overwhelming sense of fear the burning gradually subsided to an indescribable warmth that, though weak, comforted his soul and gave him the drive to at least bend his legs in a fighting stance.
I…
I'm scared.
But…I need that! Whatever those magic floating things are, I-I can't let him stop me now!
He considered simply charging him out of desperation until a deep growl behind him caused him to turn around in alarm instead. A golden wolf with one eye missing and the other a baleful red pierced into his own, calmly sitting before opening its mouth as if to speak.
"A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage."
The weathered baritone voice echoed throughout his mind with a sense of finality and judgment as Jaune turned back around to see his echo rush him with blade poised to kill.
Okay, Jaune. Okay – hah...hah. Breathe. Remember your training.
Looks like he's going to swing there -
As soon as he got within striking distance, Jaune quickly moved his sword to try and block the oncoming strike –
And sapphire eyes widened as it proved a feint, the glowing blade twisting in such a way as to disarm him and send Crocea Mors spinning into the void. The glowing red eyes of his counterpart seemed all the more annoyed as he brought his blade up to rush his throat and slash it open.
If the white light didn't blind him, then the scalding pain and spray of crimson blood surely did.
===/\===
"…ne? Are you okay? Jaune, wake up!"
"Ack…hrnghh!"
No more evil dark twin. Instead, he was replaced by a pretty young woman of red hair and emerald eyes, of which were twisted in concern and quite close to his face as she held her hands to his neck to check for a pulse.
"I…whoa! Pyrrha!"
"Gah!"
Unfortunately, Jaune's answer to her question consisted of a knee jerk reaction to sit up and bonk her head, of which she fell to her own backside slightly dazed, while he fell back down and unconsciousness threatened to take him again.
Gods…if this is your way of bringing me back then maybe think twice on how to do it, because I probably won't even survive the 'waking up' part.
Sighing heavily, he fluttered his eyes open and stared at the peaceful and most importantly actual sky before sitting up and checking on Pyrrha, who was slightly red, sitting up and looking at him worriedly while panting slightly.
"Jaune, are you alright? You passed out as soon as I unlocked your Aura."
"I mean, I think so?" He quickly patted himself all over and checked if his weapons and gear was secure. "Nothing feels broken, and…oh!"
He ran a finger over where the cut was and found no trace of blood or broken skin. Instead, looking at his hand, he noticed his fingers glowed a faint greenish-white…along with golden light glowing out from underneath his left glove.
Jaune quickly put that hand behind him so Pyrrha wouldn't be able to see it.
"Yes, Jaune. That's Aura for you." She breathed out tiredly before standing up and offering a hand, which he gladly took.
"Its your energy which protects and heals you now. I just used my own to unlock yours. And boy," Pyrrha grinned in a slightly playful manner. "You have a lot of it."
"Wow." Jaune gazed at the faint glow surrounding his body and decided to test it by drawing his sword and moving around.
"Its hard to describe. I just feel...lighter, faster. Stronger. I feel like I could bench press a million Beowolves!"
Even the sword felt light to swing. Still not enough skill to wield it at Pyrrha or Weiss' levels, but if he could only take out one Grimm before, then he could at least take out another one or two now.
It's like a level up in a video game!
He grinned, only to remember how exactly he got the 'power up' in the first place.
Evil warlords –
Mysterious relics –
Death all around –
"A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage."
"Jaune?"
Eyes widened and Jaune shook his head, smiling at Pyrrha.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Just…thank you, Pyrrha. You don't know how much this means to me."
This time, it was Pyrrha's turn to turn red and widen her eyes as Jaune rushed in to give her a very quick, light hug.
"Um. Heh heh. No problem."
"I just do have to ask you one thing, though. When you had yours unlocked, what was it like?"
"Hmm. Well, I guess could say it was peaceful. I felt myself get stronger and sharper."
"Ah, okay. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I felt too. I feel so much better than before all this!" Jaune grinned at her while she slightly raised an eyebrow but didn't comment on it.
I don't know why but going by what she just told me it seems like maybe this wasn't exactly normal. I should probably keep that to myself for now.
"Ahem. Well. So," Jaune looked around in an attempt to change the topic, the answer of which luckily came to him in the form of another cave. "Do you think that's it?"
Pyrrha shrugged and both walked in together, Jaune quickly fashioning a torch out of a fallen branch and lighting it. Going further in with the air noticeably getting chiller, Pyrrha shrugged.
"I'm not exactly sure this is it…"
"Pfft. Please. Could you humour me for at least five mor-ah!"
Darkness once again filled the cave as Jaune tripped over, the torch doused as it fell into a small puddle of water. Muttering curses, he stood back up and dusted himself off.
"Ow."
A sound that could've been chuckle died in Pyrrha's throat, though it was soon replaced by a contemplative hmm.
"Wait. Do you feel that?"
"What, soul crushing regret?" Jaune received a light punch on the arm.
"No. It's…warm."
"…now that you mention it, didn't it feel colder back there?"
Pyrrha tensed and strengthened her grip on her spear, Miló. "Jaune, keep your guard up. I don't think we're alone in this cave."
The blonde released a quiet but audible gulp as he unsheathed Crocea Mors and made to carefully venture further into the darkness. Part of him screamed to be cautious, or that some mysterious monster lurking in the depths would suddenly come and grab him, never to be seen again. And yet, despite that, the mental images that came with Pyrrha unlocking his Aura had perfect clarity, and he was grateful that it calmed his nerves a little.
After all, how much worse can it get?
Pyrrha whispered quietly, though the sound slightly echoed around their portion of the cave. "There's something up ahead."
Jaune snapped back to reality and focused in front of him, seeing a pale yellow light shaped like some sort of cocoon at just about his head level, floating softly in the void. He turned back around to face her, face now slightly visible against the backdrop of the cave wall.
"Please tell me that's the Relic."
"I'm not so sure. It does seem to be getting warmer by that light but be careful."
Nodding, he turned his head forward and padded forward, inspecting the light with a curious gaze before reaching out with Crocea Mors to poke it.
And then seeing entire interior of the cave brighten with dark, hazy red light as the origin of the 'relic' was exposed not as what Ozpin told them to collect, but what they had to fight against.
The scorpion – like Deathstalker hissed, the red vein – like lines on its carapace glowing as it reared in anger.
Pyrrha's eyes widened as Jaune made an astute observation followed by a tactical, quick thinking decision.
"Oh shit. Run!"
The two immediately turned on their heels and began literally running for their lives as the Grimm scorpion violently chittered and began clawing forward in an attempt to chase them. As they ran, the walls and ceiling of the cave cracked and splintered, raining dust and pebbles upon them.
Ironically enough, the ever – encroaching Deathstalker somewhat helped them from tripping as it got slowly and slowly closer, providing the bare minimum amount of light to remain running.
Eventually, Jaune followed Pyrrha around a slight bend and was immediately assaulted by the bright light of the outside world, and both made to burst into the open as the Deathstalker shortly followed suit, sending debris of various sizes and potential injury capabilities their way.
Team Jaune quickly took cover behind some trees, before emerging to face their arachnid enemy. It was easily several people long, with pincers that could crush a man and a stinger – not Relic – that could potentially pierce armour.
And Jaune wasn't exactly in the mood to test that.
"Oh. Oh boy. It's, um. Quite big."
"Jaune, watch his pincers and stinger. Whatever happens, don't let them catch you!" Pyrrha yelled as she switched Miló to its rifle mode and began running around it, taking potshots at what appeared to be its eyes.
Said eyes regarded them with enough hate to melt even the most joyful of hearts as it hissed and began stalking violently towards him.
The blonde deployed his shield as adopted a fighting stance, albeit shakily as he came to terms with the fact that the first Grimm he would ever kill would be one perhaps way too far from his league, even with Pyrrha to even the scales.
He closed his eyes.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
"A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage."
He remembered the words of the golden wolf and snapped his eyes open, staring back at it before advancing forward.
/AN\
Hey all!
A quick note before we go on with the actual authors' note: As of this chapter, Legends of Remnant (LoR) will be officially renamed to A Descendant of Legends (ADoL). I would like to address this first since I understand it might not only be a bit out of the blue, but this is also something I thought of for a while. Simply put, I didn't want my own work to be confused with other RWBYxZelda crossovers in the sense that some of the other titles can be quite similar to each other. I do not intend to slight anyone by saying that, it's just that I'd like my own work to appear distinct if others decide to search around. When I first started writing this I felt that LoR was best original fit - and it feels weird having to rename it now - but after mulling it over in my head over the past several weeks I'd rather get that done now before the story continues. From this point on, I will refer to all chapters as part of ADoL.
Originally I planned to upload this last night (19/09/19) but last minute changes in my work schedule forced me to move that to today (20/09/19), so I apologize for accidentally bamboozling anyone who checked when they saw that I updated the upload date several times. As for Chapter 5, the upload date may be slightly later than the two week minimum as school / work is beginning to ramp up. I do about half of my writing on weekends and as the months go by there are times when I have to go off for work during for weekends. At least if I'm writing for school I can take a break and focus on this. Take a break from writing to do more writing. Heh.
That being said, welcome to Chapter 4! Thank you to all who have read, favourited and / or reviewed so far. This one was a bit more fun to write than the others as it finally begins to show more of the connection between the RWBY and Zelda universes, and perhaps how they are intertwined.
To address some of the points and issues, yes, as one reviewer pointed out, consistency is indeed important. Compared to OT Jaune from the series, I decided to write him as someone who does indeed have some sort of training and experience, but one who still didn't make the cut. Since his own Aura remained unlocked for the longest time I wanted to portray him as someone who could still be impressed and awed seeing Aura enhancement in action, an almost childlike dorky wonderment as knowledge and personal firsthand experience can be quite different. Regardless, if anything was unclear then I apologize and promise to make things clearer and to keep things consistent. Thank you for pointing that out.
And to end on a more lighthearted note, I'm glad you all enjoyed the little changes here and there! Though the plot will mostly follow canon for the next little bit, the little changes in scenes compared to the OT series is a result of the little changes in characters' personalities. I won't go into too much detail on that however as I feel that would somewhat spoil the experience of seeing the changes in action, but nevertheless yes, Zelda aside this version of RWBY will not be exactly like the characters in the show.
Once again, if anyone has questions / criticism / feedback feel free to let me know, and thank you all again for reading this and the story so far.
Cheers!
The Legend of Zelda and RWBY are properties of Nintendo and Rooster Teeth, respectively.