Alright, so here we are. I originally wrote this a bit ago, but I decided to go back and rewrite some of the chapter. I think I'm going to go back to the earlier chapters and try to polish them up a little more. With that being said, I do NOT own Pokémon or RWBY and they belong to their respective owners.
The soft and cool wind that blew throughout the world was a rather comforting feeling while the night sky was illuminated by the stars that brilliantly shined above, a contrast to the veil of darkness that lingered both above and around. Their vivid and dotted design scattered above, a similar scene to the night skies of the World of Remnant.
Below them in a small clearing, came a brighter light that formed from a nearby campfire, the camp itself surrounded by the marvelous greenwoods that shielded it from view, the only sounds emanating from the camp being the cackling of the flames as well as the occupants of the camp themselves, both resting for the night.
One of them, a man who was lost in his work, blue eyes focused on his writing and scribbles with a pen in hand that met and etched into a notebook of sorts, his mind busy documenting his current excursion within another unexplored acre of the mysterious, strange and, in his humble opinion, backwards world of a literal fairy tale. While writing, the man would stop to look up, inspecting and scanning the surroundings, knowing the dangers of the world he fell about a decade or so ago. His gaze then turned to another creature, one of light brown and white fur, its head adorned with antlers that resembled a tree that served as its crown of bone with its rabbit-like ears lowered as it slept.
The man smiled, the giant jackalope creature that had saved his life not even three weeks ago now, was safe and sound. He had recalled the event, how he had been left to die, betrayed by the people he thought he could trust and tried to protect. 'And so the Rusted Knight drank the poison' he thought to himself, not only bitterly but amused, how blinded he was not to recall the knights fate in that "Story" from his childhood. His thoughts moved on from lingering about the siblings that left him to die, again focusing on the beast that had saved him and as since stayed by his side. A gentle creature that seemed to have a desire to stay by his side.
The man gave a small chuckle, his mood lifted a little as he returned to his work.
Minutes began to pass, the man noding to himself, re-reading and finishing his notes before placing both the pen down on the dirt he rested on and closed the notebook with approval. Another log completed, another one to go tommorow. The man felt a sensation of exhaustion, having closed his eyes while he thought about his current predicament. His hand moving to a shaggy beard of blond hair while he entangled his fingers into it. It would seem that this may well be just another dead end.
Reaching beside him, the mand grabbed for his weapon, one that was as rusted and aged as the armor he wore, both of them decayed by time and broken by battle, the blade itself being the worst of them both as beyond the mere painting of rust that coated the once proud blade of his family name, laid a shadow of it's former glory, shattered to pieces, barely usable, but just usable enough to protect himself and survive as long as he had.
It had truly been such a long time since he fell, his appearance withered and weathered by the long decade of travel. His clothes, once in great condition, worn down and darkened slightly, not having been tended to for years of wear. His long and unkept hair, somewhat tamed by a ponytail which was made using what remained of a red sash he had worn in his late teenage years in memory of another. Without too much of a word, he pulled up the rusted blade from the ground and returned it to it's resting place, a sheathe that was in no better condition than the rest of his armory.
His mind trailed off to a different question, no longer how long he had been there but rather a question filled with some small amounts of hope. How long would it be until they fell? How long would he have to wait since he would reunite with his friends, those that fell before him, those that he hoped would not make the same mistake he had made upon landing here.
That cursed fruit, that clock-like fruit, a mistake he had made that had cost him so much more than he thought it would. He didn't recount too much about it, only his confusion in trying to understand the odditiy of it to begin with, which swiftly turned into fear as the world around him reversed, sending him back further into the Ever After's past until in a final bit of desperation he brought down his sword upon the clock-like fruit and stranded himself, left only with a broken clock and it's barely audible and broken final ticks of life.
And since then, he had waited, waited for his friends, waited the time he was given out to try and help his friends. He became such a weary and broken man since then, the looked up towards the night skies of the mysterious world of the Ever After now, questioning why anyone would truly like a character he was destined to become. A part in a story, a fairy tale, known simple as the Girl who Fell.
It was a story many believed was a fantasy, but he knew the truth of the events, he lived it in fact. The irony of that idea, how it was just a mere fairy tale, oh how right they actually were. the story itself was not merely just a fairy tale, but an exageration of the truth. Written by an author without a known name to be given. Yet he had his suspicions of who it was.
The tale about a young girl, a petulant child that had to lie and cheat her way to survive, who was smart, kind-hearted but did what she had to do to escape. In reality it was not the girl who was kind or clever but rather the brother she fell into this world with, a brother written out of the story by the girl who probably escaped. He had hoped he was wrong, but he couldn't help but see that something was wrong.
Their names where Alyx and Lewis, two children who fell from Remnant and only one was ever remembered. What happened to them when they abandoned him, why wasn't Lewis mentioned, was this another one of his mistake, had Alyx fallen so far into her distrust for them that she wrote her only brother out of the story?
He didn't know, he couldn't know. The only one who could've known was either, Alyx: the girl who poisoned him, Lewis: the boy who fearfully followed her, and the curious cat, a creature he became uneasy around, a creature that spoke in riddles, leading to more questions than answers, and answers that were more half-truths than not.
And what of him, the fourth member of their little group, he was left behind, perhaps because it was fate, or perhaps because he was blinded to it. He, the fabled and heroic Rusted Knight. The man who saved and protected Alyx, who trained and taught her, who the writter refered to as a kind, brave and strong soul. A character that not only radiated hope and what it meant to be a true hero, said to have been inspired by the greatest of huntsman of that time, but even motivated a younger Pyrrha Nikos to become a huntress, a fact that his partner had told him once before the Vytal Festival.
There was a certain kind of irony for all of that. It was an irony that seemed to kick him over and over again, how he was a fool who wanted to be like his anscestors, to hold up the qualities of the fantasized version of himself, who was only alive because he had inspired his partner to become a huntress to begin with.
He dreaded what would happen if she never arrived in Beacon, he would've no doubt died before initiation even began. He chuckled at that, it would've been his only true failure he supposed, instead of letting it grow, letting it fester, the more depressed and self-loathing mindset came to the front, memories of his past life flared before him. All of his past failures, the past scars he could never truly recover from, his gaze turning to the flames of the fire, a gaze that held anger and discomfort. He was not a man fond of the flames, it brought back memories he wish he never had, a mad woman who would burn many for her own ambitions, not knowing if she would one day be burned by that very force she held onto so dearly.
How he wished for Cinder Fall to burn, the very woman who not only killed the young woman he grew to truly love too late, but who confessed to him, moments before she faced the Spring Maiden and fell before her, leaving him with only broken weapons and hearts of him and his team. Much like Alyx and her group, he had been a part of another group, one he was tasked to lead. Memories filled him of the four young students of Beacon Academy, a young woman with red hair, so humbled and skilled, placed upon a pedistal she desperatly sought to escape from, wanting to find happiness as a normal human and not some celebrity or "Goddess of Victory" as the people so often called her.
Beside her was another girl, one with short orange hair, a bubbly personality, filled with energy, compasion, who was ready to fight and would charge head first, someone who would do what she could to help her friends, the friends who became her family. Beside her was a young man, with raven hair and a streak of magenta to match his eyes. A contradition to his own partner, the orange-haired young woman to be sure. The young man was often the voice of reason, someone who was mostly composed, wise, cleavor, much like how he pictured a brother would be. No, that young man was his brother, just as the orange-haired girl was his sister, and in a better world, that red-haired woman could've been something more.
And him, he had to chuckle bitterly at how things had truly turned out for him. He was a failure, a fraud, a fool who thought he could become a hero, who thought he had to live up to the family name, his family's legacy. So blinded by that foolish dream he ran away from home with his family's sword and next to no training to become a hero of his own right.
He was Jaune Arc: son of Nicholas Arc and Isabelle Arc. Brother to seven sisters, leader of Team JNPR, former student of Beacon and the ever-loved and renowned Rusted Knight.
Jaune had time to reflect on his life, the memories, the moments, of both his past and optimistic future, or perhaps the not-so-optimistic future he should say. He had traveled Remnant, made friends and enemies along the way, faced plenty of rough times, and shared plenty of good times as well. Yet now, here he was, stranded in a world with no idea how to return, a world in which he didn't belong in. Bt his side was the jackalope who saved him, Juniper he called her, in memory of his first and former team. Closing his eyes, he began to feel tired, having searched for a way back to Remnant now for quite a bit, hoping that once he did, he could unite with Team RWBY, and together they could return home to be back with their friends and families once again.
With that final hope in his heart, the Rusted Knight allowed his exhaustion to overtake him, falling asleep where the last thing he saw was the now dwindling flames of the campfire.
Morning must's have come earlier than he thought, or the flames grew brighter than before, the sudden sensation of something nudging into him frantically as well as the sudden brightness that sought to blind him was enough for him to stir and reawaken in the world around him. With a slight groan of annoyance, he felt another nudge, groggily pushing back against whatever it was before feeling the fur that flinched away from his touch.
By this point, Jaune fully opened his eyes, looking at what was trying to wake him and saw the silhouette of Juniper, the creature looking at him with a sense of fright, no doubt having woke him for a good reason. The light began to die down as Jaune frowned and stood up, now fully aware that something was amiss. Looking around, he quickly turned to the "Flames" he thought were still burning brightly, what he thought was the original source of the light. However it was clear to him that it was something altogether different.
The flames where extinguished, their charred ashes and burnt wood left in the pit as a smaller golden light illuminated the camp instead. Juniper was spooked at whatever it was, Jaune however was cautious. Surviving in this strange land, he learned several things that could happen. Be wary of anything that seems off he had told Alyx and Lewis time and time again. With Crocea Mors pulled and his sheathe unfolding to become a shield to protect himself with, Jaune slowly and carefully approached the strange light.
Step by step, he advanced to the fire pit, and with each step he took the more the light seemed to die down. Standing above the pit, shield still fully deployed and sword firmly in his grasp, he dared to look down into the small hold, the light was now fully out, and yet burried in the kindle, he could perhaps see something was inside.
It was a small object of some sorts, resting in the firepit, his gaze turned to Juniper, who looked confused and frightened, now beside him and trying to perhaps reassure him herself. Looking back down, he noticed whatever it was still remained. With some uncertainty, Jaune reached down, hoping to see just what it was, his sheild folding back, and his sword once again resting within it.
Grasping it, he turned his hand to inspect it, the burnt ashes of the wood brushed off to better examine the strange item he had just claimed. It seemed to be made of some sort of gold, it took the form of a small ring that resembled some sort of cross. An X was clearly visible, four spikes at each end of the ring with two golden arcs that stood against the other, turned inside to give the strange ring it's unusual shape. Within the ring itself, small gems that looked like green crystals decorated it, for a solid minute or two, both Jaune and Juniper stared, captivated by the unusual item.
Time passed, and nothing seemed to happen, but Jaune continued to examine it, confusion forming on his face. It was not something he expected to find, it was nearly weightless, unusually so. The spikes on the edges looked sharp but rubbing his finger against them, he was surprised at just how blunt they actually where. The ring itself was clearly not normal, his eyes narrowing as he could easily sense something within the strange ring.
'I never seen something like this' he thought, the ring appearing to be more magical than man made. A fearful thought came to mind, the ring's design, it's appearance, the feeling around it reminded him of one of the relics from the brother gods than anything else. Immedietly he dropped it, his first instinct to simply throw it back into the firepit and burry it as soon as he could. He was already in some other world, in some other time, he wasn't going to take another unnecessary risk, not after that mysterious clock fruit. However, before he realized it, the ring began to glow, and pulsed with a strange energy.
Jaune froze on the spot, as did Juniper, with a sensation of incredible power filling the area as the ring's briliant glow covered the gold design, the light beckoned him, called for him, a familiar sensaton to this coming to mind, recalling how it resembled the time he fell from the worlds, landing in the Ever After to begin with.
"No" Jaune's horrified whisper echoed out like a thunderous roar. He tried to run, tried to turn and resist. Desperatly making his way away from the ring's grasp and the cover of the golden light. "No, no, no!" Jaune all but sceamed again, the light expanding and exploding in a gyser of raw power that illuminated the campsite and surrounding greenwoods, gathering the attention of several eyes.
One of which was that of a cat most curious.
Making it's way to the light, it raced it's way though the trees before the light suddenly vanished. Still, the creature continued, wondering what was happening. As it entered the clearing, it stopped in it's tracks, looking confused itself at what it was seeing. "What in the world?" it pondered aloud, seeing the campsite now deserted. "What is all of this?" he asked himself before looking into the pit, nothing but ashes remaining. His head however turned to something on the ground, a frown forming on it's face as it made it's way to the nearby notebook.
Reaching for the book with its paw, the Curious Cat placed its paw on it, flipping the cover open and seeing the words on it. 'A notebook?' it thought to itself as it read a little of its contents before realizing whose it belonged to. 'Jaune's notebook, it seems... So, he did survive Afterall. And here I thought that poison Alyx snuck into his drink would've been the end of him' it though, somewhat amused. It also means something else. Yes, if dear little Alyx couldn't help him escape the Ever After and into Remnant, then perhaps Jaune could take it instead. He should still be weakened, perhaps it could use that weakness to its advantage. Always wanting to play the hero, and all.
But that lead to the question. If this was Jaune's notebook then where was Jaune, and what was that light.
Questions began to fill the feline's mind, all while theories began to turn. Did Jaune perhaps, ascend? Was that light something important. Blue eyes narrowed, 'Did he... could he have returned to Remnant?!' the cat thought in sudden fear turned to anger as its claws extended and pierced the cover of the notebook. No, that couldn't have been it, could it? Whatever that light was, he was sure it was something to do with the tree, or perhaps, something to do with its creators.
It was making him curious, so very curious. And nothing more now seemed to annoy the cat than its own curse of curiosity.
Alright, the Chapter 01 rewrite is finished, and I hope you all enjoyed it. I'll try to write longer chapters and polish up the rest of the story, I think I finally got over my writer's block now so I'll be uploading new chapters when I can.
