Remnants of Tears
Ch 7: Hyrule Castle and Lurelin Village
Days had passed since Mr. and Mrs. Ren rejoined Jaune's group... and Jaune had forgotten how...hyper... Nora was. By the time they made it back to Lookout Landing, Nora had let her maniacal battle tendencies out with as many monsters as she could see. He led them to the Skyview Tower and launched them, gliding to the floating castle before landing on a piece of ground holding it in the air. Then, he went right to the Sanctum. Fortunately, King Ozpin and Queen Glynda had vacated it when the Gloom started to appear from under the castle...the crater made by Calamity Ganon was filled in with rubble. The banners with the Crest of Hyrule were tattered by the violent uplifting. Going up some stairs, Jaune picked up 5 arrows and dropped a Lizal bow for a Royal Guard's bow.
Ruby gave him a knowing look as he grabbed a Fire Fruit from his bag and threw it at one torch, igniting it, before repeating the process...and the throne slid to the side, revealing a chest in a hidden storage box. Jaune climbed out wearing the new tunic...but switched it out for the yellow dyed rubber armor.
"A precious gift...from my darling women...I can't let the monsters ruin it..." Jaune said, folding it and putting it in his pouch.
"Makes sense." Ren said, "After our marriage Nora was so happy that she hand made me a Traveler's Bow. I couldn't let it get destroyed due to my sentimentality behind it, so I have it displayed at home.
Jaune gazed up and spotted something glinting at the very top, in an opening made by rubble at the very top spire.
"Jaune... would you go this far...if I went missing?" Ruby asked, feeling very... self-conscious. She knew she wasn't as...top heavy as her sister-and that boy's kept glancing at her sister.
"I would do this for any of you. You. Yang. Pyrrha. Mipha." Jaune answered instantly, no hesitation or doubt in his words. "You all are the first to believe in me...you're the ones that matter."
Ruby grabbed his right hand before he could use Ascend through a structural beam.
"YOU DO TOO MATTER! WE FELL FOR YOU! WE'RE MARRYING YOU!" She said, an intense look in her eyes, "YOU'RE the one who struck the final blow to the Calamity! YOU'RE the one the Master Sword chose!"
"The Four Sword chose you." Jaune said with a small smile.
"True..." Ruby said, taken aback at his statement... "But none of us can get into shrines. You can."
He nodded and used Ascend to try and make up up the spire.
"You know, It's very odd that the Master Sword disappeared." Ren said, "But I bet it did so to heal from the damage he described. That sword is...unique, even among sacred weapons. Even the Bow of Light Jaune gave me doesn't give off the...presence that the Master Sword does."
"True." Ruby said, "Then there is what the Great Deku Tree said about it..." She thought back for when they had finally gotten the King of Hyrule to visit the sacred Tree...
RWBY and JNPR led the Queen and King into the Korok Forest where Glynda looked shocked at the living Tree.
"It is good to see you." The Deku tree said in it's deep, booming-yet soothing voice, "King Ozpin of Hyrule...guarded by Jaune...keeper of the Master Sword.
"Great Deku Tree. Thank you so much." Ozpin said, as he bowed his head.
The tree chuckled, "There is no need to thank me. I merely watched over the blade as it healed, waiting for it's keeper."
"You know? It's amazing that a sword can heal itself-no matter how badly damaged it becomes." Ruby noted, as Jaune drew the Master Sword from its sheathe and let it gleam in the light shining through the trees.
"It can do more than heal." The Great Deku Tree said, catching everyone's attention-the words shocking them. "The Sword will continue to gain strength if bathed in sacred power. The stronger that power, the more powerful that sword becomes. The potential of this fabled blade may very well be limitless. Truly the work of a Goddess."
"A sword...that grows ever stronger..." Pyrrha said in whispered awe.
"The Master Sword." Glynda finished, as Jaune sheathed the blade.
Jaune had found a chest with a gold rupee in an alcove as he climbed. Ascending to another alcove found him a sapphire and Royal Guard's Spear. He fused a blue lizalfos blade to his royal spear he found, and a black bokoblin horn to the Royal Guard's spear. Finally he ascended next to the break in the spire and dropped a soldier's bow and picked up the glowing bow. It was a golden tan with golden-white decals through it. It was...the Dusk Bow. A bow that was used in the Royal Family for ages...and said to have been used by a princess who fought beasts of Twilight. Giving a quick look over the bow, he noticed that it would forcefully fire arrows for long range.
He then leaped off, falling through the air and pulling out the paraglider close to his target-the Shrine outside the first basement floor floating in the air. After getting the Light of Blessing, Jaune came out to The Rens and Ruby...before putting his head in his hands and screaming into them.
"Uh oh." Ruby aaid, recognizing his frustration, "What's wrong?"
"Remember how there were about 120 Sheikah Shrines? Well there are 152 Shrines of Light!" Jaune said, "And a bunch are on sky islands!"
"152?" Ren said, "That'd be way more than needed to max out both your stamina and Aura points at 3,000."
"Yeah...About that..." Jaune said, "Having that Dark Magic Gloom forcefully seal my Aura means it's constantly trying to force itself to unlock..."
"Which means?" Nora asked.
"My Aura pools grew." Jaune said, making Ruby fall on her rear in shock, "My max Aura is now 4,000 points. 40 Hearts."
Nora raised an eyebrow at Ruby's reaction. "Why are you worried! You know what they say about men with large amounts of Aura."
They landed safely outside of the outer walls of the Castle-which was NOT floating in the sky.
"So my sister was trying to make more easy to use motorcycles for Hyrule's citizens." Ruby was explaining to Ren, "And she saw Hylian pinecones made a huge intense flame if thrown into a fire, so she thought she could make a motor oil out of it...and that's how Yang accidentally re-invented cooking oil."
"That oil has been a boon for recipes. It helps cook meat faster and add crunch to rice." Ren said, fiddling with a Soldier's Bow.
"I'm still mad she had the weapon mounts removed in our Hateno home with Jaune." Ruby pouted.
"She wanted our house to feel like a home." Jaune explained, "Not a weapon's workshop...which may I remind you is ALSO in Hateno with your weapon store?"
"But...I loved investigating all the special weapons you brought home." Ruby pouted.
"Look. I'll make you a deal Ruby." Jaune said, "Hudson is selling Dream Homes in Akkala. If we can get one, I'll try to make it mostly weapon, bow, and shield displays...but it needs a bedroom and kitchen."
"DEAL!" Ruby said excitedly, "You're the best, Jaune!"
They finally made it into the docks-finding a Korok, and started climbing up the wall...but froze when they saw a moving mass of Gloom with large, mummy0like hands with Malace eyes in the palms. Nora may be battle-hungry, but even she had a healthy fear of Gloom Hands. She had known a man on the Monster Expedition Team that was formed to eradicate Monsters that grouped up near or on pathways travelers used. He had run afoul of that creature and she had to watch as the last of his Aura was locked before it snapped his neck...and then it faded away.
She spent many weeks clinging to Lie after that. Once it vanished into Dark Clumps, Jaune remembered the Sheikah Shrine back in the Calamity and lit the torch in the docks...which made a chest appear. Opening it...revealed a Hylian Shield. They then teleported to the Castle Town ruins, gazing up at the floating castle.
"There are so many monsters to break the legs of in there!" Nora said.
"But there are also those creepy hands. The Monster Expedition team calls them Gloom Spawns." Ren said, "We don't know how many."
"All I know is that it keeps the castle out of reach...except.." Jaune said, "We should check the dining hall."
Once there, they saw the cook from Lookout Landing, writing down a recipe from a poster...a recipe that Yang made.
Crunchy Fried rice. It required oil, rice, meat, and egg. Jaune took a photo of that recipe on his Purah Pad, and then as they worked on leaving, they found a guard who let them through...into the Royal Hidden passage. Eventually, they took a wrong turn and reached a dead end...and teleported back to Lookout Landing. They soon teleported to the Skyview Tower south of Hateno looking for more shrines...and found one overlooking what once was Lurelin Village.
They saw Weiss in a white Gerudo top with white Hylian Trousers and the sapphire Tiara Jaune got her, and Blake wearing a black Gerudo top and Black Sheikah Stealth trousers and the topaz earrings Jaune had gotten her. Weiss had a traveler's sword with a Lizalfos horn replacing the blade, and Blake had the same sword Lie Ren did-an eightfold blade with a bolted-on blue lizalfos horn.
"Weiss and I tried taking them on once, but we got overwhelmed and had to pull out when our Aura was nearly depleted." Blake said, clenching her fist. "The sheer number of those monster pirates...I got sloppy. Weiss almost got hurt because of me."
"I TOLD you that we help each other. Checkmate as Ruby called it, right?" Weiss replied, gently nudging the faunus, "We heard about Yang...but it is not like Jaune to come back without her."
"Which is why he's pushing himself to recover after that Mummy sealed most of his Aura." Ruby said, making the black and white themed princesses flinch. Sealing Aura was only done to the worst criminals...and for Jaune to be subjected to that...it had to be painful.
"Plus he apparently has an arm that once belonged to a Zonai." Nora said as Jaune emerged from the shrine, "How the mummy sealed his Aura cost Jaune his arm...which the ghost Zonai gave him his physical arm to replace."
"It still feels weird." Jaune said, walking up to Blake and Weiss with a Royal Claymore whose blade had been supported by a blue Bokoblin horn.
Rozel, the village leader nearby was almost in tears.
"They've destroyed the village. It's ruined!"
Houses, the hotel, the restaurant, even the little lucky game shop had been torn apart.
"As Village Head, I should warn you to stay away...it was only through Princess Weiss and Blake's efforts that everyone escaped safely, but with their signature weapons in the Districts and Main Hyrule's weapons being decayed by Gloom-even they got overwhelmed." Rozel said.
"I remember you. You bought the house for Princesses Yang, Pyrrha, and Ruby." Bolson said as he walked up, "On my travels after retirement, I came to this little village and was moved at how they welcomed me as one of their own with open arms. If only the monsters weren't there-I could easily repair the buildings with some help."
Jaune pulled Blake, Weiss, Lie, Nora, and Ruby close.
"Okay. Tentative plan." Jaune said in a makeshift huddle, "We go around the edges first. Attract less at once. I have 12 Muddle Buds-plants from the Depths. When they hit a monster they confuse it and it starts attacking anothing around it-even other monsters. I'll use some on the more powerful monsters."
"Let's go break legs!" Nora yelled before charging down the hill, making the rest of them follow.
Jaune went to the left outskirts behind the ruined homes and slid down a well to kill a Black Bokoblin roasting glowing cave fish, before ascending out of the well. Despite Nora's charge, he could see her sticking to the plan-as the alarm had not gone off.
He quickly dispatched two Black Bokoblins near the game ruins, thankful they did not blow an alarm horn. He also was lucky to take out the horn holding Blue Bokoblin before it blew an alarm-leaving him facing a Black Lizalfos and three black bokoblins. The Lizalfos did cause a fairy to heal his Aura when it hit him in midair with a thrown stone axe, but swallowing some hylian shrooms restored the rest and he easily dispatched it afterwards.
Still, judging by the sounds, they had only gotten rid 1/3 of the pirates. Ruby impaled two black bokoblins on her spear as Ren sniped a blue bokoblin and Nora slammed her makeshift hammer onto a blue lizalfos's leg. Jaune's Royal Claymore broke and he grabbed the Eightfold Longblade with blue bokoblin horn and kept two other black bokoblins at a distance with slices of wind with each swing.
Ren turned to see Nora smash it's head next, before jumping-time slowing for him as he drew his bow-and sniped a blue bokoblin's head just as it was about to blow the alarm horn. As two black bokoblins and a black lizalfos charged towards Jaune, he threw a muddle bud in the middle of the three and leaped back, watching as they began to attack each other. Finally, only the black bokoblin with the burning stick was left of the three-which Jaune effortlessly sliced apart as his eightfold boko blade broke. He picked up the lizalfos's soldier's sword; fusing a blue bokoblin horn to it. He stopped by the only intact house-doorway borded up with boxes...and heard a villager quietly whispering for help.
Still, he couldn't expose the villager to the pirates, so he continued on his search for more monsters in the village. They couldn't see any monsters, but they could hear them.
"They have to be on the ship." Ren said.
Jaune ascended to the upper front deck of the ship and the others heard a Boss Bokoblin horn blow as Weiss was making an icy trail with a sapphire rod Jaune handed her. As they got near, there was a purple cloud of smoke from a muddle bud and the boss and multiple bokoblins started attacking each other. Getting up onto it, they saw the monsters shaking off the effects of the muddle bud, before Weiss swung her rod and froze all of them, making them easy for the others to pick off one by one.
Soon, all that was left-after Ren defeated a black lizalfos-was the Black Boss Bokoblin wielding a knight's claymore in one hand...which telegraphed it's moves too easily. After Jaune sliced that apart, they could still hear one monster left.
"Hmm...I checked a lot of places. Even found an Island Lobster Shirt in a chest in the water!" Jaune said.
Hidden by the restaurant was a blue bokoblin that Ren dispatched with an arrow to the head.
"Huh? I can't...hear the monsters anymore..." The man trapped in the house said, "Wha-The minsters are gone?!" He said, poking his head out.
The man-named Numar-then yelled. "R-ROZEL! EVERYONE! IT'S SAFE TO COME BACK NOW!"
"All of you...you destroyed the pirates!" Rozel said in shock.
"Sure the blonde may look like a strong wind will blow him over." Bolson started.
"Gee thanks..." Jaune said flatly.
"But he and the others are as solid as stone! I could tell the moment I looked at him!" Bolson finished-realizing his error.
"Good thing is that the monsters didn't totally destroy the buildings." A villager said.
"Don't you worry." Bolson said, "I'll fix up all the houses the monsters destroyed. These people's act of chivalry has lit a FIRE under me. I'm ready to get to work, baby!...Though I will need a lot of Hylian Rice and logs..."
"How can I help?" Jaune asked, shocking them again.
Bolson would need 15 logs NOT from palm trees, and 20 bundles of rice. Jaune already had 14 bundles, so he would need 6 more...which he got more than needed easily by cutting the grass-like plants around the village. There were a bunch of regular trees on a ledge above the village...though a good number turned out to be the tree monsters. Still, those monsters dropped nuts, korok fronds, occasional monster extract, whatever animal was on it, and perfectly good logs.
Jaune started using Ultrahand to move the logs together and stick them together in rows of five, before putting a row on top of the other one and attaching it.
As luck would have it...or like the Goddess Hylia planned it...there were exactly 15 mature trees and tree monsters total on that ledge. Jaune grabbed onto the logs with Ultrahand and walked them down the slope next to Bolson. Once he made sure there were 15 logs, Jaune handed him 20 bundles of Hylian Rice.
Bolson quickly got to work making the foundations for each building-the main support the rest would be built on.
"We should probably start with the restaurant." Weiss pointed out, that way we can more easily feed the villagers.
"I'll need the log of a straight palm tree to made a central pillar." Bolson pointed out, "and I have no way of fitting it in."
Jaune glanced at his Zonai hand.
He made a stairway from boxes and found a straight palm tree he cut down and used Ultrahand to place it straight in the foundation. Bolson eagerly went to work and quickly finished the rest of the restaurant.
"Heyyyy! Am I dreaming?!" Sebasto said.
"Wow! But it was all broken before!" His oldest son, Zuta, said.
"Look, Zuta! Our house! It's better too!" His youngest son, Kinov, added.
They had come to check on the restaurant and house upon hearing that the pirates were gone...and rewarded all of them with a tough seafood fried rice. Jaune could see Weiss playfully roll her eyes at her girlfriend as Blake's mouth watered. Even without SON in his name, Bolson acknowledged Jaune as a fellow "Beast of Construction".
"We should probably fix the hotel in case visitors start filtering in once word spreads farther." Ren added, giving them their next target. The inn was known for using herbs to help soothe aching muscles. The frame and pillar were fine on it...but it filled with water. Bolson could easily get rid of the water, but there was also debris that would clog up the door if they used it to empty it...and it was too deep to just pick up normally.
As the temperature got into the 90s, with no monsters around, Jaune changed his top into the archaic tunic to better feel the ocean breeze to cool off... this had the effect of showing off his "new arm" to Blake and Weiss.
Jaune gave no sign of hearing the gasps...just climbed onto the top of the inn and used Ultrahand to pick out rubble; using ice fruit to made ice platforms to pick up two really deep pieces of debris. Bolson then finished rebuilding the inn.
Right after he was finished, Chessica-the owner- arrived back from the Gerudo region-giving them 5 Voltfruit.
Next they worked on rebuilding the house of the village head...which also was where Bolson had been staying. It needed the same thing the restaurant did. Once the straight palm log was in, Bolson finished repairing the house. This got them 3 armored porgy.
This continued for the lucky treasure chest game and the last damaged house, earning 5 bomb flowers and a purple rupee.
The whole Lurelin Village...was fixed.
The villagers soon prepared a feast for everyone and started it as the sun set.
"I truly thought Lurelin Village was gone. I never thought...I'd live to see the day we could all laugh together again like this. This moment right now...is thanks to all of you." Rozzel said... before declaring the heroes "Saviors of Lurelin Village"...and those titles came with..."perks". A free bed at the hotel anytime, free food at at the restaurant, and even the treasure chest game was free.
"Everyone...you...you don't need to...I...I just wanted to make things right with this village..." Jaune said, nearly falling over in shock-being caught by Nora.
"It's the least we can do for our saviors!" Rozzel said, "We may not be a rich village, but we are known for our hospitality. For your actions, you're all fellow members of the village-it's only fair to treat you as such."
"Thank you..." Ruby said, also having more words escaping her. Never in her fairy tales had heroes been rewarded like this. Bolson started doing his old "Bolson Construction" dance (now called Lurelin Revival Dance) with the young kids joining in as a few tears escaped him from the hospitality a "wanderer" like him got for just repaying their kindness.
As the future Huntresses and Huntsman rested and feasted, they all felt the warmth of the village that got Weiss to stay (despite the temperature) with her fish-loving faunus girlfriend in Lurelin.
In the morning, they would continue searching for Shrines to heal Jaune...but for now they could enjoy the peace brought back to a once destroyed village.