Whenever a new Heroic Spirit is summoned, it always calls for celebration. After all, that not only meant additions that will bolster their numbers and defense of humanity, but that also meant another legendary figure for others to learn and exchange blades with.
But Chaldea was no stranger to odd peculiarities that sometimes happen. Figures of legends from places beyond even Earth make their way there, recorded and allowed to manifest in some shape of form. So long as a connection was made, such figures will appear. It was only a matter of time and patience.
For today, it was expected that they would have four new additions to the roster with the last one still on the way last heard the Ruler-class Servant, Jeanne d'Arc.
She was currently walking the hallways of Chaldea, there was wide activity there with pretty much all of the Heroic Spirits having physically manifested here. From what she had heard, none of the new ones were of any region here on Earth. Despite that, there was a certain familiarity about them that the only conclusion that had been made was that they were an equivalent of one in from far off place.
Loud conversations were heard. It was dominated by a male voice that Jeanne recognized as belonging to the Rider, Achilles. He must have met with one of the new Servants here.
When Jeanne turned to see who it was, she paused. There was something strange about the new Servant. Red-colored hair and wearing bronze, everything about her gave off a feeling of being similar to Achilles. But that wasn't what got to Jeanne. No, it was that feeling that she had met this new girl before.
"Oh." The new girl recognized Jeanne's presence. "Hello again!"
"H-hello." Jeanne stuttered.
"Right," the girl replied. "Memories being hazy, probably don't recognize me. Pyrrha Nikos, Lancer."
"I see." Jeanne nodded. She looked to Achilles for answers who only smiled back. He was like an excited puppy right now. "Jeanne d'Arc. And how are you finding Chaldea?"
"It's great actually," Pyrrha replied cordially. "I'm being given a tour by my… older brother?"
"Yeah!" Achilles sounded so happy at the sound of that. "Anything bad happen to you and you just come to me! Let big brother Achilles handle it for you!"
Pyrrha Nikos appeared rather bashful. "You might want to meet the others, Jeanne. The other two are in the cafeteria."
"O-oh, thank you." Jeanne walked past the two. But she had to do a double take on that Pyrrha girl.
In the cafeteria there was another conversation that was had. That one was dominated by a different voice, one that Jeanne vaguely recognized.
"… Nora Valkyrie," that voice said. "We're going to get along so much together!"
When Jeanne caught sight of who she assumes to be Nora Valkyrie, she saw that Valkyries being trapped in one of the strongest-looking hugs to ever grace this side of Chaldea. Considering the current occupants, that said a lot.
"Must be quite the sight seeing her like this," said the voice of EMIYA from the kitchens. He was busy preparing the meals along with the other culinary-oriented Servants. Jeanne saw a new one in green among them. "What must your partner be like to have her be a Berserker, Ren was it?"
"What do you mean?"
"She has Madness Enchantment being a Berserker? That usually means that there is some kind of madness that had occurred to her." EMIYA sounded confused. Jeanne felt that too. Shouldn't that be common information?
"Does she? That's just Nora as far as I can see. She's always been like that. I'd argue she got tamer to be honest."
"Jeanne!" Nora's voice was deafening. Jeanne felt herself momentarily stunned. It didn't feel like a skill. The girl pretty much flew towards Jeanne, arms open wide, leaving behind Valkyries gasping for air. Holding Jeanne up in the air, Nora turned to Ren. "Renny! We're back together again!"
"Nora." Ren shook his head. "Put her down." Nora followed suit but it didn't stop her from bouncing. "Sorry, you'll have to forgive her. You could say that we met before. Assassin, Lie Ren. This is Berserker, Nora Valkyrie."
"Oh." Jeanne nodded in understanding. They must have met a copy of her then.
"When do you think he'll be here?" Nora asked. "I really can't wait."
"Well he should be next. That reminds me, Jeanne. You might want to be there. Master should be waiting for him too."
Nora never stopped shaking Jeanne's hand… or Jeanne herself, it was hard to tell. "Let's all catch up together. Honestly, first one to go and the last one to arrive. Who does that?"
"Nora there is no stopping who gets to…"
Jeanne left the two of them to their own… thing. It seemed to be a common occurrence between them. Chaldea has seen stranger, certainly.
But still, that left that one more individual.
The bright light was seen from the end of the hallways, Jeanne simply followed it. With the other three having seemed to recognize her, she already had a feeling that this one would as well. There were four after all that responded to the call. Three had already been accounted for.
Master was there in the corner, exchanging greetings with the new arrival. When said new arrival was about to proceed towards the cafeteria, he paused at the sight of Jeanne.
Unlike the others whose appearance was that of a glorious and golden age, his was an armor of rust. He had a broken blade that had been sheathed on his back. There was a peace to him. One who had been hardened by the times yet kept that hopefulness youth to him.
He spoke to her saying, "Hey." His voice sounded familiar. It carried a nostalgia that Jeanne was certain that she had to have had felt is somewhere before. But it couldn't be. She never met him before now. Never in her life had she met this rusted knight.
"H-hello?" Jeanne had no certainty in her voice. Yet, she could feel that happiness growing inside her.
"Right." He chuckled. He removed his helmet, revealing a blonde-haired man with blue eyes. Jeanne widened her own eyes at the sight of him. "You probably don't know me quite as well, huh, big sis?"
Something inside of her stirred. Her hands began to shake. She could not help the upward curving of her lips.
"Jaune Arc," he said. "Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue—"
"Ladies love it," Jeanne completed. It was as though she had heard it many times before. From a life different from this one.
Jaune, whatever his Servant class was, only smiled. He cleared his throat. "I've never been before. So I may not know my way around here."
"It's fine," Jeanne replied, unable to hold back her own smile. She reached out her hand and gestured him to walk with her. "Just follow my lead, Jaune. I-I think we have much to talk about."
AN: With that, I finish it here. I've got to say, didn't expect it would go in this direction. Also while I do have another fic in mind already, I intend to finish (or come close to finishing which should be around late February to early March) "New Staff of Beacon Academy" first before that, given the nature of it compared to other fics I've had posted thus far.
To the curious, it is a RWBY/Fate xover where I managed to gain enough courage (or lost enough sanity, could be both) of giving a Holy Grail War a shot. It already has it's own roster.