His voice sounded confused.
Disbelieving.
A hole had burned out the center of the chest of his flashy golden dress shirt, revealing glowing red (didn't thathurt?) skintight armor beneath, cut low across his clavicle. Green lines thrummed like circuitry on his skin beneath the red hot scales, the top of a helix shape extending beyond the red glowing bodysuit.
Definitelya boy, despite showing off his neckline tothatextent.
Or just… an unfortunate girl flatter than Weiss was back at Beacon. (She still used pads like Ruby wouldn't see through that stuff)
"I… that's me." Ruby nodded, some strange knowledge filling her mind.
Something weird had happened,knowledge of her suddenly new body,not that of a humanor even a Faunusbut aServant, flooded through her mind.
Every detail of it, more ludicrous than the last, filled her soul, herSaint Graph.
She'd become more powerful than she'd been even after coming out of the Tree,now filled with powerfully coursing magic, separate from that of herSkill: Silver Eyes B.
Like aMaiden. But magic was… something that should have been almost nonexistent on Remnant.Who was this guy?
"Do I… do I know you? Who are you?"
"...Huh. I see… ha ha…A different Ruby Rose.But then that... I guess you're destined to be a hero no matter what, even…" The boy shook his head, standing up. "Actually, that's pretty awesome.I always knew little Ruby was special.But…that cloak…does that… So even that's…damn."
Actually where were they? The room was massive, but dark, filled with rows and rows of desks where it appeared that computers had been torn out, instead being replaced by a giant series of monitors and a massive wall of steel and circuitry.
"Please, help us. I know I… I'm… actually, I don't even know if you wouldknowJaune Arc, considering that-"
Ruby blinked, suddenly seeing a faint similarity.No. No way.
"...Jaune? You…you're Jaune?"
The boy gave her a brilliant smile, as if he'd become elated at her recognition.
"Yes! I-I am Jaune Arc! At least, the current Jaune Arc of… this reality. I assume there's some… multiversal strangeness or…timelines, even… butI am Jaune Arc." The boy assured, holding a hand over his chest, his fingers lingering over those pulsating green lines on his chest, spreading in all directions and crawling up his neck in streaks of glowing soft green techlinesreminding her of Penny. "But please, let's put questions to the sideMistral is in danger-"
"Mistral? This… isn't Vacuo?"
"Vac… no, uh, these are… gods why is the Gacha so frustrating?"
Her ears rang faintly when he spoke the odd G word she'd never heard before, sounding like the one that had cause her and-
"My friends! My team!" Rubyblurredforwards, grabbing Faunus-Jaune by the shoulders and giving him a shake. "You left them behind!"
"I'm sorry?"
His blue eyes looked soconfusedthat Ruby suddenly realized that this version of Jaune had no idea what had been on the other side, as her friends walked through the Great Tree.
"I… can you-" Ruby swallowed, realizing that she'd moved so fast she might havecrushedthis younger Jaune if she hadn't caught herself at the last second, "Can you summon the rest of my team? And…"
"...Not right now. I can't… I don'tthinkI can pull off sustaining more than one Servantright now,maybe one more, but that'll absolutely strain me beyond my current limits. B-but I promise I will… I'll use all the summon packs once I figure out a safe way to do so." The boy's eyes looked down and away sadly. "I… I promise, so please help me. You don't owe me anything bu-"
"Nope." Ruby let go of his shoulders (god this version of Jaune was oddly thin compared to the Jaune she'd always known with his big, broad shoulders), feeling a bit guilty, booping his nose, even though he was only about an inch or so taller than Ruby herself.How old was he?He was a lot shorter than she'd ever known Jaune be. "You're Jaune, so you're my friend, even if, uh. You'redifferent."
And even if it wasn'therJaune, this could be a sort of… warm up for making up toherJaune later. She'd still not had the time toproperlyapologize for exploding on him after… the incident in the Ever After. Sure she'd been sort of going through her own thing as well, but still…
"I…thank you." His eyes werefondfor some reason. Like he knew her in some manner.
Hedidseem to recognize her on sight, so something weird must have happened for Jaune to meet Ruby earlier than Beacon. A thought for later.
"So what's happening at Mistral? I'm a professional Huntress, so I can-"
Her eyes followed Jaune's finger, looking up to seeoh by the gods.
"WHAT HAPPENED?!"
"Well, we're not perfectly sure either." Jaune reached over to rapidly type and tap at the keyboard, bringing different camera shots into view… it sort of felt like she's was looking at Penny. Just a little. Which stung more than she'd admit, considering just how fresh the loss of her friend was.
Also was it was crazy just how tech savvy this Faunus Jaune was.
Her Jaune only really knew how to mess around on a Scroll, barely able to jailbreak his Scroll after following an online guide to the letter and still almost crashing it two weeks into Beacon and needing a replacement pretty quickly where he swore off ever trying to do that again.
"We're technically still not even done with the 39th Vytal Festival-"
"39th?" Ruby muttered but that would mean…Beacon hadn't fallen yet.
BEACON HADN'T FALLEN YET.
That filled her with a strange sense of excitement she couldn't describe.
The Mother Tree must have been so weird about how much time they'd spent inside the light becauseit was sending her back in time, and if time travel was involved, whoknewwhat weird things ripped backwards as a result?
Something in her comics (gods howlongwas it since she'd read a comic or manga? To have had that kind of freedom?) about time butterflies and stuff. That must have been why Jaune wasdifferentand a Faunus (somehow?) and seemed to know her before Beacon.
"-failed the assassination attempt on me, but-"
SORRY WHAT.
"-managed to take out almost all of Mistral's leadership in a single blow with a magical weapon, still. An insurgent group called theBlack Knightshelped slow the advance after robbing and distributing the wealth of the deceased Great Houses beneath the Capital, but that only bought us some time. The battle's been pitched almost two hours now, but even with all the progress we've made, we're running on borrowed time. That's why I forcibly grafted on anArtificial Magical Crestso I could summon a Servant,a Hero."
He spun in his seat, the sound of plastic wheels rolling against the metal floor.
He looked really excited as he smiled at her. That was flattering, even if Ruby hadzeroidea what any of that meant.Had she been this optimistic at fifteen?It'd only been two years ago for her, but she almost couldn't imagine it.
Things had changed so drastically in a mere two years.Gods was it all only just two years ago?
"Especially after Juniper…" Faunus-Jaune made a complicated expression. "...well he couldn't hold out in a temporary Servant body longer. He should be back soon, which means you'll get to talk to him in a bit. I'm sure that… might be an experience. If my suspicions are correct."
Juniper?Ruby's thoughts pulled away to the loyal mount that Jaune had to leave behind. Regardless,how did this Jaune know-
"Ok," Ruby pulled her cloak over her head.Another Ruby Rosesomehow existed, so it was for the best that she kept some semblance of a disguise. "Lend me a Scroll to keep contact and I'll go and help clear out the Grimm for now. I feelreally strongright now. Oh and once there's a good plan on tackling that wounded Elder Grimm, tell me."
"Oh, I can do better than that." Faunus-Jaune grinned at her, his fingers reaching outAND PULLED SOMETHING OUT OF THE EMPTY AIR.
What?!
"I can dowaybetter than that, miss future Ruby. No,Archer."
"I'm empty!" Summer called out, her green eyes looking down at her weapon, steaming despite the constant application of Ice Dust. "When's Jaune's next ammo supply getting here? I'll take his non-Dust munitions at this point!"
"Ammo shortage might take us before anything for sure." Tai joked, having slowed down his use of little Nora'sMagnhildto fire individual grenades. "The Grimm aren't exactly letting up, either. Not that they would."
"We'll end up having all the Grimm on the continent on us at this rate." Raven sighed, finally on her feet, her breath smelling of herbs. "Gods, these rats just keep coming out of the fields."
Herbal medication to help with Aura recovery rate wasexpensiveand not particularly effective. At least considering how overpriced it could be, but since with her Semblance Raven had helped bring in a pretty sizable number of reinforcements, they'd been supplied to her wife at no cost.
More of a shame it wasn't possible to just have her intake a massive amount of medication and evacuate the Capital as a whole just in case, as more than a few doses could cause poisoning. Semblances were convenient, but they all had their own downsides.
For example, Summer's own Semblance,Reversal Thorn, only had any true value if she herself was low on Aura and cost a hefty chunk afterwards, even if it was truly her absolute trump card, it felt awful that it pretty much bottomed her out afterwards. It was sort of a shame it was a last maneuver type move, and Summer had often been jealous of Raven and Tai back during Beacon as they'd both had much more active and usable Semblances..
Still the near hundred Huntsmen and Huntresses Raven had been able to ferry from Vale was nothing to sneeze at, not to mention the use ofParabellum, though they were inside the Capital as a defense force.
Summer leaned over to give her a quick kiss on the cheek to raise her spirits, her fingers lingering on Raven's jawline as she stepped over, hopping slightly, to do the same for her husband Taiyang.
"It'll be alright. I'm sure we'll be resupplied soon. We've got ammo presses in the Capital working overtime while Jaune's adding to it." Her husband smiled reassuringly. "If we have to get our hands a bit dirty until then, we'll just hold on a bit longer."
"Well-"
Not unlikeVictory Wing, when Summer had gained an upgraded body with a heightened ability to channel Aura from Dr. Polendina's research, Jaune had integrated a few upgrades to her Nikke body, mostly auxiliary in nature. Such as the ability to integrate and interact with a Scroll, causing text to flash in the corner of her vision.
North Gate breached. Calling any spare able hands to assist. Repeating outbound signal code 23-C.
"Raven? Do you have aKindred Bondto little Emerald?"
"Holy shit, Sums." Raven sighed, only half from exasperation, "The brat's secretary is fifteen. You can't still treat her like she's still ten. Yeah, even if it's not one of my clearer bonds,just barely."
"She likes it when I call her that." Summer insisted, frowning.
Emerald pretended to be cool and cold, but she was always more than willing to let Summer give her a hug and pamper her a little, even though Yang was at that age when she'd begun to find it embarrassing and would fight her and Raven off in public, even if she was a little cuddle-bug in private.
"I'm going to have to go help pull off some heat by the North Gate. The student volunteers weren't able to hold the gate, even if they have the walls defended."
"Summer, you're out of ammo."
Summer just tapped into her internal energy engine, letting green lightning crackle at her fingertips.
"I'm literally a prosthetic weapon." Summer shrugged, a small smile on her lips. Seeing Specialist Elm be sundered in two and brought back from the brink so easily was a strangely sobering reminder of that. "I'll be fine."
"You're not a weapon." Raven was the one who glared at her, grabbing her other wrist. "Don't ever say that again."
"We're Huntsmen. We all need to be weapons sometimes." Summer shook her head, "It's fine, Rae. Butthank you.Take me over to little Emerald, please."
Raven grumbled as Tai launched another grenade down below, thethump-thumpof turrets inside the walls still echoing in the background. Still she cut a portal in the air to let Summer fortify the North Gate.
"Just toss overS'morewith my ammo when it comes in." Summer spoke as she walked through the black and red swirl, briefly getting a hum of acknowledgement as she passed through mid passage. "Hey little Emerald. Holding up?"
The poor girl was sweating faintly, being worn down by the mental fatigue and stress of such a prolonged engagement, something that no amount of conditioning couldtrulyprepare her for. Still, unlike a lot of the other Huntsmen and Huntresses in training, she didn't need an extra person breathing down her neck reloading clips for the weapons they were so freely unloading for over an hour now, so there was likely less social stress adding onto the the battle fatigue.
Her magnum barked down the gap between the Great Walls of Mistral and the great half-dome of Hard Light that propelled back aerial invaders with black pulses of Gravity Dust.
"Lady Rose. I am holding." She nodded in acknowledgement, her garnet eyes flashing briefly with familiarity, "The gate below, however, has not."
Summer turned to swing an electric coated arm through a hornet-like Lancer from behind, seeing Pyrrha Nikkos (a new friend to her daughters, though she'd been a friend of Jaune's for a while, and a rather pretty girl) shoot a pair of harpy-like Razorwings, flipping the weapon around into a spear to slash a third.
None of the shots slew any of the near human sized Grimm instantly, but they were sent quickly plummeting, to be trampled underfoot by the bodies of the Grimm that were charging through the opening made below.
She could see Specialist Soline on the ground, a barricade made of sandbags and various carts and cars, holding a line, her plasma-edged gunblade cleaving through Grimm in twos and threes with the extended edge, exploding in dark silver crackles of plasma and Aura. Additional cleaving arcs of light expelled from the blade like flying guillotines.
"I-"
Summer's words were cut off as aSILVER LIGHTerupted from behind the walls of barricades below, finding her own breath cut short. Like long tendrils of white wings they scoured the flooding Grimm below creating a blockade of stone and salt.
A familiar light that warmed her to her core.
"What was that?" She heard Pyrrha question as a wave of Grimm crashed into their stonelocked brethren, crashing through as they tore their ilk apart. "Was that a Semblance?! That's amazing!"
That rumble of crumbling stone and salt was met by equally loud cheers and battlecries.
No,it wasmagic. Something heavier and harder to grasp and pull at than Aura. Something that very few on Remnant had, let alone awoke.
A small figure, cloaked in crimson, stepped past the barricade, hood drawn over their head, suited in a black bodysuit with layers of dark cherry red armor over it, suggesting a feminine form.
By the GODS that better not be Ruby.
But even at this distance, it was obvious the person was diminutive in stature, possibly shorter than her daughter who'd gone through a bit of a growth spurt of recent note.
Still she felt her heart seizewhen she saw a crimson scythe.
"Qrow!" Her brain flashed into her Scroll so hard she felt a hot line of heat scorch through her neurons as she sent a message to her Partner's Scroll, "Where's Ruby right now?!"
Almost instantly his message blipped back to her.
In front of me right now, safe at Beacon. What's wrong? They're worried about yall, won't look away from the TV.
So that they could maintainKindred Bondsin the sake of a final retreat, Qrow was stationed back on Beacon, looking after her daughters as well as the Arc children, sans Jaune. As well as Blake Belladonna, who was pretty much dating both Yang and Jaune at the same time.
Yang was a real chip of the old block.
"That can't… no." Summer bit her lip as she dropped down below, releasing a flash of green lightning. "Just make sure everyone is accounted for."
It wasn't like Jaune to drag his friends into conflict, butsomeone had Ruby's scythe. Or… no that lookedjustlike Cresent Rose at this distance. Maybe it was a prototype for something he was working on as a gift?It better not be Ruby.If it were that wasn't something she could just overlook like all of Jaune's other oddities. The boy was entitled to his secrets like anyone else, but he'd best not have dragged her youngest daughter onto this battlefield if he didn't expect a paddling afterwards!
"It's just a weird Jaune thing. That's not Ruby down there." She muttered to herself. "It's not."
Her attempt at convincing herself didn't feel very effective, but right now she didn't have room for paranoia.
Blackened waves lapped against the walls.
"...Generating power.Amplifying."
Green lightning erupted from her form, borrowing elements of Raven's new movement technique as her hair lifted into the air in spikes as the static of her internal generator reached new heights.
"GREAT DESTRUCTION WAVE!"
Green struck through and evaporated black and white as her body became a conduit for a near unlimited power in sensation. But seconds later her body ceased generation of green lightning, her overheated form beginning to rapidly cool as her Nikke form began entering a brief recovery state.
"That should help." Summer gave a smile that was more confident than she felt as the defenders cheered her on. Her eyes didn't leave the blur of black and red cleaving through the battlefield below, flashes of silver creating biblical visages of salt below. "Even if it's just a little."
Something made her want to cheer that figure on.
It was sickening. Gut-wrenching.
Another wave of Grimm flashed and turned to salt and ash.
It was so unfair!
"I've never had such an easy time using mySilver Eyesbefore." Archer wasn't sure if she was complaining or cheering at this point. Her partner Crescent Rose hadn't made the status leap into becoming a fullNoble Phantasmwhich on the other hand DID rile her up. How her baby wasn't considered a weapon of legend was infuriating! How cool would that have been?!
But that wasn't the point. Her active skill,Silver Eyes B-, the legendary anti-Grimm legacy she'd inherited was now just something she could turn on and off with a cooldown! Of course it still cost prana from the new-timeline Jaune, or was it alternate timeline? Revamp? Reboot? Was she even helping her own Remnant anymore?
Bah. Don't worry about that right now. She was where she was supposed to be. That was the point of the gate. Trust the process, work things out later. Right now there were Grimm.
Shot-Slice. Shot-Slice. Shot-Slice double backflipSilver Eyesblast over another wave of Grimm. Shoot herself down and spin shredding everything in rosepetals. Her precious partner might not have become a Noble Phantasm, but her status as an Archer class Servant seemed to gift her with infinite ammo. Or maybe it was a part of her second active skillLesser Origin Weaponry (Scythe) A- -that gave her, almost an empathic ability to read weapons make and origin, their fighting style, and emotions that apparently worked better for scythe weapons.
It was a mutation of a more standard skill calledEternal Arms Masteryapparently but pulled into a different direction and hyper-focused it. And apparently it made her ass with any weapon that wasn't scythe based.
Somehow… somehow that painfully and annoyingly made her quite upset.
It was strange but cathartically comfortable, not having to reload, despite firing off more shots than her magazine should be able to hold, but she supposed that was the magic at work.
And yet… apparently her 'Legend' was incomplete. Lacking a Noble Phantasm. Or at least one she could confidently use right now.
When new-Jaune had asked her what it was and it came up almost-blank, she'd taken a deep breath, played it cool, and stated that it was a secret with a wink. By all that was holy,SHEdidn't even know what her Noble Phantasm was supposed to be. It was all fuzzy and illegible, unlike the rest of her… well her kit. So she totally wasn't lying. Just wasn't sure how to tell the truth.
Honest.
But Archer had more than comfortably explained everything else she had in her loadout.
She had three passive skills inIndependent Action B-which allowed her to act independently from her Master, much further than a normal Servant could, or Adaptation Bwhich depending on circumstances could allow her semblance Petal Burst to grant her a bastardized version ofPresence Concealmentwhich was normally signature of the Assassin class, apparently. As far as Archer was concerned, speed was stealth as long as you avoided line of sight, right? The last wasLight of the Soul Cwhich pretty much was her Aura at play, but while herquantityof Aura hadn't increased… somehow the… thequalityhad.
Which made zero sense, Aura didn't work like that, but somehow, maybe the magic that made up her body (her Saint Graph?) made her Aura… tougher.
In a way being a Servant was akin to being some sort of video game character, all overpowered and stuff. She just… didn't know the combo to her finishing move yet. Yeah. But she'd figure it out! That's… what she always did. Even if it required her to pull through by the skin of her teeth.
Archer let out a small growl as she angrily tore a bloody rose petal tornado through another crowd of Grimm as her third and final Active SkillSemblance: Petal Burstallowed her to tear through a murder of greater Nevermores.
Always pulling stuff out of her butt to keep it from the fire. She hated that. She was trying so hard! Always her, always figuring stuff out! No stop!
No point in beating herself up over it. That was the whole point of her journey in the Never After. She could work on being proactive now that she was back
"Good job holding the North Gate!" Her Master (she sort of felt uncomfortable how natural that title felt and the weird implications it could carry) cheered, his voice softly hissing with excitement in her helmet. "The south side reinforcements from Kuchinashi are taking a pounding, but I'm redirecting Taima Prep students to reinforce them with their fellow volunteer ninja clans. Way more combatants came than we initially estimated for. That'll let me pull up more of South wall forces North to make up for the currently broken Hyunmu Turtle Gate. With Specialist Soline already manning the ground defense and Team STRQ coming to support with all the extra ammo I can send, I'll need you to group East and wipe the hoards thin a bit as we re-evaluate and assemble our assault team!"
It was nice just being given instructions again. Just another cog in the mecha-shift. Knowing what to do while someone else figured out the big picture. Fighting for your life was stressful enough without the added responsibilities.
WAIT TEAM WHAT.
Before she had time to question her Master, her helmet's HUD softly drew guiding lines in her vision where to go.
"Operation Hydraslayer is now beginning. Linking comms for Operation Leader James Ironwood and accompanying Victory Wing, Advisory Tactician Jaune Arc, Strike Team Code:Seasons, Honor Corps Empyrial of the remaining Mistral Noble Houses, and Project:Archer. All comms secured. Beginning video call from the War Room to all Operatives."
And it was odd and bittersweet to be fighting alongside Ironwood again, even Archer wasn't sure if she'd be able to take an eye off him. Whatever caused him to flip on Atlas was proof to Ruby that Ironwood couldn't be trusted if something crossed a line that threatened Atlas' supremacy or some other BS… but still… this wasn'therIronwood. Not yet.
But he could become him again. Her experience of that was proof enough.
But she couldn't put that on her Master's shoulders. He was… he was just a kid. If Ruby Rose regretted anything it was that she so easily allowed herself to be buried under all the responsibilities that the world shoved on her so quickly.
If she could keep that burden from her Master… well…
It was kind of exciting being the older one in the friendship all of a sudden.
Because in the end Archer was still Ruby Rose and her Master was still Jaune Arc.
What were those words he said? All those years ago?
"Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet." She murmured from inside her helmet, a smile forming on her lips.
And as strange as they were to each other right now in the forms they found themselves in, surely in every possible universe it was inevitable for Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc to become good friends.