(3rd Person POV)
Team RWBY overlooked the whimsical land before them from the precipice.
Yang: So are we gonna just stand around thinking about this in silence? Or...?
Ruby: I knew this place is weird, but a fairy tale? I mean that's impossible.
Little nodded as Blake cleared her throat. Ruby and Little looked at Blake pointing her finger at Little.
Weiss: What we've seen is improbable, but that doesn't mean we're in an actual fairy tale. Are we seriously entertaining this?
Yang: Do you have a better explanation for what's going on?
Weiss: Well, let's try to be more logical, shall we? We fell from the sky. Ruby made friends with a tiny mouse.
Little: Friends!
Weiss: Blake and I got caught by killer vines.
Blake cringed at the thought, as Weiss turned to Yang.
Weiss: And... uh... you got your arm stolen by... a... What was it that you said?
Yang: A talking raccoon riding on a purple wagon filled with trash.
Weiss blinked at Yang's predicament.
Weiss: Yes, that. Okay, I see your point of view. I am going to go over here now.
As Weiss walked away, she started to talk nonsense to herself as she tried to grapple with the team's current situation.
Ruby: As crazy as it sounds, something about this is familiar.
Blake: The Girl Who Fell Through the World. I... I think we're in the Ever After.
Weiss: Blake, that world is make-believe. It was just part of the story we all read as kids.
Little: It's not make-believe, it's where I live!
Blake: Can you tell us all about it? Have you ever heard the name Alyx?
Little: An "Alyx?" Is that a purpose?
Blake: In the story, Alyx fell from the sky and met with the Hunter Mice, got trapped in vines, fought a Jabberwalker, and got her knife stolen by... A talking raccoon.
Weiss groaned and crossed her arms.
Yang: Yeah. And then she beat the Red King at a board game, met the Curious Cat, the Rusted Knight, and finally got out through...
Yang and Blake looked at the giant tree.
Blake: The tree.
Weiss: So what now? Do we go to the tree? Look for Alyx? Yang's arm? Ruby, you're still missing Crescent Rose.
Little: I'll bet the Jinxy Peddler has it.
Weiss: WHO?!
Little yelped and ducked behind Ruby.
Little: The Jinxy Peddler? That's the only talking raccoon I know.
Weiss angrily grumbled to herself.
Blake: Do you know where he might be?
Little: Of course!
Little scurried up to the top of Ruby's head.
Little: I'll lead the way right to...
Lenna ran alongside the new man, whose name was apparently (Y/N) Branwen. Her gaze couldn't help but trail down to the amulet that bounced around as he ran. It glowed brighter than when she held it in her hand, as if he had activated it.
There weren't many reasons that he could have known that she was the reincarnate, and that the amulet seemed to respond to him.
Either he lied about being the reincarnate, and somehow knew that she was one herself. Then, that led down an entire spiral of thoughts, including the fact that he may not even be human. She had reached this place by falling into some sort of void after all, who knows what this place could be.
But he did know of Remnant's existence, if this place was separated from Remnant.
The more reasonable, and yet all together lucky solution was that he was the reincarnate of fire. Someone who Ignatius was most likely very interested in meeting.
(Y/N) held his hand out, and a large ball of fire shot forward, burning through the trees, and clearing a path for them as the noises got louder.
They burst through the trees and into a clearing to see some scene of a battle.
Closest to them was an ugly creature. Its skin was black in color, with a misshapen body. It had a hunchback, and had four arms: they were all different sizes, but two were larger, and two smaller. It walked on the two arms, and held some sort of blade in one of its shorter arms.
The muscles on the creature were also different in size, with one of the long arms seeming strong, and the other seeming small and spindly. It had a pudgy body, with two small legs of different sizes.
Past the creature was a girl, holding a bow, seemingly protecting two others, who looked to be a father and his daughter.
The girl in front had black hair and brown eyes, wearing a yellow tunic with fur linings, hakama pants, and a quiver on the back of her waist, attached to a belt.
The two behind her seemed to be civilians, the girl wearing everyday clothes for play, and the father wearing a button up shirt as if he just got back home from work. The father had dark hair, starting to go grey, with brown eyes, and the little girl had similar hair color and eyes.
Beside her, (Y/N) leapt forward, holding his hand back, as the amulet on his belt glowed brighter. A longsword, made of fire, formed in his hand, and he readied to strike the creature with it.
The creature turned, with impressive speed for its clumsy look, and raised its blade to meet the fire one. As the blades clashed, (Y/N)'s momentum carried him forward, towards the head of the creature. It reached its other hand to grab the man, when the girl fired an arrow at the creature's leg, causing it to roar in pain, and let him fly past.
He landed near the group on the far side, holding out his hand, as if to protect them. However, she could see that he grimaced as he landed on the ground. He also looked in pain earlier. Was he suffering from some injury?
(Y/N): Cover me. Get her to protect the two of them.
He flung his hand out, a ball of fire shooting at the creature. It didn't harm the monster, who simply absorbed the blow, but it did get its attention. (Y/N) slowly walked around it, drawing its gaze away from Lenna, so that she could make her way across to the father and daughter, standing behind the archer.
Archer: Stay in between it and them. Don't stray far.
With that, the archer girl turned her gaze towards the monster and (Y/N), who continued to study each other, none making a move.
The archer raised her bow up once more, but instead of drawing an arrow, she drew her hand back, as if she was drawing an arrow.
Archer: Som dre tsialn, krike!
As she spoke, tattoos on her cheek, neck, and forearm glowed golden, and an arrow made of some rock materialized, shades of brown with golden veins, the same color as her tattoos. She ran behind the monster, and to the opposite side of the clearing, letting go of the makeshift arrow, sending it flying towards the monster, hitting its mark true.
The creature turned its gaze, now away from the family and the blonde girl, for just a moment, as (Y/N) launched forward, readying his blade.
However, the monster, with frightening speed, turned and swung its small weapon at the man. However, fire engulfed his other hand, and he caught onto the blade, redirecting it down, before swinging his own blade, embedding it into the creature's neck, but it seemed to have little to no effect, as it simply swung its other short arm, striking the young man and sending him back.
The archer quickly drew another arrow, raising it up towards the monster, as (Y/N) came besides her.
Archer: Your arm.
(Y/N): Hmm?
He looked down to his other arm, seeing a large gash in his forearm, the sleeve torn, and flapping around.
He grunted, before tearing off the rest of his sleeve, dropping it to the ground, before wiping away some of the blood.
(Y/N): We need to keep it off balance. Keep its limbs away from me for a few moments so I can strike.
Archer: Can you finish it?
He didn't answer for a few moments, reaching his hand around to rub his back, grunting in pain.
(Y/N): I can do it.
The girl nodded, lifting her bow, aiming it at one of the creature's long arms.
Archer: Tsialn ut!
An arrow made of rock formed once more, and she fired it at the creature's arm. As it struck, rocks, almost as if they were alive, snaked around, and hardened, keeping the long limb trapped.
Its other arm reached out, trying to steady itself, when large streams of water were shot onto the ground. As the arm hit the ground, the monster slipped. The archer turned to see the blonde girl from before, her arm stretched out.
Lenna: The family's safe.
(Y/N) threw his arm out, chains made of fire wrapping around his damaged forearm, and then towards the monster, wrapping around its arm. He pulled his arm back, causing the creature to fall down completely, a horrible cracking sound emanating, as if the spindly limb was about to break.
(Y/N) sprung forward, grabbing onto the blade of fire with both hands now, ready to strike. As he was on the creature, one of its short arms pulled back.
Next to Lenna, the archer partly pulled her tunic down. Just above her breast was a tattoo of a black salamander, with red eyes.
Archer: Ember!
In a flash, the tattoo seemed to leap off of her body, materializing into a salamander looking creature.
It was a little over a foot in length, with a similarly lithe body and long limbs. Its skin was the same black color as the Grimm, with eyes that were large, fiercely intelligent, red and round.
It leapt towards the monster, opening its mouth, as the creature thrusted its blade towards (Y/N). Fire spewed out from Ember, striking the monster, and causing its blade to fall to the ground.
(Y/N)'s sword of fire sliced through one of the creature's small arms, as it roared in pain, before slamming his sword into the creature's neck, where it struck before. Twice more, the blade found its mark, before his final swing took the creature's head off whole.
Little was once again snoring on top of Ruby's head as Team RWBY continued trekking through the jungle.
Blake: So, the town is just ahead, right?
Ruby poked Little to wake them up. However, Little ignored her attempts and kept sleeping.
Blake: I've been thinking. If we're going to this town, we need to be careful. Alyx didn't know their customs and ended up starting a war among the townsfolk. Trouble followed her everywhere she went.
Yang: Well, yeah. But she was kind of a mean person, right? She lied and cheated her way through most of the book.
Weiss: She was just trying to survive. The morals of those old stories are so simplistic.
Blake: Either way, we need to tread lightly.
Little almost fell off of Ruby's head, but awoke just in time to quickly scurry back on top of their place of rest, stretching.
Little: The town is just up ahead. The Jinxy Peddler always stops by our village before he goes to town.
Yang: Do they steal stuff from you guys too?
Little: Steal? Never. They just take the things we're not looking at. Fair is fair.
Little went back to sleep.
Weiss: Sounds like a legitimate business person. How did they manage to steal your arm anyway?
Yang: I was knocked out from the fall. When I came to, that sneaky raccoon already grabbed my arm and ran off before I could stop them.
Blake giggled as she told the story.
Blake: So would you say they caught you unarmed?
Yang gave Blake a little playful nudge fight.
Blake: How disarming. I guess we'll have to catch...
Blake's and Yang's hands brushed against each other, merely inches away. Weiss softly smiled at them.
Weiss: About time.
Ruby: For what?
Weiss: Nothing.
Ruby: Don't worry. We'll find a way outta here and we'll go back home.
Weiss stopped walking. Ruby also stopped walking and turned to look at her while Blake and Yang continued walking ahead.
Ruby: Weiss?
Weiss: It's... It's all gone... There's nothing left for me to go back to... Just like Beacon...
Ruby took Little into her hands, moving them from the top of her head.
Ruby: You did the best you could for Atlas, Weiss.
Weiss: But it wasn't enough! We hatched a crazy plan that put a whole kingdom at risk, and we don't even know if we saved the Relics from... Maybe... Jaune and Winter were able to get them out, despite... everything... despite us...
There was a long pause in her words, as all that could be heard were the ambient noises of the wildlife around them.
Weiss: I... I know that Penny... I know that was a lot to hear.
Ruby remained silent, before she simply turned around and walked away. Thunder sounded above, and Weiss proceeded to follow her teammates.
It wasn't long before Weiss would pass Ruby, who continued to walk slowly. She didn't stay too far ahead of her, just enough to give Ruby space.
And as thoughts ran through Ruby's head, she almost missed the rustling of the leaves. She turned and stared for a while, before sighing, and following her team once more.
The team arrived at a rickety bridge.
Blake: So, this is the entrance to the other... "acre" you called it?
Little yawned as they woke up.
Little: Yep! All we do is cross the bridge and we'll be... well, wherever over there is.
Yang: You don't know?
Little: Nope! Never been this far from home.
Ruby: Oh, uh, maybe you should go back?
Little: I wouldn't have any idea how to go back. Maybe I'll live by this bridge.
Upon hearing this, Team RWBY all had various shocked expressions for taking Little away far from their home. Weiss, fed up, went forward.
Weiss: I'll handle this...
Little then built a makeshift home from stick, stones, and leaves, speaking in a sing-songy voice.
Little: Building a house, my very first house, gonna find my purpose in my first house!
Weiss: Would you like to come with us?
Little's house then collapsed behind them.
Little: Yeah, that's probably for the best.
Entering the town, Team RWBY looked around at the different townsfolk, all of them resembling various toys. They passed by a pamphlet talking about the preeminent birthday party of some royal. Everywhere they looked, the same pamphlet was put up. They continued walking by various vendors and stalls in the marketplace.
Blake: Just... act like you belong, everybody.
Little: I've always wanted to be long, but I'm still just small.
Yang smiled a bit at Little's comment.
In the center of town, the townsfolk gathered around a purple wagon. The name "JINXY" was on it in big white letters.
Yang: There it is! So what's the strategy? Just start roughin' him up or what?
Blake noticed some toy soldiers watching the crowd, likely to keep order.
Blake: In the book, Alyx had to barter with Jinxy for her dagger.
Yang: Yeeeaah, I think I'd rather hit him.
The wagon opened up with purple smoke. Jinxy walked out onto the stage waving to the crowd.
Jinxy: Welcome, one and all!
Weiss gasped as she saw the creature, teasing Yang.
Weiss: He's adorable!
Blake: And a lot older than I remember from the book...
Jinxy: I am Jinxy, and these... are the finest treasures of the acre!
Jinxy tapped the shelf behind him with his walking stick, a yellow scepter appeared first, then a pink rabbit statue, and a green marionette-like doll showed up last. The crowd cheered while Team RWBY looked on.
Yang: I... don't see my arm.
Blake: All of Jinxy's treasures... are just other items in disguise, so that people think they're buying something extremely valuable.
Weiss: Okay... so, which one is Yang's arm?
Blake: What does your heart tell you? That's how Alyx knew.
Weiss stuck her tongue out of disgust and boredom.
Yang: I mean...
Yang looked at the scepter.
Yang: That one looks roughly arm-sized... ish.
Blake sighed before noticing Ruby stare at something.
Blake: Ruby?
Ruby: There's...
Ruby instead looked at the green doll.
Ruby: Something about that one.
Jinxy spun around the stage, showing off the pink rabbit statue in his hand.
Jinxy: First item!
The crowd oohed and aahed at the item.
Jinxy: The diamond-studded rabbit! You!
Jinxy pointed to a yellow toy-like townsperson before appearing on their shoulder.
Jinxy: Jinxy's!
The townsperson chuckled and joined Jinxy on stage.
Weiss: How are we going to bid without any money?
Blake: I don't think there's any money in the Ever After. Jinxy just names whatever price he wants.
Weiss: What did Jinxy want from Alyx?
Blake: Her saddest memory... and her happiest.
Jinxy: Sold! For... a hug.
Jinxy hugged the townsperson, the crowd went "aww" in response. Little gasped, hugging a piece of Ruby's hair.
Little: Hugs are very valuable!
Yang smiled.
Yang: Maybe this won't be so bad after all.
Jinxy: Second item! A golden scepter! You!
Jinxy pointed at both Yang and a Toy Soldier, who both raised their hands and said "Me!" at the same time.
Yang: Huh?!
Jinxy: The bidding starts at...
Yang: No! I was the first one to..
Jinxy: Knowing... what it is to feel loved.
Yang gasped upon hearing this.
Jinxy: A fair price for some, I'd say.
While Yang pondered the words, the Toy Soldier had help from another Toy Soldier write something down on a parchment paper.
Toy Soldier 01: Knowing what it's like to feel loved! By royal decree.
The Toy Soldier holding the parchment paper showed it with the words printed on it, "BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS'S DECREE, TO BE PAID IS THE SUM" followed by the written words "WHATEVER JINXY WANTS." The bottom of the parchment had a red heart with a crown above it and some signature.
Jinxy: Sold!
Yang: Wait! That's my arm!
Toy Soldier 01: Whatever it is, it's royal property now. No price is too high for his majesty's birthday.
Yang huffed in anger and her eyes turned red.
Jinxy: Last item! The jade marionette!
Yang: We tried it your way, Blake.
Blake looked on nervously.
Jinxy: You!
Ruby's hand was raised.
Ruby: Me!
Weiss: Ruby, what are you doing?
Jinxy: Bidding starts at...
Jinxy pulled out an empty jar.
Jinxy: Enough hope to fill this jar!
Ruby gasped hearing this, and she hesitantly lowered her hand.
Jinxy: Hm... You don't have enough, do ya?
Unbeknownst to Jinxy, Little snuck up on stage next to the marionette. Jinxy heard something move next to him, noticing the marionette gone from its place. He then noticed Little trying to drag it off the stage.
Little: Huh?
Jinxy: Why you little...!
Jinxy lunged forward, and Little ran out of the way.
Jinxy: Leave that alone! You can't touch it until the deal is done!
Suddenly, the marionette disappeared in a puff of purple smoke, and it turned into one of Penny's Maiden-powered Floating Array swords. Ruby gasped in shock as she recognized it.
Townsperson: Huh?
The Townsperson looked down on the diamond-studded bunny in their hands. The white mouse eating the cheese vegetable magically appeared in the diamond-studded bunny's place.
Mouse: Huh?
The Townsperson holding the false item in their hand exclaimed.
Townsperson: It's a fake!
The townsfolk booed and shouted in outrage at Jinxy. The lead toy soldier held their chin in suspicion, looking over to their fellow soldier holding the scepter that had now changed back to Yang's prosthetic arm. The soldier screamed as they tossed the arm away.
Yang: I'm going for it!
Weiss looked on as Blake looked to the crowd holding her head between her hands making a nervous noise. Yang and a Toy Soldier each pulled for the prosthetic arm, with Yang dodging out of the way of the soldier's sword swing, followed by Yang shooting them away with the gauntlet. Ruby ran towards the stage.
Little: Fair is fair!
Ruby picked up Penny's sword, sobbing and clutching it tight. Yang then ran past Ruby holding her arm with her teammates not far behind.
Yang: I got it!
Blake: Ruby, come on!
Blake ran off, as Weiss simply walked away with them. Ruby picked up Little and they ran after the team.
Jinxy growled and shook his fist in the air as they ran away. The Townsperson from earlier approached Jinxy with their arms out.
Townsperson: Ahem!
Jinxy groaned and hugged the townsperson as a refund.
Outside the town, Yang laughed as Team RWBY entered the red forest.
Yang: Those people... take auctions... very seriously.
Yang held up her prosthetic.
Yang: High five?
Blake groaned and walked past her.
Yang: High five?
Weiss scoffed and walked past her. Blake was distressed, and she held her head in her hands.
Blake: We're doing the same thing Alyx did! We're ruining everything!
Weiss: That's your biggest concern right now?
Yang reattached her arm.
Blake: I've read so many stories. I never thought...
Blake took a seat on a nearby log.
Blake: I'd be the moral of one.
Ruby, still looking down at Penny's sword in her hands, took a seat next to Blake. Her teammates looked at her in concern.
Yang: Ruby?
Ruby remained silent for a moment.
Ruby: I couldn't explain why, but I... I was drawn to it.
Thunder sounded and the sky turned dark, and within a few moments it was raining again.
Weiss: Great, now it's raining on just us. That's it! We're getting out of this nightmare! Alyx went to the tree, right? Let's go.
Blake: I don't think it's gonna work like that. In the book...
Weiss: We are not in a book! And even if we were, we know how it ends: right over there!
She pointed to the tree as she finished her point, before stomping off towards the tree, her teammates only watching her. They looked to the opposite side of the clearing to see Weiss was walking in a loop. Weiss gasped and decided to quicken her pace. She went in a loop one more time. Frustrated, she picked up a rock.
Weiss: Stupid tree!
Weiss threw the rock, but it just went in a loop too and hit her head from behind, knocking her to the ground.
Little: Yeah, already tried that earlier. You can't get any closer to the tree that way.
Yang: Well then, what do we do now? We got my arm, but we still don't have Crescent Rose or the slightest idea how to get out.
Weiss was in the background talking nonsense again.
Toy Soldier 02: This way! Somebody's sad!
Toy Soldier 01: I'd be sad too... if I ruined the royal birthday!
Weiss scoffed hearing them.
Yang: These guys again...
Ruby was still looking down at Penny's sword.
Ruby: Blake? What did Alyx do next?
The rain started to suddenly clear and the sky brightened again.
Blake: She... went to the Crimson Castle... and beat the Red King at his own game.
Suddenly, the Toy Soldiers hopped out of the bushes, riding on horse sticks.
Toy Soldier 01: Hands up! You treasonous birthday ruiners!
Yang cocked her gauntlets, smiling.
Yang: Okay.
The Toy Soldiers reeled back in fear, as Ruby spoke quietly.
Ruby: We want to go to the birthday party...
She raised her voice, lifting her head up.
Ruby: We want to go to the birthday party!
She stood up.
Toy Soldier 01: Well, too bad, because we're going to...
The Toy Soldier blinked in realization.
Toy Soldier 01: Oh, yes... Ahem, that's where we're taking you! As prisoners! For stealing royal property!
Ruby: What if I offered you something better?
The soldiers looked with intrigue.
Ruby: The weapon of a powerful warrior...
She held out and presented Penny's sword. Team RWBY looked at their leader with shocked looks on their faces. The soldiers got up close to Penny's sword and looked with awe.
Toy Soldiers: Oooh!
Toy Soldier 01: Go on...
Ruby looked down at the sword.
Ruby: Not just a powerful warrior, the most powerful to nave ever lived. She was touched by magic, and she gave her life for thousands. She took a message of hope to the stars, and she saw the world through better eyes.
She looked up.
Ruby: Take us to the royal birthday, and allow us to present this most precious gift.
The Toy Soldiers were moved to tears, some reacting rather unorthodox and comically.
Toy Soldier 01: Yes... by royal decree!
He took the sword.
Toy Soldier 01: Come on, men! You heard her! We got a birthday to celebrate!
The Toy Soldiers proceed to gallop on their horse sticks, saying "Hup, hup, hup" as they went.
Blake: Ruby, are you sure about this?
Ruby: Look, we may not know exactly what's going on, but for whatever reason, this place is putting us on a similar path as a book we all read as kids. I say we follow it.
And with that, she started walking.
Ruby: And stop pretending we know what we're doing...
The rest of Team RWBY all exchanged confused glances at each other, before joining their leader and following the Toy Soldiers to their next destination: The Crimson Castle.
???: Finally...
He slowly made his way through the forest, following the girls as they walked along, heading towards the castle.
He had been following them since the beginning, and yet had no chance to interact with them yet. He was hoping Ruby had seen him when she looked into the forest, and yet there was no indication that she knew he was there.
Then they had caused far too much mayhem in the town. The four of them simply had no tact when it came to anything other than punching Grimm in the face. And even then...
He found it a bit funny to hear Ruby call Penny the most powerful warrior to have ever lived, although perhaps she didn't know the extent to which her powers, or the other's, came from.
A nice reprieve from the dire situation they all found themselves in. Who knows how many people found themselves in this strange land. At the very least, Team RWBY and Neopolitan fell in, from those which he personally knew. There were an unknown number of civilians, and anyone else who may have fallen in after he did.
Although...
The Demonic were here. And if the Demonic were here...
The fire of the world had returned from a deep slumber.
Many different factions in this world. Team RWBY, the mysterious man, and now (Y/N), Lenna, an archer girl, a father, and a daughter. And who knows how many more?
Until next time.