Okay, well...

This is a story idea i adopted from someone else, namely loneonyxwolf. And hoo boy, is it a doozy.

There will be so many crossover characters in this that I feel obligated to include the source material to each and every character for you all to google at your leisure.

All of which will be found at the bottom of the chapter where the characters are first mentioned.

I'm not going to lie, I'm actually a bit afraid of the reception for this, considering how unsure I am of this almost experimental fic.

Ah well, into the cold water I jump. Beware the shrinkage!

Enjoy!

Cultural Exchange

chapter 1: One cosmic plaything

Beacon. It was a unique institution, molding young people into the warriors and protectors of tomorrow. Jaune Arc, despite no prior training, wanted to be one of them. Thus, he had faked his transcripts to get admitted.

Bold, but foolish. Among the myriad things the young man thought Beacon to be, deadly was not one of the descriptors. Still, he prevailed in Initiation, partially thanks to his partner Pyrrha Nikos.

This Jaune Arc, however, saw the struggle for what it was and realized early enough that he had a lot to catch up on. Thus he had set out towards Ozpin, enigmatic headmaster of Beacon, to ask for help. What a surprise it had been when this man simply told the young hopeful in front of him that he knew all along.

About the validity of his transcripts.

Jaune remembered that scene very well. He had felt like someone had doused him in ice-cold water, immense dread suddenly pressing down on him. Yet, no punishment came, but a stretched-out hand, along with a promise.

Strength, but with Jaune Arc's time and, potentially, his health as a prize.

The gauntlet was born and Jaune's hell began, both atonement for the sin of fraud and refinement into the stuff that heroes were made of.

It still didn't excuse the ludicrous amount of squats Ozpin's second-in-command had him do. Glynda Goodwitch was a stern woman and a fierce yet sharp teacher in combat. She had been aghast at the admission to the fraud, yet agreed to training the Arc without question. The only catch was that Ozpin had to put in the work as well, lest she graced him with a broken coffee maker.

The threat worked, the gauntlet made, the squats done. Jaune's legs burned like hell, and he constantly asked himself why it was mostly squats. When he asked, the answer had been that he could strengthen his legs without having to run around aimlessly.

Somehow, it was always Miss Goodwitch overseeing him to do this and never Ozpin.

Weird.

Still, despite the more grueling tasks – he had once been dared to try and swim up a waterfall -

Jaune felt ready. Despite him being too tired to truly give it his all in combat class, even though Miss Goodwitch had mercy on him by not calling on him as often, Jaune felt strong.

That waterfall thing stuck with him the most. It had been one of those instances where Ozpin just wanted to have fun, in Jaune's opinion. Of course the blonde failed to swim up, but he learned a lesson: Sometimes, the way to success comes not through overcoming adversity directly, but by using wit.

With that new knowledge, Jaune had actually won once in combat class! Just recently, against Dove Bronzewing! It was like his dream could actually be realized without having to ride on the coattails of others, a thought that had plagued the Arc ever since Initiation. He had never intended so in the first place, yet it had felt like it back then.

'No longer,' he thought with a strange giddiness, even as he was on his way up to the headmaster's office. The man had called for him to discuss something important.

Jaune was hyped. Maybe some secret mission with his team? Maybe a commendation on how far the blonde had progressed? He had progressed, that was without question. Compared to the beginning of this year, especially.

'Yeah, back then...wow, almost makes me miss the insanity before all that…'

As the elevator went up, with Jaune in it, closing in on its destination, the days before Beacon went through his mind. Before school started, the Arc had to earn money somehow. Thus, he became a freelancer.

Not some crazy mercenary, of course. If anything, his clientele had various jobs for him. They ranged from benign to asshole-ish, especially with the cheapskates among his clients. Then there was the insanity that led him to discover a whole new side of Remnant, one that had been unheard of so far. The people he met there were quite unique as well, to the point where he had been sworn to secrecy about everything he saw on that other side.

What a shame. Jaune would bet money that Nora, at the least, would love meeting some of them.

It dinged, and there he was. Ozpin, as usual, looked calm and enigmatic, yet Jaune knew better than that. He had gotten to know the headmaster well enough to recognize when the man was dozing off with open eyes or just contemplating his most recent cup of coffee and how to get more. The black-tinted glasses he wore shone slightly as his head rose up to meet the blue eyes of his student.

"Ah, Mr Arc," he greeted. "Please sit down. We have something important to discuss."

"As you said, yeah," Jaune replied as he scurried to the offered seat. His head swiveled around to look for Glynda, who didn't seem to be there at all.

Ozpin chuckled. "Well, here we are with changed roles. Quite amusing no?"

Jaune was surprised and did a double take. "Hold on, wait. What do you mean?"

"The last time you have been here, you did it to ask me for help with your training. This time, I would like to enlist your help with another matter."

A mission! Jaune was excited already. "Awesome! So its a mission? My team is in, right? What's it about?"

"It is not a team mission." Jaune's heart sank with these words and his dismay showed clear on his face.

"Do not fret, Mr Arc," the headmaster tried to calm him. "It is not exactly a life-threatening effort."

"Not exactly?" The blonde knew well enough what that meant. With his luck, he would experience death more than a few times on that mission, like that one time with…

"Indeed." The word cut the reminiscing short. "I assure you, however, that you will be getting support whenever needed."

That had him breathing a little easier.

"Although, considering your experience with the otherworldly, I assume we needn't help much."

His heart might have gotten shat out with that. "How do you-"

Again, the man before Jaune smiled in his enigmatic way. "Imagine my surprise as well. They initiated contact with us headmasters only a little while ago."

"They told me they wouldn't-"

"'Times change, and we have to as well', is what I was asked to tell you. I'm fairly surprised that you already had contact to them beforehand."

Jaune changed from bewildered and anxious to aggravated. "Yeah, well, I used to work as a freelancer, and stuff, well...it got real."

"Real?"

"Really real. Like 'a pervert's wet dreams and every single fairy tale come reality' real."

"That is very real," Ozpin chuckled at the joke, which made Jaune only more anxious.

"I assume 'they' are the ones who want me on that mission?"

"No."

Blue eyes blinked several times over. "No?"

"This is a mission given to you by the headmasters of the academies and the councils alike, Mr Arc. This mission is of such importance that we have to cancel the Vytal tournament altogether."

That...didn't surprise Jaune as much as it should have. Sure, the tournament getting canceled was a bummer, and he was certain that Pyrrha's agent would raise unholy hell about it. Though frankly, after overhearing how the man attempted to persuade her several times over to get back to Mistral and attend Haven, as well as burdening her with more sponsorships…

Well, that man could go fuck himself.

That was beside the larger point in the room, though. Jaune had been in contact with the other world, the hidden side of Remnant, where fairy tales were real, Catgirls with tails and actual paws could be found and the elves were-

"Instead of the tournament," Ozpin interrupted Jaune's thoughts again. "We decided on something to bring the four kingdoms together, along with the mythical world. A cultural exchange between all."

His student nodded along, his mind still going haywire, but slowly mending back together. "So..." he hesitated. "How does that involve me?"

And that was the moment where Jaune visibly flinched back as he saw that godsdamn expression on the headmaster's face: a smug glint in his eyes, lips quirked upwards as his mug found his lips.

The troll face had returned, and Jaune didn't like it one bit.

"Upon the vehement insistence of several official figures intending to attend the festival, you were elected to lead the cultural exchange class."

Jaune stared the man before him down.

"Congratulations." Ozpin withstood.

"Who."

"Hm?" The headmaster played dumb, infuriating Jaune further. Once the man had been an idol, but now he was just some dick who loved to diddle around with people's relationships as he sat on the sidelines and sipped coffee while everything exploded.

Figuratively speaking.

"Who were the ones who put me up to this." It wasn't a question anymore, patience had run out for good this time.

"Hmm...one particular young woman by the last name of Aintree, a rather outspoken elven woman named Strentem-"

"Celia and Misery!" Jaune jumped out of his seat and ran his hands through his hair. "Of course it had to be these two!"

Celia had once been close to Jaune, but circumstances forced her elsewhere, where she seemed to have begun yearning for him. The letters she sent were a very clear indicator.

Oh, and Misery could not, could never be forgotten. A cute hair bang over one eye, motherly appearance accentuated by a massive rack and burning with absolute lust for the wonder blonde.

Jaune was not ready to meet either of the two.

"Amongst others."

Wonderful.

"Is there any way for me to say no?" Jaune secretly hoped there was.

"Well, if you were to say no, our relations with the mythical world would crumble before they were established and several officials would be severely dismayed if that were to come to pass. Then there is-"

"Stop, stop! I got it already!" Jaune wished it wasn't real, but it was. The one thing several of his old acquaintances from the mythical world had always wished for was to walk out of the figurative shadow into Remnant itself, to bask in the sun and the light of the shattered moon. Ages ago, they had to flee from the hostility of a humanity incapable of understanding them. Now this humanity would and should welcome any aid against the Grimm.

They would be game changers, The councils knew that, the headmasters knew that and Jaune knew that they knew. This meant that he had to accept, to see it through to success. Still…

"Okay, fine, I accept." The young man was resigned to his fate. "I'll be leading the class."

"Splendid," Ozpin noted. "This, of course, means that you will be part of the faculty for the duration of the festival and the exchange. Which, in return, means that you will only have to attend leadership class and combat class."

Freedom form Port's tirades and Oobleck's speed speech? That was awesome! Still…

"Will I get extra credit?"

"Yes."

"Sold!"

With a handshake, Jaune was now the teacher of a very special class, and the main figure in the merging of worlds.

Celia Cumani Aintree: Walkure Romanze: Shōjo Kishi Monogatari

Misery Strentem: Youkoso Sukebe Elf no Mori e (warning: nsfw!) (Yes, it's a hentai. You're welcome.)