Renaissance
-III-

'What is this? ...What is this place?'

As if the blankness of the pitch black abyss weren't enough, the sensation of her very thoughts echoing through the nothingness was enough to put Yang on edge. She might have even had goosebumps had she been able to see or feel her body. Needless to say, she did not like this.

Not one bit.

"H-Hello?" she tested aloud in question, surprised that her sense of hearing and speaking seemed to be affected differently when she actually acted like she was talking in this strange place, "Is anyone there?"

A low hissing sound caused her to falter, maybe more in mind than in absent body, figuring that she might be turning toward the sound but unsure if she had done so without any point of reference in the perfect darkness. Even then, it didn't seem like a threatening sound - Yang's extremities may have been missing, but her fight or flight instincts were perfectly intact.

"Who was that? Did you say something?"

Silence.

It was unsettling, unnerving, constantly threatening to unravel her mind as she spent what felt like an eternity floating through empty space. It was a sensation Yang had never felt before and one she had immediately decided to never go through again as soon as she figured out how to get out from this. It wasn't like sleeping... heck, it wasn't even like a coma. It was like death. Except like this... you could experience what it was really like. Without a single one of her senses picking up any form of stimuli, Yang found herself constantly thinking in her mind just to keep herself sane. And so the memories came.

Landfall. That's where they were before she ended up in here... it was her choice, and hers alone, to come here.

'Oh Oum... please don't tell me the others got caught up in this place, too. Not the team... not Ruby...'

It didn't seem that pondering the subject any further would bring them any closer anytime soon, though.

Initiation. Seul and Jaune's friends had made it through; they were okay at least, on their way to Beacon and surely soon to receive their official assignment. Maybe if worse came to worse and she couldn't come back, they could pick up the torch where RWBY had left off...

'No... no, don't think like that. I'll figure it out. I just, I just need to think...'

The Trials. Nothing much to be thought there. Yang hadn't really paused to give it thought... well, that wasn't the right word. She had all the time in the word to relive it, but she was actively trying not to. No, she hadn't wanted to give it thought. The Grimm, the power... the dreams she'd begun to have because of it. Yang had chatted with Jaune about it and ended up chalking it up to some jacked up kind of PTSD, but maybe that's why she was refusing to think about it... maybe deep down, she knew it couldn't be.

And here she was... thinking about it. Of him.

Yang let out a miffed groan, not caring how loud it was considering no one would hear it anyway.

sss...

"Wha-" Yang started, startled by the sudden sound through space and now more on edge than ever, "I heard that! Who's there?"

...SSStrange.

The word was stated so softly, like a radio with the volume slowly being turned up until the voice could be heard but just barely, that Yang still wasn't sure she'd actually heard anything in the first place.

"Strange?" she echoed in reply, "Who are you? In case you haven't noticed, this whole Oum-friggin place is 'strange'."

Silence.

...VVVery ssstrange, the voice continued, murky as if someone were speaking underwater but slowly gaining clarity by the second, You arrre neither Arc nor Grimmm...

"Yeah. Big whoop," Yang retorted flatly, hiding the rising curiosity at the mention of the name as she continued, "What's so strange about that?"

...YYYou, the voice continued, finally gaining its full quality to reveal the deep tone of its source, You can hear me.

"So what. You another poor idiot who got trapped in here like me?"

Yes. As a matter of fact, it replied, causing her to cock a possibly imaginary brow in surprise, Though I managed to leave shortly after.

At that, Yang balked unabashedly, "Wait... what!? Uh, mind helping a sister out, maybe!? I got people to go to, family to protect! What's happening here!?"

The reply wasn't exactly what the brawler had been hoping for.

This place... your mind is unraveling in here. Will unravel in here. Your thoughts, your memories... they power the device while not in possession of a suitable owner.

"Um."

Yang really didn't have a comeback to that. Nor did she feel very good anymore about this place, as if she didn't already. But that's when the thought struck her like a million switches going off to power a large neon sign in her brain: her abilities, the dreams... the memories...

"I'm... I'm in the Trace, aren't I?"

Hmm... very strange indeed.

"I am, aren't I!?" she repeated, quickly becoming impatient with the awfully patient stranger just thinking aloud in a place that would literally make her completely lose it the more time she spent inside.

No, the voice continued pensively as if towards itself, Can't be... You. Young woman. How did you find this place.

"I'm not saying a thing until you tell me how I can leave."

The silence after that was notably different as far as Yang could tell... without a spoken word, the very darkness around her seemed to become a presence. A hostile one. And one that admittedly began to frighten her.

YOU... you would be willing to cast aside a viable source of salvation for a dying world for the sake of your momentary pacification! I sense it, the Trace drew you here, yet you still wish to leave without knowing why!

"Oho, that's rich," Yang quipped in reply, sure that her rage would've started heating her up had she still been in the visible spectrum, "Coming from the weirdo voice that still doesn't tell me what this place IS! And last I checked, we SAVED the world, thank you very much!"

Heh, the voice unexpectedly countered with a chuckle, I thought much the same when I was first trapped here as well. I can tell you with all certainty, young woman, that the very continued operation of this device proves all the contrary, as its single remaining function is to serve as a beacon... one meant to drift towards massive influxes of energy in the multiverse in search of a viable possessor until threats of global catastrophes from these influxes are neutralized.

"Oh please. How am I supposed to believe that!"

Because I am the one who created it.

Yang paused in thought, unsure what to believe since for all she knew, the place was already pulling apart her mind by the second. Still, it did answer some questions. She'd simply have to settle with asking a few more.

"Alright, weird person. Let's say I know a guy... knew a guy... one who could use the Trace. You saying he was meant to bring balance to the universe or some cheesy junk like that?"

In this verse, only one family line had the potential to wield this weapon. Such a person would've been very powerful indeed, powerful enough to do exactly that. However... there are those with enough understanding of the energy used to build this device who could manipulate it as well; my subconscious that I planted in this device in the form of a base operating system was designed to differentiate between the two...

The brawler was unsure how to take those words, both for what they meant at face value and because of the almost forlorn way the voice had spoken the last bit of it. However, her musing was cut short as the voice began pointedly towards the blonde.

You... however, I cannot compute. You are neither Arc nor Grimm... therefore, I need more data! Who are you! And HOW did you find this place!?

"Wait," Yang began slowly as she came to a growing realization, "What if I told you... that I may not be an Arc, but was connected to one?"

Impossible.

Honestly, the speed of that response was almost insulting.

"Hey buddy, you asked!" Yang shouted in reply, "My mind's been practically tearing itself apart over the past few weeks obsessing over this stupid device and this stupid place, and I'm sick and tired of it! So yeah, I came here to get it off my mind, and out of my heart! Okay!? Judge me if you want, but what's more to cry over a dying world if my world's already dead! Davin... he's dead, got it...?"

And then, the most improbable thing happened.

A flutter of something catching the brawler's eye before she could completely retreat into herself and shut down, Yang looked up in utter disbelief at a face fight in front of her. Large, holographic in nature, and no way of knowing how close it was or wasn't to her... but discernible. And familiar.

A face of a grey-eyed long-forgotten man from a dream Yang couldn't forget, scrutinizing her intently with furrowed brows before repeating the single word.

Im...possible...

"Yeah... I'm getting used to hearing that these days."

No... you do not understand, the man now continued, casting the faintest light over the area around his holographic face but otherwise not lighting up anything else in the infinite space, it may be possible... to do it again.

Honestly, Yang had not been the least bit surprised at who she saw after he had revealed himself, having guessed the voice all too well. But that last phase definitely piqued her curiosity.

"Do what now."

The face flickered for a moment, motionless like a computer screen flickering while computing a large amount of data, before continuing, The Trace only had sufficient power stored for a single transfer... but I believe you may have enough energy stored within to power another. Young woman, if this is true, and you were connected at one point to Davin... then please. Focus on that part of yourself now. Comply, and you will be granted leave from this place...

Yang was unsure of how to take that either, frozen for a moment at what the man's words could mean as a conversation held long before with a fellow blonde sped through her mind, but she nodded. Or at least, felt like she nodded.

"Okay."

Very good, the voice began as what felt like a gust of wind began surrounding Yang's area of consciousness, Focus. Reach to it and shut out all other senses... Only few remain who can halt the onslaught of darkness. Great peril lies ahead... though you will not be without aid. Take care of my boy...

The wind picked up into a whistling howl that grew around a growing swirl of white light, Yang barely hearing his last words as the flash became too much to bear...

Our worlds depend on it.

"Yang?"

"Yang!"

"Holy Oum, Yang!"

The voices felt murky in the swirl of light and sound until it all finally started to sort itself out, Yang's mind discerning one sense from the other until she realized she was finally back on solid ground. Unsurprisingly, the next sensation she felt was the powerful tackle from a very teary-eyed crimsonette.

"Ohmygosh Yang... w-we thought we lost you... we were here for hours!"

Reaching up her arm, which she was suddenly much more thankful to have as she saw it now, Yang placed it around her sniffling sister's shoulders to pull her close.

"Me too... no worries, though. I'm back."

"What happened," Blake asked, brow furrowed as the cogs in her mind worked furiously to decipher the meaning of the strange phenomenon, "Was that the Trace?"

"How would it have stayed here?" Weiss noted, the tiniest chinks in her icy persona revealing that she was clearly rattled a bit herself, but their queries went drowned out as Jaune now stepped in, his gaze immediately catching the brawlers' after what she figured was him checking their immediate vicinity.

"What. Happened."

Their gazes remained locked for a moment more before the blonde brawler finally huffed in defeat, "I... I can't really remember..."

The rest of Yang's team and even some of team JNPR began glancing at her unsurely, finding it hard to believe that such an experience could be so easily forgotten before Jaune knelt down and placed his hand on Yang's empty shoulder with a sigh.

"I guess... I can relate. It'll take a while. Whaddaya say we start heading on back, then... it's been a long enough day as is."

Her team helping her up until she felt okay standing on her own, Yang gave Jaune a light nod before the three teams readied to head back towards ADA. It was a strange feeling, or dream maybe... all Yang knew that whatever had happened seemed to have drained her of something she'd held dear. Or at least, of the negative emotion that came from it.

"Yeah... that might be it," she mumbled to herself, catching Ruby's attention.

"Huh? You okay, sis?"

"Uh huh," Yang noted with a small smile before pausing in her step to turn and look back at the lone grave, "I guess I just need one more second is all..."

Ruby cocked her head at her sister, silently waving a hand over at Jaune who then stopped the other two teams just before they could reach the Bullhead. In their curiosity, they all turned to gaze at the brawler, the setting sun's rays casting a golden hue over her and the meadow around her as she spoke.

"You may be gone, but I'll always keep you with me, 'kay? That's how I'll wait for you... maybe one day when I'm gone too, I'll go looking for you instead."

The next moment that passed wasn't easy for anyone present to watch, the grim reminder of what they'd lost sitting right in front of them as the usually unstoppable young woman in front of it faced it with all she had left to give. But if there was anything that helped lift their spirits, it was that after a moment, a good long moment, Yang turned back around to face them all with a wide smile.

"Kay guys, got that off my chest. Guess we can call it a-!"

Uuuuuugggghh...

The strange sound seemed to echo around the meadow, immediately causing the students to freeze as they looked out around the meadow for the source of the noise.

Uuuuug. Guuuughhhh...

Velvet furrowed her brows, trying to spy the culprit as best she could with her enhanced vision, "I can't see it. Is it a Grimm?"

"There! Over there!" Sun shouted, the vision of every one of teams RWBY, JNPR, and VNDS following the point of his finger to the strange and heavily bandaged limb that appeared over the massive gravestone.

Jaune unsheathed Crocea Mors, already pumping in some aura into the blade as he calmly waved down his team to stay back before everyone froze at the sight of the hooded figure that appeared around the side of the boulder.

Hunched over, it barely looked like a man; what wasn't covered in patched thermal fabric and jeans, or yards and yards of dirty cloth wraps and bandages, was covered in a knee-length heavy shawl that came up over the figure's head completely in a large hood.

"Ooooooouuuuuuughhh... that's, gonna be a special kind of hangover right there..."

The very air seemed to stand still in the following moment that apprehension turned to realization, a moment broken only by the sound of Sun accidentally dropping his weapon on ADA's boarding ramp.

"What are you?" Jaune noted, Crocea Mors poised to strike as he remained a few dozen yards from the unknown target, "For your sake, I suggest you make it quick."

A amused snort from the figure before the reply, "Really? That's new, rolling out the welcome wagon like that. Sorry bud, but I'm still the one in control here."

A few of the students traded unsure glances at the strangely familiar voice as Jaune's team made to approach the blonde's side. Silently motioning them back, Pyrrha raised a brow in concern until the knight's intention was made clear in containing the possible threat - concentrating his aura, Jaune spawned eight aural clones, each in different states of armament, to soundlessly surround the hooded figure.

"Sorry, but I don't see how we count as buds," Jaune noted calmly as his eyes remained closed in concentration, "Why don't you take off the hood and see for yourself?"

The unknown person remained fixed in the direction of Jaune's voice, making no move to otherwise acknowledge the eight spectral entities surrounding him completely in wait as he replied, "You know, you say that every time I have this dream. And every time I have to tell you, after these God-forsaken dreams started, I promised I wouldn't take this off until I was here for real... y'know, couldn't stand the disappointment of it being fake when I woke."

"Hah! And what makes you think you're dreaming?" Jaune mocked aloud, increasingly confused but unwilling to show it to the possibly hostile figure judging by the massive amounts of negative vibes rolling off of him, "Take off the hood and see for yourself... unless you need me to do it for you."

"No," the hooded figure replied sharply, Jaune feeling the strange energy coming from it intensifying but then watching him raising his hands up in a surprising show of nonchalant placation, "We've gone through this, too - you know the moment I engage you, a flood of Walkers swarm us all from the forest behind me."

"We'll see about that..."

"Jaune, don't-"

Jaune winced at the figure's use of his name, the familiar tone of it causing every puzzle piece to fall into place in his mind, but it was too late. Having already given the mental command to his clones, the ghostly white apparitions all charged the figure at once... only for everyone present to gasp as the hooded figure reacted at the last possible second to the threats.

Two previously unseen metallic cylinders seemingly floating into his hands, the figure dropped into a crouch before powering his weapons and executing a perfect spin move to slash through every spectre with twirls of what could only be the powerful humming lightblades of Starkillers. The hooded figure returning to his original crouch facing a stunned Jaune, one half of Starkillers held up and out in front of him prepared to defend while the other was held behind him with his other hand in a reverse grip, the students could only watch in muted shock until the figure suddenly paused.

Standing up and turning to seemingly look at the forest behind them despite the heavy hood over his face, the hooded figure cocked his head to the side, "Huh. That's weird... normally we get mobbed at this point."

"That's because this isn't a dream," Jaune began as he slowly, slowly, began taking a few steps toward the figure before daring to utter the word he didn't think he'd use again to refer to someone in the land of the living, "Davin."

Jaune dared to hope the minute he saw the increasingly familiar figure - his stance, his voice, and even his weapons said it all - flinch at the use of the name. Slowly turning back to face the knight as they now stood only a few feet apart, the figure replied, "You mean... I'm, I'm actually here? In... Remnant?"

"Y-Yeah," Jaune nodded, an impossible grin spreading across his face as his voice cracked under the building emotion, "But... how?"

The change in the air was palpable with the figure's following action of reaching up and pulling back his hood to reveal the wide-eyed grey eyes of Davin Arc as he looked upon everyone there.

"I have... no idea."

fft-PLAT!

The young man had no further chance to postulate as he was suddenly speed-tackled by a very emotional crimsonette, the short leader burying her head in his chest with muffled sobs as she began, "I-I thot we lst yew! But yer bck! Yr really bck!"

"I... guess I really am, aren't I..."

And one by one, the remainder of teams VNDS, JNPR and RWBY began making their way to the young man, many hugs and tears traded as the disbelief finally started wearing off into elation at his return. Until of course... only one certain blonde was left. Amid the laughs and jokes about Davin's derelict appearance, the group went silent as Yang finally approached him with slow, calculated steps. Catching sight of her and giving her a tired grin, the young man could only shrug as he swallowed the growing know in his throat.

"Y-You know, you have no idea how long I've spent imagining what I'd say if this moment ever came..."

Finally breaking out a small smile herself, Yang replied with teary eyes as she momentarily fumbled with her pouch and brought out the golden medallion with the inscription on the back visible for all to read, "This told me everything I needed to know..."

Few eyes remained dry as the pair then drew each other into a long, warm embrace, Yang nuzzling her head into the crook of Davin's neck as she added, "You big dumb dummie... never leave me again..."

The young man merely smiled, craning his neck a bit to kiss the brawler on the head before responding, "Best idea I've heard all day."

Nearby, Pyrrha turned up to the knight as she leaned into him with a warm smile, "You're making that face you make when you're trying to understand something going way over your head."

"Oh, you mean my resting face for practically our whole first semester at school?" Jaune joked lightly, quirking a brow at the Mistrali as he decided to put aside his growing mountain of questions for later, "I guess you'd know that face better than anyone."

"I suppose I would," she continued with a light chuckle before musing, "I wonder how Seul might take this..."

The knight chuckled darkly as he replied with as much conviction as a good friend would likely have, "Probably something along the lines of-"

"What the flying fu-"

"Call the bloody priest," Cipher stated, unwittingly interrupting the stunned umbrella-totter as the four new students stared at the young man, "Cos apparently, there's a wanker who actually can come back from the dead!"

"Nice to see you, too," Davin idly stated as he walked by and patted a slack-jawed Seul on the shoulder, Yang all but glued to his side in a side embrace ever since leaving Landfall and having been updated with the very very long story and result of The Trials, "And technically Cy, I never died. Just... FYI."

"So what exactly did happen?" May asked with a curiosity that made Ruby cringe a bit with the superior levels of adorableness that even she might've been capable of, "Last time I saw you, you literally flew away before causing the entire ruins to implode..."

Davin could feel a slender arm clutching his side just a little tighter, turning to rub Yang affectionately on the side with a warm smile before turning back to the young woman to reply, "That's a little complicated. Long story short, I opened the Trace - which as we'd found out while I was in this world was a sub-dimensional storage space - into a full-on wormhole. It sucked everything in until I could close it from the inside and well... I waited."

"And the unabridged version?" Blake spoke up, referencing what had happened to the young man directly for the first time on her part, "Specifically on the 'waiting' part..."

The four teams, scattered and otherwise splayed about in team VNDS' room, waited or a response as the young man sighed in thought.

"Also complicated. And for now, I'm afraid, a story I don't quite know how to tell yet."

Jaune narrowed his eyes at the young man, trying to think of a way to get at least something from him, "So something did happen while you were in there... And you can remember now? Did you meet... anyone... inside?"

The knight's resolve faltered a bit as he, along with everyone else present, saw the complicated expressions flitting across Davin's face, the young man's gaze fixed upon the floor before finally shaking his head.

"There's a lot about the Trace I still don't understand... but there's a lot more I do understand. For starters, I'm not so sure I was inside the Trace the whole time," he replied, gaining a few questioning glances from those in the room, "But I am sure that going through it again helped me regain my memories I'd lost the first time I came through..."

"The first time you came through?" Sun asked, still in shock at the day's unbelievable turn to the unexpected.

"Yeah... the first time. Sometime this year, in this world, Jaune activated the Trace, falling in and coming out with myself in tow... I guess... a lot like Yang did today. I couldn't remember a thing aside from my name and years of combat training ingrained in muscle memory. It was before I met you guys."

"Oh," the monkey-faunus could only reply lamely, letting Davin continue where he'd left off.

"Anyway, in regards to meeting people... I can't say I met anyone of mutual connection between us," Davin noted towards Jaune, a somber mood setting in as the knight nodded in acknowledgment, "But I can say that I was able to confirm that I am indeed your great-granduncle."

A few surprised murmurs and exclamations began all at once in the room before Davin repeated, "That's right, guys. I'm an Arc."

"Uh, like a really really old Arc?" Neptune added incredulously, followed by Nora.

"Cuz I'm preeetty sure the 'great' and 'grand' parts aren't to say how awesome you are."

"Heh, I always knew I was into older guys," Yang chuckled with a raised brow, "But... I didn't think that much older..."

"Relax," Davin supplied with a reassuring smirk, "Some kind of subspace suspended animation from the first time I got stuck in the Trace, I think. So I am about eighteen and change now... relatively."

"So you really did figure out quite a bit after you went through," Ren noted thoughtfully, his gaze never leaving the young man which seemed to bring Davin back into his pensive state of mind once more.

"The little stuff, yeah. But there's some big stuff... some really big stuff, that I think I'll need to run by someone who's more of an authority on the subject than I once thought before I open that can of worms on anyone else..."

A short silence before Jaune finally spoke up, "Ozpin?"

A brief nod from the young man in reply.

"Matter of fact, I should probably talk to him now... I have a feeling that there's no time to lose on it," Davin decided aloud before turning to rest his forehead against Yang's.

"But I'll be seeing you after that. Meet me in our old training spot later?"

The brawler nodded, tilting her face up to meet the young man's lips with hers for a brief moment before he took his leave from the group with a few short words of departure.

However, no sooner did Davin close the door behind him when the small smile fell from his face.

Yes... Ozpin had much to explain, indeed.

A/N: Bam. Bet you guys didn't see this chapter coming! Heh, I wanted to close off 2015 with a bang, so I'm updating as many things as I can. I can't say which other stories I'll be updating before New Year's, but meh, I'll wing it.

In any case, the future of Chronicle is stable but slow. I can't say it's high on the priority list, so I'm sorry to say that it will likely not be updated much more often during 2016. I can't tell you how many times I've considered a rewrite, especially since having learned so much more about writing and characterization in the past 15 months I've been on this site as a writer (which IS all the writing experience I have period hah). Yet, I'm torn between sentiment and logic on this one, between keeping it as is and scrapping it all to redo an updated one with basically the same plot. Bah, I hate decisions.

So I'm taking the easy way out unfortunately... focusing on some of the other stories I got while figuring out what I'll do. It's a decision I gotta come up with, so it's not one I'll leave up to a poll... though I'm always open to advice and suggestions! But heck, it's never too late to Fave, Follow, and Review to show your support anyway, so feel free to do so!

Well, last Chronicle A/N for 2015 so until next year, dear reader!

And Happy Reading!