"I told you, didn't I? 'Do not fall.' That was my exact words, and yet, here we are, Jaune Arc."
I suppressed my annoyance as the spirit of the Staff of Creation grinned at me with that annoying smirk of his.
While I did not have the displeasure of meeting this guy before, Ruby and Weiss's description during those chaotic last hours we had together was enough to paint a picture of just what kind of being we were dealing with.
That is why Polendina and Ironwood were ready for his particular brand of mischief.
"Ambrosius, we need you to turn her into a real human by using these schematics, Aura, and Soul as the basis."
The colossal spirit laughed happily as he looked at the blueprints and the readings of Aura and Soul from the machines.
"My, looks like our temporally misplaced friend has given you quite the advantage in dealing with me, eh?"
"….Tell me something, how do you even know about that in the first place?"
The question slipped out of my mouth as I continued staring at the spirit.
From the very moment James called the spirit out, he had been giving me that knowing look, like the cat that got the canary. And as if that was not enough, he openly and repeatedly mentioned my current situation and made references to a future that should no longer exist in this world.
And it is driving me up the wall to no end!
As far as I know, Jinn is the spirit of The Relic of Knowledge, which means that she should be the only one who can know about my situation. Something that I think is unlikely since Ruby told me Jinn specifically mentioned not being able to tell anything about the future.
And, since the Relic of Choice does not have a spirit as far as we know, that is out as well.
So, how does Ambrosius even know about all of this?
First, Ozpin's actions that screwed up the present and probably invalidated all my future knowledge, then, it was the mysterious woman who gave Ozpin that vision in the first place, and now this?
Just who is pulling the strings from behind the scenes? And what are they trying to achieve with all of this?
Is it the Gods? The Tree? Or something equally dangerous?
Somehow, it feels like with every question answered, I am ending up with a few more in its place.
Ambrosius simply winked at me as he got to work on Penny's body.
"Wouldn't you like to know? Sadly, I cannot tell you the truth. Beyond my own restrictions, a certain someone has also asked me to keep my mouth shut. At least for now."
The teasing grin on his face did nothing to comfort me.
"Besides, I think you will know the details soon enough, and by that, I mean now!"
Combined with his shout, light engulfed the vault as I instinctively drew my shield, protecting my body behind it while also drawing my sword.
However, no attack came for me.
Instead, as the light died down, I witnessed a sight that took my breath away.
With awe that I shared with James and Pietro, I watched as an exact replica of Penny, my Penny, slowly floated to the ground before collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut.
In this exact moment, I could not care less about anything else.
All I saw was an old scene that haunts my nightmares to this day.
Blood staining the ancestral Arc blade. An innocent being callously cut down by my own hands in the name of the greater good.
A girl who was not even given the chance to live her life because of circumstances out of her control, because of powers that should never have even graced this world if not for that foolish old man.
I forgot all about my worries, all about my suspicions and frustration, and made a run for it.
It was only when I reached her that I realized that the Penny on the floor looked exactly like my Penny, the same one I killed, instead of the android that Polendina created in this timeline.
Placing my palm over her heart, I pushed my Aura into her, searching for her own soul.
It was only when my Aura encountered her own and started augmenting it that I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
With tears streaming down my face uncontrollably, I looked down at the girl who had been at the centre of most of my regrets in my life.
This time, things will be different.
This time, there will be no witch of fire to manipulate the Amazon warrior and destroy her body.
This time, there will be no manipulator in the dark who would poison her against us.
This time, there will be no bitch that answers to that inhuman monster in the shadows, forcing me to end her life with my own hands.
This time, Penny Polendina will live a long and vibrant life.
It was during this augmentation that her beautiful green, real eyes opened partially, searching for something to focus on before she found my face.
"Friend Jaune?"
Shock does not even begin to describe what I felt as she uttered those words, as Ambrosius laughed uproariously behind us.
"Hahaha! I knew this would be worth it! That face is priceless! Hahaha! Anyways, my task is done, so goodbye for now!"
I had nothing to say to the spirit as he retreated to his relic, just like I could not muster the will to even move as Polendina took Penny, a real human girl now, with him to get checked up on, while James pulled me away.
Just what the hell is happening here? Can someone please make sense of this for me?
Because this old man can't keep up with so many shocking and fantastical events.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Penny Polendina dreamed.
She dreamed of her first meeting with the person she would come to see as her best friend.
She dreamed of the short time she spent with Team RWBY, and later on, Team JNPR, before that fateful fight in the Vytal Tournament's finals.
She dreamed of her reconstruction, of her new task as the guardian of Mantle.
She dreamed of it all. All the joys, the sorrows, the reunions, and the farewells.
But, out of all these memories, there was only one thing that she would ever come to regret.
She still remembered it as if it were yesterday.
Yang was the first to fall. Falling victim to Neo's sneak attack.
Then, Penny watched helplessly as Blake and Ruby fell, feeling a part of herself die as she watched her friends fall to their deaths.
Then came the part that she regrets to this day.
Jaune's tearstained face as he plunged his blade into her heart, at her own request. Her eyes imprinting the image of the young man breaking apart at the act he was forced to commit. Her last lucid thoughts were those of reassurance and guilt, knowing that she had managed to keep the maiden powers from Cinder Fall, and feeling guilty for forcing her friend into staining his hands with her blood.
However, instead of what she believed, she was not greeted with oblivion.
No, instead, what awaited her was a living hell.
She watched as her friends were overwhelmed by the false maiden. Falling into the void below, one after another.
She watched helplessly as Weiss fell into oblivion, because Cinder Fall was a bitch that hated losing and was so vindictive that she would try to take any kind of petty revenge that she possibly could.
Slowly, little by little, Penny Polendina's heart broke as she watched Winter's heartbreaking cry as her sister died in front of her.
Then, the gates started closing, forcing the last two of her friends to try and get out, only for Jaune to fall at the last minute.
The fall was long, as it was nerve-wracking.
A fall that Penny would witness as she, too, was dragged into the Ever After for reasons that she did not know even to this day.
Once again, she would be nothing more than a spectral witness, watching her friend go through trials and tribulations.
She was there when Jaune plucked that clock from the tree of time.
She was there when Jaune found the baby Jackalope that he named Juniper, in honour of his lost team.
She was there when he slowly lost his sanity due to the impossibility that was the Ever After.
She witnessed all of his joys, his sorrows, and his desire to see their friends once again.
She witnessed his rise as the Rusted Knight of the Ever After, slowly regaining that spark that he had lost decades ago.
She was there when he took up the Vorpal Sword, the weapon that no one else could even approach, but only ever responded to Jaune's pure desire to protect.
She was there when that sword broke after fighting that monster, Jabberwalker, and killing it for a long time to come.
His every trial and triumph, his every failure and regret, she was there to see it all.
Was it a blessing? Was it a curse? Who made things this way and for what reason? She never knew, and she never found out.
The only thing that she knew was that her friend was suffering, and she was unable to do anything to help him.
That is why, when the Rusted Knight was finally brought low by the Curious Cat, she begged the only entity that could see or talk to her.
She begged the Mother Tree to help her friend. To let her fix what had been broken.
However, things were never that simple.
The Blacksmith had told her that it was a simple matter to send Jaune back to Remnant, to his own time, or maybe even heal him and revert his age so that he would be there when team RWBY finally arrived in the Ever After.
But to do what Penny asked? To send him back in time so that he could fix everything? To prevent all the tragedies that were to come?
That would require a price.
A price that Penny paid with a heavy heart.
Originally, the Blacksmith was planning to help Penny reforge her body and let her reunite with her friends. Since, despite having died on remnant, she technically fell under the domain of the Ever After due to a combination of factors. This meant that Penny could have chosen Ascension and rebirth to reunite with her loved ones.
However, she gave up that opportunity as the sacrifice, as the payment, for sending Jaune to the past.
Penny knew that something else was also discussed at that time, another deal that she struck with the tree, but for some reason, she could not remember what it was.
Slowly, she felt her dreams of events long past slowly come to an end as her body started to wake up.
The first thing that caught her eye was the white walls of the Infirmary. The familiar structure and Atlas insignia on nearly everything in the room told her exactly where she was.
However, it was not this familiar location that caught her attention.
No. It was the young man sitting on a chair by her side, staring at her with hope suppressed within his eyes.
At the image of the middle-aged man in front of her, she could not help but let out a beautiful and bright smile, even as tears streamed down both their faces.
"Hello! Friend Jaune! I am reunion-ready!"