Chapter Text
'Im Tired,' I thought as I looked down at the two bodies dissolving into motes of Purple-Black and Gold-White, the fading bodies of the Gods of Darkness and Light, respectively, the shattered remains of the fusion of the Relics of Creation and Destruction, and my precious Crescent Rose, forged with the combined efforts of myself and the Blacksmith of the Tree, now aptly named Eclipse Crescent Rose, lying next to the fading bodies. My whole body, my Soul, felt unfathomably exhausted and bone-weary, every movement causing her already sore and drained body to throb in pain. As she struggled to regain her breath, she looked further around the Battlefield, at all the damage around me. The bodies of the various Kingdoms' soldiers who took hits in place of the more powerful fighters, while they had originally fought Salem in an attempt to make her mortal again, devised with some magic from the Ever After, before the Gods descended, furious that their punishment of Salem and task for the people of Remnant left for them to unite had been subverted, as Salem had not only had a large force of Grimm under her command but an army of people both human and faunus who followed her cause. The remaining fighters had tried to convince them that the task left for them had been impossible to accomplish as long as they had Free Will, and everyone had individual desires that could clash; the combined personality of Ozma and Oscar tried to plead the Remnants' case to the Gods before the God of Light abruptly killed him and proclaimed that maybe removing Free Will was a good idea, the God of Darkness protesting stating that it was better to wipe the slate clean and to create a new species elsewhere.
That was when the second battle for the fate of the world began. It had led to the death of a majority of my remaining allies, including my family and beloved team. Weiss had died first, as Darkness had killed her, enraged by her Semblance's similarities to the Magic He'd personally stripped from the previous generation of Mankind. Raven had died opening a portal in front of Yang and Blake as Light blasted them with what looked like a more powerful version of her Silver Eyes that didn't only work on Grimm. Yang had overtaxed her Semblance while landing a Black Flash-empowered, Semblance-enhanced punch that severely cripled Darkness and distracted Light enough for me to dismember him of his right arm with Eclipse Crescent Rose, before both Gods retaliated and shattered her already weak Aura, leaving a hole in her chest, and the blast also piercing clean through Blake as she tried to use a Shadow Clone to take the hit for them. Qrow had taken a fusion blast from the Gods in her place so she could make the final slash infused with Aura, Creation, Destruction, and Silver Light.
As I looked around the Ruins, I noticed that the motes of energy/divinity had stopped moving and that all the, admittedly few, sounds had suddenly stopped. Then, as I looked up, I saw the Avatar of the Tree of the Ever After, the Blacksmith, had arrived. The Blacksmith looked around at the destruction that had been caused by what were essentially her children, to their own creations, whom they were supposed to guide and nurture. I could only assume what was going through her mechanical-looking head.
"Ruby Rose, it is a pleasure to see you again so soon, even if it is in less-than-ideal circumstances. Though I'm sure you'd rather know why I manifested here on Remnant, instead of idle pleasantries. I offer you the chance to do things differently, oh Slayer of Light and Dark, and Saviour of Remnant. I feel both guilt and empathy for your situation: guilt, for it was I who sent the Brothers out of the Ever After without considering how reckless they could be, and empathy for you remind me of myself and how I envisioned myself if I were mortal. I offer you the chance to send your subconscious back to the night you fought Torchwick, while you were visiting your mother's tombstone, with the power of the Chaos Gacha, a system created by Outerversal Entities to give those selected the power to grow beyond what was possible for that world based purely on your own merits and Luck."
As I thought about the offer, my mind went to all those I lost to this cursed war, and even more in the Final Battle. From my mom, my sister, my dad, Uncle Qrow, Blake, Weiss, Team Juniper, and the one that hurt me the most after all this time, Penny. I thought of the fun we had together, especially at Beacon, with our time with the fireflies, fighting fiercely to make her human, and realizing my love for her when I'd heard she'd died at the Ever After, when it was too late to do anything about it. I'd get the chance to do things differently and the chance to end all this without any of my people dying. So there was only really one response I could give. "I'm in."
"You should know, since it is only your subconscious going back, it will only serve as a guiding light for your past self. It will give her some of the instincts you've developed and make it much easier to learn what you have already learnt. But since I'm taking away this advantage, I've decided to allow you to have two Ability Slots, as normally, when one receives the Gacha, they only start with a single Ability Slot and only gain more with every 5 Abilities earned. Since you shall start with two, you shall wait until your tenth Ability before going back to the standard method. Now prepare yourself; I'm told this is rather disorienting for mortals."
"Wait, what!?" I said as Power overwhelmed my mind and, for a single moment, viewed the orchard of trees, each their own Universe, and each with their own Branches. Playing thousands of exceedingly similar scenes and vastly different scenes.
CHAOS GACHA INSTALLING...
As the words floated before me like a Holo-Screen.
CIRCUMSTANCE: WORLD HERO WHO FOUGHT TO THE BITTER END AND DID THE IMPOSSIBLE.
REWARDS: 3 RANDOM SILVER TICKETS, 2 RANDOM GOLD TICKETS, 1 RANDOM PLATINUM TICKET.
ROLLING x3 RANDOM SILVER TICKETS
[Soul Window]
|Rare Ability|
They say the Eyes are a window to the soul; that may be too true when it comes to you. When this ability is activated, you are able to see souls and spirits and even interact with them. In addition, you are able to grasp someone's general intent by looking into their eyes.
[Asauchi]
|Uncommon Item|
Bleach - Asauchi is a Zanpakuto, a spiritual armament in the form of a weapon that befits its user. The strength of this armament scales with the power of its user. Asauchi is a dormant, unnamed Zanpakuto that grows along with the user. If the user is able to unlock the Shikai of the blade, it will attain its own unique ability according to the nature of its user, equal to or weaker in power than a rare rank ability. And if they are able to unlock its Bankai, that ability will be upgraded to equal an Epic rank ability.
[Butcher's Bag of Infinite Meat]
|Common Item|
A bag containing a limitless amount of fresh meat inside of itself; you can only take 100kg of meat out of it every 24 hours. It contains meat from all mundane animals from Earth in all cuts, all of it clean, not ethically sourced. Just plunge your hand into the bag of meat, think of what you want, and ignore the implication of infinite meat and its source.
Honestly, all of them sounded useful to me, even if the bag was mostly useful when out for long hunts or if I was too lazy to buy food, but Soul Window and Asauchi sounded like they worked together nicely and could help Past Me know who to trust, and the prospect of a soul weapon tailored to me would definitely excite me.
ROLLING x2 RANDOM GOLD TICKETS
[Binding Vow]
|Elite Ability|
Jujutsu Kaisen - Allows you to create binding vows, basically promises with reality itself. If a binding vow between two parties is broken, the breaker will suffer the penalty no matter how strong they are. You can also make self-binding vows, sacrificing things to make your energy output stronger, such as being weaker at night in exchange for being stronger during the day.
[Electrician]
|Common Trait|
You are a novice electrician-to-be; you are slightly more resistant towards Electricity-based effects, and your Electricity-based abilities and spells are slightly more efficient.
Honestly, Binding Vow sounded like it needed careful thinking before using, and as smart as Past Me is, it would be better to use it when acquainted with cunning people, like Raven or Emerald, if Past Me could turn them early. I hoped Electrician worked with Dust or that Past Me got some electric Ability.
ROLLING x1 RANDOM PLATINUM TICKET
[Argonaut]
|Epic Ability|
Danmachi - Argonaut allows you to charge up any attack, allowing you to temporarily bypass your maximum energy output. The longer you charge the ability, the more power you can unleash. For 10x power, you need 10x the energy to use it. You can only charge one action at a time, and if you get interrupted during charge, you will lose the energy you would have otherwise used on the ability without being able to unleash the effect.
I couldn't help but remember all the stories of heroes and their adventures Mom and Yang read to me when I was young; Past Me would definitely love this ability a lot, since it sounded like the stereotypical power hero would use. It might even help her keep her love of saving others intact, without having a breakdown in another dimension to learn about being a Huntress again.
OFFER: ROLL A CURSE AND, FOR THE SEVERITY OF IT, RECEIVE A CORRESPONDING TICKET. Y/N
I mentally clicked yes 3 times to try and give past me as much of an advantage as possible. After all, they couldn't be that bad.
ROLLING 3 CURSES...
[Yandere]
|Medium Curse|
There is a yandere out there yearning for your love, and she won't take no for an answer, and she will not be very willing to listen to reason.
|Resolve: Find the Yandere and either dispatch or pacify them. This will not get rid of their romantic feelings towards you, but will stop the gacha from supplying them with a Yandere Rage towards you.|
MEDIUM CURSE DETECTED: ROLLING x1 GOLD ADVANTAGE TICKET
[Spirit Affinity]
|Rare Trait|
You are talented in the art of everything spirits, spiritual creatures, and objects take a liking to your and soul-based abilities are easier to master
OR
[United We Stand]
|Elite Ability|
Yu-Gi-Oh! - For as long as United We Stand is active, you are able to select a familiar and add all of its physical stats onto your own. For each ability slot you are not using, you can choose another familiar to use the strength of.
The second I finished processing both options, I instantly picked Spirit Affinity, it would rocket her/my Aura Manipulation skills and might evn boost my Black Flash Affinity, even as I wandered crazy lady I got, oh-so-inexperienced Past Me into, because she/I was not as innocent as she/I led Dad and Yang to believe, though Uncle Qrow had always suspected as he'd told me one night after he saw me with hook-up, but Past Me had no such expirience as current me.
[Edgy]
|Minor Curse|
You have an aura of brooding and darkness around you, while it may draw the Chuuni crowd towards you, you will tend to portray yourself in edgy ways, despite not trying to.
|Resolve: Achieve Intermediate or above in communication skill or get a trait that sufficiently conflicts with edgy, like Sunshine Charm or Hero.|
MINOR CURSE DETECTED: ROLLING x1 GOLD RANDOM TICKET
[Beginner's Guide to Runecraft]
|Rare Item|
Fate - A beginner's guide on basic Nordic/Scandinavian runecraft written personally by the Allfather Odin himself. Allowing those who study it to learn the art of Runecraft.
As some of the context for what that was flowed into my mind, I couldn't help but be excited and appreciate the irony that magic not belonging to the Brothers was in my possession, and I knew Weiss, when I eventually met and befriended her, would feel the same, even as I felt irritated that I would probably, definitely, be fulfilling the rumor that I was emo, even though i was more punk goth.
[Curse of Gray]
|Minor Curse|
You seem to have a talent for losing your clothing. At random intervals, you will find yourself having lost a random piece of clothing without noticing, or simply end up half-naked. But you will always be able to find your clothes close by. Does not happen during combat or when your life is in danger.
|Resolve: Wear a full set of Uncommon or Above rarity clothing(Must contain shoes, pants, and shirt).|
MINOR CURSE DETECTED: ROLLING x1 GOLD RANDOM TICKET
[Harem King]
|Rare Trait|
You are a harem king to be; your preferred partners are more attracted to you, and society as a whole does not see a problem with you having a harem. In addition, your partners do not mind you dating others either; they might still have their own problems, but the concept of a harem isn't one of them.
When I finished processing both roles, I wondered why those were even in there before I remembered my rather complicated feelings for several girls in my life and decided to just roll with it, even as I felt bad for Past Me for the Curse of Gray, with how embarrassing it was, especially with how shy I was back then. "So is that the last thing before I go back?" I asked the Blacksmith.
"Yes, now I wish you good luck with your second chance, but remember not to put too much pressure on yourself and have fun; part of the reason for the Chaos Gacha is to make the user's life better, not just easier."
That was the last thing I heard before my consciousness started to fade.