Cards of Remnant

Chapter 18: Magic & Mysteries - Part 2

"... what do you mean, Weiss? I, Jaune Arc, am of course, Jaune Arc. Who else would I, Jaune Arc, be, but Jaune Arc?" the blond boy attempted to insist, gesturing to himself. "Are you sure that that last attack did not hit you too hard… Snow Angel?"

Weiss glared at the person who, despite all appearances and recent choice in insipid nicknames, was most definitely not Jaune Arc.

"The next time you try to act like tall, blond, and scraggly, try not to let it show just how overqualified you are," the heiress growled. She pointed accusingly at Number C39: Utopia Ray, the behemoth warrior's attack points returning to normal as its master's turn ended. "Arc is struggling to manifest Gagaga Cowboy, a card designed to be as easy as possible to Xyz Summon. Rank-Up Xyz Evolution is a technique so difficult that only a handful of duelists in the world can do it. My sister is a prodigy among prodigies because she was able to master it while she was still a student at Atlas Academy. And you expect us to believe that 'Jaune Arc' suddenly figured out how to pull off this special 'Chaos' variant?"

"When all impossible scenarios have been eliminated, it is only logical that whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth," the boy countered, once more gesturing to his body. "Do I look like someone who is not Jaune Arc?"

"I had my dragon possess me a few weeks ago," Weiss snarled. "We know that magic exists. You're going to have to come up with a better excuse than just using Vomit Boy's body."

"Plus, you're not really doing a great job acting like him," Ruby chimed in. "Like, even if you weren't a lot better at dueling than him, you two talk in completely different ways. What are you? The spirit of Number 39 or something?"

The blond held the Team RWBY members' gazes for a few more moments before finally letting out a resigned sigh of defeat. "I do not believe so. Utopia is a dear friend and one of my only links to my past, but we are separate beings. Just as I am from the body I am currently using."

"Aha!" Weiss exclaimed. "So you admit that you're not Arc!"

"It is true. I am not Jaune," the blond confirmed. "My name, or at least as much of it as I can remember, is Astral."

"As much as you can remember?" Ruby queried. "You have amnesia?"

"Isn't that convenient," Weiss snarked.

"I assure you, it is highly inconvenient," Astral replied, apparently not picking up on the Schnee's accusatory tone. He reached under Jaune's shirt and pulled out a mishmash of a pendant, a small golden pyramid with a blue gem fused with three navy blue spikes by a sizable red jewel. "All I know is that when Jaune received this key from his sister before he came to Beacon, I awakened inside of it. Since then, I have advised him on dueling strategy and even at times taken over his body to conduct tasks directly."

"You were the one who challenged Cardin the night I forged Starving Venom," Ruby realized, her silver eyes widening as the intelligent girl connected the dots in her mind. "You're the one who told Jaune about Fusion Summoning!"

Astral nodded. "Though my memories of my identity are unclear at best, I seem to have maintained whatever dueling knowledge I had prior to my amnesia."

"Then you can teach me–"

"Ruby!" Weiss screeched, cutting off her partner's overexcited planning. "We know nothing about this ghost except what he's told us! For all we know, he could have been controlling Jaune's body since we all met and the real Arc is a prisoner in his own head."