History Fanfic / ArcRoyale

* SelfDeprecation: Coeur wryly lampshades his frequent use of Blake as Jaune's LoveInterest with this world's Blake becoming increasingly annoyed by the amount of times it comes up.

** [[spoiler:Knight and Grimm's mutual kill has both of them accepting their face with as much grace as they can, with Grimm happy that he at least accomplished something for his mother and Knight hoping that Ruby and her friends will be able to finish the war without him]].

* AntiVillain: Null is easily the most villainous of the Jaunes, being willing to murder anyone in his way of the prize [[spoiler:and taking sadistic glee in torturing Ruby]]. He's also got [[TragicVillain one of the most sympathetic motives of the bunch]]; he just wants to see his family again, but since two of them (his parents) are dead and the rest were kidnapped, the wish is his only chance.

** Xiong's master plan is revealed to be [[spoiler:getting rid of the Fall Maiden to ensure that Cinder can't get it, knowing full well she'd probably kill him in return but getting to laugh at her misfortune. Several months after this was revealed, his plan in ''Fanfic/TheSelfMadeMan'' was revealed to be the exact same one]].

* AllForNothing: In the end, [[spoiler:none of the game's participants gain anything from it. The game itself ends in a draw thanks to Headmaster (so no one gets the wish they were so desperate for), Cinder's faction is annihilated (with the exception of Emerald, who lost the only person who ever loved her), Atlas's reputation is stained due to their failure and several of them are dead, Ozpin is dead and Beacon is severely damaged, and the students are left both traumatized and [[NayTheist faithless]] due to the Gods' callousness. Even the one big consolation, that Salem is no longer immortal, is diminished by the fact that she's still ''alive'', and so the students have to prepare themselves for the day she'll eventually make her final attack]]. The only person who could be said to have "won" is [[spoiler:Xiong, who got to screw over Cinder in revenge for what she did to him, but he gets sent back to his world with no memories, so he doesn't get to treasure his victory for long (though he'd get to experience it again later in his own fic)]].

* AloofAlly: Hunter is this for Ozpin's side. While not actively antagonistic like Fate, he makes no secret of his disdain for Huntsmen and makes no attempts to bond with the heroes. [[spoiler:Once his arrangement with them comes crashing down, he flees without a second thought]].

* CantActPervertedTowardALoveInterest: Though Fate intentionally brings up how he's slept with just about everyone to put said people off-balance, he's affronted when Pyrrha assumes that he had somehow become a lech who wanted to get in everyone's pants. As he explains it, he barely had to "seduce" anyone; all his relationships with her and any of their friends were actual romances born from different team configurations allowing him to develop closer bonds that lead to one of ''them'' making the first move, after which they legitimately dated rather than just rushing into sex because it wasn't ''about'' sex, it was about love. As in his home story, he only has real sexcapades with women he barely knows and can stay detached from.
--> '''Fate''': My casual encounters are just that, but do you really think you, Nora or even Blake and Ruby would be into one-night stands?

* CassandraTruth: {{Subverted|Trope}} compared to the original fic. Fate could never convince anyone of his time looping and, judging by the point in his story he appears to have been plucked from, still hasn't. Here, due to everybody being hit with huge pieces of world-shattering information in rapid succession, it's just treated as one more insane thing that they have to accept. Ironwood even notes later that he has his doubts about Fate's story, but with how much he's seen recently he has to take him at his word for now.
* CasualDangerDialogue: [[spoiler:Fate]] garnishes his fight with [[spoiler:Agent]] by venting about the position the latter has put him in. [[spoiler:Agent is incredulous, as he normally considers talking in a fight to be suicide, that Fate can monologue and still kick his ass at the same time]].
* ChangedMyMindKid: [[spoiler:Hunter abandons Beacon after being press-ganged by Ironwood, but returns and backs up JNPR during the villains' attack on Beacon. Also it turns out it wasn't Ironwood's heavy-handness that made him leave but the fact that he had begun to suspect Fate was the one behind the mysterious murders of their other iterations.]]

* ClassicalHunter: Hunter prides himself on being one for the sake of survival, and isn't a fan of Hunts''men'' who he views as showing off and killing Grimm for glory.
* ClusterFBomb: Fate's response to Jinn explaining the premise of the story to him is a profanity-laden rant towards her and the Gods.

--> Knight wasn't the only strong iteration in this war. They should have expected it to be honest, but Knight seemed so out of the ordinary and Barista, Hunter, Fate and Xiong hadn't done anything to convince them the standard of Jaunes was going to be that high. They were all mostly normal – different backgrounds, but not that much above her friend's fighting level and definitely not in the same bracket as Knight or this Ashari guy.

* TheCracker: [[spoiler:One of Fate's myriad skills is computer programming, and he considers himself as good as Watts if not ''better''. While the neutral faction takes out Vale's power grid and leaves Beacon vulnerable, Fate makes things exponentially worse by forcibly taking control of all the school's systems. Ozpin, similarly immortal and multi-talented, isn't as proficient as Fate and might eventually be able to break his control, but not fast enough to matter]].
* CripplingOverspecialization: Fate has a ton of knowledge from his time looping, but laments that almost all future knowledge he has relates to how the group's school year at Beacon tends to play out. The Jaune deathmatch happening at all changes enough about the timeline to render most of it useless, which is part of the reason why he quickly bails on participating. However, Ironwood forcibly drags him back in, noting that while the events themselves are now useless, his knowledge about the ''people involved'' is the furthest thing from it.
* CriticalExistenceFailure: [[spoiler: Cinder's allies come to the conclusion that, as he hails from an RPGMechanicsVerse and subsequently functions like a video game character, this is how killing Knight could work - he can power through any injury he's given and never slow down or react, but the moment he hits 0 HP, he'll simply drop over dead. They ultimately don't get to test this theory; their one battle against him goes horribly and ends in a full retreat, and when Grimm kills him later, it's through the comparatively mundane method of choking him.]]
* CruelMercy: Grimm [[spoiler:has the chance to kill Cinder but doesn't take it, telling her that she only gets to live so that she can watch as all of her horrific plans bring her nothing but her downfall]].

* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:Mercury is the first of the canon cast to die, getting killed offscreen by Knight in Chapter 25]].
* DeathEqualsRedemption: [[spoiler:Fate sacrifices his life to save Pyrrha's, earning at least some of the heroes' respect back in the process even if they can't outright forgive him]].
* DeathIsCheap: For the various Jaunes, at least. Death for them means being sent back to their worlds with no memory of anything that happened in the story. Arc Corp!Jaune exploits this by killing himself rather than participating in the tournament, much to Raven's annoyance. [[spoiler:Cruelly subverted for Leviathan since death for him means going back to a life of total isolation due to how his story ended.]]

* DeliberateInjuryGambit: [[spoiler:Grimm descends upon Knight in a suicidal dive that he ''knows'' will end with him impaled on Knight's blade, and once that happens, he uses the close-quarters opportunity to try to take apart his opponent's armor with his tendrils. He only manages to loosen parts of it, not remove it... but that's enough for very small Grimm to fit underneath, which proceed to seal Knight's fate]].
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: After his human form is destroyed and his true Grimm form manifests on Remnant, Leviathan realizes that he's effectively dead and lost his chance at the wish. This, combined with the fact that his continued presence in the world will bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, drives him to attack all other participants in the war -- and Vale -- in one last desperate attempt to win.]]
* DieLaughing: [[spoiler:Xiong dies laughing at Cinder, having hidden away the Fall Maiden from her as he explains his only desire was to screw over her plans for what his Cinder did to him.]]

* DisobeyedOrdersNotPunished: Ironwood commends Jaune for a competent display of leadership in ''not'' following Winter's orders to [[spoiler:rush into a close-range fight against Magnis]]. After Winter's implication that they would be punished for disobeying her, Team JNPR are caught off-guard by this seeming generosity so Ironwood explains his reasoning: Jaune, as the leader of JNPR, is responsible for gauging his team's capabilities and limits. A true leader does not send his troops into an unwinnable battle without good reason. Ironwood applies this logic to his own forces as well, reprimanding Winter for escalating the battle with her reckless behavior.

* DoesntTrustThoseGuys: Hunter, as a literal hunter of animals for food, sees Huntsmen and Huntresses as superpowered glory-hounds. He's not happy to be stuck in the same room as them, let alone being forced to fight alongside them. His vigilance also meant he was the first in Ozpin's faction to realize [[spoiler:Fate's secretly treacherous machinations]], which was the real reason why he ran away.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Emerald's toxic relationship with Cinder. [[PapaWolf Ashari]]'s efforts to convince Emerald that Cinder doesn't care for her one bit and that Cinder isn't the crux of Emerald's purpose in life resemble a concerned loved one trying to get through to and save a victim of grooming.

* DontYouDarePityMe: When Knight sums up Fate's womanizing and substance indulgence as "a coping mechanism", the latter drops his affable mood and tries to set the record straight, claiming he doesn't ''have'' "coping mechanisms" because he's not ''coping'' with anything. He's just trying to stave off an unnatural degree of boredom.

* DumbButDiligent: Fate isn't particularly smart by his own admission, but he has gained a lot of practical knowledge/skills from his loops (even if he can't make great use of it all), thanks to memorizing various factoids about people and experimenting with numerous different scenarios over his time loops. Whenever something completely new comes up, such as his sudden transplant to this fic's universe, he has no idea how to handle it.

* EldritchAbomination: Leviathan's true form, as always, is a horrific and incomprehensible entity that terrifies all who look upon it, even the likes of Grimm and Ashari. [[spoiler:Its mere existence on this Remnant is enough to cause a Nightmare]].
* EnemyMine: Downplayed; unknown to the heroes, [[spoiler:Grimm helps to contain Leviathan’s chaos by pacifying his Grimm. While they’re too eldritch for even him to outright control, he’s at least able to halt their aggression while the heroes kill Leviathan]].

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: All of the Jaunes get one to differentiate their different styles to the other characters and audience:
** Knight, despite having woken up in an unfamiliar bed with a Ruby who doesn't seem to know him, immediately comes to Leviathan's aid against Yang.
** Leviathan originally seems as emotional and open as the main Jaune, but when he's asked for his information, all he gives is his name, showing his paranoid nature.
** Barista originally seems like a nobody, but [[UnfazedEveryman he's completely unmoved by everything happening around him]] and already knows about Salem.
** Hunter rejects participating in the contest because this is far above his pay grade.
** Fate curses out Jinn for making him another higher being's plaything before leaving the room to indulge in his various vices.
** Null murders Ash without hesitation just to get rid of another competitor.
** Ashari criticizes Salem for letting Null get away with it, threatens to go three for three on killing her when she threatens Emerald, and although Emerald rejects him, [[PapaWolf he makes it clear he still loves her]].
** Grimm is affectionate with Salem even knowing that she's not actually his mother, but doesn't hesitate to pull out his Grimm form when tensions get too high.
** Xiong immediately puts Ozpin's group on the back foot by threatening to publicize the war and inciting mass panic if they don't let him remain neutral.
** Headmaster Arc gives Yang an emergency medical kit to treat Ruby, bemoans Blake's habit of dragging her team out to fight villains, and pokes fun at how often his students get themselves injured, before casually leaving the very destructive battle happening in front of him.
** Warchief stumbles out of the Atlas ship carrying him to Beacon and immediately begins vomiting into the bushes from his motion sickness, all while Ironwood awkwardly confirms his status as a genius strategist and tactician.
** Rat tries to ambush Null using dirty tactics such as tear gas and has information about Null's semblance. Rat also breaks off the confrontation due to not wanting to risk civilians when Null retreats into the crowd.
** Magnis tells off Winter Schnee for occupying a Valean village despite having no authority there. He is more than willing to talk things out, but when Winter stubbornly insists on subduing him, he is also willing to fight to protect the villagers.

* ExactWords: [[spoiler:After Winter calls Team JNPR and Fate "traitors" for refusing to participate in the fight against Magnis in a meaningful capacity (instead providing minor fire support from a distance), Fate points out that they can't be traitors if they never had any loyalty to her to begin with]].

* ExtendedDisarming: At [[spoiler:Headmaster's soiree]], Rat removes a collapsible knife, another knife at his wrist, his gauntlets, a belt of explosives, a submachine gun, and two handguns.
--> '''Fate:''' Is that all? You don't have an APC hidden under there?
* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:Magnis gets overwhelmed by Cinder's side and taken out with little fanfare, but he goes out warning Adam that one of his other iterations is likely to kill him and telling Null not to let Nicholas die]].

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Fate turns on the heroes during the Beacon confrontation, killing Warchief, taking Ironwood out of commission, and taking control of Beacon's security system to force the iterations and Anchors into a full blown free-for-all]].
* FalseFlagOperation: [[spoiler:Fate planted the bomb that supposedly almost killed him, pulling such a stunt to move suspicion off of him for the blast that killed Barista]].

* ForWantOfANail: Null reveals that he did research on this Remnant after he arrived and discovered that Chivalric Arms doesn't exist in this world, leaving him uncertain of just what caused such a massive difference between the two worlds.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Fate wastes no time getting on everyone's nerves with his [[{{Jerkass}} jerkass]] attitude, his [[IHatePastMe dislike of regular Jaune]], and his unwillingness to fight with them. Later on, the others realizing that this is a coping mechanism and having one-on-one moments with Fate where he's willing to be emotionally vulnerable diminishes this a bit.

** Within Salem's side, Null is the only Jaune actually loyal to Cinder's goal; Ashari just wants to save and redeem Emerald like in his own world, while Grimm is more concerned about making his mother happy [[spoiler:and eventually goes rogue when she goes too far]]. Cinder herself is only focused on her own goal instead of Salem, being dumb enough to think she can somehow subvert the war for her own ends.

* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler:Agent; his mysterious anchor turns out to be Ozpin.]]

* GoodIsNotSoft: Knight is one of the nicest iterations in the war, with a strong sense of duty and a powerful moral compass. [[spoiler:But when he fights Cinder's faction singlehandedly, he doesn't hesitate to use lethal force against them, ''slaughtering'' the White Fang and killing Mercury with barely any effort. The only reasons anyone escapes him is because he gets dogpiled by Grimm and Ashari uses the last of his smoke grenades.]]

* GroundhogDayLoop: The deconstruction from Fate's original story carries over here. During a discussion with Ozpin, Fate points out how people are not locked into a single choice just because it is what they did in the last loop. People are living beings who can make new decisions based on the actions of others. His metaphor involving Cinder also addresses another issue: Jaune goes back not too far, so the plans he tries to stop are already in motion.
--> '''Fate''': Dodge left and get hit and fixing that isn't as simple as going back and dodging right. They'll just shoot in that direction instead.
* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: Between the Jaune counterparts, at least. Since death for them means being sent back to their worlds with no memories of the war, any fatalities inflicted between them are essentially negated. Of course, since killing the anchors is also an option...
* HandicappedBadass: [[spoiler:Ashari loses his right arm to Knight, but he is still the oldest iteration on Salem's side and more than capable of throwing down with JNPR when they meet]].
* HearingVoices: [[spoiler:As in his home story, Revolutionary has a version of Adam Taurus inside his head that only he can hear, which was pulled into the new world with him.]]
* TheHedonist: Now seeing himself as having no chance in the deathmatch, no matter what he does to prepare at this point, Fate gets right back to indulging his various vices. The first thing he does is run off for cigarettes, and in the next chapter he bursts in hungover after having drunken sex with an older student. He says the only good thing about his time looping is that his body can never form a tolerance for his habits, so he's had his first time hundreds of times.

* AllForNothing: In the end, [[spoiler:none of the game's participants gain anything from it. The game itself ends in a draw thanks to Headmaster (so no one gets the wish they were so desperate for), Cinder's faction is annihilated (with the exception of Emerald, who lost the only person who ever loved her), Atlas's reputation is stained due to their failure and several of them are dead, Ozpin is dead and Beacon is severely damaged, and the students are left both traumatized and faithless due to the Gods' callousness. Even the one big consolation, that Salem is no longer immortal, is diminished by the fact that she's still ''alive'', and so the students have to prepare themselves for the day she'll eventually make her final attack]]. The only person who could be said to have "won" is [[spoiler:Xiong, who got to screw over Cinder in revenge for what she did to him, but he gets sent back to his world with no memories, so he doesn't get to treasure his victory for long (though he'd get to experience it again later in his own fic)]].

* AlternateUniverseFic: The universe which the iterations from Creator/CoeurAlAran[='s=] other [=AUs=] are transplanted to appears to be identical to canon during the events between Volume 1's ending and Volume 2's beginning[[note]]Blake's friends know about her White Fang past, but Cinder and her team haven't yet moved from Haven to Vale[[/note]]; before the iterations' arrival and the new war announced by Jinn naturally creates a divergence point. [[spoiler:At the fic's end, the Remnant that the events of this fic took place on is left in a markedly different overall state to canon]].

* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:Ashari loses his right arm in a fight with Knight. He's darkly amused when he discovers Knight's attack had been so powerful it had bypassed his Aura.]]

* AntiquatedLinguistics: Knight Jaune. Him talking "fancy" is one of the first things Ruby notes about this Jaune, and his flowery, dramatic prose sticks out amongst the rest of the cast. Funnily enough, little of this was present in his original story. Granted, Knight is from after the end of his story where he'd presumably had some time to grow into the role of king, including talking like one. This is hinted at in Chapter 28 when, after Knight yells out a formal challenge to Grimm as the King of Vale and its peoples, he wryly credits Ellayne for driving that fact into his head.

* AppealToForce: Knight initially defers to Ozpin and Ironwood when it comes to organizing the war, keeping his own experience as a leader and strategist quiet. [[spoiler:But after one too many missteps, he loses patience with their approach. He declares his intent to play the death game ''his'' way, and gives the heroes two choices: they can work ''with'' him, or ''around'' him. Either way, he's going to do what he wants, and his impossible power means that he's too strong to force into obedience and too valuable to alienate. Ozpin and Ironwood nervously concede to the first option, and from then on let Knight mostly set the pace]].
* ArmorPiercingResponse: When Ozpin finally talks to Fate one-on-one, Ozpin tries to assure him that Pyrrha is skilled enough to not fall easily, only for Fate to shock him into silence by informing him that Pyrrha is ''always'' the first one to die.

* TheBeastmaster: Grimm Jaune can use his heritage to give mental commands to Grimm monsters. [[spoiler:But Leviathan's true form is too eldritch, even for him. He ''can'', however, tell all the Grimm being spawned by Leviathan's Nightmare not to attack anyone, preventing mass death until Leviathan is put down and his Grimm erased]].
* BeneathTheMask: As in his home story, Null has no real care for any human life that isn't his or his family's, willing to kill anyone in the way of his goal and even torturing Ruby with sadistic glee. [[spoiler:When he has a moment alone, however, we see that he's well aware of this and doesn't like it, as it means he's backsliding into the psychopath that he used to be before he rescued his sisters and it's a habit he'd wanted to kick]].

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Grimm is easily the nicest iteration on Cinder's side, but he finally reaches his limits when [[spoiler:Cinder orders him to have an army of Grimm slaughter Vale's citizens. He uses his tentacles to choke Cinder and comes within an inch of ripping her apart at the seams, only choosing not to because [[CruelMercy she'll get to watch her plans fail if her lets her live]]]].

* TheBlacksmith: Knight's default class, as in ''Forged Destiny''. It is literally spelled out above his head under his name, which freaks Ruby out when she first notices, and grabs the attention of passerby when they're out-and-about.
* BlingOfWar: [[Fanfic/ForgedDestiny Knight's]] armor is described as such by Ruby. Given his origin, it's [[UltimateBlacksmith likely self-forged]].

* BluntYes: Ashari's response to [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Yang]] asking him if he really thinks he can beat all of them. Given the CurbStompBattle he hands out immediately afterward, his confidence is justified.

* BrokenPedestal:
** Pyrrha isn't sure what to make of Fate, an alternate version of her crush who immediately comes off as a caustic asshole. [[spoiler:Even worse now that he's turned on them.]]
** Similarly Yang, who was starting to bond with him over Fate comforting her after Leviathan's death, does not take [[spoiler:learning he was behind killing Leviathan and Barista and then attempting to do the same to her own sister]] well at all.
* BroughtDownToNormal: As per usual, Null's Semblance allows him to rip away his target's Aura and Semblance, rendering them little more than a civilian.
* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:Hunter returns to Beacon during the free-for-all between the iterations, hitting Ashari with a spore arrow that distracts him and helping Ozpin's side escape]].
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Knight's reaction to learning about the version of Salem he's fighting this time is just to comment on how he's faced worse. [[spoiler:After returning following his beatdown of the White Fang and Cinder's entire faction - a feat that no one else on Ozpin's side could do on their own - Knight's only comment on what he did is that, again, he has faced worse]].

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Emerals's toxic relationship with Cinder. [[PapaWolf Ashari]]'s efforts to convince Emerald that Cinder doesn't care for her one bit and that Cinder isn't the crux of Emerald's purpose in life resemble a concerned loved one trying to get through to and save a victim of grooming.

-->"[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12574905/1/In-the-Kingdom-s-Service Agent Jaune]]," anchored to [[spoiler:Headmaster Ozpin]].

* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: With some Jaunes confirmed as seemingly independent and making moves under the radar, [[spoiler:Ironwood and Ozpin don't think they can allow Fate and Hunter to sit things out any longer. Ironwood doesn't have to make any ''specific'' threats (Fate, who's been the victim of the General's bad side, explains the gist), but he makes it clear they will either join the effort or [[WithUsOrAgainstUs be treated as obstacles]]]]. Ironically, this also backfires on them with Magnis and Knight as they refuse to follow their orders explicitly, especially as their plans are putting more lives at risk as the war drags on.

* WithUsOrAgainstUs: As per usual when Ironwood is around and the stakes are high. [[spoiler:When he gets to Beacon, he and Ozpin meet with Fate and Hunter to explain to them that, with so much uncertainty about friend and foe, they cannot be allowed to just sit things out while the rest of the heroes are fighting for the fate of the world, and they can either fight ''for'' them or be treated as fighting ''against'' them]]. Ironically, he gets this thrown back at him with Magnis as the latter refuses to be treated as a pawn despite being a fully-fledged Huntsman, and later Knight when he and Ozpin are letting the war drag on and putting more lives at risk.

* AlternateUniverseFic: The universe which the iterations from Creator/CoeurAlAran[='s=] other [=AUs=] are transplanted to appears to be identical to canon during the events between Volume 1's ending and Volume 2's beginning[[note]]Blake's friends know about her White Fang past, but Cinder and her team haven't yet moved from Haven to Vale[[/note]]; before the iterations' arrival and the new war announced by Jinn naturally creates a divergence point.

* TokenGoodTeammate:
** Jaune Ashari for Salem's side. He'd like nothing more than to kill Salem (which he has already done in two other worlds), but can't lest harm come to his [[PapaWolf anchor, Emerald]].
** Grimm Jaune is this for Salem's side as well. Despite being half-Grimm, as well Salem's son in another world, he isn't thrilled about killing other Jaunes, much less the war in general. At [[spoiler:Headmaster's gathering of Jaunes]], he reveals that he can't help but see this version of his mother as a lonely woman who desperately needs ''someone'' to care about her on a personal level, and his decision to fill that role is the only reason he didn't immediately defect to Ozpin's side.

* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: With some Jaunes confirmed as seemingly independent and making moves under the radar, [[spoiler:Ironwood and Ozpin don't think they can allow Fate and Hunter to sit things out any longer. Ironwood doesn't have to make any ''specific'' threats (Fate, who's been the victim of the General's bad side, explains the gist), but he makes it clear they will either join the effort or [[WithUsOrAgainstUs be treated as obstacles]]]].

* WithUsOrAgainstUs: As per usual when Ironwood is around and the stakes are high. [[spoiler:When he gets to Beacon, he and Ozpin meet with Fate and Hunter to explain to them that, with so much uncertainty about friend and foe, they cannot be allowed to just sit things out while the rest of the heroes are fighting for the fate of the world, and they can either fight ''for'' them or be treated as fighting ''against'' them]].