it's so dumb that jaunes disguise didn't fool young jaune- that's so weirdly incompetent of him. i imagine you'd say 'he's underestimating young jaune because he thinks he's an idiot' or 'he didn't know it would be someone he knew', but that's weak- he's a professional lol he wouldn't half ass things. gotta be a better way to leak the info then 'jaunes an idiot'.

Holy shit.

I just finished this, and am genuinely crying. Such a good ending! I loved it so much. And I’m really glad that Raven wasn’t abandoned either. This fic made me ship her and Jaune *hard* and I was hoping beyond hope for some resolution there and you delivered!

This is genuinely one of the best fics I’ve ever read. Mad props to you, Coeur, you deserve all the praise.

This may be one of my favorite chapters yet.

I still don’t understand how Vernal is ABOVE dirt…

So I'm taking a little break from The Self Made Man to come back and review this. When I initially finished this I wasn't really into writing reviews. It was a once in a blue moon kind of thing. But since I've been pretty consistently doing them lately I thought I'd come back to this one, and others eventually. Unfortunately, some of this is gonna be off of memory but I shall do my best. Anyway, on with the review.

I've always liked time travel stories. Its part of the reason I liked Not this time, Fate so much. Its interesting to see what changes, both expected and unexpected, a character can bring about when they have some level of future knowledge.

Jaune accomplishes this here is spades. His interference here ends up with a timeline that is dramatically changed from canon or what events you established to have occurred in Jaune's old timeline. Summer is alive, well, living with her family, and eventually gets a job at Beacon. Qrow isn't an alcoholic wreck drowning his sorrows. Tai feels the least changed in comparison. His bout of depression doesn't happen here so that's definitely a plus. Raven faces some of her inner demons as well, though I'll really get to her when I talk about the romance. Jaqcues even comes off as a man who cares about his family towards the end, given his grief over his wife (if I'm remembering correctly). Cinder here is arguably on the heroes side in the end, if only because Jaune gave her what she wanted. Adam does not turn into the vengeful revolutionary he originally became and instead chose to become chieftain of Menagerie. Jaune even manages to save many of the people of Kuroyuri. Vernal even manages to leave the Branwen Tribe, becomes a huntress, and gets adopted by Jaune, getting herself a sister in the process.

Others are saved as well. Team November is saved from a grisly fate at the hands of Tyrian. Which in turn also prevents the death of Pyrrha's older sister, Helena.

Even Jaune's old friends get some changes. All of the ones who trained with him at ASH Gym are stronger than they were in the old timeline. Even Whitley joins in on the fun of wanting to become a huntsman. Even present Jaune gets in on the training train due to Raven taking him under her wing. I will say on that note, his insistence that she is a fairy godmother, while funny when he is a small child, comes off as stupid once he gets older and remains as such for the rest of the fic. Though he does get to have a preemptive meeting with Nora and Ren before Beacon. (Was kind of rooting for Nora's Arc by the way. You did tease it a little after all. Even then, I did think past Jaune getting together with Emerald would have been completely hysterical.)

But not all changes are good. Ghira unfortunately died, which in turn nearly set Blake down the path Adam once walked. I originally thought they would completely swap places with but that did not occur. Also, it was unfortunate in my opinion that nothing occurred with Blake and Emerald or even Jaune himself, given that she blamed him for her father. She just goes off to Beacon and nothing really happens afterwards. (Ilia also kind of vanishes too, despite saying she'd go with Blake to Beacon.) Ozpin also becomes a colossal asshole as well. Not his greatest showing here when it comes to his actions. This also caused the death of Willow, who in her final moments chose to protect her family. Pyrrha's family situation seems wrong at times though due to Helena's survival. While her sister surviving is nice, it also prevents Pyrrha from running off to Beacon, which allows her father to keep some hold of her and force her to do things she clearly wants to step away from. (Though in the end this entire situation does indeed improve.)

Arguably one of the biggest negative changes is that Ruby no longer desires to be a huntress. It is understandable given the event that triggers her change of heart. And its not all bad with her. She chooses to become a nurse. Its just a different way for her to help people. Sort of a neutral change here. Another neutral change is Winter. She steps away from the military and back into her old position of heiress. This prevents her siblings from having to suffer and makes her father happy, but isn't exactly what she wanted out of life. She definitely makes it work and finds some happiness in it along with her relationship with Jaune.

There are several characters that undergo more changes in comparison to others due to Jaune's interference than others. Emerald is the front runner in this regard. Instead of Cinder picking her up to use as a tool, Jaune finds her as a child and takes her with him. Their father daughter relationship is one of the best parts of this fic. It is a treat to read whenever it is the focus. The journey the two take, starting with Jaune being completely out of his depth and Emerald distrust and weariness of him to the two eventually coming to love one another as parent and child, is heartwarming in all the right ways. And funny at times given how much of a daddy's girl she becomes.

Here's the part where I talk about the romance. Of which their were two front runners as far as the readers were concerned. Winter and Raven.

Winter winning out in the end was perfectly fine and was the pairing I was rooting for while reading this. The scenes we get between the two of them trying to navigate their relationship are good. Starting out as mentor and student, then spending so much time apart from one another that the romance between the two does not come off as awkward. I just wish that the actual romantic relationship was far more prevalent than it ended up being. Other reviewers pointed this out in prior reviews, but at times this pairing felt that it was just done for the sake of convenience to the plot. In making this the winning pairing, it gave Jaune convenient access to the Schnee Dust Company's resources. Like I said, what is here is overall enjoyable, I just wanted more to sell it a bit better.

Now for the other romantic interest, Raven. Arguably the pairing the readers were clamoring for the most. And for reasons that I can easily see. Their dynamic is great. Fantastic even. Much more so than Winter if I am being honest. However, and its a big however. It honestly amazed me how much people were so adamant about this being a thing given something that I saw as obvious. Shipping tends to bring out the crazies who don't care about the narrative and just want to see their ship get together, regardless of how much it might not make sense, might not be set up, or narrative problems in the way of said pairing. And I think such a thing definitely occurred here. It was amazing because, at least to my eyes, this pairing was never ever going to happen. And it was for two simple reasons, one is that it would essentially require Raven to go through some form of redemption arc. Jaune is not going to date someone who is one hundred percent okay with attacking, robbing, and killing innocent people. Raven is not a good person. The other is the tribe itself. Raven would not be able to undergo the changes required for this ship to sail if the tribe is in the picture. It is a group that enables and reinforces Raven's worst behaviors. Having the entire tribe other than Raven wiped out by Salem and her minions in some form or fashion would have been one way to do that. Early on in this fic I might have entertained the idea of this pairing but as I continued to read I quickly realized it would never happen. Not if the two above issues were never going to be addressed. (It'd be cool to see someone take a crack at this with a fan spin off. Professor Arc got a fair few of those. Maybe this one could get one with Raven as the main pairing.)

Also on a side note, I have read that you might have originally intended for Tai to die at the Vytal Festival. If that's true and had happened I easily could have seen Jaune and Summer getting together. They had some nice interactions with one another over the course of this fic.

And this leads me to the ending. I felt the ending was very good here. Jaune dying had become expected towards the later chapters. If Salem's magic was what was sustaining him, of course he'd go with her if she died. Unexpectedly, Salem gives him two months as a kindness. This leads to several touching chapters where he has final farewells with Tai, Qrow, Summer, and many others. It even allows him to marry Winter and go on a honeymoon with her. Emerald and Vernal of course tag along, turning it a family vacation. And here is where I enter shipping talk again. The scene between Jaune, Raven, and Winter comes of to me as a bone that was thrown to the readers who are shouting to the heavens for Jaune and Raven to be a thing in this fic. And that's not even getting into the fact that Raven is pregnant with his kid. A kid who is destined to become a bandit who will rob, kill, and steal from the innocent. That kids future isn't looking like a good one. Gonna be one hell of a conversation when that kid finally dies and meets his father in the afterlife. And the birthing isn't even shown. It's not in the least bit important and is treated as such, unlike Winter giving birth, which has a section devoted to it. It reinforces that thought in my head that its just a bone thrown to placate the more adamant readers.

And finally we reach the final moments of this fic. Where you reveal that Jaune had not traveled in time, but had altogether traveled to another world. He comes back and is forced to deal with the mess he left behind. And he is resolute in his mission to help the world he left behind. Its a different take to what is normally done and it is refreshing. (Though, that depends on the rules of time travel a writer establishes.) He's not really locked out of his happy ending either. He just has to wait awhile before he can reunite with the people he left behind. Eventually he will see them again. And that applies to both worlds as its implied. They run parallel to one another after all.

Also, I liked the little nod to Jeanne d'Arc. Jaune and Winter's daughter is named after not only him (Jaune is the masculine version of Jeanne as far as I am aware), but also the same historical figure he's based on.

When it comes to your time travel based fics, I think I still like Not this time, Fate more than this one. I've yet to touch Wise as an Old Crow so I can't comment on it. I likely wont read it until its finished but I am excited for it. Regardless, I still really like this one and I'll come back to it in the future.

Best wishes and happy writing.

HAHAHAHAHA YES
Sorry, very comprehensive review right there. Love the ending of this chapter!

I had my suspicions before, but due to the death of her father, I’m starting to think that team RWBY will be RWAY with Adam replacing Blake.
Also, I’m starting to doubt that Ruby will still get into Beacon early/become a Huntsman. Because of her trauma, I mean.

I have a little question… How did lil shit Ozmofo live his last life?

Would I be morally deplorable for rooting for Winter’s pursuit of a relationship with Jaune?
Yes.
Is it still a nagging desire at the back of my mind?
Perhaps.
The police will never know!
Also, curiously enough, the age difference between Jaune and Raven is the same as the difference between Jaune and Winter, assuming I did my math correctly.

I've read a lot of your stories and none of the scenes you've written have made me more emotional than the scene where Jaune confronts Emerald for running off with the relics. asking if she'd been compromised and she reveals that she just doesn't want him to die. that's such a heartwrenching scene and I don't want to forgive you for leaning into it because you really did. "Daddy don't leave me" fuck you. God that's so sad

Y’know Coco went to the ASH Gym too

This my easily be the best story on this side. I've read it when it came out and practically devoured it in the span of one and a half weeks this time. The ending is beautiful and I was crying and laughing through all of the rollercoaster of emotions the last dozen chapters were. I liked all of it, from the character developement of some who were quite two-dimensional in the show to the plot twists, amazing fights and even authors notes showing there is a human being behind the story. I'm kind of lacking the words to put everything into writing here. Just know you have created something to bei proud of, as you have with all your stories, be they the cracky ones or the tragedies.
Wish you the best,
Torn Wings Rising

Just reread this fic and experienced the incredible story you created once again. Absolutely fantastic, easily one of your best.

Cool

Damn, this chapter would look amazing on screen.