Ahh, my first fanfiction.
Wonderful!
I don't own RWBY
Black.
That was all he could see. Well, it's not like there was anything to look at.
After all, his eyes were closed.
"Hey, wake up."
Mmmmph
Eh?
He tasted wood, laminated and washed wood. Cleaned with lemon soap, it tastes like.
He lifted his head up and tried to open his eyes. Once successful in that endeavor, he scanned his surroundings.
He seemed to be in a rectangular room, with a couple tables and chairs behind him and the counter of a bar in front of him. Various bottles of what could be assumed to be alcohol hung from the ceiling from small black strings, allowing the bottles to clink against each other if a gust blows through. On the immediate left side of the bar was a staircase, headed up to who knows where, and on the right, a closed door. Behind him, the entrance doorway was flanked with two vertical windows that were too bright to look out of. Anything that was made of wood – except for the counter – had curious symbols and pictures inscribed on it.
"A... bar?"
"Yes sir, in fact, it is my bar."
He looked over to where the male voice was coming from. A man was standing behind the bar, wiping down the counters with a blue rag.
The man had a rather average physique, from what he could tell. He wore an open pitch-black coat with two coattails split in the middle by what seems to be a cross, with a dark red shirt underneath. On the coat's sleeves were all sorts of crosses and other strange religious symbols, all lined up along the side, leading up to the collar. He wore black pants, with plenty of pockets to go around. The coat's two belts were hanging uselessly behind him, almost reaching the ground. If one looked closely at the gaps between his clothing, you would see bandages. Ah, he also wore black gloves with empty white circles on the back.
He was clean shaven, allowing him to see many faded scars along his jawbone, strangely stopping immediately at the end of the bone. Wild white hair was on his head, seemingly going past his shoulders. Maybe not.
But what was most odd were his eyes. Or rather, lack of them.
His long hair stopped just past the middle of his nose and covered nearly everything behind it. Behind the small holes in the curtain of hair was... well, nothing. It was if nothing existed beyond the bridge of his nose – except for his hair, of course. If you didn't look closely, you would think he was some sort of neo-emo.
Once he concluded his once-over, he asked the question he had on his mind the entire time.
"Where am I?"
The man seemed to be surprised at something, if the slight flinch of his hair was anything to go by.
"You don't remember anything?"
"No."
That was a lie, of course, he remembered everything. Life in the grey hell known as Earth. The lack of... anything, really, on it. He remembered the day when he discovered the truth, that real life really is boring as hell.
Not like it was any of this guy's business.
"Liar."
Damn.
...
An awkward silence followed. The man was probably waiting for him to ask another question. Unfortunately, he was the probably the last person you could expect to approach someone, much less ask questions.
He decided to make the smart choice, wait it out. Maybe this guy would drop some useful information if he started talking.
…
Any moment now.
…
…
...
"Want a beer?" The man offered.
There we go.
"I'm not paying."
"That's fine."
The man reached up and grabbed what seemed to be a random bottle of the ceiling and pulled it off, snapping the string holding it up, and brought it in front of him after removing the cap with a handy contraption somewhere under the counter.
Then, the man got right back to wiping the counter.
…
…
…
Snap
His patience has finally run dry.
"Goddamn it! Are you going to say something or are you gonna wipe forever, Mr. Clean?!"
The man looked up.
"Well, you never asked."
This must be some kind of hell.
...
After a quick breathing exercise, he was ready to talk again.
"Well, I'm asking now. Where am I?"
"In my bar."
Hold it in, hold it in.
"And where is that?"
"No clue."
He needed to grab something. Anything.
So, his hands were now firmly clamped onto the edge of the counter, and his knuckles were turning white from the sheer force that was now being passed onto the poor counter.
...
After furiously breathing for a minute or two, he was almost ready to get back on track.
"You really get angry easily." The man said, still wiping the infernal counter.
"I..." He was barely able to get out through gritted teeth before he was cut off.
"Well, since it seems you won't ask the obvious, allow me to introduce myself and my bar." The man continued.
"This is my bar, Skye, and I am its proprietor, Sykes." The man backed up so he could make a stage bow, flourishing a non-existent hat that would have been on his head. "But that is not what is important, what is important is that you are here."
Finally calmed down to an extent, he took a sip of the beer.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, it means you are dead."
Hurk
Cough, cough, cough
The beer was now sprayed all over the counter.
The man did not seem to be impressed.
"Hey, man, I have to clean this now."
"Well... cough I'm sure you were about to wipe it anyways."
The man shrugged and got right back to wiping.
"So, this is indeed hell?"
"No, this is Skye."
Oh god.
"And what is Skye?"
The man seemed to have been waiting for this question, as indicated by his excited hop.
"Well, Skye is an afterlife."
"'An' afterlife? There are more?"
"Well, yeah, there 9-layer Hell, normal Hell, Heaven, Limbo. Hell, even an abandoned house could be an afterlife. Skye is just one of infinite, though it is a bit special."
"And how is that?"
"Skye is meant for the rulebreakers of the worlds."
What?
I've never broken an (actual) rule since kindergarten!
"By that, I mean people who don't follow the flow of the world." The man stopped wiping and bent over to grab a thick book from under the counter. He came around the counter and sat down next to me. "For exampleeeeee..." He started running through the pages of the book before stopping at one with text in a language I don't recognize spanning the entire two pages.
"Ah, here you are. Markus Quinn, nickname Q. Age 20, born March 18, 1997"
How does he know that? Is it in that book? What is that book?
"This is the Book of Fate. Everything is in here. Literally."
He can't read minds, right?
"I can. The book can too."
Damn. Just what I needed.
The man started pointing at a line.
"Sooooo... You messed up about 5 years ago. You were... 15 years old. And you... saw something quite interesting, it seems. It seemed to have changed your entire mindset, and you just... gave up."
That's pretty accurate.
"What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing really, but the book didn't expect that. You were supposed to have just kept walking, and still be that naïve little boy today. Also, you weren't supposed to die."
I didn't expect to die either.
"And what exactly is the problem with that?"
"Well, I really have no clue. I just do my job."
"And what is your job exactly?"
"Well, I round up people like you, and whoever people like you associate with, from wherever in the universe and bring them here to guarantee you don't mess up the timeline further. Of course, there really is no point from an objective point of view, after all, the world will keep running until its eventual demise and then reset, so there are infinite chances to do things right. It's more of a keeping the peace type job."
I am curious about one thing though.
"Do you have a boss?"
"No. It's just... a hobby."
Koff
"A hobby!? Really? I didn't go to heaven cause of your hobby!?"
"You wouldn't have made it to heaven anyways." He had a point there.
...
"So... what now?"
"Well, I'm here to offer you a choice."
Couldn't you have mentioned that an hour ago?
"You never asked." Sharp as ever I see. "Now, you can choose one of three paths from this point on. First, you can walk outside and eat a flower from my garden. Second, you can go through that door," he gestured to the door behind the bar, "and get lost in my garden maze. Third, you can go upstairs and stare at the light in there until you go insane. Or, you can keep me company for all of eternity. Your choice. All of the choices will lead to your reincarnation. Except for the last one."
Reincarnation? That's pretty cool!
"You will lose your memories."
Damn.
"What are the differences? Why not just reincarnate me?"
"Well, the first one will just kill you here and now and bring you to some world randomly somewhere. The second choice will bring you to some world but not randomly, you decide where. Of course, this is just an illusion of choice, you still have no idea where you will end up. The third choice will give you the chance to be enlightened, and with that, the chance to be a god or some other higher being of some sort. The third choice also has the chance to completely obliterate your soul from all of existence. It's risky. As for why I'm not just reincarnating you, it's because then it would be no fun."
I can be a god?
"I can be a god?"
"Well, that's what I said. The light in there is the source of all intelligence in all of existence, and staring at it will give you, well, intelligence. A human like you could probably only manage staring at it for less than one billionth of a second before you go insane. But if you are lucky, you might absorb some information and divinity and be reborn with that as your own powers. Or you can be obliterated. Who knows?"
The man stood up. "Well, that's all I'm going to explain, because frankly, I don't care about you anymore. Oh yes, you are guaranteed to not be on Earth this time." He then patted me on the back before went back to the other side of the counter and began wiping again.
I think I know what I will do.
"Give me one more beer."
Clink
…...
"That's your 89th beer."
"You can't get a hangover if you are dead! Hahaha!"
"Who told you that."
Crap.
I should go before then.
"Well then, I'm gonna go now."
The man looked up. "Have fun."
"I doubt I will."
"Me neither."
What a nice guy.
What was his name again?
"Sykes."
Ah, yeah.
"Well then, Sykes, bring me to the light."
The ma – Sykes seemed surprised by my choice. "Really? If you are obliterated there is no more anything, you know."
"I have nothing to lose, if I chose the other ones I have a 50/50 chance of going to a world less interesting than Earth, which I don't want, or I can be obliterated, which is preferable, if my past experience is anything to go on."
"Very angsty, I like it."
I get the feeling that was an insult.
"Well then, just head up those stairs." He pointed a beer at the staircase.
"You aren't going to come with me?"
Wait, of course not, why would he?
"Hell no, that place is scary."
What?
"What do you me-" I started before being cut off.
"Well, see ya." He somehow got behind me before I could notice, grabbed onto my collar and literally tossed me up the stairs before I could react.
"Aghh!" My face slammed into the floor at the top.
Before I got up, I noticed I felt a certain warmth on my skin. Then I turned around to look at it.
"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
And the world crumbled around me.
-Break-
Clank clink clank
The bottles are really shaking a lot this time.
...
The shaking finally stopped.
That boy was odd. I could tell. He talked, but he's incredibly different inside. Kind of like me. I wonder what really happened.
Bzzzt. Bzzzt. Bzzzt.
Ah, the report is done. I wonder what it says.
…
What a lucky guy. He kept all his memories and gained some power.
Maybe I should send him something.
I wonder what power he got.
Host Ability found: Deity of Branded Merchandising
Host Exception found: No divine power
…What an odd power.
I wonder where he went.
Host World found: Remnant
Ah, Remnant. I think I have a mission there.
Shuffle shuffle
Ah, here it is.
…
Roman... Torchwick... huh?
Subject was successfully able to injure subject 2A [Rose, Ruby] during Dust robbery. Subject not meant to do such.
Verdict: Guilty
Action recommended: Collection
Well then, perhaps I will be accompanying you, Markus.
You really are an odd boy.
-Break-
Voices.
Pain.
I remember it all.
Life. Death. I felt it all.
How many people died while I was looking? People born? I can't remember, around five thousand? No, way too little-
Huh?
Grass?
Birds?
Skye doesn't have birds or grass, right?
I sat up and opened my eyes.
Huh?
A letter with a wax seal that had an 'S' on in was taped onto my face. After removing it, I saw a bottle of whiskey along with a small metal device with a diamond centered on it leaning on a tree slightly farther away.
A tree?
I scanned around me.
A gasp escaped me.
It seems I've woken up in a very red forest. The grass was red. The leaves were red. It was beautiful.
Wait... I recognize this forest, right?
Well, whatever.
I tear open the letter, unfold it, and read what's written.
Hello Markus!
It seems you are very lucky! You were able to gain an ability as well as keep your body and mind! Very lucky indeed.
Now, in case you do not immediately recognize where you are, you are on the world of Remnant! Sound familiar? Great!
Holy shit. That's the RWBY world, right?
Yes, yes, it is
… How'd you do that.
Irrelevant.
As it happens, I have a mission here. So, I left you three gifts! First, a personal scroll with my number on it! Call me at any time except for when I won't answer! Second, it seems you enjoy your beverages from what I can gather, so I went ahead and gave you my special one of a kind 300 proof whiskey! I assure you it is very much real. Be careful though, it's very strong.
How is that even possible.
And finally, if you'd reach into your pocket please.
The letter stopped there.
Might as well. I reached inside my pocket and took out the object.
The object was a glass vial with a strange clear liquid inside it. But, before I could scrutinize it any further, the letter that was still in my hand vibrated.
Congratulations! You found the vial! Inside it is some liquified divinity. You gained divine abilities, however you did not gain any divine energy! Hahaha, what a failure!
...Do you have some sort of bipolar disorder...?
I assure you I am perfectly healthy.
Anyways, drink that and you should have enough power to use a simple spell of some sort! Ah, of course, as long as you have some amount in your body, no matter how small, you will be unable to die! Injuries will deplete the divinity though. Of course, with this amount, tripping over a root and hitting your head lightly on a tree trunk would be enough to completely deplete it!
What the hell! It's completely useless then!
Ah ah ah! Remember, I only sent this to you for a simple spell, not immortality.
Ah, before I conclude, you should know that you are currently in a forest known as 'Forever Fall'! It's completely infested with those soulless beings! Grimm, I believe they are called! If I were you, I would use the juice to summon some sort of weapon that has to do with your ability. No worries if you do not know your ability, it'll come naturally!
Farewell,
Your good friend, Sykes.
P.S. This letter will combust immediately! Let go!
And that it did.
Huh, this could be good.
After drinking the divinity, (which tasted like water) I strode over to the tree with the gifts. Putting the impossible whiskey somewhere in my pants, I opened the scroll to see a list of contacts, of which I had one (guess who!). I fiddled with the object as I tried to find some way to open a map of some sort.
Finally getting the damned thing working, I plotted a course straight to the city of Vale, because that's where the world ticks.
And I, armed only with a bottle of probably deadly whiskey, an incredibly user-unfriendly device, not enough divinity, and the clothes on my back, began my trek.
You know, maybe I should actually watch RWBY.
