"It was supposed to be a simple recon mission… How did it land us here of all places?" –Silver Aurelius
Chapter 1: What Just Happened?
Silver POV
It was a classic recon mission. We were investigating White Fang movements, as they had been more active than usual. Ash, Weiss, Blake and I had been assigned to look into it, and were sitting on a rooftop, watching as they unloaded crates of Dust from Bullheads. We still didn't know exactly why they needed so much Dust, but we were determined to find out. We had sent Blake and Ash in to try and get some information.
They had been gone about 5 minutes when an explosion was heard from the old warehouse. Blake and Ash were seen running out the garage door of the warehouse, lots of gunfire following them. I stood up, drawing my pistols, and in a flash of lightning, I was on ground level, helping to repel the enemy forces. I had taken out about half of the soldiers when two more figures came out of the hideout. One was Roman Torchwick; the other almost made me freeze in the middle of the fight. It was Cinder Fall, in the flesh, If what I knew about her power was true, we were toast if we didn't get out of there immediately.
I jumped back to where the others were grouped, and said, "We need to get out of here, now!"
"Leaving so soon?" Cinder asked.
I froze, she wanted something, and I have to admit, I was a little scared by that. "What do you want?" I shouted back.
"Oh, I just wanted to test this new Dust manipulation technique and you just happened to come by," she said, in a scarily calm way.
I felt my body start to flicker with lightning and the White Fang soldiers took worried expressions and started backing up while Cinder simply smiled. I charged myself even more and was about to let loose a bolt of lightning when she suddenly scattered a peculiar type of Dust through the air. It came straight towards us, but instead of doing any damage, it just settled on the ground around us. I raised an eyebrow and was about to mock her new "attack" when suddenly, Roman fired a shot from his cane. It collided with the Dust on the ground, and then the ground below us glowed a deep red. We would have run but I suddenly felt like I had vertigo and had a feeling as if I was falling. I struggled to stay conscious as long as possible as Ash, Blake, and Weiss hit the ground. I took a couple of shots at Cinder and Roman, but just barely missed. I finally reached the point where I couldn't stay up anymore, and when I hit the ground, everything went black.
I woke up in a grassy piece of land with two trees at either end. It looked like we were in some sort of courtyard, with buildings surrounding us and what seemed to be an amphitheater nearby. On my right, I could just make out a sign through my somewhat blurry vision. It read: Student Store
Reading those words, and finally fully processing them, I looked in the other direction and saw another sign that read: College and Career Center
I could feel the blood drain from my face. My very first thought was, "Ah, crap."
I pulled out my old smartphone. I kept it on me at all times, just in case. I turned it on and it connected to the nearby cell towers and I saw the local time. If it was physically possible, I'm pretty sure that I paled even further. I got up and started shaking the others awake. We didn't have much time, and we needed to find somewhere to hide, fast. I was able to wake up Ash first, and quickly explained what happened and where we were, and he just gave me a shocked expression before turning to wake Weiss, while I woke Blake. Once they were both up, we gave them a basic overview of what happened and told them we would give them more details later. We jumped on a rooftop and stayed low.
A few minutes later, a bell rings, and hundreds of students pour out, on their way to their next class. While we waited for the coast to be clear, I explained the details of what happened.
Ash and I revealed to Weiss and Blake that we weren't actually from Remnant, and that this was the school we had gone to before arriving there. They listened quite well, considering all we got was shocked expressions and a couple protests from Weiss.
"If you got to Remnant so recently, how is your team so good?" Weiss asked, disbelieving.
"Two months of nonstop training and the almost undivided attention of most of the Beacon staff can go a long way to bridge the gap Weiss," Ash replied.
She stopped to think about this and just shrugged.
"Alright then, so any idea how to get out of here?" Blake asked.
"I know a couple teachers here who might be able to help a bit," I said.
"Okay, but what do we need?" Weiss asked.
"First, I know you aren't necessarily going to like this," I said, " but we need to get some bags or cases to disguise our weapons. Walking around in public with a weapon isn't the sign of being a hero here; it's just asking to get arrested. Second, we need to get ahold of a couple hoodies or something, you and Blake are dressed strangely for this world's standards, I just need to take off my cloak, and Ash should be fine since he can just pass his jacket off as a new fashion to most people."
They nodded in understanding. The bell rang again and we waited a couple minutes for the stragglers to get to their classes.
Once we were sure there weren't too many people lingering, I led the way to a classroom at the northeastern area of the school. The teacher in question was a teacher I liked quite a lot. He was a history teacher named Mr. Hark. He was a more sarcastic teacher, but that was the reason I liked him. He was in his mid to late forties and had brown hair and brown eyes, and fairly consistently wore a dress shirt with black dress pants and shoes.
Once we reached his room, we stayed out of sight of the window by the door; we didn't want to telegraph our presence too much at this point.
"Blake, do you sense anyone in that room?" I asked.
She closed her eyes and used her Faunus senses to listen to what was going on inside the room.
She opened her eyes and said, "From what I can tell, there's a couple dozen people in there."
"Great," I said.
I walked over to the window, and without revealing myself too much, tapped on the glass firmly. I withdrew a few feet and waited. After a few seconds, the door opened and out walked Hark, looking at us with his irritated glare.
I brought my hood down and looked him straight in the eye, saying, "Long time, no see, Mr. Hark."
As he looked at me, a look of recognition crossed his face, and for once, I smiled at the reaction I got out of him.
"But… how are you here? You and something like five or six other students went missing 5 months ago!" he said, obviously not believing what he was seeing.
"What did you think, we were dead?" I asked.
"What did you expect us all to think Silver?" he shot back.
"I'd explain to you exactly what happened to us, but you wouldn't believe us, and there isn't time," I said quickly.
He sighed. "Alright, but why are you coming to me?" he asked.
"We need four bags or cases to conceal these," I said, showing him our weapons.
"Why do you have weapons on you?" he asked.
Weiss was about to give him an Ice Queen talk, but I silenced her and said, "Let's just say that if we didn't have them, we would all more than likely be dead."
He actually seemed speechless for once. He finally recovered and said, "I'll call the Student Store and have them give you what you need, but only under the condition that you tell me exactly what happened at a later time."
"You got it. Thanks for the help."
He walked back into his classroom and made the call as we started walking to the store.
Blake, Weiss, and I waited outside while Ash went and got everything we needed, as his weapons were the least conspicuous. After a few minutes, he came back out with four duffel bags, a backpack, and two hoodies.
We stashed our weapons in the duffel bags and Weiss put her jacket in the backpack with my cloak. Weiss and Blake put on the hoodies so that they wouldn't draw as much attention to themselves.
I looked at the time and smiled, it looked like we were just in time to catch the next teacher. The next teacher was more of a coach really; Coach Allen, he was the head football coach for the school. He was fairly short and had black, but graying, hair and beard. He was wearing his usual athletic shirt and khakis with sunglasses.
I looked inside the weight room, and saw a lot of people who knew who I was and decided I needed to approach him carefully. Then I saw his daughter sitting at a table near the entrance, she must have had a free period.
I quickly tried to remember her name and called out to her, "Hey!" I whispered, "Hey, Mallory!"
She looked up and saw me. I gestured for her to come closer and she got up from the table she was sitting at and came over to the doorway. I looked behind her to make sure that none of the guys in there had noticed me yet.
I then looked back at her and said, "I need you to get your dad to come out here and talk to me, I'd go in there myself, but I've been gone awhile and I don't really want to draw attention from the other guys…"
"You're putting it lightly, Silver," she said, and seeing my bewildered expression, continued, "What? Didn't think I'd remember you? How am I supposed to forget someone with a silver streak in their hair that also went missing along with several other students for a few months? I mean, I knew who you were before with all the paperwork I helped my dad with, but you became rather famous in the school after you disappeared."
My jaw dropped, but I quickly regained my composure and said, "I'll tell you what happened later, but right now, I really need to talk to your dad."
She nodded and walked over to the coach and whispered something in his ear. I saw his eyes widen as he spun around and saw me in the doorway. I moved a little farther outside to lessen my chance of being seen, and he came outside quickly and I saw that he was either mad or happy or both.
"How's it going coach?" I said, hoping to keep him off guard with my casual tone.
"How do you think it's going? I lost one of my fastest players for a few months! How am I supposed to be doing?" He was practically yelling now. "I saw your effort before you disappeared, I also saw how fast you were! I know you weren't trying Silver, don't try to pull that, you could have matched the RB's in speed!"
I sighed, it was true, I had toned down my speed a lot during practices. "Sorry coach, but my disappearance was a little bit beyond my control. Although, my speed and strength have increased since I disappeared. As for the playing, I can't come back coach, there's another place that needs me more. And before you ask, no, it's not for a sport, it's for the protection of mankind."
I heard a snort of laughter from above along with a grunt and said, "I guess he might as well know how many of us are here guys, come on down."
Ash, Blake, and Weiss dropped from the glyph that they had been standing on above us. Coach Allen just blinked in surprise before saying, "How…?"
"I'll explain how and why later, but right now we need a ride off campus. We need to get to my house so that we can find a way back to where we came from," I told him.
To his credit, and our relief, he walked back inside and got Mallory to get his truck and take us to my house.
Just as we were leaving, he shouted, "I meant it when I said I wanted details Silver!"
I turned back and smiled at him, giving him a thumbs up, then my smile disappeared as I saw a group of guys rush outside in response to Coach Allen shouting my name.
They started running after us, undoubtedly wanting information on why we disappeared. The others and myself started running, but the guys were gaining.
"Mallory!" I shouted, "Where's your dad's truck?"
"It's in the main parking lot!" she shouted back.
I smiled and took Blake's hand, who took Weiss's hand, who took Ash's hand, who eventually got Mallory to grab his hand.
"Hold on! This is going to be one heck of a ride!" I told them.
In a flash of lightning, we were gone. An instant later, we were in the main parking lot.
"What was that?" Mallory asked, more calmly than I expected.
"That was a technique I developed while I was missing."
I could tell she wanted to ask more questions, but she just nodded and led the way to her dad's truck. The truck in question was a grey Ford pickup. I was hoping that we would be able to get off campus and to my house without incident.
Luck was not on our side. I was about to get in the front of the truck to give directions back to my house when I heard a shout behind me.
"Silver Aurelius!"
Hearing that familiar voice, half of me wanted to get in the truck and get out of there as fast as possible, the other half just froze up. I turned and saw a girl with black hair, dyed a few different colors in the back, running towards the parking lot. I told Mallory to get ready to go, shut the door, and walked a little ways from the truck.
Allison, accompanied by a few others who knew me, ran to where I was standing.
I was the first to speak, seeing as they were staring at me in disbelief. "So, how are you guys doing?"
They all deadpanned, and one of the guys behind Allison said, "Way to underplay the situation Silver. I see you haven't changed much."
"There are things I've seen and done that you wouldn't believe," I said.
They continued staring. I sighed and said, "Listen, I have to go, I'm taking a few friends I made while I was gone over to my place so we can rest for a while. If you really want more information, come by later. Allison knows where I live."
I waved as I went back to the truck, got in, and told Mallory to get out of the parking lot.
It took us about five minutes to get back to my house. Before getting out of the truck, I surveyed the driveway and windows of the bright yellow, one-story house. Seeing no evidence of anyone being home yet, we went around to the back yard and had Ash phase through the wall and unlock the door.
Unfortunately, there was one thing I hadn't taken into account when we decided to come here. The sound of paws running down the hall and sliding as they tried to keep a grip on the tile revealed a small brownish-red furred dog. Her name was Abbey.
The small dog ran right up to me and started trying to get up my leg before giving up and rolling onto her back, obviously wanting a belly rub.
I sighed in exasperation, "Really Abbey? I'm gone for like six months, and the only reaction from you is a desperate attempt at a belly rub?"
I was just smiling at the dog, where as Weiss, after examining her for a few seconds, just fawned over the dog, kneeling down and giving her a belly rub that rivaled my own based on the dog's face. Ash was trying to conceal a laugh at the entire situation and Blake was suddenly behind me.
"Something wrong, Blake?" I asked, smothering a laugh.
She glared at me and said, "You know full well what's wrong Silver."
I gave in and said, "Alright, while Abbey's distracted, I'll take you to a place she doesn't like to go very often, due to my sister's constant hold on her."
Blake raised an eyebrow, and the look in her eye told me she had a few questions.
"My room, assuming it's not filled to the brim with junk."
We quickly walked down the hall, and stopped at the door closest to the front of the house. The door was closed and I had some hesitation in opening the door, as I hadn't thought I would be coming back here. I steeled myself and turned the handle, revealing my room almost exactly as I left it, if a little bit cleaner.
There was a bed made in the far corner of the room with an alarm clock with an iPod port attached, a dresser and bookshelf up against the wall opposite the door, my computer desk at the foot of the bed, and my main desk adjacent to the door, which had a T.V., an Xbox 360, an Xbox One, and a few miscellaneous papers lying on it.
Blake saw the multitude of books I had stored on the shelf and instantly bolted to examine it. I smiled at the sight before the smile disappeared when the poster next to the bookshelf caught my eye. It was a RWBY poster. I looked at Blake to make sure she was still absorbed in the books before quietly taking it down and putting it on the bed.
Blake startled me by saying, "I saw it already. I have questions about it, but I'm going to let it go for now."
I sighed; this was going to be a long day.
Ash and Weiss came in about 5 minutes later, with Weiss carrying Abbey. I noticed Blake look up from her book and stare coldly at Abbey, causing me to chuckle a little bit.
"Alright you two, spill. What's going on?" Weiss said, still petting Abbey while sitting on the chair next to my computer.
I silently willed her not to look at the laptop yet, since it had a Ruby Rose decal on it.
I looked at the two girls and said, "Okay, first off, we are not from Remnant."
"Thank you for stating what is clearly obvious Silver," Weiss said.
"It's… much more complicated than that Weiss," I said, "The entirety of Team SABR is from this world."
That managed to shock her a little bit and I continued, "We did not go to Remnant because we wanted to, we had heard of it, but we didn't come intentionally."
She opened her mouth to protest, but Ash stopped her by saying, "We'll explain how we already knew about Remnant in a little bit Weiss."
I nodded in appreciation and continued, "I'm going to explain as much as I can with the time we have alone here right now. If my sister comes home before I'm done, we will have to continue later."
I got nods of acknowledgement from both Blake and Weiss, and continued, "This world has no Grimm, no Faunus, and no Dust," This got me looks of shock from the two, though they stayed silent as I continued, "What this world does have is a population of over 7 billion people, a little over 200 different countries, and almost constant war and repression."
"What!" they both yelled at once.
"That's impossible! Humans have never exceeded 1 billion before, and how are there so many countries?" Weiss practically shouted.
Blake was more concerned with another subject, "How is there almost constant war? And if there aren't any Faunus, who's being repressed?"
I chose to answer Weiss first, "There are so many people because there aren't any Grimm to deter us from populating the entire world, as for the countries, many are very small, while others can span a continent. As for the war and repression, that's more complicated. When I say constant war, it's not full scale, it's just a few skirmishes mixed with guerrilla warfare. There is one country that's been threatening to blow everyone else up, but its thought that they don't actually have the resources to do so. Think Blake, if there are no Faunus to have ever been repressed, then who's next in line?"
She thought for a moment before saying, albeit a bit hesitantly, "Other humans?"
"Precisely," I said, "There was a time when skin color and religion could sometimes put one at a disadvantage. Humans would judge and enslave each other based on skin color, and kill each other based on religion. It was terrible Blake, now things are better, but there are still some places where feelings like those are very strong."
That brought a silence on the room, as the two girls digested my words.
Blake decided to change the subject by saying, "So how did you two know about Remnant then?"
I looked at Ash and he just shrugged and said, "You're the expert, I didn't watch the show as much as you did."
The two girls looked at each other in confusion at the exchange and Weiss said, "What are you talking about?"
I sighed for the umpteenth time that day and said, "What I'm about to tell you will undoubtedly anger or depress you, but it is all true. Before I start, however, you have both heard of the Multiple Universe Theory, right?"
They both nodded. I asked Weiss to move from the computer and as she was getting up she noticed the rose symbol on the top of the laptop.
"Why is Ruby's symbol on your computer?" Weiss asked.
"All in good time Weiss."
I opened up the laptop and went to the RT site. I then turned to Blake and Weiss, who were standing behind me.
"To give you some backstory on this, I'm going to have to go back a couple years. You see there was a group of friends a few years ago who, fresh out of college, decided to make a web series out of a video game by inserting their voices over the characters they were manipulating. After a few years, they were starting to gain popularity and by the eighth season of the show, had done many other things. Just before the eighth season, they hired a man named Monty Oum to come help animate the show, resulting in a huge success. He continued to help make the show better for another 2 years before he released the trailer for a new animated show. Here's the first trailer he released."
I hit the play button on the screen and the video started. He watched the two girl's expressions as they saw the rose petals floating upwards and then Ruby herself at her mother's grave and as they watched how skillfully she put down a pack of beowolves.
As the trailer ended, Blake said, "You said this was the first trailer he released?"
"Yes, he made trailers that feature and give background on you, Weiss, and Yang. He depicted Weiss singing at one of her concerts while she remembered how she got her scar," Weiss looked outraged, "Blake's final mission with her partner, Adam," Blake paled at this, "and Yang tearing apart Junior's club."
"How did they get our voices for this?" Weiss asked, outraged that someone could possibly have the same voice as her.
"They put certain inflections on their voices, so they don't actually have the same voice as you. Well, okay, Yang's voice actor uses her own voice mostly, but that's just because they're so alike."
Blake and Weiss paled at the implications of that.
"Listen, I'm sorry that we got thrown into this situation, but I'm sure we can get out of here, and back to Remnant, okay?"
They nodded, and then I heard the door open and what sounded like a backpack dropping.
"Well would you look at that, how would you guys like to meet my sister? Oh, and Weiss, she's a fan of yours." This seemed to give the heiress a look of glee until I said, "Although, she's also like a combination of you and Ruby in both the best and worst ways possible."
"Oh please, I'm sure she takes after me more."
"Whatever will help you sleep tonight."
We left my room to go see my sister.