Heyo! This is going to be one of my big stroies for the year! If this does well enough, this could be a potential series down the line.!Thanks for JLyman for beta reading and Wanwanfuru for passing ideas along with me on this! You guys are the best!
In Vacuo's Shade academy, Arena Murmet was sitting in her chair overlooking papers and signing. She hated paperwork but had no choice since they were a mandatory requirement in order to evaluate if the academy was in good health; to make sure that the students in her school were legit. Not like she needed to. If they made it to her academy in the first place, then they shouldn't need a piece of paper to say what she knew.
She looked past her office and saw the large space the academy occupied in. the academy was one of the neater places that you would see in Vacuo that wasn't half covered by sand. She was in the middle of a particularly long document when she heard the office doors creak opened with one of the teachers, Professor Galben, she sent to look into the bandits that have been lurking around the academy.
"Thank gods, an excuse has arrived." Arena said in a glad tone. Galben had looked liked his usual self; always so tense and so nervous that you could make the mistake that he just committed murder. He always reminded her of Lionheart. She kind of felt guilty about not seeing the gang as much as she would've liked to.
"Hi, Arena. I just came back and I found something that I believe will capture your interest." Arena lost track after so many times of hearing those exact words he said every time he went out for a scouting mission. Why'd did she always forget to appoint literally anyone but him?
"Is it another bear?" Arena asked. She still remembered that time when a regular bear somehow stumbled across the academy and the staff had to go out and kill the animal. Now that was an exciting day. Wonder how it stumbled into the academy in the first place. Not even a jungle near here.
"Ha, ha, not today it isn't. I don't really know how to describe it, so... just look." He pulled out his scroll and played a video. It showed something blue pop out of the sandy land. The best to describe it was as if it was a garage door that was drenched in blue dust. The video ended at around a minute.
Now today was getting a little more interesting...
"What should we do?" asked the worried Galben as he put away his scroll. Arena simply put her feet up on top of the desk.
"It's not really dangerous right now, but we should send one of the teams just to be safe. Go get team NDGO while I call up Ozpin." She reached for her scroll. "He seems like the guy who would be interested in this kind of stuff." She called the aforementioned man using her scroll. What appeared next was a young, gray-haired man with a calm demeanor.
"Arena, how are you? We don't talk as often as I would like. Which means something must wrong." Arena decided today was the day to catch up on her old friend.
Kye was, at the simplest of terms, a normal man. He had average brown hair, brown eyes, average build, average clothing, on the outside. The only thing that wasn't average was his mental state and therefore his actions. He was always tense, tired... as if he put an all-nighter the day before.
Kye had just arrived at the usual clinic, at his usual time, on a usual day. He walked past the doors of the clinic, past the white-walled waiting room, and wandered into the same room that he usually had stayed in for his appointments. He then sat and waited for his therapist, his "friend" to arrive. He would usually glance at the people who walked past the open door. Sometimes he would stare at random board games in the room, sometimes it would be how the picture frame was slightly tilted.
He had gotten past the habit of accusing everyone he saw. However, there were other issues to worry about that originated from what he witnessed.
His friend then entered, Dwayne. He had met Dwayne when he first came to ask for a therapist. Dwayne was a simple man. He had ruffled up hair that looked like he slept on that side, except he never sleeps on that side. Dwayne's usual calm demeanor was replaced with a slightly aggravated one because of a certain thing that Kye had done a week prior.
"Hi, Dwayne." Kye said as he took a seat in front of him.
"You always have to make my day harder for me, huh?" Dwayne asked, pinching his nose.
"Is it about the guns, isn't it? Look, I'm not going to shoot down anyone, I'm better than that. I just need them for an emergency." Kye knew Dwayne wasn't happy about this situation, but he had his reasons that Dwayne wouldn't understand.
"I'm not mad about the guns, I'm mad on how you got the guns. You know better to reply to anyone from that cult, even if they're family." Dwayne said.
"I know. But you were busy when I tried to call and I decided to see where that would lead." Kye said, making sure that his tone was serious enough to distinguish from sarcasm.
"Then why? You know that they can become dangerous people if you give them the chance." Dwayne asked. This wasn't the first time that Kye had done something like this, but this was the first where Kye actually succeeded on scamming that family.
"They offer me money, they destroyed my life. I think it's fair to take that opportunity and make something good out of it." Kye said in disgust.
"I know that you mean good. I just worry that one day you'll do something that will hurt more than help. Just…. Call me the next time something like this happens again.." Dwayne never really knew why Kye would sometimes act rationally while other times would do the most rashly of actions. It just confused him.
"I will, but I think that they will give up soon. I was always known as the deadbeat son to them. Glad to see that still holds some truth for them." Kye noticed that Dwayne was still fairly mad at him. "I promise that I won't contact them again." Kye said, both somber and bitter in his voice.
"...You better not or we're going to have a lot of issues. Are the dreams still popping up?" Dwayne asked; Kye had told him about a dream.
The dream was about how Kye was in his home when all of a sudden a black and white insect attacked him. Killing it, it disappeared in a black fog. After this dream was when Kye found out about a show called RWBY and freaked out about it for a month. He claimed that the bug was a "Grimm", spelled like those fairy tale writers. His therapist recommended to write and compare the dreams and show to calm and rationalize that it's just a formulated memory of it.
"Not as much as before. I'm pretty much done with all of those notes that I told you about." Kye would have written more if only there was more information out about the show. Darn that lack of worldbuilding and inconsistency.
"Right. The one based on the fairy tales. Ruby, if I remember." Dwayne only knew the show was about teenage girls fighting monsters... yeah, that sounded really generic but to be fair he never really went to sit and watch the show, to begin with.
"It's more of an internet show, but you're close. I'll just probably actually watch the show instead of analyzing every little detail out of it." Kye said while sounding tired at his last words. All the all-nighters that he pulled, so many days of sleep loss.
"That's probably a good idea. One last question before you go. What kind of an emergency would require both a hunting rifle and a Remington Shotgun?" Dwayne got to trust Kye enough to call him a friend, but even friends sometimes can be deceiving.
"One that'll never probably never happen, but it's better to be safe than sorry," Kye said as he got up and started to walk out of the room.
"That's not an answer!" Dwayne yelled as Kye already started to make his way down the hall. Dwayne always felt that Kye lead more the therapy session more than he actually did.
Maybe he just needed a friend to talk to than a therapist.
Kye's View
Would I like to talk to someone about what I saw a month before? Yes... but I doubt Dwayne would believe me even if I had the balls to bring it up. Thus, the only way I described the living room, by my own doing, would be with one word: tense.
Tea always helps me calm down. It helps me forget about my problems most of the time.. The living room was neater than most of the other rooms, mostly to convince the few people that ever visit that I don't live in a dump. I then looked up towards the wall of the room. The shotgun that I had also bought before. I didn't really trust myself with it, so I decided to keep it in one of those glass cases that you'd see in a museum. Didn't want to accidentally shoot me in the face. While sipping the warm liquid, I heard a large HISSSSS that was shortly replaced with a "brrrrrrrrrrrr'.
I heard that sound before. I got up from my armchair and took a peek through my curtained window. What I saw was the strangest thing that I saw. It's hard to describe, it resembled a door like what you would see in a supermarket, but the edges were curved. The "void", as I decided to call it, had an orange glow all over it, it was almost supernatural. Hell, it probably was supernatural. Or scientific depends on the cause I guess.
Wanting to investigate, I took my hunting rifle with me, just to be safe. I also got ammo for both pouches that I had on my person, I shouldn't take any chances... All the more for the….this thing that was practically in my backyard.
I stepped up to the middle of the road and took a stance that I've seen people take in the movies. I never actually used the rifle before. Not on anything that wasn't for target practice. Countless thoughts came flashing across my mind while loading the rifle. I just couldn't believe the situation, an unnerving feeling that I knew what the creature may be. But it couldn't be what I think it is, could it?
I can't believe it.
My thoughts were put on pause as I began to notice something different happening to the 'Door'. The orange glow of it began to intensify as a silhouette of something took shape. My eyes widen when I finally got a good look at what came through and I began to feel dread. I recognized what came through very quickly. I did so much research that I knew everything I wrote from heart, but it felt so unreal. It was a large wolf with pitch black fur and bone covering small parts of the body.
It was a Beowulf.
"Oh, God," I said without any intent. I just couldn't believe that I was right. The dreams were right.
Without a second thought, my hand pulled the trigger and a deafening bang soon came after. My ears were ringing. I missed the first shot, to which the Beowulf took notice and began to sprint towards me in bloodlust. I positioned my rifle again and fired. I missed again. I was panicking in the inside, worrying on what would happen if that Grimm got close enough to me.
I fired the shot that managed to make it's way to the Beowulf's front leg. It tumbled over from the shot and landed with a hearty "thump", a good 15 feet away. The leg didn't seem to do much as it still ran, albeit a little slower but still faster. I continued to fire shots. My hands were shaking while I walked back and stumbled on the grass.
BAM! I missed.
BAM! I got the shoulder.
BAM! I hit the chest.
BAM! I missed.
BAM! I finally hit the head.
The body fell for the last time, but it still had its momentum and it crashed up to my body. I'm only left with a corpse after. It was a lot heavier than I expected, I couldn't even pull myself out. At least it was already beginning to I could get a chance to relax for a moment, I was faced with more fear in my heart. I heard an intensifying humming sound as the glow from the 'Door' began to once again glow brighter. I tried to look past the dead Beowulf and could only make out parts of the Door through the strands of fur. I noticed that there were now 2 silhouettes this time.
I began to try to lift the Beowulf off of me when I saw 2 more Beowulfs appear soon after. They were a little larger than the one I managed to kill, with more bone surrounding their faces and their torsos. Not too big, but big enough to be noticeable. The dead Beowulf dissolved enough for me to push it away from me and I began to pick up into a sprint after realizing that my rifle wasn't even loaded. I needed the shotgun.
The Beowulfs quickly noticed my fear and chased after me. I wasn't that far from my home, so I got there much faster than they could and locked my door in the kitchen. I needed any time I could get. I ran into the living room, where I had a Remington Shotgun on display on the wall. I grabbed the case with the gun and smashed it to the ground.
'I can't believe that this shit happens to me of all people.'
It was too hard to believe, but the evidence was breaking down my door.
I could hear banging on the locked door as I began to load the shotgun while dropping the rifle to the floor. I finished putting the bullets in, pumping the shotgun and waited. The door was turning into splinters with pieces falling off from where I saw as I heard a thunderous CRASH of the door. The Beowulf walked into the room with its four paws and I fired as soon as I saw the head. The gun made a crashing BLAM as my arm felt a pain from the recoil. The force was enough to make the Beowulf stumble back away from me. It cried out in surprise or pain, I couldn't tell.
I fired again BLAM, this time breaking part of the bone from its face. Before it had a chance to react, I continued to use up 4 rounds from my shotgun to bring it down. Every time it tried to get its footing, the Beowulf was met with another round. It soon dissolved after 5 rounds of bullets. My arm hurt, my hands were shaking, the stress was getting to me. But I didn't want to die. I started to take a few breaths in and out to calm me down. Just like Dwayne said.
"...I shou-" Before I could finish, the last Beowulf that I had forgotten burst it's head through a window. I turned to shoot the Beowulf, but it had already squeezed its way through the window and into my house. I was about to shoot the monster when it slashed my right arm, flinging the gun out to the broken door. I was sent to the floor, blood pouring from the wound. The Beowulf wasn't going to stop, nor was I going to let it continue.
I grabbed the rifle from the floor and swung it at the wolf's face like a bat. With it stunned, I once again dropped the rifle and ran out the doorway. I grabbed the shotgun that was sitting by on the ground as ran towards the grass.
Then I stopped. I was far enough from the house and in a good position to see in anything came out from the "Door" still glowing its orange hue. I then waited. It had no way to sneak up on me. I heard rustling from the grass and the recognizable black and white popped up against the green of the grass.
I fired the last 2 rounds in the Beowulf's face, cracking part of the boney mask it wore. To my surprise, it ran back towards the Door with anger. I was willing to guess that Beowulf was probably the oldest out of the bunch that came after me. All of the Grimm was gone, I think. I don't think that anything could've have gone through when I was trapped in my home. That didn't help me ease up at all. I did everything that I had planned if something like this
I ran back to the house and went upstairs to my bedroom. I opened my closet and pulled out a couple of floorboards to reveal a first aid kit and a notebook. I sat down against the wall as I pulled the first of many bandages. I used the time to think about my situation while I bandaged my arm. I knew those things were soulless, but it was difficult. It was so hard to shoot them.
Dear god my arm burns so much.
I want to forget this, but I know I can't. I need to check the Door. The cops wouldn't believe me if I called them, and even if I did, that would be a mistake. I can't have Earth and Remnant merge, there would be too much that could go wrong. The nukes. The relics. I'm alone on this. Was I ready for this, though? I picked up the notebook and flipped to the first page.
It was labeled on the top "The Remnant Contingency"
I did everything that I could and I thought I was ready. How dumb was I? No Evidence, no calculation, all just recapping on what I could guess. Not like it matters now. All that matters is the void is sitting outside this house and it connects to a world of monsters on the other side. It doesn't care that I'm not ready. I just need to get up and improvise.
I rip off all the pages that had any of my notes and put those notes back underneath the floorboards. After fixing my right arm to the best of my ability, I took the time to reload everything that I had and realized how lucky I was. I only had 3 rounds for my hunting rifle and 5 rounds for the Remington in total, 8. I don't want to go to town to patch up my arm because I probably wouldn't make it and it would just take too long. I didn't realize how hard it would be. It was a little difficult to pull myself up with only one arm, but I managed.
I stepped past my nonexistent door and stopped with a pen and the now blank notebook in my hand. Of course, I couldn't go inside that thing. I could get radiation poisoning, cancer, I could be disintegrated. The only reason the Grimm may have entered may be because they have nothing to live for but to kill. Stopping around 5 feet from the door with the Remington shotgun by my side. If I have another interaction with something good, then no one dies.
I had the first piece of paper written with "RESPOND IF THIS MAKES IT TO THE OTHER SIDE" in the notebook with the pen. I threw both the pen and the notebook into the Door before vanishing, hoping that someone would see the note and respond. I don't know if this was going to work at all, but I don't really have much to lose if it doesn't. Scratch that, I hope I get that pen back. That was my last pen.
1 hour Later
I took some time to look around to see what damage those Grimm had done. I already know that one of them broke down my door. There were claw marks both in and around my house, but otherwise, my house was fine. One of the Beowulfs apparently climbed the roof of the house judging by how some of the roof tiles were also scattered and broken on the ground. There was also the broken glass that littered the floor, but I don't think it's really that bad all things considering. I had cleaned up while checking every 5 minutes to see if anyone has written a response to the note. Each time the notebook hadn't come back yet.
My arm had stopped bleeding. Although I used up most of the bandages in my medkit, it still burns, but not as much. I probably won't be able to use this arm for at least a week
But so far nothing has gotten through the Door. I hope that whoever sees the note isn't anyone working with Salem. Or anyone with plans to screw Earth over. I'm just overstressed, but would you blame me? I almost died even though I was prepared. I didn't even feel like I was prepared. What if something more violent came through the door? What if instead of Beowulfs, it was a Beringal or even rogue huntsmen? I don't know. I'm just afraid at the moment.
I almost died.
I could've died…
I heard a thud as I went outside to check on the Void. I noticed that the pen and notebook were finally back. Someone had actually responded.
I opened it to see that below my writing to see a noticeably neater response: "Do you know what the thing is? Did you make it?" I guess whoever wrote this was talking about the Door. This started a string of responses between me and this mystery person who responded.
"I DIDN'T CREATE THE DOOR. CAN YOU CLOSE IT?"
"We don't know either. Who are you?" So there's more than one person who saw my message.
"I RATHER NOT SAY. NO ONE CAN CROSS THE VOID." Words of precaution in case anyone is dumb enough to try to cross
"Where does this portal lead?" I started to wonder if I should tell them the truth….
"A DISCLOSED LOCATION IN VALE." Earth needs to stay a secret for as long as possible.
"Are you a Huntsmen?" They're trying to pull out information from me
"NO" It's getting kind of hard picking the notebook and tossing it with one half after so many times.
These were probably the most important parts of the 'conversation' that I had with the mystery person or people. This went on for maybe…. 10 minutes? Yeah, 10 minutes, before I got a response that I didn't want to see.
"We need to go through the other side."
no
No
NO
NO
NOO
To make matters worse, before I could go to write a response, the Void was already glowing with a bright intensity. I ran quickly went to grab the shotgun and backed up around 20 feet from the phenomenon in front of me. I aimed, hoping that whoever was messaging me that they weren't hostile.
No. They would have crossed over without giving a crap about my note. Maybe they were trying to build my trust just to shatter it. Or maybe running away from something. I guess I was going to find out.
They finally came through. I could see four female figures appear before I could finally get a decent look at them.
They all looked around their teens, as if in college.
The tallest one wore a green dress with netting around her arms, the shortest wearing a dark purple dress in a very gothic tone. The third woman wore a classical dress with different clashing colors of dark gold and blue. The final woman was actually less of a pop out character compared to the others, she wore gray shorts and shirt while having a blue-purple coat. I knew who these people were from the world of RWBY. I didn't really pay attention to this team by how they only appeared in one episode and lost, so I thought they wouldn't be much importance.
I was proven wrong by how I met the first of many people from Remnant:
Team NDGO
Hope you guys enjoyed. Leave reviews if you can and until later!