Disclaimer: (noun) A standard procedure that informs a viewer that we don't own stuff. On that note, I don't own anything. Not even myself. How sad...
Chapter 1
"Did it work?" I asked myself. "Because if it did, then this place totally sucks."
Darkness was all that I could see in any direction. No matter where I looked , I was only met with an empty void. Perhaps something had gone wrong with the process I took and it had resulted in me being planted in such a bizarre place?
"Open your eyes, genius. Honestly, I leave for one minute and you're already lying down on the job. The least you could do is pretend not to be stupid."
I frowned at this. Why in the world did I ever agree to this in the first place, anyways?
"Well, first off, you were dying. In many senses of the word, mind you. Secondly, isn't this like a dream come true for you? What did your world have that was so great anyway?" the voice in my head asked.
"It's not like I was dying on purpose!" I shouted to the air. "No, that one's on the ass that wasn't paying attention to what he was supposed to be doing. And I don't remember agreeing to having a stupid 'Jiminy Cricket' tell me what to do."
The voice sighed in my head before answering me. "You did agree to becoming a bit-how was it worded again? 'Eccentric', right? So by that definition, you did-"
I held out my hand in front of me, indicating that this conversation was dropped. Surprisingly enough, the voice must have decided to comply, seeing as how he chose to remain silent. Huh. That was actually pretty considerate of him. It made me wonder if he had a name I could use to refer to him in future conversations.
"Yeah, I have a name that you can use. I'm just still waiting for you to open your stupid eyes, genius."
Deciding that I had nothing better to do, I nodded my head before opening my eyes. Orbs of dark brown immediately began to absorb the information of the world around me, the prevailing thought being: Why does it hurt to see?
"OHMYGAWD, WHYYYYYYYYYY?!"
I swore and cursed on the ground, as laughter rang throughout my mind. I just couldn't be bothered to have a body with normal eyes, could I? Nooo, I just have to had to have super sensitive eyes that happened to be looking directly at the sun at its peak.
'You just made a big mistake,' I thought to the voice. 'You better pray that I never find a way to get in my mind, 'cause I'm kicking your ass when I find you, got that?' The only response were the dying giggles that served to irritate me in my literal blind anger.
After writhing in pain for a few more minutes, I was finally able to open my eyes again, after I turned my head away from the sun and got up. Wherever I was, it was plenty more beautiful than any of the places that I had seen in my previous life.
I was in a clearing in the most healthy-looking forest I thought existed. The trees were abundant, and the leaves formed a pseudo-canopy above my head. I just happened to be in the place where the higher beings decided to place a stupid skylight. Tch.
But still, seeing this new environment was enough to lift my spirits from everything that had occurred prior to my appearance in this world. Here, I didn't have to worry that much about a demanding life. I might actually get to relax without anyone telling me what to-
"AWRHOOOOOOOO!"
...and this is why I don't get nice things. Because almost, always something's going to come along and wreck my crap. I could feel a mental pat on the back from my new companion, yet all it accomplished was me being even more depressed than before.
I sighed at my misfortune that I had grown accustomed to, and decided to search my person for anything that would prove useful to me, quietly swearing once more when I donned a pair of sunglasses that would have been useful earlier. I seemed to be equipped with lightweight greaves, some metallic bindings around my abdominal area, and a pair of unique gauntlets...which I had no idea how to use. It was obvious that these were supposed to be my main mode of combat, but I was severely lacking information on how to use them.
'I supposes if worse comes to worse, I could just these to punch my problems away,' I joked to myself. 'If not, then I guess I could always-'
"-punch your problems really, really hard! And then some!" Okay, I had to admit that that was something that brought me out of my pessimistic musings. I guess the voice has his moments from time to time.
It was then that I finally came face to face with one of the beings of this world. Or at least, that's what I thought it was. I was caught off guard as a small black missile collided against my legs, knocking me back on the ground that I was laying on minutes before. I sprang back to my feet, instantly on the alert as I searched the clearing for the unknown thing that had taken to hiding in the shadows of the trees. That alone made me even more wary; I was dealing with a smart opponent.
"Yuuu!"
...or not. Very slowly, a pudgy black smudge stuck its head out from behind a tree trunk, the closest to me in fact. It seemed to be a spirit, albeit a very small one, and seemed to look at me with a look of curiosity and suspicion. For a moment I imagined it to be a child hiding behind its parent's leg when meeting a new person. We stared at each other, never making any sudden movements in case one became startled by the other. It seemed it would be up to me to break the silence, and I gave the creature a genuine smile to see how it would respond.
It was...unexpected, to say the least.
Once more I was screaming, this time in fear, as the little spirit latched onto my face in the split second I had my eyes closed when I smiled. I thought I heard joyful warbles while I was struggling, but they quickly turned into mocking tones that joined with the laughter in my head.
Suddenly the pressure disappeared, which left me dazed and confused at the lack of me dying. Sadly, I had given up prematurely to this world, convinced that I was going to die before I even enjoyed myself. Kinda shows what sorta life I used to live, if my lack of conviction was anything to go by.
The shadow was in front of me this time, staring up at me curiously. I stared back, obviously pissed that it scared the crap out of me for no reason.
"Oh, dude, I think it's friendly! Let's keep it, yeah? We can make it our battle mascot, and stuff!" My palm promptly made contact with my face at the incredibly absurd idea that was proposed. Which prompted the puny smudge to trill in amusement again. I just can't catch a break, can I?
"AWRHOOOOOOOO!"
...Dick move world. Dick. Move.
My body tensed once more for combat, as my eyes shifted to the rustling bushes just a ways off. The small spirit had taken to climbing up my back and hanging off my neck, which didn't bother me too much, seeing as he(?) seemed to be weightless. It was quite a risk since I imagined the little thing would have been quite capable of strangling me from its position, at the most changing form to impale my throat multiple times, but as I have said, I didn't have that much faith in myself anyways.
"You'll be fine, you big baby. And don't think so negatively about our little bud! We're awesome, and by extension, so is he." My face would have been firmly planted in my palm if it wasn't for the fact that something was about to kill me in fifteen seconds. "Oh, hey, furry alert at three o'clock."
I jumped back from said direction in order to put distance between me and whatever it was that had possibly made that howl. Unfortunately this also had the added affect of attracting said creature'a attention.
The first thing I noticed were the teeth and claws. Damn, those things looked nasty. As it slowly stalked toward me in a wary crouch, I was able to observe my foe in better detail. It was tall, very tall. And its fur was black all over, no other colors present anywhere. But the clincher was how I immediately recognized the canine-like humanoid I front of me.
Why did it have to be freakin' werewolves?
Thankfully the beast was alone, lacking the backing of the power of the pack. Sure, that should have been the norm for a turned humans to isolate themselves from society, but it was best not to look the gift horse in the mouth. In response to my continued silence, it began a low growl that was the preamble to its attack. It seemed that it was time for me to learn how to use my gauntlets. And fast.
As was customary to the fighting style I picked up from my past, I allowed the abomination to charge me before my instincts took over. A claw swung toward my face with every intention of ending me right there, but I had already sidestepped the attack and had jumped up to retaliate with a swift head kick. My luck proved itself again just one moment I left the ground.
"WHY AM I FLYIIIING!?"
Well, technically I was jumping really high. At least, by my standards I was. I mean, it was my dream to jump like a boss, but fifteen feet in one go was a bit too much for my simple mind to handle.
"Hmm, so you have an enhanced body, that's gonna come in handy, especially that thing...ooh! You have an internal energy! Use it, use it, use it , use it-"
"Shut up, dammit!" I yelled as I finally hit ground. Ouch. "If you haven't noticed, we're sorta gonna die if I don't figure out my crap, and the last thing I need is your input!" I swung my arm out in frustration, and was shocked to see a large glowing nail fly from the gauntlet and sink into a nearby tree.
"Okay, so a combination of that energy I mentioned activated by some emotion made that happen, we could probably just use pure willpower from now on to do that based off initial assumptions. Praise me senpai!"
'Yeah, yeah, you're a genius we get it. Now if you don't mind, I've got a beast to run away fro-'
A clawed hand slammed across my chest and I was sent flying into a tree. Instead of snapping like a toothpick, my body somehow was able to withstand the blow, albeit with minor bruising. Heck, I think even those were starting to fade away as I climbed back to my feet.
"Ohhhohohohoho..." I eyed the oversized mutt in front if me and a sadistic gleam twinkled in my eye. "You my friend have made a very big mistake. And a crazy bastard like me with nothing to lose..." I made a show of shifting into a classic boxing stance.
"You're going to learn the hard way why even I fear myself!"
With the new energy enhancing all my physical faculties, my arms moved like blurs as numerous oversized nails shot from my gauntlets. I wasn't surprised that the werewolf dodged the first onslaught, but my eyes slightly widened when I realized that I as aiming at viable crippling shots at a creature whose anatomy I hadn't the first clue about. Go me.
I smiled as the first nail impaled itself in one of the beasts kneecaps, muscle and bone giving way to the high speed metal needle. My smile widened as I saw the second nail pierce after. And the third. And The fourth. By the twelfth nail I had the most insane grin on my face. And it wasn't going to go away anytime soon.
By this time the beast was reduced to a quivering ball of hair-each limb having been impaled three times-it was strangely taking on a kneeling position. And yet despite all the unimaginable pain that it must have been going through, its look remained the same. There was no defiance, not even a trace of fear in its eyes. All I could see was the instinct to kill the thing that was right in front of it: me.
A thought hit my head. 'I wonder...' For the final time, I shot a nail at the now silent bipedal wolf, pleased to see the chain that was now protruding from its chest. I walked up to it n a nonchalant manner, before wrapping a generous length of chain around its neck. 'And now...'
"Upsy Daisy!"
I jumped over the thickest tree branch that I could find and tried a new experiment. I was once again satisfied to see the weapon obey my mental command; the chain was now retracting back into my gauntlet at a furious pace, dragging the cursed being across the ground for an abrupt moment before being suspended by its neck.
"Damn, you're a heavy bastard!" I exclaimed as the creature before me weakly struggled against it's forced suffocation. "Let's see if I can put that to good use, shall we?"
I jumped up into the air, the chain slackening at the lack of resistance. And right as the wolf began it's downward descent, I roughly yanked my arms downward, bringing back the upward force on the neck. With the combined forces of gravity and tension, I was rewarded with a resounding snap of its vertebrae.
I quickly released the chain from my gauntlet, bringing down the body of my victim for a painful 'thud'. Having never fought for my life before I let the adrenaline rush through my body, relaxing and focusing my mental state to analyze the chaos that I had wrought on the poor animal. I kept breathing out hoarsely and inhaling as much air to get to my addled brain. And when the severity of what I did hit me, I responded the only way I could.
"BERLAAAAAUGH-KAAH, KUH, cough, cough, ugh...haaaaah...haaaaah-hurk-!"
Everything around me was blocked out as I offered the contents of my stomach to the forest gods. Emotions ran through me, the most prevalent of them being remorse, anger, and doubt. Remorse that I had taken another's life, anger that I gave myself no other choice than murder, and doubt that this situation was even happening to me. So entrapped was I in my self pity that I couldn't here the soothing words of my mental companion, nor the worried warbling of our small friend. My retching even covered up the footsteps of the man that had watched my spectacle with a somewhat concerned curiosity.
"And if I may be so bold, may I ask the name of the trespasser that has happened to chance upon a Grimm near our school?"
I choked up again as the familiarity of that voice and term resonated with not-so-far-away memories. 'Theres no freakin' way. That buffoon wouldn't have sent me there. Would he?'
I slowly lifted my gaze, only to look upon the face of an intelligent calm-faced man. It was enough to send me shivering in a mix of anger and despair.
The man in question was clad in black and green, all that my befuddled mind was able to comprehend. He was bespectacled, with silver hair and brown eyes that openly conveyed his experience and wisdom. He was the headmaster of Beacon Academy, the one I knew as Professor Ozpin. And I was a trapped rat under his gaze.
"Er, hello sir. I, ummm...my name is Gray!" Yeah, really smooth, me.
"Seriously, even I could have done a better job at lying to the man than you did. If it was Goodwitch on the other hand..."
'And how in the worl- err, Remnant did you even know about her?'
"It's in your head man. Speakin' of, you my man are not as innocent as I thought you were."
'Don't I know it. Anyways, now is not the time for this mental bull-'
"Are you alright? You keep grimacing," Ozpin asked with mild worry. Crap, now I have to make up some excuse. Let's see umm...
"My head's still affected by a minor concussion I had just a while ago. I think it explains what I'm doing around here." Alright, now bite the fish.
"Oh? And just how would that explain your being here young man?" Bingo.
"I may have had a slight disagreement with my previous partners, which may have caused them to resort to blunt force trauma, which might explain why I woke up in a place that I don't recall ever traveling to." Please buy it, please buy it!
Ozpin raised an eyebrow at this as he observed me. Luckily my BS face just happened to be the same as my default indifferent look, so I didn't really have to make an effort to hide my true intentions. That didn't stop the feeling of my heart stopping when I noticed his eyes narrow.
"And what could possibly cause someone to attempt murder on an associate?"
Craaaaaap. How do I cover this up? I haven't read enough fanfiction for this! Damn, looks like I'm winging it from here.
I refused to meet eyes with him, something that he immediately noticed, and put on the most shamed face that I could pull. Unsurprisingly, it came naturally to me, another tidbit that I found quite sad. I completed the charade by clenching my hands tightly together in front of me.
"Um, can you not beat me up or yell at me over what I say next?" Ozpin stared confusedly at me but he quickly responded with a prompt nod. "I'm kind of, umm, well I guess you could call me, uh, a thief, I guess..." One of my hands subconsciously went up and started rubbing its opposite arm, a gesture I had seen in many depictions of this situation. Weird.
The silence that followed was killing me. I know that he was trying to determine the truth in my words and actions, but the man'a constant stare at me had me thinking that he didn't buy a word of my excuse of a sob story.
It continued like this for a moment before he spoke up. "You're telling me that a mere thief," he gestures at me, "was able to do all of this?" He finished as he waved to the fallen Beowolf's body plus trees littered with nails. I had long since driven the death to the back of my mind, it's reminder only serving to make me turn green and away from the sight as my hands proceeded to keep my gusts inside of me.
"Urk! Ugh, harder...than it looks, ugh. Never...had to do this before."
An eyebrow was raised at this. "You're telling me that you've never taken the life of another living being before? That seems counterproductive to a 'thief', if I do say so myself." The almost sarcastic tone was almost lost on me. The familiar tone, unfortunately for him, was deeply imprinted into my memory, curse my life.
I frowned at what he said, my pride-at least that's what I thought it was-insulted at the insinuation. "Tch, what a guy can't go about not killing people? I think I prefer life, thank you very much. But the Grimm is something that the world is better off without, if you ask me," I replied as I turned my head away.
Okay, so I mostly did that in self-defense and to release some pent up frustration/stress, but hey! People have jobs killing Grimm, so no skin off my nose, right?
"...Indeed."
I turned around, and my mouth dropped in horror when I was met with the almost smirking face from someone I viewed as a final boss character. Frozen in place, the fear constricting my heart and mind prevented me from taking any action as the man circled around me.
"It would be a shame if a man like you were to waste his talents committing petty crimes." Oh crap, I think I messed up somewhere. "And judging by what you have told me, you have no place to turn back to, and possible enemies that might want you to keep your silence...'permanently'." No, no, no...
"In light of these observations, I believe that I could offer a possible course of action." Why you sneaky, little- "I am offering you a place at my school. There, you will be able to blend in with your peers while learning a more proper trade. That, and in the event that someone tries to cause you harm, you will be protected by staff and student alike...not that you won't be a capable of it, but every small bit of help counts, does it not?" He finished whilst flashing me a smile.
I knew he was observing still, but I couldn't care less about that! I was absolutely livid! Not only did I give him unnecessary info that could compromise me, but he used that against to put me in a position so that I could constantly under his watch. I always knew that the man was smart and cunning, but...the man had played me like a damn fiddle.
He was slightly startled when I began chuckling to myself, and he soon took a step back as small giggles gave way to full-blown laughter. The strange thing? There was not a single negative tone to be heard. I respected the man too much, and I had always been easily impressed when someone had gotten the better of me. Ozpin was just another man to watch for.
"Definitely. But don't worry about it! You've still got me and the little guy!"
I grasped at my neck for the ethereal being, only to be met with cloth. I gazed in wonder at the now demonic looking scarf wrapped around my throat. It seemed that I had managed to pick up an ectoplasmic shapeshifting infant. How quaint.
"Indubitably!"
Ozpin seemed to be second-guessing himself now, probably concerned about my mental well being, or that of his students. It seems petty, but I count that as a win in my book.
"Alright then, 'sir'," I began as I stuck out my hand. "It looks like you landed yourself a new student." He looked at my hand with a tiny bit of apprehension before taking into his own. He quickly shifted into his poker face and graced me with the words that may initiate a blessing or a curse.
"Welcome to Beacon."
Author's Notes:
So yeah, I'm writing again. I probably would have done so sooner if my computer didn't crash and wipe my stories entire futures out, leaving me in a writer's depression. Not that they won't be updated. Until then, enjoy some short little bits of insanity, courtesy of my phone.
Oh, and I've started playing video games and watching anime again, plus am working an extra day to "train" a new guy (yeah right, last time that happened I got an extra day tacked onto my schedule), so expect plenty of delay.
Also, thinking of adding an OC team to this story. Personally I think it's too much of a hassle, but, well, meh.
Enjoy the day!