/Normal speech
/Thoughts
/-Yet to determine-
A/N: Well hello there, now, just as a quick warning, I know both english and spanish and can write and speak them both fluently, and yet some translations may not be literally accurate, that's because the meaning of some expressions/insults/swears gets lost if you try to translate them literally, and sometimes there just isn't a perfect one, and that's not even counting lingo.
As such for those cases the translation from spanish will be pretty much an equivalent of the expression/insult/swear or the meaning of it. So yeah, the meaning will be pretty much the same, but the words maybe not quite. -CrowSkull.
-I do not own RWBY or it's canon characters. They are owned by Roosterteeth.
Chapter 1: Displacement
It was a quiet and snowy afternoon in a large, plain valley. There was a light snow, and the sound of cold wind howling across a giant valley of just white, no trees, no rocks, nothing, just pure white snow. However, if you looked close enough you could spot a couple of dots in the distance. If you looked even closer you would be able to see one of those dots was actually a body, one that was in for a very sudden awakening.
The first thing he became aware of was pain, a dull, throbbing pain in his head as he slowly opened his eyes to blink owlishly at a sky that was lit by the dying light of the setting sun. His sight blurred and his eyes tried to adjust to the sudden influx of light. He let out a pained hiss as a sharp stab of pain raced through his side, a pain that was renewed with every breath he took, but his need for oxygen outweighed the torment that followed. It was only when he became aware of the freezing cold water that began to soak his clothes that his mind left Morpheus realm for good. His consciousness left this strange state of almost casual disinterest on the fact that we was under a pile of snow.
"Eeeewh Hwoo Haaaa… Hwooo Haaa… Hwoo Haaa…" He woke up breathing way harder than he probably should have, especially considering how his right side burned in protest at his deep breaths of the freezing cold air around him. But still, he couldn't breathe any slower at the moment.
Just where am I? What? How? Where? What the fuck? He thought to himself as he looked around the immediate area.
"Hwooo Haaa… Hwooo… Haaa…" Not really where he remembered he was when he fell asleep the night before.
How did I get here? What was I doing? I mean… is this a dream? No… no no no… it's too lucid. I usually don't dream and when I do, I only see fast-moving images of different stuff that I forget immediately. No, this is different. I also don't recall ever dreaming of snow.
"Hwooo Haaa… Okay… Haaa." He started just checking around him and also himself. Am I me? He thought stupidly as he patted himself down, checking if, well, he was actually there or not. After that, he moved his hands down to the snow, and it was definitely snow alright. A soft layer of snow that kept coming from the sky calmly and quietly. In fact, he had the urge to just feel the snow a little longer. Where he came from it didn't snow, like ever. For him, snow was not something he got to see every winter, perhaps every two to four years. The snow felt really soft against his gloves… his gloves?!
He checked himself again. Yes, he had gloves. His black, fingerless exercise gloves to be more precise, his gauntlet on his left forearm too. The rest of what he had was his black undershirt, his blue sweater with his sleeves rolled up to the elbows, his black jeans with his belt, and his mid-calf length black leather boots, basically his favorite and usual outfit. Well, he wouldn't complain about that. The rest of what he could see was only snow.
… Where am I? He stood up to look around and the only thing he could see was white, it was just an open valley with nothing but snow. He looked in every direction and couldn't see anything, not a tree, not a building, not a mountain, nothing. He was in the middle of nowhere.
"Bien… Genial… ahora que… bueno no hace mucho frío pero eso puede cambiar, no estoy con hambre o cansado, si me da sed como nieve, sirvió antes… okay… bolsillos, bolsillos!" (Great… Just great… now what am I supposed to do… Well, it's not too cold yet but that can change. I'm not exactly tired or hungry yet… if I get thirsty I'll eat snow, worked in the past… okay… pockets, pockets!) He told himself distractedly, trying to make sense of this new and strange situation as best he could.
He checked the pockets of his pants immediately and looked at what he had. House keys? Check, wallet? Check, phone? Check, earphones? Check. He pulled out the phone and hoped that he could get a signal to use google maps, or make a call, or… something, anything at this point would be useful.
"Por favor, por favor, por favor..." (Please, Please, Please...)
"A little help wouldn't hurt me, you know. Maybe it would save me? Maybe?" He tried to check if his phone could access anything, the internet or anything else, but there wasn't any signal, nothing, no internet, no signal for a phone call, nothing. He tried a couple times to make a call or use google even, nothing. It just didn't work. He hung his head backwards in frustration, letting out a groan.
Right there was when he saw it. The moon, it was shattered. One side was intact, or at least looked intact while the other had its pieces separated and scattered. It looked like there had been an explosion on it or something of the sort. That wasn't normal. That wasn't the moon he remembered. That was the moon of Remnant.
Then it hit him.
"No… No no no no, no me estan cagando." (No… No, no, no, no, no, you are shitting me)
It was there and he couldn't deny it, not even when he tried to find any other explanation or to even rub his eyes. The moon was still there. He was left perplexed and dumbfounded. He couldn't think. He thought there must have been a way he got there in his mind.
"Vamos, vamos, vamos piensa! Qué hiciste, qué hiciste? Que hice? Como? Que estaba haciendo… estaba… Aaaghh, mierda!" (Come on, come on, come on think! What did you do? What did you do? What did I do? How? What was I doing… I was… Aaaghh, shit!)
He couldn't… He just couldn't remember.
"Ah… piensa… que es lo último que… ah, collar para gato, reparar las botas… ah gaming ah… sali en algún momento?… me raptaron? Me drogaron? Me droge? Estoy drogado?" (Ah… think… what was the last thing… ah, cat collar, fix the boots… ah, gaming, ah… did I go out anytime?… was I kidnapped? Did they drug me? Did I do drugs? Am I on drugs?)
He babbled as he pinched himself everywhere just to see if he felt it. He did. He kept pacing and going around in circles trying to remember something, but besides taking care of the house during his vacations, nothing seemed to spike. He just remembered what he usually did, which was play games with his friends, talk to family members, do stuff, house chores, training, but there was a huge black spot in his memory of what happened before this moment right now. He couldn't remember if he went out the house for something, or if he was at his house... or doing something else.
"Mierda!" (Shit!)
He exclaimed in frustration as he balled his right hand into a fist. The stupidity of his situation clashed heavily with his common sense. On one hand, he could not deny the shattered moon in the night sky that was so familiar to him. On the other hand, his mind refused to fully accept the conclusion that followed. Deciding that he could worry about such things later, his gaze traveled down towards the bright snow hoping to find something, anything really, that could point him towards civilization.
"Haber, haber, debe haber…" (Let's see, let's see, there must be…) He murmured as he saw three pairs of footprints on the ground close to him. They were going away from where he was in a random direction. At the very end of the distance, he could see the beginning of a forest.
"Okay… parece que no estoy solo… y que me dejaron, otra vez," (Okay… Seems I'm not alone… and that I was left behind, again.) He said with a groan and started walking in the direction of the footprints in hopes of finding the owners of them. His steps were slow as he began to follow their trail, though he could not say why they would leave him behind. If he were to judge, he would say that he was a pretty noticeable and someone should have seen him to… wake him and try to figure out things, get some answers or maybe because it was the right thing to do. Under different circumstances, he might have thought that they believed him to be dead, but none of their tracks had been closer to his position than a distance of five meters, they probably didn't even notice him, that wasn't exactly new to him, and it was likely since he was covered in snow… but still. While he was already familiar with this kind of treatment, he still didn't welcome it, not when his life was on the line.
With a heavy sigh, he decided that he could leave his questions and speculations for later, there were more important thing at hand after all. For now, he would be wise to keep an eye out. If this truly was the world of Remnant then it would be likely for him to run into one of the creatures of Grimm, he rather not think about that at the moment. He hoped that those whose tracks he followed had the idea of being cautious, not only for their sake but his as well, as any Grimm they attracted would no doubt also find him.
"You know what would be nice? If maybe, I don't know… uh… yeah you, Winnie you motherfucker, you Canadian bastard, how about you lend me some of that Canadian might against snow and then maybe, as you call me, the sweet Chilean prince, can get back to the throne that is his bed… would you mind? I mean, you don't need it, a hand would be welcome, YOU HEAR THAt?! Something! ANYTHING AT THIS POINT WOULD BE HELPFUL! Fuck, now my boots are wet." He resisted the urge to scream out his frustration at the broken moon.
He was walking for a good half an hour now. He was just talking to himself to both keep himself entertained and deal with the stress of the situation. It was somewhat working to keep him calm but he couldn't help but feel anxiousness slowly beginning to eat at his insides. The whole time he had been walking he heard nothing but his own voice, his steps and the occasional howling of the wind, only interrupted by a few painful hisses when his side chose to remind him of whatever wound he suffered there. The complete absence of natural noises only made him more anxious, considering that he was now entering the forest he had expected to at least hear some wildlife, even if it were little more than sparrows.
"I mean… there must be some noise around right? Anyone?! No, just snow." That the animals remained silent meant that there either were none, or that they were afraid of some predator lurking nearby, or that they just were hiding from the cold and completely ignoring him. All possibilities concerned him. If there were none, had they been killed? Or even if that wasn't the case, it would mean that he had one less possible source of nourishment in their parts. As for the other possibility, that would undoubtedly mean that said predator was close enough to be an immediate threat to his life, not exactly something he was looking forward to. And being ignored while they hid from the cold… well it meant that he could also freeze to death.
"What's even going on… Let me see, my side tells me I fell on something, did I fall here? Why here? What do people get out of this… dropping me here on Remnant, some fantasy world, and for what…?" The lack of noise made him look around, only getting him more anxious.
"Please tell this isn't some multidimensional battle royale or hunger games, please… I don't need that. I don't find it funny in the slightest!"
He kept walking, muttering to himself from time to time while also thinking of his chances in an actual battle royal. The idea of possible dangers was also constantly in his head with the lack of sound but he decided to deal with those problems as they came. Whatever his fate might be, pondering and wondering about them wouldn't do him any good. And besides, he had other problems to deal with, like what would be his next move.
He kept walking through the snow-covered forest, going through bushes, and avoiding hidden tree branches while trying to keep an eye on the tracks. With more than just snow now on the ground some tracks got lost, some simply overlapped each other, while one pair seemed to disappear on the mud for a brief moment. He was quick to find them however as he soon spotted some mud covered footprints on some more clear snow.
He followed the footprints for a good while and he reached a road, a concrete road to be more precise. The road passed through the forest like a usual road, it went in two ways into the distance, one that went around some trees to the left and one that kept going to the right for a good couple kilometers before going in a different direction, the tracks lost themselves on the melted snow and dirt of the road, there wasn't much to follow and the footprints lost themselves in the concrete, there weren't any on the other side of the road either.
"Y… ahora que? De tin marin de…"(And… now what? eenie-meenie-miney…)
He had two options now, left or right. He could tell that they didn't continue through the forest, and also it made sense that they'll try to reach civilization, however, he couldn't really tell which way they went, neither if they were picked up by a car or truck or something, there were tire tracks noticeable enough on the road so it was possible, but he couldn't really tell. One way or another, he would have to decide in which direction to go and he'd rather do it sooner than later.
"Uh… pingue" (Uh… moe.) he decided to go to the left, however, something stopped him midway. He was going to start to walk when, suddenly, he heard a growl coming from the woods. He turned around and there was a Beowolf, growling and looking directly at him. An actual creature of nightmares, glowing red eyes and everything. It terrified him.
"Mierda…" (Shit...) He cursed, eyes darting around frantically. He was fucked, that was obvious, how fucked he didn't know, he decided to think however on an angle. His eyes darted around looking for an option while always keeping it in his peripheral vision.
It didn't attack him for some reason, he started to worry that it might soon or that there were others prowling about. For now, it seemed content to slowly circle him while glaring balefully at him. The silence interrupted only by the deep growls that left the Grimm's throat and the crunching of snow beneath its feet as it moved. Soon, another growl came from the left and another one from the right. There were three as far as he could tell.
"Well, shit… umm… uh." He was scared. He didn't know what to do. He was looking at options while backing up slowly, always on guard. They slowly circled and followed him. Yet, despite the fear and panic that had welled up inside him at the sight of the Grimm, a plan began to take shape in his head. It was by no means foolproof or would guarantee his survival but right now it was all he had. He could either do nothing and die for certain, or at least attempt to get away and have a chance of survival. The Beowolves kept getting closer and he kept backing up.
"Come on now, there must be at least one reason for you to ignore me, right?" He said as he kept backing up growls were the only reply he got from them, something he was actually grateful for. If they had been intelligent enough to actually reason with, he wouldn't have stood a chance in a fight, that is if they were better than him. As it was now, however, he could, hopefully, use their basic and instinct driven nature against them.
"Well, I thought so…" He continued to back into the forest, he was now on the opposite end of the road against the other side of the forest. He could already feel the leaves and the wood of branches against his back. Never taking his eyes of his opponents, he continued to back into the forest, one hand behind his back trying to grasp a branch that was more suitable to his plan than these mere twigs that brushed against his back. The trick was to find one that was thick enough and carried enough weight while also being thin enough to be moved without too much effort on his part. Incredibly, cold hardwood pressed into his palm a moment later, and with a careful push, moved swiftly enough for what he needed, he took a relieving breath as he felt that at least he had something
"Glad to know you are committed... not really, but good to know modern Grimm are d-determined… heh heh." Their posture changed, it was subtle but it was there. Their strides were now longer, their backs slightly more hunched as they prepared to pounce at him and rip his body to pieces. Pushing the branch back even further till he was certain that it would snap if it were put under any more strain, he came to a stop. His nervous breath having become strangely calm as he stared at what could very well be his imminent death. The one closest to him, the one on the right, struck first with a terrifying howl, the beast catapulted itself towards him.
Faster than coherent thought, he had ducked beneath the branch he had previously prepared and began running even as a wet thwack told him that the wood had hit the attacking Grimm. Though he wasted no time looking behind as he could already hear the other two giving chase. He weaved around the trees and tried to hinder their chase as best he could, which was mostly going around trees so they couldn't pounce him directly.
He ran and looked back slightly as he heard a hard stop, one of the Beowolves was pouncing him, claws raised for a kill. He ducked to the side and the claw of the Beowolf became stuck in the tree he had his back pressed up against. He didn't get much time to think of his own luck, he didn't let himself get time to think of it as he broke into the fastest sprint his cold body could muster.
He went off in a different direction as he jumped down some slopes in the forest. He jumped down in long, quick jumps and vaulted over rocks that came in front of him. The Beowolves were following him and catching up to him. He kept running and weaving down the forest. Suddenly, he came to a sudden drop of about five meters. It was a small yet wide and open crevice in the middle of the forest, wide enough for a bus.
Normally, he would have thought twice at this kind of jump, or not attempt it at all as a matter of fact, he might have even thought of another way across but as of the needs of the moment, he jumped and tucked and rolled the fall without thinking twice. Even he felt surprised when he found himself uninjured, he kept running and saw some rocks he could use to jump back up the other side now. As he started to jump and climb, he heard the Beowolves come down from the ledge. He didn't waste time and jumped up the rocks and climbed up the ledge in a swift motion.
Once up, he was startled by a vicious snarl, and rising black fur. He fell off of the rock side and landed on his butt, and started to crawl backwards as one of the Beowolves was climbing up the ledge. He swiftly recovered however as the Beowolf was not quite up the ledge yet. He got up, and rushed it.
"Hyeeaa!" He kicked the Beowolf in the snout with all his strength and made it fall back down. He heard a quiet whimper from it, multiple in fact. They must have all been climbing up on the same spot and fell on each other. He turned back however and started running again, the Beowolves would surely climb up again quite quickly, this was his chance to make some actual distance and maybe, just maybe, escape. He ran up and down more slopes using whatever rock, branch, or log he could find as a better footing than the snow. He saw a fallen tree and ran up it into another ledge. The forest from that point started to look like a subtle slope down, and so he started running down. As the steepness of the slope slowly but surely increased, he began to stumble more and more often as the ground became more treacherous to walk on.
He nearly fell more than once and only his quick reflexes that caused his hands to latch onto nearby branches or even tree trunks or the ground even, kept him from crashing down onto the ground. Still, these unfortunate circumstances caused his speed to decrease, and thus the distance between him and the Beowolves began shrinking more rapidly than before. In comparison to him, the beasts seemed to have far less trouble with the environment than he did. Perhaps it was the fact that they now ran on all fours or perhaps it was their claws that burrowed themselves into the ground, granting them a solid footing. His saving grace thus far was that they at least occasionally stumbled or slowed down because of some obstacles hidden beneath the snow. His elation about that fact faded the instant he jumped over a fallen tree trunk, only to discover that the previously softly falling slope had turned steep and frozen.
"Uh oh…"
Slithering ever downwards with increasing velocity, he did his best to dodge the trees and rocks that protruded from the ground and promised to completely mangle him if he were to crash against one of them. A fact that was illustrated by the sound of breaking bones behind him as one beowolves was unfortunate enough to crash into one of the rocks with it's back first. The creatures spine bent into an unnatural position and then snapped with a nauseating noise, leaving the grotesquely crooked body to rest against the hard rock before the Grimm slowly dissolved into nothingness. He dared not to look any longer out of fear that he would share the same fate if he didn't go back to looking forward.
The slide soon ended, and he continued running. However, very quickly he heard both of his remaining pursuers already on his tail. They were running some distance away but coming from both of his sides. They were trying to sandwich him from both directions and they were only getting closer and closer, easily catching to him.
He tried to think of something, and then he saw an opportunity that seemed way too timed and perfect to be true, a fallen tree that had enough space for him to slide under. The Beowolves were coming close and so was the tree. He ran faster to get there. The beowolves pounced to try and get him but he reached the fallen tree first and slid under to avoid the pounces as the Beowolves crashed into each other. He continued to run with some more distance between him and the Grimm now.
For but a moment, hope blossomed in his heart, he felt as though he had a chance to get away, the trees became more sparse and light filtered through the branches above him. But when the treeline finally ended he was greeted with a disheartening sight. Whereas the previous obstacles were gone now, the snow covered land continued until it broke suddenly, right in front of him was huge gaping cliff promising to swallow him whole if he went of the edge. His shoulders slumped before rising again as he looked at different directions, his mind began to race in desperation, looking for a possibility that would be able to get him out of this situation.
"Oh me estan cagando…" (Oh you are shitting me.) "No… just no."
He was looking in all directions for a way out. Soon, however, one of the beowolves Grimm looked done with surrounding him or trying to circle him, it just wanted to kill him. He was out of options, he was cornered, he felt the sweat sliding down his forehead, he took massive breaths, he was also getting tired.
"Uh…" The Beowolf didn't wait. It jumped and raised it's claw to possibly slice him in half. He jumped back to avoid the strike. The Beowolf didn't stop, it flailed its other claw against him. He continued to backpedal in another small jump. He was getting closer to the edge. The Beowolf had both claws up this time, ready to pounce him in a deliberate jump. He avoided it. He ducked and went on all fours as the Beowolf went over him. He brought himself back up as the Beowolf was over him, using his own weight to push it further behind him into the deadly abyss. It worked, the Beowolf went falling down into sharp rocks that pierced it's flesh and mangled it's bones.
"Hwoo haa… Hwoo ha." He couldn't really believe it, he couldn't really believe he got that lucky. He got away from the edge of the cliff lest the same happen to him, however soon enough he heard the crunch of snow and another growl coming behind him. He looked back and there was the final Beowolf looking directly at him. It was ready to go at him but he wasn't trying just yet, for a second he weighed his options.
Going back was impossible, between the frozen ground and the Beowolf he had no chance of escaping. Behind him waited nothing but an abyss littered with sharp rocks that would cut him to ribbons upon impact… and that was the best possible scenario. He could go either left or right, but both sides offered only more empty wasteland and the beowolf would catch up to him and tear him to shreds.
Attacking the b=Beowolf would only lead to a quicker death as he only had his bare hands to fight with, and trying to jump over the cliff was nothing short of suicide no matter how much he might try to delude himself. However, there was a small chance that he might be able to climb down the rocky side wall behind him, but it would take time and there was no way he would try to climb on ice, it was just another form of suicide.
The Beowolf got closer, approaching slowly. He was running out of time. He started to think of his immediate threat, what could he do? To fight it was suicide… or was it? He did make one fall down the cliff, and their strikes were somewhat sloppy and telegraphed, he could see them coming… Maybe, just maybe, he could also trick this one? He didn't particularly see any other options so he decided that he might as well go for it. The Beowolf wasn't going to wait forever. He stood straight and spread his arms wide, complimenting it with a somewhat smug face, it was all or nothing.
"Come on, free meal, tasty bones too." The Beowolf didn't quite react, it was kind of curious at what he was doing instead of rising to his bait.
"Oh come on, don't pussy out, wanna get this? Come get it!" He said coming closer and farther away from the edge, doing hand gestures inciting the beowolf to come for him. The fact that he got closer so calm was enough for the Beowolf it seemed. He wouldn't know, but maybe there was a part of a Grimm that would get offended or maybe even pissed at being mocked. Perhaps his luck was just that bad, but even if that were the case, he wouldn't take the words back, he needed the Beowolf to attack after all.
His time to ponder was over when the Beowolf swiped at him with his claws and he leaned back to avoid them, carefully waving around it's following attacks, careful not lose his footing and fall either to his knees or down the abyss that lurked just behind him, an abyss that could just as easily condemn him to death as it could be his salvation. Yet the Grimm had seen what had happened to his fellow and tried to avoid the same fate. Perhaps the creature was little more than an instinctual desire to kill and rage but also possessed a mind cunning enough to allow it to kill more challenging prey.
As he ducked, bobbed, and weaved the swipes and bites, he tried to get closer to the edge. For his part, the Beowolf was relentless and forced him to dodge away from the edge. It didn't stop its chain of attacks for a second. He ducked another swipe and, in reflex, responded with a left hook directed right into its snout, it stunned the Beowolf enough for him to grapple it's arm and push the creature to the side in a quick motion.
For a second he didn't believe it, he just punched a Beowolf, without aura and with a practically bare hand, and it worked. The Beowolf staggered back and immediately looked back at him, snarling. He grinned for a second, it could work really... he knew how to fight, he knew how to kick and dodge and more, he trained for years, not to kill Grimm, but he could defend himself… he wasn't a slouch and he wasn't useless in a fight.
I can do this! He cheered to himself before rolling away from a lunge directly at his center. He recovered by stepping up with a roundhoused and kicked the Beowolf's back leg and another quick one at it's back, bringin it down. He then punched the Beowolf in the head again… only this time he hurt his hand more than anything, he felt something snap, but the adrenaline in his body was numbing the pain tremendously. He ducked another swipe and kicked the other leg to the side. The Grimm staggered, losing its balance. He went in with an axe kick bringing it down to the ground and jumping on its head with a stomp. He was going in for another but the Beowolf rose up and sent him sprawling on the snow. He went farther away from the cliff as he did so, for him that just wouldn't do.
He got up to a knee quickly enough to slide under the Beowolf trying to bite his head off. He stood up and pulled the Beowolf literally by the tail and kicked it in the groin. He didn't really know if it would have an actual effect on the monster, but thankfully it did. He went up to the Beowolf's head and kicked it right in the eye, pushing the Beowolf away. He then started to walk backwards toward the cliff again, signaling the Beowolf to try and a come for him with a whistle. It soon stood up and went after him.
The Beowolf lunged and swiped and, once again, he bobbed and weaved the attacks. He kept dodging to the sides and going for kicks at the legs and punches to the neck and under the jaw, always trying to push the beowolf back and give himself some breathing room. He didn't know how long he kept up this fighting retreat, if one could call it such. How long he avoided serious injury? It was probably less than thirty seconds. In fact, the whole fight from the beginning had taken possibly less than two minutes, yet it felt longer, and at the same time as time flew by in bliss, he only knew that from a shallow cut above his right eye blood ran down and that he was panting heavily. They were closing in on the edge.
The Beowolf went for a vertical slice and he moved slightly to the side and jumped up with a flying knee to the Beowolf's snout before he elbowed the same spot from above and quickly also sidekicked it's side. The Beowolf tried to use its left claw to attack a this close of range, but with both his arms which blocked the path of the swipe. He countered with a kick to its left knee, the one he had been hitting the most. He side kicked the beowolf while still holding its arm and kicked it in the face with a spinning hook kick for extra measure. He had realised that he wasn't really hurting it, or maybe he was, but nothing that would kill it. He didn't even know if he could do any move with enough force or skill to kill it. Beowolves could keep going even with missing limbs. He didn't really know if they could fall unconscious. He didn't think so, but it worked at subduing it slightly and stunning it.
Jumping back out of reach, he regarded the beast warily. Just because it was wounded didn't mean that it was out for the count. But aside from actually throwing it into the chasm, he very much doubted that he would actually manage to kill it unless it was to lie down and let him murder it. Red eyes glowed with anger, baring its fangs, bristling its fur, the grimm advanced. It was faster than he had hoped but still slower than it did previously, indicating that he had managed to at least wound it or stun it somewhat. This revelation brought more comfort than he had thought possible, for if he could wound it, he could kill it. He just had to keep his wits about him and play things smart.
"Okay…" He breathed, and exhaled. The Beowolf pounced once again, much slower this time. He sidestepped the attack and side kicked it on the head, and the Beowolf went down. They were close to the edge. It was now or never. He grabbed it by the fur on its collar to have control of its mouth and dragged it to throw it off the edge. It was going well. He was about to throw it, but it latched to him once he tried to throw him off the edge. He felt the claws sinking into his shoulder and back so as to not fall into the abyss.
"Awwhh Awwh... egh!"
There was a lot of pain but he didn't have time to think. With a burst of adrenaline, mainly of fear of falling with it, he grabbed the arms of the Beowolf and tore them off his skin. He kicked it off the edge and fell backwards. The Beowolf however, latched onto the mountain itself.
Slowly pulling himself back he realised that the Beowolf was doing the same, it's claws sinking into the stone itself like climbing hooks. He knew that if the beast managed to make its way back up he'd die. He was too tired to fight it for much longer and now he was injured. However, its arms were digging into the mountainside, meaning that it could no longer use them to defend itself, he looked over the edge, the Beowolf was close, his mind raced for an answer and he had made out a weakness, a weakness that was far too close to the razor-sharp teeth for comfort but nonetheless a point where the beast was most vulnerable. He didn't think anymore, he just acted. He bent over the edge towards the beast with as it pulled itself back up, but instead of punching it or grabbing it, he extended his armed in a lightning fast motion, bypassing its fearsome jaw and shoved his thumbs straight into its eye sockets. The feeling was nauseating but his plan worked. They gave in under the pressure as he grabbed onto the skull and twisted and applied more pressure.
The beast howled in pain. The sound so loud that he wondered whether or not he had gone deaf for a second, but even then he did not stop, only forcing himself ever onward. With the last push, his thumbs sunk deeper than ever before and the beast stopped howling and twitching, standing still for a moment before its form dissolved slowly before his very eyes.
"Holy shit…" He stared in awe, mostly at his hand for a second. Now he was beginning to shake. He immediately went away from the edge as he felt his legs trembling and his arms losing strength. He fell to the ground on his ass and sat there for a moment
"Haaa…. Haaa…." Relax, just relax… you did it see… "Hehe haha… uhh…" He stared at his shoulder. He could still see it bleeding and it hurt to move it. Thankfully, the wounds weren't too deep and hadn't managed to open up any major blood vessels and considering that he could still feel his arm, or rather the pain in it, just fine, he figured that his nerves were doing okay as well.
"Fuck…okay, just let your body do the work, let it bleed, that way the scabs come faster… just… ahh… where to now? Uh… Uh ha ha ha…" He hadn't much time to sit there and think about it. Without the adrenaline, he soon felt the cold. He wanted to bury himself in the snow to get some protection but he knew it wouldn't do him good. He needed to stand up and start walking so his body would regain some heat.
"Okay… Ouch, oh… okay, back hurts, it hurts… okay." He got up despite the subtle pain and started walking back to the forest in an unknown direction. Not many other places to go, he thought wryly but figured that, for the moment, it was a sensible choice. A forest meant a modicum of shelter as well as a presence of life and life, in turn, would hopefully lead him to something edible so that he had a chance of actually finding his way to a place where the wildlife wasn't out to kill him.
He walked for another half an hour or so, getting used to his new injuries. They were already drying up but most of the time he spent thinking on what to do, more than that, talking to himself again. It gave him some semblance of calmness.
"Well… I shouldn't be in Atlas… I doubt it, should have frozen to death by now, where was the road even at? Uphill somewhere…" He took in the scenery before him. It was getting darker and colder but one could still see the forest covered in white snow with traces of plants and other things here and there.
"Well, at least it looks nice.." Most trees were admittedly barren, but his eyes spotted more than just a few evergreens persisting against the harsh climate and easily visible even from a distance in their current environment. Despite the throbbing pain in his body and the aching in his muscles he couldn't help but admire his surroundings. They seemed… purer for a lack of a better term, he didn't particularly cared in that sense, but he couldn't deny the beauty. Under other circumstances, he would have loved to spend some time here. But as it was, he moved on.
Pushing past the pain and exhaustion, it was merely a temporary state. Once he had reached a safe place, he could focus on resting and then the pain he now felt would be little more than a distant memory and a lesson well learned… if he learned to not try to grapple with a beowolf for too long. The pain was already dulling and his exhaustion was almost gone. He was tired to some degree but he felt like he could breathe, the cold helping on that sense, it made him feel the air.
He kept moving, walking at his own pace. He started to eat snow too. It didn't particularly help but it was like water for him. It was refreshing and it helped him get past the exhaustion and tiredness that he felt. He approached a clearing which resembled some solid and leveled ground.
"This seems farther away from the cliff. This is starting to feel like the valley again…" He kept moving, following the same direction. He didn't know where he was going. From what he remembered, and his own sense of direction, he was going the direction he went when he was following the footprints a couple hours ago.
"Just about a... maybe two to three hours here and already had to fight for my life, nice, killed something… without a soul so I guess that's good… I did it, I did it… I mean… I can handle myself. Who am I kidding? I'm just a lucky motherfucker that can do more than others, still way too lucky, only for these situations too, I never get lucky in anything else, I did get left behind… did they seriously not see me? Who were they anyway?" He muttered lowly to himself as he leaned against a tree and closed his eyes for a moment.
"How did I get here in the first place? Why? Dammit, this doesn't make any sense… why don't you make sense, help me with this… why? I don't get it, what did I do?" He pondered for a bit, a couple minutes actually. In truth, the reality of being in Remnant hadn't fully hit him yet. He knew he was there, he was just trying to make sense out of it, a reason, anything. He had to keep walking however. He got up again and started walking, faster this time. He was getting anxious, he needed to find some sort of shelter, hopefully, civilization and then…
"And then… I'll see from there." He decided resolutely and reopened his eyes focusing on walking again, nodded to himself in satisfaction. "Short term plan, get to civilization and familiarize myself with what's going on… afterwards, I can do whatever I want, and maybe find a way back home... hopefully."
It worked on getting him to focus, but he also felt a tinge of despair, he wasn't on Earth, he wasn't with his family or anyone who he knew, he honestly felt pretty scared.
He went forward through the forest for a good while, distracting himself with walking, the forest itself, and how it looked. The dark of the night was almost completely filling the sky above, yet one there was still enough light to see. He continued to walk up a small cliff past rocks, trees, and fallen trunks. He also walked up a small mount that was on his way, it wasn't particularly big, but it was enough to give him a clear vision of his surroundings. Once he was up the hill, he found more flat ground and the forest itself continued.
It seemed endless but it wasn't as dense as before. He thought he was making some sort of progress although he had to admit that he wasn't certain if he had followed his intended direction. The constellations in the night sky were all unfamiliar and thus not even an ounce of famirality remained to guide him. And yet, he couldn't help but feel his hopes soar when the pale moonlight bathed the world before him in a silver sheen as the view was vastly different to what he had seen before.
Of course, the earth was still covered in snow and ice, the ground hard, and the plants mostly barren, but from his current position he could stare down into a valley, filled with countless evergreen trees as well as a few small lakes. One such lake even had a small island. A good place to rest safely should he reach it and find means to protect himself from the cold.
He went downhill and started walking once again on the forest. He started to walk on fallen trees for leisure. However, he suddenly heard the crunches of twigs, ones he didn't cause. He looked to one side slowly, then the other, and here he saw another Beowolf looking straight at him.
"POR LA MIERDA!" (FOR FUCK SAKE!) He screamed when he saw it. For him, it felt like some sort of cruel joke. He had had enough for a day but now another one had to appear. He looked around instinctively for any others which there weren't any. This was a lone Beowolf. That was a good thing yet once again he didn't have a way to kill it.
"You have to be shitting me!"
The Beowolf didn't wait and jumped into action, bringing a hard swipe. He jumped off the log, rolled away from the swipe, and kicked the Beowolf's back, pushing it to the ground. He started to run in the opposite direction, adrenaline carrying him through all of it he noticed. He also noticed how the kick was way stronger than before. He was getting used to this or his adrenaline was finally helping him fight those things. He knew now he had to put more energy when fighting them. He knew he could fight them and how to not hold back, yet he was still tired so he ran a good distance away until he found a fallen tree with a hollow trunk. He crawled in, hoping to hide from the Beowolf.
"Hwaa…" He steadied his breath and listened closely. He heard the Beowolf's steps. It hadn't seen him go into the tree. He could see it from on the holes through the wood, it was looking for him. Whether or not it would find him would be revealed in the next moments. He knew that Grimm could sense fear and other negative emotions, but right now he felt strangely devoid of emotion, it was as if he was hoping for the best… like some sort of betting man, the adrenaline pumping through his veins burning the fear away to keep him focused on the task at hand. He wondered whether or not the Grimm had any other senses to hone in on their prey when he saw the monster sniff the air a few times before slowly turning in his direction. He really wanted to curse his luck then and there but decided he better stay calm. The Beowolf approached the fallen tree slowly, looking around, smelling for any sign of him.
He could see it. It was getting closer until it was right on top of him, right on top of the fallen tree. He didn't move, didn't even twitch. The Beowolf was looking around and smelling, as if it was making sure of something. He saw as it raised one of his claws, aimed it right at him. He move fast out of the way through the hollow tree. The claw narrowly avoided his head.
"Not funny, not cool!" he shouted as he started to crawl through the other end of the tree. The Beowolf persisted in trying to maul him but he was just fast enough to not get impaled by one of its claws. As he crawled out, the Beowolf pounced on top of him and tried to bit his head off. He blocked and held the Beowolf's head with his arm under its jaw. He punched it in the snout and kicked it off of him. He got up and tried to come up with something. While the Beowolf was getting up, he spotted a large, loose branch on the ground. He grabbed it like a club and went to try and pummel its head. He managed to get two solid hits on the head, dodge a swipe, and strike one of its legs, but then he was hit with a backhand by of the Beowolf's paws and tossed over some bushes, losing the branch too.
He hit the ground hard with a thud and rolled a bit. He was on a small clearing now. He came to his senses soon and started getting up, "Ouch… aah, feeling it again…" he looked around and saw that his surroundings, the clearing, was small and the Beowolf didn't come over the bushes just yet, he then saw the clearing itself, there was a dirt walk path there, a dirt road.
"Huh… haha…" He soon, however, noticed there was a stone plate in the clearing. It was a resting place for someone and there in the stone plate, he saw a longsword right next to it.
"Oh mierda, oh mierda, mierda mierda." (Oh shit, oh shit, shit shit.) He got up instantly and went to grab it. He felt the handle in his hands and saw the blade. It seemed like it could cut and stab well enough in his own mind. He heard the bushes moving soon, the Beowolf was in the clearing. He got in guard stance facing the Beowolf, gripping the longsword with both hands, one foot in front of the other, whole sword raised high with it tip pointed at the Beowolf while the blade itself rested on his left elbow.
"Come on then!" he shouted as the Beowolf stared at him and growled. He was unsure, but he was more confident too. He had a weapon, a weapon he knew how to use, and also one that could kill his opponent. He readied himself, waiting for the Beowolf to strike. Soon, it pounced.
He stepped to the side and slashed low for its leg. It cut part of it, wounding it but nothing more. He jumped away before it could get a hit on him and narrowly dodged a Beowolf tried to swipe at him again and he blocked the swipe with the blade which made a cut on its arm before he ducked a swing from the opposite claw. In that same motion, he slashed at its leg with all his strength and kicked it to bring the Beowolf to one knee. It tried to swipe at him again and he dodged and blocked low with the blade to answer a backhand strike that came after, it was the same arm that he had wounded before so he struck again downwards, making the cut deeper and blocking it again from another back hand. He then put all his strength in one final swing downwards. That final swing made the Beowolf's arm fall off.
It howled and screamed, swinging wildly with its remaining arm. However, these wild swings made the beast stumble as a significant portion of its weight was missing from its opposing side. Being unused to that fact, it failed to adjust to the momentum behind its swings and fell onto its knees.
Something he was more than happy to use to his own advantage as the stump where the arm once had been refused to spill significant amounts of blood, to do with the unnatural nature and physique of the Grimm he supposed, they could go on even with missing limbs he reminded himself. He blocked another swipe of the other arm, shoulder bashed the Beowolf away and, sidekicked it to the ground. He got on top of it, reversed his grip and lined up his blade at its vulnerable throat and thrust forward, hard.
Its point exiting on the other side of the beast's neck, but he didn't stop there. It was still a threat in his mind so he grabbed the hilt with two hands and bring the blade out of the beowolf's neck, he stood right next to it as he brought down the sword in a downwards swing, severing its head from the body, it was a swing akin to an execution.
"Hwaa...haaa… oh, fuck me." He said as he rested on the sword to keep himself balanced while what was left of the Beowolf dissipated. He soon, however, heard something. It sounded like hasty breaths and maybe a gasp. He looked to the source and there he saw two people, a woman and a little girl. They both had fox ears, they were faunus, and were looking at him in some sort of relief and awe. They were behind a tree hiding, he supposed they must have actually seen the whole thing. He looked at them again and saw that the woman was carrying a bouquet of flowers. He looked back at the stoneplate and putted two an two together.
"I uh… uh, I used this because I… uh you know… I didn't mean… uh, I wasn't going to take it, it just uh…"
"Are you a huntsman?" The little girl asked him with big eyes full of admiration and… longing. "Daddy used to move like that too."
"Umm… no, I uh… I'm just a guy, that… well knows how to move like that."
"What do you want from us?" The mother asked, infinitely more wary of him than her daughter as she took a step in front of her child as if to protect her should he turn hostile.
"... Ugh."
Slowly spinning the sword in his hand till he held in a reverse grip, he put it back in the same place from which he had drawn it from and took a few steps away from the weapon, hands at his side and palms facing the woman to show that he wasn't about to try something. "Nothing, I was just… passing through and found myself in a tight spot… I don't want anything, why would I?... look I've been running away from Beowolves for hours I just...uh"
"If you aren't here for us… then why are you here?" The woman pressed, one hand subtly wandering behind her back, probably to hold onto a concealed weapon. However, he could hardly tell her the truth, mostly he didn't know how to explain all of it, so he decided to tell her the next best thing, as much of the truth as he could without sounding deranged and let her draw her own conclusions.
"I don't know… you could say that I got lost, woke up not knowing what happened the night before, well… I was alone in a snowy field, lost and maybe left behind by people I don't know… what do you mean here for you anyway?"
"You are human, isn't that reason enough?" She asked, as if it should have been obvious from the start
"... No?" It took a second for him to realize what she actually meant. "Woah, no, no, no, I'm not like that… I swear!" When she still seemed skeptical, he sighed heavily and shook his head. "Look, if you don't want me around here… just tell me where a village is… please? I… I just want to get back to any sort of civilization."
He didn't know what changed but the eyes of the woman softened at his declaration and the arm that had probably held onto a hidden weapon relaxed and slowly lowered back to her side.
"Hey mommy, he knows how to use daddy's sword, he could stay with us, there isn't a village around for a bit… and we can't leave him here." The girl said. "Daddy wouldn't want that."
Any hesitation in the women's stance was eradicated by those words as she nodded in agreement to her daughter's words. "You… you can stay with us… for a time." She added after a short moment and looked at him neutrally. "Next time we travel to one of the villages for supplies, we'll take you with us. Is that agreeable?"
"I… thank you, but I don't want to be a bother if-
"You are nothing of the sort." The mother cut him off before he could continue his half-hearted attempts any longer. "What's your name?"
"Umm… Robert, Robert Urra."
"Well, Robert. Follow us, I'll show you where you can sleep… but I expect you to do your share while you live with us." She said to him.
"I can live with that." Robert said as he started to follow them.
CrowSkull: Well that's that, so now for an actual introduction, hello there, as you can guess this is a self-insert, it won't be an ordinary one however, mostly because I have a lot of plans in store but also because I do hold myself to that of not being incompetent on the physical… maybe more than I should, but hey, I like to dream… I've done a lot of crazy things already in my life, in fact, I could be able to tell you some cool stories. More of that on the future, for now I hoped you have enjoyed this.
I don't think I can give this a solid schedule, but I can try, I already write with someone else on a different project, I should be able to keep up with this.
As to where in canon does this take place… well, you'll realize soon enough in maybe a couple chapters.
Genatools: And here I am as well, the Beta for this story. I will also be doing whatever I can to clean these chapters up. While also providing some advice from time to time whenever I am needed. Don't mind me however, I'm just the editor.
Edit Note: To those five that were already following this fic, well first thank you for that, and I'm sorry it took me so long to comeback to this, truth be told this chapter doesn't have that many edits, but I do believe I made some changes for the better here, I also have some direction on what I want to do with this and well… Nomad's gone, he had difficulties in life, but I also taken the time to improve myself, and I think I can finally do something with this fic, Genatools is also a friend I trust and he can just pressure me to not be lazy, so I should be able to post a second chapter soon. Thank you everyone for reading.
Please review and let me know what you think of the story! Any input would be greatly appreciated!