Huh. Well… I can't say that I expected this, honestly.

Let me clarify: the last thing I remembered was going to bed. I'm not in bed anymore. I don't know where I am. Oh, I have some guesses, but none of them make sense. I mean, WHY am I surrounded by what looks to be oriental buildings? Specifically, OLD oriental buildings. I'm certain that I'm awake, my dreams are way too weird and abstract for this to be a dream, and I haven't had a lucid dream since I was in elementary school.

So someone moved me in my sleep. I have no idea why or where. All of my friends are too far away and probably wouldn't pull a prank like this anyways. My roommates, unless they were severely drunk, wouldn't do something like this to me. It still doesn't answer where I am though. My first instinct is to say some form of chinatown, but I'm not even sure if where I live HAS a chinatown. Honestly, it looks more like one of those public gardens that litter the Chinese mainland, but there's too much greenery around for this place to be any part of China that I've visited.

So, the most likely solution is that I've been kidnapped. I haven't been abducted for slavery, because I can tell that I'm not restricted. No handcuffs, no rope, no blindfold, oh, and I'm also outside.

I reach into my pockets. I had pulled a double all-nighter to get a last minute programming assignment in, so I had simply collapsed while still wearing my clothes. I was wearing a black hoodie with blue jeans and tennis shoes. I had actually been kicking myself about the tennis shoes the previous night. Seriously, I should have learned by now that ice forms on the sidewalks at night. I almost died walking down the hill to my dorm room.

Luckily for me, I felt my phone in my pocket and pulled it out. It had full battery, since I had been charging it while working in the computer labs at my school. I also had the charging cable with me, which would be helpful if someone really HAD relocated me to China (or some other oriental country).

Turning on the phone, I saw that it wasn't getting any reception, which was not unreasonable. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure my plan only works in North America, which lends credence to the idea that I've been moved to another country. My phone claims that it's almost midnight, to which I look up and see that the sun is clearly directly above me. I sigh, and fiddle around with my phone for a few minutes, playing with the world clock feature to try and get a better idea of at least where I am in the world based off the timezone.

"So I'm not in Japan…" I mutter to myself. "And I'm not in China… Or at least, not the coast of China. I'm somewhere between Hong Kong and Tibet, so maybe central China or southeast Asia, like Vietnam…"

Yes, I talk to myself. It helps me think sometimes when I say things out loud.

I sigh. Well, hopefully someone in the area speaks English, or else I'm screwed. Unfortunately, the old-style buildings make me believe that won't be the case. I walk towards the only sign of civilization.

… Why am I walking so slowly? I look down. Well, there's the problem. My legs have shrunk.

…

Wait.

Back up a second.

Why have my legs shrunk? That's not a thing that just happens. Unless someone kidnapped me to experiment on me, I don't think that's what happened.

… Actually, now that I think about it, these trees seem pretty tall. I had just thought that that's how they grew, but that might not be the case…

I grab my phone again and go to the photo app. I switch the camera so that I can see what I look like.

… Um… I'm a kid again.

That's really all I can say. I just noticed this now, but my hands can barely cover half of my phone, the rest of my body shrunk with my legs, and my face looks way younger than it did last I looked in a mirror.

So this is bad. I'm in a foreign country, and I'm apparently a kid. Thinking about it, that 'kid' part might actually work to my advantage. People are much more likely to be friendly towards a kid than an adult, so getting home might be easier. When I get back, I'll have to visit a doctor to see what the hell actually happened to me.

I continue making my way towards the… Place where I'm going. Now that I'm thinking about it, this place looks way too big to be a small village. I'm seeing towers and buildings going on and on, and they seem to be going up some kind of hill.

Huh. Well, the place certainly looks pretty, I'll give it that. That's good. Hopefully they have some kind of transportation back home. I approach the outskirts of this… City I guess, and walk around, attempting to find a market.

For some reason, people aren't staring at me strangely, which is weird. What's weirder is that there's actually quite a diverse population here. I had expected it to be mostly asian, but there's caucasians here and even a fair amount of black people… Which is REALLY weird. I lived in China for five years, and as much as a white person sticks out in China, a black person sticks out far, FAR more… Because they, for whatever reason, rarely immigrate there. Never really thought about it, but seeing it is unusual, but seeing no one staring at them is even more unusual… This place seems like a contradiction of itself. I've visited most of the main urban centers of China except Beijing, so I know the places where tourists are more likely to visit and be accepted, and I'm almost certain that we're not near any of them… But there are people here who are almost certainly not of Chinese descent, so… Likely tourists.

I suppose it's POSSIBLE that I'm in a part of Shenzhen, since I never really visited that city much. I might also be in Hong Kong, in the New Territories region… But I lived there for two years, and hiked all over it. I'm not there.

Then came an even more startling discovery: all of the signs are in English. Now, while that's not completely unheard of in Asia, ALL of the signs being in ONLY English is. Usually it'll be some other language with English translations underneath, or something along those lines. This implies that the people around me are all native English speakers.

I eavesdrop on a random conversation in order to confirm this. I'm a little surprised that the people around me are speaking English, but I want to listen to a few more conversations before I walk up to someone and ask where I am.

"Hey kid! Get out of here!" Some random man said from what appeared to be a market stall.

Well, he was looking right at me, so I guess he's talking at me? Kind of a jerk to be saying that to a… How old am I now? I mean, my physical age. Not mental. I know that one.

Anyways, the merchant(?) wants me to leave, so I guess I will. I keep on walking, and then I think I see why he was so hostile towards me. There's a large group of kids running away from what looks to be some kind of police officer. I'd obviously heard of child thieves in stories, but I'd never seen any myself. Or at least, none that I had been made aware of.

"Hey! There's another one over here!" I heard a voice shout behind me.

I turn around to look at the voice, and another police officer is staring directly at me, running in my direction. My eyes widen in shock and I start running away from the officer. Unfortunately for me, I'm a (?)-year old (really need to figure that out), and he's a grown man who's likely gone through some form of training to make him at least somewhat fit.

However, the advantage that I do have over him is that I'm easy to lose in a crowd. I quickly see one surrounding a fountain, watching some kind of musician on a elevated platform. Is he playing a mandarin? Huh. Interesting.

The police officer moves into the crowd as well. He starts pushing his way through the other people. However, I simply crawl through a few tall people's legs and double back on myself. Once I see the police officer disappear in some other direction, I let out a sigh of relief and head back the way I came. Obviously I shouldn't walk back to the area where the police officer just called me a criminal. That would probably end badly.

I sigh. Apparently this part of the city isn't ideal for me to stay in. In fact, if there are bands of kids reduced to stealing from merchants. I'll have to find my way to a better part of the city if I want to make it home.

"Psst. Hey kid." A voice interrupts my thoughts. I turn to look, and there's a man with a dark robe standing behind me, a hood pulled over his head. Somehow, I don't think that he has the best of intentions right now.

"Those were some good moves back there. I like how you ditched that cop." The man said.

What I WANTED to do was smile slightly, nod, and back away.

What I actually did was say "Thanks!" In a sickeningly happy voice and a bright smile at the man's compliment.

...Okay, that's completely different from what I wanted to say. Why…?

"Look kid, I can tell that you need help, and you're not with the rest of the brats that run around here. I know a bunch of kids your age that will be more than interested in helping you out."

This is a bad idea. I don't need his help, I just need to find my way home. I open my mouth to tell him that, when my mind seems to disagree with me again.

"Sure! That sounds great!"

… … … Why am I no longer in control of what I say?

The guy smiled and beckoned for me to follow him. He was obviously running a ring of child thieves, but for some reason I was following him anyways. I don't know why, I very clearly didn't want to go with him. However, for whatever reason my body wasn't responding to my thoughts.

We eventually reached some form of warehouse in a shadier part of the city. I was basically shoved inside, and discovered a group of malnourished and dirty children, all appearing to be a few years older than my physical body.

"Alright boy. If you want to eat, you'll need to learn fast. Talk to one of the older kids, get them to show you the ropes. If you don't pay up by the end of the month, you're out." The man said, before he started to walk away from me.

"Wait!" I shouted at him. I was about to tell him off for basically abducting me, but again my body decided to form its own words. "What about my parents?"

At that, the man raised an eyebrow in questioning. "Oh, you still have parents? Kid, with the moves you pulled, I figured that you'd been an orphan for a while. Where do your parents live? We might be able to help you out there."

Okay, so maybe this guy wasn't exactly the scum of the earth that I thought he was. It was basically an orphanage in a city where I assumed they just flat out didn't care about orphans.

"I… I don't know." I said. My body decided to take over again. "I went to sleep, and woke up in the forest! I don't even know where I am!"

The man exchanged a look with one of the older kids, who simply rolled his eyes and gave me a pitying look.

"Look kid. I'm sorry to be the one to break this to you, but it sounds like your folks abandoned you. You don't leave a kid asleep in the forest and expect them to come out alive." He said bluntly.

I felt tears welling in my eyes. I'm not sure why, I know for a fact that my parents had nothing to do with my strange migration to this place, considering that they were a five hour drive away from me the night previous and well, my parents are awesome. They'd never do something like shove me into some random place for no good reason.

"As for where you are? Well, I don't know where you're from, but you're in Mistral now kid. Shibuya district. Not the worst place you could have ended up, but your luck sucks."

… Why does Mistral sound familiar? I can't recall any city with that name. Something is pricking the back of my mind, telling me that I should recognize that name.

They both saw my confusion, and while the older man chuckled fondly at my reaction as he left the room, it only seemed to frustrate the older teen even further.

"Whatever kid. If you want an education, save up for Haven. None of the other schools in Mistral are worth a damn. For now though, we need to unlock your aura." He said.

Now THAT certainly confused me. Aura. He's going to do some kind of mystical garbage on me? I mean, I can't think of any widely-accepted religion that has its members unlock their 'aura'. Maybe it's some kind of local tradition?

He saw my eyes widen and seemed to nod grimly. "I know kid. It's not normal to unlock it at your age, and you'll probably have lower reserves later on in life, but if you're going to survive here, you're going to need it. If you're lucky, your semblance will unlock and it'll be something actually worth a damn."

Suddenly it all clicked.

Is this guy trying to convince me I'm in the freaking RWBY universe?! What kind of drugs is he ON?! I think to myself.

Before I can voice any of that though, he already has two hands on the sides of my head. He closes his eye and I see a bright white outline surrounding his body.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."

As he finished his words, I felt… Something wash over my body. I felt like someone had wrapped their arms around me. Like someone I trusted had my back. It was… Nice. I felt warm.

That's when it all hit me. I might legitimately be in the RWBY universe. No idea how, but at this point I don't think it matters. I doubt I'd be able to get back home, unless someone from this side called me here.

Besides… As much as I like my world, and all the family and friends that I have there… This my chance to actually matter. If I became a huntsman I might be able to help fight the Grimm. I have no idea if the events of RWBY have happened yet, or if they won't happen at all, but I know that being a huntsman would affect a hell of a lot more lives than being a programmer would. Honestly, helping people was a dream that I'd pushed aside a long time ago. I just… Wasn't a good enough person for it. I never volunteered for community service, I never really tried at anything. I just stayed in my comfort zone all the time.

But here I could be different. I had at least a decade of life ahead of me, probably more, before I could attend a huntsman academy. That was enough time to change who I am.

"Alright kid. You've got aura now. It's even a little bit higher than the average brat, so that probably means good things for you. Unfortunately for both of us, there's still a lot I have to teach you before you can go out on your own. Follow me, I want to be done before night falls. That's when the dangerous guys come out."

I stare at the teenager a few more moments. I certainly didn't recognize him from the show, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. I decide to follow his lead for now. He knew how to survive in this city.

Later that night, I was given a sleeping bag to sleep in. I couldn't sleep though. This day had been full of information. To be honest, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if I woke up as soon as my eyes closed. This would have been a strangely detailed dream, true, but the day was weird enough that it all being a dream would actually explain some things.

However, I don't think that's the case. The feeling I got when my aura was activated… That wasn't something I could dream up. It was far too realistic.

That meant that I was really in Remnant, the world of RWBY. I really need to find a public library, figure out when I showed up. Would I be able to change the events of the show? If so, what should I change? Penny and Pyrrha's deaths immediately sprouted to mind, but realistically, I should just stop Cinder as soon as possible. I could potentially prevent Beacon from getting overrun by Grimm.

I think about the events of the show some more. Is there anything I could change before canon? Summer Rose… I probably can't save. Not only do I have absolutely no idea when or how she died, I'm also a five year old kid without a semblance. Yes, I got checked up on. We went to a doctor to get me a free checkup. Apparently because I was young enough (and legally an orphan), I was given one free checkup to ensure that I wasn't going to spread any weird diseases into the city. When I was asked how old I was, the doctor looked at me strangely when I didn't know. However, the doctor apparently had some fancy machine take a sample of my blood, and he estimated that I was around five years old.

But back on topic, I couldn't remember anything off the top of my head that I could change before arriving at Beacon… Which I'm going to because there's no way in hell I'm staying in Mistral any longer than I have to.

Well… If I could find Jaune Arc, maybe I could help him become a more serious fighter, but Jaune's home country was never mentioned in the show, so I have literally no idea where he is. For all I know, he might not even live in one of the four major cities.

I sighed. This whole situation was messed up. I needed to get my priorities straight. First, I needed to unlock my semblance. The doctor we checked with couldn't tell me what my semblance was, but from what he could tell, it wouldn't be hard to unlock. Once I get my semblance, I would probably travel the world a little bit. There was no real logical reasoning behind that, I just wanted to see the world of Remnant for myself. I also needed to train. Obviously, being a programmer doesn't have great opportunities for the kind of combat you see in Remnant. Or at least, not a mediocre one like myself.

In order to train, I'd need a few things… First, an idea of what kind of weapon I'd want to use. I have a few ideas, but I want to find out my semblance first and use something that would complement my semblance. Second, I need places to train. From what I saw, there are plenty of dojos in Mistral to practice in, but they all have drop-in fees. I bet there are other places like that around the world, so I'll probably drop in at a few to see how I measure up to the natives of the world. Third, I can't let myself be found out. If I really am in a point before the RWBY timeline, then Salem's crew have eyes everywhere. I DON'T want them to focus their gazes on me, especially since I plan on screwing up their plans in the future. I can't participate in tournaments and such, and I can't show off when I do get to Beacon.

I nodded silently to myself. That sounded like a good plan to me. Once I figured out my semblance, I'd head out on the first airship out of here. Don't really care where, so long as it's one of the other major cities.

A few months later, I was given the chance I had been waiting for. I had been cornered in an alleyway by a couple of cops who had caught on to some of my failed pick-pocketing attempts that day. I had initially thought that this alleyway had an exit through a store, but that store had apparently closed down recently and the back door had been boarded up.

Because of that, I was faced with two police officers who were intent on getting me to a 'real' orphanage. Honestly, if it had been when I first arrived, I'd probably taken them up on their offer, but now I doubt that their official orphanage would let me travel the world like I was planning, or let me explore the city as much as I have been able to.

However, these officers very clearly wanted me to have a more normal life. I didn't want that. Hence the impasse.

I didn't want to be held down by an orphanage. I wanted to go out there, train and become strong enough to actually make a difference. I wanted to be important to someone for once. I wanted to actually matter.

As if some higher being could understand what I was getting at, I felt something mix with my aura, probing it, almost pondering it, before leaving something behind. I instinctively reached out to the new aspect of my aura, and brought it to the front to mix with the rest of it.

I opened my eyes. For some reason, the officers weren't moving anywhere nearly as quickly as they were a few moments ago. In fact… they're barely moving at all. Tentatively, I take a step forward, but they're still moving so slowly. I continue to move past them, and I notice their eyes start to widen in shock, but I just walk right past them, and then run down the streets. I look around, and for some reason, everyone seems to be moving slowly now. On top of that, when I stop running, I notice behind me papers are slowly floating off walls and away from merchant's stalls all over the street, and the clothes of people behind me seem to be slowly moving as if caught in a breeze.

...Did I just cause a wind by running normally? That's strange, but I guess my semblance is super-speed? That would explain how I avoided the police. Now that I think about it, it's likely that I also sped up my reflexes. I wish my semblance had been a bit more interesting, but I'm satisfied with what I have.

Unfortunately, my lack of aura seems to have been ridiculously detrimental, as all of a sudden, everything speeds up again. I feel tired, and I can tell that I've exhausted pretty much all of my aura reserves. That unfortunately means that I'm going to have to call it there, since most of my pickpocketing techniques require me to use aura in some way. I head back to the warehouse by winding through back alleys, just in case someone tries to follow me. I probably attracted some attention by running as fast as I did down a busy street, so I needed to hurry.

When I finally reached the 'orphanage', I basically collapsed as soon as I stepped through the doors. Someone came up to me to check on me, but I'd already fallen into unconsciousness.

When I'd woken up, the man that had taken me into the orphanage originally was above my sleeping bag.

"Kid, I'm glad you got your semblance and all, but you made a mess of things. Too many people caught you on camera, and those two police officers saw you before you could use your semblance, so you're now too high-profile to go out anytime soon."

I frown at that. I really didn't want any attention to be drawn to me, but I guess a child with a semblance (especially a useful one like mine) would catch a lot of attention. That's unfortunate, but I had planned on leaving Mistral anyways, so I guess I'll just have to leave sooner than expected.

"What do you mean?" My body asks. I've learned that every once in awhile, I just don't have control of what my body says. I think I might have an answer as to why though, after observing it a few times.

Quite simply put, I'm still a kid. It's a little confusing, but my brain isn't developed enough to handle the ideas that I give it all the time. It doesn't understand that not everyone was trustworthy, that not everything out of one of someone's mouth is fact. Honestly, it's pretty similar to how I was at a kid. I had a lot of embarrassments as a kid because I trusted people too much. Nothing major, I'd just have to figure out how to change my body's mentality.

...Which brings me to the awkward conclusion that I'm not actually the body that I think I am. My body certainly obeys my commands most of the time, but I'm not in complete control. So what am I? Am I the soul? Am I only observing someone that agrees with me? Am I possessing someone who just happens to look like me?

I've actually ruled out most of these. I'm not observing, because I've said things that only I knew, so I'm very clearly not observing someone. I'm also not sharing a mind with anyone that I can tell either, because I've yet to hear any conflicting thoughts when I do things.

That leads me the conclusion that I'm a soul that isn't fully integrated with my own body. That'll probably happen over time, but for now I'll have to deal with it.

"Well kid. We're going to have to keep you in here for a little while, and then you're going to have to leave town. People are going to know your face for quite some time, but it's going to be really bad for a week or so. I'm going to help come up with a way to get you on a airship out of here, but you need to get a handle on your semblance soon, before something like this happens again."

I nod. That seems reasonable. I also need to see how long I can hold my superspeed for before I run out of aura, or else I won't be able to practice it.

So the following day, since I wasn't allowed to spend it outside, I decided to test my limits. I take out my phone and ready a timer before I reach into my aura like I did yesterday and pulled out whatever it was that made me go fast last time. I quickly start the timer and stand still. After about two minutes, I start really feeling the strain on my body. I quickly fall to a knee and shove whatever it is that I'm doing back into my aura. I look at my phone. I was just shy of one minute, but that felt good considering I haven't trained at all and I'm still a kid.

"Man kid, you've really got to work on your reserves." The man who ran the orphanage said. He had been watching over me to make sure I knew when to stop. "That was what, ten seconds? It'll be a while before you can do anything good with that." At that, he walked away, convinced that I wouldn't fall unconscious from semblance overuse again.

… That was strange. I got almost a full minute with my phone, so why did he say that I only lasted a few seconds? Did I accidentally speed up my phone as well?

… Or is my semblance not superspeed?

If my semblance is not superspeed, it's something that can mimic it. But what?

I spend a bit of time trying out different ideas, I eventually came to a conclusion. When I'm in 'superspeed' mode, I don't feel like I'm moving any faster. My legs feel like I'm moving them normally, but I'm not. I can't see my legs moving any faster, and when I finish, I'm not out of breath for any reason other than aura exhaustion, and my legs don't feel like they're burning like they would if I had been running.

That leads me to the conclusion that I'm not actually running any faster, which confuses me at first. I don't know what my semblance is, but it makes everything else slow down (or speeds me up), and I can apparently coat my possessions with it.

I continue to practice over the week, and I manage to make it just barely past the minute mark by the end of the week. I'm proud of that achievement, but more importantly, I'm happy that I figured out my semblance.

I had figured it out when I tried to do the opposite of what my semblance seemed to do. I tried to speed up everything else. Make the world go by faster. For this, I started the timer for my phone, set it on the floor, and then used my semblance while simply intending to do the opposite. If I had super speed, like I had initially expected, this should have been really difficult to do. However, it was almost trivial how easy it was to make everything speed up compared to me. I literally watched the seconds on my timer tick up ten for every second I spent with my semblance activated. When I was finished, it had been just over five minutes, although it felt the same amount of time as any time I'd used my semblance.

This led me to an interesting conclusion: I don't think my semblance was control over speed. I think my semblance was control over the flow of TIME. I can manipulate the flow of time for an object to make it go faster or slower through time. I might be able to do more, but my limited aura pool and lack of practice will probably prevent me from doing anything too cool with this semblance.

… This actually gives me so many ideas. First and foremost: I need better control over how much I slow time down. If I could slow time down by a factor of say, two instead of five, I could maybe keep it up near-permanently. If I focus on my reflexes on top of that, I could become practically untouchable.

I like that idea. Not getting hit sounds fun. I know aura is supposed to heal us, but if I don't get hit in the first place, wouldn't that be better?

And from what I've seen, people can have pretty ridiculous reflexes in this world. I mean, Pyrrha could deflect bullets, so if I get to that point without using my semblance, imagine what I could do when I do use it?

… For the apparent two minutes that I had aura to fuel it at least. I'm not sure how much that's going to improve over the years, but I really hope that it's not that embarrassingly limited. If it still stays low over the years, I'll just have to use my semblance in short bursts instead of for the entirety of a fight.

After realizing what my semblance was, I decided to keep it hidden. Hide it for as long as I could, but use it as a surprise to win a fight that actually matters. Keep as much of my skills secret as possible, while still being good enough to get accepted into beacon. So not as strong as any of the RWBY team, but stronger than the average huntsman-to-be. That's what I want to appear like.

In reality, I want to be more like Pyrrha Nikos or Itachi from Naruto. Have an ace up the sleeve, but still be a ridiculously good fighter without it. I'll have to really work to get to that point, which is where the first problem lies.

Before coming to Remnant, I was lazy. I was a procrastinator. There's really no other way to put it. I didn't do things if I wasn't motivated to do so. I don't like doing work, and if I see something as work, I won't do it. Usually someone close to me will come along and pester me enough that I'll actually get it done, but I rarely push myself when it's just me. From the little experience I had going to the gym and working out, or running on my own, I know that I go easy on myself. Without someone to push me, I fear that I won't reach the level of Pyrrha.

But I can't just go asking any old person to train me. First, I'm an orphan with no cash. I'm probably going to have to steal once I leave Mistral, and likely for most of my life. On top of that, I have absolutely no idea who I could trust, and I want to minimize interactions with any characters of the RWBY cast, if they are alive yet that is. From what little I could piece together, I am before the events of the show, but I'm not sure how much. The easiest way would be to look up online who is the current heir to the Schnee family, since Weiss would be the most public of all RWBY members right now. I have no idea how famous Jaune's family is, Ruby and Yang's family aren't famous, Ren and Nora are orphans, Blake keeps a low profile, Pyrrha… Might be famous already, but that would depend on when I arrived. But the Schnee family is still the most public of all their families anyways, so that's how I'll be able to tell where in the timeline I am.

Anyways, I'll want to figure out when I am in the timeline, but I should avoid contact as much as possible. I can't afford to change the future too much if I want to take advantage of it, and since I don't know much about pre-canon, I can't risk changing too much.

Regardless, I'm standing at some kind of commercial airship dock, with a ticket given to me by the guy who ran the orphanage. I still don't know his name or what his face looks like, he refused to tell me, or hear what my name is for some reason. He's never put his hood down, but every once in awhile, I can see it twitch, so I'm guessing that he's some kind of faunus. No idea why he's running the orphanage either. Granted, it probably doesn't take up too much of his time, but he doesn't seem to get much out of this. Maybe he's just a nice person? Who knows.

Either way, he basically shoved a ticket in my hand and gave me directions to the airport. He wished me good luck, and then left. He probably figured that if I got caught on my way there, I wouldn't have lasted long after that anyways.

The ticket for whatever reason didn't actually say what my destination was, so when I arrived at the airport, I only knew what gate I had to go to. Luckily, no one recognized me there, because it took me quite some time to find the gate. When I saw the gate, I almost facepalmed in exasperation.

Because… It was going to Patch. Of ALL places, it just HAPPENED to go to where Ruby's family lived… Granted, the odds of me running into any of Ruby's family is pretty slim, I still wish I could have gone to say, Vacuo or Vale proper. Going to Patch specifically is just going to make avoiding the characters of the show harder… But it would definitely keep me safe from the authorities of Mistral. I doubt anyone looking for me will expect me to go to some random settlement off the coast of Vale.

Either way, that's where I'll have to start. From there, I'll either steal what I need or stowaway on another airship out of Patch. As of this moment though, I kind of just want to fade into the back of the airship. I've travelled on planes plenty of times, and honestly, outside of this one going vertical from the get-go, it's not much different. I find some seat out of the way and simply sit down to rest.

When we finally land, I walk around the town for a while, and pickpocket from a few people who seem like they wouldn't miss what little I'm taking. It's actually pretty easy to put the wallets back in people's pockets now that I can slow down time. Some probably will just think they lost the few lien that I took.

However, I need somewhere to stay, and I doubt that I'll be able to check out a room at my age and with no identification. So I'll either have to stay in some rundown old building or outside, preferably in a park. I walk towards a park that looks like it's not used often, judging by the lack of people in it currently. It's not a bad place to put down my sleeping bag, but I should look around the town a bit more before deciding.

I'm not terribly worried about something attacking me in my sleep. One of the first things that I'd been taught how to do with aura was sense people within a certain range of me. If a criminal/grimm/police officer tries to do something to me in my sleep, my aura should wake me up, and then I'll use my semblance to get out.

However, before I set up for the night, I hear a sound. It sounds like someone's… Crying? Whoever it is, it sounds like a young girl…

I look in the direction of the sound, and see the back of a young girl, about my age, sitting on a swing with her head bowed. It's hard to tell, but… I'm pretty sure that's Ruby.

Well, that certainly answers when in the timeline I've arrived. It's actually really ideal for me to arrive now, it shouldn't be too hard to affect the timeline from my situation, I'll just need to get to Beacon.

However, right now, I'm at an impasse. Ruby Rose, my favorite character from the show, is very obviously upset about something, and no one is currently comforting her. The idea of Ruby being sad just seems… Wrong. She was always a very cheery and innocent character, and I'd love to be able to help her out now… But I know that I shouldn't interfere much with the timeline. Will this matter?

I hear her sniffle, and watch as she wipes her eye with one of her sleeves, obviously wiping away a tear. That settles it. I'll do what I can.

Ruby had not been happy lately. Her mother, Summer Rose, had passed away only a few days ago, and then that whole fiasco with Yang had happened. Now everyone in her family was sad. Her dad, Yang, and even Uncle Qrow all seemed really sad. She knew why, her mom had been awesome! It… Was kind of hard to believe that she was gone. No one would tell her what really happened, that didn't matter. All that mattered was that her mom wasn't there anymore, and she didn't want to sit at home while everyone was so sad.

"Hi there!" A voice said from behind her. Ruby didn't even look up. She'd come to this playground because no one ever came here. She didn't want to play with anyone today.

"Go away." Ruby replied.

"Why are you sad?" The voice asked.

Ruby just clenched the ropes of her swing harder, before she slumped and started crying again. "Because my mommy's gone… And she's not coming back." She said, her voice breaking halfway through her words.

Whoever owned the voice almost immediately wrapped her in a hug. Ruby squirmed around, since a stranger had basically just grabbed her, but once Ruby realized what the stranger was doing, she stopped. She just kept crying more. No one had hugged her since her mommy had died. Her daddy just stayed still all the time, and Yang was trying to find her mommy, and Uncle Qrow just left… It was nice to be hugged again.

After a few moments, the voice spoke up. "I know how you feel… I lost my mommy and daddy, and I don't know if I'll ever see them again…" It said. "But I… Know that they want me to keep on going. To be the best and help people! So that's what I'm gonna do!"

That actually stopped Ruby's tears. … Be the best? The best what? Well, her mommy had been a huntress… So she'd just have to be an even better huntress! Her Uncle Qrow was still a hunter, right? Oh, and daddy is a hunter too! Maybe they could help her!

She turned around to face the person, and found that it was a boy with brown hair that had hugged her. She wasn't sure what to think about that. Boys were gross, and one had just hugged her. Maybe she should ask her daddy if she could use the bath later, that would make it better.

She smiled at the boy who had helped her. "You're right! Mommy would want me to be as great a huntress as she was!" That was likely completely false, there's no way in hell a parent would want their child to follow them into a field which usually leads in death, but Ruby was only four and three-quarters (she'd kept track!), so she hadn't realized that yet. "I'm gonna go be the best huntress in the world! Bye!" She said, running back home.

When she had almost got home, she realized that she still didn't know who that boy was or what his name was, but she'd go back tomorrow to find him. When she arrived at her house, she burst through the door, and leapt towards her dad, who barely managed to prevent himself from being bowled over.

"Daddy! Daddy!" She shouted.

Taiyang was shocked. Just a few hours ago, Ruby had run off towards the park. Qrow had promised to keep an eye on her in his crow form, so he wasn't worried too much. However, his daughter had apparently done a complete 180 in terms of personality. However, seeing his daughter so happy again… It warmed his heart. He gave Ruby a small smile. Yang was watching from a chair in the living room. She had been watching the television a second ago, but had turned it off in order to welcome her sister.

"I'm gonna be a huntress!" Ruby shouted.

That physically hurt Taiyang. He actually felt his heart die a little bit inside. Not even a week after Summer's death, one of his kids wanted to go into the career path that had killed her. Well, maybe it's just a phase...

"A-Are you sure sweetie? You know, just because mommy and I were hunters doesn't mean you have to be." Taiyang said, trying to convince his daughter not to be so focused on being a hunter as early as he could.

Ruby nodded rapidly.

"Mhmm! I wanna be the best huntress ever! Even better than mommy! I wanna help people, and I wanna fight bad guys, and show everyone how awesome I am!"

Well, those were certainly… Reasons. Reasons of a (almost) five year old, but reasons nevertheless. Honestly, most hunters became hunters for worse reasons anyways.

"Alright sweetheart. But you can't become a huntress just yet. You need to wait a few more years." Taiyang reasoned.

Ruby pouted. "Fine. But I'm gonna be the best daddy!"

"Nuh-uh. I'M gonna be the best." Yang said, deciding to join in on Ruby's conversation.

Taiyang's heart died a little more. One of his children becoming a huntress he could understand, but two? Hunter survival rates weren't high enough for his liking. He internally chuckled. He had been such a wild child in his days at Beacon, running off and being reckless, and now he was settled down with two kids that he didn't want to become huntresses, but couldn't refuse. How people change.

He watched his two daughters bicker back and forth for a bit before they ran up to their shared room and played some kind of game to see who would be the better huntress.

Even after hearing his kids proclaim that they were going to be huntresses, Taiyang couldn't help but let a smile spread across his face. He and summer had always suspected that the two kids would probably end up becoming huntresses, but that didn't make the thought hurt any less.

He heard the flapping of wings, and a crow flew through the window. A second later, it reverted into his ex-brother-in-law and former teammate, Qrow Branwen.

"So…. Where'd Ruby go, and how'd she get so cheery?" Taiyang asked.

Qrow scratched his head. "Well, she went to the park. That one close by, the one that only you guys use." He took a swig from his hip flask before continuing. "She was just crying on a swing set when this random kid just comes up and hugs her. They talk a bit, and then Ruby's off. Doesn't even get the kid's name. I stayed back for a few moments, and the kid just watched her run off and then walked back into the park."

"Hm. I might just have to thank the girl myself. She might just have been responsible for helping us get over Summer's…" He and Qrow both flinched at the reminder.

"Tai…" Qrow sighed. He knew he was going to regret the next sentence, but he had to say it anyways. "It wasn't a girl, it was a boy."

Taiyang was silent for a few moments as he stared at Qrow.

Finally he spoke. "Ruby's too young to have a boyfriend."

"For Dust's sake Tai!"

A/N: So here we go, trying my hand at this now. This one has been bouncing around in my head for a while, and hopefully some of you like it as much as I do. I know self-inserts aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I honestly just had so much fun writing this that I need to keep going with it.

I will accept any constructive criticism given though, and not everything is set in stone, it's pretty much just the pairing and the semblance.

Also, I actually have a beta for this fic! Hooray! Well, I say 'beta', it's a friend of mine that I'm going to also include in this that wants to help me out. Still, one more perspective during the creation process is good.

To anyone who followed me here from The King's Tactician, thank you so much for sticking with me, and I hope that you'll stay. I got this story done in crazy fast time, and that means that the final chapter of TKT is being worked on sooner than expected. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm finished by the end of the month, but I'm taking my time. I want the finale to be as perfect as I can get it.

Feel free to leave a question in the review section or just PM me if you feel the need!

EDIT: Changed how much my character could manipulate time. Original max time dilation: 10:1 (Ten seconds for every real second) Current max: 5:1 (Five seconds for every real second)