Time waits for no one.

It delivers us all to the same end.

You cannot cover your ears.

You cannot avert your eyes.

You with the power to change the world, limited your time may be.

You shall be given one year.

Go forth, with your heart, and your newfound humanity, as your guide.

RWBY's Reaper

Ryoji Mochizuki.

That was what his name used to be, and yet now it was all he knew at this point in time. He didn't recall how he awoke in this place, and nor did he recall the feeling as to why he felt as if he did not belong in this world. He knew it was different from his own realm of existence, but he ignored that feeling. The sky and the moon were different from his own. From Azure to orange-tinted skies, now forever blue. From silvery to eerie green, now shattered.

Wherever he walked, he found people acting in ways they should not be. The city was different than what he recalled, and the feeling of hostility prominent in the air. Of course, he ignored most of it, yet he knew the hostility was aimed at him. Or rather, more accurately, his black tail. That had made him nearly shit his pants. He had sharp, pointy canines with a black tail lapping around.

He was NOT supposed to have a tail.

Despite the looks he received from people, he found that a few of them looked at him differently. They had chosen to mask their true nature from everyone, but he could sense that they were not entirely human. They looked at him with surprise, and admiration. They smiled at him whenever he greeted them, and the female population blushed whenever he smiled. He was rather proud of his looks, to be honest.

Now that he thought about it, his appearance had not changed in the slightest, despite his newfound animal-like features. His black hair was slicked back, a single bang over his forehead and curved toward the bridge of his nose. He still had his buttoned shirt with the yellow scarf wrapped around his neck, along with the black slacks he wore with it, the suspenders draped over his shoulders and leading back down to the waist behind his back. He did notice that his blue eyes had changed slightly as well, his eyes bearing a wolf-like slit to them.

Of course, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it actually looked cool. Although, admiring one's image could wait. For now, he had to find out where he was, and possibly what he could do to find a way to prevent her from awakening.

It had been nearly a month before he finally realized that this was not truly his world, but rather, another world entirely. This world was known as Remnant, and the country he resided in was known as Vale. It's history was very different from that of his own, for there were little to no language barriers, and in this world, Shadows nor Personas existed. Of course, that did not mean danger wasn't about and lurking. Soulless beasts known as "Grim" walked upon this Earth, and each held different strength and power. They were categorized by strength, speed, endurance, and appearance. Similar to S.E.E.S, a group combated these monsters, called by the names "Hunter" and "Huntress". Several schools in Remnant taught young heroes how to fight the Grim, how to protect themselves, and how to protect their friends.

Besides the problem with Grim, there was also the matter with sub-humans known as "Faunus", which he had been called in this world. Faunus had obvious differences between humans, bearing animalistic features, be it from animal ears to tails or habits such as peeing on fire hydrants or telephone poles once lifting their leg up. As it turned out, he bore features of a wolf, which was not a bad thing, actually. Despite Koromaru knowing his true nature, he got along well with the dog.

Perhaps that in itself decided why he suddenly had a tail, and occasionally the annoying flees?

Apparently, Faunus hid their nature from normal people, but he did not. He saw no point in it. They were surprised, and some showed it in different ways. When he greeted them, they either smiled back in earnest or false, some showing their displeasure with a scowl or a glare. Other Faunus simply stared at him in admiration, not afraid for showing who he was.

At first, he didn't understand why Faunus were despised until he read about their history, and heard of the organization known as the "White Fang". Faunus and humans had never truly gotten along, but they had tried to. All attempts ended at failure, either because of humanity's arrogance or because of the grudge and resentment Faunus held towards them. The White Fang had started out as a simple peace movement, but something had changed, forcing them to become a terrorist organization that killed any human in front of them.

Ryoji had never felt such anger beating across his chest before. He welcomed death, for he was the reaper that awaited all those that came to him. However, he truly valued life, mainly because of her influence, back when he was still human and back when he was still a child wearing the clothes of confinement. What angered him, more than anything else, was the act of murder. Humans should die of their own volition, not at the hands of others. It was a sacrilege, a bloody stain upon the face of life. It was an unforgivable blasphemy.

Before he allowed it to run rampant, for his true nature to be unleashed upon this world, the incarnation of death reined his emotions in, and calmed him. He could not afford to return to being Thanatos, the being that craved and longed for the world of death and despair, but nor could he afford to become the Avatar of Nyx, that which beckoned the queen of death.

He wanted to stay the human, or rather, the Faunus Ryoji Mochizuki.

Perhaps this was fate telling him to live a normal life... or what this world considered to be normal.

She reminded him of Hamuko. There were differences of course, but they were few in between. The girl, Ruby Rose, was shorter, and younger obviously, but she had the same cheerfulness that spread about like a disease. Her hair was dark, in contrast to Hamuko's autumn-burned silky mane. They held the same slim figure, and they both had an appreciation for the deadly side of weaponry. While Hamuko relied on the naginata forged from the soul of Kartikaya, she relied on the bastard child of a scythe and a sniper rifle. "Crescent Rose" she referred to it as.

The defining difference between them was that Ruby had an older sister, a mischievous minx by the name of Yang Xiao Long. She was a bit like him, flirting with the cute boys she saw, and she certainly had the body to entice them. What worried him, however, was the fact that she became the closest thing there was to a demon when some poor bastard did something to her hair. If you had even so much as cut a strand of her long golden hair... well, let's just say you would meet Ryoji fairly soon, and leave it at that.

He still recalled what happened to the last guy that grabbed a fistful of her hair during a robbery, and it had not been pleasant. Still, at least he learned that the back of the human body was capable of bending in such... horrible ways. It also did not help the fact that Yang had a pair of gauntlets that had a shotgun attached to them.

It had been during the day when he met them, strolling along the town in matching uniforms, Signal he recalled. They both aspired to be Huntresses, though they had different motivations. Yang stated she wanted to uphold the Xiao Long family name by becoming a warrior, but it was also for the sake of honoring her late godmother, Summer Rose. Ruby had aspired to be like the heroes she had remembered from the stories and fables she learned of in books.

They had been merely acquaintances, and nothing more. They met each other purely by chance when Yang saw him, and tried to flirt with him. Of course, him playing the part he was before he had regained his memories as Death, flirted back. That had been the start of a beautiful friendship for those two, but it had remained stagnant with Ruby. He tried his best to avoid her. Every time he looked at her, her face would appear in his head, smiling gently with a tenderly form of love that only a parent could give. In a way, she had raised him for ten years, despite not knowing it, but she never hated him. She never cursed his name. She had loved him. Him! He was a being that would bring about death to this world, and she did not care. All she wanted was to be with him, and would gladly watch the world burn if that was what it took.

He supposed that was why she chose to not kill him that day, a decision he still couldn't understand. All he wanted was for her to live a normal life, to not have to endure the pain and suffering that she would face within the tower of Tartarus... yet she chose to keep the thoughts of death lingering in her mind. Though the Fall would be delayed, she would still have a normal life.

She made her decision, and nothing he could do would sway her. She was as stubborn as an ox... but that was what he loved about her.

Ruby was so much like her, he could swear that she was Remnant's Hamuko Arisato. Cheerful, outgoing, yet slightly secluded in her own world. She had been so used to spending time with her sister that she did not know how to make friends. It was an opposite to what Hamuko could do, making friends so easily as if it had been second nature.

"So, guess what happened a few days ago?" the voice of Yang Xiao Long broke him from his memory, and looked up. They met every now and then at a coffee shop not far from Signal. It was quaint and easy, plus he had taken a job here. As it turned out, the owner was a pro-Faunus and Human coexistence kind of guy, and allowed both Faunus and humans to work at his shop. Ryoji got along well with most of the staff, but he couldn't stand Cardin Winchester. The boy was arrogant and self-centered.

Had it not been for the fact that Ryoji refused to allow his self as Thanatos to emerge, he would had torn the boy asunder, and leave nothing but a bloody splatter on the ground, his soul torn to shreds. For now, he would have to tolerate him. "I'll take a guess and say that you're cute little sister got herself into a lot of trouble?" he said with a whimsical smile he had grown used to using. He had five minutes before he had to go back to work.

Yang giggled. "Well, there is that, but she'll be going with me to Beacon!" Ryoji paused. Signal was, in a sense, a middle school for Hunters and Huntresses in training, and Beacon was like Gekkoukan, a private high school of sorts. Yang was a third year, so she was graduating. However, Ruby was a first year. She had, at least, two years before graduating. "You see, she apparently got mixed up in a robbery and tried to stop it from happening, and I guess the headmaster of Beacon took a note of how good she was, so he made an exception."

Ryoji raised an eyebrow. "A robbery?" he asked, curious. He had seen something about a robbery on the news earlier today. "By any chance, was it a Dust store?"

"Yep." Yang grinned from ear to ear, leaning back in her chair. "So, how about you, Ryoji?" Said reaper frowned, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, what will you do? Since we're moving to Beacon, it means we won't have much time to talk as we used to. And, you know, you HAVE grown a bit on my sister."

Great, even after all that time he took to avoiding her like the plague...

"It isn't like we can't send each other letters, ya know." Ryoji pointed out before he noticed the owner walking out of the cafe. "Well, my break is over." Yang smiled as she placed her now empty cup of coffee down on the fragile glass plate, and handed him the cash. Once they exchanged good-byes, he watched her take off before moving over to the corner of the cafe.

Sitting at a table by himself was a man in his late twenties, a green scarf wrapped around his neck. He had small black sunglasses sitting atop the bridge of his nose, and wore a professional black suit, a cane sitting at his side. "Hello, welcome to Yggdrasil Cafe!" Ryoji said the routine line with his ever-charming smile. "What can I get you?"

The man smiled as he looked up from his book. "A simple cup of black coffee, if you don't mind..." the man paused for a second. "And ten cubes of sugar." Ryoji almost did a double take. Why in the hell would you need that much sugar? It was then that he saw the tiredness in the man's eyes, and saw that his fuel was coffee. Ryoji nodded and entered the store, making the customer's order and grabbing the cubes before leaving and placing the items requested on the table. "Thank you."

"Had a rough day, sir?" Ryoji asked. The owner made it a point for them to interact with the customers, as a sign of the friendly atmosphere. If only Cardin followed that rule, then perhaps his looks would match up with his personality. The boy was a looker, but his attitude was horrible.

The man nodded with a tired sigh. "It's... more like preparing for tomorrow. I will have to deal with a large amount of students in the coming of days, and I need all the caffeine I can get my hands on." Ryoji noticed his choice of words. Perhaps he was a teacher? "Ah, by the way, young man."

"Yes, sir?"

"Do you attend any school?"

"No, I never had the chance. The owner found out that I don't have place a stay, so he practically forced me into moving into the cafe. It actually has a three room apartment complex inside, if you can believe it. Plus, I'm a Faunus. There aren't many schools that accept people like me."

"Is that so?"

What was with all these questions?

"I merely ask this because it is actually a law for those under the age of 18 to attend a public knowledge place of learning. Of course, schools such as Signal and Beacon are merely optional for whoever wants to become a Hunter, or a Huntress."

Ryoji mentally cursed. To his chagrin, he learned that this world still had many of the same laws his old world had. "Are you going to report me?" he asked, though he still kept his smile. He didn't like showing others what they wanted. If the man wanted to see him squirm, he wouldn't get the chance.

However, to his surprise, the man gave a mysterious smile after he had taken a small drink of his coffee after having stirred up the sugar. "Ah, forgive me. Allow me to introduce myself properly..."

"My name is Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy. Tell me, Ryoji Mochizuki, how do you feel about becoming a Hunter?"

It was that single question had spun a new chapter of his life. Come heaven or hell, come legions of Grim, and come hordes of Shadows, they would all know the terrifying visage of the incarnation of death.

This was the story of Ryoji Mochizuki, the Reaper of Team RWBY.