Chapter Four

Ten minutes earlier, or A Subjective Eternity

It had been 20 minutes since the woman called Arabella had left him here to wait and he was still trying to figure out what the hell had gone on with his life.

Alright, let's run it again. I left drama class to go home, thinking about the Death Battle of Tifa vs Yang. I Burn was playing in my helmet. There was something like an explosion in front of me and I turned the wrong direction to avoid it… Everything seemed to shiver and then I was passed by Yang, which caused me to lose control and fly off my bike and into the air… Apparently my aura activated and took the damage. Someone called 911 and I ended up here…

Phoenix gripped his hair hard and groaned out, "But none of that makes any sense! Remnant isn't fucking real! And out of all the possible planes in the Multiverse, why did I end up on one I know NOTHING about! Why couldn't it have been in Mass Effect or even Hyrule! At least I understand those places!" As he ran his hands through his hair, he stopped and felt it, focusing on the sensation of the hair running through his fingers.

It felt... off. He slid out of the bed and padded on bare feet to the attached bathroom to look at himself in the mirror. The sight before him shocked him. The silvery film of his hair, normally the result of a weekly dye touch up, now looked and felt like it had grown that way. And his eyes, normally metallic silver, now resembled two small, circular mirrors. In fact, as he leaned closer he noticed that they were in fact mirrored.

He stumbled back from the mirror and back into his hospital room, letting out small bleats of alarm. His door opened and a cop, at least he assumed it was a cop, stuck his head in. "'Ey, get back in your bed. You ain't goin' nowhere till Professor Ozpin says so." Phoenix sighed heavily and flopped back onto his bed as the door closed again. He shut his eyes, his head swimming in confusion and despair. That same tickling sensation in the back of his mind sprang up again and he grimaced before shoving it away, not wanting to deal with another unusual thing for today.

He wasn't sure what exactly tipped him off that he was under attack. Phoenix rolled off the bed and away from it as the air in the room seemed to waiver and become solid as odd reflective patterns appeared around the room. A split second after he rolled away, something red hot sliced through the hospital bed like a laser through rice paper. Three figures jumped off a massive raven looking creature that was faintly familiar and crashed through his room's window.

He scrambled to his feet and looked widely for the cops from a moment before, but they were nowhere to be found. He stared wide-eyed at the woman in a long, flowing black dress that walked forward in front of the two men with her. Her creamy white skin and long straight brown hair seem to waver slightly in a nonexistent breeze as her iris-less eyes meet his.

"Well, well, well. What have we here? A boy in place of the man you were? What a novel concept. And strangely fitting." She glanced at the man on her right.

He was wearing a set of clothes made of metallic looking fish scales and had a large sword in his hands that seemed to be glowing with heat. "Sylvan, if you wouldn't mind making quite sure that he can't escape again." The man grinned like it was something he'd been waiting for and took a step forward.

Phoenix was rooted to the ground in panic, utterly confused and desperate. What do I do? What did I do? What do I do? The question ran through his mind like lightning as the man prepped for a swing, his sword beginning to flicker with fire.

As if in answer to his question, a voice seemed to ring out from everywhere and nowhere with a single command.

FIGHT! Fight like you want to live!

The man swung his sword, a powerful blow meant to cut him in half across the waist. Without thinking about why he was listening to the voice in his head; Phoenix dove forward, slipping under the flaming sword and driving his shoulder into the armored gut of his attacker.

He moved with a speed he didn't know he had and hit with force that should have broken his shoulder. What actually happened was the armored man being knocked back a step, the wind knocked out of him. That same voice spoke to him again.

His armor is useless against blunt impacts. Don't let up.

Phoenix rebounded from the man and gripped a piece of his former hospital bed as he managed to land on his feet. The man in the armor growled deep in his throat as he got his breath back and spun his sword twice in his hand. The sword let out a howl as a line of fire launched from it, screaming through the air directly towards him.

Phoenix's eyes went wide and he yelped, jumping back and barely dodging the flame. It struck the solid looking air and fizzled out.

The second man, the one of the woman's left, made a flicking gesture, producing a pistol from his sleeve and aimed at Phoenix's head. Going on instinct and what little fighting training he had, Phoenix dashed forward, swinging the metal frame in a vicious uppercut into the man's wrist.

A flicker of yellowish energy stopped the blow about half an inch from the man's skin, but the impact was enough to spoil his aim, the gun unloading a four round burst into the ceiling.

The woman sighed and reached out for Phoenix. The voice in his mind screamed at him.

Don't let her touch you! One touch and you're worse than dead!

Phoenix didn't question it, he didn't have the time to, as he threw himself backward, and landing on his back on the opposite side of the room. The man in armor growled and sliced through the few remains of the hospital bed in anger.

"This is ridiculous! The boy should be dead. The dust bomb was enough to level a city block if it hadn't been shaped and yet here he is!"

The woman nodded and cocked her head, looking at Phoenix with a curious smile.

"You are quite right, Sylvan. I don't believe that this boy is the same man I chased last night. You don't even know who I am, do you?"

Phoenix was gripping the metal frame piece and panting hard. He was thoroughly confused but replied with as much bravado and venom as he could muster, "I don't give a rat's ass who you are, bitch. Come a little closer and I will cure you of all your ills."

The second man snickered and commented, his voice full of derision, "Mistress, while I can give the boy credit for bravado, I think we should kill him in any case. If the information makes it to the Huntsman, it will do nothing but hurt us."

The woman nodded, still looking at Phoenix with the curious smile.

"Right you are, Ruben. If you and Sylvan would make sure our safe zone remains intact, I will deal with him."

The woman took a couple steps forward, her high heels clicking. At that exact moment, the door burst open. Phoenix looked over to see Arabella and a man who looked like nothing more than the headmaster of a private school take a step into the room. Their eyes swept over the tableau and the older man flipped a walking stick into an en garde stance. Everyone froze for a moment before the woman sighed.

"In the nick of time once again, Ozpin. What happy luck for you."

The man took another step forward and said in a voice that was quite calm and level, "You were reckless to come here. And if you think Sylvan's Safe Room will keep me out, you can add foolish to the descriptor as well."

The woman walked to the window with the other two men.

"Quite right, Ozpin. But this is not the end. You and Yours will join Me and Mine."

As the three of them jumped onto the back of the winged creature she gave Phoenix a significant look before they flew away.

The shimmering vanished and with a shiver the room reverted back to its original state. Phoenix looked at the room, looked at Arabella, and then man who must be Ozpin, and said quite clearly and with detached calm, "What. The Fuck. Is going on?"

"Alright, he seems to be unharmed," Arabella commented as she deactivated her scanner. "We should consider ourselves lucky in that regard. It's not like Sylvan to leave a target alive."

Ozpin nodded from where he was sitting in a chair in a corner of the room. He had been watching Phoenix throughout his examination and now leaned forward. "So… Mr. Inkieale. I know you have questions. And I have probably just as many as you do. But, as you have just seen, things are not the most stable at the moment. So, I suggest we talk on the way. Arabella, is he fit to travel?"

Phoenix made a slightly aggrieved noise as Arabella made him look her in the eyes with a hand under his chin. She smiled softly. "If he can protest like that, he should be just fine. The Vale PD found his bike and brought it to the hospital. It was remarkably unharmed."

Phoenix let out a small grunt and pulled away. "I have plenty of questions. One of those questions need to be answered before I go anywhere with anyone." Arabella took a step back and glanced at Ozpin, who nodded at Phoenix.

"Go ahead. What's your concern?" Phoenix looked between the two of them and let out a deep sigh.

"I have been trying to process what exactly has been going on. As far as I can tell… I haven't gone insane, and I don't have people trying to kill me in my dreams… The only conclusion I can draw is that something brought me here." He looked up at Ozpin, who had a satisfied look on his face. "This doesn't seem to be a shock to you. Which means that something happened here that pulled me in…?"

Ozpin sat back in his chair, his hands coming to rest on the head of his cane as he met Phoenix's gaze. "You would be correct in guessing that I suspected you are not, shall we say, from around here. If you are looking for the details as to why you are here, I cannot begin to speculate. The How, however, is something I have a theory on." Phoenix's face sets into an expression of grim determination.

"Alright… Shoot." Arabella took a seat on the edge of Phoenix's bed and pulled up a file on her tablet. At a gesture from Ozpin, Arabella hands him the tablet. It was a medical file for one Phoenix Inkieale, age 34.

Ozpin began to speak as Phoenix looked through the medical file. "Last night, I got a message from one of my Huntsman. He said he was being followed by a threat and that he would get back to me as soon as he got to a safe space. Less than an hour later, there was an explosion from his last location and he was missing in action. Four hours after that, I get a call from Arabella that you had been brought in…" Arabella gave Ozpin a hard look that Phoenix missed, absorbed as he was in the file. "My theory is that explosion mixed with his Semblance, causing a ripple in the world. At that moment, you were pulled here." Phoenix looked up sharply.

"On my way home from Drama… There was an explosion in the middle of the street. I had to swerve to avoid it. That was when I ended up here…" Phoenix looked down at the tablet again. "The… what was it you called him… Huntsman? He was me?"

Ozpin shrugged slightly. "I am unsure. He too was named Phoenix Inkieale and you two have similar enough traits that Arabella's scanners registered you as him. As for details, I can only offer theories." Phoenix looked down at the tablet for a moment before setting it aside. His entire demeanor became one of someone who was about to pick up a heavy burden, but was determined to do so.

"Alright… what should I do?" Arabella and Ozpin share a look before Arabella replied. "Medically, you are fine. Some abnormalities that can be explained by Ozpin's theory and a few minor shocks to the system but otherwise in perfect health." Ozpin gave Phoenix a small smile.

"I suggest you come with me to my school. The group of people who attacked you seems to think you are a threat to them. Beacon would be able to teach you how best to defend yourself and would offer you a chance to learn about the Phoenix from our world." Phoenix nodded, absorbing that in and thinking it through.

"Alright. Is there anything else you wanted to know?" Ozpin smiled as he stood and offered Phoenix a hand. He took it and got to his feet.

"There will be time enough for questions. My office will be open to you. For now, we should get you to Beacon, make sure you have the essentials. Clothes and a scroll should be easy enough to come by. The biggest question I have before I leave, however… You handled yourself well against three well-trained assailants, wielding nothing more than a piece of debris. Were you trained in combat?'

Phoenix shrugged slightly as he shuddered at the recent memory. "I was trained in Mixed Martial arts and Kickboxing… But the biggest help…" He seemed almost embarrassed to admit it but he said, "I heard someone helping me. Like a voice from the ether that knew a lot more about this place…" Ozpin nodded and shared a significant look with Arabella.

"My advice to you, Phoenix, is to listen to that voice. It may be more important that you realize." Ozpin opened the door for Phoenix, gesturing him to follow as Arabella gathered Phoenix's things from the room. "And it's quite fortunate that you are trained as you are… I have just the weapon for you to use." Phoenix gave him a slightly confused look.

"Just what kind of school is it you run?"

Author's Note: Another chapter done. Hopefully this one was better than the last one. My goal is to be able to post once a week, at least until I can get over my writers block for False Dawn. Comment and Review, I live for people's criticism. A big thanks to AgntNevada and FreezingReality for their beta work as I can't edit for crap! Till next time!