Chapter 7
Roman was not having a good time.
Roman ducked out of the way of a kick that aimed for his head, taking a step back as it missed by only inches. Quickly, he retaliated with a sweep of his cane, missing his target as Little Red drew back swiftly.
Neither of them had been able to incapacitate the other so far over the past few minutes.
At first, Roman expected this fight to be over quickly. He knew that while Red did have a speed semblance, it wouldn't be much help in such an enclosed space, much less against him who had much more close combat experience then the Huntress-in-Training, who, to his knowledge knew close to nothing about close quarters fighting.
It was supposed to be an easy fight, a fight where he just needed to catch her to defeat her, but nooo... it looks like it wasn't going to be so easy for him.
So colour him surprised when instead of fighting a bumbling idiot, he instead fought a competent fighter at the level of a trained Hunter, albeit one that specialized in weapons rather than hand-to-hand combat.
While Roman was confident he was still likely to win due to his experience and skill in close quarters and the fact he actually had his weapon, he was still wary of any other tricks Red could possibly pull, not to mention she hasn't even used her semblance yet.
Roman's body tensed as Red quickly charged at him, strafing left and right to try and confuse him. It was like the battle at the airship all over again; and while her speed right now wasn't at the same level it was on the airship, it was still superhuman with her Aura.
Keeping her arms close to her body, she closed the distance in between them until she was only three feet away from him and quickly threw a punch at his face.
Deflecting it right with the hook of his cane, he quickly flipped Melodic Cudgel around in his hand around as he thrusted the tip at her sternum, missing by a hair as she leaned left, leaving enough space for her to throw a high kick at his face with her right foot.
Twisting his head to the side, he let the kick pass his head, but had to quickly bring Melodic Cudgel up in front of him as Red spun on her foot like a pivot and sent a front kick towards his chest with her other foot.
Roman grunted as the kick struck Melodic cudgel, forcing him to take a step back. As Roman recovered from the attack, he saw Red jump into the air into a flying kick aimed at his face.
Roman held up his left arm, opting to using his Aura to defend himself instead of Melodic Cudgel.
The girl twisted in the air as she launched two quick kicks at his arm, forcing him to take a step back with each hit. As her second foot hit his arm, she used it as a backboard, nimbly flipping into the air and barely missing the ceiling as she landed, right before charging in again.
Roman needed to move out of his position quickly. The girl had already managed to push him quite far back near the wall; not enough that it was an immediate problem for him, but enough that he knew he should change positions quickly.
As she once again closed the distance in between them, Roman swung his cane with both hands to the left, forcing her to dodge to his right. Seeing a chance, Roman quickly moved forward and went in with a back swing with Melodic Cudgel, making her duck under his swing and take his old position as he took her's, their distance barely two feet apart from each other now.
Not letting up, he advanced in on her as he used the hook of Melodic Cudgel as a hand-guard, jabbing her in her sternum with it before sweeping Melodic Cudgel at her head.
The girl winced in pain before hastily ducking under his attack, quickly trying to catch his cane with her hands right after.
Roman pulled Melodic Cudgel away from her reach and let it relax on his shoulder, right before sending a left hook to her face.
Red quickly brought her right arm up and took the blow, making the girl stumble. Pushing his arm away, she sent two swift punches at him.
Grunting, he managed to block the two punches Red sent at his stomach and face at the cost of having to retreat a few steps.
Those punches were definitely meant to divert his attention on defending and make him leave an opening, a tactic that would have worked quite well with the short distance in between them.
Roman then replied with a low sweep with Melodic Cudgel, making her hop over it. Not letting the chance go, he quickly threw a punch to her stomach only for the short girl to block it with her arms and let her body do a controlled roll on the ground to a stop.
Quickly straightening up her body, Red quickly charged in again, aiming a punch to his face.
Roman held his cane up to defend, only to quickly switch to a lower guard as the attack turned out to be a feint. Red let her fist stop short just out of Roman's range, and then with the grace of butterfly, she pivoted on her heel before started a flurry of coordinated punches and kicks directed at his torso and legs.
Roman took a step back as his wrist twisted and turned, blocking and parrying every attack. While the attacks were fast, they were still slow enough for his eyes to keep track of them all and just barely slow enough that his current body could keep up as well.
Deflecting one of her punches high, Roman let Melodic Cudgel slide in his hand as he jabbed her stomach with the hook, forcing her back.
Wincing from the pain, Red brought her arms into a hasty cross to protect herself.
Seeing this, Roman grinned before sweeping the hook of his cane under said cross and lifted up, leaving her completely defenseless as Roman punched her in the face.
"Mph!"
Stumbling a bit, Red shook her head before quickly engaging in again with renewed force.
Red charged at him, her right arm drawn much further back than her previous punches.
Seeing that Red was about to throw a much stronger and predictable punch, Roman changed his plan of defense, letting his guard open up a little as she neared.
Side-stepping to the left, Roman allowed her punch to go past him as he locked his right arm around her thrown fist, holding onto it tightly. Pulling the girl in with his right, he elbowed her in the face with his left arm as she neared his center, rattling her brain if only for a split second, he then quickly switched to a grapple with the same left arm whilst letting go with his right.
Now that he had her right arm in a lock with his left, he quickly spun on his heel, their backs both touching as he threw her over his shoulder, making her body collide onto the ground hard.
"Gugh!"
Not letting the moment go to waste, Roman capitalized on it as he stamped Melodic Cudgel on the ground, aiming for the girl's collarbone, missing by a beat as she rolled away just in time, only for her to bump into one of the nearby table's legs.
Roman quickly kicked at where her head was, knocking the table over and missing her again as she leapt out of the way.
"Running away, Red?" Roman said mockingly as he let Melodic Cudgel rest on his shoulder. He took this chance to talk now that there was some breathing room in between them.
"I'm not running away," Red finally spoke, surprising Roman as her voice sounded off. It was strangely familiar, yet not at the same time. Like how siblings would sound alike yet not completely the same.
"Good, cause I'm breaking your legs when I catch you this time 'round. Can't have you run off away from me like last time," Roman viciously smirked, though it was nothing more than a bluff.
While he did like the idea of it, not to mention the feeling of getting a bit of revenge, he probably couldn't do such a horrid action without a certain little brat annoying him to living hell if he did. Well, at the moment at least.
Roman eyed the girl across from him, and guessing by how she was shaking a bit and her dry breaths, she was probably getting exhausted.
Letting his right arm fall to his side, he nonchalantly hooked onto one of the fallen table's legs before throwing the plastic table at her.
The girl charged in again, jumping over the table and fell into a roll while Roman quickly got into a defensive stance and prepared to counter whatever she did.
Roman quickly parried a punch away from his face with Melodic cudgel as she closed in. Quickly moving his other hand in front of him, he caught her second punch, wincing as he felt the force go through his wrist.
Seeing that her face was open, he let out a small smirk as he spat on her face, forcing her to close her eyes as she let out a cry in surprise and possibly disgust.
"Ah! You-!"
Letting his right hand relax, he quickly flipped Melodic Cudgel around and hooked her shoulder, pulling her close to him. As soon as she was in range, Roman kneed her in the stomach, forcing her to shut up as well as knocking her back.
The girl grunted as she fell down and hit the wall behind her. Looking up she saw Roman run up and swing his cane like a golf club at her face.
Swinging his cane with both hands, Roman used his momentum from his quick charge to swing at Red's face, only for her to toss herself to the side and his swing to completely miss her and indent itself into the wall.
Crush!
Roman pulled onto his cane only to internally curse as he felt his weapon get stuck.
"Shi-"
Suddenly, Roman felt his world spin as he felt himself getting tackled onto the ground, forcing him into a grappling battle with Red, both sides trying to gain the advantage.
Roman cursed himself for making such a stupid mistake; he thought it would end the battle quickly, but it instead only made him lose his weapon.
He quickly brought up his arms as he felt the girl on top of him rain down punches on him, bludgeoning his Aura every time her fists made contact.
"Goddammit, would you-" A fist met his Roman's face as he tried to talk.
"You...! What did you do to me?" Red glared as she held his collar up to bring his face close to her as she straddled him. "Why is my body- gugh!"
Roman cut her off with a headbutt to her nose, shutting her up effectively as he grabbed her neck with his right hand and forced her off of him.
"Not sure what you mean, Red," Roman growled, switching their positions on the ground as he held her down, his hand grasping tightly on her neck. But before he could retaliate with his own punches, he felt a foot strike his stomach.
"Puh!"
Roman felt his back hit the wall hard as he was launched backwards, forcing him away from the girl.
Roman groaned before quickly getting back on his feet, glaring at his opponent in front of him.
Red returned the glare, ready to go at it once again.
But before any of them could move...
"Stop!"
They froze as Eri stepped in between them, her arms raised as she tried to diffuse the situation.
"Kid, get back!" Roman growled, not at all in the mood for whatever Eri was about to do.
Why did she do this now? The brat rarely ever got herself involved in any of his fights, other than the times he would take the fights way too far. But now, he actually had a good chance of losing if he let his guard down at all.
Red stood still as her eyes focused on the little girl in front of her, not sure what to do.
"Kid, get behind me no-" Roman tried to get her to listen, but Eri apparently wasn't haven't it today either.
"Stop! You're destroying the room!" Eri yelled, hoping to get them to stop.
Roman paused as he looked around the room, finding the place a complete mess. The floor was cluttered with supplies that have long since been completely trashed; some of the bags contents even being completely unusable now. The walls had indents and cracks in them from whenever their bodies hit them; hell, that wasn't even mentioning Melodic Cudgel imbedded into the wall behind him.
"Shit," Roman muttered; his will to fight slowly ebbing away as he brought his palm to his forehead. He just realized how bad his situation was now. Other than being a pain in the ass to explain to the landlord and losing a lot of supplies, their fighting could probably be heard throughout the whole building, alerting everyone inside.
And the money... oh their dear lost revenue...
Red as well seemed less eager to fight, though it was probably because of the small child in front of her.
Knock, knock, knock!
Roman let his hand fall from his face as he turned towards the door, frowning slightly at the hurried knocking. He shifted slightly on his feet as he hoped to the Gods that it was only the landlord or a neighbor instead of the police, or worse, a hero.
"Hey! Is anybody hurt in there?!"
Roman let his body slightly relax at the gravelly voice; it was the landlord of the apartment.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Roman turned towards Eri and then towards the girl.
"Truce?" Roman said, keeping his voice down.
Red stared at him incredulously for a second, looking at him as if he grew another head, obviously not believing he would ask something like that right after fighting each other. Though he couldn't blame her, even he wouldn't trust himself in her position.
"I need to deal with the landlord, after that, we can talk," Roman said, annoyed with the situation as he motioned to the door with his chin.
"Landlord..." she muttered in disbelief, almost like she didn't believe that the guy fighting her did this in an apartment filled with citizens.
She once again stared at him, trying to see if he was lying.
"A truce for now... but after this, I want answers," She said after a while, though still hesitant in the sudden truce.
"Hello? Is everything okay in there?!" The voice called out again, though in a more worried tone.
Roman nodded and walked over to the door, walking past both Eri and Red as he opened the door by only a foot, enough that only his face was visible to the outside.
"Good evening, Kitamura-san. What brings you here?" Roman said politely, remembering to add the suffix to the end of her name. Roman had had a hard time adjusting to it at first, but he was able to get used to it eventually.
"Ah, Roman-san, I heard a lot of noise coming from here. Is everything okay?" The old woman in front of him asked worriedly.
Roman looked downwards at the short-statured woman in front of him, or rather he should call her an aging fossil due to how old she looked.
"Ah, everything is okay. Eri-chan just wanted to play for a bit and she coaxed me into playing tag with her inside the apartment... and well... you know how little kids are," Roman said, scratching the back of his head in a fake embarrassed fashion.
"Ah, I understand. Little kids are always so energetic. Do you need any help in there," She asked, though in a more relieved tone.
"No, no. I wouldn't want to impede your time, and really, everything is fine. We just knocked over a few chairs is all," Roman lied.
"Well... If you say so; is little Eri-chan doing okay in there," she asked.
"Yep, but she's a bit busy right now, y'know... cleaning up stuff," Roman said, hoping to get rid of the old fossil soon.
"Well, if you say so," the woman smiled at him, "You're a good boy, Roman-san; If you ever need anything, you can always come to me for help."
"I will," Roman responded.
Roman watched with a smile as the woman left before closing the door. As soon as Roman closed the door though, his façade was completely gone and his smile was replaced with a frown.
"Now that that gets rid of that problem," Roman muttered, turning his head towards Red who looked back at him with a frown.
"Do you always lie like that to people?" She asked in mild contempt, obviously not happy that he lied to such a nice old lady and so easily as well.
"Oh, and would you rather have me tell her the truth instead; how we trashed the apartment room with our fight," Roman said sarcastically.
"Hmph, says the kidnapper," Red turned her head away.
"Didn't kidnap you, Red; more like found you all messed up in an abandoned warehouse," Roman corrected.
"Doesn't make much of a difference," she spat. "Especially with how you knocked me over the head with a cane!"
"There were complications. Couldn't have you trying to bite my face off while trying to ask you questions now, can I?" Roman said, smirking slightly.
Roman leaned back against the wall beside the door with folded arms while Eri was still standing in between them, watching both of them to see if either of them wanted to keep fighting.
'Just like a guard-dog,' Roman mused to himself. It looked like the girl was really set on making sure they didn't destroy the room anymore, much less fighting each other till one of them drops.
"Wait, questioning...?" Red muttered, confused for a moment.
Roman shook his head.
"So, Little Red," Roman said, ignoring her confusion, "How long has it been since we last met; a month?"
Red blinked in surprise.
"We've... never met before... now what the hell did you do to my body?" She asked with a glare pointed his way, one that he didn't really like at all because of the implication behind it.
"What the hell are you talking about? Look, I may be a criminal with low morals, but I don't like kids," he said while making a mock waving away gesture.
"W-what's that supposed to mean!" She yelled angrily, slightly flustered that he called her body childish. This did confuse him a bit as she was a kid still; 15 or 16 if he had to guess.
"Now, now, calm down, Red. Didn't your parents ever tell you not to yell at people?" Roman snarked, completely calm compared to his guest.
"And who are you supposed to be? And why is there a young girl here anyways?" She asked, changing the subject.
"..." Eri kept quiet.
Roman's brow twitched.
"Really, Red? I know I may look younger than before, but do you really not recognize me? I mean I literally almost look the same as before," Roman said, slightly irritated by the fact she did not recognize him at first glance. Sure, he may have looked younger, but he was still wearing close to the same god damn clothes he wore before.
"Nope, not a single clue," she replied.
"Looks like all the new combat skills you learned killed a bunch of your brain cells then, huh?" He said snidely.
"I'll have you know that my brain is perfectly fine," she retorted, a hint of venom laced in her words, though it was like a drop of water in a lake compared to people like Cinder.
"Really? Because you don't look like it, but its okay if you believe you are," Roman remarked.
Red narrowed her eyes at him.
Oh, how he loved doing this.
"Ahem, then since you don't seem to remember who I am; the name's Roman Torchwick, criminal mastermind of Vale. And beside me is my new short partner in crime, Neo 2.0!" Roman smirked as he introduced himself and his companion with a bow.
"My name's Eri..." Said companion looked at him with confusion, not knowing why he called her Neo 2.0.
"Eri 1.0, then," he settled.
Eri looked at him with what he could only call a deadpan.
As for Red...
"Oh... so you're one of those kids, huh?" Red looked at him and shook her head in disappointment.
"Oi, what's that supposed to mean? And "kid?"" Roman asked, narrowing his eyes slightly yet never losing his smirk.
"Look, kid. I know it's hard and all, but a life of crime is not the way to go," she said.
'Wait... does she think I'm an urchin? Wait no, that's not the problem, she didn't even recognize me even with my name,' Roman thought, a little bit of worry and also irritation seeping into his mind.
Was she even the Red he knew in the first place?
"Yeah, and I'd rather be a thief than eventually end up as another dead body by Grimm," Roman countered, breaking his line of thought for a moment to insult Red.
"You..." Red said, sounding like she was just personally attacked.
"Enough of this useless chatter, do you really not know who I am? Me, Roman Torchwick," Roman cut her off, getting slightly serious.
"No... but it seems you know me?" She said, setting away the insult for now. It seems she thought this was more important, good; they were at least on the same page now.
"Oh, do I know you?" Roman snarked, "Of course I fucking do, after all you just love to mess up my plans again and again after all."
"Swea-ahem..." She cut herself off as she was about to say something. Was she gonna say "swear?"
"And yet I don't recall any of it," she said hesitantly a moment after.
"Bullshit," he hissed, "We've met quite a few times, times that would be quite hard to forget I'll have you know. Not to mention, you're the last person I saw before I ended up in this damned city."
"W-wait, what do you mean by last person you saw – and where even are we?" Red blinked at the information. She looked like she really didn't know where they were.
'Wait a minute... does she really not know?' Roman realized, looking at her with narrowed eyes.
"Musutafu City... in a country named Japan." Roman said slowly, seeing if there was any recognition on her face.
"Musutafu City... Japan? Where in Remnant is that? And what do you mean by "country?"" She asked, completely bewildered, yet there were no lies in her words as far as he could tell.
As for a certain little girl though, this only made her more confused of the situation.
"Um... Mr. Torchwick, why doesn't she know w-"
"Not now, kid," Roman cut Eri off; the fact that Red didn't know where they were set off many alarm bells in his head.
Roman looked back at Red, who was still confused at what he just said.
"You... really don't know..." he slowly asked, his previous hope slowly dying.
"Am I supposed to? I just woke not too long ago before someone decided to hit my head with a cane," she glared at him.
Roman glared back at her but didn't respond.
"What's wrong? Bite your tongue," she snarked, smiling a bit as she finally got back at him.
Unfortunately, this was short lived.
"No, no... What's wrong with you?" Roman moved past Eri, the little girl trying to stop him as he continued until he was in front of Red. Roman shoved his finger at her chest as he looked positively furious.
As for Red, she looked incredulous at his sudden change of emotion but quickly pulled herself together.
"What's wrong with me!? If there's anything wrong, it would be you!" She smacked his hand away.
"I highly disagree, but that's not important; what was the last thing you remember before ending up here?" Roman asked while backing away, slightly calmer than when he asked his previous question.
Red glared at him for a silent moment before sighing.
"Well, I was in a building of some sort. It looked abandoned and-"
"No, before that," Roman cut her off.
She glared at him again for cutting her off, but continued on with her tale.
"I fell into the ocean while fighting... Grimm... and I... and I thought I died," she said.
"What do you mean you thought you died?" Roman asked, narrowing his eyes at her.
"I fell off a cliff! The Grimm and Sa-" She nearly snapped at him before stopping, "The Grimm forced me off a cliff near the ocean,"
"And you... thought you died?" Roman said in an incredulous tone.
"Yes, I was already drifting deep into the ocean, and my Aura and all my energy was gone... and... and then everything turned dark... I thought died then, but..." She then stopped, biting her lip for a moment.
"But...?" Roman asked.
"I guess someone saved me," she lightly shook her head, giving a slight smile, "I woke up in that abandoned building and the rest... well you should know by now?" She then lightly glared at him again.
Roman blinked.
"Wait... is that all..." he muttered.
"Yes, that's everything that happened. But before you ask any more questions, I want you to answer some of mine now," she said, quickly changing the positions.
Roman looked at her for a moment before something clicked inside his brain.
Roman figured out what happened.
While Roman was never much of a fighter compared to Huntsmen and Huntresses, he was better at them in some aspects. He was often smarter and more clever, escaping the hunters easily and even managed to kill a few of them in secret when it was needed.
And because of this, he was able to piece together the pieces of what happened rather quickly.
"Dead, huh," Roman said weakly, his voice sounding dead.
Is that what happened to him? Did he really die back on that airship? How did he even die?
Roman walked away from the girl until he stood in front of a different wall, the same wall Melodic Cudgel was imbedded in.
"H-hey what's wrong with you..." Red asked, seeing his obvious change in demeanor.
"Mr. Torchwick..." Eri looked at him worriedly.
Roman ignored the two girls' as he stood motionlessly, thinking over everything.
"Fuck...dead... it that what really happened," he muttered to himself, still in disbelief while the rest of his emotions were in a flurry. Oh how he much wanted it to be false.
What did this mean?
Well, it meant many things, but most importantly, he was never going back to his home ever again if his hypothesis was true. He truly was stuck in this world.
Before, he always had the slightest, tiniest bit of hope of being able to return home; that was why he visited that abandoned building again in the first place instead of just burning it to the ground like he wanted to. But now...
His hope of ever returning was completely crushed.
"Mr. Torchwick?" Eri asked by his side, checking if he was okay.
'What a good kid,' Roman sighed, his... sorrow slightly ebbing away as he lightly patted her head. He tried to look at the bright side, even if it was extremely small and insignificant. At least he had something in this world, even if it was originally a replacement of someone else.
"I'm... okay," he patted her head but still didn't leave his spot, "Just... thinking of things," he finally said.
Eri looked at him worriedly and was about to say something but was cut off before she could even talk.
"E-eh... kid, you alright?" Red asked from behind him.
"..." Roman didn't respond, but his eye did slightly twitch.
"Kid, are-"
Roman kicked the shaft of Melodic Cudgel, forcing the rest of it out of the wall, anger fueling him as he kicked it up into the air and caught it.
"Call me a kid one more time and I will send everyone here to hell. I'm getting really fucking tired of people calling me a kid, and right now, I'm not at all in the mood for it," he said whilst pointing Melodic Cudgel at Red, the cap of the weapon opening up and letting Red know it was a gun of some sorts.
"B-but, aren't you-" Red blinked in surprise.
"I'm 28!" Roman yelled, turning his body completely as he aimed Melodic Cudgel right between her eyes.
"T-then... Roman..." The girl said, holding her hands up slightly as she was completely stunned at his actual age.
"..." Eri was silent as well, looking at Roman as if she never knew him, completely taken aback by the sudden new information.
It really did show just how much Roman and Eri knew of each other's lives before meeting each other.
The room descended into silence as Roman lowered his cane, eventually taking a seat on the ground near the wall and pulling his hat forward to cover his face. Eri followed his lead as she sat beside him, still worried about him after getting past the sudden shock.
...
After several minutes of silence, Roman once again spoke out to the room.
"Y'know... I'd half-expected that you'd leave by now or hell, maybe even attack me, but I have to ask. Why are you still here?" He dryly asked.
"W-well... I still have a few questions, but... that's not important right now... I just can't leave some kids by themselves now – I mean a kid and... and well a man that looks like a kid?" Red tried, hastily fixing up her mistake when she called him a kid again.
"..." Roman said nothing in return, nor did the little girl beside him.
Eri was still wary of the white-cloaked girl, mostly because Roman and her seemed to be at odds still.
"Sigh, I can't just leave you guys alone, especially when one of you looks to be younger than 7 years old and the other looks... depressed... and you also have a Hunter-grade weapon with you..."
"I am not depressed," Roman said, tilting his head slightly to glare at her with his one visible eye. "A bit miserable, but not depressed; find the difference..."
"Hey! Finally made you talk again," She smirked, making Roman's brow twitch in annoyance.
"Ugh... Hunters... always sticking their noses in things they shouldn't," he bit back.
"Hey! I'm not doing this because I'm a Huntress; I'm doing this because it's what a good person would do," she said, looking hurt as if he thought she was only doing this out of duty, which he did think.
"Well then, Red... if you want to talk, then talk," Roman waved his hand at her, not really caring.
"Why are you calling me "Red?"" She said finally after a moment of silence.
Roman looked at her for a moment to examine her features. While she definitely did look like Red, and wore almost the exact same outfit, albeit different colors; there were certainly differences. Though minor, they were there; most people would miss them with just a glance, but they were different enough to differentiate the two people.
'So it really isn't Red,' Roman thought, a bit saddened that he wouldn't be able to get his revenge.
"Well, you look like someone else I know; matches you to a T, other than the color difference. Hell, both of you even have the same emblem." Roman said, saying what was on his mind.
"Well, whoever you're thinking of, I'm not her. My name is Summer. And look... I know we may have been at each other's throat just a few minutes before... and my head is still slightly ringing from when you hit me..." she commented, looking a little peeved about that last part.
"Get on with it," Roman said impatiently.
"Sigh, are you okay?" She said.
"... You're asking if I'm okay?" Roman asked, his one visible eye slightly widening.
Summer nodded in confirmation.
Then, it suddenly clicked to him why she was doing this.
"Oh, I know the type of person you are now. You're the type of person to go around helping people because you actually like to," Roman said with a sarcastic smile. "Tell me, how do you do it?"
"Oh don't start with me, not too long ago, you admitted to being a thief. So who are you to talk about morality," she retorted.
"And what? Gonna take me in to jail now because I'm a thief?" Roman bit back. Though if she really was going to try, he wasn't going down without a fight.
Eri silently watched from the sides, wary that another confrontation might start.
"No... I don't have anything that actually shows you are one other than your word and... from what I see, Eri... there, obviously cares for you," Summer looked towards the girl beside him.
'More like a dog...' Roman internally commented, but quickly got rid of it. He really needed to get rid of that line of thinking.
"And if I bring you to the police, the girl will probably end up in an orphanage... and well... with that horn..." Summer said a little sadly, while Eri only looked confused.
Roman nodded his head as he understood what she meant. Orphanages weren't the best places you could have a kid grow up in in Remnant; most of the time, a lot of them were crowded with displaced children from Grimm attacks and the caregivers often didn't have the manpower to deal with all the kids.
And that's not even mentioning the treatment of faunus children in them, which Eri definitely looked like one with her stubby little horn.
Still, he couldn't hide the smirk he had when she said this.
"Oh... I get it. You're doing this because of your kind heart, huh," he commented, though with less sarcasm this time and more snide.
"Okay, what's with you and acts of kindness?" She said angrily. "Every time I try to be kind, you act like a snarky asshole."
"Well it's simple, cupcake," Roman said, making up a nickname for her on the spot, an act which didn't help ease the mood at all. "I find that world is rather cruel to those who act out of kindness most of time. Still, I'm very curious as to how you can act that way all the time."
"Because I'm not acting. I'm doing this because I want to, and while I'm not perfect, I try to help people. And I know you may not like me, but I'm trying to help the both of you now," she said resolutely.
'And we don't need your help,' Roman thought to himself. 'And if you only knew of the acts I did before dying. I doubt you would even look at me with any other gaze than contempt.'
Still, the way she acted... It certainly did remind him of Red, with her goody two shoes attitude.
"Almost like twins," Roman chuckled "You got any family back home? Cause it's almost eerily similar to how you and the person I mentioned earlier acted."
"Well... I do have two daughters, but neither of them is old enough, nor do they look like me for you to know them. And I don't have any other family as well other than my husband," She said hesitantly, knowing she probably shouldn't give out too much information on her family. Why she even told him in the first place, he didn't know.
Maybe she was just stupid?
'No, more likely some sort of concussion with that head of hers,' Roman mused.
Meanwhile, something in her response stood out to Roman.
"Wait... you have two daughters? Are they adopted?" Roman asked, realizing something. How the hell did a teenager even have kids? Two of them even.
"No...?" She said tensely while narrowing her eyes slightly at him in suspicion.
"It looks like I'm not the only one affected by this stupid crap!" He suddenly laughed, happy that his pain and suffering was going to be shared and not only just happening to him.
"W-what do you mean stupid crap?" She stuttered, surprised by his sudden laughter.
Roman stood up from the ground and walked over to one of bags lying on the ground. Swiftly searching through it, he quickly found what he was looking for, though it did have a small crack in it; a small mirror.
"Here, look in this mirror," he said, still smiling as he handed the mirror over to her.
Summer looked warily at him for a moment, thinking there had to be something up with it considering this is the nicest he has been the whole time.
Eventually, Summer took the mirror he handed and looked at her reflection, almost dropping it at what she saw.
"Huh... I'm..."
"Younger?" Roman said beside her, a smile still on his face.
"H-h-how did t-this happen? Wait a minute, you..." she stuttered, right before looking at him as if she realized something as well.
"Yep, same thing happened to me when I arrived here. It's been nothing more than a nuisance if you ask me," Roman said, losing his smile a bit as he recalled of how much it really inconvenienced him.
"But... how..." Summer muttered, still shocked beyond belief.
"Well... that's not there's all to it as well," Roman then said sourly. He should probably tell her about the bigger problem as well. A problem that would probably plague her worse than him due to her actually having a family back home.
While Roman didn't trust or like her presence at all, he knew it would be useful if he could keep her by his side for now. Another hand was always useful; especially one that he didn't need to constantly need to hide information from where he came from.
"Wait... you mean there's... more?" She almost looked scared that there was actually more and he couldn't blame her, he didn't react well either when he found out as well.
"Kid, help me pick some stuff up," Roman said to Eri, motioning her to the mess of the room; he needed to get Eri away from them for a while. He didn't want the kid to get involved with this crap, as she was probably better off not ever knowing.
Eri complied, though she looked warily at Summer before she went.
He then turned to Summer, "Thanks for the concern earlier, but save it for yourself... the world outside thus room is vastly different from the Remnant you know."
"What do you mean..." She asked, still very much worried of what he was about to say.
"You said you have two daughters, right?" Roman said, taking a deep breath. He didn't know how the gir- woman in a girl's body, would respond to it. She might react much more to it than him due to actually having a family back home.
"Yes... but what do they have to do with this?" She said, her face blanching a bit.
"Well...word of advice, forget about them, you won't be able to see them again," Roman stated, and then he waited.
Summer's mind went blank.
"W-What do you mean; is that a threat?" The woman grabbed his collar, pulling his face down to face her. Though instead of anger, he instead saw fear.
"Ah! W-wait, stop! Don't fight!" Eri quickly ran over to them, trying to stop another fight from happening.
"No, no... What I'm saying is... they're far away. Further than anything you can think of," Roman said neutrally, taking her hands off his collar and pushing her away.
"You...! No, where are we?" She nearly yelled.
"Kid, go make yourself useful for a minute?" Roman told Eri once again, though the girl was much more hesitant. "As for you... cupcake," he pointed his finger to Summer, the woman meanwhile scowled at the nickname.
Roman glanced at the small window at the side of the room, moonlight lightly shining through it as the moon rose. Most of the day had ended by now, and moon was already rising.
'Perfect,' Roman thought, this made it easier to explain to her.
"Take a look outside and tell me, what do you see?" Roman said, making a mock bow as he gestured towards the window.
Summer turned towards it and froze as still as a statue.
Roman patted her shoulder, getting her attention, if only it was just a glance from her trembling gaze.
"Welcome to Earth."