Why was I shaking?

"He's waking up…"

Why was I cold? I always have a heavy blanket, and I don't live with anyone. Not anymore, at least.

I opened my eyes. Pain began shooting through my left eye. It felt like a firework had gone off in my face.

My eyes opened to see a wooden ceiling. It was unfamiliar. I had one of those popcorn ceilings that were going out of fashion, but this looked like my old cottage. I felt my head turn over as I reached out my hand for my phone. I wondered what kind of horrible news I would read about today.

Before that, though, I realized something. My left eye was red. Well, not just that, but I closed my right eye, and everything I saw in my left red was tinted a deep red like I was wearing blood-tinted contacts. What happened to my sight?

Then, as my hand reached out, I realized my phone wasn't anywhere nearby. I also realized I wasn't sleeping in my house. I also realized that I wasn't alone as I saw two people watch me reach into nothingness with confused faces.

"Good morning, brother," The man said, face looking average as I stared at him, "You seem a bit confused. There was an incident on a train. You were well… hurt and tossed away by those humans.

My eyes adjusted to the split colours as I looked at their robes. A plain white robe with a black hood…

"Sister Trifa here found you laying in the snow right after. It happened. The slush helped stop the wound from getting worse and bleeding out, but it made the scarring hard to fix and ruined some of the blood vessels behind your eye. Can you see properly?"

I moved my eyes from the man to the woman behind him. I quickly realized just where I actually was.

Memories of growing up a fanus. Memories of birthdays, relationships, parents, friends, leaving them behind. Getting a job to support himself... getting marked and tossed. I held back a shout, but I held it back as I touched my hand to my face. My fingers tracing over the lines burned into my face.

S...

D...

C...

These eyes didn't belong to me.

This body didn't belong to me.

These hands didn't belong to me.

They belonged to Adam Taurus.

The two in front of me noticed the distress for the wrong reasons. As the man placed a hand on my shoulder, "I'm sorry this happened to you. I really am. You can stay with the white fang for as long as you wish. We have food and shelter for enough of our kind in this camp."

I tried to ignore him as my hand went through my hair roughly. My hair always came over my face, and it was comforting to push it back, but this hair was slicked back. It felt wrong. My hand felt a horn as I grabbed hold of it and felt just how it was a part of me.

"We'll leave you some alone time. Feel free to come out whenever. We have spare clothing in the closet." Trifa said as she pushed back a strand of hair and tapped the man to leave.

I watched them walk out as I got up and slowly made my way towards the mirror. The reflection staring back at me felt alien. I gained an inch, and it made standing feel a bit weird. I was a ginger now. I looked at the body up and down. I mean, it wasn't horrible. His shape was weirdly close to mine outside of lacking some back muscles, which I instantly felt upon a stretch.

Adam Taurus. I felt like I should have been surprised, but somehow I'm not. I always liked his character for how much of an asshole he always was and enjoyed his downfall and failures. But being him wasn't something I really wanted or expected. I closed one eye again. Staring vision eye that was tinted red. Was this how everything was in canon? It really was a disgusting scar up close. Though, it's not like he asked for it.

Fuck, I was Adam Taurus. If the memories serve right, he should be about 17 right now? Lied about his age to get a job with the dust company. That would make Blake 15 or 16? I always wondered how old Adam really was, but that's kind of impossible without me finding a character whose age I know about.

Wait, were people here still characters? Did they have free will?

I shook my head to stop my usual existential spiral. Alright. My body is in working order outside of the eye. I'm still a minority, except people probably hate me more compared to the real world. Wait, why did people hate the fanus again? Fuck, I wish I had a wiki. I think this is when Adam joins the White fang and starts getting more extreme because of him. Was he always a violent psycho, or was that a thing he was turned into by the White Fang? Ah, screw it. I'm not sticking around with them long enough to find out. I'll just find somewhere nice and—

—SALEM! My mind screamed at me as I realized I forgot the most significant threat out there in this world. What the hell happens if I change canon? Would she win? Before I got inserted into this body, the show didn't explain what the hell was happening with her or how to beat her.

God fuck, was I supposed to be a protagonist? I don't feel bound by any bad writing, I think. Maybe I could just leave and live my life as an oppressed minority with the constant threat of an evil immortal witch that could end all life, including mine.

Fuck, I was going to have to do something.

All of a sudden, it hit me. Ozpin. He would still be around doing uh… okay, I have no idea what he would be doing.

I—

I mean, Adam hasn't done anything horrible yet, so maybe I could talk with Oz and figure out what to do. I always complained about Ozpin being the "what to do now?" button, but he could help in my case. Plus, it would be pretty funny to expose his entire life story.

I got myself dressed in spare clothes from the closet. A button-up white shirt that felt a bit too tight and black pants that looked like they were for running and some army boots, it felt pretty comfortable.

I looked like I was going for a jog or a wedding at the same time.

That reminds me. I should probably try to avoid the main characters. I don't want to change too much of the story, but maybe I could stop some things. I wish I remembered more about volume one. The only thing in my mind is the fights.

I stepped out the door and made my way into the campgrounds. It seemed like a collection of a few cottages with some large tents put up for others. In maybe a year this group would be moved to an actual building. If my memory was right, Sienna was the reason the White fang started getting more aggressive. Should I kill her?

My mind paused.

Why did I just think that?

I wasn't a killer in regular life, so why did that thought go through my head. Was it just me thinking like a writer, or was his mind-affecting me?

Trifa caught me staring at the ground as questions spiralled in my mind.

"Are you alright?" She asked. I avoided eye contact, and I found myself staring at her neck and the spider-like veins crawling up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied. "I just want to try and get to Beacon. I have someone I want to see there."

"I'm afraid you can't just walk on there," she chuckled, "You'll need some kind of airship. You could try walking through and taking a boat but without a weapon. I'm afraid you're stuck either here or towards mistral."

I forgot about Adam's weapons. Was it explained how he got… wilt and blush, I think? I can't keep track of the fucking weapon names too. Would I have to make it? I had a decent idea of how his semblance worked from just reading the wiki and the memories I have leftover in his mind. He knows how to use a sword the best, but any weapon should work with the absorption.

"Could someone take me to mistral then? I'm in a bit of a rush."

"So, you got branded by the Schnee Dust Company, kicked into the snow, left for dead, and your first thought is to go to a city full of people with your face out in the open like that? Your either really dumb or a propaganda genius, stranger."

My brain paused. Adam was the reason the white fang started wearing masks, right? Should I do the same to hide these scars? Maybe by just not joining the fang, I could change things this time? Would another Adam just take my— his place and become the same kind of monster?

Okay, I have to separate myself from him clearly. He's Adam, the future abusive piece of garbage who will fail and die.

"The more people that see what they do, the better. Also, you can just call me Aaron."

Aaron is me. I like watching movies, reading and long walks on the beach as I don't abuse people. The name seemed pretty decent enough. It had a bible reference, and one of my favourite screenwriter's name was Aaron.

I tuned back into my reality and saw the girl smiling widely. Her lips curled in a way that seemed almost human but not quite. She seems different compared to how she was in the show. I hope she doesn't have a sad secret backstory that leads to her being all serious.

"Well, then I can take you." She started, "Getting to see humans feel sorry for what they've done is always a great sight. Plus, you'll need some help navigating, right Ace?"

Somehow I had a feeling she was always going to call me that. Great, now I had three names.

"Sure, why not," I say, a little less excited as she nods quickly.

"I'll go grab some supplies and my stuff. Do you have any weapon preferences?"

Do they just have spare weapons lying around for use?

"Oh, uh. A shield is good." The answer was met with a bit of a disappointed look, but she nodded and headed off.

Through some asking around I learned several things. First, the white fang has only had a single human death thus far. The movement has stayed peaceful, but people are getting impatient. It's about a hair away from going to morally questionable places. Sienna has only just started getting promoted.

The other thing I learned was that the child of the Belladonna's leader was 15. It would be about two years before when the show started. Wait, if I don't involve myself with Blake, would that mean she would fall in love with Ilia? Would Blake end up going to Beacon if Adam didn't do his psycho Adam things?

My next spiral was interrupted by the silver-haired arachnid as she tossed me a bag. Surprisingly enough, I caught it quickly. My reactions and hand-eye were much better in this body.

"Alright, I got some extra clothes for myself in there, your shield and a second tent. We'll have to set camp about halfway there, no funny business. If you lose your tent, your sleeping under the stars," She sternly said as I held back a laugh. She reminded me of a friend when I was a kid.

"First of all, that sounds very pleasant, and second what about Grimm?"

"Do you feel any negative emotions about travelling with me?"

"No(?)"

"Good, Shouldn't be a problem,"

Was Adam attractive? I've seen people online be weirdly into him but it's usually not a physical sense. Well, actually most of it was aesthetic. Hell, I liked him for his aesthetics.

Better question. Was Adam attractive in the world of Remnant? He was probably just charismatic in a psycho abusive way. Though I guess I am in the body of Adam before he started that whole, "Bitches love fighting for rights" approach to dating.

"Sounds good." Why was I getting nervous? Did Adam worry about looking cool?

…

He definitely worried about looking cool.

"Let's head off before it starts getting dark," I spoke, trying to make it sound as cool as possible before giving up mid-sentence.

She gave a strange look before speaking.

"You're a strange one, Ace."

"Yeah, I know."