"I think he's waking up."

"I can handle it."

"Alright."

"Excuse me. Hey son, wake up."

I gasped as my eyes shot open, and I sat up immediately, proving to be a mistake. My eyes burned and my body exploded in pain, and I instantly flopped back to the ground, groaning in pain. Everything was hurting pretty badly, and I decided that the only thing I could really do was lie down and hope the pain went away.

"Yeah, don't try to move, son," the voice said, and I was just able to make it out as male. Slowly opening my eyes, I saw what looked like a police officer in a black ad whitte uniform with a pair of sunglasses and a cap. I blinked away the fuzziness in my vision and tried to slowly sit up again.

"Where...am I?"

"Vale General Hospital," the officer said, and I blinked again. "Vale?" I thought out of recognition. "Like...RWBY Vale? Or is there some city I dunno about called Vale?"

The officer likely mistook my bewildered expression for something else, because he asked if I was from somewhere else. And me, being a dumbass who talked before thinking, said "Menagerie."

The officer sighed. "I see," he said, and he put away his sunglasses, his green eyes looking above me. "Looks like you were probably taken against your will then. I'm afraid we won't be able to secure a way out of Vale though, maybe I could refer you to some resources that can help, or if you need-"

"No!" I said, and I felt my head pulse in agony from my own loud volume. Must be a headache. Either way, I shook my head. "I just need...some water."

My mind was reeling. Not only was Vale a thing, apparently Menagerie was too? Did I really wake up in the RWBY universe here? When did I wake up? Obviously before Season 3, but was there a specific timeframe in which...hold on, there was a more pressing matter at hand-

"Wait, I'm in a hospital, right?" I asked. The officer nodded, and I sighed as I looked down, seeing that I was wearing a hospital gown. "Uhh, I don't have anything on me..."

"Oh, don't worry. The Vale Police Department is footing the bill for this one. Just a minor checkup, nothing too extreme," the officer said, smiling. "You're clear, by the way. You can leave whenever you feel ready to. Do you want a map to get around Vale?"

"Oh, uhh. Yeah, that'd be very helpful, thanks," I said nervously. It was then that I realized how out of my element I really was. I was trapped in a universe that was entirely fictional, in a time I had no idea about.

"What's your name, son?" the officer asked.

"Uhh...Markus Onissa," I said.

"Age?" he asked.

"16," I answered.

"Any parents or guardians? Any contact info I could defer to?" the officer inquired.

I nearly gave the info of my actual parents before I froze. If I gave their real names, they'd either come up with some random family or no one at all, and that would be very suspicious. "Uhh...I don't have any around...not anymore," I said, and I looked away awkwardly.

"Your clothes are over there. I'll leave you to change, then," the officer said before exiting the room. Sitting up slowly, I noticed the pain and aching having gone away, and I decided to get up to where my clothes were. Next to it was a full body mirror, and I stripped out of my hospital gown and began changing.

I looked down at what was before me. Black jeans, a pair of slightly dirty and grey socks, a pair of white socks with gray sneakers, a white undershirt, a blue casual button-up shirt, and a pair of white briefs, all folded up on a chair. As I pulled the clothes on, I looked in the mirror to make sure I was at least looking decent. Then I froze, staring at my face. "What the fuck..."

I looked at my face. Pale-ish skin, a shapely jaw, probably handsome in one's average perspective. I had lengthy and neatly combed black hair, which had bangs that covered the top half of a pair of hazel eyes and went down to the nape of my neck. Some people called me effeminate, but I personally didn't see where that was coming from.

I also had what appeared to be...cat ears on my head? They were black with white fluffy interiors, as well as what appeared to be limp tendrils right out of the tips.

I am a fucking caracal Faunus.

Somehow, I woke up in the RWBY universe with a pair of cat ears. Does this mean I'm gonna be picked on when I go outside? Some of that scared me, but none of that overrode my curiosity of Vale. I'd be able to explore the entire city...without any money...

My hand flew to my jeans, and I felt my wallet in there, but not my phone. Reaching inside, I pulled out my wallet and peeked inside. I had no ID, no credit cards, no coupons...but I did have money. And I was shocked to see instead of paper bills, they were large amounts of clear cards with numbers on them. 1, 5, 10, 20.

Counting through them and doing the math, I had about...400 money. Lien. Whatever it was called. I could maybe stay at a hotel and buy myself a few cheap meals for about a week, but that left me trapped in a predicament. I was nobody here. As far as anyone was concerned, I was taken from Menagerie and somehow ended up in Vale, with no friends, no family, nothing. Not even an electronic device with my phone somehow having vanished. As I started internally panicking on what to do, I didn't notice the door opening behind me.

"Oh, uhh, don't forget your belt.," the officer said after peeking in. I turned and saw the belt on the chair. It was a black utility belt with several 4 oz can sized canisters attached to it, at least five bunched together on each side, and four directly on the back. There was one on each side of the strap and buckle in the front.

That was definitely not mine, but apparently I was wearing it when I was found. Putting it on awkwardly, I finally secured it to my waist and sighed. "Well, what now?" I asked, curious as to why the officer wasn't asking about the belt.

"You can leave," the officer said, before holding out a few papers. One was a map of the city, another was a tour guide pamphlet to all the good spots in the city. "You know, I could have you moved to the station, we could get you help to-"

"I appreciate it," I said, sighing and smiling at the man. "But I'll be fine. I've been through worse."

There was silence before the officer gave up. "Hope you stay safe, son," he said, nodding as he opened the door fully. Walking out awkwardly, I folded up the map and pamphlet before pocketing them, thanking the officer and heading out. The familiar look of a generic hospital filled my vision, seeing white walls, white floors, bulletin boards on the wall, several doors in the hallway, nurses and people bustling in and out of rooms.

Many people were Faunus, both visitors and workers as well, and I had a hard time making eye contact as I tried to keep my eyes on the floor. Staring at one's animal features was likely rude, and me now being a Faunus would make that even creepier. There were a few arguments around me as well, one being a patient insulting a Faunus nurse with many terms that were likely derogatory. As I walked, I now felt my ears moving, twisting around and twitching at every noise like a caracal's ears would. Not to mention it kind of hurt; especially since I could now hear everything at over ten times the sensitivity around me.

After a few minutes of walking, I found the front desk and lobby, which wasn't very busy. Opting to leave right away, I was relieved that I wasn't stopped by anyone on the way out. However, that relief was morphed into awe when I got a good look at what was around me. Large buildings, wide streets, and lots of people were all I could see as I looked around me for the first time.

It was almost as if it were from the show, but...it was real. No shoddy-ish 3D rendering,no staticky movements from the people whatsoever. This was all real life to me, the actual city of Vale in an afternoon setting. Choking up, I opted to just keep walking down the street in order to find someplace familiar or eye-catching.

And wouldn't you know it, I found Tukson's Book Trade mere minutes after passing an intersection. Like in the show, it had two windows surrounding the main door, with the golden words "TBT - New & Used Books" on it. It was open, and I could see people from inside the windows. Walking towards the shop, I could hear some classical music playing. When I entered, I saw that the layout of the bookstore was more or less the exact same as the season 2 premiere. The walls were all bookshelves in front of the register, and there were smaller shelves in the middle of the area. There were a dozen people browsing, some reading and some simply looking at the covers.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade! Home to every book under the sun!" a voice called. I turned to see the man himself, Tukson, smiling from the register. It was weird to see a 3D animated character in real life. For one, his sideburns looked different, being more or less a heavy stubble instead of fully grown hair.

"Hi. Just browsing is all..." I said, smiling as I headed over to a nearby book stand. Manga and graphic novels greeted me. No doubt Mistralian. I didn't pick up any books, as I was occupied with plans on what I would do.

After a few minutes, I made my way to the front desk. "Hey, umm..." I said to Tukson, who turned and smiled at me. "Do you know anything about Beacon?"

"Beacon?" Tukson said. "Well, I know the semester starts in a few days. I don't know much about huntsman academies. Looking to apply?"

"Uhh...just curious. I turn 17 next year, so I just wanted to-'' I was cut off when someone cleared their throat. Tukson looked to see someone waiting to purchase their book and looked apologetically to me. "Sorry kid, just gimme a minute and-"

"Oh, don't worry about me. You answered my question. I'll be out of your hair now," I said, before quickly leaving before I could botch things awkwardly. But now I knew what part of the series I was in, before Season One Episode One. This gave me a lot of time to look for the store Ruby was at when it was robbed by Roman and Junior's thugs. But first...a meal.

I looked around, looking for a restaurant or some kind of street food. It was getting dark, and I really wanted to eat before it got too dark.

I didn't need to look far; I found a small diner at the corner of a street intersection. Entering, I saw it was relatively busy, only a few booths and counter stools open. I decided to sit at an open counter stool, where a smiling waiter brought me a menu. Browsing through it, I could see some pretty generic options; burgers, sandwiches, fries, onion rings, milkshakes, etcetera. Luckily the number of Lien next to them was fairly reasonable; 4 Lien for a burger, 2 Lien for fries, 3 Lien for onion rings, 1.75 Lien for a milkshake. I ordered a burger and onion rings, and paid up front before leaning on the counter and waiting.

"Lookie here. Animal thinks he can eat here," a voice said. Turning around, I saw what looked like the epitome of a douchebag high school jock smirking at me. Behind him were three more guys, all in a similar build as the first guy; no doubt probably on the same sports team as him.

"Yes, I am," I said to the similarly aged guys. "I didn't see a sign saying I couldn't."

"Oh, smart guy, huh? Alright," he said in a mock "nice guy" tone. "I'll make this clear. You eat here? We're gonna have a lot of trouble, you hear me?"

"And you don't want that," one of his friends said with a snicker. I looked around, and it was pretty clear that no one was stepping in. In fact, a lot of people were glaring at me as well.

"OK," I said, really not wanting to cause trouble. Turning to the counter, I waved a waitress down. "Can I get my order in a to-go box?"

"Sure thing!" she said peppily, but I could tell she was faking it. I didn't blame her; I was probably inviting trouble simply by being here, and staying here would cause even more trouble. Thankfully, the food was quick, bagged and handed to me with a 'have a nice day'.

"You too!" I called as I hopped off the counter with my food, ready to leave before a hand grasped my shoulder. Sighing, I turned to the jock. "What?"

"Leave the food here. Me and my boys are hungry," he said.

"What? No, I paid for this!" I protested.

"Good point. Gimme your Lien too," he said, and the boys cracked their knuckles. I was getting nervous, but I was also not in the mood. Forcefully pulling away, I made for the door, only to get shoved into a wall.

"Hey!" someone barked, and the five of us turned to see a heavyset man with a suit and tie at the door to the kitchen. "Imma kick you out if you start trouble!"

"C'mon, man!" the jock whined. "He's a freak! Some dumb animal!"

"And you're a bunch of brats trying to rob someone in broad daylight in front of my staff and customers! Want me to call the cops on you?" the man, likely the manager, said. "No criminals in my establishment! Leave him alone or get banned!"

I didn't wait for the argument to continue, and I left quickly, rushing away from the diner. After about ten minutes of walking and constantly looking back, I reached a small park with benches and trees around. Sitting down and spending another five minutes making sure there was no one around targeting me.

"Well..." I sighed as I pulled the container out of the bag. "Better now than later." Opening the container, I was greeted to the sight of a medium sized greasy as hell burger with everything on it, as well as several small crispy onion rings. Forgetting about the danger of those jackasses, I dug in; trying to control my speed but enjoying the food too much to care. It felt like forever since I ate something so unhealthy, but so delicious. I finished in the span of ten minutes, leaving behind bits of lettuce, several grease stains in the carton, and bits of sauce on my face. Using the napkins in the bag, I cleaned up my own mess of a face, before tossing all of it in a trash can.

Getting up, I decided to keep walking around, hoping I would find a hotel where I could stay at before I start investigating Vale and a way to get into Beacon. Crossing the street, I was about to turn left before freezing.

The four bullies from earlier were walking my way, and they unfortunately spotted me. They managed to stare at me for at least two seconds, before the leader started barking. "Hey! Get him!"

I ran for it, turning the corner and rushing down the street. As they followed, I quickly pushed past people, apologizing incessantly for every person I knocked over. I had to have been running for a while now, since I noticed it was now nighttime. Though it had been pretty late when I started eating.

I could hear their overlapping footsteps chasing me, and I dared to look back to see how far away they were, only for a black and red blur to smash into me from the side, as well as several shards of glass.

Rolling to a stop, the first thing I noticed was a groaning man in a black suit and tie, a pair of broken red sunglasses lying next to him. The second thing I saw was a black haired girl with red tips holding a scythe over her shoulder.

"Look at that...I found them," I mumbled as I tried to get up.

The jocks who were chasing me had frozen in place nearby, and I slowly stumbled to my feet next to her. Ruby turned to me before spinning her scythe over her body and slamming it on the ground.

"You might wanna move," she said as she switched off her headphones. Remembering what happened next, I rolled out of the way as two thugs rushed her at once. Before I could get up, my vision went white, and pain exploded across my face.

"You thought you could run from us?" the jock said as two of his lackeys grabbed me and hoisted me up. "We'll teach you a lesson!"

"Oh my God, shut up!" I groaned before getting a fist to the gut. Hacking my lungs out, I didn't get the chance to breathe before I got a punch to the face immediately after.

Ruby was almost done with the thugs, and I knew I had to act quickly. Swinging my legs, I managed to kick him away to get some distance between us. "Punk!" he coughed before one of his lackeys struck my side. Then the others threw me to the ground and started kicking me over and over.

Luckily and unluckily for me, their assault stopped when an explosion threw all five of us aside. Gasping for breath, I could see Ruby in the air and Roman Torchwick rushing to the fire escape ladder on the side of the faraway buildings.

"Roman," I hissed in pain as I stumbled to my feet. My caracal ears were burning in deafening pain, likely bleeding. Though my head was dry and I felt it. Turning around, I could see the four jocks knocked out on the ground from the explosion. Not caring about them, I bolted towards the ladder and started to climb, looking up just in time to see Roman clamber onto the roof. This was my chance to get into Beacon and I wasn't letting it go.