Author's notes:
New chapter. This one is more of a timeskip. Don't worry, the timeskips will begin to slow down in a few chapters.
To Magi Mari: Thank you. While I do enjoy a good OP fanfic, I find that an MC who actually uses logic and their wits to solve problems is much more engaging in a serious story. And don't worry, I do have a plan for the MC to get stronger, but I wish to do it through completely legitimate and possible means.
For your other question, I've yet to decide. I myself have quite literally no romantic experience to draw from (Sadge), so most interactions between characters will probably stay platonic-ish (or innocent), similar to the show. Also, no harem. That's just too overdone in my opinion, and I have gotten pretty meh about it.
On the other hand, I do plan for either Ruby or Weiss to be a love interest to our MC, but that will likely be further down the line. I'm still deciding on who to pick, as they're both my favorites, so perhaps I'll leave that up to you guys. The answer may actually change the direction of the story later on. Renora of course will be the same as always, along with any other canon relationships.
Captaindrake123: Yes, I want my MC to be someone who thinks outside the box to solve his problems. A careful strategizer, so to speak. A very necessary trait for someone without an OP system or some other cheat power.
With that out of the way, let's continue.
Vale
December 7
Year: -1
My name is Lucian Alabaster, formerly known as Phillip Bushida. I'm a half Japanese, half American man that was on the cusp of graduating from college. I only had about a week left before my life officially began, but through a series of unfortunate and strange circumstances, I'm now somehow living in the world of Remnant.
For about a month now I've just been doing everything I can to survive, and now that I have a little breathing room I've decided to finally record my journey across this world in a diary. While this is mainly for my own personal benefit, it's also so that I can keep track of the dates and important events going forward from now on. Luckily for me I can write both English and Japanese, and apparently there is no Japanese equivalent language here. As such, I'm basically the only person in the entire world that can read this diary… kinda surreal when you think about it. (Author: Before you ask, I can't write Japanese.)
Anyway, quite a few strokes of luck have happened since I first arrived in this world. For one, I'm lucky that the ID I obtained when I got here was free. Apparently from what I've heard you actually do have to pay for them, but perhaps that lady back then took pity on me due to my falsified tragic backstory and innocent-looking appearance. If so, I may be able to use this persona to my advantage somehow…
In this one month I've been able to get my living arrangements in order, and while I did have to go without a place to sleep for a number of days, the moment my boss - the shopkeep - found out, he allowed me to stay in his old unused living quarters above the shop until I've found an apartment somewhere else. Needless to say, I was and probably will always be extremely grateful to this kind and generous old man.
I will definitely stop a certain green-haired brat from stealing his wallet in the future.
Speaking of the future, it wasn't all that long before I figured out exactly what time period I ended up in; or at least, a very close estimate. I ended up here about 1 year before the main events of the original series.
How did I figure it out? It's actually pretty simple. I merely used a public computer and looked up the student directory of Beacon Academy's current Hunter-trainees. From there, I began researching who the current first years in the school were, and lo-and-behold, Team CFVY was a newly-formed team that had just begun their first semester a month prior, on November 8. Of course, no other information about them was revealed aside from their team name, obviously for privacy reasons, but that was all I needed to know to gather my bearings.
Considering that the original show started 2 days before Beacon's initiation exam and that the new semester always starts on November 8, that would mean From Dust Till Dawn would most likely be robbed by Torchwick on November 6 next year… possibly.
Not only is this uncertain due to the butterfly effect of my involvement in the story now, but there is still a chance that a few differences from the original show could occur. Examples would be that this could be an AU universe or Ice Queendom, which had just recently finished not too long before my… death… Not only that, but it's never been explicitly stated that the main cast arrived at Beacon right after the dust shop robbery. Honestly, the possibilities are endless, and for that reason alone I can't let my guard down. I needed to remain vigilant, as Professor Port would say.
And so, the moment I bought this diary I immediately began writing down every piece of information I knew about RWBY and its "canonical" timeline, just in case I end up forgetting something important later down the road. By reading all the events that could happen, have happened, and are happening every night before bed, I would effectively prevent myself from falling victim to any unforeseen circumstances… at least for now. Currently my involvement shouldn't have that big of an effect, but the moment I come into contact with any of the characters in the show, even minor ones, these predestined events will only become more and more irrelevant in the long run.
But that also begs the question: What do I plan on changing, if anything at all?
There is great danger in changing the plot. If I change it too much, the information I have of the future would become useless and I would be just as clueless as the rest when it comes to something like the Fall of Beacon. If I somehow remove certain people too early, they may very well be replaced by enemies just as - if not worse than - the ones the show currently has. The worst case scenario is having a future that's drowned in even more sorrow than the one I already know. And this doesn't even include the fact that just the very idea of fighting someone requires I actually know how to fight. Which I do not.
...Do I even want to?
If I don't, Beacon will fall. Pyrrha will be killed. Penny will be temporarily destroyed. Many civilians will definitely be slaughtered. Even if Vale somehow comes out of it alive, there's no guarantee I'll be among them. Add on to the fact that I don't even know how this show will end, there's even a possibility, no matter how small, that everything gets destroyed. If Monty Oum could throw in the mother of all plot twists in Volume 3, there's no telling what could happen during the show's end. Thinking on this logically, running away from all of this knowing full well what will happen if I do would basically make me no better than Raven, of all people. Still, being put in her shoes, I can see the turmoil she must have went through, at least. ...But I won't let myself end up like that. The knowledge I hold of this world surpasses even Ozpin, to an extent. I must not let it go to waste. The stronger I get, the better my chances of survival. And I'd rather die with a smile than live a life drowning in constant fear.
...Sigh.
And yet, even with my renewed resolve...
"There are so many factors… even after a month of brainstorming and theorizing I'm still stuck at square one…" I dropped my head onto the table.
Hah. Deep breaths.
From what little I do know, Torchwick isn't on the move yet and Cinder likely hasn't even found Emerald and Mercury. Adam and the White Fang may or may not even be in Vale right now either. The one absolute truth at this time is that Ruby and Yang are both attending Signal Academy on Patch, and Weiss is very much hating life in the Schnee Mansion. The only time this wouldn't be the case is if I've somehow ended up in an AU or something, but nothing I've seen or heard about so far has indicated as such, thankfully.
In all honesty, befriending Ruby and Yang early on is the easiest thing to do with little to no repercussions. Just one more friend wouldn't change their plans to go to Beacon, and just by my association with From Dust Till Dawn, the chances of Ruby showing up to stop Torchwick is actually far more likely despite any butterfly effects that may or may not occur in the meantime.
The one biggest take away is that by becoming friends with them I may end up finding a chance to unlock my aura, assuming they know how to do such a thing. If not, they probably at least know of some way I could go about unlocking it. Maybe even someone like Taiyang could do it for me if I end up on his good side? All I know is that the sooner I have my aura unlocked, the sooner I can pick up on how to fight without risk of injury, something I really don't need right now.
I begin to tap my pen against my chin in contemplation.
Hmm, I guess trying to become friends with them is the best bet, but the way to do that… there really isn't any good way to plan it, huh? I essentially just have to wing it and hope for the best, I guess. It'll take a good opportunity and a bit of luck, so planning things out ahead of time to maximize the chances of meeting them may be a good decision.
Just then, a few snowflakes begin to cast shadows on the diary in Philip- no, Lucian's hands.
Ah, it's snowing a little outside. Come to think of it, I guess it is December, isn't it? Winter's rolling around at the tailend of Fall this year, it seems.
I guess this is as good a-time as any to segue into how the seasons work here. To start with, in Vale the seasons basically work more or less the same as the seasons on Earth, but there are a few major differences. It'll probably be a good idea to write down Remnant's seasonal time chart to use as a reference later on. For one, each season lasts 3 months long.
Winter - Spring - Summer - Fall
Winter lasts from January to March, Spring from April to June, Summer from July to September, and Fall from October to December. Depending on the circumstances, however, the weather could begin changing late or early by upwards to a month, give or take. The official seasonal months are just the accepted time periods for the change of seasons here. An approximation, so to speak. For example, the month could be December like it is right now, yet snow may already be falling despite Winter technically starting in January.
And don't even get me started on Atlas or Menagerie. Atlas seems to be completely frozen over in an eternal Winter, pun not intended, and Menagerie seems to be locked in a perpetual Summer. I can only chalk this up to Remnant being a magical world with different scientific principles, I guess.
Vale seems to be the only place where the weather actually acts the same as it does on Earth, with both Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall seasons, but for some reason the rest of the world apparently decided to just go on strike for their independence. Weird. I mean, just look at Forever Fall. That forest defies all common logic in-and-of itself. My current loose theory is that dust is the cause for such strange occurrences, but without any proof to back up my claim I got nothing.
Anyway, a recap as to what I've been up to this past month before I forget. If it wasn't obvious already, I got myself a job at From Dust Till Dawn. As a result, the old shopkeep didn't need to be around as much as he used to and has since begun slowly delegating more and more of the shop's upkeep to me while he works on his other businesses... which I still can't wrap my head around. Since then I've been looking at apartment listings within the residential district, but I have yet to find one that's both affordable and not too worn down. Oh, and preferably close by to a transport ship. Heh. I still can't believe my eyes whenever I see Vale's civilian airships - the equivalent to Earth's buses - flying to and from the residential and commercial districts over that huge gap of water between them. It's cool as hell.
Aside from that, due to the decent amount of Lien I get from working I was actually able to buy a scroll a few days ago. This would help immensely with information gathering and keeping up to date on the news of this world. The only things I really needed to keep an eye out for was my rent for staying in the old man's place as well as a decent budget for food. When I had enough, I also bought myself a few sets of cheap clothing so I didn't need to wear the same outfit every single day. I eventually included a set of workout clothes that I could hand-wash each night before bed (Just the bare minimum, please).
Every morning I make sure to workout for 2 hours, 6-8am, before my morning shift begins. Because I'm basically living right above the store, it was incredibly fast and easy to start work on time. Also, due to my location, I could literally walk around anywhere to get some food or groceries and even go on daily runs for a good amount of endurance training. Simply put, I was living in an ideal situation in an otherwise non-ideal circumstance. If that's even a thing.
At night, I always make sure to do some meditation, a type of training I remember Ren doing often in the show. I may not have my aura unlocked yet, but due to the nature of this world I had a sneaking suspicion that meditation could one day help me immensely when it comes to aura training. It couldn't hurt to practice now rather than later, right? It would be great if I could unlock my aura naturally instead of just requiring someone to unlock it for me, after all. Sometimes during my meditations it feels as though something is there, just out of reach, but every time I try and extend my hand out to grasp it, the feeling vanishes. It's a shame the show never really went into these kinds of details.
…Most importantly, there are many times when I can't help but dwell on my past, on Earth. I died, and I couldn't help but worry over how my parents and my family were doing. They loved me, and I dearly loved them. I can't imagine what they must be going through each and every day now that I'm gone. Is it the same range of emotions I'm feeling now, perhaps? I can only hope and pray that they're doing okay.
…I really do miss them.
…
Damn, the 1nk's g3tt1ng smudg3d&:&2.
Well, en0vgh about th t. Tomorrow 1s the dawn 0f a new day, and I need to do all I can right now before my time runs out.
…Good night mom, dad.