Chapter 1: Arrival
The mid day sun was shining brightly in the City of Vale. The people of the city were going about their daily lives. Some were shopping, eating, or simply out for a stroll. Cars were constantly driving to and from many different places. Going home, to the store, or even to work. The vibrant colors of the many signs advertising all manner of things, from jewelry and clothes to even some bizarre looking gadgets. Everyone was busy with their own personal interests that hardly anyone noticed the young man walking amongst them. While, he may not have physically looked out of place, the faint, blue glow he emitted certainly was. He continued to marvel at the sights before him, it was his first time in the city after all.
"Wow... I can't believe I'm actually here. After all this time, I'm finally in Vale!" He casually thought to himself. There was an air about him that just screamed excitment. The smile and the sparkle of his eyes told the whole story.
He was in Vale and he love every second of it.
He walked down the street until he reached the end of the road and reached a giant wall. "A wall? I don't remember this in the show." He thought to himself. He reached out his hand and touched it's smooth surface. He stood there for a while, wondering how long it took to build such a magnificent wall. He eventually left and continued his journey through the city streets.
He managed to walk from one end of the city all the way to the opposite end. When he made a left down a street he hadn't gone down before, he found himself in an area he didn't think existed at all. The Red Light District... Yup, Vale's home of everything dealing with sex. His eyes widened and he did a 180 and just walked back to the street he was on before. The boy shook his head to clear his mind of what he just witnessed. Needless to say, he wasn't going down that road again. He continued his exploration and found himself in the Market District. He was starting to feel hungry so he stopped at an open air fruit stand and asked for five apples. He loved apples, and couldn't get enough of them. The girl behind the the stand put the apples in a brown paper bag and asked for 6 Lien. The boy realized that he didn't have any money. He calmed himself so he didn't alert the vender and causally reached into his pocket. If anyone had been watching him they would have noticed a faint blue light coming from his pocket which stopped just as quickly as it had started.
When it faded, after only a second, he produced a small stack of hard pieces of plastic that looked similar to a credit card. There was one card for each Lien value, as well as what looked like an actual credit card. The one he gave the girl was a ten Lien card, which looked completely different from what was in the show. The color scheme was an actual color scheme and not just a single color for every card. There was actually a picture of Vale in the center and the increments were different as well. There were 1 Lien, 5 Lien, 10 Lien and 30 Lien cards. There were even 200 and 500 Lien cards but what he didn't realize was that those were only held by the really rich residents of Vale. Those who could afford to actually carry around 200 or 500 Lien of pocket change at a time. The 1 Lien was green, the 5 was orange, the 10 was yellow and the 30 Lien card was blue. The 200 and 500 were both purple but the 200 had red edges and the 500 Lien card had white edges. When the vendor saw this her eyes widened, thinking the guy before her was rich for having both types of purple cards. Anyone could instantly see the sudden flirtatious glimmer in her eyes.
Once he was handed his apples and change he walked off to continue his adventure. He got about half a block when he noticed something on the bag. When he examined it closer, he saw that it was a 6 digit number. "Did she really give me her number?" He thought to himself. He could feel the heat entering his cheeks. He normally didn't get embarrassed so easily but this was a new experience. A girl liked him because she thought he had money.
After that unusual encounter, he arrived at a large complex, in what he assumed was the heart of Vale, that was made up of multiple buildings. He walked around the perimeter until he was at the main enterence. The large gates, made of some kind of metal, appeared sturdy enough to withstand a barrage of Boarbatusks for a fair amount of time. Directly connected to on the left was a smaller gate and what looked like a toll booth. There was no one currently in the booth. Above the large gate was a series of letters. He took a few steps back so he could read what it said.
Signal Intermediate School of Huntsmen.
He read the words out loud to himself while wondering what the odds were that he'd end up here during his first day in Vale. He wondered what the odds were that he even ended in Vale at all. Peering through the bars of that kept him out, he could see a very small part of the layout of the school. The only two building in his view had two stories and one was slightly behind the other. He knew there were more than just the two buildings he could see. After all, the buildings were pretty small in comparison to what was shown at Beacon. There had to be more to the campus then what he could see at the moment. it made sense that Beacon had larger buildings to accommodate all the students from all across the world but Vale was still one of the largest cities in all of Remnant.
As the boy was walking away from the school he noticed something, or rather someone. From the corner of his eye he saw a mass of blonde hair coming out of one of the buildings. He thought it might have been someone he knew but he wasn't sure. As soon as he turned to get a better look at whoever it was, they had walked behind the building that was closest to the school gate. He didn't want to assume it was Yang because he might be in a different time. A time before she was born or an alternate time where Yang was never even born. He didn't want to get his hopes up only to be disappointed, not again.
It wasn't long until it got dark. He decided to look for a hotel or any other place to sleep. He remembered seeing a hotel towards the market district and decided to head there. The street lights were the only source of light for the few people still out. He looked up, no moon. This could mean one of many different possibilities. One possibility was that the moon was never shattered in this timeline. Maybe it's was shattered but the pieces never remained grouped like in the show causing them to drift away or come crashing down on Remnant. Or most likely it was just because it hadn't risen yet.
"Yeah, it's probably the last one." He said as he continued to move in the direction of the market district.
Most of the people he encountered along the way were pretty shady. There were people who were clearly to drink to even be walking. Police patrolling the streets and people ducking in and out of alleyways trying to avoid them. A couple having way to much fun to be out in public. Basically everyone one would expect to see in an over the top crime drama depicting this time of night.
He passed by a few shops on his way to the hotel. There was "Dust n Stuff", "Huntsmen R Us", "Weapons and Armour for the Chic" and even a couple of dust shops that were closed for business.
"Two guesses why this shop is closed down and not the armor shop." He said as he lingered slightly longer in front of the shop called "Dr. Light's Dust Lab".
He kept walking along the street for a few more minutes; enjoying the cool breeze of the night time air. He felt it might have been close to early spring time in Vale because the air felt slightly cooler for a city that's as close to Remnant's equator as Vale.
His relaxing walk was cut short when he walked in front of a certain store. The sign in the window read, "Dust til Dawn" which caught him by surprise. He didn't know that this place was on the street he had been walking along for the last hour or so. He certainly hadn't come across it during his first journey through Vale.
He wanted to see what it was actually like inside of the real "Dust til Dawn" store. So he walked up to a window and peeked inside. There were shelves of dust cases, ammunition, empty vials, pouches, and even a few books on Dust. There was "Dust: A History", "Proper Handling of Dust", even a book called "The Big Book of Dust". He noticed something odd in the back, a small red bump peaking over a row of shelves filled with jars of Dust in its powder form. He was too focused on figuring out what that was that he failed to notice a group of people entering the store.
He was about to walk away when one member of the group walked passed his field of view. He noticed his black suit and red tie as the outfit of the Black Bear Gang as he like d to call them. They were a group of thugs that were known for there... let's just say overly ambitious goals that they lacked of skills to achieve.
"I mean come on, they must not know the meaning of the word 'inconspicuous' since their headquarters is literally a popular night club." He sighed out loud as he thought that. He kept watching as the man was launched away into another shelf near the window. Then he remembered what happened next and stepped to the side of the window. As soon as he was clear a man and a red blur flew out the window he was standing in front of just moments before.
His eyes widened as he finally saw the one wearing red. It was none other than Ruby Rose, one of the main characters from the show. "How did I not remember that, it's so obvious. Who else wears a red hood and cloak. Wait, if she is real in this timeline then that means that really was Yang! Awesome, a wild Yang sighting!" He was starting to get lost in his own thoughts.
The guy that was launched into the shelf stood back up just as Ruby unfurled her weapon. She noticed the boy standing there with a look of bewilderment on his face and smiled at him. She did a quick spin and slammed the blade of her scythe into the ground, cracking the asphalt meaning it now needed repairs. "Was she trying to impress me or was it like the show and she did it for no reason?" He pondered as the leader of the group, Roman Torchwick, ordered the rest of the Black Bear goons to attack.
"And get that kid too! I don't want any witnesses." Roman said. The boy started to panic as the group of four split up. Two were going for Ruby and two were coming after him. "Guess I have no choice." He thought before getting into a fighting stance. Both of the men thought that was funny because they were bigger than him and he didn't have a weapon.
"This should be easy." Said the first gang member. The other just nodded and cracked his knuckles. Then they were both knocked to the ground when one of the other two guys came crashing into them. The impact was so hard that they were instantly knocked unconscious. Truly, terrible criminal.
"You were worth every cent, truly you were." Roman said to the pile of unconscious and possibly broken bodies. He then looked in the boy's direction as Ruby landed next to him with her scythe resting on her shoulder. The distant sounds of sirens told everyone that the party was coming to an end.
"Well Red, I think that we can all say that you and your boyfriend have made this a truly eventful evening." He said as Ruby and the boy met gazes for a second before she blushed and quickly looked away. "He's not my boyfriend!" she yelled at Roman while the boy just stood there with a little red in his face as well.
"Like it even matters. Anyway, as much as I'd like to stick around I'm afraid that this," He pointed the end of the cane at them and the tip flipped open to act as a sight, "is where we part ways." He pulled the trigger and a ball of energy shot out of the cane and flew towards them. Ruby pointed her scythe downward and launched herself into the air to avoid the explosion. While she did that the boy jumped to the side and rolled away when he landed. He was still caught in the blast and was thrown further away from the epicenter of the blast.
The boy stood up slowly but didn't look hurt. He saw Ruby asking the shop keeper a question. "Probably asking if he would be alright now if the story is still following the same path." The boy thought. The old man nodded and Ruby took off after Roman by using the recoil from her sniper scythe to propel her to the roof across the street in only a second. Now that Ruby was gone, the boy turned to the shopkeeper and asked the old man for a broom. He looked at the boy in confusion but before he could ask, his question was answered.
"She'll be okay. I know what she's capable of and I know for a fact that she is where she needs to be." The boy said. The old man nodded and pointed at a wooden door at the back of the store. The boy walked into the store and opened the door. It was a broom closet. He reached in and grabbed a push broom and walked back outside. Once he was there he looked at the old man again, who was just looking towards the roof top listening to the sounds of a small battle.
The boy stood next to him for a second and listened as well. After a few minutes they saw an airship fly away. As they watched the ship leave the boy introduced himself to the old man. "My name's Ryler." He said as he shook hands with the shop keeper. The old man just smiled and nodded hello and went back inside to clean up as well. Once Ryler was done sweeping up the broken glass he started picking up the jars, vials, books and empty brief cases that were thrown out the window by Ruby.
After a few minutes of cleaning, the police arrived and did there jobs. One officer took pictures and another went inside to talk to the old man. Ryler was just standing outside as the store owner explained what happened. He saw no one was looking in his direction, so he put the broom down near the pile of glass and slipped away from the crime scene. He continued onward to the hotel to get his much needed rest.
When he arrived at Rest for the Wicked Inn, it had been only about 15 minutes since his run in with Roman and Ruby outside of Dust til Dawn. He walked up to the front desk, which was a large, lavish looking wooden desk with intricate patterns carved along the bottom and the corners of the desk. The person manning the front desk was a male parrot Faunus. His head feathers were a stunning array of colors ranging from blue to green and even a bit of yellow. Ryler was so tired that the beautifully relaxing sight of the feathers could have put him to sleep then and there.
"Room for one, queen bed please." Ryler slurred his words slightly from how tired he was. The man didn't even bother looking up from his computer as he entered the requested information. Obviously he was tired as well and Ryler could sympathize with him a little. After all, he also hated dealing with people, especially if they were drunk and stupid which mostly likely they were considering how late it was.
The man finally looked up at Ryler and told him it would be about 70 Lien a night. Ryler reached into his pocket and pulled out the purple and white 500 Lien card and handed it to the front desk person. Upon realizing what he was handed, the man brightened up and his attitude immediately change to a more friendly one.
"That'll be for the next few nights, okay?" Ryler said as he made his way to the elevator after receiving his door key. "Yes, sir, have a wonderful stay at our inn!" The man said giving a gracious bow to Ryler as the doors to the elevator closed.