"What?"

"You heard me. I want you to join me."

I blinked.

What was he trying to do here? Was he trying to lower my guard? But for what? I'd already checked the entire warehouse to see if anyone was there, and there wasn't. No explosives or ambush methods either. So what was his plan? Just for good measure, I flared my semblance to get a good look at my surroundings to see if I'd missed anything. Nothing. It was the same as before.

"I can't even see your expression and even then I can tell you're skeptical," Roman said. "Calm down."

"Of course I'm skeptical," I shot back, trying to keep my voice calmer than it actually was. I didn't want to show much weakness in front of him. "You, a criminal, just asked me to join you, and you think I wouldn't be a bit suspicious?"

"Why are you saying it as if the fact that I'm a criminal is something special. You're a criminal too." He said the last part matter of factly.

"I'm not a criminal. Why the hell does everyone think that? Everything I've done so far has been 'good', so to speak. I beat gangs, stopped robberies, and even stopped you on your last three attempts."

"On your first 'outing' where you defeated that gang in Aramor, you caused a civilian's house to catch on fire, basically destroyed the only warehouse there, and then threatened one of the civilians to do things. After that, on several occasions, you have also antagonized huntsman. What else would they call you?"

He did his homework, I realized. He hadn't come here and decided to 'recruit' me on a whim. He'd done his research on me beforehand and had come prepared. At least to an extent.

"A vigilante, maybe? I was what I was going for, at least," I muttered. "Also, the warehouse was already abandoned for the most part, so does it really matter that I destroyed it? And I didn't threaten any civilians, I literally just asked them to call the police. I heard that on the news too. Absurd, really."

Honestly, where did they get the fact that I threatened them from? I just told that one guy to call the police, and apparently I'd threatened him? It was absurd, really. Maybe one of the people in the crowd hadn't appreciated what I'd done and fed incorrect information to the authorities?

"Well, if that's what you were going for, then it obviously didn't work. The authorities and huntsman already think you're a criminal, and they will try to catch you and put you in custody. Hell, even a criminal like me thought you were one," Roman said.

"Yeah, I can see that," I said, rolling my eyes behind my mask. "Now what?"

"Now what?"

"You found out I wasn't trying to be a criminal," I explained. "I assume you wanted to 'recruit' me on the basis that I was a criminal like you. Now you know I'm not. So what are you going to do now?"

"Well," he began, smirking, "the offer still stands. If you want to join us, you can."

Was he… was he being serious? I'd just told him I wasn't a criminal and was keeping the offer unchanged? I looked at his expression. He still had that same smirk on his face. He knew I was confused.

"What are you getting it," I asked, my eyes narrowing. "What are you trying to do? This doesn't make any sense – none of this does."

"Come on, it's not that easy. I won't just be telling you my motivations straight to your face. That's what shitty villains do in shitty shows. Refer to Hunter-man."

I widened my eyes. He didn't like Hunter-man either? I looked at Neo's expression and saw that she was nodding in agreement. They both didn't like Hunter-man, and they were both criminals. I inwardly sighed. Why did the bad guys have to be the ones with good taste? Suddenly, the offer was starting to look a bit nice -

No. I had to focus on the situation right now. I could think about the fact that two of the only people who had shown distaste for the show were both criminals later.

I activated Thought Acceleration, so there was time to think.

Motivations. What would compel Roman to ask me to join him? I honestly doubted that he just decided that he wanted me to join him suddenly. I didn't know Roman, but I somewhat understood what he was like in the canon timeline. This didn't seem like something he would do. Of course, there was a chance, but it just didn't seem likely.

So he was either just acting out of character – which actually could be the case because of the butterfly effect and all that – or he wasn't the one who wanted to do it. Someone else wanted him to do it for them.

It didn't take me long to reach a realization. There was only really one person who could, and would, order Roman around about something like that. Someone who he wouldn't be able to properly refuse.

Cinder.

"C-" I started, but I caught myself before I said anything. He didn't seem to catch what I was trying to say, judging by his expression. "You're not doing this because you want to, are you? Someone is ordering you to do this."

Roman's eyes widened a fraction, and then he laughed. "Haha, you're smart, kid. Though, I wouldn't say ordered. More like requested."

Floating letters made by Neo's semblance appeared behind Roman, out of his line of sight. "But you would have been in big trouble if you said no!"

I snorted. She probably didn't think it was nothing, but it helped solidify my suspicions that it was indeed Cinder that asked him to do this.

"And you said you weren't going to reveal your plans like a shitty villain." I rolled my eyes.

"I didn't reveal them. You found them out."

"You confirmed my suspicions."

"Maybe. But maybe I actually don't care if you know."

I let out a sigh. He was purposely trying to confuse me.

"Are you going to make me decide right now, or will I have time?"

"Hmm." Roman put his hand on his chin, indicating that he was thinking something. Or maybe he was doing it to create the effect that he was thinking. "I'll give you a week. In exactly a week, come back to this same location. Then give me an answer."

"That's… acceptable," I said. "And you won't try to ambush me?"

"I didn't this time, so why would I do it the next? Although, now that you mention it, it does seem more appealing."

Mental note, check the surrounding twice as much before entering the warehouse next time.

It was pretty obvious that he said it as a joke, but there could be a chance he was hiding his intentions behind the joke. I'd think it was a joke, go into the warehouse without checking properly, and then boom, a whole gang of people with their guns pointed at my noggin. Not that such a thing would happen, of course, given the nature of my semblance, but it was still a good thing to be cautious while dealing with criminals.

"Yeah, don't do that."

He smirked. "Don't worry, I won't."

"Well, is that all you wanted to talk to me about, or is there something more important you wanted to save for the end?"

"Nope."

"Then we're done here."

"There's no need to be hasty. I thought we could have a nice conversation afterwards, you know."

"Sorry, but I'd rather not."

"All right, kid. Well, I'll meet you next week. Try not to stop my robberies, until then, all right?"

"I'll try," I muttered.

I really won't.

"Well then!" He clapped his hands. "Neo? If you would?"

Neo nodded and then moved her arm. They both disappeared from sight.

Nice party trick. I had to suppress the urge to snort. Were they trying to create the effect that they could teleport or something? Cute. Too bad they didn't know that I knew about Neo's semblance. Or that I could counter it with my own.

Activating my own semblance, I saw them scurrying away, trying to get out as fast as they could without alarming me. Roman exited the warehouse, and right before Neo did too, she looked back at me.

I was about to laugh, but I held myself back. But it was getting hard. I looked straight at Neo, staring her in the eyes.

Neo narrowed her eyes.

"You can see me?" The letters popped up. "Never mind. Of course, you can't."

She walked out of the warehouse, the letters lingering there for a second before they, too, disappeared.

I tried to hold it in for a bit longer before I couldn't help it. I snorted, the laugh coming out involuntarily.

There once was a village on the edge of a lush forest, known far and wide as the safest place in the land. The evil creatures of Grimm had not attacked there since long before anyone could remember, and it was said that the woods themselves protected-

I stopped reading as a ray of sunlight hit my eye, causing me to look away.

It's already morning?

Getting off my bed, I throw my book aside. Sparing a last glance at it, I saw that it was upside down, the pages facing downwards, wrinkled. I sighed and walked back over, turning it around and putting it on the desk next to my bed. I caught a glimpse at the title. Fairy Tales of Remnant.

I'd been rereading it for the- how many times was it now? Ten? Twenty? More? I wasn't sure, but this was one of the few pieces of good literature around here. I preferred the books in Remnant a lot more than the TV shows and movies. Now the books in Remnant weren't exactly good either, but they weren't nearly as bad as the TV shows.

I slipped on a pair of casual clothes – shorts and a t-shirt – before I looked at the mirror again. Okay, this would do. I headed towards my bathroom before I stopped.

Fuuuuck. I have training with Uncle Qrow today.

Groaning, I went back to my closet, and changed out of my current clothes, changing into a more fitting training outfit. I went to the bathroom, and grabbed my brush, applying a bit of toothpaste onto the bristles. As I brushed my teeth, I looked into the mirror, finding anything I could fic about the way I looked. My hair was a bit messy, stray strands everywhere, and I seemed to have some food on my face that I hadn't noticed before. I finished brushing and washed my face. Adjusting my hair with my hands, I looked to my right. Shower? No, I could take one after training.

I walked out of the bathroom and went back to my room to get my weapons. Instinctively, I grabbed the stool that I used to get my mask, before catching myself.

No, I reminded myself. I don't need that today. It's training. Just the weapons.

I put the stool back and grabbed my knives out of the closet.

Heading out of my room, I was greeted with the sight of a completely empty living room. Nobody was awake yet, huh? That was fine, I'd just get ready earlier than everyone else.

I walked up to the kitchen counter and looked through the fridge for something to eat. There were eggs and I think there was some waffle mix in the cabinet. I put the waffle mix in the waffle maker and started making my eggs, scrambled. Once they were finished, I plated everything and sat on the dining table, my food in front of me.

While eating, I checked my scroll for any news going on lately. I filtered it through the commercial district. Nothing at all. Roman still hadn't made any moves. I hadn't gone patrolling at all lately, not since the offer he gave me. He implied he would be doing another robbery sometime before I made my decision, but the 'deadline' was in two days, and he hadn't done anything of the sort yet. I wasn't planning on doing anything significant either this week, so if he did decide to do some kind of robbery in Vale, I wouldn't be able to stop it.

"Rory, you're up? That's unusual," I looked up at Ruby's voice and saw that she was walking towards the kitchen, rubbing her eyes.

I nodded, my mouth still full.

"What're you eating?"

"Whafflesh," I tried to say.

"And you tell me not to talk with my mouth full," she muttered.

"Waffles," I said, after swallowing.

"And eggs."

"And eggs," I confirmed.

"Any for me?" she asked, opening the fridge.

"Nope, sorry. Just for me."

"That's fine, I can just make something for myself."

I nodded, going back to my food. It was awkward between us after we had talked around two weeks ago, but things were starting to go back to normal now.

As she was cooking something for herself, I noticed something odd.

"Where's Yang? Shouldn't she be here by now?"

"Right. Yang." I saw her pout a little. "Apparently since she has to leave for Beacon in two days, she asked Uncle Qrow if she could skip, and he said yes!"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"So unfair."

"I know, right?"

Ruby put her food on her plate and pulled up a chair, sitting down on the dining table across from me. We ate in silence for the most part, only talking from time to time about insignificant stuff like how unfair it was that Yang got to skip.

I finished up my food and placed my plate in the sink.

"Finish up quickly, we have to-"

I stopped talking when I saw the piece of paper that was on the kitchen counter. I wasn't sure how I didn't notice it before, but now I did. I looked down at the signature and saw a messily written 'uncle qrow' at the bottom, all lowercase. Once I saw the signature, I groaned, already knowing what was going to be on it.

"Are you freaking kidding me?"

"What?" Ruby asked. "What happened?"

I started folding the piece of paper into an airplane without even looking at the contents of it. Once the airplane was formed, I flicked my wrist at Ruby's direction, sending the plane towards her.

"Got it!" Ruby said, catching the airplane. She opened up the letter and started reading. "Let's see… Something important to do… blah, blah, blah… unfortunately I'll have to skip out on today's practice?!"

"Yeah." I rolled my eyes. "I swear to god, he always does this"

"Ugh, I know," Ruby said. "So, are we still training today?"

"Well, I would say we should just skip today, but it's been a while."

"Yeah. I'm sleepy, but it's fine," she said, rubbing her eyes.

"Why? Didn't get enough sleep?"

"Yeah, 'cause I stayed up late."

So that was why she looked so tired. And why she was giving such lackluster responses.

"We can skip if you're feeling tired," I said.

"No, it's fine." Ruby took her fingers and forcefully pried her eyes open. "Let's do this! I'm awake."

I smiled a bit in amusement. "All right, come one then. You got your weapon, right?"

"Crescent Rose. And no, I don't have it. Let me go get that real quick."

"All right, I'll be waiting in the training area," I told her.

Walking to the training area, I waited for Ruby, who came around a minute later, her Crescent Rose in hand.

"All right, let's start!" Ruby yelled.

"Nope, we gotta stretch first."

"Aww, come on."

I rolled my eyes. "You got injured once when you were younger because you didn't listen to Uncle Qrow about stretching. Or did you forget that?"

"Yeah, but that was before I had my Aura."

"Don't care. Stretch."

She grumbled something under her breath but started stretching anyway. We stretched for around ten minutes in silence before Ruby abruptly got up and turned to me.

"Let's start now. Come onnn."

"Yeah, yeah."

I picked up my knives and entered a fighting stance. I saw Ruby do the same, her face becoming a bit more serious. We stood there in silence for a good three seconds before she charged at me, her scythe behind her back, ready to swing. I took a step back, and dodged her swing, trying to find an opening to counterattack. She kept attacking me, each swing a bit faster than the last as she got into the zone. I ducked under one of her swings and saw an opening. I punched her in the stomach, and she went flying back a little. She did a safety roll, and immediately got back up, ready to fight.

If I wanted to, I didn't doubt I could beat her pretty quickly. The only reason I was holding back was because these training sessions were more for Ruby than for me. I wasn't getting much out of these sessions besides the proficiency for my skills.

Not that Ruby knew that, of course. To her, this was a training session where both Ruby and I benefited. And I preferred it to stay that way.

Yang would go to Beacon, so she would have some extra training without doing this, but Ruby didn't have that. Due to my influence, Ruby wouldn't go to Beacon, meaning she wouldn't get the fighting experience that Beacon provided. And due to that, I had to train her. I couldn't let her die because she couldn't protect herself.

We continued training for another two hours or so. It was what we always did for the most part. Spar until one of us falls, take a small break, repeat. I would point out some of her flaws that I noticed from time to time, but that was it. It was a bit different when Yang and Uncle Qrow were around because it made for more people to spar with, and Uncle Qrow would always give helpful pointers.

I looked back at Ruby, who was laying on the ground, taking deep breaths. She looked exhausted.

"Ruby, you good?" I called out.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," she said as she tried to get up. She put her hands on the ground and tried to push up, but then fell down right after.

I grabbed a water bottle from under me and walked over to Ruby. I threw it on top of her. She made a sort of 'ughf' sound as it hit her stomach.

"H-hey, don't do that. I'm dying over here." Ruby shot me a light glare.

"Ah, I'm so sorry," I said, my voice a monotone.

She pouted, opening the water bottle and drinking the contents.

"Ahhhhhh," she breathed, a smile on her face. "This is so gooood."

She tried getting up again, and this time she actually succeeded. Turning to me, she stared me in the eyes for a moment. Then she looked up and down my body a few times, before glaring again.

"You're never tired. Are you sure you're human?"

I rolled my eyes. "Do you have to ask this every time?"

"Not every time – I didn't last time. And besides, it's a valid concern."

"I guess I'll tell you the truth, Ruby. I'm actually an alien that came from another reality. I know everything about the future, and I've been training since I was born in order to beat the ultimate evil of this world."

Ruby stared at me. A few seconds of starting later, she put her hand on her mouth to cover her laughs.

"Y-you'll have to come up with a better one than that," she laughed.

"I'm sorry for not being able to come up with believable lies."

"Don't lie, you're good at coming up with lies. Like that time you convinced Yang there was a bug in her hair, and she almost lost it. That was cruel."

I pouted. "Her fault for hiding my scroll."

"That was a month before that happened."

"Well, I'm not going to do it when she expects it." I paused before I smiled. "Who knows, I might have a prank planned out for you for that time when you soaked me with the hose last year."

"Rory? Why are you smiling like that?" I kept walking, my back turned to her. "Rory, do you actually have a prank planned? It was a year ago! I'm sorry."

She kept stuttering out responses.

Well, I didn't have anything planned right now, but now that I told her I did, it would be so lame if I didn't do something.

I made a mental note to think of a prank for Ruby when we got back home.

"Let's go shopping."

My head turned towards Yang. She was at the door, fully dressed up, and had a purse in hand.

"Yang, what?"

"I said, 'let's go shopping. It'll be fun!"

"Yang, you have to leave for Beacon tomorrow," I said.

"Even more reason to go now."

"Tomorrow, Yang."

"I know, I know, but hear me out. I need new clothes for Beacon, and you're bored. So let's go!"

I shook my head. "Nope, I'm not bored."

"You've literally been sitting on that couch for like an hour, doing nothing."

"I have not-" I paused thinking back to what I'd done in the past hour. I was sitting on the couch, then I did more sitting, and then a bit more. I think I got up to get some water.

Ah. I was sitting on the couch for the past hour, doing nothing.

"I got up to get water," I argued, though it came out rather weak.

"I never said you didn't get up, I said you were doing nothing. And you weren't. Come onnnn. What's the big deal?"

"There isn't a big deal. Ask Ruby."

"I'm," a voice came from the top of the stairs. Out of nowhere, Ruby jumped down the staircase, making a loud 'thump' sound, "already coming!"

"Rubyy, convince Rory to come with me. Pleeeease. It'll be boring if it's just you," Yang whined, grabbing onto Ruby's sleeve.

"Hey!" Ruby yelled.

"Hehe, sorry," Yang said, rubbing the back of her head.

Ruby shook her head and turned to me. "Rory, pleeease come? If you don't come, Yang will annoy me about how I wasn't able to get you to come, and that'll be reaaaaly annoying."

"Hey!"

Ruby smiled, apparently proud that she got back at Yang.

"I swear," I said, rubbing my head. They were already giving me a headache. I wasn't in a particularly good mood either because I had to get my answer for the Roman thing in two days. Two days.

"Yang, don't you wear uniforms in Beacon? Why do we need to go clothes shopping?"

"Ugh, you just don't understand." Yang took a deep breath. "Well, you see, first of all-"

"Stop," I said. Yang turned to me. "Just stop. I'll come. I don't want to hear whatever explanation you spent the last two nights coming up with, only to spend even more time arguing with you and then coming along at the end either way. I'll come."

"I didn't do that," Yang whispered under her breath, making a face.

"Great! See, Yang, I told you I'd be able to convince him! Rory, quick, get ready."

"Right, right," I said, getting off the sofa.

I headed upstairs, and went to my room, closing and locking the door behind me. I pulled out a pair of new clothes that I'd bought around two weeks ago, a pair of black pants and a striped t-shirt – which I also hadn't used at all yet – and slipped them on. They looked good enough, I thought.

Once I reached downstairs, I saw the door was open, and Ruby and Yang were standing outside, waiting. I stepped outside.

"I'm ready!" I called out to get their attention.

Yang and Ruby turned to me. They waved at me, and I picked up my pace a bit, getting to them faster. Yang put her hand on my shoulder.

"All right," Yang said, putting her scroll back in her pocket. "Let's go."

Bonus – 1.2 (Non-canon)

I sighed in relief, taking my hands off my keyboard. Finally, I was done. That had taken way longer than it was supposed to have taken. I looked at the document on the screen in front of me, a proud smile on my face.

Death Note: Volume 1

It was written completely with words, with no pictures involved. Writing I could do, but drawing was another thing. I couldn't draw for my life. It didn't matter if it was digital or on paper, I just couldn't do it. And I didn't want to spend hours of my time learning either. The system increased my rate of learning by a lot, but it wasn't to where I wouldn't have to put any effort into it.

I printed the pages of the novel and held them in my hands. It was only the first volume, so it wasn't too long, but it covered the first part of the show pretty well, I thought.

I'd go see a publisher tomorrow.

The Next Day

"This is amazing! How did you come up with this?" the guy in front of me asked.

Neat thing about that – I didn't.

"I don't know, the idea just came to me, I guess," I said.

"Well, this is amazing!" he said.

"So does that mean I can get it published?"

"Yes, of course. I assume you want this to be published under your name?"

Yeah, no. I would rather not get famous off another person's work.

I shook my head. "No. I think I want to go under a pen name. That's fine, right?"

"Yes, of course. Many authors do that. What would you like it to be?"

"Umm."

"You don't have to choose now, of course. There's still a lot of time."

"No, it's fine. I thought of a name," I said. "Tsugumi Ohba."

It was the name of the original person who wrote Death Note. It was the least I could do.

"Hmm, odd name," he muttered under his breath. "Okay, I'll put it under the process. Thank you for working with us!"

I nodded respectfully.

I couldn't wait to see the reactions to this.

AN: This was a bit of a filler chapter, besides the conversation with Roman. Also, I added the second part to my bonus chapter. I'm not really sure where to go with it, but I'll just try to add various reactions to the work from different characters.

That's it. Bye!