Journey of Micheal
Curse of the Grimmlord
Chapter 1
In the heart of Sanus, far south of the city of Vale, there is a forest filled with warped black trees with abnormal black leaves. This forest twisted due to its inhabitants, black creatures called Grimm. In the middle of this twisted forest is an unnatural beautiful field of roses surrounded by towering rock walls that are unclimbable. In this field lives a Grimm. Not just any Grimm, but a Grimm surrounded by smoke, a jet-black cloud thick enough to conceal its body. It looks up to the sky and roars, an eerie sound akin to a scream.
Earth (Dallas, Texas)
The morning sun pierces through the window curtains of a modest home. The rays of light illuminating the front bedroom of the house. This room contains a few things, a TV, gaming consoles, posters of video games, bed, etc. Then an alarm blares, a loud song resonating around the once silent room. A disgruntled groan emits from under a large blanket; the person had attempted to protect himself from the invading beams of light. "I need to stop staying up late," a soft voice tiredly mumbles as a hand appears from under the cover to grab the phone. With practiced ease, the hand taps screen, ceasing the sound interrupting his sleep without looking at the screen. Another hand emerges from under the blanket and pulls it down, revealing a small, thin, brunette-haired seventeen-year-old boy. This boy's name is Micheal, Micheal Canus Law, and he is waking up to an early Saturday morning. Micheal sits up on the bed, absentmindedly grabbing his phone to check the time. His slightly red eye looks at the screen to reveal it was seven in the morning.
The brunette groans and sneers at the time, "Only three hours of sleep…" he stretches his arms and slides his legs to hang off the edge of his mattress. "Well, just got to work with it," Micheal says in a chipper tone, attempting to pick up his spirits. He hops off the bed and looks at his TV, noticing something yellow stuck to it. He recognizes it as a sticky note and sees it has some writing on it. His slightly upbeat mood drops at the letter, have a displeasing feeling building in his chest at what it's going to say. But the illumination from the sun's ray wasn't enough to allow the thin boy to read the writing. He walks over to the door of the room where the light switch is, then presses the button. The sudden flash of light hurts his tired eyes enough that Micheal had to cover his eyes for a second to adjust. The brunette then walks over and takes the note of his television then glances at it.
The yellow note says, "Gone to play golf with friends from work, love dad," which results in a bitter and exasperated sigh from Micheal. And so, he suddenly found himself alone for most of the day. He closes his eyes and lets loose deep breath. "Dad is gone to play golf, mom is at work, lovely, I wanted to hang out today," he says as he roughly crumples the note and throws it in the trash. He then decides to take a bath to clean up and relax his mood. The brunette reenters the room fifteen minutes later, rubbing a towel through his damp hair with a content sigh. After he feels satisfied with his hair, he throws the cloth into his clothes hamper and grabs his phone. Then he quickly taps through the apps on the phone to text a friend of his. "Hey Alex, are you free to hang out today?" He types on his phone and sends it. A minute passed by before a beep alerts him that he received a notification. He looks at the alert and groans sadly at the message.
"Sorry man, I can't hang out today, I'm busy," the message says. Micheal's head lolls back, and he takes a slow disappointed breath.
'There goes my last chance to hang out with someone,' he muses despondent. The boy looks around the room, looking for something to do. He wanted to do something away from his house, not that he hated it. He just wanted to get out of the house and hated doing anything alone. He eyes his PlayStation 3 and sighs, unable to bring himself to play a game on it. He was utterly bored of all his games for now. Then he eyes the DVD shelf and the multitude of movies and shows on it. Micheal runs his finger across the labels of the cases, light brushing against the names. "RvB…, Naru…, DB…, Kung Fu…," the brunette mutters, unfortunately deciding on a movie marathon today, having nothing else to do. His finger stops on the case at the end of the shelf. The end label of the case was half black with four letters that spell "RWBY," and the top half had the portraits of four pretty girls. Micheal gives the show a fond smile; it was a gift from his friend who had given him some time ago to cheer him up. He shrugs as he pulls the case off the shelf and opens it; he grabs the CD and inserts it into his console. The PlayStation whirs on as Micheal grabs the controller and proceeds to sit on the bed. It takes a bit before the main menu of the show to appear. The main thing that catches his attention on the screen is the girl in red and black, the girl named Ruby Rose, a young girl dressed in a black blouse, and a black skirt with red trimmings, complete with a red cloak.
The hood of her cloak obscuring the top half of her face, but just enough of her unobscured face reveals her pale complexion. A tune is playing on the menu, to which the brunette recognized as "Red like Roses." Micheal decided to let the song play out as he found it a pleasant tune. It helps lift his melancholy mood of being alone for the day. Before he realized it, his mind began to wonder what it would be like to be on Remnant fighting Grimm alongside Ruby and her team. 'It certainly would be more interesting and fulfilling than life now,' Micheal muses. After the song ends, the boy uses his controller to select the option "Watch as Movie," on the menu.
The screen went black for a second before a picture begins to appear with a female voice beginning to speak. "Legends…" then it stops abruptly after the first word. Micheal stares at the screen for a second, waiting for it to start moving again before sneering annoyingly at the console. "You seriously have to freeze now," he groans, annoyed at the TV, getting up from the bed to restart his game system. As he leans around the console looking for the power switch, a roar resonates from his TV. Micheal had to cover his ears to deafen then sound back away from the television and console. He notes two things, the roar was almost like a scream and that the screen was pure black. He then sees that black smoke begins to emit from the device; a sense of fear and confusion start to build within him. Micheal eyes the door of his room next to the television and begins to bolt toward it. But before he can even make it a foot from his starting position, a giant black claw emitting smoke emerges from the screen and quickly grabs Micheal's legs. With a vigorous tug, the smoky black hand causes Micheal to fall forward and violently smash his head into the floor. The boy was too dazed from the impact to attempt to grab any nearby object to try and prevent the next action. In the next instant, the claw recedes into the TV along with Micheal. After the incident, that only lasted half-a-minute, the show begins to play like normal.
Remnant (Vale)
Micheal groans as his consciousness return to him; his head was killing him. As he became more aware of his senses, he felt three things, a heavy feeling against his back, the feel of cold concrete against his cheek, and a cramped feeling around his ass. The boy opens his eyes to find himself on the ground of an alleyway. At least that's what he surmises initially, his vision was still blurry, and all he could tell was he was in a narrow gap between two buildings. Though, as his eyesight clears, he is proven correct as the building became more defined and sharper. 'Where am I and how did I end up here?' Micheal questions in his head. He turns his head to look up and see the sky is dark like its nighttime. 'Why is it night time? How long was I out?' he inquires to he spots something huge and silver on his back, which was the heavy feeling he presumes. Micheal slowly pushes himself onto his feet and had to instinctively places a foot backward to prevent himself from falling backward, the sudden shift in weight, causing him to lose his balance. Then the boy feels a pressure on his chest and looks down to see what it is, to see a pair of leather straps across his chest held together by a metal buckle. Micheal, without thinking, unlatches the clip, and the object falls to the ground with a booming metallic clang, which resonates in the alley. The boy jumps in shock at the sound and quickly turns toward the object, no longer feeling the cramped feeling anymore. The mysterious item is an extremely thick and substantial, silver-blue shield.
The shield appeared to be around four and a half feet long and around six inches thick. Micheal reaches down and grabs the strap. He pulls the heavy guard up to stand on its bottom point. The boy guesses, using the weight of various objects picked up over the years as a gauge, the metallic object weighs around thirty to forty pounds. As Micheal moves a hand towards the edge of the oversized piece of protection to get a better hold, he then feels something pinching his skin. The boy immediately pulls his hand away, then looks at the source of his discomfort. He then sees the edges of the object were bladed; the blade edge was about two inches long. He then grabs the top because of his discovery and studies the rest of the shield. He sees a regular-sized defensive armament in the middle of the object, with the head of a white wolf embroidered on it. Micheal curiously reaches out and tries to pull the miniature, at least compared what it's attached to, shield off, only to figure out it won't budge. He decided that it probably wasn't meant to come off and lays off before he breaks it. Under the small shield is a sheath-like object that extends from the bottom to the top. Then as he looks at the top of the shield, he sees a brown leather handle coming out of the shield. The boy grabs the handle and pulls, revealing a single-edged sword the same color as the shield. The blade in question looks to be about four feet long in total and quite substantial itself. Micheal muses it was probably a good seven pounds.
'So, a sword and shield weapon, the shield doubles as a sheath, but why is the shield bladed? Also, why do I have a weapon on me?' He internally questions as he sheathes the blade. As he pulls his hand away, his fingers brush against the pommel of the handle, separating it from the grip an inch, revealing a blue rod attaching the pommel and handle. Curiosity getting the better of him, he pulls on the end till it stops, and a click emits from the grip, extending the handle an extra two feet. Micheal guessed that was the full length of the handle, though wonders why he would need to lengthen it. The sounds of mechanical whirring could be heard emitting from the shield, make the boy raise a curious eyebrow. Then in the next couple of seconds, the weapon transformed and catching the boy off-guard. The shield splits apart, and the sheath-like object extends, jabbing into the pavement with enough force to crack it. The sides of the shield spin down the sheath, reattaching and locking at the end. Micheal's eyes were wide in a stupefied surprise at the current situation, suddenly finding himself five feet in the air before falling forward and smashing face-first into the ground. "Ow," Micheal groans, getting up and rubbing his face. He sees that the weapon has transformed from a shield and sword into a giant ax. The boy presses the pommel back into the hilt of the armament. He watches the weapon convert back into its previous form. Micheal flips it around, reading himself to strap it onto his back when he finally notices a pair of metal latches holding a rectangular shape section of the armament. The boy places the weapon against the wall and reaches down to unlatches the segment. They fall open to reveal a compartment holding four vials of a colored substance held there by clamps; there two red, purple, light blue, yellow bottles among the two chambers.
Micheal grabs one of the vials, a red one, and extracts it from the clamp to study it closer. The substance in the vail upon closer inspection looks like sand. It seems oddly familiar to Micheal. 'Is this Dust? It can't be,' the boy muses, confused at his discovery. It would be ridiculous, that would mean he's in Remnant, but that would be absurd. 'RWBY is just a show, a work of fiction. It can't be real; this is just some colored sand.' Micheal tries to reason with himself for a few minutes before sighing in defeat. He places the vial back in the compartment and closes it, then straps the shield onto his back, feeling an odd cramped feeling again, but chalks it up to the protective instrument pressing tightly against his rear.
He then proceeds to exit the alley. Upon exiting the alleyway, he looks around to see an empty street lined with many closed shops. Micheal frowns uneasily at sight of this unknown street. 'Seriously, where the hell is this,' he questions in his mind, fear building in his heart. The mystified boy looks to both his left and right in a vain attempt to recognize something familiar to tell him where this place is. Micheal shakily runs a hand through his hair. Then, his face contorts into one of confusion as he feels a fuzzy feeling on his head. His fingers grope the spot above his head where the fuzzy feeling was, getting a better feel for the thing in question. He felt a pair of furry ears on his head. Micheal dashes to the nearest store window to look at himself and utterly stunned by his appearance, his new appearance. The first thing he sees is the animal ears on his, wolf ears to be exact. 'I'm dreaming,' he then reaches and roughly tugs on his new ear, attempting to take them off like they were a prop. He lets go as a sharp pain shoots from his ear. "Just glued to my head, that's all," he denies to himself, despite the small part of his mind telling him otherwise. He studies himself again; the ears were grey, a shade called timberwolf, and about three inches long. His hair is the same color as his ear as well; It went down but not past his shoulders. His hair mostly flat except a few strands that spiked forward in front and is combed straight in the back. He notices his eyes now have heterochromia; one eye is ivory and the other blue with a silver tint.
In the reflection, the boy sees he is wearing different clothes, and his body is different than before. His body is more muscular than before, but not overly muscular. He notices then he appeared to be taller than before, but not be much; if Micheal had to guess, he would be about at the height of 5'4, something that didn't appease Micheal. He is wearing a grey t-shirt with grey and black cargo pants and a black windbreaker jacket with a hood and grey insides, the last thing he sees on his upper torso is a silver necklace with a silver Beowolf head on it. Looking down, the boy sees a pair of grey and black wide-toe shoes. Then he sees a sign of movement behind his legs, moving his gaze to see a long bushy tail that same color as his tail. 'That would explain the cramped feeling I've been experiencing,' he muses himself to an accepting tone as the tail suddenly slowly sways left to right. He looks at the window again to see his acknowledging face.
'I'm no longer human…, so now what? Does this mean I'm a faunus and I'm in Remnant?' he muses to himself, an internal fight if his mind, one side telling him he's in Remnant and one side telling him this is one compelling dream. Then he felt the new ears twitch as a crashing sound pierces the night air. Two things cross Micheal's mind, the usual curious thought of what that sound was, and should he investigate. 'It doesn't involve me whatever it is, but…' he stops to look around at the unfamiliar streets. 'I don't know where I am, and let's say that I am in Remnant for a second, where the hell can I go? I don't have anything, no money or a home to go to, so what can I do other than wander meaninglessly till morning or something else?' He muses and takes a second to deliberate to himself on his plan. Then he takes a deep defeated sigh, knowing he has no other options, and then bolts toward the source of the sound.
Outside "From Dust till Dawn"
After some running, Micheal found himself just down the street from the disturbance. As he got closer, he hopes that it was a car crash, as bad as that sounds, or someone dropping something, something that involves people. He then sees the source of the disturbance, a brawl in the street involving a group of older men in suits wielding various weapons surrounding a pretty young girl in black and red with black hair with red tips wielding a giant red scythe planted in the ground. This young girl, while concentrating on the thugs with a smile on her face, was facing his direction. He could see her luminous silver eyes. The now turned wolf faunus freezes in absolute shock at the sight of the young girl, having recognized her immediately. 'Ruby Rose,' he acknowledges in his head. He gives another defeated sigh as he must officially admit he is in Remnant, in RWBY. Though one good thing, having recognized the scene in front, it means he's at the beginning of the show before Ruby went to Beacon.
Before he could ponder more on this situation, he sees one of the thugs charging Ruby, attempting a strike with his red katana. The brunette deftly dodges the attack and, pushing herself above her beloved weapon, swings her lower body and kicks the man in the face, sending him away from her. Micheal then turns his head to see two more of the men reading their attack, one raising his sword and another pulling out a rifle. The wolf faunus glares darkly at the men; his mind made up before any other thought came to him. He is getting involved in this fight. He unstraps the shield from his back and straps onto his arm, tightening the straps tight and grabbing the handle. He charges forward, drawing the sword from the shield. He moves his shield in front of his face as he was a couple of feet from the men. One of them shouts a surprised and confused, "What the hell?" But before he could react, Micheal slams into the man. The thug smashes into the ground with a resounding crack. The wolf faunus turns to the other stunned man and thrusts his sword into the thug's stomach; the heavy sword plunges through the man with a wet squelching sound. Micheal could see the man's eye widen in horror and pain as he realizes what is happening. The boy pulls his new weapon out of the gangster as he fell over, holding his stomach. The wolf faunus turns to the other man, who was unsteadily trying to get off the ground. Micheal eyes the bladed edge of his defensive armament and raises the large object into the air. He places a foot on the man's back, pushing back him back to the ground, then viciously brings the bottom of the shield down on the back of the criminal's neck, separating it from his shoulders.
Micheal pulls his shield from the corpse and sighs in relief, then hears a click. Micheal head jerks up in surprise and quickly turns around, raising his shield. He turns in time to block dust rounds from another thug, the shots harmlessly bouncing off the armament with multiple high clinks. Then Micheal hears a loud cry of pain from the other side of his defensive tool. The wolf faunus chances a look as he slowly shifts the shield from his field of view. He sees the thug groaning on the ground with a shallow gash on his back with Ruby above him, her scythe having a bit of blood on the tip. The brunette gives the grey-haired boy a worried and curious look, though her eyes did uneasily wander to the body at the wolf faunus' feet. She wasn't expecting help but was still thankful for it. Micheal gives a thumbs up and a comforting smile. Ruby sighs in relief, nodding and returning the smile with a warm one. Then she turns, Micheal mimicking her action, to the last of the criminals. A sharply dressed man in a white suit and a black bowler hat, with a head of orange hair. Micheal recognizes the man as Roman Torchwick, and the wolf faunus must admit, he has flair.
He sighs exasperated and shouts, "Well, you two, I'm sure this has been an eventful evening, but this is where we part ways!" He raises his cane, popping the cap of the end, then fires a large dust round at the duo. Ruby jumps out of the way as Micheal just raises the shield again to intercept the oncoming bullet. The round impacts on his armament, causing an explosion and pushing the wielder back a few feet, Micheal's feet digging grooves into the ground as he slid. 'Thank gosh, I have this shield,' Micheal says to himself. Then he moves his shield to see the man climbing a ladder to the roof.
"You okay if we go after him," Ruby asks the elderly shopkeeper. The man answers with a low "Uh-huh," and then duo chases after Roman. Ruby simply jumps, firing her weapon below her to propel herself to the roof. After strapping the shield to his back, Micheal climbs the ladder, as he lacks the brunette's method, and had placed his sword in his teeth to free both hands. As he reaches the roof, he grabs the sword from his mouth and straps the shield to his arm, then stands by Ruby. Then a hovercraft appears behind the man, and the criminal quickly hops on. He then turns towards the duo with a smug expression.
"End of the line, Red, and Grey!" he shouts as he throws a red crystal at the duo. It lands in front of the pair. Micheal shifts his shield reflexively, and Ruby dashes to get behind it as Roman fires at the colored gem. Then before the dust round hits the crystal, a person appears in the blink of an eye, seemingly just teleported there, appearing in front of Ruby and Micheal. Then a resounding boom pierces the air, followed by a flash of red illuminating the roof like a firework. A thick cloud of smoke obscures their vision for both the duo and the criminal. The pair could hear joyful laughter coming from Roman, apparently assuming he killed them.
The red and grey duo look around the shield to see an attractive older woman in front of them; A fading purple barrier, in front of her to their astonishment and Ruby's delight. Micheal recognizes her as Glynda Goodwitch. Glynda has blond hair tied into a bun with a curl going down the right side. Her eyes are green, and she wears rectangular glasses. The older woman wears a teal hanging earring with a small identical bead on her collar. She wears a white long-sleeved suit that showed some cleavage, and puffy sleeves that tighten at the wrist then spread out near her hands. On her lower body was a black business skirt with a vertical line of buttons run up the front and light brown-black stockings. She wears black boots with brown heels, and she wears a torn cape with purple on the inside and black on the outside, decorated by a row of diamond-shaped brown beads going horizontally along with her cloak. Glynda continued to intently stare at the ship, not acknowledging the two she just helped. The smoke clears, and Roman stops his laughing as he sees Glynda standing in front of the duo he tried to kill.
Glynda casually adjusts her glasses before raising her wand and swipes it toward the airship. Then multiple purple lights streak through the night air and hit the aircraft, causing it to slightly tumble a bit. The blonde woman then flicks her wand and raises her leg. This action results in another light to appear, but instead of striking the aircraft, it soared above the vehicle and created a black storm cloud. Glynda then stomps the roof with her boot and shards of ice-like projectiles rain upon the hovercraft, resulting in more tumbling. Then the doors on the side of the craft open to reveal a woman in a red dress and glass heels, but her face almost entirely obscured in the shadow of the compartment she is standing in except for glowing golden eyes. Then glowing orange lines appear on both arms as she maneuvers her arms, flames emitting from her hand, and leaving a trail in their movement. Then the woman in red sends a small fireball at the Glynda, which flew at a startling rate. The blonde woman summons another purple shield, which the fireball impacts and spreads a glowing residue in the immediate area. The silhouetted woman raises her hand, and the roof under the blonde's feet began to glow. She deftly flips away from the attack and farther from the airship as it explodes in a pillar of light. Then as soon as she recovers from her maneuver, she makes a gesture with her wand, the debris from the explosion clusters together, forming a glowing violet spear. The spear soared through the air at the aircraft.
Micheal remembers the dust vial in his shield, thinking, 'I wonder if I can use dust as they can?'. The glowing-eyed woman responds by sending a trio of fireballs at the projectiles. The balls of fire shattered the attack, only for it to quickly reform and continue its previous assault. The airship tilts to the side, resulting in the attack to scrap along the top of the craft. The debris split into three lines of purple light snaking through the air toward the aircraft. Micheal ponders how he would use the dust, unsure whether it could do it with his sword or shield. He settled on the defensive armament since the bottle was inside it. The wolf faunus aims his shield toward the craft, thinking of sending a fireball at the plane. The small shield glows red and flames emit from it for a second before fizzing away. Micheal sighs, expecting that, although he was amazed it even glowed at all. He stares at the airship to see the woman's eyes on him, though he couldn't see her face, he could feel her giving him an amused look. She then points her flaming hand at him and sends a trio of fireballs at the faunus. Micheal raises his shield to block the oncoming attack, hoping his shield would just absorb the attack. The small shield glows purple as the attack hits the shield. Micheal didn't feel the impact of the assault and looked around the defensive tool to see the little shield was glowing a mix between black and orange. Micheal could feel the woman in red giving him a curious look. Then the airship began to pull away.
The wolf faunus sighs disappointed as Ruby fired off a few rounds from her transformed weapon. He wanted to help more. 'Should have grabbed one of the firearms the thugs had,' criticizes himself. Then before he could do anything else, a whirring sound resonates from his shield. He looks at the oversized object curiously, wondering why it was doing that. At that instant, a giant fireball erupts from the armament, the sudden force of the attack sent Micheal flying backward onto his back. The new fireball streaks through the air and crashes into the bottom of the aircraft. The strength of the impact causes the ship to bounce in the air sharply. The wolf faunus tried to get up, and before he could, another force had jerked him back, like someone throwing him backward. Then a second later, after being thrown, an immense amount of heat erupts in front of him. Them Micheal looks up to see the aircraft flying away and scorch marks on the roof. The wolf faunus slowly gets to his feet and stares at the other two on the roof. He sees Ruby gleefully staring at Glynda.
"You're a huntress, can I have your autograph?" Ruby asks eagerly. Micheal sighs in response but smiles at the eagerness. Glynda orders the duo to follow her, which they obeyed. As they followed the blonde woman, the brunette walks next to the wolf faunus with a small smile. "Thanks for the help earlier, it was also neat the way you sent that fireball out of your shield," Ruby says.
"Thank you," Micheal says shyly.
Interrogation Room
After some time, Glynda led the two into a cliché interrogation room with concrete walls, a single table, a trio of chairs, a wooden floor, and a single overhead lamp. As of right now, the duo sat in the room alone, waiting for someone to enter. Ruby looks downtrodden at the prospect of sitting in this room. Micheal fidgeted a bit in his seat, nervous at what was going to happen. If he remembered right, Ruby is eventually going to receive an invitation to Beacon for her performance. 'What will happen to me, though? I don't think I showed much skill to receive an invitation as well, but I need too. I don't have many options available to me for a place to be. Well, there is the White Fang technically, since I'm a faunus, but no, that is not an option, I refuse to work with them,' he worryingly muses to himself, anger seeping into his thoughts at the end.
"Oh," Ruby moans somberly. "Why am I here? I didn't do anything wrong."
"Well, you did destroy a shop," Micheal comments, looking at the young girl.
"I didn't mean to, it just happened, I was just taking down some bad guys," Ruby defends herself, turning toward the wolf faunus. Then she gives the wolf faunus a curious look.
"What?" Micheal inquires with a raised eyebrow.
"Nothing, you just look like a wolf faunus," Ruby says.
"Is that a problem?" Micheal asks, confused at the comment. 'Why would it be a problem? Is there something wrong with being a wolf faunus?'
"No, I think you look cool, even the heterochromia is neat, what's your name by the way? I'm Ruby Rose," Ruby says with an admiring smile. The wolf faunus blushes at the compliment.
"Micheal Canus Law," Micheal answers, holding out his hand. He couldn't help but be amazed that he was here talking to Ruby Rose. Then the wolf faunus found it even more astonishing when said girl's hand wraps around his, feeling the warmth of it. The two proceed to shake hands politely.
"You have a middle name," Ruby says inquisitively.
"Is that also a problem?" The wolf faunus inquires again, slightly annoyed.
"No, it's just rare for people to have them, that's all," the reaper remarks. Then the door to the room opens, the duo looks towards it to see Glynda coming through it. The older woman was holding a slime grey device in her right hand. She gives them a curious smile before becoming stern.
"Well, I see you two are getting to know each other a little better," Glynda says as she walks behind the duo, opening her device to show various colorful square, but Micheal couldn't see much else. "But I hope you realize your action will not be taken lightly, young lady, you put yourself and others in danger," Glynda says sternly, like a mother reprimanding her child.
"They started it!" Ruby defends herself, her voice rising a bit.
"And you," the older woman eyes the wolf faunus, anger seeping into her green orbs. Micheal cowers under the glare, trying to make himself as small as possible. "The way you used Dust tonight was irresponsible, why did you not align your shield with the aircraft before you fired that fireball? Do you have any idea what could have happened if your attack missed? What if it hit a civilian building filled with people?" Glynda chastises harshly. She succeeded in making Micheal feel terrible in his decision of trying to use something he had no experience in that he couldn't make a retort. He mentally decided not to mention he wasn't expecting it to fire at all, having a feeling it would make things worse. The wolf faunus looks down, not wanting to meet the woman's angry eyes, feeling his new animal ears flatten to his head. "If it were up to me, you two would be sent home with a pat on the back…" she stops in front of the table. Ruby looks up eagerly at the older woman. Micheal's ears pick up, and his tail begins to wag slowly. Glynda then turns her head towards the two. "And a slap on the wrist," she finishes her statement, slapping her wand on the table. Ruby yelps in surprise and jumps into Micheal's lap, her arms around his neck. The wolf faunus eyes went wide in shock at the sudden action, unable to process a proper response to the movement for a second. Then he gives the young girl a quirked eyebrow.
"Comfy?" Micheal asks teasingly. Ruby jumps slightly and blushes at her current position.
"Sorry," the brunette mutters, meekly and embarrassed, quickly getting back into her seat.
"But… there is someone who would like to meet you two," Glynda says, nabbing the duo's attention. At that moment, the door to the room opens to reveal an older man in a green suit with small glasses on his face. Micheal immediately recognizes him as Ozpin. He has a plate of cookies in one hand and a coffee mug in the other.
"Ruby Rose," Ozpin states calmly, eyeing her first. He then leans in closer, into the young girl's eyes. "You…" the older man says slowly. "Have silver eyes," he finishes after a second pause. Ruby leans away, obviously comfortable.
"Um…" was Ruby's only response, in a tone of awkwardness equal to her mood. The older man stands up straight and places the plate on the table. Then his eyes fall upon Micheal, and he gives him a curious look like he was studying a particularly bizarre object. He blinks and hums as he examines the young faunus in front of him.
"A wolf faunus with grey hair," Ozpin says silently and absentmindedly.
"He could just look like one," Glynda comments as she eyes Micheal carefully.
"Maybe, but the resemblance is uncanny," Ozpin concedes.
'Why is being a wolf faunus such a sin,' Micheal muses internally. Then the wolf faunus shifts unnervingly under the man's gaze, feeling uncomfortable. "You're making me very uncomfortable, sir," he says politely.
Ozpin relents his gaze from the young faunus with a polite "Sorry," before taking a sip from his coffee mug and takes a seat at the table. Glynda stood behind him and then taps the screen of the device, and footage of the earlier scene plays on it. "So, where did you do this? He nods toward the recording on the screen.
"S-Signal Academy," Ruby answers shyly.
"And you," Ozpin inquires, turning toward Micheal, the footage showing him killing the two thugs.
"Self-taught," Micheal answers honestly. The older man raises a curious eyebrow as his eyes drift toward the screen as the young faunus' shield fires a fireball out of it.
"Well, if I may make a statement, I find it disconcerting that a person your age is so comfortable with taking a life," Ozpin comments in a somber tone. Micheal couldn't meet the older man's piercing eyes, looking toward the wall away from the group, as he sighs sadly and frowning.
"Not something I'm proud of, I can do it, but I don't enjoy," Micheal says quietly. He could feel the older man's gaze lingers on the young faunus for a second, analyzing his answer more than likely. Then the wolf faunus feels the man's gaze shift away from him, sighing in relief.
"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" Ozpin asks Ruby.
"Well... One teacher in particular," the brunette says, eyeing the plate of cookies hungrily, the older man gesture with a hand for her to help herself. Micheal turns his head to see Ruby stuffing her mouth with eager haste. Ozpin gestures for Micheal to have some himself. The wolf faunus gives the older man a nod in a silent gesture of thanks. He only grabs a single cookie and begins to neatly eat it, contrasting heavily to the brunette's recklessly shoving cookies in her mouth.
"I see…" Ozpin says in a knowing tone. "It's just that I've only seen one other scythe-wielder with that skill before, a dusty old Qrow," Micheal could pick up a small amount of amusement in the older man's voice as if expecting a response to the statement. Ruby tries to speak with her mouth full of cookies, but no one could understand her. She then quickly swallows the contents of her mouth.
"Sorry," she says meekly. "That's my uncle Qrow; he's a teacher at Signal," excitement and adoration seeping into Ruby's voice as she spoke. "I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing, and now, I'm all like Hooowaaah! Hitchaaaa!" she then starts doing karate poses. Micheal chuckles at the adorable sight in front of him.
"So, I've noticed," Ozpin says as he places his mug on the table. His eyes then shift to settle curiously on the faunus in front of him. "So, what made you desire to train yourself for combat like this?" The question sent the wolf faunus' brain into overdrive, trying to develop a reasonable story he could use. A thought came into his mind after a second, and it would have to be something he has to work off. It wasn't much, but it was the best he could do now.
"Well…" he stops for a second, trying to put enough emotion into his voice. "I don't have a home, so I originally trained to defend myself just in case I ran into trouble, then I thought if I helped people, it may impress someone and put me in the position to find a home if that makes sense," Micheal explains.
"You don't have a home?" Ozpin comments questioningly. It wasn't until the older man mentioned it, that the realization of his position hit him aking to someone had just smacked him with a club.
'I don't have a home,' he comments slowly to himself. "I don't want to talk about it; it's not an easy subject," he mumbles to himself. He scratches the back of his head nervously, looking down at the desk. He could feel the others' eyes stare at him intently for a second before breaking away.
"And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?" Ozpin asks Ruby. Micheal picks his head up to listen in, pushing his problems to the side for the moment.
"Well…, I want to be a huntress," The brunette replies.
"You want to slay monsters?" The man in green asks.
"Yeah, I only have two more years of training left at Signal, and then I'm going to apply to Beacon," Ruby answers. And as her enthusiasm grew, so did the speed of her speech. "You see, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a huntress, and I'm trying to become a huntress 'cause I wanna help people, my parents always taught us to help others, so thought 'Hey, I might as well make a career out of it.'" She giggles, "I mean, police are alright, but huntsmen and huntresses are just so much more romantic, and exciting, and cool, and really, gosh, you know," she stares at the two adults in front of her with a wide crazy smile. Micheal just smiles at her enthusiasm.
"Have you ever thought of being a huntsman?" The wolf faunus jumps slightly at being addressed suddenly. He turns to meet Ozpin's piercing eyes. Then the thought of being a huntsman crossed Micheal's mind as a valid option available to him and not just something he could fantasize about in his mind. Aspects of the career began to cross his mind; the thoughts of fighting Grimm were the most prominent. Images of him fighting creatures of darkness began to form in his mind. He knew it would be dangerous and frightening, but as he dwells on the prospect, he found it would be a better option than whatever was available to him. It would mean a place to stay a Beacon for a few years, a roof over his head. And after that, he could work and earn money to sustain himself. It was a far better option than staying on the streets, starving and waiting out here for something to happen. That's if Ozpin will even invite him.
"It has crossed my mind," Micheal says after a few seconds.
"Do you two know who I am?" Ozpin asks with faint amusement.
"You're Professor Ozpin," Ruby answers first.
"Headmaster of Beacon Academy," Micheal follows up after the brunette.
"Hello," Ozpin greets politely with a smile.
"Nice to meet you," the scythe-wielder replies, equally polite.
"Honor to meet you, sir," the wolf faunus says, holding out a hand. The headmaster shakes the faunus' hand in response. Ozpin then stares at them for a second, as if pondering something.
"You two want to come to my school?" He asks.
"More than anything," Ruby answers enthusiastically. Micheal gave the headmaster a mystified look.
"You're inviting me to Beacon?" Micheal inquires.
"Yes, it would provide you a place to call home for a few years and offer you a chance to make yourself one in the years after," Ozpin explains. Micheal wouldn't have a thought he would get invited, but now it has been presented.
"Then yes, I would like to attend sir," Micheal says earnestly.
"Well, okay," Ozpin says with a look towards Glynda, who grunts in response as she taps on the scroll. Ruby gives off an air of giddiness at the prospect of attending Beacon. Then the headmaster gives one last curious look towards the wolf faunus. "I'm sorry, I've forgotten to ask for your name," he comments.
Micheal sighs exasperated at the comment. Then he fixes himself and gives a polite smile, "My name is Micheal Canus Law."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Law," Ozpin says politely. Micheal responses with a smile and a nod. The headmaster looks at his colleague, who nods. Glynda opens the door and brings in a small rectangular silver case with a black handle; it looked awfully like a portable toolbox. The older woman places it on the table in front of Micheal. The wolf faunus looks at the presumed gift to him with a confused look. "This is for you to use as you see fit, you will need to make sure you have all the dust you need for Beacon's initiation, and please learn to use dust more responsibly," Ozpin explains.
'He had this ready for me, it's like he was going to invite me to Beacon from the start, I didn't think I made a strong impression unlike Ruby, so why did he invite me?' Micheal muses. He looks at the headmaster in the eyes. "Thank you for the dust, sir, and I will promise to use it better in time," Micheal says. Ozpin nods in appreciation.
Thirty Minutes Later
Ruby and Micheal walk out of the building into the lamp-lit streets of Vale. The wolf faunus ponders at his luck. He could only imagine, at best, an hour and a half has passed since he woke up in Remnant, and now, he was attending Beacon. This situation felt like a dream he was going to wake up any second now. But then came another problem, where is he going to stay till Beacon? Then Ruby's voice brought him out of his musings for a second.
"Hey Micheal…" she stops for a second to nervously, pondering her next sentence. Micheal looks at the younger girl next to him. "Do you have a place to stay for the night or until Beacon?" The wolf faunus just stares at her stupefied, baffled at the question. He wasn't expecting that in the slightest.
"It would be nice, I don't have anywhere else to go," Micheal says as images of him sleeping in an alley materialize in his mind.
"You can sleep at my place till we leave for Beacon," Ruby offers. The wolf faunus still looks at the brunette with a wide-eyed stupefied face.
"Really? Your parents won't mind a stranger staying for a night or two?" Micheal asks.
"Nope, dad would be okay with it since it would only be for a short time," the reaper informs.
"Well, I guess lead the way then," Micheal says with a grateful smile. Ruby smiles widely in return and then hugs the wolf faunus, happy to make a new friend. Micheal again was stupefied by the actions of the younger girl. He had to recognize his current predicament was not still a dream from the warmth of the younger girl's body against his. Micheal proceeds to hug the brunette back in thanks for a place to stay. He could feel his tail wagging vigorously behind him. After a few seconds, Rubby let go and proceeded to lead him away towards her house.
Xiao Long Residence
Micheal looks around into the dark woods nervously, wary they were going to be attacked at any moment. He was not expecting his new friend to live in such a location. The wolf faunus kept a hand on his new sword just in case. He had the uncomfortable feeling that they were being watched.
"Relax, nothing's going to happen, most Grimm tends to stay away from the house, and besides, we're almost there," Ruby says, reassuringly gesturing forward with a finger. Micheal turns to see a two-story log house. He had to admit it looks like a homely place to live. Ruby pulls out her keys and unlocks the door. As she opens the door and walks in, she shouts, "Yang, I'm home!" Her voice reverberates through the house. Micheal looks around the entranceway. It was a modest home with plenty of objects that enrich the cozy feeling from it. The wolf faunus' ears twitch at the sounds of footsteps rapidly approaching from down the hall.
"Oh, welcome back, little sis," a cheery voice says as a young blonde girl appears at the top of the stairs. Micheal immediately recognizes her as Ruby's older sister, Yang Xiao Long. Yang wears a tan vest with gold piping over a yellow, cleavage-and-midriff baring shirt with a black crest that seems to be a burning heart. Her jacket has puffy cap sleeves with black cuffs. On the sides of the cuff are small golden buttons. She wears a brown belt with a buckle, a pouch, and a small banner-like object. The same crest appears on this banner but is gold instead of black. Under her belt, she wears black short shorts, which in the back resembles a pleated skirt. Over the shorts and under the strap is a white, asymmetrical back skirt. She wears an orange infinity scarf around her neck, with no discernible jewelry. She wears brown, knee-high platform boots that looked like they are made of leather, with orange socks of different lengths. Her left leg also has a grey bandana-like object wrapped around the top of her boot. She wears black fingerless gloves underneath her weapons, which resemble two yellow mechanized gauntlets with a black design. She has long, messy blond hair, with a few strands sticking out and a small cowlick on top of her, which is lighter in color at the tips. She has a pale complexion and amethyst eyes. She flew down the stairs at such a rapid pace Micheal was stunned that she didn't trip down them. Then the wolf faunus came to a sudden conclusion that the picture on the DVD box didn't do Yang justice; in person, she is quite beautiful. The blonde runs forward and pulls her sister in a painfully tight bear hug. Then she notices the faunus outside the door. Her face becomes confused for a second before morphing into an amused one. Her eyebrow raises, and a cheeky grin forms on her face.
"Oh Ruby, what would dad say if he found out you brought your boyfriend while he was away?" Yang teases, resulting in a deep blush from both Micheal and Ruby. The younger sister tried to retort, but her words came out in unintelligible gibberish. Then the older sister's eye runs up and down the faunus at the door. Her face becomes more pleased, enjoying the view in front of her. "Well, I can say I'm pleased with your choice, he is good looking," Yang says as her grin widens. Micheal's blush becomes even darker, almost as red as the brunette's cloak. He was flattered, embarrassed, and surprised by the sudden course of events, he never thought of Yang flirting with him.
"Yang!" Ruby loudly whines as she separates from her sister. "That's not why I brought him here, and we're just friends." Yang continues to give her sister an amused look, obviously amusing doubtful. Micheal coughs, attempting to grab the older girl's attention. The blonde's eyes wander toward her guest.
"Yang, your sister, was nice enough to offer me a place to stay till we leave for Beacon since I didn't have a place to stay," Micheal explains. Yang's amused grin morphs into a warm smile as she waves for him to enter.
"Well, come on in, I don't think dad would mind," she says. Then her warm smile faded and was replaced by a stunned expression as she acknowledges the last part of the sentence. "We?" she says questioningly.
"Ruby and me were invited to Beacon by the headmaster before we came here," the wolf faunus explains. Yang's face immediately brightens in unadulterated excitement and immediately catches her sister in another tight hug, probably stronger than before from the brunette's pained expression.
"Oh, I can't believe you're coming to Beacon with me," Yang says excitedly. Micheal took this moment to slide into the house, closing the door behind him. All he could hear from the younger sister was low, pained grunts, trying to convey to let her go. As Micheal turns, he sees Ruby with a hand on her chest, inhaling deeply, refilling her empty lungs with much-needed air.
"I should properly introduce myself, I'm Micheal Canus Law," the faunus greets with a smile, holding out a hand.
"Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's older sister," the blonde greets equally politely with a warm smile, shaking hands with her guest. Micheal knew they we're half-sisters but gave them a curious glance between them, trying to convince them he was confused about their relationship. "Half-sisters, same dad, different moms," Yang clarifies. Micheal gives a noise and nod of acknowledgment. Then he sees the blonde eyes the shield on his back. "Why is your shield so big? And why is it bladed on the edges?" Ruby shares her sister's curiosity as she moves past her new friend to lock the front door. Micheal didn't know much about the armament much himself, but he had to develop something convincing to appease the two's curiosity. He was just going to have to wing it the best he could with what he figured out about it earlier. The wolf faunus places his dust case on the ground and then pulls the defensive tool from his back to display it fully.
"Because it doubles as an axe head," Micheal answers. Yang looks at the shield, confused, wondering how it becomes an axe. The wolf faunus moves to make sure he had enough for the weapon to transform safety and without damaging the house. "It has two forms, the sword and shield form you see now and…" he stops to pull the handle. In the next couple of seconds, his new and mysterious weapon has transformed into its axe mode. Yang and Ruby look at the axe in wonder. "The second form, is an axe form," the faunus explains as he returns the armament to its original form. "Also, the shield has two compartments that hold four vials of dust each."
"So, what's it called?" Yang asks inquiringly.
"I don't name my stuff," Micheal responds as he straps the shield onto his back.
"Give it a name, show your weapon some love Micheal," Ruby says as she locks the door with a click. The wolf faunus hums, thinking of a name for his new weapon, missing the brunette moving to stand by her sister. He has to think of something believable, both for himself and the sisters.
"Well…" he starts as he glances at the mysterious armament. "The type of weapon it is it will be called a Dust Blade and as for the name… Order & Chaos," he says as he returns his gaze towards the sisters. They give him a questioning look at the choice of name. "I call the sword and shield form Order for its defensive capabilities and Chaos for the axe form for the destructive power it has in its swing," he explains and then scratches the back of his head nervously. "Sorry, I'm bad at naming things and explaining things."
Yang gives a comforting smile and waves it off, "You're fine." She then proceeds to walk up the stairs and gestured for her guest to follow. "Well, since you're staying here, let's get you settled into the guest room." Micheal and Ruby then follow the older sibling, with Micheal in the lead. The blonde sister was waiting at the top of the stairs looking down at the duo. Micheal was making his way up the stairs sideways, due to the width of his armament. She gives a curious expression at the faunus. "That looks heavy," she comments.
"It is," Micheal responds.
"You must have a fair amount of muscle to wield it," Yang inquires interested.
"I have a bit," the wolf faunus says, slightly embarrassed.
"Really," the blonde says with a sly smile. As Micheal reaches the top of the stairs, he felt Yang's arms wrap around his neck. He glances up at the taller girl, to see her mischievous smile and couldn't help but blushes at the sudden closeness. "Maybe, you can give me a little peak," she teases. The wolf faunus stammers his words at the comment.
"I-I'm good," Micheal finally utters. Yang playfully pouts as she removes her arms from the embarrassed faunus. Then the wolf faunus felt a soft hand gently grab him and gently pulling him away from the blonde. Micheal turns to see Ruby holding his hand and leading towards the door at the end of the hallway. Ruby opens the door to reveal a modest room with a queen-sized bed with a nightstand next to it, a wooden dresser with a TV on top, and a closet along the far wall. Micheal silently sighs and enters the room, placing his stuff against the wall next to the door.
"If you need anything, just ask, and we'll come and get you when dinner is ready," Ruby says.
"Okay, and thanks for letting me stay here, Ruby," Micheal says.
"No problem, what are friends for," the brunette responds with a beaming smile. She then closes the door behind her. Micheal rubs his face and sighs again, this time melancholy in tone. He proceeds to sit down on the bed and looks around the unfamiliar room. 'Well… here I am, sitting in the guest room of Ruby and Yang's house, now apparently apart of what was supposed to be a show but now…" he looks at his hands and closes and opens them, feeling the muscles in his hands shift so distinctly. These past couple hours still felt like a dream, and yet the warmth of Ruby's hug and the lucid sensation of his muscles told him it wasn't. But as his mind began to ponder the reality of his situation, despite the issues he knew he was going to face, he couldn't help but feel a little excited to be here. His excitement did eat away his worry about the issues of money and clothes, among other problems, for the moment. So, he let the feeling overwhelm him till the time came to deal with those issues. He lifts his head and grabs the remote for the TV and turns it on. Ten minutes later, the door opens to reveal Ruby telling him dinner is ready. He follows his new friend down to the first floor to eat. He ended up having a pleasant time with the sisters, chatting about the prospect of attending Beacon.
After eating dinner with the sisters, Micheal went back to the guest room. He decides to look at the dust vials in Order in case they need replacing. He had a feeling he would need to do it as his shield did, unintentionally, launch a fireball. Micheal flips the armament over so that the back was facing him. Micheal unlatches and opens the compartments. He sees that two vials were only a little used, the red and violet. Micheal pulls the silver case over in front of him. Micheal sees the same symbol that is on the shield on the container: a white wolf head. 'Guess that's my symbol,' Micheal thought, confused at his symbol but accepted it, all the same,then he opens his new dust case. The case holds 12 dust vials of four assorted colors, three of red, yellow, light blue, violet dust. Micheal holds out his right hand with his palm open in front of him. Micheal thought of a little fire on his palm, seeing if he can do anything with Dust. He continues this action for a few minutes until he grew tired of the deed. The flame never came, and Micheal sees that the front of the shield wasn't glowing against the wall. "I guess I just got lucky," Micheal sighs and closed his hand slightly disappointed, but not surprised in the end. He decides to take out the dust vials and refills them a bit before placing them back into their compartment and then closes the compartments and dust case. Micheal turns off the TV and then lies down on the bed, deciding to get some sleep as he didn't have much else to do. Micheal initially lies down on his back, his favored sleeping position, but finds it uncomfortable due to his new tail. Micheal spends a minute trying to find a comfortable posture, finally settling on his stomach. He closes his eyes, and let's sleep overtake him. Before his mind drifts off, he smiles as he at least acknowledges he was in a stable position to earn a potentially good life and new friends to keep him company. So, ending the first night of his new life on Remnant and the boons and issues coming with it.
Author's Notes: So, this is the first thing I have written and put up on a site. This story took a lot of convincing to do with a little help from Monty (may he rest in peace) "Don't let self-doubt determine, what you should or shouldn't do. Just take the first step, even if it's a small one." I'm using this to improve myself as a writer in various ways, grammar, punctuation, writing character, etc. So, criticism is helpful regardless if it's spelling, punctuation, or maybe rewriting parts of the story because they are awkward to read or don't make sense, etc. I'm using Grammarly to proofread my work, though I may be too reliant at times on its decisions or suggestions. This story will follow the episodes to an extent but begins breaks off into my tale at "Players and Pieces." This story contains OCs, one starts at the beginning, and the other comes in the Emerald Forest.
Also, to note, this is the rewrite of the first chapter of the story and will work on the others as time moves on, and each one is still subject to editing if needed.
I've put rules/notes for myself for this story.
1. This story I just want to work on trying to make good characters and staying in character, with slight deviations when possible and will fit, with the OC and cast of RWBY and making the main Grimm a good villain. So, I need to pace the story somewhat slow for the sake of character interaction.
2. Try not to push characters to the side, especially not the main characters to the story.
3. Try to stay consistent with the current lore and setting of the series, same as number one, only make slight deviation when capable and will fit.
4. I thought about it for a few days, and I will make the main OC have a relationship with a member of Team RWBY. That will come later, though; I want to establish solid friendships first and then build into the relationship. Though who the main OC will have a relationship with, I haven't decided. I will admit a part of me wants to do a harem with team RWBY, but even that I would have to achieve. I want to earn these relationships and not start them right off the bat. Even when the relationship is going on, I need to work on making it a balanced one.
Also, note; some of the new creatures of Grimm in this draw inspiration from the monsters from Monster Hunter. This tale is not a crossover, so I do try to make differences, like offensive or defensive capabilities, but the overall body shapes are the same. The reason behind this is because I've recently been playing Monster Hunter and thought team RWBY fighting monsters from Monster Hunter would be cool. The OCs' primary weapons are based on weaponry from Monster Hunter, again changed up to fit RWBY more. So, I kind of need some help with descriptions because the Monster Hunter wiki doesn't help with physical descriptions. I have a tough time describing things. Though, I will try to explain to them myself. Also, if descriptions get a little bulky, I'm sorry, I'm just trying to make sure there is a clear picture.
Micheal's clothes are the type of clothes I like to wear. The jacket is the only kind of jacket I prefer to wear. It's light and comfortable, but impractical in heavy rain. It eventually gives way in the downpour but works well on windy days. His color scheme complied with colors I like and looks good together. Also, it goes with his middle name Canus, which is Latin for grey. The descriptions for the RWBY cast's clothing ripped from the Wiki, which can get reasonably bulky.
Micheal's weapon is the charge axe/charge blade from Monster Hunter 4. I did change it up a bit. From what I can tell, in MH4, I think the animation shows that there is some kind of switch on the weapon, which seems to be the back of the guard. I changed it to pull the bottom of the handle. The sword itself is pretty much a regular single-edged sword except for the handle. The charge axe, I like to call it the charge axe, I tried to describe is the first one, Elite Blade. If someone could explain it better, that would help. I'll still try to describe things on my own, but a little help would be kind.
I went through about five different weapon ideas for Micheal. A sword that transforms into a bow, the Gunlance from Monster Hunter without the shield, a flat lance that turns into a dust sword (not scrapped, just not Micheal's weapon). aA longsword or trident version of Myrtenaster, and a modified version of Squall's gun blade, Revolver (another idea that isn't scrapped just not Micheal's weapon, but still want to use it). I ended up with the charge axe because of how awesome it is in Monster Hunter.
P.S. I'm bad at making titles that sound good, and it may be subject to change in time along with the description.
P.S.S. I will make a warning now for people moving to the next chapter. I'm in the process of a significant rewriting of the first nine chapters of the story, updating them to where I'm at now in my writing skills and fix some issues. So, be prepared that the following chapters are going to be what I was writing when I first started this story.