Chapter 1: The Bargain

Taylor was tired from his long day at work. He was tired of his boring life. He wished he could get some excitement. The closest thing he got to exciting was a weekly D&D session with his friends, if they could remember to get together. Hell, he even tried to join the military to escape the mundane. Sadly, he didn't stand up to inspection. He didn't even get past the recruiters. His last thought as he closed his eyes for bed, 'I wish things could change.'

'Be careful what you wish for'. Said a mysterious voice.

Taylor was fairly certain he was alone in his house, and so the strange voice was quite concerning. Concerned went straight to terrified as he opened his eyes. He was no longer in his house. Sitting up he was on a weird teal platform surrounded by strange swirling colors. The best way he could describe it was some weird, between dimensions type of ordeal.

"Your right on the money actually." It was the same voice Taylor heard before.

It was coming from right behind him. Whipping his head around he saw the owner of the mysterious voice. To his surprise, it was a fairly average but good-looking man in a well-tailored suit. He reminded Taylor of Half-Life's G man, if he were younger. Despite his appearance Taylor was certain he was anything but human.

"Also correct." Said the Man with a smirk. Taylor realized he hadn't said anything yet. The man held up a hand as if to cut him off. "To answer your questions, yes I'm reading your mind, who and what I am is not important, and most importantly, I am not hear to harm you." Taylor raised an eyebrow and studied the man closely. The man placed a hand on his chest as he continued his speech. "I'm serious, you are safe. I am a recruiter; I have been hired to search for a suitable candidate for my employer." Taylor opened his mouth to speak but was cut off again. "I cannot say who my employer is, nor what they want with you. But again, no party involved wishes to harm you. Your task will be explained to you by her, and she will train you in your task with utmost care. Now I am merely here to judge your qualifications, if your suitable I will take you away to begin your new task. if you're not, you will be returned to your bed, with no harm and no knowledge of this conversation."

Taylor spoke for the first time in this conversation. "Do I have the option to decline?"

The man sighed, "I prefer to reach an agreement, but should you prove suitable I have been instructed to be…. insistent."

Taylor finally stood up and eyed the man before speaking, "I wouldn't expect a person to be candid in your position." This seemed to catch the man off guard, as he tiled his head and then chuckled to himself.

"Fair enough, and usually I am not. However, I find myself in a rare situation where my task is…straight forward shall we say." Taylor thought for a moment. He didn't trust this man or his claims, but he had been abducted from his bed, hell his dimension, in such a fashion that if this mysterious man hadn't spoken up, he may not have noticed. Combine this with the fact that he had been flat out told that he would not be given the option of leaving. No way to fight such a being, and diplomacy had been forbidden by hidden powers apparently. The only way out intact, as far as Taylor could see, was to play along and hope he liked the result.

He returned his attention to the Man in front of him and remembered he could read minds. Taylor waited for the man to respond. The Man looked at him expectantly. There was no scorn or negativity in the look he was giving Taylor. Was he being polite by allowing him to speak? Did he want or need to hear him say it? The man grinned and raised an eyebrow, he was listening but wasn't going to answer it seemed.

Taylor sighed and gave his answer. "Fine, let's get this over with, do I need to pass a trial or something?"

The Man smiled and shook his head, "Nothing of the sort, I merely need you to relax and clear you mind. It may be prudent however for you to resume sitting."

Taylor remained suspicious but did as he was told. The man nodded and moved closer, leaving about two feet between them. He then extended his arm. Taylor thought he was going to touch him, but he just outstretched his hand. Just as Taylor was wondering what he was doing, something hit his mind. It wasn't painful, but it didn't feel good. It felt like someone was fondling everything he ever had in his mind. Thankfully as soon as it happened it was over. It was a good thing he sat down; had he been standing he surely would have collapsed. Taylor was recovering when the man spoke aloud.

"Fascinating, not perfect, but strong potential. You're definitely a good fit." Taylor began to panic as the Man raised his hand and formed his fingers to snap them. "Relax, you'll wake up in your new life safe and sound." As he grinned, he snapped his fingers. After that it was black for Taylor.

Taylor groggily opened his eyes. After a moment of sleepy haze Taylor remembered the previous day's events. He shot straight up and quickly took in his surroundings. Prison wasn't the word for it, it was too well-furnished to be that. His bed was fairly nice, and there was a separate bathroom, not just a toilet in the wall. He had a closet and a desk. It looked more like a dorm room in all honesty. Satisfied with his surroundings, he checked himself to make sure the Man hadn't done anything to him.

Taylor nearly shit himself then and there. As he looked at his arms, he saw near bone white flesh with occasional veins of black liquid. He scrambled out of bed and ran to the bathroom in hopes of finding a mirror. Unfortunately, he found one, and what he saw in it only added to his terror. The Pale flesh crossed with black veins covered his face. Hs eyes were replaced with black orbs with tiny red dots at the center. His hair wasn't that different. It was still black, maybe a darker shade though. Taylor backed away from the mirror as fast as he could, falling on his rear and leaning his back on the edge of his bed. He could do nothing but take ragged breaths and try to make sense of what had happened. Just then the door opened, and someone walked in. Taylor was too busy panicking to notice.

"Well then, I'm guessing you're the new... uhm... 'foreign' arrival, correct?" said a new voice.

Taylor finally snaped out and looked at the new man before him. He was still in shock and fear but that didn't stop his brain from noticing something. Although he had the same skin and black veins as he did, something inside him said that he had seen this man before.

"My name is Arthur Watts, I'm just going to check you over and make sure you're in good health."

Watts? Watts? Where had Taylor heard that name? Watts interrupted his thoughts. He had knelt down and was now scanning him with some sort of device, in addition to looking him over visually. Taylor sat perfectly still. The device beeped and Watts pulled it away. He looked at it, fiddled with it a bit, then stood up and spoke.

"Well, you're in perfect health. There is an assembly you need to attend, but I understand this is a bit jarring, so I'll give you a few minutes to collect yourself. I'll be waiting outside the door, just step out when you're ready."

Taylor just nodded, Watts nodded in return and left the room. Taylor stood up and returned to the mirror trying to figure out that strange feeling in the back of his mind.

Just as he was about to leave it hit him. RWBY! That anime he loved. The man that just spoke to him was one of the villains. And both he and Watts looked like those fan art's that have RWBY characters as Grimm hybrids or something. It was outright crazy, but that's what he was seeing. He had questions but keeping the villains waiting was probably a bad idea. He straightened himself out as much as he could and exited the room. Outside the room was Watts, just as he promised. There was however another face as well. It took a moment, but Taylor recognized him as Tyrian Callows. He was a Grimm hybrid-thing as well. He didn't look as crazed as he did in the anime, but Taylor dared not assume anything.

Watts spoke first, "terribly sorry, I forgot to ask your name."

"Taylor" he said flatly.

Tyrian spoke next, "Are you settled, Mister Taylor?"

Taylor sighed as he answered, "Not really, but I'm good enough for, whatever is coming next." What Tyrian said next caught Taylor off guard.

"No need to be nervous Mr. Taylor, our…recruiter was sincere when he said you're not in danger. We're merely your guides, and there's nothing ahead except the introduction to this institution and a meeting with our ruling lady and principal Salem." Taylor couldn't hide his reaction to that name.

Watts called him out on it. "Your familiar with her?"

Taylor fiddled with his hands. "Yes, roughly but I won't say I'm knowledgeable about her. As for how, I suspect she and I will be discussing that before the days end." Watts nodded, seemingly satisfied.

Tyrian spoke up, "If there's nothing else, we risk being late for the assembly." With that the trio moved off.

The world Taylor found himself in seemed normal. As they passed windows, he saw nature had all the colors it should. The building itself was fairly standard. Nothing to give away its function and nothing threatening either. The only things wrong here were his skin and that of his guides.

Their destination was a small theater, kind of reminded Taylor of the one in his old school, but this one was smaller. As he stood in the doorway, he saw a small group of people standing before the stage. From what he saw they were all men, and they were all grimm. Some wore what looked like completely normal clothing, some seemed to be dressed for war, with armor and in some cases holstered weapons. He looked back at his escorts nervously, they nodded and urged him forward.

He hesitantly stepped forward. As he approached the rear of the group, he caught their attention and most turned to face him. Taylor froze, he wasn't good with people at the best of times. He just stood there. Some of his observers got bored and turned back toward the stage. Taylor made eye contact with one of the men still staring at him. He gave an extremely nervous wave. The man gave a slightly confused 'hey' wave in return, then turned back to the stage. Taylor remained at the rear of the group, keeping several feet from them.

After a while what everyone had been waiting for arrived. Salem herself, her appearance was not as intimidating as Taylor would have guessed. She was grimm as well but looked as she did in the lost fable flashback, with her hair freely flowing down her shoulders.

Salem, of all things, gave a speech. Based on what she said, Taylor gathered that he was in some sort of school. Specifically, he had arrived at graduation. Salem was thanking the group of men for their hard work. It was actually a nice speech, until she mentioned everyone being 'shipped out to the academies to fulfill their purposes.' That made him very nervous. When she finished her speech, there was brief applause, then a door opened to the side. As the group filed out Salem made eye contact with Taylor. She merely smiled and nodded at him; he returned a very nervous nod. She then turned and left through a door at the back of the stage. Taylor didn't follow the group out the door, and instead turned around to find his escorts. As he expected Watts and Tyrian were approaching him.

He went ahead and asked. "I'm guessing Salem wants to speak with me right away?" Both of them nodded. Taylor continued, "Alright let's get on with it then."

The walk to Salem's office was uneventful. The school was devoid of all life, Taylor guessed that everyone was at a graduation celebration. The school itself was entirely unremarkable. If it wasn't for the change in his skin suit, it would have been hard to convince he wasn't in his home country, let alone another dimension. This normality extended to the entrance to Salem's office. It looked fancy for a school. What Taylor would expect for a prestigious college. He stopped just in front of the door and turned to his escorts. Tyrian extended his hand in a 'go on in' gesture. Taylor took in a deep breath and walked in.

Again, the office looked normal. It was large but not huge. Most of the space was taken up by bookshelves and filing cabinets on either side of the room. In the center was Salem, sat at her desk, with a large window at her back. Her desk was nothing out of the ordinary. She had a computer and a bunch of paperwork cluttering her desk. That was what Taylor couldn't wrap his head around, everything in this world looked so normal…. except the beings inhabiting it.

Salem looked at him warmly. The atmosphere around her seemed to be welcoming. But how much did this Salem line up with the Salem he had pictured in his head.

"Please come in Taylor, have a seat." She gestured toward the two chairs in front of her desk. Taylor didn't speak but did as he was told. As he sat down, he realized something. He looked up at her and asked.

"How do you know my name? We've not spoken before, and I've seen neither Watts nor Tyrian text or call you." Salem leaned forward onto her desk, putting her hand to her chin. From her expression Taylor guessed she was choosing her words carefully.

"The 'recruiter' that brought you here shared his assessment of you along with some of what he found in your head." Taylor stiffened at this news.

"What did he tell you exactly?" Taylors mind went straight to the worst-case scenario.

"Not everything I suspect, but he shared most of the important details I think." She said she held her chin in her hand.

So, she didn't trust that man either. A potential ally should he try anything else, but could he trust her? Salem saw the look of concern on Taylor's face. She sighed and got up, moving to looked out of the window.

"Most importantly he told me about this... uhm... anime of yours." She spoke with a small amount of confusion.

Taylor did his best to hide his panic but failed. She turned back around, upon seeing his panic she raised both her hands in a sort of 'don't panic motion' and spoke quickly.

"I'm not the demon queen trying to destroy the world, my mission is to protect people not to kill them or corrupt them." Taylor was not calm per say, more so fear was replaced with confusion. Salem lowered her hands and explained.

"I'm not even ancient, I'm quite normal in this scenario, I'm not at war with anyone, and my husband Ozpin is just as normal."

Taylor was confused by this scenario. At least Ozpin was alive in this version of events, and if they really were normal, Taylor wasn't going to complain. Salem sat back down at her desk.

"Now you undoubtedly have a million questions, while we don't have time to answer all of them, I'm happy to answer a few." Taylor was still not 100% convinced, but after seeing and hearing her he decided it was worth a shot.

"Everything I have seen has been fairly normal to my surprise. Keyword here being everything"

Salem nodded, "Yes, well were not Grimm hybrids. We've always been like this. As to why, well we only have old legends to go on."

"The brothers of light and dark right?" Taylor interjected.

Salem nodded, "The tale is similar to what you've heard but the difference is with the brother's making peace by creating humanity together. The Light tried to reform his bother by showing him the joy of creation. So, he taught him how to make us. It worked but backfired."

Taylor was more than curious. "What do you mean succeeded but backfired?"

"After creating us he saw why his brother enjoyed creation and realized how cruel had been." Salem said leaning back in her char.

Taylor pondered it for a moment, the show did depict the brothers valuing their relationship. He supposed it could make sense. Salem continued, pulling Taylor from his thoughts.

"He stayed for a while, working to cover everything we needed and everything he thought we could ever need, then left in some sort of self-imposed exile. The light brother caring for his brother went after him to bring him home." Taylor thought a moment more, considering what he had heard.

"Are the Grimm still a thing?" Salem had to think for a moment but then she remembered something and spoke.

"Yes, they're still around. But there not hostile, the dark brother made sure they would help us before he left. Also, we don't call them Grimm, most just call them shades due to their black colors." Taylor nodded, made sense if they were both made by the same god. He spoke up again, figuring he should go ahead and fire off his question before she dismissed him.

"Are aura and semblances still a thing? Do I have them?" Salem's response was more immediate this time.

"Yes, your body was made to be the same as ours. We will train you to unlock your aura. Your semblance, so I've been told, should emerge shortly after that." Taylor couldn't help but feel a little excited, he was about to get superpowers!

"Can you tell me what it's going to be?" Salem's expression grew a little bit more serious, she also looked sideways as she answered.

"No, he just told me, it would be extremely powerful for you. Whatever that means." The question that popped in his head was potentially risky. But Taylor doubted he would get another captive audience.

"Do you trust the man, recruiter, whatever he is?" Salem maintained her seriousness as she looked straight on and answered.

"Honestly no, if circumstances were not so bad, I wouldn't even have considered his help. To answer your next question, if he tries to cause trouble for you, you can count on my full support." Taylor breathed a little easier, but the next question was already burning away all that relief.

"What circumstances?" Tension showing in his voice.

Salem took a deep breath. "Some sort of invasion, by what I'm not sure. Strange pillars covered in strange carvings fell from the sky one day. Where they landed, they created pools of light. From these pools emerged nightmares made of light. Their sole purpose is to destroy us, they attack and kill anyone they can, but leave the wildlife and landscape unharmed." Taylor interjected again,

"They sound a lot like the grimm." Salem thought about that for a moment.

"Ya, I guess you could say they serve as our version of the grimm."

"Does that mean you expect me to become a huntsman?" Salem shook her head.

"No, we won't force you, but you will be trained to fight." Taylor coked an eyebrow at this.

"We naturally birth more girls than boys. Plus, some of the smarter creatures of wrath, our term for the light grimm, have figured this out and specifically target men." Taylor filled in the rest.

"So, I need to be ready just in case, I see. Does this also explain why this small school has only men?" Salem looked a little embarrassed.

"Yes, we've had to take certain measures to maintain our population." Taylor finally put two and two together.

"And so, we come to why I am here." Salem gave an embarrassed nod. Taylor chuckled, it was absurd, but it could be so much worse.

"Okay, so what are you going to do with me now?" Salem seemed to relax a little bit, clearly, she was expecting this to go poorly.

"Well, the plan is simply to integrate you into society by enrolling you in one of our academies." Taylor gave a confused look.

"Judging by the speech you just gave I would assume school is out."

"I mean one of our higher education schools, think college or university." Taylor again looked confused.

"Am I suitable for such high-level stuff?"

"Well Watts will be tutoring you to determine that but the only things that you should have trouble with would be history and combat. Our science is a little bit advanced but hopefully that will not be a problem. Don't worry about magic those courses are voluntary."

"Well, that seems straight forwa…...wait." Taylor looked at Salem sternly. "Did you just say magic?" Salem looked a bit confused and nodded.

"Magic not a thing where you're from?" Taylor slowly shook his head and mouth as big of a 'NO' as he could. Salem thought a moment. "I'll have to mention it to Watts and Tyrion. Do you have any other questions?"

Taylor thought for a moment and nodded. "Have you chosen where I'm going to go?" Salem nodded and pulled up a picture on her computer and pulled it to where Taylor could see. It showed an extravagantly designed school. It was bone white, clearly combining high tech and magic. Taylor could only describe it as a work of art. The land however caught his attention more. It looked like the gimmlands from the anime

"This is Beacon academy, located in the cradle, where the dark brother resided before he left." Taylor remembered Beacon from RWBY, and Salem did as well based on her explanation.

"Here Signal is the academy for Vale. The cradle is our capital and Beacon is one considered the best academy there is." Salem said. Made sense to Taylor that the grimmland would be the capital/holy place for grimm people. Taylor was worried again though.

"I would repeat my concerns for my qualifications, but I guess wouldn't expect you to place me anywhere else."

Salem rose from her seat. "Correct, we have enough time for one last question I think" Taylor rose in response and nodded.

"Am I the only person from another dimension here?" Taylor asked raising an eyebrow.

"You're the first and you are essentially the grand experiment." Taylor nodded and scratched his chin.

"That about covers everything I think." He said, shrugging his shoulders.

Salem shook his hand before dismissing him "Welcome Taylor, Tyrian will escort you back to your room while I talk to Watts. Training won't start till tomorrow, so take the rest of the day to relax."

"Thank you, but may I make a request?"

Salem raised an eyebrow. "Depends on what it is but sure."

"I just want some information about the current world, some current affairs perhaps. I know I'll be learning history, but I'd like some information on the here and now." Salem's expression changed to an 'oh hadn't thought about that' look.

"Oh right, yes I will arrange for some reading to be given to you, and I'll make sure Watts covers some current affairs before you leave here." Taylor thanked her again and with that the meeting ended.

As Taylor opened the door and left Salem called Watts into her office. Tyrian escorted him back to his room. It was getting late when they arrived. Tyrian said he would be back in a little bit to give him dinner. After dinner Taylor sat in silence, contemplating his situation. It wasn't bad, but he could not bring himself to say it was good. Even if everything Salem had told him was true, he had been plucked from his world with little choice. It was also blatantly clear that he did not have complete control over his fate. Again, he saw no way out. The only hope he had of going home was that dammed man. Even if he could be trusted, he would doubtlessly demand payment, which Taylor was certain he could not pay. He would have to play along for now.

On that, he laid down and went to sleep. Hoping the future was not as bleak as he was imagining.