A Cosmic Journey

A/N: Hello again, SE here. As promised, immediately following the first chapter are the potential storylines this first arc and story can take. Feel free to read just one, two or all three, and there's no specific order to be had. Again, if you decide upon a preference for which choice you'd prefer all are welcome to cast their vote in the poll on my profile, which will be up for two weeks. All reviews will also be taken into account and as always any favorites or follows are greatly appreciated. See you all at the A/N at the bottom!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, all rights are owned by Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum, R.I.P.

Chapter 2B: Door Number 2

Chapter Date: 08/26/19

poke…

"What are you doing to the poor kid?"

'…huh?'

poke poke

"Yes, I know he was twitching earlier, but that doesn't mean that he's close to waking up. He's probably got more bone fractures than years right now, give him his sleep."

'Wait…that voice…'

POKE POKE

"Oh for dust's sake, Neo!"

Of all the sentences in the world to be spoken, that one snapped my eyes open quicker than any other, just in time to see one chocolate brown and one strawberry pink eye staring right back at me.

"AAAAHHHH!" I shouted, trying to bring my hand up. "AAARRRGGGHH!"

Forgetting the state I was in before I clearly passed out, I spasmed on the couch as the searing agony of broken ribs and arm fractures caught up to me.

"Greaaattt, nice job, Neo. A screaming kid's exactly what I like hearing after a late night of patching said kid up. Oh wait, that's just you!" Hearing that voice again as my body attempted to restore order, I twitched my head to the left from its position on one of the armrests to look towards the source.

Backing away from me with a smirk was a diminutive yet well-figured girl, with a face seemingly halved in colors, the right having pink hair and a pink-colored eye, with the left having brown hair and a brown eye…no wait the eye colors just switched. Long white boots and a white tail jacket covered brown pants and a form-fitting brown corset that exposed the hips. Her hands were covered by black gloves, and one held a beautifully patterned parasol slung over her shoulder. Neo Politan bowed towards me mirroring the one she did in her first appearance in canon, smirk still firmly in place.

Behind her was the man I thought I heard. A white suit lined with red popped to the eye, black pants and shoes an afterthought. A gray scarf wrapped around his neck, and the head it was supporting possessed bottle-green eyes with a hint of black eyeliner, slightly covered by a fringe of orange hair. A bowler hat and very dangerous cane clinched the look, as Roman Torchwick sighed with his left hand covering his face.

"He returns to the land of the living. Sorry about that, kid. Besides having near-complete disregard for boundaries, Neo here loves trolling people." Roman threw a halfhearted glare at Neo, who was still smirking. "Anyways, I'm Roman Torchwick, though I'm sure you already gathered that from the news stories and wanted posters. This here is my lovely right-hand woman Neo Politan, and all of this, is one of our safehouses."

'Okay, this is fine, everything is fine. Just because two of the most popular characters in RWBY are in front of you living and breathing doesn't mean you lose your cool. Just greet them politely, and we go from there.'

"Uhhhhhhaahhhhhuhhhhhh…"

'Nailed it.'

"Yeeaaahhh, I'm not exactly sure where to go with that, it's normally either fear or rage. Or both." Roman commented, idly grasping his chin. I imitated the action and grasped at my face to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. "Oh, of course he wants to check his face, after having seen his body go through the wringer. Now those are proper priorities. Here."

Handing me a small mirror, I shakily grasped it with my less-injured hand and brought it to my face. Short black hair just shy of a buzz cut laid on my head, matching the dark limbal ring around the russet brown irises of my eyes. A straight-and-narrow nose matched with high cheekbones to give my face an angular feel. Even lips narrowed at the reflection, and I turned to the side to confirm the appearance of a birthmark next to my left eye. Most importantly, however, was the fact that this face was devoid of the hard-fought maturation that came from the hellish era of puberty. Filing away the boatload of questions my reflection garnered, I turned to look at Roman and Neo.

"Did you…save me?" I was able to string together words this time, as confused as I was.

"Yup, yours truly, and Neo, just added a little black to the ledger by saving you from death by Beowolf ravaging. Which, I'll add, is pretty far up there in horrible ways to go." Roman brushed off imaginary dust from his immaculate suit. "Anywho, now I've got another spot of black in what I'm sure is a sea of red at this point."

"Why?" I was honestly still baffled. 'I know he's not completely heartless, but he had no compunctions going after Ruby pretty hard whenever they met.'

"You'll have to be a teensy bit more specific on the why, kid." Roman answered dryly. "If you mean why Neo and I were on the edges of the Emerald Forest at the dead of night before Beacon's annual initiation, the answer's less terrible than the question sounds. We were just coming back from a heist a little ways out of Vale, and skirting the edges of the forest was the quickest and easiest way back to the comforts of home."

"As for why we, meaning I, saved you, not really sure. It could be that whatever sliver of a heart I've got beating left couldn't bear to see the sight of such a young soul being ripped away from Remnant. Or that seeing and hearing a person get torn to shreds by a Grimm on your way home kinda sours the evening. Maybe it's just curiosity that had me pluck you up, to get the scoop on what the hell you were doing out there."

"So," Roman finished, taking a cigar out of his pocket and lighting it, "How's a munchkin like you end up running around the Emerald Forest in the dead of night, fighting a Beowolf with no Aura, no training and no survival instinct?"

My head was working overtime processing every scrap of what Roman had said so far, but in line with my current size, I childishly shot back, "I think I was doing alright until the end there."

Taking a quick puff on his cigar, Roman chuckled as Neo, seated upon a desk across the room, silently giggled. "Kid, I'll give you props for not trying to run or just pissing your pants and dying right there. Believe me, those reactions are more common than you'd think. But doing alright, you were not. You got, what, maybe three hits, and I shudder to call them hits, in before the Grimm almost backhanded you into the afterlife. And here you are, all dinged up after one hit laid you out. You fight alright for a brat though, I'll give you that."

Roman suddenly snapped his fingers as his eyes lit up. "I just thought about it, I have no idea what your name is! Not that I particularly care or will be inclined to remember, but something tells me calling you kid and brat constantly won't sit well with you."

'Nonono, go back to calling me those, I don't have a name yet! Mine won't roll 'cause it's not a freaking color, so think. If Yatsuhashi, Bolin and Ren are proper names then going with something Japanese should pass as Mistralian. Alright, what name works as a color…?'

"I'm Kouzai." I tried to sound as sure of myself as I could, something that I desperately needed in spades right about now. 'I swear to God, if either one of them is fluent in Mistralian, I'm gonna kill someone! After they kill me for lying, of course.'

Roman's apathy must've been real however, as he merely nodded once and took another puff at his cigar. "You certainly look Mistralian. That begs the question of how you ended up at Grimm central, and where your sorry excuse for a family is."

' …He doesn't know that I've been separated from my family, very separated. Just play it cool.' I unclenched my fists from when I'd unconsciously flexed them. "I-, I don't remember how I ended up there. I don't even remember who or where on Remnant my family is, or what my last name is." I replied. 'Technically, none of them were lies, considering I was transported from a different universe!'

Roman's cigar stilled halfway to his mouth, and Neo's smirk slowly slid off her face as both of them looked at me with an intensity scarily reminiscent of the Beowolf's blankness.

"That's a crappy hand you've been dealt. Sorry to hear that." Roman said softly. "Neo and I both have some pretty gaping holes in our childhoods where family should be. I get how that kind of thing can bring the bad vibes. No wonder you had that pack of Beowolves after you last night."

"What pack? There was only…OH! Damn!" I thought out loud. "Those other howls were more Beowolves? So the explosions I thought I heard…"

"Dust blasts from Melodic Cudgel here obliterating more Beowolves. Neo also lended a bit of help by having some good-natured fun with a couple of them." Roman supplied. "But more importantly, there's the talk we need to have about what to do with you. In the most non-murdery connotation possible."

"Wha-What do you mean?" I asked. 'Beside the murder, he says.'

"What I mean," Roman stressed, "is that you've got multiple broken ribs, multiple bone fractures on your right arm and a hairline fracture on your left. A diagnosis like that means at least months of recovery before you're back in decent shape, and weeks before you should be back on your feet. Suffice to say, that would probably suck for a hyperactive munchkin like yourself. Fortunately, I, in all my wisdom, have a simple enough idea to help speed things along."

'I think I have an idea of what he's suggesting, but for consistency's sake I need to look and act pretty for my age, and let Roman continue.'

"How does the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have your Aura unlocked by the great Roman Torchwick sound?" Roman joked, throwing his arms out wide. "Act now, and I'll even throw in complimentary lessons on how to use Aura to not get eaten by Grimm the next time you see one."

"That sounds fine." I answered almost immediately. "Seriously, I don't know who wouldn't want to have their Aura unlocked. Its like getting a forcefield, extra healing and more muscles for free!"

I turned again to catch Roman and Neo laughing, as my confusion came back to the front of my mind. "Ah, to be young again. See, things involving Aura aren't as cut and dry as they should be. Once your Aura's unlocked, you'll have to register yourself with the Remnant Database of Auras."

"There's a database of everyone with unlocked auras? Wouldn't it be extremely long?" I asked. 'Guess they take this stuff seriously. But really though, why doesn't everyone just have an unlocked aura and get lessons on using it? The Grimm would probably be toast…er, well, maybe except for Salem and all the ancient Grimm.'

"Well for one, the kingdoms came up with having a registry of all known individuals with Aura to help cops in tracking potential criminal leads, like possible locations or people who might've unlocked a criminal's Aura. The database also acts as early warning for the number of people in the kingdoms with unlocked Auraa. Besides the work you need to put in to use Aura, the idea that Aura is the manifestation of the soul means that using Aura, intentional and not, brings the level of 'soul' up, and therefore emotion identifiable."

"So unlocking everyone's aura would just lead the Grimm to attack locations with high concentrations of Aura users. The kingdoms." I whispered, eyes wide.

"Got it in one." Roman nodded before continuing. "And that sort of thing is why the councils of the kingdoms will never bring that idea to the table. Too much propaganda and not enough stones from the sheep of the kingdoms to put in the work to use it properly."

"Politics." I ground out, and my vitriol at the idea must've been obvious, since both Roman and Neo smiled, with Roman laughing like it was going out of style.

"Yup, that's the gist of things. Now, I've obviously got my workarounds for situations like this, and can unlock your Aura without needing to notify anyone on that fact, or at least have it passed off in a way that won't raise questions. Either way though, the choice is up to you, Ki-I mean, Kouzai." Roman finished, puffing on the last bits of his cigar.

If only he knew how loaded of a question that was for me.

'Getting my Aura unlocked puts me closer to being in the firing line, either on Ozpin's side or at this rate on Salem and Cinder's! For all I know Roman's already working for Cinder, sticking around might put me on the priority list of loose ends to close like Tukson! But with initiation done, there's less than a year left until the Fall of Beacon, and without Aura and some level of training the chance of me dying the next time I see a Grimm skyrockets! Aaaahhh, damnit!'

"I think I'd like my Aura unlocked, and to receive any training you'd wanna provide." I said, face like stone. 'For now, having an unlocked Aura under the radar of the kingdoms will keep me out of Ozpin's potential eye. I can worry about Cinder and Salem once I actually have the ability to get away safely.'

"Alright then, let's get to business." Dropping the dregs of his cigar to the floor, Roman squashed them with Melodic Cudgel, before leaning it up against a chair nearby. Walking over to where I was laying, he kneeled down on what I just noticed was a plush carpet, before reaching out with one of his hands. "Are you ready?"

Nodding, I watched as he grabbed my left hand in a clasp, and I closed my eyes as he shut his own, waiting for what I knew would come next.

"For it is in freedom that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of ingenuity and prosperity to rise above all others. Infinite in cunning and unbound by fate, I release your soul, and by my hand, free thee."

I peeked my eyes open as something indescribable rose within me. I watched as the orange glow around Roman's body resonated with a silver glow on mine, then faded. The glow around my body steadied, then flared as parts of my body began tingling.

"Hoo-kay, that feels weird!" I breathed, as a series of slight itches on my bones and a general sense of tightening on my skin spread across my body.

"Look's like your Aura's working double time now on getting you back to par." Torchwick strolled back to his cane, looking none the worse for wear.

'Well, there goes the hope of having an Aura as vast as Jaune's. Guess that would be too fortunate.'

"Alright, now that we've got that out of the way, we've got to address the elephant in the room here. What exactly are we going to do with you?" Torchwick looked off to the side at Neo, who began to gesture at him, before he thought better of it.

"The options right now are not plentiful, I'll tell you that. I could toss you out on the streets, but besides that being a terrible waste of the investment I've already made, assuming you thrived out there I don't need the possibility of a younger Me with a lethal grudge against yours truly. And even I'm not cruel enough to leave you in the system. Say what you will about Vale's physical protections, but well-developed orphans the Council does not make. So that means we've got to leave you with a family of some sort, but there aren't exactly a lot of those lying around my part of the world…"

An idea, a bad-intentioned, crackpot crazy idea was forming in my head. At this point though, I'd take what I could get.

"…What if I stayed with you?" I asked, interrupting Torchwick's train of thought. Clearly, it must've been the severe kind, because Torchwick froze, then looked at me. Then he looked over at Neo, who was giving him the smuggest of smirks, then back to me.

"There's no chance that you know sign language, have a telepathy semblance, or can understand Neo in any way, shape or form right?" Torchwick asked for what I thought was needless clarification as I shook my head in response. "I guess this' what happens when two planes intersect, and by that I mean crash, because both of you arrived at the same horrible idea with completely different harebrained assumptions."

I looked over at Neo, who smiled at me, surprising me in that she was considering having Roman take me in. Then, imperceptibly, her smile somehow turned feral without any change of facial expression, and I remembered exactly what kinds of characteristics Neo had exhibited in canon thus far.

'Oh boy, did I just voluntarily suggest to be Neo's punching bag for any of her potential sadistic tendencies?' I was internally and externally sweating at the idea.

"I see that you've arrived at the reason why Neo might like having you here." Roman dryly replied. "Now I just need to figure out why in the name of dust you think staying with me and mine is at any stage a decent idea. Look, I'll be straight and up front with you; I am absolute crap with children, and have zero experience taking care of them at any age. Not to mention, I'm kind of also a renowned criminal wanted by all four kingdoms. The number of people I have in my life that I genuinely have trust in, let alone count as friends, I can count on one hand, cut fingers off and still have fingers left over. So, in the name of lien, why?"

'Because a kingdom-wide catastrophe caused in part by you two is coming up fast, and I need to stick close and pick up whatever I can on how it's going down to have any chance of surviving it?' I thought. Such an answer likely wouldn't fly with these two though.

"Because you're not a bad person, even if you and everyone else says you are." I tried to tackle what I thought would be the easier-to-explain, if more opinionated question. "You could've left me die to that Beowolf out there in the forest, but you didn't. You could've left me to fend for myself after saving me from those Beowolves, but you didn't. You could've tossed me out after you patched me up, and without unlocking my Aura, but you haven't. You might be greedy, but I don't think you're necessarily selfish, given how much you care for Neo's opinion."

My words had Roman speechless, as he ran a hand through his hair in thought. As for Neo, she was smiling at me without a hint of a smirk thrown in, and the wattage of it almost threw me off from my next point.

"A-And I may not remember everything about my past, but I'm pretty sure I'm good at handling myself around an apartment, like making food and laundry and stuff. So even if you're busy sometimes, I can look after myself." I added confidently. 'This being one of the perks for being in a younger body and making do with a snug apartment in Manhattan.'

"And what say you about education, huh?" Roman quipped back. "Forging some credentials to get you into public schooling is easy, but what about everything that comes after?"

"I think I'm plenty smart enough without having to spend time wasting away in school." I remarked hotly. 'I went to college! And graduated!'

"That's what they all say." Roman muttered. "Alright then, riddle me this genius; Who was the last king of Vale?"

"Uhhhh..." I droned, knowing that was pretty much my best answer. 'Right, forgot that things are different here. Different history, cultures, media, languages. Ok, so the man might have a point.'

"Look, I'm not trying to dump on your parade here. Believe me, I'd love to have allies as loyal and as smart as you're shaping up to be. But I'd be shocked if you've hit puberty, and this kind of life is not something that most people who have the chance to avoid it step into. And it's not the kind of life you can easily get out of once you have." Roman dug around in his pocket and pulled out another cigar. As he lit the end, he added, "All I'm saying is, make sure you know what you're stepping into, rule number one of pretty much anything. If coming into the fold is what you really decide on, woe to me for stopping you when the time comes. Until then, rest up, live life a little like the kid you should be. Oh, and before I forget, what's left of your clothes are over in that corner on one of the chairs by the table."

Neo walked over to my couch, then reached out and patted my head, still wearing that blindingly bright smile. Then, she spun around and bounded towards Roman as they both began to stroll out of the room.

Something was niggling at the back of my head though, something that needed to be addressed for the good of my continued survival, I just needed-OH!

'Asking this could put me in some hot water with them both, but I need to figure out now if Roman's met Cinder and Ruby yet, since today was initiation apparently.' I steeled myself for the upcoming quip.

"Hey Roman, say hi to Red for me."

Roman paused by the door, and my smile and blood froze for a hot second. He slowly turned, and both our expressions mirrored one another briefly, as my mine became confused at what he was confused about.

"Who or what is Red?" Roman asked, scratching his head. "Is that a friend's name, or did you happen to give the dissolved smear that was your previous mortal enemy a pet name?"

'This isn't right. Roman and Ruby should have already met each other before initiation, he's literally the reason she got to Beacon early. Did I have something to do with this? No, they were both coming back to Vale anyways, and I doubt I could've taken enough time away from Roman last night to possibly interrupt any deal he had going with Cinder.'

There was another explanation that was starting to trickle in, one that just had to be impossible, Still though, I was currently a shrunken version of myself and living on REMNANT with Roman Torchwick.

"Hey Roman, just one more question?" I asked, then took Roman's waving hand as a cue to continue. "Do you happen to know where the Vytal Festival is this year?"

There was head scratching from Neo now too, as both gave me funny looks.

"What's wrong?" I asked nervously. 'What did I say? How could I have possibly goofed already?'

"Next year's Vytal Festival is in Vacuo. It's gonna be the…is it the 38th, Neo? That's what I thought. Geez, I can remember when the Vytal Festival was still in the 20's, and now it'll be hitting the 40th soon. Oh, how the time flies…well, if there's no other questions, then I've got some casing to be doing, so I'll be seeing you later, Kouzai." Roman and Neo walked out the door, slowly closing it and leaving me in a completely silent and near-catatonic state.

…

'…Don't…freak out…stay calm…keep your jaw up…'

'Oh dear god, this…this changes everything. If the 38th Festival is next year, then that means the 40th, or the canon year that the show starts…is FIVE YEARS FROM NOW…"

Puzzle pieces started falling into place, mostly by falling directly on top of my head.

'I'm-Was twenty two, five years older than when I started watching RWBY at seventeen. This body of mine is undoubtedly before puberty hit, so I would probably be…TWELVE?! Oohhhh noooo, this is some real Coeur shit right here; I regressed one year for every one since 17 that I made past canon. Five years forward means five extra years back, putting me at twelve…the same age as almost everyone from the main cast…'

I looked up towards the ceiling and slowly breathed out, in a desperate attempt to reestablish some modicum of calm.

'Ok, this means I've got a total of about six years until the Fall of Beacon where everything starts going to shit. More importantly though, that means I've got six years to figure out a way to get home. I feel terrible for this universe, especially since it's clearly real, but I've got a life waiting for me on Earth. I just need to figure this out…'

I couldn't move my fingers like I wanted, so I settled for drawing imaginary words and lines in the air with my mind, an old thinking habit of mine.

'Ok, there are four general possible ways I ended up here. Let's sound 'em off.'

'First is that something from Remnant pulled me here, like the Relics or some experimental form of Dust or semblance. To get back, I'd need to utilize those same methods and figure out how to reverse the effects. Putting aside the difficulty of the latter two as finding a grain of sugar in a shaker full of salt, the Relics are zealously guarded by Ozpin and the Inner Circle. The only way I'd ever be able to access the Relics and find out which ones have the power to get me home, is if I was either invited to use them or if I stole them. One involves the promise of fulfilment presumably after a lifetime of service in Ozpin's war, and the other promises certain death from Ozpin and crew, if not Cinder if I ever actually manage to steal them. The other two are equally if not more impossible, since it'd take years and years of research to find the particular dust or semblance responsible for this, and years more to reverse the process. That's time, and likely intelligence that I do not possess.'

'Second is that someone from Remnant pulled me here. The only possible people who could so severely break the universe like that are Salem and the Brother Gods. Asking Salem for anything would either lead me to a swift death, or pull me to her side to be used against Ozpin, both of which are unacceptable. Considering the Brother Gods would be an exercise in futility, as the only official way to bring them back is to get the Relics, already established as impossible. The only other explanation for is that one or both of them are present on Remnant, which also doesn't work given that they would've already heard me by now and hopefully whisked me out of Remnant, so all options here are inapplicable.'

'Third possibility is that something from Earth put me here, but again, figuring out science for Remnant would take a level of time and intelligence for learning that I don't have the luxury of. Not to mention I would be playing the most rigged lottery game every, waiting for the conditions on Earth to match how I ended up on Remnant in the beginning.'

'Last and certainly least is that someone from Earth placed me here, and it's by far the most impossible. If someone, be they mortal or deity, had the ability to rip a person out of one universe and put them in another, the fact that I'm here right now means that whoever did so meant for me to be here and isn't going to be bringing me back. Assuming in the most unlikely of scenarios that this was done by accident, whoever did so would've already brought me back. Barely worth mentioning is if there might be two or more individuals out in my universe capable of this, but the idea that they haven't already fixed this cosmic failure seems indicative of their acceptance.'

'Overall, I'm stuck here for the very foreseeable future, and at the very least until the overarching plot of RWBY comes to pass, including the part where Salem gets beaten that I'll likely never get to watch. Live through, maybe. That being said, so long as I don't get myself put on the game board as a piece for either Ozpin or Salem, there's nothing stopping me from setting the cast up in a better position than in canon. Me being in this universe has already started the butterfly effect to change things, so making a few more small ones won't hurt. If I plan this out right, leading the cast to get stronger or smarter, or maybe throwing an anonymous wrench into Salem's plans, should raise my overall chance of making it through this whole mess and getting back home. To do that, I need to get my complete bearings of what I'm dealing with here, time period and people and all.'

Coming out of my inner monologue, I blinked for the first time in probably minutes, then sat up gingerly, trying to make sure not to aggravate my recovering ribs. From how it felt like my Aura was going to town on healing them though, I estimated that it wouldn't be a problem for long. Slowly, carefully making my way over to the chair with my clothes, I shifted through them until I found my jeans. True to form, they were rolled up, grass-and-blood-stained in multiple spots, and frayed in places from the friction burns. Digging into the pockets, I pulled out my phone, still powered off from when I did so last night to conserve battery life.

"Well damn, looks like this is the last intact piece of my life from before all this. Maybe I could boot it up for a little-No, no, let's not do this to yourself. We just got finished with a monologue trying to solve all of this. You will be on Remnant for years, and this thing has very limited juice left with no charger. As much as I'd love to, I need to save what battery life is left for any direly important circumstances.

I laid back and attempted to steady my breathing as the boulder that was the gravity of the situation weighed on me.

'Five years, huh? It's a long time, and yet not…fine then. Here we go.'

TIME REMAINING UNTIL START OF CANON: 5 YEARS

A/N: Woah, quite a bit longer than the first chapter, huh? It really makes a difference when you actually have time to think or have more than one person in a conversation. I plan on making my chapters around this long, don't wanna go too far over though otherwise it'll feel a little packed. As for the structural bits, I'm fleshing out a bit more of the narrative style that I hope to carry on in subsequent chapters, especially that narrow-viewed, unreliable narrator nuance that I feel adds depth and complexity to a story such as this.

Onto the more technical stuff then. Hopefully I've portrayed Roman and Neo in at least a slightly realistic manner compared to canon, but if you feel that I'm not feel free to inform me about it. As for any original information, I'll try and keep it light on any additional OCs and only add information when I think it'll sync up with existing information about Remnant and canon. In terms of Aura and its drawbacks, I've taken some inspiration from writers such as Coeur and Imyoshi on some of its broad concepts, like what "manifestation of one's soul" really means and why the kingdoms don't have scores of individuals with unlocked Auras. Moving on from that though, the countdown arc begins next chapter, and I've got plenty of ideas for this storyline, so keep your eyes peeled for any announcements or updates. I may have a preference on which poll choice I'm partial to, but I'd really enjoy writing each of the selections available. Thank you again, and I'll be back shortly with updates.

-SE

Next Chapter Date: 09/16/19