Full Disclosure: I DO NOT own any of the RWBY characters from the canon show. They belong to Rooster Teeth and the late Monty Oum, may he rest in peace. Any characters you see here that aren't in the canon show are my OC's.
"Blah"= Spoken
'Blah'Thoughts
--0--0--
--Summer Rose--
"So...how is he?" I asked in slightly nervous, but overall worried tone. The nurse seemingly noticed my inner worry and sent me a calm smile, along with a hand on my shoulder.
"Don't worry." The nurse began with a light laugh, "We ran a few tests, and the good news is the kid'll be fine. Looks like he just passed out from too much blood rushing to his head."
I immediately let out a sigh of relief. "That's great! Now we--!..." I went silent as I caught the detail in her words, "...wait..then what's the bad news..?"
The nurse gained an expression that seemed to show a mix of curiosity and slight frustration as she looked back at the boy we found.
After he'd passed out, my team and I (still feels really cool to say!) had to fight through a surprising amount of Grimm before finally managing to take him back to Beacon and have the nurses examine him, just in case there had anything wrong with him.
To be honest, we weren't expecting for there to be anything wrong--it was just a precaution.
Yet...
"I'm sorry. That's something I can't really disclose with you guys." The nurse responded, "Don't worry, it's nothing major. The Headmaster just said he'd take care of the rest and that you guys should be more concerned with your schoolwork."
"But--" I began, but was interrupted by the nurse's index finger inches away from my mouth.
"No buts." The nurse stated before gaining a warm smile again, "Now, go on--get out of here. He'll be alright. I promise."
Even though I knew the nurse was telling the truth, and I trusted her...I still felt like I should help him more..
...no, listen to the nurse. He'll be fine..
With my thoughts somewhat settled, I mentally took a deep breath and exhaled, while I simply nodded on the outside.
With that, I left the room and walked back to our dorm room, a slight sense of doubt still nibbling at my mind.
After a while of walking, I finally made it to our dorm room and opened the door, with the rest of my team already inside, each doing something in their individual bunk bed.
Still one of my best ideas!
Tai was seated on the edge of his, twiddling his thumbs and showing an overall positive reaction to my return, wearing a happy, yet concerned smile on his face.
Raven was relaxing with a book in hers, not even looking up at the sound of me entering the room and closing the door.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous that she got top bunk. Why'd she have to be so good at Rock-paper-scissors..?
...a-anyways, lastly there's Qrow, who was already fast asleep, his entire body covered with a blanket--all the while emitting medium-level snores.
"So, is the kid alright?" Tai asked with some concern in his voice.
"Yeah, he's fine..." I said, though I lowered my head and gained a small grown as I continued to doubt the nurse's words, to my displeasure, "I think.." I continued.
"You think?" Tai asked.
"It's just..." I began, "the nurse said that the Headmaster would take care of the rest...but why would the Headmaster get involved in something that was nothing to worry about..?"
"Does it really matter?"
My attention went to Raven, who finally spoke up, though her eyes never left her book, the sound of a page calmly turning following her question.
"Helping him wasn't the mission we were given. When it's all said and done, helping that boy was us doing him a favor." Raven commented coldly, "..and I think it'd be better off that we avoid him."
What?!
"Wha--Raven!" I called out.
"Agh, keep it down!" Qrow called out to us from underneath his blanket.
"SHUT IT, QROW!!" Raven and I shouted at the same time, Qrow's only response being angry grumbling from under his blanket. With that settled, I sighed before turning my attention back to Raven, who was still reading her book.
"More importantly, what do you mean?" I asked. Raven closed her eyes as she sighed before closing her book.
"Summer," she began, "tell me what forest the boy was in."
"Uh..." I paused for a bit, a little taken aback by her question, "..I think it was called...the Forest of Life..?"
"Correct." Raven responded, "and what is the Forest of Life known for?"
Why the sudden quiz..?
"Hm...well, the trees look beautiful for starters. Plus the water in the forest is always really clear...and..um...Oh! And the Grimm population there's practically nonexistent!"
"Until today, that is."
"Huh?" I found myself a little surprised at Raven's sudden cut into my list, "what're you tal--...?"
Wait...
She's right.
There were a lot more Grimm there than usual. To a scary degree, actually. Normally, the Forest of Life is practically void of any Grimm, which was how it got its name due to many seeing that fact as some kind of miracle.
But today? God, I can't even begin to count how many Grimm we had to fight through. Granted, it wasn't very difficult for us to go through them. But the amount of Grimm there were wasn't anything to bat one's eyes at.
But why were there so many Grimm there?
...could it be?
"Looks like you've finally put it together." Raven interrupted my train of thought, her eyes now open, red orbs looking directly into my silver ones.
"Uh," Tai began, sounding a little lost, "mind filling me in here, Rae?"
"First of all, call by that irritating nickname again, and I'll tell the Headmaster it was you who spread the rumor about his chair looking like a penis."
"Okay, first of all!" Tai suddenly rose out of the bed, a light blush on his cheeks, "we both know Qrow's the one who started it, and my saying it out loud in the boy's bathroom was an accident!"
For a moment, I could've sworn I heard Qrow's blanket chuckle lightly..
"You still played a part in the rumor spreading." Raven replied in a uncaring voice, causing Tai to groan, "and secondly, what I mean in relation to the forest is that the boy was the one who attracted all the Grimm."
"I...oh..." Tai went silent as he thought more about it, "but what do you think could've caused that many to show up?"
"...that's a question that the Headmaster will likely learn, judging from what Summer said earlier." Raven replied before going back to her book.
My hands unconsciously curled into fists as I turned my attention to the door behind me and thought more about the nurse's words.
'...is he really alright..?'
--0--0--
--Ozpin--
"So, this is him?" I asked the nurse beside me, who had her arms crossed with a look of slight frustration, confusion, and a hint of curiosity on her face.
The boy, who was unconscious and lying flat on the bed, had slightly tanned skin and messy black hair that had individual strands of white hair poking out in several spots. He wore a white hoodie with rolled-up black sleeves, dark gray pants, and pair of black high-top sneakers with white soles.
"Yeah, that's him." The nurse confirmed.
"And your positive of what you told me?" I asked once more, just to confirm it.
"Yes Headmaster. I'm absolutely certain--this boy had absolutely no records. I even tried running facial recognition, but I couldn't find anything. It's almost as if he didn't exist in Remnant until today." The slightly frustrated tone in which the nurse spoke had be both curious and, admittedly, feeling a hint of worry.
Could it be that he was another one of her pawns? Is it possible I had unknowingly let the enemy into my own school?
Both were questions I would have to ask him later...or force out of him, if the situation was to take such a drastic turn for the worst.
Though the latter was a method was not one I was entirely comfortable with taking, I would make it so if it was the necessary method.
"...mm..." I heard the boy groan lightly, his hand curling slightly and his leg twitching.
"You've done well to take care of him up until now. Thank you. Now, please leave us." I calmly told the nurse.
"..understood, Headmaster. Call if need anything." She said before leaving, closing the door behind her. Soon after she left, I picked up one of the only chairs in the room, a plastic black one, brought it over to the side of the bed, and sat down.
"..mm..." The boy groaned again, only this time he had finally awoken. He sat up and put a hand to his forehead, wincing slightly, "...fuck..what happened...?" I rose a bow slightly at the boy's...colorful language, but quickly brushed it off. More importantly...
"Good to see you're finally awake." I spoke up, the boy freezing. His reaction made me narrow my eyes slightly in suspicion.
Was he one of her pawns, realizing he was in enemy territory?
The boy slowly turned his head towards me after removing his hand from his forehead, stopping a few times along the way, as if he were a machine with malfunctioning gears. Once he looked directly at me and I saw the look on his face, the feeling of suspicion I had towards him had vanished.
The boy was, to put it lightly, astonished. His brown eyes were comically wide, and his mouth, a straight line. His reaction caused a smile to come to my face as I made a conclusion about his position:
He, at the very least, wasn't an enemy.
His reaction was not of shock at seeing the enemy so close to him. Rather, he seemed more like a surprised child who had seen a mythical figure, or their idol in life.
"I.." He began, "...I...uh...um..." His flabbergasted state made me unconsciously chuckle lightly.
"Tell me, what is your name?" I asked, snapping the boy out of his babbling.
"...it's...Matthew." That detail was one that had admittedly surprised me slightly. It was the first time in quite a while that I had heard a name that didn't follow the tradition set up after the Great War came to an end.
It bore no relation to color.
His parents must've been quite old-fashioned..
"I see. And your surname?" I inquired.
"Uh...actually, that's a bit of a problem I'm having." Matthew began, causing me to raise a brow, "I..I actually can't remember. In fact, I don't even know who I am..." Matthew said. If not for his hand tightly gripping seemingly in frustration, along with the frustrated look in his eyes, I wouldn't have believed him.
Though it wasn't as if I wasn't skeptical in the slightest.
"I see.." I began, "then what can you remember? Perhaps where your home?"
I could've sworn I heard Matthew mumble something about "this" being home now.
Did he mean Beacon Academy?
Or perhaps Vale?
Matthew shook his head, seemingly brushing off the his mumbled statement, before smiling lightly.
"I actually do remember that one...but it may surprise you." Matthew said jokingly.
Oh?
"Oh? Is that so?" I rose a brow and smiled, "In my time, I've heard and seen many things, young man. I'm sure that your home is likely one I've heard of before."
"Oh, believe me," Matthew began, exhaling lightly as he looked to the ceiling, "I doubt you've ever heard of it before...but hey, what the hell?" Matthew said with a shrug before looking back to me, "..before I tell you though, let me ask you a question."
...oh? Well, it's certainly a surprise to see myself on this side of this conversation.
"Feel free to ask."
"What're your thoughts on multiple realities..?"
...well...this conversation sounds like it's going to be quite interesting...
-End
A/N: And thus, ends the chapter! Another fairly short one, longer than Chapter 1, but shorter than Chapter 2. Honestly, it's chapters like these where I start to worry about whether or not it was rushed. Some feedback on that would be helpful plz :).
Anywho, I don't really have much else to say, so onto the comment responses!
Comment Reponses:
Yifto: Yep, it's like that :). Glad to hear you like it. And his thoughts on his welcoming party, as well as...many other things, will be addressed in the next chapter.
And with that, Adios!!!