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
"Blah" Dialogue in memory/ Scroll call
P.s.: For this chapter, I'll be doing as a 3rd person narration instead of the previous 1st person narrations, just to see how it goes.
Feel free to tell me if it's good, shite, or "meh".
His day, so far, had been taking slow descent in quality since he woke up.
Or, to put it in his words, it was growing to possibly become a "shitfest."
Though, such a description was most likely an exaggeration on his part.
His day started with him on the floor, a bit of drool coming out of his mouth, his blanket only covering one foot, that being the only one left on bed as the rest of his body lay tiredly on the floor of his team's dorm.
He then received the oh-so pleasant wake-up call of his sister landing inches away from his face, causing him to jump back in a newly awakened startle. Though such an action only led to pain, as the back of his head collided with the wooden side of his bed. Immediately afterwards, his sister shot him a somewhat surprised look, but not one of concern.
Rather, more a look that seemed to say "Oh, I missed."
Others may consider this an unfortunate and odd awakening. But for Qrow, such a stroke of bad luck was just par for the course in the series of unlucky events known as his life.
Regardless, Qrow silently swore to get payback on his sister at some point throughout the day, both for the head pain, and the fact that she caused him to wake up early with little chance of falling asleep again.
Fast-forward a few hours from then and Qrow, along with Summer and his sister, heard from Taiyang that he'd left Matthew in the combat training room, which led to his sister saying that they were going to have to look for him and leaving to go to the library, though not before verbally smacking Taiyang once.
With that order of business set, each member of his team went out to search for the hoodie-wearing teen, with the male Branwen searching the cafeteria.
Or at least, he began to head for the cafeteria. Only to stop halfway there as he realized nobody else was in their dorm.
In particular, his sister wasn't in their dorm.
...and like that, he smirked, knowing that it was time for payback.
And so, after arriving at his team's dorm, he began his vengeance, taking each of his sister's book, picking out random pages in each, and drawing a terribly drawn shaft on each and every page he selected. And he made damn sure that every single drawing took up the entire page.
Was he being petty? Yes, one might say so.
Childish? Oh, definitely.
But was this unexpected of him? Oh, hell no.
By the time he was done, Qrow had drawn a total of around 60 penises in almost all of Raven's books, and he felt victorious. Although, he did eventually feel a surge of boredom, causing him to simply start pulling out and lightly tossing the ones he hadn't drawn a shaft in.
At that point, he was already on the phone with Taiyang, freezing and immediately hanging up once Taiyang brought up the idea of Raven finding out what he did. She would likely tear him a new one, assuming she was in a good mood.
With that pleasant thought in his mind, Qrow made his way to the library, talked with his sister, and eventually made his way out of the library, ready to relax in his roo--
"HOLY SHIT!!!"
A familiar voice boomed from within the library, causing Qrow to quickly turn his head in surprise.
"Matthew?" Qrow asked to himself under his breath, cursing silently as he went back into the library. 'Dammit, sis...'
Qrow reentered the library, noting that a few people were passing by a certain aisle just to see the face of the idiot who actually shouted in a library. Even as he walked by aisles preceding the one the scream originated from, he still heard whispers as he walked by.
Some asked why the person screamed.
Some asked who it was.
And one even asked what kind of dumbass would scream in horror while in a library, in the section specifically containing fairy tales.
Needless to say, that one was Qrow's personal favorite.
As he reached the aisle, he heard an exhale, followed by the sound of a book being slid into the shelves. Qrow peeked over the side of the shelves, curious to see Matthew.
He saw the teen slightly bent over, his hands supporting his body as they pushed against slightly bent knees, as he panted lightly.
"Hey.." Qrow spoke first, causing Matthew's attention to snap towards the second-year Huntsmen-in-Training, "you alright?"
"Yeah..yeah, I'm fine.." Matthew said in between pants, Qrow's eyes narrowing slightly with a lingering sense of doubt, "Why are you here though..?"
"You screamed like a girl, in a library, and I just happened to be nearby. Why wouldn't I have come to either help, or laugh at you?"
"...But which are you here for then?" Matthew deadpanned, causing Qrow to chuckle lightly as he extended a hand towards the Earthling.
"Both, but the latter can wait." Matthew smiled at Qrow's response before taking his hand and being pulled up onto his feet, "You mind telling me what happened here?"
By some divine luck, Qrow didn't seem to notice Matthew's nervous flinch at the question
"...I tripped." Matthew's matter-of-fact tone made Qrow's eyes narrow just a little as a tiny sense of suspicion sparked briefly in his mind before he brushed it off mentally.
"Uh huh..and how exactly did you trip?"
"I accidentally made a few books fall off the shelves while I was taking one out. While I was looking at the book, I guess I walked backwards a little and ended slipping on one of them and falling.." Matthew explained while constantly focusing his gaze on the books, one in particular. Qrow eventually took a glance out of curiosity.
'The Four Maidens..?' Qrow observed the book with a confused and curious eye for about a second, before mentally shrugging it off and focusing back on the amnesiac.
"Got it..." Qrow began before sighing lightly, "Well, Sum and Tai have been looking for you." He said as he gestured to the library door with his thumb, "Suppose we should go meet up with them, eh?"
Matthew's eyes widened in surprise briefly before he eventually snorted and began to laugh lightly, much to Qrow's confusion.
Which Matthew almost immediately noticed, "O-oh, it's nothing...I just remembered something, that's all. Nothing important though.."
Qrow's eyes narrowed slightly in doubt, but he eventually shook his head and began to make his way towards the library door.
But not before hearing Matthew mumble about something which Qrow, reasonably, failed to understand.
'The hell's a "Canada"...?'
As they left the library, he silently thanked whatever deity it was that had blessed him in that moment of panic with his newfound ability to bullshit his way through the situation.
Yet, at the same time, something in the back of his mind left him feeling that such an action was actually a familiar one for him?
Odd...but, it saved him from having to tell the truth, so Matthew was grateful nonetheless for this new skill.
"Is your sister coming?" The Earthling suddenly asked, causing the male Branwen to look at him with a brow raised.
"Are you serious?"
"I mean, it'd have felt weird if I didn't ask about her at all, y'know. I'm plenty aware that she couldn't care less about me, but I figured I should still ask, just to make sure."
"Well, that's not entirely accurate." Now it was Matthew's turn to raise a brow.
"You're saying she actually cares about my wellbeing?" Matthew asked in a unconvinced tone.
"Pfft, god no." Qrow said with a chuckle, "I just mean that she cares to the extent that she'd prefer that you weren't here, for some reason." Matthew's face switched to one of surprise, then furrowing his brows in slightly frustrated confusion.
"I get not acknowledging my prescence, but why would she want me to leave..?" Matthew asked himself aloud.
"That's a mystery even I don't know the answer to man.." Qrow said casually, but a detail in his statement didn't go over Matthew's head, as shown in his surprised expression while glancing at Qrow.
'He stopped calling me "kid"...' The thought made Matthew gain a smile on his face as they continued to walk down the hall.
'..I wonder what I should do..?' Matthew thought as they walked, turning a corner, 'Now I that I remember Ozpin's secret, what exactly should I do?..I've already decided not to tell her him, but that doesn't exactly help me. Should I see if I can force any memories of RWBY? They don't seem to cause me any pain, for some reason, so maybe I should try?'
They turned another corner as they walked down another hall, 'Or maybe I should try to see if I can remember anything else, like this weird thing on my shirt..' He said as he glanced down at the red-and-white fan on his black t-shirt, 'What exactly does this mean? And why was it important enough for me to wear it on a shirt? Hell, why was it important enough for me to wear it when I died..?'
"Yo, kid!" Qrow's voice snapped Matthew out of his thoughts, causing the Earthling's attention to snap towards Qrow, "You were zoning out pretty hard there..you sure you're alright..?"
Ability, Activate: Bullshit.exe
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." Matthew reassured with smile.
"Then what'd I just say?"
...Bullshit.exe has stopped working.
"...Uh--"
"Rhetorical question; I know you don't know." Qrow cut Matthew off before sighing lightly, "I'll say it again, and you better be listening this time. Right now's Lunch, so the cafeteria's gonna be filled with students. Since I know you're going to get lost the moment you go in there, I'm going to head in and you're going to follow me closely, but not too closely. Otherwise, that jackass is going to start something.." Qrow hissed the last sentence, to Matthew's confusion.
Said confusion didn't stop him from nodding though.
"Alright, glad to see you actually paid attention to me this time. Let's go." Qrow's statement made Matthew gain a confused expression before gaining a surprised one as he made a realization.
They were right in front of the cafeteria, standing just in front of the entrance:
'Wait, when did we get here?!! Did I actually zone out that deeply?!!' Matthew thought in complete shock and disbelief. Though the Earthling quickly shook off the feeling as he heard the doors being opened.
He walked in with Qrow and saw the cafeteria flooded with students, all sitting at filled tables, conversing happily with one another, Humans and Faunus alike.
"Follow me." Matthew nodded at Qrow's simple instructions and did just that, the two of them walking down an aisle between several organized tables, with some of the students looking to Matthew with curious eyes, and others not even noticing the Earthling following Team STRQ's scythe user.
After a bit of walking, the two eventually arrived at their destination, that being two empty seats at a table beside Summer and Taiyang.
"Hey! Glad you two finally made it!" Taiyang was the first to greet them, Matthew scratching the back of his head with a nervous laugh and Qrow simply shrugging as they both sat down.
"Found him screaming like a girl in the library after he tripped on some books." Qrow said, causing Matthew's cheeks to immediately gain a strawberry color.
"I--!" Matthew began, but cut himself off for some reason before groaning weakly.
"Did you talk to Raven?" It was Summer who spoke this time.
"..define 'speak'."
"So, no then." Summer said in a seemingly disappointed tone. Little did Qrow, Matthew, and maybe even Taiyang, know that she was actually glad she, the leader, wouldn't be the last one to have one-on-one time with the amnesiac from Earth.
"Yep.." Matthew said simply with a sigh as he fiddled with fingers.
"Hey there, hotshots!" A female voice spoke up from behind Summer, causing the 3 Team STRQ members and Matthew to look up at who it was.
It was a girl with dark red hair that reached halfway down her back, bronze eyes and a fair complexion, wearing a Beacon Academy uniform. She was slightly taller than Raven and had 3 freckles on each cheek.
'..something about her..?' Matthew thought as a small spark went off in the back of his mind, for reasons he didn't know or understand.
"Oh, hey Scarlet!" Summer greeted in a cheerful tone. The newly named Scarlet lightly rubbed the top of Summer's head, causing the young leader of Team STRQ to childishly pout her cheeks at the action.
"Now, now, Little Rose, we both know that I'm going to keep doing that for as long as I can!" Scarlet said playfully with a warm, cheerful grin. She then directed her attention to the other members of Team STRQ.
"Tai! Still failing at gaining a love life, I see?" Her cheerful tone sharply contrasted the question she asked, as well as its effect on Team STRQ's martial artist, as his smile turned to a frown before he let his head fall on the table with a groan, "..I'll take that as 'Yes'. Especially considering that the lady herself isn't here right now. Speaking of whom," She directed her attention to Qrow, "How's it going, Wolfman?"
"You're never going to stop calling me that, are you?" Qrow deadpanned, Matthew tilting his head slightly in confusion.
"Hey, not my fault!" Scarlet put up her hands in an attempted gesture of innocence, "..if you're to point blame at anyone, it's Loverboy." She said with a laugh as she pointed to the still-depressed Taiyang, who groaned lightly in response. After lightly for a few seconds, she finally directed her attention to the confused Earthling, "..this is a new face, though. Who might you be, kid?"
A tick suddenly appeared on Matthew's forehead as he held back the urge to shout angrily.
"This," Qrow interjected as he lightly disheveled Matthew's hair. Or at least, he slightly disheveled, considering that the amnesiac's hair was already a wild mess, "is Matthew. He just so happens to have amnesia, and Ozpin's having us train him how to fight in order to trigger his memories."
"Ah, gotcha. So, you're saying that he used to fight?" Scarlett's arms were now crossed as she asked her question in a curious tone, wearing a matching expression.
"Pretty much, yeah." Qrow confirmed in his usual relaxed tone. Scarlet hummed with her eyes closed for a few seconds before opening them and regaining her smile.
"I see. Well then, once you get your memory back, maybe you could look me up if you're ever in Mistral?" She suggested with a smile, her attention suddenly snapping to her left as she looked at a table off in the distance, "Ah, crap! I have to get back to my team! Uh, nice meeting you Matt!" She said her goodbye as she walked off to her team's table.
'Mistral..?' Matthew asked himself curiously as he watched her walk away.
Then, it happened.
Even though this part of memory was already regained, he felt something course through his mind like electricity as he connected mental dots to form a theory that he still had a bit of difficulty believing himself.
'No way...' He said to himself as he watched the redhead confidently stride to and eventually reach her team's table. '...Red hair..Mistral...and a different name..'
'..IS THAT PYRRHA'S MOM?!!' He almost let out a noise of shock and surprise, but managed to hold himself back just in time.
"..You checking her out?" Qrow asked with a shit-eating grin, snapping Matthew out of his train of thought.
"Huh? N-no, she just...seemed familiar.."
"Meh, can't really blame you. She calls us hotshots, but she's quite the badass herself, if you ask me." Qrow's remark about Scarlet had Matthew feeling both surprised, yet not surprised at the same time.
He was, of course, quite surprised by the prescence of Pyrrha's mother in Beacon Academy, essentially due to the fact that Pyrrha's family had never been shown in the show, nor were they alluded to or mentioned in any way. And now her mother appears as a student studying at Beacon Academy at the same time as Team STRQ? It sounded like the kind of thing that would happen in a fanfiction.
And her personality was plenty different from her daughter's. Or at least, her speech was. The way Pyrrha spoke always had a sense of formality to it, but not too much formality. But with her using phrases like something "sounding grand!", one could tell it was there.
But her mother? She was casual, cool as ice, and, if anyone, honestly talked like Yang, only without the puns!!
"..Does she have a nickname?" Matthew couldn't help but ask.
"As matter of fact, she does: 'Ms. Untouchable', Scarlet Thetis.." Qrow said with a light chuckle before getting up out of his seat, "I'll go get us some food. Anything you want in particular?"
"Uh...just a sandwich and some orange juice, I guess.." Matthew requested casually with a shrug, Qrow nodding and walking off to get their food.
"..So.." Summer spoke up, gaining Matthew's attention, "I'm guessing you and Raven didn't hit it off at the library..?" She asked with a nervous smile, Matthew mentally swearing with a smile that the resemblance between her and her daughter was uncanny.
"Our 'conversation' didn't even last a minute..so yeah, I'd say we're not exactly pals.." Matthew let his voice trail off into a grumble at the end, but Summer understood what he said, regardless.
"Yeah..she has a hard time warming up to people..." Summer stopped herself at the sight of Matthew's deadpanned stare, "..okay, she tries notto warm up to people. But that doesn't mean it's impossible to be friends with her." Summer said with a smile.
"Friends with her, huh.." Matthew mumbled, but proceeded to keep his mouth shut from saying anything further on the topic of Raven.
Instead...
"..is Taiyang okay?" Both the amnesiac and the leader's attention was then directed towards the blonde, who still had his head down on the table.
"Uh..." Summer leaned in close to Taiyang's head, pulling back a little faster with a relieved sigh, "it's fine, he's just asleep."
"Good. Now, we don't have to hear him moan about how he can't get in bed with my sister." Qrow spoke up from behind them while carrying a tray with several food items, before taking a seat next to Matthew. He passed a glass of orange juice and a sandwich to Matthew, who smiled and thanked him in return.
"I'll have you know that I'm classier than that, Birdbrain.." Taiyang muttered as he rode his head just enough for his eyes to be visible, a weak glare aimed directly at Qrow, who proceeded to shrug and take a bite out of an apple he got for himself.
"Doesn't mean the idea of it isn't gross."
"Wait, the idea of Taiyang doing it with your sister, or the general idea of your sister in a relationship?" Matthew asked with a brow raised out of curiosity.
"Both." The male Branwen wasted no time with his firm reply, "..and besides, I'd say Tai would be a one-night stand, at best." He quickly added, the aforementioned blonde's antennae twitching angrily.
"Oh, you little...!" Taiyang began to yell at Qrow, but Matthew had already zoned out, again.
'..Qrow's right. The idea of Raven in a romantic and/or sexual relationship actually gives me goosebumps, a little...ok, I definitely don't think that's how you're supposed to react when thinking about a person's love life.' Matthew sighed internally, a thought then crossing his mind a moment after.
'.."person", huh...hard to believe I used to think these people were all fictional characters. And here I am, living out a new life in a world I thought to be just a story...it feels weird..but at the same time...' Matthew took a moment to glance to the members of Team STRQ. Taiyang and Qrow were arguing, though only Taiyang looked bothered. Qrow wore a smug smile the whole time. Meanwhile, Summer just laughed at their antics, causing Matthew to gain a relaxed smile on his face.
'I don't think I want to be anywhere else..'
The End
A/N: Fook me m8, this chapter took a while to get out. Admittedly, I mainly had trouble since, at multiple points throughout the process of writing this chapter, I got to a certain point in the chapter and kind blanked out after thinking "...what now?"
As I said before, I have future plans for "Newcomer", but not that many "in the moment" plans. Really, most of this'll be me writing by the seat of my pants. Like Akira Toriyama, but nowhere near as good.
Anywho, I don't really have much else to say.
To the responses!!!
Comment Responses:
youngsavage: Admittedly, Qrow's also my favorite, but in terms of personality. As far as favorite character by fighting style though, I gotta go with the gun-boots (Good ol' Merc). Thank you!
YeTianshi: He won't be OP mainly because I want to show development in his skills as a fighter. Right now, he's at what we would consider a pretty good fighter on Earth; but that means SQUAT when compared to Hunters, or even Hunters-in-training. He'll definitely get better as the story progresses, but it'll be an uphill climb. Glad you enjoyed the chapter!!
See you all next chapter!!!