A/N: It's been a while since I've done one of these completely from scratch. The Author's note I mean.
My wife insists that we write at least one more chapter here before I return to the main story of What Could Be Better, so here we are.
So it's been a few days since we pulled Magnolia, sorry, I mean Daft, from her tree.
Apparently in the universe she's from, Aura, Semblances', Dust, the Grimm, and Faunus don't exist.
I simply can't imagine a world without these.
The Grimm? As nice as it would be, I would likely be just your everyday reporter at your local newspaper. There would be no huntsmen or huntresses' and there wouldn't be any schools to train them. That's the good part, the bad part? Politics would be way different; humanity would no longer have a common enemy and their hate and rage would be fully directed towards the Faunus.
Aura and Semblances? Well, we wouldn't need them without Grimm.
Dust would be seen as a power source and a tool of war. Speaking of which, war would likely be rampant throughout the four kingdoms; either due to civil unrest or simply power struggles and territorial disputes between the kingdoms or villages whom have left the kingdoms.
New kingdoms and nations would sprout up everyday.
As far as the no Faunus thing is concerned, well, Kevin and I wouldn't exist. Humanity would exist as one singular race, Human. I would imagine, differences in the color of their skin would be the subject of racial separation rather than the existence of an animal trait.
But these are all theoreticals.
Regarding Daft's semblance... no, it would be unfair to call it a semblance; it's more like magic.
Soap has given it the name "Boundless", because the things she can do are, well, boundless.
She gave me a brief explanation as to how her teleporting works and it's not very easy for me to comprehend; but I digress...
Here's what happened in the days following Daft's discovery and Soap's prompt departure soon thereafter.
"So you guys have surveillance?" Daft asked, her voice laced with annoyance.
"Well, yeah. We have to. There are still entire levels of Delta base that have gaping holes in the wall. Get too lonely, and a Deathstalker could just wander right into the base. With that said, there are no camera's in the sleeping area's that are currently being used, the bathrooms and showers, the eight or so sealed floors that no one can access anyways, and whatever area we have picked to be our favorite area; within reason. Soap demanded that we each pick an area to give us a little privacy. As he put it, 'a safe place to escape to when you don't want to exist for a little bit'." I responded.
"Why the fuck are there eight sealed floors and why can no one access them?" She responded.
"From what we can gather, there are a number of reasons that the floors have been sealed. Four of them simply don't exist anymore."
"How the hell do they not exist?"
"The floors have collapsed. As for the other four, one of them is a greenhouse of sorts and apparently the wrong type of fertilizer was used and caused some kind of poison gas to be emitted from the plants. So as a precautionary measure, the soldiers stationed here over a hundred years ago blocked the stairway entrances from the inside, welded the elevator landing shut, and vented all the air to the outside effectively creating a vacuum. As far as the other three go, we have no idea. The floors have been completely removed from the base directory."
"So you're saying that no one can get in or out of these floors, except maybe me or Soap."
"From what I understand, Soap can only teleport to places that are within line of sight of him or places that he has been before. Even then, he has a range to his teleporting."
"Got any firing ranges available? You know as a personal space."
"Three apparently, though, I only know where two of them are."
"Let me guess, the last one is on one of the floors that are 'sealed'." Daft said sarcastically.
I nodded my head to confirm her suspicions.
"Well, that shouldn't be a problem for me. Where is this greenhouse floor?" She said starting towards the elevator.
"Wait, what do you mean?" I asked as I started to run after her.
"I'm not from this universe, right?"
"Right. Your medical scans did prove that, yes, you are in fact from another universe. But what does that have to do with anything?"
"hehehe." Daft responded, her laughter almost sinister. "I've got a neat parlor trick that I want to show you."
Next thing I knew, I'm standing in front of the sealed stairway entrance to the greenhouse floor with a gas mask in my hands.
"What are you going to do?" I asked, bewilderment plastered on my face.
"I'm going to go in there, open the vents, and then come fetch you." Daft said with a smirk on her face.
"You do realize that there is no air in there, right?" I asked, genuinely concerned.
She appeared before me suddenly and started scratching my head between my ears. "Oh you cute lil bunny rabbit. Oh so concerned about lil old me." Her voice sounded like she was talking to a cute puppy.
I melted as she scratched atop my head, the pleasure was almost overwhelming. I was both relived and disappointed when she stopped.
"I'll be fine. I'll be right back, so don't you worry your pretty lil head."
With that, she took a step forward and vanished into nothing. I heard the unmistakable sound of the external air vents being opened.
A few moments later, Daft appeared before me with the biggest smile I swear I have ever seen.
"Oh gods. That's it. She's gone mad. Though she didn't really have it all together to being with." I said, that last part a bit quieter than the other.
"Nope. Just, really, really happy." She said dreamily.
"Why?" I asked incredulously.
"It certainly ain't poison for me, but if this stuff is poison for you, I'm sorry." She said shaking her head sadly.
"Again, why?"
"Oh nothing; the smell just reminds me of a plant that I have very dearly missed." She said, "And not to mention the side effects that come with. Anyways get your mask on and get in here."
"Right." I replied as I put the gas mask on, "So how does this teleporting power of yours work?"
"Well I basically bend the universe and exploit a timeline where I have pinpointed the exact location and time I wish to be. I have to locate both within a millisecond, and millimeter respectively, because if I miss the leap, I can break into millions of atoms and explode into dust."
I just stared at her blankly, "Explain like I'm five?"
"I open a door in the universe. On the other side of that door is the exact time and place I want to be. If I miss the door, I smash into the invisible wall holding the door and just fucking die. To 'teleport', I simply walk through the door."
"That explains why it looks like you are disappearing around a corner every time you do that."
"Just get in here!" She said excitedly as she grabbed my hand and pulled me forward.
I found myself on the floor, panting.
"You good darlin?"
"I came really close to losing my lunch again. That sickly, sweet, burnt popcorn smell isn't helping at all. What even is that smell?" I asked as I started to undo my gas mask.
"Darlin, until we have proved that that smell won't kill you, please keep that mask on." Daft said stopping me.
"Yeah you're right."
"Also, it smells like really sweet burnt popcorn to you? It smells a bit like a skunk decided tonight was the night to live or let die; and it died."
"What on Remnant is a skunk?"
"Don worry 'bout it hon. By the way, good news; I found that missing firing range of yours." She said with a smirk.
"Where? Here?" I asked.
"No. It's actually three stories up." She said completely deadpan.
"But three floors up is a kitch-" I was cutoff.
"Yes it's here; where the fuck else would it be?"
She offered me a hand to get off the floor.
After I was standing, she looked around the floor. "Perfect. I'll take it." She said, bouncing through another one of her doors.
"Oh gods, what is she doing now?" I asked myself as she reappeared with a bed in tow. "How di- Why di- Just why?"
"I'm making this whole floor my room and personal space." She said, finalizing where the bed went.
"Ok. That's the why. Now what about the 'how' and the 'where'?"
"You mean the bed orrrrr-?"
"Yes I am talking about the bed; I don't even want to know what else I could have possibly been referring to." I said, completely exasperated.
"Oh, I got it from the closest IKEA."
"The closest what? You do realize that we are hundreds of thousands of miles away from the nearest anything, right?"
"I know." She said, putting the finishing touches on her covers for the bed.
I sighed hard. I swear this lady's gonna kill me. "Did you at least pay for it?"
"They'll find the money when they go to look for the bed."
"Did you use the correct type of money? I'm sure you have money from your universe stashed away in that bag of yours."
"Probably not." She said, her smile ear to ear.
"You know what, fuck it. Sure, this whole floor is yours." I sighed, "At least we don't have to remove any cameras."
"I was planning on it."
A/N: So yea, that's the chapter. We are working on the main story after this. I refuse to reread the above A/N so I have no idea if I am repeating any information.
I just have to get my wife to actually watch RWBY so she can help; supposedly, she's going to watch the first volume tomorrow but we shall see.