Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or any other references that will appear throughout this work of fiction. Thank you for not suing me, other guys...yet.

Chapter 5

"That could have gone better," I said to myself. Brushing the dust off my legs, I began to make my way out of the crater that I had made, an impressive half-dome that cut into the ground six feet deep with a fifteen foot radius. I got a good look at my surroundings, in case I ever had to come back here to bury a body. Hey, you never know when you're going to know these sort of things, so don't judge me.

"Ah yes, plan for the worst before something, something the best, right?" my second mind said to me.

'Wow, way to butcher that saying, idiot.'

"Your mind, not mine. I think. I guess? Wait a second, what exactly am I to you? Was that ever explained properly?"

'I was told that I would be more eccentric. Ergo, you are a part of my mind, so anything you say about it applies to you as well. So suck it!'

I took one last look at the hole before making my way to the temple, wherever that may be. Just kidding, I knew exactly where it would be. I really hoped that Ozpin wouldn't fill that hole any time soon. Then again, it probably would have been too risky to hide a body so close to the school grounds.

"Ah, actually using your brain for once? Don't hurt yourself."

'Yeah, and your voice is already working my brain way more than it should, so would you kindly shut up?" I retorted. I heard a disgusted click of the tongue inside my head.

"Fine. Fine. I see how it is. Just don't come running to me when you're about to get munched on by a pack of Grimm. I'll just screw around in the other parts of your mind." I could practically hear him smirking when he said that.

'Wait, don't touch-'

*Click*

'...anything.' I sighed. Did I even have a choice in the matter? It's not like there was anything that he hadn't gone through had he?

"...huh. That's new."

I sighed again, giving up on pursuing the matter any further. Like I have mentioned before, my life has pretty much been shaped so that I developed a very acute defeatist attitude. Being controlled, interrupted, and needed constantly can do that to a person, if that person was me. Sometimes I think that my only reason for existence was to serve others. That's why coming to this world was such a breath of fresh air. I could do as I pleased according to myself and to no one else's standards. Well...I hope I actually get to live long enough to enjoy it fully.

'Now where the hell is that temple?' I asked myself as I made my way through the forest. The situation seemed a little iffy right now. The dense foliage all around me was quiet throughout, and there were no other signs of life to be had. I hadn't even encountered any fellow huntsmen or Grimm, another strange occurrence. For all intents and purposes, I was taking a walk through the park. A monster infested park with trained monster hunters, yes, but the absence of people was beginning to worry me.

'Alright, think this through logically,' I thought to myself in an attempt to calm myself down. 'I was stalled, so of course everyone is going to be further ahead. Add that to the fact that everyone was also launched further than I had jumped and it makes plenty of sense. That still doesn't explain the lack of Grimm though.' That's when a horrible thought slipped into my head.

'Maybe they're already attacking the students?'

I shook my head in denial. No, that wasn't possible. If that were true, there would at least be signs of a struggle. Like metal clashing through bone and flesh, even overexaggerated grunts and groans from the fighting. And I was pretty certain that the students could handle themselves.

BANG!

...damn it, I hate it when this happens.

I adjusted my shades and proceeded to pick up the pace a little as I headed to the temple, deliberately trying to shy away from all the noises of conflict. Those were few and far between, thank God for small mercies, but I co"uldn't help tensing when those noises began to get louder. And closer.

'Alright. Just gotta make it to the temple. If I can just get to the temple I-...aaaaawwwwwwwww, really? Now of all times?'

My luck finally ran out when I spotted a Beowolf stumbling through the bushes. Surprisingly the thing seemed to be a bit disoriented, based on the way that it seemed to move slowly and deliberately along the ground. Of course that all changed when the stupid thing spotted me.

"Uhh...hi?" I said as my feet readjusted to prepare for my fight-or-flight response. I don't know if it had seen this, but the low growl it emitted was all the answer I needed to make up my mind.

'Option one I guess,' I thought to myself as the Grimm tried to rush me. 'Tried' being the key word. It came at me fast, there was no doubt about that. But whatever hit it must have struck pretty hard though, because it missed me by a wide margin, more than a couple of feet.

'Maybe it was in a bush and a tree fell on it?' I'll blame Ruby,' I decided in my head.

[Elsewhere]

"ACHOO!...sniff."

...

[Back with me]

'Let's put this thing out of this misery then.'

I jumped up a tree and kicked off the trunk, grabbing on then perching myself right above the staggering Beowolf, who had somehow lost me when I had ascended to new heights. My hand slowly reached behind my head and just as slowly revealed my new weapon to the world. It literally was my newest weapon, something that I had grabbed shortly after I attempted to emulate the flight of Icarus.

"The huntsman may have their blades, bludgeons, and guns...the Grimm may try to fight me off with tooth, nail, and claw...but from the heavens my wrath shall descend!"

The Beowolf turned its head skyward just in time to watch me descend upon it.

"FALL BEFORE THE MIGHT OF MY GREN!"

And with that shout I swung with all the force my muscles and aura could afford me, and I was not disappointed; I could feel my opponent's skull cave in as my weapon impacted right between its eyes, the sickening crunch reverberating from my weapon to my hands.

I let it go and proceeded to kick the Beowolf in the face, using the improvised foothold to launch myself off the Grimm and sliding a short distance away. My eyes kept on the creature, never letting up their gaze until it was confirmed that the Beowolf was dead. Finally it began to fade away, disintegrating into nothingness like a defeated emissary of the DTE.

"...is that it?" I asked myself in confusion. In all of the ways that it mattered, I had technically one-shotted a Beowolf. Everyone else who can claim likewise has the excuse that they've actually trained for this. Me? I decided to swing a stick and hoped I got lucky. Speaking of which...

I walked up to the still fading Grimm and took in the stick that I had used to kill it. I didn't lie when I said I found it after landing. It happened to be one of the more sturdier sticks that I had smashed into and also the one that managed to fall on my head shortly after making the crater. I then decided to use it as a weapon until it broke as retaliation.

I picked up my wooden bludgeon, shaking the last bits of my kill off of it, and twirled it in victory pose fashion before placing it on a makeshift sheath on my back. I took note of my surroundings again to use it as a landmark if I somehow came upon this area again, and continued my journey toward the temple.

Not even ten minutes into my walk, and I was already facing more problems. I don't know if it was the area I was in or the fight that had just taken place, but the empty forest decided to do a 180 and was suddenly full of Grimm. I had taken the time to climb up one of the trees and proceeded to slowly treehop toward my destination, allowing to test one of my new theories.

One of the uses of aura is to protect yourself, usually in the form of a shield-like barrier, right? My theory was that, instead of being a stationary conceptual shield that would come to mind, the barrier was more the result of a force that you expel from your body via aura. The light show that came with it was probably the aura redirecting itself in order to counteract and neutralize the opposing forces.

"Like an AT field?"

'I suppose. Also, welcome back. You missed my kill,' I said back to The Voice.

"Oh please," he responded, "I'm always watching, just in case I have to save your ass from the fire. Anyways, continue?"

Right. So with that idea I thought: If aura can be used to push...can it be used for the complete opposite? Thinking back, Juane's use of aura was the source of another breakthrough in theory. If I was correct, his use of healing could actually signal what may be a precursor to a semblance.

Think hard here. How does a humanoid body actually 'heal' external injuries? By the replication of cells, right? So by that logic, Juane either mass replicated his cells, or he hyper-accelerated the replication process. Can you think of two individuals that somewhat display a slight aspect of these descriptions? And it doesn't even end there! If I'm right, Pyrrha's ability may possibly be what I am trying to find out, albeit her ability has range and is only reactive with metal.

And with that reasoning in mind, I began to test out my new idea.

CRACK

...of course. Sigh...

I allowed myself to fall to the ground, my aura cushioning my second fall today. 'Well this blows. There goes my idea. Damn, I really hope that Aura is not really magic, cause that's just gonna open up a whole 'nother can of worms.'

"Then you're just gonna fiddle around with other magic systems, aren't you? ...hold on, you didn't break that branch."

'What are talking about?' I began to walk toward the nearest tree when a tiny explosion of dirt erupted near my feet. Instinct kicked in, and I rolled off in the opposite direction, stopping only to take cover behind a tree.

"Are you kidding me?!" I yelled out loud, not caring if my supposed assailant or a wandering pack of Grimm heard me. The answer I received to this was the bark near the side of my head exploding into pieces, splinters and sawdust brushing past along my face. Deciding that enough was enough, I flicked my wrist outward, two pistols now armed and primed in each hand.

I darted out from my cover toward the direction of the temple again, observing how a shadowy figure jumped down from the leafy canopy of the forest and began to give chase.

"Eat shit and die, faggot!" I yelled out as I started taking blind shots behind me. I wouldn't take the chance of looking back to see the progress of my pursuer, the thought of shortening what little distance there was between us convincing my legs to work triple time. Satisfied that he or she had fallen behind, I put away my pistols till I needed them again.

Still trying to get used to my aura tricks, my eyes widened in surprised when I was able to partially stick on a passing tree. 'Chance!' I jumped off the ground and used my limited control over my aura to swim me around the trunk, a move that subconsciously reminded me of a pole dancer (to my embarrassment), the maneuver catching my enemy off long enough for me to plant my feet firmly in his now confirmed male chest. We both tumbled to the ground and I was able to recover to my to my feet faster than he did. I took advantage of this by jumping over to him and aiming a pistol at his head and chest, a knee on his gut to hopefully keep him from moving.

"So, haah, any, haah, reason for, haah, all of this?" I panted out.

All I got for my trouble was a glare; at least that's what I thought it was, considering I couldn't see his eyes or mouth because of his hooded jacket and red scarf. Wait a second...

I glanced at his weapon and froze in realization. I had seen it before!

Feeling me weaken the pressure of my knee and his gut, the downed person gave a quick shove and stood up in all his glory. Green hooded jacket with a single black line running down each arm. A shoulder harness meant to carry his weapon. The oddly shaped crossbow rifle that was actually a three part weapon, subcategories not included. And a pointy looking scarf that mirrored my own in all but color. He took off his hood, revealing, not the beret I expected, but a pair of white cat ears. Oh shit.

"...see?" he asked me with clear irritation lining his usually apathetic tone. I just continued to stare, causing him to snort in irritation. His demeanor changed to a softer one though when he noticed how watery my eyes had become.

'He's here,' I thought to myself. 'He's really, really here.'

People tended to come and go in my life, and that was okay with me. I had come to terms with my mortality much sooner than most people had; not that it made me want to die any faster than anyone else. But what I had come to notice was that I had no one to love. No one to truly call my own. And it was a very trying time in my life. A point I always fail to recall, after all the changes that have happened since then.

But it was during that time that I discovered an aspect of myself: I was a partial narcissist. Like most people, I was heavily dissatisfied with my body and other things that made up the person now known as 'Gray'. But with every other aspect I became unnaturally fascinated, and I didn't hesitate to treasure these qualities if mine. Qualities that I did not want to keep to myself.

And so it came to pass that I would take these traits of myself and give them life. Create a person from my very being who would become the living embodiment of the parts of me that I cared for so intensely. Someone that would grow to become something more than I had first envisioned. And standing in front of me was one such part.

"How...how did this possibly happen?" I wondered out loud as I reached for the animal appendages. He didn't seem to mind, rather, he encouraged it as he pushed his head into the hands that were now caressing the ears in a fond manner. "I'm glad I found you then. I can't imagine what's it like to be here alo-wait, are any of the others here?" I asked in anticipation.

"...no," he replied somewhat sadly. He gazed at me with eyes that I knew too well, eyes that belonged to a person much more older and weary; ones that mirrored my own. I knew that he was as lost as I was when I had first invaded this world.

"Well I'm here for you now. And you know how I am, right? What's the one thing about me that always stands out, out of all the traits I exhibit?"

There was no hesitation in his answer. "Protect."

"That's right," I said as I pulled him into my arms, "Everything I love, the bonds I gather, even the sparks that I create; my entire existence is for you, and nothing save the death of my existence will ever change that. But being a part of me...you already knew that, huh?" I smiled as I could feel him nodding into my chest. "Well, it's time we stop moping around. We've got each other now, right, partner?" Coming to terms with who I would be spending my life here in Beacon.

I let go of him and dodged a punch to the face. "Heh! I knew you were going to do tha-oof!" And he socked me in the gut. Well that's new.

"...let's go," he urged, now smirking at my downed form. He then walked off to what I knew was the direction of the temple, the knowledge of another life lived giving him a general idea of the goings on of now.

"Urgh. Well. At least he seems a little more sociable now."

It seemed that, in addition to me, the world would soon come to fear the young man known as Trent Systema.

As the temple came in sight, a question popped into my head. "Hey Trent...how exactly did you get here, anyway?"

He stopped in his tracks and I waited. And waited. Annnnd waited.

Finally after fifteen minutes Trent shook his head and continued walking.

"...don't ask."

I tilted my head in contemplation then shrugged. I guess it didn't really matter in the big scheme of things. Take me for example. I came into this world because some higher up entity slacked off on the job. Way to go buddy, really appreciate the effort.

When we finally got to the temple that I had fondly dubbed 'Stonehenge', we found that some of the 'relics' were already taken.

"Damn it, all the little ponies are missing!" I cried in dismay. Half a week before the start of the term I had decided to screw continuity and mess with the universe. Unfortunately it appeared that the 'powers that be' for this world didn't want me to interfere too deeply. Not that it really mattered; even I saw the slight changes that I had created due to my meddling.

Trent shook his head with a close-eyed smile, as if he was dealing with a child. He observed what pieces were left and decided on a small orb, something that I hadn't realized was part of the selection. Was it something that had been originally taken?

"Alright, my turn!" I squealed excitedly, hoping to get a matching set with my partner. "Hmm, that's weird. There doesn't seem to be a match," I said as I scratched my head.

Trent tapped my shoulder impatiently and pointed at a certain pillar. "Trent? What is it that...you...want..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"DIBS!"

I picked up my item, a multicolored object with multicolored sides. I immediately tried to fiddle with it until Trent swat me upside my head with one of his swords' handles. "Hey that hurts!"

He rolled his eyes and ignored me, then continued to swat me. "Hey, seriously, cut that out! You're going to poke an eye out if you keep doing that!"

He rose his brow as if asking, 'is that what it's going to take?', and then pointed both of his swords to my face.

"Muu, killjoy," I said with a pout as I put away my 'relic.' Trent smirked in victory as we began our journey back to the cliffs.

"Ten lien says that we run into more trouble," I chimed in, trying to get a rise out of the stoic boy.

"That's a sucker's bet."

My eyes widened, and I almost fell on my face when he had held his scroll up for me to read. I chuckled when I had realized it was his way to compensate for his lack of communication.

"And what have you been doing in this world?"

Trent didn't notice when I froze in my tracks, nor when my body was racked with tremors for the better of three seconds. When he did look back to check on me, he was met with my forced false smile on my face, my brain trying to bury memories of times best left forgotten.

"You don't want to know." And it was the only answer I could come up with. I had a lot of times to think in the past few weeks, and a great majority of those thoughts were now repressed. I suppose it was unfortunate that I couldn't enforce a more permanent way of repression, but whatever. I wasn't that choosy.

"So, you think that it's gonna be as easy as it was for you to get back to the cliffs?" I asked Trent in a way go subconsciously get us going. He shook his head, as if he was thoroughly convinced that something stupid was bound to happen. "Oh, don't be such a stick in the mud!"

"AWROOOOOOOOOOO!"

...it seems I've forgotten the reason why I can't have nice things. Allow me to reiterate and revise what I had stated.

At the most inopportune moment, something will come along and inevitably tear my shit apart.

"...I blame you." I do too, Trent, I do too.

And for a little bonus (not really), it's time for an omake! Whoo!

The Strange Displacement of Trent Systema (alternatively, The Apperance of Tren-neko Systemia) Part One

Living a life in, what Trent had come to dub as, the RWBYverse was not as bad as he had first come to believe.

He was part of a team of broken (in every sense of the word) people that he enjoyed being in. He had come to meet with strange individuals that he would not have if he had stayed with his father. He was a person that had almost complete control of his life.

Yes, Trent knew instinctively that there was someone, somewhere, dictating the events that had occurred in his life; past, present, and future. Realization of this drew him to hate the being that carelessly toyed with the lives of everyone he knew. That was why he always glared toward the sky at some being that, he would never admit, was on a higher plane of existence. But as long as life was tolerable, Trent would tolerate it as well. And so far, life was going great, as far as he was concerned.

Then he disappeared. At least, he would wink out of existence only for a moment.

But for Trent, that moment lasted for another lifetime.

Trent knew that something was wrong. The warm constricting walls and the lack of control in his limbs had nothing to do with it. Instead, it was the sudden shift from a bright, sunny day to absolute darkness that clued him that something was amiss.

Despite not being able to move, Trent calmly assessed the situation, and created a theory on what just happened.

"Someone just screwed me over."

Contrary to his belief, it was not the person that he had thought had done it.

Trent grew tired fast, faster than should have been possible for him. The only things that he had observed in his tiny prison was that he was alone in a cramped space and that there was something long and slender that was curved in front of him. He could only tell because said object was nestled in between his fingers, which still refused to move to his will.

Frustrated at his lack of progress, Trent decided to do the one thing that had constantly eluded him since he had arrived at Beacon Academy. Something that he had so desperately wished that he could do in peace and quiet. Something he could do alone.

Trent slept. For as long as he wanted, with no interruptions.

And Trent slept for a very long time.

Trent woke up periodically in his little space, but nothing seemed to change. He did, however, note that the walls seemed to suspiciously close in on him at very infinitesimal increments. Almost enough so that he would have been hard pressed to notice it at all. Almost.

This worried the boy to no end, especially when the walls actually started to press against his skin. When this first happened, he was dismayed that he could do nothing against it, but then was even more shocked when the strange object he was holding twitched when he had become startled. The realization had startled him further, which resulted in a second, stronger twitch. Thankfully, this did not send him in a circle of reactions. Much to the disappointment of the readers.

Trent eventually learned to deal with the encroaching walls, but had had a harder time drifting to sleep because of it. He then resorted to his favorite past time of blaming the creators of the universe for the mess he was in.

On a side note, we do not keep track of how many terrible situations Trent has been in. The only thing we can confirm is that there are too many to count.

Trent immediately regretted his actions when the walls suddenly decided to retaliate by squishing him at a more intense rate. By this time, Trent had some semblance of control over his arms, so he decided to put it to good use, to no avail. He then decided to kick the walls, another action that turned against him when the walls pushed against him with renewed force.

All hope seemed lost for Trent, who was actually waiting for his miserable existence to end, hoping against hope that no one would ever know that he had succumbed to death by being squeezed alive. His pessimistic way of thinking, however, had gotten him to miss something.

He was being moved.

If Trent had bothered to notice, instead of lamenting with his cries of 'poor me!', he would have noticed that the walls were systematically pushing toward a new place, a better place.

By the time he had finally seen the light, he was already a man. Wait a sec, that's not right (well, it was in the mental sense)...oh, here it is.

By the time he had seen the light, Trent had given up hope, and was really hoping that he could fall asleep in...wherever he ended up.

Which was why it came as a great shock when the light struck his eyes.

His immediate action was to shut his eyes, an action that had become instinctive to him due to the nature of his life. The second thing he did was to cry out in frustration. And cry he did. Just not in the way that he had imagined it would go. That only served to make him cry louder.

'Why the hell am I a baby!?' "Waaaaaahhh!"

So Trent cried his little heart out to show that he was alive and capable of drawing breath.

Unfortunately, it still didn't stop the doctor from spanking his ass just to make sure, and Trent cried again at the unfairness of it all.

Authors notes

Gray: And with that, another chapter is done!

45: No way, this has gotta be a fluke.

Omega: Seriously, you can't have done this! You got more days at work now! How does that even-

Gray: Um! Graduated from moist boy to a powder boy! Feel free to imagine what I could possibly mean by that. And to stop certain lines of thinking, it in no way implies anything perverted or sexual. My coworkers would say otherwise, of course.

45: You also found your Vita. How did you get this chapter out so...okay, not fast, but sooner than usual?

Omega: Anime, my friend.

Gray: That's right! And on that note, I kinda liked Seraph of the End. My brothers likened it to Attack on Titan, but I liked it. Similar to fanfiction, if It entertains me, then I'm okay with it. That being said...

All: Enjoy the day!