"And so it begins again…"

I couldn't help the dry and tired sarcasm that was dripping from my mouth as I heard another explosion from the far off distance, shaking the room I was in. I would have left this place by now, but there was nowhere else to go since it didn't matter in the long run. It sucked not having electricity and running water though, but… I guess that was minor compared to what was going on right now. This also meant I had no internet and communications had been cut off since the centers as well as towers had been destroyed as well.

"Where would I go anyway…? Not like I can outrun a nuke." I muttered under my breath peering outside my window to see pure chaos and anarchy. I've long since made peace with the situation the moment it started.

We were all doomed either way. All it took was for someone to finally push the big red button and all hell in the world broke loose. Don't even remember what truly started it, people in power are weird like that. Now it felt like every day several cities or states were getting nearly wiped off the map and there were only a handful of survivors at best.

I sat down in my chair with a sigh, rolling back on its wheels. I couldn't even really say I lived a good life to be honest. I grew up in the ghetto, lost my family before I even turned twenty, and had spent most of my life working to only be able to make ends meet. It felt like from the start I was dealt a bad hand, and despite my best efforts could only make it slightly better.

'Well, if there's an afterlife…' I closed my eyes, hearing people outside screaming about a bright light getting closer. 'Here's hoping it's better than this shit.'

The last thing I remember was an ear deafening explosion outside of my window, shattering it as well as destroying my wall, before being enveloped in an intense heat and light.

"Forgive me for this but… I need you if I want to save this world."

A pair of eyes shot open with a loud audible gasp, as a boy sat up from the ground. He looked around frantically, trying to regain his bearings only for confusion to grow. "Where… Where the hell am I?!"

The forest and vegetation were unfamiliar to the child, not that there were many in the city he lived in to begin with.

"Alright, calm down. Calm down Desmond…" The confused young one muttered to himself as he placed his hands to his head, before noticing something else as he quickly placed them back in front of him. "When did my hands get so small?!"

Instead of being the large hands of a twenty-nine year old adult male, they looked like the hands of a small child though still held the dark melanin color he was used to seeing. It was then he noticed something else. "And why is my voice so high? On top of that, why is everything so tall?"

Stumbling backwards before falling on his rear, he crawled over to a nearby lake to see a reflection that only furthered his confusion. "Okay… I'm a kid now. That makes sense."

He took a deep breath before laughing dryly.

"No it doesn't. I have no idea what the hell is happening…" Standing up, he started to walk in a random direction, no current destination in mind. "I have no idea where I am, I'm now a child, and somehow the world doesn't look like it's in the midst of a nuclear war."

He sighed, placing a hand to his chin. "I only remember being consumed by that bomb and then… waking up here. Not to mention, it looks nothing like the metro area of Atlanta." He ran a hand through his hair. "Well, first thing first is to find some sort of civilization and then try to make sense of all this. After that, I can plan what to do next."

"Grr…!"

The boy stopped and turned around, a small shiver of fear running down his spine as he saw red eyes glaring at him. Slowly what appeared to be a wolf of pure darkness with bone like armor stalked out of the bushes, leering at him.

'...Shit!'

Desmond quickly sprinted as fast as his new small legs could carry him, the beast giving close chase from behind. He didn't look behind him, but could tell from the proximity of the growls that he wasn't making sufficient progress in escaping.

'Get dropped off into a strange new place and the first thing I have to do is run for my life from a monster wolf trying to kill me! How fun!' The boy ranted in his mind, taking a quick left turn to avoid a bite. 'Don't even know where the hell I'm going, there has to be a village or town around here somewhere!'

He suddenly cried out in surprise however, as he tripped on a root and skid across the ground. Grunting in pain, he saw the monster begin to close in on as he reached for anything to help before grabbing a lone tree branch and using it to defend against the monster's bite as he placed it between them.

"Leave me alone dammit! What the hell did I do to you?!" Desmond shouted, doing his best to hold the monster back. The dark creature only growled and snarled against the wood before eventually snapping it with its jaw.

However Desmond wasn't deterred and smacked the side of its head with one half of it in his hands, knocking it to its side. He quickly picked himself up to run but only made it a few feet as he was tripped by one of its arms. The monster quickly took this chance to pounce on the boy and opened its jaw, ready to rip out his throat.

Bang!

A loud gunshot rang out as the monster went limp before falling to the side on the ground. Desmond panted, realizing how close he was to death before scooting back from the corpse as it dissolved.

"Hey, we got a kid here! We need medics!"

'W-What…?' That was Desmond's last thought as his eyes closed and he lost consciousness.

"So… want to explain to me why some brat was out in a Grimm infested forest?"

"...I got lost on the road to life?"

"...You think this is funny, kid? You were nearly a beowolf's dinner."

"I… you're right."

A middle aged bald man wearing armor and a notable scar running down his face, glared down at the dark skinned boy in front of him. He crossed his arms as he leaned back against his office desk. "So where did you come from? I've never seen you around here."

'A planet called Earth that was probably rendered uninhabitable thanks to our world leaders deciding to start a nuclear war.' Desmond dryly thought before answering the question. "...A small village that wasn't too far from here. It was attacked by those monsters and I'm the only survivor."

"...I see. My condolences, kid." The man seemed genuine as he bowed his head. "The Grimm around here can be more dangerous to deal with since we're outside a kingdom's protection. It's not uncommon that a village falls prey to them before any huntsmen or huntresses can arrive."

'Grimm? Kingdoms? Huntsmen and Huntresses? Where the hell did I end up?'

"On that note, what's your name? I imagine your parents gave you one."

"Des-" The reincarnated child suddenly went silent, staring at his reflection in a lone mirror to the side, notably his eyes.

'If I'm going to start a new life…'

"Cyan, my name is Cyan. I don't have any parents or family, they died a long time ago so I don't have a last name either."

"To the Grimm? Bandits?"

"...Other things."

"I see…" The huntsman sighed, walking over and placing a hand on one of Cyan's shoulders. "So you're an orphan huh? Well, there's no orphanage out here so I don't know what to tell you."

"I'll make it, I'm a survivor." Cyan said, standing up from the chair he was sitting in.

"Are you now…?" The man raised an eyebrow, before smirking. "Huh, look at the big balls on this brat. Just got attacked by a Grimm and it didn't even phase you!"

'Get mugged, jumped by gangs, and have a gun pointed in your face enough times; a monster wolf nearly killing you is just another Monday.' Cyan dryly thought as another one came to mind. "Is there anywhere I can stay? Anything will do and is there any work I can do as well?"

The man's eyebrow went up even higher as he placed a hand to his chin. "...There's a restaurant in town that's run by an old lady and her daughter who need help often. I'll talk to them about getting you some work and maybe a place to stay.

"Thanks, I appreciate this… um…"

The man laughed, grinning widely. "Gerald. Gerald Quinn."

"Well thanks Gerald." Cyan thanked, giving a small nod of appreciation. 'I need to find out some more about the world I'm in now too. Let's take this one step at a time, Cyan.'

Several months had come and gone before Cyan even noticed and he kept himself completely busy finding out as much as he could of this new world.

Apparently, the world he was now in was called Remnant and he was in one of its four kingdoms called Vale. The village he had taken residence in was on the outskirts of the kingdom.

The currency here was called Lien and was similar to USD back on Earth, something he was very thankful for. It also seemed English was the main language spoken as well.

Finally, the world seemed somewhat futuristic and magical compared to his own. He had learned that the monster that attacked him in the forest was a type of grimm, a creature of darkness. They had only one thought to their mind, and that was destruction. They also were attracted by negative emotions, which is why many villages struggled against them due to the widespread panic they caused.

'Where the hell did I end up?' The dark skinned boy thought to himself as he laid on the bed in his small one bedroom apartment. It had the bare essentials that he needed at least, not that he needed much more.

He had managed to get a job at the local diner as the owner and her daughter had desperately needed help with their small staff. While he was only eleven years old in this new body of his, he held knowledge that had been implemented in his head somehow and possessed the memories of his past life such as knowing how to cook due to the jobs he had worked and circumstances as well.

Apparently he was such a good cook, that the diner's popularity began to rise around Vale's lands and its customer base rose. A fact that the owner was extremely grateful for whilst also helping him find residence in the village and giving him a decent enough salary to provide for himself.

'...Well, it's better than what I had at this age on Earth. Not to mention, a much better alternative than living on the streets.' Cyan mused to himself, looking up at the ceiling. 'Still… I want something more than this. It's a complete waste to just work an eight to five job in some random village for the rest of my new life. But what the hell could I even do? I don't even know where to start.'

It was a feeling that had bothered him over the month he had been in this new world. He desired to know more about this new world and meet new people. To use this second chance at life to the fullest. However, he knew little of the lands outside of the village and knew he needed to have a more set plan before going out.

There was… one thing he had thought about however. Through his time here, he had learned about the profession of huntsmen and huntresses. People who were trained to fight against the Grimm and other forces of potential evil. It was a dangerous but interesting lifestyle, one that caused intrigue in the reborn boy.

However, to become one required years of training as well as attending an Academy for four years to be fully certified by the Hunters Association. Two things that were out of his reach in his current position.

A loud knock on the door cut Cyan from his thoughts.

"Cyan! Open up, we need you!"

The reincarnated boy sighed, getting off his bed and approaching the door. "Coming Poppy…"

Opening the door, he was greeted by a red headed freckle faced girl who had her hair styled in pigtails whilst wearing a striped blue dress. She held a look of urgency on her face compared to Cyan's bored one.

"What's up Poppy?" The dark skinned boy greeted, stretching his neck.

The redhead glared at him with her green eyes. "We need you at the restaurant, a whole bunch of people just came and me and mum can't possibly handle it with just our current staff."

"Damn, and on my day off too? Talk about some bad luck…" Cyan muttered to himself, causing Poppy's glare to harden. "Chill, let me just throw some good clothes on and I'll be there. You know I'm not one to turn down some overtime."

"Hmph, you and your overtime. You make more than enough to provide for yourself here, so what's the point?"

"Because I don't plan to be here forever Poppy, pretty sure I said this already." Cyan bluntly responded, changing his clothes in an area hidden from the girl's view. "This is a nice town and all, but I want to see more of what's out there you know?"

"...So you are serious about leaving."

'Crap, I did it again.' Cyan internally winced, peeking out to see the girl's gloomy look. He sighed, stepping out from the room. "Not anytime soon, I'm still aways from raising the money needed anyway. I plan to be here for a good minute."

"That's good I guess, just hurry up. Mom can only handle the rush by herself for so long." The girl muttered before walking out of the small apartment.

Cyan listened to the door close before sighing to himself. 'Age doesn't equal wisdom in my case I guess. Oh well, I'll make it up to her later.'

"Cyan, I need two orders of omelets and hash browns!"

"On it!"

"Is that crepe ready too?"

"Right up on the counter!"

"You're a godsend Cyan, thank you!"

Cyan chuckled as he flipped a pancake on the grill. "Don't sweat it…"

This had become his life for the past several months since arriving to this world, working as one of the cooks in the local diner in town. Due to its location, it had become something of a central hub for travelers in these parts.

It had been a bit of a challenge having to get used to his younger and smaller body and learning how to cook again with it was no different due to his shorter limbs. However with some practice, he was able to eventually get the hang of it.

The boy placed a plate on the counter above him before ringing the bell. "One plate of omelet and hash browns on the counter!" Not long after, he saw the plate be taken away as he turned back to his other preparations.

"Sorry about this Cyan." The preteen turned around to a middle aged woman with dark hair giving him an apologetic smile. "I know today was your day off, especially after yesterday's rush."

Cyan shook his head, smiling. "Forget about Mrs. Granger, it's like I told Poppy I don't mind getting some overtime and helping out when I can."

Mrs. Granger's smile turned a bit wider. "Well, you can expect a little extra in your next paycheck then. A nice bonus for being so willing to help us out."

"...Are you sure about that? I know the restaurant's budget can be a bit tight sometimes." Cyan was earnestly a bit concerned, knowing of the place's financial situation. It was the main reason they couldn't hire too many workers.

"Don't you worry about that, you're more than deserving of it!" Mrs. Granger firmly said, still smiling as she started to walk out the kitchen. "I'm going to go help up front, Poppy seems like she could use some assistance."

Cyan only remained silent, watching as the woman left.

"You know, she knows you want to leave the village."

The dark skinned boy turned around towards his fellow coworker in the kitchen. The man smiled as he placed a few pieces of bacon on a plate. "We don't blame you by the way, you have a lot of talent and it'd be wasted in this village. She just wants to do her part in helping you realize it."

"She doesn't have to go this far though…" Cyan muttered in embarrassment as the older male only laughed. Suddenly the sound of the restaurant's doors slamming open caught everyone's attention.

"Jean! The usual!"

"Ah Maria, I was wondering when you'd show up." The owner's dry tone made Cyan even more curious. "Poppy, you know her order."

"Yes mum!"

Using the stool he was on, whilst inwardly cursing his small height, Cyan took a peek over the window to see a middle aged woman with dark hair and blue clothing walk into the restaurant, carrying a small flair around her. However, her most interesting feature were her artificial eyes.

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Who the heck is that?"

"Judging from the voice that's Maria Calavera, a huntress who usually shows up in town around this time of year during her travels." His fellow cook answered in a slightly dry tone. "She's a bit of… a handful. Apparently she and the boss go back at least fifteen years, which is why she likes coming here."

However, Cyan was focused solely on one thing the man had said as he stared at the woman. 'A huntress huh? So that's what one looks like...'

Suddenly the woman looked up directly at him, causing him to flinch as he stepped down out of sight.

'Well that's a new face, since when was Jean hiring kids?'

Maria Calavera normally wasn't a nosy person, but she couldn't help but be slightly curious about the boy she caught staring at her from the kitchen considering the only child she's ever seen work in this diner had been young Poppy, who she had known since birth. Not to mention she had seen many workers come and go for better opportunities in Vale.

"Hey Jean! Who's the new kid?"

The owner stopped what she was doing for a moment to answer the woman. "You're talking about Cyan? He's a new hire that we brought in three months ago."

"He has a family or anything?"

"...No. He's an orphan that the militia found in the forest during one of their training exercises. His village was wiped out by Grimm from what he told them. He was the only survivor."

"I see." Maria muttered, cupping her hands together and placing them under her chin. Another thought then hit her. "Does he have any plans for the future?"

"...Why are you so curious, you've never been this interested in one of my workers before." Jean asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Passing interest, I guess you can say…" Maria confessed, causing Jean to shake her head. "What? Am I not allowed to be interested in the future generation?"

"No, it's just I never took you for someone so nosy." Jean bluntly stated, causing one of Maria's eyebrows to twitch. "But… pretty sure he's planning to leave the village eventually. I would love for him to stay here, but with the amount of potential he has, it'd be a waste. He picks up nearly everything you teach him quickly and efficiently. He'd go far in any profession I feel like."

"..." Maria was silent, absorbing the owner's words, her small interest in the boy growing larger. 'I wonder…'

Suddenly, a loud alarm started to blare from the center of the village as a villager bursted through the doors, panting heavily before shouting.

"Grimm! Near the village!"

"Everyone back into the village!"

"Hurry, they're coming! Get behind the barricades!"

"Hold them back, this is what you all trained for!"

Those were several of the screams and shouts Cyan heard as he ran towards the front gates, carrying supplies in his arms. He weaved through multiple villagers, moving as fast as his legs would carry him.

'Times like this I hate being a kid again!' The reincarnated boy thought in frustration, making his way to the front of the gates and already seeing the guardsman at work. "I have the medical supplies right here!"

"Thanks Cyan, drop them off right here!" Gerald instructed as the boy did so. He turned back towards his men before preparing his greatsword as he shouted. "They're coming, get ready!"

Cyan stepped back as someone on the medical team grabbed the supplies before watching several guardsmen rush to meet the Grimm's charge. They swung their weapons and fired their guns as they held off the monsters as best as they could, whilst also trying to give more villagers time to escape.

'This attack seems to be worse than usual though, did something rile them up?' The boy thought, helping up an elder who had tripped.

"Hold your ground! I know there's a lot of them, but stand strong!" Gerald roared, cutting down several beowolves at once with his large broadsword. "Medical team, help the remaining civilians!"

"Help me!"

Cyan's eyes widened as he saw a lone woman holding a small child fall to the ground. She crawled on the ground, holding her leg that was bleeding badly. He turned towards the medical team in a panic and shouted in urgency. "Hey! We have someone injured right here!"

However, they couldn't hear him over the chaos that was going on from the main battle. Loud growls caught his attention as he turned back to see several grimm approaching the mother and her child.

'To hell with it!'

He ran. He ran as fast as his small legs could carry him towards the woman, not even thinking about the danger he was putting himself in.

"Hey kid, stop!"

"What the… Cyan?! What the hell are you doing kid?!"

Cyan didn't even pay them any mind, reaching into the bag he was carrying for medical supplies. 'Going to need alcohol to clean the wound and some bandages! Then I can help her up and…!'

He was cut from his thoughts, however, as he noticed several Grimm starting to run towards the woman as well. Gritting his teeth, he pulled one bottle of alcohol out of the bag and threw it towards the beast in front, nailing it in the eyes and blinding it. Moving quickly, he pulled out the emergency lighter from the bag and lit it before throwing it towards the monster, setting it alight and causing the rest of the Grimm to stop and back away from their ally.

The injured woman stared in shock before Cyan was at her side, grabbing her arm making her look up at him.

"Can you move?!" The boy anxiously asked, only for the lady to shake her head with a fearful expression. He outwardly cursed, trying to think. 'Her wound looks pretty bad, one of the beowolves must have got her. Her kid is unconscious too, damn it, what can I do?!'

Loud growling made him turn his head to see one of the beowolves charging towards him. Not even thinking twice about it, he placed himself between it and the woman before picking up a medium sized rock that could fit in his right hand.

'Wait for it… now!'

With a battle cry, he slammed the rock against the snout of the Grimm sending it stumbling back. However, he was quickly knocked to the ground by another who came from his side.

"Shit…!" The red staining his lightly colored work clothes already told him he was bleeding. 'Not good! I can't take on two of them at once!'

However as soon as he was about to give up hope, another gunshot rang out, dropping one of the beowolves to the ground. Almost as soon as its ally was killed, the other was quickly bisected before it could register what happened, its top half fell before dissolving in a black mist before it touched the ground.

"You got balls kid, I'll give you that."

Cyan looked up to see the huntress from earlier at the restaurant standing between him and any remaining Grimm with a pair of kama-like weapons in her hands. She looked back at him, a skull mask covering her face but he could almost hear her confident grin. "Leave it to the professionals from here on out eh? You can treat me afterwards."

Before Cyan could respond, she quickly dashed at the group of beowolves and began to slice them apart with the grace of a dancer but also with ruthlessness and precision. She swung her kama weapons, laughing as she did so and not wasting any movement as she flipped and spun around cutting them down.

"Cyan!"

The boy turned behind him to see Poppy and her mother running towards him, carrying bags of their own. Poppy was at his side, pulling out medical supplies whilst Mrs. Granger was helping the woman and her child.

"You're so dang reckless you know that…! Didn't they tell everyone to get behind the gates?!" Poppy began to chastise, tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"...Sorry." The boy apologized, however the girl remained silent continuing to try and treat his wounds. Turning back his attention to the front, he continued to watch as Maria carved through Grimm with ease.

'...I think I know what path I want to take now.'

The attack and the fallout had lasted for little over an hour, but fortunately there had been no casualties or significant injuries amongst the population. It would take a few days to fully repair the damage from the assault however.

The woman and child who Cyan had saved continued to shower with words and small actions of gratitude afterwards, to his small embarrassment as well as Poppy and Mrs. Granger's teasing. At the same time, Gerald had scolded him harshly for throwing himself into the battlefield. He only told them he was doing what he felt was right and his body had acted before his mind could.

Gerald glared at him for a good few moments, before sighing and walking off. However as he passed by the boy, he muttered a few words that only Cyan could hear.

"Good job kid."

Cyan was convinced he was going crazy when he heard them, but it still didn't stop the smile from coming to his face.

As for Maria…

"You finally showed up huh?"

Cyan chuckled sheepishly as he joined the huntress near the town's borders. She had said to meet with her once he was done helping with the injured guardsmen and civilians. She hadn't suffered any injuries personally, Cyan was sure none of the Grimm had even come close to her.

"Sorry, it took a bit longer than I expected to get over here."

Maria smirked amusingly as the kid sat next to her. "Well, I did hear it was a bit worse than usual this time around."

"Yeah it was…" Cyan muttered, placing a hand behind his neck. 'Though I wouldn't be able to tell considering I've only been in this world for a couple of months.'

"I meant what I said by the way." Cyan looked up at the woman. "What you did out there, saving that woman and her child. It was brave, but it was also stupid. Grimm are dangerous monsters, too dangerous for kids like you to handle without any kind of training."

Cyan grimaced, looking down at the ground. "...I know, sorry."

"Don't apologize, I'm not going to scold you anymore than that." Maria laughed, causing Cyan to turn back to her in surprise. "Just as long as you're more careful next time."

"Yeah, understood ma'am."

Maria grinned before frowning. "Can I ask you something though?" Getting a nod from Cyan to continue, she did. "Why did you risk your life like that? You didn't even know the woman or her kid. So why?"

"..." Cyan closed his eyes, pondering over his next words. "I guess you can say… my body moved on its own. Because it knew it was the right thing to do, to protect a mom and her son who needed to be saved."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah…there was no other reason besides that. Where I come from, I've seen my fair share of death. I'm not a fan of it, especially when I know there's something I could have done."

Maria had to fight the smile that was starting to grow on her face. 'He's more interesting than I thought, maybe…' She chuckled. "I talked to Jean back at the restaurant about you."

"You did?" Cyan asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "About what?"

"Was curious as to why she hired a random kid. Sure there's Poppy, but that's her daughter so that's a different story." Maria answered, before placing her head on her hand. "From what I understand, you've been wanting to leave this village and maybe find something new."

"...I guess you can say that. I'm thankful for everything this place and the people here have done for me, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life here."

"So what if I could offer you something better?" Getting a wide eyed look from the boy, Maria continued. "My name is Maria Calavera, I'm a huntress that also goes by the nickname of 'Grimm Reaper'. I've been doing this for a long time, since I was your age actually. At the same time, however, I've been wanting to do something for the younger generation but could never find the right one."

Cyan stared into the woman's artificial eyes as she leaned towards him, grinning.

"But you? You're interesting. You were willing to put your life on the line to protect someone else and held your own for a bit from what I heard against Grimm with no weapons but your smarts. That's a trait that every huntsman and huntress needs, to understand that life is precious and must be protected." The woman leaned back, smiling. "So I was wondering… how about you travel with me, and I teach you how to become a huntsman?"

"You want me to become your apprentice?" Cyan asked bewildered, getting a nod in return. "I… wow, I'm honored."

"I already talked with Jean and the head of the militia here since they're the closest things to guardians you have. They both gave me the okay to take you with me, though Jean threatened to ban me from her restaurant for life if something happened to you." Maria chuckled amusingly before looking towards Cyan once again. "So… what do you say?"

Cyan closed his eyes, pondering over things. He finally opened them with a wide grin.

"Deal."

So... I have a new fic lmao. This idea has been bothering me for a long ass time, and reading some fics recently gave me the motivation to go for it. Never thought I would be doing something RWBY related again, but despite not being a fan of it's current direction concerning it's plot and how it handles its characters the series still holds a special place with me. I decided to use an OC instead one of the other male characters from RWBY because the changes I would have made would have basically been like writing an OC. Yes there will be a harem, and I'm not apologizing for that lol.

There's going to a good amount of AU that you will be seeing as we move forward in the story, you saw a little of it now. I hope you guys enjoy the changes, and I am open to feedback. Like I said earlier I'm not a big fan of RWBY's recent volumes, so it's just some things I would have done differently. It'll probably be a minute before we get to the Beacon Arc.

Anyway, don't want to drag this out any further. As always, I hope you guys enjoy what you read and fav and follow if you did, please review, and you all have a blessed one.

Peace Out,
Jacula