"I don't believe a single bit of this."
I just finished explaining to them everything that was going on. How this guy was actually me from the future, who went back in time so that he could prevent a war from happening and save the world.
I got mixed reactions, I think.
"I'll admit, despite the similarities you two might have, I have my doubts about him being 'you from the future.'" Blake air-quoted.
"But it's true! You guy's gotta believe me! I mean, Ozpin believes it! He left to go study the magical time travel device thing that Future Me used!" I argued.
"Ooorr, more realistically, he left so that he could contact medical authorities to come up here and take this man to an insane asylum." Weiss argued back, "This isn't a science-fiction story, Ross. Time travel does not exist!"
"In all likelihood, it would be more plausible to assume that this person is actually a long lost relative, or someone who just so happens to coincidentally look like you. Remnant is a large world, and meeting a doppelganger isn't exactly unheard of." Blake added her two cents.
"But I'm telling you guys that he's not! He's actually me from the future! He said so himself!" I desperately tried to convince them.
"Ugh!" Weiss groaned, "Yang, could you please tell your brother that he's being ridiculous?"
"Sshh, it's alright. Everything is gonna be okay." Yang whispered gently.
We all looked over to her as she held and comforted the silently-sobbing Future Ross.
Huh, she was pretty good at comforting other people. Wonder how she learned to do that?
"Oh for the love of…" Weiss marched up to Yang, "You can't seriously tell me that you actually believe this person is-"
"Hey, Weiss? Shut your goddamn face for five minutes, yeah? Thanks." Yang interrupted before going back to comforting Future Ross.
Weiss had a look of astonishment for a second, before pinching her forehead and walking away, "I'm the only sane person in this team, I swear."
Future Ross had finally calmed down, taking deep breaths to control his breathing. Finally letting go of Yang, he began wiping his eyes and smiled. "I-I needed that, I think. Thanks."
"No problem." Yang smiled back, before calmly asking, "So… You're really Ross from nine years in the future?"
Finished wiping off the last tear on his face, he silently nodded.
"I… don't even know what to say to that. It's just…wow." Yang looked him over, before commenting, "You've really gotten taller since… well, the last nine years, I guess."
"I never stopped drinking milk. I've actually outgrown you, so you can't call me short anymore, huh?" He chuckled.
"I just can't…how is this even possible?" She asked, still bewildered.
"It's sort of a long story-"
"Which I've already told and explained to everyone while you were busy with your mental breakdown." I added.
"Yeah…" He deadpanned at me, before facing back at Yang, "Basically, I found a time travel machine and used it to go back."
"Hah! A likely excuse. You really expect us to believe that you just so happened to conveniently 'find' a time traveling machine lying around somewhere?" Weiss mocked.
"Well… yeah?" He shrugged. "I mean, it's not like I would know how to build one."
She crossed her arms and harrumphed, still not convinced.
Blake stepped next to Yang and spoke up, "Weiss's attitude aside, she does bring up a good point. Forgive me for saying this, but I find it difficult to believe that you're really Ross from the future unless you provide us with some proof." She looked at Yang, "You seem to trust him though. How are you so sure that he's really who he says he is? Why so quick to believe someone who claims to be your own brother?"
Yang frowned, "I don't really know how to explain it, to be honest. The way he looks, the way he acts and talk, I can just feel that he's my little brother. Sister's intuition, I guess…"
"Well, I'm going to need more concrete evidence than the gut feelings of someone else." She looked back at Future Ross, "So, do you have proof?"
Future Ross hummed, "Alright. What kind of proof? Like, do you want me to tell you personal facts about yourself that only you would know?"
"That would be a start, yes."
Future Ross scratched his chin in thought, before giving a mischievous smile. "Chapter thirteen of the first book, page 238. Fourth paragraph. Right after Mizuri and Sasuke just finished making love within the forest of blossom trees, Sasuke admits that he had always been in love with Mizuri since the day she saved his life. It was one of the most tearful, emotional, and most romantic moments in the series, which also happened to be your favorite part of the entire book. You liked it because you felt satisfaction that those two finally got together after chapters of nonstop ship teasing."
I, uh… I didn't know what that meant. What was he referencing? A scene from a book? Which book?
Weiss and I shared confusing glances before looking at Blake to see how she reacted.
Blake seemed to know what he was talking about, judging by how her eyes went wide like saucers. "H-how did you…?" She stammered, but never quite finished.
"At some point, I found your book under your pillow after cleaning up a mess I made in the dorm. I gave it a read and found that I really liked the romance aspect of the story, smut aside. When you found me out, I was practically begging you to let me borrow it for the night just so that I could read all of it. Ninjas of Love had a really good story, and you were pretty happy to have someone to share your opinions and love for it without getting embarrassed." He explained with a reminiscent smile. "Personally, my favorite scene was when Sasuke overcame his internal demons and decided to spare his father's life, despite how crappy his dad treated him back when he was a kid. He proved that his past doesn't shape or control his life, despite everything that's ever happened to him, deciding to be the better man and letting his resentment go. You always disagreed, complaining that Sasuke's father had everything that was coming to him, and Sasuke had every right to end him at that part. You were still happy that he didn't end up turning into a monster at the end though, so you appreciated what the scene stood for."
Blake numbly stepped back in shock. She began looking him over, with this almost fearful look in her eyes.
"If that's not enough for you, then I should probably tell you that, even though you're a girl, you act more like a cat." He smiled coyly.
Blake went frozen stiff, her hand moving to almost reach up to her bow, but then stopping before it looked too obvious.
Future Ross gave her a knowing wink.
Was he talking about how Blake was a cat Faunus? A fact that she was keeping a secret from us?
"I also know about your ex, Adam." He continued, "Yes, the same Adam with the red hair and the Iaido sword fighting style. I also know why you left him and his… group." He cleared his throat awkwardly, "If I'm getting out of my boundaries, just tell me and I'll shut up… but don't feel bad about leaving him. He's an asshole. You and a lot of other people would have gotten hurt if you stayed with him."
"Wait, what's he talking about? What does that mean?" Yang asked, confused.
"Oh, Blake is actually-"
"Ross." Future Ross interrupted, before shaking his head. "Not now."
"Right, sorry." I winced, forgetting that Blake was still actually keeping all of this a secret, and that I wasn't even supposed to know any of this yet. "Nevermind. We'll find out later." I told Yang.
Blake slowly shook her head in disbelief. "That's not possible…"
"We would have gotten to know each other for the next six years. This stuff isn't exactly easy to keep a secret for so long. But you don't have to worry, we all became better friends for it after we found out, so it did more good than harm." Ross finished with a calm smile.
Blake blinked, taking a moment to try to get her mind to comprehend everything that was happening.
I tentatively reached out to her, concerned if she was gonna be okay after having her personal secrets told straight to her face by a person she thought she didn't even know. "You gonna be alright?"
Seeing my hand, she backed away a few steps and looked at me with an almost fearful expression, as if I was the one that was doing this to her.
I'll be honest, the way she looked at me…it kinda hurt.
But I pulled back my hand anyway, knowing that I was probably not the one that she needed comfort from at the moment.
"Sorry." There was a flash of guilt from her, noticing my hurt look. "I think I need a minute by myself."
Without another word, she left the room.
There was the familiar awkward silence in the air that lingered for a few moments.
We all looked each other, and then back to Future Ross as he rubbed his face. "Crap, I think I might have overwhelmed her. Really hoping that doesn't do any long term damage down the road…"
After hearing that and silently witnessing the whole thing happening from the side, Weiss couldn't take it anymore and marched up to Future Ross to angrily shout, "What the hell did you do to her?! What sort of bullshit were you spewing that made her act like that?!"
"I just wanted to prove I'm who I say I am. I know things about you guys that a normal person wouldn't know about unless they were your closest friends for years." He explained himself. "Like for example, I know that your full name is Weiss Kristall Schnee. Translated, it would be White Crystal Snow. Your mom gave you that name, after your great grandmother. It's a cute name that fits you pretty well."
She reeled back a bit, before regaining her composure. "A lucky guess. So what? You looked up my family history and used common sense to guess my middle name. That doesn't prove that you're from the future. An uneducated vagrant could look this up and know this."
"Perhaps." He shrugged, "But an uneducated vagrant couldn't guess that you've had a rocky relationship with your father, rocky enough that when he started to decide your future for you, you actively rebelled against him by transferring yourself to Beacon. Even though one of your reasons for coming here was to prove to your father than you could handle yourself without needing his guidance, it was mostly just to spite him. You haven't made any contact with him since you've finished initiation at the beginning of the year, am I right?"
"That- that is- How would you know anything about my relationship with my father?!" Weiss sounded outraged, but there was a small hint of surprise behind her anger.
"At some point in the future, you decided to open up to us about yourself. Your childhood, your hobbies, your talent at singing, even your family life." He told her, "I know about your weird obsession with aquatic animal plushies, with your favorites being sharks and penguins. You have a collection of them back home that you started way back when you were seven. I also know about your secret love for video games, specifically games that revolve around team-based shooters." He suddenly smiled, as he started looking back. "You always tried to hide that from us, but one fateful weekend day when you had the whole dorm room to yourself, I came back a bit early to find you shouting something about 'camping alien scrub lord peasants.' You really really tried your best to convince me that you were just doing research when I caught you, and it was pretty hilarious."
Future Ross chuckled fondly. "We eventually started playing games together, which sort of got us a bit closer as friends."
Like how Blake reacted earlier to Future Ross's proof, Weiss was a bit stunned as she slowly stepped away from him. "Who are you?" She asked, all traces of anger suddenly vanished and replaced with astonishment.
"Well…" He thought carefully about what he wanted to say next, before deciding to go with an old in-joke that I hadn't used since my first week in Beacon. "I think we should start over from the beginning. Hi, my name is Ross Rose. It's nice to meet you, Weiss. Please don't murder my face with a chainsaw."
Weiss didn't respond. She didn't say anything at all. In fact, all she did was stare at him. Stared with emotionless, unblinking eyes.
"Uh, Weiss? You…uh…" I wanted to check to make sure she was okay.
But without saying a single word, she spun on her heel and just left the room.
Thus, another round of awkward silence.
I silently glanced at Future Ross as he made a familiar facial expression that I deemed worthy to call it the "Welp, shit" face.
"I mean… That probably could've gone a lot better." Yang commented.
"Yeah… But it also could've gone a lot worst." He sighed, before raising his fist up in a cheery manner, "Here's to hoping that they start believing me, and not assume that I'm a crazy stalker that has been following the both of them around for their entire lives. Because that would definitely be weird."
I raised my first up in cheers, sharing similar optimism to the situation. "Here's to hoping."
Then we calmly EPIC FIIIIIST BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMP, YEEAAAAAAAAAAH-
*Non-existent explosions in background*
As Future Ross pulled back, he looked at me with a humorous grin. "Did you just imagine explosions popping up as we fist-bumped?"
"Pfft, what? No." I lied convincingly. "Why, did you?"
"Yeah." He chuckled.
I smiled back.
This was gonna be an interesting day.
Weiss silently leaned against the door, mulling over everything that had happened.
Needless to say, this was rather… overwhelming for her to handle.
How could a stranger know so much about her? How could he look so much like her partner?
Was it seriously possible for someone to travel back in time, bringing along knowledge of future events and information?
Why would she ever reveal so much about herself to someone like Ross?
She looked to the side to find Blake watching her, while also having the same troubling expression that she herself must be wearing right now.
Neither of them really traded words with each other. Not sure whether it was because they'd rather not talk, or because they didn't really know what to say.
But the hallway was in absolute silence, as both teammates could agree with each other on one thing.
Shit was weird.
And so they sat there.
Silent.
Questioning.
Wondering.
Worrying.
There was no possible way that the man they just met could ever be Ross Rose from the future, could there?
Was it just coincidence? A trick? A semblance?
What possible semblance could exist that would give someone the ability to imitate someone else, while also being able to figure out a person's deepest life history and secrets?
There had to be an explanation for all of this.
Time travel couldn't possibly exist.
…could it?
To think that he would be the first to have invented it.
Ozpin stared deeply at the device in his hands. The feeling of nostalgia and familiarity returned, despite never once holding such a device prior to today.
A time travelling machine.
An actual functioning- well, formerly functioning- time travel device that was soon to be invented by him in the near future.
What would inspired him to do such a thing? To create a machine that could allow you to travel through time? And why with such a seemingly arbitrary requirement for it to work? Did he meant only allow someone access if they were to travel at the speed of five hundred miles per hour? Was this a design flaw, a prototype, did he intentionally make this with a certain person in mind?
Judging by the words of the older Ross Rose, perhaps he'd never know. He would apparently die before anyone could find out about it.
His own mysterious nature had now been used against him, it seemed.
He chuckled at the thought, looking over the device once more.
He supposed it wouldn't be too hard to predict what had transpired. This was, after all, Ozpin that he was thinking about. If anyone could understand the man, it was the man himself.
Let's see…he wasn't the type of person to go about and study science, no, he would be far too busy for that. Most likely, it was not he who had discovered the formula or method to time travel, but rather, someone else.
An old friend? A doctor? A general? Someone he must know.
Whoever it was, they had decided to share the discovery with Ozpin for some reason.
Any normal person would usually dismiss something as outlandish and impossible as this. Obviously, Ozpin was a not normal person.
Thus, he took the news of time travel seriously enough to have begun working on it in secret.
Why in secret? He would guess that during a time of war, people counted on him to be a calm and respectable figure of authority and leadership. Politics were always a fickle thing, so Ozpin must have kept his work secret, as to maintain his credibility as a sane and level-headed leader.
That was his best guess anyway.
Another guess would be that the device he was holding in his hand was still a prototype, as the Ozpin from the future was never able to finish his work due to his untimely demise. It had to be a prototype. He highly doubted he would leave it finished looking like a small piece of a disrepair gun, with such a strange and complicated, almost impossible, requirement for it to start.
As soon as he thought that, he unconsciously switched the safety off again.
Nothing happened.
He would need to ask Ross about more details on this device. Hopefully, he would have at least a general understanding of it, even if he had only used it once.
…
He never thought that something so drastic and life changing could happen so soon.
It had been eighty years since the Great War. A few decades since the Faunus Rights Revolution. Now there was supposedly a new war that would start in just a few short years. The War of the White Fang.
A war that could potentially wipe out all of mankind, not by the hands of mankind itself, but by the claws of the Grimm who patiently waited by the side.
Unless stopped.
Prevented from ever existing in the first place.
That was what Ross Rose said he would do. That was what his mission entailed.
But could one single man be enough?
One single, broken man, who was once a young, naive boy before shown the crueler side of reality?
Ozpin had seen his eyes. Ross's eyes.
Silver. Lifeless. Dead.
Eyes devoid of all innocence. Replaced by a merciless killer.
Yet, it was still the same silver eyes.
For some reason, the thought did not bring him much comfort.
He had a bad feeling that there was much more to this than a simple war with a terrorist group.
…
Ozpin set the device down and pressed a button, calling the infirmary staff. "Please have a nurse notify the patient in room 221b that he is expected to be in my office. Please provide him his clothing and anything else he might need."
He was ready to ask questions now.
Young Ross leaned forward, "How did the season finale of 'Acceptance Comes From Moving Forward' end?"
"Spoiler warning, Kestrel sacrifices her memories of her lover in order to save her brother from death. Basically, season one through five never happened for her."
"Did they ever stop making my favorite shampoo product?" Yang asked.
"Yes, but you eventually find a new favorite called 'More Is Less.'"
"How's Pumpkin Pete doing in the future?" Young Me asked in concern.
"Terribly. With me using most of my money to fund the war effort, Pumpkin Pete lost it's only income, so they went bankrupt, BUT not before they created and sold their last flavor in their cookies department."
"New flavor? What was it?"
"Ironically enough, it was pumpkin flavor. It tasted terrible too, so that didn't really help their business. A shame, I know."
This had been going on for the past few minutes, me playing twenty questions with Yang and my younger self.
It was pretty fun to see their reactions towards things that may or may not happen yet.
"Did our technology ever evolve?" Ross wondered.
"Actually, yes. We found out more scientific discoveries about Dust, causing a huge wave of technological advancements and more complicated elemental algorithms."
Yang hummed, trying to figure out what other questions there might be that she could ask, before deciding on, "Did we ever become famous in the future?"
Famous?
Could you call what I had, 'being famous?'
...
"Yeah, sort of... But not for the reasons you might have guessed."
"I'm gonna be famous one day?" Ross gasped, and then proceeded to giggle like an insane person, "How does it feel to be so well known? Do I have any fans? Fan clubs? Ooh, how many autographs do I usually get to sign? Do I have my own book yet? Has a kid ever walked up to you and told you how they want to grow up to be like you some-"
"Yeah okay, calm your mammaries, Ross." I waved him down, before explaining, "It's not THAT type of 'famous' that you're thinking about. It's less 'Superhero Celebrity' famous and more… Uh… How would you call it? Um…"
I snapped my finger as I concentrated, trying to find a good comparison.
"Like, 'historical figure' famous?" Yang offered.
"Well, I'm not exactly that either, since I would need to have made a considerable impact towards history, and a certain amount of people would need to, like, be alive long enough to spread my legacy after I pass away." I deadpanned, "But yeah, that's a pretty good comparison anyway."
Young Ross quirked an eyebrow, "So, you're famous… But not really?"
I shrugged, "Meh. I certainly don't have any fan clubs. Not to my knowledge, at least."
It'd be really freaking creepy if I did, though.
"Aw…" Ross deflated.
Yang leaned forward as she asked me, "But you were still sort of famous, right? What did you do to get the attention?"
Memories of the war sprang into my head.
My first kill. My first mission. It ultimately spiraled downhill from there.
A story about a young boy, a young and naive boy, who willingly volunteered to take part in the war to stop the bad guys from terrorizing the peace of the world. Backed by a group of close and loyal friends that will follow his side to the ends of Remnant itself, the naive boy thought that nothing could ever go wrong as long as he always kept his chin up.
Too bad reality tends to have a habit of forcing him to drop it.
Stress. Pain. Loss.
The terrible truth of realizing that justice does not exist in a world like this.
I lost my friends, one by one, to forces of my enemies.
Justice could never fix that. It could never recompense the tragedy I experienced.
Revenge could though. Albeit, rather bittersweetly.
Killing people was easier than I originally assumed, frighteningly enough. Not sure if it was because I took comfort from the fact I only killed the ones I deemed 'evil,' or if I was already too insane to care anymore.
The more I grew up and trained, the more I learned.
The more I learned, the more I killed.
The more I killed, the more it changed me and my fighting style.
Swift movement and theatrical attacks were replaced by even quicker feet, but now with a more brutal and unforgiving hand. Senses grew sharper. I learned to be more subtle. I learned to be more analytical.
Once, I would toy and play with groups of criminals or soldiers, taunting them into aggression and flaunt my degree of skill, before effortlessly incapacitating them all without a single blood shed.
Now, those very same groups of criminals and soldiers could charge at me…only to be replaced by headless corpses seconds later.
I've grown to earn a reputation amongst my enemies.
He who moves as silent as wind, yet quicker than the eye can see.
He who wields an oversized scythe that gleams a dripping crimson in the moonlight, yet fits right in with the shadows.
He who wears a coat painted red by the blood of all he has killed.
If you ever felt the soft red petals of a rose to caress your features…
Then the feeling of death will come soon after by the Rose's thorns.
Fear the Red Reaper.
"I beat the shit out of a bunch of guys and got tons of medals for it." I told her.
"Oh. Cool." She commented rather anti-climatically.
Young Ross sighed in disappointment, "Man, I was really hoping to be famous enough to have a book written about me."
"Dude, just go write your own book if you're that big-headed about yourself!" I chuckled.
He pouted as he blushed and looked away.
"Wait, what about the rest of team RWBY?" My sister pointed out.
Oops, looks like it's back to memories of the war again.
Oh yeah, almost forgot that they had nicknames for themselves too.
Weiss was the Slaver's Heiress, Blake was Bloodthirsty Traitor, and Yang was BigTitsMcGee FaceBlowUpper.
That was literally what they called Yang. I wished I made that up, but that's what they decided to call her, out of all the names they could have thought up of.
Unsurprisingly, I was the last one out of my team to earn my own nickname. Didn't really go insane with revenge yet since they were still alive at the time.
So yeah.
"You guys got medals too." I nodded to her, before adding, "I had the most though."
"Heheh, I'm not that surprised."
The room was silent again, only because these two were now thinking of more questions to ask me.
To be honest, I was somewhat surprised that neither of them had asked me some of the more…you know, worrying topics. Like how I was in a war that literally ended mankind.
Though, judging by the occasional sad smile and concerned glances from Yang, and the telltale signs of my younger self's fidgeting to hide his nervousness… I was guessing that they were trying their best to avoid asking things like that. For now, at least.
My younger self has already heard enough about it from my explanation with Ozpin, so there's no doubt that he must have a rather depressing image of a future dystopian-like Vale. Which he was also doing his best to not think about.
I envied him. His personal imagination of the future must still be five times better than the reality of it. If only I had the mindset of my fifteen year old self again…
Yang probably had a strong idea of what I'd been through. Who wouldn't, really? It was rather obvious from my reaction during our first meeting. A normal man didn't cry and hold someone so closely like I did unless something had happened to prompt it.
She must have had a lingering question on the tip of her tongue that she kept biting back.
"What happened to me?"
She wouldn't be asking that out of concern for herself though. She would ask that out of concern for me. Of my well-being and mental state.
What happened to the Yang Xiao-Long from my time-period that would cause me to act the way I did towards her?
That was the question she wanted to so desperately ask, but kept holding back.
You could see her internal struggle by the way she tensed up whenever she was about to say something. Almost as if thinking better of it, or thinking how to rephrase it before it was asked.
They wanted to ask these questions. These scary and depressing questions. But they also didn't want to at the same time.
Was it because they were too scared to ask? Too hesitant to ask for confirmation of their fears?
Was it for my own sake? So that I wouldn't start freaking out like I did moments before?
Ross had witnessed my anger.
Yang had witnessed my grief.
They probably didn't want to see any more.
…
"PBBBBHHHT!" I blew a raspberry out of nowhere, startling the two teens out of their inner monologues.
They both calmed down after realizing it was just me.
"Geez, what was that for?" Yang asked, slightly out of breath from the shock.
"I was bored, and you guys were acting really tense and went silent for the past two minutes some reason."
"Sorry, I guess. I was kinda spacing out over… something." Young Ross awkwardly scratched his neck.
"Yeah…me too, sorta." Yang rubbed her shoulder, frowning as she subtly avoided eye contact.
Pfft, sensitive plebeians.
"Welp, if you guys don't have any questions to ask at the moment, I hope you don't mind if I asked a few of my own."
"You got questions?" Ross gave a confused expression, "What sort of questions would you need to ask us? Shouldn't you know everything since you're from the future?"
"Uh, yeah, no. I didn't exactly come here on a yacht with luggage and a party planner." I deadpanned. "The time machine I used wasn't perfected, and the plan to go back to the past was entirely improvised from the beginning. I ran in like a blind duckling the entire time, not knowing whether or not it was gonna work, how far it would take me back, and if I would need to learn how to invent buckets again in order to have something comfortable to shit in. So yes, I'm gonna have a couple of questions despite being from the damn future."
…
Ross scrunched up his face, "Wait, was that shitting in a bucket thing an analogy or liter-"
"Just tell me what the semester is today." I interrupted.
"Uh, alright." He paused for a moment to recollect what day it was, "I'm pretty sure it's still our first semester. Like, we've only been here for a couple months now?"
First semester, huh? Yes, that makes sense…that means the Vytal festival would only be about half a year away. That was probably more than enough time to complete my mission and prevent the events that lead to the war.
"What month is it specifically?"
"It's November."
November, yes…preparations are still being made. Specific White Fang hideouts would still be in use at the moment to smuggle Dust and coordinate positions. Most of my targets and figures of power should be vulnerable at this time.
Okay, time to work out my strategy.
I closed my eyes and visually imagined an entire map of Remnant, and began to work-
"Mr. Rose?"
My thought process interrupted before it even began, I glanced up to the door.
A nurse that I'd known way back when, her name was Ms. Higgins if I remembered correctly, stood by the door while holding a familiar red pile of clothes.
"Yes nurse?"
Both me and the Young Ross had accidentally replied in unison, assuming the nurse had called out for specifically one of us instead of the other. Somewhat surprised, we looked at each other, before looking back at the nurse for clarification over who she meant.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I meant to call on the patient, Ross Rose." She chuckled embarrassingly, before continuing, "You should be fully rested now. The Headmaster would like to speak with you in his office. I've brought you your clothing, which have been cleaned and fixed up in better condition."
She walked over and laid my clothes in my lap, "Headmaster Ozpin has made it clear for you to take your time if you are still feeling unwell. Should you require anything before meeting with him, do not hesitate to ask, okay?"
I nodded, "Thank you for the hospitality, Nurse."
She waved away my thanks, "Oh it's no trouble, sir. Stay safe and try to avoid crashing through windows next time!" With that, she left.
What a nice and professional lady. Such a shame that she was killed by an enemy sniper while she was healing the wounded in the midst of battle. If everything went my way, she'd live for another few decades while she nurtured injured students back to health again.
Mentally putting a pin on setting up my strategic plan for a later time by visually imagining myself pinning up an actual imaginary note next to my imaginary map of Remnant to remind myself to get to that eventually, I animatedly jumped out of bed and put my clothes on.
"Welp, looks like it's time for me to meet up with the big man. When I'm done talking to Ozpin, hopefully we can all hang out for a bit longer before I have to go do my thing."
"Go do your thing? Where are you going after this? What are you gonna do?" Ross asked curiously.
Zipping up my black combat bodysuit, I flung my trademarked red trench coat into the air before stylishly and efficiently spinning with my arms up to let the coat fall into place in one fell swoop.
Haven't felt this theatrical in a while. Must be in a good mood today.
Last nail in the head, I smirked at Ross before proclaiming dramatically, "I'm gonna go save the world."
*AWESOME JAZZ SPY MUSIC PLAYS LIEK A BAWSS*
Yang let out an impressive whistle, "Nice digs, man!"
Ross stared in awe at my current attire, "You got a new leather coat. What happened to the old red hoodie?"
I shrugged, before giving him an unjustified smug grin, "I outgrew it."
Ross pouted, suddenly looking self-conscious as he crossed his arms and tried to hide behind his hoodie.
I laughed at his expense, before firmly patting his head, "Don't worry, you will too. Trust me, I'm from the future. I should know."
Still pouting, he at least seemed a little relieved at my assurance.
Ah, thank goodness I got rid of my old height inferiority complex.
It was actually a bit funny to poke fun at it again, now that it wasn't me with the complex anymore.
I looked over the table which had my belongings, making sure I wasn't missing anything.
My badge? Probably useless since it was from a future time, and was thus rendered invalid. I think I'll still hold onto it for the sentimental value though. Could even fool some people who weren't officials, so it might still come in handy in some situations. I pinned the badge onto my coat.
My journal? Obviously, I couldn't forget to bring along the sole reason why I hadn't gone off the deep end and killed myself yet. I pocketed that away inside my coat.
And… my camera. My arsenal. My tools of vengeance and information gathering.
My memories.
…
I attached it onto the belt of my combat suit, back to it's proper place.
The time travel device was still in Ozpin's possessions. I'll pick that up later when I meet up with him.
Finished with everything, I looked back to the two teens in the room, "So, where you guys headed? I'm pretty sure it's still school time. You guys gotta see Ozpin for questioning too, or…?"
"Oh right, we were here because Ozpin wanted to talk to all of us as well. But he left before he got around to that." Young Ross stood up from his seat, and suggested, "Let's go meet up with him all together."
"Most likely a terrible idea." I pointed out.
"Eh?"
"Well, the whole thing will probably be awkward if I had to walk alongside both Blake and Weiss at the moment. You know, after just fucking up their perspective of reality and probably creeping them out with my knowledge of their future lives." I reminded him, "It's best I go on up ahead first, and you guys catch up with me after. With Ozpin's help, I'm sure the two will come around when they hear him vouch for me."
"Huh. Yeah, okay, that makes sense." He nodded, awkwardly scratching his neck again.
"Alright, cool. See you in Ozpin's office." I waved farewell before leaving the patient's room.
As I reached the doorway, that was when I saw the Weiss and Blake out in the hallway, sitting sitting next to each other by the visitor seats.
They both tensed up when they saw me, staring at me as if unsure what to do or how to properly react.
I might as well apologize for freaking them out.
"Hey girls…" I calmly greeted, "Sooo, uh… Sorry for fucking ya up. Hope you guys don't hate me now."
They stayed silent.
Hm, I needed to learn how to socially interact with people again, I think. Two entire years of doing nothing but nonstop Grimm killing might have screwed me over. Also probably the shock of seeing everyone I knew and loved alive again didn't seem to be helping either.
"Alrighty then…" I coughed awkwardly, before moving away to leave them alone.
I could still feel their piercing stares behind my head as I walked away.
Sigh… I have no idea what I'm doing.
Me neither Ross. I wrote this chapter while on writer's block. Feels like this chapter is lacking a direction.
Btw, the tone is definitely supposed to be dark and humorous. If at any point you felt mood-whiplash, that's just how Future Ross is experiencing the situation due to the fact that he's literally insane.
Dammit, I can't wait until I get to the part where Future Ross and Team RWBY fight in a duel together. I wanna see if my writing skills over fighting has improved over the years.
Kudos to Kildeez, my editor.
Kudos to Mr Beaver Buttington for suggestions. Sorry if most of them I ultimately rejected.