Chapter 1: First Light
Tell me the truth.
If you were sent to another world, how would you react? Not just any world, but a world you knew about intimately. A world you've put countless hours into learning, thinking, and watching through a screen. A world where you thought it was nothing more than a fairytale.
If it's anything positive, you fail to realize how lost you actually are.
With any luck at all, the world is in the middle of a cold war. Even if you have knowledge of the world, you are miserably underprepared for it.
And chances are, it was better off without you.
Another loss, to another third party…as usual. Might as well call the game 'Third Party Legends'
It was a normal Friday night. I was just done playing some online games and was in the mood for some late-night snacks from my local convenience store. I powered down my PC and started to get my shoes on. I then went to my mother's room to tell her I'll be leaving the house for a bit.
"Hey mom, I'm going to go to the convenience store real quick, I'll be right back," I said.
"Alright, take care," my mother says with a warm smile. My mom is really just the best, being a mother of seven children. Four of them living on their own, while the rest are still living with her which includes me. She does her best to be the best mother she can be and I respect her highly for that. At least she didn't abandon me like my father.
"I will mom, I always do," I say giving a warm smile in return. As I'm leaving the house I start thinking about all the things my mom has done for me and how I'm…kinda just a disappointment. I'm my mother's first son and the only one in the family that can pass on the family name since all my other siblings have different fathers with different last names than the family name. Yet…I haven't done anything in my life worth mentioning.
I push those thoughts aside for now and start walking to the convenience store. It's not a long walk, takes about 10 mins to get there from my home. I get the usual. A bottle of Pepsi, a bag of Funyuns chips, and a pack of Sour Skittles. I don't care what anyone says Sour Skittles is the best kind of Skittles and I will die on that hill.
I bring my items to the cashier and it scans them and tells me the price for them. "That'll be $6.36, sir," the cashier said. I hand him the exact amount and take my items and walk out. As I begin to walk my vision kind of warps and blurs for a second. I look to my left and right and see nothing is wrong.
"I guess anyone's eyes would be tired after holing up in their room, gaming all day," I say while rubbing my eyes. I started walking across the street while doing so and I blinked my eyes and then suddenly a bright light engulfed me. I shortly after began to lose consciousness, the dark void pulling me in.
"Officer Spade, I believe our John Doe is waking up."
"Thank you, ma'am, and I'll take it from here."
"No problem, have a good day, officer."
"Hey kid, can you hear me?
I slowly opened my eyes and immediately regretted doing so with the harsh rays of light on the ceiling making me close them once again. I tried to sit up and once again immediately regretted it. My eyes feel dry and irritated, and my whole body feels bruised and sore. After realizing that moving my body was not an option, I laid back down on the bed I was lying on while coughing and groaning in pain. I decided to wait for the pain to subside before I did anything else.
"I wouldn't try to move right now if I were you. You were in bad shape when we found you." the voice said. It had a deeper tone, so I assumed it was a male speaking to me. Again, I slowly opened my eyes, and this time I saw what appeared to be a police officer in uniform that was unusual from the ones I was familiar with. He had a green and black button-up shirt with black jeans and dark black sunglasses. The only indication that he was an officer was his badge on the right side of his chest. After no longer being disoriented, I tried to get up again, this time slowly.
"Ow…where the hell am I?" I asked weakly.
"You're currently in Vale Community Hospital," the officer replied, and I was now severely confused. "I heard him, right, didn't I? Did he say Vale…like the Vale from RWBY? Either that or I'm in a city I've never seen or heard about." Of course, I'm not dreaming because if I were, I wouldn't be feeling all these authentic and painful sensations across my body.
The officer saw my confused expression and asked if I wasn't from Vale. And me, being the complete idiot that I am, said, "Yes, I'm from Menagerie."
The officer facepalmed and sighed. "Now that might explain some stuff," he said and took his sunglasses off and put them into his pocket. "Looks like you were taken from your home by some unpleasant people; thank Oum, somehow you got away from them even though you didn't get away from them unharmed with how you looked when we found you." The officer stood up and continued, "I'm afraid to say that we won't be able to get you any transport for you out of vale; maybe we can suggest some shelters that could help you."
"Honestly, sir, I just need something to drink…my head hurts right now." my throat was quite dry, and good lord, it felt like a drum was playing inside my head with how much this headache hurt. "Back to what you were saying, Not getting transport is fine. There's nothing left for me back home…not anymore."
My thoughts darken. The officer not only said I was in Vale, but he even knew what Menagerie was. Am I really in Remnant?! Am I seriously in the RWBY universe?! If that's the case, what part of the timeline have I woken up in? I know for sure that it's before the Fall of Beacon, but the exact time before, I have no clue.
"Um, I'm in a hospital?" I asked the officer, and he replied with a nod. I looked down and saw that I indeed had a hospital gown. "Um, I don't think I can cover this expense. I don't have anything…."
"Nah, it's fine, kid. We'll be taking care of the expenses for you. Even though you looked in bad shape, it was nothing major, just a minor checkup and some bandages to heal your wounds," the officer replied with a smile. "You're all good to go. You can leave whenever you're ready."
"Thank you, but is there a map that I can use or have so I know where I'm going?" I asked anxiously
"Sure thing, kid," the officer replied.
At that moment, I felt like I was entirely out of my comfort zone. I was now trapped in an entirely fictional universe. To make matters worse, I don't know what part of the timeline I'm even in.
"Here's your map, kid, also I need to ask a few questions before you go." the officer said
"Thank you, and Ok, I'm fine with that," I said
"What's your name, kid?" the officer asked.
"Isaiah Baldwin," I replied
"Age?" he asked
"17," I answered.
"Any family members? Any contact information we can use to get in touch with them?" the officer asked.
Thank god I didn't yell out my mom's name or any of my family members' names on reflex. Even though my brain took a second to process that I shouldn't say their names, they wouldn't find anyone, and even if they did, that would just be a lucky coincidence and people that don't even know me. "I don't have anyone…." I said and looked down sadly. "It hurts to know I may never see them again."
"Well, that's all I had to ask. All your clothes and belongings are over there. I'll head out of the room to let you change." the officer said before leaving the room. I start to get out of the hospital bed and notice the pain is still slightly but not enough to stop me from moving. So I go to where my clothes are. They were sitting right on top of a table, and next to the table was a full-body mirror. So I walked to the mirror and started changing out of the hospital gown and my clothes.
I look at the clothes left on the table. I had matte black cargo joggers, matte black socks, a simple white long sleeve shirt, a matte black hooded coat with some iris-colored stripes on the shoulders, matte black and white sneakers, black cyberpunk-themed fingerless gloves, and lastly, some black underwear.
I began to put on the clothes, and then as I finished, I looked in the mirror to make sure I looked presentable. Unfortunately, as I looked into the mirror, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, which caused me to freeze in place. "Oh, for fucks sake…."
I had a light skin tone and a sharp jawline, I wouldn't call myself handsome, but I guess some would have that viewpoint. I had medium-sized black hair, which is normal, except at the ends of the hair was the purple shade of Iris. "What the hell? My hair is just like Ruby's, except it's a shade of purple. Oh well, I like purple anyways."
I then looked directly into my eyes…my silver eyes…just like the main protagonist of RWBY…Ruby Rose. I looked closer to the mirror to ensure I wasn't mistaking my eyes for just gray eyes. However, I saw every silver-eye warrior's mark in the universe of RWBY. The four white slashes in the eye and the four other white slashes in the iris of the other eye. "I'm not supposed to have these eyes. I had dark brown eyes, not silver eyes."
As cool as it was that I had silver eyes and the kind of power that comes with them, when it comes to Salem, having Silver eyes is a fucking death sentence if she knows you have them. I feel bad for Maria. I'm sure she lost her eyes from her fight against Tock decades ago.
"Ok, I think I have a good idea of how I got here now," I thought. Silver eyes are a gift from one of the godbrothers, the god of light. "Is he the one that brought me here? If so, why the hell would he bring me of all people." I put that thought to the said, for now, to look for anything else that changed. The next thing I saw blew my mind; I was no longer a human.
I had what looked to be…dog ears on top of my head. They were black on the outside with some iris shaded at the ends of them like my hair, and on the inside had white fur. They were in a triangular shape. Then it hit me what kind of Faunus I am.
"Holy shit…I'm a fox Faunus?!" I said aloud. I quickly covered my mouth in fear someone would hear that.
"Hey kid, you ok in there?" the officer said from the other side of the door.
"Y-yeah, I'm okay. Just slipped on the floor a bit. Nothing to worry about." I said nervously
"Well, just be more careful, kid. You don't need to get injured again," he said
"I'm sorry," I replied sheepishly
After the initial shock of finding out that, apparently, I'm a Faunus. I realized that this means I'm gonna get treated like shit by a bunch of humans that are not happy with this new heritage of mine. Imagine if they knew I used to be a human just like them. Honestly, I never understood the humans of remnant hatred and discrimination against the Faunus. They are exactly the same as humans, except they have one animal trait and night vision, and that's the only difference between humans and Faunus. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised since, even back on earth, we judged each other just for their skin color.
Honestly, I'm afraid I'm gonna get jumped by a group of humans as soon as I leave the hospital. However, I am pretty excited to explore a city that I've only seen on a screen. The web series didn't show off a lot of the city of Vale and, during those first volumes, were on a low budget, so I wonder what they would look like now that I'm actually here.
Another thought popped into my head, and I realized something. "Do I have any money…I mean, Lien?" I hope I do because I need a place to stay, and I need to get a mask or something to cover my brand-new silver eyes. "I'm not taking any risks of getting put on Salem's hit list. I do NOT want to become an experiment like 'The Hound' of Volume 7!" At least with my hooded cloak, I can cover my fox ears.
I check the pockets of my cargo joggers and found my wallet, like my actual wallet from the earth. I looked inside my wallet only to find that it didn't have my ID or any other cards. What I did find inside seemed to be dollar bills, except they weren't. The bills were this world's currency, 'Lien.' I saw different numbers on them. There were bills with the numbers 1,5,10 and 20.
Realizing I actually had some money to keep me from starving and without a place to stay, I started counting them to see how much I had. After counting, I had 600 dollars…I mean lien. It's gonna take me a while to get used to that. I think this should be enough to get me a place to stay for a week and some food as long as I spend it right. However, after that week, I'm gonna be in a bad spot. Nobody knew me here. That means I'm quite literally on my own for the foreseeable future.
While I was thinking of ideas on how I would survive in this world, I saw in the corner of my eyes two identical swords and two identical bracelets that had a purple stripline in the center going around both bracelets. I saw that both of the swords had the same kind of purple stripline on the handguards and hilts of the swords. I've seen these purple strip lines on another weapon in RWBY before. It hit me then, and I remembered whose weapons had them. Maria Calavera's Dual Scythes, 'Life and Death.'
I know what the strip lines are now. The weapons have gravity dust integrated into them, and I think the same can be said about the bracelets. I looked back to what kind of swords they were, and it was obvious they were katanas. I saw at the hilt of the katanas that both swords could combine. I proceeded to combine both, and the Star Wars fan inside of me started geeking out. "Holy crap, I can either fight like Ashoka Tano or like Darth Maul." I thought excitedly.
When I was on Earth, I actually took classes on the different Star Wars lightsaber fighting styles. I also took real-life sword arts classes as well. So these kinds of weapons were exactly my style. I looked back to where the weapons were and saw that I had missed an… arrow quiver. Why would a quiver be here? Where's the bow? I looked back to the swords and saw two switches, one on each sword's hilt. The katana's blade transformed like Qrow's harbinger scythe form and curved into the shape of a bow. hard light dust came out of the ends of the blades and connected to each other, forming a hard light dust string for the bow form. "Holy crap, this weapon has three forms?!" I thought.
A sword, a dual-edged staff, and a bow. These are literally all of my favorite kinds of weapons in one. I looked inside the quiver to see how many arrows I had, and I saw that each arrow was a different color. I then realized that these arrows have dust arrowheads. There was an orange-colored arrow which I'm guessing was an explosive arrow. A light blue arrow for some sort of ice attack and a green arrow, for I'm guessing, a wind attack. After figuring out the weapon's capabilities, I heard the door to the room open, and the officer came in to see me dressed in my clothes and that I had my weapons on me.
"I see that you're dressed, and you've got all your belongings now. I was about to come in to remind you not to forget your weapon, but it seems you already got them," the officer said.
"Yeah, thank you for bringing them with me. It would've sucked to lose them," I replied to keep up appearances. They obviously weren't mine, but apparently, they must've found them with me. "So, is there anything else you guys need from me, or am I good to go?" I asked the officer.
"Nah, we don't need anything else from you, kid. You can leave whenever you're ready." the officer replied.
"I really appreciate you guys for helping me out. I don't know what would've happened if you didn't find me," I said.
"No problem, kid. I'm just doing my job, but I'm glad I could help." The officer said with a smile, and I could tell he was a good man. "Try not to get into any more trouble and stay safe, kid." the officer continued.
"Will do, sir!" I said with respect. He opens the door for me, and I nod in appreciation. As I'm walking out, I've transformed the swords back to their normal katana forms and detached them from one another, and sheathed both of them onto my back in an X-shape. It was kind of like how Kirito from Sword Art Online had his dual swords.
Walking through the hospital halls, I saw plenty of workers and patients being escorted around the hospital. I saw some Faunus nurses around my age talking to each other, they looked in my direction, and all three of them winked at me. I'm unsure if they were flirting with me or if that's just them telling me they know I'm one of them even though I had my hooded cloak on.
Either way, the blush on my cheeks was evidence enough to show exactly how my brain saw that interaction. I awkwardly nodded my head back at them, and I could hear their giggles even though I was already some distance away from them. I guess when you have 4 ears, your hearing is quite perceptive.
White halls, white floors, multiple doors in the hallways, nurses, and doctors coming in and out of rooms. The generic look of any kind of hospital. Surprisingly, many of the people I saw in the hospital were Faunus, both visitors, and workers. I was looking at all the different animal features each of the Faunus had, and it was quite amazing to see. However, I quickly stopped staring since it could be considered rude to do so.
As I walked, I could feel my fox ears moving, twitching, and twisting to the sounds around them. This was quite uncomfortable because I wasn't used to this kind of sense and especially since I could hear at a higher sensitivity. It wasn't any kind of agonizing pain, but it was still very hard to deal with.
After a few minutes, I found the front desk. I left the hospital right away. After exiting through the hospital's front entrance, I was left with nothing but awe of the city view. Large streets with traffic of varying types of cars, Large and well-designed buildings, and many people from all walks of life.
It was then, at that moment, that I could tell that this world was…"This world is truly real; it's alive and breathing, and so are the people," I thought with awe. The city just felt so alive compared to the city of Vale that the web series showed its fan. I mean, the background characters during the first season of the show were nothing but shadow silhouettes, but here…all of these people look unique and different from each other.
It was then that a family was walking in my direction. A mother and three of her children were walking by. Seeing them laugh and enjoy each other's company while strolling through the city made me remember how alienated I am. How alone I am. The dams behind my eyelids were about to give away, but I managed to compose myself before any tears were released. "I wonder how everyone is doing back home. Do they even realize I'm gone?" I whispered sadly.
I reached into my pocket where I put the map the officer gave me and opened it. I first looked for any hotels I could stay at and also for any stores. I need a way to cover my face, not because I don't want people to know what I look like. I just don't want people to see my silver eyes. I know this is me being paranoid, but as I said before, I'm taking no chances at all.
I began heading toward a store that sells all kinds of clothing. I walked in and was greeted by a male cashier, and they asked if I needed any help. I shook my head but thanked them nonetheless. Even though they acted friendly, I could tell they didn't like how shady I looked with wearing my cloaked hood inside the store.
I walked over to the head accessories section of the store and saw the variety of masks and other headwear. I saw a particular mask and knew this mask had to be the one. It was a kitsune mask you would typically find in Japan or at an anime convention. Usually, these kitsune masks' colors are white, black, and red. However, instead of it having the color red for the lips and stripes on the face, it was instead a shade of purple, Iris shaded.
I then found a type of black blindfold cloth and decided to get that so I can use that when I go to sleep around others. I am planning on getting into beacon…somehow…"Actually, how the hell am I gonna into Beacon?!" I thought. With the foreknowledge of the events to come, I need to get into beacon as a student in order to prevent certain events that would lead to the Fall of Beacon.
The question was, how was I going to get into beacon? I started thinking back to the first episode of RWBY and remembered how Ruby got into Beacon. She stopped, although quite recklessly, a robbery on the dust shop known as 'From Dust till Dawn.' "That's it! I need to help Ruby stop the dust robbery!" I thought with excitement. I quickly got out my map again and started looking for the store. A minute passed, and I found that it was a couple of streets down from the store I was in.
I walked toward the cashier and put the kitsune mask and black blindfold cloth on the cashier's table. He took the items and told me how many liens it would cost me. "That'll be 10 liens, please," the cashier said with a practiced smile. I know he probably doesn't like his job, but at least try to do a genuine smile. After paying for my items, I quickly leave and see that the sun is starting to set.
If the robbery is happening tonight, I don't have much time left before it happens. "I need to be there to help Ruby stop it, or I don't have any chance of getting into Beacon Academy." I thought anxiously. I started sprinting in the direction the map showed me where the dust shop was. I grabbed the kitsune mask and put it on since I knew Roman Torchwick would be there.
After running for a couple of mins, I arrived at the store, and by the time I arrived, I saw that it was now nighttime, and I could see the infamous crescent shattered moon of Remnant. If there was doubt about me being in Remnant, then seeing the moon was the final nail in the coffin. Earth doesn't have a shattered moon, that's for sure.
Suddenly my fox ears perked up, and I heard a group of footsteps approaching from behind me. I turned around to see none other than the criminal man himself, Roman Torchwick. He had some of Junior's goons that he hired during the 'Yellow' trailer. Deciding that now wasn't the moment to act, I quickly got out of their way. If they're here, then that means Ruby is inside the store right now listening to 'This will be the Day' on her headphones and reading a weapons magazine like the weapons geek that she is.
I'm not worried about her safety since I know that she easily takes out the goons. I'll jump in right after Roman shoots at Ruby with his weird cane that's also a gun. Wait a min…I don't have my aura unlocked, don't I? Well, I clearly forgot about that. I have to be really careful now. One misstep and I could be sent back to the hospital or, even worse, dead.
Suddenly, I hear glass shatter and look up to see a man in black and red clothing with red glasses on the ground. "Looks like it's showtime!" I thought with anticipation. Then a red blur of rose petals came barreling out of the broken window and onto the streets right next to me with her signature weapon: 'Crescent Rose'. The rest of the goons came running out of the shop and pulled out their swords and guns aimed at Ruby Rose.
"You should find some cover. Things are about to get crazy," she said while putting her headphones away. Realizing what's about to happen, I quickly find some cover and hear gunshots from both Crescent Rose and the goon's guns. I perked my head up to see all the goons lying on the ground, knocked out. "Ok, I knew she took them out quickly, but I didn't think it was THAT quick," I thought with surprise at how efficiently she took them out.
"You were worth every cent, truly you were," Roman said sarcastically.
"Ok, this is it. This is my one shot at getting into Beacon," I thought, hardening my resolve.
"And I will not fail!" I said aloud, charging out from behind my cover.
AN:
OK! Hey everyone, this is my first ever fan fic and my first time attempting to write a story, so please understand if the story is not that great. I'm trying to the best of my capabilities. You may have noticed that I published this story before and then deleted it afterward which yeah you would be right but at the time I wasn't happy with it so I deleted it and decided to go back and actually plan things out instead of just winging things like I was before. If you read the first chapter you'll see not much has changed from last time except parts at the start. I do already have plans for this story as far as Volume 6's storyline. Volume 7 and 8, I'm still thinking about. Other than that thank you for reading and I'm sorry to everyone who read this story the first time I published it. See ya guys next time!
