Emerald swore under her breath as the chaos rang out.
Idiots!
The White Fang it seemed just couldn't put a lid on it. Unable to just let their itch slide, the bastards started a fight at the worst possible moment. She was hoping Cinder had made it perfectly clear to the brutes that their only line of work from now on was to gather dust, but it seemed they wanted to make a few more examples for the public.
Watching as the shop keeper of a nearby convenience shop just to the right of their particular targets was thrown through the glass window, Emerald knew shit had hit the fan. To be fair to the lot, the sign out front made it clear that Faunus weren't particularly welcome in said shop, and she had no idea how many stings the owner had to pull to bypass the 'no discrimination' law Vale had set in place, but that hardly mattered when the bitch was lying face up full of holes.
Really, Emerald didn't care if that nobody was dead, and she wasn't bothered by the Fang's need for rampant 'justice' as it were. The problem here was that they were causing trouble at the exact moment she and Mercury were shadowing people.
"Not exactly the best of times for our 'friends' to do their thing, eh?" Mercury's comment wasn't appreciated, but it wasn't far off from the truth either.
"You'd think they would have some self restraint, but apparently 'the animal inside' is just too strong for these morons." She'd seen the panic immediately set in after the first gunshot, and people - doing what they did best - threw themselves into a fit.
"Well hey, at least our buddy can take a dive." Mercury's comment had Emerald Zeroing in her focus on the prick, and sure enough, the fool of the day was sandwiched between the floor and their gal pal.
"Okay, but let's stop relying on luck, and instead try focusing on keeping them alive."
Mercury offered a casual salute, which somewhat made her blood boil.
"You got it boss."
She hated when he did that, but it didn't matter as he made good on his word and inserted himself into the fray. Emerald would never admit it, but seeing him outwardly thrash and outclass the petty soldiers of the Fang was cathartic in its own right. Yeah, Cinder had use for them, but Emerald herself couldn't care less about the terrorists.
They never helped her when she was having trouble in life; Cinder had been the one to do that, and as such, Cinder was the only woman on Remnant to have Emerald's respect.
Seeing as Mercury was having a good enough time beating down the Fang, Emerald herself figured she would jump in too, and with a few choice kicks and slams, she downed a few of the bozos. The crowd surrounding everything ignored this, and continued on with their rabid running around, which annoyingly enough, made it hard to tell how many White Fang were still up and about.
Trying to nail down how many were combat applicable was very quickly becoming a lost cause, and so she set her sights right back on the prime suspect of their chase... just in time to see him again tackled to the floor, this time by someone she hadn't seen before.
Who the heck?
.
.
Watching, in a pseudo-sense of slow motion, as the bullet ripped through Jay's forehead had practically locked Josh in place.
Seeing the way it left the back of his head, slowly but surely leaving a hole no bigger than a dime and filled to the brim with freshly mashed blood and brain matter was the stuff of nightmares. Josh had seen people killed in movies and videogames before, but watching it happen right in front of himself - even with how weird everything looked - was something else entirely.
It wasn't flashy or wild, but rather, the spot was only visible because of the spray of crimson painting the few people behind the man.
Almost like a doll, the force of the bullet only affected Jay once the bullet was long gone, having gone through a few other people who fell to the ground. Not Jay though, no, he'd just stood there, frozen stiff for a second before his body did what Josh could only describe as rag-dolling.
All function in his being looked to cease, with his limbs dropping ever so sluggish, his body gave up.
He never got the chance to fall before Josh felt that 'tug' again. From his heart, and dare he say his very soul, there was this ethereal kind of 'need' rippling through his body. This was accentuated as time almost looked to stop entirely, and Josh felt an internal screech within his very core.
Once again his body and mind screamed for him to jump.
But Josh ignored it this time, too stunned by his friend's sudden demise. The people around him began to dull an almost dark gray, and bits and pieces of them were pulled asunder, no different than ripping apart a sheet of paper in its appearance. This was true for each and every individual aspect of his sight, and soon enough the pain started to blare.
The burning across his skin was enough to shake him free, and Josh's eyes shot down to his hand before him, outstretched to the man he believed was Jay, who sat there being torn to shreds along with everyone else. No blood resulted from these rips, and for every ripped visage floating in place, White filled in the space between, until soon the area around him looked to fade into a cloudy mist.
Josh saw then how his arm also suffered from this fate, and once he saw his flesh start to bend and pull out, he felt the pang once more.
JUMP!
He obeyed this time, and just like that he was back amongst the crowd, panting and heaving as they sent him odd looks. He never noticed this however, as the moment he raised his head, he saw that damned red car speed by, and taking that as his cue...
He ran.
Sprinting at full speed, Josh threw aside everyone and everything in his trajectory, much to their ignored dismay and irritation. Some threw him hateful looks, others bore curiosity, and some even sported worry. All wondered why the man was in a rush, but Josh himself noticed none of this; the only thing on his mind was Jay.
Somehow, someway, jumping when he felt these pulls had thrown him back through time. His hyperventilating mind had figured this much out, and while it again made no logical sense in any way, shape, or form: he ignored it. As the man himself would put it if asked: he didn't fucking care.
His best friend had died, and he wasn't about to let it happen again.
Well... he wasn't entirely sure the guy he saw was Jay, but the uncanny resemblance - and tattoo above his ass - pointed towards the guy being the real deal. However he had to see him up close to confirm; everything was all weeb style, and he wanted to make the man he saw die was Jay, and the only way he realistically could in these circumstances: via reaction. Still though, that tugging of his heartstrings towards the event, that ever vicious air of doom, it had been all too real.
The gunfire sounded off again, or perhaps, for the first time, and Josh picked up the pace.
This sense of dashing proved to pay off, and he was right back where he left off, watching as Jay stood from the floor. He had yet to fully turn his head towards the perpetrator of his execution, and thus had still to die again. Josh wasted no time, quite literally closing the gap and leaping for the man, right as the killer took aim. Unlike last time however, the feeling of weight below him as they tumbled, and the sound of the gunshot less than a second later, had revealed something to Josh.
He made it.
Jay below him lacked that cruel ripple between his eyes, and the shocked look across his face had Josh jumping for joy. He couldn't help but let the excitable grin take over, washing his probably stupid looking mug with glee as his feelings poured out.
"JAY!" This was Jay, he knew that beyond a shadow of a doubt now. Those baby blue eyes, and the way he looked up from his position on the floor; Josh still didn't have the confirmation he wanted yet, but he didn't need it.
He just knew this was his best bro, and thus celebrated perhaps a bit too soon if he was being honest.
"I knew you were alive!" Nothing else mattered to him over those scarce few seconds; he had his buddy back.
"Rex?"
And there it was: the confirmation he was looking for. Rex: it was his own personal nickname, and one he only told his close friends about. Knowing that name alone was enough to prove this was the real Jay; not that he needed proof anyway - something about him just echoed 'Jay', although Josh couldn't exactly understand why.
It was just this odd sort of feeling compared to everyone else so far, and one that made Jay stand out, like a different air - as dumb as that sounded.
More bullets were shot off, and Josh was violently brought back into the current state of events by more screaming. His face hardened, and he kneeled up, looking back through the crowd as he reached into his coat: pulling out the weapon who had led him here. Casting a quick glance to his friend below as he moved off him a little, Josh saw how Jay froze up at the sight of the pistol. He never let this bother him, deciding it was a talking point for later.
Right now though, they needed to survive this.
"Stay down." He spoke calmly, and even with the noise around them he knew Jay had heard.
"W-where did you get-?"
"I'll explain later, just stay down." Josh cut his friend off, and while he didn't like that he did, they had bigger fish to fry.
Why there was a shoot-out going on right now wasn't exactly known, but he knew that if they had any chance for survival, he probably needed to use the gun in his hands. To make things perfectly clear, he'd never aimed a gun at other people before, let alone shot them, but drastic times called for drastic measures.
Besides, who said he needed to shoot for a kill anyways?
From what he understood himself, when police used their firearms, it was often to disable rather than kill, unless of course the target was extremely dangerous; even then, it was a hassle for everyone involved if a suspect was killed, regardless of whether it was self defense or not. With this in mind, Josh was hoping he'd only need to shoot them in the arm or leg: that way they'd still be alive, but crippled.
However something familiar put a wrench in that plan.
"Hold on..." Josh said, pausing to listen. Despite the chaos, there was no mistaking the police sirens blaring in the far off distance, vibrating through the walls… and a lot of them at that.
"Cops." Jay could say that again, and looking back to the gun in his hands, Josh slipped the weapon away. Being caught with a weapon when he very clearly wasn't a member of the force would result in questioning, and potentially trouble.
Looking at his buddy again, he leaned down close, startling the guy.
"W-what are-?"
"Shh..." Josh made his body look as limp as possible. "Play dead."
There was no use in shooting corpses, and with the police nearby the crooks would have to choose between focusing on the cops, or making a break for it. Either way, if they looked dead enough, there was a high chance that whatever killers were present would be tailing it out of there without shooting one of them.
Jay, albeit hesitant, followed along, and for a bit the battle continued around them. People stepped on them constantly, and gunfire continued to spray above, but from the corner of his eye Josh was able to see the police close in.
Strangely enough, they themselves didn't do much firing, and Josh nearly shit his pants when he spied the little girl practically flying around with the giant scythe. Didn't anything make sense anymore? Such a thought should have answered itself, but Josh was too busy being panicky over the insanity surrounding him. Still though, he stayed down regardless, and the battle died down quickly after. At this point he expected to be greeted by the police, but rather, some spicy looking lady was kneeled down beside him and Jay.
"Excuse me, but can you please get off my friend?"
Josh kneeled up himself, and Jay followed suit. The woman bore short raven lochs, and was filling out her crimson dress rather well. All in all, he'd give her a pretty high ranking on appeal, because with everything else surrounding them, it was nice to see something pleasant.
"Thank you." She sported a cheery smile, and then took to Jay with a softer look. "Are you alright?"
And like that, Josh was lost.
.
.
"I'm alright."
So that was a blatant lie, but really, what could he do? Rex, his best friend, had come out of nowhere and tackled him. That had to be Rex: nobody else looked so stupid happy to tackle him to the floor, and seeing as the guy said his name immediately, there was no mistaking it.
Thing was: how did he get to Remnant?
It took a mysterious stranger to meet with Yang and Ruby himself, and so Jay was stuck wondering if something similar had befallen Rex. Jay found his hand reaching out, settling on his roommate's arm, and feeling the leather of his coat. He looked into his buddy's eyes, and spoke.
"You're real, right?"
Seeing Rex throw on that confident grin, and swing up a thumb in a silly fashion answered even before the man himself.
"Hell yeah! Who else do you know is willing to tackle your ass in a crowd?"
Yep, it really is you. Jay, while finding it slightly annoying to hear that, was ultimately relieved to know his friend was real. Although, that didn't explain how the man got there, and it didn't explain why he had the gun either.
Immediately, that sense of comfort he'd earned from not being so alone in the world was dashed with the knowledge Rex had found the weapon. This meant he'd been snooping around in his drawers. Rex, while officially sharing a room with him, was usually bunking with friends most of the time; hence why Jay had no issues storing the weapon so brazenly out in the open. Nobody else came into their shared dorm room, and never into Jay's personal bedroom either.
Rex went in though, and Jay shuddered at the potential reasons why, as well as what else the guy had probably done in his room.
Rex, however, wasn't a creep: he didn't just browse through other people's belongings without reason, meaning something had to have happened to prompt such a drastic decision in the guy's mind.
"What about you, dude?" Rex lost his previous bit of excitement, falling into that same tone he'd used back before they went to the club. Jay, not wanting to spook his friend, decided to abridge his mood.
"As good as I can be with all of... well-" He tossed a look around, knowing Rex would get the memo. "This."
"Yeah, about that." He bore a befuddled face. "Do you have-?"
"Any idea what's going on: no, I don't." He wasn't about to let things get too weird. Rex had undoubtedly noticed the way everyone and everything was partially 'cartoonified', or in this case he supposed it would be called 'anime tinted'.
"Oh, so you two know each other?" Miltia reminded Jay that both he and his friend were far from alone, and things were made doubly weird when Ruby, Weiss, and Coco returned as well.
"You're safe." Ruby sighed with relief. "Good. We were worried."
Jay wasn't so much paying attention to the girl's claim, nor the way both other girls nodded faintly. His eyes were, instead, locked on Rex, who was rapidly switching his sights between both Ruby and him.
This is going to be awkward. Jay's thoughts were on point as Rex shot a brow upwards, somewhat subtle with the presentation of his confusion.
"You know..." Jay began, wanting out of the situation as quickly as possible. "Now that I think of it, I'm not sure I'm feeling up to a makeover today."
Coco sighed almost too perfectly at that, as if she knew he'd want to chicken out after that encounter. She couldn't exactly blame him though: in her eyes he was a civilian who'd narrowly survived a terrorist attack, and in some sense, he was.
"Yeah... kind of saw that coming honestly. Another day then?"
"Sure." Jay leaned back a little, trying to appear more tired than he really was. "I kind of just want to go home."
"Fair." Coco turned. "But tell Miltia when you're feeling better; I still wanna give you that spice-up."
"Okay."
It took a second, but Coco started off with a sigh, and seeing as Ruby was looking around awkwardly, it apparently fell to Weiss to give their farewells.
"We'll be leaving too, unfortunately." She nudged Ruby's elbow. "We have to get back to Beacon before we're missed. With an attack like this, it'll certainly be all over the news, and her sister isn't exactly known for her patience, as I'm sure you know well; she'll assume the worst."
"O-oh, right!" Ruby popped out a little too loudly, proving she wasn't 'in' on Weiss's little escape plan. It didn't matter though, Jay was just happy they were on their way before things finally clicked with Rex; he'd have a fit once he realized where they truly were.
Rex never watched RWBY before, but he knew the basics; during some of his better mood swings every blue moon, Jay would talk a bit about the show, and why he liked it so long ago. Rex had no reason to listen, but he did anyway, and Jay was more thankful for that than his buddy would ever know.
Weiss pulled Ruby along, leaving only the trio who took to standing.
"We ready to go?" Miltia clung to him again, probably worried about other potential dangers. Jay didn't mind though, he'd take any comfort he could on the way back to Junior's.
After all, he had to come up with a way to tell Rex everything without causing too much of a scene.
Author's note
...
And here we are again.
Yeah, it doesn't focus too much on Jay or Ruby, and yet it solely sets itself on the former. Josh, or Rex if you want, seems to have a 'skill' or sorts. What it is, and why he 'goes back' through time, is unknown for now, but that will reveal itself later.
I don't have much to offer this time, other than keep an eye out… or, I would be saying that, had I not gotten a eye-catching review.
And now, here I am mentioning it because it provided the power names 'Deathly Premonition' and 'Reset Reflexes' are some of the cooler ability names I've heard - they'll never be named in story, but consider this the official unofficial names for these powers. I won't mention anything about the theory - confirming right or wrong either way will somewhat hinder the mystery's effect, and the overall wonder born of limited knowledge - but know that I think it's pretty cool; a little wild, but with my track record from Beyond Destiny and L&K, it's fairly fitting.
I'll say this though; the answer will be a lot simpler than most would assume for a story sporting this many facets… which is a fancy way of saying it's chalked full of bullshit. Sure, that review isn't really a review per say, but the review section seems to be more of a comments section anyhow, and as I said: everything stays.
Until next time.