My eyes felt heavy as I laid against the pillow, the smooth tone of the Tropical Devil Night Remix letting my mind rest from and decompress a bit before I fully clonked out.
When next my eyes opened, I was swaddled in a cinnamon blanket, and the rhythmic movements of a car going down the road was my only companion while I stare at the dark beige roof of whatever vehicle I was laying in.
'Was that just… A fever dream?'
My eyes moved back and forth, taking in the plush leather seat, the seatbelt and the… Wicker basket?
'Where the fudge am I?'
There's no siren going on, so this can't be some good samaritan saving me, hell, I doubt there would be much to save after getting my skull destroyed… And I can't really do more than wriggle my arms and legs when they feel like they're held down by lead weights.
'And who the fire put me in this?'
I seriously wanted to know what the fuck was going on. This car was certainly too big, like, I was somehow shrunk to the size of a baby. And then I was restrained inside whatever thing was carrying me, because why the fork would it be a wicker basket?
Nah, this reeked of Alphonse and his stanky butt hand-sanatizer- Did he shoeing censor me!? What the Hockey man!
Suddenly, the car stopped. And I was treated to the sounds of a door opening and someone else walking on Gravel.
The sounds stopped for a moment, and then muffled voices just barely getting through the metal making up the door my head was beside. I could only make out the tone, but it seemed like someone was hesitant about something.
*Click*
'Oh. I'm a baby.'
My arms slowly rose from the basket, and it was only now that I was able to understand that this was… quite frankly… a dream.
Presumably about my past. Considering the man went through the trouble of giving me memories of things I didn't previously know, it makes sense that he'd have some form of puckery to make sure I could know my own history instead of accidentally getting blind-sidded from it.
I was able to get a better look at the women as she adjusted the basket, but sound was still muffled. She was smiling…
Oh.
She gave a sad smile. One of someone who knew the end was near, but still did their best to shield their child from it. And I suppose this woman would be my mother? Not like I have reason to think anything else.
Car, Smile, love in her eyes as she gazes upon me.
Before, when I was falling, I learned combat, most of the history mainly being about how to wield things and a bit about me that I shared with Ozpin. Like the changed continents of the world of Devil May Cry.
But this was different, a memory being replayed for me, as my little body cried for the woman as she put me down, her soft hands cupping my head for a moment before leaving a letter tucked next to me.
Mom looked… Young, early 20's young.
She had this… Curly red hair that seemed familiar, but I couldn't place it. Everything about her looked familiar, but I just… couldn't place where I had seen her before.
She was dressed in a black bodysuit, metal plates and studs embedded directly into the material. She turned, looking back to the car and giving me enough of a view to see a burn scar stretching across her collar and a bit up her neck.
"Goodbye. *&^%-" I heard her voice for the first time, quiet and sad as it was… But what I could only assume as her saying my name was scratched out, grating on my ears and layered with just white noise.
My body instinctively crying as she stood up and started to walk away.
My hands reached for her, her pace quickening, ripping the door open and slamming it shut-
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*TWEEEEEEEEEEET*
My eyes snapped open, hand on my chest as sweat drenched my brow.
"Goooood~ morning, team RWBY!"
The high-pitched voice thundered in my ears for a moment before I could control my magic to block out the discordant note. The groans of our sister team tapering out as I took a moment to just… Breathe.
I wanted to unpack what ever the fuck crazy wacky dream I had about my mother abandoning me, on what was likely an orphanages steps, was about. But I had slightly bigger fish to fry at the moment.
My head turned, and I locked eyes with Ren, the boy having jumped up into a ready stance with hands poised to strike. He relaxed a moment later, sitting down on his bed with a sigh and catching a rather energetic girl that tried to glomp him a moment later.
Just past those two, I spied a certain blonde haired leader try to pull the covers above his head, yet getting them ripped mercilessly away by our resident celebrity. I would've snorted if it was for the fact that I could still feel my heart racing and blood pounding in my ears as I rose from my bed.
"It's Morning!~ It's Morning!~" Nora, for all that I enjoyed her antics on the show, was not my favourite person considering I currently just woke up from some weird dream nightmare with the sharp noise of a whistle and have had exactly ZERO caffeine in the past couple minutes since.
""Nora.""
Ren shared my same monotone for the girl, clearly both feeling a bit too tired to deal with her. "Cannella!" But I was still doing so anyway when I have to push the girl away from me and escape her hug.
I let her follow through with her weight and fall safely on my surprisingly soft mattress. A pillow grasped much too tight for my liking stuffed into her arms. She smiled for a moment before turning to face me with that disgusted Anya Forger face.
"No thanks." I quipped at her, pulling my- Huh, when did Goodwitch sneak in? Or was it some other staff member that dropped by to leave me a uniform and sticky note. I peeled it off and flipped it open, holding the cloths firmly in my armpit for the moment.
"Hey Cannella, it's ya boi, skinny penis, thought I'd do you a favour and get your clothes fixed for you. You'll learn more if you head to the bathroom and read the instructions~ - Alphonse."
…
…
If I ever meet him again, I'm strangling his fucking ass- Oh, I can swear again. Neat. Still gonna strangle his ass.
I raised a brow at the quiet chaos from the rest of my team unpacking and moving around each other. Some getting dressed, others instead focusing on emptying their bags. I slipped past some of Nora's stuff that spilled across the floor to get into the bathroom first.
The door locked with a satisfying *Click*, leaving me alone with cold tile under my feet. I set the clean school uniform on the counter before cranking the shower, and while that was warming up… I got set on looking around.
…
…
Despite basically rifling through everything I could, I didn't find any more sticky notes plastered across the walls, roof or floor. Not in the cupboards, not hidden in any secret compartments.
'Man's just bloody trolling me to send me on a wild goose change… And I need to stop stalling.'
Stalling for what you may ask? Well, undressing myself for the first time and having to come fact with being gender swapped. Not like I cared much for gender in the first place, I would rather be a genderless, formless eldritch void that could Schrödinger's cat itself into what ever the hell it wanted.
From Bimbo to Himbo, Cat to dog, Sword to Spork.
I'd rather just factually be whatever the hell I felt like being at the moment.
…
…
I didn't really have any soap to work with, and I firmly kept my eyes away from the mirror. The hot watter cascading down my back felt simply divine and the tension in my body leached away with the hot water like those shitty cultivation novels 'Impurity Cleansing' scenes. Though without the obvious terrible black sludge.
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Mid-shower, I was hit with the mother of all migraines and had to sit down, because that fuck Alphonse decided the best way to teach me how to access my own discount Gate of Babylon, was to inject it straight into my neurons.
On the bright side! I now have a list of each and every weapon.
On the dark side! I need to earn Black Orbs, as he so gracefully put it.
Slaughter Salem's children, Doom Slayer Style.
Oh, and he co-opted the Watcher of time, kicking her gaze away from this specific world and took her place, so now I'm going to have to find statues of him that are invisible to EVERYONE ELSE just to be able to buy upgrades to my shit.
Good thing about that though? I'm not limited to the options that were in the game, but I don't know what I DO have until I find one of them, which presumably I'll be able to find a small enough one that I could transport back to my dorm room to allow me upgrades.
And then I opened the door to my team's room and sighed at the udder chaos of Nora doing Nora. Ren being a silent if somewhat resistant enabler, Jaune being his normal early story cowardly self.
Luckily, it seemed everyone else was dressed for school and ready to take on the day as it came. Though Pyrrha seemed unsure what to do as the girl (Nora) currently sprinting around the room, who somehow got a thing of cookies in her hand and is causing more ruckus than-
"WHAT!? DID YOU SAY 9 O'CLOCK!?" And there's Weiss shrieking like a banshee at Ruby. Though considering the circumstances and what it means for me and my team at the moment… "IT'S 8:55 YOU DUNCE!"
Everyone stacked up on the door as Weiss ran down the hallway.
"Uhhh… TO CALSS!" Ruby shouted, sprinting after her classmate.
"Class?" Jaune seemed unsure, and that's when I pushed just the right spot (the back of his knee) to cause them all to collapse.
"Right. Let's get a move on."
Despite leaving Rebellion in my dorm room, I shucked on my purple prototype coat and tucked my guns neatly into the spots against my lower back tailored just for them.
"WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!"
Jaune yelled and sprinted, the rest of my team following our fearless leader.
I power walked behind everyone as they sprinted, waving to a disapproving Glynda that just tapped her watch and amused Oz that took a sip of his trusty mug when we passed them.
All in all.
I was slightly off kilter, feeling relaxed, and ready to get some pen to paper with education.
Yay.