Chapter Text
What would you do if you woke up as a one of your favorite anime characters of your favorite anime show and you are now living his life?
It was probably a little for me to be thinking that to myself as Raven Branwen and I made our way aimlessly through the wilderness of Mistral. Most movies with time travel always say that you have to be careful about changing things in the past and not change too much or you'd lose the future that you know.
Well, I had well and truly gone and f*cked that up real good. That's for sure. One couldn't get much of a different timeline than the one in which Qrow Branwen, as a child, slaughtered the chief of his tribe along with his second in-command, took over for about two minutes and then ran away in the middle of the night with his sister.
Instead of making some tweaks and slight adjustments to the fish tank, I up and dropped a C4 explosive in the fish tank. Hell, I could be changing the timeline just by having a conscious of someone from Earth and not really Qrow Branwen from RWBY. Isn't that how time travel works? The future could change just from any interaction you have with people in the past? Team STRQ's past was not given other than the Branwen Twin's past and reason for going to Beacon, how can I know to look out for? Everything in the future from the White Fang to Cinder and her team was all near Ruby Rose's time.
Raven had been quiet for the most part, which I was thankful. She seemed to understand we had to go once I pointed out that the Tribe would kill us in the night. There may be some honor among thieves, but that didn't count for children since they weren't seen as thieves or warriors in the minds of the Tribe. Even if I had shown that I was strong for a child my age, they'll just think of what could go wrong with a child making the calls and decide it'd be safer if Qrow Branwen and his sister died in the night. I bet our tent is in flames right now or the bundle of clothes we left in the bed had been discovered.
Man, I wish Qrow had the ability to turn into a bird as a Semblance. Not only would I get the lay of the land quicker, I could use it to convince Ozpin of who I am, someone with knowledge from the future.
Without it, and considering how paranoid Ozma is now with all his experience, Ozpin could think I'm an agent of Salem. The only way to prove myself was to use the Lamp of Knowledge for proof.
Problem? Raven Branwen was a child right now, not the Spring Maiden. And probably wouldn't become now that the previous one wouldn't be killed by Raven. And I have no idea who the Spring Maiden would look like, where to find her or even convince her to open the Vault in Haven.
Which means doing this the old fashioned way.
Get us into Beacon.
Befriend Summer Rose and Taiyang Xiao Long.
Keep Summer alive.
Make sure Raven doesn't run away and abandon Yang.
And make sure Ruby is born.
. . . That last one may be difficult. How a love triangle formed in Team STRQ, I have no clue. Taiyang must just have that harem protagonist aura about him. Lucky bastard.
Still, how am I supposed to make sure both Summer and Raven fall for the guy? I know of adult Taiyang and that isn't much help for looking for young Tai and try to play matchmaker.
. . . Actually, there is one other option. . .
. . . That old fan theory of Qrow and Summer that was around since Volume 3. . .
If I wasn't seriously reincarnated and instead reading some fanfic, I'd be calling the author or whoever came up with the idea a mad man.
But the more I thought about, the more it sounded logical. Logical and yet at the same time-
"We're lost. Aren't we?" Raven suddenly asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"No." I lied. It was bad enough that I was lost. But I'm not going to admit to my sister who is Raven Branwen. A part of me wants to think along the lines of 'I'm a thirty-year-old man! I shouldn't be getting lost like this!' But on the other hand, this was Mistral, a fictional country and not the US or Earth and all knowledge I have from there is useless for this world
"I know exactly where we are," I said to her confidently. "We're close to the city of Mistral."
As in closer to Mistral than to Vale. This path looked like one of the paths Team RNJR took in Volume Four. I knew the rough direction and pointed that way, and I was glad she didn't ask how long it'd take because I would have just shrugged. Honestly, I had plans to sneak away from the Tribe when they were close to the city, but then Raven joined the raid and I fought with Talon. And killed him and his second in command.
We are about the same age as Ruby was at Signal, so that's our best shot. Besides there has to be some program for orphans to join Huntsmen Academies. Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie were proof of that.
"Do you hear that?" Raven suddenly asked.
I paused and listened. It sounded like. . . hooves galloping? "Sounds like a horse or bigger." I replied, slowly looking around and paused as I looked behind Raven. "And sounds like it has antlers."
Raven looked to me confused. "How can you tell that?"
I pointed behind her. "That bull Moose charging towards us." Raven spun around and sure enough, there was a moose charging to us.
Raven and I looked at each other before screaming and running.
30 minutes later. . .
"A MOOSE IS ON THE LOOSE!"
Frankly, I surprised to see a moose in Mistral. Now I'm wondering what other animals live on Remnant.
Focus. Focus.
"Run, run, run, run." I said like a mantra to Raven as we ran through the forest. We may be off the trail now, but with the moose chasing us, we don't have much choice.
Suddenly, we were picked up by the moose's antlers. We yelped in surprise and I saw that the moose was in fact being chased by a pack of wolves.
This suddenly gave me the vibes of a Wild Kratts episode. This is probably the cartoonish anime humor that exists in RWBY. If so, this is a twisted sense of humor. We're lucky the moose wasn't trying to rip us to shreds with its antlers.
Then I saw a tree branch in front of us. "Oh boy," I said before the limb hit both of us in the chest.
The moose kept running and the wolves paid us no mind. We held onto the branch a bit longer before we dropped down on the ground and landed on our backs.
"That was wild," I muttered while Raven hissed, "f*cking sh*t. . ."
Suddenly three people appeared standing over us. Based on their colorful clothing, they looked to be young Huntsmen and Huntress.
I furrowed my brow at her.
Why was the Huntress reminding me of Pyrrha Nikos?
Artemis was her name, but she wasn't sharing the last name of Nikos. Probably just a coincidence. We didn't tell them much, just enough for them to think that we're survivors of a Grimm attacked village. Really plausible, right?
But when asked about our parents, Raven did come close to crying. I was surprised by that. I had thought that she got over it during the harsh winter, but I was proven wrong.
"We're on our own," I replied, shaking my head. "There's no one left, and we can't go back."
Other than that, there were holes in the story, but that is to be expected of traumatized kids and they accepted that. And with Raven's reaction earlier, they asked me most of the questions since I was least likely to start crying.
I did ask them about a fourth member of their team, acting like heard that Huntsmen travel in four. I had two different answers.
"She's sick."
"Preggers."
Yeah, no other explanation needed.
After that, we traveled to a village that looked like Oniyuri. But I could be wrong. We stopped at an inn. Finally, a comfy bed, and a cooked meal! Man, it's been so long since I had food like this.
After that, we went to the rented room while Artemis and her team had a meeting. Raven was introducing herself to a hot bath, so I had time to listen on to the conversation going between the adults.
Never know what they decide to do with two kids they find in the woods.
"-have to help them, guys." That was Artemis. Definitely. She was one who acted motherly to us. "We can't just leave them!"
"I'm not saying we should," said one of her teammates, probably named John or Dodge. Honestly reminds me of an animated version of Draco Malfoy. "Do you hear me saying that we should we leave two kids? I'm just saying we need a plan beyond just helping them! I mean, where do we take them? How do we help them?"
Can respect the guy for asking that.
". . . I'm sure Headmaster Lionheart will have ideas." Artemis replied after a moment.
Now that was a name I didn't look forward to hearing.
But then again, he might not be a traitor right now. Or if he was, I'm kinda confident that he wouldn't break cover for two random kids. I don't think I can do anything at my age.
Shooting the guy in his office wouldn't do me good in the long run.
"What is the headmaster going to do with two kids their age?" asked the other male, A guy that reminds me of an animated Christ Pratt. Didn't hear his name so I shall call him Chris until further notice. "We should just take them to the authorities. They should know what to do. They should have taught us something for this." I hear Chris sigh. "You handled the situation pretty well, Artemis. You are a natural with kids."
"Don't you two start making out," groaned Malfoy. "I swear, I'll throw myself out the window."
I wouldn't blame the guy.
"Don't you think they're acting weird?" Chris suddenly asked.
Welp, that can't be good. Wait, what did we do that gave off weird vibes?
"What do you mean?" Artemis asked.
"The girl makes sense." Chris replied. "Looked like she's barely holding on. But her brother is acting too calm. It's like looking at a veteran crossed with sociopath."
I don't know if I should be offended. Veteran? Yeah, I guess I am. But sociopath?
"Don't be silly," Artemis scolded. "He's looking out for his sister, putting his feelings aside and waiting until they're safe. I'm sure it will come flooding out."
"I guess. . . "
Chris is right, she seems to be a natural with kids. But I was a thirty old man in a kid's body. But then again, you can never know if someone in my situation will or won't have a breakdown when it looks safe.
"Did you see the way he glared when his sister almost cried?" Artemis suddenly asked. "It was so cute!"
I winced. That was me trying to be intimidating, thinking I nailed it. Curse this small body and pudgy cheeks!
"He was so adorable!" Artemis gushed more. "I just wanted to pinch his cheeks and-"
"Artemis, focus," said Malfoy. "Traumatized kids. Traumatized kids."
"Traumatized kids can be cute. . . " The pout was evident in her tone.
"I mean, yeah, but you can't just comment on that. It's bad form."
That was when the door opened. I moved away and sat on the other bed. It didn't sound like it was going end bad for us. They didn't think that we came from bandits. They did take my sword though. But that was fine. It was a piece of sh*t and useless to me anyways.
Raven walked out in a dressing gown that was both a) in the bathroom and b) made for someone bigger than her with a fluffy collar that reached her cheeks. Honestly, she looked like a puppy wrapped in a blanket.
Good thing that Artemis wasn't here yet or she'd have cuteness overload.
I wish I could take a picture and show this to Cannon Raven. She'd probably go ape on me but it'd be worth it.
"Enjoy your bath?" I asked playfully.
Raven padded to one of the beds and plopped down on it. "Yes," she simply nodded. But she then looked uneasy all of the sudden. "What happens now? We found people, and they're taking us. . . somewhere. Now what?"
She clearly wanted a long term plan. One that I didn't give her because I was still thinking it over. Raven had trusted me so far because it wasn't much of a choice and that wouldn't last forever.
She does want to get stronger. . . I can use that.
Man, I can't believe I went from fighting and hunting terrorists as a job to looking after a teenage version of an anime character as her brother and now manipulating her.
"I think we're safe from the Tribe, but we shouldn't leave it to chance." I replied quickly. "We need to get strong enough to look after ourselves."
Her eyes lit up at that and nodded excitedly. I feel like it shouldn't be that easy, but she's still a teenage girl that lost everything that resembled a family and had to leave her world behind.
"The only way to do so, the way I see it," I go on. "Is to become Huntsmen."
"Like them?" Raven looked to the door.
"Yes, like them." I nodded. "They look strong. Stronger than anyone in the Tribe. I mean, they have Aura, they have better training and cool weapons! Did you see that lady's sword-gun thing? And they have those Semblance thingies!" My Semblance was going to be useful as sh*t. But Raven's was going to be the most useful when she unlocks it. "And when we get strong enough, the Tribe won't be able to hold us down."
Raven nodded again. "Yeah, yeah. I like that. How do we do that?"
I acted like I was pausing. "I-I don't know. I'll ask them. They have to have a school or training camp, something for this. But I don't think we should stay in Mistral."
"Because we'd get in trouble if they find out we're from the tribe." Raven deduced on her own. I nodded to her. Impressive and surprising.
"I think Vale is the best option." I said next.
She gave me a confused expression.
"Because Vacuo is hot and I don't like the idea of living with sand. It gets everywhere." I replied. "Atlas is cold, and after what we lived through in the winter, I ain't living there."
Teenage logic.
Raven snorted but didn't argue. Sand was good for a beach day or playing in a sand box, but living with that rough, course and irritating sh*t? Hell to the no.
Atlas meant the military. I may have been a soldier in my old life, but Atlas was just one of the worst. And plus I might meet Ironwood as a kid or something, and I won't be civil to not punch him in the face.
Vale had Glynda Goodwitch (Hopefully) with Taiyang Xiao Long, Summer Rose and then there was Oobleck and Port. Most of my favorite adults from the franchise.
I have to make sure Team STRQ is a thing. And then make sure Yang and Ruby are born.
.
.
.
Am I forgetting anything?
Hopefully not.
