2 The First Encounter
So far, Gray has been in this new world for over a week now. After he asked his mother various questions. He learned that he is 2 and a half years old and that he is in the island of Patch, west of the city of Vale.
Over the past week, Titania has been supervising her husband's training to make sure he is absolutely ready for the mission. Every early morning, while the sun is still down, for about 3 hours straight Nia trains Tial in many exercises that improves his reflexes, agility, technique, and mind.
On the second day, Gray went downstairs to find his father slumped across Nia's shoulder, half conscious and groaning in pain.
"Mommy, why does daddy look tired?" He asks his mother.
Titania snickers at the question and gives her son a big smile.
"Your Dad has been training very hard so he can make happy. Isn't it great Gray?"
"Ugghh... Gods have mercy." Tial said as he continues to groan in pain. The second day of intense exercise is always the most painful one. Your muscles will be sore during the first day, and it will stay that way during the second.
Feeling pity for his new father, Gray decided to motivate him. If what he heard the other day was true, then he wanted to be of some help to Tial. Although he has only been here for a few days, he see them as good people, trying to get by in this world. And as a child of these two he has yet to actually call his parents, he feels like rejecting them would only leave regret in his mind. For now, the only thing he could think of was to compliment him for his effort. A little goes a long way.
Gray adopts a bright and admiring expression and looks at Tial.
"Really? Don't worry Dad. I believe you can do it. Plus, you can never be too prepared right?"
Tial's expression gains more life to it as he hears his son's motivation. Picking himself up, he tiredly smiles at Gray and proceeds to pass out on the couch.
Nia looks at her energetic son and kisses his forehead. Gray looks blankly at his mother and blushes a little.
"Thank you for saying that to him Gray, with all this training he really needed that." She says to him while patting his head.
...
After the week ended, Gray is still planning his approach to this new world. The world of RWBY is a show that he used to avidly watch in the past. His opinions on it were very mixed. The writing could be drastically improved, as well as the plot, and the explanations of aura had issues to how they were used in the show. But in this new world that he lives in probably won't have so many plot holes, So that leaves him only with the knowledge of what is going to happen next, which is the next best thing if he is in the right time.
First he has to know WHEN he is, so he decided to ask his mother who is in the middle of sharpening a weapon that looks like a one-edged short sword. It's gleaming metal reflecting Titania's face as she continues to find more blunt edges on the sword.
"Hey Mommy can we go outside?" Nia looks at Gray with an amused look.
"Sure we can, where should we go?"
"Do we have any neighbors?" Gray asks to which his mother chuckles for second.
Knowing that they're in the woods of Patch, there is quite a handful of people that they interact with unless they go to the city via Bullhead(Bullhead- an aerial vehicle in remnant) or in Signal Academy. But there are some people that she knows from other places that she could introduce to her son.
"Maybe we can visit Auntie Summer if you'd like."
Gray then begins bask in imaginary joy as he heard that statement. This means he is in the right time just before Summer's... passing.
"Who's Auntie Summer?" Gray asks in a confused manner. 4 years of drama/theater club proving helpful in this endeavor of acting like a child.
"Hmm? Auntie Summer is the one who gave you those cookies a few months ago remember?"
"Oh. Well now I wanna say thanks again."
Titania smiles at his kindness and grabs a sticky note from the kitchen drawer and a pen above the refrigerator. She writes on it and places it on the fridge door. She also grabs a leather sheathed dagger with a blade close to a foot long and carries it by the scabbard.
"Come on, let's go while your father is still asleep." Titania says as she gestures a finger to her mouth.
They then exit the door and Gray finds himself with his mother outside.
Gray has only been outside for a total of once in this new life. His first, just for the sake of curiosity and he didn't even go far. Now here he is again, breathing the fresh air of the woods as he stretches his arms. The natural soothing feeling of living in the woods is an enjoyable contrast from living in a cramped dorm.
His hand in Titania's, they both walk through the cleared dirt path towards the forest. Gray begins to enjoy the green scenery and feels relaxed as they continue along the path. Birds chirped, bushes rustled, and a low growl can be heard ahead.
Gray twitches in fear and Titania abruptly stops before drawing the dagger with her right hand and looks at him with a serious expression.
"Stand back. It looks like Mom has work to attend."
Gray takes several steps back. His sight still focused on where the growl was heard.
Bushes around the trees rustle as a dark figure emerges. It was a wolf like creature crawling on all fours with black fur, white claws and bone-like protrusions from the side of it's arms, shoulders, and along it's spinal column. It's face covered with a bone mask with red markings as well as visually pointy fangs in it's mouth as it continues to growl in aggression. Gray could think of this as the most recurring Grimm of Remnant. A Beowolf.
Titania gets in a stance and takes a small step forward which prompts the dark entity to rush at her with a roar. It then runs with it's hind legs and strikes with it's left claw in a huge horizontal arc.
Titania ducks under the obvious attack and uses this time to quickly slash the creature at it's side and retreat a few meters back. It lets out a pained growl and rushes at her again, using it's right in a fast low sweep.
Titania jumps above the Beowolf's fast attempt and finally stabs the Beowolf in the neck and jumps away from it's defensive slash leaving the knife in it's neck.
The Beowolf struggles for a few moments flailing around before roaring at the top of it's lungs and dropping dead on the ground.
Titania took this moment to finally register in her mind that Gray had been watching the entire fight. In a mother's viewpoint she was scared. Scared that this sight would have reawakened her son's trauma of the night they were almost slaughtered by a pack of those hate-filled creatures if not for his father and Summer arriving at the last second. That night was almost a year ago now. His cheeks wet with tears. His face twisted to a horrified expression, and the helpless feeling of looking at him while she was lying beside a tree, tired and wounded. For weeks, maybe even a few months, it took him to visibly recover from the experience.
But she looked at him and found the opposite. He was astounded. Amused even. Her expectations shattered by a less overbearing reality.
Has he really grown that much? The look on his face just said it all. He looked inspired by her actions.
"Mom! When can you teach me how to fight like that?" He exclaimed, almost jumping for joy.
"When you become a huntsman in training of course." She smiled at him, relieved that this growth made him a brave child.
Gray could see behind the smile and could see sorrow. Unaware of what happened during Gray's childhood. To himself, he is Emory Luna. The... energetic and light-hearted 10th grade math enthusiast and drama club vice-president. He smiles in his mind thinking of his past that was not so long ago.
"That's IF you to become a huntsman though." She continues.
"If it means doing good, then YES!" He already reminded himself several times, that if he could save others AND do good, then he'll be on board with that. And the job of a huntsman is to serve the people from what he could gather about RWBY. It's not like he has any other plans other than beat, neutralize, or negotiate with Salem, and try to insure peace across all of Remnant.
"Then you'll have to wait until you're seven. For now, let's go to Auntie Summer. It's not far from here now." Titania was still wondering about the stray Beowolf and how it got here. Normally these things travel in packs or at least pairs. Maybe it was a scout of a pack searching for prey. Gray/Emory was also having these thoughts after thinking about it.
"Yay!"
And so their first encounter ends with an expectant reincarnate and a less burdened mother.
