Semblance of Brutality

Remnant's New Visitor

Doomguy's perspective

A bright light burns my eyes for what seems like the longest half-minute of my life. When it finally dissipates, I find myself standing in a forest clearing. Am I back on Earth? A branch snaps behind me. My hand shoots to my thigh in an attempt to grab my pistol, only my pistol isn't there. Come to think of it, none of my weapons are.

A roar comes from in back of me. I spin around to face the source, and lay eyes upon a large, black and white, bear-shaped creature with red eyes. I raise my fists in a hand-to-hand combat position, preparing to fight as the creature begins to charge at me. Just before it can reach me, a gunshot rings out and the bear creature falls to the ground, a single bullet wound in its skull. I let out a small sigh of relief before I hear a triplet of roars to my right.

A large sword made of ice is flung from the trees, impaling one of the monsters. Then a black blur dashes out from the tree line, occasionally hopping to and from branches as it nears the two remaining bear monsters. In one fluid motion, I hear the sound of a sword unsheathing, then see one of the two creatures get split in half from the head down. As I am still trying to comprehend what is happening, I see a yellow figure begin sprinting towards the last bear. I decide to be of some use, and I grab the beast's attention, allowing the figure to close in. As it grows closer, I am able to make out what appears to be a young woman with hip-length blonde hair and a strong, athletic build. She jumps into the air and, as she comes down on top of the beast, decapitates it with a single punch.

As she recovers from the fall, the rest of my defenders show themselves, lining up with the blonde girl. In order, they were: a short, quirky girl with short, black hair with red tips, a slightly-taller, eccentric young woman with medium-length white hair, an average-height, introverted girl with long, jet-black hair, and finally, the tall, athletic woman with hip-length blonde hair. The blonde one is the first to speak, though she doesn't seem to be threatening.

"Don't you know Grimm live in these woods?" she asks me.

"Grimm?" I ask her, verbally confused.

"What, have you been living under a rock?" the white-haired girl speaks up, an obvious tone of distaste in her voice.

The blonde girl sighs and looks back to me.

"Grimm. You know... Big, scary things that look like animals?"

Her words are lost on me; I know what she's referring to, but only because I'd seen them less than five minutes ago. She can tell I'm lost; she turns to the quirky one to speak.

"Ruby, what do you think we should do here?"

The red-tipped hair girl - Ruby - isn't listening; she's become occupied with eating a cookie as if no one's watching.

"Ruby!" the blonde's voice raises a bit.

Ruby is startled and drops her cookie. After a few seconds of overly-dramatic pouting, she responds innocently.

"What did you want, Yang?"

Yang (the blonde one) is physically annoyed. She utters a loud sigh and repeats her question.

"What should we do about -"

"Oooh! Who's this?" Ruby asks, cutting Yang off.

"I- Actually, that's a good question." She turns to face me once more. "Just who are you?"

I take this opportunity to explain my predicament to all of them. I tell them that I am a demon slayer, and that I'd been sent somewhere by a formerly-beneficial contact. Their reactions vary from intrigued to disinterested; Ruby is munching popcorn she'd gotten from... somewhere, Yang is pondering the information, the girl with white hair is obviously unconvinced, and the black-haired one has remained quiet. The only one who doesn't think I'm either lying or completely insane is Ruby, but that may be because she's easily entertained.

"So, you're telling me you have no idea where you are right now?" the white-haired girl asks.

"Weiss, that's exactly what he just told you," the shy one butts in.

"Well, Blake, at least I'm contributing to the discussion," Weiss says with a huff at the end.

"Both of you, stop," Yang interrupts. "It's bad enough we're in Grimm turf with someone who has no idea what he's doing. We don't need you two fighting right now."

"Ooh! I've got an idea!" Ruby exclaims suddenly. "Why don't we take him back to Haven? We have lots of spare rooms, and I could have him stay with Uncle Qrow if I need to!"

"That's... not a bad idea, Ruby," Yang says supportively.

"What's Haven?" I ask, still confused about that detail.

Weiss snickers, as if laughing at a joke I didn't get.

"What's Haven? You're kidding, right?" Weiss asks through her laughs.

I shake my head firmly.

"That's Haven," Ruby says while pointing at a large, expensive looking school in the distance.