It was just after the end of the first semester and Sapphire had had one hell of a night. She and the team had gone out to celebrate surviving the first semester at Beacon and it was worth the handover she knew she'd have in the morning. They'd gone out to a local karaoke bar and Sapphire had never laughed harder than she did watching a drunk Shiro Kuhaku trying to sing. Sapphire had collapsed into bed that night glad to slip into the oblivion of sleep, for once in a long time having a dreamless night.
Sapphire woke the next morning with a splitting headache, it torn at the inside of her brain determined to fracture her skull, ah but it had been worth it. Sapphire tried to open her eyes but the light hurt them so that she thought it best to keep them closed. She felt around for her cloths. She was wearing what felt like camo pants without a shirt. She still had her bra on though. Sapphire touched her bandanna which was lying on the floor close by when an arm wrapped around her waist. “Come on baby, fun's not over yet is it?” said a voice that Sapphire knew yet she was used to it being filled with more apology and timidness rather than the confidence that now ran through it.
On a gut reaction Sapphire grabbed the fingers of the arm around her waist twisting them along with the arm off herself and pinning the boy behind her in an uncomfortable spot. The arm was more muscled than Sapphire expected but she’d clearly taken him by surprise. His white hair confirmed that he was Shiro Kuhaku. Her eyes widened. “Ah come on baby.” He said his voice retaining its arrogance despite the pain he was speaking through. “That's not necessary, I told you last night we'd go just as far as you wanted, all you had to do was stay stop.”
Sapphire's eye grew even wider, if that was possible as she pushed Shiro out of her bed. They had gotten pretty drunk last night but even so she would never... Deciding to leave that thought unfinished Sapphire knew she needed to figure out what had happened.
Shiro got up unsteadily, he was clearly just as hung over as she was. “You said you wanted to get stronger but man, I guess those training lessons with Oswald have been paying off. And most people said you’d never make it at the academy.”
Shiro said more to himself shaking his head as he got changed. Something in the last comment struck Sapphire as odd. She’d never heard anyone refer to Beacon as an academy before, sure it fit the description pretty well but it didn't sound quite right. “Academy?” she asked not sure what was going on.
“Beacon Military Academy.” Shiro said in a voice that suggested he thought she was mentally handicapped. “You're brain get scrambled by that alcohol? Abel said you were a lightweight but still.” Shiro shook his head as he pulled on a green shirt and military combat pants. Sapphire didn't think anything of his choice of dress she was too busy trying to puzzle out exactly what Shiro meant by ‘Military Academy’ sure that description could also fit for Beacon but it wasn't really something that it was called commonly. This of course flew straight out of her head the moment she opened her own bag and found that it too had three pairs of full combat gear in it.
“Shiro where's my stuff.” She said looking at him questioningly.
“What are you on about? There in your bag like always.” He responded looking up and confirming there were cloths in Sapphire back before going back to his own.
“This isn't mine,” Sapphire said more emphatically “This is all military garb.”
“Yeah,” he said like that was perfectly normal. “Sapph you go to a military school what did you expect?”
Shiro rolled his eyes before he went back again to preparing his things for the coming day. Sapphire decided this must be some elaborate joke, she couldn't exactly see what the end game was but she figured the more she insisted that something was wrong the more Shiro would deny it. Though this didn't really seem like him, Abel or Gren must have put him up to it.
Sapphire dressed in the military gear convinced she was going to look like an idiot in combat class this morning. Her weapons belt she found with Morpheus and Phobator strangely sheathed into intricate silver scabbards she’d never seen before. The leather bands that normally held them were still on her wrists so Sapphire couldn't think why the blades would need their own scabbards. Her shotguns seemed in order but then among her weapons Sapphire also found a long metal pole. It was lightweight and about the same length as her weapon in pole arm mode. There was a sling-over belt that kept it strapped to her back. Deciding this must be another part of the prank Sapphire donned the weapons over one of the military jackets which strangely enough had the Celtic Knot Insignia embroidered into them just like her real jacket.
Everything was more or less normal until Sapphire ready to leave the room glanced under her bed to reassure herself that both her go-bag and her violin were still where she left them last night. This was a reflex reaction for her since her stuff never moved, the others were too scared to actually touch anything in her area of the room. Because of this it took Sapphire a second to realize that in fact both items were missing.
Sapphire knelt down further and moved her arms over the space just so she could be sure that her things were in fact gone.
Sapphire straightened up and grabbed a metal cup off her nightstand. It looked like it was from a camping set but Sapphire didn't bother to think how it had gotten there. She took it and banged it loudly on the metal posts of each of the beds creating a massive clanking echo that reverberated inside Sapphire’s head.. “Everyone up!” she yelled at Abel and Gren. “NOW!”
Abel moved groggily to the edge of his bed before promptly falling off it. “Sapphy come on, we had a good night let us sleep. Where to you get off telling us to get up.” He said squinting at her. “Your usually the one to sleep in.” Sapphire ignored the blatant lie of that last statement before saying.
“My stuff you ass, were is it?”
Abel looked at Sapphire clearly not comprehending what it was she wanted. “Isn't it all in your bag?”
“Not that stuff you fool. The bag under my bed, my fiddle. What happened to them?”
“Whoa Sapphy come on, what’s with the language? You always look like your about to faint whenever anyone swears. Never heard you this forceful, are you still drunk?” he said struggling to his feet.
Quicker than the eye could follow Sapphire drew Morpheus from her belt, pushing Abel roughly up against the window and applying the blade to his neck. “Tell me where my stuff is?” Sapphire said very slowly her voice full of malice.
“Alright, alright geez.” Abel looked like he was thinking really hard.
“Well,” Sapphire asked the menace in her voice plan.
“You mean your go-bag and your violin right. The bag they confiscated first day, you have to remember, looked like you were going to burst into tears. The violin they keep in the band room. Too much can be smuggled on the inside of an instrument so they keep them safe when you’re not playing for the school. Seriously are you still drunk or is your memory just shot.” Abel said giving Sapphire the same look Shiro had when she’d asked about the school’s name. Sapphire let him go, this made no sense. What was going on?
“Sapph lay off him.” Said a voice from the other bunk before the sound of a large figure hitting the ground reverberated around the room.
“Gren don’t...” Sapphire said as she turned around but the rest of the sentence was lost when she looked at the boar faunus. It wasn't the same boy. His teeth were normal he had not strange bone structure to his face, and his skin was smooth. But when Sapphire looked closer she saw he had the same eyes, the same hair. His mouth crinkled in the same way when he was displeased. It was Gren but he wasn't a faunus, boar or otherwise. It was impossible. Of all the things that she had seen since waking up this was by far the strangest and that was saying something considering she’d woken up in the arms of Shiro Kuhaku.
Sapphire’s eyes darted from Gren to Shiro. How could she not have noticed before, he too was human, his white hair for it was hair and not fur had not traces of the tiger ears that normally adorned them and his tail was not bouncing annoyingly anywhere insight. Sapphire looked back at Gren.
“What the hell happened to you, to everything?” she shouted her eyes wild.
“Calm down girl.” Gren said not looking particularly impressed. “We all got plastered last night, it’s bound to shake up the nerves a bit. Specially for a lightweight like you Sapph. Why don’t you go run it off while us guys get changed eh.”
Sapphire got the distinct impression she was being mocked but it almost seemed empty, like Gren wasn't putting any real thought into it past using the comment to get her away from himself. There was a sort of emptiness to his eyes that Sapphire felt she should recognize.
“Alright,” she said giving Gren a scathing look. “You all have fun playing with each other.” She said with a snarl before exiting the room. Before she closed the door behind her Sapphire heard Shiro said “Weird girl that one, great in bed you know but it almost seemed like she was acting like you Gren.” Sapphire left in disgust.
She ran through the familiar corridors for a time before the breakfast bell rang and her growling stomach took her to the cafeteria. That morning they served porridge and water. Sapphire considered that the kitchen staff were getting lazy but didn’t give it a whole lot of thought. The things that did grab her attention were the other people in the caf. Mokuren was there except without her ears or her signature tail. In fact all the faunus students that Sapphire saw were missing those traits that made them part animal and no one but her seemed to notice. That and there was a distinct lack of variety amongst the clothing. Everyone was wearing outfits virtually identical to her own. The only real difference was that the insignias on various jackets differed from person to person.
Was it really possible that this was all some elaborate prank. It seemed very elaborate just to fool her. Perhaps it was for someone else and the stuents had neglected to let her in on it. Not that she would have gone along with it so that explained why she was left out. That must be it. But how had the faunus students hidden there animal aspects. For Shiro and Mokuren it wouldn’t be too difficult but what about people like Gren whose entire look had completely changed save for small details. Unable to make sense of her situation Sapphire got up to go to her next class as the bell rang. She was running up in the direction of the combat classroom. Sapphire was just about to round the corner when she heard her name being called from the other direction. “Sapphire where are you going?” It shouted, and it sounded a lot like Ivan but that was impossible Ivan never spoke to Sapphire if he could help it and going out of his way for a conversation was unlike him. Then again it wasn’t as strange as some of the things she’d seen today.
She rounded on the larger boy. “Lay off Ivan, I’m going where we’re all supposed to be, Combat Class.”
Ivan had a peculiar look on his face. Sapphire would have said it was puzzling but that would require Ivan to have a brain with which he could puzzle. “Come on Sapphire don’t joke around. That side of the school was destroyed in Vacuo bombing runs last summer. There’s not a whole lot over there.”
Sapphire stared at him scrutinizing his face, searching for signs of madness. “Destroyed? By Vacuo?”
“Sapphire,” Ivan said “Are you alright, you did get a little knocked around during the exams. Maybe we should go to the nurse’s office.” He reached out to take her arm and she slapped him away violently.
“The hell if wrong with you? You don’t worry about other people’s wellbeing and why are you talking to me anyways? You hate me. And why are you calling me by my full name? What happened to
Sapphy?”
Now Ivan looked genuinely concerned. “Hate you? Sapphire you’re the only friend I’ve got at this school. The others measure someone’s worth on there fighting ability, you and I were the ones that no one thought should have made the cut. They all shun us because we can’t fight like them, and you hate that nickname. You asked me never to mention it again. Sapphire what’s wrong with you?”
Sapphire was stunned, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing come out of Ivan’s mouth. Was it truly possible that Ivan the most prideful and arrogant student at Beacon had just told her that everyone else fought better than him. It couldn’t be possible. She struggled for something to say and coming up empty Sapphire did something most uncharacteristic for her, she ran.
Sapphire turned away from Ivan and rounded the corner running up the hallways towards the combat classroom. She pushed open the door determined to get away from Ivan and gasped at what she saw on the other side.
The combat classroom was gone. A massive crater stretched to the edge of the wall and in it were littered broken doors and warped metal framework, broken glass and charred wood. Sapphire had never seen such devastation but what Sapphire saw beyond that shocked her even more. The school was on the ground. Beacon was no longer, if it had been at all, situated on a floating island above the city. Now it was a distance from the city surrounded by a barbed wire fence and if Sapphire was reading a warning sign in the distance right, landmines.
Sapphire heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Ivan out of breath from the run, is hands on his knees breathing heavily. “Sapphire what’s wrong, tell me.” He said a look of pleading in his eyes that Sapphire would have sworn to the devil himself could never ever be present in the eyes of Ivan Oakley.
“You first Oakley, what happened to the school?”
“I told you,” he said his breath still coming in unsteadily. “It got hit by Vacuo bombers last year. You were there, you should know.”
“NO! Not that.” Sapphire shouted. “What happened to the floating island the school used to rest on? How did it get here?”
Ivan was looking at Sapphire in the same manor you would a crazed lunatic. “Sapphire, Beacon was built here as a next generation University. When the war between the Kingdoms broke out it got repurposed as a Military Academy. Did Abel or Shiro slip you something when you guys went out to celebrate?”
Sapphire didn’t answer, her mind was occupied trying to reconcile the reality she was aware of with that of this horror show that was being played before her.
“What about the Grimm. Surely the kingdoms are too busy keeping them out of our borders without a war with each other?”
It was clear that Sapphire was worrying Ivan more and more each passing minutes. “What’s a Grimm?” he asked biting his nails.
This couldn’t be possible. Not at all. Sapphire gathered up what little she knew about this new world. The faunus didn’t exist clearly, the school was on the ground so that meant that much if not all of the remnant technology from the before times had never come to be. The Grimm didn’t exist could that mean? In a rush Sapphire pulled out Phobator much to the alarm of Ivan. She checked all the normal places only to discover that none of the dust mechanisms her mother had installed where there. Sapphire checked both her shotguns. They only had regular rounds and buckshot and they no longer interlocked.
The world she was in was wrong, all wrong.
Finally one last nasty thought occurred to Sapphire. What about her semblance and her aura. If this world had no dust, no grimm and no remnant could she still have either of these things?
“Ivan, I need you to do me a favor. Look at me closely and tell me can you see and hear me?”
As Sapphire said this she reached into herself in the place that normally contained her aura and her ability to mask herself. She used her usual tactics to block Ivan’s senses of her but as far as she could tell nothing happened. Sapphire couldn’t feel the sound or sights she was blocking reverberating in her head like a nasty headache though her hangover hadn’t been made better by all the running.
“Sapphire why would I not be able to see you. Seriously I think we should get you checked out at the nurse’s office.”
Sapphire went sort of brain dead allowing herself to be corralled by Ivan to the nurses office. She sat through a physical examination as well as a mental one before the nurse concluded that with the exception of a greater muscle concentration than the last time Sapphire had been checked up the girl in blue was exactly as she always had been.
The visit cost Sapphire and Ivan there time in Combat, History and Math but it seemed that very few people noticed their absence. Sapphire ate in the cafeteria, another helping of porridge which in this world was apparently the only thing on the menu. Then for a long while Sapphire just sat there in thought.
That is until someone tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey Sapphy, you’re late for Oswald’s lessons. He went out of his way to teach you to fight and your disrespecting him.” Sapphire was used to a Marcus Goldstein with a much more comical and light outlook on life but then again that was in her world where contrary to
her normal outlook things had not actually been so bad. At least there the humans were united and stable.
Sapphire reacted to what she perceived as a threat very quickly, certainly quicker than the Sapphire Rode of this reality had ever moved. She pulled one of her daggers out and stood up suddenly slinging her arm around Goldstein’s neck and pressing the sharp edge of the blade against his neck. “You know what happens to a man who’s had his carotid artery severed?” she whispered in his ear. Everyone in this world was a perfectly capable combatant but none seemed to expect anything of that kind from Sapphire and so it seemed she had the element of surprise on all of them.
Marcus, his eyes the side of dinner plates muttered, “No,” he said trying not to move to avoid being cut. “Call me by my name and you won’t have to find out.” Sapphire hissed at him.
“Alright,” he said still trying not to let his vocal cords push his skin into the knife.
“Alright…?” Sapphire asked
“Alright Sapphire.”
“That’s better, now where do Oswald and I usually spar?”
Sapphire left the cafeteria leaving most of the school whispering about what she could have done to Marcus. She rolled her eyes and attempted to wipe some grease she’d picked up from him off her sleeve.
I guess some things never change.The place where Sapphire and Oswald normally sparred was in fact the same place they sparred in Sapphire’s world. Atop a small hill overlooking Beacon, in this reality however there was much less foliage and it looked like a small sparring arena had been erected.
When she arrived Oswald was sitting cross legged in the middle of the arena with his eyes closed, he looked more or less the same with his pale skin and short dark hair except of course for his lack of armor and a scar on his lip was also missing. He still carried a sword on his back but it was nothing like the Trepidation Blade. It was long and flat, designed more for slicing and not for dust channeling.
As Sapphire approached Oswald spoke without opening his eyes. “You’re late.”
“Yeah, I got lost and threatened by your buddy Marcus.”
Still without opening his eyes Oswald responded. “I will speak to him about that later. For now we must work on your skills.” Finally Oswald stood and drew his blade. It was a beautiful piece of work and clearly carefully forged. “I thought today we could work on your skills with the quarter staff. I realize you are more comfortable with ranged weapons but at some point melee combat will be unavoidable, at that time it is important you be prepared.”
Sapphire shrugged. Oswald was giving off a definite Guru vibe compared to his normal friendly peace on earth attitude. Well if she had to live in this world being able to fight Oswald every couple of days wouldn't be so bad.
Sapphire unlatched her quarter staff from her back and gripping it firmly in both hands drew it across her torso in a defensive stance. Oswald looked slightly puzzled at this but chose not to say anything.
The fight commenced. Oswald started with a fairly typical slash at her head which Sapphire parried easily with her metal staff. It was similar in length and weight to her pole arm so adapting to its use was not difficult. Oswald tried several more attacks all of which Sapphire turned away without breaking a sweet. Then the sword started to move faster and the real combat began.
Sapphire was infuriated to discover that Oswald had been going easy on her. Now however neither pulled any punches, for several minutes they fought their way across the arena each step of lost ground recovered seconds later till finally Sapphire blocked his sword with her staff then spun the other end up catching Oswald in the stomach. With him stunned she hit him twice on either side of the torso just below his ribs before she darted around him, sliding her weapon over his neck, pressing it just to the side so that a little more pressure would cut off his blood flow rather than targeting his oxygen supply.
“Concede?” she asked him with a smile on her face.
“I concede.” Oswald said showing no emotion to his voice.
The moment Sapphire’s weapon was removed Oswald spun round faster than Sapphire thought possible. He hit her arm with the flat of his blade causing her to drop her staff which he caught. Then giving her no time to react he spun the staff one handed cracking Sapphire across the face causing her to see stars as she was sent sprawling to the ground by the force of the blow. He planted her staff in her stomach with enough force to show he could do a lot more damage if he wanted to and then brought his blade within inches of her neck just barely avoiding touching the skin.
“Who are you?” Oswald asked, his calm demeanor broken by what looked like anger.
Sapphire didn't know what was going on. “I’m Sapphire, look just cause I beat you in practice, you don’t have to be a sore loser about it.” Sapphire answered her own anger mixed into her voice.
“Sapphire Rode can barely wield a quarter staff, she certainly doesn't know the proper defensive stance to start a battle with it and there is no world in which she could know the proper way to choke a man out. Are you a spy from Mistral or Vacuo trying to find out about our training techniques? You picked the wrong girl to impersonate, where is the real Sapphire Rode?” Oswald snarled at her.
“I am the real Sapphire,” Sapphire shot back. “Just not the one you’re used to.”
“What does that mean?” Oswald demanded.
“When I woke up this morning everything was wrong. The people this place, I know them all but all of them are just a little bit different. Shiro's arrogant, Marcus isn't funny, Ivan is kind and we’re at war with the neighboring kingdoms. I don’t know what happened any more than you do but
this isn't my world. It’s some sort of nightmare I've landed myself in and I need to find my way back home.”
Surprisingly enough Oswald removed his sword and her staff from Sapphire, helped her to her feet and handed her her weapon back. “I suppose we should work on getting you home then.” He said as he walked towards the school buildings.
Sapphire ran to catch up to him. “Wait. You believe me?”
“Of course, I've known Sapphire for years and I know when she’s lying. You might not be the girl of this world but you haven’t changed all that much. You've just buried that sweet girl under layers and layers of hostility. Someday she’ll get out. Come on.” He said gesturing towards the school.
“Where are we going?” Sapphire asked.
“We’re off to see the wizard.”
Oswald brought Sapphire to what looked like a chemical lab. It had beakers and test tubes with all manner of liquids, some glowing, some dull. Sapphire moved very carefully. This was the kind of place where one spilled chemical would blow something to kingdom come.
“Is the wizard in the house?!” Oswald shouted across the lab.
There was a bang sound that Sapphire could only describe as someone hitting their head on something else before a man popped up behind one of the counters in the room. It took Sapphire a moment to recognize him because he looked so very different in this reality but there could be no doubt that it was in fact Merlin.
He was much scrawnier in this world than hers and sported a pair of glasses. Instead of his usual black cloak Merlin wore a hooded lab coat. What really gave him away though was his green hair, normally as long as Sapphire’s now clipped short and his multicolored eyes.
“Ah, sorry about the mess, so sorry. Mr. Connoly, Ms. Rode, what can I do you for?” Just as Oswald was about to answer there was a sound that came from the computer at the back of the lab. Sapphire recognized the jingle. It strangely enough was one used in a sales ad for dust.
Excited Sapphire ignored both Oswald and Merlin making her way straight to the computer console. The screen was completely black but as she watched white text scrolled across the screen.
Hello Sapphire. It read
If you are reading this it means that my plan was successful. In our world I discovered a piece of remnant technology that I adapted to act as a time travel agent. In my youth my mother and father were killed by the Grimm and scared me for life. It was the reason I joined Beacon in the first place. Due to constraints placed on the device I could not prevent this from happening as travel within your own timeline is impossible so I did the next best thing. I traveled back to the beginning and I destroyed the original Grimm. The first one that gave birth to all the others. I hopped that removing the Grimm from our world would make it a better place but unfortunately I could not be sure of this. Because I was the one altering reality there was no way to preserve myself from the original timeline but I figured out a way to ensure that another stays the same. I left you Sapphire with your memories so that if the world I created was worse than the original you would know and be able to turn it back. I left a fail safe device where the school would one day be built and programmed it to tie in with this console. Now tell me Sapphire and be honest, you out of all the people at our school hate the Grimm so tell me is a world without them truly better?
At the bottom of the screen was a prompt that said:
Press enter for restoration.Sapphire looked back at Oswald and this world’s Merlin. She didn't hesitate. Her own world might have been a nightmare but at least humanity was together, united against the darkness. Not slaughtering each other for scraps.
Sapphire hit enter.
There was a blinding flash of light and color. Sapphire felt like her body was being pulling in every direction. She tried to scream but no air would exit her lips. Just when Sapphire was sure she was going to die the sensations fell away. She was standing in a cave marked with thousands of different symbols. Sapphire was no linguist but they looked like warning signs. Also spiked through the cave were dust deposits.
Not thirty feet from where she was standing was Merlin, her world’s Merlin. He was pointing Deep Magic at the roof of the cave and clearly was about to enact some sort of chain reaction in the dust.
“MERLIN!” She shouted, “STOP!”
The green haired magician turned to look at her as she ran to him. “The fail safe device? But I never thought, you of all people should know how terrible the Grimm are?”
“I do Merlin but without them Humanity has nothing to keep them together, the kingdoms tear each other apart over resources and land. At least with the Grimm there was a way to fight them. But without the Grimm to take priority human savagery runs rampant.”
Sapphire said emphatically trying to make him understand.
“I put the fail safe device in so that you could decide the best course of action. I suppose you have.” He glanced sorrowfully at the cave entrance. “In about three hours a group of humans, cavemen really will come through here. They’ll discover the dust in these walls but also they’ll awaken that.” He said pointing to what Sapphire had taken to be simply another of the cave walls. She’d been wrong. It was a small section of a much larger black beast.
“The First Grimm?” Sapphire asked
“Exactly.” Merlin responded “I had hoped to destroy it before those fools could awaken it and allow it's kind to spread all over the world.”
“But if you do Humanity never discovers dust either. That is a loss that the world isn't prepared for. Come on.” She said taking his arm. “Let’s go home.”
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