After a nice dinner prepared for us by the villagers; the entire group seemed on edge and I had no idea why. Weiss and I had sat together and talked with everyone else but everyone seemed so...lost. It was like a heavy air was placed over us.
"So," Weiss spoke up, "Three days until your official full year in remnant."
I nodded.
"I need talk to you Alex. Now." Grant stood and walked outside.
I smiled at the group and followed my brother.
"We need to talk about it now." He said, "I know you felt it in there too."
"Yeah," I agreed, "It was just awkward."
Grant sat on the bench across the small yard and signaled for me to sit next to him.
"So how about you start by explaining the significance of the voices." I said.
Grant nodded and began to explain, "Basically, it's the thing that brought you here."
"So two things brought me here? I always thought it was only one."
"Wait, you have two?" Grant asked.
"Yeah, one is on the white side and eating up the monster on the other side."
"Who do you listen to?"
"It depends." I explained, "The dark one wanted me to find you but the light didn't."
"Good. The voice in my head, it's kind of like an all knowing guardian. It came to me shortly before you came to this world. The voice calls itself Monty."
My eyes widen. Monty was the creator of RWBY but he died a few days before I came to Remnant, "Monty Oum..." I mumbled
"Yeah, that's it!" Grant said, "How did you know?"
"He's the creator of RWBY, the show." I told him.
"So that's why he knows..." Grant said, "Now I'm just going to explain everything."
I nodded
"The voice in your head that you call 'the light side' is actually the guy you know as next." Grant explained, "And I think that other one is another version you yourself, the one that was destroyed when you fought that giant grimm. It was Next who gave you the body you have now and has been using you and tricked you into thinking you aren't the destroyer."
It was a lot to take in. Next was just some dude who made sure I was weak enough to build back up.
"That's not all." Grant continued, "Monty believes he will fully take over your body within the next few days. He's eating away at the real you. The you from Earth. If he swallows that, he will have full control. You need to fight him and when you win, we can go home."
"Do we have to go home?" I asked, "Things are going great right now."
"They won't be for long." Grant said.
"What do you mean?"
"We don't belong here Alex, even if we stay, nothing will stay the same. Monty probably had the semblance of foresight, and knows what needs to happen, the fixed points in time we can't change."
"You're going to have to explain a little further." I said a little confused.
"The time line is starting to correct itself." Grant told me, "What are the facts you gathered from your show; even the hidden things that the fans can see."
"Well, Jaune and Pyrrha are defiantly going to be a thing, Ruby is special somehow, Ruby and Weiss are best friends and so are Yang and Blake."
"Now the hidden Easter eggs?" Grant urged.
Thought for a moment then I realized what he was getting at and the reason he couldn't date Yang anymore.
"The ships." I said sadly.
Grant nods.
I felt anger built up in side of me and soon I let it out, "No!" I growled, "I can't just accept that!"
Grant looked at me with sad eyes, "You have to. We don't have a choice."
I gritted my teeth and clenched my fist. I felt the anger taking over my body. My body started to tingle as I lifted my fist and swung it right into Grant's face. He flew a couple of feet into a tree.
He looked at me in shock at first but it quickly turned to worry, "Alex! You have to calm down or your dream will come true!" Begged Grant.
I took a deep breath then returned to the house, leaving my brother out in the cold.
When I got inside I went into the small living room where team RWBY were sitting, watching TV. I sat next to Weiss who was in the middle next to Ruby. They were having a pretty peaceful conversation. Weiss having her usual calm expression while Ruby smiled. It soon came to an end when Weiss leaned into me. I could easily see Ruby's small frown when I sat down.
I watched her for a moment until she visibly frowned and claimed she was going to bed. Weiss visibly frowned as well when she left. The air in the room never changed from the heavy feeling at supper.
Grant came in and looked at me then shook his head. As much as I refuse to admit it out loud, what Grant said made sense. We didn't belong here, we belong on earth and no matter how long we stay here, and it's not going to make a difference.
I then started to think about the destroyer and what Grant had said about Axel. I needed to talk Axel again.
"Alex?" Weiss asked, snapping me out of my thoughts, "Are you ok?"
I nodded, "Just thinking."
"I am heading to sleep." She claimed, "See you in the morning."
"Yeah, see you."
She headed in the same direction as Ruby.
Soon after we bid Yang and Blake goodnight as well, it just left Grant and me alone.
I sighed before turning to my brother, "Sorry I punched you. I was just angry but I know you're right."
Grant nodded, "So what are we going to do?"
"I think we need to try to get them together." I told him, "Ruby and Weiss, Yang and Blake."
"We also need to exterminate Next." He said grimly.
"Yeah." I agreed, "I'm going to sleep though."
Grant nodded in agreement and we went to our room and I fell asleep almost instantly.
My dream started off as usual, the picnic. However this time was different. I felt more aware than I had in my previous dreams. I focused on myself as I took out my friends. My right eye was glowing red and the white part of my left eye was a dark red but the iris stayed blue. The tips of my hair had turned white. The scariest part was my body. I could see grimm bone forming over the right half of my body and starting over my left.
As he got to Weiss everything froze and I was then in the white room again, Axle sitting in a chair. I looked over to where the dark half of the room was but all I saw was a small corner of black.
"Hello Alex." Axle greeted with a smile, "How was your date?"
"Good." I replied with a raised eyebrow.
I was careful not to push Grant and I's conversation to the front of my brain. I didn't matter though, I needed to find out if he was really Next and if he was, I needed to find out what he's planning.
"Look," I said, "Who are you, really."
Axel's smile faded, "What do you mean."
Ok, yeah. I think Grant was right. I thought as I studied his posture. He usually looked pretty lax but now his posture was stiff.
"I was just wondering..." I said. I clenched my teeth, "Next."
He flinched at the name then smirked as he let our mischievous laugh, "And here I thought you were an idiot."
Next removed his sunglasses to reveal glowing red eyes.
"Dude, what's with your eyes?" I gasped.
"Haven't you seen eyes of a grimm before?" He gave a toothy grin.
"W-what?" I stammered.
"Ha!" he chuckled, "Grimm's eyes. That giant grimm I had you confront? Well you're looking at him!"
"Then what about the beast?" I pointed to what's left of the darkness.
Next gave a belly laugh, "That over there? Well, it's what's left of your humanity."
I was so shocked by this; I fell backwards looking up at Next.
He leaned down to look me in the eyes, "And by the end of the week, I will have devoured every last bit of it." He pulled my face so his mouth was right next to my ear, "And you can't stop me."
He stood up and laughed like a mad man as the scene changed. Luckily I was too shocked to care.
What the hell am I going to do.