Amplify (A RWBY Story)

Chapter 15: Explanation



Within the Dorm of Team JNPR, said team was gathered alongside Team RWBY and Kairos. Pyrrha managed to gather everyone into her team's dorm room while Ryder had to convince Kairos that it was important. Ruby and Yang knew what this was about and were outside with Ryder talking about it. 

"Are you sure about this?" Yang asks. 

"I can't keep it a secret forever, I need to tell them." Ryder said. 

"What if they take it the wrong way and see you differently? In a bad way." Ruby asks, sounding worried. 

"I can't hold a lie, Ruby. I need to tell the truth." Ryder said. "You guys are my friends; Kairos is my teammate. I can't hide stuff from you guys." 

Yang and Ruby look at each other, worried for their friend. Ryder grabbed the doorknob and paused. He inhaled and exhaled to calm his nerves. It was always nerve-racking when he revealed the truth to something, and something like this is the most nerve-racking thing ever. This could destroy the friendships he had made and might make things worse for him. His mind is already thinking about the worst-case scenario. He's been told that he always does that. He opens the door and he alongside Ruby and Yang walk into the room. Everyone but Jaune was present. Kairos stood off to the side while the others sat on the beds. Ryder stood before everyone. He took one has breath to calm himself down. 

"Alright, everyone's gathered. What did you need to tell us?" Weiss asks. 

"Ruby and Yang already knows this so they can back me up. But I'm not from Remnant." Ryder said. 

Weiss, Blake, Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha looked doubtful while Kairos raised an eyebrow.

"It's true. We found him in the forest on Patch and we brought him to our home. When he came too, he didn't know anything about Remnant." Yang said. 

"He could've had amnesia." Blake suggested. 

"We thought that too, but he knows his name, knows where he came from, knew what his world was called and had memories of a life he lived. It was way too much to consider amnesia." Ruby explained. 

"What is your world called?" Ren asked. 

"Earth." Ryder answered. "Last, I remember of earth when I... left. Was the world folding in on itself." 

"That cycle of corruption you talked to Jaune about." Pyrrha said, putting the pieces together. 

"My world was engulfed in World War 3 and my home nation was tearing itself apart from the inside out. I didn't leave on a good note." Ryder said, his anxiety and fears of the past surfacing. 

"Wait, World War 3? Your planet has had 3 Global Conflicts?" Weiss asks, sounding shocked. 

"Yes. My world falls into a vicious cycle. Lying leads to Cheating, Cheating leads to Corruption and Corruption leads to Conflict. That's unfortunately the cycle that plagues my world. I had to mature fast in my world, just the mere knowledge of how dark my world is has shaped me." Ryder explained. "I lived in fear, every day. Fearful that one day my life could either end or be ruined by the world. When I learned how cruel the world was, I was scared. Scared for my life, my world, my family." 

He stops talking as he felt the presence of two familiar people beside him. Ruby and Yang. They're almost like family to him in this world. He appreciates the company they've given him during his time on Remnant. Their presence calmed him down and prevented him from having a panic attack. Everyone else just looked on with different reactions. Most of them felt bad for him as they couldn't imagine living a life of never-ending fear and worry. Something like that would be deadly in Remnant considering the Grimm. Grimm are attracted to negativity so being Afraid would attract the Grimm. While the others had their thoughts, Kairos had different thoughts. Originally, he thought Ryder was some naïve Huntsmen who expected things to be fun. That's how a lot of Huntsmen and Huntresses in training think. But he guesses this changes his perspective of Ryder. He doesn't like the naïveté that comes with rookie Huntsmen, it gets people killed. He should know the consequences of naivete. He had witnessed what happened. 

"How many nations did your world have?" Ren asked 

"Over a hundred. Why?" Ryder asks. 

Everyone besides Kairos was shocked. Ryder noticed this and wondered why Kairos of all people wasn't too shocked about all of this. 

"Over a hundred Nations!?" Nora asks in shock. 

"Can you name some of them?" Weiss asks. 

"United States of America, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Russia, China, Japan, Vietnam, North Korea, South Korea, Australia, India and Poland to name a few." Ryder answers. 

"Which one are you from?" Ren asks. 

"The United States of America. It's a melting pot of issues right now." Ryder said. 

"What do you mean by that?" Pyrrha asks. 

"The Government isn't perfect; it has its issues." Ryder said. 

Though Ryder wasn't happy with his home Nation, it's not like he doesn't care about it. He only wishes that his nation will get better and fix its mistakes. 

"Your world sounds awful." Blake said. 

"That's Earth for you. Nothing but misery, but it's home." Ryder said. 

"Gives me a whole new perspective of Remnant." Nora comments. 

"Both worlds history is significantly different. So, it doesn't surprise me to see such drastic differences." Kairos said. 

"What do you mean by that?" Ryder asks. 

"Remnant had a Great War yes, but Remnant's wars typically don't happen a lot due to the shared enemy the Grimm. This world's Global conflict put an end to Wars, but the Grimm were an added factor. The constant fight for survival against the Grimm has united the world against a common foe. Earth doesn't have that threat present, so Humanity turned on itself. Without something to unify Humanity, they're differences wouldn't be settled." Kairos explains. 

Kairos made a good point. Earth's Humanity historically didn't have a foe to unit it together. Sure, there were alliances such as the Allied Powers, Axis Powers, NATO and more, but it didn't involve ALL nations, and most weren't permanent. Remnant didn't have many major Wars, not even close to the amount of Earth. Remnant was way more peaceful compared to Earth. 

"As grim as it seems, the Grimm are actually good for something." Ryder said. 

"Ayy!" Yang said, realizing he made a pun. 

Ryder and Yang high five each other. Ruby sighs. 

"Great, now there's two of them." Ruby whines. 

"At least my puns are better than Yang's." Ryder said. 

"Hey!" Yang said in result to Ryder's words. 

Yang didn't really like that. Ryder just giggled a little in response to her reaction. 


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