10 Vita Debitum

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AN [ If you could not tell already, general story writing is done without any special marks.

Personal thoughts for characters are made with one quotation mark thing. {'I don't feel good'}

Dialogue is made with full quotation marks. {"This pizza is good, do you agree?"}

That's it, I hope you enjoy it, and I hope I didn't fuck it up somewhere! ]

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'Where am I?' I stood upon a large, wide, grey space as all but the ground was a mass of twinkling black. Staring into what seemed to be an inky blackness, the rough outline of people and a large, round object stood ominously, before a skull-splitting headache brought me to my knees. A flash of gold and purple further blinded me as -

*Woosh*

My eyes fluttered for a moment, only slightly squeezing at the bright light shining on me. My mind was blank, as I sluggishly tried to recall the events of the previous night. 'I remember getting dressed and going to the park… "OH!" With it suddenly rushing back to me, I jolted upwards, which was a mistake. Hissing at the pain in my body, I see a pair of brown eyes nervously glance at me from behind a chair. Waiting for my eyes to focus, I see a girl hiding behind the chair by my bed. Remembering my manners, I gently positioned myself towards her and gave her a small grin.

"Hello there, my name's Argento. It's nice to meet you." Within a few seconds time, she slowly got out from behind the chair and gave a surprisingly neat and formal curtsy.

With a voice that seemed weak enough to break with a small tap, she simply replied, "Trivia Vanille" and tentatively sat in the chair by my side. Though cute, it seemed strange that she would seek me out by herself and still be so meek at this young age; but what do I know? I'm pretty strange myself, and also pretty young.

Nothing was really said from then on; we just peacefully sat together for the next hour or so. There was something about her that seemed so familiar, yet it was just as cloudy and faint. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to put my finger on it. Near the end of the hour, the doors slid open to reveal Amelia, Maxwell, and Laela. Not fully noticing the slight anxiously-calm gaze of Trivia when the parents walked in, I was about to give a wink, cocky grin, or some other similar gesture when my face froze. I had never seen Amelia's face so frigid, and it was at that moment I realized I had completely spaced on something; I almost died, and now that I was okay I had hell to pay to the momma bear.

"Um… hey there, mom. Uhh… lovely weather, am I right?" As I say this I cringe from both the stupidity of my statement and the booming sound of thunder coming from the storm outside. Though the hope was to distract her anger, I don't think it worked.

"Young man, no amount of bad one-liners or ice breakers will get you out of this. If it weren't for what happened to you, you would be in SO much trouble right now!" With an exasperated sigh that was filled with relief to see her son seemingly completely fine, she gave me a hug that was a bit too hard, causing me to wince in pain. Seeming both unapologetic and sorry for me, my mother backed up for my father to give me a gentle pat on my shoulder; thankfully it was my good one, so no pain came. With them now at my side, they now focus on the girl that was trying to shrink into her chair, like she was wilting under the gazes of the three adults and myself.

"Mom, dad, Mrs. Cassinova; this is Trivia Vanille, the girl who I attempted to rescue."

"Vanille?" Recognizing the name, the three adults glance at each other as the doors slide open to reveal the bandaged form of the guard that defended Trivia and her mother (I assume?) until the end. Seeing the two people who saved him, and myself who attempted to do so, his mask lightly cracks enough for his lips to ever-so-slightly raise, before he bows his head.

"I apologize for my interruption, but I came to pick up the Little Miss." Standing up straight again, his mask is back, as if it had never weakened in the first place.

"Little Miss?" Looking towards Trivia, I notice a small flush from all of the attention focused on her, as she happily goes to check on the guard. Seeing her eyes as she turned back around towards us, I couldn't help but feel that sense of knowing something that kept getting lost at the tip of my tongue, and I had a creeping sensation of losing any chance to meet this girl again if I let her go now.

"Mom, could I ask you something?" Using the best puppy dog eyes I could muster, I fail to have Amelia give in, but Maxwell couldn't refuse my utter adorableness.

'This child of mine just can't seem to settle down, can he?' With a small surprised smile at my request, he shakes his head as he moves to the guard and Trivia standing in the door frame, having not had enough time to quite yet leave. Stopping in front of the guard, Maxwell puts his hand out for a handshake with the guard's un-casted arm.

"Since we saved you, I would appreciate it if you could pass a message to your employer for me."

"Of course! And what is it that I could relay to him for you, Mr…?"

"Chrono, Maxwell Chrono. And I would like for you to give your employer the message that the Chronos would request the further meeting of our son and his daughter." And with that Maxwell brings the guard closer to him, where only he could hear what my father was saying, and soon they separated with a nod and ended their handshake.

With a final wave to the duo as I was getting my final check-up from Laela, I could only hope that whatever my father did worked out in the end. And with everything being given the go-ahead by the doctor, I only all-too happily left the hospital with my parents practically hovering over me in case anything came out of nowhere to attack me.

"Mom, dad. I've been meaning to ask. What happened after I passed out?" Looking a little startled at being asked so bluntly out of nowhere, Maxwell gathers himself fast enough to pull together an explanation.

"Well, when your mother noticed that you weren't with Ivy anymore, she and I ran as fast as we could to the alley she had pointed out and arrived just in time to help."

"Wait, that was you two?"

"Indeed it was, though your mother did most of the work after we got to you." Maxwell playfully bends down to my level and whispers loudly for Amelia to hear; "Never get on a mother's bad side, son. Especially your mother. Her temper can be a bit scary at times."

"Hey! I will have you know, that temper is saved for those that deserve it and you!" With a light smack to his head, I can't help but smile at the scene in front of me. I can't say I don't feel like I killed the original Argento, but enough of him is in there for me to confidently say that this is something I wouldn't mind seeing for the rest of my life.

Now home and in front of my mirror, I gently trace the scar that was left behind on my arm that was the most injured of my limbs. Though I was told there would be no lasting effects from my little stint, there was too much damage in the same spot, so a scar was to be expected. Though it wasn't the biggest scar, and it was only as noticeable as it is because of how fresh it is, but the only thing it served to do for me was to cause me to go deep into thought about the actions I took.

'I don't have real control.' It was the most concerning thing to me because it has already brought about consequences; the main one being my almost-death at the hands of that maniac. And as much as I would like to 'be strong' and 'suck it up', I get shivers if I think about it for too long, and as the sun was setting I realized that darkness is now a little unsettling to me if I stay in it for too long.

On a bit of a lighter note though, I have to wonder just how strong my parents are in this world. Though I didn't see the whole fight, from what I did see they were pretty fearsome. I mean, it's not easy to throw a knife that deep into someone's chest, and it would take superhuman strength to be able to lift a man with just one extended arm, let alone throw them into a wall from across an alley!

'Will I be able to do that?' It was an interesting concept because humans weren't able to do that on Earth… 'Earth, huh? I can't say I miss it, but it had its moments. Although, if the world of RWBY is as real as I am currently experiencing, then how did it come into existence? Was it created from the imagination of all those who read or watched it, or was it divine intervention?' At the thought of divine intervention, I shivered.

'I hope to everything it wasn't divine intervention; I don't think I'm ready for the knowledge of a being powerful enough to make a whole other universe… or is this even another universe? Maybe it's just a small portion of the one I know, and it's just governed by different laws than Earth's area? But if it's because of the people who consumed the media, then does that mean this world will fall apart once RWBY becomes less popular? What happens when canon ends? And in that same sense, are other forms of media real if they're popular enough? If that's the case, then I got lucky I didn't get sent to a world full of angry teens and crazy, man-eating titans!'

While I slowly began to descend into more branching thoughts from my existential crisis, I failed to notice my eyes had become ever-so-slightly brighter, a sign of something far deeper to come, and I was going to be stuck in the middle of it.

—Elsewhere, in a lavish mansion—

*Knock, Knock*

"Who's there?"

"It's me, sir."

"Enter." Seated inside a room darkened by night and illuminated by the rising moon sat a slightly scruffy man with a monocle chain dangling out of his lapel and into his breast pocket, with the initials JV on it. "What is it that couldn't wait until morning?"

"I have an urgent report about the Little Miss."

"Hahh, I can never catch a break with her, can I? What did she manage to do so soon after they were attacked?"

Managing to not flex any muscles at his words, the guard is silent for a short period before carefully wording his sentence. "She seems to have become attached to the family who saved her, but it was what the father of their injured child said that required my presence here."

"Oh? Go on."

"He said, 'Vita Debitum; the Chronos say hello.'" At the name Chrono, Jimmy Vanille halts everything he is doing, including his breathing.

After a few seconds, he finally starts breathing again, but with a loud clatter his chair has fallen to the ground and a grave look can be seen on his face as he reluctantly asked, "What do THEY want?"

Having been startled by Vanille's sudden movements, Cromwell took a little to respond. Finally seeing a chance for Trivia, he responds with, "They have requested the Little Miss be given full freedom in going to their house whenever she so wishes to, and that they are allowed to add any house or family to that list whenever they see fit."

Visibly relaxing, Jimmy picks up his chair, and once he sits he practically melts into it. "Thank the gods that is all they wanted. Let the child know tomorrow; I will be sending a letter post-haste to the Chrono residence."

"Sir, if I may be so bold as to ask, but what does Vita Debitum mean? And why did their name elicit such a reaction?"

"For your first question, it means something along the lines of 'Life Debt'. As far as I could tell, it isn't in a language that has been recorded in anything I could find. As for the second, it's not something I am allowed to talk about freely, but what I can tell you is that there are very few people in this world who can afford to even offend the Chronos, so I will give you a single warning that I hope you take to heart; be VERY careful around them, because if you do something wrong it could spell the end for you."