Meeting an old friend and confronting the past.

William awakes in a white space with someone he didn't expect to meet again until he passed, but James looks very different. He is robed with white gold and golden wings sitting at a table sipping some tea from a cup. As James looks up and looks at William, he smiles softly and gestures for William to sit at a set that materializes out of nowhere.

But William runs towards James and bear hugs the angelic figure of James. William feels warmth, happiness, sorrow, and grief as James recuperates the hug as William starts to break down crying.

William "I'm so sorry that I couldn't save you. I'm sorry." as his tears land on James' shoulder.

James "I don't blame you. What could you have done? You were tackled to the ground by the men around you trying to save you. And even if you tried to save me my legs were gone up to my thighs I would have bleed out either way. Because I was sadly destined to die that day." James says in an angelic voice.

William "What are you saying you were destined to die that day! What some God or another being of great opnipatance tells you that shit." I reply venomously and sarcastically.

James "Yes, to some extent, my friend, that's one of the reasons why you're here talking to me right now." As James snaps his fingers, my vision blurs for a second, and I'm now sitting at the table with tea in front of me.

James "Sadly William I don't have a lot of time to explain why you're here, but I do know why you specifically were sent here to Remnant." James sips his tea.

William "What do you mean that I was sent here purposefully by some god?" trying to get my emotions under control.

James "Yes for some reason the brother gods of Remnant want to end this little experiment as they call it which is humanity on Remnant and wanted to add a new variable to the cluster fuck thats already there." James says and sighs defeatedly.

William "You mean that I was sent here by those two god's incapable to fix their own damn mess and want me to clean it up for them!?" I reply angrily, slamming my fist on the table.

James "Somewhat you but their antics were noticed by God and changed some things so the brother's didn't catch on to the sabotage God did. And before you ask God gave you that system to help you survive in Remnant because you already felt how weak normal people are to the grimm."

William "Yeah but that still doesn't answer all my questions that I have for.." James interrupts William by saying

James "William we don't have much time left so I have to say this Aimy should have died but she didn't from your intervention. She also actually loves you which is funny love at first sight but I digress. She can help you on your journey but you have to find team RWBY and help them grow." James says quickly as the white space shakes a bit

James "YOU NEED TO LEAVE NOW WILLIAM I CAN'T HAVE YOU STAY ANY LONGER! JUST KNOW I WILL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU MY FRIEND!" As James snaps his fingers as a golden door materializes behind a shocked and perplexed William as he's flung out of the chair and into the now open door.

William "NO JAMES I NEED TO KNOW MO…" William is cut off as he flies through the door as it closes behind him; William wakes up screaming.

White space ends

6 am

William wakes up screaming, "JAMES NO." with William's arm extended as he's sitting up in bed as Aimy panickingly wakes up sitting up as she gently rubs her hand on his arm softly as she lays her head on his shoulder. As both of them sit there for a moment, William starts to break down into tears as he's about to speak. Aimy gently grabs William's head and places it in between her bosom while stroking his head caringly. With William melting to her touch as he continues to cry in her embrace.

After half an hour passes, William gets out of her embrace and lays back down on the bed as Aimy lays her head on William's chest with a semi-worried expression looking at him."

William "You know how you told me to tell you about me and what I've done." I say dead tone voice.

Aimy "Yes I remember saying that and if you want to talk about it with me then please let me help carry some of the burden you hold."

William "I'm not from this world and I still don't know why I was brought here so I'm literally an alien to this world. I'm.. was a soldier for three years. I enlisted at 18 because I wanted to serve my country and help my countrymen. Yeah I was a true fucking patriot for my country, was deployed to afghanistan to fight terriosts and bring order, when I was deployed ive had a friend I made a deep conection with him James." chuckling a bit, "We did everything together: get drunk, hit on women, eat together, you could almost say he was like my long lost brother from another mother. We would be almost inseparable like we were glued to each other."

Aimy "He sounds like a good man just like yourself William."

William "Yeah, he was a great guy during one of our patrols he got shot in the leg by a child with a gun and when that happened it all felt like a blur to me.." as William starts to shiver, and Aimy wraps her arms around William as he continues. "I readied my rifle and pulled the trigger as the child was trying to aim the gun at me. I.. I the rounds went straight through him as he fell back, not moving as I fell to my knees and hands shaking uncontrollably. And the rest is just a blur until I got back to base." 

William "I think the only reason I'm still here is because of James he help me get away from drinking myself to sleep every night and it was working slowly through the two years years before he died in front of me we were getting our guys out of a vehicle that was hit by an explosive after getting two out James went back to get the other out while I did patch work. While I was… was working I heard gunfire but ignored it to focus but it was broken when I heard James scream out in pain." William starts to sob uncontrollably while Aimy hugs him tighter as William continues through sobbing.

William "I..I lo..looked uup and sa..sa..saw James cr..crawl towards me and when I tried to run out into the battlefield to get him.. I..I was stopped by two guys from my platoon tackling me stopping me from going out… and as I looked up to see James, It felt like time stopped as James mouthed "I'm sorry, Will." as a bullet just fucking took his head killing him instantly." William breaks down again in tears as Aimy holds him against her trying to calm William down, with Aimy saddened by the experience William had to endure. After 15 minutes, William continues speaking.

William "After getting back to base I picked up my old habit of drinking myself to sleep because if I didn't I'd always wake up screaming and not being able to sleep. And it continued until I had to have my squadmates literally drag me to therapy and surprisingly it helped but I couldn't drop the bottle. Until I was stationed in Germany where some German soldiers I can't remember their names sadly. Say to me "If you are feeling that way because of James, just remember that if there is a heaven or hell, he's cheering for you to move forward and not give up." and I thought about it and thought even if it sounds cheesy with the concept of heaven, then I can always hope to meet him again."

William "After that a couple months passed until 2022 of my old world. My squad and some of the German soldiers were doing live combat exercises, and as I was going to a mission objective for the joint combat exercise I felt something grab my back and pull me. Then the next thing I knew I woke up in a dust cave or mine and fought four beowolfs got a system like an RPG character and you know the rest." William says depressingly as he looks at Aimy, that has been clinging to him with tears in her eyes as she replies with sadness in her voice.

Aimy "I..I don't know what to say William but I know that you are strong for letting me hear what you've gone through and I.." William interrupts Aimy saying.

William "I'm despicable, broken and.." William's interrupted by Aimy's lips smacking against his while tears continue to flow down her face, as she says with a pain and sadness in her voice.

Aimy "You're not despicable. You're not broken, you did what you had to do to stay alive and come out as a better man even if you don't think you did. I can see you as a loving and caring man you're just repressing it to punish yourself because something out of your control happened.. I can't have you break and I've seen James before with my semblance as my father was on his deathbed. James looked behind himself with a sorrowful and reluctant expression to go but had to because he didn't have a choice. And I can see a winged and robed version of you with a kind and caring face but it's battered and wounded just like you. A man that was almost broken but picked up the pieces to try and better himself. I..I.. I love you William I don't think you know how much I…" is interrupted by William.

William "I don't know why you love me. It's one-sided you're a kind and caring woman Aimy but you've done nothing to earn my affection, I understand but I…I.. I don't know if I can say it. And for some reason, I feel extremely calm when I'm with you but I don't… I need to think about it, Aimy." As William gets up from the bed, he breaks Aimys hold on him and quickly gets his gear and leaves a depressed and crying Aimy in bed. He walks down to the barkeep and orders what he had last night.