Hello there, I'm The Royal Protector and you're reading the first chapter of The Silver Eyed Prodigy. I'll be honest and admit that this story exists because I'm still stuck on rewriting This War of Ours. I just got done rewriting the first two chapters and will update the story when I'm done rewriting everything and finish writing the fourth chapter. The problem with this plan is that it takes me a lot of time. This is where this story comes in.

The idea for this story lingered in my head for a bit but I never dived too deep into the premise. This changed when I was rewriting about half the storyline of TWoO. At one point I tore my hair in frustration and decided I needed something fresh and new to write, que this story.

I don't really have anything else to add other than that Volume 6 rocks and that the gods need their teeth kicked in.

EDIT: I went back and fixed punctuation marks and other grammar mistakes I've found.

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, if I did, I wouldn't be writing this. OCs are mine though.

The Silver Eyed Prodigy

Chapter 1: Orbis Nova

Is this reality?

That was my first thought as I realized that I've regained my consciousness. I blearily looked around and only saw endless darkness surrounding me no matter where I turned. Was this another dream? I've had so many in the past week…

I tried looking down at my body but the darkness shrouded all my features. I tried flexing my fingers and found that while they functioned, they required a tremendous amount of effort to move and caused a bit of pain as well.

Pain? I thought my mind blocked out all of it by now…

This observation led me to focus on all of my body parts and realized that I wasn't in pain elsewhere. It was strange but not unwelcome.

No matter, the question of my surroundings still remained. The fact that I felt pain meant that it wasn't another dream, or at least not a normal one. That begged the question of what had happened. I was fading in and out of reality for the last few days, experiencing odd, yet comforting dreams. Though that doesn't really count for much I suppose, literally anything is better than experiencing extreme radiation poisoning. Focusing on my last memory of lucidness I remember talking to the doctors. They informed me about the possibility of deep flushing the radioactive particles out of my system. They seemed confident that it would buy me a few months before the various types of cancer would show their ugly heads. They told me about a slim chance of recovery after years of therapy… but I've shot them down and simply asked to be left alone with my family for the last couple days of my life.

Oh…

I'm dead now…

It was a sobering thought, I was dead now, floating in an endless black void. I regarded the darkness differently now and hummed in approval. Wherever I've ended up now was leagues better than dying from choking on my own blood. Still, it was relatively warm and calming, death that is. I feel like I could lie down and sleep till the end of times.

Unfortunately, just as I was about to accept eternal rest a blinding light illuminated large swathes of darkness. I tried to shield my eyes with my hand but it felt completely unresponsive. Furthermore, I felt like the darkness was repulsing and pushing me toward the light, seemingly rejecting my prolonged presence. For the first few moments I've tried to fight it and struggle but I quickly grew tired. I resigned myself and allowed to be pulled into the light.

I was momentarily blinded when I left the darkness, but my vision returned gradually. I felt pressure on my sides and heard multiple voices speaking to each other. It was at this moment I realized that I was being carried impossibly easily. My eyesight wasn't helping my sudden confusion, it only showed me colorful blobs and lights. It wasn't long before I got annoyed by the lack of focus and groaned in frustration, though the action somehow felt foreign, and sounded like… crying?

Then I felt a silvery white light wash over my vision and everything came back to perfect clarity. I saw monitors, people garbed in medical coats and facemasks. I was back in the hospital? Why? Why would they bring me back?

I got handed away to a tired looking woman lying in a hospital bed. She cradled and smiled at me. I chose to observe the woman's face and found it strangely familiar. Pale complexion, shoulder length deep red, borderline black hair, small nose and a mouth that always seemed to curve upwards…

And striking silver eyes.

This whole situation seemed woefully familiar…

"What will be the boy's name?" A doctor asked form behind me. The woman seemed to think for a moment before beaming a megawatt smile.

"…Caryll, Caryll Rose," she announced happily.

Oh… Ohh…

I've come to relatively quickly accept my new position in the world of Remnant. Oh, and how did I know for a certain that I was there? Well, even if my new birth mother wasn't Summer Rose, I would only have to look up at the night sky and see a shattered moon hanging over my head.

I didn't really have a mental breakdown as most people would expect to have when being reincarnated into a seemingly fictional world. I attribute it to my mindset, I was a twenty year old university student studying mechanical/computer engineering when I died, I also took some classes in philosophy because I've had some interest in the subject. That's where I've come across a world view that somehow deeply resonated with me.

The fundamental question of this school of thought was the nature of reality. We debated this fiercely and ultimately me and a few others in that class came to the conclusion that reality was dependent on the individual. The in a nutshell version of a long explanation is that we perceive the world through our senses and construct our reality upon our experiences.

So, when I was faced with the fact that I saw the broken moon, heard the cooing of my new mother, felt the air on my skin and smelt the strawberry shampoo in her hair pretty much convinced me that I was in a new world, without any annoying mental breakdown.

Fortunately, I wasn't lucid all the time in my first two years, the brain of a toddler struggled to house the consciousness of an adult, so I basically slept for 18-20 hours a day for the most part, and not even all of my waking hours were with clarity of mind. Thank the Gods, I don't believe I would've come out unscarred by experiencing the humiliation of being a baby again.

Still, almost two years of inactivity left me with a lot of time to think. What was I going to do now? I was on Remnant, my new reality. I knew what would happen in the far future, I could plan and scheme about shaping the world…

But did I really want to?

Why was I here? I wasn't here to complete some divine mission, if that were the case, I would have met the Brother Gods since they were the only ones who could bring back people from the afterlife. But if it wasn't them, then who or what brought me back? People didn't just reincarnate, or at least not with their memories intact. Why was my case different? I believed death gave life meaning, but if death itself and its meaning was taken from me, then what was even the point of living for a second time?

I spent weeks, months, years dwelling on these dilemmas, until I eventually arrived at a gloomy conclusion. I wasn't special in any way. My rebirth wasn't the work of a higher power, but more likely just a fluke of some cosmic machination. My life was robbed of its purpose by my reincarnation.

All that meant that I had to search for a new purpose on my own.

Raven didn't have many expectations when Summer asked her to babysit her brat for a couple of days while she was away on a mission for Ozpin. She didn't really interact with him before due to herself being sent on scouting missions with her idiotic brother for months on end.

Still, she was annoyed by her team leader's out of the blue request. She hated little kids and she hated looking after them even more, especially when she only recently got back from a tiring mission.

With all this in mind, one could imagine her admittedly stoic surprise when Summer left her with this… odd kid. They stood in front of each other with calculative expressions. Raven examined the small three year old's features and thought he looked like a gender-swapped mini-Summer. His features were surprisingly sharp for a toddler, with a good portion of his baby fat gone. She knew Summer wouldn't malnourish her kid so the only possible explanation was that the kid has been exercising for a while now, interesting. He wore simple black shorts and a silver T-shirt befitting for the current warm weather.

He had his mother's complexion and hair. His shoulder length deep, almost like oxygen-less blood, red hair was tied into a low pony-tail while two longer bangs framed his face on the sides. However, his most defining features were the pair of silver eyes that held intelligence and perception amiss for one his age.

They stared at each other for what felt like minutes with her trying to figure out the mysterious maturity in his eyes until he broke the silence.

"I don't like you," he stated simply while his little face scrunched up into a frown. Raven blinked at the open admission before letting her face morph into a sneer.

"And why should I care?" She shot back a bit harshly, momentarily forgetting that she was talking to a little kid and not another adult. She got ready for the waterworks to come and listening to another one of Summer's lectures about basic politeness and courtesy, but to her continued surprise the brat just shrugged.

"I didn't expect you to. Anyways are you hungry? It's lunchtime anyways so I could throw together something quickly if you want," the kid offered her seriously.

Now, Raven never spent much time around children because of their annoying nature, but even she could tell that something was definitely wrong with Summer's brat. Little kids don't just knowingly and causally insult adults and they definitely don't speak like that. Still, she decided to humor the kid, if only to see what he would do. She voiced a yes and the kid nodded and left to the kitchen.

"What is this?" Raven stared intensely at the dish before her. It took the little kid half an hour to make and serve a full lunch.

"Spaghetti," the kid replied evenly while leisurely eating from his own bowl.

"I know that," she replied tersely. "What I mean is how did you make this?" Toddlers couldn't cook either last time she checked.

"I admit it's not my best work. Mom keeps the better spices on the upper shelves." Was that sarcasm? She let out a frustrated sigh and felt her eyes twitch. The kid just smiled at her, letting her know that he knew exactly what she meant.

"Mom has a few books on cooking lying about. I just followed the instructions," he explained evenly.

"You can read?" Raven asked incredulously.

"And write," he grinned proudly.

"You're the weirdest kid I've ever met," Raven sighed exasperatedly.

"I wonder about that." He tilted his head with now painfully obvious fake innocence and Raven wondered what she had gotten herself into.

"Auntie Raven," the annoyingly smart brat spoke while he lied on the grass and gazed at the clouds.

"I've told you not to call me that." She released a tired sigh from the shade of a nearby tree.

"Why did you become a Huntress?" He blatantly ignored her yet again and asked anyways. The question registered in her mind a moment later and she sneered.

"That's none of your business," she snapped harshly but the kid didn't seem to mind as he continued.

"I've asked mom and she told me she became one so she could help the weak and the innocent," he told her distractedly and she looked away with contempt visible on her face.

"She's a naïve fool," she said reflexively.

"She's optimistic," he countered, still not looking at her.

"She's still a fool."

"Yes, but she's our fool." The kid sat up and looked at her expectantly. Raven tsk-ed in begrudging agreement. Despite their many differences, she still considered Summer the closest thing she had to a true friend.

"…The strong survive and the weak die. I wanted to be strong so I became strong, it is as simple as that," she told him resolutely after a few moments of silence. The kid hummed and looked back up to gaze at the clouds.

"I'm going to become a Hunter," he told her after a couple of minutes. Her face took on a disbelieving frown and stared at him. She had seen many kids dreaming about becoming Hunters, heroes like in the stories. The young fools didn't have the chance to realize the harsh and cruel nature of their world. Only experience would show them that, but by the time they would gain it, it would be too late and they would perish, just like their dreams. She was prepared to shoot down the boy's foolish fantasies but she noticed the steely expression so foreign to his childish face. It made her oddly wary and wanting to place a hand on her sword.

"…I realize that our world is mostly a cold and unforgiving one. Grimm control most of Remnant while Hunters and Huntresses defend the few safe places, knowing full well that the threat wouldn't end in their lifetimes, maybe ever." Raven's eyes widened as she listened to Caryll's voice.

"You are right, in this world only the fit survive and I want to be strong," he looked at her with steely eyes that were hauntingly reminiscent of his mother's.

"I'm glad-" "But that isn't the only reason I want to become a Hunter," he cut her off before she could get a word in. She was beginning to think that the kid held no respect for her.

"Despite the… rocky relationship between me and Mom, I still consider her family." Wait, their relationship wasn't great? "I myself do not fear death… but I would like to protect my family." He nodded to himself and looked her in the eye, "You're strong, wouldn't you also fight to protect what's yours?"

Raven held his gaze before slowly nodding in acknowledgement. Seemingly satisfied with her answer, Caryll lied back down and lazily pointed out what he considered to be interesting cloud formations. Raven continued to stare at him while thinking hardly, eventually she allowed her gaze to wander and she let out a sigh.

Maybe the kid wasn't so bad after all.

"Auntie Raven look! That one looks like a sheep!"

She takes it back; he is just as aggravating as his mother.

I never knew who my new father was, Summer kept quiet about it and I didn't pry either, it didn't really matter to me to be honest. Not a lot of things did nowadays.

I was considered an odd, yet prodigious child by others, especially by Summer. I could reliably walk and run around when I was one, weave sentences together like an adult by two and write with a bit of difficulty by three, I blame my chubby child fingers for not publishing essays.

Summer and the others kept gushing about how smart I was, but even an idiot could see the strained expressions Summer would send me sometimes. As Raven could attest to it; I wasn't a very childlike child. I couldn't bring myself to act like a toddler, my pride and self-esteem simply wouldn't allow it, so I was seen as a weird mix between a curious child and a stoic adult.

I only called Summer "Mom" when we were with others and I usually kept to myself even then. I couldn't help it; I was a twenty-three year old adult that was expected to call someone his senior by only four years "Mom", not to mention that I've already had a mother in my previous life. It just irked me the wrong way. That, coupled with me being a relatively self-sufficient person for a three year old most likely hurt her motherly pride. My unusual behavior and real life problems visibly strained her smiles as time went on until one day it all came crashing down.

I was around four when Yang was born, which granted me a timescale to work with, but more importantly it was not long after that when Raven decided to leave everything behind and abandon her family. The remaining members of Team STRQ were shaken, depressed and in one case furious. Of course, I wasn't told about her more than likely permanent departure but it didn't take a genius to figure it out on my own. I could still spot red eyed ravens flying about from time to time, letting me know Raven was observing my extra-curricular activities. I was fine with it to be honest; she and I had an understanding of each other and the few times we did meet in person I could tell she was getting less and less exasperated with our verbal spats and start to actually enjoy them, apparently enough for her to have a portal to me.

Summer and I unsurprisingly lived on Patch, not quite the wooden cabin where the Xiao-Long family lived, but close enough to be still surrounded by the forest. I was coming home from one of my usual 'walks', I was allowed to wander in the forest because a lot a of Hunter families lived on Patch and kept the local Grimm population practically zero, well that and me being me and not getting lost like a real three year old would.

I walked into our house and was greeted with the weeping form of Summer, sitting on our living room couch. This froze me in my tracks and made me stare at the woman. Summer almost never cried-, let me rephrase that; Summer never cried in the last four years I've known her. To see her like this made me feel uncomfortable. She didn't seem to realize I was there and I've just stood there awkwardly for a few long moments before deciding to bite the bullet.

"Is everything okay?" My childish voice rang out. Summer whipped her head around and looked at me with a panicked expression, still sniffling.

"Oh! Caryll, mommy's-… I'm fine just-" she stumbled on her words while I observed her shivering form and decided to have a conversation that was long overdue by now.

"Mom," I cut her off and she looked at me with a surprised expression, it was a rare occasion when I called her that in private. "What's wrong?" I asked seriously and made my way to sit down beside her. She looked down onto her lap and clenched her fists while she tried to take control of herself, still she remained silent.

"I think I'm one half of your problems and while I can't help with the whole situation with Raven, I can definitely apologize for what I've done, or rather hadn't done," I sighed and rubbed circles on her back to calm her down. She finally looked back at me with a confused expression.

"Caryll, what do you mean? You didn't do anything wrong, I'm just-" "I'm not a four year old kid," I cut her off before she could go on a pointless tirade. If her confusion wasn't noticeable until now, then it was now free for all to see.

"I saw how you look at me at times, with guilt and confusion. It didn't take me long to realize that you blamed yourself for me acting like… myself. And don't even try to deny it," I warned her when I saw her ready to do so. She closed her mouth reluctantly and listened to what I had to say.

"My behavior isn't your fault. I'm just incapable of acting like a child that needs to be coddled when I'm simply too old for that," I told her honestly. Looking back, I must have been a terrible child to have. I rarely sought physical contact with her and often wandered away to do my own thing. I scowled to myself in a moment of clarity, I barely considered how she felt about things and even when I did, I disregarded the thought soon after.

"W-what do you mean? You're only four," Summer stuttered in confusion.

"Try twenty-four," I chuckled dryly and felt her back freeze.

"What?" She has somewhat collected herself by now and looked at me with disbelief.

"Reincarnation," I shrugged simply in response.

"That's impossible," she stated, her stutter now completely gone.

"Your boss does it all the time, Summer." I showed her my most deadpan expression. She needed a second to process what I've just said, but when she realized her mistake she at least had the decency to look sheepish for a second. She then stared at me for a few minutes, wiping away a few remaining stray tears.

"Prove it," she said seriously, a familiar steel entering her gaze and voice.

"Hmm, well I know where babies come from-" "Something that couldn't be explained by being a child genius," she cut me off with a twitching eyebrow.

"Well, I could go on about the internal machinations of integrated circuits and network engineering but I have a feeling that conversation would go over your head," I hummed in thought and ignored her indignant protest. "Well, I distinctly remember not seeing my new father at my rebirth." I looked at Summer who clammed up suddenly.

"You remember that?" She asked me hesitantly.

"Yes, and I remember your avoidance on the subject, but don't worry, I personally don't give a damn about the guy," I shrugged in response and locked eyes with her. Summer stared at me for what felt like hours before the corner of her eyes watered and she turned her head to stare at her lap. I could hear sobs coming again and I felt my heart clench with remorse at the scene.

So, I decided to something that I didn't do very often. I wrapped my arms around Summer and hugged her tightly, it seemed to break through the dam of emotions and she started bawling while I made comforting noises to calm her.

"So, you're a reincarnate," Summer stated more than asked. The previous crying session lasted for about an hour before she finally managed to calm down, though not before completely drenching my shirt.

"I'm afraid so," I gave her a weak smile.

"So, where does that leave us…?" She sked hesitantly while playing with the hem of her black skirt. At hearing this my expression turned apologetic and my voice gained a... regretful edge to it.

"I'm sorry Summer, but I simply can't view you as my mom. I've already had a childhood before and there is only enough space for one mom in my heart." She visibly deflated at my response. Not like I can't sympathize, imagine being a single mom while being a certified monster hunter, raising a four year old kid you loved with all your heart, only for said kid to admit not even being a kid and denouncing you as his mother. Seeing her broken expression, I quickly continued, "Don't get me wrong Summer, I love you with all my heart, don't ever doubt that, and I view you as a super-older-sister that makes the best cookies in the world," I beamed at her and saw her lips quirk upwards slightly.

"I did always want a little brother," she smiled weakly, albeit with a little bit of sadness still mixed in.

"Besides, you still have time to have regular children. I would certainly love to have a little sibling or two to dote on," I smirked at her blushing expression and listened to her stammering in protest. I chuckled and leaned into her side in satisfaction, it seemed that comment at least alleviated some of her sadness. She eventually calmed down and put an arm around my shoulders. It was probably her motherly instincts acting up.

"How are you feeling?" I snuggled into her side.

"I just got demoted from proud and stressed mother to confused older sibling, what do you think?" She answered rhetorically and we shared a wry chuckle while I muttered a "fair enough."

"…I'm sorry for not telling you sooner," I said after a bit of silence.

"It's… okay. I don't think my brain has caught up with everything that is happening, and I will probably have another mental breakdown later, but now I at least understand what's been going on behind my back for four entire years… I'm not happy about it, but at least I have some answers," she admitted with a wry smile. I hummed in response and basked in her warmth.

"So how did you… you know, die the first time?" Summer inquired awkwardly after a while. I shuffled in place and looked at her face.

"You know, it's rude to ask someone how they died," I remarked playfully and Summer rolled her eyes at me. I leant back into the couch and looked at the ceiling with a faraway look.

"Radiation poisoning," I told her evenly.

"I've never heard of it… What's that?" Summer frowned in confusion.

"Huh, you guys don't know about nuclear physics, I guess" I mumbled, noting how that made sense. "Anyways, it's a pretty horrible way to go. Maybe I'm a bit biased but I would say it's the worst possible way to die," I stated with a thinking expression.

"Are you sure? I mean I've seen-"

"-After a week of constant agony, I've asked to be cut off of life support just so my suffering would end. In the end I suffocated on my own blood while my organs turned into goo-"

"-Alright that takes the cake," Summer chuckled awkwardly and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Speaking of cake, want to make some cookies together and watch a movie?" I proposed suddenly, standing up on the couch and looking at Summer with an expectant gaze. My reasoning for this was simple really, we needed a way to dissipate the awkwardness between the two of us and I knew from experience that Summer was most relaxed while baking.

Her delicious pastries held no sway in my decision making.

None at all.

She looked at me with a surprised expression and our mirrored eyes locked with each other. Credit where it's due Summer didn't take long to realize my intentions and narrowed her eyes at me. We remained there unwavering for a bit before her eyes slowly softened.

"We have a lot to discuss," she stated seriously.

"True-"

"And it can wait until tomorrow." She released a mock sigh and got up from the couch. I smiled the brightest smile my childish face could handle and followed her example.

"Thanks for being so understanding, you're the best," I thanked her and enveloped her in a hug.

"No need to thank me… This is what family's for after all," she stated softly with a kind smile and reciprocated the hug. We let go of each other and made for the kitchen with small, content smiles on our faces.

Poor Auntie Raven got an annoyingly smug nephew while Summer got a kid that makes her want to tear her hair out. At least one of them got an explanation and an apology. Next time our Silver Eyed prodigy will probably meet her new little sister and have a talk with the remaining two members of Team STRQ. I don't how I'm going to format the next chapter, but maybe I'll put in the reason why this story will take a different turn as opposed to other SI/OC reincarnation fics, if not then it will be in the third chapter.

Until next time.