Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, Rooster Teeth does.

Most reincarnation fanfics that I've read tended to start either two ways, in terror or ignorance. Sometimes it was a mixture of both, but there was always this resolve that they would be different or maybe they would keep out of the limelight (and we all know how that turns out), or something. I won't deny the fact that I was ignorant to my circumstances at first, but to be honest, none of us would just open our eyes after a death and just know that they were reincarnated. It's fiction, a fantasy. Something we read to entertain ourselves, or escape from reality, or whatever. We think it would be cool and exciting to be reborn. We would have the arrogance to think that since we know how we messed up before we wouldn't mess up now. As if we could live a perfect, dream like life, where we get whatever we want, and nothing bad happens to us. Of course, some of those reincarnated people don't have this luxury as they reincarnate into some fairly dangerous worlds. They're forced to think and scheme. How can I survive? And you see, I would've seen this as a smart mentality to have if it wasn't for one glaring flaw. They're already assuming they'll be involved in the plot.

Sure, they have knowledge of future events, and can probably save some lives. They might even be able to redeem some people, or help the ones the protagonist and his (or her, reincarnation fanfics tend to be female oriented don't they?) merry gang can't or won't save. Whether it's due to bias, circumstance, or for the advancement of the plot, the point is that those characters have been doomed. What essentially amounts to their God, (and doesn't that make you just pity some of them?) has sentenced to death, or torture, or even turning into a some kind of monster, they're lost to the protagonist and they might feel bad about it, and throw a pity party, and people will try to console him (or her), and they get over it and become this better person. And then eventually that character will fade off into the distance and practically nobody remembers them. But then comes this unknown variable and does what essentially amounts to spitting in the face of God and flipping it the bird. (S)he saves this forsaken individual and everyone's flabbergasted and things change. It tends to be a pretty big thing as this prior knowledge becomes useless and eventually they're as much in the dark as anyone else. But this isn't always a good thing. Maybe the person they save falls into madness, maybe this person is revealed to be a horrible individual, maybe the person (and this is going to sound kind of cruel) would have been better off dead? And that's even ignoring the giant elephant in the room. They're a mistake, a glitch in the system. What makes you so sure the world won't try to purge itself of them? What makes them so certain that whatever rules that world won't kill them? The answer is denial. They'll deny it, and claim that it's not possible. As if their entire situation was logical or even reasonable in the first place. Logic flew out the window the moment you remembered a past life and retained awareness even as a baby.

But of course, I'm getting off track. I apologize in advance, but that will likely happen quite often as my mind tends to wander quite frequently. What was the topic before I go distracted? Ah yes, reincarnated individuals. They assume that they will be dragged into the story, and that they can't avoid combat no matter what. This is a complete and utter lie, which is fueled by the part of them that wants to learn these dangerous and fascinating techniques. Those that are reincarnated see these techniques that they could previously only watches in awe, but now have the potential to learn it. They could bend the elements to their will; they could enhance their body to be capable of learning awe inspiring feats, they could use magic or tame mythological beasts. And every time they do one of these things, they get further and further away from the weak, scared and pathetic individual they were while they died. Every time they could see themselves make a crater with a punch, or summon a creature capable of mass destruction, or change the environment on a whim, they get giddy with the power they now wield. They delude themselves into thinking that they have true strength, that they wouldn't die as pathetically as they did before. And then comes someone so superior, and all of their incomprehensible strength comes without the advantage being a reincarnated person gives you. And then they remember how anyone and everyone can die. How no matter how safe you think you are, someone can and will destroy this illusion you have and there is nothing you can do about it. How no matter how you die, you still die, and it's never dignified.

Now, I won't say how I was the epitome of wisdom and perfect decisions for my reincarnation, far from it. I've probably made more mistakes than any other reincarnated protagonist in existence. My name is-

Author Notes: Well, I think I did a fairly decent job on this. Took me two or three hours because of distractions, and a shit ton of mellow music. Yes, this is a SI (kind of, not really, you'll see) and there will be mature themes everywhere. So if you're easily offended, have strong morals, or a bad affinity with tragedy this is probably not the story for you. Well, you could've probably figured that out from the prologue. Anyways, I'll just twiddle my thumbs and see what happens with this.