Hello, and welcome to yet another new fanfic. I have a serious problem. This is an epidemic of new ideas. I need an embargo.
Either way, this one was inspired by…. Actually, I'm not sure what inspired this. Huh. What I DO know is that I won't update it for a while.
Anyhow, this fanfic in particular isn't going to be like my EoR story, this one will mesh Servants from FGO into the world of RWBY as if they were meant to be there. You know, fusing the canon together, changing the nature of the Servants to match that which fits in this world. Like that Naruto x RWBY fanfic, Veritas Aequitas, or Hunting Or Bust. The two worlds blend in together almost seamlessly.
The focus on this story will mainly be on one specific Servant, but others will get the spotlight too of course. RWBY stories are typically team stories anyway.
Now then, enough rambling, let's get on with this!
Misericordia
Chapter 1: ~Antico Preludio~
Once upon a time, there were five siblings. Four sisters, and one brother.
Being the children of a powerful sorcerer and witch, the four sisters were born with the ability to use magic. But the brother was not.
The boy was weaker than his sisters, being given a rather frail body at birth. He fell ill almost every time the seasons changed, or whenever the temperature was one extreme or the other. As a result, he was coddled and kept sheltered by his family. Anything he did was always under supervision, to ensure he did not strain himself.
Despite his poor health, he found himself happy.
Happiness, does not last long in this world, unfortunately.
One night, his parents had an argument. He knew not what the argument was about. Only that one of his sisters overheard it, so she tried to break it up by suddenly entering the room and showing that she was capable of magic.
The mother was pleased, joyful even.
The father on the other hand, was forlorn. Sorrowful.
Then came the night that they lost everything.
The father tried to sneak them out. He did not tell them why. He only told them to be quiet, walk softly, and be unseen.
But the mother had expected this, and she became wrathful. Catching them in the act, she attacked.
A fight broke out. Magic was hurled between the two parents, as the children cowered and tried to hide.
The boy was confused, scared, and paralyzed. The sight of his parents viciously aiming spells at each other with the intent to harm, to kill even, was horrifying.
He never saw the explosion that took the lives of his sisters.
Nor did he see the castle's stone archway that collapsed upon him.
Darkness became all he knew then.
When he awoke, he smelled ashes. All he saw above him was the night sky, the stars obscured by the smoking fumes from his home's remains. He smelled torched flesh. Without even looking, he knew whose carcass was currently smoking.
His mother found him, her face draining of color and anger, now showing a semblance of the mother he knew. The mother who raised him and loved him.
As she pulled him out of the debris, he realized he was dying. Every part of his body was in agony, and his chest rattled every time he took a breath.
"I will fix you. Nobody will ever hurt us again." His mother had promised, cradling his frail form as monsters began to approach the castle, not a single one even daring to glance at his mother with anything but obedience.
And as she carried his dying body towards the lands shrouded by darkness, towards a pool of shadows and destruction, the boy knew that the world was going to be a different place.
A pair of scarlet eyes slowly opened up as a crowd applauded.
These eyes were set in a youthful, handsome teenage boy's face, if a bit gaunt. His jawline was firm, his eyes slightly sunken, with dark rings under them from a lack of sleep. His hair was a startling shade of gray, like the fresh ashes of a cigar, tied into a bit of a messy man-bun and ponytail hybrid.
The boy wore a black, pinstripe suit with silver stripes and red accents under the arms and back. He had a cravat under his suit's jacket, a golden pocket watch dangling from a long chain around his neck. Black leather gloves were firmly fastened onto his hands, which were currently hovering above the keys of a piano.
His ensemble was completed by black suit pants and slightly pointed dress shoes.
As his eyes opened, he slowly turned to see a sea of people, an audience in a massive auditorium, cheering at the top of their lungs.
It was to be expected. The music he played was nothing short of spectacular.
Ah, but he wasn't the star of the show tonight. While on other exhibitions, he would be front and center, conducting a magnificent orchestra, he was merely the sideshow to the main event.
He glanced towards the one who was the bigger focus here, a girl whose angelic voice was accompanied by his piano and the violins of his orchestra. Weiss Schnee. Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company.
Despite the glowing applause, she looked rather distracted. Almost surprised. It seems she may have been zoning off somehow as she sang. Understandable. It happens to him all the time.
Slowly, the cheering wound down as the curtain began to fall. His fingers flexed as he straightened up, adjusting his gloves.
"Your skills really are something else when heard up close like that."
Slowly, the grey haired youth turned to regard the Schnee heiress, who now stood less than a few feet before him. He nodded slowly as he began to stand up.
"One could say the same for your own vocals, Miss Schnee."
"Please, Mister Salieri, we are partners in tonight's gala. Call me Weiss. We are the same age after all." The snow haired girl smiled faintly, her hands folded in front of her demurely.
The picture perfect appearance of what an heiress should be.
Too perfect. Almost like a mask.
"Then, I would extend the same courtesy to you, Signora Weiss. Call me Antonio." He smirked a little wryly as the musicians began to pack away their instruments, and the stage crew started to haul off his piano.
Well, not his piano. This one was donated by the Schnee Dust Company for his exclusive use in tonight's sponsored gala. His own piano was something he always carried with him…. Not that anyone would see it.
The two youths walked together as the sounds of the audience making their way into the main room for the ball filled the auditorium, the sounds of hundreds of heeled shoes and dress shoes clacking their way out.
The main ball room was quite packed with people. Not a single person in this massive room was anything below the highest working class. Businessmen and women, the richest of the rich. Every person in this room was a member of high society and had the attitude to match it.
Trophy wives and husbands made up the majority of the people here. A few high ranking military officials made up the minority, as well as a few young heirs and heiresses to wealthy companies and families, trying to make connections or score themselves their own trophy spouses through their political or economic clout.
Not a single person here held any sort of conviction or drive. That was what Salieri thought. This massive room, was filled with naught but sheep. Still, there were a few exceptions, namely the heiress standing beside him. "Excited that you will finally be attending Beacon Academy? I imagine that the temperate Vale air would be a welcome change compared to the constant cold of Atlas."
"Yes, it will be a welcome change. Even if the strides I had to take in order to be allowed this chance were rather aggravating." Weiss huffed, blinking slowly. An action which drew Salieri's eyes to the scar on her left eye.
They had met before, briefly, during other events like this one, and engaged in pleasantries, but she never had this scar before.
"I have been meaning to ask. What happened to your eye?" His question earned a grimace from the Schnee heiress as she lightly brushed a finger along her scar.
"It was.. a training accident. I had to prove myself in combat to earn the permission of my father to attend Beacon. It was nothing serious. It is actually only a cosmetic injury if anything, my eye was not damaged at all, thus letting me keep my sight in optimal condition. Quite a stroke of luck."
"I see. If I may be so bold, Signora, the scar suits you. It gives you an air of… belleza enigmatica, one could say." The musician hummed before he sipped from the wine glass in his hand.
While he technically was not of age, people made exceptions during events like this. And a good thing too, Atlesian wine was unrivaled.
Weiss' face turned an interesting shade of red, a color that stood out on her pale appearance, before she huffed. "F-flattery will not get you anywhere, Antonio, even if you spout fanciful words in old Mistralian. You will have to try a little harder than that to get my favor."
"Mie scuse, I speak naught but the truth. I suppose I will have plenty of time to speak more truths at Beacon, if our schedules match up." He shrugs, chuckling for a moment. The icy eyed heiress turned to look at him with raised brows.
"You will be attending Beacon as well? What about your career? You are one of Atlas' most prodigal musical genius! You would give that up just to become a Huntsman? I was not even aware you even knew how to fight!"
"I make time to train, now and then." He smirks wryly at her. "My career was a wonderful passion that lasted a good amount of time, but I have goals that I can only achieve by becoming a Huntsman. And who knows, perhaps studying at Beacon and learning the ways of the Huntsman will give me inspiration for new arrangements and pieces. And besides… I am sure my accomplice can manage the stage without me."
The two teens continued to chat, mingling near each other whilst the party went on, and words of gossip continued to bounce from mouth to mouth.
"Look at that, Salieri is chatting up the Schnee heiress!"
"No surprise, they are the same age and worked together on that song before. Think they might be an item?"
"Who knows? That's too much of a cliché, isn't it? A young, orphaned musical prodigy and a rich heiress?"
Yes, gossip was one thing that truly united the high society of Atlas, besides money and influence.
"I suppose the next time we meet will be at Beacon, Antonio." Weiss hummed as she stood outside the gala building, wearing a thick jacket around her body to fend off the cold as she stood in front of her family's limousine. Her father was resting his eyes inside on the front seat, whilst her brother was impatiently waiting in the backseat.
"Indeed. Buona notte, Signora Weiss." Antonio Salieri smiled charmingly, before he gently takes Weiss' hand and places a brief kiss on one of her knuckles. The Schnee heiress gains a tinge of red in her cheeks before she nods, smiling as she enters the limo, the driver shutting the door for her before he narrows his eyes at the grey haired teenager.
Salieri smirks at him as an expression that had not once formed this night while in the presence of others begins to come forth. A savage looking smirk, his eyes narrowed and his scarlet orbs glimmering with barely hidden malice.
The sight startled the driver, his face draining of color before he quickly gets into the driver's seat and begins to drive off.
"Hmm… Beacon Academy…" The musician murmurs as he folds his hands behind his back, looking up at the starry sky, the bright satellite known as Remnant's shattered moon hovering eerily in the sky. "It has been a long time coming…"
"Antonio~!" A flamboyant voice called out, making Salieri grimace for a moment before he sighs and turns around, coming face to face with a garishly dressed blonde youth with his hair tied in a style very similar to Salieri's, but due to having much longer hair, the ponytail fell down his back in waves and curls of pale blonde hair. He was clad in a black suit with an open jacket, revealing a black and gold vest underneath and an elegant cravat. He had white cotton gloves on his hands, and resting upon his shoulders was a ridiculous black and purple fur cloak with a stuffed Beowolf head seated on his right shoulder, its mouth wide open.
At least he wasn't wearing that stupid hat of his, that was the only solace Salieri could salvage from this. "What is it, Amadeus?"
"I've gathered the others in the changing room, they await your farewell speech with open ears and aching hearts~!"
"Very well… let us get this over with." Salieri sighs before he follows the other teen back into the building.
It was time to bid farewell to his companions.
"I must say Antonio, your sudden enrollment to Beacon came as quite a surprise, even to me!" The blonde youth hummed, reclining in a chair. The two of them were currently seated across from each other in the changing room of the building, wine glasses in their hands.
This was the one person that Salieri trusted more than anyone during his time in Atlas. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This was the accomplice and partner of Salieri, a youth whose talent and love for music rivaled, perhaps even ascended beyond Salieri's own.
For while Salieri enjoyed playing his musical instruments, Mozart absolutely reveled in it. It was like the difference between a dolphin and a fish. Both swam, but one was much more attuned to the sea than the other.
Perhaps that was a poor analogy, but regardless, Salieri nodded, knowing that despite his intent to leave, the orchestra was in good hands. "I have things I need to do, Amadeus. Things that I cannot achieve from playing music in Atlas. Vale is where I must go. Beacon is where I must be. I apologize for springing this upon you."
"Oh nein, nein, I don't mind at all. It gives me a time to shine, no? While the audience loves your dark and mysterious presence, I think it is high time they bask in my light!" Mozart laughs, lightly swirling his glass of wine, a redness in his cheeks indicating he was not quite that sober. "I just pray you do not forget about us while you are out there, slaying monsters and saving humanity!"
"Trust me, mio amico, I will be quite hard-pressed to forget the likes of you." The red eyed teen chuckles, taking a sip from his glass.
"Hey now, what is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing at all Amadeus. Nothing at all."
The two musicians laughed together for a brief moment, before they fall into a comfortable silence. Mozart slowly closes his eyes, smiling as he sips from his glass.
"I will miss you, Antonio. You have been an amazing friend, ein einfach wunderbarer Freund. We will play a song in your honor at our next show, and should the Grimm manage to actually claim your life, we will create a fantastic orchestra that will echo throughout the land in memory of your soul."
"Idiot, I haven't even left yet and you are making a eulogy…"
It would be almost half an hour later that Mozart left to head home, before Salieri followed suit to return to his own home. Being a wealthy heir himself to the Mozart family that almost entirely consisted of musicians, he had a family to return home to.
Antonio Salieri did not. He had no family to return home to.
None that would be feasible, at the very least.
As he entered his apartment, Salieri sighed softly, walking towards the balcony of his room. Gazing out at the cold, aristocratic Atlesian nightlife, he pondered.
This would be his last night in Atlas. He had to get to Vale early in order to truly confirm his suspicions.
"I will finally get my answers…" He mutters, gazing up at the shattered moon. "...answers you seem to refuse to give me, mother."
"I am trying to protect you, Antonio."
Without even turning around, he knew what was behind him. It was always the same creature. A hovering, balloon shaped creature of Grimm, sprouting multiple red tendrils from its gaping, spherical shaped maw that were tipped with sharp, bladed spikes. The creature, a Seer, had its head partially covered by bone plates, as most Grimm do, and had an image within its chaotic red mist. An image of a woman with alabaster skin and hair, with red veins surrounding her red eyes contained within black sclera.
"You have been trying to protect me for far too long. Why else do you think I left all those years ago?"
"You are being foolish, Antonio. While I came to accept your little rebellion and decision to insert yourself within Atlas' high society by becoming a musician, I cannot accept your decision to go to Beacon."
"I appreciate your opinion on the matter, and will promptly discard it, mother." Salieri sighs, slowly turning around to face the Seer, and the image of his mother. "I have to find out the truth."
"You already KNOW the truth!"
"I only know half of the story! A story which you refused to elaborate on!" The youth loses his composure for a moment, the whites of his eyes darkening suddenly to pitch black, before the darkness recedes as he grits his teeth. "You have kept me in that pool for hundreds of years, and even when you let me out to finally grow, you don't tell me anything!"
"This is all beyond you, Antonio! This war is between myself and Him! You need not know anything, nor even DO anything besides staying safe and healthy! You are a child!"
"I have not been a child since my sisters died!"
Silence filled the room as Salieri slowly takes a step towards the Seer, shadows beginning to waft from his body, coalescing on his clothes, beginning to form black and red armor that twisted and writhed.
"I have not been a child since you dropped me in that pool of darkness to heal me, only to turn me into a monster!"
"Antonio-"
"I have not been a child since I awoke to find that it has been hundreds, if not thousands of years since that night! I have not been a child since my mother decided to wage a war against all of humanity!"
Standing before the Seer was no longer Salieri, but a large, winged creature clad in blacks, reds and magentas, glowing pink eyes set between segmented silver armor covering parts of the creatures face, like a mask of the Grimm, an open maw filled with silver, sharp teeth.
"I have not been a child for a long time, mother. I am no longer the easily debilitated little boy you coddled and raised. I am grateful for all you have done… but I must find Him. I must hear Him out. And not even you will stop me from doing so. This has gone on for too long and I refuse to be denied my answers." Saleri growls, hovering above the Seer as he stares down his mother.
And as the demon stares down the witch, the witch blinked first, finally sighing as she closes her eyes and speaks once more, her voice shaking a little.
"You are making a mistake, Antonio… I cannot lose you as well… not to Him."
"I am sorry, mother. But this is happening regardless. I will get my answers from Him."
"And if His answers are not to your liking?" The image of his mother asks, opening her eyes once more.
Salieri was silent for a moment, before his eyes glowed brighter.
"Then he dies."
A tense silence fills the room once more as mother and son stare each other down through the image of the Seer.
"Fine. Do as you wish. But know that if you get in the way of my plans… I will not stop my underlings from doing what they must. Choose your side wisely when you hear His half of the story."
"Let them come. Huntsmen or Grimm, nothing will stand in my way." Salieri declares as his form finally begins to shrink, his armor cracking away and fading into ashes as his humanity is regained.
"Very well. Farewell then, my son… my Antonio."
"Farewell, mother." Salieri murmurs, before lifting his arm up, conjuring up a blade of pure silver in his grasp, wildfire beginning to spiral around the narrow blade.
It would be best to make sure the Seer was destroyed anyway. Lest it be seen somehow by soldiers as it attempts to leave.
The image of his mother closes her eyes, seeing her son prepare to destroy the link.
"I love you, mother."
"I love you too."
And as Antonio Salieri swung his blade down, cleaving the Seer clean in half, the remains catching fire and disintegrating, he knew that despite everything, that was the one thing his mother was honest about.
Once upon a time, a boy lost everything. His sisters, his father, and even his mother to some sort of madness. Yet as he was submerged into a pool of darkness, his body breaking apart, he felt an unbridled anger. A fury that refused to be taken away. A fury that fueled him, as the pool reformed his body into something else, a form that was covered in red and black, a form that struck fear into the hearts of both Grimm and men alike.
He entered the pool as a boy, and as hundreds of years passed, he left the pool as a monster.
The world was different, and his mother was different. She was scheming something, something she refused to tell him about.
And as he grew older, his body aging so much slower, he saw that something was wrong with her.
His mother was broken. Her heart, her soul, her mind was broken, and he had no idea why.
She told him lies and half-truths, telling the bare minimum.
"It is nothing, sweetheart."
"It is just a headache."
"Mommy is just feeling a little angry."
"Nothing to worry about, just getting rid of vermin."
And yet as she began to collect followers, the boy began to feel weary.
She refused to tell him anything about his father.
She refused to give a straight answer about why they fought.
All her answers were the same.
"He was a coward."
So one day, the boy left. Strong-arming one of her followers, he made a false identity for himself.
Though his surname was taken from an old book, he kept his birth name.
And so, Antonio Salieri entered the realm of humanity for the first time.
And there, he discovered something beautiful.
Music.
And so he played, and he played, and made friends with another likeminded youth who enjoyed music like he did. The youth was named Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. But he simply called him Amadeus.
Eventually, Mozart's family decided to fund their musical talents, and they began to play live. And then, they went from mere musicians, to conductors as well, guiding magnificent orchestral wonders.
For a while, Antonio Salieri was happy.
But the shadow of his mother lingered on the world.
And one name she always spoke of to her henchmen would continue to ring in his mind.
Ozpin.
With that name in his head, a plan on his mind, and a drive in his soul, Antonio Salieri decided thusly.
It is time to get answers.
For himself…
…and his fallen sisters.