A/N - I'm back! Well, not completely, since I'm still smack-dab in the middle of exam season and up to my neck in revision, but free enough to finally get this down on (virtual) paper.
This idea went through so many different incarnations, it's almost unreal. It started off when I finished Persona 5, and I thought, 'huh, Joker has black hair and red eyes, like Qrow' and then the idea went from being Phantom Thieves vs Hunstmen and Huntresses to time travel to a whole bunch of other wacky stuff. then the other wild cards got mixed in there somewhere and finally this got spat out.
This is more of a prologue than a true chapter, but it's absolutely necessary to establish this stuff so you have even the slightest clue what's happening later on.
Without further ado, let us start the game! (hehehe)
"Ah, a guest", The old man at the desk smiled, a crooked grin stretched over a long, hooked nose.
"You must have been truly desperate to find this place. Desperate… or perhaps something more…" he ghosted into nothing, wisping into smoke as if he'd never even been there at all.
"Gentlemen. Lady. We have a guest"
The boy and the girl, sitting in identical outfits and positions in chairs designed after the image of an instrument, looked up as one.
"This is the place that exists between mind and matter"
Intelligent eyes looked up from the plush bench, grey hair drifting with the movement.
"Between dream and reality"
The mess of black hair, chained to the wall and dressed in the clothes of a convict, curled one edge of his mouth up in a half smile.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room" Igor grinned, "I do hope you enjoy your stay".
Ruby Rose groaned sleepily, and weakly tried to swat at her alarm clock to get it to turn off. Once she finally managed to do that, she lay back and blinked the sleep from her eyes. She'd had a strange dream, but whatever it was she'd dreamed about eluded her.
Something blue? A particular shade, as well, she pondered as she dragged herself downstairs. Why blue though? She'd much rather it be red. Her brain was weird like that, she decided.
"Hey" smiled her father; turning to look at her as she descended the stairs, "Look who's finally up".
Taiyang Xiao-Long was a gigantic bear of a man. He'd taken enough emotional and physical punishment to crush any normal man three times over and remained standing, and it showed. He struck an imposing figure, for almost anyone except Ruby and her sister.
Taiyang was not born to be a father by any stretch of the imagination, and many would even consider him lacking in that regards. But for Ruby, he was the one who looked after her while she was sick, who had carried her to bed when she was sleepy, and had helped her build her beloved weapon.
Ruby truly loved her father, and though like any self-respecting teenager she'd never say it aloud, she had a feeling that he understood.
"G'mornin Dad" she mumbled, giving him a sleepy hug and moving into the next room. She found Yang draped over the sofa, apparently up only a few minutes before her, if her pyjamas and the bags under her eyes were any indication.
Yang was many things, but a morning person was not one of them.
She moved her legs, letting Ruby collapse onto the other end of the sofa.
"Any plans today?" she asked, TV remote in one hand and flicking through the various morning channels.
Ruby yawned, stretching her arms out her head; "I think I might go into Vale today. There's a magazine I wanted to pick up. Maybe restock on Dust for the week".
"Cool" Yang settled on a channel and leant back to watch it, "Could you get me some Fire? I was talking with Dad about adding some into Ember Celica's buckshot".
"Sure", then she glared at her weakly, "Don't you dare test that without me".
Yang laughed, and leant over to pat her on the head, "Wouldn't dream of it, Rubes"
Ten minutes later, she was dressed and ready to leave. She wrapped her cloak around her shoulders, like she'd done so many times before, and fastened it at the collar. Even after all this time, her mother's parting gift still brought a pang of emotion, but it was quickly pushed down.
"Dad!" she called as she descended the stairs once more.
"I heard", he replied, "You've got your licence?"
The licence in question was a Hunter Trainee Licence, which allowed her to carry her weapon, Crescent Rose, in public. She pulled out the small card from her pocket and presented it to him.
"And extra clips for Crescent Rose?", as before she showed them to him.
"And you've charged your scroll?"
"Dad"
"Alright alright", he smiled as she huffed in exasperation, "Don't be back too late".
"I won't," she promised, heading for the door, "and don't let Yang start those modifications before I get back!" she called back.
He promised not to, and with that she closed the door behind her, fixed her headphones over her ears, and headed for the train that connected Patch to the City of Vale. A fairly normal day, all things considered.
Beyond human comprehension, something stirred.
"I suppose now is the time to see whether or not this is indeed the one we are looking for", Igor mused.
"For the record", the inmate spoke up, "I really don't like this".
"None of us do" said the girl on the lyre chair, "But it is the best option available".
"The potential of the Wild Card is limitless", murmured her male counterpart, blue hair falling over his eyes, "But is it enough to achieve the impossible?".
"It has to be", responded the room's final occupant still seated on the bench, "If there's even a chance we can prevent that from happening…"
"It is not the only option. There is-" the blue twin suggested, before being cut off.
"We are not using that thing" growled the inmate, a sudden vehemence springing into his voice, "In case you've forgotten, I spent my life fighting against those kind of delusions of omnipotence. We're toeing a very thin line as it is".
"Which is why it's a last resort, and nothing more", soothed the girl, and all four lapsed into a pensive silence.
"Then you are in agreement?" Igor queried. There was a pause, and then the boy on the bench dipped his head in agreement. The twins shared a look, and then nodded as one. All eyes fell on the inmate, still lounging in his cell.
"Tch. Fine" he grumbled, clearly still unhappy.
"Marvellous" Igor clapped his hands, "Very well then, let us begin".
There was a bright light, and the world changed.
Ruby winced as a stab of pain lanced through her skull. She pressed her temple, and in a second or two, it was gone. One of those weird headaches, she decided, and went back to staring out the window.
"Now arriving at Vale City Centre. Change here for lines to Patch and The Docklands" The automated voice of the train was loud enough to pierce through her headphones, and she stretched and stood up as the train began to slow to a stop.
It was a fairly short walk to the newsagent that she knew stocked the magazine she was looking for. The owner of the small shop, a short fat man with a forgettable face she'd seen many times, yet had never talked to accepted her lien with the bored repetition of most cashiers.
'Dust for Yang, then home'. No need to hang around longer than necessary, after all. She began to walk away, and then stopped as something caught her eye.
A shop, or more accurately a café, nestled neatly in between a small branch of a big brand store and some kind of antique shop. It looked pretty traditional, all paned windows and potted plants outside.
She stopped and stared at it for a few more seconds, before shrugging to herself and heading in. She could always use it as a nice, warm place to sit and read her magazine. There was no rush, after all.
She pushed open the door, and a little bell rung. The inside had a warm, homely feel to it, with three booths on one side of the narrow main room, and a line of stools facing the counter on the other side.
Plus it was warm, so she wasn't complaining.
One quick order later and she was nursing a warm cup of hot chocolate in between her hands, flipping through the magazine. It was quite nice, if she was perfectly honest, and she wondered whether she go to cafés more often.
"Hmm", a puzzled noise sounded from beside her table, "But if it has only three injectors, wouldn't it just fizzle out before it could get activate". She looked back at the page, and the flaming sword that was being presented in great detail.
"Oh, yeah", she answered automatically, noticing the mistake for the first time, "You'd need at least too more, plus the coolant system would need to be rerouted and-" She managed to stop herself before she went off on too much of a tangent, and actually looked at the speaker.
A pair of glasses, resting neatly beneath a bird's nest of messy black hair, peered back at her. The guy behind the counter, who now she looked closer at him, couldn't have been much older than her sister, had moved around from the counter to look over at her magazine.
"Ah", he blinked under her curious gaze and rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile, "Sorry. It's just unusual to actually see someone interested in that kind of stuff".
"Yeah..." she agreed sadly, "you're a huntsman-in-training?". Most, if not all of the people who'd even have a vague interest in weapons and their workings were either huntsmen or at least trainees.
"Me?", he looked surprised, then rubbed the back of his head again. Ruby wondered if he did that a lot, "ah, I wish. I just know a lot about weapon customisation".
"What kind?" She asked, curiosity winning over he innate shyness for a brief moment.
"Ranged options. I only really have any practical experience with the stuff that's available to civilians, but I've read all about the hunter stuff", then he looked at her again, "does that mean you're a huntress-in-training? Can I see your weapon?"
The sudden enthusiasm took her aback for a second, but she nodded and pulled Crescent Rose out from where she'd leant it against the edge of the table.
"That mechanism…" he mused aloud, "A sniper rifle? And if it's a hunter's weapon, it has to have an alternate form, right?"
"Mhmm!" she nodded, "This is only the standby mode. I would show you it when it's deployed, but I don't think it'd actually fit in here".
"It's that big? What is it?", he sounded surprised, and understandably so. The shop may have been fairly cramped, but it was still a fairly large room.
"Well" she beamed, fully in her element now, "This is Crescent Rose. She's a fully adaptable, dust-reinforced High Calibre Sniper-Scythe!"
He stared at her blankly, "You made that term up, didn't you?"
"Gurk!" she clutched her chest, feigning injury, "How did you know?"
"Because it sounds made up?"
"Ack!" she collapsed back into her chair, "My evil plan has been discovered! Woe is me?
"Right", he said with an indulgent smile, "would her evil highness like another hot chocolate?"
She mimed a pose of condescending consideration, "her evil highness would", she decided.
They both laughed, and moved back around the counter to do just that.
Once they'd stopped laughing, and the only sounds in the comfortable silence were the clinking of china, Ruby was struck with a thought.
"Oh! I, uh, didn't ask you your name", she said sheepishly, rubbing her head in an unknowing mimicry of her new friend's habit.
"It's Akira." He said, without turning around from his task, "Akira Kurusu".
"Hi, Akira" she smiled, "I'm Ruby". He returned with a drink not a moment later, and she launched into a mixture of explaining the various functions of Crescent Rose to her newfound audience, and taking sips of her drink (he really did make good hot chocolate).
Yep, definitely going to go to cafés more often.
It was late when the door to the house was pushed open, and a red-faced Ruby stumbled in, bag in hand.
"I'm back!" she called into the hallway as she hurriedly pulled off her shoes and dashed for the garden. She pulled open the sliding glass door to her sister and her father in the middle of an intense spar. They paused as she drew close, putting her hands on her knees and huffing once she reached them.
"Here" she wheezed, presenting the bag of Red Dust, to Yang, who took it with an amused smirk, "You haven't started without me, have you?"
"Nope", Yang reassured her, "You came at a pretty good time actually".
"Did you get caught up reading again?" asked her father with an amused smile of his own.
"Eh? How did you know?"
He laughed and patted her head, "Because that's why you're late every time, Rubes". He turned away and started to move towards the shed that they used for working on their weapons, "Well?, might as well get started before it gets too late. You two do have school tomorrow, after all".
Ruby trotted after the two of them, the happy aura hovering around being passed on to her family.
Today had been a good day.
Akira flipped the sign on Leblanc's door to closed as the sky darkened outside, and then went back to washing the used mugs. There hadn't exactly been many customers that day, but considering the shop had only started existing halfway through the day, that was to be expected. Still, he couldn't help but wonder if this was how Sojiro felt, dealing with the constant lack of customers.
He smiled at the thought, and carried on washing up. Behind him, the bell on the door rung as it was pushed open. He sighed, and turned to look at the boy, close enough to being a man that there was no real way to tell the difference, who took a seat one of the stools.
"What took you so long?" he asked the newcomer.
"Apologies", he returned smoothly, "there appears to have been some variation in Igor's, ah, introduction", he sighed and cracked a rueful smile, "It took a little while to find my way around the city".
"An entire city", Akira growled, "An entire city full of cafés, and she chooses this one to walk into. What are the chances of that?"
"Too low to be natural" replied his friend, "You don't like her?"
"The opposite", he sighed, letting his anger abate as he carried on working, "She's good, innocent. She doesn't deserve to get wrapped up in all of this just because of a power she might have and some twisted plan".
They fell into a sombre silence after that, until the newcomer spoke up again, "Has there been any sign of the twins?"
"No, and I doubt there will be for some time. They'll probably have split up and gone off to some obscure corner of the world. They never liked spending too much time together, after all".
Akira allowed himself a smile, "Yeah", then he turned to look more closely at his companion, "Guess it's just you and me for a while, Narukami".
Yu Narukami blinked, then let his lips curve up into a half-smile.
"Yes, I suppose it is".
Far away from the world of Remnant, something began to move.
"It has begun" Igor intoned, surrounded by his many assistants, each looking sombrely upon the advancing deity, "I cannot tell how much time you have left, but know it grows shorter with each passing day".
He stared with bloodshot eyes, set with grim determination, "Is humanity worth saving, in a different world than the last? It is time to find out once again".
Chaos began his Crawling descent downwards, towards annihilation.
A/N - Any SMT fans, pay close attention to the Capital letters, and you'll get a little hint of what's coming up. Everyone else, you're the lucky ones. You get to find out what the hell is going on as every character who's not a Wild Card (or Igor) does, then look back at this and see all the little hints i've dropped all over the place
A lot of things might not make complete sense now, but soon they will, I promise. All will be revealed *dark chuckle*.
See you in the next chapter!