Do You Know What Happens Now?

"God, the place is ancient," Nero observed out loud, walking through the corridors of the castle.

"It's not that old," Louise told him, rolling her eyes. "The castle itself has been here for generations but it gets renovated every few decades or so."

"That's not what I meant. *Sigh* I guess I really am in another world," Nero said. "The only places that are this low-tech are never around long enough for people to bother with."

"Low-tech?" Louise asked, the term sounding incredibly foreign to her.

"It means un-advanced," Nero elaborated.

"Oh," said Louise, understanding dawning on her features. "Hey, wait a minute," she said, stopping and turning around as understanding dawned on her. "This castle has all of the most advanced charms and enchantments money can buy, it doesn't get any more high-tech than this."

"That's not what tech means, don't use words that you don't even understand."

"Hmmph," came Louise's pouty response.

"Cute," Nero said, taking his turn to roll his eyes. "So where am I staying, Shortcake?"

"Shortcake?" Louise asked in a low tone.

"Yeah," Nero said. "You know, like strawberry shortcake. Who knows, with a nickname that sweet maybe you can trick people into thinking the same of you."

"Who does this familiar think it is?" Louise growled, grinding her teeth together. "To talk to its master like this… Don't think I've forgotten how you called me a… a…bitch… out in the courtyard."

Nero just raised an eyebrow at this. "You mean when you branded me with a bunch of nonsense that I'll be wearing for the rest of my life?"

"You should be proud to wear those runes," Louise huffed spinning back around and marching down the corridor with her hands on her hips. "Those mark you as not just a familiar but my familiar. Most peasants would jump at the chance to brand themselves if it meant that they could join the Vallière household.

"You either have a very low opinion of peasants or a very high opinion of your family."

"Why wouldn't a member of the Vallière family have a low opinion of the peasants? We're above them, after all."

"Or maybe it's just both," Nero said, knowing without a doubt that it was both. "Jeez, with an ego that big, it's a wonder I have to look down at you."

"That's it," Louise said, an air of finality in her voice as she opened a door. "Get in." Noticing the tone in her voice but not recognizing its significance, Nero walked into the room after her.

"So Strawberry Shortcake," he said as he closed the door behind him. "This is my room, I…" Nero trailed off as he turned around and looked around the room seeing that it was incredibly likely that this was not his room and was, in fact, somebody else's. "Don't… take it?"

"Oh no, it is," Louise assured him. "Or, at least, it will be," she continued as she reached into a drawer and pulled out-

"A riding crop?" Nero asked. "What do you plan on doing with that?"

"Didn't I say it already? Are you deaf or are you just stupid? Perhaps it's both?"

"… So the riding crop?" Nero said, just choosing to ignore her previous statement.

"Well, I was hoping I could let you off the hook for what you said in the courtyard but ever since, I have received nothing but lip and attitude from you and I think it's high time somebody taught you manners. It is clear your parents have failed to do so." At this, Nero's eyes narrowed and his rage felt almost palpable.

"You don't get to talk about my parents, brat¸ and you definitely don't get to lecture me about manners," Nero growled.

"How dare-" Louise began.

"I'm not finished," Nero went on cutting off his 'master'. "You may have saved my life when you summoned me here and I was more than willing to pay you back for that, but branding me like some sort of animal? Making me your slave? When my debt is settled, you'd better hope you never see me again."

"Th-th-that's it. You get 50 lashes, Dog, so take off your shirt and turn around or else I'll make the punishment worse." Though she managed to make herself look angry and indignant, Nero could smell her fear.

"Make. Me," he snarled, spinning on his heal and walking through the door.

He didn't even bother opening it.

Louise gasped as she took a step back, dropping her riding crop in the process. Her familiar, her peasant familiar, had just summoned some sort of magic circle and used it to walk right through the door. By the time she had picked her jaw up from off the floor and reached the door he was out of sight.

Deciding to save her questions for later she ran out the door and called after her familiar. "You damn dog! Get back here!" However before she could even reach the stairs, she froze in her tracks.

Another magic circle had been placed on the ground beneath her and it was keeping her completely stationary, even the awkward angle in which she had been caught at didn't cause her tip over.

Her familiar was a mage!

"Why, I'd love to try your soufflés, Katie, I'm sure they're to die for."

"Really, Lord Guiche? You're not just making fun of me are you?"

"Of course not, Katie. Would these eyes ever lie to you?"

Nero quietly snorted as he walked past, temporarily pulling him from his darker thoughts. 'Do those pick-up lines actually work?' He thought to himself. 'If they do, then getting into these girls' rooms is going to be a cakewalk.'

"Hey, you," said the blonde boy, Guiche, he believed the girl called him. "You're that commoner that the Zero summoned aren't you? What are you doing out here?"

"Ruining the romantic trysts of random students, it looks like," Nero replied, not slowing down in the slightest as he walked past. "But I'm bored of it now so I think I'll just let you get back to it."

"That is no way to- hey get back here!" Nero just waved back at them without even bothering to turn around.

"Well that's just rude," Guiche commented as he watched the black-clad boy walk away.

"Forget about him, Lord Guiche, let's just go back to us."

"Of course, Katie," Guiche replied, immediately pushing thoughts of the black-clad boy out of his head and pulling thoughts of Katie in their place.

Specifically, thoughts of what was under that first year uniform.

"It's like a dream to be spending the night with Kirche the Ardent," said the boy wearing the purple mantle of the third years.

"…"

Noticing her lack of response he tried to get her attention again. "Kirche?"

"Hmm?" Realizing she had been spacing out, Kirche brought herself back to the present. "Oh, Styx. I'm sorry, I was just thinking."

"Was it about what happened today?" he asked. "I heard some of your classmates are in comas now."

"Yes," Kirche confirmed. "That monster put three in a coma and sent five others to the infirmary."

"Such a tragedy," Styx said, shaking his head. "And it was the Vallière girl who summoned it right? They're definitely going to have to expel her for this."

"I doubt it," Kirche said. "Her parents are the duke and duchess Vallière after all. And besides that, it wasn't truly her fault to begin with, not to mention it was her familiar that ended up killing the damn thing anyway."

"Ah yes, her familiar, the peasant boy right?"

"That's right," Kirche said, nodding her head, thoughts going to the mysterious boy from this morning. "He's... He's right there actually," she continued, pointing her finger at said familiar.

"Oh, that's him?" Styx said, scrutinizing the boy. "He's smaller than I thought he would be."

Nero didn't even spare them a glance as he walked past and through the grand doors of the entrance hall.

"Sheesh, what is it with the students in this school and their late night romantic trysts?" Nero muttered to himself. "It's like they've never heard of keeping it in their pants."

Taking a big whiff of the crisp, clean air, Nero scanned his surroundings and saw that there was nobody out there. Looking up, Nero scanned the stars to get an idea of where he was and how he could get back to Beacon.

Then he looked closer.

"Huh. When did the rest of the moon clump together to form another moon?" He asked nobody in particular. Then he thought about it. "Wait. Can that happen? And how would the moons change from white to pink and blue?"

Trying to think about it rationally, Nero realized that he couldn't and slumped, realizing what that meant. "Shit. This really isn't Remnant. This is… This is… Way over my head." Upon realizing just how in over his head he was Nero lost control of his legs and sat down, his mind simply going blank.

"Welp. What do I do now?" Thinking about it some more, Nero stood up, deciding that some altitude would help clear his head.

Sliding off his shades and pulling his hood down, he reached behind his back and under his cloak, flicking a switch hidden at the bottom of his cuirass. Upon doing so, he heard the tell-tale sounds of its many gears and mechanisms turning in order to allow for an opening.

And through that opening came a pair of pure black wings.

Giving his wings a mighty flap, Nero rose off the ground and into the air. Flying higher and higher, Nero decided that once he was high enough, he would relax by coasting back down, one of his favourite pastimes.

Or at least that was the plan, before he heard the adorable sound of a creature going 'kyuuuuu!'

Quickly spinning in mid-air, Nero used his sharp, faunus enhanced vision to spy a girl and her dragon lying on the very top of the schools roof. The dragon was curled around the pole sticking out of the roof and a blue-haired girl was lying on top of the dragon, using the pole as a backrest.

Both girl and dragon were staring at him with widened eyes and shock adorning their faces. With his eyes, sharper than any humans, he could even see the way the bluenettes mouth was just slightly ajar and how she whirled her staff around slightly.

Why she did that was beyond him but he didn't dwell on it. Sending her a smirk she had no way of seeing, he craned his neck upwards and flew higher to go ahead with the rest of his plan. He hadn't planned on someone finding out about his faunus heritage but he doubted it would mean much.

After all, there was no way she could have seen him and even if she had, what would it matter? Everyone already thought of him as an animal anyways.

Cancelling her far sight spell, Tabitha placed her staff back down and thought deeply. When she had seen the silhouette of a man with wings flying through the night sky, she had thought she had seen one of the Winged Men, a rare and endangered species of, well, winged men.

Upon closer inspection, however, she had seen that the wings were black as night and the eyes were a sickly yellow.

"What was that, nee-sama?"

A good question. One that would need answering.

Riiight after she finished this chapter.

*groooowwwlll*

"Nee-sama, I'm hungry."

"*Sigh*"

Nero looked down at the world beneath him. From this high even his eyesight made everything look like vague dots on a TV with poor reception. Despite that, he could still see for miles and in the distance he spotted a city. Well, it was more of a large town by his standards but it would be unfair to judge this place by his standards.

Deciding he needed to stretch his wings, Nero gave them another flap and flew towards the lights in the distance.

Shortcake could go a night without his stellar company.

"Where is he?"

Guiche looked back as he heard the angry cry of a certain Zero he knew. "What is it now Louise? It's very late."

"My familiar," she said, frustrated. "It ran away and it might be a mage and I don't know where it is."

Guiche chuckled at her predicament. "Oh Zero, only you could- Wait. What was that?"

"I said I don't know where it is and I need your help finding it," Louise said, running towards the next flight of stairs.

"No, I mean before that."

"It ran away! Happy now?" Louise snapped, angry at having to be reminded that her familiar had run away, something that shouldn't be possible given the compulsion effect of the runes.

"No, after that!"

Louise slowed as she tried to remember. "It might be a mage?"

"Who might be a mage?"

Kirche and Styx talked some more about the strange boy that was Louise de La Vallière's familiar. Or at least Kirche did. Styx looked like he would rather talk about anything else but persevered for the sake of getting into her panties. Kirche either didn't notice or didn't care as she went on and on about possible theories on who he might be.

Then they both heard some footsteps, accompanied by some voices, coming down the stairs. Considering the lateness of the hour, they were both curious as to who the voices might be.

"It might be a mage?"

"Who might be a mage?" Kirche asked from across the entrance hall.

"Her familiar!" Cried Guiche

"Shh!" Louise hushed, bringing a finger up to her lips. "Do you want the whole school to find out?"

"I believe that is the least of your concerns, Zero," Guiche informed her. "Just think of what might happen if his family finds out. Even your family would have to face the penalties for something like that"

"Would you slow down?" Kirche asked, getting up and following the two. She noticed a brown haired girl also trailing behind them but she looked so confused she paid her no mind. "What's going on? How might that boy be a mage?"

"We had an argument and he walked out the door," said Louise, approaching the door that lead from the entrance to the courtyard.

"Seriously?" Kirche said flatly. "You think he's a mage because he walked out a door? There's nothing special about that, we're doing it right now!"

"No, not like that!" Louise protested. "Like, he didn't even open the door when he walked through it. And he summoned some sort of magic circle."

"Magic circle? That's impossible, rune based magic died out millennia ago," Kirche reminded her. "The only thing rune magic is used for nowadays is binding our familiars."

"I know that!" Louise insisted. "But I know what I saw! He definitely used some sort of magic circle to walk through that door!"

"Well did you at least see what kind of magic circle it was?" Guiche asked.

"Well, no…" Louise admitted. "It was standing in front of me so all I could really see was the edge."

Kirche and Guiche looked at each other and shrugged. "If you say so, Louise," they chorused.

"Good," Louise said, satisfied that they had agreed that she was correct and all was right in the world. "Now we just have to find my familiar." At that she brought a hand to her brow, despite it not nearly being bright enough to warrant doing so, and looked around. "It couldn't have gotten far."

"*Sigh* I wish Tabitha were here. Then we could just ask her to use far sight," Kirche lamented.

"Don't either of you know it?" Louise asked.

"No," Guiche said. "As an earth mage, air magic is not my specialty."

"Nor mine I'm afraid," Kirche said, shrugging.

"Um. I'm an air mage," Katie chimed in. "I could use it if you like."

"That would be appreciated," Louise told the girl.

"Okay, here goes." The girl brought out her wand and started chanting. Upon finishing her chant she started looking around.

"Well?" Louise asked impatiently. "Do you see it?"

"Umm…"

"Give her some time, Zero," Guiche admonished. "You're just lucky that my dear Katie was here to begin with."

"And why is she here, Guiche?" Louise said, not really asking as she turned to face Guiche. "Does Montmorency know you're here with her?"

"*Cough* *Cough* Uhh… What? I don't know what you're-"

"Lord Guiche, who's Montmorency?" asked Katie, also turning around to face Guiche.

"Uhhh… Oh, look at that," Guiche said, pointing towards the sky. "Something else!"

Styx snorted in the background. "Nice save, lady killer."

"Shut-"

"Tabitha!" Kirche cried, running forward as her friends dragon landed on the ground. "Listen, we think Vallière's familiar might be a mage but he ran away so we need someone to find him."

"Late."

"I know, but it would really mean a lot to me if you found him," Kirche implored.

"Why?"

"Why? Because… Because… He's Vallière's familiar! She needs him!"

Tabitha stared flatly between the two. Their family feud was well known throughout the academy. "Rivals."

"Ummm…" Kirche response to this consisted of a strained smile and a bead of sweat.

"Seduce." Tabitha accused pointing her finger at Kirche.

"Nonsense! I do not have a thing for Vallière's familiar!" Kirche objected. "Especially not with Styx here(!)" She muttered angrily, while bringing a hand up to the corner of her lips.

"*Sigh*" Tabitha, deciding that it was easier to comply than argue, simply cast her far sight spell. "Nothing."

"Are you sure? Maybe you should look harder," Louise persisted.

"Vallière, if Tabitha doesn't see your familiar, then it's because your familiar isn't here," Kirche chided.

Louise sighed and turned back around to the dorms entrance. "Very well. It's not like I didn't anticipate this. I'll have a letter out to my family by morning. He'll be back by the end of the week."

"If you say so Vallière," Kirche said, shrugging. "It's a shame too, I was really looking forward to seeing more of him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Styx interjected.

"Oh, nothing," Kirche said, chuckling and waving her hand dismissively. "So anyways- Hey! Where did everybody go?" Sure enough, everybody else had left without saying so much as a word and Kirche was left alone with a glaring Styx. "Traitors."

Nero landed on the roof of some building with a slight whoosh and looked around the city. "Sheesh. This place is a dump." A little harsh but not far off the mark. All around were simple, dilapidated buildings and dirty, narrow roads. Nero had seen independent villages that looked prettier than this.

Then he looked again. It was only around the outskirts of the city that the buildings looked this bad. Deeper in, the conditions looked much better. "Oh, this is just the slums," Nero said, realising just where he was. "Great. The perfect place to start."

With that, Nero folded his wings, packing them back into his cuirass, a routine that was both annoying and uncomfortable but a habit that he had long since grown used to. After stowing away his wings, he stepped off the roof and onto the street below. "Now, where to begin?" He muttered to himself. "Meh." Shrugging to himself, he simply picked a direction and started walking.

'What is he up to?' Tabitha thought to herself, peeking around the corner of the alleyway she had landed in.

"Kyu," Sylphid cooed, nudging her slightly.

"Sh." Sylphid nodded in understanding. Tabitha had just reaffirmed her command for her not to talk whilst they were in front of others. Recognizing Sylphid's acknowledgment, Tabitha turned back to her target. He seemed to be inspecting the surrounding buildings. Or rather, certain buildings.

He only ever seemed to examine buildings that met some sort of criteria, if the way he looked and shook his head at buildings he ignored were any indication. He kept doing this all the way up the street but once he reached the end he looked left and right, up and down the intersection and sighed.

He walked back down the street and down another alley. Not wanting to lose her target, Tabitha walked across the street and crept to the corner Vallière's familiar had walked into. Slinking her head around the corner, she looked in and saw…

Nothing. He'd disappeared. Tabitha quickly scanned the alley and turned around. It was unlikely that he had somehow walked past her without her noticing but not impossible. Then, remembering his wings, she looked up to see if he had flown away. However, rather than the winged silhouette she was expecting to see, she instead saw some sort of flying golem.

Quickly casting far sight again, she took a closer look. It certainly appeared to be some sort of golem but she couldn't tell what it was doing here. Perhaps it belonged to him? Considering she had just lost him, she decided to observe the strange golem, following it with her eyes as it flew high. It quickly spun 360 degrees and flew back down.

Down to the building she was standing behind. What was that about? Was it taking some sort of scan? She hadn't sensed any magic from it, besides what she assumed was its magic propulsion, so what could it have been for?

Then, she felt a hand grab her shoulder from behind. "Hello, madam. May I ask what you are doing in a place such as this?" Whirling around and poising her staff for and attack she looked at the man who had managed to sneak up on her. On Her!

She'd been had! Was it that golem she saw before? Most likely. How had he managed to catch her unawares? Was he trained to? Also likely. However, now was not the time for hypothesizing. She had to come up with an excuse he would buy and quickly. "Shopping."

"In a rundown residential area?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"On the way," she replied, pointing her staff to the richer parts of town.

"This late at night?" he prompted.

"Avoiding rush hour."

"And that's worth sneaking out of school?"

"…"

"What are you really here for?" He asked, sighing.

"Shopping," Tabitha insisted.

"Really?" He asked, crossing he arms and raising his eyebrow again. Tabitha gave a quick nod. "Then what were you shopping for that you needed so urgently?"

Tabitha, once again, thought of something to excuse her actions. What could she need that he would actually believe she would go shopping for this late? "…Clothes."

"Seriously?"

"…"

"*Sigh* Well, don't let me get in your way, madam. I'll just be on my way." With that, he turned around and walked down the street, seemingly fiddling with his hood. Tabitha watched him go but dared not follow lest she raise his suspicions even more.

Deciding that she would have to conclude her investigation of him for now, she turned back to the alley she'd stashed Sylphid and made her way back to the academy. Though her investigation of him would have to stop here for now, he wasn't the only lead she had. If she was right about him, there were numerous books she could go through to try and find another lead.

She would uncover his secrets. It was just a matter of time.

Meanwhile, a fair distance away, Louise slept as all good little boys and girls did at this hour. However, her sleep was far from the peaceful kind. Her sleep was riddled with death and darkness, the kind that drowned you when you weren't ready for it.

And Louise was so not ready for it. Never before had she faced something like this. Nothing could have prepared her for evil given form, malevolence brought to life.

So it came as no surprise to her to her that the epitome of sin and wickedness, the very creature that came to everyone's mind when they were asked to name evil, showed up in her dream.

What did surprise her was the fact that she did not fear it. In fact, it almost seemed to give off a sort of warmth and protective Aura that she could not help but find herself drawn to. It felt like it was protecting her, standing before the monsters like the leader of angels it once was.

She stood in awe of the majestic, obsidian wings that sprung from its bare back and though she couldn't see its features, hidden by the darkness, she could see its eyes, which somehow seemed to glow with the same color and warmth as the sun. There was no doubt about it. The creature standing between her and those monsters was the monster everyone in Halkeginia feared and reviled.

The Ash of the Void.

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