Hey guys! How's it going? I hope everyone had an excellent New Years! As a way to celebrate the new year, I present to you, my humble audience, chapter 10! Enjoy ladies and gentlemen!

Chapter 10: What Happened Next

They had made it back with five minutes to spare. They couldn't help it anymore. The tension had built up on the way back. Far more than either of them could realize. Instead of reaching for the door, the two reached for each other and kissed passionately. It was...indescribable what the two felt. Love for sure, but it was almost as they were drawn to each other and could not be separated. The door flung open as Yang looked. Dante was holding his scroll out, using the calendar application to plan dates with Ruby.

"You know I can just do your homework so we have more time to spend with each other."

"But isn't that not right?"

"Okay then, I'll 'help' you with homework? How's that?"

"That works. So what are we doing tomorrow?"

"We'll see. We have the whole day ahead of us remember?"

"That's right its Saturday! Oh hey sis!"

"How's it going?" Asked Dante.

"Good..." said Yang as she slowly went back into the room.

Dante sighed as he whispered, "That was close."

"Tell me about it! Well, what should we do?"

"I guess we can read a book."

"That sounds like a good idea. Besides, we have more time to spend Saturday and Sunday."

"Just give me a sec to get one of my books."

Dante entered the room. A wall still separated the guys from the girls. Ren was reading a book while Jaune was soundly sleeping.

"How'd the date go?" Asked Ren, not lifting his eyes from his book.

"Wow...just...wow. Is it alright to not have words to describe how it went?"

"Assuming it went great? Yes."

"Then that means-"

"Relax."

"Right. Well, gotta grab something."

"Where are you going?"

"Uh...extended date?"

"What do you want me to say to Yang?"

"Eh, the truth."

"You do realize she might kill you right?"

"Eh...I'll deal with it. Thanks Ren."

Dante exited the room with his book. Ren looked up from his book.

He must be crazy. I don't blame him though. He's in love after all. Ren went back to reading his book.

Yang was pacing back and forth.

"He agreed to have her back by now! Where could have they gone?! They were just outside the door!" Said Yang.

Blake intervened, "I'm positive nothing-"

"of course something happened! We need to find them!"

Yang ran out the door before anyone could stop her. She opened the door to the boys side of the room and dragged Ren outside.

"Where are they?!" She screamed.

"They're doing-" Yang screamed before Ren could finish his sentence and ran off.

"Where'd she go?" Asked Blake.

"She ran off screaming. What's-" Ren was cut off by Weiss.

"I think she ran off to kill Dante."

"We have to stop her." Said Blake.

The two ran off after Yang. Pyrrha and Nora poked their heads out the door.

"Is Yang gonna break Dante's legs?" Asked Nora.

Ren sighed, "I think so."

Yang burst through the door, not expecting what she saw. Well...she didn't see what she expected to see. The overprotective sister saw the two on the couch together, sleeping with a book in Dante's hand. Ruby sat on his lap, arms around his neck, while Dante was leaned back against the couch, the book "Far from Heavens Reach" in his left hand while his arm held her shoulder. Yang could not bear it. She couldn't break up the cuteness in this image. She was careful backing out of the room, meeting Blake and Weiss in the hallway. She motioned with her hand to be quiet as the three walked back to their room.

It was morning and Dante had been trying to find Ruby. He held with him a brown bag with cookies in it that he needed to give to her. Hopefully she would like them, especially since Dante spent an hour cooking them and perfecting them. He may have had perfect grades, but his cooking skills were good, but not perfect.

No ones in the room. Where is everybody? Is it possible-? Well, let's find out.

It would be amusing if he found Ruby in the library. But it was worth a shot. Dante greeted the librarian, inside and silently stalked the aisles for Ruby. She was sitting at one of the desks working on what appeared to be professor Oobleck's assignment on the different species of Faunus that appeared during the first couple centuries in Vytal.

If she's doing homework right now, that means the princess isn't far behind.

He looked around. No sign of Weiss.

"Pssst! Ruby!" Whispered Dante.

Ruby turned to see her hero approaching with care.

"How's it going my sweet?" Ruby giggled a bit before responding.

"What are you doing here?! If Weiss spots you-"

"she can put me on ice later. Here, I brought these for you." Said Dante revealing the bag.

Ruby opened them to see a fresh batch of steaming cookies inside.

"Freshly made from only the finest ingredients in Vale."

Ruby quickly got up from the table, hugged Dante, then kissed him.

"You are literally the best boyfriend any girl could ask for."

"You know me..."

"Weiss is gonna be back any minute."

"Then I guess I'll leave before she does come back. Take care Ruby."

Dante quickly left the library as Ruby sat down again, reading the pages from her book while nibbling on the cookies Dante made.

These are really good! I wonder if he'll make more...

I should have known what I was getting into.

Dante and Ren circled each other slowly, each of the two hunters-in-training watching their movements closely. Dante knew if he wanted any chance of success, he needed to be extremely careful. Being this was a hand-to-hand combat session, it proved to be a nightmare for the white haired teen. Ren could hit hard with his fists...really hard.

I need to keep Ren off balance. That itself is a challenge. But if I constantly attack him, this might end well. Here goes!

Dante charged his fist with his white aura outlined in black and raised it. Ren had his magenta aura surround his fist as well. The two teens ran towards each other and landed their blows, fist crushing against fist. After a small pause, the two started to rapidly punch at each other, only punching each other's fists. The barrage of punches continued continued until the two managed to land blows into their fists once more. The two warriors slowly stepped away from each other before charging their fists with larger amounts of aura. They rushed each other once and started landing blows against a their fists once more, blocking any possible attacks on their bodies. After thirty seconds of continuous punching, the teens landed solid punches to their faces, causing Ren to back up and Dante fall to the ground on his back.

"I know my bones are unbreakable Ren...but damn! Your punches are like getting hit by Nora's hammer!"

"You weren't exactly gentle either."

The two chuckled a bit before getting off the ground, and bowed to each other. They walked out of the training complex as Ren asked, "So, what are your plans with Ruby today?"

"Well, we thought it be best to get her studies out of the way."

"What about you?"

"Me? I get my stuff done three days in advance. That way, I get free time on my hands."

"Do you ever sleep?"

"Sometimes."

They walked under a tree when an apple dropped on Dante's head.

"Boop!" Nora had been hanging upside down from a tree as she poked Ren's nose.

"Hey Nora." Said Dante.

She dropped down from the tree, "Hey Dante! Ren? When are you going to make more pancakes?" She asked.

"Later Nora."

"Awwwww!"

"I gotta go guys. Catch you later." Said Dante as he left.

"Where's he going?" Asked Nora. Ren only watched Dante run off.

"Where do you think?" Said Ren with a smile.

Dante made his way down the hall to the dorms, planning the events for tonight in his head.

Simple right? We just go down to the carnival in town tonight, go to a few events then home. After our date though, I'm gonna have to start training for the tournament. And find a way to spend time with Ruby. Great. Looks like I'm gonna have to do homework a week in advance.

Dante stopped. Only, he didn't want to stop. The only thing that could move was his eyes and mouth. Dante looked down down to see a black glyph below him.

Weiss...

"Excuse me." Said Weiss.

She came out from hiding with a small tape measurer and took measurements of Dante's body.

"Uh, Weiss?! What are you doing?!" Asked Dante frozen.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm studying you."

"For what?!"

"You honestly don't remember?!"

"The Vytal tournament..."

"Precisely! Just...about...done!" Weiss got up and started to leave.

"Hey wait a minute! What about me?!" Shouted Dante.

"Oh don't be such a child. The glyph will wear off in an hour."

"An hour?! Weiss? Weiss! As your leader I am asking you to unfreeze me! Weiss!" She was gone and Dante was still frozen.

Oh to hell with this! I'm not waiting around an hour!

Dante growled a bit as he resisted the glyphs effects. His body started to move a bit. With a roar, Dante broke the glyphs magical effects and rubbed his shoulders.

Jeez...she's gonna be a tough nut to crack if I have to fight her in the tournament.

"Step right up! Win the grand prize if you shoot all the moving objects!"

As Dante planned, he and Ruby had gone down to the small carnival in town dressed in their normal everyday clothes. Ruby had her arm interlocked with Dante's the entire time they were there.

"Look Dante!"

"Huh?" Ruby had been pointing to a shooting both.

"I hope you're a good shot!" She said.

"Wait a minute-" before Dante could finish, Ruby had dragged Dante to the booth.

"Step right up young sir! Shoot down all the moving objects, and win the grand prize!"

Dante looked to Ruby, who only smiled at him.

Her eyes are just so damn adorable to the point where I can't say no. Alrighty then. "How much?"

"Five lien young sir!" Dante pulled out the lien from his pocket and handed it to the man.

In Dante's hands was now some sort of semi-automatic rifle.

"Ready?" Asked the man. Dante raised the rifle to his shoulder. The man pushed a button as the buzzer rang and targets started to appear. As quick as they appeared, Dante was mowing them down effortlessly. Shot after shot along with shattering plastic could be heard from the booth as both Ruby and the manger of the both watched in awe. For Dante, these targets were moving extremely slow. A final shot rang as the final target fell. Smoke emerged from the barrel of the gun as Dante set the gun down.

"I believe you owe us a prize?" Said Dante.

"A-ah! Yes! Well you see sir...you're the first to take down all the targets int hat amount of time."

"So?"

"As this is the first time this has happened, you get to go off with two prizes."

"What are the prizes?"

"I'm glad you asked!" The man took a picture of Dante then Ruby.

"What was that for?" Asked Dante.

"Just a minute if you will!"

The man went in the back for a minute. A loud noise could be heard. The man stepped out smiling, holding something behind his back. Within the next second, he showed the couple two plushie toys of the two teens.

"You just made these mister?" Asked Dante.

"Some of the finest kid! You've earned them!"

"So Ruby, which one do you want?" Asked Dante holding the two plushies.

"I want...the one of you of course!" Ruby grabbed the Dante plushie from his hand and held to it tightly. The plushies were honestly done very well, and matched every detail of the couples appearance, including size. It was like a stuffed toy version of themselves.

"So, what's next on the list?"

"Hmmmm..." Dante was looking around, figuring out what to do next.

"I don't know...what's on your mind? Do you wanna leave?"

"No! No! Um...let's see..." Ruby started to look around.

"How about that?" Ruby was pointing directly ahead of her. Dante looked to see it was a Ferris wheel. Within minutes, they were inside and spinning high above in the sky. From the top, they could see all of Vale. It was beautiful. Ruby got closer to Dante and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I'm happy we could spend time together." She said.

"Me too..." Dante stared off into the night as Ruby closed her eyes. What happened next was strange. A sharp pain had built into Dante's head. He kept quite though. The pain worsened. Then...there was a growl. A deep voice from what it sounded.

You... Said the voice.

What?! Who was that?! What was that?!

The voice chuckled a bit before the pain in Dante's head disappeared along with the voice chuckling.

"Whats wrong?" Asked Ruby.

"Huh?! Oh nothing! Just...daydreaming." Just a daydream.

The couple had been walking back to the airship hand in hand under the starry night.

"That was great! How do you come up with the best ideas?" Asked Ruby.

"Its nothing really."

The two heard gunshots and sirens wailing in the distance. Dante rushed up to see a shop window broken and a criminal flee the scene with a large bag.

"Ruby, check and make sure the store clerk is alright. Then, follow after me okay?"

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to catch our criminal."

Dante then ran off in the direction of the thief, aura glowing bright on his legs and feet. He was catching up to the criminal, and noticed something fly his way. Bullets. The white haired teen unsheathed his sword and blocked any bullets that came his way.

Guns won't save you.

Dante soon saw the thief jump high into the sky onto a moving train.

"Dammit!"

Dante jumped onto the wall and jumped off it, launching him around the corner towards the trains direction. He was catching up, but still a distance away. He looked towards the building on his left and jumped on it, legs still glowing with his aura. The white haired teen had been running the sides of the building, getting closer and closer to then train and jumped off the buildings side, landed and looked ahead of him.

The thief had to be close. He wouldn't be stupid enough to jump off would he? Dante continued running. He jumped over dozens of crates, seeing a Bullhead go ahead of him.

Another robbery by this guy? Didn't he learn last time?

Dante finally made it over the last bunch of crates. He saw the thief enter the Bullhead, but noticed someone remain behind. A woman. The darkness disguised her face, but not her body entirely. From what Dante could tell, she had black hair, glowing yellow-orange eyes in the dark and she wore a dark red dress with yellow designs. Her fingernails were painted dark red. She also wore black shorts underneath her dress and a black choker on her neck. The woman had high-heeled shoes and a jeweled anklet, with a blue feather-like accessory on her right hip.

"Who are you?" Asked Dante.

"Answer me!"

"That's not important. Hmmm..."

The woman looked to be examining Dante.

"I was expecting a bit...well...more." She said.

Dante didn't know why, but he felt intimidated by her glowing eyes.

Nows not the time to be scared.

"If you were with that guy that just escaped, and I know you were, I'm going to have to turn you in."

The woman laughed a bit before calmly saying, "You? Take me in? Oh I don't think so."

They entered a tunnel. Dante readied himself in a pose as the woman raised her hand with fire building around it. While still sitting on the crate, the woman launched the ball of fire towards Dante's direction, who blocked it and smiled.

"You're gonna have to do better than-"

Dante noticed heat building under his feet and jumped away as the woman pulled her fingers up and columns of fire erupted from the ground.

What the hell was that?!

She shot more fireballs in Dante's direction as he dodged them this time. But like the last time, columns of fire erupted and managed to singe a part of Dante's left arm. He looked to see it was healing, not knowing the woman was watching in interest. Dante transformed Rebellion into its scythe form and started unloading shots at the woman. She only raised her hand as the bullets were deflected by it.

She blocked all the bullets! Just who the hell is she?!

The white haired teen smashed his fists together to form his greaves and gauntlets. He activated the thrusters and went in for the kill. He was blocked by a wall of fire and sent back once more. Dante transformed his weapon into its sword form. The woman laughed at his attempt. Dante rushed forwards and avoided fireballs and fire columns as he went. But like last time, as soon as he got close enough, he was blocked by the mysterious woman's aura. Dante could tell the woman was smiling, even if he could only see her glowing eyes.

"You fight well for someone of your age. However, from what I can tell, your techniques lack the violence they used to have."

Dante was surprised and shocked, eyes widening at her words. The woman then broke the clash of blade and fire and shot a burst of fire into Dante, sending him back. The white haired teen held his chest with his left hand as he staggered backwards.

"No...that's not me anymore."

"A shame really. You were probably a lot stronger then."

The woman lashed out at Dante with fire and continued to assault him as the teen did his best to block the woman's attacks. Another ball of fire hit Dante's leg.

He growled angrily. His leg was healing, but was healing slowly. He was nearly immobile at this point. The train kept moving. Dante staggered towards his opponent. He tried to attack, but the woman simply caught his blade with two of her fingers and pushed him back. She then summoned fire around her hand and lashed out once more, sending Dante tumbling backwards to the trains end. Just before he could fall off, Dante stabbed his sword in the train, struggling to get back up.

"Pathetic. If only you had that darker side of yourself..."

She raised her hand as fire built around it. They were exiting the tunnel. The woman smiled as a the Bullhead from before landed behind her on the cargo.

"Looks like lucks on your side today." She said.

Within the next second, she had been blocking bullets with her hand, coming from the opposite side of the train.

Why do you let her escape you? Said the deep voice from before.

The voice itself sounded demonic, which scared Dante.

Shut up...

She hurt you Dante. It's only fair that you punish her...

I said shut up! Go away!

The voice laughed evilly before disappearing. Dante looked over to the opposite side of the train to see Ruby unloading shot after shot after shot at the woman, while using her speed ability to stay with them. The woman kept blocking the shots until she entered the cargo door of the Bullhead and took off. Ignoring them Ruby was running faster to catch up with train, then jumped and kept pulling the trigger to give her momentum to fly to the train. She landed on the roof and rushed towards Dante to help him. He was nearly up on the roof, but was soon assisted by Ruby. The two stood on the moving train as they watched the airship fly off.

"Dante, are you okay?" He heard her question, but was too focused on what had just happened and why.

Was this a test? A way of examining my limits? Just who is that woman?

"Dante?"

"I'm fine Ruby."

"Should we call someone?"

"No. I'll talk to the train operator and have him turn around."

After returning to Beacon, Dante had washed up the blood and ash that stained his face and hair, got a fresh change of clothes, and sat in Ozpin's office.

"What were you thinking?!" Asked ms. Goodwitch.

"Running off and chasing an unknown criminal, then getting injured fighting an unknown enemy! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

"It's my job you see."

"What?"

"Aren't we trained to help those who can't help themselves? Aren't we training to protect the weak?"

"Young man that has nothing to do with-"

"It has everything to do with us! Respectfully ms. Goodwitch, whether it be Grimm or villain, I won't back down from doing what's right! Even if the other is stronger than I am! I was under the impression we're here to help people!"

Ms. Goodwitch had no words. She only gave Dante a glare before turning to professor Ozpin. Ozpin had handed a scroll to Dante, containing information about the night Ruby and Dante were accepted to Beacon. Only...that part of the report was the least of his concerns. The white haired teen read a detailed report of the woman he encountered on the train and the abilities she used in combat against ms. Goodwitch.

"Is that the woman you encountered?" Asked Ozpin.

Dante only nodded as he handed the scroll back.

"Be grateful you didn't die young man. Next time, don't be so eager to wander aimlessly into a fight without knowing the potential of your enemy. Am I clear?"

Dante looked up at the professor. "Crystal."He replied.

"Very well then, you are dismissed."

Dante rose from his seat and exited the room, finding Ruby waiting at the door.

"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked. The couple had been sitting on the rooftop, Ruby holding his hand with concern.

"I'm fine Ruby." Dante tried faking a smile to no success.

She was still worried.

"Why are you so worried Ruby? Relax! I'm fine."

"You look fine, but I know deep down you aren't."

She was right. He wasn't really okay. He was disappointed in himself.

"Truth is Ruby, it's been a while since I've had my ass handed to me like that. And what she told me..."

"What did she say?"

Dante hesitated for a moment. But he knew full well Ruby only meant well.

"She said my techniques lack the violence they once had." Ruby thought about for a moment. "This has something to do with your past?"

"Something like that."

"You know already I had powers. But you never knew how I started with them. When I first got my powers, I was violent. Really violent. But back then, I had a darkness within me. A terrible one in fact. Do you remember the play about the man with two souls?"

"Yeah..."

"I was like that guy at one point. Only exception was, my darkness was far more dangerous and far more powerful. And to top that, I had no one but myself. So for a long time I struggled alone. I battled my darker self and won on many occasions. When it became clear I was the dominant one, instead of getting in my way, my darker self became part of my powers and gave me more powers. And since we were working side by side, I overcame any obstacle that came my way."

"So you weren't really a hero when you started out?"

"Not really, I just kinda used my powers at the time as a way to get back at the bullies and people that wronged me. And when the higher purpose found me, that's when I changed my life completely. That and well...you."

She giggled a bit. "So...get any homework done today?"

"Weiss was a bit harsh on the homework, but I got it done!"

"Awesome!" The two stared off into the starry night.

"I can't believe the tournaments start to tomorrow..." Said Ruby.

"Yeah..." He thought for a moment.

"What would you do if we had to fight each other tomorrow?"

"I don't know...hopefully it won't come to that." Hopefully.

"It's getting late. And the big day starts early." Early enough though?

"The Vytal Festival is a day after the tournament. Thats one way we can spend more time together!" Said Ruby.

"I guess...well! Time for bed!"

"Awwww..."

"Bedtime is good time. You do want to do awesome in the tournament tomorrow don't you?"

"Yes..."

"Then let's head back. It's gonna be a busy day tomorrow." A very busy day indeed