What's up boys and girls, we're back with one last DG chapter before the end of 2019. This year, was a good one. I started this story almost a year ago, and it was my fastest-growing story and it might still be if you do the math. We've had our ups and downs, but I am not one to give up. We are hot in Volume 2 and continuing onward to more stuff! And if all goes well and according to plan, this story will be completed next year. Wish me luck!

Beta: CrowSkull

Detective Grimm

Chapter 26- To Know One-self

Sighing happily, Diam rested in the familiar and comfortable chair that resided in the office-slash-bedroom of Glynda Goodwitch. The blonde herself sitting across from him just as she always did and this time with many notebooks to her name. She started writing things down apparently, something about their continued therapy sessions that may or may not have been sprung upon a completely unqualified woman at the beginning of what turned up to become a very busy semester for Beacon and its students. It became somewhat easier with the new professor amongst their ranks, that professor being the brother of the man before her, but even he proved to be slightly… inexperienced when it came to training and helping the students with their work.

Showing them the answer to all of their questions rather than help them find it themselves plus training them physically to the point of collapse wasn't what was called 'teaching' in Vale. Ruby Rose became the example of what one shouldn't do if one was trying to better themselves. That poor girl…

On the brighter side of things, Penny was fully repaired and sent back to Beacon. And the first thing she did was find Diam Grimm and firmly attach herself to his side for the past fifteen hours. She didn't know how the man was able to handle it so well, she was on good terms with the android girl, but Penny was… eccentric, to put it politely. Diam had more patience than she could ever hope to achieve with the way he sat with a very forced polite expression on his face as Penny sat much to close to him for comfort. Hip to hip with the purple dressed man. Her gaze was firmly locked on him as well. She wondered what James told the girl once she was finished with her repairs before she actually set off to find her guardian once again.

"So," Glynda cleared her throat and looked down to her many notes. "A few days ago, you, Winter Schnee, and a team of students raided a White Fang recruitment center and chased down Roman Torchwick who was operating what you described as a… heavy metal suit thing."

"Correct," Diam nodded his head. "It was a particularly enjoyable event, but unfortunately I had to save two of the children from falling to their deaths off of a bridge. After that, it was pretty easy." He shrugged his shoulders and tried to push Penny away to no avail. "I basically just stood around, said some things, and peace was made. And all it cost was a few million lien to repair all the damage that was caused during Roman's little temper tantrum of fear."

"And you were okay with spending that much money?"

"Mister Grimm has a bank account with many trillions of lien," Penny helpfully reported to Glynda's shock. "Mere millions will not harm him financially whatsoever."

"I-I see," Glynda coughed suddenly.

"Eh, what can I say? I just love giving back to the community…" Diam sarcastically remarked. In truth, when the bill of all the repairs was given to him by his partner he just wanted it over and done with. So he teleported his safe to wear all the squirmy wormy turds of society who asked him for the money and taped the combination to the safe on a sticky note. And that was that. The council of Vale officially had no more issues with the raid that was apparently his idea the entire time. Lien was easily replaceable, so it really was nothing to him but a nuisance. Though now his silly employees are asking for better pay as if he's not already paying them more than minimum wage. Bah, ungrateful humans. He increased their pay by a single lien just to piss them off some more, and then fired the one who started the whole thing to make a point. After that, it was Juniors problem.

"That is good to hear, many of the populace do enjoy the rich men who help the less fortunate class." Glynda smiled. "That certainly explains why Mister Oobleck was giving a lecture to the students about you this morning, going on and on about your charity and telling the students to be more like you when they graduate."

"Did he now?" Diam snickered. If only they knew… "That's amusing, I suppose."

"For you, it may be," Glynda whispered as she wrote down some more notes to help herself remember this breakthrough and give herself an edge for the next time Diam comes to her for another one of their therapy sessions.

"How have you been since I was away?" Penny asked while Glynda was writing.

"The same as the last time you asked me, weird girl," Diam replied as he tried pushing away the girl once again. "And the time before that, and before that. In fact, I believe that you've been asking me at the end of every hour."

"It is one of the functions that Ironwood has installed into my central processing unit."

"Damn you brother…"

Glynda took the chance to interject once there was a moment of hesitation. "Diam, how have you been since the last time you came to me? It has been some time, and we haven't spoken about your feelings in quite a while even when we last spoke. Is there anything you would want to get off your chest?"

The God in disguise smirked as he tilted his head to the left. "Not that I know of, in fact I think we are just about out of time anyway aren't we? I told you about what happened the other night, and everything happening currently is still the same as before. Save for my brother stealing my idea of becoming a professor to this school."

"I believe there is more to it than that," Glynda claimed.

Diam rose an eyebrow, Glynda usually accepted his deflect and didn't attempt to continue prying. At the end of every session, he gave her the 'payment' that they agreed upon since the first time they began speaking to each other. Was he having less of an effect on her? Interesting, annoying, but interesting…

He decided to humor the professor. "Explain."

"Look at your improvement since the first time we started having these meetings," She began. "You have gone outside your comfort zone and started earning the respect and friendship of others. Before, you were by yourself practically forced to come to Vale in order to resume your license as a huntsman and became a detective."

"Arguable, but continue," Diam replied, refraining from pointing out that he wasn't forced to do anything thus far.

"Not only that, but you were a playboy club owner with all the money he could ever hope for, and at first I honestly didn't think much of you. Just another huntsman Ozpin doesn't tell me about, is what I assumed you to be from the very first moment I met you."

Diam was surprised, and impressed in the way. If it were any other person calling him that he might have just destroyed them on the spot and been done with it. But coming from Glynda, all he could do was huff, chuckle, and cross his arms. To his side, even Penny has taken a deep interest in this conversation between he and Glynda, it was not often where the professor, and to be fair, most mortal men and women were able to really make him think on what he has been doing or how it affected others. Much to what he could assume would be Glynda's satisfaction, he thought about the past. He started on this world naked, literally and figuratively, to Remnant's culture, new history, and habits. This wasn't the same humanity he'd grown disgusted of thousands of years ago during their first time around. No, it was far more… understandable. Ironically, it was him interacting with them the most out of the two brother Gods, him being the one of darkness he wasn't really expected to make any interaction with mortals souls unless they were in the underworld or the realm between realms. But look at him now, he had friends, which he more commonly referred to as issues, and he even has a student who he has admittedly grown quite fond of over the past months. He's been more active than ever, having plenty of fun, and of course there was the Specialist, who was the spark of it all.

Part of him wondered if it was his brother's influence to start it all, to send the Specialist to him for the first time and right smack in the middle of sexy time with an entire team of huntsman and huntresses too. Poor timing, surely, but it was still funny to think about. But there was one problem with that theory, his brother and him were not Omniscient. Omnipotent, sure, but they didn't know everything. If they had then the rebellion against them would have never started in the first place and they would have simply killed Salem when they had the chance before she could have rallied the rest of humanity and convince them to attack the Gods.

He shook his head as he continued to think. His brother had no hand in his development. In fact, he tried multiple times to stop his development from making progress at all. It was all him, the God of Darkness, simply trying something new for once instead of sitting around in space watching over the Underworld with bored intent. Everything he has ever done on Remnant was of his own doing, and nothing else. Which meant it was his responsibility to get himself out of this weird topic of conversation that was making him think more than a God such as himself really should.

"And now?" Diam asked, smirking roguishly in the way that he knew mortal women found attractive. It had some effect on Glynda, but surprisingly, she was able to resist the charm.

"I think you are a man with power, power to do good. A man I am proud to call my friend, even if you do convince me to do some things I wouldn't normally do. Because of you, I have been able to improve myself, and I thank you for that." Glynda replied carefully, Diam bowed his head as if that was his plan from the very start. "But you are far from the perfect man you try to make yourself out to be. I believe that deep inside that interesting, complex mind of yours, there truly is a being yearning for attention. And unlike most cases, yours isn't for a bad reason. You were starved for such positive attention in your past, weren't you?"

Diam narrowed his eyes and his smirk became just a little more tense. It was an accurate presumption. It wasn't like humanity held him up to a good light while he was the creator of the Grimm and everything evil in the world and even after that he was still the one who destroyed them all out of spite. His brother got all of the love and attention that he ever wanted, which was partly why he went so far as to break the rules for Salem when she first bent her knee to him.

Glynda continued before he could make to give a response. "I also believe that there is but one person who has been able to help draw all of this out of you. Your partner."

Diam laughed. "Is that so? I can guess what you're going to say next, the Specialist was the one who brought upon all these issues of mine in the first place. Correct?"

"Would I be wrong to suggest otherwise?" Glynda countered. "Think. It was she who was sent to collect you and bring you back to active duty. She succeeded and through her, you met the heiress, took her on as a student, and now share a deep mentor-student bond with her as a result. It was because of Miss Schnee finding you that you even came to Vale in the first place, where you met me, Team RWBY, Penny, Ozpin, and countless others, even some certain undesirables that shall not be named. Not to mention your relationship with your brother isn't nearly as tense as you described it to me many times before I even had the pleasure of meeting him and-"

"Get to the point, Glynda," Diam demanded, eyes glowing dimly with irritation. He knew all of this already, it was the hidden reason why he was so patient with the Specialist. It was because of her that he had everything he had right now, he didn't need it to be forced into his understanding.

"I've seen it too, Miss Goodwitch. I understand what you are hinting toward," Penny remarked with a sly expression.

"Hmph, even the android sees it. I don't think you need me to point it out to you Diam," It was Glynda's turn to smirk at the confused God. "Your feelings were difficult to decipher, but decipher it I have. You have grown to care for Winter, and not in the same way you do me, Penny, or even Weiss. You-"

"No," Diam cut her off. His eyes were shut tightly and he was constantly shaking his head in denial. An unfamiliar aura resonated from him, this one not being his usual purple nor visual in any way. But there was a strange sense of fear without reasoning that grew in intensity from within the professor huntress. There didn't seem to be any reason for it, but she stayed silent in some kind of forced natural response. "Your hypothesis is wrong I'm afraid. I do not care for anyone in the way you were about to describe. Do not mistake my willingness to try new things and meet new people as more than my patience being more and more wrangled under control for any actual caring for the people I may have grown fond of. I am not the man you believe me to be, Glynda. I am far beyond what you could ever imagine, if you knew of the things that I've done or even what I really am, you would be either trying to kill me or kneeling."

His eyes shifted, no longer did they look human, they looked snake-like, or something more than that. A deep red filled in the purple space around his pupil but didn't go any further. His voice grew deeper as he spoke, and even the android backed away from him in sudden uncontrollable fright. It was only her will that kept Glynda from staying where she seated and looking into the eyes of her 'patient'.

"W-what are those things you are referring to?" Glynda made herself ask despite her jaw trying to remain clenched shut.

Diam's eyes shut, and suddenly Glynda felt a different emotion. Sorrow, anger, annoyance. It was all mixed together and it confused her to no end, but she was better able to control herself this time around.

"I just told you Glynda," When he opened his eyes again, they were back to normal. Or what she perceived as normal, the back of her mind told her. "I am everything negative about this world, and there is nothing that can ever change that. Certainly not just a few good deeds done on a whim." He chuckled and snapped his fingers, the feelings that Glynda was suddenly feeling were gone, and again Diam hid his hands in his pockets.

"You aren't," Glynda said, more determined now that she was back to her senses. "You keep saying you are, but that's impossible. Even if it were true, I've asked Ozpin about that particular fairy tale, those beings are never to return until a certain task is complete, and to my knowledge, that task has yet to be completed."

Diam laughed again, bringing his hand up into a snapping gesture as he did so. "So the tale goes, but who says those Gods can't break some rules every once in a while? Who's going to stop them? I've even read that tale myself, and I must say, the dark God seems to be quite the rebel, doesn't he?"

He snapped his fingers and he was gone. Leaving Glynda to think on things she never thought she would have to think about. His words… they sounded so genuine, but they had to be false or lies. It just wasn't conceivable. But… what if? She looked to Penny, who looked to be as stunned as she was, though she couldn't have known about the tales just yet. But if an android was able to generate and aura and keep it active, which was something which was seen to be impossible for many decades, then what really was impossible?

She held her face in her hands. Her mind racing on the hundreds of possibilities.

"Guardian absent, threats undetected. Entering automatic sleep mode, designation: GOT 'EM."

Penny fell face-first on the floor and broke her coffee table.

Glynda sighed.

Ozpin was going to have to answer some questions once she cleans up the mess Penny made and deactivate the troll sleep mode that she knew was that man's doing.

Diam reappeared in some random part of Beacon he wasn't really thinking about and sighed. So close, he came so close to revealing himself to Glynda just to prove a point. That would have made things very uninteresting if she found out right then and there and made a whole fuss about it. Her words hit surprisingly close to home a few times there and made him remember things he would have rather forgotten over time. His power spiked up due to his human emotions and some of his dark presence even leaked out and effected the two women. It got to the point where he had to force himself to calm down lest he accidentally kill them both.

Damn her, she was right. Celeste as well. He was changing. He knew that if those two tried to give him that talk back when he was still fresh on with returning to Remnant he probably would have killed them both without hesitation, or used his mental manipulation to end the conversation and make them forget it ever happened in the first place. But no, he refrained from doing such a thing purely just because of the hint of guilt he would have felt if he did hurt them in any way. A very far cry from the complete genocide he committed long ago.

Did he feel bad about that? The God of Darkness would have loved to say no and go on with his long life. They were the ones who attacked him after all and even used his own gift to them against him in a vain attempt to murder him and his brother. They should have known that they stood no chance against him, and yet they tried to kill him anyway. They deserved what happened to them.

Or so what he would say if he hadn't returned to Remnant like he did some years ago. He murdered billions, and only some survived purely out of luck. Seeing humanity now, and knowing what would they eventually have turned into if he hadn't destroyed them… did he feel bad? He asked himself again. No, the God of Darkness does not feel bad about anything he did. That was his role in the universe that gave birth to him and the God of Light. It wouldn't ever change, he would always be the God of Darkness. Forever.

So why was he feeling such things? It had to be his mortal body, but that couldn't be right. He created this body so that it wouldn't affect any of his mental thoughts. Damn those humans, making him think again and again. All these issues…

A loud crash thankfully snapped him out of his deep train of thought as he walked around for what had to be an hour already. Curiously, and out of a desire to find something else to think about, he walked toward the large round-ish building that had a very awkwardly painted banner that said WELCOME TO THE DANCe on it. The reason there was a lowercase 'e' at the end was because they ran out of space for the last capital. Which amused him somewhat.

The double doors automatically slid open for him as he neared and he continued through the receptacle, easily locating where the sound came from as he found the heiress and her entire team standing on a table trying to screw something into the ceiling. Yang was at the bottom of the human tower, Weiss on her shoulders, and then Ruby on her shoulders. Having a very difficult time trying to screw in the disco ball into the correct holes.

"Urgh… this is a lot harder than I thought it'd be."

"Ruby, just screw in screw A into the A-hole and go from there!"

"Wait… screw A goes in the A-hole?"

"YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T KNOW!?" Weiss shrieked.

Blake looked at him as he walked in with a bewildered expression on his face, and she shrugged her shoulders. She was sat down and was noticeably a good distance away from the human tower that was going to collapse any second now. He nodded back at her for what must have been a regular occurrence for her, seeing her own team act like this.

"I told you to get a ladder for this." The voice immediately caught his attention, and he recognized it to be Winter's right away. The Specialist was in her usual officers' uniform, and it looked like she finally had enough of the purple hair and washed all of the purple dye out of it. Revealing her snow-white hair once again. Seeing her like that reminded him of the time they first met. "Now look at you all, about to fall over tumbling to the floor like the fools you are."

He felt himself about to call out to his partner, but he stopped himself. Remembering Glynda's earlier accusation. It couldn't be true, but before he thought more about it the Specialist noticed him. A gentle smile and a nod gracing her features as she glance at him and moved toward him.

"Perhaps my partner could be of use here?"

"Mentor is here!?" Weiss screamed, suddenly embarrassed as she shook and teetered back and forth.

"Woah- Weiss! Stop freaking out!" Yang cried as she struggled to hold up the constantly shifting weight.

"AHH!" Ruby cried as she fell off of Weiss' shoulders, which then caused a chain reaction that made Weiss fall off of Yang's shoulders and for the blonde to finally lose her balance and fall over herself. They all screamed as their tangle of limbs and feminine clothing bundle up as they made way to the floor, and they continued to scream even as a black glyph was summoned to stop their descent. Their cries only silenced when they realized that they weren't falling anymore and were actually floating in mid-air. They all looked around to find out that Winter held out a hand to create the glyph and had a very disappointed look on her face as she replaced her hand back behind her back.

"Oof!" The three girls fell the last two feet with nothing to stop them but the cold tiled floor.

"I told you that it wasn't a good idea," Blake remarked from her safe spot.

"You didn't even bother to help miss grouch!" Yang yelled as she desperately untangled herself from the group of limbs that were Weiss and Ruby and stomped up to her. "Hell, even Diam did more than you and all he did was walk in!"

"Harsh," Blake rolled her eyes with disinterest. "Coming from the one not strong enough to keep up two small girls on her shoulders."

"Oh, it's on!"

"Do not argue like children!" Winter stepped in before Yang could even think to wind up a punch. "You are all soon to be huntresses, act like it and figure out the solution to your problem yourselves!"

"Yes… Weiss' sister." Yang apologized as she weakly allowed her arm to fall to her side. Blake smirked at her and she almost punched her again, but Winter's glare was firmly placed at the back of her head and she didn't dare test her.

"What in the world was going through your narrow, dim minds when the thought process was made to try that?" Diam asked, being the only male of any significance in what may as well be the entire school, he was easily distinguished among the women.

"Don't berate me, Mentor." Weiss huffed as she dusted herself off. "Blame this dolt!"

"I thought it would work!" Ruby cried.

"You did not think that through at all!"

"Good lord," Diam sighed and snapped his fingers, the disco ball floating up into the air and promptly screwed itself in. Shutting all of the girls up. "There, it's done, not stop screaming and shut up about it."

"Oh, thank you Mister Grimm!" Ruby cheered for him. Diam groaned and looked away, ignoring his own desire to tease the young silver eyed girl like he would have usually done.

Winter raised an eyebrow toward her partner as he crossed his arms and refused to look at any of them. Not even Weiss, who was his apprentice. Thinking nothing of it for now since everyone has bad days no matter what kind of person they were, she went on to return her attention to her sister and her foolish teammates.

"You've asked me to spend my precious time to help you all set up this ballroom for the school dance, I could be using this time to go after more members of the White Fang, but I chose to stay here instead. Now, is there anything else you need help with?"

"Can you use your glyph thingies and set up all these banners that I wrote out?" Yang asked cheerfully, holding up many long white banners between her arms as well as she could. Some of them had acceptable terms on them painted on but it was very clear that Yang was no artist with the way she constantly misjudged how much room she had to play with.

"How many of those would you be willing to let me read?" Winter countered.

Yang laughed nervously and dropped a few to the ground. "All of them." She uttered once more than half of them were freed from her hands and stamped into the ground.

"Please, Yang, that would be a great misuse of my sister's powers. Why not just have mentor do it?" Diam perked up after being mentioned. "All he has to do is snap his fingers and they'll be up."

"And you think that's not a misuse of my powers?" Diam raised an eyebrow as he proposed the question.

"W-well…" Weiss shrunk down on herself, ashamed. "I suppose it is, my apologies mentor."

Diam hummed and nodding his head, accepting it easily. Though he felt like there was a forced pit in his stomach. Winter noticed as well, usually he'd just get it over with just because he could. But her partner was acting differently, he wasn't being the eccentric man that she has grown to know over the months. He was being… unlike himself. She wondered if she should have offered to try and console him somehow since something must have been wrong, but speaking to Diam and understanding Diam were two vastly different things.

She huffed and looked away, if he wanted to act like this he was welcome to continue. It wasn't like she knew how she could help him anyway.

Team RWBY continued their work under the supervision of Winter and Diam, the two adults stood out to the side but they did not speak. It gained constant looks from Weiss and the leader of the team as well, and as a result, Blake and Yang cared to take a glance and figure out what was going on themselves. They tried to ignore it and see what was going to happen if they didn't bud in and try to fix things themselves, but as the minutes ticked by and the decisions to improve the ballroom were made. Ruby, being the one who wanted to help people the most, had enough of it.

"Something is wrong with him," She stated the obvious as Weiss tried to get her opinion on which of the two colors of napkins were better than the other. "He's usually so chatty and extroverted, something must have happened."

"Maybe they had an argument?" Weiss offered, deciding which color was better on her own and leaning against the table to speak to her leader. "No, that can't be true. Winter would have told me if they did. Perhaps it is on mentors' side…"

"It could just be a bad mood day," Blake suggested as she walked over, carrying a box of supplies but stopping mid-way to speak to them. "Everyone has them, even us."

"Yeah, but Diam's a dude, Blake. He doesn't get periods."

"I wasn't talking about that!" Blake whisper screamed at the blonde. Seeing her snicker told her she knew exactly what she meant, which just annoyed her to no end. "Ugh, everyone has bad days. I don't think it is anything to worry about."

"Blake, look at him," Ruby said, and Blake did. "Tell me that is the same person that teleports into our room in the middle of the day to steal Weiss for a few hours before returning her exhausted in some kind of way. I would ask professor Grimm, but I don't want to bother him when he is working with professor Port right now."

"I think he'd love to be saved from that…" Yang stifled a laugh.

Blake sighed as she watched the purple man, his smirk was absent, his eyes dull, and he kept his hands in his pockets instead of crossing them condescendingly at everyone around him. It truly was a far cry from what she was used to seeing from him.

"Okay, I see your point." She admitted.

"I think we should help them," Ruby finally said with determined eyes.

"Uh oh, I know that look," Yang smirked. "That's the 'I'm going to do something and nobody can stop me' look. Looks like we're going to be stuck trying to figure out what to do for a while."

"I know exactly what would work!" To everyone's surprise, it wasn't Ruby who exclaimed those words. It was Weiss. "Anytime someone is down or uncomfortable in some way, he usually brings out a piano and plays a song, sings, and makes them dance with him. Surprisingly, it always worked."

"Coming from experience?" Yang teased.

"I do, in fact." Weiss surprisingly admitted, much to the blondes shock.

"O-oh, well then uh… we don't have a piano here right now."

"I know just how to fix that." Weiss declared as she stepped away from her team and walked with purpose toward her mentor. Behind her, Ruby looked at her with pride, almost as if it was her to train her to become like this. Thankfully, that wasn't true. From what Weiss has said about her mentor, he has already had a great impact on her life in a very short time. She looked up to him like he was some kind of God. Okay, maybe that was going too far, but it was still adorable either way. Diam Grimm to her was like Uncle Qrow to Ruby and Yang.

"Yes, heiress?" Diam asked as he raised his head to look at Weiss as he walked toward him.

"I want a piano here," Weiss stated.

"You… do?"

"Yes, I want a piano here, so I can play it during the dance and impress everybody with the skills that you have taught me. Can you please summon one for me?" Weiss asked as innocently and cutely as she could. It was surprising coming from a girl like her, someone who always walked around with pride and didn't ask for anything. If it wasn't for Winter being there, she might have gotten away with it too. For her elder sister knew her very well, and knew that she never asked for anything like this before.

"I suppose I can," Diam sighed and snapped his fingers. "As long as you don't make a fool out of yourself. No one can match my skills with a piano, you know."

Out of a purple glow, a piano of the same color appeared on top of the stage that Team RWBY built with the assistance of Winter before Diam got there. Weiss chirped up her thanks and hugged the much taller man, who awkwardly and gently pushed her away. She didn't think anything of it and skipped toward the stage, jumped onto it, and cracked her knuckles.

"Alright team RWBY, let's hear what the music sound like so far!" Weiss declared as she struck the first few keys on the piano.

Ruby, Blake, and Yang all looked to each other with smug smiles on their faces. There was no way they were ever going to let Weiss live this down. As the heiress began a beautiful song, the three other girls ran around and connected all of the musical equipment, starting up music only for Blake to be pulled into the center of the dance floor.

"Ahem," Weiss cleared her throat just as Diam would every time he came up to the stage within his club. "I call this song, 'Cheer up you miserable twat', for my mentor." Weiss winked toward said mentor as he crossed his arms and shook his head at the display before him.

Even Winter raised both eyebrows as Weiss began to sing a song, completely original but clearly created as she sang. The heiress went on to describe on her life had changed ever since Diam entered it, and how it not only affected her but her brother and older sister as well. It was certainly heartwarming, but it soon took a much more unexpected route as her two other teammates took up the dancefloor.

"Come on Diam!" Yang cheered as she spun Blake around in what she called a dance move, the girl faunus was somehow having fun with it. "Show us what you've got! I heard that you're the dance king back at the club!"

"You think I will dance just because I am asked too?" Despite the words, Diam couldn't help but smile and laugh out of pure enjoyment of what he was seeing. Weiss playing the piano and singing a song that was borderline rap, Blake and Yang were tearing up the dance floor as the younglings would say it, and Ruby was off to the side cheering on her own terms, much too nervous herself to start dancing. Which of course gave Diam an idea. "Make the silver-eyed one dance and I shall show you what I have," he offered.

"Huh?"

"Done!" Yang let go of Blake and sprinted after her sister. Ruby yelped and tried to activate her semblance and run away, but her sister was Yang, and she has lived with her all her life. She knew how her semblance worked and how she needed a second in order to actually activate it. Yang caught her by the hood and dragged her in tooth and nail and hugged her tight to her body so that she couldn't escape. "See?" Yang asked as she did vague dance movements with her hips as she kept Ruby locked in her grip. The younger Rose was slapping her in desperate attempts to escape. "Got her!"

"Very well," Diam laughed and made his choice. "I suppose it cannot be helped," He turned and offered a hand to the Specialist, who if possible, found a way to raise her eyebrows even further. "I don't believe we have had the pleasure of dancing with each other just yet, would you mind if I am the one to pop that cherry of yours?"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Diam rolled his eyes. "Wilt thou find joy in confiding in your ally in an activity of dance for thy time of the first?"

Sadly enough, that was really how most people spoke thousands of years ago. He was thankful for Salem and Ozma for changing that much at least.

"Snrk-" Winter covered her mouth and stopped herself from laughing, going red out of embarrassment for finally being caught out laughing at one of the things Diam said or did. Which brought a certain joy to the disguised God that he has never felt before. "Very well, I shall grace you with privilege." The Specialist said in a desperate attempt to cover up the fact that.

Diam gripped her hand and yanked her into her surprise, one hand was in hers and the other was around her waist, thought went no further downward. The Specialist placed her free hand on his shoulder, and before she knew it she was being brought into the dancefloor.

The young girls cheered as her partner took her into the dance floor and spun her around. Blake, Yang and Ruby made way for them as they took up more space, and the song that Weiss was playing was increasing in intensity as they continued their dance. Diam was good, much better than she would have ever expected. Being the former heiress herself, she had plenty of dance experience thanks to the times when her father took her to all the dances and meetings rich families like theirs were offered to attend.

He had a different style of dancing, which should have been obvious given the fact that he was the owner of a borderline strip club. But he wasn't dancing like he usually would when he had nothing else to do with his time, at that moment he danced with her with a certain amount of grace that she didn't know he was capable of. And for once, he was being a gentlemen. She found herself smiling as they followed each other's movements.

Diam went through the motions and kept a solemn smile on his face as he took the Specialist around for a spin. The girls really went out of their way to try and make him feel better, which was something he couldn't really be too annoyed about without looking like an absolute monster. He almost didn't go along with it, but he was anything but a party-pooper. No one liked a party pooper. The Specialist being there at the same time lead to an interesting idea in his mind. Along with another question he felt he needed to ask himself.

Did he care for this woman? Well, in a certain way, of course he did. Going through the recent memories of their past, it has been filled with its ups and downs, but he oft found himself looking forward to spending time with her. At first, she only interested him because of her ability to resist his manipulation magic, but it grew to become more than that as the days went by. His mind cursed itself as he then thought of one of their raids where it was just him and her. He had no trouble taking on his side of the White Fang, but when he found out that his partner was injured and even risked her life with the intent to save his? Something snapped in him at that moment. He made the animals pay for daring to hurt her.

So yes, he did care for her. But the feelings at which Glynda accused him of… he hardly knew what love was. Being made of literal negative energy of the whole universe, he didn't even know he was capable of any positive emotion. But there was one thing that he knew, something that didn't confuse him like nearly everything about this planet did in its current time period.

As he danced with the Specialist and continued to take the lead, her smile was radiant. Piercing blue eyes the same as ice itself, and the way she made herself refrain from externally expressing the joy she felt was amusing. The one thing he did know for certain about one of his issues, was that he genuinely did think she was beautiful.

"And now for the final verse!" Weiss tiredly exclaimed as she lead the song to a close.

Diam dipped the Specialist and twirled her one final time as Weiss finished the song with a roaring conclusion. Neither of them were tired, one not capable of becoming tired and the other a more than capable huntress, but the experience they had just shared together was more than enough sustenance to sustain their minds for quite some time. Once they parted, Diam gave his partner a sly look through handsomely narrowed eyes, which was returned by a scoff as Winter looked back at him with the one eye that was exposed from behind her hair.

"D-Cherry. Popped." Diam bragged, popping the P.

Around them, all of Team RWBY gave them a round of applause. But even as they slowly stopped, one pair of hands kept slapping against each other. Winter and Diam turned to see who it was, and Winter blanched, face going red with embarrassment before scowling at the red-eyed man who looked so smug plants would have died around him if there were any.

"So," Qrow Branwen remarked. "What'd I miss?"

Wholesome end to 2019 for this story. Almost continued with it, but you guys should have an idea of where we are at for right now. Being halfway through V2 so far and almost into V3! Record time too, would you guys believe if I told you that I have a story that takes 32 chapters just to get through the prologue? Because if I weren't me, I'd say no. Anyway, see you guys next year!

Yup, I just did that.

Please review and let me know what you think!

T wi tter . com (slash) genatools

P a treon . com (slash) Genatools