Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 4 or RWBY they are the property of their respective owners, any resemblance to any other Persona 4 or RWBY fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please constructive criticism only.
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After a couple of weeks, Yu finally had summoned Yang to her first anger management session. It had taken so long because frankly, he had no idea what to do. But now he had a solution and as such when classes had ended they both were in his classroom alone. Well not entirely.
"So teach, what are we gonna do and who is this?" Yang asked curiously motioning to the man standing next to Yu with his arms crossed and serious expression on his face.
"This is Chiron, he'll be helping you learn to control your temper," Yu told her motioning to the legendary teacher.
"Uh is he a…" Yang fumbled nervous about to how to ask her question.
"I am a Persona yes," Chiron told her surprising her.
"Wait you're a Persona?" Yang asked with surprise in her voice. "I was gonna ask if you were a Faunus, you have a tail." She pointed to the large bundle of hair that did indeed poke out just above his rear end.
Both he and Yu looked at each other for a moment in confusion neither too sure about the answer.
"Well, I suppose technically I am." Chiron relented with a shrug, he was a centaur, after all, just one that had taken a more human form, he then cleared his throat. "Anyway, back on subject, I will teach to control your temper to the best my ability. You should be rather simple to teach compared to Heracles and Achilles."
"Er….who and who?" Yang didn't recognise either name.
"They were ancient heroes, both Demi-gods powerful in their own right," Chiron explained.
"When you say Demi-gods you mean…"
"They both had one mortal parent and one parent who was a god or goddess in Achilles case," Chiron explained
"So gods and goddesses really exist?" Yang asked shocked.
"Indeed and they are not merely Personas," Chiron affirmed but cut Yang off before she could speak further. "But I doubt they are as you are envisioning them. They tend to petty, childish and rather easily offended. But enough about them thinking about the gods and why they do and don't do things will only give you a headache."
The Gods also didn't like being criticised, as evidenced by the grumblings and vague threats directed at Chiron that Yu could hear coming from within the Sea of Souls from deities not limited to the Olympian Pantheon.
"Now then, the first step is to see just how bad you have it," Chiron mumbled walking over to Yang and making a subtle motion or Yu to step back which he did as he had an idea of what the famous hero teacher was about to do.
Chiron got right into Yang's face invading her personal space causing her to lean back as he seemed to examine her face closely.
"What is it? Is there something on my-OW!" She suddenly cried out as a sharp pain came from her head.
Chiron quickly leapt backwards creating a decently sized gap between them. Yang rubbed her head instinctively before looking at Chiron who had a single strand of blond hair between his fingers which he casually let go of and float down to the floor.
To those who know Yang Xiao Long, the reaction she had to this was predictable. Her eyes become red and her hair gained a fiery glow which flared up even more as she screamed enraged "MY HAIR!"
She leapt at Chiron, a fist ready to put him through a wall. However as soon as she closed in Chiron sidestepped the punch, grabbed the outstretched arm twisted it around her back and pinned her face first into the floor. She struggled with a strength that would throw any other men off, but Chiron was not just any man. As such she couldn't break free.
"Now do you see?" Chiron asked her sharply causing her to stop and her hair to return to normal. "What if I was an enemy fighting Ruby and yourself, what if you had to protect her, right now I could easily wound you then finish her off. If you don't learn to control your anger you will fail your sister when she needs you the most, do you understand?"
"I-I just…." Yang sniffled tears born maybe or sadness or frustration welled up in her eyes.
Chiron's expression softened and he released her, aiding her to her feet. Yang wiped her eyes on her sleeve and looked at Chiron with a sad and frustrated expression on her face.
"What am I supposed to do?" She asked shakily.
"You listen and allow me teach you." Chiron answered sighing heavily. "Let me tell you a bit about Heracles. You remind of him in some ways. He had a short temper as well. But he was also a demi-god, the son of a god and mortal. In his case he was the son of Zeus the king of the gods. Who was married at the time."
"Wait, so Zeus cheated on his wife?" Yang asked shocked.
"Yup, he's king of the gods so there was literally nothing his wife Hera could do to him about it."
"Could she just divorce him?"
"No, I'm afraid Hera was the goddess of marriage, motherhood, women, and familial love, so while getting divorced might embarrass Zeus she stood to lose much more, a goddess of marriage getting divorced is a contradiction, it would have damaged her divine authority which is devastating for a god. But while she couldn't get back at Zeus directly for his infidelity she could take her frustration out on Heracles."
"But it's not his fault!" Yang objected.
"Indeed, but Hera was always jealous and cruel. The first thing she did was send snakes to kill him as a new-born, but he strangled them with his bare hands, he was very strong even then." Chiron said closing his eyes and remembering those times. "His feud with Hera defined his whole life. He often had problems controlling his temper and great strength. He would be punished by being made a slave for a number of years or exiled from the city, but he always willingly submitted to punishment when he did something wrong. Eventually he got married and had children, then Hera struck she drove him mad and in the throws of that madness, he killed his wife and children."
Yang gasped, horrified at hearing this and more than a little angry with Hera.
"When he came too, he was horrified by what he'd done and went to the Oracle of Delphi hoping to find some way to atone for his sins. Of course, Hera directed the Oracle to have him become the slave of a king who hated him. The king set him ten tasks which would be impossible for a normal human being. The same king decided that two of them didn't count because Heracles had help completing them, so he had to do two more hence 'The Twelve Labours of Heracles' they would consume the rest of his life but when he died he was welcomed among the gods."
"Well, that's a good ending for him right?" Yang asked looking at Chiron who shrugged in return.
"I suppose, he did become venerated as the god of strength, heroes, mortals and children." Chiron crossed his arms. He'd given a real TL;DR version of Heracles life, much to the annoyance of Zeus who let it known with rumbles of thunder in the back of Yu's mind, as for Heracles himself he remained silent. "You have potential in spades. I'm only really here to help you control your temper, but I think you could be much more than a girl with anger issues. So if you do as a say and progress with your anger management I'll teach you to fight properly rather than relying on your semblance all the time."
"What's wrong with using my Semblance whenever everyone else uses theirs?" Yang asked exasperatedly.
"The problem with yours is that when that strength boost you get runs out you are left tired and weakened. Out in the real world, your opponents won't stop fighting when your aura is low, they will take advantage of your opening and try to kill you." Chiron replied bluntly. "So onto your anger. I want you to do some basic meditation exercises when in the shower. Do you remember how you felt when I took your hair?"
Yang nodded.
"Well, focus on that feeling breath in through your nose then out through mouth imagine that anger going with it understand?"
"Yeah, sounds easy enough."
"From now on all of your showers must be cold water only?"
"What cold but why!?" She yelled completely upset.
"Hey, Ruby." Yang turned to see Yu had called up Ruby on his scroll.
"Hey professor, what do you need?" she asked brightly.
"As part of her anger management, Yang's only allowed to have cold water showers. Teachers orders." Yu informed the young leader much to Yang's horror.
"Okie doke!" Ruby gave a salute.
"NOO!" Yang screamed fearfully and leapt at Yu trying to grab scroll only for him to dodge and keep it outreach.
"Hey guys good news, Yang won't be using all the hot water anymore!" Ruby exclaimed as the call ended.
Yang herself dropped to the floor with a dismayed look on her face.
"But…my hair." She whined with the kind of tone you'd expect from a child who just got their favourite toy taken away before looking up at Chiron. "For how long?"
"The whole four years if that's what it takes," Chiron replied unsympathetically. "So the sooner you progress with your meditations the sooner you get your hot water back."
"You're evil." Yang glared at Chiron
"I'm a teacher." He stated simply.
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Eventually, when yang got back to her dorm the sun had gone down and night had fallen. Her team was perfectly fine with her using the shower first. Weiss who was opening a large box of dust with the SDC logo it reminded her to use cold water only, which Yang replied with a one-fingered salute, knowing that swearing would only result in Ruby forcing her to put Lien in the swear jar as she so often did to Uncle Qrow, Dad and herself back home.
Ruby meanwhile was on her bunk bed reading a comic while Blake was not present, apparently, the library had not closed yet and she wanted to read in private.
"So why do you need another big box of dust?" Ruby asked without looking away from her comic. "You had so much on our first day in all those bags."
"That was weeks ago," Weiss replied finally pulling the lid off and set it to the side before reaching in and examining a few vials. "Besides, apparently father has decided I need to learn to not be so wasteful so this is my dust for the next few months until the Vytal Festival. Anything else I have to buy with my allowance which is also being reduced, to 'learn the value of a lien'" Weiss huffed with annoyance as she put the vials back in and began to rummage for others to examine.
"That…sucks?" Ruby said unsure of what to say in this situation.
"But it's strange," Weiss said
"What is?" Ruby asked turning the page.
"The way my father is acting is strange," Weiss told her. "Cutting down my allowance would be normal, but not this quickly, when it comes to internal things like this unless he needs to my father likes to take his time and try to crush his opponent slowly unless it's more profitable to do it quickly. Add to that the fact that he's giving Faunus labourers equal pay."
"but isn't that a good thing?"
"Yes, but my father is a miser in every sense of the word. The only things he cares about nearly as much are his reputation and his legacy. Giving Faunus workers equal pay is something he'd never do unless he really had no choice, he's even used his power, money and influence to prevent Atlesian lawmakers from pushing laws to that effect."
"Maybe he's had a change of heart?" Ruby suggested with an unsure tone.
"No way," Weiss replied quickly. "He's one of the most selfish and greedy people on the planet. The moon is more likely to suddenly turn into a giant cookie than my father is to willingly become charitable and caring." Weiss face scrunched up in annoyance as she tried to find what she was looking for and reached deeper into the crate, her face turning to the side. "Now where is-" she gasped as she felt something grab her, she tried to pull free but it was no use.
Then suddenly it happened. Dust vials suddenly flew everywhere as a figure erupted from the crate. Weiss got out a small startled noise before its hands quickly grabbed her throat and lifted her up into the air. Even as she began to choke Weiss tried to break free but her aura enhanced hits did nothing as this thing seemed not to flinch.
Ruby was startled by the noise of dust vials clinking as they went everywhere but thankfully didn't explode. One or two pelted her. The young prodigy looked in disbelief as some green human looking thing was half out of the crate. She could only see it from behind but could see it had a jester-like cap on its head with bells on the end. It looked like a demented jack-in-the-box, Ruby hated those as Yang scared her with one when she was younger. Seeing it attacking her partner she sprang into action.
"Let go of her!" Ruby cried as she quickly leapt the thing and rammed it sending it flying out of the box and crashing into a wall where it slid down the floor. "Weiss are you ok?"
"I…it came….out of….the crate." She wheezed out coughing to trying to get her breath back. "What is that?" She asked looking at something in her leaders' hand.
Ruby looked realised she was holding some grey thing and turned it around and squeaked in surprise. "Ah, it's face!" She promptly dropped it scooted away.
"It's not a face you dolt it's a mask, a drama mask," Weiss told her about the grey mask with a wide smile on it.
"Ah, it doesn't have a face!" Ruby yelled fearfully causing to look at the thing and see that indeed, underneath where the mask had been there was no face. No eyes, no ears no nose no mouth, nothing. So how was it able to see anything?
Quick as lightning it was up and charging again. This time its foot ploughed into Ruby flipping her onto the ground and pinning her by the throat with its toeless foot, its hands once again firmly around Weiss's neck.
Unable to get free Ruby did the only things she could. With all her breath she screamed for her big sister.
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After turning on the shower, Yang had been reluctant to get into the blasting cascade of cold water. However, she knew this wouldn't end unless she did it so slowly she got in, letting out a deep breath as the cold water make contact with her. After she washed herself and her hair (albeit not as well as she would have liked) she sat down and began breathing exercises. She tried to recapture the feeling of anger she had when Chiron pulled out her hair and imagined that feeling being expelled when she breathed out.
Yang had no idea how long she had to keep doing this but she imagined a few seconds was not enough, so she kept doing it. A loud bang and some muffled yell from the bedroom disturbed her, but because of the loud shower, she couldn't hear it properly, so she ignored it and went back to her meditation.
Breath in, and out.
In and Out.
Another bang came this time, but quieter. Yang was going to ignore it except it was accompanied by a scream, one she had not heard for years.
"YANG!" Hearing her sister screaming for help broke her out of her mediation.
Coldwater turned to steam as her hair ignited and she charged out of the shower. Bursting through the door, she saw this green person with his foot Ruby's throat. Needing to see more she hit him with all her strength and sent him flying through the door and smashing into the wall beside Team JNPR's door where it slid to the floor seemingly defeated.
Seeing it not getting up Yang moved to check on her sister. Not noticing the twitching of its fingers.
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Having little better do that evening Yu had wandered around the campus, just looking around. Eventually, he ran into Blake who was returning to her dorm after a binge reading session in the library and he decided to walk her back to her dorm.
He had tried to talk to her but she was a tough nut to crack. Getting her to open up was harder than Naoki and Shu combined. To her credit, she did answer but her answers were usually short responses, never more than a single sentence. It would take patience but he had that in spades. Plus it was amusing how some of his questions got a twitch from her bow. Blake wasn't nearly as slick as she thought she was.
As they approached the dorm Yu opened his mouth to ask another question only to be interrupted as the door was thrown open and something flew out of it and crashed against the wall just left of Team JNPR's door. Blake widened her eyes and ran to the door to check on her team, while JNPR all poked their heads out to see just what had impacted on their wall.
"Holy cow." Jaune breathed looking out and seeing the thing.
"Look Renny it's an alien!" Nora exclaimed before gasping. "A faceless alien!"
"Nora-" Ren was cut off as the creature suddenly stood up pushing itself upright.
Getting a good look Yu could see that it was green and indeed where its face should be was completely devoid of features. On its head was a jester's cap with bells on it. Reflexively Yu found his hand move to the hilt of his sword.
"Are you alright?" Blake asked with worry as she dashed into the room.
"I think so, that thing was trying to kill Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed.
That was all Yu needed and so casting a Sukukaja to give himself a speed boost he dashed to the doorway. Blocking the thing from getting past him as it tried to go back in. With a quick slash, he sliced off its outstretched right arm which fell to the ground by its feet. A fountain of green liquid erupted from the wound spraying all of the walls and some of it on Yu's clothing, and upon JNPR's faces.
"Ugh!" they all cried out disgusted.
The creature, however, let out no cries of pain. In fact, it didn't flinch at all. Acting as if having an appendage removed was no big deal. It made no sounds of anger nor cries of pain.
"Does it not feel pain?" Sekhmet the Egyptian goddess of war wondered.
"Even the Grimm feel pain." Thoth pointed out. "But this creature displays neither pain nor agitation and makes no vocal sounds mayhaps having no mouth or nose it does not need to breathe?"
The creature abruptly stomped on the appendage with great force causing a sickening 'splutch' like sound. Suddenly both leg and severed changed into a moving bulbous mass of flesh which travelled up the leg towards the area where the arm had once been. Before anyone knew it a knew arm quickly grew and replaced the old one.
"That's disgusting" Nora and unbeknownst her, Mara said together utterly disgusted by the sight and sound they had just witnessed.
It retaliated and swung a fist at Yu who managed to dodge just in time. Its fist crashed into the wall outside RWBY's room and loudly crashed through it creating a huge hole in the wall. Eventually, it stopped and tore its arm from the wall. Turning to face Yu once again.
"It's super strong and can regenerate all without Aura or a Persona I call hax!" Pixie grumbled.
"The yellow spot on its chest, stab there!" A scholarly voiced Persona yelled quickly.
Now that he looked Yu could see it. A small yellow spot in the middle of its green chest. Wasting no time he dashed at the being and rammed his sword through the spot where it made contact with something. The enemy went still like a statue.
Looking over its shoulder, Yu could see a clear reddish stone impaled on the blade of his sword. Suddenly the stone melted into a red puddle which dripped rather quickly off his sword and onto the floor into a puddle. The creature itself simply collapsed, sliding off his sword and onto the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
Suddenly Yu jumped back as steam erupted from the body the body and it appeared to be melting as a growing greenish-whitish puddle began growing beneath it.
Out of a swirl of blue flames, a man appeared. He was wearing a traditional white-tailed lab coat with unique modifications. The coat possesses a raised collar that descends down the coat as a large v-cut and black epaulettes on its shoulders. Under the coat, the man wore what appears to be a dark blue turtleneck sweater with a burgundy choker and harness. On his feet instead of a pair of shoes were a pair of knee-high metal boots reminiscent of those found on the armours of knights.
He had long greyish-blue hair that he lets fell loosely over his right shoulder and brown eyes. He quickly ran over to the creature.
"Damn, it's dissolving." He said kneeling down and beginning to examine it. "I need to work quickly. Go check on the students, I'll report what I can later."
Yu nodded and let the Persona do his work, he paused and looked down the hallway and saw students all looking to see what the commotion was and could hear whispers of speculation.
"Back into your dorms right now!" he commanded using his harshest teacher voice, giving a glare for added effect.
It worked and they all quickly retreated back into their rooms, but he could tell a few were peeking through the cracks of their doors. With that done Yu entered team RWBY's room. Both Blake and Yang were standing next to Weiss and Ruby. The former rubbing her neck which had bruising on it.
"Are you all ok, what happened here?" he asked quickly.
"That thing popped out of Weiss's dust crate and tried to kill her," Ruby told him motioning to the rather large crate with the SDC logo on it, which had a lot of dust vials scattered around it and the room. "I got it off her but it got back up and went after her again, it knocked me down too. Then Yang managed to punch it away."
"It didn't seem to have aura when I fought it," Yu commented. "What about you Yang?"
"No, I didn't see it's aura appear when I punched it," Yang answered having covered herself with a blanket while still fussing over Ruby.
"So I think it's safe to say that it was super strong even without aura." Yu speculated looking at the large hole in the wall of team RWBY's dorm. "In any case, please escort your teammates to the infirmary to get a check-up from Margaret, Professor Goodwitch will be there to take a statement from you. I'll talk to Professor Ozpin and I promise we'll have some answers for you in the morning ok?"
They looked like they wanted to object but ultimately ended up accepting his reasoning and nodded. Carefully Blake escorted her teammates out while Yu left Yang to get dressed. The Persona was still examining the nearly gone remains and was examining the red puddle which used to be that clear stone.
Yu picked up his scroll to call ahead to Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch, with luck neither had gone to sleep just yet.
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When he arrived at Ozpin's office he found the man sipping coffee and staring out of the window overlooking the school. His cane held in his other hand. Shortly after entering the office Yu felt the Persona from earlier return to the Sea of Souls. Now all they needed to do was wait for- A ding came from the elevator and Professor Goodwitch emerged from it, a stern look on her face.
"Ms Schnee and Ms Rose are fine." She reported diligently. "It appears that they both only received some light bruising around the neck."
"I see, and where did this creature come from?" Ozpin inquired sipping his coffee.
"They both say it emerged from Ms Schnee's dust crate. It's rather large and was apparently sent due to difficulties between Ms Schnee and her father."
"SDC security is rather tight when it comes to dust or luggage meant for higher-ups in the SDC or the Schnee family itself," Ozpin stated. "Only few would even know who the crates were meant for, which means someone higher up in the SDC who had the information deliberately put that creature in there."
"But do we know what exactly it was?" Glynda inquired. "It can't have been a grimm, they die off in captivity, one would never survive the journey from Atlas to Vale."
"I believe I can answer that." The Persona from earlier state materialising between them all. "My name is Paracelsus von Hohenheim, I am a Physician and Alchemist."
"Alchemist?" Glynda sounded confused. "What is an alchemist?"
"Alchemy is or rather was a science of transmuting one substance into another, or at least those were the basics of it," Ozpin explained. "The knowledge died out after it was discovered that you couldn't transmute other substances into dust which on Remnant is more valuable than gold." He saw the look that Paracelsus and Yu were giving him and continued. "Ah, yes I forgot to mention, Glynda is quite aware that you are from another world."
"Well, that makes this less awkward," Paracelsus commented with a relieved tone, he pushed up his glasses and began his explanation. "My examination of the creature before it totally dissolved, lead me to one conclusion. That creature was without a doubt a Homunculus. An artificial being created through advanced Alchemy. Whoever created it has to be an Alchemist."
"What makes you so sure?" Glynda asked.
"Because the homunculus, possess no vital organs at all," Paracelsus replied pushing his glasses up his nose again. "No heart, no liver, no kidneys, no brain, no lungs and no respiratory system all. In fact, its 'blood' was a mixture of modified Chlorophyll and other forms of plant matter, which appeared to be designed to convert any and all light into energy. As for its skeletal structure that was none existent. In place of bones, it had a gel-like substance that seemed to be quite durable yet elastic, which I imagine was a how it was able to fit beneath the false bottom hidden in the dust crate."
"If it had no brain, then how was it able to move or do anything?" Glynda asked with disbelief.
"That part is due to the incomplete Philosophers stone it had as its core," Paracelsus answered his tone becoming very serious. "The Philosophers stone is what all Alchemists seek, it is a substance that is key in creating the Elixir of Life which according to legend can cure any disease and grant the drinker eternal life and youth. Can transmute any metal into pure and gold and finally, be used to create a homunculus."
"So someone was able to create this stone to make this creature?"
"Incomplete," Paracelsus emphasised. "An Incomplete Philosophers stone is rather simple to make if you know how but making into a true philosophers stone is much more difficult and take years, decades even to complete properly. These incomplete stones seem to act not only as a rudimentary brain but also as the core which also regulates energy and animates the homunculus. As I said they are easy to make but are quite fragile if damaged too much they melt back into their component elements."
"One other thing, it was strong." Yu chimed in. "As in, strong enough to make a hole in walls designed to take blows from angry huntsman and huntresses in training. So if it was that strong why did strangle Weiss rather than simply breaking her neck being done with it?"
Ozpin looked thoughtful, and 'hmm' before speaking. "You say it dissolved after death?"
"Yes." Paracelsus confirmed "And the liquid it dissolved into quickly evaporated the only things that were left where the jester cap and the mask it wore. It seems the creator didn't want anyone examining it and coming to conclusions, fortunately, they never counted on me being there. One thing I will say is that whoever created it was a genius."
Ozpin was about to say something but was interrupted by a loud beeping and an icon appearing above his desk with a sealed envelope on it. He touched it and opened a message which he quickly read through.
"It seems." He closed the message and looked at them. "That we'll be getting some answers soon. The SDC is sending someone to try and explain what happened. A doctor, who they claim created it."
"If it was created by the SDC then why did it try to kill their heiress?" Glynda asked. "And more importantly why hasn't Jacques fired the man?"
These questions lingered in the air. But all they could do was wait for the doctor to arrive tomorrow to get their answers.