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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A week had passed since Ruby and Jaune had been rescued as well as all of the people Adachi had kidnapped. Weiss had left the infirmary first and had since told her teammates about what had happened to her, Ruby and Jaune had only been allowed to leave a few hours ago. Agravaine had escorted them both back to their dorms and Ruby had excitedly greeted her team and began babbling about her Persona which JNPR could hear from across the hall.
Nora had rushed to greet Jaune and given him a bone crushing hug, he was released when Ren came to his rescue followed by Pyrrha. Agravaine gave him a nod and closed the door. He would stand guard to ensure none overheard what Jaune was about to say.
"Guys, I have a confession to make." Jaune said seriously causing Nora to pause and listen as she read the atmosphere.
"What do you have to confess?" Ren asked curiously raising an eyebrow.
"The truth is... I'm a fraud." Jaune said sadly. "I didn't get into Beacon legitimately. I used forged transcripts to get into Beacon. I didn't have my aura unlocked until Pyrrha unlocked in the initiation."
"Pyrrha." Ren spoke up after a moment of silence. "Is that true?"
"Y-yes, I explained it to him everything." Pyrrha answered.
Nora remained silent but kept her eyes on Ren who suddenly inhaled and then exhaled.
"Jaune, are you seriously telling me that you just put down your game controller one day, closed your comic books and decided to come to Beacon one day?! Hoping it would all just work out!" Ren yelled with uncharacteristic anger.
"Yes." Jaune admitted shamefully as he lowered his head.
"It's two weeks until the end of the first semester, and you have literally accomplished nothing." Ren pointed out. "The Vytal Festival is coming up!"
"It won't start until the partway through the next semester." Pyrrha stated. "Even if Jaune hasn't trained then we have plenty of time to help him catch up. Please between the three of us we can do this."
"Ren, I agree with Pyrrha." Nora said pausing as she saw Ren flinch with surprise but pushed forward. "What he did was wrong, super wrong. But that doesn't mean we should abandon him."
"Why not?" Ren demanded pointing to Jaune. "People like him, never change."
"That's not true." Nora argued not giving up. "People can change, they change all the time for better and for worse. But giving up on him won't make things better. Remember the initiation, he'll be a great leader I know you can see it."
"Please, Ren. We have time." Pyrrha pleaded. "We can train through the semester break and help shape him up."
Ren was silent for a few minutes before fixing his glare on Jaune.
"If we do this, you swear that you'll take this seriously?" Ren asked. "No slacking off, no whining, no giving up?"
"I swear, I won't let you down again." Jaune vowed with a fire look in his eyes.
Letting out a loud sigh Ren relented. "Alright, you win. But you better not go back on your word."
"An Arc never goes back on their word." Jaune said seriously.
"I guess we'll see about that." Ren said walking back to his bed and sat on it before leaning back onto his pillow, staring at the ceiling to avoid looking at anyone.
An uncomfortable silence settled over Team JNPRs dorm before cut in and zoomed into Jaune's face.
"So what happened with you and Ruby?" Nora asked with both excitement and curiosity. "Was there a fight? Did you fight together? Who did what? Who did you fight?"
Nora hopped up and down as she spoke rapidly clearly trying to break the sombre mood in the room. Jaune backed up with each question before Nora had him pinned against the wall, only to be dragged back by Pyrrha giving Jaune room to breathe.
"Easy Nora, he'll tell us won't you?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yeah, here it's easier if I show you." Jaune summoned his Arcana, the Hanged Man and crushed it, causing Gareth to appear in a swirl of blue flames.
"Greetings, I am Sir Gareth a Knight of the Round Table." The Knight introduced himself as he manifested getting an 'oooh' from Nora who had an amazed expression on her face, while Pyrrha looked interested and examined Gareth, even Ren took a peek from his place on his bed.
"Gareth is my Persona." Jaune explained. "I awakened to him when Ruby and I got kidnapped and separated."
"Kidnapped?" Pyrrha parroted questioningly.
"You know those disappearances that have been in the news lately?" Jaune asked continuing when he confirmations from everybody. "Well the guy behind them took Ruby and I as well. He pretended to be a cop and managed to sucker punch us both before tossing us into this other world inside the TV."
"A world inside a TV?" Nora asked tilting her head in confusion.
"Yeah, apparently it's his semblance." Jaune said. "I think Professor Goodwitch called it, a Domain?"
"A domain?" Nora parroted.
"An extremely rare type of semblance." Ren explained from his bed, Pyrrha who was about to explain closed her mouth and let him continue. "They're very powerful but also don't last for more than a few seconds up a couple of minutes due to the sheer amount of Aura they take to maintain."
"So he kidnapped all those people to use their aura for his domain?" Nora asked. "Can he do that?"
"While they do have their limits, theoretically in his Domain he could do almost what he wants within reason." Ren shrugged. "So yes, and more people means he would have to drain less aura from them, thus letting them last longer."
"Alright, so what happened next?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yeah how'd you get Gareth anyway?" Nora demanded.
"Well after I was dragged into that place I was stuck in a forest clearing, with my shadow." Jaune paused and breathed heavily to try and calm his nerves at remembering the incident.
"Your shadow, did it try to hurt you?" Pyrrha inquired with worry.
"Well yes." Jaune confirmed "And it said things, things that weren't exactly wrong."
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"You saw mom?" Yang asked Ruby who had begun explaining her own experience inside Adachi's Domain.
Ruby had shown them Red Riding Hood and had been talked down from going overboard when it was revealed that Riding Hood could produce weapons from her basket, such as grenades and rocket launchers. They also kept their distance from the Persona due to both the creepy grin on her face and the dripping of blood from her cloak which thankfully simply vanished instead of staining the floor.
Anastasia appeared of her own accord next to Weiss and fixed the other Persona with an icy cold stare, ready to attack if Riding Hood tried anything.
"Yeah." Ruby confirmed quietly. "It didn't just look like her, her voice, her smell, the smell of her cookies. It really was her."
"Did you have to fight her?" Yang asked cautiously only half wanting to know the answer.
"No." Ruby answered to Yangs surprise and relief. "She more than let me go, she encouraged me to go. I think she was the part of me that knew I need to accept that...mom is gone, and she's not coming back."
"Ruby." Weiss was the first to break the silence which followed. "I'm so sorry." She put a comforting arm on her partners shoulder while Yang gave her sister a hug.
"It's fine." Ruby said releasing herself from Yang and wiping away some small forming tears. "I needed to hear it. I can't chase some small hope that she might be alive at the expense of others. It's not what she'd want. I need to honour her memory by saving as many people as I can."
There was a paused before Yang decided to press forward.
"So what happened after you left?" She asked her sister.
"Well, I met up with Jaune, Professor Narukami and Professor Goodwitch." Ruby explained. "It looked like Jaune had his Persona too. But before we could really regroup Adachi teleported me and Jaune to him."
"Jaune and I." Weiss corrected her causing everyone to give her a look. "Sorry, force of habit."
"Jaune and I" Ruby said giving Weiss a look as she said those words. "To him. He took our weapons away so we had to use our persona's. Fortunately Red Riding Hoods powers surprised him and let us get in a few good hits, but he overpowered us. Luckily the professor arrived before he could finish us off. Then he got weird."
"Weirder than he already was?" Yang raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah." Ruby said with a confused tone of voice. "He stopped fighting, and then he started talking. He mentioned something called, the 'Salem Witch Trials' and seeing how Professor Ozpin reacted to it."
"I've never heard of anything like that." Blake stated.
"Neither have I." Weiss agreed. "What does it have to do with the Headmaster?"
"No idea, but there was one more thing, Adachi's Persona looked almost exactly like Professor Narukami's Izanagi, the only difference was the colour, it was red like blood and it seemed like they knew each other."
"Well, the professor did mention that they were from the same place while you were recovering." Blake told her "They might have been friends before they discovered he was a murderer."
There was a silence that fell as Ruby contemplated this. It would be easier to think lesser of him for being friends with a murderer. But still, he hadn't known. Plus things turned out alright so in the end, Ruby chose to just let it be.
"So what happened then?" Weiss asked snapping Ruby back to reality. "He mentioned the 'Salem Witch Trials' but then what?"
"Well, that's when we found out that the shadows that were all over that place, were the missing people." Ruby explained. "I'm not too sure what happened as after he told us that Professor Narukami had Professor Goodwitch take Jaune and I away, back to the real world. But the Professor explained that he had to let him go in order to get the missing people back, and then I fell asleep."
"Well, you're back and better, and that what matters right now." Yang said cheerfully, although Ruby could detect worry in her voice, causing her to mentally groan. She just knew Yang was going to be overprotective Big Sis mode for a long while. As much a Ruby loved her sister, she was grown up now, plus she drank milk.
"So, he's still out there?" Blake asked, her question bringing down the mood. "What if-"
"Blake, it'll be fine, the professors and Ozpin are going to handle it." Ruby cut her off.
"Besides we should really be studying, don't think you'll be getting out of the homework and class work you missed Ruby, I took notes for you and kept copies of the homework for you to do. The teachers of course have given you an extension."
Ruby let out a loud groan of misery at being reminded of such things causing Yang to laugh. Blake meanwhile looked out of the window worried at what would happen next.
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Up in Ozpin's office, Yu was gathered with the headmaster and Glynda, having finally gotten the time to meet about the events a week ago due to Ozpin having been busy with the Council with the return of the missing people.
"It seems that you were correct Ozpin." Glynda conceded with a sigh. "His team accepted his confession, and the boy has agreed to work hard to earn their trust back."
"I was surprised that Nora spoke up like that, she and Ren don't normally have opposing opinions like that," Holmes said reading through some criminal reports on Ozpin's terminal. "They've been two peas in a pod for years according to their records."
"Well they are two separate people; it is inevitable that no matter how close they are, they'd eventually disagree on some things." Yu pointed out before dismissing Holmes who pushed back, not wishing to be dismissed just yet, Holmes moved fields about on the screen and pressed a button. Yu felt a vibration from his scroll but ignored it as Holmes finally acquiesced and returned to the Sea of Souls, Agravaine taking his place.
"You were correct Ozpin," Agravaine stated. "The boy does have potential, and I will train him personally."
"In the end, they awakened their Persona's though much earlier than I would have liked." Yu said, "So I'll train them with that as much as I can."
"I am glad to hear it," Ozpin said sipping his coffee. "Does this mean the matter of his transcripts will stay between us?"
"Yes, I will keep it a secret." "Very well." Yu and Glynda said respectively.
"Honestly Ozpin, you should have just told me about this" Glynda admonished him. "I understand your reasoning, I would have naturally objected but I would have trusted your judgement if you hadn't kept this hidden and just explained this to me. I trust you, so why don't you trust?"
That seemed to be a killer question; if one blinked they would have missed it. The slight flinch Ozpin made, as well as the flash of shame and guilt in his eyes.
"That trust is the reason I haven't detained Ms Bellandona despite it being my duty as a Huntress," Glynda said holding up her scroll to Ozpin. Which had a website open, to be specific the White Fangs website, its history page to be precise. Looking closer Yu saw a picture at the top, there were three people in it, a man, a woman and a child, beneath which was a caption with their names. The father was a Panther faunus named Ghira, The woman was a cat faunus named Kali and between them was a younger...Blake. "This was one of the first results from a search of her name Ozpin, she didn't even try to use an alias."
The headmaster retained his composure but Yu could tell he felt some shame.
"If she doesn't keep her head down and does something drastic, she might attract the attention of the council and it won't be hard for them to find out that we are harbouring a terrorist." Glynda scolded "And yes, she is a terrorist, she stayed in the White Fang when her peaceful parents left and was part of a dust train hijacking just before the start of the year."
Ozpin was silent, so Yu interjected to cool things down.
"I'll keep a close eye on her, if she does something foolish, then I'll intervene and take the blame for it," Yu said causing both of them to look at him. "They might investigate Blake to spite you Professor, but if it's me who they think they can use, then they may not look closely if at all as long as I keep up the act."
A moment passed and the headmaster let out a loud sigh.
"I...am sorry." he apologised to Glynda's surprise. "I have lived a long time and suppose I have grown used keeping my cards close to my chest."
"Ozpin, I don't want to know all your secrets, please just let me know what I need to be able to protect my students and ready them for what is to come," Glynda said.
"Very well, Professor Narukami if you would please give us some time, we have important things to discuss."
It seemed to Yu that Ozpin, while certainly guarded wasn't completely a fortress.
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Roman sighed with annoyance as the airship finally after hours of flight from Vale entered Atlesian airspace. Neo stretched beside him and watched the military fleet in the distance. Clearly, they were getting ready to depart. No doubt to go to Vale for the Vytal Festival. Roman had seen Atlesian battleships before, they were an uncommon sight back in Mistral but not too rare.
While the kingdom of Atlas and Mistral were close allies even after the Great War when Mantle became Atlas, attitudes had changed. Atlesians looked down on Mistral, especially for its corrupt criminal underworld. He'd seen General Ironwood and knew that he'd like nothing more than to storm the lower parts of Mistral down and purge the criminal element, to make the kingdom a better place to live. The only thing holding him back was the councils of Atlas and Mistral.
"So, why did you need me to come with you?" Roman asked with annoyance
"Because this person refused to even meet us without you and her." Cinder growled nodding at Roman and Neo. "My employer insists that this meeting go well, and so here you are."
Emerald and Mercury had stayed behind in Vale at Cinders order to keep things on track. Emerald had objected but Cinder had buttered her up with sweet words and she quickly obeyed.
"How do they even know we were working for you?" Roman inquired. "And secondly, them knowing that I was working for you implies that they knew about you in the first place, I thought you preferred to stay in the shadows?"
"From what I understand, they knew about my employer and one of the conditions of the meeting was knowledge of her employees and any others working for her, so she told them, and that is likely when they researched you two and made these conditions." Cinder explained.
So even Cinder Fall had a boss. Roman filed that information away for later. He knew that Cinder wanted nothing more than to slip back into the shadows when she was done with whatever she was up to. So perhaps if Roman could talk to her boss and do some kissing up then perhaps Neo and him could survive Cinder's plan.
"I get the feeling I'm going to be doing more work." Roman sighed.
"Most likely, and you'll do it too." Cinder commanded. "I'll show leniency because of how important this is, but don't push your luck. Besides from what I understand you're going to be paid for your time."
Roman was surprised. This guy they were meeting, really was more interested in himself and Neo than Cinder. Now he was interested, a lucrative opportunity and perhaps...a way out?
"Also" Cinder fixed a glare on him. "When you do work for him, you will report back everything he tells you, to me, am I clear?" Cinder emphasised her 'question' with a flash of flame near her eye.
"Yeah, I got it." Roman gulped.
Suddenly the airship gave a great shudder as it landed and the engines powered down. A few seconds passed before a mechanical voice came over the intercom.
"It is now safe to depart the ship." It said robotically as the door clicked, the lock opening and the door swinging open.
Cinder got out first, with Roman second and Neo third. He saw that they had landed in Mantle, which was essentially the lower levels of this kingdom. Atlas liked to think they were better than Mistral, but some things were universal.. Glancing back, through the windshield he saw that their robot pilot had shut itself off.
They entered an elevator that closed itself and began moving without any need to touch a button. Roman stopped Neo from pushing all of the buttons, which caused her to pout, she was bored, something Roman would have to deal with later. Eventually, the elevator came to a halt and opened up into a short hallway.
Looking at it Roman shuddered as he followed Cinder down the hallway. It was all decorated in a style that hadn't been used in about two hundred years. Altogether it gave the impression that if not for the lights it would need candles to let you see anything. Roman hated this place already. This style was used by rich snobs to make their homes appear royal.
They came to a stop in front of a large black door, it was unassuming and had no special features to it which made it more strange. Cinder knocked on the large door and a voice said.
"Come in."
Cinder pushed the door open and entered, Neo and Roman following. The office was smaller than Roman expected. Even Paul Parrots' office was bigger than this. Looking around, he saw a large era fitting fireplace office to the left with carvings in the wooden mantle surrounding it, their host sat at a fancy looking desk.
"Cinder Fall." A smooth old but strong voice greeted. "It's nice to meet you."
The man turned around revealing a 55 years old man. with white hair slicked back with a single strand hanging over his right eye and a brush-like moustache. He wore a brown coat with gold and purple trimmings.
"Likewise." Cinder greeted back.
"And these are Roman Torchwick and his compatriot. Excellent." The man said pleased. "My name is Jim Mycroft."
An alias, Roman didn't think he'd ever heard such a blatantly fake name. After all, no one had used a name without at least some association with colour since before the Great War. Now that he thought about it, everything in this office was fake; this man was probably a decoy for whoever was really in charge.
"So about our talks-"
"Yes, yes have your boss send Doctor Watts and we will talk further, now if you please I need to talk with these two alone," Mycroft said dismissively waving her off with his hand.
Roman could tell Cinder was furious but she stood up and walked out of the room, giving Roman a warning glare before she left. There was a silence that lasted until Cinders footsteps had faded down the hall into the elevator.
"Finally I thought she'd never leave." Mycroft sighed. "Now, it's good to finally meet you Mr. Roman Torchwick former Spider and right-hand man to Lil' Miss Malachite and Trivia Vanille, daughter of Jimmy and Carmel Vanille, the former a corrupt member of the council and city manager, the latter a top graduate at Lady Browning's Preparatory Academy For Girls, in reality, a top spy and assassin much like yourself."
Both criminals froze in surprise. Roman's past wasn't exactly public knowledge and Neo had taken measures so that nobody would connect her to her parents and this man had apparently uncovered these secrets with ease.
"Let me clear if you stay aligned with Cinder Fall then you will not live beyond the Vytal Festival." Jim began "Her advantage remains in the fact that no one knows who she is which will be essential after she attacks the festival when the whole world will be watching and what better way to remain concealed than if you take the blame and are unable to say anything in your defence."
Roman was quiet, it had been obvious. Cinder was treading the toes of powerful people in Vale's underworld. Survival was always Roman's goal. And if Cinder meant to screw him over, then he would gladly do it first. However, just as he paid close attention to the surroundings of the room he also examined their host's statement as it reminded Roman of a previous conversation he held with another associate of Cinder's boss.
Realization struck within him as he replayed what the host said with Adachi's statement and can probably guess where this will lead. He will be offered the same offer that Adachi gave him not so long ago. To help him survive whatever Cinder has planned and get away with his life. Knowing what would happen now, this presents an opportunity for him. Roman composed himself and sees where this goes before jumping at the potential offer.
"It had been obvious for awhile now true. But what's not to say I've made... insurances to make sure I stay breathing at the end of her schemes?" Roman bluffed in order to see how the host might respond and go from there.
"Oh I have no doubt you would make insurances of your survival given you and your partner's skills and your discerning eye considering the fact that you realized that everything around here is more or less a replica." Jim said praising Roman and Neo. "However, considering your current predicament and relationship with that fiery woman I doubt you could do anything to extrapolate yourself in your situation despite your resources."
"Now I deduced based on your behavior and statement alone that you have someone's ear to ensure your survival if what you claim is true... Or someone beat me to it and ensured you and Ms Vanille survival and profits." Jim said with a knowing glint in his eye. "But who could it be? I don't see Mr. Taurus and his group helping you considering your human nature or Mr. Watts considering you and him haven't interacted much at all... So that leaves only a certain Tohru Adachi to be the most likely suspect to have possibly offered to help you. Am I to assume based on your reaction, that I am correct in this assessment?"
Roman's attitude turned from wary to cautious and he held a slight grimace in his face when their host finished his piece. Digging up his and Neo's past, having an awareness of his current situation and seemingly knowing his recent dealings? Just who was this Jim Mycroft? He seemed clever, all too clever. Those were the types Roman was most wary of, the vicious criminals would chase if you made enemies of them. The clever ones, however, would find you and catch you. It's why Roman was thankful Junior was not much like his father.
"All right I'll bite what's this offer then?" Roman inquired pointedly keeping a cool and steady voice to conceal how unnerved and cornered he was towards the host.
"Simple, it is assured that if both of you accept Mr Adachi's offer then you two will surely survive and profit. But if you and Ms. Vanille choose to work with me, not only will you two survive and certainly get rich, but also be guaranteed safety and if you prove yourselves in the long run... certain benefits of awakening the potentials within both of you." Mycroft said as he lights and stokes the fireplace that's containing an ethereal blue flame.
"Stay with Cinder until the festival and when Adachi helps you survive simply call me with this and you will be evacuated to Atlas along with these of course." Jim approached the two giving them a disposable scroll with two pieces of paper, and reading them Roman's eyes nearly came of out their sockets. These were full pardons, one for him and one for Neo, both just awaiting council signatures.
"No way how did yo-"
"I have my fingers in many pies Mr. Torchwick." Jim said with a smirk. "As you can see I have already fulfilled one of the many promises I made on my offer, but it only stands if you and Ms. Trivia or rather Neo accept it. So, do we have a deal?"
Roman considered his options which weren't many; he could arrange to just run away. Maybe to Vacuo, but he had feeling Cinder's plans involved him not being able to go far. Plus Cinder had pretty much forced him to reveal all of his safe houses and lent them to those animals in the White Fang for use. This left nowhere for him to hide in Vale. Mistral was a no-go for obvious reasons. But Vacuo was a survival of the fittest kind of place and the huntsman academy there was the law. So that was out. With Adachi, sure he could survive and maybe profit but it'd be just as hard if not harder since another pile of enemies have been added in the form of Cinder and potentially her boss.
But if this guy was telling the truth then, he could get everything he wanted and still never get bored, plus he'd be able to rub it in Ironwood's face that he was untouchable. It was all very tempting, but Roman was no fool.
"Alright, say I'm tempted, what's the catch?" Roman asked.
"The catch? Well, there is only one you need to worry about for now." Mycroft said. "When I introduce you to my employer you keep his identity a secret until the time is right and until then you take orders from me."
Roman looked to Neo who simply looked back at him. She didn't need to communicate to get him to understand what she thought. He looked back to Jim and gave his answer.
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A monkey faunus jumped carefully and stealthily from the top of one cargo container to another. They were stacked very high and so he was out of sight of the security guards doing their rounds below. He waited for a vision of a pair of guards to not be covering each and leapt again landing on another cargo container, this was so they wouldn't spot his shadow, as the sun was not down just yet. He got a foothold using an open porthole and scrambled up the side of the ship and made it onto the deck. He found a nice spot to hide that was tucked away in one of those corners no ever thinks to look in.
He watched the crew do their rounds from his hiding spot on the cargo ship named S.S Ikazuchi as it departed from Mistral heading for Vale and snickered, they had no idea that he was there. He briefly thought about his team but dismissed the thought. They'd be fine without him, they'd get to Vale on their own, and so leant back and enjoyed the ride.