Between dream and reality, mind and matter, stands a massive tower, alone in a beautifully shifting void, that glowed as if one were gazing upon the Northern Lights. At the apex of this tower sat a large, elegant table with what appeared to be a map atop it. At one end of the table sat a young man dressed in a white suit, with dark hair tied into a ponytail, his face obscured by a featureless porcelain mask with a butterfly design.
This was the Man in White, the human form of the being known as Philemon.
He held a cup of tea in his hand, waiting patiently for his guest to arrive, so they could begin the first game they've had years. Philemon had been patiently waiting for the other members of the Pantheon to revoke the edict to forbid Philemon and his counterpart from partaking in any of the divine games. Though they had plenty of reason for the edict after what has been called the 'Innocent Sin' incident. In the last game they partook in, Philemon's counterpart was just about to lose, but the cur took control of one of Philemon's characters and cheated his way to victory. To make matters worse, when the damage Philemon's opponent caused was fixed, the dirty coward decided to cheat once again, resulting in the two being banned from playing their divine games, being forced into being spectators, which severely hampered Philemon's efforts to interfere when one of the Pantheon went rogue.
His gaze then turned to the space across from him, beyond the table, as a shadowy void opened, with Philemon's guest stepping out from the shadows. He was a young man with long, messy black hair, his face was ashen gray, with the beginnings of a goatee on his chin. His eyes were essentially pools of shadow, with a red circle in the center, and from his eyes leaked a strange black ichor. He wore a black suit similar to Philemon's, but this suit was tattered and ripped at some places, with various claw marks, bullet holes and stab wounds across his form, but despite his wounds there was no bleeding, and if you look into the gaps where the suit was torn or damaged, you would only see a.dark void.
This was the Raggedy Man, the human form of the eldritch entity known as Nyarlathotep.
Without a word, the Raggedy Man took a seat across from Philemon, who smiled beneath his mask. It was finally time to start the game.
The store known as From Dust Till Dawn was in the nearing the end of a slow business day. Very little had come in to restock their supplies of Dust, aside from two of its regulars, who were just finishing their shopping. For the moment, it seemed like it would be a quiet evening...
Until in walked a rather intimidating group of men in black suits, led by a well dressed man in a white coat, black pants and shoes, a black bowler hat with a red band, a cigar in his mouth, and carrying a cane. The group gathered at the counter, their leader walking up to the owner and asking "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?" asked the groups leader as one of his underlings aimed a gun at the owner.
"Please!" cried the owner "Just take my lien and leave!"
"Sh-sh-sh-sh!" hushed the gang leader, "Calm down. We're not here for your money." He turned to his underlings, his tone becoming serious. "Grab the Dust." His men began to load the Dust from the glass tubes off to the side into small containers, while one was making the owner hand over the crystals under the glass of the counter.
One of the thugs looked to his side before he could load the Dust into his canister, and noticed a girl in a red cloak at the back of the store reading a magazine, wearing headphones with music blaring through them.
"Alright, kid." Said the thug as he drew his blade, "put your hands where I can see them!"
The girl didn't respond, too engrossed in her reading and in her music to notice what was happening.
"Hey, I said hands in the--" He was stopped by a blade that had appeared just inches from his throat. His gaze traveled along the edge of the sword, before finally noticing the one wieding the weapon. The swordsman was a young man with silver, bowl-shaled hair and gray eyes. It was Yu Narukami, donned in his Remnant attire. In the blink of an eye, he slashed the thug across the chest, the crooks Aura taking most of the blow, but not enough to keep him standing. As the robber crumpled to the ground, the silverette turned to the girl in red, Ruby Rose, tapping her on the shoulder. She turned toward Yu, removing her headphones before asking "Already done?"
"Not quite." Said Yu, nodding his head towards the group at the front of the store.
"Oh." With that, Ruby unsheathed her weapon and rocketed towards the front knocking one of the thugs through the window, drawing the attention of the other thieves, while Yu sauntered up to them from behind, his sword resting in his shoulder. Ruby could more than handle a bunch of goons, but the leader could slip away during the fight. At the very least, he could keep him busy until the police arrive.
While Ruby handled the thugs outside, Yu had the edge of the blade to the nape of the leaders neck. "Don't move."
The leader simply took a drag of his cigar, his gaze still fixed on the fight, or rather, his men getting their asses handed to them by a little girl. "Or what?"
"Or else I take more than a little off the top."
"I doubt you have the guts to kill me."
"Maybe, maybe not. You really want to find out?"
Silence for a moment, before the leader chuckled and said "Alright then, let's play." before spinning around and knocking the blade away with his cane, the swordsman responding by slashing at the leaders hand, hoping to wound him and take him out of the fight. But the leader countered with a flourish, trapping them both in swordlock.
"Why are you only after the Dust? Is taking lien a bit too 'been-there-done-that?'" asked Yu. It was clear that this wasn't an ordinary robbery. But what did he need so much Dust for?
"That's none of your business, boy!" said the gang leader as he pushed Yu back, breaking the swordlock before taking another swing. Yu quickly countered the strike, slashing at the thief's side, sending him reeling before the swordsman kicked him through the front door, sending him crashing to the ground. As the thief picked himself up, he noticed that the girl was standing over the crumpled forms of his underlings.
"You were worth every cent, -ugh- truly you you were."
"Game over, pal." said Yu, sword at his side as Ruby readied her own weapon. "The cops will be here any minute."
"Hmph" scoffed the thief. "Then I should make myself scarce!" said the thief as he pointed his cane at the swordsman and pulled the trigger, catching Yu off guard as Izanagi took the blow, the bullet exploding on contact, blasting the Persona user backward onto the ground.
"Yu!" cried Ruby as she rushed over to her friend, taking her eyes off of the thief.
When the smoke cleared, Yu was on one knee clutching his stomach. "I'm fine, don't let him get away!" Said Yu, pointing at the thief who was now climbing a ladder on tye side of one of the nearby buildings, trying to make his escape.
Ruby took off after the thief, her semblance allowing her to scale the building with ease jusr as the thief reached the top.
"...Persistent." Said the thief before a VTOL appeared from the street below! It lowered itself down to the ledge of the building, allowing the thief to climb inside before turning back to the reaper in red.
"End of the line, Red!" exclaimed the thief as he held up a red dust crystal, and tossing it down where she stood. He took aim at the crystal with his cane and...
BOOOM
The crystal was ignited, causing a fiery explosion! The thief reveled in his apparent victory before the smoke cleared, revealing a woman with blonde hair tied into a bun, green eyes, and glasses, wearing a white pleated top with a keyhole necklace and a high-waist black pencil skirt, with black stockings and black boots with bronze heels, with a black cape hanging from her shoulders.
The woman had created a violet barrier with what appeared to be a disciplinarians crop, and with a flick of her wrist, turned the barrier into a volley of projectiles, blasting the VTOL and nearly knocking it out of the sky!
Inside the VTOL, the thief was not having a good time. As the aircraft shook and swerved, he tried in vain to keep himself balance, only to be thrown about the cabin, barely managing to keep down his lunch!
He was able to keep himself steady long enough to reach the cockpit! "We've got a Huntress!" exclaimed the thief, the pilot responding by getting out of her seat and handing control over to her co-pilot.
Outside, the woman had created a dark, swirling cloud above the VTOL, calling down icy daggers onto the aircraft as she brought down her crop! The aircraft was pelted with the frigid spikes, one nearly impaling the thief's head, as the pilot stepped out onto the ledge of the VTOL's cabin. Her face eas obscured by a shadow, but when she readied her aytack, the sleeeves of her red dress glowed a fiery red before the pilot shit a blast of fire at the Huntress, who blocked the attack with another barrier, shards dropping to the ground before the pilot, with a single gesture, ignited the shards around the Huntress, causing the roof around her to erupt! The Huntress managed to jump back, telekinetically taking hold of the debris with her crop, and fashioning them into a spear and launching it at the VTOL, the pilot tried to blast the soear away, only for it to reassemble and strike the aircraft's side, the pieces breaking apart and swirling around the VTOL, attempting to trap it! The pilot unleashed a massive wave of fire, disintegrating the shards keeping their getaway vehicle in place, leaving the Huntress stunned, and Ruby responding by shooting at the pilot with Crescent Rose in its gun form! With a wave of her hand, the pilot caused the ground around Ruby and the Huntress to erupt, the Huntress using her telekinesis to push Ruby out of the way, only to notice afterwards that the VTOL was getting away.
"You're a Huntress..." said Ruby, awestruck by what she had seen! "Can I have your autograph?!"
"I hope you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly!" said the Huntress, as she paced behind the two teenagers sitting at the table. Yu and Ruby had been taken to the police station, for whatever reason! Ruby was upset by the arrest, but Yu was absolutely furious! "Oh, you mean that we should've let those guys run off with all of that dust?! Good to know, next time we'll be the typical apathetic teenagers you'd expect us to be!!"
"I'd suggest you watch your tone, young man!"
"Or what?! We didn't do anything wrong! You have no right to keep us here, especially not without a warrant!"
"You don't understand. You put yourselves and others in great danger!"
"There was already danger! By the time the police arrived, those guys would have cleaned out that entire Dust shop! What were we supposed to do?!"
The Huntress glared at the silverette before sighing, and rubbing her temples. "...You have a point. But you still should have been more careful. If it were up to me you two would be sent home with a pat on the back..." Ruby perked up, smiling.
"... and a slap on the wrist!" The huntress struck at Ruby's hand with her crop to prove her point, causing her to yelp and pull her hand away. "But there's someone who wants to speak with you two."
Yu raised his eyebrow in confusion and caution, while Ruby just looked confused as a man walked in with a plate of cookies and a mug in his off hand.
"Ruby Rose..." said the man before leaning in for a closer look. "... you... have silver eyes."
"Are you just here to be creepy, Mr..."
"Ozpin. And I'm guessing you're Yu Narukami."
"How did you--"
"Where did you learn" Ozpin turned his attention back to Ruby. "to do this?" Ozpin gestured to the tablet showing her take down the goons from before.
"S... Signal Academy." said Ruby, her confusion only getting worse.
"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"
"Well, one teacher in particular."
"I see." remarked Ozpin as he set down the plate of cookies, the diminutive reaper hesitating for a moment before stuffing her face. "It's just that I've only seen one other scythe wielder with that skill before. A dusty old crow..."
"Mhf! Thash my un-- *gulp* Heh, sorry. That's my uncle Qrow! He's a teacher at Signal! I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing! But now I'm all like whaa, tchaa! Hwoo!" Ruby was making rather humerous gestures, trying to imitate karate, causing the silverette sitting beside her to stifle his laughter.
"So I've noticed." Said Ozpin. "And Mr. Narukami, would you care to explain how you managed to do this?" he gestured to the footage of Izanagi appearing with arms crossed, absorbing the shot from the thiefs weapon. "That's a bit... complicated. For now let's just say that's my Semblance and leave it at that."
"Hmm. And it's name?"
"Izanagi."
"I see. Do you attend Signal as well?"
"No. I'm self-taught, though Ruby's uncle did give me a few pointers."
"Hm. Ms. Rose, what is an adorable girl such as yourself--"
"And we're back to creepy." remarked Yu.
"--doing at a school designed to train warriors?"
"Well... I want to be a Huntress."
"You want to slay monsters?"
"Yeah. I only have two more years of training left at Signal, and then I'm going to apply to Beacon! See, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress, and I wanna become a Huntress because I wanna help people! My parents always taught us to help others so I thought 'might as well make a career out of it', heheh, I mean the police are alright, but Huntress' and Huntsman are much more romantic and exciting! Y'know?!"
Yu simply snickered at the reapers enthusiasm, one of the things he liked about his 'Best Friend in Remnant,' as she called herself. In the time since she had saved him in the Patch Island wilderness, they had become like brother and sister, Yu being the perfect foil to Yang Xiao Long's more bombastic personality, and being a much needed voice of reason for Ruby when she needed it, while the reaper had been a source of comfort for the silverette, keeping him from falling into despair and loneliness so many times now. He was luckier than a lot of people would be in his situation, especially since she didn't send him off to an insane asylum when he told her he was from another world. He didn't tell her the while story, of course, just enough for her to get the idea of his circumstances.
Ozpin merely looked at the duo for a moment before asking "Do you know who I am?"
"Not in the least." replied Yu.
"I do. You're Professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster at Beacon."
"Hello."
"Nice to meet you!"
"Yeah, nice... I guess."
"You want to come to my school, Ms. Rose?"
"More than anything."
"And you, Mr. Narukami?"
"I'unno. I think I'm doing pretty well training on my own."
"Perhaps, but I think you and Ms. Rose would truly prosper at Beacon. How about it?"
"...what?" the duo said in unison.
"Would you two like to attend Beacon?"
"ABSOLUTELY!/WHAT?!"
"Is there a problem, Mr. Narukami?"
"Well... I get why you asked Ruby, but why me? I said it myself, I don't go to Signal. She's trained for this way more than I have."
"Maybe, but I still think you'd do rather well at Beacon. Besides.." Ozpin took a moment to adjust his glasses. "A genuine Persona user is quite rare these days."
"Wait, what?! How did you--"
"The airship to Beacon leaves this weekend. I sincerely hope you two will be aboard."
And aboard they were, with Ruby currently trapped in a hug from her older sister, Yang Xiao Long. "Ohh I can't believe my baby sister's going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!"
"Ease up, Yang, you're choking the poor girl!"
"But I'm so proud of her!"
"Really sis, it was nothing..."
"What do you mean, it was incredible! Everyone at Beacon's gonna think you're the bee's knees!"
"I don't wanna BE the bee's knees! I don't wanna be any kind of knees! I just wanna be a normal girl with normal knees!"
"Why would you want that?" said Yu. "Normal's boring. Van Gogh wasn't normal. Gandhi wasn't normal."
"Ugh, more of your inter-dimensional references..."
"My point is, you deserve to be here, but it is a bit weird how Ozpin just let you enroll so early."
"You think so?"
"Yeah, and when he saw Izanagi, he didn't buy the Semblance excuse, he knew it was a Persona."
"Ah yes" remarked Yang. "your 'other self' that shoots lightning and stuff." Yang was skeptical of Yu's abilities, believing it was really just a semblance and that Yu was trying to sound cool, as if he didn't try hard enough with his whole 'I'm from another world' story.
"And there was that part about your eyes. Why did that matter?"
"Well..."
"I don't trust him. He's up to something."
"And yet you stepped onto an airship headed straight for his school." remarked Yang
"Attending Beacon is the only way I'll get answers."
"I think you're reading too much into it, Yu."
"Ruby, no one shows their true face when you first meet them. Believe me, I know."
"Isn't that just a fancy way of saying 'stranger danger?'"
"No... well yeah, kinda... But my point still stands!"
"The robbery was led by nefarious criminal, Roman Torchwick" The trios attention turned to a tv screen showing a news report of the robbery. "who continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on his whereabouts, plase contact the Vale police department."The next news report showed a faunus rights rally that turned for the worst when the White Fang appeared, befote the image switched to that of the woman that had saved Ruby the night before.
"Hello and welcome to Beacon..."
"Who's that?" asked Yang.
"My name is Glynda Goodwitch.""Oh."
"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigeous academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a taskx and now it is our turn to provide you worh the knowledge and the training to protect our world." With that, the image disappeared, leaving only a view of the clouds outside the ship.
"Wow." said Yu. "You'd never guess she was so uptight."
Ruby walked up to the glass, seeing the entirety of Vale below them. "Look! You can see Signal from here! I guess home isn't too far after all."
Home... Yu's mind drifted back to Inaba, to his friends. He was reminded that he wouldn't see them again. How were they taking this whole thing? Were they as devastated as he was? Did they even know what happened?
...would his parents even care?
Yu immediately shook these thoughts from his mind. He couldn't let Ruby and Yang see him like that, not today. It would ruin what was easily the best day of the reapers life.
"Beacon's our home now. Yours too, Narukami. Yeah, I saw you moping! Get over here!" said Yang as she pulled the silverette and Ruby into a hug. "You're not gonna be alone. Not if we can help it. Right, Rubes?"
"Right!"
"Heh... thanks girls..."
"ugh..." The moment was ruined when one of the passengers nearby had turned green as grass, looking like he was not enjoying the flight.
"Well I guess the view's not for everyone.." said Yang.
"Well it was a nice moment while it lasted." said Ruby as she noticed the silverette backing away while looking down. It was then that Ruby noticed...
"Oh, gross, Yang, you have puke on your shoe!
"gross, gross, gross, gross gross..."
"Get away from me, get away, from me, get away from me!"
Yu couldn't help but laugh! That was just what he needed to cheer up. He took another look out the window. The school year was certainly going to be interesting...
FINALLY!! This took way longer than I wanted it to! Sorry for the wait everyone, I got distracted by Cyberpunk. I'm really enjoying it, though the glitches and the occasional crashes are a bit jarring, especially since I'm playing it on a last gen console. Issues aside, it's an amazing game, and I highly recommend this game, because even with the glitches and bugs and crashing, Cyberpunk has easily become one of my favorite games.
I'm going to be alternating between Remnant Souls and Storm King's Wrath in my "schedule" and I'm also working on another fic that's been stuck in my head for a while now.
Thanks for reading, stay tuned for the next chapter, and leave a review, would you kindly?