Author's Notes and Replies:

Here are the sketches for Minato, Yu, and Akira's outfit designs for this fic: sta . sh/0kvtvjoeicz

paste the stash link and connect the dots (Minato only one has sword as of now) it's to deviantart

Nattycawt: Thank you!

Guest: You'll find out eventually hehe

foxchick1: Hope you enjoy the ride!

Robby the Cyber Warrior: Thank you! I'm really excited to tackle this challenge. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

EyelessEmpire13: Thanks for the head ups, things will start to pick up soon. Although this maybe slower than most others in terms of chap vs event progression cause I like to explore the scenes alot.

This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I had to cut out its second half due to estimating that the finished product might turn out to be at best 10-12K plus. I want to keep these a manageable and digestible lengthen to prevent too much event cluttering and so on. At least at the start. Chapter 3 will be coming very soon and will be very fight heavy. Once again, please tell me what you'll thought.

Chapter 2: Of Fools and Huntresses

"Late last night, Vale authorities were called to a Dust robbery gone wrong in downtown Vale when a building-sized explosion hit the air. So far, police have detained several armed men that are suspected of carrying out the operation and are currently under strict police investigation. According to the Vale police, the blazing inferno witnessed by multiple city residents was caused by a sudden ignition of several tons of stolen Fire Dust that quickly lost control under the suspect's possession while escaping from a local huntsman in the area."

Click.

"It was huge! I was coming home with my friends and we saw these guys being chased by another guy—"

Click.

"So what's your take on the Fire Dust incident, Dr. Quartz? There's been some neat rumors spreading around on the subject. From government cover-ups, to aliens, to even a new ultra-dangerous species of Grimm!"

Click.

"Oh, I'm so proud of my little sister going to Beacon!" A jolly blonde cheered, quickly wrapping her arms around a red-hooded girl and a tired-looking bluenette, clumping them together in a tight hug. "And with my brawl buddy too!"

"Y-Yang! S-stop! You're squishing me!" Ruby gasped for air, trying to escape from her sister's death grip. It was more potent than the combined strength of ten car-sized Grimm.

"Agreed! You're killing us!" Minato tried to slip away, before being forcefully dragged into another one of the older girl's roughhousing attempts. It was only when the two admitted defeat and stopped their futile struggles were they released.

"So, Ruby, how'd you convince the Headmaster to get you into Beacon?" Yang couldn't help but ask.

"Well, uh…" Suddenly feeling a heavy pressure on her chest, Ruby nervously fumbled for the right words, unsure of what to say and feeling the increasingly eager glare of her sister slowly encroach on the secrets of her mind.

"Don't tell me you challenged him to a fight." Yang gave a joking chuckle, though she became more serious as she continued to watch the girl struggle to form a coherent sentence. "You didn't actually do that, did you?"

"We ran into a leftover gang of Dust robbers on our way home and trashed them," Minato said, reciting the words Ozpin had left for him and Ruby to use in their story. "Headmaster Ozpin just happened to catch that exchange."

"You two did what?" The blonde asked in disbelief. "You're telling me that you two took down the leftovers from that big Dust explosion?" Surprise, awe, and intrigue all started to take shape on her face as she pressed the two for more answers.

"Y-yeah! Professor Ozpin was really impressed! It did take a full-fledged huntsman to stop them, after all!" Ruby squeaked, praying that her sister would accept their story, "We first went like this! And then this!" She then nervously went on to portray a flawed retelling of the fictional fight between her and the criminals, waving and swinging her hands in the air.

"Luckily, we were able to stop them before any more freak fires could happen." Before anyone in the small group could put in another word, they heard a new voice break into their conversion.

"Did someone perhaps mention something about a large fire?" A fair-haired boy joined the three, adorned in a uniform of what could only be described as the signature colors of Atlas, along with an obsidian blade strapped to his belt.

For a moment, there was an awkward silence between the youths, but it was not long before that same tension was pierced by the high-pitched cheer of a young girl.

"W-whoa! Is that a Lighting Dust-infused katana?!" Ruby's shout echoed throughout the entire ship, drawing the attention of several other passengers that all focused in on the new arrival in question. The young huntress-in-training bounced up and down, observing the sheath of the black-and-gold blade held by the new male. "Can I please, please see it, Mister? I promise I'll be careful!" Ruby begged, her eyes glittering like stars.

"S-sure. If you'd like." The stranger reached for his sword, gently grabbing the hilt to reveal a long, shining katana with blinding gold that reflected the rays of the sun from the sky. Its light spread across the room, leaving a soft yellow glow to slice across the ship's gray tiles, creating a rift between the three and the new arrival.

"It's sooooo pretty!" To say Ruby was mesmerized by the beauty of the sword was an understatement as she was blinded by its light. Gingerly brushing her hands across the smooth cold steel of the katana, she could already tell of the pristine quality of its build, from the passionate craftsmanship of the surface details to each and every one of the weapon's functions as an Eastern blade.

"Thanks! I helped make it myself" The stranger said shyly, instinctively taking a few steps back from the zealous girl.

"Does it have a name? What was crafting this like? Where did you—"

"Ruby!" Before the red huntress could terrorize the stranger, she heard two familiar people call her name.

"Oh! Uh… sorry! I tend to go overboard sometimes…. Your weapon is very cool." She turned back, finding both an annoyed Minato and an embarrassed Yang, both adamantly crossing their arms. Soon, a deep pink coated her face at making a fool of herself once again.

"No, no guys, it's quite alright," the stranger tried to assure the others with a kind smile, "I enjoy looking at weapons too. Reason why I made this katana." He put a hand to his head, rubbing his hair in a gentle back and forth motion.

"Really? You like weapons too?" In the span of a heart beat, a large weight dropped to the floor and a crimson scythe made entirely out of steel that included an attached firearm of some kind appeared before the crowd, its sharp blade just barely cutting into the tiles of the floor as its elegant crescent locked into place. "This is Crescent Rose! She's… kinda my baby. I made her myself!" Ruby said, almost looking at the sniper rifle as if it was her first-born child.

"Wow, the detail is incredible. And you made it yourself?" Judging by the hooded girl's appearance, the stranger suspected her of being younger than her peers. And yet, her scythe was just about one of the most impressively constructed weapons he had seen in years. Then, another set of steel sounded and came to life.

"Hey, don't forget about us!" Yang stretched out her arm and fired a blank round into the air from Ember Celica, lighting up a miniature fireball that exploded in the sunny morning air. It was not until a few security guards made their presence known did she hide away her prized golden gauntlets. "Ember Celica— oops!"

"That way!" Minato pointed in a random direction, before pulling an odd looking blade from his back. It held a powerful yet unexplainable presence, as if it had a life of its own. The sword, on the surface, seemed to resemble any other, if not were for the golden cup-shaped guard and the many specks of white feathers decorating its sides in a brilliant spiral. "Mine's nothing special, but it does the job."

"Are you kidding? That sword has been giving me the creeps ever since the first day we met." Not to mention the other strange things the bluenette had managed to do with that blade by his side; it had been years and Yang still couldn't figure out why that sword gave her such an eerie vibe. It was almost as if her instincts were trying to inform her of something.

"A pressuring vibe huh?" Minato could feel the other male's gaze linger on his weapon, "What's its name, if you don't mind me asking?" The vibe felt familiar.

"Lucifer."

"Lucifer?" Despite the male's tranquil demeanor, his heart skipped a beat at the ancient name, for it was not native to Remnant. "Well, mine's named Izanagi."

"Izanagi? That's pretty neat. Say, I'm Minato Arisato, and you?" It was his turn to be rattled. Minato stretched out a hand, which the other gratefully accepted, giving a firm shake, with serious eyes locked onto one another. Silver met silver and the world around them seemed to wither away, leaving nothing but those two in an infinite void, each fighting a thick tension to speak out a burning question from their minds.

"Yu Narukami, and what about you guys?" But just as great will had prompted the heated exchange, fear had swooped in to swifty snatch it away.

"Ruby Rose!"

"Yang Xiao Long. Nice to meet cha'!"

"So you're from Atlas? Why not just go for Atlas Academy?" Yang stepped off of the ship with the others, watching hundreds of others stream from the large sky vessels. Students from all sorts of backgrounds flooded the school grounds, transforming the once quiet campus into a flurry of traffic and commotion. Crowds gathered in zeal as people started to show off their weapons and helpful seniors guided the new arrivals into a grand assembly hall.

"They're a little too strict for my tastes. It feels more like a bootcamp than an actual school." Yu stepped out of the way for a few girls to pass. "I got tired of that just attending one of their junior training academies."

"I heard they force their students to be as rigid and lifeless as the androids they produce. I don't blame you for avoiding that fate." Minato joked, crossing his arms behind his head in a relaxed manner, a bit of snarkiness in his words.

"Which one? Beacon is known for its haunted dorms. Legend says there's even a dark, dark secret hiding under the school," Yu said nonchalantly, earning a frightened look from Ruby.

"H-haunted? You mean, as in ghosts and dead people?" The younger girl shivered at the thought of encountering any form of supernatural presence at night. Grimm and magic were at least tangible matters she could fight against; ghosts were a whole other story.

"Yep, the dorms that housed the first huntsmen that grad—"

"What are you doing?! Do you know who I am?! Get away from me, you dirty Faunus!" Before he could scare the hooded huntress-in-training any further, he was interrupted by the harsh yell of a female student and rough grunt of a male from nearby. Standing a few feet away from the freshmen group was a petite, elegantly-dressed girl clad completely in white, with only a few areas of red to provide some sort of contrast to her figure. Disgust showed all over her face as if she had just come across the world's ugliest horrors on the floor, and beside her, on the ground, sat a male cat Faunus.

"Hey, is that something you should say to someone?" A dark haired student with a large black bow atop her head then came to the boy's aid, irateness written all over her pristine visage and a small book held in her hands.

"What? Why are you defending this... this thing!" The well-dressed girl crossed her arms, stomping her foot on the ground, her face cringing in childish disgust. How could anyone be sane enough to defend such a filthy creature?

"He's not a thing! He's a person!" The dark haired girl spat back, clearly becoming more enraged, her hands balling into tight fists and a pain unlike anyone other ringing out in her voice.

"Are you brain dead? Faunus are the scum of the earth! They're criminals, liars, and cheats—"

"Shut it!" Without warning, a loud boom racked the air, not unlike the deep roar of thunder. The arguing pair could feel a slight wind coming from a katana wielding boy. Yu firmly approached the two with what could only be described as bitter rage. He then chided the girl in white, "How about you look at your own company first before calling others monsters!"

"W-what?!" Words as hot as molten iron seared into her chest, sending a wave of crushing pain rippling across her entire being. Her cheeks began to flush and the whites of her eyes turned a soft shade of pink. "I-it's not like the Narukami family is any better! You guys practically copy the same business practices established by my father!" The snow-white girl took a few steps back, pointing her finger at the boy, accusing him of the same sins that her family had committed.

"Which is why I don't walk around calling other people criminals and cheats. You're just perpetuating the same rumors and stories people have been passing around about the Atlas elite for years and giving them solid ground to stand on." Unlike his previous soft and gentle self, the boy held no kindness or well-meaning in his words.

"Why you—!" Insults, threats, and so on clogged her throat, but no sound came through because for the first time in her life, she really didn't know what to say. A sense of vulnerability washed over her like a bucket of cold water as she felt hundreds of eyes judging her from afar, a sizeable crowd beginning to gather in the distance. Their whispers, rumors, stories and hate all formed an unbreakable wall around her, trapping her heart and soul, making her feel like she was going to burst. "You're going to regret this, Yu Narukami! I'll make sure you rue this day!" She screeched like a caged and frightened animal, before quickly running away.

"Hey, you alright?" Ruby reached out a hand to the male Faunus, a worried expression lacing her face.

"Thanks, but no thanks." Instead of taking her hand, the dark-haired male stood up on his own, holding a bitter frown that didn't seem to change upon being offered help. In fact, he showed neither contempt nor gratitude to the others for getting rid of his verbal aggressor.

"Is there something wrong…?" Ruby asked confused, feeling daggers in the Faunus boy's eyes. She then stepped back.

"Yu Narukami, why did you just help a Faunus?" The boy pulled out a sharp white dagger, its steel slashing through the tranquil air, and pointed it at the gray-haired male. "Aren't you with the Atlas elite? What do you intend to gain by helping me?"

"Dude! What's your problem?! We just helped you!" Yang snapped at the lone figure, raising her fists in a battle stance, while both Ruby and Minato did their best to hold her back.

"Nothing, I only want humans and Faunus to be treated equally." Yu said, slightly holding up his hands to show he was unwilling to fight the other. However, instead of coming to a fair understanding as his reply intended, it only angered the dark-haired boy. His cat-like ears shot up along with his messy raven hair, his face creased and his brows furrowed downward.

"So you were only using my heritage as a leverage for your own social status," the cat Faunus spat venomously. "Tch, you're just as vile as the rest of them."

"Hey! Come back! Come back here, you jerk!" Yang flared up her Semblance, flaming yellow Aura surrounding her figure as her eyes became a bright shade of hot crimson. She struggled to reach the cat Faunus who had turned his back, screaming, kicking, and fighting the people that locked her in place.

"Sis! Please stop! Punching him will get you nowhere!" Ruby screamed, barely avoiding a rage-fueled fist while clinging to her older sister.

"She's right! Fighting that guy will only make things worse!" Minato pleaded with the fiery blonde, hands tightly wrapped around her waist to prevent her berserker rampage from reaching the disappearing male.

"Minato, I swear, if you keep—!"

"Yang, that's enough. Your friends are right." Yu put a hand on her shoulder with a stern look on his face, which eventually made the girl settle down and her muscles fall limp.

"And why should I? We tried helping him and this is what we get? Shouldn't you be the one wanting to punch him in the most?" Yang reasoned, still refusing to retract Ember Celica to its normal, dormant state. A large fire still burned in her eyes as she stared into the grey, tranquil pools of the other.

"Because… there are people like that in the world. And… it's hopeless to try and change their perspectives." His last few words were especially heavy, his eyes downcast and before the blonde could argue anymore, he quietly distanced himself the group.

"Y-Yu! Hey, wait!" Yang grasped at the empty air, hands trying to break free, but by the time she had, the boy was gone.

"We're sorry, sis… he just looked like he didn't wanna be bothered." Ruby apologized, comforting her older sister. She sympathized with her pain.

"We should head to the assembly hall for now. It's the only thing we can do." Although it might have been a bit cold, Minato still had to remind the two siblings of what they were really here to do, earning him a flash of red from the corner of his eye.

Yang's glare lingered on the bluenette, a subtle yet malignant silence invading the air and leaving both in a heated inaudible standoff.

Minato made sure to have a neutral face throughout the entire exchange, blocking the other off from the path to the campus.

"Fine… let's head to the assembly…. But the next time I see that cat Faunus, I'm nailing him in the face!"

"Do what you want." The bluenette shrugged and started to walk with the others.

He tossed and turned under an ominous jade sky, feeling himself drifting through an infinite abyss of darkness. A cold moon hung above, its harsh rays streaming down and barely illuminating his dead surroundings. Ghoulish green and tainted red dotted across the land for miles on end and seemed to stretch on forever into the unknown of the weary blackness, tarnishing the once vibrant earth.

A deep-seeded dread started to rise from the pit of his gut as he broke open his eyes, one hand clasping his mouth. Blood rushed to his ears and he could hear the loud distinct thumps of his erratic heartbeat roughy crashing against his ribcage from his chest in the long, sleepless night. He quickly made his way to the nearest restroom and watched several glassfulls of a vile substance begin to pour from his mouth. Gasping for short breaths of air and feeling cold drops of sweat roll down his face, he turned on the tap to release to a rushing stream of water that he swifty splashed onto his face.

Minato gazed at the sunken figure in the mirror, seeing a hollow shell of his own reflection. Matted hair, dark eyes, and a tired frown all plastered across an old and withered face, making him a far cry from his usual confident persona.

He put a hand to his cheek, observing the disheveled stranger before him—

"Minato…?" He stopped, "Are you in there?" He heard a voice call out to him.

"..." He turned, remaining deathly silent.

"I know you're there… it's me, Ruby," the voice fumbled. "I-I just want to talk, Minato. Please come out of there. I saw you tossing and turning and tearing up in your sleep again…."

Ruby stood in the grand deserted halls of the building, lights dim and shadows cast upon the once illuminated passages and doors. The whole school had fallen silent after the stroke of midnight, leaving not a soul awake on its serene campus. She waited and waited, alone in solitude, gazing at the unmoving door laid ajar. And just when she thought she had lost all hope, a few specks of azure light emerged from the darkness. A low buzz could be heard as tiny sparks of yellow danced across the air, creating a starry display. Glowing balls of light scattered off into a million pieces, showering the girl in a bath of gold, all lead by the shape of a miniature human in the blackness.

"Did you enjoy my fireworks show?" As if on cue to an unknown audience, Minato appeared from the emptiness, a tiny, winged female in the palm of his hands. The small creature fluttered in the air and eventually landed on Ruby's arm, putting a small smile on her face.

"What… is she?" Ruby found herself curiously observing the alien lifeform, "Is she… part of that summoning magic?" She did not appear to be a Grimm, nor did she resemble any animal of Remnant.

"Quite correct." The bluenette gave a cheeky smile, "Her name's Pixie, one of the very first summons I obtained."

"So it isn't a part of your Semblance after all…." Ruby concluded. "Does this mean you have more of them? Including the giant sword-guy from yesterday?" She saw him give a grin and a nod.

"I had to keep them all a secret. You know what Ozpin said." He explained.

"Minato?" The girl couldn't tell why, but she felt that her friend was acting… off.

"Yeah?"

"Who are you…?" For whatever reason, the boy before her felt distant, as if they were complete strangers. A mixture of confusion, astonishment, and fear gripped her heart as she tried to make sense of her situation. All of the time she had spent with him as a child and the memories they made together seemed to become blurry and muddled. For how long did he bare this power alone? How young was he when he realized that he would be hunted down for such fantastical abilities? Who was he, and where did he come from? And lastly, she shivered when imagining an alternate world where that ginger criminal's group somehow managed to get ahold of her friend.

"...Would you believe me if I said I came from a different world?" The revelation became clear and it took her a minute to process his words. There was no point in him hiding this fact anymore.

"Another world…? I guess that would explain your abilities…." If the bluenette had told her this truth only a few days before, then she would have believed him to be insane.

"I don't remember what happened to me in my own world. Just that I slowly regained my abilities and memories as a child in Remnant," Minato gave a slight chuckle, only giving a half-truth about his surreal circumstances.

"Your world… what was it like? Did you have to fight there too?" Ruby found herself pondering about the possibilities of other universes, where the rules, laws, and so on were all so very alien to her own. Were there places where people weren't regularly terrorized by the creatures of Grimm? Were there places where people regularly lived in peace and were free of the barbaric bloodshed of hundreds of huntsmen and innocents?

"Well… I would say my life back then was pretty similar to what it is now." Something had changed yet again for the bluenette. He was becoming more sluggish in his movements the more he reminisced about his past. "I fought stuff that wanted to harm others and attended school on the side. Not a combat school, though."

"So you had a fair share of troubles back home, too?" Ruby mumbled sadly, "I wish there was a place where no one would have to fight off anything just to survive. A place where everyone could live freely and however they wanted." She recalled the memories of her childhood with her mother, where every day was bright and peaceful. How often she wished that peace would last forever. A world free of Grimm and the need for huntsmen.

"Same here. I'd rather trade these abilities for a normal life. One where I don't have to fight." The irony of what the bluenette just spewed out wasn't lost on him, as he realized that those exact same powers were the reason he began to appreciate his old life in the first place. It was not until reality literally came down on him did he understand the blessings of his past.

"Hey, Minato?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you tell me your reason for becoming a huntsman again?" He noticed her face significantly darken.

"To help people. It's all I can do for a world that fostered me." He added at the end, making his reasoning seem more convincing. In reality, it was the only thing he was called to do. "Why ask? Something up?"

"You remember how we met those guys earlier? The pony-tailed girl and that Faunus guy?" Ruby gazed at the bluenette worriedly.

"Those two? Yeah." If he was not mistaken, the cat Faunus gave off a similar vibe as Yu did. Although, his aloof and hostile nature made him the exact opposite of the gray-haired swordsman. Minato remembered staring into the raven male's eyes, orbs burning with an exhausted fire that reflected his distorted form. In some ways, it reminded him of his mirrored image from just a few moments ago.

"Why do you think they want to become huntsmen?" Ruby continued with eyes downcast, "I mean, they just seem…" She failed to find the exact words.

"They don't look like they're just in it for just the job, right?" Minato understood where the girl was coming from. "People do have their own selfish reasons: money, fame, honor, and so on," the bluenette did his best to explain, "but those things also attract more people to the profession, so I wouldn't call it a completely bad thing. It keeps the world going, you know?"

"Guess not everyone is on the same page after all." Deep down, Ruby had known about this fact for a while, but the pure innocence of slaying monsters and helping others was so instinctual for her nature that she had often overlooked the more realistic sides of the profession. She smiled to him a sad smile, "When I said I wished for a world devoid of Grimm and huntsmen, I really meant it. Even if it is impossible…."

'And I'd wish for a world without Nyx,' Minato thought. He continued to chat with the red-colored huntress-in-training throughout the night, not a soul to be seen in the deserted halls.

Here are the sketches for Minato, Yu, and Akira's outfit designs for this fic: sta . sh/0kvtvjoeicz

paste the stash link and connect the dots (Minato only one has sword as of now) it's to deviantart