DVYL May Cry
Dante and Nora charged at each other. Nora raised her hammer over her head for a massive swing. Dante intercepted with his own underhanded swing. His blade caught her hammer, where the head connected to the shaft. The two had a minor power struggle with both grinning at the other. The two disengaged before they both re-engaged with a series of powerful attacks, neither one breaking through the other's defense to land a hit. Dante would lock Rebellion with her hammer in the extract same spot he hit the first time. Meanwhile, Nora would catch his blade with the shaft of Magnhild. They were pretty even. Although, Dante wasn't fighting to kill or for his life, so he was holding back.
Dante had to admit, Nora was indeed powerful. She was probably stronger than he was. Luckily, Rebellion was equal in both power and speed, which gave him a needed edge against Nora's strength. Nora tried to bring her hammer onto her leader's head once again, but Dante brought his blade up to catch the head of the hammer like before. The two were in another power struggle but this time, neither were going to back off. "Mind telling me why every girl I know seems to have super strength?" Dante asked his teammate as he tried to overpower her.
Nora chuckled evilly, "Sorry, Fearless Leader, trade secret." She pulled the trigger of her weapon and an explosion was about to be fired from the hammer. Dante noticed and quickly jumped back from the bomber, right before the explosion would've gone off in front of his face.
Dante raised an eyebrow, "My face doesn't need reconstructive surgery, Nora." Nora just giggled before shifting Magnhild into its grenade launcher before she fired a barrage of grenades at him. He just swung his arm backwards, like he was about to throw his sword behind him. As he let go, Rebellion moved a foot or so before it just flew to his back, as usual. He quickly drew his pistols and shot the grenades out of the air. He continued to fire directly at her, so she took off running around the arena as she kept firing grenades. Dante however, kept knocking them out of the air before they reached him and kept his bullets flying at her.
Nora grew tired of the runaround she was doing, so she skidded to a stop. She aimed her weapon at him as the front opened, to reveal all her grenades before they all fired. Dante took his focus away from the grenadier before he blasted the salvo of grenades. That left a cloud of pink smoke between him and her. He quickly holstered his guns and looked around for any sign of her. 'She probably needs to reload after that. She'll attack when she is done, but from where?' he thought. He quickly looked above the smokescreen. "That'll be it." He drew Rebellion and leapt into the air. As he reached the peak of his jump, he was met with his teammate with a slightly shocked look. The two went for horizontal swings but Nora fired an explosion to give her swing that much more power and speed behind it. Dante quickly pulled his swing in to try to parry the hit. That protected him from the brunt of the attack but sent him flying into the ground.
He landed with his left shoulder breaking his fall. He pushed off the ground with his left hand and flipped back to his feet as he skidded back from the force of Nora's swing. When he finally stopped, Dante rotated his arm to make sure it was still in place. After that he gave his right arm a few swings to get the feeling back into it from the hit he just blocked. Nora landed on her feet and was about to charge him, but she stopped when she heard him laughing. That caused her to tilt her head in confusion and the rest of the class. "Gotta say, Nora, this is fun. Haven't been able to fight like this without my opponent trying to kill me." He gave her a smirk, "Although, the jury is still out on that last attack."
She just waved that off, "You're tougher than that, Dante. Come on, use some of your other weapons now! I can take it!" She said confidently.
He considered it for a second before nodding, "Fine. I'll use one weapon of your choice."
Nora cupped her chin to think before she snapped her fingers. "Oh, use that huge axe on me! What did you call it? Artichoke?"
Dante chuckled, "Okay, fine." His mark flashed red and soon he was holding his axe instead of his sword. He moved to hold it in both of his hands. Now he would be slower, but his swings would pack a bigger punch. 'Should be interesting to see how this'll turn out.' He thought. "And it's Arbiter, Nora." He charged forward and swung from his right as Nora prepared to take block the hit, except the force from it had her skidding back for the first time in this fight. Dante quickly closed the distance between them and went to finish his three-hit combo. Nora managed to block the second hit but the third had her skidding back and took a third of her aura with it.
Nora stopped and quickly jumped at Dante, putting all her strength into a swing aimed at his head. He waited for the last possible second before he dodged, activating an ability of his, Demon Evade. As he dodged, he felt adrenaline and energy flood his body making himself temporarily stronger. He moved into Nora's guard and caught her in the ribs with a roundhouse kick. He didn't want to risk hurting her with a further enhanced swing from his axe.
She quickly used her hammer to slow herself down by slamming it into the ground and was about to shift her weapon into its grenade launcher, when Dante quickly brought his axe down onto the ground. The force behind it cracked the ground and sent a fault line towards the bomber. When it reached her, it sent her flying into the air. Dante was already in the air to meet her and brought down his axe onto her. She quickly used Magnhild to defend herself, but her weapon was currently at the halfway point between transforming. The weapon took the hit and sent her to the ground. He landed close by and she quickly got back to her feet. That's when Dante placed Arbiter on his back, "Sorry, Nora, but I win."
She was confused until she looked down and saw that her weapon was still at the same halfway point it was at when she took the hit. "I have to agree with Mr. Arc." Goodwitch announced, "With Ms. Valkyrie's weapon out of order, she is unable to continue. Mr. Arc wins. And let his be a lesson to all of you: Your weapons are little more than dead weight if they are damaged so severely. Class is dismissed."
With that, the students started to file out of the arena, except for DVYL and RNBW minus Weiss, who left immediately. They were making their way down to congratulate the two of them. Dante was walking over to Nora, who was trying to force Magnhild into its hammer form by pulling the two sides apart, similar to a bear trap. He scratched the back of his head, "Sorry about that, Nora. I didn't mean to do that to your weapon. Do you need help?" he asked sincerely.
Nora was grunting from exertion. "It's fine. It's just jammed. I…. can…get it!" she shouted as she tried to push the two sides together and she was successful. Magnhild shifted into its grenade launcher but it misfired and sent out a grenade. Everything slowed briefly as Dante saw the grenade flying…. directly at Ruby!
He saw the other's looking in shock as Yang tried to reach her to push her out of the way. Instinctively, Dante reached back to grab his weapon. As he did, it shifted into Ophion, its Demon Pull variant. He whipped it forward and the claw grabbed the grenade. That's when he realized his mistake. The grenade was now being pulled directly towards him. He had no time to do anything besides raise his arms as he was hit with the pink explosion. The force of it sent him tumbling across the floor and into the far wall, leaving a large indent, before he fell to the ground.
He laid there for a while as his ears were ringing and his vision was blurred. As both subsided, he heard his partner shout, "Dante!" His eyes flicked over to see her and the rest of their group running towards him. Yang slid across the floor as she neared him and helped him sit up. "Are you okay?! Say something!"
He groaned slightly, "Anyone get the number of that Bullhead?" he asked and chuckled weakly.
Yang wasn't laughing and was just looking at him in concern. He then saw Nora drop down beside him, "I'm so sorry, Dante! I didn't mean to blow you up! It was an accident!" she was saying frantically as tears were forming in her eyes.
Dante raised his hand before gently placing it on her head and ruffled her hair. "It's okay, Nora, I know. Besides, I've been through worse. But damn, those things pack a punch." He gave her a small grin.
The rest of their group were now standing around him, Ruby was looking at him with a mix of worry and torment, like she remembered something terrible. "Why'd you do that? You could've been severely hurt. Why would you do that for me?" she asked shakily.
He just looked up to meet her eyes, "I'm not about to let my partner's sister take a grenade to the face. In some way, that makes you my honorary sister." He said as he tried to stop the flood of memories from surfacing. He used his hand to brace himself against the wall as he tried to stand. "You're a good person, Ruby. One of the best I've met. So, I have your back for as long as I'm able to."
She was shocked by that, along with a lot of the other's watching. That's when he felt lightheaded and started to stumble until Nora and Yang grabbed him to keep him up right. "Easy, Lady Killer. We got you." He locked eyes with her and she had a complicated look. It was a mix of joy and gratitude, but her eyes held something else. Something deeper. Both girls put a hand on his back as they each took one of his arms and placed it around their shoulders, "Come on. Let's get you to the infirmary." Yang said as the two women of DVYL helped him walk as Ren followed close behind. Blake and Pyrrha looked at each other, they didn't know Dante well, if at all, and were just floored by his actions. Ruby was just looking at their sister team walking away, and his words just replayed through her head.
Not long after DVYL reached the infirmary, Dante and Yang were waiting outside for their other teammates. Dante was pretty much healed when they arrived, and Nora only had some bruising on her ribs from his kick, but the doctors wanted to make sure they weren't cracked. Eventually, Yang spoke up, "Thank you." He turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "That was the second time you saved Ruby, so thank you." She said sincerely.
Dante just shrugged, "No big deal. Like I said, I have her back. You are my partner after all." He gently bumped his shoulder against her own.
She smiled at him, "I still appreciate it, Dante. Most people wouldn't go to the extent that you did."
"Honestly, I just act on instinct. Ruby, for some reason, just draws that part of me out. Can't say it's a bad thing, so I'll give you a hand with looking out for her." He gave her a small grin.
She just smiled a bit wider, "Thank you." He was about to tell her that wasn't necessary, when she laid her hands on his chest and stepped close to him, "I wanna give you a reward." That immediately seemed off to him. That sounded like something she would say, but she didn't have her usual flirtatious tone when saying something like that. He couldn't think for long before she leant in and kissed his right cheek, right next to his lips, before doing the same to the left. She looked into his eyes, her lilac eyes holding that deeper emotion in them. "Those are for saving my sister. And this…" She leant in again, "Is for both of us." She whispered before kissing him. It was gentle and chaste, only lasting a few seconds. It was the first time in a long time that Dante had a kiss that wasn't linked to something physical, but he didn't care. It was simple but held something so much more to it. His smoky blue eyes just gazed into her's. Neither were sure on what to do next.
Dante started to lean towards her when they both heard a cough. Both quickly separated and turned to see their teammates looking at them with smirks, "Are we interrupting?" Ren asked with fake innocence. Yang blushed from being caught doing something sweet and tender, the opposite of how she usually acted around people. Dante also blushed from being caught in that kind of situation with his partner. Nora started laughing while Ren just chuckled.
Dante just sighed, "Alright, alright. You two had your fun. Let's get a bite to eat." Yang nodded in agreeance while still blushing. The V and L of DVYL agreed with them and they all started to make their way to the cafeteria. They grabbed their food and sat down with RNBW, but with Weiss still missing. The seven students started to have some light conversation and were enjoying their time.
That was until they saw Cardin and his team harassing a Faunus with rabbit ears. Everyone at the table were in agreeance, that was despicable. "Where does that jerk get off?" Nora growled.
"He's probably trying to make himself feel better after Combat Class." Dante stated. They all turned to him as he continued. "I beat him with little effort and then fought seriously against Nora, he probably felt emasculated from that. Someone like that idiot puts everything into his image and I tore that away from him on the first day. His type would usually try to get revenge but he's at least smart enough to know not to try that. So, instead, he's taking his frustration out by harassing someone who can't fight back." He growled slightly.
"Ow, that hurts!" They heard an accented voice yell. They turned back to see Cardin pulling The Faunus' ear. "Please, stop." She begged but Cardin and his lackeys just laughed.
"I'm gonna break his legs." Nora said darkly.
"Right there with ya." Yang added wither red eyes burning.
"You gonna drink that soda, Nora?" Dante asked nonchalantly.
Everyone looked at him in shock, "What?" Nora asked confused.
Ren, who was either calm or hiding his anger, took the can of 'People Like Grapes' soda and placed it in front of Dante. "No. She doesn't need more sugar."
"Thank you." Dante said as he picked the can up. He stood up and pulled his arm back before throwing it at Cardin full force. It smacked Cardin in the back of the head, hard enough to damage his aura and daze him. He let go of the ear he was holding as the can spun above his head before it opened and sprayed the racist. Everyone was just staring in shock until Dante pumped his fist, "Bonus, soaked that prick!" he said with a smirk.
The rabbit Faunus turned to him in shock, but he just tilted his head to the cafeteria door. She took the hint and nodded while mouthing a 'thank you' to him. Cardin rubbed his head as he stood up and turned to see that Dante hit him. He growled, "You're gonna pay, Arc."
Dante smirked, "Doubt it. You couldn't touch me before, with your weapon. What are you gonna do now?" He asked as he put his left hand in his pocket.
Cardin felt his team stand beside him, he was tempted to try to outnumber him. But he looked at the table behind him and realized that wouldn't work. He scoffed, "Watch your back." He threatened.
Dante rolled his eyes, "Oh, I'm so afraid." He said mockingly. CRDL started to leave the cafeteria. Cardin turned back to him as he reached the door and Dante simply flipped him the bird. Cardin growled again before storming out. Dante just sat down after that and the other six occupants of the table were looking at him, "Hey, if we fought him, we would've been in the wrong. Humiliation is much crueler to an ass like him."
"Language." Ruby said, and Dante sighed.
"I'm actually surprised you did something like that." He turned to see Blake just analyzing him. "Most people would stay out of it."
He shrugged, "Was raised differently. Besides, I never could stand racist. It's just stupid to fight each other when we have a worse enemy to fight." He took a sip from his own soda before continuing. "There is literally very little difference between humans and Faunus. Especially to me."
"What does that mean?" Yang asked.
"I've had the ability to sense the presence of beings around me and I can differentiate between them. I can sense the difference between a human and a Faunus but its only because I've trained myself to do so." His eyes locked for a second with Blake's and her eyes widened slightly. He shrugged before continuing, "If everyone could do it, they would see what I mean. Trying to say that humans and Faunus are so different at their core is like trying to say that aqua and cobalt aren't both blue."
Everyone looked at him for a bit, "That's very wise, Dante." Pyrrha said stunned.
He smirked, "I can be that from time to time."
Ruby giggled, "Pretty cool of you, Big Bro." she said cheerfully.
Everyone looked at her in shock. Especially, Yang and Dante. "Big Bro?" Yang asked.
Ruby nodded before she started to poke her fingers together bashfully. "He said I was like a sister to him. So, I thought it be okay to call him that. I mean, I wouldn't mind seeing him like an older brother and he is your partner."
Ruby started to ramble on in embarrassment. Dante meanwhile just paled as the memories of his sisters started to surface, again. This time stronger than before. It started to fill him with pain and guilt. He was pulled from the pit of negativity when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He whipped his head around to see Yang looking at him in concern. "You okay?"
He shook his head and stood up, "I need some air." He left the cafeteria with that. Confusing everyone except Yang and Ruby. Yang just looked concerned while Ruby blamed herself.
Dante walked around the grounds for a couple of hours, trying to calm himself but failing. He eventually made it to the dorms. He was in front of his dorm and RNBW's, but he wasn't ready to see them yet. He walked further into the dorms and eventually found a staircase that lead to the roof. He sat on the edge and just stared off over the horizon. He was starting to calm down when Ruby's words surfaced in his mind, 'Big Bro.' He flinched and started to remember how his sisters would call him that. The memoires surfaced again with a vengeance.
He looked down, "Why? Why can't they stay buried?" He asked brokenly as he shook slightly. He felt this eyes sting and blur. A tear fell from his eye before he shook his head. "None of that, Dante. You're stronger than that. You have to be." He was so distracted by his mini breakdown that he didn't hear the footsteps behind him. He felt a pair of arm wrap around his chest and he stiffened up. He recognized who it was by their warmth and the smell of their perfume. Lilacs. "Yang, please. I want to be alone." He said weakly.
She held him a bit closer and her breasts were pushed against his back. But unlike the morning of initiation, this wasn't in a teasing manner but a supportive on. "You're hurting, Dante, I can't just leave you like this. Let me help you." Before he could say otherwise, she continued, "You don't have to tell me the cause, but you can't keep this bottled up. You need to let it out." She gently rested her chin on his right shoulder. "Let me help you now."
Dante wanted to hold back, to stay strong. But the genuine emotion in her voice and the caring hug she was giving him was breaking his resolve. He eventually caved, and the tears fell from his eyes in waves. All the pain from the past five years was being released as he was held in his partners warm embrace. The whole time, Yang just whispered reassuringly to him and held him close to her. This went on for a few minutes until he eventually calmed. The two just sat in that position for a few more minutes until he spoke weakly, "Thank you."
She just gave him a small squeeze. "You don't have to thank me. I'm your partner." Dante gently took one of her hands in his own and squeezed it slightly, trying to convey his appreciation to her. They sat like that a bit longer. "Let's head back to the dorm." Yang suggested.
Dante nodded, "Yeah. Good idea."
The two stood up and started to make their way to their dorm. When they were outside the door, RNBW's opened. Ruby peaked out and saw them. "Hi, Dante. Um, can we talk?" she asked.
Dante thought for a second before nodding. Yang patted him on the shoulder before she entered their room. Ruby stepped out in her pajamas. The two stood in silence until she collected herself. "I'm sorry. About before. I didn't mean to upset you." She said sadly.
He just looked at her, "Its okay, Ruby. It wasn't you." She looked up at him and he sighed, "It's…complicated. I wasn't expecting you to call me that and it just brought up some…memories. Painful ones."
She nodded and looked down, "I still feel bad."
He gently patted her head, "Hey." She looked back up to him. "Its okay and I'm doing better now." He grinned at her.
She had her own smaller grin before she asked nervously, "So, do you not want me to call you that?"
Dante thought for a bit as he took his hand from her head. "I just need a little time to get used to being called that." 'Again' he added mentally. "So, just don't call me that all the time and we should be okay." He grinned again.
She gained a happy expression before she hugged him, stunning Dante. Dante gently returned the hug and they pulled part. She smiled at him, "Good night, Dante."
"Good night, Ruby." She then returned to her room. Dante sighed with the same grin before he did the same. He went into his dorm and grabbed his tank top and shorts before heading to the bathroom. He needed a shower and to crash after that emotional rollercoaster of a day he had. He came out a few minutes later while drying his hair before he flopped down onto his bed. Yang and Nora playing video games competitively was the lullaby that lulled him to sleep that night.