Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment.

Cross-over from various games, books, anime, manga, and movies.

The familiar characters you see here belong to their respected authors and owners.

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

Time*

Noise*

(Location)

Arc 1 - Chapter 2: Introduction

The next day*

(Continent: Sanus| Kingdom: Vale | Makoto's Bookstore)

A new day and something Makoto finds himself enjoying the peace and quiet that his own store provides whenever there no customers; well, some customers that are quiet enough not to make Makoto want to kill the bastard that ruins his silence.

DING~!*

Makoto didn't bother to greet the person that enters the store. All he did was open his left eye and see who it is.

"I'm surprised you're early for once, Tukson." Makoto said to Tukson, since there have been many times Tukson been late for works.

"Yeah, I guess I had a good night's sleep and woke up early." Tukson chuckles at the end, but even he could tell his Boss didn't believe him one bit. "I'm going to check in now." Knowing that his Boss won't really care about his excuse and quickly get ready to do this job today.

Makoto stares at his worker with dull eyes before sliding it back to the front door, not a second after Tukson disappears from his line of sight. The door opens, where a female customer enters the store.

"Aren't you going to welcome me or greet me, as a customer?" The female customer asks Makoto with a disdained look on her face, like she looking down on Makoto due to him being a male.

Makoto just blankly stares at this female customer, causing her to grit her teeth at how she isn't getting the respect she deserves.

Before the female customer could shout at the top of her lungs. Something, or someone, had caused the poor female customer to stop in absolute fear and close to having a heart attack.

"Well, now. I was coming to visit a dear old friend and look what I found." Another female voice appears, but this one sounds calm and a hint of mockery.

The female customer slowly turns her head to find herself staring at a Western-style woman with ginger-blonde long hair and blue eyes woman, who wearing a collared shirt with a cropped jacket and tie, a ruffled miniskirt, striped stockings, and boots and holding what looks like a cane with an eagle head as the handle.

The female customer opens her mouth to say something, but nothing came out as she started to sweat and her heart starting to hurt by the second.

"Leave." The unknown female friend of Makoto said to the female customer, and with a wave of her cane. The female customer disappears from the store like she never existed before.

Makoto looks at how things turn out, but still, have a bored and blank look on his face.

"Did you have to send my customer away? I do need the money from them to pay rent." Makoto said to the unknown female, who just snort at him and walk up to him in a graceful and elegant way, that would put many Noble Ladies put to shame.

"Oh, I thought I was just helping. My mistake." The unknown female smile at Makoto, knowing that he didn't really need any money or care about the customer and had to say something.

"Anyway, why are you here Beatrice?" Makoto asks his friend, then again, Makoto could think up countless reasons for being here.

Before Beatrice could say something.

"Hey, Boss. What-oh! Uh, welcome, how may we help you?" Tukson picked this moment to come out from the back and was greeted by a beautiful woman that would make his heart race, even if the woman is human.

"Just speaking with your Boss here. He's a close friend of mine. A very close friend." Beatrice grin at Makoto, who just stare at her with a blank look. "Still have that dead fish-like eyes I see."

Tukson unconsciously glances at his Boss' eyes and regrets it once more, at how lifeless those eyes are and sending a chill down his back.

"Tukson, get to work. I'm not paying you to idle around." Makoto snaps at Tukson, but said in a dull tone of voice. Yet, Tukson easily could tell the difference by now and quickly head to one of the book sections to see if any, needs to be restocked or a book that is placed in a spot that wasn't supposed to and needs to be replaced back where it's meant to be. Anything really to work on.

"You know, if you keep this up, you won't have any worker left after being scared off by you." Beatrice grin at Makoto, as she walks up to the counter and leans closer to Makoto.

"That's fine for me. You already know this is my vacation. So why show up now? My time isn't over yet." Makoto asks Beatrice while keeping track of Tukson and the front door in case another customer comes in.

"Just came in to check on an old friend. Nothing else." Beatrice smiles at Makoto, who still has a bored look on his face, but he did raise an eyebrow at her, causing Beatrice's mouth to twitch a little. "Okay, I was bored without you. So I came over to play." Beatrice knew how Makoto is outside of combat. Hell, in fact, Beatrice would know Makoto would become more emotionless during combat.

"Beatrice."

"Yes, Makoto?"

"Is there anything around here that look like something interesting to play?" Makoto points this out, but not rejecting Beatrice's request to play. Knowing how badly that went for others who deny what Beatrice wants, even if Makoto could fight back and survive. But, it would require giving up something in exchange. Like a limb or two.

Beatrice rolls her eyes at Makoto, "I mean, come hang out with me. Not stay in this boring bookstore."

Makoto opens his mouth, but was cut off by Beatrice.

"Don't make an excuse that you need to work, because you can just leave it to your worker. After all, you're paying him to work for you. So make him watch over the store while you use your precious time for something more worthy." Beatrice said to Makoto, not caring if Tukson is listening in to their conversation.

"Fine." Makoto let out a tired sigh, then grab his keys under the counter and walk around the counter, then calling out to Tukson and tossing him the keys, to close the store when it's time for closing.

Then both Makoto and Beatrice exit the store.

(Continent: Sanus | Kingdom: Vale | City of Vale)

Beatrice didn't do anything, but a golden butterfly appears between her and Makoto, which she cast her Magic to hide in plain sight. This includes the security cameras nearby.

"There, no one will be able to see us unless I want them to." Beatrice said to Makoto as they continue walking in a random direction without thinking of a destination.

"I still find your Magic bullshit and broken as hell." Makoto comment on how Beatrice's Magic is just plain overpowered, that would require him to push himself over the limit to face her in an outright full fight. And this is him trying his best to survive instead of killing Beatrice.

"You shouldn't be talking. Unlike me, I can't gain instant mastery over new skills by devouring another lifeform." Beatrice rebuke Makoto, for thinking she the only one with broken ability. Sure, she has Magic, but she can't devour another being and gain their memory, body, and even soul. "Plus, if you were to devour a Huntsman or Huntress, you would gain their Semblance." Beatrice continues off.

"Still doesn't mean your Magic won't be able to do the same." Makoto replied as he continues to look around the area, to see if anything interesting.

"That's because I practice my Magic to reach the point where I am now." Beatrice replied, "Plus, I know for a fact that you have thousands of thousands of different Semblance that could surpass some of the Magic I possess. Pretty sure you even tried to devour a Witch or Wizard at some point to gain Magic, but failed when they escaped."

"Give yourself enough time and you would create a new version of that Magic, then we will see if your statement would be true. Also, I'm still trying to find one, that's not in our little group and it has been years since I have seen one outside our group." Makoto knew that Beatrice has created countless different types of Magic throughout her entire life and she still continues to live on.

Beatrice didn't deny this, "Anyway, where are we going? I hope it's something fun."

"I don't know. I was following you, after all, you did drag me out of my own store to hang out." Makoto said in a bored voice while giving Beatrice a blank stare as they continue walking without a thought of where they are going.

"Come now, you're the Ghost, or should I call you by your old name?" Beatrice teases Makoto, who only has a twitchy eye near the end.

"Ghost is an assassin and I have many old names for different purposes." Makoto replied.

"I guess. With all those different faces. I'm kind of surprised to know you still remember your own original face." Beatrice teases Makoto, for someone that has countless faces to use for many years, and still, have more to use. He still remembers his very first one.

"I should say the same to you." Makoto counter back, causing Beatrice to flinch and a hint of pain appears on her face before her expression return back to a teasing smile mixed with mischievous.

"So, where do you want to go? I don't have any idea at the moment." Makoto said to Beatrice, seeing how they've been walking for the past half an hour or so now.

"How about Beacon Academy?" Beatrice asks in a casual voice, but Makoto could pick up the hidden message right away.

Makoto knew Beatrice wanted to mess with someone or outright kill them in the most horrifying methods due to some random reasons that caused Beatrice to pay attention to them. Or because it's a request for a customer she needs to do, but whenever she feels like it.

So, Makoto stop walking, which caused Beatrice to do the same and she still have her teasing smile.

Neither Makoto or Beatrice said anything, but the people nearby started unconsciously trying to avoid where Makoto and Beatrice are standing, even while invisible towards everything from seeing them.

"Tell me honestly. Did you come to me, just to get my help with something you can't do yourself?" Makoto asks Beatrice, as the tension started to thicken and causing the surrounding people to shiver at the sudden cold wind appearing out of nowhere.

"Maybe." Beatrice replied.

Makoto stares at Beatrice for a few more seconds before shrugging his shoulders, "Alright. But, I'm going to have to extend my vacation time, though, if you of all people require my help for the request."

Beatrice's smile brightens up and claps her hands, "Great! Come on! I know a shortcut to Beacon. And don't worry, I will make sure your vacation's duration is extended after this."

With that said, Beatrice leads Makoto towards an alleyway and upon exiting from the other side.

(Continent: Sanus | Kingdom: Vale | Beacon Academy)

To find out that both Makoto and Beatrice are already at Beacon Academy without even having to use an Airship and having to wait for the Airship to fly to Beacon Academy.

"I see you managed to recreate one of the Semblances I possess related to space." Makoto said to Beatrice, who lifts her chin up a little, to show how proud she is at the moment to hear Makoto's words. "Now, why are we here? Because if it to become students. Then, I'm leaving you here behind." Makoto has the experiences of being a student before and he hates it with passion. No way was he going back to those awful times. He's just glad that he didn't kill anyone. 'Well, not too many people were killed.'

"Nothing like that. If it was something like that, even I wouldn't accept the request unless Yuuko forces me. Speaking of Yuuko. She needs you back at the shop. Something about running out of your handmade sake or something." Beatrice said to Makoto.

Makoto's eye twitched at this, "I should never have allowed Yuuko to have a taste my handmade sake that day."

"Kind of your own fault for even trying to study how to make sake in exchange for information from Yuuko. You should know by now, that us, powerful Witches, will always aim to get something in exchange. Always." Beatrice grin at this, causing some of the people nearby to shiver at how cold it got all of sudden before the temperature got back to normal.

"I've been wondering about this for a while, but is it just you or do other Witches affect the surrounding depending on your mood? Because every time I've seen you grin or thinking about something bad. The temperature gets cold sometimes." Makoto asks Beatrice as he follows Beatrice to a building.

"Oh, I just do that on purpose to make things interesting. Plus, it helps out that it would make others think something is wrong about to happen, making them all jumpy. But, there were Witches in the past, where they had the potential to become powerful and could affect the surrounding unconsciously. Too bad, there aren't many Witches currently." Beatrice let out a sad sigh near the end.

"Huh." Makoto should have realized this by now, with how Beatrice is. "Anyway, so why are we here again? Is this a personal request for you or Yuuko? Because I know this shouldn't be related to me in any way unless the customer fails to deliver their end of the deal." Makoto glance around, where he could see many students walking around.

"Neither from Yuuko or me. It's a customer that made a normal request and I have another customer, here as well, that I forgot about. But, the former's request is kind of tricky and you the only one I could think of that would fulfill the request. As for the other customer. Well, I could do that personally and seeing how two customers are here together. Why not do both, plus, I got you to come along." Beatrice said to Makoto as they enter the building and enter what looks like the ballroom, where students have gathered around to sleep.

"Oh, now this is interesting." Beatrice grin widens when she feels a few connections among the students linked with Makoto. "I see that you finally made your move, Makoto."

Makoto didn't say anything and just look around the place, to see if anyone he knows of besides noticing Blake reading her book against a wall on his right.

"Never mind about that. Who the customer, you wanted to meet with? Unlike you, I can't hide under the security cameras. Even with the countless Semblance I have. So we will do your customer's request first before I do mine." Makoto knew that without Beatrice. He would have a bit harder time coming to Beacon Academy undetected and without leaving a trace behind.

While Beatrice could do so with ease and with just a thought to do so, not much effort on her end.

"Hmm. The one I need you to work is Weiss Schnee. If you know who she is, if not, then maybe her family. As for the person I need to speak with, give me a sec." Beatrice pulls out a brown book log. "Huh, this isn't something I'm used to doing and something for the first time request I have ever done in years. Hey, Makoto do you know how to become a Hero or something close to one?" Beatrice asks in an unsure tone of voice, as she read what is the request and who the customer is in her book log.

"How about you tell me what a Hero to you, then I will try my best to fulfill the rest if you're missing anything." Makoto said to Beatrice as he looks at Weiss Schnee with confused eyes.

"A Hero is someone that wants to die in an epic way while trying to save the people from the force of evil." Beatrice said without taking any time to think about it.

"Okay. One: That's dark. Two: Not completely false. Three: Wow." Makoto looks at Beatrice with eyes a bit widens to show his surprise to hear what a Hero is from Beatrice herself.

"What? It's true. Before I met you and Yuuko. I would see many of these Heroes trying to save lots of people, but end up in a bad ending, with most of them dying a horrifying death. Saw it myself." Beatrice explained why she thought such a thing about a Hero.

"Okay, then. I honestly don't know what to say now. But, I guess I can give some input, not much, because, among the ones, I ate. I'm pretty sure some of them have a Hero complex, but most of them kind of roughly the same in general. I'll just say a Hero is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. Also, Hero is made not born." Makoto replied.

"So... Let me get this straight, just to be sure. A hero is a person who is admired for doing something that most people wouldn't do or just too lazy and/or a coward to do it themselves. Is hardheaded and is hotheaded with foolish righteousness for those that don't deserve it. With achievements that were obtained through the process of doing a dangerous task, that would put their life on the line. And lastly, a person that has the moral of seeing the world in black and white, never the gray part. Oh, right, the last part of how Hero is made not born as one. Which means others brainwash that person at an early age, to only think about the greater good. Did I get it right, Makoto?" Beatrice looks at Makoto, who just blankly stare at her.

"Sure, let go with that." Makoto wonder if those with Hero complex that he ate if they were still alive would start an argument with Beatrice.

"Alrighty then, let get to work." Beatrice puts away her book log and finds her customer, to speak about how to become a Hero.