When I first started writing his story I had certain rules I set for myself in addition to my blueprint for the story and the concepts I wanted to work with. One of those rules was not to write author's notes, which as of last chapter that rule has been thrown out. I've realized by writing fanfiction that fanfiction is a social thing. These little bold font notes enable me to communicate with the people who come back for more, and while I may suck at being a person in real life, I'd like to be passable as a person online. So to make progress towards that goal I'd like to respond to some questions and make some statements. This note may be a little longer than what is probably acceptable, but I feel it is necessary. I also ask that you excuse me if I come off as pretentious or clinical, my writing background is entirely composed of criticism and analysis in a scholastic setting, so I probably seem like a prick and my prose is probably rather clunky. I'm working on it.
First, I have too much respect for these characters and their creators to turn them into pale imitations of themselves and simple caricatures. In the case of Dante and company, their actions I feel make sense if you look at their personalities as a whole and Nero's reaction was a natural response, especially when you're a conduit for demonic power.
Second, this story will not devolve or shift into an orgy interspliced with hamfisted action scenes. While the romance that is obviously going to take place is typical of fanfiction regarding the number of characters involved, it will not simply amount to a couple of paragraphs of sexual tension every chapter for each character, followed by a confession, then rampant boning that takes all the intimacy out of sex and turns it into something barely at the level of porn. I am not stating that all works within this particular medium are of such a nature, but I feel many are. I want to have believable interactions, something I felt I had in the previous chapter.
Third, I detest the dreaded trope of Mary Stu/Gary Stu, so I will do my best to avoid turning Nero into such. This will not equal giving enemies more power for convoluted reasons or 'just cause I wanted to', introducing new enemies that eclipse all antagonists in both canons, or placing superficial limits on my merry band of heroes. I want action that matches the level of both universes, action that follows the natural scaling you see in a Devil May Cry game and the presence of RWBY's fight choreography. I also promise not to pull a JoJo and make any antagonist become a God. Dio pisses me off too.
Nero will not exhibit the destructive capabilities you see in high level DMC 4 play from the get-go, a good gauge for where he is now would be how most DMC fans play. Pretty good, but we won't be seeing constant MAX-ACT activation, jump cancel combos, DT canceling, or perfect table hopping. He'll get there, but it'll be a while. He also has to master the devil arms in his possession. Team RWBY will grow as well, and I want them to be at Nero's level, not sidekicks who cheer him on, which means inevitably I'll be fiddling with the mechanics of Monty's world in my own stupid way
Fourth, Karma will come into play for certain individuals, rest assured.
My ambition will kill me obviously, but I'm pretty sure they have Wi-Fi in the afterlife, so I should be cool.
Finally, the chapter names are easter eggs relating to music, figure them out if you like.
Nero found himself in a situation he very much wanted to be in, a fight with Wiess. Five minutes ago Blake had taken him into a large classroom which had a stage of sorts in the center and large monitors on the wall. A rather tall woman with a scroll in her hand, whom Nero assumed was Goodwitch, lecturing the class from the stage about aura levels and practical semblance use when she turned her attention over to the late arrivals.
"I assume that you have an acceptable reason for your tardiness Ms. Belladonna?" Goodwitch had somehow materialized a riding crop in the hand that wasn't holding a scroll, and was obviously trying to intimidate the two, however Nero was not someone you could intimidate.
"She was showing me around the school, making sure I knew where everything was. When lunch ended we were on the other side of the academy." Nero had taken a step forward, hands in the pockets of his uniform jacket.
"And you would be Mr….?" Goodwitch recalled Ozpin mentioning a new student this morning but had not given her any other details. He seemed incredibly distracted, something on his mind even more so than usual.
"Nero. No last name." The whole class gave him a look at that, well a more severe one than they had. Not having a last name was something incredibly uncommon, making the kid with the strange arm even more peculiar.
Jaune Arc tapped Ruby right when Nero had walked into the classroom, who was sitting with her team minus Blake in the row in front of him and his team, on the shoulder getting the younger girl to turn around. "Hey Ruby, is he the guy you said killed a giant Nevermore in two moves?"
Ruby turned around with a smile and an excited look in her eyes. "Yeah he is! He's also the newest member of my team!"
"He only defeated the Nevermore due to us weakening the beast, and his two moves were overly flashy and lacked any sense of poise. And I would hardly call him a member of our team, we've only know him a little over twenty-four hours." Weiss was in full ice queen mode, she did not want anyone else to share her teammates' misguided opinions on the new arrival.
Yang piped in next, "I'll translate that into English for you Weiss, by weakening she means pissing off, by overly flashy she means bad-ass, and lacking any sense of poise means he crushed that things back with a giant glowing fist."
Ruby nodded in agreement with her sister, "That sounds about right."
Pyrrha Nikos, a member of team JNPR along with Jaune, was intrigued. When he had walked in his arm had caught her attention, it was alien and unnatural, plus team RWBY's description of his destructive capabilities meant that he had to at least be at her level. "So his semblance is some kind of projection ability?"
"I don't think what he did was his semblance though. When we took him here to Beacon the school doctor said that he was completely drained of aura like he had never had any to begin with." Ruby then realized that she was probably being a little too talkative and went to the first subject she could think of to distract from her loose-lipped blunder so as not to lead to Nero's origin becoming common knowledge. "But his sword is so cool! It's got like a motorcycle engine in it and sprays this propellant along the blade that makes stuff burst into flame and stuff!"
Yang looked at Ruby in frustration, "Is that why part of our room wound up looking like charcoal?"
Ruby grimaced and scratched the back of her head. "Well he was knocked out in the hospital and I just wanted to know how it worked. And part of the ash was from trying to figure out what ammunition his revolver used. The bullets are like mostly gunpowder so getting shot by one is like getting hit by an angry Gorilla on steroids!"
Weiss crossed her arms and scowled, she couldn't understand why these buffoons were so willing to trust Nero, his appearance was still not understood and his arm made her uneasy. It was like an extreme version of the faunus' animal features. She didn't hate faunus completely, but she certainly didn't have an incredible amount of love for them on account of what the White Fang was responsible for. She was trying for Blake's sake, but she still
She assumed just because Nero was different physically in one way that meant he had to be bad news, which wasn't irrational at all, not one bit. She turned her focus back to the annoyance in question, whose side Blake had yet to leave. That frustrated her, she thought that the quiet and book obsessed girl was the more level headed member of team RWBY, someone who would not be fooled by well said sentences and good looks that made Weiss want to punch Nero and also make out with him. Weiss knew that when Blake left at lunch it was not to find a quiet place to read like she had said, but to find the white haired, blue-eyed, demon (Which he certainly wasn't actually) given flesh, nuisance. He was infuriating, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he made her feel weird, like something in her was pushing her towards him. She did everything she could to shove those thoughts into a cage at the back of her mind but continued to fail at doing so. She was broken from her thoughts when Professor Goodwitch said something that seemed to be the answer to her problems.
"Well Mr. Nero, seeing as you were not attending at the beginning of term, that means you missed initiation, meaning the school has no data on your combat skills. Would you be willing to spar another student so as to give me a rough idea of your capabilities?" Glynda eyed the young man carefully, his arm raised questions in her mind that she would be bringing to Ozpin in person as soon as she possibly could. She had only seen anything similar to the red scaled glowing limb when it was attached to a race of creatures she had only seen in the headmaster of Beacon's personal library.
"Yeah I'm fine with that. I'm not one to pass up the chance to punch someone." Nero was glad Blake had taken him here and he let her know by giving her a real smile as she walked to sit with her team.
Goodwitch turned to face the class as a whole. "Are there any volunteers to spar against Mr. Ne…"
The combat teacher was cut off by Weiss Schnee standing quickly with her hand raised. "I volunteer Professor!"
"Well, that seems fine Ms. Schnee. Please go and prepare yourself. Mr. Nero I assume that you were assigned an equipment lock…" Once again she had been cut off, this time by Nero's sudden appearance on the stage, unlacing his boots, which went against uniform policy, not that anyone cared.
"Sure thing, except I have no need for it and there's no way I'm putting my stuff any farther from arm's reach." Nero was still unlacing his boots to the confusion of Glynda and the rest of the class.
"Why are you taking off your shoes?"
The former demon hunter gave a small chuckle and responded in his best 'I know something you don't voice'. "I use my legs and feet a lot, plus I hit really hard even when I'm holding back, so I'm taking my shoes off so as not to break any of her bones." Nero had pulled off his boots completely now and summoned Red Queen to the surprise of just about everyone, except team CDNL who had collectively broken out into cold sweats at the arrival of Nero. Their nervousness had only increased when he had looked straight at them and gave the slightest of smiles, a reminder of his behavior in their fight.
"You do know that is highly unlikely as Ms. Schnee is quite handy at reinforcing herself with aura?" Glynda was not amused with this boy. He carried himself in a way reminiscent of one Roman Torchwick, who hid his capacity for violence with an air of cockiness and sarcasm.
Nero had his sword resting on his shoulder and was ignoring the looks he was still getting. He was making one hell of an impression, which is how he preferred it. The less people he had to deal with the better. "I once punched someone through a steel wall while I was on morphine and asleep." That got more looks of disbelief, even though Nero wasn't lying and was actually downplaying his actions. He had screwed up a job for the order a few months prior to his devil bringer activating, the only time he screwed up a job due to simple carelessness, and wound up with some serious injuries that put him in the hospital. That was when he first met Argus, the man had tried to take a blood sample while he thought Nero was asleep, which was more a morphine induced coma, and wound up being punched through three regular walls, two floors, and then through one of the steel walls that made up the foundation of the building. That was when Nero noticed he was a lot more physically inclined than others, despite him not having the most muscular physique.
Before anyone could call him a liar Weiss had arrived in her normal attire with her rapier in hand. "Now that Ms. Schnee has arrived the spar can begin. The rules are simple, no killing or crippling blows, no excessive force, and the match ends when someone either submits or I end it. Are we clear?" Glynda received a curt nod from Weiss and a simple glance from Nero who was wearing a smirk that was already pushing Weiss to new heights of anger. "Then you may begin."
Weiss dashed forward with all the speed she could muster, Myrtenaster reared back and ready to pierce some part of Nero, most preferably his heart, even if she would get in trouble for breaking one of the rules that had been set. Nero made no effort to move out of the way and simply stayed in place.
Nora Valkyrie turned to face Ruby, "Hey Ruby, why is Nero just standing there? You made him sound like he was some sorta super-hero."
Ruby shrugged her shoulders and tried to hold back her worried expression.
Yang took the time to speak up, "Well he better have something planned or he's gonna have a Weiss sized hole in him."
Blake simply watched, not feeling any worry for the situation. For some reason she felt as though this might be the turning point for Weiss in regards to Nero.
Nero continued to stand still like a statue until Weiss was about an arm's length away, before moving the palm of his devil bringer in front of the tip of Weiss' sword with unnatural speed. Instantly Weiss was stopped and found all of her momentum thrown back on herself, sending her flying back into the air. Weiss quickly recovered, using her semblance to create a glyph behind her to steady herself, before pushing off with the speed of a bullet. Nero narrowed his eyes and dropped the smirk he had been wearing. Weiss was going to take this way beyond a spar and treating it like a real fight, which meant Nero would do the same. He wasn't going to be friendly if she was going to try to kill him.
Glynda could see that a simple test meant to gauge the new student's skills was going to result in something terrible, but chose not to intervene. She needed to see what the boy was capable of, and Ms. Schnee would be very angry if she tried to stop her, something that could be very difficult for her considering the girls status as the heiress of the Schnee dust company. Glynda chose, against her better judgement, to allow the fight to proceed.
The barrel of Myrtenaster shifted, red light flickering across the rapier's blade, as she continued her course towards Nero, who stood with his legs shoulder width apart, both hands on the handle of Red Queen. Just as Weiss was once again within maiming distance he brought the flat of the blade against her stomach with a controlled amount of force, just enough to knock her back a few feet without chance for a speedy recovery, before darting behind her and sweeping her legs out from under her. In the fraction of a section that Weiss was in the air Nero brought his foot against the small of her back and knocked her up further in the air. Nero quickly flipped himself up in a jump and used the flat of his blade once again to send her back to the ground. Nero found fighting with so much restraint far more difficult than his normal style of constant movement and attack, plus Weiss was currently on his list of people that needed to get friendly with Yamato.
Weiss made an attempt to get up, she was not going to lose, when the source of her anger pointed the tip of his blade to her neck.
"Give up. This isn't a spar anymore, it's you trying to kill me without any rational thought and me trying not to crack your skull. We may not be friends, but I really don't want to hurt you."
Weiss scowled at him, her fury growing as she tried to come up with a way to win, even though she knew the best course of action was to end the fight. "I'm not giving up. I will not lose to someone like you!"
Nero moved Red Queen away from her throat, much to the confusion of everyone watching the fight, who up to that point had been completely caught up in the brawl, even though it was more Nero knocking Weiss on her ass as she tried to kill the new student more than anything. Weiss quickly rolled away and jumped to her feet, brandishing her rapier, only to see Nero was no longer holding his sword or showing any signs of preparation to attack. The look he was giving her was not the smirk he usually had or the cold blank slate that he had been wearing during the fight, his eyes were tired and held only emptiness in them.
"You don't know what this someone is like." Nero turned away and walked off the arena-like stage, scooped up his boots and walked away. He was drained emotionally from his conversation with Blake earlier and now he just wanted to rest till Ozpin took him to whatever Sparda left behind in this world that night. He just wanted to be alone….. again.
Nero was out the door of the classroom and headed towards his room, or at least where he thought his room was. He really hadn't been paying attention to the layout of the school at all, as he had someone to lead him every time he had to go anywhere, save for the cafeteria in the morning. Nero continued to simply wander around the school, ignoring the world around him, which consisted mostly of students occasionally glancing at his arm and murmuring to whoever they were walking with. Time wasn't exactly relevant to him, but he finally stopped his walk to nowhere when the sun was starting the set.
At this point Nero was in the courtyard where he had fought Cardin and his team, empty except for a statue and a bench. Nero sat himself down on the bench, staring out at the sunset. If he was honest with himself he was being a dumb ass, he was letting everything that had happened to him in the past two year mount up on him, drown out the usual strength he had to tackle the world. He was not himself, he was a shell right now, which really pissed him off.
"I am a dumbass." Nero stood up, let out a deep sigh, and pulled out his scroll, opening up the map of the school. He quickly mapped out a route to Ozpin's office and set off, keeping his stride even.
Nero managed to navigate the sprawl of Beacon academy with minimal trouble and found himself in front of a familiar elevator door, which was currently in use. When the door opened, Ozpin himself was standing there, mug in hand, a mild look of surprise at Nero's sudden appearance. Nero spoke before Ozpin could consider doing so.
"You said you'd take me to see what Sparda left behind tonight. It's night." Nero wanted to get this over with as soon as possible, the sooner he was done with all the Sparda bullshit, the sooner he could get to whipping his ass back into shape in terms of attitude and the sooner he could get to training himself into the ground. He made a commitment to protecting his new teammates, which meant being as strong as he could be.
Ozpin took a long look at the young man in front of him, there was a shift in his demeanor from the previous night, less unstable, more determined.
"Follow me Nero." With that, Ozpin stepped back into his elevator and allowed Nero to enter as well. The headmaster pulled a key out from his coat pocket and placed it in a lock below the elevator control panel. Ozpin removed the key, took a sip from his mug, and stared straight forward as the antique machine carried the two passengers into the depths of Beacon.
Nero crossed his arms and stared as the interior of the elevator shaft streaked by, until there was a sudden stop. Ozpin removed his key, opened the elevator door, and led himself and Nero into a small dome like room. There were gothic statues of angels and demons littering the walls and the stone floor, the largest being of Sparda himself in front of a sealed doorway.
"This is the entrance to Sparda's reliquary Nero, the only remaining proof of his existence in this world. Very few people have seen it, and it has only been opened three times in the past six hundred year."
"So….. I'm guessing there's some alchemy or magic involved opening the door that should be here?"
"Yes. To enter you must either possess the blood of Sparda or be recognized as the caretaker of Beacon."
Nero stared at the statue of Sparda, the demon had been a source of so much trouble for him. He never asked to be related to him, to have power like his, but thinking like that would do him no good. Nero walked passed the statue and stood in front of the wall behind it, feeling something strange coming from behind it. Ozpin joined him, hands intertwined behind his back and his eyes locked on the wall.
"Nero, you may not understand what Sparda did for this world. He forsook his race for the sake of humans in your world, then taught the humans and faunus of this world how to combat the Grimm on a much larger scale than we were capable of." Nero looked at Ozpin with a blank expression, betraying none of his feelings.
"He also never taught his son how to treat his friends." Nero took a step forward, acting on instinct, and placed his devil bringer against the wall. A flash of blue light emitted from the demonic arm and the wall simply disappeared, revealing a hallway lit by torches. "I guess Sparda had a weakness for cliche." Nero slipped his hands into his uniform jacket pockets and started walking down the hall, Ozpin close behind.
The two walked in silenced for what seemed like an eternity to Nero, the hall never shifted in angle or direction, the torches extinguishing as they passed them and new ones lighting up in their place, meaning they never could see further than a few feet in front of them.
Nero stopped to speak to the older man behind him, "Ozpin, I don't see how this is physically possible, We must have walked the length of Beacon three times now and there's no sign of an end. This isn't alchemy, as that would be breaking all of its laws, and I'm pretty sure it's not magic."
"No one has ever been able to figure it out Nero, but I assure the end of this hallway is near."
Nero sighed, "Alright, I'm just starting to get a feeling that this is going to result in some sort of shitty situation."
Silence fell on them again as they continued their march down the hall. Just as Nero was once again going to question Ozpin the hall opened up into a massive room, with balconies and open rooms connected by a sprawling set of stairs that started right where the two were standing.
"I'll take the lead from here Nero. I'll give you time to explore later, but first we must take care of what Sparda intended for his successor in this world."
"Successor? I have no intention of being anyone's successor."
"Then you should have stayed where you were Nero. If you want to free yourself of your past, then the best way would be to embrace your future. This is your future Nero."
Ozpin ignored the ferocious glare he was receiving and began to ascend up the ornate stairs, carved with the faces of grimm, Nero following.
The two walked up four flights, passing a library and what seemed to be an armory, but Nero wasn't sure due to there only being storage racks and no weapons, before reaching a platform suspended in the center of the massive chamber, seemingly only held aloft by the two flights of stairs connected to it. In the center was an alchemical circle that seemed similar in composition to a hellgate, but Nero noticed a few differences that changed the whole formula behind it. Ozpin stood off to one side of the platform, hands behind his back and a blank look on his face.
"This is where every caretaker or Beacon has been instructed to take an arrival from Sparda's world. We have no inkling as to what's it's purpose is other than it seems to be similar to the alchemy seen in the books of the library in this chamber."
"It's definitely alchemy. I'm not the most adept at the subject and my experience lies almost entirely in hellgates, but this is actually rather similar to one of those. There are major differences though, it's formulas aren't written to react to demonic power, instead they seem to be driven by the presence of a certain type of….."
"Type of?" Ozpin was curious, Sparda never taught anyone anything about the magic arts from his world, which was understandable as this world's laws could potentially play havoc with powers from another.
"Type of blood. It's written to trigger in the presence of someone with blood of some kind. I don't know all this constants and symbols, but from what I can tell it contains some kind of….."
Before Ozpin could ask Nero to finish his statement the boy had gotten on his knees and placed his demonic arm on the outer rim of the circle, resulting in a flash of light and an eruption of crimson energy from the center. Nero stepped back and drew Red Queen from Devil Bringer, ready for whatever might attack. The light show quickly subsided, leaving behind the a spectral figure, one that seemed eerily familiar to him, that grew more and more defined before becoming a very alive individual that Nero had only seen in one of Dante's few photos.
The figure was male, tall, and regal. He had sharp features that were drawn out by his white hair and blue eyes, one of which was hidden behind a monocle. He was dressed in victorian fashion, with a red jewel set against his neck, and had a small smile on his face. Nero looked at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. He was looking at Sparda. Ozpin was doing far worse, he had dropped to his knees with his hands clasped and head bowed, a position not befitting his personality or position.
"You're Sparda." Nero was not familiar with being floored like this. Usually when he was experiencing shock he was being betrayed or nearly murdered, but right now he was simply surprised.
Sparda's smile grew, becoming a full grin of obvious delight. "I have waited a long time for this moment, I was starting to believe that it would never come." The saviour of all humanity walked over to Nero, who had dropped his sword and was not expecting the current behavior that Sparda was exhibiting.
"You're exactly what I expected though. I can see the strength in you. You must be Virgil's son." Nero looked at him with wide eyes once more, was he the son of Dante's brother?
"I'm not sure what you're talking about. I mean I know we're related but I don't know if I'm your grandson." Ozpin was still on the ground, not exactly in touch with the world around him. A literal legend was in front of him. He was the first person of his world to see one of their greatest, if forgotten heroes, since the beginning of their current records of history.
Sparda's smile stayed as he turned to Ozpin and hoisted him up to his feet. "Enough of that. You wouldn't want to remember this moment as the time you became a vegetable now would you?" Ozpin nodded dumbly and began to attempt regaining his composure. Sparda turned back to Nero, who had returned his sword back to his arm and was simply looking at the man in front of him.
"You are definitely my grandson. I only had two sons and I have no other relatives. Not many demons such as myself do. I can see Virgil in you. What's your name?"
"Nero. My name is Nero." Sparda's eyes lit up at that, making him seem incredibly pleased. The order made Sparda out to be a stalwart warrior who never showed emotion, only fought for humanity's future. This Sparda was incredibly approachable at once. He was the opposite of all the legends. Of course Dante had never really told Nero anything about him, even when he asked.
"Very appropriate. Italian for Black and the name of the emperor who supposedly burned Rome at one of its peaks."
Nero made a face, "I don't really get how that's appropriate. I'm not exactly an emperor nor did I burn one of the largest ancient cities to ash."
"He did not burn the city actually, he was a great artist and architect, and a very complex man, as were many of Rome's rulers. I can see complexity in you as well Nero, as well as a great deal of suffering."
"Yeah? Well I suppose you're right about that last bit. I haven't been having an easy time for the past couple years."
Sparda once again turned to Ozpin, who had mostly recovered, "I would like to thank you and your predecessors commitment to the role of my custodian. If not for you all I would not be able to see my grandson. Thank you."
"There is no thanks necessary Lord Sparda, this world owes everything to you"
Sparda raised a hand for the headmaster of Beacon to stop, "Do not short sell yourself or those that were before you, and please, do not inflate my importance. I simply taught what I could and helped where it was possible. The people of Remnant are the true heroes of this world's history."
Ozpin simply nodded his head, still finding speaking a tad difficult. Sparda turned back to Nero.
"I feel that we are in need of having a very long conversation, which mostly entails yous telling me your story."
Nero flicked his eyes down to the ground and back to Sparda's face, "I'm not sure you'll want to hear all of it. It may paint an individual in a way you may not appreciate."
Sparda's eyes lit up with a glint of mischief, "I'm well aware of who you speak of Nero, I have some knowledge of what happened since my death."
"I don't see how you died if you're here."
"Death is a funny thing Nero, sometimes people get better after they die."