Sorry for the wait. I've been busy. Advanced notice, I may get busy in the future so updates may not be as often. I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 8. Enjoy.


Chapter 8: A Little Experiment

A few days have passed since the incident in the cafeteria. Professor Goodwitch was notified and brought in both Velvets to explain the situation. While Glynda was fully prepared to punish Velvet for her actions against Team CDRL, after she heard Miss Scarlatina's testimony, she was a little more reasonable. Ultimately, Professor Ozpin decided that Velvet was just defending a fellow student from discrimination, something he does not tolerate, and let her off for now. For now, Velvet is in the library, reading up on the history of Dust and its capabilities. Ever since the dorm room incident a while back, Velvet has grown a little curious on the matter.

"Each type of dust has a different elemental ability, and can even be combined in a way to create new forms of Dust. I wonder if it's possible to absorb Dust with my demon arm and use those abilities, or at least get stronger from it," Velvet muses as she continues reading.

"Velvet? What are you doing here?" a voice calls out behind her.

Velvet turns around to find Weiss standing behind her with a few books in her arms.

"Research, that's all. You?" Velvet replies.

Weiss walks up to stand beside her, "I was going to do some studying. May I sit here?" she politely.

"Knock yourself out," Velvet says.

"Thank you," Weiss says and takes the seat across from Velvet. She looks at the books Velvet has, seeing all of them being about Dust. "What's with all the books about Dust?" she asks.

"Like I said, research," Velvet responds, eyes still on one book in her hands.

"You know, if you ever have questions regarding Dust, you could just ask me. I am the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, after all," Weiss says, a little confidence in her voice.

"Right, which begs the question of why a rick kid would risk her life of luxury to become a huntress," Velvet muses, finally looking up at Weiss.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss questions, getting annoyed.

"Why did you want to become a huntress Weiss?" Velvet asks.

"That doesn't answer my question," Weiss says.

"Answer my question and maybe I'll answer yours," Velvet retorts.

Weiss thinks on this for a moment, "I… want to become a huntress to restore my family's honor. Ever since my father took over the company for my grandfather, the Schnee Dust Company has become more profitable than ever before, but…I don't like how it became that way. It was because of the-," she begins.

"Questionable business partners, cheap Faunus labor, possible illegal activities," Velvet interrupts her, making Weiss look at her with both slight confusion and fear. "Came up in my research. I thought huntsmen and huntresses were supposed to protect all of the people of Remnant, not just a select few. If that's your only reason for being here, then you should drop out. A family's honor won't save you in the real world," Velvet tells her.

This makes Weiss look down in…shame, "I know what huntresses and huntsmen are supposed to do. That's why I'm here. I just…can't let the company my grandfather worked so hard to build get torn down by my father. All he cares about is his profits, no matter who it hurts," Weiss admits.

Velvet observes her for a moment before shrugging her shoulders, "Well, I guess that's alright. You're reason seems to be better than mine for being here anyway," Velvet says, looking back to her book.

Weiss raises her head in confusion, "What? Why are you here then? Aren't you here to protect the people as well?" Weiss asks.

Velvet contemplates her answer, "…I suppose so. But that's not the only reason. You're here to fix things, which may end up helping a lot of people…I'm mainly here for one," Velvet answers. "Who just so happens to be our team leader."

"And just who would that be?" Weiss asks, getting curious.

"My business," Velvet vaguely answers.

Weiss grunts in aggravation, but decides to let it be for now. Deciding that they talked enough, Weiss focused on her reason for being here: studying. Taking her own books, Weiss began jotting down notes from her books, while Velvet continued her own reading. The two conduct their work in respective silence for a while, content with their current arrangement. After a while, Velvet closes her book and decides she's done for now, and prepares to leave. She stand up from her chair, which gets Weiss' attention.

"You're leaving now?" she asks.

"Yeah, I've done all I can for now. I'll continue another time," Velvet replies.

"Actually, you never did answer my question on why you were researching about Dust," Weiss notes. "You said that if I answer your question, you'd answer mine, so out with it."

Velvet rather just leave now, but knows Weiss won't let it go and sighs.

"I got the idea in my head about using my…semblance to see if I can absorb Dust, giving me different abilities," Velvet answers.

This makes Weiss go wide-eyed, "Absorbing Dust!? Do you have any idea what that could do to you!? Aura is one thing, but that just sounds incredibly dangerous!" Weiss freaks out.

"Don't know, that's why I was thinking about it. Don't see how this concerns you," Velvet says as she turns away, one hand on her hip.

Weiss walks in front of Velvet, hands on her hips, "Of course this concerns me. You're my teammate. And knowing you, you'll just go and test out your theory anyway, so that's why I'm coming with you. I do have extensive knowledge on the subject, and at least if something bad happens, I'll be there to help," Weiss decides. Seeing that Weiss wasn't going to change her mind, Velvet shrugs her shoulders and walks ahead of her, with Weiss following. "We'll head back to the dorm so I can grab a few dust crystals from my supply, and then we'll go to the training room to practice on some test dummies. That should suffice. I'll also grab a first aid kit just in case something bad happens," Weiss says.

"Gee, thanks for the support," Velvet deadpans, rolling her eyes.

"Happy to oblige," Weiss dismisses her demeanor with a smile.

The two return to their dorm and Weiss grabs one of her suit cases, along with the first aid kit. They head to the training room, and luckily find it to be empty. They settle down in one corner, and prepare a few test dummies for the experiment.

"Here, let's start with this one. This will produce ice," Weiss says, handing Velvet a blue Dust crystal.

Velvet looks at it for a moment, "Here goes nothing," she says and turns to face the test dummies.

Velvet engages her demon arm and places the Dust crystal in her palm. Wrapping her claws around it, she starts absorbing the Dust crystal. For a moment, everything is going smoothly, but then Velvet starts feeling an intense pain in her arm and screams as she falls onto her knees, gritting her teeth in pain.

Weiss runs to her side as she freaks out, "Velvet! What's wrong!?" she yells.

Velvet grunts in pain, "The Dust crystal. It's having a hard time getting absorbed into me," she replies as she continues to feel more pain.

"I knew something bad would happen. Dust is used every day for different things, but it's very dangerous to the human body!" Weiss says.

"Heh, good thing I'm not a human then," Velvet thinks as she pushes through the pain to absorb the Dust crystal.

"Velvet, this is crazy. You have to stop absorbing the crystal, now!" Weiss pleads with her.

"No…I won't stop…I can't stop. I need to do this!" She replies.

"Why?! Why do you have to be so stubborn?!" Weiss shouts as she tries to help Velvet.

Velvet continues to grind her teeth in agony, "I…I have to become stronger! Otherwise…I won't be able to do…what I came here to do!" Velvet answers.

"Velvet…"Weiss mutters in awe.

"And I won't let some stupid crystal get. In. My. Way! AAAAHHHHHHH!" Velvet screams as suddenly, the Dust crystal is fully absorbed into her demon arm.

With the crystal absorbed now, the pain fades away as Velvet takes a few deep breaths and looks at her demon arm. To both her and Weiss' surprise, Velvet's demon arm starts emitting a faint blue glow as small ice particles fall off from it.

"What in God's name just happened?" Weiss asks, completely stunned.

"Your guess is as good as mine. This has never happened before," Velvet says as she stands up.

"Velvet, are you okay? How do you feel?" Weiss asks worriedly.

"I feel fine. The pain is gone now. It does feel a little colder than before though for some reason," Velvet says as she examines her arm.

Weiss examines it as well with her chin in her right hand, "Hm. The cold might be because of the Dust being an ice type. But as for everything else, I have no idea," Weiss notes.

Deciding to test it out, Velvet looks at the training dummies and aims her demon arm at them. Focusing her energy, Velvet conjures up an ice shard in her palm and fires it at one training dummy. When the shard hits, the dummy becomes encased in ice. Weiss looks on in shock while Velvet hums in mild amusement. Conjuring up more ice shards, she fires them at the other training dummies, each ending with the same result. Velvet allows a smirk on her face as she looks at her arm and clenches her fist, focusing on her whole arm this time. A moment later, her arm becomes encased in ice, but with small swept-back spikes appearing all over it. She can move her arm easily even though it's in ice. She swings her arm around, noting how the ice remains intact. Walking a few feet away from Weiss, Velvet flexes her claws, raises her arm up, and stabs her claws into the ground, resulting in several large ice spikes springing up from the ground around her. Weiss can only watch in awe as Velvet uses Dust in ways even she couldn't use with her rapier, Myrtenaster. Velvet releases her claws from the ground, making the ice spikes disappear.

She looks back at the dummies again and tries a few more ice spikes. She is able to fire a few more at the dummies, encasing them in even more ice, but eventually Velvet finds herself being unable to create anymore ice shards. She looks at her demon arm to see that it no longer has its faint blue hue or any ice on it at all.

Weiss walks up to her, "What's wrong? Before, you were creating ice like it was nothing. Now what?" she asks.

"I can't do it anymore. I thought I could keep doing it for a lot longer than that," Velvet answers.

Weiss hums, "Hm. It might be because Dust has a limit. It's like a battery; eventually it runs out of power if you can't recharge it," she muses.

Velvet thinks for a moment, "…Give me another Dust crystal," she asks.

"What!? After what you just went through with the first one. Are you crazy?! What if this time, the pain becomes even worse?!" she shrieks.

"That won't happen. And we won't know until we try. Just hurry up and give me another one," Velvet says.

Weiss breaths a heavy sigh, "Fine. Just don't say I didn't warn you," she says and proceeds to hand Velvet a yellow lightning Dust crystal. "This is a lightning Dust crystal. Let's see how this one works. But be careful," she says.

Velvet nods and takes the new crystal into her demon hand. She starts absorbing it and starts to feel the pain again, only this time it is not as bad, though she still has to grit her teeth through the pain.

"How are you feeling? Any pain?" Weiss asks, concerned.

"Yeah, there's pain, but it's more bearable this time. I guess I'm getting used to it," Velvet answers through clenched teeth.

Eventually, the pain subsides and the two look at Velvet's demon arm to see yellow lightning encircling it and the arm itself emitting a faint yellow hue. Weiss steps back as Velvet aims her arm at the still-frozen training dummies. Focusing her energy, she fires a bolt of lightning at one dummy, freeing it from the ice and destroying it. She performs the same attack three more times, each ending with the same result. Clenching her demon claw, Velvet focuses the energy around it and raises her arm before slamming it into the ground, sending a large blast of lightning that destroys the rest of the training dummies. After expending her energy, the demon arm returns to normal. Velvet deactivates her demon arm as Weiss walks back up to her.

"Still feel alright?" she asks.

"I'm fine," Velvet replies.

"Well, I'd say that aside from the pain you went through, this little experiment went well. It seems your arm can absorb the abilities of different Dust types, though it only works for a limited time. However, I'd say this would help in expanding your combat potential nicely," Weiss says.

"Except for the fact that I don't have access to a decent supply of Dust crystals," Velvet notes.

"Oh don't worry. I'll take care of that," Weiss says.

"What?" Velvet asks.

"Have you already forgotten who I am? I can easily get you a steady supply of Dust for your abilities. I already get some for my weapon on a regular schedule, so adding a little extra to that won't raise any suspicions. Plus, no one would dare to ask ME why," Weiss explains confidently.

"Why would you do that for me?" Velvet asks, still confused.

"Because you're my teammate, we have to help each other or else we all fail. More importantly, I'd like to think of us as friends. But, I'm not trying to buy your friendship. I have more class than that," Weiss answers.

Velvet hums with a smirk, "Good to know…Thanks," she says.

"Don't mention it. Besides, this may give me some ideas for my rapier in the future," Weiss says as she starts packing up her suitcase.

"You won't tell your father you found someone that can use Dust like I can?" she asks.

"Not in a million years," Weiss answers immediately. "Now then, I believe we should head back to our dorm room," Weiss says as she starts to leave.

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll want to make up that lost time studying when you were helping me," Velvet says.

This makes Weiss freeze in place, eyes widen, before she suddenly starts racing back to the dorm.

"Oh, crap! I forgot all about that. We have to hurry back, now!" she yells as she runs out of the training room, while Velvet calmly walks back.

After a short walk, Velvet eventually makes it back to their dorm. Coming in, she finds Weiss on her bed as she studies with a semi-crazed look in her eyes. Meanwhile, Ruby watches on with worry, Yang is snickering, and Blake is minding her own business with her books. Ruby then notices Velvet coming in and smiles.

"Hey Velvet, do you know why Weiss is acting like this. I mean, she really likes to study more than anyone else, but this is a…little extreme," Ruby says as she glances back at Weiss.

"Met her in the library. She wanted to study, but she ended up spending her time helping me out with something," Velvet explains.

"Oh, that's why she studying like there's not tomorrow. What was she helping you with, anyway?" she asks.

"Seeing if my semblance could work on Dust crystals…It worked," Velvet replies nonchalantly.

This gets everyone's attention except for Weiss'.

"Wait, you mean you…absorbed Dust crystals into your arm?" Ruby asks with a little hesitation. Velvet nods, and then…

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" all three shout, though Velvet makes no response.

"Velvet, do you have any idea what that could've done to you? Absorbing a person's strength and aura is one thing, but Dust crystals?! That could've killed you!" Yang yells.

"Exactly! There's no telling what that would do to you!" Blake adds.

"Wait! Are you hurt? Are you feeling okay! Do you feel any weird sensations in you?!" Ruby asks as she zips around Velvet's body, checking for any signs of injuries or issues.

Velvet just takes all this in with a deadpanned expression. However, when Ruby tries to look somewhere she shouldn't Velvet grabs her by her hood and keeps her away at arm's length, making Ruby fling her arms around in futile resistance. Quickly though, Ruby relents and Velvet lets her go. Velvet looks to Weiss.

"Weiss, could you explain please," she sighs as she sits on her bed, one leg crossed over the other.

This grabs Weiss' attention and she groans at being interrupted, but relents and marks the page in her textbook.

"Yes. I made it perfectly clear how dangerous it was, but I knew that she was going to do it anyway, so I came with her. I gave her one Dust crystal and she started to absorb it, but then she started feeling huge amounts of pain because of it," Weiss begins.

"What!? Velvet, are you okay?!" Ruby flips out as she examines Velvet's body again, only for Velvet to pick her up by her hood and hang her away again, rolling her eyes.

"However, she pushed through the pain and fully absorbed the Dust crystal, and the pain subsided. Since the crystal was an ice type, her arm glowed a faint blue hue and she could create ice shards as projectiles, and even coat her arm in ice. However, her abilities only seemed to last for a short while, and they eventually dissipated. After that, I gave her a lightning Dust crystal to try with. She felt some pain when she absorbed it, but not as much, so I'm guessing that her body was growing accustomed to it. Her arm started glowing yellow after that and emitted lightning around it, which she used for some pretty impressive lightning based attacks. Eventually, that power faded as well, and we ended the tests there and came back here," Weiss finishes as Velvet drops Ruby again.

"So, you're okay now?" Ruby asks, concerned.

Velvet nods, "I'm fine. Don't worry," she says, making Ruby smile and breathe a sigh of relief.

"That's good to here," Ruby says, hand to her chest.

"Well, at least it all ended well. And now we know that you can use Dust. That's be a nice trump card for the Vytal Festival coming up," Yang says, smirking.

"As long as you're alright, that's all that matters," Blake adds.

With the situation settled, the team head out to get something to eat, making some small talk during their meal before returning to their dorm room to get through the rest of the day. When it gets late, the teammates each take turns using the restroom to prepare for the night. Everyone prepares to go to sleep, but Ruby stops when she notices Velvet combing her hair like usual and gets an idea.

Ruby walks up to Velvet, "Hey Velvet, why don't you let me comb your hair?" Ruby offers.

"I'm fine," Velvet replies without stopping.

Ruby puffs her cheeks and gets in Velvet's face, "Oh no, not this time. You made your teammates worry with that stunt you pulled earlier today, so this is how you're gonna make up for that, and I won't take 'no' for an answer. Now hand over the comb," Ruby demands.

Velvet couldn't really take her seriously with that cute look on her face…Wait…What?

"Where did that come from?" Velvet asks herself before looking back to Ruby. Seeing as how Ruby wasn't going to give up, Velvet gives up instead.

Velvet sighs, "Fine…Here, but don't break it," she says, handing Ruby the comb.

Ruby smiles at her victory and takes the comb, "Don't worry, I used to help Yang with her hair back home…before she got her semblance anyway," Ruby says and sits behind Velvet to start combing her hair.

Ruby's movements are slow and delicate as she combs Velvet's hair. Her fingers gently caress Velvet's black hair as she works her way through her long strands. Meanwhile, Velvet sits there, feeling a sense of nostalgia as she remembers when Laphicet used to do this for her back in her world.

"This was your little brother's comb, right. Did he used to do this for you a lot back home?" Ruby asks as she continues her task.

"…Yeah. All the time," Velvet answers solemnly.

Ruby notices the tone in her voice, "Do you…Do you want me to stop?" she asks.

"…No…Keep going. It feels…nice," Velvet answers her. Ruby shows a small smile and continues combing through Velvet's hair. "Hey Ruby…" she gets her attention. "Do you think…you could do this again tomorrow night as well?" she asks.

Ruby smiles bigger and nods, "Sure, as much as you want," she replies.

Hearing this, Velvet shows a small smile, "Thanks…Ruby," she says.

They continue like this for a few more minutes before Velvet says enough and Ruby hands her back the comb. Ruby heads over to her bed, bidding Velvet goodnight before going to sleep. However, Velvet takes one last look at Ruby as she sleeps, and lets another smile show before going to sleep herself.


Here's chapter 8. Sorry if this update seemed a little late. Like I said before, updates may start coming in later in the future, but I'll try to get them in ASAP. Velvet gains new way of using her powers as she bonds with Ruby and Weiss. Please Read and Review.