Disclaimer: I own nothing but my two OCs.

Divine Intervention

Chapter 5: Forever Fall - Part 1

Dante gripped Ascalon firmly in his hand as he and Cardin Winchester circled each other on the auditorium's stage.

"Thanks for lasting longer than most, pretty boy," Cardin sneered, resting his mace on his shoulder, "The Executioner and I needed a challenge."

"'The Executioner?'" Dante chuckled, "sounds like you're compensating for something, beanpole."

Growling, Cardin raised his mace and charged at Dante.

The shorter boy just smirked and stepped out of the way, extending a leg that Cardin tripped over.

"Come on," Dante said, clearly unimpressed, "you call that an attack?"

Cardin got to his feet and swung The Executioner out at Dante, who easily avoided it.

"Slow," Dante taunted.

Another attack/dodge.

"Sloppy."

A third time.

"Sad."

Cardin then got in close and brought his mace down.

This time, Dante had to block it with Ascalon and the two became locked.

Cardin smirked arrogantly, "this is the part where-"

He was cut off as Dante used Ascalon's decorative golden cross-guard to hook around The Executioner's hilt and shoved the locked weapon under his arm.

Before Cardin could recover, Dante delivered two quick punches to Cardin's face with his free hand.

The taller boy retaliated by kneeing his opponent in the gut.

Dante grunted in pain and released The Executioner, but still managed to drop Cardin onto his back, pointing Ascalon at his throat.

Before anything else could happen, a buzzer went on and more lights brightened the room.

"Quite impressive, Dante," Glynda said, walking onto the stage with her tablet in hand.

Dante put Ascalon back over his shoulder and it once again vanished in a golden flash.

He offered a hand to help Cardin up, but he just smacked it away and got up on his own.

"Students," Glynda announced to everyone else seated in front of the stage, "as you can see, Mr. Winchester's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-style duel, this would indicate that Cardin is no longer fit for battle and the official may call the match."

She turned to Cardin, "I would advise you to refer to your Scroll more often, Mr. Winchester. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack or or when it is better to move to a more… defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now would we?"

This drew a few snickers from the audience.

"Like a Beowolf would be able to eat him," Dante scoffed, causing more snickers and the corner of Glynda's mouth to twitch.

"Remember everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away," the Deputy Headmistress went on, "it won't be long before students from other Kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing. Those who choose to participate in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale."

Dante could see that Yang was pumping her fist in the air, Weiss was shaking her fists in a good way, and Ruby could barely contain her shakes and squeals of excitement.

It was at that moment that the bell rang and the other students headed towards the exits.

Pyrrha, Nora, and Iris were waiting at the end of the stage for Dante to join them, all wearing proud smiles on their faces.

Before Dante could move, Cardin brushed past him and purposefully bumped Dante's shoulder as he did so.

Dante made a pained hiss and dropped to one knee.

All three girls gasped and rushed to their leader.

"What's wrong?" Pyrrha asked, her hand on his shoulder.

"My side," Dante grunted, "that knee to the gut must've hit my rib-cage too."

By this time, Glynda had noticed the situation and walked over to them.

"Step back, you three," she said softly, "let me take a look."

She got on her knees and lifted Dante's green shirt, revealing his moderately muscular torso.

Glynda gently put a hand to a bruise that was forming a little above Dante's right hip.

After brushing her fingers along it for maybe a second too long, she stood back up.

"Nothing appears to be broken; your Aura seems to have taken the worst of the blow," she declared, "but I'm taking you to see Doctor Ziegler just to be safe."

Glynda turned to the others, "the rest of you go on ahead to the cafeteria; I promise that your leader will join you before lunch is over."

Pyrrha and Nora looked at each other worriedly while Iris was blushing at seeing Dante's muscles.

Dante put a hand on Nora's shoulder, "you know I'll be fine; it's not even a flesh wound."

Her face brightened up and she pecked him on the cheek before skipping out the door.

Pyrrha gave her leader a kind smile and shook a still-blushing Iris to snap her out of it and they both followed after their teammate.

"Do you need help to walk?" Glynda offered, holding one of Dante's arms as he stood up.

Dante readjusted his shirt and shook his head, "I think I can make it to the Nurse's Office."

Glynda hesitated before replying, "very well, but let me know if you change your mind."

dXb

Dante tried his best not to look injured as he followed Glynda down the hall.

In that moment, he was very thankful to be wearing sunglasses as her hips swayed back and forth in front of him.

They eventually arrived at the Nurse's Office, where a woman with long pink hair done in decorative loops sat at the front desk typing on a computer.

Her blue eyes lit up when she saw them approaching.

"Glynda!" she chirped, rushing over to give her a hug, "what a lovely surprise!"

Chuckling, Glynda returned the hug, "it's good to see you too, Joy." She turned around and gestured to Dante, "this student was injured during my Combat Class, is Angela busy at the moment?"

Joy smiled and shook her head, "nope, she should have plenty of time to see him."

She took Dante's hand and started leading him towards the door, "this way, cutie."

"Nurse Joy!" Glynda gasped, "that is highly inappropriate!"

"Oh come now, Glynda, live a little," Joy said with an unapologetic smile, "you're not getting any younger, you know."

Glynda's face became a stone mask, but her eye may or may not have twitched briefly.

"You seem to have things in hand here," she said after a few moments and glanced at Dante, "enjoy the rest of your day, Mr. Belmont."

Nurse Joy waved as Glynda walked away, "I'll tell my sister you said hi!"

Glynda just kept walking and clenched her fists.

Once she was gone, Joy sighed, "poor thing; she really needs a man in her life."

"I feel like she's kind of married to her work," Dante replied.

Joy giggled again, "well now, cute and funny; my sister is going to love hearing about you."

Dante raised an eyebrow, "Doctor Ziegler's your sister?"

"Oh, no," Joy replied, "she's a police officer down in Vale. Finest one on the force according to her."

She then walked over and knocked on another door, "Angela? You have another patient."

The door opened and another woman stepped into the room.

She had short pale blonde hair done up in a loose bun and blue eyes resting behind a pair of reading glasses. Her clothes consisted of a white lab coat over a black top, brown cargo pants and a pair of black heeled boots. A stethoscope was draped around her neck.

Her name certainly was appropriate, her face alone was that of an angel.

"And vat seems to be ze problem?" she asked in a notable accent before seeing the young man in question, "ah, Dante Belmont; so nice to finally meet you in person. I've heard nothing but praise from ze rest of ze staff."

Dante's jaw dropped before he shook his head to clear his thoughts, "nice to meet you too, Doctor Ziegler."

"Oh, please," the doctor waved a hand dismissively, "just call me Angela."

"We're not big on formalities in this office," Joy said.

Dante chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his neck, but the movement caused the pain in his side to flare up and he let out a grunt.

In an instant, Mercy and Joy were at his side.

"Joy, take his jacket," Angela instructed and the nurse quickly obliged.

"Let's sit you down," she continued, leading Dante to a nearby cot, "now, explain what happened and where it hurts."

"I was sparring with Cardin Winchester when he slammed his knee into my side," Dante began, "my Aura took the worst of it, but the guy is strong."

"I see…" Angela replied before reaching down, "is it alright if I take your shirt off?"

Dante nodded and Angela began to pull off his shirt.

"Oh," Joy piped up, "let me get those glasses out of the way."

She reached for Dante's eye-wear, but he grabbed her hand when she got close.

Realizing what he just did, he let go, "sorry, it's a reflex."

"Dante's eyes are a bit sensitive, Joy," Angela explained, "ze glasses are prescribed."

Getting the shirt off, Angela had Dante lay down and examined the bruise.

"Just as I thought," she said after a few seconds, "zis injury is not as bad as it looks."

Angela gently placed a hand over the bruise and it began to glow with a golden yellow light.

A warm feeling began to form in Dante's torso and gradually washed the pain away.

It made perfect sense that Beacon's head doctor would have a healing Semblance.

Joy clearly didn't have a healing Semblance as she only stood by to see if she could help in any other way.

"Zat should do it," Angela said as the glow faded, "feel free to use ze changing room before you go to ze cafeteria."

"Try not to make regular visits though," Joy chirped.

Dante smiled and grabbed his clothes, "I'll try my best, but I'll definitely miss the company."

Angela blushed and looked away, but Joy squealed and almost tackled Dante in a hug.

"Aren't you just the sweetest thing!" the nurse said, nuzzling Dante's cheek.

Angela rolled her eyes and sighed, "not again, Joy; you're going to get in trouble sooner or later."

"Jenny and I talked about boundaries," Joy replied, releasing Dante, "it's fine."

Dante just chuckled and went into the changing room as the two continued debating.

dXb

Back in his school uniform, Dante entered the cafeteria and spotted the rest of Team DVIN and Team RWBY sitting together.

Blake was reading a book and Yang was looking eagerly at Nora.

Weiss was occupied doing her nails and Ruby and Pyrrha were listening politely to what Nora was saying.

Iris did the same while shoveling food into her mouth.

After getting some food, he made his way over to them as he heard a familiar story.

"So there we were," Nora said dramatically, "in the middle of the night…"

"It was day," Dante said as he sat down.

Nora cheered and gave him a hug.

Pyrrha smiled while Iris swallowed her food and breathed a sigh of relief.

Nora let Dante go and continued her story, "we were surrounded by Ursai…"

"They were Beowolves," Dante corrected again.

"Dozens of them!" Nora declared.

"Two of them," Dante said, more focused on peeling his clementine.

"But they were no match for us," Nora concluded, "and in the end, Dante and I made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa-skin rugs."

"You did remember to tell them that this was just a recurring dream you had, right?" Dante smirked, causing some giggles or groans from the others.

"Did everything go okay at the Nurse's Office?" Pyrrha asked.

"Oh yeah," Dante replied, "one touch from Doctor Ziegler and I'm back in business."

"That last fight was pretty cool though," Ruby piped up, "I'm still trying to figure out how you beat someone so big."

"It's actually pretty easy," Dante said, taking a bite of food before swallowing it, "most guys like Cardin rely on their brute strength and endurance; if you can't match their strength, the key is to switch to speed and cunning and then go for their weak spots."

"You knew Cardin would be more difficult to fight if he attacked you directly," Pyrrha noted, "so you immobilized his weapon and started punching his face as it was the one spot that didn't have any armor."

"You're lucky," Yang said, "I've been wanting to get some licks on that punk's mug for weeks after he slashed my bike's tires."

"Cardin has been picking on anyone he can since the first week of school," Pyrrha stated.

"He knocked a book out of my hand on purpose," Blake added.

"He tripped me up with my own cloak," Ruby said.

"And he shot me into the sky in my own locker-rocket!" Iris finished.

Everyone turned to look at her in surprise.

"I didn't land that far from the school and I can fly," she pointed out.

The sound of laughter drew everyone's attention to a nearby table.

All of Team CRDL were standing around a girl with long brown hair and a large pair of bunny ears.

Dante recognized her as Velvet Scarlatina, a second-year student and member of Team CFVY (Coffee).

Cardin laughed harder while another team member, Sky Lark, held up fingers to his head to mock the girl's ears.

"Atrocious," Pyrrha scoffed, "I can't stand people like him."

Blake had looked up from her book and glared daggers at the group, "you're not the only one…"

Yang had a rare look of pity on her face, "it must be hard being a Faunus."

Dante lowered his head in agreement before louder laughing perked his head back up.

Those laughs were mixed with cries of pain as Cardin was now pulling on one of Velvet's ears.

"Ow, that hurts!" Velvet cried, "please, stop…"

"Alright, that's it," Dante growled, getting to his feet, "he's gone way too far this time."

"Let's break his legs!" Nora cheered, trying to get up before Dante put a hand on her shoulder and she sat back down.

"Tempting, babe," Dante smirked, "but I have a better idea."

He turned to the others at the table, "just sit back and enjoy the show."

As Dante neared Velvet's table, he could hear more jeers coming from Team CRDL.

"I told you it was real!" Cardin laughed, still yanking on Velvet's ear.

"What a freak!" Russel Thrush jeered before Cardin felt someone tapping on his shoulder.

"The lady said 'stop,' Cardin," Dante said firmly, "I suggest you listen."

Cardin just swatted Dante's hand away, "buzz off, Belmont. This isn't your-"

Whatever else he was going to say was cut off with a yelp of surprise as Dante had manifested his gauntlet and grabbed onto the arm that was grabbing Velvet's ear.

Dante casually examined the clementine in his free hand, "ever see what happens to a freshly peeled clementine when you squeeze. REAL. HARD?"

He tightened his grip on Cardin's arm, causing him to release Velvet's ear as the taller man groaned in pain.

Dante nodded behind him and Velvet quickly ran to safety as the other girls surrounded her and started consoling her.

Dante threw Cardin's arm out of his grasp as his gauntlet vanished, "I figured you were insecure, Cardin, but picking on girls half your size?"

"She's not a girl," Cardin scoffed, "she's a F-"

"Fellow student who, need I remind you, is a year above you!" Dante snapped, his eyes starting to glow green under his sunglasses, "and you better start treating her with respect if you don't want me reporting this to Goodwitch!"

He and Cardin glared at each other for a few tense seconds before the taller man glanced at everyone else looking at him with fire in their eyes.

"This isn't over, Dante Boy," Cardin growled before turning around and leaving with the rest of his Team following behind him.

The light in Dante's eyes faded as he took a few calming breaths.

He turned to Velvet, "are you al-"

He didn't even have a chance to finish before the girl ran to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Thank you…" she whispered while nuzzling into his neck.

Dante returned the hug, "hey, it's alright, it's alright. He won't bother you anymore if I have anything to say about it."

Velvet pulled back and wiped the tears from her eyes, "no one outside of my Team has ever done that."

"Well, now you have three Teams watching your back," Dante smiled, looking over to the others as they all nodded in agreement… well, except for Weiss who looked hesitant.

The sound of clapping drew their attention down the aisle between the tables.

Coming towards them was a girl with paler skin and brown hair. She was dressed in the regular uniform as well as a black barrette that held most of her hair except for a single lock that ended in a light bronze highlight. Her eyes were hidden behind a sweet pair of aviator sunglasses.

"Coco!" Velvet cheered, running over to her friend.

Dante's eyebrows went up.

He was actually looking at Coco Adel, leader of Team CFVY and rock-star of last year's initiation.

Coco put a hand on Velvet's shoulder and whispered something to her that caused the rabbit girl to blush and run off.

As she got closer, Coco pulled down her glasses and eyed Dante up, "just wanted to say thanks for standing up for Vel back there."

Dante scratched the back of his neck, "it was nothing, just putting a bully in his place."

Coco's smirk widened as she put her glasses back over her eyes, "you free Friday night?"

Pyrrha, Iris, Ruby, Weiss and Yang all let out a "WHAT?!" while Nora grinned madly and Blake just looked up from her book.

"Wait, wait," Dante said, "you want to go on a date with me?"

Coco playfully raised an eyebrow, "why so surprised?"

Dante cleared his throat, "w-well, I've just heard people say that you-"

Coco just chuckled, "just because I prefer girls doesn't mean I don't like guys; so how about it? Friday night? Say around 6?"

"Done!" Nora said.

Not looking confused at all, Coco nodded, "perfect, see you then."

She turned and walked away while saying, "the dress code is 'Combat Casual.'"

"Come on, Nora," Dante groaned, "what have I told you about setting up dates for me?"

"That it only makes you love me more?" Nora said with a bright smile.

Dante sighed, "you really are the best girl in the world."

They kissed before being interrupted by someone clearing her throat.

Nora pulled back from Dante and they both looked at all the other girls looking at them (or more specifically Dante) with varying looks of confusion or jealousy.

"Care to explain what just happened?" Weiss asked, clearly frustrated.

Before Dante could reply, the bell rang.

"Meet me in our dorm after classes," he said quickly, "I promise I'll explain everything."

Some of the others shared concerned looks, but they all nodded and began making their way out of the cafeteria.

dXb

Later that day, Teams RWBY and DVIN arrived at their next class together only to see Coco, Velvet and two other girls who had to be their teammates.

The first girl was easily the tallest of the group with black hair done in a loose ponytail, sharp silver eyes, and freckles on her face.

The other girl was a much shorter bronze-skinned girl with short curly red hair, electric blue eyes, and a small scar on her right cheek.

"Small world, huh?" Coco smirked.

"I mean, we've all seen each other around," Dante replied, "this is just the first time we're talking and definitely won't be the last."

Velvet just blushed and stood behind the other two girls.

"You already know Velvet," Coco went on, "meet the rest of my team: Ymir Ragna and-"

"Fenyx?" Iris gasped, "Fenyx Resin?"

The red-haired girl looked confused before gasping, "Iris?"

After a moment of silence, both of them squealed and ran into each other's arms.

"It's been so long!" Iris cheered, "how's Phosphor?"

"Shining brighter than ever," Fenyx giggled with an accent notable in her voice.

Dante raised an eyebrow, "I take it you two know each other?"

The two girls separated, still giggling.

"Guys, this is Fenyx Resin," Iris said, "we were both part of the Terranean Tribe back in Vacuo."

She turned back to her old friend, "Fenyx, these are my teammates: Dante, Nora and Pyrrha."

"Nice to meet you both," Dante said, shaking Fenyx's hand.

He tried to do the same for Ymir, but her steely gaze made him freeze.

"Don't mind her," Coco said, "Ymir's not really the touchy-feely type… at least not at first."

Dante recovered and cleared his throat, "so, who's Phosphor?"

"My bird," Fenyx replied, "I've had him since he was a hatchling."

"We found him and Fifi when they were babies," Iris added.

It was at that moment that the final warning bell rang.

"To be continued," Coco said as everyone went through the door.

dXb

The next class was World History taught by a man named Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck.

Brothers have mercy on anyone that calls him 'Professor.'

Oobleck was a tall scrawny man with a wild mess of green hair. His clothes consisted of a white shirt partially tucked into his dark green pants with the collar raised, a hastily tied yellow necktie, a brown shoe and a black shoe and a large pair of spectacles.

Unlike Ozpin, Dante knew for sure that this guy had a caffeine problem.

He always had a mug in his hand and was zipping around the classroom almost as fast as Ruby.

"Yes-Yes," Oobleck rambled on, "prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War-"

He zipped up to the front of the class and the map covered in papers behind his desk, "-humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing the Faunus population in Menagerie."

After pointing at the map of said area with his stick, Oobleck zipped off to the side for a sip of his coffee before appearing in front of the desk.

"Now while this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events!" he went on, "why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!"

Oobleck zipped around the classroom more, sipping his coffee again before continuing to zip and talk, "now, have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"

A few hands went up, including Velvet's and Dante balled his hand into a fist.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful!" Oobleck remarked, sounding sympathetic but did not slow down at all, "remember students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!"

He took another sip of his coffee, "I mean-I mean, just look at what happened to the White Fang!"

It didn't need to be said that everyone in the room had at least heard of the infamous Faunus activist group. The White Fang had been founded to promote peace and equality, but it had lately become more violent.

"Now," Oobleck continued, "which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the war?"

Weiss raised her hand, "the Battle at Fort Castle!"

"Precisely!" Oobleck smiled, "and who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

Cardin yawned and stretched his arms, causing Oobleck to point his stick at him, "ah, Mr. Winchester! Finally contributing to class, I see! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?"

Leaning back in his chair, Cardin replied, "well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier."

"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?" Pyrrha asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, dude," Dante added, "not funny."

"What?" Cardin challenged, "you guys got a problem?"

"I'll do you one better," Dante replied, "the answer to Doctor Oobleck's question is night vision."

"Many Faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight in the dark," Pyrrha added, causing Cardin to growl.

"General Lagune was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep," Blake said, "his massive army was outmatched and the general was captured."

The brunette turned to glare at Cardin, "perhaps if he'd paid more attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure."

"Correct! Correct! And correct again!" Oobleck smiled, "such a wonderful display of knowledge and camaraderie!"

Cardin clenched his fists and began to stand up, but Oobleck zipped over to him.

"Mr. Winchester, please take your seat!" the Doctor remarked sternly, "and see me after class for additional readings."

Dante and Pyrrha shared a smile, but Cardin glared at them for the rest of the class.

dXb

Dante sat on the edge of the rooftop of the dormitory, watching the sun go down behind Beacon Tower.

"Nora said I would find you up here," came a familiar voice from behind.

Dante turned and saw Pyrrha walking towards him.

"Best view on campus next to Ozpin's Office," he said as Pyrrha sat down next to him, "and a great place to just sit and think at the end of the day."

"It is quite lovely," Pyrrha admitted before looking at her partner, "are you alright?"

Dante sighed, "I know there are better ways to deal with bullies, but guys like Cardin… well, they bring back a lot of painful memories."

Pyrrha put her hand over his, "do you want to talk about it?"

A few seconds passed before Dante replied, "it's a long and ugly story, but the short version is that Nora and I have been outcasts for most of our lives. We both lost our families at an early age and grew up traveling from village to village. There were a few kind souls that gave us food and shelter, but a lot of people looked down on us for being outsiders or orphans."

"Dante…" Pyrrha said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Putting his other hand on top of hers, Dante went on, "we promised that we would always have each other's backs and never treat others the way we were treated."

"Standing up to Cardin may not have been what someone else would have done," Pyrrha said, "but that does not mean you did a bad thing."

"I know," Dante said, "but I can't help but think that what I did put all of us on Cardin's radar; he could be planning something."

He looked at Pyrrha as she smiled and said, "then we'll face whatever comes next together."

They both sat in silence before another voice spoke up, "hey babe, the others are here."

Dante and Pyrrha turned around to see Nora peeking out from the door that led back into the building.

"Thanks, babe," Dante replied, "we'll be right down."

He stood up and offered Pyrrha his hand, "ready for what I have to say?"

She took the hand and he helped her up, "ready as I'll ever be."

To be continued…

Author's Note:

That's a wrap!

So I decided to merge Jaunedice and Forever Fall into a big two-parter as Dante isn't the type to tolerate bullies or get blackmailed.

I thought about adding one more scene for this chapter, but then I figured that it's gone on long enough and might make Part 2 look shorter by comparison.

In other news, I also introduced Beacon's medical staff consisting of Mercy from Overwatch and Nurse Joy from Pokémon.

Now for the reviews I can't PM:

Knight fall: I hear you, it took me forever to come up with names that worked.

Dark thundercat: That is correct. As mentioned at the very beginning of this fic, Jaune and Ren are not in this fic as well as a few other guys that I've replaced with girls from other franchises as you can see in this chapter.

Speaking of which, you've all now officially met my replacements for Fox and Yatsuhashi: Ymir from Attack on Titan and Fenyx from Immortals: Fenyx Rising!

Fenyx was an easy choice given that I love the story in that game. Not to mention it would give Iris someone to connect with since she's based on an Egyptian goddess and Fenyx is related to Greek gods.

However, the 'Y' of Team CFVY was tricky as I don't know a lot of fictional girls whose names start with a 'Y.' I had originally planned on going with Yasha from Critical Role's second D&D campaign, The Mighty Nein, but then I realized that I have not watched enough of the campaign to get a good feel for her character. Eventually, it clicked that Ymir would be the perfect choice to complete Team CFVY because she has enough strength to literally carry the rest of the Team.

As for their weapons and Semblances, you'll have to wait and see.

Also yes, I made Coco bi in this fic. If you have a problem with that, there's the door.

Next time, Dante reveals the truth of his power to the others before going on a trip to the Forever Fall Forest the following day.

Again, feel free to favorite, follow, and/or review. All I ask is that you keep things friendly and professional, both in your praise and your critiques. Suggestions are always welcome, just keep in mind that I might not see or reply to every single review or message.

That all said,

Later Bros!