A/N: Hey guys, sorry it took so long to update. Listen to me as if i have more than 2 followers lol. But i am thankful to the two that have followed and those that have read so far. Please leave a review with criticism good or bad. It's been a long time since I've written anything substantial so feedback is much appreciated. I'm also taking applications for beta readers! The story is going to be Dominic/Atlas centered for a few chapters with some peaks into Deadric and Damien, maybe a little Dimitri as well we'll see. I will say all Semblances and weapons are designed and planned. I'll be posting Dominic's character description on my profile soon including a more detailed breakdown of Twi and La.
Damien POV
The sounds of the trees crashing, the screaming of Deadric ringing in my ears, images of my brothers swim in front of my eyes. Dimitri's smiling innocence, THUD. Dominic's cocky grin that made women melt. THWOP. Deadric's determined look as he manifests his first shield after the fall, bright orange and square, "I'll protect us for now Dame, you focus on getting us home!" Instant pressure put on my shoulders, I feel the weight starting to crush me just like all the weight of my old life. Do the other expect it of me too? CRASH!
I'm jolted awake at the final sound and rush to the front door of our one room shack, I wrench it open to see Deadric containing a Beowolf in an orange sphere, it must have drifted close to us and the village that had taken us in with no questions. "Oh you're up sleeping beauty? Go get Rown, that hunter training facility will pay good for a beowolf." He looks over casually smiling at his catch. I just blink and grunt, its too early for this shit my evidence is the barely purple tinged sky as the suns just peaking over the horizon.
/
By mid morning we have the Beowolf caged, Rown the village leader (a middle aged man with grizzled but handsome features and short black hair the front long enough to tie in to a top knot.) laughs heartily and claps Deadric on the shoulder while handing him a stack of Lien. It's a nice deal even though he's using the hell out of us. He's barely giving us half of what he gets from the training facility, but he doesn't tell anyone about us and its a nice discrete way to start making money in this new world. At least until I can get to Ozpin, if that's even then best choice. What would I say to him? "Hi me and my brothers are from a universe where you're all a CGI cartoon! Oh and since we can't change events too much I need you to still die for like the thousandth time!" I mean considering what he's been through it night not surprise him all too much, he might consider us some type of psyop by Salem though.
I get yanked out of my thoughts by Dead clapping his hand on my shoulder. He hands my the stack I Lien and I count it. "Enough for another week of supplies and a few more components." I answer his unasked question.
He nods with a small sigh, "I'll go hunting later, see if I can get a few more tusks or another Beowolf," he replies as I sip my coffee and watch the village come to a bustle in the early hours of the day. "You okay?" he asks leaning next to me on the banister to our small porch.
"Yeah I'm just thinking," I look over at him. "Your shields are getting better if they can hold a Beowolf now. That training's paying off," I complement and pat his shoulder in return.
"Oh yeah, but I wish I could get some actual training in like at that facility," he smiles widely. "And Rown told me their having a gathering later to watch Winter spar against an Ace Ops trainee," Hunter/Huntress sparing matches were regularly broadcast, it reminds me of how pro wrestling was in our world.
"Marrow?" I ask knowing Marrow was the newest addition, I was just as big of a fan of the show as Dimitri and the creator Monty Oum himself.
"Said the opponent was just announced as an Ace Op trainee, but could be fun," he shrugs.
Dominic POV
Wow Jimmy went all out for this huh? I ask myself as I hear the roar of the crowd and an announcer, a fucking announcer! Begin to hype up the audience from the other side of the metal slab door. "Ladies and gentlemen of Remnant," oh fun a multi continent broadcast. "Today I am pleased to bring you a special sparing match sponsored by the Atlas Military itself. Now introducing the first combatant Winter Schnee!" A massive roar from the crowd issues causing me to step back from the vibrating slab, if it was a hinged door it might've been blown open. "I see she needs no more introduction that that! Her opponent however, is a hidden talent that's been undergoing rigorous training, an orphan from an unknown Rural Village this poor soul was found in the tundra by the Ace Ops on patrol after being dropped hundreds if not thousands of feet by a Nevermore! DOMINIC FAIN!" God this is so gaudy, but Hunter Spars are similar to pro wrestling back home from what I've seen. So this makes sense, at least its not scripted.
The metal door I had been staring at for the past few minutes after being led into this tunnel begins to raise, I smile and decide to make an entrance. "Down!" I command and the door stops dead as I exert the bubbles pressure down. "Huh it seems we have a malfunction, Maintenance?" The announcer calls out, I expand the bubble and then form it to the shape of the door as close as I can imagine it. "Crush." I whisper closing my open hand imaging the shape of the door being converted into the original sphere.
The sound of tearing metal rings through the corridor and the arena, sparks fly from the top of the door as the electronics are ripped away. After a few seconds a twisted heap of steel hangs in the doorway, "Away!" I yell and the ball shoots away landing and rolling to a stop about a foot away from winter.
"A present, I expected that pillow you said I'd need," she yells back with a raised brow as my footsteps echo in the now silent arena.
"Oh see, you were supposed to bring that," I smile at her.
"Ladies and gentlemen that was a brilliant display of Dominic's Semblance, Rulers Domain. A rare gravity based Semblance that allows him to manipulate gravity with the use of his aura and verbal commands."
"I see, well shall we?" She asks drawing her saber.
"Asking me to dance, on the first date. Winter I'm shocked I thought you was high society, that's so uncouth for a noble lady," the crowd starts a mummer and I see a little red rush to her cheeks at the teasing. Everyone knows shes rejected being a Schnee heiress at this point even before the story began. I pull the handles off my belt, they each have their own dust filled barrels, though I can attach either handle to either barrel, the left having an option of three different dusts. I stare at the weapons that Damien designed for me back when the show first came out, the thought of transforming weapons was so cool to us at the time.
"Those handles, could it be Twi and La? Yes it is, designed by Dominic and Professor Polendina himself, I've only had a basic description of them; but I can't wait to see what they can do!"
The roar of the crowd starts up again, I place a handle on either barrel, choosing lighting for my left hand as the right only contains gravity dust right now. I tap the buttons on the bottoms of the handles, I hear the tink that lets me know the core wire is at the bottom of the barrels. I close my eyes and take the bubble in my chest, forming it into the shape of the containers. He designed them to work with any Semblance, but Rulers Domain solved a problem Damien had to overcome with bulky mechanics. "Crush!"
In my minds eye the two cylinders convert into blades almost instantly, taking all the dust I can and smashing it around the core wire. I have to be careful to not put my aura directly into the dust or it would trigger and ignite inside the barrel. I should have enough dust for about 5 blades for my right, and three of each element for my left. The process feels like it takes longer than it does, within a few seconds I draw both blades straight up with a satisfying shing as they exit the barrels. My hands naturally going into a reverse grip, the tip of katana style I choose for the blade rests on the back of my right shoulder. The Shinato only reaches my elbow on my left, I feel the crackle of electricity come off the sword as I start tapping the katana on my shoulder in an impatient gesture. I raise an eyebrow and throw a side smile at the Iron Queen of Atlas her annoyance more than evident. Taking a classic fencers pose, she lunges forward, "This is gonna be fun!"
Damien POV
"BRO!" I get tackled by two small 8 year old's bodies as I step in the door, my backpack not even off my shoulders yet. "What's that?" the smaller of the two asks pointing to the letter in my hand, his different colored eyes filled with a child's curiosity.
"Its nothing just a letter from school I gotta have Mom and Dad look at," I respond a little quickly shoving the notice in my pocket. "What's up guys?" I ask kneeling down putting a hand on either head to ruffle their hair. Dom swatted at my hand and crossed his arms annoyed after smoothing his blond almost white shoulder length hair. Dim just smiled up at me with a tooth missing.
"There's a new episode of RWBY!" Dim exclaims his face lighting up even more.
"Yeah we gotta wait for Deadric, but we saw the preview. The weapons are soooo coooool!" Dom joins in his face lighting up too. I smile at them both, innocence is a virtue that gets taken away so early in life sometimes. The letter in my pocket seems to gain weight.
I square my shoulders standing, "Well we got an hour or two before he gets home from practice. How about you guys go play out back, ill make a snack. I say dropping my backpack at the front door and walking to the kitchen with the twins trailing behind me. "Where are Mom and Dad?" I ask through their chatter.
"Dad got called in early, Mom's staying at work late. Tri you have to fight Grimm so you need a weapon!" Dominic answers me and shoots at his copy.
"Phfttt their like animals so you can just make friends with them!" He fires back, his expression conflicted.
"Yeahhhhhh right" Dom rolls his eyes before darting to the patio door, "Come on Tri lets play Hunters. We'll take turns," he goes and grabs two sticks, the shorter one in his left the longer one in his right. "These are dust swords right now ok?" Dimitri nods following him to the back yard.
Dom's "swords" fall into a natural looking reverse grip, he has Dimitri lunge at him as he swings his swords. Both smiling and having fun. I open the locked kitchen drawer and place the latest letter on top. I sigh locking it back, the stack was getting bigger and bigger every day now. I look into the back yard to see that Dimitri has picked up a stick as well and they had started sparing in earnest. I smile at them and begin to prepare a snack for my innocent little brothers, determined to let them stay kids as long as possible.
/
I'm pulled from the memory by Deadric shaking my shoulder, I didn't even realize I was that zoned out. I feel a tear slide down my face and a small bit of weight lift as I realize I wasn't imagining things and watch Dominic as he stands in the same place he drew his swords in swatting Winters lunges, his hand remaining roughly crotch level. Almost like she's an annoying mosquito, he did take fencing lessons for two years and got kicked out because he refused to stop using the reverse grip in tournaments.
"Gravity, lucky bastard." Deadric growls next to me, I hear the joy in his voice as he shoves another handful of popcorn into his mouth. The rest of the villagers are staring at the community screen with rapt attention, "Aren't those the swords you designed for him when he was like 10?" He asks through the mouthful.
"Similar enough," I watch as Winter struggles to find an opening. I've never seen him lose in our world, but this doesn't make sense; Winter has five years or experience on him. "Ace Op trainee," I echo Dead's words from earlier. "What the fuck have they done to you?" I feel anger begin to bubble up inside my stomach, we've been in Remnant for 30 days flat. In that time Ironwood found my brother and turned him into a solider.
"He is skilled! With that long sword he's treating Winter Schnee's ruthless assault like a swarm of flies," the announcer finally kicks back in with his commentary. Suddenly Dom switches tactics, he starts taking steps back and raises his right arm over his chest, since the blade covers his forearm it helps block heavier attacks and still allows his "swish and flick" defense as he named it.
He makes sure to lead her in a semi circle so he wont get backed into the wall of the arena, the camera man zooms in of his face and I see his classic cocky side smile. Looks like Ironwood wasn't able to beat all of the old Dominic out of him, "He's already in her head," I whisper to my brother next to me.
"It's Dominic, I'd be surprised if he's not in her pants already," Deadric scoffs tossing the empty bag away and leaning foreword. "I wanna see what that Semblance of his can do! He always had this problem even when he fenced, he plays with his food way too much."
"You're not wrong," to prove Dead's point, Dom hard steps foreword bringing up both blades in an extravagant X formation for a parry instead of a swat. He must've gotten annoyed with Winter putting more power in her thrusts, but it did it's job and threw her off balance for a split second. Which he didn't take advantage of and let her recover even taking a step back.
Placing her free arm behind her back she swishes her saber down and crouching low, glyphs appear under her feet. "The Schnee family Semblance showing itself this early?" God I hate that announcer. She rockets towards Dom with the speed boost from her glyph, instead of trying to move out of the way he flips to a standard grip and both blades start glowing slightly. "He's activating the dust?"
"Wait doesn't lighting and gravity make?"
I'm surprised Dead remembers, Dom throws the katana into his left hand with his Shinato causing the purple and light blue aura of the activated dusts to mix into a dull gray color. Timing the sweep he catches Winters saber and draws the sword up pulling her into a standing position, he braces himself catching her and using his free arm to hold her close. "Magnetism." I answer shaking my head as the camera again zooms in on their faces.
Dominic's is set into a smile while Winters is more difficult to figure out, a small blush and grin but a hidden anger behind her eyes. The camera zooms back out in time for his aura to flash a brilliant shade of lavender and I notice her leg between his, thank god for aura shields. The crowd on both sides of the TV groan; mainly the men; she slams her knee into his crotch a few more times causing a flash of aura with each impact.
Dom for his credit stands his ground holding her in place while she just wails on his junk. I begin wondering why he's letting her do this when she finally lets go of her blade and goes for a right hook. She's flung away as if she was pulled by the stomach. My brother stops activating the dust blades; both of which are noticeably smaller; and lets the saber fall to the ground. Holding his free hand towards the sword, I watch it crumple into a ball as he closes his fist. "He's not gonna give her a chance is he?" Dead rhetorical question makes me look over at him.
"Dom could've ended this fight in the first minute with that compression ability, he's given her more than enough chances to pull out summons and glyphs. She's the one underestimating him and that's her mistake," my words are proven true as the camera pans on Winters face which is a priceless red. Dominic is going to not only dominate her, he plans on embarrassing her and Ironwood.
The katana goes back to its home in his right hand and he starts walking foreword, holding an arm to either side, occasionally twirling a blade always ending in a reverse grip. Whatever shit he's talking it's working, Winter stand her face furious as some of her hair falls into her face which she blows away. Dom appears to say something else and her face gains more color. She stamps a booted foot and throws a hand towards Dom a summoning glyph appearing; hundreds of tiny Nevermore's begin to fly out and at my brother.
The aura monitoring screen is visible on camera for a second so my eyes flash to it. I'm still not completely sure how they gauge aura, but Winters bar is draining increasingly quickly now. Dominic; who started at a disadvantage because of his show with the door and the need to use aura to create his blades; is now for the first time in the fight higher than Winters. As I watch his bar starts going down as well though at a slightly slower pace. The tiny winged monsters hit an invisible wall around him and start circling around the dome, he looks around smiling the camera making sure to zoom in on his face.
As fast as I can blink, his left arm whips foreword, the small lighting blade coming free of the hilt it explodes on contact with a group of the Nevermore's. The longer gravity blade glowing its bright activated purple flies through the opening, drawing the swarm of summons with it. I notice his aura got a few chunks carved away from it. But not as much as the blade and her own summons direct impacting Winters crossed arms did. Her body being flung back yet again, she tumbles and rolls onto her side. Her aura bar flashing red on the screen, Dominic's isn't much better in the orange.
He finally lets his mask fall as Winter shouts something at him, a camera drone flies close enough behind him to start picking up more than just the bangs and clashes. "Sorry? Thankful?" He says loud enough for Winter to hear not aware that everyone could now hear him. "Its 29 days too late for an apology!" He lets the handles of his weapons fall to the ground and pulls her towards him by an ankle with his insane semblance. "And why should I be thankful? I've been locked up and forced to get my ass beat my entire stay here, for what?"
"They are getting dramatic with these camera angles," Dead comments eating more popcorn now bored with the fight.
Dom stops her from crawling away by putting a foot on the small of her back, "Well I am thankful for one thing, you've all made me strong enough to do what I need to do!" She looks back at him almost afraid as he raises his boot. "Now stay. DOWN!"
"Not my ba-" his foot makes impact her aura flashing as she bites her lip, I raise an eyebrow at the screen. The ground under her begins to crack as his aura exerts all that pressure on her, enough to crush a solid steel door. Within seconds her aura flashes the final time and shatters, his foot travels the last few inches and connects with her body. Something I've learned about this universe, people are much more durable here even with a shattered aura I dont feel she was in danger of being paralyzed like someone back home would've been. I still wince as a large dent forms in the dirt, like a wrecking ball had been dropped from a skyscraper.
Instead of a scream of pain, the sound that came out of Winter Schnee in that moment no one not even my brother; well actually since its Dominic he might've guessed at her hidden masochism; expected.
"HYUNGG…. AHHHHNNN!"
Her head collapses to the ground her body shaking and her breathing heavy, her aura bar empty while Dominic's is still flashing red. Only a sliver left but "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN THE WINNER IS DOMINIC FAIN!" the announcer screams trying to distract from Winter's… Episode. The crowd on both sides of the screen cheer loudly as Dom's no longer innocent smile is shown. He holds out his hands, the handles flying back to him, clipping them onto his belt he steps over Winter and walks out of the arena.
A/N: Again thank you for reading the chapter, how did you like the outside perspective of the fight? should i have drawn it out more? made it first person? Let me know and have a great day!