Disclaimer: I own nothing but my two OCs.
Divine Intervention
Chapter 7: The Stray
Friday eventually rolled around and Dante was walking through the streets of Vale on his way to his date with Coco.
Everywhere he looked, Dante saw decorations for the Vytal Festival.
He saw a familiar old man putting up a sign that read 'WELCOME TO VALE' in bright red letters and gave him a wave, "hey, Doc! Great to see ya!"
Doc Wiley turned to him and gave him a smile and another wave, almost dropping his side of the sign before catching it.
Dante chuckled and kept walking to find Coco waiting for him at the docks.
Out of her school uniform, the fashionista wore a light brown turtleneck under a black leather vest with matching biker gloves, pants and boots.
She carried a handbag with a sash that had what looked like bullets nestled into it.
"Hey there," she smirked under her glasses, "make it alright?"
Dante shrugged, "yup, had a nice walk and everything… so, why did you want to meet here?"
Before Coco could reply, they both heard a familiar voice.
"Ugh, they smell like fish," Ruby groaned.
Dante and Coco turned to see her and the rest of Team RWBY arrive.
"I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today," Weiss said, "and as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!"
"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament," Blake translated.
"You can't prove that!" Weiss scoffed.
Dante smirked, "I think she just did."
Some laughed while others (or really just one) groaned at that before Ruby noticed something down the street.
One of the store windows was shattered and covered in yellow police tape.
Ruby and her Team went over to check it out while Dante looked at Coco, "wanna go check that out?"
Coco shrugged, "sure, we still got time before the ship arrives."
They followed Team RWBY over to the crime scene to notice that it was a Dust Shop.
"What happened here?" Ruby was asking an officer.
"Robbery," he replied, "second Dust Shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle."
"That's terrible…" Yang said as the cop walked over to his partner.
"They left all the money again," the second cop said.
Ruby and Dante perked up at that.
"Just doesn't make a lick of sense," the first cop said, "who needs that much Dust?"
"I don't know," the second one said, "an army?"
"You thinking the White Fang?"
"Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."
"What was that?!" snapped a woman's voice.
Everyone turned to see a woman with bright green hair wearing a blue police uniform march over to them.
A large pistol sat in a holster on her right hip.
"Nothing, Sergeant!" both the officers said in unison.
"That's what I thought," the sergeant remarked, "now get this place secured and get these civilians out of here!"
"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" The two saluted and went to work.
She turned to the group, "sorry kiddos, but this is an active crime scene."
As they started moving away, Dante spoke up, "you don't have a sister by any chance, do you?"
The sergeant froze, "what was that?"
"Nurse Joy said that she had a sister in the VPD," Dante went on, "you have a similar enough figure, so I was just wondering if you were her sister."
Her glare softened a bit as she looked at him, "not bad, kid. Name's Jenny, or Officer-Sergeant Jones if you're feeling formal."
"Dante," he replied, "or Mr. Belmont if you're feeling formal."
Jenny smirked, "so you're the one Joy won't shut up about."
She looked back at the other officers, "I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got a job to do."
"No worries," Dante said, "someone has to keep these grunts in line."
There was a glint in Jenny's eyes, "and here I thought Joy was just making up how polite you were."
She pulled out a notepad and wrote something on a page before tearing it out and handing it to Dante.
He looked at it and saw a Scroll number.
"Feel free to grab some coffee with me sometime," Jenny said as she turned away and started clapping her hands, "come on boys, we don't get paid to stand around looking pretty!"
Team RWBY stared at Dante in disbelief while Coco just laughed, "man, you make it look so easy!"
Dante was about to reply when he noticed some graffiti nearby.
It was a red painting of a snarling wolf with three claw marks behind it.
Weiss also noticed it and scoffed, "the White Fang, what an awful bunch of degenerates!"
Blake glared at her, "what's your problem?"
"My problem?" Weiss said as if Blake had missed something obvious, "I simply don't care for the criminally insane."
"The White Fang are hardly a bunch of psychopaths," Blake replied, crossing her arms, "they're a bunch of misguided Faunus."
"Misguided?" Weiss almost laughed, "they want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"
"So then they're very misguided," Blake said, "Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale!"
"Blake's got a point," Ruby agreed, "besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago. Maybe it was him."
"Wait, wait, back up," Coco said, "are you saying you ran into Roman Torchwick?!"
Ruby nodded shyly.
"The biggest crime boss in Vale?" Dante added.
Ruby scratched the back of her head, "I mean, Professor Goodwitch handled the big stuff. I just beat up his thugs…"
Dante clasped her shoulders, "are you kidding?! That's awesome!"
Ruby's face went as red as her cape as she started to flounder.
Weiss rolled her eyes, "you all realize that none of this changes the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."
"Careful, hon," Coco said in an even tone, "you're bordering on really offensive territory."
"Yeah," Yang agreed, "not all Faunus are bad."
"Hey!" a voice called out, "stop that Faunus!"
They all turned in the direction the voice came from.
"That came from the docks," Dante noted and they all rushed over as he glared at Weiss, "not a word."
dXb
When they got to the docks, they saw a young girl with bluish-green hair tied into a short ponytail and red marks on her face running down the length of a ship.
Her outfit consisted of a white kimono top and a long red combat skirt that seemed to be made of leather tied at her waist with a matching red headband, gloves and boots.
A pair of fluffy fox ears poked out of her hair.
"Thanks for the lift, boys!" she smirked at two sailors that tried to grab her before jumping off the ship and hit the dock running.
"You no-good stowaway!" another sailor yelled after her.
The girl vanished in a blue flash and reappeared sitting at the top of a lamppost, twirling a donut on her finger.
"Hey!" she said, sounding offended, "a no-good stowaway would've been caught! I'm a great stowaway!"
A shrill whistle caused everyone to look down to see that Officer Jenny was glowering up at the girl with a hand on her pistol.
"Get down from there this instant!" Jenny snapped at her, but she just threw a handful of sprinkles in her face.
"Have a donut, copper!" the girl snickered before leaping to her feet and jumping off her perch.
As she ran past the group, she gave Dante a wink in slow motion before speeding by with Jenny and her men right behind her.
"Well, Weiss," Yang chuckled, "you wanted to see the competition and there it goes."
Weiss held up a finger, "quick, we have to observe her!"
As she led the others down the street, Weiss bumped into someone and they both fell to the ground.
The fox girl teleported onto a rooftop and disappeared over the edge.
"No!" Weiss glowered, "she got away!"
"Uhh… Weiss?" Yang said with a strange look on her face, pointing to the new girl that Weiss was pinning to the ground.
Said girl had short red hair with a pink pow in it and was wearing a gray long sleeve tunic with black pants and matching boots, all of which had a series of green stripes tracing along it.
When Weiss looked down and saw the girl smiling up at her, she squeaked and bolted to her feet.
"Sal-u-ta-tions!" the girl said strangely, raising a hand in greeting.
She was still smiling and still on her back.
"Um," Ruby said hesitantly, "hello."
"Are you okay?" Yang asked in the same tone.
"I'm wonderful!" the girl chirped, still on her back, "thank you for asking!"
Everyone shared a look before Yang broke the silence, "do you… wanna get up?"
The girl looked like she was thinking hard at the question before saying, "yes!"
She leapt to her feet with barely any effort, causing the others to instinctively step back.
"My name is Penny!" she said with a small bow, "it's a pleasure to meet you!"
"Hi Penny," Ruby smiled, "I'm Ruby."
"I'm Weiss."
"Blake."
"Dante."
"Coco."
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked before Blake elbowed her in the side, "oh, I'm Yang."
"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny beamed.
"You already said that," Weiss pointed out.
"... So I did!" Penny admitted.
"Well," Weiss said, backing away, "sorry for running into you."
"Take care, friend!" Ruby waved.
They all turned and started walking back down the street.
"She was… weird…" Yang stated when they were far enough away.
"It's like she was from another planet," Blake agreed.
Dante arched an eyebrow at Ruby, "'take care, friend?'"
"I was trying to sound casual," Ruby shrugged.
"If that's the case," Coco smirked, "don't quit your day job."
"Now," Weiss said, "where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to?"
"You can just say 'riff-raff,' Weiss," Dante sighed.
The heiress was about to reply when Penny appeared in front of her.
"What did you call me?" the redhead asked.
Weiss looked back and forth from where Penny had been, wondering how she had gotten there so fast.
"Oh, I'm really sorry!" Yang floundered, "I definitely didn't think you heard me!"
"No, not you," Penny said, walking through the group until she came to Ruby, "you!"
"Me?" Ruby squeaked, "I-I don't know. I, what I, um, uh…"
"You called me 'friend!'" Penny said, "am I really your friend?"
Ruby looked at the others.
The rest of her Team were motioning for her to say no, but Dante and Coco were nodding.
"Yeah, sure," she eventually said, "why not?"
The rest of Team RWBY fainted like anime characters, causing Dante and Coco to laugh.
"Sen-sational!" Penny cheered, "we can paint our nails, try on clothes, and talk about cute boys like him!"
She pointed at Dante, who just shrugged.
"Is this what it was like when you met me?" Ruby asked Weiss as she dusted herself off.
"No," Weiss replied, "she seems far more coordinated."
"So," Yang said, "what are you doing in Vale, Penny?"
"I'm here to fight in the Tournament!" Penny beamed.
"Wait," Weiss raised an eyebrow, "you're fighting in the Tournament?"
Penny gave a crisp salute, "I'm combat ready!"
"Forgive me," Weiss said, "but you hardly look the part."
Blake rolled her eyes, "says the girl wearing a dress."
Weiss scoffed and crossed her arms, "it's a combat skirt!"
"Yeah!" Ruby cheered as she zipped over to her partner and shared a low-five.
Then it seemed like Weiss just realized something and she grabbed Penny by the shoulders.
"If you're here for the Tournament," she said, "does that mean you know that fox-eared-"
Dante cleared his throat.
"... Rapscallion?" Weiss finished.
Penny put a finger to her chin, "the who…?"
Weiss brought up a poorly-drawn picture of the girl who ran off, "the filthy Faunus from the boat!"
"Where did she get that?" Dante whispered to Coco, who just shrugged.
"Why do you keep saying that?!" Blake snapped.
Weiss turned to the brunette in confusion.
"Stop calling her a rapscallion!" Blake went on, "stop calling her a degenerate! She's a person!"
Coco looked at Dante, "I feel like we should go."
Dante nodded and waved goodbye to Ruby and Yang.
Instead of trying to speak over Weiss and Blake's argument, the two half-sisters returned the wave as the other two went on to continue their date.
"So…" Coco said when they were far enough away, "Penny's a robot, isn't she?"
"Oh, definitely," Dante replied, "but at least she's cute."
dXb
They eventually got to a stop-in restaurant that Doc Wiley ran called 'A Simple Wok.'
As they ate their noodles, the two got to talking.
"So, you're Vale, born and raised?" Dante asked.
"Yep; me, my parents, and my brother," Coco replied, "what about you?"
Dante swallowed his bite, "Nora and I were both born in Mistral, but we moved around a lot so there was never really a place that felt like home… well, except for maybe Argus."
"Really?" Coco said, "got any family there?"
"Not exactly," Dante said back, "it's where my parents met and we went there every year for their anniversary."
Coco smirked, "make any female friends there?"
Dante smiled briefly, "a few…"
"What's life like on the road?" Coco said, deciding to change the subject.
"The scenery can't be beat," Dante replied, "but I don't miss worrying about finding food or shelter."
Coco laughed, "yeah, that's definitely an improvement."
"So what was it like growing up in Vale?" Dante said.
"I mean…" Coco gestured to herself, "I've always been the center of attention. Sometimes I try, sometimes I don't. It's always the same wherever I go: I show up, make a name for myself at the top, and then leave a bunch of friends and broken hearts."
Dante chuckled, "gee, I wonder why."
That earned him a playful punch to the shoulder.
"But Beacon's been different," Coco went on, "it's like I have a whole other family fighting by my side."
Dante nodded, "believe me, I get that feeling. It's even more sacred for me and Nora."
"How so?" Coco asked.
"We're orphans," Dante replied, "I lost my parents to… monsters and Nora doesn't like talking about her family, but she always says that she has no one to go back to."
"Damn…" Coco said in a voice that barely counted as a whisper, "I can't even begin to imagine growing up like that."
"It wasn't as bad as you'd think," Dante said, "I found Nora and we were able to support each other. Mistral has a lot of bad memories for us, so we decided to come here to Vale for our training."
"Lucky me," Coco smirked.
They both laughed and continued eating.
dXb
It was dark by the time the two finished their date and returned to campus.
Coco left Dante with a peck on the cheek before going back to her dorm.
Dante was still smiling when he got to his own dorm only to hear shouting coming from Team RWBY's dorm.
Nora had her ear close to the door, listening in on the argument.
"They're still going at it?" Dante whispered.
Nora just nodded and turned back to the door.
"You want to know why I despise the White Fang, why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?" Weiss was saying, "it's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed… My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members… executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen. Every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood…"
Ruby tried to say something to console her partner, but Weiss cut her off.
"You want to know why I despise the White Fang?" the heiress went on, "it's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"
"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Blake snapped.
The air was dead silent as Dante and Nora glanced at each other in shock.
All of a sudden, the door exploded open and Blake went sprinting down the hall.
Dante only had enough time to pull Nora out of the way.
Ruby popped her head into the hallway and called, "Blake, wait! Come back!"
She was about to run after the girl in black when Dante put a hand on her shoulder.
"I got this one," he said before turning to Nora, "I don't know when I'll be back, but I promise I will."
They pressed their foreheads together for a long moment.
Eventually, the two parted and Nora gave Dante a knowing smile, "go get 'em, tiger."
Dante returned the smile and took off in the direction Blake went.
dXb
Blake stood outside in front of the Beacon Plaza looking at the decorative statue in the center.
It depicted an armored man with a sword and a hooded woman with an ax, both standing on an outcropping with a Beowolf underneath them.
She closed her eyes and lifted her arms to undo the bow on her head, revealing a pair of cat ears.
Blake was wiping a tear when she heard someone clear their throat and she turned around to see Dante walking towards her.
"Well… now you know the truth," she said in defeat.
Dante didn't reply, instead reaching up to his sunglasses and taking them off.
His eyes were shut as he let out a sigh before opening them.
Blake's golden eyes widened as they made contact with Dante's green eyes.
Green eyes with vertical slits instead of pupils.
"We need to talk."
To be continued…
That's a wrap!
And here we have our big reveal: Dante was a Faunus the whole time! I know some of you probably figured it out, but I like to think that I concealed it well enough.
As for Dante pretty much instantly realizing that Penny is a robot, that was done because it took that long for me to realize it.
I also named the Shopkeeper Doc Wiley as a reference to one of my favorite YouTube reaction channels (Renegade Media Group) jokingly comparing the Shopkeeper's appearance to the character Doctor Wiley from the Mega Man franchise.
In other news, we have the debut of Nurse Joy's sister, Officer Jenny (I decided to make their last name Jones because it was the only thing I could come up with) as well as Sun's replacement: Kiriko from Overwatch. I had initially planned on using Tracer instead, but I eventually realized that Kiriko would make a better Faunus than Tracer would. Her weapons will also be different, but we'll save that for next time.
Speaking of which, next time will cover the events of Black and White and bring Volume 1 to a close. Blake will share her story with Dante and talk about why they both chose to hide their animal traits.
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!