I don't own any of the characters here with the exception of original characters, Characters from Rwby and Devil May cry Belongs to Rooster Teeth and Capcom.
Also, if you are underage, don't drink alcohol. speaking from experience
Chapter 20: The devil's dust.
The SDC Heiress couldn't sleep, she had a nightmare where a being pursued by a creature, a trent-like monster and she couldn't escape. Ran as fast as she tried she felt herself instead running slower, it didn't make any sense in her rational mind even if she was exposed to all the craziness surrounding Dante and she had to watch herself being torn apart by the said monster. When she was finally freed of the bad dream, she sat down immediately like if she had a high pressure spring on her back, her face sweating profusely and her hands shaking in deep fear.
Her ears were ringing from the nightmare and had a killer headache that was fading away slowly but came back when she heard the loud snores of the elder child of the Xiao Long household. She turned her head around to give Yang the stink eye when she noticed that Blake wasn't in her bed.
Weiss' mind wondered where the cat faunus of the group was? She checked her scroll and saw that it was only twenty minutes past midnight and she was now a bit concerned; after all, Blake had a record of running away already. Yang was a really heavy sleeper so Blake could have sneaked her way around quite easily from the Y and Ruby wouldn't be woken up that easily but she was surprised that herself wasn't woken up by any noise made by Blake.
The fact that Weiss wasn't waken up proved that the brooding member of the team was quite the sneaker since Wake is quite the light sleeper thanks to her parents arguing in the night or her mother dropping a bottle of wine that immediately shatters on the impact in the halls of the Schnee mansion back in Atlas…those empty, cold halls that any noise could be heard anywhere during the nights.
The ice queen shook her head, clearing her mind of those dark thoughts and trauma, getting off her bed and getting dressed in her usual clothes as quietly as she could because she didn't want to wake Ruby up. Weiss knows that herself won't probably grow a lot taller, despite her trying everything, yes, she doesn't dare to mock Ruby for drinking a lot of milk because she does the same but Ruby is still fifteen years old, meaning that she is still growing up and this rest will help her but no one shall now that Weiss have a soft spot for her team leader.
Weiss noticed that Blake took her scroll with herself so she decided to check the scroll GPS…lo and behold, Blake scroll isn't off, her Aura is taking Damage…and she is in the academy?! The heiress does a double take and she sees that the cat faunus is in the training area but with who? Whatever, she doesn't care but she will get her answer so she leaves tip toeing the dormroom.
The sound of Steel clashing against steel echoed in the arena alongside the sound of gunfire as Weiss approached it and stood on the door watching what was happening. Blake was running in circles around Dante, firing Gambol shroud in its gun form at Dante who was dodging the bullets and blocking Jaune's attacks with his sword.
Dante grabs Jaune by his sword arm, throwing him at Blake who leaps avoiding the blonde knight but she is soon met by an also leaping Dante that was bringing his sword at her. Blake used her semblance to escape the attack by creating a clone that pushes her to the side and landing by Jaune's side who was regaining his bearings.
Weiss knew that Dante was training with Jaune sometimes but why Blake? But most importantly…Why is Dante fighting them like he is fighting demons? She had learned to notice Dante's aggressiveness in fighting students, humans/faunus versus fighting demons. One one side, Dante paces himself, moves slower fighting other students and barely grapples but he just grappled Jaune and immediately went after Blake in the air where she didn't have mobility.
She also noticed that Dante wasn't wearing his coat, not that she minded, he had quite the upper body but the old pair of jeans was odd.
Her thoughts were cut short as Dante lunged himself towards Jaune, trying to stab him with the Rebellion only to be blocked by the shield. There was a test of might between the two that ended in Dante's favor as he broke Jaune's guard but it was enough for Blake dash around Jaune's left and trying to cut Dante's left side but was quickly stopped by Ivory's trigger guard.
Weiss eyes widened alongside Blake's, Dante managed to block an attack with such precision for it to only hit the trigger guard of his handgun and not his fingers and then they noticed the smug smirk on Dante's face…Ivory was pointed at Blake and soon burst of bullets started flying hitting the cat Faunus as she started to retreat, mechashifting gambol shroud back to gun and return fire as she zigzags.
Jaune used the distraction as he jumped Dante with a combo of slashes that was quickly deflected and with Blake far away as she retreated, the son of Sparda aimed Ivory at Jaune and pulled the trigger. The only male of the Arc siblings tried to make himself as small as possible to cover all he could with his shield but he missed the characteristic sounds and feeling of bullets hitting his shield.
When the blonde dork peaked over his shield he noticed a White glyph with a snowflake that protected him. Dante, Jaune and Blake turned their heads to see Weiss holding her rapier in her left hand and her right hand pointing at Dante. Weiss raises an eyebrow and smirks taunting Dante, she didn't know why they were fighting but she was kinda pissed at the guy.
"Checkmate!" Blake yells as she swings Gambol Shroud in its sickle form from the ribbon.
Blake's weapon manages to tear slightly through Dante's right leg, barely missing but it was enough to make him flinch and create an opening for Weiss to dash forward, using her glyphs to cut the distance and start attacking with a flurry of thrusts making him step back by each thrust and Blake to join with the team attack.
Jaune Also decided to join in the fun, cornering Dante from behind. The son of Sparda found himself surrounded and having to block the attacks from Weiss and Blake with the Rebellion and Ivory and he was doing a fairly good job but he was only defending against the WB of team RWBY while Jaune stalked from behind but not attacking yet.
The halfbreed was good in a battle against multiple lower demons since they were simple but here right now? He was fighting huntsmen in training with multiple sets of abilities and strategies that could change on the fly. Dante started working his thinking box in overdrive because in the state he was fighting, this was a battle he couldn't win without hurting them badly so he had to be clever. Even powerful higher demons would fall due to the sheer number of enemies and strategies employed on them even if it was a pyrrhic victory but a victory nonetheless.
The gears on his head are already working on a plan, who was the most dangerous opponent, who was the weakest. Weiss had to fight at close quarters and could do support with her glyphs while Blake could take a more ranged option since she could use the pistol form of her weapon to keep him distracted and Jaune would be the vanguard and Jaune was thinking the same as Dante.
But why the leader of team JNPR hasn't made a move yet? He has two coordinated teammates putting pressure on Dante, Jaune just had to get in sync and strike him…that's when it hit Dante. Weiss and Blake are teammates, they know each other, have team attacks but Jaune isn't their teammate! Jaune doesn't know how to work with them in a coordinated attack.
Jaune was the weakest link…but he was also the strongest as he was watching and learning from Blake and Weiss attacks. Dante knew it was just a matter of time before Jaune learned what he needed to know and get in sync since his growth is monstrously fast. The youngest son of Sparda knew he had to get the rhythm of the battle on his side again or rather, change it so Jaune could be thrown into a loop and give him a moment to outsmart the blonde dork.
As Blake's blade was ready to strike Dante, he blocked with a perfect Royal Guard and release, sending Blake sliding back then dodging Weiss' thrust by jumping up.
"Not so fast Dante!" Weiss immediately creates glyphs around her and shoots ice stakes at Dante, knowing that he doesn't have mobility in the air.
But Weiss was wrong as Dante used a sky star to propel himself away from the attack in the direction of Jaune and did a falling slash with the Rebellion making the blonde Dork gulp and squeal in surprise as he raised his shield to block the attack but the strength of the falling attack was to great even for Jaune after training so much and he was sent flying. This is the break that Dante needed, he couldn't disarm Jaune but he took him out of the fight for now.
Without any delay, Dante launched a stinger at Weiss, Blake tried to make him flinch by shifting to gunform and shooting directly at Dante and many of her nine millimeter bullets hit on target, on Dante's chest, arm and legs.
Sadly, gunshot injuries take time to register in the body and brain and the caliber didn't help so Dante didn't flinch immediately meaning that Weiss took the full brunt of the stinger and was sent flying when tried to block. Soon after Dante fell on his knee and supported himself with his sword as he aimed Ivory at Blake and started to return fire.
Blake started running to avoid the gunfire and get hits of her own but Dante kept shooting her bullets. It didn't matter though, she was planning on getting closer since he was so busy deflecting her bullets but that was until he let go of his sword and brought forth Ebony.
The Cat faunus felt the first impact in her right shoulder and her aura being damaged, she noticed that Dante was aiming both handguns at different parts of her body, Ivory was following Gambol shroud while Ebony was aiming at…Bang! she felt the impact on her left shin and fell to the ground.
Dante smirked in victory but the smirk didn't last as he felt the cold steel of a shield bashing the back of his head and sending him rolling on the ground but quickly regained his bearing and flipped, storing the twins and calling Rebellion to his hand as he glared at the Dork knight who was biding his time, was this his plan? to get him tired and ambush him?
Jaune just smirked as he twirled the blade of Crocea mors in his right hand and started running towards the son of Sparda for the second round. Weiss went to help Blake who was checking her scroll and noticed that her Aura was in the red. Weiss checked her Scroll and she was close to falling on the red too so she had to play it safe.
Both checked Jaune's Aura levels and he was in the orange, more than half of the bar on the screen thanks to him blocking the attacks with his shield and his big aura reserves but they didn't have a plan.
"Oh well…another win for Dante unfortunately" Weiss sighs as she kneels besides Blake.
"Yeah but Jaune is doing pretty good by himself" Blake points out as Dante and Jaune clash blades.
Jaune was keeping his shield close to his chest and didn't let Dante break his guard or go past it, instead sidestepping or taking a few steps back before going for the attack again but always kept the shield close to his chest. It seemed awkward since Jaune uses his shield as a weapon thanks to pyrrha's training and he was focusing on blocking, not parrying, why so defensive?
"Surprisingly so, Arc has come a long way even if it leaves a bitter taste in my tongue by just saying that" Weiss rolls her eyes but notices something odd "What…is that on Arc's left hand?"
Blake raises an eyebrow as she checks what Weiss points out. Jaune was holding behind his shield, his scroll and he was typing while he fought Dante and soon after Weiss Scroll vibrated, it was a message from Jaune that said "Gravity, right arm, be ready, my mark". Weiss' eyes widened as she understood what Jaune was asking and immediately grabbed gravity dust and prepared a glyph.
When Dante raised the rebellion with his right hand to bring it down on Jaune with an overhead slash, it was the moment he was waiting for.
"Now!" Jaune yelled.
A black glyph appeared besides Dante's right arm and pulled it to stay in place, the young demon hunter's eye widen in surprise and raised his left arm to take the rebellion but it was stopped when Jaune threw the shield, making it recoil back and bring the blade of Crocea to Dante's chest.
Weiss brought her hands to her mouth and gasped as Jaune's blade tore through Dante's flesh and blood was spilled on the ground. She didn't see Dante bleed to Blake's bullets since they were smaller and he was moving so fast but this, she saw.
"Oh my gosh! What are you doing Jaune?!" Weiss yelled in horror as she ran towards the two males and tackled Jaune away from Dante.
"He's fine!" Jaune shrugs off the injury he dealt made Dante.
"He is bleeding you stupid Buffoon!" Weiss slaps Jaune as strong as she can, she probably felt more pain than he did.
Jaune felt how his right cheek stings after the slap, his head turning with the force of the slap but he barely flinches because he somehow expected Weiss to do something like that since she got so worried. In hindsight, he should just have gone with a threatening sword hovering close to the throat but he got into it thanks to his training with Dante and his father.
Blake sighs and approaches Dante who, by the way, was still standing with the sword on his chest.
"He is fine" Blake deadpans as he grasps the hilt of the sword.
"Blake, what are you doing?!" Weiss turns around to see her teammate yanking the sword as she takes a step back avoiding the blood to cover her.
"Getting Jaune's sword off my chest" Dante rolls his eyes as his wound starts healing immediately.
Weiss does a double take and it seems to finally hit her, Dante didn't all that bothered, sure he flinched when Blake yanked the sword but his wound was healing immediately, faster than any of Dante's previous injuries and this was a fatal wound
"H-how? That was a fatal wound!" Weiss stutters in shock.
"Fatal for normal people, I'm not normal" Dante shrugs and looks at the cat faunus and the knight "Should we tell her? it's part of her legacy"
"She will probably won't shut up about it so yes, we should" Blake crosses her arms and tilts her head to the side.
"Legacy? Does it have anything to do with my grandfather, the Arc family and Dante's father?" Weiss asks, trying to stay calm and not freaking out.
"The Knights of Remnant is older than you think, it was created with Dante's father and my ancestors when they impressed him, probably around two hundred years ago, your grandfather was the last addition to the faction" Jaune explains as he takes his sword from Blake while rubbing his cheek.
"Two hundred years ago? but…Dante's father looks so young and the story Alexander told us didn't mention anything like…" Weiss stops talking, it was the realization that Dante's father wasn't a normal human either, he was something else "...Who is your true father Dante?"
Dante stares directly into Weiss' eyes, reading her body language and the unsaid words spoken in her eyes. The heiress already started putting the pieces together little by little, Dante's refusal to explain more about himself and his family, the demonic abilities he has, Having the Rebellion as an heirloom and deep rooted hatred demons have towards him.
The clues were there in plain sight but everyone decided to glance over them because of how Dante looks and acts but she needs to hear it directly from the horse's mouth to confirm it.
"You already know the answer but here it goes, My father's name was Sparda" Dante says, still looking into her blue eyes.
"So you are a demon…" Weiss says softly, her eyes avoiding his.
"Half or whatever, I have human blood thanks to my mother" Dante sighs, scratching the back of his head as Weiss pursues her lips.
Him being a half demon was so logical than the previous explanation, explains his regeneration, his strength, his lack of aura; It explains everything but could he be trusted? Weiss thinks so but she is annoyed that he kept it a secret.
"Why hide it?" She asks, frowning.
Blake, Jaune and Dante exchange glances, this was the hardest part to explain.
"Everyone hides something because of fear. Me being a Faunus and ex-White Fang" Blake starts explaining.
"I faked my transcripts and had no training," Jaune admits, lowering his head.
This fact surprised Weiss, Jaune faked his way to Beacon?! She felt her blood boil to the point she almost started screaming at Jaune bloody murder but the fact he said "no training" left her dumbfounded. Does the world mean to tell her that Jaune Arc, the blond dufus idiot that was trying to win Weiss's affection also had no Training?!
Weiss felt dizzy for a moment, Jaune is a seventeen year old and if what he is saying is true, he is a prodigy since he has gotten so much better in comparison with the first combat he had against Winchester. She started training at twelve and many others started at thirteen or fourteen.
The heiress begrudgingly had to acknowledge Arc's talent, he would probably be catching up to everyone in a year if his growth continues at this rapid pace. She found herself being less angry with Jaune
"And I, well, I'm the son of a legend who every demon hates and will try to kill me or the people I care about. I don't have a lot and I lost everything once, don't want to lose more things because what I am" Dante finishes the idea everyone had of keeping a secret because of fear.
Fear, yes, a predominant feeling in the human heart and Weiss can see it clearly on her teammate, on her…Acquaintance and her friend. Fear of being shunned, rejected and judged for who or what you are, fraud, ex terrorist, demon and in her case, a heiress.
She understood this well as being the Heiress of the SDC meant she was always surrounded by the Atlas elite who tried to gain her favor by using fake masks that hide their true personality and intentions. She was afraid of people because they would end up using her, she was afraid of romance because she would be discarded like her mother was, She was afraid of her name since it meant she could never have freedom and everyone would look at her differently so she started embracing her name and proved to be a wrong move.
Indeed, a wrong move since it meant she was always alone and never had any friends…until she came here to Beacon and she met her now Team RWBY, their sister team and Dante. For the first time in years, she felt like she had a family, a home and she didn't feel like Weiss Schnee, heiress of the SDC but as Weiss Schnee, a teenager with newfound friends.
She also understood why Dante felt like hiding his demonic half side as she was in the past targeted by the White Fang, she was the devil for the terrorist group just because of her father's actions and so was Dante with the demons, suffering the sins of the father so to speak.
She sometimes wished she wasn't a Schnee but a normal girl, to have a normal life but she had her legacy…All of the four teenagers had their legacy, The only male of the line of heroes of Arc, The Faunus that was born in oppression while her parents lead the White Fang, The princess hidden in a castle of ice by the evil father and the son of the devil itself. She laughed internally and remembered the phrase "God makes them and they get together" a phrase she would think it's stupid but fits them since they have such a legacy, most of her friends do.
Weiss also wondered why Blake joined the group? Sure, she was a friend but she doesn't have a direct relation to the knights like the two males and herself. She figured out it was something to do with the White Fang as she noticed since the incident in the docks the cat faunus spends more time checking the news on her scroll than reading her books, Weiss hopes this doesn't get out of control.
"Remnant to Weiss" Dante says, snapping his fingers, bringing her back from her mental palace.
"Oh, my apologies, I was lost in thought but…I understand where you all are coming from, I also feel fear because of something I don't like in my life, of who I am and…" Weiss steels herself *...and I will join you guys, this is part of my legacy from my grandfather so I will honor it"
"Glad to have you on board Schnee" Blake says playfully as she wraps her arm around Weiss.
"You spend way too much time with Yang, Belladonna" The heiress rolls her eyes.
"Sorry to bother guys but…" Jaune interrupts the girls and points to the blood "...Someone has to clean this"
"Oh yeah, I think I spilled a bit of my blood and I do need to get a shower" Dante inspects that his body is bloodied alongside that old pair of jeans he was wearing.
"Not me" Jaune immediately says and runs away.
"I was eliminated so I wasn't part of that" Blake shrugs and starts walking away.
"Good luck with it Redgrave" Weiss winks at Dante, not in a flirty way but in a playful way and she leaves.
"Right, luck" Dante facepalms and sighs.
After a well deserved shower in the arena's shower and a change of clothes to something more comfortable, Dante starts mopping the floor as he didn't want to face Goodwitch's worry nor unrelenting wrath for dirtying the floor with his blood and himself getting injured.
The youngest son of Sparda could swear that Goodwitch was starting to act like a mother sometimes when it was something related to him and he noticed when they had small meeting with Ironwood with that angry stare that could kill someone but despite feeling somewhat good…he didn't need another mother figure that could die tomorrow.
When the floor of the arena was clean and shiny, the son of Sparda left the arena and walked his way to his room but with every step he felt somber and his mood started going down. Of course, he wondered why he was feeling that way, why feeling so blue and actually depressed.
Soon, he opened the door of his room and got inside, closing the door and locking it behind him. He made his way through the mostly empty boxes of pizza onto his bed and sat down, resting his elbows on his tight while staring at nothing in particular. He was feeling this deep sense of pain and sadness…so he looked into the calendar and noticed the date, it explained everything, today was Virgil's birthday AKA…The day the anniversary of his twin brother and mother's death.
later that same day.
Ruby woke up after having a weird dream, it wasn't a nightmare but it was creepy but soon let it fade in the deepest parts of her mind as she stood up from her bed and checked the time. It was past four in the morning and she was feeling full of energy so she knew what she needed to do.
With a quick change of clothing to her usual attire, she left the room, actually kinda surprised since she didn't wake up her partner nor the cat faunus who were sleeping like logs. After she left her room she walked with a spring on her step and hummed a chirpy tune as she made her way into the weapon workshop of the academy or like she liked to call it, her safe heaven on Remnant full with amazing weapons.
It had everything she needed, hammers, a forge, intricate tools for meditation, industrial sharpeners, it was like a wet dream for a weaponsmith and yes, she knew about lewd stuff because she was a grown woman and drank her milk! Thank you very much Yang!. Normally students wouldn't be able to enter the workshop but professor Port gave Ruby a free pass since she was, in her own words, so awesome with weapon maintenance and understanding how a weapon works.
She pressed her scroll on the electronic lock followed by some beeps and boops the door slid open. Ruby got inside, put on the leather apron and grabbed a large box under one of the tables. It had written on it "Super duper secret gift of Ruby Rose, do not touch!" and she was sure to be written in big letters.
As she opened the box, she grabbed the blade she forged with the broken shards of Dante's old sword with another set of metals to strengthen it. The red reappear also got out from the box the blueprints and the handgun material that the late Nell gave her.
Ruby soon puts on the table everything plus the mechashifting mechanism she was planning for the weapon, she grabs her tools and starts working on the hilt-handgun. She spent most of her time during the summer break working on the weapon, on this awesome gift for Dante and she can already see his reaction being of pure amazement when he tests it.
Soon Ruby started letting her mind run wild while she worked, fantasies of herself and Dante kicking Grimm and demon ass, being heroes with all their friends. The fantasies ran even wilder when she found herself thinking a future of herself and Dante as a couple, it was odd for her since she was never to be attracted to boys or girls for any reason considering she is socially awkward but something about the slightly older demon hunter drew her, maybe it was the color red that both used or the fact that both have a legacy from a super strong parent and losing a mother, in her case her mother was super strong.
She wondered if she didn't have her father and Yang would she have turned like Dante? Being so cynical and reckless, well, even more than she already can be. As the Rose thought more of Dante's personality, she found that he was similar to her uncle Qrow as both have, regretfully, love for alcohol because of tragedy and have a cynical view of the world.
"Do I have a thing for drunkards with cynical word views that are strong as heck thanks to my uncle?" The youngest member of the Xiao Long household asked herself in her mind.
That thought made her sigh, she really wanted her uncle to stop drinking and wished the same for Dante, it wasn't a healthy thing. Ruby finally noticed that her project was almost finished, she only needed to fit the blade and test it.
"Oh wow! time flies when you are having fun" She said cheerfully as he started assembling the blade.
With the final touches on the weapon she let it sit on the table as she admired her handiwork, she only needed to test it and thankfully, the workshop had a medium room for testing new weapons. Ruby stood up from where she was working while grabbing the weapon and she went to the testing room and started doing a few swings in its sword's form.
"Alright, balance is good, but how about the mechashift?" She asked herself.
The young Rose made the weapon change from its sword into a tonfa, the blade started lowering until the spine of it touched the guard and there was a click sound. Ruby decided to test the weapon against the iron mannequin target, she carefully held the grip of the now tonfa in a reverse grip like in one of those ninja movies that had tonfas.
She took a deep breath, prayed that she did a good job and did a swing at the mannequin. It was…a sloppy swing but she poured all her strength on the attack and don't get her wrong, she might not be as strong as her sister but she can pull her weight on said attack. The attack was stopped by the thick iron mannequin but got slightly dented while the blade was still in perfect condition and Ruby was glad she made the blade shar in one side because oh boy, her forearm felt the full impact of the attack as the spine made a lot of contact with said forearm.
She had to take a step back and shake her forearm, trying to get the feeling off it but she was smiling like an idiot because her weapon held up as a tonfa. The youngest member of team Ruby did the same process but the weapon in sword form and the blade held, now she was ecstatic about it.
Taking a few steps back and loading the weapon with fire dust, ice dust, electricity dust bullets and aimed the weapon again. The guard slowly went forward showing the handgun component with the barrel sticking out further and without further ado, she pulled the trigger and the elemental bullets flew hitting the target.
"Awesome!" Ruby's voice was full of glee thanks to the successful testing.
She was sure the weapon would do great and now the only thing that it needs is to survive Dante's hands but she had faith in her skills as a weaponsmith. The leader of Team RWBY walks back to the workshop table and starts engraving her emblem on the blade so Dante will always remember that she gave him the weapon.
Finally finished with the weapon, Ruby tested the retractable blade that makes the blade retract and make it easy to carry in a concealed way. She checked her scroll and noticed it was past seven and a half so she decided to go back, wrapping the new weapon in a nice red gift wrap.
On her way to her room with a smile on her face and feeling surprised she finished the weapon so fast but not that she minded because she can't wait to see his face.
A few minutes later Ruby arrives at the door of her team room to see it opening, her sister and teammates coming out.
"Oh, Morning!" Ruby says with a smile.
"Someone is in a good mood" Yang smirks, noticing the gift on her little sister's hands.
"Where were you Ruby?" Weiss asks a bit annoyed that her partner left without saying anything.
"I went to the workshop to work on some stuff" Ruby grins. Blake now notices the wrap.
"Something for our white haired neighbor?" Blake asks with a sly smile.
Ruby starts blushing immediately, the implication of her red face was the obvious answer that Blake wanted to hear from the red reaper. Funny enough, it was in that same moment that the son of Sparda got out of his room, not wearing his uniform which was odd since they have class in thirty minutes but Ruby found it was the perfect moment.
"H-hey Dante!" She stuttered for a moment as she approached him while the rest of her team just grinned at the sight.
"Oh, hey" Dante says, his tone and facial expression was extremely neutral.
"I uh…" Ruby pushes the gift into the half-breed hands "I made this for you!"
Dante raised an eyebrow, if everyone was particularly honest…he didn't look excited at all but nonetheless he opened the gift, tearing the wrapping paper to reveal the weapon. The demon hunter immediately recognized that it was a mechashift but had parts made from Nell, specially the gun part of the weapon and the quality was actually pretty good but Dante knows better to judge a book from its cover so he was going to give it a little test.
He quickly started playing with it, making sure it wasn't loaded first of course, pulling the trigger on the handle of the weapon. He had to admit, it felt nice on his hand but that was the first test as he put the weapon in sword mode, noticing the emblem on the blade. Dante took a few swings with it and he was satisfied how it handled as the balance was just right, normally he would test it more but today he really is in a bad mood; for once in his short life he wanted to be alone because he chose so, not because he was worried of other safety.
He retracted the blade putting the weapon in carry mode and stored it in his red coat and soon gave Ruby a smile.
"Thanks Rubes, the weapon seems pretty cool, can't wait to test it out" The son of Sparda says with that smile on his face that was obviously fake and a tone that matched.
Without saying another word, he continued on his way and thus, leaving Team RWBY alone. The girls felt confused and annoyed for his lack of enthusiasm and needless to say, Yang already had red eyes because Dante didn't show any enthusiasm for her little sister's gift.
Yang spent the summer break watching Ruby work on the weapon for at least hours, multiple days a week so yeah, she was angry with Dante to say the least. Ruby was feeling deflated because of how Dante reacted, she expected him to be happy, a hug and thanks to her naughty mind if she was lucky a kiss on the cheek but she got none of it.
Ruby felt disappointed, on herself and on the weapon she had been working so far for him, she felt like crying already as the tear started watering her eyes but the monochrome of the team spoke.
"Something is wrong with Dante" Weiss said, her tone was serious with an undertone of worry.
"Yes, something is wrong with him" Blake nodded, agreeing with Weiss.
Yang turned her head to glare at the heiress, her short temper was already lost.
"Yeah, something is definitely wrong with Redgrave since he didn't appreciate my little sister's gift!" Yang grits her teeth and clenches her fist, ready to follow the demon hunter and beat the crap out of him.
"No, I mean something is wrong about him in an emotional sense, his mask was cracking and we just saw it" Weiss explains further.
"...How would you know?" Ruby asks, almost in a sob.
"Takes one mask wearing person to know another" Weiss looks away.
"He wasn't wearing his uniform despite having class today" Blake points out the fact.
"Why does it matter? He could be on his way to hunt…" Yang turns her head to one side and then to the other making sure no one was hearing "...To hunt demons"
"...He was unarmed…" Ruby says softly, her tears drying.
"Exactly, something is off about him" Blake says, crossing her arms "But i doubt he'll tell us"
"Great, another secret from him," Yang spat her words, rolling her eyes.
While it was true that Dante had opened up to them, he kept all his cards close to his chest and it is starting to become annoying for them with the exceptions of his inner group who knows that Dante's fears are well found. Weiss and Blake gave each other a knowing look, both knew that Dante wants to speak but it isn't ready yet.
"We should get moving to class and I refuse getting detention or a bad grade, so chop chop, let's get moving girls" Weiss makes the excuse.
"Yeah…sure…" Ruby nods, still dejected.
Later that day, after classes were finished.
Team RWBY, JNPR were in the cafeteria having dinner after a long day of classes with a noticeable lack of certain white haired demon Hunter. The weight of it starts setting in that something is indeed wrong with him today.
Lucky for them, Sun and Neptune arrived to make some distraction as he brought the rest of his team. The third member of the team was a dark red headed teenager, his hair covering his right eye and has a complete undercut, his left eye has some red markings. His clothes are rather interesting as he is wearing a red old style military jacket on his shoulders, a gray bandana on his neck, white sleeveless shirt and jeans alongside some brown knee high laced boots.
This teenager had a couple accessories like two belts, a feather earring and a single fingerless glove on his right hand.
The fourth member of the team was a dark skinned teenager with a serious expression, green hair that was styled up and a bit spiky. He was wearing a white long coat with a single left sleeve while on the right arm he wore a golden pauldron with some braces. The back of his long coat had green wings imprinted. He didn't wear anything under his open coat showing his toned physique alongside the wings tattooed on his chest and the roman numbers on his neck.
He was also wearing some black pants with black dress shoes. This was the full SSSN team in all it's glory.
"Hey guys!" Sun greets RWBY and JNPR with a smile "You already know Neptune but meet the rest of team SSSN! This is Scarlet!"
"Nice to meet you, I'm Scarlet Davis" the red haired teenager greets them.
"And this is Sage!" Sun motions to last member.
"Hey" the dark skinned teenager says with a stoic tone and expression.
"A man of few words" Yang purrs, mostly because of the abs that Sage had but he was indifferent.
"Hey guys, nice to meet you all, I'm Jaune, That over there is Nora, Ren and Pyrrha, we are team JNPR" Jaune greets them while giving Neptune a quick glare.
"Hey, I'm Ruby, this is Yang, Weiss and Blake" Ruby says, still feeling dejected and her tone clearly didn't hide it.
"You okay Ruby?" Sun asks, noticing the mood of the red reaper.
"She is a bit down because Dante was a jerk" Yang scoffs.
"What? I doubt it!" Neptune rolls his eyes.
"Who is this Dante guy you two keep talking about?" Scarlet asks.
"Oh man, he is the coolest dude you could meet, from one to ten in the coolest scale he is a twenty" Sun explains, with a bit of fanfare, Neptune nods despite their short interaction he can agree that Dante is cool as hell.
"Right…" Scarlet rolls his eyes.
"We believe he is not feeling well today" Weiss says.
"Yeah, he normally doesn't skip class without a reason…i mean, he does but he says he has a party to go but today was no party!" Nora huffs, clearly worried about her fellow orphan.
That was also true, Despite his shortcomings in sharing things he knows… Dante always lets them know if he has to hunt and today wasn't the case, this makes Blake and Weiss' words have a heavier merit.
Soon the sibling team of RWBY and JNPR were deep in thought. Sun, being the positive faunus he was, decided to cheer them up.
"Hey, we can check on him later, maybe there is something in his room that could tell us what's happening with our dude" Sun offers the idea, to which RWBY and JNPR nod.
Before anyone could say anything, RWBY and JNPR's scroll rang alongside with Sun's. It was a message from Ozpin himself that said they have extra class, it was a code for demonic teaching with Nyx but it was odd since the demoness said nothing about having class again this week so whatever it meant, it was important.
"Damn it, I wanted to watch a movie" Yang groans.
"It was marked as urgent, we should go right away" Pyrrha says standing up.
"Nyx is never to summon us for nothing, it's important" Ren says "Come on Sun, we don't want to be late"
"Right" Sun then turns to his team "Sorry guys, but i gotta go, if Professor Nyx needs us, we gotta go"
"Hold on, Who's Nyx?" Neptune asks, annoyed that Sun is running off again.
"We are supposed to hang out today and train for the festival Wukong" Scarlet scoffs, always hated this attitude from his leader, Sage nodded with a grunt.
"Believe me, it's better if none of you know, especially you Nep, since you can't keep secrets" Sun says with a grin as he leaves them.
When Sun was out of sight, the rest of team SSSN sigh in annoyance, they never got used to Sun behavior and it always irked them in a bad way and Scarlet took that personally. The pirate looking member of the team always thought that Sun was a terrible leader and now he is hiding stuff from them, even from Neptune who is supposed to be Sun's best friend.
"He's hiding something" Neptune says, rolling his eyes.
"No shit sherlock" Scarlet shoots back sarcastically.
"Hey!" Neptune huffs.
"Must be something" Sage crosses his arms.
"So we should follow him" Neptune offers an idea.
"Not today" Sage says.
Later, in the Classroom given to Nyx.
Team RWBY, JNPR and Sun, alongside Ozpin and Goodwitcht are waiting for the demoness to appear. It was odd since they had been waiting for twenty minutes already but soon enough, the door opened and she was carrying three sets of boxes in her arms. Jaune, Sun and Yang immediately went to help her despite her being strong enough to carry those boxes and then left them on the desk.
"Sorry for the delay children, I had to check on Dante" Nyx says as he settles behind the desk.
"Is he okay?" Pyrrha asks before Ruby could.
"He…it's complicated" Nyx answers, not giving reassurance.
"Like everything surrounding him" Glynda rubs her eyes.
"Yes, yes indeed" Ozpin says, taking a sip of his mug.
"But will he be alright?" Weiss asks.
"Today? No, tomorrow he will" Nyx says opening the boxes "Now, put those thoughts away, today i'm teaching you how to create a weapon"
"A weapon?!" Glynda exclaims, she wasn't sure if teaching a bunch of teenagers how to make a weapon would be a good idea.
"Indeed, Things are going to get harder from here since the enemy is not fooling around anymore, as you humans would say…better safe than sorry" Nyx sighs after that.
Ozpin notices that Nyx didn't particularly say demons, meaning that she was talking about his star crossed fallen lover Salem, he was glad that Nyx was taking into consideration that his inner circle needed to learn new ways to defend Remnant from one of the many dark enemies that prowled around.
The demoness takes from one of the boxes a small vial with red dust, everyone immediately knew that it was fire dust by the color but something was off about this particular dust as normal fire dust has a vibrant red color to it but this had a darker shade of red.
"Miss Goodwitch says that you are all good in dust theory but can someone enlighten me of what dust is in particular, how about you Jaune?" Nyx motions his hand to the blonde dork.
"I- uh…dust are crystals that contain power, no one knows where it came from but it was the turning point during the war against the grimm, it is normally found in caves but was later refined into powder" Jaune stutters a bit since he wasn't expecting to be called out by Nyx but finds his ground quick "Dust has multiple uses from warfare to mundane things since the pure elements of dust is Fire, Electricity, Water and Wind but combining those four more types of dust can be found, it's highly volatile and aura can activate it"
"Uh, apt description" Weiss says a bit confused that the Arc gave a good description, she also noticed the pride in Pyrrha's face.
"Good work Jaune" Pyrrha whispers to herself.
"Look at that, VB knows stuff" Yan whistles impressed.
"Good, Arc is paying attention to class" Glynda nods, despite being so harsh on the leader she feels proud to see his progress.
"But let's do an experiment" Nyx gets from the box another vial filled with fire dust, this one looked normal "Miss Nikos and Schnee, come here"
The heiress and the champion looked at each other but did as they were ordered too, walking towards the Nyx. As they stood in front of the demoness, said demoness opened the vials and gestured to the girls to show her their hands and they complied, Nyx then poured the powdered dust into their hands, the normal looking into Weiss' and the darker shade into Pyrrha's.
There was another difference, the amount in their hands as Pyrrha's amount was almost minimal while Weiss got ten times more powder dust raising a couple of eyebrows. Nyx made another hand motion for the two girls to get distance between them and they did so.
"Miss Schnee, use your aura to activate that dust" Nyx says with a smile.
"Eh…sure?" Weiss says, confused by the request.
Weiss lets her aura flow through her hand for the purpose of making the dust active, soon enough, the dust shines and like a flamethrower, fire comes out of her hand. It was nothing new, everybody knows that this amount of dust would create a reaction like that, it was the rule.
"Now Miss Nikos, please do the same" Nyx now turns to face Pyrrha.
The mistral champion does the same process as the heiress did with the small amount of this dark red fire dust but the reaction was different, the small amount of dust glowed like brighter, almost violently and everyone would expect a small flame that died quickly but there was a huge flame that was slightly bigger than Weiss'.
Eyes went wide open at the display, if it was clear that something was different about this darker shade of dust, this was the confirmation they needed but brought a question. What is that dust? Weiss was particularly curious about it like the green stoic ninja from JNPR as he sensed a great surge of demonic energy as the dust got activated.
"I'm sorry, I overdid it!" Pyrrha apologies.
"That was a huuuuge flame!" Nora exclaims with a grin.
"Miss Nyx…" Weiss steps forward the demoness "...What is that dust?"
"That Children, this is Devil's Dust, the weapon humanity used during the demon invasion, a mix of red orbs with dust, a product of alchemy lost to time that few remember" Nyx explains as she grabs more of this so-called Devil's dust.
"Quite impressive that a small amount of this product is so powerful" Ozpin says, inspecting the dust himself, he could already say that for someone with no experience with magic they wouldn't feel it at first.
"Indeed, since humanity barely had the means to hurt higher demons without taking huge amounts of casualties, they created the Devil's dust" Nyx nods.
"How powerful is this dust?" Blake asks, a bit curious about the answer.
"Ten times stronger than normal dust in the same amount" The demoness answers.
Pyrrha's eyes widened, no wonder she felt her hand feel the heat and had to strengthen her aura in that moment.
"Dude…that's like crazy strong" Sun eyes almost fall from its sockets.
Ozpin remembers that in one of his lives, he heard gossip about devil's dust, a rumor that he never followed up since it was about legends he, at the time, thought it was just legends but now he wondered if going after them would have changed slightly history since he would have had a weapon to repeal the darkness that his former lover casts over this world.
"Is it wise to teach this to the children?" Glynda chided in, arms crossed.
"Wise? No but I fear the worst" Nyx then speaks to all "The gates of Hell are close to being opened and if the enemy knows the how to open them…they will come with forces that you need to be prepared to face with the expectation of at least higher demons and with Devil's Dust, you can destroy a demon"
Nyx grabs one of the boxes, taking from it a pipe bomb, bullets and a modified flare gun with flares. From another box she takes similar machinery to the one used to create the vital stars but this time there was enough for every single person in the room. This was a sobering sight for everyone, were things this bad? it must be the only explanation since she literally is going to teach them how to create weapons to kill higher demons. Ruby, who was the weapon nut, was feeling uneasy about this, it was way too much firepower.
"This homemade bomb made with electric devil's dust, it creates an electric field of a radius of twenty meters with the potency of a concentrated lighting strike" Nyx's tone was dead serious, it was even more serious when she created a shield field of her size.
"Oohhh that sounds amazing! Imagine that amping up my semblance, I WOULD BE UNSTOPPABLE!" Nora yelled excitedly.
"Don't be a fool child!" Nyx immediately scolds her, eyes narrowed and glowing "This is no normal lighting, is devil infused lighting"
Without any warning she lighted the fuse of the pipe bomb and threw it inside the shield field then she shut the field completely and focused all her demonic magic on keeping it up. After a few seconds of death silence…it happened, the PVC melted as the lighting inside it erupted violently with a dark red hue that started hitting the walls of the field Nyx created.
The whole room shaked. Ozpin held the long memory tightly as he watched the example, his fingers starting to turn white due to the pressure he had on his cane. The lights of the room flickered multiple times with the only things glowing were the field, the devil's dust lighting and the sharp, cold glowing eyes from Nyx that was silently judging all of them.
Ren's eyes widened as he felt the demonic energy, it was massive despite being contained in Nyx's field. He started sweating, his senses overloading as he felt himself stumbling and grabbing Nora for support. It was too much.
Sun's tail bristles, his eyes open wide and his pupils dilated. He jumped over a desk and climbed to the beams in the ceiling of the classroom. Blake's eyes also opened wide and her pupils dilated, her whole body arched as she somewhat tried to make herself bigger while stepping back while her hair started puffing a bit and she started hissing at the trapped lighting. The two faunus of the group literally had their animal instincts taking over in that moment as they felt the danger.
The rest of the group felt the hair on the back of their necks stand up and a cold shiver ran down their spine like if someone rubbed slowly an ice cube on their backs. This whole thing lasted for solid minutes where the only sounds were the fizzling of the lighting inside the field, Blake's hissing and some grunts from Sun.
"Ren?!" Nora immediately grew worried when Ren used her as support to help himself stand, he was looking pale and sweating.
"It's…too much" He said weakly.
"Mr. Wukong, get down from up there!" Glynda yelled, her voice filled with worry.
"Blake, calm down!" Ruby hugged the faunus from behind making Blake try to scratch her team leader.
"Wow there partner" Yang grabbed one of her hands.
"Blake, stop it!" Weiss did the same with the other hand.
Thankfully, the lighting died down into nothingness but Nyx kept the field up but her cold, sharp expression remained.
"Mr. Ren, Why haven't I lowered the field?" the demoness asked, her voice was so stern that they started getting worried.
"Because…the energy is still there…I can still feel it but is dying down…There must be static that we can't see" Ren said, his breathing was heavy.
"Very good Mr. Ren, and that static can be absorbed passively by Miss Valkyrie" Nyx congratulated the stoic member of JNPR.
"And I assume that Miss Belladonna and Mr. Wukong are acting like this because of the danger that it posses the devil's dust in that amount to the point it brought out their primal instinct since they are more in tune since they are faunus" Ozpin theorized, he was feeling similar to them since he was a attuned with magic but he had the experience to control that fear.
"Sharp observation Headmaster, No offense to their kind but animals have sharper senses of danger, if they felt threatened even if this was a safe test…" Nyx let the words hang.
"This is the real deal…" Pyrrha said, taking a seat.
"Children, take a breath and let's calm your teammates" Glynda ordered while glaring at Nyx, wondering if this was necessary.
A few minutes later, Blake and Sun returned to their senses as their instincts finally died down but the fear they felt alongside that monstrous and dark energy was rotting in their minds like a bad nightmare that wouldn't leave. Pyrrha wondered if that new or rather ancient type of mixed dust was really necessary to kill a higher demon since it looked so overkill in her eyes.
Ren was wondering the same thing that her teammate was thinking. When Dante fought Rahab he didn't feel a spike of energy and he was supposed to be a higher demon…unless there is something else at hand that he can not see because of his inexperience or ignorance in demonic knowledge but he couldn't help but think that devil's dust is overkill.
"Man…that was…" Sun starts speaking, still shaken.
"...Terrifying, everything inside me was telling me to run, that death was coming and I was going to die" Blake continues Sun's line of thought while fixing her hair.
"You are calm, good" Nyx said, finally letting the field down.
"Is it necessary to teach the children how to make this…dust?" Goodwitch couldn't help but ask, it felt too risky.
"Yes, if a war is coming in any of the fronts, stronger demons will appear and we will need the right tools to defend this world" Nyx tone was somber, like she didn't want any of this to begin with.
"But…that is too strong, my senses were overloaded with the amount of demonic energy and when we fought Rahab, he felt weaker than the devil's dust" Ren shared what was in his mind, Pyrrha and also RUby nodded.
But to their surprise, it wasn't Nyx who answered.
"Rahab, like many demons who are in Remnant, keeps their energy to the minimum, just letting it release when it's necessary to attack since we all saw when raw demonic energy is let free for so long but a short time? You would feel it for a moment when it's released it unlike the devil dust that was active for so long, unless you want to be known like Volcano did to Dante or their pride was hurt by an opponent to forget about hiding in the first place" Jaune answers, the knowledge that his father drilled into his head during the training camp with Dante finally came into light. Some turned their heads to stare at the blonde dork surprised.
"Was that all the teaching of your Father Sir Alexander or did you infer that reason?" Nyx asks, a small smirk was drawn on her lips.
"At least the part where demons keep their energy to the minimum and release it for attacks, the rest is deduced just by demonic behavior" he laughs a bit nervously as he explains how he got there.
"Impressive, you are quick learner and you deduced demonic behavior, If this is the level you have with your immaturity I can only imagine when your mind starts growing into a more mature, Mundus would be smart to remove you from the equation when he could" Nyx giggles but her words were a dark, making Jaune pale in fear and gulp.
"Jaune would be in danger?!" Pyrrha exclaims.
"Indeed, in the old days the human and Faunus tacticians were the first to fall, you cut the head of the snake and the rest follows" Nyx giggles again.
"What Nyx means, in the aspects of war or combat, you take off the leaders and the most dangerous opponent, those who in the long run will be more troublesome" Glynda nods, explaining what Nyx meant "The same can be said when fighting Grimm, the militia has to choose between two beowolves and a single Ursa, the beowolves will be easier to kill but you might run short on ammunition for the Ursa or you divide your force for a small part to stall the beowolves while the main takes of the Ursa, of course, it's different for us since we have aura to strengthen our bodies and protect us"
"Assess the threats and act accordingly, you students will find yourselves in missions where you will need to choose what to eliminate first and this will take assessment of your enemies" Ozpin also adds his two cents.
"Yeah, the white fang normally attacks V. that are important against their cause or will bomb production lines of dust…or trains that carry them…" Blake whispers the last words.
"We can discuss this later but Miss Rose, please come here, you are going to learn how to create this dust" Nyx immediately grabs one of the alchemy machines, alongside dust, a mortar and red orbs.
Ruby felt nervous to be called to perform the process but nonetheless she walked forward, standing alongside Nyx. She was ordered to make the same process of making a vital star so she started putting the red orbs in the mortar and started crushing them with the pestle. As the red reaper worked on this wondered why there were bandages in one of the boxes but she pushed those thoughts in the back of her mind to keep working without making any mistakes.
When everything was ready, she added the powdered red orbs in the machine and she picked fire dust since it was red and it was her favorite color. She then turned her head to see what more she needed to add, those two components were…just far too little to make something so powerful but her eyes widened when Nyx unsheathed a dagger and took some of the bandages.
"Now Miss Rose, cut your palm and add your blood in the machine alongside the dust and the crushed red orbs" Nyx puts the dagger in the small hands of Ruby.
"WHAT?!" Yang shouted, was this demoness telling her little sister to self-harm. Her lilac eyes flared red as her hair started burning
"Calm yourself Xiao Long" Nyx immediately shot a cold and deadly stare at Yang, a glare that has killed thousands without any second doubt. Yang found herself taking a step back in instinctual fear as her semblance started to die down with her temper.
"Is that really necessary?" Glynda asks.
"Yes, to create devil's dust, you need to mix it with the blood of an aura user and is the reason why making it difficult since requires your blood" Nyx explains "Blood that your body needs and takes time to restore"
"A weapon to destroy demons requires a sacrifice of blood to match the blood of the demon, how curious" Ozpin says.
"O-okay" Ruby's voice was shaky as she nodded.
Ruby let her aura down as she gripped the dagger with her left hand and let the cold blade rest on her right palm that hovered above the alchemy machine. Both her hands were shaking like crazy, she didn't want to feel pain, cut herself and bleed.
Nyx slowly put her hand on Ruby's left making the red reaper look at the demoness who was offering her support and nodded. Ruby's hand started moving slowly, dragging the sharp blade on her unprotected palm. Her face flinches due to the pain and she starts feeling the warm liquid starting to leak from her palm into the device below.
The demoness then took hold of Ruby's hand so she didn't move it as the required blood was needed. When the blood completely covered the mix of dust and crushed red orbs, Nyx took Ruby's hand away and started applying first aid, cleaning the wound and then bandaging it.
"You are a brave girl Miss Rose, not many have the determination to injure themselves, nurture it as for later in your path will be surrounded by doubts and fear that you'll need to fight, Seek strength…the rest will follow" Nyx says as she makes sure the bleeding stops.
"T-thanks" Ruby says, drying some tears she had on her eyes due to the pain
"Now continue, the same process" *Nyx smiles softly.
Ruby nods and closes the alchemy machine then presses the start button. Soon the machine started working and heating up, but they were surprised that the glass started fogging up.
"Dust is an unstable material and so it's the red orbs but if we add the blood of an aura user, it stabilizes the concoction since Aura is the opposite of demonic energy" Nyx explains, then she narrows her eyes "This process will take days to complete, at least a two full week. I will add that you will never share this knowledge and Never, ever will use this weapon on a human or faunus unless it's the only way…because this surely will kill a non demon"
"Yeah, after our reaction i can totally say this will kill someone, Good thing I didn't run to the lighting" Nora says sheepishly
"Indeed, now come children, pick one and do the same process, don't be scared to bleed" Nyx orders.
After a good hour and a half of working and getting the courage, they finally got finished…in the first thirty minutes as the rest of it was Nyx drilling in the head of everyone that the Devil's dust must be used carefully, sparingly unless it was absolutely necessary and to say the least that no one has to know about this process or material since it would create a unbalance in the world. Weiss and Blake were the first to imagine a world where Jacques had the knowledge of this or the White Fang or if Ironwood, despite being a good person, would certainly use this weapon. a bleak reminder that power can corrupt the mind of humans and faunus alike that already deep inside contain darkness and selfish ideals.
But the class was finished, done for today and they had to search for the resident Demon hunter to see what was up with him to the point that even the headmaster and Goodwitch went alongside them since Dante hasn't been in any class since all day while Nyx was silent as a tomb.
The first and rather obvious place to start the search was his room, maybe he came back after he went out and if he didn't, there might be a clue for them to see what's wrong with him.
"I'm surprised you decided to come along, Glynda" Ozpin teases her as they walk with the students.
"I'm just doing my responsibilities as a teacher, Dante is a student that has skipped all the classes without giving a good reason" Glynda huffs as she takes a key, a copy of Dante's
Soon enough, they were all standing in front of his door but Glynda didn't bother to knock as she used the key, opening the door. The room inside was…a mess to kind and to be honest it was unlivable as there were cans of beer all around the floor and the bed, cardboard boxes of pizza, bottles of whiskey and everything was empty.
Everyone with the exception of Yang, Ruby, Goodwitch, Ozpin and Nyx had to cover their noses, the bitter smell of the liquor was still lively except to those four that had either smelled even stronger liquor or drank it and of course, Nyx had smelled worse.
"To be young…" Ozpin chuckled
"Ew, this is unfit for living" Weiss scowls at the sight in front of her.
"This is like a pig house" Nora grimaces.
"No, this is odd, before I went to sleep I reviewed some material from Oobleck with Dante, I didn't enter but this place was clean as heck from the last time I cleaned it for him" Ruby says, now worried, this happened in just a few hours so she decided to get inside.
"What? You are cleaning his room?!" Glynda exclaims dumbfounded and wondering how little does Dante actually function as a human? Very worrisome.
Everyone followed behind, starting to see if they could find anything that would explain this, also to clean the mess that was this room. Search and search they didn't find any paper that said about this change around the floor, bed or desk.
Pyrrha, as she helped clean the room saw the small hanging calendar on his wall and saw tha today's, the twenty seventh of June, was marked with a blue circle made and written above it had written "Mom's and Vergil Anniversary/Birthday"
"Everyone, check this out" Pyrrha says pointing this out.
"His mother's anniversary?" Blake asks, a bit confused.
"And his brother's birthday…wait, today's Dantes birthday since they are twins" Yang says, annoyed that she didn't know.
"A sad reminder" Ren's tone was somber.
"Damn it…He is not in a good place" Jaune clenches his fist.
"Why?" Nora also asks, confused by the somber tone of her Ren.
"Think it over Miss Valkyrie, His mother anniversary alongside his birthday wouldn't mean anything if he also added Father to the side of his mother but there isn't so it's about his mother and twin" Ozpin closed his eyes "This is the anniversary of their death"
Silence, utter silence, a pin could drop and make the most noise as everyone was holding their breath at the bomb that Ozpin dropped.
"So…h-his b-birthday is the day that…" Ruby stuttered, trying to hold her tears.
"Yes, Today is the anniversary of the day that his life ended as he knew" Nyx takes a deep breath.
"You knew about it" Glynda turned her glare to the demoness.
"I did" Nyx nods.
"But why didn't you tell us? He must be in so much pain!" Nora exclaimed.
"Because he needs to grieve, I cannot hold his hand every time he is reminded that his family died. He needs to grow stronger and go past his trauma as much as he can if he wants to claim vengeance" Nyx says sternly.
"Do you even care about him?" Weiss was fuming.
"Enough to not show my face around him, since I am the one who failed him" Nyx states as a matter of fact "I was the one that was supposed to protect the family when his father left and died but I wasn't there, this is a day that hurts us both and our faces will remind us of failure"
"We can point fingers later, we need to find him" Jaune says, walking to the door.
"Right behind you dude" Sun says, following Jaune with determination in his eyes
"I know where he is, I'll take you there" Nyx says, using her demonic power and control of the shadows to travel close to his location.
The world went black to the non demonic beings and the next thing they know is that they are at one of the cliffs of Emerald Forest with the sun bathing it in an orange hue. Nyx quickly surrounded everyone with a spell that makes them invisible and hard to detect, alongside masking the noises they could make.
Nyx was the first one to move alongside the cliff and the rest did follow her without uttering a single word. A short walk of ten minutes and they find the missing son of Sparda, sitting on the cliff staring at the sunset with a bottle of brandy on his left hand and two glasses on his right hand.
Dante sat down on the edge of the cliff, letting his legs hang from it despite the massive drop bellow.
"So…it's been a while eh Verg?" Dante talks to himself out loud "Can't say that I like doing this spiritual bullshit but I would like to think you are hearing me on the other side"
"Dante…" Glynda whispers.
"We should be seventeen today, well, I am but we both should be" he chuckles as he puts the glasses and the whiskey to his right side "I got a gift today, from a cutie, I haven't tested it fully but I can see she made it real good, legit skills, she might be your sister in law one day even if you would find her insufferable for her naiveness"
"Dante…" Ruby whispers happily that her gift was delivered today of all days.
"If you were here, I'm sure you could hook up with her sister but I don't see it happening, not in a lifetime since she is rather similar to me" Dante continues speaking to his brother "And i don't mean in looks, she's a beauty but her personality is rather close to mine and if you could barely stand me then you wouldn't stand her at all"
"Jerk…" Yang whispers.
"But there is Weiss and Blake, a haughty, proud girl that could pass as our sister and a bookworm cat faunus, you could get along with those two, especially since you are proud, haughty, read books and have a soft spot for cats" Dante laughs heartily.
"Ugh…idiot" Both Weiss and Blake whisper in unison.
"Then there is Team JNPR…You would fight Pyrrha since she is really skilled and you are all about polishing your own skills" He continues naming his friends.
"I would love to…" Pyrrha lowers her head as she whispers.
"Let's not talk about Nora, same issue with Yang" Dante chuckles
"He would love me" Nora grins whispers.
"Then there is Ren and Jaune, Ren is quiet, you wouldn't bother about him…problem is that Nora is always with him and there is Jaune…Mixed feelings bro" Dante sighs "He is not as skilled as a warrior but his mind is something else and he is all about family legacy like you"
"He isn't wrong" Ren whispers nodding.
"Yeah…not wrong at all" Jaune agrees.
"You know, I always had planned that for our seventeen birthday we would sneakily go and steal one of the bottles of wine that our old man kept in the cellar and have a drink but since our mansion is rather burnt and barely standing, or that I can't bear to see our home again…no bottle of wine" He shakes his head and laughs drily "Honestly, it was a bad idea, Mom would have found out almost immediately and the earful we would have gotten would have been legendary"
"I would be scared too" Sun admits
Everybody chuckled at that image, Dante being scolded for something he already does and actually being scared. But their laughter died when he reached for the bottle of brandy.
"Instead, I bought some Brandy, yes, I used my own money so don't complain dumbass" Dante opens the bottle then starts pouring it in the glasses "It's not as classy as brand or as strong as whiskey but it has a nice flavor…who am I kidding, you wouldn't like it but I want to share a drink with my brother even if you are not here with me, nor will be ever again bro and I miss you dearly because my damn fucking life feels incomplete without you. We share the same face, same eyes and same hair making it hard to look at the mirror without feeling pain that you'll never grow up and make your dreams come true"
Dante then raised one of the glasses of brandy to the sky. The girls were bawling, Nyx was crying in silence while the guys just held their head's down in respect. Ozpin felt sympathy for Dante as he has many people he has seen that share this pain in his many lives.
Glynda felt her heart break hearing those words, trying to maintain a stern face and hold the tears, she couldn't stand seeing Dante in this state, so hollow and trying hard not to break but hearing his shaky voice at the end of how much he misses his brother…she couldn't hold it any longer, the sight of her boy pouring all his pain into words…oh…she should start making plans for the weekends with Dante because she couldn't deny that her fondness was starting to become maternal at this point, she has seen his lows and is always hearing him out.
She felt disappointed in herself as counselor and teacher since the cardinal rule was not to grow these types of feelings but there she is, feeling like holding the boy's hand and telling him that everything will be alright like a mother should do. She could see now why a woman so hard headed and stubborn as Neill Goldstein would grow fond of him.
"To our birthday, to your rest and to our brotherhood" Dante cheers and drinks the glass of brandy, when the glass was empty he threw it into the distance "Don't worry bro, those demons…the one who killed you and killed mom are already dead but I'll get Mundus for it, and to quote you bro…He won't be ready to face this power…Happy birthday Vergil"
With those being his last words, Dante stood up from where he was and walked away, leaving the glass of brandy alongside the bottle behind in the cliff, as an alms for the spirit of his brother. After he was gone, the rest followed too, understanding that Dante had so much pain he wouldn't show them yet.
Today was a birthday, something that everyone would celebrate with their loved ones, even if they were orphans like Sun, Ren and Nora. Sun had her cousin and friends while Ren and Nora had each other for these dates…Dante had no one but his pain and during that time he was Tony, he never mentioned anything about his birthday according to team RWBY's conversation when they first visited.
Dante was a lone soul that hid behind a mask and everybody saw it clearly today because the mask was off…they need to rectify that, they need to make him feel loved before he succumbs to the darkness inside himself.
Later that night.
Footsteps broke the noise of nature in the cliff that was now showered by the light of the broken moon in the night sky. The dark slayer had arrived at a late birthday party. He kneeled down in front of the bottle and glass of brandy, grasping the glass with his right hand and lifting it to cheer.
Vergil didn't care if the glass of brandy was sitting there for hours already, he drank it without a second thought, letting the burning sensation go through his throat for the first time in his life before making a satisfied sound.
"Not bad, would have certainly enjoyed the taste of what our father had at the Manor but alas…Happy birthday Dante" Vergil said as he poured himself another drink.
Author Notes.
Man, it's been a whiiiiiile but first of all. HAPPY CHRISTMAS MOTHER*CENSURED* and if you don't celebrate Christmas then Happy holidays.
So, this chapter was a bit important for a few reasons. One, Dante get's Ruby's gift on his birthday. Two, Team RWBY and JNPR now have a thing to equalize the playing field, the Devil's Dust. Why did I create it? So they wouldn't fall behind so much and always have to rely on Dante with the exception of Dante lvl enemies, so, now if they find themselves against a higher demon they can defend themselves and win
And third, I wanted to Show Dante's birthday and how much it affected him, He missing his brother and how he is always reminded of Vergil and That Dante is a revengeful SOB since it's the main Reason to live during the events of DMC1 and DMC3, He made a business because he wants to get back at the demons and he gained a terrible renown in the underworld so Mundus had to take notice or until Dante finds him, To see the man behind the mask of a clown. Also furthering the idea that Dante and Glynda are going to have a Mother/Son Relationship since Dante has always had blonde mother figures. First Eva as the biological, Nell as the gunsmith provider and now Glynda, the guardian.
Now, Next chapter will be a sort of filler one, it's already half written so I'll probably expect it by January at some point IF MY GOD DAMN FREE TIME ALLOWS IT! God I'm tired. Anyway, not much to say so Reviews. By the way, Thanks to everyone who gave me some encouraging words, Life will get better, I know, I just have to wait or get used to this crap known as life so at some point i'll get better, I'm just hard to get used to changes.
Anyway, Reviews!
Eli Villa: Yeah, It's getting somewhat Better, we had a scare with my mother's health but it was just that, a small scare, nothing else and shit's been good so far on that side, Thank Good, Thanks dude!
Yeah, Ironwood is someone who is good but his mentality and semblance is what makes him the tyrant he will become. He wants the best for his land, for Atlas and Remnant but his focus always remains in Atlas and will do anything to make Atlas be safe, even becoming the bad guy despite truly becoming what he hated, It's a tragic character because he wants to help but ends up doing more damage and becoming the bad guy.
Also YES! NYX HAS BACKSTORY WOOOOH! To make her one of Mundus Generals to taste the true might of Sparda and how she was starting to change thanks to Humans and Faunus to the point she became the Nyx of nowadays which we'll see more in the future, Hopefully.
Guest: Thanks dude, I'll find a way to get back to normalcy but things takes time but thanks for your words
Erik: I know, Shit hasn't been easy but I'll get better. Like i said, things will get better at some point, hopefully soon but I wouldn't hold my breath on that.
Yeah, I always had planned Nyx Joining Ozpin's inner circle but why did Ozpin initiate the conversation? Ozpin is the current "Guardian" of Remnant and one of the oldest beings alongside Salem, Nyx and some other demons. Nyx swore to Sparda but mostly to herself to be a force of good and to repent for her crimes during the Demonic invasion of Mundus.
Despite what everyone says, Ozpin is a really good and tragic character who was cursed to be a champion of the god of light, to be forced to fight his former lover for eternity and bear his mistakes and Salem's evil over his shoulders alone because every death and every betrayal, he blames himself for that and his caring side for humanity, faunus and all Remnant is his major weakness and strength.
He keeps his secrets locked because it's probably the same reason he was betrayed, how can someone trust others with vital information if it's what forces them to betray him. Trust is something that Ozpin rarely gives and with the discovery of demons, he needs Nyx, someone who could be as strong as Salem. Someone who despite her dark past, something that Ozpin probably deduced, decided to be better, to help Humans and Faunus and be a silent protector. Therefore, someone who he could trust his secrets since he thinks that the relics didn't think of Demons or don't know of demons. Nyx has the knowledge and longevity that he would need to better himself too and probably the one that will tell him that something is a bad idea or to tell him what he did right or wrong since she has a different perspective. Ozpin believes in Teamwork and doesn't care about if you are a faunus or a human and in this case, if you are a demon as long as your heart is in the right place.
Next chapter will move some things forward but the chapter after will move things even more, since it will have the dance and what's next, probably finishing volume 2 so volume 3 can start and some events of the DMC manga will happen. My timeline is…Volume 3 will be shorter, most of the tournament will happen behind scenes and chapters then the fall of beacon. Volume 4 will be mainly like a chapter and 5 will be actually quite fast. just a few chapters and then DMC3 before the start of Volume 6. So yeah, 2 chapters more and shit will hit the fan and the fan will be shitted for a while.
Blazing Ice Cream: Yes, they will meet around volume 7 aka, Atlas Arc and trust me, it will be fun and sad at the same time.
zooro.08764: Thanks dude, i appreciate it and I'm glad you are liking the story
Nick: I'm glad you are liking the story so far, I won't say I'm that good at writing but hey, I try and i'm liking what it's happening in the story, even if there is a lot of things that I need to improve and I know there is stories out there that are better but if my story can be enjoyed, i'm happy with that.
Honestly, Ruby x Dante is interesting because Ruby is the naive cheerful character who is hiding her grief of losing her mother, thinking she might not be enough to lead her team and, Dante is a mask wearing clown that is really not as cheerful as he appears as he is cynical but tries to see the sunny side of things. Both love their mothers and both lost them, both like to believe the best of humanity/Faunus, both are extremely talented warriors despite their young age, both love red and both love their family and both have a legacy of power, Sparda in Dante's case and the silver eyed warriors.
My other choice was Weiss since they could relate under family issues, Missing father Figures, trouble with siblings, a mother that is lost to one that is barely there and trying to live a family legacy that both know is a beehive of trouble But i think Ruby fits better because she can offer Dante the positivity that he needs and he can offer Ruby the reality that she needs.
Anyway, Until next chapter, have a good one everyone and happy holidays!