AN: hello new and old to this little fic of mine, here is the fourth chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own HighSchool DxD or any character from other sources that may make their way into this, and neither I own the Waifu catalogue.

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The sound of the clock hanging from the concrete wall was the only thing disturbing his long wait. Apart from the chair he was sitting in, and himself, the only other things inside the sparkly decorated room were the metal table in front of him and the chair on the opposite side.

The brightly lit room in the Vale police department was just as boring to Millicas as it had been for the last hour he had sat alone inside it.

'Well,' he thought, 'it's not like I don't understand why I'm here in the first place, but this is dull.'

One hour ago, Glynda had left him inside the room, letting him know that she would be debriefing him about the robbery and the confrontation that took place tonight after dealing with the paperwork for the incarceration of the suspects in the department's holding cells.

'And most likely running a background check on me while she waits for Ozpin to descend from his gilded tower.' He sighed loudly as he reclined on his chair while waiting for the wizard to make an appearance.

Luckily for the young devil, he didn't have to wait much longer. The opening of the door signalled the end of Millicas' monotonous waiting.

Dressed in a black suit and a green scarf around his neck, an older white-haired gentleman entered the room followed by his right-hand woman.

With two cups of coffee in his hands, the notorious headmaster of Beacon Academy finally made his appearance.

"Good evening, young man," Ozpin said kindly, "I hope the wait was not too hard, but other matters held us up."

"Good evening to you as well, Professor," Millicas replied as the older man sat in the other chair, taking the cup offered by the headmaster with a thankful nod before tasting the brew.

"Shall we begin?" Ozpin asked before nodding to Glynda after taking a sip of his own cup.

Looking at the tablet-sized scroll in her arms, the blond woman read out loud from it.

"Millicas Gremory, Freelance Hunter Guild registration number 987654320," she began reading the files she found about the red-haired boy. Thanks to Paper Trail, Millicas didn't need to worry about any problems or inconsistencies as long as he didn't say anything that contradicted the information they could find.

"Born in Vale, orphaned at Age 5, joined the FHG at age 14," Glynda tried to hide her discomfort, but the devil could tell that she wasn't okay with the fact that a 14-year-old started out as a freelancer instead of going to one of the combat schools like Signal, even if it was legal for them to join so early.

"Currently 17 years old, he has 91 official Grimm hunts and 39 completed missions on his record. Nine of those Grimm hunts have been B Rank targets. Though known to be able to work alongside other freelancers and the occasional huntsman, he is primarily a solo hunter."

"A most impressive record for someone your age," the Wizard said. "Normally, 17-year-olds would be joining the first year of one of the four academies, not out in the field. And even then, only second-year 4-man teams would be reasonably expected to engage B Rank Grimms."

"It's not really that impressive if you ask me," Millicas said, sounding embarrassed at the compliment. "I'm good at fighting, and my semblance is perfect for offensive application against the Grimm, so joining the FHG to make a living was my best option."

Nodding at Millicas, the headmaster moved the conversation along. "Now then, could you tell us your recollection of the night's events?"

Millicas did so easily, retelling the fight from when he left the alleyway to his encounter with Miss Goodwitch. The Professors listened carefully but didn't interrupt him till he was done.

Once he was done, Glynda turned her scroll around and played different sets of videos taken from the cameras both inside the store and the area outside of it to illustrate the fight from an outside perspective while Ozpin commented on it.

"I confess that while your fighting abilities are excellent, your ability to manipulate your Aura is what is truly astonishing. Not many huntsmen can project it into blasts, and outside of specialized Semblances, Flight is something that I never thought possible," Ozpin praised the young man, using videos of Millicas' Kiai, Ki Blast, and his Ki-based Flight to exemplify his point.

Millicas easily explained the mechanics behind the different techniques to the two professors. He didn't correct the assumption that it was aura manipulation and not ki, but whether they could end up reproducing the skills with aura didn't matter to the red-haired devil in the large scheme of things.

The videos continued with only small comments on the young man's actual hand-to-hand skills and the different applications of the techniques before Glynda stopped the recording after it showed the outside perspective of the Bullhead disintegrating into nothingness.

"I would guess that was you using your Semblance, Mister Gremory?" Ozpin commented softly.

"Yeah, my semblance is Erasure," Millicas lied easily. "As the name implies, it allows me to disintegrate things I channel my Aura into. The effectiveness of it and the ratio of Aura to Mass varies, but that's the gist of it."

"Fascinating," The Headmaster said. "And your reasoning for using it on the aircraft?"

"I have no experience flying a Bullhead, let alone landing one," He replied jokingly before continuing. "And leaving the thing to fall down in a residential area after knocking off its pilot would be the height of stupidity."

The video continued, an alleyway camera showing the moment he cut Roman's legs off with his bastardized replication of the Getsuga Tenshou. Before Ozpin could ask about it, Millicas explained himself.

"Yeah, that's the primary reason I don't take contracts that deal with things other than Grimm. With enough aura, I can channel my semblance to bypass the aura of others," Millicas said sadly.

"It's not something to be proud of, but at the time I couldn't risk dealing with a huntsman-level enemy like Torchwick and his unknown companion," He finished without looking the older man in the eyes.

Ozpin could see that the brutal choice weighed on the young freelancer. Theirs was a noble but at times ugly profession and heavy choices were a dime a dozen on the field.

A moment of silence settled in the room before Glynda continued to play the recording of the fight. The footage changed to show the view of a street camera focusing on Cinder and Millicas' small altercation before the final strike's shockwave shook the camera widely, the video ending abruptly afterwards.

"You ended the confrontation quickly and decisively, even if an argument can be made about unneeded brutality, regarding how you dealt with Roman Torchwick in particular. You acted in accordance with the law and what was expected of a huntsman," Ozpin commented.

"Additionally," the blond continued after setting the scroll down on the table, "you attempted to minimize collateral damage and purposely accounted for the safety of the citizens by dealing with the Bullhead." She said while flipping through some files on the scroll's screen.

"Under normal circumstances, we would let you go right now with just a commendation for your actions, but we have additional questions for you if you don't mind?"

Before Millicas could answer the headmaster's request, a new video played on the scroll. From inside the store, the footage showed him entering the place and approaching Ruby before leaving with her in tow; a second recording showed the two teens walking down the street before disappearing into the alleyway.

Sighing loudly, the red-haired devil looked the headmaster in the eyes before smiling weakly.

"I know it looks bad, but just for the record, I want you to know that me, passing by the store twice in the same night was an unintended consequence of me trying to get to the northern heliport," Millicas explained.

"So you approaching Miss Rose was a coincidence?" Glynda asked, her tone showing her disbelief.

"Me approaching her was a spur-of-the-moment bad decision, one guided by the reason I was going to take a bullhead to Beacon and contact you, headmaster, before I was distracted by the robbery."

Ozpin and Glynda looked at each other after that comment. Looking at the young teen with curiosity in his eyes, the white-haired wizard couldn't find any lies in the freelancer's expression.

"You wanted to talk to me?" He asked the teen for confirmation.

"Yes, the whole reason I came to Vale after the disaster that was my last mission was that I needed to contact you," Millicas explained, "you know what that mission was, I reckon?"

Having been the one to do the background check, Glynda answered immediately. "You and three other freelancers were tasked to accompany a group of investigators to the ruins of a settlement north of Vacuo."

"That's what I thought as well, only to take a nap in the Bullhead and wake up to find out we are all the way upwards in the Grimmlands and our Bullhead is falling in an uncontrollable descent because of The Grimm," Millicas said with a sarcastic smile on his face.

The revelation earned him some understanding from the two professionals.

It wasn't the first time some crazy scientist wanted to explore the Grimmlands that occupied a grand part of the dragon-shaped landmass north of the Sanus continent; both the kingdoms of Vale and Vacuo had to deal with their fair share of them, but regrettably, they couldn't regulate all travel to the place like Atlas could.

"And whatever happened there is the reason that you made your way to contact me personally instead of reporting the mission to the Guild?" Ozpin couldn't think of many reasons a Grimmlands survivor would attempt to approach him instead of reporting the incident; most of the ones that came to mind weren't good either.

"That's about the gist of it. I could have made the report to the proper authorities and contacted you that way, but what I found there made me reconsider, and I ended up taking a long way back home to report it to you directly." Millicas explained.

Silence descended on the interrogation room afterwards. Glynda and Ozpin observed the younger man in front of them closely. The most likely causes that the older duo could think of for the freelancer's paranoid decision were all connected to Salem in one way or another.

What truly bothered the older man was the fact that whatever was found back in the Grimmlands was connected to Ruby Rose in a way that made the freelancer approach the young girl against Millicas' better judgment.

'Regardless of the actual reason,' the old reincarnating wizard thought. 'the police station is most certainly not the place to have this particular discussion.' With a nod to his companion, the headmaster stood up from his chair.

"It seems it would be best if we move this conversation elsewhere then. I hope you don't mind, Mister Gremory." Ozpin said as he made his way out of the room, the other two occupants following after him quickly.

"Yeah, that's probably for the best." The red-haired devil conceded. "If we are moving then could we go to my motel room? The story is unbelievable on its own, so you seeing the evidence I dragged back home would make explaining this whole thing easier."

"That can be arranged," Ozpin said. Whatever the evidence was, it was better to go over it personally if this ended up leading back to his ex-wife in any way, shape, or form.

Between finalizing the paperwork for the arrests and dealing with the diverse details that entailed the situation, it took them nearly another hour before the trio finally walked out of the Vale Police Department building and reached their destination.

The old, unassuming motel was only a 10-minute walk from the dust shop where the robbery had taken place. By now, the surrounding streets had been emptied, and the clock had just announced the arrival of the new day.

The idle conversation that had occupied their short car ride slowly came to a close as they stepped away from the car and into the motel's parking lot.

Ignoring the reception room entirely, Millicas walked up the stairs to the second level of the building and stopped in front of Room 209. Turning to the professors following him, he waited until both of them were at his side.

"Thank you for coming all the way here for this," the young devil said to them.

"There is no problem, young man. If you think that whatever evidence you have will make this conversation easier, then we are willing to see it and hear your story," Ozpin reassured Millicas with a smile.

Knocking lightly on the door to let the occupants know that he had returned, the red-haired man opened the door and let them in.

"About that," Millicas said softly. "I don't think I will be doing most of the talking from this point onwards."

The small room was sparsely decorated with old furniture. A couple of discolored leather armchairs stood against the left wall of the room with a landscape painting hanging from the wall between them.

Against the right wall, a big double bed occupied the majority of the small room's available space, with a tiny side table and a chair on each side of the bed. The only other piece of decoration was an old carpet outside of the bathroom door opposite the entrance.

Once they entered the room, Ozpin and Glynda froze in place upon seeing the other occupants waiting for them inside the room.

Barely noticing young Ruby Rose sitting on the chair at the side of the bed, their eyes focused on the previously thought dead woman lying on the bed.

"By the brothers," Ozpin muttered in disbelief, his eyes widening. At his side, Glynda covered her mouth, trying to stifle her reaction, but the tears freely flowing from her eyes made the attempt useless.

Turning her head to them, Summer smiled softly at their voices. The wizard stepped closer to the bed, but whatever question he was going to ask died on his lips when the young mother on the bed raised her last remaining arm from the bed.

Her raised arm glowed softly with her white aura, and as the limb vibrated soundlessly, white rose petals dropped slowly on the bed as if flaking off her skin.

"Hello, Ozzy," Summer said to where she heard someone approach her, expecting the headmaster to question the veracity of the situation. The huntress easily proved her identity by displaying her Semblance.

Seeing the state that his former pupil and friend had been left in after the ten years she had been believed to be dead, killed in action while on a mission he sent her out on, the headmaster dropped his cane on the floor only to quickly follow it as he dropped to his knees at the side of the bed.

Glynda, having snapped out of her frozen state, practically jumped to the bed as she threw all notions of professionalism out of the window and hugged her previously lost friend tightly to her chest.

"Summer!" the blond instructor wailed. The younger woman in her arms softly nuzzled her face against the older woman's neck, trying to return the hug as tightly as she could with only one arm.

Closing the door, Millicas made his way across the room while everyone gathered themselves. Ruby, meanwhile, didn't seem to know what to do with the situation unfolding in front of her.

A heavy atmosphere filled the deprecated room, the small sobs coming from the two professional huntresses were the only sound that broke the sombre silence that had settled over the quintet.

With a deep breath, Ozpin stood up from the ground before he approached the bed. "How?" The older man asked the awe and disbelief at the current situation clear in his tone.

Summer turned her head to 'look' at the headmaster, giving him a soft comforting smile. But at the sight of her scarred face, Ozpin couldn't help but feel the weight of the sins he had collected over his long and cursed existence.

"It's a long story, but you can thank Millicas and his stubbornness for getting me out of that hellhole and back here," the older redhead said lightly before she told them what happened to her.

(Summer Recollection)

"I suppose the best place to start is the beginning. As you know, Oz, you sent me on a mission to track down the increased activity of Salem's minions. Don't 'Summer' me, Ozpin; I already told Millicas all the details I know about Salem during the two weeks it took us to stealthily make our way back to Vale. I had gone over some of it with Ruby while waiting for you guys to get here.

Now, where was I? Ah yes, thank you, my little rose. So the mission was to track down their activities across Mistral and the surrounding areas. I went from settlement to settlement, hunted down the Grimm, poked around for trouble, contacted informants, and generally tried to track down any suspicious leads I could get my hands on for a week or two before returning home.

It's the type of thing Qrow and I have done a thousand times ever since graduation. Yes, honey, I can't go into details right now, but your Uncle and I have been doing this whole cloak-and-dagger thing for a while now. So, most of the time he disappears for a couple of weeks, he's, most likely, doing a secret mission for Ozzy here.

Now, everything was going as well and normal as you would expect until that cowardly pile of Goliath dung, Lionheart, set me up with bad intel on Salem's orders to be ambushed and captured.

YES, I'M SURE, OZPIN! One of the last things I saw before Salem gouged my eyes out with her bare hands was Lionheart grovelling at her feet through some weird communication Grimm.

And no, Ruby, you aren't going to kill him. 'Dead' is too good and too quick for that backstabbing son of a wretch. When we get our hands on his sorry self, I'll have Qrow make him pay in ways that'll make you cringe.

Okay, I'm calm now. Thank you, Glynda. After that, I ended up being kept alive as a prisoner for the next ten years. I couldn't tell you why they did it, only that they weren't interested in information. The only contact I had with them was when they delivered food every once in a while, and the semi-regular visits from that zealous psychopath, Tyrian, to 'show me the love of the goddess,' his words, not mine.

So, after ten years of imprisonment and torture, I was quite surprised and more than a little paranoid and untrusting when one day I heard fighting outside the room they were keeping me in. Millicas found me and dragged me out of that hellhole.

Ruby, don't hug him so hard; I can hear him not breathing properly. I know you're sorry, guys, but to be honest, the only thing I want right now is to go home and hug the rest of my family again. We can go over the details another time.

I know I need medical attention, Glynda, but if their treatment didn't kill me by now, I doubt I'd suddenly drop dead from going back to Patch. Millicas carried me like a backpack all across Sanus after flying us back from the Grimmlands to Vacuo.

Okay, fine, Oz. I will go to Beacon to get checked over while you contact Tai and Crow. Yeah, Ruby told me. I hope my returning from the dead won't distract Yang from her Beacon initiation the day after tomorrow, or is it just tomorrow now? Ruby did say it was getting pretty late.

Well, let's get going. Thank you for carrying me with your Semblance, Glyn."

The afternoon sun spilled its warm glow into the cosy apartment living room, where three occupants patiently awaited their fourth member before departing for Kuoh Academy.

Millicas glanced up from his device's catalogue browsing as the soft click of a teacup interrupted his focus. "Thank you, Tarte," he said with a nod and a smile as the maid placed a cup on the coffee table. On the couch beside him, his raven-haired bishop received another cup of tea from Tarte, who then settled at Millicas' other side with her own cup.

Kiara checked her wristwatch and commented, "She's running a little late."

Millicas reassured her, "Don't worry too much. Ruby already texted me; she's on her way. They had a late start for their family breakfast because Yang's Bullhead from Beacon was delayed. She'll be here in a minute or two."

The past few days after his return from Remnant had been hectic yet rewarding. Ruby Rose had quickly joined his peerage as their first pawn, bound to him after the mission's completion.

Rather than permanently relocating to his world like Kiara and Tarte, Ruby and Millicas had chosen a unique arrangement. They used the Rainbow Bridge perk, allowing the younger girl to spend time with her family back in Patch while returning to Millicas' world as needed. This arrangement enabled her to start attending Kuoh Academy next week with the rest of them and be part of Millicas' peerage while maintaining her connection with her Remnant life.

The portal's familiar swirl interrupted Millicas' thoughts, and Ruby greeted them with excitement as she entered the living room from the Sweet Home.

"Hello, Team Millicas!"

Observing her, Millicas couldn't help but appreciate the benefits of the Body Tune-Up perk. Ruby had blossomed into a beautiful young woman, taller, her hair longer, and her curves more defined. She now looked how she did in the later volumes of the show.

In a flash of her semblance, the small huntress in training materialized sitting on her new king's lap, surrounded by rose petals. "Did you miss me, Millicas?" she asked with a radiant smile.

Millicas chuckled, "We literally saw each other yesterday, Ruby."

Pouting playfully, Ruby turned her gaze to her fellow redhead before hugging him tightly, her face against his chest. "Well, I did miss you."

Her crush on Millicas, which had developed after he saved her mother, had grown rapidly. Unlike the restrained love of Tarte or Kiara, Ruby embraced her feelings openly and unabashedly.

Hearing Kiara's soft laughter and seeing Tarte's jealous expression at Ruby's affectionate display, Millicas checked the time and decided it was time to move.

Patting Ruby's head gently, he stood up and addressed his companions, "As much as I enjoy relaxing with all of you lovely ladies, we have a prior appointment to keep."

Receiving a set of nods and a soft disappointed sound from his pawn Millicas made his way to one of the living room corners where their permanent Teleportation Circle was set up.

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