Greetings, prospective readers, and welcome back to Red Like Roses, Blue Like Violets: Volume One! Last chapter got us off to a fairly satisfactory start, and that's all the more encouragement for me to keep working on this thing. Also, after doing a bit of research, I decided to make a few changes to the storyline of RWBY, for the sake of preserving a couple of things. First off, I have great pleasure in announcing that, apart from my Ruby Rose X Minato Arisato ship, as well as my Yang Xiao Long X Ryoji Mochizuki/Thanatos ship, I also have plans to ship Blake X Sun, Weiss X Neptune, Renora, and Arkos. Additionally, for the sake of preserving my ships, the rest of Team SSSN will be joining Sun when he pals around with the others. Also, just for shits and giggles, so will Team CFVY. These characters will stick together throughout the next installment of my series and even journey to Atlas together. Additionally, I also plan to have Minato pick up a few of the other Wild Cards' physical abilities as well, such as Ren Amamyia's Third Eye and Yu Narukami's ability to run as fast as lightning (with blue lightning bolts trailing off of him as he does so, as a reference to the Arrowverse's version of Zoom. Well, at least, before he became the Black Flash. I mean, Harriet Bree is pretty much an expy of either Iris West as a Speedster or the Flash, so why not do something similar for another Speedster with Minato via using Izanagi's abilities?)

Well, outside of that, I don't really have anything else to talk about. So, in that spirit, let us start the game!

Chapter I: Red Meets Blue

World of Remnant-Kingdom of Vale

As the large, broken moon of Remnant shone amongst the stars in the night sky there was a movement amongst the shadows of the city's backstreets.

Marching through an alleyway was a group of five people. Four of them wore identical outfits consisting of sleek black suits with black undershirt, a red tie, red shades, black dress shoes, and black leather gloves, while the fifth member of the group, quite obviously their leader, was smoking a cigar and had ginger hair that covered his right eye and wore a white suit with a popped collar that had a red interior with a black undershirt and a gray ascot around his neck. The man also wore black gloves that reached up to his forearms, a pair of black dress pants, and black dress shoes. With the man were two of his most prized possessions: a sleek black bowler cap with a red stripe near the brim and a black feather sticking up out of it, along with a white and gray cane with a bit of red here and there, known as the Melodic Cudgel.

As the man in the white suit led his flunkies out of the alleyway and onto one of the main drags in the city, civilians nearby let out startled gasps of recognition before they began to get out of the way of the man and his henchmen as he led them through the streets.

As he looked around at all the people grabbing their children, holding them close as they retreated into the safety of their homes, Roman Torchwick couldn't help but give a self-satisfied smirk. Although he wasn't exactly the biggest, respected, or even feared name in Vale's criminal underworld, it did give the accomplished thief, liar, cheater, ladykiller, and all around criminal mastermind some measure of pride that normal people knew that if he was around, someone was up to no good, and that it was in their best interest to get the hell out of his way.

As Roman and his men swaggered their way up the street, their destination quickly came into sight. It was a Dust shop called From Dust 'til Dawn. And from the looks of things, it was still open for business despite the time of night it was.

About bloody time we found one, thought Roman as he and his men approached the door to the shop. When it came to robbing a store of any kind, it was preferable for the store to be close to closing up for the night. That way, there would be fewer, if any, people around and thus, a less likely chance of there being a cop, or worse, a huntsman snooping around. Plus, you wouldn't need to worry about security systems or alarms like you would if you tried to break into a store while it was closed.

Roman could easily recall the number of times he had been arrested by the cops back when he was still refining his technique. Oddly enough, and assuming huntsmen weren't involved, he always seemed to be able to talk, bribe, or if the occasion called for it, fight his way out of any situation, and escape any prison cell with effortless ease. Part of him wondered if that, somehow, was his Semblance: the ability to escape any situation or any confinement. Although, he wasn't entirely certain. After all, it was because Roman had talked his way out of a sticky situation that he was even robbing the Dust shop in front of him to begin with, and how he had been roped into working with his new employer and her allies. Although, he had to admit, his new boss was smokin' hot… in more ways than one. However, she was the black widow sort, he could tell. A siren through and through. She was the kind of woman who had a voice that would make you melt like ice into her hands, before she would kill you and make it sexy. Roman had known from the first moment he laid his eyes on her that she would be the death of him, one way or another.

His new co-workers, however… well, he really, really wanted to kill them, but sadly that would probably get himself and Neo both killed, be it because of their boss or another one of her associates. Honestly, dying in a hail of gunfire in some glorious last stand or being killed by either a huntsman or the hitman of an employer he had managed to piss off somehow weren't too far from how he'd always expected to shuffle off this mortal coil. But, Neo, his adopted daughter, his little girl, his legacy and heiress in this life of crime the two of them both lived… if anything happened to her because of him, he would never be able to live with himself.

Roman opened the door leading into the Dust shop, with his men filing in after him. As he expected, the shop appeared to be empty, apart from an eldery storekeeper who seemed as though he had started to suspect what was about to go down. Roman took the cigar from his mouth before he spoke.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?" Roman asked the shopkeeper as he tapped the ashes of his cigar onto the glass display case between himself and the shopkeeper, while one of his henchmen in black aimed what seemed to be blaster pistol of some sort at the shopkeeper, who quickly put up his hands in surrender.

"Please! Take my lien and leave!" the shopkeeper begged of the men who were robbing his store.

"Shh, shh, shh, shh," Roman shushed the frightened old man in front of him. "Calm down, we're not here for your money," he said before turning to his men. "Grab the Dust."

With a nod, one of the men produced a black case that contained several canisters of some kind. Two of the other men each grabbed one of the canisters and proceeded to walk over to a group of dispensers that held various types of Dust that had been ground into a fine powder, and attached their canisters to the dispensers and began filling them with Dust, while another thug produced another, empty black case, while the fourth thug continued to hold the storekeeper at gunpoint.

"Crystals," the thug holding the case demanded, his tone of voice suggesting that he had done this almost a thousand times before. "Burn, uncut."

As the shopkeeper complied with the thug's demands, one of his cohorts was on his way to fill up another canister of Dust, only to stop as the sound of rock music reached his ears. Turning towards the source of the music, the thug saw what looked like a kid clad in a red hooded cloak of some kind with their back turned to him, reading a magazine by the looks of it.

The thug heaved an irritated sigh of frustration as he turned to face the kid. "All right, kid,put your hands where I can see 'em," the thug demanded as he drew his weapon, a scimitar with a red blade and pointed it at the hooded kid, only to not get so much as a response from the kid, let alone compliance, much to his irritation.

"Hey, I said hands in the air!" the thug said as he started to make his way over towards the kid. When he reached the kid, he grabbed them and turned them around, asking "You got a death wish or somethin'?"

As the kid was turned around, their hood fell off, revealing them to be a young girl of around fifteen with red and black hair wearing a black and red blouse with a matching black and red combat skirt held up by a belt that had a silver rose-shaped clasp, black leggings, black and red boots, and a pair of large headphones with a red rose emblem on either side that were blasting music into her ears at full volume, which explained why the thug couldn't get a response out of her.

Now that the thug had her full attention, he motioned for her the girl to take off her headphones, which she did.

"Yes?" the girl, Ruby Rose, asked the thug before her with a neutral expression on her face.

"I said, put your hands in the air, now!" the thug demanded of the girl before him, causing her face to fall.

"Are you… robbing me?" Ruby asked the thug before her, raising her eyebrow at the thug, her tone of voice held a hint of are you kidding me?

"Yes!" the thug said, now starting to get thoroughly irritated with the little brat standing in front of him.

"Ahh…" Ruby said as a smile began to cross her face, Whoever this guy was, he was about to have a bad night.

Before the thug could do anything, Ruby let out a battle cry and kicked the goon across the store just in time for Roman, who was examining a Fire Dust crystal, and the other flunkies to catch sight of the man crash into the front wall of the building, putting him out of commission for the time being. Heaving a sigh, Roman motioned for one of the other thugs to go and deal with the annoyance that had sprung up.

The thug ran up to Ruby and aimed his gun at her. "Freeze!" he shouted, right before he was drop kicked by Ruby, sending both the thug and herself sailing through the window. As the thug tumbled to the ground, out of commission for the time being, and Roman and his other three flunkies looked through the shattered window to see what they were up against, Ruby slid to a stop, pulling a large red object from her back, which quickly unfolded into a massive mechanical scythe-high powered impact sniper rifle hybrid known as Crescent Rose, with which she stopped to make a heroic pose with, smirking back at the mobsters before twirling her scythe, the tip of which smashed part of the pavement when it hit, before pausing her music player in order to better focus on the fight.

What in the…? thought Roman, looking at the little girl who had just gotten in the way of his heist. After a moment of silence, Roman spoke up. "Ooookayyyy… get her!"

Before the thugs could so much as lean towards the girl in the red hood, a bolt of plasma in the shade of blue that one would equate with the feeling of the same name struck the ground before them, causing the criminals and Ruby to jump back in surprise and fright.

"I think you mean 'get them.'"

(Persona 3: Midsummer Knight's Dream OST: Mass Destruction: Lotus Juice Remix)

Ruby, Roman, and the white suited criminal's gang of thugs turned towards the source of the newest arrival on the scene, which was revealed to be a young man of around seventeen that neither Ruby nor even Roman had ever seen before in their entire lives.

The mysterious new arrival bright blue hair that draped over the boy's right eye, which was a shade of silvery blue, if his exposed left one was anything to go by. He wore a black blazer with a yellow scarf wrapped around his neck, a pair of earphones that bore the image of what seemed to be a clock of some kind that was painted in a sickly shade of green that were connected to a microphone that seemed to be connected to a Scroll via wireless communication draped around his shoulders, a blue undershirt, a pair of dark gray khaki pants that were held up by a black leather belt that had a scabbard attached to it that was undoubtedly for the gladius he held in his right hand, which seemed to also have the ability to fire plasma bolts from it, and a pair of black dress shoes.

As the mysterious boy walked over to stand by Ruby and entered into an unusual starting stance for swordplay, the red hooded girl had to admit, this boy was kinda cute… or would that be handsome? Ugh, whatever it was, there was a funny air about him, and whatever it was, it was drawing her in like a moth to the flame. It was almost like this boy, whoever he was, would never so much as think of letting her down.

Ugh, was this what love at first sight felt like? Ruby shook her head before returning her focus to the white suited criminal and his flunkies. While she had devoted her life to follow in her parents' footsteps to become a Huntress as they sounded far cooler and romantic than the police force, and the fact that they were just like the heroes and heroines in the stories that her mother, father, and older sister had read to her before bed, she couldn't afford to get distracted by tall, blue, and handsome when they were about to face off against a gangster and his thugs.

Roman, for his part, had to admit that this new irritation who had decided to get in the way of his plans had a certain charm to him. While Blue may not have been as stylishly dressed as he was, the outfit he wore combined with that hairstyle did give off a certain something that Roman couldn't help but be impressed by, and the look on his face, within his eyes, and the way he held his weapon radiated confidence and skill. Although… for some strange reason, he kinda sounded like one of the people that he and Neo had been roped into working with. Then again, Roman was often told that he himself sounded like a lot of people, from Taurus' Lieutenant in the White Fang to even video game announcers.

Regardless, however, both Red and Blue had decided to get in the way of his plans, and unfortunately, they had to pay the price for their interference. Not that it was anything personal, of course, but a job was still a job.

The boy, Minato Arisato, had to admit that he liked his new style and his new toys. On top of his new outfit and the fact that he was now at least several inches taller than he had been prior to his becoming the Great Seal, his new futuristic Cell Phone-like device, apparently called a Scroll, had all of his old songs from his MP3 player back home, including what seemed to be some new remixes of those songs that had apparently sprung up after he had become the Great Seal. Although, he'd have to find time to take a listen to the new and unfamiliar songs that were under the "Seekers of The Truth" and "Phantom Thieves of Hearts" playlists when he found time, and he found that he had a MASSIVE amount of the world's currency in his name, enough to know that, regardless of the exchange rate between lien and yen if such a thing existed, he had enough money to buyout nearly every major corporation in Japan, including the Kirijo Group and its former parent company, the Nanjo Group, and at least several major companies on Remnant, assuming they'd sell to a mere teenager, of course. Even better, his new earphones, which seemed to be designed with a clock motif in the same shade of green that once blanketed Iwatodai and Tatsumi Port Island when the Dark Hour had struck, had amazing sound quality and outside noise filter capabilities. In fact, he hadn't even heard the window of the shop he now stood in front of shatter when the girl in red that he now stood beside came sailing out of it with the thug, who had now gotten back onto his feet and regrouped with the others as they gawked at Minato. Also, the fact that his new sword, a gladius not dissimilar used the the one used by his old Thanatos Persona, apparently called Plume of Dusk, could fire plasma bolts, which probably would've been a big help fighting the Shadows of Tartarus and the ones that roamed the Dark Hour, was admittedly pretty awesome.

Roman seemed to have recovered from the shock and surprise of Minato's arrival, because the next thing out of his mouth was "Well, you heard the man. Get them!"

As the four black suited thugs began to rush the two teenagers, Minato looked at his red-clad ally with a meaningful look on his face. "I'll take two, you take two," he said.

"Two each? Got it," Ruby said with a nod as she and Minato made their way towards the thugs that were heading towards them, their red bladed scimitars drawn and ready for some bloodshed.

Minato blocked a swing from one of his opponents before punching him in the stomach with his free hand, stunning his foe long enough for him to deflect a swing from his other opponent before kneeing the man in the stomach, causing the man to double over in pain before Minato delivered a roundhouse kick that sent the man flying several feet away, knocked out cold before his feet had even left the ground.

Ruby, meanwhile, was making excellent use of her scythe as an anchor for her body to spin around and kick one of the black-suited thugs in the face before using the blunt side of the scythe like a hammer to slam the thug into the ground, knocking him out cold while using the recoil from her scythe's sniper rifle function to evade another flunkie's gunfire, leaving an inexplicable trail of rose petals in her wake.

Within a matter of minutes, the last of Roman's henchmen went down to the ground, dispatched by a combined kick from both Minato and Ruby, the man's inert form sliding down the street before stopping at the white-suited gangster's feet as police sirens began to fill the air, gradually getting louder as the squad cars they belonged to got closer to the scene of the crime.

"Pathetic," Minato scoffed as he did a few practice swipes with his sword and put his hand in his pocket as he and Ruby stared down at the gangster before them. "I guess henchmen don't hench like they used to, do they?"

"Agreed," Roman said, looking down at the unconscious flunky before him. "You were worth every cent, truly you were," he told the man before returning his attention to the two teens before him.

"Well, Red, Blue, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening," Roman said, allowing his cigar to fall from his mouth before smothering the lit end of it with his cane before pointing Melodic Cudgel at the two teenagers. "And as much as I'd like to stick around…" he continued as a targeting sight popped open from the bottom of his cane. "I'm afraid this is where we part ways. Please, do tell me when the wedding is."

Both Minato and Ruby shot the white-clad gang leader a quizzical look just before what looked to be an explosive round fired at the two teenagers from the end of the gangster's cane. While Minato dove out of the way of the projectile, Ruby used the recoil from Crescent Rose's sniper rifle function to simply jump over the blast, causing it to tear up a bit of the street when it impacted the ground.

Ah, yes, thought Minato as he pulled himself off of the ground, dusting himself off as Ruby landed back onto the ground, only to find that Roman was nowhere to be found. The classic 'gangster-has-a-weapon-hidden-in-his-cane' cliche… that one never gets old…

After only a few short seconds of looking around, a familiar sound reached both Ruby and Minato's ears. Turning their heads towards the source of the noise, the two teenagers saw Roman climbing up the side of a nearby building via the fire escape. Either he had some form of air transportation ready and waiting or he was trying to find a place to hide. Although, a rooftop wasn't exactly an ideal hiding spot from the authorities or someone as skilled as the girl he had just fought off all of the gangster's men alongside.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby saw the old storekeeper of the shop that she had been in as it was getting robbed looking out at the street, evidently having watched as the entire battle unfolded. Turning her head to look at the old man, Ruby asked him "You okay if we go after him?"

The old man nodded and made a noise that sounded like an "uh-huh."

Nodding her head in understanding, Ruby turned to look at Minato. "You got a way to get up there?" she asked the bluenette.

"I think I can manage," Minato said, causing Ruby to nod before she and Minato raced towards the building that Roman had been climbing up. Ruby used the recoil caused by Crescent Rose in order to propel herself up the side of the building. Minato, meanwhile, aimed the business end of Plume of Dusk down towards the ground and held down the button that allowed his new toy to fire for a few seconds before releasing it, discharging a charged-up energy blast that left a large crater in the middle of the street and sent Minato rocketing up the side of the building and up to the rooftop, where he landed firmly on his feet mere seconds behind Ruby.

"Hey!" Ruby called out to the fleeing gangster, causing him to stop running.

"We're not done yet!" Minato added as he aimed his sword at Roman and moved to stand beside Ruby.

Roman growled in frustration at the sound of the two teenagers' voices. "Persistent,,,"

The very next second, a large airship of some kind rose up from the opposite side of the building before shining a large spotlight directly into Minato and Ruby's faces, blinding the two of them for a moment as the wind caused by the ship's engines seemed to push them back as the ramp lowered for Roman to climb into the air vehicle.

Once he was safely onboard, Roman pulled out the Fire Dust crystal that he had been examining before his robbery had gone so far south and turned to face Minato and Ruby, a cocky smirk plastered on his face.

"End of the line, kiddos!" Roman yelled as he threw the crystal, which landed at Ruby and Minato's feet, before firing another explosive round from Melodic Cudgel at the crystal, forcing Minato and Ruby to shield themselves as the explosive round hit the crystal, causing it to create a large explosion. Roman let out an exhilarated laugh at the sight of the explosion, clearly thinking that he had taken the two brats out of the picture for good. As the red-tinged smoke cleared, however, Roman's face fell at the sight of a middle-aged woman with blonde hair wearing a white blouse with a black corset, black heels, a pair of bifocals, and a black cape that had a purple underside holding a riding crop as though it was a magic wand and she was using magic to create a barrier to protect Minato and Ruby, both of whom couldn't help but stop and stare in awe at the woman before them.

Pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, the woman scoffed and waved her riding crop, causing the shield she had created to disperse into several beams of energy that struck the ship, causing it to start shaking violently like a leaf caught in a windstorm, causing Roman to nearly his footing and drop his cane. After a moment, however, Roman was able to regain his footing and make his way to the cockpit, where his new boss sat, struggling for control of the airship.

"We got a huntress," Roman told his boss.

"I'll deal with her, take the stick," the woman told Roman as a black mask made of very durable glass formed on her face, completely obscuring it and making the entirety of her eyes glow a burning shade of yellow as she made her way towards the entrance ramp to face the huntress who was after them.

As the woman looked out upon the rooftop from the shadows, she saw three people standing there. One of them was an older woman holding a riding crop that she recognized as one of her enemy's pawns. The woman supposed she should have expected the arrogant old man to try to meddle in her plans. With her was what seemed to be an adorable little girl that was holding a mechanical scythe that was bigger than she was. Honestly, it made the woman wonder if she was compensating for something, namely her height. But, there was something else about that girl… those big, pretty silver eyes… something about those eyes made her skin crawl…

But, it was the third person, a young man with blue hair, that made the woman stare. There was something… different about him. True, the woman had to admit that he was rather handsome, but there was something more to it than that. She could see it within his eyes, those windows into his soul… the woman didn't know why, but somehow, she knew that his soul was a veritable sea of secrets that many would waste their entire lives searching to obtain and unlock. Those silvery blue eyes shone with wisdom, serenity, inner peace, and yet still held an immense power that seemed to border on omnipotence. If she could put it into words, looking into the eyes of the blue haired teenager was on par making eye contact with a benevolent god or an omnipotent savior who had chosen to become a mere human and sought to bring peace, hope, justice, and love back to a world that the woman knew for a fact had long since forsaken and forgotten not only the value of what such things meant, but the very meaning of those words, and unlocked every last known secret the universe itself had to offer in order to accomplish this goal.

It was… unsettling, to say the very least.

The woman forcefully shook herself out of her thoughts and focused her mind back on the fight that she and her henchman were currently caught up in, and just in time too, as the woman holding the riding crop struck a stance and aimed the crop directly over the airship and fired an energy blast. When the blast detonated storm clouds that were nearly bursting with lightning appeared, and when the blonde woman waved her crop again, large spikes of hail rained down from the storm clouds and pierced through the airship. One in particular almost pierced through Roman, and it would have had he not leaned to the side in time.

As the woman onboard the airship emerged from the shadows and onto the ramp of the airship, the woman holding the riding crop narrowed her gaze at her dangerously, and if it had been one thing that Minato had learned during the last year of his previous life, it was when a woman looks at someone like the way the blonde was looking at the woman on the airship, it only meant one thing.

All Hell was about to break loose.

A small handful of fire appeared in the hand of the woman aboard the airship, which she proceeded to launch at the blonde, only for the older woman to use her riding crop to summon another shield and deflect the blast. However, some of the fire blast seemed to have splattered over the barrier, allowing the woman on the airship to manipulate the splatter into a large plume of fire, forcing the older blonde to backflip out of the way of the blast.

Quickly recovering from the attack, the blonde woman waved her riding crop, freezing, then manipulating the broken pieces of the rooftop they were all standing on into a large projectile before launching it at the airship, where the woman onboard quickly demolished it with a few blasts of fire, only for the older blonde woman to reform it just as fast as it had been destroyed, causing Roman to make evasive maneuvers with the airship, thus causing the projectile to impact on the roof of the ship.

With another flick of her riding crop, the older blonde caused her projectile to separate into three separate, smaller projectiles that began to move around the ship in a serpentine pattern so as to make them harder for the woman on the airship to destroy.

However, this tactic failed to deter the woman, who completely vaporized the fragments in a single blast of power, leaving glowing orange ashes to gently fall and disappear.

The blonde woman turned to glare at Minato and Ruby, both of whom nodded in understanding, having gotten the message behind the glare. As Ruby's scythe transformed into its sniper rifle mode, Minato got his gladius ready to fire. However, as Minato fired his plasma bolts and Ruby unloaded several high-caliber rounds from her weapon, the woman aboard the airship blocked both types of projectiles with her bare hands before using her strange power to cause several columns of fire to appear underneath Minato, Ruby, and the older blonde, forcing the three of them to dive out of the way of the attack, thus giving enough time for Roman and the mysterious woman onboard to make their escape.

As the ramp closed behind her, the mysterious woman made her way back to the front of the cockpit and took the seat behind Roman.

"Fancy flying there, Torchwick," the woman said, her expression displeased as she looked at Roman.

"Well, when you've been in the criminal underworld for as long as I have, it becomes exceptionally prudent to learn how to operate any kind of vehicle, especially if a heist goes south like this," Roman explained with a smile as he looked back at his boss. "Say… that Mercury Black kid… he wouldn't happen to have any relatives in Vale, would he?"

The woman narrowed her gaze at Roman. "Not that I'm aware of… why do you ask?" she asked the white suited gangster.

"Well, it's just that Blue back there… kind of sounded like him. Kinda spooky how many people in Remnant sound similar to one another, don't you think?" Roman asked his boss, a smile on his face as he spoke.

The woman nodded silently in agreement. It was somewhat disconcerting and occasionally eerie to hear uncanny similarities in the voices of certain people. But, by far the most eerie was the similarity in her mistress' voice and the voice of that Sanctum Academy ace… what was her name again? Pyrrha Nikos?

Regardless, both Roman and his boss had a funny feeling that this wouldn't be the last time they would cross paths with neither Red nor Blue, a thought that the woman couldn't help but smile at.

Wherever this encounter was going to lead, the woman had a hunch that it was going to be very, very interesting.

Vale Police Department-Interrogation Wing

When Ruby had asked for the autograph of Huntress who had come to the aid of her and her handsome blue-haired ally, the both of them getting dragged down to the police station and the both of them getting stuck in two separate interrogation rooms, where she proceeded to get lectured by the Huntress who had come to their aid, was far from what she had had in mind.

"I hope you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady. You and that boy put yourselves and others in great danger," the Huntress said.

"They started it!" Ruby exclaimed defensively.

"If it were up to me, the two of you would be sent home, with a pat on the back…" the Huntress said before catching sight of Ruby's hopeful expression. "And a slap on the wrist!" she snapped, slapping her riding crop on the table, causing Ruby to squeak and jump back in fright.

"But… there is someone here who would like to meet you," the Huntress said before moving aside.

Through the open doorway emerged a man with flyaway gray hair wearing a wiry pair of spectacles, a black coat with a black vest and a bright green turtleneck with a silver brooch underneath, black pants held up by a black leather belt, and black dress shoes. In one hand, he held a plate of freshly baked cookies, while in the other he held a large coffee mug.

"Ruby Rose," the man said before he took a closer look at Ruby. "You… have silver eyes."

Ruby could make neither heads nor tails of this statement, as made evident by her expression and the fact that she could only seem to stammer out "Uh… umm…"

"So," the man said as Glynda pulled up footage of Ruby and the blue-haired boy's fight with the gangsters. "Who is that young man you fought so flawlessly alongside, and where did you learn how to use that weapon of yours?"

"Well… I don't know who he is, exactly, he didn't really say his name. Honestly, I'm surprised we worked together as well as we did, considering we had literally just met," Ruby explained, nervousness evident in her voice as she spoke.

"I see… and the weapon?" the man asked Ruby.

"Signal Academy," Ruby said, nervousness still evident in her voice.

"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" the man asked Ruby, a serious look on his face.

"Well, one teacher in particular," Ruby admitted.

"I see…" the man said, placing the plate of cookies on the table in front of Ruby, who looked up at the man, who nodded. Ruby slowly reached for one of the cookies and ate it. After that, Ruby proceeded to start scarfing down the cookie as fast as she could.

"It's just that… I've only seen one other scythe wielder of that skill before, a dusty old crow," the man said, wistfully looking at the ceiling as he spoke.

Ruby started to say something, but her mouth was too full of cookies, causing the man to look at her. Once she had finished swallowing her mouthful of cookies, Ruby continued what she was trying to say. "Sorry. That's my Uncle Qrow. He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing, now I'm all like-" she said before making a series of karate noises, complete with poses to match.

"So I've noticed," the man said, setting his coffee mug down on the table before taking the seat across from Ruby. "And what is an adorable little girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"

"Well… I want to be a Huntress," Ruby said.

"You want to slay monsters?" the man asked Ruby.

"I only have two more years of training left at Signal, then I'm going to apply to Beacon. See, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntress because I wanna help people, and our parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, ah, well, might as well make a career out of it. I mean, the police are all right, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so romantic and exciting and…" Ruby rambled on before she made a noise that sounded like she was choking on her own excitement.

The man sitting at the table and the Huntress who was standing nearby looked at Ruby with an expression that clearly conveyed what they were thinking. Wow. Just… Wow.

After a moment, the man sitting at the table spoke up. "Do you know who I am?" he asked Ruby.

"You're Professor Ozpin. You're the Headmaster at Beacon," Ruby said.

After a moment, Ozpin spoke again."Hello," he said.

"Nice to meet you," Ruby said.

"So, you want to come to my school?" Ozpin asked Ruby.

"More than anything," Ruby replied.

Ozpin cast a look over at the Huntress standing nearby, who made a noise before looking away, clearly annoyed.

"Well, okay."

A Short While Later...

Minato was taking a little nap in the chair he was currently sitting in when the door opened, causing him to wake up and look towards the door to see who was entering.

"Hello there," the new arrival, who seemed to be a man with gray hair wearing glasses and an outfit consisting of black and green holding a large cup of hot chocolate in his hand.

"Hello," Minato said, looking at the new arrival as he sat down across from him.

"My name is Ozpin, Headmaster of the Huntsman school Beacon Academy. Might I inquire as to yours?" Ozpin asked Minato.

"Minato Arisato, nice to meet you," Minato replied, a small smile on his face.

Ozpin took a sip of his hot chocolate before he spoke. "Would I be correct in assuming that you are the aid the God of Light sent to help expedite my mission?"

"Well, that depends. Would I be correct in assuming that you are the agent he sent me to help?" Minato asked, a small smile on his face.

"Indeed I would," Ozpin said with a nod. "The God of Light mentioned that you have had experience fighting monsters akin to the Creatures of Grimm. However, he didn't tell me much outside of that. What can you tell me about your experience?"

Knowing that it would be in his benefit to tell Ozpin the full extent of his experience, Minato heaved a sigh and began to tell Ozpin his story. About the Dark Hour, the Shadows, and all of the hardships and betrayals he had gone through throughout his journey to put an end to the Dark Hour and save the world, sacrificing his own life in order to defeat a pair of entities called Nyx and Erebus, the latter of whom sought to destroy the world. And of course, he told him about the power of Persona, minus the fact that he had to shoot himself in the head with his gun-shaped Evoker in order to summon them in the first place.

Ozpin listened to Minato's story with the utmost attention and didn't speak up until he had finished. "Sounds like you fought quite a brutal and bloody war against these… Shadows, as you call them… and the fact that you had to sacrifice yourself in order to save the world… and the fact that you died so young too… it is truly unfair to you…" he said sadly.

"Well, life's not fair. But, I don't regret my sacrifice. I might have died young back in the world I left behind, but I have no regrets, as my death saved countless lives. And honestly, if I had the chance, I would go back and do it all over again," Minato said.

Ozpin nodded before he took a sip of his hot chocolate. "Let us hope that it doesn't come to that," he said. "In any case, Minato, I would be honored to have you as a student at Beacon Academy, where you can learn about the history of Remnant and hone your techniques that seemed to be quite effective against these Shadows so that they may be of better use against the Grimm, as well as the enemies that you will no doubt face while here in Remnant. In addition, I would like you to work alongside not only myself but some associates whom I have recruited in order to help complete my mission. Do we have an accord?"

Minato thought about Ozpin's offer for a moment. "Well, considering the fact that I know absolutely nothing about this world, its history, or how to fight the dark creatures and the other threats that terrorize it, plus the fact that we're supposed to be working together anyways, I'd would be an idiot to say no," he said with a smile.

"Excellent. I will have the necessary paperwork filled out and arrange to have you provided with a faked, or in this case, new, identity," Ozpin said, a pleased smile on his face.

Minato smiled and raised an eyebrow. "You can do that?" he asked.

"You'd be surprised how many times I've had to fake my identity, with as many times as I've been reincarnated," Ozpin said, a small smile on his face as he held out his hand, which Minato took.

The very next instant, Minato heard an all-too-familiar shattering noise in the back of his mind as time seemed to stand still.

Thou Art I, I Am Thou

Thou Hast Established A New Bond

It Brings Thee Closer To Evolution

Thou Shalt Once More Be Blessed By The Hierophant Arcana

MINATO ARISATO HAS ESTABLISHED THE HEADMASTER OZPIN SOCIAL LINK OF THE HIEROPHANT ARCANA!

The very next moment, time seemed to unfreeze and Ozpin cleared his throat. "Well, I do believe that we've kept the others waiting for quite long enough. But first, let me see your Scroll. That way I can provide you with the proper information for boarding the airship," he said. Minato nodded and handed over his Scroll while Ozpin produced his own. After a few seconds, their contact information was exchanged and the two allies exited the room.

Minato followed Ozpin through the halls of the Police station to the lobby, where Ruby, who had an expression on her face that suggested that Christmas had come early for her, and the Huntress from earlier were waiting.

"Now then, Miss Rose, I believe it would be best that you catch the next ship back to Patch. Your father and uncle would bury me alive if you missed the last ship heading home," Ozpin said to Ruby, who nodded vigorously, bursting at the seams with excitement. "As for you, Mr. Arisato, do you by chance have a place to stay for the night?"

"Yeah, I'm staying at a hotel here in the city. Seems like a pretty cozy place," Minato said with a nod.

"Excellent. Well, this has been quite an eventful evening, so I do believe that I will be returning to the Academy. Miss Rose, Mr. Arisato, I will see you both bright and early tomorrow morning," said Ozpin, much to the Huntress' apparent confusion as she followed Ozpin out the door, leaving Ruby and Minato alone in the Police station.

"You know, I never did catch your name when that gangster and that woman aboard the airship were trying to kill us," Minato said, snapping Ruby out of her train of thought.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Name's Ruby Rose!" said Ruby, holding out her hand to shake Minato's.

"Minato Arisato, pleased to meet you, Miss Rose," said Minato, shaking her hand as the two of them left the police station together.

"You know, I was actually kinda surprised. I mean, we literally just met tonight, and we were fighting those crooks together like we'd been on a team together for years. What was that about?" Ruby asked Minato.

"What can I say? I guess my fighting style is compatible with yours. Still, it was kinda spooky how easily we worked together," Minato commented.

"Yeah… well, I guess I'd better get going before my ship takes off! I'll see you tomorrow on the airship to Beacon!" said Ruby as she started to run off in what Minato could only assume was the direction of the airship docking station.

"Yeah, take care!" Minato called after her before pulling out his Scroll. "Okay, now where is that hotel that Philemon set me up at…?"

The Following Day...

As he stood on board the airship heading for Beacon Academy, Minato couldn't help but let out an impressive whistle at, well, everything. The advanced technology onboard the ship, used in the students' weapons, and generally all over the place was something that he'd thought he'd only see in movies or read about in books.

This alone was proof enough that he was in a world completely removed from his own, and that he was gearing up to face a completely new threat.

"Well, hello there, handsome."

A voice from behind caused Minato to turn around and come face-to-face with a girl around his age wearing a somewhat-revealing outfit with long blonde hair and magenta eyes. Ruby was standing nearby, an incredibly nervous look on her face.

"Yes, can I help you?" Minato asked the busty blonde in front of him.

"Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's big sis," the blonde, Yang, said and held out her hand to Minato.

"Minato Arisato, pleasure to meet you," Minato said, shaking Yang's hand as he looked between the two siblings, who looked nothing alike. Which means they're either half-siblings or they're sisters in a best friends kind of way. I'm going to assume the former, Minato thought to himself.

"So, Rubes here was telling me about how you two teamed up to take down those crooks robbing that Dust store. As Ruby's big sister, I hereby demand that you give me the dirt on what that's all about," Yang said, her hands on her hips and a teasing smile on her face as she looked at Minato.

"Yang, I told you, we just met that night, there's nothing between us," Ruby said, her face turning bright red with embarrassment.

"And she's absolutely right, there's nothing between us, especially since we had just met last night," Minato confirmed. "Besides, I thought she could use some backup against those thugs."

"Uh-huh… we'll just see about that… but, either way, if you hurt my baby sister, I'll snap your neck," Yang warned Minato.

"Duly noted," said Minato before his attention was turned away from the conversation by a nearby news report that displayed the mugshot of the white-suited criminal he and Ruby had confronted last night.

"The robbery was led by nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you, Lisa."

The screen changed topics to another story and reporter. Beside her was a picture of a group of protesters on the streets, along with an insignia of a red wolf's head with three claw marks over it.

"Thank you, Cyril. In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted-"

Before the newscaster could finish, however, the feed cut out and a hologram of a woman that both Minato and Ruby recognized as the Huntress from last night appeared in its place.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon," the hologram of the Huntress began.

"Who's that?" Yang asked both Minato and Ruby, only for her question to be answered a moment later.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch," the woman, now identified as Glynda Goodwitch, continued. "You are among the privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with knowledge and training to protect our world."

After Glynda was done, the hologram disappeared and Minato let out a soft chuckle at the words the hologram had spoken.

Peace. Right. If that were the case, I'd still be in unbearable agony, chained to a giant door and getting yanked around by humanity's collective death wish, thought Minato, a small, amused smile on his face. Still though, the fact that her name is GLYNDA GOODWITCH, and the school's headmaster is named Ozpin… what's next, Beacon Academy is made out of solid emerald? The single largest threat to the world is a wicked witch in some dark citadel with an army of soldiers, monsters, and pawns?

Minato couldn't help but chuckle at that thought in particular. If that's the case, Ruby had better keep an eye on her slippers, Minato mused, a smirk still on his face as he glanced over at Yang and Ruby, who seemed to be having some sort of sibling bonding moment as they looked out the window of the airship. Apparently, the combat school the two girls used to go to was visible from Beacon Academy, which Yang told her sister was their home now.

However, the touching moment was quickly ruined by some blonde guy wearing armor over casual clothes with a sword and shield on his back, who was currently vomiting his lungs out from what seemed to be air sickness nearby, and then have it get even worse when said blonde proceeded to get vomit on Yang's shoe, causing both sisters to freak out in disgust.

Minato heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes as the two girls freaked out.

He had a funny feeling that this was going to be a looooooooong journey.

And thus concludes chapter one! Well, I think that things are going pretty well here thus far. So, if you liked what you saw here, then be sure to fav, follow, and review, and I'll see you guys next time for Minato's arrival at Beacon Academy!