Blue Destination

Prologue: A Scattered Moment

"Now it's time to say goodbye

To the things we loved

And the innocence of youth

How the time seemed to fly

From our carefree lives

And the solitude and peace we always knew"

He was injured but still alive.

There were all sorts of noises around him. Gunshots and chains shackling echoed. Yet he only focused on the burning car wreckage in front of him.

He couldn't find any words to speak or the urge to yell. Silence had afflicted him.

Why?

Why did his parents had to die?

One moment they were alive and well, driving in their car with him after a long day and crossing the Moonlight Bridge. And the next moment, they were gone. He was outside of the car as it was destroyed and on fire – the images of bloodied, lifeless corpses in a blazing inferno were forever embedded into his psyche.

For some reason, the sky had taken on a sickly green hue along with the full moon, not to mention there were those odd sounds he could faintly hear. However, those details were the farthest things from his mind right now.

He didn't know what to think. It all happened so quickly. What kind of sick joke was this? He was only a 7-year-old, for crying out loud.

To him, time had stopped in his darkest hour. The life he once knew had went up in flames.

What was he supposed to do now?

Was there any point to living anymore?

He didn't know the answer to these questions.

What answer would be given to him?

Only time would tell.

The 7th Generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon, Aigis, was desperate.

She had grown aware of the power gap between her and her target: Death, the thirteenth arcana that was never meant to be. Dispatched to eliminate it, and by extension the Fall, she engaged it in battle. Although Death was in an incomplete state after being split into thirteen Shadows, it was slowly beginning to overpower her. The weapons she was equipped with and her Persona weren't enough. To her chagrin, their battle caused casualties – two unsuspecting humans were killed. She had hoped to avoid that outcome, but her mission was to stop Death even while they were both surrounded by humans in transmogrified states on this bridge during the Dark Hour.

Aigis took notice of an apparent survivor while clashing with Death but didn't fully process it until recently. There was a human child with blue hair and gray eyes, presumably the son of the two that perished from the fighting. He was active during the Dark Hour interestingly enough. And judging from his facial expression and body language, he was more fixated on his parents than her and Death.

This was her chance.

"I have no other options," Aigis admitted aloud. She was created for the sole purpose of destroying Shadows. Her creators warned her that if she couldn't succeed in eliminating her target, then there was only one thing left to do.

She had to seal Death away, and fortunately there was a suitable vessel near them.

The method of sealing was never properly tested. The technology that was being used was initially meant to capture Shadows but also harness their powers for time manipulation as part of the Kirijo Group's former research intention before the previous leader turned to nihilism and the Fall. However the latest head of the Kirijo Group allowed Aigis to have it as a last resort prototype because of how high the stakes were. Aigis just had to make sure she did this properly.

The blonde android transformed her right arm into a cannon, which then unleashed a beam of white energy. Death didn't think a tiny beam would affect it, but it was soon proven wrong as it became engulfed by white light when the beam made contact. Aigis resorted to Orgia mode to withstand Death's struggling and use as much energy as possible to maintain the sealing process. Slowly but surely, she was tethering Death while approaching the blue-haired boy.

Right when she was about to complete her mission by sealing Death, the young boy averted his gaze and looked directly at her. Aigis couldn't help but observe how lost he seemed to be from his eyes. She wasn't certain if he knew what was about to happen or cared. This boy had just lost his parents because of her mission and was about to become a tool to be used for sealing Death. For an android, she thought the end justified the means.

But for some reason, she felt a strange sensation inside her. She had never felt this way. Was this what humans would call... guilt?

That brief instance of hesitation proved to be her undoing as Death suddenly let out a ghastly wail. Although it was currently trapped by Aigis's beam, it was able to manifest a dark orb of energy from its mouth. In response, Aigis hastened and navigated her beam to seal Death into the youth in front of her, shrinking and forcing the entity into the boy's body. The sealing process was almost finished as the white light around Death was now enveloping the boy as well. Death was steadily merging into the boy's body, but as a last resort it released its orb towards Aigis before visibly disappearing completely. Aigis hadn't dismissed her beam yet, and now Death's attack was creating some sort of collision with it. Sensing a vast increase in unstable energy, Aigis ceased firing once she noticed the two energies engulfing each other and producing an even larger energy sphere that was black and white.

Aigis didn't know what she and Death created, but she instantly acknowledged that she was being pulled forward with an alarming amount of force. The unknown energy ball was trying to drag her into it. Debris from her fight was swiftly being sucked up like a vacuum cleaner.

The boy she had recently sealed Death into was taken by surprise also, snapping out of his trance. He was lifted off the ground, and though he scrambled to grab a hold of something, he was regrettably taken away by the massive energy orb as his being was consumed by it. Aigis attempted to stop herself from being sucked in by jamming either her leg or arm into the concrete. Unfortunately, her Orgia mode had just exhausted all of her available energy, weakening her enough to where she couldn't muster the power.

With no alternatives coming to her, Aigis resigned to her fate.

'Perhaps this is for the best,' Aigis mused as she closed her eyes. 'I succeeded in my mission, yet sadly I involved an innocent boy who had nothing to do with any of this. You will not be able to hear me, young man, but I am deeply sorry for my actions.'

Those were her final thoughts before she too was swallowed up by black and white energy.

Soon after that, there was only silence. Aigis and the boy disappeared along with what consumed them.

Earth was now spared with an alternate twist of fate.

Yang Xiao Long was scared, exhausted, but determined.

Despite the cuts and bruises she had, the small blonde girl believed she was close to finding her mother. She had traveled quite a bit to the location her clue marked. Of course she was tired and suffering minor injuries, not to mention pulling a wagon that had her sleeping younger sister Ruby in it, but Yang needed to know why her biological mom abandoned her and her dad after she was born.

Yang saw how distraught her dad was when her stepmother, Summer Rose, went on a mission and never returned. He was an emotional mess. Not long afterwards, she discovered a clue among her dad's possessions that suggested a possible location of her biological mother. She knew her dad was deeply hurt from losing two lovers, and so she went on this journey when her dad wasn't home to find answers.

"I can't stop now. Almost there..." Yang muttered to herself, checking on Ruby every now and then to see how she was doing. Yang could barely stand but her willpower kept her going.

It had been a few hours since she started her search, but she finally reached her destination. There was a dilapidated house in the middle of the woods. It looked as if nobody had been here for years.

Yang began to doubt if her mom was even here while trying to make sure she was at the correct location. Why would any normal person be here?

The young girl was so distracted by the house she nearly overlooked someone lying on their back on the ground near it.

There was a boy about her age from the looks of it here. His hair was a cool shade of blue. He seemed to be unconscious. This was definitely no place to be sleeping, so Yang quickly knew something was wrong.

"H-hey! Are you okay?" Yang ran up to the boy and shook his body, wondering if he was alive or not even though she was very drained. He didn't look too injured aside from some tiny scratches and his clothes looking a little dirty. She then placed her ear over his chest to listen for heartbeats. Thankfully, he appeared to be still breathing normally. Yang sighed in relief.

The blue-haired boy started to regain consciousness. His eyes felt heavy, so he tried his best to wake up. A relieved smile replaced the worried expression on Yang's face once she saw gray eyes.

Gray eyes, huh? They weren't silver like Ruby or Summer's, but they sorta reminded her of them nonetheless.

The next moment, Yang found herself flinching as her attention was then redirected to the abandoned house upon hearing what sounded like feral growling. She saw burning red eyes glaring back at her and connected the dots.

Oh no.

Grimm. Creatures of destruction that lacked souls. Everyone knew about them and how dangerous they were. There were three of them in that house, the Beowolf kind to be exact - large and werewolf like in appearance and behavior. They had just found their next prey.

Yang was unable to scream for help. She was so frightened and exhausted from her trek that she lost her voice and couldn't run. This couldn't be happening. She was going to die. Her sister was going to die. This boy she found was going to die as well. It would be all her fault.

She berated herself for being so stupid.

The Beowolves lunged forward while baring their fangs; Yang was frozen stiff, horrified.

Blue. That color unexpectedly invaded her vision instead of the Grimm. It took her a second to figure out the blue-haired boy she came across was now in front of her, spreading his arms wide and acting like a shield while panting. He had trouble standing up but still did his best doing so in spite of it.

Yang wanted to yell at him. Something like "What are you doing?! You'll die!" probably. She was too stricken with fear to speak still. They were just defenseless kids about to be killed by Grimm, with no weapons or Semblance to protect them. As if he read her mind, the boy turned his head to look back at her. Yang noted that there didn't seem to be any fear in his eye. It was like he had nothing to lose. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness from seeing that. Unable to do anything else, she braced herself.

But, as luck would have it, the Beowolves were suddenly slain faster than Yang could blink. With their body parts disintegrating, Yang was able to detect a familiar figure wielding a large scythe weapon.

Her uncle, Qrow Branwen, had come to the rescue in the nick of time.

"Looks like luck's on my side today," Qrow said, letting himself relax a bit as he confirmed no major injuries from the kids in front of him. Yang had small bruises and cuts, Ruby looked unharmed, and then there was this kid who he didn't know that seemed to be barely holding on.

Before Qrow could utter another word, the blue-haired boy collapsed and fell unconscious once again.

"Maybe I spoke too soon."

The trip back to Tai's place was no problem for an experienced Huntsman like Qrow, especially when Patch was a pretty small island to begin with. If his instincts were right, Tai was most likely freaking out right now about the whereabouts of his daughters.

Sure enough, as soon as Qrow entered the Xiao Long home, he saw his brother-in-law and teammate pacing back and forth with a clear look of anxiousness.

"Relax, Tai, they're safe," Qrow assured when their eyes met, pulling in the wagon that held a sleeping Yang and Ruby with a blanket over them.

"Oh thank goodness..." Taiyang rushed over to his daughters and bent down to make sure they were alright, releasing a sigh of relief and letting his worries leave him. "I owe you big time, Qrow. Some father I am... If I wasn't so caught up in self-loathing, I would've paid more attention to Yang and Ruby. Because of me, I could've lost even more. They're all I have left..."

Qrow placed a hand on his shoulder, sympathizing with the blonde-haired man. "You've been through a lot, Tai. But it's okay now. I made it in time, and the kids are resting now."

Taiyang quietly acknowledged the gesture as he let himself watch his two daughters. He was grateful for Qrow being around when he had time to spare, and they were part of the same team after all. They had each other's back for as long as he could remember. It was a shame neither Raven or Summer were around anymore, though.

"By the way, I brought you something while I was out searching for the kids," Qrow told his brother-in-law. Taiyang raised an eyebrow as he then realized Qrow was carrying something on his back that was covered with a blanket too. He had been so preoccupied with his daughters' safety that he failed to notice this.

"A present for me?" Taiyang wondered.

"Yup." Qrow moved to a nearby couch and gently let his "present" down. Taiyang was now able to discern what it was more clearly and merely stared in confusion before making eye contact with Qrow.

It was a boy with blue hair. He appeared to be hurt but was patched up and resting like Yang and Ruby.

"Well here you go. A handsome kid, don't you think?" Qrow jokingly asked with a smirk.

"Uhhh..." The blonde man stammered before exclaiming, "Why is my present a BOY?!"

Qrow promptly shushed him.

"Don't be so loud, you'll wake everyone up. Anyway I don't really know this kid's story, but he was defending Yang and Ruby from becoming Beowolf snacks when I found them. He fell unconscious after that, but I treated his wounds so he should be in stable condition. No one else was in the area with him, and I couldn't just leave him out there like that, so I brought him here."

"Oh... So that's what happened," Taiyang replied, calming down. This made more sense than Qrow giving him a random kid out of nowhere. He had his fair share of prank gifts from him, honestly. He was rather curious about the youth's origins but decided that was for another time. "Guess we'll have to let him rest for now before we can figure where his folks are... If they even are alive, that is."

Qrow nodded, but as his gaze fell on the sleeping blue-haired boy something in his gut told him that things weren't going to be very simple.

Just his luck.

"He sure sleeps soundly..." Yang said as she watched her blue defender rest in one of her home's spare beds. She was accompanied by her dad and uncle Qrow; both were sitting in chairs next to the bed. The youngest in the family, Ruby, was playing with toys in her bedroom next door.

A day had passed since her close encounter with the Grimm, and she regained the strength to move about again. That being said, she did get scolded by her dad for acting recklessly and putting herself and Ruby in danger, which she expected and apologized profusely. After a loving apology hug, she made up her mind to be better and not let her desire to find her mom blind her from what was important to her right now: Ruby, her dad, and uncle Qrow.

Yang couldn't help but be interested in the unknown blue-haired kid that tried to protect her, and uncle Qrow decided to bring him here for some reason. She couldn't put her finger on it, but he was cool in a mysterious way. Although he acted a bit stupidly in her opinion, he did win some respect from her.

This boy sure could sleep. It was already afternoon. He must have been really tired, Yang thought.

"He looks like he's around your age, Yang," Taiyang mused.

Yang nodded. "I've never seen blue hair like his before. And he's got gray eyes too."

The blonde girl glanced at her uncle for a moment before letting out an audible "Hmm."

"Something up, Firecracker?" Qrow picked up on his niece's stare.

"Uncle Qrow, why did you bring him to our house? Is he your son that you never told us about or something? Maybe even adopted?" Yang spoke her mind with curiosity.

Qrow sighed while scratching the back of his head. "Where did you get that idea...? Look, I'm as clueless about this kid as much as you are. He's not mine, blood or adopted."

"Hmm, if you say so," Yang shrugged but was still skeptical. "You do get drunk a lot, uncle Qrow. Anything can happen."

"Hey, I'm not that bad!" Qrow chided in defense.

Taiyang laughed at the two's antics but then stopped.

"Oh hey. He's waking up," he pointed out, noticing the boy moving a little.

Yang and Qrow returned their attention to the bed and watched intently as the boy stirred awake.

"Huh...?" was the first thing he uttered after opening his eyes, groggily taking in his surroundings.

"You're up!" Yang chirped. She was relieved to see him awake after that terrifying experience from yesterday to be honest, so she couldn't hide the grin on her face.

"Where... am I?" The blue-haired boy asked as he made eye contact with the people in the room.

"You're in my house in Patch, young man," Taiyang assured him with a warm smile and pointed to Qrow with his thumb. "This guy saved your life. Take it easy. There's no need to be afraid. You're safe here now."

"Patch... Hm, I see..." The boy simply uttered, supposedly trusting Taiyang. His eyes wandered around the room while he stayed silent. Perhaps he was still getting adjusted? He seemed a bit too calm, though, for somebody who was nearly killed by Grimm and then taken in by strangers. It wouldn't have been surprising if he started panicking but no signs of that showed.

"Hey kid. Do you know where your parents are?" Qrow decided to get right to the point, because he was curious about why a kid was out there alone in the Patch wilderness like that.

The boy seemed to tense up slightly after being asked that. As fully-fledged Huntsmen, Taiyang and Qrow detected this easily. A reaction finally. They allowed him a few moments to pass so he could find the words until he chose to speak once more.

"They're... gone."

"Huh?" Yang blinked in confusion. Taiyang and Qrow furrowed their eyebrows.

Without looking at any of them in the eyes, the youth continued, sounding particularly distant.

"A blonde girl was fighting a monster, and then they... they died. I'm all alone now..." He then pointed at Yang. "The next thing I knew, I saw her and three other monsters."

Taiyang and Qrow had hoped his family was still alive, but that didn't seem to be the case anymore regrettably.

"Why did you jump in front of me before?" Yang asked him. Her voice had a hint of frustration and sadness. "You could've died!"

"...Don't know," he said with a shrug, rendering Yang speechless.

No tears were shed, but the boy's disturbingly detached tone made it obvious that he was heartbroken and lost.

The adults grimaced. This boy was recently orphaned from whatever happened to his parents, and it would be rude of them to make a child bring up bad memories further. Fate was a cruel mistress, not even sparing children from tragedies.

Dead silence hung in the air for a while, with Qrow and Taiyang unsure of what to say next. That was the case until a certain blonde girl stepped forward.

"I... I'm sorry," Yang responded. The boy locked eyes with her, noticing how sad she sounded and looked now. "I know what it's like to lose a parent. It really hurts, and it must hurt even more to lose both of them."

Yang felt many emotions rising within her to the point where she was shaking, but she took a deep breath and was able to calm down when her dad gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. The boy continued to look at her, seemingly intrigued and maybe sympathetic. It was hard to tell with him not emoting a whole lot.

"But it's okay now. I know I'm not alone. I have my dad, my little sister Ruby, and my uncle Qrow! When things got tough for me, they were there for me. It made me think that there are good things in this world still even when bad things happen," Yang confessed to him.

Her words seemed to have struck a chord with the blue-haired youth. His eyes widened slightly from her small speech to him, probably the biggest reaction he made during his time here, prior to appearing downcast.

"I don't know anyone else in this world..." He admitted wistfully, averting his gaze. It took him by surprise when Yang suddenly flicked his forehead. "Wh-what?"

"You can start with me, you dummy!" Yang playfully replied with a cheeky smile. "I'm Yang! Yang Xiao Long! What's your name? If you don't have one, I can just call you Blue. Buuut if you don't like that, I can think of something else, hehe."

The boy looked positively dumbfounded.

Yang's father and uncle couldn't help but crack a smile from the display. Yang was really trying her best to cheer the boy up, and from the looks of it her efforts were paying off bit by bit. The young blonde was always straightforward and confident, with an energetic personality to boot.

"Won't you tell us your name?" Taiyang chimed in before introducing himself. "I'm Taiyang, Yang's dad. I have a younger daughter named Ruby in the other room. She's 2 years younger than Yang. And the dusty, old crow next to me is Qrow, her uncle."

"I ain't an old man yet, Tai." Qrow lightly punched Taiyang's shoulder from that remark. "We don't bite, kid. Promise."

The nameless kid gave the impression that he was quietly pondering and considering his options, as his face was blank. This was a lot to take in after all for a person of his situation, so they gave him some space.

After a few minutes went by, they were shocked to see a small smile form on his face.

"My name is... Minato Arisato."

A/N: Had motivation and inspiration, so I seized the opportunity. While there is an abundant amount of RWBY and Persona 3 fanfics out there, I decided to take stab at it with my own spin. Not certain if anyone else has done this approach; hopefully this is fine. I've had this idea floating around for a while haha.

Let me know if you guys are interested in me continuing this! Kept it short for the prologue to gauge people's interest. Leave your thoughts and questions in your reviews!

Until next time, sayonara!