Chapter 4

Difference and Choice

The last few days at Beacon had been relaxing to a certain degree.

Since the students from the other major academies across Remnant would be arriving soon, the teachers had been focusing on keeping the school and its campus presentable for its visitors. Which gave a welcome break from work in the general opinion.

Minato also welcomed the brief reprieve from schoolwork. He wasn't a bad or lazy student by any means, but when one only has three classes a day the work can be a bit excessive.

His classmates, however, were enjoying the fact that they didn't need to write another history report for Oobleck, by evidence of Jaune and Yang's cheers of joy when they were informed.

With Glynda relegating the last few classes to short spars and pop quizzes on her lectures no one was sore from the days before, namely Jaune. And Port is just asking them to read about serpentine Grimm in the next chapter and discuss them if anyone had encountered them, next class. This gave everyone the chance to relax and catch their bearings.

Which gave Minato and Team RWBY some free time.

Minato had remembered when the four girls had… broken into his room to find out more about his interest and hobbies. Minato had also remembered when they had offered to fill in his room to make it less empty.

Minato appreciated the gesture. Maybe they had gone for the most extreme case of finding out more about someone than normal, but their intentions were fine enough. But Minato had never been an extravagant person.

Minato remembered the rooms of SEES. Mitsuru's room had the feel of elegance and nobility, Yukari's was all pink and feminine, and Junpei's room was always full of clutter and trash. Not to forget Akihiko's room which Minato remembered being around 50% room and 50% gym. Even Aigis had her style if one could call a clutter of machinery and a sleeping capsule a style anyway.

Minato had never had a style to his room. The room he left on that day was the same one he entered the year earlier. The same bed, desk, and computer. The need to expand, decorate, or change his environment had never really changed after all that time. It was simple and comfortable, and Minato had no reason to change it or none he could find or consider.

Team RWBY disagreed.

The day before the other students from across Remnant arrived, Minato had found the color coded team in his room again.

Along with a couch with a table, some shelves, a TV, and a large lava lamp.

The couch was set towards the middle right of the room facing the wall where Blake and Yang were trying to set up the large flat screen. The lava lamp, which Minato now realized was twice the size of his desk, the glowing blue and silver fluid floating hypnotically, was set near right corner of the room.

Ruby and Weiss turned to face Minato; it looked like they were directing the other two on getting the TV level with the floor.

Ruby smiled when she saw Minato and waved.

"Hey, Minato! We just came back from our shopping trip and let ourselves in. Look, look, look!" The hyperactive team leader said, showing off the new inclusions to his room. "We got a couch for when everyone comes over with a table to have snacks on, a TV to watch the running living and play Mega Mash Siblings. Oh, oh, and Yang found this sweet lava lamp!" Ruby rushed over to the lamp, and her eyes became mesmerized by the glow. "Look," she whispered, "it's so blue and silvery."

"I see," Minato said, not quite sure how to react, and turned towards the other girls.

"Eyup," Yang said while nonchalantly holding the large TV and still trying to keep it level with Blake. "This sweet junk store was getting rid of a bunch of cool stuff, and I saw that beauty," her face pointed towards the lamp where Ruby was still in a hypnotic gaze, "thing just screamed you, man. Also saw a weird red and green one but I think this one was a better fit."

"Yang's surprisingly good when it comes to gifts for people it seems," Blake said nailing the TV down into the wall and turned to face Minato. "Also sorry for barging in again, I told them to wait for you, but they ignored me."

"Hey! You walked in and agreed to set everything up like the rest of us," Yang argued with her dour teammate. "Ruby already explained that since he's a kinda sorta part of our team, then this is also our kinda sorta room."

Blake glanced away. "It isn't my fault that I can't argue with insane troll logic."

"Ahem," Weiss unceremoniously coughed. "Look we can all talk who broke into whose room after we finish setting this up,"

"We broke into his room, that's already been established," Blake said, her voice drier than the desert.

Ruby popped up from behind Weiss. "You can't break into a room you have a key to!"

Minato sighed and set down his books and waited for the girls to finish. There was no reason to get angry, and he suspected that something like this might happened to he prepared himself for the outcome. The TV was set up several minutes later, after that they all sat down on or around the couch.

"So…" Ruby drawled out, "What do you think?" The girl looked nervous; the excited energy had fizzled into a shy anxiousness waiting for his answer.

Minato looked around. The couch was comfortable, the TV was obviously expensive and looked nice, the table was well made and sturdy, and the lava lamp was a nice decoration of sorts. In all honesty, the room looked nicer than it had before, it felt bigger strange as that may seem. However, there was one problem.

"How much did this all cost?" Minato asked looking at Team RWBY. Minato still had some leftover funds from what Ozpin had given him to buy clothing and other necessities, but he was sure he didn't have enough to pay them back what they gave him.

"Not much," Weiss answered. "Well, not to me anyway, the perks of being an heiress I suppose. But we can talk about repayment later. I believe our team leader asked you a question?" Weiss raised an eyebrow at him expecting him to answer.

Minato turned to Ruby, the sheepish smile still on her face. Minato wasn't exactly sure how to respond. He wasn't resounding with joy, but he didn't hate the new arrangement either. The best he could do right now would be to answer honestly.

"It's nice," he answered trying to sound sincere. "Thank you,"

Ruby grinned then jumped into the air and striking a pose when she landed.

"Team RWBY I declare Mission Awesome Decorate a success!" she continued to hold the pose as if expecting applause but was unceremoniously knocked down by Yang, whose shoulder had been holding Ruby's foot.

"Yeah, yeah, calm down lil sis." She flashed Minato a thankful grin and patted her fallen sister on the head. "Told you he'd love it."

Love was a strong word, but Minato didn't correct her.

"Perfect," Weiss chipped in happily, "Now we can talk about reimbursement."

Everyone looked at the girl with strange faces.

"Really?" Blake said, disapproval almost evident in her tone.

"Yeah Weiss, I thought you said you were cool with buying all this stuff?" Yang asked.

Weiss shook her head. "I said that I would help buy what we needed to bring more life to this room," she turned to Minato, "No offense."

Minato shrugged, he didn't disagree with her.

Weiss continued, "I never said anything about not being paid back."

"Ah cmon Weiss," Ruby said waving a hand at her teammate. "You know Minato can't pay all that back… unless " She looked back at Minato. "You're not some super-secret, super rich prince or heir are you?"

Minato almost raised his eyes at the words, but stopped himself and just shook his head. Moon arcana indeed.

Weiss sighed and pinched her nose at her leader's actions. "I didn't say he had to pay back in money."

"Then what, payback with servitude or work like a debt?" Blake asked.

Minato noticed a slight edge to her voice again. But ignored it and focused on Weiss.

"Well, that wasn't my first idea." Weiss answered, "I was thinking more along the lines of answering a few questions is all."

Minato had a feeling that was what she wanted. Out of their entire class, the one who had been the most vocal of learning about his abilities had been Weiss. Minato had been avoiding the questions, more for his sake than theirs, which had caused some tension between him and the others.

Others had tried being subtle about their questions, except for Yang and Nora, but Weiss had dropped pretenses several days ago and had simply been asking him to take their sparring matches seriously.

He was still hesitant to use his Persona around others. At this point, though there was just no way of justifying it by saying he was using his hesitation as an excuse. Yes, he was unsure why the nature of his power had changed, why he was in this world, and why his power had restarted itself to a degree. And yes he was hesitant to use the full force of his Personas. But after seeing what his classmates were capable of and what they could do, the only excuse he had now was that he was just unsure about it.

Minato was not usually hesitant about such things. But he had to be careful. His power was one given to combat death and give reason to life. Using it unwisely could have disastrous effects. And while Minato had never used his powers in such a way, he was still human, and every human is capable of making mistakes, even him.

But these girls, he felt he could trust them. He had already formed a bond with Ruby, the girl who had rushed in to help him without a moment's hesitation, whether or not it was needed, had made its impression. Yang, a loving older sister. Blake, an insightful young woman. And Weiss was someone who Minato saw a great drive in.

He nodded. If they wanted answers, he would give it to them. They had been honest and kind to him it was only natural that he do the same.

Weiss gave a surprised smile. "Oh, well then of course. I have some question that I was hoping you could answer."

Minato nodded. "What do you want to know?"

Ruby pushed Weiss out of the way before she could ask her question and pushed an object in front of Minato's face. Minato focused and saw that it was the Velvet Key, she must have picked it up from the dresser where Minato left it.

"What's this key for!" Ruby asked frantically. "Ever since I saw it I couldn't get it out of my head. Is it for some secret vault safe? A hidden door invisible from others? A secret snack room?"

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled pushing the girl out of the way. "I was about to ask my question you clutz!"

"Eheheh," Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry Weiss, I just got curious, besides that was one of your questions wasn't it?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, but," Weiss growled and brought up a sheet with numbers on it. "That was question 3! You skipped the first two!"

"Does it matter that it's in order?" Blake questioned looking amused at the whole situation.

"Of course it does," Weiss answered like it was more than obvious. "Without structure and ordered list, what are we left with Blake?"

"A waste of time and energy?" Blake asked sarcastically.

"Utter Bedlam actually," Weiss corrected.

"Bedlam?" Ruby questioned.

"A scene of uproar and confusion, or chaos," Blake answered

"Oh like when Yang goes to clubs!" Ruby cheered at her teammate.

"I think you guys are getting distracted." Yang interrupted and turned to Minato while Weiss crossed her arms in annoyance. "So what's the key for?

Minato picked up the Velvet Key from the table and stared at it for several seconds.

"This is the Velvet Key; it opened the door to the Velvet Room," Minato answered. Confusion filled their faces as Minato expected it would. But he waited they would ask when they were ready.

"So it is a key to a club?" Yang asked. "Never heard of the Velvet Room, though, sounds like one of those high-class clubs that Weiss would go to."

Weiss harrumphed. "Please. The only clubs I was ever around were the ones my father forced me to attend for business. I've never happened to like them to much in all honesty." Her face turned thoughtful. "But I've never heard of the Velvet Room before."

"Hmmm," Ruby hummed. "Any ideas Blake?"

Blake shrugged. "It sounds like a shop or something similar to a club, but I suggest we ask the person who knows about it rather than guess,"

Three girls mentally slapped their heads, and everyone turned to face Minato again. He decided to answer their question before they asked it.

"The Velvet room was," Minato tried to find the right words to explain it, "it was similar to a guide."

"A guide?" Ruby asked.

Minato nodded. "For those with my abilities, it was a place where we could learn more about the nature of our power and how to improve it. It would be similar to learning about your semblance and having a class or special area to focus on it."

"Woah, so it was like a secret training room?" Yang asked. It wasn't exactly true, but it was close enough to the truth. Minato nodded in agreement.

"That pretty cool man," Yang said then her face grew a bit more serious. "And that leads us to the next question. I'm just going to be straight up with you, what is that whole thing with the shooting yourself in the head?"

"Real tactful Yang," Blake said.

Yang sighed. "You know you can do more than making sarcastic comments huh?"

Blake shrugged but smiled.

"It'd be best if I show you," Minato answered.

Minato got up and grabbed his evoker. The girls all watched him with curiosity in their eyes. He placed the cool barrel to his head and noticed the slightest shifts in their movements. Ruby was the most noticeable as she looked ready to jump out of the seat, but the others were simply tense. They knew what was about to happen, but they were still unused to it.

"Persona,"

The glass broke, power rushed through his soul, and the manifestation of thought known as Orpheus appeared behind him.

Wide eyes and a whistle from Yang gave Minato all he needed from their reactions. Weiss, in particular, looked more confused than anything. Blake was confused too, but her eyes roamed over Orpheus as if looking for something. And Ruby just silently mouthed cool.

He allowed the rush of familiar energy to stay for several more seconds and then dismissed his first Persona and sat back down.

"What you just saw was a Persona," Minato began to explain.

"I thought a persona was a way you presented yourself and how people saw you?" Blake asked.

"The definition, yes. The Persona I am talking about is different. My power is the ability to call forth Persona. They are manifestations of thought that are shaped from my mind and soul to aid myself."

"So they're like a super tough and real imaginary friend?" Yang asked as though she was trying to make sense of it.

Minato shook his head. "Close, but not quite. Personas are mask, shields, and weapons that one uses to combat the world. They usually take the form of historical or ancient figures as they represent symbols of strength and power. And since they are symbols that became real within the realm of human thought it's very much the same thing as having the actual figure fight beside you."

"I don't think I get it," Ruby said. "Can you give an example?"

Minato nodded and thought of how to phrase his example.

"Are there any heroic figures or fairytales you could give me an example of?" Minato asked.

"Oh definitely, let's see." Yang put a finger to her chin. "How about the last king of Vale? He was pretty strong and epic."

"I got one; I got one! The four maidens!" Ruby cheered.

"There's Yu of the Cornelia," Weiss added and got several stares. "He was a legendary hunter and traveler in Atlas history. Was said to take down the only Yeti Grimm single-handedly." She rolled her eyes. "You all need to read up more on ancient figures."

"There's also Baluu Eastbear," Blake added which gave more stares. "He was said to be one of the first Faunas, he saved and protected a young child from Sheer Grimm, it was said to have a king taijitu as a tail and the body of a giant tiger."

"Does that help?" Ruby asked.

Minato nodded. "Yes, now imagine those legendary figures and what they are capable of. Their legends, power, and what about them relates to you. When summoning a Persona the core would be the legend that the Persona encompasses. For example, the being that you saw me summon was Orpheus, a legendary singer. While he doesn't look exactly like the ancient singer his form is heavily influenced by his legend and has the same abilities he had in life, though my influence over that particular Persona could make it more my own than a symbol of the legend."

"So it's like you summon the concept," Weiss began, "But since it's a concept of thought, what you need for the moment can change its appearance or abilities related to what it's needed for. And then you have a sort of legendary figure that's as real as the original because of the legend it left behind that everyone has recognized?" Weiss finished.

Minato nodded. "More or less that's about it. The beings I summon are formed from the collective unconsciousness of humanity, or more simply how humanity envisions the legends."

"Just from humanity?" Blake spoke up in confusion. "Are Faunus not included?"

Minato honestly didn't know and shrugged.

"The majority of SEES was human, but we did have a dog that was able to use a Persona, I've never really thought about it," Minato answered honestly.

Blake narrowed her eyes. "So since animals can use it the Faunus must obviously be able to use it," There was almost venom in her voice. "Since there's no difference is that it?"

Minato didn't understand why she was so angry, but there was no reason for him to respond as such.

He held up his hand in a placating gesture.

"I didn't say that," Minato started.

"But you implied it," Blake retorted.

Minato shook his head again. "What I meant was that I have never seen a Faunus Persona user, but I have seen those other than human use them. It may be possible, or it may be impossible, I don't know."

Blake still stared hard at Minato while everyone else stared at the scene in confusion.

Then Blake sighed and shook her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make a scene. So you don't know?"

Minato shook his head in agreement. "I can't know something I've never seen, and since I'm the only Persona user I know of at the moment there is no way for me to know,"

"So there could be a collective unconsciousness of Faunus as well?" Blake asked.

Minato nodded, seeing nothing wrong with the question. "That, or there could be no difference between the two. Humanity and Faunus are beings with their legends and stories, legends can be interpreted differently, but in the end, it's our thoughts that form the beings that are called."

Blake's smile replaced the frown as she looked up thoughtfully.

"Geez that's complicated," Yang said and smiled, "But also really cool, another question. Why do you have to shoot yourself to summon it?"

Minato had to figure out how to word this answer as well.

"The best way I can explain it is that one must have gone through severe mental trauma and the gun acts as sort of a link between it and the power. It's also symbolic. What I'm doing is summoning a manifestation of my being as it is at the very moment, to do that, by facilitating that I'm dying I'm able to summon the most current version of the Personas as it was the closest to me at the moment." He explained.

Ruby frowned at him. "So something terrible happened to you. That's why you're able to use it."

Minato almost smiled but simply nodded his head.

"In a way, what was required to use this power had to follow some specific steps. One must first experience pain and hardship, deciding to move forward, and finding a purpose to continue using it."

"So what happened?" Yang asked after the explanation. Which granted her a smack on the head from Weiss.

"You don't just ask someone something like that Xiao Long!" Weiss reprimanded her teammate. She turned back to Minato and put on a diplomatic face. "Sorry about that, you know she can be… stupid sometimes,"

"Geez ice queen you didn't have to hit me that hard," Yang complained.

"Don't call me that," Weiss responded which almost sounded like she was used to the insult. "Anyway, you were talking about the requirements on how to summon your Persona right?"

Minato nodded.

"And you said something about finding a reason to use the power, could you give an explanation?" Weiss asked.

Minato nodded again and continued.

"From my old team, I believe I could give you several examples. Estrangement from one's family. Pressure from your peers. The loss of someone precious, being abandoned, and distrust between those around you. The burden of wrongdoing, the weight of responsibility, and vengeance for what was taken from you. Being empty and alone," Minato looked down at his evoker the memories surging, "and understanding your fate at the very end."

Silence filled the room. Minato looked up and saw all of them were uncomfortable. They were each thinking to themselves but what he had told them was obviously bothering them.

"What you said," Blake spoke up, "How one gains that power. Sounds like reasons for suicide."

It wasn't a question, but Minato would answer it.

"It is supposed to be more symbolic in nature, but they are reasons yes."

"Wait," Yang spoke again. "So you get this power by wanting to kill yourself? That's a little screwed up dontcha think?"

"It could be some power through sacrifice," Weiss added. "Being willing to give your life for the sake of strength could be the reason."

"No."

They all turned to Ruby who had kept quiet for some time. The girl had her face down in thought, but now it was looking up, and an odd light shone in her silver eyes.

"It's about moving forward. Knowing that it hurts and that it's hard, but moving past it anyway. It isn't about accepting death, but accepting life and fighting for it."

This time Minato did smile, if only a little bit, at the young leader. She had grasped the meaning behind the evokers on her own, and she wasn't even a Persona user.

"That was quite profound Ruby," Blake said sounding a little impressed herself.

"That's my little sis!" Yang said as she embraced Ruby in a hug. "Sweet, cute, and a philosopher on the side!"

"Uggh, Yang." Ruby wheezed at her sister. " . ."

Ruby was able to squeeze out of her sister's hug and breathe again. The younger girl hit her sister while the rest in the room watched with small interest.

Weiss clapped her hands and was granted with everyone's attention.

"Well know we at least know what it is, I was hoping that it would be similar to the type of summoning I'm used to, but oh well."

"Wait you can summon too?" Ruby asked. "That's so cool Weiss!" Ruby paused then her face became confused, "Wait if you can summon why haven't you shown us yet?"

"Hey, yeah!" Yang butted in her voice rising. "You were getting so angry about him not summoning, but you can too, and you didn't even tell us. What's up with that?"

"I never said I could summon you, dolts!" Weiss argued back. "I just said I was used to a different type!" She turned away from her teammates. "If you have to know the Schnee family has a family trait that allows us to summon."

"So you can summon heroes like Minato?" Ruby asked.

"Well, no I…"

"Grimm, the Schnee's can summon copies of Grimm," Blake interrupted.

"Are you serious?" Yang asked. "Because with the whole glyph thing you got going on you're starting to look broken."

"This coming from the girl who gets even stronger every time she gets hit even though she can already lift a truck?" Weiss bit back.

"Don't hate me cause I'm awesome," Yang retorted then turned to Blake. "How'd you know what Weiss' family can do?"

If Blake was startled, she didn't show it. But she calmly faced Yang.

"Anyone who knows of Winter Schnee also knows about her combat prowess and ability to use summoning. Learning it was a family trait only took some small amount of research." She explained.

Weiss had a large and proud smile on her face.

"That's only natural. My sister is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Huntress in the world. She's even an Atlas specialist."

"Well, I'm not sure about that," Ruby said. "About being the greatest Huntress, I mean."

"Excuse me?" Weiss asked her face almost contorting in anger.

"Yeah I gotta go with Ruby on this one," Yang nodded. "Strongest guy in the world has to be our Uncle Qrow hands down."

"Who?" Weiss asked.

"Qrow Branwen, a teacher at Signal Academy," Blake explained and turned to Ruby. "Also the only other scythe-wielding Huntsman alive,"

"Dang, you know about our uncle too?" Yang asked. "You're quite the info dump huh?"

Blake shrugged. "I looked up your families the day after we all became a team. I was surprised to see that both your father and uncle were teachers, which explains your proficiency in fighting." She explained.

"You know it, babe," Yang winked and flexed while Ruby gave Blake a thumbs up.

"But I'm not sure about them being the strongest." Blake continued. "The most successful team in the world right now is GLCR with Team BRWN right behind them. And while Winter Schnee is an Atlas specialist with a near flawless track record…"

"Near flawless?" Weiss questioned, but Blake ignored her

"…Her actions have been more focused on military endeavors and tactical leadership rather than fighting ability. And your uncle doesn't have a hunting career."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

Blake shrugged. "Well, your Uncle was a hunter for around a year after Team STRQ graduated, but stopped taking jobs and became a teacher shortly after. It's quite strange."

Ruby waved a hand. "Oh, he just took a break and decided to travel the world and teach on the side. No big conspiracy to that. But you haven't seen him fight."

"Oh yeah, I once took him on in a spar," Yang said. "Couldn't land a hit on the jerk. Even our dad can't beat him, and he taught me everything I know."

"Ok so you can't beat him by yourself so what?" Weiss asked.

"Look Ice Queen…"

"Hey!"

"When your sister can cut Alpha Beowolves in half in less than a second then you can talk," Yang dismissed the other girl with a wave of her hand.

Minato knew of Alpha Beowolves. They were apparently older and stronger beowolves that could kill several Ursa before even being tired. The creatures were considered dangerous to varying degrees but usually took several Hunters and Huntresses to take down. If Yang's uncle could do what she said he could, then he would be very strong indeed.

"Fine, whatever," Weiss sighed and turned back to Minato. "I only have one more question, if you don't mind answering?" Minato shook his head and allowed her to proceed. "Great, would you mind telling us why, since the day we found you in the forest, you haven't used your Persona?"

All eyes turned to Minato, and he sighed. Minato had known he couldn't avoid the question forever, but he liked to believe he could. He decided to tell them the truth, or at least part of it; they deserved that much.

"My power has been acting strangely," Minato admitted.

"Strangely, how?" Ruby asked.

"For reasons, I'm not ready to say, my power has granted me new freedoms, and I'm unsure if there have been any effects I'm unaware of," Minato explained. Leaving out his reservations and anxiousness of revealing his ability.

"So your powers been on the fritz and you've been keeping it under wraps until you figured it out?" Yang asked trying to make sense of what he said.

Minato nodded, "More or less," he shrugged. "So far my fears have been unfounded, but I'd rather not risk hurting someone if I had the chance to discover a problem,"

The girls nodded in agreement.

"So have you found anything worrying that's still stopping you?" Blake asked.

Minto shook his head. "No, I thought it would be about time to actively use my Personas again,"

"Woah! Seriously!" Yang asked, her voice full of excitement.

Minato nodded. "I've been unfair to all of you; it seems only right that I try to amend that,"

Yang whooped. "Yes! I'm finally going to fight a robot!"

"That's why you're so excited about this?" Blake questioned. "Just fighting the robot?"

"A robot that has a giant music weapon and can heal stuff Blake, C'mon you have to admit it sounds like fun right?" Yang asked her partner.

Blake shrugged, "If you say so,"

"Well then if that's all I feel like my curiosity's been sated," Weiss said. "I'm just glad that I was wrong about the summoning being the same that would have been embarrassing for a Schnee such as myself."

"So, anyone have any more questions for the guy?" Yang looked around the room.

"I do," Ruby raised her hand. And Minato was surprised by how soft her voice sounded. She looked hesitant and almost scared. Minato waited for her to ask and said nothing. The girl took a deep breath and stared directly at Minato. "Can I try to summon a Persona?"

She brought her hands out and waited.

Minato's eyes widened slightly, but his reaction was more restrained than the others. Their faces ranged from shocked to confused, not that he could blame them. The act of summoning a Persona was always hard to watch for those who didn't know, even more so for those just starting.

Minato stared at Ruby. "I'm not sure that it will work," Minato admitted, and he was telling the truth. He had never been the one to find the other members of SEES, but due to the circumstances, there was a very high chance that he was the only and only possible use of Persona.

"Well, we won't know if we don't try," Ruby replied and kept her hands out.

Minato sighed and handed Ruby his evoker.

She stared at the strange gun like it was an artifact, something she didn't and couldn't know or understand.

"You sure about this Ruby?" Yang asked, her eyes never leaving the gun.

Ruby nodded and turned her head back to Minato. "So do I just, point it wherever or…"

"As long as the muzzle is in direct line of the brain it should work," Minato answered then went silent once again.

Ruby took a deep breath. "Ok, ok, ok, ok I got this, I can do this." She took the gun and placed it straight on her forehead. Both hands were holding the gun, and her thumbs were on the trigger. "It doesn't shoot bullets, it's not loaded, and I've seen him use it," Ruby mumbled to herself as she took another deep breath.

She didn't pull the trigger and slowly closed her eyes. She was mentally preparing herself. Minato understood her hesitance. He had not been there to witness it, but Yukari told him that even after she was able to use her power, she couldn't bring herself to use her evoker for some time. Even Junpei was hesitant the first several times Minato saw his best friend use his evoker. He was there when Ken tried to use summon his Persona for the first time; he was close to tears when Nemesis appeared.

She took another breath.

Weiss and Blake held neutral faces, their curiosity over what might happen overpowering any other thoughts. Yang looked nervous and uncomfortable. Minato didn't blame her and was uncomfortable himself. Knowing who Ruby was and what she was like, the very image that she would take her life wasn't just unnerving; it was wrong.

He had no idea if anyone in the world could summon a Persona. Minato held the wildcard, he had completed his journey and had achieved a power never before seen. He held a power completely to his own, and without the Dark Hour, without the fall, and without the shadows, there was little chance anyone else could have a Persona.

But if it was possible? If there was a chance to share and spread this power? Minato wasn't sure what would happen. Would Ruby summon a physical manifestation of thought and legend?

She took another deep breath.

Ruby kept on taking slow and deep breaths. Her hands were shaking the gun, and her eyes looked like they were straining to stay closed. She was struggling to pull the trigger, but something was stopping her from doing it.

Minato sighed, he guessed this would happen. Logically she knew what would happen if she pulled the trigger, but her irrational fear was taking over, and she couldn't move. Minato moved to take the gun when Yang slowly and tenderly took Ruby's hands in her own and pulled them down.

Yang held Ruby in her other arm as she removed the gun slowly from her sister's hands. She handed the evoker to Minato and embraced her little sister. Who still had her eyes closed, but her breathing had slowed down. Ruby embraced Yang as well and snuggled up to the older girl who radiated warmth and love.

Only to be ruined by Yang flicking Ruby in the nose, grabbing her in a headlock, and rubbing her knuckles down on the girls head.

"Ah! Yang! Knock it off!" Ruby yelled.

"You had me worried there!" Yang yelled back. "I told you it wouldn't be that easy, but noo~ you know so much better than your big sis!"

"I'm sorry!" Ruby half yelled, and half laughed as she fought with her sister.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Blake said, but a small smile was on her face as she looked at the two sisters.

"It's not like it would have worked anyway," Weiss added and looked at Minato. "You said there were steps that had to be completed to summon the Persona right?"

Minato nodded.

"So unless Ruby has a traumatic past or anything it wouldn't have worked," Weiss concluded.

"In a way," Minato agreed. "The explanation I gave you all was from what I understood when new members joined. I was never given the specific requirements or the process of how to find other Persona users. That was always Mitsuru's focus."

"Mitsuru?" Blake questioned.

"The leader of my old team," Minato answered.

"Oh right, I remember you were talking about something like that," Yang said while still holding Ruby in a headlock. "But, you were also a leader too right?"

Minato nodded. "In combat, everyone deferred to my leadership, but in organization and everything important that comes with actual leadership was where Mitsuru excelled,"

"What was she like?" Ruby asked, finally able to get away from her sister.

Minato hummed and wondered how to answer the question.

"She was cold and serious. She inspired confidence in those around her. She was mature, confident, calm, responsible, and intelligent. But more than anything she cared for those under her. She was always the voice of reason, the voice of logic, and the one who inspired those to fight. I respected her, and I considered her my friend,"

Their eyes were wide. He had probably embellished and praised Mitsuru a little more than necessary, but he spoke the truth. He missed her as much as he missed the rest of SEES. Minato sometimes found himself wondering what she would advise him to do. What would she do in this situation? Mitsuru had always been one to thrive in her environment.

"That's quite the high praise," Blake said. "She must have been very important to you."

Minato nodded. "The more I learned about her, the more I respected,"

"Wells she sounds pretty cool," Yang added. "How'd she fight, though?"

Minato almost smirked at the question and turned to Yang.

"She used a rapier and primarily ice elemental attacks," Minato answered and turned, along with everyone else, to Weiss.

Weiss had a smug smile on her face, "It makes sense she would be the leader. After all, she has refined taste in weaponry."

The girls laughed at their friend and Minato smiled at the memory of Mitsuru. She had given Minato several lessons on how to use a rapier, and while he hadn't preferred the fighting style, he did learn enough from the lessons and style.

"I guess that explains why he's able to fight you so easily Weiss," Yang added. "Dude's had practice."

"Obviously," Weiss answered in turn. "I figured that out weeks ago,"

"Oh, no!" Ruby yelled as she stood up and looked at her arm as though there was a watch there. "Look at the time! We have to head out right now, super important stuff to do!"

Ruby grabbed her teammates and began dragging them out of the room, with a small amount of protest from Yang and Weiss. Minato raised an eyebrow at the odd occurrence but didn't say anything.

"It was great talking to you Minato. Thanks for answering all of our questions. Super glad you like the furniture. Maybe next time we can invite team JNPR. See you tomorrow, bye!" Ruby said in a speed almost matching Prof. Oobleck and left the room with her protesting team.

The younger girl was odd, but if they had important matters to attend to he wouldn't fault them.

Minato looked around his room. It was less roomy than before, but wasted space had been taken, so that was to be expected. The light from the large lava lamp also gave a soothing presence in the room. The silver and blue colors moving across the room in a smooth pattern.

Minato turned to the TV set and began tinkering with it. He was never a really big fan of television, not that he disliked it but he simply had no reason or time to watch TV. He flipped through the channels available and found that for the majority at the end of the list were musical channels.

Minato found some smooth jazz, surprised that this world even had jazz, and discovered it was quite decent.

Minato moved to his desk to begin working on his homework.

~Break~

"Alright, alright, geez, slow down Ruby!" Yang whined as her sister continued to drag her team across the hallway.

Small as Ruby was, her little sister was surprisingly strong when she needed to move people.

Ruby stopped on a dime, which caused the other three girls to barrel into her, knocking all four of them onto the ground.

Yang was fortunate enough to land on top of everyone, which was unfortunate for everyone else. Wasn't her fault they were smaller than her, in more places than one, that's just those good genes working in her favor.

Team RWBY picked themselves up and dusted themselves off after the little mishap. Only for three annoyed glares to turn at Ruby.

"Ruby," Weiss began sounding exasperated. "Would you please tell us exactly what was so important that you had to drag us all out of there at once?"

"Yeah sis, not gonna lie, that was kinda rude," Yang added.

The three girls turned to her with deadpanned looks. Yang raised an eyebrow at that.

"What?"

They shook their heads and turned back to Ruby. Yang didn't understand it; her team could be so difficult to deal with sometimes. Guess it's one of the trials of being awesome.

"Yeah Ruby, that wasn't the most subtle way to head out. What's going on?" Blake asked.

Ruby sighed and turned away while grabbing her left arm.

"I, uh… well, I didn't notice it at first, but do you remember what he said when Minato was talking about Mitsuru?" Ruby asked.

Yang frowned. Her little sister sounded uncomfortable and sad. What did Minato say about Mitsuru? Could Ruby have a crush? Nah there's no way she would. Maybe?

Yang shook her head to get away from her sister matchmaking thoughts and focused on what Ruby meant.

"I don't understand, he said she was his friend right, and she was respectable, mature, and a great fighter." Weiss listed off.

Yang still had no idea what Ruby was talking about and was about to ask her little sister what she meant before Blake spoke up.

"Was," Blake said. "Past tense,"

Yang leaned her head in confusion. What did that mean? Minato was talking about the past and stuff. Yang wasn't an expert on grammar or whatever but she was sure when you referenced things in the past you would use past tense.

Yang turned to Weiss, hoping for some explanation, only to see the ice princess scrunch up her eyebrows in confusion and then widen her eyes in surprise.

"Oh," Weiss' eyes became sad.

Yang was getting annoyed. She didn't know why but her friends were acting like someone had died or…

"Oh man, that sucks," Yang said as she finally figured it out.

"I never really thought about what happened with his old team," Ruby said. "I just thought he was acting distant because he missed them,"

"But it makes sense," Blake said. "If he lost them, it's only natural he would try to distance himself away from others. It's not that uncommon for Hunters and Huntresses to withdraw from society if they lose someone important."

"Yeah," Yang agreed, being reminded of her dad. "I can guess how he feels." Yang slapped her forehead in frustration. "And we just had him take a trip down sad memory lane didn't we?"

"Of course," Weiss sighed. "But he didn't seem to mind it that much, maybe he's gotten over it, or it doesn't bother him that much anymore?" Weiss asked.

"He did seem rather nostalgic when talking about her," Blake agreed. "Maybe we're the ones overreacting here?"

"I don't know, ugh." Ruby hanged her head. "I mean, we know almost nothing about him, we could be talking about getting some tea, and he'll remember that his best friend used to like coffee and hate us for reminding him!"

"That seems a little extreme Ruby," Blake said trying to calm down her leader.

"Yeah, and don't you like coffee?" Yang added, trying to alleviate some tension.

Ruby hung her head and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm just rambling right now," She looked at her team. "Did we do the right thing?"

The girls looked at each other not sure what to say.

Yang wasn't too sure herself. They didn't do the wrong thing that would be stupid. But Ruby was hung up on trying to become friends with Minato. That whole advice thing had helped, and it was only natural for Ruby to return the favor. Also, her sister needed some more friends.

"Look, how about we invite him to come with us tomorrow after class?" Weiss offered. "Get him out of beacon and learn more about him or something like that?"

"Oh, yeah," Yang remembered. "You wanted to go to the docks to see the arriving students,"

"Oooh that sounds like so much fun!" Ruby chirped.

Yang rolled her eyes at her little sister. Ruby could be such a spaz sometimes. But sister crisis averted.

"Sweet, now that we've got that settled I can't wait for the combat training next week," Yang said.

Combat training had been suspended until the new students from Vacuo, Atlas, and Mistral arrived. The visiting students would be given the opportunity to join the classes at Beacon, which Yang thought was a great idea because they could only do so much with the same fighters.

"I can't wait to take a swing at that giant doll of his," Yang said excitedly. "We probably haven't even been able to see half of what he's capable of,"

"I'd be lying if I wasn't interested too," Weiss agreed. "It's so different than the summoning Winter does, both in form and concept…" Weiss' eyes began to shine. "Oh, this is great! Now I can answer Winter's questions about it! I'm so glad we asked him to explain in detail,"

"The way he explained it was pretty complicated," Ruby admitted. "I mean I get it still, just took some time to wrap my head around it,"

Yang waved her hand. "Nah it's easy. He can summon imaginary friends by shooting himself in the head and gets some abilities from them," Yang smiled as her friends stared at her. "See? Simple."

"Sure, thanks for clearing that up," Blake added then turned to Ruby. "Sorry you weren't able to summon a Persona by the way,"

Ruby rubbed her head in embarrassment. "Nah its fine, I just kinda froze when the gun was at my head y'know?"

"Though that would be interesting if we could summon or own Persona," Weiss added. "If you can get past how to summon it of course."

Yang had to agree. She imagined summoning a giant golden dragon, or the last king of Vale he always sounded amazing, or maybe a giant doll version of herself.

"Even if we could I don't think it would work," Blake said.

"Eh, why not?" Yang asked confused.

"If we could then how would we even summon it?" Blake asked. "We can't just take his gun can we?"

"Oh man, that's right." Yang realized. That was a bummer, there goes her personal dragon and flying buddy.

"Well it was just a thought anyway," Weiss waved it off like it was nothing. "But in all seriousness, we should get back to our room and get out homework done,"

"Ugh," Yang whined. The ice queen could be such a bummer sometimes.

"We should invite team JNPR next time we hang out over there," Ruby added as they headed to their dorm. "Nora would love that lava lamp, and we could make it a party!"

Weiss smiled, "It would be nice to spend some time around Pyrrha, I need to ask her how she's able to move so quickly with that armor,"

"I was also wondering what book Ren was reading at lunch," Blake added.

"Why didn't you ask him?" Yang asked confused.

Blake brought up a book out of nowhere with a bookmark around the end. "I was almost finished,"

Yang shook her head. Blake could be weird sometimes.

Then Yang remembered something else about team JNPR.

"And we got Jaune," Yang added, smirking while looking at Weiss.

"Don't remind me," Weiss groaned. "Honestly I don't understand why he can't take a hint,"

"Oh cmon he isn't that bad ice queen," Yang said.

"He's an incorrigible moron," Weiss countered.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he beat you in the last combat training match?" Blake added in a teasing voice.

"He was teamed with Pyrrha!" Weiss argued.

"Fair point," Blake agreed

"You still lost," Ruby added.

Weiss sighed. "Shut it, Ruby,"

The girls laughed as they walked back to their rooms.

~Break~

Minato had been invited to the docks.

Ruby had invited him to join her team after school. Minato accepted but would be a little late because he wanted to finish the most recent homework given that day.

It wasn't much, and Mitsuru had always been one to advise in completing one's responsibilities as soon as possible as not to create future problems. And since Mitsuru was the only other student that competed with Minato and Aigis in the grades department he listened to those instructions.

He had finished within the hour and begun to head towards the docks. The city of Vale was a beautiful city. It reminded Minato of Tatsumi Port Island in some ways. The large school, the bustling city, individuals and people with lives and dreams.

Also no one with apathy syndrome, that was nice too.

It had taken Minato some time to reach the dock area. He was about to see the docks proper, only to see a young man running from the police.

The boy was smiling as he ran past Minato and jumped into the air to land on the lamp post nearby. Minato noticed that the boy had a tail, a monkey tail to be exact, so he was a Faunus. Minato wasn't sure why the police were chasing him, but if they weren't shooting at the man, then it wouldn't be that serious.

It wasn't his place to involve himself in stuff like that. At least not yet.

Minato looked around wondering where team RWBY was. He saw some people leaving the ship that just arrived from Vacuo, he saw some colorful individuals, but the group he was looking for was nowhere to be seen.

He decided to walk around and see if he could find anything.

He found them because he could hear the shouting.

"Stop calling him a rapscallion. Stop calling him a degenerate. He's a person!" Blake yelled.

"Oh I'm sorry, would you like me to stop referring to this trashcan as a trashcan, or this lamppost as a lamppost?"(1) Weiss retorted sarcastically.

"Stop it!" Blake yelled back.

"Stop what?" Weiss yelled in return. "He obviously broke the law, give him time, and he'll probably join those other criminals in the White Fang,"

Minato looked back and forth from the two and turned to the others just watching.

Ruby and Yang hadn't even noticed Minato and seemed to be looking uncomfortable as the fight went on. And there was another girl Minato had never seen before; she wore a white, gray, and green dress. And had curly orange hair.

And she was looking straight at Minato. As if the moment he had been able to come into the field of vision she turned her head to him and smiled.

She had green eyes, but Minato couldn't help but find something familiar about her eyes. They looked unnatural, almost metallic.

She waved to Minato and smiled.

"Hello, new person!" She greeted in an almost strangely cheerful way.

This caused everyone else to turn to Minato. Minato, in turn, looked at Blake and Weiss.

"What happened?" Minato asked.

Weiss elected to inform him. "This stowaway Faunus was running away from the police, but we lost him thanks to," Weiss pointed at Blake, "Blake trying to defend his actions for some reason,"

"You don't know that you little brat!" Blake yelled back. "He was probably just being blamed because he was a Faunus!"

"Oh yes because that makes so much sense," Weiss answered in deadpan. "I'm sure it's all a complete misunderstanding,"

Minato noticed the tension rising, but was unsure how to diffuse it.

"Did he happen to be a monkey Faunus?" Minato asked.

"Uh, yeah." Weiss stammered. "How did you know that?"

Minato pointed his head backward. "I saw him running away from two officers; it didn't seem that serious,"

"See!" Blake pointed towards Minato. "Even Minato thinks that there was no reason for them to chase him down,"

"How does that prove anything?" Weiss demanded. "He doesn't know what that Faunus kid did to get chased!"

"What did he do?" Minato asked he was wondering why Yang and Ruby weren't getting involved.

"He stole a banana," Blake said evenly.

"He was a stowaway on a ship!" Weiss added.

"That doesn't matter!" Blake yelled again. "He's already here, what are they going to do? Send him all the way back to Mistral?"

"Then it's just fine for a Faunus to get away with a crime then?" Weiss asked. "Then I guess we should just tell the White Fang that everything's been forgiven for the people they've hurt huh?"

"Why do you keep on equating him to the White Fang?" Blake demanded. "Just because one member of a species does something wrong it doesn't mean that an entire group is guilty because they have a single connection!"

"Am I wrong to believe that criminals are related and just as bad as other criminals?" Weiss demanded back. "I didn't realize the laws had changed!"

"The White Fang are not criminals! They are a group of Faunus who want to change things for the better and have three different group who operate differently from one another. Which you would now if you hadn't been sheltered and protected your entire life unlike the rest of us!"

"Excuse you!" Weiss screeched.

Their argument continued going back and forth. Minato wasn't sure what to do. He remembered these types of arguments the members of SEES had, but he had stayed silent during those and eventually things had worked out.

Minato decided to say nothing, but involve himself if Ruby asked for help. This seemed like a personal matter, and he was only a reserve member for his year. He wouldn't get involved in arguments unless he had to, that was the safest way.

"I think we should go," Yang said uncomfortably.

"Where are we going?" The strange girl asked while appearing behind Yang. The blonde girl shook her head and started to walk towards the arguing girls. She turned to Minato and made a face towards her teammates. "Sorry Minato, stuff's going on,"

Minato nodded in understanding and watched as Yang began pushing her friends back towards Beacon.

They were still arguing.

Ruby ran past Minato and waved in apology. Minato waved back; it seemed polite. Then he turned and noticed that the other girl was staring right at him.

"Good day!" She said with the same cheerfulness as if the argument earlier hadn't rattled her. "My name is Penny Polendina, what's your name?"

She extended her hand to Minato. He accepted the handshake.

"Minato Arisato," he answered.

"Are you a friend of Ruby's?" Penny asked.

Minato thought about that, then nodded. He had made a bond with the girl; it was reasonable to say they were friends.

"How wonderful!" Penny cheered. "I've recently become friends with Ruby myself," She gasped. "Does that mean we're friends as well?"

There was a strange look in her eyes. Something vague and familiar, but Minato recognized the hope in those eyes.

Minato saw no reason not to be friends with the strange girl. As self-conscious as Ruby is, if she was able to become friends with Penny in the scope of several hours then she couldn't be that bad.

Minato nodded. "I don't see why not,"

"This is incredible!" Penny cheered. "Two new friends already, I am truly loving Vale!" She reached over and grabbed both of Minato's hands in a fierce handshake. "Thank you for accepting my friendship Minato!"

Glass shattered.

Thou hast re-ignited the Aeon Arcana

The voice of the Almighty speaks again

Remember never to stop trying to understand, to learn, to discover.

Minato's eyes widened, and a strange thought entered his mind.

Penny frowned at him. "Are you well? Your aura recently fluctuated and shifted,"

Minato shook his head. "I'm fine," He stared at the girl who was still holding his hands. And decided to ask his question.

"Penny, may I ask you something?" Minato started.

Penny cocked her head and let go of Minato's hands. She thought for several seconds and turned to Minato.

"Friends answer question correct?" She asked.

Minato nodded in agreement.

Penny smiled, 'Then ask away Minato!"

Minato wasn't sure how to word his question, but the best choice might just to be blunt.

"Penny, are you a robot, or an Android perhaps?" Minato asked.

Minato was used to one type of robotic individual. Someone who was quiet used little emotion in her words and was reserved for her words due to isolations and incompatibility. Minato wasn't used to Penny.

"Yes!" Penny said with a smile. Then she paused for several seconds. Her eyes grew wide. And she suddenly became very afraid. "Oh no I forgot my first objective!"

She looked down and wouldn't meet Minato in the eyes.

"I was told not to inform any individual of my being," she looked up in confusion. "How did you realize I wasn't human?"

Minato shrugged, deciding not to tell the girl of his Persona, but decided to give her a small bit of truth. "I have a friend who's also a robot,"

Penny's eyes grew wide. "Really! Is she like me?"

Minato shook her head. "No she's different, but we were good friends. Her name is Aigis,"

"So," Penny fidgeted with her fingers. "Me being a robot does not frighten or alienate you?" Penny asked, her voice sounding hopeful.

Minato shook his head. "I see no reason why it would,"

Penny jumped up in joy. "This is the most glorious of days indeed. I knew going on my own would prove beneficial!" She rushed to Minato. "Tell me, would Ruby also be alright with knowing my true identity?"

Minato didn't think her identity was a secret, but that was neither here nor there.

"Knowing Ruby, she would probably think you're amazing," And knowing how the girl is with technology, Penny would probably be a dream come true.

"Fortuitous!" Penny cheered. She checked her watch and gave an imitation of a shocked gasp.

"Oh, I must be off!" She turned stepped closer to Minato. She looked hesitant, then hugged Minato.

Minato wasn't a hug person; there was a little too much contact for his liking. But at least she wasn't hanging on him.

"Thank you for becoming my friend Minato," She began to run out of sight and waved back to Minato. "Have a terrific day!"

Minato waved back. At least this trip hadn't been all that bad.

~Break~

Minato woke up the next day and headed to the cafeteria for breakfast.

From what he had heard last night while walking back, Blake and Weiss had still been arguing. He was unsure how anyone could argue that long, but he had witnessed stranger things before.

As he entered the cafeteria, he noticed team RWBY sitting and eating already.

Without Blake.

The ninja-themed girl was missing from the table, and it showed. Weiss appeared to be angry at her food using expert stabs and slices to eat. Yang was eating normally, but the girl's vibrant energy had faded to a more solemn note. Ruby wasn't even eating; she looked nervous and agitated at the same time.

Minato got his food, some eggs, and bacon with some milk, and sat down next to them. The three looked at him but said nothing. Minato sighed, it seemed as though he would have to ask.

"Blake ran away last night," Ruby sighed dejectedly.

Minato frowned. He wasn't surprised something like that had happened. He'd seen things like that before, but he was surprised that Blake had been the one to run away. Weiss would have been his first guess.

"You make it sound like she's some lost puppy or something," Weiss said but didn't look at Ruby.

"Well if you wouldn't have kept on arguing last night this wouldn't have happened," Yang pointed out, her voice almost angry.

Weiss turned an angry glare to Weiss. "Am I supposed to apologize for being right? Besides she's the one who ran away not me."

"That's enough," Ruby said. Her voice was surprisingly calm and low. "This isn't solving anything," She turned to Minato and frowned. "I'm sorry about yesterday Minato, but we have to look for Blake right now,"

Minato nodded. And decided to offer a helping hand.

"Would you like any help?" Minato offered.

Ruby shook her head.

"Sorry Minato, this is a team RWBY problem, but thank you," She gave him a small smile and motioned for her teammates to join her.

Yang and Weiss waved at as they left. Minato looked back at his food then back to the leaving girls.

Minato had, surprisingly, forgotten what Ruby had said when he offered to help them. It was such a shame really, lapses in memory can become harmful. But Minato had to assume that they accepted his offer and were waiting for him to finish eating.

And Minato had recently discovered he wasn't hungry, what are the chances.

But it's wasteful just to leave food, so Minato took one last bite of his eggs and headed out to look for Team RWBY's lost teammate.

He was technically part of their team after all.

~Break~

Minato began walking around the city. He had an idea of where to look in the city. Minato didn't know much about Blake, but what he did know could help.

The girl liked to read, so places where one could read, places where there were books and quiet and calm places. She also liked tea and fish. So a tea house, coffee shop, or anything related to that would work.

Minato had checked several places to no avail. The bookstore, run by a nice man who had convinced Minato to order a fairy tale book, hadn't seen her. A nearby breakfast diner and café also hadn't seen her.

Minato wasn't surprised. Those were the closest places near Beacon, and if one were trying to avoid people from Beacon, it would make sense to move farther away.

Minato had checked one more shop before finding Ruby.

He had expected to run into the young leader with her sister and Weiss. However, he had not expected to see Penny with her instead. Minato had to guess that the robotic girl was able to keep track of things such as people.

Which was later proven when Minato began walking towards them, Penny suddenly turned around with a large smile on her face.

"Hello, my friend Minato!" Penny cheered and walked towards him. Ruby turned around in shock as she saw Minato.

"It's great to see you again Minato!" Penny cheered as she stood in front of Minato.

Minato smiled at the girl and nodded.

"What are you doing here?" Ruby asked. "I told you that this was a Team RWBY problem Minato?"

"You did," Minato agreed. "But, I remembered that I am technically Team RWBY's reserved member, so it was my problem,"

There was at least some pride to take in when Ruby couldn't argue back, considering that she had been using the same excuse to involve herself and her team with his life.

"I, can't argue with that can I?" Ruby awkwardly asked. "I just didn't want to drag you into our problems,"

"Excuse me, Ruby?" Penny asked. "I am of the understanding that if more individuals search for one individual, then the chances of finding said the individual in an enclosed area rises exponentially!"

Ruby turned her head sideways, "Wha?"

"She means the more people who search, the faster we'll find her," Minato explained.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," Ruby agreed.

"Wonderful!" Penny said. "Now let us continue looking for your Faunus friend Blake,"

Ruby made a strained face and made an embarrassing face at Minato. Minato just raised an eye at the statement.

"We uh," Ruby hesitated. "We think Blake may be a Faunus, cause y'know her bow." Ruby put her two hands beside her head and indicated having fictional ears atop her head by wiggling her fingers. "Cat ears,"

Minato nodded. "I see,"

"That's it?" Ruby asked. "I mean, we live with her, and we were kind of shocked, I mean it made sense once we thought about it. Like she liked tuna, and was always pretty defensive of all the Faunus stuff,"

Minato shrugged. How was he supposed to react? Blake was a Faunus, after recent events and things with her personality, it made sense.

"Does it change anything?" Minato asked.

Ruby shook her head. "Of course not, she's still our friend. Kitty ears or not,"

Minato nodded in agreement. It was comforting to see a person like Ruby now and then. Someone who saw people and who they were rather than what they were.

Minato looked around again and remembered something odd.

"Where are Weiss and Yang, I thought they left with you?" Minato asked.

Ruby almost looked annoyed.

"They were! But then they left me with Penn.." Ruby turned to Penny who was smiling at her friend. "..ns and that's not important, nope! I'm sure we'll meet up with them later."

"What pens Ruby? I don't see any?" Penny asked.

"Oh, you know Penny, pen… stuff… things," Ruby tried explaining.

"I think we're getting off track," Minato said, trying to diffuse the tension and save Ruby some embarrassment.

"Uh, that's right! We need to focus on finding Blake!" Ruby quickly agreed. "Minato, do you have any idea where to look? So far we've just been wandering around,"

Minato thought about that. "I've been checking café's and bookstores, but no one has seen her,"

"Yeah we were doing the same thing when we first started, but no luck there," Ruby admitted.

"Is there anything that would give us a clue?" Penny asked. "You said she ran away because of her argument with Weiss over the White Fang, correct?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, she got really angry at Weiss because of that," Ruby paused for a moment and looked at Minato. "You don't think that Blake was…"

"It makes sense," Minato said, knowing where Ruby was going.

"But Blake isn't a criminal, and she doesn't hate human… well, except maybe Weiss. I'm not so sure right now," Ruby said.

"That may not be the case," Minato added. "The White Fang is a large organization; it's possible that while everyone in the group rallies under the cause, everyone might not have the same ideology about how to go about things,"

"That is correct!" Penny said with an abundance of energy. "The White Fang is currently in a three-way split between separate ideologies. The Revolution Party, The Equality Party and the Ruling Party!"

"There are three parties?" Ruby asked. "I just thought it was one big group,"

Penny nodded. "It used to be, but several years ago the original leader stepped down, and another took his place. This caused a major division in the organization as ideologies began to conflict with one another,"

"Like what?" Minato asked.

He didn't know much about the White Fang, only that they were a group that advocated Faunus rights and had recently been doing so through violence. Minato was also wondering how Penny knew this information but considering that she was a robot he had a pretty good hunch.

"Well the Revolutionary party wants to essentially start a war with humanity and either wipe them out or make the world where they are lesser creatures and or slaves," Penny answered with her chipper voice.

"That sounds bad," Ruby commented.

"Oh it is, but they are the relatively smaller group compared to the other two," Penny put her hand to her chin in contemplation. "However their numbers have been growing recently. Anyways there are two more factions,"

"The Ruling faction is the largest faction. They believe that humans are incapable of ruling and that they need time to grow and eventually evolve. So they want to establish a ruling system where Faunus are in charge and humans, while not being full citizens, are protected and taught by Faunus. They believe that humans can eventually be equal to them, but simply aren't capable right now," Penny explained.

"That's… different, but I don't think I can agree with that," Ruby said. "I mean, I don't know about the world governments and politics that much, but that seems like nicer way of saying we're better than you,"

Minato agreed. He understood the reasoning, and the group probably believed that it had the best interest of everyone, but their way of confronting the issue was a strange one. It sounded like an entire group that wanted to play parent to an entire species.

"And the equality party?" Minato asked.

Penny nodded. "They're currently the second largest and the group that follows the original leader's ideals. They believe that equality and harmony can exist between Humans and Faunus. They are having difficulty with keeping members because of the actions of the Revolutionary Party, but are perhaps in the best position to inspire change in the long term," The robotic girl explained.

"Blake must have been a part of that group," Ruby said and turned to Minato. "I mean she was arguing about how the White Fang helps Faunus and tries to help everyone, right?"

Minato frowned. "Then why did she leave and come to Beacon?" Minato turned to Ruby and decided to voice his guess.

"There might be a chance she was part of the other parties but left," Minato said.

"But, then why would she come here and not just join the other faction?" Ruby asked.

Minato shrugged. "I'm not sure," Minato turned back to Ruby. "We should probably ask her when we find her,"

"Oh right!" Ruby hit herself on the head. "We got distracted by everything Penny said…" Ruby stopped and turned towards Penny. The girl was still smiling.

"Penny?" Ruby said cautiously.

"Yes Ruby," Penny answered with a smile.

"How did you know all that stuff about the White Fang?" Ruby asked.

"Oh that's simple," Penny began. "All high ranking personnel in Atlas have access to the records of the White Fangs and their most recent actions. I just had to access my data-," Penny shut her mouth so fast it almost looked like it had clamped shut.

Penny gave Minato a worried glance and moved her eyes between him and Ruby. Ruby noticed this and looked between the two of them in confusion.

"Uh, what's going on?" Ruby asked.

Minato sighed.

"It's your choice," He directed at the girl.

Penny nodded and seemed to steel herself.

"Ruby, as your friend, I haven't been completely honest with you," Penny said almost looking ashamed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ruby asked. "Like is this some super-secret or something?"

"Something like that," Minato agreed.

"Ruby, I need to ask you something, and I need you to give me an honest answer," Penny said with complete seriousness.

Ruby looked back and forth between Minato and Penny. But she turned back to Penny and nodded.

"I don't know what's going on, but a sure thing," Ruby said.

Penny took a deep breath. "Can I trust you to keep a secret?"

Ruby tilted her head and waited several seconds before answering. "Sure thing Penny,"

Penny gave Ruby a bright smile and stood a bit straighter.

"Ok then! Ruby, I am an android that was created by the Atlessian Military and General James Ironwood. I was designed to be the first synthetic person capable of generating their aura," Penny answered.

Ruby looked confused. "Wait… so you're an Android?"

"Yes," Penny answered.

"That can use aura and fight?"

"Affirmative,"

"And your part of the Atlas Military?"

"Correct again!"

Ruby paused for several seconds. The silence stretched on, and Minato could've sworn that a tumbleweed passed them by in the silence. It was almost comical.

"That. Is. AWESOME!" Ruby yelled and started invading Penny's personal space a second later.

"Can you shoot lasers? Do you have super strength? What weapons do you have? Do you need oil to move?"

Penny smiled at Ruby. "Yes, enhanced, magnetically enhanced dust blades on strings, and no,"

"This is so cool!" Ruby cheered. "I didn't know robots existed, and you're so lifelike too!"

"Thank you, Ruby," Penny smiled. "But I am supposed to keep this a secret, but since you and Minato are my friends and the both of you have promised to keep this a secret everything should be fine!"

Ruby smiled at Penny but was interrupted by the screeching of tires.

A car, slim, black, and had the symbol of Atlas on the doors, pulled up right beside them. Penny's smile faltered and instantly became downtrodden.

Two men in mechanical uniforms stepped out of the vehicle. The armor was interesting in design, the entire top half of their bodies were covered in metal armor, but conveniently had different color lines of red and blue to distinguish one from another.

They also had large rifles. Neither was being pointed at anyone, but they were visible.

"Ms. Polendina," The guard in the blue, said. "Please come with us,"

Penny sighed. "I stopped for too long," She turned to Ruby and Minato and gave them an apologetic smile. "I need to go with them, I'm sorry."

"Wait, why do you…" Ruby saw the Atlas symbol on the car. "Oh… that."

"I wanted to help you find Blake, Ruby. I'm sorry," Penny apologized.

"No, no Penny its fine," Ruby said to make Penny feel better and patted Minato on the arm. "We got this, thanks for helping, though. You helped us out," Ruby gave her friend a brave smile.

Penny smiled again and rushed Ruby into a bear hug.

"Ah! Penny!" Ruby screeched. "Crushing. Ribs!"

"Oh!" Penny said, slightly shocked. "My apologies Ruby,"

"It's ok, don't worry about it," Ruby waved off while grabbing her sides.

"Penny," The guard in the red said. "We have to go. The General is waiting,"

Penny sighed. "Right," She turned back to Ruby and Minato and smiled. "I hope I'll see you two during the Vytal festival!"

Penny then walked towards the guards and went into the car. The guards nodded at Minato and Ruby and entered the car as well. It sped off several seconds later, leaving Minato and Ruby in silence.

"So, you knew she was an android?" Ruby asked Minato.

Minato nodded.

"How'd you find out?" Ruby asked.

Minato shrugged. "I guessed,"

"You have some really good guesses then," Ruby said, then looked down. "So what do we do now?"

Minato thought about that for a minute as they walked.

Checking places Blake might have gone to eat or relax was proving fruitless so far. So maybe they should be looking somewhere else.

"That store that got robbed," Minato began. "Didn't you think the White Fang was involved?"

Ruby shook her head. "That was mostly Weiss, but there has been this guy who's been stealing dust. Have you ever heard of Roman Torchwick?"

Minato nodded. The man was a recent crime lord. Cunning, was able to move large amounts of material, and somehow was always able to escape any situation or jail cell he ended up in. He was also a capable fighter who had the abilities of a pseudo hunter. Every time he was brought in was due to the actions of Hunters or Huntresses, the police simply didn't have the resources or ability to catch him.

"I ran into him a few weeks ago; it was actually how I got into Beacon. But, he and his cronies were stealing dust," Ruby frowned. "But my sister told me that since he got the attention of the Hunters, no other crime boss would lend him any men,"

"How does Yang know that?" Minato asked.

"Oh she attacked a bad guy bar, no problem," Ruby waved dismissively.

Minato decided that was a story for another time.

"So if Torchwick needs more dust, then he needs more people to be able to move it," Ruby continued. "But even if he did need that much dust, why would the White Fang help him?"

"Mutual interest?" Minato suggested. "It's possible the Revolutionary faction needs dust more extreme attacks, and he gets a cut from whatever's taken. But we have no definite proof that they are involved at all," Minato pointed out.

"Well Blake might be thinking the same thing as us, but more for the White Fang than Torchwick, so it's worth a shot I guess," Ruby said. "But if that's the case where should we look?"

Minato shrugged. "Are there any dust shops nearby or any that have recently been stored?"

Ruby shrugged as well. "I have no idea; I actually don't think a lot of dust shops are going to keep fully stocked with all of the robberies lately."

That made sense to Minato. But then where would they go.

"Wait! I have an idea," Ruby said getting Minato's attention. "Ok, so Torchwick needs a lot of dust, and the White Fang needs some too right?"

Minato nodded.

"So where does every dust store in the city get their supplies from?" Ruby asked, a smile beginning to form on her face.

The realization hit Minato.

"The docks," he said.

"Exactly!" Ruby said. "And I bet that Blake is thinking the same thing. She'll probably be there!"

Minato nodded and began following Ruby to the docks in hopes of finding Blake.

~Break~

Roman Torchwick was a business man.

Sure he wasn't a respectable one or an honest one either. But he was a businessman nonetheless. So when an incredibly attractive woman who can turn people on fire offers you a simple job, with a decent payoff, and the very high chance of not being burned alive. A business man takes it.

Besides he can't enjoy life if he's dead.

So naturally robbing stores, banks, and information had now been changed to dust and weaponry. They were easier to come by than he thought, sure he had an unlucky run in with that red themed brat, but the little kid was probably in school now, so there was little chance he would run into her again.

The recent hauls of dust had been successful, but like all women that just wasn't enough. No, they needed to get more dust and faster too, so the next step had been obvious.

Take the next big shipment of dust at night. It's simple enough that these animals should understand it, quiet enough, so no police or, Grimm forbid, Huntsman arrive. And should put them ahead of schedule for the next few weeks.

Sometimes he was just too clever. Neo would make a face, but his chromatic companion wasn't here, at least he didn't think she was. You can never tell with those illusionist types.

They were approaching the docks pretty quickly in these airships.

Roman was surprised that the White Fang had access to these types of ships. But he didn't complain, as long as they got the job done then it was fine.

Every person on the planet had their opinion on the White Fang and Faunus in general. Roman didn't care in the least about them.

They were people, little more animal than normal, but people nonetheless. And Faunus, like everyone else, can be exploited and used.

They were a lot more useful than those mooks he used to rent from Junior. These White Fang guys were fanatics. People who believed in whatever ridiculous cause so much that they would die for it. Made em a hell of a lot more useful for jobs in Roman's opinion.

You just don't get that criminal who cares about their job like they used to, Roman sighed.

The airship touched down, and everyone on the ship began pouring out.

"Alright, we aren't the most discreet group of customers at the moment. So hurry up, move your animal hides, and let's get the hell out of here before there's a ruckus," Roman said to the White Fang members.

Some growled, because of course they can, and others just went about doing their job. It was good to get the sensible animals now and then. Sped up the job time.

Now Roman did the most coveted and grueling of jobs given to those in charge of operations such as these.

He had to oversee and make sure no one screwed up.

"You, tiger tail, come here. I need you to get something," Roman motioned over with his cane.

The Faunus growled at him. "My name is Hobbes, human,"

"Don't care. Now look over here," Roman pointed towards the crates the White Fang were currently putting together. "Each airship we have can carry about one of these crates at a time, and with the other four coming in several minutes we can carry a total of 5,"

"And?" Tiger tail asked.

Roman sighed. Somehow he just didn't understand how people could be so stupid.

"The airships can only carry one crate, not because of weight but because they only have one latch at the bottom. These ships can carry three crates at once," Roman pointed towards the shipping yard that was holding other ships and crates together. "So tell me stripes, how can we make three trips into one?"

Tiger tail looked back and forth and shrugged.

"I guess that makes sense," he agreed.

"Of course it does my furry friend," Roman patted the man on the back. "Now go and get us some rope, latches, and anything that can bind these crates together, hup hup!"

Tiger tail ran off leaving Roman to his lonesome once again.

It was going to be a good night. They were going to get most of the dust they needed to fund that army of theirs. Roman would have a decent amount to sell on the black market. And little miss fire eyes wouldn't throw a temper tantrum and roast him alive.

Roman had a good feeling about the night.

Which was thoroughly ruined by the sword across his neck?

"Whoa!" Roman yelled.

"Don't move! All of you!" The girl yelled at him.

Roman couldn't see whoever it was behind him. Such a pain to deal with sometimes. But she had a weapon next to a very important part of his living, so he didn't make any sudden movements.

Just subtle ones with his cane.

The people he brought with him had surrounded the two of them but didn't move. He would have to give points for not doing anything stupid while their, technical, boss was being held, hostage. But took some away because they had allowed the girl behind him to catch him by surprise.

"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang!" The girl shouted and threw some thread into the air. "Why are you committing these petty crimes? Why are you working with this criminal?"

Roman rolled his eyes. "It's about common interest sweetheart. They need dust; I need money. It's simple actually,"

"Shut up!" The girl said and brought the sword closer to Romans neck.

"Easy, easy," Roman chided and then smiled, he could hear engines in the background. "How about you put your little sword and hightail it out of here before you get hurt, kid?"

"No," She answered quietly. "I'm ending this little operation and bringing you in. You have a lot to answer for,"

Roman chuckled. "Well on that you're not wrong," He admitted, then looked up. "But I wouldn't exactly call this a small operation,"

The girl looked up giving Roman the distraction he needed. He smiled and fired Melodic Cudgel right at her feet.

A yelp and an explosion later, Roman was freed, and he got a good look at his mystery do-gooder.

She was probably 17 or 18. Cat Faunus is going by the ears. And a pretty face, too bad she was an idiot.

Roman shot at her.

Fire Dust rounds exploded in missed shots. Roman was a good shot, even Neo had some difficulty dodging him, but every time he hit the girl she suddenly turned into two people and left away, leaving behind the copy.

Sometimes Roman wished he knew what his Semblance was. It could be a real pain to deal with someone who had one.

"Leave her alone!" A voice shouted.

When Roman turned to look at the newest annoyance, he received two feet to the face. Neo was going to laugh at the newest bruise on his face after this. Roman turned to look at the foot jerk.

He was tall. Quite muscular too. And had a monkey tail, wonderful another Faunus.

Weren't these animals supposed to be on the same side or something? Roman sighed, nothing could ever be a simple job.

Luckily enough his men surrounded the kid, weapons out.

The kid seemed to realize the situation he was in, and Roman smirked.

"You're not the brightest apple in the bunch are ya kid?" Roman taunted but was interrupted by a battle cry.

This time Roman was prepared and defended himself from the attack.

The cat girl was facing him head on, which was fine his men would back him up once they killed the other kid.

She was good. Swipe after strike attacked Roman. She attacked with the cleaver, which Roman blocked with his cane, but immediately followed with her katana. Keeping up with both of the weapons and the occasional shot from the pistol was getting annoying.

Roman tried to hit her after blocking her katana strike only to hit that clone again. She threw her pistol which was attached to a thread and wrapped itself around his arm.

Roman blocked the next overhead strike. He dragged his cane along her katana and jabbed the brat in the stomach. Then Roman twisted, getting some momentum going, and knocked the annoying girl across the face sending her flying.

Only to see all of his men knocked out and the blond kid coming at him with some nunchucks.

Roman blocked the flying kick and tried to counter but was under constant assault.

Every time the kid swung his nunchucks, the gun at the end would fire. Causing Roman to not only block the weapon but the bullet the literal second after.

Luckily Roman had been taught to be a defensive fighter. He needed to pick Neo up some coffee next run.

30 perfectly timed blocks later the kid was out of bullets, giving Roman the chance to point his gun at the monkey's face.

Unfortunately, the kid wrapped his nunchuck around the cane and pulled it away before Roman could fire. And received a kick in the chest, and if that wasn't enough, the girl wrapped her thread pistol around his chest and brought him back in for another kick to the chest.

Roman was getting short of breath. He was good, not as good as fully trained Huntsman, but he could beat some kids. These two, however, were running him ragged very quickly; he needed those reinforcements and bad.

Roman's prayers were answered by the hail of gunfire from above. Roman knew that at this point the entire city had been woken up, so they needed to get those five crates on those airships and leave.

But first. Roman took aim at the girl hiding behind the crate. At least one less annoyance to deal with in the future.

Roman clicked his cane, only for it to veer off to the right and hit the crate to the side. Roman looked up and cursed hit rotten luck.

Little red had come back. She had shot at his cane from an office building roof. She turned, probably motioning to someone behind her. Which, Roman took the perfect time to shoot the annoying brat.

Another figure on the roof moved in front of Red just before Roman's fire round hit the girl.

Now Roman had seen many things in his life.

He's seen a girl as high as his waist massacre an entire prison floor. He had seen men desperate for money butcher and kill for even the tiniest scrap. Roman had even seen a woman turn into ice, shatter said ice, and leave a completely different person inside as if it was magic.

Roman, however, had never seen a bullet bounce back after it hit someone.

Roman was so surprised that he didn't even realize that the fire round was coming at him. Roman felt the heat first, then the explosive impact hit his body and threw him into a nearby container.

Roman was getting knocked around too much for his liking tonight.

The repeated chatter of the machine guns above head brought Roman out of his daze. He looked around and saw several more White Fang members keeping the monkey and cat busy. But Red and her new friend jumped down, and Roman was able to get a good look at the extra annoyance.

He was taller than Red. He looked relaxed, despite the situation. And besides the black and white striped shirt, he was wearing a blue jacket and jeans. Also, he had blue hairs and eyes.

Roman sighed. "Great, just great. This is just wonderful. We've got red and blue here," Roman said pointing towards the two kids. "Tell me when's purple coming?"

Blue turned to Red and turned his head. She shrugged, brought out that stupidly annoying sniper scythe and charged at the other White Fang members.

Red knocked out about three of his goons when the ships began firing at her. The kid turned into a red-blue, and there were some rose petals for some reason and used her rifle to zip away from the planes and find cover.

Blue, on the other hand, had rushed Roman.

The kid had a katana and a weird looking pistol. Old school, but effective, and Roman blocked the first strike. His hits landed a bit heavier than the other brats; the kid must be stronger than he looks. Roman deflected the sword and went to hit the kid across the face, but with his free hand Blue knocked his punch aside and elbowed Roman in the face with his sword hand.

Roman cursed and grabbed his nose. He needed to get out of here. Before Blue could continue, Roman shot at the ground, blocking Blue's field of vision, and rushed over to the airship they arrived in.

Roman was at least somewhat relieved that the one airship had a large crate of dust. Butter one than none. He turned and saw the airships focus their fire at Blue. He dodged and deflected some bullets, but was struggling to find cover.

Roman started the airship and smiled. At least one color coded brat wouldn't be a problem anymore.

He turned to keep an eye on the intruders to the nightly operation and saw something truly surprising.

Blue put his gun to his head. Roman had seen people kill themselves before, particularly when Neo was having one of her episodes. But it happens, rather die by yourself than by some monster or a particularly unpleasant individual.

But those had always been adults; Roman had never seen a kid commit suicide. So his morbid fascination was what led him to continue watching.

Blue said something, and there was a flash of light.

Now Roman wasn't a man of faith. There haven't really been any major groups of faith in Remnant for the last several decades as far as he knew. There were cults here and there sure, but religion has never been a big thing to people. When there are monsters running around its hard to believe in something bigger. So Roman never gave the idea of faith any thought, it just didn't matter.

But Roman knew some things about religion. There was usually a god or goddess, an afterlife. And of course messengers or angels.

So when Blue pulled the trigger, he had expected blood, shock, and maybe a cry from Red.

He hadn't expected an angel.

Now, this wasn't a normal angel. This wasn't a kind-faced being with feathery wings and a horn. Or one of those baby angels, cherubs or something, this was something terrifying.

The angel was made entirely of metal. Its face was stern and pitiless and was dressed in a robe. Even the wings were metal. The angel was also about ten ft tall and imposing as hell. There was even a light radiating from its form.

Roman couldn't even move. His brain was trying to tell him that this wasn't real and that angels didn't exist, but his eyes were firmly disagreeing. The entire dock was silent besides the slight humming from the angel.

The angel turned its head towards the airships and Roman remembered where everyone was. The pilots recovered pretty well and shot at the metal angel. The bullets either bounced off or barely made a dent in the thing. One of the ships fired a fire enhanced missile at the thing and, just like when Roman shot at the kid, it bounced off.

The angel flapped its metal wings, which Roman considered more blades than wings, and soared towards the ships. It grabbed the first ship by the left wing. The ship tried to struggle while the other continued to pelt it with bullets, but neither was doing any good. The angel then grabbed the ship's other wing and proceeded to rip the entire thing in half.

The dock was filled with the screech of metal and screaming men that Roman had to cover his ears. Two large pieces of metal fell to the ground along with the White Fang goons with it, and the angel turned to the other ship.

The ship turned around and ran, something Roman could agree with. He and started his airship and sped away in the opposite direction, he would come full circle to the rendezvous point, but he had to get the hell away from that thing before his ship became scarp metal with him in it.

Fortunately for Roman, the angel decided to go after the other ship. Roman saw the angel grab the ship by the tail and throw it down on the ground. It left a large track on the ground, and one of the engines began igniting on fire. The White Fang group got out, only for the angel to slam onto the ship and flattened it.

It hadn't seen Roman, and just as fast as it had appeared, the angel began to disappear slowly.

Roman sighed. "This is freaking nuts!"

Hopefully his flame themed boss wouldn't blame him for the sudden divine intervention.

~Break~

Minato hadn't summoned Metatron in ages, and he felt it. The voice of God was an immense figure of power. Even among the other paragons of Personas, he stood out at the top. However, Metatron wasn't particularly suited for long battles. He was an overwhelming force with defenses against several attacks. His specialty, however, was with light and the power of the almighty.

Both were spells used to either destroy the forces of darkness or utterly annihilate the enemy before you.

Minato wanted to stop and apprehend the criminals, not kill them.

Also under while pressure, Metatron was already in the forefront of his mind.

Minato was still feeling the aftereffects. He was tired, summoning a creature of that much power has a toll, not a dangerous one, but large enough. He was also invigorated. Metatron was a leader, or the leader, among angels. When summoned he gives a strength of not only physical but also spiritual to his allies.

Minato felt like he could run against the wind. The battle against any enemy. That he had seen so much and felt inspired to see and learn more. That power and strength had chosen him to move forward.

Minato had missed that feeling.

Someone whistled, and Minato turned to see the blonde haired boy he saw yesterday with Blake. Both of them looked shocked, which Minato understood, but different.

Blake looked like she was trying to decide between scared or impressed. The boy on the other hadn't just settled with awe.

"Gotta admits, I was not expecting this tonight," He turned to Blake with an eyebrow rising. "You didn't tell me you guys had angels here,"

Blake shook her head. "I didn't know," she whispered.

Minato looked around and saw that most of the White Fang members were knocked out. Some were just groaning in pain, but they couldn't move. The police should arrive shortly to pick them up, so Minato decided to stay where he was and explain what happened.

"Minato!" Ruby yelled as the young leader rushed towards him with incredible speed.

Ruby grabbed her head and was trying to decide what she should say. Or what she should say first. Minato waited and allowed Ruby to calm herself.

"That was an angel!" Ruby said.

"Yes," Minato answered.

"You never told us you could summon angels!" Ruby shouted. Then paused and looked confused. "Wait… does this mean there are gods and stuff?"

Minato shrugged and left it at that. He hadn't found much-detailing religion in Remnant, but he would rather not make any assumptions.

"Well, that doesn't matter," Ruby waved her hand. "But that was so cool! It just appeared and knocked those two ships out of the air!" Ruby frowned when she saw Minato find a small box and sit down. "Are you ok?"

Minato nodded. "I haven't summoned Metatron in some time. I'm a little rusty,"

"That's the angel's name?" Ruby asked.

Minato nodded.

"That's such a cool name," She whispered.

"This is your leader?" The boy asked as he walked over with Blake. "Isn't she a little young?"

Ruby turned to see them, and her eyes lit up.

"Blake!" Ruby rushed forward in a gust of speed and tackled Blake in a hug. "You're ok!"

"Oh… hey Ruby," Blake said hesitantly. She looked away from Ruby, shame filling her voice. "I'm… sorry for running away,"

Minato finally noticed her cat ears. They dropped when she talked like she was sad. It was quite interesting to notice, but Minato looked at Blake and tried to see all of what she was.

This was a woman who had been involved in an extreme activist group. Who had left because she disagreed with their methods? Then joined a huntsman academy to, probably, better herself and made an impact on the world.

Minato wondered if seeing her as something other than human would affect his opinion of her. But his opinion of the girl had stayed the same, even risen due to recent revelations and events.

"Don't worry about it," Ruby said detaching herself from Blake. "We were just worried you got in trouble and… well," Ruby looked around the dock and noticed the fires, metal heaps of trash, and dozens of fallen bodies. "We had a feeling something was about to happen,"

"How did you even find us?" Blake asked.

"Name's Sun by the way," Sun interjected and put himself in front of Ruby and Blake offering his hand. "Sun Wukong,"

Minato ignored the fact that the boy, who happened to be a monkey Faunus, and who fought with a large staff had the same name as one of the most well-known mythological figures in Chinese mythology and chose to believe it as coincidence.

Ruby waved hello to Sun and Blake pushed him out of the way after a grunt of annoyance.

"Well, Minato came to help us look for you," Ruby pointed to Minato. He nodded to Blake. "And we just started brainstorming you know? I knew that Roman Torchwick has been stealing dust, and… well," Ruby looked off to the side sounding uncomfortable.

"We… Guessed that you used to be part of the White Fang," Ruby pointed to the top of her head.

Blake grabbed her arm defensively. "Oh,"

"Yeah," Ruby drawled. "We figured you were part of the White Fang and you were with the Revolutionary group, and you wanted to prove the White Fang wasn't stealing dust, and if they were you would want to stop them,"

Blake nodded, her eyes growing a little wider.

"So we were trying to figure out where they might hit next, and then I thought about where all the dust comes from, and all the big shipments would be at the docks. So we got lunch, Minato found a cool noodle shop and some weird stuff happened there. Then we staked out here until we saw you,"

"Dang, that's impressive," Sun said giving Ruby an impressed nod. "I mean we knew there was going to be a robbery here, you guys just guessed. "You have some smart friends Blake,"

Ruby blushed from the compliment. "Ah, well, y'know,"

"Ruby," Blake said softly. "I'm sorry… again,"

Ruby looked confused. "For what?"

"For lying to you," Blake gripped her retrieved bow in her hands and squeezed. "I've known you all for weeks now… but I was too afraid to tell you who I am, what I am,"

"Blake," Ruby said softly.

"It's just," Blake looked like she was struggling to find what to say. "You know how Faunus are treated, don't you? I left the White Fang to make a difference because I saw what they were becoming. But when I got here I decided to hide who I was. My entire life here, every single day has been tainted by a lie!"

Blake looked close to tears. "Why aren't you angry at me!?"

"Why should I be angry" Ruby responded. Her voice was soft and comforting; it was a voice he recognized but had never heard from the girl. "So what if you're a Faunus?"

Blake looked shocked as well. "What,"

Ruby shrugged. "I mean, I was a little surprised when we found out. But that doesn't change anything," Ruby's eyes became filled with light and. "You're still Blake. Faunus, human, it doesn't matter. I mean sure you were part of the White Fang, but you left didn't you? And yeah it would have been cool to know that one of my new friends was a Faunus, but I know now,"

Blake sighed. "You're way too forgiving for a kid,"

"Hey, Blake?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah?" Blake said.

"Remember our first conversation?"

Blake nodded. "You said you wanted to be a Huntress to help people,"

Ruby nodded. "And remember what I said after that?"

Blake thought about it and answered.

"When I told you that the world wasn't the same as a fairy tale, you told me that's why all of us were at Beacon. To make it better,"

Ruby nodded and extended her hand. "Then stop mopping and let's make the world a better place! Together."

Blake chuckled, wiped her eyes, and shook Ruby's hand.

"Ha!" Sun said and elbowed Blake, "I told you, you were overreacting, Blake," Sun pointed a thumb at Ruby and Minato. "These guys seem great; you don't have anything to worry about with them.

Sun walked over to Ruby.

"By the way, that was an awesome entrance with you guys. Saved out buts there,"

"Well I just saw you guys in trouble, and Roman was about to shoot Blake. So I just…" Ruby pulled out her Crescent Rose and imitated shooting.

"And that weapon!" Sun suddenly shouted in excitement. "What was that? Like a scythe and a sniper rifle!" Sun gasped. "A scythle!"

"I know right!" Ruby cheered with him. She extended Crescent Rose to its full extent and showed it to Sun. "This is Crescent Rose! She is my baby!"

"I've never seen a weapon like this," Run gaped as he looked at Crescent Rose. "Like, I've been around, and I've never seen anyone use a scythe. It's like a spinning windmill of awesome!"

"What about your weapons!" Ruby shouted looking at Sun's nun-chucks. "They're nun-chuck, staff, shotguns! How did you even think up of that?!"

"Oh, these two?" Sun pulled out his weapons. "This is Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang. My aunt and uncle are weapon smiths, and they made this for me on my 14th birthday. I named it after them to honor them y'know,"

"Aww, that's so sweet," Ruby said while staring at Suns weapons.

"By the way. Crescent Rose looks so complex how do you even clean it?" Sun asked.

"Well…" Ruby began explaining to Sun about her weapon.

The two continued to talk about weapons. Minato watched in fascination on how two relative strangers could begin to form a bond over weapons. But Minato understood Ruby had a magnetic personality and a general kindness that was rare among people.

Minato continued to relax until his noticed Blake walking towards him.

She stopped before him and looked at him inquisitively, then turned to the wreckage.

"You've been holding out on us," Blake remarked.

Minato didn't disagree. It was hard to when the other person was right.

"When were you going to tell us you could summon angels?" Blake asked.

Minato shrugged. "I don't make it a habit of summoning them, but it would have happened eventually,"

"I need to apologize to you too," Blake said. "For getting you dragged into this,"

Minato shrugged. "Things happen, besides," Minato gave her the barest smirk he could manage, "I am technically part of your team, I couldn't just ignore this could I?"

Blake snorted. "I guess so," She turned to look at Ruby and Sun who were comparing weapons.

Silence reigned for the moment, and Minato debated on whether to talk to Blake or not. He had learned several things about Blake on the last day. From her actions and choices, Minato was able to make certain guesses. She was someone who believed in responsibility. She acted on what she believed was right and defended the actions of others because of empathy through what they have gone through.

But she was also a woman plagued by guilt. Minato had seen it before. People who were so consumed with the actions of the past that they could barely move past it. Who took the blame and never let go. People who would run away from others, telling themselves it was for the best, or that everyone would be safer when it just meant they were running away.

It was because of that thinking that Shinjiro died. And the aftermath of his death had almost torn SEES apart. It had almost torn Minato apart.

He chose to speak

"When I was with my old team. Do you know what the worst thing I did was?" Minato asked Blake. She said nothing, but Minato had her attention. "A mistake happened, we lost someone. And while everyone had their ways of dealing with the loss, I took the worse route,"

Blake frowned. "You went after the person that killed your friend?" She guessed.

Minato shook his head. "No. At least not then anyway. No, I withdrew from everyone,"

Blake looked confused, and Minato elaborated.

"I had never lost someone before," Minato explained. "The pain was something I didn't understand, and I didn't know how to stop it from hurting. So I came to the conclusion that I needed to distance myself away from everyone. That way if they died, then it wouldn't hurt, I ran away from everyone, and that started to hurt more than the death ever did,"

Minato stared directly into Blake's eyes. Hoping, pleading that his message would reach the young woman.

"I think I understand, but," Blake whispered. "Why are you telling me this?"

Minato looked to Ruby. "You have a good leader and some good friends. Don't run away from them when they can help,"

Blake turned to Ruby and Sun and said nothing.

The Police and newsgroups appeared in several minutes. After explaining to the police and reporters what had happened, and several people from around the docks came by showing videos of a giant metal figure and firing airships, the entire situation started to calm down.

Ruby was conducting an interview telling the reporters how Roman Torchwick had led the crime and that the White Fang were helping him, she tried to explain the factions, but they tuned her out after she said, White Fang.

Blake had put her bow back on and was sitting near Sun who had gotten an apple from somewhere.

Minato had been filling in his report to the police when he saw Yang and Weiss walk up. Weiss immediately walked over to Blake and began speaking. Minato kept his attention to the officer as to allow them some level of privacy.

When Minato finished his report, he turned and saw smiling faces and a cheering Ruby.

Sun went his way after they left the docks and Team RWBY plus Minato went back to Beacon. Ruby had told Yang and Weiss about his angel which led to questions and excitement for the future. But Minato only said they would have to wait.

His Persona was still new to the world. And now a recently escaped crime lord and fanatics knew about it. But that was alright. He was surprised how comfortable he felt with this group. That he had made bonds so quickly with the individuals, he met over the last few weeks.

It was time to say goodbye to the apprehension and move forward.

~Break~

"An angel?"

Roman sighed as he had to relive the painful, and recent, memory.

"Yes an angel," Roman answered. "Granted it was made of metal and ten feet tall, but an angel,"

"That's," Cinder fall tapped her chin, "Interesting,"

Roman rubbed his head on annoyance. His new "boss" was aggravating to deal with. She was the one who wanted him to work with the White Fang, but that had gained him the unwanted attention of the night and turned everything to hell.

"You can't be serious?" Emerald said, giving Roman a mocking glance, "He's obviously making this up,"

Emerald was a young woman with brown skin, red eyes, and mint green hair. She wore an outfit that exposed a lot of skin, not that Roman was complaining mind you, and had these sickle guns to her side.

"Oh of course I am," Roman replied sarcastically, "I completely failed to bring a large shipment of dust in and my first excuse to give was that an angel appeared out of nowhere and stopped us. Listen, kid; I've been in this game since you were learning how to steal scraps from under the table. So when an accomplished liar and thief tells you with an annoyed voice and expression why he lost all of his goons and only has one crate, and he says it's an angel, he means it's a freaking angel!"

Emerald gave him a frown, and Roman could honestly care less what the little illusionist thought.

Mercury whistled. "Easy there Roman," Mercury picked up a dust vial. "It's not our fault you can't come up with a better way to say you lost to a kid twice in a row,"

Mercury is a well-built man with gray eyes, and clothing to match. The kid had prosthetic legs, and unlike Emerald who could act like she was decent, Mercury was unpleasant all the time.

Roman really, really, really¸ wanted to kill those two. Neo was still on the job with that Taurus nutjob, keeping an eye on him mostly, so even if Roman was given a chance, he couldn't do it.

The two were better fighters than he was. No shame in admitting that, Roman knew he was never the strongest kid on the block, but the cleverest, the smartest, the best dressed? Well that was something else. So, at least for now, they lived.

Though this was mostly due to their mutual boss.

Cinder Fall is beautiful. Her red dress, long legs, eyes like fire, and a voice that would make any man or woman melt. She was the person who would kill you and make it hot. But she was also an annoyance, a threatening pain, and the main reason he was preparing for a freaking war.

She could control fire and use magic. And she scared Neo. That was enough incentive to go along with her. Roman didn't like it, but survival had its price, it was the way of the world.

Cinder waved her hand, and her two lackeys shut their mouths.

"This angel, where did it come from?" Cinder asked. "I'm assuming it didn't just appear from the sky?"

Roman shook his head.

"No, and here's where it gets insane. This kid shoots himself in the head and suddenly a flash of light, then there's an angel tearing everything apart," Roman explained.

"So it was summoned?" Cinder asked.

Roman shrugged. "No clue beautiful. All I know is that I'm staying the hell away from that kid. Little Red and her Faunus friends I can handle. Suicide summoning kids, I think I'll pass,"

Cinder sighed. "I don't think you are lying to me Roman,"

Her eyes flashed, and the room became hotter. "You know the price for that, I assume?"

Roman shook his head in agreement. "Trust me; even I couldn't make this up,"

"I see," Cinder said, and the room cooled again.

Roman hated when she did that. What if she accidently caught his suit on fire, despite what people may think, clothing is expensive. Especially a masterpiece such as his suit.

"There is a new piece on the board," Cinder said and turned to Mercury and Emerald. "We will need to make… preparations,"

"So you actually believe him?" Mercury asked. Cinder rose and gave him a hard stare. Roan had to have it too the kid, he never seemed to much afraid of Cinder, but he knew when to back down.

"I believe," Cinder said while walking towards Mercury and placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "That one mistake, one miscalculation, one overlook, and everything we have worked for could be undone. That is the enemy we face here,"

Her eyes began to glow again, and she stared hard at Mercury. "Do you understand?"

Mercury paused for a second. Gathered himself and nodded in agreement.

"Yes ma'am, sorry,"

"Good boy," She patted Mercury on the face and gave him a small smile. She turned to Emerald. "Emerald,"

"Yes, ma'am?" Emerald answered.

"Contact Adam, tell him I need to speak with him when he is available next," Then she turned to Roman. "Roman there are several shipments coming from Atlas, you will take one when it comes so be prepared for that,"

"And can I ask what said the package is, my dear?" Roman asked.

Cinder smirked at Roman.

"I'll let that be a surprise,"

~Break~

It had come across a caravan.

They had run away from It, but had not attacked. It could understand that. It had frightened the ones that new it before; it was only natural that It feared all.

Then more of the monsters attacked.

The monsters were attracted to the darker emotions. Like the pieces of Her. It could feel the despair, the fear, the grief.

They believed they were going to die.

They would not.

It killed the creatures. One was in the form of an ape, another a great lizard, and another in the form of a mammoth.

The ape and the lizard were easy. They fell like all the other monsters. But the Mammoth did not fall easily.

The mammoth was strong.

The mammoth had almost managed to hurt It. In Its lust for battle, it had almost lost itself. But It did not worry. After another failed attempt to skewer It, It struck the legs and crippled the creature. Then It shredded the mammoth until there was nothing left.

After all had died, It turned back to the caravan. The humans were staring in horror and fascination. It did not blame them; a monster had saved them from other monsters. They were confused; it would not blame them.

A child was with them. It walked forward, despite the warning of her parents and stood several feet away from It.

She bowed her head in thanks. It was confused, it had never been thanked… except by him. It didn't know how to respond.

"Thank you for saving my mama and papa!" The girl said and gave the creature an innocent smile. The parents were screaming, rushing, crying, but the others wouldn't let them move.

It said nothing to the girl. It inclined its head and moved forward. The humans of the caravan stared at It in fascination. Relief, confusion, and happiness now radiated from them.

He would have wanted to save them, It told itself. He was always kind to others, he always helped. It needed to get back to Him. It would tell Him this story.

He would smile. It wanted to see that smile again.

Author's notes

Sorry for the long wait, expect the chapter to be about this long or longer from now on for any story. Blame video games and school for late times.

Volume one is done!

*Important*

SO this is going to be a major AU crossover now. Some of my ideas and outlines are going to differ from established storylines. Some characters will be stronger than their canon counterparts. I've already decided the identity and being of some characters, Spring Maiden for one. And I'm adding my personal lore and additions to the mix. Expect some OC's and other stuff along the way.

Volume 4 was kick ass, I love Oscar, and I can't wait for the future. Hope you guys like the new chapter.