RWBY x DMC - The Subhuman Huntress

The next time I was conscious, I was somewhere I had never been before, but heard and read many a things about. Blue everywhere, flashing light settling across my closed eyes as some machinery hummed around me.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

My eyes opened and fell upon a rather long nosed man with blood shot eyes stared at me from across a table, a familiar tarot deck places near the centre next to a manilla folder. I glazed up and past him, watching lights blast past the metal that made up this elevator we were in.

"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter…"

The voice was deep and rumbly, something that I knew the man in front of me shouldn't have had at all… At least, not when paired with this particular iteration of the Velvet Room. Nor did he have a rather nice looking attendant standing beside him to catalogue my summons.

"It is a room that only those who are bound by a "contract" may enter~"

He gestured downward to the folder as it flipped opened to a rather dense page filled with text and an open spot at the bottom to be signed. I also glanced a look further down and felt more reassured in myself after confirming I wasn't in an entirely new body for a second time.

My eyes rose back up, meeting the 'fake Igor' dead on.

"Considering that I'm still Cannella, you aren't fooling me, Al."

We stared each other in the eyes, the wide smile faltering for a moment before- "You're no fun. Why can't you just play along?" I kinda wish I had eye and mind bleach, because I certainly did not want to ever remember seeing Igor fucking pout at me.

"And you're disgusting." I crossed my arms and legs. "Seriously? Persona? We both know I love the series, but seriously, did you have to do this whole charade?." He leaned back into the plush leather seat, raising his longer fingers for a snap-

"FUCK-" I tumbled forward in free fall, the room disappearing as gravity took hold of us both like we were in the bottomless pit from Gravity falls. It even bloody looked like it! "AL!" I screamed at him, only to be ignored, as he crossed his legs and pulled out a fucking copy of the 'New York Times' and started flipping through the pages like this was a regular Sunday morning.

"Tsk Tsk." The pages ruffled as he straightened them, hiding his face from view. "Young people these days just don't know how to respect their elders." My eyes turned downward at the flicker of a light. "I swear, your generation just can't ever indulge us old folk~" There were several large spikes planted at the bottom of this pit.

I grabbed the edges of my coat, using them like Batman does his cape, to glide around a bit "Maybe you shouldn't blatantly copy someone else's shtick?" I tried to read the words on the paper for a moment before I realized it was the standard 'Lorem Ipsum' word test.

One singular eye peeked over the edge of the paper as he turned another page. "Getting awfully comfortable with death, aren't you?" I could choose to panic, beg, plead, and do a whole host of things to try to convince the ass to get me out of this situation. "Go on, you know you want to~" His nose turned upward when he let loose a rather high-pitched coughing laugh.

"Nah… I'm current your only way of interacting with other worlds to shift the story." I started spinning, moving around him in an orbit. "And unless you start inviting in more interlopers, which if you do you'll want to use me to get rid of them anyway, you won't kill me." It's not like he'd actually let me die here.

"Bah~" He waved me off, letting go of the newspaper. "A collar around your neck, and you can still make a joke." I watched it shoot straight up and disintegrate into nothing but ash. "But I can still have this nice little dream sequence go out in my terms." True, I was basically completely and utterly powerless to stop him.

"Reward, let's talk about what I get." Al huffed, turning away from me slowly like he was rotating on a microwave plate.

"You've got a brand new Devil Arm that is like Gilgamesh but completely isn't in the same weapon, is that not reward enough?" I glared at him, crossing my arms. "Hmm… Greedy little Devil, aren't you?" I couldn't call my self greedy, though, like Trevor, I want a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. "Fine~" He shrugged.

The menu for the shop opened, and I watched my red orbs climb by a few hundred. "Thanks, now I want to be greedy and ask for a free DT Heart upgrade~" Because I'm really hoping that by getting that I won't feel like I'm dying if I over use the fuck out of my Devil powers.

"Some red orbs and that new Devil Arm is all you're going to get from me." I nodded, then glanced at the spikes. "Oh, and enjoy the trip." My eyes returned to him, hand held menacingly in the air above me. 

"Oh, don't you fuc-" His hand blurred and suddenly, I was forced down through the air at a much faster pace and cursing his name when the rocky death that awaited dream grew closer. "ALPHONSE, I SWEAR ON YOUR GRAVE YOU-"

-[ LINE BREAK ]-

"- FUTHER MUCKING!" I shot up, eyes stinging from the sudden light change, and pointedly ignored the person sitting across from me on another bench. "I swear to Sparda, if I ever get the power, I'm going to castrate that man." Evidently, from the other person's amused grin, he could clearly see how frustrated I am.

"Morning Princess." I glared at him. "Woah there, calm down, kiddo." He quickly backpedalled his statement. "Shit, wait-" I swiped the flask from his hand, quickly downing it all- 

"AHÅÖAEUGH" And immediately knew that I picked the wrong Fallout 4 dialogue option, the flask wasn't anything alcoholic, no… It was fucking Buckley's. I could feel my sinus's involuntarily clear up… But the disgusting aftertaste pervaded my tongue, cheeks and esophagus.

"Goddamn it, Qrow." My face twisted even more in disappointment. "Why the fuck are you walking around with a flask full of cold medicine." I wanted to scrape out my tongue until nothing but blood filled my mouth.

But that wouldn't get me anywhere. 

"It's not-" He paused, looking at the flask I shoved back into his hands as I laid back down. "Ah… Never mind." It was now that I finally looked around, taking note of the utterly empty aircraft that we rode in.

…

Silence washed over me in the cabin, I rested my arm across my eyes and just let myself unwind.

…

…

"Sooo… Dangerous artifact coming in to cause trouble." Thanks Qrow, I was just enjoying my wind downtime. "How'd that go?" Kinda wanted to explode on him, not going to lie to myself here. Especially after coming so close with death and watching someone else proc their Devil Trigger before I could…

Though I suppose not all is lost when I've learned to summon my 'Ultimate Summon' so to speak. "Just peachy." I was fortunately able to squeeze all the deadpan sarcasm in my body into a single two-word sentence.

"Not good. Got it." I heard the distinct sounds of someone popping open a flask, "shit." Then spilling a bit on themselves.

…

"I had to pull out my trump card."

"Oh~? And how'd that go?"

I chanced a glance at the smirking older man, with his stupid stubble on his chin. I was half tempted to grab rebellion and shove it where the sun don't shine.

"Never used it before, almost died."

I half expected him to do a spit take, half expected him to ask me how I was doing.

Instead, he diced to just sit next to me.

"No words?"

"What would I even say, Kid?"

A valid point…

"I'm not okay."

The first step, is recognizing it.

"I don't expect you to be."

And that honestly was more comforting than it had any right to be.

-[ LINE BREAK ]-

"And, your evaluation?" Ozpin stared at the window, watching Qrow's reflection in the glass as he walked up the desk solemnly. 

The man turned namesake stared into his open flask for a moment before putting it away. "Fragile." And that was the problem, despite projecting herself as a calm and rational person… She most often acted upon emotions.

"She almost died, Oz, and the most she can muster up is to just say that she's not okay." Not mentally well, despite being physically in tip-top shape. "I don't know what her life was like before she found her way to beacon… But it certainly wasn't good."

Ozpin allowed them both a moment to mull over their thoughts, just staring into the ink black void dotted with shining lights. "And if I said I want to offer her the Fall Maiden powers?" He both feel and see the eyes bore into him with a look of disbelief.

"If you truly go down that route, there's no guarantee that she stays here." And by here, he meant this universe. If her claims were to be true. "Sure, it'd keep the Maiden power's out of Salem's hands. But would lose us access to a vault permanently." And that was the crux of the issue with giving Her the Fall Maiden's powers.

On one hand, it would forever prevent Salem from getting the Relic of Choice. But by consequence of that choice they, too, could not get the Relic.

Not unless they had some way of calling her back to open it if they had need.

"She's sharp."

Ozpin returned from the depths of his thoughts at Qrow's words. "They're well aware that I don't trust them, but they still trust me enough to tell me that they aren't okay." It was only natural the older man was weary of the girl, especially after watching that surveillance and seeing the destruction left in their wake. "No aura at all, but she heals far faster than anything I've ever seen."

…

"We'll have her face off with Pyrrha." Cannella could refuse, and Ozin wouldn't degrade her. But he still couldn't take the chance to let the power of the Fall Maiden to land in the clutches of Salem's influence. "And if ultimately… She decides to reject the proposition, we'll move to our first choice."

The room was silent for a moment, before the sound of Qrow downing his entire flask filled the air. "Fine. But I stand by my assessment, Oz." His footsteps grew quieter. "She shouldn't be given the power of the Maiden." Ozpin turned around, watching the man through the elevator doors. "Nor should that Pyrrha girl."

And they were cut off from each other.

Ozma sighed, left alone in this tower… "Light & Dark, give me the strength." His drawer opened, the alcohol stash finally being broken into after decades of being hidden away. "I don't know if I have the drive to continue this battle…" He spiked his hot chocolate with a vodka centuries older than his body.