Chapter 1

The two Dragons

"You're gonna be a strong huntress just like team RWBY my girl, and like you're old man. You've got a ton of aura coming off you, Tia." The auburn-haired child caught her breath from the aura release and grimaced as she narrowed her forest green eyes at her father.

"But I don't want to be old like you dad!" This got a laugh of her father.

"You're so much like you're mother. I always knew you'd be smart when you aren't even in combat school yet. You're going to be incredible my dear." The little girl smiled at the praise from her father. The father and daughter pair, Tia's remaining parent grabbed his scroll and checked the signal. It was fairly strong.

Tia followed her father with a simple dust gun, the girl and the retired huntsman stalked quietly through a small forest a substantial distance outside of Mistral. Tia went over the technique her father had drilled into her from a very young age. When you're outside of the house, outside of the kingdom, keep focus, and keep your emotions in line. You're in hostile territory but remember. You don't have to kill every Grimm you see. Sometimes if you're quiet and your mind is blank they ignore you. If you attack them you attract more of them with the sound of your weapon. Not to mention scare off all the game in the area. She looked around and her father suddenly straightened out his hand in a gesture to stop. The pair halted their movement and crouched low to the ground.

A group of black figures wandered through the dense forest ground. A pack of Beowolves lead by a larger and more armored alpha. They showed no reaction to the close presence of the two humans. There was a crashing of a much larger shape moving through the forest towards the pack. Tia and her father pressed lower to the ground as an aura of malice pressed in, they struggled to keep the fear from their minds to keep themselves hidden. A grimm unlike either of them had seen before stepped from the trees, it walked on two legs with a stoop. Mismatched forelimbs, one being almost completely human the other a bone-armor plated talon that took some of the weight in a lumbering three-legged shamble. Shockingly, it appeared to be wearing clothes similar to an actual human. Scraps of a cloak hung off the shoulders of the beast with a rusted gold chain and heavy boots and trousers. It approached the alpha. The big Beowolf snarled territorially and began to rear up on its hind legs to threaten the intruder. Bat-like wings unfolded from the back of the strange monster, it reared back and spread the wings. It was far taller than the alpha. Its growl shook the trees as it glared down at the Beowolf alpha. The grimm actually expressed fear as the glowing eyes dimmed and it averted it's eyes from the gaze of the odd creature. With the dominance shown the oddly shaped creature began to growl and snarl with soft roars and short barks.

Mr. Matthias' eyes popped wide as he realized that this strange abomination and the Beowolves were communicating. There was a series of sparks that rushed along the skin of the odd monster like an aura breaking. The beast slowly reached over with its massive hand and dug its claws into the flesh of the smaller arm. Black blood came away on the tips of the claws. Several slow sludgy drops hit the ground with almost audible splats. The monster leaned down close to the spots of black blood. Energy flowed from it and into the small pools of black blood. The blood pools shuddered and began to transform. Black figures rose from them white and red began to flow from them as they assumed a familiar shape. Beowolves were being spawned from the blood of this monster! The aura-like effect happened again and the wounded arm slowly began to repair itself. An unspoken command was issued through a few gestures from the older Matthias to his daughter. Follow me slowly, and keep quiet. Keeping her eyes on her footing to avoid unnecessary disturbances and twig breaking the pair slowly began to stealth away as the Beowolf pack moved off, with a few fresh new members, they started moving with purpose like they had been given orders. The pair ghosted away and realized that the unique monster hadn't left with the pack. As they slipped back a safe distance away. Red eyes flashed and a reptilian nose and jaw began to work as it sniffed the air.

As they moved Mr. Matthias pulled out his scroll and contacted the emergency huntsman service. He whispered quick words describing what he saw and outlined that him and his daughter are outside near this abomination. "Do you hear me huntsman command? It's spawning grimm from nothing but the beast's blood, we need assistance immediately. I don't care who, we need some help."

"A huntress has been dispatched to your location, just hold out for about fifteen minutes." Huntsman command from the CT replied from the quiet scroll. The call ended and the pair began to move faster at the sound of a loud screech a short distance away. He picked up our scent. The sound of massive wing beats and crashing through the upper canopies of the forest rushed toward them. The ex-huntsman drew his two weapons, a pair of hand cannon revolvers with short blades under the barrels. "Let's run for it Tia, I'll try to slow it down!" The massive winged figure crashed through the trees above them it swooped down, a blast from one of the weapons impacted the wings of the draconic monster, sending it crashing to the ground. It rolled awkwardly from the impact the small arm with very fine human-like fingers reached to the back of the creature and detached a massive weapon. It was a straight handle, with two flat blades on either side of it. A weapon designed to cleave through entire trees but not pierce a target, the front part of the swords were rounded, it had a crescent-shaped guard along the handle in the middle of the two large sword blades. The huntsman was even more confused. Why is a grimm using a real weapon?! Then with a mixture of shock and anger he recognized the weapon, and in a flash saw the long cleaving wounds left in each of his teammates, they were too fine to be left by a grimm. This monster was the murderer who hunted down my teammates?! Buying time forgotten he decided to kill this creature himself. "Keep going Tia, he's mine!" He skidded to a stop with his dual revolvers and faced the monster. The resolute confidence in the voice of Tia's father brooked no argument. She kept running as her father stopped and faced the creature that was now pursuing on foot. I'll get to cover and aid him from a distance, I have a gun too. She retreated to a safe distance and began to climb a tree for a vantage point and began to set up her aim. Matthias stood and opened fire as he and the creature began to move at once. He ducked and dodged as the huge figure slashed wildly at him with the massive blade. The impact of the weapon instantly rendered several trees to stumps. Luckily it allowed the smaller huntsman to move and dodge freely with reduced obstacles. Blasts of burning hot fire impacted an invisible barrier just short of the grimm's flesh and dispersed. It was time for the child's eyes to widen. It actually has an aura… what is this thing? She checked her now quite clear sight lines on the big monster.

The huntsman began to feel fatigue start to encroach on his muscles, but he could feel his aura flow into them and the pain would vanish. Damn I haven't fought like this in a long time! His aura was maintaining his stamina. As long as he avoided getting slammed by this creature he could eventually wear it down. Several intense minutes of gunfire and crashing giant swords the grimm-like monster staggered, sparks of reddish-black light raced along the surface of its skin as one of the shots broke through the aura of the monster. A blast impacted the shoulder of the beast. It flinched and snarled before collapsing and going still, black blood oozing from the fist-sized hole in the shoulder. The huntsman took a step forward and took aim at the horned head of the downed creature. It hadn't vanished yet, so it wasn't dead. The monster suddenly exploded to its feet. The humanoid hand reached to the wounded shoulder and flung the black blood everywhere. One corner of the toothy maw tilted up and it produced a slight hissing sound, almost like laughter. Dozens of small bipedal grimm of the Creep species began to grow from the drops of blood scattered everywhere. Matthias fired on the grimm spawner. It raised the bony talon to block the attacks. Suddenly the huntsman found himself assailed from all angles by small teeth and charging horned skulls. He spun his revolvers by their trigger guards as they rapidly began to transform. The short bayonets extended and folded out. They covered the pistol barrels and the revolver chambers collapsed to spread the weight out. The pistols became a pair of short scimitars. Aura flowed off the blades, the blades barely touched some of the Creep but a flash of red light ripped through them. He had his hands full as the still slowly bleeding behemoth began to move forward to attack again. The massive blade the monster wielded began to transform. One of the blades on the end of the handle slid along the guard to meet the other half of the weapon, the guard folded out and straightened into a far longer grip. The humanoid and beast-like arm of the monster gripped the thing. The monster reared back, its legs and back straightened, taking an almost upright posture. It raised the monstrous greatsword and brought it down. The huntsman barely saw the attack in time the impact of the weapon striking the ground near him sent him stumbling. A Creep grabbed his leg in its teeth and began to shake him about. He felt the fangs struggle to pierce his aura, the scimitar chopped off the upper half of the Creep's head it released his leg before collapsing and starting to disappear. The monster lunged with the greatsword held high. Matthias was off-balance so he couldn't avoid the strike.

Krraaaannggg!

A mix between the sound of an explosion and a boom like a church bell rang out. The huntsman's feet are pushed deep into the ground as the impact forces him to one knee. He squirted out from beneath the pressure of the massive sword to avoid being crushed to death. He skidded and maintained his balance until one of his legs got snagged by a root from a tree. He rolled and tried to get to his feet only to find himself getting run over by one of the Creep. The impact sent him rolling, he was able to recognize when his aura was about to break from years of fighting. Damn bastard, I'd be able to kill it if he wasn't spawning these things! Tia took aim as the monster closed in on her father and raised the massive sword. She aimed to shoot the creature in the head. She hoped the rifle was powerful enough to pierce the partially armored skull of the beast.

Bang!

The bullet flew out, as the sword came down the monster's head moved. The bullet collided with a horn and it broke off. The sword slammed into the ground an inch away from the elder Matthias. The humanoid hand reached up to where the horn had been before. It looked directly at her despite the foliage providing cover. It gave a snarling hiss and lifted the sword away and started shambling towards the girl hiding in the tree. "No, no no! No! Get out of here Tia, run now!" The panicked shouts from Matthias rang out with a desperate edge. He jumped up to attack the back of the creature. The massive sword transformed into the twin-blade. A backhanded strike sent the old huntsman flying. Red light flashed from his body as the impact shattered his aura and the monster turned towards him. It pointed with the talon at the girl in the tree. The Creeps began snarling and crashing their way towards her to prevent her from escaping. They were butting the tree with their big heads and gnawing at the bark with their teeth. She yanked the bolt back and fired several shots her accuracy was decent since her targets were mostly stationary. Several shots buried themselves into the base of several Creeps skull plates. But there were still a few more being spawned as the bleeding from the monster hadn't fully stopped yet. Her hand had started shaking as nerves and the knowledge that the base of the tree growing quite thin as she tried to take aim at the creature as it closed on the wounded huntsman.

She fired and punched a hole in one of the leathery wings of the monster. It snarled in pain but continued to approach the huntsman who was struggling to his feet. The twin scimitars came up to defend him. But without aura, a huntsman is just an armed human against the grimm. Tia rapidly ratcheted another round into place, but her mind was starting to panic and her hands were shaking more violently. Come on, come on, go, go, go!

Matthias sighed as he found himself facing this creature, fatigue starting to eat into his muscles and soreness from exertion started to creep into his pain tolerance, with no aura to dull the pain. Dust… It's been a little over ten minutes. I just hope that huntress gets here before they corner Tia. I can't fight like this. His legs were starting to shake from exhaustion as well. I can't run either. Damn it! I could've taken him! The sound of a bullet deflecting off of a tree nearby made him smile. She's got a lot of spirit, I hope this doesn't leave too much of a scar. A strike with only a small amount of force was met by the two swords. The weight of the grimm's weapon pressed back and the edge dug itself into his shoulder, a line of red began soaking into his shirt, as he strained to lift the weapon up out of the position. The human arm wielding the weapon suddenly swung up, the second blade came in with an upward slash. He was off balance from lifting the weapon out of the wound in his shoulder. The second blade caught him in the chest, ripping him open from belly to neck in a horrible diagonal cut.

"No-!" Tia's scream was cut off, all panic and fear abandoned her. The rifle fell from her nerveless grasp. All thought abandoned her entirely. She felt an itch start to crawl along her skin. Her aura tingled with very strange sensation. She looked down at her hand, her skin was starting to transform, it began to redden, and it dried and started to look scaly, like a reptile. Her forearms started to feel muscle start to grow and increase in size. The bones in her fingers extended, and her nails became thicker and longer, turning into sharp talons. Her forest green eyes were consumed in a reddish orange wildfire. Strong… I can help, I can fight! A beast howled, Tia looked down and realized that it was her own voice. I don't care what's happening to me, but I have to fight or die! She dropped from the tree and started tearing into the Creeps surrounding the tree with her bare hands. Heads flew as her claws ripped through the flesh of the creatures. Bone armor fractured and broke under the crushing blows of the young child. Something strange was guiding her actions. She didn't receive very much combat training from her father. Despite that she was fighting like an animal, sometimes running on all fours. She actually had a very intense urge to bury her teeth in the neck of one of the Creeps she was fighting. She was frightened by how calm and even her movements were as her body dispatched all the Creep. She came back to herself in a rush fear, panic, confusion all crashed over her in a chorus of voices. Pain racked her head, she began to feel dizzy, and through rapidly tilting vision she saw the monster striding towards her. Alarms were dimly going off in her head to move, run and escape. The wings of the monster snapped once, the creature launched into the air and dropped to land right in front of Tia. The momentum of the landing was added as a talon reared back and backhanded the child, sending the girl flying and crashing against a tree.

Her vision was consumed with a red veil of blinding pain. Remarkably her aura hadn't been broken yet. The silence and the change happened again, before hitting the ground from striking the tree she flipped and landed perfectly on her feet. Her momentum sending her feet skidding along the ground, she dug her claws into the dirt to help slow her down. She scrabbled forward as the monster raised its massive sword and brought it down. She shifted her weight off of one hand and rolled out of the way as the blade impacted the ground. Dirt flew out from beneath her feet as she darted forward her talon slashed out and the sharp edge raked across the monster's chest. It screeched in pain as black blood began to gush from the slash on the chest. A swarm of Creeps began to grow from the blood, there were far too many to fight and Tia found herself overwhelmed. She broke free from the mass grip of these creatures in time to have the talon of the grimm spawner grab her by the head with the huge talon and slam her into the ground. She struggled against the weight of the talon more scales formed, creeping further up along her shoulder, along her chest beneath her shirt and even up her neck and onto her face. She barely managed to lift the claw and roll free. She was able to move about for only half a second before a Creep dug its teeth into her shoulder, a flickering of red light happened as the fangs broke through her aura. Energy drained from her body and she collapsed to one knee, blood began to come from her shoulder beneath the fangs. The Creep held her in place as the monster raised the sword for a strike at the helpless girl in front of it. The stance was similar to the blow dealt to the girl's father. I was too weak to protect what was mine, even what was the most important, not someone else's life, or even my own. The impact of the blade laid the girl out flat, red flowing from her chest at the massive gash left by the blade.

There was a rumble of a bullhead approaching from the distance. The monster looked up and began to hastily retreat leaving the Creep to slowly surround the bleeding girl and start licking their chops. Tia's vision began to blur as she started to lose consciousness. There was a crash and an explosion of heat, followed by the sounds of gunfire and of bones shattering. The other Creeps turned and rushed forward only to be launched backwards by a powerful force. Tia's eyes closed as a flash of gold entered her vision. And a voice that sounded too far away reached her ears.

Weak…

Too weak… not strong enough to protect what's yours.

Too weak to even protect your own life let alone the life of another.

Another… your father, anyone else's life.

Everything will be taken from you because you are too weak to protect it, and take it back.

All because you're weak.

Weak…

Take it back…

The voices echoed around the mind of Tia as she floated in a void of thought. The voices began to sound louder, stacking on top of each other until they were just an indistinct boggle of deafening noise. The voices became raised to shouts and screams. Until a single bellow of wrath drowned out all the voices with the roar of a beast. She opened her eyes and found herself in her room, but it was shimmering like a mirage, like nothing was real and this fragment of her life would disappear as soon as she moved. She cautiously took a step forward and looked around she found herself looking at a mirror. Suddenly her reflection gave a condescending smirk and began to speak. "You might be weak, but I'm the one who will help you take back whatever's stolen from you."

"You're that creature from before that took control of me." Red scales flowed along the reflection's body and the reflections green eyes turned a fiery orange and red.

"Yes, I am your Semblance, I am you." An itch started to form and she looked down at her hand. Red scaled skin flowed along the back of her hand and the claws appeared again. She looked at the mirror again and with a flash of terror saw the monster again, it crashed through the mirror and it's talon grabbed her by the neck, crushing and squeezing.

Tia took a sharp breath as her eyes snapped open, she was in a hospital, her throat and chest ached. She was hooked up to an EKG its soft beeps rang throughout the room. It was night outside. She looked up and started to slightly incline her head. A figure was sleeping in the chair across from her bed. A massive mane of golden hair flowed from her head towards the floor. The woman had a mechanical left arm. Her head was resting on her right arm. Tia tried to speak but as soon as she tried unbelievable pain came from her throat, the sound came out as a painful croak. The woman's head slipped off her hand and the sudden drop shocked her awake. She quickly got up and approached Tia. Resting her hand on top of the child's the woman spoke soothingly. "Calm down, you're safe here. My name's Yang Xiao Long." Tia's eyes widened as she started to mouth the name. The gold dragon Xiao Long! She's part of team RWBY! She sat up stiffly and held out her hand and made a scribbling gesture with her other pointer finger. Yang quickly got her a pencil and a sheet of paper. She wrote a question down on the paper and held it up for Yang to see. "Where's my dad?" The lilac eyes of Yang became downcast, and she didn't say anything. A creeping terror stole inter Tia's mind at the huntresses silence.

"I'm sorry, we managed to recover him, but apparently his injuries were enough to kill him almost immediately. Strangely, you got hit by the same kind of strike but weren't cut near as deep as your father." A flash of memory relating to the creature that used Tia's body to fight the grimm and the hard scales it made. She looked down at her damaged body and tears began to flow. Yang hugged the girl gently as she began to sob quietly. Tia's arms came up and hugged the woman back.

Several weeks passed and Tia was getting stronger, the new Atlas aura reinforcement was working wonders on healing her body. The wounds on her shoulder and chest were almost fully healed. Unfortunately the fine structures of her vocal cords would take far longer to recover. She could still speak, but it was quite painful. Yang had visited her every day and talked to her. "So, the combat school is going to be letting in new students in a few weeks. Are you going to go?" The girl took a very stern expression and nodded firmly. She scribbled down a note and showed it to Yang.

"There's something that needs to be killed before it can take more from anyone else." Yang looked concerned at the note.

"What are you talking about?" Tia jotted down a description of the monster that attacked her and her father. Yang looked at the description. Tia noticed her hand tremble slightly as she started to reach the end of the note. When she put the note down the nerves were gone from her face.

"That thing is crazy, so that's where the sword wound came from. A grimm that has an aura and uses a weapon. It's almost unbelievable. So you want to kill this thing?" Tia nodded enthusiastically. "You'll need more than yourself to bring down something like that." Tia grimaced and replied.

"Nobody will believe that there's a creature like this out there, it's too horrible, and people will think it's only a myth. A crazy story imagined by a terrified little girl." Yang sighed and shrugged.

"Remnant is a big world. Someone out there is going to believe you. I believe in you." Tia hugged Yang in thanks. The woman gently made the girl release her grip. "This will be the last time I visit you. There are questions that need answering, but I'll give you something to remember me until we meet again." The woman undid the yellow scarf around her neck and handed it to Tia. "It's been nice seeing you my friend." Yang said before leaving the room. Tia looked out the window. She concentrated and saw her reflection. She tied the scarf around her neck tight enough to be comfortable. A smile began to creep along her face as she looked at herself. I will be strong, to honor my friend, and my father. I will be the greatest huntress. Nobody will be able to take anything from me.