Chapter 1: The Sassy Dragon

I stare out of the window of the Bullhead as it approaches Beacon Academy. The tall castle-like building looks intimidating even from miles away, regardless of the green grass that surrounds it and the lamps that adorn the path to it. My hands unconsciously grip tighter on the yan yue dao that sits across my lap. This is the first time I have ever been so far from home without my family or guidance.

"Don't forget about me, kid," a deep voice resonates in my head. I shake my head in response. Even after two years, I am still not used to him.

"Hey Yuen-Yee," a proud voice calls out, interrupting my thoughts. "We're here." I look up to see Weiss Schnee standing in front of me, her right hand on her hip. I glance at her platinum blonde hair, tied – as always – in a neat side ponytail, the high collar and flowing sleeves of her bolero jacket, the soft curves of her waist...

"Your pulse is rising again." I jump, self-conscious, and immediately stare at the floor in front of me. You didn't have to point it out! I rub the thin scar that races along the left side of my hairline, in an attempt to rub his voice out. I pull my glaive closer to my body as I stand and look at my reflection in the window of the Bullhead. My white hair reaches the middle of my back, with a small stripe of red down on the left side of my face. From the waist up, I am wearing a traditional cheungsam, red with a white floral pattern. The skirt of the dress, though, flares out and falls a couple of inches above my knees. The black flats I wear suddenly feel heavy as the thought of being judged suddenly pierces my mind. I attempt to smooth out the ruffles of the skirt, realizing that I can see the nervousness in my own pale orange eyes.

"Remember, breathe deeply and show your status as a member of the Baak family." As I carefully tie the glaive onto my back, I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then, I square my shoulders, lift my chin, and carefully step out of the Bullhead after Weiss.

The brightness of the sun makes me blink, and I stand in place for a couple of seconds as my eyes adjust. The grey path to the front of the school stretches out before me, and I look around to see other students getting off other, public, Bullheads. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a blonde boy bent over at the edge of the path, vomiting into the grass beside him.

"How will he handle his job if he can't hold his meals?"

"Just because he is sick doesn't mean that he won't be able to handle his job. Maybe he's a good fighter!" I reply defensively.

"Yee. You are attracting unwanted attention again – as always. If you don't want to stand out, stop speaking and think to me!" With a start, I look around to see other students staring at me. Judging me. I immediately shrink, feeling a blush creep up my neck as my mind reaches into the depths of my memory and tugs at one in particular. My hand flies to my scar again.

"It's fine, just go find Weiss before you make a complete fool of yourself."

I mentally slap myself and turn to see Weiss striding towards the school already, with her cases of Dust. A black-haired, red-cloaked girl stumbles into her path, but before I could say anything, the girl collides into Weiss's luggage, knocking the cases of Dust out of the trolley and spilling the cases all over the pavement. As Weiss yells at the poor girl, I notice her shaking one of the red vials of dust.

"That cap is loose… This should be funny." I start walking towards them right as the girl sneezes, causing the dust that was just shaken out to explode.

"Maybe I shouldn't go over there," I say hesitantly, slowing down to a stop. "I don't want to accidentally make the situation worse, for either the girl or Weiss."

"Your indecisiveness is unbecoming. You should at least go check if Weiss is okay, since you seem to care so much."

"What if the red girl doesn't like me? What if… What if she thinks I'm just another upper-class snob like those kids back when—"

"Why deny what you are? You can never change what you were born into. You can only change a person's perspective. So go do just that."

I clutch the sides of my dress and nod numbly, trying to gather the strength to walk up to them, as Weiss berates the girl more for not being careful. Suddenly, I notice a vial had rolled from the cases towards me. I head towards it just as a dark-haired girl with a black bow picks it up.

"I sense a liar." I tug at the ends of the red bow tied around my neck, afraid to approach them for fear of judgement.

"What could she be lying about?" I ask tentatively, looking down at my hands.

"It is not my lie to tell: if it becomes a problem I'll let you know."

I sigh. "I wish you would just tell me a straight answer, shifu."

"But then things would be too easy for you. Besides, a shifu's job is to teach... Think of this as an extra lesson." I roll my eyes in frustration.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Seefu Hong-Long is a seefu first." Shutting my mind to his irritated response about using the Mandarin pronunciation rather than the Cantonese, I look back at Weiss and see her stalking towards the school again in a huff. I run after her, just finally catching up as she reaches the doors to the auditorium. "Weiss!" I call out.

Weiss turns, a grumpy expression lingering on her face. "What?" she snaps. I stop, panting a little.

"Are you okay? I saw that girl cause an explosion…"

"I can't believe there are still idiots out there who don't understand dust safety!" I grimace and nod along as Weiss rants about how the girl should go back to whatever school she came from since she clearly wasn't ready for Beacon.

"Why are you friends with this one? Her droning is endless."

"Shut up," I hiss under my breath. "We grew up together – you know that. She's the closest person I have to a friend."

"She gives me headaches and I don't even have a head anymore."

"Your input is just as insufferable!"

"What?" Weiss's voice cuts through my thoughts.

"N-Not you! Um... Hong-Long is just being snarky again."

"Him again? Maybe you should take those earrings off; he can hear you through them, right?" She gestures to the key and lock studs that adorn my ears.

"Huh? Uh, yeah," I reply dismissively. "But he gets mad at me if I take them off."

"First he dyes a strip of your hair red to show possession, and now these earrings? You should really dump him," Weiss urges me.

"It's not like that," I laugh nervously, glancing at the sash around my waist. I tug at the ends of my bow again in discomfort.

"What is it like, then?" Weiss persists.

I falter at her unexpected ceaselessness. "Remember that scroll that hangs up on the wall of the foyer in our complex?"

"Do you mean that old Chinese one? I couldn't ever read it."

"Yeah, that old one. It was passed down from the head of the entire Baak family, all the way back when our name was still nouveau-riche. It basically says 'The dragon protects', so I guess you could say that my bodyguard is really, uh, picky about being aware of my surroundings."

"Dragon?"

"Yeah. You know how my family has four branches, right? Each branch has a different guardian spirit that is tied to one of the four elements, and protects the head of the branch. I guess since I kind of took the position as future head of the Fire branch from my brother, I need the dragon's protection now."

"Huh… That doesn't mean your suitor has to be so possessive," Weiss protests.

"H-He's not a suitor!" My hands fly to the ends of the bow again. "I wouldn't like that old man anyway. He's like a thousand years old!"

"2422 years to be exact. If you are going to insult me, get it right." I wave my hand at his voice, trying to ignore him.

"What're you waving at?" Weiss turns to me in concern.

"UH! A-A mosquito!" My face flushes with embarrassment and I quickly move my hand back to my side. "H-Hey, look, the ceremony is about to start in ten minutes. I need to use the restroom, so I'll see you after!"

I dash off to the girls' room and lock myself in a stall. Sitting down, I cover my face with my hands. I'm so embarrassing. 'A mosquito?' Really?!

"It's fine: I know you suck at lying."

Thanks for the vote of confidence. What kind of teacher berates his student when she's already kicking herself?

"Me."

I pull the glaive out of the sash and glare at it. You're an asshole.

"Thank you; I try." I roll my eyes in exasperation. "It's hard for you to look angry when your face is as red as a tomato."

That's because you're embarrassing and Weiss wouldn't understand if I tried to explain who you are!

"Are you sure of that? You have never actually tried."

How would you take it if someone you grew up knowing suddenly said, "Hey, the weapon I carry around? Yeah, it's infused with the soul of a crabby, two thousand year old dragon who keeps talking in my head and won't shut up?"

"Fairly well – we grew up around different people."

I bang my hands on the door in vexation. "Would you stop that?! I don't need your sass! I just want to be normal friends with Weiss and you're messing it up!"

"Are you sure you want to be friends with her?"

"Why wouldn't I be?! Just shut up when I'm talking to her!"

"Whatever you want, Necromancer."

My heart skips a beat with fear and I scowl at the glaive again. "That's a low blow, Mr. Smart-ass. I've half a mind to leave you here in this stall next to the toilet."

"Go for it: just try to explain your weapon manifesting next to you in a literal blaze of glory."

"Glory. You have an insufferable presence sometimes, you cantankerous cavalier."

I leave the stall and splash my face with water in an attempt to wash away my anger. I stare at my hands for a moment, then into my reflection's eyes. After a couple of deep, calming breaths, I begrudgingly return to the stall and strap the glaive back onto my back. I pointedly wipe my hands on the sash around my waist just to spite him and step back out into the auditorium, where Headmaster Ozpin has already begun his speech.

Yan yue dao ["reclining moon blade" in Mandarin] - a Chinese glaive

Cheungsam ["long shirt" in Cantonese] - the traditional Chinese dress

Shifu ["teacher" in Mandarin] - a teacher of martial arts, most commonly known in kung fu

Seefu ["teacher" in Cantonese] - same as shifu: Yuen-Yee uses it to irritate Hong-Long since he prefers the Mandarin pronunciation

Hong-Long ["red dragon" in Cantonese]

Yuen-Yee [Cantonese name] - not sure what it means but it's Phy's mom's name

Baak ["white" in Cantonese] - the last name of Yuen-Yee. Sort of like the Schnee family, they are rich, though old.

Nouveau-riche ["new rich" in French] - used to refer to those who recently came into money/power

A/N:

TLDR: Hope you like our story! We (will try to) update every two Mondays. Also, there should be translations of the Chinese/foreign words we use at the end of each chapter (if there isn't, you are free to yell at Phy [and Umbra] in the comments for forgetting).

Hello! Phy here, and welcome to the beginning of A Peony's Snapdragon. Umbra [InfernalUmbra] and I are really excited about writing a story (this is the first time I've personally ever released a story) so we hope you enjoy it! We are writing this story under the assumption you have already seen RWBY, and we will try to keep it as accurate to the story as it develops further. And, just like the show itself, we will do our best to only tell you what you need to know at a given time, and try to keep the rest a secret until it needs to be revealed. As quoth Umbra, "We're shit at keeping secrets."

For those who are wondering, Yee is a Cantonese speaker, while Hong-Long (in ANs we'll likely call him HL) is a Mandarin speaker. Each is a different language of China (no, Cantonese is not a dialect of Mandarin. It's spoken in small regions of mainland China as well as the island of Hong Kong.) For each chapter, I will include the English translations of the Cantonese words we use right before the authors' note. Hopefully it helps to understand! Fun fact about this chapter's Canto words: cheungsam, more commonly spelled as cheongsam, is also known as a qipao. It's a cute dress regardless of the name. =u=

Also, we know the italics+quotes for HL's speech is a lil cringe-y. Not sure of a better way to denote his speech is different from Yee's thoughts without using weird typographical emphases, and italics+quotes was the least cringe.

In terms of logistics, we plan to update every two weeks on Mondays (we both have 3 day weekends – hooray for university class scheduling, amirite HA! ha.. ha…)

Hi, it's me Umbra. I just wanted to clarify that Phy is writing for Yuen-Yee and that I'm writing for Hong-Long. I enjoy writing with Phy because she is very accepting of me just butting in with my character and his bull. I hope you enjoy this story and we will try our hardest to keep it updated.