AN: Back at you all with next chapter! And I've revised and edited Chapter One. No more Violet/Velvet mix-ups.

Edited and Beta'd by Cruzerblade

Chapter 2- It has the Children! Kill it! Kill it with Fire!

Accounts of the dragon's actions in the aftermath of the battle were varied. Some would tell of grimm advancing on their position only for a large fireball to rain from the sky and decimate the oncoming horde. Others spoke of how the beast would land and stalk its way through a crowded area, stepping on and snapping at any grimm that came near. A third group claimed that it dug them out of collapsed buildings and escorted them to the safe zones. One thing was clear the dragon was killing grimm and helping civilians. It'd tank several hard hits to protect civilians and made sure they were safe before attacking. Anyone who had seem the dragon that night agreed that, whatever its reasons, it was on Vale's side.

Of course, Nora and Pyrrha didn't know any of this when they ran outside. The girls stopped in their tracks, they had to take a second to gawk at the sight. Beacon and Vale was a complete mess, with collapsed buildings, rampant fires, and the evidence of intense combat. Robot parts and…bodies littered the campus grounds like some sort of gory confetti. It was horrible, they had never seen anything so brutal. And in the distance, flying over the city itself, a massive golden dragon, fire from its maw raining down.

Nora shakily looked over at Pyrrha. Only to find that her eyes were locked onto the dragon letting out another stream of fire from its maw. If she had the Fall Maiden's powers she might have been able to do something about th-

"We need to find Ren and Jaune then tell one of the professors about Ozpin," Nora said, her voice snapping her out of her daze.

Pyrrha nodded and continued moving forward, trying to distract herself from the dragon's rampage. Her eyes trailing over the damage done to her school.

Nora was wandering through the courtyard, gazing at the bullet holes and craters that littered the area around them. There was so much… She pulled out her scroll and dialed her best friend. The teams must have been fighting there for quite some time before moving on. Hopefully it was to fight more grimm rather than being forced to retreat.

Pyrrha followed Nora's lead and took out her scroll as well. She paused as she stared at her reflection on its screen. She was the one who was supposed to receive the fall Maiden's power and protect everyone. It was her destiny and she had failed. Everyone who got hurt tonight… it was because she hesitated. She snapped out of her musing when Nora frantically waved her over, Ren finally answering her call as she began to speak rapidly.

"Ren? Ren! Oh, thank goodness! We're outside the tower, Ozpin wanted…Something from Pyrrha but it didn't work. He's fighting some women right now! Get Jaune a-and we ca- "

The sound of molten metal bending and breaking interrupted her. the two girls turned to see a flash of orange and red blur ascending to the top of Beacon's tower, leaving behind a destroyed elevator rapidly cooling from the sudden heat.

"But…Ozpin…" Nora trailed off.

As Nora fought to regain her composure, Pyrrha's gaze couldn't tear itself from the sight of the busted metal. That was the power that Ozpin wanted her to have… For her to save Beacon, to save Vale from the encroaching grimm invasion. The power that now gave the enemy a huge advantage over every huntsman in Vale. The power that was supposed to be hers! She had to do something! She was going to take the fight to the enemy and claim her destiny. She had no other choice. It was her power.

She couldn't stand by and let it end here. She needed to get that power back.

She turned to Nora, speaking quickly as the orange haired girl stood there slack, "Listen, Nora, I'm going after her, I'm going to buy some time. I need you to find Jaune and Ren, make sure they're safe, then send any of the professors you can find after me."

For a moment, Nora didn't respond, still flabbergasted by the destruction Cinder caused.

"Nora!"

Finally, Nora reacted, her shocked eyes darted to Pyrrha's face, quick taking on a steely glint as she stepped forward, "Oh no no no! That woman beat Ozpin in less than ten minutes and you're just a student! It'd be suicide!"

"Even so," Pyrrha replied evenly matching Nora's gaze, "I have the best chance to stall for time and stop her from…doing whatever she has planned. You can go get the professors and make sure our partners are safe."

"But..." Nora trailed of, trying to think a way to convince Pyrrha change her mind, "You'd be alone! No back up! That's why I'm here! backup!" she finished, crossing her arms.

"I'll be fine. I'm the invincible girl after all." Pyrrha said giving a weak smile, "When have you known me to lose?"

Before she could reply, Pyrrha gave Nora a tight hug, before turning to run back into the building.

Nora watched her go, the helpless expression of her face hardened into one more determined. "Fine. If Pyrrha wanted her to meet up and fight with Ren and Jaune, then she would. AND THEN BRING THEM RIGHT BACK TO SAVE HER BUTT!"

She pulled up her scroll, talking into it with a determined look on her face, "Ren, tell any professors that you can see to get to the tower. Ozpin's orders. Pyrrha's gone to fight the woman that beat Ozpin! Where are you and Jaune? I'll head your way."

Nora listened to Ren with an intent expression, her eyebrows slowly rising as her eye's darted to the golden dragon that dominated the skies. She remained silent long after Ren stopped speaking.

"... And you swear on breakfast that you're not lying?" She asked, quietly, her gaze still locked on the dragon that begun to drift over Beacon once again.

"O-okay..." she replied eventually, "You… You tell the professors and come with them and I'll let Jaune know."

Ren started speaking again.

"Oh, relax Renny!" Nora replied easily as she started to walk forward, "I have a plan," Nora stopped walking, eyeing the Rocket Locker wedged into the ground in front of her.

Okay… Vale's cleared for the most part, though I wish I could have followed that White Fang into the gym… Maybe I should help the forces in Beacon? They should be relatively safe now that the spawner is down…They probably have enough people here to help secure the area and I've drawn most of the nevermore away from campus. Maybe I can-

THUNK

What! Did I hit another nevermore? Man, that's going to be a pain to clean o-Nora?!

"Ouch..." Muttered Nora as she used her hammer to prop herself up on the constantly moving scaly surface beneath her feet. Using the locker to shoot her towards the large dragon had been an exhilarating experience. It was incredibly fun and easier than an Ursa, killing her momentum and sticking a landing onto it's back had been…a less fun experience. She needed to work on a better landing strategy.

She shakily stood up on the back of the dragon, absently noting the amount of room she had on the thing, it was a lot bigger up close. Way bigger, she told herself as she looked up and found herself face to face with one of its eyes as its massive head turned towards her.

Sweet Pancakes… Its head was bigger than most rooms she had been in! It had looked large from far away, but now that she on the beast, it was utterly gargantuan! "And Ren thought that this was Jaune?

"J-jaune?" she asked hesitantly, gazing into the yoga ball sized eye staring back at her.

She felt the dragon tremor, a muscle spasm that trailed across it's back, causing Nora to fall to her knees with a yelp. The moment she fell, the spasms stopped, a stillness coming over the dragon's movements that hadn't been there before. It allowed her to gain a better purchase on the scales and stand back up as it glided across the night sky.

She looked up again, and to Nora, it looked almost like the Dragon looked embarrassed by its movements. To anyone else it looked like the dragon had blinked.

But for Nora, that was all she needed to continue with her original plan. At the very least, it was polite enough to let her stand back up.

"Jaune! Pyrrha has gone after a woman who defeated Ozpin! She has some fire power stuff and Pyrrha needs help! They're at the top of the tower!" Nora shouted out, attempting to make her voice heard over the wind.

There was silence for a moment, as the wind whipped across the dragon's hide and into her face as she wondered briefly if she would have to repeat herself. Or… if it understood her at all…?

Then the dragon's wings dipped, and the massive reptile began angling itself towards the top of the tower.

Nora yelped as the shift brought her down onto her hands and knees, grabbing onto to the scaly surface as she tried not to fall off.

The dragon let out a monstrous roar that reverberated through Nora's body making her teeth rattle. She began to giggle quietly as she felt them diving through the air. She was riding a dragon! A giant dragon that was her friend! She was riding her friend dragon into battle! This was amazing!

Or at least… she quieted down as a small frown flicked across her face. She hoped this was Jaune and that she hadn't accidentally directed a large bloodthirsty dragon towards Pyrrha.

And if it was Jaune then he had a lot of explaining to do! Friends don't keep secrets this cool from each other!

Pyrrha cried out in pain as her aura shattered as she impacted a stone pillar. This wasn't going well. She had barely lasted ten minutes and that was only because the woman was toying with her, testing her new powers with a childish glee. Pyrrha had been put on the defensive for the entire time.

"Some invincible girl I was" she thought bitterly as she forced her eyes open to look at the woman who was walking leisurely towards her. The woman that had killed Ozpin.

She gritted her teeth and pushed herself pushed herself to her feet. She reached for her semblance to see if she could bend her armor so it wasn't digging into her already cracked ribs. She had to keep fighting. There was no other option! If she turned back here, then she would have lost.

And Pyrrha Nikos did not lose.

She reached, trying to dip into her low aura reserves and put her back into some kind of fighting state.

Nothing.

Pyrrha's eyes widened. She was out of aura completely. She had no protection against the new fall maiden. Any other injuries would put her out of the fight.

Permanently.

Realistically speaking she probably had twenty seconds left of adrenalin before the exhaustion of the day caught up with her. Without aura, she might as well have been a civilian.

A huntress without aura was a dead huntress.

Pyrrha threw her shield at the woman before immediately turning with the intent of running away. The Elevator was broken but maybe there was an emergency staircase she could get to-

Her foot erupted in pain.

"Ah!" Pain. Sharp, hot, pain shot up her leg, stopping her in her tracks. She turned her head and glared at the ugly black arrow that stuck out of her heel with a mixture of anger and fear. It had outright torn her achilles tendon. She wouldn't be running anytime soon. Not to fight or to run.

A Hunter who can't move is a hunter waiting to die.

She had lost.

"It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours," The woman said, walking over, and grasping her chin, forcing Pyrrha to look her in the eye, "But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never imagine."

She pulled herself up, trying to straighten, despite the pain in her chest closing her eyes briefly. She was dead. She was going to die. There was no other way this could have ended. "I'm sorry Nora, Jaune, Ren, Ozpin…everyone… I wasn't strong enough... I failed"

And if she wasn't strong enough. Then who was?

A bumbling swordsman danced across her mind's eye for a second closely followed by a hammer wielding maniac and a quiet monk. His goofy grin quickly joined by a bubbly giggle and a quiet sigh of affectionate exasperation. Memories of her first year at Beacon swirling in her mind, the bonds she had formed. Her team. Her friends. She would never see them again.

But… she wouldn't have to.

"Do you believe in destiny?" Pyrrha asked quietly, opening her eyes to look up at the woman. She knew who was strong enough to stand against Cinder. It'd take a while, but her friends would kill her. They'd save Vale for her. They had to. She refused to believe otherwise.

The woman's eyes narrowed as she stepped back, raising her arms to summon her bow.

And then a dragon fell on them.

Large long claws dug into the rubble and the fallen gears. Golden scales shrouded both fighters in shadows. And a large head snaked down to hover above the two. A low guttered rumbling echoing from the creature's chest.

The woman cursed and backed away, moving towards the edge of the tower out from directly under the dragon. Pyrrha remained frozen on her knees, her eyes locked on the dragon's head. Teeth longer and thicker than her weapon, and smoky breath filling the air around her. And sitting on its head above two piercing sapphire eyes…was Nora.

Pyrrha blinked.

Nora waved.

Ruby asked, "Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha blinked again. "Ruby?"

The woman summoned her bow.

And Pyrrha's world was filled with fire.

Pyrrha!

Earlier

Weiss stared out at the large beast moving across the waters shivering slightly as it moved closer towards her. For the last hour, she'd watch its golden form diving to the streets before returning to the skies with large grimm held in its claws. From what she could see was all it had been doing was flying around Vale and killing grimm. She had seen Ursai, King Taijitu, Goliaths and various other grimm get picked up and crushed in the large claws.

Creatures of darkness and hatred that would be enough to take out entire towns...destroyed like small pests that only irritated it. So quick…so easily…It was…frightening. Terrifying even. She had never seen anything so strong. And Ren claimed it was supposed to be Jau-

No. It couldn't be. Impossible. Ren had to be wrong…delusional maybe…

"Weiss! I found you!"

She spun around and let out a breath of relief as she saw her partner running towards her.

"Ruby! Thank goodness, you're all right!" Weiss hugged the younger girl, taking the moment to check her over for injuries, it felt like she had been separated from her team for a lifetime, "Where have you- "

"Don't worry! I'm fine." Ruby interrupted, checking Weiss over for any injuries as well, "What's going on?"

What was going on? Weiss choked down a hysterical chuckle shaking her head. Where did she begin?

"Weiss? What is it?" asked Ruby, her voice thick with worry. What had happened to push the heiress to this state?

Instead of replying, Weiss simply stepped to the side revealing the collection of injured and unconscious that made up their classmates. Scattered across the boarding platform gathered small clusters of the different teams, some with all four team members accounted for, some missing one or two people. Other's had it worse, all accounted for but with heavy injuries that still needed to be treated. Ruby stared in horror as one boy desperately slapped bandages onto a large gash on an unconscious girl's forehead, his other teammates all passed out from various injuries in front of him.

And right by their feet, how had she not noticed? Laying in a small huddle…

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Yang was nearly unrecognizable with every inch of her body swollen and darkly bruised, bandages applied where the damage had broken the skin. Next to her, an injured Blake, a white bandage marred by a large red stain as she lied close to Yang's side, whispering apologies to the unconscious girl.

With a gasp, Ruby rushed to her sister's side, kneeling to inspect the bloody bandages.

"Yang…" she began only to trail of, a heavy lump in her throat.

Sun walked over to the group a grim expression sitting heavy on his face, "Hey she's gonna be okay. There's a ship running all the injured to the safe zone in Vale."

"We can't leave without them." A voice popped up from behind Ruby, causing her to turn.

Beside the two, sat Ren sat, covered in various bruises and cuts, his arms snaked around his knees and in his hands, was his scroll gripped tightly. Wrapped tightly around the boy's forehead was a bandage, a trickle of blood escaping it to trail down the side of his face. Ruby stared blankly at his face for a moment before Ren's words sank in. Where was the rest of Team JNPR?

"Nora and Pyrrha are still missing. And Jaune…"

At the boy's name, Sun and Weiss fell silent, glancing away.

"What?" Ruby asked, a dark feeling settling in her stomach, "What about Jaune? Where is he?"

She spun wildly to look at Weiss, but it was Sun who attempted to answer.

"Ruby…so… y-you know that large yellow d-dragon that's been flying around?"

"No… No, you can't be saying…?" Ruby asked in disbelief, her eyes stinging as she slowly backed away from him.

"He's not dead." Ren spoke up, his eyes coming into focus, "He's not."

"I know buddy," Sun said, crouching down to rest a hand on Ren's shoulder, "We all believe you."

"The professors don't" Ren replied, swaying slightly as he turned his head to look at Sun "they all think I got a concussion from when I took the hit for Weiss."

"But you didn't. We were all there with you. We all saw J-jaune. So, relax, all right?" Sun spoke softly.

And Ruby recoiled at his expression. It was… off. She couldn't place what was wrong about it, but it made the dark feeling in her stomach worse.

A cheerful ringtone cut through the quiet moment, making Blake flinch, and beadily glance around before returning her attention to her unconscious partner. Ren thrusted his scroll to his face, shakily opening it to accept the call.

"Nora! Nora? Oh, thank goodness! Are you safe? Is Pyrrha still with you? Nor-" Ren desperately shouted into the small screen, his eyes locked onto the small display featuring his partner. Ruby cringed and took a step back, put off by the near hysterical tone Ren was using. He was normally so quiet, so composed. Like...he had been drinking milk for a long time. For him to sound like this…

What had happened with Jaune?

Ruby couldn't take it, she backed away slowly, drawing curious gazes from Weiss and Sun. Ren She couldn't understand.

"I…I'm going to find them," she squeaked out, unwilling to consider the horrible conclusion that her mind had led her to. For Ren to be so...un-Ren. For Weiss and Sun to act so weird around the boy's name. There was only one option. Ruby's first friend at beacon. Dead. No. "I'm going to find them and bring them back, no one else is going to die" She glanced down at Ren recoiled at his next words.

"Nora? What's happening! Nora!"

They were fine, Ruby told herself, Jaune, Nora and Pyrrha were fine.

Sun stood up and took a step forward, "Now Ruby… Let's not jump to an-"

Ruby couldn't hear anymore. Jaune couldn't be dead. He just couldn't. But it's how everyone was acting. Not waiting for Sun to finish, she ran off towards the base of Beacon tower. Using her semblance to shoot forward, leaving the others behind. Jaune couldn't be dead. He probably ran off to rescue Nora and Pyrrha first. He'll be with them and they'd all come back.

Together.

One beowolf and five griffons later and Ruby was really wishing that she had asked where they were before she ran off. Or maybe see if Nora's call could have given her an idea of where they were. The best she could do now was clear out the leftover grimm and hope that they spotted her before they got overrun.

"Okay… Four more clips and then It'll have to be close combat…"

Or at least until she got overrun. Though that didn't seem to be much of a problem. The hoard of grimm seemed to have thinned out considerably since the battle had first started. The skies were no longer filled with grimm and those that she encountered were sluggish and slow moving, the long battle had worn them out as well. She swung Crescent Rose in a wide arc, giving herself some room before charging at the approaching griffons.

Before they were encased in a spray of ice.

"You are an absolute dunce!" Gasped Weiss, the last of her ice dust spent. The Schnee was breathing heavily, she wasn't conditioned to running long distances, much less to catch up with her team leader. Lifting her head, she fixed Ruby with a glare.

"Pyrrha went up to the top of the tower and Nora went to bring help to her. You would have known if you had stayed and listened. Before running off. "

"B-but Jaune," gasped out Ruby, her chest tight, her eyes fixed on the top of the tower where she could see flashes of…something taking place, "I just can't believe h- "

"He's not dead." Ruby tore her eyes from the tower to stare at Weiss. The Heiress looked deadpanned back at the girl. "He's not dead." Weiss repeated. "It's…we'll I don't really know what it is, but we know he's not dead."

Ruby's relieved response was cut off as a shadow passed overhead, drawing the two girls attention upward. The dragon had returned, flying over the campus in a lazy circle before abruptly changing course.

"He's heading towards the tower." Weiss muttered, glaring up at the titanic reptile. "It'd take us too long to climb and join them…"

Ruby shot away another griffon, switching out her clip again. Think Ruby think! She bit her lip in thought, you have two friends up top with a dangerous woman and now a dragon heading in towards them… what can you…

Her thoughts trailed off as she spotted a trail of white glyphs materializing up alongside the tower.

"Go," said Weiss, a bitter smile on her face, "Tell Nora and Pyrrha I said hello. And make sure you all come back in one piece."

Ruby stood there for a second, unsure what to say, "Weiss…" she started. In only a few minutes she had put Ruby's fears to rest and had cleared a direct path to the rest of her friends. She had the best partner ever!

Weiss rolled her eyes and barked at Ruby, "Get going! I can't keep this up all night!"

Ruby's mouth clicked shut and she nodded before moving forward. Right, staying focused. Gotta save friends and make sure they're all safe before you can hug them. Ruby activated her semblance to give her as much momentum as possible thrusting her forward. Jumping up, Ruby made sure to step on Weiss's glyphs to add even more speed as she began to run up the wall.

However, as she climbed a thought nagged at her…something that Weiss said…

How did she know the dragon was male? She swatted the thought away, pushing it to the back of her mind. She needed to focus. Her friends were counting on her. Never mind that Weiss didn't exactly explain what happened to Jaune or why everyone had been acting so off.

No. Stop Ruby. Focus.

It seemed like no time at all before Ruby reached the top of the tower, the dragon landing just as she landed onto the damaged surface. She wobbled slightly as the structure creaked and groaned under the weight of the monster. How big exactly was that dragon? And how was she supposed to kill it? With the last of the glyphs fading out, Ruby looked up to try and get a good look of the situation. Pyrrha and Nora were supposed to be up here... The sight that greeted her was…unique.

"I can't kill that." She thought as her eyes traveled over the scene.

A giant golden dragon, emanating heat was bearing down on the tower, it's sapphire eyes glaring at a woman in a red dress who was slowly backing away from the beast. Between the two, knelt before the dragon with a small puddle of blood in front of her was…

"Pyrrha?"

As though her words were a starting gun, both the dragon and woman acted, one reared back as flames spilled from its maw like a tsunami of fire, while the other formed a bow and prepared to fire an arrow. Pyrrha was right in the middle of them staring at Ruby with a dumbfounded expression.

"Ruby?"

Ruby moved, acting only on instinct.

Activating her semblance, she flew out and tackled Pyrrha to the other side of the tower. Turning to try and cushion the taller girl's fall as they hit the pavement roughly. Behind them, a wave of golden flames spread out, fully enveloping the woman in red. She let the arrow fly into the cloud of flames and let out an angry cry as her body was enveloped in flames.

Ruby winced as she felt the heat wash over her, immediately warming parts of her body that had gone numb during her run up the tower. The heat was insane. It threw the entire tower into bright light and long shadows. Squinting through the harsh light, Ruby looked down at Pyrrha. She seemed to be okay for the most part, with just a bloodied torn ankle. Ruby winced, a gaping wound like that meant that either the arrow was poisoned or, more seriously, Pyrrha was out of aura.

If it was poisoned, the situation was serious but manageable. She would just need to get Pyrrha to the hospital before the poison sapped away her aura and then moved onto her actual help. But if her aura was out…

Whiplash, recoil, and impact force, all the things that would normally be negated by aura would be a threat to Pyrrha's life. She'd be a civilian in a combat zone without an evacuation plan. But first things first Ruby had to make sure she could move before she could do anything else.

"Pyrrha! Are you okay? Can you stand?"

The spartan girl looked around, dazed from the sudden tackle.

"Wha-Nora?"

"No, it's Ruby! Listen… I… I'm going to get you down first okay? D-Do you know where Nora and Jaune are?"

Pyrrha unfocused gaze stared at Ruby's face, wincing slightly at the sudden bright light coming from the other side of the tower.

"Nora?"

Ruby frowned as she moved her arm to try and support the much heavier huntress. Pyrrha probably had a concussion. She would have only had a concussion if she had been out of aura. Getting her off this tower just got much harder.

"Ruby!"

Ruby's head whipped up shifting her attention from her injured friend to the rest of the tower. The dragon's mouth still hadn't let up its stream of fire and she gazed around in the sudden bright light. The broken gears and rubble being thrown into stark contrasting shadows. That was Nora's voice! But where was…

"Ruby, up here!"

Her eyes snapped to the top of the dragon, where she spotted Nora, walking comfortably on the dragon's wide back. Seemingly paying no attention to the dragon's constant fire that had still yet to let up. Just how much fire was in that beast?

Ruby's jaw dropped as she watched her friend navigate herself off the Dragon and ran over to them. Nora crouched down and took Pyrrha from Ruby's hands and readjusted her grip to better support the barely conscious girl.

"Nora… how…?"

"Cool right!" The girl laughed, a wild look in her eyes as they reflected the firelight, "I was surprised too but once Ren assured me he wasn't lying I thought it was so cool!"

Ruby... didn't know quite what to think. And it had appeared that Pyrrha had decided to pass out.

"When I found out, I couldn't believe that Ren was right!" Nora continued as she turned back to stare back at the dragon, "He's been holding out on us!"

Ruby was thoroughly confused, the dragon belonged to Ren? Ren had a dragon? Ren was a dragon rider?

"Nora…" Ruby started, her thoughts slowly trying to come together and failing, "Can we ride the dragon off the tower?"

Nora nodded cheerfully and slowly stood up, slinging on of Pyrrha's arms over her shoulder. Grinning as Ruby stood up to support her other side, Nora beamed at her "Of course! I'm pretty sure that was his plan from the beginning!"

Ruby felt a small headache begin to grow, "You're going to have to walk me through this one," she said as they walked Pyrrha over to the side of the dragon and Nora climbed up onto the dragon's wing, "Exactly when did Ren get a dragon?"

"What are you talking about Ruby? Ren didn't get a dragon," Nora said, giving a raised eyebrow as she slowly edged Pyrrha's unconscious body up the wing, "I think I would know if Ren got a dragon."

Ruby blinked as she followed Nora onto the dragon's back, all the while making sure Pyrrha didn't slide off. It was a largely pointless task, the sheer width of its body providing a flat surface with decent traction. She flinched slightly as they moved further towards the main body of the colossal dragon, feeling a low vibration from the dragon's body.

"But… this dragon…?"

"Oh!" Nora said, making sure Pyrrha was secure "This isn't Ren's dragon! I'm pretty sure that would-be slavery!"

Ruby looked at the dragon itself and long winding body she and Nora were both comfortably standing on.

"But then- "

"I mean, I don't think Jaune belongs to Ren. I didn't really get a chance to ask. Oh my gosh! Do you think they're dating? Oh! A Dragon Lover! How mysterious! How romantic! How- Ruby are you okay?"

Ruby was gaping like a fish, her eyes bulging as they traced the full body of the dragon that she stood on top of. From its massive head, all the way down to its tail. The thing that was closer in size to buildings than it was to any living creature Ruby knew of.

Dragon. Giant massive fire breathing dragon was Jaune? What! Dragon? What? Jaune?

"T-this d-dragon is Jaune?"

Just…

What?

Cinder was on fire. She had been on fire earlier but that had been more metaphorical and mainly due to her joy at finally obtaining the Fall Maiden's power. Now she was fighting literal fire that washed over her, trapping her in place.

Growling and pushing her aura as much it would allow, Cinder could barely maintain a field of aura to protect herself from the near constant stream of fire that was engulfing her. This was insane. She was told she would have a giant grimm dragon to back her up and help her destroy Beacon. Not that she would have to fight an actual dragon. She didn't know they were even real! "where the hell did this thing even come from?"

Everything had been going so well! She had killed the fool Ozpin, secured the fall maiden's powers and Roman had provided the hole to allow the grimm and the White Fang to fully invade. Nowhere in any briefing or report was there signs of a dragon ever mentioned! What was it doing here?

Where had it been? What? Why? How?

As she felt her clothes start to smolder, Cinder gritted her teeth and redoubled her focus on using her newly gained powers. The questions could wait. Right now, she needed to focus on surviving this mess. And oh, was it a mess... The White Fang and grimm could only do so much. While it would be more than adequate to handle any number of hunters or Atlas reinforcements, nothing could stand against this. How would they even plan to fight a creature like this? No, this monstrosity would need to be dealt with first before any other plan could be carried out.

Everything else had to be put on hold until this creature was no longer an issue. She needed to escape and regroup. Ask for backup and then prepare a counter attack. But first… she needed to get out of these flames.

The second her mind wandered towards ways to escape from the situation, the flames stopped. Finding herself bracing at nothing she tipped forward and face planted into the cracked tile. There was a rumbling as she pushed herself off the floor, eyes darting to stay locked on the…

The…

Fleeing dragon...

Oh, come on!

Still smoking, Cinder glared out at the rapidly retreating form of the dragon, three small figures visible on its golden scales. They were escaping! That… that beast had destroyed her grimm and had the power to stand up to her! And it was retreating?

Slowly her glare faded and she smirked slightly, that was a mistake. This creature could go toe to toe with her, with the maiden powers! It couldn't be allowed to live. To let it go free now and have it fight with the Huntsmen… she had seen the intelligence in its eyes. It would be the unraveling of all Salem's plans. It needed to die here. And the foolish beast had just given her the perfect opportunity. She raised her hands, a bow formed within them, her fingers wrapped the cool black material. She breathed out once and closed her eyes, she concentrated as she poured her power into it.

For a moment, the bow did nothing before it began to glow steadily as she poured increasingly more power into it. Cinder gritted her teeth as the bow began to burn her skin. Pulsing a dark red, the arrow formed, a black spiral tip that that had small flames shooting off it. Even she, with her new heat resistance as the fall maiden pulled back to try and gain a little distance from the blistering heat.

"More. It needs to be more," she hissed, as she held on. The bow and arrow didn't reply as they continued to soak in power from Cinder, switching colors from a deep red to a brilliant white. "Kill it, maim hit, throw it from the skies and show to the world that nothing can save them now!"

Finally, it was too much for her, she opened her eyes as she used the last trickles of her strength to aim the bow and let the arrow fly, scorching flames trailing off the arrow as it left the tower. Utterly exhausted and with most of her aura now in the arrow instead of her, she fell backwards, hitting the ruble with a painful slam.

"Nothing can save them," she breathed to the night sky. "Not even a dragon."

The pained roar that followed was like music to Cinder's ears.

Mercury stared in awe as a brilliant glow gathered on top of Beacons tower, shining brighter and brighter. The light lit up the campus, highlighting the destruction of the day's battle, and hovering above it all, thrown into stark contrast by the light, was the shadow of the golden dragon, gliding away from the campus and across the water towards Vale. He just couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe a lot of things that had happened that night. When the golden dragon had made its first appearance, Mercury had continued to film, uncertain as to what else to do but carry out the initial plan. Cinder had made no mention of a dragon joining the fight, maybe it was here to spread further chaos?

That weak explanation had become paper thin as the dragon engaged the grimm dragon and forced it from the sky. That was when Emerald gave the order to stop recording. The two had continued to watch as it killed their biggest asset and then made its way to Vale to wreck further havoc on their grimm forces. The Beowolves that the White Fang snuck in? Incinerated. The Atleasian Paladins that were turned to their side? Melted into slag. All their careful planning, from supplying the White Fang with equipment to planting explosions at key points in the city to let the grimm spread further in, all of it was ended by golden scales and ruby red flames.

And then it had gone to Beacon Tower. The tower that Cinder and the grimm dragon were supposed to destroy together. He and Emerald had watched in silence as the light gathered.

"…Do you think that's her?" Emerald asked suddenly. Her voice shaking him out of his thoughts, breaking the silence that seemed to have fallen across the campus, with most of the injured and the last combatants silenced by the sight above their heads.

Before Mercury could answer, the light lashed out, a blinding white light, orange, and red trailing behind it as it arced across the sky. He watched as the dragon seemed to twist in midair, it's head snaking around to look briefly at the oncoming projectile before it was suddenly engulfed in flames.

Both he and Emerald covered their ears as a piercing shriek let out, a massive fireball consuming the behemoth. The fire expanded, going from a brilliant white to an orange and yellow mix before shrinking in on itself, smoke billowing out in the wind.

In the fading light of the fire, Mercury could just make out a blackened falling figure, getting smaller and smaller before his view was blocked by the cliffside.

"I'd say yes… that was probably her." Mercury said slowly, his eyes locked onto where the figure had fallen out of sight, checking to see if anything moved from the spot.

Nothing did.

Emerald shivered and turned away from the cliff-side, looking back up at the now dark tower.

That's a lot of power…" she murmured a large grin slowly making its way onto her face.

Beside her, Mercury chuckled, "And now it's Cinders."

AN: So you may have noticed I got a temporary beta. And while Cruzer really did me a solid, looking over this and the last chapter (there's a couple more details but nothing plot wise was changed). However I'm also in the market for a couple beta's. Looking for grammar, spelling, and the likes. I'd like to have maybe 3 betas to be able to look over each chapter and so no matter peoples schedule, there's allays someone who can give feedback. If you'd like to be a beta, leave a review or PM me.

Also, can I just say, wow! I did not expect this story to be so popular! I'm glad you all like it so much and want to stick around, I'll try and get the next chapter to you. I always try and have one rough draft completed before I post the previous chapter, so you can rest safe knowing that Chapter 3 rough draft is finished and it'll be posted once I finish writing chapter 4.

If you have thoughts on the chapter or story be sure to shoot me a review. I enjoy reading them and I think of then when writing the next chapter. You might get a sense of what I'm talking about when chapter 3 gets out.

Until next time,

TTA