Friday, July 31

POV: Zach

It was late at night and all the lights were out. However, Zach was still up, cleaning his SRS99-S5 AM, when his draconic hearing caught the sound of something rolling around coming from team RWBY's dorm. The sound in and of itself wasn't to strange, but what was is the fact that it started at about 2300 hours and the fact that it kept going in and out lead him to believe that something weird was going on. Then about 15 minutes after the sound started popping up, he heard a squeak that nearly killed his ears. "Church, lower my ears' input to my brain, because I have a feeling that noise ain't ending any time soon."

"Done" The A.I., serial number DTN-002, A.K.A. Church, replied.

He then heard (R)WBY's complaints as their lights came on. After that, a crack sounded from their room.

"Wait, what in the… Undo that, I want to hear this."

"On it."

He faintly heard a piece of something fall onto their floor, followed by the loudest squeak yet.

"Do they have a fuckin' egg in there?" He asked himself. Several more squeaks followed.

"Did…this just happen?" Wiess asked.

"You mean, what… I have to assume is a dragon, just hatched on our floor? Yeah. That happened." He nearly dropped the barrel at what he heard. A dragon! He very quickly got over his shock and grabbed a micro-camera that was designed to blur out anything that would even remotely be considered inappropriate and even bleep out cuss words and other such things, then teleported it to the top corner of their room, not their bathroom. He then opened the wall up slightly, seeing as how his room was right next to theirs, mainly to connect the wires. He continued listening to their conversation as he worked.

"It's. So. Cute!" Ruby practically squealed.

"Looks like I owe you some cookies Ruby," Yang said. "Who'd have thought I'd have to dig up mom's old recipe." At that point, the camera was connected and running, and he was watching through his helmet.

Ruby knelt down in front of the hatchling. "Hey there little guy," she said as she reached out with her left hand to pet it.

Lightning shot up her arm. She gasped and her eyes bulged. Her limbs twitched around, likely without her command. While she was in pain, Yang called her name, but she was clearly too busy trying not to scream to care. She seemed to feel like she was being torn apart from the inside out, and he knew the feeling from every time he accessed his full draconic power, and became a dragon.

Ruby's shoulders slumped and her head tilted forward. "Ow," she moaned. She opened her eyes. Water seemed blocked her view, so she blinked a few times to clear them.

It was clear to the SPARTAN that Ruby felt panic rising in her. She looked around the room and saw Yang arming Ember Celica by her bed. "Yang? W…what are you doing?"

Yang turned to Ruby, her eyes red. "Ruby, back away from the wall."

"What?" Ruby looked between Weiss and Blake. "What's going on?"

"That thing attacked you!" Weiss pointed at Ruby's left arm.

Ruby snapped her head to the area. The hatchling was curled up behind her arm. She shook terribly and stared at Yang with wide eyes. Ruby reached over with her right hand and touched the hatchling's snout. Her three teammates made to jump forward, but held back. With a whimper, the poor baby dragon pushed her head into Ruby's hand.

"I think that was a one-time thing." Ruby ran her hand along the side of the hatchling's head.

"So what if it was a one-time thing!" Yang pointed at the hatchling. "That thing attacked you! What's stopping it from doing it again?"

Ruby looked to the hatchling. She started shaking even more. The hatchling looked up at Ruby.

Ruby stuck a hand out toward her sister. "Yang, you need to calm down. You're scaring her."

"I'm scaring her? She attacked you!" Yang blinked and narrowed her eyes. "Her?"

"Better than calling her it."

"Are you defending it?"

"Yang! Use your head!" Ruby pled. "You saw her before. She was wagging her tail like a puppy. She was happy! Now look at her." Ruby looked back at the hatchling. Her little red eyes stared up at Ruby. A cute little whimper came from her throat. Ruby caressed the hatchling's head. "I don't think she meant to do it."

Ruby looked back up at her sister. Yang's eyes switched back to their normal lilac. She sighed. "Ruby, I'm glad you're alright, but that thing hurt you! You looked like you were having a seizure!"

Another whimper came from Ruby's side. She looked down at the hatchling. "I know she didn't mean it."

Yang's arms shook. She was fighting herself. "Ruby…"

"Yang, please put your gauntlets down." Ruby stuck a hand out toward her sister while the other covered the hatchling.

Yang hesitated, then sighed and deactivated Ember Celica, taking the two gauntlets off. Ruby let her shoulders fall, and Zach could feel some of the tension leave the room. He wasn't even in there! Blake and Weiss exchanged nervous glances, but stayed silent.

The hatchling stopped shaking and slowly climbed onto Ruby's lap. She stayed close to Ruby's stomach and whimpered up at Yang. Yang shot a glare at her. The hatchling squeaked and climbed up to Ruby's shoulder. The poor girl started to shake and whimper again. Ruby reached up with her opposite hand and began to pet the trembling dragon, ignoring the egg fluid. "You don't need to be scared," she whispered, plainly audible due to his ability to, when he wanted to, hear people's thoughts. "No one's going to hurt you, you're with friends."

The hatchling pulled her head back and locked her tiny red eye's with Ruby's. She whimpered again and rubbed her face against Ruby's check. The other three people in the room recoiled, and Yang completely turned away.

The baby dragon pulled her head away and licked Ruby's cheek. She then freed herself from Ruby's arms and walked off her lap. The hatchling sniffed the air and squeaked a few times. "I think she's hungry."

All humans turned to the sole Faunus in the room. Even Zach took his eyes off of the baby dragon to look at Blake. "Why are you all looking at me?" Blake asked.

"We all know you have a tuna stash, Blake." Yang threw a glance at the hatchling, then faced her bed again.

Blake's bow tilted backward, then she turned to hers and Yang's dresser and pulled out the top drawer. She pulled out several stacks of clothes before grabbing a large can of tuna. "You guys owe me."

The hatchling stared up at Blake with her head cocked. Blake pulled the tab on the can. Almost instantly, the hatchling raised her wings and squeaked happily. After staring down for a second, Blake slowly set the can down on the floor. The hungry hatchling waited until Blake's hand pulled away before pouncing on the food. She buried her face in the fish and didn't pull her snout out until the can was clean. A cute burp later, she walked forward and rubbed her side against Blake's legs. She looked up at Blake and whimpered again.

The corners of Blake's lips raised. "That's not fair." She took another can from the drawer and opened it as well. Once again, the baby dragon waited until Blake's hand left before diving in.

A smile was building on Ruby's face.

Weiss pointed at the hatchling, then at Ruby, and back again. "But, how? Is this the same dragon what was hiding behind you?"

"Yep." Ruby smiled up at her partner. "I guess it's a baby thing. Or a…dragon thing."

Another squeak caught Ruby's attention. It looked like the cutie was begging for more food from Blake. "Hungry little thing, aren't you?" Blake asked. She received another squeak in response.

Ruby allowed herself a small laugh, then she looked up at her sister. Yang was looking at the hatchling through the side of her eye. A grimace formed on her lips, but it didn't look like it was aimed at the hatchling. "Yang? Something wrong?" Ruby finally pushed herself off the floor and walked to her sister's side.

Yang turned her head halfway to meet Ruby, but still couldn't meet Ruby's eyes. "I'm sorry, it—she hurt you. I haven't seen you in that much pain since you broke your arm before Signal." She paused and looked at the hatchling on the floor. The cutie had rolled onto her back and Weiss rubbed her belly, dragging out the same purr from before. Yang winced. "Where was this right when she hatched? Why'd she hurt you?" She shook her head and finally met Ruby's gaze. "She hurt you. I can't get that out of my head. The rest of you may be convinced, but I'm not."

Ruby dipped her head. "Give her a chance? Like Weiss and Blake? Does that look like the face of evil?" She gestured at the hatchling, who was now eating out of yet another can of tuna while Weiss scratched her back.

"No." Yang shook her head. "But…"

"Please?" Ruby put on the best puppy dog face she could manage.

Yang sighed. "Blake's right. This isn't fair." She walked toward where the cutie was eating and knelt down. The hatchling looked at Yang and squeaked. She jumped, then hid behind Weiss' legs. Yang stuck an arm out. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

The hatchling stuck her head out from behind Weiss' legs. She sniffed the air and flicked her tongue out. She looked up at Ruby as if asking if it was safe. "It's okay," Ruby soothed. "She's nice when you get to know her."

The cutie left the shield provided by Weiss' legs. She slowly walked toward Yang's outstretched hand and sniffed it. A hum exploded out her throat and she pressed her head into Yang's hand.

That got a smile out of Yang. "Ya know, for an animal with scales, you sure are soft." The hatchling continued to purr as she pushed her body against the hand. "I guess she forgives easily."

"I think she gets that from me." Ruby gazed down at the baby dragon.

"Are you saying you've rubbed off on her?" Weiss asked. "Your happiness is infectious, but it can't win over someone in less than twenty minutes."

"It's not that, it's…" Ruby bit her lip. "I think I can feel her emotions, and if that's true, I'm guessing she can feel mine."

The rest of her team looked at Ruby like she suddenly had two heads and Zach activated the full power of his hearing to check her claims. "Did you hit your head when you fell?" Weiss asked.

"I don't know how to describe it," Ruby shook her head, "but when she was hiding behind me, I was scared of Yang." Said person looked up at Ruby like she'd been stabbed in the chest. "But that disappeared as soon as she hugged me." The hatchling looked up at Ruby and cocked her head.

A knock on the door made everyone in the room jump. "Uh guys, everything okay in there?" Jaune asked. "We heard yelling and-"

"We're fine, Jaune," Ruby paused as she thought it over. Should she say something now, or save it. "I just…fell out of bed." 'That's not going to work.' Zach thought as she said it, then he heard team RWBY think the exact same thing.

"Oh, well, if that's it, uh, good night." Footsteps on the other side of the door signaled Jaune's departure. 'Or it will totally work. Wait, of course it worked, it's Jaune.' He thought again.

Weiss brought a hand to her face. "How did he believe that?"

"I'm askin' myself the same thing over here." Zach said, not that any of them could hear him.

"I thought you would have told him," Blake said.

Ruby shrugged. "Maybe when we know what's going on. And," she looked down at the cutie, "I don't want to overwhelm her. And it's kind of a hard thing to explain late at night, and through a door."

The hatchling squeaked for attention again. Everyone looked down at her. She was looking up at Blake with those same wide eyes from before. Blake held her arms up in surrender. "I'm sorry, that's all I had." The hatchling hung her head and whimpered. She walked over to Ruby's side and looked up. When she met Ruby's eyes, her own brightened and her wings raised. She hummed and ran her side against Ruby's legs.

Ruby knelt down and pet her dragon, ignoring the egg fluid still that still coated the scales. "Ah well, looks like we're going to have to make another stop in Vale." She froze in place. "Oh. How are we going to explain that to dad?"

"I could sneak some things out of the cafeteria," Blake offered. "I have…experience."

"Wha…oh." Ruby flicked her eyes to Weiss. The heiress shot Blake a look, but shook it off. "If we can do this without breaking any rules, I'll take it."

"What about breaking dad's rules?" Yang asked with a slight smirk.

"I'm more scared of professor Goodwitch than dad." Yang gave a sideways nod, but Ruby froze again. "Aaand we've been making enough noise to wake up JNPR." She looked at the walls that separated them from other teams. "That's not good."

The rest of the team exchanged glances. Yang shrugged. "Ah well. Not like we can make it any worse."

"So what are you going to name her?" Weiss asked suddenly.

Ruby blinked at her partner. "I…hadn't thought about it. Why'd you ask?"

"I, uh, well, it appears you're going to keep her around for a while. I figured to would be a good idea to give her a name."

"You like her." Ruby smirked.

"Well what's not to like?" Weiss knelt down next to the hatchling and stoked her back. "She's cute, she's a cuddler, she's…ahh!" She leaned forward and rubbed her nose against the baby dragon's snout. The hatchling stuck her tongue out and licked Weiss' nose.

Ruby took a step back and watched her partner play with the hatchling. The cutie looked up at Ruby, then leaned into Weiss' scratches. Weiss was saying various shades of red at the dragon.

Ruby knelt down by the hatchling. The cutie squeaked and jumped out of Weiss' grip and onto Ruby's knee. She looked up and tried to lick Ruby's face. "Hey, how would you like being called Cerise?"

The dragon hummed happily and pressed her snout against Ruby's nose. Ruby pet Cerise a few times, then saw something on her hand. Not only was it covered with the same egg fluid as Cerise' scales and wings, but a silvery-white mark had appeared in the center of her hand, roughly where Cerise first touched it. Even on her pale skin, it stuck out like a sore thumb. "Oh. That's different."

"Something wrong, Ruby?" Weiss asked.

"I may need to borrow some light gloves tomorrow." Ruby turned her palm to her teammates.

All three of them looked closely at it. "Did she do that to you?" Yang asked. She narrowed her eyes at Cerise.

"I'm guessing so." Ruby put herself slightly in between Yang and Cerise. "If she did, she didn't mean it." For whatever reason, Cerise whimpered and laid her head across Ruby's leg. "I don't even feel it."

Yang's eyes flicked to Ruby and they softened. "If you say so." She didn't sound convinced.

Ruby returned her attention to Cerise. "How does having your first bath sound?" The hatchling lifted her head and hummed happily. "I'll take that as a yes." Ruby scooped Cerise up and walked into the team's bathroom. She seemed to turn the lights on before taking a towel from where it hung on the wall and tossed it back into the room for the others to wipe the egg goop off themselves.

Soon afterwards, they went to bed and he had cut the feed as soon as they did. He then proceeded to quietly finish his work and put his sniper back together, before he did the same as team RWBY, having set the camera to record whenever the red dragon was in view.

My inspiration for this fic was, after finding A Rose's Scales, I thought, "How much would end up changing if my OCs were added into the equation, probably a decent amount." So far though, not much has changed.