Jaune Arc was an idiot. A dunce. A fool. He knew because he'd been called that all his life.
His sisters called him an idiot whenever he sparred (and got soundly defeated) with the Arc household's Master-at-Arms, a forty year-old veteran of the Great Faunus War named Turk.
His mother called him an idiot whenever his tutor complained about his inability to learn sums and politics.
His father called him a fool when Jaune tried to convince him to let him pursue Weiss Schnee as a suitor.
Weiss Schnee, the Ice Queen and young ruler of Remnant's northernmost lands, called him a dunce whenever Jaune tried to do anything romantic in his long and desperate battle to try and court her.
Jaune Arc only just decided that they were right. He was an idiot. He was a dunce and fool and everything else he'd been named over the years. And the reason why was the fifty foot monster towering over him, it's reptilian blood red eyes glaring at him furiously.
Yang Xiao Long was a beast. A monster. A failure. She knew because that was what she'd been called all her life.
The handsome boy with silky hair from a nearby village called her a beast after she had revealed her true form to him, running away with hatred in his once kind brown eyes after she had trusted him with her darkest secret.
Her half-sister had called her a monster after Yang's mother burned down the handsome boy's village to try to prevent word spreading of a dragon nearby, to stop the horde's of knight's that would have come to slay them. That had been the last time she saw Ruby, her once sweet and adorable little sister glaring at her with disgust in her silver eyes and proclaiming she would one day avenge the destruction Yang had caused.
Her mother had called her a failure only two times in her life. The first had been when Yang allowed her father to escape the cave whilst her mother had hunted. She remembered that day clearly. Her father had decided to play with her instead of trying to hide the shame and disgust in his eyes whenever he looked at her. He had chased her around with a wide smile before telling about a game he played as a child.
Hide and seek.
She'd been so happy at the time. Her father was finally telling her about Human culture, and he might tell her about the missing half of her family she had never met before.
She'd scampered away, burying herself underneath some silk dresses in her mothers hoard, giggling and waiting for her father to find her, to toss her in the air like he sometimes would.
She didn't realise he was gone until it was too late. She was young and small and tired easily when trying to fly. Her mother had not been pleased.
The second time she was called a failure was when her mother was dying, bleeding atop a cold mountaintop.
"You're a failure Yang." Her mother had wheezed, amber eyes filled with hate and disgust. "A failure of a daughter, of a dragon. You should've killed that girl the second she ran. But you didn't and now look what's happened. Silver eyes are dangerous girl and you're lucky to be alive."
And then her mother died, the spark in her reptilian eyes fading and her body falling impossibly still. Yang had cried for what felt like forever, only leaving her fallen mother's corpse when Ruby and her mother had found her, chasing her away with their silver eyes.
Yang Xiao Long knew they were right. She was a beast. She was a monster. She was a failure. A failure of a daughter, a sister, a human and a dragon. And she hoped the knight staring up at her knew this too and put an end to her before she failed anyone else.
