This Chapter is massive for me. The basis of the entire fanfiction, the first idea I'd ever come up with, before the fic was even realized, before I made the plot, before the history, even before the characters were even named, is written in the lines of this chapter.

It may not be my best chapter, but it sure as hell will go down as one of my favourites to write.


Chapter 33: This Dragon is one Dangerous Hippie


-Amity Arena, Day One of Duos Round-

ASHNRWBY were settled in the stadium VIP box, watching Emerald and Mercury face down Coco and Yatsuhashi.

"Did Oz really allow all of us to crash here for the matches today? 'Cuz this place is really sweet!" Yang said spinning on one of the chairs like a child. Hex smiled and placed her hand on her girlfriend's head stopping the rapid rotation.

"Maybe? maybe not. What he doesn't know won't hurt him right?" the tech wizard smirked.

"That's part of what I love about you. Devilishly crafty when you put your mind to it." The blonde leaned up and pecked her.

"Ugh please, if you're going to eat each other's faces, find somewhere else…" Weiss said with pure disdain marring her features.

Nova laughed, "Weiss-cream, you're just jealous that you don't have a boyfriend. Pro tip? Be less frosty."

Weiss turned pink, "I AM NOT! I just think that there's a time and place for everything…"

Luna reached up and patted Weiss on the head, "There, there… you'll get a boyfriend someday Weiss…"

The heiress deadpanned, "Not you to…"

"Oh, guys, it looks like the stage has been set," Ruby said pointing at the arena. It was half savanna with tall grass and half Mistralian forest.

They all turned their attention to the arena, where as soon as the battle started. Emerald and Mercury disappeared into the tall grass.

"Is that some kind of evasion tactic? Like hiding and ambush? If that's true then they picked the wrong duo to try that against…" Nitro said as he munched on some popcorn.

Sure enough, Coco whipped out her minigun and sprayed the tall grass, leveling it from a side until it was clearly gone.

Everyone blinked in surprise, "Where did they go?" Luna asked looking around. Emerald and Mercury had essentially disappeared.

"LOOK OUT!" Blake yelled as Mercury's foot came crashing down onto Coco only to be blocked by Yatsuhashi. Everyone just looked at her. "What?"

"You do realize we're in a box seat… and they can't hear you right?" Yang pointed out.

Blake blushed in embarrassment, "Sorry… instinct,"


Mercury expertly dodged Coco's rain of bullets and was easily taking on both of them at once, blocking with his hands while expertly maneuvering himself to counterattack.

"His skills are impressive… but where's Emerald?" Nova pointed out eyeing the arena.

Just then a chain sprung out of the forest and wrapped around Coco. dragging her into the depths of the canopy, leaving Yatsuhashi to Mercury's mercy.

The fight was over in seconds after that with both Coco and Yatsuhashi downed by aura level.

"That was… honestly crazy. How did Coco get outed so easily? And that tank of man got knocked around like a pinball." Hex observed.

"Emerald was missing for most of the fight, we had aerial seats and even we didn't see her disappear. I think it might be her semblance… invisibility maybe? Cloaking?" Nova voiced his analysis.

"Well… we can't know for sure until we fight her so… I guess we'll just have to win our next battle right?" Ruby offered with a cheer. Nova kissed her forehead.

"Bless your innocence, Ruby."


Back at the RWBY Dorm, Nova and Luna were relaxing with Ruby and Yang while the rest of the battles were ongoing. They would have stayed to watch but hanging out with a certain Qrow was more important.

"I'm gonna kick your butt old man!" Ruby screamed as she vigorously tapped on her game controller. The two dragons watched in amusement as the sisters battled their uncle in a fighting game. Nova knew Ruby was good, at least from the times he's played with her, but he didn't expect was that the old man was better.

"KICK HIS ASS RUBY" Yang yelled back.

"In your dreams kids!" came Qrow as he viscously sent a deadly combination of buttons that claimed the red leader's life.

"NOO! NOT AGAIN!" Ruby yelled her fists to the sky as she fell over from being pushed away by Yang.

Ruby stood up and clung to the front of Nova's shirt. "NOVAAA! Uncle Qrow is bullying me!" she gave the world's most adorable pout.

"Red, I am not going to exact revenge on Qrow for you…" this caused the girl to fake cry. "But… I am going to exact justice for his evil!" he declared war as Yang also fell victim to Qrow's skill.

"Oh, you wanna go smokey? I just beat firecracker you'll just be the leftover fumes." Qrow taunted holding his head high.

Nova was livid, "Oh I'll show you fumes…" he grumbled picking up the controller. Five minutes of button mashing later…

"SOARING NINJA WINS!" came the game as Nova groaned in frustration, rolling on the floor.

"Sucks to suck! Come on that's three down! Who dares challenge me!" Qrow roared with laughter.

It was at that point Luna's head peaked up from Blake's bunk, where she'd taken up residence since the gaming began. "Did someone say… challenge?"

"Oh blue pipsqueak, wanna take a crack at it? I'll go easy on yah." Qrow waved the controller.

Luna felt her brow twitch, "Are you looking down on me?" she glowered.

"Technically he's looking up since you're on the top bunk…" Yang couldn't resist, but Luna paid her no mind.

The blue dragon hopped down from the bed and snatched the controller. "It can't be that hard…"


"Challenger wins!" the screen showed that Luna had won.

Qrow felt his jaw drop while everyone looked incredulously, "Beginner's luck. I was just goin' easy on you. One more."

"Someone's a sore loser~" Yang sang as she squished Luna in a quick hug of congratulation.

"Trust me... it won't happen again..." famous last words.

'Challenger Wins! Total Annihilation!" Again Luna was victorious.

"Face it, gramps, your time has come. Washed up! Washed up! Washed up!" Nova chanted causing everyone to join in.

"Oi who's idea was it to bully the old man huh?"

"So Uncle Qrow, what were you doing so long out there that you couldn't come back and see your kids hm?" Nova asked resting an elbow on his head smugly.

Qrow sighed, "Ozpin had me going out to the other kingdoms to check on the-… err never mind that's classified. What I can tell you is that Mistral's pretty much a death trap right now. Grimm activity has risen to an all-time high and Lionheart's been sending Huntsmen on missions to clear out the place."

"What does this mean exactly?" Nova opted, trying to squeeze out some information, he didn't understand why he was being kept in the dark about this since they were all in the same boat. Ozpin knew his secrets, so why is he keeping secrets from him.

Perhaps it was due to Nova's basis of cooperation, that Ozpin withheld some of the information. But they know about the Maidens, RWBY and ASHN all know about their existence, they know about the Aspects of Remnant… so why was Ozpin keeping secrets?

Nova didn't have a lot of time to muse over it when Qrow's scroll beeped, it looked to be a message from Ozpin.

"Looks like I gotta go, good luck in your fights tomorrow, I'll hopefully be watching."

And with that, he was gone.


-Amity Arena The Next Day-

The continuation of the duos round, Team RWBY vs Team FNKI.

"So… a team from Atlas… what do you think we'll be up against?" Yang asked as they awaited their opponents.

"Well considering their Kingdom's armed forces, school and military are all merged into one… I'm betting they'll be strict fighters with advanced weaponry and…" Weiss was cut off when a whoosh of rainbow appeared behind her. "Or whatever that is…" she gestured to the pair before them.

A dark-skinned man in sunglasses and a fedora stood next to a cat Faunus with bright orange hair with blue streaks, pulled up in twin-tails.

"You're Weiss Schnee, right? The 'heiress'? " the man asked earning her attention.

"Yes, I am."

"And that must mean you're pretty good with dust right?" he continued.

"Sure I do try my best…"

"You know my dad had his own little dust shop too… til your dad ran him out of business!" He said darkly earning a flinch from Weiss.

"I'm sorry to hear that…"

"I'm sure you are…"

"Hey what's that supposed to-" Yang tried to defend Weiss but was cut off when the girl next to the man spoke.

"Hey what's that supposed to mean~" she mimicked in an annoying voice, "That's what you sound like."

"Um excuse me?" Yang opted now very confused.

"Nice hair extensions by the way."

"This is just my normal hair…" Yang was getting annoyed.

"Ugh really?" She said with a face that was the definition of bitch. "You should try roller skating some time… you might have some trouble though since you're so… top-heavy…"

Yang glanced down at her chest then flared with fury, "EXCUSE ME?!" Yang was now very mad.

Ruby looked on from the stands, "Oh boy… here we go..."

"HEY! MY GIRLFRIEND'S RACK IS PERFECT I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW!" Hex was practically leaping from the seat only to be held down by Nitro. The poor red-haired boy desperately trying to keep the violent violet fury from strangling the competitors.

The moment the match started Neon pushed Yang to one side and forced her to chase after her while Weiss was left to fight Coal.

The man used what looked to be a trumpet that used dust as an amplification source to send out powerful sound waves capable of physical damage. A strange yet effective weapon that went against everything the heiress knew about fighting, resulting in her being unable to figure out how to counter it.

Coal's powerful sound waves blasted Weiss with tremendous force, pushing her back and threatening to blow her off the arena completely. It was like facing down a typhoon, except it wasn't wind that was causing the knockback. The heiress barely clinging on by gravity glyphs.

Slowly but surely she made her way up through the wave of sound only for it to stop and find herself launched at him. Coal easily sidestepped it and kicked her away sending her crashing into the ground.


On the other end, Yang was struggling to catch Neon as she zipped passed her in circles, taunting her the whole way. Yang would fire off several shots only for them to sail harmlessly through the air, hitting nothing.

"Never miss a beat. Never miss a beat." Neon chanted as she skated circles around Yang until she eventually pulled out her dust powered Nunchacku and froze Yang's leg.

"Oh look now you're bottom-heavy too!" She taunted again getting Yang even angrier.

Neon then rushed just as Yang broke the first set of ice and froze her arm, sealing off one of Ember Celia's gauntlets.

"You know… you should cool off… get it? Cuz you're mad?" Neon teased. Yang was not impressed.


Back with Weiss she now caught Coal in a circle formation of white Glyphs, sending out barrages of ice at him, striking from all angles. In order to break it, Coal activated his semblance summoning three clones of himself.

Weiss could only watch helplessly as the four clones sent out one massive wave of sound that blasted her far away.

While Weiss was on the floor, Coal turned to aim at Yang. Weiss noticed the lava on the floor about to erupt and, using her quick thinking, tackled herself and Coal into the burning spire. Coal barely had a chance to register what was happening before searing heat shot through the geyser, roasting both him and Weiss to an ash-covered crisp.

"AND IT LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE A DOUBLE KNOCKOUT EVERYONE!" Port announced as he observed Weiss' aura drop to zero.

"Wait… what's this?!" came Oobleck as the steam cleared, to reveal, against all odds, Coal standing groggily. "IT SEEMS MR. COAL IS STILL IN IT!" Coal's aura stood barely above the knockout margin, sitting at a dangerously low 16%.

Weiss was now out for the count, leaving Yang to fight both Coal and Neon at once.


The blonde brawler unleashed her semblance at full power, amplifying her abilities several times, allowing her to juggle both opponents at once.

Neon continued to play on Yang's anger but what she failed to account for was… that the angrier the blonde was… the more powerful she became.

Eventually, Coal's sound waves were of no effect to the blonde and she easily stopped his trumpet blast and sent him flying. The one punch was all she needed to eliminate him.

On the other hand, Neon was feeling shaky now, seeing as her partner was just so easily batted aside.

"Never miss a beat… Never miss a… beat?" It was at this moment her skate got caught on one of the rocks and sent her flying into a steam geyser, that launched her skyward.

Now that she was off the ground and immobile, Yang had the perfect opportunity, sending a direct shot of Ember Celia knocking the cat girl right out of the ring.

Yang picked up the blackened Weiss, cradling her in her arms, "That was one hell of a risky play…" she pointed out.

The heiress coughed into her hand, "It worked out didn't it?"

"And the winners are, Yang and Weiss of Team RWBY! Don't go anywhere folks because we have another match right up."

The roar of the crowd followed the blonde brawler and heiress out as they clung to each other for support.


"That was one hell of a move Weiss-cream, I'd say it was cool but it looks like you might be burnt." Nova chuckled as he ruffled the heiress' hair. She smiled and brushed off his hand.

"I'm too tired and sore to deal with your lame ass jokes right now, just kick some ass for us okay?" Weiss grinned.

Nova and Luna shared a look that said 'classic Weiss'.

"So… we ready for our big debut?" he looked at his sister for confirmation.

The blue dragon inhaled deeply and looked at him with piercing eyes, "More than I'll ever be…"

Ruby looked at the two worriedly, "Are you sure this is a good idea? It's not too late to…"

Nova silenced her with a kiss. The red-leader melted instantly, gratefully accepting the warm feeling, as if he was transferring his own confidence to her.

"It's now or never, love. Wish me luck?" He asked caressing her face with his thumb.

She smiled and leaned into his palm, "You don't need it, but, good luck out there."

Blake walked up and placed a palm on his shoulder, and nodded silently after their eyes met. Blake wasn't much for words but that silent gesture said everything. Hex and Nitro gave them a quick fist bump before joining the stands, this time opting for the seating with the other competitors.


"AND NOW FOR OUR FINAL MATCH OF THE DAY!" Port announced as Nova and Luna stepped onto the field, clad in black cloaks with the hoods pulled up, and their signature face masks.

"Our opponents are again an informationless team, this time from Vacuo," Luna said without a hint of nervousness in her voice.

Nova sighed, "Seems like trouble finds us like a magnet regardless of where we go…"

"For the last battle today we have Nova and Luna of Team ASHN vs Bell and Edan of Team BLDE. As per special request, from previous matches, we'll turn up the input volume on the arena's camera bots so our audience at home can hear the banter between competitors." Oobleck continued for Port.

The moment the two dragons heard the names of their competitors they flinched, "Of fucking course it's them. I mean, who else would it be? There isn't a single team on the face of Remnant that wants to kill us other than them… well, I guess we need to consider Thorian and Gale… but you get my idea…" Nova groaned exasperatedly.

The audience gasped a little, and Nova blushed, "Oh right, didn't realize the mics were on yet, my apologies…" one of the camera bots that was circling him shrunk away. He really hoped they had some form of real-time audio filter that censored his swearing.

"Ahem yes… well on to the match…" Port coughed into his fist.


On the other end of the arena was Bell Wings, clad in what looked to be a spikey black jacket and pink undershirt. She wore black jeans and combat boots that matched, making her look like some kind of metalhead or goth. Behind her swung the massive cross-shaped shield that she used as her signature weapon.

Next to her was a man in a similar outfit except he wore a long black, open-fronted, coat with gold linings. His undershirt and pants matched his midnight black hair. His eyes were dark red.

The camera bots circled to the outer rim signaling that they were basically out of earshot, though Nova didn't particularly care who heard him.

"I should've known you two would be here… all things considered, I'd be surprised if you weren't." Nova folded his arms and nodded his head to Bell.

"Why are you even fighting in the tournament hm? You're certainly not trying to win, and now that we know you're here it would be easy for us to call security on you." Luna pointed out.

Bell laughed, "We're fighting you because…. Well, there's no point in telling you when you could just ask our previous opponents." She smiled looking at her nails.

Nova grimaced, piecing it together, "And you're not afraid of this information getting out?"

"Please, we have the security of Vacuian students. If you threaten us without basis then it's just a crime against the kingdom that breaches our treaty… you wouldn't want a world war, now would you?" Edan said with a laugh, the overconfidence clear as day in his voice.

Luna sighed, "Ugh I've never met you before today and I already hate you…"

Edan made a devilish smile, "The pleasure's all mine princess."

"Combatants prepare yourselves… The arena will now be chosen…" Port said.

The arena around the four changed as the system cycled through choices… it finally settled on a very… interesting combination.

"Well this is an unpredicted turn of events, a never before seen environment combination. Vacuoian rocky cliffs and magma! It's a dangerous perilous environment with little cover spots and deadly terrain, it looks like we're in for a bloody brawl everyone!" Oobleck explained the statistics of the terrain.

Behind Nova and Luna were a series of sheer pointed rocks and taller columns of stone, nothing large enough to warrant cover, just brown and grey stone as far as the eye could see, occasionally a gust of wind could be felt blowing through the stone formations. It looked more difficult to fight on than anything they'd seen before.

On the other side, behind Bell and Edan, was the standard fiery magma field that Weiss and Yang fought on previously.

"Well now… looks like you won't have anywhere to hide?" Edan said gesturing his arms widely.

Nova looked unimpressed, "What makes you think we'd be losing?"

Bell chuckled, "Call it a hunch…"


"Well, this is interesting..." Hex said earning everyone's attention.

"What do you mean? What's interesting?" Weiss didn't like it when there was information she wasn't aware of.

Hex folded her arms, "This environment, the rocks... I believe those are..."

"The Vacuoian Wind Spires?" Ren said recognizing them as well.

"Vacuoian what now?" Ruby asked out of the loop.

"Oh, I've read about these while researching the history of the tournament!" Weiss propped her finger in the air, feeling smug. "This environment hasn't been selected by the system in over four Vytal tournaments."

"Why's that?" Yang asked now curious.

"Something to do with the coding of their stage selection systems. There was some small bug that caused the system to bypass this stage whenever it did a random selection. To think it would make its appearance now... ironic..." Hex mused.

Blake's brow furrowed, "What do you mean by 'ironic'?"

"The Wind Spires are revered as Vacuous most sacred and symbolic location. To the locals, it's supposed to be a place of overcoming adversity and beginning anew. In reality, it's just a giant canyon covered by dense fog and rising stone spires that have rushing air pillars around them. The valley itself is teeming with Nevermore..." Ren explained surprising everyone with his knowledge.

"How do you even know that?" Jaune asked baffled.

"Renny likes reading all those boring ritualistic places... it's like his thing." Nora explained brushing it off as normal. Well, for Ren at least, it probably was.


"BEGIN!" The moment Port called the start of the match, Edan blinked out of existence sending alarm bells off in both dragons' minds. In a mere split-second, Edan was in front of Nova, a black fist came soaring upward, Nova barely reacted to the lighting fast movement.

As the fist soared past his face, Nova caught a glimpse of the weapon. It was a black steel dagger attached to a grip that doubled as spiked knuckles, a style of blade known as a Trench Knife that boasted its effectivity in close-combat with a reverse grip fighting style. Edan seemed to wield two simultaneously.

Nova's trigger system activated and Asura came soaring into the air, blocking the other hand. Nova caught the blade and made a horizontal slash at Edan who backflipped out of the way. Mid-air, the man threw knives at Nova, which were easily deflected and stabbed into the floor at his feet.

"Cute knives. I don't have any butter for you to spread so I don't see much use for your cutlery." Nova taunted eyeing Edan.

The black-haired boy smirked, "These are state of the art you know… at the end of the day… they were made to carve meat!"

Nova was not prepared for the attack when Edan pulled on invisible strings, causing the knives at Nova's feet to fly upwards and smack him directly into the jaw sending him careening into the rocks behind him. He jumped in and began trading blows with Nova in rapid succession. Ninjato clashed with Dagger as the two swung at each other.

The dragon leader was a firm believer that the only way to know the truth about a person was to trade blows with them. The feelings of a person speak through their blades without lies or flowery words, yet... when he clashed with Edan, all he could feel was contempt and scorn. A hatred that ran so deep that it tainted the man's very core.

Nova resisted the urge to lash out in violent assault, such was the sheer venom that was flowing behind Edan's blade. He needed to know why. What drives a person to be fueled by such hatred and anger. Adam's blade held anger, but it also held sorrow and pain. Bell's held no emotion other than helplessness. He'd never clashed with the other members of Team BLADE but it seemed they all held a common distinct fear, not of him or of death, but of Onyx. Yet Edan feared nothing, and even if he did, the saturation of his emotions was so dense, like mud.

"Why are you doing this?!" Nova seethed as he ground the blade of Asura against Edan's dagger, he needed to understand. If he wanted to change the world, to make it a better place for his family and friends, then he needed to understand what drove people like Edan to do what they did.

"Doing what? Fighting you?" Edan asked a little confused.

"Working for Onyx! Why are you fighting for him? Why are you trying to subjugate the human population? The White Fang was created for Equality not this!" Nova pushed Edan's blade back.

The man laughed and Nova could see in his eyes, a coldness that held no compassion, "Is that it? Well if I had to say… it's because Onyx is a revolutionary leader. He's the one who will usher in the new Era of Remnant. An Era where humans are nothing but inferior insects.

The dragon was thankful that none of the camera bots were in the audible range of their conversation.

Nova should have expected as much, yet he pressed on, "But there are good humans out there! And the Faunus aren't perfect either. We're just as capable of hate and evil! Onyx's vision is nothing but violence and tyranny!" The look on Edan's face said that his statement was pure ludicrous.

Edan looked furious, as though Nova had just insulted the very thing he held dearest to him, "AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT VISION?! YOU FALSE PRINCE OF DIRT!" his body glowed a bright gold before he swung his fist. Nova would've easily blocked it had at that very moment, a gust of wind whip by, carrying sand from the broken rocks, temporarily blinding the dragon and allowing Edan to overpower Nova and sending him buried under a pile of rubble.

Ruby and the others gasped in shock at Nova being overpowered like that. They'd never actually seen someone do that before, even if it was a cheap shot.


Meanwhile, Luna was in heated combat with Bell. Shield clashed with a great battle-axe in a spectacle of power. Bell would block Luna's heavy blows with incredible difficulty, she was not prepared for the raw strength that resided in that tiny blue dragon.

Luna swung rapidly keeping Bell on the defence. Her swings were becoming repetitive and predictable, Bell was beginning to be able to block them easier. This was exactly what Luna wanted.

"Bell, that's your name right?" Luna spoke, trying a similar tactic to her brother.

"What do you care? You royals never cared! About any of us!" the blonde thrust her shield forward only for Luna to easily step aside.

"I care because I can tell, you're different from him," she gestured to Edan as he was dueling Nova. "You're not driven by hatred as you claim to be... understand, please! Onyx is just using you! When he's done he'll just toss you aside like used garbage. That man can't be trusted!" She implored.

Bell grimaced, "And what do you know about that huh? You've never worked for him! He's a revolutionary!"

"Call him what you will but you don't believe that. He's done nothing but lie to you. Whatever he's told you our family has done, do you really have any proof that we did? Other than his word of mouth?"

The blonde cursed under her breath. Luna was right, ever since she'd gotten back from Mount Glenn, she'd been having doubts, yet every time the idea of rebellion surfaced in her mind she was wracked with intense pain, which only got worse after her... enhancements...

Bell wanted to respond, she really did, but the moment the thought formulated she let out a blood-curdling cry of pain," RAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Instead of coherent speech, she devolved into berserk swings. Striking left and right with reckless abandon, her newly enhanced cognitive system, implanted in her nervous system by Onyx's lead scientists, was working overtime to boost her reflexes.

Luna gasped at the state that Bell had driven herself to. One minute she looked to be reasonable and calm, yet a second later she was a mindless berserker with no self-awareness. Bell had wings, as from what Nova's told her, beautiful monarch butterfly wings... so why wasn't she using them?

The blue dragon grimaced and swung hard. Bell moved her shield to the rhythm ready to block but was caught off guard when the axe became a staff and sailed right by her head, unblocked. The moment the pole passed her defences, Luna switched the handle again and brought out the battle-ax, hooking Bell behind her head and slamming her hard into the floor like a hooked fish.


"OUCH! Brutal display by the blue titan, Luna!" Port exclaimed.

"Blue Titan?" Oobleck was confused.

Port coughed into his hand, "Ahem yes, it's the name that most of Beacon's students have taken to calling her…"

"Seems oddly fitting…" Blake pointed out reclining on her chair.

"Titans are usually massive creatures with enormous power and defense, she's exactly like that, even if she is tiny." Weiss cooed, cheering on her favourite person in the world.

"Are none of you concerned that the enemy is that blonde girl from the White Fang?" Ruby asked incredulously.

Hex and Nitro looked at each other, then back at Ruby. "Not really… I mean… we pretty much already knew they were here…"

Ruby felt her sweat drop.

"Have our enemies devolved into a joke?" Weiss asked now realizing who Nova was fighting.

"No… just that… what are we gonna do about it? Wage war? Just let them handle things," Nitro explained folding his arms.

"I'm worried… I've just got this really bad feeling about the future…" Ruby rubbed her arms.

Yang brushed her off, "Ruby, you're being paranoid. Whatever the future holds, we'll stop it."

The red leader's expression softened, "I hope so…"


Back in the arena, Edan left Nova in the rock piles and launched himself at Luna. The blue dragon was blindsided by a powerful punch from the black-haired boy, sending her barrelling into the magma part of the map.

Luna didn't take a lot of damage from it due to her semblance but a blow to her temple still disoriented her. She groggily got up, rubbing her eyes.

Bell gave her no opportunity to recover as the moment Luna got on her knees, a shield came slamming down from the sky, smashing hard into the ground as Luna barely dodged out of the way.

"Ganging up on a little girl… Have you no shame?" She asked coughing a little and brushing the dust off.

Edan smirked, "I don't see any little girls… I only see pests that need exterminating." With that, he blinked under her and sent a right uppercut.

Luna dodged back only to hit Bell's shield. Together, the two simultaneously attacked the blue dragon.

Luna so desperately wanted to use her powers but she couldn't reveal them. In the midst of the assault, she spied Weiss looking on worriedly from the stands, and she got an idea.

"Weiss you're a bad influence…" she muttered under her breath as she ducked low to avoid a simultaneous hit from Bell and Edan. She rolled away, dodging the attacks they made, just barely. She couldn't avoid getting hit by some due to her lack of speed but she made do.

Slowly but surely she was guiding the two to one very familiar steam geyser. The moment they were in range Luna used her powers to subtly change the forces of the air around them to gradually pull the two into the geyser. They didn't even notice the change before it was too late.

"Oh fuck…" Bell said as she tried to use her shield to cover the hole. The only problem with that was… the more you try to bottle up the rising amount of lava, the greater the pressure… and with all the gasses swimming around in there, all it took was a little spark…

Luna watched the two struggle helplessly against the building pressure.

"Sorry guys, if it was any consolation… I'd say this was a blast!" The moment she said that she slammed Galaxia onto the ground creating an eruption of sparks that ignited the building gas pressure below Bell's shield.

The result was a massive explosion that covered the entire arena in a cloud of thick black smoke.

"INCREDIBLE! Luna has used the environment to her advantage and sent her opponents sky high! However, it looks like they aren't out for the count yet!" Oobleck announced.

"HELL YEAH LUNA!" Weiss cheered from the stands and everyone facepalmed.

"Is being self-destructive a White-haired royalty trait?" Blake asked with disdain only for Weiss to flick her on the forehead.


Nova groaned under the rubble. The weight of the rocks bearing down on him and he couldn't bring himself to stand up yet. One thought kept plaguing his mind as he lay in the darkness.

These fools in the White Fang, who were working for Onyx. Some were reasonable but men like Edan were why the world was as bad as it was. They only lived for destruction, fighting, and war. They didn't want peace, they lived off the blood boil of terrorism.

Yet he and his family were the monsters? Under whose claims? Onyx? Villainized and defamed for a crime they didn't even commit? Nova was getting sick and tired of this bullshit.

If both he and Onyx were monsters from different perspectives... and people listened to Onyx because they feared and respected him. Then all Nova had to do was become the bigger monster...

"Alright... no more Mister Nice Dragon..."


The smoke began clearing slowly, the dark grey clouds that obscured the arena's vision began slowly parting, displaying Bell and Edan covered in soot, barely a scratch on them while Luna stood anchored to the floor.

Bell's shield blocked most of the damage and slowed their fall, their auras were just in the yellow while Luna's was close to red, even though her aura wasn't below the 15% mark, she was still pretty banged up from that explosion.

"Fucking hell Weiss, I am never doing that again!" She cursed to herself, trying to stand only for her legs to feel like jelly and fail her.

"Nice try kid, but it wasn't enough," Edan smirked as he stood brushing himself off.

"If you want to blow someone up, make sure they don't have an indestructible shield first…" the blonde smiled evilly.

"You know… you two are worse than those cockroaches from last battle…" a male voice said dragging all of their attention to the other side of the map.

"What did you say?" Bell glowered, her eyes scanning the smoke.

A gust of wind blew through clearing the scene. Everyone could see it now, Nova sat on one of the rocks, his right leg propped up so his arm was resting on his knee while the other leg was flat, leaning over the edge. His cloak flapping in the wind behind him as he gazed at the rock in front of him, not bothering to look at the two, Asura sat in its scythe form in his left hand, resting against his shoulder, making him look like a cloaked reaper.

"You know Edan, or whatever your name is. I gotta thank you for burying me under those rocks…" Nova said looking at his nails for any signs of dirt.

"What's that supposed to mean?" came Edan.

"See I had a lot of time to think down there… I realize I've been going about this all wrong." Nova said looking up at the sky in thought.

Bell felt her sweat drop, "What's this guy on about?"

"I've been thinking." Nova gestured for one of the camera bots above to come near him so the audience can hear his voice input. Once it was within range he began again. "Humans are pretty awful. They're greedy, mean, self-important and quite a number of them are racists." His words made the audience gasp.

"But Faunus aren't perfect either. We're just as awful if not more than they are. Instead of being the more mature people in the face of conflict, what do we do? We revolt, start wars, spread propaganda, steal from the Humans. We're just as greedy and racist as they are." He explained now causing the audience to murmur.

Blake visibly flinched, having been one of those perpetrators of conflict herself... she felt the guilt rise in her from Nova's words.

" At the end of the day, we're all living creatures, we're all people, neither species perfect. We both have our flaws and I've personally been victim to all of them. I've seen the worst in both human and Faunus." Nova stood up looking around at the audience, they were all fixated on him now.

Edan moved to attack but Bell stopped him, "What are you doing?!" he seethed.

"Let him talk, we might gain some information out of this..." Bell responded and Edan calmed down, reluctantly holding back. In truth, Bell wanted to listen because the dragon's words were true, and she needed to find a new perspective.

"But!" He raised his hand. "I've also seen the best in them. Humans and Faunus alike have shown me kindness, warmth. I've found a place of belonging and I'm proud to say that the people I have with me are like family to me. They've taught me friendship, the meaning of comradery, and… what it means to love." He said that last part looking at Ruby. The red leader felt her heart skip a beat when their eyes met.

"I believe that regardless of whether you're a human or a Faunus, you need to set aside your differences and see yourselves for who you really are on the inside. And that's living people. Only when we learn to accept ourselves and accept each other do we truly achieve peace…" He said with a peace sign and a calm, yet powerful smile. It didn't radiate joy or happiness, it radiated unity and comradery.

Luna stared at her brother in awe, she wasn't sure how he managed to rally an entire stadium of people without them even seeing his face, but the proof was standing before her.

There was a short moment of silence followed by a round of applause all over, with Human and Faunus both looking at each other, and sharing a moment to understand. Nova had single-handedly dissolved the border between species in that stadium with his words alone.


"ENOUGH!" Edan roared as he witnessed what was going on. "HUMANS WILL NEVER BE EQUAL TO US! WE ARE SUPERIOR TO THEM IN EVERY WAY!" With that anger, he lunged at Nova with blinding speed, this time Nova was prepared. He easily blocked Edan's dagger this time, with his bare hand.

Nova's aura flared up around him, the heat viscously increasing and Edan could feel himself beginning to sweat. In a mere instant, Nova's mood had changed from righteous leader... to burning fury. His smile gone, now replaced with a look that reminded the black-haired man of Onyx, dark and deadly.

The cloak Nova wore slowly burnt up until it was completely gone, revealing his shining white and orange hair, and his black horns. Nova reached up and ripped his mask clean off revealing his face to the world.

"You know one thing that I hate Edan?" Nova asked as the temperature around him continued to rise. Edan squirmed in his grasp but his fist was held firm by Nova, so his only option was to flail around helplessly.

"I hate the irrationally violent." Nova reared Asura in its scythe form and smashed Edan into the ground where Bell stood, erupting a dust cloud.

Nova calmly strutted over to the two, his scythe in hand resting against his shoulder.

Edan struggled to his feet, that one blow took a tone out of his aura. "BELL DO SOMETHING!" He cried as Nova casually and calmly approached them, not a single shred of hurry in his pace.

Bell couldn't move. Her feet remained anchored to the floor and her words died in her throat as she gazed upon Nova's form.

With every step, Nova took, flames began gathering around his back until it reached a stage where they formed massive dragon wings, made entirely of fire. The dense embers packed together making it look like a solid mass. The horns of Nova's head had grown in length, now no longer just small black stubs, they were full-blown Dragon horns that had curvature to them. Nova's black eye was now burning fiery orange, and his pupils were slit-like a dragon's eyes.

Bell remembered the fear she felt all those weeks ago, back in the caverns of Mount Glenn. The feeling of staring down the fiery visage of the devil itself. A dragon born from an inferno that could turn the world to ashes in an instant. The embodiment of destruction.

Bell could only stutter helplessly as Nova reared his scythe, coating it in fire and extending it to three times its original blade. The flaming wings in his back reared in a menacing image as he swung his scythe. Bell raised her shield and Edan put up his guard to block but Nova burned right through him, his aura instantly dipping low.

Edan tried to recover from the blow as he skated across the rocky landscape. Using his sheer willpower, he gripped the earth beneath him and used his momentum to flip himself onto his feet. Nova was honestly impressed he managed to recover from that.

The black-haired boy grunted in pain as he brought up his twin knives again, this time throwing out several volleys of smaller daggers as if he had an infinite supply. Nova spun his scythe like a pinwheel, easily deflecting all of them.

"Where are you even getting all of these from?" Nova raised his eyebrow.

"Like you need to know..." Edan smirked, yanking on the invisible strings again, sending the swarm of daggers at Nova like a torrent of bladed rain, an unfortunate blonde girl in the line of fire. "BELL MOVE NOW!" Edan called.

The blonde girl, however, was frozen in place, staring down the dragon leader. It took her one moment too many to bring herself back to reality, as the moment she glanced up, all she could see was the darkened sky of pointed blades about to smash directly into her face. Her aura was low, her shield cast aside from the previous strike, taking that hit would not only deplete her aura, but probably turn her into swiss cheese. She closed her eyes and awaited her impending doom... but it never came.

Nova was quick to react, swiftly angling himself so he was defending her, the knives bouncing harmlessly off his scythe again. Bell couldn't believe what was happening. Her enemy was defending her. The man who stood against everything she believed in, the sworn enemy of her leader, her target... was protecting her. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice Nova picking her up by the scruff of her neck and tossing her out of the ring like baggage.

The moment Bell was out of harm's way, he readied Asura in a reaping form. Edan spared no time in redirecting the dagger swarm again, sending it flying toward the dragon leader.

Nova hopped onto the rock plateau and used it to launch himself at Edan, directly into the hail of blades, carving a path through the dense black swarm. The look on Edan's face when Nova's scythe made contact with his head was priceless. One blow was all it took to knock the man's aura below the threshold and send him careening over the edge of the arena.


"AND THAT'S IT! A DOUBLE KNOCK OUT BY BOTH AURA AND RING OUT FROM NOVA!" Port announced, but Nova wasn't done.

He gestured for the camera bot again and this time he pulled the dumbfounded Luna with him, helping her to her feet. She tore off her cloak and mask and stood next to her brother.

"Before we make our exit, you're all probably wondering what gave me the right to speak as I did," Nova said, causing a collective audience murmur.

"Well, truth be told we don't have any right to, but it was something that must be said. I'm Nova Flareheart and this is my sister Luna." The mention of the name Flareheart had a massive murmur now.

"Those of you who probably pieced it together already, if you remember. My sister and I are part of those Flarehearts, we are two of the last surviving members of the Royal Dragon Family." Now the audience had collective gasps from both humans and Faunus alike. From humans who didn't even know the Faunus had royals to the Faunus that thought they were dead.

"We survived, and we're not here to start a war. This is just a message to a very specific someone and his team. If you're listening, we're bringing the fight to you."

With that Nova and Luna walked off the stage. The moment they stepped into the open they were bombarded by news reporters and journalists eager to jump on the sudden reappearance of the lost prince and princess of Menagerie.

"What's your stance on the current White Fang and Human relations?"

"How did you survive the fire those years ago?"

"Did anyone else survive the fire?"

"How did you control those flames during that fight?"

These were all questions he was bombarded with left and right as he walked out of the stadium.

Nova brushed them all off with a single sentence, "The flames I controlled were my semblance, and I'm not here to start a revolution, I just want peace." He lied about his semblance, but what the audience didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

Luna offered a few apologies for Nova's rudeness as he shoved people out of his path and broke into the open to be met now by RWBY and JNPR.


"Hey, guys…" Nova waved sheepishly to his friends who all stood, staring at him. They all had bright plastered smiles on their faces, except Ruby who looked nervous.

"What you said out there… that was beautiful…" Blake said with a smile, she was the first to speak up.

"Thanks… I was just voicing my thoughts really…" Nova started but was glomped by Nora.

The orangette was practically leaping off the walls with her excitement, "THAT WAS CRAZY! So you're a dragon! Like, real fire breathing and everything! AND YOU'RE A PRINCE!" She was super hyper.

"So that's why you were hiding so many things from us…" Pyrrha said with a smile.

"Yeah sorry about that… but now that you know… do you still hold any hard feelings?" Nova asked sheepishly.

Pyrrha shook her head, "None. Just bring your all in the finals." She said with determination.

"Personally I still can't believe one of my good friends is actual royalty…" Jaune said absently and Weiss looked offended.

"Hey, Heiresses count!" She fumed and Luna chuckled.

"Yes, you do Weiss." The blue dragon smiled.

Ruby walked up to Nova nervously, "So… you're out in the open now…" she looked pensive and anxious as if Nova had suddenly become a different person. He guessed they were surprised after that spectacle he pulled with the fiery wings. What he didn't expect was his horns to suddenly grow out like that.

"Yup," Nova said popping the p. He noticed Ruby's downcast eyes, "Hey, are you alright?" he tenderly reached up and held her face so her eyes met his. She blushed and nuzzled into his palm.

"I'm just... worried about you. People are trying to kill you left and right, and now you've just told the world you exist."

The dragon leader's expression softened, "Ruby, the people that are trying to kill us already knew who we were, to begin with... and besides... with all of us together? I feel like we could take on the world..."

Her face broke into a light smile. His words never ceased to bring her comfort, as if he always knew exactly what to say.

"But what about... you know... wouldn't it be kinda weird if word gets out that the prince is dating a human?" She asked nervously.

Nova was taken aback, he'd never believed Ruby to be the one to worry about racial discrimination. He didn't even the term registered in her mind.

"Ruby... the world could go to hell. No one, not even the gods themselves can stop me from loving you." With that, he picked her up into a tight hug and planted a loving kiss on her lips. Ruby gratefully leaned in and pulled him closer, feeling all of her worries wash away as if they were just paranoia.

Everyone watched the exchange, "Awww you guys are adorable!" Hex squealed snapping a picture.

"Wait, I just realized something," Nora said causing everyone to focus on her. Nova and Ruby stared at her their faces side by side.

"YOU TWO ARE MATCHY!" The orange valkyrie squealed pointing at Ruby and Nova.

"What?" Came the simultaneous response from the couple.

Nora was giddily nodding, "Yeah! Look at it! Nova your eyes look like Ruby's hair and her hair looks like your eyes!" she pointed out and everyone's eyes went wide. It was true, Nova's white hair matched Ruby's silver eyes, and Ruby's black hair with red highlights looked like Nova's mismatched eyes.

"Holy shit you're right… how did we not see this before?" Yang asked in awe.

"IT'S LIKE YOU TWO WERE BORN FOR EACH OTHER!" Nora looked ridiculously happy. The statement caused the leader couple to blush. "Wait if Ruby gets married to you, does that mean she becomes an actual queen?"

All eyes glanced at Ruby and Nova, "Well… only if she wants to…" Nova blushed looking at the floor. Ruby also turned beet red and buried her head in his chest nodding.

"I'd follow you anywhere…" she said into his shirt.

Everyone made an 'awwwwwwwww'.

"I'm going to need a dentist for the toothache you're giving me…" Weiss noted feeling a little queasy from the public display of affection.


The scene with Nova growing the dragon horns and the flaming wings and tearing ass was the literal base of this entire fic. I remember, two years ago I took a midday nap and this idea popped into my head. I saw it play out and it was honestly the coolest thing ever in my head. From this one scene, I spun the fic you know today. Believe it or not, this fic was intended to start from the just before the Painting the Town incident, but somewhere along the way, I was like... you know what? Let's start from the very beginning and rewrite RWBY my way.

But if you think things were already crazy now, it gets even wilder.

I've got a week off from university and like no assignments so... mini-vacation time means I get to write as much as I want!

I'll get working on Chapter 34 pretty soon.