Rawr, everyone! I am so sorry about the late post. Last night kinda sucked, and I ended up conking out early and forgetting to post. Hopefully, the progression of the plot in this chapter makes up for my slip of mind.
Enjoy!
Ruby and Ozpin had one last practice session with Penny the night before their departure for Mistral. Team RWBY, along with the other teams attending the festival, had been excused from classes so they could pack and prepare their dragons. Ruby wanted to be excited, but the memory of Tornado's death was still raw.
Ozpin noticed immediately when Ruby and Storm approached. "I have seen several cullings over the years," he murmured. "It never gets easier."
"I heard the dragons crying afterward," Ruby sniffled. "I've never heard such a terrible sound."
Storm, meanwhile, looked up at Ragnar. "Why didn't you stop them?" she asked, voicing the question that had been in her mind ever since that day.
Ragnar rumbled gently as he touched his nose to hers. "I couldn't. Dragon cullings are done because humans and Faunus control the rules, control who is allowed to live or die. If I had intervened, I would have been killed." He shook his head. "I would have done so regardless, but I was locked away with every other dragon."
"Why did Ozpin let it happen?"
"If he had refused, they would have replaced him with someone else, someone who wouldn't try hiding the disabilities of the dragons, someone who would allow a mass culling of any dragon with the slightest imperfection." Ragnar tossed his head. "Tornado may be dead, but many more would be without Ozpin. Twiggy wouldn't have been allowed to live past her hatching under someone else, and there are others would have been killed within the first semester. Ao Guang, for example."
Storm felt a sensation similar to frozen claws jabbing her chest as she thought of losing Ao Guang. She looked at Ozpin, then sighed. "It's not fair."
"No, it isn't," Ragnar murmured. "But that's how it is."
When Penny was activated, she immediately sensed something wrong with Storm. The dragon let her read her memories, and the light flickered yellow several times. That's awful. Something was going through Penny, a new kind of energy. What was it?
It is, Storm agreed.
Ozpin frowned when he saw the flickering. "I hope she's not malfunctioning."
Thankfully, all the drills went flawlessly. However, Penny hesitated when Ruby asked her to detach.
"Ruby, may I…stay here longer?" Penny asked, her voice going up an octave.
"Sorry, Penny," Ruby said. "You'd run out of energy."
"May I stay at half power?" she asked. "I will not interfere with anything."
"No," Ozpin cut in. "You were ordered to detach. Please do so."
"Command acknowledged," Penny replied, though her voice sounded more sullen than usual. The light went out, the armor retracted, and the plate fell into Ozpin's hand.
"This is…concerning," Ozpin murmured. "We'll need to test it one more time before the unveiling, just to make sure nothing like this happens."
Ruby was looking at it with a frown. "Maybe she's starting to think and feel things. That's what always happens in the books I've read."
Storm knew that Penny thought and felt things. She could tell whenever she had the plate on. She had felt the machine's wish as clearly as she felt her own thoughts. She wants to see the world through me, she thought. Can she not see or feel when she's off me? That must be terrible… She wished Ozpin hadn't taken Penny off. She would have gladly shared headspace with the kind voice if it meant letting her experience life.
"Let's hope you're wrong," Ozpin sighed. "We need this machine to work as intended. The last thing we want is for it to gain sentience." He'd see what Ironwood thought about it once they could speak in person.
"That will be all, Miss Rose. Storm," he said, nodding to both of them. "Go and get some sleep. We need to wake up early tomorrow."
"Yes, sir!" Ruby led Storm back to the wind stable. "We're going to Mistral tomorrow, girl. We'll get to meet so many new dragons." Despite everything, thinking of that was enough to make Ruby feel some excitement. "Sleep well!"
Storm watched her Rider go, her tail lashing nervously. She wasn't sure how she felt about leaving Beacon. What if something happened while she was gone?
A gentle warble from near the door caught her attention, and she looked over at the cream-colored dragon, whose name was Meringue. "Don't worry," the older dragon said in a voice that was sweet and smooth, like an autumn breeze. "It's my first Festival too. Just stick with me if you get nervous, okay?"
Storm nodded. "Okay. Thanks." She let out a yawn and put her head on her paws, trying to get some sleep.
….
The following morning, Team RWBY quickly left their luggage by the airships and rushed to get their dragons to the transports. Teams JNPR and SSSN had also woken up early, and had brought their dragons out to say goodbye.
"It'll only be a week," Storm told Ao Guang. "That's what Ruby said." Her tail lashed back and forth nervously. "I'll really miss you, though."
"Me too!" Ao Guang said, groaning loudly. "Things'll be boring without you!" He touched his nose to hers, then quickly jumped back, feeling his scales warming up. "Um, see you later."
"Y-Yeah. Bye," Storm replied, her heart fluttering more than her twitching fins.
"Don't get too high and mighty while at this thing," Huo grumbled to Fang. "Or I'll slash your face when you get back."
Fang snorted. "Don't get soft while I'm gone."
The two growled deeply at each other before abruptly turning away.
Zircon shifted nervously from one paw to the other. "Be careful! It might be dangerous way over there!"
"I will," Pit promised. He glanced at Twiggy. "Look after him for me, will you?"
Twiggy nodded twining her tail with Zircon's. "I will."
Zircon's ears flicked and he looked quickly at the ground.
Pit noticed a dark brown form padding through the grass. It was Mudslide. Ever since the move to the stables, she had taken to wandering by herself for long periods of time, since Cardin never visited her outside of class. Her stall was close to Pit's, and he frequently heard her crying into her bedding. He padded over.
"How are you?" he asked.
Mudslide growled sullenly. "I'm alive."
Pit's wings drooped. "I'm sorry."
"Not your fault. Too bad you didn't have more time, though. If you'd gotten me out, I'd have been able to kill those humans easily."
"Then, you'd be dead along with Tornado," Pit pointed out.
"Maybe that would be better," Mudslide muttered, turning and walking away without another word, her large tail dragging through the dew-coated grass.
Pit watched her go, unsure of what else he could say, so he went back to Blake, who patted his nose gently.
"I saw Sky taking care of her," Blake told Pit quietly, feeling a soft glow of pride at her dragon's kindness. "She won't be alone."
Specter happily pranced around, saying his farewells to everyone. "I'll be the first ice dragon to participate in such an event. It'll be glorious!"
"Or, you could get your tongue stuck to a pole in front of everyone," Fang muttered.
"Oh, shut up!"
Hugs were exchanged. Jaune easily lifted Ruby up and ruffled her hair as he put her down. "Bring back souvenirs, okay?"
"Of course, I will!" Ruby said. "I'll text you all once I see the shops, and you can tell me what you want."
"Oh, I actually have a list of things to look for!" Scarlet handed Ruby a piece of paper. "On the other side are some food recommendations. There's this place that sells takoyaki that's simply divine!"
Sage smiled fondly at his boyfriend. "You know you can text her, right?"
"Well, yes. I just wanted to make sure she had it on paper in case she left her Scroll somewhere!"
Ruby giggled. "Thanks, Scarlet."
"Ugh, I'm sooooo jealous," Nora groaned. "Guys, we gotta go next year. We just gotta."
Pyrrha chuckled. "We'll make it our goal. It's in Vacuo next year, right?"
"I think so…"
Sun hugged Weiss goodbye, wrapping his tail loosely around her waist. He had found that, while she liked to huff and grumble, Weiss actually enjoyed being hugged. "Watch yourself, Ice Queen," he said, messing up her hair a bit.
Weiss rolled her eyes as she hugged back. "I'm perfectly capable of handling myself." She lightly swatted Sun's shoulder when he messed with her hair, then accepted a hug from Neptune and Ren.
Meanwhile, Sun gave Blake a hug goodbye. He noted two things in that moment: One was that the hug felt totally platonic, with no lingering touches. The second was that he was totally okay with that. He thought about what Sage had told him back in the first semester about waiting for his feelings to settle before deciding what move to make.
Good thing I listened, he thought. "Have a good time," he said as he drew back. "Yang, make sure this girl gets to party a bit between contests!"
Yang grinned. "Will do!" She turned to Pyrrha. "Keep everyone in line while I'm gone. Especially Jaune," she added with a wink.
Pyrrha blushed, her smile widening. "He doesn't need to be kept in line," she said, giving her teammate a fond look. They had taken to casual exchanges of affection since that first kiss in the field, though they had yet to talk about an official relationship or go on any dates. In the face of Tornado's death, it hadn't seemed appropriate. Maybe over the next week, she thought. We should talk about it at some point.
At that moment, a loud, bugling cry echoed from the direction of the dragon transports.
"That's Ragnar," Ruby said. "Time to go!" She grabbed Storm's lead rope. "Come on, girl!"
Team RWBY waved over their shoulders at their friends as they rushed their dragons to the transports. Everyone but Weiss gasped when they saw just how immense the ships were.
"I've never seen something this big," Ruby muttered. "Can these even get off the ground?"
"Well, of course they can, you dunce." Weiss rolled her eyes, at the same time feeling a certain sense of pride for her home country, which had developed the transport, along with many other vehicles. She led Specter to where the water dragons were being loaded. "Now, be good," she instructed. "And don't worry. We'll be stopping to take breaks on the way there."
Specter whistled, nuzzling Weiss's cheek before stepping onto the transport, head held high. He balked a little when he realized that the other stalls were all filled with older water dragons. He had gotten used to his special stall in the water stable, which was kept separate from the other stalls by two empty stalls, and was coated with frost.
One of the water dragons glanced at him with mild interest and pointed to an empty stall with a webbed paw. Specter relaxed a little and was able to settle in.
Storm, meanwhile, was pacing back and forth once Ruby left. A warble from nearby caused her to look up. Meringue was peering over the wall between their stalls. "Hi," she said.
"Hello," Meringue replied, green eyes glimmering in a friendly way. "I've heard that the freshman dragons are all learning to fly now. Is that true?"
Storm immediately started talking about her latest lessons and how far she and Nimbus had flown recently, her nervousness momentarily forgotten.
Pit was in a transport with Ragnar, and several other earth dragons. He jumped a little when Ragnar looked at him.
"Keep your head down, young one," he grumbled.
Pit nodded. He knew what Ragnar meant, of course. I put myself in danger when I unlocked my stall that time, he thought. I can't afford to do anything like that in Mistral. Of course, he knew that, if given the same choice again and again, he would have tried to save Tornado every time. There was nothing else he could have done.
Fang quickly made himself at home among the other fire dragons, snarling and bickering and bragging about how sharp his claws were, how hot his fire was, and how keen his fangs were. Already, he knew that this was going to be a fun trip. This was further proven when a nearby yearling reached over with his tail to smack a two-year-old dragon in the head, prompting a loud roar.
Team RWBY got on the ship, where they quickly found Team CFVY and sat down with them.
"This is so exciting!" Velvet said, her eyes shining and her ears twitching. "I wasn't sure if we'd be accepted for this year's Festival."
"What events will you be entering?" Weiss asked.
"Well, Meringue and I will be in the second-year flight race," Velvet said proudly. "We've gotten really good this past semester. She's a master at quick turns."
"Java's gonna be in a fire target practice contest," Coco said. "His breaths are still kinda wide, but hopefully we can get some practice in and narrow the streams down a bit."
"Will you be in any of the first-year contests?" Yatsuhashi asked. "I know there aren't many."
"I'll definitely enter Specter in one of the beauty shows," Weiss said proudly. "And whatever else I can find. He deserves a proper debut, after all."
"I don't know if I'll enter any contests," Yang admitted. "But I know there are a few controlled sparring circles. Fang'll like those, for sure!"
As the teams talked about the Festival, their dragons, and the attractions they'd try to enjoy, they were finally able to shake off the cobwebs of grief that had been clinging to them. For now, it was okay to be happy and look forward to something worthwhile.
….
The ships were arriving in Mistral. Several eyes watched with varying amounts of interest. The keenest of these eyes belonged to four young Riders, who looked and acted like ordinary freshmen. If one looked closely at them, however, they'd notice a certain degree of tension in the kids, as if observing the incoming Riders and dragons was less a matter of curiosity, and more a matter of grave necessity.
"Here come the ships from Beacon," the only male member of the group noted. "Think that ice dragon will be there?"
"Cinder said it would," the green-haired girl said impatiently. "It'll probably be with the water dragons."
Neo was ever silent, keeping her distance from her teammates, who she still didn't fully trust. She watched the transports dutifully, knowing that Roman would want to know if there was anything that could be stolen. Not that she could contact him openly, of course.
She glanced at her teammates. Emerald looked to be at least a little excited about seeing the dragons. Mercury had his arms folded and wore an obvious sneer, as if he was measuring up the incoming dragons for a future fight. The only one who was impossible to read was Ilia.
The chameleon Faunus watched the unloading with keen eyes, shifting a bit when she saw the ice dragon being led off the ship. So, that's the Schnee family's designer dragon, she thought, her lip curling. Then, she saw something that made her take a step back in shock.
Emerald looked at her leader, and let out an audible gasp. Ilia's skin had turned bright red, and her freckles were yellow. "Ilia!" she hissed.
Immediately, Ilia reined in her colors, taking a deep breath, cursing herself for her stupidity. She needed to blend in! Thankfully, this wasn't Atlas. Faking being human was simply an extra level of security. If anyone had seen her change just then, it wouldn't be disastrous.
What was disastrous was who she saw. It was someone she had never expected to see again, someone who she both loved and hated more than anyone else.
Her eyes didn't leave Blake Belladonna for one moment, though they narrowed when they caught sight of the large earth dragon, an earth dragon whose color perfectly matched the hybrid egg that had been stolen.
She needed to contact Adam as soon as possible!
Team IMEN assembles! And the Festival finally begins! Dun dun DUN! What could possibly happen next for our heroes? Stay tuned to find out.
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Peace out!