Red Roses, White Scales
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Chapter 13
A Path Never Chosen
After some hours, in the hospital, Mikhail could already leave it, but in a wheelchair, since he was still a little bit weak and shaky on his legs.
Doctor Anderson gave the former dragon also some medicine, which helped him and his body, to adjust to the new changes and the new amount of Aura he had.
"The first thing you do is sleeping. The doc said that you need rest, so that means no training for today." Yang scolded in a motherly way, while she was pushing the wheelchair, he sat on. Behind her were the others of Team RWBY.
Mikhail pouted "Oh man, and I wanted to train with my new weapon." Yet he still felt the exhaustion and soreness of his body.
Weiss sighed "You were dozens of times in the nursery room and now in the hospital because of Aura intoxication and circuit problems, and now you already want to train again?" She couldn't believe how reckless he was, even though he had an absurd amount of life force in him, there is no way that a human could take so much. She was also worried, not in a liking way or something, she was worried as …..A teammate, yes a teammate that was worried for his leader.
The blonde boy grinned "That's the reason, I. Am. Good." With confidence, he put a fist on his chest … and groaned when he felt again pain….."
"Still, Weiss is right, Mikhail. You should really take care of yourself." Blake was walking beside him, holding his book tightly against her chest.
Before the young man could say something, a female voice called him out.
"Mikhail!" It was Pyrrha, accompanied, by the rest of her team.
"Pyrrha." Mikhail smiled, when the beautiful red-haired girl hugged him, much to the disarray of the other girls, but not Ruby.
She released the hug "Are you alright? I am sorry that I couldn't come to the hospital, I just heard about it from Ruby."
Weiss, Blake and Yang gave the female twin a strange look "What?"
"It doesn't matter, sorry for making you worry."
She shook her head "Making me worry…..Are you alright? You are on a wheelchair?"
He waved his hand "I can walk on my own, but I shouldn't move unnecessary."
"Dragon Boy!" Nora jumped between them "How are you? Good? Really good?" Nora jumped around him.
"I'm fine Nora, sorry that I couldn't make pancakes for you." He smiled at the orange-haired girl."
"Nah, don't worry, Ren made me some." She pointed behind her, and everybody saw the rest of JNPR coming.
The raven-haired boy sighed at his friends antics "Nora, come on. Let Mikhail some air to breath."
She saluted and jumped back to her friend.
Jaune shrugged "And how are you buddy?"
"Fine, don't worry."
Pyrrha asked "So what happened?"
"My Semblance and Aura were unbalanced, it doesn't matter."
The female put her hands on his shoulders "Are you really sure?"
"Pyrrha," He took her hands, causing her to blush "I am fine, really."
"Okay." Both rivals and friends looked at each other for several seconds, forgetting that the others were around them, too.
Yang's eye twitched and she pushed wheel chair "Come on loverboy, you need to rest."
"She is right, Mikhail." Blake remarked, somehow she was irritated.
"You are our leader; you need to be in your full performance." Weiss huffed.
"See ya around Pyrrha!"
XXX
Team RWBY's room.
"So does this happen often?" Blake asked Yang and Ruby because of Mikhail's condition. In those weeks were they were together, Mikhail and sometimes pain in his chest, but this time it they were really stronger. Also they explained his Semblance more, much to her question. Somehow Mikhail's Semblance Dragon's Soul reminded her really of the dragons in Peyt's book. But it could only be a coincidence….or not?
"Yeah, every time we are in Vale he had sometimes chest pains and fever." Yang answered.
"The doctors said, he is somehow reacting to something, but they don't know to what."
"Well it is somehow strange." Weiss sighed.
Ruby yawned "I am so tired, wanna sleep."
"Then why aren't you?" Yang rebuked, while pushing Ruby away, who tried to stay awake.
Blake rolled her eyes, she already knew that Ruby never slept really well without her brother….and he was currently in the shower…..and is….probably…..'Don't think about it Blake.' Her cheeks began to become red, thinking how Mikhail would masturbate in the shower. His body wet from the water, drops of the liquid dropping form his silky hair on his skin….'Okay maybe I should stop reading for today.' She closed her book and in the same time, the door of the bathroom opened, revealing Mikhail in his night-clothes.
"Ah a nice long shower…" He dried his wet hair with a towel and noticed that the girls were staring at him. Ruby smiled…..then the thought of why Mikhail showered alone came up and she blushed. Yang smiled while nodding…..prideful. Blake just looked at him and he could swear that she was red in her face. And Weiss…Weiss had a scowl on her face, yet she blushed "Eh is there something?"
"D-did y-you….y-you kno-ow?" Ruby stuttered, how could she ask this….?
"She means did you….." Blake tried to continued, but somehow it was also hard for her.
"This is….really…" Weiss broke the eye contact with her leader and rubbed her elbow.
Meanwhile Yang rolled her eyes "They want to ask if you choked the dragon." The three girls looked with shocked face and the blonde…..yeah sometimes Yang could be really blunt.
"I….oh hell no!" Mikhail's face was red as his eye and he nearly shouted "Do really expect me to masturbate in the same bathroom, which is used by my sisters and other girls!"
'He has a point, though.' Blake sighed, even now Mikhail only thought about the wellbeing of them.
"*Sigh*" Weiss sighed, she was somehow relieved that he didn't do. It was just….the thought that a boy would do something like that, near to her.
"Pssh come on Mike, it's not abnormal to do something like that. I mean I did it too in that bathroom."
"WHAT!" Everybody shouted and looked at Yang, who just shrugged.
"Eww, gross Yang, I bath in there!" Ruby scolded her sister, with disgust. This was really bad; first she heard that her little brother should relieve himself and now this.
"You….you perverted girl!"
"Thanks Ice Queen." Yang smiled for the compliment… well for Yang it was one, for her.
"Weiss," Blake sighed "Don't try to blame her. You did it yesterday, too." And smiled, because she just caused a Schnee to be embarrassed for something really…..you know...
"WHAT!" Weiss cringed, her face red as roses. It didn't help, that the others now looked at her with disbelief.
"EWW, Weiss gross!" Ruby shivered, even her second best friend, after Mikhail! The shock!
Yang could only laugh "Aha, it seems you are really frustrated!"
"I…I how do you know it!?" She didn't even try to hide it; it wouldn't help a bit "I was sure to be quick and silent!" Then she put her hands on her mouth and became a shade redder.
"Well," Blake couldn't say that she heard it. She had the enhanced senses of a Faunus…..but there was someone in this room that had them, too "Mikhail noticed it." And everybody's eyes turned back to the only boy in the team.
'TRAITOR!' He scowled and saw that Blake mouthed an apology, while now he had to endure the wrath of Weiss. She stood up, her face angry, because of humiliation, wrath and maybe embarrassment and stomped towards him.
"You heard it…." She gasped "Don't tell me you were still in the room…you deviant!"
*Slap*
"Ouch!"
*Slap*
"Okay, Weiss time out." He caught the hands of Weiss, who was on the brink of a tantrum "The moment I noticed it, I went out, I swear! Ask them!"
Weiss turned around and saw them nodding
"He really went out, Weiss!" Ruby confirmed it….being slapped wasn't really pleasant….'Now I understand why he suddenly went out….'
The heiress turned around and looked at Mikhail again, still scowling and parted "Well…I should probably say that I am sorry."
"Nice excuse…." Blake remarked dryly.
"Shut up, he said it to you, didn't he!?"
"He didn't, I noticed him rushing out of the room with a red face and when you came out, you looked more relieved than before….also your face was also a little bit flushed." Blake wasn't really good with people, but she was good at reading emotions and faces "Also shouldn't you know about his enhanced senses….." 'And also mine…'
Weiss winced again…she really should have known that…."Yes….this time I was at fault….I am sorry….
"Ah," He rubbed his cheeks "Don't be….but please can we just end this talk with masturbate and stuff….
All of them nodded and Mikhail, sighed and sat on the bed…..now noticing, that everyone besides Ruby red Antiquity books.
"Weiss!" The girl jumped in shock "You, too!?"
"What. It is a great book!" She rebuked while holding Great Walls of Antiquity in her hands.
"Figures." Blake snorted, causing Weiss to furrow a brow.
"And what does this mean?"
"A young girl with body and personal insecurities that hates an entire race for being different, how typical for a Schnee."
'Oh great!' Mikhail palmed his face…that again.
Weiss' eye twitched "I have no problems with my body….and for Faunus, I don't hate them…I just don't trust them."
"Yeah and your …."
"Girls!" Both Weiss and Blake twitched and noticed how their leader glared at them "I say this again stop and for the love of everything don't read that in front of me and Ruby!"
His twin nodded "Yeah, you smut-lovers!"
"It's not smut!" Yang, Blake and even Weiss shouted back, causing Ruby to yelp and hid behind her brother.
"These books are awesome!" Yang gushed over her copy of Grand Light of Antiquity.
"And so romantic." Blake added.
"A child like you wouldn't understand anything like that." She snorted and smiled with superiority.
Ruby fumed "I am not a child!"
Yang threw her book at Ruby, who caught it "Then read it."
"No!" Mikhail tried to take it, but Yang put him in a headlock.
He tried to free himself, but then Blake and Weiss joined Yang and pinned him down.
"Why!"
"Because for fun!" The blonde bombshell looked with joy, why Ruby started to flap one page after another, her face became redder and redder, while steam came out of her ears.
"No, Ruby NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
*BAAM* The door of the their room was suddenly opened and Team JNPR stormed in, with their night-clothes on.
"Mik….oh my!" Pyrrha rushed in, only to saw her friend being held, on the bed by three girls…..
"WOW!" Jaune who also came in, looked with jealousy at his fellow leader.
"Ren." Nora nudged her elbow at her childhood friend.
"Yeah?"
"Orgy!"
Ren smacked his palm, harder than before, on his face "No…Nora just no."
"What is going on here?"
Mikhail tried to free himself "Pyrrha they want to corrupt Ruby, help…..….is that Great Fists of Antiquity?"
The red-haired warrior hid the book behind her back and Mikhail looked with shock, that even Nora, Ren and Jaune had a book from the Antiquity series.
"No…not you guys, too!?"
Pyrrha smiled lightly "Sorry…so what are you doing?"
"Letting Ruby become one of us!" Yang shouted with joy, while everybody looked at the girl, who was on the brink of fainting; while she continued to read…the erotic novel….her face had already an unhealthy shade of red.
"One of us?" Pyrrha tilted her head.
"One of us." Blake said.
"Indeed one of us." Weiss said the same.
"One…of us?" That was Jaune.
"ONE OF US!" Nora….
"One of us."
"One of us."
"One of us!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUBY!"
THE END?
Not now.
Later at night
"Come one Mike don't be like that." Yang groaned while she and Ruby were lying on their beds, between them was a pouting Mikhail.
"Don't talk to me….and Ruby stop reading it!" He tried to grab the book from her hands, but she used her Semblance so that her brother couldn't grab it.
"I want to read it!" She yelled out….okay it was really an erotic book….and yet somehow she couldn't stop reading it!
Blake smiled, finally seeing the last girl in her team reading the magnificent work of Michael Peyt "If you want Ruby, I have also a book with twins."
"Really!" She beamed.
"No!" He cried out 'My innocent sister, is being corrupted….by my own books!' He loved to write them….after he and Brother One found the diaries of the Intoners, both of them swore to honor them…"Blake why!?"
The Faunus smiled lightly and shrugged.
"WEISS!?"
The white-haired girl smiled in satisfaction "For revenge."
He exploded "As your leader I am so ashamed of you!"
"And yet, little bro," Yang put her arms around him "We will bear it!"
Mikhail could only hang his head….he was defeated…..the price, his beloved twin's innocence.
Ruby noticed how depressed he was, she put the book away and hugged him, too.
"Don't be sad little bro…" Then an idea crossed her mind "I would like to hear a lullaby!"
Yang brightened up, she didn't hear Mikhail singing since they attended Beacon. She really missed it. His voice was so relaxing and soft….it kinda reminded her of Summer.
Blake and White also perked up and looked at him with expectations.
He sighed and smiled…"*Cough*" He cleared his throat and then…
"Once there were trees full of birds.
Meadowlands vibrant with flowers."
Blake's eyes widened …she didn't expect Mikhail to have such a soft singing voice.
Even Weiss, who already lay on her bed, her blanket over her body was surprised.
Ruby and Yang began to put their blankets over them, too, while Mikhail put his hands on their heads and played with their hairs.
"Carefree the songs our children once sang
Gilding our minutes and hours
Clouds came and covered the sun,
The breath of the baleful unease
Turning to ashes flowers in their fields
Silenced the birds in their trees"
"Hidden so deep in veils of deceit,
Imprisoned in twisting spells-
Are we the plaything of fiends, or merely the dreams?"
Blake and Weiss had goosebumps, when his voice became more passionate.
"That we're telling ourselves, telling ourselves?"
"Strive till the phantoms are broken,
Fight till the battle is done;
The squadrons of night
Can't conquer the day,
Nor shadows extinguish the sun."
"Stories of danger, fearless attack,
Specters of plague and pain.
All of these ghosts of our own delusions come back
And we'll be haunted again, haunted again."
"For though the storms are over and past,
Though the thunder's rage is quieted at last
Well this nightmare's laid me down in the rags here to mourn,
Here to mourn.
The night has left us crippled with grief
As we strive to keep alive our belief,
But a loss so great, it clouds all our hopes for the dawn."
"Hidden so deep in veils of deceit,
Imprisoned in twisting spells-
Are we the plaything of fiends, or merely the dreams?
That we're telling ourselves, telling ourselves?"
"Stories of danger, fearless attack,
Specters of plague and pain.
All of these ghosts of our own delusions come back
Have we been fighting in vain? Fighting in vain?"
Mikhail stopped singing…and looked around. Yang, Ruby and Blake were already asleep….while Weiss turned around….her face was completely red…..
When he closed his eyes, a tear escaped from them.
He remembered, how the little girl, who fed him, every day, sang that song for him.
Mikhail tried not….to wail…when he remembered, the day she died He could not forgot, how her petite body was blown up, her blood burned from the explosion and fire, and her flesh and organs being torn apart.
Even now, he cursed himself, for not choosing a better path, where he could have saved her.
'I am sorry….so sorry, Mary.' He hugged Ruby tightly 'Why couldn't I save her, where did I go wrong!' He clenched his teeth 'I am so sorry, Mary.' He had forgotten that memory a long time ago, when he was a dragon….yet…..since his rebirth….even the not so pleasant ones, were coming back…those, he really wanted to forget….. were also keep coming.
The Land of Wars
July 1 — Rain
The girl who fed me this morning says her nation is in a state of constant war. They kill each other from dawn until dusk, and then sleep for a bit before starting all over again. Apparently it's been going on like this for decades.
Later, I brought mackerel to the girl's house to thank her for breakfast, but she'd been blown to pieces by a bomb. Why couldn't I save her? Where did I go wrong?
"I am so sorry….."
Another chapter. For the song, this is Ashes of Dreams.
Like RWBY and Drakengard, I also don't own them.
I closed the poll, because I have already decided, with what girl Mikhail will come together, and like I said, in the poll, I might consider it. So don't be disappointed if it's not your favorite.
Like I said in the other chapters, if you have questions, please PM me. You don't need to write them as a review.
If somebody is interested, in making this, into a reading story, pm me.
And for the letter of Shane Newville…..phew…..really…wow…..