Change
It was pitch-black by the time Yang set down outside the mouth to her cave. Without a word, the dragon walked inside, Weiss still clinging to her back. Careful to keep from rubbing the girl off on the ceiling, she made her way deeper into the tunnels, eventually coming out into the caverns that held her hoard, torchlight glinting off coins and scales alike as she moved. She wound her way through her treasures, past the piles of gold and silver and objets d'art, until she came to a divot in the floor against one wall.
Sweeping a cascade of coins aside, Yang cleared a section of the floor, revealing a ring of stones set into the ground. Crouching against the ground, she raised one fore-leg enough for Weiss to step down, her legs wobbly from the awkward position on the dragon's back. Reaching over, Yang took hold of an empty wooden dresser, ornate gilded shelves sliding out of intricately-carved slots as she raised it with her tail. Within seconds, it was crushed within her coils, the shattered remnants dumped unceremoniously into the fire-pit. One quick breath set the dry wood ablaze, and Weiss sighed happily as the warmth flooded through her. Ignoring the cinders sparking into the air, she reached out for the fire, warming her palms before returning to rubbing at her arms.
"Thanks," she said, more glad to be warm than anything.
"Don't mention it." With a flick of her tail, Yang disappeared down one of the side tunnels. She was gone just long enough for Weiss to turn, trying to keep the heat of the fire from growing too painful on her skin. When the dragon returned, her tail was coiled around an iron-banded chest, which she promptly plunked down next to the princess.
"It's clothes. Just pick whatever you like. You're kind of ... well, I figured you'd rather be in something less ... revealing."
Weiss glanced down, and immediately pulled her arms tighter around her. Even with the fire, her gown was still drenched. The wet cloth clung to every curve she had and left precious little to the imagination. Arms still crossed in front of her chest, Weiss glared until the dragon turned and wandered deeper into the cave.
Changing into new, dry clothes was more difficult than she'd expected. The dragon's chest might be filled to the brim, but very little of what Yang had 'collected' fit on Weiss' smaller frame. Of the clothes that did, very few held any appeal to the princess. Apparently, dragon's tastes ran more towards fairly diaphanous silks.
She eventually settled on a woven peplos, and started folding and pinning the gown into place. It was thinner than she'd like, but by far the most concealing and least ostentatious garment in the chest. At least the length of white linen was mostly plain, apart from the decorative border along the edge. A more-or-less matching himation went around her shoulders, both cloak and robe pinned in place by broaches she found scattered at the bottom of the chest.
Sufficiently clothed, Weiss returned to the fire, draping her still-damp robe atop the lid of the chest to dry.
Minutes later, a cry of victory echoed through the tunnels, and Yang returned looking particularly pleased with herself. "I knew I had one of these things around here somewhere."
'One of these things' turned out to be a mattress, a lumpy, odd-looking wool-stuffed bed made even stranger-looking by being dropped randomly on the cold stone floor. It had the musty smell of something that hadn't been let out to air, and Weiss noted the lack of sheets, but at least it looked softer than the rock beneath her feet.
"Figured you'd prefer a bed," the dragon rumbled, apparently thinking the same as she curled around on the opposite side of the crackling fire. "Sorry if it's not up to royal standards."
"I'm sure it's fine."
Without a reason to speak, the two sat in silence, both staring unseeing into the dancing flames. Shadows danced along the walls, cast by the piles of Yang's hoard and the two mismatched figures. Every so often, Yang would let out a puff of air through her nose, making the flames flicker and leap and causing their silhouettes to spasm and writhe.
"Can I ask a question?" the dragon finally asked, her voice low and quiet.
"You're the host." Weiss didn't particularly feel like talking, but that was no excuse for rudeness. She was the guest – the least she could do was answer a question.
"How did you get picked as a sacrifice anyway?" The scaled head cocked to the side, eyes unreadable in the flickering firelight. "If it's too personal, I understand."
The princess hesitated for a moment, shifting on the ground, and pulled her legs up against her chest before she answered. "A few fishermen came back to town ranting, saying they spotted a dragon attacking ships off the coast. No one believed them, at least for a while. But you kept attacking sailors-"
"Pirates," Yang interrupted, somehow managing to make a scaled tooth-filled maw look petulant.
"... and after a few of your attacks, the local priest started preaching that you'd to have been sent by an angered god. According to him, the only way to keep you from attacking the town was a sacrifice – an offering to appease whoever had sent you – and it would only work if it was someone of noble birth. Since a dragon's sacrifice must be a beautiful maiden of unquestionable virtu-"
Weiss scowled as anything she was about to say was drowned out by howls of laughter from the supine dragon. Forelegs clutching her sides, Yang rolled over on the floor, tail twitching wildly as she chortled.
"Bit full of yourself, ain't ya?" she snickered, tail-tip swiping at tears that streamed down her snout. "Unquestionable virtue? Seriously? Being virginal's supposed to make you that much more delicious?"
"Shut up."
"Oh yeah, cause a dragon's gonna bite in, look confused, and ask 'Hey, where's the virgin filling?'"
"I said shut it!" Weiss snarled, glowering until the dragon finally stopped giggling and rolled back onto its stomach. "Anyway. Since my sister is married, that just left me."
"And no one tried to stop it?" Yang asked, suddenly serious. "I mean, if your dad's in charge, he can't have been okay with this."
"The people believed it was the only way to save the city. If he hadn't agreed, I doubt it would have taken long for someone to rile up enough anger for a riot." Weiss spoke without emotion, her voice flat and calm as she stared at the floor. She understood the decision. It couldn't have been an easy choice to make. If she had been Queen ... maybe. Maybe she would have been able to send one of her own children to their death.
"Plus, I'm the second, unmarried daughter. The spare."
"I'm sorry," Yang said quietly, and to Weiss' surprise, she believed her.
"It's not entirely your fault." In all fairness, it wasn't. Assuming the dragon was telling the truth, she hadn't gone after innocent fishermen or merchants. It was a short-sighted, myopic decision perhaps, but not one done from malice.
"My turn," Weiss said, shaking her head to clear it. The last thing she needed now was to start making excuses for a dragon. "Why come here in the first place?"
The dragon arched its wings for a second before the settled again, in a gesture that Weiss assumed must be some form of draconic shrug. "I just, sort of ... ended up here."
Large slitted eyes met implacable blue, thoroughly skeptical and very obviously not taking something that flippant as an answer. Sighing, the dragon looked away, plunking her head a little lower on the ground.
"Fair enough," she mumbled before letting out one long sigh that made the fire leap wildly. "I ... lost someone a while ago. What trail I could follow ended here. Didn't have anything to go back to, so I figured I'd stay a while, see if I could find something."
"Did you?"
The dragon just stared blankly into the shadows, her silence more than enough of an answer.
Picking herself up off the ground, the princess made her way across the rock floor. Stepping over the odd knickknack or treasure, she came to a stop beside the dragons' neck. Not entirely sure why, Weiss laid her hand on Yang's head, palm resting on the ridged scales of her brow. Awkward and uncertain, she patted the beast's head, hoping that the gesture would translate across species.
"Is that supposed to be comforting?" Yang asked, still not turning to look at her.
Weiss scowled and pulled her hand away. "So sorry I don't know how to sympathize properly with a dragon."
She made it two steps before a draconic tail reached slowly out in front of her, not blocking the princess' path so much as asking for her attention. Exasperated, she turned, fury already on her lips, only to find herself face to face with the dragon herself.
"Thanks," Yang said before lowering her head back to the ground.
"... don't mention it."
The wind fully taken out of her sails, Weiss stood there for a moment, surprised to find herself unable to decide on what to do. She could do what she'd been about to: march back to her side of the fire, maybe try to smooth out the lumpy mattress the dragon had bothered to scrounge for her. Or ...
The ground would be just as warm here as on the other side. More so, since Weiss doubted the presence of a fire-breathing lizard would cool the area any. There was no real reason for her to walk all the way back just to sit down.
Sufficiently justified, Weiss seated herself along the dragon's side, leaning back until her spine rested against Yang's body. As she'd thought, the dragon was warm, almost matching the fire currently toasting her front.
"So," Yang yawned, "I have no idea what's polite for you humans when it comes to sleep and stuff. Should I go find another place?"
"You're warm, so you can stay," Weiss said, settling a little more of her weight back against the thick hide. "But if the fire goes out, I expect you to fix it."
"Of course, your highness." With a short huff, Yang settled down, her tail giving the occasional flick, and closed her eyes.
Weiss snorted in derision. By this point, the only title she could claim was a posthumous one.
She suppressed a shiver and pushed a little further back against Yang. It was a thought she'd been avoiding. That her family, her people, everyone she knew believed her dead. Then came the memory of how quickly they'd turned on her. How they'd left her to ...
She shook her head, hands tightening into fists until her fingers stopped shaking. Thankfully, and with a little effort, thoughts of home eventually gave way to questions about the drowsing creature seated at her back. The one that had scooped her out of harm's way, only to carry her home and – Weiss was forced to admit – do her best to make the princess comfortable. It was inexplicable, the kind of tale she would have laughed at days earlier, ridiculous fancies befitting a child.
Nothing made sense any more. Dragons were supposed to be vicious, avaricious fiends, obsessed with their growing hoards and more than happy to devour any sentient creature that stumbled upon their lairs. The few that weren't were even worse, summoned by vengeful gods for some real or imagined slight, their rage and destruction aimed specifically to punish those who had dared anger the heavens. Not that Yang seemed like either of those. No scorched corpses decorated her walls and, if her story was true, the previous owners of her hoard had little claim to their possessions. Maybe Yang was different, some rare breed of dragon that retained its soul. Maybe ...
Maybe Yang wasn't actually a dragon. Weiss had heard stories of people transformed into monsters, of princes and children cursed by scorned witches or jealous relatives. It was possible, and at least it made some sense. It would explain why a dragon would act so ... well, human. Why it would go so far out of its way to help her.
Then again, one would think someone like that would actually mention that they were cursed into being a monster. Still, maybe Yang had given up hope that the curse could be broken. Maybe years of being treated like a mindless beast had convinced her that no one would bother trying to help her. That no one could see past the scales long enough to notice the person underneath.
Trying to make up her mind, Weiss looked over at the drowsing dragon. Staring at the golden head resting on one foreleg, the princess bit the inside of her cheek, trying to think of some reason not to do the increasingly insane idea that was forming in her head. A curse did make the most sense, really. It couldn't hurt to try. If it didn't work, then it didn't, and she would be none the worse for wear. And if it did ... Plus, with those scales, Weiss doubted Yang would even feel anything.
Gritting her teeth, the white-haired woman swallowed her pride and, cheeks burning, pressed her lips three times to the dragon's scaled cheek.
Eyes like blooming hyacinth shot open as the great golden head reared back, nearly knocking Weiss on her ass as it did. Yang blinked, looking completely caught off guard as she stared down at the suddenly preoccupied princess near her.
"Sorry," Weiss said, suddenly very concerned with fixing one of the pins on her robe. "I didn't mean to wake you."
"It's fine, just," Yang trailed off, her body settling back on the ground as she stared somewhat warily at her companion. "Um, you mind terribly explaining what that was about?"
"What what was about?"
"... the kissing?"
Several very choice curses flashed through Weiss' head. "It doesn't matter. It' didn't work."
"Yeah, that's not gonna cut it," the dragon said, twisting to get a better look at her. "You spent most of today yelling at me, and then you kiss me out of nowhere. A little clarification would be nice."
For a second, Weiss considered telling her it was just a normal custom. Some sort of thank-you, or a polite way to wish goodnight. Anything other than admit ...
"It's a story my father's minstrel told me once," she finally said, head held high as she ignored the heat rushing to her face. Yang blinked, but kept her silence, waiting for the white-haired woman to continue.
"There was a girl whose stepmother changed her into a dragon, and her curse could only be broken if a prince came to kiss her three times." Weiss felt her face grow hot, and turned away, staring off into a corner of the cave. "I thought ... since you don't act like a dragon, maybe ..."
"You wanted to be the gallant princess and save me from my monstrous fate?" the dragon laughed, violet eyes sparkling with amusement. "So that's what that was. What was the plan? Whisk me away to your palace and marry me in some happily ever after? I had no idea you were such a romantic, Princess."
"It's a story, you ass. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not exactly an expert on all things 'dragon.' Stories are about all I've got to go on."
The dragon's head reached around to look at her, snout briefly resting against her shoulder before it pulled away. "Sorry. The story is right by the way, they just got the number wrong."
"... really?"
"Yup. Wicked stepmother, evil curse, horrible fate, blah blah," Yang said, whiskers twitching. "Only, it's actually four kisses."
"Piss off."
"Hey, I'm being serious here." As Weiss stood, ready to storm off, Yang's head snuck around her side, staying low to the ground so she could look the princess in the eye. "You want me to turn into a beautiful girl or not?"
"Now who's full of themselves?"
"Hey. I'm a dra-gon. Vanity kinda comes with the territory."
"... one more?" Weiss asked, her voice dripping with cynicism as she bit the inside of her cheek.
"Yup. Just one more kiss if you want me to turn human."
Scowling, and still half-convinced this was some trick from the all too innocent-looking dragon, Weiss leaned in and gave the scaled cheek a quick, short brush of her lips. Leaning back, she looked up at the massive creature, waiting for ... something.
Nothing happened.
"You call that a kiss?" Yang turned her head to look down at the much smaller princess. "You can't do magic by halves, gorgeous. Well, you can, but then you have to wish for half as much more, and you end up in a desert, and everybody gets confused."
"Screw you."
"Weiss, you have to mean it," Yang said, the deep rumble of her voice sounding increasingly exasperated. "It can't just be some quick little thing. The magic to break a curse like that ... you need to feel something for the other person, to actually ca-"
Weiss cut Yang off with a kiss, gripping the dragon's antlers and yanking her head down to the much smaller princess' level. This time, it was no quick press of lips to scales, no reluctant peck. Weiss held on, trapping the creature in place, her eyes closed as she leaned in, her lips pressed against the larger, scaly ones, desperately trying to feel something through the dragon's hide.
The first thing than ran through her mind was that Yang was warm. Impossibly warm. It was like kissing a flame, one that managed to just barely keep from burning her. For all that she'd expected hard scales and unforgiving fangs, Yang was ... soft. Soft like ...
Weiss' eyes flew open, only to squint against the light filling the entire cavern. Every inch, every coil of the great dragon was gleaming, shining with a light that was almost painful to behold. Before Weiss' eyes, Yang's body began to shrink, her silhouette shrouded in a light that banished all shadows from the cave. It glinted off each scrap of metal, each coin, each mirror, until the entire room shone with golden light, where the only thing truly visible was the steadily shrinking body in front of her.
Some part of Weiss realized the light was fading, that the body slowly, achingly forming was hovering a good foot off the ground. As the last of the light faded, she fell, and Weiss caught the figure out of pure instinct, speechless as she stared down at the creature in her arms.
A blonde woman remained in the dragon's place, her hair the same gold as the creature's scales, her skin dyed tan by the sun. Weiss could hardly have believed that the two were one and the same, but for the eyes. The same eyes the dragon had, glittering shards of amethyst, almond-shaped with catlike pupils that always seemed to flicker with humor. Scales and wings had given way to well-toned skin, ridiculously defined muscles running along her arms and core, and leaving Weiss suddenly all too aware of the hard sinews beneath her hands. She was one of the most beautiful women the princess had ever seen, and she was completely, utterly naked.
Not that the former dragon seemed to mind. Immediately after her transformation, Yang's first order of business was to twine her arms behind Weiss' neck, purring as she leaned in for another kiss.
"My hero."
Weiss dropped her to the floor without a second thought.
The former dragon fell hard on the rocky surface, brows furrowing as her newfound skin landed on the hard stone. "Ow! The hell?"
"Put some clothes on," Weiss said, pleased that she managed to keep her voice mostly level.
Yang pouted and pushed herself to her feet. "I was naked ten seconds ago and you didn't seem to mind."
"You were a dragon then," the ivory-haired woman harped, eyes very pointedly looking anywhere other than at the nude – and annoyingly buxom – blonde standing before her.
"Hate to break it to you babe, but I'm still a dragon." As if to prove a point, the blonde woman breathed, a short jet of flame followed by a massive puff of smoke flowing from her lips and dissipating into the air. "But if it makes you feel better, I can always switch back to the scales-"
"Just put something on," Weiss said, half-pleading as she kept her eyes judiciously focused on a goblet half-buried in one of the nearby piles.
"Alright, alright. If you insist." True to her word, a rustling of cloth came from behind the princess' back, followed by the telltale sound of fabric sliding over skin. When it stopped, Weiss turned to find Yang clad in a short tunic and nothing else, the front of the billowing white cloth left purposefully loose, leaving a good expanse of tanned cleavage bare to the naked eye.
"Seriously?"
Yang shrugged, the gesture causing enough movement to make Weiss blush. "I'm used to feeling the air on my scales. I don't like clothes."
The princess gave her an arch look and waved one hand at the chest, still filled to the brim with silks expensive enough to feed a small village for several years. "Could have fooled me."
"I like having them. Just not wearing them."
Rolling her eyes, Weiss let it slide, knowing a refusal to accept reality when she heard one. To be fair, dragons didn't actually have much need for clothing, and depending on how long Yang had been stuck as one ...
Wait a second.
"If you're still a dragon, what was the point of the kiss?" Weiss asked, the hackles on the back of her neck rising in suspicion. "Why didn't it work all the way?"
"Yeah, 'bout that," Yang said, scratching at the back of her neck and doing particularly good impression of a child caught taking sweets. "I like you kissing me a lot more than you shouting at me, so ..."
The dragon ducked as a large brass goblet flew at her head, plucked by the scarlet-faced and furious princess from the nearest treasure pile.
"Hey!" Yang objected, hands raised to protect her head as the shorter woman "You're the one who started it."
"I was trying to help!" Weiss shouted, running out of things to throw and settling for punching every inch of the other woman she could reach. "You perverted, lecherous, obnoxious little-"
Ignoring the blows raining down on her shoulders, Yang stepped in and wrapped her arms around the shorter woman's waist. Immediately, Weiss froze, hands still raised, intent forgotten as the former dragon hugged the princess to her.
"I wanted to know that you actually meant it," she said, tucking the princess' head beneath her chin. "And I'm sorry that I implied I was under some horrible curse. It was a very nice thing of you to do, even if I'm perfectly happy being what I am."
"You did technically save my life," Weiss muttered, trying to decide between punching her again and hugging her back. She settled for not pulling away, standing still while Yang wrapped herself around her. "I just ... I felt I owed you that much."
"Sure," the dragon said, and Weiss could have sworn she felt the blonde grinning above her. "Definitely no other reason for the kiss."
"Not in the least."
Finally, Yang let go, grinning even as she braced against any more retribution the princess might have for her. Sighing, Weiss sat back against the ground, looking at the slowly shrinking fire and refusing to be distracted by the disturbingly well-toned legs extending out from beneath the blonde's tunic.
"So you can always do this?"
"Yup. How did you think I got the bandages on you?" Yang asked, a careful eye checking to make sure Weiss hadn't started bleeding again. "Transfiguration is pretty much the only magic I can pull off without help."
Weiss huffed and pulled her arms about her knees. "You really are just a dragon."
"Wow. One day and already it's 'just a dragon,'" the blonde drawled, perching on the chest of clothes. "Sheesh, you get one ride on dragonback and suddenly everything's so blasé."
"I meant-"
"I know what you meant," Yang said. "My question is why you really wanted me to be human."
"I told you," Weiss muttered. "I thought you might be cursed, and I felt like I owed you."
"Uh huh."
Yang left it at that, kicking her feet absently before jumping down off the iron-banded chest.
"Hey, Princess?" she asked, sitting down beside Weiss.
"What?"
Two fingers tapped her shoulder, and Weiss turned to find her nose and inch away from the blonde's.
"Can I kiss you this time?"
Face flushed, Weiss scooted back along the floor, trying to get some distance between the two of them. "Are you seriously asking me that?"
"Well, you can't breathe fire or flutter your wings or arch your tail, so all my usual signs of mutual attraction are kinda useless at the moment." Yang kept her distance, but one hand reached out and brushed a stray lock of ivory hair back behind Weiss' ear. "You look pinker though. Is that good?"
"S-shut up."
"Sorry, but I'm flying blind here, so if you could just tell me-"
Rolling her eyes, Weiss grabbed the back of the blonde's neck, yanking somewhat harder than she had to and pulling Yang down into a kiss. A real kiss, not a short peck against her cheek, not pressed against an oversized mouth covered in scales. The dragon's warmth spread from her lips, wiping any thought from Weiss' mind as she held the taller woman against her. Yang was quick to respond in kind, one hand coming up to cup Weiss' cheek as she leaned into the embrace, her mouth opening slightly and inviting Weiss' to do the same.
Eventually, the two came up for air. Doing her best to ignore the heat rushing to her face, Weiss scowled as angrily as she could manage while her heart pounded in her chest. "That clear enough for you?"
"Crystal," Yang said, beaming down at her and sending Weiss' face into a whole new shade of red. "Thanks."
Another kiss followed, and another, until Weiss had melted into the other woman's arms. A humming thrill ran from her fingers to her toes, while the hands placed gently over her hips were fire against her skin. Even the occasional ache in her side no longer bothered her, part of her putting it down to whatever natural magic the blonde had to carry, the rest hardly caring so long as Yang kept her lips clasped to Weiss' own.
"You know," Yang said in a brief pause between caresses. "If you wanted, I could be persuaded to make you immune to any future sacrifices."
"And how exactly are you going to do that?" Weiss asked, her voice catching as Yang pressed her lips against the pulse fluttering in her throat.
"You know how if you catch a cold, you can't usually catch that same cold again?"
"Yeah," the princess said cautiously, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"Well, if they only offer virgin girls as sacrifices, then all I'd have to do is take your-"
Weiss' now-dry clothes smacked Yang in the face, followed by anything Weiss could rip from the chest, burying the smiling, laughing dragon in shimmering, fabric-based fury.
Well, here's the new update. Now, a chunk of the next chapter is cut from the FanFiction version for content reasons. It's not necessarily plot-critical, but it includes characterization elements. If you'd like to see it, you can find the uncensored version on AO3, but it's not necessary.
Chapter 4 Preview:
"So," the dragon said, peeking through the trees at the nearby town. "You good to go from here, Princess?"
"I'm not exactly a princess anymore."
"Well, I'd call you 'Cupcake,' but it took you sooo long to accept that I wasn't gonna eat you ..."
Assorted terms:
Chiton: A tunic-like garment worn by the ancient Greeks.
Peplos: Either worn atop a chiton or alone, it was a longer ream of cloth folded over and pinned at both shoulders. Typical attire for women around 500 BCE.
Himation: Outer cloak-like garment.
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