Interlude: A Dragon and her Queen
"What in the world is this?"
Yang looked up from the pile of weapons to see what Weiss was staring at. It could have been anything, really – they were still only halfway through cleaning out the lower caves of her lair. Everything was a mess, with weapons and treasure lying haphazardly around the room, little bits and pieces of her horde shattered or broken in the cave-in caused when Weiss' father sent his men to bury the dragon alive.
Even with all the entrances closed, Yang wanted this done as fast as possible. The sooner they had everything gathered, sorted through what she could fix and what wasn't worth trying to, the sooner they could leave. Yang hated the idea of people knowing where her lair was – especially those who had shown themselves quite willing to put their princess' life in danger to kill a dragon.
Side-stepping the broken pile of chests, Yang found Weiss in the back of the chamber, staring at the rear wall. Racking her brain to remember what she'd left there, Yang joined her, then smiled. A massive throne sat against the back wall, made from gold-washed iron. The back curved up, decorated with little gilt laurel leaves and depictions of hunters stalking boar and deer through the trees, spears flying up the sides of the great chair. Even with a layer of dirt from the cave-in, it still gleamed, only a few pebbles resting on the velvet cushion.
Yang was just amazed it was still intact. So many other things had been shattered or crushed by the falling rocks, but somehow the throne had dodged the worst of it.
"You like?" Yang asked, running a hand over the throne's back. "I picked it up from a ship out east."
"How did you get this?"
Yang shrugged. "Their king told his archers to try and shoot me down. I didn't want to hurt them, so I took it to teach him a lesson."
Weiss shook her head in disbelief. "And you kept it?"
"What? It's pretty. Never quite fit me though – turns out the king was a little on the shorter side." Grinning, Yang turned to the shorter girl. "Might fit you though?"
The princess look up at her in disbelief. "You want me to sit in it? It's covered in dust."
"Come on," Yang wheedled, holding out one hand for Weiss to take. "It'll be fun."
Sighing, Weiss took her skirts in one hand and stepped forward, taking Yang's hand and let the blonde draw her up into the chair. There she settled, her chin high with a regal tilt, looking down her nose at the smiling dragon.
She really does look like a queen, Yang mused.
Swirling her arms in an exaggerated bow, she knelt down on one knee before the throne. "Is this the part where I swear my undying loyalty? Pledge my life and love in your service till the end of my days?"
Weiss snorted and delicately rose from the chair, heading back to sort through the stack of swords, saving both the trouble of answering.
Still, Yang thought, rising as she went to join her princess. That really wouldn't be all that bad.
And here's a little bit extra. Not canon for the AU, but I thought people might enjoy it.
Omake
"I understand the whole sleep talking thing," Yang said, kicking her feet back and forth. "But what I don't understand is the princess and dragon dream and why I'm in it."
Weiss went beet red. It was lucky she had her head down, and that Yang was staring absently at the ceiling from her bed. She was already embarrassed enough after the blonde caught her muttering in her sleep.
And of course, the one time Yang heard her, it would be that dream. The one where Yang swooped down out of the sky and rescued her from a raving mob. The one where ...
Weiss rolled over so Yang couldn't see her face. This was humiliating enough. The last thing she needed was Yang finding out it was that kind of dream.
"I mean, I can see you being a princess." Yang said, oblivious to the glare Weiss shot her. "And ancient Mistral makes sense. We did just go over that in Port's class. "
"It's a dream, Yang. It's not supposed to make sense."
Yang shrugged and stopped kicking her feet. "Okay, then can you explain why you kept saying my name?"
Weiss pulled the blankets up to her nose. Maybe if she just stayed quiet, Yang would take the hint. Maybe she'd give up. Maybe ...
Maybe pigs would fly.
Weiss felt her bed dip as Yang hopped down onto the edge. Weiss ignored her. Engaging Yang would only encourage her.
"Come on. We both know you'll eventually tell me." Yang teased, bouncing slightly. "Or I suppose I could tell Blake what really happened to her tea set."
"Blackmailer," Weiss growled.
Yang just shrugged and grinned. Knowing defeat when she saw it, Weiss sighed and kept her eyes trained on the wall.
"I was in danger and this dragon saved me. It's not that complicated."
"And the swearing? I didn't think you even knew some of those words."
"Shut up," Weiss snapped. "My father, in the dream ... he tried to make me marry someone. Anyway, I fought him, got away, and that's when I woke up."
Yang stayed quiet for a long while. Weiss didn't meet her eyes – she already had a good idea what was going through her head. That this was one of the few times Weiss had ever spoken about her father. That his dream version had tried again and again to lock her away and marry her off to a man she despised. Freud would have a field day with something like that.
"So," Yang finally said after a minute. "I helped you kick his ass?"
"More or less."
Yang's smile had little humor in it. "Good. So what was I? A hoplite? Ooh, did I have armor like Pyrrha's?" Grinning again, Yang struck a pose, trying to look like one off the old Mistralan warriors. "Did I have a spear or did I go all sword-and-board?"
Weiss opened her mouth, then closed it again. It would be so easy to tell Yang she'd been some barely-armored amazon, bashing skulls and taking names. She'd eat it up, and all Weiss would have to put up with was Yang making amazon puns for the next week and a half. All in all, it didn't sound so bad.
Still ... she didn't want to lie to Yang.
Sighing, Weiss turned, satisfied that her face was back to its normal color. "You were the dragon, moron."
Yang blinked. "Oh." She blinked again. "Oooh."
"Can you say something other than 'oh,' or is that the extent of your vocabulary?"
Yang ignored the jab and scooted closer on the bed. "So, you had a dream where I saved you from a mob and helped you beat up your jackass of a dad."
"... yes."
"And I was this big, majestic dragon."
"And this is why I didn't want to tell you."
Yang snorted, but at least that shut her up for a while. It was a good two, maybe three minutes before she nudged Weiss' shoulder. "Hey, Weiss."
"What?"
"How long have you had a thing for me?"
"... long enough."
"Hmm." She went uncharacteristically quiet again. Her grin was gone, replaced by a calm, thoughtful look Weiss couldn't read, no matter how much she tried.
"You wanna head in to Vale tomorrow? Grab dinner?"
Weiss sat upright, her mouth working soundlessly before it snapped shut. Scowling furiously at the taller girl, she said, "Yang Xiao Long, you are the least romantic person I have ever met."
"That a no?"
"... no."
Yang smiled, swept the hair from her face, and kissed her cheek. However bad Weiss' blush had been before, it was nothing compared to now. Fortunately, Yang chose that moment to studiously examine the ropes holding Ruby's bed above her own.
"So ... Weiss," she said when the heiress could face her again.
"Yes, Yang?"
"In the dream," Yang started, her mouth splitting in a wide, infuriating grin. "Did you ride 'the dragon'?"
Author's Note: If you can, please take the time to leave a review – it lets me know what the reader response is and whether or not I should do more stuff along the lines of whatever I've posted.
To be clear, this is not the epilogue that I've been planning. It was just something that I whipped up in response to a prompt I got in my tumblr – so if you like this, you have Makas0ul to thank for it. If you'd like to send similar prompts, you can find me at redsuitwriter. Just search 'writing prompts' on my blog and go to town (AO3 users can click the link here). Any of the prompts is fair game.