Rory Rose

None of this is right.

He was just with Eirwen...

Who's memories are these...?

Where is he...?

What happened-

"...Oh..."

His memories slowly trickled into his mind... was it even his mind?

No... it wasn't. This wasn't his mind... it wasn't his body...

It might not even be his soul.

Well...

There were now.

He could remember his whole life... everything... even the things that happened after that dream... that memory.

He knew why he was shown it... it hadn't been meant for him, but it had accomplished its goal.

He slowly sat up. This girls body... Ruby... it was less powerful then his own... he hadn't done much physical training in his life, but she had done even less. She was younger too... his own body was probably better.

Not that his own existed anymore...

All in all... he wasn't sure how to think of it.

"An improvement... or a downgrade...?"

His own body had a much higher aptitude for spellcasting... well, a frankly average one. Ruby's was simply awful in general. Near to no aptitude for spells...

But that's fine... she had something he had lacked. Something that more then made up for it...

"She has quite the aptitude for Intention based magic..."

Thinking through her memories... she had used it to find the Dragon Formula... in quite a small amount of time too.

He probably would have taken twice the amount of time to figure it out as she had... maybe longer.

An aptitude is like a secondary layer on your Affinity... it dosent matter too often, it can be worked around with training and that usually only takes a few years. Time most people could spend easily.

Still, that was years he hadn't been able to wait... and years he didn't have to now.

"I can work with this."

He slowly stood from the bed, he wasn't used to moving in a woman's body... but, it was used to moving itself, so it wasn't too much trouble.

His eyes flickered around the room... he didn't recognise it from her memories. They cutt off just before the wedding night... but why...?

No... he knew why...

"Thats when I woke up... when Ruby started getting my memories."

That's when another Dragon had been born.

Speaking of which.

He set his eyes on white hair... he took small steps, trying to approach without being heard... he didn't make it far. Before he could move over, his target turned around and froze in surprise.

"Ruby? Did I wake you?" Her voice was full of so much concern... she looked so much like Eirwen too...

What a shame.

"Time to test my acting skills..."

"Yeah... but, I was having a nightmare anyway." He took a step closer and smiled gently. "Thanks for waking me."

Acting happy to see her made him feel disgusted... this woman who looked like she had stolen Eirwen's body...

Weiss smiled gently in kind and started moving closer as well, her eyes closed as she moved for a hug.

Rory let a smirk leak out as he transformed, his wings erupting from his back and moving to grab the woman-

Her own wings deflected his as they shot out, scales covering her body and horns springing from her head. Before he could react she formed a long spike of ice in her hand and pointed it at him.

"W-Weiss...?? S-sorry, I just wanted to-"

"Ruby once got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and woke me accidentally. I saw her put on her cloak for the walk, then take it off when she entered. She also dosent know how to transform yet." Her eyes were sharp, a gaze of pure determination.

"That cloak... the one by the bed...? Ruby always wears it... shit."

Admittedly, Rory hadn't expected this.

"Weiss i-"

"My. Wife. Cannot. Lie. She's so terrible at it that not speaking works better for her when shes trying to hide something." Her eyes began to glow with a rage. "You're noticeably much better at it. But not good enough."

He let out a sigh.

"So what's your plan? Gonna kill me? Gonna put a blade of ice through your wifes throat?"

"No." Her wings outstretched as she focused her stance. "I'm going to put you to sleep, and hope she wakes up instead."

She was probably operating on the theory that the dreams would continue even with him now in the driver's seat... and, he actually didn't know if they would.

Still, a good plan.

"She's smart..."

Rory would have to hope that his advantage would come in the form of Ruby's lack of ability. He wasn't sure how long it had been since the wedding... but if this girl hadn't figured out her powers yet...

Then he had the element of surprise.

"So... what's your plan for actually putting me to sleep?"

Weiss Schnee

"Gonna hit you in the head as hard as I can."

"Shit, shit, shit!!"

Her mind was in overdrive, she was panicking, she could barely breath, it was taking everything out of her to not show any of it!

She had known what happened the instant she saw Ruby standing up. No cloak, she couldn't read the girls soul, and her entire posture and way she stood felt all wrong!

Combining that with Ruby's worries earlier in the day...

"How did this happen?? How do i fix it?? Can i even take him in a fight??"

She watched him glance to her magic blade she kept on the mantle... was he going to go for it?

"That's fine... I'm sure I'm a better fighter then him when it comes to swordplay... and even if he can use Enhancement magic... Ruby isn't that much physically stronger then me that our difference in skill can be overcome by a strength difference."

She'd let him dive for it, and attack while he did.

Except he didn't dive.

His wing jolted out to reach for the blade, the limb shouldn't have been long enough to reach over the distance, but it separated into two halfs to clear the gap, forming two separate body parts floating in the air separated from itself with floating rose petals. Weiss was shocked, but still took the chance to attack, rearing back and trying to hit him in the head with the blunt side of the ice weapon.

She had to close her eyes to even try it... he had Ruby's face... she couldn't do this...

She felt her weapon move through where he had been, opening her eyes, Rory had dodged by turning into Rose petals. She whipped around to try and attack again, but this time he blocked with a weapon... her weapon...

He already had the magic blade... and his strength was outmatching hers with their blades locked.

She let her ice weapon shatter as she stopped concentrating on it, and moved to using hand to hand combat... she admittedly didn't have much training in the area, but what choice did she have?

He didn't even move his body to stop her attacks, Ruby's wings did all the work for him, the much larger limbs and claws too much for Weiss to work around as he seemingly fiddled with her weapon.

"Hmm... no... this won't work as a base... that's ok... I'll start elsewhere." He tossed the weapon aside and smirked as his wing knocked Weiss back.

She growled as she settled into a stance again.

"I... can't win. I can outmatch him with magic... but I can't risk hurting Ruby."

If they could move to a more open area... she could transform and end this with a breath attack right...? But... if they flew into the storm... she might lose sight of him.

"What do you even want with Ruby's body??"

He tilted his head as he looked at her with disinterest... it was such a foreign look on Ruby's body.

"Nothing. It's not her body exaclty that I was after. Just the body of another Rose Dragon."

"The dreams... they were his doing...?"

"Why do-"

"Why else? All Dragons will die. There's nothing else to it." His eyes held such conviction...

"Ruby and myself are the only Dragons left!" Not counting Salem...

"Then I'll kill you, and this girl next."

Weiss flared with anger as she focused her mana. She had to take this more seriously. She could beat him, she just had to try.

"Ruby... forgive me. But I need to stop him. Once you're back in my arms, I'll make it up to you."

Her eyes began to glow as ice started leaking from her body. She had a double Affinity for ice, the second she hit him with a spell that could immobilise him, this was over.

Apparently he knew that.

"From the look of your transformation... your not the Ice Dragon. That's good. I'm confident I can beat you in a fight... but first, I need a proper weapon." Her confusion lasted barely a second as he burst into a cloud of rose petals, he flew straight towards the balcony and shattered through the glass door as Weiss cursed and followed.

She abandoned all pretence as she opened her wings and carried herself in flight into the storm, freezing herself over and exploding out into her full transformation before letting out as loud a roar as she could manage.

The sound wouldn't hurt anyone, nor shatter any nearby windows, but it was loud enough to wake a few people... as long as one of those was Glynda or Ozpin...

Rory had also taken the form of the full Rose Dragon just ahead. He was flying straight into the storm... it looked like he was going to head for the walls of the city, was he trying to escape as far as he could...?

That's fine. Even with the speed of there flight, Vale was quite the large city... and better yet he had picked the direction with the longest distance to a wall... but there was a problem.

She let out a growl as it became apparent... he was faster then her.

The Rose Dragon had more powerful wings, he was gaining distance, it was a slow gain, but every inch mattered in this storm. If she lost sight of him... she'd lose him.

She'd lose Ruby.

She took a deep breath in and unleashed her ice breath, trying to make him drop to the city below. In response, he split into five different masses of red, dodging the blast by moving in different directions, then reforming together again...

"Why did he reform? It's harder to see him split up..."

She had gained some ground on him... was he slower moving as rose petals...? At least in the winds of a storm it seemed...

A smirk like expression grew over her.

She could abuse this.

Weiss started letting out burst after burst of her breath attack, he dodged each one successfully, but now she was gaining on him rather then him losing her.

She left thousands of snowflakes in her wake as her breath passed over drops of rain, her wings were pelting heavily, fighting the wind and refusing to allow him to escape.

"What do I do once I catch him...?"

She could try and tackle him out of the sky... but, what if that did serious damage to herself or Ruby's body...? She couldn't even tell how high up they were anymore! The storm was too powerful!!

Rory started to drop in altitude, changing his angle to be more of a forty-five degree down.

"Why is he-"

Her breath weapon! It was like a laser... if she missed him... at this angle, she'd hit the city below! She couldn't risk firing anymore!

Her mind worked in overdrive, her logic doing its best to fight off her emotions that screamed at her to just let it out anyway... But sadly her logic won.

The Rose Dragon was bulkier then her too... at this angle, he was gaining distance even faster...

"What can I do...? How do I stop him...?"

The answer was simple in her mind...

She couldn't.

Weiss knew this was her fault. They should be equal in power but... Weiss hadn't trained much at all. She hadnt gone out of her way to learn much magic besides basic elemental spells... and she hadn't capitalised on her powers... she hadnt even looked into getting a summon...

This was her fault... she couldn't catch him.

Rory was going to get away...

Weiss was going to lose Ruby...

She let out another desperate roar, hoping that it would do something...

"Someone... anyone...!!"

Weiss felt a pulse of magic pass through her from down below... something was charging mana... a lot of mana...

"But who-"

No. She knew who.

She recognised that feeling... the one that made her want to cower in fear.

A ringing bolt of lightning passed through the air from below, a force carried an object wreathed in mana and electricity through the sky and straight through Rory's right wing, splitting the limb at the joint its claw rested on.

The Rose Dragon let out a roar of pain, one that was easily louder then both of Weiss's roars so far. The creature pivoted in the sky and began to drop, a bright green light seeping out from the broken wing as he tried to heal himself.

The glowing object had stopped it's movement above them, and began to let out an incredibly bright light. It would have been shining the city below them in daylight had it not been so stormy.

Weiss moved into a divebomb as she followed the falling creature, could she just let him hit the ground?? She couldn't see anything down there!!

Another pulse of mana... this one larger then the one previously... but not just by a bit...

In fact... this magic... it was stronger then both Weiss and Rory.

A blast of wind erupted from beneath them, a vortex of air swirled straight up into the sky and blasted a hole into the clouds, forming a hole in the storm that stretched for a good quarter of the city.

Even in a dive bomb, Weiss had been forced back from the force of it... but the rain was gone now! The storm being blown back combined with that glowing Light, she could see the ground... they were only one hundred metres up or so now... and... she could see the casters of the spells...

Both of them, the wielder of a spear that Weiss had to assume was the object that had blasted through Rorys wing... and the wielder of a Scythe, who Weiss assumed had cast the wind spell.

Below the two Dragons on the ground, was the Harbingers of Conquest and Death respectively.

"Qrow?? Pyrrha??" Thank God her telepathy had long range.

"Whats going on??" Qrow sounded sober... he was taking this seriously.

"I don't have time to explain, Ruby's being controlled by someone is the simple version!"

Rory regained control of his flight as he finished healing his wing. He hovered in place now, flapping his wings constantly to keep himself afloat... he definitely had to rethink his plan now.

"Your Highness... do we have permission to harm the Queen Consort?"

"No time for manners Pyrrha! Knock her out!"

Pyrrha sighed through the telepathy, and Weiss felt another pulse of mana... Pyrrha began to charge her spear with that same magic from before.

Rory looked around carefully. Weiss was keeping a decent distance to give Qrow and Pyrrha room to work... but she got a bad feeling...

"Did he really not plan this out well...?"

No... he had something prepared...

"Two Harbingers here to deal with me... I'm flattered." His voice in her head... no... he was still talking through Ruby's voice.

"Surrender. Now."

"Why? Worst case scenario I can just kill myself and then I've at least taken one Dragon with me."

"You-!"

"Calm down Schnee. I'm not there yet." His voice held too much confidence... Pyrrhas spear was nearly fully charged. "All Dragons have at least one ingrained spell. For most, it's a breath weapon-" Conquest readied her stance. "For others, it's a different kind of attack." She took her breath in to throw... "Ruby has used this before... but she didn't realise. It's actually much stronger when you pour more mana into it." She could hear his grin through his words.

As Pyrrha moved to throw... time seemed to slow as Weiss watched the Rose Dragon take a deep breath... and let it all out.

Describing it as a sound would simply be categorically wrong. It wasn't just a sound. The sheer volume behind it was enough to rupture every part of Weiss's ears. She should have gone deaf instantly, but it was like it simply wouldn't let her... an effect of the spell maybe. She could feel it vibrate it's way through every cell in her body, every bone and muscle. Her vision blurred and nearly complelty blackened as she fought to keep herself concious.

Pyrrhas spear had missed... or perhaps she had never thrown it, no doubt experiencing the same situation as Weiss... The Dragon was sure that the streets below were now all covered in shattered glass, and there likely wasn't a single sleeping person left in Vale anymore.

If the storm in the area hadn't been blown away by Qrow earlier, they would definitely have clear skies now from the sheer air pressure that came from that roar.

Clear senses slowly returned to Weiss and she realised she was falling. She quickly adjusted her body and with a powerful flap of her wings she was back up and heading to where she had been, where Rory should be-

"Where is he!?"

Her vision darted around, and she managed to spot him!

He had split into as many rose clouds as he could, all of them darting straight down and onto the streets, trying to weave there way through the alleyways and roads to stay hidden.

How many had he split into??

Could she keep track of them all??

It didn't matter!

"I have to try!!"

Rory Rose

"Yep... I'm really glad that I learnt that spell now..." He groaned as he leaned against the wall for support. The alleyway he stood in was a random one, it wasn't the furthest away from his pursuers... but it was far enough.

He was trying to flee... well, slowly. That spear had hurt... more then he was prepared for. He had healed the damage but the pain remained. Top that off with his current mana situation and leaning against the wall was the only way he could keep himself up and 'walking'.

The spell in question was rather simple. A small amount of wind magic combined with some creation magic to make some rose petals.

"They'll chase those clouds around thinking they'll all lead back into one mass... but their not actually a part of me."

His breathing was laboured. Sure, his plan had worked... but the powerful usage of his Disorientating Roar and the creation magic had both taken up incredibly large chunks of his mana.

He had returned to his base form for that very reason. It wasn't by much, but you regained mana ever so slightly faster in it.

"If any of them find me right now... ive lost."

"Ruby Schnee-" Rory immediatly turned and put his back against the wall, eyeing down the woman who had spoken.

"Who the hell-?" She was pretty to say the least. Raven black hair, a red dress that did her body plenty of favors... and glowing Gold eyes.

"My name is Cinder Fall. But that isn't important right now. Your fight was quite the spectacle, marriage troubles?"

"More like 'this isn't my body' troubles." Rory knew this woman wasn't a friend of the Queen... no, she had been planning to attack him thinking it was still Ruby.

"Oh? Well... that is interesting." She took a step closer. "I believe we can help each other..." She trailed off, waiting for his name.

"Rory Rose. The first Rose Dragon."

She tilted her head and chuckled.

"I see. Then we can definitely help each other." Cinder extended her hand out with a smile and Rory weighed his options...

It became easier to decide when he felt wind pressure pass over above him, The Frost Dragon swooping over the buildings they stood between.

"You don't need to worry about them finding you right now. A simple cognition blocking barrier I put up will prevent them from finding either me or yourself."

"She definitely has some practice with those eyes..."

"Alright." He moved his hand over and shook her own, to which she opened an tear in space-time behind herself. She had good practice with Spatial Magic too...

Rory heard the roar of the Frost Dragon as he stepped through. A desperate sound that wasn't even near them. The sound could probably be understood by most people that had heard either of the creatures two previous roars from the differences alone.

That was the sound of a cry of anguish from a Dragon.