Weiss Schnee
"Here we go."
They were ready. Everyone was here... well, everyone that was allowed to be.
Glynda, and a few of the other commanding Hunters were currently on stand by in case anything else happened while they conducted the 'rescue' mission.
Blake hadn't taken kindly to Weiss's order but...
"Ruby doesn't need to lose another parent."
Weiss would get Ruby back.
And she never planned to let her go again.
"Winter. Inform Qrow we're ready." Her sister gave a nod and turned, pulling out her Scrying orb to call the Harbinger. Weiss gave a look over the people here today... a force of considerable size, at least fifty people.
Vale didn't actually have a standing army, rather there Knights focused on quality over quantity, with the Hunters at the highest extreme of that mentality. The average strength of Vales force compared to Atlas was an unfair comparison to make... but Vale wouldn't actually win that fight.
Vacuo and Mistral had sizeable forces of there own. Mistral had a standing army smaller then Atlas, but apparently it was full of 'specialists'.
Apparently Mistral had only recently come in to possession of three specialists that gave them the confidence to actually compete in the coming Vytal festival...
Vacuo was... well...
"There whole kingdom may as well be an army..."
Besides the highest members of there force however, they all may as well be fodder. Vacuo had a very strange governmental system, the strongest was the defacto ruler at any given time... or, in the current case, chose the ruler.
Apparently that was simply because the current strongest person in Vacuo, one Carmine Esclados, didn't want to deal with running the kingdom herself.
The Queen lost her train of thought as the familiar Magenta glow of Spatial Magic lit up her face. With a turn she could see through the large portal, big enough to fit five people crossing through at once... how much mana was Qrow planning on using today?
There forces started moving through without a word, Weiss would cross last along with Winter.
"Sister. Contain your impatience."
"I'm not impatient-"
"You're tapping your foot." Weiss didn't even turn to look down at her foot, knowing her sister was right, she simply started concentrating to make it stop. "I know you're nervous-"
"I'm not nervous." Winter turned to her with a raised eyebrow at that. "I'm excited."
"You're... excited...?"
"Tonight I'll get to sleep knowing Ruby is safe in my arms." Her determination was iron. No one would get in her way. Winter simply smiled at her.
"You truly are a Dragon sister."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing..." Winter rested a hand on Weiss's shoulder. "Ruby once saved you from living a life out of your control. It's time we return the favor."
Weiss nodded and pulled the red cloak she was still carrying tighter into her chest.
Crossing through a portal was a weird experience, no matter how many times you had done it.
That single tear in space was the separation of who knows how much distance compressed down into a point smaller then could be measured. It wasnt teleporting, simply crossing a vast distance that had been shortened.
Suffice to say it made one feel queezy.
Which wasn't a good look on a monarch.
It took all of her willpower to not show any of the effects from crossing through the threshold. It took even more somehow to not immedaitly transform and crash straight through the wall of the warehouse they now stood in front of.
The whole property was rather large... the courtyard they stood in rivalled the castles gardens in size by itself. It also moved up a few steps every fifteen metres or so... all in all a rather fancy warehouse.
Weiss was beginning to wonder if perhaps she needed to check every warehouse in Vale for more of these bases...
"Qrow still has the place surrounded. He will watch for anyone attempting to flee unless Cinder Fall decides to join the fray."
"Let's not delay. Its time to knock on there door." Her smirk couldn't be wiped off her face, she almost forgot to put Ruby's cloak away but luckily did before she transformed... once again, she didnt want to damage it.
Everyone transformed one after another.
There enemies definitely knew they were here now. Just outside there walls stood among other things, a Half Dragon, an Ice elemental, a Giant, and Conquest.
The Giant was only really relevant because it was hard to miss through the windows.
Though, Cardin was also the one doing the 'knocking' so to speak.
With a gust of wind he raised his mace up and swung quickly, putting all of his power behind it as he slammed it into-
A pulse of mana erupted from the building and something crashed through the wall before his mace connected. A giant red figure letting out a deafening roar came barrelling out and tackled the Giant to the ground.
There forces barely managed to avoid being crushed by the two combatants... though perhaps that was being generous.
With four of its limbs pinning him down and its two arm like wings still free to use however it wished...
The Rose Dragon had already won that fight.
Ruby Schnee
"Huh... that's weird..."
"What?"
"I just felt... a pull...?" She didn't know how to describe it... why hadn't her Dragon self felt it?
"Right... not actually real..."
"Do you want to know what that was?"
"Ok, do you, or do you not, know stuff that I don't??" Ruby's arms were crossed and she was pouting up a storm.
"Yes and no. I know what you know, but I'm influenced by the Dragons Pride."
"So you don't know more then me-"
"I can know more then you."
"How does that even-!?"
"Ruby." The half Dragon rested her wings behind her. "You already know what that feeling was... you just aren't confident you're right, so you refuse to even suggest it."
"That's...-"
"It's the same reason why you can't transform into a Dragon, but you can transform back just fine."
"...what...?"
"You mean..."
"You already know how. You just refuse to accept it. You question yourself, you doubt yourself. You refuse to accept you know what you're doing."
"Because i don't."
Dragon Ruby flicked her forehead with a smile as she winced.
"Thats what i mean. You have to know what you're doing. You have to mean it. While in your base form... you don't."
"But when I'm affected by the Dragons Pride..."
"Exaclty." Ruby nodded.
She could transform... she knew how to in her Half and Full form... but... her base wasn't sure about itself? Magic is personal. It's the art of manipulating your mana to achieve a result... and if your inhibitions hold your mana back from achieving said result...
Then no result is achieved.
"Then... why can't I cast magic...? Is it for the same reason...?"
"Oh that? Nah, we just suck at it."
Ruby slumped her shoulders.
"That's dumb."
"You're dumb!!"
"What's the purpose in telling me all this anyway??"
"Because I'm you! I want to help us!"
"Why??" Ruby froze as she yelled...
"Wait... why don't I want to help me...?"
Her Dragon self sighed and turned away.
"I represent the version of us that can do what we want. Our goal is to be able to use our power right? If we want to have a family with Weiss... we have to be strong enough to defend it." Ruby turned to the void and frowned.
"Rory wasn't..."
"Rory was human. We're not."
"Why does that matter?"
"Why wouldn't it?" The Half Dragon did a twirl and threw her arms out as she looked up into the void... or perhaps down. There was no 'up' in this place. "You need to accept what you are. You need to accept me. I'm not real, but what I represent is." She moved closer and pointed her finger at Ruby's face. "Ruby Rose. What do you want to do?"
Ruby opened her mouth... but no words came out. She had to think about this first...
Where did she want to end up...?
What did she want to do with her eternal life...?
No... it wasn't eternal... What Weiss had told her about the Dragons of the past... what she had seen from Rory's memories...
Everyone dies. There's no escaping that.
"What do I want to do... I don't have forever to decide..."
"I... I don't know..." She hung her head in shame, and her reflection leaned away.
"Alright. Then let me ask you a simpler question. What don't you want to do?"
Ruby's eyes widened and she looked up to the other girl...
She was gone.
"What... don't I want to do..?" She looked around cautiously... there was no one here. She was alone.
Well... not entirely.
In the distance... she could see it again. A white light, but it didn't grow this time.
It was waiting for her.
"Rory's memories..." Maybe they would hold the answer...? Maybe if... she saw the last few...
"But... even if i got an answer from that... would it be what I wanted to do..?"
How much had she been influenced by Rory's memories already?
She wanted to have kids now after feeling his excitement at the idea...
Was that influence even still her?
"I can't just depend on that..." Perhaps she was wrong. Perhaps Rory's memories were simply a guide rather then an influence but...
Why risk it?
"What dont i want to do...?" She looked down to her hand, and slowly closed it into a fist. "I don't want to become Rory."
"...No... it's not something I just don't want to do..."
Ruby felt her feet slowly rest on solid ground... the Void beneath her becoming a floor to walk across.
"I refuse to become Rory."
Rory Rose
He had the Giant pinned. Among all of the other threats here he probably wasn't a problem that had to be dealt with now... but he was the easiest target.
His wings extended out and grabbed at the man's shoulders, pulling his head up as his jaw moved down to bite.
Rory was going to take his throat out all at once.
A pain rung through his side as he was thrown from the man. His body rolled against the paved stone ground and he quickly recovered to his feet, glaring at the one who had thrown him from the Giant. He growled when he saw her.
The Queen hovered with her wings outstretched. She was between Rory and the Giant now, keeping herself at about eye-level with the Rose Dragon... but behind her was something arguably more important.
A monolith of a construct. A glowing Light blue knight that stood taller then the Giant had.
"So... you learnt to summon afterall." His telepathy only reached her as he eyed her down... he was definitely physically stronger then her if she chose to turn this into a physical bout... even without including his Titan Bracelet... but that Summon...
He recognised the form of the Arma Gigas. Ruby had seen it before when Weiss had bragged about it to her.
"With one swing of its sword it can cleave an Alpha Grimm in half... assuming she meant a Beowolf and not anything stronger... then the Golem would be way weaker then even her base form probably..."
Counting magic anyway.
The issue... was that this was a Summoned version of it.
The Frost Dragons Summon.
"She's made it bigger then it normally is, and with her double Ice Affinity... at a rough guess... its now at least five times stronger then it was before."
Added onto how much mana she had...
And the fact that he didn't have a proper weapon...
"All Dragons are meant to be roughly equal in power... but the Rose Dragon is meant to use Magic items and weapons... without having the chance to fully arm myself..."
He growled in frustration.
"She's stronger then me."
Weiss Schnee
"Cardin. Clean up the White Fang stragglers with the others." Her voice was cold and calculating. The fighting had already begun.
She hadn't payed much attention to the battle around her. Only Rory mattered at the moment.
"We have quite competent healers here today Rory. I wont show you mercy. I know any and all damage i do to Ruby's body will be able to be repaired."
"Heh... You really gonna hurt your wife-" The Gigas moved as he spoke. She was giving it what probably amounted to too much mana at the moment, but it used all of it as efficiently as her Affinity allowed...
Meaning even with its added size, it was much faster then before.
It's blade came down in a swing and Rory barely dodged, the Summon stepped around Weiss and charged the Dragon, refusing to let up.
She commanded it mentally and Rory was on the back foot immediately. She could tell he was stronger then the last time they fought... yet he wasn't a match for her anymore.
"My power means that I simply need a Summon and I can use all of it. Summoning is one of the strongest kinds of magic, someone much stronger then you told me that. Combined with my titles ability, and i may as well have a double Affinity for summoning."
She was sure that a double Bronze Affinity would actually be stronger... but for now?
"Thats not your body. That's not your soul. Even if your better with magic and the Rose Dragons abilities then Ruby... it's rejecting you."
Her full power vs what power he could use right now?
Semantics didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.
He was clearly on the backfoot. Even with his technical limb count advantage, he didn't dare attempt to block any of the Gigas's swings. Weiss and Rory both knew his only option at the moment was to flee... but he didn't know where Pyrrha or Qrow was at the moment.
Or better yet, if Weiss had any other summons up her sleeve.
This was a gamble of time.
If Rory kept dodging until Weiss ran out of mana... he won. But this was unrealistic. With how powerful her Summon was at the moment, it would connect at least one blow before she ran out of juice.
If he tried to fly away?
Well, as far as Rory knew, Weiss could pull out a flying Summon next. Or better yet, Conquest could knock him out of the sky.
Weiss didn't actually have any other summons. And both Qrow and Pyrrha were likely busy.
"That Cinder woman certainly isn't going to give up easy... and we have no clue who else could have been in the warehouse."
She had gotten tunnel vision the second she saw the Rose Dragon... even if she wanted to check the rest of the battle, her eyes refused to leave the red creature.
For now it was all a moot point...
She had to hit him. Hopefully she could take off one of his wings... Weiss hoped she'd be able to bring herself to do it.
"I'll kiss it better once you're back in control Ruby."
The Summon and the Dragon practically danced as they 'fought'.
The Gigas would take a step and the Dragon would rear back in preparation before the Knight swung his blade and Rory was forced to dodge.
It was unrelenting. The wind coming off of there giant bodies as they moved at speeds that seemed impossible for there size. It was a dance which was lead by Rory simply only because the Gigas never stopped the chase. Not a single breath was left without an advance towards the Dragon, or an attempt to cleave some of its flesh from its body.
This was easier like this.
Rory couldn't revert back to his base form because that would leave the disparity in between them even greater... and Weiss could only command her Summon to attack so viciously because she hadn't seen Ruby in her Dragon form very often.
Her brain didn't yet subconsciously associate that Red Dragon with the love of her life.
There movements left gravel and dust instead of paved brick beneath them. Who knows how many buildings they would have destroyed if they weren't in a courtyard of sorts.
One of them would give.
One of them had to.
"And it won't be me."
Rory planted his wings claws into the ground and raised his upper body up partially before letting out a deafening roar.
The sound shattered any glass within a gigantic radius and anyone not prepared for it was left dazed at best... but Weiss had been prepared for it this time.
She couldnt stop the attack from affecting her... but the Gigas was a different story.
The roar was cut off prematurely as the Gigas grabbed it by the snout, forcing the Dragon to close its maw before pinning its head to the ground. Weiss turned away as the Gigas raised its sword up and brought it down too quick for Rory to move and-
Another roar, this time of a very different variety.
This wasn't an attack, a means of intimidation, or even a roar of despair like Weiss's own a week earlier.
No... everyone present at the warehouse were perhaps the first witnesses in centuries... to a Dragons roar of pain.
The Gigas backed off as Weiss turned back to look at the fight. It couldn't act long without direct orders... and it had accomplished it's goal.
The Rose Dragon slowly stood on shaking legs... leaving its left wing laying on the ground unattached to the rest of its body.
Weiss focused her eyes in determination... she couldn't stop now. She had to finish it.
If the Gigas knocked him out... Ruby might wake up...
Ruby...
"Oh god... what did I just do to her...?"
Did Ruby feel that pain...?
Would she remember it...?
Her wings faltered a little from there steady flapping but she quickly regained her composure and kept herself in the air.
She couldn't stop.
She couldnt...
The Dragons eyes were staring straight at her. The glowing Silver orbs burning there sight straight into her... as it burst apart into rose petals. The storm quickly settled and dropped dramatically in mass... leaving him in his half form.
The wing left on the ground shrunk in size as well... and Weiss was left with the sight of her wife down a limb and bloody...
Her breathing picked up in pace and her wings faltered again. She dropped to the ground unable to regain control, but managed to keep herself on her feet.
Her eyes refused to look away from Rory... from Ruby... the woman she loved... the woman she wanted to have a family with...
She had hurt Ruby... she had done this...
Tears welled in her eyes as her Summon fell apart, disappearing into snow and ice as she lost all fine control of her mana. Her hands slowly reached out to the girl who was much too far away to reach without moving closer.
"Ruby... I...-" She lunged straight at her...
No... he lunged straight at her...!
Weiss drew her sword quickly and deflected the hit with only an instant to spare. Her tears still wet on her face and her breathing still ragged as she held her blade ready, unable to even assume a proper stance.
Rory was smirking... it wasn't right to see it on Ruby's face... she didn't use expressions so... sinister...
Not at Weiss...
He attacked again.
His strategy boiled down to using his one remaining wing to fight. The claw held more muscle, power, and reach then his own normal hands.
Weiss was barely able to dodge or deflect the attacks. If he had both wings still he would have definitely grabbed her by now... he wasn't trying to scratch her or swipe at her, no they were deliberate attempts to grab her.
A soft green light started leaking from the stump on his back. His wing would take a long time to heal back to full... but at this rate it wouldn't matter. Weiss was the only one here... as soon as he beat her... he could use all of his mana to focus on reparing himself in order to fight the others-
Weiss blinked.
She wasn't the only one here.
A grab right for her face was deflected by a weapon not her own. The spear sent his wing recoiling back behind him as a foot was sent straight into his chest. The Half Dragon was sent flying back against his will and Weiss's saviour stood between her and Rory.
"Your Highness... I apologise for striking the Queen Consort again... but...-" Pyrrha readied her spear. "I believe it would be best if I took over for now."
Pyrrha Nikos
A soft nod and a sniffle was the only reply she got... it was a fair reaction.
"I couldn't imagine having to hurt Jaune like that... and we're not even together..."
She shook her head. She may love Jaune... but comparing there relationship to the Queens...
Well, one was a non-relationship and the other was marriage so, it wasn't exaclty a fair comparison.
Rory stood and readied himself and Pyrrha responded in kind. She wasn't worried to say the least. If Weiss could deflect his attacks in this state, then Pyrrha could definitely best him in a fight.
"If he transforms again, his reach will make for a problem, and i dont have much experience fighting non-humanoid opponents."
If she could properly use Conquests power... then maybe.
Among even the Harbingers, Conquests main power was seen as incredibly potent.
The ability to forcefully 'dominate' people with a passive aura wasn't the main draw... rather, it was a requirement to use the main power.
The people who she forced to fully submit, would mark her soul. And in doing so, Conquest would grant her there Affinitys while she used its mana.
"Jaune's water Affinity won't be the most helpful right now..."
She didn't exaclty want to walk around forcing people to submit to her... and Jaune hadn't even been her fault! He'd just accepted he was beneath her before they even met...
If he had awakened the power of the Hero though...
"Holy magic would definitely be helpful..."
She glanced at the rest of the battlefield. The White Fang were mostly coming out of the hole Rory had made in the warehouse when he dove out of it. Qrow had yet to appear... Perhaps he was fighting Cinder elsewhere?
The main issues were two people of note...
That silver haired fellow. 'Mercury' as Yangs report had called him.
Coco and a few other Hunters had focused him down on sight, but so far he had managed to avoid being taken out of commission...
The more important problem though-
She quickly brought her spear up and deflected another attack, the glowing red blade missed her flesh as she struck it with her own, dodging back to gain some distance from her assailant.
"You had to follow me?"
"As if I'd miss the chance to kill a Schnee. You're just in the way." Pyrrha frowned at his words... it didn't take a genius to guess that he was a high ranking member of the White Fang... but something about his attacks...
"He's holding back... my guess is that he has a title... but he's not yet using the secondary mana pool..."
And that weapon. She knew what it was.
A glowing red blade whos shape invoked that of Masamune...
"A Rot Blade."