Ruby Schnee
"It's ok... calm down... you can do this."
"Does anyone know what the five stages of Spellcasting are?" Glynda's words were as formal as ever, she stood tall and completely sure, like her class hadnt suddenly quadrupled in size. Velvets hand shot up and it was an awkward moment before Glynda nodded towards her... were they even meant to raise their hands...?
"Mana, State-Change, Program, Affinity Boost, and Fabricate!" She announced each one like it was incredibly exciting... perhaps to her it was. Looking around, they all looked pretty happy to be here... well, except for Ruby.
"Just relax... she's fine... she's safe... they're both safe..."
"Correct. Each stage is incredibly important, even for a Basic Cast." Glynda gestured to the black board again. The training room didn't usually have chairs or tables... Ruby had to wonder if they were stored in the same place as the board, after all it wasn't always here... it was always a shock to realise she still didn't know the castle very well. "Today I want you all to show me a Basic Cast, and if there are no issues with that, we'll proceed onto Simple Spells."
Glynda gestured to a list on the board, some dot points listing the Ten Levels of Spells.
Well... five but...
There was the Basic Cast, Spells that were simply meant to 'Generate' whatever kind of magic category they fell under, such as summoning a bit of fire.
Simple Spells were actually programmed magic. A blast of fire shot in a direction for example.
Advanced Spells were the more complicated magics. Like adding a homing property to a blast of fire, or creating an explosion that avoided allies.
Wizard Spells were seen as a sort of cut off point. Only people officially recognised as Wizards were able to throw these around without the help of an Affinity.
Arch Spells... the peak of magic. The most powerful spell someone could possibly use without the help of an Affinity. Things like changing the weather quickly or cross-continental teleporting were on the low end of Arch Spells.
Then, the other five levels. They were referred to as Boosted Arch Spells, only usable with an Affinity. They often had a multiplier next to their name to demonstrate the level of Affinity acquired for using them.
Ruby's attention returned to the class just in time to finish the end of one of Glyndas... well... rants.
"-The best example one could describe for a five times Boosted Arch Spell, being the group of the most powerful Spells possible to cast, is the True Time Stop." The 'class' only responded with confused looks and raised eyebrows. "A spell that's only been casted once as far as we are aware. One of the only records to survive the Great Erasure... the spell is a global time stop that can last for as long as the user has mana. Apparently, the user in question had time frozen for a whole twenty-four hours."
Ruby found that pretty interesting... unfortunately her mind was still mostly elsewhere. She glanced down at her notes and found that rather then copying them down, she had been writing names down... the exact list of baby name ideas that her and Weiss had come up with so far.
Ruby quickly scrunched the paper up and tried to be subtle about shoving it into her pocket. Which she failed miserably at, everyone else turned to her with a quizzical look and she simply awkwardly smiled.
"Ok this isnt going great..."
Turns out Dragons had powerful Maternal instincts... but Ruby was actually being hit by the opposite effects at the moment... turns out both sets of instincts were a part of the species in general... so...
She slumped her head against her desk with a sigh.
"Stupid... Paternal instincts..."
Weiss had actually teased her a little bit about it once Ozpin had explained the situation to them, and Ruby had adamantly rejected being called the child's 'father'. She also didn't want to question how Ozpin knew so much about Dragons... frankly that was an issue for later.
Ruby just had to make it through today, and then she could just spend every second of the next nine months next to Weiss. That would definitely make her feel better!
Ok, so she'd still have to compete in the Vytal festival... so maybe some time away from Weiss... not to mention she'd need more training for that so...
"And any Hunter missions I might get sent on..."
"Excellent." She looked up from her desk and spotted Glynda next to Velvet, the girl had already done a Basic Cast and created some ice on her desk. Ruby was sure that they could all do a basic cast without issue... even she could afterall.
With Pride anyway.
After they had all shown her a Basic Cast, they moved on to Simple Spells... which was were Ruby's problem lay.
Even with her effective cheat ability to cast magic easier in Pride... she still didn't really... know any Spells. Sure she knew that one fireball spell, but just using that today was kinda boring, especially since she had learnt it in this class.
They all stood and moved away from the tables, gathering a bit away from one of the targets Glynda had set up at the end of the training room. Jaune was up first, and Ruby already knew he could cast Simple Spells... she had seen one in the exam yesterday afterall.
With Velvet up next, Ruby leaned over to Emerald. "Do you... umm... know any Spells you can teach me really quick...?" Her whispers were as quiet as she could make them, though she was sure Velvet had heard anyway.
Emerald tilted her head a bit and leaned in to whisper as well. "I mean... I know heaps? But I don't see how I could teach you in a few seconds..." Ruby sighed at her words and nodded before standing up properly again.
"Yeah... thought so." Her disappointment was evident and Emerald clapped her hands together with an apologetic expression.
With Velvet aceing the challenge as expected, Ruby stepped up next and used that Simple Fire spell Glynda had taught her. It hit the target with an quite unsatisfactory noise, and Ruby responded to Glynda's raised eyebrow with a simple sigh and a small "Sorry."
Weiss Schnee
"I don't see why I need to send Atlas's strongest Knight to Vale Sister." Weiss had been expecting that response, but hearing it directly from her brother made her want to challenge it.
"He has a name you know, you don't need to keep calling him that." Her voice nearly resembled a complaining child in tone.
"I'm calling him that to prove my point, Sister. Clover is the best defense I have." That made Weiss raise an eyebrow.
"Don't you mean the best defense Father has?"
"No." A completely straight face while he spoke... it made Weiss chuckle a little. "For what reason could you require his services?"
"I have recently... become pregnant." She blushed a little as she spoke, this wasn't a conversation she wanted to have so soon...
"Oh. Well, congratulations Sister. How recent is this news?"
"Recent... yesterday."
"I see... is the reason you want Clover in Vale-" Whitley had caught on sooner then Weiss had expected.
"Yes... with his natural ability..."
"His power won't extend to you or your child you know." He leaned back in his chair as he spoke, Weiss could tell he was starting to understand.
"It will if we make a contract. Clover still uses a Rare Weapon correct? Ruby could make him a Gilded Magic Weapon if our child is born healthy." She wasn't stupid enough to suggest a Legendary Weapon... not when Ruby had yet to even make her own.
"That would most likely allow his power to target you as well..." He sighed through the Scrying Orb, clearly annoyed at how quickly the situation had turned around on him. "Are you truly this worried about your child's safety?" A different tone of voice... this time he was definitely addressing his sister rather then the Queen of Vale. So... Weiss addressed her bother.
"Yes... I... I don't know how to describe it but..." She let out a gentle sigh. "I'm scared. I have this feeling of... dread. Like nothing I can do will change the coming events." It was a difficult feeling to describe... and only Ruby's close presence had any success in quenching her fears so far.
But Ruby couldn't always be next to her.
Whitley observed her for a minute or so through the screen. Weiss's office had a rather large Scrying Orb that was about half a metre in diameter, though it wasn't always visible. Usually it hid away in a compartment in the top of her desk.
"Very well... I'll make the preparations immediately. I would like to meet my neice or nephew one day... so I'll do my best to ensure they remain safe." He smiled gently through the Orb and Weiss returned the expression.
"Thank you, Brother." They said their pleasent goodbyes, then the call ended. Weiss let out a small breath as the Orb slowly sunk back into her desk and she stood the second it was gone from sight.
"I may as well check on Ruby..." Sure she was in the middle of a lesson but... well... what's the worst that could happen?
Ruby Schnee
"Emerald, you're a Vampire right?" Ruby's ears barely picked up Velvets words from across the room. Currently she was having a little competition with Jaune. A small game like exercise were two people attempted to compete in a tug of war of sorts involving mana.
Ruby had the natural advantage in simply having more mana then Jaune, but since Jaune had better control over his power then Ruby did, they were actually going pretty even at the moment.
"Yes, why do you ask?" Emerald always spoke with such a friendly voice... honestly Ruby had to wonder sometimes how friendly one person could be...
"Oh, sorry... just curious." Velvet was quite the shy person. Apparently she was always worrying about what others thought of her...
Ruby was more curious what Coco thought of the faunas girl.
"Your Majesty?" Glynda's words were confusing for a moment... they weren't addressed to Ruby after all, but then Ruby caught her scent, and near instantly afterwards lost the game she was playing with Jaune.
"I'm sorry Glynda, I simply wanted to check on-" Weiss was interrupted as Ruby zipped across the room in a cloud of rose petals, reforming right in front of her and quickly grabbing both of her hands.
"Weiss! Are you ok??" Her worry wasn't hidden at all anymore, frankly her stress had been getting to her a bit too much... though that slowly fell away as she touched Weiss again. The Queens response was a simple smile for a moment, before she moved closer and wrapped Ruby in a gentle hug.
"I am now..." Her words were a whisper, she knew Ruby would hear her no matter how quietly she spoke while they were this close.
"Did something happen?"
"No... just... needed to see you." Ruby sighed gently at her words... it seemed like being separated wasn't comfortable for either of them right now.
"I'm sure it's fine... I mean... surely we'll get used to it... right...?"
"Apparently not..."
"Ruby? Did you say something?"
"O-Oh. Uh... no." Weiss gave her a quizzical expression, but dropped the subject pretty quickly after that. Instead she focused on the documents in front of her.
Ruby had gotten pretty used to Weiss's office over the past week, after all, Weiss needed to work in here and Ruby wasnt comfortable leaving her undefended anymore... Magic lessons were only slightly more awkward as well, as Weiss had to attend as well now if Ruby wanted to be able to concentrate at all.
Ruby was working on some magic items to hopefully counteract the effects of their instincts... but for now that had shown no progress. She had managed to figure out how to better aim Pride now however, so if she needed to she could still be seperate for Weiss for a short amount of time... of course, Weiss couldn't do that, so it would still leave one of them incredibly stressed.
Pride was proving more and more useful the more she used it. She'd found that with proper aimed deployment of the ability rather then just turning it on fully, she could force herself to be confident about certain things, and even change how she acted... It was a slow learning process, but eventually she should be able to give herself a slight confidence boost permanently.
Or, use it for something else if needed.
But for now that wasnt a solution. Even if she could fully cancel out her own instincts with Pride, that would leave Weiss stressed to an unhealthy degree... possibly harming their child. Dragons were rather... defensive parents, and Ruby kept questioning if just sticking it out for the nine months would be easier then trying to fight it.
She glanced down at Weiss's work. Some of the documents that she could understand were detailing two 'shipments' on there way from Atlas. Amity collosuem should be here any day now, and the second delivery was...
"Why did we request a Knight from Atlas?" She actually leaned in to ask the question, her curiosity getting the better of her... why wasn't she told about this? She was still the Queen Consort...
"Oh... yes... we requested a Knight by the name of Clover. He's the strongest Knight in Atlas... among other things." Weiss turned her chair to look at Ruby side on with a smile.
"And why do we need him here?" She hadn't actually answered her question...
"Bodyguard among other things. He's a Leprechaun." Ruby blinked and awkwardly stood there for a moment before Weiss sighed and explained. "They're unique in that they don't recieve an Affinity from becoming that species... rather they receive a magical effect similar to a title. A blessing of good luck if you want to call it that."
"Like the Vampires whole blood sucking thing?" Vampires could drink blood to increase the effectiveness of an Affinity they already had, which replaced the Affinity they would have gotten from being a Vampire. Apparently this magic was the basis for the Beserker eye curse.
"Yes. I was hoping we could enter a contract with him. If we offer him something beneficial, if say, our child is born healthy and strong... them his good luck should extend to them."
"How do you figure that?"
"Well... let's say you offer him a fancy magic weapon so long as our child is born safe. His good luck will work to keep our child safe so he can recieve that weapon. The good luck isnt exaclty targeting our baby... rather it's still targeting him, our baby's safety is just beneficial to him now." Ruby nodded along with Weiss's explanation, it was an added level of security she supposed... but that raised another question.
"Do you trust this guy?"
"I won't know until I meet him." She let out a gentle sigh and glanced at the documents on her desk. "I trust his strength for now... he dosent have a title... but it's widely accepted that if the Title of Conquest became available... he would recieve it." That... was actually pretty impressive.
The requirement for Conquest wasn't an easy one... obviously all Harbinger titles required you to be incredibly strong, but Conquest specifically only bonded with people that had never lost a fight.
"Is he competing in the Vytal festival?" Her curiosity got the better of her, but she already knew the answer. If he was the strongest Knight in Atlas... then...
"Yes... i suppose his plan to avoid losing his requirement for Conquest is to simply forfeit before a fight he knows he would lose." Both Weiss and Ruby shared a chuckle at that... in truth, everyone already knew who the top three of the tournament would be... everyone else was just competing for fourth place and below.
"Carmine is apparently untouchable for any non-Harbingers... Pyrrha is... well... Pyrrha... and Uncle Qrow..."
She hadn't actually seen him fight before... but apparently he was terrifying.
"Pyrrha wasn't Conquest during the last festival... but the top two were still Carmine and Uncle Qrow..."
Apparently that had been quite the spectacle to see... Ruby had probably watched it back on Patch but... well... she couldn't exaclty remember it. A lot of other stuff happened around that time...
She glanced around the room before returning her eyes to Weiss. The woman gave Ruby a soft smile and Ruby slowly moved to sit down next to her on the floor. She moved her head into Weiss's lap and pressed her ear to the girls stomach.
"Ruby? You know that you won't be able to hear anything yet right? Or feel any kicks? They aren't big enough for that yet."
"Weiss, their a week old. I know that." She shook her head and closed her eyes. "Just enjoying the feeling..."
"You enjoy hugging me that much huh?" Weiss's snark made Ruby chuckle softly.
"Yeah... I do." But she wasn't exaclty wrong.
"My life has changed so much since the last Vytal festival..."
Of course it had she supposed... it had been a decade ago after all.
"Ruby? I wanted to ask you something..." She slowly looked up to her wife, but refused to remove her head from the woman's lap. Weiss had actually begun to gently rub her head. "You... wouldn't leave me... right...?"
"What kind of a stupid question is that?" Ruby was actually mildly offended by even the notion of it.
"I know, I know... it's just..." She let out a sigh and looked away. "I have a bad feeling..."
Ruby shook her head and stood, gently kissing Weiss's lips before resting their foreheads together. "I promise you Weiss... I'll never leave you, or our family."
They held each other for a while after that. The coming days would be tough, that much was obvious. But be it a few days, or eternity...
"I can handle anything this world can throw at me... so long as i have you."