Jaune Arc stared. Stared at the back of the woman he loved with his very soul as she hurried away from him. Did she hate him? Had he done something to insult her?
There was a familiar, dull ache in his chest as he staggered from the merry hall, the celebration continuing without its Queen. He didn't know what he had done to make Weiss hate him so much. One moment they were preparing to get King Schnee's permission to marry. Jaune would let Weiss enter first as a subtle way of showing who would be leading the marriage. Jaune would bow and acknowledge Jacque Schnee's majesty. Weiss would do the talking. Jaune would confirm he was fine with giving up his family name. Their plan was thorough and ready.
Then she had pushed him away. Called off the plan and then his tutelage under Jaqcue Schnee had ended and Weiss hadn't even been there to say goodbye when he rode off to Ansel for the first time in five years.
Things had gotten complicated after that. Jaune's parents hadn't been there when he returned and it was his youngest sister, Hazel, who told him of King Schnee's death and Weiss' coronation. Jaune had hated himself for not being there for Weiss and he had often wondered if that was why Weiss hated him so much.
Jaune took a deep breath of fresh air, having escaped the humid and suffocating grasp of the merriment behind him, celebrating the engagement of the woman he loved to a man that wasn't him. The air was cold and the slight breeze was biting. Winter was coming soon, the days growing shorter and the nights growing longer.
Rubbing his exposed hands together, Jaune wandered through the courtyard and up the inner wall of Nördliche Burg, the ancestral seat of the Schnee family. The inner wall encircled Snowflake Keep, the Schnee family crest elaborately carved into the merlons. He wandered along the wall until the inner gateway was in sight. Whoever commanded Weiss' guard had concentrated them inside Snowflake Keep and at the inner gateway. Jaune couldn't dispute the decision as that was where the majority of the guests would be staying.
Deciding it would be best to leave the guards alone, Jaune stayed where he was, surveying the horizon around him. It was a cloudy night, dark and dreary though Jaune could see the nearby peaks of the Snow Mountains that encircled Nördliche Burg and made it such a formidable fortress to attack, only being able to attack from the valley in front of the ancient keep, which was also protected by a moat and the bitter weather of Solitas.
The Schnee had dominated the nearby lands because of this formidable position. 'You may defeat them in battle and drive them into their keep but a few years later they would return with icy vengeance in their hearts' so said the saying. Quite a long saying but still.
He stood there for a while, staring at the nearby mountains. He'd trained with the Schnee Household guard at the base of them once, being taught how to fight in uneven and rough terrain. He wasn't any good at it but it had been worth it in his eyes for the hug Weiss had given him when he returned (days ahead of the Household guard who had tired of his incompetence and sent him on his way).
He was broken from his train of thought by a change in the atmosphere around him. Something was wrong and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand. He glared into the darkness, trying to make out the something that was out there. The frigid air turned humid, the winds suddenly turned and snow on the nearby mountain peaks suddenly surged into the air.
"Dragon!" Came a desperate cry and Jaune's instinct took over, forcing him to dive behind the parapet as heat washed over him. Orange flame scorched the courtyard, superheating the ancient stone wall and causing it to turn into delicate black glass that shattered underneath the weight of the dragon that landed on it.
An ear rending roar shook the air as the creature bellowed its violent glory before waves of fires came bellowing from its maw, washing over the courtyard once more. Jaune watched with horror as the terrified guardsman vanished beneath the flame, melting and burned into ash within the space of a second.
Too late, a warning bell began to toll from a nearby tower only to be silenced by the dragon whipping its thick, armoured tail through the tower's base, bringing it crashing down onto some nearby storehouses.
The creature bellowed once more, fire bursting from its jaws as it attacked Snowflake Keep, sending chunks of black glass down onto the courtyard as it melted and weakened with its fire before destroying with its tail.
It turned, bathing the granaries and storehouses with heat and fire, destroying crops and melting the stone buildings with dreadful ease. A few brave archers from a nearby watchtower fired some arrows at the monster, dinking off its armour with ease and causing it to bellow at the stone tower before smacking its armoured tail into the watchtower's base. One man fell, screaming as he did so, falling down over the wall and onto the jagged icicles that surrounded the curtain wall of Nördliche Burg. Jaune watched, fear and something else building in his gut as the monster bathed the watchtower with fire, turning the weakened base into a black glass before smashing it with its tail, causing the watchtower to collapse onto the barracks and guardhouse within the outer bailey.
It bellowed once into the sky, declaring its victory as it raised its wings in the air triumphantly. Jaune wasn't sure when he'd started moving or how exactly. He felt oddly weightless as he danced down the steps of the inner wall and past the burning fires that scorched the courtyard. Fear gripped his body, making him want to hide or stay still to avoid the monster's detection but some instinct deep in him ordered him to move. To stand. To fight.
'Is this what his great-grandfather had felt as he led the doomed charge against the Schnee army long ago?' Jaune couldn't help but wonder as he dived into Snowflake Keep, grabbing a spear from the arms of a wide-eyed, shaking guardsman before leaping back into the burning courtyard, where it had moved to tower over the scorched remains of the inner gatehouse.
By the Brothers it was tall! Massive and strong and monstrous! It's legs were thick and wide like tree trunks, larger than that even! Heat radiated from it in waves even though it was just standing, roaring its victory so loudly his bones shook.
The fear urged him to run, to hide while he still could. The instinct urged him to do the opposite, to stand and to fight. To defend the castle before it burned down and collapsed on Sapphron's head, on Weiss' head.
Instinct won out. The spear in his arms seemed to move forward and Jaune realised he was throwing the spear at the monster looming over him. He wasn't sure what was happening, only that his body was moving without his permission as he surged forward, something between a terrified scream and a battle cry passing through his lips.
He watched it as the spear soared through the air, only to thunk against the dragon's armoured hide uselessly. The monster stopped it's victorious roar, glaring at him with viscous, angry amber eyes filled with malice and fury.
'How dare an insignificant cretin challenge me?' The beast seemed to ask as it crawled down from the crumbling inner wall, towering over him as it loomed closer towards him. He wasn't sure when, but his pants had become suspiciously damp and the dragon's face twisted into a terrifying snarl, seemingly insulted that a weakling like him had challenged its dominance.
A low rumble escaped it, shaking the ground and vibrating through his bones as it's jaw opened slowly, revealing teeth twice his size and sharper than anything he had ever seen.
It wasn't going to burn him. Jaune had angered it and it was going to eat him. Just like in the stories his nurse told him as a boy.
"Oh gods." He whispered slightly, staring into the gaping darkness he would soon be stuffed down.
Then there was a brilliant burst of silver light, nothing but silver filled his visions and he heard the dragon screech so loud that Jaune's eardrums burst. He was flung from his feet, crashing into the dragon and collapsing to the burned floor, his head throbbing and vision blurred.
There was a dull ringing in his ears, his eyes blinded by the blurry silver light. He laid there for what felt like an eternity, memories from happier times flashing through his head. Weiss buried underneath their collapsed blanket fort, his father ruffling his hair, his mother hugging him before he left to ward under King Schnee, his sisters laughing and smiling as they forced him into their dresses.
Then there was a face in front of him, yelling at him. It looked familiar for some reason and no matter how hard he tried Jaune couldn't put a name to the face.
Jaune Arc stared at the silver-eyed girl in front of him until he felt himself slipping away into sweet,blissful unconsciousness.