Yang Xiao Long

It was a field of destruction. An uncountable number of beasts had met their demise here, and the very air seemed to be tense with that fact. The ground - once a flat and pristine environment - was a gigantic sheet of metal, dented by impacts across its whole surface. The unnatural environment spanned for at least a kilometre past the coast, and a third of its length away from the water sat a small fortress. Serving as the only exception to the strange surface that coated the land. The structure of grey brick featured green-tiled roofs, flying banners for Vale as well as the Schnee family.

Any who might have been looking out from the fortress towards the sea would have to squint their eyes or be blinded. It was late afternoon, and the sun was at the perfect angle to turn the reflective surface of the metal floor into a blinding light. It was so harsh, in fact, that the sea ahead of it that reflected the light just as well was indistinguishable from the metal surface.

Stepping across this surface without a care, was one of the mighty individuals responsible for creating this anarchy. With every impact of her boots against the metal, it let out a resonating noise. She moved without a care, a big smile stretched across her expression as the sea breeze carried across the field and carried her long sun-yellow hair as far from her head behind her as it could. No one would suspect that this place was half her doing, not unless they had been one of those that had seen the carnage in action. Dressed without a care for the frigid air, there was a deep flame within her that kept her body a comfortable temperature at all times.

Crimson eyes set on the ocean ahead, she found herself glancing up at the sun just above the ocean's horizon every now and again. Her eyes were fully capable of taking in the harsh light without suffering any damage, and for a moment she simply basked in the rays of harsh light.

"Yang." Not bothering to glance back, instead, her head tilted to show she was listening. Seemingly not impressed by this, Coco landed next to her with a slight frown. Glancing over, Yang's eyes watched as the half-Dragon's grey wings folded against her back, making sounds like metal plates rubbing against another as it did. "Your wife called."

"Did something happen?" Yang fully turned to Coco now, eyes glancing over her base form now as the woman's wings faded into her back.

Seemingly agitated about something, Coco shrugged before her arms folded. "She wouldn't tell me, she just told me to tell you to call her back."

"Blake is many things, difficult for no reason isn't one of them." Nodding as she turned, Yang waved as she stepped towards the fort once again. Only making it a few steps before magnificent yellow wings sprouted from her back and lifted her from the ground with a single flap. The wind carried her most of the way with its current, but her wings flapped a few more times to gain more height as she sailed over the walls and landed in the courtyard with style. Turning to the main structure, her wings vanished along with her scales and horns as she made her way inside.

The fortress wasn't anything impressive, Yang's own home back in Vale was a bigger property. Four tall grey-brick walls made up the outside, with three of those four being inbuilt into structures of varying sizes, the fourth holding the main gate to the courtyard. Neither Dragon could stand in the courtyard and move around comfortably, but it had a quite spacious interior for them to move around in their base forms.

Stepping past soldiers and moving around bends, Yang took the stairs up to the top floor before reaching her room. Moving past the door, as well as Coco's room, she made her way into a small common area meant for just the two of them. Sitting towards the centre of the room, on a desk, was a rather large Scrying Orb. Making her way over, Yang rested her hand against the smooth surface before whispering her wife's name.

The Orb in front of her turned cloudy for a moment before becoming completely opaque. As Yang dropped her hand from the device, the Scrying Orb cleared again and showed a projection of Blake inside of it, alongside part of the room she was in. From what Yang could tell, she was still in the castle.

"Hey Honey." As Yang spoke, they both shared a smile. Despite this seeming like a business call, neither would deny how good it was to talk to the other. "What's up?"

Blake's smile vanished after a moment, and her gaze tightened. "There's been a development."

"Good or bad?"

"A bit of both," Blake continued, not phased by Yang's interruption. "For now it's being kept quiet, but... Weiss is pregnant." Despite the millions of questions and feelings that surged through Yang, she kept her mouth shut to let Blake keep talking. "The ritual under their bed, someone else turned it on."

"Do we know who-"

"Ruby and Weiss had their suspicions, but they asked me first to look into it."

Already knowing the answer, Yang asked, "And did you find the culprit?"

"I don't think I should reveal that yet." As she spoke, a cheeky smirk spread across her lips. "Though, for unrelated reasons, the castle's dungeon is finally seeing some use."

They shared a short laugh together, before Yang's expression hardened a little, and they turned serious once more. "A baby... Now of all times..."

"It's an effective way to keep Weiss from the fight for a while..." Blake let out a sigh before continuing, "There was a small meeting about it, only people we trust-"

"So some of the council members were missing."

"-And the idea of..." Blake looked away, speaking carefully. " 'Cancelling'... the pregnancy was thrown around..."

Yang scoffed, "As if Ruby or Weiss would ever agree to that. Even if they didn't have Dragon instincts." Resting her chin on her hand, she let out a sigh. "Whose genius idea was that?"

"Originally? Ozpin." Both of them rolled their eyes simultaneously.

"Of course." Deciding to change the topic, Yang looked at her again. "How did Ruby take it?"

"That depends..." Blake's tone was confusing for a moment. "Do you mean how did Ruby react to finding out her wife is pregnant... Or how she reacted to realising she was betrayed again...?"

Frozen in place for a moment, Yang's gaze softened as her worry grew. "Who was it?"

"It could have been someone worse... But, either way... I'm concerned." There was a flash of something strange across Blake's expression, almost like... fear? "I've seen Ruby angry before... But this was different."

"It couldn't have been worse than Emerald..."

"It wasn't." Blake confirmed. "It was just... Different. Calmer... Like acceptance."

Once again, Yang asked, "Who was it?"

Jaune Arc

"What's going on?" At first, his curiosity had been just that. But as they moved walked through the castle, it gradually evolved into concern. Which wasn't helped by Blake's choice to keep quiet. She led the way, with Jaune and Pyrrha trailing behind, Weiss was looking after the kids for now.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Weiss is looking after Neo instead of some stranger..." Pyrrha spoke quietly, but it was anything but calm. "But why are we needed in the first place?"

"Ruby asked that Weiss not be involved with this." Jaune was equally relieved and equally concerned now that Blake had finally spoken.

They were gradually moving further and further down the castle, taking staircase after staircase. "So you asked for us instead?"

Turning back to look Jaune in the eyes, Blake spoke even quieter now. "I'm just concerned about what she might do... And I'm not strong enough to stop her on my own."

As the path tightened and the decorations became sparse, Jaune realised that they had truly reached their destination, with one last final ominous set of stairs. "What kind of interrogation does she think this will be...?"

Setting foot finally into the dungeon, Jaune glanced around momentarily before gulping. He had never seen this part of the castle, and he never wanted to again. "Vale has a prison, and a containment facility at Beacon for special cases... Why is this even needed...?" He knew the answer, of course. It just wasn't one he wanted to accept. Moving down a hallway, they spotted Ruby quite quickly.

Though, she had certainly seen them first.

Jaune had never once thought of her as anything but his friend, and he had never once thought that would change. Seeing her now, a strange sensation passed over him like a shiver. There wasn't a single part of him that doubted the others had felt it too, as Ruby's eyes flicked from one of them to the other, her gaze set into a glare. Stepping closer, Jaune spoke with the first words that came to mind.

"Your Highness-" It surprised all of them that he said it so seriously, he was sure of that, even if Ruby hadn't shown it. "We are here to assist." Bowing his head, Pyrrha copied the action, only after a slight delay. "What is this feeling...? Why am I... Scared of her?"

With a nod of her head, Jaune and Pyrrha raised their heads and looked at her once more. Out of the three of them, only Blake at the front hadn't bowed. Jaune wasn't sure if that was because she knew she didn't have to, or maybe she was just too stunned to think of it. Ruby didn't speak at first, instead, she remained where she was, as if waiting for them to move closer.

So they did. With cautious steps they closed the gap, and only after they were just a few steps away from them did Ruby stand from her seat. As she did, Jaune finally noticed that it wasn't actually a chair, instead it seemed to be made up of strange vine-like limbs that slithered their way into Ruby's back as she stood from it. In the poorly lit dungeon, they only barely showed their red colour.

Now that Jaune was closer, he eyed her cautiously. Her gaze sent shivers down his spine, whenever her eyes flicked to his, he felt his body freeze in place. Finally, just before she spoke for the first time since they arrived, at the end of a stressful two minutes of silence... Did he realise what this feeling was.

Right now, he wasn't seeing her. Jaune couldn't see Ruby his friend, or even Ruby the Queen Consort... This was a Dragon. This was the Rose Dragon.

Hero or not, standing before a Dragon, having it stare you down while an indescribable rage brewed behind its eyes... He had never felt more intimidated in his life.

Not even Dagon had instilled this feeling in him, even if he was still confident that the High Devil was much stronger than her.

"Let's go." As she turned away to move to the cell, her voice was calm, but certainly not peaceful. There was a detectable animosity in it that would make one pray it wasn't directed towards them. They moved to follow, and Jaune glanced at Pyrrha to confirm that she was reacting the same as he was. Ruby had been sitting just before the cell, so their steps were few before they stood in front of the bars that he was locked behind. His eyes were tight, focused, angry... But behind it, there was the same fear that Jaune felt as Ruby stared at him. "Hello, Gray."

"She's using Pride... She has to be." That was the only thing that made sense, Jaune couldn't accept that this was the same Ruby as always.

"Ruby... What's going on-" Before he could speak any further, he was quickly silenced by something launching forth from Ruby and wrapping around him, stringing him up by his limbs painfully and holding him a foot off the ground. Jaune's eyes widened as he saw the saw vines from earlier stretching from Ruby's sides and through the bars into the cell. At a closer look, he noticed that they seemed to be made up of red scales.

"Ruby..." Blake spoke softly as she rested a hand on the Dragon's shoulder, standing on the opposite side of her to Jaune. When she didn't respond, Blake instead turned to the cell and spoke to Gray, keeping her hand on Ruby's shoulder anyway. "You've lost the right to call her that."

"What, by her name...?" His snark was quickly cut off by the tightening of the vines stringing him up.

Straightening his posture, Jaune spoke now. "Remember your place, you speak to the Queen Consort of Vale."

"There are very few people I trust," As soon as Ruby spoke, the others - including Gray - all felt the silent command to keep quiet. "My family, my friends, and very few others." As she spoke, Jaune could hear the tightening of the vines around Gray's body. "I have been betrayed before, and it is not a feeling I enjoy. So I will ask you once, and I expect an answer. Why." Despite her words, Jaune knew it wasn't a question.

"Why...? Why what...?" Another tightening led to Gray groaning in pain, Jaune's eyes widened as he watched blood begin to drip down the vines wrapped around him. "You should be thanking me... Now you're getting another kid-" One of the vines rapidly extended and wrapped around his mouth as well, gagging him momentarily.

"So you were right..." Hanging her head as she whispered to Blake, Jaune finally heard a hint of despair in her voice. "When am I going to learn not to trust someone just because I'm told to...?" Shaking her head for a moment, she looked up once more to stare at Gray, the vine gagging him slowly moving away.

Jaune was shaken for a moment as he stared at her. Not because of her actions, rather, because he was forced to see her in a new light. "She's... Not using Pride." He finally realised that this was all Ruby.

"Speak." Once again, a clear command. One that was followed.

"I'm a Captain... In the White Fang." Turning to look at him, Jaune couldn't help but glare now. "And this was my mission." His eyes momentarily followed Blake as she stepped away, practically moving into a run as she separated herself from this, Pyrrha moved to take her place next to Ruby. Chuckling now, Gray continued, "She's pathetic, getting so upset over something like-" This time, his pain was shown in a scream as the vines tightened once more.

"Ruby-" Jaune went to speak, but he was cut off as Ruby stepped closer to the cell.

"You trick my friends, my family, and me... You betray us... And now you insult my mother?" Her hand was holding onto one of the metal bars of the cell. Jaune could barely hear the groans of the metal as it caved under her grip over the screams of pain from Gray. "The White Fang are a terrorist organisation. That enough alone would put you in prison forever." As she spoke, Jaune watched a strange protrusion extend out from one of the vines around his arm. It formed into the shape of a flower, like a tulip, as the scales pointed straight at his head. "But that's before taking all your other actions into account... As Queen Consort, it is fully within my rights to have you executed."

Her voice and expression took on a dark air as scales slowly settled over her body, with her horns slowly extending from beneath her head. "Just as I am fully within my rights to elect myself as your executioner." Jaune was too shocked to act as the tip of the tulip began to slowly glow red-hot.

"Ruby." But it stopped with one word, while a hand gripped her forearm and tightened to what seemed like an uncomfortable degree. "Stop." Turning away from Gray, Ruby faced Pyrrha directly. Conquest stood before her, staring down at her defiantly.

"Isn't this treason, Pyrrha?" Her words made Jaune frown, but his wife retorted before he could do anything.

Staring down at her, Pyrrha was as intimidating a figure as the Dragon, if not more so now thanks to Conquest's power flowing through her. "No. This is a friend telling you what you need to do. I don't know why you are acting like this, Ruby, but I'm sure that you'll regret this later if you go through with it."

"And why would I regret it?" A light growl radiated from her throat, and Jaune found himself stepping away on instinct. "Are you going to stop me, Pyrrha?"

"Yes. But not with force. Instead, I'll just bring Argus down here so he can see what you're doing." The growling cut off instantly, but Ruby didn't stop staring at Pyrrha for even a moment. Jaune couldn't see her expression, but he was sure that there was turmoil raging inside of her right now.

It took a moment, but Jaune felt the tense air vanish with a strange pulse as Ruby's transformation reverted, and she stood peacefully in her base form. With a casual energy, her vines retracted from Gray and dropped him without a care. Letting out a gentle sigh before a slight nod of her head, Ruby turned away from the cell and glanced at them both, one after the other, with an apologetic gaze. "I'm sorry... I had forgotten how strong it was..."

It took a moment, but Jaune nodded with a smile of his own as he realised. "Right, you got those really strong instincts last time Weiss was pregnant." He was relieved that she was still the same old Ruby. "But, if I know Ruby, she's probably feeling worse about this than we were."

Another nod, and she said, "Yeah... I need Pride to counteract the effects. I didn't know the instincts started this early..." She glanced back at the cell before sighing and taking a step away from it, ready to head back into the castle.

First, however, Jaune approached her and let a white and yellow glow fill his finger before he flicked her in the arm. "Ow!" Her complaint was complete with a pout sent his way.

Jaune simply shrugged. "Your arm didn't get blown off, guess you're not evil." They continued walking after a moment, and even if she didn't say it out loud, he noticed a slight smile on her expression as they continued.

They almost made it all the way out of the dungeon before Pyrrha ran back to the cell, remembering at the last moment to heal Gray's injuries so he didn't bleed out.

Ruby Schnee

"So... How are you feeling?"

"I think we should be more worried about how you're feeling."

"Ruby..."

She winced a bit at Weiss' voice, the tired exasperation having nothing to do with a desire to sleep and instead being targeted directly at her. "Sorry." Despite her best attempts, Weiss wasn't for a second willing to just move past the topic at hand.

"Ruby," She let out an annoyed grunt as the woman in question helped her lay down. "Ruby. I am a day pregnant. I can still operate just fine on my own." For a moment she appeared frustrated, then her expression doubled down as she realised that Ruby had successfully gotten the conversation to change subject.

Weiss grumbled, as Ruby couldn't help but chuckle at that fact. Stepping away for a moment, Ruby herself got ready for bed. Moving over to some pots set up on her rarely used dresser and depositing the plants from her body into their respective pots. There were only four she used for now, but Ruby was confident that she could store as many as necessary inside of her body at any one time. Still, it didn't hurt to let them rest in soil overnight.

"I still need to look through the rest of the books, I'm sure there are some other useful plants in there." Turning to Weiss once again, they shared a gentle smile. "I know you're concerned, Weiss. But... It was just my instincts going crazy. I've got a lid on them now."

That wasn't enough for Weiss, however, and she said as much as Ruby moved over to the bed. "Darling, I know you're angry. I know you're really frustrated and probably upset... I need you to tell me about it, I don't want you to hide it."

Their eyes met, and for a moment there was a lull in the conversation. Until Ruby spoke up, confused. "Weiss... I'm not denying for a second that I'm angry."

"... Oh."

A light chuckle came from her lips before she spoke further, "It's not that I didn't want to do those things... I just never would without that push."

"It's nice to know that my wife has a dark side after all." The mood lightened as Ruby moved into bed with her, sharing a smile between them as they pulled each other close. "Though, I suppose I always knew that."

"What was it you said? That I'm a 'common rogue'?" Her words led to a snort from the Queen in her arms. "What? They were your words, not mine."

"Yes, well, I think it's more accurate to say that I married a scholar." Thinking for a moment, Weiss shook her head. "Or, more accurately, a Wizard."

"I was a Human when we met."

"And yet you still managed to crack the Dragon Formula."

Ruby couldn't help but smirk at that. "You take every chance to compliment me, don't you?"

"Oh no, not at all. Rather, I take every chance I believe I can get away with." They exchanged a few more jokes, some giggles and some banter. Ruby always felt most comfortable right here, in her wife's arms. For now, they could ignore all responsibilities, they could pretend nothing else existed... It was time spent with just each other.

Though, there was always one person that they refused to forget. "I wanted your opinion on something." Weiss didn't bother responding, instead she simply waited for Ruby to continue. "I want to teach Argus about Magic."

For a moment there was no response, but after a few seconds of tense waiting, Weiss spoke carefully, "May I ask, why do you want to teach him? He is already getting lessons from Glynda."

"I know. But..." Her eyes darted away as words spoken to her long ago ringed through her mind.

No one with a Fire Affinity is going to sit there and let someone without one lecture them on Fire magic.

"I've just been thinking about something Maria once told me..." Once again, she paused, thinking about the old woman with a frown... She hadn't seen her in years. "I want to teach Argus how to use his Silver Affinity... And along the way, maybe show him how to use his Innate Magic as well?" Out of all the Dragon's they had seen so far, both the Rose Dragon and the Dust Dragon had featured the most potent abilities. "It would give me the chance to spend more time with him as well... And I could tell him what I know about Magic along the way."

"Ruby, first of all, I want to say that I agree with you about your Affinity... Your Innate Magic too... But," Weiss smirked. "He probably knows more about normal Magic than you do."

Once again, they shared a chuckle, and Ruby simply shrugged. "Then I'll learn from him."

"This isn't a bad idea, actually," Weiss said after a moment. "Glynda is his favourite teacher, but she only has so much time she can devote to his education... If you can take over his Magic lessons, then she could educate him on politics or history."

"Does Glynda know more about that stuff than his current teachers?"

Weiss shrugged with an uncaring expression. "Probably not, but he'll learn more from her even if she's following a curriculum written by someone else, simply because he will actually listen."

"So... I came up with a good idea?" Ruby spoke with a cheeky grin, while Weiss groaned beneath her.

"Ruby, you come up with lots of good ideas." After a moment of contemplation, she smirked. "Which is why you're going to come up with a boy name for our baby."

"What? Come on, Weiss! You know I suck at that." Her words were joined with a pout, which had no effect on Weiss. "Besides, why a boy name? Are you gonna come up with a girl name?"

Weiss shook her head with a grin. "I don't need to. I already have the perfect one in mind."

12th Day, Twelfth Strike, 2116 PE