Argus Schnee

The sunlight basked through the windows into the classroom, where he sat with a wide grin and giddy excitement. His body shook with glee, which only doubled over as the door finally opened, his new teacher stepping in. "Good morning, Ma'am!" He said with a bright grin and a jolt of his body.

Argus had to stifle a laugh as the woman in question nearly tripped as she stepped behind the desk. "Argus, buddy. You can still call me Mum." Ruby spoke with a slanted smile, and only then did Argus truly begin to laugh. "Alright, alright. Get it out of your system now." Letting him enjoy himself, she rested a few papers on her desk before stepping back and turning to the board.

Mismatched eyes looked over her curiously for a moment, she was dressed rather formally today, apparently choosing to take his lessons seriously. "I guess Mother would be upset if she didn't." He observed her hair curiously. The usually spiky and unkept crimson and black locks reached a decent way down her back, tied together in one large braid. Looking it over, Argus noticed that there were some flowers woven into the hair, though, they seemed to be pure red, and made of a strange texture.

"So," His eyes flicked up to her own as she turned to him once again, having drawn a diagram of sorts on the board with a fresh piece of chalk. "I hope we can skip past the introductions." Her grin made his own form, for a moment he considered making the joke anyway, but they let it pass unspoken. "This is our first lesson, so I'm just gonna go over the basics again."

That was fair, he decided. Argus knew all the basics when it came to Magic, but that was taught from a much more adept perspective than his Mum had. While Glynda knew more about the subject, Ruby was likely better suited to explain it at a beginners level.

"Magic begins in your Soul," Ruby gestured to the diagram, it was a simple outline of a Humanoid with a circle drawn in the middle. The circle had two openings, and had a haze drawn in the middle of it. "Your Soul is the structure of your consciousness, as well as the container for your Mana. Mana is an energy source that exists throughout Remnant and all known Planes. While Mana doesn't have weight, too much of it can wither away the body a Soul is contained in, so your Soul will actively limit the amount you can store depending on what you are." Another circle was drawn next to the other, with a line drawn connecting them. "The exception to this is a Title, as their Mana pool doesn't seem to trigger this 'overload' of Mana."

"That's why Dragons are the strongest creatures, right?" His hand was raised as he spoke, which caused Ruby to smile. He was the only student, after all.

"We are for a few reasons," Ruby adjusted some of the papers on her desk, but it was clear that she didn't need the content written on them for the topic of Dragons. "Firstly, we are tied with Angels and Demons for the largest Primary Mana pool. Primary for this just means the one in your Soul." Argus nodded. "We are also the only species to naturally gain a Title at birth, which doubles our Mana tank's size. A Mana Tank is the term used to refer to all of your Mana Pools collective power." So far, he knew all of this. "That combined with our abilities, incredible physical might, and eternal lifespans, and we are naturally referred to as the strongest species."

Turning to the board again, Ruby drew a line from the haze in the first circle to one of the openings into the body. "A Soul has two openings normally, with more being made by any Titles we acquire. The first is the connection to your body, and the other is a connection to The World." Drawing a line to the other opening, this one ended outside the body. "These are the two ways to cast Magic. Depending on the nature of the Spell, you will send it through either of these openings." She turned to him once again. "Do you know the process of a Spell?"

"It's: Mana, State-Change, Program, Affinity Boost, and Fabricate." He felt happy to prove he knew this, and even happier when she nodded in approval.

"Correct. The process is simple once you're used to it, but can seem impossible before that." She gestured at certain points on the board as she spoke. "When you wish to cast a spell, first you separate an amount of Mana from the rest of the pool. Then, you have to will it to change, taking on whatever properties you wish to imbue it with before programming it with instructions. Depending on the type of Magic, you may have an Affinity for it, and that will be applied during the process. Once the Spell is prepared, you simply push it through the correct opening depending on its effect."

"The normal opening to use is The World's one, right? But, how does that work exactly?"

"It's not as if you're actually affecting The World," Ruby smiled, "When we say 'The World' usually that can refer to either the entity itself, or Ambient Mana in general." Argus nodded, understanding but still a little confused about the distinction. "As for what's 'normal' for a Spell, it usually just depends on the Spell's effects."

She smirked lightly, "For example," As she spoke, her body erupted with red scales. Horns shot from her head as wings sprouted from her back. "Transforming requires a small amount of Mana to be pushed through into your body, though its only needed to carry information, so it's a negligible amount."

"What do you mean, carry 'information'?"

"I thought you knew all of this already?" Ruby chuckled as he pouted, she returned to her base form as she spoke once again. "Mana can be used for more than just Spells. It can also carry information for you by use of programming it without changing its state. 'Programming' really just means imbuing it with your Will."

Turning to the board again, she drew another line going through the opening to the body, this time, drawing a square at its end. "With certain Titles or circumstances, you can gain what is referred to as an Innate Spell." As Ruby spoke, she held her hand up. Argus watched with awe as a flower of sorts sprouted from her hand made of her red scales. "These work differently than normal Magic. The connection between them and your Mana pool is constant with Mana, so you can send information across it without needing to use any more of your reserves."

"Doesn't it still take Mana?"

"Yeah, but it will draw what it needs from your Pool automatically." She tapped the square with her chalk, as if to emphasise. "It depends on each Innate Spell, but most of them are incredibly efficient with their usage of Mana. Usually, they're really intuitive as well."

Argus nodded along with that, after all, he had experienced that first hand. "So, Innate Spells are the best kind, right?"

Ruby mulled over that for a moment before answering. "I guess it depends on the Spell in question. Either way, they're always incredibly useful. In my case I could see uses mine can't solve… But for you?" He was a bit surprised by her words, but she moved past without letting it linger too much.

"Now as for Affinities. We'll cover both kinds since you have one of each."

"Both kinds?"

Seemingly seeing his confusion, she explained. "The simple ones, then the confusing ones." He frowned a bit at her words, having at first believed that it was an actual classification. "Your Affinity is often tied into your personality and consciousness, you'll naturally understand Magic of its type, with some of them having unique effects. Added onto that, when you want to cast a Spell of that type, your Affinity will naturally increase the Spell's efficiency and effectiveness, empowering it greatly."

"If you have multiple of the same Affinity, they will stack and increase in power. With the limit being five- "

"Unless you have the Title of War, right?"

She smiled. "Right." Moving to write something else on the board, she read it aloud as she spoke. "The first Affinity will double your Mana efficiency with that Magic type, a second will double it again, so on and so forth. So, it's a two times boost, then four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two."

"And if you have War… it could be a sixty-four, or even one hundred and twenty-eight…!"

"As for the more confusing Affinities, we'll start with Holy." Argus watched for a moment as Ruby drew up a strange diagram, showing all of the different kinds of Magic on it as well as all the Affinities. "Holy works uniquely from all the others, the Affinity doesn't apply at the same time, instead, if you wanna use Holy Magic, you change a Spell of a different type to its type. Using this, you can stack a Holy Affinity on an Affinity of any other type."

"Does that count for the boost?"

"Yes, an Affinity for Holy Magic can effectively act as an additional Affinity of any type added onto another." For a moment she paused, then chuckled. "Though, that doesn't work too well for the Big Four."

Before he could even ask why, Ruby continued. "As for the Big Four, we'll start with Platinum." Argus guessed that she would leave Silver for last… After all, they had the most to talk about when it came to that one. "A Platinum Affinity increases your ability to move your own Mana, including how much information you can store inside of it. It makes all of your Magic more efficient… From my knowledge, it depends on the exact user, but the boost will result in a three to five times boost in power."

He couldn't contain his curiosity, "How much is Glynda's?"

"I would ask her yourself." Ruby smiled at his curiosity, but continued without delaying on it. "As for Gold and Bronze…" Her smile faded, a frown slowly taking its place. "Unfortunately, we know some of what they can do, but not the finer details. Bronze, we know the least about out of all the Affinities, but from what I can tell, it's capable of altering how beings from other Planes perceive you.

Gold is powerful, anyone with a Gold Affinity will easily be able to become a powerful Wizard. Everything about spellcasting comes easy to them, their Mana is basically able to act on just a whim of theirs so long as it involves the creation of a Spell."

"So, like Innate Spells?" Ruby paused on his question for a moment, thinking it over curiously before checking some of the papers on her desk.

"In a way. That's a decent way of thinking about it, actually." Putting the papers down again, Ruby fully looked at him with a smile before continuing, "Now for the one you actually wanna hear about-"

"Silver!" He announced with a grin.

Ruby returned his expression with a brighter smile of her own. "Silver." She confirmed. "The Affinity for Technical Magic, it has the lowest combat potential of all the Big Four, but its capabilities to change society are easily the greatest." Pulling something out of her pocket, Ruby rested her Scroll on the desk. "For example, what is the greatest force of power on Remnant currently?"

Argus thought for a moment before answering carefully, "The Atlas fleet?"

"Yes," Ruby said with a nod. "It would probably take all four Harbingers to beat the fleet in a direct fight, and if you had to call it the result of any Affinity in particular- "

"I would call it a mixture of all four." His interruption left her stunned for a moment, but after recovering, Ruby waited for him to continue. "Well, it's got an army operating it. The weapons are powerful but need strong Spells behind them. They need a constant supply of Dust to keep them going… And they're all Magical Vehicles, right?"

Ruby's smile was bright as she nodded, "Yeah, you're right." Holding her hand up, Argus watched a flicker of red scales appear over it before they vanished once again. "But a Silver Affinity can do a lot more than just that."

"Enchantments, Curses, Magic items and objects… Even Creature Formulas are just complicated Curses…" It was just as all-encompassing as a Gold Affinity, if not more.

"Of course, there's also the Relics." While she was drawing another diagram, Argus spoke up again.

"What makes something a Relic?"

"The amount of Magic it can store. It depends on the talent or Affinity of the person making the item. It's not that there's actually more space on a higher quality item, rather someone with a better Affinity can use that space more efficiently. Its like how an Affinity affects the Mana usage of a Spell."

Argus nodded at that, watching his mother draw for a moment before he asked a follow up question, "But then why can't Magic items go up all the way to a Penta-Affinity? Why do they stop at Relics?"

The chalk paused halfway through a line. Ruby turned back to him with a smile, and explained, "Because the power would be too great otherwise." Turning back to continue drawing, Argus slowly watched it take shape as he thought about her words.

He was unsatisfied by that answer. "Why? A Silver Affinity isn't stronger than the others."

"No, its not… But its different. A Bronze Affinity can Summon an army, a Gold Affinity can conjure a meteor, but those effects are temporary. When a Silver Affinity works, it leaves something behind." Turning to look at him again, she spoke once more. "Just like the Relics."

Ruby Schnee

It had started a bit rocky, but Ruby had been enjoying life for these past few months.

Despite being betrayed by someone – again – Ruby found herself happy with her current duties. So far, Argus had taken incredibly well to his lessons. The boy was smart, and obviously knew a lot of what she had told him already, but he seemed to enjoy her perspective on the dozens of topics they would cover. Sometimes he even knew more than her about it.

The plants had found their permanent homes in the castles garden. Ruby had checked more times than she could count, and only than had she been confident with her observation. The plants were all able to survive in nearly any environment, so long as there was a prominent enough source of Magic to draw from. Which was the resource they had in abundance.

As for the Queen proper, Weiss was completely immune to her instincts this time round when it came to the pregnancy. She had been wearing the necklace Ruby had made since before Argus was born, so it was a problem solved before it started this time.

The process for Ruby had been swift to alleviate her instincts. A simple activation of Pride – and multiple insistences from Weiss to not take it too far – and there were no longer any problems from it. She was free to continue her duties, as well as live her life. These past few months, that mostly involved projects that she had left dormant for too long. One or two of those may have involved ways of getting past the defences of Vacuo and Mistral respectively. As for her own personal projects, Ruby had completed the construction of two new Magic Items.

Both of them were cloaks, but neither she believed she would ever wear. One was constructed for their baby, mainly due to Ruby realizing that it had become a part of their family now. Only Weiss refused to wear one. The other was for herself, but… Only for emergencies. Or, rather, a very specific one.

Her current weapon had been upgraded numerous times, the scythe now being quite the impressive thing… But still not good enough. Ruby believed it wasn't even deserving of a name, not when she compared it to the object that sometimes taunted her in her dreams. She kept journals full of details and processes, Magical effects and complex Enchantments that she had prepared for the new scythe, for her true weapon…

But as strange as it was, she couldn't figure out a main feature. There were so many little details and supporting Enchantments, side-shows that had made way for a non-existent main event. That space she had left free in her plans, that idea to bring it all together… She simply couldn't think of it. Perhaps it was a lack of creativity, perhaps a lack of experience, either way, it was a puzzle she couldn't crack.

This was the problem she found herself thinking over now, eyes locked onto a desk that her current scythe sat across with one of her more recent notebooks open next to her.

"It's a weapon, so I don't want to take away from that fact…" But what effect would the blade feature? That was the problem she mulled over as she stared up and down the weapon. "Currently its just made sharper using Magic… But…" She found that rather boring, besides, there was a limit as to how far that could go.

"Maybe you could make it come back to you after you throw it?"

"No, there's already a side Enchantment for-" Her eyes blinked for a moment before she jumped and turned in surprise. "Weiss?"

"Hello, Darling." The Queen smiled at her without a care, leaned over slightly to look into her eyes from a closer view as Ruby sat. Ruby quickly alleviated that problem however, standing to make sure Weiss didn't have to lean or bend at all… Well, she did have to look up into her eyes now.

"Are you ok?" That had become her standard greeting to her wife recently, and as usual, Weiss responded with a roll of her eyes. "Ok, ok. Sorry." They shared a small smile for a moment. "But did you need something? Or are you just here to get away from the council for a minute?"

"Ugh." Letting out a rather undignified groan as she sat in the seat Ruby had just stood from, Weiss made a few more noises of complaint before elaborating on her current mood. "Good news and bad news… Which do you want first?"

"Bad news first so we can end on a good note," Ruby said with a grin as she kneeled down in front of her, running her hands down the bump in Weiss' tummy affectionately.

Weiss sighed gently before saying, "I want you to remember that for after I'm done. Anyway, we've gotten reports on Mistral forces marching on Argus."

"They're trampling our son!?" Ruby exclaimed with feigned outrage.

"Hush. Normally we could just abandon the fortress without worry… In fact, that is Whitley's plan."

"But?"

Weiss let out another sigh. "But… Argus is named after that fortress. There's a message behind just letting Mistral take it. We can't just ignore it… Even if it is in enemy territory."

Taking a moment, Ruby nodded gently before thinking. "I could fly out and handle it." As if to show her distaste for that idea, Weiss' hand swiftly grabbed Ruby's own. "… Or, we could send a member of the Drake Squad." Ruby's own hand tightened around Weiss' as if to show her distaste for that idea.

Ruby had found it hard to trust anyone outside of a certain group of people, and that was before Emerald. After that, it had only gotten worse… Now Gray as well?

"I wouldn't mind sending them if they were surrounded by people that can beat them…" Sending them with the fleet or Qrow or Pyrrha would be fine… But Ruby didn't trust them on their own, not anymore. Save for Blake, of course. Velvet would have been an exception… If Gray hadn't been her recommendation.

"My brother has offered to send Selena if you turned her into a Dragon." Both of them this time made a noise of distaste. "But that would involve you flying to Atlas."

"So… Where does that leave us?" Ruby tried to think up a solution, but so far, she came up short. She herself couldn't leave, not now, Argus was finally used to having her back and she had too many open projects to leave as is. Qrow had to remain in case Hazel attacked Vale, Pyrrha had to remain in case Dagon tried the same… Jaune was in a similar boat, but Ruby wasn't sure he could face an army alone anyway.

"The Drake Squad is out… And we can't send Coco either…" While yes, Coco was currently an active Dragon… Ruby still wasn't sure about sending her alone. For that same reason, recalling Yang wouldn't work out. That would leave Coco on her own.

"I believe I have an idea, which is the good news." Ruby's head tilted as Weiss spoke. "Glynda has informed me that if Qrow and herself assist me, I could project one of my Summons across Remnant." Taking a moment to wrap her head around that, Ruby immediately had several issues with that.

"Is that… Safe?"

"Ruby, I'll be fine."

She shook her head. "Maybe, but… What about…" Her hands moved back down to Weiss' belly. "There's a reason your Transformations become blocked… Really powerful Magic could have negative effects as well."

"Ruby," Weiss spoke with a calm and reassuring voice. "I won't be too strained, I promise. Besides, Glynda and Qrow will be taking some of the impact themselves."

Standing now, Ruby held both her hands. "Let me fly out to deal with it, it'll only be a few days… Or, better yet, just let them have the fortress."

A small frown settled over Weiss' expression. "Ruby… I promise you; I can do this. I'm not some weak damsel in distress."

"You are to me." Ruby said with an emphasised pout.

It only served to get a chuckle out of the Queen. "Ok, I am. But… I need to do this Ruby."

"If you're sure… Then ok. But I want to know why." Weiss wasn't just saying she would do this because she wanted to prove herself. There was a deeper reason to it, and Ruby wanted to know before it happened.

With a sigh, Weiss explained. "During the Flats Lock… I treated you horribly." Ruby went to refute that, but Weiss refused to let her. "I know you won't accept an apology. I love you Ruby, but you justify everything I do… Even the bad. I know I've wronged you, so I need to do this so you don't have to." Reaching up, Weiss drew her face down by her cheeks in a gentle grasp before she kissed her lips softly. "I don't want to have to send you out there again."

Even though Ruby disagreed, she found herself unable to argue with her wife. Practically melted into her grasp, her eyes felt heavy suddenly as she chuckled. "Comfy, are you?" Weiss' sweet whisper was only given a nod in response, to which the Queen chuckled. "As much as I want to let you sleep, here might not be the best place."

Standing with a sigh of agreement, Ruby helped Weiss to her feet before they began to walk back to their room.

Still, despite Weiss' words, despite the fact that Ruby had agreed… She still couldn't shake a horrible feeling.

It was like this moment had been a turning point of sorts.

"But did I make the right choice…?"

27th Day, Third Strike, 2117 PE