Beta-ed by xenosaiyan

Yang hated hospitals. Especially when she was visiting family in them.

Sitting at a knocked-out Ruby's bedside in the Beacon infirmary, the equally unconscious Weiss and Blake in the beds next to her, brought back bad memories of visiting her dad when he'd been at Patch General for his heart problems. Memories she had no desire to revisit.

So instead, she wondered if Ozpin had called him, let him know his youngest daughter had awakened a Signer Mark, shot silver laser beams from her eyes to knock her two berserk teammates out, and then fallen unconscious herself. Probably not. From what her dad and even Uncle Qrow had told her, and how the headmaster had hustled Team RWBY and Team JNPR to the infirmary as soon as he'd arrived at the duel arena and told them to mention what happened to no one, the chief hunting duelist of Beacon preferred to handle such potential scandals 'in-house'. Less of a chance to attract public attention, cause a mess of negativity, and bring down a Grimm horde that way.

Unfortunately, that tendency left Yang all alone watching over her knocked-out team, the headmaster having granted her request to be excused from classes for the next few days. She'd brought a plate of cookies for Ruby when her little sis finally woke up and sat down awaiting them to get better. And admittedly, as a precaution in case Blake woke up and decided to go all Odd-Eyed Bandit on Weiss.

"Yang?"

Yang peeked up from where she was hunched over clutching Ruby's hand, her violet eyes shifting over to the infirmary entrance, Pyrrha nervously standing in the doorway.

"Hello again," the champion greeted, raising a hand to wave before hesitating.

Yang chuckled a bit at the Mistral girl's awkward stance, shooting her a soft smile. "Hey, P-Money. How you doing? Team recovering after… everything that happened yesterday?"

"They're… alright," Pyrrha shrugged, the tall, graceful redhead striding over to sit beside her friend, seamlessly shifting her Obelisk Blue skirt as she took her seat and looked at the unconscious members of Team RWBY. "Jaune and Nora are worried out of their minds, confused on how Blake is the Odd-Eyed Bandit. Ren is too, but he's good enough at putting it out of his mind that he can focus on class. He's taking notes for me in Port's class so that I could… um… engage in independent study here."

"The Invincible Girl cutting class. Never thought you'd have it in you," Yang teased, a happy but concerned smile twinkling over her lips. "How are you doing?"

"Huh? I just told you–"

"-how the others are doing. Not how you're doing," Yang gently pointed out. "Take it from a big sis extraordinaire currently kicking herself for not being unconscious with the rest of her team, I get it. We're the oldest. We're the strongest. So we should be the ones to take care of everyone else, make sure they don't fall apart. But… that doesn't mean you don't get to feel too."

Pyrrha bit her lip, her emerald eyes falling to where Yang was reverently clutching Ruby's arm. "It's… it's not important. Not right now. You're dealing with more important stuff–"

"Pyrrha," Yang cut in, giving her fellow Obelisk Blue a playful nudge and wink. She grabbed Ruby's sleeve and pulled it down to reveal her sister's new dark red dragon claw tattoo. "You wanna ask about the mark? Ask."

"I… I…" Pyrrha stammered, only to finally sigh. "I'm sorry. But yesterday, what happened to you four with Weiss and Blake's dragons and Ruby's eyes… that wasn't aura. And this mark seems to be the only clue about what was going on, and you and Ruby seemed to recognize it even though it just suddenly appeared on her."

Yang cracked a wistful smile at her sister's new tattoo. "It's called a Signer Mark. It appears on people that're chosen by certain dragons as Signers."

"And… what is a Signer?"

"That is a question I've been asking my dad and uncle since I was three," Yang sighed. "Back then, I was just confused why my mom and dad had such badass tattoos but said I couldn't get one. So they told me it was tied to their ace dragons, which were special one-of-a-kind cards, same as… another of their old teammates."

For a moment, she felt guilty about not saying her name, about downplaying what the third Signer had been to both her parents. She'd encouraged Pyrrha to ask even though the redhead had been perfectly willing to let it lie, so she deserved the whole truth.

But… even if she considered Pyrrha a dear friend already, she hadn't known her long. Raven wasn't a topic she broached easily. She'd play that card close to the chest for now.

"But when I say one-of-a-kind cards, I don't mean the usual secret dust formula or a unique aura being the key," Yang explained. "The spirits of Signer Dragons are alive, even more than most monsters. They choose if they want to come into your card when you're making it, it's impossible to force it. Trust me, I've tried. Hot Red Dragon Archfiend was the closest I could get to my dad's dragon and my mom's…"

Once again, she considered if she should be so open with Pyrrha, but this time her hand went to her deck box and pulled out an incomplete card with barely any deliberation. As painful as mourning her could be at times, she was far more proud of her love for Summer than whatever it was she had for Raven.

"... over a decade since we lost her, and this is the closest I've ever been able to get to replicating her Stardust Dragon," she said. "I studied the dust ratios, the aura modulations of the forging process, everything. I got the right type, right attribute, even the right attack and defense points. But the spirit's either still out there in its old card or if that card was destroyed and the spirit was released… it doesn't want me. Not like Black Rose Dragon wanted Ruby."

She couldn't deny there was a pang of jealousy in her voice when she said those words. All her effort to recreate Stardust Dragon or Red Dragon Archfiend, to become a Signer and prove herself worthy of being Summer Rose's daughter, and Ruby did it without even trying, forging a Signer Dragon so perfect for her that they hadn't even realized it was a Signer Dragon until her mark had appeared.

Of course, that pang of jealousy quickly got dogpiled and brutally murdered by the all-consuming older sibling pride Yang felt. Her little sister was the most adorable, Grimm-massacring, genius duelist Remnant had ever seen. What dragon in their right mind wouldn't want her to wield them?

"One-of-a-kind monsters that have their spirits choose the duelists," Pyrrha murmured. "So, they're like Numbers, but as Synchro monsters?"

Yang pursed her lips in thought. "I never thought of it that way, but I guess so. Though, according to my dad, the Signer Dragons don't come from Remnant."

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow. "The Numbers aren't either."

"Really?"

"Really," Pyrrha replied, flashing a playful smile for the first time that day. "There are quite a few differing legends about how they came about. They were an invading army in ancient Remnant, they were summoned to save reality, etc. But almost all of them have their origins being otherworldly."

"Huh. Weird," Yang remarked. "According to my dad, the Signer Dragons were 'running from the light that fuelled them, for it had turned to destruction'."

Pyrrha cocked her head to the side. "What does that mean?"

"Heck if I know. He's usually not that cryptic. I mean, he was hopped up on heart medication at the time, recovering from quite a few underground duels," Yang shrugged. She glanced up at the infirmary's entrance. "What about you, Handsome? You got anything to contribute to the conversation or you just gonna lurk?"

Her call-out lingered in the air for a moment, Pyrrha's face confused as she followed her gaze. For a few seconds of quiet, Yang wondered if she'd misinterpreted that brief metallic squeak she'd caught soon after her friend had arrived.

Fortunately for her self-esteem and not looking like a crazy person to Pyrrha, a silver-haired guy in a Ra Yellow uniform with high boots over his pants sauntered into the room with a slouch and his hands shoved into his pockets.

"What can I say? I'm a lurker," he said with a shrug and a smirk. "I lurk."

"So we see," Pyrrha wryly observed. "Mercury, right? Professor Port's student teacher?"

"Pretty much. The top Haven first-year. Or you know, at least the top Haven first-year that wanted to come on this little field trip," the guy replied. "And you're Pyrrha Nikos. Word is you're the top first-year here. Some say just flat-out the best duelist of all three years. Didn't expect you to be cutting class. Ol' Bushy Brows sent me to bring you back."

Pyrrha winced, a bit ashamed, so Yang leaned forward in her defense, narrowing her eyes at the arrogant Haven student. She gestured towards Ruby, Weiss, and Blake. "She's got a lot on her mind."

"So I see. But you're the only one that got the day off because of your team, blondie. Everyone else still has class," Mercury blithely noted. "Honestly though, I can't say I blame the champ. A guy can only hear Bushy Brow's lectures so many times before even falling asleep to them becomes a chore. I'm grateful for the chance to get away for a bit."

Yang's lips formed an eager smile, an idea forming behind her head. "Is that so? I've got a proposal then.

"Yang?" Pyrrha queried. "What are you doing?"

"Like I said, big sis extraordinaire," Yang answered. She couldn't do squat for Ruby right now, but she could at least keep Pyrrha from getting in trouble for coming to check on them. She looked up at Mercury. "You game to listen?"

"Why not?" the Haven Ra Yellow shrugged. "I got nothing better to do."

"A duel. You versus me," Yang offered. "I win, you let Pyrrha and go back to Professor Port with a sob story about how she was just so concerned for me and my team that it was her sworn duty as a hunting duelist to be by her side, no matter what the cost to her. The big softie'll eat it right up and P-Money won't get in trouble."

"Diabolical," Mercury rolled his eyes. "And if I win?"

"Then you can brag about how Haven's best first-year managed to beat Beacon's second-best first-year."

"Truly, it'll be like I won the Vytal Festival," he dryly intoned. Still, he pulled out his deck and shuffled despite the sarcasm. "Still, the more excuse I have to stay away from the snore-fest, the better. No aura bodies though. Let's keep this casual, shall we?"

"Fine by me," Yang remarked. The guy must have had some Synchro or Xyz monster that he couldn't summon with an aura body yet. She might have had an advantage if they dueled with live aura then, but she didn't want to leave Ruby and the others to book a sparring arena.

Besides, this way she got to see how she squared up with one of Haven's best when they were both going all out. Her Burning Soul demanded she duel her opponent at the top of their game.

Mercury pulled over a small bedside stand, setting his deck on one end and his impressively sized Extra Deck on the other. Yang made to join him on the opposite side, but Pyrrha caught her arm.

"You don't need to do this on my account," Pyrrha tried to reassure her. "I did break the rules–"

"Don't worry about it, P-Money. Friends look out for friends," Yang cheerily told her. "Besides, after everything that happened yesterday, I could use a good duel to take my mind off things."

The Mistral Champion didn't look sure, but Yang pressed on and took her seat opposite Mercury, placing her deck down on the table as they both drew their hands.

Yang Xiao-Long: 4000 Life Points

Mercury Black: 4000 Life Points

"Might as well start. I play Reasoning," Mercury said, placing down a spell card. "You pick a level and then I start excavating cards from the top of my deck until I hit a monster. If it's the level you called, all the excavated cards go to the graveyard. If it's not, I summon the monster… and the other excavated cards go to the graveyard."

"You're putting your deck at the mercy of your opponent?" Pyrrha questioned. "That seems unnecessarily risky."

"I like it," Yang begrudgingly smirked.

"Eh, it's laziness more than anything," Mercury remarked, leaning back in his chair. "You picking the number gives me one less thing to do. Besides, you've got twelve options and only one pick. Since you haven't seen my deck, odds are in my favor."

"True. But there are some tried and true patterns to Duel Monsters," Yang responded. "I pick level four."

Mercury chuckled. "Not bad. You'd be surprised how many people don't think to pick the most common level in the game."

He started flipping over the top cards of his deck.

Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade. Spell card.

Jolt Counter. Trap card.

Magnum Shield. Spell card.

Battlin' Boxer Glassjaw. Monster card… level four.

"Bad luck, handsome," Yang mocked, all four cards going to the graveyard.

"No problem, blondie," Mercury nonchalantly remarked, sliding another spell onto his field. "I activate Battlin' Boxer Spirits. Top card of my deck goes to the graveyard and then I get to summon a Battlin' Boxer from my graveyard in defense mode."

Yang chuckled, her opponent placing Battlin' Boxer Glassjaw (ATK 2000/DEF 0) on his field with its card sideways. He was ready to push his strategy forward no matter how Reasoning's effect turned out. She wasn't sure if she'd call him Mistral's best yet, she had dueled Pyrrha after all, but he was certainly no amateur.

"Next, I'll normal summon Battlin' Boxer Switchhitter. And his effect lets him summon back the Battlin' Boxer Shadow that my last spell card sent to the graveyard," Mercury revealed, placing Switchhitter (ATK 1500/DEF 1400) and Shadow (ATK 1800/DEF 1400) on the field next to Glassjaw before sliding a card into his back row. "I set one card facedown and end my turn."

"That's it?" Yang questioned. "Gotta admit, three level fours? I was thinking you were gonna Xyz Summon."

"Well, I didn't," The Haven Ra Yellow yawned. "Your move."

Yang frowned at the offhand dismissal but drew a card from her deck. She'd show him not to take her seriously.

She looked over the six cards in her hand before selecting one to play, her level five Vice Dragon (ATK 2000/DEF 2400). "Since you have a monster on your field and I don't, I can special summon Vice Dragon with half its attack. But, it won't be here long. I tribute it to summon Strong Wind Dragon. And since I'm tributing a dragon-type, it gains half of Vice Dragon's attack points."

She removed Vice Dragon from her field and laid Strong Wind Dragon (ATK 2400/DEF 1000), a bigger, green wind dragon, down in its place, its power boosted by its effect (ATK 3400).

"I attack your Glassjaw," Yang declared.

Mercury raised an eyebrow. "Piercing damage?"

"Yup," Yang confirmed. "So say goodbye to most of your life points."

"I would," Mercury coyly smirked. "Except, Glassjaw destroys itself whenever it's targeted for an attack."

"What?!" Yang exclaimed. "Why would you play a monster like that?"

"Battlin' Boxers…" Pyrrha mused, narrowing her eyes at the field while rubbing her chin in thought. "It usually brings a Battlin' Boxer back to your hand when it's destroyed by card effect, right? I faced a few users of them in my first two tournaments."

"Usually. But I've got no others in my grave, so it doesn't do squat," Mercury confirmed, flipping over his back row card. "My continuous trap card Backfire however, deals you five hundred points of damage every time a fire attribute monster of mine is destroyed."

Yang Xiao-Long: 3500 Life Points

Yang's frown deepened in disappointment. "Really? That's it?"

"Were you expecting Mirror Force?" Mercury snarked, pointing back at the unconscious Weiss. "Do I look like I'm made of money like your heiress friend?"

"She's unconscious!" Pyrrha squawked, outraged.

"And that suddenly means she's not rich?"

"Strong Wind Dragon attacks Battlin' Boxer Shadow," Yang scowled. Since the battle hadn't reached the Damage Step, she still had an attack.

Mercury pulled away his Shadow to join his Glassjaw in the graveyard while his trap card activated again.

Mercury Black: 2400 Life Points

Yang Xiao-Long: 3000 Life Points

"What's with the scowl, blondie?" Mercury mischievously snarked with a sly smile."You're winning."

Yang growled, annoyed. "Is that trap card really the plan you're going with? An Extra Deck that big, you've got to have at least one rank four Xyz monster. But instead of using it, you're relying on a single trap card to slowly chip away at my life points by letting your own monsters get destroyed. A strategy that won't work because I can deal way more battle damage to you faster than you can burn me."

Mercury shrugged. "Hey, you're the one who says I have an Xyz monster I can summon."

"Cut the act. How can you duel like that?" Yang derisively snorted. "You're not gonna win."

Mercury paused, his smug expression twitching for the first since he'd walked into the infirmary. The silver-haired boy leaned forward, his uncaring posture shifting at last. "I duel how I need to duel in any particular match. And, in case you haven't caught on yet, Blondie, I don't care if I win this one."

"You don't care if you win?" Pyrrha repeated, as if the words were alien to her.

"Did you think I had some hard-on for getting you in trouble?" Mercury asked. "We established that I'm in this duel to stay out of Professor Windbag's class as long as I can, right? There's nothing in this for me if I win."

Yang's fist smashed down on the side of the table, the cards rattling atop the surface of the desk, the top card of her opponent's Extra Deck jumping over onto its opposite side. "Not minding if you lose is not the same thing as not caring if you win. A duel is a clash of the duelists' spirits, their souls. You owe it to your opponent to come at them with everything you've got. How else are you both supposed to enjoy it?"

The twitch in Mercury's smug expression deepened into a disgusted frown. "Enjoy dueling?"

Yang blinked in surprise. She was well aware that there were those who didn't agree with her and her dad's Burning Soul philosophy, but she hadn't encountered that particular form of disagreement before. Pyrrha had been disillusioned and couldn't believe it when they'd first met. A few of her more jaded teachers at Signal had laughed it off, treating the assertion as naive and blamed it for her dad's brief fall into underground duels after mom's death.

Mercury Black was the first person she'd ever met who'd reacted to the idea that dueling could be fun with utter revulsion.

Of course, that peek under his hood only lasted a brief moment before his smug face was back in place. The silver-haired Ra Yellow flipped the revealed top monster of his Extra Deck back over (Yang only caught the black border of an Xyz Monster. She knew he had one!) and planted the last card in his hand onto the field in defense mode (ATK 0/DEF 1800). "When I take battle damage, I can summon Battlin' Boxer Veil from my hand and regain the life points equal to the damage."

Mercury Black: 4000 Life Points

"Well, at least that's something," Yang taunted, glancing at the Resonator Command in her hand. "I lay two cards facedown and end my turn."

"My move then," Mercury declared, drawing for his turn and smirking. "I switch Battlin' Boxer Veil to attack mode."

Yang cocked an eyebrow. "If you're giving up, surrender would be a lot less painful than switching a zero attack point monster out of defense mode."

"I activate Hidden Armory. Now, in exchange for my ability to normal summon or set this turn, I get to add an equip spell from my deck to my hand," Mercury said, ignoring Yang's comment to pull a card from his deck. "I'll equip Moon Mirror Shield onto Battlin' Boxer Veil."

Pyrrha's breath caught in her throat. Yang turned to check on her, but Mercury wagged a finger at the champion.

"Ah ah ah! No spoilers, Invincible Girl. A duel is 'a clash of two duelists' spirits' isn't it," he mocked. "Of course, Blondie here won't have to wait long. I attack Strong Wind Dragon with Battlin' Boxer Veil. During damage calculation, Moon Mirror Shield's effect raises Veil's attack… to exactly one hundred points higher than whatever monster it's currently battling."

Yang's eyes widened, forced to pull her over three thousand attack point dragon into the graveyard as it was destroyed from fighting a monster that still only had zero attack after the battle. That was one powerful equip spell.

Yang Xiao-Long: 2900 Life Points

"Next, Battlin' Boxer Switchhitter attacks you directly."

Yang Xiao-Long: 1400 Life Points

"I end my turn," Mercury announced, leaning back in his seat. "Looks Beacon isn't much to write home about after all if an Obelisk Blue can't beat a Haven Ra Yellow that's not even taking the duel seriously."

"At the end of your turn, I activate Resonator Command. It lets me discard Creation Resonator to add a level four or lower Fiend-Type to my hand. I pick Red Resonator," Yang said, glaring at her opponent's insult to her school as she searched for her monster and then drew for her turn. "I activate Monster Reborn and use it to bring my Vice Dragon back from the graveyard. Then, I'll normal summon Red Resonator and use its effect to special summon Magic Hole Golem from my hand in defense mode."

She swiftly populated her formerly empty field, her Vice Dragon (ATK 2000/DEF 2400) and Red Resonator (ATK 600/DEF 200) positioned straight up while Magic Hole Golem (0 ATK/DEF 2000) was secured sideways.

"Next, I'll tune Red Resonator with Vice Dragon to synchro summon Exploder Dragonwing."

She piled her Tuner and non-Tuner together and placed both in her graveyard, pulling her darker dragon with its massive explosive bile sac (ATK 2400/DEF 1600) from her Extra Deck and into her Extra Monster Zone.

"Since I have a Synchro monster on the field, I can special summon Synkron Resonator from my hand," Yang said, placing the small fiend (ATK 100/DEF 100) next to Magic Hole Golem on her field. "Exploder Dragonwing attacks Battlin' Boxer Veil."

"Really?" Mercury said quizzically. "You realize Moon Mirror Shield'll just go off again during damage calculation?"

Yang smirked victoriously. "It won't be getting that far. When Exploder Dragonwing battles a monster with equal or lower attack, it can destroy it instantly at the start of the Damage Step. You would take damage equal to its attack points, but it won't have any, so you lucked out there."

"You didn't," Mercury smirked. "Backfire triggers with Veil's destruction. Though Moon Mirror Shield does make me pay five hundred life points to point it on the top or bottom of my deck. Since your dragon makes it useless, I'll pick bottom."

Yang Xiao-Long: 900 Life Points

Mercury Black: 3500 Life Points

"I take it that's your turn?" the silver-haired boy asked.

Yang grinned and flipped over her last facedown. "I activate Urgent Tuning."

"Yes!" Pyrrha fistpumped.

Even Mercury seemed impressed by her move. "One Battle Phase synchro summon then."

"Yup," Yang said, pulling Exploder Dragonwing and Synkron Resonator away as she called forth her ace (ATK 3000/DEF 2000). "Hot Red Dragon Archfiend. Goes without saying, but he attacks your Battlin' Boxer Switchhitter."

"And Backfire hits you again," Mercury remarked, placing his monster in the graveyard.

Mercury Black: 2000 Life Points

Yang Xiao-Long: 400 Life Points

"Only four hundred points left," Mercury observed. "One more of my fire monsters dies and that's it for you."

"You've got no cards in hand. None on your field other than your trap," Yang countered, smirking with a swaggering confidence. "Even if you do draw a monster, it's gotta be strong enough to fight my Hot Red Dragon Archfiend without the battle damage taking you out."

"More than a thousand attack? Not exactly a high bar," Mercury scoffed. "Besides, there's always defense mode."

"Is there? Well then, nothing to do but draw," Yang challenged, wriggling a taunting eyebrow at him while tapping a finger on her Magic Hole Golem. "What's the matter? I thought you didn't care about winning? Doesn't that mean you've got nothing to be afraid of?"

Mercury's steely-gray eyes narrowed into a glare. Without a word, his hand moved over his deck, his fingers wrapping around the lip of the top card…

… only for his palm to press flat over the stack.

"I forfeit," he shrugged.

Mercury Black: 0 Life Points

Winner: Yang Xiao-Long

Yang shot to her feet, her chair smacking to the ground as her eyes burned red. Pyrrha dashed forward and grabbed her friend by the shoulder, probably worried the livid girl was gonna flat-out slug the cocky Haven student. Honestly, the blonde had no clue if the worry was valid or not.

"You didn't even look at it," she snarled accusingly. "Why–"

RING! RING! RING!

Mercury pointed a finger up at the ringing school bell, gathering up his cards and rising to his feet. "Looks like this class period is over. Don't worry, I'll keep my word and spin Bushy Brow a sob story for the champ."

"Thank you," Pyrrha replied, though she couldn't keep a frown from her face. "You were keeping track of the time all along, weren't you?"

"Ding, ding, ding. The Invincible Girl wins again," Mercury flatly mocked. He turned his back and sauntered for the door. "Be seeing you, ladies–"

"We're gonna duel again."

Mercury snorted, pausing but not turning around as Yang glared at his back, her eyes settling back to violet. "It's lunchtime, Blondie. I'm not sticking around to duel you when those sweet golden eggwichs are waiting for me."

"I don't mean now. I mean at the Vytal Festival," Yang declared. "I don't know why you don't enjoy dueling. Guess you've gotta have some reason or another. But when we face-off at the Vytal Festival, with the whole world watching, my Burning Soul is gonna stoke your fire like nothing you've ever seen."

"Is it really?" Mercury snarked.

Yang nodded, a playful smile blossoming over her lips. "Your spirit's gonna clash with mine, with everything we've got. And a match that kickass is gonna show you just how much fun dueling can be."

Mercury kept his back turned to her, standing completely still for several long seconds. Then, he strode out of the infirmary without another word.

"Man, that guy sure is prickly."

Yang and Pyrrha both whirled around to find Ruby looking past them at the doorway while lying back in bed and discreetly nibbling one of the cookies Yang had left on her bedside table.

"Ruby!" Pyrrha ecstatically exclaimed. "You're awake!"

"I was woken from my slumber by sounds of an epic duel," Ruby stated, devouring the cookie in her hands and snatching another from the plate on her nightstand. "Also cookies. Wonderful… sweet… chocolate chip cookies…"

Yang laughed, rushing over and squeezing her cute baby sister in a tight hug into her chest. "Well, guess that means you're back to normal. Huh, sis?"

"Yes… normal!" Ruby choked. "Need… air!"

Yang giggled and released her little sister, Ruby quickly gulping in a gasp of air. Of course, once she did, her smile returned.

"You really had him up against the wall, Yang," Ruby complimented. "With Magic Hole Golem, even if he did put a monster in defense mode, you could just halve Hot Red Dragon Archfiend's attack and attack him directly."

"Heh, that was the general idea," Yang chuckled, sheepishly rubbing the back of her hair. "Gotta admit though, he was good. He was intentionally using a bad strategy and not using his Xyz monsters, and he still would've had me if he drew a monster with a thousand or more attack points."

"He was a cunning opponent. I can only imagine how formidable he'd be if he cared to try," Pyrrha remarked, only for her eyes to turn to Ruby in thought. "Ruby, if it's alright to ask, what happened yesterday?"

"I've been out a whole day? Ergh, I had Oobleck's class today. There's gonna be so much homework to catch up on," Ruby groaned. She rolled up her sleeve to display her Signer Mark. "But as for yesterday though, I'm about to let you in on the great secret of Team STRQ. For you see, this tattoo marks me as the chosen wielder of a legendary dragon, a Signer of destiny–"

"I already told her about the Signers," Yang cut in.

"What? Darn it, Yang!" Ruby pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. "What's the point of having discovered my signature dragon has chosen me to be part of our family's super cool and vague destiny if I don't get to dramatically tell people about it?"

"Heheh, sorry. You can tell Jaune and the others," Yang nervously promised, trying to ignore the sting that her sister's words had unknowingly tweaked in her heart. Ruby was a part of their family's super cool and vague destiny… and she wasn't.

Still, Pyrrha's frown just deepened in contemplation. "Still, would being a Signer cause your eyes to unleash that kind of silver light?"

Ruby tilted her head in confusion. "My eyes did what?"

"You shot lasers from your eyeballs," Yang summarized.

"Really?!" Ruby squeed, her eyes twinkling. "That's so cool!"

"Yeah, it knocked Weiss and Blake out of whatever the heck was going on with them," Yang nodded. "I mean, it also knocked them out, but I get the feeling worse would have happened if they didn't stop."

Ruby's cheer evaporated, her head swiveling over to her fellow bedridden teammates. " I did that to them? I… I didn't mean to. I just… I didn't want them to hurt each other."

"Ruby, you hardly could have known about whatever insanity that was with their dragons," Pyrrha attempted to comfort her. "You certainly didn't know about whatever your eyes did."

"But I'm their team leader. I was the one who told them to duel," Ruby hissed, shaking her head against her palm. "I should have stopped it as soon as Blake summoned her Odd-Eyes, once I knew who she was, it was obvious that putting her and Weiss in an arena together was a bad idea."

Ah yes, that detail. In all the hubbub about Signers, laser eyes, and berserk dragons, Yang had almost forgotten that her partner was secretly not only a cat faunus, but the Odd-Eyed Bandit, legendary White Fang train robber and partner to the infamous Blood-Soaked Bull Adam Taurus.

Of course, since Ozpin had plainly seen Blake's uncovered cat ears when he'd arrived back at the duel arena and proceeded to replace her bow to hide them while they were transported to the infirmary, Yang had to assume the headmaster had known who she was when he'd admitted her to the school. Which was honestly a relief for the blonde, as for as prickly as her partner could be at times, she'd never gotten the feeling Blake was a bad person.

She'd trust the headmaster's judgment on this one. He knew what he was doing, right?

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

"Do you know what you're doing at all?" Glynda incredulously asked Ozpin, both of their gazes locked on a scroll playing the removed duel arena security footage of Ms. Schnee and Ms. Belladonna's duel. "I mean, please don't tell me this was all part of some secret plan of yours to awaken Ms. Rose's silver eyes as soon as possible."

Ozpin sighed. "Glynda, I am aware of the enigmatic image I project, but I am, unfortunately for us all, not as omniscient as I sometimes seem. Of the six magic attributes, my expertise lies only in the Creation and Destruction domains of the Brother Gods and Remnant. Powers from outside this world such as the Light Magic that bore the Signer Dragons are such I have admittedly dabbled with over the millennia, but not enough to effectively manufacture Ms. Rose's mark to reveal itself when I didn't even know it was hidden."

Indeed, while he'd encountered several different Signers even before Summer, Raven, and Tai, Black Rose Dragon was not one of the three dragons he'd encountered before. He wanted to be optimistic and believe that it was merely a refugee from the wars beyond like its fellows, but he found it difficult to believe it had evaded the Light of Destruction's influence after so long and finally escaped through the cracks in the Brothers' barrier to Remnant. Still, it had acted to save Ms. Rose from whatever affliction had struck her and her sister during the duel, so he'd be cautiously optimistic for the moment.

Especially when he had something far more worrisome to be concerned about instead.

"What about what happened to Ms. Schnee and Ms. Belladonna?" Glynda inquired, pointing to the girls' dragons on the scroll. "What are Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon capable of?"

"I have no idea."

Glynda frowned. "You have 'no idea'. Is that a joke–"

Her words froze on her lips as Ozpin's head rose and she saw his intense, and very much not joking, face.

"I have existed on Remnant for centuries. I fought alongside the Brother Gods against the Great Invader and his Emperors. I have been honored to be trusted by a Legendary Dragon despite my many mistakes. I have seen Signers, Dark Signers, Number-wielders, and even God Cards. I have not seen every monster that exists, but I have seen most and all that would have the ability to channel massive amounts of magic," the headmaster declared, only to point towards the dragons on the scroll. "I have never seen these two dragons. I have never even heard of them."

"You haven't…" Glynda muttered, the stern and stoic hunting duelist's eyes wide with terror. "... you're saying we have no idea what we're dealing with here?"

"None whatsoever," Ozpin gravely confirmed.

It didn't make any sense. He'd only ever seen Creation and Destruction Magic on this scale wielded by monsters from the time of the Brother Gods. Even if Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon might have existed back then without his knowledge, Pendulum had been invented less than a century ago, so Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon couldn't have. And given the pair's synchronicity with their duelists and their seeming effect on Ms. Rose and Ms. Xiao-Long, that meant… that meant…

… he didn't know what that meant.

Save perhaps one stray thought, an old scheme The Queen had mentioned to him long ago when they were still allies. A scheme he had buried all knowledge of Fusion to hamstring, succeeding in doing so for thousands of years.

But even if the spell to form a new god still evaded Remnant… he had a dreadful suspicion that the pieces were somehow beginning to manifest.

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

Secluded alcove? Check.

Encrypted scroll line? Check.

Delicious golden eggwich that he'd need to get through this mess? Check.

Mercury took a bite out of his lunch in one hand while dialing the boss lady with the other. A few rings and that familiar sultry yet somehow still aggravating voice growled through. "Report."

"Dug around about that magic surge your dragon detected," Mercury dutifully relayed, internally wondering again how that kind of sentence was now normal for his life.

If someone had told him a year ago that he'd finally succeed in beating his father in a duel and killing him, only to end up tangled up in a conspiracy involving maidens and magic, he'd have kicked them into a Beowolf. But, lo and behold, here he was sent in as Cinder's advanced scout as Haven's first-year pick for the Cultural Exchange Program, a Ra Yellow to keep as many eyes off him as possible (and because his dad's 'education' hadn't exactly left him equipped to deal with a traditional written education). Fortunately for his current task, there had been plenty of gossip about how three-quarters of Team RWBY, the team of the Schnee heiress and the blonde who'd dueled Pyrrha Nikos herself in the pre-term exhibition match, had been sighted unconscious in the infirmary and how the entire team had been absent from classes. It wasn't difficult to figure out where he needed to focus his effort or to listen in on Yang Xiao-Long's explanation to Nikos.

"Apparently, a 'Ruby Rose' here is a Signer," he spoke into the scroll. "It's a–"

"I know what a Signer is," the boss lady snarled. "I've killed one before."

Despite himself, Mercury flinched away from his scroll. Even miles away, his employer's pettiness was only matched by her ability to indulge it with the vast amount of pain she could bring down on him for even the slightest insubordination.

"Still, one Signer should not have been able to produce enough power to get Hermos to notice from so far away. Their dragons are cut off from their main power source on Remnant, it's why they fled here," the boss lady mused. "Keep looking into the matter. This Ruby Rose may be of interest."

The encrypted line clicked dead before Mercury had a chance to reply. The silver-haired mercenary rolled his eyes and shoved his scroll into his pocket, taking an angry bite of his eggwich. After all, looking into Ruby Rose more would likely mean more contact with her personal blonde attack Ursa.

It disturbed him how unsettled he was by his duel with Yang Xiao-Long. He shouldn't have been. He'd succeeded in everything he'd set out to do with that match. He'd done his job, kept his true skill level, specifically the Fusion cards he'd gotten from the boss, hidden while distracting the blonde and her champion friend from thinking he was anything but a lazy jerk. A professional did their job however they needed to and got what they deserved for doing it.

And he was a professional. He dueled because he was good at it, not because he enjoyed it. Enjoying dueling was being a blustering braggart like Cinder. It was being a manic sadist who cackled with each blow they took or dealt like that crazy scorpion faunus coworker of hers. It was his dad, shouting with glee as his monsters bashed his legs to a pulp of muscle and broken bone before ripping his semblance from his soul.

And Yang Xiao-Long thought she was gonna show him that dueling could be fun? Ha! No thanks. He wasn't a psychopath and he certainly wasn't a naive brat. He dueled how he needed to for the job, whether that meant winning, losing, or just dragging things out. Doing the job was all that mattered.

Unfortunately, as he finished his eggwich and threw the wrapper in the trash, he found himself picking up his deck, his palm hovering over its back. Idly, he wondered what the top card was, what he would have drawn on that last turn. A monster strong enough to win, or anything else to lose.

His fingers peeled back the lip of the card, ready to flip it around and reveal its face… only to shuffle it back into his deck at the last second. He'd never know now.

And he didn't need to. He had a job to do. One that would more than likely show Yang Xiao-Long exactly what her Burning Soul was worth in the real world.

Woohoo! I wrote a duel with a complete story that only took one chapter! As someone who struggles writing episodic chapters as opposed to serialized ones, I'm chalking this up as a big win for me.

Plus, in addition to delving into a few of the mysteries set up by last chapter, revealing why Ruby and Yang knew about Signer Marks, and letting me showcase Yang and Pyrrha's friendship more, this chapter also introduces Mercury. Yang's got a lot of solid foils in canon (Adam, Hazel, Ironwood, etc.) but for my money, Mercury has been my favorite since Volume 6 revealed just how perfectly his backstory made him her dark reflection. I've got fun plans for him in this story.

Remember to check out and add to this story's TVTROPES PAGE! I check my stories' pages often and I always enjoy it when they grow. :)

Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!

Go Forth and Conquer!