[Chapter 2]

"Ozpin, I need you over here to come look at this thing. And Quickly." Qrow spoke out with a sigh of exhaustion whilst holding a scroll up to his ear. On the other end of the call was Professor Ozpin, the headmaster to one of the four great huntsman academies.

"Alright Qrow. Is there anything I should know before I come over there." Ozpin asked. "Uhh, I don't know..." He started, a tired look on his face whilst he thought it over. "You got anything on dragons?" He asked. A sigh could be heard from the scroll as Ozpin stayed silent for a few more seconds. "Qrow... dragons don't exist anymore." He answered calmly.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you Oz. But what I do know is that there's a dragon or something in my niece's room, and I got no clue why." He breathed out, catching Ozpin's attention as the man quickly responded. "You have a dragon in your niece's room and you're not keeping an eye on it?" He asked in slight alarm. "Ah HA! I thought you said dragons didn't exist anymore." He shot back with a smirk on his face.

Once more a sigh could be heard. "I will come down now Qrow, just, keep an eye on it."

[~~~~]

A massive metal contraption slowly descended outside of a wooden house in the middle of a forest. The doors slowly opening as a man with white hair and small glasses stepped out. Next to him stood a well-endowed woman with blonde hair that was tied up in a neat bun. A strict look on her face as she held a clipboard and a riding crop.

As they both walked up to the door of the big wooden house, they knocked and waited before Qrow opened it to greet the two, a lazy smirk plastered on his face. "Hey there Oz, ready to get your mind blown." Once again, Ozpin sighed. "Let's just get this over with Qrow."

He nodded before looking over towards Glynda before standing up straight and gaining another smirk, he nodded towards her as a small greeting. "Glynda." All he got in return was a nod back accompanied with a straight face. "Qrow." Opening the door fully, he let them both in.

"It's upstairs in Ruby's room." This time he gained a shocked looked from woman with them both. "You left her alone with a creature you know nothing about!" She questioned in shock and a bit of anger. "Hey nothing bad has happened so far." Qrow quickly defused with his hands up in surrender. Although their fight was cut short when a loud crash resounded from upstairs. They all froze in various levels of alarm before Ozpin slowly turned to look at Qrow. "You were saying."

With not a moment of hesitation, Qrow darted straight to the stairs and up to Ruby's room, Ozpin and Glynda both just behind him. Throwing open the girl's door he looked inside and immediately scanned the place. For a lack of better description, the room was mess, the bed was toppled over, the curtains were ripped at the ends, and the creature was laying down on its side in the middle of it all, and Ruby was nowhere to be seen.

Immediately reaching for his weapon Qrow was about to charge towards the creature, yet he was stopped by a soft giggle that came from the wings of the dragon. Slowly walking up to it, he crouched down and carefully grabbed the top wing. The creature recoiled away slightly with a huff and low growl of defiance. "Hey, hey, hey. It's just me, I just wanna check on my niece. That alright?" He carefully asked, not an ounce of hostility in his voice or posture.

Qrow noticed a small nod come from the creature as it slowly lifted one of its wings. Revealing the sight of Ruby sleeping peacefully as the creature held her close, the occasional warm breath coming from it that managed to tickle her neck ever so slightly, light giggles of amusement escaping from her every now and again along with it. Seeing her sleeping, Qrow couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as he saw that she was okay.

"So, this is the creature you were talking about." Came the unexpected voice of Ozpin. Qrow turned to see him standing by the door with Glynda next to him. "Yeah, you got anything?" Qrow asked, his voice calm as he fell into a seated position next to the dragon. "I brought a few books that I could look through. You just keep an eye on it for now." Ozpin told him whilst reaching into a bag that he brought with him.

A soft growl suddenly came from the creature next to Qrow making them all look towards it. Qrow rested his hand on the creature's head in slight confusion. "Don't like, 'it', huh?" He asked, a bit of understanding as he attempted to read the dragon. Seeing the creature shake its head, Qrow continued. "What about 'she', you a girl?" He asked, immediately getting another growl in response. "Alright, alright, you're a guy, I get it." He spoke up in mock annoyance.

"Alright then. Qrow, I'll go check the books, you keep an eye on 'him'." Ozpin repeated, walking off whilst taking a sip of the hot cocoa out of the thermos he always carried around, just in case. "Hey Glynda, you mind giving me a hand cleaning up?" Qrow suddenly asked whilst gesturing to the mess that was Ruby's room.

Pushing her glasses up and sighing, she waved her riding crop as the bed was surrounded by a purple glow making it levitate. "Let's get this over with."

[~~~~]

Walking back into the room, Ozpin caught sight of Qrow and Glynda having a peaceful conversation on Yang's bed, a rare sight indeed. Ruby and the creature, were now on her bed, both still asleep in the same position that they were left in. "Ahem." Ozpin faked a cough to gain the attention of the two other adults in the room.

"I believe I may have found what our little friend here is." He spoke up making the other two walk over to him, they couldn't help but notice an old looking journal in Ozpin's hands. "Well, c'mon then Oz, what is he, don't leave us hanging." Qrow told the man holding the journal with a bit of urgency in his voice.

Flipping through the journal, Qrow peered over his shoulder and managed to catch sight of other creatures, for a split second a creature called a Ratholos caught his attention, but it was skipped all the same. Ozpin finally stopped on a page with a picture of a creature that looked almost identical to the one on Ruby's bed, it held the title Gore Magala.

"It says here that it's species is called Gore Magala, a wyvern that has similar traits to that of an elder dragon. Haven't heard that term in a while." He started, muttering the last bit under his breath before continuing. "Wings that look like a ragged and tattered cape, alongside claws on said wings that seem to possess apposable thumbs. He can use them for grabbing, help at running or to cloak himself by latching them onto his back." He read out to the two.

Qrow looked from the wyvern on the bed and then back over to the book before nodding slightly. "Got anything more on him?" he suddenly asked making Ozpin look to him with an eyebrow raised before looking back to the book to read further on.

"It also states that the Gore Magala has scales that are used to understand their environment and leave behind a trail that Gore Magala can use to see both predators and prey via heat, it says they can also act as the vector for the pathogen known as the Frenzy Virus"

The word 'virus' put Qrow into immediate alarm. "Virus, what Virus. Give me more on the Virus Oz." He instantly pushed for more information, clear distress in his voice. "Calm down Qrow." Glynda began, only to be cut off by the uncle in question. "Calm down?! what do you mean calm down, he's been around Ruby for a good couple of hours now and I'm just finding out he carries a Virus that does Oum knows what." He asked, raising his voice just a tiny bit before seeing the serious look that Glynda held.

"Let. Him. Finish." she told him through a straight glare. Ozpin nodded slightly to her before he began flicking through the journal once more. "Thank you, Glynda. Now. As I was saying, the book reads that in humans, the Virus will affect them differently than if it got to another monster, it says that it will nullify a person's natural healing ability, but they can still recover with the aid of medication or healing items, along with this, they are able to get hurt a lot easier when facing an opponent that is in a frenzy state." he finished.

"Alright and how does it spread exactly." Qrow asked, calmed down a slight bit but still having a tone of impatience to his voice. "I was getting there, just give me a second. It states here that the Virus is bound to the dander-like scales that cover the membrane of its wings. When spread, the scales scatter through the air and float around the area that they were released. It says it is a way for the Gore Magala to see, compensating for the Gore's poorly developed eyes."

"That still doesn't answer my question." Qrow interrupted, Ozpin finally nearing his breaking point as he looked up with a glare. "For crying out loud Qrow, if you would let me finish you would know, as it says right here that the small scales... are... inhaled." He finished, his reading getting slower and slower, as it all started to settle in. A virus that is spread through the air, one that also needs to be inhaled, and they just so happen to have all been in the same room as the creature that spread it for a good while now.

Silence took over the room as they began to realise the situation they were in, but their attention was stolen by the sound of a quiet cough that came from the bed. A single thought had crossed all of their minds at that single moment. They forgot about the one person who had been with him the longest.

Ruby.

[End Chapter]