[Chapter 3]
A frantic Ozpin was flipping through the old journal with extra vigour, a set goal in mind to find and identify anything that could have even a semblance of similarity to the Frenzy Virus. Qrow was currently attempting to get the Gore Magala away from Ruby as safely as possible, and finally, Glynda was opening any door or window that would let some fresh air into the room.
"C'mon Oz what you got for me." Qrow quickly spoke up, clear worry on his face. "I'm looking, I'm looking, just give me a second." He flipped through the pages, taking note of how much information there was on this Virus, he could only assume it was a big thing when it was being written and studied. He came to a stop on a page that contained bold writing that spelled the wordTreatment.
"Finally." He breathed out with a small amount relief. "It says here that in the early stages, all that you have to do is sleep in a familiar setting, which she is luckily doing right now." He explained, gesturing towards the sleeping girl who was still cuddled up towards the dragon.
After hearing this, Glynda had decided to be the voice of reason. "Are you sure she even has it? I mean, she only coughed once, and it's been almost 30 minutes since." The other two adults in the room visibly started to relax a bit, they knew she was right, nothing bad had happened out of the situation yet, so mellowing out and really taking a look at everything would probably be the best thing to do.
"Alright. Thank you Glynda, I guess, we may have overreacted. It also doesn't say anything about a cough in the symptoms section, so I suppose we could be wrong." Ozpin said, hearing nothing but silence after he spoke, both him and Glynda looked towards Qrow in slight confusion. He was silently staring down towards Ruby, or more specifically her neck.
"Hey Oz, does it say anything about scales growing on the person?" Qrow suddenly asked, the confused expression only hardened on Ozpin's face as he began to flip through the journal once more. "I'm not seeing anything, why, how much has grown?" He asked, walking over he gently lifted the back of Ruby's hair, a small patch of purplish black scales had started to grow around the nape area of her neck.
"Qrow. I'm afraid that at this moment in time, we don't have enough information to tell if this is a bad thing or a good thing. Maybe even neither. But until then, we won't know." He told Qrow, an apologetic look on his face as he rested his hand on Qrow's back. With nothing else to go on, Qrow rubbed his hand on his face as he sighed in exhaustion. "I'm gonna go get some rest. Been a long day. Thanks for this Oz, I'll call if anything else happens."
"Goodnight Qrow, I hope the best for Ruby." Ozpin said to him whilst walking out of the room. "I can stay for a while if you want." Glynda suddenly spoke up, a sympathetic look on her face whilst still looking down to the calmly sleeping girl. She had never had a child of her own, but knowing Ruby could be in danger, even if she didn't know the tiny child that well, it just didn't sit right with her. "If you want, you can take the spare room, or even Yang's bed. She's in with Tai right about now, but I'll be on the couch tonight." He told her before leaving the room as well.
Glynda just sat there on the opposite bed from the dragon and small girl. Staring directly over at Ruby as she slept. She held a calm look on her face, ignorant to the conversation that recently happened. So with a sigh of her own, she stood up and left the room as well, deciding to go on her way to tell Ozpin that she was going to be staying in Patch for a while.
[~Time Skip~]
Tai had an interesting morning. He woke up and did his usual routine; have a shower, get changed into his day clothes and then finally make breakfast. The first to enter the kitchen was Yang, still in her pyjamas, a tired look on her face as she stumbled over to the table with her hair being the messiest Tai has seen.
Sitting down, she yawned and started to wait for her food to be done. "Morning dad." she managed to speak out. "Morning." he said with a small smile, still focusing on the food he was cooking. "You have a good sleep?" He asked her, slightly turning his head to look at her. "Yeah." Cutting herself of with a yawn before slamming her head onto the table. "And thanks for letting me sleep in your bed." she muttered quietly. "No worries Yang." He responded with a small smile plastered on his face.
Next to through the door was Qrow, tiredness very evident on him. "You good there Qrow?" Tai asked, his smile turning into an amused smirk. Qrow just grumbled in response to the slight jab before sitting down at the table as well, basically on the verge of actually passing out.
"Cook enough for one more Tai. Glynda's here." He grumbled out before reaching into his pocket for his flask. A surprised look appeared Tai before disbelief took over and he snatched the flask out of his hand.
"What's Glynda doing here?" He asked whilst pouring the alcohol down the sink. "She came to look at Ruby and the dragon with Ozpin." Immediate alarm settled onto Tai as he ignored everything he was doing and looked ready to bolt up the stairs. "What's wrong with Ruby?!" he urgently asked. "Nothing anymore. Don't worry. there was just some concerns with how he works and how it could affect her. That's why Glynda is staying for a bit." Qrow explained.
"Alright… Fine... if you say everything is fine then, I'll believe you." He spoke out, his worry still very evident, but if Qrow was reassuring him, then he supposed he could calm down. "I'll go wake up Ruby." Qrow suddenly said, standing up and walking up the stairs, a slight stumble in his step. "Tell her foods almost done!" Tai shouted up.
Walking over to the spare room Qrow knocked on the door and waited for any sign of someone being awake. Hearing none, he knocked again. Yet still nothing, grabbing the handle and slowly opening the door, he peaked in. Glynda was still asleep in the spare bed, closing the door and walking back out, he went towards Ruby and Yang's room to wake her up. Walking in he saw Ruby and the Gore Magala sprawled out on her bed.
A small smile graced him as he watched her roll over and smack the dragon on his face before the dragon twitched and did the same. A chuckle managing to escape along with it before he slowly reached down and checked Ruby's neck once more. The scales hadn't seemed to grown much in the night so that was a plus. Giving her a small shake, he softly called her name. Slowly but surely, her eyes fluttered open as she stretched her arms upwards, a random kick of her leg as she sighed in satisfaction. Looking up at him, Ruby smiled with half lidded eyes "Morning Uncle Qrow." she spoke up.
"Morning kid, wanna wake up the dragon?" He asked her, a random amount of amusement on his face as she looked up at him and nodded. "Alright get downstairs when he's up, foods almost done." He told her before standing properly and walking.
Watching her Uncle Qrow leave, she turned to the dragon next to her and couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face. She lightly shoved him before going to speak. But instead, he leapt into the air and over to the other side of the room. He stood in a defensive stance and let out a low growl. She watched him sniff the room once or twice before slowly walking towards her. Instead of moving, she decided to just sit there and didn't move until he was right in front of her. She reached her hand out before letting him sniff her hand. It didn't take long until he remembered her scent and practically jumped at her.
"Good morning to you too!" She managed to greet the overexcited dragon, laughing in the process of it all. "C'mon little buddy, I'll take you downstairs." Her voice filled with innocence even after seeing him nervously step back. She continued to walk towards the dragon with her hands outstretched towards and grabbing in his direction.
Back downstairs, everyone was sat around the table eating their food, Tai and Yang talking and throwing in the occasional bad pun, Qrow was eating with a smug smile on his face, and next to him was Glynda who held a grumpy look with a serious case of bed head. Yet they all stopped to look at the stairs as decently loud footsteps came down, one after the other.
Coming into view Ruby slowly went down each step whilst holding the Gore Magala, her arms hooked underneath his front legs as the rest of his body hung loosely, a grumpy snarl on his face. Qrow and Glynda deadpanned at the sight whilst Tai and Yang looked confused. Ruby ignored it all and waddled over to her chair before plopping the dragon down next to her and sitting on her chair. The dragon curling himself around the bottom of the chair.
Tai looked at Ruby, then to the dragon, then back to Ruby. "Who's your friend there Rubes?" He asked a serious note of confusion in his voice. She looked down at the dragon that was laying down at the legs of her chair. "Hey what's your name?" She asked the creature. The Gore Magala looked straight in her direction with what could only be described as a straight face before looking over to Qrow. The man in question just shrugged his shoulders.
"Rubes he's a Gore Magala, it's not his name but that's what it-" He paused with a look of slight annoyance as he was interrupted by a growl. "-He… is". Ruby looked down at the dragon once more before huffing to herself. "Well we can't have that, you got a name?" She asked, looking down at the Gore Magala. He nodded his head, much to the surprise of everyone at the table. "C'mon then show me what it is outside." She said whilst hopping off her chair. "Why outside" Tai suddenly asked, stopping her in her tracks as she turned back to him. "He's gonna write his name in the dirt, duhhh." She told him, walking outside with the Gore following right behind.
"Wanna fill me in?" Tai asked before looking towards Qrow. "Me and Ruby found him when she ran in the forest and he kinda just followed Ruby back, he hasn't done anything yet but that's why Glynda's here. We're gonna keep an eye on him for a while." He explained again before cleaning the food from his plate. "Alright I guess." Tai mumbled, a slight bit of confusion still present with him.
Ruby had walked back in with the dragon by her side. "So what's his name then?" Qrow asked, only getting a sheepish laugh in return from Ruby. "I forgot I can't read." she spoke up in embarrassment making Qrow get up with a sigh. "Show me where it is." He told her whilst heading for the back door. Ruby running after him with the Gore Magala in tow, leaving the house and stumbling upon a single name that was written quite badly in the dirt.
[End Chapter]
Yooo. Hey. People. Sorry I didn't upload it yesterday, but I got sidetracked watching The Great Pretender with my friend and lost track of time. Either way, here is chapter three, I hope you enjoy it, and I'll talk more in the next one.