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Princess and The Dragons	By : RWBYRemnants Category: +M through R > RWBY Views: 1054 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: RWBY is not mine and I make no money from this fic

Chapter List
- 17
- 18
- 19
=Chapter 18
“I tried to stop her,” Kali Belladonna snarled at her steering wheel as she drove them outside the Vale city limits. “But she had it locked into her head that this was the only way to resolve the conflict. Didn't want to hear a single thing I had to say!”
As the car went screaming around another corner, Weiss gripped the dashboard with both hands, heart pounding in her throat. She could never remember seeing Blake’s mother in a state like this! Moreover, she was trapped in the car and had no way out other than to hopefully calm her companion. “Please, what's going on? It sounds like a much more sensible solution to me!”
Her amber eyes barely flicked over in Weiss's direction, mostly staying focused on the road. “Oh, yes. Very sensible and safe for everyone involved - other than the two racers! And Hazel, that old coward… always hated fighting, needless bloodshed, and of course this solution would thrill him to death. He literally sighed with relief when Yang suggested it.”
“But it's just a race,” she insisted. “You make it sound as if they're risking life and limb. I know motorcycle accidents happen, but is that really so much worse than getting into an actual fight? Some of those boys had lead pipes! One of our Dragons had a chain - that was scary!”
“Weiss…” With a long sigh, Kali began steering the car around the bend toward the abandoned area in question. “What do you know about Mountain Glenn? Besides that it's close to Vale and no one lives there anymore.”
At least Kali didn't think she was that uninformed. “Well… that the Depression came, and everyone gave up on expanding the city for a while. A lot of potential homes and businesses that were being started are just empty husks now. My father thinks it’s a waste. Why?”
“That's not the whole story.” A motorcycle roaring past them made Kali pause before she continued. “The Mountain Glenn project was abandoned due to the instability of the old mines underneath. The copper veins dried up many decades ago when Merlot Industries plundered it all, but the tunnels are still down there, spiderwebbing under what was once known as Glenn Bluffs. There was a proposal on the table for reinforcing those tunnels with steel beams, trying to salvage their plans to help Vale grow and prosper, but as you say, the Great Depression put a damper on everyone's enthusiasm for the project. There was no strong evidence that building support structures would have made enough of a difference, anyway.”
“Ohhhh,” she breathed, thinking about how frightening it would be for her house to suddenly collapse into the ground. “Well… yes, that really is unfortunate. But I don't understand. What does this have to do with the race?”
“There’s a reason it’s off-limits. Even though a few teenagers occasionally sneak up there to make out with their beaus, it’s unwise. The ground isn’t stable. Especially not for a hundred-something pound girl on top of a six-hundred-pound Harley. Times that by two, and it might just be enough to… well…”
As Kali made a thumbs down gesture very briefly before returning the hand to the wheel, Weiss gulped. That certainly didn’t sound like a “safe alternative” anymore.
Apparently, there was a method to this inter-gang madness. Kali parked on top of a higher bluff amidst quite a few other cars and bikes, one which overlooked the skeleton that was Mountain Glenn. A handful of buildings had begun construction, but the rest were mere concrete foundations. The main road itself was fully built, winding around a fountain that was never finished in the center of the proposed sister city.
At the far end of said road were six bikes. She knew Blake would be down there with Yang, and probably Cinder. Even from that far away, she could see the Huntsman at the “starting line” had blue hair; so it was that boy she would be racing. The other two weren’t recognisable from that distance.
“We can watch everything from up here,” Kali whispered as she grasped Weiss by the waist and easily lifted her up onto the hood of the car. She felt a slight flutter from the thoughtful assistance but tried not to think about it too much.
“I wish I could go down there with her.”
“I know. But if you did, you would only watch the beginning of the race; by the end, Yang would be around some corner and you’d never see her victory.” Her hand flipped in the general direction of where two other bikes were idling; the finish line. “So you see, this is the best seat in the house.”
“Everybody seems to agree with you,” she sighed uncomfortably, glancing around at the dozens and dozens of other gang members gathered there. A small gap separated the two factions, but they were all contented to watch how things played out; no one was threatening to breach the temporary truce. “Maybe there really is honour among thieves.”
“Hmm?” Following her eyes, she smiled a little. “Oh, that. I’ve told you before, Vale is a small town; we can’t afford to tear each other apart over nothing. The rumble was a last resort, and you see that we jumped at the chance not to go through with it.”
Around that time, Emerald wandered over to their seat and leaned against the car on her elbows. “Stepping around on Yang already, huh, Schnee?”
“Jealous, Sustrai?” Kali answered without missing a single beat. Weiss didn't even have time to fully process the question and its implications before Blake's mother was answering. How was her mind that quick?
“Hardly. Well… you are a lovely woman, but I have my hands full.”
“Do you think Yang can do this?” Weiss asked nervously, fingering the zipper of her jacket to give her hands something to do. “I mean… yes, of course she’s a skilled rider, but that doesn’t mean she’s better than her opponent.”
The green-haired girl shrugged a caramel-hued shoulder. Where was her jacket? “If anybody can, it’s Yang. She and Cinder are probably the best of us. Of the ones who are still around, anyway.”
“Still around?”
“Raven,” Kali sighed wearily. “Yang learned from the best. Well… the best at riding motorcycles.”
So many questions blossomed in Weiss’s brain, but she heard the bikes revving and no longer had time to contemplate what exactly had transpired between Blake and Yang’s mothers. Even if she was starting to suspect one hypothesis over others.
Velvet was pacing out in front of the starting line. As the only non-Dragon who had come along for the ride, she was tasked with signalling for the others to start. Her arm raised high in the air, with something white gripped in it - probably a handkerchief, even though they were too far away for Weiss to make it out. Everyone seemed to hold their breath, leaning in closer to squint. She noticed Salem and the leader of the Huntsman - Watts, she thought his name had been - had telescopes.
Then the white thing dropped, and two bikes took off from the starting line.
“YEAH!” Emerald burst out immediately. “Wipe the floor with him!”
“Send her back to the kitchen!” laughed one of the Huntsmen.
“Well!” Weiss said under her breath, offended at the implication that housework was all that women were good for. Even if she knew most women spent all their lives cooking and cleaning, not all of them did.
But their commentary was not important. The two bikes were tearing down the street at breakneck speed. Yang seemed to be at the top of her game, weaving only when necessary - other than one time when she dipped a little too close to her opponent, hoping to throw him off. The boy paid no mind, only barely strafing out of the way and then correcting. They both focused on running a clean race, gunning for the finish line as fast as possible.
The fountain presented the first significant challenge. The two went different ways, favouring the side that they were already on, and looked as if they might collide once rounding the concrete basin - Weiss held her breath again - but they corrected and continued toward the finish line…
And then both swerved to the left.
“What?” Weiss breathed. “What are they doing?!”
“The race isn’t over. See those markers?” Kali pointed to three red cones that had been placed in that intersection. The first was near the center, and the next two led in the direction they had turned. “That’s the course. Have to make it interesting. Idiots.”
“Hey, I think it’s exciting,” Emerald protested with a frown.
“Of course you do. It’s not Cinder risking her life and limb.”
That seemed to silence the other girl. Which confirmed something Weiss had been relatively certain of: Emerald had a thing for the alternately gruff and oily Dragon. Admittedly, Cinder did hold a certain appeal; she was confident, passionate, and loyal to a fault. Never mind how attractive, though most of the Dragons were in one way or another. Even the older, “rougher” ones who were so masculine they were almost handsome instead of beautiful. And Weiss was beginning to realise that was alright.
Meanwhile, the two racers both rounded a couple of turns in quick succession. The boy had nearly lost control during the second one but caught himself just in time. Now they were racing along the edge of town, which wasn’t exactly right at the dropoff but was a little close for Weiss’s comfort level. Also…
A lamppost began to sink. At first, she thought she was imagining it and was annoyed with her mind for trying to distract her from the race itself, but looking again, she was right; it was sinking!
“Look!” she hissed, gesturing to the phenomenon.
“Oh…” Kali sat up a little straighter. “Damn. I really hoped I was wrong about-”
Gulping, she fell silent as an extra roar of engines went up, her attention forcibly returned to the race. Weiss saw they were weaving around trees and brush that had sprung up over the past years since the area had been abandoned and left to Mother Nature. Now, every swerve made Weiss’s pulse seem louder in her ears, every second brought a new sweatdrop to her brow. Were they going to be alright? Even if she cared about Yang more, she didn’t wish any harm on the boy, either.
They raced around another corner. This stretch was a little more straightforward, but she still found herself biting her fingers to keep from crying out.
“YES!” one of the Huntsmen shouted, seeing that the boy was ahead by a nose. But he was on the outside right; the next curve was to the left and it would cost him a few precious fractions of a second. Weiss hopped up from the car, trying to rush toward the edge of the bluff before Kali caught her by the forearm.
“Hey!”
“Don’t!” was all she breathed. It may have saved Weiss’s life; a few of the rocks crumbled from the very edge. Perhaps she would have been safe, and perhaps not; she found it hard to care when Yang was in peril.
The finish line approached. The two drifted in and out of the lead, but it looked like Yang might really have a shot-
The ground gave way. It was unlike anything Weiss had ever seen, and much worse than the lamppost because it was so much closer - and because Yang and the boy were driving on the section in question. This had two very different effects on the two racers. The Huntsman’s bike shot out from under him and he went cartwheeling back into the opening sinkhole. Yang didn’t get caught in the hole itself, but the shaking completely ruined her ability to stay upright - she began to skid across the pavement, and then rolled once separated from her vehicle, bouncing a few times before coming to a stop.
“NO!!!”
Weiss’s shriek echoed off the bluffs, and there was another slight rumble. Nothing more happened; this one was too high, too far removed from the worst of the mining to truly impact its stability. But she didn’t care. Immediately, she began to race toward the dirt road, but Kali caught her around the middle and held her fast.
“Let me go! I need to-”
“I can drive us!” Kali tried to explain. “Weiss, stop struggling, you’re not-”
“I need to GO!”
“We will go together!” Finally, she calmed down enough to take in the words, and she went slack, gaping down at where the others who had been parked at the finish line began to race toward their respective gang members. “Good… alright, good. Get in.”
“No, I’ll drive you,” Emerald told her, face deadly serious as she shrugged back into her jacket and straddled her bike. “Get her there faster. Kali, can you follow?”
The older woman nodded, pushing Weiss toward the bike to help her start moving again. In seconds, they were astride Emerald’s Harley and racing down the dirt trail toward Mountain Glenn, terror gripping her throat all the while. This was awful. Now she understood why Blake’s mother was so against this solution to their petty squabbles over territory; it might only have been two people risking their safety, but each life was precious.
Yang’s was precious. And now…
No one parked as close as they would have before this incident. They didn't want to risk adding to the danger. Once they were relatively close, they began to race toward the crater on foot as fast as they could, Huntsmen and Dragons alike. Luckily, Weiss had some athletic tone or she might have been further back; as it was, she kept pace with some of the younger boys, though they went past Yang toward the hole.
“YANG!” she screamed as tears rolled down her face, crouching over her bruised, bloodied figure. Luckily, she looked whole, but the awful angle at which her right arm was twisted made her feel sick. But that had to wait. “Speak to me! Yang, wake up, wake up!”
By that point, Coco and one of the older Dragons had joined them. The former rolled her until she was straightened out, and the latter patted her cheek, eliciting no response. “Out cold,” she reported.
“We need to get her to a hospital,” Coco breathed, putting her wrist under Yang's nose. “She’s breathing, but she could have a concussion.”
“No hospitals.” Salem had arrived, and was crouching over her from afar - assessing the situation without interfering. “Watts can take a look at her.”
After a moment, the man in question turned to glare at them. “Are you seriously expecting me to deign to stitch up one of your pet bitches? After this stunt you pulled? Obviously, you knew the ground was unstable along the route and rigged this stretch to collapse - because, as anyone could tell, your racer did actually cross the finish line, while ours did not.”
Salem’s eyes narrowed, and the air seemed to drop in temperature within the bluffs. “Her life may hang in the balance, you old fool. Stop grandstanding and get your kit. Or have you been lying about your medical degree all this time?”
Abandoning all hope of them resolving things between them, especially with the way Watts was folding his arms over the lapels of his expensive grey suit, Weiss shot to her feet and begged him, “Please! Sh-she might not make it! I don’t care about… about any of this! Just save her!”
“Really?” he snapped immediately, cold green eyes stabbing down into her soul. “So I should abandon my own boy to save your girl? You really don’t understand loyalty - family. Do you?”
Weiss spared a glance at the hole where they were trying to figure out how to descend, to search for their man. Already, the blonde she had observed him with before was tugging at his hair, tears streaming down his cheeks while some of the others readied a rope, trying to figure out what they might tie it to.
“I’ll go.”
It was Salem who snapped, “What? Go where?”
“I’ll go down there and look for him.” Her shaking finger pointed at the tall man. “If you help Yang, I… I’ll save… the boy who’s down there.”
He was not impressed. “His name is Neptune. As if you care. What good are you to me at all, what can you do that my boys can’t?”
“I’m smaller,” she offered, already stripping off her jacket. “Most of your boys are tall and bulky, and would get stuck in a tight space. And I’m stronger than I look. Please, I can’t- we don’t have time! Just let me do this!”
“Weiss,” Kali whispered, laying a hand on her arm. “This isn’t sound. You’re going to get yourself killed, and when Yang wakes up, that will be the worst news to wake up to.”
“I don’t CARE!” she shouted, shoving her away. There wasn’t time for rational thought. “Just let me save Yang by saving Neptune!”
No one objected further. Her eyes retained a fleeting image of Kali looking completely stricken before she raced over to the edge of the sinkhole, only slowing down when she got near. The blonde boy was still losing his mind, so she addressed his friend with the long red hair hanging into his eyes.
“What do I do?”
“Well, I dunno,” he said in a heavy English accent. Though he wasn’t quite so emotional, he was certainly not left unaffected by his associate’s plight; his voice shook slightly as he continually wiped his hands on his white jeans over and over. “Just… do somethin’, willya?”
“Here,” said another Huntsman with green hair, handing her one end of a rope. With some help, they both fashioned a loop that could work as a harness, and several more men lined up to anchor her at the top. Everyone else remained ringed around the hole, gazing down and hoping to be the first to figure out a better plan.
“Hey, Schnee!”
Glancing up just in time, Weiss caught the gleaming Zippo lighter being hurled at her, the metal stinging her palms. Cinder merely flashed her a fierce look before continuing past the rest of the crowd on her bike toward the ring of Dragons trying to help Yang - giving the sinkhole a wide berth.
“Ready, then?” asked the Brit. Nodding at him and the others, she stepped into the loop and allowed herself to be lowered down.
Luckily, the hole wasn’t deep; it merely looked that way due to shadows. When most of the light from above was blotted out, she flicked the Zippo to life, just barely able to catch what was rising to meet her from below. Once she touched down next to a groaning form, she could breathe a brief sigh of relief.
“You alright down there?” called an unfamiliar voice.
“YES!” she shouted back. “I’m at the bottom! Hold on!”
Weiss didn’t know the first thing about treating an injury victim. Sure, she could feel for a pulse, but that was fairly basic stuff; did he have broken bones? Internal bleeding? She had no way of knowing. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea for her to come down there. Coco would have been a better choice, but she was probably still busy tending Yang.
The boy coughed, and she moved to his side, supporting the head and wiping some of the dust from his face. “Hey! I… are you alright? Speak to me!”
“What… oh… are you an angel?”
“Ugh,” she scoffed as she tried to help him up. “Hurry up, we need to get out of here!”
Coughing again, he sat up and clutched his ribs. “Oh my God… everything hurts…” Little by little, she got him crawling toward the rope. “What… what happened?”
“You fell in a hole, goofus. What’s your name?”
“Neptune.”
“Neptune.” That was right; they had said. But it was probably helpful for him to have something else to focus on. “I’m Weiss. And I’m going to get you out of here.”
“Why? You’re… a Dragon…”
“Yang was hurt,” she admitted, voice cracking. “And I… and we needed your Dr. Watts to fix her up, or… or she might-” Her voice cut off and she had to stop for a brief moment to recover. Then she cleared her throat. “So you have to help me by g-getting out of here. Then everyone will be alright. Alright?”
“Alright,” he echoed with a groan as they came to a stop by the rope. “But… I don’t think I can… climb…”
For a moment, Weiss tried to think of how to best secure him. She didn’t know that much about knots, or harnesses. “Why didn’t I take that nautical class at the yacht club?!” she swore at herself.
“Oh… I know… something about that… this loop sucks, though.”
“What?”
Sitting up, he reached for the rope. “Here, let m- whoa, I’m dizzy…”
“What’s going on down there?!” called a voice from above. It wasn’t the British man, so she couldn’t be sure who.
“HANG ON!” she shouted back up, and Neptune flinched, covering his ears for a moment. “Oh, sorry!”
“It’s fine. Here… I’ll show you. This is a bowline knot, and it’s going to be our best friend…”
It actually didn’t take long for him to tie his own harness. Weiss felt highly useless, but she was glad things were working out reasonably well. Before long, a mess of square knots and fisherman’s knots had him wearing what looked like some kind of clandestine rope-lingerie around his pelvis. By this point, he looked exhausted, so she leaned him back against a craggy wall.
“Shh, just rest a moment.” When his breathing evened out, she tried to wipe more sweat and dirt off his face. “I’m glad you’re alright.”
After a moment, he flashed her a weary smile. “I’d… ask if you wanted to get a malted after this, but… I don’t think Sun would appreciate that…”
“Sun? Is that your blonde friend I saw you kissing before?” When he gulped, clearly discomfited that she knew, she waved a hand back and forth. “Please. You do know I’m in the Dragons, right?”
“Oh… so it’s true? Most of you are…”
Eyes narrowing, she said, “Yes, most of us. Why? Are most of the Hunters that way?”
“Not as much as the Dragons. But a few of us.” He tried to sit up a little higher and grunted in sharp pain; Weiss settled him again. “Are you… going with one of them?”
“Yeah.”
“Yang?” When Weiss didn’t answer right away, he nodded. “Now I… get why you jumped down here.”
“I would have, anyway,” she swore vehemently, even while he was chuckling weakly. “Seriously! I don’t want to see anyone get hurt! Don’t be such a pest!”
Neptune tried to keep chuckling, but it turned into a coughing fit. Though she did privately think he deserved it, she still petted along his upper arm until he was able to breathe freely again. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Just… hold on until we can get you out of here.”
Weiss tugged on the rope and they began to hoist him up. One of her hands helped push his boot up to take some of the strain off the men at the top, but then he was out of her reach.
And she was alone in the darkness with only a flickering light for company. For a few minutes, she began to worry she would simply die down there. It was a possibility. After all, the only Dragons she found herself truly trusting were Yang, Blake, and Kali, and one of them was unconscious the last time she checked. They were vastly outnumbered. And the Huntsmen had no reason to really keep her alive now that she had finished the job they cared about…
“Hello?” she called up nervously. “Is anybody up thBFF!”
She felt pretty silly for panicking when the pre-tied harness hit her in the mouth.
Once at the top, she saw that both Neptune and Yang were gone. She felt a momentary flare of panic as the other Huntsmen made sure her footing was secure before turning her loose, but Kali was already approaching. That set her at ease that maybe not everything was lost.
“She’s going to be alright. I’ll take you to where they’ll be patching her and the Vasilias boy up.”
“Okay,” she breathed, dazed. “Let’s… let’s go.”
Even as they walked away from the site of the sinkhole, she could hear a few more broken bits of concrete coming loose and toppling into the abyss. Weiss looked back in time to see the men backing away from its confines. Sun was already missing - as was Blake. Along for the ride with those who meant the most to them.
Fresh regret welled up in Weiss at having taken away the one person Blake probably wanted to be with more than anything in the world. Maybe, if she survived her injuries and treatment, they could do something about that.
- 17
- 18
- 19
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Princess and The Dragons