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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
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- 23
=Chapter 22
Arriving in school on Monday morning felt quite strange to Weiss. Like it was somewhere she didn’t belong anymore. The hallways were the same, the teachers and bells to signal each class starting, the dreary atmosphere of students who wished they could be out having fun instead of toiling away. But she felt like a different person than she had been - as if she had outgrown that environment. Technically, she knew that was true in the sense that she would soon be going off to college.
Where would that leave her Dragons status? Where would that leave her and Yang? The future was generally something she never had to contemplate before. Given her father's relentless pushing, she expected to go to school for business and segue into a position at Schnee Communications - eventually taking over the reins when he retired. Now, that might not even be a possibility anymore if her parents wound up divorcing each other. Her father certainly wasn't going to have much interest in grooming her to take his place after all that had happened! For the first time in her life, the future was scary instead of exciting.
A hand on her shoulder startled her from her deep thoughts. Turning, she saw Pyrrha smiling at her, the picture of stalwart friendship.
“Did I lose you for a minute there?”
“Sorry,” Weiss whispered as they continued on toward class. “Feels like I'm losing my mind. How did my life turn into this? Did I really do something that awful to cost me my whole future?”
“Wow, those are deep thoughts. May I make a suggestion?” When Weiss didn't respond, she bowed her head very slightly as they walked. “Focus on the here and now. Don't worry about what you can't change because you can't. Do your best in school, check in on Yang. Help your mother through this difficult time. I… know I can't fully understand what you've been through, but driving yourself crazy about it won't solve anything, will it?”
“But my own father tried to hurt me! Tried to hurt both of us! How am I just supposed to get over that?”
Pyrrha's smile slipped away as if it had never been there. “You're right. Gosh, it's such a terrible thing… I'm sorry. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.”
“No… you're right. I should be the one to apologize. This whole situation is insane, and here you are, doing your best to help me through it and I'm just… ugh. Don't pay any attention to me.”
By then, they were in the classroom and needed to be quiet. Weiss continued to contemplate her life throughout the period, chewing on the end of her pencil while her mind raced around in useless circles. There was really nothing she could do. Eventually, she focused on her work, as Pyrrha had suggested; maybe she had a good point. At the very least, it made her feel as if she had purpose.
Between classes, she found Blake waiting for her at her locker. The Italian Dragon seemed to have a lot on her mind, as well.
“Is something wrong?” she asked immediately.
“Not really. Except… well, Mom didn't make it home until really late last night. This… never mind. Maybe that's none of my business to ask about.”
At that, Weiss couldn't help grinning from ear-to-ear. “Ohhhh. A little worried, are we? I didn't think you got worried.”
“Shut up, Schnee. Do you know what happened or not? She was tired and ignored my questions.”
“She was helping my mother. As it turns out, there were a lot of financial papers and things to sort through, but she thinks she might have a way to help us keep our house. Even if Father leaves us. Not that I understand all of it - or most of it, even. But it’s promising.”
That certainly shut Blake up for a moment. She leaned back against the locker, staring down at her boots and mulling that over in her head. Weiss expected her to reply eventually, but when she never did, she leaned against the neighboring locker alongside her friend.
“The two of them seemed to be getting along famously. It's… strange to think about your parents having friends, the same way we have friends. Is it kooky for me to hope they keep getting along?”
“Hmm…” Blake held her chin in her hand. “My mom is pretty… friendly. Oh well.” Trying to waft that subject away, she asked, “Heard from Yang?”
“Not yet,” she sighed. “Kali said she would escort me over there tonight, so her mother doesn't try to choke me again.”
“Wild,” she laughed, and Weiss smiled. After a few seconds of that shared moment stretched on, she said, “Hey. Sorry about being such a… I don't know. Whatever it is I am all the time. Annoying, negative, grouchy. Especially with everything you have going on at home. That’s terrible, and I probably wasn’t helping.”
She waved a hand to dismiss the sentiment. “It's alright.”
“It's not. You're pretty cool, Daddio.”
The unexpected praise only made her grin widen further. Blake rolled her eyes and immediately walked away, clearly not wanting to confront so many emotions in one day. But it couldn't erase the truth: little by little, the Dragons really were accepting her as one of their own.

At lunch, Weiss only stopped by the table where her new friends congregated for a brief moment, to check in and assure them everything was alright. Then she made a beeline for the one up front where she expected to find…
“Ruby!”
The girl started again before flashing a nervous little smile. “Oh, hey, Weiss! Here you are again! Talking to me! For… some reason!”
“Because you're my friend,” she told her with a patient little smile as she sat down. “Listen… I don't know if you heard about it, but Yang…”
“Oh.” Her silver eyes pointed down at the table. “That. Yeah, Uncle Qrow told me. He still has contacts in that old crowd of his.”
“Really?” Penny asked, reminding them that she was also at the table. “What did he tell you?”
“The accident really wasn't that bad,” Weiss pressed in a quiet voice, reaching over to pat Ruby's forearm. “She got a bunch of bruises and scratches, and dislocated her shoulder. As long as she takes it easy on that shoulder for a little while, she should heal up right as rain in no time. I promise.”
Ruby breathed a sigh of relief. “That's good. I know she hates me, but I really do worry about her, y’know?”
“Don’t say that. Yang doesn’t hate you at all. She’s just…” How could she put this that wouldn’t make things seem worse than they were? Luckily, she had put a lot of thought into what she was going to say, even if she was second-guessing herself now. “I think - and maybe I’m wrong, so don’t blame me if I am - I think her mother has really poisoned her against you and your uncle. She seems to see everyone but Yang as the enemy. So even though she doesn’t hate you, I think she feels like talking to you or him is some kind of… I don’t know. Betrayal?”
“Yeah, maybe.” She sounded a lot smaller now. “Thanks for stopping by. I’ll… think about that, I guess?”
Why did she have the feeling she was being dismissed? “Oh. I, um, I can go if you want.”
“Don’t you want to? I mean, didn’t you come over here to tell me about Yang? You told me. I don’t want to make you hang around here any longer than you needed to.”
“What?” Her sullen demeanor suddenly made a lot of sense; she thought Weiss was only hanging around her to talk about Yang. Which was near enough true, all things considered, even though she had begun to think of her as a friend beyond that single connection. “Ohhh… oh, Ruby, it’s not like that. I just… I thought you would be concerned about your sister, that’s all.”
“Not really. She doesn’t like me, so what’s the point?” Her tone of voice betrayed her true feelings; she was trying not to care.
“Why do you think no one likes you? I do, and so does Yang. I’m really sorry if that didn’t come across.” Then she reached over to gently shake her by the shoulder. “Hey. Let’s go over to Yang’s tonight.”
Her eyes went round as she glanced up at Weiss. “Ohhhh that’s a bad idea. You thought it was bad when her mom pointed that gun at you - wait until you see what she’ll do to me! Ever since Summer stole Dad, she thought I was a waste of space!”
She wanted to argue against that mentality, but she couldn’t. How could she know Raven’s inner thoughts? Or Summer’s - especially since she was no longer alive? But she didn’t want to wait until she understood everything before intervening in what she saw as a grave injustice.
“No.”
“What?”
“Nope, those aren’t reasons to not visit your sister,” she said firmly, hands on her hips. It made her elbow gouge into Penny’s side, but the firmness of her stance was more important at the moment. “We’re going.”
“What if I don’t want to?” she said softly, looking away.
“We both know that isn’t true. And I know that Yang wants to see you, even if you don’t know it - even if Yang doesn’t know it. We’ll go with Kali; she seems to be pretty good at keeping Raven from roughing anyone up.”
Blinking, she whispered, “Who’s Kali?”
“Oh - it’s, um, it’s Blake Belladonna’s mother.”
“You call her mom by her first name? Wow… the Dragons really are crazy hep cats.”

The minute classes ended, Weiss approached Blake and asked her if it would be alright if they went to her house after cheer practice let out. Though she was sneering very slightly at Ruby the whole time - who seemed to magically shrink from the attention - she relented. They had a little problem, now: how could they all get over there on a single motorcycle?
Pyrrha solved that problem. They followed Blake there in her car. Weiss opted to sit in the backseat with Ruby, explaining beforehand to her friend that the girl was nervous and would need more support.
“So,” Pyrrha began, glancing into the rearview mirror as they turned a gentle curve. “I’ve been wondering about something.”
“What?” Weiss asked.
“No, about Ruby.” The girl started at being addressed. “Why do you wear that hooded shirt in school? It isn’t exactly fashionable. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course! I’m merely curious.”
Her arms wrapped around the red cotton garment. “It used to belong to my parents. Dad gave it to Mom when they were in school, and she left it to me when she died.”
“Oh,” Weiss breathed.
“Oh?” Pyrrha asked. But she caught the sad look in Ruby’s eyes via the reflection and didn’t dare comment further.
Weiss knew her best friend would rather die herself than make someone else uncomfortable, so she tried to fill the void in the conversation. “It looks very warm. Does… it keep you warm?”
“Yeah,” Ruby breathed. Sensing they weren’t sure what else to say, she tried for a weak little smile. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s been a long time since we lost her. It’s just hard, having no parents; Uncle Qrow is great, but he can’t replace my dad, or my mom. But it only hurts when I really sit there and think about it, y’know?”
The other two nodded, not sure what else to say on the subject. Maybe it was best left alone.
Kali fawned over Ruby as much as Weiss expected. The unexpected bit was that she didn’t flirt with her. Flirting was such a prominent part of the woman’s personality that she had begun to suspect she didn’t know how to turn it off. Apparently, that wasn’t the case.
“She’s a girl,” Kali whispered back when confronted with that, while they were fetching drinks from the kitchen. Blake had been glaring at Ruby when they ducked out, but Pyrrha helped to distract her while Ruby called her uncle to let her know where she was and what she was doing. “Honestly, Weiss, what must you think of me?”
“Doesn’t seem to stop you from flirting with me, does it?”
“No, you’re a woman. A young one, but a woman nonetheless. That poor child out there is not ready for that kind of teasing and I wouldn’t dream of attempting it, even as a joke. Could use a mother as much as you could.” As she handed her the pitcher of lemonade and began to fetch tumblers, she said, “Besides, I’ve barely ruffled your feathers and we both know it.”
Stamping her foot, she snapped, “You said you would ‘make me see stars’!”
“Yes, but I didn’t actually do it, now, did I? Nor did I take you to any quiet, secluded spots at Lookout Point, nor did I offer a massage of dubious platonicness.” Her hand paused mid-movement. “Is that a word? ‘Platonicness’? Oh well, unimportant.”
Weiss supposed that was true. Even though she had been flirting fairly heavily, it never quite approached the level of seriousness that Yang's flirtations had. They were more on par with Blake’s - which she supposed made sense, since they were related. Rather forward compared to the few boys who had flirted with her, but also half in jest. If she had to put her finger on the reason it felt stronger from Kali, it was because the older woman was so much more confident than the girls her own age. Maybe she had been reading too much into those situations, after all.
And maybe it didn't matter anymore. Unless she had missed her guess, Blake's mother now had designs on her own. What an insane development! But again, she could just be seeing things that weren't there. Kali had also been very kind to Pyrrha and Yang, and any other young Dragon whom she deemed lacking in the parental affection department. She was a very warm and loving woman all around.
“I'm not really sure,” Ruby said between sips of her lemonade, once they were all seated comfortably in the living room. Although Blake looked a little bit less comfortable than the others - but then again, she always seemed on edge unless it was just the younger Dragons hanging out at Shopkeeper’s. “But I think he was already out by the time I went to live with him. So was Yang's mom.”
“That part, I know quite well,” Kali muttered, more to herself than anything. Weiss winced; none of them really wanted to dig into that topic too deeply at all. “I do remember what Qrow was like when he left to rejoin the Huntsmen, but completely lost track of him after that.”
The girl's narrow shoulders shrugged. “No idea. But this is pretty weird, being with people from my dad's old gang. Have… you heard from him?”
The anxiousness in Ruby’s features made Kali answer in a gentler tone. “Sorry. I wish I could say differently, but the last I heard of Taiyang was when he stepped down as High Dragon, and then when he and Raven split up.”
“I'm glad they did, or they wouldn't have been able to make me,” she joked feebly.
“That's very true. I think it was best for everyone involved - including making sure I got to meet such a little sweetheart.” Ruby's smile widened, and she laughed. “See?”
Blake rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. “Yeah, yeah, what a kitten. You still haven't answered my question, Mom.”
“Blake…” With a heavy sigh, she turned her attention to her daughter, hands folded in her lap. Apparently, she hadn’t wanted any lemonade for herself. “I did. Raven would probably only accept Ruby coming into her house because she's family. I thought you could glean from it that you coming along would be unwise.”
“But I want to see her! How is it fair that you guys can go check on my best friend but I can't? How?! Ruby's her sister, sure, but who the hell are you? Or Weiss? Or this other redhead?”
Holding up both of her hands in self-defense, Pyrrha flashed her a weak smile. “Oh, I agree with you; it's not my place to go in and visit your friend. I'll either head straight home from here, or wait outside.”
“Good,” she grumbled.
“But don't you think you're being a little unfair to Weiss? She and Yang have become very close. I know she would bring you along if it were up to her, but it isn't. It's up to Yang's mother.”
The irritation only seemed to deepen in Blake's features, but at least it had a new direction. “Damn her… who does she think she is, deciding who Yang can talk to? The Queen of England?”
“You really don't have to do all this for me,” Ruby put in with an awkward squirm, uncomfortable at Blake resenting her for her ‘spot’ on the guest list. “I'm nobody to you.”
“You're my friend,” Weiss insisted. “I know we've only talked a few times, and… that's my fault. There's just been so much going on, and I've been neglecting Pyrrha…”
The minute she was named, the Greek athlete giggled nervously. “Hey, I haven't felt neglected! Well… not much. And I know you can't help it; you never asked for your father to be such a- that is, for what's happened to happen. Please don’t think my feeling left out means I actually blame you for it, especially when we still see each other fairly often. Things will settle down soon; I’m sure of it.”
Her hand went to the bandage covering the welt on her cheek. “I hope so. Still, it's no excuse to forget about my friends - all my friends.” She stood with her hands on her hips. “Ruby Rose!”
“U-uh, yes? What?”
“You will come with Pyrrha and I to my house after we visit Yang!”
The silver eyes went wider in surprise. “I will? I mean, um, y-yeah! That sounds… great?” She glanced at Pyrrha as if for support, but the taller teenager only shrugged. “Yeah! Though I'm not really sure… why?”
“Didn't I make that clear? You're my friend, and I want you to start feeling like it. We could go to the malt shop instead, if you would rather. I just…” She swallowed hard before she continued. “You were right; even though you didn’t say it, I’ve only been talking to you because you’re Yang’s sister, and that isn’t fair.”
“Oh, no, I never-”
“So we’re going to be real friends from now on. That’s final!”
This time, Ruby was a little bemused along with her confusion. “Um… okay. Okay, good! Sounds neato keen - let’s get a malted after we visit Yang!”
“Or - we could go get one now, and then bring it to Yang! Couldn’t we?” Looking unsure, she turned to Kali. “Could we?”
Chuckling at Weiss’s enthusiasm, Mrs. Belladonna stood again and began to shoo the girls toward the kitchen. “I’ll show you how to make them right here, so we won’t even have to steal the diner’s glasses. I’m afraid they’ll have to all be chocolate; I don’t have any strawberries on hand. But I always have plenty of Ovaltine.”
That made Ruby’s face light up even brighter. “Oh my gosh! I love Ovaltine! So rich and chocolatey! I always imagine that I’m sharing a glass with Little Orphan Annie herself…”
Though Weiss could just barely catch the words “What a square” from Blake, muttered very quietly, she also noticed the hesitant smile on her lips. Ruby could probably win just about anyone over.

Fighting their way into Raven’s home went a lot smoother than it had the last time. She still threatened them with a butcher knife, and they had to wait for her and Kali to finish their staring contest before they could be let through. Ruby’s insistence that the malts were melting seemed to help, against all reasoning. After an even more sour glare pointed down in the younger girl’s direction, the woman lowered the knife and stomped into her kitchen without so much as a word.
“That’s going to keep being a problem,” Kali sighed as they walked through.
“Yes, it is.” Weiss perked up slightly and stopped. “Is that… Johnny Mathis coming from the kitchen?” The instant she mentioned it, the music stopped. “Never mind.”
As they kept moving again, Kali whispered, “Raven’s a lot more sentimental than she wanted anyone to know. I’d always catch her singing old standards when she thought no one was listening, like ‘The Way You Look Tonight’, ‘Cheek To Cheek’ - and all the Dragons loved Billie Holiday in those days.” Her eyes softened. “I thought that sentimentality got bled out of her, but maybe…”
Then they were edging into Yang’s room. The bedridden Dragon looked morose, gazing up at the ceiling, but more or less the same in terms of her physical health. Seeing them leaning in through the doorway changed her face completely, and she lit up like a Christmas tree.
“Weiss! Mrs. B., what’s- how did you get in here?”
“Through the front door, silly,” Kali laughed. “You have another visitor, too.”
“Really? Where?”
They both ducked back out and found Ruby had hung back. She looked about as terrified as she had facing down Raven with a knife, which really said something. Kali wrapped an arm around her and nudged her into the room.
“U-uhh, I, uhh…”
Yang’s face changed again, and this time not for the better. The best way Weiss could think of to describe it would be that all the light faded; she wasn’t angry, or upset, but her enthusiasm for their visit was gone. “Oh. Hi, Ruby.”
“Malted.”
“What?”
“Oh, I, um…” She brought the chilled glass out from behind her back. “We brought you s-something to cheer you up. It’s chocolate! I… I don’t know, do you like chocolate?”
“It’s fine,” she answered shortly. Behind Ruby’s back, Weiss motioned for Yang to keep going. “Thanks, I guess.”
Disappointed in that being the best she could do, Weiss could only look on hopelessly as Ruby squeaked, “Here! Y-you can have it and I’ll get out of your hai-”
Boy, did she let her have it.
In hindsight, they should have been able to predict it would happen. Ruby tripped over her own clumsy feet and dumped the entire chocolate milkshake onto Yang. Her face, hair, clothes, the bedsheets beneath her, all became coated in frothy, sweet dairy. There were even a few splatters on the wall behind her. Yang could do nothing but blink, stunned beyond words.
Time stood still for a second or two before Ruby blinked herself, kneeling on the floor with the now-empty glass between her hands. Then she squeaked, “OH! Oh no! What- I didn’t- oh no oh no oh no, I’m sorry! Gee whiz, what’s wrong with me?!”
Yang’s finger swiped through the chocolate on her cheek and drew away to look at it. As she did so, Kali commented in a somewhat urgent voice, “Now, Yang, be reasonable. This was clearly an accident.”
“I’m such a spaz! Yang, I… I’m sorry!” That seemed to be as much as she could do before she started scrambling to leave, stumbling again to headbutt Weiss in the stomach.
“OOF! Ruby!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, everybody! Super duper sorry! Oh, just kill me now! This is the worst thing I’ve…”
Her voice faded when she began to hear the laughter. It started out a little low, and then began to build until Yang was guffawing and slapping her thigh, sending yet more little droplets of chocolatey shake everywhere. Her cheeks turned red from lack of oxygen, and the other three women stood by and gaped at her for a moment, unsure how to take this development.
“Oh my GOD, the look on your face! Priceless! Really tickled me!”
Still snorting and falling over onto her side, Yang couldn’t seem to catch breath, she was laughing so hard. A little at a time, Kali and Weiss began to join her, the sight too funny to be resisted. Ruby didn’t, of course; she was still too mortified at her own actions.
“I’ll clean it up!” she squealed over the others. “Honest, I- I will! Promise! Where’s your, um… mop? Washcloth? Rug shampooer? Where do I start?”
“Get over here!” Still terrified, Ruby obeyed - and Yang grabbed her and pulled her into a headlock, rubbing her fist against her crown. “You little germ!”
“AH! You’re getting the malt all over me!”
“You’re damn right I am - if I have to wear it, so do you!”
Little by little, Ruby began to giggle as she was gently manhandled by her big sister, including a few pokes to her ribs, which got her legs windmilling off the edge of the bed. Kali and Weiss could breathe a sigh of relief at last; even though it wasn’t ideal, maybe this had been exactly what those two needed.
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Princess and The Dragons