We do not own RWBY or any other copyright content. All rights to it go to Monty Oum (God rest his soul), VIZ Media, and their original owners. All OCs are owned by us.
Writing credits go to Uzumaki Ricky, monsterhuntergod-Ratholas Mk1, Sharad the hedgehog, and Traines.
Volume 1 Chapter 2: Spirals of Stone
Weiss never thought what they got in June was summer. Despite the climate control technology of Atlas, there was always a chill in the air. Yet this year, though, felt different; as if the warmth never came, a false summer, if you will. Though a part of her thought it was merely what happened on her birthday.
The mere thought of it boiled her blood. How could her father come in so late and turn it into some self-adulation for himself and the company? Was she not worth anything other than a meat puppet to put on the chair of the company after he wanted to retire? Was she not enough to have one singular day where she could be happy? It felt as if she had a mouth, yet she could not scream. A prisoner in a gilded cage. What was all this wealth and privilege if she was trapped under that man's thumb?
She stormed out of her room in a huff. Klein made sure to get out of her way as she made a beeline for the library. The idea of being around anyone was anathema to her mood. Throwing the door open, she marched off to the farthest corner of the library and finally took a deep breath to calm herself. She needed something to take her mind off things. After scanning the titanic bookshelves stuffed with books, she found one that stuck out from the others. It had an old leather binding embroidered with flowing gold engravings as if it had veins of gold running through it.
'What on Remnant is this thing?' Weiss thought as she pulled it off the shelf, shocked by the heft of it.
She soon turned to look at it. Its title was "On The Wings of Dreams." A fanciful title to be sure, but one she wasn't opposed to. Blowing off a crust of dust, she coughed at the dust cloud she created. This book was clearly there for far longer than she thought. After she got over her coughing fit, she went over to a recliner to read. The book creaked as it opened, the old paper on the pages rustling as if it ached to move. Gingerly, she began to flip the first page over and read.
If she had to guess, whoever wrote this book was either insane, or was in some form of substance. It spoke of a time of great warriors, bonding their souls with mighty dragons. A time of heroes, villains, battles, betrayals, and so many things that one could attach to a golden age of history. Until it was all snuffed out, by what it didn't say. Merely that these fabled warriors disappeared in a flash. After reading this "history," it then shifted to some of the things about these great beasts the warriors rode into battle.
Yet as the section started on the Dragons themselves, her eyes lay upon a picture that stopped her. It was an oval-shaped stone, in a pale pearl white. It looked, aside from color, like the stone she had in her room. Looking below the painted picture was a caption.
"'This is an example of a Dragonstone, the egg of all Dragon species. Overall details of shape, texture, and color can vary wildly between species, but it is a general theory that they look like a common, if large and valuable looking stone. This is likely as a defense mechanism against potential egg thieves, as these creatures are at their most vulnerable in their eggs. It is unknown how much parental care Dragon's afforded their offspring.'" Weiss read aloud, her eyes returning to looking at the picture.
Soon she began to frantically flip through the rest of the book. This couldn't be right. Page after page of the book had various pictures of dragons and their eggs. Some of the eggs looked close to the stone in her room, but nothing quite fit. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she slammed the book shut in frustration and was swiftly attacked by another coughing fit by more dust. Then, with a great heave, she threw the book across the room.
"Stupid book." Weiss muttered and started to walk away. However, a quick glance at the book made her stop and turn around.
Landing on its binding, the book had opened up to a specific page. Born upon the page was a stone that, even after blinking multiple times, matched hers perfectly. The icy blue color, the metallic silver snowflake pattern. It was all perfect. Picking the book back up, she read off the page.
"'Silver Dragons. A type of Hybrid Element Dragon that wields the elements of Ice and Metal. Being a hybrid of Storm Class, which are known for their sleek, speed-built forms and storm-based magic, and Power Class, which are known for their large, bulky frames, armored hides, and great strength, Silver Dragons share physical characteristics with the Arcane class in the form of balanced physical abilities and lean more into their raw, mystical power…" Weiss read, not believing what she was seeing. "Who comes up with this stuff? Some loons with too much time on their hands?"
She read more and more, but there wasn't much more to read. Unlike the other sections, which waxed on forever about the characteristics of so many facets of dragons, the section on Silver Dragons was anemic by comparison. Closing the book slowly, she slung it under her arm and rushed off. Again, she nearly bowled over Klein as she made her way back to her room. Rushing into her room, she held the picture up to her stone sitting on the windowsill, and it was an exact match.
"No way. There is no way that's the case, Weiss. Put down the book and walk away, you're clearly going insane from all the emotional distress." Weiss said as she put the book on her bed. "Yeah… That's all it is."
Right as she turned to walk out of her room, she stopped as she heard a noise. It was a faint, nearly silent scratching sound. She turned around, trying to find it, before landing on the stone. The scratching was soon followed by a more substantial thump, as the stone lurched to one side. As the stone settled back into its original position, Weiss slowly walked towards it. Reaching out nervously, she poked it before rapidly pulling her finger away. Yet, unlike before, the stone didn't stir and fell into silence.
"I'm losing my mind. It's just a rock, Weiss. You know what, I'll pick it up and prove that it's just a hunk of rock Whitley found in a mine." Weiss said to herself with determination.
Looking around her room, she eventually settled on her metal letter opener to test this stone. Picking it up, she tapped it against the blue rock. Yet, unlike what she expected, it created an echo as she tapped. As if it was hollow. Raising her eyebrow, she nervously put her left hand on it. As soon as she touched it, she felt a shocking warmth coming from it akin to a lava lamp, and the heat was continuing to rise. It, however, didn't get hot enough to burn her as she kept her hand there. Yet, as she kept her hand on the stone as she observed it, she felt… did she feel something moving inside the stone?
And she swore she felt… "Is that… is that a heartbeat…? How does a rock have a heartbeat?" Weiss asked herself. "That's it: I'm going insane. I'm truly going insane."
The stone then lurched again, making her jump back in fright. This time, however, it lurched again, and again. Finally, a crack began to form in its side, as she felt a gust of frigid, ionized air hit her. She slowly backed away as the crack grew bigger and bigger with each lurch side to side. Until finally, and violently, the stone burst open with a blast of snowy air. The sudden chill caused Weiss to cough and slowly look where the stone was.
On her windowsill sat a creature roughly the size of a fully grown chicken. It was reptilian in nature, evidenced by thin, silver scales across its form with icy blue lines of scales across it in a pattern like lines of snow. Its body was shaped like a cross between a snake and lizard. It had four limbs, a neck, head and tail like a lizard, but was also very long and sleek like a snake. Its head was long and thin, with lips that covered fine serrated teeth in its mouth. Its body was unadorned with feathers, spikes, or knobs, save for two wings that flapped about, as if the creature didn't quite know what to do with them. Four stout legs shakily stood up, with their hands and feet hosting small, fine claws. Soon it looked at her, icy blue eyes staring into hers with what seemed like not only intelligence but understanding.
Its throat muscles flexed as it made a reptilian squeak, almost like a gecko she saw in a pet shop once. Weiss gulped as she saw it begin to pace about the windowsill, slowly looking around and sniffing its surroundings. Her mind was racing, trying to come up with any form of explanation that made sense. Was she dreaming? Was she hallucinating? Did she drink some bad tea earlier? She even pinched her own cheek just to make sure she was not sleeping. Yet everything pointed to one conclusion.
"That's a dragon. Whitley found a Dragonstone, and, from it, I have a dragon…" Weiss muttered to herself. "WHITLEY!!!!"
Yet as she observed it, waiting for her brother to come, she then came to a realization. It's a Dragon… how do you take care of a Dragon? For that matter, how the hell was she going to keep this thing a secret? Question after question began to rattle inside her head, causing her heart rate to skyrocket. Yet, to her shock, she felt something around her leg. Looking down, she saw the young dragon coiling around her leg like a cat.
'It's almost like a cat… a silver, scaly cat that burst from a rock.' Weiss thought to herself.
'Cat?' Came a confused, childlike voice.
Weiss looked around in shock. "Who said that?" She asked, confused and worried.
'That.' The childlike voice answered, as if copying her.
Weiss looked around and so no one. The only ones in the room were her… and the dragon. Looking down at it, Weiss stared in shock. "Are you… talking to me? Through telepathy…?" She asked in sheer disbelief.
"Wha…?" Came the voice, and the dragon blinked after she heard it. Weiss sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"So, you can talk to me with your mind. Great. There goes any sense of privacy. And now I am talking to a newborn dragon that can somehow talk back…" Weiss muttered, frustrated by the whole situation.
'Talk.' The voice said again, with the dragon before her attempting to mouth it following her own mouth. With nothing but jaw snapping and lips flapping to show for it.
Sighing, Weiss gently picked up the dragon. Walking over, she gently placed it on the bed before going and picking up the book. Opening it back up, she began flipping through it to find a chapter on dragon intelligence as well as general abilities. After about a minute, she found it and began reading off the page.
"'Dragon intelligence is the most often understudied and overlooked part of these magnificent creatures' suite of abilities. Fully grown and into their elderly years, it is rare to find a dragon that doesn't exceed the wisest of humans.'" Weiss began to read, taking her eyes and attention off the cradled hatchling.
Laying in Weiss' lap, the dragon let out a squeaking yawn as it curled up tighter. However, it heard the sound of tiny wings flapping and opened its eyes to see a ladybug. The ladybug flew around them before landing on the dragon's nose. Wiggling its nose, it sneezed out a puff of cold air as the ladybug took flight. Zeroing in on the tiny creature, the hatchling took off, getting off Weiss' lap to chase the ladybug.
"'Such intelligence is required for the basic complexity of their biology. It's…' what are you doing!?" Weiss yelled, being cut off from her reading seeing the dragon chasing the ladybug.
The dragon chased the ladybug around, observing it curiously before stalking it like a cat would a mouse. As the ladybug flew up towards the mantle in Weiss' room where her fireplace was, the dragon leapt up onto her desk before scaling up by leaping from bookcase to bookcase. Finally, seeing the ladybug just out of reach on the mantle above the fireplace, the hatchling leapt through the air. Spreading its wings out, it glided through the air to land on the mantle, much to the amazement of Weiss.
"No! Stop! Don't do that! Don't go trying to fly!" Weiss shrieked and began to try and grab hold of the little thing.
Gliding from atop the nearest bookcase, it landed on the mantle. Crouching, it snuck towards the ladybug as it landed on a picture frame on the mantle. Leaping, the dragon tried to catch the ladybug only to knock over the picture frame. Quickly, Weiss moved and caught the frame, sighing in relief. Looking up, she saw the ladybug land on a vase as the dragon swatted at it with a clawed hand.
The ladybug took flight, causing the dragon to knock over the vase as Weiss tried to catch it. Looking back up after she caught the vase, she glared at the dragon. "Don't drop anything! That was a picture of my grandfather and a priceless Ancient Mistrali vase!" She sternly told it.
The dragon pawed at some books as the ladybug flew away, getting its claws stuck. Yanking its claws away, this sent the books tumbling, forcing Weiss to catch them. "No! I spent hours organizing those books!" She shrieked as she caught them.
Sighing in relief at having caught the books, Weiss accidentally left herself open as the dragon swatted a potted plant off the mantle, which fell and landed on her head. The pot shattered on impact as Weiss fell over, dropping everything with the vase shattering.
"Hah… Hah… I'm here… Weiss." A heavily panting voice came from the doorway.
Weiss turned to look at the source of the voice indignantly, seeing a heavily panting Whitley leaning on the doorframe. "It's about damn time you showed up. This is all your fault!" Weiss sternly scolded him with a frown.
"I don't understand, sister. Just what is my faulllllllll…" Whitley began to say before trailing off in shock at the sight of the dragon up on his sister's mantle, still trying to catch the ladybug.
"What do you think, you moron!? This is all because of your birthday gift! It's running all over my room and wrecking everything!" Weiss yelled at him angrily.
"Is that… a dragon…?" Whitley asked in sheer disbelief.
"No, it's a Pomeranian. OF COURSE IT'S A BLOODY DRAGON!!!" Weiss roared furiously.
The dragon's ears perked up at that as it squeaked before glowing with silver and icy blue energy. Soon, in a burst of energy, it transformed. Scales turned to skin and fur, hands and reptilian feet turned to paws, and its tail turned small and fluffy. To the shock of the Schnee siblings, in the place of the baby dragon was now a baby teacup Pomeranian.
"Yip!" Came from the "dog's" mouth.
"... THEY CAN SHAPESHIFT!?" The two siblings asked in sheer disbelief.
"Yip!" The "dog" answered.
"Where the bloody hell is that in this stupid book!?" Weiss exclaimed, frantically flipping through it.
"You're learning about this thing from a book!? What else can these things do!?" Whitley asked, running over to look with his sister.
"I'm trying to figure that out! It just hatched a few minutes ago from the stone you got me!" Weiss yelled, looking like she'd smack him if her hands weren't already full.
"How was I supposed to know it was an egg!?" Whitley demanded in frustration.
"Whitley, shut up! I'm busy!" Weiss said, still flipping through the book.
"I'm trying to help, Weiss!" Whitley replied, helping her scan the book.
'Weiss… Whitley…' Came the childlike voice of the dragon into the two's minds.
Whitley looked around in shock. "What on Remnant was that!?" Whitley asked, clearly shaken up by everything that was happening.
"Oh, right. I forgot to mention, the Dragon can talk into our minds." Weiss explained shockingly nonchalantly as she looked through the book for answers.
Whitley looked up at the "dog" in shock. It could… speak into their minds too? With that, the poor Schnee boy's mind was finally overwhelmed by all of the information. All Weiss heard next was a thumping sound as she continued reading through the book.
"Whitley! I told you to keep it down!" Weiss snapped, turning to look to see Whitley had fainted. "Whitley? Whitley!!"
Rushing over, she soon checked his pulse. With a deep sigh of relief to see he was still alive, she picked him up in a bridal carry and gently laid him on her bed. The dragon waddled its now furry body over, with Weiss soon picking it up and putting it on the bed.
"All right. Use your cold breath you did earlier to keep him cool, okay?" Weiss asked her dragon nicely.
The "dog" nodded and turned back into dragon form before inhaling slightly. It then began to gently release a tiny, soft blast of cold air onto Whitley's forehead. Soon, Whitley began to relax as the cold air did its trick. After a few minutes, Whitley began to stir.
"That's enough now. He's waking up." Weiss told the hatchling, signaling for it to stop as it ceased its tiny breath attack.
"Ow, my head. That was a weird dream I just had…" Whitley groaned as he sat up.
"What kind of dream?" Weiss asked confusedly, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"I dreamt that a dragon hatched out of that stone… I… gave…" Whitley replied as he slowly opened his eyes and saw the dragon hatchling somehow smiling at him. "It… wasn't a dream, was it…?"
"I've already pinched myself. If you want to try it, go ahead." Weiss answered him with a sigh, crossing her arms.
"Weiss, what do we do? You have a dragon! There is a dragon in our house! We don't know anything about taking care of something like this! We don't even know what it eats!" Whitley said, beginning to panic.
Weiss then smacked her brother firmly in the back of the head. "Pull yourself together! We have the book. We can figure this out. Panicking isn't going to get us anywhere." Weiss said firmly, putting her hands on her hips.
'Book.' The Dragon said into their minds.
"Thank you, little one, for your helpful input." Weiss sarcastically told the hatchling.
'Yip. Help.' It answered simply, wagging its dragon tail like a dog.
Whitley sighed at this. "We are completely out of our depth with this, dear sister. We are going to require some help. But from who…?" He told his sister, trying to remain calm.
"There's only one route we can take. Bringing Winter and Klein into this. They are adults, so obviously they know what to do. It's not like we can do anything to get us out of this shit." Weiss explained.
'Shit.' The Dragon chirped into their heads.
"You are never to say that again. Have I made myself clear, young dragon?" Weiss sternly told the hatchling.
'...Why?' The Dragon asked, cocking its head to the side like a bird.
"Because that is a bad word not meant for little ones. Okay?" Whitley told the little hatchling.
'Yip, Yip.' It answered with a nod, flapping its wings uselessly in excitement.
The two siblings sighed as Whitley looked at Weiss. "So… have you… named it yet?" He asked her.
"I don't even know if it's a male or female yet. How would we even check?" Weiss said in exasperation.
"Have you… flipped its skirt?" asked Whitley.
Weiss glared at her brother. "This is serious, Whitley!" She admonished him.
"Well, I did read in a book once about how you do it for pet lizards. Put a flashlight at the base of a tail in a dark room. It will show blood vessels suggesting male or female." Whitley explained, taking the comment on the chin.
Weiss sighed. "I'll get a flashlight. You keep it out of trouble until I get back." She told him, standing up.
As Weiss left to go get a flashlight, Whitley looked down at the young reptile. It had developed a peculiar fascination with its own tail. Reaching down, he grabbed it by the sides like a chicken. This had the reaction of it freezing up, confused at what was going on. Then Whitley sat on the bed with it and, with one hand, began to scratch it on its back. As if touched by magic, the beast closed its eyes and let him. When Weiss finally returned, she saw it quite well behaved in Whitley's lap.
"Well, that is a very pleasant surprise. I'm honestly shocked why father never let you have an iguana or something." Weiss said as she clapped to turn off the main room's lights.
Whitley sighed. "You know father. 'There will be no filthy animals in my home! We don't want the Faunus riff raff getting any ideas that we might treat them like people!'" He said, doing his best imitation of their father's voice.
"You're frighteningly good at that. Now keep it still for me." Weiss said as she found the base of the Dragon's tail.
Weiss clapped to turn off the rest of the lights before turning on the flashlight. Holding up the tail of the dragon, she shined the light on the base and saw a long, dense, fleshy spike structure inside a fleshy crevice on the base of its tail. Looking down, Whitley looked at it before looking at his sister.
"Congratulations, dear sister. It's a boy." Whitley told her.
"How typical. A young man being rambunctious and causing destruction in his wake." Weiss said as she rolled her eyes.
Whitley frowned. "I resent that, dear sister. I am a young man, and I am anything but rambunctious." He reminded her.
"You don't remember when you were, three do you?" Weiss asked with a sigh.
Whitley raised an eyebrow. "No, why?" He asked, confused.
"We will discuss it when you're older. Right now, we have a bigger issue to contend with." Weiss said with a sigh.
Whitley sighed. "Right. I'll call Klein and tell him to contact elder sister. We are going to need a lot of help." He told her.
"Before that. We need a name for our new little member of the household." Weiss said, looking at the dragon.
"Try looking if the book has anything on dragon naming conventions." Whitley suggested.
"It's a book on Dragons, Whitley. I looked through the whole thing. It doesn't go that in depth about them." Weiss explained with a groan.
"Then we're on our own… great…" Whitley sighed.
"Right, he used a kind of cold breath. So, he clearly has something to do with the Ice Element." Weiss mused.
"How about 'Snowflake' or 'Snowball?'" Whitley suggested.
To the two's surprise, they heard a small growl coming from the dragon. A small ridge of spikes soon stood up on its back as it glared at Whitley for his choices.
"Well, he clearly doesn't like those options…" Whitley said nervously.
"No threatening." Weiss scolded sternly.
As the dragon calmed down, the two began to think. That was when Whitley got an idea. "Why not try one of the ancient Solitasian languages? One of them might have something good." He suggested, this time thinking more deeply on the idea.
Weiss nodded and stood there and thought for a moment. It had been a few moons since her last lesson on the ancient languages of the land. But, as she slowly recollected, a certain combination formed in her head.
"I think I've got something." Weiss mused audibly.
"Try asking him if he likes it." Whitley suggested.
Weiss turns to look at the dragon. "How does 'Silfrdrengr' sound? It means 'Silver Warrior' in the language of the Seafarers of the Tenrō Clan." Weiss asked, hoping the dragon would like it.
The dragon immediately perked up. His tail wagged like a dog's as he excitedly dropped down and ran in a circle before sitting up.
"I'll take that as a yes." Weiss said with a satisfied smile.
"Silfrdrengr. A lovely name, dear sister. A strong and majestic sounding name for a strong and majestic creature." Whitley said approvingly.
With a nod, Weiss clapped her hands to make the lights come back on. "Now then. Go and get Klein to call Winter. And do it in a way that doesn't attract suspicion, please. The last thing we need is waking Mother from her drunken naps or Father catching wind of this." She explained sternly.
With a nod, Whitley set Silfrdrengr down on the bed. Patting his head, he then left to go get the services of their butler. For a most… unusual request.
To Be Continued…