A Living Myth RWBY X Child!Dragon Faunus! Male! Reader

Chapter 39: Ultimatum and Risk

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Chapter 39: Taking Chances

(Y/N)'s head was pounding as the dust swirled in the air. He was exhausted, completely and more so than he had ever felt in his whole life. The adrenaline was finally starting to wear off and his wounds were now starting to hurt. He could hear Yang talking to Blake and Weiss on her Scroll, getting directions back to the Schnee manor. He then heard a soft thump beside him and saw Emerald on her knees, her face betraying her disbelief.
"Hazel?"
The boy looked sadly at her before kneeling next to her. He was vaguely aware of the gazes of Oscar and Ren, but that didn't seem as important.
He placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, causing her to flinch. "He saved us." She gritted her teeth and began to curl her fist, but (Y/N) stopped her, placing the ring Hazel had tucked into his clothes in the palm of her hand. "He cared about you, Emerald. He wanted you to be able to escape. He made his choice to protect you, that's not on you."
She sighed, her muscles relaxing. Behind him, Yang and Jaune received the map and hung up the call.
"(Y/N), we need to go."
He nodded to her, but noted how she and Jaune had their weapons trained on Emerald. He sighed. He didn't exactly disagree with them on the subject, but Emerald was hardly a threat anymore since Salem's would likely get rid of her the second they crossed paths. The dragon nudged the teenage girl, urging her to her feet. Emerald looked slightly annoyed, but didn't say a word, holding her hands up as they handed for the tunnels beneath Atlas. To be frank, after the Apathy and the Gheist incidents, (Y/N) started to detest tight, underground pathways, not helped by the fact that Yang and Oscar were arguing the whole way on what to do with Emerald.
"You can't be serious." His sister growled. "You want us to work with her?"
"I'm just saying it makes the most sense." Oscar argued back. "We're all enemies of Salem, including her."
Emerald piped up. "No, I'm with blondie. You don't like me, and I only tolerate (Y/N). So how about we part ways and we never have to see each other again."
"You're not going anywhere." Jaune snapped, pointing his sword at her. "Not after everything you've done."
Ren shook his head. "We can't let all of our actions stem from fear. If she can help us, I think we should consider it."
"She is part of the reason I have this. I'm not going to just forgive her!" Yang stated, holding up her robotic arm.
"And she's part of the reason we managed to escape." (Y/N) argued back.
"Everything that happened at Beacon, she lied to us! Tricked us! She's dangerous!"
"I'm not asking you to forgive her. I haven't forgiven her. I'm asking you to give her a chance. We owe Hazel at least that much."
"I agree." Oscar stated. "We've already received help today from someone we don't exactly trust."
"You mean Ozpin?" Ren asked. Oscar's expression was all he needed. "I had a feeling."
Yang and Jaune swung around.
"Wait what?!" Yang yelled. "He's back!?"
"I know how you feel, but he saved my life." The farmhand justified. "When we were tortured, he took it, so I wouldn't have to." He pulled out the cane. "He entrusted me with this, the massive amount of power he had stored up within it. Kinetic energy he spent lifetime after lifetime accumulating in the cane he built."
Jaune stared at it curiously. "So, that's how you did that? Using all of the stored up power?"
"Not all, but most. We have to be careful about how we use the rest. He trusted my judgement, and it saved us. I want to reciprocate that trust. There's a lot to sort out, but Oz really wants to help."
The older kids all looked at each other, unsure. (Y/N) remained silent, his tail twitching. He agreed with Oscar. It would take a while, and maybe they would never come to terms with everything that had happened, and that was within everyone's right, but what choice did they have at this point? The sound of crying caught their attention. Running down the tunnel, they found a horde of refugees taking shelter, huddled up and scared.
Jaune sighed. "All of Atlas is down here."
They walked through the crowd and (Y/N) felt his steps weighed down by the atmosphere. Every flicker of lights seemed to panic the crowd like rabbits and he couldn't even think over the sound of fearful crying. Emerald herself was weighed down, but her weight came from guilt. She was now faced with the outcome of her actions, this time without the shield of her blind loyalty to Cinder to stave it off. Vale...had it been just as bad or even worse than this?
"I've seen what you can do, Emerald." Oscar said as they walked back into the dark tunnel. "How ever this fight ends, we could really use someone like you."
(Timeskip)
Very little was said after that, and (Y/N) by this point just wanted to rest. Eventually, they dragged themselves back to the surface and arrived at the manor in one piece. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were there to greet them. Ruby immediately hugged the two of them, and (Y/N) finally felt a little lighter. Yang also seemed brighten as she held her younger siblings close, finally able to let her guard down.
"I missed you both."
The three smiled and as Ruby greeted the boys, Yang and him turned to Weiss and Blake. Weiss was immediately assessing (Y/N)'s condition, horrified at the damage Salem had done to him. He held up his hands.
"I'm fine, it looks a lot worse than it is...now."
"Don't ask me not to worry, especially not after all of this!" She argued. "I thought we had lost you!"
(Y/N)'s gaze fell shamefully. "I'm sorry. I...I've been putting myself in a lot of danger, and I haven't been thinking about how that makes you feel..."
She held his cheek. "Just...promise me. From now on, no matter what, no more running blindly into danger."
He nodded. "I promise."
Ruby smiled at the scene and turned to greet Oscar, only to see Emerald there as well. She growled and reached for Crescent Rose, only for her brother to grab her wrist as Oscar held up his hands.
"No! She's okay! I can-,"
He was cut off by the sound of Ruby's Scroll beeping. She pulled it out and answered, seeing a panicked Ciel on the other end, along with the sounds of screaming people.
"Ruby! The cargo ships you sent arrived, but they're not alone!"
"Ciel, what are you talking about?"
The girl did not answer, looking into the sky fearfully before hardening her expression. "Everyone! Take shelter!"
The feed suddenly died, leaving them in the dark.
Blake was the first to react. "Were those-?"
Again, she was cut off, this time by loud, obnoxious beeping. She and (Y/N) shielded their ears as everyone pulled out their Scrolls.
"This is an emergency CCT broadcast." A voice droned
Ruby held up her Scroll, projecting the message in the air. Video of several Schnee cargo planes being shot down by the military played. (Y/N), not exactly being up to date with everyone's current missions, looked to Weiss.
"Weiss, what's going on!?"
She looked down, confused. "Those ships were going to save people."
"Then why are they being shot down?"
The feed cut to Ironwood, standing in the singular ray of light in a darkened room, his head lowered.
"I have always promised to defend this Kingdom, its technology, its advancements, its future, from those who would see it destroyed. Our enemy is crippled, but one individual still denies Atlas its salvation: the Protector of Mantle. Penny, wherever you and your friends are, I need you all to listen. I know how much Mantle means to you, so I'm going to give you a choice: you can bring yourself to Atlas Academy and do your duty, help me save as much of Atlas as I can, and Mantle will be left to fend for itself, or...you can all watch as I destroy it."
(Y/N)'s eyes widened as a low snarl rumbled in his chest. The boy didn't think it was possible for him to sink any lower, but cowardice was a surprising thing. Some dark part of him was now angry with himself for not finishing...he stopped himself.
"I have one bomb. That's all it will take. If there is no Mantle, then there is no reason for you not to work with me. Neither of us want it to come to that, but one of us is willing to do it. If anyone tries anything other than what I've ordered, Mantle...is gone. You have one hour to respond. I hope you live up to the title I gave you."
The feed cut, leaving everyone to stare at each other
"He's...he's not serious is he?" Jaune said.
Blake shook her. "He has to be bluffing."
"He wasn't wasn't." (Y/N) shot down. "He meant every word of it."
They were all silent with the exact same question on their minds:
What now?
(Timeskip)
After being updated on Penny and Nora's conditions ((Y/N) at least got an answer as to why he felt extra horrible on the whale), the girls, Oscar, Emerald, and (Y/N) all gathered in the dining room to pretty much scramble a plan.
"Ironwood wants Penny, otherwise Mantle is done for." Yang evaluated. "So how do we stop him?"
Blake's ears flattened. "Qrow and Robyn are still in his custody, and Ciel says Atlas security drones are watching the crater...so they're trapped too."
"And Salem isn't going to stay gone for much longer." Oscar pointed out.
Ruby was gripping her head by this point. "So then, it's impossible."
"See?" Emerald said. "If Ms Hero with All the Answers doesn't have an answer, then we have our."
(Y/N), who was standing next to her if only to keep the girls from killing her, gripped the bridge of his nose. "Emerald, you are really not helping your case."
Yang shot up. "Okay then why don't you just leave!?"
"Can we please just give each other a chance!" Oscar interceded. "Emerald is not with Salem anymore and Ozpin is back. All of this doubt, and worry, and distrust, it's getting us nowhere!"
"Then nothing has changed!" Ruby snapped. "We are in the exact same place as we were yesterday, arguing over what to do as the Kingdom waits to die!"
Yang placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder, but the younger girl just took off out the door, Yang running after her. (Y/N) tried to follow her, but Oscar stopped him.
"Let Yang handle this one, (Y/N)."
The boy sighed, frustrated with everything. Instead of waiting to blow up, he just marched out the other door towards the nearest back door. At least here he could scream in peace. With that, he slumped on his back and stared at the sky. He felt so useless. For the past day and a half, he had been shot, mauled by a crime against nature, taken prisoner by a deranged witch, saw someone die to buy him time to escape, and now here he was, once again unable to do anything. His emotions felt scrambled by this point, amplified by his seemingly new power to connect to those closest to him. Maybe they should have never come here. Atlas has been nothing but failure after failure. Everything they tried to do, to protect, it all just felt so...meaningless now.
He closed his eyes for a moment, opening them as he heard footsteps. Emerald stood over him, seemingly looking for something profound to say.
"You...seem like you're at the end of your rope."
He huffed. "What gave you that idea?"
She sat next to him. "Seems appropriate you guys throw in the towel right when I join you."
"Emerald, serious, shut up."
"I'm serious. The one time I bank on your stubbornness to keep us going, of course it's not there."
The boy half chuckled. "I liked to think it's persistence, but I guess it makes more sense I learned stubbornness from them, especially Yang."
"Really? You don't think you already had a stubborn streak in you?"
"It's all in the company you keep. I mean, what were you like before the whole Cinder thing?"
Emerald pulled her knees to her chest. "You'd be surprised. I had no one but myself, so I had to steal every scrap I could to get by. I was already a bad egg from the start."
(Y/N) sat up. "I don't think stealing to survive and helping a power monger and a deranged witch destroy the world are quite on the same level."
Emerald rubbed her head. "Yeah, when I say it out loud, it doesn't sound as bad as it used to."
"At least you didn't leave people to die to save yourself."
The older girl blinked at him in shock. The guilt (Y/N) seemed to be radiating was almost tangible. Had he always felt that? She glanced away.
"You're sister...she was bawling her eyes out about that freaky Grimm. Couldn't tell you why though, that thing was awful."
"She was a person." Emerald stared at him. "Hazel's sister, Gretchen, had silver eyes. Salem only half lied to him when claimed to have killed her. It's why Hazel chose to trust us. If Salem did that to someone, it's proof that life, no matter what form it takes, doesn't matter to her."
The red eyed girl looked practically sick to her stomach. Hazel...he didn't deserve that, of everyone on Salem's side, he didn't deserve any of that. Emerald placed her forehead to her knees.
"I should've stopped. I could've made him come with us! I-,"
"He wouldn't have listened. Hazel...he made his peace with the world a long time ago and wanted to at least protect someone. He may have been my enemy, but I think some part of him always wanted to do the right thing."
"He was the only reason I could escape. He always looked after me and Mercury, he even took hits from Salem for us. I just wish I could've told him-,"
"You appreciated him looking out for you?" (Y/N) finished.
Emerald looked away shamefully. "Sorry, I really shouldn't be fishing for sympathy, from you especially. Your sister was right, everything that happened, I was a part of it."
"I'd say you not coming up with excuses is a good step."
"You know, you can be obnoxiously understanding at times." They looked at each other and laughed before Emerald continued. "Guess you get that from Ruby."
(Y/N) looked down. "Yeah. You know, sometimes I wonder...what would've happened to me...if my sisters hadn't found me that day?"
"You probably would've gotten eaten."
He gave her a look. "Not what I meant. What would've happened to me if someone else had found first, like Salem...or you guys...would I still be who I am now? Would I still be me?"
Emerald didn't have an answer for him. In truth, no one could answer that, not even Jinn. Still, she felt obligated to tell him something.
"I think...Mercury would've set you loose the second he was alone with you. He can't stand nice people."
(Y/N) snorted before a loud crash caught his attention. They both shot up.
"What was that?" Emerald asked.
(Y/N) spread his wings. "Not good."
He flew over the manor and saw Penny trying to fly away, Ruby gripping her waist, and Blake, Oscar, Nora, Jaune, Yang, and Ren trying to get her back on the ground.
"Penny!" He yelled. He tackled her, bad idea because metal but what could be done, and trying to pull her down. "Penny stop!"
"I can't!" She screamed.
He huffed and pumped his wings as hard as he could, like he was a hummingbird or something. Eventually, her feet touched the ground and (Y/N) felt the familiar weight of Weiss's gravity glyph.
"I've got her!" She assured him.
"What do we do!?" Nora yelled.
The flames of the Maiden powers flared in Penny's eyes as an icy wind swirled around them. Weiss was knocked off balance, freeing Penny from the glyph. As she rose back up, (Y/N) fought to pull her back down.
"Help me out here, Pyrrha!"
With Pyrrha's charm glowing, he tapped the blade of his left gauntlet and threw down so it became embedded into the stone. He then tapped Penny's stomach, causing her to be pulled towards the blade. The robot girl struggled and fought to get away.
"I must...open the Vault...and self terminate!"
"This isn't working!" (Y/N) yelled.
Two more blades latched onto Penny's shoulders. The dragon looked down to see Emerald had joined in their efforts.
"Do something!" She yelled at the team given this clearly wasn't working.
The extra hands freed up Jaune, who ran over to Weiss. Boosting her Aura, her glyph paired with the magnetic pull of (Y/N)'s weapon, immediately pinned Penny down. Ruby hugged her friend as Penny fought to stay in control.
"Penny please! Tell us how to help you!"
"...kill me."
(Y/N)'s eyes widened in horror and he made Penny look him in the eye.
"No, no! There has to be another way!"
"I can make sure the power goes to Ruby. Please." She then began to flail as her eyes flicked red again. "Please! I cannot fight it!"
"Yes you can!" Nora yelled. "If you were only a machine, you never could've fought back this long."
"She's right." Ruby mumbled as (Y/N) realized what the two were getting out.
"Jaune! Boost her Aura!"
The blonde ran in, (Y/N) activating Yang's charm to make up for the loss of strength in Weiss's glyph, amplifying the android girl's Aura. That seemed to do the trick as Penny regained control of herself. Cautiously, everyone released her. When Penny didn't take off into the sky, Ruby hugged her as (Y/N) plopped to the ground, any energy he had recovered after the whale once again gone. Everyone else raced up to them, some hugging Penny, others, namely Ren, propping (Y/N) up.
"Did...I stop the virus?" Jaune asked.
Penny frowned. "No...it's still there. But-,"
Ruby gripped her hands. "You have an Aura, Penny, a soul. That's who you are, our friend, not a machine."
"I think you're wrong, by the way." Emerald interceded. "I highly doubt any of you are in the same place you started. I mean, y-yeah, you guys have been getting your asses kicked, some of that...my fault, but you're at war, you're gonna take hits. Look, I'm just gonna be super pissed you finally give up the moment I decided to switch sides!"
Oscar smiled. "Switch sides, huh?"
"Aw." Yang teased.
Emerald pouted. "Don't look smug, (Y/N)'s annoyingly convincing."
Oscar walked up to her and pulled her to her feet, before turning back to them.
"If you all don't mind, I think Ozpin would really like to say something."
Everyone looked to Ruby, who nodded.
"Go ahead."
Oscar's eyes flashed as he took on a familiar posture. Oz approached them, staring at the ground.
"I was recently reminded of an old fairy tale. A young girl flees the consequences of a choice to a magical place...but never having learned from her initial failure, she only succeeds in spreading it. I failed all of you. I should've trusted you with the truth, and I should have never had run the day you discovered it."
"It was rough." Yang admitted, before (Y/N) gave her a look and motioned with his head. "I think after everything, we understand why you did it."
(Y/N) looked down. "Trusting people...it's a risk. Sometimes, it can be scary and...it won't always end well, but you have to take it at some point."
Everyone then looked back at Oz.
"And I hope, it's a risk you can take on me again."
Emerald walked beside him and smiled, but the moment was cut short as Penny flinched.
"I can still feel it fighting me."
"I can't keep amping her." Jaune said.
"And we can't keep Ironwood waiting." Ren added.
(Y/N) growled. "Maybe I could sneak down to the crater and get Ciel, or find Pietro and Maria."
"We have no idea where they are, and the crater is being guarded." Blake said.
Weiss nodded. "Even if you could sneak Ciel out, you haven't recovered from your injuries. Your Aura wouldn't hold out!"
Penny gripped her head as Nora looked at them. "Guys, she has to go to the vault."
Ruby got a look on her face. "That's actually a risk...we haven't considered."
(Y/N) gave her a look. "You lost me."
Jaune seemed to understand. "We've been so worried about keeping the vault closed, we never considered using what's inside."
Oz nodded. "The Staff of Creation."
"Maybe we can use it to save Penny and get everyone in Atlas and Mantle back to safety." Ruby suggested.
(Y/N) tilted his head. "Okay, now I get it, but how do we get in? Ironwood's gonna be watching."
Just then, Weiss's Scroll began beeping. Pulling it out, she smiled, seeing who was on the other end.
"Well, you'll never guess who I heard from."
(Timeskip)
Everyone was back in the dining room, but notably more hopeful. With Winter, Marrow, Qrow, and Robyn as back (and knowing Robyn and Qrow were not hostages), getting in was now possible. Now all they need was to figure out what the heck they were going to use the staff for.
"So we have people trapped in Mantle and Atlas that we can't reach unless we use the Staff, which is located in the Vault." Weiss analyzed. "If we open the Vault, Penny terminates. If Ironwood learns any of this, he blows up Mantle."
"There's something else to consider." Oscar added in. "Once the Staff creates anything else, the city drops. Atlas has enough natural gravity dust to keep it from plummeting immediately, but, well nobody's going to want to be around when it touches down."
"Okay." Jaune said as he was boosting Penny's Aura. "Then let's use the Staff to teleport everyone to safety. Maybe even to another Kingdom!"
"You can't just save it like a magic wand and make our problems go away."
"I mean, it's keeping an entire city floating, so..." (Y/N) said.
"And we haven't even told you about...him..."
"Who?" Yang asked as Oscar handed the reins to Oz.
"The spirit in the Staff, like Jinn. He's...well he's a character. He can build you anything, but only if you can explain to him how. Like any craftsman, he'll need blueprints, some sort of reference. It'll help if we have real world examples to show him."
"I've already gone through the city layouts for the STC evacuation." Whitely said. "Maybe I can help?"
"There's still James and his bomb to consider." Ozpin reminded them.
Weiss smirked, looking over at Emerald. "Oh I've got a plan for that."
(Y/N) leaned back. "Well, this should be fun."

Okay, another crossroads folks: is (Y/N) with Emerald and ORNJ, Team RWBY, or guarding the Schnees? As always, I leave the debate to you. Considering Volume 9 isn't until next year, we got time to kill. What did you guys think of the trailer and teaser?