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

Chapter 14 (R): Remembrance and Family

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Chapter 14: What We Lost

Dawn had barely broken when (Y/N) slowly opened his eyes. He didn't usually wake up first, most of the time one of the boys had to shake awake so they could all move out, but insistent rustling and groans pierced the veil of unconsciousness. To a human, they could've easily been written off, but to a sharp eared Faunus like (Y/N), they were persistent and too much to ignore. Yawning and rubbing his eyes, he sat up and scanned their camp for whatever was making the noise.
It was Ruby.
His sister was tossing about in her sleeping bag, muttering softly to herself. Seeing this, (Y/N) stood up and walked over to her, shaking her shoulder lightly.
"Ruby?"
She woke with a gasp, her eyes darting around the clearing before finally they fell on her brother.
"(Y/N)? What are you doing up?"
He frowned. "You were making noise. It sounded like you were having a nightmare."
"Oh. Sorry I woke you up." Ruby winced slightly, rubbing her fingers into her temples."
"You...you can tell me about it if you want." He suggested weakly as she turned over in her sleeping bag.
"No no, i-it's fine. Go back to sleep."
His tail drooped as she promptly turned her back to him. With one last glance, he slumped back his sleeping bag.
(Timeskip)
The skies were blue and clear as the team was back on the road. Ruby, map, which (Y/N) had found stuffed into his bag for whatever reason, firmly in hand as she attempted to read it.
"So the next town is...Uh-huh! Uh-huh..." she hung her head in defeat. "We're lost."
"Shion Village." (Y/N) said, remembering what the blacksmith had told them.
Jaune nodded. "He's right! My family used to visit it all the time."
"Oh yeah," Ruby said, grinning mischievously. "Don't you have, like, four sisters?"
Jaune groaned, rolling his eyes. "Uh, seven."
"Y'know, that actually explains a lot." Nora snidely remarked to (Y/N), who chuckled.
Jaune looked at her. "Wait, what do you mean?"
"SO!" Ruby interrupted. "What did you guys do there?"
"Oh! All sorts of stuff!" Jaune began to point out various things on the map. "Over here is a great hiking trail, and over here is where we went camping all the time! I got my own tent because I was special...also, so my sisters would stop braiding my hair."
"Didn't like the look?" Ruby joked.
"Yeah, they just kept doing pigtails, but personally I think I'm more of a Warrior's Wolf Tail kind of guy."
"That's just a ponytail."
"...I stand by what I said."
(Y/N) laughed, causing Nora to ruffle his own (H/C) locks.
"Hey, mister, you shouldn't laugh. Your hair's getting long enough to style!"
Before (Y/N) could make a witty remark, he froze, closing his eyes as his nose went up. The older kids stopped immediately, knowing (Y/N)'s senses had begun to be refined in the time they had been traveling.
Ren drew his weapons first. "(Y/N), what do you smell?"
The boy opened up his eyes, a grim expression on his face. "Smoke. A lot of smoke."
They all took off down the road as the skies darkened suddenly. Eventually, the burning remains of Shion Village came into view, plumes of smoke still pillowing from the ashes. Running into the center of the village, they scanned the walkways for any trace of life.
"There could be survivors!" Ruby insisted.
(Y/N) glanced around with his soul sight, a slumped, dull form catching his eye. "There!"
The older kids ran to a man propped up by a stone, breathing heavily. (Y/N) could smell blood and saw the male pushing his head into a deep gash on his stomach. Ren knelt down to assess the would as the male weakly turned his head. As the girls rushed in to help, Jaune, seeing blood drip from the man's move, grabbed (Y/N) by the shoulder.
"(Y/N), scout around. See if there's anyone else."
"But-,"
"Go."
The young dragon glanced towards the injured man before turning back to Jaune and nodding. As he took to flight, Jaune stood by Ruby, who gave him a silent look of thanks.
"He's a Huntsman." Ruby noticed.
"What happened?" Jaune asked. "Who killed all these people?"
The Huntsman coughed weakly. "Bandits. The whole tribe...then, with all the panic..."
Ren looked up. "Grimm."
As the quiet male walked away, the other three turned to strategize.
"All right, we can get him to the next village and try to find a doctor there." Ruby suggested. "We...we probably can send (Y/N) ahead to check."
Jaune nodded. "Yeah, Ren and I can take turns carrying him."
Nora was not optimistic. "I don't know if he'll make it."
"He will." The blonde shot her down. "He has to."
Ruby nodded. "If we get going now, his chances will be better. I'll go get (Y/N). At the very least, he can use his fire breathing to cauterize the wound."
"Guys..." Ren cut in.
They all turned as he glanced down. It was already too late. They all stared in horror before a soft thump was heard behind them. Ruby was the only one who moved, seeing (Y/N) looking at the corpse in despair as well. Before she could even ask about any other survivors, he somberly shook his head.
"Should...should we bury him?" The boy asked.
Ren marched past all of them, not sparing another glance to the body. "We should go. It's not safe here."
"Ren..." Nora said as she followed him worriedly.
Jaune held his head as Ruby placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It'll be okay."
Her friend sighed. "I'm just tired of losing everything."
(Y/N) only continued to stare at the corpse, almost feeling numb. Why? Why did this have to keep happening? What was the point of all this? Eventually, he managed to tear his gaze away as Jaune and Ruby moved to, despite Ren's coldness, bury the man. Behind them, Nora and Ren were also rooted in their spot, glaring down at something before looking at each other. Glancing, he managed to barely make out a footprint, er, hoofprint. He had seen them around the village, but he didn't know what it came from. Obviously it was a Grimm, but it was massive and he didn't know of any Grimm like that.
Still, just because he didn't know about them, didn't mean they didn't exist.
(Timeskip)
The rest of the day passed in uncomfortable silence as the group tried to put as much distance between them and the ruined village as possible. Nobody dared talk about it and that night, (Y/N) struggled to find any real sleep. If he had scouted ahead like he wanted, would that Huntsman still be alive, or would he have ended up as another corpse for the group to find? Around midnight, as he drifted between consciousness and unconsciousness, yet again distant murmuring brought him back. He tried to ignore it at first, but a voice became clear.
"Jaune."
He shot up, recognizing it. That...that was Pyrrha's voice. He raced out of camp, following the sound, hoping beyond all impossible hope that it was true, but when he came to the source, he was left disappointed. It was Pyrrha's voice, but only a recording. Jaune stood in a separate clearing, sword and shield drawn as the image of Pyrrha instructed him.
"All right, Jaune, just like we practiced. Follow these instructions. Shield up. Keep your grip tight. Don't forget to keep your front foot forward. Ready? Go!"
Jaune let out a cry as he lunged forward. The recording kept speaking.
"Again."
He swung downward, his shield covering him.
"And again."
With a final cry, he swiped, sending out a humble shockwave as he breathed heavily.
"Okay. Now, assuming you aren't cheating...we can take a break." Jaune huffed, trying to catch his breath. "I know this can be frustrating, and it can feel like so much effort to progress such a small amount, but I want you to know that I'm proud of you. I've never met someone so determined to better themself. You've grown so much since we started training, and I know this is just the beginning...Jaune...I...I...I want you to know that I am just happy to be a part of your life. I'll always be here for you, Jaune."
The video then rewound itself as Jaune looked up in sadness. A sniffle caught his attention as he turned to see the younger boy there with puffy red eyes.
"(Y/N)?"
The boy rub his cheek with the palm of his hand, wiping away tears.
"I miss her." He choked out.
Jaune felt his heart crack as he walked over and hugged the boy.
"I miss her too, buddy. But, she's still here." Held up (Y/N) wrist, his charm bracelet glinting in the moonlight. "You've always got her close."
(Y/N) just wrapped his arms around the older boy's neck. Neither of them noticed Ruby watching on quietly.
(Timeskip)
The next few days of traveling weren't exactly chipper given everything that had happened, but slowly, their spirits seemed to mellow out. Fortunately for the boys, Ruby didn't bring up their little talk that night. On the contrary, she seemed to be trying to rally the group as she led them through a valley on a particular foggy afternoon.
"Come on, guys! If we pick up the pace, we can hit the next town before sunset!"
"Assuming it's still there." Jaune gloomily pointed out.
Ruby was not shaken. "Of course it'll be there! This one's supposed to be pretty big. Hee...gan...bay...na...?"
"Higanbana." Ren corrected. "It's a well-protected village with a popular inn."
"Which means, no camping in the rain!" Nora said cheerfully.
Even (Y/N) jumped in. "And beds you don't have to check for snakes and spiders."
"See?" Ruby turned to Jaune. "Everything's gonna be fine!"
Jaune sighed, but seemed to let the optimistic view overtake him. "You know, we've had a lot of ups and downs, but things could be a lot worse. Really thought we'd see more Grimm."
"As did I." Ren said
Nora beamed. "I guess our luck is finally turning around. To Higanbana!"
"To Higanbana!" The boys cheered as Ruby bit her tongue on the word.
(Y/N) then perked up. He thought he heard something, but it was so distant and faint, he couldn't be sure. It sounded like a growl and a thump, but it could've been the wind playing tricks. Ruby noticed.
"Something wrong, (Y/N)?"
He tried to sniff the air, in case something was trying to creep up on them, but he just smelled the woods. The fog wasn't helping either.
He shrugged. "It's nothing. Probably just a deer or something."
Still he looked suspiciously at the cliffs as a crow cawed as it soared past them. Regardless, the group made it to the village without incident. As the older kids checked in, (Y/N) glanced around the lobby. Just then, he caught sight of a figure through the window. It was dark and raining, but he swore he could recognize the figure seemingly watching them through the window of the building next door.
"Qrow?"
"Whatcha looking at (N/N)?" Nora called out.
In the split second he turned to look at her, the figure had vanished, if they had been there at all. (Y/N) rubbed his eyes and yawned.
"Eh, nothing much."
He really needed to sleep more.