Hello everyone! Welcome to Reversal (name subject to change), sequel to A Rose's Scales. As with all sequels, it's better to read the first before starting this one. Otherwise, you'll be asking questions like: Why are there dragons in Remnant? Who's this guy on team RWBY? Why isn't my ship here? Where's Zwei? What kind of sadistic madman wrote this? So yeah…A Rose's Scales is a bit of a read, but a lot of people say it's worth it.

So, the Volume 4 trailer came out yesterday...(insert very unmanly screech here) Oh my gosh! October 22 can't come soon enough! Ruby's got some moves! I've somehow got to work those in at some point. Not here though. Because I'm terrible at describing women's clothing, just imagine all the girls look the same in the trailer unless otherwise specified...Yeah, I'm lazy like that.

To those who have been following me for a while, I actually started writing this back on June 1st, before the Fort Castle arc was released. Just so there's no confusion, there is a roughly two-year time skip between the last chapter and this one.

Ruby stared down her latest opponent, Rosie Anderson. She couldn't believe that it would come to this. She was fighting a childhood friend. Never in a million years did she think she would be in this situation.

Rosie smirked, then raised her katana. "Sorry, Ruby. This is where your climb ends."

"Just because I don't have Cerise by side doesn't mean I can't take you down." Ruby raised Crescent Rose to a defensive position, and waited for her old friend to attack her. Her training throughout the last two years with Aaron and Nalia taught her the value of patience in a fight, to see the enemy for who they are and predict what they will do.

Rosie charged and Ruby caught her friend's slash right by the scope on Crescent Rose. Once upon a time the strength of the hit would have pushed Ruby back and she would have struggled to keep her weapon in place. Now though, even with her bionic limbs powered down, she was stronger than Yang was during her freshman year at Beacon. Whether it was from growing up, Aaron's training, her slow transformation to be more like an elf, or some combination therein, Ruby didn't know.

The two fighters exchanged blows for a while, neither gaining any ground. Then again, that was part of Ruby's strategy. Sure, she knew how here friend fought just from watching over the years, but this was the first time they ever fought for real. Ruby gauged Rosie's speed and strength as time went on, and her reaction to various attacks.

After one last vicious swing from Ruby and a deflection from Rosie, the former smirked. She had this won. She fired Crescent Rose to put some distance between herself and her opponent. Then she dug the tip of Crescent Rose into the ground and started firing. Rosie danced around the Dust rounds and slowly made her way toward Ruby.

When Ruby was forced to reload, Rosie charged the Rider. She swung her katana down at Ruby's chest, the problem was the Rider was expecting just that. Ruby activated her Semblance to shoot forward and grab her friend's wrist. Rosie's eyes widened while Ruby smirked. Ruby used her strength to swing her opponent over her head and into the ground. She repeated the process twice more before throwing Rosie into the air. Ruby pulled Crescent Rose out of the ground and waited for her friend to come back down. When Rosie fell back into striking range, Ruby swung her scythe with all her might and connected with her opponent's midsection. Rosie flew off to the side, and more importantly, off the platform.

The buzzer blared and the crowd exploded into applause. The dragons on the roof of Amity Colosseum roared. Ruby's legs felt like jelly underneath her. Did I just…

"Rosie Anderson has been knocked of the center stage!" the announcer boomed over the Colosseum speakers. "Ruby Rose is the last Huntress standing! Team RWBY wins the forty first Vytal Festival Tournament!"

Ruby subconsciously folded Crescent Rose back into its travel form as her smile grew. She did it. She really did it! The new champion looked around the stadium, at all the thousands of people cheering for her. The screens showed a lot of her personal fans, including her Faunus fan club, now with all of their ears and tails. Ruby looked up and locked eyes with Cerise.

They better lower the shield, or I'm breaking through it! the red dragon said, her own excitement radiating off her. Her whole body shook as she readied to pounce.

As the central octagon lowered back into the floor, Ruby cheered for herself and jumped for joy. The stage settled into place in the floor and Ruby turned to face her team. They were all sprinting right toward her, with Yang in the lead. The blonde bowled over her little sister and managed to get her arms around her before they hit the ground. "You did it Ruby! You did it!"

Both sisters lay on the ground laughing for a bit until the other members of the team hauled them both to their feet. "Thanks sis! Sorry there couldn't be more than one on our team."

Yang waved her off. "That's more your side of the family than mine. Plus, Weiss would have gotten that honor, not me."

Ruby smiled, then was pulled into another hug, this time from Weiss. "I don't know how you did it, you dolt, but you did. You've come so far."

"A compliment from the Ice Queen. I'm honored." Ruby laughed. She received a slap on the back of the head for that comment. Weiss pushed her away and tried to look mad, but couldn't keep the gleam out of her eyes and the corners of her lips from raising. "Seriously though, I have the best team on Remnant to back me up."

"You didn't even have any of us to back you up that time," Blake said with a smile on her face, her cat ears showing to the world.

"Yeah, well, I had Aaron's training to help me out." Ruby smiled up at the still much taller guy.

Aaron shrugged. "I just told you what I was taught. You put it into practice."

"Ruby?" Said girl turned around to see Rosie walking up with a sad smile on her face. She stuck out a hand. "Congratulations on winning."

"Thanks Rosie." Ruby took the offered hand. "No hard feelings?"

"Of course not. You deserved it." Rosie pulled Ruby in for a quick hug of her own, causing the crowd to erupt again.

The speakers crackled to life over the roaring crowd. "WARNING! ROOF SHIELD POWERING DOWN!" Ruby looked up and saw blue lightning flashing across the area in between the edges of the roof, the telltale sign that the force field was about to collapse. Slightly above that, Cerise jumped into the air.

Ruby looked at all the people around her. "Clear an LZ!" The people around her scattered as Cerise dove through the Colosseum. The now large red dragon shook the arena when she landed, then pounced on her Rider. Ruby laughed as she was pinned to the ground underneath Cerise' belly. The dragon snaked her head around to look Ruby in the eyes. I'm so proud of you, my Gem.

"I love you, Cerise." Ruby reached out her arms to wrap them around Cerise' snout, but she was just too far away. Her pinned legs didn't help matters either. "A little help here?" Cerise put some of her weight on her own legs allowing Ruby to worm her way out. The Rider was finally able to give her dragon a proper hug. Long ago, she lost her ability to fully wrap her arms around Cerise, so halfway around had to do.

"Would the arena please be cleared for the Champion Ceremony," the announcer said over the speakers.

Ruby gave Cerise one last squeeze, then let go. Cerise hummed sadly. Why can't I be by your side in your moment of triumph?

"You're not exactly the smallest dragon anymore, Cerise. You'll probably block a lot of people's view. Plus, teams only." Ruby used her dragon's snout to help her stand up.

Cerise snorted. Are you calling me fat?

"Never." Ruby backed away as Cerise took flight. Someone grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the center of the arena. She looked at the offender and saw Yang had a hold of her, still smiling. Ruby freed herself then punched Yang in the shoulder. "I can walk by myself you know."

"Could have fooled me, you weren't moving at all." Yang ruffled her little sister's hair.

"Yaaaang!" Ruby pushed her sister away. "Here? Really?" Yang laughed and walked away in response. Ruby scowled at her sister. She would have to get her back at some point. But first, she had other priorities.

The model of Beacon Academy rose from one side of the floor, the winner's pedestal right in front. The other half showed the symbols of all the past champions that came from Beacon. Still, there was something wrong with the setup. There were only four places on the pedestal instead of five. Ruby looked to Aaron. "Are you not going to be out there with us?"

Aaron shook his head. "I was just the team's cheerleader. I never fought in either of the tournaments. Plus, tournament fighting was never my thing."

Ruby pouted. "Nothing I can do to change your mind?"

"It wasn't up to me. I never fought, I don't get a medal."

"Well, if you're okay with it…" Ruby turned back to face the Colosseum. As per tradition, Pyrrha, the past champion, and Jaune, another member of the former winning team, stood in the central octagon with the medals. The second place team, team RDSH, took their medals to the side of the Beacon model. They still got thunderous applause from the audience for their incredible performance. They left the stage, and Ruby braced herself for what was about to come.

"And now," the announcer said over the speakers, "the Champions of the Forty First Vytal Festival Tournament: Team RWBY!" Ruby led her team through the wall of sound that assaulted them. All eyes and cameras in the bowl were pointed at the four women who rose to the top. They all waved at the crowd as they walked to the champion's pedestal.

Team RWBY had to the one of the most controversial teams to win in history. For one, the team had seen the most actual missions of any still in-school team, not to mention almost single handedly taking down a major criminal organization.

Shortly after the Battle of Beacon, captured members of the White Fang outed both Blake and Rosie as former members. Both were granted immunity for full cooperation, but people still had a hard time trusting them. Still, Blake rarely wore her bow after that.

Weiss was looked down on not because of what she did, but because of her family. Being teammates with a Faunus helped raise her public opinion, and her stout defense of all Faunus when her father insulted them earned her a few powerful Faunus friends.

Ruby had bionic body parts, so it was only a matter of time before people started saying that they were the reason she won. Then there was the fact that she was the youngest person ever to earn the Remnant Gold Cross. Many people already thought that award should have disqualified her.

On the other side of the spectrum, Yang was the fan favorite after what happened in the last tournament. People weren't exactly thrilled when Ruby went to the finals and not Yang. Still, when Yang explained in an interview of why she let her 'baby sister' go on, people couldn't help but fall head over heels for Ruby all over again.

But none of that mattered. They won fair and square. No one was going to take away their moment.

Ruby took her place on the top step and the crowd silenced. As Pyrrha and Jaune walked over to the other team, the new champion couldn't contain her smile. She dreamt about this moment her whole life, and now it was a reality. She just won the largest tournament on Remnant, and she barely broke a sweat.

"Teams round: Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna!" Pyrrha took two medals off the tray Jaune held and placed them over the necks of the two teammates. The screens showed highlights from the first round, including a perfectly executed Monochrome attack that was able to take down two opponents at the same time. They just started working on that one a few weeks earlier at it couldn't have gone better.

"Doubles round: Yang Xiao Long!" The screens changed to Yang getting up close and personal with an opponent. In the fight, she disarmed the guy and used his own sword against him. All that training with Sun's Light looked like it paid off. Then Ruby ran on screen and hit her sister with the flat side of Crescent Rose and the blonde flew at the other foe.

"Last Huntress standing: Ruby Rose!" Ruby barely had to duck down for Pyrrha to hook the medal around her neck, even though she stood on a foot-tall pedestal. Ruby looked up and locked eyes with the former champion.

"Congratulations Ruby," Pyrrha said as she held out a hand.

"Thanks Pyrrha." Ruby took the outstretched hand. "Is Nora still mad at me for knocking her out?"

The redhead laughed. "A little, but she'd not fuming like before." Pyrrha and Jaune stepped back, leaving the original members of team RWBY alone on the pedestal. Ruby looked down at her medal. It was almost exactly like the one her mom got, which was hung proudly above the fireplace back home. She then looked up at one of the screens to see herself throwing Rosie around like a kids toy. Her now pointed ears occasionally peaked out of her hair.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, your Vytal Festival Tournament Champions!" Ruby looked up and waved at the crowd. The dragons roared again, this time adding flames to the mix. Ruby turned and faced as much of the crowd as she could, then her gaze rested on the symbols of her parents' team.

The Rider's smile widened and tears formed in her eyes. Like mother, like daughter.

The day after the Tournament ended, all the students from other academies loaded their school's transports to head home. All except for the Riders of Beacon at least. They made their own final preparations in a courtyard to the side of Shade Academy. Aaron stepped back from Nalia after he fit the last piece of armor into place. "Everything alright Nalia? Anything too loose or too tight?"

Nalia stretched and moved through her full range of motion. The armor they received from Atlas—with Ruby's improvements—didn't disappoint. Unlike armor in Alagaësia, every inch of the dragon's body was covered in some way. Large plates covered her belly and shoulders. A custom crafted headpiece rested on Nalia's head, and a connecting piece covered her lower mouth. The same force field technology that was used in Amity Colosseum was miniaturized and covered the dragon's wings. Flexible metal plates covered the bones in Nalia's wings to stabilize them while in flight, but they wouldn't have been needed if it wasn't for the two removable, yet powerful jet engines mounted underneath Nalia's wings. A minigun hung off each shoulder for those situations when fire and claws wouldn't cut it. Ruby was also working on a 'mental translation unit' so the dragons could 'speak' to people without entering other people's minds, but that was still in its prototype stage.

The large green dragon rumbled her contentment. Everything's fine. Just over a half hour, you're getting good at this.

"I try." Aaron shrugged, then looked at the other dragons around the courtyard in Shade. All dragons wore similar armor with slight size variations and color matching their scales. Vert was the only one with a significant difference. His right wing was almost fully mechanized because of that hit he took at the Battle of Beacon. Aaron did his best to heal the wing, and it was a lot better than it used to be, but Vert still couldn't fly for more than a minute without assistance. If there was a silver lining to the situation, Vert was the best ground fighter of the younger dragons.

Cerise rubbed her head against the side of Vert's and hummed. Ruby and Velvet blushed and looked away from each other. Aaron smirked. He knew the feeling well. Just because two dragons are mates doesn't mean their Riders will be. He was in a similar situation with the Rider of Nalia's mate. Aaron didn't have any problems with Rafye, but she was an elf…and fifty years older. It would never work out.

"We all ready?" Ruby called with her flight helmet under her right arm. The red stripe down the otherwise black arm and the rose on her shoulder showed it was one of her combat arms.

"We're good, Rubes!" Yang called from on top of Halcyon. She put on her own full head helmet.

"The armor's in place," Aaron said. "We're ready to fly when you are."

Velvet stayed silent for a few more seconds as she looked over her dragon's injured wing. "Vert's not feeling well today. We'll have to take it slower."

Ruby groaned. "Now everyone else will beat us…" Still, she put her helmet on and hopped up into Cerise' saddle. Aaron turned around and did the same. The newly installed radio crackled to life. "Comms check. Cyborg, standing by."

"Blondie, reporting in," Yang said over the radio.

"Jackrabbit, standing by," Velvet spoke.

"Street Rat, ready to go." Aaron settled down in his saddle.

Shortly after their Riders started doing the comms check routine, the dragons joined in, even though for them is really wasn't necessary at the moment. Wolf's Bane, reporting, Cerise chimed.

Aeiou, ready to fly. Halcyon flared his wings.

Big Green, standing by. Nalia shook her head from side to side. Apparently something wasn't sitting quite right after all.

Meadow, ready to get moving. Vert finally stood up and stretched out his right wing.

"Okay team, let's hit the skies!" Ruby called over the radio, then Cerise took flight. Halcyon followed soon after. Vert struggled to take off and had to have Nalia give him a boost. He activated his jets early on to help him stay in the sky. Nalia stayed behind the youngest dragon until she was sure Vert was stable in the air before overtaking him.

The four dragons and Riders flew in the Jetstream to fly from Vacuo to Vale. Everyone talked about various parts in the festival, whether it was other fights or the food selection in the fairgrounds. Nalia would have started some surprise aerial combat, but everyone was still getting used to the engines, and she didn't want to put too much strain on Vert.

About midday and halfway through the flight, a distress call interrupted a conversation about Sun and Blake's not so hidden relationship. "To anyone who can hear this, our village is under attack by Grimm. Our sheriff is being overwhelmed and requests support."

Aaron looked over at Ruby to gauge his leader's reaction. The team leader grabbed Crescent Rose and extended it to its rifle form. "This is Ruby Rose of team RWBY. I hear you. Air support is on the way." She leaned forward in her saddle and Cerise turned farther inland. "Meadow, can you go full burn for a few minutes?"

I'll manage, Vert spoke with determination.

"You heard him, full burn. Follow us." Cerise shot forward as her engines increased speed. Aaron leaned forward in his saddle as Nalia increased the power on her own jets. All four dragons rushed forward following their young leader. Sometime in the past few months, Ruby added advanced tracking gear to her helmet and bionic eye. She could use it all to pinpoint the exact location of almost anything connected to the CCT.

Soon enough, smoke appeared on the horizon. Aaron stretched his mind forward to find the panicking village. As expected, the smoke came from their target. From what he got from the people there, the situation was dire. "Cyborg, I think we should hot drop in. There isn't time to land and dismount."

"I copy, Street Rat. Hot drop is approved."

"Haven't smashed some Grimm together in a while," Yang said over the radio. "This is going to be fun!" Aaron could practically see her smirk.

The dragons flew low over the forest canopy. Aaron unlaced the straps around his feet and waited for the hot drop. Nalia flew lower and turned off her engines. She glided over the center of the village, then rolled. Aaron dove out of the saddle. He flipped around in midair to control his fall and lessen the impact of landing. As he stood up, he grabbed the small box that turned into his V4. By the time Aaron raised his arm, the gun was in its submachine gun form.

The Rider opened fire on a group of Beowolves that surrounded a family. The Grimm fell quickly, leaving the family unscathed. They looked up at Aaron, then ran into a nearby building. Aaron saw an Ursa charge him out of the corner of his eye, but then it fell to the ground with the sound of sniper fire. He looked to the roof of a nearby building to see a now helmetless Ruby standing on the roof, the business end of her weapon pointing at the disintegrating Ursa.

Aaron then drew Redemption with his left hand and waded into the flow of Grimm. Against human opponents, he'd never think of being so careless. Grimm though, weren't intelligent in the slightest. Even in his non dominant hand, the forest green blade sliced through countless Grimm. Blind firing his V4 still cut down several with each burst. Still, even though he had been fighting Grimm for over two years, he didn't enjoy killing them in the slightest.

An Ursa Major moved to block Aaron's path. The Rider faced it and channeled his Semblance into Redemption. A translucent green barrier increased the length and width of the sword, but didn't change the weight. With one swing, Aaron cut the head of that Ursa, and sliced two more Beowolves in half. After clearing out a small circle around himself, Aaron let the extra blade fade. For whatever reason, using his Semblance drained him more than others experienced.

Getting back into the main flow, Aaron pushed the Grimm back to the small walls that surrounded the village. On top of the concrete structure, Velvet stood with a wireframe version of Coco's minigun. Over the past two years, she was able to hold each copy longer, up to several minutes. The fact that she had two energy infused gems built into her box had to help with that.

Suddenly the tide of Grimm coming into the village dropped to a trickle. Aaron ran to the hole in the wall and quickly found out why. Vert was surrounded by Grimm of all types, from Creeps to a King Taijitu. Yang was also down there as well, punching massive holes in the sea of monsters as well as slicing opponents with her step-mom's sword. Velvet walked over to Aaron's side. "How long do you think they'll last this time?"

"Less than a minute now." Since there were no Grimm immediately threatening him, Aaron let his arms and weapons drop to his side. As he watched, Yang pointed Ember Celica and the ground and fired. At the same time, Vert let loose a torrent of green flame at the monsters around him. Minigun fire also tore into the lines, killing anything the fire didn't. Soon, all that was left were decaying corpses and the now flaming King Taijitu. Vert finished that off by pouncing on its head and tearing it off.

"Less than thirty seconds," Velvet commented. "That's a new record." Down in the burning clearing, Yang yelled something at Vert, and she received a puff of smoke to the face. The two Riders back by the wall laughed at the sight.

A triumphant roar rolled over the trees. Aaron looked in its direction and saw red fire over the tops of trees. Nalia, Aaron called, what's Cerise excited about?

She just killed her first Goliath, without using her miniguns, Nalia said with pride. They grow up so fast.

You're dragons, of course you do. Aaron looked back at the hole in the wall. See if you can find some boulders to help seal this up. Nalia sent her acknowledgement, then flew off on her new task.

Aaron and Velvet turned back to the village. "Now the ugly part," Velvet murmured. The other Rider nodded and they both walked into the village. This wasn't the worst Grimm attack they'd seen by far, but it wasn't the lightest either. What doctors the village had were already making their rounds around the wounded. Luckily, the number of black cards handed out were few and far between. Those were the ones science and medicine couldn't save, but that didn't mean magic couldn't do the trick.

By that point, most if not all of Remnant knew the Riders could do things beyond a normal Semblance. When anyone asked, they just said that their bonds with their dragons allowed them to do those things. If the word magic was brought up, the Riders just laughed. There was no such thing as magic, after all. Eventually though, people would find out, but that hopefully wouldn't happen for several years.

Over the next few hours, all the Riders went from person to person, healing what wounds they could. On the rare occasion he couldn't, Aaron took the patient's pain away and put them to sleep, easing their departure from the world. He stopped counting how many times that happened long ago.

When the last wounded person was treated, of course the people from the village wanted to repay the Riders in some way. As always when asked that question, all they asked for in return was some type of high calorie food and water. Inevitably, there would be an influx of Lien into their shared account. A good chunk of it either went to improving their ability to fight Grimm, or various charities and non-profits. It was about as close to the old Order as they could get.

As the Riders were getting ready to leave the village, a little boy ran over to Ruby and latched onto her leg. "Please don't leave!" he begged. "They'll come back!"

After standing like a statue for a less than a second, Ruby smiled, freed her leg, then knelt down to look the boy in the eyes. "I highly doubt that," she soothed. "The Grimm may act tough, but they're scared of us. There has never been a repeat attack on someplace we've protected. They know we'll come back. Your village may not be the closest to Vale, but if this ever happens again, we'll be back, and we'll be even stronger." The boy nodded, then hugged Ruby again. The Rider returned the hug, the let go shortly after. The boy ran back into the crowd, most likely to find his parents.

Aaron tried and most likely failed to hide a smile at Ruby. She had come so far since they fought the Nevermores. She used her own experiences to help others. Even though she didn't have any formal training in the area, Ruby was becoming a counselor. Despite everything that happened since meeting, she barely changed. That's why Aaron liked her.

Did you finally admit that to yourself? Nalia asked, more than a hint of amusement in her voice.

Aaron's cheeks suddenly burned and he had to look away from Ruby. You've been waiting for that haven't you?

Since the dance two years ago.

Well, you're going to have to wait longer before I say anything to her.

Scared of a girl? Nalia practically laughed.

We're not talking about this now. Aaron broke his connection with his dragon, then followed his team out of the village.

Once outside, Yang gently punched Ruby's shoulder. "You're getting pretty good at this."

Ruby shrugged. "Anything that can help."

"Did you really need to say that we'd be back if the Grimm attacked again?" Velvet asked. "We might be on the other side of Remnant if that happens."

"I didn't lie, did I? The Grimm are terrified of Nalia after what she did to that Grimm dragon. I don't know why they never attack the same place twice though."

"It still might have something to do with Nalia," Aaron offered. "If Grimm have any sort of and communication with each other, they might tell others that a place is protected by someone that killed one of their strongest."

As long as I don't scare away human and Faunus hatchlings, I'm fine with being Grimm deterrent, Nalia stated.

The Riders walked around the wall to where their dragons lay in waiting. Aaron looked to the part of the wall where the hole used to be. Several melted boulders now filled the gap, though it would most likely need some actual reinforcement at some point.

Aaron mounted Nalia and strapped his legs in. His dragon looked back and gave her best attempt at a smirk. Don't say anything, Aaron scolded. Nalia chuckled in response. He looked over at Ruby, though this time to see if she completed her post operation ritual. Sure enough, she was writing something in her black and red book, a small smile on her face. Whatever she wrote in there was for her eyes only, and she made that abundantly clear to everyone on multiple occasions.

Eventually she put the book back in one of her saddlebags and replaced her helmet. "Okay team!" Ruby called over the radio. "We're Beacon bound! For real this time!" The dragons took off in the same order they did back at Shade. They flew for a few minutes, with Ruby talking with Yang and Aaron on how things could have gone better. Since Velvet technically wasn't on her team, Ruby had no real authority over her. She just sat quietly while the others talked.

About halfway to Beacon from the village, Ruby turned back to look at Aaron. "So, we took a break from training for the tournament. What's next?"

Aaron leaned back in his saddle and thought it over. "Let's see, I've taught you all Rimgar, healing, communication with nature, battle spells, wards, the only thing I can think of that I haven't done is get all of you fluent in the Ancient Language."

Ruby and Yang groaned. "Is that really necessary?" Yang moaned.

"Yes. In fact, I'd say it's essential. There will come a time when you have to use magic to do something that I haven't taught you. Any word in the Ancient Language can be used in a spell. If you know a lot of it, the only limit is your amount of energy. How do you think I came up with the spell to regrow animal ears?"

"Most of it? Why not all?" Velvet asked.

"Nobody knows all the words in the Ancient Language. I know it sounds impossible, but it's true."

"There's something that's been bothering me for a while," Ruby started. "You always call it the 'Ancient Language.' Doesn't it have a name?"

"Almost certainly. When I left Alagaësia, nobody knew what it was. If someone did, he or she would be the most powerful person alive. I'd rather not search for it." That seemed to appease Ruby for a time. Most of the rest of the flight was spent in silence. The steady tailwind hurried them along. It was a little past three o'clock when Vale came into sight.

The dragons set down in front of the Dragonhouse. Their Riders dismounted and removed their helmets. There were a few people around the area that cheered for Ruby and Yang as they dismounted. They waved politely before their dragons forced them into the Dragonhouse.

As expected, team JNPR and the rest of teams CFVY and RWBY were waiting in the Dragonhouse. Before any of them could say anything though, Nora marched over to Ruby and slapped her in the face, hard. It actually spun Ruby around and into her dragon. Cerise growled at Nora, but the girl just ignored it. "That's for knocking me out of the tournament!" Almost instantly, the rage in her face was replaced by joy. She pulled Ruby off Cerise and brought her into a tight hug. "And this is for winning the whole thing!"

"Uh, thanks?" Ruby choked out.

Luckily, Ren came to her rescue. He pulled Nora off Ruby and dragged her away. "Okay, Nora, you've made your point."

Cerise growled again, but lighter this time. Nora jerked her head to look at the angry dragon. "I'm kidding! She knows I'm kidding," she defended herself, then looked from Cerise to Ruby. "Right?"

"Now that that's over," Coco eyed Nora while she walked over to Ruby, "Congratulations on winning the tournament." She stuck out a hand. That continued for a few minutes with varying levels of formality.

While that was going on, Aaron walked over to the fridge and got himself a bottle of root beer and Ruby one of chocolate milk. Apparently on Remnant, people stopped drinking vast amounts of milk when they turned five. For whatever reason though, Ruby stuck with it as her favorite long after that.

Aaron walked over to Ruby's side. "Pretty sure you'd want this."

Ruby took the bottle from the guy. "Thanks Aaron." She turned back to the large group. "Now, as I was saying…"

Aaron tried to pay attention to what Ruby was saying, but Nalia took his attention. I can't believe it took you this long to admit that you like Ruby.

Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Aaron took a sip of his drink to hopefully hide his red cheeks. There was a look in his dragon's eyes that worried him. You're not going to let this go until I ask her out, are you?

Not a chance.

Aaron mentally sighed. Fine. After everyone else is gone, I'll- another mind brushed up against Aaron's, and it wasn't from someone in the room. Nalia's pupils shrank to slits. That was a mind Aaron wished never to meet again. He knew it was possible, but he hoped it wouldn't be here. "Everyone! Shield your minds now! No one leaves this building! I don't even want to hear talking!"

Everyone stood shocked, no one moved. Ruby started to speak. "Aaron, what's-"

"I said no talking," Aaron hissed. Ruby pursed her lips and didn't say anything else. When Aaron was sure no one else was going to talk he crept over to one of the few eye level windows in the Dragonhouse. He looked in the direction of the familiar mind, yet stayed behind the cover the wall provided.

It took several minutes for the offender to show up, but he announced it to the world when he did. A dragon roared, louder than even Nalia could manage. The people closest to it would definitely suffer from hearing loss.

Then, he spoke. "Aaron Benson! I know you are here! You have some things that belong to the King. He sent me to retrieve them, and bring you to justice. I know you are a proud Rider, and you won't falter in your mission to protect the eggs. However, that is also your undoing. If you do not surrender yourself and the eggs to me within the hour, I will be forced to kill half the population of this city. Those are the King's orders. I suggest you bow down to his wishes." With that, the hostile dragon and Rider left. Aaron never actually saw them, but he could never forget that voice.

Aaron clenched his fists and turned to face the other Riders. None of them were ones to panic anymore, but all three of them had their arms wrapped around their dragons in some way, whether protectively or for support themselves. Halcyon and Cerise looked like they were about to growl, but stayed silent. Vert simply leaned into Velvet.

Nalia, on the other hand, was the angriest Aaron had ever seen her. Her eyes were still slits. Claws dug into concrete. Every one of her teeth was visible. Her tail whipped viciously from side to side. She didn't even hold her growl back. They were after her, after all.

Ruby finally looked up from Cerise. "What was that?"

Aaron growled himself. "Kialandí..."

Yep. Here we go again. I'll say this now, if anyone wants to create of this or A Rose's Scales (because that's apparently a thing) go right ahead. I'd love to see it. Plus, there's no guarantee I'll be able to get custom cover art from the same person again.

A little refresher on Kialandí because it's been a while. He is one of the Forsworn, and he killed Aaron's family and hunted him and Nalia before they left Alagaësia.

Grammar Nazis, hit me with your best shot. Please. I'm begging you.

Also, still waiting for someone to get the 'ay you/aeiou' pun…