A Deathly Silence (RWBY/Drakengard 3)

[X] Yang speaks with the War Chief in the cockpit of the small airship

At the start of the year, Yang wouldn't have thought there was as much nuance to airship travel as there was.

She hadn't really been on that many back then. A few to go around on trips, mostly. Never anything too long distance. Certainly not any of the behemoths like One's airship.

The main thing in her mind right now being turbulence. Big airships, they had enough stabilizers and Gravity Dust keeping everything together that you didn't even notice, much like you didn't notice the earth turning just by standing on it. Medium sized airships, occasionally. Smaller ones that only ferried you a small distance, on pre-set paths or at low speeds? The chance didn't even come up.

This little thing Yang was on now was a rocky ride. She wondered for a while if that was in spite of her hoverchair, or because the stabilizers in it were trying to correct for turbulence but accidentally causing more, but no. The mechanisms in the hoverchair were synced up to the mechanisms in the airship. In hindsight yeah that made sense, otherwise the chair would remain still until acted upon by outside force and Yang would be pinned to a wall the whole time.

Enduring a particularly nasty bit of turbulence, Yang decided to keep herself occupied by mapping out the airship with her soul.

It may have been small, but it did have room to it. There was only one bedroom, but someone had put up a makeshift wall to divide it in two. Yang's clothes were on one side, the War Chief's on the other. There was a pantry of food, but the kitchen was small enough that Yang was weighing up the pros and cons of just eating outside. There was a decently sized Dust Reactor built into the engine, with an access port from the cockpit that doubled as a power outlet. Somewhere for Yang to charge her Scroll, she'd downloaded a show she'd been meaning to get around to just in case she had time for it at night.

The turbulence faded, so Yang decided to map out the airship later. Pushing her hoverchair forward, she made her way to the cockpit.

The War Chief looked uncomfortable as she sat in a copilot seat. Not at the pilot seat itself, she didn't seem like she wanted to be near the machinery, but there wasn't any further seats apart from Yang's chair.

Yang had noticed that the War Chief's fancy kimono had been folded up and placed on her bed while she had been mapping out the airship earlier. It wasn't a surprise, then, to see the War Chief returning to the outfit Yang had first seen her in. Skirt too big for her held in place with bandages, with another mass of bandages binding her chest and not another lick of clothing on her. She was tightening more bandages around her body.

Yang hadn't been paying attention to if all those bandages had been in place when the War Chief was dressed up earlier. She was pretty sure the kimono had long enough sleeves to hide it. But as the War Chief spun the material around her left arm, Yang noticed a nasty scar. A big cut that looked like it had run deep originally, cauterized haphazardly with burns.

"There a story there?" Yang asked, positioning her chair next to the War Chief's.

The younger girl looked up, her green eyes filled with a fleeting panic. It took her a moment to calm down.

"...Sorry if I wasn't meant to see this." Yang apologized.

"It's no issue." The War Chief responded. "A spearman got me good. He had a trick that got past my Aura. Don't even know how. I took his weapon, and it wasn't Dragon Bone."

"Damn." Yang winced. "Need help?"

"I wouldn't dream to ask." The War Chief responded.

"Well you're not asking." Yang crossed her arms. "Will you stop me if I tried to help?"

The War Chief didn't respond. Yang took it as her excuse to help.

"...You don't look used to airships." Yang noted.

The War Chief moved her right hand up to rub her horns. "It's tight. I feel like I'm in a coffin."

"It's not great." Yang agreed. "We won't be in here for long."

Continuing to tighten bandages around the War Chief's arm, Yang hummed. "You really should wear the clothes you were given. I dunno if they're fitted properly for you, but I'm pretty sure a proper bra will be better than just holding the girls in place."

"Perhaps." The War Chief looked away.

Yang hummed. "If you just need something familiar to feel more comfortable in this coffin, it's fine enough I suppose."

"How magnanimous of you."

"So what have you been up to these last few days, anyway?" Yang asked. "Sorry, haven't had much of a chance to talk to you."

"Very little." The War Chief responded. "I have not been permitted to leave my room unsupervised. I have not been permitted combat. I was given a pile of education texts to occupy my time and I found them difficult and did not engage. I've spent most of my time sleeping."

"Through the days?" Yang asked. "I mean, I guess it's probably alright. Sounds like you didn't have anything better to do."

The War Chief hummed, then paused.

"That was a lie." The War Chief admitted. "I've been trying to sleep. I keep having nightmares."

"...Yeah, that's to be expected." Yang muttered. "Honestly I didn't so much stop having nightmares as much as they stopped being notable enough to wake me. Wanna talk about them?"

"No."

"Alright." Yang shrugged.

It took her another minute to finish bandaging War's arm. She handed the roll of bandage back to the girl, and the War Chief shoved it beneath her on her chair.

"What of you?" The War Chief asked. "I have heard you were in a situation yesterday."

Yang sighed. "Dipshit streamers. You know how it- Well, I suppose not."

The War Chief tilted her head.

"People just stirring up shit and being shocking so they get clicks- Attention, rather." Yang shook her head. "They're spineless. Don't even wanna talk about it."

"Ah." The War Chief looked away.

"Been up to a bit more, though." Yang muttered. "Had a lot to try to check on. A lot of people to check in on, a lot of things I wanted to work on. Helping Weiss find a Pact Beast for her sister. Checking on Two and the kids. Getting in touch with friends from back home. Barely even had time to follow up on that Undine, not that One told me anything other than 'doing something for me in secret'..."

The War Chief's expression seemed crestfallen as Yang spoke.

Why?

Was it just that she was trapped in place while Yang was doing something? Maybe, but that felt off.

It was probably one of two things, Yang figured. The crestfallen look came about because Yang was talking about all the people she had been hanging out with. So was she upset because Yang was hanging out with people and not her? Or was she upset because Yang had been hanging out with other people, and the War Chief wanted what Yang had?


That was a bet Yang could hedge. She was about to spend a lot of time with the War Chief. If she was just being clingy, Yang could reassure her of that soon enough. So if Yang wanted to try and make her feel better, the second possibility was the one she wanted to address.

"Hopefully One's able to spin up the PR machine for you soon enough." Yang muttered. "It'd be nice to take you out to town with everyone. Enjoy the sights of Mistral. You, me, Ruby and everyone else. And it'd be good for you to get to know other people some more too I think."

"Maybe." The War Chief muttered quietly.

Maybe Yang was off on her read, then. Still…

"And then there's Dyna." Yang continued. "You had that whole oath of protection thing with her, right?"

War's uneven grey skin blushed red.

"I think it'd be good for both of you." Yang continued. "Dyna's still raw from a parent dying. Ruby's helping her out, but she honestly needs all the support she can get. And I feel like you'd be happy in that kind of role."

"Is that so?" The War Chief spoke quietly. She giggled to herself for a second before catching herself. "What, um. What makes you say that?"

Yang shrugged. "Just a gut read. Your immediate reaction to hearing about Dyna's situation was to promise to protect her. You worked hard on dedicating yourself to your family's Tower. Your Semblance is a full heal, and that's a very kind power."

The War Chief didn't respond. But when Yang looked to the side, she could see that the girl was smiling.

And so the flight continued.


The airship had barely touched down on the ground before Yang portalled out of the cockpit and onto the plateau.

"They say patience is a virtue, y'know." Gabriella groaned as she stayed resting on top of the airship.

"Life's too short." Yang shrugged.

"You found out you were immortal yesterday, girl."

It took a while longer for the War Chief to leave the airship. The moment she was out, she was in the air. Yang saw her wings of light bloom into existence across the snow as she suddenly ascended above the airship. A moment later, and those wings touched ground next to Yang.

"Ah, it feels good to be free again!" The War Chief laughed. "They can take my life, but they'll never take-"

She took one step over as she quoted whatever Memory she was quoting and instantly slipped on the snow. Yang caught her before she could hit the ground.

"It's snowy." War noted. "I had not checked."

"You didn't notice how cold it was?" Yang asked.

"I breathe fire."

…That was a fair point. Yang wasn't feeling the cold too much herself, even if she wasn't as good in the cold as she was with heat.

"Whenever you're ready, kids." Gabriella let out a sigh of exhaustion. Yang looked back up to the great black Dragon. "Don't mind me, I just carried your asses here for a reason."

"Ah, sorry." Yang nodded. "What are we doing now? I'm not sure what the plan is."

"Oh, you want to know my opinion?" Gabriella asked. "How kind of you. I know I'm just a lowly creature of the skies and you're a Dragon, we're far from peers-"

"Did you want to get to the point or not?" Yang crossed her arms.

"Well, since you're the boss." Gabriella rolled her eyes. "We didn't exactly put together a schedule here. I'm gonna want some time to catch my breath, unless you really wanna work me to death. If you wanna get right to the point, we can get those Dragon powers out of you and then you can show me what you can do, and then I can think for a while about where to go from there."

She paused, then hopped off the roof of the airship. She laid down close to the ground, wings spread like a cloak around her.

"Or you can look around." Gabriella gestured around the snowy plateau, near the edge of a mountain range. "Check out the facilities. See if they have room service, figure out a breakfast plan."

The War Chief tapped Yang's shoulder as she stood, drawing close to her ear. "Is she always this sarcastic?"

"She's the cat's mother." Gabriella called out. "And she happens to have good ears."

"Honestly, I think this is the longest conversation I've had with Gabriella before." Yang muttered. Her mind was elsewhere.

This whole trip was all about Yang getting to understand her powers as the Dragon of Vale. The power that the Woman in the Dark had coveted so badly she had broken Ruin, shattered the War Chief's life, and had allegedly made insane overtures towards Yang in an attempt to win goodwill. Power that had connected Yang to a lot of important things. A power that hurt her sister and the other Intoners, tied with an instinct that feared them.

A power tied to…

Yang looked up at the crack in the sky. The spiderweb fracture that betrayed a hint of the false Red Sky that her portals tapped into.

The same Red Sky that Bahamut lingered within.

She was a grain of sand-

Yang blinked.

She wanted to understand that. She wanted to ask Gabriella if she knew, she wanted to ask about everything surrounding that. But the great black Dragon was tired, and Yang felt exhaustion coming upon her just thinking of the dark god she had set eyes upon.

So she closed her eyes. Tonight. Not a moment sooner.

So what for now?

[X] The whole point of this excursion was to master the Power of Dragons. There was no point in delaying.
[X] Yang didn't even know where she was, really. She could take a moment to get to know this place.

[X] Yang didn't even know where she was, really. She could take a moment to get to know this place.

Yang made sure to get some warmer clothes before she started her exploration.

She didn't particularly need them, but she wanted them. And she'd probably want them later too, come to think of it. Her Dragon powers came to her when her Aura was broken, and she'd be more susceptible to the cold when that happened.

It wasn't as if she needed many warm clothes. She got the same thing for her and War both. Long zip-up jackets thick enough to keep out the cold, fuzzy enough not to be uncomfortable but not to the point of being ticklish. She also grabbed a beanie that she was gonna pass off to the Waar Chief until she remembered the horns, so Yang just wore it herself. It was just a simple black design, nothing too special. Black and yellow was a good colour combination.

By the time Yang was out, Gabriella was…

Well, she wasn't actually asleep. She was fake snoring with her eyes closed. Still, if she wanted rest she could have it, Yang passed the spare jacket to the War Chief, who put it on but didn't zip it up.

With that done, Yang looked over the area.

The airship had been parked on a large plateau in a mountain range. The area was strangely level, in a way that made Yang think it was some kind of artificial plateau. There was no sign of civilization as far as the eye could see, but it was theoretically possible that at some point in history someone nonsense had decided to chop the top off a mountain.

It seemed to be the only actual plateau in the area. Or at least, the only one in sight. The mountains were largely arranged in a straight line, a continuous ridge growing out of the earth rather than a collection of different mountains that all went back down to the same ground level before another one rose. They were off-centre enough in places that Yang could look west and see a half-dozen mountain tops, but who was to say what was hidden behind the mass of earth where she couldn't see?

Well, it wasn't like every other mountain was a perfect pyramid shape either. There was a ton of places Yang could see even with a casual glance where someone could conceivably walk near the top of the mountains, though each of those chunks was small enough that you'd need to do some rock climbing to connect them. Some peaks were even sorta rounded.

"Wonder what 'facilities' this place actually has." Yang muttered. Then she paused to think about it. "Want to explore this place, or should I just cheat with the Branwen magic sense?"

"Our esteemed guide seems to seek our absence." The War Chief looked back at Gabriella, whose fake snoring was getting louder. "Perhaps we should do that which will take more time."

Yang nodded.

The plateau was bigger than Yang thought it was at an initial glance, actually. You could build like several houses up here, and they'd all have yards. Yang squinted to try and see if there was anything she was missing up here in the distance, and…

No, nothing.

"There might be tunnels." The War Chief walked to the edge of the plateau. She looked over the edge. "Or something else down here?"

Yang had the hoverchair follow the younger girl. She made sure to be careful not to get close to the edge of the plateau. There were no railings here, and she didn't want to accidentally go far enough over that there wasn't enough ground beneath her to keep the propulsion working.

…Though if she did fall, she could just portal back up. Still, it'd be inconvenient.

The two girls circled the edge of the plateau for a while. Yang didn't get to look as far over as the War Chief, but she could see that it was really rocky, right beneath the plateau. So even if she did fall she wouldn't fall far, it'd just be a rough landing.

It was quiet, Yang noticed. The hum of the machinery in her hoverchair, War's footsteps in the snow. Her own breath, visible in the cold, audible in the silence. It was hard to remember just how much passive noise there was around people and in airships until you were in proper silence like this. It took a few minutes of circling the perimeter before Yang heard any other sounds.

"What is that?" Yang frowned as she tried to focus on whatever it was "Sounds like… Something too distant for me to place."

The War Chief tilted her head to push her ear upwards. Her long hair got caught in her horns. Yang made a mental note to try to help War sort out her hair later. If she looked too closely, she could see the knots and tangles.

"Waterfall." The War Chief took off into a run to find it as she spoke. Yang followed right behind her, though the hoverchair couldn't keep up with War' speed. It didn't take long for the sound to be unmistakable to her as well.

The waterfall was visible even from Yang's position on the plateau, though she couldn't see the source of it. The patch of ground near it was free from snow, and War was poking at the rock beneath her as Yang approached from behind. Looking as far down as she could, Yang could see the water bouncing from rocks into something like a vertical river.

"Fire Dust." The War Chief decided eventually. "Doesn't rule out volcanic activity, but heat enough to melt the snow here in such a localized area would have to be Fire Dust."

"You know a lot about mountains?" Yang asked. "...Well, I mean, I guess it makes sense. But you've not been to many mountains, I thought."

"One of my ancestors considered herself something of a geologist." The War Chief explained. "A lot of Memories of her analysing mountains while fighting bandits or beasts. They were… Entertaining."

Her voice seemed almost embarrassed as she admitted it. Why? It had to be some level of enjoyment, Yang figured. She sounded like a child sheepishly admitting they enjoyed something they didn't think they were going to.

Yang decided to indulge her. "So how does the water get up this far anyway?"

"Could also be Water Dust." The War Chief posited. "If so, it's been activated. An active circuit? Though if it was, it would have to be meticulously placed to avoid an eternal blaze burning this spot as well. More likely to be a natural spring. Pressurized enough to get launched into the surface, a faultline in the mountain face letting it escape."

"Fascinating." Yang muttered.

"It might be worth checking for tunnels." War noted. "If there's a heat source and water, there might be a hot spring. I've not been able to enjoy one of those in person before."

"Wanna try to explore?" Yang asked.

War hummed. "Could you check if there's actual tunnels first, perhaps? Ah, wait-"

The girl cleared her throat in a sudden panic, then took a moment to fix her hair. It was a mass almost as big as she was, but she tried to slick back the hair on her brow.

"Oh maiden of great power." The War Chief intoned. "I beseech you."

"...You don't need to be so formal, y'know." Yang noted. "I mean, if it's what you want go ahead, but there's no need to correct yourself into being more casual."

The War Chief looked away and didn't respond.

Well, pushing her wouldn't help. Not now, at least. Yang closed her eyes and reached into the ground beneath her.

The rocks were thick, but it didn't take Yang long to find something.

"Tunnels." Yang confirmed. "Do you want me to look further, or is that enough?"

"Deny me not the warrior's joy." The War Chief declared in a voice that suggested quotation. Then she faltered. "That is, uh. An explorer's joy? A geologists? Mountaineer, perhaps."

…Come to think of it, Yang wondered if the War Chief would get along with Cenna. Or if War's use of mental scripts pulled from others Memories would be a bad influence on Cenna, considering her similar habit.

Wings of light burst from the War Chief's back. Again, Yang was reminded of the thought that she ought to learn to do that herself. Maybe she didn't need to considering what she'd been able to pull out fighting Ruin, but enveloping herself in Dust and using it to basically fly was only something that worked when she had the Dragon's Instinct to avoid death with her.

And also wings were cool. It'd be nice to have working wings. Her bird form only got half there.

"I'll get a better look from the air." The War Chief decided. "Perhaps it would be for the best for you to continue on your own for a bit."

"Stay safe." Yang waved. "This place looks free from Grimm or beasts, but they might just be out of sight."

"Undoubtedly." The War Chief kicked off the ground and took to the skies.

Yang sat in place for a moment longer, looking down at the waterfall.

Hm. She'd gone along with War's idea, but in hindsight there wasn't much Yang could do here. She couldn't look too far past the edge of the plateau without risking falling, and if she just got a map of the area with the Branwen magics that'd sort of be cheating.

But then, Yang could teleport. It wasn't that far along to the mountain to the west, and War's wings were bright. Yang could go and poke around somewhere else, she'd just need to keep an eye open for when the War Chief's wings were en route to where Yang was.

Yeah why not. Yang opened a portal and skipped onto a different mountain.

She wasn't at the top of this one. The footing got too rough up there. This was just a flat section on the side of a mountain, with a crevice in the side that wasn't quite a cave. Somewhere where someone could take shelter, perhaps? If Yang felt like camping, she'd need to keep this place in mind.

There was a strange breeze in that crevice, though. One that seemed to come from within the mountain. Wind Dust, maybe?

…Actually no Yang was curious enough to check. She reached in with her soul, shallow enough that she wouldn't see any tunnel networks in this mountain, but deep enough to find what she was looking for.

Dust Crystals. All in mild states of activation. Not enough to be consumed, but they were each prompting each other into light amounts of action. If Yang remembered her science lessons properly, it'd take hundreds of years of this level of activity to use up these crystals. Or if something hit them hard, all that energy would be used up at once. The only reason the breeze was noticeable was that there was a big supply of Dust in there.


"...Hello, Fairy Godmother." Yang muttered. "Been a bit. I'd ask if you've been well, but as I recall you don't think you have an answer the way a human would."


"You observe me in every place." Yang muttered. "Honestly, you've been a big help, but the fact that you won't- can't explain yourself is suspicious. I've crossed half the world and can't shake you."


Yang pursed her lips. As suspicious as the Fairy Godmother was at times, she had been nothing but helpful. And she had offered advice for Yang in some truly dire circumstances.

"...I think I owe you thanks, actually." Yang realized. "That little talk about Memory and Thought saved my life a little bit ago."


Yang blinked. "You don't know?"


"So you missed the whole fight with Ruin, then?" Yang asked.


…Yang didn't like the way she said that. The use of a full name from a mystical being like this felt like an ill omen.

"It was tough." Yang muttered. "I only survived because I figured out how to detach my Memory and Thought, and then let the Dragon's Instinct take over the body. Played around with it a bit. Did a lot. It took me a while to get there from the advice you gave, but if I didn't have that starting piece of information I don't think I would've survived Ruin. Let alone the woman in the Dark."


A chill ran down Yang's spine. It wasn't the Wind Dust, the air from that was slightly warm. This feeling was-


"...You know who that is?" Yang couldn't stop herself from asking.

Whatever that woman was, she was important. Even if every word she had said was a lie, even if her control over the Grimm wasn't as total as she implied, her connection to Cinder Fall and the way she had broken Ruin told Yang enough to know that the Dark was a big deal.


"What can you tell me about her?" Yang asked. If she could get anything from her-


Yang forced herself to reign herself in. Then, after a moment's consideration, she stopped.

"Are you serious?" She asked. "I know you have to be cryptic about goddamn everything but this isn't something I can just ignore-"


"Hey, no!" Yang tried to reach out with her Soul to pin the Fairy Godmother down, but couldn't find her spirit. "I'm not done here!"


A moment's hesitation. It was subtle enough that Yang almost mistook it for an absence, a sign that the Fairy Godmother had already left. And then-


And then she was gone.

In the distance, she could see the brilliant light of War's wings. It was time to head back. And Yang had gained nothing.

…No. Not nothing. It took her a moment to realize what the Fairy Godmother had let slip in that last moment, in a voice so quiet that Yang didn't think it was intentional.

It was one thing to know for sure that the Fairy Godmother was connected to the woman in the Dark.

But what did she mean, Ozpin did too?


The War Chief had been proud to show off the entrance she had found to the tunnels. It was placed really inconveniently. There was an outcrop of rocks from the side of the mountain, enough to make a ninety degree turn from horizontal to vertical at the bottom of the extrusion. The entrance had been below that outcrop, requiring someone to climb right up to get inside.

Once on the inside, there was a big tunnel system that was illuminated by various types of Dust. Yang and War had spent a while exploring until they found what War had been thinking of. A hot spring.

It was too early to go into that, but Yang took note of it. It seemed relaxing, and it'd be nice to warm up after a bunch of training in the cold.

After that, though, there wasn't too much more of interest to discover. The two girls did a quick check of each mountain top except for one, where a bunch of territorial giant birds had set up nest. They only got aggressive if you moved past the second to last mountain in the range, and they disengaged the moment Yang had distance again. It'd probably be easy to fight those birds, but there was no real point.

Briefly, they descended the mountain range too. At the base of the plateau where the waterfall met the ground was a rather large body of water, cooler than the hot spring up top but surrounded by warmer air. It was nice to go down there to see that it was green and though Yang didn't get close enough to check she could see animals gathering around it for sustenance.

So if they ran out of food, they'd be able to hunt for more. That was nice.

All in all, a few hours of investigation before Gabriella was on her feet again.

On her wings, rather. Yang noticed her when the animals by the water suddenly got spooked, and then a great shadow fell over them. A portal took her and War back to the plateau, and Gabriella flew around for a while longer before landing by them.

"Alright, enough horsing around." Gabriella decided. "I'm here to teach you a thing or two, so let's get to the teaching, right."

"Right." Yang nodded.

"So do it." Gabriella nodded. "Dragon up, or whatever you gotta do. Lemme see what you can do before I figure out what I gotta teach ya."

Ah.

"Well, it's not that easy." Yang muttered. "Gotta break my Aura first. Otherwise I can't really get it out."

"Well then break it." Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Chop chop, we don't have all day."

"Would you like assistance?" The War Chief asked. "If you need to demonstrate what you can do, a quick spar should help warm you up."

"Maybe." Yang nodded. "Maybe."

Though if it was just a matter of getting her Aura broken fast…

Yang's eyes moved over towards Gabriella's big claws.

Dragons usually bypassed Aura. That was their whole deal. But mountains didn't bypass Aura. If Yang really wanted to get there as fast as possible, getting Gabriella to pick her up and smash her down again would probably get her there faster.

The main danger was what happened if Gabriella went too far by accident. But the War Chief was right there. Her Semblance was a full heal. Yang would just be unconscious for a bit.

But that would also be a time loss, wouldn't it?

After a short deliberation, Yang decides that the one she would ask to break her Aura would be-

[X] Gabriella
[X] The War Chief

[X] Gabriella

Yang could feel her eyes burning red as she opened them.

"Gabriella." She spoke firmly. "Fastest way to break my Aura is if you do it for me."

The black-scaled Dragon stared at Yang wordlessly.

"Dragons bypass Aura, sure." Yang shrugged. "Mountains don't, and you can hit me into one harder than anyone else here."

The War Chief took a step back. Yang didn't turn to watch her expression.

"Well that's a stupid idea." Gabriella said blankly. "What are you gonna do when I squeeze you slightly too hard and you start coughing up your internal organs?"

"War's Semblance is a full heal." Yang turned to look at the Faunus girl. "She…"

She trailed off as she saw the alarm in the War Chief's eyes. The War Chief was staring at Yang with a fragile sort of shock, one that told Yang everything she needed to know about what was going through the girl's head.

"I'll be fine." Yang assured her quickly. "It's-"

"Don't." The War Chief looked away. "I… I'll do whatever the two of you decide. Don't make me… I don't want to be part of this discussion."

That gave Yang pause. She didn't expect War to be shaken just by the idea of Yang risking grievous injury. Was she the one underreacting to her own suggestion?

"Think about it, goldilocks." Gabriella cut in. "A full heal's not gonna matter if my claw slips and you're dead by the time I notice. That might happen, y'know? You might just die by accident."

"...Maybe that's a good thing." Yang noted.

Gabriella's neck reared back like a snake about to strike. "Woah there! Kill yourself later all you want, I'm not here to assist any suicides-"

"Not what I meant, not what I meant!" Yang waved her hand in front of her face quickly to draw attention to herself. "The threat of death is a good thing, I mean. Not the actual dying. I'm not suicidal. I couldn't be, not after-"

-Yang was looking at Hell itself-

An involuntary shudder ran down Yang's spine, and her words died on her tongue. No, that was too kind to herself. A choked "Whsa-" left her lips before finally dying. Yang raised a hand to her throat to make sure she hadn't actually choked on anything there.

She could see the shift in Gabriella's stance. Every muscle on the Dragon stiffened, but her head drew closer to Yang.

"...So you know." She spoke plainly.

"Huh?" War blinked. "Know what?"

"Something you're better off not knowing." Gabriella dismissed the question.

The Dragon was being more serious. Yang could use that.

"I know." Yang confirmed. "And when I'm nearly dead, the Power of Dragons in me knows that more than I do. There's an Instinct, one I can't fully control, that only comes out when I'm on the brink of death. One that fights to survive at all costs. One that views the Intoners, my sister, as the biggest threats in sight."

Gabriella already knew this. She was the reason why Yang knew what that Instinct was scared of. The reason why Yang knew that the Song was making that Instinct lash out as per its nature, regardless of the nurture of the one who Sang it. But rhetoric wasn't about revealing new information, it was about being convincing.

"We're here to help me understand the Power of Dragons better." Yang reiterated. "So I can use it without almost being dead, so that I can stop the Instinct from trying to kill the people I care about. If I hadn't been able to use this power against Ruin, I'd probably be dead, War would be dead, and the Dark would have the Dragon of Mistral under her control. But if I use it near the person I protect most, I'm just as much a threat to her."

They could take their time, but time wasn't a luxury Yang had. She met Gabriella's eyes, and saw her stony face reflected in those reptilian slits.

"So do it." Yang asked her. "Try to kill me."

A long minute passed as Dragon stared down Dragon. Everything else- The snow, the crack in the sky, the War Chief on the sidelines- It all fell away until there was nothing but the great winged beast and the human who bore the name.

Yang didn't let doubts into her mind. This was the right path. This would let her show off everything she was and everything she could do, and then the born Dragon could guide her into the path of control. Any thought about fearing injury was pushed aside. The War Chief could heal her, and it wasn't as if Yang was a stranger to injury.

She'd live. She was sure of it.

And as she stared Gabriella down, she could see the moment her ally was convinced.

The sudden violent movement happened so fast that Yang didn't even realize it. Gabriella lunged forward, the world became consumed in wind, and she was suddenly in a Dragon's grasp.

The War Chief cried out as Gabriella soared into the air, Yang as her willing prey.

Yang's heart felt like it was trying to drill its way out of her chest. It was actually, earnestly painful. She hadn't been given time to prepare herself, so her lungs were empty. Gabriella's grip was tight.

That was a good thing, Yang reasoned with herself. It was a good thing that her body was trying to panic. It meant that even though she knew intellectually that she had asked for this, that this was what she wanted, the instinctual parts of her brain couldn't process the fact that Yang had asked for the danger when actually facing that danger.

This was a good thing.

She just had to repeat that until the panic of her heart stopped leading her mind astray.

But before Yang could even think of resisting the hypnotic panic in her chest, the claws around her loosened.

She only had a fraction of a second, not enough time to process the implication, before her back struck the side of a mountain.

It hurt. It hurt bad enough that Yang couldn't think of any way to process it other than that. Even an evaluation of her Aura or of injuries were beyond her. That would require she be able to perceive the state of her body.

But she could perceive the moment the light of the sun fell on her face again. It was distant, vague. And all too fast, it was gone.

Yang opened her eyes just in time to see Gabriella slamming a boulder into her face. Quite literally trapped between a rock and a hard place, Yang screamed.

Two impacts. Both deathly powerful. Not enough to break her Aura, but enough that Yang was surprised they hadn't.

But it wasn't over. Gabriella's wingbeats were throwing up enough air that Yang could feel it, pinned as she was. The pressure from the boulder intensified.

She was being crushed.

Just like when she had fought Ruin, buried under a mountainslide.

It was coming, Yang realized. She needed to act fast, lest she be consumed by the Instinct when it fell upon her.

Her soul, partitioned. Memory and thought, grasped. The Seal Remnant burnt bright into her flesh as the disconnection went through, and the pain in her body grew distant as Yang let herself view her flesh from the outside.

Step one complete. Yang let soul expand into the world around her. Her Aura was at breaking point, but the pressure of the boulder was only slowly pushing her there. She gave the order for her body to move, and it was as sluggish as it usually was in this state.

It felt weird to use the word 'usually' there. This was only the third time Yang had used this technique, and only the second distinct day in which it had been done.

Regardless.

Yang braced herself. It wasn't enough to stop the boulder crushing her Aura, but it would slow it down when her Aura was broken. That would buy her time to let the Dragon's Instinct take over, and then to reverse their positions.

It took a great effort to position Ember Celica in front of her. The force pushing the boulder forward also pushed against Yang's weapon, and the Dust treatment in them stored as much of that force as they could. That would be useful in a minute.

Just push it away for a bit longer.

Yang felt the Aura around her body flicker.

Just endure a force that could kill her a little bit longer.

Like a lightbulb on the verge of going out.

Just take it a-

Yang's Aura shattered.

Bones strained under the force they were suddenly holding back unaided. The jagged rock behind Yang stabbed into her spine.

Gabriella's wingbeats slowed for a second, and the pressure lightened. And then she redoubled, with more force than ever.

Yang could see, through the limited omniscience granted to her by her magic, the rocks stabbing into her back and drawing blood. Her arms were pushed so hard into her chest that she could hear ribs cracking. The sudden pressure knocked the air out of Yang's lungs, and she couldn't breathe it back.

Her heart was beating hard enough for Yang to feel it through Ember Celica. She tried to breathe in and got nothing but dustlike dirt, and that did nothing but make her cough.

When her coughing brought out saliva, Yang could see specks of red within it.

In that red, Yang could see the Sky that was not hers.

And she could see the eye of Bahamut(Hell) staring back at her.

Yang's eyes were dyed a brilliant blue as she roared.

Gabriella's wingbeats faltered, the pressure faltering with it. Yang took her opportunity. It wasn't easy to falsely realign her Memory and Thought with her body, while also grasping onto the instinctual Thought that the Dragon's Roar had given her. But Gabriella knew what was happening, and she was no longer crushing Yang.

Yang blinked, and she was watching once more through only her eyes.

Without the full strength of the Dragon pushing against her, Yang ripped her arms away from her chest.

The boulder shattered around Yang. Shards struck at Gabriella hard enough to make the Dragon cry out, even if none pierced her scales. A beat of her wings launched some of the shards of rock at Yang, but she had already portalled away from the mountainside.

And she was falling.

Her hands curled into tighter fists. She beat the two halves of Ember Celica against each other just to be sure before firing, and a great force of Dust erupted. Not as much as against Ruin, but enough.

Yang fell upon the Dust as gravity carried her down the mountainside, and the Dust consumed her.

It was not as thick as the Dust Dragon that she had been able to call upon fighting Ruin. It had to stretch itself rather thin to surround her body. But then, Yang didn't need it to hold together dying limbs. She didn't need as much, here.

She kept a good amount of reinforcement around her chest regardless. If she had cracking ribs, it was better to keep them secure.

Yang wondered what she looked like from the outside. The Dust Dragons she could create by grasping her Dust Rounds with her Soul were the more serpentine wingless kind seen in some Mistralian myths, and she had one of those wrapped around her. The jaws had given way to give room for Yang's upper body though the shape of the lower jaw could be seen pressed into her torso like a vest. From the waist-down, a snake's tail had surrounded her legs. Like some kind of lamia.

An irrelevant thought. She was still falling. It wouldn't be long at all until she hit the ground.

She willed herself to move. The Instinct sealed within the Seal Remnant took a firm hand to the Dust surrounding Yang's body. Turning the downwards momentum into upwards momentum was no easy feat, but by carving a great U-shape into the sky, Yang was able to ascend.

The shadow of Gabriella was above her.

"There we go!" The Dragon called out. "Now show me what you're capable of!"

With wings tight around her, Gabriella dived.

The Seal in Yang's flesh burnt a brighter blue, screaming at her to resist. She opened a portal to flicker through, appearing above Gabriella and descending downwards with her.

Yang had been moving for longer. She had more momentum, more speed. She let the Dust consume her in her entirety, forming a cocoon around her as she urged herself straight down. It was not painless to strike Gabriella's back, but the Dragon was hurt a hell of a lot more than Yang was.

Yang peeked out through the cocoon again just in time to see Gabriella opening her wings. The Dragon twisted herself upside down as she let them beat, a sudden gust of wind catching Yang and throwing her higher into the air.

She fired more Dust rounds around her as she flew upwards. Her will was to grasp them, and so the Dragon's Instinct did. A half-dozen Dust Dragons, not including the giant that was embracing Yang.

A fireball erupted from Gabriella's maw, and Yang froze. Her Instincts drove one of the Dust Dragons into the fireball to ensure both projectiles detonated against each other, but that just created a wall of fleeting flames to stun Yang's mind.

Damn it, damn it. This wasn't dire enough for her to simply push through the scars left on her mind. It had happened before, and it'll happen again, but even if her Instincts thought this was a life or death battle, it wasn't her Instincts that got to decide if she was okay right now.

Not that it was probably a good thing for Yang to push through this. Even if a dire enough situation could distance herself from the trauma of what Cinder had done enough for Yang to stomach the flames, she could get the same results by distancing her Memory and Thought. Let her emotions grow dull as they dissociated from her body. But then she still felt that anxious pain, and her heart hurt like hell on coming back.

One way or another, Yang's solutions to fire were going to give her a heart attack. And the only one she could do right now, to reverse how her soul was partitioned, was a difficult manoeuvre. Not to mention one that would mean surrendering control of the Dust around her.

She ripped open a portal instead. She reappeared within Gabriella's sight, she made sure she could be followed, but she angled herself towards the one body of water in sight.

Yang smashed down into the water hole like a comet, sending up a geyser of water as tall as a building as she struck home. The water turned tumultuous around her, and Yang had a feeling that the area around the water hole resembled a flood in her wake.

Gabriella flew above the hole, shooting fire towards Yang. The flames made it a decent way through the water, but they were robbed of their heat before they could reach. Yang took in a deep breath, and her magic pulled the oxygen in the water out to sustain herself.

She could be down here for a long time. Gabriella could follow if she wanted, but as far as Yang knew Dragons couldn't breathe underwater. She had the advantage.

Which meant now was time for Yang to show off a bit.

Too much of a fight like this would be bad for them. Yang needed to be put to the brink of death to access this power, but actually fighting on that knifes edge for too long was just begging for tragedy. Yang needed to show off what she was capable of now, and then they could stop.

So what was Yang's biggest trick?

It was the counter. The one she had already tapped into to make the giant Dust Dragon that she was flying around with.

The idea of taking another big hit like that felt like suicide to Yang. Indeed, she could feel her magic cursing her at the thought, the Dragon's Instinct to Live reverberating through her. That was… Problematic.

But Yang still had the force of that counterattack hugging her. And if she was done with the fight as soon as she struck with it…

Yang's thoughts were interrupted by another great force striking the water hole. Gabriella was done waiting, it would seem. She descended upon Yang like a shark, the water parting around her like the wind would.

Yang teleported into the air above the water hole. She coiled the Dust tight around her.

One hit. Gabriella would emerge, Yang would strike, and she'd show Gabriella the full force of the Power of Dragons that Yang could call up.

Gabriella emerged from the water before Yang could even finish the thought. "Stop that!"

Yang complied. No more portas.

She fell upon Gabriella. In the moment of impact, Yang transferred every last speck of Dust from her Dragon onto her arm.

It was only as she was punching downwards that Yang noticed the fact that Gabriella was spinning.

The tail struck Yang at the same time the Dust Dragon erupted from Yang's arm. Gabriella cried out as she was forced back into the water, but Yang didn't even hear the moment of impact over the sound of her breaking bones.

Her body struck the mountainside, and everything went black.



Black as night. Black as the Grimm.






Black as the Dragon God who slumbered at the heart of the world.

Yang tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't. All she could see was the darkness.

All she could feel was the breathing on her neck.

The open maw behind her.

Bahamut(Hell) was beckoning.

No, Yang couldn't accept that.

She had to escape she had to fight back she had to live no matter what she had to-

To-

The Instinct in the Seal Remnant whispered to her, something she couldn't hear or comprehend. She knew it was salvation, so she reached out for it-

But a different hand closed around her wrist.

And in a flash, the darkness was gone.

Yang's eyes opened, briefly, to see the War Chief standing over her. The younger girl had her hand on Yang's forehead, an expression of terror etched into her face.

Ah. Yang owed her an apology, and gratitude.

It was by War's hand that Yang had been pulled from the jaws of hell.

That was the last thought Yang had before the War Chief's Semblance took its tole on her, and her mind faded away.


"Wake the fuck up, girlie."

Yang's eyes opened slowly, painfully.

It was dark out. Yang felt fear shoot through her veins until she realized she could see stars. It wasn't anything to do with the darkness she had seen moments ago. It was just night time.

"About time." Gabriella's voice didn't give Yang any time to catch her bearings. She turned her neck to see the Dragon resting on a giant mat, grumbling in place.

"What the hell was that all about?" Gabriella asked. "I know I said I wanted to see what you could do, but fucking ow. You put a hole in my wing."

"Ah." Words failed Yang.

"See, this is why I hate kids." Gabriella bitched. "I hate the elderly too, but kids are unbearable. It's all or nothing with them. Like ooh, I need to show how impressive I am, I should have sex and then kill myself immediately! Nothing else worth doing in this life! That's what your lot are like."

"Sorry." Yang creaked out. She took in her surroundings. She was in some kind of sleeping bag outside. "Just wanted to… Establish a baseline."

"That you're an idiot?" Gabriella asked. "Go ahead, established. Did you have nothing else to do?"

"Not really." Yang admitted. "Biggest Dragon thing I have is a counterattack."

"Maybe I'm the idiot." Gabriella muttered. "I should've known everyone else was an idiot. I let myself get caught up 'cause I thought seeing Bahamut would've taught you a thing or two about caring about your own life. Nope! Lesson learnt."


Footsteps in the snow. Yang looked over towards the airship to see the War Chief circling around it. She was holding a tray with two bowls on it. Yang could smell something with beef.

"Yang." The War Chief greeted.

"War." Yang greeted back. "Thanks for saving me."

The War Chief stepped closer. Close enough for Yang to see how hollow her eyes were.

…Fuck. Yang approached that too casually, didn't she?

"I would prefer not to watch you die again." The War Chief muttered.

"You-" Won't, Yang tried to finish, but the word caught in her throat.

Yang couldn't promise that. Even if she didn't need to do it again for this training exercise. For whatever reason, Yang just couldn't bring herself to vocalize the promise. Not now, of all times.

Not with the memory of the darkness breathing on her neck.

"I'd prefer not to get hurt that bad again either!" Gabriella called out. "Like, what, you've never heard of holding back? I went through a lot of effort to not kill you instantly like fifty times in that fight, and then you go ahead and hurt me bad enough that the little girl needs to patch me up! It's a damn good thing I could just decide to let her Semblance work on me, or I'd be a lot grumpier than I am now."

As Gabriella spoke, the War Chief's hands curled into a fist. She put the tray of food on the ground next to Yang and then stormed off a short distance, her back to the group.

"I- I know what this is about." The War Chief choked. "I know the threat we are facing. We don't have time to just slowly accrue strength. Not when you're in the sights of the woman who stole my father. But…"

Even without seeing her face, Yang knew the War Chief was crying.

"Why?" The War Chief asked. She spun to face Gabriella, fire in her voice. "What the hell were you talking about that convinced you! What the hell made you think any of this was a good idea to start with!"

Yang closed her eyes.

Her thoughts were still scattered. She didn't know how to handle this.

She'd been careless. Thinking too much about her need to just get right to it, on what the War Chief's Semblance would let her get away with, but she hadn't thought at all about what it'd be like for the War Chief to watch any of that.

All Yang had been able to see was the siren's song of understanding her power, of being stronger.

She'd made this mistake before.

"'What the hell', you say?" Gabriella snorted. "From the mouths of babes."

The dismissal caught the War Chief off guard.

"...I guess we should talk about it." Yang sat up. She looked to the side, to the bowls the War Chief had put down. Beef with rice. Simple, but it would do. She looked around a bit more for her deactivated hoverchair and teleported to it so she wouldn't need to prop herself up to sit up. "I'd been meaning to ask about that too, actually."

"What do you mean, too?" Gabriella asked. "You saw it, didn't you?"

"I saw it." Yang confirmed. "I don't fully understand it. I know what, but I don't have the context."

"You're just trying to weasel out of the explanation." Gabriella snorted. "...But alright, fine. You need to know, you need to know."

She took a moment to reposition herself on her mat, then looked down at the War Chief. "Sit down, girlie. Get your food. This is gonna be a long one."

The War Chief did not look happy as she picked up the tray again. She shoved a bowl of food onto Yang's lap, then sat down next to her. Yang tried to look at her, but the War Chief averted her gaze.

"It ain't exactly the kind of topic where you can just jump to the point." Gabriella mused aloud. "Gotta convince you kids of the stakes, gotta start from somewhere you can understand…"

The Dragon clicked her tongue a few times, then sighed.

"Nothing for it." Gabriella decided. "You're not gonna know how this is connected for a while, but I'm the Dragon so I get to decide how I tell the story. I'm gonna tell you kids how I met One."

As we segue into a rather important document to record, a decision should be made regarding how this section is recorded.

[X] This is the story being told to Yang and the War Chief. They're going to have interruptions, and those interruptions should be recorded so that we can cross-reference everything they ask about.
[X] The record of what occurs between the Dragon and the Intoner should be undisturbed by later commentary.