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

Chapter 12 (R): End of the Beginning

So, I spent a little time re-familiarizing with how I wrote (Y/N) in the past so I could be consistent. Feel free to call me out if this version is too like recent (Y/N). I'm starting with Ruby for order sake, but tell me if you guys want me to alternate between her and Weiss like I did for Yang and Blake or if you just want me to write it completely and then start again.
I own nothing.

Chapter 12 (Ruby): A Promise

It was Qrow.
The older male had an understanding expression on his face, seemingly knowing how the young dragon was feeling.
"Come on, Firebreather. You shouldn't be out here."
(Y/N) curled his wings tighter around himself, fresh tears starting to pool at his eyes. "I can't go back! It's all my fault!"
Qrow sighed. "Trust me, kid, this isn't your fault."
"Yes it is! Penny and Pyrrha died because of me! I...if I had told Ozpin sooner, they'd still be alive!"
"You sure about that? Last I checked, you can't see different timelines. What happened tonight was a coordinated attack that took planning and patience. Even if you outed Cinder and her crew, I doubt they didn't have a backup plan. Kid, you're not Huntsman, hell you're not even a Huntsman-in-training yet. This whole mess goes way beyond you or your sisters."
His words confused the young boy, who tilted his head. "How do you know?"
"Just trust me on this." His red eyed gaze wasn't on (Y/N) or seemingly anything for that matter, as if he were lost in a memory. "What I can tell you is that running off on your own isn't gonna do anything but scare your sisters. I think we both know they've been through enough for one night."
A fresh stab of guilt hit (Y/N). Of course Weiss and Blake would be worried, and he could only imagine what Yang and Ruby would feel if they woke up while he was still gone. That wasn't fair to them, but in the moment, he just wanted to disappear. Qrow held out his hand again, but this time, the young dragon took it. Silently, he followed the Huntsman back to the hospital. Qrow maintained an awkward distance between them. Every time (Y/N) tried to catch up, he would put more distance between them. After a few tries of this, (Y/N) took the hint and followed with his head hung low. As the building came into sight, Qrow suddenly stopped and looked at (Y/N), who also stopped in his tracks.
"(Y/N), it's important you know this: the world is about to get a lot scarier, especially for you."
"What do you mean?"
"You ever wonder why dragon Faunus are never seen? Why you seem to be the last one? A race so powerful doesn't just vanish unless someone is trying to get rid of them."
(Y/N) felt a chill run through him. He would be lying if said he wasn't at least curious as to why his species was so rare, but he didn't dare to imagine the possibility Qrow had just presented to him.
"W-why are you telling me this?"
"Because you need to be ready. Oz wanted to ease you into it, but we don't have that luxury anymore after everything that just happened."
"Ozpin? Qrow, what are you talking about!?"
"It's a lot to explain right now, kid. All I can say is that you're powerful, (Y/N), way more than you think. You kept up with students who have trained for years and defeated a trained killer in your first fight. You're strong, and people are gonna take notice of that."
(Y/N)'s gaze fell. "People like Cinder?"
"People worse than Cinder." The boy gulped as Qrow turned back towards the hospital. "What ever happens, stick by your sisters. They might not realize it now, but they're going to need you. Promise me you'll have their backs when it happens."
The dragon felt so confused. Qrow clearly wanted to tell him more and he wanted a better explanation, but something was making Huntsman act unnecessarily cryptic. Still, he had been clear enough on one matter: people were going to come after (Y/N), people may have been after him from the start. Ozpin had tried to shield him from that truth temporarily, but with the headmaster gone, the young dragon would need to be ready to face the threat, even if Qrow refused to give him a name for it. He felt scared, but he didn't want to be anymore. Fear had been a constant companion for most of his life, and he was sick of it. He wanted to be strong, like his sisters, their friends...like Pyrrha. At least then, he could face it head on rather than cower. He had to be stronger, so he wouldn't lose anyone else. He couldn't lose anyone else.
He nodded. "I promise."
The older male sighed in relief as they both walked into the building. The older kids, Tai, and Ironwood were all waiting for them in the lobby, likely informed by Qrow that he had found the young boy. Blake and Weiss immediately ran up to their little brother and hugged him.
"(Y/N)!"
He hugged them back.
Blake looked at him sternly, holding his shoulders. "Don't you ever do something like that again!"
"We were worried sick!" Weiss added.
(Y/N) dropped his head in shame. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be too hard on him." Jaune interjected, his voice laced with sadness. "It's my fault, I scared him. (Y/N), I'm so sorry. I should have never-,"
"It's okay Jaune."
Tai also joined in, lecturing (Y/N) lightly for being so reckless. Still, he made sure to comfort (Y/N), who was still trying to process the tragedy. Ironwood had said nothing, but the young dragon did notice an exchange of looks between him and Qrow. The two eventually slunk off for a moment, returning before anyone else noticed their absence. Both had darkened expressions upon their return and (Y/N) knew they had fought about something. What it was, he couldn't be sure, but something at the back of his mind told him it had something to do with him. Still, neither approached him to discuss it, so he dropped the matter. Everyone went back to settle for the night, but truly, no one could sleep, (Y/N) least of all. He spent the night alternating between sitting in Ruby and Yang's rooms with Qrow, Tai, Blake, and Weiss, waiting hopefully for one or both of them to open their eyes. It was nearly dawn before his exhaustion finally won out, giving Blake the opportunity to disappear. Sun, who was resting with his team nearby, informed everyone he had seen her take off. Not long after, Weiss's father arrived to take her home. (Y/N) felt an immediate dislike and distrust of Jacque Schnee, though he couldn't find an exact reason. All he did know was that he cried and hugged Weiss as she left. Weiss was equally as distraught and had a difficult time letting go. (Y/N) caught a glimpse of her father giving him an unsavory look and bared his teeth at him, making the white hair man flinch away. As the Schnees departed, (Y/N) voiced his distaste of Jacque to Ironwood and Qrow, much to James's amusement.
"Well said."
That same day Ironwood left for Atlas, leaving (Y/N) in the care of Tai, Qrow, and Team JNPR. By the time evening rolled around, (Y/N) was back in Yang's room, exhausted. However, before he fell asleep, he saw the blonde girl beginning to stir, and he became alert and quickly shook Tai awake. With a groan, Yang opened her lilac eyes and glanced at them in confusion.
"Dad? (Y/N)?"
"Yang!" The boy jumped at her, hugging her tightly. She hissed in pain and he immediately backed off. "Sorry."
Tai smiled. "Glad to see you're awake. You've been out of it for a while."
Yang rubbed her head with a groan. "What? A while? What hap-," Yang froze and (Y/N) flinched as she realized her arm was missing, a look of pure shock on her face. "What happened!?"
Tai grabbed her hand. "You-it was a close call. Your teammate and (Y/N) here managed to save you."
Yang was speechless, still in a daze. She pulled her hand away from her dad and brushed it over the nub.
"Yang?" (Y/N) asked worriedly.
She didn't look at either of them, her voice cold. "I think I need some time to myself."
The little dragon wanted to protest, but Tai knew it was time to back off. "Right, we'll be here if you need us."
He pushed himself and (Y/N) out of the room. The boy looked at the door sadly.
"Is she gonna be okay?"
Tai patted the boy on the head. "She'll get through this, she just needs time. We all do."
(Y/N) growled. "Why did this happen!? Everything was fine a few days ago! Why did it have to change so badly!?"
Tai gripped his shoulder. "I don't know buddy. I wish I could tell you why bad things happen. All we can do is pick up the pieces when they do happen."
(Y/N)'s fists clenched. "We shouldn't have to."
(Timeskip)
The day after Yang woke up, the family was released and headed back home to Patch. Zwei eagerly greeted them, but even the corgi recognized something was very wrong. Ruby continued to sleep as Yang isolated herself in her room. The males did what they could to help. Tai sat with Ruby while Qrow and (Y/N) kept an eye on Yang, even if she didn't want their company. Despite the number of people, (Y/N) felt so lonely in the house. Zwei seemed to recognize that and followed the boy around like a shadow. It was a small comfort, but it didn't keep away the fresh batch of nightmare (Y/N) was subjected to.
He did everything he could to comfort Yang: learning from Tai how to make her favorite meals, making her tea, anything really. The blonde girl didn't seem to care either way and continued to give (Y/N) and everyone else the cold shoulder. Tai tried to encourage him to not give up, to give it time, but the now nine year old boy was growing increasingly impatient. Eventually, he decided to distract himself by throwing himself into brutal training with Qrow. The wine eyed male was very hesitant to spar with the boy, for reasons he refused to explain, but even he could see how desperate (Y/N) was to distract himself from the stress, if only for a little while. Qrow was a harsh teacher, much like Tai, and didn't pull his punches. (Y/N), who was by now focusing on hand to hand combat, struggled against Qrow's sword/scythe style. The raven haired man encouraged him to train his newly acquired semblance, but (Y/N) didn't know how to activate it again, after all, the first time he had done it was a complete accident. During one grueling session, Tai ran out to inform them Ruby had woken up. (Y/N) immediately ditched training, racing inside and up to her room. Seeing the silver eyed girl awake, he launched at her.
"Ruby!" He hugged her and Ruby returned it weakly.
"I'm so glad you're okay." She said, the image of her brother curled up and limp during the evacuation permanently burnt into her memory.
(Y/N) looked at her like she was crazy. "I'm okay?! What about you?! You were asleep for days! I was scared you were never gonna wake up!"
She ruffled his hair. "I'm fine, but...what happened?"
"Your uncle Qrow found you," Tai answered as he walked back in. "Unconscious. He got you out of there though, he got you home safe."
Ruby's eyes widened."Wait! Yang! Is she alright?"
Both males looked at each other uncomfortably
"Uh...she's uh...she's gonna be alright. I think she's just....I think it's just gonna take some time for her to get used to things. She's too strong to let this stop her. I'm just glad to have my kids back at home."
"What happened to the school?! And Vale!? Were they able to clear out the Grimm?"
"Vale's fine now." (Y/N) answered. "But the school...not so much."
"That thing." Tai joined in. "Whatever it is, doesn't seem to be dead. Don't get us wrong, you did a number on it. But...it's not disappearing. It's...kind of...frozen. I know that doesn't sound too bad, but it keeps attracting more Grimm to the school."
"I did what?" Ruby asked.
"Hmm?"
"You said I did a number on it. What do you mean?"
"I...look, that's not important right now, we can talk about it later. Things are just..."
"A mess." (Y/N) finished.
"It's always a mess," Qrow said, walking in, drink in hand. "Mind if we have a minute?"
"What, we can't stay here?" Tai asked.
"Tai, please."
Reluctantly, the 2 got up and bid Ruby good-bye. Tai went down to make tea while (Y/N) said he was going to wash up so he could make cookies, only to eavesdrop on Qrow and Ruby's conversation about silver eyed warriors. It was eerily similar to the warning he had given (Y/N) that night in Vale. Hearing Qrow beginning to leave,  (Y/N) quickly fled downstairs to begin working on the cookies. The older male gave him glances, as if he knew what the boy had done, but he said nothing. After finishing up the cookies, (Y/N) went upstairs to deliver the sweets, only to catch Ruby trying to speak to Yang.
"Sometimes bad things just happen, Ruby!" Yang sounded so defeated.
"So what do we do now?" Ruby asked.
"You could do whatever you want. I'm gonna lie here."
"Yang..."
"Just leave me alone."
"I love you." Ruby finally said as she walked out the door.
She glanced back at the room, forlorn, and turned back, only to see (Y/N) standing there, frowning sadly and his tail and wings drooping.
"She won't talk to me either." He told her.
Ruby bent down and hugged him. "It's gonna be okay."
"Everyone keeps saying that, but it doesn't make me believe it."
Ruby felt a tweak in her heart at the sound of her little brother's voice so dejected. Ruby held his hand.
"(Y/N), I promise. We'll get through...what's this?"
She moved his hand to reveal his palm and a scar that was not there before. (Y/N) pulled it away and held it.
"The guy who attacked Yang, he attacked me too, but I somehow stopped him. Qrow said I unlocked my semblance."
Ruby's eyes brightened. "You unlocked your semblance? That's great!"
She wished she could be happier about this. (Y/N) had been so excited about the prospect of getting his semblance before. He didn't look at her.
"Not really. I don't even remember what I did, and now I can't even do it! I just get a really bad headache whenever I try."
"Well, you'll just have to train a bit to master it just like the rest of us." She took his hand again. "Come on, let's go share these cookies in my room."
For the rest of the fall and the entirety of winter, the Xiao Long residence fell into a strange routine. Ruby and Yang barely spoke to each other and Tai felt like he was dancing on eggshells. (Y/N) was the only one really putting forth energy, mostly in training. Tai replaced Qrow as (Y/N)'s teacher, a much better fit. The little dragon threw himself head first into their session if only to get his mind off the gloominess of the house. He slowly became stronger and much more fluid in his fighting style. Tai even spoke of them getting him a weapon to train with soon. The only thing he struggled with was his semblance. Thanks to the numerous nightmares he had, he started to remember certain things about his bout with Adam, namely that his charms glowed and gave him a different power. Beyond that, he couldn't remember. He tried to sense the energy coming from the charms, but he'd still only wind up with a headache. Tai said it was probably because he was still so young and his semblance was rather powerful, so it would take time to control it, let alone master it. It frustrated (Y/N) to no end, but he didn't complain. Near the end of winter, things slightly improved. Ruby began joining their training sessions and spent as much time as she could with (Y/N), who was noticeably less lonely now. Yang was still ignoring them, so Ruby did what she could to make up for it. However, (Y/N) could sense something different in Ruby, something much more determined, like she had made up her mind on something. Letters from Jaune, Nora, and Ren were frequent since global communications was lost with Beacon tower, often asking how Yang was recovering, how much (Y/N) was improving, etc, but often, (Y/N) caught Ruby hiding separate letters from everyone else. On more than one late night, (Y/N) had spied Ruby secretly writing letters. He was tempted to peek at the content, but he restrained himself.
As spring drew closer, (Y/N) began to notice more of Ruby's strange behavior, namely that she was eager to hone her fighting skills more and she seemed to be preparing for something. At one point, (Y/N) snuck into her room and found what looked to be a travel pack, prepped for what looked to be a long journey.
Ruby was leaving, and she had no intention of sharing that fact with anyone.
(Y/N) was at first tempted to confront her or get the males involved, but eventually, he realized no matter what he or anyone else said, she was going, so why let her go alone? He had made a promise to Qrow after all. Like Ruby, he began secretly stockpiling his own supplies and waking up extra early so he could catch his older sister sneaking out. During one particularly cold morning, (Y/N) was perched on the rooftop, keeping a sharp eye out.
"It'll be today."
He yelped, leaping into the air before turning to see Qrow.
"I saw your friends coming up the road. They'll be heading out while everyone else is asleep."
(Y/N) settled himself back on the roof. "You knew?"
Qrow smirked, tossing (Y/N)'s travel bag into his arms. "You kids have a long way to go before you can pull a fast one on me."
"And you're not gonna try and stop us?"
He sighed. "Ruby's just like Summer. There's no stopping her when her mind's set. You on the other hand...you sure about this? I wasn't kidding when I said the world out there is much more dangerous for you, fire breather."
"I know, but...I can't just sit here and wait. Especially if Ruby's leaving."
"And you think you can help? Even without proper training or control over your own Semblance?"
"I'm willing to try. Besides, you told me to watch out for them, so that's exactly what I'm doing."
"You know, I wonder if you're naturally stubborn or if you picked it up from Yang." Qrow turned his back to the boy. "If you're gonna go rushing out like a Huntsman, you might as well look the part. I left something in the kitchen for you."
Without another word, he left. (Y/N) quickly made his way into the kitchen, finding a new set of clothing and traveling boots half hazardly strewn on the table. (Y/N) slipped the gear on and found it fit him perfectly. Qrow must have gone through quite a bit of trouble for it, even taking his dragon features into account. He only got a few minutes to really get a feel for the gear before he heard light footsteps. Glancing around the corner, he saw Ruby sneakily headed towards the front door, her weapon and travel bag in hand. As soon as she closed the front door, (Y/N) quietly made his way over to listen in. He could hear the voices of Jaune, Nora, and Ren on the other side.
"Hey Jaune." Ruby greeted. "Haven's a long way to go."
"I know." He said. "But it's the only way we have."
"And you're sure you wanna come along?"
Ren joined in. "The journey will be perilous and whether we will find answers at the end is entirely uncertain."
"But we wouldn't be here if we weren't up for it." Nora finished.
"Then let's get started." Ruby said.
As the older kids began to walk away, (Y/N) opened the door, stopping them in their tracks. He crossed his arms, giving them a look.
"Leaving without saying goodbye?"
Ruby flinched. "(Y/N)! What are you doing up? And what are you wearing?"
"I asked first."
She looked down. "I...we need to go to Haven. Something is happening in Remnant, something bad, and we need to figure out what. For everyone in Vale. For everyone at Beacon."
He nodded. "Okay, then we better get going."
The older kids looked in shock as (Y/N) picked up his bag and began walking down the road.
"We?" Jaune repeated.
"Yes, we. I'm coming too."
"Wha-(Y/N), no." Ruby said.
"(Y/N), this mission is far outside your skill level." Ren tried to reason with the boy.
"It's outside all of our skill levels. You might as well have someone who can fly and scope out the field."
"(Y/N), I need you here. Safe." Ruby persisted.
The younger boy stood his ground. "And I need to go with you. To make sure you're safe." The older kids all looked at each other, baffled and unsure of what to do. "If you try to leave me behind, I'll just follow you."
Ruby sighed, walking up to him and placing her hands on his shoulders. "You're really not giving us a choice here, are you?"
"Nope."
She snorted, hugging him. "At least tell me you left a note."
"It's right next to yours."
"Then let's get going."
The group walked down the path, and as they left, (Y/N) glanced back one last time at the house.
He had a feeling it would be a long time before he saw it again.