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

Chapter 48: Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble

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Chapter 48: The True Monster

"Ruby!" (Y/N) called out as he barely glided above the treeline, trying desperately not to crash.
With his flight pattern messed with and Ruby's Semblance, there was no way he was going to catch up with her. He couldn't even use his Semblance at the moment. He hadn't had the heart to take the bracelet back from Timid and even if he did, no doubt the increased speed would only make flying harder. Without much option, he flew back to the group.
"Any sign of her?" Yang asked as he landed.
"No. I can pick up her scent trail, but I can't keep up with her at the moment."
"You should still follow the trail." Weiss insisted. "She can't keep moving forever, and it's better if she isn't alone in case Neo tries something."
"She is going to try something." (Y/N) said. "She made the Jabberwalkers for the sole purpose of hunting Ruby down. It's her only drive now. Whatever Cinder put into her head, it stuck."
"Are you sure about being out there by yourself?" Blake asked as (Y/N) rolled his eyes.
"The only thing good about having Feral around is that Jabberwalkers have a tough time telling us apart." The dragon boy then tensed up before turning with a snarl. "And speak of the devil."
"You have to be kidding." Jaune said.
"If he's anything, he's relentless. He's definitely coming after the little guys."
(Y/N) looked over at his younger version who sat on Juniper. Baby had not said a word since the truth had been revealed and Timid seemed equally lost in thought. They'd be easy pickings for Feral.
"Ruby's trail is leading to the acre north of here. Maybe you guys will have better luck finding her. I'll go deal with wild boy."
"By yourself?!" Weiss said, not liking the idea of anyone else heading off on their own.
"I'm the only one who can match Feral and who he won't try to maul to death. I'll just...send him running again and catch up with you."
"If you're sure." Jaune said.
The girls looked at their brother worriedly, only for him to smile.
"I'll be fine. Promise." He then walked over to Timid. "Hey, little guy, mind if I have my bracelet back?"
"U-um, sure." Timid mumbled, handing it off to the older version.
(Y/N) smiled and nodded before placing a hand of Baby's head. "It's...it's gonna be okay, kid. We made it out the other side."
"I wanna go back to being one person." He said dully.
The dragon boy sighed before turning away, taking off into the woods to head off his monstrous half. When his family was out of ear shot, (Y/N) growled to himself, clenching his fists.
"All right, where are you, Feral?"
A growl came at him from the side as something crashed into him. The two snarled at each other as they rolled about, neither wanting to inflict damage on each other, and by extension, themselves. In truth, (Y/N) didn't exactly know what Feral's end game was in all this, if this being even had the capacity to think that far ahead to begin with. Clearly keeping the other (Y/N)s out of trouble would preserve his own life, but given their current state made each a thinking separate entity made that practically impossible, especially if their dark part was going to attack their family.
"All right, enough of you!" (Y/N) shouted, kicking his dark counterpart in the chest.
Feral grunted as his back hit a tree. He immediately flipped onto all fours, arching his back and hissing as (Y/N) stood up and glared down at him.
"How do you possibly think this is gonna end outside with us killing ourselves!?"
Feral, of course, did not answer, other than blowing smoke through his nostrils.
"I get that you're just some mindless animal and you only care about staying alive, but guess what? I'm not! Not everyone is our enemy!"
"Why not?"
(Y/N) blinked. If her were not staring at Feral's moving lips, he would not believe such a raspy, low toned voice would come out of his dark counterpart.
"Y-you can talk!?"
Feral huffed. "The world hurts. People hurt us. People are the enemy."
"Not all people are like that. My family isn't and neither are my friends!"
Feral quirked a brow. "Grandfather turned. They all could turn."
"Acris was rotten to his core! He was nothing like my sisters!"
Feral rolled his eyes. "People change. We changed."
"Yeah I've changed, I'm not the scared little kid who needs a monster like you to protect me. I can protect myself."
"Ourselves."
"Sometimes I wonder just how much of you is me and how much is the god of Darkness. For a supposed defense mechanism, a lot of good you did me against the Hound."
Feral roared, as if the mere mention of that creature was an insult. Perhaps that was the one thing (Y/N) couldn't fault Feral for. He still got chills thinking about the poor beast.
"Look, I get your whole deal is self preservation, but get this through your head: I can't live without my family. I won't lose another one."
Feral grumbled, but before he could spit venom, (Y/N) felt a sharp pain in his head, and thus, so did his dark counterpart. His hand shot to his temple immediately, pushing down to try and block out the pain with pressure. He stumbled as he seemed to hear a voice screaming out. All at once, the world stopped spinning as (Y/N) shot up straight.
"Ruby!"
(Y/N) turned to try to fly away, only for Feral to jump on him.
"Trap, you fool."
"I don't care!" (Y/N) snarled, trying to dislodge him. "Ruby's in trouble."
"I won't let you get us killed!"
He then smirked. "Then you're coming to help."
(Y/N) unfurled his wings and shot into the sky, completely off balance due to the extra weight and his lack of a tail. At several points, they nearly crashed violently, plummeting out of the sky only to barely recover. Feral dug his claws in to not fall, almost drawing blood had it not been for the boy's Aura. Eventually, the two crash landed in a dark acre. Feral roared in his face, but (Y/N) only rolled his eyes.
"Oh, shut up. It wasn't that bad."
The boy stood up and saw a giant mansion before them. It was flashy and screamed wealth, but there was an ominous demure to its presence. Taking a step forward, Feral caught his wrist.
"Do I really need to punch myself to get you to back off!?"
"It's in there." Feral said ominously.
He gave his counterpart a look. "I'm well aware that the Jabberwalkers are in there. That's why I need to get to Ruby."
"Not them." Feral hissed. "The other one. The clever beast."
"What? What are you talking about."
"The beast that takes knowledge and gives back on riddles."
(Y/N) blinked once. "Wait, are you talking about the cat?"
"It is no ordinary feline." Feral insisted. "It's dangerous."
"You think everything is dangerous."
"No, it tried to do something when we were broken. It touched my chest and made it burn. I chased it off and then you woke up."
(Y/N) gave him a look. Feral didn't seem like he was lying. As a matter of fact, Feral never seemed as if he tried to lie, not even to convince his other pieces, so for him to claim something like that-...
"Tell you what? If we run into the cat, you can run it off again, I don't care. Just so long as we get to Ruby."
Feral growled, but he seemed to accept the deal, following (Y/N) closely as they ran inside the mansion. As Yang had said, this was not like Neo's normal illusion, this was solid, lifelike. As they followed Ruby scent, the mansion suddenly shook as it sounded like a cannon went off.
"What was that?"
Feral growled. "Beast."
The two picked up the pace, breaking into a full on sprint as they heard Ruby shriek. Eventually, they came to a central room that had part of its wall blown out. Neo was slumped over in a corner, dazed, as the cat stood on Ruby's chest as she laid there, its paws plunged into her with unnatural light, monologuing about its creators leaving.
"RUBY!" (Y/N) shrieked.
The cat looked up, it back arced in a hiss. Seeing the mammal again set Feral off as he barreled at it in a blind rage. The cat suddenly yelped as (Y/N) saw Little, who had also just arrived, biting down on its tail.
"Friends don't-!"
Little was flicked away, only Feral snatched the feline and tossed it away. The cat hissed at him, firing off a beam, which the dragon dodged, going in for a kill. Neo then appeared, charging the two, only to shatter as the cat blasted the copy. (Y/N) charged in to help, only to be stopped by...Pyrrha?
He froze for a moment, not believing his eyes, barely managing to dodge as she swung her sword at him. (Y/N) rolled away, only to be attacked by an image of Penny now. For a moment, (Y/N) thought he was seeing ghosts, only to remember Neo's Semblance.
"That's a new low, even for you."
(Y/N) didn't even humor Neo's soulless copies, relying on his soul vision to fight. Neo sent endless waves of these copies, even trying to trick (Y/N) with their voices, but he tuned them all out as he tore through them.
Perhaps if he had kept his ears open, he would've heard the sickening crack of Neo stepping on Little as she pleaded with Ruby to get back up. As he finally broke through the last clone, he spotted Ruby's soul, only for it to vanish in an instance. (Y/N) switched back to his normal vision, but Ruby was still gone. He then caught sight of the vines and a hole.
The tree had gotten her.
He stood there, not understanding this. What...what was going to happen to his sister? Would she be all right? Neo seemed equal in a daze, her soul slowly becoming dimmer as she realized it was over. She had been so focused on revenge for so long, it had become her sole purpose in living. With Ruby gone, now what? The mansion seemed to crumble around them as a copy of Roman Torchwick egged Neo on, seemingly echoing her thoughts.
"Offing Little Red couldn't have been all you wanted, right?"
Roman shattered as Feral crashed through him, tackling Neo to the ground. She was in such a state that she didn't have time to react as the angry creature bit down on her wrist in an endless fury. Neo flailed trying to get him off, but Feral was persistent, jerking her forward, only releasing her to score his claws across her face, sending her rolling across the floor. Neo, feeling a deep fear, slowly crawled back as Feral stalked towards her, pupils shrunk and teeth drooling. Just then, the rest of the group came in.
"(Y/N)!" Yang called, finally snapping him out of his stupor. "Where's Ruby!?"
He slowly turned his head back to the hole. "The...the tree..."
Yang's eyes widened as she sank to her knees. Weiss covered her mouth as Blake rushed to support Yang. Jaune closed his eyes and pushed Juniper away, trying to block Timid and Baby from the view. Baby didn't understand what was happening, but Timid seemed to comprehend just enough that he clutched his younger self as he began to shake.
Feral suddenly stopped his death stalk towards Neo as the cat raced to the hole in a panic.
"No, no, NO! I NEEDED HER!"
The hole sealed itself in vines that the cat scratched at desperately, teeth bared in a snarl. The hole in the wall widened, revealing the outline of the tree in the distance. Seeing this, the cat suddenly turned a predatory gaze on Feral and Neo. Neo was still in shock, but the dragon hissed back.
Jaune drew his sword, pointing it at the cat. "Take us to her."
"You still don't get it, do you!? It's not a place you go, it's a place you know. But no matter, I've actually found two better solutions to my problems!"
The cat whipped around, blasting the girls and Jaune. Juniper bolted off, protecting the two small (Y/N)s as the cat transformed into a giant monster with a black and white color scheme. It pounced at Feral, who met it half way. Feral dug his teeth and claws into the cat, who roared in pain.
"You are a mindless beast anyway!" The cat roared, ripping Feral off of it and pinning him down with its paws. "What's the difference if I use your skin!?"
(Y/N) flew in, knocking the cat off his counterpart, and blasting it with fire. It hissed at him, but Feral and (Y/N) roared back at it, both with fury in their eyes. Seeing the disadvantage, the cat turned its sights on Neo, knocking the boys away as it dove at her, pinning her.
"You've lost something most important, haven't you? And now you have nothing left." The cat chuckled in sadistic merriment. "How DELIGHTFUL! An empty host, perfect for me to fill!"
From their angle, the boys couldn't tell exactly what was happening to Neo and the cat, just that it was incredibly long. They dove for its tail, trying to pull it back, but they were a moment too late as it seemed to vanish into Neo, who slumped over. Feral immediately pulled (Y/N) back, hissing.
"(Y/N), get out of there!" Jaune yelled.
"Ah, the Rusted Knight." The cat's voice echoed in Neo's body. "Goodness, am I tired of your little sob story." Neo stood, her eyes opening to reveal the cat's and a grin filled with sharpened teeth. "You can't even accept your own futility. This body will do."
It jumped out of the way as (Y/N) blasted it with fire. It didn't seem to care, grinning malevolently at him.
"Ah, the dragon, broken beyond all hope to repair, and yet still clinging to your existence. I might have preferred you as a vessel if you and your pieces weren't so stubborn."
"Keep dreaming fleabag."
It only laughed in delight as it disappeared in a pixelated cloud of neon colors that shot out of the hole in the wall and disappeared into the night. As everyone picked themselves back up, Yang looked on the verge of a mental breakdown.
"S-she's gone!"
The dragon placed his hand over his heart. Ruby had fallen into the hole, taken by the tree. According to Jaune, it meant she was gone permanently, and yet...
"Ruby's not dead." All eyes turned to him as he walked over to his younger counterparts. "It's okay, you two. We're gonna make this right."
"(Y/N), are you sure?" Blake asked as Yang seemed to sob in relief.
"I felt Clover and Penny die. I didn't feel that with Ruby. She's alive. We just need to get to her."
"We need to get to the tree." Weiss stated, helping Blake get Yang back on her feet.
"Let's head back to the vil-,er..." (Y/N) placed a hand on his shoulder, which Jaune seemed to greatly appreciate. "What about him?"
Jaune motioned at Feral who stared at them with a mistrustful glare. Baby squeaked, squeezing into Timid who seemed somewhat calmer after being reassured by his older self. (Y/N) sighed. Feral was always going to be a problem, but considering he wasn't blindly attacking everyone, it seemed as if he could somewhat be reasoned with. Sighing, he placed himself between Feral and the rest of the group.
"You can come, tear apart as many Jabberwalkers or whatever monsters the cat send our way, but if you even think of hurting anyone else, you will regret it."
Feral glared at him, but said nothing, keeping an eye on the older members of the group. Knowing he wasn't going to get a better answer, (Y/N) turned to the others and shrugged. The whole way back to what was left of the village was mostly spent in silence. Yang was hugging Baby (Y/N), doing a bit better after being reassured he sister was still alive. Feral lingered a distance behind the group, not trusting any of them. They came to halt at the edge of the new lake.
"I don't understand." Jaune said, staring at the wreckage. "What did I do wrong?"
Weiss placed a hand on his shoulder. "We can figure this out. There's got to be a way to get to the tree."
"T-the cat said it's not a place you go, but a place you know." Baby (Y/N) said, patting Yang on the arm. "Does that mean we've been there already?"
"I don't think so, sweetie." Blake said as (Y/N) crossed his arms.
"Let's maybe not take the cat into account.
"Hello there." A small voice greeted. "You appear upset."
They all turned to see a red, gem-like star shape approach them with a basket. "Would you be so kind as to tell me how I can help? Perhaps you are hungry?"
Feral growled, only for (Y/N) to headlock him. "No, none of that!"
Jaune shook his head, shocked. "Ugh, n-no thanks."
"If I can get you anything else, please don't hesitate to ask." The small creature said. "That's what I'm here for!"
"W-what? What are you?"
"We are the Genio-Gems! We have arrived here to clean up this beautiful land, and create something wonderful and pleasing!"
The girls spotted several other gems working to clean up the wreck. Timid and Baby edged closer as the gems began to reform the water, staring in awe as a giant shimmering crystal was created.
"It's beautiful!" Baby said.
Timid caught sight of leaves blowing in the wind, blinking before realizing what had happened. "They came back."
"It's just like they said." Weiss stated. "They came back better."
Yang nodded. "No flood or fire will ever hurt them again. Meaning you can probably let him go, (Y/N)."
"Not taking that chance." He stated as Jaune stared at the crystal in guilt.
"By trying so hard to save them, I stopped them from becoming what they needed to be. I was being selfish because...I wanted the rush of rescuing someone, and I got that here."
"I think you're asking too much of yourself." Weiss said. "We've been telling ourselves failing means we're no good, but I can guarantee that the best huntsmen in history, they've all lost, but they were still incredibly brave. And good."
Jaune sucked in a breath and smiled as Baby (Y/N) turned to them.
"M...mama told me that losing is like a forest fire. It's bad, no one likes it when it happens, but after, the forest comes back better."
Jaune chuckled, pulling both Weiss and Baby in for a hug. Everyone else joined in, save for Feral who gave them all dirty looks.
"If that cat is right, I just need to accept it." Jaune finally said.
The wind picked up as a swarm of leaves surrounded the group. In an instance, they were taken elsewhere. It was no doubt the tree, as they were surrounded by massive leaves and standing on giant branches.
"It's a place you know." Weiss repeated as she led them through the foliage.
They came to a clearing bathed in sunlight, with a familiar face carved from wood.
"Mr Herb." Baby said, looking up at the figure.
"Guys! Over here!" (Y/N) called. "I found Ruby!"
They all raced over to see the girl encased in bark. Yang placed her forehead against Ruby's before attempting to brush the leaves off.
"Yang, stop." (Y/N) said.
"We have to get her out!"
Jaune then stepped forward. "I think I get it. This is how we got here, or why the tree brought us here. Acceptance."
"We've done everything we can." Weiss said. "Now it's up to Ruby. Whatever happens next, we have to welcome that."
"What if she isn't Ruby anymore when she comes back out." Yang cried as Blake hugged her.
A crack rang out behind them as Herb suddenly broke free, now a butterfly.
"Maybe, that's not for us to decide." Blake said, wiping away Yang's tears.
(Y/N) just stared at Ruby, feeling something calling to him. Baby, Timid, and Feral seemed to feel the same thing as they gathered around him.
"Boys?" Weiss asked.
Baby smiled at her. "We have to go back now."
They all looked at him in shock before turning to (Y/N).
"I think I understand why the tree tore us apart. When I found out about Penny, I just wanted the pain to stop, wanted to stop losing people. I couldn't see who I was anymore. You guys go ahead. We'll stay here."
"Are you sure?" Yang asked, concerned.
Timid nodded. "We...we have to do this ourselves."
The girls hugged them, again Feral refusing to have any part of it.
"I'll see you guys soon." (Y/N) assured them.
They were hesitant to let go, but eventually they did, having to trust their brother and whatever decision he made there. (Y/N) turned to Ruby's statue again and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was alone in a void, three mirrors standing before him.
"Okay, I'm ready."

Yeah, sorry if this came out as a mess guys, I was seriously lacking in drive for this. I swear I'll push harder for the finale.