24 Mikrós Drákos

"Room 206, there you are." Arthur commented, having found the room he would be inhabiting for his next four years, at least if he could prevent a certain, academy destroying incident in the future.

Bringing his Scroll up to unlock the electronic lock that was coded to his personal scroll, and no one else's. Opening the door Arthur was met with a relatively empty room, it had the normal amenities for a dorm room, a desk, a bookshelf and a bed. All of which ended up making the room look more open than what he predicted the other teams would get as he was currently he only 'solo' team in Beacon, meaning there was only a single bed in the room that was intended for four.

'Guess I'm not getting any team mates, if he already removed all the other beds.' He commented as he inspected the rest of the room, noticing a small circular rug in the centre of the room as well as two doors on each side of the room.

Walking over to the right hand door Arthur opened it and was met with a relatively simple tiled bathroom set up with a toilet, sink and shower, nothing extravagant. Closing the door Arthur turned around and opened the door on the opposite end of the room, revealing a small walk in closet, well small if you considered it was meant for four people. "Yeah, this is just storage then…" Arthur murmured.

Turning back around Arthur took one last look at the room in its current setup, the small bookshelf directly under the window, a single bed to the left of it and a small desk next to the bathroom door. 'Okay, so, could use a few improvements, bigger bed for one, don't know how anyone can sleep on those tiny things… wait, doesn't team RWBY have bunk beds? God, how do you not fall off those deathtraps.' Arthur thought, imagining a bunk bed breaking and crushing him while he slept.

'Wonder if I can get anything from the store…' Arthur picked up his Tome that he had been carrying with him for the last few hours on his trip from the infirmary to the dining hall and to his room. 'It's going to be really annoying having to lug this around everywhere…' he thought as he opened it to the store page, imaging what he wanted to purchase, in this case, a bed, a king-sized one of course.

"Really? You're going to waste Akal on a bed?" Ashe questioned as her personal chat page appeared. "Hey! I want a good bed. So what! And that is way too small for me." He retorted. "Hey, I'm just saying there is so much more you could spend it on. Not just a mundane… bed."

"I didn't see you complaining whenever you stole my bed back on earth! I clearly remember you whining that your bed was too small for you!" Ashe was silenced as she raised her finger to make a point, only to lower it "Point taken."

"So, what type you looking for?" she asked.

"Nothing to extravagant, just want something comfortable" he said while skimming through the various designs on the store, from just a mattress, to overly ornate beds made from pure gold 'who would want to sleep on gold? Sure, may be cool and all but god how much would that weigh…' Arthur began trying to calculate how heavy a king-sized gold bed frame would be, only problem being he didn't know how heavy gold was, nor how to convert that into a bed frame, so instead he just concluded 'too much, way too much.'

Eventually Athur decided on a modern looking bed, closer to the ground than what he was used to, but hey, it looked good. The bed spread, unlike what you would expect from Arthur judging by his relatively monotone colour pallet was a dark blue with white throw pillows. "There, that should be good." Arthur commented aloud as he stood from the desk and moved next to his current academy provided bed, placing his hand on it while thinking 'Store' to place it into storage, quickly replaceing it with his new, much more comfy bed.

"Okay, that's done, now for a bigger desk…" Arthur commented as he once again began browsing for mundane things to add to his room.

"I can't believe you spent 1000 Akal on decorating your room" Ashe commented while slapping her face.

"Oh, don't you complain, half of that was you're doing." Arthur argued as he inspected his new room with a smile. He now had a larger desk, big enough for if he wanted to work on any projects in the future, something he truly wanted to do now that he had the means of designing and forging his own equipment. He had also set up a three-seater couch (Plus extra pull-out stools for guests) in front of the bed with a holoscreen TV against the wall, directly in front of the bed, which sort of nullified the point of the couch he thought.

Looking through the window Arthur saw it was already beginning to get dark. Checking the time Arthur saw it was almost six, meaning dinner would be starting soon. "I'm really not hungry right now…" Arthur commented as he began thinking of what he could do to pass time, befre eventually remembering something he hadn't questioned for the last few days…

"Ashe, why are you in my book?"

"Wow, it took you this long to ask?" She deadpanned

"Things have been busy" Arthur deadpanned back

"But seriously, you said it's been five years for you, How? I mean, I saved you. Didn't I?" Arthur asked, sorrow in his voice at the memory of the dying Ashe from what was weeks earlier to him.

"Oh, you did. I got to live another five years before getting killed by some sicko in a hockey mask wearing a blue jumpsuit and had a machete. It wasn't a pleasant way to go, trust me." Ashe once again deadpanned.

"Really?" a sceptical Arthur questioned

"Oh, good god no. I was in a plane crash, I was going to japan for a few weeks in memory of you, things went… bump, to say the least. Next thing I know I'm in a library talking with a goddess asking me to inhabit Tome, and to take care of the functions the Tome handles." She explained sounding more chipper than anyone should be at dying in a plane crash and being asked to inhabit a Tome as a ghost.

"You seem… Happy, about that?" he perplexed.

"Of course I am I was depressed ever since you left me. Honestly a few more months and I probably would have done it myself." Ashe said with a smile, which still felt really off to Arthur when paired with her words.

"Ashe…"

"Oh don't you start! We may have only known each other for three short years, but those were also the happiest I had ever had after my parents died. Without you they just became dull, nothing made me happy anymore. I barely left my apartment and when I did, it was to get groceries."

Seeing that Arthur was about to comment Ashe began talking again "It… was difficult. The hag used to keep coming around to check on me." Arthur shivered at the mention of 'the Hag' or in other words, the head caretaker at the orphanage "Though, I put an end to that after she told me she wanted me to watch her burn all of your stuff saying 'we have to do it to prevent his curse from spreading', god she really was insane wasn't she?" Ashe questioned to a chuckling Arthur.

"What did you expect? She always had a vendetta against me, I'm surprised she didn't burn down the orphanage just to 'cure my evils'." He chuckled some more before solemnly asking "Were… you able to salvage anything?"

Ashe smiled and said "Yeah, I was able to save your guitar before the pyromaniac got to it. It was the only thing I had left of you apart from Sir Fluffles" she commented, getting an appreciative, but sad smile from Arthur. "Thank you for saving it"

Seeing his small smile, Ashe's smile softened "Of course I would, I know how much it meant to you… Wait, give me one minute. OH! And can I have permission to use give or take 500 Akal?" she asked, confusing Arthur.

"I mean sure. But can't you just take use it whenever you wish?" Arthur asked

"No, not really. There are actually very few things I can do without your express permission, the Sperata contracts being one of them. I mostly deal with the different systems within the Tome, making sure they all work accordingly. Though honestly, it's a magic book, nothing ever goes wrong." She whined "So all I really do is, watch you. It's like my own personal sitcom full of awkwardness and amusement. Though I should be able to influence certain functions by adding new functions to the functions, you dare make that joke and I will paper cut your throat in your sleep." Her threat not falling on deaf ears as Arthur immediately cringed and began rubbing his throat.

"I think I am also capable of making new functions… should I just call the functions 'chapters'?" she contemplated. "Yeah, it makes sense that way. Essentially I can create new chapters as you get stronger." She finished

"That would be amazing." Arthur stood in praise of Ashe's supposed abilities "So, what did you need the Akal for?" He asked watching Ashe still looking for something within the tome, her face lighting up once she found her goal.

Soon after her face lit up Arthur saw a light emanate from the page before dying down and leaving a bright red acoustic guitar with golden trimmings along the edges and an ornate engraving of a dragon on the body in gold as well.

Arthur stood in shock at the ornate guitar, once he had taken in the sight he gently picked it up, running his fingers over the familiar body, his fingers taking in every detail of the engraving. "She always loved dragons…" Arthur murmured bringing his fingers over a plate on the waist of if where the sentence 'O Mikrós Drákos Tis Adelfís' was inscribed. This guitar brought the memories of his sister and her collection of dragons and their memorabilia to his mind. Even as an adult about to get married she had an entire room full of the knickknacks from every sort of culture. One of her favourites being her guitar, the very one that now rested in his hands, the same guitar she had used to teach an entirely too small Arthur how to play.

Lightly bringing his fingers over the strings, Arthur tested the sound finding it was already perfectly tuned to what his sister had taught him. "Ashe, h-how?"

"The Tome use's your memories and the records. This guitar was one of the most important things in your memories, so the Tome was able to recreate it… for a price. Also, I may or may not have gotten something else~" she said as she began to wing her hands like child trying to look as cute as possible.

"What did you get?" Arthur sternly asked, fully knowing what she had just bought, as the Tome released another light, leaving a gigantic stuffed teddy bear wearing a suit of armour. "I knew it…" Arthur muttered in resignation.

Ashe looked extremely pleased with herself as she ran towards her own teddy tackling it into a hug within the inner world, before looking back and saying "Now we both have a Fluffles!" like an overly excited toddler.

"I take it you're not going to let me store it?" Arthur asked, resignation in his voice when Ashe responded with "Not a chance in hell"

Releasing a sigh, Arthur then chuckled as he looked over the giant Teddy in amazement "I still have no idea why you wanted this thing; it was a nightmare to get inside back at the orphanage. I mean come on; it's bigger than the doorframe."

"Because he's beautiful!" Ashe replied, star in her eyes as she cuddled her own version.

Chuckling at Ashe's childish display Arthur once again returned his attention to the guitar, remembering the time he was first gifted it, when his sister had brought it to him for his fourth birthday, as well as the name she had given it, the 'Drákos' the dragon. Though it did also bring back memories of him being nicknamed 'Mikrós' and his numerous tantrums at being called little.