Size ( there were questions on the previous chapter ) :
- Human body 5'7''
- Snake tail 20'

( Narrator P.o.V )

Shatterheard Island

Temple caves

Both sides were staring at each other. The monster girl went to her full hight, probably trying to intimidate them with size alone. Her stance quickly changed when they quickly pulled out their weapons, setting her into complete panic as she managed the rock she was previous sitting on to spring herself away with the help of her powerful tail mucles, leaving only ripples on the water.

Paimon : She's getting away!

Ruby : Let's catch her but let's try without hurting her!

Shirone : Saber!

Saber : Very well, Master.

They all run to the tunel she went down. Ruby tried to contact the rest of her teammates but there was no signal underground. Using her Semblance she blurred past the rest but with a simple wind magic Saber was right behind her.

The snake-woman turned and with a gesture a wall of fire appeared in front of Ruby, causing her to fly up, bouncing off of the cave's ceiling to stop herself. Saber, however, simply ran through the fire without even a single singe on her, with Lumine, Paimon and Shirone catching up to laying Ruby.

Shirone : It's not a real fire... There's no warmth nor smoke coming from it!

Paimon : Maybe it's because it's a magical fire?

Ruby : Saber went past it without being hurt!

Ruby bounced up again and used her Semblance to get past illusionary flames with others quickly following behind the Servant. Upon contact with Shirone the flames disappated and the rest of the group keep on following the two.

Down the corridor another group was walking consisting of Rin, Weiss, Amber and Archer. As is expected Rin and Weiss were constantly sending glares at one another. Amber seemed to be the only one that seemed to enjoy herself while walking next to the Archer with a tired face.

Amber : I think we should make a competition, you know?! Check each other's skills and such! It's also kind of weird, you're an Archer but you have two blades with you.

Rin : Slaver!

Weiss : Bitch caster!

Rin : Business wrecker!

Weiss : Gem thief!

Archer : You know, I really don't care at this pont...

Archer stopped in her track hearing some slithering towards them, only for a giant snake-like creature to burst from one of the tunnels and run right into Rin and Weiss, sending both of them flying like bowling pins while going down yet another tunnel.

Amber : Umm, was that a snake with a woman in it's mouth or...?

Just as Rin managed to get back up she was jumped over by Saber and used to propell further. Weiss laughed at her just to have Ruby fly right past her, making her spin and causing her to spit out rose petals.

They were joined right after by the rest of Ruby's group. Long story short, two combined groups were chasing after them.

Weiss : Just you wait until I'll get my hands on that dolt!

Rin : Lamia first!

Amber : Lamia?

Rin : That's what this creature is, lower half that of a giant snake and upper of woman.

Shirone : We agreed to do it without hurting her!

Rin : What if she's agressive?

Shirone : So far all she's done was run away and cast illusion to try to stop us.

Lumine : She seemed to be very scared!

Paimon : Paimon was scared when she went full height!

Archer : Very well, I'll do my best to pin her without causing any physical harm.

With that Archer disappeared, going ahead of the rest using her Spirit form. Meanwhile at the front Pyrrha noticed Ruby and Saber running through a tunnel and called out to the rest, esentially involving everyone into a game of cat and mouse with a giant snake woman.

Finally when they almost got her she suddenly wraped her tail around a giant boulder and used it to seal the entrance. In fact that was a dead end, her "room". Some old pillows, a few toys for a child and a book here and there.

She was certain that she's safe here so she coiled on top of her pillows and picked up a doll of a lamia with purple skin that resembled her of the only person she could remember well as a child, her mother. She coiled in on herself terrified by the strangers that suddenly invaded her safe haven and started crying.

Ruby : H-hey...

She screeched in terror at the sight of the human in front of her. True, this one wasn't large enough to scare even most babies but she saw a giant weapon she had on her just prior to running away. Probably in the most pathethic display she tried to cover herself with a plushie hoping that the stranger will leave.

Instead she felt a weird warmth, the small figure was right on top of her, hugging her and trying to soothe her.

It was weird, new feeling. She was scared to move in case the human will change it's mind and attack her. She was, however, slowly calming down. True she could probably coil around the girl and with the help of her powerful tail crush her but then they'd certainly go down here to hunt her.

Ruby : There~ We're not here to hurt you, see?

She picked up a lump of metal from her belt and threw it to the side. Allowing the snake woman the relax further and let the red girl embrace her.

It felt weird for Ruby as well, seeing such a mighty creature cry from fear. She just wanted to see if she's okay but instead turned out to be the reason why the lamia was sad. She felt the tip of the tail touch her leg and didn't pull away, allowing the lamia to coil around her, not too tightly, just enough to count as an embrace.

Yang : Ruby! Ruby, where are you!?

Ruby : We're here, behind the boulder!

The snake girl noticably stiffen at the sound of other people but Ruby grabbed her face that was looking at the boulder and made her look in her silver eyes.

Weiss : Don't just punch the boulder, you dolt! What if Ruby's behind it!

Yang : Fine!

The group pushed the boulder out of the way and they noticed Ruby in the lamia's coil. Yang's eyes turned red as she activated her gauntlets. In a fit of fear, the snake girl slithered as far away as she could and coiled in on herself, using plushie as a shield.

Ruby : Yang stop!

She got in front of her sister, blocking her path.

Ruby : She's scared...

Weiss : She's a giant half-snake, half-woman and she's scared?

Ruby : She just hid herself here, put your weapons away!

Paimon : Paimon doesn't have any weapon!

Lumine : The only thing you wield anyway is a fork.

Paimon : Paimon also wields spoon! Paimon likes pudding!

Pyrrha : Don't you think this place reminds of... child's room?

Mona : More like child's hiding place...

They all more or less dispersed around the room seeing everything while Ruby was busy with the snake woman, trying to calm her down.

Weiss : Books... The only ones that have signs of uses are those with pictures.

Amber : Children toys...

Lisa : Hmmm, it seems our cute scaly darling might be but a child in grown up's body~

Rin : So you mean to tell me this giant beast of a lamia with magical capabilities actually has a child's mind?

Lisa : Well, darling~ This ruins are ancient who knows how long she's been here without anyone to turn to and teach her, poor little thing can't even read~

Nora : Little?

Jane : I'd take another look.

Shirone : We've got to adress the current situation.

Ruby : We can't just leave her here like this, with entrance destroyed-

Yang : Sorry.

Ruby : -someone might come in here and hurt her.

Weiss : Or she could hurt someone...

Blake : Weiss.

Weiss : Just saying.

Rin : Obviously, we should take her.

Shirone : Really?

Rin : She's not only magical creature but also capable of using magic. Aside from basic human-to-human communication we could teach her how to use that gift.

Ruby : How about-

Rin : No, absolutely not! You're barely capable of taking care of yourselves so you're not taking her with you.

Ruby : We could ask Glynda and Ozpin!

Lisa : Maybe she should go back with us. She'd be safe from all of that scheming and manipulations. Besides I'm a librarian so I could easily teach her.

Lumine : We've also got a couple of friends that could help with that trauma she's got.

Paimon : Paimon thinks Barbara would like to help her!

Rin : That's more acceptable but she cannot go to Beacon, that headmaster schemes more than most Assassin and Caster class Servants.

Archer : Besides I believe that General Ironwood would be most interested in getting in on the research with her. Probably use her as test subject.

Blake : We have to decide something, leaving her here would not resolve anything but neither will arguing over what to do. Besides, I think you're scaring her with all that yelling.

They looked at each and finally, one of them took a decisive decision...

The choice mostly matters of who you're gonna meet, befriend and maybe make fall in love with you first, it's not locking anyone out of the equasition, just adding some order to it.

1. Onee-sama Librarian, Lisa ( Genshin Impact characters )

2. The Tsundere Mage, Rin ( Fate characters )

3. The Black Cat Family, Blake ( RWBY characters )

Trivia :

- I thought about making her just a full grown powerhouse but then... Well, it'd be no diffrent than any other power-hungry fanfics.

- Yeah, I didn't go with Beacon, there's enough fics where reader is instantly taken to Beacon and everything's magically fine.

- Surprise, there are people who actually see that Ozpin's not just a headmaster but a master schemer who pulls strings behind the scenes.