"You have to stop her! You have to save her!"
The voice was faint, but rang out around her. Where was she? Darkness surrounded her. Each step seemed impossible, as though she were in quicksand. It felt like she was being compressed by darkness on all sides. All she could discern was the faint, static cry repeating all around her.
"She doesn't stand a chance! You have to save her!"
She tried to call out to the voice, the desperate boy who sounded familiar, but who she could not place. But when she tried to ask the void around her, her voice caught in her throat. "Hnn," was all she could struggle to say. Her voice was all wrong, light, airy, but almost grainy at the same time.
"You have to save Pyrrha!" Of course! She remembered now. Poor Jaune. He sounded absolutely terrified through her scroll. As the realization struck her, two figures became illuminated in the distance. That woman, Cinder, holding a bow to her friend, an arrow pierced through her heart.
Weiss tried to call out, cry, something. But once more, her voice would not leave her. What was wrong with her?! She had to save her friend. She had to-
"PYRRHA!" Weiss turned her head and saw her friend and partner, Ruby, with anguish on her face the likes of which she'd never seen. Pale energies seemed to warp around her, and something terrifying became of Ruby Rose. The energy seemed to warp her features, her nose elongating, fierce teeth filling her maw. No, no, this was impossible! This couldn't-
Weiss didn't have much longer to consider what was happening to her partner, as the energy surrounding her glared into an even brighter nova, blinding her. When she could see again, the abyss had parted, and she could see the remains of her headmaster's office. Acrid, burning smoke filled her lungs, sending her into a coughing fit. The place was collapsing on itself in a burning haze, metal. She tried to find Ruby in the toxic mist of burning metal. Where was she? What was going on? But still, as though she were still in the void, her steps were heavy and sluggish. It was a screeching of metal that broke her search. The wall behind her was careening down. Why couldn't she move? Was this really it? She was doomed to die to gravity? Not even to a great and powerful foe, but to a slab of stone and metal? With resignation, she awaited impact…
She was greeted by a dim, phosphorescent light as she startled awake. With heavy, gasping breaths, Weiss tried to take in her surroundings at a mile a minute. The first thing she noticed was the breathing mask on her face and the IV drips jammed into her arms. She was lying down in a hospital bed. Dull, white walls surrounded her. There was a bed opposite her on the other wall, with a familiar, blonde patient asleep in it. Her whole body had a dull ache, and her head was stuffy. What was- of course. She had gone to the tower with Ruby. To save Pyrrha. And they watched her die right in front of their eyes. But what else-
"Weiss!" The light voice of her partner interrupted her musings. Weiss flinched as her partner latched onto her from aside her bed. Ruby was attired in a medical gown, but otherwise seemed no worse for wear.
"Ah, Miss Schnee, you're awake," a young, kindly looking nurse with dark hair and green eyes peeked over from another patient near the door on the other side of the room. The woman hit a pager button before walking over to the two. "Now, Miss Schnee, can you tell me how you're feeling?"
I've felt better, Weiss said. Or, tried to say. A light, scratching cough was all she could manage to utter. What?
She looked with eyes wide open to Ruby, who had detached herself and was now sitting back on her bed, which was situated next to Weiss'. Her partner was looking down at the floor, refusing to meet her gaze. Weiss tried again, with more emphasis. I've felt better. Once more, all she could speak was a breathy cough. What's going on? What happened to me? Why can't I talk? LET ME TALK!
The nurse sighed. "I see it's as we feared," she told Weiss, jotting a note onto her clipboard. "Miss Schnee, you suffered considerable nerve damage. It's not my pay grade to ask what exactly happened, but you took a lot of blunt force trauma. You also inhaled a significant amount of smoke. It's a miracle you're even alive with the trauma suffered to your trachea."
What happened up there? Weiss glanced back to Ruby, who still sat in her bed, staring down at shaking hands.
"Now, I'll just need to do a few basic tests, Miss Schnee, to see how your cognitive and optical functions are working," the nurse pulled up a chair and sat down. She held up her index finger. "Now, follow my finger." Weiss indulged the nurse in her tests, but a panic was growing inside her. When the nurse finally seemed satisfied, she stood up. "Well, the good news, Miss Schnee, is that you seem quite alert and your cognitive functions and eyesight seem to be in good working order, especially for all the painkillers you're on. I'll be back in a bit, try to relax for now." And with that, the nurse excused herself, exiting out the door on the far wall.
A heavy silence fell upon the room. Weiss stared across the room, realizing it was her teammate, Yang Xiao Long who was in the bed opposite her, sleeping. Weiss found her eyes drifting to her teammate's right arm, severed halfway between the elbow and shoulder. This was all wrong! Yang, crippled. Penny, dead. Pyrrha, dead. The academy, a bastion of safety, guarded and taught by the best, overrun.
"Weiss, I'm so sorry!" Weiss was shaken out of her thoughts by Ruby jumping off her bed and practically faceplanting onto Weiss'. "This is all my fault! We were there at the tower and then Pyrrha and, and I don't know what all happened, but now you're like this and EVERYTHING'S WRONG…" Ruby trailed off, sniffling. Weiss could feel the wetness of tears on her arm. Weiss couldn't understand. She couldn't remember what happened at Ozpin's office after they saw Pyrrha sentenced for death. There's no way that dream could be right…it was just a nightmare, after all. She reached out and wrapped her arm around Ruby's shoulders and pulled her tighter. She still felt so tired. "We'll figure this out," she thought to herself. But for now… for now…her thoughts drifted as sleep overtook her once again.
Weiss found herself awake once more, still in the confines of the stuffy hospital. She still had IV drips hanging from her, but her breathing mask had since been removed. She could hear a conversation taking place outside the room, with a voice that instantly put her on alert. She sat up in her bed like a bolt, feeling rather like a caged animal at that moment. What is he doing here? Across the room, a sullen looking Yang glanced over at her, her normally expressive eyes duller than Weiss remembered. Ruby was still awake, and glanced back over at her nervously after she had clearly been looking out the door at her slightly better angle. And in he walked.
"My dear Weiss!" What. Into the room entered her father, Jacques Weiss, arms held out with a… dare she say, warm look on his face? Her father strolled up to her bedside, his posture still stiff and upright as she remembered. And then, if she hadn't endured enough bizarreness and insanity over the last few days, the man… reached down and hugged her. The world actually had gone insane. Over his shoulder Weiss could see a wistful smile on Ruby's face before he pulled back into his normal posture. "I scheduled a flight over as soon as I saw that barbarity on the television," he continued. "But I had no idea things would have gone so far south at the festival." Jacques signed before turning to Ruby, glancing down at here with curious eyes. "Now, you must be Miss Rose, I am correct?" He asked her.
"Er, um, yes sir," Ruby replied with a small voice. "Ruby Rose."
"As I understand it, you are the one responsible for my daughter being here right now," Jacques continued. Ruby's eyes widened slightly for a moment before turning her head away from him. "As opposed to being in a morgue." Ruby's eyes shot back wide and turned herself back to face him. His eyes were closed, and his mouth betrayed a hint of a frown. "I've lost more than I would care to admit to those savages in the White Fang," he continued. "Colleagues, board members, friends. So, Miss Rose," he said, his eyes opening again. "You have my sincerest gratitude that my daughter yet lives. Thank you, thank you dearly."
"Heh…. Yeah it's no problem. Weiss is a good friend, it's what we do," Ruby muttered, scratching the back of her head.
"Now, Weiss, I promise I'll return soon, but I have to get back to the main floor. The hospital staff is quite insistent on your stay for at least a couple more days, but we ought to return home as soon as possible. To say I'm trusting of the security here in Vale at this point would be, well, an understatement," he concluded with a twitch of his mustache before turning on his heel to leave.
"He doesn't seem that bad," Ruby commented after Jacques had well cleared down the hallway. "I had kinda been expecting a lot more yelling, or something." Weiss just shook her head, eyes closed. No. He wants something. "Oh!" Ruby shook her out of her thoughts. "I know you're having a bit of trouble, uh, talking for now, but in the meantime, I got this from one of the nurses." She left a notebook and a pen on the table next to Weiss. "If you need anything or want to… chat, I guess. We're here for you. Right, Yang?" She called out to her sister across the room.
A short frown made its way onto Yang's face temporarily before lifting itself. "Yeah, yeah. We're here for you…" Weiss raised an eyebrow at Yang's emphasis, giving a questioning look to Ruby, who frowned at her sister's comment.
"We don't know where Blake is…" she trailed. "Apparently the three of us got taken by ambulance out here to Vale, and somewhere along the way we lost her."
"We didn't lose her, she ditched us!" Yang shot back with emphasis. "Again!" She twisted her head to look out the window next to her bed. "You and Ruby were out cold when Qrow came back with you. I'm bleeding out from this… thing," she gestured by giving her stump of a right arm a wave. "So instead of being here to support us, or hell even get some medical attention of her own she bailed on us."
A heavy silence fell upon the air as Ruby and Weiss took in just how bitter their teammate was. Weiss picked up the notebook Ruby left her and began scribbling a note. What about everyone else?
"Well, the rest of team JNPR were sent here too, but none of them were hurt too bad, so they got to leave the next day. Nora and Ren stopped by a couple times while you were still out. Jaune's… around, but he's taking it pretty hard." Another silence fell on the group. "Why…" Ruby continued. "Why weren't we there faster?" She said, curling her hands back into her lap. "And, I don't know what happened, Weiss, but I'm pretty sure this is my fault too. Something happened to me in Ozpin's office. That giant grimm is a frozen popsicle. Qrow wouldn't tell me what happened, he's the one that rescued us from the tower. But I know, you were right there with me, fine, and now… now…"
The sight of her leader, the peppy, annoying girl who blew whistles for wakeup so they could decorate, like this, was too much. Weiss reached a hand out and placed it atop Ruby's clenched hands. Ruby looked up at Weiss, her eyes red. Weiss just shook her head and, stretching out from her bed, placed her other hand atop Ruby's and gave her the most earnest gaze she could muster. It's okay.
At that moment, the door to their room slammed open, and a bright eyed, blonde faunus with a tail came to a screeching halt in the doorframe with a slightly manic grin.
"Hey guys, look who I found!"
Hi y'all. Bit of a plot bunny here, just getting things going. Want to keep things short for the first chapter.
Music of the day: Fundamentum - Lesiem.