The events of the last night were spinning in Weiss' thoughts as soon as she woke up. It was a hell of a night with Ruby. First they got ambushed by Beowolves that managed to separate them from Blake and Yang, and after dispatching of the ones following them, they had to flee from a Deathstalker. The result was simple, but yet dangerous: Ruby and Weiss were lost in a Forest they did not know, a small cave provided at least some shelter against the wind and possible rain. They were somewhere in the northern parts of Vytal that were still cold from the last winter, and Ruby was hurt…
Ruby was hurt! Weiss snapped out of her thoughts, and rushed to her partner's aid. After a quick glance at the injury Weiss knew she needed to get some help, before the situation got worse. Ruby's right leg had been ripped open on the side, which caused some blood loss, leaving Weiss no other choice than to carry her somewhere safe. Thank the Gods this Deathstalker is gone, Weiss thought to herself. At least one problem was solved for now. The heiress made sure Ruby's cloak did protect her from the harsh weather around them, put her partner on her shoulders as gentle as possible, and made for the forest again.
Weiss stopped suddenly when Ruby groaned in pain. She sat down her partner leaning against a tree trunk carefully, and tried to wake her up. "Ruby? Can you hear me?" She has carried her partner around on her shoulders for what seemed to be at least one and a half hour, so her back started to hurt at this point.
"…Leg… …Hurts…" Ruby could manage to say before the pain almost made her scream. She clenched her teeth, knowing any noise could attract the beasts they were trying to escape from. Weiss took a quick look around, and found no threat in her field of view, but no sign of Yang and Blake either. The situation was getting more serious by the minute, as if it was not hard enough already.
"Ruby, please stay with me." The heiress almost cried. "We're safe for now. I will- Oh no…" Her ice blue eyes widened as she reached for her scroll, and found nothing. In fact, the whole pouch it was in must have been ripped off her belt during the escape. Weiss herself did not take a scratch, much to her relief, but that did not solve the problem. She looked at Ruby.
"I… It's smashed to… Argh! P-pieces… S-sorry…" Ruby pressed through her still clenched teeth, and pointed on the pouch her device was stored in. It has been squeezed, during the encounter maybe, but at least the scroll was still in there, even if its condition could not be seen right away.
"It's okay." Weiss said calmly, as she looked around, getting more and more desperate while doing so. The pouch with the scroll did not matter at that moment. There had to be something somewhere. She kept away tears that tried to build up in her eyes.
She looked left: The woods they were going through just a few moments ago.
She looked right: More forest to be crossed.
She looked behind herself: Even more trees, leaves, and snow on the ground.
She looked behind the tree Ruby was leaning against: A clearing with a shack on it.
"How did I not see this?" Weiss asked herself aloud. She grabbed Ruby, not even asking if she could walk or not. The young girl was getting paler by the minute, due to blood loss Weiss assumed.
It did not take much effort to arrive at the door of the shack. Actually it was a small wooden house with two floors and several rooms. One of the rooms upstairs was lit, a shadow stood at the window, most likely seeing Weiss, who crossed the ground between the forest and the front door with Ruby on her arms. It didn't move however.
"Please have a scroll…" Weiss begged whoever was inside before kicking at the door, knocking this way, since her hands were occupied with Ruby. She needed to make sure to be heard. Nothing happened for what seemed to be an eternity. "Ruby, are you still there?" The young girl simply put a hand on Weiss' cheek, and whispered. "Still here…"
"Good morning…" a calm, yet repellent female voice spoke up after the door was opened. What she saw was a young girl wearing a combat skirt in an ice colored scheme, who carried a younger girl in bridal fashion. She younger one wore black and red, a cloak covered most of her body, but the woman could still see the blood drenching the red fabric. "What do you require?"
"What do- Don't you see she's injured?!" The teen was obviously an arrogant one, desperate, however, almost in panic. A discussion would not do the victim of said injury any good, so the woman made way, and pointed up the stairs just right of the entrance.
"Do you require material for stitches, or just bandages? You would want to disinfect the wounds most likely. There is a guest room upstairs, second door on the left. Help yourself in there, I'll get my supplies and see what I can do." The woman stayed calm, but spoke in a commanding tone, as the teen in front of her followed her instructions to the letter.
"I don't know, if stitches are needed, Ma'am. Thank you," The older teen answered as she passed her host.
"I see. Go ahead." The owner of this house in the middle of a forest closed the door behind them, and went into her kitchen to get said supplies, without giving them another look. "Okay… Just patch her up, tell them directions and they should be gone," She said to herself, before leaving for the guest room the two should be in by now. She took a short look into a mirror that was placed in the small hallway, realizing the older of the two girls looked somewhat familiar. They shared white hair, a scar on the right eye, but the teen was luckier than her: The eye did not seem to be blinded. The woman shook her head, discarding the trail of thought for the moment. There was a more urgent matter to attend to.
"Okay, Ruby. We got some help. Everything will be fine."
"So that's her name. What's yours?"
"Weiss Schnee, Ma'am." She seemed surprised to see the woman in the door of the room. Weiss stood up, moved out of the way. Ruby seemed to have passed out about a minute ago.
"Hello, Ms. Schnee. My name is Erydias Grey," she introduced herself as she closed the door behind her, and moved towards the injured girl. As far as she could tell by the looks of her, the young one was in a bad shape, but her life was not at risk, yet. "Did a Beowolf do this?" she asked, and pointed at Ruby's leg. Weiss just nodded. "I see."
Weiss tensed up as the stranger, Erydias Grey, started to tear apart Ruby's Pantyhose after removing her right boot. She saw flesh and bone, blood dripping out of the wound, but this Erydias stayed calm, almost cold. She simply poured a reddish liquid over and into the wound, used some medical pads to remove the spilled substance, blood and dirt from the wound again without even paying attention to Ruby, who tensed up herself, and started to scream.
"What are you doing? Hold her still," Erydias literally ordered, and Weiss obeyed as soon as possible. Ruby on the other hand did not recognize what was going on, and therefore tried to defend herself, tossing and turning in the process. Erydias grabbed an injector of some sort and injected its contents into the young one's right arm. "Narcotic agent," she simply stated, and waited for it to take effect. And highly effective it was because just a few minutes later the screaming stopped, and Erydias started her saturation.
"Are you a doctor, Mrs. Grey?" Weiss asked after a while, while she caressed Ruby's head carefully.
"Ms. Grey. And no, I'm not," the woman replied without even looking up. Her tone was polite but yet somewhat repellent at the same time, just like in the moment they met. It did not matter at the time. Ruby needed the help the stranger offered, even if she made sure Weiss knew they were not quite welcome.
The saturation itself went on in silence, was done in a most professional way, and the leg cleaned with care. Erydias took her time with cleaning the mess under Ruby's leg, before she grabbed a set of bandages, and finished her medical work on the young Huntress to be. The woman still uttered not a single word, as she laid finishing touches on the bandages, and started to clean up behind herself.
Weiss waited until the woman was finished with all of it, before breaking the silence again. "Thank you for helping us." Weiss followed the woman out of the room, who did not even react to her words, closed the door behind them, and did not get a response until they entered what seemed to be the living room. There she took a closer look at her host for the first time. White hair, just like hers, a green and a blinded, gray eye, the right one, with a scar similar to Weiss' own. She wore a gray shirt, blue pants and white socks, all simple and yet elegant. She seemed to be physically strong, but not too muscular.
"Take a seat, Ms. Schnee. Ruby won't wake up until tomorrow morning. I chose this dose rate of the agent so that she wouldn't try to move in the next hours – I'm not taking any chances of her ripping her leg back open."
Weiss sat down on the black leather couch that Erydias pointed at while she listened to her explanation. It made sense to her, even if the heiress was not as educated in medical techniques as Erydias. The room itself was comfortable and bright, a desk could be found in one corner, some prizes were placed on top of the fireplace, a white armor with sword and shield stood next to the exit of the room that led to the hallway. The chest of the armor was adorned with a silver sword, blade pointing down, and two stylized fists, one on each side of the blade. It was definitely not decoration. Traces of use and maintenance could be seen clearly.
It was a cozy little home Ms. Grey lived in. But Weiss did not feel welcome at all. The woman ensured this via body language and tone of speech. "I'm afraid I have to request further assistance, Ms. Grey. I need to contact the rest of our team, Ma'am. One of them is Ruby's sister, and they need to know where we are." Weiss saw that Erydias did not like the idea of any more guests, but tried to keep herself calm. She could not afford to worsen the situation Ruby and herself were in by offending their involuntary host, who took a brief pause, before she answered.
"Then use your scroll," Erydias simply suggested. How did she manage to not be annoyed by now? Weiss knew it may be possible that one did simply forget about the device, so she swallowed her pride this time. A Schnee did not simply make such mistakes.
"I lost it," Weiss admitted, a little bit embarrassed about that fact. How was that even possible? "And Ruby's is broken," she added.
"You want to use mine?"
"…Your permission to do so, yes."
"I'm afraid I don't have one."
Gods, no… What am I going to do now? Weiss was desperate. With no means to contact their friends or to call for help from Beacon, she jumped up from the couch again, walking around Erydias' living room restlessly for several minutes. The involuntary host simply watched the heiress this entire time, until she spoke up again.
"You've got two options: To get Ruby's scroll, and try to fix it. Or to get out there, and retrieve yours."
Erydias pointed in the general direction of both her suggestions, before she got up herself. Weiss tensed once again, she felt threatened by this person this time. "Stop dilly dallying, girl."
"Where are you going?" Weiss asked hesitantly.
"Finishing my breakfast," Erydias replied, before leaving, probably for the upper floor. "Ruby won't wake up until tomorrow anyway, due to the medication I had to use, as said. You have plenty of time, and that should not be wasted, don't you agree, Ms. Schnee?"
"How long will we have to stay here?" Weiss asked. The woman stopped in the doorway, and waited a brief moment before she answered.
"Considering the depth of the wound, Aura accelerating her rate of healing, the medication that has been used additionally… I think something between four and five days, and you will be able to move her."
"She won't be fully recovered by then," Weiss protested. She could not believe that this woman wanted to get rid of her and Ruby, even though she made it obvious from the beginning. Now Erydias made it official: She wanted to get Ruby and Weiss moving again as soon as possible, for some personal reasons, the heiress assumed. The woman however did not want the conversation to carry on, and left for her stated designation. Weiss was left in the living room, and took a deep breath. Is that what it feels like being around me? she wondered, while taking a closer look at her surroundings. As she got to the prizes on top of the fireplace, there was one document that took Weiss' breath away. It was a certification, handed to graduates of Beacon Academy.
"She's a Huntress!"
The next Chapter: Retrieval
So, here we are: The first chapter of a larger project I am working on. There won't be any regular updates, I'm afraid. As last time, feel free to criticize, but do so in a constructive way.