Chapter 6
It had been two hours since Neo was taken into surgery and Ruby hadn't been told anything about Neo's condition or even if she was still alive.
Ruby was just sitting outside, crying silently into her legs while she waited to hear any kind of information about Neo's condition.
Ruby didn't hear someone approach her, but when she heard someone clearing there voice she looked up, hopefulness filling her eyes thinking it was a nurse or doctor, but she saw it was only Yang.
"Hey Ruby, how are you?" Yang asked softly, moving forward to try and comfort her half-sister. She had arrived alongside Coco and Velvet who wanted to go with Yang to go see Ruby, for whatever reason, Yang didn't know.
Ruby just starred up at her sister blankly as her mind tried to think of what to say to her sister.
"It's your fault." Ruby's voice was quiet and held a deathly calm about it as she spoke to her sister.
Yang was in shock at hearing her sisters voice like that but was able to ask, "What do you mean?"
"It's your fault she's dying." Ruby's voice was cold as she spoke to her sister.
"What do you mean it's my fault? We fought, and she lost. How was I meant to know what would happen?" Trying to defend her actions to her sister, thinking it was unnecessary.
"You attacked her, almost killing her with that alone and then you left her to die, and she would of if I didn't hear you talking about her." Ruby was angry at her sister, but wasn't she wasn't one to shout but turn cold towards the person.
Coco and Velvet were hiding around the corner, letting Yang go first because she was Ruby's sister, but they saw what a mistake they made by doing that but Velvet held Coco back allowing the two to work this out.
Yang's eyes turned red at the words of her sister, almost exploding out, "She's the enemy, Ruby. She was standing in our way of stopping the train."
"Who attacked first? Was it you or Neo?"
Yang calmed slightly, as she thought back to her fight with Neo, "Um I did, to let Weiss and Blake get past."
"Did she hit you or attack you in any form while you were fighting? Did she give any indication that she was trying to stop you?"
"Um, no. She only dodge my attacks, or at least some of them. Remembering back, she struggled to even dodge my attacks." Yang thought back to how the girl looked during the fight and how she acted, although late as it was.
Ruby, hearing what her sister told her and connecting with how she saw Neo before disappearing onto the train, realised what had happened to her and what she thought she saw dripping from her back.
"She was hurt, and you still attacked her, almost killing her in the process of doing that. Do you not think?" Ruby was steadily growing angrier at her sister.
"She's the enemy. What else is there to think about?"
"The fact that she is hurt, bleeding, did it not click in your head that there was a reason she didn't fight back, or the fact she only dodged your attacks."
"She's the enemy, standing in our way. What more do I need to care about the state of her?" Confused why Ruby was making a big deal out of this, which was making her angry at her sister.
"SHE'S NOT THE FUCKING ENEMY." Ruby's shout echoed along the hallway, although luckily, the hospital was quiet and no one was really around.
Yang was shocked at the fact Ruby was shouting at her, and swearing for the first time as well. However before she replied to her sister, Ruby burst out into tears and collapsed to the floor. She was just about to reach down to comfort her when she was stopped.
As soon as Ruby had shouted at her sister, Coco and Velvet were already moving from their hiding spot, and rushed to Ruby's side.
Coco was immediately at Ruby's side, hugging the younger girl into her shoulder; allowing her to cry her eyes out again.
Velvet stopped Yang from going to Ruby's side as well, speaking to her calmly. "I think you should go."
Yang wasn't pleased with the two girls comforting her sister, and not her, "No, she's my sister." Yang was going to move to Ruby's side, intent on pushing Coco out of the way, but she was held back.
Velvet had a sharp grip on Yang's shoulder, applying pressure onto a certain spot, stopping Yang in her tracks, "It wasn't a suggestion Yang. You won't be able to help Ruby in this state. Now, you need to go." Velvet still spoke calmly, but her voice held something else behind it. With the words venom, it was evident Velvet would drag her away if needed.
Yang reluctantly nodded, and turned around, walking off to find some way off the ship.
Velvet walked over to the two girls on the ground, and rubbed Ruby's back, trying to calm her down.
Ruby started to slowly calm down thanks to the two girls comforting her, after some time sitting on the floor and once Ruby was calm, the three girls sat down on the chairs in the hallway.
The three girls, or at least Coco and Velvet, given Neo's current state, spoke with Ruby, trying to take her mind off of Neo, who was being operated on.
After an hour of talking, a doctor came out of the doors leading to the operation room, and walked towards the three girls waiting.
"I'm assuming you are waiting for news about Neo?" The doctor asked the three girls.
Ruby however was slightly impatient, asking, "Where is she? Is she going to be okay?"
The doctor raised his hands up, trying to calm the shorter girl, "She's alright, and she's in the recovery room at the moment."
Ruby nodded, but wanted to know where Neo was. The doctor, seeing the worry, said again, "If you go down the hall, and turn left, there is a nurse's station. Someone there will take you to her room."
Ruby immediately rushed off towards the nursing station, hoping to see Neo.
The doctor stayed with the other two girls. "I'll take you to her room myself. I can tell you her condition and what we've done." Chuckling slightly, he smiled. "Must have accidentally slipped my mind when I told that girl to go to the nurse station."
Coco and Velvet nodded, and followed the doctor in the same direction Ruby had run off to.
"So as I'm sure you know, she had a piece of metal sticking out of her. We removed it, and repaired the damage. However, he won't be able to do much of anything for about a month. She also had bruising around her chest, which caused some internal bleeding thankfully, we fixed that as well. Still, we want to monitor her in case something happens again." The doctor stopped talking and walking for a moment in order to turn to the two girls, looking at them with slight worry before carrying on.
"There are also signs of physical abuse. Most of it is along her back, ranging from burns and some sort of whip, some of which are very recent, and were bleeding when she got to us. Sadly, in addition to those more recent, there was also heavy scaring from previous attacks, both burns and whip. We treated her back as best we could. However, we can most likely not cure the mental trauma from such attacks. Do you know how this happened?"
Coco and Velvet looked at each other, already working out at least one of the abusers. "We think it might be the man that was captured, Roman Torchwick. He was at least one of those causing the abuse, but we don't know who else could be doing it." Coco started off.
"Also, I think she is mute as well, Could that be due to the abuse?" Velvet asked the doctor, although she already guessed the answer.
The doctor nodded in response, "Yes, that could be a result of the trauma. I think she should see someone about what had happened to her, or at least a specialist who has experience in dealing with this sort of thing. I'm a military doctor so I'm not very good with these types of injuries."
Coco and Velvet nodded, both sure that Neo wouldn't speak to a professional, and much rather would speak to Ruby.
After few minutes of awkward silence and walking, the doctor led the two girls into Neo's room. Coco quickly spotted Ruby's distinctive red cloak inside the room, the figure under it leaning over the bed in the room.
The doctor left them outside the room, and both girls stood outside, quickly deciding that Velvet would wait outside for the moment and Coco would go in there.
Coco went inside, and sat down in a chair in the corner, while Ruby had pulled up a second chair next to Neo's bed. Neither girl said anything to the other, although Ruby had soon fallen asleep with her head on Neo's bed.
Coco watched Ruby as she slept, making sure she was okay while she slept, checking on Neo as well.
Coco was on her scroll looking at a couple news sites to see if there was any new information about the Grimm breach earlier in the day.
An almost soundless groan made Coco look up, and she spotted Neo stirring slightly. Getting up, Coco walked over to the bed as Neo opened her eyes slightly and was trying to look around.
"You're okay, Neo. You're in a military hospital at the moment, and you've been treated for your wounds. You need time to recover." Coco spoke softly to avoid waking Ruby up, who was still asleep.
Neo nodded her head, as she turned and looked at Ruby then back to Coco, her eyes questioning.
Coco smiled, "She was the one who found you, and we got you to a hospital to be treated. She didn't leave your side until you entered the operating room. Once you were out, she rushed straight here and hasn't left since."
Neo smiled a little, putting her hand on Ruby's head as she closed her eyes again.
Coco watched as Neo's breathing even out again as she fell asleep once more. Sitting back down, Coco went back to what she was doing with a smile on her face.
After another hour of sitting in the room, Velvet had joined Coco inside the room, watching the two girls sleep as they themselves cuddled together on the chair, reading on Coco's scroll about the news, as well as getting updates from Ozpin about the situation from the breach.
Velvet's keen hearing picked up a voice echoing down the hall, recognising the voice, and guessing who it could be caused Velvet to go outside the room with Coco on her tail.
Ruby woke up to hear shouting coming from outside the room. Opening her eyes, she spotted Velvet and Coco having a heated argument with someone she couldn't see. Looking around, she saw Neo's eyes staring at her, curiosity present.
Ruby did a double take as she saw Neo was awake, and quickly hugged her. This caused Neo to gasp out in pain as Ruby put pressure on her wounds.
Moving back, Ruby was apologising before Neo stopped her with a raise of her hand, pointing outside with a questioning gaze.
Before Ruby could answer Neo, the door slammed open and General Ironwood walked into the room with a couple of soldiers behind him, Coco and Velvet coming in after him, shouting.
"What the hell are you doing? You can't arrest her." Coco shouted at the general, beyond pissed at the man.
Ironwood just turned back to the girl, "I can, and I will. She is a known enemy combatant, and as such, I hold the authority to arrest and question her."
The sound of metal moving on metal echoed through the room, causing Ironwood to turn around to see Ruby and Crescent Rose, fully formed and pointed at Ironwood.
Ruby was staring at Ironwood with a deadly calm look, and spoke in an equally deadly tone, "You will turn around, walk out of this room and will not attempt to arrest Neo again, or I will show you how exactly deadly my weapon is."
Ironwood was going to attempt to counter Ruby. However, the two soldiers with him ran out the door, having seen the weapon in action on Grimm earlier, fearing the severe damage to happen to them.
Ironwood, seeing he had no support, glared at Ruby, "I would be careful who you threaten." With that said, Ironwood turned heel, and left room.
Ruby collapsed her weapon, and stored it on her back again as she sat down next to Neo, a smile on her face.
Coco and Velvet excused themselves, giving the two girls some privacy, as well as possessing intent to contact Ozpin and tell him what happened.
Ruby smiled at Neo, as she sat back down and relaxed again. "So that was something."
Neo starred at Ruby disapprovingly, annoyed at what Ruby did just to protect her. Ruby, seeing this, blushed and ducked her head.
"Sorry, but I wasn't going to let someone else take you away from me." Ruby spoke shyly.
Neo's gaze softened hearing Ruby's words, and a small amount of pink played at her cheeks, her words heart-warming to the girl.
Ruby, then leaned up to Neo, and softly kissed her on the lips, "That is to return the kiss, I did some thinking, and with you gone, I really missed you and was scared when I saw you hurt. After what Roman was saying it's all... Umm... What I'm trying to say is..."
Ruby struggled to get her nerve up to tell Neo what she wanted to, causing her to speak a lot, "Wh-what I'm trying to say is... I love you."
Ruby had ducked her head, unsure how Neo would respond to her words, unsure of whether she would accept her confession or not.
Neo leaned up as much as she could, pulling Ruby over to her and kissing her back, whispering faintly and in a rough voice, "I love you too."
A/N
So this was again a struggle, and a shorter chapter then what I would want it to be, so sorry.
Anyway there will be no new chapter for this story next week as it is Christmas, however I will be writing a one-shot for Christmas, which I'll post on Christmas day and then whenever I am free I'll write and do another chapter for Suffering in Silence but i may post another story idea as well but not sure if I'll post that or not or if I'll write another story because I have a number of idea's in my head.
Anyway I want to say thank you to xSilentGirlx for being able to bounce ideas off of, and talking to everyday, its really fun and she's a cute girl as well. ^_^
And thanks to Sleep Arypsure who is now Beta-ing my chapters for me, and she is very helpful and also very good to talk to, so thank you very much.
Side note you should also cheek out their stories as well.
Bye byes. ^_^
Oh and also, if anyone reading the story would like to do some artwork that i can use as a cover picture that would be great, i can't pay you but i can write a one-shot of your choice or something like that, PM me to talk about it. Thank you ^_^