Chapter 7: Convalescence

Blake

Considering her violent past, Blake has surprisingly never been inside a hospital before. She suspected that it would smell of antiseptics and sterility, and this place certainly did. She knew that she was in the hospital before she even opened her eyes. The realization suddenly dawned on her, and she sat up in a frenzy.

Weiss was not beside her. Without a single concern at the present moment, Blake scrambled out of bed and raced out the door, nearly colliding with Professor Goodwitch in the hallway.

"Miss Belladonna, you're awake."

"Where's Weiss? Where are we?"

The huntress gave a curt nod. "I suppose suggesting more rest is out of the question. Come with me. We're at the Vale Academy Hospital. She's in the intensive care unit."

"How is she?" Blake inquired as she shadowed Goodwitch's swift strides.

"Alive because of you. Did you know that you drained yourself dangerously low of aura? You had lost consciousness by the time we found you, but your efforts sustained Weiss just long enough for us to provide her with proper medical care."

They stopped at the door of the ICU.

Goodwitch held her hand up to the door, but then hesitated. In a soft voice, she said, "Be prepared that Weiss is in a… fragile state."

Blake nodded.

"And her father is in there."

Blake involuntarily went stiff. She clenched both fists without thinking. Mr. Schnee. The man responsible for much of the injustice done to Faunus in the past decades. The man who abandoned his own daughter to the likes of the White Fang. How dare he show up here?

As Goodwitch lifted her hand once again to knock on the door, Blake caught her wrist. "Wait."

Goodwitch gave her a curious look.

"I…" Blake's cat ears twitched. "Never mind."

"Okay," Goodwitch gauged the huntress-in-training carefully, then knocked on the door. "Mr. Schnee, it's Glynda Goodwitch. I'm here with Miss Belladonna."

"Come in." His voice was firm and cold as one would expect of the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company, but his tone is unexpectedly soft.

"Blake!" Ruby exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're okay." The normally excitable team leader seemed quite haggard, although she still grabbed Blake in a tight bear hug. Goodwitch closed the door softly on her way out.

Anton Schnee swivelled around in his chair by Weiss' bedside to look at Blake. As anticipated, his gaze settled on her cat ears for a second longer than necessary, and his eyes narrowed, but he didn't remark on anything.

Blake's amber eyes emitted untamed fury, although her face gave nothing away. She gently pried Ruby off herself.

"So, you're the one who rescued my daughter."

Blake remained silent, continuing to stare into Anton Schnee's eyes.

"My daughter's very important to me, Miss Belladonna." He turned back around and placed a gentle hand on Weiss' shoulder. "If there is anything you want, you just name it and it is yours."

"If she's so important, why didn't you just meet their demands and save her the torture?" Blake hissed.

"As I've already explained to your colleagues, there are certain things I simply cannot do as a prominent business leader."

"Did you see how badly they tortured her? How much blood covered her body? All the broken bones and cuts? When I found her, she was barely alive. I had to resuscitate her at one point in time! I don't buy your reasons at all."

"I will ignore this childish outburst on the account that you did save my daughter's life. Now, I will even forget the fact that you are a Faunus and follow through with my promise to give you any one thing that you desire, for I am a generous man."

"I don't want anything."

"Then I will make a donation to Vale Academy on your behalf." He leaned over to gently kiss a spot on Weiss' forehead that isn't covered by bandages and lightly patted her head. Then he stood up and left without another word.

Blake felt her anger dissipate as she took in Weiss' condition. The heiress was on her back with a breathing tube inserted into her trachea. On the side, a ventilator pumped steadily, matching the rising and falling rhythm of Weiss' chest. Her left hand rested to her side, and was wrapped in a large splint. An intravenous tube protruded from her right hand to connect to a suspended bag of fluids and medication, while various electrodes on her body were attached to the electrocardiogram. Blake was pleased by the regularity of Weiss' heart rate despite its low frequency.

"I know," Ruby whispered, sharing the pangs of grief that threatened to overtake her. "She doesn't look good."

"The doctor stopped by and told Weiss' dad that the pneumo-something was really serious but they managed to fix it by sticking a chest tube into her chest cavity. They had to give her quite a few blood transfusions too, since those terrible gang guys ruptured her spleen and left kidney."

"Is she going to be okay?"

Ruby nodded with too much enthusiasm, as if trying to will the best outcome to life. "She's in a chemically-induced coma right now to help with her recovery, but they're optimistic that she'll recover with no lingering effects. You really saved her back there, Blake. But if you ever do that again, Yang and I will kick your butt so hard, you'll never want to sit down after that! I mean, how could you ever think to infiltrate the White Fang by yourself?"

Blake gave Ruby a weak smirk. "Something tells me that you probably won't be all that successful in infiltrating the White Fang. And speaking of Yang, where is she?"

"Taking her frustrations out in the training room. She felt really helpless seeing the two of you in such a state, you know? And then Weiss' dad came, and she just couldn't handle it. He's a jerk and all, but I don't know. When we found you guys and he got word of it, he immediately sent all this advanced equipment and the best surgeons here."

"It doesn't excuse him."

"I agree. Yang and I went to convince him while you were infiltrating the White Fang, and yeah, the conversation we had with him was pretty much the same one he had with you."

Weiss

The glare of fluorescence above her forced Weiss to squint her eyes as she sluggishly scanned her surroundings. She caught a glimpse of Blake sitting at the side of her bed, reading one of her novels.

"Blake," she moaned, her throat was parched and scratchy.

The Faunus instantly looked up from her book and leaned closer to the heiress. "Weiss! You're awake! How are you feeling?"

"Throat's scratchy. Kind of numb and sleepy."

"It must be the medication they have you on. You had us all so worried. You were unconscious for three days."

"I'm okay now."

"Yes, thank goodness." Blake brushed aside a lock of white hair that fell out of place. "I'm going to get you some water."

The heiress nodded appreciatively.

"Here," Blake said, gently easing Weiss up into a slightly upright position while being careful not to tug at the nasal cannula or the other tubes and wires. She brought the cup to Weiss' lips and tilted the cup back for her friend to drink. Somehow, Blake seemed to know when Weiss has had enough water and she set the cup aside. Slowly, Blake repositioned the heiress back onto the bed.

"Better?"

Weiss nodded.

"So, just how much meds am I on?"

"If you're not really feeling any pain, then I'd say quite a bit. The surgeons removed the chest tube from you just yesterday. Your rib punctured your lung. Plus, they also operated on your hand."

"What did they say about it?"

Blake averted her gaze.

"Blake?"

"You were lucky they didn't have to amputate it."