Wolf glared at the never ending expanse of black above him, he gritted his teeth and got to his feet as he looked around.
"What the hell do I have do to wake up?" He growled audibly, he slammed his hand against the top of his leg sharply and winced before looking around and noticing no change. He sighed and crossed his legs as he sat down, taking a few deep breaths while he considered the past couple of days, his injuries, how he could have prevented them, more than that he considered what he had heard from Ruby before, he knew that was at least real, maybe she was talking to him or someone else in the real world, but he knew that was how she really felt.
"Still believe you can do everything alone?" A dark voice hissed at him and he jumped to his feet in surprise, placing a hand on the hilt of his sword as he glared at the person in front of him he froze.
It was him, well, almost, it was what he used to wear in the special forces, the lack of a weapon, the glowing red eyes of his mask the hood, it was all the same, the figure of the person in front of him was slightly transparent seeming to flicker like looking through smoke.
Neither spoke for a few more seconds, the shadow moved in a small circle slowly "You really believe you can protect everyone on your own?" The shadow hissed vehemently.
"What if I do?" Wolf responded flatly
The shadow gestured to his side, the first figure to appear was Adam Taurus, then his old captain, his old squad mates, all lined up and staring at him unblinkingly.
"This is the product of relying only on yourself," The shadow hissed at him "You've achieved nothing on your own, even now you are causing pain to those around you because you refused to accept help."
"What choice do I have? Everyone I have ever relied on either left or died." Wolf drew his sword and launched at the shadow of himself, he flew right through it and it turned to face him calmly.
"We both know how much of a lie that is," The shadow growled "You've never relied on anyone in your life."
"That's not true." Wolf shot at himself.
"Who do you think I am?!" The shadow hissed "I know everything about you, We are the same person, only slightly different I suppose."
Wolf remained silent.
"You know what happens when you decide to stay alone?" The shadow growled "Not only does everyone around you get hurt, you are going to die too. Your enemies are many and they are strong."
"Then I just have to make myself stronger." Wolf shot back.
"You were at your strongest in that forest!" The shadow roared at him "Tell me, Who were you fighting for in there?! Yourself or the people you wanted to see again?! Why are you clutching onto your life of solitude so strongly, what do you have to gain by allowing your weakness to kill your friends?!"
"That's not, I don't," Wolf tried to reply.
"I'm not telling you anything new, you can ignore your own head and heart as much as you want, but you know everything I am telling you is the truth!" The shadow roared at him.
"I know that!" Wolf roared back "But I don't know what to do! I want them to stay close to me, I don't want to fight on my own again, I don't want to lose another team, but I don't know how to change!"
"Wolf!" He felt someone shake him.
'That voice is new,' He thought with a groan as he sat up, he rubbed his forehead painfully he felt like he'd just been head butted by an Ursa.
"Wolf." The strangled relieved cry made its way to his ears.
Wolf opened his eyes and looked around, no black, the white walls of the infirmary surrounded him, his right arm was bandaged in a sling and his body was stiff, a blanket covered his legs. 'I'm actually awake!' He thought with a sigh of relief as he fell back down against the bed.
"I'm not dreaming right?" He cracked an eye open to look at the source of the voice, Ruby stared at him in wide teary-eyed surprise.
Wolf opened his mouth to speak and coughed, his throat had never been this dry in his life "You're not, I hope." Wolf groaned hoarsely.
He shifted slightly so he could grab the small girl's shoulder and he pulled her against him quickly, resting his head in her shoulder he smirked to himself "I'm glad your alright."
Ruby pushed away from him and glared at him angrily.
'huh?' Wolf thought in confusion.
"Of course I'm alright you stupid, dog-eared, black haired," The girl seemed to be struggling to come up with insults to string together "IDIOT!" She shouted at him.
"I'm sorry." Wolf bowed his head.
"In the first place why would you send ano-huh? You're sorry?" Ruby tilted her head in confusion.
Wolf nodded his head "I was a little confused, but since I seem to have slept a few days on it, I'm okay, I won't do it again."
"You're damn right you won't! Besides as team leader I'm ordering you to never order me to run away again!" Ruby glared at him and placed a finger in front of his face trying to appear intimidating.
Wolf nodded his head "Of course."
"Good now that's out of the way," Ruby crossed her arms, closed her eyes and nodded her head before disappearing in front of him, Wolf's eyes widened slightly as he found the small girl's face pressed up against his own, he hit the bed with a light thud and she pulled away "I'm glad your alright."
Wolf put a hand over his face in embarrassment "I-I-I can, s-s-see that." He stuttered out.
"I saw something good," The pairs head's creaked like an unoiled machine as they turned to face the new voice, Yang smiled widely from the door "I never knew you were so bold sis! I approve!"
Ruby's mouth opened and closed but no words left her as she attempted to salvage or explain what happened "No, I, was, uh." She stuttered a moment before taking a deep breath "You're not mad or…something?"
"Well, I mean you've li-" Ruby shot forward and slammed her hand over her sister's mouth, she turned and gave Wolf a small smile before dragging the blonde from the room, leaving Wolf completely confused.
Wolf took a deep breath and crossed his arms 'Okay, I woke up from what appears to be at least a few days of being out, upon waking up I was scolded for being a fool, that much in understand.' He plotted out slowly, his finger's brushed along his lips slowly and a small giddy grin appeared on his face before he shook his head violently 'It was just a spur of the moment thing right? I mean, she's obviously been over thinking this for a few days and the overwhelming relief made her do it.' He nodded his head 'There's no way she likes me back, it's barely been two weeks.'
Yang grumbled into Ruby's hand as the small girl dragged the blonde down the corridor away from the infirmary, Yang wrestled her way free and Ruby spun to face her "Why did you have to turn up at that moment?!"
"I guess my older sister instincts kicked in so I wouldn't miss my little sis's first kiss!" Yang exclaimed excitedly "So, Do you just suddenly spring it on him when he woke up or what?"
"Huh?" Ruby sounded in confusion.
"D-e-t-a-i-l-s sis!" Yang sounded out slowly.
"Oh," Ruby looked as though she just came to some kind of terrifying revelation "I didn't say anything! He has no idea I like him, all he knows is that I suddenly kissed him!"
Yang stared at her for a few moments in silence "My little sister's a criminal." She backed away from the small girl in mock fear.
"I'M NOT!" Ruby defended "I was going to say it first, but then he apologized and he looked all sad and cute and he was being really cooperative and his ears did this thing where they flatten against his head and he looks really depressed and I felt bad and I really wanted to cheer him up and then I kissed him before I was fully aware of what I was doing and now he probably thinks I'm crazy." Ruby breathed heavily as she finished her fast talking rant.
"So, You just need to explain that right?" Yang noted calmly
"I don't think I will be able to look him in the eye, let alone explain the reason I just kissed him out of nowhere!" Ruby exclaimed fearfully "What if he doesn't like me, that would mean he just got a kiss from someone he doesn't even like!"
"It could be worse, at least opinions like that can change, he doesn't have a girlfriend right?" Yang waved off calmly.
"He might!" Ruby exclaimed
"Huh?" It was Yang's turn to be confused.
"Think about it, he's a little older than us and he's been out more, he also get's kind of uncomfortable when I touch him it might be because he doesn't want someone to get the wrong idea, someone he likes!" Ruby explained in fear.
Yang's brows furrowed as she tried to picture Wolf with a girlfriend, she didn't even know what he looked like so all she could come up with was his mask behind some non-descript girl "He does have a bit of a fan club, but I don't think he's dating anyone."
"What's wrong with you two?" The pair turned to the new voice, Ren looked at each of them in turn with a raised eyebrow "You finally leave Wolf's room Ruby?"
"Ah, yeah." Ruby replied "He woke up a little while ago, actually."
"Ren, you and Wolf talk a little right?" Yang asked
"A little." Ren nodded.
"Did he ever mention anything about a girlfriend?" Yang asked
"No." Ren replied calmly
"See your fine!" Yang exclaimed patting Ruby's shoulder with a grin.
"Oh." Ren paused
"Oh?" The two girls questioned
"He did say he was worried about having a very bad heart condition, but after a small conversation I'd say he was leaning towards the second option." Ren explained
"What was it?!" Ruby grabbed the calm boy by the collar and shook him lightly
"He said he was in love with somebody but he didn't tell me who." Ren got out while he was being shaken.
"Oh my god, I kissed a guy who is in love with another girl!" Ruby grabbed each side of her head and paced around in panic.
"Well, he also said there was no way it was love because they hadn't known each other that long." Ren continued.
"That kind of narrow's it down," Yang nodded "Basically that leaves only his teammates, he practically set Jaune up with Pyrrha, although that kid's an idiot so it's taking him forever to notice and he's not aiming for Nora cause you two are."
"Together, exactly." Ren cut off too confused to explain that they weren't.
Yang nodded "So, that only leave's team RWBY and the person he's closest too on our team would be…" Yang trailed off
"What?" Ren asked in confusion.
"Well, that'd be her." Yang pointed at her sister who was still murmuring and pacing around like a crazy person.
"Good?" Ren continued in confusion.
Yang nodded "Well, it's not your problem I'll figure it out."
"Right." Ren nodded as he continued down the hall.
Yang grabbed her sister by the shoulder's and the small girl looked at her sister, "Look, he may be into someone but if the evidence point's anywhere it's you!"
Ruby frowned "You better not be telling me what I want to hear."
Yang slumped "How about this, I'll get him to tell me who he's into and record his answer then show it to you."
"I think that's cheating," Ruby replied "No, it's fine, even if he's not into me, I'm not going to give up without doing anything."
Yang's grin widened "There's my little sis! What's the plan?"
"First you are going to tell me why you came into the infirmary." Ruby responded calmly.
"Oh, right," Yang scratched the back of her head nervously "Uh, this whole thing might kinda be slightly my fault."
Ruby tilted her head to the side "What and how?"
"Wolf getting attacked and everything," Yang continued in exasperation "I was trying to get you guys together more so you had more of a chance and then we had the idea to hide your weapons because you guys would definitely look for them and you were supposed to bond and stuff, but then it all went wrong and there were Grimm in the forest and I'm sorry."
"Oh, I knew that already," Ruby tilted her head to the side "It's not your fault anyway, it just all happened, you didn't make the Grimm go to the forest or anything."
"Wait!" Yang held out her hand to stop her sister "What do you mean already knew?"
"There are security camera's in the locker room Yang," Ruby looked at her sister blankly "Wait you didn't know?"
"No I didn't." Yang slumped
"Well, it's fine it was an accident and it was nobody's fault," Ruby nodded her head calmly "Oobleck gave me this big lecture on it yesterday, after I slept a bit it was pretty clear."
"So what's the plan?" Yang asked quickly changing the subject.
"First, I think everyone should know Wolf's awake, I'll figure the rest out on my own." Ruby nodded her head.
A/N: Heh, Where oh where will the story go from here? Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I will see you guys in the next one, peace!