Repetitive beeps slowly drew her from the dream world. Eyes opening slowly, the girl winced in pain. It felt like her whole body had been trampled by goliaths. Focusing on her surroundings to distract herself from the pain, she could tell that she was in the infirmary. Again. Trying to lift her hands to her head, the injured girl realized that both her hands were clutched by two of her teammates, the raven-haired faunus slumped down in a chair and the blonde half laying on the bed, half sitting on the ground.
"Urgh, what happened?"
Yang's eyes snapped open, and she stared at the bedridden girl. "Oh my god, you're awake," throwing her arms forward, she jerked to a stop just before giving a bear hug. Moving slowly, Yang carefully wrapped her arms around the girl and squeezed softly. "The doc said that you wouldn't be waking up for a few more days."
"Well, I'm awake now. What happened? I remember killing some beowolves and then heading for camp..." Blake and Yang shared a look, the concern easy to see. "Yang, what happened? Where's-" eyes widening in terror, that night's fight came flooding back. Curling forwards, she tried to get her panicked breathing back to normal. Soft voices tried to calm her down and a hand rubbed small circles over her bandaged back.
"Don't worry about that right now, try to relax," Blake's ears were low as she spoke, making her bow droop. "Yang and I had been knocked out during the fight, but Professor Goodwitch had been keeping an eye on us so she showed up to rescue us after you passed out."
"She killed the Grimm?" Yang shook her head, grinning sadly.
"Nah, it was dead before she got there. I woke up to see you lying on the ground, and Crescent Rose sticking out of its head." Blinking, the girl tilted her head.
"But the armor, Crescent Rose shouldn't have been able to cut it."
"It was one hell of a slash, managed to get right between the bone plates. Goodwitch called it a one-in-a-million hit." Nodding her head at Yang's exaggerated description of the battle's end, the bandaged girl froze as she looked at the foot of the bed.
"Yang," the blonde stopped speaking instantly, the fear in the girl's quiet voice evident. Forcing herself to look away from the unnatural fold of the blanket, the dark-haired girl stared up at her sister. "Where's my leg?"
Ozpin's office was much louder than normal. Procedure was to hold a staff meeting whenever a student was badly injured, but something was different today. The air was almost crackling with emotions. It would be a lie to say that the professors cared for all of their students equally; some liked the strong students, some prefered the booksmart ones. But Ruby Rose was unique. Everyone liked her, her youth and optimism reminding them of why they became huntsmen. So when a single paper was set in front of them, none wanted to be the first to sign it. Oobleck adjusted his glasses, peering at the page.
"Dreadful situation, simply dreadful," Ozpin nodded from his seat at his desk, but slid a pen towards the professors.
"I agree, but there is nothing we can do. Miss Rose's semblance is based on her legs, and without both she will not be able to fight."
"What about a prosthetic? I remember one young lad who-"
"Semblances cannot be used on a prosthetic," Ozpin spoke quickly, cutting off Port's story before it could begin. "While it's true that she may be able to walk eventually with one, she will never be strong enough to survive a fight with a Grimm, let alone win." Shoulders slumped as the others realized the truth in the headmaster's words. "We must expel her, for her own good," Oobleck winced at the statement, but slowly reached for the pen. One word froze him in place.
"No."
"'No'?" Ozpin raised his eyebrows. "Glynda, I know this is hard, but this is the only option left."
"No, sir, it's not," standing near the door, she glared at the rest of the room, daring them to argue. "I need to check on something. Don't you dare sign that before I get back." Turning on her heel, she flung the door open with a flick of her crop. Rushing out without a backwards glance, she missed the small sigh of relief that slipped from Ozpin's lips.
Her walk to staff housing was faster than normal, and it was only a few minutes before she threw her door open, stepping into her living room with a bang. Jolted awake by the sound, Clare fell off the couch and groaned, rubbing sleep-filled eyes.
"What the hell, Glyn? I thought you were supposed to be busy today," yawning, she stretched her arms above her head, not paying attention to the witch running her eyes along her body. "Are you checking up on me again? I know I'm not to leave your rooms without permission, so I was just taking a na- WHOA THERE!" All thought processes stopped as a hand grabbed her sweat shirt and yanked it off. Crouching between outstretched limbs, Glynda slowly ran her hand down one bare arm. Clare sat frozen, eyes wide and face red until her brain started working. "Uh, feeling frisky, Glyn? Seems pretty early, and I thought you had to teach a class or somethi-"
"Shut up," Clare clamped her mouth shut. Resting her fingers on the taller woman's wrist, Glynda stared into bright red eyes. "You made this, right?" A moment passed, before Clare nodded slowly. "And it works, without many issues?" Another nod. "And you can make something for someone else, and it would also work?" Clare narrowed her eyes.
"What's going on, Glyn? You've never been interested before." A minute of eye contact passed, before the blonde slumped and rested her head against her captive's shoulder. Unsure of what to do, Clare slowly wrapped an arm around her and patted her back.
"One of my students, Ruby Rose, was hurt during a practical. That's why I haven't been here the last few nights. It's... It's bad. She lost a leg," Clare nodded slowly, reaching her aura out and rubbing her hand in a small circle in an attempt to comfort Glynda. The blonde sighed softly, relaxing as a wave of tranquility washed over her. Realizing what was happening, she glared up at the grinning huntress. "Stop it, you ass. You know I hate it when you do that," humming quietly, Clare pulled her aura back, taking the tranquility with it.
"So that's why you need me," she let out a soft sigh, before untangling their bodies to stand. "I can't promise anything, but I'll do what I can." Slipping on her sunglasses, she gave the woman still on the floor a small smile as she walked to the door. "Don't worry, Little Red seemed tough when we fought. She'll be fine no matter what."
"Clare."
The huntress shook her head, hand resting on the doorknob. "Don't thank me yet, I still don't know if this'll work," Glynda let out a soft laugh, and held up a bunch of cloth.
"Not that. You're forgetting your shirt," looking down and groaning, the shirtless woman walked back and collected it. Reaching up, Glynda pulled the embarrassed woman's head down. "And thank you," the words were said softly, barely a whisper in a ear. Leaving the woman to pull herself together, Glynda started the walk back to Ozpin's office.
She had an expulsion to stop.
Ruby looked around the now quiet room. After many tears and apologies, she'd been able to talk Yang and Blake into heading back to the dorms for some rest. It helped that one of the doctors had come in and said that if they kept the noise up it may wake up the other patient. Looking to her right, Ruby's heart hurt as she looked at her sleeping partner.
After she had been stabbed by the death stalker and passed out, Weiss had apparently lost it, grabbing Crescent Rose and attacking without thinking. It was blind luck that the scythe had found one of the few weak spots, killing the Grimm before it could get another good hit in. An inch off, and it wouldn't have been a Grimm lying dead in the woods. Wincing at the thought, Ruby watched as Weiss' chest slowly rose and fell, bandaged shoulder peaking out from under the hospital gown. She'd used up a lot of aura and the doctors expected her to sleep for at least one more day, but she would recover. A few days of rest and she'd be back in action, wielding her rapier and tossing glyphs right and left.
Ruby's eyes fell on the foot of her bed. It had come as an unwelcome shock, but she knew that if she had to do it all over, she'd do it again. Throwing herself into the claw of a death stalker was idiotic, Ruby had to admit, but it kept Weiss from getting killed. And she'd do anything to keep her partner alive.
"Weiss is right, I really am a dolt," Ruby spoke softly, just in case it could bother her sleeping roommate.
"Could be worse, you could be an ass," jerking her head up at the low voice, Ruby stared as Clare quietly entered the room. Sitting down in a chair on the right side of the bed, she gave Ruby a once-over. "You look pretty good from someone who almost died."
"What do you want?" Spitting out the words, Ruby was surprised at how much anger they held. Then again, this was the last person she wanted to see, especially before she got to speak to Weiss.
"Glyn asked me to come see you. May I?" Gesturing at the bed, she waited for Ruby to give a small nod. Pulling the blanket off, she let out a soft whistle. Ruby hissed, eyes wide as she got her first look at the damage. Besides bruises, her legs looked the same until she reached about two-thirds down the thigh. Where her left leg continued like normal, her right leg just ended. The stump was heavily bandaged and Ruby guessed that she must be more heavily medicated than she thought if she really wasn't feeling anything. She reached out to touch it, and a hand gently clamped onto her wrist. Pulling her hand back, she glared at the tall woman.
"Let go."
"Don't touch. People always make things worse by touching," releasing her grip, Clare eyed the stump. "A clean cut, that's a plus, but above the knee means it'll need another joint, and..." Mumbling to herself, the woman pulled out a scroll and started writing things down as she took stock of Ruby's loss. After a few minutes, the dark-haired girl couldn't take it.
"What are you doing?!" she hissed, her worry over waking Weiss overriding her anger at Clare. Twitching, the woman looked up in surprise, as if she had forgotten Ruby was there.
"Getting as much info as I can. I'll also need some measurements, but we can do those later."
"Why do you need info?"
Leaning back in her chair, she looked at Ruby's face. "You want to be a huntress," it wasn't a question, but Ruby nodded anyway. "Your semblance is speed. Without two legs, you can't really use your semblance. And without your semblance, you're nothing more than a little girl with an over-sized weapon." She held a hand up, cutting Ruby's argument off. "It's the truth. You don't have the physical strength of that blonde on your team, and you don't have the dust skills of Snowflake over there. Simply put, without your speed you can't possibly be a huntress." Ruby balled her hands into fists.
"You think I don't know that? I grew up on stories of what happened to injured huntsmen. But I don't care! I have to be a huntress!" Clare eyed the upset girl calmly.
"Why?"
"Because I want to be like the hero in the stories..." one raised eyebrow silenced her normal response to that question, and she stared down at her hands. "B-because I have to be a huntress, no matter what," not looking up, she whispered her answer.
"Good enough for me," Ruby glanced up to see a grinning face looking down on her. Sending a quick message, Clare stuck her scroll back in her jacket pocket. "You're in luck, Little Red, fixing up broken things is what I do best. I need to get some supplies, but then let's look into making a Ruby 2.0." A groan from the other bed surprised them, and Clare stood quickly, tossing the blanket back over Ruby and heading for the door. "I'll let you deal with your teammate. Right now I need to see a woman about a toolset." With a short wave she fled, leaving Ruby to explain everything to the heiress. Ruby sighed, and turned her attention to her sleeping partner.
A/N: You guys were quiet after the last chapter. Waiting to see if I pulled another trick like Weiss' eye? Unfortunately Ruby's leg can't just be popped back into place.