Weiss woke up in a panic. Acid was burning her throat and she willed herself not to gag as she attempted to claw her way out of the sheets that were wrapped around her far too tightly.
She lurched forward as the acid ignored her hopes and started forcing its way up. She closed her eyes and bent over the edge of her bed as her stomach heaved and attempted to empty what little it still had inside it.
She was suddenly aware of the hollow noise of her sick landing in a bucket and the warm gentleness of a hand keeping her long hair out of her face and the bucket.
When she'd recovered somewhat, she collapsed weakly on her pillow. Her eyes blurry from the sting of her stomach acid burning her throat and the horrible night she'd spent waking up every ten minutes for the last few hours.
"Here. Rinse." Ruby helped her teammate to a sitting position and handed her a glass of water and picked up the bucket. Weiss rinsed and spit the remnants of the foul substance into the bucket before once again falling back to her pillow.
Weiss sighed exhaustedly and rubbed her eyes. This last bout of sleep had given her just enough energy to be unable to go straight back to sleep.
"Let me take your temperature." Ruby's request repeated once again. She'd been very professional about monitoring Weiss's condition and providing everything she needed.
Weiss had never thought another person would put so much work into taking care of her. Especially not someone who she has not exactly been kind to. But regardless of her reasoning, Ruby was there. She was there the previous night, and had promised to be there until she had recovered. What did I do to deserve this?
"Still high. But that's what I expected." Ruby sighed, resuming her seat at the desk chair. "Get some more rest. I'll make the bath for you in a couple of hours. It'll be good for you to freshen up a bit."
"Excuse me?" Weiss heard nothing but an insult in Ruby's comment.
"I just meant you might feel a bit better when you're clean is all." Ruby clarified, closing her eyes and yawning at the end of the sentence.
"Oh… sorry." Weiss didn't know what else to say. And I'm still doing nothing to deserve her care. What is wrong with me?
Ruby was silent as she waited for Weiss to fall asleep again. Her hands were folded behind her head in a makeshift headrest and her eyes were closed against the dim sunlight that filtered in through the closed drapes.
Weiss guessed it was around noon already and her teammates would still be out for the next five or six hours. She closed her eyes and tried to fall back to sleep herself, yet the questions that had drove her into a weakened, sleep deprived state were back once again.
Why? That was the beginning of every single question she had. And each time she came close to an answer, it slipped away. A maddening cycle of cat and mouse that left her already sleep deprived brain reeling with frustration.
"Weiss? Are you okay?" Ruby asked quietly as if she was unsure whether or not the ailed girl was awake.
"I'm fine. You've done enough for me." Weiss replied, her frustration knocked aside by Ruby's distraction.
There was a long moment of silence before Ruby responded. "I wasn't asking about your flu."
Weiss took a moment to process Ruby's comment. Not about my flu… why would she…? "I'm not quite sure what you mean."
"I dunno… you haven't really been yourself lately." Ruby sighed. "I don't really know how to explain it… it's like you have something on your mind, but…"
Weiss waited for her to continue, but she didn't. Only she would pick up on the one thing I can't even explain to myself. "Don't worry, it's just something I have to figure out myself."
"I could help." Ruby offered, her voice smiling and adding yet another layer of frustration to Weiss's thoughts as she felt herself smile slightly in response.
"Not with this you can't. With luck, I'll figure it out soon." Weiss said, hoping to end the conversation without Ruby looking into the issue.
"Will you tell me when you do?" Ruby asked as the creaking of the desk chair told Weiss she'd stood up.
"It depends…" Weiss answered honestly. I don't even know what question I'm trying to answer.
"Okay. I'm running to the store quick. Will you be okay?" Weiss opened her eyes to see Ruby putting on her cape.
"I'll be fine." Weiss sighed from Ruby's insistence that she was unable to care for herself. Though she is useful for holding my hair… Weiss pushed the bad memories of her past away as she watched Ruby take her scroll and leave.