Chapter X: Save her

Jaune, Ren and Nora were sitting together in the common room of their base, lazying around as they waited for Qrow and team RWBY to return from their recon mission. Surprisingly, Raven was also around; occupying the whole couch she had laid on, she was killing the time with reading something on her Scroll. At one point, the aforementioned device buzzed in her hand, causing the three youngsters present in the room to look at the woman with a certain degree of unease, worried that this sound was heralding some bad news.

Forced to take a break from her read, Raven groaned and accepted the call. "Yes?" the Huntress asked coolly, then recoiled almost immediately as someone's voice blasted right into her ear. As she continued to listen to said voice – all the while keeping her Scroll at a safe distance from her eardrums – the deathly cold glare directed at the device slowly dissipated, changing into a frown, which in turn alarmed Jaune and Ren that something very bad had indeed happened.

Raven stood up and grabbed her mask from the nearby table, then ended the call and threw her Scroll onto the couch, swearing under her breath.

"Go get the doctors. Schnee got wounded," she commanded, putting on her helmet. Then, not waiting for anyone's response, the woman equipped her weapon and swung her sword out of its scabbard, opening a portal and taking a defensive stance in front of it, ready to slice any Grimm that would come through. "Move, whelp!" she growled, seeing that Jaune was still standing as he stood, the news having not sunk in just yet.

That was enough to snap him out of his confused state; not wasting any more time, Jaune ordered Ren and Nora to stay with Raven and back her up, while he himself took off running in the direction of the medical bay. The doctors didn't need much convincing to follow after him, and before long he was already on his way back, leading the medics to the common room.

Halfway there, they were met by the rest of the group, with Ruby marching in front, cradling Weiss in her arms as she carried the white-haired girl bridal-style. The sight gave Jaune a pause, the cold fingers of fear gripping him by his throat; even though he had never seen the proud heiress looking as frail and defenseless as in that very moment, it's seeing the slightly crazed look on Ruby's face that truly terrified him – the brunette looked simply terrible, as if she had been pushed beyond her limits and was about to break at any given moment. Once she ran the last few meters that remained between her and the medics and carefully laid the unconscious heiress on the mobile bed the doctors brought with them, one could see the bloody stains that coloured the sleeves and the lower front of Ruby's once-beige shirt, which, in conjunction with the fact that she was even paler than usual, made her look like a ghost of her former self.

"When did it happen?" one of the physicians questioned Ruby.

Yang, painfully aware that the girl was quite unable to reply, answered in her sister's stead. "Around three minutes ago. We were out of the ship transmitter's range, so we had to run for a ways before we could call for evac."

While her teammates were answering the doctors' questions to the best of their ability, Ruby simply tagged along, not leaving Weiss' side for a single moment. Soon, their procession reached the door to the restricted area of the medical bay; using a nearby keypad to open the entrance, the medics went inside, taking the bed with Weiss lying on it along with them.

Ruby wanted to follow after her partner, but one of the doctors – Viena Grapes, a Huntress from the Atlesian branch of the Circle – blocked her way. "We can't let you in, miss Rose."

The girl clenched her hands, her stupor suddenly replaced by anger flaring in her eyes. "What? She's my partner! I should be with her!" She tried to push past the woman standing in her way, but the doctor did not relent, forcefully keeping Ruby at arm's length.

The girl snarled at her, but miss Grapes didn't even flinch, simply ignoring it and staring Ruby right in the eye. "I know your partner is very important to you, but that's all the more reason why I can't allow your presence to potentially endanger miss Schnee's life." The brunette, who was heartbeats away from punching the woman, lowered her fists, murder suddenly disappearing from her gaze. "Do you understand that?"

In that moment something cracked within Ruby, as if she lost that last thing that allowed her to stand upright when the world was crushing down on her. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks as she finally gave up, her head hung low, her shoulders slumping. Looking completely, utterly defeated she began to tremble, as if the anger left her body with almost all of her remaining strength. "Save her. P-please, sa-ave her," she begged quietly, her voice weak and shaky.

The blue-haired Huntress relaxed her stance a bit, giving the girl a sympathetic look. "We'll try our best," with that promise, the doctor stepped through the doorway and hurried to join her colleagues.

WHAM. A moment after the woman disappeared behind the closed door, Ruby slammed her fist against the wall, screaming at the top of her lungs. "GOD DAMN IT!"

Wailing like a wounded animal, she dropped to her knees, as if this final outburst had used up all the energy she had left. She became a quivering, crying mess kneeling on the floor, but she no longer cared that the others could see her like that; in that very moment the only thing she gave a damn about was her partner's life, and the knowledge that Weiss might not survive the day only made it seem as if her whole world was about to fall apart. She was scared out of her mind, and no longer had the strength to pretend otherwise.

While everyone else was just staring at her, distressed, not knowing how to react to this perfect picture of pain and misery the usually unbroken girl was reduced to, Ren wasted no time and promptly walked to Ruby's side, touching her right shoulder.

Drained of all colour, her body soon ceased to tremble, her sobs becoming less and less hysterical as seconds passed, her wails less intense, only to disappear completely before long. After a few moments, Ruby covered Ren's hand with her own, bloodied one, leaving crimson fingerprints on his skin as she gave him a grateful squeeze. "Thanks, Ren," she murmured. Her breathing was still a bit laboured and hitched, but it appeared that Ren's Semblance managed to calm her down, at least to some degree.

"The Grimm will soon crawl all around this place," Qrow reminded, drawing everyone's attention away from Ruby. "We should prepare to fend 'em off."

"Can't we just start the engines and fly away, then land someplace else?"

"Not without risking being attacked in the air while the Ice Queen is still being patched up," the Huntsman replied to Jaune's question, then glanced at his younger niece, who was still kneeling on the floor, tended to by Ren. "Not the best idea, if you ask me."

Nora popped her knuckles eagerly with an uncharacteristically serious, vindictive gleam in her eye. "Field battle it is, then."

Yang, however, did not seem to be sold on the idea. "And then what? Keep killing the bastards until they stop coming?" Arms crossed, she gave her uncle a disagreeing look. "That didn't work all too well the last time we tried it, Qrow."

Before the Huntsman could respond to this objection, Ruby's voice, a bit hoarse from crying, did that in his stead, catching everyone off their guard. "This time we'll have fire support from the ship. The guns should be able to keep the sky clear for us, and to thin the ranks of the Grimm before they reach our position." Having already gotten up from her knees, the girl started to slowly walk towards the rest of the group, smudges of crimson smeared below her eyes like a warpaint made of blood, created when she tried to dry off her tears. Colour had been returned to her features as Ren was no longer keeping her under the effect of his Semblance; still, he remained at the ready, following a few steps behind Ruby, prepared to use his ability once again if the need arose.

"What she said, essentially," Qrow agreed, gesturing with his head towards his niece. He glanced at Raven, quirking one of his eyebrows, as if asking her a question; when the woman rolled her eyes and gave him a stiff nod in response, he continued. "That, and the fact that eight is more than five."

"Seven," Ruby corrected him. "Blake is low on Aura; she's staying inside."

To say that the Faunus in question didn't like her leader's call would be a most severe understatement. "What?! No! I can still fight, Ruby!"

Having none of that, the silver-eyed girl crossed the distance between her and Blake in a heartbeat, grabbing the outraged brunette's head with both of her hands and pulling it so close that their noses almost touched. "Blake, look at me," she uttered, looking uncharacteristically fragile and desperate, as if she was about to crumble if pushed just a little bit further. "Weiss almost got killed today. I can't risk you getting hurt too, understood? I can't."

At first Blake was tempted to argue back, but, seeing the state Ruby was in, she relented, her scowl softening into a far more compassionate expression. "Understood."

A tired sigh made its way past Ruby's lips and the girl let go of her friend's head, burying her face in Blake's shoulder. The other, not really knowing what else to do, wordlessly wrapped her arms around her leader.

"It's not like you can't help us from inside," Qrow said, causing Blake's cat ears to snap to attention. "Just go and grab one of the mounted guns on the upper deck. The more firepower we have, the better."

It was quite easy to tell that it was not what Blake had hoped for, but, nonetheless, the brunette did exactly what the Huntsman advised. In the meanwhile, the rest of the group started preparing for the fight – restocking on ammo, examining their weapons, warming up and so on. While they were getting ready for combat, the usually silent ship was put on high alert, echoing with excited voices, shouted orders and the sound of crew members running to their battle stations; among all of this ruckus, Oscar showed up in the armoury, declaring that he'd help the group out in the field. No one argued against his participation, and he was welcome to join their party of seven.

While stretching before combat, Jaune observed Ruby as she was replenishing her supply of ammunition. To his surprise, the girl had been able to collect herself and fully focus on the task at hand, each of her movements quick, deft, and deliberate, completely devoid of hesitation. Once she was done with ammo – having picked mostly Gravity and highly exsplosive Fire Dust rounds – she unfolded Crescent Rose into its full form and took a few moments to check if everything was in order. In the meantime, Jaune looked at the rest of the group, watching as they were finishing their own preparations.

"Jaune?" The man, hearing his name, turned once again in Ruby's direction only to be faced with the girl's back. "The Grimm are drawn to negative emotions, right?"

Jaune blinked, a bit taken aback. It didn't appear that it was a rhetorical question, as the girl seemed to await his response, but he just couldn't understand why Ruby would ask him about that matter, as he was absolutely sure the girl knew the answer. "Uh... yeah?"

"Good," she said, her voice so eerily quiet and calm that it gave the blonde Huntsman the chills. A loud clank could be heard as she pulled the bolt handle of Crescent Rose with quite a bit more force and purpose than usual, loading a bullet into the barrel chamber of her HCSS. When she turned her head to face Jaune, the boy saw that her irises burned with a brilliant, white flame, emitting thin wisps of silvery smoke. She looked almost otherwordly, her glowing eyes accentuated with blood that stood in stark contrast with her pale complexion – a wraithlike spirit of vengeance, wielding the scythe of Death itself in her blood-soaked hands. "Let them fucking come."


While dust was still settling on the battlefield, the group of seven Huntsmen and Huntresses gathered together in front of their airship, catching their breaths and looking around, examining the work of their hands. Ruby did not join them, having not moved anywhere ever since the guns fell silent, signaling the end of the fight; with the hood of her cloak put up, she simply sat on the ground right where she stood: in the middle of a field littered with craters and pillars of thick, black smoke that marked the places where some more powerful Grimm were felled. She was so different than she was a mere minute ago - the fury that had been driving her onwards abandoned her, leaving her weak, pitiful and utterly lost, making her hug her own knees in search for some semblance of comfort.

"Well... that was a bit excessive," Ren stated with a small frown on his forehead, his eyes fixed on Ruby. In the meanwhile, the forcefield that had been surrounding their ship during the battle shimmered briefly and disappeared, revealing that Blake was already outside, heading their way.

"Yeah..." Jaune agreed with his teammate wholeheartedly, also turning his gaze towards the girl sitting on the ground a few dozen yards away from the rest of the group. It was worrying, seeing Ruby like that – both her fury and her dread were completely foreign, something he had never seen in her before, and both of these things scared him. "Made it easier for us to take that Goliath down, though."

"And it sure earned her some badass points," Nora added.

Yang, however, seemed to not share the hyper redhead's enthusiasm. "Excessive? Excessive?!" she repeated after Ren, practically fuming, then furiously pointed her finger at her younger sister and started screaming. "That idiot could've gotten herself killed! First she tells Blake to sit on her ass instead of fighting, then she pulls shit like that? Fuckin' hypocrite!"

Qrow let out a short laugh. "Like you're the one to talk about anger management issues, Firecracker." Nonetheless, he still had to give the credit when it was due; Yang was right – Ruby had been plain reckless during the fight when it came down to her personal safety, even if one let the incident with ramming that Goliath slip. "You do have a point, though..."

Yang snorted, her eyes red, giving her uncle a 'you think?' kind of look accompanied by a sardonic smile; turning away from the man, she began marching in Ruby's direction, intent on giving the brat an earful, but was quickly stopped by Blake, who caught up with her and grabbed the brawler's wrist.

Not deterred by the angry glare she was given, the Faunus did not let go of her partner's hand. "I think you should give Ruby some time, Yang."

After a brief moment, Yang's irises regained their usual, lilac hue and the blonde relaxed a bit, taking a deep breath. She knew that Blake was right, and it really was not the best time to yell at Ruby - even if the girl almost gave her a heart attack.

"Yeah... listen to your girlfriend, kiddo," Qrow said, then turned to look at the rest of their group and pointed with his head in the direction of their ship. "Head back inside. Ren and I will keep an eye on Ruby."

If Ren did mind the fact that Qrow hadn't asked about his opinion before 'volunteering' him to stay, he didn't let it show. Not saying a word, he simply sat on the ground and pressed his hand to the earth; a ways further away, the redness of Ruby's cloak lost some of its usual intensity, her emotions not dulled, simply hidden to not attract more Grimm.

And so, people slowly began retreating back to the ship, some – like Yang – more reluctantly than others. Raven went away only after everyone else was already inside, watching Ruby for a while with a complex, almost wistful look on her face before she, too, disappeared within the base, leaving Ren and Qrow alone as they looked after the silver-eyed girl.


Blake, Yang and the two members of team JNR were waiting in the mess hall for about quarter of an hour before they were joined by the trio that stayed outside. Ruby was the last one to enter the room, looking emotionally spent and a bit shell-shocked, with a blank expression on her face – a far cry from her usual, bright self. In fact, it seemed that she didn't even acknowledge the presence of the rest of the group until the moment when Blake called her name, telling her that she probably should clean herself up. The girl, prompted by her teammate's remark, looked down at her hands and stared at them for a while, as if she just now remembered they were covered in her partner's blood. Seeing that Ruby began to tremble a bit, Yang, forgetting all about her temptation to scold her sibling, immediately got up from her seat and rushed towards her younger sister, enveloping the ravenette in a loving hug.

Before long, there were only five people remaining in the room – Raven and Oscar had not been around to begin with, having walked off to Dust knows where once the battle had ended, and Yang, not wanting to leave the girl alone, had gone with Ruby to the bathroom. Ren began preparing dinner, and for a long while the sounds of him moving around the kitchen were virtually the only thing to be heard in the canteen; eventually, Jaune, deciding to seize the opportunity that Ruby was not around, voiced the question that was on his mind for a while now, also hoping to get rid of the tense silence that had descended upon the room.

"So... how did that happen?"

Blake complied, if a bit grudgingly, summarizing the whole story for Jaune, Nora and Ren. She told them how Qrow, she, and her team had accomplished most of the objectives of their recon mission without much of an issue, and how it wasn't until after they had almost reached the second-to-last checkpoint when things started to go awry. It all began with a pack of smaller Grimm – a bit more numerous than the ones they had encountered on their way there, but not enough to pose any problem. Pretty soon, however, the reinforcements came, and while the situation still seemed fairly feasible at first, before long their party of five found themselves in a trap, surrounded by all kinds of Grimm. Nonetheless, they collectively decided to stay and fight, not willing to abandon their mission just yet.

As it turned out, they had vastly underestimated their enemy's numbers, but while the fight lasted for far longer than they had expected, they somehow were able to stand their ground – mostly thanks to Weiss, who was using her glyphs to the best of her ability in order to make sure the group didn't get overwhelmed by the advancing Creatures of Grimm. And then, when the things finally started to look up a bit and it seemed the fight would soon be over... everything went straight to hell.

"The rest of the story you already know," the girl wrapped up, glancing at Nora and Jaune, who were sitting with her by the table.

After a few moments of silence that followed Blake's tale, Nora spoke up. "A Beowolf, you say?" The girl scratched her cheek thoughtfully, pondering for a while. "Well, that's... pretty underwhelming," she blurted out eventually. It didn't seem that there was any malicious intent behind her words - it was as if she simply had imagined that if Weiss was to go down, she'd do so with more of a bang. Probably a literal one, of a massive Dust explosion.

The redhead's eyes widened slightly once she untimely realized that she had just said something rather insensitive; covering her mouth with her hands, the girl shrunk a bit under the weight of all the disapproving glares she received - even Ren glanced up from his frying pan and gave her a stern look. Jaune facepalmed, simply glad that the silver-eyed girl was not around to hear this remark, as such a scenario would be likely to break either Ruby's heart or Nora's bones.

"Might be," Qrow conceded dryly, leaning his back against a kitchen island, a fresh drink in his hand, "but there's a good chance that she'd be dead if it was anything much sturdier, as none of us would be able to get rid of it before it finished the job. And, if you ask me, in this case a Huntress that is alive beats the one that went down in the 'blaze of glory'." Seeing that Nora did understand what he was getting at, he unknitted his eyebrows, his gaze softening a bit. "Don't be too hard on the Princess; even the best and most experienced of us make mistakes. Besides, all Grimm, even the seemingly weak ones, can be deadly in big enough numbers, especially so when you are tired or out of resources. It was a long fight, and she used most of her Aura to make sure that we didn't get overrun." He looked down and inhaled deeply, staring contemplatively at the contents of his glass. "Almost all of it, seeing how that Beringel practically zero'd her with a single punch."

"Long story short, she got hurt just because she was doing her best to keep the rest of us alive," Blake summed up, then hunched a bit, resting her elbows on her knees. "If anyone is to blame, then it's us – we should've done a better job at protecting our caster. Hell, I could've killed that Beowolf before it attacked Weiss, it ran right past me... I just thought she'd handle it. But Weiss didn't even notice it until it was aleady too late." She sighed and started rubbing her face with one of her hands. "She must've hit her head. There's no way that Grimm would get her otherwise."

"As I've said, we all make mistakes. It's not like I couldn't call retreat before the things got really ugly, recon be damned," Qrow said, gesturing with his hand to accentuate his statement. Pushing himself away from the counter, he started walking towards the rest of the group. "In any case, pointing fingers at each other won't lead us anywhere, and it certainly won't cause Weiss to get better any quicker. She's alive, and let's leave it at that."

They tried to talk about something else after that, but the conversation that followed was awkward at best and plain non-existent at worst - most of the time they were simply sitting in silence, hoping that someone else would try to rekindle their discussion, just so it could provide them with some temporary distraction before dying out once again. At some point, Qrow attempted to lighten the mood by telling the rest of the group a few stories about some of the most memorable screw-ups of his old team, but in the end it did not help much, only reminding everyone of the events that had transpired earlier that day. Blake tried reading, to no avail – even her favourite past time was not able to occupy her attention for long, as the mental image of her friend and teammate lying on the operating table would keep on reappearing in her mind, not allowing her to focus on anything. It was more or less like that for everyone: even though they all desperately wanted to find something that would make the wait for the news slightly more bearable, nothing would prove effective.

If the tension was bad before, it got even worse once Ruby and Yang returned from the bathroom. Crossing the doorstep, the blonde looked completely exhausted, seemingly equally close to tears as she was close to punching something out of the sheer frustration, angry at her own powerlessness in the face of the current situation. Ruby, on the other hand... she was just not there, lost somewhere deep in the recesses of her own mind. Her hands and cheeks were no longer painted with blood – although still a bit red after the intense scrubbing – and she wore a fresh change of clothes, but that was pretty much the only improvement about her state; her eyes were bloodshot and a bit puffy, as if she was crying just a moment ago, and her expression remained completely blank. Having plopped on a nearby couch, with her knees kept close to her chest, she was present among the others in body, but not in spirit; addressed directly, the girl would give a response of a few words, only to shut herself off once again almost immediately. There was one upside to her detachment, if one could call that an upside – she was the only person in the room that appeared not to be bothered in the slightest by the anxiety that permeated the air, as if not even noticing it.

While the dinner was a much welcome distraction once it arrived, it quickly became apparent that Yang and Blake did not have much of an appetite, both of them barely touching any of their food; Ruby was even worse – she didn't do as much as budge from her spot on the sofa. Eventually, Yang – who had been getting progressively more and more restless as time passed, to the point where her eyes began flaring red every now and then – stood up and headed towards the exit, unable to bear this atmosphere for much longer. She stopped for a brief moment by the doorframe and turned to face the rest of the group. "I need to vent. I'll be in the training room if someone needs me." She looked at her girlfriend and gestured with her head towards the red-clad girl sitting on the couch, silently asking Blake to keep an eye on Ruby. Once Blake responded her with a short nod, Yang cast one last, sad glance at her little sister and went on her way.

Time flew by uneventfully, bringing no change - minutes upon minutes of wait, drawing out into something that felt like an eternity. Once the dinner was over, no longer providing the group with an excuse to stay quiet, they once again tried talking... once again failing miserably. Relatively unchallenged, the ticking of the clock kept on reverberating in the mess hall as the six Huntsmen and Huntresses lingered in silence, powerless, unable to do anything – even focus - but await the news. Then, moments before Jaune could give in to his temptation to just start screaming, a short, blue-haired woman with dark complexion entered the room, causing everyone to snap to attention.

By the time anyone else could even get up from their seat, Ruby - who practically didn't move at all ever since she had returned from the bathroom - was already standing right in front of doctor Grapes, a trail of blood-red rose petals swaying in the air between the couch and the door, marking her way. Suddenly filled with feverish energy, she grabbed the other woman by both arms and looked at the newcomer pleadingly. "What about Weiss?" the girl asked, pain, desperation and fear clearly visible in her eyes.

The doctor cast a sweeping glance across the faces of the people that were approaching her, then returned her attention to Ruby. "Miss Schnee is still unconscious, but stable, at least for the time being. Thankfully, the Beowolf missed all vital organs; still, the blood loss combined with fatigue and blunt force trauma certainly did not do the patient any favours. While our prognosis is relatively optimistic, I'm afraid we cannot make any promises just yet – in miss Schnee's current, weakened state potential complications might prove fatal."

Ruby's arms fell limply to her sides after she heard the last few words. Looking as if she was about to either faint or cry, her lips slightly parted, she just stared at the other woman, absolutely terrified by the prospect that was presented to her.

Not having anything else to offer the girl but her understanding and sympathy, Viena simply tried to be as gentle as possible. "We did all we could at the moment. Now all that's left to do is to wait and hope the patient gets better; the next twenty-four hours will be decisive."

Her silver eyes glistening with unshed tears, Ruby bit her lower lip and let her gaze fall down for a brief while, then, mustering what energy she had left, she looked up at the doctor and said: "Can I see her?" A heartfelt, pitiful plea spoken in a weak voice.

The woman sighed softly and nodded, gesturing with her hand for everyone to accompany her. No one refused the offer, following the doctor as she led them down the narrow corridors of their ship towards the medical bay, answering their questions as they walked; Ruby was marching in front, right next to the blue-haired woman, listening to every single word the doctor said.

At some point, Jaune began lagging behind. "I'll catch up with you later; someone has to go and tell Yang," he called, then parted ways with the rest of the group and headed towards the place he knew he would find the person he was looking for.

He heard the brawler well before entering the training room - Yang, even when she was being calm, was never one to be quiet, even less so when she was in the process of unloading her frustration on some innocent punching bag, throwing in angry shouts, grunts and curses between her bonecrushing blows.

Jaune just watched the show for a while before he eventually decided it was time to get Yang's attention. "Uh, Yang...?"

Although the blonde girl didn't turn to look at him, judging by the way her strikes became both stronger and even more frequent, it seemed that she was now aware of his presence; she rained her target with a flurry of punches interwoven with kicks, finishing the sequence with a blow so passionate Jaune was amazed that the chain attaching the punching bag to the floor did not snap in half. After delivering that last strike, the brawler exhaled loudly and opened the fist that was still glued to the bag, then leaned in and rested her forehead against the leathery surface of the object she had been venting on, breathing heavily.

The lad took it as his cue to speak. "Did it help?"

The young woman turned her head as if to reply, but then she hesitated and returned to her previous position, taking a while to reconsider her answer. "I don't even know anymore, to be honest. As much as it pisses me off, this time I can't just punch our problems in the face without only making them worse," she said eventually, a bit winded, then pushed herself away from the bag and began taking off a bandage wrapped around her left, organic hand, her gaze directed at Jaune. "Anyways, what's up? Got any news?"

"Yeah, the operation is over. The rest of the gang is already with Weiss in the medical wing."

Yang paused for a moment, her eyes widening, then power-walked out of the room, discarding her bandage along the way. "Is she awake?" she questioned Jaune once he caught up with her; seeing that the man just shook his head in response, the girl clenched her jaw, hastening her already fast pace even further.

Before long, the two of them reached the corridor where the entrance to the medical bay was located. As they came closer to their destination, they saw Oscar walking out of the infirmary, closing the door behind him; the moment he noticed Yang and Jaune, he gave them a weak smile, then, when they were passing by each other, he reasuringly patted the girl on her shoulder before carrying on. Once he was gone, Yang returned her attention to the entryway in front of her; placing her hand on the door handle, she took a deep breath, then proceeded to enter the room, hoping that she was emotionally prepared for what was she was about to see.

The rest of the group was already inside, gathered around the bed and talking in hushed voices. Ruby was sitting by the bedside, wrapped in Blake's side hug, holding Weiss' hand in her own and caressing it gently with her thumb. When Yang approached her teammates from behind, her sister turned to look at her, showing the blonde a face tormented with sadness and worry – the poor girl seemed as if she wanted to cry but couldn't, no longer having any tears left to be shed.

The source of Ruby's sorrow was lying in the bed in front of them, unconscious, the white mane set loose and sprawled across a pillow, framing a sickly pale face. It was worrying, seeing Weiss like that, connected to multiple machines meant to keep her alive, with her mouth and nose covered with a mask that helped her breathe. Still, as long as the heiress kept on fighting, they would also not lose their hope.

"She'll be alright," Yang spoke quietly after a long while of silence, her words meant to assure not only Ruby and others, but also her own self.

Ruby sighed softly, giving Weiss' hand a tender squeeze. "That's what I'm telling myself to keep going."


As hours passed, people started leaving the medical bay. Qrow was the first one to walk out, having some business to attend to, and was soon followed by whole JNR, as each one of them felt as if they were intruding on their friends' privacy with their presence in the room. Eventually, only Ruby, Blake and Yang remained by Weiss' side, keeping a silent watch over their wounded teammate, surrounded by white walls and quiet beeping of the machinery.

Unadvertedly, the time of the evening meal came and Jaune found himself once again marching down the corridors of their base, heading towards the infirmary in order to bring the trio that remained with Weiss back to the mess hall. After a relatively short walk, he reached his destination and walked inside. "Hi, guys. The food is ready."

Yang and Blake thanked him for the information and got up from their seats, their joints popping audibly as the two of them finally stretched their legs after hours of sitting. Pretty soon, the pair was ready to leave the room, but then, as they followed Jaune's gaze, they realized that their leader didn't even move on her spot, still hugging her knees as she remained perched atop her chair.

"Ruby?" Blake called, a bit concerned.

"I'm not really hungry," the girl replied flatly, not even turning her head to face the other brunette; whether she was lying or not, no one could tell.

A small frown marred Yang's forehead as she gave her younger sister a worried look. "You sure, sis?"

Ruby glanced at her sibling, nodding. "Yeah. I'll stay with Weiss."

Even though they believed their leader was being honest, neither Yang nor Blake liked the idea of leaving the girl alone in her current state. Still, after a brief while of wordless discussion, they gave up and decided to let her stay, seemingly coming to a conclusion that forcing Ruby to go would be even worse. And so, casting a last look at the young ravenette sitting on the chair, the two of them left the room, tagging along Jaune.

Once in the mess hall, they were greeted by Nora and Ren, who, apparently not surprised at all that Ruby didn't show up, promptly led the trio to their seats, then went to the kitchen. The two of them spent the following minute or so on finishing the preparations before they eventually joined the rest of the group by the table. For the most part, they ate in silence; only after everyone was done with their food and all the plates were already in the dishwasher, did they actually try to strike up a conversation, with a bit more success than the last time.

The subject of the silver-eyed girl was bound to come up at some point; as it turned out, Ren was the first one to bring it up. "How is Ruby holding up?"

The smirk that appeared on Yang's lips was completely devoid of humour, not lightening the dark look in her eyes in the slightest. "As well as you'd expect her to deal with the fact that her partner and best friend might die before the next day ends. Meaning she's a mess." Sighing wearily, the blonde Huntress rested her elbow on the table, supporting her forehead with her hand. "When we went to the bathroom, she threw up once she saw in a mirror just how much Weiss' blood she had on her, then didn't stop crying until she was pretty much done with the shower. And I couldn't do shit about it."

"She's been always taking bad things in her stride, staying strong for those around her. But now... I think she has finally reached her limit" Blake added sorrowfully, her animal ears drooping a bit.

"Yeah..." Yang groaned, then let her head fall onto the table with a soft thud. "Damn it."

The room fell quiet for a while, until Jaune spoke up, voicing the question that, judging by the looks on Ren's and Nora's faces, was on both of his teammates' minds. "And what about you two?"

The blonde Huntress glanced up at the man. "Honestly? I'm scared shitless. For Weiss. For us. I didn't like our odds even before today, but now..." Straightening her back a bit, she shook her head grimly, her gaze downcast. "Even if you ignore the situation we're in, Weiss is part of the family. It's... hard for us. Especially when Ruby is practically breaking apart at this point."

"Yeah... I've never seen her like that."

Yang nodded somberly. "Me neither. And that's the worst part." Sighing heavily, she turned her eyes in the direction the door, her thoughts flying towards the wounded heiress. "I just hope Weiss will be alright. For all of our sakes."

Blake placed a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder, mustering a soft smile when the blonde met her gaze. "She will. She has far too much pride to just die after being scratched by a mere Beowolf."

That got a short snort of laughter out of Yang, cheering her up a bit. "Sounds about right," she conceded, nuzzling up to her lover.

Before long, Blake and Yang excused themselves and left, heading back to the med bay. The moment they arrived in the corridor leading to the infirmary, however, they were met with a sight that made them stop dead in their tracks, both of them having a sense of growing unease - Ruby was outside the room, sitting on the floor right next to the entrance. Resting her chin on her knees, the girl stared numbly straight ahead, burning a hole in the opposite wall.

"What are you doing out here?" Yang questioned worriedly as she approached her sister. "Did something happen?"

A few seconds had passed before Ruby opened her mouth to reply, her gaze still directed at the same spot as before. "Weiss woke up for a moment. I called the doctors, and then they kicked me out and told me to wait outside." After saying that, she finally turned towards her teammates, her lower lip quivering slightly as she stared at them with a haunted look in her moist eyes. "She... I don't think she recognized m-me."

Blake kneeled by her crestfallen teammate, hoping to comfort the poor girl. "I think it's normal, Ruby. She must be simply disoriented because of the meds, and because of everything that has happened to her." She touched Ruby's arm reassuringly, but if one looked closely, they'd be able to tell that Blake, too, was scared by the news. "She'll be alright. We just need to give her some time."

The doctors allowed the girls inside about five minutes later; confronted with Blake's assumption, they affirmed that Weiss' confused state was indeed nothing alarming – merely a side effect that should be attributed to the employed meds. Having silenced some of Ruby's worries, the physicians promptly walked away, leaving the trio alone with their wounded teammate, who had once again fallen asleep before her friends re-entered the infirmary.

It was some time after eleven in the evening when a low growl resounded in the room, telling everyone that Ruby's stomach had been neglected for far too long. For a while the girl tried acting as if nothing had happened, for some reason ignoring the protests of her own body, but Yang wouldn't have any of it.

"You really should just go and eat something, Rubes," she said firmly, looking the girl in the eye. Ruby bit the inside of her cheek, fighting the temptation – it was quite clear that the hunger was beginning to get to her, but it seemed that she was still determined to stay. Nonetheless, the blonde did understand why her little sister was so unwilling to leave the room, and could use said knowledge to appeal to the girl's conscience. "Weiss needs you to stay healthy, Ru. You won't help her much if you faint or starve to death."

Hit in the weak spot, Ruby's resolve began to waver, but did not crumble completely; seeing that the girl still needed a small push, Blake threw in her two lien. "We'll stay with Weiss while you're gone. Promise."

Ruby considered their words for a moment, then, finding no good reason to object, sighed heavily, raising both of her hands in the air as a gesture of defeat. "Alright, alright. I'll go. Give me fifteen minutes." She stood up from her chair and made a few reluctant steps towars the exit; shooed away by her sister before she could change her mind, she threw a last glance in the direction of the bed and walked outside, disappearing behind the doorframe.

Yang and Blake didn't talk much while Ruby was gone, simply watching over the sleeping heiress. Nothing really changed about Weiss' state in the twenty minutes that followed; the expression on her face was about the only difference there was – her eyes moving under her closed eyelids, she seemed troubled, as if she was searching for something in her dreams but couldn't find it. Neither of her teammates thought much of it, and, eventually, her restlessness came to an end; around the same time, Blake's cat ears perked up, turning towards the opened door with interest.

Taking notice of her partner's reaction, Yang risked a guess. "Ruby is coming?" When Blake hummed affirmatively, the blonde got up from her seat and yawned, then proceeded to crack her neck. "Then I guess I'll get going now; it's getting late, and I seriously need a shower after all this shit. What about you?"

Her fingers intertwined behind her head, Blake stretched on the chair, arching her back. "Shower sounds nice, but... I think I'll stay here for a while longer."

Acknowledging her partner's decision with a small nod, Yang stepped closer to the bed and, smiling softly, looked at the white-haired girl lying fast asleep under the blanket.

"You've really showed them today... maybe even a little bit too much, all things considered. I still like your new moves, though; that gigantic sword made of flames was my favourite, I think – I mean, who would've thought our little Ice Princess could get so fiery in combat, right?" The blonde chuckled under her breath at her own joke, imagining the reaction she'd get out of Weiss if the heiress was awake. She watched her sleeping teammate for a while, her smile slowly disappearing and giving way to melancholy, then caringly brushed away a stray lock of hair from the girl's forehead. "You did good, Weiss; have some rest, for now. Just remember that we all need you. That Ruby needs you."

Turning her gaze in the direction of the entrance, Yang finally noticed the girl that was standing at the threshold, leaning against the doorframe; the two of them looked at each other for a while, lilac eyes meeting ones of silver, before the blonde forced a lopsided smile and strolled towards Ruby, who, in turn, moved aside to let her pass through the door. As she was marching past her sister, Yang briefly grabbed the girl's shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Good night, Ru," she said quietly and walked away, knowing all too well that the night would not be pleasant for any of them.


It was well past midnight when Jaune, passing by the medical bay on his way to the sleeproom, noticed that the door to the patients room was left slightly ajar. Taking a peek inside, he saw exactly what he thought he would see – Ruby was still within, keeping a lone watch over her wounded partner. She was sitting on a cushion placed on the floor by the bedside, resting her arms on the edge of Weiss' bed and using them as a pillow. While initially Jaune thought that the girl simply fell asleep while the lights were still turned on, after a few moments he observed as Ruby lifted her head a bit and reached for her Scroll, then, once she checked something on its screen, dropped the device back onto the blanket and brought her hand to her mouth, stiffling a long yawn.

Jaune pushed the door open and stepped inside. "You should get some rest, Ruby," he spoke. Seeing that the girl didn't even stir, he called her name once again. "Ruby?"

"I'm staying here for the night."

"I'm not sure if it's..." he started to argue, but then stopped and sighed in surrender, realizing that if he wanted Ruby to go to her bed, he'd probably have to make her. "Should I turn the light off?" he offered, resigned.

Ruby gave him a fleeting glance before her eyes returned to observing the heiress. "Yeah. Thanks."

And so he flipped the switch, throwing the room into shadows. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness where screens and LEDs of working machines were the only sources of light, he spent a brief while on watching Ruby and Weiss, then backed away from the room. "Have a good night, you two."

"Good night, Jaune." Ruby's words were half-hearted at best, but, given the circumstances, it was not at all surprising.

He partially closed the door, leaving it slightly ajar to let some light inside. Having leant against the wall next to the entrance to the infirmary, he pulled out his Scroll, hoping that this time he'd be able to get in contact with the civilized world and check up on his family, who remained in the still besieged city of Vale. Sadly, he had no such luck – this accursed place their mission led them to was both out of charts and out of range of the CCT System, and the closest support tower was apparently acting up. Disappointed, he took a while to once again go through the last few text messages from his parents and sisters, then, the moment he was about to walk away and head straight to his bed, he heard the very last thing he expected to hear: a sad melody of a quiet, filled with emotion voice.

It's now or never

Don't surrender

We came too far to die

So claim your weapon

This ain't heaven

We came here now to fight

Ruby's singing was unpracticed and the girl had problems with pulling out some of the lower notes, but it didn't make her performance any less touching – the raw feelings poured into these verses made up for any and all imperfections, even when her voice began to crack.

All we have is now...

Came too far to die...

Claim your weapon now...

Came here now to fight...

Ruby fell silent for a few moments after her song had ended; when she spoke again, her words were nothing more than a quiet murmur, rendering Jaune unable to make any sense out of what he had heard. Still, he didn't have to know what exactly the girl had said to realize that whatever it was, it was not meant for his ears, and so he silently retreated down the corridor, tactfully leaving the pair alone.

In the meantime, tears rolled down Ruby's face as she gazed at her partner's sleeping form, her eyes wistfully exploring the facial features of this girl bathed in a dim, reddish light. "I'd do anything to have you back," she whispered, bringing her hand to Weiss' cheek. "Come back to me, Weiss... ple-ease, just fight it and come back to me-e."


Someone touched Ruby's shoulder and gave her a gentle shake, stirring the girl awake from her dreamless slumber. Still half asleep, the ravenette lifted her surprisingly heavy head from its resting spot on the edge of Weiss' bed and attempted – with a somewhat moderate success – to focus her eyes on the individual that had prematurely ended her nap; vaguely remembering that there was only one person on board with dark blue hair, she figured that the slightly blurred face in front of her had to belong to doctor Grapes.

"I'm sorry, miss Rose, but I need you to leave the room for now," the woman said, smiling apologetically. "You will be allowed to return here once we are done."

Ruby just stared blankly at the doctor for a second or two, her drowsy mind needing a moment to process what the woman had said. "Oh. Alright," she mumbled eventually, a small spark of understanding appearing in her silver orbs as she noticed two other people in white coats bustling around the room.

She rested her gaze on her sleeping friend for a while, taking in the image of Weiss' peaceful face. As her eyes strayed a bit lower, Ruby realized that her partner's hand was linked with hers; smiling softly at the sight, she carefully untangled her fingers from the heiress', then started preparing to get up from the floor. To her surprise, she found Yang's jacket lying on the ground beside her, having probably fallen off her back when doctor Grapes woke her up; putting it across her shoulder, Ruby stood up with a loud pop of her knees, then, stealing one more look at Weiss, reluctantly walked towards the exit.

The girl stopped by the door for a second, glancing at doctor Grapes. "Take care of her, doc." With that, she left the room, closing the door as she crossed the threshold.

She stretched, raising her arms above her head and bending her back, a soft moan escaping her throat when she did so. Somehow, she felt even more tired than she did before dozing off, and, to make matters even worse, her whole body screamed at her in outrage for sleeping the way she did – not that it made her regret her decision to stay with Weiss for the night. Rubbing her sore neck, she checked the hour on her Scroll, then unhurriedly strolled in the direction of the mess hall; seeing that she was already late for breakfast, she did not think there was any harm in taking her time.

When she finally got to the canteen, Nora, Jaune, Oscar, and the two of her teammates were already munching on pancakes made by Ren, who was still in the kitchen, keeping the food coming. Qrow, apparently done with the breakfast, was lying on the couch, while Raven was nowhere to be seen.

"Morning," she greeted them groggily, then marched towards her sister and put the blonde's jacket on the backrest of Yang's chair. "Thanks for the jacket, though I wasn't really cold."

Corners of Yang's mouth moved slightly upwards, but her weak smile didn't quite reach her lilac eyes, which were carefully examining Ruby's state. "Don't mention it." The blonde, too, didn't seem like she had a good night's rest.

Her sister's gaze followed the silver-eyed girl to the kitchen, where Ruby busied herself with preparing her morning coffee – she had barely got any shut-eye that night and felt that she desperately needed caffeine if she was supposed to stay awake.

Back when she had entered the room, Ruby noticed that Jaune looked as if there was something on his mind, visibly bothering the man; when she was in the middle of the process of adding sugar to her drink, the boy finally decided to voice his thoughts.

"Hey, guys... what are we going to do now?"

Ruby didn't even spare the man a single look, idly stirring her coffee with a spoon. "Carry on with the plan – find Salem and kill her. It's not like we have any choice at this point," she said calmly, as if giving him an obvious answer.

"We could always retreat, you know."

Ruby snorted at that, pausing her preparations and leaving her drink safely on the countertop as she turned towards Jaune, looking at him sharply, any signs of her previous drowsiness gone. "And how is this alternative any better?" she questioned cynically, visibly agitated. "All of our major cities are being sieged by Grimm. If we fall back now, there might not be any Remnant left to save before we get another shot to hunt Salem down. Everything we've done and lost, everything we've sacrificed – all of it would be completely. Fucking. Meaningless!" Raising her voice towards the end, she accentuated each pause with a furious knock on the table. After a moment, she sighed heavily and cast her gaze downwards, seemingly slightly ashamed of her loss of composure, then shook her head and began to wipe the countertop with a piece of cloth, having accidentally spilled some of her coffee. "We can't leave, Jaune."

Blake nodded darkly. "And we can't wait for Weiss, either. We don't have enough time, and the longer we're in here the more her life is in danger. So, whatever we are planning to do, we need to do it soon."

Yang, while agreeing with both of her teammates, was quite worried about their odds of success. "True, but... can we even pull that off without Weiss?" She certainly had a point – even if one ignored the negative impact Weiss' current state had on all three of them and their performance, the heiress was virtually the only person on their team who was capable of some serious crowd control; while not as vital in combat against a few strong Grimm, her abilities could prove invaluable when faced against a horde, as was proven the day before. "Most of our crowd control just went right out the window, and I don't think Salem is gonna fight us without a small army of Grimm backing her up. Not to mention all the monsters we need to cut down just to get to her."

"Uh... I believe I can help with that," Oscar chimed in shyly. "I'm not nearly as proficient in Dust manipulation as Weiss is, but I know a thing or two. Besides... well, you know," he said, awkwardly pointing at his head with his finger. Indeed, everyone did know what he had in mind – both literally and figuratively.

Blake gave him a long look, apparently having some mixed feelings about this offer – on one hand she couldn't deny that Oscar's presence would certainly be of help, but on the other she was not particularly fond of the potential risk of losing the Wizard. "Are you sure?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah... it's like Ruby said – we don't really have a choice. And I didn't come here with you to stand on the sidelines, either; seeing that I'm Ozpin's successor or whatever, getting rid of Salem is kinda my job." He rubbed his neck, sheepishly glancing to the side. "That, and Oz wouldn't shut up otherwise." Oscar paused for a while, as if listening to something, then exhaled tiredly and closed his eyelids.

With a brief flash of green light, Ozpin took control over Oscar's body. "In fact, I believe it's me who should be asking you that question – are you sure you want to take this risk?" the Headmaster spoke with Oscar's voice as he looked at the people gathered in the room, his gaze lingering for a moment over the silver-eyed girl perched on the armrest of Qrow's couch before carrying on.

"And you have, before we even came here," Ruby remarked stoically, taking lazy sips from her mug, as if there was nothing left to be discussed on her part.

"But is the answer the same?" Ozpin countered, but it did not make any impression on the scythe-wielder, who appeared to be determined to see this whole mess through despite – or perhaps because of - everything that had happened. In Ruby's eyes, the path that led over Salem's dead body was the only one that ensured Weiss' safety, and that was reason enough for her to not back out no matter what dangers lay in wait.

While Yang shared her sister's sentiment, she was also afraid that they were about to bit more than they could possibly chew, essentially walking into their own grave. "Oz... do you still think we can defeat Salem in combat? Without Weiss to back us up?"

The whole room fell silent as the Headmaster considered his answer, the tension hanging in the air; even Qrow sat up on his couch, looking at Oscar attentively. "It'll be harder, of course... but yes. The Witch's powers render the advantage of numbers void at best... and crippling at worst. Time will be of the essence, however – we'll need to be quick, lest we get overwhelmed by other Creatures of Grimm that will surely come to aid their mistress."

"But how are we even going to get to her?" Yang questioned. "She knows we're coming for her, and we won't do shit if she just sits comfortably in the middle of a swarm of Grimm."

Ozpin smiled wryly. "She'll let us. She wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to personally snuff the humanity's last hope, after all, especially after they dared to set a foot in her land." Everybody already knew where he was going with this and literally no one seemed to like it, but he continued regardless. "It'll be a trap, of course, but we'll just have to go with it. In any case, it's getting away that we should be worried about – not getting to her."

Everyone looked at each other, trying to assess what the rest of the group thought of the situation. When Yang met Blake's eyes, the two of them simply nodded at one another after a brief moment of consideration, then both turned towards Ruby and once again bobbed their heads, their leader responding them with the same gesture. Before long, every person in the room expressed their readiness, with various degrees of hesitation – or lack thereof. None of them wanted to stay idle when the world was about to end; they would defeat Salem or die trying – for Remnant, for their friends and families, and for Weiss.

Yang turned towards Ozpin. "So, what do we do?"


After the impromptu war council had ended, JNR tagged along when Ruby and her teammates, wanting to check up on Weiss, went to the medical bay. On their way to the patients room, they bumped into doctor Grapes and a few of her colleagues, who seemed to have a most passionate conversation. Not knowing what could've caused such fervent debate, all six of them felt a sudden pang of unease.

Alarmed, Ruby ran to the blue-haired medic. "What's with the commotion? Did something happen?" She was practically starting to panic. "Is Weiss...?"

Before the girl could go further down this train of thought, Viena interrupted her, placing her hand on Ruby's shoulder and smiling good-naturedly. "She's quite alright. In fact, it's the rapid rate in which she's recovering that's the source of this heated discussion. In any case, we're convinced that miss Schnee's life is no longer in danger. It will be a while before the patient will be able to safely perform any strenous activity, of course, but..." The doctor paused for a while, noticing the tears that started to trickle down the ravenette's face. "Miss Rose?"

Ruby just stood still for a moment, covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes cloudy and gaze slightly absentminded. Then, she stumbled to the nearby wall and slumped down to the floor, her knees buckling under her weight as the tension that had been keeping her upright had left her system. Relieved beyond belief, Ruby cried freely and openly, too overwhelmed and ecstatic to care about any pretense. Her teammates knelt beside her, but neither of them seemed to be worried, beaming happily at each other and their leader. Wrapped in a group hug, the three of them stayed like that for a while, watched by their friends and doctors, who all were smiling at the sight. Eventually, Ruby, Blake and Yang looked up and said their thanks to the doctors, who silently bowed their heads and then simply walked away, leaving the youngsters to their own devices.

For Ruby and the rest of them, these news were but a single thing to be happy about amongst more reasons to worry than they cared to count, but it was precisely what they needed in their darkest hour – enough to cause the future lying ahead of them seem just a little bit brighter.

Weiss was saved, and it gave them hope. And hope made a whole world of difference.


Author's Note:

Jeesh, that was a long one. The damned thing just didn't stop coming, y'kno? And to think that I initially considered posting both this chapter and 'Ad Memoriam' together... silly me. What can I say – I'm abysmal at predicting the length of these updates. Seems my writing pace is getting better, at least, and it might further improve from this point onwards, as this chapter is the last one of the, uh, let's call it 'Beacon Arc'. Call it a hunch, but I think the following 'arc' will be easier for me to write.

So, yeah... I've been waiting for quite a long time to finally be able to write this one (pretty much ever since I first published this story), and I sure hope I managed to deliver it reasonably well. Shedding some more light at the exact circumstances of Weiss being wounded, showing you guys how the rest of the group coped with the situation, and so on... as such, I'm really curious what do you think of this update – whether or not you enjoyed it, if I was able to convey the feels and all that – and I'd love to hear your opinions and critique; believe me, I'm hyped every single time when I see a message titled "Review: After the storm" pop up in my mailbox, and these little things really tend to brighten my day.

As I mentioned in my previous A/N, I now have a Discord account. Should anyone be interested, the invite link to my Discord server ends with /NyfaacQ , while my nickname is Terkontar#1181 – feel free to drop in, whether you want to check on the progress of the next chapter, chat with me about the story, or to simply talk my ear off c: also, I kind of did promise myself to draw more often this year, which may or may not involve posting a lot of story-related drawings and sketches on my Discord server in the future.

Oh, right, before I forget: the lyrics of the song Ruby sings in this chapter are taken from "Claim your weapon" by Christian Reindl.

Lastly, I'd like to thank everyone who posted a review the last time around. See you all next chapter, and happy new year!