Chapter Thirty Seven
Whilst guiding Penny back to Beacon, I explained the situation about Ruby to her.
"That's terrible!" She said in response. "This Cinder woman sounds like a very unfavourable individual."
"That she is." I said. "For the past few days she's had us wrapped around her finger. Nothing we do can stop her, we couldn't even attempt to save Ruby with her watching us. And now, she's made me..."
I paused for a minute.
"She's made you what?" Penny asked.
"Nothing." I said. "But it doesn't matter."
"Why not?"
"Because thanks to you, she's going to fail. She didn't anticipate the fact that I'd find a way to communicate with someone in this state. And because of that, I'll finally be able to kill-" I stopped. "-stop her."
I didn't want to believe what Leopold said, but I was showing signs. I had to suppress them, no matter what.
"A-anyway." I continued. "Beacon's just up ahead, come on."
After a walk of silence, we eventually made it to Beacon. Only, ever since Ozpin's arrest, the air of the school was much more tense; people were quiet, guards were heavy in patrols...it didn't feel like Beacon any more.
But I didn't focus on that. I quickly followed Yang's aura path and led Penny there. It led us inside.
"So, what do I say?" Penny asked.
Crap, she wanted me to think about that didn't she?
"Um...I'll tell you as we go."
I wasn't overly confident in improvising; the last time I tried led me to repeat lessons in discipline with Grand Fuhrer Weiss. I wasn't up for doing that again.
Eventually we found her room. Looking inside I saw that Yang and her partner Nora were in there. Yang was sitting on the bed, looking miserable, while Nora was comforting her.
"Knock on the door." I said.
Upon Penny's knocking I saw Nora go to the door and open it. She looked at Penny with a friendly smile.
"Um, hello. Can we help you?"
"No." I said. "But we can help you."
Penny repeated.
"Get rid of her!" Yang shouted, angrily.
"I-I'm sorry." Nora said calmly. "This isn't a good time right now."
"Yang, please." I said.
Penny repeated.
Yang looked up, and then rose from the bed.
"How do you know my name?" Yang asked, in a threatening tone.
"Because we've sparred together. And you were freaking terrifying."
Penny repeated. Nora raised an eyebrow in confusion, but Yang, after considering the statement, had a look of revelation.
"Bruno?" she asked.
"Not quite." I said. "But this is Penny. She's speaking for me."
Penny repeated.
"But-but I thought you were...Ozpin put you in a coma, didn't he?"
"It wasn't Ozpin. But that's not important. Right now, I need your help."
Penny repeated.
"With what?" Nora asked.
"I know where she is. And I need your help getting to her."
Penny repeated.
Both of them were quiet for a minute, not saying anything, just looking at each other.
"Bruno." Yang finally said. "If you're lying to me, I'll find your body and kill you."
"If I'm lying I'll let you." I said. "So are you with me?"
Penny repeated.
"Yeah. Yeah, we're with you. Just let us get ready. We'll meet you by the school entrance in about 15 minutes."
They shut the door. A thought then occurred to me.
"Penny, go wait by the entrance. I'll meet you there." I said.
"Why?" she asked. "Where are you going?"
"I need to...check something. Just head down, I'll meet you there."
Without waiting for an answer I left her, and searched around for the infirmary. I had to see how I was doing, and if Blake and Jaune were still there. If they weren't eating enough I'd hate myself.
But when I found my room, No one was there. Not Blake. Not Jaune. Not even me. The bed was empty, and had been made. As if I was never there.
I left the infirmary and checked my dorm, wondering how, despite my semblance, I couldn't find my own body. In my dorm I found Blake and Jaune, shouting at each other.
"Blake, calm down, please!" Jaune said.
"Calm down?" she responded. "They tricked us out of the room so that they could take him away, and now they won't let us visit him in the hospital?"
"You know why we can't do that."
"I couldn't care less about their goddamned questions, Jaune!" Blake shouted. "We've done nothing wrong!"
"Blake!" Jaune shouted. "Please. Just...wait it out. When it's over, we can go visit him."
"When it's over? And how long will that take? Hours? Days? Weeks? What if Bruno wakes up and we aren't with him?"
"Then we'll visit him as soon as he wakes up. They have to let us off then, right?"
Blake was still angry, but she relented, folding her arms and looking down.
"Come on." Jaune said. "We have to go."
"Yeah...yeah." Blake said. "Just...go on ahead, I need a minute. I'll see you down there."
Jaune nodded and left the room. Seconds later, when she was sure Jaune was out of earshot, Blake looked around for something. Her eyes stopped on my red jacket, and she picked it up and put it on, the hood up. Then she approached the window and opened it. After checking her surroundings for any onlookers, she began to step out onto the windowsill and slowly make her descent.
When she reached the bottom, and was certain no one saw her, she made her way to the school entrance, keeping a low profile and her head down. She didn't look at anyone as she walked out the gates. I would have followed her until Penny saw me and called me over. I had to leave it for now.
"Bruno!" She said. "We're ready."
I saw Nora behind her, her weapon on her back.
"Where's Yang?" I asked.
Penny pointed, and I saw Yang speeding towards us on a yellow and black motorcycle. She stopped just shy of Penny, and I found myself ducking for cover despite not having a corporeal form to be hit.
"Hang on a sec." Yang said.
She pressed a button on her wind-shield and the bike started making robotic sounds. Seconds later, a side car formed out of the altered parts of the bike.
"For you, Penny." She said. "Nora, you're with me."
Penny and Nora got in.
"What about me?" I asked, and Penny repeated.
Yang looked at her strangely, and I remembered.
"Oh yeah...I don't have a body... Never mind."
Penny repeated.
"Okay, are we ready?" Nora asked.
"Wait, I need to get something." Yang said, running back into the school.
A few minutes later she came back, holding Crescent Rose and Ruby's cape.
"She'll want these." Yang said, handing them to Penny. "Can you put them by your feet?"
"Certainly!" Penny said, putting them by her feet.
Once that was done, Yang got on.
"Are we ready?" She asked.
Nora and Penny nodded.
"Okay, let's go."