The moment Weiss let the tip of her rapier dip she knew she had made a horrible mistake. With her vision hazy from the ringing in her head, she could make out the black and white blur of the alpha beowolf rushing toward her. Before the beast reached her she felt Yang's arm thread through her own and for the third time that day the brawler was pulling her out of harm's way.

Weiss' world spun around as her teammate pulled her around and threw her to the side. The action was anything but gentle but it had the intended effect, Weiss was saved from the alphas advance. Weiss stumbled backwards, tripping over and falling onto back with a grunt. Rolling onto her stomach Weiss struggled to get back to her feet, making it to one knee before the sensation in her head peaked and froze her in place.

Weiss cursed, her right hand squeezing the top of her head. It felt as if there was a small child at the centre of her mind, screeching at the top of her lungs, the air lurching from her throat was razor sharp and shot daggers into the sides of her skull.

Weiss felt the presence of the grimm closing in on her and she forced her body to stand. The heiress finally got to her feet only to have herself immediately thrown forwards off her feet, back stinging from a beowolfs claws.

Crying out the heiress landed in the dirt face first, winded Weiss lay there for a moment, breath heavy, more from the pain in her head than from the sudden attack. Her instincts screamed at her to move, so she did what she could and rolled to the side, the added spinning didn't help her already twirling vision.

Weiss forced herself back up, getting to her feet and staggering backwards, backing into a tree and bracing herself against it. She took a moment, leaning against the bark, trying to bring her breathing under control, to her relief her vision began to return to something sensible and the screaming child in her mind was quietening down, still there but no longer blasting the terrible noise bouncing around her head.

Just as Weiss felt she could stand on her own two feet, those exact feet were pulled out from under her and she was yanked forwards. A sharp sting rushed up her calf but she ignored it, her mind preoccupied with the more immediate threat that was two beowolf snarling over her.

One of the beasts jaw snapped at her, except the beasts fangs didn't reach the heiress, instead Weiss managed to summon a glyph, stopping the grimm in its tracks before a flick of her wrist sent it flying back into the trees. The grimm could be heard howling before there was a loud crunching sound and the howl quickly turned to a sharp whimper.

The second grimm had its talons rushing straight down toward Weiss, she rolled to the side, getting to her feet and twirling around, the tip of her rapier slicing through the grimms abdomen. The beast howled in pain, Weiss circled her hand through the air before her, index and middle finger together as she summoned another glyph. The grimm was about to lunge at Weiss in anger before the glyph activated and exploded in a cone of fire, engulfing the grimm and leaving only its smouldering corpse behind.

Feeling much more like herself Weiss was more than prepared to meet her next opponent. Rushing toward her on all fours came another beowolf, Weiss braced herself taking a step back and shifting her weight onto her right leg. The moment she did a streak of pain lanced up her leg and her knee buckled causing her to catch herself on the ground. She looked down at her leg and to her surprise found that not only was her beautiful, expensive boot torn up, but so was her leg. Three ugly red gashes ran along her calf and thigh, now that she had seen it she could also feel it, feel the warmth of her blood over her skin and the stings that pulsed through her leg as her muscles tried to maintain proper function.

What confused the heiress more than why she hadn't noticed it till now was the fact that it was there in the first place. Surely she had enough aura to keep her protected at least when she had gotten the wound. She hadn't the time to ponder on it any longer as the beowolf was almost upon her, from her position she rolled to the side, out of the beast's path. Leaping to her feet, careful not to put too much pressure on her wounded leg, she spun Myrtenaster's dust canister and running her fingers along the blade of her rapier she imbued the weapon lightning and in one smooth motion, thrust her rapier toward the beowolf.

An arc of electricity shot from the tip of the blade, shot through the air and slammed into the beast's chest. Immediately it began convulsing, she turned away from it, leaving it to die as its heart eventually gave out.

Just as she turned her back on the beowolf it hit her again. Hit her harder than it had that day, without warning that agony inducing child returned to her mind, screeching louder and sharper than before. Weiss' vision wobbled and quickly became a dizzy mix of colours, her head felt as if it was vibrating intensely, the sharpness of the pain drove Weiss to her knees, dropping her blade as both her hands came up to her head.

Finger nails digging into the side of her head Weiss gasped, struggling, fighting to keep herself conscious at this point. Groaning against the strain Weiss doubled over, head between her knees, she wanted to scream, scream louder than the horrible little devil child inside her head, but her body was so locked up in agony and her mind in such chaos not even her throat listened.

A noise barely reached her ears through the haze, a low rumbling noise. Forcing herself to look up in an attempt to find the source, the only thing Weiss could see was a mass of black standing over her. Despite not being able to make out the shape clearly Weiss knew what it was and knew what was about to come.

The heiress made an attempt to get away, only to have an immense spike of pain lance through her body and paralyse her. Weiss collapsed to the floor in a heap, face scrunched up, breath shallow and ragged. Weiss watched as the dark mass before her came closer and closer, stopping just a few feet away from her. She made one final futile attempt to get away before the alpha lunged.

Immediately the pain in her mind was aggressively overwritten by the piercing sensation blaring through her entire abdomen. Her entire body felt as if it was on fire, inside and out, the child screaming in her mind gone as if it had been scared away. Weiss felt as if a series of stakes had just been slammed right into her, which wasn't far from reality.

The alpha lifted her off the ground, tasting her blood dripping into its mouth. With a hungry growl the alpha bit down even further and lobbed the heiress through the air.

Weiss yelled out in agony as she soared through the air, slamming into the ground roughly and bouncing to a stop. She lay there, feeling a strange sense of warmth around her body, had she had any more sense she would have recognised the warmth as coming from a pool of her own blood.

Each breath hurt, she heard noises around her, explosions and growling. Weiss made an attempt to move, finding that she didn't have the strength to even move the tips of her fingers. The heiress laid still, staring at her hand before her, no longer feeling any warmth and instead feeling an odd cooling sensation running through her body.

Oddly Weiss found herself remaining rather calm, no sense of panic or despair came over her despite knowing fully well what was happening to her. Instead she found herself questioning how she ended up in this situation again. Her answer wasn't hard to find, she knew exactly who was responsible. She was.


Weiss had no recollection of anything that happened after that. She didn't remember Yang rushing to her side and pressing her hands onto her wounds, didn't remember calling out for Ruby or how Yang exploded in a rage of fire and brutality, killing anything and everything that had the unfortunate fate of being in the presence of the brawler.

Weiss' next couple of coherent memories were masked under a haze of sleep, the affects of the anaesthetic she had been put under still had a firm hold over her. Weiss woke, if it counted as waking, and immediately recognised her surroundings as belonging to a hospital.

Surprise surprise. Weiss managed to think through her drowsiness.

Weiss' next memory was of Ruby, her head laying on the side of the bed, her hand firmly holding her own. She must have made a noise then because the red head stirred and opened her eyes, meeting Weiss' and immediately going wide. The heiress fell back to sleep after that.

The next time Weiss woke up it was thankfully void of any after effects of being drugged. The heiress groaned as her senses slowly returned to her. She opened her eyes finding herself still masked in darkness, moonlight filtering through the blinds over the window.

Ruby was no longer present although when Weiss subconsciously licked her lips she could faintly taste Ruby's lips. Weiss smiled, wondering just how many times the dolt had kissed her in her sleep.

"About two dozen times. Basically every time she came in and out of the room."

Weiss jumped in surprise at the voice, wincing as pain shot through her abdomen. Settling back down gently she turned toward the source.

"Yang?"

"Sorry did I scare you?" The brawler sounded surprisingly genuine.

"Y-yes a little."

"Sorry."

The brawler was sitting in front of Weiss in a small sofa chair against the wall. Weiss looked at her teammate, even in the dim light Weiss could tell Yang was fatigued, a pang of guilt struck at Weiss' heart.

"It's alright. What were you saying?"

Yang took a moment to register what Weiss was referring to. "Oh." The brawler grinned. "I just noticed you lick your lips and smile." Weiss blushed. "I figured you were wondering how many Ruby kissed you."

"Well that's," Weiss considered trying to lie and thought against it. "Very perceptive of you."

Yang shrugged, "I don't think you give me enough credit sometimes Weiss."

Weiss considered the brawler for a moment. "No perhaps not." She replied quietly.

The pair shared a silence for a moment before a question came to Weiss' mind.

"Where is she? I remember waking and seeing her here." Weiss placed a hand where Ruby had been last time she woke.

"I forced her to go home with Blake. She hadn't slept or eaten properly in a while."

Weiss frowned at that. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Uh about three days." Yang replied evenly.

Weiss' eyes widened. "Three days?!"

"Weiss you did lose a lot of blood." Yang explained, her voice soft, her hand shuffling along her thigh.

Weiss' hand subconsciously moved to her stomach, feeling the bandages around her body. She remembered the pain as she received the wounds beneath the bandages and flinched.

"Yes I suppose that's fair." Weiss looked out the window, staring at the shattered remains of the moon.

Another silence.

"I have a question." Weiss looked back at Yang.

"Shoot Princess."

Weiss paused at the nickname, then continued. "Why are you still here? There's no need, you should have gone home with Ruby."

Yang shrugged and shuffled in her seat. "She's got her big sis with her."

Weiss perked an eye brow in question. "You mean Blake?"

"Yep."

"How is Blake?" Weiss asked, Blake was like a sister to Ruby and herself.

"She's okay. She was worried about you."

Weiss nodded in silence. The one thing Weiss was trying to avoid, worrying her friends.

"You still didn't answer my question Yang. Why are you still here? Go home, I'm fine."

"I know that." Yang replied, "I just didn't want to."

"Yang go home I'm fine, I can clearly see that you're tired."

Yang sighed, rubbing her eyes. "Yeah but I'm okay. Besides, there's nowhere else I want to be right now."

Weiss opened her mouth to say something, but found she didn't really know what to say so instead she simply looked out the window in silence.

"You know something?" Yang broke the silence.

Weiss looked at the brawler. "I pride myself on knowing many things."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Ha ha Ice Queen. Just listen."

Weiss grinned at that but nonetheless obeyed.

"Have you ever had your hands," Yang looked down at her own, "covered in someone else's blood?"

Suddenly the room felt a lot darker. Weiss looked at her teammate then glanced at the brawlers hand, her own hand coming up to her bandages once again. A faint memory drifted through her mind, she remembered herself lying on the ground, Yang above her, her hands pressed firmly against her stomach.

"Yang I-"

But Yang continued on. "It was kinda gross and sticky and surprisingly warm. I thought you're blood ran cold." Yang grinned at the heiress.

Weiss blinked at the brawler, unsure of what reaction she should show on her face, guilt, worry or irritation. Considering it was Yang she was talking with she settled for a mix between a grin and a scowl, sighing and rolling her eyes.

"But uh, after I had killed all the grimm and brought you here and saved your life, you're welcome by the way." Weiss rolled her eyes, albeit with a small smile. "I was looked down at my hands and I remembered something."

"And what was that?" Weiss asked, flattening out the crease in her sheets.

"I had been in a similar situation with Ruby. Except we were just kids and there wasn't as much blood and Ruby didn't get chomped on by an alpha, she just had a tumble. Also-"

"Yang." Weiss cut in, urging Yang to get to the point.

"Anyway. I remembered that day and I remembered how I felt with Ruby lying on the ground unconscious and hurt. I was scared mostly, I was only little so I thought the worst had happened. I was scared and worried and angry and upset, I was panicking. But looking down at my hands with your blood on them remembering that day with Ruby I realised that I was feeling the exact same way.

I was sitting in a chair, feeling the stickiness over my hands, thinking about you lying on the ground bleeding out and I had the exact same feelings I did with Ruby. I was scared again, I was worried and agitated, I was angry too, angry at myself for not being faster. I was panicking again, just like I panicked thinking Ruby was about to die."

Yang sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I felt as if my own sister was bleeding out in front of me. And I guess I've felt this way for a while I just never said it out loud but, for a while now, you stopped being just a teammate and a friend. You became family Weiss."

Yang got up out of her seat and moved closer to the heiress. Now that Yang was closer to Weiss the heiress noticed for the first time that the brawlers right arm was wrapped up and held in a sling.

"Yang what happened to your arm?!"

The brawler paused and looked at her left arm. "Nothing." She answered with a grin.

"Yang!"

"Weiss it's nothing, just a scratch. It's not like a lost the whole arm." Yang pulled the chair Ruby had been using closer to the bed and sat down. "Now shut up and listen, I'm not repeating myself otherwise it'll be used against me."

Weiss mouthed a silent 'what' but let the brawler continue.

"Weiss, you're like a sister to me, I care about you and love you just like I care and love Ruby. Having you bleeding out in front of me was one of the worst things I've ever felt."

"Yang…" Weiss didn't know what to say. She felt oddly warm and calm, hearing what Yang said didn't shock Weiss as much as it made her, strangely calm. The heiress had always known that Yang had a kind and caring heart, a heart big enough for a horse. Despite what the brawler put her through on a daily basis Weiss knew that Yang genuinely cared about her, hearing Yang call her her sister felt, well it felt right.

"Thank you Yang." Weiss sighed. "That means a lot to me. And I need to say sorry, for all of this. This was all because of my stupidity and pride. I'm sorry."

"Weiss I don't blame you."

Weiss held her hand up. "I know. But I need to take responsibility for my actions. I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven Weiss."

"And if it's any consolation Yang, you had become part of my family a while ago too. Although you occupied the role of the irritating, frustrating, idiotic, boisterous buffoon of a sister, a sister nonetheless."

"Thanks? I think." Yang replied.

Weiss chuckled. "In all seriousness, you and Blake, you've both become more than just teammates or friends to me. When we first formed our team I admittedly felt out of place but you quickly made me feel, well at home to be honest. And home is where family is."

Weiss looked at Yang and a warm smile found her lips.

"Does this mean you'll stop annoying me?" Weiss asked.

"Ha!" Yang laughed. "No way! That's what I live for. Can't be a good sister without annoying my other sisters now can I?"

Weiss groaned and rolled her eyes. "Of course not."

The pair shared a peaceful silence together. Then Weiss shuffled, throwing her sheets off of her and shuffling to the side of the bed.

"What are you doing?" Yang asked.

"Getting out of bed." Weiss used her hands to push herself to the edge, slowly moving her legs off the bed, wincing as each leg went over.

"Getting out of bed? Weiss you just woke up." Yang got up, moving to Weiss' side.

"Yang I've been asleep for three days. I think I've spent enough time in bed."

"But that's exactly why you shouldn't get up. Do you know how many stitches are holding you together right now?"

"Do tell." Weiss ignored the brawler, readying herself to stand, taking Yang's hand for support.

"Like, six dozen." Yang answered.

"That's clearly a lie Yang."

"Well it could be true."

"Well you've already taken my hand so be quite and help me."

"Fine fine."

Yang helped the heiress to her feet, holding onto her gently but firmly and carefully pulling her to her feet. The heiress took a moment to gather herself.

"You okay?" Yang asked.

Weiss nodded.

"You sure you wanna walk now?"

"Yes Yang." Weiss slowly lifted her foot and moved it forward. The moment the foot returned to the ground pain lanced through her body. "Ow! Shit!"

Yang looked down at the heiress with a grin. "Language young lady."

"How about a poke five holes into your chest and stomach and get you to walk." Weiss snapped.

"Weiss I told you not to-" Yang stopped as Weiss shot a glare her way.

"Just take it slow." Weiss stated.


Eventually the pair made it out into the hall, taking it slow just as the heiress commanded. Weiss held onto Yang's good arm, her other hand holding the wall railing for support. It was almost midnight, the lights in the hall were dimmed down to allow the other patients to sleep.

"These halls are becoming too familiar." Weiss muttered as she looked around.

"Yeah."

"Yang how did Ruby react when you told her?"

"Ah." Yang smiled at the thought. "As Blake put it, 'For someone as adorable as her, she could have easily filled the role of the Grim Reaper'."

Weiss winced. "That bad?"

"Well, when she got here she almost knocked out three nurses, some woman and her husband, your surgeon and a poor old lady that was going for her morning walk. So all in all I'd say it wasn't that bad."

"Oh Ruby." Weiss squeezed the bridge of her nose. "That dolt."

"It's really cute how much she cares about you. She really loves you Weiss."

Weiss nodded and smiled. "I know. I love her too."

"I know that too." Yang met Weiss' gaze, smiling at the heiress. "I'm glad you found each other."

Weiss paused and looked at Yang. "Thank you Yang."

"You know she's gonna be upset she wasn't here when you woke up."

Weiss chuckled, wincing at the pain it caused. "That'd be right. That dolt."

"I figured we could just pretend next time she gets here."

"I think I'll ring her when we get back to the room. I doubt she's gone to bed."

"She's probably up with Blake." Yang laughed.

"Those two are bad for each other."

The pair stopped walking, slowly turning around to head back. A silence fell over the pair for a short while.

"Oh. I told the doctor about your headache."

"Mmm." Weiss hummed.

"He asked if you were doing any strenuous or excessive aura training."

"No I-" Weiss paused, realising that she in fact had been. "I have actually."

"Really? Why? What for?"

"I've been working on something." Weiss explained.

"Care to elaborate."

Weiss stopped walking and held her hand out, a small glyph spinning quickly in her palm. With a flash and ring, the glyph disappeared and was replaced with a small ice crystal in the shape of a bird. Only it wasn't in the shape of a bird, it was a bird.

The little familiar chirped and flew from Weiss' hand and circled Weiss and Yang before coming to rest on Yang's shoulder.

"That is," Yang reached up and the bird hopped onto her finger. "Pretty awesome."

Weiss couldn't but smile at that, proud at her abilities getting praise from the brawler.

"Since when could you do that?"

"Summon things? Everyone in the Schnee family can summon, it's just taken me a little longer to get used to it."

"Are birds the only things you can summon?"

"A bird is the only thing I can summon that will fit in this hall."

Yang looked at the heiress, mouth slightly open. "You have to show me."

Weiss chuckled. "I will, when I can actually walk again."