Despite her whirling thoughts, Weiss managed to sleep through the night. She woke the next morning bright and early, feeling very much like she'd been shot, stuffed, and mounted over a fireplace.
Everything ached. Her sleeping bag was suffocating, but she flinched at the thought of crawling out into the cold. Sweat plastered her bangs to her forehead. Her thoughts came slow and thick through a fevered haze. And, as if to silence any doubt that it was the culprit, the wound in her side throbbed in time with her heartbeat.
This was, admittedly, escalating rather faster than she'd expected. But after a few minutes hiding in her sleeping bag, Weiss pulled herself together, grit her teeth, and faced the world.
When she caught her teammates sneaking concerned glances in her direction, she blamed the night sounds for bad sleep. It was a hot day, and they were soon hard at work slogging through the undergrowth. All their faces were flushed, so Weiss didn't need to make any excuses. And if the wound at her side pained her slightly, well, it wasn't quite healed yet. She would let them know if she pulled any stitches.
They hiked. The sun inched higher into the sky, and within hours all four of them were sweaty and exhausted. They'd already picked off more Grimm than they'd seen yesterday. Or, well, the others had. Weiss was struggling to keep up. Her aura kept dipping sharply every time she used her semblance, so she had to rely heavily on Dust to pull her weight.
She wasn't the only one. Blake took a glancing blow from a Beowolf and dipped into the yellow, drawing a concerned look from Yang. "I'm fine," she muttered. "Just... well, you know I didn't sleep well."
Yang glanced at Weiss and sighed.
Ruby was in her element. She took up the slack, rushing ahead of them to thin the rest of the pack before they could get too close. Weiss gritted her teeth. She hated being useless like this—and Professor Goodwitch was grading them. She needed to do something.
She dashed forward, catching one Beowolf through the eye and another through the throat, but her satisfaction was short-lived. A third exploded out of the undergrowth and knocked her to the ground. She landed on her stomach, panting, staring up at the Grimm as Yang smashed it into smoke.
A hand came down into her field of view. She took it, and came face to face with Blake as she pulled her back to her feet. Weiss jerked away, her ears ringing, and tried to focus on the Grimm. But Ruby cut her off before she could.
"Um, Blake? Weiss? Your auras are really low. Professor? What do we, uh...?"
"Miss Schnee, Miss Belladonna, fall back and assist at range." Professor Goodwitch drew her riding crop. "I will handle the Grimm at the rear, focus your attention towards the front."
Weiss clenched the handle of her rapier until it shook. Their professor joining in the fight couldn't possibly be a good sign—what if she failed them? What if it got back to Father?
The ringing in her ears grew louder. Her head pounded. It was so hot, she could barely think.
She stepped forward, raising Myrtenaster and flicking the chamber to fire. If she could take out enough of them at once, maybe they would be able to take control of the situation. They could still win the fight, and that would have to count for something. Right?
The pressure in her head reached a peak, and then plummeted. Her vision blurred.
Her rapier drew little circles in the air, trembling as fire spread down the blade. She aimed off to Ruby's right, where a cluster of Beowolves were trying to push past her. But when the time came to unleash the attack, her legs wouldn't move.
"Weiss?" Blake's voice sounded tinny and distant.
Myrtenaster slipped through her fingers. She was aware of that—and that all that Dust was about to detonate right at her feet. That with her aura so low, she probably wouldn't survive the explosion. It just... didn't register as important. Her body had quit on her so thoroughly, it couldn't even summon enough adrenaline for fear.
"Weiss!"
She felt Blake slam into her side, and then a surge of heat. Saw the bright flash of both their auras shattering. Heard the thud of their bodies hitting the ground. A pop. A cry of pain.
The ringing in her ears subsided. She blinked, and nearly screamed when she realized she was halfway on top of Blake, almost nose to nose with her. Worse, her face was pale and drawn with pain.
"Blake!" Yang skidded to a halt beside them and dropped to her knees. "Weiss! Are you okay?"
Blake groaned. "My arm..."
After tackling her head-on, it should have been Weiss' back taking the brunt of the fall—Blake must have twisted them around. Belatedly, she realized she was still lying on top of Blake's injured arm. She struggled to get up, or at least shift her weight, but she could hardly move. It felt like her entire body was made of lead.
Professor Goodwitch entered her field of view and reached for her, and Weiss recoiled.
"She doesn't like strangers touching her," Ruby explained hastily, crowding in beside Goodwitch. Yang took her gently by the shoulders and rolled her off of Blake and onto her side, careful to avoid touching her back.
"Can you rotate the joint at all?" Goodwitch asked Blake.
She hissed in a breath and shook her head.
Their professor felt her shoulder. "It's dislocated. This will hurt a bit."
"Yeah, I know."
While Goodwitch pushed her shoulder back into place, Ruby reached down to help Weiss into a sitting position—but the instant she touched Weiss' bare arm, she stopped trying to lift her. Without warning, she lunged forward and pressed a palm against her forehead.
"What are you doing?"
"What am I doing? How long have you had a fever?"
Weiss cast about for anything that might provide a distraction... but the Grimm were all dead. Probably by Goodwitch's hand, if the foot-long splinters embedded all over the clearing were any indication.
"Just today," she hedged.
"You promised!" Yang burst out. "As soon as you thought it was getting infected, you were supposed to tell us!"
"Infected."
All four of them turned to Professor Goodwitch. Their professor, who had very much been listening to this entire conversation. "Miss Xiao Long," she said, her voice deceptively calm. "Kindly explain to me what you meant by that."
Yang said nothing.
Goodwitch rose to her full height, glowering down at their entire team. "Someone is going to explain to me why you deliberately fielded an injured teammate without informing me, right now, or so help me I will fail every single one of you!"
Weiss' stomach turned. She bit her lip, bracing herself—
"We can't," Blake said, hugging her injured arm to her chest.
Their professor's face started to turn an alarming shade of red. "Miss Rose. You are the leader of this team, and as such you are responsible for your teammates. Sending one of them into active combat with what I gather is an infected wound shows an egregious disregard for that responsibility. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Ruby's shoulders hunched. "No," she said, her voice very small.
"Ozpin broke a number of usual protocols by bringing you to Beacon this early. Until now, you have proven to be a dedicated student, despite the difficulty of skipping so many years at Signal. I do not believe that risking one of your friends' lives so carelessly is in your character, but if you cannot give me an explanation I will have to recommend that he reverse his decision."
"That's not fair—" Yang started, then cut off when Goodwitch made a slashing motion with her riding crop.
Ruby hung her head. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, sounding absolutely wretched. But even with her life's dream on the line, she didn't say another word. None of them did.
"It's not their fault!" Weiss blurted out. "I told them not to tell anyone!"
"Miss Schnee, do you know how many first-year students have died at this institution?"
Silence.
"Three. Do you know what those three deaths had in common?"
Weiss could guess.
"A compromised aura. Be it from illness, unauthorized fights, or substance abuse. In every case, the student in question did not disclose that fact. That number very nearly became four today."
She flinched—but not as badly as they did. Blake's ears went flat against her head, Yang's fists clenched so tight that they shook, and Ruby was on the verge of tears. Weiss hadn't realized how much it would hurt them when she pushed herself too far. Of course they would have blamed themselves for not saying anything, if she'd... and that wasn't fair.
It hadn't been fair to Penny, either.
"I'm sorry." Weiss hated apologies, and this one was no exception. When was sorry ever good enough?
It wasn't. You had to actually fix the mistake.
"You can't tell anyone this," she said, ignoring her teammates' startled exclamations. "But I need a professor to know, so that this doesn't happen again."
"Is this secret a danger to your classmates?"
"No."
"To you?"
"...No." Not directly, at least.
"Then it will remain confidential," Goodwitch promised.
"Even from Headmaster Ozpin?"
"Even from him."
Weiss pulled off her jacket and undid the bindings.
If nothing else, she would forever treasure getting to see Professor Goodwitch so startled she dropped her riding crop, took off her glasses, cleaned them, and still hadn't quite gotten around to closing her mouth by the time she put them back on. "I... see," she said. Her expression softened. "That can't have been easy to tell me. Thank you."
Weiss, who had braced herself for shouting, nearly toppled over.
Just like that, Goodwitch was all business again. "Now that your aura is broken, the only thing that will help this infection is rest and antibiotics, and we won't be getting much of either out here. Your mission is canceled, and you will receive a low passing grade. Despite your extraordinary recklessness, you performed well early on and I will take special circumstances into account just this once."
Her eyes flashed. "Miss Schnee, I expect you to tell me the next time you cannot complete an assignment for health reasons. Pull anything like this again and I will send you home. Understood?"
Chastened, Weiss hung her head.
"We will return to Beacon immediately," Goodwitch went on. "You and Miss Belladonna will proceed to the infirmary for treatment."
"No!" And then, before Goodwitch could explode again, "I have my own doctor."
Goodwitch's eyes narrowed. "This doctor wouldn't happen to live in Atlas, would he?"
"He'll make the trip if I call him." Weiss had no idea what Father had on Heinrich Marigold, but it was enough that he was certain he'd keep her secret. A housecall wasn't that big of a request, by comparison.
"Call now. If he is not in Vale within an hour of our arrival, you will go to the infirmary. Professor Peach will see to your injury, and I will personally ensure that she respects your privacy. Is that understood?"
Weiss nodded.
"Good. And unless you have an aversion to the infirmary as well, Miss Belladonna—"
"I'll go," Blake said, ducking her head in embarrassment.
The hike back to the airship was quiet. Weiss struggled to keep up, as sweat beaded on her forehead and her body started to shake. Yang stepped up beside her, and wordlessly tugged Weiss' arm over her shoulders, half-carrying her the rest of the way. All three of them hovered over her while the airship took off. Every so often, Ruby would reach out to feel her forehead. She didn't have the heart to push her away.
She tried not to look at Blake. Because every time she did, she saw the sling and remembered what she'd done. The way she'd twisted to make sure Weiss didn't land on her back. No matter how much she thought about it, she could think of no other explanation. Blake had risked breaking an arm to protect her wings. Which was insane, and ridiculous, and stupid, and for some reason it made her want to cry.
Weiss blamed the fever.