"Eleanora…"
The child could barely hear the voice, the rush of the wind against her ears was thunderous, it's cold touch as it ran across her body numbing. An unfamiliar weightlessness tugged at her stomach, pulling her down. Pulling her away from the voice.
"Eleanora!" The voice pleaded again. This name, she didn't know this name but this voice... it tugged at her memory but it's identity eluded her, she reached out towards it but all she grasped was air that streamed through her fingers.
Who are you…?
The child opened her eyes, dark clouds filled her vision, shifting slightly as she fell through them, their touch soft yet cold.
Who had called her?
Ah, it must have been one of them...
Through her daze she saw something, barely visible against the dark clouds. A grey airship, its propeller struggling to stay steady as large, dark birds harassed it, threatening to cause it to crash through the clouds as she was. Two women were looking out of an opening in the ship's side, the metal had been ripped open, the only piece still attached swung in the increasingly aggressive winds. Maybe, soon, it too would follow her through the clouds.
The child looked at the two women, their faces getting slowly smaller and smaller as she continued to fall away. Her groggy mind could not comprehend what she was seeing because she knew these two women and yet it felt impossible, for, to look upon one was to look upon her own face. This woman was reaching out towards her, threatening to fall after her. Her pale skin was flushed, her orange hair was flying wildy, her aqua eyes were surrounded by fire. The other woman beside her seemed to be holding her back, preventing her from following after the falling child.
Could it be? Was the other woman, Ruby Rose? Her silver eyes were unmistakable, brimming with tears as she held back the fiery eyed woman, her red tinged hair framed her ghostly pale face, her white cape enveloped the pair in a beautiful cocoon.
"Eleanora!" The orange haired woman shrieked, electricity coursing across her body as she continued to struggle against the woman that may have been Ruby but, who may have, just as easily, not been. The child's mind was a jumble of pieces, none of which particularly fitting right. The bright eyed woman continued to reach out as far as her hand allowed. Yet, she had already fallen too far.
"Eleanora!"
The child stretched out a feeble hand towards the woman. The numbness was being replaced by a stinging pain that was spreading from the back of her head. Claws dug into her shoulders, jerking her painfully out of her fall.
Help me. She begged, her voice failing her as her world began to slowly fade into darkness.
Help me. She pleaded with the woman that looked so much like herself.
Please, someone, help me.
"Penny!" Ruby yelled.
This could not be happening!
This was not happening!
And yet the young huntress could not look away from the crater in which her friend was lying deathly still within. She shook her head, fresh tears threatening to spill as memories flashed before her eyes, from the Vital Festival, from the last time she'd seen Penny Polendina in a state like this… last time they'd believed she'd been… no! They wouldn't let that happen again.
Weiss was holding her back, struggling with the younger girl as electricity continued to crackle across the android's body. Weiss feared that, if she hadn't stopped Ruby as quickly as she had, they'd have had another patient to treat and they hadn't been doing very well with their first one thus far.
"Whitly go to the kitchens." Weiss ordered, looking past Blake, her hands covering her mouth, her ears drooped fearfully as she took in the sight of the collapsed girl, the green blood-like fluid continued to seep out, staining the ground with its fluorescent glow. "There should be an insulation blanket!"
"Will that even work?" He asked shakily, also looking at the girl, he'd seen the protector of Mantle more times then he would have liked in his young life but, seeing her there, broken and bleeding, the true seriousness of the situation slowly dawned on him.
"There's only one way to find out!" Weiss called back, sparing her younger brother a brief glance. "Go! And hurry!"
Without another word the young teenager ran out of the entryway, through one of the passages that would lead him towards the kitchens.
"We've got to help her, Weiss!" Ruby begged frantically, struggling against her teammate's grip but Weiss refused to release her, holding her arms as tightly as she could. Ruby looked between Weiss and Penny. "Weiss, please!"
Weiss knew, if Ruby had been thinking clearly, she very easily could have escaped using her Semblance. She would have been powerless to stop her now that they understood what it really entailed.
"Ruby, if you tried to help her like this you'd most likely get electrocuted." Weiss tried to reason, she could smell the ozone of the electrocuted air from where she stood, she'd used lightning dust enough times to recognise it without question.
"But…" Ruby began, looking back at the collapsed girl but a soft hand on her shoulder captured her attention.
"She's right, Ruby." Blake calmly said. "We all want to help Penny and we can't if we get hurt ourselves…"
"Weiss!" Whitley's voice echoed through the hall before he appeared, running and half slipping on the polished tiles, a large grey bag clutched to his chest. "Is this it?"
Weiss spared the object in her brother's hand a quick glance, swiftly reading the print on its surface. It was meant to be used to deal with fires but, in theory, it should also work against electricity.
Weiss nodded her head. "Now we just need to wrap Penny in that and get her inside."
"We have to hurry." Blake agreed, taking the bag from Whitley's hand and quickly running to the crater, gracefully jumping in. It was tedious work, May and Whitley also had to climb in beside her, making sure not to directly touch the injured girl and roll her onto the blanket. It was only when she was securely on it, did Weiss release Ruby and the two ran towards the crater, carefully helping May and Blake as they tried to lift Penny up. With each of the women clutching an end of the blanket they carried her up the stairs into Schenne Manor, Whitley running ahead to keep the doors open, oblivious to the fact that somehow, his usually pristine clothes had been stained with the green liquid. The huntresses struggled with the weight of the android, she may not have looked it as she zoomed across the sky, but Penny probably weighed enough to cause even Nora to struggle. As they continued to struggle up the stairs to Weiss's room, Ruby kept shooting the unmoving girl concerned looks, hoping that she'd say something, or move or show some form of life but, all that changed was the stain across her chest which continued to spread.
"Ruby watch out!" Weiss yelled, causing the younger girl to jump and crash into the marble bust that had been blocking her way, unbeknownst to the girl. Ruby clumsily side stepped, causing the carrier and the unconscious girl within to sway precariously. The other three struggled to stop their load from crashing to the ground, succeeding with a small thump as Penny briefly collided with Weiss's door, which, upon sensing the new arrivals, slid open. At that moment, as Penny's body came in contact with the electronic system of the door, a web of electricity bounced between the two, a series of golden sparks traveled across the door to vanish along with lighting of the whole mansion.
"I-I'm sorry." Ruby sheepishly apologised as the darkness fell over the small group.
"We're almost in the room." Blake replied, her eyes being the first to adjust to the darkness. They were all worried for their friend, mistakes were bound to happen and reprimanding Ruby for it would do nothing but waste more time they couldn't afford.
"R-Right." Ruby sighed, squinting her eyes into the darkness where the door had previously opened for them, the dim moonlight coming in through the window their only guide.
"What in tarnations has happened to the lights?!" Klein exclaimed as he saw the new arrival carefully enter. His eyes then flashed pink as he saw the injured girl they had brought in. "W-who is this? W-what's happened?"
"This is Penny." Ruby quickly explained, as the small group carefully lowered the girl to the ground. Weiss tentatively knelt beside her, the scent of ozone had vanished, very possibly, when they had short circuited the main power supply of the house, that may have helped calm some of Penny's own circuits though, what that meant for an android she did not know. "We have no idea what happened but she's in a pretty bad state…" Ruby's voice trailed off.
Klein sighed, his eyes flashing to brown. "I can't say your poor friend in the bed is any better." The huntresses exchanged a look, unable to stand any more bad news. "I've set her up with an IV drip, she's extremely dehydrated and is covered in burns. If I didn't know any better, from their pattern, I'd almost say she was struck by lightning…"
"Close enough," Weiss admitted.
"She's in stable condition for the time being." Kleine continued, "but she will not be waking up anytime soon, not until we can give her proper treatment…"
"It would be nice if Jaune were here." Mused Blake, her ears flattening as she spoke her thoughts aloud. "He'd probably be able to help her with his Semblance."
"Well moping around here won't do us any good." May countered, crossing her arms. "Mantle still needs us."
"Does nothing phase you?" Mumbled Weiss, shaking her head at the huntress.
"I'm sorry if I want to be somewhere actually helping!" May harshly replied, narrowing her eyes.
"Well!" Began Weiss, ready to answer the older woman but Ruby put a hand on her shoulder, silencing her friend.
"May, go. We understand you want to help Mantle and we have no right to stop you." said Ruby in an understanding voice. May had friends back in Mantle, she would not say it but she was worried for them, just as she was worried for Yang and the rest.
"We could really do with some more hands on the ground." May said, looking pointedly at them as Ruby, Weiss and Blake shook their heads.
"Mantle needs you, our friends need us here." Blake explained.
Although May didn't seem happy with their answer she hadn't expected anything else from the small group. Although they meant well, they often refused to see the bigger picture.
"Well, if you do find yourselves in Mantle, the Happy Huntresses are gathering civilians in the mines."
"Thank you." Ruby said, sparing the woman a small smile, appreciating what her words meant.
With nothing else left to be said, May Marigold nodded her head at the small group and left the room, using the moonlight streaming through the windows as her guide.
The small group stood in silence as the echoes of May's steps slowly began to fade, each being left to their own thoughts. Ruby looked down at her hands that had become covered in the green liquid penny was still losing.
"It's all just too much." She said, closing her eyes and silently wondering, what had they done for things to have turned out this bad? "The grimm, the crater, Nora, Penny ... How do we fix all that?" As she spoke Ruby looked at each of her companions, her silver eyes begging for answers none of them possessed. A sneeze from Klein caught her attention, his eyes flashing blue as he rubbed at his nose.
"One step at a time, my dear." He said, his voice rising in pitch as he tried to hold back another sneeze. He sneezed once again which turned into a slight cough as he cleared his throat and his eyes turned brown. "You can't worry about fixing everything." He continued in a deeper voice. "Simply focus on what's in front of you." He looked at each of the youths as he spoke. "If you'd like someplace to start, I'd be able to work faster if you could bring the power back on."
"How would we…?" Began Ruby, not having the slightest idea how they could perform even that relatively simple task.
"We have a generator near the edge of the estate." An unfamiliar voice spoke over Ruby, causing many to jump in the darkness.
"Mother!" Exclaimed whitley as Willow Schnee leaned against the door, a bottle of half drunken alcohol casually held in her hand as she surveyed the visitors with mild intrigue.
"Weiss, I wish you had warned me you had friends visiting." She observed, raising a delicate eyebrow as her gaze fell on her daughter.
"It wasn't particularly planned." Sheepishly answered Weiss, raising a hand to the back of her head.
"Klein, it is good to have you back."
"It's good to be back, madam." Klein nodded his head at his former employer.
"As I was saying." Willow continued, turning her attention back to her children. "The back-up generator at the estate's edge may be able to bring the power back."
"Then that's where we should start." Ruby stated, relieved to have some form of plan, even if it were simply short term.
"I'll go." Offered Weiss standing up straighter.
"Since when do you know anything about electrical circuits." Whitley commented.
"And you do?" Weiss rolled her eyes at her younger brother.
"As a matter of fact, I do." He smirked at his sister's disbelieving expression. "My studies didn't simply halt just because you weren't here."
"Fine, we'll both go then." And Weiss nudged her brother playfully.
"Girl, you are a faunus, correct?" Willow declared, looking at Blake with an unreadable expression. Blake took a weary step back, her ears flattening, she had almost forgotten that not all Schnees were as fond of her kind as Weiss. Weiss took a step between her mother and Blake, ready to argue whatever cruel words her mother may have to say but she surprised them by saying. "Please, If I recall, you have almost perfect vision in the dark? Could you go with my children? Weiss is a huntress and can protect herself but Whitley has had no such training."
"Mother!" Whitley exclaimed, feeling his cheeks flush at the manner his mother spoke of him. But Blake stood up straighter and looked Willow in the eye.
"I'll make sure they're both safe." She promised.
Hi! So that's chapter 1. I hope you guys enjoyed it as the RWBY hiatus continues to go strong. Feel free to drop a review, I alway love to hear from you and I'll try update ASAP :D - Luna Pendragon