The nearest hospital was a twenty-minutes flight away from the site of the incident. The staff met them in front of the building with a stretcher already prepared for Yang, and they quickly lifted her up onto it with Blake and Ruby's help.
Yang felt unordinarily heavy. She was passed out, her mouth opened in a little 'o' as her head lolled to the side, hair plastered to her forehead and neck. They'd bandaged her arm to the best of their ability on the jet, and though wrappings were soaked through by now, anything was better than letting her bleed out.
"Which one of you is her sister?" one of the nurses asked as they rushed inside.
"I am," Ruby said breathlessly. "Can you help her?"
"We'll do our best. Please come with us."
Ruby went with the medical team out of the lobby into a hallway, answering a barrage of questions. Blake tried to follow, Weiss at her side, but another nurse and a security guard stopped them at the door.
"I'm sorry, but you can't go with them," the nurse said.
"We're family too," Weiss said, shoulders tense.
"And you will be able to see her, just not now. Please let our doctors take care of her first."
Weiss pursed her lips. Blake had half the mind to push the nurse aside and go after Yang anyway.
"I'm going to need to ask how this happened," the guard said. "Standard procedure."
Blake stood back. How was she supposed to answer that? Tell the truth?
"We're Huntresses. Things went bad," Weiss said. "That'll be enough information for you."
She looked the guard in the eyes, head held high. He squared his shoulders and stared back, trying to match her intensity, but he didn't last more than a few seconds before he averted his gaze. He gave a curt nod, as if to say he wasn't done with them, and walked away.
"Are either of you injured?" the nurse asked.
"No. We're just fine," Weiss said.
"Restrooms are that way. You can clean up there."
The nurse walked away. Blake looked down at herself, and only then she noticed the state she was in. Her shirt and coat were covered in blood, as was every bit of exposed skin above her waist. She shuddered.
"Do you want me to help you?" Weiss asked. She had gotten some blood splashed on her face when Blake had cut– when she'd done it, but Weiss had managed to wipe it off during the flight.
"No," Blake said brusquely. "I can handle it."
"Okay." Weiss held her shoulder. "I'll be waiting here when you're done."
Blake all but ran to the restroom, all too aware of every pair of eyes in the lobby staring at her. She slammed the door open with her shoulder and leaned on the sink. She looked up, and was greeted with her reflection.
Somehow, she looked even more terrible than she felt. How had she even gotten in such a state? She vaguely remembered carrying Yang and doing the brunt of the work to stabilize her while Ruby and Weiss assisted. The memories played out strangely in her head, like crisp, crystal-clear images, but disconnected, chunks of time missing in-between.
Blake turned on the faucet and splashed water on her face and neck. The cold water distracted her, but only enough that she could focus on cleaning herself up. She splashed her face a few more times until she was satisfied with her reflection. There was nothing she could do about her hair without making a huge mess, so she took off her coat and her shirt and moved down to her arms.
Her hand brushed against the blade on her belt.
She froze up. Her ears rang with the strangled noise that had escaped Weiss' throat the moment she swung down, and Ruby's stuttering commands the seconds after.
Blake took out the blade and dropped it in the sink. She stared at the frozen blood along the edge, before she suddenly picked it up.
Grabbing her shirt with her other hand, Blake moved both under the faucet and started scrubbing. Her arms moved with mechanical precision, her teeth gritted so hard she thought they might crack with the pressure.
The skin of her palm sliced open. Wincing, Blake withdrew her hand and turned her wrist to look. It wasn't a deep cut, thankfully. Her shirt, in the meanwhile, was a tattered mess, and completely drenched.
At least her blade was clean. Or so it looked. The longer she stared, the less certain she became.
Taking a deep breath, Blake put her shirt and coat back on, resolving that she wouldn't feel clean no matter how thoroughly she washed. She hesitated for a moment before sheathing her blade, then walked out of the restroom.
Weiss was sitting in the lobby, an arm around Ruby, sitting at her side. Blake must have been gone longer than she realized if Ruby had already returned.
"-don't think that way," Blake heard Weiss whispering as she approached. "You did the best you could under the circumstances."
"You mean I panicked," Ruby muttered.
"For a moment. Just as I did. But we got our acts together, did we not?" Weiss rubbed Ruby's back. "We can't cry and kick ourselves about the way we acted then. You'd have to be made of stone to not lose your cool in a situation like that."
"I guess," Ruby said. "I just hope Yang sees it the same way."
"Somehow I doubt she'll be yelling at you."
Blake stopped in front of them. "Hey."
"Blake!" Ruby stood up and hugged her. She winced and drew back. "Your clothes are soaked! What happened?"
"I had a little accident in the bathroom," Blake said. "No big deal."
Weiss frowned at her, eyes narrowed, and Blake knew she didn't buy the excuse, not for a second. She was merciful enough not to pursue the topic, though, and for that Blake was grateful.
"Will Yang be okay?" Blake said. She felt dirty even asking the question.
"She's in surgery right now," Ruby said. "The doctors said it'll take an hour, more or less, but that it might be a while before she wakes up. They also said that we did a pretty good job, all things considered, so odds are she'll be alright." She hugged Blake again. "Thanks, Blake."
"Don't thank me," Blake said. "It was a team effort."
"It really was." Weiss stared at her pointedly. "We all did what we had to do."
Blake nodded. She got the message nice and clear. Whether she agreed with it was another story.
"Oh no." Ruby sat back down, covering her face in terror. "I just realized Jaune and Pyrrha don't even know what happened. I have to tell them. And Dad. And uncle Qrow!"
"Ruby, one step at a time," Weiss said. "I can tell your father for you. There's no reason you should have to do it."
"There's every reason!" Ruby said. "You can tell Jaune and Pyrrha. How about that?"
Weiss nodded half-heartedly. "If you insist."
Blake didn't envy either of them. She had no idea how she'd explain what happened to anyone, let alone a loved one. She barely understood it herself, and she'd been there. She'd been part of it.
"Wait." Blake snapped to attention. "Where's Amber?"
"What?" Weiss looked at the empty seat to her left. "She was sitting here just a minute ago!"
Blake looked around, ready to take off into a run if she didn't see the woman anywhere. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. Amber was standing just a few meters away, staring at a TV mounted on a wall, a look of confusion on her face.
"Oh sweet heavens," Weiss cursed under her breath. "Please don't tell me she doesn't know what a TV is."
Blake walked over with Ruby and Weiss. Amber cast a brief look at them before she returned to looking at the screen.
"I am not confused, am I? This is recent?" she asked, gesturing.
A news report was playing on the TV. As Blake watched, the feed changed from the news studio to an overview of a street full of ambulances and fire trucks in front of a smoking building. Blake read the news crawl on the bottom of the screen and felt her heart drop.
"Weiss, you really need to make that call."
"Dang. When you guys said you had a house in the countryside, I was expecting, you know, a house," Nora said. "Not whatever this is."
"I hope you're not intimidated," Pyrrha said.
"Nah. Just surprised, I guess."
"Can we talk inside the house?" Jaune grunted, carrying Ozpin between himself and Goodwitch. "This guy's surprisingly heavy."
They left the car in front of the garage, and Pyrrha led the way around the house towards the front. Nora couldn't help but gawk. Lush green fields surrounded the place in every direction, with a sparse tree line to the east and south. The highway they'd taken to get here was far enough away that the noises of traffic couldn't reach them anymore. All that was missing, Nora thought, was a nice little lake to take a dip in. But that might be too much to ask.
They arrived at the front. Pyrrha opened the doors with a scan of her hand, then ushered Jaune and Goodwitch in before entering herself. Nora shared a look with Ren before following. The doors led into a short entrance hallway, which then led into a large living area. It was bare except for a couch, a table, and a collection of boxes scattered across the floor.
"We're still moving in," Jaune said sheepishly.
Goodwitch looked around severely. "You're certain this site is safe?"
"Security's the first thing we took care of, so yeah. You don't have to worry about that," Jaune said. "Come on, let's take Ozpin to the infirmary. This way."
"I'll check security," Pyrrha said.
Jaune nodded, and he and Goodwitch carried Ozpin off into a hallway. Pyrrha put her hands on her hips and sighed, her head bowed low. After a few seconds, she seemed to remember Nora and Ren were there and put on a smile.
"Sorry about the mess," she said. "We should have put some more effort into fixing everything up if we meant to give you a tour today."
"Don't worry about it," Nora said. "This place is in tip-top shape compared to some places we've stayed at."
"We could help you fix the house while we're here, if that'd be okay with you," Ren said.
"That would be great." Pyrrha paused. "I hope you realize you don't have to be here. Things happened so fast, and now you're caught up in all of this. And Ozpin, well…"
"Hey, we might hate the guy," Nora said, "but we're big enough to know some things are more important than that. We can put all that ugly business aside for now." She raised a finger. "I still plan on giving him a piece of my mind when he wakes up, though."
Ren grinned. "I think it's fair to say you're stuck with us now."
Pyrrha smiled, and Nora was happy to see it reach her eyes this time, even if only a little. She gestured for Nora and Ren to follow and entered the same hallway Jaune had taken, though she took a different turn into a new one.
"That way are Ruby, Weiss, and Yang's bedrooms, plus a few unclaimed ones and the infirmary," Pyrrha said. "My bedroom and Blake's are this way."
"What about Jaune?" Nora asked.
"He doesn't need a bedroom of his own."
"Oooh, spicy." Nora wiggled her eyebrows.
Ren sighed. "Nora, please contain yourself."
"The security room is at the end of this hallway," Pyrrha continued. "We also have a training area, but that's the opposite way. I'll show it to you later. And the kitchen. And the hangar out back. And we've got an underground safe room." She rubbed her arm self-consciously. "It's a big place."
"How'd you guys even get a hold of this place, anyway? I didn't think you were that loaded," Nora said.
"We're not," Pyrrha said. "This building was commissioned by the city as a military outpost a couple centuries back, but the project was abandoned before completion. Lots of people have taken an interest in the place over the years, but that's always fallen through for one reason or another."
"Okay, but-" Nora glared at the back of her neck- "did ya pay for it?"
"We pulled some strings." Pyrrha shrugged. "We have some shrewd negotiators in our ranks."
"Oh, I didn't forget that."
They entered the security room at the end of the hallway. Inside was a panel connected to a bunch of monitors on the wall, most of them showing live feeds from around the house and the vicinity. To the side was a larger screen with a satellite map of Remnant, little red dots blinking across it.
"What's this one?" Nora asked.
Pyrrha answered after a second – she was busy checking something on the panel. "Grimm radar. We had the Council hook us up with one of Beacon's satellites."
"The red dots are Grimm, then," Ren said. "Shouldn't you be going out to kill them right now?"
"No need. What you're looking at are smaller Breaches, nothing local forces or Beacon can't handle," Pyrrha said. "We take care of the larger ones."
"I guess we'll learn the ropes. If we do end up joining the team, that is," Nora said. "You guys get attacked at home often? 'Cause wow, this looks like some serious business."
"It's never happened before," Pyrrha said, "which doesn't mean it won't someday."
"Can't bash that philosophy."
Pyrrha continued to do whatever she was doing, and Nora couldn't tell if it was so important that she needed to devote all her attention to it, or if she was just shutting down. Ren seemed just as lost as Nora, which was no good at all. What was the right way to console a friend after her surrogate dad pulled some wizard trick out of nowhere and then went unconscious for maybe forever?
Something tapped on the door outside. Pyrrha jumped, only relaxing when a corgi slipped inside the room and padded over to her, tongue lolling out. She crouched and lifted the dog in her hands.
"Hey, boy. Sorry I didn't come to check on you right away," Pyrrha said. "Did you see Jaune already?"
The dog licked at her nose, then panted at Nora and Ren.
"Is that Zwei? He's so cute!" Nora said.
"Yes he is. Zwei, these are Nora and Ren. They might be moving in with us, so behave," Pyrrha said. "Do you want to pick him up?"
"Oooh, pretty please!" Nora accepted the dog and cradled him in her arms. He looked up at her with his beady eyes, panting happily. "Ren, look at this! Why did we never get a dog, this is awesome!"
"Probably because we regularly got into trouble with criminals and the law," Ren said. "That's no life for a dog, Nora."
"You don't know that. He could have kept watch while we raided bad guys' lairs," Nora said. "He's a guard dog, right?"
"He just met you a minute ago and he's almost dozing off in your arms already," Pyrrha said. "No, Zwei's the opposite of a guard dog. He is combat-trained, though."
Ren peered dubiously at the dog. "He is?"
"Of course. I'd watch your ankles while you're in the house," Pyrrha said. "He really knows how to take them out from under you."
She smiled, but it lasted barely a second before the door opened wide and Jaune walked inside, Scroll in hand and deathly pale.
"Pyrrha, I just got off the phone with the others," he said. "It's Yang. Something really bad happened."
The team and Amber gathered around Weiss' Scroll. Nobody said anything for a long while on both ends, just taking in everything that had been said over the last few minutes.
Ruby leaned forward on her chair, rubbing the corner of her eyes. The news worried her, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't a little relieved too. Nobody was seriously hurt, and this was something she could focus on that wasn't Yang lying unconscious on some operating table.
"Alright," Ruby said. "Is there anything else we need to know?"
"I think that's all," Jaune said on the other end of the call. "Unless someone's keeping mum about some other disaster?" He paused. "Sorry. Not the time for jokes."
"You're sure you guys will be safe there?" Ruby asked. "I mean, Miss Goodwitch, you said they'll probably try another attack, whatever that means."
Miss Goodwitch didn't respond. Come to think of it, she hadn't said anything in a while – since Ruby, Weiss and Blake had narrated their side of things.
Pyrrha spoke instead. "Even if nothing happens, we have to operate on the assumption that whoever's behind the bombing will try something," she said. "But don't worry about us right now. Just stay where you are and take care of Yang."
"Are you sure? If something happened and we weren't there…" Ruby said.
"We'll be okay. Anyone shows up in a kilometer radius around the house, we'll know right away," Jaune said. "Plus, we've already got Nora and Ren for reinforcements."
"And Zwei!" Nora piped up.
"Yeah, we can't discount the little guy."
Ruby couldn't argue. She trusted Jaune and Pyrrha, and truthfully, the last thing she wanted to do right now was leave Yang behind. She'd just have to trust everything would turn out alright.
"Is there a chance this Tyrian Callows might come after you guys? Should we be worried about that?" Pyrrha asked.
"Him, come after us, after-" Weiss frowned. "Well, I hadn't considered that before, but you've sure put me on edge now."
"Sorry."
"I don't know if he can track us down," Ruby said. "We kinda flew away and left him in the middle of a snowstorm. That and, uh, Amber kinda turned him into a smear. But I guess even that won't kill him."
"Right, because he resurrects himself by consuming the souls of the people he kills with his poison stinger," Jaune said. "Did I get that right?"
"Yup, that's all true, if Amber is to be believed." Weiss shot their strange companion a look. "And I'm sad to say I do believe her. Time-stopping spells, souls, people that seemingly can't die. Everything's turned to madness."
"Remember when the evil monsters were the weirdest thing in our lives?" Ruby sighed. "Simpler times."
"Let's just hope nobody gets turned into a frog. Or abducted by aliens. Or the next craziest thing."
Ruby almost laughed at that. Almost.
"I need to speak with Ozpin," Amber said.
After a moment's silence, Jaune replied, "Uh, he's sleeping right now. We don't know when he's gonna wake up."
"Then I will go to him, and he will wake up," Amber said, and pulled her cloak around herself, as if that settled the matter.
"Absolutely not," Goodwitch spoke up all of a sudden. "Ozpin's got a target on his back, and you've got another on yours. Do you really think it'd be wise for you to be at the same place at this time?"
"Well, it'd be wiser than dividing our forces. Stronger together and all that," Ruby said. "We'll go with her, obviously, we just have to wait for Yang to get cleared."
"Ruby Rose," Goodwitch said, and Ruby felt like a fresh Beacon recruit again, "do me a favor and don't bring Amber to Ozpin. Keep her away. Protect her. Hide her, if you can. Understood? Her life is in your hands."
Ruby looked at Amber, with her tattered cloak and translucent eyes. She radiated power – just being near her made Ruby feel as though she was standing deep within a forest rather than a sterile hospital lobby. And despite that she seemed so tired, kept standing only by a combination of sheer will and desperation.
"Yeah," Ruby said. "I hear you loud and clear, Miss Goodwitch." She picked up Weiss' Scroll. "Guys, we gotta hang up now. Keep us updated if anything happens."
"Yeah. Keep us updated on Yang too, please," Jaune said.
"Okay, we will."
Ruby ended the call and tossed the Scroll back to Weiss. She raised her an eyebrow, while Blake looked at her knowingly.
"We're not listening to Goodwitch, are we?" Blake asked.
"No, we are not," Ruby said. "Amber?"
Amber looked at her, worry in her eyes.
"We're going to figure out a way to help you, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow," Ruby said. "Are you going to try to leave on your own?"
"I won't leave you." Amber shifted in place, looking at each of them in turn before she bowed her head. "I am forever in your debt. Thank you. All of you."
"Don't mention it. Blake, can you find a place for her to stay the night? Someplace better than a hospital – there must be a hotel or something nearby," Ruby said. "Keep an eye on her, make sure nothing bad happens. And try to get some sleep too."
"I can do that," Blake said, though she didn't seem so sure about the last part.
"I gotta call my dad," Ruby said, rubbing her nose. "Weiss, can you go check on Yang? The doctors should be done operating on her by now, I think."
Weiss all but jumped to her feet, a nervous eagerness about her, though she lingered for a moment, looking at Ruby. "Maybe you'd prefer if I stayed with you for this?"
Ruby shook her head. "I'll be fine."
For a moment Weiss seemed to ponder arguing, before she went in for a hug. She held Ruby for almost a minute, then left for the reception desk. Blake gave Ruby a tired smile before she too walked away, Amber in tow.
Ruby sat down and took out her Scroll. She stared at it for a minute, feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders. With a heavy sigh, she opened her contacts list and tapped on her dad's name.
Cinder opened her eyes as the light of dawn slipped through the cracks in the treetops.
She hadn't truly fallen asleep. It hadn't been a question of comfort. After years of living in that infernal shoebox of a cell, sleeping with her back to a tree and nothing but dirt and leaves beneath her felt like heaven.
It had been half-dreams that had kept her awake. Half-dreams, and that presence tugging incessantly on the corner of her mind. Far away, waning, and yet so close. If she closed her eyes she could feel it on the tips of her fingers, on the wind caressing her cheeks and the fire flickering in her chest.
So close. So far away.
The Nevermore still slept at the edge of the clearing, its head resting sideways on the ground while wings hard as steel covered the rest of its body. At least it looked to be sleeping. Cinder didn't know if Grimm ever truly slept, and she had never thought to ask.
Restless, Cinder pushed her up to her feet and walked over to the Nevermore. It shifted its weight around and craned its neck, looking up at her with eyes of fathomless red. She brushed the side of its head with the back of her hand. It didn't react except to stare back at her.
It had intelligence, that much she knew. How to pick and track down prey, how to corner them and protect itself and best tear flesh apart with beak and talon. It would have been easy to see it as nothing more than a predator animal, but it was something above that. It knew what it was, and what role it had in existence. And it had no doubts regarding that.
Because of that, perhaps it was above people as well. Cinder couldn't decide if she pitied or envied the creature.
"Oooh, what a precious sight. Cindy's got a pet. Did you give it a name yet?"
Cinder spun in place, flinging a shard of obsidian glass with a flick of her wrist. With a thunk, it sank deep into the bark of a tree on the other side of the clearing, sending burning splinters flying everywhere. Tyrian ducked under it, tail wrapped around his waist.
"Hey now, this is no way to greet a friend!" he hissed. "Especially a friend who flew all night just to see you!"
"Do not sneak up on me." Cinder lowered her hand. "And we are not friends."
"Of course not." Tyrian rolled his eyes. "Bad, bad Cindy doesn't do friends. She's all business, that spunky little go-getter."
Cinder's hand twitched. She wouldn't miss a second time. But that would do nothing more than briefly satisfy her temper.
She walked away from the Nevermore, and Tyrian slinked towards her, meeting her halfway across the clearing. Cinder felt that irksome presence tugging at her mind again, and knew something wasn't right.
"Where's the Maiden?" she asked, dreading the answer.
"Somewhere in frigid Atlas, I assume?" Tyrian said. He bowed his waist and made a little flourish with his hands. "I can't be sure, seeing as I don't have her."
"You don't have her." Cinder curled her fists. "All you had to do was take her soul and bring it to me."
"So I did, and yet." Tyrian threw his hands up. "Easier said than done. You see, a little jailbird's faulty information led me to believe the Maiden would be an easy target, but oh no, she put up a fight. Stupid wench killed me dead so many times I lost count. So many souls wasted – shame really, I quite liked some of them."
"She's weak and frail," Cinder said. "You're practically immortal."
Tyrian groaned. "She's a Maiden, and an obstinate one at that. She held out for so long, the cavalry arrived and got her out."
"Beacon?"
"Worse," Tyrian said. "Your squeaky fangirl and her little troupe."
Ruby.
The air wavered around Cinder, leaves around her feet sparking and catching fire. A smell of ozone filled her nostrils, and the sunlight seemed to dim.
"You had her-" her voice crackled like lightning- "and you let her go."
"She escaped," Tyrian said. "And tore me into bits before she did, too."
"She was half-dead already, you idiot! All you had to do was finish the job!" she yelled. "I waited years for this, I bided my time, and you expect me to forgive your failure because it was hard? You had one job, and you couldn't even-"
She choked on her words, Tyrian's tail coming unfurled and shooting towards her throat. His stinger hovered a hairbreadth from her neck, the very tip grazing her skin.
"You're right. I had one job," he said lowly, "given to me by our Goddess. Not you."
He darted around to her back, leaning over her shoulder to speak into her ear. Cinder glared at him by her corner of her eyes, but she didn't dare make a move.
"You know what your problem is, Cindy? You think you're so important," Tyrian said. "But I have an eye for people. I know the real Cinder Fall. You're just a desperate little brat who thinks she's owed power for no other reason than that she exists."
He chuckled.
"You ask me, and I say you're abusing our Goddess' good graces," Tyrian said. "You're not worthy of her love. You're gutter trash. You're nothing."
He chomped his teeth next to her ear. Cinder flinched and grabbed hold of his tail.
"Put this thing away," she muttered, "before I rip it off your spine."
"Oh-ho-ho!" Tyrian licked his lips. "Only because you asked so nastily."
He pulled his tail from between her fingers and skipped away.
"I should reduce you to a pile of ash for that," Cinder said, rubbing her wrists.
"If you managed to do that, you'd only be wasting your time," Tyrian said. "And do you really want to get on my bad side? You've got to sleep eventually, darling."
"I don't have the time or patience to trade barbs with you, you demented freak," Cinder spat. "Where did the Maiden run off to? Where did the Hunt take her?"
"No idea. They were long gone by the time I got up," Tyrian said. "I did get one of them real good before that, though." He waved the tip of tail behind his shoulder.
Cinder frowned. "Which one?"
"Blonde one. Brawny. Got lots of mommy issues from her in the little time we shared – but that should be a given, considering she's Branwen's brat," Tyrian said. He tapped his knuckles on the side of his head. "Unfortunately she's not here with me. They must have pulled off something drastic to save her. Very rude."
"Her sister is down. That means they're vulnerable, for the moment," Cinder muttered to herself. "But we don't know where they are."
Tyrian scoffed. "Can't you track her down? That is one of the few reasons you're useful, right?"
"It's not that simple. It took me months to pinpoint where she was hidden away," Cinder said. "But now that she's no longer hidden, perhaps…"
She felt the tug on her mind once again, weaker this time, but distinct now that she was looking for it.
"Salem hasn't contacted either of us for further instructions," Cinder said, "which means she expects us to finish the mission. I will find the Maiden, and I will claim what's mine."
She sat down on the forest floor and crossed her legs. Tyrian crouched and peered at her, resting his chin atop his hands. "And what shall I do, just tag along for the ride, like a good dog?" he asked.
"Yes. Like a good dog." Cinder closed her eyes. "Now shut up. I need to concentrate."
Ruby slipped out of Yang's room into the hallway, carefully closing the door behind her. She doubted Yang would wake up for anything, even if the whole building started to collapse, but Ruby's instinct was to not disturb her anyway.
Yang liked her beauty sleep.
Weiss was lying on her side on a bench just outside the room, a blanket draped over her body. She didn't look to be doing too well, shifting and wincing in her dreams, but at least she was sleeping. Ruby had had a similar experience overnight, though the couch inside the room was probably way more comfortable than the bench.
A woman sat beside Weiss, running a hand softly through her hair and eating an apple. It took Ruby an uncomfortable few seconds to recognize her. Amber had changed out of her tattered Beacon uniform and cloak, into a pair of snug wool pants and a long-sleeved blue shirt with a stamp of a cat throwing a set of twenty-sided dice on it. The new clothes, which she must have borrowed from the hospital, should have made her look more normal, but to Ruby she seemed even more alien somehow.
"Good day, Ruby Rose." Amber produced another apple and offered it with a kind smile. "Apple?"
Ruby's stomach growled. Realizing she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon, she took the offered apple and immediately bit into it. She swallowed the chunk almost whole and moaned at the rich flavor that filled her mouth. Why had no one told her Atlas had apples this good?
She'd devoured the apple nearly to the core when she realized Amber was still smiling at her.
"Uhm." Ruby wiped her chin with the back of her hand. "Hi."
"Hello." Amber nodded at the apple. "Delicious, isn't it? I can get you more if you want."
"No thanks, I'm good," Ruby said. She took another bite, and blinked. "Wait, did you makethis apple? Like with a spell?"
Amber laughed, a bewitching sound that reverberated like the note of a song. "It's from the hospital cafeteria."
"Oh. Right. Obviously." Ruby blushed hard. "I, uh, like your shirt?"
"Thank you. This one called out to me, so I simply had to take it," Amber said, looking down at her shirt. "There is magic to them, you know? Dice."
"Is there, really? I thought that was just superstition," Ruby said. "Wait. You're messing with me, aren't you?"
Amber smiled at her with a twinkle in her eyes. "Why should a thing being superstition make it any less real?"
"Uhuh," Ruby answered, not knowing whether Amber was being serious or playing a joke on her. She couldn't begin to tell the difference.
She got back to her apple, working on finishing it at a more measured pace, though soon that pace tapered into a complete halt. Ruby stared at the half-eaten fruit. Her stomach growled again, but she couldn't fathom the thought of taking another bite.
Memories of yesterday flashed in her mind. Yang. Jaune and Pyrrha were in trouble too, and there was so much that needed her attention, and how could she take a minute to breathe when all of that was happening?
Ruby swallowed dry and tossed what remained of the apple in a trash can. "Where's Blake?"
"She stepped away for some fresh air," Amber said. "She is haunted by what she had to do to save her friend, the poor dear."
Ruby grimaced. Right. Another thing for her to worry about.
"All of you are troubled by the events of yesterday," Amber said, brushing a lock of Weiss' hair away from her lips. "Such harrowing events are not easy to live through, and the aftermath is often all the more terrible. I would save you from it, if I could."
"Thanks," Ruby said quietly, almost adding an I guess to the end. Amber's words didn't change anything, but Ruby knew she was just being kind – and as far as she could tell, sincere.
"You will survive it," Amber said. "Tell me, how is your sister?"
"She tossed and turned a little throughout the night, and she mumbled in her sleep, but she never actually woke up," Ruby said. "The doctors said the operation went without a hitch, so unless some complication happens, she should be okay. They're not sure how her Aura will interact with the recovery process, though – they don't really have experience with that here. I guess I could ask Miss Goodwitch, she probably knows about that."
"You shouldn't worry too much," Amber said. "I don't know Yang, but I can tell she is strong. And she has you and your team. She will be alright."
Ruby nodded. That was a little comforting.
"I wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday. I must have scared you a great deal," Amber said somberly, joining her hands on her lap. "I was… confused. And tired. Today I am a little better, and that is all thanks to you. Though I wish my salvation hadn't come at such a cost."
"Hey, none of that. No matter what happened, there's no way we were going to let you get killed," Ruby said. "You can ask Yang when she wakes up, she'll tell you the same thing."
"I understand," Amber said. "I only wanted you to know I see the depth of your kindness, and that I won't be taking it for granted."
Ruby shrugged. She really didn't know how to respond to that. "So, what happened? What were you doing down in that place, and why was that psycho trying to kill you?"
Amber stopped brushing Weiss' hair. She looked off into the distance, a frown on her forehead.
"We need not talk about these matters so soon," she said. "You have been through a lot in a short time. Breathe. We will talk when the time is right."
"There's nothing for me to do right now. Weiss is sleeping, Blake needs her space, and we're all just waiting for Yang to wake up," Ruby said. "We can talk right now."
Amber turned to look at her again, and Ruby shivered. She'd experienced this feeling before, the few times she'd met Ozpin in person - the way he seemed to look right through her and into her very soul, see all that she was laid bare. Amber was looking at her the very same way.
She'd always thought she was imagining things, that her nerves were playing tricks on her. Maybe she wasn't so crazy.
"If you insist, I will not deny you," Amber said. "Shall we wake Weiss for this conversation?"
"Let her sleep. I can fill her in after, and Blake and Yang," Ruby said, and she only kinda did it to give herself something to do later.
"Fair enough," Amber said. "But let us take this somewhere else, so as to not disturb her."
She leaned down and whispered something in Weiss' ear, and Weiss seemed to sleep just a little bit easier. Amber got up then, and Ruby walked with her away from Yang's room.
After a little searching they found an open balcony on the same floor. It had been snowing when they'd arrived at the hospital last night and the weather hadn't gotten any better since, but at least a glass canopy protected them from the worst of it here.
A row of potted plants sat along the edge of the balcony. Amber seemed drawn by them, immediately going to them and softly running her fingers across a budding daphne shrub. A tiny smile came to her lips, before it vanished in a sorrowful expression.
"Amber?" Ruby stopped beside her. "You okay?"
"It's nothing. I was… reminiscing," Amber said. She walked away from the plants to lean on the edge of the balcony. "I don't know where to start. I should warn you that while I am better than I was yesterday, my mind is still a haze. There are things I cannot remember – answers I cannot give you."
"Okay. Let's start with something simple, then," Ruby said. "Do you know why you were in that place?"
"I was sleeping," Amber said. "For a long time."
"How long is a long time?" Ruby asked.
"Years. How many, I am not sure."
"That doesn't sound like any nap I've ever taken. Why were you asleep for that long?"
Amber lifted a hand towards the scars on her face. She stopped short, fingers hovering over the marred skin.
"I was injured," she said slowly. "I don't remember how. I remember the pain, but everything else is… confusion."
"So something happened to you, you were hurt, and you were going to die. And they took you to that place and put you to sleep to save you," Ruby said, connecting the dots in her head. "You were wearing Beacon clothes, and the dead guy we found too. That was one of their secret facilities, maybe?"
"That's my belief as well, yes," Amber said.
"But then why keep you asleep for so long? They must have been able to save you. I mean, you're standing right in front of me," Ruby said. "Is that why you want to talk to Ozpin? You think he took you there, so he must know what happened to you?"
"Yes. But also…"
Amber looked off into the distance again, and Ruby might have been annoyed that she did that so often if she wasn't so concerned over her.
"Ruby." Amber took Ruby's hands and stared into her eyes. "I am dying."
Ruby took back her hands. "What?"
"They couldn't heal me. Not completely," Amber said. "The sleep only delayed the inevitable."
"But – but that can't be true!" Ruby drew back, shaking her head. "We're in a hospital – have you tried talking with the doctors? You said you were asleep for years. Maybe they couldn't save you then, but now – maybe they can save you now. That's a long time. Right?"
Amber smiled gently. "I'm touched by your concern, but there is no medicine of man that can save me from this fate," she said. "These scars are only what you can see. What ails me goes much deeper than that." She sighed. "I can feel parts of myself being pulled away even as we speak. Soon, there will be nothing left of me."
"I don't understand," Ruby said. "You keep saying weird stuff about your memories, and looking off like there's a ghost with us or something. Yesterday you told me you grew up in Atlas, but then you said that was someone else – but I don't think it was. I don't get you."
"Her name was Fria. I remembered that when I saw the snow this morning," Amber said wistfully. "She was a glorious painter."
Ruby gripped the edge of the balcony and bit the inside of her cheek. It was all she could do to keep from groaning out loud.
"I apologize if I am confusing you, Ruby," Amber said. "My world is strange to most people, even people such as you, and I am in no great condition to introduce you to it. And yet I feel I must. You deserve as much." She was silent for a second. "I am a Maiden, Ruby."
"Okay. What does that mean?" Ruby asked.
"It means I am connected to a power greater than myself, and that there were others before me, as there will be others after me," Amber said. "Countless souls throughout the ages, in each lifetime united. The Maiden of Seasons."
Ruby's head was swimming. She thought she understood what Amber was saying – it was at about the same level of weird as anything she'd encountered recently – but it was still so world-altering, she had to take a moment just to process it.
"This great power," Ruby said, "You're talking about magic?"
"Nature. Magic." Amber reached out a hand beyond the edge, and for a moment the snowdrops danced circles around her fingers before they continued to fall. "To me they are one and the same."
"Right. And that power is great enough that other people would do anything to get their hands on it," Ruby said. "That's why Tyrian was after you. But I don't think he wanted it for himself. He said something about him being a 'loyal servant', I think. So he works for someone. Do you have any idea who that might be?"
Amber took a few seconds to reply. "I'm sorry. I had my hands full staving off his attacks."
Ruby nodded. "Well, it doesn't really matter. Not right now, at least," she said. "Because we're not going to let him take you – and we're going to take you to talk to Ozpin, and he's gonna tell us what happened to you, and how to heal you. That's a promise."
Amber bowed her head, and Ruby thought she might begin to cry. After a few seconds, a quiet laugh escaped her lips.
"What?" Ruby crossed her arms. "I'm being serious."
"I know," Amber said, smiling. "You just remind me too much of your mother."
Ruby's mouth felt dry all of a sudden. "You knew her, didn't you?"
"We were friends. I wish I could tell you all about her, but what I remember of her aren't so much memories as they are feelings," Amber said. "She was the kindest, most honest soul I ever met, but there was a fierceness about her as well. All of that, I see reflected in you." Her smile diminished. "She died while I was gone, didn't she?"
"Yeah," Ruby said faintly, before she added, more strongly, "She died fighting Grimm. She was a hero."
"Indeed she was," Amber said. "I always had a feeling, if Summer was going to go out in any way, that was going to be how - fighting for the forces of good to the bitter end."
"Really?" Ruby lifted her chin. "And do you see that in me too?"
Amber stared at her, once more peering into her soul. This time, Ruby didn't flinch. She stared right back, head held high.
"Fate is a fickle thing," Amber said. "I'm not so arrogant as to think I can foresee where its currents move."
Ruby was floundering for a response when footsteps cut the conversation short. Blake appeared in the hallway just outside the balcony, and braced against the doorway, breathing shallowly.
"There you are," she gasped. "I've been looking everywhere for you."
Ruby walked over and put a hand on Blake's arm. "Blake, are you feeling alright? Did something happen?"
"I'm fine." Blake took a deep breath. "Yang just woke up."
Yang felt cold.
It was strange. She wasn't shivering. There were blankets over her, and they warmed her just enough that it was pleasant without being too much, but she still felt cold. It came from her heart, where the fire inside her had once been. It was still there, she thought, but tremulant, fading. One strong wind and it might go out.
She opened her eyes. White tiles. Hospital room. Vitals monitor. IV pole. Big windows, snowing outside.
That was probably why she was cold. Someone had left one of the windows slightly open, which was really inconsiderate, when she thought about it. She'd just have to close it herself, then.
Shuffling upwards a bit, Yang pressed her hands to the bed and pushed herself up – and immediately plopped back down with a gasp. She blinked and shook her head. She tried again, and once more she ungraciously fell.
What the hell was wrong with her? Was she drugged or something? Was that why her right side felt so numb?
Grunting, Yang brought up her knees and dragged the blankets down with her feet. She looked down at herself – and for a second her heart stopped to beat.
She snapped her eyes to the ceiling. No way. That couldn't be right. She was imagining things. Her arm would be there when she looked again, like it obviously should be.
She forced herself to look.
Gone.
Gone.
Gone.
A whimper died in her throat. She kicked further up the bed, as if that way she could get away from reality. But it was staring at her right in the face. There was no running. No pretending.
She heard the door open. Yang looked up and saw Weiss standing in the doorway, a steaming mug of coffee in her hands. Weiss stared at Yang for a moment, shocked into paralysis, before she turned and shouted into the hallway.
"Blake, Yang's up! Get a doctor and find Ruby!"
Weiss closed the door and put her mug down on a table, then sat on a chair next to Yang's bed.
"Weiss, I-" Yang's voice broke. "I don't understand-"
"Calm down. Take a deep breath." Weiss took Yang's hand – her only hand – and squeezed gently. "Something really bad happened, but you're okay now. How much do you remember?"
"I don't – I don't know?"
"Okay. Do you remember what we were doing yesterday?"
Yang shook her head, then stopped. She looked at the ceiling, vague memories slowly coming back to her.
"We were gonna go back home because the job was done, but then there were more Grimm in Atlas so we flew up there," she said, and Weiss nodded along. "I said something on the plane about us sleeping in the same bed which got you really flustered. That was really cute. Probably shouldn't have said that." She squinted. "Scary underground place. We found a weird magic lady. Amber. Then some guy-"
She stopped, everything coming back to her at once. Wrestling with that man to keep everyone else safe. Staring at that giant stinger in her arm. Kneeling in the snow, everyone's voices echoing around her, knowing she was going to die.
"What was his name?" she asked, though she already knew.
"Callows," Weiss answered after a second. "He called himself Tyrian Callows."
Yang jerked her head to look at the corner of the room. Empty. But she could have sworn someone had been standing there a split second before. Or something. A ghost – the specter of a person.
Her chest tightened with the cold.
"Yang, he's not here," Weiss said, squeezing her hand. "You're safe."
Yang looked at Weiss again, then at her – her right arm – missing arm – stump. For that brief moment of terror, she'd been able to forget.
"How?"
"You were stung, there, in your arm. And the poison, it was killing you faster than you could fight it off," Weiss said. "We had no other choice, so we – we did what we had to, then we flew you to the nearest hospital. We're still in Atlas." She stared at Yang, a mixture of concern, fear, and guilt on her face. "Yang, do you understand?"
"Y-yeah. Better-" Yang swallowed dry. "Better than being dead."
She knew that on a basic, logical level. Feeling it was another matter – but feeling anything was hard right now, with how overwhelming everything was.
The door opened again, and a doctor and a nurse walked in.
"Miss Xiao Long, it's good to see you awake," the doctor said, stopping at her side. "How are you feeling?"
"Uhm… Numb," Yang said. "Disoriented, I guess."
She thought about mentioning the cold, but she didn't think the doctor would be able to help with that. He might run a bunch of tests and then decide it was all in her head. Hell, Yang was halfway sure it was all in her head.
"That's to be expected. You experienced a very traumatic injury and underwent an intensive restorative procedure in a short span of time. Some shock is more than understandable," the doctor said. "We're not going to bother you long. I just have to ask you some questions and run a few tests, and then you can rest again. Is that okay, Miss Xiao Long?"
Yang nodded.
The doctor took out a clipboard and a pen, while the nurse went around the bed to check on the IV bags. Weiss dragged her chair back.
"You can stay, Miss Schnee," the doctor said, clicking his pen. "Unless Miss Xiao Long would like to wait for a blood relative?"
"Oh shit." Yang sat up straight and looked at Weiss. "Ruby?"
"She's okay. I think she went somewhere to talk with Amber," Weiss said, patting her hand. "Blake went to get her."
"Okay. Okay." Yang sighed. She looked at the doctor. "You - you can start."
The doctor started with a few basic questions, going a little more in depth about how she was feeling at the moment and if she was in any pain. They had given her meds for that so it was hard to tell, but Yang didn't feel too bad.
The doctor and the nurse then started to run some tests on her, as well as ask some more specific questions. The routineness of it all eased Yang's shock, and her thoughts became less and less frenzied. Soon she was answering stuff automatically, her eyes staring at the window and the falling snowflakes outside.
What was she going to do now? How was she supposed to cook, or dance, or fight Grimm, or do anything at all in her life? She'd always taken care of her body, but it wasn't until now that she realized how important it was to her. It wasn't just a hand she'd lost. A part of her had been taken away, and she was never going to get it back.
She'd been so distracted she actually missed it when the nurse unwrapped the bandages around her arm. She only realized she'd done it when a new roll was being placed. Maybe it was for the best – she didn't think she was ready to face that yet.
"Well then. It seems everything is well with you, Miss Xiao Long – to a surprising degree," the doctor said. "The average recovery time for an amputation such as yours is between one or two months, but you seem to be a few days ahead of schedule already. It appears you will be healing well, but I still want to keep you for observation, and there are some cares we need to talk about. But we can do that later."
"Okay," Yang muttered. "Thanks, doc."
The doctor exchanged a few words with Weiss – something about rest and visitations, Yang didn't really listen – before he and the nurse left the room. Not five seconds passed before Ruby all but ran inside. She skidded to a halt and stared at Yang, all wide-eyed, before she climbed onto the bed and hugged Yang from the side.
"Yang!" she cried. "Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah. I-" Yang's words caught in her throat. She rubbed her thumb across Ruby's hairline and rested her chin atop her head. "The doc said I'm gonna be alright."
Ruby started to tremble. "I'm really sorry. I'm really, really sorry."
"Stop. D-don't apologize for saving my life, stupid."
She heard Ruby start to cry, and before she knew it, Yang was crying too.
She didn't know how long that went on. Eventually, Yang realized Ruby had fallen asleep. With Weiss' help, she laid her down beside her on the bed.
"She's exhausted," Weiss said, wiping her eyes with her sleeves. "We all are."
Yang reached out to touch Weiss, but she was on her wrong side for that. Biting down another sob, she closed her eyes and took a moment to breathe. When she opened them again, she noticed Blake leaning on the doorway.
"Hey, Blake," Yang croaked. "Wanna come cry with me too?"
Blake shifted. "That's been done already," she said. She was silent for a while before she spoke again. "I'm glad you're okay."
"Yeah. Me too."
"Are you hungry?" Blake asked. "I'm gonna get you some food."
She walked away before Yang could begin to respond. Yang looked at Weiss, but she had fallen asleep on her chair too.
A chilling breeze came in through the open window. Yang stared at it, but she didn't have the will to get up to close it anymore.
Soft footsteps crossed the room. Amber closed the window and turned to look at Yang.
"Oh. You're still here," Yang said faintly.
"Of course." Amber walked over to the side of the bed. "I will remain with you for as long as I can."
She stared at Yang for a moment, before she reached out and touched a finger to her sternum.
"Can you feel it?" Amber asked.
"The cold?" Yang muttered. Somehow she knew that's what Amber meant. "Yeah. I do."
"Not the cold," Amber said. "The flame."
Yang fell silent.
"It's not gone." Amber drew back her hand. "All will be well."
Yang closed her eyes, and the last thought she had before she fell asleep again is that Amber's words sure sounded nice, but they couldn't possibly be true.
Ozpin didn't wake up during the night, or at dawn, or anytime after that. Dusk had come and gone and he still lay motionless in the spare bedroom. Goodwitch watched over him like a guard dog, when she wasn't pacing around the house with a Scroll glued to her ear. Something had her on high alert, something other than the possibility of another attack, but for all that Jaune asked her, she refused to even answer any of his questions.
It was frustrating. He knew he and Goodwitch didn't see eye to eye with each other lately – not that their relationship had ever been anything more than lukewarm at best – but it still stung that she didn't trust him even a little bit. Couldn't she see that they were on the same side right now?
While nothing happened, Jaune and the others busied themselves with fixing the rest of the house, which consisted mostly of unpacking boxes and moving furniture around. Nora and Ren were a great help with that, even if Nora got distracted by Zwei a bit too often. She more than made up for it with her enthusiasm and muscles.
Pyrrha took to the job with mechanical precision, which didn't surprise Jaune in the slightest. Cleaning was near the top of her favorite activities, and he didn't judge her for it. What did worry him was how quiet she was being, and how she kept breaking off on her own under the guise of fixing up a room or another. He knew better than to press her on it, though, so he gave her time to be alone and waited for the right time to talk to her.
His opportunity came in the evening when he passed a storage room and saw her sweeping the floor inside. The floor looked spotless already, but she kept sweeping anyway, her grip tight on the broom.
"I think you can give that broom a break, Pyr," he said, stopping by the doorway. "Unless your plan is to dig a tunnel to the other side of the planet?"
Pyrrha looked up at him, easing slightly on the sweeping. "I want the place to be perfect for when Yang comes back."
"That's nice," Jaune said. "Although, not to be downer, but I don't think Yang's gonna resent you if the storage room is a little dusty."
Pyrrha kept sweeping for a couple seconds, before she sighed and rested the broom against the wall. She leaned her back against the same wall and ran her fingers through her hair to tighten up her braid. She looked at him then, all emerald eyes, and he took the silent invitation to join her.
"I've been thinking about it all day," Pyrrha said. "About what Ozpin did in the hearing, I mean."
"It was pretty crazy," Jaune said. "I'm not sure I would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes."
"Right. But that's not it exactly," Pyrrha said. "He unfroze me. He chose to do that, and Commander Goodwitch said it was an incredible risk to take. I can't stop asking myself why he did it."
"Well," Jaune said, thinking carefully through the steps, "he unfroze Goodwitch first, so she could take him to safety. And then you were the most capable person, so he unfroze you to save everyone else."
"I considered that – frankly, that'd be a relief – but it's just not true," Pyrrha said. "The first thing Goodwitch told me was to get out of the room, which means he didn't want me to save anyone. It wasn't until I insisted that he changed his mind and unfroze you as well. He just wanted me to get to safety as well."
"Which means… he actually cares about you?" Jaune said. "Do you feel like that's a bad thing?"
"I don't know how to feel about it. I want to believe he cares, and maybe he does, but I know enough to know that I can't take anythingabout Ozpin at face value."
Pyrrha breathed out a heavy sigh.
"I feel like I'm stuck in a loop when it comes to him. I keep going back and forth on whether I hate him or…" She shook her head. "And I feel guilty that I'm obsessing over this when Yang's hurt and we're all in danger."
"Hey, just because the world's ending doesn't mean your feelings no longer matter," Jaune said. "You know that, right?"
"I know." Pyrrha took his hand. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry."
They spent a few minutes with nothing but the sound of their own breathing to fill the silence. Jaune rubbed his thumb across the knuckles of Pyrrha's hand and thought about everything. He hoped Yang would be okay. He hoped they'd all be okay.
"Jaune, what are we going to do when he wakes up?" Pyrrha asked.
"Well, I don't know about you," Jaune said, "but I'm gonna have a lot of questions to ask him, and I'm gonna get some real answers for once. I'm sick and tired of all the secrecy. The attack on the Council, and what happened up in Atlas, I know it can't be a coincidence."
"Yeah," Pyrrha said. "This woman Ruby and the others met, I think it's obvious that she's connected closely to Ozpin. But I've never heard of her before."
"He'd better spill," Jaune said. "Because if he doesn't, I can tell you there's no spell that can time-stop my foot from connecting with his ass."
Pyrrha snickered. "Jaune, sweetie, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think you have it in you to beat up anyone. Even Ozpin."
"Don't underestimate me. I'm a tough guy! Watch me, I'm gonna intimidate him so bad, he's gonna pee his-"
A loud blaring sound cut him off. Jaune met eyes with Pyrrha for a split second before they ran out the door.
"That's the proximity alarm! Go get the others, I'll check the security room!" Pyrrha shouted, and ran off the other way.
Jaune sprinted towards the living room, cursing that he'd left his sword in their bedroom. From now on he'd carry it on him all the time, even inside the house. He skidded around a corner, and Nora and Ren came into view, staring out of a window.
"Jaune!" Nora beckoned him over. "Get over here already!"
"Are we under attack?" Jaune asked.
"We're safe, I think," Ren said. "But we've got a visitor."
Jaune slipped between them to look out the same window. The alarms stopped blaring.
"That's the bird dude, right?" Nora whispered. "Unless I imagined that earlier. In which case, woah, brain."
Jaune could barely believe his eyes. Qrow Branwen was indeed standing just outside the front door, looking unsteady on his feet and with a very pissed off expression on his face.
"Should we let him in?" Nora asked.
"Why would we not let him in, Nora? He's an ally," Ren said.
"You don't know that. Birds are tricky."
Jaune moved to get the door, but Pyrrha must have opened it remotely from the security room, because soon Qrow came stomping inside.
"What's up with the welcome horns?" he grunted. "My ears are ringing. Did you want me to deafen me, is that your idea of a defense plan?"
"You're the one who tripped our alarms!" Jaune said. "What are you doing here? How did you even get our address?"
Qrow scoffed. "How did I get your address, he says. What am I, a clown?"
"Sir, your head is bleeding," Ren said.
Qrow touched two fingers to the side of his scalp, and they came out bloody. "'s nothing. Some jackass kicked me in the head." He wiped it off on his pants and looked around. "Where's Glynda? Also, and answer this first, do you have any booze?"
"We'll just get the first aid kit from the infirmary," Ren said, grabbing Nora by the elbow and dragging her away.
"That doesn't answer either of my questions," Qrow mumbled.
He started pacing around the room, looking under the furniture as if hoping to find a hidden stash. Jaune stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, following him with his eyes.
"So, uh," Jaune said, "you know about Yang, right?"
"She popped out of my sister," Qrow replied without looking back. "Yeah, I know about her. What of it?"
On second thought, maybe right now wasn't the best time to inform Qrow about his niece's condition. "Never mind."
Pyrrha walked into the living room, and Goodwitch shortly after. Qrow stood straight at the sight of the latter, before he plopped down on a chair and stretched his arms above his head.
"Glynda! I've got bad news, as usual," he said.
"You're bleeding, Qrow," Goodwitch said. "And are you drunk?"
"Fucking hell, I wish I was. No, I've just been in varying stages of consciousness over the past twenty-nine hours," Qrow said. "Sorry if I ramble. Should I get straight to it?"
Goodwitch sat down. Pyrrha looked at Jaune, as if somehow he could explain why and how a strange bird man had shown up and invited himself into their house. He shrugged, and they sat down as well.
"I tracked Leo down. Jackass tried to flee back to Mistral. I broke into his plane, got confirmation that he was working on someone else's orders. He said the bombing was a distraction," Qrow said. "Knocked him out, gave instructions to the pilot to hand him over to Beacon upon landing. He should be sitting cozy in a holding cell by now."
"Wait, so who was he working for?" Jaune asked.
Qrow glared at him for a second, before he looked at Goodwitch again. "I flew back to Vale, and went to check on that facility you pointed me to," he said. "Place was up in flames, surrounded by Grimm. Inmates running wild. No comms in or out. Complete chaos. I helped put things in order, but that took too long. And yeah, she was gone."
"She?"
Goodwitch looked at Jaune sideways. "Cinder Fall."
Jaune grimaced. That was a name he hadn't been expecting to hear, though looking back, he should have. "So she's behind the attack?"
"Anyway," Qrow continued, "she didn't leave a trail, so I chased down a couple of her former associates. That's how I got this." He gestured at his head. "When I could think straight again, I tried my luck searching for her blind. Obviously came up short. She's vanished. And now I am here-" He threw up his feet and leaned back- "and I need booze!"
Nora and Ren chose that moment to return. "Stitches?" Nora said, thrusting out the first aid kit.
Qrow's face soured. "That'll do."
Jaune turned to Goodwitch while Qrow started to treat his wound – with Ren's help, after some grumbling.
"So Cinder's free," Jaune said. "You knew all day, didn't you? You knew she was involved, and you didn't tell us."
"I needed confirmation, and now I have it," Goodwitch said. "I'm not one to jump to conclusions. I know that is a hard concept to you, Mister Arc, but do try to understand."
Jaune grit his teeth. "You've got some nerve."
"You're offended, but you know I am right, so what can you do?" Goodwitch said, and dismissed the topic with a wave of her hand. "Enough petty squabbling. You need to get in contact with your team again. Tell Miss Rose to bring Amber to us as soon as possible."
"Commander, you told Ruby the exact opposite just last night. You couldn't have been more insistent," Pyrrha said. "What about Cinder's escape made you change your mind so swiftly?"
"Because the target on Amber's back has become all the more threatening. And I will admit, Miss Rose was right - we're stronger together." Goodwitch stood up. "I need to check on Ozpin."
Qrow leaned forward on his chair. "So it's true," he said, voice rumbling in his throat. "Amber's awake."
"She is," Goodwitch said, and they exchanged a look before Qrow turned his gaze to his feet, a grave look on his face.
Goodwitch walked away, and Jaune looked at Pyrrha from across the living room.
Secrets.
Pyrrha pursed her lips.
Yeah. I'm sick and tired of them too.
A little rush of cold raced up Yang's legs as her feet touched the floor.
"Careful, now," Ruby said, supporting her. "You okay? Feeling dizzy or anything?"
"Okay so far," Yang said. "I'm gonna go the rest of the way."
She slipped completely off the bed, letting her whole weight settle on her legs. She wobbled for a few seconds, her vision blurring, before she found her balance. Ruby held her arm strong all the while.
Yang exhaled. "I think I'm okay to walk."
"Go slowly," Weiss said, watching from her chair.
Yang took a step forward, then another. She looked at Ruby and nodded. After a moment's hesitation, Ruby let go of her arm, though she remained close.
Yang moved towards the windows, getting steadier with every step. Her center of gravity felt off – she was leaning too much to her left. She tried to adjust for that, but it only made things worse, so she reverted to what felt natural.
After a few more steps, she reached the windows and reached forward for support. Her left hand closed over the windowsill. Her phantom right hand passed through, and she grimaced as she realized she was moving her stump uselessly. She would have to get used to not doing that, or else she'd just look stupid every time she reached for something.
"That was great, Yang!" Ruby said, clasping her hands. "I bet you could go out there and run laps around the hospital, if it wasn't so freezing cold!"
"Yeah, it's awesome that I can walk," Yang said dryly. "This would be more of a celebration if I'd lost a leg, though."
Ruby's smile soured, and Yang averted her eyes. She didn't mean for that to come off so harsh – she didn't even know why she'd said that. It was hard to be cheerful under the circumstances.
Weiss cleared her throat. "I don't know about running laps, but perhaps the doctors can clear you to take walks inside the hospital," she said. "With someone accompanying you, of course."
"Yeah. That sounds good." Yang forced herself to smile, for Ruby's sake. "Maybe I can go to the cafeteria myself. I don't want you guys to have to fetch me food all the time."
"It's not a bother. We want to help you, Yang," Weiss said. She turned and looked at the bedside stand. "Ruby, Jaune is calling your Scroll. Do you want me to answer?"
"No, it's okay. I'll talk to him," Ruby said, grabbing her Scroll. "I'll take this outside. Weiss, watch Yang for me?"
"Of course."
The door opened and closed as Yang glared at the night sky. Watch her for me. She knew Ruby was only worried about her – everyone was – but she hated feeling like a burden.
Tough luck, a way-too-loud voice in her head said. That's what you are now. Get used to it.
Yang bit her tongue. Weiss appeared beside her, leaning on the windowsill.
"You think it's something serious?" Yang asked, forestalling any piercing questions she'd rather not answer.
"Jaune's probably just checking in," Weiss said. "Unless Ozpin's woken up."
"Mhmm." Somehow, Yang didn't have much room in her mind to be amazed about Ozpin being a secret wizard. She was a little concerned about Jaune and Pyrrha, but they sounded like they were doing okay.
Yang looked over her shoulder. The blinders were down, but she could see Ruby pacing in the hallway, and the silhouette of Blake sitting on a bench with Amber.
"Is Blake avoiding me?" Yang asked. "She hasn't come inside to talk to me since I woke up."
"Blake is…" Weiss looked away. "She doesn't want to crowd you."
"Weiss, you don't have to lie to me. I can take the truth, alright?" Yang frowned. "I'm not upset with her. I mean, I wouldn't want to be around me either."
"Don't talk about yourself like that," Weiss said. "Listen, Blake might be avoiding you, but it's not for any of the reasons you're thinking about. I think she just doesn't know how to talk to you right now." Her eyes wandered briefly to Yang's bandaged stump before they darted away. "She's the one who figured out how to save you. Ruby or I might have thought it, but she got there first. And she's the one who – who did it."
"Oh."
Yang trembled. Obviously someone needed to have done it, her arm didn't just fall off on its own, but she hadn't stopped to think about the specifics until now. She imagined Blake, blade in hand, and her stomach turned.
"Maybe… Maybe I can talk to her," Yang said. "She needs to know I-"
"What Blake needs is space. As do you," Weiss said. "I wouldn't object if I thought a conversation would do either of you any good. But Ruby and I have both talked separately to Blake already – she's not ready. And neither are you. You don't even know how you feel yet, Yang."
"But-"
"Yang. You need to focus on yourself first," Weiss said. "Stop worrying about Blake. And for that matter, stop worrying about Ruby. Let me take care of them, okay?"
"That's not your job."
"And yet I'll be doing it anyway. Who do you think I picked up that from?"
Yang tried to glower at Weiss, but it was really difficult with how earnest she looked. And was it the meds running through her veins, or was Weiss' hair particularly shiny today? And had she always pouted that way, with lips so inviting, so k-
Yang realized she'd begun leaning towards Weiss and jerked away.
You can't. Why would you do that to her? You're worthless.
"Yang, are you okay?" Weiss said, frowning. "Do you need to lie down?"
Before Yang could answer, the door opened and Ruby walked in, and Blake and Amber filed in right after.
"Guys, bad news," Ruby said, jittering. "Really bad news."
Weiss pushed away from the windows. "Oh no. Did they get-"
"Everyone's fine. Ozpin's still in a coma," Ruby said. "Uncle Qrow turned up. Cinder escaped prison. They're sure she was behind the bombing."
Yang turned to rest her back against the windowsill and rubbed her face. "Fuck. This is bad."
"Who's Cinder?" Amber asked, a frown on her forehead.
"She's the crazy woman that revealed the Grimm to the world three years ago," Weiss said. "Someone really ought to catch you up on recent world history. Everything changed because of her."
"She's sort of the reason we all came together," Yang said. "Like an arch-nemesis." She looked at Ruby. "I mean, uh-"
"What?" Ruby scowled for a second before she shook her head. "Anyway, Cinder's free, and I don't think she's gonna be taking a spa day. We need to act before she does something crazy." She looked at Amber. "Miss Goodwitch wants us to bring you to Ozpin."
Blake tilted her head. "That's a stark change of tune. Why?"
"No idea. Don't care," Ruby said. "We were going to do that anyway, because Amber asked us. Nothing's changed. Only we're in even more of a hurry now."
"When do we leave?" Yang asked.
There was a lull in the conversation. After a moment, Yang realized everyone was looking at her – except Amber, who seemed to be in her own little world again.
"What? I'm coming with you," Yang said. "What, were you planning on leaving me behind?"
"Yang, you're still recovering," Ruby said hesitantly. "I thought maybe one of us could stay with you while the others went with Amber."
"I can go with Amber," Blake said, because of course she did. She didn't even meet Yang's eyes.
"No. Some real shit is happening – we're not gonna split the team so I don't feel lonely and depressed. And I am not going to sit in a hospital while everyone's doing stuff," Yang said. "I can recover at home. I'm coming with you. End of discussion."
"Yang, the house might be attacked," Weiss said.
"Then I better be there when it happens. End of discussion."
No one argued, though Yang could sense none of them were comfortable with her decision. It was good they didn't, because Yang felt the same way. One weak argument and she'd agree to stay behind.
Useless.
"The doctor did say she's recovering fast," Weiss said. "I suppose we could persuade him to clear her early. As long as we have the proper instructions, Yang should be fine."
"Alright. We'll do that, then." Ruby sighed. "As soon as that's done, we're gonna get on the Huntingbird and fly home. We should get there by morning. Amber, you okay with that?"
Amber didn't respond. Blake nudged her shoulder, and she blinked.
"Cinder Fall."
Ruby stiffened. "Wait. You recognize that name? You knew her before?"
"I did."
Amber turned her head, and the scars on her face seemed to darken under the fluorescent lights.
"Cinder," she said. "She's the one who did this to me."