Hi again! Hope everyone's had a good weekend, and uh... have some more dragons I guess? *Flaps arms* I dunno.

Also, I've still got lotsa buffer, so expect me back on Friday again!

5. Helicopter Dragon

"Pit... Pit, no."

It had been a very long night.

"Don't look at me like that!"

Pit had not taken any of this well. He'd pined until well after midnight, even with Weiss singing and Ruby sitting next to him and scratching under his chin. Yang had just sat nearby, stroking his side and feeling useless. Only when Ozpin finally sent them an update, telling them that Blake was okay and they could visit the next morning, did he finally drop off to sleep.

"You and I both know you're not going to fit." Pit huffed and gently headbutted Weiss. Gently, in this case, meaning she didn't quite fall over. Specter hissed and narrowed his eyes. Weiss just crossed her arms and stared him down.

Once Pit was out, it was her turn. Ruby was easy—Yang had coaxed her back into bed after a nightmare so many times by now she could do it in her sleep. For Weiss... she'd tried everything she could possibly think of and eventually settled on plying her with soothing tea and threatening to turn off her alarm until she shut up and got under the blankets. Not that Yang could blame her, but she'd been through a lot yesterday and she needed rest, damn it!

She'd been completely useless getting them out of danger, so it was the least she could do to help them deal with the fallout—and hopefully keep Pit from demolishing a wall of the infirmary. Yang was sure he knew he was too big to fit through the doorway, but she was also sure he didn't care. "Pit—" she started, but she was interrupted by a window opening several yards away.

"Don't worry dears," a nurse said, leaning out and beckoning with one hand. "We're used to them hovering. Just have him stick his head through here."

Yang stared, bemused, as Pit bounded up to the wall and poked his head inside. Judging by his excited roar, that was where Blake's bed was. The humans of the team had to go through through the door, leaving their dragons pacing around in the courtyard outside.

Beacon's infirmary was small, but comfortable. Enough riders hurt themselves doing stupid stunts—or dealing with young fire dragons—that they were just as well-equipped as most hospitals. If they hadn't been, Blake probably would have died.

But they had. They had, and now she was cocooned in starchy infirmary sheets, fast asleep. Pit had already plonked his huge square head down next to her and was purring contentedly. Yang smiled, nudged Weiss—she'd frozen in place at the sight—and eventually left to collect a few uncomfortable plastic chairs. As the only patient currently suffering from anything worse than a broken wrist, Blake had her own private room. One of the nurses had removed her bow and folded it neatly on a small fold-out table next to her head.

All in all, she looked... clean. Yang wasn't sure what she'd been expecting. Most of her experience with injuries came from Uncle Qrow, who tended to go to their dad rather than the hospital unless it was something really life-threatening. He was always a total mess until he healed up. Beacon's nurses were probably changing Blake's bandages more often than Qrow could be bothered with his. Hopefully.

Yang sat between Ruby and Weiss, slinging an arm across each of their shoulders. Weiss edged away, then eventually settled back against the chair without comment. Pit ignored all three of them. He just lay there, occasionally opening one eye halfway as if to check that Blake was still there, or licking the side of her face.

At some point, Weiss' scroll went off. Yang turned just in time to see her lip curl in distaste before she pulled it out, glared at it, and jabbed a button like it had done her a personal wrong. Then she stuffed it back into her pocket.

After that, silence. Weiss still hadn't told them everything that had happened—they knew Adam showed up, and that he'd died. That was it. Yang hadn't really wanted to ask and risk keeping her up last night.

JNPR came to visit at around eleven, then SSSN a couple hours later. Nurses came and went. Pit licked Blake's face again, and one of her fingers twitched.

"I'm going to grab some food," Yang decided. She'd only managed to force Weiss to eat a bit of fruit that morning. "Ruby, come with?"

"Yeah, sure!" She stopped long enough to squeeze Blake's hand and give Pit a pat on the nose, then followed Yang out the door.

The first thing Blake was conscious of was a massive weight pressing down on her right side. Her left arm was trapped, too. There was a dull throbbing in one leg, building in intensity with every heartbeat.

Panic woke her the rest of the way up. He was still here, he was holding her down—

Her eyes shot open and were seared by fluorescent lighting. She squeezed them shut and tried to sit up, but the terrible weight wouldn't let her. It was warm, too warm. Fire writhed behind her eyelids, metal glowing cherry red.

"It's okay." The restraint on her left arm squeezed once. "You're in the infirmary."

Blake cracked one eye partway open and realized that she couldn't move her left arm because her hand was caught in Weiss'. And the terrible weight, on further inspection...

Pit's nose twitched as he slept, his head pillowed on Blake's right side. She tried to wiggle her fingers and winced at the pins and needles.

"Pit?" Weiss released her other hand so that she could nudge him. "Can I have my arm back n—"

One yellow eye flew open wide. "Lake!" The next thing she knew, the weight on her arm had migrated to her chest and Pit was licking her face so enthusiastically she started to worry about asphyxiating.

"Easy," Weiss said, gently pushing his head to the side. "Let her breathe."

It took several minutes before Pit finally settled. He retreated just enough so that his head was on the pillow next to Blake's, then purred in her ear. She struggled for a moment, then finally managed to sit up with little push from Weiss.

She peeled back the sheets, searching for the source of the pain in her leg. She was wearing a hospital gown—thin, starchy, and swamp-green—and just underneath the hem she could see a swathe of bandages wrapped around her right thigh.

"You were shot." Weiss' voice only wobbled a little, and she coughed to try and hide it.

"...Oh."

"What's the last thing you remember?"

—dark, everything had gone dark and there was something wrapping around her, restraining her, limbs going weak, pain... then light through a gap. Pit's face, blurring out—

"I think I was on the ground." It took that long to realize what she should have asked, what she needed to ask. "Adam! Where—?"

"He's dead." Weiss sat back down—there were two chairs to the right of hers, both empty. "The earth dragons heard the gunshot and ran out. Zircon protected you while you were out, and Mudslide got Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch."

"So they... Adam, the dragons..."

Weiss nodded. Pit whined and pressed his nose against the back of Blake's head. She scratched under his chin. "I know," she murmured. "I'm not upset with you. If you hadn't—you saved our lives. Thank you."

"They're looking into how he got that far onto the grounds," Weiss added, "but if they've found anything they haven't told us yet."

"Right."

They lapsed into an awkward silence. Blake tried not to be too obvious about checking Weiss' face—she would have noticed right away if he'd done something, but there was a part of her that just wouldn't relax until she'd looked.

Eventually the quiet got unbearable and Blake pointed to the empty chairs. "Where—"

"Ruby and Yang went to get food. They should be back soon, although..."

"Yes?"

"...Never mind."

More silence. Blake wondered whether or not she was on painkillers. Her leg hurt quite a lot, but she wasn't sure she was thinking clearly. Every time she blinked it was a little harder to open her eyes again, but it seemed like bad form to pass out again before reassuring Yang and Ruby that she was indeed alive.

That, and... "I'm sorry."

Weiss had been standing at the head of the bed, scratching Pit behind his ears while Blake got the spot under his chin. He opened one eye grumpily when she stopped to stare at Blake. "What?"

"About... getting you mixed up in all of that."

It took a minute for Weiss to respond—a minute she spent lavishing attention on Pit, much to his delight. Then, finally, "If we're going to play the blame game, you would have been safe if I hadn't wandered around alone like that."

"That's not the point—"

"No. It isn't." Weiss moved from one ear to the other, prompting Pit to start purring again. "My point is that it wasn't your fault. Besides, I don't have a scratch on me. You don't need to feel guilty."

Blake raised an eyebrow and stared pointedly at her elbow, which had been scraped raw at some point during the scuffle. Weiss rolled her eyes. "It's a figure of speech and you know it."

"Still."

"Fine. If you're so eager to talk about what went wrong—" Blake suddenly found herself on the receiving end of an unusually intense glare. "What exactly were you thinking? I know you figured out those messages weren't from me."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that you just up and wandered into the clutches of a crazed madman?!"

Pit shot Weiss a reproachful look.

"...You didn't need to do that."

"What else was I going to do, keep reading like nothing was wrong?"

"Call Ozpin? Or Goodwitch, or Yang and Ruby, or anyone from Juniper or Sun, or—"

"I couldn't."

"Why—"

"You read the message." Blake pulled Pit into her lap, wincing until he settled his weight on her good leg. "It was you that left out all the apostrophes, right?"

"Well, yes." Weiss folded her arms. "But there was no way for him to know if you'd sent out a message first."

"I did, sort of. I told Sky to contact Yang if I wasn't back for a while, but I just... I wasn't sure if he was monitoring me somehow. It might not even have been just him on campus. If someone else was watching me..."

"So instead you jump headfirst into a trap?"

"Yes!" Pit let out a concerned hum and stuck his head between the two of them. Blake sighed. "Sorry, Pit. But... yes. I didn't really know what else to do. I thought maybe if I convinced him I didn't really know you..."

"He'd let the Schnee go?"

"I do know it wasn't a good plan," Blake said wryly. "I just couldn't think of anything better in the heat of the moment."

Weiss heaved a sigh. "I don't mean to sound like I'm accusing you. It's just..."

"Just?"

"Nothing."

Pit huffed and gently headbutted Weiss' shoulder. She glared at him, then at the ceiling. "I was... concerned."

Another bump.

"...Fine. It scared me! Happy?"

He hummed again and tilted his head so that Blake had easier access to the scales under his chin, clearly very pleased with himself. Weiss grumbled something uncomplimentary about meddling lizards.

Blake swallowed hard. "It scared me too." Judging by the look Pit gave her, he knew as well as she did that was the understatement of the century. "I don't think you understand... I was around him for a long time. I've heard things from him. Especially in the last few months, he'd talk about..." She couldn't get the words out. "Maybe there was a better way to go about it, but I just... I panicked."

"...You're right. I wasn't exactly calm and collected at the moment either, so... you're right. That makes sense."

She tried for a grin. "Well, we both made it out without any permanent injury. That's... honestly better than I would have expected."

"Thank you for that vote of confidence."

Blake turned her attention to Pit. "And I'm sorry," she said again, "for snapping at you. I thought if he saw you, or heard you..."

"Safe," he said. "Gud." Blake smiled and brought her other hand up to scratch behind his ear. Somewhere outside, she heard his back paw thumping against the ground. She did a double-take. Obviously she'd noticed that Pit had stuck his head through the window, but it hadn't occurred to her until just now to wonder whether or not he was supposed to be waiting outside.

"Is this...?"

"Apparently it's infirmary policy." There was a hint of amusement in Weiss' voice now. "Otherwise I'm sure Pit would've broken through the wall."

She smiled at that, glancing fondly at her dragon. They stayed like that a moment, all three of them silently enjoying the quiet of the... morning? Afternoon? Blake had no idea.

"Hey!"

Startled, Blake turned a little more quickly than she should have and winced when she instinctively tried to move her bad leg. Yang was standing in the doorway to her room, a tray balanced on one hand and a bottle of water in the other, holding the door open with her hip. Behind her, Ruby carried even more food, and she thought she could see a familiar hoodie behind her.

"You're awake!" Yang shouldered her way into the room, wincing when a tower of sandwiches toppled over. They would have fallen if Ruby hadn't shoved her tray into the person standing behind her—who did indeed turn out to be Jaune—and reached under her sister's arm to steady them.

"We found some friends." Ruby pointed at Jaune, and the rest of his team as they poked their heads into the doorway.

"I... don't think we'll all fit," Pyrrha said hesitantly.

"It's fine." Yang waved the hand holding the water bottle, then strode over to drop the tray in Blake's lap.

To Blake's horror, she soon spotted Sage behind Nora and heard Sun laugh. "We are not cramming twelve people in here."

"Agreed." Weiss waved Ruby in, then poked Jaune until he backed up into the hallway. "Two at a time, please."

None of them protested, either because Pit and Weiss were both glaring in their general direction or because none of them were interested in packing themselves in like sardines.

The visits went quickly—Blake's eyelids were starting to feel heavy, and she could tell her team had noticed. Sun gave her a card signed by everyone, with a dragon printed on the front that bore a striking resemblance to Pit. It had a thermometer in its mouth, and below it was a caption that read, "We hope you can dragon yourself out of bed soon!" Ren offered her a box of herbal tea he said encouraged healing. By the end of it she was left feeling warm, content, and very sleepy.

"Ah."

Dragonmaster Ozpin peered inside, smiling at Sage and Scarlet. Both said a hasty goodbye and retreated. Weiss didn't budge, and hadn't all... morning? Afternoon? She still didn't know, and now seemed like a bad time to ask.

Whatever time it was, she must have looked about as tired as she felt, because the first thing Ozpin said was, "I know you need your rest, and I won't take up too much of your time. I simply wanted to inform you that Adam Taurus is dead."

"Weiss told me."

"Good. Now, this is something that I would normally report to the council, in the interest of acquiring extra security." Blake tensed. "However, considering your circumstances—" he glanced at Pit, "—I've done my best to keep your involvement in the matter quiet. As far as they are concerned, a White Fang operated attempted to steal Dust from our campus and had an altercation with a student in the process."

"So..." She wished her head was clearer. "The council..."

"Won't hear anything about you or your dragon. I've told them the student in question wished to remain anonymous."

Blake slumped back against her pillows. A wave of relief swept over her, and it was all she could do to stay conscious. Adam was gone. The council didn't know. They were safe. And if she felt a little pang at the thought of him dead, that was at least something she had the luxury of processing later.

"Is that all?" Weiss asked, and Ozpin nodded. He said something else, but Blake hardly even heard it. She was aware of the door opening and closing. Then silence... a cool hand on her forehead... a familiar scaly weight dipping the pillow next to her head... and nothing at all.

A twig snapped.

Zircon whirled around, his tail twitching and his ears straining.

"Shh..." Sage patted his shoulder. "You're safe. It's just me."

He whined and curled around his rider. Every few seconds he had to lift up one wing and peek—he kept remembering when it was Blake there, bleeding. When had their giant, invincible riders gotten so small?

This wasn't right. Their riders weren't supposed to bleed—except maybe Sun and Yang. Danger wasn't supposed to be able to creep right up to the earth barns. Pit wasn't supposed to howl like that. Shaking now, he burrowed his head into his rider's shirt.

Sage leaned back against his side, petting his scales. "I'm so proud of you," he murmured.

Zircon lifted his head to stare at his rider. A hand came to scratch under his chin, and his eyes dipped halfway closed.

"You protected Blake. I know you must have been terrified... but you put yourself at risk to help others." He patted Zircon's nose. "It was brave."

Zircon shoved his head back under Sage's arm, this time out of embarrassment rather than terror. He... he had done that, hadn't he?

He remembered the noise. Sage had explained that it was a gunshot, but at the time it had sounded like an explosion, or the cry of some horrible monster. He remembered Pit's anguished shriek, mixed with the cries of the one who'd attacked them. Weak, ragged breathing... the smell of iron... the man on the ground, not moving. Was that what bravery was supposed to feel like?

Zircon thought it felt like wanting to be sick.

"N-no," he mumbled.

"No?" Sage stroked his nose. "What, you think you can't be brave if you're afraid?"

"F-feel... buh. Bad."

"You feel... guilty?"

Zircon shook his head.

"Rr... Rayy... Vuh. Feel B-bad."

Sage thought that over for a moment. "It... felt bad to be brave?" he guessed.

A nod.

"I don't think that's true." Sage drew Zircon's head into his chest and hugged him around the neck. "It feels bad to be in situations where you have to be brave. Yesterday... it must have been terrifying. I'm sorry that happened. But... try to think of being brave as... the best thing that can happen in a bad moment. You were scared. It felt bad to have to make that choice, but you did a good thing. A great thing.

"You kept Blake safe. I hope you can be proud of that... because I definitely am."

Zircon burrowed further into his rider. He still felt jittery from the day before, still sick with knowing how easy it would be for someone to come and hurt his other friends. But at the same time... he felt warm. Like somebody had just lit a candle in his chest.

Brave. He still thought that didn't feel so good. But safe... protected... that was good. It was something he hoped he could do again.

"What. The. Fuck."

It was all Sky could do to force the words out through gritted teeth. He was alone in the dark in the Emerald forest. There were two of them and one of him, and Hazel had enough muscle to make three of him. He remembered being in this same situation weeks ago, the fear making him tremble. Now he was shaking with suppressed rage, and fear was the last thing on his mind.

Hazel folded his arms. "What happened? We heard the dragon—"

"Everyone heard the fucking dragon!" Sky jabbed a finger in the direction of the school. "That dragon? The only one who—" his voice cracked. "The only one with the spine to try and help Tornado? Everyone heard him screaming!"

"That's why I asked," the faunus girl snapped. "You're our informant, if something happens—"

"Don't fucking lie to me!" He started pacing, bleeding off the excess energy before he did something stupid like try to hit one of them. "You told me you wanted to know about Pit! You didn't say you wanted to murder his rider!"

The girl's eyes went wide. Then she swore viciously and put a hand to her forehead, like she was reeling with the news.

"Was it him?" Hazel asked her.

"Yes." Her lip curled. "Idiot."

Hazel turned to Sky. "The leader of the White Fang has a... personal grudge. We didn't know he was going to do that. If we had, we would have stopped him."

"Had."

The big man raised an eyebrow.

"Had," Sky repeated. "Past tense. He's dead."

The faunus girl cursed again. "What happened? Was anyone else injured?"

"Yeah. He fucking shot her!"

Hazel looked pained. "Dead?"

"No." If she had been, Sky would have attacked them both and damn the consequences. "But I'm done. Out." He took a step back towards Beacon.

"Wait."

"What?!" He whirled around and glared at Hazel.

"You're angry. So am I." He set his jaw. "The girl did nothing wrong. I don't like unnecessary violence."

"He's an idiot," the faunus girl added. "Was an idiot. He set us all back getting himself killed like that, all because of his own obsession."

Hazel shot her a look that silently begged her to stop helping. Then he turned back to Sky and hooked his thumbs through his belt. "I'd like to apologize... and I think you'll want to stick around."

"Why?" he demanded, suspicious.

"We have someone you'll want to meet."

"He does," the girl clarified. "I have news to deliver." She scowled. "And a mess to clean up." With that, she disappeared into the trees. Sky stared after her. He was torn now between curiosity and anger, but the longer he looked at Hazel's sorrowful expression the more convinced he was that he really hadn't known.

"It won't be tonight," Hazel said. "Too much of a hike to get to her."

"Who?"

At that, Hazel smiled. "Raven Branwen. She can get you an egg... and a place to stay, far outside the council's reach."

Sky swallowed hard. "When...?"

"You tell me. It'll take all day, so you'd better plan around that."

"Saturday," he burst out, almost before Hazel had finished speaking.

"Be here by sunrise."

Hazel held out a hand. Sky shook it.