*Pokes head out of shoe* Er, hello! And happy Friday! This chapter there are a lot of questions, very few answers, and a broken device to consider.

48. Blame

Ruby buried her face in the delicate frills behind Storm's jaw. She stayed there as Specter went quiet and limp, and the sounds of fighting faded away. Then longer, her cheek pressing against warm scales. She didn't want to look—but when her dragon whimpered in her ear, she squared her jaw and pulled away.

"Stay still for me," she murmured, running a soothing hand over Storm's forehead. Then she forced herself to turn and kneel beside the injured wing.

It wasn't bleeding. That gave her hope—maybe it wasn't as bad as it had felt as they fell. But when she looked closer, she saw that it was clean not because the bite hadn't been deep, but because it had been frozen.

She looked around helplessly. "I don't know what to do," she said, feeling like she was listening to someone else talk. "Do... do dragons get frostbite?"

Weiss stumbled over. She paused when she got close, as if she wasn't sure she'd be welcome. Her face was pale where it wasn't red and chapped from the cold. While she hovered uncertainly, Yang and Blake crowded in on either side of Ruby.

"It looks like it's stopping the bleeding," Blake said, her voice shaky with uncertainty. "I'm just... not sure if that's a good thing or not."

"I—" Weiss stopped abruptly, like she'd just bitten her tongue.

Ruby blinked. It occurred to her that she should probably... "It's not your fault."

Weiss hesitated a little longer, then said, "I think... I think it's a bad idea to leave it like that. Blood won't be able to get to the rest of the wing."

"That is correct."

Ruby had never been so glad to hear Professor Goodwitch's voice. She was crisp and professional as always as she crouched to examine the injury. Professor Port stood next to her, his mustache twitching nervously.

Goodwitch snapped her fingers and said, "Bandages."

"I have some in my bag," Blake told her, and scrambled to get them.

Storm struggled weakly when Fang pressed his nose to the wound, warming it with his powers. Ruby held her head in her lap, wrapping her arms around her snout and whispering soothing nonsense. Pit licked and nuzzled at her side. Goodwitch and Port worked on her wing, with Yang and Blake running to fetch supplies for them whenever they asked. Weiss retreated to Specter, who hung slack from the grip of Pepper and Huo.

Soon the wing was bandaged and tied into a clumsy sling, using a length of rope Nora had in her pack. Ruby tried not to look at the spot where the wing had rested on the forest floor—Storm had bled a lot when the ice thawed out.

"You're the best dragon in the world," Ruby told her, pressing their cheeks together so that she could speak into her ear.

"It hurts," Storm said through Penny. "I don't understand."

Someone cleared his throat. Ruby looked up—it was Ren. He held something in his hand, the metal object Weiss had smashed to pieces. "I think this is the culprit."

The frame was ugly and haphazard-looking, even for something that had just been clobbered by a rock. Its inner electronics were a different story—Ruby might have been impressed if she hadn't known what they'd just done to Storm... and to Specter. She knew a prototype when she saw one.

"Penny? Is that... is it like you?"

Penny's light blinked red and yellow. "It appears to be of a similar design," she said, after a long pause, "but that shouldn't be possible."

"Why not?" Weiss demanded. "And who—" she cut off with a snarl. "Watts."

"No." Penny's light went red again. "Doctor Watts was not involved in my design process."

Blake glanced up from where she had been adjusting Storm's bandages. "Well... Watts did have access to her, um... circuits. Could he have built something similar?"

There was a long, tense silence. Then, finally, "He would have needed to go through my code."

Ruby shuddered. She hugged Storm's head again, this time making sure to wrap one arm around Penny's chassis.

Professor Goodwitch spoke up, looking grim. "You should all check your dragons. Thoroughly."

Weiss looked up, her jaw very tight. "As a precaution, yes... but I think I remember when this happened. Watts touched Specter's head, and he—I remember he didn't like it. I thought it was just that he was picking up on how anxious I was, but..." Her eyes dropped to her feet. "I should have realized."

Blake bumped her with her shoulder. "You couldn't have predicted this. Nobody could."

Storm nuzzled further into Ruby's lap. One eye blinked open.

"Storm says that Specter couldn't talk," Penny reported. "That's why she was worried. Even when she asked him a question, he wouldn't say anything." Her light blinked yellow. "Translation is one of my primary functions."

"Okay, so..." Sun glanced at Huo. "Can you guys let us know if someone is acting weird? Especially if they're not talking?"

Huo gave him a flat look.

"I'm taking that as a yes." Sun draped himself over his dragon's neck and started checking behind his ears. Everyone was looked over, even though there wasn't anywhere to hide a metal plate like that on earth or fire dragons. No other devices turned up. Fang hissed at the broken one and melted it into so much slag.

The others started talking. Plans for the future, speculation about the device... words that turned into useless buzzing after a few minutes. Ruby stayed kneeling by Storm's head, pressing a cheek against her scales. Yang sat with her and rubbed her back.

Only after Storm was fast asleep did she find the courage to look up at her professors and ask, "How bad is it?"

She soon discovered that seeing a soft, sympathetic look on Professor Goodwitch's face was a lot scarier than the usual stern one. "That... depends. We cleaned the wound as well as we could, and dragons are resistant to infection. I doubt she'll get any worse. But the bite is deep, it hit a major joint, and being frozen didn't do it any favors. It will be months before it heals, at least. After that, we'll have to see how well she can move it, and how much strength can be built back up."

Ruby felt a throbbing pain start behind her eyes. All the information she'd wanted was there, but it kept slipping away like wet soap, and she couldn't put it together. Yang's arm came up to wrap around her shoulders. "Will she be able to fly again?" she asked, cutting to the heart of it.

"Almost certainly," Port said. Goodwitch glanced at him once, sharp, and Ruby's next swallow turned tight and painful.

"Healing will take time," Goodwitch added, still in that careful tone. "It's important to manage your expectations. She won't be able able to handle as much weight as she otherwise would. It likely won't be so extreme that she can't carry you, but we can't say for certain."

"Oh." Ruby felt something hot drop onto the back of her hand and wiped her eyes. And then she was crying, which was horrible because Storm was right here, her ears twitching as she slept, and Professor Goodwitch was watching her. Pyrrha, too, she and Jaune were sitting a little ways away with Twiggy. Just Twiggy.

"She's okay," she choked out later, when it was only Yang there next to her. "I shouldn't be so..."

Yang kissed the top of her head. "Flying with Storm is important too. Don't do that to yourself, okay? Don't feel guilty for being scared."

"Um." Neptune winced when people looked at him. "Not to be that guy, but... shouldn't we be getting the hell out of here?"

"Not yet," Professor Goodwitch said, looking up from where she was tending to Storm. "She'll need time to recover, and I don't want her moving this wing until we're absolutely sure it's thawed out."

Neptune deflated and sat back down, his back to Nymph's paw. "Right. Yeah."

Scarlet made a face. "I don't want to be that guy either, but... go where?"

Jaune glanced over his shoulder at where Yang and Ruby were huddled next to Storm and said, careful to keep his voice low, "...Raven?"

"Are we sure she'd side with us over Cinder?" Neptune asked. "We don't really have proof."

Pyrrha sat up a little straighter where she was wedged between Jaune and one of Twiggy's paws. "I'm not sure if it matters right now. We'll have to get out of these woods first. On foot."

"Vacuo's not... super far away," Sun said. "Relative to... all the other kingdoms."

Scarlet groaned and flopped backwards onto Sage.

"Hey." Jaune tried for an upbeat grin. Neptune tried and failed to be convinced. "At least their plan didn't work. We destroyed that mind-control thing."

Sage shot him an apologetic look. "I don't know about that. They know they can't stop us... but make it so that we have to walk all the way to civilization or else leave someone behind? Suddenly they have a lot more time to figure out their next move."

Ren nodded gravely. "If he wanted to kill us, he could have forced Specter to attack Ruby instead."

Neptune felt a sudden, powerful longing for Oobleck's grueling essays.

"Well," Sun said, clapping his hands together. "We're stuck here for now, and it's going to be dark in a few hours anyway. How about we get some rest? We can figure out what to do in the morning."

Their impromptu war council was eager to disband. Neptune settled next to Sun, right in the crook of Huo's elbow. They were quiet for a while. He couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't be stating the obvious, or reminding them of how screwed they were, or both.

"This sucks," Sun said, eventually. Stating the obvious... but Neptune was glad he'd broken the silence.

"Royally," he agreed.

Nymph rumbled low in her chest and draped a wing over all three of them. Huo didn't even snap at her. He just curled his tail over hers and put his head down next to Sun. The fading sunlight turned blue under their scaly roof, and the silver spots on the wing's membrane stood out like huge stars.

Sun sighed and slumped against Huo's side, his shoulder pressing against Neptune's. "I feel like such a moron."

Neptune hadn't been as furious or suspicious as some, but he'd been expecting another shoe to drop. He just... hadn't thought it'd be a steel-toed boot that would nail them right between the eyes. Sun, who'd been his usual optimistic self, was probably feeling a lot more thrown.

"You're not a moron. She fooled all of us."

"Yeah, I know. Especially me. Which is why I feel like a moron."

"I mean, you can be," Neptune said, grinning. "Like when you almost named your dragon Daddy's Little Badass."

Sun was quick to take mock-offense. "I was gonna call him Badass for short. That's totally different."

"Sure it is."

"It's still a good nickname!"

Huo snorted.

"Whatever. Questionable naming choices aside, you couldn't have seen this coming. We all got played by the scary lady who's been playing pretty much everyone for years."

"Okay, when you put it like that it stings my pride a little less."

"Good."

"...It still sucks."

Neptune couldn't argue with that, so he didn't try. He just sat with his knees huddled to his chest, his back against Huo's warm side, his hair getting all mussed where it rubbed against Nymph's wing.

Minutes later, when Sun leaned his head on his shoulder, he tried not to freeze up too badly. He half-expected his stupidly perceptive dragon to give him another one of those looks. She didn't. She purred slowly, lulling them both into a peaceful daze.

Specter wanted to hide.

He tucked his head under his wings, winding himself into a tighter and tighter ball until his limbs and tail started to ache. There was a horrible burning knot in his belly. It made him feel small and shriveled and wretched. No one was nearby, except for Pepper, because she wanted to make sure he wouldn't hurt anyone else. He was glad.

Then there was a light touch on his back. He recognized Weiss' hand immediately. He poked his head out from under his wing and let her stroke his nose, even though he didn't deserve to feel better.

"It's alright, now," she murmured. "That thing is gone."

Specter could still see a glint of metal, abandoned on the forest floor a few yards away. His ears went back. Weiss' hand moved to his head frills, smoothing the place where the machine had been. He tried not to flinch, but some of them had gotten in the way when she smashed the device with a rock, and it stung.

To his horror, her breathing hitched. "I'm so sorry..."

"Nno!" Specter scrambled to comfort her. His nose touched her arm, and then it was her turn to wince. There were places where her skin was angry and raw from touching his scales. Her palms were bleeding.

"Don't," she said, curling her hands to hide them. "This is—it's my fault, not yours. I knew Watts did something. I should have checked."

Specter whined. That wasn't right, he was the one who had gotten scared and let the doctor realize they knew! But he had no idea how he'd say that in a way she'd understand...

"Enough!"

He squeaked, curling protectively around Weiss, but it was only Pepper. She gave them a stern look. "Both of you are being ridiculous. Specter, it isn't your fault that monster did that to you." Then, this time in the riders' language, "Ice. No."

Weiss looked down at her lap. "I'm sorry, I—"

"Nno. 'Ock-tor bad. Ice gud. 'Ek-trr gud."

But hadn't Specter—

"Stop it, youngling," Pepper said, exasperated. "The only people to blame here are the ones who built that thing." She spat smoke in the general direction of the broken machine. Then, more gently, "Do you remember what happened?"

Specter curled up again, now with Weiss nestled against his chest. It was much better this way. "Yes."

"Can you tell me?"

He shivered. "It was like my thoughts were too heavy to hold. My body kept moving, and I wanted it to stop, but I couldn't think to tell it that."

Pepper bobbed her head once, then licked his nose. "Thank you for telling me."

Specter extended his neck towards her as she started to walk away. "Do you think there's away to stop it? If it happens again?"

"It won't." Her nostrils flared, and fire flickered between her teeth. "I'll make sure of that. And... no, I don't think so. There was nothing you could have done."

"Oh." Specter's voice wavered. He wasn't sure if he felt more relieved or scared.

They stayed there as it got dark. Weiss never went more than a few feet away, and at least one of her hands was always pressed against his scales. He felt another pang at seeing her hands. With no idea what else to do, he followed his instincts and cleaned them as gently as he could. She tensed up at first, and he almost stopped, but then she relaxed and sighed in relief, and he thought it must have helped a little.

Pit settled in on one side of him, draping a wing over his back. "She knows it wasn't you," he said. Some of the snarl of fear and guilt in Specter's stomach loosened. Some came back when he realized that Blake had blood on her shirt.

Weiss shivered when the sun set. Blake disappeared for a few minutes and came back with a fluffy blanket to drape over her shoulders. Then, mutely, she wrapped up his rider's palms. Weiss rested them against his side when that was done. When he let slip a guilty whine, she smiled at him.

"Your scales are cool. It feels good."

His scales had been cold, that was why she was hurt in the first place. But Pit was right—that hadn't been him.

Fang stayed with Storm. The space between the two halves of their team felt like a horrible, uncrossable gulf until he turned his head and hissed, "That bastard did this to both of you. Don't be guilty. Be angry."