Ruby Rose Life is a game Chapter 7
Recovery 1
Chapter Start
Darkness,
Tis not just a lack of light,
Darkness,
Tis all encompassing,
It which exists in many forms,
Darkness twas created through a child's folly,
Nothing more than two children's bickering taken too far,
Darkness,
It seeks to pervade all he encompasses,
Do not allow it,
The power to purify exists within you,
The last on this world,
Persevere,
It has many faces,
Some beastly,
Some not,
To purify Darkness is your goal,
Correct my folly,
Ruby Rose,
Persevere.
Pain wracked her entire form as she slowly regained consciousness, her body stiff and unresponsive, every minute twitch causing a spasm of pain to shoot through her. Trying to open her eyes didn't help, her right eye opened to a bright stabbing pain from the brightness, the other eye only saw a solid red colour that quickly faded from her mind as her brain focused on the working eye.
Her fingers wouldn't move, no matter how hard she tried, a burning sensation shooting through the nerves in protest of the attempt. A hand lightly touched down on her right, the action causing her to scream out, the sound barely registering in her ears. Slowly her ears changed from muffled to ringing, as her uncovered eye adjusted.
She was in the infirmary, still in the dungeon but she had been moved from the car park. Her Uncle was standing over her bed saying something but it was drowned out by the ringing. "Status."
[Grievously Injured]
Loss of FOV 60% - Seek medical attention
Loss of hearing - 2 minutes remaining
80% loss of movement (Left Arm) - Seek medical attention
40% loss of movement (Right Arm) - Seek medical attention
2nd degree burns (Face and arms) - Seek medical attention
Concussion (Take concussion checks when taking actions) - 27 hours remaining
'That explains a lot.' She thought before turning to her Uncle who was still trying to speak to her. Shakily she shared the status, specifically about her hearing. 'So the gun exploded, then… nothing.' She thought as she began to feel woozy, she closed her good eye for a moment, causing the nausea to decrease. 'I guess Uncle Qrow killed the Griffon and moved me here.'
Her body shuddered as she tried to move, the jolting pain only increasing as Qrow pushed her back down. 'Why does this hurt so much, all the other pain I've had has disappeared just as quickly as it appeared, but this is sticking around.' She was almost crying as she opened her eye again, focusing on her Uncle who had a rare look of concern on his face.
He looked rough, his clothes were bloody, a giant patch across his chest and traces of blood across his hands. His sleeves were short, having been ripped off to make temporary bandages for her. "Ruby." He said, this time coming through clearly, the ringing in her ears having ceased. "I need you to let us out of the dungeon, we can't get you help before then." His voice was low and hoarse, chock-full of emotion.
"Okay." She croaked out, slowly lifting her right arm in a pained, jerky motion. "{Instant Dungeon: Close}."
Concussion Check - D6 roll
Even = Success
Odd = Failure
D6 roll - 5 - Failure
The moment the failure popped up her body seized, an unnerving cold spread down from her right arm, skating down her lungs and across her heart. It skipped a beat, causing her entire body to freeze for nearly ten seconds.
-10 hp
Her vision was darkening as she regained control of her body, she could tell without looking that her hp was dangerously low again. Her Uncle had grabbed her raised hand as she seized, his eyes were almost boring into hers as he looked down at her, but it was gentle, his hand was cradling hers like it could vanish at any point.
"Ruby!" His voice was panicked as she started breathing again. "Tell me how the technique works, I'll figure it out." He pleaded with her. "This is too dangerous."
"I can do this." Ruby choked out, flexing her fingers. "{Instant Dungeon: Close}"
D6 roll - 2 - Success
The world cracked around her hand, the air around them seeming to gain life, like the world around them was false. Like a small explosion sound returned, the sound of cars picking up children from late activities and the beeping of the various machines around them. "Vejovis!" Qrow yelled, immediately releasing her hand and diving over to the emergency call button.
It was at that point that Ruby's body gave up the ghost, dropping into unconsciousness once more.
"Ruby!" Taiyang yelled as he burst through the infirmary doors, making a beeline for the bed which Dr. Vejovis was hunched over. He almost regretted it as he saw the bloodied strips of cloth that had been peeled away from her face and body.
"She's incredibly lucky that this isn't worse." Vejovis commented, his voice sounding detached. "As it stands her eye will be fine in three to four weeks, it'll need to be covered until then and cleaned regularly, but I expect it to make a full recovery."
"Her left arm is broken in three places, with a compound fracture just below her wrist." He moved his hand to her cheek inspecting it before carefully opening her mouth. "It'll take about a month to heal after being pinned."
He nodded as he reached to the side to grab one of the curved needles and surgical thread. "The burns will clean up in about a week or so, there will be some scarring, mainly around her eye and on the inside of her left arm, I doubt that there will be any movement issues after it's healed." He quickly tied off the thread one the needle before sinking it into the flesh of her cheek. "The shrapnel is what I'm worried about, one piece has penetrated through her left cheek and is embedded in her right tonsil, I have an ambulance heading down to remove her to hospital, it'll be better to remove the entire tonsil as opposed to trying to remove the shrapnel."
"Otherwise there are some pieces resting near her lungs, they haven't pierced anything important but they'll need to be removed very carefully." He nodded as he finished stitching her cheek. "I estimate she'll be able to go back to school in two to three weeks, depending on how much her aura accelerates her healing. A full recovery will take about a month, maybe a month and a half." He stopped speaking at that, focusing on dealing with the injuries.
"What happened?" Taiyang asked, breathing out harshly before glancing around. "And where's Qrow?"
"According to Professor Branwen they were attacked by a Griffon, while they were fighting it Miss Rose's rifle was hit by a feather attack which caused the dust within it to detonate." He carefully prodded the wound on the side of her neck, pushing it open slightly to observe the shrapnel embedded within. "As for where he is, he left soon after I started treating Miss Rose, he had a disturbed look in his eyes."
"I… I know where he's gone." Taiyang replied, looking at his youngest again. "How long do you think the ambulance will be?"
"It really should be at any time now. I'm just trying to deal with as much as I can before then, I must say Professor Branwen did a good job at stabilising her. As I said things could have been much worse." Vejovis paused briefly as his pager went off glancing at it before sighing. "The ambulance is here and the Headmistress is asking to see me. I have to say that I preferred it when Legate was the Headmaster, he ran a tight ship without half the meddling."
"Normally I would comment on that but I'm just not in the mood right now." Taiyang admitted, brushing his hand against her forehead, taking comfort in the warmth.
"I understand completely." The elder man nodded. "But she'll have to be disappointed, I'll be going to the hospital with Miss Rose. My semblance is the only thing keeping her unconscious and I need to ensure that the dust residue in her wounds is dealt with properly."
"Thank you, I feel better knowing that you're looking after her as opposed to some random doctor." The blond man sighed in relief. Just before the doors were pushed open, a pair of paramedics holding a foldaway stretcher entering the room.
"Ah good, I just finished what I could here. She'll need to be brought into theatre before anything else can be done. There are no signs of spinal injury and the only broken bones are in the arms. " The old doctor told them as he snapped his gloves off, throwing them in the medical waste bin. "I'll just sanitise while you load her up."
The paramedics nodded, obviously used to Vejovis' orders, complying without a moment's hesitation. Swiftly and efficiently they had the stretcher set up next to Ruby's bed and were beginning to transfer her over when a shock of blonde hair bolted into the room, skidding to a stop in front of the bed.
Yang didn't seem to know how she should feel, that was evident to her father as he moved to hold her back. Her face looked lost, like she was about to shatter but her hair was glowing so much it looked more like fire while her eyes were a deep angry scarlet. "Yang, you need to calm down. There's still dust in Ruby's wounds, if your aura sets it off it could kill her." He was being as blunt as possible to get through to her, while she didn't react she obviously understood, allowing her to be moved towards the wall away from the paramedics.
"What happened?" She croaked out, her voice raspy as she forced out the words, her eyes never moving from the girl as she was placed on the stretcher.
"I'll tell you on the way to the hospital, just try to calm down." He soothed her, watching as Ruby was wheeled out of the room. "Now Vejovis will be in the ambulance with her, we'll be following behind."
He was interrupted from speaking further by Vejovis walking away from the sink, rubbing something that smelled distinctly of alcohol into his hands. "Professor Xiao Long, once we've ascertained Miss Rose's safety I must insist on you finding Professor Branwen. In his state he'll be attracting the grimm and while I have no doubt that he can look after himself, even the greatest of cliffs can be taken down by enough waves."
"Yeah, I'll go find him after Ruby's out of surgery." Taiyang agreed with a nod, releasing Yang as they began to follow the man towards the front of the school. "I'm parked in my usual spot so we'll split off here. We'll see you guys at the hospital." He nodded, gently pulling Yang away from where she was following the paramedics. "The sooner we get to the car the sooner we'll get to the hospital. Let's go."
The cliffside was barren, the recent cold weather and the layer of fallen leaves having smothered the grass and the previous night's heavy wind removing said layer. The only thing that stood out was a single raised stone, standing in defiance to the desolate dirt.
Summer Rose
Thus Kindly I Scatter
"Qrow!" Taiyang's voice echoed from the tree's,the rustling of the branches signaling his arrival. "Qrow I know you're here, I can smell the whiskey." He yelled, pausing briefly as he spotted the grave marker. Letting out a sigh he stared at the ground in front finding eight small marks in the dirt within a larger indentation.
"Where are you now?" He sighed, glancing around the area. 'He won't have gone too far, he's probably waiting for me to leave before coming back out.' "Qrow, c'mon. Ruby's going to be fine. She's had her surgery, it went off without a hitch, she'll be fine." He yelled out to the trees, knowing that he was somewhere close by.
A soft growl echoed out of the woods as a beowolf slunk out, sniffing the air as it observed the area. 'They're probably looking for Qrow.' He thought to himself as it let out a howl. In less than ten seconds an entire pack had appeared at the treeline, snarling as the larger one stalked towards him. 'But they found me! Their mistake.'
Letting out a small huff he began walking away from the grave marker, further down the cliff. The beowolves followed, slowly circling the pack around him travelling until he was happy with the distance. There were dozens of beowolves surrounding him and the shaking of the trees showed far larger grimm were waiting in the wings. "Oh my, there are so many grimm, however am I supposed to fight them all on my own?" He asked in a sotto voce as the grimm tensed to charge. One beowolf taking the lead and striding up to the man snarling in confusion at the lack of fear in the man.
The grimm's breath was foul, stinking of an unearthly combination of corruption and disease, his response was as quick as it was surprising. Quick as a flash his hand was on top of the beast's head and with a flick of his wrist a snap echoed through the area, the body dissipating before it hit the ground. "Oh my, now how did that happen?" He mimed as the beowolves snarls turned into roars.
Quick as a flash he kicked off the ground, flipping through the air before landing in a heel stomp, crushing the head of the single alpha, the ground caving in slightly, causing the surrounding beowolves to stumble. Quick as a flash he pivoted on the ball of his foot, flinging his other leg out, catching a beowolf on his foot before dragging it around, scooping up more and slamming the down in a pile. This was finished by a single punch into the mass of Grimm, sending them flying off, dissolving as they flew.
The next group were somewhat smarter, charging him while a row of them bombarded him with stones, there were also a group of larger beowolves, ones on the cusp of becoming alpha, that were hanging back waiting for the right time to strike. Unfortunately for them Tai was much too skilled for basic tactics like that to work.
Using his right foot as a pivot he turned, snatching some of the stones out of the air before releasing them at the charging line. The attack did the trick, the rocks thundering into the heads of the wolven grimm, half the group falling immediately, skidding as they died, knocking several of the compatriots off their feet as they did so.
Two members of the line reached him, roaring in bloodlust as they swung towards his head, no longer acting in tandem. Ducking beneath the swings, his feet skidding slightly in the dirt as he moved, before he exploded upwards in an uppercut, a loud crack sounding before he reached around and grabbed the other beowolf by the throat and hauling it in the way of another volley of stones.
Quickly he closed the distance, using the beowolf as a shield against the flurry, several cracks sounding before he reached the line, the grimm-shield dissolving in his hands. A short, explosive combo ended the lives of the throwers before he had to jump backwards to avoid the faux-alphas.
"Oh my, whatever shall I do, there's just so many!" He exclaimed dramatically, fanning himself as he stared around. The larger grimm had revealed themselves, six King Taijitu had emerged from the trees, their fangs dripping poison as they zoned in on him, all twelve heads focusing intently. "However could I fight against such impossible odds." As if provoked by his words the lead Taijitu charged forwards, fangs glistening.
It was over immediately, the black snake head fell from the body, a vacuum blade flying past in a deadly arc. Instantly it was followed by a black and white blur which beheaded the white end of the serpentine grimm. "Fine, we'll talk." Qrow spoke in a monotone as he landed across from Tai.
He was a mess, his clothes were bloodsoaked, a massive swathe across his chest from where he had been carrying Ruby. There was several patches of blood staining his stubble and his eyes looked dead, like he was acting on autopilot. The smell of whiskey had increased dramatically just from his presence, overwhelming even the blood that clung to him. 'Dammit Qrow, why do you do this to yourself.' Tai sighed before meeting Qrow's eyes, his previous joviality fading away. "Let's clean up first, then we'll talk." He nodded, turning back to the grimm. "I think we both have some… emotions to work off."
As one they moved.
The grimm fell.
"It wasn't your fault Qrow." The sun was almost fully set now, the last few vermillion rays peeking over the horizon leaving the fragmented moon dominating the starry sky. The marker stood against the horizon, seeming to absorb the last few rays, making the stone have a red tinge.
"It was," Qrow disagreed from where he was sat, his legs crossed with his elbows resting on his knees, his fingers entwined in front of his mouth. "We both know it, don't even try to deny it. My bloody semblance strikes again, leaving yet another person lying in a pool of their own blood."
The cliffside was near silent, only the whistling of the wind through the barren trees could be heard. The cawing of a bird pierced the silence, followed by a flurry of wings as four crows took flight. "Ruby's alive, she's going to make a full recovery." Tai spoke softly his voice cracking slightly. "She'll have scars, scars that'll be there for her entire life but she'll be fine."
"This time." Qrow spoke before taking a draw of his flask. "She'll be fine this time."
"Don't give me that, we're huntsman." The blond's eyes rolled as he spoke. "You know as well as I do that this shit happens. People get hurt like this everyday without you around, this is just one of those. You would never hurt Ruby, so this was just normal bad luck… and yes, contrary to what you believe, bad luck does exist outside of your semblance."
They sat in silence after that, the sun finally vanishing, leaving them alone in the darkness with only the moon and stars for company. The silence stretched uncomfortably between them as Qrow just stared blankly at Summer's grave, causing Tai to sigh. "Alright, you're obviously not listening, so cheer up, get showered and come visit Ruby with me or I'll put you in the bed next to her." He declared, leaping to his feet and cracking his knuckles.
"Really Tai? You're going to start a fight with me in front of your wife's grave?" Qrow responded incredulously, rolling backwards and to his feet as the blond threw a kick where his head had been a moment previously.
"If Summer was here she would have already started beating you up." He retorted before sliding forward, throwing a jab at Qrow's face. He almost flowed out of the way, as he twisted his body, his hand slapping away the follow up punch. "Now either buck up or let me hit you."
"You're seriously going to do this?" The only response to Qrow's question was an explosive combo of punches and kicks that kept Qrow on the back foot, causing him to let some of the less damaging attacks through. "I don't want to fight."
The only response was Taiyang increasing his speed, the attacks coming faster and harder. "You could end this at any time, just stop being an idiot."
"That's the pot calling the kettle black." He shot back, using the recovery from a roundhouse kick to leap out of range. "Seriously Tai, stop it."
"Then stop the pity party and let's go already." Taiyang had stepped back into a neutral stance, ready to either stop or to burst forward again. His eyes softened as he took in his reluctant countenance. "If you were to start avoiding Ruby it would kill her, it would hurt her far worse than these injuries. C'mon Qrow, as much as she calls you her Uncle we both know that she sees you as a father, probably more than me." He raised his hand to cut off any protests. "Don't, just don't. We both know it's true, I wasn't a father to either of them after Summer died, I was too caught up with my own grief. You're the one who raised them, not me."
"Tai…" He tried to cut in but the blond was having none of it.
"Just shut up, sober up and come with me to the hospital." He let out a harsh breath, pointing back towards the island town. "Please Qrow."
"Fine." Qrow breathed out. "Fine, you win. I'll go get a shower and we'll go see Ruby."
"Great." Relief was evident in Tai's voice at the admission, his shoulders slumping before he straightened up again. "And Qrow, afterwards we're going to have a long discussion. I want to know everything, and I mean everything."
"Yeah, yeah, okay." Qrow conceded slumping down. "I'll tell you everything to do with Ruby." At the small glint that appeared in Taiyang's eyes he cut him off with a gesture of his hand. "I can't tell you everything, a lot of it only Ozpin can tell people but I'll tell you everything else."
"I guess that'll do." He let out the breath he had been holding, unclenching his fist. "Go, I'll see you back at the house in an hour. I… have some things I need to say." He glanced back at the grave before looking back at him.
"Yeah, okay. I'll see you in an hour." He nodded before turning around and strolling into the trees, a moment later a crow's cawing sounded, a black shape vanishing into the night.
Nodding to himself Taiyang swung around softly before lowering himself down. "Hey Summer, it's been awhile."
-CHAPTER 7 END-
Authors note - This one kicked my ass. This chapter was so hard for me to finish, sorry if it feels rushed but here it is.
Thanks for reading everyone.