As both team RWBY and JNPR ate breakfast together as normal, Pyrrha found herself glancing at Weiss with concern. The day after their excursion to the karaoke box had seen the heiress in a much better mood than usual. Since then, however, she'd slid back to her quiet, cagey self, and yesterday had been closer emotionally to her first day at Beacon. This morning was no better, perhaps even worse judging by the slight bags under her eyes and the way she was tapping the fingers on her free hand.
Weiss was barely paying attention to the chatter around her, staring a hole through her plate as she picked at her food. Ruby and Nora were excitedly chatting about something to do with weapons engineering, with Yang chiming in every now and then. A quick look at Blake confirmed that she'd also picked up on Weiss' foul mood, judging by the way she kept glancing nervously at the heiress. Pyrrha frowned slightly, trying to figure out what might be bothering Weiss.
Whatever private thoughts Weiss may have been mulling over were interrupted by a sudden cheer from Ruby, throwing her hands in the air and jostling Weiss' arm as she did so. Said jostle knocked the fork out of her hand, clattering onto the floor. Weiss' other hand slammed down loudly on the table and her head snapped up to glower at Ruby.
"Would you-!" She abruptly cut herself off as she realised too late that she'd raised her voice, cutting through and silencing the chatter around the table. Ruby looked at her with wide, slightly afraid eyes, whilst the rest of the table looked shocked at her outburst. "Sorry," Weiss quickly said, shrinking a little. "I didn't mean to snap, sorry," she apologised again, looking down at her lap guiltily.
"It's okay!" Ruby replied swiftly, waving her hands placatingly. "Sorry for bumping your arm!" she said, offering her own apology.
"You okay, Weiss?" Yang asked, frowning with concern. "You've been pretty down the last few days."
"I… I'm fine, just stressed," Weiss said a touch defensively, still not looking back up.
"What're you stressed about?" Ruby asked, blinking. "School's not starting again for another couple of weeks, and I'm pretty sure you've already got all the work we got over winter done," she said questioningly.
"I have a medical checkup later today," Weiss explained. "They're not particularly enjoyable, so I'm just getting anxious over it."
"Oh, sorry," Ruby said, leaning over to give her a hug. Weiss shrank back a little from the physical contact but made no other effort to stop her.
"Don't apologise, not your fault," Weiss replied automatically.
"Anything we can do to help?" Yang asked before putting another forkful of eggs in her mouth.
"Yes, please, don't hesitate to ask," Pyrrha added.
"I…" Weiss closed her mouth, hesitating for a moment. "Well, if you two don't mind… I'd appreciate it if you'd accompany me?" she asked, looking at Yang and Pyrrha hopefully. "Please don't feel like I'm forcing you, if you don't want to, that's fine," she continued quickly.
"Sure thing," Yang said, nodding.
"I'd be happy to," Pyrrha said in agreement, giving Weiss a smile.
"Thank you," Weiss replied quietly. "I should warn you, I will… Probably be in a slightly worse mood afterwards, if anything. So, just be ready for me to be difficult, okay?" The pair of them nodded.
"So when do we need to head off?" Yang asked.
"In about two hours' time if that's alright?"
"Works for me. Pyrrha?" Both Weiss and Yang turned to look at Pyrrha.
"Of course," Pyrrha said with a nod.
"You don't want me there, Weiss?" Ruby asked uncertainly. Weiss met her eyes and gave her a small shake of the head.
"I… It's not something I want to expose you to," Weiss said lamely. Ruby frowned, concern creeping into her expression. "It's nothing… Well, it's nothing for you to be worried about, but it concerns my prosthetics.
"Alright…" Ruby said slowly with a nod, though she still looked a little confused.
"Thank you Ruby," Weiss said, offering Ruby a small smile.
A couple of hours later, Weiss, Yang and Pyrrha were walking into Vale Central Hospital, the city's largest hospital. The waiting area was scattered with all sorts of people waiting to be seen, from the elderly to young, tired-looking parents with young children. Weiss walked past them all, eyes forward as she approached the main desk, followed by her friends. The nurse behind the desk was a tall man with a shaved head and a short beard. "Good morning. Are you here for an appointment?" he asked, looking between the three of them.
"Yes. Weiss Schnee." The nurse nodded in return, looking down at the screen. After confirming her date of birth, he spoke again.
"Alright, please take a seat, someone will collect you in a minute or so." Weiss nodded, turning and finding an isolated corner away from the other people in the room. Pyrrha and Yang sat at her flanks when she found a suitable seat. She folded her arms, eyes locked on the middle distance as she lightly drummed her fingers against her arm. Pyrrha and Yang shared a concerned glance.
"So, are we doing anything, or just sort of being here?" Yang asked quietly.
"You can come in with me if you like, but only if you want to," Weiss said quietly. "Like I said, it's a checkup. It's just… Seeing it may be distressing." Weiss fell quiet again after that. Yang nodded, looking concerned again.
"Miss Schnee?" The trio looked over towards one set of doors, another nurse stood there looking at them expectantly. Weiss sighed loudly, standing and walking towards them. Yang and Pyrrha followed after a moment. The nurse opened her mouth as she saw the other two approaching, but was cut off by Weiss.
"They're with me," Weiss said. The nurse nodded slowly.
"Alright then. Well, follow me please," she said, turning and leading them through the building. The hospital's prosthetics department was contained entirely within an extension on the main building, and they were eventually led to one of the larger examination rooms. Waiting for them were a pair of prosthetics technicians and a doctor, along with some complex-looking equipment.
"Ah, hello Miss Schnee," the doctor, a middle-aged woman with greying brown hair and kind eyes, greeted her. "And company? I take it they're here for support?" she asked, to which Weiss nodded wordlessly. "Very well then, if you're ready?" Weiss nodded again, removing her winter coat, revealing that she was wearing a separate blouse and skirt rather than her usual dresses.
She then removed the blouse, leaving her in her bra. Both Yang and Pyrrha's eyes widened as she reached behind her back to unclip said bra, but she kept one arm over her chest to keep it in place. One of the two technicians stood behind her, reaching forwards to put both hands on her upper back.
With a quiet click and a hiss, that portion of her prosthetic torso came away, the technician pausing briefly to disconnect a braided cable linking the panel to the inner workings of her artificial body. The other technician did the same with the front of her chest, careful to keep the bra pinned across her breasts. The process was repeated with both halves of her midriff, the reverse side of each torso panel covered in wires and electronics.
The technician standing in front of Weiss stepped away, granting Yang and Pyrrha an unimpeded view of what lay beneath Weiss' prosthetics. Pyrrha gasped quietly, covering her mouth with her hands, eyes widening in shock. Yang didn't react outwardly, but a pit opened in her stomach as she swallowed around a sudden lump in her throat.
What remained of Weiss' organic body rested partially within a metal housing, covering her up to the hips. Metal caps were implanted where her shoulders once were, hooked up to cables running to each prosthetic arm. The first word to come to either witness to describe the torso itself was mangled. It remained in vaguely the correct shape, though the terrible injuries Weiss had suffered left it misaligned in places.
Burn scars covered the majority of the exposed skin, and a metal plate had been implanted into her left side, another braided cable coming out of that and connecting to the machinery around the waist of the artificial body. Ridges and hollows betrayed where ribs had been crushed and broken, and her unburnt skin was sheet white, stark even against the pale skin of her neck and face.
Other scars, neat and straight, told of surgeries that had been performed on her. The pair of them could pick out reservoirs of ice dust in amongst the machinery, but most of it was beyond their understanding.
To Yang, it was like a scene out of some horror media, or a science-fiction story designed to unsettle its audience. The idea that someone she cared so deeply about was living it turned her stomach. Pyrrha was equally upset, and she was astonished at the idea that anyone could survive injuries like that, let alone go on to earn a place at a combat school like Beacon.
Weiss for her part seemed to be ignoring the two of them, along with everything else that was happening. Her eyes were glued to a point on the wall, refusing to look down even fractionally, whilst her expression remained distant and detached.
"Alright, whilst we check you over, any issues you've been having with your prosthetics?" the doctor asked Weiss.
"My left hand got damaged a little while ago, some of the fingers seized. I repaired it myself, but it should probably be looked at," she said flatly. The doctor nodded at one of the technicians, who stepped forwards to gently take Weiss' left arm. With a twist and a click it came away at the shoulder, and it was carried over to a table where the two technicians started disassembling it.
"Any other issues?" the doctor asked again.
"Not that I've noticed, not with my prosthetics anyway," Weiss answered. "Had a bad phantom pain episode recently and some less severe instances, nothing unusual though."
"That's good!" the doctor said encouragingly as she and the nurse looked her over. Heart beat, breathing, and sense of touch were all tested, and the nurse drew some of her blood. "Alright, everything looks as expected. How's her arm looking?" she asked the two technicians.
"I'd like to replace a couple of the fingers, as well as the wrist joint," one of them lifted their head to report. "They're within acceptable margins, but those margins are for civilian use, not for huntresses. If that's alright, Miss Schnee?" he asked.
"Better to be safe than sorry. Bill the normal account," Weiss said, still with that same flat tone.
"Shouldn't take long," he promised, ducking his head again as the two got to work replacing the damaged parts. True to their words, a few minutes later they returned to Weiss' side to reattach her arm, and then reinstall the panels of her torso, once again covering her maimed body. Weiss fastened her bra again before putting her shirt and coat back on, relaxing marginally as she did so.
"We'll send along the results of the blood work in a couple of days," the doctor said, picking up a clipboard and quickly jotting down some notes on it and checking a few boxes. "Take this to the front desk, and be sure to arrange your next check-up. You're free to go!"
"Thank you," Weiss said, nodding to the doctor, nurse, and two technicians. She then looked at Yang and Pyrrha before nodding to the door. The two moved to follow her as she left the room, accompanied by the nurse who led them back to the reception. Weiss handed the clipboard to the nurse on duty there, arranged the date for her next check-up, and turned to Yang and Pyrrha. "Ready to go?" she asked them.
"Weiss, are you okay?" Pyrrha asked, concern painted plainly across her face.
"... Later," Weiss said quietly, though it came out more like a whispered plea. Pyrrha's frown grew as she shared a look with Yang, but nodded. "Yang, do you know anywhere nearby where we can talk in private?" she asked.
"Uhh… There's a café that has some private rooms?" Yang suggested.
"Sounds perfect. Would you lead the way?" Yang nodded at her request, turning and leading the pair out of the hospital. It was a short walk to the café, and Pyrrha spent the whole trip studying Weiss out of the corner of her eye. The heiress looked for all the world the model of calm and composed.
But Pyrrha, who'd had several months to get to know her, could spot the little signs of Weiss' fraught emotional state. The way her posture was even more rigid than usual, the slight strain around her eyes, and a dozen other tiny tells. She had no way of telling exactly what Weiss was feeling, but she knew it was nothing good at that moment.
"Here we are," Yang said, nodding towards the café. The smells of roasted coffee wafted out the door, offering tantalising warmth against the bitter cold of winter. The interior was tastefully decorated like a Mistralean tea house, though the Valean winter coats belonging to the customers somewhat broke the illusion. Yang approached the counter and had a brief conversation with the worker there before looking back at Weiss and Pyrrha and jerking her head towards one of the doors to the rear of the room.
The two followed Yang into the room, and the moment the door closed behind the trio Weiss almost completely crumpled, falling into one of the cushioned seats with her head in her hands. The stoic facade she'd kept up for the whole ordeal finally fell to pieces, leaving her dangerously close to hyperventilating. Yang and Pyrrha looked at each other in alarm, before quickly sitting either side of her.
"Weiss?" Pyrrha asked, carefully putting a hand on Weiss' shoulder. The contact drew a sharp intake of breath from Weiss. "What's wrong?" Weiss didn't answer immediately, remaining silent for a minute before speaking.
"I… I hate this. Gods, I fucking hate this…" she said quietly. "I get… I get so, so close to accepting this. Getting used to the idea of this being my body. I go whole days without once thinking about what's under this," she continued, gesturing to herself. "A-and then something reminds me, or I have to do one of these fucking check-ups and I'm right back where I started. A-and do you have any idea what it feels like to be dismantled?" she asked, lifting her head to look desperately at the two of them. Tears were brimming in her eyes.
"To have pieces of your body taken off one at a time? To be taken apart like a fucking doll?" Hot tears streaked down her cheeks as the dam finally broke. She dropped her head again as the first sob wracked her body, covering her face with her hands as she sank into misery. Pyrrha leant in closer, wrapping her arms around Weiss' shoulders and holding her like she had the last time Weiss had a breakdown.
For Yang, the sight was a twin hammerblow to the gut. She had often been described as good at comforting. She'd certainly had plenty of practice, helping raise Ruby and being her emotional rock for years. And whilst Summer's death remained a difficult subject for Ruby, all things considered Yang had done an excellent job, and that experience had carried over to her other relations, helping people through tricky emotions.
Seeing Weiss like this, though, made her feel helpless. Of course, she was aware of Weiss' often-fraught emotional state, and had heard from Pyrrha about her breakdown after Blake's accidental revelation. Despite that, though, Weiss had always existed in her mind as an individual of incredible resolve. How could she be anything else, having suffered everything she had and choosing to keep going?
But Yang had never actually seen Weiss' walls come down. She'd caught glimpses over them, brief and fleeting, but this was new. And terrifying. It opened a hole in Yang's heart that she felt powerless to close. The fact that she hadn't known just how deep Weiss' hurt ran made her feel like she'd failed at her self-assigned role as the team's emotional core. And the feelings she'd apparently caught for Weiss just made everything feel so much worse.
And those feelings also came with a damning edge to them, because it was Pyrrha who'd been the first to try and comfort Weiss. Both times now, it had been Pyrrha who held Weiss as the heiress cried into her shoulder. It was a bitter, jealous side to Yang's mixed emotions, and the cocktail was only further complicated by the guilt and shame she felt the moment she recognised her envy. It was unbearable, and Yang had to do something.
"I'm going to get some drinks," she suddenly, quietly declared, meeting Pyrrha's eyes. "Cocoa alright?" she asked. Pyrrha nodded, and Weiss was in no state to answer. Yang nodded, a lump in her throat as she left the room, careful to only open the door enough for her to slip out, closing it behind her. Get a fucking grip, she scolded herself mentally as she approached the counter. Weiss needs care and support, she doesn't need you being some jealous prick.
Reaching the counter, she made her order quickly. "I'll take them back myself, private conversation," she told the worker behind the counter. After a moment's thought, she also paid for a bottle of water for Weiss. Collecting the drinks on a helpfully provided tray, she carefully made her way back into the room, gently placing it on the table.
In the time she'd been gone, Weiss' open weeping had tapered off into quiet sobs, folded over in her chair. Yang quietly sat next to her again, carefully reaching over and taking one of Weiss' hands, rubbing her thumb in circles over the back of her hand. As always, Weiss initially flinched at the contact before relaxing once she realised who it was.
"Hey," Yang said quietly, lightly bumping her shoulder against Weiss'. "You can talk to us whenever about this, right?" she asked. Weiss nodded miserably, sniffing. "Just let it all out for now, okay?" Weiss nodded again, taking a shuddering breath.
"I-I'm sorry," she choked out.
"Don't be. We want to help you, Weiss," Pyrrha said from her other side. "Don't ever think that you're burdening or troubling us. We're choosing to do this." Weiss nodded after a moment.
"Thank you…" she mumbled, her tears finally beginning to dry up. "Gods I'm a fucking mess…" she complained.
"You're allowed to be," Yang reassured her. "I know being aloof and unflinching is kind of your thing but you can't always be that. Everyone hurts, and everyone cries. And that's okay, it doesn't make you weak or whatever. I mean, shit, you made it to Beacon. That alone would prove that you're strong, but you also did it after everything you've already suffered. That's insane, I can't even imagine doing that. You are so, so much stronger than you give yourself credit for."
Weiss sniffed again, looking at Yang, the skin around her eyes puffy and her right eye red from crying. "You're too kind," she said, giving a weak smile that only held for a moment. Still, it was a smile, and an honest one at that. Yang chuckled.
"Eh, maybe, but I'm not lying to you." Yang grinned back at her, before glancing over at Pyrrha and meeting her eyes. Pyrrha was smiling broadly at her, gratitude radiating towards Yang. "Don't let your cocoa get cold. Everything always seems better after cocoa."