Petal's memory came in flashes. She was sitting in her cage when she began hearing noises. They were the voices of her teammates, Rose and Mila, but she did not hear Shimmer at all. Next, she recalled seeing Rose standing in front of her cell. She looked exhausted, but was fine otherwise. Mila struck her cage and then attacked Matias again, but was beaten back. Rose was about to help him when the unthinkable happened, the thing she had been dreading most since meeting Rose. She saw the limb of the creature Matias embodied pierce through Rose's body, somewhere around her stomach, and exiting out the back. It slithered free after Rose gave a faint gasp, of surprise more than anything, and she dropped to her knees. Something buzzed in Petal's head then, a vibration so fierce, she felt it run through her entire body soon after. Rose then hit the ground, her eyes closing slowly as blood pooled around her, blending in with the damp floor and diluting the crimson to a dull pinkish color.
She screamed, she remembered that much, and she hit the bars in an attempt to get them open. She felt stronger almost instantly, and her semblance activated, though she didn't will it to. She didn't think she had the strength to use it but it had appeared, and there was something different about this time. The next memory was fuzzy, but she had lunged at the creature, biting and clawing, using any means she could to rip it to pieces. It had worked for some time, but her blows were not the only attacks landing. At some point, she felt a burning pain in her arm and it was left useless at her side. She remembered then being hit, and she hit something extraordinarily hard, but there was darkness after that, as if she had been sleeping. The rest became even more brief. She was floating, weightless somehow. Then she was lying on the floor of the cabin, looking up into Flint's face. After, she was in an airship, and the sounds of the engines seemed distant, despite her eyes seeing the sky passing by the canopy door. Even the words being spoken around her sounded as if they had been underwater, muffling and distorting them to the point of being inaudible.
That all led to her being here, a room of white, lying in a light blue bed, and monitors beeping around her. Her left arm was resting in a sling across her chest, her head was propped up on a pillow, and her entire body stung horribly. Bone, muscle, and flesh all felt as if they had been set ablaze by a torrent of flames. Now, somewhat clear headed, she surmised that she was in a medical center, and judging by the city outside the window, she assumed that somehow, someway, she had made it back to Mistral. Rose filled her thoughts as she closed her weary eyes, and sighed heavily with guilt, grief, and optimistic denial. She had seen wounds like that before, normally caused by Grimm, and they did not make for good odds of survival. Rose would have needed to be immediately treated, but even just the flight back to the city would be precious minutes wasted in the attempt to save her life. Still, despite knowing this, she had to hold out hope. It had been her fault after all, as she was the one that sacrificed herself in the first place. Had she not been so hasty, had she decided to jump into the airship instead of fighting on her own, none of this would have happened. That single stupid decision, that one mistake, might have cost her closest friend her life, and there was no going back to fix it.
She turned her head to gaze out the window and felt her eyes burning, feeling the tears forming and rolling along the contours of her face. It was daybreak now, meaning quite some time had gone by since she was captured, and a good number of hours had passed since the fight in the cave, since Rose had been stabbed through. Petal bit her lip in frustration, partly due to her own helplessness, and blinked away the pooling water in them as she choked on her breath. Despite her pain, she forced herself to roll onto a side and curled up into a ball, her black and gold tail laying across her as she made herself as small as possible, her face tucked close to her pulled in knees, and she sobbed quietly, to herself, in solitude. She decided there, in her lonely agony, that it had all been a mistake, since the very beginning. She tried to play schoolgirl, she tried to fit in with others her age, and she tried to live a normal life for a change, but it had all blown up in her face.
"It was stupid." she thought. "Trying to be like them." she muttered, trying to quell her shaking body and her streaming tears, but she only balled herself up tighter and weeped even more.
Petal was in pain when her family was dead, but this felt different to her, worse somehow. Perhaps it was due to it being a failure on her part, caused by her shortcomings and her more relaxed attitude in recent months. Since coming here, she reduced her training hours, and began leaning too much into the calm, day-to-day life of a student. She studied, acted as if nothing was wrong in the world, and failed to keep up with her training and cautious nature. It was her time away from Cole, from the wilderness that caused this, she knew, and she now regretted it. Her weakness caused this, and that was what hurt worst of all. While she was delving deeper and deeper into her self-loathing, she failed to notice that somebody had entered the room, or even the sound of the steps as they neared her bedside. Only when a gentle hand touched her, and a familiar voice reached her ears did she realize somebody's presence.
"Hey, girl." came Cole's soft voice.
She did not move, did not unfurl from her balled position, and did not respond. She couldn't speak, for if she tried, she knew it would come out as a mess of tearful words that could not be understood through the sobs and sniffs that would accompany them. She simply stayed there, shaking and crying as she shrunk ever smaller. She heard the rustling of his clothes as he took a seat and then a sigh filled her ears.
"I'm glad you're awake," he said. "You seem pretty okay, too. How are you feeling?" he asked.
She bit her lip and tried to catch her breath. Her attempts to stop her crying were nearly futile, but she wanted to tell him that she was fine. It would be a lie, and he would know it, but she felt it was how she had to answer, so she did.
"Fine." she croaked, but nothing else would clear her lips. Any other words she wanted to say got caught in her throat.
She felt a soft hand rub her shoulder lightly, almost in a parental fashion.
"No, you're not." he said, softly.
"No." she managed to say, before another word somehow made it into the open. "What?" was all she could manage, but Cole knew what she meant by it.
"What happened?" he questioned, guessing that to be her intended meaning. "Nobody really knows. Flint said that something opened in the ceiling of the cabin you all were staying in, and then you three fell from it, crashing on the floor. Your weapons, bodies, and quite a bit of blood made it though, according to him, and then transports came earlier than Flint had anticipated. You all were rushed here, and that's about all I know. As for the others' conditions, Mila woke up, answered a few questions about what happened before he passed out, and then hurried to Shimmer's room. She hasn't woken up yet, but the doctors are hopeful. Her condition is stable at least, but she appears to be in some sort of coma. They do suspect it is temporary though. As for the other girl, well…" he stopped, and she knew why he had done so.
Petal slowly uncurled and turned her head to look at her mentor. His face looked older, so much more aged than the last time she had seen him, and that wasn't even that long ago. Still, she saw more wrinkles, more grays in his hair, and dark bags under his eyes. This wasn't just because of her condition. He had been dealing with more than a healthy amount of sleepless nights, and his body and mind have been pushed in ways they have not before. There was no other reason why he looked the way he did, she was sure of that. Whatever he had been doing has not been kind to him, and now she caused this sort of trouble for the man she saw as a father figure.
"Rose?" she asked, her voice sounding hoarse and shaky.
Cole looked away and looked grim. "You already know, don't you? I won't lie, Petal, it's not good. She hasn't woken up yet either, but her condition is far worse than the other girl's. She lost a lot of blood, and there was some damage to a few internal organs. There were also traces of some black substance, and it seems to be poisoning her in a way, or that's what they suspect anyhow. To be quite blunt, they aren't really expecting a recovery. I'm sorry."
Petal winced at the words and turned back towards the window, keeping her sorrowful expression well out of Cole's sight.
"It's not your fault, Petal."
"Of course it is." she muttered. "I messed up. I chose wrong. I thought it was necessary, or maybe I thought it was noble and heroic. Either way, I messed up."
"She's the one that went after you, injured, and without backup. She could have waited for the council to send Huntsmen." stated Cole.
"Don't put that blame on her." snapped Petal, looking back at him.
"Then don't blame yourself. The only person at fault is Matias. Mila told me about him, and we did some digging on his records from Atlas. It was his experiments causing these problems, and it was his actions that hurt you and your team. It will only be a matter of time before he's caught, and when he is, all of the blame falls on him. You are innocent of it."
"I messed up." she then said, with much less conviction.
"Maybe so, but we all make mistakes, Petal. We can't possibly know what the best decision is at all times, that's just not plausible. We work with what we have, and we pray that it works out, and I hate to burst your bubble, but it hardly ever does. That's life, that's the world we live in. We make these mistakes and we learn so we don't make them again, and even then, we still might. That's our nature, so quit beating yourself up over it. Look, you'll be allowed to walk around soon, just be careful. You had a broken rib or two, and your arm is obviously broken. They said they wanted to let it heal naturally, and instead decided to focus their efforts on Rose. I think that once you're allowed, you should go spend your time with her, just in case."
"I'm going now" she said, sharply, and she forced her legs out over the edge of the bed. She followed and slid off of the mattress, wobbling as she took to her feet. The room spun rapidly and she felt horribly nauseous from the dizziness. "I need to see them all." she stated, making for the door, staggering the whole way, and using anything for support, from the bedside to Cole, and then the wall as she shuffled lightly to the door.
Cole didn't move, and didn't give chase, as she knew he wouldn't. He always let her learn on her own, and this was probably a lesson he felt she needed to experience the same way. She made her way down the hall, asking the nurse that tried to stop her about her friends' locations. The woman answered and Petal pushed on, finding the room where Mila and Shimmer were. She opened the door and saw Mila resting his bandaged head on the bedside, his hand firmly clutching Shimmer's. He looked a mess, worse than when she had last seen him, that's for sure, and he looked to be asleep at the present. Deciding that it was best to not disturb him, she continued on to where they said Rose was. It was an emergency wing, one where they did surgeries when necessary, or had people with healing semblances on standby. Those were normally only to be used on life-threatening injuries, or for people that didn't know how to utilize their Aura in the same way Huntsmen did. When a Huntsman regains their Aura, they can use it to heal their own wounds, as well as use it as a shield. It was a marvelous thing, so those that could heal others were only used in those other cases, not on people like Petal, not when her worse condition was a broken bone or two.
Petal hurried down the corridors to find Rose's room, but outside of it she saw another familiar face, one that hurriedly stopped her from pushing through the doors by holding out a frail seeming hand. It was Professor May, her hair looking disheveled and a blue dress hastily thrown on, as if she had rushed from her bed to be here first thing in the morning. Petal gazed up into her emerald eyes and saw a slim smile, one that was not there to be a cheerful expression, but to be one of comfort and understanding.
"I want to see her." Petal demanded.
"You can't. Not yet, at least. I assure you, Petal, they are doing all they can, but for now, we can only leave them to their duties. You will only be in the way."
"What are you doing here, then?" asked Petal. "Aren't you here to see her?"
"I did hurry to get an update on her condition, yes, but I am here to talk to you. Come, let's find somewhere private and comfortable." said the old woman, gesturing for Petal to follow at her side.
They walked through the halls before winding up on the roof of the building, where there was a small garden encircling a single large tree, and several benches that were placed in different locations. May led her to one that resided near the edge of the roof, so they had a wonderful sight of the city.
"You want to know what happened." Petal softly said, keeping her level gaze at the cityscape.
"I need to know," said May. "I briefly conversed with Mr. Lunare, and he told me about Matias and some of his time in Atlas, but he seemed rather distraught over Ms. Hei. I also owe you an apology. If I had known what this mission would consist of, I would have sent an actual team of Huntsmen, not students. For that, and the danger I put your team in, I offer my sincerest apologies, and my condolences for the injuries caused. I know my words will not heal what's been cut or broken, but I hope they are a good enough start. Unfortunately, I do have to ask you to relive yesterday, from start to finish. I need to know what you found, exactly what happened, and then we can discuss what's going to happen moving forward." explained May, and Petal nodded her head before taking in a deep breath of fresh air.
She explained everything that happened since landing, sparing no detail as long as she remembered it. She told May about the serums, the odd mutated subjects in the facility, and everything Matias Shiro had explained to her, including his insane goals of further evolution. She then ended with her retelling of the fragmented memories that remained to her from the night prior, the fight that had taken place, and the fractured remnants of her trip back to Mistral.
"I think Rose used her semblance to get us back at the last second, with what was left of her strength." said Petal, ending the conversation with this passing thought that had crossed her mind since hearing about their arrival back in the cabin. This was the only explanation she could come up with, especially with how Cole said they fell from the ceiling. Couple that with the falling sensation, it had to be Rose's ability. Petal then put her face in her hands.
"Life may seem hard now, child, but time does heal certain things. It is an old saying, and is still passed down for a reason. It is true, Petal, and that is why we still say it today. Rest for now, hope for tomorrow, and the future will bring what it does. I appreciate you answering my questions, and the council will be having some very long discussions about how to handle this matter. For now, I want you and Mila to stay here for a few more days. Once Shimmer wakes up, and I do believe she will very soon, you all will be permitted to return to the dormitory."
"What if I don't want to go back?" asked Petal.
"Nonsense, child. Besides, I think I'll be needing you sometime soon, and it will be a lot easier if you were close at hand. Besides, you will see that on the morrow, that reluctance was only a sub-product of guilt and strife. Return to your room, and I will make sure they keep you updated on Rose's condition. If anything changes, you will be one of the first people to know."
"Thank you, Professor," said Petal, and then she felt a hand touch her back. When she looked at the aged teacher, she saw that the woman was holding up her hand. Petal reached over and opened her hand, which was quickly filled with ten black rings.
"Flint told me they fell around your body when you fell from the portal. I think it's best if you have them back. The rest of the pieces are in your room, sitting by your bed."
"I didn't even notice." said Petal, looking down at her tiny bands.
"I figured, which is why I wanted to personally give these back to you. I must take my leave now, I have a very busy couple of days ahead of me. Again, Petal, try to take it easy until we know more of the situation. It won't do to have you falling to pieces when there might be no need to do so. Stay strong." said the woman, patting her shoulder once more, before walking towards the door of the building.
Petal was left alone, gazing down at her rings, and then looking out at the expansive city that had become a home to her. She had found her place in this world, which was something she never imagined doing after the destruction of her village so long ago. Her nomadic days with Cole felt a lifetime away now, replaced by memories of her and her team enjoying their time in those academy halls, their many classes, and even their few assignments, this most recent one being excluded. Her hand clenched vigorously around the rings in her palm as her eyes narrowed in a furious determination. Matias' face appeared, and the image of her defeated comrades came with it.
"I have to stay, and I have to get to the bottom of this." she snarled. "For Rose, for Mila and Shimmer, and now, for myself. I need to stop this." she added, looking off into the distance, and watching the city of Mistral continue its normal routine, as if nothing in the world had happened, as if her friend was not dying in a bed several floors below her, and as if no conflict was about to take the world of Remnant by storm. She slid the rings on her fingers, gently when it came to her left ones, and flexed the appendages of her right hand to absorb the familiar weight to them. Her golden eyes then fell on the city again, and they did not leave it for some time, not until a voice came to fetch her, Mila's voice, and it brought with it the news she had been anticipating nervously for hours at this point. Petal was at a loss of breath, and when she finally found it again, she hurried after him, rushing back into the hospital, and down towards Rose's room. The roof was left empty now, the afternoon sun's rays sparkling on the dew-ridden leaves and petals of the flora that lived up there. One of them was a pinkish-red rose, its petals growing strong around it. A single drop of dew ran down the base of the plant, and in the sun's blinding light, it dripped and splashed on the roof as the door Petal had run through latched shut behind them.