Beep. Beep. Beep.

Noise begins to filter through your ears. It's high pitched, which honestly kind of hurts with your Faunus ears. The sound, though, is familiar. It makes you think of sterile white rooms.

The scent? Not so much. Before you find the strength to open your eyes, a welcoming scent fills your enhanced nostrils. You'd been continually aggressed by strong perfumes and sickening colognes since waking up in that crater, but this was subtle, as if the person wearing it knew not to overpower a Faunus nose. As if they were one.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

It was… well, you've never really been the type to stop and smell the…

Roses. That was the scent of roses. Your namesake. Briar Redfield, the man in the rose bush.

Your eyes flicker open, welcomed by the scent of your own reflection. The first thing you see is a ceiling covered with cheap dotted tiles. A hospital ceiling. The second thing you see is a black shape.

The shape makes a noise. In your stupor, you fail to make it out until she grabs your hand.

"B-Briar…" Blake says, clutching your hand. "You're awake…" She's warm. Comforting.

You look around and quickly gather that you were in a hospital room. Memories start to sift into your mind. There was a cave. An Ursa. A bigger Ursa. Yang. Blake. The feeling of desperation. The strength that desperation brought. You awoke your Semblance. You won.

"Blake…?" peeks out from behind your lips as your senses return to normal. As you blink, the shape of Blake becomes clearer until you see her before you, sitting next to your bed. Her black hair was messy and loose. Her eyes had bags underneath them. Every part of her carried a tiredness.

She was the most beautiful thing you'd ever seen.

"I mean, we're here, too, ya know." You recognize that tone and that style. You turn to see a beaming Yang, Ruby and Weiss beside her. "I'd bonk you for not paying attention to us, but I don't think the nurses would appreciate that."

"Guys…" you say, still piecing some things together. "What happened?"

"You were a hero," Blake says. "We were on your first mission, there was an Ursa Major that was stronger than anything you had the right to face, and…"

"You took the hit for Blake after awakening your Semblance. That allowed us to finish the job." Yang puts a hand on your shoulder. "You did amazing, even if you ended up here."

You suddenly feel a loud ache pierce through your back. You try to look behind you before remembering the slash you received. Judging from the pain, those scars will remain. "I did that?" you say, rubbing your head. Even though you have a vivid memory of everything happening, it all seems like a dream. That said, everything has been a dream since you woke up in that crater. You have cat ears for the Brother's sake.

Wait…

You scratch your head. There were bandages wrapped around it, covering your ears. It kind of sucks, but you sigh a breath of relief. Blake was the only one who knew since she was smart enough to figure it out in her own. It helps that she was doing the same thing. None of the rest of RWBY were in on your secrets. Though, it might be time to tell them…

Nah, Weiss was still Weiss. Yang and Ruby were cool, but she… she was still Weiss. She was there at your side, but for all you know she was only following the rest of her team. She never really had much to say about you besides criticism regarding your wardrobe.

"You saved me," Blake says, putting her hand in yours. "I'm so sorry that this is how things ended up, but–"

"–But she's really thankful and would have done the same for you," Yang interrupts. "Sorry. Didn't feel like listening to you stutter trying to get the words out."

Blake lowers her head. "Yeah, that's about right."

"And now you're back!" Ruby cheers, triumphantly raising a fist.

Weiss puts a hand on Ruby's shoulder and pushes down. "Quiet! This is a hospital!"

Ruby deflates a bit, but recovers her composure after simmering down. Much quieter, she says, "And now you're back! We've all be waiting for you to wake up, sleepyhead."

"The nurses will probably take another look at you, but they said you're in good condition, physically speaking," Blake explains, looking at your body. "Now that you're awake, they don't need to treat you anymore. You should be free to come back to Beacon, even though they might keep you in the nurse wing."

"Yeah! You might even be able to get back in your room by the end of today!"

"We'd much appreciate that," Weiss says. "It's exceedingly difficult to transport four people to a hospital in the middle of downtown."

"Yeah, parking's not great and I get funny looks when I drive around with three other people on the back of Bumblebee." Yang giggles. "Nah. I already pissed off enough doctors when I visited Junior's club. Don't need them getting on my ass about driving safety." Yang pauses. "Ohh, we should go to Junior's club once you're able to run around!"

"One step at a time, Yang."

"Yeah, first I need to get out of bed…"

"How are you feeling, then? Are you good enough to get out of bed?"

You pause. You don't feel anything egregiously wrong with you. You move around, twisting your body, stretching out your arms, everything save getting up and standing. Aside from the minor aches and some physical tiredness as a result of several days not moving, you feel fine.

"Yeah, I'm pretty good. I dunno how hospitals work in this sort of scenario…"

Ruby holds up a button. As she clicks it, she says, "We can just ask, I guess. This doohickey calls a nurse, right?"

The five of you turn to the door. After a minute of waiting, a nurse walks in. "Oh, you're awake!" She pulls out a scroll and marks some things down. "How do you feel?"

"Normal. Nothing really hurts and I can move fine."

"As expected…" the nurse whispers, typing into her scroll. "As a Huntsman in training, your Aura is a well suited to healing the injuries you sustained. No pain, or anything?"

"Just some aches from the scars. Nothing bad."

"I see… Well, if that's the case, then I think we can release you by the end of the day. Just some last minute exams and putting together a treatment plan in case anything pops up." The nurse addresses RWBY. "If you ladies wouldn't mind clearing out of this room."

"Of course, miss," Blake says without argument. She looks at you and says, "We'll be in the lobby. Welcome back." She stands and starts to leave your room. The rest of RWBY shares their temporary goodbyes as the nurse starts preparations.

A while later, you're free to go. Thanks to being a Huntsman, your higher Aura pretty much means that your body can do more than any medicine with your injuries, so you have reason to stick around. You set up a plan wth your nurse if anything happens, and you have some medicine to take with you. Otherwise, just some bedrest and taking it easy. Luckily, medical bills are greatly reduced for Huntsman, considering the line of work, so you also don't put a massive dent in your lackluster savings.

You awkwardly walk into the lobby and search until you find Blake and Yang, as Ruby and Weiss had already left. Yang had driven Blake to the hospital on Bumblebee, plus she didn't want to make Blake wait for you alone. Now that you're free to return home, Yang waves goodbye and takes off. Three couldn't fit on her bike, so you're left with Blake to help make sure you get home safe.

"Are you sure you're okay to walk?" Blake asks, grabbing your arm.

You shift Blake's hands off you. "I can walk by myself. No need for you to support me." You flash a smile, letting her know that you're fine. "Though I can't wait to get back to my room."

"I'm going to walk you back, if nothing else. Can't be too careful."

"Of course. Plus, the last thing I want right now is to be next to a stranger on an airbus."

"Can't be too careful," Blake says with a smile.

You board the airbus and take off. Thankfully, it's a short flight to Beacon, though you still have quite a walk ahead of you thanks to the massive grounds. With Blake next to you, though, you feel pretty good walking, even with the muscle fatigue. You notice she's quiet most of the trip. You can also see her glance over at you several times, carefully watching your step. You know it's because she feels guilty and wants to do everything she can to try and make up for her self-imposed mistake. You want to ease her mind, but you really have no idea what to say. At no point were you ever in a situation close to this.

As such, you allow Blake to lead you back to your room. She'd been holding on to your things after picking you up, so she gives you your keys and lets you welcome yourself home. You walk in, feeling that special sort of comfort one can only feel when in their own home. Though this is still a strange world and a strange dorm in a strange school full of strange people, this room was your home. It was comforting.

You enter your room, somehow feeling like it's been years. Nothing has changed, but waking up in a hospital bed like that… somehow that mission with the Ursa felt like a lifetime ago, even though you've only woken up. To you, it's been only a few hours since you were passed out, but still.

Whatever. You're tired. Things were weird, and a good way to get them back to normal would be to reset things. You take a seat on your bed.

"So… umm… Let me know if you need anything," Blake says, standing before you. She shifts around, looking everywhere but at you. "Just… anything at all. Food, drinks, notes for class…"

"It's fine, Blake. I just need some rest and then I think I'll be fine."

"It's just… I'm still worried about you."

"I know you are. I'm fine, I promise!" You try to laugh to show you're okay, but it sounds pretty damn fake. "I'll be okay."

"But if you need–"

"–Blake."

Blake's stressed expression shifts to a far sadder one.

"Blake…"

Blake steps over to you and falls onto the bed next to you. "You're fine. I know. It's fine."

"It's not your fault, Blake." You suddenly feel very self conscious about yourself. If anything, it was your fault. Even if it wasn't supposed to be a difficult mission, Blake and Yang easily defeated those Ursa. You couldn't even compare. You weren't ready to be a Huntsman, even in training. "I promise you, it's not your fault. I wasn't ready."

Blake looks at you, her eyes shimmering. You can feel the struggle and self loathing. You put a hand on her shoulder.

"We're going to get through this, Blake. You and me, we're going to become Huntsman."

"Together?"

"Together."

Blake takes a long look into your eyes and sniffs. A smile slowly spreads across her face as she touches the hand you put on her shoulder. She looks down at the ground for a brief moment before letting out a breath.

In an instant, Blake's lips were against yours.