Some more Nuts and Dolts self indulgence, because I originally had ideas for two scenarios and couldn't bring myself to choose between them. So instead I wrote both! This is once again inspired by tumblr. Spoilers for the end of chapter 7 of volume 8 ahead. Enjoy!
"I'm—I'm sorry," Penny whispers, before her eyes fall shut and she collapses again.
For a second, they just stand there, staring down into the crater in disbelief—or Weiss and Blake do, anyway. Ruby appears at the bottom of the crater practically before Penny's head hits the ground. "Come on, Penny, stay with me."
As they lack super speed, Weiss and Blake are forced to make their way down more slowly. Ruby pays them no mind, tapping frantically at Penny's face and pleading with her to open her eyes. By the time they step down next to her, Ruby is running her hands over Penny's body, checking for injuries.
"Is she—" Blake begins hesitantly.
Ruby cuts her off. "She's alive. Just unconscious, I guess." She sighs, brushing a strand of hair out of Penny's face. "She's in pretty bad shape, but her soul is still there. I can feel it." Ruby looks up at Weiss and Blake for the first time since Penny's sudden arrival. "We need to get her inside."
They use Ruby's semblance to get back up to the Schnee manor, and this time Blake doesn't complain about how dizzy it leaves her. Ruby stumbles when they land, exhausted, but she clutches onto Penny like a lifeline. Weiss and Blake manage to steady her, and between the three of them they're able to carry Penny inside and deposit her on a bed in one of the fancy guest rooms.
"Do you have any tools?" Ruby asks suddenly, breaking the silence that's fallen over the three of them.
"Tools?" Weiss echoes.
Ruby turns to face her expectantly. "Yes, tools. I'm going to try to do some repairs on Penny. There's a tool kit that I keep with Crescent Rose that I can use, but I'm not sure it'll have everything I need."
Weiss still looks baffled. "Any particular kind of tools?"
"I'll take anything you can find," Ruby replies, turning back to Penny with a thoughtful expression. "Blake, can you grab me some towels and a bowl of water? I'm going to try to clean her up a bit, get a better look at what I'm working with."
Despite how tired she must be, Ruby's voice is firm and unwavering. When Blake returns, towels and water in hand, she hears the other girl humming softly to the still-unconscious Penny. She recognizes the tune from a lullaby she's heard Yang sing before. Smiling sadly, she sets the requested items on the bedside table and clears her throat softly to get Ruby's attention.
The younger girl startles slightly, blinking awake as if coming out of a trance. She smiles sheepishly at Blake. "Do you mind helping me clean her off a bit?"
"Of course," Blake says, resting a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I'm happy to help."
They each take a towel and begin to scrub off the dirt, rust, and other grime that Penny managed to accumulate during her fall and whatever else she's been through since leaving for Amity tower. As they clean, trickles of green fluid drip off Penny's body, staining the pristine white sheets beneath her. They probably should have put some towels under her before setting her down, but it's a bit too late for that now.
In any other situation, Blake would be ecstatic at the mess they've managed to make of the Schnee manor, but given the circumstances, she can't really bring herself to smile.
Ruby wipes Penny's face with an aching tenderness, gentle fingers carefully brushing strands of Penny's hair away from her forehead. There's a look of anguish on her face that Blake is all too familiar with. She sees that expression every time she looks in the mirror.
She wishes Yang was here. Her partner has always been better in these types of situations.
Weiss comes back when they're almost finished, arms full of several differently sized toolkits. "I had to dig around a bit to find these. I wasn't sure which ones you'd need, so I just brought all of them," she explains, setting them down on the small bench at the end of the bed.
"Thank you, Weiss," Ruby smiles gratefully at her partner. "I think I'm ready to get started on the repairs."
Weiss nods. "I'm going to go check on Nora."
"I'll stay here and help Ruby," Blake says quietly.
"Thanks, Blake."
They carefully turn Penny over so that she's lying on her stomach. Ruby slowly removes the backpack containing Floating Array and sets it gingerly to the side. Then, taking great care to not expose any more than necessary, Ruby undoes the top of Penny's dress and draws it down to expose her upper back, revealing a panel right between her shoulder blades. The panel is well-hidden, blending in seamlessly with the skin around it.
"Here goes nothing," Ruby says, grabbing a small, delicate screwdriver and carefully removing the panel.
Blake loses track of time. She hadn't really had much use for the weapons workshop back at Beacon, so she's only seen Ruby in action the few times she did maintenance or repairs in their dorm room. The normally talkative girl is silent while she works, only speaking up to ask Blake to hand her a tool or hold something for her.
Blake is pretty sure that the roof could cave in over their heads and the other girl wouldn't notice unless it blocked her from being able to work on Penny.
Blake startles when Ruby straightens up suddenly and unhooks Crescent Rose from her belt. She pulls out a bench, and as Blake watches in disbelief, she takes a wrench and begins disassembling her weapon. "What are you doing?" she asks, finally finding her voice.
"There's a part missing," Ruby says absently, not looking up. "I can fix most of the other damage just fine, but without this piece it won't make much of a difference. Fortunately, it's similar to a part I used when I was building Crescent Rose."
"But won't that leave you without a weapon?" Blake points out.
Ruby shakes her head. "I'll still be able to use Crescent Rose, I just won't be as accurate when I'm sniping. Besides, even if it meant leaving me without a weapon, Penny needs it more than I do. I can always replace it later."
With the part in question in hand, she leaves her scythe half-disassembled on the bed and turns back to Penny. "If I did everything right, I just need to replace this."
Brow furrowed with concentration, Ruby uses a pair of pliers to carefully push the missing piece into place. Her tongue pokes out as she works. Finally, she sets the tool aside, blowing out a long breath and replacing the maintenance panel. They turn Penny onto her side and move her over to the clean side of the bed.
"I really hope that this works," Ruby says in a small voice. She picks up Crescent Rose and begins painstakingly reassembling her weapon, hooking it back on her ammo belt when she's finished.
Blake doesn't want to give her false hope, but she can't stand hearing Ruby sound so sad and unsure. "Penny's lucky to have you. She couldn't be in better hands."
"I hope that you're right." Ruby sounds close to tears. "I can't do this again. I already lost her once."
Unsure of what to say, Blake just rests a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "When I told Penny to stay on Amity, I thought she'd be safe," the younger girl whispers.
"Penny needed to go to Amity to do the broadcast," Blake reminds her. "And there's no way you could have known that this would happen. Please don't blame yourself." She decides to change the subject, try to distract Ruby from her fretting. "Why don't you go and get cleaned up? I can watch over Penny for a bit. Sitting here staring at her and worrying isn't going to do either of you any good."
Unsurprisingly, Ruby shakes her head. "I can't. I should stay here. What if—"
She cuts herself off when Penny shifts on the bed, turning her head slightly towards them. Ruby lets out a soft gasp. "Penny?"
Her eyes flutter open slowly, and brilliant green drifts up to look at Blake and Ruby. "Ruby," Penny whispers. "Is that really you?"
"Yes, Penny, it's really me." Ruby smiles, despite the tears gathering in her eyes. She takes Penny's gloved hand in her own and squeezes it gently. "It's Ruby."
Thank you for reading! Please leave a review if you liked it.
I got the idea of Ruby using a part from Crescent Rose to fix Penny from tumblr. It wasn't part of my original idea but when I saw it I knew I had to sprinkle it in. I hope that everyone is having a good holiday season! I'm going to go wrap presents now.