For that split second, Ruby's world halted to a complete stop and everything around her felt like it was going in slow motion.
A million words starting to form into the back of her head, but she couldn't manage to get any of them past her lips. All she could do was gaze in terror and confusion at what had just unfolded in front of the Schnee Manor. The strictly maintained, almost perfect garden that made the entrance to the manor was now a scene of complete disarray, a huge crater that was created only mere moments ago now being Ruby's main focus.
The dust cloud that had risen after impact slowly cleared, making way for a sight that caught Ruby completely off-guard. Inside the crater lay the petite, twitching frame of Penny Polendina. Despite trying to regain the power to move, she was unable to as her legs had sustained critical damage from the impact or perhaps even before her crash, the electric sparks bouncing off the exposed wiring in her malfunctioning knees.
Her dress was drenched in a foreign green liquid, one Ruby could only presume was the android's substitute for human blood. She was 'bleeding' heavily, a pool of the strange liquid forming beneath the girl's body. The silver-eyed huntress failed to grasp any clue of what had happened that caused Penny to lie in front of her like this, but she did know that urgent medical attention was something Penny desperately needed right now.
Visibly struggling with making as much as a small movement, Penny lifted her head, making eye contact with her dear friend for a brief moment. Penny's fearful and remorseful expression was replaced by a smile, so small that it could easily be overlooked by the common eye, but Ruby hadn't missed it. Ruby's mouth opened to speak, to ask what had happened, but before she was able to ask the many questions that wandered her conscience, Penny reached out her hand to her in an attempt to speak.
"I'm.." the girl hesitated, looking down as if thinking over what she was trying to get across. "I'm sorry." she said softly, barely more than a whisper. With those two words that created a million more questions inside the folds of Ruby's brain, the young maiden's head hit the bottom of the crater with an audible thud.
She was unconscious, but the bleeding didn't stop.
In a blur of rose petals, the red haired huntress was kneeling at Penny's side inside the crater, lifting her unconscious body into her arms. Blake and Weiss remained at the edge of the hole, also unable to comprehend what had happened as they shot each other a questioning look.
"Penny!?" Ruby called out desperately, slightly shaking the girl's shoulders. "What happened? Please talk to me!"
But the unconscious form never replied, her body remaining still inside Ruby's arms. Her arms were soaked, dripping with the same liquid that coated most of Penny's frame, but the level of cleanliness her clothes were, were the least of Ruby's concerns right now.
This scenario started to feel gravely familiar, a shiver running down the silver-eyed girl's spine as she reminisced the events of the past that this scene reminded her of. The battle she was intertwined in that meant the downfall of an entire continent, the loss of someone who she cared deeply for with her unable to do anything about it, was it all about to happen again? She couldn't let that happen.
She wouldn't let this happen again.
"Weiss, Blake!" Ruby shouted in the direction of the others, startling the girls who were clearly still in a haze of deep thought. "Prepare a workspace with all the tools and cloth you can get your hands on, and contact doctor Polendina, quick!"
With a knowing nod, both of her teammates took off, back into the mansion to scourge for the necessary equipment needed to fulfill Ruby's task, leaving her in the crater with Penny.
A sense of responsibility welled up inside the team leader's chest, knowing that if she wouldn't act now, that would mean the end of the line for the Protector of Mantle and the young Winter maiden. But most of all, it would mean the end of her friend. She failed to stop her unfortunate death the first time, but now she had a chance to set it right, and that thought only seemed to fuel her desire to repair Penny more, burning within her chest along with the adrenaline of the sudden development of the situation.
"You'll be alright, Penny." She spoke to the unconscious form of Penny, clutching her tightly to her chest. "I'll make sure of it!"
Then she set off from inside the crater in another flutter of rose petals, clutching Penny in her arms as she speeded past the large wooden door that made the front door of the Schnee manor, coming to a complete halt inside the large hall, where Blake was already waiting for her and gesturing to her to follow.
They were standing inside the large dining room, the others were already waiting for her, with a large variety of maintenance tools spread out over the enormous dining table. Ruby had no time to wonder where they retrieved these tools from, she could only send a thankful nod to the Schnee siblings and Blake, who reciprocated but continued to look concerned.
With the help of her friends, Ruby lifted up Penny's body and laid her down on the long, rectangular Schnee dining table, staining the silky white table cloth with the lime liquid that continued to ooze from Penny's wounds.
"Do you even know how to repair Penny?" Weiss asked, concern audible in the tone of her voice as her eyes were fixated on Ruby, who was busy equipping herself with a burner, gloves and a welding mask.
"No." Ruby admitted bluntly, her expression void of emotions as looked down at Penny's unconscious figure, her heart continuing to beat violently inside her chest. "But it can't be that different from working on Crescent Rose."
"I hope you're right." Blake sighed, ears falling flat against her skull.
Joining the redhead at her side for a moment, she laid a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulders. "Good luck, Ruby."
"Yeah, we believe in you." Weiss encouraged the young team leader, giving her a thumbs up.
The group took a step back until they were in the corner of the large dining area, in an attempt to lift a small part of the pressure off Ruby's shoulders as they weren't watching her every move, as much as they wanted to observe. They were counting on her to repair Penny to her original state, or at least a state that was satisfactory enough for the maiden to function.
Taking a long and shallow breath, Ruby ignited the welding burner as she scanned the exposed stomach of her friend, a large gash running diagonally across the girl's metallic chest. That was the culprit of most of the leakage, and Ruby was determined to fix it. Yet a spark of worry kept gnawing in the back of her mind, unsure if the amount of fluid Penny still had inside of her was enough to reboot her, as she had no spare fluid to perform a 'blood' transfusion on the android.
"Okay Penny." Ruby said with a nervous smile, in an attempt to calm herself and make her more at ease with the surgery she was about to perform.
"This might sting a little."
This was the only way. The only way I could cope with the 7 week hiatus RoosterTeeth has thrown at us after this huge plottwist that (literally) crashed in front of the Schnee Manor. So I had to write down my version of what I think will happen once the series continues.
I hope to see you again in the next chapter! [2/4]