"Was the floor always this uneven?" I wondered aloud as I stumbled back to the dorm room, unaware of the venom pulsing through my veins.

I stumbled through the hall, my upper body slowly going numb. I ignored the concerned stares of the students in the hall around me, even pushing away a random girl asking if I was okay, the venom turning the world into a swirling mess.

The ever-constant swirling and shifting knocked me off my feet, forcing me to lean against the wall to stay upright. Crawling along the wall until I reached a door, I attempted to read the number to no avail, simply fumbling out my scroll in hopes of unlocking the door.

The door did open, I did not know if it was my doing or not. I fell on to the floor and my world faded to black.

...

...

...

I woke up in a blur, taking a moment to orient myself, I found myself in the schools med bay. There were people around me, but I couldn't tell who they were, my vision still slightly blurry.

When my vision finally cleared I looked up at the faces of my teammates, friends and even colleagues. Ozpin and Goodwitch were casually chatting over a clipboard with a nurse, Stheno, Grant, and Euryale stood to my left while Lance, Rán, and Medusa stood to my right, Aurel sat on the hospital bed close to her team. She looked at me with concern, a subtle wetness poking at the corners of her beautiful golden irises.

When my consciousness was noticed by Aurel, the nurse stopped her conversation with Ozpin and Glynda and approached a fairly open side of my bed.

"Miss Quirian, you have been passed out since early this morning. We found you in the S.A.G.E dorm bleeding from your neck."

Looking around I could see that everyone in S.A.G.E save Aurel was noticeably concerned, not about me but about what was happening to my right. My own team stood by my bedside avoiding my gaze, Lance and Medusa were ruffled up, Rán, however, was visibly beat up, her grey kimono was hanging around her shoulders loosely and her scarf wasn't even wrapped.

The nurse continued "While we tried to resuscitate you we found the poison you were infected with was hard to combat, we found your team to inform them only to discover them in a... state of disarray. You should probably find out the rest from your teammates. You'll be discharged later today when Ozpin gives me the all-clear."

The nurse left shortly followed by Ozpin and Glynda after giving condolences, leaving me with my team and Aurel's. Several moments were spent with Aurel staring at me with relief in her eyes while the rest just avoided my eyes.

"I..is anyone going to tell me what happened ?" I croaked out hesitantly.

The only person to speak up at this moment was Stheno. "I think this is something you should talk out with your team. S.A.G.E, with me."

Aurel looked at her team leader with pleading eyes, clearly, a telepathic conversation taking place, she reluctantly let go of my hand I wasn't aware she was holding. She slumped out after her team, leaving me with my team.

"Care to tell me what happened, the last thing I remembered was speaking to Rán and then everything becoming all wavy." The only person to meet my gaze was Lance.

"Sorry, Auriga, but after Rán's taijitu poisoned you, you stumbled to S.A.G.E's dorm, they brought you to the nurse, they couldn't do anything to help you so they tried brought us in to try and figure out what happened, Rán immediately recognized the wounds and set about reversing the effects. The moment she finished she was promptly hauled out here by Medusa, they started a heated argument that evolved into a physical confrontation, she underestimated the effect of Medusa's semblance and was petrified in seconds." Lance place a giant hand on my leg and gave me a sympathetic smile.

"I... I'm sorry," Rán chuckled under her breath "StarScape, I messed up, I thought I would be able to control a taijitu of that size, our talk had me so discombobulated I lost control and she disobeyed me." She fixed up her kimono and straightened her scarf. " 'dusa got me good, I'll admit that. We talked a bit, turns out we have more in common than I thought."

I smiled up at her. "Don't think I'm too loopy to notice the new nickname, nice to hear you and Medusa made up, Hopefully, we'll be able to be a team now."

Medusa, who has been quiet the entire time finally said something. What she said however caught me off guard. Her downtrodden look frightened me.

"Not to sound... hmmm, questioning," She raised a slender finger to her mouth. "but did you know you talk in your sleep, and this is the first time we got to hear what you say, without Lance's snoring I might add, so may I ask what, praytell, are you hiding from us."

I flushed, my team knew little to nothing about my past despite us living together for a semester.

"Wha... what do you know." I managed to stutter out.

She deadpanned. "We know you have a great responsibility, we know you experienced great personal trauma and I lied when I said you talk in your sleep, Ozpin told us."

I sighed "Let me get discharged, it's easier to show you."

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

After the nurse reluctantly discharged me, my team and I approached our dorm in deafening silence, when we finally got there I led my team inside.

Our dorm has significantly changed in the semester we've been together and seemingly also changed in the hours I've been under, Rán's side which was noticeably baren before save a few books she kept, now had several posters she seemingly hid from us till now laying on her bed, waiting to be put up. I had several gemstones Sandra found in the quarry and presented to me on my weakly returns to handle my duties resting on our shared bedside dresser, I even had a fancy lamp the miners made for me to celebrate our first sale. Medusa had several nicknacks from Menagerie on her bedside alongside her contact case and glasses, while Lance had his own things on the dresser, his custom futon being replaced by an actual futon we bought since the dorm beds were not designed for being made into a futon and cracked after a week. What surprised me were new custom bedspreads on each and every bed.

"Before we go-" I pointed to the beds. "-What are those ?"

Rán had a light blush dusting her cheeks."I had them made during the holidays, I knew somewhere in the new semester we'll have a fight and hopefully makeup. They are my gift to everyone. I also took the liberty to prepare my decorations."

The spreads had custom designs matching our symbols, how Rán got this information I wouldn't know, but each design was beautifully and artistically interpreted. Rán had a beautifully intricate tree with a taijitu coiled around the runic symbol she used, I had a starscape underneath the half-crescent with a crystal above the opening I had, Medusa had the symbol of her eyes on a stony texture, her beautiful purple irises and strange squire pupils drew attention to the symbol more, Lance had a wonderfully intricate maze with an outline of his horns highlighted by a path drawn through it.

"Their great, Rán-" I clapped my hands together. "Well, let's get going."

I had to have Lance pick me up to head hight and drop me to create a portal large enough to fit him, my team stepped through one by one, I followed shortly after, finding them at the entrance of my quarry with the mouths agape.

"Welcome." I spread my arms open wide. "To my home, and my business, my past and my future. If you'll follow me to my home I have quite the story to tell you."

Despite my chipper attitude, I had tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. This is not how I wanted to reveal my past to my team.

AN*

I AM NOT DEAD!

This is a welcome return to writing, I can't guarantee I'll update regularly but I'll try.