AN: So, a good bit shorter than previous chapters, and out a little bit later than I'd have preferred, but c'est la vie. But Ruby! Yay, Ruby! She finally wakes up! Though, the world she finds upon waking up is drastically different than the world she remembers...

Read, enjoy, and please review!

The Waking Nightmare

Ruby didn't know how many times she fluttered in and out of consciousness, but every time she did, she was distantly aware of the pain, like a monstrous storm on the horizon. She didn't feel it, but it was there, looming, threatening. She also wasn't sure what was a dream, and what wasn't, the lines between reality and the dreamscape melding. A nurse smiling reassuringly and talking to her about how well she was doing while drawing never ending tubes from her nose and throat turned into a Beowulf with a top hat that danced out the door before oblivion dragged her down again. She woke up again an untold eternity later, confused, disoriented, looking about a dark room that was empty, and though she tried to stay awake, she really did, after all, there was something important that she just couldn't remember…she slipped back under.

The next time she awoke, she could have sworn it was because of distant gunfire, explosions, and sounds of battle. This time she was aware of how heavy her entire body felt, and she had to struggle for an epoch to open her eyelids that felt like they weighed a ton…but she could only see out of her left eye. Why? However, the fact that she couldn't see out of her right eye paled in comparison with the fact that Weiss was standing over her in full battle gear, Myrtenaster held loosely in her left hand, her right shoulder bright red with blood, the leather and metal of her pauldron peeling away from the ugly wound…

…Why was her first thought that she had failed? Failed what? What was going on?! "W-Weiss?" she asked, wincing at how badly her throat hurt. Weiss cried something that didn't penetrate the muddled fog that suddenly came crashing down. This time, however, she fought the darkness with every fiber of her being. Her friend was in danger, she had to help! But the darkness continued to drag her down that pitch black tunnel that had gathered around the edges of her vision, almost mockingly. Your friend is in danger, but look how weak you are! You can't even stay awake! Despairingly, she fell under.

The next time she woke up, she knew that there was something incredibly important that she couldn't remember, but her last clear memory was of waiting for Weiss to get off of work so they could hang out. The hunt she was returning from had been long and tiring, but also fulfilling.

Wait.

What the…?

Why was she in a hospital room? Why couldn't she see out of her right eye? And why was she in so much pain?! For pain had come out of nowhere, loud and insistent, and she gave a coarse croak. She had a high pain tolerance…you had to, to be a Huntress, but this…this was something else entirely! Her throat felt like she had swallowed broken glass, the right side of her face felt like it was on fire, except for a chilling lack of feeling around her right eye. The burning seemed to spread down to her right shoulder and back. Oh, God, someone please take it all away! She stifled a sob as the pain around her face and shoulder transformed into agony. She cried out, tears leaking from her left eye as the effort of the cry made her throat feel like it was being torn apart.

No! She would not let pain stop her! She was in a hospital, there had to be nurses and doctors who could help her. She grit her teeth, steeling herself for the added agony to come. "H-help!" she cried out. To her immense frustration, it came out as a hoarse, croaking whisper that, for all its lack in volume, still made her throat feel like a Beowulf was tearing into it. She stifled a sob that would do little more than bring more pain as she forced herself to calm down. She was in a hospital, there had to be a call bell or some other way to get a nurse's attention. Mind over matter, girl, she told herself as she carefully tilted her head to the left, the movement sending fresh jolts of excruciation down the right side of her face, as well as a bringing a feeling of intense physical exhaustion to come slamming down on her. A ghost of a memory of waking up and falling asleep came to her through the muddled fogs of her mind, and she instinctively knew that this was different. She didn't want to sleep, she wanted to collapse, give up, let the pain wash over her, take her away.

But she wouldn't. She was Ruby Rose, and she…would…not…give…UP!

There! Lying by her left hand. A long remote attached to a power cord, with a bunch of brightly colored buttons. But the one that caught her attention was the red one at the top that had a white symbol of a nurse's hat on it. Now she just had to push it.

Time ceased to have a meaning as she concentrated, sweat beading on her forehead as she slowly, painfully, torturously inched her fingers towards the remote, breath coming in short gasps that tore at her ragged throat. She knew not how many minutes she struggled, only that everything slipped into an eternity. And over the pain, the sweat, and the exhaustion, she desperately strove to remember what she could have done that would cause such pain, such exhaustion? She, who could swing Crescent Rose around with no effort at all, who had fought for hours against the creatures of darkness…what had happened to make it so that she could barely move her hand?!

Her calloused fingertips brushed cool plastic, and she had to fight the urge to sob in relief. She wasn't done yet, after all. Her fingers slowly crawled up the remote, and she finally, finally reached that damned red button. Holding her breath, she called up the last reserves of her flagging strength, and pushed down. Funny how the slight click beneath her fingertip felt like the greatest reward she had ever received for anything she had ever done.

Through the exhaustion and the pain, she became aware of an electronic bell beginning to toll, and she concentrated on it, desperate for anything that would give a sense of time, that would banish the feeling of eternity that her pain was giving her. One toll…two tolls…three tolls…four-

The door opened, and a young woman in scrubs walked into the room. "Well, good morning!" she said, smile in her eyes. "My name is Sarai. We're glad to see you awake. What can I do for you?"

"H-hurts," she rasped, annoyance flickering through the agony. Couldn't she see she was in pain?!

"I'm a Nursing Aide, so I can't give you any medicine, but your nurse was just behind me."

As if cued in, a short, portly man entered the room, glasses reflecting the light of the room with a quick flash. "Ah, Miss Rose! Excellent to see you awake! My name is Tedd, and I'm your nurse for today!" he exclaimed as he moved up the right side of her bed and out of her sight. He did, however, continue to talk. "I'm just hanging some morphine to help you with that pain. On a scale of one to ten, how bad is the pain?"

"Ten," she forced out.

"Thought so." He reappeared, using a barcode reader to scan a bracelet around her wrist. "Okay, can I get your name and date of birth?"

"Ruby R-Rose…July the Third…2024," she ground out through a wince, tears collecting in her left eye.

"Excellent," he said as he drew medicine from a small vial into a syringe. "Now, I need to inform you that you may experience dizziness, nausea, vomiting, itchiness, a headache, or anxiety. It's perfectly normal to feel those things. If your breath gets shallow, if you feel like you're going to pass out, or if you develop chest pain or your heart starts to pound, you let me know, okay?"

Throat too painful to do anything else, she nodded and watched as he inserted the syringe's needle into a port branching off the side of the IV tubing leading into her left forearm. After he fully depressed the plunger of the syringe, he withdrew the needle before screwing another syringe onto the port, this one much larger. "I just gave the medicine, and I'm using this saline flush to push it into your veins. It'll take a few minutes, but you'll feel better soon. The doctor has been paged, and he should be here very soon to explain the situation to you."

She opened her mouth, steeling herself to speak again, when it hit her. A wave of warmth, unlike anything she had ever felt before, picking her up and taking her away from the pain. "Oh…oh, wow," she rasped, and felt the urge to cry with relief when her throat didn't feel like it was being torn apart. Well…no, it did, but it was all so distant. She blinked as she tried to categorize how she felt, the movement slow and sluggish. She was warm, and yes, she did feel dizzy, and there was a tinge of nausea at the edge of her awareness, but it was all okay. If everything stayed this warm and distant from the pain, it would be awesome! She sighed happily, eyes sliding shut. It felt like she could just float away. The pain was still there, though. But it was so weird! Yes, she hurt, but it's like it didn't matter. Oh, if she could stay like this forever, she'd be fine with that!

Oh. Her stomach itched. Her eye crept open, and she glanced down at her left hand, watching as it inched towards her blanket covered stomach, this time not slowed by pain, but by exhaustion and by how everything seemed to be going slower now. She didn't know how long it took, but her hand finally landed on her stomach, and her tongue poked out of her mouth in concentration as she carefully hooked her fingers and dragged them across the blankets, itching the skin underneath.

Oh.

Oh-ho-ho-ho-yeeeeah.

That?

That was amazing!

It was like she had an itch for years and years, but she could finally itch it. She wouldn't ever be able to fully describe just how amazing it was to scratch her stomach, but she knew that she would be perfectly happy to keep on scratching forever. She never wanted this warmth and this bliss of scratching to end. Never.

"Miss Rose?"

She looked up, startled. Oh, a new man. Dusky skin, silver at the hair at his temples, laugh lines around his eyes. "Hullo," she chirped, and she giggled. Her voice sounded more like it belonged to a frog than a bird.

"Hello," he smiled, and she noticed it was tinged with a deep sadness. He also looked terribly exhausted, bags under his eyes and his face set in a mask of weariness. She sobered, her instincts warning her that something bad was coming. "My name is Dr. Jabir al-Tabeeb, and I'm your primary doctor." He paused, glancing at a chart he was holding in his hands. "I need to talk to you about your condition and your plan of care."

She swallowed nervously, suddenly uneasy. This was going to be a hard pill to swallow. "Of course."

The doctor took a deep breath. "Seventeen days ago, you were involved in a terrorist attack launched by the Crimson Claw. Their target was Weiss Schnee, and it was likely only your actions that saved her life."

Ruby blinked, the sudden memory of fear, of a desire to protect, of sudden movement before a terrible blast brought excruciating pain echoed distantly, and she shuddered. But wait…what about? "Weiss!" she blurted. "Is Weiss okay?!"

"Yes, she only suffered minor injuries, and-"

"No…I remember now…I woke up in a hospital, and Weiss was standing over me, and…and her arm…it was hurt! What happened?!"

The doctor sighed, seemingly deflating right in front of her, shoulders sagging with grief. "Last night, the Crimson Claw launched a military style raid against this hospital using what seemed to be highly trained personnel. There were many casualties amongst police and security staff, and we had to close the floor you were on due to damages, and move you and all the other patients in the ICU to a different part of the hospital, but Miss Schnee survived the encounter. She did suffer an injury to her right shoulder, but it wasn't critical, and she went into surgery not too long ago."

Ruby slumped back into the bed with relief. Yes, Weiss had been hurt, but she was still alive. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Yes, of course. Now, about your condition…" and again, he paused, face showing a deep sadness. He opened his mouth, poised to say something, but then shut it again, obviously hesitant.

"Doctor?" she asked. "Is it about my eye?" She closed her left eye, trying to remember. There had been a burning and tearing to the right side of her body, hadn't there? "Did I lose it?"

"Yes." The answer was a tortured whisper.

Well. Fuck. Her mouth turned to ash as she realized she'd never see out of her right eye again. No! She rallied her spirits through sheer force of will. No, it was okay. There were plenty of Huntresses who had lost one of their eyes and were still able to do their job. It sucked, but if that was the price to be paid for protecting Weiss, than she'd be happy with it. "Okay. That's not too bad. I can-"

"That wasn't all."

"Huh?" she asked, heart sinking at the doctor's grim tone.

"You also suffered internal injuries caused by the overpressure of the blast, and we had to conduct an invasive surgery to close the wounds. The surgery was a complete success, and you didn't lose any functionality of your digestive system. However…the worst injury you suffered was to your right arm. You had a tearing amputation below the elbow, but there was also irreparable damage to the elbow itself. We performed a surgical amputation above the elbow. The amputation is healing well, but…Miss Rose?"

She was breathing too quickly, panicked bursts that rushed in and out, and she felt a crushing panic seize her. "But," she gasped, world tilting dangerously, "you can't…you aren't…"

"Miss Rose, I need you to slow your breathing, okay?"

She struggled to comply, mind shocked into terrible blankness. "No…" she whimpered, tears gathering in her left eye. "It can't…you have to be lying!"

That's right! Now that she could think about it, she could feel her right hand and forearm! The sensation had been masked, overridden by her other pain, but it was there! She could feel the pins and needles sensation, like her hand had fallen asleep but was waking up. The doctor was just playing a prank on me! she told herself as tears ran down her face, and she turned her head to the right. Without her right eye, she hadn't been able to see most of the right side of her body, but turn her head far enough, and-

There was a loud ringing that drowned out the distant shouts and sound of running feet, and the world narrowed in on the stub that dominated the end of her upper arm. Someone was retching, and as liquid ran down her chin, she realized that she had thrown up, and that hands were pushing her back into the bed. She gurgled, coughed, and then there was a tube in her mouth, sucking at her tongue and her cheeks, slurping terribly at the remainder of her vomit that pooled at the back of her throat.

But she didn't care, staring up at the concerned, focused faces and the bright lights of the ceiling, letting the shock take her away. The ringing diminished slightly, and she heard a too-rapid beeping that she realized coincided with her hammering heartbeat, and she probably wasn't breathing well and wasn't she supposed to tell the portly nurse with glasses and wasn't his name Todd that she was having symptoms might be medicine tryna kill her and the world was fading away and she was never gonna be Huntress again.

Her arm was gone and she was never going to Hunt again.

These were her final thoughts before she gave in to the terrible yawning darkness than opened up before her, a sense of despair taking hold in her heart. What point was there in living if she couldn't be a hero?

Her arm was gone…