The Schnee Black Sheep
A/N
This is going to be a shorter chapter as it gives a little bit more insight into the Schnee twins past, but not too much as I plan to have a heart-breaking reveal later on.
This chapter doesn't follow the main plot of RWBY, its intended for the twins as this story will revolve around them.
Please no flames I'm really trying hard here guys.
Chapter 3: closed wounds
True to his word, Coal followed his sister Weiss to the school's infirmary without an argument. He knew she was right, he still had yet to fully heal after being stabbed trough his right shoulder by his so called farther. Having been sat down on one of the many bed in the infirmary waiting for the nurse to arrive, Coal and his sister had not said a word to each other since before the headmaster's speech. He knew that Weiss didn't like making small talk, but he knew that his sister was struggling with everything that had happened to both of them recently.
Wiess' mind was filled with concerns about her brother's condition. She knew that the duel had left her brother with not only a hole in his shoulder, but because of the ice dust that her father used during the strike had caused Coal to lose all feeling in his right arm from the shoulder down. This had also left him unable to use his preferred hand, meaning that he couldn't use his sword to defend himself if things got heated up on the battle field.
Ever since she was a little girl she loved to watch him practice with a estoc, he had a certain grace with the weapon that almost made it look like he was dancing with the blade. Now, she hated the way that he looked at the arm. She watched him as he sat stretching his fingers, trying to get some sort of feeling back into them. The normal sense of adventure in his eyes seemed to have completely faded away and instead, they only held pain. He had lost the ability to handle his greatest weapon. The fact he still had the arm and could still move it at all seemed almost like a punishment in itself. Wiess knew that this was what her father had been aiming to do. Her father was always the type of person that would never exploit a person's weakness, but rather take away their greatest strength. In some cases, that left the victim's mentality completely shattered. She feared for her brother's sanity.
Having been waiting for 15 minutes, the nurse finally arrived to start her shift, surprised to find two students already in her infirmary. "Been here for a few hours and already coming to see me? I don't know if I should be impressed or concerned at you two." She chuckled as she stopped in front of the twins.
Wiess didn't look at the nurse, she rather found her feet more interesting and kept her eyes focused downwards. Coal, having being startled out of his trance, looked up at the nurse with his usual lopsided grin like nothing was wrong. "I'm just here for a check-up and a bandage change. Nothing major." The nurse turned her attention the black-haired teen and set to work.
"Ok, where's the problem then?" she asked. Coal said nothing as he stood up and began to take off his jacket and shirt. The nurse had seen the male body before and had seen some pretty horrible injuries, but this boy's body went straight to the top of her fucked up list. The bandages around his chest and right arm didn't hide away his entire front torso. As he peeled back the bandages so that the nurse could get access to his current wound, Coal noticed the nurse's eyes widen and a look of pure horror filled the chocolate brown eyes. He knew what she was staring at.
Nurse Amber had seen a lot of damaged teens due to working at Beacons infirmary, but this boy was the most damaged she had ever seen. Claw marks, lots of them. They seemed to cover every inch of the boy's body, most of them overlapping each other, but she could tell just by looking at the scars that they weren't shallow. Whatever had caused the boy so much damage knew how to inflict an immense amount of pain and had probably done more than just break skin. She could see some signs of muscle damage across his chest where the scars seemed deeper. She couldn't even register the small hole in the boy's right shoulder that he needed checked due to the vast number of scars. All she knew for sure that these scars weren't received from someone trying to kill, but from someone who was trying to inflict pain. Someone who possibly enjoyed the latter a bit too much.
Seeing that the nurse frozen up on the spot, Coal snapped his fingers in front of her face."Yo, you ok?" This seemed to snap her back into reality as she began working on the hole in the boy's right shoulder, checking for any signs of infection and dressing the wound.
"What the hell happened to you?" Immediately slapping a hand over her mouth, she apologised before returning to her work. She hadn't intended to ask, but seeing the state of the boy had left her in a bit of a shock.
Coal avoided her gaze and hid his eyes using the length of messy black hair. "Grim attack… It happened a long time ago." It was an obvious lie and Coal knew she wouldn't believe it, but he didn't care. Those scars may have been visible to those who would see him shirtless. Yet there are still scars that no one could see, despite how hard they looked. These scars held a great deal more pain and usually harder to heal. His sister had those types of scars. And it terrified him.
The rest of the check-up went on in silence. Until the nurse when to check the exit wound on the boys back, when she saw that it mirrored the boys front in the number of scars that it held she took a deep breath which seemed to echo around the empty room before she continued. 'No way these were done by grim. Grim always go for the kill. Never torcher them pray.' Nurse Amber mentally concluded. She wouldn't pry into the things this boy had seen due to the fact that he obviously didn't want her to know because of the horrendous lie he told her. She would still report the boys condition to headmaster Ozpin, just to be on the safe side.
After getting new bandages and having redressed himself, Coal thanked the nurse before making his way to the door, Wiess following close behind. "Hey!" The nurse called after them. "You need to rest. The beds here are yours for the night, rather than the floor." Coal nodded, silently thanking the nurse again before making his way back to the bed that he had been sat at earlier, lying down upon it. Wiess took the bed next time him on the right, thanking the nurse for letting them use the beds. Nurse Amber shook her head before leaving herself. "It's no issue at all. If you need checked out again ask for me, Amber. I've seen a lot more horror than most of the other nurses here, some may have a harder time dealing with the… well you know what I mean." Coal turned his head to Amber and nodded again, still not saying anything further. Amber took this as her moment to leave the teens.
(Late that night)
Wiess tossed and turned in her trying to sleep. But no matter what she tried she just couldn't get comfortable enough to drop into dreamland. She let out a long sigh before rolling over to the edge of her bed to go get a glass of water. She stopped when she noticed her twin sitting upright, closing and opening his right hand continuously as if in some sort of trance. Trying to meet his gaze she saw the same distant eyes that he had when they first got to the infirmary. Even when she moved to sit down next to him he didn't seem to notice her presence, his focus stayed on the hand that he was trying so hard to push his aura though yet to no avail.
Reaching out Wiess took her brothers hand in her own and just sat beside him, giving him the one thing she knew would help. She began to hum a tune (RWBY White trailer – Mirror Mirror). The tune to a lullaby that he would sing to her when she was stuck in bed after collapsing. Wiess couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu as they had been in a similar position many times thought their lives. Only this time, she was the one singing the lullaby. This was the first time she had needed to do this for her older twin, he had always been the one to look after her. Yet now, she knew she needed to step up, not just for her brother, but to prove to herself that she was no longer the weak child from 5 years ago. When both twins received their scars.
It didn't take long for the lullaby sent both twins to sleep.
