No one noticed that Dahlia had not come back to Beacon until night fell and team DEEP realized that their leader had not been seen since the Ursa attack, where she had disappeared into the woods with Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha. She had been just a blur of black and silver, she moved so fast.
"We've looked everywhere. It's time to tell an adult." Elise said; her voice cracked up an octave with worry. They all felt awful for forgetting her.
"First, grab the other two friendly teams and anyone else willing to help. If they tell us to wait till morning, we'll go on our own tonight. Dahlia might be dead by morning. Set Velvet and her team to continue looking here. She might come back before us." Elin said fiercely, putting on his armor and coiling his whips at his hips. Elise was already battle ready, Serenity on her back and so she went to the first person she could think of to help, while Elin and Peyton went for team RWBY and team JNPR.
Professor Ozpin was surprised when a little girl half his height, ripped open the sliding metal doors to his office with her bare hands.
I'm glad I'm decent, he thought. He was carefully watering his blooming orchid plant when she stormed in.
"Professor Ozpin." She said in a harried, worry filled tone. She looked at the damaged doors and muttered a quick sorry. "Our team leader is missing." She said.
"Excuse me?" He said, stopping what he was doing.
An icy fist gripped his heart. "Ms. Thayet, is it?"
"Yes, sir. Elise Thayet of team DEEP."
Oh Gods no, he thought, his mind beginning to panic. His face only showed mild interest.
"Your team leader is Ms. Derivalle, is it not?" He asked calmly. Worry pinched the young girl's face. "Yes sir. No one has seen her since the Forever Fall trip earlier today."
True panic settled in. He looked out the window wall of his office an saw the sun falling below the horizon. "Oh dear and it's getting dark." He said quietly as he picked up his Scroll with trembling hands.
"Glynda. We have an emergency. Wake a team-"
"Sir we already have two awake and ready to go as well as an extra volunteer." Elise said, shifting from foot to foot, eager to go to the aid of her friend.
Ozpin blessed the young for thinking.
"Ready a small ship."
And they were off. Team RWBY, JNPR and DEEP all piled into the transporter to the Forest of Forever Fall, praying to find the strange, quiet, crippled healer alive. Mykel Dionard joined them and was staring into a corner with a pensive look on his handsome face.
None prayed harder than Ozpin. Even Blake but Blake's worry was eased by the thought of Dahlia's uncanny ability to survive.
Every member of the teams was riddled with guilt. Every single one of them had forgotten Dahlia and hadn't thought of her the rest of the day. What kind of friends were they?
But Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha were feeling especially guilty. They hadn't turned back to see where the fourth girl was. Didn't even think about her till the two alarmed boys had sounded the call for help.
Only after the boys explained had the horror of their actions settled in. If she was dead when they found her, it was on their heads.
They just had to find her.
The moon rose, shining its light upon the land to help the searchers find their forgotten comrade among the shadows of the trees and the monsters that haunted the night.
Fourteen hunters sped through the Forever Fall on silent feet, to the deeper section of the woods.
Even Ozpin put on amazing speed to find the girl with hair like starlight. Jaune, Pyrrha, Ruby and Weiss led the pack of Huntsmen and Huntresses, everyone on alert for Grimm.
"This way." Hissed Ruby. Ozpin was hard put to match the young ones for speed, but his urgency outpaced their younger legs.
"Careful, I sense Beowolves." Mykel whispered and everyone quieted their already silent movements.
The terror of being in a Grimm filled forest at night took a toll on each trainee. They started at every noise and searched every shadow.
Glynda and Ozpin felt only fear for the student. Glynda felt guilty as well. She had been sure she counted them all right.
But she had missed one, and left a wonderful girl to die alone.
Ozpin had flashes of the night, months ago of the beautiful young lady who had stumbled upon his private musings and had laughed with him. She had said she was one of a kind. And truly she was.
In her presence, the weight of years and pain seemed to lift from his shoulders. Her beauty and her kindness tempted him in ways he had only heard about from friends.
He had resisted seeing her again in a personal space again, using student-Headmaster protocol to hide from the fear he felt of being rejected. He couldn't imagine how such an incredible woman would ever have an interest in him. He convinced himself that trying wasn't worth the pain.
And what kind of man was he to deserve such beauty and caring in his life?
He had watched her grow and immerse herself into the life at Beacon. There were very few who did not have a very special relationship with the lovely Healer.
And yet, they had all left her here. A beautiful place by day but as night grew deeper the Forever Fall became a place of nightmares.
For the Grimm ruled the night.
"Almost there." Jaune whispered. With the break in his concentration, he tripped over a root and plowed face first into the ground.
He didn't cried out, but the noise set off the forest. All around them, the woods began to howl.
"Run!" Someone said, sending everyone on a frenzied dash.
"Ozpin, grab the girl. We'll all cover you." Glynda said pulling her riding crop from her boot. He nodded and focused on following the four who knew generally where she was.
"This is the area." Ruby said. "This is where Pyrrha, Weiss and I stood. Dahlia stood over... there..." Ruby pointed.
All the eyes followed to where the leader of a Beowolf pack sat chewing on the foot of a silver haired girl.
It was an instantaneous reaction. Elise went straight for the leader, while everyone else engaged the rest of the pack.
Elise was tiny but ferocious. With the full power of her Semblance behind her, she tackled the leader hard enough to get him to drop Dahlia, dropping her to where Ozpin wait below to catch her.
Elise didn't bother using Serenity. She had enough solid rage to kill the beast with her bare hands.
Elise's Semblance was physical Strength. She needed no weapon.
"I've got her. Break off attack, cover me back to the ship!" He cried, launching himself away from the fight. "Pyrrha, her staff!" Ruby yelled. Suddenly Dahlia's Orchid was in Mykel's hand. "I got it!" He yelled, running alongside Ozpin who carried Dahlia's like a life sized doll in his arms.
Elise was the last to leave, unable to control her fury. She didn't leave till the beast that had hurt her friend was nothing but pieces of mashed pulp.
The flight back to the ship was much faster that the getting to Dahlia part.
She felt so light and dead in his arms.
All the Beowolves were dead, at least from that pack. The Grimm began to gather as the smell of carnage permeated the air.
But when they arrived at the battlefield, the huntsmen and huntresses were gone, on their way back to Beacon.
The mood on the ship was somber. Dahlia was alive, barely, but alive. And her left leg had been eaten from the knee down. She showed signs of other traumas but those somehow quickly faded. No one knew how they were going to explain to Dahlia how she would never fight again like she used to. She'd be in a wheelchair. She'd never walk again.
Ozpin had locked himself and Dahlia in the back medic room. He gently wiped the blood from her body and carefully cleaned her wounds.
Her left leg was a mangled mess from the knee down. She'd need all her formidable courage to face her life from then on. Their mutual friend was going to be so angry when he found out. He had expressed such hopes for Dahlia.
"Dahlia. I'm sorry." He whispered into her ear. He wished he could fix it. Fix the entire situation.
He stared at her serene face, glad only that she did not feel pain wherever she was.
When she was awake she always seemed so guarded. Like at any moment, she expected to be attacked. There were times that he had longed to reach out and wipe away the fear and worry lines that would mark her face.
She had long blackened silver eyelashes that rested like petals against her cheeks.
He was so engrossed with her face, he didn't look at the wreck her leg had been.
The bone grew, muscle healed, veins and arteries reformed and in the half an hour back to Beacon, Dahlia's left calf, ankle and foot had regrown, down to the last toe.
"Sir, we'll be landing soon-" Glynda's words trailed off.
The girl was whole. But her left lower leg had been chewed off. But there it was.
As if the only thing that was out of place was the missing shoe and fabric below her knee.
"My God, Professor." She said coming around to touch the leg that shouldn't have been there.
"I know it's horrible. I did the best I could with the-" He turned to look at Glynda and saw why she had gone silent.
Dahlia had a whole left leg.
The girl began to stir.
"I'll go tell the kids. They'll see soon enough." She said before closing the door.
Dahlia's eyelashes fluttered and Ozpin got a glimpse of the beautiful dark blue irises beneath.
"Oz..." She said quietly. She smiled. "You finally came." She said with her breath.
He reached for her and brushed her silver bangs away. "Hello, Dahlia. How do you feel?"
"Tired. Very tired but that what happens when you do stupid things. I am just glad you came. I missed you... I went to the garden every night since I met you. Just in case you ever came. And now you've come. I'm so happy." She said sighing.
His heart contracted. He hadn't known that she had gone very night. He knew about the first time.
No one knew about the long silver ribbon he wore wrapped around his left forearm.
"Dahlia, you got hurt very badly but your body fixed it." He said cradling her head.
"Of course it did. That's what Omar taught it to do. I can never die unless my head is cut off. That why I wear the steel necklace. I can never die, even if I want to." She murmured, rolling her cheek into his hand.
"Dahlia, do you want to die?" He asked carefully, terrified of the answer.
She breathed evenly for a little and he thought she had fallen asleep.
Till she answered with a single sweet sigh, "Yes. I deserve to die."
She fell asleep and he gently rested her head down.
She needed rest to recuperate.
He picked up her silver walking staff, feeling the warm, rough matte metal on his fingertips as he placed it beside her. He stared at the beautiful etching of blooming orchids that wrapped around the length of the staff, giving the weapon it's name.
She would want it when she woke up.
Then in a fit of impulsiveness, he unbuckled her black cloak and gathered it to him.
He walked off the ship, exhausted with the strains of the night. He sought his bed wearily, not saying a word to anyone.
He only took his spectacles and boots off before curling up on the big, soft, lonely bed cuddling Dahlia's cloak tightly.
He fell dead asleep with the floral smell of her filling his nose, bringing peace to a troubled heart.
Everything was alright.
Dahlia Derivalle was alive.