A/N: I fucking hate Authors notes, hate writing them, and I hate reading them. Hope you feel the same. Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 44:

Sounds drifted, sensations spiked. Pain, Pain, Pain, Pain, make it worse, make it worse, make it worse. Pain, Pain, Pain, Pain, Pain, Pain, make it worse, make it worse, make it worse. Over and over again the same macabre mantra repeated itself in Weiss's head, sending spikes of pain through her skull with each repetition.

A voice interrupted the macabre mantra; Ozpin was talking to Weiss about Ruby. At the mention of her rose, a new macabre mantra wove its way into Weiss's mind eventually replacing the first one.

Ring-a-ring-a-roses, A pocket full of Posies; Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down. What disturbed Weiss the most was not the fact that it had the word roses in it, but because of its origin in the death plague.

Weiss lay on the intensive critical maximum priority infirmary bed. Ozpin was indeed talking to Weiss about Ruby, but it didn't look like the heiress was hearing Ozpin correctly. When the headmaster said something about not being able to tattoo certain areas of Ruby's body, Weiss started muttering an old death plague nursery rhyme.

A silent pause.

"Where…am…I?" Weiss asked her voice extremely weak. "What's…wrong…with…my…voice? Why…do…I…pause…between…every…word?"

"I don't know. I just got her 20 minutes ago. Apparently looking over your injury scans, well it's more difficult than the doctors imagined." Ozpin said. He stared down at Weiss looking thoughtful.

"Where…am…I…god…damn…it." Weiss said, her voice incapable of weaving words to close to one another. They way Weiss talked was strange and unfamiliar to her, a breath in between each word.

"Your in a hospital. I thought that much was obvious, when I mentioned doctors of course." Ozpin said.

"No…it's…" Weiss stopped talking and pantomimed writing on her hand. Ozpin, having studied hand signals, knew immediately what Weiss was asking for, which was pen and paper.

"All I have is this, will it be enough?" Ozpin said, as he pulled out a pen and a small scratch book that still had a few sheets left on it. Weiss nodded and Ozpin handed her the pen and scratch pad. Weiss started composing a message, and took up almost an hour.

Halfway through composing the message Weiss broke down into tears. Having the unrelenting personality that she did, Weiss simply moved the paper farther forwards and rested it on her knees. Weiss continued to compose the message, all while her tears continued to run down her face staining the white hospital bed sheet.

Ozpin had been at the hospital for nearly two hours when he left to go back to Beacon. Weiss walked beside him. Despite the crutches she walked with, Weiss till managed to keep up with Ozpin's long stride. Looking back, Ozpin noticed that the white haired heiress was quite tall. 'Six feet tall perhaps?' Ozpin mused.

The two eventually came to a car. Growling in extreme discomfort, the doctors still hadn't gotten the results from Weiss's injury scans, Weiss said, "That won't do." And fished her scroll out of her leg cast. Apparently while Weiss was composing her message to Ruby, Ozpin had stitched and added a pocket onto Weiss leg cast, just so the girl could have it wherever she went regardless of her injury.

Weiss held the scroll up to her ear and made a call. The call was to Yang, Weiss told the blonde that she was to acquire a limo and drive over to the hospital to pick her up. Once Weiss gave Yang the address she was informed by Yang that it would take several hours. Not because of the time it would take to acquire a limousine, the hospital Weiss had been sent to? Was very far away from Beacon and Vale city, it would take a while for Yang to pick Weiss up and drive her back to Beacon or Vale for that matter.

Weiss stood, in pain because of her entire left leg despite the crutches, on the curb in front of a hospital. Ozpin had left in his car after Weiss had yelled at him for almost an hour to leave her. With straining her voice, and from disuse of it Weiss came down with a serious case of laryngitis. Weiss tried talking, but that hurt and her voice constantly cracked.

Not really studying the disease before, Weiss tried talking the kinks out of her voice. But that only succeeded in making it worse, so Weiss looked up on the Internet how to fix something like what she was experiencing. Using her scroll, which always got an Internet connection anywhere, Weiss discovered the condition she had was Laryngitis. The article Weiss discovered also told her that by talking for more than 57 minutes straight after getting the condition, a person would permanently ruin their voice. Weiss had talked for exactly 64 minutes.

Defeated, and feeling hopeless, Weiss sat down on the curb her feet in the gutter. The crutches Weiss had been using clattered against the sidewalk behind her. Weiss was star struck with horror, she couldn't think. Her thoughts were blank. Weiss couldn't move, she couldn't think, she couldn't motivate her self to keep living. But since Weiss couldn't think the possibility of suicide never crossed her mind. Weiss just sat still frozen.

Yang POV

I walked up the paved walkway of the Schnee estate, towards the front door. I didn't want to walk, Weiss had told me the urgency and importance of me acquiring a limo, but I had to walk to appear civil. Despite what I did and what a said, I just couldn't bring myself to theft. My little sister Ruby told me that I look like a bear, so I don't think I could intimidate anyone into giving me a limo. Standing at the door, waiting to build up enough nerve to knock, I thought more about Ruby.

I didn't know where Ruby was, but I did know she was trying to atone for her actions. But honestly, I don't think Ruby could control her actions. No mortal could resist a succubus's sexual pull. Once Alice had Ruby in her sights, there was little my sister could do to resist.

Finally building up enough nerve I knocked on the door. Thankfully the butler answered. I mean he looked like a butler, you know full-suit-bow-tie butler stature.

"Yes?" The butler asked.

"Uh hi. My name is Yang. I'm here on a request from Weiss. I need a limo." I requested.

"Weiss? What does she need it for?" Butler asked. Oh, come on I had no time to ask his name.

"She said it's a matter of life and death. Well she really told me to steal a limo, and I can't do that sir. Despite what you may have heard of me, I can't bring myself to steal. Besides I don't have my limo license. So even if I found a limo, I couldn't drive it to get to Weiss in time." I said.

Butler looked at me a long moment before answering, "Miss Weiss Schnee asked me if I knew how to drive a limousine. I said no, so she had me learn. It turns out I drive a limo like a race car, efficiently and impossibly fast."

"So will you drive me over to her? She asked for me to steal and drive a limo, but I don't know how to drive, at all really." I confessed. I didn't know why I was saying this to Butler; the only other person who knew I didn't know how to drive was Ruby, since she grew up with me.

"Certainly. I'll drive you to her; just let me talk to her. One moment, I have her number." Butler said.

Butler stood face to face with me and made the call. After the first 10 rings the rings cut off. "Did she pick up?" I whisper.

I see a horrified look on Butler's face; I'm confused I just talked to her an hour and 10 minutes ago. "It…it's…this is…" Butler struggled to speak.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I ask frantic at this disturbing turn of events. Weiss always answered her scroll by the third ring. Never had she left a call unanswered. It sucked that that the ice princess picked a time like this to break an inconsequential habit.

"She's trying to tell me something. Go ahead Weiss darling, keep trying please." Butler in that moment looked about 30 years of age was added to his skin in worry wrinkles.

…