Golden Thorns Chapter Twenty-two
"I'm sorry. She's lost a lot of blood. We have stitched the wound in her abdomen but she has also suffered light spinal damage and severe concussion. We have put her into a medically induced coma until we are sure that she is stable. It may be a week or so before she can be safely woken up." Said the tall man in the blue scrubs.
"Can we at least see her?" asked Jo quietly.
"Give it until tomorrow. Just so we can make sure, okay" he said gently as the three of them turned and walked back to their dorm.
Coran was still in shock from his fight with Ruby an hour after the match, waiting in the schools armoury. She was so fast. And with such a heavy looking weapon as well. Hell, she'd almost taken his head off with that thing. The students thought he was dangerous, they'd best not get on her bad side.
He looked up as the door opened. In she walked. That young, nervous little girl who had steamrolled him so decisively. "Umm… hi" she walked in and cautiously sat next to him on the wooden bench.
"Hello." He responded
"Coran, right?"
"That's me." This begat a sudden outburst of barely comprehensible what-he-thought-were-words
"CoranI'mreallysorry, Ididn'tmeantoIjustgot-"
"Caught up in the moment. It's okay Ruby. It's reparable. Firebrand and the armoury team are fixing it now."
"Even so, I'm really sorry. I know our weapons mean a lot to some people. are you alright? You went down quite hard. I wasn't sure if you'd hit your head, or, or if I'd hit your head, or-"
"Ruby. It's fine. I'm not hurt. I'm just a little blown away, that's all. You hit like a freight train."
"I'm told I have that effect on people." she said sheepishly.
"Weiss?" he chuckled slightly.
"Huh?" she was confused now.
"I bet Weiss says that all the time."
"I didn't know you knew Weiss." She said, sounding a little put out.
"I guess you could say we're childhood friends. How's Cardin?" he asked, he didn't really want to talk about it right then, to this girl he barely knew.
"Pfft. Cardin. Don't get me started." She seemed to suddenly harden.
"Not a fan?" secretly amused about the quantity of dismissal coming from such an innocent voice.
"The way he treats others is sickening." A frown creasing her youthful brow.
"Still… I do feel bad about it. I mean he's a bully but I know how much that hurts. And I'm beginning to think that people are a little frightened of me."
"Oh please, we were all shocked but most of us have been trying to find an excuse to do the same for weeks." The little girl stunned him again, this time with the brutality of her words. Not so sweet after all… interesting… there must be a reason for that.
"So… why are they keeping you down here? It must be a long time to weight." She was suddenly sheepish again.
"They periodically call me in to test the balance and weight. I don't mind. I always thought that it was a little off. This way I can tweak it to my personal preference. Speaking of weapons, yours is quite something."
"Yeah, I may have overdone it a bit but crescent rose is still my baby." She said, drooling slightly.
"You named it?"
"You didn't name yours?"
"Can't say the idea ever occurred to me."
She stood. "You should think about it," she said as she left the room, "it gives it character."
"Thanks Ruby."