Chapter 3: Dreams and Hope
Weiss had absolutely insisted that Yang's treatment be handled by the best Atlas had to offer, and that meant going to the Blutig Medical Center. As Weiss had explained it to Yang, it was the most prestigious medical facility in the whole kingdom if not the whole world. It turned out that Blutig was one of the only places that could perform cybernetic replacement surgery anyway. There were few technology companies that could manufacture the artificial limbs and even fewer doctors proficient in the surgical procedures necessary to attach them.
Yang had gone bug-eyed when she'd seen the estimated cost of the surgery. She doubted she'd ever earn that much Lien in her entire life, but Weiss hadn't been concerned. In fact, she'd seemed to get a sort of sadistic glee from spending her dad's money on something he wouldn't approve of.
Even with the prohibitive cost of the surgery, there was a waiting list to have the procedure done. Weiss had used the influence of her family name to get Yang bumped up to the front of the line. Ordinarily, Yang wouldn't have been comfortable with such blatant cheating, but Weiss had simply told Yang that the sooner she had two arms, the sooner she would be able to help Ruby. It wasn't something Yang could argue against.
A whirlwind of consultations and pre-op procedures later, Yang found herself lying on an operating table. There was a bevy of nurses and doctor's assistants in the room, hooking Yang up to monitoring equipment and getting ready for the doctor's arrival.
Yang was more nervous than she would care to admit. She was no stranger to Beacon Academy's medical ward, but getting patched up after a good fight was very different than undergoing actual surgery. She was really eager for this to be over with.
The doctor finally walked into the room wearing black surgical scrubs. His name was Dr. Schwartz if Yang remembered correctly; the past few days had been a blur. Dr. Schwartz looked far too young to be performing cutting-edge surgery, but if he could get the job done, Yang wasn't going to hold his age against him.
"How are we doing this morning, Ms. Xiao Long?" Dr. Schwartz asked jovially.
"Fine," Yang said tersely. She was really, really tired of people asking her that.
"Are you ready to get started?" Dr. Schwartz asked.
"Yeah. Let's do this," Yang said.
"Let's get the anesthetic going," Dr. Schwartz said to one of his assistants.
A nurse produced a device that looked a lot like a nail gun with a plastic tube attached to it. Yang had seen one before. It was called an injector, and it was used to get needles into people with active auras. There were many wonderful benefits to aura, but it did tend to complicate certain medical procedures. Yang didn't even want to know what kind of cutting implements Dr. Schwartz was going to have to use to operate on her.
"This won't hurt a bit," the nurse said as she pressed the injector to a vein in Yang's left arm. Yang knew she was lying.
The nurse pulled the trigger on the injector. There was a loud clacking sound accompanied by a whiff of yellow Dust. Yang felt the sharp sting of the needle as it punched through her aura and embedded itself in her skin.
The nurse withdrew the injector, leaving the needle and tube in place. The drugs started flowing. Yang felt their effect almost immediately. It was like someone had thrown a wet blanket over her. Her vision started getting hazy. She heard Dr. Schwartz say something, but it was too muffled for her to make out. A moment later, she slipped into unconsciousness.
Yang was walking down a footpath on Beacon Academy's campus. At least, Yang was pretty sure she was at Beacon Academy. Everything looked familiar, although not all of it was quite right. Buildings had been relocated or had even taken on different shapes and sizes. New paths that Yang had never seen before crisscrossed between them. None of the damage from the battle was evident either. Maybe it had been repaired.
Yang began to wander. She couldn't remember what she'd been doing or even how she'd gotten to Beacon. She felt like she should be looking for something, but she wasn't sure what.
The campus was eerily quiet. There was no wind or the rustling of leaves. There was no chatter of students making their way from class to class. Even Yang's footsteps were completely silent.
Yang passed by empty dormitories and classrooms. There was no one about except her. Even the birds and squirrels that made their homes in Beacon's trees were gone. Yang was all alone with nothing but beautiful silence to accompany her.
Suddenly there was the soft tap of a heeled boot on cement. The tiny sound was like a thunderous crash in the quiet of the absolute silence. Yang looked around to try to find the source of the sound, but she didn't see anyone or anything disturbing the perfect stillness.
There were more footsteps. They were slow and steady like someone was taking a casual stroll. The footsteps teased Yang, flitting about here and there. Just as they grew louder, Yang would turn a corner to find nothing there. Yang started searching more desperately. She was drawn to the sound like it was water in a desert.
The footsteps led Yang off the path and into a forest that had sprung up from nowhere. They grew louder and louder, closer and closer, spurring Yang into a run. She pushed tree branches and foliage out of her way as she went. The footstep's source was definitely ahead; Yang thought she could even see someone through the leaves.
Yang burst through a bush only to be confronted with Beacon's dining hall. She froze. This was where it had happened.
Cautiously, Yang stepped forward. There was no sign of the monster or any grimm. There were no scorch marks from the fires that had burned. It had all been forgotten and erased. Yang walked up to the dining hall's doors. They were much larger than she remembered. They looked fit to guard the keep of an ancient castle.
Yang pushed on the gargantuan doors with all her might. Their weight resisted her, but slowly they yielded and opened. On the other side, there was the figure of a woman with her back to Yang. She had a bow, wavy black hair, and coattails. Even from behind, Yang recognized her. She would recognize Blake anywhere.
Blake started to walk away. Yang tried to call out to her but found she couldn't make any sound at all. She ran as fast as she could, but no matter how hard she tried, Blake seemed to get farther and farther away.
Yang reached out for Blake. She was desperate for her partner to turn around, to see her, to do anything but leave. But everything began to fade. Beacon Academy vanished into an inky void, and Blake became nothing more than an invisible silhouette of black on black.
Yang slowly opened her eyes as consciousness returned to her. The world around her was a blur of sterile white. She was apparently lying in a bed, but it didn't feel like her own. It took her a moment to remember that she was in a hospital, although her drug-addled brain couldn't quite come up with the reason why.
"Ah. You're finally awake," a familiar voice said. A face appeared in Yang's field of view. It was too blurry to make out, but the voice sounded a lot like Weiss.
"Blugh," Yang managed.
"Elegant as always," the voice quipped. It was definitely Weiss.
"Shut…up…" Yang slurred. Disoriented or not, Yang would never take sass from Weiss lying down, figuratively speaking.
"Dr. Schwartz said the surgery went well," Weiss said.
"The surgery!" Yang said, suddenly remembering why she was here. She struggled to sit up.
"Whoa! Try to stay calm," Weiss said.
Yang felt a hand gently push her back down.
"Here," Weiss said. Yang saw her reach for something. There was the soft whir of a motor and the front of Yang's bed tilted up, bring her into a reclining position.
"Thanks," Yang said. She lifted her right arm so she could see it. It was still just a stump, but there were some new additions to it.
Yang concentrated hard to try and push the drugs out of her system. It took a minute, but her vision cleared. There was a ring of metal embedded in the end of her arm. It had several ports of some kind along the circumference that looked like they belonged on a computer. The skin around the implant was puffy and inflamed, but Yang could feel her aura already working to heal her.
"Well, it's a start," Yang said. "When do I get the rest?"
"As soon as the doctor arrives, I'm told," Weiss said.
Right on cue, the door opened and Dr. Schwartz walked in. He was pushing a cart with a metal case and a few other sundries on it.
Dr. Schwartz said, "Good afternoon, Ms. Xiao Long. How are you feeling? Any pain or discomfort at the moment?"
"Not really," Yang said. "I think you gave me enough drugs to knock out a goliath."
"Just about," Dr. Schwartz said. "You wouldn't believe the cocktail we have to pump into a patient with an activated aura. Your semblance didn't help either. It was burning through anesthetic at, quite frankly, an alarming rate. It really gave the anesthesiologist fits."
"Great," Yang said glumly. She used to absolutely revel in her semblance. These days she wished more and more that she'd never been born with it.
"Well, it's best to do this next part when you're still feeling the effects of the anesthetic anyway," Dr. Schwartz said. "So are you ready to try out your new arm?"
"I'm ready," Yang said, trying not to sound too pathetically eager. It really hit her for the first time what was about to happen. Just a few more minutes and all her problems would be over.
Dr. Schwartz picked up a leather restraint from the cart. He walked over to Yang and used it to strap her right arm to the bed.
"What's that for?" Yang asked.
"When I connect a new prosthetic, things can get a little crazy," Dr. Schwartz said. "The first time I did this, the patient punched himself in the mouth. It was hilarious, in hindsight."
Weiss said, "We appreciate you not subjecting Yang to that."
Dr. Schwartz went back to the cart. He opened the metal case. Inside was a cybernetic arm encased in foam padding. Dr. Schwartz pulled the arm out. It was colored matte black with yellow highlights. The old Yang would've described it as badass looking.
Dr. Schwartz grabbed another restraint. He placed the arm on the bed next to Yang's right and tied it down as well, albeit more loosely. He took Yang's stump and gently guided it into position. He carefully lined up the ports embedded in Yang's skin with the corresponding prongs on the arm. "Brace yourself," he said. "This will feel a little weird."
With a sharp motion, Dr. Schwartz connected Yang's real arm with the artificial one. There was a click as the ports locked into place. Yang was immediately bombarded with an excruciating itching sensation all along her right side. It was similar to the phantom pains that had plagued her these past months only much more intense. The prosthetic arm jumped up and pulled hard against the restraint. The mechanical fingers twitched erratically.
Weiss asked, "Is that normal?"
"Quite normal. Hence the restraints," Dr. Schwartz said. "Ms. Xiao Long, I want you to focus. Try to lay your arm back down on the bed and keep it still."
Yang concentrated hard. Her rebellious cybernetic arm jerked downward sharply, then came right back up. Yang's brows knitted together in frustration.
"Don't try and fight it," Dr. Schwartz said. "Work with it, not against it."
Yang stopped trying to control the arm for a moment, then eased back into it. Her artificial limb slowly started to calm down. It came to rest on the bed, and after a few more errant twitches, stayed there. The itching sensation began to fade. Yang felt her muscles relax. She hadn't realized she'd been tensing them.
"Very good," Dr. Schwartz said. "Now let's try flexing the fingers."
Yang's new fingers moved with an unnatural jerking motion, but her hand did close and open again.
"Excellent," Dr. Schwartz said. "Once your nervous system adjusts, you should have almost as much manual dexterity as before."
Dr. Schwartz removed both of the restraints. Yang lifted her new hand up and held it in front of her face. She turned it from side to side and moved each of the fingers individually. Her expression was stuck somewhere between fascination and disbelief.
"There won't be much tactile sensation. We're still working on that," Dr. Schwartz said. "But you will be able to feel when something is in contact with your new arm. The cybernetics are powered by your aura, so there's no need to worry about recharging, and the construction is mostly carbon fiber, so it's nice and light and durable. The arm will require periodic maintenance, however. I'll go over all of that with you later."
Yang had only half-heard what Dr. Schwartz had said. Now that the discomfort had passed, she was completely enthralled by the new limb that had been grafted on to her. The simple act of moving her new fingers was euphoric. "I need a mirror," she said.
"Of course, there's one in the bathroom," Dr. Schwartz said. "There are still some diagnoses to run, but we can do that later."
"Yeah, later would be good," Yang said absently.
"I'll give you and Ms. Schnee some time alone," Dr. Schwartz said. He tossed the restraints back onto the cart and pushed it out of the room.
Yang got out of bed. She wobbled a little bit, still not completely over the anesthetic.
"Careful!" Weiss said. She was at Yang's side in an instant.
Yang ignored Weiss and walked straight into the small, attached bathroom. Out of habit, she flipped the light switch with her left hand. The lights came on, but Yang didn't look into the mirror just yet. She walked right up to the sink, and then raised her head. Only her head and shoulders were visible in the mirror. Even the short amount of time she had spent out of bed had done wonders for her appearance. The wretched creature that had haunted her bathroom mirror back on Patch was nowhere to be seen. Yang might even have been able to pretend that everything was normal from what she saw now.
Yang stepped back until the rest of her came into view. She saw two arms. One made of flesh and blood, and the other made of carbon and metal. A powerful emotion surged in Yang's chest and threatened to overwhelm her. She lifted her hands, both of them, and looked down at them. She had two hands. She had two arms.
Weiss approached quietly from behind. "I had some input on the design of your prosthetic. I hope you like it."
Yang spun around and enveloped Weiss in a bone-crushing bear hug. Weiss threw her hands up in surprise. She normally had a strict no-touching policy, but instead of pushing Yang away like she clearly wanted to do, she patted her comfortingly, if awkwardly, on the back.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Yang gushed. Tears flowed from her eyes and wetted the shoulder of Weiss's blouse.
"You're welcome," Weiss wheezed, struggling to breathe in Yang's crushing grip.
Yang just stood there, hugging poor Weiss. She couldn't even describe the feelings that were bombarding her, and most gloriously, she didn't have to fight them. She'd spent so much time desperately trying to bury everything into the deepest, darkest part of her soul, but now she could let everything out. She didn't have to be afraid to feel anymore.
Author's Note: I've always been a bit fascinated by the disadvantages that otherwise awesome superpowers might bring. Being nigh-invulnerable would be nice, right up until a doctor needed to perform lifesaving surgery on you.
Constructive criticism is always welcome so please feel free to review or comment. If you want to be notified of updates or send me a message, you can find me on tumblr under the name electronicyarn.