She blinked rapidly, anxious of whatever this feeling was. Where was she? Why did everything seem so dark?
Everything felt flipped, the figures in front of her blurred vision were hanging upside down. As was she. She could hardly make sense of what was in front of her. An amalgamation of crunched leather, metal, and other disfigured-looking shapes.
She barely noticed the sharp pain in her abdomen, until she placed her hand on the spot. Something barred the way of her touching the spot as she now realized something had been protruding out of her. It was sharp to the touch; her hand was now covered in a warm liquid that seemed to run up her body.
There were loud and bright sirens that flashed outside of wherever she was. What was going on?
Loud voices seemed to grab her attention. "There's three of them! Get the jaws of life!"
Was this a dream?
She could feel her eyes growing heavy, as her vision began to dim. Her head hurt, and her throat felt dry. She closed her eyes, the image of Yang Xiao Long's lavender-colored eyes now looking at her as if it were the first time they entered her head.
With a low mutter she called out one small name, "Yang…" And then her world went black.
Weiss's eyes slowly fluttered open, remembering the weird dream. Or, what she had thought was a dream. She looked around, the setting completely unfamiliar. Whites, blues, and several other light colors filled the room. A low and steady beeping came from a machine next to her.
She could feel her pulse rising, as several machines attached began to read her. Don't panic. She looked around and noticed a figure resting its head on her right hand, holding it tightly. She wiggled her fingers, trying to free her grip from the white-haired figure.
The figure, Weiss's own mother, now groggily rubbed her own eyes. "Oh, you're awake!" Willow adjusted her own coat. Weiss knew exactly where she was, and if her mother was here, then something must've been wrong. "You and your friends were in an accident." Willow sighed, tired fingers pressed against her own creasing forehead.
Weiss frowned and tried to sit up, but a sharp pain in her side told her not to do so. "Weiss, please. For your own sake, don't move. I… I had to perform surgery on you and one of your friends. It's going to take a while for it to recover." Willow stepped forward, trying to help Weiss lay back down.
Weiss slowly and weakly signed, "How? What Happened?"
Willow stuffed her hands into her coat pockets. "A drunk driver hit you girls nearly head-on. The front of the car got the brunt of the damage. There's no need to say anything further." She approached Weiss once more, now placing a hand on her shoulder. "Just please, get some rest." Willow began to walk away, before being grabbed by a visibly-shaken Weiss.
An angry huff came from Weiss. A loud, audible huff that clearly told Willow everything Weiss was trying to say. Irritated blue eyes stared Willow down. Weiss's grip was weak, and she knew this. But she wanted to know what happened to Pyrrha… and what happened to Yang.
"Well, you've never done that before. But I'm afraid I can't really give you the information of any of your friends at the moment. Until you're a little better, at least. I'm afraid you'll go into shock. Now, if you'll excuse me — I have another surgery to prep for." Willow removed Weiss's hand from her forearm, and made a swift exit, not even bothering to look back.
Weiss gripped at the hospital bed sheets that covered her. She could feel just how sore she was. She could feel just how fucked up this whole situation was. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry. Weiss buried her face in her hands, her side still burning as she made so many sudden movements.
Hot tears filled her hands, and she began to lowly sob. Alone. Her mind kept thinking the worst of things. What if Pyrrha was dead? What if Yang was… No. Impossible. Yang wasn't going to leave her. The only person who had made the effort to hear her wasn't going to leave her just like that.
To add even more insult to injury, her mom had recognized her as nothing more than a patient. The mother she hardly saw or even talked to, didn't even seem to acknowledge her own daughter.
A nurse had wandered in, observing the monitors and signals of the grief-stricken girl. "You poor thing, your mother told me to tell you that your sister is on her way to visit. Oh, and your blond-haired friend successfully made it out of surgery a little after you." The nurse seemed to approach the IV drip that was attached to Weiss's arm, she took a small needle from her pouch and seemed to inject something into it. "Just a little morphine to ease the pain. You'll need all the rest you can get."
Weiss had been rubbing the tears away as the nurse spoke. Oh, how she absolutely abhorred crying in front of people. But now, hearing that Yang, that she was okay, made half of her fears go away. It hadn't accounted for why Yang needed surgery, and what exactly had happened to her, though. The second half of her fleeting thoughts wandered over to her sister. Winter. Winter was coming to see Weiss?
The big sister that said she might not always be there? Was coming…?
Weiss's thoughts began to scramble as she could feel the narcotic begin to take effect. She would see Yang, she promised herself… as soon as she had woken up.
The rising sun peeked through the curtains, awakening the sleeping girl. Weiss groggily rubbed her eyes, noticing that there had been a meal plate set out for her on the side of her bed. Yet, she didn't feel hungry. Her mind was set on one thing, and one thing only — Yang. She weakly swung her legs to the edge of the hospital bed.
Her feet now touching the cool floor, she tried to stand up straight, but her knees buckled before her. She clutched onto her mobile IV drip with one hand, and with the other, held onto her side where the stitches could be felt. She could feel a slight draft from her backside. Not like that mattered at this point.
She had been sent into a private room, something that was probably her mother's own doing. Now opening the door, Weiss wandered into the hallway. What seemed like an endless white hallway going into two different directions was laid out before her.
She took to the right, passing a lobby where someone had been speaking to a nurse behind a desk.
That was when Weiss had made eye contact with a black-haired girl, a sleeping boy on her shoulder. "Weiss?" Blake called out, now standing up and causing the boy to fall over. Blake seemed to run over to Weiss, now placing her hands on her shoulder, and taking her into a small embrace. "You're alright? Some surgeon told us you weren't allowed visitors, unless it was family. We were afraid you got the worst of it." Blake pulled back, eying Weiss for any sort of apparent injuries.
The worst of it? Weiss didn't understand. She hadn't suffered any terrible injuries. Minor cuts and bruises were that much apparent on Weiss, as she had apparently been impaled, but it wasn't like her guts were spilling all over the floor. The accident couldn't have been that bad, could it?
Sun stretched his way over. "You do look like you're a bit beaten up, though. Seems like you got the better end of the deal," he yawned out while rubbing his own tired eyes.
Weiss grabbed both of their hands, now squeezing them, closing her eyes and shaking her head. She didn't understand! She didn't understand! She didn't understand!
Both of them gave her a pitying look. A look that Weiss hated. Instead, she turned, continuing on her mission to look for Yang.
Blake took a step in front of her. "Wait. I don't think you should visit Yang. Not yet, at least." Blake sighed, barring the way from Weiss.
Weiss shook her head, and continued forward. Now seeing a door open, she saw two familiar, heavy and somber-looking faces exit from the room. Ruby and Taiyang.
"Ahh…" Blake and Sun seemed to follow behind Weiss as Weiss's weak steps seemed to increase in pace. "Shouldn't you be resting?" Blake quickly added, trying to deter Weiss from moving forward.
Weiss shook her head. Nothing would stop her. No one would stop her.
"Weiss?" Ruby's gentle, yet dull tone was apparent as it seemed like Ruby and even Tai were surprised to see her. Weiss walked up to them, stopping before them. She eyed Ruby and Tai, and then the door they came out of. Ruby, and even Tai, seemed to gently hug Weiss. "We're so glad that you're okay…"
Weiss gestured her head toward the door they had exited. She wanted in. Everyone around her seemed to make some sort of sound, as if they were very unsure of the situation.
Tai now stepped up, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Weiss, the accident was pretty serious. I don't know if anyone told you. Yang and Pyrrha seemed to get the brunt of the collision. From the looks of it, if you're walking and moving you're either really determined and strong, or you didn't get hurt as much as we thought you did." He spoke sadly, but not for Weiss… it was clearly for another reason. "Yang's not awake. She probably won't be for awhile. But if you're going in there, be prepared for some… changes."
Weiss's brows furrowed. Changes? What could have possibly changed about Yang Xiao Long? Yang was Yang. There was no changing that.
Weiss continued on past Tai, Ruby, Blake, and Sun. To which, none of them seemed to stop her. Yet, all of them held bated breaths as Weiss weakly pushed her way through the closed door.
Ruby was the only one to follow behind as Blake, Sun, and Tai seemed to let the door close on them. Weiss now silently stood at the foot of Yang's hospital bed.
Everything was quiet, too quiet for Weiss to be around the blonde. There was no sunny and bright smile. There were no cute and excitable words that exited her mouth. Instead, Yang rested quietly. Light breaths escaped the sleeping or possibly drugged-up Yang. Her face was still. But there was an aura around it that Weiss couldn't seem to ignore.
And as Weiss scanned the rest of Yang's body, she gasped. She finally saw what was 'wrong'. Where Yang's right hand and arm would've rested was now just thin air. Instead, there was a nub at her elbow — freshly bandaged — where her arm should've continued to have been.
"She'll be fine, you know. Yang is strong. Yang has always been strong," a voice from behind Weiss had said, belonging to Ruby.
Weiss knew this. She remembered telling Yang nearly the exact same thing, but Yang herself didn't always seem to believe this. But did Ruby know this?
Part of Weiss couldn't help but feel guilty. This was her fault. She had agreed to drink. She had agreed to go to the party. Then Pyrrha and Yang had agreed to take her, Weiss, home. Weiss put a hand to her mouth, trying to cover any sounds that might've escaped through her thought process.
Had Weiss not had developed a crush on Yang, she would never have begun to act nervous around the blonde. Had Weiss not questioned if she was gay or not, maybe she would have never been found out by Neptune. To make matters worse, Pyrrha, an unsuspecting party, had been dragged into this mess. Pyrrha — where was Pyrrha?
Weiss's immediate thoughts of Pyrrha were constantly drowned out by the face in front of her. Yang's. Along with the overwhelming guilt that had begun to peak its devil-headed face out.
"Weiss?" Ruby called out, a near-saving grace for Weiss. But Weiss's anxiety couldn't be quelled. Not by Ruby, at least. Ruby seemed to approach Weiss, but Weiss was increasingly hyper aware of everything.
She felt sick to her stomach. Her side had begun to ache.
"Weiss! Your side is bleeding!" Ruby tried to grab onto Weiss, but instead, Weiss simply flailed at her, not wanting to be touched. Not wanting to be counseled. This was Weiss's fault! Everything was her fault. "Weiss, ahhh…" Ruby still tried to approach Weiss, who was on the verge of collapsing.
Weiss seemed to hit the ground pretty hard. Ruby just barely managed to catch her on time. The door flew open as Tai, Blake, and Sun rushed their way through — yelling for a nurse as they did so.
Weiss, through the tears, watched as everyone looked around her with such pity. Her vision seemed to blur, and as she heard her name called out, it all seemed very far away.
She just wanted to die. Pyrrha was hurt because of her. Yang was hurt because of her. And now? She wasn't sure if they'd all ever look at her the same again. Just when things had been going so well… she just had to be gay.
Her eyes closed and once more she had embraced a certain darkness.
Weiss jumped awake, causing the figure next to her to jump as well.
"Ahhh, so you're awake. Good to see you, little sister, though probably not in the best conditions. I'm glad you're alive and well." She paused, a small smirk nudging at the corners of her lips. "You've grown reckless, you know that? And honestly, I couldn't be more proud of you." Winter stood up from her seat, closing her book. She didn't sound at all disappointed. In fact, she sounded fairly impressed. Winter tossed some clothes onto Weiss's bed. "Get dressed. We're going on a walk," she demanded.
Weiss frowned, she looked around and noted she had no longer been attached to the IV drip. She began to sign, "What do you mean?"
Winter raised an eyebrow, now signing back. "What I mean is you've been out for about twenty-four hours, and we've got a lot to talk about."
Weiss shook her head. "I've been out all day?!"
Winter nodded. "Ever since you collapsed in Yang's room, Mom was afraid you'd go and do it again. But I think it might be better if we get out of here. Get some fresh air. So, get dressed, and let's go." Winter turned, not wanting to let Weiss continue to sign to her.
Weiss vaguely remembered the incident. All she could remember was Yang and how she was… missing an arm. It made her feel sick to her stomach.
Things had to change. Things were going to change.
For Weiss, and for Yang, and Winter was here… to hopefully help.
Weiss huffed as soon as Winter had exited the room. Now slowly getting dressed, Weiss took her first step, still a little wobbly, but determined. Now taking a few more steps, she exited the room and followed her sister through the door.
AN: Next weeks chapter might be a little late. It's already written but some life things are getting in the way of editing. Thanks for understanding! (Also, I'm so glad you guys liked last weeks chapter. ;) kekekek)