Cinder stood on Neo's hand pressing harder until the girl lost her grip, Ruby and Neo started to fall but drawing on some desperate reserves Ruby pulled Neo down towards her for momentum, activating her semblance in desperation as she did, Ruby turned into her signature ball of rose petals and shot upwards. She had barely made her way back up to the bridge when a hand grabbed her face, forcing her out of her semblance. Ruby saw Cinder's grimm arm outstretched, its fingers grasping her tightly, Cinder dragged Ruby up towards her as the huntress struggle in the maiden's grasp, Cinder kept her at Ruby's arm length as the smaller girl struggled, she scratched and dug into the grimm arm in vain. Cinder used her free arm to summon a circle of flames around them giving her a moment to savour the silver eyed girl's horror filled expression and pointless struggling.
"Don't worry little red, your friends are in safe hands." Cinder taunted as she dragged her index finger down slowly along Ruby's forehead, scraping her grimm finger along the girl's flickering aura until it shattered as she reached her left eyebrow. Ruby let out a painful scream as the grimm nail punctured her skin and continued its path downwards along her eyelid, stopping partway down her cheek as the nail stopped travelling any further. Ruby's fingers became limp around Cinder's arm as her struggling weakened until her arms dropped to her sides in defeat. Cinder's fingers left Ruby's face as she loosened her grip and threw her back down into the unknown.
"RUBY!"
Ruby was jerked awake as she heard her name reverberate throughout her head. Ruby could hear what sounded like water washing up onto a shore as she woke up on a beach she didn't recognise. Dragging herself out of the water until she was further up the shore she had awoken on; Ruby lent her arm on a fallen tree before sliding to her knees as she winced in pain from her face. Sitting up on her knees she realized her left eye failed to open, only the right was following orders. Ruby brought her hand up to her face and felt the dried blood and swelling that had started to take hold, pain flared through her as the memory of Cinder holding her flashed in her head. Ruby used her free hand to pull out her scroll, activating her camera she brought it up in front of her and she could see her scroll shaking in her hand.
Ruby hissed in pain as she pulled her damaged eyelids apart. Her vision became blurred from both the pain and the information her injured eye saw, tears flowed out as she held her eye open and snapped a picture before quickly releasing her hold on her eye and letting it close as the pain she felt lessened, but she felt it constantly throbbing. As her vision narrowed it became clearer as it relied back to just her uninjured eye, Ruby looked at the picture she had taken and felt some relief. While her eye was bloodshot and her eyelids were swollen, her scroll showed a jagged bloodied line that parted her eyebrows and travelled down before stopping a couple of centimetres underneath her eye. Ruby regretted not paying more attention in first aid classes at Beacon, but she did let out a breath of relief as when she had forced her eye open, she was able to see light and colours that seemingly matched the area around her, although it was blurred and unfocused, she hoped it meant that it looked worse than it actually was.
Ruby sighed as she ripped two of the pleats off of her skirt and tied them together before wrapping it over her injured eye, she looped it above her uninjured eye and into her hair, she tightened it until she felt it apply some pressure on the injury and tied it in a simple knot, pulling her scroll back out she made sure it sat snug over her damaged eye.
After meeting a small mouse which she had taken to naming Little, Ruby started to head in the supposed direction of the mouse' village. As the small mouse had rapidly fallen asleep while they sat on Ruby's shoulder, the huntress started to doubt if she was heading in the right direction. That worry was soon dispelled however as the sounds of a commotion reached her from the direction she was heading, picking up the pace she pushed aside some bushes and what she saw gave Ruby an overwhelming sense of calm, tinged with worry. Her teammates, Weiss and Blake were strung up by some vines and what Ruby guessed was the whole village were celebrating capturing them.
"Excuse me?" Ruby's voice cut through the crowd silencing them and stopping them in their tracks as they turned in reaction to her sudden appearance.
"RUBY!" Weiss and Blake spoke in unison as they reacted to their leader's sudden appearance. Soon after, Little explained that the trio held no threat to the village, Ruby had also brought some Cheese Radish as a peace offering which seemed to speed up the negotiations and soon after the trio were truly reunited as Weiss and Blake were freed from their captivity.
Weiss and Blake moved to embrace their leader but were frozen as the two had only just noticed the bandage that was adorned across one of their leader's eyes. Weiss reached up and hovered her hand above the bandage. "Ruby?" Weiss' voice was quiet and unsteady as she slowly lowered her hand not wanting to risk causing Ruby unnecessary pain. Ruby stepped forward and caught Weiss' hand with her own, Ruby took a small step forward towards Weiss, giving a weak smile as she held her hand between them, she spoke softly.
"It's okay Weiss." Ruby's eye spotted a fallen tree that would make for a fine makeshift bench, using her hold on Weiss' hand she led her and signalled for Blake to follow, she gestured for Weiss to sit first as Ruby sat beside her, letting go she brought her hands up behind her head and undid the knot holding her makeshift bandage causing it to fall into her lap, she had closed her good eye as it fell and could only hear the reaction from Blake who had sucked in a staggered breath of shock but Ruby's heart froze as she couldn't make out her partners reaction. Slowly, Ruby peaked out through her good eye and was met with the tearful eyes of Weiss.
"Does it hurt?" Weiss' voice broke the silence and Ruby responded with a small nod before speaking in an attempt to ease her teammates concerns.
"I mean not as much now, it's more of a throbbing now. I used my scroll to have a look at it but to be honest I think I'm just lying to myself. Would you be able to look at it? You've always been better at this sought of thing." Ruby admitted, Weiss nodded in understanding as she pulled out a small first aid kit from one of her pockets.
"You mean first aid?" Weiss asked as she popped the seal and opened the first aid kit. Ruby shook her head slightly side to side, Weiss frowned as she noticed that Ruby had averted her gaze, looking first to Blake who had stood quietly with her hand over her mouth as she took in Ruby's injury and then to the first aid kit that now sat in Weiss' lap.
"You've always been better at being gentle." Ruby blushed as she spoke unable to meet Weiss' eyes with her own.
"Ruby." Weiss' soft voice caused Ruby to harden her resolve in avoiding her partners gaze but that plan rapidly collapsed as a hand reached up and gently held her chin, raising it until she was looking ahead and into her partners light blue eyes, the understanding expression on her partners face caused her to hold her breath.
"Thank you… for trusting me with this Ruby." Weiss acknowledged as she poured some disinfectant from a small vial onto a clean cloth, slowly she brought it up to Ruby's injured eye to start cleaning the wound, as she lowered it at the top of the cut that started at Ruby's eyebrow the red huntress hissed in pain.
"I take it back… not gentle." She joked, eliciting a laugh out from Blake who's giggling passed easily through the hand that she held over her mouth. Ruby smiled in response to Blake's reaction but she couldn't see it as her line of sight was blocked by Weiss' arm that was reaching across to clean the wound. Weiss let out a grumble under her breath in response as she started, she avoided the eye directly, cleaning Ruby's eyebrow and cheek first, removing the dried blood until she was satisfied, she lowered the cloth and spoke.
"The swelling is quite bad but can I take a look at your eye? If you're up for it."
"I took a picture of it on my scroll, if that helps?" Ruby answered unwilling to repeat the pain she felt when she did the same, as she pulled her scroll out, she unlocked it, handing it to Weiss. Weiss looked at the picture before turning it towards Blake so she could get a look at it.
"What do you think?" Weiss asked, she sensed that Ruby wanted to avoid either the pain or perhaps Weiss thought she was afraid of confirming something. Weiss watched as Blake looked towards the picture on the scroll, to be honest she knew what Blake was most likely going to say, the moment she saw the photo could tell how Ruby struggled to take the picture, the blurred nature of the photo caused by Ruby attempting to handle the scroll through the pain. She looked back to Ruby and Weiss with a remorseful look which confirmed Weiss' suspicion but she waited for Blake to vocalise it.
"It's clearly bloodshot but I think we're going to have to see it first hand, I'm sorry Ruby but the pictures not too clear." The guilt in Blake's voice was clear as Ruby's shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Hey…" Weiss spoke in an attempt to keep up her partners spirits. "…I'll do it as quickly as I can, okay?" If Ruby heard her, she didn't acknowledge Weiss' words as her eyes landed on the bloodied cloth that sat in Weiss' other hand.
"Do you think I deserve this?" Ruby asked causing the other two to look at her with concern, some tears started to flow from her good eye and a couple had pushed their way through the swelling of her other eye as well.
Weiss dropped the cloth in her lap and grabbed Ruby's shoulder with a strong grip, her voice was full of steel as she shook her leader gently. "Look at me." Ruby was fearful because of Weiss' voice but eventually she relented, her voice however failed to match the pained expression she had, tears had built up in her eyes as she struggle to keep them at bay. "You think you deserve this?" her voice of steel cracked as she spoke through gritted teeth.
"It's because of me that we're here, my plan led to Atlas falling, I failed. I couldn't even keep my team safe; I failed as a team leader. I could barely use my eyes' powers as well, maybe I don't deserve them-"
Slap
Ruby's self-lecture was cut off as a she felt a stinging sensation on her right cheek, surprised she opened her eye and was immediately met with a face that caused her stomach to drop. Weiss' tears were flowing freely now but were contrasted by the furious gaze in her eyes and the frown she held, alongside her trembling lips demonstrated how Weiss was struggling to contain her emotions.
"Weiss?" The name tumbled out of Ruby unintentionally, as she was caught off guard by her partner's reaction and the expression on her face.
Weiss took some shallow breaths as she sought to steady herself before she spoke. "Do you really think so little of yourself? Of us? We're a team, we all agreed to your plan, so we all shoulder the blame.-"
"But Weiss-" Ruby attempted to interrupt but was swiftly silenced by the hand that just slapped her being brought back to her shoulder.
"No buts Ruby. Yes, we failed but I won't allow you to think for a second that you deserve this, none of us do. Look at me." Weiss emphasised the end by moving her hand from Ruby's shoulder to her cheek, Ruby's eye met Weiss'. "Your eyes are a gift from your mother, so please, don't reject or treat them with scorn. We can't choose what our parents give us but… deserving them? Of course you do, those eyes are source of hope for me, so please it may be selfish of me. But take that hope and turn it inwards for me." Weiss' hand dropped down to her lap as Blake placed a supportive hand onto Ruby's other shoulder lending her, her support as well.
"No one blames you, Ruby." Blake added with a comforting smile but Ruby could tell by her ears expression that the girl was conflicted, so she nodded in agreement to alleviate Blake's concerns. Slowly, Weiss brought her hands back up to Ruby's face keeping them slightly away from her eye until Ruby nodded her acceptance. Weiss gently touched the swollen area but paused as Ruby hissed in pain and reflexively raised her arms in defence, Blake intervened and grabbed Ruby's left hand into her right.
"Stay still, if it hurts, squeeze my hand." She said seeking to support her leader, which Ruby responded by giving a small squeeze of her hand in gratitude. Weiss took a deep breath as she sought to steady her hands, unwilling to cause Ruby unnecessary pain, with care she took gentle hold of Ruby's eyelids and slowly pulled them apart, she felt guilty as the strain on Ruby's face was apparent and she could see in the corner of her vision, Ruby's knuckles turning white as they tightened in Blake's grasp.
Weiss let out a sigh of relief as it seemed that her aura had already started to repair the worst of the damage, although it was just as badly bloodshot as it was on the scroll. She stayed worried though as she carefully let the swelling return to its natural place, closing the wound. "Your eye looks relatively okay. Your aura has repaired the worst of it but I'm worried. We won't know how much of your vision will recover until it heals and I don't know how badly it is damaged." Weiss admitted with reluctance, she wanted to give better news but was loath to be dishonest, Ruby understood as she took a steady breath.
"How did it happen?" Blake asked, she chided herself, not intending to voice her thoughts, Ruby's hand went limp in Blake's grasp and she understood her leader wanted her hand free. Her leader took the makeshift bandage and held it to Weiss.
"Can you cover it first please? I know it's stu-"
"No." Ruby was silenced by Weiss interjecting. "It's not stupid… trust me, I understand. You're the one who helped me to not feel shame about mine." Weiss dabbed some disinfectant onto the makeshift bandage before she packed it with some clean cloth, applying some pressure to help with the swelling she wrapped it back around Ruby's head and gently tied the knot. Ruby blinked a few times as she became reacquainted with the feeling of the bandage, though this time it was noticeably softer than her original attempt.
"It was Cinder." Ruby stated matter-of-factly.
"When she grabbed you?" Blake asked.
Ruby turned and looked at the Faunus with a confused expression. "You didn't see?" she asked surprised. Blake and Weiss both shook their heads but Weiss was the one who spoke first, drawing Ruby's attention to her and she could see the guilt on her partner's face, as the tears threatened to flow again from her.
"We couldn't see, she put up this massive circle of flames around the two of you but we… I heard your screams Ruby and I'm sorry. We tried to help but we couldn't get through and when we saw you fall… the trail of blood you left." Weiss surprised Ruby by pulling her into a hug. "I thought I lost you. I don't care if that bitch thinks she's won, you are still here."
"That means Yang could be…" Blake trailed off hopefully, Ruby and Weiss looked towards their teammate and nodded in agreement.
"Right, Neo got a good hit in but Yang's survived worse." Weiss' responded optimistically and Ruby answered by tightening her grip on their hug.