Before this chapter starts I'd like to update you on a few things. So RTX happened (no duh and HYPE FOR RWBY) and long story short, I met up with the fanfic authors: TheDarkenedRose, NobleMETA, MartunaMajor, angelsixtwofive, SylverLining, and Phoenix Commander.
Huge shout-out to them! (They read this fic too). In case you don't know, they're super nice and they showed me such an amazing time at RTX. Thank you so much for everything. I really do appreciate it.
Needless to say, we got along swimmingly and I joined their group called Legion205. It consists of the authors above including: Shadow Nightblade, BurningPeace, lymle300-2, Jefardi, GhostPhoenix113, and now me!
I'll now be helping out on our collab fic called Room 205, so check it out if you get the chance. Don't worry, my own fics will stay on schedule and I still have lots of stories planned for you!
Now please… enjoy the show…
A few days after Weiss confided in the sisters about Blake looking familiar, the girls went back to the river they all knew and loved. It was their lifeline, their main food and only fresh water source, so they intended to use it to its full potential.
Surprisingly, Nora the sloth seemed to want to be with Yang today. The blonde happily wrapped the animal around her neck while humming a chipper tune, proud of finally winning her over.
"And…" the blonde aimed her spear at the water, where a fish swam underneath. "Gotcha!"
The spear narrowly missed the fish, causing it to frantically swim away.
"Dammit!" she couldn't help but curse.
"Brrah!"
Yang angrily threw the weapon on the ground. "Yeah, I know Nora. I suck at this."
"It's fine, Yang!" Ruby called. "We got plenty!"
Yang turned around to see Blake throwing their tenth fish in a pile of food.
She walked over to the other three. "Are we done here?"
"Yes," Blake chimed. "This will last us for a while."
The faunus and Weiss began throwing their catches in a makeshift bag made of vines.
"Good job everyone!" Ruby cheered. "Yet another successful day."
Weiss could tell Yang was still sulking, more than likely from not being able to catch a single fish.
"Don't beat yourself up about it. I didn't do well either."
The blonde beamed a smile when she tried to cheer her up. "I just wish I got at least one."
Weiss stifled a laugh. "Which is why Ruby and Blake are the best team for this."
Ruby couldn't help but be giddy from the comment while Blake heaved the makeshift bag over her shoulder.
"Let's go eat," Blake said as she walked deeper in the jungle.
The three followed and began their routine trek back to shore, making sure to follow the black smoke that lingered in the air.
"Why do you suck so much at stabbing fish, Yang?" Ruby teasingly asked as she smacked a branch out of the way.
"Shut it, sis," Yang said. "Not everyone is as talented as you and Blake."
Blake smirked. "A useless talent back home."
The blonde couldn't help but laugh. "That may be, but it's more than useful here."
Ruby blushed from the compliment. "Oh stop it," she waved her hand dismissively.
"I mean it though!" Yang beamed and nudged Weiss. "We're useless sacks of shit without you two!"
"Hey!" Weiss yelped. "What do you mean 'we'?!"
"Exactly as I said," the blonde smiled. "You caught what? One fish?"
"Better than none!"
Blake adjusted the bag on her back. "Let's just be happy we have something to eat."
Weiss sighed. "Eating fish almost every day is getting old."
Yang's mouth began to drool. "I could really go for a cheeseburger right now."
"I miss my cookies," Ruby mumbled.
Blake pat the bag that was on her back. "I'm good."
The three, including Nora, glared daggers at the faunus.
"Lucky you," Yang said irritably. "And your faunus traits... and liking fish…"
"Still," Weiss chimed. "You don't want variety?"
"You're right," Blake agreed. "I could go for some freshly cooked salmon."
"That's still fish," Ruby whined. "You really are built for this."
"Brrah!"
Yang smiled and pet the sloth on the head. "Even Nora thinks so!"
"Brrah! Brrah!" suddenly, the sloth frantically clung to Yang's neck with an iron grip, almost choking the girl.
The blonde realized Nora didn't act this terrified since they almost fell to their death in the volcano. Whatever Nora saw, it couldn't be good.
Curiosity peaked as Yang stared at the sloth. "What's up with yo-"
Suddenly, a rogue gorilla completely blindsided the group. The ape leaped out of the cover of the trees with a menacing snarl and pounded its fists on the ground.
Horror was written on their faces when the beast caught them off guard. The girls jumped back in shock, startled from the threatening presence.
The beast greedily sniffed the air, sensing food was nearby. It was smaller than the average gorilla, but still an adult. Blake gathered that it was hungry and needed any easily available food. Blake's eyes darted from the bag full of fish on her back to the animal.
She gulped, knowing that she was in deep trouble.
Not surprisingly, the ape lunged at Blake first. She barely had time to block a menacing swipe with her spear. The collision caused it to fly out of her grasp as she stumbled back and landed on her rear. She was like a deer in headlights as she stared in the predator's fearless eyes.
Before the animal could land a fatal hit, Ruby ran in with a war cry and impaled the beast with a spear directly in the side of its stomach. The ape grunted in pain, holding the spot where it was struck. Ruby was relieved that she gave Blake time to get away, but slowly backed away in fear when the ape's roar pierced the air.
The animal snarled at its assailant and punched Ruby, sending her flying before she collided against a boulder with a thump.
"Ruby!" Yang yelped.
Seeing her sister lay on the ground motionless set off her nerves. Yang wore a pissed off glower as she readied her spear for a strike. When the ape turned its back to finish Ruby off, Yang jumped and impaled the animal in the back.
The ape snarled in pain, displaying its deadly teeth. Now with two spears lodged in its body, the animal grew weak. Even though it was in dire need of food, it still wielded immense strength.
The beast grasped the weapon embedded in its body, furious to see its blood on its palm.
Yang slowly backed away, glad that the beast's attention was now on her and not her unresponsive sister.
In a blur of white, the animal was impaled again by a third spear on the same side of its stomach. The ape gasped in pain, trickling its fingers over the wood sticking out of its skin, as if debating to remove it or not.
The animal decided not to and turned its fury at the other girl, roaring in anger.
Weiss slowly backed away with her eyes firmly on the ape, cursing herself for only having a small knife as reinforcement. As she leaned down to grab the wooden knife strapped to her thigh, the beast pounced.
The girl was knocked to the ground while the gorilla straddled her. Weiss pulled out the knife in time and tried to stab the wild animal in the eyes, but it bit the weapon and tore it out of her grasp.
"Weiss!" Yang yelped.
Yang used her back-up knife and stabbed the beast once more, only to be slammed in the gut in response. This sent her tumbling to the ground next to her sister as she gasped from the blow. She writhed in pain on the dirt, trying to desperately gain her bearings.
The ape refocused its attention back on the girl it had pinned down. The only defenses Weiss had left were her arms as the beast swiped. Its nails were as sharp as daggers as they ripped through her left arm. She bit her tongue to stop herself from screaming.
Weiss tried to squirm out from under the gorilla, but it was too strong and heavy for her to even thrash her legs around.
Before the beast could go in for another blow, she saw a spear get lodged in its heart and it came out from the other side.
The animal's eyes glazed over and it fell to the side in a heap.
Blake leaned down and coaxed the frightened girl up. "Are you okay?"
Weiss stood shakily, careful to keep her injured arm out of view. "I-I'm fine," and turned away so the faunus wouldn't worry.
Once Yang and Ruby composed themselves, they joined the pair.
"Is everyone okay?" Yang asked the group.
Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "Just a bruise and a bit shaken up."
"Got punched in the gut," Yang grimaced and rubbed her sore stomach. "Powerful gorilla."
"He sure took us by surprise," Blake added. "Stabbed it at least five times. I saved the fish," she hefted the bag and pat it gratefully.
Ruby's silver eyes lingered on the corpse. "Did not see that coming from a mile away. That gorilla was strong."
To make sure Ruby was okay, Blake walked over and gently soothed her fingers on the back of her head, only to notice Ruby grimace.
"There's a bump," Blake fretted. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Positive," Ruby chirped as she savored the contact. "Are you?"
Blake nodded. "Thanks to you."
"Brrah!"
"Thanks for savin' me and Nora, princess," Yang beamed. "I owe ya."
Without warning, Yang pulled Weiss in for a hug, but was surprised when the girl let out a gasp of agony.
Yang quickly pulled away. "What's wro-"
Yang's eyes widened when she felt a liquid sensation on her palm. She lifted it up and realized it was covered in blood, but not her own.
That's when Yang noticed Weiss looked deathly pale. "Did you get hurt?!"
"What!?" Blake yelped and gently grabbed the girl in question's hand, holding it out.
Once she turned it over, they saw her left forearm was coated in a layer of blood and dripping on the ground. It was too thick to locate any cuts, but it still looked morbid.
The three gasped at the sight.
"Brrah!"
Ruby wasted no time and pulled out some of their dress' leftover cloth, considering them lucky she kept them the first day they had shipwrecked.
While doing so, Blake asked. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"
Weiss grit her teeth, trying not to show she was in unspeakable pain. "I won't be a burden."
Ruby was concerned as she wrapped the cloth around her left arm. "You're never a burden. In fact, you can make it worse by not telling us this kind of thing."
Now Weiss looked guilty and didn't feel the cloth being wrapped around the injury due to an adrenaline high.
Yang noticed this. "Other than the messed up arm, did you get hurt anywhere else?"
"No."
Ruby finished tying the cloth around her arm. "There!"
However, blood quickly soaked through it, leaving them to wonder just how deep the wounds were.
Weiss started to raggedly breathe with her arm limp by her side, her adrenaline wearing off.
"We need to get back to shore," Yang suggested. "We can properly treat you there."
She walked over and tried to coax Weiss in her arms, but she pushed away, swaying slightly. "No, I can walk on my… own..."
"Don't be stubborn," Yang was taken aback from the statement and realized just how ridiculous that was, so she held out her hand gently. "Come on."
"I'm... fine…"
Weiss' eyes fluttered shut as she fell to the ground. Thankfully, Yang saw it coming and was there to catch her, firmly wrapping her arms around her frail waist and back.
"She's losing too much blood," Blake stated with worry. "We need to get back."
Yang lifted the girl bridal style. "No need to say it twice!"
They rushed to their usual spot on shore where their shelter was located. After they got there, Yang laid the girl in their fort away from the taxing heat.
Blake poured freshwater over the wounds. When the blood cleared up, she realized how deep the cuts were. "This isn't good," seeing it almost made her gag.
"How bad is it?" Yang asked.
"Two long gashes cut deep into her muscles. They run from her shoulder to wrist and won't stop bleeding," she answered, now pressing the towel against the cuts.
Yang cringed from the diagnosis. "No..." she mumbled as she gazed at Weiss' still pale face.
No! Yang thought. This can't be good…
Ruby removed the door and shut it with a leaf-cup in hand. "I got the saltwater!"
"Hurry," Yang said desperately. "Do it while she's unconscious."
Ruby nodded and took Weiss' limp hand to hold it out. She slowly poured the saltwater from the top of Weiss' shoulder and worked her way to the end of the gashes, which ended on her wrist. Once finished, Blake put more pressure on the wounds with the towel again.
"Dammit," the blonde cursed. "This is my fault."
Blake put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't blame yourself. You know for a fact Weiss wouldn't like that."
Tears threatened to spill over. "But she's like this because she saved me!"
Ruby gazed in Yang's lilac eyes. "She chose to do that. You know any of us would have, too."
"It was her choice," Blake added. "Don't make her feel bad about her decision and stop blaming yourself, okay?"
"Brrah!" the sloth nuzzled Yang's neck in an attempt to comfort her.
Yang briefly smiled and unwrapped Nora from her neck. She gently set the animal on the sand next to Weiss. The three watched with smiles when Nora gently clung to the girl's uninjured right arm.
"Brrah!"
The squeal caused Weiss to stir, making the girls lean in with anticipation.
Weiss opened her eyes and had a firm grip on the sloth in an attempt to hide her pain.
"Brrah!" Nora was caught off guard from the rough contact.
"Sorry," Weiss whispered to the sloth, loosening her grasp.
"Hey, princess," Yang greeted in a soothing voice. "You doin' okay?"
Weiss grit her teeth and stared at the logs on the ceiling. "Do you want the truth... or a lie to make you feel better?"
Yang bit her bottom lip. "I'm sorry."
Weiss was taken aback. "Why?"
"For putting you in harm's way," Yang said, holding back a sob. "I'm sorry."
"Please," Weiss feebly scoffed. "I didn't want you... to get hurt."
Blake noticed the rasp in her voice and grabbed a freshwater leaf-cup. She gently coaxed the girl up, careful not to disturb the injury and tilted the water to her lips. Her friend managed to drink the liquid without incident, but worry struck her heart when she noticed Weiss' eyes were misty and clouded over.
After swallowing the cool water, Weiss sighed in relief after Blake set her head down on the makeshift sand pillow Yang made.
Ruby then set a piece of seaweed on Weiss' forehead, hoping to ease the girl's ailments in any way possible.
"Thank you…" Weiss murmured before her eyes fluttered shut without permission.
"Weiss?" Yang leaned over her and her heart almost stopped when the girl went still. "No, no, no! Weiss?!"
Blake gulped as she stared at the towel that was soaked in blood. She knew what they had to do to save her life, but didn't like the idea.
"Oh no," Ruby gasped. "We need an actual doctor!"
"We don't have that luxury," Blake was blunt. "In our situation, only one thing can make it stop bleeding."
Yang grabbed her shoulders, desperate for a solution. "What?!"
"We have to cauterize it."
"We-we can't do that! Can we?" the blonde panicked, knowing that it would be an agonizing process.
Ruby raised her hand. "Wha-what's 'cauterize' mean?"
Blake stood. "We have to burn the wound to close it up and stop the bleeding."
Ruby's mouth was agape. "You… you're gonna light her on fire?!"
"No, we're not going to light her on fire," Blake stated. "We have to do this, or she'll bleed out and die."
Yang turned to Ruby. "I'm gonna to find something to use."
"I'm coming with you!" Ruby exclaimed as the two ran out of the fort.
"Hurry!" Blake shouted after them. "She doesn't have much time!"
Once outside, Ruby darted to the tree line, not exactly sure what she was looking for. Yang however, frantically searched the sand for any material to burn.
In her peripheral vision, she saw a creature having a hard time picking up something underneath the sand.
The blonde squinted, trying to see what the crab was attempting to pick up. As she moved closer, she noticed its claws were failing to grasp a spoon.
The hermit crab angrily threw its pincers in the air, clearly frustrated with the endeavour.
Yang gasped when she realized that the metal spoon was exactly what they needed.
"Sorry, lil guy," she stole the prize and ran off.
The hermit crab sat there in confusion. If a crab could pout, it would be now.
"Ruby!" Yang held the spoon in the air. "I found a metal spoon!"
Ruby abandoned the search and darted over. "Let's go!"
The two were about to run back inside the fort, but saw Blake was already sitting by the fire next to Weiss, waiting for their return. The faunus had brought the blood soaked towel to keep Weiss' wounds from being dirtied by sand.
The sisters ran to the fire, thankful for the find and handed the spoon to Blake.
Blake held it up to inspect it. "Where'd you get this?"
"Some hermit crab. Poor bastard didn't know what hit 'em," Yang answered. "Now hurry."
"It looks clean enough," Blake said as she laid the large end of the spoon to rest in the fire.
Ruby watched the spoon as it heated up. "You sure this'll work?"
"It has to," the faunus replied.
Once the spoon was a heated to a dull red color, Blake carefully removed it from the fire and held it over Weiss' fresh gashes.
"Not going to lie, Weiss," Blake said to her unconscious body. "This'll hurt."
"Wait," Yang put a hand on her shoulder.
"What?"
The blonde grabbed the towel and tried to dab away as much blood as possible to make the process easier.
"Okay, better," Blake said before lowering the hot metal spoon onto Weiss' skin.
The sound was sickening to their ears as the spoon seared Weiss' milky skin, hissing fiercely as the flesh was slowly burned shut.
Blake quickly withdrew the spoon, then reapplying it a second later. She continued the process, making sure the entirety of the wound was covered. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, and was enough to make Ruby and Yang gag violently.
"Brrah!"
The whole time, Nora had been on Weiss' good right arm. Yang figured more heat would be taxing, so she pried the sloth off and wrapped the animal around her own neck. She knew Nora didn't want to leave her side, but she also wanted Weiss to be as comfortable as possible.
"Don't worry, Nora. She'll get better."
Please work, Yang begged. I don't know what I'd do if she died...
Weiss didn't even open her eyes to register the agony her body was enduring. She started to thrash around and gasp for breath to escape the pain. This caused Blake to have a hard time continuing the process.
"Hold her down!" she yelped.
Ruby stared at Blake and realized that would be for the best. "O-okay!"
Yang and Ruby pinned the girl's limbs down in an attempt to not let Weiss hurt herself as Blake continued, working through the screams that pierced the air.
Despite two people holding her down, Weiss was surprisingly strong and even managed to kick Yang's face during the ordeal.
"Gah!" Yang exclaimed and grabbed her leg. She hovered over Weiss' face and saw her eyes were open. "Weiss, I know it hurts, but you gotta calm down. Everything's gonna be okay."
"Brrah!"
Weiss panted for breath and tried to focus solely on Yang, Ruby and Nora's worried gazes, but that didn't take away the excruciating pain. Her forehead beaded with sweat from the tortuous process. Each time Blake lowered the spoon onto her wounds, the throbbing increased tenfold and she let out more screams of agony.
Blake made sure to be thorough and worked through the tears that were beginning to form, repeatedly telling herself that this was to save Weiss' life. She hated causing her pain, but this was necessary, even though the faunus wished she wasn't the one doing it.
"Weiss," the faunus got in her line of sight. "This'll be over soon. I promise," she said with the first tears cascading down her cheeks.
Weiss was silent besides her harsh ragged breathing and soft whimpers, not knowing how to react. Now too exhausted to even shriek and unable to thrash around any longer, her bleary vision focused on Blake's face.
She concentrated more on the faunus in an attempt to escape the agony.
She looks so sad… Why's she sad?
Before Weiss could try to think about that, Blake's head turned into two blurry images.
Am I hallucinating? Weiss thought. But... this is familiar...
The vision turned into a scene from her past.
Two silhouettes of people with cat ears reached out their hands to help a crying younger Weiss.
Her parents, Weiss realized. They had to be the ones who tried to save me.
Her vision shifted back to reality as she stared at Blake, who was too focused on the task at hand to notice.
Now I know...
The pain was too much for her body to handle and she succumbed to darkness.
And the plot escalates! There are now just enough easter eggs to guess what happened in the past, but you'll find out very soon anyways.
Sorry I didn't give a direct warning before that *ahem* process happened. There were hints here and there that this wouldn't be a happy-go-lucky story all the time.
Things are just getting started and that had to happen for reasons that will be revealed later. Also, (possible spoiler) it's a total coincidence that a gorilla attacked them when there was a new gorilla grimm introduced.
Stay dandy,
~Toto
P.S. OCTOBER 22ND! If you don't know what that means you must live under a rock.