Ruby let out a whimper as she climbed onto the bed. She had tried to reach the top bunk, but her leg injury made it impossible. Weiss did her best to comfort her, insisting that Ruby slept on her own bed until she had healed. Ruby protested, claiming that she'd be fine with her usual optimism. Weiss was having none of it. She wore a brave face, but she knew how uneasy watching her partner made her feel.
As Ruby made herself as comfortable as she could, Weiss sat beside her and spoke with the softest tone she could muster, trying to mask the awkwardness in her voice.
"Ruby, since you can't do much for yourself at the minute...I...I'll do my best to get you anything you need." She swallowed hard, glancing in every direction besides Rubys own. This was very uncharacteristic of her, but what else could she do?
"Thanks Weiss, it means a lot to me. But really, I'll be okay!" Ruby smiled, her spirit shining even now. In this condition, she was still positive enough to overlook her hindering injury despite the pain she was going through. She was young, but Weiss was growing to respect and even like her. Not many people were able to do that.
"Uuh...I haven't eaten since this morning..." Ruby began, a little unsure of herself, despite Weiss's reassurance.
"You want me to get you something?" Weiss inquired, standing from her chair and climbing the ladder to the top bunk.
"Uh, if it's not too much trouble. I don't want to interrupt your personal time or anything." Ruby replied, shuffling her hands in her lap sheepishly. Weiss placed Rubys immense bag of items on the floor next to the bed and nodded. She made for the door, still coated in dried blood and dirt. Ruby was about to point this out, but she stopped herself. It was the middle of the afternoon, everybody would be in classes. It wouldn't matter if nobody saw Weiss's pristine clothes or flawless skin in this state.
"Cookies?" Her partner asked, standing in the doorway with her head turned to look back into the dorm. Ruby gave a small nod, followed by a very quiet 'Yes please'. The door clicked shut and she loosened her muscles, sighing visibly. They ached non-stop, and had been since the hit from the Deathstalker. She gently squeezed her knee, and immediately wished she hadn't. Streaks of pain shot up her thigh, stabbing into her torso like knives. Nothing felt out of place, but she couldn't be sure.
She sighed, resting her head against the pillow. She regretted everything that had happened, but she knew that dwelling on it wouldn't change anything. Still, she felt guilty, as though it was her fault that they had all been damaged. She could've prevented it, yet she didn't. They were her responsibility, and she had put them in the way of harm. She'd promised that she would take care of them as a team, but she didn't feel like she was fulfilling that promise.
She questioned her abilities as a leader, but only briefly. She shook her head, throwing the doubts away. They would do her no good, she had her teammates to thank for keeping them at bay.
Yang sat patiently on the chair next to the bed, holding her forearm steady while a damp cloth was gently wiped across her wounds. It stung, the majority of feeling in her body having returned. She flinched slightly at a particularly deep gash, still gleaming with a trickle of her blood. She watched as a pair of hands carefully and expertly dressed the cut in a bandage, securing it in place around her arm. They moved with confidence and skill, yet they were shaking slightly.
Blake was concentrating hard, the sheer number of wounds her partner had sustained was incredible. There wasn't a patch of skin anywhere on her arms that wasn't red with either pain or blood. She focused on dressing the injuries, adjusting Yangs arm position to give her an easier time with the bandages. She was silently very worried, Yang looked to have lost an immense amount of blood. She was paler than usual, and her face was distinctly more drained than Blake would've liked.
Yang wasn't entirely concentrating on her partners help, still emotionally reeling from the heartfelt hug they had shared a little earlier. Blake had held her with such understanding, such empathy. It was though words weren't needed, she knew exactly how Yang was feeling and exactly what to do. She was warm and gentle, despite Yangs own impulsiveness. Blake truly did understand how much she meant to Yang, even through her blanked memory.
"Okay, you're about as good as you can be." Said Blake, rising from the bed to rinse the bloodied cloth. Yang gently flexed her arms to make sure they were physically sound. They throbbed with a dull pain, but there didn't seem to be any severe problems.
"Just be careful." Blake told her, keeping her tone serious. "You've been through a lot, what you need now is rest." Yang smirked to herself, pushing the chair back to the wall.
"Y'know, I should be telling you that." She grinned, watching her partner as she turned the tap off. Blake wrung the cloth once and placed it on the edge of the bowl. She turned to look at her friend, beaten and bloodied. She was still smiling.
"I'd rather not go down that path." She replied flatly, continuing before Yang had the chance to respond. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to visit Ruby. It looks like her leg may be broken." Yangs smile vanished in an instant, replaced by a somewhat panicked look.
"What? Broken? How do you know?" Gone was the relative happiness, now her words were tinged with visible worry. Blake kept her voice calm, attempting to avoid concerning her partner further. The last thing she wanted to do was make Yangs day worse.
"I don't. I said it looks like it might be broken. She hardly put any weight on it at all, but it doesn't seem to be out of place. It'd be best to have it scanned to make sure, but I doubt she's in any mood to go through with that right now." She paused, reading the expression on Yangs face. "Yang, there's nothing you can do about it now. Worrying will only make things worse. We can go back to the dorm and you can ask her yourself."
"What else could it be?" Yang asked quickly, searching for an alternative explanation. She held her arms tightly to her chest, and Blake feared she'd unknowingly put pressure on the fresh wounds.
"It could just be a simple bruise, there's no way of knowing yet." She took a few steps forward, subtly gesturing to return to the dorm. Yang swallowed her worry for the moment and nodded, her partner was right. She followed behind Blake through the corridors, only now taking heed of the lack of feeling in her legs. They were completely numb from the cold, and now fatigue. She wanted nothing more than to sleep, but she knew she wouldn't be able to rest knowing that her sister may have a serious injury and there was nothing she could do about it.
They walked in silence, only the lightening rain accompanying their footsteps. Weiss was right, the storm was beginning to clear up. She was very knowledgeable like Blake, but she never deemed it necessary to share any information unless she had to. She would much rather keep it for herself than let anyone else have it, but perhaps Yang was overthinking things. Her emotions were still rolling around her head in turmoil, each fighting for her attention.
Blake opened the door quietly, standing to one side to let Yang enter the room first. She knew that her partner was entirely focused on her sister, and that Blake would have time to talk to Ruby later. For now she was content to watch the two converse, Ruby being uncharacteristically careful to avoid pressing Yangs arms as they hugged. They radiated with happiness, a contrast to the events of this morning. Blake wasn't sure if she wanted to remember what had happened, but she reasoned that she would have to do so sooner or later. She was not looking forward to that.
"Are you hurt?" Asked Yang breathlessly, oblivious to the irony of the question. The myriad of bandages wrapped around her arms and shoulders screamed the answer to the very same question Ruby was about to ask.
"Well, I have a few bruises and cuts," She began, pointing to the medium sized scratch that ran across her forehead and the large, dark purple patches on her stomach and arms. "But nothing that I haven't had before." She didn't want to tell anyone about the unnatural feeling she had about her knee, it would just make them worry. She had to be strong for them, not the other way around.
"Anything else?" Pressed Yang, wishing for her younger sister to tell her about her leg. She felt her heart sink a little as Ruby shook her head slowly. She understood if Ruby didn't want to tell her, but she didn't understand why. She shot a glance over her shoulder at Blake, who kept her face blank. Yang trusted her partners senses, she had been saved by them more than once. She didn't want to rush anything, but the pain was evident behind Rubys eyes.
Silently sighing to herself, she sat on the edge of the bed next to Ruby. She pulled the bag onto her lap, wincing slightly at the pain that flared up her arms as she did so. She spent a moment absent-mindedly rummaging through it, not finding anything of interest. She looked up at the click of the door, noticing Blake had moved onto her own bed at this point. She too had diverted her attention to the door, watching as Weiss returned with a large plate piled with various biscuits and cookies on it. She carried it with precision, her hands were steady despite the ordeal she'd been through.
Ruby heaved herself into a more upright sitting position, aided by Yang as she propped her younger sister up. Ruby reached out and took the plate from Weiss, thanked her and immediately began devouring them at an alarming rate. She was hungry, that much was obvious. Even though they were recovering from their injuries and the mental wounds, there was a faint sense of normality. Yang gazed over at Blake as she thought. Some of them were more damaged than they appeared.