Once again the cafeteria bustled with students finishing up their meals, and once again, Pyrrha felt their table severely lacking its usual lively nature.
She picked at the remainder of her dinner, shoving grains of rice about on her plate. Jaune was great company of course, but she found she missed the banter of the girls from team RWBY. She even missed Nora and Ren's antics. Well, mostly Nora's antics. Ren just sort of took everything in stride.
Bright green eyes scanned the crowd for Weiss. She had expected the heiress to come procure dinner for her teammates, but the dining hall was nearly closed, and she hadn't shown. What could be keeping her? Red brows scrunched together in worry. Hopefully one of the girls hadn't taken a turn for the worse.
Pyrrha briefly considered leaving immediately to check on them. She then recalled the picture message in her scroll. Everyone had seemed well enough in the photo. Maybe... things had gone very well. Pyrrha froze in place, flushing scarlet, her face red enough to match her hair. Maybe they... shouldn't interrupt.
A noisy clank from Jaune setting his silverware down snapped her back to reality. She shook her head. No, no that couldn't possibly be it. Yang and Blake were right there too. What was she even thinking. Pyrrha put her face in her hands and rested her elbows on the table, mortified at herself.
Whatever the reason, it seemed like Weiss would be missing dinner, so there was no sense in waiting around. One green eye peeked through her fingers at her partner. "Jaune, let's go check on Nora and Ren."
Jaune fumbled his knife. He'd been a little too enthusiastic about pretending to cut that watermelon on the other table in half.
"Uh, yeah, sure, good idea," he smoothed his blond hair with one hand, "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen Nora all day. Snow Angel never showed up either. Think we should take them some food?" he gave Pyrrha a funny look, "Is... something wrong with your face?"
"N-no, my face is perfectly normal." Pyrrha stood suddenly, gathering her tray. She smiled down at Jaune, cheeks still slightly pink. "Let's bring them back some dinner rolls."
What was once a light drizzle from a gray sky finally erupted into a heavy storm. Cracks of thunder and flashes of lighting accompanied the pouring rain, illuminating the darkened dorm room of team JNPR. Stretched out on a bed and propped up with a mountain of pillows, Lie Ren carefully studied the chessboard right beside him.
Nora had him on the defensive, but he was fairly certain he could find a way to cut through her offence. His eyes danced over the pieces, calculating, strategizing. Though he would never volunteer this information, this was one of his favorite traditions.
Ever since he was little, he had always been fond of chess, but Nora never wanted to sit still long enough to play a game so he would usually end up going along with whatever adventure she had in mind... unless he was sick or injured. It was the only time she would play with him, reluctance at leaving him alone winning out over her constant desire to get up and move.
The corner of Ren's mouth lifted in the ghost of a smile as he examined his partner's scattered pieces on the board. Nora's play style was erratic, unpredictable, much like her fighting style. And yet, beneath her random visage lurked a strong instinct for strategy. It kept him on his toes. She also happened to be ruthless with her rook pieces. Though it wasn't often, Nora was the only one able to best him at the game.
A clap of thunder directly overhead broke his concentration and he turned his head slightly to look out the window, immediately regretting the movement as searing hot pain flooded his limbs. His veins burned with antitoxin, the slightest movement resulting in waves of agony crashing over him. Still, he refused to go back on the pain medication. Pink eyes narrowed as he remembered his first few lucid moments in the infirmary.
Doctors everywhere, some shouting instructions, IV's, injections, then muddled nothingness as the painkillers took effect. His next solid memory was waking in an infirmary bed, hair tied up in countless braids riddled with pink and green ribbons, his nails painted pink and green presumably to match. His only explanation being Nora's, "You said pink and green go well together!" exclaimed with a sparkling smile.
He tried not to think about what other bizarre things he might have said to her in such a drugged up state. He found it far preferable to be 100% cognizant at all times at the price of a bit of pain.
Ren glanced at his partner, sound asleep in a chair next to his bed. Nora had dozed off while waiting for him to make his next move. She was undoubtedly tired from striving to keep him entertained the entire day with song and dance and terrible jokes and everything else under the sun. He smiled. Maybe... he would just let her sleep for now.
A light click from the front door opening caught Ren's attention. He turned, suppressing a grimace at the pain induced by the motion, to see Pyrrha and Jaune enter the room. Pyrrha opened her mouth to say something, but Ren lifted a finger and put it to his lips, flicking his eyes to his still-sleeping partner. His teammates quickly nodded.
Pyrrha tiptoed forward and handed him one of two bags of dinner rolls before tiptoeing back to Jaune. With a parting wave, they left the room, shutting the door behind them as quietly as possible. Ren blinked. He hadn't expected an immediate departure. Where were those two headed? With a mental shrug and a stolen glance at Nora, he returned to examining the chessboard at his side, smiling slightly at the warmth of the bread in his lap.
Team RWBY's room darkened as the clouds gathered outside. Weiss had just shut her Grimm studies book and was picking up her chair to move back to her desk where she could turn on a lamp without waking her sleeping partner, when an enormous CLAP of thunder broke over the school.
Before she knew what was happening, the heiress found herself tangling with the chair on the floor as she was unceremoniously tackled from behind in a flurry of rose petals.
"Ruby?!" Weiss tried to pry the girl's arms from around her waist, but her partner was already scrambling up, practically on top of her, clutching the sleeve of her uniform. Weiss struggled around to face her, "Get off! What's wrong with you?"
"Where's Professor Goodwitch?" Ruby's silver eyes were fever-bright, flickering with panic in the lightning as she cast about the room, clinging to her bristling partner, "Where's Yang? Are there rats?"
"What? Ruby-" Weiss started, but another peal of thunder rumbled across the sky, and for an instant she saw the crack and flash of colored lightning, the sleek sable and nightmare red of the Grimm rat horde. Her brow rose in alarm as Ruby's energy gave out. She tried to catch the younger girl as she slumped against her, still half-tangled with the chair. "Okay. Come on, Ruby, it's okay. There are no more rats."
Weiss triedd to get her arms around the younger girl to get her back into bed, but was hesitant to try in case it hurt her somehow,
Stifling a yawn, Blake stirred, roused by the relentless thunder and sudden commotion of her teammates.
"What's going on-" a knock on the door cut her soft-spoken question short. Blake glanced over at Weiss's bed, unable to see either of her teammates from her position on the floor, and unable to differentiate their scuffling noises from the torrential rain.
Where had Ruby and Weiss gotten to?
"I guess I'll get it..." she mumbled to no one in particular, disentangling herself from Yang - that girl could sleep through a hurricane - and reluctantly dragging herself away from the brawler's natural warmth to head to the door. She opened it wide, light flooding into their room from the hall.
It was Pyrrha again, this time with Jaune in tow.
Her redheaded classmate stepped forward, holding a bag of what looked to be dinner rolls.
"Blake, how are you? We brought... these... for..." Pyrrha's words ground to a halt as she stared at something over Blake's shoulder. Her face had gone scarlet.
"...What?.." Blake followed Pyrrha's gaze, turning around to see Weiss and Ruby half-lying in a tangled mess of limbs on the floor. "... Oh."
"Hey, guys, what's..." Jaune poked his head around the door to see what had made everyone go so quiet, "Uh... ah..."
Weiss had been so focused on her panicked-and-possibly-hallucinating team leader that she didn't notice the others until light flooded the room and three sets of shocked expressions were focused on her and her partner on the floor. Immediately she tried to extricate herself from both Ruby and the chair.
The dark-haired girl roused a bit and gripped the shoulder of Weiss's jacket again, her words thick and slurred into the front of the heiress's uniform. "Wait, don't go. I'll get Crescent Rose."
"No, let go, get off," Weiss hissed, feeling the others' stares as she tried to pull away. Her face went hot with embarrassment and she was suddenly angry because why was no one helping? but she was also off balance with Ruby hanging off of her and between all that only managed to half-snap, half-stammer, "She's just- the thunder, and- and-"
Pyrrha stammered almost as badly as Weiss, "W-we'll just, go... S-sorry!" she hurriedly thrust the bag of rolls into Blake's arms before pivoting on her heel and making a hasty retreat, dragging Jaune along with her.
Blake stared at the bread briefly before shrugging and shutting the door again. She turned back to the flustered heiress, barely suppressing a smirk "...thunder, huh?"
She hadn't put much stock into the rumor before, but Weiss's reactions were really starting to make her wonder. Before she could say anything more, a low growl cut through the room.
"Weiss."
Blake's eyes snapped over to the mattress. She dropped the rolls. Yang was awake.
The hair on the back of Weiss's neck rose at the sound of the brawler's voice. She finally got out of Ruby's grip and backed quickly to her desk as she desperately tried to process everyone's horrified reactions.
Yang slowly advanced on Weiss, murder in her eyes. She paused to kneel by her little sister and gather her up into her arms. Ruby wasn't even awake. Heiress or not, this was unacceptable. She glared up Weiss, eyes flashing crimson. "What do you think you're doing."
Blake cringed as her partner's semblance began to spark and flare. Someone was about to die. She was sure of it. "Yang, calm down, let's- let's hear her side of things. I'm sure she has a perfectly reasonable explanation..." she glanced at Weiss with a smile somewhere between hopeful and desperate, "...right?"
"I... think this might be some sort of misunderstanding," Weiss watched Yang's eyes go red. She could feel the heat from the other girl's semblance, and it was making it very difficult to compose herself, "Ruby jumped on me when the storm—just—look, I was trying to get her back in bed, but—" she leaning back farther over her desk as Yang advanced, "Can we please talk about this for a minute?"
In bed? Bearing her teeth in a scowl that could send Ursa Majors fleeing, Yang bristled at the heiress's poor choice of words.
Just as the brawler was about to make her move, a peal of thunder shook the windows, and she felt Ruby flinch in her sleep. Flames dissipated and crimson cooled to amethyst as she glanced down at her little sister.
OK... so maybe there was some truth to Weiss's story. Still, the heiress was acting suspiciously nervous for such a supposedly harmless infraction. She was definitely going to have a sisterly heart-to-heart with Ruby in the morning... But for now, she would take no chances. Ruby would be staying with her for the night. Yang picked up her sister and leveled on last glare at Weiss, who apparently wanted to talk. Sure, she would talk.
"...I've got my eyes on you."
With that, she returned to her makeshift bed on the floor and settled down to sleep, turning her back to her teammates and pulling Ruby into a protective embrace.
Blake let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She went to Weiss's side, put a hand on her shoulder, and whispered, "That… could have been worse. Are you ok?"
Weiss straightened, too stunned to respond. She got the distinct feeling that she had just escaped an early death. Not that her contingency plan of leaping onto the desk and fending her off with children's books would have failed, of course, but still.
She hissed at Blake without looking away from the now slumbering blonde, "It was an accident. What—did Yang almost—?" she took a breath, trying to regain some dignity, "I was going to assume that the pills had made you all temporarily more insane than usual, but I'm fairly certain that Pyrrha is not on pain medication."
Blake stared at Weiss. For someone with such acute perception on the battlefield, the heiress could be somewhat obtuse when it came to... other matters. She took one of Weiss's hands and dragged her to the bathroom, shutting the door behind them to allow for at least some measure of privacy. The lights flickered on overhead and Blake leaned against the door, amber eyes locking with blue.
Before she could explain anything, she needed to get one fact straight.
"Weiss. You've always told me that I could talk to you about anything, so I want you to know the reverse is true." She paused, searching for a way to phrase her question as neutrally as possible. "What... are your intentions towards Ruby?"
The heiress, having recovered from being hauled into the enclosed space, whirled on the Faunus, her back to the sink, "My intentions? What, like I planned to drop her on the floor? Like I don't want her to recover?" All of her earlier embarrassment turned to rigid fury. She drew herself up to her full height, "For your information, I intend for her-and for you- to be back at full strength as soon as possible so that we can continue our training, though that's not exactly easy to do when half of my team insists on jumping on top of me or threatening me when I'm trying to do the best I can!"
Blake flinched, her bow torquing backwards as her ears flattened at Weiss's admittedly deserved outburst. Heatedly delivered as it was, she now had her answer - romance wasn't even on this girl's radar. Weiss had absolutely no idea what she'd been asking about.
Rumor more-or-less debunked in her mind, Blake raised her hands, mirroring Weiss's earlier placating gesture. "No, Weiss, you are doing your best, what I meant was..." She stopped short, suddenly unsure how to proceed.
Telling Weiss about the rumor going around was probably the right thing to do - they'd already agreed to keep no secrets. But would it really be the best thing to do? Blake dropped her gaze to the floor. Teasing Weiss with small pranks was one thing, but she didn't want to embarrass her, or worse, make her even angrier.
More than that, she didn't want to chance making things awkward between Weiss and Ruby, not when they'd just started warming up to each other. But then, there was always the chance that they might just laugh it off... But then there was Yang and Pyrrha, and well, probably all of team JNPR to deal with... Blake put a hand to her head, feeling her headache returning. Vacillation gripped her, and she hesitated.
"What you meant was what?" Weiss demanded. She didn't like how Blake had stopped mid-sentence. Was 'her best' so painfully deficient? Obviously that was the case, considering the way Pyrrha and Yang and even the blond idiot had been acting around her.
With the door blocked, the heiress couldn't just storm off someplace to collect herself, so she turned and braced her arms on the white sink counter top, scowling into the mirror. "Look. I knowI'm not really… cut out for this sort of thing. If you really think I'm doing a terrible job, you can just say it."
Blake's head snapped up at Weiss's self-depreciating remark - ouch, too quickly. Pain lanced through her head, behind her covered eye, but she paid it no mind as she went to stand beside the confused heiress. Everything else could wait - she couldn't let Weiss beat herself up over something that just wasn't true. One amber eye tried to catch blue in the mirror.
"Actually, I think you're doing a great job. Your bedside manner may be lacking, but you've put up with us, out of our minds on pain medication, and haven't killed a single one of us yet." She added with a wink, "You even brought me my favorite sandwich." And children's books, but now didn't seem to be the best time to bring that up.
Blake turned slightly to face the real Weiss. "Ruby and Yang are sweethearts, but Ruby can't even open the childproof caps on our medication, and I wouldn't trust Yang with syringes as far as I could throw her. Which... isn't very far." She placed a tentative hand over one of Weiss's own. "If I had to entrust our team's recovery to anyone, it would definitely be you."
"Don't patronize me," Weiss snatched her hand away and faced the Faunus girl. She glared at her for a second, shoulders square, arms crossed. "... not that it hasn't taken a monumental amount of self-control to keep from shoving some of you out the window," she lifted her chin a fraction of an inch, "but people don't usually flee the room when someone's doing a 'great job'."
"Flee the room?..." oh. Blake cringed. Pyrrha and Jaune did leave rather quickly. "That was..." her mind raced, trying to find a way for everyone to save face. Weiss was finally starting to calm down - bringing up the rumor now would just set them back to square one. She was fairly certain she could diffuse this whole situation from the inside if she could just figure out a way to misdirect the heiress for the time being...
Her mind made up, she schooled her features into an expression of confusion and shrugged. "That was probably just... surprise? That was a pretty embarrassing position to catch someone in. Anyway, people also don't flee rooms because someone is doing a terrible job. Pyrrha would have given you a hand if she thought you needed help."
Blake made a good point, and it would have been convenient to believe her and just get on with her life, but something wasn't adding up. Weiss narrowed her eyes and brushed her snowy white hair back over her shoulder with a flick of her wrist.
"Okay... You trust me to take care of the team. That's just terrific," while she spoke she took two easy steps, which brought her to the door, effectively blocking it as Blake had earlier. "So what made it so important for you to drag me in here," she motioned to the surrounding bathroom apparatus, "to ask me about my 'intentions'?"
Checkmate. Blake blanched as Weiss used her own words to back her into a corner. "Because..." She racked her brain for something, anything, but her head hurt, and she was tired. She glanced at herself in the mirror and sighed, defeated. She had been so close, but honesty would probably be best in the long run after all.
Blake quietly resolved to help deal with whatever fallout might occur as she met Weiss's questioning gaze. "Because... there's a rumor going around that you have... intentions... towards Ruby. And possibly vice-versa. I wanted to ask to be sure."
Weiss stood stock still against the bathroom door.
"Wait. I... what?" Intentions as in romantic intentions? She felt the color rising in her face. Romantic intentions toward Ruby Rose? "Who started this rumor?"
Blake tried to look everywhere but Weiss's eyes. "Technically... you." She chanced a glance at the heiress's rapidly reddening features. "With the CPR... down in the tunnels."
Weiss's hands tightened into fists as she remembered the scene: the damp reek of earth and Grimm, Ruby small and pale and still in the faint blue of Myrtenaster's glow. She'd been terrified- terrified- but had stuffed that away long enough to try and breathe for her partner.
"That was- I don't even," the heiress scowled harder to hide her confusion, "She wasn't breathing. She didn't have a pulse. I didn't want her to die. And you... ugh," she pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, pacing to the shower. "I can't believe you would tell people something like that."
Blake threw her hands up in defense. "Weiss, I would never. I didn't know anything about this until I heard it from Pyrrha." The words were out before she could stop herself. Eyes wide, she hesitated again, trying to push through her worsening headache to think of a way to save her well-intentioned classmate from the metaphorical bus she'd just thrown her under.
"Oh, so you and Pyrrha and Yang all sat down and had a nice chat about my supposed love life?" Weiss shot back even as she put the pieces together. If Blake hadn't started it, then it had to have been Lie Ren. And anything that had to do with Lie Ren got funneled through that loose cannon/motor mouth of a partner of his, which meant that probably half of Beacon knew about this. That explained the looks in the cafeteria; the way Pyrrha had been acting.
"And you believed it?" Now Weiss was furious and blushing and she needed to sit down. Thankfully, the lid on the toilet was closed. She dropped her head in her hands.
If word got back to her father that she was off larking about with a fifteen year old girl... Oh, she was going to murder Lie Ren. And his partner. Actually, she may as well kill everyone on Team JNPR.
"It wasn't like that - we, I thought it was..." Blake stopped herself before she could make things worse. 'I thought it was cute' would probably get her killed, if she wasn't already on Weiss's current hit list. "It was more like a... what if? Ruby is, admittedly, very cute." She took a tentative step towards Weiss. "I didn't want you to feel embarrassed if it was true."
"Well, it isn't," Weiss dropped her hands and took a deep breath, straightening. She would just have to deal with the rumor as it ran its course. She glanced at Blake, "Thank you for telling me. Though next time I'd appreciate knowing what's going on before Yang has me backed up to a desk."
Weiss could only imagine what it must have looked like earlier- she and Ruby on top of each other, tangled in the chair on the floor. Ugh. She rose, dusting off her skirt. "Speaking of Yang, she's probably due for more medication. As are you... and Ruby," she brushed past Blake to the door, "Anyway, we should check on them."
Blake paled visibly. Yang was going to be interesting to sort out. "I can... talk to Yang if you want. She is my partner after all. And probably less likely to deck me on sight."
"It's fine," Weiss slipped back into the storm-darkened room, making a mental note to keep Blake on hand as back-up for the inevitable conversation. Which would hopefully be held at some point when all parties involved were in a non-drug-addled state.
At the moment, rain was sheeting against the heavy windowpanes. Weiss's footsteps were muted on the carpet in the middle of the room as she leaned over the mattress on the floor to check on its occupants. Ruby lay curled on her side in Yang's arms, halfway engulfed in the brawler's mane of wild gold, her head tucked safe under her sister's chin.
Weiss darted her gaze away. Honestly. This was going to take an enormous amount of straightening out. She crossed to her desk and turned on her reading lamp, casting a warm glow of light over her side of the room. The clock informed her that it was already evening. That was unfortunate. "Hmph. The cafeteria's closed by now, I suppose."
Blake crossed the room after Weiss with naturally silent steps. She paused to briefly smile down at her sleeping partner. Yang seemed peaceful enough right now. Maybe she would be less inclined to murder with some solid sleep under her belt. Taking a few steps more, Blake picked up the bag of rolls she'd dropped near the front door.
"Well, Pyrrha did bring us these," she offered, holding the bread up and giving it a sniff. "Smells freshly baked." She made to hand it to Weiss when a particularly bright flash of lightning caught her off guard. The bag dropped to the floor again as pain lanced through Blake's uncovered eye and into the back of her head. Blake put both hands to her face with a muffled groan. She was definitely overdue for pain medication.
Weiss watched the plastic bag slip from her teammate's fingers. She spilled pens out of a mug at her workspace and strode to the bathroom to rinse it out and fill it with water.
"Here," shoving the cup into Blake's hands, the heiress moved to pick up the pain medication from the top of the bookcase. "The favorite sandwich thing was a fluke, by the way. They probably won't even have tuna tomorrow, so get used to peanut butter." She returned from the bookcase, gave Blake a measured look, and dropped two pills into her hand.
Blake returned Weiss's look with equal measure, torn between smiling and scowling. "I wasn't kidding about your bedside manner," she quipped, taking the pills in one shot of water. She glanced at Yang and Ruby, gripping her cup a little tighter. "So, how do you want to do this?"
Weiss's lips quirked up at the corner for a second at the crack about her bedside manner before she got down to business. "I'm thinking the direct approach might be best, depending on how lucid the two of them are," she took another cursory look at the pair on the mattress, frowning, "It would... be ideal if we could get Ruby back into her own bed. I need to redress her leg wound. Yang's injuries could use some attention as well, but..." she wasn't sure if the brawler would be particularly cooperative.
"At the very least, they need antitoxin and another dose of pain pills," she crossed her arms, "and you need to lie down and take a nap or something. You look pale."
Blake crossed her arms as well, mouth set in a slight frown. "I'm fine." Amber eyes drifted from the organized pile of medical supplies on the bookcase down to her sleeping partner. "I have an idea." She glanced at Weiss. "If one of us dies, it's been a pleasure being your teammate."
Before the heiress could respond, Blake strode purposefully past the sleeping pair of sisters towards the bookcase and grabbed one of the rolls of gauze bandages. Taking a deep breath, she returned to Yang's side, leaned down, and grabbed one of the brawler's arms, throwing all of her weight into dragging the blonde into an upright position.
Miraculously, Yang stumbled to her feet, reluctant and half-awake, "Nguh, wha - Blake?"
"Come with me. Hurry." Blake half-dragged her sleep-addled partner into the bathroom before she could reach full awareness.
The bathroom door clicked shut behind them, locked.
Weiss stared, appalled at the way Blake had yanked her teammate around. Then again, Yang wasn't exactly made of fine china.
Well. At least now she could give her partner her medicine without being potentially slaughtered for no reason by her protective older sister.
Ruby was awake now, somewhat. She stirred and propped herself up on one elbow, "Mmrg. What's going on?"
"Just time to take your pills again," Getting water from the bathroom wasn't really an option at this point, so Weiss collected the bag of dinner rolls and... hesitated. Ruby was scrubbing the drug-induced sleep from her eyes. Her hair was a mess and her pajamas were askew; she barely looked twelve. What had her teammates been thinking?! Weiss steeled herself and uncapped the bottle of pain meds. "Are... you feeling alright?"
"Mmn," the younger girl sat up the rest of the way and looked around. "Is this my house?"
"This is our dorm, at Beacon," Weiss rolled her eyes and seated herself on the mussed up half of the ripped curtain that was serving as a blanket. "Here, do whatever you did last time to take these," she pressed the pills and a roll into Ruby's open hands. "Don't choke. And hurry up." Blake couldn't keep Yang occupied forever, and Weiss did not want her to come out and see her sitting on the same bed as her half-conscious sister.
Ruby swallowed the mouthful of dinner roll and medicine, making a face, "Yuck."
"Oh, get over it," Weiss didn't look up as she prepped her partner's second dose of antitoxin.
Ruby took another bite of bread to get the taste out of her mouth. She watched Weiss's hands blearily. "How many more shots do I need?"
"Six, not counting this one." Rubbing alcohol. Cotton balls. Weiss picked a spot on Ruby's arm but stopped before she touched her, darting a glance up, "Is it alright if I…" disinfect your arm so I can give you a shot that will prevent you from dying? Right. Yes. It was fine. Weiss swiped the spot with alcohol and administered the shot. Ruby took it without complaint.
"Weiss?"
The heiress wiped away a spot of blood from the injection site, keeping a watchful eye on the bathroom door. "Yes?"
"Do you think you could get Crescent Rose for me?" Ruby asked, words heavy with pain meds and fatigue.
Weiss's brow furrowed, "Dare I ask why?"
"Because." When this didn't seem to be enough to convince the icy girl, Ruby added, "I mean what if something happens and I need to protect you guys?" She tipped forward till her head was against Weiss's shoulder. "… I'm sleepy."
"… I know. Just lie down, okay?" Weiss guided the younger girl down to Yang's pillow. That done, she took a deep breath and finished readying the syringe for disposal.
Rain spattered against the window as the wind outside shifted.
Thank goodness they didn't need to do anything that required leaving the building. The heiress procured a roll of gauze and a square bandage from her supplies on the bookcase, "Okay. Let's-"
"Weiss," Ruby interrupted, a note of panic in her voice.
Weiss dropped everything at the side of the bed, "What? What's wrong?"
"My cloak. I think I... I lost it somewhere," she pushed herself up again, eyes brimming with tears.
Weiss watched in growing horror as her partner began to fall apart, "Ruby, no. Stop it. I forbid you to cry."
"I-I'm sorry, I just..." Ruby scrubbed at her eyes, and droplets hit the sheets of Yang's mattress.
Oh Dust no. The fencer licked her lips and took a breath, shifting strategies. "Okay, um. So your cape's lost. We'll find it, alright? We just left it..." where had they left it? Somewhere in the leaves of Forever Fall? A red cloak in a red forest. Great. "... I'm sure it's still right there. It's so ratty no one would want to steal it, right? We'll just go get it when you feel better. It'll be fine, so... so..." She didn't know what to do, so she planted one hand on top of Ruby's head and looked her in the eye. "It'll be fine. Okay?"
That got Ruby's attention. She blinked, startled out of her despair.
"Yeah… yeah, okay," Her breath hitched. Her nose was running. Weiss removed her hand and fished a handkerchief from her jacket pocket. Ruby took it and wiped her face, "Thanks."
"Don't mention it," Weiss said. Her ice blue eyes darted to the bathroom door again, "As in really. Don't. To anybody."
Yang blinked sleep from her eyes, squinting in the light over mirror. "Blake, wait, Weiss is still out there, and Ruby-"
"Take off your shirt."
Yang snapped to attention, blushing from her ears down to her neck. "wh- ...what."
Blake held up the roll of gauze with the barest hint of a smile. "It's time to change your bandages."
"Can... can this wait?" Yang spluttered out, trying to regain her composure. She took a step forward. "Weiss is going to-"
"Weiss isn't going to do anything," Blake reassured the agitated brawler. She placed her hands on Yang's shoulders and gently pushed her back towards the toilet seat. "I spoke with her while you were asleep."
Blush finally starting to recede, Yang's eyes darted from Blake, to the door, then back again, before she finally relented and sat down. "You... did?"
"Yes. And I'm pretty sure you have nothing to worry about. It seems like the rumor really is just a rumor."
Yang crossed her arms and huffed. "Oh sure it's just a rumor. That's what she wants us to think."
Blake rolled her eyes. She knew it was useless to argue the point with a partner as stubborn as a mule. She placed a hand on Yang's shoulder. "Regardless, maybe you should put more faith in Ruby. She's a big girl, she can handle herself."
Amethyst eyes glared burning holes into open space. Yang's shoulder slid out of Blake's grip as the brawler leaned back and glowered. After a long pause, she let out a tired sigh.
"Yeah... I know." Her gaze slid down to stare at the floor. "I just don't want to see her get hurt."
Blake knelt down, bringing herself low enough to catch her partner's gaze. Amber locked with amethyst. "And if Ruby really is fond of our resident ice queen, whether as friends or something more, how do you think it's going to make her feel to see you attack Weiss?"
Yang wrested her gaze away, glaring daggers to the side. Blake could see the brawler's gears spinning a mile a minute. After what felt like an eternity, Yang suddenly stood, and ripped off her tank top. "Fine. I'll... talk to Weiss." She glanced from her discarded tank top to Blake, and grinned. "For now, let's do this. These things are really starting to itch."
Blake stood, bearing a disarming smirk. She could really feel the medication kicking in. "Good. Turn around."
Her smirk vanished as Yang complied, pulling her hair in front of her and turning to show her back, which sported a long red streak that had slowly seeped through her bandages. The faded line ran from her left shoulder to her right hip. Eyes distant, Blake gently trailed her fingers across the injury, hating that she had been the cause of it. "Do you think this will scar?"
Yang looked over her shoulder, "Yeah probably. But it's whatever." She grinned as Blake lifted her head to fix her with a questioning stare. "You're still here, and that's what matters."
A slight blush crept up Blake's ears at the intensity of her partner's smile. She lightly smacked Yang's arm. "Of course. Who else could put up with your constant hug attacks."
"Ow~" Yang rubbed her arm, still smiling. "Hey, it's not my fault you're so comfortable."
With the hint of a smile and yet another eye roll - Blake found she did this quite often around her partner - she pushed Yang's face away and started searching for the end of the bandage wrapped around the brawler's torso. After a good bit of searching, she finally located it near her lower back. She gently pulled it free, then paused. "...Thanks."
Yang glanced back at her partner. "Any time." She shifted her gaze to the bathroom door, amethyst eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Now hurry up so I can check on Ruby."
Stifling the urge to roll her eyes yet again, Blake began carefully unraveling Yang's bandages, reaching around her partner in the occasional pseudo-hug as she followed the trail of gauze. Just like unwrapping a giant birthday present... wait, what? Blake shook her head, trying to focus through the growing haze from the pain medication. She blinked once, twice, a third time, feeling her mental faculties slow down. ...Oh what was she worried about. Blake smiled.
Everything would be fine.
A/N: Famous last words there, Blake. Famous last words.
- Fiercesomest