A/N: Welcome to the second RWBY hiatus! How is everyone holding up? Hopefully better than everyone in this chapter, aahahah, ahah! ...Enjoy!
Hugs,
Defenestrator
The laundry room for Team RWBY's wing of the dorm was located at the far end of the hall. Rows of washers and dryers that at one point were probably top-of-the-line stood along the stone walls. Sunlight snuck in through a narrow window near the back corner. Batches of clothes and armor that had seen better days (that had certainly seen better days before a clueless student tried to put them through the dryer on high) were heaped on top of the beat-up, white machines, or in baskets on the floor.
Classes were still on, so the place was empty except for Weiss. The heiress shoved her stack of sheets and pillowcases and whatnot into one of the few working washers. The red blankets she put in another. A few drops of liquid spattered onto the red fabric. She swiped the back of her hand across her face; it came away wet.
"I didn't do anything wrong," she shut the lid with a little too much force. Hurting Blake—hurting her teammate was her fault. Weiss couldn't even tell how deeply she'd wounded her. But it wasn't as if she'd wanted to. Not really, anyway. She hadn't been trying to. But she was tired and stressed and when she opened her mouth…
Weiss braced her hands on the edge of the machine, shutting her eyes and letting that mask she used fall away for a second. "Why can't I just…" she clenched her fists and choked on the rest of her sentence.
Then the door to the laundry room swung open.
"So THIS is the mystical land of the laundry machines…"
Oh no. Weiss scrubbed at her eyes and straightened. Dust, where was the detergent? She had to get this started and get out before—
"Oh, heya, Weiss!"
Too late. Weiss whirled as Team JNPR's hammer wielding psychopath plunked a basket of laundry down on the machine next to hers. Nora's grin shifted into a surreptitious glance. Left. Right.
"So…" the orange-haired girl cupped her hand around her mouth, "how's that thing we're not supposed to talk about?"
"…I have no idea," Weiss schooled the shake from her voice, ruthless with practice. "Look, I just need to get this—hey—!" she stumbled back as Nora leaned in close.
"… have you been crying?"
"For your information I was not—I just—soap. I got soap in my eyes," Weiss held up her hands to keep the other girl at a distance, "I'm leaving. I just need some detergent."
"Why don't you use the soap you got in your eyes?" Nora frowned, tapping her finger on her face alongside her own teal-colored eyes.
"I-it ran out."
But something had clicked in Nora's mind. She vaulted up to sit on top of Weiss's machine. "Ohhhh, so you were crying. I gotcha. Hey, no worries." The energetic girl fell silent, swinging her legs like a kid.
"Um," Weiss had found a bottle of detergent tucked up against one of the other machines. She would replace it the next time her team made a town run but for now thank goodness it was there. To Nora, she said, "Could you move?"
"Oh. So you don't want to talk?"
"… no offence, but I… don't really know you very well," Weiss watched the other girl cautiously, detergent gripped tight in case she needed to fend her off or something.
But Nora just shrugged a little. "Okay then." She slid off the top of the laundry machine and shifted her basket so she could start loading hers up. "Do you know if this one works?"
"It should," Weiss kept Nora in her peripheral vision as she measured detergent into a cap and poured it into her two machines, but the red-headed wonder just stuffed her own laundry into her own washer and doused it with her own detergent. She was even fairly quiet about it, other than humming a contented, aimless tune.
Weiss cleared her throat after a moment of regaining her composure, "… are you sure you should wash all those colors together like that? And that coat looks like it should be dry cleaned."
"Um… wellll… oh well," Nora pressed the button to start the cycle. She flashed the heiress a smile, "Thanks, though. And hey, if you ever need to not-cry about anything, you can come over to our room. Ren's really good at making people feel better. One time, he made me these pancakes and they were amazing…" she paused mid-tangent, "…but you've got to go, right? Anyway, they were super good."
"Yeah… right," Weiss started her own washers, tentatively returned Nora's farewell wave, and took the opportunity to escape.
Once outside, she breathed an enormous sigh of relief.
Really... that hadn't been so bad, though. Considering her last encounter with Nora, anyway. It had even killed a little time. But… she still couldn't quite bring herself to go back to the room. Not yet. So she squared her shoulders and headed to the library instead.
An especially chipper bird right outside the window snapped Blake out of a dreamless sleep. She must have drifted off. She considered growling at the bird for ruining her nap, but her stomach beat her to it, growling with more ferocity than a creature of Grimm.
Suppressing a groan, Blake rolled over, squinting at the dull ache emanating from behind her covered eye. A quick glance at Ruby's alarm clock told her that it was nearly time for the day's final class period to start. No wonder she was hungry. She hadn't eaten a thing all day.
Doing her best to keep out of sight, Blake sat up only slightly and scanned the room. Weiss hadn't returned. In fact, the room was empty save for Ruby sprawled out in the middle of the mattress on the floor.
Blake's eyes narrowed as she sat up the rest of the way and inspected the smaller girl from her high perch. Ruby's face was flushed, and her dark brows were knit close together in what looked like a pained expression.
Hunger immediately forgotten, Blake leaped down to her teammate's side. Up close, she could hear Ruby's labored breathing. With a quick swish of her head to get her hair behind her shoulder and out of the way, Blake leaned forward to touch her forehead to Ruby's. She pulled back almost immediately, as if singed by the sheer heat radiating from the younger girl's skin. A fever.
Blake's eye darted to the bathroom - a cold compress could help. She got up and went towards the door, stopping when she realized she could still hear the shower running. One eyebrow arched, she slowly opened the door. "Yang," she announced clearly, "I'm coming in." She stepped inside.
No reply came.
Blake's brows furrowed. "Yang?"
She stepped further into the bathroom. The shower on the end was clearly running, the frosted glass door was shut, but there was still no reply. There were also no discarded bandages or clothes, anywhere. Anxiety on the rise, Blake threw privacy out the window and moved to properly look through the closed shower door. She saw the silhouette of a heap on the floor.
"Yang!" Blake threw the shower door open in alarm. The sodden brawler was sprawled out on her side underneath the stream of running water, shorts, bandages, and all. With a sharp intake of breath, panic gripped Blake for a terrifying moment - then she noticed the even rise and fall of her partner's chest.
Yang was sound asleep. Blake took a step back and pinched the bridge of her nose with shaky fingers. One day, these sisters were going to be the death of her.
Weiss put her head down in her arms at one of the tables tucked way back in the reference section, still trying to grasp what exactly had gone wrong.
She knew about the Faunus. One side of them, at least. The White Fang had terrorized her family and the families of anyone associated with them for years. People disappeared or were murdered in the streets by the radicals. Weiss shut her eyes harder, balling her fists and drawing her knees up closer under the table.
She hated them.
Her father hated them.
Her father hated a lot of things.
Blake wasn't part of the White Fang, though.
Many Faunus weren't. She didn't know the exact percentage. But she hadn't treated Blake like a criminal, had she? Well, she had broken her scroll. On purpose. The dark, smoldering hurt in her teammate's eyes before she leapt up to Yang's bunk stuck in her mind.
Weiss didn't really care about the scroll anyway, just the principle of the matter. She tried telling herself that the Faunus girl was just thin skinned and couldn't own up to the way she'd acted, but that was very obviously false considering everything she had doubtless gone through to get to Beacon. Even if that were the case… Weiss had been... somewhat less than understanding, she supposed.
Still. She and Blake were on the same team. The heiress straightened in her chair. She was ill-equipped to metaphorically patch up this sort of injury, but maybe she could find a book on Faunus physiology, or a guide to dosage adjustments for medication for Faunus.
Blake left Yang in the shower for the time being - the sleep was probably doing the brawler some good anyway. Returning to her originally intended task, she pulled a washcloth from the sink, ran it under cold water, then folded it into a neat square on her way back to kneel at Ruby's side. Gentle fingers pushed back the hair plastered to Ruby's forehead before setting the cold compress in place.
Ruby groaned. Her whole body felt like it was made of lead, or concrete. Something heavy. Even her eyelids felt like they weighed about thousand pounds each. She didn't bother opening them when something cold got set on her forehead.
"Weiss, I don't feel so great," Ruby mumbled thickly.
Blake frowned down at the smaller girl. A selfish part of her was glad the heiress was keeping her distance, but the rest of her flooded with guilt at Ruby's simple statement. It was clear younger girl wanted - expected Weiss to be by her side. But, because of their fight, the heiress had fled the room.
It wasn't fair to Ruby. As disenchanted as she was with Weiss at the moment, Blake had grown fond of her enthusiastic team leader. She should have been the one to leave the room. Then at least Ruby would still have her partner, friend - girlfriend? - around to keep her company. Blake's gaze flicked to the door and back. "Weiss... isn't here."
The younger girl, with a great effort, stirred, shifting to see who she was talking to if it wasn't her partner. "Blake? Hey." She greeted her with a small sort of half-grin. "Is your eye doing okay?"
Blake relaxed upon seeing Ruby's half-smile, returning it with one of her own. "It's fine," she lied through her teeth, ignoring the dull ache lingering behind her eye patch. "You, however, seem intent on copying your big sister." She placed the back of her hand on Ruby's neck and frowned. "You're burning up," she pulled her hand away. "Can I get you anything?"
"Mnnng," Ruby wasn't hungry, or thirsty, or anything. Just hot and kind of dizzy. She tried shutting her eyes tight, but it didn't help much so she turned over onto her other side so she could face Blake better. The washcloth slid off of her forehead, but she didn't really pay attention. Instead, Ruby became dimly aware that her sister was missing. Had she ever come back from before? She couldn't remember. "... did Weiss go to find Yang?"
Blake rescued the fallen washcloth and held it to Ruby's neck, turning her head slightly to avoid meeting the searching silver gaze aimed in her direction. "Weiss went to do laundry. I... don't know when she'll be back." Shifting into a cross-legged position, she pushed all thoughts of the heiress from her mind and did her best to offer Ruby an encouraging smile. "Yang is... showering. So to speak."
"Doing laundry in the shower... that's kind of weird?" Ruby's words came out in a slow, sleepy tangle. She reached out and patted Blake's hand clumsily, "Don't be sad, Blake. Your smile looks kinda like you're sad, but it's okay."
The perceptive statement caught Blake off guard. Her 'kinda-sad' smile faltered as guarded amber met intuitive silver. How was it that this girl could be so optimistic about an unknown problem, and somehow make it seem so convincing? As nice as it would be if Weiss suddenly came waltzing back through the door ready to reconcile, Blake was a realist - she had a feeling it wouldn't be so simple.
Part of her wondered if Weiss would ever want to reconcile, and as angry as she was at the heiress, the thought of having permanently lost a friend dragged her mood into the depths. She found herself unable to reply, and unable to stop her eyes from watering.
Ruby just couldn't keep her eyes open anymore, which was too bad because Blake really did seem sad. The scythe-wielder sighed and tried to ignore how hot and miserable she was, "It's no fun being sick, huh?"
Blake watched Ruby's eyes drop shut, so she closed hers as well, willing herself to calm down. Her reply came evenly. "Ruby, I'm not sick, I-" a long low growl from her stomach cut through the room. Her eyes slid open again in an embarrassed squint. "... I'm hungry."
Vision clearing a bit now that she had immediate tasks to occupy her thoughts, Blake eyed the plate of pancakes sitting on her desk. Maybe a decent meal would help her feel better - she hadn't eaten since that tuna sandwich the day before.
A thought suddenly struck her, driving her eyebrows up into her hairline. Yang hadn't eaten anything either... the brawler hadn't so much as touched a scrap of food outside of a single cookie since their morning in the infirmary. No wonder Yang was out cold in the shower, she probably collapsed from hunger. Black ears twisted around towards the bathroom. She could still hear the shower running. Oh, Dust, she'd forgotten to turn the water off.
Taking care to make sure the washcloth stayed in place, Blake gently pulled her hand out from underneath Ruby's and stood up. "Ruby, will you be ok on your own for a second?"
"'course. I don't even need a night light anymore," Ruby informed Blake, though her words came out a little less than intelligible through her drowsiness.
A small smile worked its way across Blake's features as she gazed at her fearless team leader. "...cute." With a quick shake of her head, she made her way to the stack of pancakes, grabbed them along with a fork, then headed into the bathroom. She paused in the doorway to look back at Ruby. "I'll be right back." With that, she made a beeline to the lone running shower.
Weiss's brief search for literature on dosage adjustments for Faunus wound up being fruitless. Oh, the books existed- and more than a few of them were available to Beacon's students- but they were written for medical students and pharmacists. Not for the casual reader, or anyone who didn't happen to have a full laboratory and a working knowledge of at least three dozen types of medications handy.
Of course, she could certainly have puzzled it out given enough time, but really what was the point when she didn't have the tools to make the adjustments anyway? Most of them called for additions of certain substances, or reductions of others from pills containing more than one. Mixing medications at all seemed like risky business- Weiss decided to stick to basic first aid and leave most of the chemistry to the medical staff.
She snapped the last book shut and stacked it neatly on the open space on the shelf reserved for books that needed re-shelving. It was high time she got back to the room to check on her team, after all. A glance at the clock. The cafeteria was about to open for dinner. How she really only had a couple of pancakes for lunch? No wonder she was so hungry.
The heiress left the library, head up and shoulders square, but secretly she dreaded getting back to the room. Something always happened when she left, and it was never a good something. And besides, she would still have to deal with Blake. She closed her hand on the ribbon in her jacket pocket. Best to just get it over with.
Cold spray hit Blake in the face as she neared the open shower door. Yang was right where she'd left her. Taking care to avoid the slick spots where water had splashed, Blake set the plate of pancakes on the floor. "Yang," she called to her soggy mess of a partner, "get up." Her command was met with silence. She tried again, a bit louder. "Yang, come on, I brought pancakes."
More silence. Blake sighed. She was going to have to get a little wet. Carefully, she leaned over into the shower, flinching at the ice-cold temperature of the water, and turned it off.
"...hot..."
Blake looked down. Below her, Yang had started to come around, aimlessly shifting about on the floor and muttering something about ice cream. She raised an eyebrow. "I think the word you're looking for is cold."
One amethyst eye finally cracked open. "...Blake?" Yang lifted her head and looked around. "Why are we in the shower?"
"You fell asleep."
"Oh..." Yang let her half-soaked partner pull her up into a sitting position leaning against the wall. She smirked. "So, are you here to help me shower?"
"No."
"Aw."
With a quick eye roll, Blake left for a moment, then returned with the plate of pancakes and shoved it at Yang. "I'm here to make sure you eat." She handed her the fork. "Now eat."
Yang's face lit up. "Yes ma'am."
The ferocity with which the brawler attacked the food in front of her startled Blake. "Save me a couple though."
One short nod, and Yang was already moving on to her third pancake. Taking care to locate a relatively dry spot on the wall, Blake crouched down next to Yang and leaned back, watching her partner like a hawk. Those bandages were an unsalvageable mess, but her extended rinsing seemed to have more-or-less removed the grime she'd picked up from the air vents - though, that was quickly being replaced by syrup and bits of pancake.
In less than a minute the brawler inhaled over half of her mountain of sugar, but with the mess she was making, Blake couldn't help but wonder how much of it was actually making it into her mouth. She reached a hand over to brush off an especially large bit of pancake stuck to her partner's cheek, but recoiled immediately. Yang's skin was radiating scorching heat.
Her brows furrowed in confusion as Yang glanced in her direction. Hadn't this girl just been sleeping under an ice cold shower? "Yang - why are you so hot?" Blake instantly regretted her choice of words as a huge grin spread across Yang's face.
"I ask myself that every morning when I look in the mirror."
"No, really, you..." Blake's eye widened, "are on fire."
"Aw thanks, Blake. You know you're pretty good looking yourself."
Blake got to her feet and backed away towards the corner of the shower. "No, Yang, you are literally on fire."
Yang glanced down at herself. Sure enough, she was emanating flames, and they were growing. She dropped the pancakes and stood up. "Woah, uh, I'm not sure why I'm doing this. I'm not telling me to do this."
Blake found herself pressed against the shower tiles to avoid the expanding wall of fire blocking her exit. Her tone was surprisingly calm. "Can you make it stop?"
Panic started to rise in the brawler's voice, mirrored by her flames rising in intensity. "I'm trying - I don't think it's - this has never happened before!" They both jumped as Blake's shirt caught fire. "Oh jeeze, the water! The water!"
Blake didn't need to be told twice - she grabbed for the shower faucet beside her and twisted it to full blast, dousing them in a downpour of tepid water and disintegrating the remaining pancakes. The flames dispersed in a burst of steam.
They stood still for a moment before confused amethyst finally ventured over to meet equally confused amber. Blake sat down first, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes. Yang sat next to her, staring out into space.
"So... can we not tell Weiss about this?"
Blake cracked an eye open to gaze blankly at the sheepish brawler. Slowly, her lips quirked into a smile. "Sure. It will be our little secret." Yang smiled in return. They lapsed into another companionable silence as Blake leaned back and focused solely on the pleasant sensation of water falling all around her. She would check on Ruby in a minute, but for now, she may as well rinse off while she was here.
Jaune, blond swordsman extraordinaire, stood near the head of the line waiting for the cafeteria to open, one arm curved around a space as if protecting an imaginary friend from the organized mob of students chatting, laughing, or just standing in exhaustion after classes, waiting for food. His own armor was scuffed and dented from his last combat practice. All of his marks said he was improving! Slowly. Probably his professors just felt bad for him. He sighed. At least his team was all for him.
Speaking of which, he craned his neck to look down the hall, scanning for Pyrrha's shock of red hair- he'd expected her to get here first since she hadn't had classes or anything, but there was no sign of her. She must have gotten distracted.
When he turned back around, he found himself face-to-face (well, kind-of shoulder-height-to-face, anyway) with a very angry Weiss Schnee.
"Eep!" He started back, threw one hand out to protect himself.
The heiress watched, not amused, and crossed her arms imperiously. "Are you saving a spot in line?"
When he realized that she wasn't immediately going to slaughter him, he relaxed a little, "Uh... yes?"
"Good," She tossed her hair back over her shoulder and stepped into his imaginary-friend space, shoving his arm away, "I'm taking it."
"Hey, wha- I- um... okay?" Jaune cast a glance at the other students in line, but they'd gotten enough entertainment out of his space-reserving technique to allow the heiress to jump in line without complaint. He stood there helplessly, rubbing the back of his neck, "Yeah. So..."
Weiss held her hand up, cutting him off. "Not in the mood."
She'd gotten as far as the corridor outside her team's dorm room before realizing that she couldn't show up empty handed after that argument. She hadn't meant to make Blake so upset, and something like this certainly wasn't worth risking their whole team dynamic over.
In any case, Weiss might not be able to fix things, but she could do better at least. And 'better' certainly included keeping her teammates from starving to death in their dorm room. Trusting Blake to take care of things for a few extra minutes probably wouldn't hurt.
Meanwhile, Jaune tried again, "So you know, if you ever need a hand with anyth-"
"Still not in the mood," Weiss turned her head sharply away from him, "But thank you."
All the way down near the end of the hall, Pyrrha finally found her way to the back of the dinner line. It had taken a miracle to escape from the dorm room once Nora had come back from her domestic excursion. Her already-excitable teammate was twice as energized upon returning from the laundry room, bursting with the desire to recount in full detail the run-in she'd had with none other than Weiss Schnee.
Nora's account was long, rambling, and full of bizarre digressions, but she made one thing clear - the heiress had been crying. The thought made Pyrrha feel worse than ever for losing her letter of encouragement to Weiss. Maybe the original had simply been thrown away by a well-meaning custodian. Perhaps she could just rewrite it...
Eyes downcast as she dwelled on the plight of both her friend and her letter, Pyrrha didn't notice the figure stopping to stand directly behind her until a hand came to rest on her shoulder.
"Miss Nikos."
Pyrrha turned around and blinked when she found green eyes that matched her own. "Professor Goodwitch," she stated simply, smiling through her surprise.
Glynda returned the smile with an even gaze. "May I speak to you, privately," she asked in a tone that suggested 'no' was not a viable answer.
The smile gracing Pyrrha's face faltered for a moment. "Of course, Professor." Her eyes flickered to the line of students ahead of her, catching a glimpse of blonde and white up near the front. "Right... now?"
"Yes."
The hint of a smile that passed across her professor's face alleviated some of the apprehension building in Pyrrha's chest at the unusual request.
Glynda turned and began walking down the hall, away from the cafeteria. "Come with me."
With one last glance at her classmates, Pyrrha hastened to follow after her professor, curiosity and anxiety dancing side by side in her veins.
Back at the head of the line, Jaune was still trying to decide whether the 'thank you' was a good sign, or a neutral sign, or if Weiss was actually still really angry at him over the whole mentioning-her-making-out-with-Ruby-to-Nora thing... when the doors opened and the heiress brushed past him, heading for the drink station.
Jaune tried to stammer a "see you later" but gave up halfway through and followed the line to pick up a tray. It was probably better not to press his luck. He cast another glance back through the entrance and down the hall. Where had Pyrrha gotten to anyway?
One minute turned into several. Blake wasn't sure how long she'd spaced out for, but the dripping blonde hair in her face from the head resting on her shoulder meant it had at least been long enough for Yang to doze off again. "Hey," she gently prodded the sleeping brawler's side, earning a muffled groan of protest. She flicked her partner's forehead.
"Ok, ow," Yang winced, finally sitting up straight.
"Are you going to catch fire again if I turn this off?" Blake gestured to the shower faucet.
"That's... a good question," Yang replied, pausing to push her drenched hair out of her face as water continued to rain down on them. "Let's try."
Casting a skeptical glance at her partner, Blake pushed herself up off the ground and shut the water off. They waited. No flames.
"All right, so that was just some weird fluke or something I guess!"
Eyes narrowed in suspicion, Blake knelt down and leaned forward to press her forehead to Yang's.
"Hey, what are you-"
Blake pulled back, frowning. "You're still burning up."
A drop of water hit Yang perfectly on the nose. "Oh, I'm just naturally war-ahh, aaa-ahhhh," she turned her head to sneeze, and along with it came a giant ball of flame that erupted from her mouth not unlike dragonfire.
They both stared in awe at the singed shower wall. Slowly, Yang pointed at the scorch mark, as if willing it to explain itself. "OK, that's not normal."
Blake tore her eyes away from the burnt tiles that could have been her face and crossed her arms. "You don't say."
"I'm serious, this is not how my semblance is supposed to work! This is weird! It's like I have no control... it's like..."
"Energy incontinence?"
"Blake no. Well, actually yes, I guess? But just no. Of all the words you could have used."
A brief smile flickered across Blake's face before slipping into a contemplative frown. "Maybe... it's a side effect," she mused.
Golden eyebrows arched. "Like, from the poison?"
"Or from the antitoxin, who knows."
Yang's face fell. "Then, what am I supposed to do about it?"
Doing her best not to slip on the wet tile, Blake stood, pulling Yang up with her. "You're going to be extra careful." A light tug on the brawler's hand had her following Blake out of the shower and into the bathroom proper. They were tracking water everywhere, but it could be cleaned up later. "And... try not to set me on fire while I redo those bandages."
Yang nodded resolutely, clenching a fist. "I'll do my best!"
Blake smiled, grabbing one of the extra towels from under the sink and proceeding to dry herself off as best she could. "Good. The sooner we get this done the sooner we can check on Ruby's fever."
"Ruby has a fever?!" Yang's hair and shoulders burst into flames.
On instinct, Blake threw her damp towel over her partner's head, immediately squeezing the fabric closed with an impromptu hug and snuffing out the fire before it could get worse. "This does not qualify as being extra careful," she growled softly. A muffled apology came from inside the towel.
Yang pulled the towel off of her head the second Blake released her. "Is Ruby ok?"
"She's fine," Blake replied with as much certainty as she could. It was only a fever. Probably. Maybe. It needed to be.
The brawler's shoulders relaxed visibly. "All right. Then yeah, let's do this!" She pulled her hair around to her front and got down on her hands and knees. "Ready when you are."
With an eye-roll and a slight smile, Blake took the last of the gauze and sterile pads from under the sink and placed them on the counter top before setting to work on her partner's sorry excuse for bandages.
Ruby was having a dream.
She dreamt that the late afternoon sun was shining in the window, easing its way in a golden stripe across the floor. The others- at least Blake and Yang- were in the bathroom or standing out in the hall (she couldn't tell) having a very involved conversation about weaponry, and she wanted to join in.
Kicking free of the blanket, she got to her feet and walked to the door. Her limbs felt heavy, but normal otherwise. It was hard to keep her eyes open, though. Just as she reached for the doorknob, they drifted shut.
When Ruby opened them again, she was back lying on the mattress on the floor. Huh. She lay there a moment or two. Had she used her semblance to zip back into bed by accident? Blake and Yang continued their conversation out in the hall, their voices distinct but their words muddied and lost. Ruby pushed herself up and tried for the door again.
Another blink, and she was back on the bed, a little dizzy and more than a little confused. When she closed her eyes, somehow she was warping back to her bed.
Well, no problem- she would just keep her eyes open.
This was easier said than done because her eyelids were so heavy. The longer she kept them open, the heavier they got till she just had to blink, and then poof! She was back in bed.
"Rrrrrg," she growled, gripping fistfuls of her hair. It was like looking into the sun- her eyes just squinched shut no matter what she did.
Okay. So maybe if she was just really, really fast. Speed was her thing- she would open her eyes, dash to the door, and ta-da! Freedom!
The door's lock clicked, like someone was coming in.
Ruby sat up. Whatever mysterious force was keeping her eyes from opening dissipated.
Perfect.
The door swung open, and she lunged forward, blowing past a very startled Weiss and into the hall where she collapsed in a heap against Team JNPR's door. Rose petals skittered across the floor in her wake.
"Ouch," she clutched her injured leg and her head at the same time. The pain in her thigh cut through her feverish haze like a knife. "Ow..."
"Ruby!" Weiss abandoned the cup of soup and stack of sandwiches in her hands on Blake's desk. Her boots swished through the scattered petals as she knelt at her side to inspect the damages, "Ugh, what were you thinking?"
"I was just trying... trying to... uh..." why weren't Blake and Yang out here? Hadn't she heard their voices? Ruby let Weiss help her sit up. The younger girl sneezed, a few crimson petals tumbling from her hair into her lap. "Ugh."
"What-" Weiss's brow creased as she felt Ruby's forehead, "You have a fever."
JNPR's door opened and Nora poked her head out. Weiss fell backwards in her hurry to put distance between herself and her partner.
"Someone knock?" the orange-haired girl took in the scene, "Ruby, did you knock with your head?" she rapped her own head with her knuckles, frowning, "That must hurt."
"Yeah, kinda... but I'm A-okay," Ruby made an OK sign with one hand and rubbed her head with the other, grinning ruefully.
"It was just an accident," Weiss assured the other girl, "Everything's fine."
"Good deal. So I guess that other thing is going well, too," Nora gave the pair two thumbs-up, "Your secret is safe with me!... though you might want to go back into your room if you don't want random people to come along. But whatever. Here, I'll help!"
"Secret?" Weiss's expression darkened, "What are you-"
But Nora already had Ruby hoisted halfway across her shoulders and was hauling her back to her own dorm room. "Aaaaaaand here you go!" She dumped the bewildered girl on the mattress on the floor. "It's probably my turn at chess, so I'm going back. Keep feeling better!" Nora waved to Ruby and jogged back across the hall. Weiss stared after her. She got the feeling that Pyrrha's explanation to her teammates the other day had left something to be desired.
"Whoa, that was crazy," Ruby untangled herself and repositioned her leg so it was more comfortable. She brushed at rose petals that insisted on appearing for no reason. How strange. "I must be really sick- what was she talking about, even?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing," Weiss said through gritted teeth, helping to straighten the bed covers so they weren't all in a huge wadded up ball. She paused when she observed the petals spontaneously dropping onto the blanket every time Ruby moved.
"Uh..." Ruby sneezed again, and more of the offending foliage scattered across Weiss's lap.
She swatted them off. "Ugh, Ruby, did you just sneeze rose petals on me?! That's disgusting!"
"I didn't mean to," Ruby sniffed. It was still so hot and stuffy and she was tired, but she was also a little mystified. Ruby held up her hand and turned it over. Petals fell, as if any motion at all was enough to summon them. They didn't dissipate right away either. "This is kind of weird."
"Yeah..." Weiss dipped her hand into her pocket for Ruby's scroll. This... was probably worth mentioning to Professor Goodwitch. She gave the rest of the room a brief glance while she typed a quick note. Nothing seemed to have been destroyed. "Are the others here?"
As soon as the words left the heiress's mouth, the bathroom door swung open to reveal her remaining teammates. Blake froze mid-step through the doorway, going rigid at the sight of ice blue eyes and snow white hair. Her own amber eye ran a marathon, darting in quick succession from Weiss, to the sandwiches on her desk - she was so hungry and she smelled tuna - then briefly back to Weiss before finally dropping down to the floor, radiating uncertainty.
Squeezing past her immobilized partner, Yang emerged second - clean, mostly dry, and freshly bandaged from head to toe. "Ruby~!" Ignoring everything else in the room, she made a beeline for the younger girl and enveloped her in a hug, pressing their faces together and causing a fresh shower of red petals.
"Yang! Hot! Ouch!" Ruby squeaked, flailing in her sister's grasp. Rose petals fell in a flurry; the ones that came into contact with Yang's skin shriveled, "Turn down the heat!"
"Oh, sorry sis!" Yang pulled back slightly, blinking down at her little sister. "Huh, you don't feel like you have a fever."
Weiss had steeled herself to talk with Blake, but it would have to wait. If Ruby's semblance was acting up Yang's probably was too, and while rose petals were fairly harmless, fire was not. She shoved Ruby's scroll back into her pocket and was on her feet in a second, hands out to separate the two (though she was wary of actually touching Yang. Or Ruby, for that matter).
"Quick," she ordered the blonde firebrand, "stand in the middle of the room. Don't touch anything flammable."
Weiss noted that Yang's bandages had been redone, and quite professionally at that. She glanced at Blake, her guard up and her gaze hard.
Blake's ears flattened under the heiress's scrutiny, but she simply crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame, eyes trained resolutely to the floor.
With one final squeeze, Yang released Ruby completely and leaned back on her hands, looking anywhere but Weiss's face. "Haha Weiss, what are you talking about, flammable things." Smoke began to pour from the corners of her mouth. "Why would you be worried about something like that?"
Weiss turned back to Yang, brow rising with alarm at the sight of the smoke, "Get over here right now! I swear, if you set off the smoke alarm I'm going to shove you out in the hall and let the sprinklers put you out."
"Psshh, like sprinklers could put me out," Yang shot back with a smirk. She caught sight of the trails of smoke rising above her head mid-eyeroll and traced them back down to her own face. She blinked. "Oh. That's new."
Ruby continued to shed petals as she gripped the bookshelf and tried to get up, "Whoa, wait, let's get a bucket of water or something."
Weiss whirled on her team leader, pointing at her and commanding, "You sit. You," to Yang, and then pointing to the bare tile floor, "right here. And you-" she turned to Blake, faltering, "You... could you... get me a wet towel or something before the dorm burns down."
Slowly, Blake's head rose, ears perking up at being addressed directly. She locked eyes with Weiss, gaze intent and searching. The heiress's attempt at cordiality did not go unnoticed. Finally, with a quiet nod, she slipped back into the bathroom.
The walk to the nearest empty classroom felt fairly quick, but as Pyrrha stepped inside the small space and heard her professor shut the door behind them, anxiety finally claimed victory over curiosity. Professor Goodwitch motioned for her to sit, and so she did, choosing a chair at the table closest to the door.
Glynda regarded her student from the other side of the table for a moment. Without pretense, she pulled a familiar piece of stationary from her sleeve and wordlessly placed it on the smooth surface between them. Pyrrha's face drained of all color at the sight of her own handwriting staring back up at her. Her letter to Weiss.
Pyrrha's reaction was all the confirmation Glynda needed to identify the letter's author. Ozpin may have been the type to speak in riddles and take roundabout measures of obtaining information, but Glynda preferred the direct approach. Expression neutral, she adjusted her glasses and brought all of Pyrrha's coherent thoughts to a grinding halt with her next request, spoken in that same tone that offered no room for refusal.
"Miss Nikos. Would you care to explain this to me?"
Pyrrha stared down at the slightly-crumpled stationary, temporarily frozen. She was many things, but a betrayer of secrets was not one of them. Unfortunately, she was not a liar either. That left only one option. Resolute and brimming with determination, she lifted her eyes from the letter to meet Glynda's questioning gaze. "I... I would not. I'm sorry."
The briefest flicker of surprise passed across Glynda's face at her star student's outright defiance, but her features quickly shifted back into an especially stern expression. "Even with your classmates at risk?"
Pyrrha froze. At risk? A shiver crept down her spine at her professor's grave tone. What did she mean? Were there more than simple paparazzi at stake? Did Beacon have a policy forbidding teammate relations?
Red hair swished as Pyrrha stood suddenly, alarmed by the prospect of Ruby and Weiss suffering punishment simply for loving each other. "Professor - please - they aren't doing anything wrong!"
A light chirrup cut through the tension in the room.
Glynda pulled her scroll out, the screen's light illuminating her darkened expression - it was a message from Miss Schnee. She quickly scanned the message on the screen, eyes narrowing with each word. Putting her scroll away again, Glynda addressed Pyrrha as she turned to leave.
"Very well. Just remember, the staff is here to help. Please come to us with any... troubles." Her words seemed to relax her anxious student.
She paused at the classroom door. "Thank you for your time, Miss Nikos." With that, she left Pyrrha in the empty room, destination set for team RWBY's dorm.