We are back with another chapter in the story. As always RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and its associates, as always my characters are my own so let's get to the story.
Shelly was looking at twelve different surgeries that she needed to oversee, while a few were simple others would need her to be personally involved. It's not that she didn't trust the surgeons, but considering who was laying on the beds she would need a good excuse as to why she wasn't involved as much as she should have been.
Outside in the waiting room was team RWBY and Sun sitting in the chairs while Omar's cousins were standing by the doors, anytime anyone but the five people present moved near the doors they tensed up placing a hand on their weapons. Yang had all of team COLD's scrolls in front of her as Vigil tried to contact everyone that he could, the bullhead was called to the hospital so that he was closer to his main terminal. After a few hours of waiting team CFVY walked out of the doors, Velvet seemed the most distraught as she pushed Fox's wheelchair.
Ruby looked at them but Velvet averted her eyes as Coco could see Yang was more than mad, "Alright blondie before you explode, we tried to protect them as best we could." Yang turned back to the scrolls as she muttered, "Guess it wasn't enough considering where we are." Ruby sat next to her sister putting her head on her shoulders, "Yang it'll be fine, Dr. Canadensis is the best doctor here." Fox wheeling himself to the vending machine nearby made a remark, "I heard her say something about them being too far gone for her to help." There was a loud crash as Yang went to punch Fox but instead hit Raven's hand, "Yang doing that won't help the situation, please sit back down. And you should learn when to keep your mouth closed." Fox ignored her as he grabbed his snack, Yatsuhashi apologized for his teammate as Velvet sat in her chair with her legs curled up to her chest.
A scroll beeped as Raven takes hers out, "looks like everyone is showing up." One of the other girls standing next to Uriel asks, "Define everyone." Raven looked at her scroll again, "Iris it says that Mavis is calling everyone in, what do you think that means." Iris crossed her arms, "Mavis hasn't done that since the last time Omar was involved in some kind of incident." Uriel huffed, "it matters not when the last time we were all called, it only means that Mavis intends to go after the ones who did this. Lantana you were sent to Delilah, what happened to her attacker?" Lantana held her hand out as a black inky goo crawled over it, "after thrashing the guy that tried to eat her I had to stop the bleeding so I took my eyes off of him for a second, when I looked back he was gone." Uriel turned to Raven, "and you?" Raven shrugged, "mine dipped into the shadows and disappeared, I was preoccupied with keep Carmine from bleeding out." Uriel nodded, "ok so I need volunteers to go with Cable." Iris, Raven and Lantana snapped at that name, "What do you mean Cable? Mavis called him in!?" Uriel nodded, "Raven did say she was calling in everyone." Iris threw her hands up into the air, "great so can we just chalk up Vale being turned into a wasteland now or after he's leveled every building taller than him." Lantana sighed, "So she's that serious?" Raven nodded, "if it's any consolation Beatrice is coming to." Iris threw her hands up again, "so the three monsters of the family are going to be in one place at the same time! Are these people really that bad?"
Uriel sighed, "the one Omar was dealing with was an elemental, so I take it that Mavis would like all bases covered." The three looked shocked, "an elemental? Are you sure?" Uriel nodded, "I had seen the last bit of their battle, I am sure." Raven crossed her arms, "I take it that it was only a few hit that put him in the condition that he's in." Uriel shook his head and walked over to the scroll Yang was looking at, "Vigil show the aftermath of Omar's battle." Vigil pinged before showing an aerial view of what looked like an abandoned lot before showing another picture. Placing the two pictures side by side everyone could see the complete destruction of an entire portion of the city. Iris laughed, "What so you're telling me that he did all of that? Omar? The weakest one in the family leveled an entire portion of the city?" Yang turned to her with sparks of fire rolling off of her as Uriel shook his head, "no I'm saying that he survived several hours of combat with an elemental that could do that. And let me ask you this, can you fight an elemental? Because as far as I know there are only five people in our family that can, not including our mother and aunts." Raven slapped Iris upside her head, "enough, the fact that he survived long enough for Uriel to get to him should be more than enough proof for you that he isn't as weak as we all think."
Ozpin had arrived as Shelly had finished operating on team FRZE, team COLD were stabilized for the most part but would need her attention very soon. Glynda walked right behind him tapping her pad angrily, Ozpin had a sorrowful look on his face as he entered the waiting area. Uriel was the first to greet him, "Professor Ozpin." Ozpin shook his hand nodding, "You must be a family member of Omar's if I am correct." Uriel nodded motioning to the other three as well. Glynda sat in a chair putting her pad down as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Ozpin how did we let our students end up in this kind of a situation?" Ozpin pressing some buttons on the instant coffee machine answered without looking back, "we thought having upper classmen who qualified as huntsmen would be enough to protect our students." Coco taking the cup as the last bit of coffee poured remarked, "well those guys after Delilah and her team were not normal huntsmen." Velvet was still curled up in her chair as she buried her face into her knees, "I saw him eating her." Glynda gave a heavy sigh as she leaned back into the chair throwing her arm over her eyes, "have you called the parents yet Oz?" Ozpin having gotten another cup nodded turning back to the group, "every one of them is on the first flight they can catch, though I don't know when they'll be arriving." Vigil having been projecting a hologram switched to a flight log, "Planes have been chartered for each family member, and they should be arriving in Vale within a few hours. And a car has been arranged for everyone as well. Miss Mavis should be arriving with the rest of the family in just a few moments." Ozpin visibly shuddered at the name, "Glynda you wouldn't happened to want say raise or paid vacation anytime soon would you?" Glynda gave a sarcastic huff, "no you can take this one." There was a sound of a distorted zipper resonate through the air as what seemed to be a tear in space opened up as Mavis walked through with several people following behind her.
Mavis looked around the room briefly before setting her eyes, she walked right up to Ozpin, as he was about to speak she slapped him across the face knocking his glasses off. Ozpin bent down to get his glasses as Mavis fumed, "You gave me your word when this situation came up that you could handle it, LOOK where we are, is this how you handle situations!?" Mavis's eyes were burning gold as Donna came up behind her putting a hand on her shoulder, "come on we have to talk to Shelly." Ozpin sighed putting his glasses back on as both of them walked up to Shelly. Shelly had just finished her coffee when Mavis asked, "How're they?" Shelly sighed heavily, "Well Delilah and Levina are in the best shape, their injuries look worse than they are. It's Carmine and Omar that have me worried." Donna asked, "What do you mean?" "Carmine has both of his carotid arteries cut so I have to get back to him like now." Mavis grabbing her sleeve asked, "And Omar?" Shelly looked visibly distraught, "we declared him dead on arrival," Mavis sunk to her knees as everyone else in the room heard the news, "butbutbutbut, he doesn't appear to be dead." Donna looked confused, "what do you mean?" Shelly looked at the clock as a nurse came out of the doors motioning that it was time, "his aura is still pulsing, weakly, so it's still there from what we can tell. His body is dead but for some reason he get periodic beats of activity every minute. I'm sorry but I have to get back into surgery." Donna nodded as she helped Mavis up.
Beatrice wore a black business suit, her brown hair pulled into a low ponytail as she put a hand on Mavis's shoulder. Cable was a titan of a man standing a full head taller than Yatsuhashi, his wild black hair reaching past his back as his attire was little more than a haori with several tears in it and a pair of hakama, "this is what you woke me up for? So what, the runt got himself killed. It wouldn't have been the first time." The loud crack that followed his comment shattered every glass in the waiting room as Mavis was in the air in front of him with her fist currently caving his jaw in. As she was about to throw a follow up Beatrice was between them with two fingers on both of their throats, "THAT'S ENOUGH THE BOTH OF YOU!" several doctors and security staff rushed into the room as Donna apologized and waved them off. Iris stepped forward, "Cable he fought an elemental, for several hours. We all know that isn't something every one of us can do." Cable rolled his eyes taking a step back, "so the runt has more fight in him then we thought, big whoop. Still don't understand why you had to wake me up." Mavis taking a step back took a deep breath, "this is the second attack on our family in the past week, which means we're in war preparations." Donna groaned looking over her pad, "he just had to fight in the warehouse district, didn't he." Beatrice rubbed her arm, "you know how his semblance works, and we'd be in a completely different situation if he had fought in the middle of the city."
Uriel chimed in, "I must add that for a brief moment his eyes glowed the same as yours Mavis." Cable and Beatrice looked intrigued as Mavis crossed her arms, "why would this happen now of all times?" Uriel added one last thing, "While his eyes were glowing the elemental dodged one of his attacks, granted seeing what he had done anyone would have dodged out of the way." Beatrice pondered, "That is odd, most elementals simply let attacks pass right through them, why would this one dodge." Yang spoke up, "because he was trying to kill her." Everyone in the room looked to Yang as Mavis asked, "What do you mean?" Yang rubbed her arm as she explained, "a week ago before all of this happened Omar showed up at my room and told me that if he was in trouble he would have to do something he would regret. I told him that he should do whatever he had to if it meant him living." Beatrice arched an eyebrow, "weird how he goes to you and not Mavis for this." Mavis sighed taking a seat, "even if he did use his semblance fully an elemental would not have been affected, he knows this." Uriel reiterated, "Well this one dodged out of the way when he swung, in fact she seemed to be scared when he did."
Ozpin and Glynda apologized to Mavis again as they asked the students if they wished to return to the school Yang refused along with Ruby, Weiss and Blake stuck with their partners. Coco and her team were admitted into a room so they could not leave until clear by Shelly, the rest of the family took shifts standing guard.
After a day Shelly stumbled out of the doors exhausted, Donna and Mavis nearly dragged her to a chair. Uriel and Iris went to the cafeteria to get her some food and something to drink, Donna had to help her to the bathroom as she had not taken a break the entire time. After eating a bit and taking a nap Shelly exited the breakroom to see the entire Sanzaki family and team RWBY waiting for her. As they waited patiently Shelly rubbed her eyes taking the seat offered to her by Donna, "well…Delilah and Levina are fine, movement for them will be weak but they'll live. Carmine is in a very delicate position as we can't just stitch up his veins and call it a day, we have aura boosters and microbots provided by Faye keeping his neck from separating every time he breathes." Mavis looked to Shelly more intently to which she sighed, "Well we're doing the best to keep his body alive but he has extensive nerve damage, like every nerve in his body has been burned out. His brain was almost deep fried with the damage it took, to put it bluntly I doubt he will ever leave that bed let alone wake up." Faye got up from her chair holding her laptop, "were the microbots I provided not enough, I can make more." Shelly shook her head, "no, the damage to his body is too great. We're already pumping dangerous levels of aura boosters into his system along with having the aura generators running on full blast. He has not made a single bit of recovery, but he is still showing those periodic bursts of activity. I have no idea where it's coming from, but this is as far as I can go with medicine." Shelly handed Faye his chart as she looked it over with a frown growing larger on her face.
Ruby was following Yang as they turned the hall toward the waiting room, when they passed the door they saw Shelly sitting on one of the chairs. The room had a somber feel as Yang walked up to Shelly, "so how are they?" Shelly sighed as she got up, "you might want to follow me." When they entered another room Shelly explained how the surgeries went, the loud crash signaled that Shelly had gotten to the news about Omar. Mavis got up from her chair and walked through the doors leading into the ICU.
As she walked through the hall she could see several rooms whose patients had several degrees of injuries ranging from full body casts to having half of the room filled with machines to monitor the person's health. When she passed Levina's room she saw a ventilator hooked up, as she passed Delilah's room she saw bandages cover most of her shoulder and torso as a machine helped circulate blood into the arm. She stopped at Carmine's room to look in, Carmine had a clear neck brace on, as she looked closer she saw that his neck was covered in a metallic sheen. Focusing more she saw that the metallic sheen was in fact several thousand of Faye's microbots as they went about stitching and keeping Carmine's neck closed. The room next to his was Omar's but she dreaded taking the few steps to look into his window. Donna and Faye tapped her on the shoulder startling her, Donna held a finger up to her lips to motion that they needed to keep quiet.
As they looked into the room they could see several different machines doing the job of his vital organs, his heart was silent as one of the machine circulated the blood without having to pump the heart. Mavis leaned her head against the window, "I never should have let him leave Hanami, he should have stayed at home with me." Faye rubbed her sisters back, "there would have been a 97% chance that he would have gotten fed up with being at home and would have found a way to leave." Donna sighed, "Mavis we did as much as we could to let him have his independence, if you had kept him at home he would have felt like more of a prisoner. We didn't know things would escalate this much, it's my fault, I should never have left Vale." Faye shook her head, "even if you had stayed, you chances at winning against a lightning elemental would have been less than 25%. The fact that he lasted as long as he did defies most of my projections, if he had not been stabbed with his sword he would have had a better chance at recovery." As they stood looking into the room Omar's body shook once then laid still.
Omar was holding a pair of tongs as Sengo hammered away, "how much longer is this gonna take? We've been at this forever." Sengo swung a hammer dangerously close to his head, "you cannot rush perfection, and you're the one that is making this process longer than it should be." "HOW! All I've been doing is what you say, how am I making this longer than it should be?" Sengo poked him hard in the chest, "your soul, it's your soul that is making this harder." Omar let the tongs fall as he threw his hands up into the air, "what does that even mean? What does my soul have to do with making a weapon?" Sengo wiped his goggles as he looked at Omar, "the power of your soul is always changing, I cannot figure out how to give it shape. Now get back here and hold these tongs." Omar sighed heavily, "Wouldn't it just be easier to just make me a generic sword?" Omar couldn't dodge the hammer this time as Sengo thwacked him, "each weapon I make is a reflection of the wielders soul, it would be an insult to both my art and your soul if I just whip up a random sword for you to use." After a few more swings an idea formed, "hey Sengo, what about using that." "What now?" "You said that the power of my soul is always changing, well I use my hands to make different weapons or structures. What about using that as a base for this?" Sengo smiled widely as he grabbed Omar by the arm and dragged him to his work table. After getting measurements of both arms Sengo began hammering away at the metal with a purpose, an almost crazed look etched itself across his face as he worked.
A week passed as the Sanzaki family took turns guarding the rooms, as team RWBY would visit for an hour or two to check up on the team. Sometimes they were accompanied by Jaune and his team but most of the time they showed up by themselves. Levina's guardians had shown up after the surgery and added to Mavis in slapping Ozpin who accepted the punishment offering his sincerest apologizes, Shelly had to arrange for several rooms to be emptied out to accommodate the growing number of people that showed up. Carmine's parents showed up and his mother nearly had a heart attack after seeing his condition, instead of being slapped Ozpin was verbally berated for his lack of security in ensuring the safety of the children. When Delilah's grandfather showed up Ozpin brought his cane higher to his chest on the chance that the old wolf wanted to punch him, her parents showed up an hour later blaming themselves for not being there for her all the time. Ozpin spent most of his afternoons in the waiting room as he had twelve of his students in hospital beds recovering from some kind of injury. Glynda agreed to run the day to day tasks but sent any important calls or paperwork to his scroll.
Delilah stirred in her bed as she could feel her body throb, the sound of rhythmic beeping grew louder and louder as her hearing became more attuned. The whirring of a different machine became more apparent as she slowly opened her eyes, the room was dimly lit as her eyes started to focus. Shifting her body she felt her right shoulder constricted as a dull throb grew stronger as she tried moving more, wincing at the now sharp feeling shoot up her neck she turned her head to look at her shoulder. It was wrapped in bandages with covered wires sticking into her arm, the area between her neck and shoulder had extra padding that she noticed. Using her left hand she wiped her eyes as her brain tried to replay the last thing she could remember. She could remember getting on the bullhead with everyone, then entering town with Velvet and Coco, it was to look for Blake. As she racked her brain a flash of teeth crossed her vision as she remembered the rows of teeth biting into which caused her to scream out as she touched her shoulder. Her grandfather, mother, father, Mavis, and Beatrice all burst into the room scaring Delilah even more as they looked ready for battle. After a nearly crushing hug from her mother and a ginger hug from her father Delilah wanted to get out of bed, her grandfather helped her up and kept a hand around her waist as she shuffled her way out of the room.
In the waiting area was the Ozpin, team RWBY, team JNPR, Donna, Faye, and Iris. A nurse walked by with a wheelchair which she accepted, Blake got up from her chair sheepishly walking up to Dalilah, "I'm sorry, it's all my fault that you're in this condition." Looking to her teammates she added, "When they found out I was a Faunus I ran, I was scared that they would hate me, I was scared that they would reject me for being a Faunus." Delilah looked up to Blake from her seat and motioned her closer, when Blake leaned down to her level Delilah grabbed one of her cat ears beneath the bow and gave it a hard tug. Blake cried out but made no move to get away as Delilah gave her ear a twist then let go, "next time you feel like running away remember that I'll do that again, but to both ears." Blake nodded as Delilah sat back into her seat, Ruby being as careful as she could be gave Delilah a big hug as Yang encircled both of them in an equally big hug. When they back away Weiss was standing behind them, "I'm glad you are feeling better despite your injuries. It would have been a great loss to lose another member of team COLD." As she said that Ruby and Yang nearly punched Weiss in the sides as they tried to silence her. Delilah looked at them confused, "what do you mean lose 'another' member?" Looking back into her room she could see that she had it to herself, motioning for her grandfather he pushed her down the hall to her other teammates.
Looking into Carmine's room she was on the verge of tears, when she looked into Omar's room she gave a sorrow fill sigh, "you idiot, you're supposed to be the unbeatable one of this team." Being pushed back into the waiting room she looked to Yang, "I give him a week before he's up and being annoying again." Shelly shook her head, "Delilah I'm sorry but given my years as a doctor I know, it would be a miracle if he ever woke up again." Delilah looked back into the hallway before looking back to Shelly, "as his partner who's seen him survive some pretty deadly injuries, I can say that he'll bounce back from this." Ozpin got up from his seat slowly walking toward Delilah, "I'm sorry but Dr. Canadensis is right it would be a miracle if Omar were to ever recover from his condition." Levina crashed against the doorframe scaring everyone as she had a ragged look on her face as she was visibly having trouble breathing.
Evergreen and Oxford were at her side as they ushered her back into her room, Shelly called for a mobile ventilator to be brought so Levina could be more mobile. A special wheelchair was brought that had a small ventilator attached to it, it was quiet so Levina could be heard if she spoke. Evergreen had an almost death grip on the chair as she stayed as close as she could to Levina, Oxford while close but still gave her some space. Shelly had done a brief check up on the both of them clearing them to move around, with a chaperone of course. Levina asked Evergreen to wheel her to Carmine's room as she wanted to check on him.
Carmine could feel something scratching his neck, slowly opening his eyes he saw the white walls of a hospital room. As he slowly regained his senses he could feel something crawling all over his neck, as he tried to touch it he felt his hand stop as it was restrained by something. Looking down as best he could he saw a pair of restraints cuffed around his wrists, feeling a wave of fear crush him he tried to pull against his restraints as he frantically looked around the room. Shelly, Mavis, and his parents rushed into the room when his heart monitor started to beep erratically. Carmine was seeing stars as the pain in his neck was skyrocketing, Shelly rushed over and gave him a dose of morphine to ease the pain and calm him down. When Carmine noticed his parents he began to calm down as a wave of warmth washed over his body as the pain began to dull and subside. When he tried to speak no words came out, Shelly put a hand on his shoulder, "try not to move around to much, we have special machines that are working to repair your neck. I don't have to say this but talking will not be possible for the duration of this process." Carmine nodded as best he could as his parents crowded around him.
Delilah and Levina wheeled themselves into his room sitting on both sides of his bed, Carmine held both of their hands firmly as he stared at the ceiling. Going over the events he last remembered Carmine tried to think of anyway he could get the upper hand the next time he saw Schwartz.
Mavis and Beatrice were standing in the waiting room with Ozpin as Shelly told them Carmine had woken up, Ozpin looked relieved. Mavis cleared her throat getting Ozpin's attention, "Ozpin as we had discussed earlier, it appears the students are not receiving the proper training to ready themselves for the real world yet. So I am proposing that Beatrice be the new combat instructor for the school." Glynda who had returned from having lunch overheard this, "I find offense in your statement that our students are not receiving the proper education. And is Beatrice even qualified to teach in a school?" Beatrice spoke up, "I have several doctorates in teaching, mathematics, engineering, architecture, child psychology, adult psychology, history, English, biology, chemistry, Grimm studies, geology, do you wish for me to continue?" Glynda stood with her mouth agape as she began to furiously type on her pad, as some brief scrolling she looked up from her pad, "Ozpin, to put it frankly, she is beyond overqualified to be a teacher. Looking through a few records has her at the top of her class every year of her academic career." Beatrice also added, "I am offering my services for free, typically I charge a fee but since this is a favor to my cousin I am at your service." Beatrice gave a slight bow as Ozpin nodded turning to Glynda, "I hope this does not," Glynda shook her head cutting him off, "Beacon would be happy to accept you, even if temporarily, as its new combat instructor."