Chapter 5: Tell me a story
Vale General Hospital
6am
Weiss had gotten dressed in her regular clothes as Winter had signed her out, and went to Ruby's room. Ruby was meeting with Dr. Hargrove, the attending physician at the time, for an examination to decide whether or not she could be released from the hospital. They looked at the scar left behind by Gambol Shroud, which had taken the shape of a scarlet gem in the center of her chest. Hargrove was sitting in a chair while looking at a clipboard...
" Well, you are lucky." Hargrove said in his thick accent.
" Huh?" Ruby asked.
" The blade missed every organ in it's path, though it did a hell of a lot damage to some nerve clusters and damaged your spine." Hargrove explained.
" But can I-" Ruby tried to say.
" There's still some medical examinations you have to undergo, but you'll be able to be released from the hospital before lunch hour." Hargrove said.
" Can I still be a-" Ruby said before being interrupted again.
" Now, the surgeons were able to remove the remaining shards that the WHITECROSS doctors were unable to remove, but a few shards had merged with your nerve clusters." Hargrove said.
" Can I still be a huntress?" Ruby asked.
" NO!" Weiss exclaimed.
Both Ruby and Hargrove were surprised by Weiss's little outburst, which Ruby noticed that it had been building up throughout Hargrove's explanation of her condition to Ruby...
" Weiss?" Ruby said, sounding a little hurt.
" He's trying to tell you that you can't, because of the damage done." Weiss said angrily.
" Weiss, calm down." Ruby said.
" No, you can't be a huntress for two main reasons. First, your spine can't take anymore damage, it might shatter if you tried to pick up something heavy." Weiss explained.
" Then I'll find a way to make Crescent Rose lighter." Ruby used to counter.
" Do you think making your scythe any lighter will do you any good?" Weiss asked.
" Weiss..." Ruby said, starting to sound annoyed.
" Second..." Weiss said, walking up and flicking Ruby on the forehead.
Hargrove watched as Ruby fell backward onto the bed, with a big red mark on her forehead right in the spot where she was flicked by Weiss...
" Your reflexes are slower now as a result of the nerve damage." Weiss said as Hargrove slipped out of the room for a bit.
" Ouch." Ruby said.
" You see, you're fragile now, if you tried to be a huntress now, you'd been torn apart in a fight." Weiss said.
" Then... I failed." Ruby said.
" Huh?" Weiss said.
" I failed, failed to realize Blake was sick and tried to shrug it off, and now I failed to stop Yang from taking off." Ruby said.
This was upsetting for Weiss, as she was standing there while her team leader berated herself, calling herself a failure of everything. She quickly picked up Ruby by her shoulders and began to speak...
" You didn't fail anyone! You can't blame yourself for their mistakes." Weiss said.
Tears started well in Ruby's eyes as she noticed Weiss was starting to cry herself...
" I only said that because (voice breaking.) I DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU!" Weiss said.
Ruby started to cry and immediately hugged Weiss, who was already sobbing uncontrollably. Ruby immediately felt guilty, because she just attempted to put herself down only to drag Weiss down with her, and Weiss just poured out her feelings for Ruby in front of her.
" I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I shouldn't have said those hurtful things." Ruby said with tears strolling down her eyes.
" I'm (sniff) sorry if I hurt you in any way when I had that outburst." Weiss said.
" It's okay." Ruby said, holding Weiss close.
Hargrove came back in after the girls had calmed down, and Ruby continued those examinations Hargrove had mentioned. They were even visited by Dante, alongside his girlfriend...
" Hey, you two." Dante said.
" Field Marshall Perez?" Weiss asked.
" Relax, call me Dante." Dante explained.
" Okay, Dante." Ruby said.
" How you holding up, kid?" Alexis asked.
" Still in one piece, thanks for asking." Weiss said.
" How are you feeling, Ruby?" Dante asked.
" I'm gonna have some serious back pain for a while." Ruby said as a slight joke.
" Ha, funny." Alexis said.
" Who's your friend Dante?" Ruby asked.
" This is actually my girlfriend, Alexis." Dante said, before being shocked by a strand of her hair.
" Shocking, isn't it?" Alexis said, sarcastically.
Both girls giggled at the fact she had made a pun after zapping her boyfriend. After that, Dante decided to speak...
" Yeah, we just came to tell you that Winter is gonna take you both back to Beacon, and that would you guys want to get some lunch?" Dante asked.
" You're offering to take us to lunch?" Weiss asked.
" Yeah, Winter's gonna join us when she can." Alexis said.
" Sure, but I got to pick up Ruby's prescription from the pharmacy first." Weiss said.
" Okay." Ruby said.
" Why don't I take Ruby down to the car while you and Weiss get the medicine." Alexis said.
" Sure, saves time anyway." Dante said.
Alexis and Ruby took one elevator down to the lobby, while Weiss and Dante took another one down to the pharmacy level. Dante decided to ask Weiss what medicine had been prescribed for Ruby...
" Hey Weiss?" Dante asked.
" Yes?" Weiss responded.
" What kind of medicine are they prescribing for Ruby?" He said.
" Some bone supplement for her spine, Cyphexaline." Weiss said, looking at the prescription paper.
" That's a pretty powerful one." Dante pointed out.
" Well, Ruby's kind of a special case at this current moment." Weiss said as the elevator stopped.
They exited the elevator, picking up her prescription, a medium-sized, bulky white container carrying a lot of pills. Weiss carried the bag, and remembered that it can be refilled whenever it runs out after a week. They regrouped with the girls, and proceeded to a popular restaurant where they had some lunch, and Ruby had some of her medicine. After that, they all proceeded to regroup outside the restaurant, where Winter's car was parked next to Dante's.
" Well, time to get you two back to Beacon." Winter said.
" Hey Ruby, since your back is very fragile right now, you can crash on my bed for awhile." Weiss said.
" That'll probably be a good idea since I'm usually on the top bunk." Ruby said.
" Well, it was good to see you both, hope your year is a lot better." Dante said before he and Alexis took off.
They hopped in Winter's car, and they drove to the airship station and hopped aboard Winter's personal airship, flying up to Beacon. Along the way, Weiss explained to her sister what happened with Yang, in which angered her and she had promised to find Yang. They arrived at Beacon, and were greeted by Teams JNPR, SSSN, CFVY, and strangely enough Team CRDL...
" Hey, you guys." Ruby said.
" HEY RUBY!" Everyone shouted.
" What's brings you guys here?" Weiss asked.
" We heard about what happened, so we all gathered here to greet you ourselves." Jaune said.
" You survived being stabbed through the chest, that makes you a badass, so you've earned my respect." Cardin said.
" We've even raised money to pay for your medical bills." Velvet said.
" Thanks you guys." Ruby said.
Ruby was going to have a much better year, while Blake was gonna meet with some old friends and their mysterious ally...
Abandoned Warehouse
1:10 pm
Blake walked up to an abandoned Warehouse on the outskirts of Vale, where a tall bull-Faunus with a Great Maul on her back and an elaborate armor on her chest, standing outside with Katie...
" Hera, Katie." Blake said.
The Bull-Faunus's name was Hera Calypso, and she was part of Team DAHK, or "Deathlock"...
" Well, it's been too long Blake." Hera said.
" Hera, still working out?" Blake asked.
" Yeah, got to keep in shape." Hera responded as a young man with a metal mask on his face and fancy clothes came walking out.
" Hello, Duncan." Blake said.
Duncan Wolfe was a lot taller than Blake and a White Fang Defector just like his teammates. He was born in to a trader family, and joined the Fang after his sister was raped by a human supremacist that was running for a council position. But when Blake betrayed Adam on the train assignment, he ordered Duncan and his team to either bring her in or take her out, but Duncan refused due to the fact he had been close friends with Blake, and his teammates were friends too. Because of his disobedience, Adam violently placed the heated mask on his face as a punishment and strung him up from a post, his teammates cut him down and ran for their lives.
" You clean of GRV?" Katie asked.
" Yeah, WHITECROSS found patient zero and were able to formulate a cure." Blake explained.
" That's good." Katie said.
" Well, look who's back." Aiden said.
" Hello, Aiden, still a pain in the ass, I see." Blake said.
" Something's bothering you." Katie said with a concerned tone.
Blake explained her situation to the group, about how she had suffered a hallucination and ended up stabbing her team captain and wounded another teammate. Duncan listened intently and then discussed amongst the group about this matter should be approached and handled. Blake sat by herself while they discussed amongst themselves, until they came to a conclusion...
" Blake." Duncan said.
" Yeah?" Blake asked.
" We've discussed your matter, and we might know somebody who can help you." Hera said.
" Huh?" Blake said.
" You'll need to talk to the old man, he helped all of us become better." Katie said.
" Old man?" Blake asked.
They directed Blake to an old room with a dusty tome sitting on a table, and they had instructed Blake to read the book and talk to The Old Man. They closed the door, and Blake picked up the book and read it, only to be dragged through by a blinding white light, and waking up in a world where the ground had felt like paper. She stood up and looked around to see the ground was large collections of pages, and spires of strange books towered over the environment.
" Blake Belladonna!" A voice shouted behind her.
Blake spun around to a scrawny man wearing a frilled shirt and black jacket with a blue scarf around his neck, reading a black book in his hand...
" Tell me a story, oh wait, that's my job." The old man said.
This chapter ends with Blake meeting The Storyteller, an ancient immortal man who collects knowledge for a living and knows how the world is gonna play out. He actually helps Blake overcome her guilt in the next chapter and rewards her with a gift, which I am not going to tell. The next chapter is also centered around Ruby's road to recovery, and Blake and Team DAHK's war against the White Fang.
WAIT AND SEE.