Weiss, with a single tug mirrored by Blake, ripped the iron nail from Ruby's shoulder. Blood immediately followed, spurting from the hole and splashing across Weiss' face. Deep, bright crimson energy shot out of the wound with sparking tendrils, latching on to the edges of the wound as it surged back to life unfettered. Weiss watched it pulse, the red energy aggressively pulling the flesh back together. Smoke rose from the injury. A nauseatingly saccharine scent burned its way into the heiress' nose.
That was when Ruby screamed. Her back arched with the shriek, forcing her to strain against her bindings. Weiss flinched from the harrowing noise. "Ruby!" She found herself saying. "It's okay, you're safe!"
She barely seemed conscious, but Ruby managed to look at her once she'd evacuated her lungs. Her face was a bruised mess of blood from the reopened wounds she'd acquired during the tourney, in addition to a split lip and the various cuts on her cheekbones and jaw. "W-Weiss?" She strained, her eyes unfocused.
Weiss couldn't stop the smile that erupted across her face, nor could she keep herself from surging forward and wrapping her arms around Ruby's neck. "I'm sorry," she sobbed into the girl's collar, "gods, I'm so sorry, it's my fault—"
Ruby yelped in pain as she was hugged, but she dared not ask the girl to move. The prettiest lady in all of Vale had her arms around her.
"This is all very sweet," drawled Blake beside her, "but we need to get you out of here."
Ruby looked around the room, her eyes taking a while to finally focus again. "Where…"
"The Schnee dungeon," Blake answered, " her family's dungeon."
Ruby watched her extract a knife and use it to indicate the heiress around her neck. Ruby looked to her, then back to Blake with a look of shock and disgust. "S-she…" she rasped, then let out a hacking cough that sprayed blood on Weiss' cloak. "Saved me."
Blake rolled her eyes with a groan, then began sawing away at her friend's bindings. When her arms were finally freed, the first thing she used them for was hugging Weiss. The heiress continued to cry into her collar. Ruby would have loved to stay there forever, but the uncomfortable multitude of things poking her from behind Weiss' cloak made her pull it apart.
Her belt, adorned with all her weapons. "Weiss?" Her voice was hoarse and raw, barely more than a whisper. "Are you wearing my things?"
Weiss pulled back, but no further than an arm's length from the smith. "W-well, of course I am!" She replied defensively, her face blooming red. "I wasn't just going to leave it there!"
Ruby smiled fondly, drawing an exasperated groan from Blake. "And my weapon?"
"Gods, I wish I could've left it behind," Weiss snarked through her sniffles, "I nearly broke my back lugging it here."
Ruby tried to laugh a little, but every movement made her shoulders flare with fresh pain, along with a strained groan. "A-alright, help… someone help me up," she requested, hiding her pain behind her teeth.
Blake and Weiss lifted under each of her arms, bringing the smith back to her feet.
"My belt?" Ruby stared expectantly at the heiress.
Weiss actually started taking it off before Blake stopped her. "No, Ruby, you're not getting your belt back," Blake pointedly responded with a side eye at the heiress. "You are delirious and just came back from the brink of death."
The noble girl groaned as they dragged her out of the awful room, with Ruby leaning fully on Blake as Weiss had to lug the smith's cleaver around. She never thought she'd be jealous of a fay, but following them, watching Ruby tucked close under Blake's arm, definitely stirred something within her.
They found Yang deeper in the hall, following her earlier order to hold off any newcomers, where she was locked in a stalemate with a trio of palace guards. Their winged ranseur spears kept her well on the back foot with careful, probing stabs that kept her from bouncing around their guard.
Thankfully, she wasn't alone. A flying knife rang the center guard's helm like a bell, dazing him, rendering him incapable of avoiding the telekinetically-launched hammer courtesy of Weiss. The blunt tool caved his helmet like paper, breaking a hole in their line.
Yang launched forward to exploit the gap, leaping between the two guards and forcing their long weapons to lock against each other awkwardly as they turned. She gripped a pole with her free hand, yanking its wielder in towards her steel-cupped fist. He yelped as his Aura crumpled, followed by teeth dribbling out of his mouth. For good measure, Yang threw him at his buddy, who crumpled like a particularly weak sack of potatoes.
"Come on!" The Huntress shouted, beckoning her friends. "We're fighting our way out!"
Weiss stayed behind Ruby, both to watch their backs and keep her brooding hidden. She didn't know these ruffian women, besides the fact that one was a fay and the other was Ruby's sister, and that they were… involved. What that entailed for a fay, she shuddered to picture, but a small part of her was comforted to be around the like-minded women. At least she'd know some people when they all landed in the lunatic asylum. "So, what's the plan?" The heiress shouted down the hall, panting.
She watched Yang look back at Blake, shrug, then cringe. "Uh, we're… fighting our way… out…"
Weiss groaned. "That's not a plan!"
"She's right," Ruby concurred, her voice straining with each step.
There was an uncomfortable silence, only occupied by shuffling feet and loud panting.
"I gate us out," Blake called after a while, her voice echoing off the dank stones. "But I'm not gating a Schnee."
"Hey!" Weiss shouted. "Why the hell not!"
"You don't deserve it," she spat, "you should just stay with your family, princess."
Weiss' voice cut through the air like a lance of ice. "What the hell did you just say to me, you shim harlot?"
Ruby's steps faltered as Blake suddenly stopped, and she felt her gut twist terribly. "Weiss!" She scolded, her ragged voice buckling under itself. "Be respectful! Blake saved my life!"
"But she's a—"
Ruby interrupted her with a sharp silver glare. "She's a friend, Weiss, my friend. And since we need you to escape, you're going to treat her with some respect!"
The heated words left Ruby panting and wincing back from the ensuing pain. Everybody, even Yang, had stopped to stare at her. Weiss gripped the shortsword tight. She'd really side with a shim over her— heiress to the Schnee name!
For whatever that was worth. Jacques had been in such a hurry to marry her off— an obvious ploy to deprive the Schnee name of heirs that weren't of his own blood, leaving it only with whatever spawn he'd put in her mother. She doubted he'd bat an eye at disowning her. Or worse.
"Wait," groaned Blake. "We don't need her to escape, Ruby, I can just gate us out of here."
"Mhm, mhm…" Ruby nodded pensively. "I don't know what that means."
Blake smacked her forehead. "Teleportation, Red. Anywhere I can picture."
"Wow," Ruby marveled, "completely unlimited?"
Blake winced and hissed. "W-well, not exactly. And, er… I've never really…" her words trailed off to complete silence.
Ruby nudged her fay friend. "Blake? You've never really what?"
"Gated more than one person," she admitted shamefully, her face blooming with a violet blush. "At the same time, at least, and it gets unstable in quick succession."
"Wha— I thought this was supposed to be simple!" Yang shouted from a few meters away.
"Well I thought we'd be able to get in without using it!" Blake bickered, relinquishing Ruby so she could physically articulate her snark upon Yang. The smith, still much too weak to hold herself up, began to fall.
She found her savior in Weiss, whose face went red with strain as she outstretched her hands and gripped her with a familiar invisible force. Slow, labored steps dragged the heiress to the floating girl, and Weiss just barely got close enough to scoop Ruby into her arms as the telekinesis faltered. She caught the girl with a strained noise— she was even more dense than she looked.
"Weiss," Ruby weakly cooed, "my hero."
Weiss gulped. Much as she wanted to hold her here forever, her legs were beginning to shake. She pushed up with all her feeble might. "Not… time… for jokes," she panted as she righted the smith, leaving her hand around her waist as support. "So, what kind of coal-brained scheme have you concocted, and what do I have to do with it?"
Ruby leaned into the heiress, definitely because she still needed the support. "I made it up about ten seconds ago," she stated, as if that would inspire confidence in Weiss. "We're going to take you hostage!"
AN: ahahaa yes this plan will definitely work. depending on the planning ability of a person who had both feet in the grave literal minutes ago will DEFINITELY not get you smoked by Pyrrha
ah man how am i gonna write myself outta this lol
