"What was that?" Weiss and Blake exclaim, practically at the same time. Clearly, she's not the only one who's noticed what just happened.
The silver flames flicker out and vanish, gone as quickly as they appeared, leaving the three of them with countless questions. "I—I don't know," Ruby admits, her mind working furiously as she tries to come to terms with the situation that she's now in. The broadcast had finally gone out—before suddenly cutting off. Penny is almost certainly in danger, probably having to fight for her life right now, and stuck down here as they are there's nothing they can really do to help her. And then there's those flames that had appeared around her eyes, the silver ones that had looked like—
"Maiden flames," Blake says quietly. When Weiss and Ruby turn to stare at her, she clarifies. "Those silver flames looked like maiden flames."
"Like with Penny and Cinder," Weiss murmurs in agreement. Ruby swallows hard.
Blake is right—from what she could see, those flames looked identical to the ones she's seen on other maidens—but that answer doesn't make her feel any better. After all, they all know the only way that the powers of the maidens are passed down: either one of the maidens passed away and her power had randomly been passed down to Ruby by chance—or, a maiden had died and Ruby was the last person in her thoughts. And there's only one person that she can think of who would have Ruby in her thoughts . . .
"Penny," she murmurs miserably, her heart sinking the more she thinks about it. After all, the broadcast cutting out probably hadn't been an accident. Ruby had sent her to Amity for a reason, to keep her out of harm's way. If something had happened to Penny . . . "She was supposed to be safe up there."
"You think something happened to Penny?" Weiss asks immediately, her eyes going wide.
"I—I don't know." Right now, it's just a suspicion, even though all the facts are currently pointing that way. "But I was thinking, since we know how the powers are passed down, and something happened up at Amity, Penny might be—" She trails off, unable to actually give voice to the possibility.
"Oh, no." Weiss has gone even paler than usual. "We have to do something to help!"
"We can't," Blake replies, her voice firm but kind. "There's no way we can reach them right now, and we still have things to take care of here. As much as I hate to say it, there's nothing we can do right now." Weiss deflates slightly. Blake smiles sympathetically at her before turning to Ruby. "Ruby, are you sure that Penny is—gone?" She seems as reluctant to actually say it out loud as the rest of them.
"No, I'm not," Ruby admits, shaking her head slightly. Because, after all, she isn't one hundred percent certain, even it does seem like the most likely possibility. After all, the power she'd felt earlier didn't feel like the energy she'd felt radiating off Penny whenever she'd witnessed her using the powers of the Winter maiden. It had felt different, warmer, somehow, was probably the best way to describe it.
So maybe Penny is okay after all. Or if not okay, at least she might still be alive. Maybe there's still reason to hope and trust that she's still safe. Even though it doesn't feel much like hope has done them much good lately.
Blake smiles encouragingly at her. Ruby shakes her head, trying to clear it. Time to focus on the things that she can actually fix right now. "Weiss, how is Nora doing?" she asks, changing the subject. After all, Weiss has been the one keeping an eye on Nora for most of the night.
"Pretty much the same as before." Weiss sighs, biting her lip. "I don't really think that there's anything else we can do for her now. She needs to see a doctor."
The three of them exchange a glance. It's not exactly like they have access to any sort of medical care right now. Bandaging Nora and keeping an eye on her had been about the extent of what they could do with their current supplies and knowledge. And of course, Jaune isn't with them right now . . .
Ruby shakes her head again. Now is not the time to dwell on everything that's gone wrong. Nora needs them, Penny needs them, the rest of Remnant needs them. Time to suck it up and do the best they can with what they have. "We'll just have to keep an eye on her until we can get her some more help," she says, hoping that she sounds more confident than she feels. "Nora's tough, she can hold on for a little while longer."
It's far from a perfect solution, but it's the only one they have.
"Yeah. Okay." Weiss nods, masking her uncertainty with determination. She pushes herself to her feet, striding over to the bedroom door. "I'll see if I can find any more supplies to help Nora. Things have changed a lot since I lived here. Maybe there's something I missed."
"Right. Good idea, Weiss," Ruby replies, shooting her partner what she hopes comes across as an encouraging smile. She turns to Blake once Weiss has left the room. "Let's see if we can through to Yang and the others again."
"Yeah, I'll try," Blake agrees. "Maybe they were just in an area with poor reception. It's worth another try."
"Good." Ruby can feel some of the tension ebb out of her with the reassurance of having a plan. The strange energy from before, however, when the flames had appeared, has yet to dissipate fully. It's making her restless. "We can try to talk to them and go from there."
Ruby settles herself on the end of Weiss' bed next to Blake, anxiously waiting to see if the call will go through. She nearly jumps out of her skin when a figure suddenly appears in the doorway.
It's May Marigold. "Sorry to interrupt, girls, but this isn't the time to be waiting around. Mantle's in danger. We need to get going immediately."
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