Here's Chapter 18 of RWBY: Necrophobia. Enjoy.

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The awkward silence that permeated their room was not what Blake had expected when they all got back to the dorm. She didn't expect Weiss to say anything, given the circumstances, but she had expected one if not both of the sisters to start asking Weiss questions about her near-half decade old sketch of the train creature. And honestly, she didn't know how she was keeping from asking such intrusive questions herself.

"It's good to have you back Weiss." Ruby broke the silence with the soft statement.

"So, how you feeling Ice Que-Oh!" Yang interrupted herself, hurrying over to her backpack and extracting a notebook from it. "I took some notes for you while you were gone." Yang said, holding it out to Weiss.

That got everyone's attention. Weiss wordlessly grabbed the notebook with a small nod, and began to flip through the pages.

"…These are really well done." Weiss stated. She placed the notebook down onto a desk before looking at her arm. After a moment of deliberation, she took her other hand and gave herself a quick pinch on her wrist.

"Ow." Weiss paused for a moment, before putting down her arm, looking back down at notes, then towards Yang. "Well, I'm not dreaming, so I guess I'm still crazy."

There was a moment of silence, as the three girls processed the joke.

"Hey!" Yang shouted as the insult clicked, while Blake chuckled, and Ruby fell to the floor, holding her sides as she laughed. Yang tried to look indignant, but couldn't hold back a few deep laughs herself. And as the team composed themselves, they all looked towards their returned friend. On Weiss's face…was a smile. It was a small smile…but it was a genuine one, and thus more than a welcome sight for her team. "I take it you're feeling a bit better then?"

Weiss's smile faded a bit as she let out a sigh, and took a seat on her bed.

"My head's more scrambled than an egg." The tone in her voice…it almost sounded like Weiss was giving a confession, rather than stating an affliction. "There's a gap in my memory of that…that…" Weiss took a shaky breath. "that thing on the train, and waking up alone in my old room." Blake noticed how both Ruby and Yang winced at how Weiss referred to her place in the Asylum. If it weren't for her ribbon, her own ears would be pressed flat against her head. "Can someone fill me in on the details of what happened? I recall that Blake impaled it through the head…It turned to go after her and Yang…Then everything went white, and then it all went black just as fast."

Yang let out a sigh, the kind that signified she knew she was about to get chewed out for something she'd done. "Yeaahhh, I was wondering if this would be coming up sooner or later. May as well tear off this band-aid and get it over with. You remember back on the train when I yanked the cargo crate, and you yelled at me for not thinking when handling volatile materials?" Weiss gave a slow nod. "Well, I may have, no, I definitely earned that tongue lashing. Because you were right, I was being careless and…I may have shot the Dust in a blind panic, and blew us all up, and I'm really, really sorry."

"…you." Weiss's words were barely audible.

"I didn't catch that." Yang admitted, face scrunched up in a preemptive wince.

"I said thank you." Weiss repeated herself, a bit more loudly this time. Yang's expression immediately shifted to a mix of shock and confusion. Blake and Ruby's joined in the look as well.

"I'm sorry, why are you thanking me for putting us in the hospital?"

"Last I recall, I was disarmed and about to lose my mind, Ruby was knocked out, and stabbing that Nec-that thing through the skull was ineffective." Weiss stated point by point. "And that explosion, I pray, turned it into a fine paste. Yang you probably saved our lives."

"B-But, I mean, well, all's well, I guess," Yang began muttering nonsensically.

"Yang? Are you alright?" Ruby questioned the long haired blonde of the team. She waved her hand in front of her older sister as said blonde continued babbling. Ruby took a glance at Weiss. "…I think you broke her."

"And I feel like I'm missing something." Weiss deadpanned, looking towards Blake for an explanation.

"We've…" Blake began. "Well, we've sort of been chewing her out for landing us in the hospital for the past week or so."

"Better the hospital than the grave." Weiss responded. And Blake heard her mutter under her breath, "Especially in this case."

"I-Uh, well, I mean," Yang was started to get her thoughts in order, shaking her head a bit when Ruby snapped her fingers in front of her. "Yeah, umm, you're welcome. I think?"

"Alright, she's back!" Ruby cheerfully announced to her team. Then she took a look back at her older sister. "You are back, right?"

"I'm…I'm good. Wow, that was a pick-me-up I didn't know I needed." Yang let out a happy sigh. "Thank you Weiss, and might I say it is good to have you back home."

Weiss gave a small smile towards Yang. "It's good to be back…But please, don't do that again. It was…unsettling."

"I won't, if you won't." Yang snapped her fingers and pointed towards Weiss.

Weiss gave a slight chuckle. "I'll do my best, but make no promises."

There was an awkward pause as no one could quite think of what to say next.

"Weiss," Blake began to fill the silence. "In regards to what happened to you…In regards to…you being in the asylum and…" Blake paused for a moment. Weiss had just gotten back. Was she really going to push this issue now? "And Altheda said you were at Cerca Mine…" It seems she was.

Weiss's smile faded; Not a spontaneous disappearance, but slowly, as though she had been expecting this sort of question, and wasn't looking forward to it.

"I…I can't remember most of my years in the asylum before I 'woke up', way back when. As for…As for Cerca Mine…" Blake's ears perked up beneath her bow as Ruby walked towards Weiss. "…I don't know how I forgot last time. I wish I could forget it all again."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ruby asked, putting a hand on her partner's shoulder.

"No." Came the heiress's hasty reply, a violent shiver visible at Ruby's touch. "N-No. I'm sorry, I just…Not now." Weiss took a deep breath and let out a shaky exhale as Ruby quickly withdrew her hand. "Not now."

Blake was both surprised and ashamed at how much self-control it took her to not immediately disregard Weiss's blatant discomfort with this topic. Her ears flattened as far as they could with her bow on. Thankfully, none of her team seemed to notice. She hadn't told Ruby or Yang about her father…but she hadn't exactly been subtle that she had likely lost someone in Cerca Mine either.

"By the way," Weiss began again, her face turning red. "when I…wasn't myself, did I…did I try to hurt any of you?" Weiss turned her gaze to the floor, clearly embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry if I did."

Blake glanced at Yang as the blonde was clearly mulling whether or not to tell Weiss. After a few moments, it seemed her partner had come to a decision.

"You did stab my hand with a pen, but in your defense I was waving it in front of your face and, like you said, you weren't yourself. But apology still accepted, thank you." Yang reassured the embarrassed heiress.

Weiss let out a sigh and gave a nod towards Yang, looking relieved. Given what Altheda had said Weiss could have tried to do in that state, Blake presumed that stabbing someone with a writing utensil in a painful, but non-permanent way, was one of the better that could have ended.

And Blake's ears flicked in discomfort as she decided against informing Weiss of Altheda's report of three homicide attempts during her time before they had arrived. Whether or not the other girls had come to the same decision, or had simply forgotten the small, but significant detail, the faunus couldn't say.

Her gaze shifted back to Weiss as she noticed the heiress retrieving her night gown. "Isn't it a bit early for bed? The sun's not even all the way down yet."

"And we haven't even had dinner yet." Yang noted. "You not hungry Ice Queen?"

"It's not that." Weiss said as she crawled under the covers of her bed. "It's just that after everything that's happened, the only thing I really want is to be here in my room, and back in my own bed. I'm not sure I'm ready to be back in a crowded place right this moment. Class, probably, but…I just wanna appreciate being home." The heiress let out another sigh and then a deep breath through her nose. Then her eyebrow raised in mild surprised, as she took another sniff at her bedding. "Did somebody wash my sheets recently?"

"Ruby did last night," Yang answered, gesturing to her grinning sister with her thumb. "Once she got word you'd be coming back, she thought it'd be nice to do some of your laundry for you."

Weiss gave a small smile towards the team leader. "Thank you, Ruby."

Ruby just gave Weiss a full smile and a thumbs up on an outstretched arm. Weiss gave a tiny chuckle and returned the gesture from her bed.

"How about instead of going out to the cafeteria, we all stay here and I order us some Othello's Pizza?" Yang suggested, pulling up her Scroll.

"Sounds good to me." Blake said.

"Cheese please!" Ruby gave her order, eyes closed, comically large grin on her face.

"I'll second that order." Weiss yawned.

"Sounds like it's unanimous!" Yang cheered, as she pulled up her list of contacts, pressing the button for the only Othello's pizza that delivered directly to Beacon Academy. As she did so, Weiss spoke up again.

"I'm going to take a nap. Wake me when dinner arrives." Weiss let out another yawn as she pulled up her sheets and blanket. "Please and thank you."

As Yang ordered dinner for the team, Blake took another look at Weiss, now under her covers, eyes closed, and breathing lightly, already out by the looks of it. The white haired girl had clearly been through a lot in these past few days: A monster had nearly killed her, she'd apparently lost her mind, only to regain it and have restrictions placed upon her return to the huntsman academy. And that didn't even include how she had allegedly been at the epicenter of one of the most tragic events and largest loses of life in the history of mankind…And she very likely had some interaction with the faunus's own father on that tragic day. Blake had to restrain herself again from waking Weiss up and blurting out the questions she's been holding in for years.

Get ahold of yourself Belladonna, Blake thought to herself. You've waited for answers for years. You can wait a few more days to give your friend some common courtesy for what's probably the single most traumatic thing any of us have ever seen growing up.

There was a knock at the door, drawing the attention of the three girls who remained awake in the room.

"Okay, they're fast, but there is no way they're that fast." Yang stated in disbelief.

"Glynda did say your temporary partners would be dropping by tonight."

"Now that makes much more sense." Yang walked over to the door. Pulling it open revealed two familiar upper classmen.

"Sup dorks?" Coco Adel questioned, a playful smile on her face.

"Coco, be nice." Velvet Scarlatina sighed.

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Fun fact, this is the first chapter published from my new house! Hope you're all still enjoying this story. And I hope the email notifications were fixed, I've seen mixed results about that. So, here's hoping everyone here was notified. And for those of you who are just altogether new to this story, welcome!

(And to address a question in the reviews, Altheda is an OC, acting as Weiss's psychologist, after the heiress went insane.)

Well, please fav, follow, and/or leave a review to let me know what you thought; and if you already have, Thanks! I appreciate it. (Also, does anyone happen to know if updating a past chapter sends email notifications? I may start adding this story to AO3, but I'd also like to update any spelling mistakes or location name corrections here as well, but I don't want to spam emails over fixing some typos.)