Checked Out

"Where the fuck are you right now?!" Liv growled into her scroll. She could barely hear the wolf boy over all the noise in the background and she was getting testy.

The last few weeks of her life had been positively awful and she was sick to death of babysitting this boy. After another week in the hospital, the decision had been made to transport Ambur back to Vale. She was perfectly stable and in no danger of dying, not to mention that thanks to the anesthetic she could spend the entire flight sleeping.

Most of the students had gone home by then anyway. The Vytal festival was over and there had been no crowning ceremony for Mydnight or the rest of team AMBR due to the circumstances. The entire thing had been one giant mess. Liv and Mydnight had flown back to Vale with Ambur and school hadn't resumed yet. The students usually got a week off after the tournament's end but this year they had been given an additional week due to the special circumstances.

No parties were thrown for their victory either. There was an awful silence and a cloud of dread had settled over the atmosphere of the school. As soon as they had returned Ambur was checked into Vale's hospital and her parents had been keeping an eye on her as much as they could, at least one of them visiting their daughter daily. Liv had done her best to meet them but between taking care of her own issues and keeping an eye on Mydnight she had almost no free time.

She would try to keep Ambur updated but that proved very difficult. The doctors kept extending the timetable for how long she'd need to stay at the hospital because she couldn't stop hurting herself. Ambur had no tolerance for pain. She hadn't felt physical pain, other than her eye being slashed since she'd found her semblance as a young teenager. Whenever her meds would wear off, if she had any aura at the time, she'd end up clawing at her bandages and casts until her fingers would bleed and the hardened cloth wraps would start to tear. They had had to redo the casts on her legs multiple times now and post a nurse at her door at all hours of the night to make sure she didn't run out of medication anymore.

She'd been put on a feeding tube too and Liv could see that even after only a few weeks she was losing weight quickly. Hospital portions just weren't big enough to support a body like the Amazon's. They fed her enough to keep her from being hungry, not enough for a body-builder to keep their shape. Not to mention she couldn't go to the gym and her muscles had already noticeably begun to shrink. All the while Liv had had to hold herself together and keep an eye on Ambur's self-destructing partner.

The wolf was a mess.

She'd caught him stumbling around town more than once already, drunk off his ass and shouting at people who looked at him funny. Or didn't look at him at all. Vale was a small city compared to the likes of Mistral and Atlas and Mantle. Everyone knew everyone unless they avoided people. Mydnight decidedly did not know everybody but now, everyone knew him.

Bars would kick him out and he'd have to find a new haunt for the next week until eventually, he would run out of bartenders to trick into thinking he was of age. He nearly was, of course, only a year off, and he looked the part at least but eventually, he'd be so belligerent that it didn't matter if they believed him or not.

She'd use her scroll to track him down and find him passed out on street corners or on park benches and she'd have to drag him back to school. At least once in a while, he was still awake and she could simply order him to go back to the school and go to bed and she wouldn't have to try and carry him.

It wasn't like she didn't get it though. She understood all too well why he was doing the things he was doing but that didn't make it okay.

"Pppfffffff," she heard come through her scroll loudly and she had to rip her ear away from the speaker for a moment. "Iunno...theesssaaaaa…" he paused. "Biirrrrrrrdddd on the door," he slurred and she shook her head. Not a lot of help.

"Look just….stay there and don't do anything stupid I'll be right there," she sighed before she ended the call. She was about to stuff her scroll back into her pocket but was surprised to find a text waiting for her from Ambur.

'Do you know where Mydnight is?' It read and Liv had to decide if she was going to lie or not. This had become a common game that she now had to play with her best friend on almost a daily basis. To lie or not to lie. If she didn't lie then Ambur would spend more of her time worrying about Mydnight than she would about herself. If she did lie...then she was lying to Ambur and that hurt far more than finding Mydnight passed out in the gutter every night.

'Yeah I'm going to meet him now,' she typed back, nondescript.

'How have you guys been?'

Liv sighed loudly as she glanced up at the buildings lining the street. No birds to speak of. 'He's...taking this pretty hard.' She had kept her mouth shut this long about Mydnight drinking problem...what was one more night? 'He misses you,' she sent in a separate message.

'Are you sure that you've got him? I can ask Qrow to keep an eye on him too...I feel bad for making you do this.'

'I got it,' she sent back quickly.

'Thank you,' was all she got back before she checked Mydnight's scroll's beacon again and stopped. She looked across the street and smacked herself in the face.

"Bird on the fucking door," she grumbled. There was a red-eyed crow perched on the door handle and as Liv approached its head whirled around to look for people in the street. There were none and within moments the crow had hopped down to the sidewalk and hopped out of sight of the front window of the bar. Smoke poured off of it as it's formed shifted into that of Qrow. "What are you doing out here?"

"Keeping an eye on him," Qrow said. She had scarcely seen Qrow lately but with her newfound experience, she could easily tell he was drunk too. Mydnight had been avoiding his mentor like the plague since Ambur's accident and had refused to talk to him at all. Instead, they each spent their nights in separate bars drowning themselves in their woes.

"Why aren't you in there WITH him? God, you're both acting like fucking children," she huffed as she pushed past him. Their shoulders knocked together and Qrow actually stumbled backward a little out of her way. When Liv yanked the door to the bar open she was treated to the stench of alcohol and mistakes. Heads of older drunken men turned and stayed fixed on her as she strutted through the bar. The only head that didn't turn, of course, was the one boy she was here to collect.

"Hey," she said she grabbed the shoulder of Mydnight's coat and forced him to look around at her. He nearly fell backward out of his seat, he was so off-balance. He'd been leaning heavily on the bar in front of him to keep himself up but now she had to push on his back to keep him from falling on her. "How many times do I have to tell you to cut the shit before you stop doing this?!" She yelled into his face and he barely reacted.

He was so far gone she couldn't believe he was still conscious. His face was red and his eyes were so unfocussed she doubted he could even tell who she was at first glance. "Come on," she said she lifted his arm over her shoulder and brought him to his feet.

"Yo he hasn't paid," the bartender barked at her before she stopped and reached into her back pocket for her wallet. She pulled out a few larger bills and dumped them on the counter before he could even count and they were out the door. Qrow was gone. She figured he had wandered off or that he was on a rooftop nearby watching them but she didn't care.

The pair walked in silence for a long time and at first, Liv didn't really know where she was leading him. Part of her wanted to haul Mydnight in front of Ambur for her to see the state he was in but the other just wanted to get him back to the dorms so this night could be over.

"You both need to talk to each other Mydnight this is getting ridiculous," she grunted as she hauled him down the sidewalk.

"Yes Mom," he grumbled in his drunken stupor and Liv jabbed her elbow into his ribs. "Ow! Fuck Liv what the hell?" He said a little more coherently as he reached over and started to rub his hand into the spot she'd hit.

"No no, you don't get to ask me what the hell. I'm the one stuck babysitting a twenty-year-old man who's acting like a child and getting blackout wasted every night of the week."

"Well, what the fuck else should I be doing exactly?" He was coming down. Maybe he had stopped drinking a while ago and had actually planned to sober up and walk himself home? Doubtful.

"Oh, I don't know...maybe talking about your problems? That sounds pretty great," Liv huffed but she felt him shove his way off of her. She let him go and looked around. They were in an empty parking lot and the only lights around were the lamp posts around the lot and a convenience store in the distance. She turned back to watch him stumbling for a moment before he rests his hands on his knees and hunched over. "Seriously Mydnight you need to-" she began before she heard him take a long and sharp breath.

"Need to what?!" He yelled at her and she actually flinched. "What do I need to do?!" She took one step backward and froze. He'd never reacted this way so far when she'd scolded him. He'd just taken the berating quietly. "Tell me what you need me to do! Do I Need to just," he stopped, having to take another deep breath. "Just get over it?!" Liv felt her resolve begin to disappear as she saw his hands and shoulders trembling.

"No Mydnight I ju-"

"They were everything I had!" He screamed. His knees gave in and fell forward onto them on the tar of the lot. His vision remained on the ground but in the dimly lit lot, she thought he was...crying. She'd never seen or even heard of Mydnight crying before. "He was the only friend I ever had. And he gave his life to save the girl I love," he shouted up at her and their eyes finally met. He was definitely crying and Liv felt her throat closing and drying up quickly. What was she supposed to say?

"How am I supposed to feel about that?!" He yelled again. "If I only got to keep one of them then shouldn't I be happy that it was her?! Shouldn't I feel relieved that she lived?!" He choked the words out and Liv could feel tears welling in her own eyes. "Instead...every time I close my eyes I see...that mangled...MESS," he spat out and Liv couldn't help but see another mangled body in her mind.

She knew how he felt but how was she supposed to make him feel better. There had to be a right string of words to tell him that would ease his pain but...there weren't. She couldn't make this go away without ordering him to forget it and she refused to do that.

She walked to him slowly and when she made it to him she crouched down before him and took his hands in hers. Their eyes met and Liv couldn't hold her tears back any longer. His bright golden eyes were soaked and distorted with tears. "I'm sorry Mydnight," she sobbed. "I don't know how to do this okay?" She said loudly. "I don't know how to make you feel better and I'm sorry for that but this isn't helping!" She pleaded. "What would Ambur think if she knew that this was happening every night?"

His vision dropped to the pavement again and Liv's hands shot up to his cheeks to lift his face back up. "I'm not trying to be a jerk Mydnight please just tell me that you know that," she sobbed.

The wolf boy nodded before he spoke. "Yeah I know," he breathed quietly.

"Ambur asked me to watch out for you while she's recovering so that's what I'm gonna do...no matter how hard you make it for me to be here I am going to be here for you...to pull you out of whatever bar or ditch you stumble into until she's better. So please," she stressed as she pulled him forward and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck. His face pressed into her chest and she rests her head on top of his. "Please just talk to me. You're not the only one who feels alone," she choked out as the pair continued to shed tears onto each other.

Eventually, she felt his arms go around her as well and his fingertips pressed into her back gently as he held her. "How is she," he sighed quietly. She felt his hot breath on her chest and shivered at the sensation.

"Have you...not talked to her at all?"

"I've texted her a few times but...I'm afraid most of them were drunken ramblings that didn't make much sense," he sniffled as he tried to stop crying.

"Mydnight," she sighed. "She's awake right now if...you want to go see her. I'm sure she'd appreciate it. Drunk or not."

"I don't know...I," he began but he felt Liv run her fingers through his hair and begin to gently scratch behind his ears.

"Trust me okay? If you really haven't seen her then that explains why she's been down so much lately. You need to face your problems Mydnight…"

"...Okay," he confirmed before she let him go and stood. She held her hand down to him and pulled him to his feet when he accepted. She helped him steady himself before the pair began to walk, each wiping their faces in their clothing.

Liv led him down the sidewalks of Vale toward Ambur's parent's house. It was quiet and there weren't many people around it. It was a bit late to be showing up unannounced, especially with her parent's home but...he needed this. Liv knew that Mydnight needed this to work through his issues or he was never going to get any better.

'Hey, I'm bringing Mydnight to come see you. Is that cool?' she sent the text with a little hesitation but she knew Ambur would never resist.

'I'll let my parents know,' Ambur texted her back before another message popped up. 'Thank you Liv,' it read and she felt a wave of relief wash over her.

When the pair finally reached the house out on the edge of the city they could see lights on all through the house as if they were waiting for them. This was pretty shocking considering how late it was. Liv figured they would leave one or two and go back to sleep. Liv had been over their house before after all and she knew her way up to Ambur's room. However, as they reached the front steps she felt Mydnight stop walking beside her. She turned back once she was up the stairs to find him taking long and deep gulps of the cool night air and rubbing his hands all over his face.

"You okay?" She asked. "Still drunk?"

"Sshhhhh," he hushed her quickly before looking through their windows.

"What? You afraid her parents will notice?" Liv asked quietly and he lowered his vision to the ground in front of him.

"Wouldn't be a very good first impression would it?" He mumbled and Liv thought she may have heard him wrong.

"You...you haven't met them yet?" She asked. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"No I haven't and this would be a really shitty way to do it wouldn't it?"

"How have you not met them yet? You live in the same town and have been partners for a year and a half! Not to mention you've been dating for like two months!" Liv half yelled and half-whispered as she stepped down from the stairs back to his side. She slipped her hand into his and started to lead him up the stairs.

"I've been nervous alright!" He said back at a similar tone and volume. "What if they don't want me dating their daughter? What if they hate me?! I'm not some nice and prim and proper human boy Liv," he struggled to say as she dragged him toward the door.

She stopped though and turned back to him. "You don't…" she began as she started to read deeper into his concerns. "You don't think Ambur told them you're a Faunus?" She asked blankly. "Why wouldn't she tell them that?"

He remained quiet though and she could tell he was doing his best to keep himself collected. He looked immensely uncomfortable. Liv had never seen Mydnight like this before. This was a night for firsts. He couldn't look up at her, he couldn't stand still and he couldn't stop fidgeting. His fingers were pulling on the different buttonholes that ran up his long coat. 'He really is nervous about this…' Liv thought to herself. 'He really wants to make a good impression…'

Before either of them could say anything though the door opened behind them and before she could react a figure was already past her. The flash of white hair was all she saw before she spun and found the woman's arms around Mydnight's shoulders. His face was bright red and his tail had puffed out from the surprise. He must not have heard them behind the door because of the alcohol.

Ambur's mother wasn't quite as tall as she was but Liv had learned when they'd met exactly where her looks came from. She didn't look much like her dad, who lingered in the doorway, at all. Her white hair was a much more dull shade than Ambur's but she was nearly as tall as her daughter. Her figure was equally impressive despite not being muscled like her daughters was. She was a beautiful woman and Liv had found herself nearly more jealous of Ambur's mother than of Ambur herself. At this time of night, all she seemed to have on was a nightgown and Liv thought that that probably factored into how flustered Mydnight seemed to be.

Her father had darker black hair and it was cut short. Liv had figured that that had been Ambur's inspiration for dying her own hair black when they'd first met. He was actually a little shorter than Ambur's mother was and he wasn't built up. He had the look of a working man though.

"Thank you," were the first words that blubbered out of Ambur's mother's lips. She was already crying. Her arms were around Mydnight's back and were dug into his shoulder blades while he stood in stunned silence, looking over at the side of her head. Her face was buried in his neck and he could feel her crying. Had she been waiting for this? Had they heard everything Mydnight had said on the porch?

This probably wasn't how they'd imagined meeting their daughter's first boyfriend but all Liv could do was smile. "Thank you so much for saving her," she sobbed in such a soft voice that Mydnight could hardly believe it was coming from someone who looked so much like Ambur. Her tone was so delicate and caring and she'd never met him before now. How much had Ambur told them about him exactly?

After a moment though he felt her suck in a breath as she looked over his shoulder. She must have caught sight of his puffed-up tail. "I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I didn't mean to surprise you," she started to take a step backward before she felt Mydnight's arms go around her and pull her back to him. She gasped a little and Liv nearly jumped to stop him but stopped when she heard him begin to cry with her.

"I'm sorry I didn't do a better job," he exhaled shakily.

Liv saw the older woman's shoulders relax as she realized he was just hugging her back. She saw his tail drop and begin to gently shift back and forth under the tails of his coat. She put her arms back around him and cradled his head in her shoulder, running her fingers through his black and grey hair.

"You did your best," she whispered to him softly. "And your best got our daughter home to us," she choked out. "And we could never repay you for it."

After a few moments, they let go of each other but she slipped her hand into his. "Ambur is in her room, come on," she smiled gently. Mydnight couldn't get over how similar their faces were. She looked just like Ambur except with a few small wrinkles around the edges of her eyes. Other than that they were practically spitting images of each other.

Mydnight smiled shyly and nodded his head as they passed by Ambur's father. The older man pat him on the shoulder silently as he went in and smiled back.

He was led through the kitchen and down a hallway to her door with Liv right behind him and when she stopped Ambur's mother knocked on the door. "Ambur, you still up?"

"Yeah," they heard in return and her mother opened her door. They found Ambur sitting up in her bed with the blankets pulled up over her. She was leaning back against the headboard and she had her scroll beside her in the mess of blankets. "Hey," she breathed out cautiously.

"I'll give you two a while alright?" Liv said from behind them and nudged her fingers into Mydnight's back. He stumbled a little into the room before she and Ambur's mother retreated and shut the door.

"...Hey," he finally responded quietly. Ambur couldn't help but notice that he was taking in the sights of her bedroom. She wasn't sure if that was because of his curious nature or if it was because…

"Are you okay?" She asked.

He snorted a little through his nose as his eyes dropped to the floor. "I should be asking you that…"

"Hey," she said as she sat up a little. "I'm okay Mydnight. I'm alive okay...I'm here...I've been right here for a month and...I was…"

"You were hoping that...I'd handle it better than this…" he sighed through gritted teeth.

"No I…" she started but couldn't find the words to finish her statement.

"It's okay you don't...have to pretend I'm wrong…"

"Myd," she croaked as she balled her fists and tried to bottle up her tears.

"I've been doing it again...you can say it…" he said softly and she felt one of her tears escape her eyes.

"Look at me," she choked out and saw his ears droop a little at her words. "Please Mydnight just look at me," she begged him and finally, his eyes met hers and she found that he was crying too. "I thought we already had this talk," she sobbed.

"We did and...I'm sorry…"

"Stop apologizing to me!" She cried loudly and Mydnight could swear he heard Liv and Mrs. Magnaria hold their breath in the hallway. She brought an arm up to her face and wiped her tears into it while she tried to calm down. "I didn't mean to yell…"

"I know…"

"You have nothing to apologize for just...I'm the one who took him away from you," she choked out and looked down to her lap. "I'm the reason Z is…" she said before the tears began to fall from her cheeks and into the open palms of her hands.

"Wait you…" he said quickly as he reached out for her. "You don't really think…" he started but soon felt the need to drop the rest of the sentence and take a step toward her bed. He sat down and threw his arms around her tightly. They rest at her back and he guided her face into his chest. "Ambur it isn't your fault," he said incredulously.

She started to fight back though. She gripped his arms and tried to push him away but without much aura to spare she couldn't overpower him. He held tight and eventually she had to speak up. "Yes, it is! It's all my fault and now you're out there drowning yourself to try and forget the pain. You're avoiding me and Liv and trying not to be a burden to anybody!" She said hysterically.

"I didn't realize that...you thought that way I...I'm so-"

"Stop saying your sorry," she growled through gritted teeth and tears and she grabbed at the collar of his shirt. Her bright red eyes flashed up to meet his. He kept his grip on her though and felt his shirt beginning to soak through.

"Only if you do…" he breathed out. "You didn't do anything wrong and I refuse to let you think that you did...you did everything you could and I could never blame you for what happened…" he felt her breathing begin to slow in his grip and her grip on his shirt weaken. "He gave his life for yours and...yeah it sucks that he's gone but...I didn't want you to think I was avoiding you because I didn't want to see you I just…I didn't want you to see me…"

He felt her arms go around him as tight as they could as she tried to speak more through her tears. "I always want to see you, you…idiot…" she blubbered. "I would rather you be here and be miserable with me then be off in some bar...being miserable and alone."

"...Alright," he breathed. "I will be…"

"I…" she started before she sucked in a deep breath through her nose. "I love you Mydnight...please don't shut me out. Not again," she choked.

"I won't…" he said and this time, more than last time, he thought he really meant it. She'd asked him to not shut her out before the concert but at the time they had been in a very different place romantically speaking. He hadn't really known what he was promising her. This time he did.

"I love you too."