A dull and hollow throb is all Yang could feel throughout her body as the claws of the waking world grabbed and raked at her mind. Her head felt like it had been submerged in murky thick mud, and she had to put almost the equivalent amount of effort as if she was to slowly force her heavy lilac eyes open. The assault of noises and voices caused her head to pound, shooting a pulsing pain all the way around the inside of her skull as she let out the slightest groan of discomfort, wherever she was, it was busy the blonde thought to herself.
As her bleary eyes began to adjust she found herself in an odd and unfamiliar place, she turned her head slightly to look around, the soreness and stiffness in her body making it more of an effort than she'd like. A thin sheet was hung around the small bed space she was in, the tops of heads and slight peaks of arms could be seen running past quickly, the sound of people yelling for help or people in pain, it was all a bit nauseating for her so she decided to simply focus on the makeshift 'room' the blonde had found herself in.
Her eyes drifted slowly across the space, quickly spotting another bed across from her own, empty but seemingly recently used. More disturbing was the medical equipment beside it, as well as the remnants of what seemed to be bandages which sent shivers down the blonde's spine. She grimaced slightly, realizing as she looked down that the pricking sensation that had tingled her own muscles since she awoke was an IV pricked into her arm.
"Why am I here... What happened?"
The thoughts raced through her mind, a confused haze clouding her memory while she squinted in concentration, struggling to try and recall the events that led her here. She felt like she was a ship lost at sea without a lighthouse in a thick fog. The longer she spent the more her exhaustion ate away at her efforts like a famished animal, and it was clear she would have to give up for now as she realized she was only growing more lost by the moment.
Her eyes sluggishly scanned further, noticing someone sat in a chair by her bedside, in surprise and slight confusion she craned her neck sending a painful jolt down her spine to see. Yang lets out a soft gasp as she sees a familiar white haired girl seemingly sleeping next to her in an uncomfortable looking chair, which was a shocking realization to the blonde. Weiss looked... troubled in her sleep, her normally confident features seemingly marred with stress and exhaustion. The blonde's eyes gazed across her teammate's face, noticing immediately the puffy redness under her eyes, which only deepened her concern. Yang had never seen Weiss cry, the heiress's ability to hide her emotions was something Yang admired but also made her worry about the girl since she never quite knew how her teammate felt.
"Weiss? Last time I saw you was... When I ran after..."
The throbbing feeling in her head was quickly overshadowed with a nauseating mixture of fear and anxiety as the sickening recollection of what happened to her shattered its way back into her mind, sending fragments of the haze that obscured it far away. She swallowed that sick feeling, her body shaking rapidly and throat quickly growing bone dry as she slowly raised her right arm, only to find most of it gone. She could hardly make a sound as her eyes went wide at the sight of the bandaged stump, her vision going blurry as ghosts of that red glowing blade flashed before her. Her ragged breathing grew in intensity, her chest rising and falling loud and fast. She felt like she was being suffocated as the visions solidified into a vivid scene in her mind. She could swear she could see him, hear the sound of that blade slicing through the air at her, she felt paralyzed in place, desperately wanting to run and escape, only to fill with further despair as the memory of that pain echoed like a ghostly call in the remainder of her arm.
In the depths of her personal self-inflicted hell, a gentle snow white light cracked and shone through the illusion, two delicate hands rested on the blonde, one on her shoulder and one on the side of her head. The monstrous vision of that red and white mask that gripped her slowly faded, to that of two terrified and worried ice blue eyes, staring into her own. Weiss had broken the plague of visions that had rushed to the blonde only moments before.
"Yang? Yang it's okay, you're okay. Just breathe slowly, take a moment please. I promise you're okay."
The heiress's gentle whispers fell on the blonde's ears, her vision slowly beginning to soften and return to the reality before her. Yang's breathing remained labored and fast, she could feel her chest tighten painfully from the strain each time, a light sweat having broken across her shaking body. She took those icy eyes and held them in her gaze for as long as she could, her own lilac eyes mixing with them as her breathing ever so slowly steadied and her body's shuddering lowered in intensity, her hand instinctually clutching onto the heiress's outstretched arm. She held onto her friend partly as support, and partly as her own way of saying thanks while still stuck in her disorientated state, letting the tremors throughout her body slowly wither and die away.
Weiss slowly watched her friend's body go from stiff and panicked to calm, visibly seeing her muscles lose their tension and her shoulders relaxing, those lilac eyes finally closing for a few breaths. Weiss could only feel guilt well up inside her, she had been the only one to be mostly unharmed in this entire mess, however irrational she couldn't stop a thought from crossing her mind that she regrets it wasn't her. She knew Yang, maybe not the best, but they were friends if anything, and she knew Yang would happily do what she did not only for Blake, but for any of their team. The brawler would probably hate the idea of Weiss wanting to take her place, or taking pity on her.
Yang's breathing slowed and steadied, her eyes gradually opening to meet Weiss's once more, before she moved to sit up right from her hunched and vulnerable position. The blonde released her death grip as she realized she was still holding on to the girl. Weiss, thankfully unaffected by her unconscious grip, leaned away and took her hands with her, a light pink touch coming to her cheeks at the prolonged contact that she was not used to. She offered Yang what could only be the warmest smile the blonde had thought she'd ever seen from the ice queen. Yang was happy to have her there, but definitely put off by the emotions her friend was showing, it was so unlike her to not be reserved to a fault. Yang felt she was fairly good at reading people, but she felt she never knew what was truly on Weiss's mind. She could only pick out when the girl was using her obvious facade of caring less than she actually did, Yang knew the ice queen was genuinely one of the kindest people she had ever met in the right circumstances, despite the affectionate nickname Yang had given her.
"Better?" The heiress breathed, a tinge of anxiety and worry in the soft voice she used.
"Yeah, better." The blonde let out a long, relieved breath. "Thanks, Weiss, you okay?."
"Of course! It's hardly a trouble. Though, I'm more worried about how you are at the moment you brute."
Weiss let out a slight huff with her response, secretly it did fill the girl with a warm happiness that her friend clearly cared for her own well being. Not that she'd ever admit that out loud, but she was annoyed that the blonde wasn't focusing on herself. She looked to Yang for a response, only to be met with a heart wrenching, broken look from the usually sunny and cheerful girl. The brawler looked down at her lap for a few moments, refusing to meet her gaze before finally looking up at her, lips wavering as she uttered a question that both dodged her own, and brought Weiss a deep blood chilling dread that she'd have to answer so quickly.
"Where's Blake?"
The words tumbled from her mouth slowly, clear anxiety and desperation almost leaking from each word that Yang used as she asked, she was far from subtle about her worry about her teammate, clearly far more worried for the faunus's wellbeing than her own.
A look of guilt flashed across the heiress's face, tightening her features briefly before she tried to hide it, but Yang's eyes growing wide and her breathing picking up was all it took to tell Weiss that she had utterly failed in that department. She silently cursed herself for being unusually vulnerable at the moment, normally it would be so easy for her to mask herself, but right now after everything that had happened, and especially around Yang, it was difficult. She had even mentally prepared herself for this, but it still hurt like an uncomfortable grip suffocating her chest.
"W-Weiss? She, she was alive last I saw! I'm here so, she got me out of there right? She's okay, right?"
The worry only built up in the blonde's voice as she looked desperately at the heiress for an answer, the sound of Yang's voice beginning to break only causing the heiress to feel more guilt and pain well up from inside her.
"We... there was this guy, he stabbed her and I just lost it-"
"She's alive, Yang." Weiss cut in curtly, barely even able to force herself to say those words, but that seemed to be enough to cool her friend down temporarily as she saw the brawler's features soften slightly. Though she knew that wouldn't last for long, the look of relief that crept through Yang was so refreshing to her. She wanted to relish in that moment for as long as she could, like warm sunlight on her skin because she regretted what she'd have to do next.
"Thank gods... What about Ruby?"
Her tone was concerned but confused, Weiss guessed that Yang had no idea where her sister was during the entire fall, so it was understandable she'd be worried for their leader's safety too.
"Ruby's okay. Apparently just unconscious but mostly unharmed, I think your family took her back to your home."
She replied carefully, trying not to cause the ailing blonde any more stress than necessary when discussing the condition of her sister, not that she personally knew much more anyways. Yang's face started to rise at 'unconcious', much to Weiss's dismay, but by the time the heiress finished Yang seemed relieved that her sister was in good hands, and not in immediate life or death danger.
"Dad and uncle Qrow, she'll be fine then..."
Yang trailed off, looking around their makeshift 'hospital room' awkwardly for a few moments. She cautiously looked back at the heiress, trepidation creeping into her face and asking in a slightly more concerned tone.
"Um, Weiss, you never really answered... Where's Blake?"
"She.. She left Yang." Weiss tried to get it out as fast as she could, nearly cutting off the blonde a second time, her voice wavering. Guilt and sorrow welled up in her throat like a knot, as she held back the confused tears that stung at the edges of her eyes.
Yang's face dropped, a sight that almost broke Weiss for the second time since the blonde awoke, obvious confusion, hurt, and anger mixing into her features as her eyes seemed to dart around the room frantically.
"What do you mean she left?"
The question was posed with such a sadness tailing at the end, the girl's voice sounding defeated and confused, but with a small incidental sliver of venom. The girl's feelings of betrayal were already taking hold, as she was all too familiar with her partner doing this.
Weiss stammered to answer her, desperately wishing she could cure her own and her friend's pain, but she knew her answer would do neither as she hesitated before answering.
"She was here for a day, she healed up enough to walk, then declared she 'couldn't be with us anymore' and just... left us. Again."
Weiss gritted her teeth tightly through her explanation, a hint of betrayal and anger seeping into the last words of her sentence as she quietly seethed to herself, trying to prevent the sick feeling from welling up in her burning throat.
"We already worked through this, didn't we? She promised us..." The confused thought entered the heiress's mind, the betrayal stinging even more as the girl struggled to parse the differences between her sadness and anger at the faunus.
"Poor Yang..." The second thought entered as Weiss thought back to how close the two partners were, and while she didn't want to pity Yang, she had to admit that after what happened to the brawler she could only imagine the sheer amount of emotional damage that leaving her caused. Which probably only compounded with her current physical state, it made the heiress sick that Blake would do this to her friend. Yang and Blake were both her friends, but right now she only cared to console the one in front of her, she'd sort her own feelings on the faunus out later.
She shook her head in frustration, returning her attention to the brawler, only to be met with a sadder version of the same emotions splayed across the girl's conflicted and grieving face, the sight bringing the heiress unimaginable turmoil.
"Sun went after her, I don't know anything else... I'm so sorry Yang."
Yang sat in disbelief staring at the heiress, widened eyes and shocked face, pure sadness and betrayal causing her hands to shake as her breathing hitched in her throat. Tears welled up in her lilac eyes, the color growing dull as they began to streak down her cheeks, a single anguished and broken word tumbling from her lips.
"Why...?"
The half question and half cry was posed more to the blonde herself than it was to the heiress. Weiss leaned closer in response, trying to offer Yang some sort of solace, tears also stinging her eyes and she wrapped the blonde in a rare embrace from her. These sorts of situations were certainly not the heiress's specialty, but she wanted to do anything she could to aid and hopefully return that warm and happy person she called a friend.
Yang's arm wrapped around the girl, hand placed on the high of her back and clutching her tightly as the brawler pushed her face into the heiress's shoulder and cried. Heavy ragged breaths escaping the blonde while her body shuddered with each one. Weiss returned the hold in full while letting herself cry as well, her forehead softly placed softly on Yang's shoulder in return, the two grieving everything that happened in the last few days together openly. Emotions flowed out of the pair like dark gray rivers as they both tried to comfort each other however they could, the harsh and cold night sky as frigid and unforgiving as their feelings.