Chapter IX: Save her
Jaune, Ren and Nora were sitting together in the common room of their base, lazying around as they waited anxiously for Qrow and team RWBY to return from their recon mission. Surprisingly, Raven was also around; occupying the whole couch she had laid on, she'd been killing time with reading something on her Scroll. At one point, the aforementioned device buzzed in her hand, causing the three youngsters present in the room to look at Raven with a certain degree of unease, worried that the sound was heralding some bad news.
Forced to take a break from her read, Raven groaned and accepted the call. "Yes?" she asked coolly, then recoiled almost immediately as someone's voice blasted right into her ear. As she continued to listen to said voice — all the while keeping her Scroll at a safe distance from her eardrums — the deathly cold glare directed at the device slowly dissipated, changing into a frown, which in turn alarmed Jaune and Ren that something very bad had indeed happened.
Raven stood up and grabbed her mask from the nearby table, then ended the call and threw her Scroll onto the couch, swearing under her breath.
"Go get the doctors. Schnee got wounded," she commanded, putting on her helmet. Not waiting for anyone's response, Raven equipped her weapon and swung her sword out of its scabbard, opening a portal and taking a defensive stance in front of it, ready to slice any Grimm that would dare come through. "Move, whelp!" she growled, seeing that Jaune was still standing as he stood, the news having not sunk in just yet.
That was enough to snap him out of his confused state; not wasting any more time, Jaune ordered Ren and Nora to stay with Raven and back her up, while he himself took off running in the direction of the medical bay. The doctors didn't need much convincing to follow after him, and before long he was already on his way back, leading the medics to the common room.
Halfway there, they were met by the rest of the group, with Ruby marching in front, cradling Weiss in her arms as she carried her partner bridal-style. The sight gave Jaune a pause, the cold fingers of dread gripping him by his throat; even though he had never seen the proud heiress looking as frail and defenseless as in that very moment, it was seeing the slightly crazed look on Ruby's face that truly terrified him — she looked beyond terrible, as if she'd been pushed so far beyond her limits that she was about to break at any given moment. With pallid skin and bloody stains coloring the sleeves and the lower front of Ruby's once-beige shirt, she appeared like a tormented ghost of her former self.
"When did it happen?" one of the physicians questioned Ruby.
Yang, painfully aware that Ruby was quite unable to reply, answered in her sister's stead. "Around three minutes ago. We were out of the ship transmitter's range, so we had to run for a ways before we could call for evac."
While her teammates were answering the doctors' questions to the best of their ability, Ruby simply tagged along, not leaving Weiss' side for a single moment. Soon, their procession reached the door to the restricted area of the medical bay; using a nearby keypad to open the entrance, the medics went inside, taking the bed with Weiss along with them.
Ruby wanted to follow after her partner, but one of the doctors — Viena Grapes, a Huntress from the Atlesian branch of the Circle — blocked her way. "We can't let you in, miss Rose."
Ruby clenched her hands, her stupor suddenly gone as anger flared in her eyes. "What? She's my partner! I should be with her!" She tried to push past the doctor in her way, but Grapes did not relent, forcefully keeping Ruby at arm's length.
Ruby snarled at her, but miss Grapes didn't even flinch, simply ignoring it and staring Ruby right in the eye. "I know your partner is very important to you, but that's all the more reason why I can't allow your presence to potentially endanger miss Schnee's life." Ruby, who was heartbeats away from punching the doctor, lowered her fists, murder suddenly disappearing from her gaze. "Do you understand that?"
In that moment something cracked within Ruby, as if she lost that last thing that allowed her to stand upright when the weight of the world was bearing down on her. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks as she finally gave up, her head hung low, her shoulders slumping. Looking completely, utterly defeated, she began to tremble, as if the anger left her body with almost all of her remaining strength. "Save her. P-please, sa-ave her," she begged quietly, her voice weak and shaky.
Viena relaxed her stance a bit, giving the heartbroken girl a sympathetic look. "We'll try our best," with that promise, the doctor stepped through the doorway and hurried to join her colleagues.
WHAM. A moment after Doctor Grapes disappeared behind the closed door, Ruby slammed her fist against the wall, screaming at the top of her lungs. "GODS DAMN IT!"
Wailing like a wounded animal, she dropped to her knees, as if that final outburst had used up all the energy she had left. She became a quivering, crying mess kneeling on the floor, but she no longer cared that the others could see her like that; in that very moment, the only thing she gave a damn about was her partner's life, and the knowledge that Weiss might not survive the day only made it seem that her whole world was about to fall apart. She was terrified out of her mind, and no longer had the strength to pretend otherwise.
While everyone else was just staring at her, distressed, not knowing how to react to that perfect picture of pain and misery the usually unbroken girl was reduced to, Ren wasted no time and promptly walked to Ruby's side, touching her right shoulder.
Drained of all color, her body soon ceased to tremble, her sobs becoming less and less hysterical as seconds passed, her wails less intense, only to disappear completely before long. After a few moments, Ruby covered Ren's hand with her own, bloodied one, leaving crimson fingerprints on his skin as she gave him a grateful squeeze. "Thanks, Ren," she murmured. Her breathing was still a bit labored and hitched, but it appeared that Ren's Semblance managed to calm her down, at least to some degree.
"The Grimm will soon crawl all around this place," Qrow reminded, drawing everyone's attention away from Ruby. "We should prepare to fend 'em off."
"Can't we just start the engines and relocate?"
"Not without risking being attacked in the air while the Princess is still being patched up," Qrow replied to Jaune's question. He then glanced at Ruby, who was still kneeling on the floor, tended to by Ren. "Not the best idea, if you ask me."
Nora eagerly popped her knuckles, with an uncharacteristically serious, vindictive gleam in her eye. "Field battle it is, then."
Yang, however, was not sold on the idea. "And then what? Keep killing the bastards until they stop coming?" Arms crossed, she gave her uncle a disagreeing look. "That didn't work all too well the last time we tried it, Qrow."
Before Qrow could respond to that objection, Ruby's voice, a bit hoarse from crying, did that in his stead, catching everyone off their guard. "This time we'll have fire support from the ship. The guns should be able to keep the sky clear for us, and to thin the ranks of the Grimm before they reach our position." Having already gotten up from her knees, Ruby started to slowly walk towards the rest of the group; smudges of crimson were smeared below her eyes like a warpaint made of blood, created when she'd tried to dry off her tears. Color had been returned to her features as Ren was no longer keeping her under the effect of his Semblance; still, he remained at the ready, following a few steps behind Ruby, prepared to use his ability once again if the need arose.
"What she said, essentially," Qrow agreed, gesturing with his head towards Ruby. He glanced at Raven, quirking one of his eyebrows, as if asking her a question; when his sister rolled her eyes and gave him a stiff nod in response, he continued. "That, and the fact that eight is more than five."
"Seven," Ruby corrected him. "Blake is low on Aura; she's staying inside."
To say that the Huntress in question didn't like her leader's call would be a most severe understatement. "What?! No! I can still fight, Ruby!"
Having none of that, Ruby crossed the distance between her and Blake in a heartbeat, grabbing Blake's head with both of her hands and pulling it so close that their noses almost touched. "Blake, look at me," she uttered through her teeth, looking uncharacteristically fragile and desperate, as if she was about to crumble if pushed just a little bit further. "Weiss almost got killed today. I can't risk you getting hurt too, understood? I can't."
At first Blake was tempted to argue back, but, hearing the crack in Ruby's voice, she relented, her scowl softening into a far more compassionate expression. "Understood."
A tired sigh made its way past Ruby's lips and she let go of her friend's head, burying her face in Blake's shoulder. The other, not really knowing what else to do, wordlessly wrapped her arms around Ruby.
"It's not like you can't help us from inside," Qrow said, causing Blake's cat ears to snap to attention. "Just go and grab one of the mounted guns on the upper deck. The more firepower we have, the better."
It was quite easy to tell that it was not what Blake had hoped for, but, nonetheless, she ran off to do exactly what Qrow had advised.
In the meanwhile, the rest of the group started preparing for the fight — restocking on ammo, examining their weapons, warming up and so on. While they were getting ready for combat, the usually silent ship was put on high alert, echoing with excited voices, shouted orders and the sound of crew members running to their battle stations; among all of that ruckus, Oscar showed up in the armory, declaring that he'd help the group out in the field. No one argued against his participation, and he was welcome to join their party of seven.
While stretching before combat, Jaune observed Ruby as she was replenishing her supply of ammunition. To his surprise, she had been able to collect herself and fully focus on the task at hand, each of her movements quick, deft, and deliberate, completely devoid of hesitation. Once she was done with ammo — having picked mostly Gravity and highly explosive Fire Dust rounds — she unfolded Crescent Rose into its full form and took a few moments to check if everything was in order. In the meantime, Jaune looked at the rest of the group, watching as they were finishing their own preparations.
"Jaune?" Hearing his name, Jaune once again turned in Ruby's direction, only to be faced with her back. "The Grimm are drawn to negative emotions, right?"
He blinked, a bit taken aback. It didn't appear that it had been a rhetorical question, as Ruby seemed to be awaiting his response, but he just couldn't understand why Ruby would ask him that, as she obviously knew the answer. "Uh... yeah?"
"Good," she said, her voice so eerily quiet and calm that it gave Jaune the chills. A loud clank could be heard as she pulled the bolt handle of Crescent Rose with quite a bit more force and purpose than usual, loading a bullet into the barrel chamber of her HCSS. When she turned her head to face Jaune, he saw that her irises burned with a brilliant, white flame, emitting thin wisps of silvery smoke. She looked almost otherworldly, her glowing eyes accentuated with blood that stood in stark contrast with her pale complexion — a wraith-like spirit of vengeance, wielding the scythe of Death itself in her blood-soaked hands. "Let them fucking come."
While dust was still settling on the battlefield, the group of seven Huntsmen and Huntresses gathered together in front of their airship, catching their breaths and looking around, examining the work of their hands.
Ruby did not join them, having not moved anywhere ever since the guns had fallen silent; with the hood of her cloak put up, she had simply sat on the ground right where she stood: in the middle of a field littered with craters and pillars of thick, black smoke that marked the places where some more powerful Grimm had been felled. She was so different from the way she'd been a mere minute ago — the fury that had been driving her onwards abandoned her, leaving her weak, pitiful and utterly lost, making her hug her own knees in search for some semblance of comfort.
"Well... that was a bit excessive," Ren stated with a small frown on his forehead, his eyes fixed on Ruby. In the meanwhile, the forcefield that had been surrounding their ship during the battle shimmered briefly and disappeared, revealing that Blake was already outside, heading their way.
"Yeah..." Jaune agreed with Ren wholeheartedly, also turning his gaze towards the girl sitting on the ground a few dozen yards away from the rest of the group. It was worrying, seeing Ruby like that — both her fury and her dread were completely foreign, something he had never seen in her before, and both of these things filled him with concern. "Made it easier for us to take that Goliath down, though."
"And it sure earned her some badass points," Nora added.
Yang, however, seemed to not share Nora's enthusiasm. "Excessive? Excessive?!" she repeated after Ren, practically fuming, then furiously pointed her finger at her younger sister and started screaming. "That idiot could've gotten herself killed! First she tells Blake to sit on her ass instead of fighting, then she pulls shit like that? Fuckin' hypocrite!"
Qrow let out a short laugh. "Like you're the one to talk about anger management issues, Firecracker." Nonetheless, he still had to give the credit where it was due; Yang was right — Ruby had been plain reckless during the fight when it came down to her personal safety, even if one let the incident with ramming that Goliath slip. "You do have a point, though..."
Yang snorted, her eyes red, giving him a 'you think?' kind of look accompanied by a sardonic smile; turning away from Qrow, she began marching in Ruby's direction, intent on giving the brat an earful, but was quickly stopped by Blake, who caught up with her and grabbed her wrist.
Not deterred by the angry glare she was given, Blake did not let go of Yang's hand. "I think you should give Ruby some time."
After a brief moment, Yang's irises regained their usual, lilac hue and she relaxed a bit, taking a deep breath. She knew that Blake was right, and that it really was not the best time to yell at Ruby — even if the idiot had almost given her a heart attack.
"Yeah... listen to your girlfriend, kiddo," Qrow said, then turned to look at the rest of their group and pointed with his head in the direction of their ship. "Head back inside. Ren and I will keep an eye on Ruby."
If Ren did mind the fact that Qrow hadn't asked for his opinion before 'volunteering' him to stay, he didn't let it show. Not saying a word, he simply sat on the ground and pressed his hand to the earth; a ways further away, the redness of Ruby's cloak lost some of its usual intensity, her emotions not dulled, simply hidden to not attract more Grimm.
And so, people slowly began retreating back to the ship, some — like Yang — more reluctantly than others. Raven went away only after everyone else was already inside, watching Ruby for a while with a complex, almost wistful look on her face before she, too, disappeared within the base, leaving Ren and Qrow alone as they looked after the heartbroken girl.
Blake, Yang and the two members of team JNR waited in the mess hall for about quarter of an hour before they were joined by the trio that stayed outside. Ruby was the last one to enter the room, looking emotionally spent and a bit shell-shocked, with a blank expression on her face — a far cry from her usual, bright self. In fact, it seemed that she didn't even register the presence of the rest of the group until the moment when Blake called her name, telling her that she probably should clean herself up. Ruby, prompted by her teammate's remark, looked down at her hands and stared at them for a while, as if she just now remembered they were covered in Weiss's blood.
Seeing that Ruby began to tremble, Yang, forgetting all about her temptation to scold her sibling, immediately got up from her seat and rushed towards her, enveloping her baby sister in a loving hug.
Before long, there were only five people remaining in the room — Raven and Oscar had not been around to begin with, having walked off to Dust knows where once the battle had ended, and Yang — not wanting to leave her alone — had gone with Ruby to the bathroom. Ren began preparing dinner, and for a long while the sounds of him moving about the kitchen were virtually the only thing to be heard in the canteen. Eventually, Jaune decided to seize the opportunity that Ruby was not around and voiced the question that had been on his mind for a while now, also hoping to get rid of the tense silence that had descended upon the room.
"So... how did that happen?"
Blake complied, if a bit grudgingly, summarizing the whole story for those who hadn't been present to see it. She told them how their squad had accomplished most of the objectives of their sortie without much of an issue, and how it wasn't until after they had almost reached their penultimate checkpoint when things started to go awry. It all had begun with a pack of smaller Grimm — a bit more numerous than the ones they had encountered on their way there, but not enough to pose any problem. It hadn't been long until the reinforcements had come, however, and while their situation had still seemed fairly feasible at first, soon enough their party of five had found themselves in a trap, surrounded by all kinds of Grimm. Nonetheless, they still had made the mistake of deciding to stay and fight — like frogs waiting to get boiled.
They had quickly realized that they'd vastly underestimated their enemy's numbers, but while the fighting had been dragging on for far longer than they'd expected, they somehow had been able to stand their ground — mostly thanks to Weiss, who'd been using her glyphs to make sure the group wouldn't get overwhelmed by the advancing Creatures of Grimm. And then, when the things had finally started to look up and it seemed that the fight would soon be over — everything had gone straight to hell.
"The rest of the story you already know," Blake wrapped up with a heavy sigh.
After a few moments of silence that followed Blake's tale, Nora spoke up from her spot by the table. "A Beowolf, you say?" She thoughtfully scratched her cheek, pondering for a while. "Well, that's... pretty underwhelming," she eventually blurted out.
It didn't seem that there was any mockery behind her words — it was as if she simply had imagined that if Weiss was to go down, she'd do so with more of a bang. Probably a literal one, of a massive Dust explosion.
Her eyes widened slightly once she untimely realized that she had just said something really insensitive; covering her mouth with her hands, Nora shrunk a bit under the weight of all the disapproving glares she received — even Ren glanced up from his frying pan and gave her a stern look. Jaune facepalmed, simply glad that Ruby was not around to hear that remark, as such a scenario would've ended in breaking either Ruby's heart or Nora's bones.
"Might be," Qrow conceded dryly, leaning his back against a kitchen island, a fresh drink in his hand, "but there's a good chance that she'd be dead if it was anything much sturdier, as none of us would be able to get rid of it before it finished the job. And, if you ask me, a Huntress that is alive beats the one that went down in the 'blaze of glory'."
Seeing that Nora did not need a lecture, he unknitted his eyebrows, his gaze softening somewhat. "Don't be too hard on the Princess; even the best and most experienced of us make mistakes. All Grimm, even the seemingly weak ones, can be deadly in big enough numbers, especially so when you are tired or out of resources. It was a long fight, and she used up most of her Aura to make sure that we didn't get overrun." He looked down and inhaled deeply, staring contemplatively at the contents of his glass. "Almost all of it, seeing how that Beringel practically zero'd her with a single punch."
"Long story short, if anyone messed up, then it's us — we should've done a better job at protecting our caster." Blake hunched over, resting her elbows on her knees. "Hell, I could've killed that Beowolf before it attacked Weiss, it ran right past me... I just thought she'd handle it. But Weiss didn't even notice it until it was already too late." She drew an unsteady breath and covered her eyes with her hand; when she spoke again, she did so in a strained voice, not much louder than a whisper. "She must've hit her head. There's no way that Grimm would've gotten her otherwise."
"As said, we all make mistakes. It's not like I couldn't call retreat before the things got really ugly, objectives be damned." Pushing himself away from the counter, Qrow started walking towards the rest of the group. "In any case, pointing fingers at each other won't lead us anywhere, and it certainly won't cause Weiss to get better any quicker. She's alive, and let's leave it at that."
They tried to talk about something else after that, but the ensuing conversation was awkward at best and plain non-existent at worst — most of the time they were simply sitting in silence, hoping that someone else would try to rekindle the discussion, just so it could provide them with some temporary distraction before fizzling out once again. At some point, Qrow attempted to lighten the mood by telling the rest of the group a few stories about some of the most memorable screw-ups of his old team, but in the end it did not help much, only serving to remind everyone of what had transpired earlier that day. Blake tried reading, to no avail — even her favorite pastime was not able to occupy her attention for long, as the mental image of her friend and teammate lying on the operating table kept on reappearing in her mind, not allowing her to focus on anything. It was more or less like that for everyone: even though they all desperately wanted to find something that would make the wait slightly more bearable, nothing proved effective.
If the tension was bad before, it got even worse once Ruby and Yang returned from the bathroom. Yang looked completely exhausted by the time she crossed the doorstep, seemingly equally close to tears as she was close to punching something out of the sheer frustration, angry at her own powerlessness. Ruby, on the other hand... she was just not there, lost somewhere deep in the recesses of her own mind.
Her hands and cheeks were no longer covered with blood — although still a bit red after the intense scrubbing — and she wore a fresh change of clothes, but those were the only improvements about her state. Her eyes were bloodshot and a bit puffy, as if she had been crying just minutes prior, and her expression remained completely blank. Having plopped on a nearby couch, with her knees kept close to her chest, she was present among the others in body, but not in spirit; addressed directly, Ruby would give a response of a few words, only to shut herself off once again almost immediately. There was one upside to her detachment, if one could even call it 'an upside' — she was the only person in the room that didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest by the anxiety that permeated the air, as if not even noticing it.
While the dinner was a much welcome distraction once it arrived, it quickly became apparent that Yang and Blake did not have much of an appetite, both of them barely touching any of their food. Ruby was even worse — she didn't do as much as budge from her spot on the sofa. Eventually, Yang — who had been getting progressively more and more restless as time passed, to the point where her eyes began flaring red every now and then — stood up and headed towards the exit, unable to bear the heavy atmosphere for much longer. She stopped for a brief moment by the doorframe and turned to face the rest of the group.
"I need to vent. I'll be in the training room if someone needs me." She looked at Blake and gestured with her head towards the mess of girl sitting on the couch, silently asking Blake to keep an eye on Ruby. Met with a short nod, Yang cast one last, sad glance at her little sister and went on her way.
Time flew by uneventfully, bringing no change — minutes upon minutes of wait, drawing out into something that felt like an eternity. Once the dinner was over, no longer providing the group with an excuse to stay quiet, they once again tried talking... once again failing miserably. The ticking of the clock kept on reverberating in the mess hall as the six Huntsmen and Huntresses lingered in silence, powerless, unable to do anything — even focus — but await the news. Then, moments before Jaune could give in to his temptation to just start screaming, a short, blue-haired woman with dark complexion entered the room, causing everyone to snap to attention.
Before anyone else could even get up from their seat, Ruby — who practically hadn't moved at all ever since she had returned from the bathroom — was already standing right in front of Doctor Grapes, a trail of blood-red petals marking her way between the couch and the door. Suddenly filled with feverish energy, she grabbed the woman by both arms and looked at her pleadingly. "What about Weiss?" Ruby questioned, pain, desperation and fear clearly visible in her eyes.
The doctor cast a sweeping glance across the faces of the people that were approaching her, then returned her attention to Ruby. "Miss Schnee is still unconscious, but stable, at least for the time being. Thankfully, the Beowolf missed all vital organs; still, the blood loss combined with fatigue and blunt force trauma certainly did not do the patient any favors. While our prognosis is relatively optimistic, I'm afraid we cannot make any promises just yet — in miss Schnee's current, weakened state, potential complications might prove fatal."
Ruby's arms fell limply to her sides after she heard the last few words. Looking as if she was about to either faint or cry, she simply stared at the doctor in silence with her lips slightly parted, absolutely mortified by the prospect that had just been presented to her.
Not having anything else to offer but her understanding and sympathy, Viena simply tried to be as gentle as possible. "We did all we could at the moment. Now all that's left to do is to wait and hope the patient gets better; the next twenty-four hours will be decisive."
Her silver eyes glistening with unshed tears, Ruby bit her lower lip and let her gaze fall down for a brief while; then, mustering what energy she had left, she looked up at the doctor and said: "Can I see her?" A heartfelt, pitiful plea spoken in a weak voice.
The doctor sighed softly and nodded, gesturing with her hand for everyone to accompany her. No one refused the offer, following Doctor Grapes as she led them down the narrow corridors of their ship towards the medical bay, answering their questions as they walked; Ruby was marching in front, right next to the woman, listening to every single word the doctor said.
At some point, Jaune began lagging behind. "Go on ahead; someone has to go and tell Yang," he called, then ran off towards the place he knew he would find the person he was looking for.
He heard her well before entering the training room — Yang, even when perfectly calm, was never one to be quiet. Even less so when she was in the process of unloading her frustration on some innocent punching bag, throwing in angry shouts, grunts and curses between her bone crushing blows.
Jaune just watched the show for a while before eventually deciding it was time to get Yang's attention. "Uh, Yang...?"
Although she didn't turn to look at him, judging by the way her strikes picked up both in force and speed, it seemed that she was now aware of his presence; she rained her target with a flurry of punches interwoven with kicks, finishing the barrage with a blow so passionate Jaune was amazed that the chain attaching the bag to the floor did not snap from stress.
After delivering that last strike, Yang exhaled loudly and opened the fist that was still glued to the bag, then leaned in and rested her forehead against the leathery surface, breathing heavily.
Jaune took it as his cue to speak. "Did it help?"
Yang turned her head as if to reply, but then she hesitated and returned to her previous position, taking a while to reconsider her answer. "I don't even know anymore, to be honest. As much as it pisses me off, this time I can't just punch our problems in the face without only making them worse," she said eventually, a bit winded, then pushed herself away from the bag and began taking off the bandage wrapped around her left, organic hand. "Anyways, what's up? Got any news?"
"Yeah, the surgery is over. The rest of the gang is already with Weiss in the med bay."
Yang froze in place for a moment, her eyes widening, then promptly power-walked out of the room, tossing her bandage to the ground as she went. "Is she awake?" she questioned Jaune once he caught up with her; seeing that he just shook his head in response, Yang clenched her jaw, hastening her already fast pace even further.
Before long, the two of them reached the corridor with the entrance to the medical bay. As they came closer, they saw Oscar walking out of the infirmary, closing the door behind him; the moment he noticed Yang and Jaune, he gave them a weak smile, then, as they passed each other by, he patted Yang on her shoulder before carrying on. Once he was gone, Yang returned her attention to the entryway in front of her; placing her hand on the door handle, she took a deep breath and proceeded to enter the room, hoping that she was emotionally prepared for what she was about to see.
The rest of the group was already inside, talking in hushed voices. Ruby was sitting by the bedside, wrapped in Blake's side hug, holding Weiss' hand in her own and caressing it gently with her thumb. When Yang approached her teammates, Ruby briefly turned to look at her, showing a face tormented by sadness and worry — the poor girl seemed as if she wanted to cry but couldn't, no longer having any tears left to be shed.
The source of Ruby's sorrow was lying in bed in front of them, unconscious, the white mane set loose and sprawled across a pillow, framing a sickly pale face. It was harrowing, seeing Weiss like that, completely at the mercy of a plethora of machines meant to keep her alive, with her mouth and nose covered with a breathing mask. Still, as long as Weiss kept on fighting for them, her friends would also not lose their hope.
For a long while, no member of team RWBY said a word. They just remained as they were, nigh motionless, listening to the haunting melody of the hospital ventilator as if spellbound. Nothing — no sound, smell or sight — about the situation felt real, but no one listened to their wordless pleas to wake them up from their nightmare.
"She'll be alright," Yang said eventually, her words meant to assure not only the others, but also her own self.
Ruby bit her lower lip and drew in a shaky breath. She gave Weiss' hand a tender squeeze. "That's what I'm telling myself to keep going."
As hours passed, people started to file out from the med bay. Qrow was the first one to go, excusing himself with some business that needed attending to; he was soon followed by the whole of team JNR, as they all felt that their presence was intruding on their friends' privacy. Eventually, only Ruby, Blake and Yang remained by Weiss' side, keeping a silent watch over their wounded teammate, surrounded by white walls and quiet beeping of the machinery.
Inevitably, the time of the evening meal came and Jaune once again found himself marching down the narrow corridors of the ship, tasked with bringing the trio that had remained with Weiss back to the mess hall. The walk wasn't particularly long, and he soon arrived to the exact same scene he'd seen hours prior.
"Hi, guys. The food is ready."
Yang and Blake thanked him for the information and got up from their seats, their joints popping audibly as the two of them finally stretched their legs after long hours of sitting. Just as they got ready to go, they followed Jaune's gaze and realized that Ruby hadn't even moved an inch from her spot, still hugging her knees as she remained perched atop her chair.
"Ruby?" Blake called, a bit concerned.
"I'm not really hungry," Ruby replied flatly, not even turning her head to face Blake; whether she was lying or not, no one could tell.
A small frown marred Yang's forehead as she gave her younger sister a look of worry. "You sure, sis?"
Ruby met her eyes and nodded. "Yeah. I'll stay with Weiss."
Even though they believed Ruby was being honest in saying she had no appetite, neither Yang nor Blake liked the idea of leaving her alone in her current state. Still, after a brief while of wordless discussion, they gave up and decided to let her state, seemingly coming to a conclusion that forcing Ruby to go would be even worse. And so, casting one last look at the girl through the partially closed door, the two of them left along Jaune.
Once in the mess hall, they were greeted by Nora and Ren, who promptly led the arrivals to their seats before heading back to the kitchen; neither of them seemed surprised that Ruby hadn't showed up. The pair spent the following minute or so on wrapping up the prep work before eventually joining the rest of the group at the table.
For the most part, they ate in silence; only after everyone was done with their food and all the plates were put in the dishwasher did they actually try to strike up a conversation, with a bit more success than the last time.
The subject of Ruby was bound to come up at some point; as it turned out, Ren was the first to bring it up. "How is Ruby holding up?"
The smirk that appeared on Yang's lips was completely devoid of humor, not lifting the dark look in her eyes in the slightest. "As well as you'd expect her to deal with the fact that her partner and best friend might die before the next day ends. Meaning she's a mess." Sighing wearily, Yang rested her elbow on the table, supporting her forehead with her hand. "When we went to the bathroom, she threw up the moment she saw in the mirror just how much of Weiss' blood she had on her. Didn't stop crying until she was pretty much done with the shower. And I couldn't do shit about it."
"She's been always so strong for us. Taking everything in her stride, eyes ever facing forward. But now… I think she has finally reached her limit," Blake added sorrowfully, her animal ears drooping a bit.
"Yeah..." Yang groaned, then let her head fall onto the table with a soft thud. "Damn it."
The room fell quiet for a while. The silence lasted until Jaune spoke up, voicing the question that, going by the look on their faces, was on the minds of his entire team: "And what about you two?"
Yang lifted her head off the table, just enough to look at Jaune. "Honestly? I'm scared shitless. For Weiss. For us. I didn't like our odds even before today, but now..." Straightening her back a bit, she grimly shook her head, her gaze downcast. "Even if you ignore the situation we're in, Weiss is part of the family. It's... hard for us. Especially when Ruby is practically breaking at the seams at this point."
"Yeah... I've never seen her like that."
Yang nodded somberly. "Me neither. And that's the worst part." Sighing heavily, she turned her eyes in the direction the door, her thoughts flying towards their wounded friend. "I just hope Weiss will be alright. For all of our sakes."
Blake placed a hand on Yang's shoulder, mustering a soft smile when the other met her gaze. "She will. She has far too much pride to just die after being scratched by a mere Beowolf."
That got a short snort of laughter out of Yang, cheering her up a bit. "Sounds about right," she conceded, nuzzling up to Blake.
Before long, Blake and Yang excused themselves and left, heading back to the med bay. The moment they arrived in the corridor leading to the infirmary, however, they were met with a sight that made them stop dead in their tracks, both of them having a sense of growing unease — Ruby was outside the room, sitting on the floor right next to the entrance. Resting her chin on her knees, she stared numbly straight ahead, burning a hole in the opposite wall.
"What are you doing out here?" Yang questioned worriedly as she approached her sister. "Did something happen?"
A good few seconds had passed before Ruby opened her mouth to reply, her gaze still fixated at the same spot as before. "Weiss woke up for a moment. I called the doctors, and then they kicked me out and told me to wait outside." After saying that, she finally turned towards her teammates, her lower lip quivering slightly as she stared at them with a haunted look in her moist eyes. "She... I don't think she recognized m-me."
Blake dropped to one knee beside Ruby, placing a comforting hand upon the poor girl's shoulder. "I think it's normal, Ruby. She must be simply disoriented because of the meds, and because of everything that has happened to her." Despite her words, if one looked closely, they'd be able to tell that Blake, too, was scared by the news. "She'll be alright. We just need to give her some time."
The doctors allowed the girls inside about five minutes later; confronted with Blake's assumption, they affirmed that Weiss' confused state was indeed nothing alarming at that point — merely a side effect that should be attributed to her state and all the drugs in her system. Having silenced some of Ruby's worries, the physicians promptly walked away, leaving the trio alone with their wounded teammate, who had once again fallen asleep before her friends re-entered the infirmary.
It was some time after eleven in the evening when a low growl resounded in the room, telling everyone that Ruby's stomach had been neglected for far too long. For a while, Ruby tried acting as if nothing had happened, disregarding the protests of her own body, but Yang wouldn't have any of it.
"You really should just go and eat something, Rubes," she said firmly, looking her sister in the eye.
Ruby bit the inside of her cheek, fighting the call. It was quite clear that the hunger was beginning to get to her, but it seemed that she was still determined to stay. Nonetheless, Yang did understand Ruby's reluctance to leave — and was not above pulling at Ruby's heartstrings to get the girl to comply. "Weiss needs you to stay healthy, Ru. You won't help her much if you faint or starve to death."
Hit in the weak spot, Ruby's resolve began to waver, but did not crumble completely; seeing that she still needed a small push, Blake threw in her own two Lien. "We'll stay with Weiss while you're gone. Promise."
Ruby considered their words for a moment; finding no good basis to object, she sighed heavily and raised both of her hands in the air in a gesture of defeat. "Alright, alright. I'll go. Give me fifteen minutes." She stood up from her chair and made a few reluctant steps towards the exit; shooed away by Yang before she could change her mind, she looked one last time in the direction of the bed and walked outside, disappearing into the corridor.
Yang and Blake didn't talk much while Ruby was gone, simply watching over their friend. Nothing really changed about Weiss' state in the twenty minutes that followed; the expression on her face was about the only difference there was — her eyes moving beneath closed eyelids, she seemed troubled, as if she was searching for something in her dreams but couldn't find it. Neither of her teammates thought much of it, and, eventually, her restlessness came to an end; around the same time, Blake's cat ears perked up, turning towards the opened door with interest.
Taking notice of her partner's reaction, Yang risked a guess. "Ruby is coming?" When Blake hummed affirmatively, Yang got up from her seat and yawned, then proceeded to crack her neck. "Then I guess I'll get going now; it's getting late, and I seriously need a shower after all this shit. What about you?"
Her fingers intertwined behind her head, Blake stretched on the chair, arching her back. "Shower sounds nice, but... I think I'll stay here for a while longer."
Acknowledging Blake's decision with a small nod, Yang stepped closer to the bed and, smiling softly, looked at Weiss lying fast asleep under the blanket.
"You've really showed them today... maybe even a little bit too much, all things considered. I did like the creativity, though; that huge-ass sword made of flames was my favorite, I think — I mean, who would've thought our little Ice Princess could get so fiery in combat, right?" She chuckled under her breath at her own joke, imagining the reaction she'd get from Weiss if the girl was awake. As she watched her unconscious teammate for a spell, her smile slowly faded and gave way to melancholy; after a little while, she affectionately brushed away a stray lock of white hair from Weiss' forehead. "You did good, Weiss; have some rest, for now. Just remember that we all need you. That Ruby needs you."
Turning her attention towards the entrance, Yang finally noticed that the girl in question was standing at the threshold, leaning against the doorframe; the two sisters regarded each other for a while, lilac eyes meeting ones of silver, before Yang forced a lopsided smile and strolled towards Ruby, who, in turn, moved aside to let her pass. As she marched past her sister, Yang briefly grabbed Ruby's shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze.
"Good night, Ru," she said quietly and walked away, knowing all too well that the night would not be pleasant for any of them.
It was well past midnight when Jaune, passing by the med bay on his way to the sleeproom, noticed that the door to the patient's room was left slightly ajar. Taking a peek inside, he saw exactly what he'd thought he would see — Ruby was still within, keeping a lone watch over her wounded partner. She was sitting on a cushion placed on the floor by the bedside, resting her arms on the edge of Weiss' bed and using them as a pillow. While initially Jaune thought that Ruby simply fell asleep while the lights were still turned on, after a few moments he observed as Ruby lifted her head a bit and reached for her Scroll, then, once she checked something on its screen, dropped the device back onto the blanket and brought her hand to her mouth, stifling a long yawn.
Jaune pushed the door open and stepped inside. "You should get some rest," he spoke. Seeing that she didn't even stir, he called her name once again. "Ruby?"
"I'm staying here for the night."
"I'm not sure if it's..." he started to argue, but then stopped and sighed in surrender; though clearly tired, there was a hard, unrelenting note in Ruby's voice, making it clear to him that if he wanted for her to go to bed, he'd have to make her. "Should I turn the light off?" he offered, resigned.
Ruby gave him a fleeting glance before her eyes returned to observing Weiss. "Yeah. Thanks."
And so he flipped the switch, throwing the room into shadows. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness where the screens and LEDs of medical machinery were the only sources of light, he spent a brief while watching Ruby and Weiss, then backed away from the room.
"Have a good night, you two."
"Good night, Jaune." Ruby's words were half-hearted at best, but, given the circumstances, it was all anyone could ask for.
He partially closed the door, leaving it slightly ajar to let some light inside. Leaning against the wall by the entrance to the infirmary, he pulled out his Scroll, hoping that this time he'd be able to get in contact with the civilized world and check up on his family, who remained in the still besieged city of Vale. Sadly, he had no such luck — the accursed place their mission had led them to was both out of charts and out of range of the CCT System, and the closest support tower was apparently acting up. Disappointed, he took a while to once again go through the last few text messages from his parents and sisters, then, the moment he was about to walk away and head straight to bed, he heard the very last thing he expected to hear: a sad melody of a quiet, filled with emotion voice.
It's now or never
Don't surrender
We came too far to die
So claim your weapon
This ain't heaven
We came here now to fight
Ruby's singing was unpracticed and she had problems with pulling out some of the lower notes, but it didn't make her performance any less touching — the raw feelings poured into those verses made up for the imperfections, even when her voice began to crack.
All we have is now...
Came too far to die...
Claim your weapon now...
Came here now to fight...
Ruby fell silent for a few moments after her song had ended; when she spoke again, her words were nothing more than a quiet murmur, rendering Jaune unable to make any sense out of what he had heard. Still, he didn't have to know what exactly she was saying to realize that whatever it was, it was not meant for his ears, and so he silently retreated down the corridor, tactfully leaving the pair alone.
Within, tears were flowing freely down Ruby's face as she gazed at her partner's sleeping form, wistfully exploring Weiss' face bathed in a dim, reddish light. "I'd do anything to have you back," she whispered, bringing her hand to Weiss' cheek. "Come back to me, Weiss... ple-ease, just fight and come back to me-e."
Someone touched Ruby's shoulder and gave her a gentle shake, stirring her awake from her dreamless slumber. Still half asleep, Ruby lifted her surprisingly heavy head from its resting spot on the edge of Weiss' bed and attempted — with a somewhat moderate success — to focus her eyes on the individual that had prematurely ended her nap; vaguely remembering that there was only one person on board with dark blue hair, she figured that the slightly blurred face in front of her had to belong to Doctor Grapes.
"I'm sorry, miss Rose, but I need you to leave the room for now," the doctor said, smiling apologetically. "You will be allowed to return here once we are done."
Ruby just stared blankly at Viena for a second or two, her drowsy mind needing a moment to process what the woman had said. "Oh. Alright," she mumbled eventually, a small spark of understanding appearing in her eyes as she noticed two other people in white coats bustling around the room.
She rested her gaze on her sleeping friend for a while, taking in the image of Weiss' peaceful face. As her eyes strayed a bit lower, Ruby realized that her partner's hand was linked with hers; smiling softly at the sight, she carefully untangled her fingers from Weiss', then started preparing to get up from the floor. To her surprise, she found Yang's jacket lying on the ground beside her, having probably fallen off her back when Doctor Grapes had woken her up; putting it across her shoulder, Ruby stood up with a loud pop of her knees, then, stealing one more look at Weiss, reluctantly walked towards the exit.
She stopped by the door for a second, shooting Doctor Grapes a glance. "Take care of her, doc." With that, she left the room, closing the door as she crossed the threshold.
She stretched, raising her arms above her head and bending her back, a soft moan escaping her throat when she did so. Somehow, she felt even more tired than she had before dozing off, and, to make matters even worse, her whole body screamed at her in outrage for sleeping the way she had — not that it made her regret her decision to stay with Weiss for the night. Rubbing her sore neck, she checked the hour on her Scroll, then unhurriedly strolled in the direction of the mess hall; seeing that she was already late for breakfast, she did not think there was any harm in taking her time.
When she finally got to the canteen, Nora, Jaune, Oscar, and the two of her teammates were already munching on pancakes made by Ren, who was still in the kitchen, keeping the food coming. Qrow, apparently done with the breakfast, was lying on the couch, while Raven was nowhere to be seen.
"Morning," she greeted them groggily, then marched towards her sister and put Yang's jacket on the backrest of its owner's chair. "Thanks for the jacket, though I wasn't really cold."
Corners of Yang's mouth moved slightly upwards, but her weak smile didn't quite reach her lilac eyes, which were carefully examining Ruby's state. "Don't mention it." Yang, too, didn't seem like she'd had a good night's rest.
Followed by her sister's watchful gaze, Ruby went to the kitchen and busied herself with making her morning coffee — having gotten barely any shut eye that night, she felt that she desperately needed caffeine in her system if she was supposed to stay awake.
Back when she'd entered the room, Ruby had noticed that Jaune looked as if there was something on his mind, visibly bothering him; by the time she was adding sugar to her drink, he finally decided to voice his thoughts.
"Hey, guys... what are we going to do now?"
Ruby didn't even spare him a single look, idly stirring her coffee with a spoon. "Carry on with the plan — find Salem and kill her. It's not like we have any choice at this point," she said calmly, as if giving him an obvious answer.
"We could always retreat, you know."
Ruby snorted at that, pausing her prepwork and safely setting her drink on the countertop before turning towards Jaune. She gave him a sharp look, any signs of her previous drowsiness gone.
"And how is that alternative any better, pray tell?" she questioned cynically, clearly agitated. "All of our major cities are being sieged by Grimm as we speak. If we fall back now, there might not be any Remnant left to save before we get another shot at hunting Salem down. Everything we've done and lost, everything we've sacrificed — all of it would be completely. Fucking. Meaningless!" She raised her voice towards the end of her rant, following each of the final three words with a furious knock on the countertop. After a brief staredown, Ruby sighed heavily and let her gaze fall to the floor, seemingly somewhat ashamed of her loss of composure. She shook her head, then began to wipe the counter with a nearby rag, having accidentally spilled some of her coffee. "We can't leave, Jaune."
Blake gave her a somber nod of agreement. "And we can't wait for Weiss, either. We don't have enough time, and the longer we're in here, the more her life is in danger. So, whatever we are planning to do, we need to do it soon."
Although Yang shared her teammates' sentiments, she was clearly apprehensive of the prospect. "True, but... can we even pull that off without Weiss?"
Everyone gathered in the hall, sans Ruby, shared brief glances. Yang certainly had a point — even if one ignored the negative impact Weiss' current state had on all three of them and their performance, she was virtually the only person on their team who was capable of serious crowd control; while not as vital in combat against a few strong Grimm, her abilities were invaluable when facing off against a horde, as had been proven the day before.
Yang continued. "Most of our crowd control just got yeeted right out the window, and I don't think Salem is gonna fight us without a small army of Grimm backing her up. Not to mention all the fucks we'll need to cut down just to get to her."
"Uh... I believe I can help with that," Oscar chimed in shyly. "I'm not nearly as proficient in Dust manipulation as Weiss is, but I know a thing or two. Besides... well, you know," he said, awkwardly tapping his temple with his finger. Indeed, everyone did know what he had in mind — both literally and figuratively.
Blake gave him a long look, having some mixed feelings about that offer — on one hand, she couldn't deny that Oscar's presence would certainly be of help, but on the other, she was not particularly keen on the potential risk of losing Oz. "Are you sure?"
Oscar nodded. "Yeah... it's like Ruby said — we don't really have a choice. And I didn't come here with you to stand on the sidelines, either; seeing that I'm Ozpin's successor or whatever, getting rid of Salem is kinda my job." He rubbed his neck, sheepishly glancing to the side. "That, and Oz wouldn't shut up otherwise." Oscar paused for a while, as if listening to something, then exhaled tiredly and closed his eyelids.
With a brief flash of green light, Ozpin took control over Oscar's body. "In fact, I believe it's me who should be asking you that question — are you sure you want to take this risk?" Ozpin spoke with Oscar's voice as he looked at the people gathered in the room; his gaze lingered for a moment over Ruby, perched on the armrest of Qrow's couch, before carrying on.
"And you have, before we even came here," Ruby remarked stoically, taking lazy sips from her mug, as if there was nothing left to be discussed on her part.
"But is the answer the same?" Ozpin countered, but it did not make any impression on Ruby, who appeared to be determined to see that whole mess through despite — or perhaps because of — everything that had happened. In her eyes, the path that led over Salem's dead body was the only one that ensured Weiss' safety, and that was reason enough for her to not back out, no matter what dangers lay in wait.
While Yang shared her sister's sentiment, she was also afraid that they were about to bit more than they could possibly chew, essentially walking into their own grave. "Oz... do you still think we can defeat Salem in combat? Without Weiss to back us up?"
The whole room fell silent as Ozpin considered his answer, the tension hanging in the air; even Qrow sat up on his couch, looking attentively. "It'll be harder, of course... but yes. Salem's powers render the advantage of numbers void at best... and crippling at worst. Time will be of the essence, however — we'll need to be quick, lest we get overwhelmed by other Creatures of Grimm that will surely come to aid their mistress."
"But how are we even going to get to her?" Yang questioned. "She knows we're coming for her, and we won't do shit if she just sits comfortably in the middle of a swarm of Grimm."
Ozpin smiled wryly. "She'll let us. She wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to personally snuff the humanity's last hope, after all, especially after it dared to set a foot in her land." Everybody already knew where he was going with that and literally no one seemed to like it, but he continued regardless. "It'll be a trap, of course, but we'll just have to go with it. In any case, it's getting away that we should be worried about — not getting to her."
Everyone looked at each other, trying to assess what the rest of the group thought of the situation. When Yang met Blake's eyes, the two of them simply nodded at one another after a brief moment of consideration, then both turned towards Ruby and once again bobbed their heads, to which their leader responded with the same gesture. Before long, every person in the room expressed their readiness, with various degrees of hesitation — or lack thereof. None of them wanted to stay idle when the world was about to end; they would defeat Salem or die trying — for Remnant, for their friends and families, and for Weiss.
Yang turned towards Ozpin. "So, what do we do?"
After the impromptu war council had ended, team JNR tagged along when Ruby and her teammates, wanting to check up on Weiss, went to the medical bay. On their way to the patients room, they bumped into doctor Grapes and a few of her colleagues, who seemed to have a most passionate conversation. Not knowing what could've caused such a fervent debate, all six of them felt a sudden pang of unease.
Alarmed, Ruby ran to the blue-haired medic. "What's with the commotion? Did something happen?" She was practically starting to panic. "Is Weiss...?"
Before the girl could go further down that train of thought, Viena interrupted her, placing her hand on Ruby's shoulder and smiling good-naturedly. "She's quite alright. In fact, it's the rapid rate of her recovery that's the source of this heated discussion. In any case, we're convinced that miss Schnee's life is no longer in danger. It will be a while before the patient will be able to safely perform any strenuous activity, of course, but..." The doctor paused for a while, noticing the tears that started to trickle down Ruby's face. "Miss Rose?"
Ruby just stood still for a moment, covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes cloudy and unfocused. Then, she stumbled to the nearby wall and slumped down to the floor, her knees buckling under her weight as the tension that had been keeping her upright had left her system. Relieved beyond belief, Ruby cried freely and openly, too overwhelmed and ecstatic to care about any pretense. Her teammates knelt beside her; entwined in a group hug, the three of them stayed like that for a while, watched by their friends and doctors, who were all smiling at that much needed ray of hope. Eventually, the trio looked up and said their thanks to the doctors, who silently bowed their heads and then simply walked away, leaving both teams to their own devices.
For Ruby and the rest of them, that news was but a single thing to be happy about amidst a hurricane of worry, but it was precisely what they needed in their darkest hour — a lone star that gave them courage to dream of morning light.
Weiss was saved, and it gave them hope. And hope would make a whole world of difference.
Author's Note:
Jeesh, that was a long one. The damned thing just didn't stop coming, y'kno? And to think that I initially considered posting both this chapter and 'Ad Memoriam' together... silly me. What can I say — I'm abysmal at predicting the length of these updates. Seems my writing pace is getting better, at least, and it might further improve from this point onwards, as this chapter is the last one of the, uh, let's call it 'Beacon Arc'. Call it a hunch, but I think the following 'arc' will be easier for me to write.
So, yeah... I've been waiting for quite a long time to finally be able to write this one (pretty much ever since I first published this story), and I sure hope I managed to deliver it reasonably well. Shedding some more light at the exact circumstances of Weiss being wounded, showing you guys how the rest of the group coped with the situation, and so on... as such, I'm really curious what do you think of this update — whether or not you enjoyed it, if I was able to convey the feels and all that — and I'd love to hear your opinions and critique; believe me, I'm hyped every single time when I see a message titled "Review: After the storm" pop up in my mailbox, and these little things really tend to brighten my day.
As I mentioned in my previous A/N, I now have a Discord account. Should anyone be interested, the invite link to my Discord server ends with /NyfaacQ , while my nickname is Terkontar#1181 — feel free to drop in, whether you want to check on the progress of the next chapter, chat with me about the story, or to simply talk my ear off c: also, I kind of did promise myself to draw more often this year, which may or may not involve posting a lot of story-related drawings and sketches on my Discord server in the future.
Oh, right, before I forget: the lyrics of the song Ruby sings in this chapter are taken from "Claim your weapon" by Christian Reindl.
Lastly, I'd like to thank everyone who posted a review the last time around. See you all next chapter, and happy new year!