Author's Note:
I went through a few iterations for endings, and this was the one that shined the brightest. It does change the tone for the ending, and some might see it as better than the current one. I won't really post the other alt endings, but I felt that some people might enjoy this one. Hope you guys enjoy.
Beep…Beep…Beep
She woke up like this: the soft rhythmic chime of a machine that dragged her from the abyss, the echo of muffled clopping heels that faded in and out of existence tinging at her ears, and a blooming light, bleeding in from the edges of her vision, steadily and surely replacing the comforting darkness that once took hold. It was a soft, peaceful awakening, and she cracked open her eyes only to be welcomed by a coffered white ceiling with accompanying black trim accents. She palmed at her messy hair, blearily blinking away the shock of dark strands that rocked back into place. There was a incessant nagging at the back of her skull, like a universe of thoughts, emotions, lives had gone and died, leaving nothing but a buzzing that rattled in her head where the stars used to be.
She…How did she get here? Last she remembered…well she remembered her last mission in Vacuo, the heat, the inaccurate contracts, and Velvet setting up a room for her. But it was like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle, like someone had taken scissors to the timeline of events, snipping and shredding where they saw fit. Her memories played out in cuts, skipping from one place to the next, and no matter how hard she tried, it was unbelievably horrifying to gaze into the abyss that her mind responded with.
Was she an amnesiac? Had the Deathstalker's venom muddled her mind, a mutated strain of Grimm perhaps? Did Grimm even reproduce?
No. She knew they didn't, and yet she imposed impossibilities on her mind in the pursuit for what she had done last. Whatever she had done, the ache in her chest and the way her blood spun and rushed to the surface felt like it had meant something.
Upon the distant clobbering of boots against the floor, she flicked her eyes to the door, still rubbing at her head, trying to get the gears spinning, trying to get something worthwhile. A burst of yellow stumbled through the door, making Ruby cringe as the door slammed to the wall, a bout of snapping tinnitus ringing at her ears. Her heart picked up the pace as she stared at Yang, taking in the streaks of tears that carved their way down her face, and the crumpled state of her clothes, like she had just sprinted a mile in them. Her eyes were teetering red, more anguished than flaming, and she stared at Ruby like a mourner, like she had lost.
Her voice came out hoarse, untested, fragile. "Y-Yang…?"
A gasp of breath left her as she was enveloped in a crushing hug, and she felt…loss. Enveloping and crashing around her, roaring in the cries that Yang sobbed into her shoulder, echoing in the aftershocks of trembling hands that wrapped around her, torrential despair that caused her own eyes to burn as she wrapped Yang tightly in response, bathing in the enveloping comfort and providing her own.
Yang sobbed through impeding hiccups, burrowing her face into Ruby's hair as though she could hide from the shadow of disabling pain that stabbed at her chest. "She…she gave her memories Ruby, and I don't know what Ambrosius left behind. It's like she's not even Weiss anymore, like your memories and experiences were what made her our teammate, and without you she's…she's the heiress of the SDC. She's cold, uncaring, and…and NOT Weiss."
Her body jerked like an instinct, expecting…something that often followed, but there was nothing. A sea of questions pricked and stabbed at her brain, fighting for dominance, lunging for headspace. They ricocheted and bounced in the vacancy of her mind, screaming magnitudes of importance. But through the tumult, she heard one that floated serenely through the maelstrom, whispering with the softness of fresh snow.
It felt important, and so she started with a steeling breath.
"Who's Weiss?"