Hello hello!
This chapter doesn't have a bit of art to go with it, sorry! About to start a new job and everything is really busy for me at the moment!
I'll try to get one done for next week. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Weiss let out a deep sigh as she hopped over a fallen tree.
They had been walking for hours now without stopping. Their only "rest periods" were times 5
when someone picked up on the fact that they had slightly strayed off course so they could readjust and keep heading due north.
She was sick of walking. Something she had done every day for her whole life (that she could remember) and she hated it. Her feet and calves were sore, but the physical soreness wasn't even the worst thing.
It was that part of the reason her feet hurt was because of the slight wedges in her boots, and the fact that Winter had cautioned her against them before Weiss had left for Beacon. And while Winter was her idol, she had… Wanted the extra height they gave her, and had been prepared for any uncomfortableness they might bring.
That notion was shattered now, and she knew that Winter was going to be smarmy about it when Weiss returned home in properly supportive boots. She acted the professional military woman, but Weiss knew that she could be rather joking and smug when the situation called for it, and being able to tell her "I told you so" was likely one of those situations in Winter's mind.
But it could have been worse.
That was the only silver lining in this whole situation, but even admitting that was annoying. And that was because Arc was actually doing a really good job of guiding them through the wilderness.
Glancing up at the front of the group, she sees Ren nodding to something that Arc is saying before he darts off to their left, vanishing into the tree line. A few minutes later, Ren returns in a flash of movement and shakes his head, causing Arc to sigh.
She doesn't quite get how he can be having any amount of success, really. To make so much progress in so little time was impressive… Had she been too hard on him this whole time? She thought back to their first day, and how he hadn't even had his Aura unlocked.
All of those burgeoning considerations about her treatment of him died. Yes, he was slightly impressive in his capacity and enthusiasm to learn quickly, but he was still an absolute dunce whose enrollment was entirely because she activated his Aura… Yeah, no. She was right to be hard on him.
A soft snort of laughter escapes her and she shakes her head. It wasn't even that funny, but she'd take any opportunity to not focus on the calluses she would be forming on the bottoms of her feet by now. And they still had multiple days of walking to go…
"AH!"
Whatever she had been thinking of was immediately shoved to the side as a shout of pain erupted from in front of the group, where Ruby had been scouting for them.
She hadn't even realised that she was rocketing forward, using one of her Glyphs, by the time she was airborne, her instincts urging her forward.
Jaune saw Weiss dart forward using her Glyphs the instant Ruby yelled out, passing their group within moments. The others were only slightly behind her, having also kicked into gear as soon as the yell had echoed around them, just without the explosive speed Weiss' Glyphs gave her.
He weaved through some trees and used Crocea Flos to cut a low-hanging branch from his path. It battered against his chest as it fell but was rebuffed by his Aura with ease. His breathing was harder than it should have been for this level of exercise, but he knew that was just because he was stressed.
He logically knew that Ruby was tough, at the very least more skilled with her Aura and Weaponry than he was, and might ever be, but that didn't stop him from worrying about her. He'd seen enough of his sister's injuries while camping to know that they usually sucked, especially when so far away from a hospital.
The sound of Weiss' Glyphs springing to life eventually quieted down, and they entered a small clearing, seeing the red of Ruby's cloak and stopping just before her.
"Ruby! Are you okay?"
Ruby was face down on the ground with her arms stretched out in front of her, but Yang's panicked question roused the girl. Jaune could hear her sniffling as she rolled over slowly, wincing as she did so, and looked up at them with small tears in her eyes.
Yang was on her in an instant, wrapping Ruby up in a hug. "Are you alright? What happened?"
Ruby sniffed again, and answered her, her voice sounding slightly shaky from the pain, but Jaune could also tell that there was an undertone of frustration in her voice. "I think I dislocated my ankle… It got caught in that root over there and I kept going at almost top speed, and then I slammed into the ground…"
Jaune looked over at where Ruby was pointing and his eyes widened as he saw the root, and the ground around it, looking as if it had exploded. He knew Ruby was fast but how fast must she have been going to have done that?
He looked down at her foot next and winced, nodding. The others seemed to notice it at the same time, as he heard hisses and grunts of sympathy from them. Ruby hadn't seen it yet, her eyes probably still blurry from her tears.
"How is it?"
Jaune gulped as he thought of how to respond to that, but Ren beat him to it. "It is at an incredibly wrong angle, and the skin around it is deeply bruised. I would be willing to bet that you've broken it."
Ruby let out a sigh, her head falling back as her arms came up to her face to wipe away her tears. "Ah, damn it…"
Jaune leaned down and placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her as comforting a smile as he could. "Hey, you'll be alright. We are going to have to reset your ankle and set it, though…"
Reaching down, he tore two small sections off of the bottom of his vest and looked back at the others behind him. "Would one of you guys grab me a short, straight stick from nearby? Gonna use one or two of them as a brace."
Ren and Blake both nodded and darted off so quickly it almost seemed simultaneous, but he just took that as them caring about her well-being. Turning to Yang, he grimaced slightly but placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you okay to hold her down? I haven't done this before but I've seen my mum do it… I'll need her to be still-"
Yang grumbled, cutting him off, but he could tell that she wasn't angry at him by the soft look she sent his way right after, looking apologetic. "I've done this before, so let's swap jobs. You hold her still and I'll set the ankle."
Jaune didn't argue with her, just nodded as he quickly traded places with Yang, getting ready to hold Ruby down when Yang gave the signal. But as they waited for Blake or Ren to return, Weiss spoke up. "Why do you know how to do this, Yang?"
Ruby let out a sheepish laugh at that, causing all of them to look her way. "Well… This maybe might not be the first time I've majorly hurt myself because I ran around a forest at top speed?"
Yang let out a loud, tired sigh at her words. "Maybe, she says. This is the 4th time that I've had to help patch you up for something like this, let alone all the times Dad did it."
Jaune chuckled as Ruby tried her best to not look guilty as Yang grilled her, and Weiss rolled her eyes. "I don't even know why I'm surprised by that. You certainly are the type to not learn after something like that, you Dolt."
All of them could tell that it wasn't the insult it sounded like from the affectionate tone in Weiss' voice, and it got them to laugh, distracting them long enough that Ren and Blake returned, with various sticks bundled in their arms.
Jaune motioned to Yang and handed her the straps of his vest to use to tie them to Ruby's leg. Ren and Blake dumped the sticks next to Yang, who spent a minute or two sorting through the pile before finding one she deemed suitable.
Placing it next to the strips of cloth, she met Ruby's eyes, who was already tensed up in Jaune's grip. "Alright, Ruby. Grit those teeth and drop your Aura for a second."
Ruby gulped, her eyes closing tightly as she nodded to Yang. Jaune grabbed ahold of her tighter to make sure she didn't hurt herself when Yang reset her ankle. Ruby's Aura -a nice, deep red that reminded him of the flower she was named after- crackled and removed itself from around her leg, hovering about halfway up her thigh.
There was no movement for a moment and Jaune almost spoke again to ask if Yang was going to do it. Before he could, she suddenly snapped Ruby's ankle back into position, and Jaune had to focus on holding the smaller girl down as she flailed for a moment.
She settled quickly, however, quicker than Jaune could remember any of his sisters ever settling after his mum helped fix a dislocation or something. Her eyes opened again a moment later, seemingly glowing silver through the tears in her eyes as she met his gaze.
"Hey, great job! Y'know, you're taking this really well. Expected more tears and sobbing and all that, like my sisters used to."
As Yang strapped up Ruby's foot with the strips of cloth and the sticks to brace it, Ren spoke up, holding his hand out to help Jaune get to his feet. "Her Aura is already working towards repairing the injury, and it is also helping to reduce the pain she feels. I believe that for an injury like this, she will be able to walk again in one or two days, as long as her Aura levels are maintained."
Ruby sighed but nodded at Ren's words. "Alright, alright, I won't do anything that uses my Aura but heal. Can we get moving, now? I'm embarrassed enough about being the first one to get hurt, I don't wanna hold us here forever…"
Jaune snorted at that, glancing over at the others, who gave him various thumbs up or nods in acknowledgement and approval. Smiling at Ruby, he nodded. "Sure, let's get a move on. Plenty of distance to cover and the sun's not going down just yet."
He was about to reach for Ruby to pick her up, having been picked to do so for his sisters a couple of times in the past, but Yang was faster than him, not even seeming to notice his intentions as she scooped Ruby up and placed her in a piggyback position.
Ruby latched onto her and clenched her legs around Yang's waist as tightly as she could without hurting her ankle, and after a moment of getting comfortable, Yang sent them a thumbs up. "Good to go, Chief!"
Giving her a nod in return and motioning for the others to get ready to move again, he readjusted the group to return to facing due north, and they started to head out once again.
Left, Right. Left, Right. Left, Right.
'How many hours have we been doing this, now?'
Yang refused to show the signs of exhaustion she was most definitely feeling as she trudged along right behind Jaune and Ren, who were chatting softly, and in front of Weiss and Blake, who were silently trudging along as well.
Seeing Blake's improved mood reminded her that she and Jaune still needed to carry out their plan at some point, but for the moment their focus was taken by the mistake Beacon made in not giving them any supplies.
Shaking her head, she let her worries slip away from her and shifted Ruby slightly to put her in a more comfortable position.
She was supposed to be the super strong older sister, so she would carry Ruby for as long as she needed her to. But, while the girl was smaller than most of them -Weiss not included- she was still extra weight and even a small amount of extra weight wore down on her stamina after however many hours they had walked today.
"Hey, Yang. Do you want to tag out? I can carry Ruby for a bit."
She let her eyes rise to Jaune, who was smiling softly at her and Ruby, having slowed for a moment to start walking alongside them. God, it was tempting to say yes. She was starting to get really sore, but she didn't want to accept his help. She wanted to be the one to take care of her sister.
"Yang?"
But damn did her muscles disagree with that prideful notion. This might actually be a good lesson for her when she thought about it. While she was already physically stronger than everyone else on her fireteam it seemed like she would need to work on her endurance when they got back.
"I hear you, I hear you. I'll be fine, though, promise."
Even she winced slightly at the exhausted tone of her voice, it did nothing but weaken her claim. And from the sigh from right behind her and the look of amusement on Jaune's face, both he and Ruby knew it.
"C'mon, Yang! Let Jaune carry me for a bit. You're all sweaty and you've been slowing down just a little bit this last hour or so."
Yang makes her discontent clear as she groans, her shoulders sagging. "Fine, fine. Are you sure, Jaune?"
Jaune nods at her, and Yang sighs. While she would complain about the fact that she couldn't carry her little sister all on her own, there was a part of her that was touched by his offer. The group stopped in place as she and Jaune made the trade, with him handing her a canteen as she handed him Ruby.
Ruby giggled as Jaune hopped her up on his back a couple of times to find the most comfortable spot for the both of them, looking up at her with a grin. Yang finished taking a giant swig of water from the canteen and snorted, meeting Ruby's eyes. "You alright there?"
The girl nodded, sending a smug smile her way. "Oh, yeah, I feel so tall! It's so different to your piggyback, Yang!"
Yang's eyebrow twitched at the dig at her, and she narrowed her eyes at her sister, and then at Jaune, who was clearly doing his best not to laugh. "Right, well, see if I ever agree to carry you ever again, huh Pipsqueak? If I'm so short, that is."
Ruby's smug smile didn't fade, however, even as Weiss, Ren, and even Blake let out small bursts of laughter at Yang's joke. "That's fine! I have a new steed now! Go forth, Sir Jaune of Arc!"
She then kicked her feet against his sides like you would spur a horse forward, wincing as her ankle made contact with his body.
Yang raised an eyebrow at Jaune, checking for his reaction at being called a 'steed', only to be met with a content smile only someone who had dealt with seven-sisters-worth of shenanigans could give. "As you wish, Lady Rose. Onwards!"
He then darted off, passing Ren and taking the lead in their group as Ruby cheered him on. Yang just looked at the others and rolled her eyes good-naturedly even as her approval of Jaune skyrocketed, before jogging after them, her steps that much easier with the lack of extra weight on her back.
Blake is a coward.
All of her life, she had tended to run away from her problems, and even now that she was in Beacon Academy and training to become a Huntress -somewhere which she had run away to in the first place- she was still not able to stand and face her issues like a mature adult.
She hated it.
She had been relieved when Jaune had called for the group to stop their walking for the day, the sun just barely about to dip below the treeline to their left. She had planned to tell them everything after they'd finished setting up for the night. They were already two days into their week-long assignment and she knew that time would fly, so she wanted to get it done early, but…
She had chickened out at the last moment, merely accepting the job Jaune gave her to go out and hunt them something to cook for dinner. She'd gone and tracked down a large wild Boar, which had more than enough bulk to feed them for the night.
She'd tried to say something, anything to Jaune when he had thanked her and turned back to start butchering it as best he could, but couldn't summon the courage, not even when Yang had come over to help Jaune.
The two people that required her apologies the most, together in one place, and she'd still been unable to say anything. She'd eaten her dinner in a sulk, one that she was sure they would interpret incorrectly. She was no longer mad at any of her teammates. She had no right to be.
She was mad at herself, and her cowardice. After dinner, she'd made her way to her shelter and done her best to mumble a 'goodnight' back to Ruby when the girl said it to her but initially found it difficult to fall asleep.
'I have to tell them soon, or things are just going to be worse when I do. Tomorrow or the day after. It has to be then.'
Her fists clenched under her makeshift blankets. Tomorrow or the day after. She would hold herself to that timeframe. Her vow echoing through her mind, she tried her best to fall asleep, and soon, her physical exhaustion caught up to her, and she fell unconscious.
It wasn't very restful sleep, her dreams plagued by her worries and her fears as her body shivered from the cool night air, but it was better than nothing.
Woot Woot!
I hope you enjoyed the chapter, let me know what you thought down below!
Also, I've got another couple of RWBY long fics in the works other than this as well, so I'm looking forward to getting far enough into my backlog for them that I can start posting!
See you all next week!