Chapter Text
“WEEEIIISS”
It was dark, her partner’s screams echoing through the void…
“HELP ME PLEASE”
She looked everywhere, her voice, it seemed to come from everywhere…
“PLEASE, DON’T LEAVE ME….”
Ruby’s breath was erratic, she was crying, she sounded terrified…
“WEISS…”
“RUBY, I’M COMING…I-”
She was interrupted by a horrifying scream, her partner was in agony, she had to find her, she had to save her…
“WEISS, PLEASE, WEISS”
She only saw darkness, Ruby’s screams filling the air, each one harder to stomach than the last.
“WEISS”
“Weiss?
She opened her eyes, blinking rapidly trying to adjust to the light, Nora’s face incredibly close to her. She lifted her head, feeling something sticky on her cheek, she moved her head side to side, scanning the room, the afternoon sun coming through the windows, illuminating the cheery atmosphere of the cafeteria. She stopped her inspection in front of her, Ren staring right at her, he put his hand to his cheek making a subdued motion mimicking wiping something off. She took her hand to her cheek, mirroring the boy’s movements, feeling residue on it. She sighed, took a napkin and wiped her face.
“Hey maybe next time you take a nap could you avoid doing it in my frie-”
“JAUNE” Nora moved her arm behind her back, hitting Jaune’s arm.
“Don't worry about it Weiss.” Phyrra reached from across the table, gripping her shoulder in an attempt to reassure her. “We understand it’s been difficult, since you left the hospital and have to catch up on all the work…and…well your new sleeping situation-”
“By the way, when’s Yang coming out?” Nora interrupted her teammate putting her shoulders on the table to rest her head on her hands.
“Sometime this week…if she sticks to the physical therapy schedule…”
Blake and her had been the longest out of the hospital by this point, spending a month there after…after the fight with Ruby and the woman. She spent most of her time there in observation, making sure none of her wounds had gotten worse or had internal damage, her leg healed surprisingly fast all things considered, she still had to wear a knee brace for a couple of weeks.
Still, she got off easy compared to Yang, she swung between sullen depression and fits of motivation, needing to be held down by hospital staff before she tried rushing out again, adapting to her new arm…that was another seemingly impossible task for Yang, she managed to break two trying to channel her semblance, thankfully Winter arranged for Atlas to provide her with more durable replacements.
Blake on the other hand had walked away mostly unscathed,being released before either of them, but she stuck around at the hospital, she was in Beacon assisting some classes but most of her free time was spent either trying to look into what was Cinder’s and the woman’s goal, how did they turned Ruby…into that…and being an unofficial nurse for Yang and Illia, it kept her busy but she looked past the point of exhaustion, at least she stuck around, Illia told them that Blake had a habit of running away from her problems.
That left her practically alone in Beacon, their already depressing room became even gloomier, which led to an invitation from team JNPR to stay at their own dorm. She truly appreciated it, but she tried to decline. She felt bad enough already about letting her own team down and she’d feel like she was intruding, besides she wasn’t sleeping much anyway and when she did it didn’t last long…however they wouldn’t take no for an answer, Nora pretty much dragged her into their room, offering her own bed, then Jaune’s, finally comprising that she’d bring her mattress into their room, not the most comfortable arrangement nor one she was used to but, at this point she couldn’t really complain.
She still felt bad, she had nightmares pretty much every night, the one she just had was one of the tame ones, they tended to be more graphic, and vivid, her mind kept wandering to what Illia told them, what they did to her…and everytime she closed her eyes she saw Ruby going through all that…and her being unable to do anything.
And apparently it was something that was affecting her “hosts”, several times now they woke her up, apparently she was screaming loudly, making intelligible noises not helping matters was her drenched in sweat holding back tears.
“Hey Weiss, got anything planned for it?” Jaune’s jovial voice got her attention.
“Planned?”
“You know, for when Yang gets out.”
“Like a welcoming party or something like that, help her lift up her spirits.” Nora interjected, bubbly as ever.
“Yeah you and Blake just showed up here one day without much fanfare and I don’t know we wanna make you guys feel like you’re at home.” The blonde tried expanding on his point.
She scoffed at that, unconsciously, but it still felt incredibly rude.
Jaune and Nora winced, the table fell into an awkward silence, the boy started rubbing the back of her head.
She sighed.
“I’m sorry…it’s just that…she…” Words were hard to come by. “Yang isn’t feeling good at the moment and she has a lot on her mind…”
“Is…Is she even coming back?” Jaune asked again, concerned this time.
“Yes she is, it's just…” This was frustrating, she wanted to tell them the whole story, make it easy for all of them but both Winter and Professor Ozpin forbade them from doing so. They didn't want unnecessary panic or anything of the sort.
“Maybe it’s best if we give Yang some breathing room.” Ren intervened, she was thankful for that, managing to ease the tension off her chest.
“Yeah, that’s it…I…have to go there’s….there’s a lot I have to catch up on.” She stood up from the table, leaving her food barely touched, moving fast to get away from people as soon as possible. She needed somewhere quiet.
…
“Weiss…it’s cold….where are you…”
“I’M HERE…STAY THERE WE’RE COMING…”
“You left me…you let them take me…It’s cold…I’m cold…”
“NO, RUBY I’M SORRY I-”
It hurt, but at least she was awake, she probably rolled, falling from the bed, she never understood how Ruby slept so comfortably up there, she got up, using her own bed frame to support her, it was quiet here indeed and using Ruby’s bed for a nap…it felt wrong but…she couldn’t even explain it, maybe it was a way to still feel close to her, or she was just punishing herself even more. She made her way in the dark to the door, she still had some papers to hand in, incredible that they were still keeping her here making her earn a grade while Ruby was out there going through…she shuddered at the thought, she didn’t even wanted to imagine it, as much as her head kept forcing her to.
She slowly moved the door knob, running her hand through her face trying to psyche herself up for dealing with everything again.
The door knob slipped away from her grasp, the door swung open nearly making her fall, only being saved by being grabbed suddenly.
“Phyrra?”
“Weiss! You’re here!”
“Yeah I…I needed to be alone for a moment.”
“I’m sorry I…well…they told me to go look for you…Nora and Jaune…and…”
“It’s ok, I’ll go with them, I just needed to clear my head…”
“Ok Weiss, I…” Phyrra looked nervous, uncommon for her. “I need to ask you something.”
She shook her head trying to get herself to be more awake.
“Of course what is it?”
“It’s Ruby right?”
She froze.
“What do you mean?” She stammered out, was it that obvious?
“This whole situation,with you and the others…it’s about her right?”
…
She didn’t like the dark, being alone, she had gotten used to it, but she didn’t like it, it made her feel like before, like when she was weak, before Lady Cinder and her master took her in.
She no longer felt her arms,she didn’t knew how long they were held up like that this time, she didn’t even felt the needles stuck through them, keeping her alive, making sure she was strong, that’s what her master told her, she trusted her, as much as it hurt whenever she injected her,how much it hurt when the cold sharp metal pierced her skin, how odd it felt when the liquid started rushing into her veins, the shocks of the things sticking all over her body, to monitor her, she didn’t knew what she meant, but it was for her safety, they were doing all of this for her.
The mask on her head was heavy it kept her from seeing and every noise muffled, barely a whisper, the tubes on it blew air on her mouth and nose, it kept her awake, it didn’t mattered, she couldn’t sleep at all much anyway, and she didn’t liked going to sleep, the few brief moments she could tended to end abruptly, she tended to wake up screaming, she dreamt of pain, of being alone,of being abandoned…That had changed lately, brief flashes of people, faces she recognized but couldn’t remember…they felt warm…and happy…
A sting in her abdomen took her out of that.
She didn’t liked the tube that was in her stomach, it hurt, they had to cut her to put it in, but she was told it was so that she wouldn’t starve, that it was giving her all the she needed, she wanted to eat at Lady Cinder’s room, she’d give her food whenever she performed well at an assignment, let her sit on the table with her and have actual food, with taste, not what she had to eat daily, not this time.
She hadn’t earned it this time.
She had to stay here, to heal, to think of the last assignment, where did she go wrong, the darkness and silence were supposed to help her focus, her legs were dangling in the air, they went numb a while ago, all she had now was to focus on her many mistakes.
She played back the assignment in her head over and over, why did she stop? Why did her targets look familiar? Who was Ruby? She tried asking Lady Cinder that, all she was told is that Ruby was nobody, something she shouldn’t concern herself with, that’s the last thing she heard before being in the dark again.
Despite all sensation being taken from her to focus, she still felt the blonde girl’s hand, how warm it was, how…tender…it was very different from her lady’s, it was soft and careful. The girl seemed…sad…when she saw her, she apologized for hurting her, it didn’t make sense.
The Faunus…The faunus approached her without fear,no one else outside her lady and master did, she talked to her, just like that, no orders, no screaming, no admonishments…she just talked to her…
And the white haired girl…she never fought back, not when she had her cornered on the floor, she was bleeding and she kept attacking her but the girl never fought back…
“I won’t hurt you Ruby”
Why…why…she hurt the girl, she had to hurt her back…why
“You’re my friend.”
The girl's voice had been in her head all this time.It was familiar, comforting…no…she called her friend…her friend…no…she had no one, only her lady…
“I love you Ruby…”
Why,why,why, did she say she loved her, why, how, nobody did, Lady Cinder told her so, that she was unwanted and they took her in, that she was lucky she was noticed by someone like Lady Cinder.She had to earn it, she had to earn her attention, her care, her…
Something finally broke the silence, the door, was it finally time?
“Gods…is that Ru-”
“Get her down Emerald.” Lady Cinder, maybe she finally forgave her. “Now.”
She heard the syringes get taken out, a quiet hiss as they pulled away from her limbs, it’d be sometime before she felt her arms again. A sharp pain on her side meant that the tube feeding her was out. A louder hissing erupted near her, the tubes connecting her mask were being disconnected.
The sound of her restraints being opened came next, she wasn’t sure what happened next, she never did, but she was on the floor now, she couldn’t get up, her limbs were useless for some time. She could feel a pull on her head, her mask being pulled away,giving her a breath of fresh air accompanied by the light from the hallway blinding her, taking some time to make out the figures in front of her.
“Beowulf.”
“Yes Lady Cinder.” She did her best to reply, her mouth was dry, it hurt to speak.
“You’ll be getting a new assignment soon…” She saw her Lady walk into view.
“Emerald, bring her to my room.” She saw Lady Cinder walk away into the light, a new figure walked in front of her. She had bright green hair and eyes, moving up and down looking at her, she saw her arm approach and felt a pull, she was lifting her.
“Gods Ruby…what the hell happened?”
Ruby again…
Who was she?