Team EMBR (RWBY oc)

Chapter 31: Aftermath

     My mind was running too wild to even think about what that white flash was, and frankly, I didn't care. It was over. That's all that mattered. No one else would get hurt. Not me, not Hazel, not some random kid, no one. The worst was over, but that doesn't mean the bad wasn't bad.
     I turned my head over my shoulder to look at Ash. He wasn't dead, but I just had a sense he didn't just get knocked unconscious, I didn't know why. It felt like it was more.
      I heard the airships in the distance. They were approaching from vale. Probably the safe zone. Hopefully I would meet up with Hazel and my mom. Rose would meet with her mom, and Ash would wake up and it'd be one happy ending. I needed it to be, if I could've I'd've willed it into existence.
    I walked up to Ash and knelt by him. I forced myself not to cry, I wanted to, I needed to, but if I was going to see Hazel soon, I needed to look like I was strong. I just picked Ash up and sat him up and brought his chest towards mine. I pulled his head into my shoulder and stroked his air with my hand as I hugged him.
     "Please...be okay..." I whispered into his ear, not that he could hear me, "for me?" A single tear slid down my cheek. My eyes felt like a pool, but the tears stayed back, just as I wanted them too. I'd already cried enough recently anyways.
I felt the wind come down from the approaching airships. My hair, and everything else, blew back as I stared up at the descending airships. Holding Ash, my eyes Misty. I noticed one of the airships had a Red Cross on the side. When i saw that I immediately gently set Ash down and ran to the medical airship.
"Ember no..." I heard Rose call out to me, but I could tell by the way her voice trailed off she knew she couldn't stop me. She just sighed as I ran off.
"Please you have to help!" I cried out in desperation as one of the medics got off the ship, about 8 more piled off behind him. I unintentionally was pulling on his sleeve. "my boyfriend...he's hurt...and he's..." I couldn't say the next words, it hurt too much to even think about, and I told myself I wouldn't have cried, but I guess we all lie sometimes.
"It's okay ma'am..." he said, his voice surprisingly soothing and calm, not that it helped, but I guess it was part of his job, "just take me to him, and we'll take care of him, okay?" He waved his hand, motioning "cmon" and one last medic came out of the airship with a stretcher.
"Okay..." I choked out through the tears as I ran back to Ash. The two didn't even ask questions, they just checked for breath and a pulse and started to put him on the stretcher. I started to get more and more worried. I felt like he should've woken up by now.
I went to go with them when they started to walk away with him, but one of them stopped and looked at me apologetically.
"Sorry miss, no can do...we don't have enough room, but both airships are heading to the Vale safe zone. You can see him there."
I just stood and watched as they lifted his limp body onto the airship, my body weighed down emotionally with the weight of the world, and tears streaming down my face. I felt a hand on my shoulder pulling me away, I didn't even have to look to know it was Bondi.
I backed away for a couple of steps and eventually turned and walked away. Mag reached out her hand to me and I took it to help myself into the airship. The moment I sat down in that thing I buried my face in my hands, ignoring the empathetic looks I was getting from my team.
I knew I was being a little selfish. I wasn't the only one who lost, Bondi had no idea what happened with Crim and Mag had no idea where Mavi was. I should've been supporting them like they supported me but that was hard.
It was hard because I knew it was my fault that Ash was like this. If I had been paying any attention at all, Ash would be fine. My idiotic desire for rest in the middle of chaos just got Ash hurt. That's what hurt the most out of this, I could've stopped this. It felt like the paladin didn't hurt Ash, it felt like I did. I may as well have been the one to hit him.
I could feel the airship start to descend. I couldn't see because I was too busy crying into my hands. I felt impact of the ground and a hand on my shoulder. I reactively threw it off me. I looked up at Rose afterwards and my face softened. I didn't mean to do that, I didn't want to. I was just angry, at the world, at myself. i was going through grief. I was going to be angry.
"I'm sorry..." I sighed as I stepped down off the airship. I was basically a temperamental ball of emotions that could explode with anything any minute. Tonight has broken me. I'm not me anymore.
I looked up from the ground and saw Hazel standing a couple dozen feet in front of me, looking just as teary as I felt. When we saw each other we ran at each other and gave each other the tightest hugs we could. Something in this world is still good.
"I'm so glad you're okay..." I said softly. She still just buried her face in my shoulder, soaking my clothes with her tears. I looked up from my hug and saw Rose's mom looking down at me and Hazel with a sorrowful look. Holding two weapons, hers, and the rifle from Atlas my dad brought home forever ago.
     Rose staggered back when she saw her mom. Instead of hugging her or something, she just stared at her, mortified. Then the puzzle started to form. In the middle of all this, my mom would've gone straight to Rose's, and who else would know where that rifle would be. My mom was with Rose's mom. Was.
    "No..." I muttered as I slowly let go of Hazel and fell down to my knees, "there's no way...she can't be..." Hazel just nodded, tears still pouring from my face, and wrapped her arms around me again. I couldn't hold it back any longer, the flood gates opened all the way.
     I felt more bodies move around me. Next thing I could tell, My entire team, and Roses mom, was hugging me. It didn't help, it made no difference, my mom was dead. She wasn't coming back, and my dad had no idea.
     We sat there like that for what felt like forever. Bondi did eventually pull out cause she saw crimson, who was probably going to head back to vacuo. I was thankful she was okay, but that wasn't a big idea in my mind. I was still trying to even comprehend the loss, much less get over it.
    "Okay guys..." I muttered from inside the pile, "you can let go. I'll be fine." I was lying, I knew I wouldn't be fine, but I had to get them to let go. I had to see Ash, and I had to pretend I could function properly. Every fiber of my being wanted me to just break down and cry some more, but I couldn't do that. I owed it to my team.
"If you say so..." Rose sighed and walked off with her mother. For the first time, I saw Rose start to shatter as she walked off. Her mom was doing her best to comfort her. I guess growing up a huntress she's seen some things, and knew how to cope.
I shakily stood up and looked up at Mag. Who had nothing to do. She had no family here. All of her team split off away from her, except me, at least not yet. The only person worth looking for was Mavi, and she hadn't seen him since Amity.
"I'm gonna go help out some people..." she said after an awkward pause. Maybe it was the Atlas training in her, but she seemed solid as a rock right now, except maybe a slight emptiness in her eyes. But that showed the type of person Magnolia was. She could've been selfish and helped herself, or looked for Mavi, but she went to help others. No wonder she became a huntress instead of working with her dad.
Hazel came up next to my side and slipped her hand in mine and squeezed tight. I squeezed back just as tight. Something we'd always done, it started when she was young. She used to be scared of the dark, and on nights when she couldn't sleep, she would climb into my bed. I'd comfort her and make her feel safe, but every once and awhile she'd get scared again. So we held hands when we were sleeping, anytime she got too scared, she would squeeze my hand, asking if I was there, I would squeeze back, and she would calm down again. She got over her fear when she was 7, so we never had a reason to do that since. Until now.
I looked around the safe zone. It was like a chaotic street market, but eventually I found what I was looking for. I saw the makeshift medical area. I pushed my way through the crowd, making sure Hazel stayed with me. Eventually I made it to the tent, I pushed my way into the tent before anyone could tell me I couldn't.
    The doctors all turned to me in surprise when I bursted through the tent flaps. I clearly wasn't supposed to be in here. One of the doctors, the one in the airship, recognized me after a few seconds. He put his hand on my shoulder and gently walked me out of the tent.
    He took a deep breath and looked at me apologetically. Not a great sign.
    "Your boyfriend..." he sighed, and looked down at the ground before looking back up at me, "whatever hit he took...it gave him pretty bad brain trauma. He's not gonna be waking up anytime soon..." I just stared at him in shock. I just shook my head at him, that couldn't be true. There's no way.
     "I'm sorry...but his best bet is taking him to Atlas for medical treatment...even then...he won't wake up for awhile...I truly am sorry..."
     "No..." I said sharply, "he's okay...you're wrong...he's gotta be okay...he's gotta." I was practically shouting at him by now. Angrily starting to cry. I lashed out at the doctor and shoved him slightly, I didn't know why, I just did.
    I felt Hazel tug on my other arm, and I realized what I was doing. My face fell from twisted anger to apologetic sorrow. I just shook my head at him, and he got the message. He ducked back inside the tent and I collapsed down onto a nearby bench.
     I buried my face into my hands yet again. The tears streamed out yet again, there was no stopping them this time. At least the rest of my team was generally okay. If it was going to happen to me, I'd rather it be me. I couldn't imagine putting anyone else through this kind of numbing heartache.
     I felt hazels arm wrap around my shoulder. I guess I forgot which sister was supposed to be protecting which. We stayed like that for a solid 15 minutes. It wasn't long before Rose and her mom found me. Hazel broke the news about Ash to them. It hurt more to hear it the second time. I still hadn't come to terms with it.
    Minutes later, Bondi, and Mag made their way over to us. Crimson would've came but she was with her team, getting ready to head back to Vacuo. Or at least that's what I thought I heard Bondi say. I wasn't 100% listening, but when I heard that I realized I needed to toughen up. This night was hard on them too.
      I wiped my tears away and looked up at the group around me. Leaning forward, my elbows resting on my knees, supporting me.
     "So what now...?" I asked, my voice still wavering a little bit.
     "We can't stay here forever...we need somewhere to go..." Roses mom answered for all of Us. It was probably good that we listened to the adult.
     "Well I have an idea of where we could go." I said with a sigh, "pretty sure they'll let us in." My teammates all looked at me. They all knew where I was talking about. Pretty sure that open invite still applied.
     "I already had a place in mind..." Rose's mom replied, "but let's hear it anyways..."
     "Minocqua..." Rose answered for me, "we ran a mission there not too long ago. Their leader invited us back whenever. What was your idea mom?"
     She just looked at us for a second confusedly, raising a brow at all of us. She didn't expect that answer at all, I didn't know why though. Eventually she snapped out of it.
     "Minocqua..." she answered, her voice trailing off.
     "Guess it's decided then..." Bondi cut in, "we're going back to Minoccqua."

(I'm at that awkward point where I either split stuff up into multiple chapters or I have mega chapters and I'm sorry, NGL I meant to end this like a chapter ago)