(RWBY) Black: The Color Of Wilted Roses

A Birth of Scars

[Nora]

"What? The professor wouldn't just lie to us-"

"Jaune, Professor Ozpin lied to us! He's a liar, okay? He told us that Ruby and Weiss were both dead!" I paced the room, frustrated and confused and tired. "Ruby's gone insane, Blake was nearly carved to pieces, and I don't even want to know what happened to Weiss and Yang, I just, I don't know!"

I dropped to my knees. There was nothing positive to say, no dumb remarks to lighten myself up with. I felt like the lights went off across the entirety of Beacon, and a hammer wouldn't be enough to fix it.

Ren calmly walked towards me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Nora, calm down, okay? Let's focus on helping Blake and yang get better." Oh, Ren. You always know what to do. Always so kind, and calm, and that's why you're my hubbo.

He lowered his voice and dropped to my height. "When we get home, I'll make pancakes before we all talk." He shot a quick smile at me, and I returned a weak one back. You know me so well, don't you? My face turned hot, and for once in what felt like ages, I felt the weight of the situation lighten just a little.

I hugged Ren and, finally, relaxed, crying in his arms.

[Yang]

My home. I finally came back home.

I saw Dad, and Mom, and little Ruby playing outside in the grass. The sky was orange with a setting sun, green grass flowing in the wind, smiles on my family's faces. A smile on my face.

"Yang!"

The word echoed deep, with throbbing reverberations that decayed quickly. I shook my head and went to play with my family, kicking a ball in the open field.

At one point, Ruby kicked the ball, but it didn't go far. Suddenly, she started crying.

"Hey Rubes, what's wrong?"

I walked to her, but as I made one step, the sky started turning red... dark red, dense enough that rain started pouring from the sky. Out of nowhere, I heard screams that grew louder, and wider, and eventually engulfed my ears. The rolling grass turned to a raging fire from the distance closing in. I panicked, and my walk turned to a run. The flames rose high, but they never touched me or my sister.

"I got you, I got you!" I finally reached her. Her head was down, with her hood up.

"Rubes, are you alright?" I put my finger under her chin and began to raise her head slowly. "Hey, look at me Ruby, it's okay..." Her head rose up. Then I could see that her body was covered in blood, her eyes glowed white, and on top of it all, she bore a twisted and cruel smile. Fear filled me. Oh Ruby... What happened to you?

"Yang," Ruby said, her voice small and weak, "Help me." I felt something tug her: a shadow. I pulled more and more, and just when I felt myself overtake it, the fire started to burn my skin.

"No! Ruby! Ruby, come back!" I fell to the ground, with my arms a sharp, scarlet red. As I looked up, I saw something that froze me: Adam Taurus, holding the arm that he cut, standing next to Ruby, who was dressed in black.

"I'm not coming back, Yang. I won't come back."

"No, damn it!"

Ugh, my arm felt sore as hell. The bed was wet, I was wet, everything felt wet. Wet with sweat, that is. I had to get my breathing under control; I'm not dying of a heart attack in here.

Wait, what was here, anyway? Looking around, I saw a doctor with bandages in his hand. He looked pretty worried, because the first thing he asked was, "You, uh, you doing alright? You had a bad fever in your sleep."

"Eh, yeah..." I shook my head a little. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." Taking a breath, the doctor walked over and said, "I need you to stay still, okay? Let me change your bandages and make sure your temp's lowered." I nodded and relaxed, reclining in the bed. I closed my eyes as he removed the bandage on my stub for an arm.

It hurt a lot - I mean, it's a dismembered arm, of course it's gonna hurt- but it wasn't as nearly bad as my heart. Damn it, Ruby, just why would you let this happen? Why did you bring Adam? Why didn't I do more to help you before... Blake?

"Blake!"

I gave the doctor a pretty good spook, he almost jumped away into the wall. Thankfully, he was done with the wrap. "Where's Blake?"

"Do you mean Ms. Belladonna? She's in the next room over."

"...well, uh, you gonna tell me what happened to her? I can't exactly walk over there."

The doctor scratched his head, probably getting over my response. "I can bring her in, if you'd like."

I just stared at him.

"You know what? Here, let me just get her myself." He walked out of the room, and moments later, Blake walked in. She was completely shirtless, with bandages completely covering her breasts and upper stomach. She stumbled over to me in an awkward gait, and gave me a big hug.

It was a while before either of us said anything. I just missed having someone to hug again.

Blake spoke up. "I'm relieved you're awake. With the commotion going on in here earlier, I thought something bad had happened."

"Ah, don't worry. You know I'm a tough piece of work!" I rubbed my eyes, and that's when it hit me: the sheer mass of the bandages. "Blake... Who did this to you?"

Everything grew still. Blake's eyes averted mine, and I saw a tinge of fear in her face. She obviously didn't want to answer me, but she did anyways.

"It... it was Ruby. Ruby did this."

...what? Ruby? I immediately called BS on that. "Ruby? Blake," I began, sitting upward. "There is no way, no way that ol' Rubes would go ahead and cut... you..." I stopped. Blake's face grew red, and I swore I heard a sniffle from her.

"Yang, she did this to me, but only because she thought that I would... that I would just leave Weiss to die."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Um, elaborate?"

I felt bad just looking at Blake. She was clearly ready to break down in tears. "Weiss isn't dead." Weiss! She's alive too! I didn't know what to say to Blake... She's one of the closest people I know, but damn it if I didn't want to scream and just break every little goddamn thing in this room. Sensing this, Blake gently squeezed my hand.

"Jaune, Nora, and Ren are making a plan to find them - and to confront the professor for his lies." She stared in to my eyes, sighing heavily. "Don't worry Yang. We'll save them both."

Well, I sure as hell hope so, Blake. This mess... I don't know if I could recover from all this. I gently pulled Blake in for another hug as she quietly sobbed.

[Ruby]

I sat there in my room, waiting... waiting for someone, anyone to bring my dear Weiss in here, so I can watch over her and keep her safe like I intended. I needed her here now, I felt like I'd go completely insane if I had to wait for ten, five, one more minute.

The door creaked as it slowly opened. Neo came in with Weiss in her arms. Laying her down, she nodded to me and left, closing the door until it clicked.

"Weiss." I whispered. "You're finally safe." I leaned and kissed her forehead, then I slowly pulled her shirt upward to look at the wound. It was black, but not like a putrefying corpse. It was a deep, almost menacing black - Salem must of healed her with Grimm blood. It was probably the only way to save her from death, but if Weiss got hit there again...

"I'll never let you fight again, I can't lose you again." I hopped on to the bed and laid beside her, closing my eyes and relaxing until I drifted off into sleep.