I'm lucky that I met you

Chapter 28: Light and dark

To say that at first Ruby was disoriented would be an understatement. The last thing she remembered was jumping before Weiss and Yang to shield them from that fire attack. And now she woke up in a room filled with wounded soldiers and healers. The moans of pane were the thing she woke up to and immediately set up, looking for familiar faces.

Her moving caught the attention of one of the healers, who walked to Ruby. "You shouldn't move too much" she advised, her jadeite green eyes scanning the younger girl's body.

Ruby shook her head, once again looking around. "Where are the others? Where are my teammates?"

"We are under yet another attack. Wounded are coming faster then any of us can heal them" replied the elf healer, kneeling over the man lying beside Ruby. "Your friends are fighting outside, I presume. Mis Weiss should be nearby. She went out when some of the enemies were spotted too near here."

"What?!!" Ruby said. "But...But she was heavily depleted of mana! And I'm sure she didn't rest while healing soldiers! What the hell was she thinking of doing something like that?!"

The healed shrugged slightly. "The head healer Yrene (Yey! A ToG reference for those who get it) gave her small mana restoring potion."

Ruby gritted her teeth. Even if what that healer said was right, Weiss still shouldn't be fighting at the moment, let alone someone who somehow managed to creep up so close to the palace despite their defenses. 

The healer looked at how the red-haired struggled to stand. "Your swords are in the room next to this one," she said with a sigh with a single fleeing though in her mind. 'Humans these days.'

With a curt nod and a small 'thank you' Ruby was out of the room. Securing her swords to her belt she hurried to the door. The moment she put a foot outside an explosion of ice and wind thundered nearby. 'Weiss!' 

Ruby bolted to the place where Weiss' magic made the tornado. Using her magic was out of the question. It was still to depleted, using it could damage her own body. So she ran. Ran as fast as she could, not paying attention to the destroyed buildings all around her with traces of fire and ice. 'Just hold on! I'm coming!'

The whirlwind of magic was becoming closer and closer as she sprinted through the ruined streets. And finally, it was close enough for Ruby to enter and it was beginning to disappear too. "Weiss!!" she cried as she dived to catch her white-haired teammate. "Weiss! What's going on?! Are you ok?!" 

But despite her efforts, the ice mage didn't even stir. She just lay limply in Ruby's arms, skin paler than usual. "She'll be fine" assured Myrtenaster that appeared beside her wilder and Ruby. "The merging took a big toll on her."

Ruby looked at him puzzled. "Merging?"

"We became one for a short period of time. I guess something ticked her off while we were fighting against Cinder" he speared a side glance to the fallen form of the fire wizard. "This...is something that hasn't been done for a few millennia at least. Not with me, that's for sure."

"Right. She'll live. Good" said the red-haired, letting out a reviled sigh.

Their relief was short-lived. "How interesting" spoke a voice seemingly out of nowhere. Both Ruby and Myrtenaster tensed. That voice sounded awfully familiar, and not in a good way. "The first thing I see after coming to Remnant is pretty similar to what I saw the last time."

'Where? Where is she?!' Ruby thought looking around while keeping Weiss close to her. "Myrtenaster," she said in a whisper, "take Weiss and go."

"No. I can't do that! Are you insane?!"

"Of course not. Right now she's too vulnerable. Just....take her to safety. Please."