Chapter 3

My Guardian Snow Angel

"Thank you for contacting SDC technical support," said a sharp, high-pitched voice coming from the blank screen held in Yang's unsteady hand. "We sincerely apologize that you've been experiencing technical difficulties with your state of the art holographic tablet, but if you'll be so good as to be patient and not interrupt your brilliant technical support adviser while she fixes what is most likely a user error, we can get through this ordeal as quickly and painlessly as possible."

What had begun as the young woman calmly reciting what sounded like a well-rehearsed company script had devolved into a tone resembling disinterest and even apathy, but for the two girls leaning forward on the bed they couldn't hear anything but the unmistakable excitement in the familiar voice that once held impromptu recitals during scalding hot showers in their old dorm room.

Static crackled through the scroll's speakers and a distorted image of what appeared to be an office cubicle and an unmistakable a white ponytail poking up from the bottom of the screen. After a few moments of what sounded like someone cursing under their breath and furiously pressing buttons the image cleared up and the screen panned down revealing a pale face wearing several layers of makeup, particularly around her blue eyes which twinkled up at the girl holding the scroll.

"I can see this is going to be anything but quick and painless," she sniffled, a smile tugging at her lips. The young woman who was in fact a teenage girl wiped something away from her left eye, avoiding the pencil thin scar that began above her brow and traveled down her cheek nearly level with her mouth.

"It's good to see you too, Ice Queen," Yang choked, tears rolling down her face. "What took you so long?"

Weiss' normally stoic features all at once fell apart and it was as though a dam was overflowing. Tears turned into rivers on both their faces and Yang propped up the scroll on her breakfast tray no longer able to hold it even remotely steady. She covered her mouth as her body began to shake uncontrollably and her breathing sounded more like heavy wheezing.

"Please don't cry," Weiss sobbed, retrieving several tissues before blowing her nose like a trumpet. "It took me hours to do my makeup this morning, and now everyone's going to wonder why my mascara's running."

Yang chuckled in between choking sounds and for the next several minutes the two just stared at each other alternating between laughing and crying as if unable to make up their minds.

"Haven't seen you since the divorce, princess," Yang said at last, finally regaining some semblance of control over herself.

Weiss let out a high-pitched cackle and grinned ear to ear. "I knew you'd call it that!" she said, looking up with what could only be described as complete and total admiration. "I knew you would..."

For what felt like an eternity they just stared as if committing the other to memory, and with unsteady hands they both reach out to hold the other's hand causing their holograms to flicker, and both let out a chuckle and disappointed sighs as though they'd forgotten they were thousands of miles apart.

"So um, er, how have things been?" Weiss asked awkwardly. "How's Tai- I-mean-your-father!?" She smiled innocently trying to hide what might've been not-so-innocent thoughts.

Yang snorted. "Oh I see how it is. You weren't calling me, you were hoping to talk to him and maybe see him shirtless again."

Weiss' face turned a bright shade of pink. "N-no I wasn't."

"Bull. Rubes told me she had to call dibs on him and our comfort corgi so you didn't take them back home with you."

"Zwei wouldn't be there with you by chance would he?" Weiss asked, attempting to peer around the camera hogging blonde. "Prince Puppy-Tart, where are you? It's your Ice-y Weiss-y woo-woo."

Sitting just to the right of Yang just out of camera view, Blake was busily wiping her eyes while at the same time fighting the butterflies swarming in her stomach. She had been dreaming of this moment for weeks, months even, the moment she was finally reunited with another member of her former team, but just as often those same dreams turned into nightmares.

Like her partner Blake just stared committing everything about Weiss' appearance to memory, and comparing it to her last memory her. She couldn't help noticing how much thinner and more angular Weiss face was, as well as the subtle gaunt appearance that Blake recognized all too well when looking in the mirror. She had also seen the same look on the heiress' face on the first day of school, and remembered thinking how a stiff breeze could've blown her over.

Wanting a better view she scooted over, budding shoulder to shoulder with Yang. Instantaneously Weiss' bright eyes lit up and her mouth fell open which had an infectious effect on the faunus, but almost immediately her eyes narrowed and became cold. Her mouth twitched and Blake read foul words on her lips, no doubt having been there since the day she quietly excused herself from her partner's hospital room only to never return.

A knife was thrust into Blake's chest and she could feel Weiss' eyes twisting and turning the sharp blade. She had the same look on her face now as she did during the battle of Beacon, fighting and killing faunus extremists without hesitation or seemingly an ounce of remorse, and having the same level of contempt for them as the Grimm whose faces they'd been foolish enough to wear.

With a final twist she ripped her eyes away but left the knife still buried deep inside the tortured faunus who began to feel as though she might vomit, and turned her attention back to the tearful blonde who didn't seem to have noticed the exchange.

Weiss' smile returned, albeit more forced and painful looking. "H-how are you?" she asked quietly, sounding almost ashamed of her question as she eyed the bruise on Yang's head.

Yang frowned and regarded the arm covered by its protective sling. "Hurting," she answered surprisingly honestly, something she would've never done back when she was still a huntress in-training. "Bedridden with an arm that doesn't work and burnt lungs that sometimes forget how to do their job, but judging by your costume better than you."

The girl in the SDC uniform smiled politely, perhaps a bit disturbed by Yang's dark humor which she had never particularly appreciated, but also because Yang wasn't exactly masking just how unfunny she found her situation. Yang's other hand began playing with her hair, and for the first time Weiss truly noted how her once golden mane was now dull in color and tied in an easy to manage ponytail, which more than anything might've disturbed her the most.

While the pair just stared at each other unsure what to say, Blake was trying desperately to look anywhere else for fear that her eyes or stomach might start overflowing and never stop. Instead she focused on Weiss' little office and how the plain white walls seemed to tower over her. In the before times she might've laughed at the fact Weiss was probably sitting on one of her ancient tomes on glyphs to properly reach the desk scroll's camera, which was still pointing down at her at a sharp angle, or how the neat freak's trashcan was likely just as clean and orderly as her desk.

Spying something just above her right shoulder however Blake felt another knot in her stomach threaten to come up her throat. Three plushies all in the likeness of her friends hung from key chains almost as if they were giving each other hugs. Their heads all being several times larger than their bodies made them humorous to look at, but it was their greatly exaggerated features that always amused Blake the most. Yang's lopsided grin that took up nearly her entire face, the chocolate smeared on Ruby's lips and her mouth wide open as if in the middle of talking, and Weiss hanging in between them pouting and not looking at all pleased to be there but hiding a small smile in the corner of her mouth.

One doll however was conspicuously missing...

A set of four had been made for them each, the idea coming from Ruby and Yang who had always wanted action figures of themselves. Weiss had deemed this desire 'childish nonsense' but secretly took this idea several steps further by having her company's toy division produce expensive, cartoony caricatures of themselves, and surprised Yang with a set for her birthday, whose only complaint during her screams of joy had been how her plushy's anatomy hadn't been entirely accurate. Only later after Weiss had gotten her fill of watching Ruby and Blake stare in envy and jealousy of such a thoughtful, incredible gift did she surprised them with their own sets.

They might've been Yang's favorite presents that day, but certainly they'd seen the most amount of use. She'd often gather all the Yang plushies together which she dubbed 'The Chibi-Chibi-Yang-Gang', and would either make them fight to the death in order to decide which one was the superior Yang, or more often than not amuse herself and disturb everyone else by making the Yang plushies have sex with each other, which she dubbed a 'Chibi-Chibi-Yang-Bang'.

Weiss had kept her set hanging above her bed just like Blake's, never getting played with, at least not when anyone was looking. Ruby on the other hand like her sister enjoyed epic death battle royals, but strangely or perhaps not so strangely, sometimes the Ruby and Weiss dolls would act out scenes where her partner's plushy would be perpetually nice to her own and go so far as to suggest they play together. And apparently the plushies had meant so much to Ruby that she hooked them to her ammo belt before she started out on her journey to Mistral, but Blake couldn't be sure she had taken her doll...

Her own set was still packed away somewhere, but Yang's were sitting beside the television arm in arm with each other. The Blake doll however was once again conspicuously missing...

She blinked something from her eye thinking of better days back in their dorm room when chaos was never more than a moment's notice away, and spine crushing hugs never too far from that. She knew it should've been impossible, but despite Weiss being thousands of miles away and despite being shoulder to shoulder with Yang and hardly feeling a flicker of her aura, Blake felt their souls overlapping just as they once had back when they could finish each other's thoughts and have entire conversations without saying a word. She hadn't realized how much she had missed that sensation, but found herself hiding her face as tears began to flow due to hearing someone's voice screaming in her head.

'You left! You abandoned us! How dare you sit there with her!'

"Alright," Weiss sniffed, drying her eyes and returning to a more dignified posture. "I don't have much time left and our conversation is being recorded by the SDC, and as we speak both our governments are trying to trace this call, so I'd suggest that we-"

"-that we not mention how the SDC's heiress went to Vale's naughtiest night club with a faunus in celebration of my eighteenth birthday? Or what may or may not have happened in the VIP room?" A cocky grin spread across Yang's face proud of her role in corruption of the youngest Schnee daughter, but Weiss merely looked bored and a tad impatient.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, but yes, we shouldn't discuss what happened that night." Her lip twitched and she leaned closer to the camera. "And if Father is listening I'd just like him to know that Mother would've been proud and that I had gentlemen lining up to buy me drinks and even a few lovely young ladies, one of whom had the most exquisite tiger stripes. It's just a shame that I can't remember all the events of that night, or what happened in the VIP room..."

Yang snorted. "Don't worry, I've got plenty pictures and I may have shot a few home movies."

"I know. I'm copying them onto my scroll as we speak." Weiss flashed another brilliant smile as the two fell into a familiar rhythm of teasing and trying to one up the other, but just as quickly her demeanor became serious again. Yang however seemed in no such hurry after so much time apart.

"So how'd you end up in tech support anyhow? Last time I checked you couldn't even change your scroll's wallpaper or screensaver on your own. You'd just burn it and buy a new one whenever somebody would change them to the most hardcore gay sex scenes they could find. Personally I think it was probably Rubes..."

Weiss' scarred eye twitched, which had regained prominence thanks to her mascara having run. "Those was the most abhorrent and deprived sights I have ever witnessed, and I had the displeasure of sharing a room with you for five months so I know a thing or two about abhorrent and depri-."

"Hey! I don't remember you gouging your eyes out, and don't knock it till you've tried it, princess. And watch what you say about my favorite movie! Which reminds me-" She turned to Blake wearing a crooked smile and gave her a playful nudge. "I know what we're watching tonight after my dad falls asleep..."

The faunus couldn't help but grin infectiously at her, ecstatic to see Yang return to her once playful, albeit bawdy, self. She shivered however as she felt the room's temperature suddenly plummet, and looking back at the hologram she saw Weiss glaring back at her.

"Enough wasting time," she huffed, still staring at Blake as though the constant distractions were her fault. "As humorous as it would be for the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company to be written up I'd rather not have to explain this conversation to General Ironwood, or Father for that matter. I'm calling because I have yet to receive a single letter from you, and after deciding that even you wouldn't be so rude as to not respond back to my very eloquent letters, I discovered that everything I'd written had been confiscated and destroyed by Atlas' government. And that all communication channels between kingdoms are currently being monitored, particularly the members of the SDC and Schnee family. For whatever reason people seem to think my family had something to do with Atlas' apparent invasion of the Kingdom of Vale. It may have something to do with the SDC being the largest dust supplier in the world and being the primary supplier of Atlas' military weapons and technology, or something to due with the history books. Who can tell."

Fresh tears trickled down Yang's face. "You've been writing?" she sniffed, barely able to get the words out.

Weiss once again lost her dignified demeanor as she blinked away tears. "Of course I have," she snapped, hurt echoing in her voice. "After Father dragged me home I spent weeks in my bedroom crying and writing you and Ruby letters, telling you over and over how much I missed you and how sorry I was for leaving, and how much I hated myself for not staying with my team..."

Her eyes drifted back to Blake but only for a moment. "Once I discovered I wasn't going to be receiving any letters and I recovered enough from my... ailment, I went to Father and told him that I was ready to put away the silly notion of being a huntress, that I was finally ready to take my place in the company. I even gave up Myrtenaster to prove it to him..."

"I-I'm sorry," Yang murmured, not wanting to imagine how painful it must've been for Weiss to part with not only her faithful weapon, but her beloved grandfather's final gift before passing.

Weiss closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. "Father put me to work the very next day, and I'm spending at least a week in every major SDC department to learn the ins and outs of the company I'll someday be running. It's just as well but I suspect he's also punishing me for disobeying him when I applied to Beacon instead of Polaris, and for not coming home immediately after...after the semester ended expectantly. A month ago I was sweeping floors and cleaning toilets, two weeks ago I was delivering mail, but now I'm exactly where I want to be. In tech support telling numskulls full of mush how to fix idiot proof devices while trying to hide the fact that I'm secretly looking for the button that will make their heads to explode."

Yang howled in delight as that sounded like the old Ice Queen she loved and loathed. "Why'd you want in tech support? No offense but you and computers don't really go together, like at all."

Weiss' sparkly eyes softened as though her answer should be evident. "Because this was the only way I could think to talk to you face to face, dummy. And just so you know, I'm currently on my lunch break breaking half a dozen laws to speak to you, a-and see you again." She appeared mildly pleased by the pun and held up a corgi-shaped lunchbox Blake remembered having once belonged to Ruby before the 'divorce', and retrieved a plastic bag of chocolate chip cookies that she immediately began shoveling into her mouth with a worried expression.

"But both Vale's CCT Tower and Beacon's Emerald Tower are down, and-"

"We're speaking to each other through an old, obscure SDC tech line nobody uses anymore," Weiss said in between bites. "It's practically prehistoric, and I've back-channeled through Signal Academy's short range CCT system that your local huntsmen sometimes use, which until recently was nearly obsolete. Congratulations by the way. You've just received a free upgrade to WNDS VSTA 1.8, which on behalf of the entire Schnee Dust Company I sincerely apologize for. We recommend uninstalling it as soon as possible and installing anything from APPL instead, and as your tech adviser I also highly suggest deleting your disgusting browser history..."

"Weiss, h-how did you learn to do all this?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that I'm clever?" Yang nodded profusely at the understatement of the century, but Weiss merely smiled and shook her head. "Clever, yes. Remotely know what I'm even talking about when just as empty-headed Atlesians call for help, no. I told someone smart-looking here in tech support that I'd see to it that they received a substantial raise and promotion if he got me into contact with someone on the Isle of Patch, and threatened to fire him and run his family into financial ruin if he didn't or told anyone what he'd done. Thankfully he was as smart as he looked."

"Weiss-" Yang laughed, shaking her head, "you're incredible."

"I know."

"-but I-I don't know how to tell you this but Ruby isn't here. She-"

"-snuck aboard an SDC supply transport bound for the City of Mistral with Jaune, Nora, and Ren in tow. Their plan is to meet up with Pyrrha at Sanctum Academy, who unbeknownst to them still hasn't woken from her coma, and presumably save Mistral from a now three-quarters Fall Maiden who foolishly and mistakenly believes herself to be the rightful queen of Vale. Does that sound about right?"

"How did you-"

"I'm very clever that's how."

"But how'd you know-" Yang's eyes widened in understanding along with Blake's. "Wait, you've talked to her, haven't you? How is she!? Is she wearing clean underwear!? Where is she? Has she made it to Sanctum yet!?"

Weiss quickly shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry, but the only reason I can even talk to you right now is because you're so close to Signal's tower. Mistral and Vacuo's CCT global systems have basically gone dark and they've all but embargoed my kingdom and company. I just happen know how Ruby's scatterbrained mind works is all. She's my partner, a-and sometimes I swear I can still hear what she's thinking..."

Yang nodded, and squeezed Blake's hand which she hadn't realized she'd been holding onto who quickly squeezed back reassuringly but still didn't meet her gaze. They had both spent months trying to sever that connection with each other, only occasionally catching brief flashes of they thought the other might've been thinking, but reestablishing that bond had been almost effortless as though they were puzzle pieces meant to fit together. But for Weiss her corresponding piece was still far, far away.

"Okay you're smart I'll give you that," Yang admitted, "and you and my sister obviously have Stockholm syndrome for each other, but how'd you know all that for real?"

Weiss' eyes twinkled. "Did I mention that I also happen to have all the resources that money can buy? As well as eager young men around the world either scared of me or wishing to someday become Mr. Weiss Schnee." When she didn't get a response Weiss rolled her eyes as though it should be obvious, but appeared more than happy to explain her brilliance nonetheless. "Credit cards. I still remember all of Ruby's banking information, and the SDC practically owns half the money in the world anyway. Before leaving the City of Vale your sister went on a shopping spree in the commercial district purchasing camping supplies, food, water, ammo, medical supplies, four short range communicators, and some tacky new huntress gear. And on that day an SDC shipping frigate just so happened to be leaving for Mistral's capital. Coincidence? I think not."

"She emptied her savings," Yang remembered. "Most of it was from Summer's monthly legacy condolences, and I think she'd been looking for ships heading to Mistral since the day she woke up. She was just waiting for me to be ready to let her go..."

Weiss swallowed and tried forcing a smile. "At least she's not dumb enough to try and walk to an entirely different continent separated by ocean."

Yang couldn't help but snort indignantly. "She might be an idiot sometimes but she's not stupid. And you make for a hell of a good stalker, you know that?"

"Yes, I'm well aware actually." Weiss said without a shred of shame. "And you do realize don't you that your sister snuck onto an SDC frigate with hundreds of armed Atlesian Knights aboard, right? All programmed to shoot trespassers on sight?"

Yang shook her head as though it were trivial. "So Rubes and the gang should be in the City of Mistral by now, right?"

Weiss opened her mouth to speak but promptly closed it, her face turning several shades paler in the process. Both girls' hearts skipped a beat, and she and Blake's interlocked hand reflexively reached for her chest.

"Weiss?" Yang asked breathlessly. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"D-did you by chance hear about the SDC transport that sunk last month? Or about the Leviathan it encountered? You know, one of those Alpha sea dragon Grimm that can fly, breathe fire, and-"

"What. Happened. To. My. Ruby," Yang demanded, her old fire beginning to rekindle again.

"I figured with your CCT Tower being down news coming in would be slow," Weiss said airily, not realizing that death was only a few thousand miles away. "Then again I suppose Vale has bigger worries than trade between Atlas and Mistral and one transport sinking. Well, first of all my family lost millions because of that little incident and now Mistral's dust shortage is even worse, not that they'll ever admit it, and now there's also an angry Leviathan roaming our eastern trade route and-"

"Weiss!"

"Oh, right. Sorry. The best I can figure is that they were shipwrecked at about the halfway point to Mistral, somewhere in the northern territory of Anima. Either Ruby and JNPR were too impatient to wait for an investigative airship to arrive, which Atlas had to send by the way, or they weren't able to stick around because of the out of control Grimm population, or-" She left the third option hanging in the air, the one nobody wanted to consider. Just thinking about it caused Yang's shaking to worsen.

"I didn't hear anything more for almost a month," Weiss said quietly, looking at the cookies as if she wasn't sure if she wanted to continue eating or vomit. "But I knew Ruby was alive because I'd feel it if she wasn't, and finally a couple weeks ago I found a lead."

Both Yang and Blake's head's shot up to see the heiress' radiant smile.

"Ever since the shipwreck I've been a wreck checking Mistral's huntsmen job boards to keep tabs on the area, and there was one specific job and its recipients that happened to catch my eye. It was a request to kill an Alpha, a Geist to be precise that'd been terrorizing the local villages and already killed a registered huntsman, and over forty armed villagers, and was completed by four anonymous huntsmen going by the aliases Crater Face, Mr. and Mrs. Boop, and Vomit Boy."

"Oh my God!" Yang cheered, embracing Blake and bouncing up and down on the bed nearly knocking the breakfast trey over. "My baby sister killed a Geist all by herself!?"

"Well, Jaune, Nora, and Ren were technically there too, so-"

"Oh my God! Nora and my baby sister killed a Geist all by themselves!?"

Blake chuckled as it sounded accurate enough, and Yang's face pressed up against hers was practically glowing with pride and the old warmth of better days. "Those are almost as good as some of our code names. Remember? Rosie Palms, Bee Stings, Sweet Cheeks, and Pussy...Cat Magnet. Wait, what the hell does Ruby think she's doing getting anywhere near an Alpha!? Oh she is SO grounded when she gets home!"

Weiss sat looking bemused but also more than a little pleased at the familiar sight of Yang threatening her little sister. "Moving on..." she said finally, her face a little pink as she subtly adjusted her jacket so that her chest puffed out more. "Where they went from there I'm not so sure, however what I can tell you is that another job was accepted by huntsmen going by the same aliases, and the payment was two free rooms at an inn, showers, breakfast, and a horse. I'm not even kidding."

"Gee, I wonder what Ren and Nora did in their room, and in the shower," Yang teased with a sultry smile, giving Blake another playful nudge who returned the favor. Weiss on the other hand wasn't nearly as amused.

"Humph! I'd assume Ruby and Nora would take one room and the boys the other, because otherwise I might have to kill Jaune. I thought you of all people would agree but I suppose I should've known better.

Yang nodded gleefully. "After a month of traveling in Anima without any alone time, there isn't a force on Remnant that could keep Nora from getting some private time in a room with a bed with Ren. Y'all remember how she'd read his cookbooks like they were my copies of Playhuntress, or Ruby and her weapon magazines?"

"You can't be serious!" Weiss seethed. "Jaune, a boy, slept in the same room as your sister! Maybe even in the same bed!"

Again Yang nodded barely able to contain herself. "I know! The closest Rubes has ever come to showing interest in a boy was when she was playing in the sandbox with a cute little boy who had a plastic shovel that could turn into a toy truck. I thought they were gonna get married there and then, but turns out Rubes is like her big sis and after she was done playing with him she went home and took a shower."

"What about Pyrrha!"

"You never know she might be into that sort of thing. The more the merrier, right? If not then my baby sister gets to be in her first love triangle! And so long as Pyrrha doesn't wake up from her coma I think Rubes can take her."

Weiss leaned back in her chair massaging a migraine that hadn't surfaced in months. "With any luck Jaune won't be a gentleman and let the ladies ride the horse, and he'll fall off and break his neck. Shame..."

"Didn't Jaune grow up on a farm? And you know, ride a horses?"

"To be honest I never really paid much attention to anything Jaune had to say, though I do seem to recall asking him if he'd ever been kicked in the head while shoeing a mule."

Yang snorted. "Wow, jealous of him being with Ruby much?"

Weiss' jawline tightened and she raised her chin in a defiant manner, answering Yang's question. Her composure soon deflated however and she began shoveling handfuls of chocolate chip cookies back into her mouth, muttering dark things about Jaune that Blake could only catch every other word of. Weiss had never particularly cared for their sister's team leader, not that she cared for many other people for that matter, but his close friendship with her partner might have been the one thing Weiss found more vexing than when he'd been vying for her affection. Ruby was her partner, her BFF, her literal other half, and nothing was supposed to get in between them.

"Don't worry, Weiss," Yang said gently. "I don't think you have anything to worry about with Jaune. You and my sister are soul-mates till one of you finally kills the other, but- and I hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty sure Rubes is saving herself for Crescent Rose. Sorry about that, but on the bright side my baby sis is in a love triangle after all."

Her humor seemed lost on the heiress, who at the mention of her partner seemed momentarily lost herself. Blake instinctively scooted closer to her own partner, but almost immediately received a glare and scooted away again. Weiss' cold eyes then turned back to Yang where they softened, and almost absently they followed her black shoulder strap all the way down to her protective sling. She swallowed and wiped her eyes once again obviously having been trying to avoid staring all this time but finally couldn't ignore the Goliath in the room, and Yang sensing what she was about to be asked forgot how to breathe.

"H-how are you r-really?" Weiss squeaked, visibly hating herself. "Your a-arm I mean..."

Yang remained silent unable to move, but just as the heiress began making apologies Yang began undoing the fasteners that kept her arm immobile and protected, and removed the strap from around her neck. Then with a much needed deep breath that likely didn't reach her lungs, she gradually removed the sling encompassing her arm which immediately went limp and dangled lifelessly out in front of her.

Weiss let out an audible gasp and covered her mouth, and Blake scooted closer to her partner wrapping her arms around her.

Yang's right arm had shrunken and lost all its muscle mass, making it appear withered and belonging to that of a corpse. Around her bicep was a deep, ghostly white scar from where her arm had very nearly been cleaved in two, as well as several scars on the forearm from her numerous surgeries, but everywhere else was black with bruises due to the blood not circulating properly. Her hand was shriveled reminding Blake of decrepit old woman's, and her bony fingers looked like the skin had been pulled tight but barely clinging on .

"Doctors can reattach limbs if they're quick enough," Yang said matter-of-factly, running her hand over the dead limb. "But they were so busy worrying about my heart and lungs that I don't think they really cared if I got to keep it or not..."

Her soft words felt like hot pokers to both of them and they stared up at team RWBY's big sister and momma bear through blurry eyes. Of course both Blake and Weiss already knew the shape she'd been in even before she arrived at the emergency room, but hearing her talk about her arm Yang sounded like she was talking about someone else entirely.

They were silent as they stared blankly at the arm, but Yang interrupted the moment by gently nudging Blake's shoulder. "Now the team's got an ambidextrous and two lefties. How's it feel to be the only right-y left on the team?"

Blake shook her head too afraid to even speak. Her partner's voice hardly even sounded like herself.

"H-how have your checkups been?" Weiss asked, trying desperately to sound hopeful and searching for anything positive she could find.

"Last week's was my last," Yang said, leaving out the actual reason she'd been at the hospital. "Doctors said that my aura finally thinks that my arm is healed, but if they start redoing all of my nerves, veins, arteries, and other crap my stupid aura might reject it. And they said even if the surgery works I'll probably never have anything near full range motion of my arm again, let alone my hand..."

Blake hugged her tighter as Yang began cursing the doctors for their 'patch job' and everything else that had gone wrong since mid-December.

"They're gonna take my arm," she whimpered, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "They'll tell me they're gonna do the surgery before putting me to sleep but then I'm gonna wake up without my arm!"

"Ssshhh." Blake held her tightly and flared her aura. "They're not gonna do that, Yang. It'll be okay, a-and I'll be there with you. I promise..."

'You weren't there before...' Blake heard in the back of her mind, only making her squeeze tighter.

"Yang, if you'll give me copies of your medical papers I can have my doctors-"

"Signal's surgeons are the best in Vale." Yang shook her head. "All they work on are huntsmen and huntsmen in-training, a-and now that I think about it I don't think I ever thanked you for paying all of my medical bills. I-I don't know what we would've done without you..."

Weiss quickly waved her off. "It's nothing." She smiled weakly, tears threatening to pour down her face again, but as she swallowed a lump down her throat Weiss began looking nervous and afraid to speak. "Listen, I-I've been talking to SDC technicians in the cybernetics department, and I've already-

"No," Yang practically growled, causing Weiss to flinch. "I don't want a cybernetic! But I guess if they're gonna replace everything anyway and my arm still isn't gonna work then maybe they should just cut it off and be done with it! I just don't care anymore..."

Her voice cracked and she buried her face into Blake's shoulder, who began cooing and tickling her back, telling her everything would be alright again while hiding her true thoughts deep in the recesses of her aura.

"It'll be okay," she whispered, glancing at the screen where the image mirrored her own. Tears were streaming down Weiss' cheeks, but just as she began to apologize a loud buzzing sound came from the other end of the video, and suddenly the heiress' face was lit up by a red flashing light.

"No!" Weiss shouted, her eyes widening she jumped out of her seat. "NO! NO! NO! NOT NOW!"

"What's wrong?" Yang sat forward. "W-Weiss!?"

The heiress cursed loud enough for most of SDC Headquarters to hear and began furiously pressing buttons. "I'm s-sorry. I-I can't stay any longer. Atlas, Vale, the SDC, or- Doesn't matter. Someone found out there's unauthorized communication between the kingdoms and is trying to track it. Listen, it was really great to see and talk to you again, Yang." Ever so subtly she glanced over at Blake with a demanding, threatening look that the faunus understood all too well. Yang was her responsibility, and she better not screw up, again...

Weiss pressed her hand to the screen still smiling reassuringly at Yang who reached out to hold her hand. "Yang, everything will be alright. I'll find a way to talk to you again soon, and I just want you to know that I love y-"

The image cut out before she could finish or their hands could touch but Yang continued to stare blankly. For several minutes she just gazed at the blue screen willing Weiss to return, or perhaps wondering if it had all been just another fever dream. Soon she began to cry and rested her head against Blake's shoulder, murmuring about her arm and how they were going to take it away, and how her heart just couldn't take anymore.

"It's okay," Blake lied, undoing Yang's ponytail and playing with her hair. "I'm here. Everything will be alright..."

(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. I'm terribly sorry for the long wait between chapters, friends, and thank you for your incredible patience. After posting Chapter 2 I began working on Chapter 17 of "The Patchwork Prodigy", and afterward took a much needed break from RWBY and fanfiction. However I'm happy to say that my batteries have been fully recharged and I'm probably writing more now than ever. As for this chapter, it's always fun having Yang and Weiss interact together as their characters just bounce off each other so well, and I'm sorry if the ending seemed a bit abrupt but it was intentional. We haven't seen the last of Weiss, not by a long shot, and I hope you enjoy what's to come hopefully in the near future. As always all credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has made this story possible and blessed me with all of you. God bless)