Roses & Thorns – Volume 1 – Chapter 17

-Drifting Feathers-

It had been a week.

Yang had felt as though she was sleepwalking through life for a week. She rose each morning with a numbness gripping her heart, an unfeeling haze that colored every activity a dull gray. Her workout in the small hours of a new dawn came and went without a word exchanged between her or the other two girls that shared the room, each of them gathering up their things and moving along to class. The Professor droning on about some subject or another passed through one ear and drifted out the other, her attention fleeting at the best of times.

Even the funeral procession that was held, with the whole of the Academy in attendance, she experienced but did not feel. Yang was a passive observer as Amber's body was lowered into the grounds that lay behind the massive structure, an enormous yard marked with the gravestones of every Hunter that had died in the line of duty. Even from the row where she sat, flanked by her two teammates, she could see the intricate engraving of the burning wings that had served as the girl's emblem.

She knew that she should feel something, that she should be crying, as some of the other students were. But there was simply no more room for sorrow in her heart in such a short amount of time. She grieved for Amber, for the girl's brother, and the father that had come to see his daughter's body put to rest, but it was strange to feel sadness for a death when it was the death that had allowed her sister to live. The maelstrom of it all had coalesced into a deep seated feeling of guilt that had tore at her emotions until she just felt suppressed and deadened to the world outside of her own mind.

The one bright spot of her days was visiting the infirmary, and seeing the wide grin that spread over her girlfriend's face when she walked through the doors. Even that was immediately diminished by the continued lifelessness of the frail body that lay in the bed closest to the nurses station, the drab gown that patients wore only causing her sister's frame to look smaller and weaker than Ruby's normal outfit otherwise would have. Beside the bed sat a figure with messy brown hair and slumped shoulders, looking as worn out as she was by the past week.

Stopping for a brief moment to stare at the struggled rise and fall of her younger sibling's chest, Yang turned and moved down one of the long rows of beds until she reached the one that Iris occupied, reaching out and immediately grasping the waiting hand in her own. "Hey there." There was an impossible cheerfulness behind the fox-girl's smile, a happiness that left her feeling a touch of envy that her girlfriend could still summon such a reaction. She felt the soft pads of lips press to the back of the hand that was entwined with the other girl's. "How did it go?"

"Fine, I guess." Sliding down into the seat next to the bed, Yang kept a hold of the Faunus as she observed Iris' condition. The fox-girl was looking better than she had the last few days, a bit more color in the pale cheeks than before, but the heavy bandaging was still present over much of her girlfriend's wounded leg. "How are you?"

Iris seemed to ignore her concern, the black locks of the fox-girl's hair tumbling to cover one of the narrowed eyes as the Faunus shifted on the bed. The indigo irises that gazed at her through the gaps in the dark strands of hair showed a great deal of sympathy as slender fingers squeezed against her grip. "I'm sorry I couldn't attend." There was so much more to the apology than what was said, Yang knew, but there was also so much more to be sorry for that she did not wish to think of it.

"I need to get to class." Rising up from the chair, she leaned over the bed to bring a kiss to her girlfriend's lips, unconsciously holding the contact for a half second longer than usual. Iris seemed to sense her need, and a hand snaked its way to the back of her neck and held her there as the embrace was held. It lasted only a moment, before Yang was pulled down into a tight hug, and murmured groan of goodbye casting warm breath across the bare skin of her collarbone. "I'll come back to see you at lunch, okay?"

A coy smile and a nod was all she received for an answer as she pulled away, making her way towards the door. Even as the portal slid open, Yang rocked a half-step back to avoid running into Blake. Her partner started at her sudden appearance, both of them staring at each other for a long moment mumbling apologies before recognition set in. Before either of them could formulate a complete sentence, the other girl's amber eyes slid past her and narrowed into a glare.

Following the cold gaze, Yang saw the girl who had been sitting by her sister's bed approaching, head down and scratching at a furred ear. Claire didn't seem to notice them until she was right on top of them, looking up and freezing as she caught them staring at her. For a moment, she felt as both of the Faunus had forgotten she was there as muddy brown eyes locked with a subdued golden hue.

By simple reflex, Yang felt her gaze drawn to the cuts and bruising present on the knuckles of Blake's hands, and then continued her observation by looking over to the wolf-girl. The side of Claire's face was home to similar injuries that were more fresh than the ones that had been sustained in Forever Fall, a damning confirmation of what had occurred between the two girls. The leader of Team CAIN glanced at her for a moment, the sharp flecks of red present in the brown iris of an eye made all the more apparent by the black bruising that surrounded the socket.

Without a word between them, the wolf-girl slipped by and into the hallway, leaving Yang to watch as Blake turned and glared after her. It didn't take much more than that to convince her a change in subject was more than welcome, and she gently touched a palm to a bare shoulder. "Have you been sleeping more?"

Her concern for her partner was brushed away with a shrug, and a lazy glance in her direction. "I'm fine."

"Blake-"

"I said I'm fine, Yang." With that, the cat-girl stepped past her and into the infirmary, leaving her alone at the entrance to the small medical ward. It was more words than had passed between them since their return from Forever Fall, but it had just left her feeling even less useful than before.

It had been a week.

"Excuse me." The calm and level tone of her voice earned a nod from the older student that Weiss had bumped into, side stepping around the young man's massive frame as she continued up the stairs. Turning at the top in order to head down the hallway that had been her destination since leaving the dorm, she nearly ran into another person, distracted as she was. "Sorry."

It had been a week since they had returned one friend short from Forever Fall, all of them silent and grieving in their own way for their own reasons. She had spent seven days with words left unsaid upon her lips whenever she looked at the two of her teammates that were still conscious, or in the rare times that she visited the one that was not. It was new to her, this muteness that came with knowing that words needed to be said, but all of her repository of knowledge, and all of her usual wit, did little to allow her to say such things. Each sound faltered before leaving her mouth, leaving her staring dumbly as Yang or Blake moved through the passing hours with an exhausted stumble.

If she were being honest with herself, it made her feel as if she was going to explode if she kept all these churning emotions inside much longer. It was that feeling that directed her to seek out the one person she was sure would be recovered enough to talk to. Claire was no doubt emotional, given that it had been simultaneously revealed to her that her sister was alive and psychotic, but the Faunus girl was one of the most stalwart people Weiss had ever come across.

But even as the wolf-girl came into view, Weiss knew that she had been wrong. It had been strange to see the girl without the signature tan jacket in the last few days, and that sense of nakedness persisted. Without the ragged and torn garment cast over the broad shoulders, it seemed as if Claire was simply less of what she used to be. Hands in pockets, hunched forward, ears drooping, eyes to the ground. The threatening leader of team CAIN that had beaten her at the beginning to the semester was nowhere to be seen now, only this remnant that seemed to care less of appearances than ever before.

Brown hair was tousled and tangled in a dozen different ways, having lost the style of ordered chaos that had always suited its owner. The clothes that adorned the muscled and scarred body looked as though they had been slept in for more than a few days, with creases and patches of discoloration showing clearly on a gray shirt. Even as she approached, Weiss' nose caught the rough scent of stale sweat and dirt, but that paled to the defeated expression that dominated the other girl's face.

"Claire." She sucked in a sharp breath as those rugged features rose to regard her, not fully expecting the blackened bruises to still be discoloring the tanned skin along the ridge of the wolf-girl's left eye. Weiss tried to recover, stumbling over a clumsy greeting as both of the muddy orbs narrowed at her, and she instead changed the subject completely. "How is Ruby doing?"

"There's been no change." It was barely perceptible, the brief shrug that rose and fall in the wolf-girl's shoulders, but the roll of brown eyes was enough to convey the very frustration that Weiss felt as well. "Doctor Sheppard says we'll just have to wait for her to wake up on her own, but that it'll be any day now."

"And what about you, are you okay?" That caused a long eyebrow to quirk, and Claire's features twisted into a sense of surprise at her concern. The reaction made Weiss feel a bit indignant, as if the other girl thought her incapable of such a thing. Nevertheless, she continued. "Is your aura returning yet?"

After a long moment of staring like a deer caught in the headlights, the wolf-girl's facial features relaxed and another shrug came, this one with a touch more force behind it. "Slowly, but surely. Whatever it was that Ruan did to us, it seems that our auras can recover from it. Just takes time.." Claire seemed to twitch when it was finally noticed that Weiss was staring at the ragged cuts along the side of the girl's face, and there came a defeated sigh. "Some of the older scratches are healing, but the newer ones will be there for a while."

"I'm sorry." Her apology didn't register in the other girl, only earning her a glance before the Faunus' gaze turned away. "I still can't believe Blake hit you."

"Anyway, the rest of your Team is in the infirmary." Claire brushed her concern aside, quite literally, by pushing past her to continue down the hallway with a short look back. "Now's the time to go if you want to visit."

"Actually, I.. I wanted to talk to you.." The wolf-girl had apparently stopped listening, as she continued walking away. Weiss reached out a hand for a moment and then withdrew it, grumbling out her next words. "Later then, I suppose."

"'Not today,' said the knight, drawing the sword from the scabbard at his belt. He turned to face the crowd of soldiers and peasants, most of whom were armed only with the most simple of weapons. 'They may ha- f-f-'" Blake gripped the edges of the book in frustration as her fatigued mind continued to read ahead of what her mouth was saying. Bringing up two fingers to rub at tired eyes, she shook her head before starting again. "'They may have come this far, but no further!' With a flourish of his blade, the knight turned and pointed toward the breach in the castle walls, a rousing cheer passing through the ranks behind him.'"

Sighing softly, she dogeared the page and closed the book. "Seems cheap to read about heroes after all that has happened.." Setting the tome down on the side of the bed, she leaned forward onto an elbow and looked up at the peaceful expression that lay over Ruby's face. There were none of the signs of strain that had been present a few days ago, but that did not set her heart at ease. Too fresh was the memory of Gambol Shroud impaled into the younger girl's chest, covered in the bright color of blood. "Not that you can hear me, anyway."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that." The accent announced clearly that the speaker was Dawn Sheppard, the infirmary's resident doctor and apparent busybody. It seemed that every time Blake came in here to visit Ruby, the lynx-eared woman was not far behind, ready with yet another speech about hope and goddamn puppies. It only served to annoy her further that the pointed glare she shot the doctor's way was wholly ignored by a bright grin. "I've seen it time and time again; Patients wake up letting me know that they heard a loved one speaking to them while they slept. You'll see, 'right?"

"It's good to talk to her. For her and you." A heavy hand clapped down on her shoulder, causing her weight to shift for a moment before she corrected herself. Blake tried not to audibly groan at the cheerfulness the woman displayed in the face of what had happened, but a part of her calmly explained that it had to be the way the doctor coped with it all. Oblivious to her torment, Sheppard continued. "Keeps her spirits up until her aura can repair her body."

"Does it matter?" Unable and too tired to hold back the words, Blake gave up trying and fired out the rest of her dark thoughts in rapid succession. "Even if she wakes up, she was stabbed through the chest! She will never be as good as she could have been without this happening, and the cherry on top of that is that if she still wants to be a Huntress, she's looking at whole years of recovery before she's back to her new one-hundred percent! And that's not even talking about who she is!"

Throwing up an arm to block the incoming hand of comfort, Blake stood up fast enough that the chair she had occupied skidded back across the floor, generating a screeching noise as metal scratched against tile. "Ruby never let what was bothering her show! She was happy, she was kind, and she was always willing to help, no matter what it was that she had on her plate!" It didn't help that the doctor wasn't looking shocked or angry at her outburst, the woman was simply standing there with an expression that spoke of understanding. Instead of calming her, it just made Blake angrier. "She was so focused on being a stupid fucking hero that she never bothered to think that someone out there would try to kill her for nothing more than fun!"

A few moments of ragged breathing and glaring at the lynx-eared doctor passed before one of the furred organs atop Sheppard's head twitched and a look of sympathy passed her features. "Did something similar happen to you, Blake?"

She blanched, her anger melting away in the face of being read so easily by the woman. "I-" Blake took a step back, reaching out to grip the edge of Ruby's bed to steady herself as she swallowed her embarrassment and asked the question that had started her fear-fueled train of thought. "Will she ever be the same?"

Blake didn't try to stop the hand that came in and gently touched against her shoulder, not this time. "It depends on Ruby, love." The doctor stepped past her, taking up the chart that hung from the end of the bed. After a long pause, sky blue eyes flashed back up to regard her. "I wouldn't worry about it though, girl's a fighter." Those bright orbs filled with a more mischievous quality as they studied her. "I'll even let you know when she wakes up, give you a few minutes."

Shaking her head at the sudden turn at the end of the doctor's comments, Blake melded her gaze into a more skeptical expression. "..Why?"

The grin that was plastered on Sheppard's face didn't fade as the chart was closed and replaced on the bed. "I'm not blind, love." The older Faunus turned toward her, cocking her head to the side in a manner that caused both tufted ears to flop for a moment. "I see the way you are with her, and I definitely saw the way she was with you.. Doesn't help to flirt in front of glass windows." A nod in the direction of the doctor's office in the infirmary caused an already pink blush on Blake's cheeks to flush to a darker hue.

Now embarrassed for both her earlier behavior and the revelation that a moment she had thought was private was anything but, Blake gathered up the book laying on the side of Ruby's bed and beat a hasty retreat from the insightful doctor, trying in vain to ignore the way that Iris' wide-eyed gaze followed her as she passed the fox-girl's bed.

"Are you ready to talk about what happened?"

Claire took the coffee that was offered by an extended hand, bringing it immediately to her lips and sipping at the hot liquid, glad for anything that would drive back sleep and the inevitable nightmares it would bring. Her mind, caught in the fatigued state that came with running on the minimal amount of sleep that she could, barely registered how it burned going down her throat. There came a sigh from the Headmaster, as the man replaced the pot on the side table and took the long way around his desk, obviously having given up in the face of her continued silence.

"Perhaps you'd be willing to tell me why you have even more bruises than the last time you were in here?" Ozpin sat down across from her, but Claire refused to meet the Hunter's gaze, staring instead directly into the dark coffee in the mug she held. A non-committal shrug was all she gave, pretending to be more interested in drinking than talking. "You do not deserve such abuse. What happened to Ms. Rose was not your fault."

Letting her gaze rise as a glare set into her eyes, Claire felt anger begin to bubble as the man across the table affixed her with a calm stare. She hated it when he did this, probed her for a response while simultaneously knowing what that response would be. Of course he knew what had happened, the whole of the first year dorms knew what had transpired between her and Blake. A fist fight in the hallways was never inconspicuous, even if it was truly only one person fighting and the other simply getting beaten.

Guilt. It was guilt that had motivated her to stand there and take those punches thrown by the other Faunus girl. No matter what Ozpin said, what anyone said, she knew the moment that Ruan had stabbed Ruby that it was ultimately her fault. It was for her that her older sister had sacrificed so much for. It was for her that Ruan had given up her sanity. "Tell me of your parents." She blinked, focusing once again on the room that she was in and the person she was supposed to be talking to. "We haven't talked much about them."

"What?"

The question spilled out with a large amount of venom to her tone before she could properly respond, but as always, Ozpin seemed to take it in stride. Always understanding and patient, the man didn't even bat an eye, merely continuing on as if she had asked it in a reasonable manner. "Both of their daughters are fighters of no small talent, I'm interested in their story. If you remember any of it?"

Brown eyes studied her through the small lenses of Ozpin's glasses, much of his expression disappearing behind the tilt of a mug as he took a drink of the coffee he had poured before her arrival. Ever wary of what the man was trying to get at, Claire stumbled over the first few memories of her parents that came to mind. "Um, they were born in Vale, I think? No, wait.. My mother was born in Menagerie, but came to Vale sometime before she completed school."

There came a noise of interest as the man across the table leaned forward, listening intently as she attempted to sort out the jumbled mess that was her early memories. "They met in Vale." This time she accompanied her words with a confident nod, sure that this was the right information. "They married sometime later and moved outside the kingdom to the village where I was born."

"Can you remember anything about what they were like?"

Thinking for a moment, Claire's focus fled from the room she occupied and she was lost in a haze of old memories she had not thought of in a long time. It was strange, to be reminded of happier times after what had transpired, but it brought a sort of guilty pleasure. "My father was fierce, always serious and on alert for Grimm. He was quite the fighter whenever we needed to defend the village." A light laugh escaped from her, surprising herself as she blinked and stuttered a few times before continuing. "I remember the other kids in the village were scared of him, because he didn't tend to lighten up. But he was always warm with me and.."

She trailed off, her expression darkening as she stared again at Ozpin. But it seemed the Hunter was not to be dissuaded, as he spoke again to gently prod her. "And your mother?"

"My mother was the opposite. Everyone loved her." Claire set the mug of coffee on the desk before looking down at her hands, gripping them before releasing them in a nervous tic. "I remember her smile and the sound of her laugh the most. She was always happy, always kind to everyone and willing to help for even the smallest thing. I remember things were always better when she was around, she just made everything brighter."

Giving a nod to indicate that he understood what it was that she was saying and feeling, Ozpin leaned back in his chair. "And who was it that taught you how to fight?"

"Well, that was my mother. She was the village's best fighter.." Claire faltered, slowly allowing her gaze to rise back up to meet the stare that the Professor watching her with. In a moment of clarity, she now understood how he had orchestrated the conversation so far, she could now see the strings. "How did you know?"

There came no immediate answer, only the cocking of a single eyebrow that rose on the man's forehead. After several long seconds in which Claire celebrated her first success at seeing through his roundabout way of making her talk about certain subjects, Ozpin tapped a finger against the interface on the desk a few times, bringing up a holo-screen that contained a service record marked with the symbol of Beacon Academy.

Leaning forward in order to read the text, she froze as she realized what it contained. There, at the top of the service record, was clearly marked the name 'Luna Briar'. "Your mother was once one of Beacon's most promising students, with combat marks ranking several notches higher than some of the best Hunters in their day." He wasn't lying, as most of the grades on the record were higher even than Claire's. "She was on track to graduate with some of the highest honors, until her team was killed during her third year in the Academy."

Blinking, she focused past the transparent file and on the man who sat behind it, tilting her head to the side in order to pose the question that remained unsaid. "It was a training mission that went awry. She and her Team were operating on a basic patrol mission, limited Grimm activity, should have been wrapped up in a week and come back to school. They went missing, and two weeks later, a group of Hunters found and rescued only one of the members of Team SOUL, your mother." Ozpin took a moment to compose himself as she watched, his features dipping for a second to reveal a touch of emotion that seemed out of place for the usually stoic and calm man. "It was an accident, a fluke. There was overwhelming numbers of Grimm that hadn't been seen in centuries, and your mother's Team was dropped directly in the middle of them."

Unable to trust her legs to maintain her weight for much longer, Claire leaned back and once again took a seat, rubbing a hand against the unbruised portion of her hairline. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I don't want the same fate to befall you." With a few swipes of a finger, the holo-screen faded, and Ozpin stood. She watched as the Hunter limped toward the window, cane in hand and supporting him. "Amber is dead, and Nyx Pinion has elected to return home. It is understandable, given his loss. And what happened was a tragedy, yes, but you still have a place here."

Claire scoffed, shaking her head for a moment before speaking again. "With no team? I'm sure I'll do great."

"We will search for recruits who did not make the final cut and extend them an offer to join the Academy, attempt to replace what we have lost in these past few days."

It seemed so cold, so calculated, that the Professor could speak as if he were replacing a gear in a clock in order to make it work again, but the question that reached Claire's thoughts was much more selfish. "All to keep me?"

Ozpin turned to face her then, his eyes hard and his voice taking on a more stern tone than before. "Luna was a close friend of mine, and I failed her when I let her walk away from the Academy. It was a choice that I thought was right at the time, but years later.."

"She was dead."

Her blunt statement caused the man to give a hollow chuckle, nodding to agree with it. "Time has a way of making fools of us all, no? But all I ask of you is that you consider staying. Ms. Vex has already said that she will remain once she has recovered, and as I said the first time we talked in this office: You do have a place at my school."

"It wasn't Qrow's recommendation that got me in, was it?"

Claire watched as the man gave another chuckle, this one leagues more genuine than before, and shook his head. "No, it was not. But while I originally gave you a chance based on who your mother was, your entrance into this Academy, and the progress you have made since.. It is your own. Do not forget that."

By the time Claire returned to her dorm room, most of the other students had gone to their afternoon classes. But not her, not this period. Her talk with Ozpin had motivated her in a strange way, had pushed back the fit of melancholy she had allowed to grasp her since they all returned from Forever Fall. To know that her own mother had experienced something similar, something worse, and had come out the kind and loving woman that she remembered, it gave her a small bit of hope for the future.

But for now, there was something that she needed to do. Rapping the knuckles of a fist against the frame of the door, she slowly pushed the wooden barrier inward. The first two beds were readily visible from where she stood, the two that belonged to the Pinion twins. At least, had belonged. The top was empty of all but the basic coverings, and as she approached the frame of the bunk, she could see that the shelves that sat in the middle of the room had been cleared in places as well.

Amber's belongings had already been collected, and all that remained of Nyx's was the pack that lay on his own neatly folded bed, along with the two sheathed blades that sat beside the pillow. The boy himself was zipping up the long edge of the pack, and acknowledged her presence with a brief glance in her direction. "Claire."

"Nyx."

"I hope you haven't come to try and convince me to stay." His voice was heavy, with a touch of a nasally sound that came from a stuffed nose. She knew immediately that he had been crying in here, having been unable to do so earlier without losing face, during the burial ceremony for his sister. Somehow, knowing that made the first sign of tears begin to well up in her own eyes. "There isn't- I.. I can't-"

"Don't." Surprised at the emotion that could be heard in her own voice, Claire started when dusky yellow eyes swiveled to meet her gaze through the framework of the beds. Reaching out, she grasped the pillar that connected the bunk together and leaned against it, watching him carefully. "I know why."

Nyx sniffled, giving a single nod before looking away and staring at the pack containing all that was left of his things. There passed a long silence between them both as they stood there, her looking at him, while he avoid her gaze. Claire could never have claimed to have been close to the boy, but she had always respected him, and the way he had given so much for his sister.

After a few moments, as her mind was focused more on the tear that was rolling it's way slowly down her cheek, that silence was broken as the Pinion boy turned and regarded her with a strange gaze. "I never liked you, Claire. I thought you were reckless, and I thought you were dangerous." It wasn't exactly news to her, as she watched him gather up the strange harness that housed his two scimitars. "But Amber liked you. And that was enough for me to trust you."

She started as he offered the wrapped blades to her, a eyebrow involuntarily cocking upwards as she looked from the offering to him, earning a shrug from the boy. "If you're staying here, you'll need weapons. And I know you're not exactly in the right financial situation to obtain new ones, so here." Hesitantly, she accepted the weapons, taking them from his hands without breaking his stare. "Modify them, break them down and build something else, whatever. I don't care."

Claire was at a loss for words as she watched him take up the pack with the rest of his belongings and straighten to look at her. She took a moment to regain composure before nodding and speaking up. "I'm going to find my sister and Calico. I'm going to make them pay, Nyx."

He moved forward, stopping at her side and glancing over as he spoke. "I don't care." With that said, he stepped past her and towards the door, leaving her with his weapons as he said his simple farewell. "Goodbye, Claire."

It had been a week.

But to Ruby Rose, it had felt as though she hadn't slept in a year. The road to consciousness was one of agony, as each cell of her body felt like it was attempting to scream in protest, as if they were all on fire. The flames seemed centered in her chest, tearing and gnashing at her body as her lungs emptied of air in a breathless whine that attempted to call for help.

The last thing she remembered was running, faster than she ever had before, towards.. No, she remembered reaching down into blood, and feeling power surge through her. She remembered shock and pain lancing through her as bullets tore through her chest, but also the cold and dark embrace of death as a blade impaled her and began to allow her lifeblood to seep away.

These adjacent and conflicting sensations came with two distinct memories. The first was of looking up, of two burning orbs shining in the darkness as they gazed down at her. The next was of looking down, at two silver eyes filled with fear, both of the irises reflecting the same fire back at her. But what truly dominated the pathway of thoughts within her minds is that in either memory she was certain that she was dead.

Eventually, the blaze of consciousness overpowered all confusion and pain, and she felt fingers and toes twitch in an effort to get her body moving again. It seemed her instincts and muscles had different ideas, however, as each new pulse of blood through her veins brought with it a tearing ache that caused her to weakly scratch at her chest.

The ridge Ruby found there was what truly pulled her back into the word of the living, her eyes sliding open and revealing the darkened atmosphere of a room. She scarcely had time to register that she was in the infirmary before her back arched, the agony from before returning as the nails at the tips of her fingers dug against that ridge on her chest. Her vision turned white hot as pain thundered through her form, and her ears caught the distinct sound of a hoarse scream, a sound that took her a moment to realize was emanating from herself.

After a long moment, blurry vision swam back into some semblance of focus, and the patient and continued mutterings of a calming voice brought her back down from a high of pain. Her back touched the sheets once again, guided into place by a gentle hand upon her shoulders, and Ruby caught the sight of sky blue eyes for a single instant before darkness clouded on the edges of her vision. Black devoured all, and once again she was returned to the void of unconsciousness.

The last, lingering thought of consciousness was one of bittersweet realization; At least she wasn't dead.

The story shall continue in Volume 2

Author's Note: "After the Storm" by Mumford & Sons was apparently the anthem for this chapter, it was on repeat as I wrote it. Highly recommend that song. Anyway, here is the end of Volume 1 and the beginning of my hiatus on this story so I can focus on my Cyberpunk AU. I will return to this when that story is done, and I will continue this story to it's completion. It just might take a little while longer. If you have gotten to this point, there was clearly something bringing you back to it, so please drop a review with your thoughts on the story. What did I do I right, what can I improve on for Volume 2 when I come back to it? Thank you in advance, you've all been amazing readers and I hope you'll check out my other fic. -Fox

Update(3/20): If it was not already abundantly clear, I won't be coming back to update this fic. Perhaps down the road, but for no there are no plans to come back to this. It was a joy to write and I think it's one of my best yet. But for now, it's over. I thank you all for your support and understanding. 3 -Fox