Yang coughed, her entire body convulsing as her stomach contracted violently. Her eyes snapped open and she sucked in a heavy breath, gasping hard. The world was black, and something was pinning her arm, cutting off the circulation and degrading all feeling to naught but pins and needles. Yang rolled over and tried to move it, but whatever was on her arm was weighing her down considerably. She grunted, reaching under it with her opposite arm, registering for the first time the it was smooth and very, very hot. Something sticky met her fingers, and Yang closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

They had crashed. Alright. They had crashed, and now her arm was stuck underneath part of the plane. Presumably, she was covered by other miscellaneous shrapnel, blocking out the sun. And she was bleeding.

Alright Yang, She thought morosely. Gotta get your arm out.

She slid her hand under the metal beside her stuck arm and pulled. The metal stayed firmly locked in place, but the area where she pulled buckled ever so slightly. Yang grinned. She knew how she would get free.

She yanked on it again, throwing her previous, testing, caution to the wind. The alloy moved more this time, freeing up some space for her arm to wiggle around. She pulled again, and again, the metal warping a little each time, giving her more and more room. She had one task: free her arm; so she pulled and pulled and pulled. As it came loose, she bent the metal back, releasing some of her forearm. She ran her hand over her sticky skin, feeling a three inch gash across her arm where the edge of the metal had bitten through to muscle.

Ignoring the injury for the moment, Yang gave a herculean heave, pulling the scrap back far enough for her to free her arm. She tried to move her fingers, but the circulation had yet to return to her hand, and it stayed limp. Yang sighed, then flicked her wrist to unravel Ember Celica. She took a deep breath, pulled her arm back, and detonated the gun.

Her fist smashed through the metal, sending it flying and Yang rolled out quickly before the wreckage on top of her could fall and crush her. A moment later it smashed down where she had been a split second before. Using her good hand, she got to her knees, then finally and rubbing her eyes. She inspected the crash site around her. The front half of the Bullhead was mostly intact, but the back half – where team RWBY had been – was gone. Fallen red leaves mingled with shards of twisted metal, smoking where they lay. Yang's violet eyes swept the ground around her, searching for her teammates, for the pilot, for-

Ruby.

Her sister's signature red cloak lay covering the girl, sprawled on the ground amidst the wreckage. Her sister's body was strewn about like some broken doll, certainly unconscious, and definitely hurt. Yang limped over to Ruby, fear gripping her stomach like a vice. She slid to her knees as she came to rest by her sister, and putting a hand on Ruby's shoulder, Yang shook her lightly, trying to rouse her.

"Ruby? Hey, Ruby, wake up." Yang rolled her onto her back, exposing her face. It was dirty and bloody, covered in soot, and too, too pale.

"Ruby? C'mon sis, wake up." Yang shook her again. Her heart slamming in her chest like the beats of a stampede of wild horses, Yang tried again, shaking her sister a little more roughly.

"Come on!" She half-sobbed, half-yelled. She scanned the rest of her body, until she found a piece of metal embedded within Ruby's thigh.

"Shit," Yang muttered, looking for other wounds. "No, no, no…"

Dried blood was caked around the twisted steel. How long was I out? wondered Yang, as she took hold of the shrapnel. "Alright, Rubes, this'll only hurt for a little," she said, starting to pull. She steeled herself for the inevitable gush of blood. "3...2...1…"

"Fuck, I can't do this. Fuck!" She pounded the ground with Ember Celica. Her weapon shook the ground, but did little to wake the unconscious girl..

"Come on Ruby," Yang muttered, her breaths coming short and fast. "Just wake up… Please just wake up."

"Wake up!" She screamed finally, losing all semblance of composure. She shook Ruby's shoulders again, desperately and violently, and she saw a glint of silver peek out from under a lazy eyelid.

"Hey, sis." Yang said, smiling with relief. Ruby's too-pale face smiled back at her.

"Hey." Ruby replied hoarsely. "We made it."

"Yeah. Sit tight, let me get something for you." Yang said, pointing out Ruby's gash. Ruby's eyes slowly moved down, until they rested on the foreign object in her leg.

"Oh my Dust. Oh, no, no, no…" Ruby put a hand over her mouth, but couldn't prevent the fear from sliding into her eyes.

"You're fine! Just stay put, I'll take care of you, okay?" Yang reassured. She brushed Ruby's hair. "You're fine. I'll be right back. I love ya." She stood and walked away with hollow eyes. Will she be okay?

Yang trudged back to the cockpit. Maybe there were medical supplies there. While walking, Yang heard a shrill voice.

"Ruby? Yang, Blake? Anyone? UGH, where are you guys?" Weiss' shrill voice shrieked, almost as if they had done some great injustice and inconvenience to her by not being conscious.

"Here," Yang sighed. The heiress did not sound happy.

"Yang? Where's Ruby? Is she alright?"

"She there," Yang indicated the fallen cloak.

Weiss stormed over to where Ruby lay. If she had sustained any wounds, it didn't show.

"Ruby? Are you okay?" she called.

Ruby merely responded with a grunt.

"What is that supposed to mean? Are you–oh...oh Dust…" Weiss covered her mouth with her hand at the sight of Ruby's injury. She reached out a hand, but didn't touch Ruby.

Ruby shook her head.

"Really, Weiss, it's fine," she croaked, holding a hand out to her. Weiss took her hand like a snowflake, careful not to press too hard, or it might melt.

Yang rummaged through medical supplies, wishing she had actually paid attention in class. She'd never run out of Aura so much she actually got hurt, and now she wished she had.

"Weiss! Can you come over here!" Yang called.

"Why?" Weiss responded.

"Um, I need your help… what here can help Ruby?"

"Ugh!" Yang heard a cry of frustration, and Weiss stormed over. She rooted through the chest for a few seconds, then withdrew a roll of gauze and a small ampoule. Walking back to Ruby, Weiss wrapped the embedded metal with the gauze, stabilising the wound for movement. She was about to get Yang to help her up when Blake emerged from the trees, shirt torn and a rag tied around her forehead.

Yang bolted from where she sat and rushed over to Blake.

"Blake! What happened?" She asked, but Blake just waved her away.

"Cut on my head. No big deal." she muttered.

And there it was. That intensity, that weight, haunted Blake's golden eyes. She bore it with bravery, but the toll was obvious.

"I activated the emergency beacon. We should get rescue soon." Weiss commented, still fussing with Ruby's dressing.

"What happened?" asked Blake in a monotone.

"Ruby got hurt. A piece of shrapnel looks like it impaled her leg." Weiss responded, worriedly glancing around.

Ruby clenched her teeth, putting her hands over her ears.

"Don't say thaaaat," she moaned.

Suddenly, the roar of engines assaulted the girls' ears. A Bullhead swooped over their heads… and continued towards the battlefield.

"Hey! Hey!" Yang screamed, waving her hands and jumping in the air. "Come back! HEY!" she punctuated her cry for help with a firing of Ember Celica.

"Shut up, Yang!" Weiss yelled, stomping over and shoving the blonde. It wasn't enough to push her over, but Yang stumbled back.

"What did you just say to me?" she asked, eyes turning red.

"We just fell out of the sky, Yang. You shouldn't be attracting Grimm." Weiss reasoned.

"Oh, yeah? And I shouldn't be trying to fucking save us? I was calling for help, princess!" Yang yelled back. She hadn't called Weiss princess since they first met.

"Guys… stop…" Ruby whispered, but Yang cut her off.

"Stay out of this, Ruby!" She turned to Weiss. "Do you have a problem–"

"I activated the emergency beacon, you idiot!" Weiss retorted.

"Don't call me that." Yang muttered. She cocked back her weapon.

Weiss bore a look of extreme shock and fear. "Yang, me? Yang, we're… teammates…" The terror in her eyes was contrasted by the red fury in Yang's.

Yang took a step.

"Yang, please…" Yang took a step, and then the world turned to a roar.

A white Bullhead swooped into their clearing, engines screaming. The wind whipped up by the craft caused the four to shield their eyes.

As it descended to let the girls in, Weiss breathed a sigh of relief. They had come close, too close, to a fight. It's not like it never happened; Yang argued with her all the time. But it had never been this bad. Yang had never looked like that.

Yang and Weiss helped carry Ruby to the Bullhead, Blake silently following. They waved to the pilot, and in moments they were back on their way to Beacon.

Ruby lay in the infirmary, shrapnel removed, recovering. She'd been given dozens of drugs to help speed the healing, and was expected to be fighting in days. The cocktail of chemicals kept her sleeping most of the time, but there were moments of lucidity.

Weiss sat on the chair next to her, bags under her eyes. She perked up when Ruby made a sound and opened her eyes.

"Hey there," Weiss whispered, leaning in to stroke Ruby's hair. "How are you?"

"Thirsty," Ruby croaked, smiling up at her partner. Weiss walked to the sink and filled up a glass.

"There. Drink it and get better." Weiss commanded. A chime sounded from her scroll, and she cursed under her breath.

"Ruby, I'm sorry, Yang just got off her patrol. I have to go back. I'm sorry. I…" I love you, Weiss wanted to say, but didn't. She turned away and shut the door, unable to look Ruby in the eye.

This war was tearing them all apart.

Meanwhile, Yang was on her way to Ruby's infirmary room, a little happier than usual. Blake had only needed a few stitches, and there was no concussion, so hopefully she was okay. Hopefully. It was selfish, but Yang wished they were all in the infirmary. They'd been fighting for so long, and eventually…

Yang gulped and shook her head free of the thought, pushing open the doors to infirmary. When she entered, Ruby was staring at the wall with a blank look.

Ruby glanced up at her sister, her guardian.

"Yang, I don't wanna die," she whispered. Yang's eyes widened, and her mouth opened to say soothing words, but nothing came out.

Ruby must have really got spooked. That reminds me, I should maybe say sorry to Weiss.

"Ruby…" Yang paused, knowing how hollow her words would sound. They had come dangerously close to death. "Ruby… everything's gonna be fine."

"You don't know that." Ruby murmured. "Nobody knows that. In the assemblies, Ozpin tell us it's fine, but then we go out and, and, and…" Ruby gulped down air. She was almost hyperventilating. "And people are dying, Yang! And we can't do anything about it! And you say it'll be okay, but you don't know, Yang, you don't, you don't…" Ruby burst into tears, sobbing into her white pillow.

Yang rushed over and cradled her sister in her arms.

"Shh, calm down, Ruby, calm down…" she soothed, careful not to say those fateful words people used so carelessly. It'll all be okay.

Yang shook her head, bitter tears threatening to stream from her violet eyes. Why are we fighting? We're just kids…

Yang looked at the clock, at the ticking of its hands, and realized a profound but obvious truth.

Ruby, we all die.

It's just a matter of when.

A/N: Muhaha, did you think I was gone? Yeah, so, some stuff happened.

School started, and the four of us working on the project gradually lost steam until we ground to a halt about a paragraph into chapter 3. I reached out a couple of times, but it was pretty obvious that we didn't have much free time. I worked on my own for a little, but then lost passion and abandoned it, until… like a week ago. I just got on and started writing, and I'm… proud? of what I did.

Anyway, sorry that this chapter is short, has some mistakes, isn't written as well as the other ones, etc. I can't find for the life of me a beta reader that I trust and is active, and of course my colleagues have dropped off.

Speaking of which, if you guys are reading this, I'm not mad. I would love it if we could talk though.

Additionally, if any of you are interested in helping me out (spelling, grammar, beta reading in general), I would love that. This is a big project, and although I have a clear idea of where I want to go, this fic sometimes get a little too big for just me.

Anyway, that's it for me. Here's to hoping this fic continues. I love all of you who have supported this.