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Princess and The Dragons	By : RWBYRemnants Category: +M through R > RWBY Views: 1054 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: RWBY is not mine and I make no money from this fic

Chapter List
- 27
- 28
- 29
WARNING: Still a little gore

=Chapter 28
The world seemed to slow to a crawl as Weiss reached toward the red stain blossoming outward from where the blade was penetrating her navy blue dress, turning it a shade of indigo. She vaguely saw Pyrrha taking a step away from her, eyes wide in abject horror.
Cinder. No, wait - one of the Huntsmen. Raven. Her father. The culprit could have been anyone by this point. As Weiss tried to turn on the spot to see what was going on, she lamented how many people had come to resent her in such a short time. It wasn’t as if she had ever done anything to anyone on purpose, and yet she had become one of the most hated people in Vale. How unfair that was! Now all that remained was to find out which specific adversary had taken action.
Nothing could have prepared her for the incensed expression in Emerald Sustrai’s face as she stood panting in her driveway, shaking all over. Yes, she was angry, furious, fists clenched just below her still-bandaged forearms… but something wasn't right. Her eyes were unfocused, breathing ragged and uneven. Saliva was running down her chin.
“Make you pay,” she stammered, stumbling slightly as she backed away with the knife, fought to remain standing. Clearly, it wasn't easy. “Get you to… make Cinder… make her.”
“I…” Pressing a hand against the wound, she asked, “Why?”
“You!” Tears had joined the spittle, and she raised the knife again. “You got her h-hurt! Not allowed! Fake Dragon, I'll-”
That was as far as she got. Grinding back into life, Pyrrha tackled her to the ground, wresting the knife away from her. Not that Emerald was going down easy, but it was difficult to tell through all that fog; Weiss felt her own vision beginning to blur as she sank to her knees.
“HELP!” her friend was screaming as she wrestled with the green-haired Dragon, even though she sounded so far away. “Someone help us! Please!”
Not that Weiss could wait for help. The world was sliding to one side - or was she? Impossible for her to tell. Her entire body felt so light… maybe it wouldn't matter what fell where. Maybe nothing mattered.
Nothing except…
“Yang…”
Even her own voice sounded false, immaterial. Footfalls and outcries filled her ears, but light was already fading by then. No time for anything anymore. Only nothing.

Though Weiss had a fleeting memory of sirens, shouting and being manhandled, it all seemed so insubstantial that she couldn't be bothered to focus. At some point, she was sure she heard her mother's voice…
The next thing she was aware of was glaring fluorescent lights overhead. They hurt. Nothing else did, but that was so painful that she couldn't stand it. So she squeezed her eyes shut again immediately. The throbbing had to stop, she wanted to throw up, but she couldn't move, her legs were so heavy, and some unseen force was jostling her all over the place…
Consciousness evaded her for so long that when it came back again, she had no idea whether or not it was hours or days later. The lights were still painful but tolerable now. Trying to move felt like rolling back the tide, but she had to - something she couldn't quite catch hold of in her mind was screaming that she had to act, to move right now. So she pushed up with her elbows-
And felt a wealth of bandages and cotton pads restricting her movement. Not that they did anything to blot out the pain: sitting up that one time made a cold prickle spread outward from a sharp heat, and she hissed in through her teeth.
At least now she could see that she was in the hospital room. Sickly green curtains hung around her bed, and the quiet beep of a heart rate monitor broke the silence every few seconds. Looking down at the sheets, she caught sight of a little red tube leading from the crook of her arm up to a bag of blood hanging from a metal apparatus.
That was when it all came rushing back to her: Emerald. The knife. Pyrrha-
“He-” The noise that came from her throat was more of a rasp than a word, and it set in motion a coughing fit that made the pain in her abdomen so much worse. In that moment, she wished she had never woken up.
A stirring in the corner of her eye made her turn, dreading another attack - not that she had even seen the last one coming. Instead, she saw her mother, slumped down in a chair and quietly dozing. She looked utterly exhausted. Bags darkened the skin under her eyes, and her dress was more wrinkled than she could remember seeing her wear in quite some time - even on her most drunken nights, she would simply change the next morning.
“Mom?” she rasped. No response. Looking down, she saw an empty cup of coffee by her pumps. How long had she been up before she succumbed? Maybe it would be kinder to let her sleep, even though she desperately wanted some answers.
Settling back against the bed again, Weiss resigned herself to her fate. Aches were beginning to make themselves known. Mostly, the one in her abdomen was the one worth noting, but dozens of lesser pains were beginning to flare up now that her mind was awake. Did she get run over by a bus? Curious now, she peeled back the bed sheet to get a look at her abdomen…
A red blotch was marring the pristine white of the bandages around her midsection. Weiss let out a strangled cry of alarm. Seconds later, she more felt than saw her mother shoot to her feet before her face came into view over her bed.
“Oh no… oh no oh no oh n- NURSE! My daughter!”
Medical staff began to flood into the room. She looked on in mingling a horror and fascination as they began to strip away the bandage, examining the tiny hole from which welled her life's blood. She tried to keep watching, hoping to learn something about what they were doing and what was happening to her, but the sight of her own blood made her head so light that she had to lay it back down…

The next time Weiss awoke, clarity came a lot faster. Even still lying in the bed, she remembered that she had been attacked, that she was presumably in the hospital now. Remembered the look on her mother's face when she saw her bleeding again. How many times had she seen her bleeding before? The thought of forcing her mother to suffer through the agony of watching her own child cling to life on a thread was an awful prospect.
This time, she didn't try to sit up. Partly because she was so weak she didn't feel like she could accomplish it, but also because the longer she lay there, the more certain she was that sitting up had been what opened her wound again. Not that she was any sort of a medical professional.
With no way of tracking the passage of time, she couldn't know how long she had been awake before a familiar face poked over her bed. After a second, the olive-toned features lit up with mingling relief and joy.
“There she is,” Kali Belladonna whispered.
“M-Mrs-” She gagged, but somehow stopped herself from coughing this time.
“Shhhh.” Looking around very briefly, she reached toward an unseen table and came back with a small cup of water, gently tipping it to her lips. Weiss drank deeply until her thirst was slaked. “There… that's better, isn't it?”
Gasping for breath now that she had finished, Weiss gazed up at the cook. She certainly looked as if she could use a few more hours of sleep herself. Unlike her own mother, Blake's mother was as well-dressed as ever, makeup in place and hair flawless. But that couldn't hide the very real fear in her hazel eyes, nor the fatigue in her posture.
“I'm… what…”
“Take it easy. Do you want to know what happened?” Weiss nodded. “What's the last thing you remember?”
“Stabbed. Emerald. Then… I woke up, Mommy was here, but… I bled.”
The instant she tried to sit up, Kali pushed her back down firmly. A thrill of dread shot through her - even though she trusted Kali, it was scary being held down.
“Lie still. You lost a lot of blood, twice. You shouldn't lose any more.” Tears glistened in the corners of her eyes.
“I'm sorry.” Her own were welling up now. “I'm sorry, Kali, I…”
“Shhhh, Weiss, it's not your fault.” Clearing her throat, she began, “Emerald attacked you. Her story is… interesting, to say the least. From there, your mother heard your friend Pyrrha calling for help and called for the ambulance. We… well, I kept pressure on the wound until they got to you, Pyrrha kept Emerald under control. She got nicked here and th-”
“What? No, I have to-”
“Stop, stop,” she reminded her as she held her in place. “It wasn't too bad; they already treated her. Small cuts on her arms, nothing to worry about. Please don't forget about your stitches.”
Feeling chagrined, she whispered, “I'm sorry… so… what happened? I'm alive, am I going to be okay?”
“They…” Her throat worked to swallow. “Well, as I said, you lost a lot of blood, and… the blade did nick your kidney, but missed the major blood vessels, so you were lucky there. Still, it was touch and go for the first couple of days to save the kidney.”
“Days?” Afraid of the answer, she asked, “How long…?”
Kali averted her eyes. “It's Sunday. So almost the entire week. But you're stable now, you just- they warned us that if you pulled your stitches again, they would have a harder time… keeping you from bleeding out. So please, please…”
The tears made her reach up to pet up and down Kali's neck. The warmth was comforting to them both. “Gee whiz… I'm so sorry for making you worry. You and- is my mother still here? What about Pyrrha? Has anyone told Yang? We have to-”
“Shhhh, Weiss. Yang knows. She's right outside.”
“Can I see her?” When Kali frowned, she craned her neck up. “I need- need to see her!”
“She's been awake for so long, Weiss… she needs her sleep. All of us do. It's not your fault,” she headed her off before she could apologise again. “But we love you and are so worried, and we want to make sure at least one of us is awake if there's news.”
A little smile broke through Weiss's fear and gloom. “You love me?”
Kali blinked a few times, stunned out of her current train of thought. “What? Oh… oh, Weiss, of course! Haven't you been able to tell?”
The poor girl burst into tears. The entire situation was far too much for her, and hearing that someone she had become increasingly attached to felt the same way provided an easily accessible outlet for all those feelings to come pouring out. Kali leaned down to hug her very delicately, to make sure Weiss didn't lean up. They cried together, laughed in the middle before crying took over again.
“Oh, sweetheart,” Kali finally breathed when she could talk again, kissing the side of her head. “I'm so glad you're going to be alright. I r-really… Weiss, you are family now, and don't you ever forget it!”
Such simple words, yet they were music to her ears.
After another few emotional minutes, Kali bowed out and prompted her mother to come in and fuss over her for a while. She had never felt so adored in all her life - well, other than with Yang.
“The doctors really have been swell,” Willow finally blubbered some time later. Her poor mother seemed like she was nearly as bad off as she had been when drinking, but wasn't drunk; that was some relief to the patient. “Even let Kali and Yang stay, as long as I was here to vouch… that they knew my b-baby…”
Her smile was almost pitying as she squeezed her mother's hand. “I'm going to be fine, Mother. I promise. Though I guess I won't be cheerleading much for the rest of the semester…”
“This is very h-hard for m- for me to… I want to hate those Dragons! My baby keeps getting h-hurt, but then… Kali is so wonderful to me, and you, so it isn’t- and your father! He isn't one of them, and he attacked us, so even with that girl stabbing you…”
“Yes, Mommy, I know,” she told her gently. As she well knew, calling her that came out when she was very emotional, but it also seemed to convey a deeper love that her mother often worried was lost. Her hope was that it might help soothe her nerves somewhat.
“I don't know what I would have done. You're my… m-my only baby left! Winter's gone, your father… and Whitley-”
“Whitley and Winter are fine! They're just… not as close. Right now!” she added when she saw her face scrunching up more. “But… I mean, give them time! Especially for Whitley. You know he's Daddy's little boy.”
Nodding, she leaned down and left one of those kisses on Weiss's forehead that was more firm than necessary, causing her to roll her eyes even while she smiled. “My little angel. I'm so glad she didn't get you. You'll never… never know!”
Comforting her enough so that they could hold a conversation again took the better part of five minutes. She knew it was a little twisted, but Weiss was extremely happy. Yes, she hated that she and her mother had to go through so much trauma to get to that point, but at least it felt like they were mother and daughter again. It was a vast improvement over the wino she had living in her house scant weeks ago.
“Okay,” she finally whispered into her hair as she pet up and down her mother's back. “I do need to know something.”
“Yes? Oh sweetie, whatever it is, we will find out together. I promise!”
Smiling a little wider, she asked, “Do you know… what happened to Emerald? Do the police have her?”
“Oh…” Finally, Willow sat back up, one of her hands brushing her own hair back into place as the other one remained on Weiss's shoulder. “Well… yes, but she's in the asylum ward here at the hospital. Under constant guard. At least, that's what Kali told me.”
“Have they tested her for drugs?”
Her mother looked quite taken aback. “How… did you know that?” When Weiss merely waited, she cleared her throat before continuing, “They said she has been doing… oh, I don't know much about these things. Opium, maybe?”
That confirmed something that has been bothering Weiss since she first saw Emerald in her front garden. Her unfocused eyes, broken sentences… they may have meant nothing, or may have just been the product of grief. But she had never seen anyone behave quite that way before. Her first thought had been the reefer, but opium could certainly be the problem - not that she knew much more than her mother did.
“Weiss? What is it, sweetheart?”
“Nothing. Just… never mind. The important thing is that I survived, and I don't plan on going anywhere ever again. Mother, I'm sorry for worrying you so much! I never meant-”
Her mother's hand drifted up and pressed into her lips gently, silencing her whinging. “Please, don't apologize for that anymore. How were you to know that she would… th-that sh-sh-she…”
Again, her mother was useless for conversation for the next several minutes. They then talked a bit about her general health after she had collected herself, and about whether or not Whitley had come to see her - he had, but had scarcely stayed for a few minutes before wanting to return to the waiting room.
Then they were interrupted. Yang stood in the doorway, looking completely beside herself. Weiss had never seen her hair so matted, nor her features so stricken.
“Oh,” Willow breathed when she noticed, sitting back away from her daughter.
“Yang?”
That was all the prompting it took for her brute to take off running across the room, straight for her. Willow had to stand up and catch her to keep her from landing on the bed with her full weight.
“Don't! Her stitches-”
“WEISS!” Tears were streaming down her face that quickly, bloodshot eyes wide and pleading. “I'm sorry! I shoulda been there, shoulda- you almost died and- a-and I never… told you I…”
Finally, her mother let her go so she could embrace her love. They both breathed a sigh of relief when the hug was a lot gentler than the one Yang had initially gone in for. A minute ticked by as they found comfort in the warmth of each other’s bodies, in the nearness of their soulmate.
“Shhh,” Weiss whispered gently into her hair, her own eyes wet. “It’s okay. It’s okay! You can’t be everywh-”
“NO! I should be! You’re all I care about in the whole goddamn world, Weiss! And if I lose you… I’ll burn it to the fucking ground!”
Both she and her mother started at the strong language used. A second later, she petted over her hair and hissed, “Hey, hey. I’m fine, alright? Yang, I’m fine. Golly…”
After a couple of minutes, Yang finally pulled back to smile down at her. “My Princess. She’s a real fighter.”
“Sure I am,” Weiss laughed wetly, pushing their foreheads together. They both giggled to release the fear and tension and pure raw emotion. “Pyrrha deserves the congratulations.”
“Oh, believe me, she’s gonna get a big ol’ kiss from me the next time I see her! But… wow, this just- I can’t believe… was it really Emerald? If you say it was, then I trust you, but it’s still crazy to think-”
“It was.” Sighing, she looked away at the curtain. “But I could tell she wasn’t herself. Too much drugs, apparently. Has… Emerald ever…?”
Yang blinked at her for a moment, then seemed to realise what she was asking all at once. “Oh! No, never - I mean, we’ve all tried reefer once or twice, but Emerald barely even drinks that often. Nothing stronger than that.”
“Okay.”
“Why? What did they say she was on?”
Weiss glanced at her mother, who had been watching them very carefully. Almost as if studying them. When she realized they were looking at her, she held up both hands helplessly. “I don’t know. Opium, maybe? I thought she got it from you.”
Even while Weiss was groaning at her mother’s continuing unintended prejudice, Yang sighed and answered patiently, “Not from me. And not from any of us; the Dragons don’t deal in stuff like that.”
“Well…” Sighing deeply, the patient reached up to caress Yang’s cheek. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her mother wincing, but decided the best way to handle that would be to ignore it; let her sort out her feelings in her own time. “I suppose there’s only one way to find out.”

“What do you mean, ‘you can’t see her’?!”
The full-bearded officer tipped his hat again, even as he repeated the same sentiment: “Sorry, can’t let you in there. Dangerous criminal.”
“I know!” Weiss burst out, leaning even more heavily against Kali. “I’ve been waiting days for them to tell me I can leave my bed so I can actually talk to the ‘criminal’ myself! Now, will you move out of the way?”
“Listen, girlie. Why don't ya go back to your room? Let the adults handle business.”
Kali definitely took offense to that. “And what am I, then? A newborn?” All she got in return for that was a wolf whistle, and her eyes narrowed further. “Just ask if she's open to any visitors. I assume you have her handcuffed to the bed?”
“Well… yeah, but that don't-”
“Ask.”
He asked. It didn't take him very long to come back and usher them into the hospital room, though he looked quite surly about it.
Emerald was definitely not in the best of shape, but she was doing better than Weiss had been when she was admitted. All of the machines she was hooked up to seemed to be for the sole purpose of monitoring her vitals because of the drugs in her blood supply. There was a saline drip, and she still had bandages around her forearms from Shopkeeper's, but other than that and the handcuffs holding her upper arms to the bed, she looked more or less right as rain…
Other than the purpling bloody nose. Privately, Weiss reminded herself to congratulate Pyrrha the next time she came for a visit. She and Yang had been in and out constantly, fussing over her, and Blake and Ruby dropped by once or twice. Still no word from Winter… but she didn't want to think about that right now, so she returned her attention to the matter at hand.
“Oh…” Emerald sat up straighter, eyes wide with pure fear. “H-hey, Weiss. Mrs. Belladonna.”
Kali seemed to have no time for games. “Is that all you have to say to the young lady you stabbed?”
“No, I… of course not. But I don't know what to say, it was like…”
Weiss waited for her to finish. When she didn't speak again for a few seconds, too plagued by inner demons - or worried about repercussions - to summon the words, she calmly seated herself in the chair at Emerald's bedside, hands folded neatly in her lap.
“Go on.”
“I couldn't think. Couldn't calm down, o-or make my mind focus on anything other than how angry I was with Weiss.”
“Angry? Why were you angry with me?”
Finally, she turned her eyes to glare daggers at the guest. “You got Cinder hurt. Do you even care about that? Because your daddy can't let go of you, he burned down our place and Cinder got hurt! And really bad, Weiss!”
“That isn't fair,” Kali admonished her in a firm tone of voice. “Parents are supposed to be responsible for their children, not the other way around. She can't control what that idiot does any more than Blake could control what I did if I were to settle petty grudges like that.”
“I don't care. She's the cause for it; he would never have made someone set that fire without her being involved. But…” The ire faded, and Emerald's eyes became more haunted than anything. “I didn't want to attack anybody! All I wanted to do was go find Weiss and yell at her, tell her that she owed Cinder, ask what she was going to do to make it right. Th-that’s really… that’s all I wanted, I didn’t…”
Weiss was listening patiently all along, trying to distance herself emotionally from the situation. Then she asked, “Do you know what the doctors have said, about the drugs?”
The haunted aura only intensified, her tan fingers clutching at the white linen sheets. “Yes.”
“Well? What was it? Marijuana?”
“I'm no reefer addict,” she snapped impatiently. “No, I… they said it was opium, and s-some other drug I've never heard of before. Just some letters…”
“Letters?” But even as she asked that, she could see Kali's hand raise to her chin, tapping as she thought. “What is it?”
Barely distracted, she let out a soft “Hm?” that forestalled any more questions for a few seconds as her mind worked through the possibilities. Then she asked Emerald, as if there had been no pause at all, “Were the letters ‘LSD’?”
“I think they might have been?” The lilt at the end made the statement a question.
“Hmm.”
Reaching up to catch her arm, Weiss whispered, “What is it?”
“Lysergic acid diethylamide. It’s an experimental drug being used and studied by psychiatrists.”
“How is it you just… know everything?!”
That made Kali laugh weakly. “If I knew everything, I could have…” But she didn’t finish that sentence. Weiss had no way of knowing what past mistake she was thinking of, because she moved on immediately. “Well, I’ve only heard of these things. I’m no doctor. But I like to know what’s going on in the world. I thought this could have been Dexedrine tablets - Ghira used to talk about those when he would send correspondence home from the war front. But it wasn’t until she said ‘letters’ that I remembered LSD.”
Emerald was nodding, sitting up straighter as if it would take her closer to salvation. “Y-yes, I- I mean, I don’t know anything about this stuff at all, but it was like I was watching myself do it. St- stab…” Tears finally pricked, but she was trying to ignore them. “I couldn’t control anything once they pushed me out.”
“What?”
Weiss had noticed that as well. “Who pushed you out? Of where?”
“I don’t… remember…” Both of Emerald’s fists slammed into her eyes. “AH! What happened to me?!”
“They said you checked yourself out of the hospital,” Kali was saying in a distant voice, eyes unfocused as her mind raced. “But… nobody could tell me how you got home. Your bike is still at my house.”
“Were they lying?” Weiss asked urgently. “Did they kidnap her and… and pay off the nurses, or something?”
“It’s sounding too likely to ignore.” Sitting up straighter, she said, “We have to tell Salem about this. Immediately. If Jacques Schnee is trying to pull strings from behind the scenes-”
“Oh no,” she breathed. When Kali only blinked at her, she looked up into her eyes. “Cinder and me, and Emerald… it’s all my-”
Fingers covered her mouth again. “We don’t have time for that. Emerald, please say you forgive Weiss. She is a victim of this now as much as you are.”
“What?!” But then the poor girl’s red eyes pointed down at Weiss’s bandage before flicking away again. “Oh… well… I don’t know if I can; my Cinder is…”
“She’s hurting just like both you and Weiss are hurting. Like Salem is, even if it was only a little smoke.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks. “It’s still her fault! Who cares if she got herself hurt?” However, her next words were, “I’m sorry… I d-don’t mean to be- I know she’s a Dragon, Cinder told me sh-she’s branded, and it’s… this is all too much. What did they do to me?”
Kali gestured for Weiss to join her. They both worked together to help Weiss stand gently as they could, trying to avoid further aggravating her injury, and made their exit.
“Do you think she’s going to be okay?” Weiss asked once the door was closed and they were further along the hallway.
“I don’t know,” Kali confessed, arm securely around her back as she helped her along. “But this is bad news. Emerald attacked a fellow Dragon; she won’t be let off easy, no matter why it happened. Even worse than that…” She swallowed hard. “Someone has decided to start messing with our minds. If it’s not your father… then we could be in for such a terrible time that we can’t even fathom.”
- 27
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Princess and The Dragons