RWBY

There was darkness. Nothing but darkness and cold. A sharp pain pulsed on her stomach like an ocean tide, ebbing and flowing in intensity. She curled, trying to brace the pain off. Dark shadows encroached with their bone-adorned limbs. She tried to scream, but the moment she opened her mouth, something like water rushed in. She choked; no sound came out. The tendrils approached and suddenly the pain kept growing, expanding, spreading. Their many hands finally reached her; she thrashed and bit, tried to beat them away. Suddenly, her hands were bound, her mouth was bound, and she could only squirm. Squirm she did. Panic rose in her throat, tears fell from her eyes. She felt small again. They reached closer. One hand writhed towards her face. Then, just before it touched, she felt her hand enveloped in warmth.

Yusha groaned. Her eyelids fluttered, taking in the soft light around her, the dream rapidly fading from memory. She tried to sit up, but her body almost immediately wracked with pain. She tried again, before giving up and laying back down. Whatever bed she was in was soft and comfy, and the heavy pillow on her lap kept her warm. She started to drift back off to sleep, when she heard someone slide a curtain open. Groggily, she turned her head to see who it was. It was… someone. She didn’t recognize them, but they wore a nurse’s outfit. An, uh… oddly revealing nurse’s outfit? Why was it designed like that?

“Oh, did someone get hurt?” she asked, the words slurring in her mouth. She was tired. So incredibly tired.

“Ah, you’re up! That’s good. Welcome back,” the person said. Then, they poked the pillow on Yusha’s lap. “Hey, wake up sleepyhead.”

Yusha felt the pillow stir; she looked down in horror to see that there was a cute girl drooling into the sheets. Then it clicked: “Wait I know you!”

Haru blinked, her eyes still drooping with sleep. The moment she noticed Yusha, she shot straight up. “You’re awake!” she said, wiping the drool off her mouth. “Are you ok?!” Haru clutched the bed and stared at Yusha with wide eyes.

Yusha stared back, entranced by her eyes. “Your eyes are slightly different colors,” she said aloud without thinking.

Haru flinched backwards, blinking a few times. “They are…” she said, looking down at her lap.

Yusha immediately regretted making this absolutely adorable woman sad. To stave off the strange feeling of despair, she turned towards the nurse. “What happened? I don’t remember much…”

“Yeah because you were passed out, you goober,” the nurse said, flicking Yusha on the forehead. “Ya got shanked. Shishke bobbed. Ran through, but with something like a sword and not in the euphemistic sense.”

“What-”

“You got stabbed, dingus. Congrats on the new hole in your corpse.” The nurse sat down. “You’re lucky we were already near the shore; we had to fight a big ass fish while it was still inside you, then immediately get you over to the medics and hope you didn’t die. It was pretty nasty, there was a lot of blood. Like, a ton of blood, I didn't even know people could have that much blood in them.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re not a nurse?” Yusha asked.

“Because they’re not,” Haru said, glaring at the nurse. “I have no idea why they’re dressed like that.”

The not-nurse grinned. “Because I’m hot shit, duh.”

“Haru who is this person?” Yusha asked, utterly and completely lost.

Haru sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “This is J’atoh, our teammate.”

“Teammate…” Yusha was about to ask before it clicked in her head. “Wait we passed the initiation?!” Yusha shot up as she said this and immediately regretted her action. She winced at the sharp pain radiating from her torso. It was a different kind of pain than she was used to, far more severe and also… She raised a hand to the spot on her stomach where the pain was. There was a prickly sting to it, almost radiating. She suddenly felt very dizzy.

“Whoa, lay down!” J’atoh said, holding their hands out and pacifying Yusha.

“Take it easy, take it easy!” Haru yelled as well, suddenly concerned.

“What happened?” Yusha managed to ask as she laid back down.

“Like J’atoh said, you got stabbed,” Haru replied, sitting back down. “We were on the boat, not far from the shore, when a needlenose attacked from behind you. Got you pretty good.”

“It doesn’t feel like just a stab…” Yusha said, concerned.

Haru and J’atoh shared a concerned glance. Before they could say anything, the curtains opened again

A nurse, a real one this time, interrupted their brief visit and sent the visitors packing. Then, once she secured the area in a strangely militant manner, she sat besides Yusha and informed her of exactly what happened. Like the others said, she was indeed stabbed by a needlenose. She was still recovering, and it would be a few months before she was fully healed.

“I can’t wait a few months!” Yusha exclaimed, rising up once again, and once again groaning in pain. “Besides, I have, like, accelerated healing or something as part of my quirk or whatever it's called, I’m fine. I can shake this off like nothing!”

The nurse frowned. She explained that even if that was the case, the hospital has a duty to at least make sure Yusha's stable before she can be discharged; she'll have to wait at least a few days.

"But, I have training, and classes to attend... I'm going to be a huntress! I can't... I won't let a little thing like this stop me!" Yusha declared. She tried to sit up as proof that she's fine; the pain won out, and she fell back on the bed.

The nurse shook her head, giving some strict orders to remain in bed and not move around lest she aggravate her injury and get stuck for longer, before leaving.

Yusha slumped back down on the bed, staring at the sheets. Stuck in place, she sat there like that for a while, listening to the clock tick by, the despair bit by bit crawling up her mind. There was a gaping hole in her, figuratively and literally. The idea of missing out on training consumed her, the mere thought of falling behind her classmates and teammates she hadn't even met yet, of failing them and getting expelled and then being sent back to-

"Yusha Bestial."

She flinched, rubbing her face to hide the tears she didn't realize were forming. It was Sky, the instructor for the initiation. "Oh, hey," Yusha said, forcing a bright smile. "You came to check up on me! Don't worry, nothing can keep the Beast down!" She offered two thumbs up.

Sky said nothing. He simply sat down on a chair, and stared.

"Whoa, hey, why so serious?" Yusha chided. "Keep staring like that and I'm gonna start to think you've got a thing for me!"

Sky sighed, then closed his eyes. "You're injured. It's my fault. I'm sorry."

"Hah!" Yusha snorted. "Your fault? Please, it's not like you sent the Grimm after me. After all, I was the one who wasn't paying attention, and I let that sneaky bastard get one over on me. I should have done better, been paying more attention. Guess who learned that lesson the hard way? Hah!"

Sky stared hard, then shook his head. "You're injured. Badly. You almost died."

"Please, I almost die all the time. I'm the one who messed up here. It ain't your fault I'm an idiot-"

"No matter what you think of your own failings, don't discount my role in this," Sky interrupted. "I was the one who organized the initiation this year, and I was the one responsible for whatever happened to the students. I failed, and because of it, you ended up in this state." He folded his arms and closed his eyes again.

Yusha fell silent, looking away from him. She didn't understand. Who cares if he was the one who set it up? She volunteered for this knowing the consequences damn well. If anyone's to blame for her injury, it's her own fuck up.

Sky was the first to break the awkward silence. "No matter how... uniquely effective your aura is, you won't be out of here for a while. Maybe if this was Atlas... No, no point dwelling on what-ifs. You're here now, and at this rate, you might not be out for at least a few weeks, if not longer. At this rate, you might not be able to finish training."

Yusha's fists clenched the sheets. She couldn't let that happen. She couldn't go back there.

"That said, I can't let this go. I fucked up, and I'm going to make it right one way or another. It wouldn't sit right with me otherwise. So, I'm offering two pieces of help."

"What good can you do?" Yusha asked, harsher than she intended. "Like you said, I'm stuck here, and I've got no one to blame but my stupid self. I'm-"

Sky held up a finger. "One, training. Just because you're stuck in bed here, doesn't mean I can't at least get you started on the curriculum. Your body was the thing injured, not your mind." He held up two fingers. "Two... A secret."

Yusha just stared at him quizzically.

"I... I'm not supposed to talk about this. It's a tribe secret. But... I can somewhat help with your healing process.

"Wait seriously-"

"Shhh! It's supposed to be a secret in the first place, so stay quiet about it! I can't have you blabbing to people about it."

Yusha narrowed her eyes and nodded solemnly. "I swear to keep it a secret."

"Good," Sky nodded, completely missing the hint of sarcasm in her voice. "I know a recipe for a healing powder, and-"

"Healing pow-"

Sky covered her mouth his hand. "Yusha I swear to the fucking gods if you try to yell out one more time I'm walking out of here and you can spend the next several months in recovery."

Her eyes widened, realizing how serious he was. She nodded again, this time meaning it.

"Right, healing powder. It's a recipe passed down through my tribe, and I-"

"Your tribe?" Yusha asked at a whisper.

"Oh, I forgot you people are basically uneducated."

Yusha growled at the accusation. "You people?"

"Yes, you mistralians. Please, I'm Vacuoan, we don't have racism. And, can I finish a single fucking train of thought? You keep repeating what I've just said every 5 seconds like some sort of snake."

"Snake?" Yusha made a face, confused at the comparison.

"See you just did it again! Moons above I can't with you." Sky stood up. "I'll make this simple since you can't keep a thought in your head for 2 seconds, apparently. Me give you powder. Powder make you heal good. While you heal, I teach. Agree?"

"Deal," Yusha replied, holding her hand out for a handshake.

Sky accepted it. "You're alright." He reached into one of the oddly many pockets on his pants and pulled out a small bundle of leaf wrapping. "Pour this into your mouth and swallow. I'll be back another time with more."

Yusha took the bundle and tossed the whole thing in her mouth. She chewed, tearing through the cloth and spilling the powder out.

"I should warn you that it tastes-"

Yusha immediately began gagging and retching. Sky moved faster than she could; he clamped her mouth shut.

"You idiot, you're supposed to fucking pour the powder, not eat the bag whole. I've only got the one dose, swallow all the powder down and don't spit it out."

Yusha wanted to cry. Her body was practically convulsing with how utterly foul the powder tasted. Bile rose up her throat. Despite her body's best efforts to throw up, Sky kept her mouth clamped shut, until she swallowed it all down, somehow managing to keep the cloth in her cheek during the process. Sky didn't let go until Yusha nodded. Hesitantly, he did, and Yusha immediately began coughing and hacking. "What the fuck was in that?!" she demanded, spitting the cloth out.

"A powder. Family secret. I'll get you some water. Next time, don't fucking bite my hand. Or eat the entire parcel, it's a powder, open it first and pour it in." He turned to walk away, but stopped before leaving the room. "Milk helps with the taste a lot, oddly enough, just drink it after you finish the powder, and not a moment before. You uh... You don't want to know what happens if you mix it with milk."