RWBY Through Worlds

192: Things I'm Fighting to Protect

["Learning to Breathe"--Switchfoot]

Winter slowly opened her eyes to the sound of singing and fire crackling.

She thought for a moment she was still in the Grimm and sat up, gasping.

But the singing was just Shine and Pyrrha passing the time, and the fire was real.

About 6 feet away, Sun was lying on a blanket, and Blake was holding his hand.

She looked up at Winter and smiled faintly but didn't seem to have words.

Winter didn't know what happened to him, but he looked ill.

"Weiss..." she murmured. "Qrow... and the other one..." (Meridian)

"Winter?" Weiss came over to her and knelt down. "Finally, you're awake. It's been hours..."

"You're okay." Winter grabbed her arm. "Didn't get eaten?"

"No, I'm fine," Weiss said. "You almost got eaten... Meridian got me out."

"Hello." Meridian waved from around the fire. "You Schnees get in trouble a lot."

Winter glanced at him, then she sighed. "Thank you..." She hugged Weiss with one arm.

Meridian raised an eyebrow. "Don't mention it." He turned away casually.

"What happened to...?" Winter glanced at Sun.

"Poison," Weiss said. "But he's getting better... You missed the gross part, lucky for you."

The word lucky made Winter sit up more.

"And Qrow...?"

"Right over here," Qrow startled her by saying.

He was perched on a rock, farther up and outside the firelight.

"Yeah, we're all okay," Weiss said.

"More or less..." Qrow muttered.

"No losses?" Winter said.

"No... somehow," Weiss said. "Mostly thanks to Ruby and Mercury... but you won't believe what Torchwick told us about Neo and Cinder..."

"That was classic," Meridian remarked. "But maybe not hit her with that story till she's had more time to recover?"

"Are you thirsty?" Weiss asked. "That water... it's really good."

She pointed.

Then Winter could see the stream of water.

"Where did that come from?" she asked.

"Oscar hit a rock," Weiss said. "It was... as weird as it sounds, but it's fresh. Actually we used it to wash off too. Our clothing is filthy after those attacks. But look the goo came right off." She held up her jacket.

"Leave it to you to be concerned about that," Blake said.

"What? I don't like feeling dirty," Weiss said. "And a week or so without a bath has been torture. I was just glad to feel human again."

"That would be nice, but I was hoping Sun would wake up..." Blake said.

"Mercury said he'd push Neptune in if he wouldn't go in himself," Weiss said. "And while I think that wouldn't end well for him... I hope it was a joke. But he went off alone, with Emerald probably."