The Beast And The Fairy (ch9)

Alright now to start getting to the heart of the matter.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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						Chapter 9. Failed Flight

The second night since Weiss had gotten lost from home passed by more quietly than the first had.

Perhaps it was the fact that she'd grown almost accustomed to sleeping in trees by now, or perhaps it was because her mind was somewhat eased with the knowledge that she was now another day closer to home.

But when she truly thought on the matter that morning just as the dawn was breaking, Weiss realized there was another, much more evident reason as to why her nerves were so calm.

Blinking her eyes open a crack, she cast her gaze around the tree where she and her companions had fallen asleep last night. Ruby and Yang were still curled together a few tiers higher, but when her eyes moved to Blake, Weiss could see that those golden eyes were already open and alert.

There was no doubt that Weiss' peace of mind was now majorly due to Blake's presence, and the fact that the fairy was no longer so terribly alone in all of this.

She'd only known Blake for a short while now, and only during a fraction of that time had they been on polite and civil terms with one another.

But despite the brevity of that time, Weiss was truly beginning to trust the beast girl. Slowly but surely.

She could still remember how Blake had held onto her hand to try and prevent Weiss from going off on her own. She could still remember the softness in her voice the previous evening when they'd both opened up to one another about their people and their respective lifestyles.

Weiss felt she understood the beasts a little better now, which had never been something she would've been willing to do before. She hoped Blake understood fairies a bit better by now as well.

Weiss reflected on the memories for a moment, wondering if there might've been something blossoming between Blake and herself, a spark of understanding or perhaps even friendship that might one day expand and grow if given the chance. Losing that possibility was one of Weiss' biggest fears right now, second only to not making it home before something awful could happen.

She shuddered, and was reminded of how badly she needed to get back.

It was still before dawn, too dark to get moving yet. Shifting slightly, she made an effort to stretch her wings a bit, as her back was sore and numb from a long night pressed against a tree trunk.

Her movement – slight as it had been – attracted Blake's immediate attention. The beast girl shot her gaze to the side, ears flattening and tail standing straight up in alarm, until she realized the source of the motion. Weiss jumped a little at Blake's swift ferocity, letting out a startled gasp.

"It's just me!" she whispered.

Blake instantly dropped her defensive crouch from the nearby tree branch and flicked her gaze guiltily over to the fairy's.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"No matter. You're a very observant guard, that's for sure," Weiss admitted. She looked away for a moment to glance the sky, where the light was only just beginning to spread colors through it. Directing her gaze back to Blake, she couldn't help but let a bit of concern trickle into her tone now. "Did you sleep at all last night? Or were you up keeping watch?"

Blake flicked an ear toward her and shrugged.

"It was on and off. I woke every hour or so just because I was naturally cautious about our situation. I wanted to make sure everyone was okay."

Her words only confirmed Weiss' assumptions as to why she herself had slept so soundly last night, despite the circumstances; it was all because she'd felt safe and guarded with Blake beside her.

Despite her previous vehement refusal to trust the girl, Weiss couldn't deny that the prospect of willingly letting Blake watch her back wasn't sounding so horrible after all.

Silence dragged between them for a moment, and Blake turned away, staring instead up at the sleeping bear cub and squirrel not far away. It was Weiss' small voice that had her ears perking up tall.

"Thank you."

Blake wasn't sure if she'd heard correctly. A fairy – the princess, no less – displaying genuine gratitude for a beast? She couldn't believe it.

Shaking her head, she looked back to Weiss.

"Pardon?"

Weiss sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Are those ears of yours working? I said thank you. For keeping watch and for giving me the chance to rest," she said. "But now you should rest. I'll keep watch until the sun's risen, and then I'll wake you and we can head out."

Blake blinked, slightly confused.

"I don't need to go back to sleep. I'm fine."

"Don't argue with me," Weiss warned as gently as possible. "We're going to be covering a lot of distance today, and you'll only slow us down if you're too exhausted from lack of sleep."

Blake bit her lip, but realized Weiss was only being so harsh with her because she wanted Blake to rest. Defeated, the beast girl gave in.

"Alright. I'll rest until sunrise."

"Very good."

Satisfied with Blake's compliance, Weiss watched as the beast girl leaned back against the tree trunk once more and closed her eyes. Even when she tried to sleep, she seemed to be on high alert, in a position that would warrant the use of her fighting abilities in a matter of seconds.

Weiss kept an eye on her from her own position within the tree branches, keeping the rest of her attention on the forest around them.

But nothing was making an effort to disturb them, and before long, she noticed Blake's posture relax as her breathing deepen. The fact that Blake had allowed Weiss to see her sleeping so defenselessly like this - and had willingly agreed to it - told the fairy that she was earning Blake's trust as well, just as she was giving her own.

The Fairy Princess cast her gaze over to where Ruby and Yang still slept in a pile of fur, but other than the bear's snores, nothing was making a sound. Not even the birds were awake yet it seemed, and the only other sounds were the rushes of air through the leaves.

Satisfied that her companions were getting the required rest for the day's journey ahead, Weiss shifted her legs and reached behind her head. She carefully grasped the small hair band holding up her ponytail, the piece of material woven with flowers that her late mother had given to her years earlier.

Weiss removed it for the moment and slipped it instead around her wrist for safekeeping. Out here, she didn't have her personal bristle brush, so she merely combed her own fingernails through her hair to smooth it out.

Despite her falls in the river and mud, her tresses were rather full and luscious, and due to how healthy her magics kept it, not a single strand fell out as she combed through it.

But she still dreaded to remember the feeling of having her hair yanked roughly by that savage boy with the bull horns – Adam, Blake had called him.

Weiss handled her locks with care, humming softly to herself as she continued to comb.

By the time she'd finished and securely wrapped her flowery hair band back into place, the sun had begun to rise above the horizon's mountains. Flecks of gold were seeping in through the trees, and by now the birds had woken and filled the air with their merry songs.

Weiss was anxious to get moving, but didn't want the guilt of waking her peacefully-slumbering companions.

Luckily for her, she didn't need to wake anyone in the end – a particularly loud snore on Yang's part served to do that.

As the bear and the squirrel stretched and yawned together in a bundle of fur, Blake woke much more silently, rubbing her knuckles against her eyes and dangling her legs over the side of the branch to rouse them a bit. Her golden gaze went to Weiss' blue one almost instantly, and the fairy felt her face get a little warm when she noticed the concern in Blake's eyes.

Taken aback, Weiss tilted her head and asked first.

"What is it?"

But the beast girl merely shook her head.

"It's nothing. Let's go find some breakfast and then get going."

Weiss nodded in agreement. She stretched out her limbs and unfurled her wings for the moment, watching the others descend from the tree.

Ruby did so quickly and with ease, chittering excitedly about the adventures that awaited them today. Yang clambered down a little more slowly, landing in the grass below with a small thud.

Blake maneuvered her way down with almost as little effort as Ruby had, despite her size, and her landing was just as silent. Her tail balanced her body weight perfectly, while her ears perked tall to stay alert now that the forest was writhing with life.

Once the three of them were down, they all turned expectantly to look up at Weiss.

"C'mon, Princess!" Yang called up. "We don't got all day!"

"Give me a moment!" Weiss snapped. "You can't rush the usage of wings after sleeping an entire night with your back pressed against a tree trunk."

"Wings?" Ruby gasped excitedly. "Oooh, you're gonna fly down? I wanna see! I haven't seen you fly yet since we've met you!"

"Patience," Weiss huffed down at her.

But Ruby's words were entirely true; Weiss hadn't flown at all within the past few days. It felt... odd, at the very least.

As a fairy who'd flown at least a little bit every day of her life until recently, Weiss was starting to feel even more anxious now.

She peeled herself away from the tree trunk and shook out her wings a little more. The early-morning sunlight was caught in the transparent membrane, glowing golden through the lightly-blue-tinged veins.

Weiss' abstinence of using her magics within the past few days ensured she still had some left to spare should she need to fly. There was a bit of magic stored up in her jewelry and hair band as well, though she'd only ever utilize those as a last resort.

For now, she did her best to call upon the magics that her body naturally harbored, concentrating as she tried to rouse it from her very soul. She felt a trickle of it move, spreading from her chest to her back, collecting at the base of her wings at her spine. The magic flowed through her wings, making them emit a faint glow of blue.

A quick glance down at the forest floor showed her Blake was watching with mesmerized eyes. Clearly, she'd never seen a fairy preparing for flight before, and Weiss was a little flattered to be the first.

Once she felt the magics had successfully spread throughout her wings, she opened them up to their full length where they fanned out at either side of her back. Each wing was nearly as large as her own body when expanded to full length. And with the way the light was shining down through them...

"Wow..." Blake couldn't help but let out a small mumble of awe.

Weiss smirked and looked down at her.

"You flatter me."

Once Blake realized she'd said her dazed comment aloud, she quickly covered her mouth and looked away. Ruby and Yang giggled, the former jumping up and down on the latter's back as she called up to Weiss.

"Fly, Weiss, fly!"

"Yes, yes," the fairy sighed. "And once I can manage that, I can fly up above the treetops and get an idea of where we are in the forest. That should cut some time off our journey."

She slipped her legs over the side of the branch and held onto the trunk with only one hand, preparing to lean forward. Her audience waited below with curious eyes.

Back home, other fairies never made a big deal about Weiss or anyone else taking flight, but to these three, it was something they'd never seen up close before. She was very flattered indeed, and wanted to show off for them a little bit.

But as she leaned forward and prepared to catch a current of air, an awful pain shot through her wings. The second she moved them, a stifling soreness spread through them, and they crumpled against her back.

"Ah-!"

Crying out in pain, Weiss clutched at the tree for support, but her legs were already pulling her over.

Instantly, her companions became alarmed.

"W-What's going on?" Ruby squeaked.

"Hey, you okay?" Yang called up.

But rather than speak, Blake had quickly rushed forward to position herself beneath the tree.

As Weiss' fingernails scraped against the bark, her weight took her over the edge, her wings fluttering uselessly behind her. She heard the violent rush of air whipping past her face and through her hair, heard Ruby's and Yang's startled cries.

But the pain in her wings was too great to overcome during a free-fall. It stabbed throughout her body to the tips of her toes, an awful throbbing like nothing she'd ever felt before. Her eyelids closed as she fell dizzyingly, helplessly...

"Weiss!"

The tense cry of her name was shortly followed not by a bone-breaking landing, but rather a softer one. She fell directly into Blake's arms, bumping against her chest for a brief instant before the both of them were taken to the ground.

Blake crouched down on one knee to absorb the impact a bit, wrapping an arm around the small of Weiss' back to ensure she didn't roll.

Even just the slight physical contact she was having with Weiss said enough.

Blake could feel an erratic throbbing on the fairy's back, just beneath her wings. With the way Weiss' chest was presently resting against her own, Blake could discern that the pulse in the girl's back was separate from Weiss' frightened heartbeat.

It wasn't Weiss' pulse in her wings, but rather Blake could tell they were muscle spasms of sorts, twisting and gnarling in all the wrong ways. The pretty wings that had stood proud and tall just seconds ago folded over on themselves and withered, going limp and dragging against the grass below.

Weiss was panting in her arms, fingers clutching onto Blake's chest and forearms with a surprising grip. The beast girl scooped Weiss into a more comfortable position on her lap.

She noted that this proximity wasn't enough to set the fairy off, despite its intimacy, whereas she'd half expected Weiss to push her away.

But the girl was clearly in excruciating agony, and Blake didn't know what she could do to stop it.

"Weiss?" she murmured. "What happened? What's wrong with your wings?"

The fairy hissed in an agonized breath, trying to keep still for fear that movement would only enhance the pain.

"I don't... ah..."

She whimpered, tucking her face into Blake's shoulder and biting her lip. Her nails were still digging into Blake's skin and clothes, but the beast girl didn't pay any mind to them.

She didn't know what level of contact would be appropriate with the Princess of the Fairies when she was in such a position. But Blake acted naturally, ignoring Weiss' species and status for the moment – right now, she was simply another girl in pain.

Blake rubbed a palm beneath Weiss' wings, at the small of her back. She braced her other hand at Weiss' hip to keep her steady.

By now, Ruby and Yang had crept up nearby, tail fluffed and ears down, respectively. Blake caught their worried gazes and murmured a plea to them.

"Could you two find us some food? She needs to get her strength back."

The two nodded quietly and took off into the bushes.

With them gone now, Blake turned her full attention back to Weiss. The throbbing in her back had subsided a bit by now, and her breathing was losing its harshness, both of which were indications that the pain was ebbing away.

Blake waited for a moment, keeping her senses focused on Weiss' condition and on the surrounding woods.

When at last the fairy could speak, her voice was a dire contrast to the loud, confident tone Blake was used to by now. Rather now, it was thin and scared.

"Blake..." she gasped. "My wings-"

"You don't know what happened?" she wondered gently.

"I'm not sure... When I moved and stretched them, they were fine, but trying to use them... There was this awful pain. I'd thought the bones had broken. It was horrible..."

Blake couldn't even fathom her pain. She had no wings, and had never flown before. To a fairy like Weiss, flying came as naturally as breathing.

But Blake could only try to imagine the terrifying prospect of trying to fly as effortlessly as ever before, only to discover her wings had failed her. Imagining the fall alone had her stomach flipping over, and she shook her head to chase the thoughts away.

It was then Weiss managed to pull away from her a bit, mumbling apologies for using her nails. She exhaled shakily, and Blake was at a loss for what to do.

But what Weiss did next nearly had her sobbing.

The frail fairy gazed up at Blake past frazzled white bangs, her blue eyes laden with uncertainty and fear.

"Blake..." she whispered. "What's happening to me?"

Blake could almost feel her heart breaking, and she suspected Weiss' was doing the same. She didn't think when she pulled the girl into another gentle embrace, keeping her close for the moment.

"I'm sure... it was just..." Blake fumbled for words, trying to sound convincing to the both of them. "It was just the rough night's sleep. Putting your wings against that tree probably made them sore, right? I'm sure that's all it is. Just let them rest a little while longer."

Weiss merely ducked her face into the side of Blake's neck and nodded.

"You're right... I'm sure that's... all it is..."

Blake bit her lip and swallowed, keeping her hands pressed firmly to Weiss' back by means of support.

"Don't worry. You'll be home soon. Everything will be alright."

Weiss didn't reply.

Blake held her there for a while longer, until the rustling of nearby bushes alerted her to Ruby and Yang's return.

Ruby had expertly folded up a leaf in her little claws and tentatively handed it to Weiss. Upon opening it, a handful of berries was revealed.

Weiss thanked her tiredly and did her best to eat them.

Yang had brought back a fish from the river for Blake, one that had a damaged fin and would've only suffered a long painful death had she not ended its life so mercifully. Blake thanked her as well, and stayed close to Weiss as she ate.

The sisters reassured them they'd already eaten their fill while out in the forest, so once Weiss and Blake had finished, they were ready to head out.

Blake buried the fish bones respectfully before standing and dusting off her clothes a bit.

But she noticed Weiss had yet to get to her feet.

Tail flicking nervously, Blake offered the Fairy Princess her palm.

Weiss looked up gratefully at her and slowly accepted. She was pulled to her feet, and Weiss folded her wings up completely behind her, taking Blake's advice to let them rest some more.

With that, Yang and Ruby led the way, and the four of them set out.

Blake kept hold of Weiss' hand all the while, and Weiss never let go.

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A/N: It's all more intense from here. Thanks for keeping up!