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I AM THE COOKIE LORD!

“How are you holding up?” Yang tuned out the voice beside her. Her entire focus was on the windows, on her sister lying there with doctors prodding needles into her delicate, pale flesh, just as they had been the day before. The hospital corridor was stark and bare, just as her mind was. She could see the copper hair of Tira Raitan, the medically-trained member of Team SNTL, amongst the far older medics watching the unconscious Ruby.
“Yang? Are you ok?” Finally, she tuned in to hear Blake’s question. She was the same as before, but seeing Ruby hooked up to the multitude of machines broke her heart. She shook her head, unable to speak. Inside her mind, she could hear herself promise to Ruby that she would always protect her, no matter what. Tears slipped from her eyes to fall on the polished linoleum floor, but her eyes didn’t turn away from her sister’s unconscious form. Without warning, the door opened, and the copper-haired medic walked out, a smile on her face. Blake looked up into the girl’s face, while the sobbing blonde still didn’t shift her eyes from the bedridden girl.
“The test results came back. She’s been poisoned with a Dust-based sedative, most likely through the cut to her arm.” Tira’s smile was warm and gentle, and the next set of words lifted Blake’s spirit. “I’m going to be working on the antidote in a minute, once we prepare the purple Dust I need. She’ll be awake in a few hours.” Yang’s head shot up at that, but she remained silent. Hope glittered in her watery eyes. Tira’s smile widened. “You can sit in there with her for a while, although the doctors want to get her into the operating theatre within the hour in order to try to close the wound to her arm.” Wordlessly, Yang stood. She met the medic’s teal eyes, and wrapped her in a bear hug as the tears started again.
“Thank you, Tira,” she sobbed. The medic managed to free herself from the squishing hug and blushed fiercely.
“Don’t thank me; I was just a consultant. It’s the medical team that you should be thanking.” She gestured towards the room. Most of the doctors had left, with only a few nurses in there preparing the girl for her oncoming surgery. Yang slid past Tira, into the room beyond. It was nerve-wracking. The fact that they’d hooked Ruby up to life-support machines purely to monitor her vitals made it even worse. She’d been stripped down and clad in a hospital gown and thin dress once again, and the older sister had to wonder how Ruby would cope when she was told her clothes had literally been cut off her this time. She loved that dress, although her cloak was fine. The angry red gash on her arm was a slap across the face for Yang, but she ignored it. Instead, she shut her eyes. Almost as if by instinct, her voice returned to her, and she sang. Her choice was both a lullaby and a promise.

“Don’t you worry about the dark.
I will light up the night with the love in my heart.
I will burn like the sun.
I will keep you safe and warm.
Like the smell of a rose on a summer’s day,
I will be there to take your fears away.
With a touch of my hand
I will turn your life to gold.”

As she sung, she could have sworn Ruby responded, despite the deterioration she’d had on the Bullhead. A mutual memory, she called upon the very lullaby she’d sung for Ruby every night after Summer Rose died for two weeks. A lullaby she’d heard their father sing to her when she was a baby. The bedridden girl’s eyes fluttered a little bit. With a smile, Yang left the song behind, and simply spoke to her sister.
“Ruby, I should have known there was something wrong after that issue with Jaune. You weren’t acting like yourself, and I missed it. I couldn’t keep my promise to protect you, because I didn’t notice the signs you gave me.” A few stray tears formed in her eyes, but she didn’t cry. “But you know what? You’ll wake up stronger than ever. Maybe not in your body, and you won’t feel stronger in your mind, but you’ll be ready in spirit. And when we find the monster that did this to you, I swear I will break it in two for leaving you like this.” With her free hand, she gently brushed the hair across her sister’s forehead. “You know what? Everyone’s been waiting for news about you. I know you hate the idea, but you really are the bee’s knees in everyone’s eyes. You’re the golden girl, the Crimson Avenger. The Reaper of Grimm. We need you, Ruby. I need my baby sister back by my side.” The tears slipped from her eyes, and she couldn’t resist the urge to plant a soft kiss on her sister’s forehead. She stood, and walked for the door. The nurses returned her smile as she walked out, and they began to prepare the girl for surgery to repair and close the gash to her arm. Yang’s smile remained. As long as Ruby came back fine, she’d be happy. Blake noticed the grin, and returned a dry smirk.
“You do realise neither of us have contacted Weiss, right?” Even the concept of bothering the heiress on her out-of-town trip couldn’t ruin Yang’s day.
“I’ll do that now,” the blonde said, and headed off down the hallway towards the exit. Blake watched her teammate leave, and her smirk shifted into a true smile. She’d been concerned about Yang’s sadness just as much as Ruby’s near-coma. Now that they were both in the clear, she could take a load off her shoulders and rest from the stress.

The room was louder than it should be, the white-haired girl reasoned. The Dust processing workers were shouting about how underpaid they were for the amount of work they were doing. To make things worse, she didn’t have Langford with her. He understood the worker’s plight, being the son of a union representative. Her role was to negotiate a new deal with the workers, and here she was, unable to make herself heard over their noise. She slid back down into her chair and placed her head in her hands. Gently, she rubbed her temples to ward off the growing headache. The room stunk of sweat, and her ears rang with demands for higher wages or lower hours. Of the two, only the higher wages was even possible, as shortening the hours could lead to global Dust shortages that could shift the tide of the war quite dramatically away from the Hunters themselves. Even so, she wasn’t quite sure how her father would react to the increase. After all, she was only the negotiator, and this was the first day of proper negotiation. Part of her wished she hadn’t broken Langford’s nose, but that thought left as quickly as it appeared. He’d asked for it.
One worker in particular spoke up again, and she forced herself to listen over the cacophony. “Your company keeps putting emphasis on us refining more Dust, and on our counterparts in the mines doing more there. But without higher wages or shorter hours, all we have to show for this is stress, especially considering the regular Dusk attacks on the supply trains. Look, while higher wages are a must, we really need more advanced security assigned to the trains for defence. The AK-130s aren’t anywhere near strong enough to repel the elite soldiers, and are only barely capable of dealing with the basic Grimm assaults, while the spider droids are simply too large to be effective.” Weiss smiled. This was one of the areas where she knew just how to respond.
“We are already aware of the security issues, and my father is in negotiation with the Coalition’s commanders for Hunters and military personnel to be assigned to the transport trains, and a few prototype combat androids will be trialled in the next month.” This statement attracted a small round of applause, especially from the train crews. The heiress continued. “However, I cannot say if your request for increased wages will be successful, even in the five percent increase you’ve been asking for.” The applause died away, and booing started. She grimaced and tried to clarify. “I’m not high enough with the Schnee Dust Company to have the power to approve this without my father’s approval.”
“You were using us as slaves up until a year ago!” This outburst came from one of the faunus workers, a young shrew with frustrated eyes. “Now we ask for a pay increase, and we get shunted off by the boss’s daughter? Aren’t we worth it?”
Weiss opened her mouth to respond, but a familiar ringtone emerged from the pink handbag sitting by her side. She groaned inwardly. It was most likely her father calling to check up on the negotiations. She apologized for the disruption and checked the caller I.D, only to be greeted by the name Yang Xiao Long on the phone’s screen. Instantly, part of the heiress’s mind jumped to the worst-case scenario that Ruby was either dead or critically wounded.
“I-I’m sorry, I have to take this phone call,” she stammered. The irate faunus laughed.
“What, is Daddy calling to make sure his little princess is keeping us in servitude?” he taunted. Weiss’s hands shook in rage.
“I’ll have you know that the call is from a teammate of mine from Beacon, whose sister vanished two nights ago from a hospital ward.” She stood, her cheeks flushed red. “So, if you don’t mind taking a short break, I need to answer this.” Before they could respond, she was out of the white conference room, leaving the representatives of the different work divisions behind. The second that she was in the hallway, she jabbed the answer call button and pressed the smartphone to her ear.
“Hi, Weiss…”
“Don’t you ‘hi Weiss’ me, Yang. You wouldn’t be calling if something wasn’t wrong. Has something happened to Ruby?” To the heiress’s ear, Yang sounded happy, so she doubted the reason for calling was bad.
“Well, when Blake, Sun and I reached the forest, we found Grimm everywhere, and they were attacking Noir and Ruby. She was unconscious and tied to his back, don’t ask. Anyway, she’s been in a coma for the last two days, and she’s going in for surgery on a cut to her arm now. But she’ll be ok, they’re preparing a purple Dust compound to bring her out of it as we speak.” Weiss was speechless for a moment as she realised her fears about Ruby’s safety had been right.
“What?!” she burst. “Ruby has been comatose with major injuries for the past two days, and you’re only just calling me now?” Her voice rose in pitch uncontrollably, and she shivered as she tried to bring her body back under control from the adrenaline shock. “Look, I’ll see if father can send someone else out to take over the negotiations, and I’m coming back to Beacon as soon as I possibly can. Besides, Langford probably needs it, with his broken nose.” The phone line was silent for a few moments, then Yang’s voice returned.
“Broken nose? Do I want to know?”
“Let’s just say he knows not to joke around about me and my friends any more. I might have to teach you the same thing for not letting me know about Ruby sooner.” Weiss could feel her cheeks burn, but she didn’t care. The idea of Ruby being badly injured without her being told was horrendous.
“Look, Weiss, I’ll let you go. See you back at Beacon soon then, ok?”
“Fine. And tell Ruby…”
That I can’t bear the idea of losing her, she wanted to say.
“Tell her I wish her all the best in recovery.”
“I’ll pass it on. Bye, Weiss.” The phone line went dead. She just stood there, lost to the world for a moment. Her best friend was in hospital, and here she was arguing with a bunch of moronic workers! She didn’t care what her father would say. She walked back into the room, and the attendees stared at her blushing face.
“I’m going to organize a new negotiator to deal with you, something’s come up at Beacon and I’m needed there,” she explained. The workers looked at each other, then returned to her.
“Its fine, miss Schnee. If you’re needed elsewhere, then who are we to stop you. Good luck with your friend.” To her surprise, the faunus who’d challenged her before was the one who chose to speak up, but she smiled with grace at his care.
“Thank you, and I will make sure my father hears your requests.” She bent for a second to grasp her bag, and then she was out of the room.
It was time to return to her friends.