123

Chapter 123Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Shit! Coco! Are you okay!?" Cinder cried, rushing to the side of her probably best friend on campus (that wasn't her girlfriends, at least) and supporting Coco as the fashionista stumbled out of the Bullhead. The rest of Team CFVY followed suit slightly after, all of them in various states of disarray and distress and injury . Disheveled clothes, damaged weapons, burns and scratches and claw marks and… blood. So, so much blood. Too much of it, everywhere. "Fuck- fuck! Where did all this blood come from!? Shit- what happened out there!?"

"There were… too many of them… saved as many as we could… still wasn't enough… overran the damn town and burned it to the ground," Coco gasped out, shuddering and shaking as she leaned against Cinder with a quiet groan, Velvet following suit as Emerald helped the rabbit Faunus limp out of the bullhead- her leg had been broken, it seemed, given the splint holding most of her leg straight and even. "Bunbun took a few hits, but we're… we're alive… fuck… Gianduja's almost gone, Yatsu nearly got his arm ripped off, Fox…"

"Fox?" Cinder asked, looking around for the redhead and only just noticing him being carried along on a gurney with Neo at his side bearing an aghast, pale expression on her face as she gingerly laid a hand on the bloody sheet of bandages covering his abdomen. "Oh my gods… what happened out there!?"

"We weren't enough," Yatsuhashi answered, gritting his teeth as he kneeled down on sore, tired legs and all but collapsed onto Mercury and almost made the silver haired teen collapse under his boyfriend's weight. "Fuck… Everything we did… we killed dozens, hundreds… there were still more grimm. Why were there still more grimm!?"

"We fucked up bad. Professor Rowan barely managed to get us all out in time… he took the worst of the damage for us… dammit… we're gonna be out of it for a while, honeybun," Coco continued, gritting her teeth as she held her abdomen and tried not to strain herself, the massive hole in her top and the bandages wrapped around her torso telling Cinder that Coco had taken more than a few hits herself. All of them were stunningly low on Aura, to the point that it was clear that their shields had been broken multiple times over the course of what should have been a normal mission. "Started normal… just a few grimm, a Centinel nest weirdly far south… a couple trouble-making Beringels. Easy shit… but… it got bad really, really fast. We've been running and gunning back to a safe zone for… gods… what day is it…"

"It's been an entire week since you guys were supposed to get back… I'm…" Cinder sighed, shaking her head as she bit her lip and wrapped her arms gingerly around Coco's form, holding her close and trembling a little. "I'm so sorry. I…"

"Hey… not your fault, honeybun. Shit happens. Can't blame you for not being there when you guys weren't listed in the first place," Coco responded with a breathy chuckle followed by a heavy wince. "Fuck… ow… gods, I need to get to the infirmary. I'm really fucked up right now… took a big hit to the kidney, pretty sure I broke a few ribs… hurts to breathe, dammit… can't believe we got fucked so bad, all the other Huntsmen that were there broke and ran before we did…"

"Bastards…" Cinder hissed, starting to help Coco along as she steadied her friend, and debating whether or not it was at all safe to carry her to the infirmary. It didn't seem like the Bullhead had more than one gurney, which explained why Coco and Velvet decided to walk instead. "Can't believe they ran off- why!?"

"Couldn't take the heat, probably… think a few of 'em ran outta bullets and Dust, couldn't keep up. None a' them were Beacon, so of course they ran…" Coco coughed a few times, grimacing as she leaned more heavily on Cinder and tried to catch her breath. "Fuckin' hell… gods… I can't blame 'em. I wanted to run too… but I couldn't. I had too many people behind me… I ran outta bullets at some point… it's kinda hazy, honestly…"

She grimaced, keeping pressure on the wound on her abdomen as Cinder continued helping her hobble along through the more secluded paths towards the main infirmary, the other members of Team CFVY being helped along the same way- Emerald with Velvet, Neo keeping an eye on Fox, and Mercury putting his all into giving Yatsuhashi a piggyback ride without aggravating his wounds. 

"Fuck… I'm pretty sure Gianduja's shot. Gonna need your sister to fix that- no way I can actually fix it myself, not without blowing my own maintenance budget…" Coco hissed, holding up her bag that was… frankly, entirely ruined. The mechanisms inside were blown open, the bag itself was dented and somehow ripped , there were missing studs, missing chunks… honestly, it almost felt like Coco would need an entirely new weapon at this point. "Well… once I get outta the infirmary, at least."

"I'll let her know when she gets back, promise," Cinder murmured, keeping Coco's head from lolling too much and biting her lip as they continued to near the infirmary, eyes trained straight ahead. She kinda hoped that that there would have been someone who would have helped, but Coco had messaged them earlier to come alone and it was after hours- the moon was already high in the sky and it was almost pitch black out, and honestly if Cinder wasn't so used to night time hunts and trying to see things in the dark, they'd have probably fallen over by now. "Just conserve your energy. C'mon, it's just up ahead. We'll get you in, and you'll be fine, okay? Just hold on a little longer."

"Nngh… pain's getting pretty bad… can you distract me? What've you been up to since we were gone?" Coco asked, breathing heavily as the pain in her wounds started to flare up again, a horrible crunching sound faintly echoing through the air as Coco bent a little bit too far in the wrong direction and let out a strangled gasp of pain. "F-shit!"

"Shit- Coco! Don't- fuck… fucking- shit shit shit…" Cinder hissed, fretting over Coco as she tried to staunch the renewed bleeding with her own meager supply of bandages- she'd brought a small first aid kit in her own pouch, but it wasn't enough. Not for a wound that was leaking as much as Coco's- how the fuck was her Aura even holding it closed when it was clearly a massive gash going from her ribs to her hip? "Don't talk, okay? Just… keep calm, don't try to move too much. Do you want me to cauterize this?"

"Fuck… y'might have to… I think…" Coco groaned, slumping to the ground as Cinder started to rip away the crusted, blood stained bandages, waving off the rest of her team and trying to put on a brave face as Cinder saw the full extent of the damage. "S-shit…"

"Holy… Coco, how are you still standing!?" Cinder gasped, pressing her palm to Coco's side and grimacing as blood oozed around her fingers, the massive gash in Coco's side going so deep she almost thought there was a hole all the way down through the muscle and into Coco's body cavity. "You're- how much blood have you lost!?"

"Don't worry about me, just get me through those doors, dammit," Coco answered, rolling her eyes and waving Cinder's concern off weakly as she pointed vaguely towards the entrance of Beacon's main infirmary, the lights within shining through the glass doors and the large windows lining the building. "C'mon… it's right there… drag me if you gotta… think I'm gonna pass out soon… cauterize this shit if you have to."

"N-no, you're right. I'll- brace yourself, then," Cinder murmured, taking a deep breath and picking up Coco without another word, ignoring the sudden gasp of pain and starting to move faster- not quite sprinting, but jogging fast enough that she made it to the infirmary soon after, Coco held in her arms as her blood stained Cinder's dress and soaked against her skin from the sheer amount.

Things became hazy after that, a sort of worried daze where she couldn't even sit down long enough to clean up- Team CFVY had been in a really bad way, and they'd been, what, south of Vale? She barely recalled the location of their mission- an emergency deployment to a larger farming settlement that was on the main road south from Vale, right? A settlement that was gone now, it seemed. Lost and ruined. How many grimm had Coco had to fight? How many days without food or rest had they undergone? Coco had felt too light in her arms, whether that was because of the blood loss or the lack of food out there… 

Cinder grit her teeth, clenching her fists as her Semblance activated unconsciously and vaporized the blood from her hands- carbonizing it in an instant but still leaving her feeling sticky and disgusting and… she hung her head slightly, standing there in the foyer of the infirmary and not acknowledging anything around her for a long moment. 

Maybe she should take the deal sooner rather than later. Maybe she should move the time table up from what Ozpin suggested. He'd said to take the plunge after the festival, to give her time to acclimate over the winter break.

Maybe she should do it now instead.

Because…. 

Because…

Clearly she wasn't strong enough, not enough to protect or heal or fix the things that were in front of her. She had once wanted to be strong for her own sake, so no one could hurt her ever again. But now? It hurt. It hurt so much that…

Cinder hissed, eyes glowing with the force of her Aura as the panic and adrenaline from the last few minutes- had it really only been less than half an hour?- started to fade, leaving her feeling empty and hollow and so much aware of how her goals had shifted in the last few years since she'd joined her new family.

She had to get stronger, that much was certain. But now, instead of protecting herself, instead of standing on the peak of the world so no one could hurt her again…

Cinder sighed, crossing her arms and heading for the door, leaving the rest of her team behind without a word as she started down the path to the Emerald Tower.

Now she wanted to make sure no one would hurt her friends or loved ones ever again.

Notes:

This chapter was a bit hard to write when I actually wrote it, hopefully it doesn't come off awkward in the readin