Chapter 26

An uncomfortable silence filled the air between Myrtenaster and Crescent Rose as they both walked back to the dormitories. Students milled all around them, some giving them curious glances as both of them were spotted with dust and dirt.

Myrtenaster gave a quick glance behind her at Crescent Rose. The taller woman's face was expressionless with her head bowed as she silently followed Myrtenaster. She couldn't help but feel somewhat surprised at Crescent Rose's current submissiveness. Myrtenaster had half expected her to run off to the infirmary to where Ruby was the moment they were out of Glynda's sight. Instead she obediently followed the professor's house arrest order and was now escorted by Myrtenaster.

Myrtenaster didn't usually mind silence as it was part of her daily duties to simply stand behind her mistress and assist with any and all menial tasks and requests, at least that was how it is usually. Those duties were mostly suspended with the current interaction ban in place with every weapon that turned human. But even this silence between her and Crescent Rose made her feel uncomfortable, unfortunately standard courtesy wouldn't allow her to even imagine quickening her pace just to have this awkward atmosphere be over and done with.

But there was one thing that Myrtenaster couldn't help but be unable to figure out.

What in the world happened to make Crescent and miss Polendina want to fight each other to such an extent? thought Myrtenaster, wincing as she felt a sharp spike of pain from her side.

It just didn't make any sense. As far as she knew there was no such animosity between either girl, they had only met a handful of times after all. So what happened during their conversation that set them off? We were too far away to hear anything…

Come on Myrtenaster! Think! This entire situation is extremely abnormal. While Crescent resorting to violence is nothing out of the ordinary what perplexes me is how serious she was this time. Not only that, but miss Polendina as well. She doesn't appear to be the type that would have violent tendencies, not only that but in the times I had spoken with her she is quite well mannered and kind, if a bit odd. Just what was it that could have set them either of them off?

While she was still deep in thought Myrtenaster was surprised to find that they had already reached their room. She opened the door to see that most everyone else was still there. Magnhild was keeping an eye over both sets of twins whom were playing together, Milo and Akouo were both cuddling on one of the beds, Gambol sat in one corner hugging her knees against her chest and appeared to be asleep.

Magnhild looked up from watching the children to see Myrtenaster standing at the doorway.

"Miss Myrtenaster, tis good to see you back with miss Crescent Rose. Elska." said Magnhild with a bright smile, which then turned into a perplexed expression when he saw the state that they were both in, "What in Elska happened to the both of you?! And where is miss Bumblebee?" he asked, concern filling his usually bright and friendly features.

Myrtenaster didn't immediately respond to his question, but stepped aside to let Crescent Rose enter the room.

Crescent Rose simply ignored Magnhild's question and made her way to one of the beds before collapsing on it, her body bounding slightly before being engulfed in a flash of light as she turned back into her weapon form. There were several clicks and the sound of turning gears as Crescent Rose shifted from her fully deployed form to her compact shape.

All this simply served to further Magnhild's confusion as he stared at Crescent Rose for a moment before he turned back to face Myrtenaster with a questioning look.

Myrtenaster hesitated for a second before she took a deep breath and slowly explained, "There was…an incident earlier with Crescent Rose and a friend of Ruby's, miss Polendina." Myrtenaster took a sideways glance at Crescent Rose lying in her weapon form on the bed. "We're not sure why, but they both started fighting and they even started to seriously try to hurt the other. Bumblebee and I both tried to stop them but things quickly got out of hand. Even Ruby tried to stop them and now…" Myrtenaster trailed off hesitating for a moment before finally saying, "both Ruby and Bumblebee are in the infirmary."

Magnhild jumped to his feet, his large frame causing the floorboards to creak in protest and a loud thump as he landed. "Miss Ruby and miss Bumblebee are in the infirmary?!" he exclaimed loudly.

The noise and Magnhild's words caused everyone else in the room to jerk in surprise. Ember and Celica dropped the toys in their hands as they both ran up to Myrtenaster.

"Is it true?" Asked Ember.

"Are auntie Ruby and big sis hurt?" asked Celica

Both of the twin's faces were filled with apprehension as they grasped tightly at Myrtenaster's clothes.

Myrtenaster couldn't lie right to the faces of those two and said, "They're both pretty hurt when I last saw them, but I don't know how they're doing right now." she explained.

"Can we see them?" asked Celica.

"Please?" Added Ember.

Myrtenaster gently took hold of their hands and pulled them off from her clothes, giving them a gentle smile. "Of course. Yang is there with them too and I know you're worried about them."

Their expressions still showed that they were worried, but they both tried to put a strong front as Myrtenaster could feel their small hands clench in hers. It was then that she noticed that someone had walked up behind the twins without her noticing and Myrtenaster looked up to see Gambol staring at her. Her face was scrunched up and tears were welling up in her eyes as her hands gripped the front of her skirt tightly.

She didn't have to say anything for Myrtenaster to understand what she wanted, so she gave her a nod and still holding Ember and Celica's hands walked out of the room and into the direction of the infirmary, Gambol following them with hurried quiet steps.

As Weiss, Yang, Blake, and Bumblebee sat in silence they all turned as one when they heard a knock on the infirmary door. It slid open to reveal Myrtenaster but before they could get a single word out, Ember and Celica immediately both let go of her hands and ran inside. They quickly spotted Ruby lying asleep on the bed and made a beeline straight for her.

But before either of them could make it to Ruby, Yang quickly intercepted both girls and scooped them up in her arms. "Hey kiddos, what're you doing here?"

"Myr told us that auntie Ruby was hurt." explained Celica.

"Yeah, she said that there was a big fight and auntie Ruby got hurt." added Ember.

Yang turned her head to face Myrtenaster with a questioning look.

Myrtenaster bowed her head, "I apologize, but I was instructed by professor Goodwitch that I escort Crescent Rose back to the dorms to make sure that she didn't cause any more trouble. When we arrived the others questioned me I felt that I was obligated to answer them." she explained.

Yang was about to reply when she felt a slight tug on her hair and turned to face Celica, "Yeah Celica?" Yang asked.

"Is auntie Ruby gonna be okay, Mama?" she asked, not looking at Yang but she and her sister's eyes were glued to the unconscious Ruby.

Yang gave her a soft smile and nuzzled Celica, "Yeah, she'll be all right. Your auntie Ruby is tough as nails, she just needs to sleep for a day or two so don't disturb her, okay?" said Yang.

They turned back to look at Yang and they both nodded. Yang gave them both a quick peck on the cheek and set them down. They kept Yang's words in mind and this time they made their way to Ruby's bed at a more measured pace than earlier.

Gambol peaked in through the still open door as she let out a small gasp seeing Ruby unconscious on the bed. The tears that had welled up in her eyes now flowed in streams as she then rushed to Ruby's bed, falling to her knees and clutched at the sheets.

Blake made her way towards Gambol and placed a hand on her head, patting it gently and saying, "She's going to be okay, it isn't as serious as it looks She just needs time to rest."

Gambol didn't reply to Blake, but let out a small sniffle and nodded her head, wiping away at her tears with her sleeves.

Once everyone that had just arrived had settled down, Yang spoke up once more,

"Hey Myr, where's Crescent Rose?" her voice was low as she muttered the name while her eyes flashed red.

Myrtenaster could feel a chill run down her spine at the tone of Yang's voice, she swallowed dryly before she answered, "She's currently in the room we were assigned and had reverted into her weapon form. Right now Team JNPR's weapons are keeping an eye on her, but as things are I don't think she will cause any trouble."

"Oh she's caused more than enough trouble already." snapped Yang. "Weiss already told me her side of the story, but she said she was only there near the end of it. So could you and Bumblebee tell us how this all started in the first place?"

"I'd also like to know what happened." said Blake.

Gambol nodded her head vigorously as if telling them that she also wanted to learn what happened to have put Ruby into such a state.

"Well…" began Bumblebee trailing off, "where exactly to start?"

"I think it would be best if we started at the beginning." suggested Myrtenaster.

"Ya think so Myr?" asked Bumblebee.

"It might help us figure out what caused all of this to happen." replied Myrtenaster.

"Well, if you say so." said Bumblebee, "So I guess this whole thing sort of started this morning in the dorm room."

Yang raised an eyebrow at that, "At the dorm?" she asked, then her brows furrowed as she quickly began to put things together, "Actually, yeah, now that I think about it that makes a lot of sense." muttered Yang, "Lemme guess, someone started getting separation anxiety?"

"Yep, I think that's what it's called, and let's just say that this morning Crescent wasn't in a very…" Bumblebee trailed off trying to find the right words, "good mood to say the least."

"It appeared that she had finally run out of patience with the separation order." added Myrtenaster.

"I can see that happening." said Yang, "I mean, it makes sense, since I've never seen Ruby without Crescent Rose for more than a day at most, even when she was still just a weapon. Ruby took Crescent Rose everywhere."

"It seems that this is the first time that Crescent has ever been away from Ruby for such a long period of time. So it's reasonable to assume that she'd develop some sort of separation anxiety." said Blake

Yang, Bumblebee, and Myrtenaster all nodded in agreement with Blake's assessment. Weiss on the other hand turned her head to look at the sleeping Ruby's face with a pained expression.

"So all this was my fault?" she said to herself quietly, but still loud enough for everyone in the infirmary to hear.

Yang put a reassuring hand on Weiss's shoulder, "Don't blame yourself for what happened, Weiss."

"But-but if it weren't for me suggesting the separation order, none of this would've happened." stuttered out Weiss, "If I wasn't so forceful about it Ruby wouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, Weiss." said Bumblebee, "We all understood that it was for everyone's sake to help them pass their exams. Honestly we did kinda deserve it with how we acted that night."

"No one could have predicted that this would happen, Mistress." said Myrtenaster reassuringly. "There's no reason for you to blame yourself for it."

Weiss didn't reply, but simply nodded slightly while still staring at the peacefully sleeping Ruby.

"So then what happened?" asked Yang, wanting to move the conversation on.

"We had a small argument, but that in of itself was nothing new when dealing with her." answered Myrtenaster.

"You can say that again." commented Bumblebee with a grumble.

Gambol tugged at Blake's shirt and made a small nod, affirming what they had said.

"So what happened next?" Yang asked.

"After the argument she went and stormed out of the room." said Bumblebee "She said she was gonna go get some fresh air or something and just left."

"We thought that she might break the agreement and go attempt to see Ruby even though your examinations are still ongoing. So we decided to follow her to make sure that she wouldn't." said Myrtenaster.

"When we followed her for a while she ran into that Penny girl." continued Bumblebee. "We kept our distance so Crescent wouldn't notice us, so we were too far away to hear what they were saying."

"It appeared like they had some sort of argument, but at that point we had thought that things weren't going to escalate since miss Polendina began to walk away. But much to our shock Crescent threw the first punch." said Myrtenaster.

"I believe Crescent also shouted, "you bitch" at her when she did." added Bumblebee. "Even I could hear that from all the way across the courtyard."

Myrtenaster rolled her eyes at Bumblebee's words before continuing, "The moment they started to fight we both ran up to them to try and break up the fight and as you can see by our current states, that didn't go well for either of us." Myrtenaster gestured at her ruffled and dirtied clothes and minor injuries as well as Bumblebee's.

"You weapons really are made of different stuff, huh?" said Bumblebee jokingly, "But seriously, Crescent really did a number on me."

"So you guys tried to stop them, but couldn't?" Blake asked.

"Yes miss Blake." replied Myrtenaster.

"Pretty much." replied Bumblebee.

"So what happened after that?" Yang asked.

"While we tried to stop Crescent and miss Polendina from fighting, both Mistress and Ruby arrived at the scene." said Myrtenaster continuing her explanation. "We informed them in on what was happening and before we could do anything, Ruby jumped right in front of both miss Polendina and Crescent's attacks. She managed to stop them from hurting the other, but her Aura cloak shattered from their attacks."

"I'm pretty sure they were as shocked as we were then Ruby suddenly got between them like that because they both stopped fighting when they struck Ruby and she fainted." added Bumblebee.

"But in that case, how come they didn't just stop before they hit Ruby?" Blake asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Because Ruby jumped in on the last second," explained Weiss, "none of us were expecting her to do it, but…looking back now it's such a Ruby thing to do."

"Well I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from our team leader." said Blake, patting Gambol's head reassuringly as her eyes began to well up once more after hearing the full story of what happened as her gaze kept going back to the sleeping Ruby.

Yang crossed her arms and appeared to be in deep thought before she asked, "So neither of you know what started the fight in the first place?"

Both Bumblebee and Myrtenaster shook their heads in unison.

"We have no idea." responded Myrtenaster.

"No clue." added Bumblebee.

"Well both yours and Weiss's stories match up and I guess neither of them really meant to hurt Ruby…" said Yang before taking a deep breath and let out a long sigh. "I guess we'll have to talk to both of them to find out what set them off."

"That might be a problem." spoke up Blake. Yang gave her a questioning look and she continued, "It seems like professor Goodwitch brought Penny to her office but I'm not sure what'll happen to her since she isn't exactly a student here."

"That's true." said Yang trailing off, "then what about Crescent Rose?" she asked.

"Considering what had happened today, I think it would be difficult to speak with her right now." said Myrtenaster.

"Why's that?" asked Yang.

"She has withdrawn herself into her weapon form, so unless she transforms back we wouldn't be able to get any answers out of her." answered Myrtenaster.

"In that case, if we can't get our answers right now, I think it's be better to just leave it for now. All that matters is that Ruby's okay and no one got seriously hurt." said Yang.

Just as she said that the door of the infirmary was suddenly opened by an elderly nurse.

"What are all you kids still doing here?" she exclaimed, "The infirmary is for the sick and injured!"

Everyone stood from their chairs in surprise as the elderly nurse began to shoo everyone out.

Well, almost everyone.

"Not you, young lady." said the nurse as she placed a hand on Myrtenaster's shoulder.

Myrtenaster flinched at the sudden contact and she slowly turned her neck to look back at the nurse. Her eyebrows shot up at the menacing gleam in the older woman's eyes, Myrtenaster's own eyes turning a shade of green.

"By the look of you you look like you got involved in that scuffle as the other girl." said the nurse, jerking a thumb in Bumblebee's direction. "And looks like you need some patching up." the nurse's eyes then darted at the other girls who were hanging at the door, taking a peek. "You lot now scram!"

They all jumped in surprise and ran away from the infirmary as fast as possible.

"Now dearie, let's take a look at the damage, shall we?" said the nurse.

Myrtenaster's eyes darted between the elderly nurse and Bumblebee, her green eyes clearly pleading for help.

Bumblebee didn't say anything and only gave a sad sympathetic smile in response.

Someone please save me. thought Myrtenaster as she was dragged towards one of the infirmary beds by the collar by the surprisingly strong elderly nurse.

Author's Notes: Sorry for the long delay everyone! I got uber busy this semester with my clinical rotations, which is why the chapter took so long and why it's so short. Not to mention I got pretty stuck at some parts. But thankfully AyokaiW helped me out so much with both getting me unstuck. I owe her a ton. So I apologize. But I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! It's quite a bit dialogue heavy so I hope it wasn't too bad. I have a bit more free time now, so hopefully I can get the next chapter out soon, I already have an idea/plan for it so it should be easier than this one.

Also LOOK AT GAMBOL SHROUD SHE IS THE MOST ADORABLE CINNAMON ROLL YOU HAVE EVER LAID EYES ON (sorry readers on FF, but you're gonna have to find it on AO3 to see her art since FF can't host images) Again a commission by Anonamos701

Again I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and remember

Please Leave A Review!