It was never this bad.

Lumi clutched her bleeding, broken arm and stumbled away from the disintegrating Grimm corpses. Her right leg twinged in pain- a sprained ankle? a broken one?

No time to think, no time to think think- THINK! Grimm could smell her desperation, she was sure, her fear and anger and hopelessness. Somewhere between sparring with her mother, and trying to take away the alcohol (poison poison poison her science teacher said, generalist omnivores had livers and kidneys that treated poisons as drugs and spices) Grimm had appeared and everything went to hell.

She needed needed-needed- to get somewhere safe but in a forest full of monsters where was safe? Up high, safe from grounded ones, but Nevermore could knock her out. On the ground, safe from flyers but prey to Ursai and Beowolves and her mother.

Even now the woman was calling for her, calling out "Starlight starbright, first star I gave to night!"

She didn't want to go, but where else could she go? Going home was bad- the house was clean and it was safe, but it was safe because it was clean and blood was not- and school was too far (Aryl said the safest part of all of the Kingdom of Vale was historically-)

Beacon! First line of defense and last stronghold; she could go there. But where? Where in Bea-

"Lumi, I'm sorry, come back," her mother wailed. "I love you, don't leave me, don't you dare leave me, COME BACK!"

The shadows were already thick around her legs as she decided; the tallest tower in all of Beacon, high up and safe from what lurked below.

She took one steady step across the void and into the headmaster's office. Had Beacon always been so far? She felt her eyes blink once, twice, not again.

-[-]-

Ozpin noticed how a corner of the room darkened just before a girl stepped out of the gloom. Glynda was up in arms before the girl had fully materialized, shouting questions that turned from accusatory to concerned the instant she realized all the blood.

He was the Headmaster of a Hunter academy- he'd seen hundreds of injured students, so many hurt worse than this girl; but those usually didn't make it.

The nameless- no, not nameless, he'd met her before, she'd confused him for her father- girl crumpled to floor.

"Take her to the infirmary," Ozpin stood and grabbed his cane.

"Who is she?" Glynda used her crop to levitate the girl. "How did she get in here?"

"Qrow's teaching assistant," he said and rushed to follow along. He had no more answers.

-[-]-

Qrow was having a relaxing day working on Reaper, his faithful weapon. The trigger was sticking, which in turn would destabilize the transformation, and rather than test his luck (he never needed to, it always sucked) he decided to settle in for a few hours for some peaceful maintenance.

So when Oz called, he thought nothing of it, just tapped the "accept call" icon with a mostly clean knuckle and put the Scroll on speaker. "What's up?"

"Hello, Qrow. What is the name of your assistant?"

Straight to the point with a weird question.

"It's Lumi; why?" Had she done something at Beacon? Get in a fight somehow? She'd been a little testier than usual as of late which he'd written off as hormones.

"She's unconscious in the infirmary," Qrow nearly dropped the screwdriver in his hand. "And I need to contact her guardians."

"Shit, what?" He ran a hand through his hair.

"She appeared in my office, wounded," Ozpin explained, tone calm and collected. "And I do mean appeared."

"I'll send you the info," he hung up and sighed heavily.

After quickly scrubbing his hands to get rid of the grease, he pulled up Lumi's info and sent it over. Assured that his bad luck quota had been filled for the day, he sat back down and picked up a screwdriver.

Not twenty minutes after that, Ozpin texted him.

Oz: Mother is irate and refuses to come; claims 'she deserved it.' Father unavailable.

He ought to stop tempting Fate; that fickle bitch really had it out for him.

Oz: I think it'd be best if she wakes up to a familiar face, don't you agree?

He hated his life.

Qrow: sure whatever on my way

-[-]-

Lumi was awake before she was cognizant. Her eyes darted about, taking in blurry smears and piercing lights while the sharp steady beat of a machine echoed in her ears. Her heavy, aching body called her back to sleep but her mind fought against the fatigue at the sound of footsteps.

Her heart pounded behind her eyes as everything came into focus.

A woman was speaking but Lumi wasn't quite there yet. The woman had a white coat and an arm band- she knew that, what it meant but the thought struggled to surface- and a clip-board and a stethoscope and she was reaching towards Lumi-!

"No!" she croaked. "Don't touch me."

The woman- a Healer- blinked and retracted her hands. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Lumi," her tongue felt like lead in her mouth. "Hazelwood."

"Do you know what today is?" She tucked an auburn lock behind her ear.

"Water first, please," Lumi responded with a dry swallow. After she was given a cup, she answered the doctors list of questions; date of birth, age, what day it was, where she was (she stumbled here but after a moment remembered tall towers and safety) and how she got there.

The Healer seemed a little displeased with her answer to the last question, but didn't push. She listed Lumi's injuries in the brisk, impersonal tone all doctors had and projected a time-frame of recovery. She'd be in a wheelchair for a day or two then crutches for a while because despite the fact that her ankle was healing remarkably fast, it had been fractured and she needed to keep off of it. Her arm would need to be kept in a sling and cast for about two weeks; it'd been in much worse condition.

Not too bad, all things considered. She helped Lumi to the bathroom, then back to bed when she was done. Because Lumi had been unconscious when she was brought in, and a minor, she hadn't been given any pain killers, only a little Aura healing and some local anesthetics. Now that she was awake and mostly cognizant, she could request some and the good doctor wouldn't get in trouble.

Not long after Dr. Jade (she'd finally read the nametag) walked off to see about getting her non-opiate drugs and a late lunch, Mr. Branwen showed up. He had grease smeared on his face and his clothes were somewhat wrinkled, but he still looked better Lumi.

"Oh good," he eased himself into the flimsy chair. "You're up. It was getting boring watching you sleep."

"Aren't I at Beacon…?" Lumi stared down at her wrapped arm.

"Yeah," he shifted and uncomfortable plastic creaked ominously. "Which is what I wanted to ask you about."

She pushed aside her questions for later. "Yes?"

"Why did you come here?" His red-eyed gaze was piercing. "Why not go to a hospital?"

Lumi felt uncomfortably pinned in place. The bigger question, the one he was sure to ask next, would be "why did you need medical help?" and that was… not something she wanted to talk about with her teacher- or anyone, really.

But not answering was not an option. She could see it in him, that he wanted answers and wouldn't be above waiting in silence for hours until she cracked.

"Aryl said that Beacon was, historically, the safest place in Vale against Grimm," she traced the weave of the blanket on her lap, eyes fixed at a point above and beyond Branwen's head. "I was fighting Grimm in Forever Fall, but there were so many…" Not a lie, but not quite the truth. "I guess what she said really stuck with me."

"Uh-huh," he raised a brow. "Grimm know how to use Dust now?"

At her confused look he continued, "There was Dust in your shoulder."

Fuck.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she murmured and looked at her lap.

"Look, chickadee, don't try to bullshit me," he crossed his arms. "You popped up out of nowhere in the headmaster's office, banged up and bleeding, then passed out before anyone could get your name- much less find out what happened!"

Oh, he was really getting worked up now. That wasn't good. Her heart rate kicked up as her throat constricted.

"I'm sorry…" she wanted to hide and never be found.

"Save your 'sorry,' just tell me what's goin' on," he bit.

"S-sorry," she sucked in a breath to stave off the tears, but her body demanded emotional release. "I'm sorry, I didn't…" She burst into tears.

Qrow immediately felt like shit.

Good going, you idiot, you made a teenage girl cry and now you're lost as all fuck. Just give him the teacher of the year award already.

He sat awkwardly in place until Jade came back, a plate in hands and a scowl on her face. "Get out, Branwen, you're disturbing my patient."

He didn't need to be told twice. Maybe it was cowardly to run from his problems, but hey, doctor's orders.