A New Kitten Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Blake had been crying in her bed for ten or twenty minutes when she heard the thunk of a skull hitting the ground. Of course, she didn’t know with that level of specificity what the sound was at the time, but it was still more than enough to coax her up from her bed. Initially, she assumed something just fell, but it was louder than that. Maybe her mother come over to say hi? Brothers… she could use some advice from Kali. It had been far too long since she’d gotten to see her mother despite their living close. Being busy with Weiss and the White Fang, and the shame about involving herself in it all kept her from vising home like she normally might. 

Then again, if it was an intruder, it might be someone at her home for something harder than bring over cookies and motherly love. Maybe someone come to rob her? It was stupid, but it wasn’t like she didn’t have anything worthy of trying to steal. Had Jacques broken and sent Atlesian troops to her home?

Expecting nothing, but preparing for the worst, Blake snagged her weapon from its place and stepped out into the hallway. No sign of anything uncouth yet… that was good. Her kitchen’s sorting system did get rather vertically precarious as she rushed to cook sometimes, it could just be that? But no, the kitchen proved to be perfectly fine, not a sauce or ounce of flower out of place. 

Blake pulled her weapons in closer and strengthened her aura. If a fight broke out, she would be ready. There was nothing and no one who could take her down in her own house. And brothers pray for the poor soul that may be foolish enough to harm Weiss with a wild Blake on the loose- now with extra pent up rage from trying to decipher gender!

She turned down another hall, keeping corners wide to give her an extra moment’s reaction time if someone or something spotted her. But nothing and no one was there. The hallway was completely as she had left it except for the door to her office- why had it been opened? The faint blue of her idle monitor background seeped from the room, cold and clinical. There was plenty of prime computer gear, and not to mention thousands and thousands worth of experimental dust she’d been working with… 

With her weapons held high, Blake burst in the room and threw them up, aiming for- for- for nothing- no one was in the room except for- the slightest groan from the floor and the blue reflecting on Weiss’s white made her already look like a corpse. “Weiss, what are you-” Blake’s eyes darted between the girl and the tub that’d fallen with her. Weiss was painfully lethargic as she tried to reach at the EMPTY bin. It was empty! Weiss had- a quick check, the only missing bin from her shelf was the one which held the healing drug dust- “No! Weiss! You- don’t you know that shit is toxic if you take too much!”

Weiss’s blown pupils aimlessly danced along the ceiling. Her eyes were glazed and empty. But! But she was still moving! A good sign!

“Weiss! Weiss! How much did you take! Weiss!” Blake yelled, falling to her knees just to shake the heiress. 

“How much?” Weiss spoke like her mouth was full of cotton balls, slow and dull. 

“Y- yes how much! That stuff can kill you if you take too much! I! What the hell did you do to yourself!” Blake panicked and tried to remember how much had been in the tub. 

“Thts… point.” 

“That’s point? Point? What fucking poin-” It finally clicked for Blake. Seeing the room must have released all the memories she’d tried to suppress in Weiss. “You- you were trying to fucking kill yourself?” Blake stammered. 

Weiss groaned and wretched but nothing came up. “Yha.” 

“No, no, no, no… Weiss!” Blake blinked and tried to process. She’d done this to Weiss. In her greed, in her desire to have the woman she loved not hate her, she pushed Weiss into this. Had she… killed Weiss? 

“Why… crying?” Weiss broke Blake out of her panic and back into the real world at the sensation of Owner’s tears falling down onto her cheeks. “Why’re oo crying?” Weiss’s body limply wretched but the convulsion died before anything could come up. 

“Puke! Puke! You need to purge the dust from your stomach! If it’s not all processed you might be ok!” Blake latched to the first solution to the problem she could manage. 

“Wht? W- why? I die. Wanna d- d-” Her stomach tried to revolt on her again, but Weiss’s iron will kept it down. 

“You wanna-” Blake’s heart shattered. She did this, she did this to Weiss. “I- Ok, Weiss, we can talk about that later, but you need to puke right now, please, please stay with me, come on Weiss.” Blake tried to coach Weiss through as she lifted Weiss’s head and tried to steady her jaw. 

“G- get off! Let! Let me die!” Weiss pushed limply against Blake’s hands, clearly trying to force them off as hard as she could, but she was too weak in the wake of her overdose. 

“N! No! I’m not going to just let you die! I love you! Idiot!” Blake snapped in frustration. Weiss clearly wouldn’t comply, so she forced Weiss’s mouth open and tried to force her fingers in to make Weiss puke. The heiress fought harder and even tried to bite Blake's fingers off. "Stop! Stop fighting! I'm! I'm not just going to let you die!" Blake fought and grumbled. 

"Just- just let- let me-" Weiss's stomach turned as Blake hit the back of her throat. Thankfully they hadn't done too much gag reflex suppression training because it seemed to work. Weiss turned over and voided whole dust crystals and a slurry of stomach acid fully saturated of it all across the floor. 

"Fuck- fuck you! Just- just let me-" Weiss went to yell, but Blake slapped her across the face. The enertia and the way the hand hit her ear made her feel like she was spinning. To Blake's immense relief, Weiss puked again and seemed to keep going till she was empty. When she was done, she didn't speak, but she did glare back at Blake, her anger on full display. 

"I won't just let you kill yourself." 

"Stop pretending to care." Weiss managed, clearly sobered to some degree from her puking, but also clearly higher than a kite. 

Blake fought to suppress the hurt of the comment. She understood why Weiss thought that, but it didn't make it any easier- it made it infinitely worse. She hated knowing this actually was because of her, that she'd caused all this. "I'm not pret- I know why you think that… but… I- I was desperate that night! You know that! I thought… I thought my friends were going to die!"

"Sure. So I'm just supposed to believe you only did it because-"

"Yes! Yes Weiss! I wish, I wish so desperately I had talked to you; asked you for help instead of doing what I did… I just- you were already mad at me, and it was a surprise that my friends had been taken, and-" 

"And you wiped my mind to hide your betrail." 

"I didn't know what the hell else to do! I- I was falling in lov-" 

"Shut up! Shut up and stop pretending you loved me! I know! I know you-" 

"Weiss! I do love you! I-” Blake stopped as she watched Weiss’s eyes beginning to fall. “God damnit.” She cursed as she watched Weiss collapse back down to the floor. 

It was both embarrassing and impossible to explain why Blake had the Schnee heiress covered in her own vomit hanging loosely in her arms as she banged on her parent’s door. Ghira had many questions, but Kali seemed to better understand that it was an emergency and they had to rush the girl to the hospital. Ghira offered to drive Blake, and Kali offered to go clean up whatever mess was left. Blake suspected her mother could tell her relation with the Schnee extended beyond that of just captor and captive; that maybe Kali had offered to clean because she knew returning to the mess would likely destroy Blake- even more so if Weiss’s health took a turn for the worse. 

Ghira opened the passenger door for Blake, but she oped to sit in back with Weiss, holding her for the drive over. That way she could monitor Weiss’s condition while he drove. She needed Weiss to be ok! She loved Weiss! She did this to her… Blake didn’t want to cry in front of her father, even less so over a Schnee, but even her best efforts couldn’t stave them off as she pushed back Weiss’s hair and tried to whisper to the Schnee that “Everything’s going to be alright. We’re taking you to the hospital. It’s going to be alright, you’ll… you’ll-” She choked up and couldn’t continue. 

When they arrived at the hospital, Blake rushed Weiss in and explained it was an overdose. She tried to hide that it was the Schnee heiress and that the overdose had been a suicide attempt, but the evidence seemed overwhelming and impossible to hide. She knew she got a look or two from a handful of nurses. They had seen the latest videos, they knew that Weiss had been given faunus traits and that the newest admission was a kidnapped Schnee heiress. Though, being Menagerie, there weren’t many Schnee sympathizers on the island, and it seemed the only one in the hospital was Blake. Thankfully, however, the nurses didn’t know Blake loved the girl, and in fact still thought she was being held captive. Normally this might have been bad, but it seemed to get Weiss a private room and express access to a doctor. The nurses must have know Weiss was crucial to ever freeing the faunus still subjugated and enslaved back in Atlas. The details of how Weiss helped and Blake’s love for the heiress were… less public and unnecessary for them to be enlightened of in the moment. 

The doctor that came to help also seemed to understand the importance of the heiress’s survival for the faunus people as a whole and rushed her to get her stomach pumped. When it came to debriefing someone on Weiss’s state, the doctor referred to Blake rather than the Schnee who still lingered in and out of consciousness. 

“Is- is she alright?” 

“She’ll be out of it for a couple days for sure.” 

“Is she alright!” 

“She should be…” The doctor confirmed. 

“Thank god.” Blake fell back against a wall and nearly fell down in relief. 

“I… take it this was not something intentional?” 

Blake forced herself back onto weary feet. “You mean-” 

“On your behalf?” 

“Of course not!” 

“Good. We cant have the little cunt getting off too easy.” The doctor cleared his throat. “Not before everyone else is-” Blake’s glare seemed to trip him up. “I- just say… to mean… I mean… and she is of the utmost importance.”

“She matters.” Blake offered with a harsh tone, still managing something caring for the Schnee without letting slip that she wanted nothing but happiness for the girl the doctor seemed to want nothing but pain for. 

“Yes, I suppose that is a way to put it.” He humored. 

“And she’ll be alright?” 

“A full recovery I suspect… though, we should keep her here at least overnight- longer if you need. We can keep her… safely.” He flashed a sickening grin. “It might be for the best actually. Despite my full expectations that she will recover well, she may endure some withdrawals and during that process, it would be best to monitor her closely. Complications from this drug are rare, however, they can occur. She may have some seizures, but make sure she doesn't stop breathing, and she’ll make it through with far less than the punishment she deserves.”

“I think I can handle her. We won’t linger too long. I- would you mind if some of my… colleagues meet here?” 

“White Fang?” The doctor whispered. 

“Yes.” Blake nodded. “I need to talk with them and I fear she might not be safe on her own.” 

“Oh, no need to worry, I requested one of the security guards’ cuffs and had her tied down to the bed.” 

Blake’s stomach crawled and she feared this many may have watched the moves Weiss had made more than just once and for purposes other than schadenfreude. “T- thank you.” She’d need to bleach her mouth later for thanking the gross creep, but he was convenient. “And… privacy might be-” 

“Of course, We settled you here because it’s a secluded area of the hospital- as secluded as it gets at least. Feel free to have them enter and exit out the backdoor.” 

“Sure, thanks.” Blake offered a false, sickening smile. 

“And… as far as the bill, you were never here.” 

“That’d be preferable, thank you.” 

“Of course.” He nodded. “Continue the good work.” 

Blake peered into Weiss’s hospital room. The heiress still seemed to be out of it, and if the color of her cheeks was any measure, she still wasn’t doing all too well, but she was doing better. Blake wanted to go in, to hold Weiss’s hand and demand an explanation for why Weiss would do this to herself, how in the hell she thought this could be the right solution… but she knew how, and she had been the answer. She did this, and she wouldn’t soon forgive herself- if she ever did. Anxiously pacing, and still denying herself the right to go see the woman she loved as a punishment for her sins, Blake decided to call up the rest of the white fang. Sun, Ilia, and Qrow were the only ones who actually answered. It made sense that Coco, Velvet, Marrow, and Jaune would all be busy back in bed, finally back home with their significant others. Sun, Ilia, and Qrow agreed to an emergency meeting; Sun and Ilia more demanded it… Qrow just made himself available if Blake needed. Neon was the last one out… Blake considered inviting her to the meeting, it would have been easy enough given that she was still staying at the hospital, but… she didn’t feel like dredging up any more trauma for the skater. Neon had been through enough, and she didn’t need to lose any sleep. 

Qrow was first to arrive- though, being as he could fly, it wasn’t much of a fair contest. Then Ilia, and a good time later, Sun. 

“You alright there Kid?” Qrow asked in a voice only hoarser from what Blake could imagine was another heavy night of drinking. 

“She tried to kill herself.” Blake whimpered and fought not to sob. 

“Aye, you said she was going to be alright? Right?” 

“Maybe? Physically? I guess, that’s what the doctor who wanted me to leave her here for him to do… brothers know what with her.” Blake shivered. “But, she tried to kill herself! You don’t just get over that!” 

“Here.” Qrow passed off his flask. 

“Huh, let him have her. She deserves it for trying to get out of helping us!” Ilia snarked. 

“Hey!” Qrow snapped. “Stand down!” 

“What? Are we just ignoring how Blake’s been fucking her and all of a sudden our captive isn’t wearing a shock collar anymore? I heard you took her out on a fuckin date the other night? What are we just inviting her to escape? It’s a wonder she tried to kill herself, you seem to have given her plenty of other ways out-” 

“Shut your damn trap lil Ms. Every color of the cunt rainbow!” 

“Hey! She has a fuckin point! Weiss is a captive, not your girlfriend!” Sun stood by Ilia’s side. 

“Calm down!” Blake tried to order of all of them. 

“Calm down? Calm down? You’re hiding out there playing housewives to each other and there’s still faunus in danger bac-” Sun was stopped by a sudden punch hitting him square in the nose. He covered it as it streamed in blood and yelled more in confusion than anything else. 

“I’m not anyone’s housewife.” Blake huffed and shook out her hand. 

“House wife or not, you’ve lost your fucking edge! Maybe it’s time someone else took watch over her?” 

“What!” Blake went stiff.

“We need more progress!” Sun complained in a nasally voice. 

“Wha- what the hell is wrong with you two, I- I called you all here to tell you I thought we needed to slow things while she healed back up and I made sure she was ok again.” 

“She’s a Schnee!” 

“Why should we care if she’s ok!” Ilia finished for sun. 

“Calm down.” Qrow tried again. 

“Shut the hell up bird boy!” 

“Yeah! You don’t know a damn thing about this! You’re not a faunus! Hell, you’;e not even a member of the White Fang! You’re just here cause you’ve never dropped your damn vengeance vendetta against Atlas.” 

“What, I’m too busy helping my nieces and the robot prevent the literal fuckin apocalypse for you?” 

“Yeah!” Sun snarled as best he could. 

“Oh my god! Shut up!” Blake yelled. 

“Fine, I’ll leave, but this is no excuse to slow your results. Stop, and we’ll put it to a vote of no confidence. You aren’t the right one to manage her any longer.” Ilia threatened. 

Blake wordlessly turned to Sun, refusing to believe he agreed. 

“Speed it up, or I’ll be voting against you.” He threatened and turned to leave with Ilia. 

Blake found her way to a bench, collapsing in shock. 

“It’ll help.” Qrow pushed his flask on her again.

Blake hesitated, but eventually she took as deep a swig as she could and followed it up with a second. “Can you believe them?” 

“They’re scared… there’s a lot of that out there now a days…” 

“I- I know, but… but she- her life matters, and they couldn;t care less!” 

“Hey, of anyone, I understand falling for someone on the other side… falling for someone on the otherside and loosing them.” Crow empathized. “I’ll stick on your side for all it’s worth… but it doesn't seem like that’s all that much.” 

“I- The others can’t agree!” Blake tried to convince herself. 

“The four that just got back from being tortured by her family? And one of their girlfriends?” Qrow laughed cold and distant. “Good luck.” 

“I’m going to need more of this.” Blake shook the lightening flask. 

“If that ain’t the most relatable fucking thing I ever heard.” Qrow threw himself back up to his feet. “I’ll be around.” 

“Yeah… thanks Qrow.” 

“Sure.” He kicked open the exit door, transformed into a bird once more, and flew off to get himself more booze. 

Blake tried to get ahead of the turn and messaged the rest off the White Fang members, trying to convince them that taking some time off to care for Weiss’s mental health would be a good idea. Not a single one of them answered favorably. Everyone but Morrow and Neon was very decisive in their assurance that there was no slowing to be done, and if there was, they wouldn’t vote favorably when inevitably a vote came up. A good portion of them even asserted that in reality, nothing has actually been done. Sure, those who had been captured were saved, but all in all, the cause was more or less where they'd started. Yes this operation showed promise, and that was nice, but they hadn't actually succeeded in saving any faunus or making any change at all. 

It was an utter defeat. She'd tried to buy herself and Weiss some time, but succeeded in only hastening their clock. It was enough to soften all her restraint. She broke and forfeited. Desperate, and still terrified for Weiss, she finally caved and went in to check on her. Weiss was awake, that much was clear from how she fought the bindings that kept her down to the hospital bed. “Hey there sweetie.” Blake greeted. 

Weiss’s eyes were still blown, but now they were bloodshot too. Blake was passively aware they pumped her stomach and gave her extra charcoal to try and soak up what was left, but Weiss looked even worse off than she expected. “Stop pretending to care.” She looked away. 

“I’m not pretending Weiss.” Blake groaned. 

“Your facade will slip again eventually.”

“It’s not a facade Weiss.” Blake sighed as she pulled a chair up close to Weiss’s bed.

“Sure.” Weiss rolled her eyes only to visibly be pained by it. 

“Are you alright?” Blake reached out concerned. 

“L- let go of me!” Weiss fought. 

“Stop! Stop thrashing! Do you not have a headache? They said you hit your head on the floor when you fell. Doesn't it hurt?” 

“I don’t care if it hurts! Just- just let me go!” 

“Fine… but stop hurting yourself.” Blake settled and pulled back. 

Weiss snorted, but settled in her bed and stopped fighting. 

Silence came over them for a little while, they both quieted and sat in their unease. Weiss had no interest in speaking up to Blake, but Blake had no idea what to say. She tried to figure out what was the right thing, what would help Weiss best, but eventually, her impulsive concern got the better of her. “Why.”  She asked dry and cold, far more distant than she’d intended. 

“Why?! Why?! Well, here’s a heads up! This isn’t something I’ve done to you! It had nothing to do with you! I- I did this because I should have done it right years ago!” 

“W- Weiss… I- of course it’s not something you’ve done to me.” Blake blinked, trying to process what Weiss had said. “But- wait, what do you mean it had nothing to do with me… I- I thought this was because you found out about-” 

“Ok! Maybe it was a little about you! But I-” Weiss’s voice caught in her throat. 

“And… and you said you ‘should have done it right years ago’? Weiss! I- I didn’t know you’d tried this before.” 

“I- that doesn't matter! And what I meant is… you- you aren’t the only reason…” Weiss turned her nose up.

“It matters to me Weiss. I love you, and I need to know how to help in the hopes you won’t do this again.” Blake reached out to take Weiss’s hand. She succeeded in holding the heiress’s hand for all of a moment before Weiss pulled it back. 

“Stop pretending you love me.” 

“What? Weiss- I- I know why you are mad and I understand you feel betrayed… and, and I’m really sorry for lying; for sharing that behind your back, but… but you have to know I still love you, right?” 

“Sure.” 

“Weiss! I mean it!” 

“Name one thing you love about me.”  Weiss shook her head softly, clearly not believing Blake.

“Because! You are soft and kind, caring even to a fault! A sweet innocent woman who is just as depraved as me at the end of the day. Because you are the type of person who heard my friends were in trouble, and despite being my literal kidnap victim, you lept to help! You- you grew up a Schnee but you are nothing like them! You are strong and prideful, but lack all the hate. I love you because against all odds you turned out so caring and pure; because you are nothing like them, you’d never have signed off on killing and enslaving faunus like-” 

“I deserved what I tried to do to myself, and if you ever loved me, stop trying to get in my way when I try it again.” Weiss looked to Blake with a conviction that almost left Blake believing that Weiss thought the best thing for her was to die. 

“Weiss, you- I- you have to know that’s the last thing in the world I’d ever just let happen. I love you, I-”

“Blake, pretending was nice, it was really nice to pretend things were ok, that I could really be happy and loved. But I deserved having all this done to me, and I deserve to-” 

“What the hell are you talking about Weiss! You don’t deserve-” 

“You really think you love me!” Weiss yelled over Blake. 

“Yes. I love you! I don’t know how many times I need to say it!” 

“You shouldn’t.” 

“What? Why not?” 

“Because, I did it. I voted for the bill. I approved of the murder and enslavement of the faunus back in Atlas.” 

End of Chapter 53