Akashic

"He, he's out." Summer said with a tinge of relief as she fell back, panting as she began to stretch her hands that were now sore from trying to stop Arthur from maiming himself. Yang and Ruby soon following her as they released his now restrained arms.

"Mom, wh-what happened? He this… what happened?" Ruby asked trying to avoid looking at Arthurs face which now had numerous bloody scratches carved into it.

"That can come later we need to get his wounds sorted first, ms.Schnee, ms.Belladonna, go find professor Peridot and bring her here post haste. She should be in her lecture theatre at this time, busy with the third years." Goodwitch ordered as both Blake and Weiss quickly extradited themselves from the room. Quickly passing by Ozpin, not even looking up at him.

"I knew this was going to happen Oz. We are lucky he has had a breakdown now and not while in the field." Goodwitch argued, as she sympathetically stared at Arthur, her gaze hardening as Ozpin kept quiet and simply starred at the once again listless body of Arthur.

"He needs help! Not a degree! I will not, I cannot! Allow him to stay; he is too much of a danger to those around him, especially out in the field! He is a walking beacon to the Grimm!" Glynda's voice raising by the second.

"Yes. He is." Ozpin succinctly stated surprising Glynda as well as the others in the room.

"But, he is now a student of Beacon, and I will support him however I can. For now, let us wait for ms.Schnee and ms.Belladonna to return, then we shall discuss what to do about mr.Fielder." Ozpin explained getting a silent nod from Summer as she guiltily watched Arthurs unconscious, blood covered body.

Not ten minutes later did Weiss and Blake return with professor Peridot. A relatively young woman to be a teacher at a prestigious academy like Beacon, looking to be in her mid-twenties. She had Teal coloured hair that flowed to her shoulders with soft curls at the ends. Her eyes a deep malachite green, while her body was wreathed in a olive tan. She wore a relatively simple white one-piece dress that hung loosely over her legs; she also wore a pale blue, long-sleeved cardigan top. On her feet shoe wore a pair of red slip-on dress shoes. Yet, the most noticeable things about her was not, her simple yet elegant attire, or even her beauty, it was instead the wheelchair she was sitting in due to a severe injury she had sustained during her child hood, rendering her legs all but useless.

"Oh, my! What happened!" Kardia Peridot exclaimed as she quickly wheeled herself to Arthurs side and began to inspect the wounds on his face, noting the blood had also covered his hands and the blood that had soaked through the light blue shirt he had been wearing. Finally seeing that restraints the had been put on so tightly they had begun turning his hands pale.

Seeing this Kardia began to quickly loosen the restraints, letting the colour return to his fingertips, tossing them to the side once they were removed. "Ruby, could you please hand me the swabs, the haemostatic ointment, Bandages as well as a bottle of isopropyl alcohol" she requested as Ruby nodded quickly, soon disappearing with the usage of her Semblance as she dashed around the room collecting everything she had been requested, soon bringing them to Kardia's side.

"Thank you, Ruby. Now, this might be a little morbid, but this is a perfect chance for you four to learn. Please come to my side so we can begin his treatment." She exclaimed sending shock down Ruby's spine as she quickly retorted "We don't have time for a lesson! He's injured! Please treat him!"

"Calm now, Ruby. He will be alright, the wounds are superficial at best, it may look scary but he has an Aura, it is already beginning to heal the wounds, albeit much slower than usual, probably due to his other more severe injuries, but these shouldn't leave so much as a scar. I fear the most damage he has sustained is to his psyche, you don't just start tearing at your own face for no reason." She explained causing Ruby so stare, concerned at what had happened to him before turning to her mother, seeing her sitting on a couch, hunched over her hands wrapped around her head.

"Now come, let us not waste any more time, go wash your hands, quickly now." Kardia announced getting nods from the four girls who quickly sanitized their hands and returned to her side and observed her beginning the treatment of Arthur's wounds. "Yang please could you lift his body so we can remove his shirt." She asked, as Yang quickly complied by bringing her hands under Arthur's back and, not so gently lifting him into a sitting position.

"Please be gentler next time, he has enough blood covering himself, he doesn't need more." She coldly stated, letting her more serious nature out into the open. She now began to unbutton his shirt revealing, his c.h.e.s.t wrapped in bandages wrapping around his entire midsection.

"Please lay him back down, gently this time." Kardia explained as Yang slowly lowered him down. "Good, now Blake, Yang, you two can work on his arms, clean them with the swab, remember to first put a bit of the isopropyl on them to sterilize them. And then you can lightly wrap them with the bandages. While we're at it you can also replace the bandages on his right arm." Getting nods in return as Blake began to clean the wounds on his left arm while Yang began to undo the bandages that wrapped almost the entirety of his right arm, hiding even his fingers with a white glove.

"Weiss, Ruby, you can help me with cleaning the tears on his face… Oh, Ruby dear, please could you also get a scalpel, we need to remove some of the loose skin so it doesn't rot and cause an infection." Ruby flinching at the idea of cutting someone to heal them as she picked up a scalpel from one of the drawers removing it from it airtight bag in the process.

"Weiss, please could you swap the left side of his face and I shall do the right. Once we are done Ruby, you shall start lightly cutting off the loose sections of skin."

"Eh? Eehh!? Wai- no I-I can't do that!" Ruby argued scared she might inadvertently injure Arthur in the process.

"Ruby, believe in yourself dear. You are not as incompetent as you make yourself out to be. You are an incredibly capable little huntress. But you need to do this, you fear injuring others too much, even if that injury is for the better. All you need is steady hands and to go at it slowly.This is good training for your semblance as well, you may be all about speed, but knowing when to slow down is always a good thing." She along with Weiss had finished cleaning the cuts on his face. Soon hearing a gasp from Yang to the side attracting their attention.

Turning to see Yang, they saw her staring at Arthurs arm which was now completely laid b.a.r.e, the bandages had been removed revealing the course blood red rash that rose to his shoulder, his glove which was now to the side revealed his hands which were also covered in the same red rash, but with the only differences being the pitch black finger nails and the four small green gems in a cross pattern on the back of his hands. The strange almost demonic sight causing Yang, Blake and Weiss to take a step back out of concern that the 'rash' would be infectious.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Kardia said moving to Arthur's right arm, lifting it as she began to trail her fingers across it. "It's is not a rash, it is actual skin, healthy skin. There is nothing wrong with it. The only difference is its deep red colouration and rough texture, but other than that it is just plain old skin. But the most amazing thing are these." She announced as she lifted Arthurs hand showing off the four gems.

"These strange 'gems' or 'innocence' as I have been told are perfectly connected this body, they weren't implanted into him, they meld into the red skin perfectly as if it were always a part of it. So much so that they are as s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e as our own fingertips maybe even more." She said trailing her finger over the gems causing Arthurs arm to twitch.

"Ah, I'm getting distracted… Wait, that can't be possible… his arm… Ozpin, come see this. Ruby, can you begin cutting off the larger pieces of skin and apply the haemostatic ointment to the cuts?" She asked staring in shock at Arthurs arm.

"Hmm, what is the problem, Peridot." Ozpin said as he came to her side Glynda a step behind.

"Look at his arm, there's no wound from last week. This shouldn't be possible, even if my semblance does assist in the healing process, it is not this drastic. There is not even a single incision mark from the surgery not even the sutures are here. This, just what is this…" Kardia muttered trying to puzzle out any logic as to what she was seeing… or not seeing.

"Strange…" Ozpin muttered as he though 'Arthur Fielder, what are you?' before taking a step back so that the girls cold continue their work.

"Professor is this good?" Weiss asked as she applied a thin layer of the haemostatic ointment.

"Hmm? Oh yes, perfect. That should be all the major wounds, Yang, please finish up on his arm. I wonder…" she said as she rolled towards one of the surgical shelves pulling out a pair of scissors and returned to Arthur's side, soon beginning to cut the bandages that wrapped around his c.h.e.s.t. Removing them only to see, a large gash with the only thing preventing the blood from spurting out being the numerous staples going along the entire length of the cut.

"Strange… The healing is only on his arm… How strange… Arthur Fielder, you have peaked my interest" her eyes glowing at the strange occurrences surrounding the boy.

"There, all done." Kardia announced as she clapped her slightly bloody hands "Well done girls, you did amazingly. Not perfectly, but you did well either way. Yang, you need to be gentler with patients, you put too much pressure when swabbing, leading to either the wound opening up again or even making it worse. But otherwise, well done" Her assessment made Yang feel a bit of shame, as she felt that even without the professors assessment that she would cause more harm than good.

"Blake, well done. Full marks from me, you showed amazing skill and dexterity in cleaning the cuts and a great amount of speed and flexibility when bandaging him back up. You show a lot of experience in this type of treatment, good work." Blake simply nodded at her assessment, thinking back to all the times she had to patch up her friends just years earlier.

"Weiss, not much to say except you have worked to do, you are certainly accurate enough, your speed at the processes is also fantastic. But I worry that you are too rigid in those very same processes, you mostly need to work on your adaptability. But otherwise, your knowledge is on point and you would make a great assistant to any doctor." Weiss's brow twitched at the idea of being someone's 'assistant', but otherwise she took the critique in stride.

"And Ruby, you would make an amazing field surgeon, you are fast, accurate and never forget caring. But, by far your biggest problem is your fear of death, of yourself and others around you. If you can overcome that, then you can become a great… no THE greatest huntress this world has ever seen, let alone field surgeon." Ruby felt happy at first, drooping when Kardia accurately critiqued the fear she has had for years.

"Excellent work girls, we have had but two lessons together and you already surprise me at your skill and finesse. I must say, a few more and I'd be tempted to send you to one of the clinics to shadow some of the professionals." Smiles raining from her face. "Oh, and don't worry to much about your grade for this semester, this has more than solidified it, so don't worry too much about the written exam, that is mostly going to cover what we did here."

"Ah! Ozpin, if possible could you please send me the footage from the entire operation? I believe this would make an excellent example to the other students." The overly enthusiastic medic asked.

"That can be arranged Peridot." Ozpin replied with a smile as he addressed the girls "As Professor Peridot has told you, excellent work, you will make terrific huntresses in the future." His words causing wide smiles to appear on Ruby and Yang, a small laid back smile from Blake and a 'What did you expect' smile from Weiss.

Seeing that enough praise had been given Kardia turned to Summer who was still hunched over holding the back of her head trying to make her body as small as possible. Letting out a soft sigh Kardia began to address her "Summer, it's alright, he's good now. Now tell me, what happened? What caused this? He didn't just break down on his own. What was his trigger?"

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Alternate Chapter names: {Asclepius} { Bandages part 2: the Reckoning} {A lesson in treatment}