Burning alive from the inside out was an accurate description of how Ruby felt right now as she was finally pulled out from the hellish machine she was forced to visit every month.

Ruby sat up in the flimsy gown she was always forced to wear when coming in for a round of radiation as she immediately leaned over to the side to empty her already barren stomach onto the floor. Luckily, there was a trash can there since the last few times the same thing had happened immediately after her treatment, so the staff had been prepared the last few times for this to happen.

She managed to stop throwing up after awhile, and then two nurses came into the room to help Ruby stand up. Ruby reluctantly allowed the two nurses to support her as she shakily stood up. Once she gains her footing she lets out a grunt which makes the two nurses let go of her, and she wobbles a little before balancing herself out with a loud sigh. The nurses look at her as they wait for her to get her footing before they motion for her follow them which earns them a very noticeable eye roll from the small teen as she follows them out into the hall towards the room containing her parents.

The nurses left Ruby be as she entered the room and was met with two pairs of concerned eyes. She let out a sigh as she sagged a bit before giving them a small smile before turning towards the table in the room and grabbing her clothes off of it and changing back into them quickly. Once she clicked her cloak around her neck she let out a loud groan as she felt bile start to rise in her throat again. She felt a hand rubbing small circles against her back before presenting a trash can for her which she promptly started dry heaving into seeing how she'd already emptied what little she had in her stomach before.

"This was a tough one wasn't it little rose?" Summer Rose, Ruby's mother, asked the heaving girl, concern lacing her voice as she continued to comfort her by rubbing her back.

Ruby gave a slight nod before managing to lean back against Taiyang Xiao Long, her father, who had positioned himself behind the pair. She let out a tired sigh as she let her eyes drop closed while letting out a soft hum of approval as he hugged her tightly. Summer watched the pair with a slight smile before Taiyang spoke.

"Well at least you won't have to worry about doing this for another month Rubes." Taiyang stated happily while giving his daughter a small squeeze which made Ruby let out a fake sound of pain which made the whole family on the floor start to laugh. Until they were interrupted by a knock at the door before it opened.

"Sorry to intrude, but I've brought the latest images of Ruby's tumor Mrs and Mr Rose-Xiao Long?" Ruby's long-standing Doctor announced as he slid through the doorway and into the room, quietly shutting the door behind him as he made his way to the computer in the room.

Taiyang gave a nervous chuckle as the family picked themselves off the floor and made their way to sit in the three chairs facing a screen. Ruby brought the trash can with her as she watched the screen intensely with both of her parents' hands on her shoulders.

"So I have good news!" The doctor exclaimed with a smile which made Ruby wanna bounce up and down, but she knew better than to do that right after chemo. Instead she plastered a giant grin across her entire face before excitedly asking, "What's the good news doc?"

With a chuckle the doctor smiled at Ruby before responding, "Why don't you take a look for yourself Ruby?" Ruby turned to look at the screen that held two images. One of tumor from her last scan and other from the scan she had done today. The difference between the two was small but noticeable and brought tears to Ruby's eyes as she turned to look at the doctor again. "Y-You m-mean it's a-actually s-shrinking now?" A shaking Ruby asked in disbelief as she heard her parents sobbing softly behind her.

"Indeed. I'm glad we kept you on chemo instead of switching to another method now. I knew it was just a matter of time before the tumor would start shrinking instead of growing like it had been." The doctor says as he pulls up another picture of the tumor when they had first discovered it almost 3 years ago on Ruby's 12th birthday. Ruby had been having a party when she started coughing up blood and was immediately rushed to the emergency room where multiple scans revealed a rather large stage 3 lung tumor located on Ruby's left lung. Since that day Summer and Taiyang has poured every ounce of effort and money into getting treatment for Ruby which led to them moving from Patch to Vale where she could receive better, more advanced treatment for her cancer. Ruby had been receiving chemotherapy for the past 3 years from the Vale Children Hospital without any sign of improvement. In fact, the tumor had only continued to grow, but at a slower pace until today.

Ruby sobbed happily as Summer and Taiyang hugged their daughter half to death before Ruby started coughing violently which made both of her parents let go as they watched their daughter cough into her sleeve feverishly. Ruby let out a groan as she finished coughing her throat feeling raw as she looked down to see the usual blood staining her equally blood red shirt.

"Not cured yet though, huh?" Ruby said with a laugh as she looked at the doctor who gave her a sad smile before nodding. Ruby let out an exasperated sigh before standing up and heading towards the door.

"I'll be in the waiting room, come get me when you're done talking about "adult" stuff," Ruby said as she left the room. She knew what they were talking about. Her treatment plan and how much it was going to cost which she had heard many times before, so she opted to leave that talk to her parents while she strolled down the halls of the hospital. She said hi to long term patients she knew as well as staff that knew her before she made her way to the waiting room where she knew her favorite person would be. As she practically skipped into the waiting room she was met with a chorus of "Hi Ruby" from nearly everyone there which made her smile brightly and wave before she turned her attention to finding a certain patient with multicolor hair. After scanning the room a few times she found who she was looking for as a evil idea popped into her head making Ruby giggle before putting it into action.

Ruby stealthily approached the small girl across the room, doing her best not to be noticed by her as she snuck up behind the smaller girl. With a massive smirk Ruby reached up and poked the girl in her sides with her fingers, causing the smaller girl to completely freeze up and let out a strangled gasp of sorts.

"Oh my gosh Neo that was priceless!" Ruby exclaimed as she laughed her head off, moving in front of the small girl who was now glaring daggers at the cookie loving girl in front of her. Neo crosses her arms before reaching for a notebook braid eand her furiously writing in it before holding it up for Ruby to read. Ruby managed to stop laughing and wiped the tears from her eyes before turning to read what Neo had written.

"Fuck you Rose."

"Well fuck you too Neo." Ruby deadpanned to the clearly unamused girl with an IV in her arm. Ruby eyed the IV curiously before looking back at Neo for an explanation. Neo was a long term patient at the hospital and was two years older than Ruby at 17. She was in remission for a tumor that had attached itself to her voice box which she had eventually had removed along with her voice box leaving her mute. Hence why she had to write things down on a notebook. She began scribbling in her notebook again as she noticed me looking at the IV before turning it around for me to read it again.

"Been having problems drinking because my throat is still swollen, so my doctor suggested I get some IV fluids until my throat stops swelling completely."

"Ohhhhhhhhhh," Ruby said as she read it. Neo rolled her eyes before smiling at the cloaked girl in front of her before she pulled the notebook back to write something else while Ruby held back a coughing fit that was threatening to burst forward. Ruby didn't want to worry Neo plus she wanted to know what Neo was going to ask or tell her. She managed to hold it back as Neo finally turned her notebook around again for Ruby to read.

"You get to go to public school again for the first time in three years tomorrow right?"

"Yup!" Ruby responded excitedly "I can't wait! I'll be going to Beacon High School! I'll finally get to interact with other people my own age in a normal setting! Not that this isn't great and all, but they'll be normal and I'll finally get to be a normal kid again! Oh I'll have to tell you all abo-" Ruby exclaimed as she began to ramble until she started to cough again. Neo immediately leaned forward to rub the younger girl's back as she coughed, frowning at the sight of the younger girl violently coughing. Eventually Ruby stopped and she looked up at Neo to see the usual concerned look everyone gave the girl before she nodded at Neo to let her know she was fine.

"Ruby? It's time to go little Rose!" Taiyang called out through the waiting room, causing a collective sound of awes through the room as Ruby's face turned as bright red as her cloak. Blushing bright red she cast a glance at Neo who was holding her hand over her mouth as if she was giggling at Ruby with made Ruby puff out her cheeks before stomping away from Neo towards her parents.

"REALLY DAD! I'M 15 FOR GOODNESS SAKE!" Ruby yelled at her dad from the backseat as the family drove home from the hospital.

"What? You're my little rose!" Taiyang exclaimed as he drove, unsure what his daughter was upset about seeing how she never cared before when he called her that.

"Well I don't need my only friends and complete STRANGERS to know!" Ruby argued as she sunk back into her seat, pulling her hood up and over her face as she thought back to the looks on the complete strangers faces. Letting out a groan Ruby pulls her hood over her face even more as she attempted to become one with the seat she was in. She heard her mom let out a sigh before a loud smack was heard through the car.

"Ow! What the hell was that for Summer!" Taiyang asked as he rubbed his now throbbing shoulder as he pulled into the family's driveway.

"That was for being an idiot and embarrassing your daughter." Summer responded as she got out of the car, letting the door close with a bang. Ruby burst out laughing when she looked at her dad's confused and hurt expression as he followed Summer out of the car. Ruby followed soon after, making her way into the house where she was met with an adorable black and white corgi which she promptly scooped up.

"Hey Zwei! It's nap time! Finally!" Ruby said to the small dog in her arms as she let out a yawn. Zwei let out a bark of approval as Ruby said goodnight to her parents even though it was only 5 in the afternoon. Chemo always tired her out and when she got home she always wanted to sleep, and when she did she was out for at least 12 hours usually. The chemo also made her lose her appetite since she'd always end up just throwing it up anyway, so she and Zwei has made it a ritual that every time she got home from chemo they would crash together in her bed. She made her way upstairs and into her room which had acolor scheme of white, red, and black with roses as the theme. She set Zwei down on her bed sheets where he immediately curled into a ball and looked at her expectantly to get into the bed with him. Smiling at the sight she went to get changed into her pajamas. She dug through her drawers and mangaged to find something she deemed fit to sleep in and began to put it on but stopped halfway through as she made a mad dash for the bathroom as she started throwing up into the toilet. After a few minutes she finally stopped and let out a groan as she leaned back before flushing the toilet.

"Chemo sucks." Ruby murmured to herself before she felt Zwei licking her hand which made her smile as she rubbed the dog's head, making him bark happily at her before she shakily stood up and made her way back towards her bed. Ruby didn't bother trying to get the rest of her pajamas on deciding to just leave what she had worn today on instead as she crawled into bed. She wrapped herself in the blankets, letting the warmth surround her and help calm her stomach a bit. She was extremely happy that the good news from today had completely distracted her from the usual burning sensation she felt throughout her body after getting chemo that usually lasted a few hours after getting it done. With a happy sigh she closed her eyes as she felt Zwei lay on top of her as she began to drift off to sleep.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring...

Italics - Ruby's Thoughts

Bold - Neo's Writing