Disclaimer: I do not own any RWBY characters nor am I affiliated with the show or it's creators
Chapter 1
She'd seen her earlier around the school grounds, like a shadow stalking her the girl seemed to be everywhere. Yang knew that sounded insane, knew it was false because, although the school grounds seemed vast, it was still an enclosed space and many new students were wandering to and fro getting their bearings. But everywhere Yang looked she seemed to catch sight of her.
First she was in the courtyard as Yang's friends pulled her away from Ruby to catch up on summer adventures. She hadn't thought much of it, hadn't thought it was odd at all to have glanced and noticed anyone. It happened all the time, right?
But then she was there wandering the garden, book in hand, as Yang's friends dispersed to find other acquaintances.
She was sitting on one of the window seats overlooking the wilderness to the rear of the academy when Yang passed through getting acquainted with the layout of buildings, and again as she made her way to the hall, this time they'd bumped shoulders travelling in different directions.
Yang turned to apologize, knowing she was more sturdy than most and had the ability to accidentally knock someone to the ground barely feeling a brush herself. She was surprised to see the other girl hadn't stopped or been deterred from her intended destination. She seemed to not have even noticed the contact they made, on the contrary, looking unaware as she used Yang's brush to propel herself through the door at a quicker pace.
Yang blinked and she was gone.
It was hours later when all the first years were gathered in the ballroom, their temporary sleeping quarters for the night, before she saw the girl again.
Yang, having undressed and gotten ready for the night, made her way back to Ruby. She weaved in and out of sleeping bags strewn randomly on the floor of the hall they were calling theirs for the night. She smiled at the boys that looked up at her as she passed but kept moving to not give them any ideas about stopping her.
She waved at a group of her Signal friends when their circular group called out to her. One motioned to make room for her and she waved them off gesturing to the other side of the hall where she knew her sister was waiting.
And there she was again.
Not far from her and Ruby's sleeping bags was the girl she kept running into. And the way she was able to brush off the first few encounters didn't seem to be valid anymore. She knew there were probably a dozen new students she'd passed that day, maybe even some she'd walked by more times than this dark haired girl, but the way she noticed this one and not the countless others told her something was capturing her attention, even if it was unconsciously.
She was sitting in a darker part of the hall, though many lights and candles were scattered throughout, she seemed to have picked a spot directly between them. She was resting in a small corner, the protruding wall of a window casting a shadow around her. She sat with her back against the wall, switching her sight from observing the students around her to the open book in her lap.
Yang was sure she couldn't be reading as it was much too dim in her wall nook to be able to see any discernible words. Yang paused to take in the girl's profile. She had long flowing midnight coloured hair, that even now sported the same black bow she'd worn all day. Her skin in contrast seemed quite pale, though Yang didn't think she was any lighter in colour than herself. She was a mixture of light and dark, even the clothing she wore reflected that. Black and white, polar opposites, that somehow suited the girl. With her head dipped Yang couldn't see her eyes but she remembered them being the most brilliant shade of gold.
Yang wanted to speak to the girl, but couldn't come up with a reason to do so. The fact the girl had so evidently separated herself from the other students made Yang's mind up on the matter. She continued towards Ruby but kept her eyes on the seated girl as she passed, hoping she'd look up and their gazes could lock, even for a brief moment. That would at least give Yang a reason to smile at her and wave. It was a type of introduction, right?
She was disappointed when she garnered no reaction from the dark haired girl. Dejectedly she turned her attention once more to her younger sibling.
"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang cheered falling down on her sleeping bag.
Yang had sensed her younger siblings withdrawn countenance ever since her confrontation with Weiss at the assembly.
"I don't think dad would approve of all the boys though," Ruby answered, not looking up from the notebook she was writing in.
"I know I do!" Yang said cheekily, trying to lighten the mood and drag Ruby out of the hole she'd entombed herself in. When she didn't receive a response Yang decided on a different strategy. "What's that?" She asked indicating the notebook Ruby hadn't looked up from.
"A letter to the gang back at Signal." Ruby replied, finally pausing to look up, "I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going."
"Awwww, that's so cute!" Yang teased, abruptly being thrown back into her sleeping bag as a pillow hit her directly in the face.
"Shut up." Ruby growled, sounding annoyed. "I didn't get to take my friends with me to school, it's weird not knowing anyone here." Ruby finished quietly, averting her eyes.
Yang felt bad for teasing her a second ago. She had always been there for her younger sister, but the times she couldn't be Ruby's school friends had stepped in. She knew this must all be excruciating for her socially awkward kid sister. Finding new friends is one thing, finding another whole social circle of them would be difficult for anyone, and a daunting task for Ruby.
This year was different for her as well. She'd been expecting to attend Beacon on her own. She'd been used to seeing and spending time with Ruby and their dad every night and on weekends, and the time they spent in different classes during the day had been normal. But Beacon was something on a completely different level than Signal Academy. Being away from all her family, not being able to walk into the next room to see them was going to be different. It was a huge change for her, or it was supposed to be.
Yang had spent half of her life looking after and protecting her younger sister from all the dangers in the world, and the other half she'd spent helping train Ruby to protect herself when Yang couldn't be there.
She couldn't remember a time she had ever been alone, Ruby had always been there. And this year, although she would have missed her sister dearly, was supposed to be her chance to break free and really explore who she was, who Yang was. Because she'd spent so much time being Ruby's older sister, being what Ruby needed her to be she wasn't sure if there was another side to her. Was that just who she was, Ruby's protector? Or was she, or could she possibly become something else, something more?
She noticed Ruby was still staring down at the pillow in her arms. She would find some time to process all the Yang issues, but right now Ruby needed a pick me up.
"What about Jaune? He's...nice." She forced her voice to remain upbeat. "There you go plus one friend, that's a hundred percent increase."
Ruby flipped over onto her back, staring up at where the stars might have been if their little camp out was outdoors.
"Pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend," she retorted, "back to zero."
"There's no such thing as negative friends, you just made one friend and one enemy."
Yang wondered how many more pillows the smaller girl could have as another hit her directly in the nose. This pillow being more firm than the last it actually stung a bit.
"Look, it's only been one day." Yang reasoned. "Trust me, you've got friends all around you. You just haven't met them yet."
Before Ruby could respond a noise caught her attention. Yang followed Ruby's eyes as her younger sister leaned up onto her elbows.
It was the dark haired girl with the bow. She'd lit a few candles and had her nose buried in the book she'd been carrying with her.
Yang took a moment to observe her from this angle. The candles chased away the shadows previously shrouding her and made her skin glow a soft warm honey colour. Yang couldn't tell if the girl's golden eyes were always so intense and bright or if it was due to the candles reflection or the book she was reading. But the position the girl was in definitely suited her.
"That girl." Ruby whispered, bringing Yang's attention back to their conversation.
"You know her?" She tried to keep the surprise out of her voice, but watched her sister from the corner of her eye to assess how well they might actually be acquainted.
"Not really, she saw what happened this morning but left before I could say anything."
Yang jumped at her chance to speak to the mysterious girl. She leaped to her feet dragging Ruby with her.
"Welp, now's your chance!"
"Wait, what are you doing?" Ruby struggled against Yang's grip but it was no use, Yang was much stronger than the smaller girl.
"Hello," Yang announced their intentions to the seated girl still enthralled in her book, "I believe you two may know each other." She motioned to her sister hanging slightly back.
"Aren't you, that girl that exploded?" Golden eyes darted between them.
"My name's Ruby." She extended her arm but the other didn't make a move to return the gesture. "But you can just call me Crater-uhh." She bit her tongue, "Actually, you can just call me Ruby."
"Okay," the girl responded, turning her attention back to her book.
Yang was dumbfounded, how had her sister made any friends at Signal with that kind of game was beyond her. "What are you doing?" She hissed.
"I don't know help me." Ruby's voice wavered.
"So, what's your name?" Yang asked trying to salvage the interaction for her awkward sibling.
The girl sighed and Yang probably wasn't mistaken when she thought she saw golden eyes roll. "Blake."
"Well Blake, I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister." Yang was just congratulating herself on successfully introducing herself to her mystery girl when she realized her mouth was still moving. "I like your bow."
It took all her strength not to punch herself in the face. What kind of a compliment was that? There were so many other things she could have said. 'You have pretty eyes,' or 'I like your style,' were both way more acceptable than 'I like your bow.'
She was never going to forgive her mouth for that.
"Thanks."
As expected, she didn't get much of a response.
"It goes great with your...-" Oh no, it was happening again! "-pijamas."
Yang made a mental note to stop hanging out with Ruby so much, her blundering behaviours were rubbing off on her. And Yang was not at all pleased with that fact.
"Right."
"Nice night, don't you think?" She tried again hoping to repair some of the damage.
"Yes, it's lovely." Blake looked up from her book once more. "Almost as lovely as this book." She stared at them pointedly. "That I will continue to read." She blinked a few times watching the siblings before deciding to be very direct. "As soon as you leave."
Yang turned away, ready to accept defeat for the night. After all, hopefully she'd be back to her smooth talking self in the morning and could try again.
"Yeah, this girl's a lost cause." Yang didn't mean to say that out loud and was about to drag Ruby back to their sleeping bags before she made an even bigger fool of herself.
"What's it about?"
"Huh," Blake's surprise at the question matched Yang's own.
"Your book, does it have a name?" Ruby tried again.
"Well," Blake started, "it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body."
"Yeah, that's..." Yang piped up not wanting to be left out of the conversation. "real lovely."
"I love books." Ruby cut in. "Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories of heroes and monsters." Her eyes glazed over with fond memories. Her voice softened. "They're one of the reasons I want to be a huntress."
"Why is that?" Blake seemed amused with the direction the conversation had taken. "Hoping you'll live happily ever after?"
Yang wondered how her timid, inept sister was able to go from striking out to scoring in a conversation so easily. How had she been able to catch Blake's interest when her own attempts had been met with nothing short of a cold shoulder?
"Well, I'm hoping we all will." Ruby smiled softly. "As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books, someone who fought for what was right, and who protected people who couldn't protect themselves."
"That's," Blake looked pleasantly surprised by Ruby's confession. "very ambitious for a child." She paused, looking down to her lap before she continued, though her voice was quieter than it had just been. "Unfortunately the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."
"Well, that's why we're here, to make it better."
Ruby smiled and Yang was proud of her. She was always surprising her with her strong moral convictions. But Yang was starting to feel awkward, she wasn't used to being the forgotten third wheel. And she couldn't stop herself from trying to gain some of Blake's focus from her sister, getting her attention was the whole reason Yang had dragged Ruby over here.
"Oh, I'm so proud of my baby sister." She wrapped Ruby in a big bear hug, lifting her off the ground.
"Cut it out!"
Ruby struggled to get free but it was futile. Yang was all muscle where Ruby was speed. She might be hard to catch but once Yang got hold of her there definitely was no escape.
"Well, Ruby, Yang," Blake broke through their bickering voices, probably trying to get them to move on. "it's a pleasure to hav-"
"What in the world is going on over here?" Ruby and Yang broke apart. Yang looked up to the blue eyed, silver headed girl that had just interrupted them. "Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?"
"Oh, not you again." Yang bellowed when she realized Weiss was about to lecture her along with Ruby this time. She heard an echoed response as Weiss recognized them as well.
"Guys she's right, people are trying to sleep." Ruby tried to shush them.
"Oh, now you're on my side?" Weiss asked.
"I was always on your side."
"Yeah!" Yang spoke up, protective older sister jumping to Ruby's defence. "What's your problem with my sister? She's only trying to be nice."
"She's a hazard to my health." Was Weiss' only reply before they were all bathed in blackness.
They all stood frozen waiting for another light to turn on or for their eyes to adjust to the darkness.
It wasn't until Blake had blown out her candle that Yang realized everyone else was in fact trying to sleep, all other light sources having already been snuffed out.
Sheepishly Yang scratched the back of her neck and whispered a quiet apology to the nearby slumberers.
"How do we find our way back to our beds?" Ruby squeaked dramatically.
"Just give it a minute." Yang stated.
It wasn't long before the moonlight seeping into the ballroom windows was enough to light Yang's vision to make out their sleeping bags a few dozen feet away.
She grabbed her sisters wrist and pulled her along to guide her. Yang felt Ruby stumble at the same time she heard a grunt coming from somewhere below.
Yang turned around when she heard a snicker and swore she saw Blake turning quickly away and laying down herself.
There was no way she'd been close enough to hear the grunt from the other student and Yang could hardly see herself, she wasn't convinced Blake would have been able to see anything to snicker at from that distance.
Shrugging it off, Yang finally was able to guide Ruby down into her sleeping bag before she could injure anyone else.
Ruby was in good spirits the next morning. She seemed to have forgotten her run ins with the Schnee heiress the day before and practically skipped to the cliff rendezvous point of their first trial.
Yang knew her sister was more than capable of any initiation test the headmaster would be able to think up but she also knew how withdrawn her sister could become in high stress situations. Especially social situations. They were going to be placed in groups of four, and Yang didn't want her sister to fade into the background if she didn't even try to make friends with her teammates.
When Professor Ozpin explained how the pairing up with ones partner worked Yang already knew Ruby would make it her goal to find herself before anyone else. Being in cohesive pairs seemed to be high on the importance list for any solid team and even Professor Ozpin had remarked on its need. So when he made pairing up the complete chance of whoever you first laid eyes on after landing Yang was more than a little confused.
It wasn't like Yang specifically didn't want Ruby on her team. Ruby was an exceptional fighter and would be a huge asset to any team. But if Ruby became her partner they would be stuck with each other for four years.
She loved her sister, but earlier in the locker room when she told Ruby that maybe she should be on someone else's team if possible she said it for two reasons. One reason was so Ruby would get out of her comfort zone and learn to make new friends to help her grow up and be more independent. The other reason was slightly selfish on Yang's part. Yang wanted to grow as well. She wanted to be seen as Yang, not just Ruby's older sister, and she wasn't sure she'd be able to do that if Ruby was always at her heels.
Plus there was a tiny spark of hope that possibly, maybe, she'd be able to run into Blake first in the forest. Then they would have four years to have stupidly-awkward conversations like the night before. Yang was aching to know what captivated her attention so strongly. She had thought their introduction would loosen Blake's hold on her, but it hadn't. If anything, the short interaction seemed to have made it worse. What was different about the dark haired girl that made her stand out?
With these known facts, including knowing Ruby's weapon, Crescent Rose, wasn't the lightest of tools and would more than likely weigh her down quickly once flung from the cliff, Yang used her own weapons to push her as far from the cliff, and her sister, as she could.
And it had taken an excruciating long time to find any living thing in that forest. She was starting to think she may have flown right by the temple the Professor spoke of. She was also second guessing her decision to blast herself so far ahead of everyone else. Most pairings were probably already made and Yang started to fear being stuck with the left overs.
She couldn't for the life of her remember what Blake's weapon looked like. She was sure her sister would have been able to describe it in detail and Yang realized she should take a page from her sister's book. Talking to people, you learned who they were, but you only learned what they wanted you to know. But a persons choice in weapons, that spoke volumes on not just the type of fighter someone was, but also the type of person they were. Large, heavy, overbearing clubs were carried by boys trying to prove a point Yang had noticed. Hunters with blades tended to be dexterous, and the slimmer the blade the quicker the handler would be. And those with ranged weapons tended to hold back and keep their distance from confrontation. So knowing Blake's weapon would have given her a clue as to where the girl could be. Was hers a ranged weapon and she chose to land nearer the cliff or was it a blade, indicating she took challenges head on and rushed in to the forest, far away from the cliffs like Yang, herself, had done.
A while later as she ambled her way through the trees she started to feel like she was being watched. The feeling followed her for many minutes before she heard a rustle in the bushes.
Assuming it was another student Yang followed the noise to investigate.
The two ursa that emerged were, in all fairness, not a match for her in the slightest. Being able to blow off some steam and go all out beating grimm to a pulp gave her spirits a lift. But nothing could have made her stomach do as many pleasant flips as when Blake emerged from behind the second fallen ursa.
Yang quickly darted her eyes to see if Blake was alone or already in a pairing and felt relief wash over her when her eyes came up empty.
The smirk Blake gave her when she said she could have taken that second ursa on as well solidified her choice in wanting the black haired beauty as her partner. There was something exhilarating hidden behind the girls aloof outer shell and Yang wanted, or needed, to find out what it was.
As they trudged through the forest to their destination Yang tried to make small talk but soon realized Blake wasn't too keen on breaking through her shell so quickly. This was going to be an uphill battle, but Yang had never backed down from the impossible, she wasn't about to start now.
A couple beowulfs tried to ambush them a few minutes into their peaceful stroll but Blake had her weapon out and sliced through both before Yang was even able to arm her own weapons. It happened in the blink of an eye and Yang would be lying if she said she wasn't majorly impressed.
Blake was definitely full of surprises and Yang couldn't wait to uncover each and every one.