"Yang! Yang stop!"
The wind was cold and hard in Weiss's face, her goggles frosting over and her skin chilled like bone. Only the blonde's semblance made it possible for her to see, melting the ice coating her goggles.
Unfortunately it couldn't do much against the sleet blowing down at them from over the darkening shroud of trees.
The blonde cussed under her breath, motor growling against the cold rusting its engine. Even if Weiss wasn't squeezing too hard at her waist, her bike wasn't giving her much of a choice. She needed to pull over and let the storm pass.
Fuck.
No one else was stupid enough to be out on the road in this weather, and they had hundreds of miles between them and Beacon by now. Beacon, Ozpin, Mr. Schnee - Blake.
Yang shuddered, boots scuffing the slicked, icy road as she pulled over, immediately climbing off the bike and pulling Weiss close to try and work some color back into her cheeks that wasn't red from the sting of wind nipping at her.
"Please - I don't want to go any further," Weiss said, not even protesting the blonde's rough, jerky handling of her, cuz even with her semblance, Yang was still trembling. She was tired and cold from driving through the night, working herself raw keeping her semblance flaring just for the sake of sparing Weiss a little warmth.
It was almost sweet, but Weiss's last scrap of patience had been yanked away the moment that storm had started and her girlfriend had still refused to pull off the road. Her dress was soaked, and she was shivering and miserable and cold.
So was Yang, but - that was beside the point.
"I promised Blake I would get you out of there," Yang replied, her muscles shuddering with the weight of her exhaustion, like a machine that was doing far too much work. One of the girl's downfalls, Weiss was learning. Yang didn't know - rather, refused to acknowledge - her own limits. Especially when helping her friends.
"We are out of there. And we're tired and miserable, and you are in no state to drive any further. I won't allow it." If she'd had the energy, she would have stomped her foot down.
"We can't just camp out here, it's dangerous." God even Yang's voice was ragged and raw, and Weiss realized with the chilling surge of ice water through her veins that she and Blake had probably been talking about this since before she'd even been told by Ozpin.
God, when was the last time this girl had so much as shut her eyes for a moment's rest? In all the cold and gray and snow, the purple was shining and bright, like a pair of smoothed shells, cool and steadying despite the raging storm around them. Weiss hadn't noticed until now just how much she loved the color. Not even dimmed by the slightest hint of exhaustion.
"Do you honestly think the White Fang is out here? We are hundreds of miles away. You can barely stand the cold, what makes you think they can?"
The blonde glanced down. Her cheat, for when she was too tired to fake her energy, her smile. Weiss had learned.
"I can't protect you out here."
"We aren't going to die, Yang. I won't allow it."
That got a smile, a very tired smile. But it was enough for Weiss, even if the words made her hollow inside. She was scared. And too stubborn to admit it. She didn't have the heart to tell the blonde that the reason her goggles were getting so icy was not just the cold, or her semblance acting up. She'd been crying, and probably had a new set of rock hard abs to show just how determined she'd been to hold back the spasms. She'd absolutely refused to let Yang know.
"Neither will I," she said with a tired laugh, lips brushing Weiss's forehead. She could feel her semblance dying, black spots at the edge of her vision, blinding her worse than the snow.
"I'll - I'll gather some firewood. Do you think you'll manage to…"
"I'll manage," the blonde promised, refusing to let her shoulders sag, even when all she wanted to do was collapse at the thought of having to force enough of her semblance out that she caught fire, even in all the wind and sleet. Her muscles were burning in the worst way possible.
Weiss hated herself for asking, but - she was certain that if the thought of freezing to death wasn't enough motivation to 'light Yang's fire', the sight of her wandering aimlessly through the woods collecting dead branches would certainly warm her girlfriend enough for a flame. She groaned a little at the thought.
"Wait right here," she ordered, setting Yang against a tree trunk that had just enough of a dip to shelter her from the wind. "I'll be right back. No arguing."
She kissed Yang quickly, pushed the blonde into a sitting position - and the brawler was too exhausted to even resist, which, despite everything, jolted Weiss a little bit. Yang had a good thirty pounds on her, and she'd never managed to budge her at school. Not in sparring, not in arguments, not in bed when Yang was kissing her so giddily that Weiss couldn't stop laughing, hands scrabbling to push her off so she could breathe-
She'd never budged her till now, and that was colder than the wind.
She hurried back with the wood, afraid of leaving the blonde alone. But Yang had kept awake, vigilant, watching Weiss's shadow disappear in the gloom of the forest, tracking her, if not to protect her, to keep herself awake. She needed to stay awake.
"Here, just a little longer, then you can sleep," Weiss promised, huddling next to her girlfriend.
"Wake me if anything-"
"Yes I know," Weiss snapped, her voice going high with strain and tears she wouldn't shed. There was a contract on her life and she'd known it could happen but this wasn't part of her grand life plan, this wasn't supposed to be real.
Having Blake tell her that she needed to leave Beacon before Ozpin or her father brought her to a 'safe house' already infiltrated by White Fang had not been…comforting.
But - she hadn't exactly complained when the feline admitted that she'd be running away with Yang. That had been her one spark of warmth in all of this.
Weiss huddled closer, arms tight around the blonde's waist, head resting against her chest.
The fire crackled, and Yang flinched in the dark. Weiss's heart stuttered, froze, then beat far too loudly.
"I love you," Weiss murmured, holding the blonde tighter, nuzzling under her chin.
"Love you too, princess." It was a sleepy murmur, and Yang sounded - almost happy. Too tired to be scared again. Weiss could enjoy that, and hold it close. Warmth slowly stole through her, and she curled tighter into her girlfriend.
Just a few hours. It was cold, and it was snowing, but at least it wasn't miserable anymore.