AN: This is a short short story involving an idea I had floating around in my head for quite a while. Tell me what you guys think!
*The body of Blake Belladonna was found in the courtyard of Beacon Academy when everyone was walking together to get to the school dance. Lying next to her was her weapon Gambol Shroud with blood splattered all over the tip. Sun Wukong was the one that picked up her suicide note that rested in her hand.
I'm sorry, it just hurts too much.
Sun passed it along to Yang Xiao Long, who couldn't hold back her tears. She had just recently shed some while talking to Blake earlier. She thought she had helped Blake. What went wrong?
She remembered her last words to Blake before finding her dead in the courtyard.
And if you feel like coming out tonight, I'll save you a dance.
That was it. Those were her last words to Blake. Yang had been worried about her because Blake was obsessed with stopping Roman Torchwick and the White Fang from whatever scheme they were building up. Mixed with Blake's own history being a part of the White Fang and watching the nobility it once had crumble before her eyes, she wasn't sleeping, eating, or doing well in school. Darkness was shrouding the skin under her eyes and her beautiful face was turning ugly through the disregard for her own care.
Yang had hoped that by sharing her own story about her own pursuits and trying to teach Blake not to let her goals take full control, she could help set Blake back on the right path.
So what had happened that made Blake decide to end it all?
Yang felt fresh tears spill down her cheeks and when grief knocked on her door, she opened it and let it in, allowing it to wrap its wings around her and hold her close.**
*As a way to emphasize their honor for their lost comrade and friend, Ruby, Weiss, and Yang stood beside Professor Ozpin as he led the funeral ceremony. The entire student body of Beacon Academy stood together with their heads bowed.**
*"Today we grieve for the loss of a fellow student, Blake Belladonna. It is with a heavy heart to know that it's time to say goodbye. While we must do our best to move on from this tragedy, it's also important that we take something from it; that we learn something from this. That we must keep it a priority to accept others and make people from all walks of life feel welcome here in this school. I will have it no other way, and neither must any of you," Ozpin spoke. He had a low and charismatic tone that seemed to make its mark on the students. Several raised their heads to wipe away tears.
Yang's mind was only half focused on the funeral. She was too deep in thought to concentrate fully. She felt a mixed bag of emotions that constantly got shaken up so one second she wanted to put her fist in the wall and watch the shotgun gauntlet go off and the next second she felt cold all over and any strength to move or talk was gone.
Just gone.
Blake, why did you do it? Answer me!
But Blake couldn't hear her. She was gone.
They worked together as a team back in the Emerald Forest on the second day at Beacon and found the relics they needed to take to complete their assignment.
"Yang," Ozpin said, slicing through her thoughts like a box cutter.
"Hm?"
"Is there anything you want to say about Blake?"
There was plenty she wanted to say. Words of love and hate and frustration and admiration. Blake was so complex. So mysterious. She was so many different things wrapped up in one person. All the words were in Yang's mouth, but she couldn't open it to let the words free. Everyone was staring at her expectantly. She felt like if she didn't say anything, she was going to offend them, especially the other members of Team Ruby.
But no matter how hard she tried to gather the strength to speak, nothing came. Her gaze stayed glued to the ground. She wondered if she looked exactly like Blake did when she last saw her. Breathing.**
*"That was a member of my team," Ruby said while sitting on one of the bunk beds in the team's own dorm room. Yang wanted to be sitting next to her little sister and comfort her, but she was leaning against the wall by the door watching Weiss do that job instead.
"It's none of our faults. We all know that. Right?" Weiss asked. She looked at Yang for back-up, but Yang didn't answer. She gave a stiff shrug and darted her gaze away from Weiss.
"Right?" Weiss asked again. Her self-absorbed tone was starting to sink in and her obsession of being an authority figure started dripping from her voice.
"Yang, you have to help me out here, she's your sister," she insisted.
"You hated her," Yang finally said.
"What?"
"You always hated her!" Yang screamed, finally turning to face Weiss. Her eyes were a deadly scarlet and the sound of crackling fire began emanating from Yang's body.
"What are you talking about? I didn't hate her," Weiss insisted, standing up to face Yang. She pointed her finger up at Yang's throat. Yang took several dangerous steps towards Weiss.
"What did you say to her before she went ahead and…and…"
"I didn't say anything to her! I didn't even see her since you talked to her!" Weiss screamed.
"Remember when you told her why you hated the White Fang? Why you didn't care for the Faunus? Don't you think those words got stuck in her head?" Yang interrogated.
"I thought we agreed to move on from that! It wasn't my fault! It's all on her!"
Yang let her fist fly and collide with Weiss's throat, launching her off her feet and slamming her against the wall. There was a gasp of pain and Weiss fell to the ground with her eyes wide in shock.
Just then, the door opened, revealing Glynda Goodwitch. There were signs of wear etched on her forehead.
"Professor Ozpin would like to speak with you Yang. And, judging from what I'm seeing and what I heard, it appears you have no choice in the matter," she said. Yang felt her insides collapse upon themselves and the scarlet faded from her eyes.
"Yes Professor Goodwitch. I'm coming," she said. When she knew Glynda was out of earshot, she turned to look at Weiss again.
"I don't know if I can ever forgive you," she admitted.
Yang ignored the pain. Ignored the pain on Weiss' expression as she left the dorm room, leaving her and Ruby behind.**
*Ozpin's office was located on the very top of the tower overlooking the rest of the academy and the courtyard. Ozpin sat at his desk with a calm composure, but his eyes betrayed his grief and fatigue to Yang, which made Yang feel better. As long as everyone else felt miserable, she was satisfied.
"I understand that Blake was a good friend to you," Ozpin started.
Yang didn't answer at first, but then finally nodded after a good number of seconds.
"And I want to say to you personally that I'm truly sorry for your loss," Ozpin continued.
"Thank you, sir," Yang muttered.
"But," Ozpin started pouring himself a cup of coffee with a kettle, "I believe we also need to talk about how we're going to handle this."
"What's there to handle?" Yang asked.
"Yang, I'm always here for you if you ever want to talk, but Glynda informed me that you lashed out at Weiss Schnee just before she came and got you. Is that correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"I understand your grief. Believe me, I do. Many people that I cared about have died. One was even a Faunus. What you need to understand is that what happened was not your fault, it was not Weiss's, and it certainly wasn't Ruby's. Right now in this time, they can't be yelled at or punched in the throat. They're grieving too, and they're trying to cope. Being that you three are a team, you need to learn to work together as one," Ozpin explained.
"Four! There are four of us!" Yang screamed. She slammed her fist down on Oz's desk and the shotgun on her wrist gauntlets went off again, creating a hole in the table. Oz barely flinched, but his expression changed to one of deeper concern and authority.
"Take off those gauntlets and give them to me," he ordered not unkindly.
"What?"
"The gauntlets Yang. Please," Ozpin insisted, holding his hand out. Reluctantly, Yang took the gauntlets off and handed them to Ozpin. He took them and set them carefully in front of him.
"Please, go talk to Weiss. This is going to be a hard time for you, but you will move on."
"Professor Ozpin."
"Yes Yang?"
"Why do you think she did it? I mean, I think that Weiss had something to do with it because of some of the things she said to her about the White Fang and the Faunus but—I thought that she had gotten over that. I really did."
Ozpin stood up from his chair and took a moment to look out the window behind him. It was early in the morning and the sky was overcast. Ozpin had cancelled all of the day's classes to honor Blake's passing. Oz heaved a heavy sigh and he clasped his hands behind his back. Yang noticed a layer of sweat on them.
"Some words stick Yang, even if you think they don't. Even if you think—the person got past it. I've spoken privately with Blake before. I couldn't shake the feeling that she had been hiding something from me. Tell me," Ozpin turned around to face Yang.
"Was Blake a former member of the White Fang?" He asked.
Yang felt worms squirm around in her stomach. The faint whispers of an approaching headache filled her head.
Would it help if she told Ozpin the truth? What did it matter now?
"She never told me that she was," Yang lied. It was too late now to take it back. Ozpin looked like he didn't believe her. She wasn't surprised, but she didn't say anything else.
"I see. Thank you, Ms. Xiao Long. The best I can tell you now is that you're not alone. At this point, what pushed Blake to do what she did doesn't matter. What matters now is that you make things right with your team. Try as best you can to patch up your bonds and revive them. Ruby and Weiss need you, Yang. We will never forget Blake, but we will also do what she would've wanted. We will continue our investigation into the matter with the White Fang and do the best we can to prevent them from bringing any harm to the kingdom. Is that all understood?"
Yang finally made eye contact with the professor again. He looked warm again. Comforting.
"Yes, sir. I'll do whatever it takes," she said.
"Wonderful. Now go on and do your best."**
*The cold wind blew Yang's golden hair so that large chunks of it flew in random directions. Some blew over Yang's eyes, which stared down at Blake's grave in Emerald Forest. She had been buried near the abandoned temple where she and Yang had found the chess pieces during their first assignment at Beacon.
"You're crazy, you know that?" Yang asked. A single tear filled an eye and she caught it with strands of her hair.
"Your heart was in the right place. If Ruby wasn't chosen to be leader and I had the freedom to choose, I would've chosen you," Yang continued. More tears came and was growing harder for her to keep talking.
"You had a—had a…"
Yang broke down and tears fell and wet the dirt that covered Blake's body.
"I honestly didn't talk to you as much as I could've. I wish—I wish I knew."
Yang felt a soft hand on her shoulder. She bolted up to her feet and whirled around to see her mother standing there watching her.
"What? What are you doing here?" She demanded.
"I knew where to find you. When I heard what happened, I couldn't stay away any longer," Yang's mother replied. She had long black hair like Blake's and she had scarlet eyes like Yang's whenever she got angry.
"There's a lot to talk about, but I know you're having a moment with your friend," she continued.
"I've spent years looking for you. I told Blake before she—that I had made it a priority to find you but not allow that search to control me," Yang explained. She turned away to look back down at the grave. "But you came to me."
"I always meant to. I just had to wait for the right time," Yang's mother replied.
"You have some explaining to do."
"I know. I'll let you be with your friend. Afterwards, we have much to discuss." Yang's mother then went away to leave Yang alone again, just like she did last time. Yang knelt down again and stroked the dirt in front of her.
"I found her. Well, more accurately, she found me. The search is over, my darling. I know that somewhere, you're happy for me."
More tears, but Yang was smiling this time.
I'll save you a dance.
"I tried. I really tried."
I'll save you a dance.
"Goodbye."
Yang vowed in her head that she will defeat Roman Torchwick and the White Fang, and now, she had a name to fight for.
She stood up and walked away from the grave, and the last rays of the sun shined on the tombstone and the moon, which typically looked broken, appeared whole in the sky.**
AN: Suicide is a subject that I've done a lot of research on, and I've personally met people who are/were suicidal. It's a difficult and heavy thing to talk about, but I think it's very necessary, because it's a problem that we need to be aware of. If anything, this story is my way of saying, in the form of a fanfic, that life is precious and that suicide is not the answer. It may take away your pain, but it will get passed down to someone else to bear. In this case, Blake's pain was passed down to Yang.
Again, I know it's a heavy subject and I was very reluctant at first to write this, but it was an idea that I just had to put down on paper, otherwise it was gonna keep bothering me. Keep an eye out for more (lighter) fanfics from me in the future, including Team Ozpin Volume 2, and a romantic comedy involving Thor!