Happy April, everyone. The itch to return to some of my most loved ships has been gnawing at me. There's just so many fun ways to play with the dynamics. So, this is me visiting my most loved ships in a new way. I hope you'll join me for the ride.
Weiss/Blake, Ruby/Sun, Coco/Velvet/Fox, Yang/Yatsuhashi, Jaune/Pyrrha, Ren/Nora.
Chapter 2 out next Monday.
The Lives We Lead
Chapter 1: Blake: New Type of Normal
A hunter's life is a fleeting life. It's always adapting upon the winds of change. There comes a time for every hunter and huntress to reflect upon their future. To look themselves in the mirror and ask the hard questions. Blake found herself looking in the mirror more often these days. She couldn't help wondering if her time as a huntress had begun to expire. It might be a time for a different path. She wouldn't have been the first of her team, or even her friends, to consider this notion.
Everyone else had come to this crossroads at one point or another. They'd all made lifestyle choices to suit them as time went on. She had always hesitated, and it showed.
Team CFVY were the first to collectively retire young. Only a handful of years into their twenties, they'd set their weapons aside. For Coco, it was a calculated risk. The upheaval of several old and empowered families made way for new blood. Never one to ride on the coat-tails of her ancestors, she wanted a slice of the fame and fortune. It was the perfect time. For Velvet, the choice came down to supporting Coco, and a renewed faith in the Faunus plight. With old powers slowly dying out, so were the old ways. Fox and Yatsuhashi followed the shifting tide eagerly.
Weiss was the next to step away. Moving along for the sake of the company she wanted so desperately. She exited the team, entered an arranged married, and played the waiting game. She had a mutual and quiet divorce soon after giving birth to her daughter. Her ex-husband more than happy to hand Weiss the entire company on a silver platter. It was an upset to the Schnee family dynasty, securing Weiss as the first female CEO to the Schnee Dust Company. She hadn't picked up her weapon in years. With a daughter to raise and a company to run, no one could blame her.
Team JNPR settled in a small fishing village along the coast of Mistral. They still hunted Grimm locally, but they lived a quiet life away from Pyrrha's fame. Ruby and Jaune stayed fast friends. Always seeming to be in constant contact despite the distance. According to Ruby's chatter on the subject, Pyrrha recently accepted an apprentice. Ren and Nora found themselves caretaking orphans until a proper family could be found.
They were living a good life, and really, that was all anyone could truly ask for.
Yang had recently chosen to put her own weapon away, a decision that hadn't come easy for her. After Weiss had departed the team, the seed had been planted. Then, a committed relationship with Yatsuhashi had Yang re-evaluating her career choice. She had been uncertain of herself at first, but wedding vows and several close friends in Atlas helped to seal the deal. As a newlywed in the heart of downtown Atlas, she had plenty of nightlife and excitement at her fingertips. There was never a dull moment.
Team SSSN had slowly split ways over the years. The rambunctious playboys slowly becoming men as the days of hunting trickled on. The idea of settling down became more appealing. None of them wanted to return to an empty home and lonely bed. Each of them had found lovers over the years, the full weight of those responsibilities had shaped them for the better. Gone were the days of recklessness. They couldn't afford to be careless.
Even Sun found himself setting his weapon aside. He'd put his career to rest quite happily. Now he lived on the small island of Patch, more than content to raise his daughter on the sleepy little island. The Rose-Xiao Long household carving a new nameplate into the well-worn mailbox.
That was another reason to look in the mirror.
When even he moved onto a different stage in his life, it was clear that clinging to the past was no longer an option. Still, Blake had found herself desperately clinging anyway. As long as Ruby chose to hunt, there would be a reason to step foot into those wilds. Yet, those missions grew shorter by the day. At the end of those missions, Ruby returned home.
To Sun, and her baby girl.
Everyone else had a home and a busy life to go along with it. Blake had little more than a series of small rooms rented out of hunter's dormitories. None of them were particularly warm or inviting, containing more books and mission supplies than anything else. They seemed to collect dust wherever Blake ventured.
It was time, again, to look in the mirror.
To ask herself the hard questions.
This morning, like every morning to her recent memory, she caught her own gaze. The same tired expression looked back. She wasn't getting any younger, and her bed had been cold for nearly a decade.
Maybe…
Maybe it was time…
Ruby lived on the sleepy little island off the coast of Vale. Patch only had a few residents. Most of them were families that had been around for generations. A handful of stores and eateries sat in walking distance. A lone saloon by the coast was beloved by all. After a hard day's work families congregated there in mass. Emergency services were sparse. Fires a rarity, and crime rates low. A small, old, hospital sat atop a little hill, an airship docked and ready to fly to Vale's much more advanced facilities at a moment's notice.
Blake supposed if you were going to raise a child outside Vale's main fortification, you'd probably want to raise them here.
There was something to be said about the crisp air around the cozy island home. The forests distinctly wafted the scent of pine. The creaky wooden steps of the front porch had their charm. A small spider made itself a web up in the corner where it would least be disturbed. Just one of many harmless creatures in this rustic location. The home had seen its fair share of wear and tear over the years. A new roof and some basic repairs could only go so far.
Somehow, Blake suspected that the family wouldn't want it any other way.
No matter how many times Blake made the slow walk along the dirt path and up those three short steps, she'd hadn't quite gotten used to the sight in front of her. Ruby sitting in a rocking chair idling the morning away. The baby lazily suckled from her breast. Like Summer Rose before her, Ruby had taken to motherhood with aplomb. At least, that's how it seemed.
Ruby smiled in greeting either way. "Hey, Blake. There's coffee in the kitchen."
"I'm fine." Blake said, holding aloft a small metal canister of her favorite tea. She sipped from it as she regarded her friend. Ruby looked to have just gotten out of bed. Her hair was unkempt, and one of Sun's oversized shirts the only thing keeping her modest. Blake took a seat on the open rocker, the wood crying with its age. It was the perfect place to watch the going's-on, even if that merely meant a chipmunk scurrying around just out of reach. The small creature on the hunt for dropped food. "Where's Sun?" She asked quietly.
"Inside." Ruby said with a soft laugh, as she nodded down to the baby in way of an explanation. "Keiko kept him up all night."
"I thought your dad was supposed to be helping you two out."
"Oh, he did." Ruby said with a smirk pulling at her lips. "He's sleeping in the chair."
Incredulous, Blake stood up just enough to look in through the window. Beyond the layer of dew that had condensed on the glass, a peaceful morning dragged on. Both of the blond men slept in front of the glow of the television. There was Sun, clad in little more than a pair of pajama pants, passed out along the sofa. Taiyang relaxed in his favorite armchair, wearing a battered tank-top and boxers. His bare feet kicked up onto the coffee table as he snoozed.
Seeing the huntsmen unguarded, it wasn't any question how alike they were. Blonde hair, terrible sense of humor, easygoing disposition, a mild distain for clothing… The list went on.
It was the perfect argument to be made about women seeking men like their fathers. Sun certainly had echoes of Taiyang within him. They were both a bit rough around the edges. Sometimes they said the wrong things. Beneath all of that bravado, a genuine care for others trickled through. Blake had seen the way Sun would cart his baby around, no small sense of pride on his features. Hardly intimidated by the small package he tucked in one arm while he sipped a beer and watched the television.
It wasn't so hard to think of Taiyang doing the same with his own girls when they were small. Blake loathed to admit the sentimental little truth.
"They look completely dead to the world." She scoffed instead, settling back into her chair.
"They are." Ruby nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly by known experience. "Did you know I accidentally stepped on Sun's tail once? He didn't even budge."
"That's just sad." Blake said, but her voice held fond humor. "Who would think two huntsmen would lose to a baby."
"Keiko still doesn't sleep through the night." Ruby explained. "I'd make fun of them, but honestly, she's more exhausting than any scouting mission I've ever been on. At least Grimm keep you alert. Between caffeine and a mission high, getting tired isn't an option. Here, there's no threat to keep them on their toes. Just a baby that won't sleep."
Blake nodded, looking to the girl who had finally finished her meal, nodding off for a nap nestled against her mother's breast. "Has any decent work come in?"
"Besides shadowing the Signal kids?" Ruby asked with a small laugh, adjusting Keiko, and then the button down shirt so it covered her chest properly. "There's nothing worthwhile."
"I'm getting so sick of doing that." Blake groused softly so as not to wake the sleeping little one. "Can't we do something else?"
"Sorry, but those are the rules, Blake." Ruby said with a soft shrug. Her eyes lingering on the shed by the side of the house. Silver eyes narrowing at the equipment within. She missed her weapon, and the thrill of the hunt. "I have to wait six months after giving birth before I'm cleared to go back to Grimm extermination. Until then, I'm regulated to village inquiries, city escorts, paperwork, and training."
"Training…" Blake sighed softly. "They can't even start a campfire on their own. Signal's a combat academy, for god's sake."
"Kids focus on core academics. Age brackets for training overlap a little, but not a lot." Ruby said, ticking off with her hand the path from Signal to Beacon. "Survival training from five to eight. Self-defense, seven to ten. Combat training and weapon forging, nine to thirteen. Advanced weapon forging and training, thirteen and older. Supervised remedial missions fourteen to sixteen. Academy qualifiers, sixteen and older. Then you're waitlisted until an academy accepts you."
"And your point is…?"
"Older kids ends up going into the hills." Ruby said pointing to the hillside in question. "There are wild animals up there. Go high enough, there's even a few Grimm wandering around. I'd need to be cleared to use Crescent Rose."
The penny dropped, and with it so did Blake's ears. "Crap." She muttered as feline ears folded over. "Isn't there anything else we can do?"
Ruby shook her head. "By the looks of it, we're going to have another slow week. There are a few currier missions up on the board. I considered those, but they're long distance and remote."
"How remote are we talking?"
"Outlying villages across the kingdom." Ruby said, a quick lick of her lips cementing her choice not to go. "I don't want to travel that far yet. I don't feel comfortable leaving for any longer than an overnight trip, and those missions would take us out for a week or more."
Another sign of the times. It was only a few short years ago that Ruby wouldn't tolerate being out of a job. She would have taken any mission just to keep busy. As a team they'd taken more than their fair share low ranking rookie tasks off of the mission boards. Now, Ruby was happy to leave her scroll untouched. It sat on an empty barrel that they used as a makeshift table.
"Well, what about mail delivery?" Blake suggested. "It'd be a day trip at most. If we left soon, we'd probably be back around midnight."
"I could pilot the ship if you really wanted." Ruby said honestly, reaching for the glass of water she kept nearby. "We'd make pocket change at best, though. It's probably not worth the cost you'd pay in dust rounds to drive away the nevermore flocks."
"Good point. Though nothing even remotely safe pays well as a hunter." Blake said, once again, checking the postings. "It seems like forever since we took on a Grimm extermination case. It was probably before you started to show, now that I think about it."
"It has been that long, hasn't it? Time just sort of flew by for me. It slipped my mind. Are you strapped for cash?" Ruby asked then. "If this is about money-"
"No, it's nothing like that." Blake interrupted. "Don't worry Ruby, hunter's dorms are dirt cheap. I'd have to be completely out of work for months before I ran out of money. We take enough odd jobs to keep that from happening. I'm just bored, and easy missions are a good way to pass the time."
"If you want something to do that badly, then here, you can watch her while I go make breakfast." Ruby said, standing and offering the little bundle swaddled in the blanket.
Blake tentatively received the fragile baby. Unsure what to do around the small child that had found its way into her arms. Her ears flattened back when the little monkey Faunus opened her eyes. The soft pools of silver were just like her mother's. She had never been comfortable around children, especially particularly small children. With baited breath, Blake waited for then inevitable crying sure to come, eyeing the baby in her hands like a bomb about to explode.
"Ruby…" Blake muttered. "Ruby… it's looking at me…" Amber eyes flicking up to see that the woman had already made her way inside. "Ruby? Hey wait, don't just leave me out here alone with it!"
It was then Ruby leaned out her front door with a cheeky grin, "She's not an 'it', she's a baby, and she's fine."
"Yeah, well still. Don't leave me alone with her, then." Blake was more than eager to follow inside anyway, walking very carefully, as though even the slightest mishap would result in disaster.
With no missions to occupy her time, it felt awkward to loiter around the warm and happy family. Before the baby had been born, Blake wouldn't have hesitated to idle away the days in the forested area. At the time, Ruby loved the distraction, and Sun felt better about having someone around to help look after his incredibly pregnant mate. Now, with the little one finally here, and the family deeply rooted to their new routine, it felt wrong to intrude.
She would stop by in the mornings out of habit. Taking breakfast with the household because Ruby insisted upon it. By the time afternoon rolled around, she felt as though she overstayed her welcome. She couldn't help but feel that way.
She couldn't help seeing Sun and Ruby exchange such sweet little nothings in passing. A gentle caress or an offhanded statement. A flick of his tail or a snarky little smirk. Those were expressions meant only for the two lovers, moments that Blake and Taiyang just so happened to see because of proximity. A voice inside Blake's head warned her that she might as well not exist. Ruby and Sun had built their own little world. The center of which cradled their child, radiating outward to anyone lucky enough to be considered part of the family.
Of course, there was nothing that made Taiyang happier than sitting back as a willing spectator. The little world unfolding in from of him was his hard earned reward. He'd lived this phase of his life to the best of his ability, and now, he'd been granted the opportunity to watch his daughter live hers. He fully intended to reap the benefits of being a grandfather. Even if this was all he'd ever know for the rest of his life, he'd grow old and die a happy man.
He said so constantly himself.
Blake wasn't provided the same luxury. She hadn't earned any right to impede on the happy little home any more than she did. The inherent wrongness often pushing her away to visit other friends. The problem was, they all lived lives that were just as busy. It was a lonely little truth, but it was there all the same.
Blake knew that her significance among her teammates hadn't diminished in the slightest. Still, it would be foolish to believe that her place hadn't changed at all. The inevitable had finally happened. Lives had moved on, dragging her along for the ride.
"You know Ruby doesn't mind you being there so much. If she did, she'd probably say something about it." Yang's voice carried from over the sound of the weight bench in the background.
"I know, but it still feels weird." Blake muttered, a pretzel stick hanging from the tips of her fingers as she idly studied the salt granules. "It's just that impeding on those little moments really makes my skin crawl."
"Oh?" Another incredibly soft clank. A carefully timed breath indicated another rep of some kind being done on a weight machine. "They're not doing anything I would do, are they?"
"You're asking me? I have no idea what you do." Blake said. "And for the love of god, don't tell me. I don't want to know what you guys get up to." She bit into her pretzel then, if only to block out the imagery attempting to squirm its way into her head. The mere thought disturbing her on a fundamental level. Yang was many things to her, all of them very precious. She wouldn't dare disrespect that closeness after so many years. "Though, I suppose that's the problem."
"Call me crazy, but I don't think I understand." Another rep, and several moments of silence. "You're family, Blake. Always will be. You're kind of stuck with us." The sound of buttons being pressed and the misting of a spray bottle indicated Yang was probably done with her routine.
"Yang, I really hate to say this, but it's a Faunus thing." Blake said then with a sigh. "We take our social bonds very seriously, and we protect them fiercely. It's a matter of pride for me. It's a gift to be able to have you and Ruby as such important people in my life."
"Flattery will get you everywhere." Yang said.
"Yang…" Blake groused. "I'm being serious."
"Yep, me too." Yang said without missing a beat.
Blake only rolled her eyes, even though she knew Yang couldn't see it. "I just don't want to ruin things. We've been so close, for so long. I don't want to overstep my place. I know you and Ruby don't exactly have a respect for personal space, but your husbands-"
"Don't give a shit." Yang interrupted.
"Well, I certainly do." Blake shot back. "And I don't want to trample thoughtlessly on anyone's relationship."
"Well, I can't speak for Ruby and Sun, but I am I'm going to speak up for me and Yatsuhashi." Yang said then, the ruffling over her scroll indicating she was moving it around. The sound of a towel snapping cutting through the air a moment later. "Yatsuhashi doesn't give a rat's ass about what I do with my teammates. Short of you trying to have sex with me behind his back, there is nothing on this planet you could possibly do to offend him."
Blake could only balk. "I wouldn't do that…not now, anyway." Her history with Yang did include some casual encounters in her Beacon years, but that was to be expected. Every team had a story or two about youthful indiscretion. They were all pushing thirty now, that kind of behavior had died out long ago. "Besides, you can't tell me that he still puts up with Coco's advances."
"Blakey, listen, they've always been a very intimate sort of team. That didn't change just because I married him. I don't expect it to. If you think me and Ruby were touchy-feely, you've got it all wrong. The amount of ass grabbing that goes on around here puts my hugs to total shame. Not even my ass is safe anymore. Coco gives it a fly by tweak every chance she gets, and Fox has limited sight. He touches everything that has an aura just to get a better view of who the person is."
"Fox I can understand, but the fact that you let Coco touch your butt boggles my mind." Blake muttered with a shiver.
"I don't see an issue with it." Yang said, and Blake could just imagine Yang's usually perplexed look. "She doesn't mean anything weird by it. That's just the way she is. Anyway, they're going to be physically affectionate with him just like they always have, it's a given. So, whatever I choose to do with you guys, that's a given too. If I cuddle up next to you or something, he not going to second guess it."
"I just don't feel right about getting in the way." Blake sighed. "Besides aren't you two still in your honeymoon phase?"
"Wouldn't you like to know. You two aren't so different, either. Got a lot of the same turn-ons." Yang said, dropping her voice and whispering into the receiver dirtily. "If the rest of them weren't in here, I'd drop down to my knees and suck him off right now. We've got to be spontaneous like that to keep the fire alive, you know."
"God damn it, Yang." Blake muttered, burying her face in her pillowing and groaning with exasperation. "Why? Just... Why? That's the last thing I needed to think about."
"Well, don't light the fire if you can't take the heat, Blakey…"
Constant travel was uncommon for the majority of the people within the kingdoms. Many chose a place to settle, rarely moving from that spot for good reason. Travel beyond fortifications meant venturing into the wilds. There would always be a risk of seeing Grimm. Most of the people inside the kingdom's walls had never seen a real one before, and that was the kingdom's leaders wanted it to stay.
The flight to Atlas itself was an overnight trip provided there weren't any detours. The flying Grimm had a tendency to make a flight twice as long on occasion, causing layovers or emergency landings in carefully plotted outposts. The most treacherous part of travel was over the open waters, and little could be done about that. Flying might have been the most preferred method of transport, but any civilian would have a healthy fear of flying anywhere outside the protected boarders.
Blake had settled into her small economy seat just fine. Those surrounding her were either traveling on business, or were fellow hunters and huntresses like herself. There were a few human families taking seats, and they were the ones that were apprehensive. The key was not to panic. Most Grimm that posed a threat to the large, heavily armored vessels, weren't very keen on attacking a lone airship midflight. It just wasn't an attractive target.
Once she made her routine flight to Atlas, she headed the small dormitory that housed her room.
It didn't matter what kingdom she visited, all hunter's dormitories were roughly the same. Anyone who graduated from a huntsman academy would be well acquainted with the amenities. They had different sized rooms depending on the number of hunters renting a space, but there wasn't much to see. There were a few shelves in every room, a storage space for every bed. It was up to the hunter to furnish and decorate the room beyond that. Facilities such as the canteen and bathrooms were communal. For those that wished an extra layer of privacy, an hour was set aside every morning for men, and in the evening an hour was set aside for women. The common rooms were filled with snack cupboards, a television, and an assortment of hobbies.
As a solitary huntress, Blake's rented rooms were quite small, but it was all she ever truly needed.
It didn't stop Weiss from complaining though. Blake couldn't step foot into Atlas without hearing about the abysmal accommodations at least once.
"I have spare rooms, Blake. This is ridiculous." Weiss said indignantly as she nearly tripped over the strap of Blake's duffle bag. "You don't have to keep renting this place out. You hardly use it."
"It would be an imposition." Blake pointed out, attacking the cobwebs that had gathered near the air vents. "You have a kid to take care of and a company trying to cannibalize itself from the inside out. The last thing you need is me loafing around with nothing to do."
"I also have a butler fully capable of taking care of the chores." Weiss pointed out. "You say you've come to Atlas to visit, yet you completely refuse to accept hospitality." She sighed, snatching the feather duster. A plume of dust flying outward like a cloud. "Blake, this place is a mess."
"We've stayed in worse." And while that was the truth, it still didn't appease Weiss. She tried her best not to catch the disapproving glare of her friend. Instead, she pulled out a roll of tape to seal up a crack in one of the windows. "Besides, I like it. There are nice people living here."
"It's a Faunus only dorm." Weiss deadpanned. "Doesn't that say anything to you? Considering these horrendous conditions, I'd thought you'd be the first one to take offense."
"There's a human two floors down, and another just across the hall." Blake said with a laugh. "It's an old building, and the man who owns it is getting on in his years. I know it looks like it's going to hell in a hand basket, but that's honestly the furthest thing from the truth." Blake explained, happily patting her handiwork gently. "Last spring, we put in a whole new indoor garden. The fall before that was when we replaced the roof. It's a good community, a diamond in the rough."
"I fear what it would cost to get this building up to code." Weiss said, sidestepping a big drink colored stain on the cream colored rug. "I fully realize that huntsmen prefer lower standards of living, but this crosses the line."
"I think part of the reason we like it this way is because affluent hunters don't bother with it." Blake said. "I think they stay in the dorms uptown."
"Which is where we used to stay." Weiss muttered. "Blake, there are red stains of the floor…"
"It's just wine, Weiss. God, this place isn't that bad." Blake licked her lips, gaze returning to the window. Her eyes following the cars in the street. "I step foot in this place I'm greeted with a warm welcome and a hearty hello. I'm not sneered at and told to put my ears away." With that, she tossed the roll of tape back in her bedside drawer and stretched. "That's the kind of humble hospitality you just don't get anywhere else, not in Atlas, anyway."
"As if I'd ever say something like that to you in my own house." A roll of icy blue eyes and a flick of her wrist, she pushed back the long white curtain of hair behind her back. She left down more often than not, nowadays.
"You wouldn't, but we both know that Atlas doesn't feel the same way." Blake said with a shrug.
"One day, that will change. That's inevitable." Weiss said, knowing she'd already lost the fight. "In the meantime, if you say this place is wonderful, then I suppose I'll just have to take your word for it. My home is always open to you, if you change your mind."
"I can tell you need convincing, so this time I even have proof." Blake allowed with a satisfied grin. "This place might look like hell, but their food is amazing. It's lunch time, so why not eat here for once?"
Weiss crinkled her nose, looking around the room one last time. As though it might be an indication of how the canteen might look. "If you insist."
"I do, come on." Blake happily pulled Weiss out of the room and towards the canteen. Like so many small disagreements they'd had in their lives, it ended there. Weiss silently maintaining that this was no place for her friend to stay as they continued down the hall.
