The night after the fight with Roman's robot was a quiet one. It hadn't taken long for the Vale Police Department to show up on the scene – inadequate as they were, even they couldn't miss the enormous battle of light, ice, and explosions. By the time they got there, however, all that remained were the remnants of the battle – shattered concrete, scattered pieces of robot, and a strangely large amount of rose petals amongst them.
The owner of said rose petals had fled shortly before, her team tagging behind her, walking down the empty streets of Vale. It had taken them a while to track down Sun and Neptune, but they'd succeeded – Yang had demanded they buy her a bowl of noodles, with chicken in it, because that's what they were ("We're noodles?" "I think she means we're chicken, Sun.").
A little while later, a very satisfied Yang was falling asleep on an airship bound for Beacon, with Blake poking her every other minute to make sure she didn't really fall asleep and drool all over her shoulder again. Ruby and Weiss sat across from the pair, they themselves looking fairly comatose as well, exhaustion of the evening finally kicking in.
"Quit poking me," Yang drawled, as a fairly violent poke left a sore spot on her forehead.
"Quit falling asleep on me," came the Faunus' reply, evidently unamused, "I know I'll have to wash the outfit when I get home, but I don't need you trying to help with it."
"Oh, come on! I don't drool that much!"
"You do," came the twin responses across from them, deadpan tones echoing in the near-empty cabin of the airship.
Whatever response Yang had was cut off by her yawn, one that made her resemble a bear waking up from a long hibernation. That, or an Ursa who had just had a sword shoved somewhere unpleasant. It was really open to interpretation.
Blake gave her partner a light shove off her shoulder, again, as a sudden rattle shook the airship, signifying their landing on Beacon's docks. Ruby and Weiss stood slowly, grasping their weapons tight as they did so. Yang, on the other hand, seemed to have spaced out – Blake reached out and flicked her nose, shaking the brawler from her reverie with a snort.
"Blake- wha?"
"We're here."
Yang blinked repeatedly, seeming surprised by the answer. Her partner extended a hand to her, slight concern knitting her eyebrows. The blonde shook her head before grasping the hand, nodding in thanks as she was pulled to her feet. With a stretch of her arms that would put a gymnast to shame, the brawler sauntered through the open door, moving to meet the other two members of her team.
"Man, I'm tired!" she proclaimed, coming up to stand beside her sister and Weiss, Blake trailing behind, "a good, long rest is exactly what I need after a night full of –"
"Full of what, exactly?"
Yang froze, the familiar voice of Glynda Goodwitch stopping her words in their tracks. The team turned as their headmistress came towards them, the same look on her face as always – the look of having just swallowed a lemon, which was understandable, considering she worked with Ozpin all day. Yang had once earned three weeks of detention by suggesting to the woman that she change her nameplate to read "Ozpin wrangler" instead of "boring old headmistress."
But wrangling Ozpin she was not, at the moment, which meant she had all the time in the world to interrogate the team. An interrogation that would probably take a long time, considering she was still waiting for an answer to her first question.
"Er, um…"
"NOODLES!"
Yang's sudden reply cut off Ruby's hesitant start, drawing attention to the blonde, who looked just as confused as the rest of them.
"Noodles, Ms. Xiao Long?"
"Uh, yeah!" Yang continued, evidently making her story up on the spot, "we were out eating noodles. Sun and Neptune recommended us this great new spot, so we decided to check it out. You can smell my breath if you want proof!"
Glynda nearly looked as disgusted as Weiss at the suggestion.
"No, thank you, I will pass on that. And as for your sudden dietary needs, your behaviour is, while understandable, still inexcusable. The four of you are late for curfew, and as such are – Ms. Xiao Long, did you fall asleep in the middle of my sentence?!"
An elbow to the ribcage, a pinch to her upper arm, and a solid foot on top of her own immediately brought Yang back to the realm of consciousness. Supressing the scream of pain, the blonde blinked the tears from her eyes before responding.
"Sorry, prof, I always get sleepy after I eat."
Glynda didn't look convinced in the least, but Ruby saved her sister.
"Sorry, Ms. Goodwitch, she's just really tired. We all kind of are, actually. Can we save the lecture until the morning?"
"You're all tired. From eating noodles."
They all nodded in reply, though Weiss looked ready to throw the rest of her team to the wolves and run for it, for the sake of what little remained of her dignity. Glynda stared them down for a moment, before she turned on her heel and left.
"My office, tomorrow morning," she called back to them, not bothering to grace them with the honour of actually turning around, "be late, and you'll regret it."
Calling out both an apology and a thank you, Ruby turned quickly before Glynda could change her mind, grabbing her sister's arm and yanking the already half-asleep blonde back towards the dormitories. Weiss glanced at Blake, confusion on both of their faces.
"Was it just me, or did Yang seem way more tired than usual?"
Blake quirked an eyebrow at her white-themed teammate.
"Was that supposed to be a rhetorical question?"
Weiss rolled her eyes and moved to follow the receding sisters, Blake doing the same.
They caught up with the pair at the dormitory, entering the room just in time to see Ruby give her older sister a shove towards her bed, nearly sending her careening into the stack of books that held it up.
"Enough talk," the redhead growled, "now sleep!"
Yang might have muttered something in reply, but whatever it might have been was drowned out by the sounds of her climbing, before the words were muffled by her pillow, trailing off as she immediately fell asleep. No soft snoring emanated from the blonde though – an absence that was immediately noticed by the others standing in the room.
"So she can sleep quietly," Weiss muttered absently, "maybe we should smother her with a pillow more often…"
Blake rolled her eyes, before addressing the younger sister.
"Ruby," she said, the girl in question turning to face her, "why was Yang so tired?"
"Ha," Ruby replied, far too quickly to seem natural, "have you met Yang?"
Silence met her words, before Weiss broke it.
"Remind me to teach you how to actually lie."
Ruby sputtered indignantly, but Blake ignored it, pressing on anyways.
"I've never seen her that tired," she pointed out flatly, "even when she stays up all night reading Achieve Men fanfiction, she never falls asleep on the spot like that."
Ruby didn't reply, instead rocking back and forth slightly, biting her lip. After a moment, she sighed and shook her head, short strands of hair waving with the action.
"I'm not the one who should tell you," she said, raising looks of confusion from her partner and teammate, "Yang's the only one who should really explain it."
She glanced back to Blake and Weiss, eyes pleading.
"Just wait until morning. I'll get her to tell you then."
There wasn't really anything to do other than accept; Ruby wasn't about to explain it, and if they woke up Yang, they'd probably only get slurred gibberish in response. Begrudgingly accepting their situation, Blake and Weiss nodded, moving off to tend to their own night time habits.
Yang didn't wake up the next morning. Not in the sense she died – though, Weiss was doing her best to kill her with her glares – but rather that she slept on, dead to the world. Blake took no small relief over the amount of drool on Yang's pillow, and the fact that her clothing had been spared of it.
Ruby looked nervous, her eyes constantly flitting back to Yang, occasionally resting on Blake or Weiss. Whatever concerns over the comatose brawler that had been raised were immediately shot down, brushed off, or even flatout ignored. But with Glynda's meeting drawing ever closer – they'd all woken up to a message on their scrolls stating the time – Weiss was growing ever impatient by the blonde's sleeping on.
Eventually, the heiress snapped, patience reaching the end of the rope.
"That's it," she growled, moving towards Yang's bed before anyone could stop her, "this has gone on long enough. I'm waking her up."
"NO!"
Ruby's cry froze the dormitory, Blake and Weiss's motions stopping immediately. There was stillness for a second – Weiss's hand an inch away from Yang's skin. Slowly and quietly, as though a bomb were activated and would go off with any loud noises, Ruby began to speak.
"Weiss," she said, her voice even despite being filled with desperation, "take your hand away from Yang."
In slight confusion and mostly in fear, Weiss complied, pulling her hand back and slowly stepping off Blake's bunk, back down to the floor. Silence returned for a moment, before Ruby spoke again.
"We can't wake Yang."
"What? But why no–"
"We just can't."
"But what about our meeting with –"
"Weiss."
The heiress's name hadn't come from Ruby, but rather from Blake, who recognized an undebatable situation when she saw one.
"Trust Ruby," the Faunus continued, "she knows something we don't."
At those words, Weiss's glare shot back to Ruby, who instinctively raised her hands in defense.
"Explain, now."
But before Ruby could comply, an alarm went off, signifying the nearing Goodwitch meeting. Ruby leapt for it immediately, turning it off in less than a second, her eyes jumping worriedly to Yang's sleeping form. When there was no reaction, she let out an audible breath, looking back to her confused teammates.
"After the meeting," she said, her tone leaving no room for argument. Weiss tried anyways.
"But–"
"After."
A moment of silence passed, the tension in the room obvious, before Weiss conceded defeat and nodded.
"After," she repeated, "after the meeting."
After the meeting, Yang still slept on. Blake had come to the conclusion that the robot had either punched her into a coma, in which case she chastised herself for not seeing the apparently invisible signs, or that her exhaustion had somehow transferred to Yang, despite Blake herself still being tired. Weiss had come to the conclusion that Yang had been blessed with the luck of the gods, as she had been spared the wrath of Glynda Goodwitch with the rest of them, despite having been absent from the meeting. Although, she had to admit, it probably had to do with Ruby racing to the meeting ahead of the monochrome pair, giving her a few minutes to explain something to Glynda.
Ruby, however, didn't seem concerned or confused at all. Instead, she seemed rather used to the whole spectacle – she still shot nervous glances to her sister, but upon closer inspection Blake realized they were looks of anticipation, not of worry. Something was coming, and whatever it was, the Faunus was willing to bet that Weiss would throw a fit about it. She was predictable that way.
The time to be predictable did indeed come after the meeting – they returned to the dorm to find Yang still sleeping, before taking a seat on the lower bunks. Weiss and Blake sat on the latter's bunk, while Ruby took the former's. There was silence, the pair waiting for an answer, an explanation, anything, before Ruby blurted out a single phrase.
"It's her semblance."
There was silence as the two absorbed the information, before Weiss caused Blake to win her one sided bet.
"I'm sorry, what?"
Ruby began to repeat the phrase, but Weiss waved it away.
"It was rhetorical," she continued, "I heard you the first time. What I don't get, however, is how this has anything to do with her semblance. That, apparently, is lighting herself on fire, getting punched through highway pillars, and somehow punching back even harder. How is this related?"
"Weiss," Blake interrupted, lightly giving Weiss a shove with her shoulder, "let Ruby explain."
The heiress didn't look pleased, but accepted Blake's words, turning to her own partner.
"Sorry," she said, "please continue."
Ruby looked surprised by the apology – Blake wasn't surprised, those were worth their weight in Schnee dust – but got over it quickly, continuing on with her explanation.
"It's her semblance," she repeated, gesturing towards her slumbering sister, "that's what's causing all this."
She dropped her hand, sighing.
"Yang's semblance is complicated," she said, "that's why she's supposed to the one to explain it. I told her to explain it a long time ago – but she never did, and you two can't exactly keep waiting for answers."
Ruby stood then, moving to the nearby desk and grabbing some papers and a pencil. Returning to her seat, she began to scribble something onto the paper, before lifting it to show to the pair across from her.
"Is that a bird or a bisected boarbatusk?"
Ignoring Weiss's commentary, Ruby continued.
"The Phoenix," she said, "that's what Yang's semblance is called."
"Did she give herself that name?" Blake interjected, smirking slightly, "because that sounds like something a seven year old would name herself."
"Actually, not quite," the younger girl responded, smiling at the comment, "Our dad named her that first, and our uncle called her it, but it really caught on when the punks in patch and downtown Vale started calling her it in fear."
She placed down the paper, raising a finger as she spoke.
"Get hit, hit back harder. Get forced down, rise back up in flames."
At the perplexed looks sent her way, she continued.
"That's the fundamental power of Yang's semblance. There's just a lot more that makes it up."
"Then what do the flames have to do with it?"
"The flames are just a sign that part of her semblance is engaged," Ruby answered, "the same way that my rose petals show up whenever I use mine. Except, Yang's flames do a lot more damage than rose petals, so she learned how to use them in a fight. Because the real aspect of her semblance is harder to use, she fights with flames in smaller battles, and pretends that that's her real power in order to confuse her opponents."
Ruby returned to her drawings, taking a little longer on the next one. When she held it up, a flaming stick figure (presumably Yang) was situated between two columns, one reading "energy," the other reading "damage."
"In order for Yang to hit back harder," the redhead explained, "she actually has to get hit first. It doesn't have to be a strong hit – it can be a flicking her forehead, or even just yanking her hair, and it'll be enough. Once she's gotten hit, her semblance engages, and the flames usually appear."
Pointing to the drawing, she continued.
"This is where things get a little more complicated. Every hit that Yang takes has two important factors – energy, and damage. Her semblance involves the two, no matter what kind of attack it is. And energy and damage don't always equal the same amounts in one attack, so sometimes Yang can get hit with a lot of energy but very little damage, or vice versa."
She placed her finger on the left column.
"The energy factor is pretty much the power sent in the attack. When Yang gets hit, she absorbs the energy sent her way – which is what really starts up the flaming hair – and stores it up. The more hits she takes, the more power she stores up. Once she has enough energy absorbed, she can use it to make her own attacks stronger, or keep storing it up. More energy absorbed, the stronger the attack. Simple as that."
"So that's why she got so much power from being hit by the robot."
Weiss's statement caused Ruby to pause, before nodding in reply.
"Yeah. It's why she pretty much busted that arm to pieces right away – the energy from being punched through a pillar allowed her to reach the minimum needed to fight back with."
Ruby shifted her position, at the same time moving her finger over to the other column.
"But at the same time, that attack she took was full of a lot of damage. Which is the other part of her semblance – it involves her aura."
Blake replied to that one, confused by the statement.
"Her aura?"
"But isn't it just like ours?"
Ruby nodded to both questions, Blake's initial one and Weiss's follow up.
"Until her semblance is engaged, Yang's aura works like ours," she explained, "it blocks attacks, unless they're too strong to be blocked, in which case her aura will heal whatever injury is inflicted by the attack. But when her semblance is engaged, her aura stops healing."
Ruby paused, placing down the paper to pick up another one.
"It delays."
"Delays?"
Both Blake and Weiss repeated the word, prompting another nod from Ruby. The younger teammate pointed to the paper, where the flaming stick figure was drawn twice. One drawing showed a line around Yang, with items bouncing off of it. The other drawing was much the same, but the items were trapped in the surrounding line instead.
"Yang's semblance changes the effect of her aura," she began, "ordinarily, damage is reflected, or healed. But because she needs the energy of an attack, she can't reflect the damage. Instead, to solve the problem, her aura will stop healing damage – and instead, will 'hold it off.' The effects of the damage delivered will be delayed."
Weiss and Blake looked entirely lost at the concept. Ruby sighed, dropping the picture to free up her hands for their usual gestures.
"Think of it this way," she said, "when you get hit by a sword, you might get a cut. Ordinarily, that cut would appear instantly, and then start to be healed – but in Yang's case, her aura keeps the cut from appearing in the first place. That doesn't mean she won't get a cut, because her aura can't heal it at the same time that it's delaying it, but rather that she'll only get the cut later, when her semblance is deactivated."
"So… she can pretty much hold off injuries until later?"
Ruby nodded at the question, watching Blake and Weiss absorb the information. Eventually, Blake addressed Ruby.
"Is that what's causing this?"
The finger pointed to Yang clarified the question. Ruby tilted her head, before nodding hesitantly. Weiss's eyes narrowed at the suspicious reply.
"Ruby, what aren't you telling us?"
Ruby froze, denials already coming to her mouth, but Weiss's glare kept them from actually being spoken. After a minute, the redhead sighed, reaching up a hand to sheepishly scratch her head.
"It isn't a perfect semblance," she clarified, "the fact is, her semblance sounds a lot better than it actually is."
She looked up towards her sister, eyes showing a bit of worry.
"The damage bit is a double edged sword. On the plus side, it allows her to fight freely, because there isn't pain or injury to slow her down."
Ruby's eyes fell back on her teammates.
"On the other hand, her aura can't heal her injuries, but is still being used up by the act of delaying the damage. Which means…"
"Which means that if she takes a lot of damage, she'll feel it all later."
Ruby nodded at Blake's completion of her sentence, Weiss looking lost in thought.
"That isn't even the biggest problem," Ruby continued, "the biggest problem is that–"
"The biggest problem is that she only has a limited amount of aura, and if she spends it all on delaying the affects of her damage, she won't have any left to heal her actual injuries."
Weiss's words had different effects on those listening. Ruby cast her eyes down to the floor, the unfortunate truth having been stated for her. Blake startled, realization kicking in, the truth of the danger that her partner could land herself in finally coming to light.
"There is one upside, though."
Weiss and Blake looked back to Ruby, who had a small smile on her face.
"When she does deactivate her semblance, any leftover energy she absorbed becomes aura to help her heal. That, and her worst injuries are healed first, so usually all that's left are bruises and scrapes."
They sat in silence after that, both of the monochrome pair absorbing the information in their own ways. Then realization struck Blake, and she looked back to her younger teammate, her eyebrows furrowed in concern.
"Wait, Ruby," she began, catching the girl's attention, "won't she eventually reach a–"
A loud cough, followed by a low groan, cut off her words. Ruby jumped to her feet at the noise that had emanated from above Blake and Weiss, staring up at Yang's bunk.
"She's waking up," she whispered, more to herself than the other company in the room.
"Wait, what?!"
Weiss's cry reminded Ruby of the presence of the other two.
"She's waking up!" she repeated, jumping on to Blake's bunk to check on her sister.
Weiss and Blake sprang to their feet, the former still spewing questions.
"What do you mean she's suddenly waking up? Why was she even asleep so long in the first place?"
Ruby's words tumbled from her mouth, fast and panicked.
"Deactivating her semblance means that all the injuries come on at once. To keep her body from going into shock from it, she falls asleep – it's amazing she held it off as long as she did. She'll stay asleep as long as her aura is remaining or her injuries keep her unconscious – once those factors wear off though, she wakes up to a lot of pain!"
At the last statement, the pair scrambled up beside Ruby – gasps sounded at the sight before them. Bruises that hadn't been there last night spanned across the brawler's body, their teammate a mess of technicolour splotches. Gradients of purple crossed Yang's face, while black and blue peeked out from where her tank top had ridden up. Several small scratches and cuts adorned the places of impact, slowly bleeding.
Ruby bit her lips at the sight, before addressing her teammates.
"Weiss, Blake, go get bandages and a warm washcloth from the bathroom."
The pair didn't react immediately, still in shock at the sight below them.
"Weiss! Blake!"
They startled, staring at the girl calling their names.
"Go!"
At Ruby's command, they both jumped down, hearing another groan come from the brawler as they did so. Ruby leapt down too, racing towards the dormitory door. At Weiss's yelled question over where she was going, Ruby yelled "getting ice!" back at them, then was gone in a blur and a burst of rose petals.
Weiss and Blake made their way to the bathroom, the former grabbing the first aid kit from below the sink while the latter yanked a washcloth off the rack and turned on the sink, waiting for the stream of water to warm.
Once her task was succeeded, Blake turned to leave the bathroom, Weiss already having done so. Re-entering the room, she found Weiss perched up on the end of Yang's bunk, first aid kit open and packages of bandages strewn everywhere. She joined her teammate atop the bunk just in time to hear Ruby's return.
"I'm back!" the girl yelled, a bag of ice wrapped in her cloak and clenched in her arms, "how is she?"
"Still waking up," Blake replied, as another bout of violent coughing spilled from Yang's lips. She placed down the washcloth, reaching out to prop up the injured blonde.
The movement stirred Yang, her eyes opening slightly, pupils awash with red amongst lilac. The bunk shook as Ruby leapt up and joined them – Blake briefly feared for their lives, placed precariously atop stacks of books – setting the bag of ice beside her and wrapping it in her own washcloth snagged from the bathroom.
"Yang?" the sister stated, receiving a low groan in response, "can you hear me?"
"Wha…"
The words were cut off by more coughing, Yang slowly returning to consciousness, trying to prop herself up on shaking arms. Blake grabbed her shoulders as her arms gave out, Weiss grabbing a pillow to stick behind her back as they propped her sitting upwards.
"Don't try to speak," Blake chastised, though there was hardly any fire in her words, "you're hurt.
"S'not… that bad…"
"It is, Yang," Ruby interrupted, grabbing her sister's ankles and yanking her back down, flat onto her back, "I don't think I've ever seen you this bad before."
With another groan, Yang's eyes opened completely, hazy lilac ringed with red. She hissed in pain as Ruby yanked on her tank top, shoving it up enough to reveal the dark bruise on her torso. The leader pursed her lips before addressing the Faunus on her right.
"Blake," she began, catching her teammate's attention, "do you know how to check for broken ribs?"
A while back, the Faunus had told them of the bits of first aid she knew, that she had learned in the field with the White Fang. It wasn't a lot, but it did help – and broken ribs fell into her medical knowledge. She nodded in reply, receiving the same gesture in return, before she turned to examine her partner.
The concern was obvious – Yang's whole body was covered in bruises, but her left side had been where the robot had slammed its fist into her, and was very likely to have some kind of break. With gentle hands, Blake prodded the girl's side – immediately, Yang whined in pain, eyes clenching shut, fingers twisting her sheets. The Faunus muttered soft, rapid apologies, but didn't stop in her ministrations.
Nothing seemed too bad, just bruised, until Blake prodded the third rib and Yang yelled, the sound unbidden from the brawler's lips. Shooting Ruby a glance, Blake returned to the rib – Ruby leaned forwards, covering her sister's mouth just as Blake touched the injured side again. The Faunus worked as quickly as she could, doing her best to ignore the muffled cries, the tears that had slipped out the corners of closed eyes. After a moment, she withdrew her hands – Ruby did the same a moment later, letting Yang breathe normally.
"It isn't shattered," Blake explained, drawing a sigh of relief from Ruby, "but it's safe to say it's cracked, at least. Or just very badly bruised."
Weiss gestured to the massive bruising on the girl's side as if to say "no shit;" Blake ignored her and continued on.
"We should probably get her to the infirmary, just in–"
"No."
The word was forced out between clenched teeth, drawing their attention to the girl in question.
"Yang–"
"No infirmary," Yang interrupted again, cutting off her sister's response, "they'll ask how I got injured, and then we'll all be in trouble."
"You don't know that," Weiss began, "and if your injuries are that serious, you can't just brush them off."
Yang chuckled, wincing as the motion aggravated her ribs.
"Weiss," she said, "believe me, I know how it feels to really be injured. I'll be fine. This isn't the worst I've been, regardless of what Ruby says."
Blake and Weiss glanced between the sisters, waiting for Ruby's response. Eventually, the redhead sighed heavily.
"Fine," she relented, glaring at Yang's small smile in response, "we won't make you go to the infirmary."
The redhead then quickly leaned forwards, grabbing her sister's nose and squeezing tight, Yang yelping at the motion.
"But," Ruby growled, ignoring her sister's cries of pain, "you lie about how much pain you're actually in, and I swear to Dust Yang, I will call up Dad and tell him you're being stupidly reckless with your semblance again!"
"Fine, fine! Okay!"
Ruby let go and leaned back at Yang's nasally agreement, Blake and Weiss sharing a look of surprise and slight fear at the sight. They settled into silence, until Yang struggled to sit up again, Blake moving to help her. The quiet returned, and no one spoke for several minutes, before Ruby reached down and grabbed the cloth-wrapped bag of ice, dropping it on Yang's bruised torso with a surprising lack of sympathy.
Ignoring her sister's sounds of protest, Ruby jumped off the bunk bed, landing on the floor and heading towards the door.
"I," she explained, "have to go and tell Goodwitch you're awake, so she can speak personally with you later. Blake, Weiss, you patch her up."
Yang paled; Blake chuckled; Weiss questioned.
"What did you even tell Glynda to keep Yang from getting in trouble?"
Ruby grinned evilly at Weiss's query.
"That's for me to know, and for Yang to find out."
Blake outright laughed at Yang's groan. Smiling, Ruby turned, finishing the walk to the door. She paused in the door way though, before speaking, but not turning around to face them.
"Yang," she said, pausing for a moment.
"Don't ever do that again."
Then she was gone, her cloak swirling around the doorframe, out of sight. That left Yang, Blake and Weiss, all still perched atop the brawler's bunk. At her sister's words, Yang's smiled had faded, and she dropped her head slightly, letting her bangs hang over her eyes. The trio sat in silence, before Weiss rustled around in the first aid kit, trying to find the bruise cream.
"So," Weiss began, catching the attention of both her bunkmates, "next time you decide to sleep for seventeen hours straight, it'd be nice to know the reasons beforehand."
"Ruby told you."
It wasn't a question, but a statement. Blake and Weiss shared a look of concern, before Blake tentatively answered.
"She did."
Yang straightened up, looking out towards the window.
"I'll have to thank her for it later," she said softly, "I know how hard she finds it to explain."
"Yang…"
The blonde closed her eyes, waiting for the axe to fall.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
The question went unanswered for a moment, before Yang sighed, shrugging as best as her injuries would allow.
"It never really felt like the right time to bring it up," she explained, looking slightly sheepish.
"Training or combat practice would have been a good opportunity."
"Honestly Weiss, do you really think that would have added anything? 'Hey, guess what, I grow stronger if you punch me into the ground! Go for it!'"
Blake chuckled at that, Weiss smiling slightly.
"It's not really an easy thing to throw out there," Yang continued, "not that it's something I'm ashamed of, or anything. I just never really know how to bring it up. And considering I don't always use it in a fight, it didn't seem like the most important detail."
"Well, knowing that my partner isn't going to die from being smashed through a pillar is a nice piece of mind to have in advance," Blake added, "but I get your point."
Yang smiled guiltily at that, apologizing softly. Blake shook her head to let her know it was alright, before picking up the forgotten washcloth and reaching out to clean a small cut on her forehead, the blonde wincing at the contact. Weiss unscrewed the lid on the bruise cream, before she reached up to rub it over Yang's eyebrow, who sighed at the cool relief.
"Wow," the blonde said after a moment, "of all the scenarios I predicted to come out of this, two lovely ladies cleaning me up was what I expected the least."
Her words were immediately followed by yelps of pain as both Weiss and Blake gave a tug on one of her ears each. Rubbing the sore tips of them, Yang scowled, but didn't make a follow up comment (the glares send her way when she opened her mouth helped).
They sat in silence for a bit, Blake helping Weiss with the bruise cream where Yang couldn't reach the injuries herself. When the wounds were treated, Weiss capped the cream, staring pointedly at the blonde.
"Ruby was right," she stated flatly, "don't ever do that again."
Yang didn't say anything, instead looking down.
"We don't meant don't get hurt," Blake elaborated, "because in this job, that's not really possible. And we're not saying don't use your semblance either. Just… try not to let yourself get that hurt, Yang. And if you do, tell us next time. So we know what to expect."
Yang didn't reply for a moment, before she looked back up, lilac eyes flicking between her partner and her teammate. Then she nodded, a small smile gracing her face.
Weiss and Blake returned the expression, before the latter pointed a stern finger at the blonde.
"Stay in bed," she commanded, "we'll bring you your stuff. You're stuck here for a day or so – at least until I can touch that rib without you screaming bloody murder at me for it."
Yang's groan wasn't one of pain, but rather annoyance – but she didn't protest, so Blake took it to mean compliance. The Faunus collected the washcloth, turning and stepping down from Yang's bunk onto her own. She heard Weiss do the same, and tossed the heiress the cloth to hang back up, as she was heading back to the bathroom to return the first aid kit to its rightful place.
Gathering some of Yang's messy belongings, as well as her homework, Blake heard the blonde sigh, and the sound of her shifting around. If she was already feeling well enough to move around, Blake guessed that she didn't have to worry too much. Still, despite that reassurance, she couldn't help but feel like she was missing something important – a question that had gone unanswered, on a topic she could no longer recall.