I do not own RWBY nor do I have any affiliations with Rooster Teeth
Blake woke to a darkened room, with the sounds of soft breathing from her still-slumbering teammates. Drowsily, she sat up. But when pain flooded her senses, she remembered why she had gone to bed so early. I hate going to sleep with migraines, they're always worse by morning. she thought shakily. Looking at her scroll, she saw it was only 3am. Her head was pounding and she felt sick to her stomach; she didn't want to leave the warmth of her bed but she needed to do SOMETHING to try and subside the pain. She crept out of bed and made her way into the dorm hall. Approaching a water fountain, she grabbed her long black hair and pulled it back so as not to get it wet, and started to drink. Finishing, she was about to turn around to head back to her room when a strong hand grabbed her shoulder and shoved her into the wall, smacking her head against the brick in the process. Her body screamed in pain and she only managed to gasp before she was knocked to the floor. On her hands and knees and breathing heavily, she looked up at her attacker.
Cardin.
"Well well well. Kitty can't sleep?"
What..? What is he talking about? Blake thought. There's no way he could- her eyes widened in fear as her trembling hand reached up to where her bow was... Or should have been.
I left my room without it... My ears... she realized helplessly. Her thoughts were interrupted by Cardin kicking the side of her head, sprawling her across the floor.
"Ya know, I've always wanted a pet. Ever since I was little. But my parents never thought it was a good idea, they said I was too 'destructive' and 'violent' with animals. And they were right." Cardin sneered and stepped closer to Blake, never breaking eye contact. "Faunus aren't any different to me than those dogs I would have fight, those frogs I would dissect alive. Or those cats I would hang just for the fun of it. I haven't had much fun with my animals for a while... So whaddya say Blake? Wanna play with your buddy Cardin?"
Her head was swimming and her stomach churning, if it wasn't for her being sick she could easily fight back, but GOD the pain... She reached up to touch the side of her head where Cardin had struck, her hand coming away wet. Anger surged inside of her, but she said nothing.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Cardin laughed. Grabbing her by the hair, he pulled her up so her face was mere inches from his own.
"It's fine if you don't want to talk now: you'll be screaming soon enough. Make no mistake."
The next thing Blake knew, she was on the floor again, her body hitting the cold concrete with a thud. On her knees once more, she looked ahead of her and saw a struggling Cardin on his back with someone's hands around his neck. She saw them lift their arm and land one strong punch to Cardin's face. He stopped moving.
Holding her pounding head, she finally made out the person who took care of Cardin.
Yang.
"Blake! Are you ok?!" Yang exclaimed, leaving Cardin to tend to her partner. "I woke up to go to the bathroom and saw you weren't in your bed... I figured your migraine got the better of you but what happened with Cardin?"
Blake found herself unable to speak. Still on the ground, she was trembling and holding her head, still bleeding from the kick and scalp aching from Cardin grabbing her hair.
Yang knelt before Blake and gently put her hand on the side of her head, trying to look at her wound. In doing so, she noticed that Blake's ears were in plain view. Looking from Blake's ears and then to her glazed eyes, she put two and two together.
"That bastard..." Yang growled. Looking back at Cardin still lying on the floor, she sprang up and stomped towards him. "Wait until he wakes up, I'm going to-"
"Yang, STOP." Blake ordered strongly.
Yang froze, and turned back towards Blake, obviously shocked and confused at what she had said.
"Stop? After what he just did to you? What do you mean 'STOP'?!"
Blake stood, shakily, using the wall for support, one hand pressed against the side of her head.
"It won't make a difference. Leave him there."
"Blake, who knows what he was going to do to you?! I only heard part of what he was saying, but whatever he had in mind, it did NOT involve sitting down and having a cup of tea." Yang spat angrily. "People like him need to be taught a lesson!"
"And you think that beating him up is going to change his perspective on the Faunus?" Blake challenged. "I left the White Fang because of their violence. Innocent people were getting hurt-"
"Cardin isn't just an innocent civilian!"
"That's not the point Yang!" Blake yelled. "People are scared of us. Of the Faunus. The first group the public suspects is the White Fang when a crime is committed, or where something was stolen, or where someone got hurt. They call us animals. Untamable animals, with an instinct to hurt others. But you know what?" Blake looked down at Cardin "sometimes I wonder who the real animals are; Who the real bloodthirsty monsters are." Blake looked down at the floor and Yang was taken aback by the coldness dripping on each word spoken by her partner. But she couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt, obviously Blake was hurting a lot more than she was letting on. The faunus girl looked back up at Yang. "I left the White Fang because I knew that violence against humans would only bring more hate. Cardin still hates Faunus enough to attack them. But I will not stoop to his level. Not again." Her voice faltered. "I can't be the animal he expects me to be..."
Yang interrupted her thoughts by stepping forward and embracing her. Blake stiffened at the contact, but didn't push her away. She felt tears welling up, threatening to roll down her face yet again but she managed to hold them back.
"Blake."
She started trembling, squeezing her eyes shut, holding her breath, clenching her fists, praying she wouldn't-
"You are NOT an animal."
That broke her.
Tears cascaded down her cheeks and she finally wrapped her arms around Yang, burying her face into the blonde's shoulder as she sobbed. She hadn't cried in months. And all those months watching helplessly as other Faunus students suffered at the hand of people like Cardin, while she hid her heritage out of her own cowardice, had been what had triggered her migraine. She cried for not being strong enough to stand up for herself. She cried for not being able to stand up for the other Faunus students. But most of all, she cried in frustration. How did anyone expect peace to come from violence? Both humans and Faunus were acting like animals, why was it just so HARD?
Yang tightened her embrace around the girl, stroking her back in circles as her sobs slowed. When she felt Blake's breathing go back to somewhat normal, she squeezed her once more and pulled back to look at her face. Meeting her eyes, she moved the hair out of Blake's face, some of it still wet from her tears. She frowned as she saw Blake's wound still bleeding a bit from the side of her head. Yang reached down and tore a strip of cloth from her pajama tank, and after soaking it in cold water from the fountain, pressed it against Blake's head. The dark haired girl winced at the contact but the cold water numbed the pain a bit.
"You know, you didn't have to tear it off of your shirt, we could've just waited until we got back to the room to get a cloth."
"I know." Yang smirked. "But I wanted to."
A small smile crept across Blake's face. Warmth filled her heart and she felt her cheeks get hot. She silently thanked God that it was probably too dark for Yang to notice. The brawler was also intent on keeping pressure on her friend's wound, the bleeding finally ebbing. Her concentration was interrupted when she felt a hand place itself on top of her own that was holding the cloth.
"...thank you Yang."
She smiled, and taking her hand away from Blake's head, she pulled her into another gentle hug.
"Of course."
As Yang pulled away from Blake, they both heard a stirring on the floor near them. Cardin was coming to.
"So... What are we doing with him?" Yang asked
"...let's pull him to the wall and sit him up." Blake answered.
Yang still wanted to beat Cardin past senseless, but fought her own judgement as she helped Blake pull him out from the middle of the hallway and sit him up against the brick.
"Let's get back to our dorm, we'll have to be up in a few hours." Yang said, walking towards their room.
Blake followed in silence. Halfway back, Yang put her arm around her friend.
"How's your head by the way?"
"Better. Much better." Blake answered, leaning into her partner. "The only pain I have is where he kicked me. My migraine seems to have gone."
"Good." Yang smiled "because the only headache you should have too deal with is me." She laughed as she playfully pet Blake's ears.
Blake bit back a retort as they approached their door. Yang unlocked it and they both stepped inside, careful not to disturb the other two teammates as they slept.
"You sure you're ok?" Yang asked
"I'll be fine, there's going to be a nasty bruise on my head but that's not a big issue." Blake replied as she placed the wet cloth Yang had given her back on her head.
"Why didn't you just get a towel like you said? You don't have to re-use my tank top." Yang pointed out chuckling.
Blake felt her cheeks turn pink again but then smirked and simply replied "I know. But I wanted to."
Yang laughed and hugged her partner goodnight. After pulling away, Blake turned to get into her bunk but stopped when she felt a gentle hand on her wrist. Puzzled, she turned back around and looked at Yang. She could make out a faint blush on her partner's cheeks as the blonde cupped one side of Blake's face and gently pressed her lips against her forehead.
Blake felt her heart skip a beat.
"Goodnight Blake." The brawler said as she pulled away and smiled softly. Without another word, she climbed into her top bunk, leaving Blake dumb struck.
After a few seconds of just standing there and feeling the heat of her face die down, she climbed into her bed silently.
"Blake?"
"Yes Yang?"
"I'm glad you're a Faunus."
Blake's eyes went wide. "And why is that?"
"Because if you weren't a Faunus, you wouldn't have joined the White Fang. And if you hadn't joined the White Fang, you probably wouldn't have realized you would be better off dedicating your life to fighting Grimm."
"I guess you're right about that."
"And I wouldn't have met you."
Blake felt her face get hot yet again.
"Don't believe anyone when they say you're an animal. Because you're not. You're just Blake. And that's all that should matter."
Tears streamed down her face at Yang's words, and she couldn't help but smile.
"Thank you Yang."
"Of course. Goodnight Blake."
"Goodnight Yang."
A/N
So. I have never written a fanfiction... ever. But after reading so many good ones, I really wanted to try and this is the result.
There really was no inspiration to this, I just knew that I wanted to try my hand at writing. So... yeah. ^.^ Reviews are appreciated, suggestions and requests are always welcome. Thanks for reading!
-Tapemaster