A/N: Heya, everyone! So, I haven't written anything in quite some time, but I'm trying to get back into the swing of things! This is just something fun some of my friends are encouraging me to do, so there no real updating schedule (yet, to be determined).
While this isn't my first fic, this is my first time writing for RWBY. Constructive criticism is always welcome! As this story grows, appropriate warnings (should they come up) will be posted before a chapter, so I do ask that you keep an eye on them.
This fic is based on a Tumblr prompt I found. Credit for the prompt goes to write-it-motherfuckers. If you can, I highly recommend checking out their page! The link to the full prompt will be down below.
Without further ado, I hope you enjoy!
Sometimes you wondered if your best friend was entirely human. It wasn't some large overt thing that gave you pause, but rather, a million little things. It was in the way the light sometimes caught their eyes and shined unnaturally, the way their movements would sometimes be abruptly and unnervingly smooth, before going back to that familiar awkward and perfectly human movements...
Golden amber eyes stared unblinking at the flickering cursor that followed the last word she had typed. It wasn't supposed to be this difficult. It was a simple exercise. A prompt written by a peer in her creative writing class that she randomly drew out of a box her professor had passed along throughout the room. As she sat at the desk in her off-campus apartment, however, no words came.
Blake finally blinked when her eyes began to sting and released a quiet huff, a velvet soft ear twitching in equal annoyance. The assignment itself wasn't supposed to be very long and it wasn't due until the end of the week, but there was a little bit of pressure added because this prompt was also supposed to be included in her semester final. She wanted it to be good. Not the good enough just to get the completion points and be done, but the good enough where I don't have to worry about it too much when I get back around to it. Rubbing her hands tiredly over her face, Blake let herself drop back against the back of her chair before sighing, her ears lowered as she reached for her now lukewarm mug of tea that was to the left of her laptop.
"'Writing will be easy! I do it all the time!'" Blake grumbled out to no one, recalling the words she had said to her parents when she revealed she was going to be an English major with a focus in creative writing. They had voiced their doubts, not because they doubted her but because being an aspiring author was a bit of a shot in the dark in their eyes. Ultimately though, they didn't make too much of a fuss. Now, a month into the first semester of her second year—the first one where she was able to take her creative writing-specific courses—and she was suffering from writer's block of all things. Sipping her tea, Blake crinkled her nose and her ears flattened at the taste as she set the mug back onto her desk. The store had been out of her favorite the last time she went out, so she had to settle for the cheaper, very obviously generic brand. It wasn't so bad when it was hot, but now it was disgusting. However, caffeine was caffeine, so Blake hauled herself up out of her chair, picked up her mug, and padded her way to the small kitchenette to heat up the tea in the microwave. She needed a break anyway.
Leaning against the counter, Blake pulled her scroll out from the left pocket of her black sweatpants she had changed into the moment she came home from classes to clear out her notifications. Six app updates, a game she really only played in between classes reminding her to get her daily bonus, a message from Weiss reminding her to get some sleep before she went into work, and an absurd number of messages from Yang, namely memes and fanart of her latest shipping obsession and ScrollTube video links for music videos featuring said ship, that made Blake a little glad she had turned silenced her scroll before she started her homework.
Blake's ears perked up when the microwave beeped and she turned the sound back on, on her scroll before setting the device on the counter. She bypassed the microwave to open her freezer and retrieve the first frozen dinner entrée she touched, heading back to pull out her mug and pop in the frozen meal after taking it out of the box and cutting open the film with the cleanish butter knife she had used for toast that morning and had left on the counter. When that was heating up, Blake took her beverage and her scroll and went to the living room. Her scroll was dropped onto the couch cushion beside her before she picked up the TV remote. The news channel she had been watching before she left for class that morning came on, but since she was tired and didn't feel like watching repeat news about local thugs robbing a Dust shop or the latest scandal model/fashion mogul/CEO of Fall Maiden Worldwide Media, Cinder Fall (seriously, this woman was everywhere), was somehow involved in, she opened the menu to get to her Netflix so she could catch up on some shows…
"...an update to the fire we reported a little bit ago at the Signal Boost Preschool in the five hundred block of West Vale…" Blake found herself closing the menu, her ears up high while she turned up the volume. "Reports of the fire came in at about 2:30 this afternoon—" Amber eyes quickly flicked to the clock hanging up on the far wall. That had been a little over an hour ago. "—the cause of the fire is still unknown, but a bad situation could have easily been worse if it wasn't for the help of Dragonheart…" Blake choked on the sip of tea she had taken and ended up spitting it out, the spray of of tea misting in the air and making its presence known across her coffee table. While she gasped and sputtered for breath, video footage played in a corner of the screen of a blonde woman rushing out the front door with at least a dozen kids, carrying even smaller ones in her arms. The newscaster was speaking, but the words never reached either set of Blake's ears. Instead, she watched as the roof collapsed where the blonde hero had been. In the muted video that was beside the newscasters head, something had alerted Dragonheart's attention and she ran back to the burning building, jumping through a window to get back in. Minutes later, Dragonheart was seen coming from the side of the building, helping a limping firefighter that had gotten trapped inside back to his squad. Blake released a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.
A new camera view tried to zoom in on Dragonheart through the crowd as she spoke to the teachers and parents and the other bystanders. This shot got a better look at the hero. A purple bandana covered the top of her head and half of her face, leaving holes for her eyes—their color was widely debated between purple and red, and while the previous video had been the news crew getting an aerial view, this footage was taken by a scroll and wasn't the greatest quality to be able to tell—and tied her golden hair into a ponytail (or it was knotted into a hair tie, this was hard to tell as well). A brown leather biker-looking vest, hooded and sleeveless but thick like Kevlar covered a burnt orange long sleeved spandex shirt. On her wrists were two golden colored gauntlets that she used as her weapons and her hands were covered with black fingerless gloves. A brown leather belt looped around through the belt loops of form-fitting black pants, padded in the thighs and knees with strips of gold trimmed brown fabric hanging from her belt like a tail ("It's a butt cape!" as Ruby, Yang's little sister, would so eloquently describe it as). Where the built-in kneepads ended, brown knee high combat boots began, zipped in the front with a buckle down above the foot and gold trimmed at the toes and heels. Dragonheart turned around to speak with the Fire Chief that had been trying to get her attention, and a large gold patch on the back of her vest came into view, something that looked like a heart shape that had flames coming from the top. Her emblem. It was appropriate for someone called Dragonheart. Her entire outfit was darkened with smoke and ash, as was her hair and what exposed skin she had, and as exhausted as she looked, the hero still gave a wide smile and knelt down to hug the handful of kids that had been practically climbing up her legs…
Blake nearly jumped out of her skin when her scroll rang, having forgotten that she turned the sound back on and ended up dumping the rest of her cooling tea on herself and the carpeted floor. Letting out a sound that was a mix between a whimper and a groan. She contemplated ignoring it, but it was the loud rock song she let Ruby program as her contact ringtone. Something about this being the day and absolution and some revolution and what not. With a sigh, Blake picked up her scroll and answered on the last ring, her heart still pounding in her chest from the scare.
"Hey, Ruby."
"Hey, Blake. Um…" Blake could faintly hear Ruby scuffing her boot across the concrete. "I think Yang forgot to pick me up again. Would you mind… ya know…" Blake couldn't help the small smile that pulled on her lips.
"I'll be over soon. I just have to change real quick."
"Thanks, Blake! You're the best!"
"Don't let Yang hear that." Blake joked back with a soft chuckle. It earned her a giggle from Ruby before she said goodbye and ended the call. Almost immediately, Blake exhaled through her nose and pinched the bridge of it. "Yang…" she muttered. She didn't mind picking Ruby up, even if Signal High was in Patch, which was about forty-five minutes away from the Beacon campus. And that was with good traffic. What concerned Blake the most was that Yang—bless her heart—was forgetting to pick Ruby up more and more. This was at least the third or fourth time just in the last couple weeks alone. The beep from the microwave brought Blake back to the present, reminding her of her dinner that was still inside…which she was now going to have to wait to eat. Standing, she moved to bring her mug to the kitchen and set it in the sink before opening the microwave and taking out the entrée and sticking it in the fridge to eat later. On her way to her room, she picked up her scroll from the couch and dialed Yang's number, putting it on speaker as she slid off her sweatpants and into a pair of black jeans, fixing her black halter top.
"Heyo! You've reached Yang! You know what to do!" Blake resisted the urge to sigh yet again, though her ear twitched in agitation when she got her best friend's voicemail. The same friend that spammed her messages not even two hours ago.
"Hey, Yang. I've got Ruby tonight. Call me when you get this, please?" Blake picked up her scroll and ended the call, sliding the device into her back pocket and grabbed her purple and white coat, as well as her wallet and keys, before heading out the door. She doubted she was going to get that nap before work.
A/N: Full prompt: post/181627430035/sometimes-you-wondered-if-your-best-friend-was
Chapter 2 is currently in progress! This is also cross-posted on AO3 under my penname Natblida_Kryptonian.