As usual, the Forever Fall was empty. Trees of crimson stood tall around Weiss and her teammate as their footsteps echoed on the forest floor, and as they continued aimlessly in no particular direction, Weiss wondered to herself how much longer she would have to put on a good face for Yang before the girl finally let her go off on her own again.
"Why'd you bring me here, anyway?" she asked Yang after a couple of minutes.
The blonde turned to her, and shrugged. "I've noticed you like to take walks when you need to clear your mind. There's no way I was going to let you come out here by yourself after what happened last time, though."
"Hey," Weiss said, narrowing her eyes at her teammate. "I wasn't exactly in a great place, then."
Yang gave her an uncertain look. "I'm not so sure you still aren't. You haven't really been yourself these past couple of weeks, Weiss."
She bit her lip, slowing her pace as they meandered down the long, leafy path. After everything that had happened that month, Weiss wanted more than anything to forget about the pain and heartache that seemed to have taken over her life, but she knew it was much easier said than done. Yang wasn't a fool, either – Weiss was well aware that the girl could see her struggling, and though the truth cut her deeper than a broken, rusty knife, she knew there was absolutely no use in trying to keep it from her teammate.
"I just don't know what's wrong with me," she muttered, her icy, blue gaze glued to the ground as her stomach began to twist with regret. "No matter how hard I try to reach out to people, I somehow always end up pushing them farther away."
"It's not your fault," the blonde told her. "You've been hurt. A lot."
Weiss sighed. "You don't have to remind me." She stopped walking, and for a moment, she could just barely make out the sound of flowing water in the distance. She recognized the sound immediately, and grabbed her teammate by the forearm to get her attention. "Do you hear that?"
Yang froze, and furrowed her eyebrows in concentration. "There must be a creek nearby."
"I know where it's coming from," Weiss said matter-of-factly. She knew Yang could care less about a source of water in the middle of the forest, as most of Vale was surrounded by a dark, endless sea, but she was glad that, if even for just a moment, she wouldn't have to think or talk about her feelings again. "Do you want to go check it out?"
Her teammate crossed her arms. "If that's what you want. Lead the way." She synced her steps with Weiss, and they started toward the direction in which they'd heard the sound.
A tiny fraction of a smile formed at the corners of Weiss's lips as a clear, sparkling pool of water came into view a few moments later, filling Weiss with a certain sense of tranquility. The sun was high that afternoon, and the sky bluer than ever, its reflection in the stream's surface seeming to light up every shadowy crevice of the forest.
"Where are we?" Yang asked. "I've never been in this part of the Fall before."
"I came across it about a month or two ago," Weiss explained, lowering herself to her knees at the edge of the stream. "I like to come here sometimes to think... It's kind of my special place."
The blonde grunted. "You brought me to your 'special place'? I'm not sure whether I should be flattered or scared."
Weiss glanced up at her. "Why would you be scared?"
Yang raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, maybe you plan on killing me, and dumping my body in the stream? Stranger things have happened around here, so..."
"You really think I would kill you, or anyone, for that matter?" She shook her head. "You and Blake watch too many horror movies."
Her teammate laughed. "I'm just making sure, Weiss. Can't be too careful."
Weiss rolled her eyes, but as she turned away from the girl, she couldn't help but grin. Though at first, Yang's constant presence had seemed like nothing but a nuisance to Weiss, she now found it difficult to imagine what her days would be like without the girl around. It sometimes intimidated her how easily Yang seemed to see right past her facade, but she had come to appreciate the blonde's genuine, observant nature. Whenever she was around Yang, no matter how angry or upset she was at the time, Weiss suddenly didn't feel so alone. Sure, the girl got on her nerves at times, and she knew Yang probably felt the same about her some days, too, but in spite of all of those little arguments and squabbles, Yang was always there for her in the end, always willing to make up, and to hear her out.
"It is a nice place to think, isn't it?" her teammate said to her with an exaggerated breath. She walked over to Weiss, and met her gaze in the reflection of the stream, giving her one of her signature smirks. "Kinda sappy, though, if you ask me."
Something about the way the Yang's bright, violet eyes seemed to gleam in the water's surface made Weiss's heart do a flip. As soon as she realized what that faint, tingly feeling was in the pit of her stomach, she was immediately overcome with guilt. She'd promised herself a hundred times never to feel this way toward another person, especially not another girl, but she knew that once it was there, it was nearly impossible to get rid of.
Yang gently laid a hand on Weiss's shoulder, and knelt down beside her. "I know things have pretty much sucked for you, lately, but you don't have to keep going through all of this alone. If you want to talk, I'm here to listen."
"I know," she murmured timidly, every nerve in her body beginning to awaken at Yang's soft touch. What was it about the girl that made Weiss feel like this? No one else in the world was able to break through her walls like Yang, not even Ruby, who tried and tried, but usually failed miserably. Why did Yang have to be different? She was everything Weiss was not, but maybe that was the reason she just always seemed to make perfect sense.
"Do you want to?" Yang continued, her expression slightly guarded. "Talk about it, I mean."
Weiss blinked, and warily looked up at her teammate. "Hmm?"
She frowned. "What's on your mind?"
"Oh," Weiss said, averting her gaze. "You don't want to know..."
Yang gave her a reassuring smile. "Try me."
Weiss's throat became dry as she suddenly realized what it was she wanted to do. She knew if she told Yang, the girl would understand. But still, a part of her was afraid to admit the truth, if only because she feared it would ruin their dynamic. "I..." she hesitated, smoothing her palms over the creases in her skirt. "I'm thinking about how much I want to kiss you."
Her teammate dropped her hand from Weiss's shoulder, and rocked back on her heels. "Really?"
She nodded, her face flushing.
"Why?"
Weiss closed her eyes, willing herself not to look at the girl. She didn't know why she felt the way she did, why she had the sudden desire to have her lips pressed fervidly against Yang's, but it was a realization that had struck her harder and faster than a speeding bullet, and she wasn't sure the feeling would go away until she actually tried. "I don't know," she whispered, mentally kicking herself for blurting it out in the first place. "I just do."
Yang let out a thoughtful hum. "Well, I'm not going to stop you."
Weiss exhaled sharply, opening her eyes as her teammate's words sank in. She was practically giving her an open invitation, but why? "Would it be weird?" she asked.
"Only if you make it weird," Yang replied nonchalantly.
Her heart skipped a beat as she turned to face Yang, who had that adorable, quirky smirk on her face again. She knew she shouldn't be doing this – it was going against pretty much everything Weiss, and her family, stood for. But she had to get it over with, if only because not acting on her feelings would slowly kill her. She lifted a delicate hand to Yang's cheek, and held it there for a moment as she mustered enough courage to make her move.
Just as she was about to lean in, Yang raised both of her hands to Weiss's cheeks, and she pulled her in passionately with a long, messy, exhilarating kiss. Weiss could almost feel her heart being torn out of her chest as she drew in Yang's luscious, irresistible lips, giving herself away to her piece by piece, with every movement and every breath. She knew it was wrong, and that she was taking Yang's generosity for granted, but she just couldn't help herself – everything about Yang, from her glowing personality to her incredibly stunning looks, just felt so damn right.
When her teammate did finally pull away, she leaned back on her palms, as calm as ever, and waited patiently for Weiss to regain composure.
It took a moment for reality to sink back in, but as Weiss caught her breath, and glanced around the forest, she had to remind herself that this was just a one-time thing. She met Yang's careful, studious gaze, and as she watched the girl watching her, she realized for the first time in a while that she was going to be all right. She gave her teammate an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry."
Yang tilted her head sideways, a bemused look on her face. "For kissing me?"
"No," she said, her smile fading. "And you kissed me first."
"You're the one who wanted it."
Weiss opened her mouth to speak, but quickly found that she didn't have anything to say. She turned her attention to a small patch of grass in the otherwise leaf-scattered ground, and wondered what the kiss even meant to her. Did she really have romantic feelings toward Yang, or was it just a spur-of-the-moment decision? Or maybe it was just the beautiful atmosphere of the forest, filling Weiss's heart with emotions she was not used to having. As she looked back up at Yang, taking in her wild, golden curls and mischievous, amethyst eyes, all of those dizzying, fluttering feelings seemed to gradually disappear. Yes, she loved Yang, but not in that way. Her teammate was important to her, probably more than she'd ever willingly admit, but she was a good friend, and that was about all she'd probably ever be.
"Just so you know," Weiss said after a moment, a wave of relief washing over her, "I'm not in love with you."
Yang let out a light laugh. "I know that. I'm not in love with you, either."
She folded her hands neatly in her lap, and bit back a smile as it crawled across her lips. There was so much she felt she owed Yang, so much time that she'd wasted arguing with the girl rather than taking her advice, so much space she'd forced Yang to give up when Weiss's world became much too large to bear alone. She couldn't even begin to make up for all of those things, but she had a pretty good idea of where to start. "I haven't once thanked you for everything you've done," she said gratefully.
Her teammate crossed her legs in the dirt, and straightened her back. "You don't need to thank me, Weiss. If the roles were reversed, I'd hope you'd do the same for me."
"You know I wouldn't," she told her, the truth leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. "I'm not like you – I don't warm up to people easily. I'm too much of a perfectionist to care about other people's problems most of the time, and it actually pains me to admit that."
Yang sucked in a deep breath, and held it for a few seconds before letting it out. "You know I think that's a lot of crap, right?"
Weiss shrugged. "Maybe. But it's probably true... If the roles were reversed, I don't know what I'd do, Yang... Would I be the same person I am, or would I be more like you?"
"I think you're thinking about it too much," the blonde sighed. "I think you're going to look at yourself in the mirror one of these days, and just say, 'Screw it.' You're not going to worry about what anyone else thinks, and man, you're going to feel so much better once you let that all go."
She pulled her hands apart, and lifted one to the back of her neck as she wondered whether her teammate was telling the truth. It was difficult thinking of herself as anything other than a cold-hearted snob, not because she actually believed herself to be one, but because she knew it was what most of the residents in Vale thought of her, and the rest of her family. If she could allow herself to open up to them the way she opened up to Yang, then maybe they would finally see a girl they could like, but she knew her father would never stand for that. What Weiss wanted more than anything was to be free of her father's strict expectations, of the heavy burden that came with her last name, but she knew better than to hope for anything so sweet. At least she could count on having a good group of friends, teammates who would support her through thick and thin, no matter the battle or cost.
"You know," she said to Yang, a satisfied grin spreading across her face, "you're not that bad."
Yang returned her smile with a friendly wink. "You're not so bad yourself, Princess." She pushed herself up from a thin pile of leaves, and crouched over the edge of the stream. She dipped a finger into the water's clean surface, causing her reflection to ripple. "So... The next time you come out here, you'll let me know?"
Weiss gave her a short nod. "You'll come with me?"
"Only if you want me to," her teammate said.
"Hmm," she murmured thoughtfully, turning her gaze up toward the sky. The sun, much like Yang, was shining bold and bright, and as its rays peeked through enormous clouds of white, Weiss's heart was filled with warmth. "I'm not going to stop you."