[Edit: June 15, 2014] The most common criticism I have received for this story thus far has been the difficulty caused by longer sentence and paragraph structures clashing with the format of Fanfiction. To alleviate some amount of eye strain, I have uploaded PDFs of every chapter released on this site and will continue to do so as new chapters are posted. These PDFs have the same formatting I see when creating the chapters and are apparently easier to read for desktop-view readers (I am still working out what to do for mobile-view readers.). A link to these can be found near the top of my profile. Thank you.
Thank you for clicking on this story and at least giving me the opportunity to entertain. As this is the first chapter of my novel-to-be, I will keep this chapter's author's note at a minimum, letting the story speak for itself. There is an extended author's note on my profile that includes an expanded explanation for the story, what I plan to do with the story, a disclaimer, and other supplementary information. I would suggest at least reading my plans for this story, as it includes when I plan on posting and any extraneous information that should ease the mind of an expectant reader.
With all of this out of the way, I present to you, Valence.
Chapter 1: Stargazing
From one horizon to the other, from the streets of Vale to the spire of Beacon, the world of Remnant was bathed in the soft glow of moonlight as the atmosphere was alight with the twinklings of distant stars. Not could a sound be heard from the jutting cliff connected to that prestigious school. From this vantage, two grand spectacles of human achievement could be seen: one being the silhouetted school whose appearance would have been imposing if not for the warm lights which spilled from its windows while the other was the sprawling terran nebula of Vale. It was only at night that these two marvels could seem truly alive to a distant onlooker. During the day, the rolling, verdant treescape of the Emerald Forest and the adjacent, perennially autumnal Forest of Forever Fall dominated the view from this overhang. However, it was as far away from that equinoctial time as it could get as the spring moon hung lazily above, lacking the will to reveal the damage that had been done to it.
A warm breeze fluttered across this cliff, rustling even the most insignificant blades of grass and bringing with it the change of seasons. Atop this vista was a stone bench made for more, but seating only one. The wind whispered up to the solitary construct and quickly overtook it, cooling the bench and warming its occupant.
Blake Belladonna relaxed upon the cool stone bench, letting her gaze shift between the stars and the city. A slight gust ran through her hair and across her skin, and while a cold breeze would naturally cause a shiver and recoil, this warmth caused the young woman to let out a contented sigh—to let her guard down without the prying eyes of outsiders watching over her.
It was only in the middle of the night that the supine form could find total solace and completely relax. To gaze up at the stars would be to let her mind wander to distant, fantastical adventures that she could only read of in her novels. To cast a glance to that distant city would be to yearn for such an adventure she could call her own. However, she was content to simply lay upon the bench and admire the scenery around her for the time being. It was with these sights that the Faunus girl could achieve peace and total solitude.
While her attitude towards other members of the school had become more accepting over the past few months, she could not yet shake the feeling that her guard was required around everyone. In fact, this was one of the primary causes of her flight to this natural terrace: she wanted to be alone. Although this sort of retreat would have been previously spurred by an affinity for isolation or potential aggression levied against her at the beginning of the year, this particular early hour escapade brought her to the cliff in search of peaceful quiet. She had undoubtedly become more comfortable around the student body of Beacon Academy, if only marginally, but despite all of her progress in assimilating into a more social environment, she could not let go of her tendency to stray.
Fortunately, Blake felt that it was safe to be herself around one particular group of people. Whereas the young Faunus would choose to completely hide herself from the general population and even make herself scarce around the student body, she found that being around Team RWBY was a wholly enriching experience. She found that she could do what she wanted without being judged, even if the majority of her desires were to spend her free time reading and, consequently, detaching herself from whatever conversations arose. With Team RWBY, she had not only found a group of huntresses-in-training who could become steadfast allies, she had found a group of friends that would last for the foreseeable future.
Her life before Beacon left much to be desired in terms of friendship. Between the quiet aggression set against the Faunus race by the general population and the increasingly militant actions of the White Fang, Blake had found opportunities for true relationships to be few and far between. Upon arriving at Beacon, however, she found that despite the events of her past, she was welcomed whole-heartedly by those she could now call friends.
As she gazed up at the stars, finding known constellations and rationalizing new ones, Blake reflected upon those who had so drastically shaped her life since coming to this academy. She thought back to the first day, when the airships came in from all corners of the kingdom and when the crowds were at their largest. It was in one such airship that Blake found herself faced with her first obstacle of the year: groups of people in a confined space. While she had felt confident in her ability to hide in plain sight, this deception did no good outside of combat or reconnaissance scenarios. Instead, she found that her tactic of joining the mass' epicenter caused more people to try speaking with her. This only caused her to back out and stand at an awkward distance from everyone else, leaving her in the open for a potential attack but free of any unwanted conversation.
However, once she stepped out of the airship and back onto solid land, the calm, cool demeanor which so many believed to be her regular personality was pieced back together. Although she had to remain around the same group as she waited for her luggage, Blake was able to cope due to the greater space they were given. While the wait for her singular suitcase did take longer than projected and she did have to brush off more attempts of conversation than her conscience would have liked, Blake was able to leave the docks with her sanity intact and with her suitcase's latch only partially so.
It was on this day that she learned that her time with the White Fang was not a completely fruitless period of her past. With the organization, she had intended on fighting in a diplomatic manner and for those who could not fight, themselves. While this diplomatic approach did not last long, she found that her willingness to fight for a righteous cause had become second nature. This was shown through her first interaction with her eventual teammates, Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee.
She had come across the duo shortly after hearing an explosion and choosing to investigate. What she found, however, was more surprising than a simple explosion could ever hope to be. Seeing the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company throne was an immediate trial on the young Faunus' convictions and therefore left her in a state of paralyzing indecision. Before her were the choices of verbally attacking the young woman, thereby maintaining the familiar morality of the terrorist organization, or to simply run and hide and hope that she would never come in contact with the girl again. Yet Blake's mind would soon be made up after she realized why she had come to Beacon in the first place. This was her chance for a fresh start.
In this quest, Blake had adopted the idea that whatever happened in her past would stay in her past. Unfortunately, second nature instincts never could.
The scene she arrived upon was that of Weiss berating Ruby for a mistake involving the former's collection of Dust. Blake believed that a mere slap on the wrist would have sufficed, but the insults coming from the heiress were far worse. Seeing Ruby, this seemingly defenseless, innocent girl, being pushed into a corner with no chance to fight back, Blake found herself compelled to intervene.
The subsequent interaction with Weiss would eventually be regretted, but at the time of intervention, Blake knew that it was necessary for Ruby's sake. She built the heiress up by listing her achievements and stating the fame of her family's company before bringing her down hard by listing its controversial business practices and questionable violations of accepted ethics. She doubted such a strategy would work on any regular person, but it was proven particularly effective against a girl raised in an environment where her father could do no wrong. With this interaction, the argument between Ruby and Weiss ended as the latter stormed off to some unknown location that even she was likely unsure of. Just as Ruby was about to thank her savior, however, Blake left, too.
Looking back on the departure, Blake thought she might have come across as brusque by leaving the obviously flustered Ruby alone, muttering appreciations without an audience. Perhaps this initial appearance of calm, cool, and collected might have strayed too far into the realms of cold and detached or perhaps the Faunus was simply awkward and did not want to admit this leave as the retreat it truly was. Whatever the case, her conscious would find at least some reprieve in the following hours.
She met Ruby later that night in Beacon's ballroom and sparked the beginnings of a friendship. What had been innocent curiosity towards Blake's literature struck a chord in the Faunus' mind and shed light upon what her fresh start entailed. This simple gesture meant that despite the failed relationships she had held in the past, Blake could potentially begin to open up to this girl and others like her, hopefully finding true camaraderie among people of righteous causes. This willingness to accept Ruby as a friend was only added to by the girl's noble, albeit idealistic, reason for becoming a huntress.
Unfortunately, Weiss felt the need to interject herself once again in her now familiar, insulting fashion. While Blake did agree on some level that the volume she and Ruby maintained could have disturbed others, the way Weiss had handled the situation was too hostile for Blake's taste. It was for this reason that she blew out her candle.
The first day alone had shifted Blake's perspective on how social interactions should be and how they would affect her life in the years to come. Hearing the bickering of her soon-to-be teammates, she caught herself with a mirthful smirk that she had to constantly suppress. The way they interacted was as though they had no worries in the world outside of those immediately presented to them. It was different—refreshing, even.
With a sigh, Blake moved on the bench so that she was lying on her side, staring now at the gleaming city which cast a halo of warm light up into the surrounding atmosphere. The wind still blew as gently as it had when her reminiscing started scant minutes ago. Her hair moved with this wind, causing some of it to blanket the arm not touching the bench. Despite the large distance between the cliff and the city, Blake's eyes reflected the lights of the capital as she gazed into the glow with unguarded, hopeful happiness.
Looking back on her team, the young Faunus found that she had failed to reflect upon the third and arguably most important member. Yang Xiao Long was Blake's partner who was as brash, loud, and energetic on the battlefield as she was off of it. At a first glance at the partnership, one would believe that cooperation would be nonexistent as both partners seemed like polar opposites. Where Yang was outspoken, Blake was reserved. Where Yang dealt with battles head-on, Blake kept to the outer edges and striked at an opportune instance. Where Yang was outgoing and social, Blake was, admittedly, shy and was prone to social anxiety. Though the two did contrast in many regards, this contrast lead to a wholly effective team dynamic, making the two nigh unstoppable on a battlefield. On top of this, Blake found that the conversations she held with the blonde brawler were consistently enjoyable.
Between the travels, battles, and discussions the two had during school assignments and the conversations they held during lunch concerning various analyses made by the blonde about their classes and teachers, Blake was left without a moment of boredom. While Yang tended make bad jokes from time to time and occasionally threw in some crude remarks, she was able to elicit a smile from Blake—or at least an amused smirk which often substituted for one. It was safe to say that Yang was Blake's first real friend at Beacon and, as such, Blake found that the blonde could easily drag her into any misadventure and make it enjoyable.
Chiefly among these misadventures was what the rest of Team RWBY understood as the inception of the bunk bed idea but what Blake refers to as the "Banzai Incident." The young Faunus still will not let go of that spontaneous outburst she had shown when joining in on the sisters' joyful exclamation. Her rationalizations for why she did this changed from "promoting a better team dynamic" to "really wanting bunk beds" to "getting back at Weiss" (for what reason, she wasn't sure.). The true reason for this outburst was to try and get in Yang's good graces by acting more like her in slight ways.
Blake had found that straying from the proverbial crowd did nothing but hinder the entire team. She found that she needed to go along with the whims of the group if she wanted to be a better teammate. She found that by simply being around the other members of her team, she could create a more trusting bond in battle and a lasting friendship between the four of them. Distance created distrust for all parties involved.
Blake shifted once again on the bench, lying on her back for the second time this evening to stare up at the lunar mass. Tonight was a full moon, making the landscape all the more serene with its gentle glow. At this stage of the lunar cycle, the wreckage which covered just under half of the moon's surface could not yet be seen. Soon enough, however, the debris would be visible from every corner of Remnant for a few nights' time before hiding again behind the complete half.
She thought back to the definitive moment which showed that attending Beacon meant a fresh start for her life. While Blake was prepared for tensions to rise between herself and the Schnee heiress, what she was not prepared for was the way she had acted when tensions boiled over. After harsh words were exchanged between the two, Blake found herself fleeing not only for her own safety, but for the integrity of her team. Most of her decision-making process in this instance was spurred by her momentary hatred for Weiss' racist views; however, mere hurt feelings had never before caused Blake to run from a problem. What made her run was the thought that if their argument continued, the team would become disjointed. Even though Weiss was a Schnee, Blake found that the girl had the capacity to be amicable in her own way, so when the argument came to be, Blake wanted nothing more than to make amends.
Nevertheless, she ran away—an action that she found to be something of a theme in her life. This retreat gave her time to ruminate on why Weiss would think the way she did about the Faunus as a whole and why Blake, herself, thought this way about Weiss. It was with these thoughts coupled with the unfortunate revelation that the White Fang was working with Roman Torchwick that Blake was able to form her own judgment on the situation: the White Fang was severely misguided and Weiss was correct. She had felt this way before leaving the organization, yet rationalized their militant decisions as harmless conflicts of interests. Now, however, she was sure that the White Fang was in the wrong. From this, Blake was able to empathize with some—but not all—of the things Weiss had said about them.
While the subsequent apology from the heiress did leave a great deal unsaid, Blake had accepted it nevertheless. Tensions still remained between them, but these was nowhere near as bad as theu had been. Because of this apology, however, Blake was able to feel more comfortable about her Faunus heritage to the point where she was able to put up with some of the remarks from Ruby and Yang since they were simply jokes and not callous, racial insults. Though, there was a limit to her capacity in dealing with them, but that is neither here nor there.
All in all, her time at Beacon Academy had exceeded her expectations. She had found a way to put her skills on the battlefield to good use, she had found solace in the fact that she was accepted despite being a Faunus, and she had found a group of friends that legitimately cared for her. She let out an audible sigh as she felt another warm breeze grace her skin. But it was with this distraction that Blake was able to hear the grass behind her crunch not too far away. Her Faunus ears perked beneath her bow as she tried to make out what—or, rather, who—the sound was. Between the early hour of her excursion and the only ambient noise being the soft hum on the wind, Blake was easily able to focus on the unsubtle sounds approaching. She would know that carefree, energetic gait anywhere.
Blake sat up and faced the city, reclining slightly so she could still gaze up at the moon and stars. The noise of the crunching grass drew nearer and was accompanied by a quiet yawn—Blake was honestly surprised that she had not heard the newcomer sooner. It took only seconds for the footsteps to stop close by.
"Hey, Blake!" Yang called in the same cheerful tone she always had. Fatigue was seeping its way into her words, but even if she was aware of this fact, it was doubtful she cared. "Whatcha doing out here?"
The Faunus turned to look at her partner who, despite being obviously tired, exuded the same warm energy she often radiated in the midst of a battle. She seemed to be unfazed about standing barefoot in the dewed grass with nothing but her pajamas on. Blake had to give her credit; the girl had guts. She, herself, had changed into combat attire before venturing out—the mere thought of going outside in her pajamas was mortifying. Yang's lilac irises locked with Blake's amber own for a considerate moment before the former gave a smile that seemed to rid herself of all remaining exhaustion.
Blake returned the smile as best she could, knowing that she could never match the warmth of her partner's grin. "Good evening, Yang," she greeted cordially.
"Evening?" Yang was incredulous, proving that she was without a doubt wide awake now. "If anything, it's morning!" The young Faunus simply smirked and shook her head, looking back out at the city. However, for one reason or another, Yang jumped in front of her partner's gaze, hands placed chidingly on her hips. "You didn't answer my question."
"Perhaps," Blake said, immediately following this with a purposeful silence. She knew that the longer she held this distracted façade, the more difficult it would be to suppress a grin, but knowing that every passing second made it increasingly harder for Yang to be patient made it all enjoyable. Soon enough, though, the teasing would come to an end with a light chuckle, causing her partner to send a joking glare. "Just stargazing is all," she finally answered, sending her rekindled smirk to the blonde who caused it.
"Well, why didn't you just say so?" Yang asked before unceremoniously seating herself next to her partner. "I would have joined you if you asked." She reclined in a way not dissimilar to Blake's current position and followed the Faunus' gaze to the lights above.
Blake felt the urge to slide over and give Yang more room, but ultimately decided against it. There was enough room for the both of them and the girl in black did not particularly mind their arms touching—in fact, she preferred it to the dropping temperatures she had been trying to ignore. Although the Blake of earlier in the year would have certainly moved over, the Blake of now was content to have a friend by her side. An odd smile formed on her lips at the company she was given.
"Not much good in stargazing if the only thing you can see is Vale," Yang offered. While Blake had been looking up to where the foreign stars were, the blonde had lowered her gaze and became entranced by the more familiar lights of the kingdom's capital. "Though I will admit, it is beautiful out here tonight, isn't it?"
Blake turned to find Yang giving her a toothy grin. Although she had known Yang for well over half a year by this point, she still could not tell when the girl was genuinely enchanted or simply being facetious. Regardless, heat rose to Blake's cheeks at the mere possibility of a compliment. She could only hope that the moonlight did not expose this moment of vulnerability and that Yang was not perceptive enough to see it. She hummed in affirmation, attempting to change the subject for her own posterity. "Although, the light pollution does make it somewhat difficult to see some of the constellations."
Yang was taken aback with obviously feigned incredulity. "Light pollution? Pffft. As if light could pollute anything," she huffed. This was one of the moments where Blake was certain her partner was kidding.
Once again, she shook her head, trying to keep a laugh from escaping. At this, the potential conversation faded to a comfortable silence as the two simply watched their respective stars. Eventually, Blake would notice that the comfort of the quiet breeze had been replaced by the warming aura of the brawler, but she would not complain. She had come to realize at some point during these past few months that her partner seemed to always have her aura active. With Yang's Semblance being based in fire, this meant an ever-present warmth for both herself and those around her. Such was the present case.
Somehow, with Yang's presence, the stars seemed to shine brighter and the capital below seemed more regal. Blake looked over at her and could not restrain a small smile, knowing that she would never be able to express how grateful she was to have her as a friend. She watched as Yang excitedly took in the sights, eyes darting from building to distant building and star to distant star. This girl who now sat next to aversive Blake had singlehandedly brushed off almost every worry about the past which could perceivably affect their futures. For this and the companionship she provided, Yang was deserving of the Faunus' respect.
The girl in reference soon trained her gaze on the girl in black. Quickly, Blake turned to face forward, hoping that her partner had not caught her staring. All the while, her face flushed a hue more noticeable than the blush of before. Fortunately, either Yang had not noticed or simply did not mind the staring because she initiated conversation once again. "So…" she drawled, prompting Blake to look back at her, blush still visible, "the break's coming up. You have anything planned? Anything you wanna do?"
In her preoccupation with adjusting to this year's fresh start and her current action of inaction, Blake had managed to push "the break" of which Yang spoke into the deep recesses of her mind. "The…break?" It was not so much a question to Yang as it was an attempt to recall long-forgotten information, but any help would indeed be appreciated. The same warm, humid breeze from before returned and blew across the girls' forms. Seemingly, this was all it took for Blake to realize that Yang was talking about their summer break at the end of this semester. Unfortunately, while the Faunus had made the correct assumption, elaborating on her plans would prove a trickier process. "The break…hmm…umm..."
"Blake!" Yang gasped, shocked at the unsaid statement. The girl in black steeled herself for the incoming lecture about how it was supposedly necessary to take breaks from schoolwork. "You can't be serious." She was answered by Blake looking at the hands folded in her lap. This caused another gasp. "You mean you're just gonna stay home and do nothing?"
Blake, unable to look further down than she already was, made a noise that indicated that she was about to say something but stopped prematurely.
Another gasp. Blake thought that this might have been a little too dramatic for Yang to be entirely serious, but she probably did deserve the reprimand with how deep she had buried herself in schoolwork. "You aren't even going home?" Blake shook her head solemnly.
Yang stood up and moved in front of Blake, blocking her view of the city. "Well, that settles it then." The Faunus looked up at her curiously. What settled what? "You'll just have to stay with us for the break."
Blake's brows furrowed. "What?"
"You heard me!" Yang stated resolutely. "You'll just have to stay with Ruby and me for summer break."
"I heard you the first time. I was just checking to make sure I had heard you correctly." The offer was a bit sudden and their break was still a few months away. While the offer did seem generous and made Blake want to smile, she had not expected anything like this. It is not to say that the offer seemed off-putting—quite the opposite, really—but that something so kind and sympathetic had not existed in Blake's life before, thus causing the situation to be all the more foreign.
Yang extended a hand. "So, what do you say?"
Blake stared at gesture then back at its owner. While the thought of spending more time with friends seemed absolutely delightful, the reserved demeanor she strived to uphold would not approve of something like this. She could only think of the disservice she would be doing to Ruby and Yang's break by joining them. She would spend her time reading when the sisters would want to go outside and she would be alone while they caught up with their own friends. She believed that her interests would conflict with theirs. "I'm sorry, Yang, but I just don't think you'd like that."
"Nope," came the immediate, unwavering reply.
"Nope?" Blake thought she had heard this somewhere before.
"Nope," Yang repeated. "You're our friend, Blake. And as your friend, I insist that you spend your summer with us."
"But I'll only be reading for the most part. Yang, you've seen me during the day; there's not much else to me outside of that." She may have been hard on herself, but she believed it to be the truth.
"Nope." Blake could have sworn that she had heard this exact kind of conversation before. "If you stay with us, we'll let you do your own thing and I won't bug you if you don't want me to, but I guarantee you'll have fun if you just join us!" She added a playful wink at the end that, for some reason, caused Blake to rethink her denial for a moment.
"Yang, I don't want to impede on anything you have going—"
Yang cut her off with yet another "Nope." Blake rolled her eyes. She truly was incorrigible sometimes. "I can't leave my battle buddy alone! Whatever happened to 'improving group dynamics?'"
The question was met with no reaction for a few moments as Blake mulled the offer over. Did she want to spend the three months of summer with friends, with people? The answer was obvious; it was either accept her partner's offer or remain at school and hope that she would not be forced to leave for her own home. Blake sighed, shaking her head and only just suppressing a smile. "Fine I'll go." After coming to a realization of where she had heard the speech before, she added, "You really are Ruby's sister, aren't you?"
"No—I mean, yeah!" Yang grinned her signature toothy grin for a few seconds before registering what Blake had said. "Wait. What? You'll come?" In a matter of moments, the glee coming from the taller girl had become positively unrestrained, judging from the way she bounced on the balls of her feet.
Blake smirked. "What, do you need a written RSVP?"
At this, Yang jumped into the air and pumped her fist—an admittedly over-exaggerated gesture, but one that was a very Yang thing to do. "All right!" she exclaimed loud enough that she could have possibly woken just about everyone in this academy. Blake could not help but chuckle. The blonde extended her hand once more. "This is gonna be great!"
With a genuine smile gracing her features, Blake took the offer and was promptly pulled to her feet. Despite the fact that she wore her heeled boots, she was still marginally shorter than her partner. "If you say so," she hummed.
"Oh, it will be," assured Yang with the beginnings of what looked to be a devious, if not excited grin. She glanced once more at the city before looking at Blake and yawning. "C'mon. It's late and we need to get some sleep." While Blake was habitually a night owl, she felt the grip of fatigue closing in on her, causing her to yawn as well. In turn, Yang's grin formed into a smirk. "Besides," she began, "we've gotta be well-rested for what I have planned this summer."
The way Yang had said this was more than slightly disconcerting, but Blake assumed that it was all in good fun. She returned her partner's exuberant smirk with a condescending one of her own. "You do know that our break begins in two months, right?"
"Of course I know. I'm surprised you do. Two months gives me more than enough time for planning." Blake was about to interject with a question as to what the planning was for, but Yang halted this by taking her hand and pulling her away from the cliff. "Time's a wastin' Blakey," she exclaimed, "and I need my beauty sleep!"
The Faunus blushed at the sudden contact and variant of her name, yet she could not bring herself to dispute either one and instead let herself be led by the brash blonde. Even with her practiced balance forged over years of training, the girl in black could not keep from stumbling as Yang rushed towards their dormitory. Blake was not too keen on the less-than-stealthy approach that her partner took, but she would cope. However, this did not mean that she would not worry for school security while they "snuck" back into the school—after all, what were partners for?
The two scurried down the halls like children running from a parent who had nothing against them. For one reason or another, the two were now joyous in the antics they were a part of by staying out after curfew. Previously, something like this would be a nonissue, but with the excitement looming on the solstitial horizon, even the most insignificant of incursions seemed exceedingly criminal. Blake found that Yang held the widest grin she had ever seen while she, herself, held a carefree smile of her own. Gone for the moment was the reclusive and detached former White Fang member and in her place was the happy Blake Belladonna who was legitimately having fun.
When the two reached the entrance of their dorm room, Blake pulled Yang to a halt. It was in this pause that she found herself catching her breath for the first time in a long time, having lost her sense of pacing with the enthusiasm over recent transgressions. When Blake looked to her partner, she found that the blonde appeared as though she could fall asleep standing up despite the energy that yet radiated off her.
The Faunus shook her head at the sight, finding it funny but also finding that it did not warrant a true laugh at this hour. She caught the blonde's attention and whispered, "Yang, we need to be quiet. Ruby and Weiss are still asleep." She was returned with a noncommittal grunt. She added, "And telling Ruby about this can wait until tomorrow. Understood?" Yang drowsily nodded, prompting Blake to pull out her electronic scroll and unlock the door.
As soon as the portal was open, Yang shambled into their room. While she did not make any noise, it was not by her own volition; nothing happened to be in the way of her blind wanderings, and this was incredibly fortunate. Even with inherent night vision, the only thing Blake could see pertaining to Yang was the huge mane of golden hair crawling up onto the upper bunk. To think that the blonde had put on a façade of vitality just to convince her partner into joining her for the summer made Blake's eyes roll.
She saw the sleeping forms of her teammates, blissfully unaware of the two who were still awake. As such, Blake made it a point to be as quiet as possible while she made her way to her bed and found the pajamas she had left folded on her mattress. Knowing that Yang was adjusting herself on her bed or, more likely, asleep, Blake took the opportunity to slip out of her combat attire and into her yukata while no one was watching. In a matter of moments, she was folding her clothes and placing them beneath her bed with the majority of her belongings. After running through a mental checklist of things that should be in order, Blake resigned to her bed.
As her head hit the pillow, the weight of the day prior's happenings began to take their toll on her consciousness as she began to close her eyes. However, before she could drift off to sleep, a faint voice could be heard from directly above her. "Hey, Blake?" Yang whispered, tiredness seeping into every slurred syllable.
"Yeah?"
"I'm really excited about this summer."
Blake smiled warmly at the mattress above her. "Me too."
"And Blake?"
"Mhmm?"
"Thanks for doing this." There was a moment of pause. "It means a lot to me."
An unwitting smile crept across the Faunus' features, happy that Yang was saying this. "Thank you for inviting me. It means a lot to me, as well."
Yang hummed contentedly above. "It's gonna be great," she seemed to say to herself, "I get to spend my entire summer break with my best friend." Blake chalked this up to delirium but nevertheless blushed at her newly given title. "Night, Blake," she heard the muffled voice whisper.
"Goodnight, Yang." At this, the Faunus rolled onto her side, facing the wall. The voice above had ceased its conversation after those departing words, leaving her to believe Yang had finally fallen asleep. While Blake was tired and wanted nothing more than to follow after her partner at that moment, her mind raced, fueled by the promise of that invitation and leaving her wide awake with a perpetual smile. "Best friend," a title previously inapplicable to any individual in her life. She did not believe she deserved the title—she did not believe she deserved to even be called a "friend." Yet she would not complain, and the more she thought about it, the more eager she became to accept Yang's title. Her sentiments went so far as to even apply the title to the blonde as well—Yang was her best friend, too. It had only been months since their first meeting and yet Blake was sure that there was something special between them—something she couldn't quite put into words or past experiences.
To think that what started as an escape from a militant organization and an attempt to do good for the world would turn out to be a decision that would bring her into the company of such great friends was baffling. She had expected to only run from her problems but never lose sight of the strife caused by her association with the White Fang. Between the hospitality of Team RWBY and this newest invitation, memories of her life prior to Beacon were easily washed away and replaced by genuine optimism for what was to come.
She turned so that she could watch the bed above her, gripping elatedly as she silently thanked her partner—no, her best friend. She imagined what they would do over the break, hoping that they would spend their free time in a way much different than she had before. Rather than attending "peace" rallies on mandate, she could spend her time reading. In lieu of gathering intelligence on oppositional forces, she could spend her time with newfound friends. Instead of having the ever-present anxiety of indirectly harming innocent people, she could enjoy the ever-present warmth of living in the now.
She silently thanked Yang once more before succumbing to her exhaustion. Slowly but surely, she slipped into the embrace of sleep, her head filled with dreams of abstract warmth and glee. Blake could, without a doubt, say that tonight's sleep would be a much more enjoyable process without having to dwell on the nightmares of her past. Now she could instead appreciate the dreams of her future with an unconscious smile.
This chapter (not including author's notes both before and after) amounted to 6,250 words at the time of posting. This is not my attempt at bragging, but my attempt at warning. This chapter is short for me—laughably so in relation to what I usually write. Expect chapter lengths to average out at just above 10,000 words. This chapter is one outlier in the range of chapters and so is the next. The next chapter will be a polarizing one, causing readers to either give up on the story entirely or become somewhat familiar with my style of writing. I don't think many will be prepared for the word count attached to the next chapter—thus is one of the reasons I choose to post on a Thursday: to allow the reader the weekend to read the chapters if they are unable to complete them due to excessive word count. Until then, I direct you to my profile for supplementary information. Stay safe and stay tuned.