A/N: Before we get to the crediting, I just want to point out that this will be a mainly Enabler-centric project. Other ships are definitely a possibility, but it is ultimately Enabler!
First of all I want to thank all the members of the Grownup Table (A-rav, Cat, Schnee, Tart, Lemons, and Kerrigor) for reading and re-reading my manuscripts as well as editing them.
Another special Thanks goes to Pozsich the Perzberk, Napoleon of Editing for devoting a sizable portion of his time to ensure this project came out as well as it did. Seriously, this man poured just about as much effort into this fic as I did and he deserves just as much credit.
Yang looked out the window into the orange afternoon sun that reminded her of the past. It was the last period of the day, and most of the students would be on the edge of their desks, ready to start the weekend. But Yang just leaned her cheek on her hand, letting her memories of storytime blot out the teacher's lecture. But five words shattered those memories.
I don't need you anymore!
The bell rang, but Yang didn't answer its call to stand and leave. Instead, she repeated those five words in her head over and over again. It was as if she had forgotten the meaning to them. But Yang knew that was an excuse, an easy way to hide from the truth. She knew what the words meant.
She waited until the clamor in the halls had settled to peek her head out the doors, checking that the way was clear before beginning to head for the dorms.
On her way to the dormitory, Yang passed the entrance to the library — as she did everyday. She didn't care much for literature, so she usually walked passed the entrance without a second thought. Today, however, she found herself wondering if the library contained a certain book from her walked into the library and cut directly across the reading area to the back shelves. Stuffed into the corner, next to a window, was an old collection of children's books. Yang glided her finger across the musty spines until she found what she wanted: Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Beowulf. She took it off the shelf, flipped it into a reading position, threw the cover back, and flipped through the pages. Most of them had been drawn on, or were torn from staples. She stopped once she arrived at a picture of The Huntsman defeating the Beowulf by splitting its torso in half while Red Riding Hood cheered him on. She chuckled, and a small tear trickled down her cheek as a sense of nostalgia gripped her.
Suddenly, a cold hand grabbed Yang's shoulder, making her yelp in surprise.
Yang whirled around, and was half relieved to see Blake had been the one who touched her shoulder. Yang thought it strange that Blake's hands were so cold, but quickly realized the library was kept at a freezing temperature—for some reason—and that her literate friend had probably been in there for hours. What was strange, however, was Blake's nervousness. She was pinching and rubbing the lip of her skirt while her eyes darted towards and away from Yang.
Yang found this really odd, considering Blake was the "cool kid" of her team. Sometimes she could be blunt or even cold. Regardless, she always knew how to say the right thing at the right moment. Yang imagined that Blake was mulling over some cool phrase she would throw out any second now. Maybe it was going to be something obvious like catching up on our reading are we? Or it was going to be something cleverly cold like Since when did you care for fairytales?
Lost in her excitement, Yang eventually realized an awkward silence was choking the air between the two of them. Something was definitely going on if it was taking Blake this long to say something. But then Yang thought of what the scene must look like to her. Here she was, holding a children's book, with a dry tear track on her knew that at this instant she couldn't risk pouring her heart out to Blake—as much as she would like to. She had to figure a way to derail the atmosphere and get out of there. Fortunately, Yang then cooked up a very Yang-like sentence.
"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue, Blake?" she said this with the hope that a jab at Blake's faunus heritage would either annoy her to the point she would just leave, or that it would trap Blake in a battle of wits that she wouldn't win. Yang smirked.
Blake puckered her eyebrows just the way Yang wanted her to, a sign of her annoyance. "That's not funny!" Blake yelled loudly enough for almost the entire library to hear her. Afterwards, she hung her head and balled her hands into fists. She looked like she was trying to stop herself from crying.
Yang's smirk was wiped away by the sudden outburst. She wanted to annoy Blake, not anger her, and definitely not make her cry! "What's wrong?" Yang asked without thinking. She had her hand on Blake's shoulder before she even noticed.
Blake lifted her head. There were traces of tears in the corner of her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. "I should be asking you that." she said with a sniff.
Yang's eyed widened in curiosity. She noticed that her hand was still on Blake's shoulder and she pulled it back. She noticed the book lying on the floor and scooped it up, resting it between her hands while Blake composed herself.
"I saw you walk into the library," she said. "You walked right passed me as I was reading. And...well. Call it my sixth sense, but the second you crossed my path, this feeling of immense sadness hit me. The next second I found myself here, next to you. I didn't know what was going on. Your little joke snapped me out of it I guess."
"But how can you—?"
Blake shot Yang a thumbs-up. "Courtesy of my cat instincts!"
Yang chuckled. Yeah right. Cat Instincts.[i]
"That isn't to say that Faunus are anything like their animal counterparts!" Blake leaned against the wall and took a heavy breath. If she was right, then she was back to her usual cool and collected self. She stared at the book in Yang's hands. "Is that book important to you?" she asked.
Yang realized she had just trapped herself in the situation she was trying to avoid. "Yes—" she muttered before she cut herself off. Droplets of tears had formed in her eyes as well.
Blake looked as if she was on the verge of tears again, but instead of crying she sighed and cupped her hands over Yang's, which were gripping the book so tightly they were now shaking. "Of course it's important," she said. "Could you tell me more about it?"
Streams of tears had started trickling down Yang's face. The memory of earlier today started to rush back, and it vehemently destroyed the memories of the past that she had been clinging on to in order to function. "It's a book I'd read when I was a kid."
Blake leaned her forehead against Yang's before whispering softly, "shh. It's ok. No one will hear you back here and I won't tell anyone anything. That is, of course, if you feel comfortable telling me."
Yang's heart was in her throat. The words she was blurting from her mouth were stuttering and the tears were ending in globules of depression on the tip of her chin. Blake, for her part, closed her eyes as if she was telling Yang My ears are yours.[i] "Ruby. Ruby loved this book. I would read it to her."
Blake hummed a soft mhmm—a reassuring confirmation that she was listening.
Yang began to hyperventilate somewhat, managing to only slightly control her took deep breaths in between her words. "When she was afraid of the dark. She would sneak into my room and ask me to—" Yang bit her lips and grinded her teeth. She didn't want to say this to anyone. "She would ask me to read this to her."
"I would want my big sister to read me stories too if I was scared." Blake said. For a second it sounded like a pathetic attempt to sympathize with Yang, but she wanted Blake to sympathize as much
"She told me. 'I'm going to be like the Hunter. I'm going to save Red Riding Hood!'" Yang fell to her knees. Blake fell with her, never parting their foreheads.
At this point, any words that Yang tried to formulate resulted in wails and broken phrases. One phrase stuck out in particular. "Ruby I—"
"Ruby, I really need you!" Yang yelled, ending the torture she put herself through. She looked up at Blake.
Yang noticed that, how ever many tears she had shed, Blake had shed just as many. The cool and collected faunus threw her arms around Yang's head and pulled her into her bosoms. Blake let out tiny hiccups of sadness and took heavy breathes, a sign that her hyperventilating was ending. Yang saw Blake regaining her composure. A few moments passed. Yang waited patiently, letting out tiny tufts of breath onto Blake's collar bone.
After Yang's sobbing became tiny sniffles, Blake removed Yang from her breasts. She sat with her on the floor and placed her hand's on Yang's shoulder. "Good job," she said while smiling.
"I'm sorry," Yang said under her breathe.
"There's nothing to be sorry about," Blake said. "I've been living with my burden all my life. Every stray feeling and whim—I felt it. I've had years to get used to it. But, your burden is new and it's deep. Yang, what happened between you and Ruby?"
Yang searched for the words inside herself to describe the mundane moment that escalated into those five words that exploded from Ruby's mouth, piercing Yang's heart. She tried her hardest to turn her babbling into coherent sentences. "I'm sorry," she said.
"That's OK," Blake said. "Allow me to ask one question. Yang. Do you love Ruby?"
"Of course I do!" Yang blurted. Of course she loved her sister. What sister wouldn't?
"Let me rephrase the question. Yang. Are you in love with your sister?"
"Yes!" Yang said. Instantly her heart sank as her answer echoed in her soul. How could she say such a thing? How could she be in love with her own sister?
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure" she said. Again she punished herself for confirming it. She wanted to call herself a liar. Regardless of her tormented heart, she knew it was the truth. "I love her more than anything! I want to be with her my whole life! I want to protect her! I want to—"
Blake placed a soft finger over Yang's lips. "It's OK," she said. "I think I have a plan. Just call me cupid." She pointed to the fairytale resting in Yang's hands. "Go find Ruby," she said. "Ask her if she is able to make enough time for one more storytime with big sis."
Yang smiled even though her whole body was nervous. "I will," she said despite her fears. "I'll ask her. After I hear her answer, I'll go from there. Yang ran off to find Ruby, but, as she left, Blake saw the eager smile that had formed on her lips.