Welcome to my oneshot series! Been hitting a creative streak lately, and my organizational skills seem poor, since I haven't updated...anything. These oneshots, unless referenced or otherwise specified, are NOT part of my overarching stories. Think of these as a writing excercise. Hope you like them! Without any further ado, please enjoy Shade - WARNING: this one deals with death.
A shade is the mixture of a color with black, which reduces lightness. A shade is the blocking of light and the shadow created by this phenomenon. A shade is the spirit or ghost of a dead person.
Snow is so overrated
Call her a pessimist, but Blake Belladonna wasn't a fan. Any kind of extreme weather, really, but the cold made her just want to curl up and not move for quite a while. She didn't know if it was the cat in her, or the still palpable depression. With her luck, it was a merry combination.
Still, she had to trudge onward. Would've been a shame to let the flowers go to waste.
A year, two months, and three days ago, she'd been happy. After a life of misery and angst, she'd met the people who would become her true family. Ruby Rose, the loveable leader, two years younger than her. Blake had been unsure of her at first, but she'd quickly proven her worth. The most talented out of the small group of misfits, Ruby had grown into quite the beautiful lady, making her all the more fearsome, like the deadly warrior princesses she'd read about as a child. The heiress, Weiss Schnee, had also changed a lot, arguably the most out of them all. From a haughty, pompous, spoiled child, she'd become a capable lieutenant to Ruby, and a force for positive change in this Dust-forsaken world. A wry smile came to her as she thought about the ongoing tension between the white haired woman and the leader of team RWBY. She might've read one too many books on the…specifics of a certain kind of relationships, but after years of sharing team life with the clueless duo, she was sure that it was only a matter of time. Yang would've teased them endlessly about it…
Oh, Yang.
A year, two months and two days ago, they'd been on a mission. Routine, really. Too many Grimm to ignore, too few to send an army. Hence the Huntress team doing what they did best: slaying the creatures of darkness, preserve the lives of the many. The creatures of Grimm, while extremely dangerous, where very predictable. Like their hides and bone armor, dealing with them was black and white. Were they attacking? Kill them. Very simple. They weren't humans, and so needed no motivation other than pure hatred towards humanity. They cared nothing for money, and crimes of passion did not exist amongst them. Dealing with humans was such a grey area. What if you killed a man who only did what he thought best for his family? What if you let him live, and his children turned out to be the authors of a genocide? That's why Hunters mostly sticked to fighting monsters.
Some humans just loved making it personal, though. Blake had hated few people in her rather short life, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind that she hated Roman Torchwick. Him, she'd defeated. His boss, the Fall woman, nobody had, then. The woman was mad, surely. And in her anger, she'd tried to strike them all down. She'd nearly succeeded, knocking out Weiss, and seriously injuring Yang. Ruby was barely holding her own, and she wouldn't last much longer at it. Blake was hurt, but she could still fight. Unsheathing Gambol Shroud's blade, she charged forth…and walked right into Cinder's trap. She'd been too reckless, too worried about Yang's injuries, and about her leader dying. The dark woman had had one of her glass blades ready, and kicking Ruby away, she parried the gun blade away. A sharp pain had then erupted from her abdomen, the tip of the glowing knife protruding from her back. This is it, she'd thought. Years of protesting, trying to improve conditions for Faunus everywhere. Meeting such great friends…and her partner. Yang had been…the best part out of the past few years. Caring, understanding, even motherly. Her beautiful partner provided everything from laughter to a shoulder to cry on, and now she'd lost it all. Coughing blood, she looked up at Fall's smug face…only to hear Yang's Ember Celica firing, the shot reaching Cinder's shoulder, blasting them apart. She still had a blade inside her, and she could feel her life seeping away, though.
It's a great last view, she thought. Like a goddess born from fire, Yang's anger had set her ablaze. She exuded power like no other. And for the first time since meeting the woman, Blake saw fear in Cinder Fall's eyes. And so the villainess ran. Nobody was in any condition to pursue. Yang, still burning, crept closer. Blake couldn't feel the heat, though. She was getting numb. She heard a soft thud, and lazily looked down. Yang was…hugging her, careful not to worsen the blade wound. There was so much blood…she wasn't gonna make it.
Was she?
The world was coming clearer into focus. She felt blood in her hands. The blade was all too painful again. What the…? And that's when she felt it. Aura, seeping into her, mingling with her own…and coming from Yang. The blonde's fire was diminishing, bringing life back to Blake for enough time that she'd be able to survive until someone might help her. Fear began to seep into her consciousness, just after the realization hit her.
"Yang, stop that! I know what you're doing, and it isn't necessary! It's enough, I'll make it!" –Blake said, panic filling her voice.
Yang's hair was flickering between lit and unlit, her red, rage filled eyes slowly losing their fire, turning back to lilac.
"No can do, kitty-cat. You may not have noticed, but you were seconds away from dying. Not letting you go." –she said drowsily.
"You're the one who's dying, Yang! Please, stop! I can't lose you!" –the Faunus said, tears streaming down her face.
With a remarkable show of strength, Yang pulled herself up. There were two arrowheads sticking out from her chest, where her emblem used to be. And further down…a bloody mess of an abdomen. –"I'm already dead Blake. But hearing you say that makes it at least a bit less painful. I love you Blake. Please take care of Ruby…and…W-Weiss." –her breath suddenly stopped, her eyes widened…and then glazed over.
Yang was dead.
She'd been dead for one year, two months, and one and a half days. She still hadn't accepted it. Hard to do so, when she carried a part of her around everywhere. Maybe it had been a parting gift from the fiery blonde, but every time Blake tried activating her semblance, her clones didn't look quite right. She was sure her hair wasn't that long. She didn't dress like that, and her figure was much different. But the hair was still black, and the cat ears remained as well. She didn't know what was worse: the uncomfortable warmth her modified clones generated once summoned, or the fact that her amber eyes kept looking for amber hair when she did.
As she reached the cliffside, she found herself smiling just a little. The depression was there, but she'd silently promised Yang. She had to care for the girls. At the edge of the cliff there were two headstones. One of them was faded, barely readable. It read Summer Rose. The other said: Yang Xiao Long-Rose, loving sister, loveable fiend, loved life partner.
"Hey Yang. Figured you'd want to check the progress on the scar." –she said, braving the cold and lifting the hem of her shirt. A jagged scar marred her supple skin.
"You did always…catcall at me. Get it? Been working on my jokes lately. They say it eases the pain, when I do the things we used to do together. Ease myself back into social life, you know? I'm not entirely sure if I should include getting drunk into the set of activities, heh. Pretty sure that would be counterproductive, huh?" –she said with some mirth. Lowering the shirt again, she felt the sadness overwhelm her.
"I really miss you, Yang. Ruby's taken it pretty well, all things considered, but I think it's because Weiss has helped her a lot. Talk about oblivious, right? Sun's asked me out a couple of times. I'm thinking about saying yes. I think you would want me to. Dust knows I wouldn't have gone to the dance if you hadn't convinced me. I like making him happy, and he likes it when I'm not antisocial, so I guess it's a win-win scenario. I really wish you were around to help me sort through this whole thing. Although you'd probably suggest something that involved a camera and us three in a room. I'm taking care of myself, ok? I'm not wasting this chance you gave me. I just kind of wish I hadn't needed a second chance. I'll be back in a couple of weeks. The flowers won't last in this weather. Take care, Yang"
Walking a couple of steps, she turned, and with a lopsided smile said:
"And don't watch me shower, you pervert"
Somewhere, and nowhere at all, a sunny little dragoness smiled.
Dark and light will be a common theme around these oneshots. I thought I managed a nice balance, but feel free to disagree and help me get better! If you'd be so kind, leave a review, it helps a ton! Expect some updates in the next couple of weeks.