Immersion
BumbleBY
One Shot
Yang opened her eyes to a beautiful, vivid world lush with vibrant, energetic colors. Everywhere she looked, the scenery seemed to jump out, every miniscule detail popping out and catching her eye. The blue skies seemed brighter than she could remember in recent years, white, fluffy clouds seeming to shine as if lit from within.
Her ears caught the sounds of birds calling out to each other in the trees above her, and when she raised her head to look, they immediately caught her eye. Light grey, almost white, with streaks of brown decorating their plumage, the sparrows hopped from flimsy branch to flimsy branch, their small heads turning this way and that as they moved.
The detail was incredible. The technology was amazing.
"It's good to see you again, Yang."
A warm, melodic voice caught her attention, and she lowered her head, looking nervously and excitedly toward the owner of the voice.
Her...
Yang's heart swelled with happiness, yet nervousness warred with uncertainty in her chest as she stepped forward hesitantly.
'Would she even remember... ?' Yang wondered, biting her bottom lip as her nerves got the better of her.
"It's been so long, but I'm glad you came to visit me." The girl stepped forward, extending her arms in an invitation of a hug. Yang quickly returned the gesture, pulling the girl in close and hugging her tightly.
Her body was warm, just as solid as she had remembered, and she smelled sweet, a foreign perfume that Yang didn't recognize masking her natural scent.
"Blake, I'm so glad to see you." Yang spoke quietly, clutching the girl tightly before finally relenting, releasing her grip on the girl.
The raven haired girl pulled away, grinning at Yang. Her lightly tanned skin contrasted with her sharp white teeth, elongated canines curving over her bottom teeth to nestle against her bottom lip. Her bright, honey colored eyes shone with an immutable glow, happiness seeming to radiate from her every pore.
"Why don't you come visit more than once a year?" Blake asked, reaching up to tuck a stubborn strand of hair behind her ear. Yang followed the movement with laser focus, temporarily forgetting that Blake had asked her a question until Blake nudged her gently with her elbow, a soft, 'hmm?' sounding in the back of her throat.
Yang shook her head to rid herself of her stupor, turning her thoughts to the question she'd been asked. Lilac eyes seemed to darken as she pondered her answer, eventually settling on the shortest, easiest explanation.
"It's... Blake, it's hard, you know?"
Blake nodded agreeably, before shuffling her feet to adjust her stance.
"Why don't we go for a walk?" Blake asked gently, sensing Yang's discomfort.
Yang nodded slowly, forcing her feet to bring her to Blake's side.
"Yeah, let's... go for a walk." Yang agreed softly.
Blake started first, ambling down the concrete sidewalk at a slow, easy pace. Yang fell into step beside her, forcing herself not to think too much about how their hands touched every other step. Blake either didn't notice or didn't care, and Yang wondered if today would be the day she found her courage and grabbed Blake's hand.
"I want to go to the place." Blake spoke quietly, turning her face up and closing her eyes as the sun radiated warmth upon her flawless skin. Her faunus ears, unbound and carefree, swivelled back and forth with unrivaled speed, keen to pick up the sounds of anything moving into her path.
Yang slid a bit closer, intending on grabbing Blake's hand to steady her if she tripped.
"You want to go to that place?" Yang echoed, her heart aching softly as she glanced to her right. With Blake's eyes still firmly shut, Yang took this chance to study her partner in detail, taking in as much of her as she could.
"We seem to end up there every year on this day, why should today be any different?" Blake asked amicably.
Yang laughed, but it was hollow and devoid of happiness.
"I have a sick fascination with that place. I tend to just drag you along. Don't tell me you've started to like it?"
Blake shrugged, opening her eyes and lowering her head.
"Every time we go there, you reminisce about the past. You tell me stories, each one different than the last. I like it."
Yang smiled at that.
"Well, let's go then. It's not too far away."
Blake hummed softly in agreement, and they began making their way to that place.
It wasn't a long walk; ten minutes later and they arrived at an old, unused children's park. Pushing open the battered gate to the chain link fence that surrounded the park, they stepped onto soft, tan sand.
The park sat nestled between two tall apartment buildings, one to the north of the park, and one to the south. The sun rose in the eastern sky, bathing the park in early morning light, reddish hues filling the air and illuminating floating dust motes. The reddish glow turned the oxidization on the abandoned metal equipment a darker red, a brilliant glow that threatened to overwhelm them if they stared too long.
A short while later, the sun curved to the south, rising high in the sky, but not high enough to triumph over the imposing skyscraper to the south. For a while, the park was cast into shadow, the metal equipment cold and unwelcoming. When the sun finally set in the western sky some hours later, it once more lit the park up with deep reddish-orange tones, casting long shadows across the park.
Blake took a moment to look around, sharp eyes taking in every detail.
"As much as things constantly change, it's nice to know that some things never do." She spoke quietly.
Yang laughed, somewhat bitterly.
"Change is the whole reason this park is here." She countered.
Blake stuck her hands in her pockets, glancing over to Yang.
"I suppose that's true." She admitted. "But I haven't been here in a year. I was afraid it had been demolished, or something."
Yang hummed quietly. "This park will never go anywhere."
"You sound awfully sure about that. How could you know that?"
Yang reached up to tap at the side of her head, winking playfully at Blake.
"Just a feeling I have." She teased.
Blake sighed, rolling her eyes as she reached out to give Yang's shoulder a gentle push.
"Whatever you say, blondie."
Yang opened her mouth to respond, but Blake beat her to it.
"Tell me again, what this looked like before? For some reason, my memory of the event is hazy."
Yang inhaled deeply, looking out over the park as she contemplated the thousand memories that were all vying for her attention, desperately seeking validation through her acknowledgement of them.
"It never used to be a park here. The apartment buildings didn't exist either." Yang raised her hand, making a grand sweeping gesture from right to left.
"This whole area was forest. This is where it happened. This is where the final battle went down."
"Where we defeated Salem." Blake spoke quietly.
Yang paused a moment as her emotions got the best of her, welling up in her chest to form a lump in her throat.
"Er- " Yang cleared her throat roughly, blinking away unshed tears.
"Yeah, Blake. This is where we defeated Salem."
"All of us?" Blake asked cutely, her confusion evident on her face as her nose scrunched up.
Yang let out a shaky laugh. "Yeah, all of us. It was spectacular, actually. Never before in the history of hunters and huntresses has one team come together so fully. It was like we could read each other's minds. We reacted to each other's moves almost instantly, a fluid force of nature that couldn't be stopped. Ruby was deadly, and her scythe, doubly so. Weiss was so elegant in every move she made, backing up Ruby in the way only a true partner could. I was at my physical peak, an unstoppable blitzkrieg of furious might. My firepower was pushing the limits of the destructive capabilities of dust, and everywhere I went, I wrought destruction and fire." Chills ran down Yang's back at the momory, and she shuddered.
"And you... you were beautiful."
Blake burst out laughing, catching Yang by surprise. Yang glanced over at Blake, catching the mirth shining in her golden eyes.
"So you and everyone else were equivilent to the three horsemen of the apocalpyse, and I was just the dumb, useless, but kinda pretty fourth?"
Yang shook her head, grinning despite herself.
"Not even close. Not even close."
Blake gently nudged Yang. "So? How was I? Or do you not remember?" Blake teased.
Yang stared at an empty swing, eyes misting over as the rusty chains were replaced with images of Blake.
"You were a beautiful, terrifying huntress, and everything you did carried a chilling silent lethality. You were perfection incarnate, instant death that struck from the shadows. So many enemies died not even knowing who killed them. So many died not knowing you even existed, or that they died at your hands."
Blake smiled at that, leaning against Yang and resting her head on the blonde's shoulder.
"Who struck down Salem?" Blake asked.
Yang laughed, a short, barking laugh that left her throat sore with unvoiced raw emotion.
"Ruby had to be the hero." Yang said quietly. "But in all honesty, she deserved it. After everything that Salem had taken from Ruby, Ruby deserved it. I'd never seen Ruby more pleased to cut down something taking human form before, and I'd never seen her enjoy it after. But in that moment, driving her scythe through Salem was everything she had ever wanted, and it was everything she had ever thought it would be. Ruby found true solace that day, an inner peace that had escaped her for far too long. With the damage done, the healing could begin, and that healing started with the knowledge that Salem wouldn't take anyone else from us, and that, to use Ruby's words, "We were the baddest motherfuckers on Remnant and no one would ever think about messing with us.""
Blake laughed, a light, easy sound that carried through the park and echoed off the surrounding brick facades.
"That's so unlike her."
Yang nodded, chuckling. "Yeah. Weiss was so shocked that she just stood there for a moment, mouth agape. Once she recovered, she berated Ruby for unladylike language. I'd never seen my sister so abashed and ashamed before. It was great!"
Blake smiled.
"And now here we are."
Yang felt her lower lip tremble, and she bit down on it harshly, the pain streaking through her lip barely enough to distract her from the pain roaring through her heart.
"Here we are." Yang echoed. Turning toward Blake, Yang took a deep breath.
"Blake, there's something I've been wanting to tell you for a long time."
Blake tore her eyes away from the silent, still playground, the abandoned equipment hauntingly beautiful in their unmaintained state.
"What is it, Yang?" Blake looked up at her with piercing golden eyes, flicking back and forth as she stared into Yang's eyes.
Temporarily lost in Blake's gaze, Yang almost forgot what she was attempting to say.
"Uhh... " A heat rose to her cheeks as she stared at the beautiful girl in front of her, and she took a second to compose herself.
"Uh, well, there's something I've wanted to tell you for the last little while. For a long while, actually, long before we all moved on and the group split up. I've tried to tell you every time I come to visit you, but I always lose my nerve... "
Blake smiled, her nose crinkling ever so cutely as a gentle breeze blew strands of raven hair across her face. She reached up and brushed them away, her smile growing into a crooked grin.
"What is it, Yang?"
Yang wrestled with her conflicting emotions for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. The words she fought so hard to say seemed to resist her, dying on her tongue before she could form them into a coherent sentence.
Blake waited patiently, not rushing Yang as the girl dug around for the courage to speak.
"Blake, I've wanted to tell you forever now, since the day we met at Beacon, that I lo-"
An insistent ringing reached Yang's ears, disrupting her thoughts and cutting her off. Blake appeared to not hear the noise, however, and stared at her expectantly, one eyebrow gently raising in curiosity.
"Damn, hold on." Yang muttered. Reaching into her pocket, she withdrew her scroll. Upon it flashed an urgent message.
It's time to go Yang. You know you don't want to be late. -RR
Yang bit her lip, her courage dying for the final time.
"Sorry Blake, I have to go. I'll tell you next time, yeah?"
Blake smiled, nodding understandingly.
"Of course. I'll be waiting for you, like always."
Yang nodded, reaching out to pull Blake into a hug once more. Squeezing the girl tightly agaimnst her body, Blake squealed a bit before laughing, gently poking her fingers into Yang's sides to get her to let go.
"I'll miss you Blake." Yang choked, her voice cracking as her emotions began getting the best of her.
"I'll miss you too. Be safe."
Yang was about to speak, when another high pitched ringing sound reached her ears. Again, Blake seemed to hear nothing.
We're about to leave. Don't make me come get you. -W.S.
Yang sighed, thumbing down through the options on her scroll until she reached the VR controls. Pressing the pause button, she looked up in time to catch the leaves that were blowing across the sand freeze as the wind itself stopped blowing. Blake, standing in front of her seemed to turn to stone, unmoving as everything in this world came to a halt. The sun was frozen overhead, creating a world where it was daytime twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
Yang took one last longing look at Blake before she thumbed down to the last command on her scroll.
Exit? It asked, ever so innocently.
Yang wished she could stay here forever. Instead, she tapped on it with her thumb.
Are you sure?
'No.' Yang thought. Against her desires, she tapped on yes.
Her vision turned dark, and she experienced a moment of nausea as her stomach jolted, her senses tuning back into the real world. She blinked a few times, and slowly the walls of Ruby's house came into focus.
That's right, she'd laid down on Ruby's couch to begin her immersion.
A sick feeling that had nothing to do with her withdrawal from immersion welled up in her stomach, restriction squeezing her chest like the grasp of an overgrown Death Stalker.
Swinging her legs over the edge of the couch, she sat up. Reaching up to cradle her head as she felt a migraine setting in, she glanced to her right.
On the table beside the couch sat a solitary picture frame. It didn't normally occupy that space, Yang knew.
Ruby must have placed it there.
It contained a single picture.
A picture of two girls.
A blonde.
And her raven-haired partner.
Yang jumped to her feet, reaching out and angrily slamming the picture face down onto the table. Standing by the door, ready to leave, Ruby jumped at the sudden loud noise, whilst Weiss shook her head.
Anger welled up inside Yang at the reminder of happier days, days she could never get back.
She could never get those days back.
Pushing herself to her feet, she started toward Ruby, hoping the tears forming in her eyes weren't evident.
"Let's go." Her voice was rough, hoarse with unvoiced sobs of pain, her eyes damp with unshed tears.
Reaching into her pocket, she clutched Blake's ribbon in her fist as if it were the most important thing in the world.
Seeing as it's all that she had left of her partner, it kind of was.
Clutching it tightly as they all piled into Weiss' car, she promised herself that tonight would be her last immersion. Tonight she would tell Blake everything she couldn't tell her before she died.
With one hand around Blake's ribbon, and the other clutching the scroll that allowed her to re-live precious moments with a virtual Blake, the car was gently set into motion, heading toward the cemetery.
Author's note: This didn't end quite how I wanted it to, but overall I'm pleased with it. Reviews are appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this.