The candles on the three armed candelabra flickered, slowly reaching the end of their wicks. Blake didn't bother to change out the candlesticks, hoping to keep the illumination as low as possible. Yang was asleep on the top bulk of their custom made bulk beds, recovering from the fruitless fight team 'RWBY' had tonight. The frustration of having their foe, Torchwick and his new henchman, Neo escape was still coursing through her nerves.
Blake's glance shifted to the right hand corner of her desk, there sat the chipped yet miraculously intact grim mask. How Blake managed to hold onto it during the chaotic events she wasn't sure. The grim mask sat there quietly mocking her. She had left the White Fang no longer willing to be a tool of violence, yet tonight she was very much still roped into that very violence. Worse still Rudy, Weiss, and Yang were being subjected to that violence as well.
Did she make a mistake?
Yang had commented that Ozpin told them not to worry. Between the police and the huntsmen Torchwick and the White Fang would be stopped. Blake expressed her disbelief that such a reality was possible. At the time Blake believed that she knew the White Fang best and she alone had the proper knowledge to stop them. Now Blake knew that she overestimated her talents.
Yes indeed, Blake knew she made a mistake. Thanks to her, team 'RWBY' would have a bull's-eye on its back.
"I don't think it works that way."
Blake's cat ears twitched at the sudden break in silence, she replied back; "what do you mean?"
"If you're trying to set the mask on fire, you really can't do it with just staring at it intently". Blake turned her head towards the direction of the voice, Yang was now sitting upright on her bed, and no doubt the young blonde had been awake for a while observing her.
"Your finally awake, you've been asleep for several hours", Blake stated with an undertone of concern in her voice. Yang jumped from her bunk and tried to straighten the wrinkles that formed on her street clothes upon landing. Yang proceeded to walk over to Blake's desk and leaned against it.
"It takes a bit of recovery time for my body after using high amounts of energy."
"You were pretty amazing out there tonight, thank you for coming to help Sun and me", Blake suddenly began staring at the floor with guilt, "and I'm sorry".
"Sorry…sorry for what?"
"For putting you in a position where you received such damage, I know you can handle it, but it still doesn't make it easy to go through."
"You're right it hurt, but we all have to take some punishment every once in a while; right!" Yang stepped closer to Blake, the movement causing the brunette to look up. "But its how we deal with it is it not? I have the ability to return fire, not just because my powers allow me, but because I can't stand not doing anything."
Yang's glance then turned to the grim mask on the desk. "Did you ever wear one before tonight?"
"Yes a few times, though I never believed in hiding my face to fight for what I believe in."
Yang's hands rose to Blake's head, and gently pulled off the bow hiding the ears underneath. "This may not rest on your face, but Blake, it's still hiding something, and it's still a mask in sense." Yang placed the bow beside the grim mask. "You don't have to hide from us, you're trying we know you are, but you still have to let us in". Yang took a few steps back giving Blake back some of her personal space. If she would succeed in getting the Fauns to talk, it would have to be by giving her back a net of security.
"Don't misunderstand me Yang, I don't want to keep anything from you, I just feel like a failure." Blake's eyes almost clutched completely shut as anxious despair overwhelmed her. "I screwed up, I thought I was able to rise to the occasion, but I just got us involved in something over our heads."
Yang turned to face the opposite wall, her back facing Blake. "Remember when we first meant, Ruby mentioned that I would read to her every night before she went to sleep?" Yang walked over to Weiss's bed, promptly sitting down and facing Blake. "She only wanted a chapter at a time, asked me not to begin the next chapter until the following night, even if there was a cliff hanger.
Blake's eyebrows knitted in confusion as to what the blonde was trying to communicate. Yang flashed Blake a smile and continued her point.
"Yup Ruby actually had some patience when she was a kid. What she doesn't know is that I would stay wake many nights finishing those books". At first I told myself it was to make sure they were appropriate stories for Ruby. But you see Blake, in reality I couldn't put them down because I needed to finish the stories to the very end, no matter if they were happy or not."
Yang quickly rose from the bed and once again approached Blake. "I'm going to see this to the end partner, and I know Rudy and Weiss will too. We're a team and even if tonight wasn't a win, it doesn't mean it is the end of the story." Yang placed her right hand on Blake's shoulder. "What do you say? Can you muster up the courage to see the story through come what may? There's no right or wrong way to go about it."
Blake looked Yang in the eyes, noting that once again her head was above water and she could breathe again. She may not know how all of this would end, but she couldn't allow the magnitude of pain many people would suffer come true if she didn't try. Thankfully Blake knew she would not have to take the journey alone. "Yes, I want to, no, I need to finish this story to the very end as well, Yang.
Yang placed her arm back to her side and a smug grin appeared on her face as if to say: "yea I knew you'd say that."
"So tell me Yang, how did you get so good at pep talks?" Blake questioned the blonde.
"Don't you remember partner? I'm a big sister; I've had lots of practice in this department." Yang responded as she walked over to her closet to put her boots back on. "Now come on let's head over to 'JNPR's' room, I'm sure Ruby's still there playing her board game with them. I'm starving and if we try hard enough I'm sure I can we can get Nora to make pancakes again."
Blake chuckled at the idea, "ok, go on ahead I'm just going to turn off the candles." Yang nodded her head once strongly and walked out of the dorm room. Blake turned to the small mirror on her desk and made a quick job of reapplying the bow over her cat ears. She was about to reach for the candelabra when her eyes once again caught a sight of the grim mask. She reached out her left hand and grabbed the plastic mask and quickly threw in to the trash reciprocal underneath her desk. In her mind she knew that is where the horrible disguise belonged, in the garage with all of her past. Now all that was left was to move forward and work hard to obtain a happy ending. Idealistic, maybe; impossible, hardly. With that thought Blake took the candelabra in her hand and blew out the candles. The sound of her heels hitting the floor echoed as she made her way out the room, advancing team 'RWBY's' story along.