The argument downstairs escalated into a shouting match. Ruby's ears were sore from the grindy rock music hitting her skin at the speed of sound. It was almost funny, how quickly it had all fallen apart. She put on her favorite album—Thunder, Lightning, Strike by The Go! Team—and waited for the walls to stop shaking.
When Ruby was halfway through her second run of the album, her door creaked open. Yang, red-eyed and stiff, came in and casually invaded her bed the way she always had, even when they were kids. Ruby took her headphones off. She could still pick out the lyrics of the song, even as the quiet hum of the music hardly stirred the air. Yang listened, too.
"Where does music go when it isn't heard?" she asked. Ruby turned off her mp3 player. It didn't seem like Yang was enjoying her music much.
"Well, what happened? Did he let you keep the puppy?" Ruby asked. Yang pushed air out of her mouth in a rush and smiled, a sickly facsimile of laughter. She flopped back onto Ruby's thick red comforter with her arms spread wide as a crucifix.
"This wasn't about Zwei, Rubles. This is about Blake." Yang's arms crept to her stomach, fingers digging in tightly, pushing as if she was trying to give birth to the secret instead of just speak it into words. Ruby made a face.
"What? Blake's been your best friend since you were like six! Why would Dad be mad about her? She's practically family at this point." Ruby tucked her legs in and held a pillow to herself. Yang looked like she was dying, sweating and holding herself as she lay there.
"Ruby, you know how we used to joke that Blake and I were going to get married and stuff? When we were like, in middle school?"
"Sure. I'm not really sure what has to do with this, though." Ruby dropped the pillow into her lap. "I'm confused," she announced. "Please tell me what's going on?" Yang sucked in her deepest breath yet, and closed her eyes.
"Blake and I, uh. We actually want to do that."
"Wait, you mean get married?"
"Yes, Ruby."
"Like, the gay way?"
"Yes, Ruby."
"Oh." It was raining outside. Ruby's window was open, so the sound and smell of its falling kept drifting in, filling up the silence that stretched between the two sisters. The rain fell hard on the shingles, like bullet casings from an war in the clouds. "So...Dad is angry?"
"Oh, yeah. Like, he wants me out of the house, angry. I wasn't going to tell you, but I wanted you to know before I leave." Ruby held up a hand.
"First of all, come here." Yang sat up, her face already looking better. Ruby gave her the tightest hug she could manage, burying her face in Yang's shoulder. "I'm really sorry," she muttered, muffled by Yang's shirt. "If I'd known I could have helped."
"Don't worry. I didn't want to stress you out." Ruby nodded, eyes damp.
"And second, you aren't going anywhere without me."
To call what they did "packing" would have been a gross exaggeration. They stuffed a suitcase each, filled a duffel bag with toiletries, and ran their things out to the car in the rain, trying to make as little noise as possible. They need not have worried. Taiyang Xiao Long was a heavy sleeper, and they had learned a long time ago how to sneak around at night. Once the car was fully packed, Yang stopped Ruby at the front door.
"Rubles," she said, "you don't have to do this. You can stay. I'll call all the time, I'll send letters, I'll hitchhike back to see you if I have to. You don't have to choose between me and your home."
"It's not a home without my sister," Ruby said. "Wherever you go, I've got your back." Yang smiled. There had been plenty of tears that night, and a few more slid down her cheeks to join the raindrops.
"Thanks." Yang locked the door behind them and left the house key on the Welcome mat. Then they ran to Yang's Prius, threw the doors open, and launched themselves inside before more than a few drops of rain could moisten them. The car started up quietly, less noisy even than the rain. They pulled away with a strange feeling of freedom, and fear. The world seemed much larger now that they had no place to return to.
Blake lived in a cottage in the woods on the other side of town, choked off by a thick copse of pine trees. When they pulled up Blake's driveway, she was already waiting on her porch with a black corgi in her lap and a small suitcase at her side. Yang ran out to help Blake, even though she wasn't even carrying much, and when they embraced and kissed, the rain that Yang had scurried away from earlier seemed like it didn't matter to her at all.
Twenty minutes later they were on the highway.
"I didn't know Ruby would be coming," Blake said, after a few miles of listening to the radio.
"I didn't either," said Yang and Ruby, together. Blake laughed, but the sound was quiet and slurred. It had been a long night. They were all exhausted.
"Yeah, I guess I probably should have. You two are totally inseparable." Ruby squirmed in the backseat. Zwei was asleep and snoring softly next to her, and she scratched his head, frowning.
"Where are we going to stay?" she asked. Blake took a deep breath.
"Well, for now we're going to be driving for a while. Probably sleeping in the car, 'cause I don't have money to stay someplace every night. But the end goal is Georgia." Yang nodded, keeping her eyes on the road.
"Blake inherited a house from an old friend who died in Afghanistan. She just turned eighteen, so it's in her name and everything. All we have to do is move in. And who's going to come looking for us all the way across the country?"
"Uncle Qrow, probably," Ruby said. "But that's okay. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Blake agreed with a soft noise closer to a sigh than anything. Ruby fell out shortly after, curling up with Zwei across the whole backseat. Yang stopped at a gas station, bought an energy drink, and kept going.
Lightning flared in the distant clouds, casting harsh white light over the empty highway. Yang knew the road would be long, and that the other two would be relying on her to take care of them through all the long nights like this one. She kept her eyes on the road and turned the radio off, letting gentle snoring remind her of why she came out all this way. She was going to be happy. She was going to be okay.
She opened her window a crack to hear the wind whistling, and dreamed of red Georgia clay.