"It's ok, Ruby. It's me. It's Yang."
She held her hand out to the crouching beowolf, watched as it sniffed at the offered appendage, and felt the hot breath scorching her numb fingers as it drew closer. Yang kept her body relaxed against the tree as she did her best to appear as nonthreatening as possible.
It was quiet around them. No birds sang, no squirrels scampered along the tree branches, nothing disturbed the silent snow covered forest. She watched without making a sound as silver eyes studied her, wondering what the recognition she saw in them meant.
Inside the beowolf, a battle raged between two opposing sides. One was that of rage and fury that demanded the death of the human before it. The other was confused and frightened as it sought to remember the girl with the long yellow hair and lilac eyes. It wavered back and forth, torn apart from the inside out.
It licked at the dry blood on its muzzle and an image of Weiss laying on the ground in a pool of blood, blue eyes open and unseeing, flashed into Yang's mind. She banished the image away. She needed to be aware in the here and now, she would have time later to grieve for what she had lost.
A low growl started deep in the beowolfs throat as its ear flattened against its head the its hackles rose. Yang offered only a small smile. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, exposing her neck to the beast. She could think of worse ways to die and she could think of better ways as well. At least, if she died now, she wouldn't have to deal with the aftermath of what happened.
The growling stopped and the beowolf let out a low whine as it pressed its head into Yang's palm. She opened her eyes and made a light cooing noise, patting her chest as she pet the beast's head. It moved forward and laid down on its side next to her, resting its head against her. She ran her fingers through its warm, red fur as she hummed softly a song that Summer had song when she was little.
"That's right, Ruby. It'll be ok. Yaya has you. Yaya has you."
The beowolf closed its eyes. The two sides inside of it still vided for control, but right then and there it felt safe and secure. It came as a surprise, then, when a sudden pressure around its throat cut off its ability to breath. It reached up to its neck and found the cold metal of Ember Celica wrapped tight around it. Its struggle at first was hesitant, but grew more desperate when it realized that the grip was only growing tighter. It bucked and thrashed, doing all it could to throw the human from its back. But Yang's arms where as strong as iron and her legs where locked tight around its waist.
As the seconds ticked by, the beowolf's struggles grew weaker and weaker until, after a few minutes had passed, it stopped moving all together. Yang kept her choke hold for moment more, at least until she was certain that the beast- no, until Ruby wouldn't get back up, wouldn't hurt anyone else.
She pulled herself up into a kneeling position and moved her sister's head so that it rested in her lap. She stroked Ruby's thick fur while she hummed the same tone from before, only now it was broken up with pained gasps and shuddering breaths. Memories of her little sister began to flit through Yang's mind; Ruby as a baby and reaching up to play with her hair, Ruby as a little girl and carrying a puppy in her arms, Ruby as a teen with excited silver eyes as they arrived at Beacon, Ruby looking up at her in fear as her body...as...as she...
The pain came like razor blades cutting through her heart, each going deeper than the last. It crushed her soul with grief and sorrow, guilt twisting her insides until she couldn't remember anything beyond it. Her sister was gone, dead by her own hands. For Yang Xiao Long, whose life she had dedicated to protecting Ruby, there was simply nothing left for her. So she did the only thing that she could.
She bowed her head and she cried.
Author's note: Was feeling sad. Wrote this. Will respond to reviews as I see them. Thanks for reading.