Disclaimer: RWBY and all affiliated characters/titles belong to Rooster Teeth, those wonderful geniuses.
Pyrrha clenched and unclenched her hands nervously. She was waiting for Yang to come back, both anticipating and dreading her girlfriend's return. She knew that once she was here and Pyrrha could get this terrible weight off of her chest that it wouldn't be that bad. What hurt most was the waiting…the waiting was killing her. Her head was filling with all sorts of terrible possibilities, dreadful outcomes, horrible horrible things. She and Yang had been together a long time now, longer than most teenage couples, she had to trust her.
Pyrrha had told Yang one night, early on, that this was her first relationship, that she was worried she would do something wrong or mess up, but Yang just laughed and kissed her on the forehead. The blonde beauty said she didn't mind, what if she did now?
She glanced sideways at the small picture frame resting on her nightstand. It was she and Yang from way back at the start of their relationship when Yang had taken her to that Achievement Hunter concert. That was the show they got kicked out of because Yang almost killed someone. It was also the night they had kissed for the first time.
Things had been so much simpler for them back then, when things weren't so busy in their day to day lives, when they could focus on each other. It seemed like everyday had been exciting and new and like nothing could get in between them. Now sitting down to have a talk with Yang about how much she cared for her and how much she was worried about her was turning Pyrrha into a nervous wreck. Had something changed between them? Was this just what a mature relationship was like? Was this what she had to look forward to in the future? There were so many questions running through her mind that she almost didn't catch Yang's steps as she came back from training.
The brawler could be heard treading down the hallway long before she reached the doors to Team JNPR and RWBY's adjacent dorms. But, as lost in thought as she was, the familiar noise managed to catch her completely off guard. Pyrrha's entire body went tense at the noise. It was unmistakably Yang, quick and upbeat but heavy with the weight of her muscled body. It wasn't quiet like Blake, light like Weiss or scattered like Ruby. It wasn't thudding like Nora, clumsy like Jaune or carefully measured like Ren. It was definitely Yang. Perfectly identifiable as uniquely her, like so many other things, all the things Pyrrha loved about her.
She took a few slow, deep breaths to steady herself. Pyrrha had been waiting for almost half an hour, just sitting here on the bed like she was about to give Yang some terrible news. It wasn't terrible, it was an honest concern and one that Pyrrha, as Yang's girlfriend, felt she had to voice. Yang was too reckless in battle, too headstrong. She needed to calm down and take a more conservative style before she was seriously injured. Sure, her style was effective, deadly, beautiful- Pyrrha shook her head to clear her thoughts, she was getting distracted.
As incredible as it was, Yang's fighting style was also dangerous, foolhardy, and explosive. She needed to calm down or something terrible was going to happen. Pyrrha had no idea what she would do if anything ever happened to that beautiful girl.
"Hey gorgeous, miss me?" The door to Team JNPR's dorm swung open, a resounding thud echoing off the wall where it hit. Yang entered with a flourish, swinging her left arm wide as she stepped into the room, her right arm suspended in a loose sling across her chest.
"Oh my Oum! Yang!" Pyrrha rushed forward and laid her hands tenderly on Yang's arm. She wanted to clutch the big idiot to her, hold her close to make sure she was safe. But, she didn't want to risk jarring the injury, or risk hurting her further. The injury didn't look overly severe, there was no cast, no stitches that she could see, just the sling. "What happened?" Pyrrha finally raised her eyes from the injured arm to Yang's brilliant lilac eyes.
"It was no big deal, really." Yang laughed. How could she laugh at something like this? She should be in the infirmary having her arm looked at, not here, laughing at serious matters. "Just a little training accident with Nora." Yang reached forward to give Pyrrha a hug around her shoulders, being sure to move her injured arm out of the way.
Pyrrha begrudgingly allowed the show of affection, leaning into Yang's arm just slightly. She still couldn't believe that Yang had managed to hurt herself right before Pyrrha was going to tell her how worried she was that she was going to hurt herself. She would try to fathom the chances, but with the way Yang trained and fought, they were actually quite high.
"Yang, you have to be more careful." Pyrrha pulled out of the hug and trained her eyes on Yang's. "I don't like seeing you get hurt."
She lifted a single hand to Yang's cheek and traced her thumb across her cheek bone. Those beautiful, beautiful eyes didn't reflect the same love Pyrrha was trying to convey though.
"I'm fine, really Pyrrha." Yang pulled her cheek away and rolled her eyes, used to Pyrrha's concerns at this point. Pyrrha's hand dropped through the air, falling weakly against her thigh. "It's just training. It happens." Yang moved back to the door and leaned down to undo her boots with her single good hand.
"But it happens so often." Pyrrha stepped up behind Yang but didn't touch her. She had pulled away and Pyrrha would not chase after her. Not this time. "Don't you ever worry that one accident might be serious?"
"Do you?" Yang spun up from the ground to face her, one boot half undone. "Being a Huntress is dangerous Pyrrha. It's part of the job description." Yang groaned in frustration and kicked off her boot. It flew a short distance and thunked dully against the base of Ren's bed.
"It doesn't have to be dangerous every single day. You could fight a little more reserved. Adopt a more defensive style, like mine." Pyrrha didn't even follow Yang as she began to pace back and forth, still wearing only a single shoe. "You just charge in, so recklessly…" Pyrrha faltered to a stop. She had not wanted to just soapbox at Yang. Sometimes she got so stubborn though, and she felt like a good lecture would be the only way to get through to her.
"You want me to fight more like you?" Yang stopped pacing and raised her voice. "Not everyone is as good as you Pyrrha. We can't all be the invincible girl!"
Pyrrha took a step back from Yang, her eyes dropped to the ground and Yang's shoulders immediately relaxed. She had realized her mistake, realized what she had said, but that didn't take the sting away. "Pyrrha I didn't-"
"No Yang, you're right." Pyrrha turned away. She knew that Yang would have that terribly sad, regretful look on her face but she didn't want to see it right now. How could she have said that to her? She wasn't invincible, far from it. Pyrrha had been gifted with incredible skill and talent far beyond most of her peers but she was still just another huntress. She fought carefully, intelligently, correctly. The way she wished Yang would fight.
"None of us are invincible. That's why I worry about you so much. I worry that you're too headstrong and you're going to get yourself hurt. Badly." Pyrrha could feel the emotion building in her chest. How was this getting so out of hand? She had some pretty terrible ideas about what might happen when she confronted Yang, but a fight like this. Not even in her wildest nightmares had she considered this possibility.
"Seriously? I'm too headstrong?! You're the one who fought all of Team CRDL!" Her regret turning swiftly back into offense taken at Pyrrha's comment.
"That wasn't my choice Yang. You know Professor Goodwitch asked me to." Pyrrha turned on Yang, anger seeping into her own voice now. "And I still managed to get out of the arena unharmed. That's more than I can say for your match with Coco last week."
"Coco is an upperclassman, with more experience than you and I put together, did you expect me to come out unscathed?!" Yang's voice rose in both pitch and volume, still only wearing one shoe.
"Whose idea was it to fight her in the first place? Maybe you shouldn't go around biting off more than you can chew." Pyrrha crossed her arms in anger. How could Yang be so stubborn about this when she was so clearly wrong. She left matches injured and Pyrrha didn't. It was really that simple.
"Why are you so put out over this? We're supposed to train with tougher opponents to get better for when we face the real monsters. You can't expect to get better at fighting by sparring with Jaune all day." Yang glared, bringing her lover's partner into this was probably a bad idea, but how could Pyrrha insult her fighting style? What was wrong with it? Everyone had a different way of fighting, a unique flavor, her own was up close and personal, the way she liked it.
"Training against tougher enemies doesn't mean throwing ourselves into the lion's den!" Pyrrha walked forward and stood toe to toe with Yang, "And don't you dare bring Jaune's training into this. You know I'm just doing that so we don't lose our leader out in the field like how you almost lost your sister at Mountain Glen." Pyrrha felt bad for bringing up Ruby, she really did. But, if Yang was going to attack her in her most vulnerable places, then so would she. Yang was protective, overly so, and criticizing that maternal instinct would hurt more than anything else, even more than that stupid broken arm.
"I have been taking care of Ruby since we were children. I was watching her everyday before you ever won your first tournament. Don't you ever tell me I failed to protect her when you know I'd give my life for hers!" Yang was now seething, her semblance turning her eyes dark red at the comment on Ruby's safety and ability.
"And you would probably throw it away without needing to, the way you fight. You'd do something stupid like jump in front of a Death Stalker and try to catch the stinger." She jabbed her finger in Yang's face. "What good is a life if it's wasted?" Pyrrha glanced sideways at the open door and sudden apprehension struck her.
She was sure everyone could hear them, that everyone was listening. But then she realized, she didn't particularly care at this point. They had come too far to just stop because other people could hear. They never got any privacy at this school, maybe that's why all this anger had built up beneath the surface.
"I can take care of myself Pyrrha." Yang started in an eerily calm voice that quickly escalated, and slapped Pyrrha's hand out of her face with force that sent the redhead off balance. "I am not wasting my life! And I don't need you telling me that I'm doing something wrong, when I am trying my best!" She spat each word, letting her anger out with as much control as she could, holding herself back.
"Well I'm sorry," Pyrrha's head dropped to look at the hand Yang had slapped away, she knew they were beyond the point of no return. "But maybe I had a mother who raised me right, and I'm trying to pass some of that on to you." Pyrrha snapped her head up to stare Yang in the eye. Now she could see that familiar flame; what she had thought was so incredibly fierce and attractive before was now terrifying and heartbreaking.
Yang's eyes widened, and for a moment they turned light violet again, only for the red to return darker than ever. Flames started to flicker on her arms and in her hair, threatening to burst into an inferno that Pyrrha had seen countless times before, including their first date.
Pyrrha brought her suddenly shaking arms to her chest in a defensive stance, was Yang going to attack her? She didn't want to hurt her, that was the exact opposite of what she had been trying to achieve in the beginning, but, if she lunged, she would have no choice but to defend herself.
But the flames suddenly disappeared. Yang's eyes, once crimson with rage directed at Pyrrha, faded to a dark violet and began to shimmer dully with...tears? Pyrrha watched as they rolled freely down Yang's cheeks, something she had never seen before, and splashed against her chest and hit the floor.
"I told you everything about both of my mothers because I trusted you, Pyrrha. I thought you were someone that understood that part of me. The reasons I fight at all." Yang sniffed, and wiped her eyes on her sleeve and then her expression went cold. "I guess I was wrong. Thanks for nothing Pyrrha." She stormed out of JNPR's dorm without her other shoe, slamming the door behind her and leaving a very distraught Pyrrha alone.
The sound of Yang's departure, the door being shut, the lock clicking over, the silence she left. It felt so final, so absolute. Pyrrha was left staring at the spot her girlfriend had just been, littered with the tear stains Yang had left. The spot she may never see her standing in again.
Pyrrha refused to just stand there and take that kind of abuse. She scooped Yang's discarded combat boot up off the ground, tore the door open and hurled the boot across the hall as hard as she could. It hit Team RWBY's door with a thunk that echoed through the halls and Pyrrha slammed the door back shut behind her. She had all this pent up rage and she was not satisfied with that meager representation of her anger. She stomped across the room to her nightstand and scooped up the picture of her and Yang.
It was only two steps to the window, and in her anger Pyrrha nearly ripped the whole thing off the wall as she threw it open with her semblance. She hefted the picture behind her and went to throw it, but she caught Yang's face out of the corner of her eye. Remorse shot through her like lightning, she lowered the picture in front of her and rubbed her thumb slowly across Yang's image. She was a big, blonde, beautiful knucklehead, but she had been hers.
Yang taught her intense new feelings she didn't know existed, and was patient with Pyrrha since the beginning, which meant so much to her, since the blonde was usually so stubborn. They were going to be Huntresses together, and always fight side by side, protecting all of Remnant, and each other. They had both promised, and sealed that promise with a kiss that symbolized all the good things that were still to come for them.
But now she had ruined it. She used the secrets that Yang had told her with love and understanding, and turned them into an insult against her and took their fight over the edge. Pyrrha slumped backwards onto her bed and collapsed onto her back facing the ceiling. With a small whimper she dropped her arms across her face and began to cry.
A/N - Alright, there's the first chapter of what I hope to be a very exciting project. This story is my first collaborative work with the wonderful FutureHangover and it's gonna be awesome, I can tell.
Hey all of Zach's lovely readers, my name is actually Anastasia. Have fun attempting to pronounce that, I'm used to people getting it wrong so no worries. Writing this was incredibly fun, and we've got more in the works too, so hold on.
I usually suck at finishing stories on my own, but my amazing friend here offered to write this with me and give some pointers, and I can't wait for this to keep going.
So, there it is everyone. It's a bit of an experiment for us. The plot is non-linear, we're writing collaboratively, and it's Greek Fire. All in all it's very new and exciting for us. That being said, it won't update quite as often as my usual stuff. We will aim for one a week but may go a little faster. At the very least, count on a chapter every Sunday.
We've got lives too, and as mentioned, it is quite new to the both of us. Plus we don't even live in the same time zone, exciting. Canada babyyyyy, we actually met over this site. I reviewed Clubbin', he messaged me back, and now we're best buds. Not everyone on the internet is scary. That aside, we do promise to try our best to not let anyone down.
We really hope you read it, we really hope you like it. Absolutely cannot wait to hear from you and see what you think (we promise it's not all fighting…). Thanks so much!
-Zach
~Anastasia