Ruby was pissed. Following the near death experience with the Apathy, she couldn't help but go over the events in her head over and over. Yet, her mind always drifted to Yang, and how her own sister chose to drag Blake to safety instead of her or her uncle Qrow.
"Hey, pull over the cart." Ruby suddenly commanded. Qrow gave her a look then shook his head dismissively before speaking after a quick exhale. "Sorry Ruby, but the sooner we make it to Atlas, the better."
"Qrow, I wasn't asking. You can either go without me, or pull over for five god damn minutes." The air was tense as Qrow brought the cart to a slow halt as Ruby stepped down, ignoring the concerned looks her friends gave as she focused on Yang.
"Yang. Follow me." Ruby turned and walked into the forest, not bothering to see if Yang was even listening.
"What is her problem?" Yang asked her team, but none had a solid answer. Maria looked up at the darkening sky, snow starting to come down more than before. "You best hurry, we shouldn't stay out long in this weather."
Yang exhaled before quickly following the footprints in the snow, spotting Ruby sitting on a tree stump in the middle of a snow covered field, her cloak billowing lightly in the wind. Yang knew that things were tense between their team, but she had hoped things would turn back to normal after they reunited.
"Sooo.." Yang began apprehensively, "What's on your mind sis?" Ruby looked up from the snow, shooting a glare at Yang. "Don't call me that."
Yang was officially taken aback, a hand shooting up to cover her shocked expression. "Excuse me?" Lilac eyes quickly turned to red. "I am your sister, nothing will change that!" Ruby scoffed and stood up, turning to face Yang. "Nothing? How about leaving me and Qrow for dead back in the cabin?"
Red shifted back to lilac before setting on red again, Yang's expression turning defensive. "What the hell are you talking about? I didn't leave anyone for dead, you and Qrow made it out safe. Weiss was right there too."
"What if we hadn't huh? We don't know anything about my silver eyes. I could have fainted from exhaustion after I got up those steps and Qrow was nearly black out drunk! Was Maria supposed to drag one of us out? Weiss would never choose Qrow over me, we could have both died. Instead you chose to save Blake!" Tears streamed down Ruby's face, her fists clenched and shaking lightly.
Yang opened her mouth to defend herself, before feeling a stinging sensation across her cheek, her brain taking a second to register what just happened. Anger quickly drained from Yang's face, replaced by shock and a steadily growing feeling of guilt.
"Is Blake more important to you than your own family? She ran away, but you're the one who pushed us away, after we tried to reach you after you lost your arm. You didn't even say you loved me back before I left for Haven. What do you have to say, huh? What's your excuse!?"
Tears streamed down Yang's face, her reddned lilac eyes failing to meet their silver counterpart. "I-it was just a reflex. I thought you would be okay, and I was worried about Blake.." She looked up to try and meet Ruby's eyes, the hurt expression on her sister's face making her regret looking. "Please Ruby, I swear I love and care about you and Qrow! I didn't think anything would happen to either of you!"
Ruby's gaze drifted to the snow covering the forest floor, a quiet shaky exhale going past her lips as she wiped her eyes. Yang's hand on her shoulder made her recoil away, trying not to let how upset it made Yang get to her. "I know she's your partner, and we have to take care of each other, but you have to understand how it feels for me. A month ago and neither of you were on speaking terms. You probably would have knocked her teeth out if she tried to come back into your life while you were still in your early days of recover. Then she shows up out of the blue at Haven, and suddenly she's the first person you think to rescue after ALL of us nearly died fighting those monsters?"
Ruby gripped the front of Yang's outfit, her knuckles turning white as she faced her directly. "Just answer my own question, and we'll head back to the others." Yang slowly nodded her head, hating that she had put her baby sister through this and wanting nothing more than to make it up to her.
"If it had been the other way around, if you had stumbled out of the cellar, barely a couple feet away from those grim, and I had ran out with Weiss without a second thought or looked back and left you to drag everyone else to safety, would you have been upset?" Ruby's grip faltered slightly on Yang's jacket, never thinking a situation like this would happen in a million years. A small whimper escaped her lips as she lightly shook Yang. "Just answer the damn question.. please."
She wished she could lie to her, tell Ruby exactly what she wanted to hear, but she couldn't. "I..I would have been angry, okay? But-" Ruby shoved Yang away, clenching her fist. "No buts"
Ruby took several steps away from Yang, wiping her eyes and inhaling deeply before exhaling. "I love you Yang, but if you ever leave ANY of us behind again, I won't hesitate to find someone we can actually trust to have our backs." Yang stared at the floor, her vision quickly becoming obscured by her tears. "I won't leave you behind, or anyone else, I promise!"
They stood in silence, both wiping their eyes and trying to calm down before heading back to their team to continue their journey. Ruby started to walk back in the direction they came, stopping to look back at Yang, "I love you, okay? But I need my teammate here for me, for all of us. If we have any chance at taking down Salem, it's together." Ruby faced forward, marching through the snow that was coming down harder with each passing minute. Yang followed behind her, her fists clenched as she vowed to herself to never let Ruby down again. She'd be a teammate they can all rely on, and more importantly, a better sister to Ruby.