Chapter 4
Rebuilding
Brooke POV
Not long after I agreed to stay with the girls, Yang went to the kitchen to make some actual food, my first real meal in several weeks. Blake went with her, and I noticed the two holding hands again. I had assumed that the squeezes on the couch were for comfort through the difficult stories. Was there something more to the two?
Ruby was very interested to learn more about me and my fighting style.
"So if you've got combat training, do you have a semblance?" the younger girl asked excitedly.
I nodded. "It's a bit hard to explain with words, so I'll have to show you. Not right now, though. I definitely don't have enough energy for that right now."
I looked up at the IV bag, still on the coatrack. It was nearly gone, only about a quarter remaining. I still felt like I was extremely weak, despite doing nothing but sleeping for two weeks. I needed this real food inside of me.
I heard footsteps dancing gently up some stairs in another room. Light footed and delicate. I guessed Blake, as I couldn't imagine Yang as ever walking delicately.
"There's another floor?" I asked, glancing up at the ceiling.
Ruby nodded. "Three floors, including the basement. But that's pretty much just the holding room. Upstairs are the bedrooms and the bathroom, and this floor has the living room and the kitchen. Blake's probably clearing out her old room for you."
"Her old room?" I raised an eyebrow.
Ruby and Weiss exchanged a smug look.
"Yang and Blake share a room; they have for almost the entire time Blake's been here." Weiss chuckled.
I thought about the hand-holding that they had done as they left the room. "Are they… together?"
Ruby laughed a little. "They fell for each other within like, weeks of meeting each other. Practically inseparable. Blake moved herself into Yang's room shortly after. There's still a couple things in the old room, but probably not much."
"Huh. Okay." I nodded.
Ruby let out a small yawn as she looked towards the window. "Man, I'm exhausted. It's so late."
"But it's… morning? I think?" I asked, glancing in between the blinds of the window. My eyes had finally readjusted to sunlight, at least in this smaller amount. The sun was out, that much I knew, and it wasn't late at night.
"We work and live nocturnally. Crime comes out at night, as do we. We usually sleep during the day, or through the morning, at least. The two of us were on patrol last night."
I opened my mouth to ask another question, but my ears twitched at the sounds coming from the kitchen. There was a smashing of pans, as it sounded like several toppled to the ground. This was almost instantly followed by the fluttering of steps down the stairs, and a call from the kitchen.
"I'm good!" Yang yelled.
My sensitive wolf ears heard Blake sigh at the blonde. "Literally, how, Yang. How did you manage that?"
I chuckled slightly, readjusting myself in the chair, grabbing my tail and wrapping it around my waist. I had been wondering how two girls, so different in personality, could be together. But they balanced each other out.
Blake came through the door to the living room, shaking her head. She carried two bowls of pasta in her hands, and handed one to myself. "The sauce is reheated from the other day, but the pasta's fresh."
My stomach let out the largest growl as I looked down at the large bowl of spaghetti. I couldn't give a damn when the sauce was made. I was just so happy to have real food in my hands.
"Thanks," I said quickly, digging into the food.
Ruby and Weiss left for the kitchen to get food for themselves.
"Yang! You dolt!" I heard Weiss shriek from the kitchen, followed by Ruby bursting out into laughter, unable to stop.
I took a breath and looked up from my food as Yang re-entered the room with her own food. I nearly choked on the food in my mouth when I saw her appearance.
Yang had pot donned on top of her head. Around her neck was an apron that read the classic "Kiss The Chef", but Yang had used tomato sauce to write the words "Only The Kitty May" just before the rest of the classic line.
Blake looked up and saw the new addition to Yang's apron. With a shake of her head and a sigh, she shuffled over on the couch to let the goofy blonde take the seat next to her. Yang placed her bowl down on the coffee table, a silly grin on her face, she leaned in to hug her girlfriend.
"Yang! The sauce!" Blake squealed out, unable to escape Yang's grasp.
"You can't be mad at me!" the blonde laughed, the pot tilting on her head. She leaned in and pecked the cat Faunus on the cheek. Blake stopped trying to resist the girl, and just shrugged and smiled at the blonde.
"You aren't wrong."
"There's that smile!" Yang said proudly, and released Blake, an impression of the sauce left on Blake's shirt.
"Yang, that's gross," Weiss hissed as her and Ruby re-entered the room. Ruby let out a small giggle. Weiss glared at the girl, causing Ruby to attempt to contain her laughter, to little avail.
Yang pulled the pot off her head and placed it down on the table. "Would you like a hug too, Weiss?" A goofy and mischievous smile sprawled across the girl's face as she stood up.
Weiss squealed, turning and dashing out of the room. A large, circular, white glyph blocked the door before Yang could get through it.
"Aw, no fair!" Yang pouted.
Ruby was howling with laughter, and even I found myself laughing lightly at the antics of the blonde girl. Blake sighed and shook her head with a smile.
"Come eat. Leave her alone. Without the apron." Blake patted the seat next to her.
Yang glanced around the room for a moment as the glyph disappeared. She walked over to me, untying her apron as she walked. I rose an eyebrow as she approached, but she walked past me, to the coatrack behind me. She hung up the apron, and then bounced happily back over to Blake on the couch.
"Welcome to the team, Brooke. Next time you'll get sauced too," Yang smirked as she sat down on the couch. My face broke out into a soft smile and a chuckle, just before my stomach let out the world's largest growl, and I was distracted by my food once more.
Yang POV
Life carried on fairly normally.
Having Brooke around the house was a little different, but it was fairly easy to get used to. She spent most of her time rebuilding her strength, through eating, sleeping, and basic workouts to build back up the strength in her muscles.
I tried everything I could to make her more comfortable here. It was pretty clear she was still uncomfortable, but her life was sort of in limbo. She didn't have much of a choice as to whether or not she wanted to stay with us, if she wanted to survive, anyways.
Brooke quickly adapted to the nocturnal lifestyle we held. She would wake up in the mid-afternoon with the rest of us, and spend the hours of light hanging out with us in the living room and socializing with us. She would even occasionally cook us some of her old family recipes for Mistral.
When the four of us would leave to patrol shortly before dusk, Brooke would begin her training. We'd helped her set up a training regime to rebuild strength in her muscles, which she stuck to religiously. It became increasingly clear that the Brooke we had come to know was merely a shell of her former self. She prided herself in her ability to rebuild her body from the ground up, and worked endlessly at it.
If she wasn't working out her muscles and building up her strength, she was practicing her fighting in the basement. Once she was strong enough to wield her axe again, she would spend half her nights building up her strength by swinging around her axe, sharpening the blades, and destroying wooden crates we would bring home to her. We still never saw her fight, she only ever did it when we were all out, but the crates we would come home to were finely shredded into thin boards, each strike precise and deadly.
After we'd get home, we'd have ourselves a family dinner, usually in the living room. We'd tell our tales of whatever we had run into that night, and Brooke would tell us whatever she had done that night as well. We'd all go off to bed after dinner, and the day would repeat.
About a month after Brooke began her training, we decided she was ready to start to patrol with us.
On the one particular afternoon, we woke up to the sounds of our alarm clocks blaring through the room.
BEEP. BEEP. BE- I rolled over, slamming my hand down onto alarm clock. I felt the blanket pulled upwards as Blake yanked it over her face.
I rolled back over, looking to cuddle for a bit longer before I forced myself, and Blake, out of bed.
"Blake…" I mumbled with a sleepy voice, fumbling to pull the blanket away from her face.
"I don't wanna get up," she groaned.
"Just come cuddle with me before we have to." The blanket shot down faster than I could imagine, arms thrusting forward to lock around the back of my neck.
I smiled softly, leaning in for a gentle kiss on her forehead. "There she is."
Blake nuzzled her head into my neck, her bare ears tickling my nose. The fur made me give out a little sneeze, of which I tried to not get on Blake, but failed.
"Yang, gross…" Blake murmured, still too sleepy to release herself from my grasp.
"Sorry," I said with a small smirk she couldn't see. She was so precious, asleep in my arms.
Blake pulled away a little bit, coming face to face with me. Looking into her deep amber eyes, I felt at peace.
There was a brisk, happy, little knock at our door, interrupting our moment. I knew the pattern of the knock anywhere. It was Ruby.
Blake groaned and rolled over, releasing my neck, and pulling the covers back over her head. She definitely wasn't a morning, well, afternoon person. I sighed and got up, throwing on some slippers and stretching.
I walked over to the door, hair messy, still half asleep, and opened it.
My little sister was standing there in her pajamas, with a smile on her face. "We're having a house meeting in ten minutes down in the living room!" She spoke excitedly yet quietly, as Brooke's door was still closed, meaning she was still fast asleep. We hadn't been able to get our hands on an alarm clock for her yet, so she normally woke up whenever we got her up. Brooke was a really heavy sleeper, and usually only I could wake her up by banging heavily on her door.
"Okay, okay," I muttered, turning around to wake up Blake as Ruby headed to Weiss's room, to make Weiss aware of the meeting as well.
I gently shut the door behind me, walking over to Blake's side of the bed. I sat down next to the girl, who was still curled up in a ball, head under the covers.
"Ruby called a house meeting in 10 minutes. We gotta get up and get ready." I said as I gently pulled back the covers from the top of her head.
"I heard," Blake grumbled, pouting as I revealed her face. I looked down at her and smiled, which forced her to blush and smile back. She sat up, leaning in to give me a kiss, before pulling the covers off of herself entirely.
I stood up from the bed, getting myself ready for the day. Blake did the same, a little slower, a little sleepier, and definitely cuter. Her hands fumbled to properly tie her ribbon over her ears, so I stopped brushing my hair to help her.
"There, my sleepy kitten. Cute as always." I kissed the top of her head once I finished tying the bow in place, just how she liked it.
I glanced over at the clock. It had been 9 minutes since Ruby had come to the door. Sighing, I picked up my brush, preparing to brush my hair during the meeting.
"I need some tea before this meeting, or I will not make it through," Blake grumbled as she followed me through the narrow halls and down the stairs to the main hallway.
To Blake's excitement, Weiss had already set out morning drinks for us on the coffee table, coffee for her and myself, tea for Blake, and hot chocolate for Ruby. Blake immediately picked up her tea, her face instantly getting a little less sleepy and miserable looking.
I wrapped my free hand around my coffee and sat down, cross-legged on the couch. "So, Rubes, what's up?"
My sister crashed onto one of the large chairs, hot chocolate in hand. "I think Brooke's ready."
"Go on," Blake said, sipping away at her tea.
"This morning, Weiss and I came back early. We watched her working out through one of the windows. She never saw us, but we saw her. She's strong, able to bench press her weapon, and let me tell you that thing is hea-vy, and we think she's ready to join us on patrols," Ruby said as Weiss nodded in agreement.
"You haven't talked to her about this yet?" Blake asked.
Ruby shook her head. "We wanted to check with the two of you first. Figured we'd do it this afternoon while she was still asleep."
"If she's ready and willing, I'm all in," I declared as I took another sip of my coffee, running my brush through my hair.
"She needs some new clothes first," Blake said. The three of us turned and looked at her in a moment of confusion at her statement.
"Her clothes are old and tattered. She's been wearing our old clothes since she's gotten here. We've gotta hide her ears and tail, but that cloak is way too suspicious. People around here know Ruby, Little Red, as some call her, but some tall weird figure walking around in a dark brown cloak at night? We'll get calls about our own partner. We've gotta take her clothes shopping first." Blake finished with another sip of her tea.
"Blake's right," I sighed, "but where are we going to find a shop around here that will tailor to well, a tail? None of the shops left cater to Faunus."
"How are we going to hide her ears and tail? Her ears aren't like Blake's, a bow would look out of place, and it doesn't mash with her personality. And her tail is huge and bushy. She's going to need something big to cover that up," Weiss spoke, finally commenting on the situation.
"We'll find her a hat here that will cover it well enough until we can get her one specifically for her. She can wear her cloak out, hood down, while we find her a place to go shopping. We could get her a trench coat or something." Blake set her tea down on the table.
I thought for a few moments, and then came up with an idea. "What about that one shop, four blocks down? The owner's brother was married to a Faunus before the two fled Vale. He's always seemed to know with Blake, but he's never said a bad word about it. Always complimenting the bow."
"It's a stretch," Weiss scowled.
"It's the only lead we've got," Blake said, smiling at me.
Blake's eyes shot upwards, towards the upstairs. "She's awake," Blake uttered. The other two looked panicked, scared that Brooke would overreact to such secrecy.
"I'll handle it," I said, standing up as I placed my coffee cup down the table.
I walked over to the bottom of the stairs and yelled up as I walked up. "Hey Brooke! Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?"
There was a beat of silence, followed by the girl's voice yelling back, "Hot chocolate!" I repeated the word down the stairs, continuing my way up.
I walked into my room and put my hairbrush down. Fluffing up my hair a bit in the mirror, I walked back out, as Brooke exited the bathroom.
"Weiss made us all drinks before we woke up as a surprise. Come down as soon as you're ready, we want to have a house meeting," I said to her as I walked past, heading for the steps again.
"House meeting?" Brooke rose an eyebrow.
"Yeah, we have them from time to time, when we need to talk about something in a bit more of a formal matter," I walked backwards as I talked, nearly falling down the stairs.
"Yang! Be careful!" Brooke laughed at me as I caught myself on the railing, spinning around on my heel to get down the stairs.
I came down the stairs to see Weiss placing another cup of hot chocolate on the table and Blake glaring at me, concerned. "What did you do?" she growled.
"Almost fell down the stairs. Just almost, though! I'm fine, see!" I flexed my arms, smiling widely.
Ruby laughed a little, Weiss shook her head with a sigh, and Blake's glare slowly turned to a smile.
"Stop nearly hurting yourself." Blake threw a small pillow that sat on the couch at me.
With fast reflexes, I caught it before it could hit me. I smirked and walked back over to the couch, and plopped down back where I had been before. Blake huffed, sipping away at her tea. I curled my legs up so I could lean against her on the couch, and her expression softened a bit.
Heavier footsteps came down the stairs. Brooke entered the room, wearing the usual clothes, an old pair of my sweatpants with a hole cut out the back for her large, bushy tail, and one of Blake's old shirts. Blake was right. She really did need new clothes. Brooke yawned, stretching as she hit at the bottom of the stairs.
"G'morning," Brooke said as she stumbled towards the hot chocolate waiting for her on the table. She took a seat in one of the large chairs and took a long sip.
"So, house meeting?" Brooke said as she wrapped her fingers around the mug.
"Well, Brooke, we've got a question for you." Ruby sat up in her chair, her legs dangling over the edge of her seat. "How would you feel about starting to join us on patrols?"
Brooke looked a little bit confused, but smiled. "I'd love to. I think I'm ready."
"We've gotta get you some new clothes first," I piped in.
Brooke rose an eyebrow.
"Your old clothes were pretty torn and tattered. You've been wearing our old clothes, which we really don't mind, but if you're joining us out on patrol… People can't know you're a Faunus." Blake sighed, setting down her tea mug.
Brooke maintained a puzzled look for a few moments, but nodded in realization. "How are we going to go about that?"
"We know of a place where the owner once had a Faunus in his family by marriage, before the takeover of the White Fang. The guy's always been friendly about it, and we think he'd be okay to make you some custom clothes," I explained to Brooke, as she sipped her hot chocolate.
A look of genuine fear struck Brooke's eyes, the same fear that she woke up with all those weeks ago. "What if he isn't okay? What if he turns me in?"
"He's not going to," Blake said firmly, fire in her eyes. "If he tried to turn you in, he would never receive protection from us again. He'd be blacklisted in the neighborhood, and he'd go out of business, either to crime or lack of sales. Anyone who supported him would be on our hit list. If he's smart, it won't have to come to that."
I placed a hand on Blake's. Her hand had balled into a fist. She was very serious.
Brooke swallowed and nodded. She still looked scared, but Blake's sincere answer calmed her down a little.
"You're one of us now, Brooke. We protect our own." Ruby smiled warmly at Brooke, pushing some more of the fear in Brooke's eyes away.
"So when do we leave?" Brooke asked, placing her hot chocolate on the table.
"As soon as we find a temporary hat to cover your ears with." Blake stood up from her seat.
"I've got some old caps in my room. Dad's old things." I stood up with her.
"Finish your hot chocolate, we'll find some stuff for you to wear to the store." Ruby jumped up, heading for the stairs.
"There's one problem," Brooke said, looking down at her drink. We stopped and turned quickly towards her.
"What's that?" I rose an eyebrow.
"I don't have any money…" Brooke didn't look up from her hot chocolate.
"Neither do we," Blake said, as Brooke's head jerked up in confusion.
"We don't pay for anything around here. We protect the shops and the people, the people give us resources when we need things. We don't use them often, so when we do, they know it's necessary," I explained to Brooke.
Brooke's brow furrowed for a moment, thinking. "But I haven't helped anyone yet."
"You're one of us now, Brooke. You're one of us, and we aren't going to leave you behind. Just because you haven't helped anyone yet doesn't mean you won't, and if a shopkeeper sees you're one of us, they're going to treat you like one of us," Blake reassured her.
There was something about Blake's voice that was overly serious. Her stance was tall and her shoulders were broad. She spoke as if she was giving a speech. I thought back to her youth, before the fall of Vale, when she was a White Fang member, protesting for equality. That part of her had never really left, the part of her that wanted to look out for her fellow Faunus and see that they were treated fairly. She was proud and defiant, insisting that nothing bad would happen to Brooke with her around. I used to wonder how someone like her could have ever gotten involved with an organization like the White Fang, but things weren't always the way they are now. It was times like these, when Blake got passionate, in which I understood how she got involved in the first place.
Brooke smiled. "Thank you," she spoke softly.
The four of us smiled back. "Of course," I nodded as I turned to head up the stairs and see what I could find.