A/N: So, here's chapter 4, you lucky folks! Thanks to all my reviewers and new followers, for giving me the drive to keep this going! You're all wonderful. I'm sorry this one's even shorter than usual, I will try and make the next onea bit longer to compensate, but my brain has been rebelling lately. I'll get that sorted.
Also, Wolfenheart, if you read this, don't worry, it WILL end happily. in fact it may not end, per se, but there will be some good times involved. Stick with me here, please.
Anyway. RWBY belongs to RT and Monty Oum, none of it is mine, etc.
Yang eventually made her way back to the dorm, fleeing the site of her sorrow and retreating to somewhere she could be alone with her thoughts. She didn't care that she still had classes to attend with her team-mates - Blake had left because of her, because she'd pushed and pleased for answers, and now once again Blake was...somewhere else.
Yang slammed the door behind her, resting her back against it before allowing herself to slide slowly to the floor. She rested her head in her hands, too drained to cry anymore, instead wracking her mind for any sign she might have missed, and clue as to what she was meant to understand.
Blake was so sure that I should've seen it, she told herself, but what the hell could it have been? What am I missing?
With a heavy sigh, Yang pulled her knees towards her chest, rested her head on them and closed her eyes, struggling to make sense of Blake's change of attitude.
The girl in question was also unconcerned about any further lessons, instead sitting on an airship heading into Vale. She'd had a sudden urge to get away from Beacon for a few hours, and Coco had always praised the merits of 'retail therapy'. Although there was nothing Blake particularly wanted or needed, she thought maybe she could find a new book - one that helped her understand the torrent of unfamiliar emotions surging through her.
All she had wanted lately, all she had been able to think of, was Yang. She wasn't used to such ferocity of emotion, and because of that, she hadn't been prepared for the subsequent heartache of being turned down.
Not that Yang even knew that's what had happened, and the faunus felt that was part of the problem. They were partners, they'd spent every day and every fight together for the past year, and Yang should have known.
However, overriding her feelings for the blonde at that time were feelings of shame. She'd spoken too rashly, and as a result she'd said some awful things to the girl she'd fallen for. All she wanted to do was run back inside and kiss Yang until it was all forgotten, but that dream felt like it was even further away than before now.
She gazed out of the window, seeing nothing as she remembered the moment she'd blurted out those contemptible words. She remembered, with painful clarity, the look in her friend's eyes as she'd spoken that spiteful sentence. It had been agony for Yang, as if something vital inside her had been pulled out, ripped apart and scattered.
Blake snorted derisively. She knew all too well how that felt. That was what it had felt like when...
When...
No...
Blake's stomach lurched, even though the airship's flight was untroubled. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her vision hazed slightly as her pulse quickened in horror.
No, she thought again, burying her head in her hands. No, no, no, no. It wasn't possible. It wasn't. She told me herself...
She shook her head vigorously, as if she could physically shake the horrifying thought loose, but as she thought back on things, through every mission, every fight, every conversation, the evidence began to mount up.
I've ruined everything...when I could've had exactly what I wanted, if I'd only just opened up, she told herself, mentally cursing herself for a thousand kinds of fool.
She looked out of the window again, noting with dread they were almost at Vale. It was time to come up with a plan.
There were plenty of shops in Vale...maybe she could find something to take back to Yang as a gift? Beg and plead for forgiveness?
In truth she doubted it would help much, expecting to receive a punch from her partner the moment they met again - and, Blake told herself grudgingly, she'd damn well deserve it.
But if there was just a chance...
She was on her feet before the airship had even settled, rushing to the front of the group of people on their way out. She would find something for Yang, she would go back and open up completely, and then...well, that would be up to Yang. But this time, Blake swore, she would accept whatever happened with a bit more maturity.
She took off into the town centre as fast as she could work, a new sense of determination filling her and driving her onwards.
A single pair of eyes watched Blake hurrying through the town, and a sinister smile spread across his lips.
He pulled his scroll from a pocket and sent a message to one of his lieutenants.
Change of plan. No-one acts until I return. Do not disobey me.
His message sent, he tucked the scroll back into his pocket and continued to watch Blake until she vanished into one of the shops.
"See you soon," he said to himself, his lips parting in a feral grin. "See you very soon...my darling."