The saga continues...thanks to all of you that are reading and reviewing! It makes my day to hear that other people are really enjoying the story! I'm trying to update this regularly, pending work getting out of hand or some severe writer's block.
I don't own RWBY or the characters.
"Then, just as he charged me, I ducked under his arm and let loose a super charged ball of flame right into his gut. And FWOOSH!" Yang threw her hands above her head to symbolize a giant ball of flame. "He completely disintegrated! It was SO awesome."
She crossed her arms across her chest and beamed after retelling her most recent Grimm battle, satisfied at the admiration she saw in Ruby's glistening silver eyes. The youngest huntress still idolized her older sister, and Yang adored every moment of the continued admiration.
Weiss…well Weiss was another story. While Ruby held on to every syllable as Yang spoke, squealing or cheering at all of the right times, Weiss just listened with that slight frown of concentration on her face, looking for some flaw in the story. The same expression she was wearing right now.
"That is pretty cool, Yang," she said with only slight enthusiasm.
Yang sputtered in disbelief. "Pretty cool? How is that only 'pretty' cool?!"
"Well…" Weiss began as a faint smile turned up the corners of her mouth. "because it was slightly entertaining, but I do believe that I had the more impressive Grimm kill today."
Yang's mouth dropped open as she stared at the girl in astonishment, before remarking, "What could possibly be better than turning a giant freaking Beowulf into a pile of hot ash, which then blew away with the breeze?"
Weiss arched an eyebrow at the heated girl before slowly responding, "How about…creating a Beowolf ice sculpture, which I then shattered into tiny pieces that finally melted on the sidewalk under the sun?"
Ruby gasped as she heard this, turning those awe filled eyes towards her girlfriend. Yang felt a small growl escape her throat as tiny flames began licking out at her fingertips.
"Wow, Weiss! You actually froze an entire Beowolf?" Ruby gushed, hardly able to conceal her excitement.
The admiration dripping from Ruby's words made Weiss break into something between a smile and a smirk as she responded, "Yes, I did. Frozen through and through." Yang rolled her eyes at the heiress' rapidly inflating ego. Someone needed to pop that bubble, and quickly.
"And when you shattered your Grimm-sicle, did you manage to skewer all or just some of the innocent bystanders with shards of Grimm ice?" Yang asked sarcastically.
"Did you give third degree burns to everyone with your flakes of super-heated ash?" Weiss shot back, both girls now standing several paces from each other with arms crossed.
"Ooook, you two," Ruby said as she stepped in between the two girls, holding both of her hands up. "Both of you are amazing. I can't believe that Yang can disintegrate people and Weiss, you can freeze them solid! Go Team RWBY!"
Weiss rolled her eyes, but backed down from the impending argument. "More like Team RWY now."
As Yang opened her mouth to say something smart in return, most likely about Weiss' height, the three girls heard several knocks on the front door. Ruby quickly shouted, "I'll get it!" and sped to the front door, leaving the other two girls behind.
With the peacemaker gone, Yang didn't feel quite as willing to give up on the nonexistent Grimm Kill of the Day award. She leaned forward and hissed at Weiss, "You know that disintegration is far harder to do than simply freezing someone."
Weiss took a step back, holding a hand to her mouth in fake shock. "You mean that freezing a Beowolf is easy? Oh, why didn't you say so? Why don't you give it a try then, if it's sooo easy?"
Yang scowled at Weiss, who only scowled in return until they heard Ruby shout from the entrance to the house.
"Blake!"
Scowls were quickly replaced by looks of confusion as the two girls hurried to the front door. Upon arriving there, they found that Blake was in fact was there, with one bag sitting by her feet in the doorway and one Ruby Rose wrapped around her like a koala bear.
Seeing the remaining members of Team RWBY enter the room, Blake sheepishly said, "It's good to see you too, Ruby," patting the girl's back awkwardly until Ruby dropped back down onto her feet and stepped backwards, ushering Blake into the house.
Once inside, there was a moment of awkward silence, as none of the four girls knew what they should say, or where to begin. Yang felt her heart rate rising rapidly as she stared at her former teammate. She hadn't thought that she would see Blake again so soon, especially not in her own home. Being this close, she was quickly remembering just how beautiful Blake really was…and how much her heart hurt just thinking about the girl.
Finally, Yang decided that she would break the ice, although she was surprised that the jackhammer of her heart hadn't already done that.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in."
Everyone groaned loudly, with Weiss saying "Really, Yang?" But it worked, lightening the mood in the room immediately. See, I'm such a genius, Yang thought proudly to herself before turning her attention back to the new arrival.
"How did you find us?" Ruby asked first.
"Well," Blake began slowly, "Schnee manor isn't exactly one of the most inconspicuous places to live…" Yang noticed a small blush begin to form on Weiss' cheeks at this comment. "Plus, you three are pretty popular now, so people tend to notice where you go. The first person I asked knew exactly where you lived."
"Great deductive skills, as we would expect from our Blakey!" Yang said cheerfully, even though she was having problems keeping memories of their last encounter out of her mind. Yang shook her head, trying to clear out the scenes that were threatening to make a resurgence. She was still angry and heartbroken, but right now she just wanted to be happy to see her former partner again.
Blake flashed her a grateful smile, sending little butterflies all around her rib cage. Yes, she was definitely a little bit happy to see the girl.
Weiss wasted no time asking the question that was on all of their minds.
"What are you doing here, Blake?"
Blake sighed, ears drooping slightly with what appeared to be a great deal of exhaustion. She must have known that that would be one of the first questions they would ask her, after all.
"I…I want to come back," she began, looking intently down at the floor in between them. "I made a huge mistake by leaving. And now Vale is in trouble again. I want to help the people of Vale and…I want to help you guys…"
The three huntresses looked at each other. Yang could already tell that Ruby wanted to say yes, as the youngest fighter was looking at Blake as if she had just found an abandoned puppy. Next, she would turn those pleading silver eyes to them and say "Please can we keep it?" Yang knew that was coming. Ruby had always been quick to give second chances, no matter if the person deserved them or not. Weiss was walking proof of this. The icy girl has said plenty of cruel and hurtful things to her partner, but Ruby always took her back with open arms.
But, for someone who had been forgiven time and time again, Weiss was an unyielding person. And she was definitely against the notion of Blake rejoining the team, which she quickly expressed.
"Absolutely not," she stated flatly. "You didn't graduate from Beacon, so you aren't even a true huntress. Even if we were to say that you spent enough time at Beacon to have the necessary skillset, you haven't trained with us in years, which would be an incredible liability going into a battle. And, to top it all off, you left us." Weiss' voice broke slightly on the last sentence, and suddenly Yang realized that the girl was on the verge of tears. So the heiress wasn't frozen solid, after all.
Blake was shocked by Weiss' outburst and subsequent emotion, but as the truth behind the heiress' statements sunk in, she lowered her eyes to the ground in defeat. Yang felt her heart sink at the sight; she didn't want Blake to give up. She didn't want Blake to go. And the Blake she had known would never have given up so easily.
Ruby also frowned at the sight, and, ever the mediator, quickly tried to come up with an acceptable resolution.
"But Weiss," she began frantically, trying to smooth things over before Blake disappeared again, "we could always train together using the situation room here! She'll be up to speed in no time; you know how good of a fighter Blake is."
Weiss frowned, but couldn't find any way to immediately discredit Ruby's statement.
She had spent so much of the last few years trying to hate the girl. She had replayed their last moments together in her head over and over again, but no matter how hard she had tried, she couldn't hate her. Angry? Yes. Heartbroken? Definitely. But she could never hate her. So Yang finally decided that she would rather have Blake here where they could try to regain whatever might be left of their friendship, than to have Blake holed up in some dingy apartment with that even dingier Faunus boy. Plus, at least then she would know that Blake was safe.
"We could use the extra hand," Yang added. "Plus, since we're running solo most of the time, we won't even really need to train together. And I don't think having an official "huntress" title matters when innocent lives are at stake."
Weiss looked at her in surprise, having thought that Yang would be on her side for once. She peered closely at Yang, studying the girl as she thought about what Yang had just said. Yang then realized that Weiss hadn't said what she had solely for herself. The heiress had thought that she was doing what Yang wanted, as well, in keeping Blake away. If Yang didn't want Blake to come back, Weiss was willing to be the bad guy and toss the girl out on her behalf. Yang felt a wave a gratitude for the girl, who had truly become her good friend since they became teammates.
As Yang gave her a slight nod, Weiss sighed, placing two thin fingers to her right temple as an apparent headache set in.
"Fine," Weiss said curtly. "But if you quit on us again, you're out for good. Do I make myself clear?"
Blake was now grinning from ear to ear as she nodded and said, "Don't worry, you guys are stuck with me now."
Clapping her hands, Ruby shouted, "Yay! Go Team RWBY! Back together at least!" Striking a pose at the end with one fist held high above her head.
Yang smiled weakly as Ruby wrapped Blake up in another crushing hug (they were sisters, after all). As Blake smiled at Yang over Ruby's shoulder, Yang tried to temper some of her happiness. She quickly told herself that she was only happy because she had a friend and teammate back, nothing more. She was not going down that road again.