I Fight To... Find Them Again.
Breathing louder.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Sweat beading.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The punches don't stop landing. One, two. One two. Combinations that land in flurries, powerful blasts reinforced by aura.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Each blow only serves as a reminder.
KYAH! A roundhouse meets its mark.
She fought for a different reason, once. An explorer at heart, and a burning fire at the center. But it's not like that anymore; the bright fire burned out too long ago.
Rattle. Rattle.
Each hit, hard-knuckled fists meeting rough leather, shakes the bag.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The hits slow.
Drip. Drip.
The blows stop.
Drip.
The bag settles, barely shaking back and forth as it recovered from the beating. The only sound left is the hard breathing of a fallen star.
Fire's gone. But she had to keep fighting. She felt like she had to forget...
Drip.
"... I love you..."
She didn't say anything.
The next day, the one who loved her left. She didn't do anything to stop her.
"Hon, it's time to get up."
No words left her mouth.
Wordlessly, she went about her day. Wake up, deal with the day, go to bed. It was all the same. There was little comfort.
It was an immaculate room. White everywhere, spotless equipment. The last gift her white-haired teammate could offer.
"How does the arm feel?" A nurse, prim and proper. Didn't actually care about her. Smile faked, compassion unreal.
"It's fine."
"And how are you holding up?"
"I'm fine."
She had to forget. It hurt too much.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
They didn't stop dropping. Sweat beading, but nothing fell.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Eyes barely see through the haze, the water-induced fog. Slowly, they regain clarity. They look at what they're doing, what they've done.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
But lilac didn't want to remember. They wanted to forget, to let go.
Drip, drip. Drip, drip. Drip, drip.
But each time she landed a blow, a right hook, a straight cross, she saw a glint of metal.
Drip, drip. Drip, drip. Drip, drip.
She wanted to forget.
Drip, drip. Drip, drip. Drip, drip.
Why couldn't she forget!?
Drip, drip. Drip, drip. Drip, drip.
"WHY!?" A hoarse cry escaped from chapped lips.
A wound up punch blew the bag off of the chain. It flopped onto the floor, sand escaping from its man made prison as it met the floor for the first time.
Drip, drip, drip. Drip, drip, drip. Drip, drip, drip.
She fell to her knees. Defeated again.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Dams started rebuilding themselves. She reminded herself that she was made of sterner stuff.
Drip. Drip.
She could get past this. She was strong.
Drip. Drip.
She was a Xiao-Long. She fought with everything she had.
Drip. Drip.
The only thing was, she didn't really have everything. She wasn't whole. She never would be.
Footsteps, heavy, bursted into the training room.
"Yang? Yang, are you okay? Sweetheart?"
A blond took his daughter into his arms, but her tears subsided at that time. All that was left, the only evidence, was a rolling bag of sand, and drops that were slowly evaporating into the air on the floor.
"Hon, I told you not to go too hard..." He took her hands in his, one cool and one burning. Metal and flesh met his whole-flesh. "You're bleeding."
"I know."
She looked away. She didn't want to be seen like this. But she knew she had to keep fighting, and she forced herself to train. To keep moving forward.
"Wait here. If your aura doesn't fix it by the time I'm back, supplements'll help you." He stood up, and ran out.
She was left on the floor, alone again.
Alone again.
Alone.
But she picked herself back up. Sterner stuff, she kept saying to herself.
Sterner stuff. Fists clenched as the pushed out a few more drops of blood, yellow light sealing the small cuts.
Time after time she knocked herself down. And she did it on purpose.
Rebuild. Go higher than before. Keep fighting. Fight for redemption. Be useful to them.
"C'mon, Blakey! I'll get you some tuna!..." Her voice was sing-songy, and eyes went wide at the mention of fish.
"... Really?"
Blonde won the day. She smirked. "If you get your lazy butt outta bed, sure."
Fight for...
"Rubes! Where'd you put the cookies!?"
"I'LL NEVER TELL YOU!"
"RUBY ROSE, I SAID YOU WERE GROUNDED!"
"NEVAR!"
Fight for...
"Oh, come on Weiss! You can't say that this isn't cute."
It wasn't. It really wasn't.
"It's not."
"You're just too picky."
"I have completely reasonable standards!"
"Suuure."
For them.
"Gooooo Team RWBY!" A brunette with red tips jumped into the air, fist pumping.
"Fight well!" A cute flag waved by a raven-haired cat faunus.
"Perfect form." A casual flip of the hair, victorious pose.
I'll find you guys. I'll find you, and I'll help you.
I promise.
END
yet again, I try to write angst. yet again, it's not as good as i'd like it to be, but hey, it's a learning process.
thanks for the read. next chapter'll be something more light-hearted, I pwa-mise. pwitty pwamise.