A/N: Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. This chapter is... something... Have fun with it and let me know what you think! Enjoy the bees!
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY
XxXxX
Chapter 7
I have no idea how she does this every night. Yang thought as she stomped up the steps, sluggish with sleep. She was convinced that Nightshade was either nocturnal or didn't sleep at all. After another night of hero work that involved treading through a dark tunnel, all they learned was that the tunnels did in fact lead to the spot where Ruby had been taken. Something they already knew from just talking to Junior. And she had managed to insert her foot into her mouth once again. She was tired of saying the wrong thing to the girl, she was tired of following clues that felt like they went no where. But in this moment, she was mostly just tired in general.
Weiss was not up waiting for her this time, a sight that made Yang very happy. And not just because it meant that the blonde could avoid another one of Weiss' lectures (though that was a perk.) but it meant that she was finally getting some rest. She had probably exhausted herself trying to figure this all out. She even took a break from her work at her father's company, something very un-Weiss-like. Still, Yang didn't believe it was an entirely bad thing. One less thing for her to worry about… Just so she could obsess over something else… Maybe she should talk to Weiss about that later.
Yang sloppily grasped at the door handle, gripping as best as she could. She twisted and pushed the handle, letting the door swing open. She entered her room, ready to sleep on her own personal cloud nine. However, when she heard the door click behind her without her doing and felt another foreign presence, she knew that was not going to be an option.
"Yang Xiao Long. How nice it is to meet you." She heard come from behind her. When she turned around, she was greeted by a person she had only heard about. A villain named Miss Direction (yeah, Yang thought it was a stupid name too) was leaned against her door, foot propped up against it. She had to be the girl that Junior was talking about. She had mint green hair and blood red eyes, overflowing with mischief. She wore simple clothes, oddly enough; a off white tank top tucked into a high waisted pair of army green cargo pants and black flats with a little buckle on the top. Her mask looked like a simple scrap of olive green cloth that had holes cut and sewn into it simply so she could see. It was smart though, she didn't attract much attention this way. But despite that, Yang had to admit that Junior was right, much to her chagrin. She truly was a beauty.
"Can't say the same about you." Yang bit back. Good looking or not, she was still an intruder AND a villain.
"Oof, we've got a brave one here. Better be careful kid, you're dealing with a super villain here." she warned with a touch of amusement.
"I'm not a kid and I would hardly call you a super villain. You're just the lackey to the REAL super villains." Yang spat back. Miss Direction bristled at that. She was always seen as the underling to Ember Arrow, the most notorious super villain to ever come to Vale… Well besides the whole thing with Raging Bull. Miss Direction followed whatever Ember Arrow commanded like a love sick puppy. It was pathetic in Yang's opinion. She was jus-
"OOF!" Yang yelped as MD closed the distance between them and sucker punched her in her abdomen.
"Still super enough to beat up insolent fools like you." MD told her. "Still, should have expected this. After all, I've heard a lot about you."
Yang's blood ran cold. Did she know who she was? This was bad. She pretended that the punch hurt more than it did to appear 'normal', but would that be enough?
"Oh yeah? Ya get groceries at Vale-mart often?" Yang asked, a smirk appearing on her face. If she knew where she lived, she most likely knew about her day job. Hopefully JUST her day job.
"No, I don't think so. Hmmmm, how do I know you?" She hummed, putting a finger on her chin as if she was in deep thought. "Ah! Yes! Someone told me about you recently. Someone named….. Ruby Rose."
Yang's blood went from ice cold to boiling hot in two seconds. She pounced on the girl, grabbing for anything she could get a grip on. But when she tried, all she grasped was air. Soft laughter came from behind her. Damn illusions! Yang thought as she whipped around to face MD again.
"Woah, easy there tiger! Someone's a little testy tonight."
"Where is she?"
"Safe… for now." Miss Direction told her coolly.
"What do you want? Why did you take her?" Yang asked through gritted teeth. She slowly stepped around her, not getting any closer. She wasn't going to risk going after her again, unable to tell if this was another illusion.
"Well, we were gonna use her to extort the ice bitch for a small fortune. Buuuuut… plans have changed." She told Yang, matching the girl's circling movement.
"'We' meaning Ember Arrow?"
"Not exactly. I'm working under…. A new 'associate'."
"Oh, finally stepping away from mommy's skirt?"
Yang felt a kick make contact with her shin.
"AH! DAMMIT!"
"Better be careful, little miss sunshine. I was told not to kill you, but that doesn't mean I can't rough you up a bit. So watch your step!"
"Aren't you worried about alerting the security?"
"Pssh, please. Tricking them takes little to no mental effort."
"What do you want?"
"I," Miss Direction pulled Yang's chin up. "Want you to give someone a message."
"A…. Message? What message?" she asked, violently pulling her head away from the villain's hand.
"Well…. It's partially a… Visual message." she told her as she punched Yang in the gut once again. She fell to her knees, not needing to fake a reaction this time. "But my… Associate has a verbal one for a 'friend' of yours."
Miss Direction leaned in close to Yang's ear.
"Tell Blake Belladona that Raging Bull is back and eager to see her again."
XxXxX
Who in the world is knocking this late at night? Blake thought. She cursed her superb hearing. She wished that she had been like anyone else and slept through the incessant knocking. She had just gotten to sleep too. It had been such a long night looking for clues with Yellow Dragon. And it ended… well, it didn't end too bad in Blake's opinion. Yeah, they didn't make the large strides forward that they thought they would. And Yellow Dragon still had that uncanny ability to say the right thing to make Blake kick herself even more. But the hero was certainly… interesting.
She was simultaneously proving and defying Blake's expectations of her, something that baffled the dark-haired hero. She was brash and loud and didn't think about what she was doing half the time. But she also saw a kind and sweet side to her. A side that genuinely wanted to help. A side that every hero needed, in Blake's opinion. And oh her laugh. It was so goofy and unbridled. So full of unabashed joy, it made the dark-haired girl actually want to see her again, even with everything she had said before.
Woah, where did that come from. Must be lack of sleep.
Blake pushed those thoughts down and pressed on in her quest to find out who thinks it is ok to knock on someone's door this late at night. However, whatever tongue lashing she had prepared to give out dissipated as she took in who was on the other side of the door.
She didn't have to wait any longer to see her, because Yellow Dragon was the one who thought it would be ok to knock on someone's door this late at night.
Of course she would. Blake thought.
"I… Hi… Um, can I help you?"
"H-hi! I'm sorry to wake you up so late in the night but it's… kind of urgent." Yellow Dragon told her, her face laden with poorly-concealed worry.
"Sure!"
"Can I come in?"
"Oh, I'm sorry! Yeah." Blake told her. She stepped to the side and allowed the hero to hobble in. She had clearly been hurt recently. No visible bruises or cuts, but the way she gingerly crept into her abode told her as much. She was sure that she hadn't gotten hurt when they fought Junior's men. Something must have happened in between then and now. Blake had to remind herself that she did not know this information though, Nightshade did. Gotta play it cool.
"Are you alright?"
"Eh, been better." YD laughed, but grimaced at the pain it caused. "Don't worry about me, I heal fast. I'm actually here on behalf of a friend of yours, she's a bit worried about you."
"Friend?" Blake asked. Could she be talking about...
"Well, ya see. I'm working on that missing person case, Ruby Rose? You know her, don'tcha?"
"Yes."
"Well me and... Uh, the person I am working with are trying to find her and keep her and her loved ones safe." YD explained. Blake was happy to hear that she wasn't broadcasting the fact that she was working with Nightshade. It made her feel like she was more… trustworthy than she thought.
"Ok."
"And well, I'm here on behalf of Yang. Yang Xiao Long? You two work together, yeah?"
"Yes! Yes we do. Is she ok? Did something happen?"
"Um, well." Dragon looked off to the side and seated herself in one of Blake's chairs. "You should probably have a seat."
"Oh Oum! Is she gone too? Or… is… is she de… dea-" Blake couldn't finish her sentence, her eyes brimming with tears. Her heart beat so fast, she was afraid that it would crack a rib.
"What? No! No, she's fine!" Backpedaled YD. "Oh, I'm sorry. She just… had an encounter recently." Blake slumped into the chair across from the blonde hero. She buried her head into her hands and rubbed her face for a couple seconds.
"Oh, thank goodness." The dark-haired girl sighed. "What happened?"
"Miss Direction showed up in her room a little while ago. Roughed her up a bit. She's lucky that I was tasked with making sure she was safe. As you can see, I did not get away unscathed, but nothing to worry about." She smiled warmly at Blake. It was much softer than the smiles she had seen as Nightshade. She liked them.
Blake, focus.
"So why did Miss Direction show up?"
"She is part of the group that took Yang's sister, Ruby."
"So she visited her to send a message."
"Exactly."
"Alright, then… why come to me?" Blake asked. Yellow Dragon looked away again and fluffed some of her soft golden locks.
"This is why I told you that you should sit down. The message was for you."
"Me?"
"Yes. Yang told me that she was supposed to tell you that," Yellow Dragon stopped. It was as if she was preparing herself for what she had to say next. "That 'Raging Bull is back and eager to see you again'."
Everything stopped. Her mind. Her heart. Her body. Everything. She couldn't even process what the hero was trying to say to her now.
Adam. It couldn't be Adam. It just couldn't. He was dead. She SAW him die. No one could have survived that explosion on the train. Did his power kick in at the last minute? She didn't think that that could even save HIM in that situation.
But he was back, there was no doubt about it. And now, she had people she cared about again. That means that whatever happened to Ruby was her fault entirely. Ada- No, Raging Bull was going to do it again. He was going to take everything she loved. And there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. Just like last time.
Blake started hyperventilating, she could not intake oxygen fast enough. There was no escape from him. No reprieve. No hope. No happy ending. No-
"Blake!" A voice finally broke through. Yellow Dragon knelt right by the side of her chair and had taken her hands in hers. "Can you hear me now?"
A nod.
"Good. Now I need you to breathe for me, ok? Slowly and deeply."
Another nod and Blake started to manually breathe.
"In, one, two, three. Hold it. Out, one, two, three." YD instructed softly. She had risen from her kneeling position to sit on the arm of Blake's chair. She had begun massaging small, soft circles into her back. "Better?"
"I…. He can't…. He's DEAD!" Was all that Blake could manage in response.
"We don't know for sure that he is back."
"He is! He has to be! Why else would he go for Ya-" She cut herself off. "He destroys everything! We're not safe, no one is safe! I-"
"Breathe, Blake." Yellow Dragon shushed again. "You're safe, I promise I-"
"You CAN'T promise that!" She bit back. "You don't know him, you don't know what he has done!" Yellow Dragon moved her hand away, surprised at her outburst. But took Blake's hands once more and pleaded.
"Then help me understand. I can't help you if I don't know what is going on."
"He'll… He'll come after her. He'll, He'll-"
"Calm down Blake, everything will be ok. How did you get wrapped up in all of this?"
"It's… A long story… One that I can't tell."
"Alright, then… What did he do?"
Blake was brought back to that night. The blood. The yelling, screaming. All the tears she shed. Blake, on her knees, begging, conceding to his every wish, only for him to…
"I-it's ok, you don't have to answer that one." Yellow Dragon told her. Blake hadn't even realized that she had begun crying until the hero was wiping her tears away from her eyes. She looked into her scarlet eyes and found something so… familiar. She reminded her of another blonde that had lilac eyes instead. They even had a similar warm smile, one that made Blake melt into a puddle.
Blake needed the warmth. She needed the sunshine. She needed the loved that shone through those lips. And in a moment of weakness, Blake leaned up, pulled the hero down, and stole some of that sunshine from her lips. Dragon seemed to stiffen at the sudden intimate contact at first, but soon eased into the kiss, deepening it with fervor and passion. It was almost as if she wanted this as much as Blake had. Actually no. It was as if she wanted it more than Blake had. She shouldn't be doing this, it was wrong. But damn, as cliche as it sounded, it felt so right to her. She wondered if kissing Yang would be as goo-
Blake, stop! A voice screamed inside of her.
She pulled away quickly, gasping for air.
"I-I'm so sorry Bla-... erm… Miss. Belladonna?"
Blake quirked an eyebrow at her sudden formal language, but let it slip without commenting.
"No… No that was me. I apologize. I-"
"Please don't apologize. I understand." YD told her. She then rose and knelt down once again, but in front of her this time. "Listen, I know you are scared, but I won't let anything happen to you."
"How can you be sure?"
"Come on, I'm a superhero! I beat up chumps and protect the citizens of Vale all the time."
"He's not just any chump."
"Maybe, but he's never faced me before. He won't know what hit'em!" YD grinned her trademark cocky grin. The raven-haired girl smiled at it. The smile used to simply annoy her. But now, in only a few days, the grin had grown on her.
Or maybe it wasn't just the grin.
Yellow Dragon got to her feet and clapped her gloved hands together.
"Alright, I have to go and sle-...I mean, protect the citizens!" Said Dragon, walking towards Blake's window.
"You could just go out the front door again." Blake told her, gesturing to said door.
"Eh, what's the fun in that?" YD said, already perched on her window sill.
"You are still injured though."
"You think that's gonna stop me? Naw. Goodnight, fair lady." She said. She then winked and leapt out of her window.
Blake kept her eyes trained on the window that the hero had just gone through. She put a hand up to her lips where the hero had just kissed her. How had her life become so complicated in only a few days.
