Chapter 10

Yang was the heaviest of sleepers. If there was a competition all the competitors would have slept in and missed it– but Yang would have been the winner in absentia. Her usual alarm was Ruby blowing a whistle in her ear and that was barely even enough.

So there was no soft opening her eyes into the cool night air as she was roused from her slumber. There was only violent, violent shaking. Even as her body flopped up and down, her head smacking the headboard once or twice, she could only manage a soft nudge to stop the hands gripping her shoulders.

Her eyes shot open, red and wide as she stared up at her sister's silver eyes. Ruby loomed over her, but stayed silent.

"What is it?"

"I can't sleep." She flopped down onto her older sister. "Read me a story!" she said. Her voice was loud even muffled by the blanket.

"C'mon, it's late."

"I know, and I can't sleep!"

This was becoming too common, especially as her little sister breached eleven. Yang wondered how the girl managed to fall asleep in the woods but couldn't indoors.

She sat up, then scooted over so Ruby could sit beside her on the bed. A bellowing yawn forced its way out of her mouth and she tried to rub her eyes into focus. She reached over and grabbed a book off of her nightstand.

It's pages were yellowed and the edges well worn. Yang ran her fingers over the little creases and gaps where Ruby's favorite stories were. Which would she read tonight?

She glanced at her little sister in the corner of her eye.

Ruby reached over and peeled open the book to the table of contents. Her eyes scanned it careful then halted. "Why haven't we read "The Rose-Tree" yet? It has my last name in it!"

Yang could only release a restrained chuckle. "Uh, it's not that good."

"But it's about roses or something, right? Let's do that one!"

"We really–,"

"It can't be that bad!"

It wasn't her proudest moment, but Ruby was just being so loud and irritating and getting woken up in the middle of the night to read stories for the young girl was getting old. "You know what, we'll read it."

Oh, it was the most unpleasant of stories, and oh so appropriate. Most fairy tales were grim, but there was no beating an older half-sister with lovely blonde hair being murdered and cooked by her stepmother! An aggravated, sleep-deprived part of her enjoyed knowing the story would bother Ruby.

But by the time Yang got to the end and the reincarnation of her little character in the story dropped a stone on her wicked-stepmother's head, she was filled with only regret. In the corner of her eye, she could see that her sister had tears running down her face. Hurting Ruby always felt like kicking a puppy. Or a whole litter of puppies. Down some stairs. While they were on fire.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have read you that."

Ruby leaned forward, wiping at her damp cheeks and meekly trying her best to not look sad. "No, it was interesting." She looked over at Yang. "I would never eat you."

At the moment, she was probably one zombie bite from that becoming a lie.

Yang laughed wholeheartedly, tossing the book back onto the night stand as she pulled Ruby close and tousled her hair. "Of course not. I wouldn't have… I loved Mom."

At this point, the outlines of Ruby's eyes may as well have been wavering like a cartoon character. Ruby snuggled into the crook of Yang's neck, and the cool feel of tears on her neck didn't bother her at all. "I miss her."

"Me too. I'm really sorry."

"I'm not going to be able to sleep now."

Yang nodded, giving her younger sister a gentle squeeze. "There are cookies downstairs. Let's go get you some and a big glass of milk, then I'll read you a better story."

Ruby's silver eyes narrowed. "There are cookies? I already looked."

"When you get better at looking for them, I get better at hiding them. That's the way the cookie crumbles."

"Ugh."

Yang sighed to herself and opened her eyes to stare out over the so-called fort. A single high watchtower cut a dark square in the starry sky at the edge of the grounds. It was one of the corners of the chain-linked fence that surrounded the complex of simple buildings and cheap corrugated metal sheds.

She expected something more imposing, maybe some tanks or at least a brick wall. What she found was that Fort Beacon was practically the same thing as Camp Signal but with a wimpy fence and more people. Even though it was underwhelming, it was nice and remote, deep in the Emerald Forest. The air was clean and quiet; if it weren't for the lost looks on the other survivors, it would have been easy to forget the world had ended.

Yang's legs hung down off the roof they had set the tents up on. There was a barracks where the other civilians were being housed, but Yang knew Ruby wouldn't be comfortable sleeping at ground level. But her little sister was down in the infirmary below her, unwilling to leave Weiss' side until she woke up.

That night, so long ago, she promised to herself that she would never hurt Ruby's feelings again. It was such an innocuous little thing, but Summer Rose passing was still so fresh in their minds– it used to be the worst mistake she'd made in her short, ordinary life.

But now it was probably third. She had almost killed Ruby's girlfriend. That easily overshadowed telling her an inappropriate story. Her tackle was enough to dislodge the Weiss's already broken scapula and make her go into shock. If they weren't so close to medical care they could have lost her.

She shook her head, letting the cold night breeze flow over her already cool skin. Plenty of older sisters had probably nearly killed their little sister's girlfriends. Well, older brothers and boyfriends, but it was pretty much the same, right? She felt awful about it.

Her eyes stayed glued to the shotgun sitting in her lap. She squeezed it. She hated it. She needed it. She didn't want to fail again. Never again. Yang made a new promise to herself– she'd keep all four of them safe, or die trying.

She felt a soft prickle on her arm. Yang slowly lifted it, staring at a huge mosquito feasting on her. After a few moments of watching it intently, she slapped her hand down onto it. She peeled back, unable to look away from the little spot of red blood on her palm.

Never. Again.

It smelled like she was in a hospital. That was Weiss's first thought as she drifted back into the world. It wasn't the first time she'd woken up in one, and she tried to avoid them like the plague. There were too many bad memories.

Moonlight streamed in through slats in the blinds on the windows, leaving the room dimly lit. She half expected the soft beat of a heart monitor, but there was only the sound of chainsaws revving bellowing out of the mouth of the boy in the next bed over.

Ruby was sitting near her feet, staring out the window with an impassive look on her face. Despite the cool night air, Ruby's red cloak was bunched up in her lap. She kept digging her fingers in and out, kneading the fabric with her nervous motion. Normally, the girl was stupidly cute. Except when she had taken her shirt off– then Weiss thought of her as stupidly hot.

With her pale skin glowing in the soft illumination of the moon, her lips parted ever so slightly, and her eyes lost in deep thought, Weiss thought that Ruby was beautiful for the first time. Not in any classical sense– the blood and dirt caked onto her skin saw to that– but she was a startlingly beautiful vision.

Weiss did her best to not smile as she sat still and drank in the sight for a minute. Or five, she could hardly be sure.

"Is it too much to ask for me to go one day without passing out?"

Ruby didn't jump– she barely reacted for a moment, then turned her head and gave a little smirk. "You're awake."

Weiss tilted her head at her and nodded. She half expected Ruby to jump on her, an imagined tail straight up and wagging. "It doesn't smell like corpses. I assume we made it to Beacon."

Ruby nodded, her smile still only on her lips and not in her eyes. "Safe and sound, with a couple teams of highly trained soldiers on watch."

From what Weiss remembered of the little rescue operation, particularly the blond boy in the next bed over, she knew that Ruby was lying to make her feel safe.

There was an awkward moment of silence. "I just wanted to be here when you woke up. I'll let you get some rest." Ruby glanced down at the floor, then started to slide off the bed. The already weak smile fell off and Weiss caught a brief glimpse of melancholy.

"Stop." Weiss carefully examined Ruby when she froze, but still didn't meet her gaze. She was thankful the darkness hid the flush of heat she could feel on her cheeks. "It's cold, and this is a thin blanket."

"I can find you something–,"

"Don't be dense you dunce."

Ruby hesitated only a brief moment before she nodded and crawled up the bed to Weiss's uninjured side.

"Tell me what's wrong," Weiss said as Ruby laid beside her, shoulder to shoulder. She ignored the pain in her neck and turned to meet Ruby's gaze.

"Nothing."

"Let's not do this again. Hypothetically, if someone wanted to be my girlfriend, I would expect her to communicate her feelings with me. That would be very important."

Ruby sighed, her head tilting ever so gently and her starting to gently mist. She draped her cloak over the two of them, then wriggled and squeezed in against Weiss.

"So what's eating you?" Weiss asked as she snuggled closer to Ruby.

"I killed someone. I know that I had to do it. I had to save you guys. But that was a person. A living person. She must have had friends and family. I can't help but think she was part of this big web of people who care about each other, and I just plucked her right out and ruined the whole thing."

"Don't feel bad." It was a command– even Weiss was shocked at how hard her voice was. She released a sigh, trying to get her tone and vehemence down to something more comforting for Ruby's sake. "When this started, I thought of the zombies as monsters. They're not. They're just these annoying little obstacles all around us. White Fang are monsters. It's one thing to mindlessly bite people and another to consciously make the decision to kill them."

"I know. Pyrrha said they've been fighting them to save other survivors. I have to help. I just couldn't live with myself if I didn't. I'm going to have to kill more people." Ruby paused, her eyes dropping shut. "I see her face whenever I close my eyes."

"The only face you should be seeing is mine." Weiss took a deep breath. "Do you ever watch the news? I'm guessing that since you didn't know who I was and you generally don't seem to know much, you don't."

"Never liked it."

"I was a really happy child. Apparently still a brat, but happy. All my friends always complained about their mothers. These rich, horrible gold diggers and pill addicted perfectionists. I swear, one of my friends had a stepmother who was three years older than her."

Weiss paused, using her good arm to wipe away a tear starting to form in her eye despite the slight smile starting to form on her lips. "I didn't have that. My mother was the sweetest person I've ever known. She could dip her finger in a cup of coffee and it wouldn't be bitter anymore. I always remember vocal lessons with her. She had the voice of an angel from heaven. She'd play the piano and we'd sing together and when we were done she'd always shower me with kisses and affection. It was my favorite thing."

"My father and her were so in love and we all used to be so close. Every Sunday, we'd drive out to a local ice cream shop and have sundaes. Sundae Sunday. One time, my father pulled me and my little sister Winter aside while we were on our way to the car. He asked us if we'd be okay having a babysitter while he took my mother to Hawaii for a week. For their anniversary."

Weiss smile fell off, and tears began to roll down her cheeks. "She went ahead to start the car. I only remember a loud boom, then waking up in the hospital." The dam had broken, and the little stream of tears became a river. She rubbed a finger down the scar over her eye. "I got cut by a piece of shrapnel. My sister had one embedded in her back. She's in a wheelchair now. My mommy– she– they told us it was painless. Instant. Like that was supposed to make us feel better."

She closed her eyes, then felt the sensation of Ruby's palm as it swept along her cheek. It was dirty. It was rough. It was sweaty. It was warm. It was gentle. It was soothing. It was– so wonderful.

"It was White Fang. They were angry over our company's mistreatment of animals. They killed my mother over a few rabbits. Rabbits who were necessary to make medical advances that would save lives."

Weiss eyes opened into a glare, despite the tears flooding out of them. "They think human lives are worth less than animals. They don't deserve their lives. Don't feel bad for killing them, Ruby. They're animals– no, monsters. Not like the zombies– they're real monsters."

Ruby's lips just flapped uselessly like the fish she was so afraid of. Weiss knew that her girlfriend wasn't so much with the words, so she didn't expect anything profound or even remotely comforting. Ruby just rolled closer and gave Weiss a very brief little peck on the lips. Her hand began to rub a soothing pattern along Weiss's arm.

'Okay, that wasn't so bad. Well played, Ruby.'

With her good arm, Weiss found Ruby's hand and meshed their fingers together.

Ruby risked a restrained smile, then slipped down and nestled herself into Weiss' neck. Weiss relaxed when Ruby drew a deep breath and she could feel the cool air pulled over her skin.

The room was quiet aside from the boy in the next bed over.

When it was painfully clear it was going to be difficult to sleep, Ruby said, "So you know how to sing?"

"I have a fantastic voice." Weiss chuckled, then cleared her throat. She began to sing slowly and sweetly, transforming the song into a lullaby, "Dream of anything, I'll make it all come true– anything you need, is all I have for you"

Yang stood in a familiar place. The same place she stood every night for the last few days. It was about one foot behind herself, watching as she stared at a rough wooden door. There was always this pause while she examined it; she knew every inch of that door. Every crack, pockmark, and scratch.

A sweet, soft voice began to echo out in song that drifted over her dreamscape.

"If the stars all fall, when there's no more light, and the moon should crumble, it will be alright."

Yang reached out and tapped her knuckles on the door. "Velvet?"

There was a moment of silence. "Come in."

Against her will, memory Yang opened the door and slid inside. Her floating consciousness was forced to follow. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

Velvet wasn't looking great. Her skin was either mottled and gray or red and burning. But regardless of the color there was the unmistakable sheen of sweat on her whole body. Her lips were oddly dry and cracked, her eyes sunk deep in circles of darkness.

Velvet took a few deep, heavy breaths. "I've been better." Her voice was raspy. She twisted and rolled out of the bed, letting her feet hit the ground. The infected girl brushed away the sweat slicked hair sticking to her face.

"I just wanted to check up on you."

There wasn't a response. Velvet sunk deeper into her bed, closing her eyes in a long wince of pain.

"I'm so sorry. This was my fault." Yang gave her a once over. "Can I get you anything to make you more comfortable?"

Velvet stared at her, her face calm and neutral. "I can't become one of those things, Yang."

"If I could do anything, I would. Believe me."

Velvet's eyes were staring at the upper part of Yang's torso. She was used to that, but they were just a little bit off from normal. She followed Velvet's gaze to the strap of the camp shotgun resting on her shoulder.

"You can't ask me to do that."

"I will be there to take all your fears away."

"Yang. What did you promise me when I said I wanted to come to this camp and I was too nervous?"

Yang shook her head.

"Yang."

"I promised I'd do anything to make sure you'd be comfortable and have a good time." Yang's fingers griped the leather over her shoulder. Her knuckles, and her face, grew white.

"Please. I've never been in this much pain before. It's like there's lava in my veins. Everything hurts. Everything."

"You can't ask me to do this."

"I can't do it myself. Please Yang. I'm begging here. Pleading. Put me out of this misery."

"What– what would I tell Blake?"

"That I turned. That you had to do it. You have to do it."

Velvet was a good friend to both Yang and Blake. A sweet, happy girl who was very much on the shy side, but who always brought a smile to the faces of people she considered friends. Here she was, reeking of rotting flesh, begging for release from the otherwise inescapable curse placed upon her.

Yang knew she was a failure. It was her duty to keep them safe. When that bus left, Blake and Velvet became her responsibility, and she had failed.

When Yang slung the weapon around, Velvet actually smiled at her. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." Velvet stumbled and fell from the bed, dropping onto her knees and facing away from her. "Thank you, Yang."

Yang could feel the mist building in her eyes as she lifted the gun. Her finger just barely made contact with the trigger.

"Close your eyes. Don't you cry. Love's around you– in time, you'll fly."

Lilac eyes shot open to the sight of the domed roof of their tent. Beside her Blake was, as Yang would lovingly put it, purring like a kitten. Others might call it roaring like a lion. Even over that she could hear the sound of singing coming lightly through the floor of the tent. Yang could feel the tears soaking her pillow, and she clamped her eyes closed, burying her face.

She wasn't going to fail any of them, ever again.