Yang, Arnold, and Fawkes walk down the sidewalk. Yang trails behind Arnold and Fawkes; the two are talking about something in front of her. The other two member team ALFA, Atzerodt and Louis, stayed behind at the school, so that if Yang does not listen tonight…
Yang shakes her head, trying to get rid of the thought of her friends and Ruby getting hurt if she does not listen. She will not let that happen to her friends or to her little sister. Yang looks up at the clear night sky and begins to think. She thinks about what Blake had said to her yesterday. Blake, along with everyone else, is staring to notice that something is up. Even when Yang left the dorms for the night, her teammates did not seem to sure that Yang was just going out for the night. As she left, Yang noticed that Blake was giving her a suspicious look. Yang has no idea how much longer she can keep this up before someone finds out.
Yang is so lost in her thoughts, that she does not notice that part of the sidewalk rises slightly. She trips over it and falls to the ground. Arnold and Fakes stop short, and look back to Yang. She sits up, and rubs her right ankle.
"Did you just trip?" Fawkes asks.
"No, I decided to sit here and rub my ankle. Yes I fucking trip you assholes!" Yang snaps back.
"No need to be so snappy." Fawkes mumbles.
Fawkes walks over to Yang, and squats down next to her.
"Do you think you can still walk?" He asks Yang.
"Ugh, I think I can." She replies.
"Good, then let's move." Arnold says with annoyance.
Fawkes glares at his partner, and then stands back up. He pushes his green glasses back up his face, and extends his left hand to Yang. Yang gives Fawkes a confused look.
"What, you never seen someone help another person out when they have fallen and need help getting up?" Fawkes tells her.
After a moment, Yang takes Fawkes' hand, and he help her back onto her feet. She brushes off some dirt on her dark yellow jacket, and starts to walk again. She winces when she puts weight on her hurt ankle.
"You sure you can walk?" Fawkes asks as she limps pass him.
"Yeah, I can walk. It's just a little sore, that's all." Yang replies.
Arnold and Fawkes walk, Yang limps, down the sidewalk again. Arnold leads the way, while Yang brings up the rear. Fawkes stands in the middle between them; he looks back at Yang every so often. The three do not say anything as they turn the corner of the sidewalk.
The group of three walks up to a store that has its door open, and the lights on. Fawkes walks up to Yang, grabs her hood, and pulls it over her head.
"Just in case…We don't want to been seen." He tells her, and puts his own green hood over his head.
Arnold does the same with his dark purple jacket hood, and the three walk into the store. Torchwick is already there, with his henchmen, standing in the middle of the store behind a counter. He is looking down at something, or someone. Yang peeks over the counter to see what Torchwick is looking at, and finds a middle age man sitting on the floor, his arms tied, and a piece of fabric covers his eyes. Torchwick looks up when he hears the footsteps of Arnold and Fawkes coming around the counter.
"What's up with him?" Arnold asks and points to the tied up man.
"He was not listing to us when we asked where the dust is. We just gave him some gentle persuasion." Torchwick answers.
"I heard another voice. Is there more of you?" The middle age asks.
Torchwick ignores him.
"After some persuasion, he finally told us where the dust was."
"Persuasion? You call tying up someone and scaring him "persuasion"?" Yang blurts out. "You really could not have thought of another way besides this?"
"Maybe if you three had shown up a little bit earlier, then maybe we would have not to this." Torchwick says to her.
"Who is there? I hear more voices!" The man says.
"Be quite it will you!" Torchwick says to the man. "Arnold and Fawkes, come help me get some of the dust out of the back." He points to Yang "You, keep him quite."
"Wait! What do you mean by 'keep him quite'?" Yang asks and walks around the counter to Torchwick and the man "Do you mean just keep him quite, or like knock him out?"
"The latter."
Yang stares at him. Sure, he is not asking him to seriously hurt the man, but still. Yang does not want to hurt anyone. She wants to leave as many people out of this mess she is in as possible. Yang clutches her hands into tight fists.
"Do it, or you know what will happen!" Arnold says to Yang.
Fawkes gives his partner a scornful glare. Arnold shoots a glare back at him. Torchwick gestures to Arnold and Fawkes to go to the back. The two of them walk to the back.
"Just deal with him, okay." Torchwick says to Yang, and heads to the back as well.
Yang watches as Arnold, Fawkes, and Torchwick disappears into the back of the store. She then looks down at the tied up man. He is breathing heavily.
"Please don't hurt me." He begs Yang.
Yang sighs and squats down next to him.
"I'm sorry, sir. If I don't do this, they…they have threaten to hurt the people I care for if I do not listen to them. I truly do not want any part of this, but I have to do this. You understand?" Yang asks the man.
The man nods his head yes.
"I understand. There are just some things in this world that we don't like to do, but must." The man whispers to Yang. "Can you just do it quickly? I'm guessing you just want to get this over and done with."
Yang scans the area, trying to see if she can use anything to help knock out the man. There is nothing around she can use. She is going to have to do this with her own two hands. Good thing she knows how to knock someone out with one punch.
Yang stands up, and then helps the man to his feet.
"It's just better for me to do this if you are standing. I'll catch you." She tells the man.
"Okay." The man replies.
After she gets the man standing, she positions herself to knock the man out. She makes a fist out of her right hand.
"Sorry…" She says, and punches the man in the jaw.
His body goes limp, and Yang catches him before he falls to the ground. The man is still in Yang's arms, out-cold. Yang places the down on the ground on his side. She places two fingers on his neck, just in case. She sighs a breath of relief when she feels the man's heartbeat.
Yang stands up, and walks to the back where everyone else went. She sees that Arnold and Fawkes with boxes in their hands, arguing about something. Torchwick's henchmen walk past them, to Yang. One of them hands Yang a box.
"Help load some of this." Torchwick says and points to the fighting partners "These two are not being of any help right now."
Yang does as she is told. The box adds pressure to her hurt ankle, causing her to limp even more as she walks out with the box. She turns her head back to Arnold and Fawkes. The two are still arguing with each other; neither looking to happy. Yang lets out a sigh of annoyance. She looks back at where the man is. He still lies unconscious where Yang left him.
"Sorry." Yang whispers under her breathe, and heads outside.
Ruby sits on her bed, biting her left thumb. It is late, and Yang has still not returned back to the school. She said that she would not be long.
"Where is she?" Ruby says.
"You keep saying that, and I keep saying I. don't. know! Stop asking that question!" Weiss snaps from her bed.
"Well, she said she would be back soon, and she is not back yet! And you saw how she has been acting lately. I am worried about her."
"She has been acting odd lately." Blake says from the chair at the side of the room "I don't really think she was being one-hundred percent truthful when she said she was 'just going to do a few things'."
"Who knows, maybe she is robbing some store." Weiss mumbles.
Ruby hears her comment, and jumps off of her bed. She turns to face her sitting partner.
"My sister is NOT a criminal!" Ruby shouts at her partner.
Weiss stands up so she is face to face with Ruby.
"I never said that she was!" Weiss fires back.
"You implied it when you said she could be robbing a store!"
"I was just thinking out loud! You were the one who wanted to know where the hell your sister is! It's just an idea!"
"HEY! HEY! HEY!" Blake shouts, walks up to Weiss and Ruby, and places her arms between them "both of you calm the fuck down! Do you two WANT to wake the whole school?"
"She started it!" Ruby says.
"I didn't start anything!" Weiss snaps back. "You are the one accusing people!"
"Me? You are the one who is saying that Yang is going out robbing people!"
"I told you it was just a THOUGHT! I'd like you to come up with an idea why she is acting like this!"
"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!" Blake shouts at them. "Weiss…" Blake pushes Weiss back down onto her bed "You stay here! Ruby..." She grabs Ruby by the collar of her pajamas, and drags her to the other side of the room, and makes Ruby sit on her bed "You stay here on mine!"
"But-" Ruby starts.
"No buts Ruby! Both of you need to shut up and calm down!"
Weiss and Ruby do as told and close their mouths. Blake stays standing in the middle of the room, her arms crossed across her chest.
"Both of you need to calm down." Blake says again "We all know that Yang has been acting a bit odd in the past few days. That neither tells us that she is robbing a bank, or that she is not! We don't know, and she won't tell us what is going on."
"So, do you have any ideas on what to do about this?" Weiss asks.
"We spy. The next time she is acting odd and goes out for the night, we follow her. We see what she is doing, okay?" Blake looks back and forth at her teammates.
"Sure, whatever!" Weiss says.
"If I have to spy on her to prove that she is not doing anything wrong, I will." Ruby states.
"Good." Blake looks out the window "Speaking of the devil, I see her coming."
Weiss and Ruby look outside the window and see Yang limping into the school.
"Is she limping? What the heck happen that she would be limping?' Ruby asks.
"I don't know. We will ask. I doubt we will get anywhere with her, but it is worth a shot." Blake tells Ruby.
After a few minutes, Yang enters the dorm room. She is surprise to see the rest of her team still up. She closes the door behind her.
"Hey guys. What are you still doing up?" Yang asks, and takes off her jacket.
"Talking. What are you still doing up?" Weiss asks.
"I told you I was going to do a few things."
"Why were you limping?" Ruby asks her sister.
"I tripped. It should be fine in the morning." Yang answers.
"Where were you tonight?"Weiss asks.
"I told you, I was out."
"Doing what?"
"Weiss!" Ruby snaps at her partner.
"What?" Weiss says back.
"Nothing that concerns you guys." Yang answers Weiss' question.
"Yang, I know we keep asking you this, but are you okay?" Blake asks.
"I told you I am fine!" Yang snaps, now tightly clutching her jacket in her hands.
"No, you are not Yang! You are not yourself, and we are worried." Ruby says.
"Ruby…I…" Yang turns her head away from her teammates "Just stop asking me these questions. Please!"
"Yang…"
"Ruby, please! I just…" Yang sighs and walks towards the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
"That went well." Blake sighs.
Inside the bathroom, Yang slides her back down the door, and sits on the floor. She hugs her legs and buries her face in them.
Goddamn it! Yang shouts in her head God fucking damn it!
The town is dark and slightly flooded by the rain that falls from the dark sky. Yang walks through the ankle deep water, finding both it and the rain different from what she is used to. The rain that falls on her feels as if it is starting to weigh her down with negativity; the water below her tries to push her back, making walking hard. If that is not odd enough, she is the only one in the town. She looks around the area, trying to see if she can spot anyone she knows. She does.
Arnold appears a few feet away from her. The two stare each other down before Arnold speaks.
"Hello sweetheart, how are you?" He asks Yang.
"What the hell do you want?" Yang says to him.
An evil grin forms on his face. Before Yang can say anything, cries for help ring out in the dark sky. Goosebumps form on Yang's skin as she realizes whose voices they are. Her friends, her sister, are calling out for help, and Yang does not know where they are.
"RUBY?! GUYS?!" Yang calls out, and looks around, trying to locate her friends.
They are nowhere to be seen. Their cries for help still ring out. Yang looks back at Arnold, thinking he has something to do with this, and gasps in shock when she sees what stands in front of her. Instead of Arnold, a large, dark, shadowy figure stands in front of her. Yang begins to back away from the shadow. She trips over herself, and falls into the cold, dark water below. Before Yang has time to react, the water takes a life of its own.
The water forms long tentacles that begin to wrap themselves around Yang's body, trying to pull her under the water. She flails around, trying to keep herself above the water. The shadow stands over her, watching her kick and punch at the water, and the cries for help still calling out to Yang. The tentacles of the water wrap around Yang's arms and legs, and once again, start to pull her under. She struggles to stay afloat, but the water takes her under its dark depth.
Yang snaps awake, and sits up in terror. Her breathing is erratic, and she can hear her heartbeat in her ears. She looks around where she is, and finds that she is back in her dorm, on her bed. It is still night out.
She looks towards her sister's and Weiss' bed, and finds thst both of them sleeping peacefully in them. She then peaks her head over her bed, to look down at Blake. Like the other two of her teammates, Blake is sleeping peacefully in her bed. Yang gives a soft smile, lies back down on her bed, and puts her right arm on her forehead in thought.
Thank God! It was just a nightmare. Just a dream. None of that was real. No one was calling out for help; it was just my mind playing some tricks on me. They are safe…I am safe. No one is hurt. I just need to sleep, that's all. She tells herself.
Yang does not fall back asleep.
As I said, I there was going to be a dual update (there should be one more dual update. Idk when, but sometime this month) and this may be the longest chapter I have written to date. I think that next week, it will be normal, and the week after that will be the dual. Again, doing that because this month is weird for me, and because when the scots come, i will be unable to write and update, so this story will be on hiatus for that week. Damn, i am pround of how this one came out! This is also, technically, the 10th chapter of the story, and fuck i am happy about that!