Yang agreed to take the mission assignment along the wall of Vale.
Within a week of meeting Ozpin and signing the paperwork, Yang and Weiss were both sent an empty duffle bag to carry any personal items. Due to the nature of the small living space, anything that couldn't fit in the duffle or the assigned weapons locker would have to stay home. They were each also issued a backpack of survival gear. A box containing five uniforms, five pairs of pajamas, a pair of steel toed shoes each rounded off the delivery.
They had requested and had been granted the open slots on Vale's westward wall. It was the one nearest to their home.
Blake, however, was not pleased with the decision. "I still don't agree with this."
"We're only going to be two hours away." Yang said, already resigning herself to her fate. "We couldn't get a closer assignment if we tried…well, unless we asked for the Beacon tower position. No one wants to be stationed there, it's all computer stations and babysitting academy kids. I'd lose my mind, and Weiss would blow her top the second she was told to shadow a bunch of first years. Besides, that's really no different from field work. When the students go on assignments, I'd have to track them down."
"I don't doubt we need the cash, and I agree, the assignment you got was a lucky one….but what are we going to do about Ace?" Blake asked, that little detail one of the ones to bother her the most. "You don't actually think leaving Ruby and I in charge is a good idea, do you?"
"It's not a bad one…"
"Yang…stop that."
"What? I'm just saying the truth." As she continued to cram her admittedly small duffel full, she realized that Weiss would be in for a rough time of things. If she thought Beacon's storage was hell in a handbag, this was going to be a whole new level of torture. "It's not like I'm leaving you guys for good. Wall rotation isn't all that bad."
"It isn't all that good, either, Yang."
"Weiss and I will work twelve to sixteen hour days, seven days in a row. Then they give us seven days off…rinse, repeat. I mean, yeah, I'm sure the seven days working sucks. Crammed living space, long hours, the food is probably crappy, but then I have a whole week after that to be home with Ace…"
"You should be staying here. Ruby or I should be going with Weiss. Ace needs you."
"Blake, remember what we talked about…the whole bad influence thing?"
"I told you, to stop thinking that way about yourself."
She had sais something about that, but Yang still had doubts. She still wondered, and feared, and cursed all of the things she couldn't do right the first time. This was one thing she knew, she could do. She needed the stability too, even if that was one of the hardest parts to admit.
"Look, I'm never going to be good at this whole keeping a baby out of trouble thing…and when Ace gets older, I don't want her to see me as the bored alcoholic who goes off on missions for months at a time and never sees her." Yang began, not that she resented her uncle. Not in the slightest. It just wasn't the life she wanted for herself.
"But you aren't that sort of person." Blake retorted. "You've been careful...perhaps too careful in retrospect, not to do anything that could possibly make Ace think poorly of you..."
"And it still isn't good enough, maybe it is for Ace. But it's not for me." Yang admitted. "If I can't give Ace a normal upbringing, then least I can do is try for stable. I'm tired of living paycheck-to-paycheck, praying for work that might not come when we need it."
"Then I'll go so that you can stay here." Blake repeated, feeling as though it was the better option.
"And give up the soup kitchens, and homeless shelters you put all the hours you can at?" Yang asked. "What about the spousal abuse center you visit every Saturday to help? Or the youth center for troubled Faunus? You're just going to give up all of that?" She watched as her friend's golden eyes closed, an annoyed sigh lingering in the air. A slow exhale. "You became a huntress to make a difference. That's what you wanted, that's what you're doing. Don't throw that all away for my sake."
"What if I'm not thinking about doing it for you?"
"…Blake…I never wanted this. I wanted to just be a huntress…maybe Raven and I aren't that different in that way. Being a sister to Ruby was awesome…but I don't know how to raise a kid. I never planned to...I don't know...maybe this is some sort of retribution for how much I resented Raven."
"What do you mean, Yang?" Blake murmured as she sat down on the edge of her bed.
"I get it now." Yang admitted softly, pacing back and forth a few times. "Feeling trapped. Like everything I do is just one big fuck-up after another…maybe Raven just wasn't ready for me…just like deep down, I know, I'm not ready to look after Ace."
"But you are doing everything you can, Yang. That's a whole lot more than you could ever say about Raven. Even this new mission assignment. You're doing it for Ace, because we need the money if we ever hope to look after her…but I'm telling you that you don't have to do this."
"Yes I do…" Yang said quietly. Pulling out her scroll and flipping to a picture she took unbeknownst to the trio who'd fallen asleep. She tossed her scroll to Blake, who caught it haphazardly. The image was starting to become more common place, though Yang wondered if Blake or Ruby noticed it. The nearness of the two of them sitting cross-legged on the floor. A bowl of pretzels between them, and Ace hunkered down in Ruby's lap. "Go ahead, lie to me if you want. Tell me you don't want moments like that…"
Blake said nothing, thumbing through the incriminating evidence that Blake herself had never really taken notice of. There were so many pictures, some while the three were awake, some while they were asleep. The timestamps showed weeks of little moments. One or two photos she would have been able to brush off. Instead there were at least twenty, maybe more, if she took the time to look even further back.
Hands on her hips, Yang asked again. "Well?"
"I…" Blake licked her lips. "It's...you took that many?"
"See, you can't deny it, can you?" Yang said, only a hint of smugness in her tone. "You like your movie nights, and your morning fairytales…and it doesn't matter if you admit it or not. You and Ruby are both playing house. Living vicariously because neither one of you are aware enough in what the hell you're doing to make a move…it's like you're already a sexless couple satisfied with settling for a lukewarm romance that doesn't go anywhere."
"That's hardly the case…"
"Then tell me otherwise." Yang pushed. "Fact is, I don't think you can." She gestured back to the scroll still in Blake's hand.
The pictures still on the screen. None of them were huge, or particularly scandalous…but that was the worst thing about them. They didn't need to be. The natural feeling of each one proved that none of them were scripted…and Blake only remembered a small handful. The rest took place while she wasn't paying attention, far too enamored with whatever else was happening around her.
"If something bad happened to us, Ace wouldn't have anyone." Yang explained, knowing the same unfortunate rule applied to Blake and Weiss. Outside of their friends, they had no real family anymore. "We need to stick together, and I've got to do what's best for everyone. I feel like this is the right thing, so I'm going, and you're staying…and that's just the way it's got to be."
For Ruby, the concept was no different than when their father spent all of his time at the academy. For a long time, he only came home on weekends, or very late at night when they should have been asleep. That was one of the reasons Ruby recalled staying with their uncle in Vale when she was small. It was closer to the school, and thus, closer to her father.
It was easier for him to make the commute nightly to the apartment, than it was to cross a lake to get to Patch.
Yang was doing what she felt she had to do, and that was the extent of the entire situation. If Ruby understood anything about her sister, it was that Yang jumped headlong into solutions as they came. This one was an answer to a huge problem, and Yang was grasping for it like a starving man did a dinner plate.
That didn't stop the house from feeling empty, though.
They had only been gone a day, but Ruby noticed their absence in the little details. A few of the books Weiss kept above the fireplace were gone now. Yang had taken a few of the picture frames off the mantle. They both had raided the kitchen, taking their favorite snacks. The fact that there was no longer any beer in the fridge, or wine for that matter, made it seem empty. All of it had been disposed of, or drunken before they left.
It was the silence she noticed next.
The lack of her sister bellowing across the house in her usual fashion, playing music, or watching something obscene on television. Yang's racket was easy to miss. Weiss had always been more reserved, but even she had her own distinct noise, albeit more subdued. Ace noticed the changes as well, if her occasional glances at the door were any indication.
Ruby watched as the little girl ran over to the square ring of papers that hung up on the wall. Today was a Saturday…not that Ace knew that, but the sheet of paper was colored green. Green paper meant going to the park. Ace noticed this and ran back to the window to wait some more.
It was the first time in her life, that Ruby cursed the colored pages of the tear away calendar. Yang and Nora always took her to the park on weekends…and there was no Yang, and thus, no park…and Ruby sighed, leaning heavily on the wall. She had been hoping, praying, that Ace wouldn't notice. Yang and Weiss were probably still settling in for orientation. They started officially working Monday.
"Ace." Ruby called, pulling the little girl's attention. "No park. Yang's working."
Little ears flattened back, and a whine protruded from her throat as she looked back towards the window. The word 'no' always seemed to be a bad thing.
"Ace, come here." Ruby said, as she pulled the stairs down to the attic. "I want to show you something."
She cocked her head to the side, her left ear flicking, and a mew forming the question she was still too little to ask with words.
"Come here if you want to see it." Ruby said, bending over and patting her legs. She watched as Ace looked back to the window. Torn between wanting to see the surprise, and waiting for Yang. The decision seemed to be a hard one for the small child. "Ace…"
Curiosity won out, and she made her way over to Ruby, who picked her up, and carried her up the steep ladder in to the very top of the house. The floors were rickety. The room was dusty. The ceiling was so low even Weiss was at risk of bumping her head on it in a few places. Ruby put a palm over the little girl's head to softly push against the kitten-like ears, keeping the dust and cobwebs out.
"See that big wall over there in the distance?" Ruby, said, pointing over to it. From this far away, it looked small, but Ruby knew better. "That's where she is, working really hard so that you can be safe and warm." Ace made another discontented and somewhat confused sound. Ruby only shook her head. "No Yang. If you want to go to the park, we have to wait for Blake."