Our Sun Will Never Set

Chapter Two

Bumblebee

You remember that dark time in your life with the barest hint of a smile. You weren't able to do it, you recall.

You weren't ready to die.

Not yet.

You remember the way your hands trembled uncontrollably as the knife slipped from your hand, clattering harmlessly to the floor. You fell to your knees soon after, sobbing uncontrollably as you struggled to accept the fact that you would never see her again.

You really couldn't understand it, and couldn't understand why.

You couldn't understand why you cared so damn much about what happened to that human all those years ago. After all, you had bigger problems to deal with. The landscape was changing.

Gone were the days of roaming the land unbothered. The discovery of Dust had lead to a revolution in the energy district, but had awoken the ire of the Grimm, a breed of soulless monsters that seemed to wander the planet in unending numbers.

No one was sure where they came from or why Dust seemed to attract them. Dust wasn't a perfect system yet, and there was much about it that wasn't understood.

You once again turned your heart and soul to a belief more powerful than yourself, and for a while you had a false sense of comfort and purpose. With the fate of your life turned over to a god that you weren't sure was looking out for you, you resigned yourself to wandering once more.

You've been alive forever, after all, and you still had forever to go.

The next time you see her, you're quicker to react.

You're sitting in a coffee shop near the window, watching the people and time pass by. You feel like you've already thought every thought that could be had, and your mind is blank as you sip slowly at a cup of peppermint tea.

It's a bright, beautiful sunny day out today, and you try to think thoughts to match the weather. The Faunus, what were left of them anyway, were slowly starting to get themselves organized into what loosely resembled an organization. As of yet nameless, it seemed that they all shared a common goal. They wanted to be treated as equals, they wanted to show that they weren't just thoughtless animals. They wanted to walk the streets side by side with humans, and there were whispers on the wind of peaceful protests and organized rallies.

It would be a while yet before they got any kind of progress done, you think. They were still in their infancy of planning and organization, and you were sure that it would be a few years at least before anyone saw any hint of change, any sign that anyone was taking them seriously.

Your ears twitch under that precious, treasured bow of yours as a bell softly tolls. Almost out of instinct, you look up to see who has come into the coffee shop, your disinterested eyes flicking to the front of the store.

As the small bell over the front door slowly rocks to a stop, your golden eyes widen when you see her.

She's beautiful. She wears her hair differently this time, but god, is she beautiful.

Her golden locks fall to just below her shoulders, much shorter than the last two times you've seen her. Her violet eyes are just as vibrant as ever though, and you find yourself unable to look away as she stares up at the handwritten letters on the chalkboard above the cash register.

You're not too far away from her. You could get up and reach out and touch her and-

-and what?

You're not sure.

But, you're not going to let her go this time.

You see she's made a decision, and watch as she approaches the cash register. There's a grin on her face as she exchanges words with the girl behind the counter, and you find yourself getting up, reaching up to brush your hair back behind your ear as you stalk toward her on silent feet.

You aren't sure what to do. Your interactions with people have been few during your long life, and even fewer still where you weren't fighting for your life.

You find yourself reaching into your pocket as you approach the beautiful girl standing there, and she finally sees you from the corner of her eye as you approach her side.

She turns to look at you now, and you break eye contact for only a moment as you pull your credit card from your pocket.

With a smoothness that you didn't know you possessed in situations like this, you tap your card on the scanner and it's back in your pocket before either her or the girl behind the counter can say a word.

"It's on me, today." You find yourself saying, as you lean against the counter and fold your arms across your chest. Your golden eyes find hers as you smile.

She stares at you for a second, before an easy smile breaks out across her face.

"Hey, thanks!" She says.

Her voice is light and playful on your ears, and you sigh softly as you tilt your head to the side. You study her a bit more, before realizing that you're quickly becoming creepy. That thought throws you off, and your next words are a stuttering mess.

"Uh, w-would you like to join me for a bit? That is, if you have time?" You point lamely to your table, where your tea patiently waits, growing ever colder by the second.

She looks away from you, to where you're pointing.

Back to you now, and she nods, sending your heart soaring.

"Sure thing! I'll see you over there."

She grins brightly at you, and turns to accept one of her items from the girl behind the counter.

You uncross your arms as you turn around, and as you walk back toward your table, it dawns on you what you've just done.

An unfamiliar heat rises to your cheeks as you sink into your chair, and as much as you try, you cannot keep your eyes off her as she waits near the counter for the rest of her order.

You take a moment to study her.

She's a bit taller than you. A dark red t-shirt stretches over a rather large chest, and she's wearing a pair of faded light blue jeans. Around her right forearm is a worn leather bracer, and it's so at odds with the rest of her attire that you're sure it will come up in conversation, so you don't have to be curious for very long.

When she receives the rest of her order, you quickly look out the window so as to not be caught staring when she turns around and begins walking toward you.

You can feel your heart hammering in your chest, and as she slides easily into the seat across from you, you finally tear your gaze away from the scene outside and look to her.

"Hey." You immediately curse your lame greeting, and you wonder where all your earlier bravado had disappeared to.

She doesn't seem bothered though, and her ever-present smile seems to get a bit brighter when she looks up to you from the pastry on her plate.

"Thanks for the kind act." She replies, gesturing to her coffee and pastry. Your eyes fall to the table shyly.

You aren't sure what to say, and your mind is racing as you realize that you are really NOT good with people.

So many things cross your mind. You want to reach out and touch her, to make sure she's really real. You want to apologize with all of your heart for what you had done to her all those years ago, but you're sure she would think you were crazy.

She doesn't know what you are, how long you've lived and what you've seen.

There's no way she could understand the pain you're carrying in your heart.

So there's no point telling her.

She wouldn't care, anyway.

You sigh softly, before raising your gaze to meet hers once more.

"No problem. I'm Blake." You say. "Blake Belladonna."

She surprises you by reaching out her right arm, hand extended toward you.

You pause for only a second before you realize what she wants, and you waste no time in putting your hand in hers.

"Nice to meet you, Blake! My name is Yang Xiao Long." She shakes your hand, and all too soon she releases her grip on you.

You place your hands in your lap, and try to etch the feel of her hand in yours into your mind.

You watch as she takes a sip of her coffee, licking her lips as she smiles at you. The sunlight coming in through the window beside your seat glints off her hair and shines in her eyes, and in this moment, for the first time, you are truly happy.

The two of you grew close over the following days. The following weeks and months saw you grow even closer than that. You quickly lose track of the time spent with her, as you soak up every moment in her presence like the desert dirt after a rainstorm. You come to learn that she's broken and hurting, much like you, but for very different reasons.

You're at her house, now. It's evening, and you've been talking since noon. Your conversation has slowly devolved into comfortable periods of silence followed by murmured words and shared looks.

You aren't really sure why you're drawn to this enticing beauty, but somewhere between her soft laugh and her vivid iridescent eyes, you find yourself beginning to not care.

Something sappy like soulmates comes to mind, but you don't really believe in that stuff... do you?

Another peaceful lull in conversation, and your eyes fall from her slender neckline to the gentle curve of her forearms.

Your liquid golden eyes land on the leather bracer around her right forearm, and it piques your interest just as strongly now as it did all those months ago when you first laid eyes upon her in the coffee shop.

"Yang, why... why are you always wearing that bracer?" You ask, readjusting your position on the couch beside her.

She smiles as she stares at her hands in her lap, and she sighs softly.

"Can I tell you a secret?" She asks, looking up at you.

You smile. "Only if I can tell you one too." You reply.

The corner of her mouth lifts a bit, pulling gently at the strings of your heart.

Slowly her deft fingers begin to untie the leather strip that bounds it tightly to her wrist.

You watch in fascination as she slowly, carefully unties her bracer, and when she slips it off, she presents her upturned wrist to you.

Your eyes leave hers, and fall to her outstretched arm. Your eyes widen as you see a multitude of long scars criss-crossing her wrist and tracking up her forearm, and you can't help but wonder what exactly this strong, beautiful girl is trying to run from.

"Whaaa... "

You're unable to form words as an icy fist seems to grasp at your heart. You reach out, and your eyes raise to hers in a silent plea for permission.

She nods wordlessly.

You take her right hand in your own, as your left comes up to delicately caress the marks left upon her skin.

Your fingers slide over the scars running up and down her forearm, and you cannot avoid the streaks of pain in your own as you imagine what this must have felt like.

"What... what are you running from?" You ask softly, placing your hand in hers and holding it tightly.

You refuse to release her, and she doesn't seem to mind as she grips your hand in her own.

"It's not what I'm running from, Blake. It's who I'm running to."

You feel like you're frozen in place and you can't tear your gaze away from hers.

"What do you mean?" Your breath catches in your throat, and your heart skips a beat at the sudden lack of air.

She doesn't look away from you, and you feel yourself getting lost in her strong gaze.

"I feel like there's... " She sighs as she struggles to find the right words to say.

"I feel like there is a part of me missing. I can't explain how or why, it's just an overwhelming feeling that I'm not whole. I'm not complete. There's someone out there for me, I know it. It just seems like I'll never find them."

Suddenly your earlier thoughts about soulmates doesn't seem so ridiculous. But was she really yours, or were you just fixated on a mistake from the past?

You weren't really sure at this point.

"Can I show you something?" You ask. Your heart hammers in your chest at the thought of what you're about to do, but you swallow your fear as she looks at you with nothing but patience and understanding in her eyes.

She nods.

"Anything."

You take a moment to breathe in an attempt to calm yourself down. When you're sure you won't lose your nerve, you slowly pull your hand from her grasp.

Two small trembling hands make their way to your bow, and you bow your head and close your eyes as your fingers find the ends of the ribbon with practiced ease.

One tug, that's all it will take.

One tug, that's all it takes, and the ribbon loosens around your ears. You feel the ribbon slipping around your ears as it falls away, and when you raise your head and open your eyes, you know that you are truly in her hands now.

She doesn't react at first.

Gold meets purple, and neither blinks, each awaiting the others' reaction.

Finally, you speak.

"Looks like we both have things we wanted to hide."

You picked up writing shortly after that. You meticulously wrote down every detail of every version of her you could remember. That small black book was your most treasured possession, and it went with you everywhere. In it were details of the day you met.

In it, you wrote the details of the night she died.

You can still see the way your hands trembled and tears stained the pages as you penned her death upon the pages.

It wasn't long after you bared yourself to her that she passed. You hadn't heard from her for a few days, and when she didn't answer your calls, you grew worried. It didn't take long to travel to her house, and when you arrived, you found the front door unlocked.

An uneasy feeling settled over you and seemed to chill you as you slowly entered. You debated for a moment about whether or not you should call her name, but desire got the better of your rationale and you yelled her name as loudly as you could.

You tore through the now familiar house as a sense of urgency grew in the pit of your stomach.

You already knew, but you didn't want it to be true. You could smell it.

You could smell the blood, and the disgusting scent of death.

You burst into the kitchen, and you fell to your knees as you saw her.

A scream of rage and despair filled the house as you cried at the sight of her lifeless body sitting at the kitchen table. Her face bore an expression of a peace found in death that you had never seen her wear before, even as her wrist bore the evidence of the peace that she had never felt in life.

You can't quite recall how long you clung to her body, weeping loudly and brokenly as you realized that you could have prevented this. She was searching for someone to love her and you could have been that person, and now she was gone and you had no idea if or when you would ever see her again. That thought tore at you as it whirled around in your mind over and over, and you wondered if you were destined to have her taken away from you for an eternity.

It was dark outside when you left the house. It was the perfect cover for you, as your ears twitched freely against the cold night air. Devoid of the ribbon that had covered them for so long, they twitched at every sound as if hearing it for the first time.

The ribbon that the doctor had given you so long ago had found it's way back to it's rightful owner, as you tenderly, lovingly, wrapped it around those ugly scars on her wrist.

You raised your head to the dark sky above as the sound of crackling flames reached your ears. As the flames grew brighter and the noise grew louder, you silently whispered her eulogy with only the moon and stars as an audience.

That book went with you to Beacon. You applied out of curiosity, and because it was getting harder to survive on your own out in the wild. Grimm were everywhere now, and you grew weary of fighting. You remembered your time serving as a metalsmith's apprentice, and you forged a weapon of incredible lethality.

Of course, not on your first try. It took many iterations to create a weapon you were truly happy with, but when Gambol Shroud was strapped to your waist, it was as comforting as the small black book that you kept locked in your hard shelled backpack.

You weren't expecting to discover her here. She had never been a fighter in any of her previous reincarnations, so you were quite surprised to see her approach you that night, with her sister in tow.

You exchanged few words, shocked at how vibrant and youthful she seemed in comparison to the past versions that you remember.

However, you were sure it was her. Your heart seemed calmed just by her presence, and you knew you absolutely had to find a way onto her team.

Somehow, you weren't at all surprised to discover that her weapons were gauntlets. Your bow twitches as you remember the last time you had caressed her bare wrists, and after so many years alone, you ache to caress her once again.

You were surprised at how receptive she was to you. She seemed to be in tune to your every thought, every move, and it was an amazing feeling to have someone keep up with you on the battlefield. Something akin to happiness flooded you when you fought beside her, and the way she smiled at you seemed to disarm you in a way you weren't entirely prepared for.

There was one more chance meeting with her before Beacon. It was brief and fleeting, but like all meetings, it was etched both into your book, and onto your heart.

You weren't supposed to be on your phone, you knew. Yet you were anyway. It was impossible to avoid the constant attention you received, both good and bad, for being a Faunus, and the digital era you lived in made it a constant, 24 hours-a-day stream of feedback.

You were reading a particularly hateful message on one of the several inane social media websites that cluttered your phone, and the grin that played across your lips seemed to only grow wider the more you read.

You were always amused by the creativity some of these people seemed to possess when it came to insulting you, and it never failed to brighten your day to hear that your mere existence was driving someone mad.

That same amused smirk was still plastered across your face when you stepped off the sidewalk to cross the street, and you barely heard the concerned yell of a passerby over the screeching of tires.

Your ears twitched as you looked up, and your eyes widened as you swiftly leapt out of the way of an oncoming vehicle that was attempting to slide to a stop.

You almost made it, but were struck in the arm by the side mirror protruding from the vehicle. It knocked you to the ground as pain erupted in your arm, and although you cursed softly between gritted teeth, you didn't make any other sound as you reached up to cradle your elbow close to your stomach.

Instantly, you could tell you had a broken arm. It could have been worse, you supposed, as you winced in pain, but you decided to look on the bright side.

Maybe you'd meet a cute blonde doctor.

You had to snicker through the pain at that thought, as the sound of concerned voices grew louder in your ears.

Once voice in particular seemed to attract your attention, and you pushed your messy black hair from your face as your ears swivelled around, trying to locate the owner of the voice.

You attempted to push yourself up from the ground with your remaining good arm, but the pain that lanced through your arm and shoulder made it nearly impossible. Before you could mutter a curse, there were gentle hands on your shoulders, pushing you back down as a soft voice in your ear urged you to take it easy.

You slumped back on your rear and cradled your arm closer, ignoring the sickening way your arm seemed to shift in a way that it shouldn't.

"Eaaaasy, babe. You'll be okay."

You finally register the soft words and soothing tone, and look up to see a blonde-haired girl kneeling in front of you. Her face bore an expression of concentration as she stared at you, and through the haze of confusion you note that her gorgeous blonde hair is tied up in a ponytail this time.

It doesn't detract from her beauty one iota, you think, as you find yourself lost in her serious lilac eyes.

You watch in mild fascination as she reaches up to her hair, and in seconds her hair falls unbound around her shoulders as she produces a familiar black ribbon.

Her hair tie now in her hand, she gently takes your wrist and folds your arm across your stomach.

"This might hurt a bit, but it's for the best." She cautions you.

You can't even think of the pain in your arm right now, as you stare in amazement at the worn old ribbon that has made it's way back to you.

Carefully, she winds the ribbon around your forearm, then loops it around your shoulder and ties it in a small, neat knot.

A sharp, stabbing pain shoots through you as she inadvertently jostles your arm, but you bite your lip against the searing pain as you study her face.

She's barely looked at you, giving you a moment or two to trace every curve of her slender neckline and toned shoulder with your gaze and re-brand her visage into your mind.

All too soon she's gently helping you to your feet as an ambulance pulls up, and for a second the pain in your heart is a thousand times more powerful than the pain in your arm.

You haven't even thanked her...

You reach out to grab her sleeve with your good arm as two medical professionals gently pull you toward their service vehicle. Your ears barely register the noise around you and the flashing emergency lights seem dulled in comparison to her vibrant beauty. You can't let her slip away again-!

Your fingers barely connect with her, but she turns and raises her gaze to you anyway, confused lilac meeting longing gold for the first time in years.

"Can you-" Your breath hitches in your throat, and the look of confusion on her face increases.

You clear your throat and shake your head, willing yourself not to let her go without at least trying.

"Will you ride with me?" You gesture with a tilt of your head to the ambulance behind you, and she smiles demurely.

"Sorry, I have to get to class."

"Oh... "

Truthfully, you hadn't expected her to decline. The thought that you were just a random passer-by in need of assistance hadn't occured to you. What she meant to you was vastly different from what you meant to her, it was clear.

The way you chased her through time yet could never seem to quite catch or hold on to her should have been your first clue that maybe "soulmates" was just a romantic term to describe an idea that comforted the lonely and gave them false hope, and nothing else.

You aren't sure what to say here, and before you know it, you're being lifted into the back of the flashing emergency vehicle.

"Th-thank you!" You call out, and a small wave of satisfaction passes over you when she turns back to you and raises a hand in a gentle wave, smiling brightly.

"Take care." Are the last words you hear from her.

You close your eyes and lean back against the wall behind your bed. In your lap, your precious black book sits.

Never, in the history of all your encounters, has she been this close to you. Even in your most vivid dreams, fuelled by the most lonely of nights, has she ever been this close to you.

You aren't really sure what to do. Over the years your desire to apologize to her for what you did to her has waned. You realize it would be pointless. She wouldn't know, wouldn't understand, wouldn't care, even if you explained it to her.

Your desire to apologize has long since been replaced by the desire to get to know her. In all of her incarnations, in all of her forms, you want nothing more than to walk hand in hand with her from one life to the next. Although it tears your heart open to say goodbye to her for the last time, you know it's never truly the last time. And when you eventually find her again, the scars on your heart are temporarily healed when she smiles at you and introduces herself like you've never met before.

You're broken from your reverie when the door to your room opens. You raise your head from the wall and open your eyes as the most beautiful girl you've ever seen walks in, and you allow yourself a small smile.

"Hey, Blake!" The girl greets, waving at you as she strips herself of her weapons. They're tossed carelessly onto the bed above you.

"Hi Yang." You greet. "How was practice?"

She shrugs, moving toward your bed. "Would have been better if you'd been there." She doesn't elaborate any further though, and you suspect that she suffered a defeat at the hands of Nora.

She was never really able to hold her own against Nora, you think.

Not without you there to watch her back.

You raise an eyebrow as you smirk at her.

"So you lost." It wasn't a question.

She flops down beside you on the bed, and makes punching gestures in the air.

"Technically... yes." She admits. She sighs as you laugh, then rolls over to look at you with those enticing lilac eyes.

"What is so important about your book that you had to skip practice, anyway?" She asks.

You close the book and set it aside.

"Nothing, really."

"Aww, c'mon Blake, you promised you'd tell me one day." She furrows her eyebrows and tries her cutest pout.

You sigh softly as it seems to be working.

"Yang." You speak, carefully choosing your words as you stare into her eyes.

"Do you believe in soulmates?"

She doesn't blink as she returns your stare.

"What, like someone you're destined to be with forever?"

You can't stop the sad smile from spreading across your face at the thought of just how little you've been with the one you consider your soulmate.

"Something like that, yeah."

She looks away from you as she rolls onto her back, folding her arms behind her head as she stares at the bunk above you.

"Mmm, not really." She replies. "Why?"

You're silent, trying to process her answer.

Did it matter if she did or not? Would it have changed anything?

You aren't sure why, but her answer seems to have struck at you in a way you didn't anticipate.

"Blake? You okay?" Your ears twitch underneath your bow at the sound of concern in her voice, and your eyes widen as you realize that tears have begun trailing down your cheeks.

Hastily you wipe them on your sleeve, and you shake your head as you close your eyes, unwilling to look at your partner.

"Blake, what's wrong?" You feel the bed shift as she pushes herself up, then the mattress dips a bit as she moves closer to you.

You can't speak. You don't know how to tell her about everything that's happened, everything you've done and what you've lived through. Her lives, and her deaths, all convincing you that she was your soulmate, and that one day, if you worked up the courage and asked her, that you could have one fleeting lifetime of happiness together with her.

"Blake...?"

You open your eyes. Yang is inches from you now, and your golden eyes widen in surprise at the look of worry on her face.

Your heart hammers in your chest as you realize that she has never before been this close to you. Not physically, nor emotionally.

"Y-Yang... "

Your breath hitches in your throat as you whisper her name.

She moves closer yet, and her hand finds your leg.

"What's wrong, Blake?"

You can't take the worry in her voice any longer.

"Yang, have you ever thought of what it means to want to find your soulmate?"

She shrugs, and you know the confusion in her eyes are a result of your odd line of questioning.

"Blake, you've never been a religious or spiritual person before... what is going on? I'm seriously worried about you."

You ignore her.

"I'm serious Yang. Please... just answer the question."

She shakes her head.

"No, I haven't."

You bite your lip.

"Well, I have. No matter how long it takes, no matter how long I walk this planet, I will find her."

Her nose wrinkles cutely in confusion.

"Her... ?"

You ignore her.

"Yang, what would you do if you could live forever?"

Her eyes seem to darken in confusion, before she leans back slightly as excitement lightens her gaze and her tone.

"That would be awesome!" She exclaims.

You shake your head. "It really wouldn't." You answer flatly.

She tilts her head ever so cutely, fixing you with a questioning look.

"You wouldn't want to live forever?" She asks you.

You inhale deeply and close your eyes for a moment as you consider your answer.

She waits patiently for your response.

Slowly, you release the breath you've been holding. It comes out a bit shakier than you'd have liked.

You open your eyes, and fix your gaze on hers. Your heart pounds nervously in your chest, and you feel your breath catching in your throat as you reach out to gently caress her cheek.

"Yang, there's a difference between living, and truly feeling alive."

Author's note: Sorry this took so long. Reviews are appreciated. Thank you all so much for reading and following along.