The next thing Yang knows, she's shaking. Not shivering from cold, but a full-body tremble that comes and goes at its own whim.
She opens her eyes. She's still on the couch, although lying down instead of sitting up. Coco's in the armchair in front of her and to the right of the couch as a whole. She's reading a book, but it's too dark for Yang to make out the title. She starts shaking again.
Coco looks up. "Yang?" she says, her voice low and husky and suddenly exactly what Yang needs to hear right now. "How are you doing?"
"I don't know," Yang rasps. "What happened?"
"You don't remember?"
Yang shakes her head very slightly.
"Okay." Coco puts her book down. "It sounds like you had another blackout. A more accurate term would be 'losing time'. It seems to be reasonably common in people who suffer from PTSD, among other things."
Yang frowns. "The...the last thing I remember, I was watching TV, and I saw-" She sees him, glowing red all over, and she's shaking again. "-something. Then I heard you at the door and..." She shrugs her shoulders helplessly and tries to sit up.
"Easy." Coco says. Yang doesn't need to be told twice. "You've been sleeping for a while. We talked after I got back; do you remember any of that?"
"No." Yang says. She's tired of not knowing, or not remembering, things.
"You mentioned a name, said you saw them on TV. I wanted to go get Velvet, but you said you didn't want to be alone again. So I've been waiting here with you since then."
"How long...?"
"A couple hours. I haven't been keeping track. Got plenty to do." She taps her book gently.
Yang gives up and sinks back down into the cushions. "Does dad know?"
"He knows. He's been in to see you, just like everyone else."
"Zwei too?"
"Zwei too." Coco says with a smile.
"What about Neo?" Yang asks, starting to shake once more.
"Oh, I forgot. Haven't seen her. Not like that rules anything out. Velvet says her Semblance is illusions?" Yang nods. "So she could've been around." It's Coco's turn to frown. "You know every time you've had something like this happen, at least so far as I know, she just disappears? Think there's something up with that?"
"I think she has problems dealing with people. She uses her Semblance to 'talk' when it's just the two of us, but I haven't heard anything like that around anyone else, except when she had Roman yell at me." Yang suddenly has a suspicion, but she doesn't give voice to it. It's not the sort of thing one should say unless one is sure.
"And you're sure..." Coco trails off, clearly uncomfortable finishing the sentence.
"I'm sure it's real." Yang says. "Sure as I can be."
"Well, it's not really real if she's using her Semblance, but yeah I know what you mean." Coco says. She stands up and walks over to the small shelf of books beneath the window to the right of the door. There are several bags in front of the shelf. Yang wonders how much Coco had checked out of the library at Signal, or if she'd even bothered. Given that Taiyang works there, she could have easily bluffed her way out of having to register for a library card she'd probably never use again. "I was gonna show this to you right after I got back, but things happened." Coco looks over her shoulder. "Things that I do not blame you for. You get me?"
Yang nods wordlessly. She is trying very hard not to look at a certain part of Coco's anatomy as the older girl bends over the bags. Not that she'd mind, but...
"Here we go." Coco says. She takes out a long white box and sets it down on Yang's chest.
Yang squints. The only identifying mark is the Atlas symbol on the lid. "What is it?" she asks.
"Hell if I know." Coco says bluntly. "Told 'em at the school I was staying with Taiyang Xiao Long, and they had me wait like fifteen minutes before they brought this back. Wouldn't tell me what was in it. I don't think even they know."
"I do."
Coco and Yang look up. Taiyang stands in the doorway to the kitchen.
"Dad-" Yang says. Her eyes start to fill with tears.
He holds up a hand. "We can talk about what happened earlier some other time. Right now, I just wanna see your reaction to this."
"What is it?" she asks again.
"It's a surprise." he says with a chuckle.
Yang sighs and holds the box steady with her stump while she removes the lid.
Coco turns on the overhead light. Yang's eyes, completely unprepared, are blinded for a long long time. In the moment before she has to close them, she sees a familiar shape inside the box. Is this some kind of sick joke? Unable to wait, she runs her remaining fingers along the smooth metal contours. "Is this-"
"Brand new, state of the art Atlas tech. You know, I thought I was gonna have to pull some strings, call in a few favors, but you earned this one all on your own, kiddo."
Yang looks in the direction of her father's voice. "Huh?"
"Before I could even talk to him, General Ironwood already had one of his top scientists working on this, for you. He wanted me to tell you that you fought admirably. You should be proud of yourself."
"...right..." Yang's eyes are starting to clear now. As she looks down at the cold metal arm that so many people must have worked so hard on for her, she wonders if she's supposed to feel something.
"Well? You going to try it on?" Taiyang asks.
Coco looks at him. "It's a big adjustment. Give her some time to think about it." she says coolly.
"I uh... I'm not feeling too great right now. Maybe later?" Yang says. She puts the lid back on the box as best as she can.
"Well, alright." Taiyang scratches the back of his neck.
Yang puts her feet to the floor and waits for her heartrate to settle down again. "I need to go say 'I'm sorry' to Velvet. Anyone know where she is?"
"She's washing up before dinner." Coco says. "I'll let her know you want to talk to her. You should go lie down."
"Yeah." Yang can't think of anything better to do, so she agrees and makes her way up the stairs.
Someone knocks on the door a little while later. Yang has to get up to open it. Her voice seems to be going fast. Neo tilts her head to one side, her brow wrinkled.
Yang opens her mouth to try to say something but nothing comes out. She grimaces and makes her way to her desk. She's already picked up a pen when she remembers she can't write. "Hold on." she manages to say, and even then only when Neo is almost pressing her ear to Yang's mouth.
Yang rummages through her piles of stuff before she finds her Scroll. The screen is covered with dust, and it doesn't turn on when she presses the power button. She has to rummage through her stuff again to find the charger cable. She plugs it in, tapping her fingers against the side impatiently while it goes through the startup sequence. Finally she opens a blank document and slowly types, "I had another blackout. I'm doing better."
Neo writes in the air with her own shimmery pink font. What happened?
Yang closes her eyes and tries to empty her mind. "I saw Adam. Blake's ex. He was there, at Beacon. He-" She pauses. "-hurt her. He did this to me." Yang raises her stump.
In the time it takes her to type that out, a hundred images and sounds run in circles inside her head. "Get AWAY from her!" That sound Blake had made when the sword entered her stomach. The sound of his sword as it came closer. Blake's face through the window when she had first seen Yang. Her fear. Not just then, but always.
He's here? Neo writes, before she grimaces and erases her words. On the TV, right?
Yang nods.
Who is he?
"He's with the White Fang." Yang types. "He's probably a long way from here. Just like her."
White Fang. Neo frowns. Horns?
"I think so. You know him?"
No. Heard him talk once. Good speaker.
"You were at a rally? Are you a Faunus too?"
Neo shakes her head. I could be, if you want. Sort of. Yang glares at her. It was an underground thing. Roman had to go to them a lot. For 'solidarity'. No one else could be spared.
"Oh." Yang types. Then she types the first thing that comes into her mind, because just typing 'oh' seems kind of pointless by itself. "What was Roman like?"
Neo shakes her head again. You don't talk about babe in black, I don't talk about Roman.
"He was your boyfriend?"
Neo makes a face. NO, she writes emphatically.
"All right, all right." Yang sighs, then winces and rubs her throat. "I need to go. Coco told Velvet I wanted to talk to her." she types.
Neo turns to watch Yang go. Do you? she writes directly in front of Yang's face.
Yang takes a step back. "Yeah." she types, holding her Scroll up for Neo to read. "We can talk more later." She makes one set of air quotes with her fingers, tucking her Scroll under the stump of her other arm. Talk. It's the best she can do.
Neo nods. Yang makes a point of waiting by the door until Neo takes the hint and gets to her feet as well. She tries to kiss Yang on the cheek as she passes. Yang manages to fend her off.
Yang knocks on the bathroom door. "Just a minute!" Velvet says, in an odd sort of voice.
Yang frowns. She leans against the wall while she waits.
A little while later, the door opens. Coco sticks her head out. Her glasses are gone, her beret is crooked, and her hair is dripping. "Yang." She smiles. "Could you be a doll and get Yatsuhashi to bring up my travel pack? I need a new set of clothes."
There's a suspicious slapping sound from inside the bathroom. Coco yelps and shoots a look over her shoulder. Velvet giggles.
Yang turns a furious shade of red. "Seriously guys?" she mutters.
"You gotta do who you gotta do." Velvet says.
Coco's eyes darken. "Bag. Yatsu. Clothes. Please?"
"Okay." Yang says.
"Thanks. Love you!" Coco blows a kiss and hastily shuts the door.
Yang doesn't stick around to hear the giggling resume. She makes her way down the stairs slowly, already typing what she wants to say to Yatsuhashi on her Scroll.
He grunts in acknowledgment.
"That's it?" Yang types. "You don't have any questions?"
"No." Yatsuhashi says.
Fox comes over to join them. "What is it?"
"Coco joined Velvet in the shower." Yatsuhashi says before Yang has a chance to type anything.
Fox nods solemnly. "Then I guess we know what we'll be doing tonight."
Yatsuhashi grunts again.
Yang looks between the two. "You're all-" she types and shows it to Yatsuhashi.
"Yes."
"'Yes'?" Fox asks.
"Her voice seems to be going. She asked 'the question' on her Scroll." Yatsuhashi tells him.
"Ahh" is all Fox has to say.
Yatsuhashi picks up Coco's bag and walks Yang back inside the house. "How'd it start?" she asks him with her Scroll.
Yatsuhashi considers her question. "It's a long story." he says. "It wouldn't be fair to answer without them all here."
Yang wants to say 'oh' but she'd feel silly just typing two letters on her Scroll. Instead she nods.
Yatsuhashi nods in return and heads upstairs.
Yang skips dinner, despite Velvet's protests. "You only had a banana today!" she said. Having all of CFVY in the same room suddenly makes Yang uncomfortable.
Am I being prejudiced? she asks herself. Just because they're in a polyamorous relationship doesn't mean they're gonna start doing...it right in front of me.
Velvet comes to visit her outside. Yang is sitting on the edge of the porch with Zwei in her lap. She'd thought she hugged him a little too tight earlier, but when she let go, he'd kept right on panting.
"Are you okay?" Velvet asks quietly.
"I think so." Yang says. "It just feels weird, you know?"
"You mean the four of us?" Velvet says. "It took a little getting used to." She sits down next to Yang. "Did you and Blake ever...?"
Yang shakes her head. "We weren't ready." she says.
"That's right. I keep forgetting how young you all were." Velvet reaches out a hand. Yang nods, and Velvet rubs Zwei in between his ears. He wags his tail.
"I'm guessing this means you won't be comfortable with snuggling in the future?" Velvet asks suddenly.
"I don't know." Yang says. "I hadn't thought about it. Should I?"
"Not on my account." Velvet says. "But...we're all sort of used to people feeling uncomfortable once they find out."
"Look, however I feel about it is my fault." Yang says. "Right? I mean, you haven't changed from the people I met...however many days ago."
"Not everything is your fault Yang!" Velvet says. "It's not like society goes out of its way to talk about us."
"Society's to blame, huh?" Yang looks up at the stars. "Actually that kinda works."
After a while she gets to her feet. "My legs are getting stiff." she says by way of explanation. "Walk around the house with me?"
Velvet agrees and they set off, Zwei at their feet. "This morning you said...something about Neo...doing...something?" Velvet ventures.
Yang blushes. "It- I-" She tries to focus. "The day I blacked out, I woke up, got out of bed, and she was waiting there in the hallway." She recounts the events that followed, grateful that the darkness is concealing her face.
"That's sexual assault!" Velvet gasps. "You should tell your dad!"
"What am I gonna say? 'This little girl barely two-thirds my height pinned me up against a wall and I think I liked it?' She didn't even touch me, really. I touched her..."
"But she made you!"
"I said I think I liked it."
"You're not responsible for how your body reacts." Velvet says firmly. "If you don't tell him, I will."
"Please don't." Yang says. "I don't want to get her in trouble. She seems really lonely."
"Her actions need to have consequences! She has to know she can't get away with whatever she wants any more!"
"I'll tell her to stop, all right?" Yang says, more harshly than she intended. Her throat hurts afterwards.
They're back at the front door. Velvet sighs. "I know you care about her Yang. And I think she cares about you. But that doesn't mean she can't still hurt you."
"Like me and Blake." Yang admits.
Velvet puts a hand on Yang's arm. "Are you ready to talk about her?"
Under the porchlight, Yang shakes her head. She points to her throat.
"Oh," Velvet says. "Okay." She gives Yang a smile. "Whenever you're ready then?"
Yang nods reluctantly.
She knocks on the door to the guestroom. Neo opens it, looking for all the world like she's still wearing her outfit from the train. The pink-haired girl lunges forward, wrapping her arms around Yang and, perhaps more than coincidentally, burying her face in the taller girl's cleavage.
"No." Yang croaks. She tries pushing Neo away, which is easier said than done given that she only has one arm and it's currently busy holding her Scroll. "Let go." She feels the other girl stiffen before she pulls away. She looks up at Yang, mismatched eyes glistening with what must be crocodile tears. Yang is about to start talking but she can already tell the words would be horribly jumbled up. Instead she holds up her Scroll for Neo to see.
We can't keep doing this, it reads, Yang having typed this shortly before knocking. What happened the other day made me really uncomfortable. Please don't do it again.
"But-" Neo starts to say in Blake's voice.
Yang's stomach lurches. "You want to get on my good side? Stop impersonating my ex-girlfriend."
Neo frowns and stamps her foot. The tears have started dripping down her face. She must really think this is going to work, Yang thinks. Neo opens her mouth and starts forming words with her lips. Of course no sound comes out.
"Can you write it down?" Yang asks wearily.
Neo shakes her head. She clenches her hands into fists and closes her eyes. Things start flickering around them. She does too for a moment; her illusion of poise and charm disappearing, along with her old clothes, to reveal the real Neo, still wearing Ruby's Slayer outfit, crouching down on the floor with her arms over her head.
By the time Yang reaches out on impulse, the illusion is back and she sees herself about to touch Neo in a very inappropriate way. Yang snatches her hand back. Suddenly she remembers her suspicion from several hours before. "Are you autistic?" she asks as kindly as she can given her fluctuating vocal capacity.
Neo's other form shatters again, and the real one looks up. Her right eye is pink and her left one is brown. Both of them are rimmed with red. She really was crying, Yang realizes. But the other girl doesn't answer. "It's okay." Yang says. She holds out her hand, her Scroll tucked into a pocket. The girl flinches away, and Yang's heart hurts. She crouches down beside Neo. "No more of...that." Yang says. "The touchy-feely stuff. You know?" Neo nods, still watching her warily. "Just friends. Friends who don't try and kill each other." Yang holds out her hand again. "Okay?"
Neo looks at it, and then back at Yang. An unreadable expression flickers across the pink-haired girl's face. Then she reaches out and places a trembling hand in Yang's, and everything seems like it's going to be all right.