Blake gets directions to the port at the front desk. Signal is large enough that even with her recent arrival, she's not sure she'd be able to find her way back there by herself. Yang hangs back, staring at whatever has Blake's attention. When Blake catches her doing it, Yang smiles hesitantly. Blake wants nothing more than to wrap Yang up in an embrace, but her nerves get the better of her.
It's not until they've made it to the port and onto one of the first of the last outbound ships of the day that Blake gets her chance. When she's sure that none of the crew is paying attention, Blake approaches Yang. "Hey." she says.
Yang is staring down into the water. "Hey."
"Is... Is it all right if I hug you?"
"Sure."
Blake does, burying her face in Yang's shoulder. "I wish I could help." she mutters.
Yang puts her arm around Blake in return. The wind whips at her hair. "You have." she says.
The sun is low in the sky by the time the ship arrives in the commercial district of Vale.
"Is it all right if I borrow your jacket?" Blake asks.
Yang takes it off. "Sure. It doesn't look like it's gonna rain again though. Can I ask why?"
Blake points at her ears as she drapes Yang's jacket over her head.
"Ohh." Yang says. "The broadcast."
"And Faunus in general." Blake says. They step off the boat and into Vale itself. "How late are the shops open?" she asks.
Yang shakes her head. "I don't know." she says. "Things have changed since the last time I was here." She nods at a boarded-up building. "That used to be a book store. You'd've loved it."
Blake turns her head to stare as they pass. "I saw the books on your shelf." she says when she can't stare at it any more. "I never realized you were into Nero Wolfe as well."
Yang smiles. "Him and Archie. Only the cops call him Larch. I just... I love the way he knows what to say, and the way Wolfe knows what to do."
Blake lowers her voice. "'You are headstrong, and I am magisterial. Our tolerance of each other is a constantly recurring miracle.'"
Yang smiles some more. "I think that applies to Ruby and Weiss a little more."
Blake smiles back at her. "Why can't it apply to all of us?" she asks.
The shop Yang takes them to, Warden Yarn, is about to close as they arrive. The owner reluctantly allows them in while he finishes cleaning up. "Do not touch anything." he says wearily. He doesn't seem to notice that Blake continues to keep the jacket over her head inside.
"We won't." Yang says. She and Blake wander separately, Blake wondering if Ruby got a new outfit before she left for Haven, and if she'd gotten it here as well.
"How about this?" Yang asks after a while.
Blake looks over. "You sure it's got enough belts and zippers on it?"
Yang smirks. "Didn't the Ultimate Odyssey series teach you anything? You can never have too many of those." She turns to the shopkeeper. "How much for this one?"
He names a price.
Yang's eyes go wide. "You're kidding." she says.
He points to the price tag.
"You're not kidding." She rummages through her pockets, taking longer than she feels comfortable with. "Aw man," she says. "I totally left my wallet at home."
The shopkeeper returns to sweeping the floor.
"Can...can you hold it for me?" she asks.
"I have already locked the register." he says.
"Is that a yes?" He shrugs. "Awesome! Thank you so much!" Yang says, practically beaming. Blake's mouth curves upward a quarter of an inch. He grunts in acknowledgment, and they leave.
As they're making their way back to the dock, they pass a group of people who stop and stare. Blake reaches for the jacket self-consciously, but it's not her they're staring at.
Yang goes rigid as she hears one of them mutter, "She's the one who crippled that kid during the tourney."
"Real savage-like." another one agrees.
Yang bolts. Blake blinks. "Yang?" She's already almost out of sight, the last of her hair disappearing around a corner. "Wait!" Blake sets off after her.
A few minutes later she finds Yang crouched down in an alleyway. Blake approaches her cautiously. "I thought everybody would have...forgotten by now..." Yang whispers, tears pouring down her cheeks.
Blake holds out a hand. "We'll find out what happened," she says. But Yang shakes her head.
"It's- It's not gonna matter. It's been so long- Everyone's had time to internalize it." She looks up. "Even you didn't believe me at first..."
Blake's heart hurts. "I made a mistake" is all she can think of to say.
Yang looks back at the ground.
Neither of them says anything. Blake's legs start to hurt as well. She almost crouches down next to Yang, but at the last moment she remembers her white coat and stands back up. "Come on," she says. "It's getting late, and...this alley is disgusting."
"It's no more than I deserve." Yang mutters. "Toss me out with the rest of the trash."
"Stop saying that." Blake snaps. Yang looks up again. "The more you say it, the more you start to really mean it, until you'll let anyone say or do anything to you and you'll just let it happen!" She hauls Yang to her feet and hugs her tight. "I love you Yang." she says. "Hearing you say that...it hurts."
"You hurt me when you ran." Yang mutters.
Blake winces. Her throat closes up suddenly, so that she can't say that she made a mistake again.
"Actions speak louder than words." Yang says. She pulls away. "Don't say that you love me. Show me. Please."
Blake nods. She leans in and kisses Yang on the mouth.
Yang kisses back, hard. Then she kisses Blake again. Her hand goes questing, as does her mouth shortly thereafter. She grumbles upon realizing that Blake's throat is covered by strips of fabric. "I wanted to pay you back for doing that to me yesterday." she says. Blake shivers. "I guess I can live with this though..." And she presses her lips to the crook of Blake's shoulder, near where it meets her neck.
Blake arches her back. "Yang," she whispers. "Remember-" She gasps as Yang hums inquisitively into her shoulder, as if she's completely forgotten. "Remember what- What happened...last night..."
"I'm getting better, aren't I?" Yang says. "I can...I can touch you- And you can touch me, if you want..."
"But-" Blake screws up her face in an attempt to concentrate. "Not here. Not now."
Yang stops. She withdraws slowly. "Why not?" she asks.
"I don't want you to keep pushing yourself so hard." Blake says. It's easier to think when Yang's further away like this. "And I definitely don't want our first time to be in here."
"I hadn't heard from Ruby in months!" Yang says abruptly. "I don't know where she is, how she's doing, what she's found... I've looked after her my whole life, but now when she needs me, I'm stuck at home, being forced to 'take it slow' so I don't 'burn out'!" The air around her is starting to shimmer. "Why is everyone trying to live my life for me?!"
"We're not trying to live your life for you." Blake says, trying to stay calm. "We just want to help you get better."
"I AM getting better!" Yang shouts. Her voice bounces loudly off the walls. "Last month I could barely get out of bed!"
"No one is saying that isn't amazing progress!" Blake shouts back. "But you were out of commission for months before that, and you saw how hard I was pushing myself during second semester! I don't want that happening to you!"
Yang growls. Her anger is genuine now. She paces back and forth, her hand clenched so tightly Blake is afraid she'll draw blood. She paces back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, until the pressure inside her mind builds to its inevitable crescendo and she screams in frustration. There's a flash of light from her eyes and a hole explosively appears in the brick wall across from her.
Blake recoils. "Was that-?"
Yang puts her hand over her face. "What?" she asks in a pained voice. "Ugh, my eyes are killing me all of a sudden."
"Let me see."
Yang takes her hand away. "I can't see." she says.
Blake gently turns Yang's head from side to side. Her pupils are wide and unfocused. And unresponsive. "This should be temporary. If it lasts longer than a few hours, you may need to see someone."
"When did you become an eye doctor?" Yang asks, more impressed than sarcastic.
"I'm not." Blake says as she lets go of Yang's chin. "But there were flashbangs at more than a few of the White Fang rallies I went to. I learned to recognize the symptoms. It's called flash blindness."
"Oh. That's horrible. With Faunus eyesight..." Yang reaches out, feeling for any obstacles.
Blake takes her arm and guides her out of the alley. On the way to the docks, she says in a low voice, "What happened back there. I think that was your...superpower."
"I think that's 'Punch Me I Punch You Back Twice As Hard.'" Yang says. "Really should come up with a snappier name for it."
Blake shakes her head, belatedly realizing how pointless it is with Yang's (hopefully) temporary blindness. "You seem to have something more. Velvet took a photo of you during the tournament. Remember? When you fought with Weiss against..." Blake wracks her brain, trying to remember their names. Yang doesn't say anything. "I think it's also what you used against that girl at Signal."
"It's not my Semblance." Yang finally says. "No one hit me back there in the alley. And...well Miltia hit me a lot."
"We may never know for sure. Your dad seemed as surprised as anyone when we found the photo on one of Velvet's backups. Do you think-" Blake cuts herself off.
"Do I think what?" Yang asks.
"It's nothing." Blake says automatically. "I was wondering if your uncle Qrow would know, but who knows how long it'll be until you get to see him."
"Between that and the you-know-what dad talked about, I've got a lot to ask him." Yang says.
They take the same boat back to Signal. The only other passengers are a man and a woman in matching tan jackets and red trousers. Blake can't help but overhear a snippet of conversation. "I'm certainly never going back to dresses after this." the woman remarks.
"A great man once said 'there is indeed a season for all things'." the man says. Then he asks, "Have we decided on a name?"
"Robin would work. It suits convention."
"And it's gender neutral. We could both be Robin."
"Mm." the woman says in agreement. She pats down her carrot-colored hair as the wind threatens to make mischief with it.
"Yang?"
Yang doesn't answer.
"I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but...I think we're lost."
Yang looks up. Her eyes have finally started to recover. Then she looks around. A cold dread seeps through her, starting from her spine. "No we aren't." she says quietly.
"Then where are we?" Blake asks.
"We're almost there" is all Yang says. Behind her she can hear the squeaking of wheels. She stops. The squeaking draws nearer. A little blonde girl passes them, pulling a red wagon behind her. Inside it is an even smaller girl, fast asleep. The two girls seem to glow against the dullness of everything else.
Yang takes a deep breath. "They're not real," she tries to tell herself. "Just memories." Still she finds herself walking after them. The little blonde girl has pigtails. Yang misses wearing pigtails. "Hey." she says. The little girl stops. She turns around, stiff with fright, ready to run as fast as she can. Yang crouches down in front of her. "You'll find her one day." she says. Blake says nothing as Yang seems to converse with the empty air. "Just not...not today. Not there. You should go home." Yang says.
The little girl shakes her head. "I hafta know." she says. She walks away, still dragging the red wagon behind her.
Yang watches. "I was afraid you would say that." She stands up. "Come on," she says to Blake. "It's not far now."
But it was far then, she thinks to herself as they follow in the little girl's footsteps. It took all I had to keep walking. I guess some things never change. No matter how strong I become, sometimes it just isn't enough.
The little girl stops. Yang and Blake do too. The trees are comparatively lush in the modern day, but Yang still hears the creaking of dead branches from long ago. "What is this place?" Blake asks.
"I don't know for sure." Yang says. "If I had to guess, this was my parents' first house."
"This was where you went with Ruby. The time you told me about in the lecture hall."
They look up at the decaying house. "Yes it is." Yang says. It still stands tall despite its age and neglect, and to Yang's still-tired eyes it seems even taller, fading away into the gloom. The little girl is about to look inside. "Don't." Yang whispers. But she does. Yang can imagine the eyes lighting up as the Beowolves inside turn towards the door.
There's no sense in being afraid, she thinks. What's done is done. They can't hurt you. And they didn't hurt you then. You're going to be okay. So is Ruby.
There's a growl from within. Yang doesn't budge. It's not real, she tells herself. It's not real.
"Yang! Look out!" Blake cries. She knocks Yang to the ground as something slashes through the air where she had been standing.
"Ow. What's going-" Yang looks up. "Oh. I didn't think they were real. I thought I was-"
"No." Blake says. She helps Yang to her feet. "This one's real."
The Beowolf in front of them is so large it can barely fit through the doorway of the abandoned house. It growls again and flexes its muscles, forcing the doorway apart so it can leave. The walls groan in protest as it straightens up and looks down at them. It has more bone-like growths than the Beowolves they'd been used to fighting. And it's big.
"So, uh..." Yang says.
"What?" Blake says, trying to check her ammo while keeping an eye on the Beowolf.
"I don't have Ember Celica. I don't have my arm."
"What are you saying?" Blake says, more angrily than she'd intended. It's the adrenaline talking, that's all.
"I'm saying it might be time for our secret technique."
"You mean..."
"Yup." Yang grabs Blake by her arm. "Run like heck."
And they do. At least until the Beowolf leaps into the air and lands in front of them to cut off their escape. It roars at them, forcing them to cover their faces to block the spittle spewing at them.
"That didn't go well!" Yang shouts.
"I know." Blake shouts back. "Get behind me."
Yang does, just in the nick of time. The Beowolf swipes at Blake, but she catches its paw with Gambol Shroud. The force behind the blow drives her feet backward and into the ground.
Yang helps brace Blake with her own body to avoid losing any more ground. "Are you okay?" she shouts.
"Yeah!" Blake says through gritted teeth. "Count of three. One, two, THREE!" She pushes hard and rolls out of the way so that the paw lands where she'd been. Its claw gets stuck in one of the holes Blake's feet had made.
"You said count of three!" Yang says, having belatedly rolled to the other side.
"That's what I did!" Blake says.
"I didn't know if you meant on three or after three!" The Beowolf barely even looks at Yang as it wraps its paw around her and tosses her away. "Whoaaa!" She goes flying into the house with a crash. Pieces of the roof fall in on top of her.
"Yang!" Blake cries, about to run to her side until the Beowolf frees its other paw and lunges at her. She deflects the first of its claws and leaves a shadow clone behind, wishing she had some more advanced Dust that would slow the Grimm down instead of her basic rounds. All she can do is point Gambol Shroud behind her and shoot. The Beowolf raises a hand to cover its face, using the other to swipe at the shadow clone until it vanishes. The shots hit the spikes along its forearm and shatter while the spikes remain intact.
A fist breaks through the rubble. To Blake's relief, the rest of Yang follows suit. "It's all good." she says. "Toss me the sword!"
Blake leaps up to Yang, already separating Gambol Shroud. She passes Yang the katana and keeps the pistol and sheath for herself. "We can't get too far from each other." she warns her partner, raising the ribbon for emphasis.
"If that's not a metaphor, I don't know what is." Yang laughs.
The Beowolf is getting closer. It seems to favor its right forefoot. Perhaps an old injury.
"Any thoughts?"
"Those boney growths seem to just take my shots. I need to make them count."
"Okay. And this thing doesn't seem as mindless as the other ones. I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but maybe this one's older."
"So it's older, smarter, quicker, and more powerful." Blake looks at Yang. "Isn't there a better way of saying that?"
Yang grins. "I bet Coco's got it on her Scroll."
Blake smiles back. They look at the Grimm. "Ready?"
"Ready."
And they spring into action.