10 Years ago
A young girl with blonde pigtails sat outside in the garden of a small cottage house. She was no older than 7. The girl had just arrived home from school and had decided to play outside until dinner time. "Yang?" The blonde turned to see a woman with brown hair and a white cloak in the doorway.
"Yeah, mom?" she answered back, walking towards the older woman.
"I need you to go to the shop and grab me a few eggs." The woman asked her.
"But mom, can't you go, I was going to meet up with Amy for a while." Yang pouted, folding her arms while she huffed.
"Now, Yang, it will only take you 10 minutes to go to the shop. Also, if you do this for me, there might be some cookies waiting for you when you get home." The young girl's eyes lit up at the mention of her mother's homemade baking.
"Okay, mom." She ran towards the brown-haired woman, wrapping her arms around her mother, the woman returned the hug. Summer gave the girl a broad smile before handing her the money and placing a kiss on top of the girl's head.
"That's my girl. Now you be careful, okay?" Summer place a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Okay, mom." Yang sprinted out the gate. She had done this walk countless times before. The shop was only down the street from her house, that was the only reason Summer didn't have a problem letting Yang go by herself. The shop grew closer, but what caught the girl's eye was the group of girls gathered around the shop's entrance. Yang recognized the girls from school, they were in the grade above her, but the blonde knew the stories of how these girls were the school bullies, they had even picked on a few of Yang's friends. Though Yang never really had any dealing with the girls.
When Yang drew closer to the door, she slowed her pace to a walk, dropping her gaze and avoiding eye contact with the group. "Excuse me," she said softly, trying to get past the girls blocking her path. The group turned to look in her direction, given a small gap to let her pass. When the blonde was in the center of the group, one of the girls stuck out her foot, tripping Yang, who landed face-first on the ground.
"Did you enjoy your trip?" A voice said sarcastically the girls laughed at the blonde on the ground, who pushed herself up on all fours, rubbing her chin. Yang turned her head to see a ginger-haired girl towering over her. She was never one to walk away from a bit of conflict. She shot to her feet, hands clenched.
"What was that for?" The young girl shouted, stomping up to the older girl. At the same time, the other girls laughed even more.
"You're the one who tripped over my foot. It's not my fault; you're clumsy." The ginger girl shrugged. "If you don't agree, why don't you do something about it," Yang growled at the girl. However, she looked around at the crowd, finally counting how many girls were in the group, coming to the final number of 5.
Yang clenched her jaw, despite how much she wanted to put this girl in her place, she knew she would never be able to take all of the girls by herself. "You know what, your not worth my time." Yang turned away from the girl. The ginger-haired girl looked at her friends before nodding her head in the direction of the blonde. The girls nodded their heads in signaling they understood their leader, The group walked after the girl surrounding her, making sure there was no way out.
"What are you doing?" Yang questioned the two, who stood in front of her. The girls just smirked at Yang, who looked slightly confused.
"Oh no, you're not going anywhere until you apologize." Yang turned to the leader. "We might be able to forgive you if you give us that money in your hand." She smirked, crossing her arms.
"For what? You're the one who tripped me. No, I'm not giving you anything, my mom wants me to get eggs for her." Yang stuck the money in her pocket, covering her pocket with her hand, in a protective way.
"Have it your way." She said threateningly. With that, the girls started closing in on the blonde. Yang took a step back, her head going right to left observing each one.
"What do you think you're doing?" Yang's palms were sweaty. She had been in small fights before but not with this many people.
Before Yang could react, the group jumped her, pulling her hair, scratching, punching. The blonde tried to fight back. But she was outmatched. As the fight went on, the blonde began to tire, falling to the ground. However, this did not stop the girls from attacking her.
The blonde covered her head, trying to protect it from the hits desperately. `Mom.` She thought, tears welling in her eyes. Wishing that her mother would come and save her like the hero Yang always believed she was. `If we fought one on one, they would stand no chance. I hate them.` Anger building within her, she could feel the adrenaline making her heart race, burning through her veins, it was a power she had never felt before, and Yang didn't know if she liked it. All she knew was she was angry, angrier than she has ever been.
`Are you going to let them away with this, if you don't do something I will.` Yang's heart stopped. She could have sworn that the voice came from inside her head.
`What else can I do?` she answered back, though she never expected to get a reply from the voice.
`Fight,` The voice yelled in her head. As on command, her body pushed itself off the ground, ignoring the girls trying to push her back down. As she finally rose to her feet, the girls stopped what they were doing and stared at Yang in disbelief.
"Did her eyes change color?" one girl asked before she got her answer, a fist slammed into her face. The other girls tried to attack Yang all at once but found themselves being overpowered.
Summer Rose
`I wonder where she has gotten too. It's not like her to disappear like this.` Summer walked down the street, scanning the area. After 15 minutes of her daughter been gone, the woman began to worry. `Maybe I'm overthinking this.` She hopefully thought to herself, but that changed when she heard a girl's scream. "Yang." Summer breathed out, her heart dropped to her stomach. Without another thought, she rushed to where she heard the noise come from.
Getting closer to the scene, Summer's eyes fell on her daughter's back, who was holding on to another girl, repeatedly punching the girl. Summer also notice how Yang's hair glowed. `What is wrong with her hair?" Before she could ponder anymore, she heard another cry from the girl caught in her daughter's grip. Summer rushed forward, grabbing her daughter's fist, but she had to wrap her other arm around her daughter. The woman couldn't believe how strong Yang was. She struggled to keep hold of her. The blonde let out a frustrated yell, trying to escape the grip she was kept in, unaware that it was her mother holding her.
"Yang, calm down." But it was as if the blonde had not heard her speak. Summer began to worry. She had never seen the girl like this before. Grabbing Yang's shoulder, she turned her around, And that was when Summer finally got a good look at her daughter's face. Yang's hair was a mess, her nose bloody, and her lip was bust, sporting a few bad bruises. What got Summer's attention was the blood-red eyes that now belonged to Yang. They reminded her so much of a woman in her past. Her heart fell for the second time that day, at the state of her daughter's face. The next thing the woman did felt so natural, and she pulls her daughter into a tight hug.
"Yang, it's okay, mom's here now." she rubbed Yang's back, still keeping a hold on her, just in case she decided to start fighting again. She did this until she felt her daughter's shoulder shaking, hearing her let out a sob. Pulling away slightly, her daughter's eyes were still red. The heat that was coming off Yang was unnatural. Summer could have sworn that Yang had a fever. "Yang, what happened?" she asked, trying to soothe her daughter.
"I was just walking to the shop, and they started picking on me..." she said between sobs. Summer gave her daughter a sympathetic look, her eyes then went to where she last saw the girl who was in Yang's grip, but she was gone. "I started getting angrier, and I don't know what happened, but I managed to beat them."
"It's okay, it's over now." The woman pulled a confused face, witnessing her daughter's eyes flicker back to lilac. "Yang?" the girl looked her in the eye. "Were you able to beat them after you got angry?"
"Yeah, after they kept hitting me. I felt stronger, I don't know how I managed to beat those girls," she said as she tried to smooth out her hair. Summer gave her a soft smile, wiping away her tears.
"Yang, I think you just unlocked your semblance." Summer couldn't hide the joy in her voice. "Wait until I tell your father, he will be over the moon."
"Really?" The girl perked up.
"I think so. Though, I wish you had unlocked it a different way." The older woman said, slightly annoyed about the situation. "Come on, let's go home." Summer took her hand, walking in the direction of their home.
"What about the eggs?" the girl questioned.
"Hmm," Summer scratched her head. "You know, I don't really feel like cooking tonight, how about we order a pizza?"
"Yeah, that sounds good." The girl said, wiping away the few remaining tears. The two walked in silence for a few minutes. "Mom?" Yang's voice came out as a whisper.
"Yes, honey." the woman looked down at her daughter.
"When those girls were hitting me and when my semblance activated." Her voice sounded unsure. "Is it normal if I hear a voice?" Summer suddenly stopped in her tracks.
"Do you mean there was someone else there shouting at you?" Her mother asked. Summer was already furious at the situation, however knowing someone else was involved, she was livid.
"No," she shook her head. "In my mind." Summer raised her eyebrow, given her full attention to the child.
"Yang," The older woman crouched down to meet her daughter's eyes. "What did it say to you?"
"It said if I didn't fight back, it would do it for me." Summer's face paled at the mention of this. She had heard about huntsmen hearing voices while their semblance was activated. Some of these stories spoke of the huntsmen losing their minds; in fact, she knew a few people back in Beacon that had been rumored to have happened to them. "It sounded angry, so I did what it told me." The woman looked over both of her shoulders, scanning the area.
"Yang, I need you to promise me, don't ever tell anyone about this." The girl gave her a confused look. "Yang, hearing voices isn't normal when your semblance is active. You can never tell anyone, please." She pleaded with her daughter, who only nodded. "And whatever you do, never listen to that voice. You need to fight it, even in your darkest times." She could see the fear in her daughter's face start to build.
"Come on, let's go home. But I think it's time for you to begin some training. What do you say about that, You might be as strong as your dad." This made the young girl's face light up, forgetting what her mother had just told her. "Come on then, firecracker," Taking the young girl's hand. However, her mother's worries were just beginning.
Later that night
Summer was in her bedroom, getting ready for bed while her husband did the same. "Are you sure she said she heard a voice?" Tai asked her.
"Yes, why would she lie about that, Tai." Summer let out a heavy sigh.
"I don't know, I just...I mean...it's a bit far fetched, don't you think?" Tai tried to defend himself.
"Not really, I mean, there were a few rumors of it happening in Beacon." She shot back.
"Yeah, but those were only rumors." He sat down at the edge of the bed, taking off his boots.
"But what if they weren't." Summer rounded on the man.
"Okay, okay. I'll phone Oz tomorrow., maybe he can clear this up or give us some answers. Out of curiosity, what was her semblance?"
"I'm not sure, but I can say I struggled to pull her off the girl. poor Yang, she was in some state after it." The image of a battered Yang popped into her head, remembering her bright red eyes. "She has her eyes."
"Who has whose eyes." The blonde-haired man questioned his wife.
"Yang has Raven's eyes." Tai pulled a face at the mention of his ex-wife.
"Yang has lilac eyes, she has red." He said, not hiding the bitterness from his voice.
"No, when her semblance was active, Yang's eyes changed to red. You know it's comforting to see how similar she is to Raven; let's hope she's not as stubborn." She let out a small laugh.
"Well if she is, I'll leave that to you, you were always the only one to get through to that woman," Tai growled the last part, he never could forgive the woman who left him.
Present-day
The blonde stared down at the gravestone that overlooked the ocean. "Hey mom, I know I'm early. I had planned to go along with dad and Ruby in a couple of weeks, but I don't know if that's realistic." She bit her lip. "Hey, who knows they might be here visiting both of us." She let out a bitter laugh, but she knew if Summer was here, she would probably scold her for saying that.
"I know you'll be disappointed in me But, I never stopped fighting, I did what you told me, I fought that voice inside my head but how was I to know that psychopath would inject that stuff into me." Yang defended herself as if she was arguing with her mother. "But it was my fault, I shouldn't have gotten into that fight. Blake was right."
Yang stared off into the setting sun. "They're going to hate me, but it would be worse for them if they thought there was a chance to help me, only to be disappointed. I just wish my last words to them weren't so mean, especially to Ruby, all I wanted to do was look after her like you asked me too." She wiped away her tears.
"I'm scared, mom. If it starts to take control before I have a chance to finish her, she might hurt the others. I've already decided I'm ending my life, I know you won't agree, but what else can I do?" she let out a sigh. "I can't afford to let that thing loses into the world."
She places her hand on the gravestone. "Whatever happens, I'll be seeing you soon. love you, mom, wish me luck." She turned away, heading back to her bike.
Hey, guys hope you enjoy the story, let me know what you think and as always stay safe.