Summary: Yang and Blake have been in love with each other since the moment they met, but neither could ever reveal their feelings. But now that they're entering their senior year and all the talk is on colleges and plans for the future, their friends aren't sure they can just sit by and watch as they lose each other for good. High School AU. Bumblby, WhiteRose, Arkos
Author's Note: We are here with the new chapter! Not much to say on this one, last time we left off on Yang having run off on her own and now, we'll see if she can be found. Also wanted to say a quick thank you for everyone's awesome feedback on the last few chapters, and of course to my fantastic beta, these chapters would not be coming out so reliably without you. Anyways, hope you all like it!
Chapter 29: Missing
The second practice is over, Pyrrha immediately takes off from the locker room and heads straight for the exit, hastily waving goodbye to a bewildered Octavia on the way out.
For the past two hours she had spent basically every free moment she had checking her phone for updates from her friends, with Weiss having organized several search parties consisting of basically everyone they knew. But the constant distraction had unsurprisingly provoked the fury of her coach on more than one occasion. And honestly even when she wasn't looking at her phone she was still a million miles away, the panic in her chest growing with every second as her mind raced through all the places that Yang could be hiding right now.
But at the very least, despite all the yelling her coach had done, she's able to come out of practice with a few decent ideas of where she could look that even Ruby wouldn't think to check.
First on the list is the park over by their house, the one that Yang used to meet Blake at in the middle of the night. There are certainly other places, too many to count to be honest, but the park was really the first thing that Yang had told her about Blake, the first time the blonde had ever even mentioned anything about having feelings for someone.
So no matter how much she wants to apply a bunch of logic like Weiss had, map out the most efficient search pattern to hit anywhere in the neighborhood that holds some sentimental value to her, all the time she'd spent panicking during practice has her completely unable to get a grip on her emotions.
It takes longer than she would prefer to get to the front doors of the school, and the second she shoves her way through, she's greeted by blistering cold air and snow already pouring heavily from the sky.
Her pace slows just a bit, an involuntary reaction to the sudden chill with her entire body still damp with sweat.
She finally gets to her car in the back of the parking lot, letting out a light huff when she finds it covered with a thin layer of snow. Almost instinctively she shoots a glance up at the sky above and bites down on her lip when she sees that the snow only seems to be falling harder with every second.
As she unlocks her car and reaches for the brush to clear off her windshield, she's hit with the thought that maybe Yang would have simply headed home with the weather getting so bad, but the hope is pretty much dashed when she remembers how Yang had run to her house in a rainstorm just a few weeks ago under similar circumstances.
No, if Yang was going to make it home at all tonight, it's going to be up to her to drag her back.
…
It's a few hours later that Pyrrha trudges through the heavy snow in Yang and Ruby's driveway and quickly rushes through the door, hanging her sopping wet jacket on the coat rack in the corner. Her shoes and socks are soaked through just as bad and she sits down to peel them off. She's lucky enough that she'd had the foresight this morning to grab an extra heavy coat and gloves before she left for school this morning, but unfortunately she hadn't been omniscient enough to know that she would be walking for hours through the snow and as such, had neglected to bring any real boots.
There's a part of her that wants nothing more than to keep searching for her, but after two hours of track practice and another two hours of suffering in the snow, even she has to stop for a break, and so she figured she'd take the chance to check if Yang had decided to head home herself, no matter how slim those chances might be.
She lets out a sigh of relief as she finally gets her socks off when she hears the sound of footsteps from behind her and turns her head to see Ruby walk in from the living room.
"Hey Pyrrha."
The greeting is quiet and dull, noticeably lacking the cheerfulness that had become practically synonymous with Ruby and she can feel her eyebrows scrunching in concern.
"Ruby? Hey are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah..." the girl sighs, "I'm just worried about Yang."
Pyrrha nods her head sympathetically before pulling the younger girl in for a hug. She'd always been protective of Ruby, she and Yang were like the sisters she'd never had, and seeing her upset like this fills her heart with an almost irrational level of anxiety.
"She's going to be alright Ruby," Pyrrha whispers, "we'll find her."
"What if we don't?" Ruby replies nervously, "the roads were already getting bad when me and Weiss were out there, honestly Pyrrha, I don't know if it's safe for you to go out again."
"You know I'm going to have to at some point. We can't just let her freeze to death out there."
"Well… at least let me go with you this time."
She gives the girl a gentle smile, "Ruby you've done enough for today, I'll head back out in a few minutes, and Nora said she and Ren are going to go with Sun in his truck. Why don't you just go relax for a bit while I go make us some tea? You look like you need a break."
"Not as much as you do, I've been home for the past few hours. Why don't you go sit down, I'll go get you something to drink."
"Alright alright, thank you." She concedes gratefully, finally letting some tension release from her shoulders as she follows into the living room.
Pyrrha watches the girl continue into the kitchen, smiling as she sees a slight skip returning to Ruby's steps, before taking in a deep breath and collapsing onto the couch. It's actually surprising how what little strength she had left seems to instantly disappear the second she allows herself to rest on the sofa.
Before she knows it her eyes are fluttering shut and she's just dangling on the edge of falling asleep when she feels a sudden weight draping over her body, causing her to slowly crack open an eye.
"Neo?"
The petite girl turns her head back to give her a weak smile. "I didn't want you to catch a cold."
It's only then that her eyes open enough for her to notice the blanket now covering her body.
"Thank you Neo, I guess I didn't realize how tired I was. Did you just get home?" She asks, noticing that the girl was still wearing her work clothes.
"Um… yeah, my shift ended about an hour or so ago, but..."
"But what?"
"Well…" Neo says hesitantly, "usually Yang picks me up after work…"
Pyrrha's eyes go wide and she shoots a quick glance at the window. "Neo! There aren't any busses that run out here, are you seriously telling me that you walked all the way here through the snow?"
"Uh… yeah I guess. I thought about trying to call a rideshare or something but… all the wait times ended up being too long. And also… I thought I might help look for her on my way back..."
"Neo..." She says, "if you wanted to help we could have sent someone to pick you up."
"I don't know…"
Pyrrha takes another look at the girl as she trails off, just now noticing the flushing in her cheeks and the slight trembling in her shoulders.
"Neo…" She says carefully, "I think you need to warm up a little more than I do."
Without hesitation, Pyrrha rises to her feet, ignoring the small protest that Neo gives and takes a hold of the girl's shoulders, pulling her down onto the couch and immediately wrapping the blanket around her.
As if on cue, Ruby returns to the living room, clutching two steaming cups of tea in her hands.
"Here," Pyrrha says, giving Ruby a grateful smile before handing a mug to Neo, "drink this and warm up, we don't need you catching a cold."
The second Neo gets a hold of the steaming cup of tea, she hugs it to her chest, letting out a contented sigh as the warmth starts to seep through her body.
"What about you?" Neo asks, "aren't you cold too?"
"There's still plenty of hot water." Ruby chimes in, "do you want me to go get you another one?"
"Don't worry about it so much," Pyrrha answers, "I'll go get it, you two both sit down and get some rest."
Neo lets out a deep sigh. "Okay, thank you Pyrrha." She mumbles, finally giving up on fighting and bringing the cup up to her lips.
With that, Ruby joins Neo on the couch, bringing the blanket up around both of their shoulders. Pyrrha peeks around the corner in the kitchen, watching as the two girls make idle conversation about school and work. It seems amicable enough, which isn't all that surprising considering how easy it always is to talk to Ruby, not to mention the fact that they actually shared a few classes. But at the same time there's a certain lack of energy between them, a weight hanging over their heads that seems to sap the very light from the eyes of two girls usually filled with energy.
It fills her with a strange mix of sorrow and anger that all of this was because of her best friend's reckless actions. It's just another thing she'll have to talk to Yang about, provided she ever gets the chance.
...
Weiss takes in a deep breath as she reaches down to ring the doorbell, hoping in vain that it'll soothe the rage currently bringing her blood to a boil. Of course there's definitely a part of her that wants to just let it out, it'll certainly feel better that's for sure, but just from the cars in the driveway she can tell that Blake's parents are home, and blowing a gasket in front of them is definitely not something she wants to do.
As if on cue, the door opens up just a crack to reveal the familiar face of Kali Belladonna poking her head out to see who's outside.
"Weiss?" The older woman says, stepping back to allow the door to swing open.
"Hi Mrs. Belladonna," she answers, making perfect use of her well practiced 'polite voice'. "Do you mind if I come in?"
"Oh of course," Kali says quickly, "my goodness dear you must be absolutely freezing."
With that she steps inside, relishing in the comforting warmth seeping into her body.
"I'm guessing you're here to see Blake."
"Yes," she replies, carefully removing her snow crusted boots and setting them by the door, "is she home?"
"She's upstairs…" Kali answers slowly. "She hasn't come down since she got home from school. I've never seen her like this before. Did… did something happen that I should know about?"
She feels another spark of anger light up within her, itching to respond with a snarky comment, but she manages to hold it in.
"It's just some stupid drama." She answers casually, "You know how it is."
At that Kali flashes a small smile, albeit still shooting a slightly concerned look up the stairs. "Well whatever it is, she's been really upset for a couple days now and she refuses to tell me anything. I'm getting really worried."
"Well, maybe I can do something to… help." Weiss says carefully.
"Oh you're such a good friend Weiss. You don't know how much it means to me that you'd be willing to go this far for Blake. As always you're welcome to stay the night, in fact I think I'll have to insist that you do, this weather only seems to be getting worse."
She sneaks a quick glance at the window even though she knows perfectly well from the drive over that once parked she probably wouldn't have much hope of making it home.
"Thank you Mrs. Belladonna, I really appreciate it."
Kali flashes her a gentle smile before looking behind her towards the stairs. "Let me know if you need anything."
With that the older woman heads back into the living room, leaving Weiss all alone to climb the stairs up to Blake's bedroom.
About halfway up her patience starts to wear thin again and she picks up the pace, rushing up the final steps and only barely able to stop herself from pounding on the door.
"Blake." She says loudly, doing her best to keep the venom out of her voice, "Blake, open up. It's me, Weiss."
She stands there for a second, impatiently tapping her foot and grip tightening around her arms before her restraint cracks again.
"Blake. I swear to god, if you don't…"
She's cut off by a gentle click, followed by the slightest creak as the door slowly swings open, revealing Blake still in her school clothes, head hung so low that she can barely see the girl's eyes.
They stand there like that for a second, both of them seemingly frozen to the spot before Blake finally steps to the side, allowing Weiss to angrily brush past into the room as the door is slowly shut behind her.
"Have you completely lost your mind?" She snaps, quickly spinning on her heels.
Blake flinches hard, as if her words have stung her as harsh as an actual slap to the face.
The reaction is enough to make Weiss second guess her decision to come in so hot, lashing out the second Blake's mother had left them alone. She'd told herself after hearing about Adam that she would try to be more understanding of Blake's actions, if nothing else at least make an effort to see things from her perspective.
But this time she can't do anything to ease the fire bringing her blood to a boil.
"Well?" Weiss says, growing impatient at the lack of a response, "are you even going to try to explain yourself?"
"What is there to say?"
"Oh I don't know, maybe something about how you just decided to confirm to Mistral without telling anyone? How instead of an actual conversation we all only found out because Nora just happened to be on her phone during Homeroom? Is any of that ringing a bell?"
"I'm… sorry." Blake mumbles, still not able to raise her head.
"Are you? Because this all kind of feels like it could have been avoided. Like you knew it would upset everyone… but did it anyway!"
Blake lets out a deep sigh, finally looking up so Weiss can see exactly how teary and bloodshot her eyes are.
"It's better this way."
That basically sends a shock to her system, effectively clearing her mind of any rational thought, leaving her absolutely dumbfounded.
"I don't… how? How could this be better?"
"It just is!" Blake chokes out, falling back against the door and sinking to the ground to hang her head between her knees.
She lets out a frustrated huff before walking up and kneeling on the ground in front of her.
"Blake." Weiss says, doing her best to keep her voice even, "talk to me. Why did you do this without telling anyone first?"
All she gets in response is a violent shake of head.
"Blake please. You told me last time that you were doing all of this for Yang. Well if you're so worried about Yang, why would you do something like... this?"
All she can do is stare in disbelief as Blake stays quiet, not even moving save for the slight trembling in her shoulders. She's just about to pile on more when the girl suddenly lifts her arm, slowly raising it while shakily extending her index finger.
It takes longer than normal for Weiss to realize that she's pointing at something, but once it finally clicks she follows with her eyes, turning in place until she's looking right at Blake's desk.
She shoots a quick glance back at the girl, once again curled up in a tight ball, before she slowly rises to her feet and approaches the table.
It's when she gets a little closer that she notices the empty mug on the table, resting on its side atop a pile of tea stained papers, long since dried but still telling enough of a story for her to know that something else is wrong.
She does a quick scan of the rest of the table, seeing nothing but a few books in the corner and a cup full of pens before deciding that whatever it was that caused all of this had to have been on the laptop sitting in the middle.
Hesitantly she reaches forward, her heart pounding away in her chest as if her body inherently senses that something's wrong, and taps on the spacebar.
The screen lights up after a second, showing Blake's web browser opened up on her Facebook page with a message window opened in the bottom right that immediately draws her attention.
I see you've moved to Vale. Do you really think that's far enough to get away from everything you've done?
Weiss's eyes go wide, instantly snapping up to the top of the window where the sender's name would be, only to find, to her confusion, a single letter in its place.
A
Without hesitation she clicks on the name, watching impatiently as the page changes, only to load up a blank profile.
"Blake…" she breathes, slowly turning to face the girl again, "this… this is…"
Blake only responds with a quiet whimper, barely even audible despite the total silence falling over the room.
"It's him." The girl finally says, voice so shattered that she can only just make out her words. "It's Adam."
Author's Note: Don't know if any of you are Pretty Little Liars fans but I've been absolutely addicted to it recently and couldn't quite resist throwing in a reference. Unfortunately Yang is still missing but at the very least, we're getting some idea of why Blake decided to post her confirmation online without saying anything. Hate to leave it on another cliffhanger but, there was just way too much to shove into a single chapter so we'll have to wait till next week. Anyways, thanks everyone for reading, hope you all liked it!
