Disclaimer: All character belong to Rooster Teeth Productions
Co-Authored with ToxicExotic
Risk
"Heeyah!" Yang called in an amused voice. "Giddup, lil' sis."
Despite hearing her girlfriend groan, Blake let out a small chuckle at her partner's playfulness.
"I'm not a horse, Yang." The girl grumbled.
"Hmm, lets see..." The blonde hummed, looking down at them all from the top of the car. "You're pulling a cart, can run really fast; oh, and you're eating a sugar cube. Seems like a horse to me."
"Ugh." Ruby pouted and shook her head. "I'm only eating it because there's nothing else. Sugar on its own tastes weird."
Blake's heart went out to the reaper at the sad look on her face. Since the journey from Menagerie to Vale had taken longer than her parents had thought, and because more people had joined them, the food was starting to run a little short. While there was definitely still enough to feed everyone, a vast majority of that was fish and vegetables, neither of which were able to give Ruby the kind of energy she needed. And though Kali had offered her a few sugar cubes from the teabox, Blake knew they were doing very little to help.
"I'll buy you some protein cookies when we get back." Blake offered with a smile. "As many as the store has."
"Mmm. That sounds good."
"I just want a warm shower." Weiss sighed and looked at her fingernails, which were dirtier than Blake had ever seen them.
To her credit though, while Weiss made some occasional comments about missing her usual comforts, the heiress was definitely not afraid to get her hands dirty. No matter what it was or how people asked, she had taken to trying to help people around the camp whenever she was asked.
"Same." Yang joined her, running a hand through her hair. "My hair is a mess."
"Looks the same to me." Ruby smirked.
Out of the corner of her eyes, Blake saw her partner's eyes turn red as she threw a scowl at the younger girl. It didn't last long though, and a few seconds later the blonde hopped down from the cart and stretched her arms.
"Excuse me if I don't take hair advice from you." Yang poked her in the arm. "Not after last time."
"Oh yes, the short hair incident that you refuse to show us pictures of?" Blake teased.
"Because I burned them all."
"Dad has one." Ruby whispered, her voice so quiet that only Blake heard her.
"Shame." Blake shrugged with a wink to the redhead. "Would've been fun to see."
"Well tough luck." The brawler said smugly. "Soooo… apart from a shower, what're you lot looking forward to most about getting back home?"
"A comfortable bed." Blake admitted longingly. "I forgot how much I hated sleeping on the floor."
"Cookies." Ruby mumbled. "And catching up with Jaune and Pyrrha."
"A shower."
"I said apart from a shower."
"That is it." Weiss shrugged. "I made sure to download all my study material to my Scroll, and my Dust documentation can be done wherever."
"Ooooor…" Yang smirked and put an arm around the girl's shoulder, causing Weiss to give the girl a dirty look. "You could go on tha-?"
"Keep telling me to accept and I will tell him no just to spite you."
The tone in Weiss' voice was more than enough to give Yang pause. It wasn't rude, nor was it angry, but it was very clearly fed up; and Blake couldn't blame her. Though the heiress had shown a lot of patience with Yang's prior prying, even Blake had to admit that the girl could come across as a little pushy. And to a girl who'd spent her whole life being pushed around and told what to do, it was understandable why Weiss was starting to find it annoying.
Apparently realising that herself too, Yang quickly held up her hands and backtracked. "Sorry."
"Stop pestering her about it, Yang." Ruby scolded her sister, her voice lacking it's usual authority since the girl was so tired. "We have a mission to focus on anyway."
"Alright, alright." Yang put her hand's into her pockets. "How far are we from the dead zone border anyway?"
Knowing that Yang was trying to move the conversation on before she accidentally caused an argument, Blake pulled the map from her pocket and quickly found the road they were travelling on. Running her finger along it and figuring out the distances, she saw there was still a little ways to go.
"Maybe a day?" She guessed. "We're still on the south-west side of the hill, so if we're quick and there aren't many Grimm attacks, we might be able to make it by tomorrow night. If there are, then…"
"We'll be spending another night out here." Ruby finished for her.
"Yeah."
"I'm going to take bets on the latter." The white-haired heiress said, pointing ahead of them to the sky.
Looking ahead to where the girl was focused, Blake saw dark grey clouds emerging from behind some faraway hills to fill the sky. Even from where she was, Blake could see the lightning that was ripping through the clouds and let out a sigh. A thunderstorm was exactly the opposite of what they needed, but unfortunately, while it was still a few miles away, there was no doubt that it would be over them in no more than a few hours.
"Then we need to get a move on and find a place to bunker down." Ruby said, pulling out her own map and finding the place Blake was pointing to. "Once that storm hits, it might as well be like travelling at night."
"Alright." Ruby turned to look at her partner. "Do we have enough Dust for a lightning rod?"
Weiss jumped up onto the side of the cart and pulled back the tarp. Hearing a box shift aside and an uncomfortable noise coming from her friend, Blake turned to see a grimace on the huntress' face.
"We have a strong enough lightning crystal to attract and store any strikes that come at the camp." She said with uncertainty. "But we don't have enough earth Dust to calm it in the morning."
"Which means?" Blake asked.
"Which means that if the crystal takes more than two hits, the Dust will be supercharged and become volatile making it unsafe to handle; and much more destructive."
"Then we just leave it behind when we go in the morning." Yang shrugged.
"It's not that simple, Yang." Ruby said, her face matching Weiss' uncertainty. "When it eventually blows up, it could cause a forest fire. We'd have to take it with us to discharge it safely."
"But that would put us and Securay at risk."
"And a forest fire would put everyone nearby at risk." Ruby countered.
"How would we even transport it though?" Blake asked. "We can't exactly put it in our pocket?"
"With this." Weiss said, pulling a Dust container from the cart with an STC logo stamped on the bottom. "STC cartridges are designed to block out anything that could trigger the Dust inside. Except they aren't made for volatile Dust, but I could modify it to keep the crystal still with ease. Then all somebody has to do is carry it."
"But if they trip or get attacked by a Grimm, then…"
"It explodes and we all die." Yang finished for her sister.
Ruby's face dropped for a moment as she fell into thought. For a girl who hated putting people at risk, Blake didn't doubt that a situation where it couldn't be avoided was definitely not going to be one the reaper took lightly.
"Whatever you choose, we're with you." Blake said, taking her hand and squeezing.
Bright silver eyes looked up at hers, and Blake saw the uncertainty there, saw the worry in the way Ruby nibbled at her bottom lip. However, knowing that the girl had yet to make a decision that steered them wrong, Blake offered her a reassuring smile.
"I…" The leader took a deep breath. "We use the crystal."
Out of the corner of her eye, Blake saw Yang look away.
"At least with that we have some control."
"I'll get started then." Weiss said, slipping into the cart and beginning to work.
"And I'll tell my parents." Blake smiled, letting go of the girl's hand and making her way to the front of the convoy.
Blake still hated storms. Despite having weathered more of them than she could count during her time in the White Fang, that had never dulled just how uncomfortable they were for her. The pounding of rain on tarp, the deep boom of thunder overhead and the way everyone shouted to be heard over it; they all played havoc with her enhanced hearing and left her head rattling. That combined with the low visibility and the electricity in the air that caused her neck hairs to stand on end made for them to be rather uncomfortable experiences.
Thankfully though, her parents had prepared for storms. While it was definitely still very cold and rather uncomfortable, a large tarp had been tied to the trees above them granting them cover from the rain. Another had also erected in the direction the wind to stop everything from getting blown away. It was a simple set up, but it was proving to be more than enough to at least block them from the wind that would only make the cold feel worse.
Unfortunately, due to having joined Weiss to set up the lighting crystal, which had been placed on top of a nearby tree to give them the best coverage, Blake was still soaked. So making her way over to the campfire that had been set up near the corner of the camp, she sat down next to it and held out her hands to warm them up.
"I know you're here." She said with a happy breath, enjoying the warmth that radiated through her. "You were always by the fire during storms."
Nothing happened for a few seconds, so Blake waited patiently. If she chose not to reply, then she wasn't going to force her.
"I get cold easily." Said a voice after almost a minute had passed.
"Well, you'll be warmer if you stop hiding." Blake offered.
On the opposite side of the fire, the ground shimmered and the colours twisted; all the leaves and twigs turned pitch black as Ilia's body appeared. Blake wasn't sure if it did actually work or not, but Ilia had always sworn by the fact that, just like clothes, being as dark as possible made her absorb heat better.
"There." She grumbled, the only part of her body that wasn't pitch black being her eyes, which had returned to their usual grey. "But only because I'm cold."
"Mhm." She hummed in return.
For a few minutes, they both sat in silence and enjoyed the heat that the fire provided. It was nice, and reminded her of the old days. Though they had definitely talked a lot, they'd also both had days where one of them wouldn't be in the mood for talking. That silence, that silent understanding of each other's needs had been something that had always kept their friendship strong. But when Blake had begun to have her doubts, that understanding had begun to falter as neither of them wanted to discuss it for fear of turning the other away. It was a disconnect that had affected them right up to the day she left.
"It wasn't planned, you know." She said absentmindedly, her eyes focused on the fire as she rubbed her hands together.
"What wasn't?"
"Leaving." She saw Ilia shift in the corner of her eye. "Not entirely anyway."
Ilia stayed quiet and looked down at her knees, so Blake continued.
"It all just happened so suddenly." She breathed. "They didn't even know we were there, but he was going to kill them anyway."
"That's what Adam always did." Ilia muttered. "You just always believed his lies."
Blake knew Ilia wasn't wrong. While there had definitely always been a part of her that doubted Adam's reasoning. Time and time again he would tell her that the lives taken were accidents, that they had forced his hand, that it wouldn't happen again; yet they always did. And every time they did, she chose to believe him over what was obviously true. Had she not been on the train that day, had she not seen undeniable proof of what he was, would she still be at his side? Would she still be choosing to believe those lies?
"Then why did you follow him?" Blake asked curiously.
Ilia stayed quiet again, but there was contemplation in her eyes. In truth, Blake wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer. Ilia was her friend, someone she still loved, but it was also undeniable that the girl was definitely capable of becoming just like Adam. She had the same anger, the same darkness; and though she took no pleasure in the things she did, Blake also knew that Adam hadn't either; at first.
"I wouldn't expect you to understand." The faunus eventually said with a shake of her head. "You've had it easy. You grew up in the nicest house on a tropical island, were treated like a princess by your parents and everyone on Menagerie. You never lost anyone, never had to fight for or give up anything. You simply chose to."
"But me? I lost everything. Everything I had and loved was taken away from me. My parents, my school, my future… You." Ilia's voice turned bitter. "You have no idea how that feels. I can't just leave the White Fang like you did, Blake, because I have nowhere else to go."
Blake looked her friend in the eye, saddened by what she'd just heard. It was just as she feared. Ilia was lost. Stuck in a vicious cycle of anger and revenge that she felt she had no way out of, too scared to leave because she knew that if she did then life would become so much more unbearable. And Blake could hardly deny that she was right. Those few months between leaving the White Fang and entering Beacon had been downright miserable. Believing every bridge in her life to have been burned, she'd felt utterly alone and without hope. So much so that she had been tempted to return and face the consequences, but she knew she couldn't.
"What about the people you hurt?"
"I don't lose sleep over slavers suffering, Blake."
"But what happens when you make a mistake. You get the wrong place or…"
"That was because of Adam's goals." Ilia interrupted her. "But he's not around anymore."
"W-What?" The idea of Adam being dead sent a pulse of sadness through her; and though she quickly shook it off, she still hated that it had affected her at all. "What happened to him?"
"Him and Sienna fell out." She shrugged. "So he broke off and took a bunch of his supporters with him. Last I heard, he was in Vacuo."
"Oh… So you're with Sienna now?"
The girl gave a nod, and Blake definitely noticed her freckles lighten a fraction.
She wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. Sienna was a complex person, and while definitely better than Adam since she did seem to care about creating some kind of equality between humans and faunus, the woman was still very violent. She didn't take lives, or actively encourage the riots that had occurred, but she was definitely quick to act when she felt it was needed. It was Sienna who had started Adam down the path he had taken, and though he had eventually become a monster all his own, Sienna had still done very little to temper that side of him.
"You're going to tell me to be careful with her, aren't you?"
"I'd rather you just left her altogether." Blake clarified. "The White Fang doesn't have to be all you have. You could come to Beacon, train to be a Huntress."
To her surprise, Ilia let out a chuckle. Despite everything, it was nice to hear it again.
"That's your life, not mine." Ilia shook her head. "Besides, she's calmed down a lot since Adam tried to kill her. She learns her lessons, unlike him. Not sure you do though."
"What does that mean?"
Ilia turned away and Blake followed her gaze. Sat with Yang and Prince, looking like she was ready to drift off to sleep at any moment, was Ruby. It didn't take long to put together what Ilia meant, especially since Ruby had told her what the girl has said the night before.
"She's nothing like him."
"Really?" Ilia scoffed. "Red and black, roses, your team leader."
"I'm aware of the similarities, Ilia." Blake said shortly and turned back to face her friend. "But she's different to him in every way that matters."
Despite the doubt and scepticism in the girl's eyes, Blake also saw worry in them too, so let her gaze soften a little.
"If you say so. But at least I know your type now."
It was Blake's turn to chuckle. She couldn't deny it. While she liked Ruby for so much more than just the colors she opted to wear, the darker colors definitely felt more comforting to her. Unlike Yang or Weiss, who always seemed to be subconsciously making a statement with their attire, Ruby was just fine blending into the background; just like she was herself.
"Anyway." The girl said, standing up and brushing off her shorts. "I'm gunna head back to my tent before Prince comes over to cook. His sister's cool, but he…"
"Never shuts up?" Blake finished for her, having definitely noticed that herself.
"Yeah. Kinda like that blonde."
"You won't find me disagreeing." Blake smiled, knowing that Yang was definitely the same way. "You get used to it though."
"Another thing I'll have to take your word on." The girl shrugged and began to walk away.
Knowing that the conversation was over, Blake felt a little well of sadness in her stomach. Though it had been mostly them disagreeing, she had still enjoyed talking to the girl again. The openness, the exchanging of beliefs, the occasional jokes; it had felt just like the old days again. So, wanting the girl to know that, Blake called out before Ilia could make it too far.
"Ilia…" Watching the girl stop and turn to face her, she gave the faunus a smile. "I know you don't forgive me just yet, but it was nice talking to you again."
Ilia's eyes locked onto hers, and Blake watched as they turned from black to light blue. And though the girl merely gave a nod of her head before continuing on her way, Blake was more than satisfied with the colour change.
The day had actually been a good one. While they had been forced to set up camp early due to the storm, there had been very little Grimm attacks along the way. With only two minor hordes, one Deathstalker, and a few Grimm she'd had to run out from under the tarp to take care of, the journey was looking to be smoothing out somewhat; and Blake knew that should only improve once they passed the dead zone border due to those areas being more frequently patrolled.
The conversation with Ilia had definitely been another good note, and so had the dinner she'd shared with her parents and the camp, which had ended with Mr Thystel retrieving a guitar from the cart and playing some music for them. And those his voice, and the voices of many others in the camp, was not particularly great, the night had still been a lot of fun. After a while though, as people had slowly retired to their tents, the joy had died down and it had just been Blake and Yang left at the campfire.
"Alright." Blake grinned an hour later and yawned. "I'm heading to bed."
"And here I was thinking you'd join me on the night shift." Yang stretched her arms and threw another log on the fire.
"You didn't join me last night." Yang merely waved a dismissive hand. "Besides, you and Weiss have some making up to do… again."
"Yeah, yeah." Yang grumbled and leaned back. "It's too late for a lecture. Just go to bed already."
Blake wasn't going to argue with that order, especially not since there was a beautiful girl in her tent that she couldn't wait to cuddle up to and get warm. So, giving the blonde a wave, Blake left the woman to her guard duties and made her way towards the tent. Pulling the zipper open gently in hopes of not waking the girl, she peered inside and saw Ruby huddled up in the sleeping bag. While she was still shivering, she looked to be asleep, so carefully slipping inside she slowly began to peel away her still damp clothes.
"Blake?"
"Oh…" Blake paused, her hands on the clasp of her soaked bra before remembering Ruby couldn't see anyway. "I thought you were asleep."
In the darkness, Blake saw the girl give a shake of her head. "It's too cold."
"Yeah… Suppose you've never camped in a storm before, huh?"
"Nope." The girl confirmed tiredly. "Is it always this cold?"
"Not during the summer." Blake chuckled and pulled the wet article of clothing off.
With the small amount of heat the fire had imbued into her clothes gone, she felt herself begin to shiver too so quickly moved over to the sleeping bag and slipped inside. Pulling the cover up to her chin, she turned to her side and wrapped a hand around Ruby's waist and let Ruby press her cold body into her. However, while the shivers continued, Blake felt the girl freeze in place as a hand landed on her stomach.
"Blake… are you…"
"My clothes were damp." Blake quickly reasoned, not wanting the girl to get the wrong idea. "And it's warmer like this with two people so I just… I wasn't…"
"It's fine." Ruby breathed, sending a wave of warm air over Blake's chest and causing her to shiver from the feeling. "I don't m-mind."
While those kinds of thoughts had been nowhere near her mind when getting into the sleeping bag, that was very quickly changing. The innocent act was starting to feel a lot more awkward, especially since their exploring had not really continued since Qrow and Yang had interrupted them that day in the dorm room. Things had been so busy, and both of them had been so focused on the changes in their own lives that neither of them had really been in the mood for anything more than sleeping. And even then, they still both wore pyjamas.
However, laid in the sleeping bag almost completely naked, aside from her underwear, for the first time, Blake was definitely starting to feel those desires come on again; especially since Ruby's fingers had begun to delicately dance along her stomach.
"Should I… umm." Ruby hesitated. "Should I take mine off too?"
"Huh?" Blake asked, her straying mind snapping back to attention.
"Skin to skin contact is better for warmth, right?" Ruby muttered quietly.
"It… is." Blake confirmed slowly. "But you don't have to. It's fine like this."
The reaper stayed still and quiet for a moment, and Blake was unsure if the shivering was the cold or nerves. Probably both, she thought to herself. After what felt like a good half an hour though, which was in reality little more than a minute, she felt Ruby shift and sit up, hissing slightly as the cold air rushed into the sleeping bad to replace what little heat had been built up there.
"Don't look." The leader muttered.
Perfectly happy to obey that command, Blake closed her eyes while Ruby undressed. Her ears however were not capable of such things. And the redhead shifted in place, Blake heard the rustle of fabric as her hands grazed the top of the tent, the thud of cloth on cloth as the top was thrown aside. Though she knew it should, knew that the action was only being done so that they could both stave off the cold and get some sleep, anticipation still built within her. Until finally, with the telltale sliding of a bra's clasp coming open, Ruby laid back down beside her and quickly returned to the cuddle.
"Better?" Blake asked, the warmth of skin to skin contact feeling immediately better.
"Mhm." Ruby hummed, her hand returning to where it had been.
Nothing more happened though. While Blake's mind continued to fill with thoughts and urges, Ruby remained still and quiet as the heat began to climb. Blake wasn't all too surprised. Despite being able to feel that Ruby had also felt just as aroused as she did, she also knew that the girl was incredibly tired and trying to preserve as much energy as possible. So pulling her a little closer as the shivers began to fade and her breathing deepened and the girl drifted off to sleep, Blake let out a small, content sigh and closed her eyes.
Thank Oum, she thought to herself as she drifted off to sleep, knowing that if something had started, she had no idea how far they would have gone.
Raalm's Notes
Damn storms, always halting progress. Oh well, at least they're a good excuse to cuddle :P
Anyways, on a serious note. As you can tell, we are doing something a little different with Ilia. While I do like her in the show, I feel a little too much of her revolved around Blake, so we wanted to pull away from that a little bit and give Ilia more of her own thing. I hope you enjoyed it :)
Anyway, that's is from me. Just quick notes today. I hope you all enjoyed.
Chapter 60 - The Best Of Days will be up on the 6th of May :)