Volume 2 Chapter 15: Reforging Relationships

AN: Oh, hey, I get to try and do another chapter in a twenty or so hour period, lucky me. Well, better get down to it…

Wait, what's this? Skyrim's on sale on Steam? Oh god pleasenoripmywriting.

Welp, time to see how much of this I get written before it finishes downloading.

(Perspective: Yang)

Two blondes slumped through the halls, eventually coming to a stop in front of a particular classroom. Kassidy had to meet with Prof – Doctor Oobleck, and Yang had taken it upon herself to ensure that she had gotten there without issue. Kassidy muttered something that sounded vaguely like a thank you before heading in to what Yang strongly suspected was therapy of some kind. Sighing, Yang slumped against the opposite wall for a little bit, trying to get even a moment's rest from the past several days of absolute hell, before her duties beckoned her onward through the halls. Still, Yang mused, it's better than what I felt when that councilman guy came in, told us K was dead, then carted off all her stuff for some nebulous criminal investigation. Yang was a complete wreck for the two days after that visit. She hadn't eaten, she hadn't slept; for Dust's sake, she hadn't even taken care of any part of her. Anything that would have distracted her from working with Bob (wirelessly, of course, for they'd taken the housing he lived in) was completely ignored, even up to and including personal hygiene. For nearly two days, she'd been frantically searching for something, anything about where her partner was, refusing to believe that she was dead even while fearing it. When she'd finally found K's whereabouts, gotten her teammates and the headmaster behind her, and literally kicked in the front door, she was so happy, so relieved to finally have her K back in her arms.

Oh, how naïve she had been to believe that the worst was out of the way. Nowadays, it was near the whole team that had been stretched to the breaking point. Kassidy was the obvious one, completely abandoning any semblance of her usual schedule. She didn't work out any more. She didn't pay attention to class. They had to force her to eat, half the time. Kassidy woke up, shuffled through the day, shambled through whatever they could drag her through, and then collapsed into her bed and curled into a ball whenever night arrived. Rinse and repeat for three days, and that was Kassidy's life in a nutshell ever since they'd gotten her back in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

Weiss honestly wasn't much better off. She had taken the abduction of Kassidy very personally, and at the moment that was manifesting in her liberally and proudly abusing her status as the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company in some kind of politically underhanded attack on the Winchester family. Because nothing in Atlas was allowed to be simple, it seemed, there were also some kind of family troubles with her father and brother that had led to nightly shouting matches for anyone unfortunate enough to be caught within earshot. Combine that with their usual schoolwork and the fact that she was helping her plan for the dance in only ten days' time, and Weiss Schnee was a cranky ball of complicated emotions that Yang was surprised hadn't melted down and snapped more than it already has.

Of course, there was no talking about their team, in Yang's mind, without bringing up her kid sister. If there had been any doubts in anyone's minds as to why Ruby was team leader, this week had disproven them many times over. Oftentimes, it seemed like the sole reason their team was still held together was on the redhead's admittedly diminutive shoulders. Always keeping a cool head, always going out of her way to help everyone, Ruby seemed to be everywhere at once. One moment, she was right next to Kassidy, cracking what jokes she could, helping her with notes, and trying to keep things as animated and stimulating as possible. At the next, to the point of nearly seeming simultaneous, she was walking with Weiss through the halls, keeping her calm and level-headed. Her kid sister was truly the kindest, simplest, most honest and generous soul Yang had ever known, and she couldn't be prouder of her.

Then, there was herself. Yang more often than not found herself the pillar of strength that the team built itself on. What was one more instance of being leaned on? For her sister? Her teammate? Her girlfriend? They were worth it, and so much more. Yang had ensured that she was never more than five paces away from Kassidy at any given moment. She helped her to and from class, let her snuggle into her side on more than one occasion, chased off anyone that was curious as to what was up with her, and in general just tried to be there for her. When Kassidy had questions, or just wanted to talk, Yang made sure she was able to lend an ear. Whatever Kassidy could have possibly needed, Yang provided freely.

Why wouldn't she? Even if Kassidy wasn't her girlfriend, her partner had done oh so much the prior week to make things go so smoothly for her. When Yang had first thrown herself headlong into planning for the dance, Kassidy had taken care of… basically everything else. She took notes for the both of them, cooked dinner daily, made herself a (mostly) willing punching bag whenever Yang needed to de-stress. Hell, she'd even given her a massage one night when she pushed herself too hard in the gym! Sure, she needed to have Bob propped up on her shoulders to show her how to do it right… but it was the thought that counted to Yang. Even before all of this: sure, Yang was more than willing to piss and moan about how Kassidy basically put her under house arrest after the Paladin fight. It didn't change the fact that she'd almost literally bent over backwards to make sure nothing could have possibly been wrong with her after the matter, and only continued to do so as her days got more and more hectic.

However, even her strength could only go so far, and right now Yang was running on fumes. If it were simply dealing with a hectic schedule, she could still handle it, no problem. If it were simply dealing with a near-comatose girlfriend that was bearing more and more resemblance to a zombie as time went on, she'd play ball, no questions asked. Both at once? It was quickly all adding up. Sure, Yang had absolutely no problems with spending her nights in Kassidy's bed, tending to the trembling girl in her arms and chasing away the many, many night terrors that came her way… but it didn't change the fact that she was the one that was now only getting four or five hours of sleep if she was lucky. And unlike Kassidy, she was not used to dealing with what seemed like eighteen hour days on around half the sleep she usually got.

Their friends helped where they could, obviously. JNPR in particular was more than eager to do some heavy lifting, whether it involved Jaune chatting her or Kassidy up to try and distract them from their days, or Pyrrha and Nora both willing to drop whatever they were doing to help with anything they needed, or Ren being… honestly, being the best friend anyone could ask for. Seriously, he could cook, study, even crack a joke now and then straight out of the blue. Who wouldn't like that in a guy? And then the man's Semblance… now that Ren's Semblance was out in the open among their group, it had become a semi-regular occurrence for him to work his calming magic on one or all of them, chasing away whatever threatened to overwhelm them and bring serenity to any particular moment. SSSN did what they could, as well, though not in the same capacity as JNPR. Even Mercury and Emerald, as removed as they normally were, seemed willing enough to at least chase people off and let them some measure of privacy.

So wrapped up in her thoughts was she, that Yang hadn't noticed a shape hanging around behind a pillar. She was quickly made aware of such a hole in her situational awareness, however, when a certain boy yelled out, "Carpet munchers, ahoy!" and shoulder tackled her into an abandoned classroom. The sheer suddenness of the situation left Yang stunned for a brief moment, and although she got to her senses quickly it was still enough time for her to get shoved against a wall. When she spied her assailant… well, she wasn't like most people anyway, and when such a golden opportunity presents itself? Maybe her luck was turning around after all. Climbing back to her feet, she cracked her knuckles as she stared her dance partner down. "Cardin, Cardin, Cardin. It's funny, I was actually looking for a bit of stress relief. I'm so glad you volunteered."

"I'm sure you are," he sneered. Oddly, he didn't look even the least bit concerned when Ember Celica expanded over her fists. "Tsk, tsk, tsk," he said instead. "I wouldn't do that if I were you,"

"And why no-" Yang's advance, as well as her maybe kinda-sorta cocky desire to punch the smug grin off his face, halted instantly when something pricked her neck. Something sharp. She tilted her head down as far as she risked, and just barely managed to catch sight of a knife held against her neck. A drop of blood trailed down the edge… a drop of blood that was drawn while her Aura was up. The color drained from her face as quickly as that drop did, as she all but whispered, "You have an Aura-piercing knife? The illegal and almost nonexistent weapons? Why? How?"

"Simple, really," Cardin boasted. "Once my dad found out the kinds of people I called classmates, he saw fit to make sure I could better protect myself. What kind of man wouldn't look out for his son, after all?" Dove showed up to the side of her vision, also smirking, before slowly pushing the knife closer, forcing her back against the wall. "Not so tough now, are ya, you bitch?" Cardin spat, taking his time to stalk right up to her.

"You better have your buddy take this knife away from my neck," Yang warned, "or I'll be sure to send you back to old daddy dearest in pieces."

"Somehow I doubt you'll manage to do that," Cardin dismissed with a roll of his eyes. Yang cursed in her head, knowing that there wasn't a whole lot she could do here. "See, we've got a bit of a problem, and I was hoping you'd help us out a bit. I'm so glad you decided to volunteer."

"What makes you think I'm volunteering?" Yang shot back.

"Because if you don't," Cardin said, "then… well, it would be rather unfortunate if your whore of a partner happened to have a bit of an accident, wouldn't it? She doesn't even have any Aura. Nah, I just wanted a sparring partner. I didn't mean to swing that hard. It's not my fault that she's so weak and pathetic and doesn't belong here in the first place, even if she wasn't a mass murderer."

Yang's breath caught in her throat, and tears leapt into her rapidly reddening eyes. "You…"

"So, here's how you're going to help us," Cardin continued. "The little in-house tournament to decide who gets to participate in the Vytal Festival Tournament is in about a month. You're going to challenge us. And you're going to make sure you lose. I mean, it's not like they'd let you compete anyway with your little whore without an Aura, so you're not even losing anything in the first place." Yang opened her mouth, but Cardin cut her off. "You're going to make sure we have a cakewalk into the Vytal Festival Tournament, or little Kassidy's gonna have an accident. Maybe even your slut of a sister, too, who knows? So what do you say, Goldie-tits?"

"I say," a new voice interjected, even as the arm holding the Aura-piercing knife against her throat was ripped away and a pistol was levelled on Cardin's head, "your boys have until the count of ten to leave you in here with me and Yang before I start shooting." Throwing Dove to the side with the other two members of CRDL, Kassidy manually cocked her gun for added effect. "One. Nine."

Nobody bothered correcting her miscount. Three of them because they were in the middle of sprinting out of the room. The two remaining occupants didn't do so out of fear. Even Yang could barely get her thoughts in a row before Kassidy kicked Cardin's leg out from under him, sending him sprawling against a desk. "Did I not specifically say that if you messed with my teammates again, you'll live long enough to regret it? And now, I find you not only threatening my girlfriend's life, but her sister's as well? Didn't your old man ever teach you not to fuck with someone else's woman?"

Cardin sneered, stood back up, and challenged, "And what are ya going to do about it?" Immediately after he had spoken, he was reaching out for Kassidy's pistol.

Of course, something as hilariously broadcasted as that wasn't going to work, and Cardin found his arm pulled behind him in a hammerlock while Rogue was pressed against the back of his skull. "This is what I'm going to do," Kassidy answered, as cool and calm as if nothing bad had ever happened. "In case you haven't gotten the memo, my gun fires forty five caliber bullets at one point three times the speed of sound. At twenty five yards, it can punch through an Alpha Beowolf's skull, brain it, and then pass through to kill the Beowolf behind it. Do you really want to find out what it'll do pressed up against your skull?"

With Cardin suddenly finding himself in a reverse of the prior situation, he was suddenly far less brave. "Y-you can't get away with this. I-I'll tell P-Professor G-Goodwitch about this."

"You could do that," Kassidy nonchalantly agreed. "But then I'd need to tell her about what all you just did to Yang. Including the possession of an incredibly illegal weapon, threatening her with said incredibly illegal weapon, and then threatening the lives of two of her teammates." Yang's eyes continued to grow wide as the encounter continued. Cardin, pale and bug-eyed, bent over a desk (oh Oum how she could be joking about this if what had just happened hadn't happened), while Kassidy stood over him, holding her gun to his head and acting like she was reading a particularly boring newspaper article. Sure, she wasn't depressed anymore… but even Cardin was somewhat emotional making his demands of her. Right now, Kassidy wasn't anything other than completely and utterly bored while threatening to murder someone. It was starting to scare Yang even more than having a knife stuck in her neck was.

"W-what do you want?" Cardin croaked out, his voice actually cracking.

"What I want is for you to leave us alone!" Kassidy shouted, emotion suddenly returning full force. She shuddered, and choked out, "So hard. I try so hard to be a better person, to not be the monster people tried to make me to be. I try to be a normal student, I try to keep my grades up, I try to protect people from actual monsters. I try so hard to be a better person. And then people like you need to fuck it up. People like your father. Heh, y'know, I'd wondered for a while how he'd react if he knew what you were up to here… he has to be so proud of you, doesn't he?"

"Uh…"

Kassidy interrupted him by shoving him off the desk onto the floor. "I am going to use the very last of my immeasurable patience to give you one more chance. One more chance. One last opportunity before I start drawing blood." Turning around, her shoulders shaking madly and tears starting to run down her face, she ranted, "I want you out of this room, I want you out of our interactions, I want you out of our lives. Go! Get out! I don't even care where you go, just GET THE FUCK OUT!"

And like that, it was over. Cardin scrambled out of his feet, tripping over himself nearly a dozen times trying to leave the room. Yang was left still against the wall, watching Kassidy's sword fall limply from her hand, as the dams burst. Falling to her knees, she quickly curled into a ball and started crying her eyes out. Yang didn't think. Didn't even react. There was no movement, no progression from point A to point B. The next instant, she was at K's side, bringing her back in her embrace and cooing soft words of encouragement. It only made Kassidy cry all the harder though, and she barely managed to choke through her tears, "I'm sorry, Yang, I'm so sorry. I tried so hard to be… I tried… I couldn't do it. I couldn't. I just couldn't. I'm so sorry, please believe me."

"Shh, it's okay," Yang reassured. "You did nothing wrong. You got him away from me, got him to stop, and then stopped when all was done. You did so well there." And that was the truth. In what was most certainly a hypocritical thought after being terrified of what K might do, Yang couldn't get out of her head how lucky that Cardin had gotten out with little more done than a threat and a wet pair of trousers.

"They're right," Kassidy sobbed, getting Yang's attention. Suddenly, she broke away and stood up, back to Yang and hands on her hips. "I'm a monster. I try to fix things… and I just make them worse. All I do is kill, and kill, and kill more people, and hope that if I kill enough people, people will be safe."

"Don't listen to them," Yang bit out. "You're a good person. I know this. Everyone that matters knows this. They made you do this. The White Fang pushed you too far, and now that bastard and his bastard father's pushing you…"

"Please, don't," Kassidy bit out, shocking Yang even more. "That's… that's kinda what I've been thinking about these past few days. I don't… I don't… oh God, I'm so sorry, I'm so, so fucking sorry."

"What is it?" Yang asked, voice meek and almost as filled with tears as Kassidy's own.

"I… I…" Trying and failing to get her shuddering under control, K took a few shaky breaths and tried a different way. "This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened. I… I have a tendency to make enemies, Yang. Dangerous enemies. If they're willing to go to these lengths already… then how long before they start going after you?"

"Let them," Yang affirmed, punching one fist into another. "That's not going to stop-"

"I know that!" Kassidy shrieked. "Please… don't…" More shaky breaths, before Yang's heart started to break. "I think… I think… what we are… it needs to stop."

Yang's legs failed her. Her knees knocked together. Her hands reached out, trying to steady her against something, anything, before she crashed flat on her butt on the floor. Through tears and a breaking heart, Yang only managed to get out, "K…?"

"You are not the problem," Kassidy said, suddenly kneeling in front of her, eyes wide and overflowing with tears of their own. "You're smart and strong and dedicated and beautiful and the single greatest and most wonderful person I've ever had the pleasure of knowing… and I can't let them hurt you. Whoever 'them' happens to be. You will get hurt at some point, and I can't… I can't let them hurt you. I know you wouldn't let something like this stop you, you're so strong and so much better than I deserve. Please, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"

Yang's resolve pieced itself back together as Kassidy explained herself. That's what she was worried about? Interrupting Kassidy's babbling with a flick of the nose, Yang found the strength to stand back up. "Y'know, for someone as smart as you are, you can be a real idiot sometimes, you know that?"

Kassidy's face somehow fell even further, and she choked out, "Yang…?"

She took a deep breath, steadied herself, and began to explain herself. "Let me tell you a story, K. You know about my parents. Tai and Summer. But… Summer might've been my mom, but she wasn't my birth mother. Dad wouldn't tell me anything, but I figured some things out. Like that she left me just after I was born, and that her name… was Raven Branwen."

Even as distraught and devastated as Kassidy was, Yang could still see the gears turning in her head. "Any relation to –"

"She's Qrow's twin sister," Yang finished. "Anyway, nobody's seen her since she left me. Ever since I knew, I've been trying to find her. It was all I thought about. I'd ask anyone I could what they knew about her. Then, one day, I found something. What I thought was a clue that would lead me to answers, or even to my mother. I waited until my dad left the house, put Ruby in a wagon, and then headed out. I must have walked for hours. I had cuts and bruises, I was totally exhausted, but I wasn't gonna let anything stop me. When we finally got there, I could barely stand. But I didn't care. I had made it. But then I saw them. Those… burning red eyes."

Yang paused to shudder and take some breaths. Out of the side of her eye, she could see K with similarly wide eyes as before, but no longer bawling her face off. Yang continued, "So there we were, a toddler asleep in the back of a wagon and a stupid girl too exhausted to even cry for help. We might as well have been served on a silver platter. But… as luck would have it, our uncle showed up just in time."

As Yang finished her story, Kassidy took a breath to steady herself. "Yang, I –"

Yang interrupted her, whirling around on the spot and meeting her eyes. "For the woman who abandoned me, I wandered around a Grimm-infested forest with no chance or ability to defend myself or my sister. I did all of that on a hunch, for someone who more likely than not hated my guts. We should have died that day. So, Kassidy Smith," Yang finished, punctuating her point by poking her finger into Kassidy's chest, "If I'm willing to do that for someone like that, why would you even imagine that I'd be willing to do anything less for you? My girlfriend, my partner, and my best friend ever."

Kassidy's eyes widened, and she only barely stammered out, "I –"

"I understand that people want to hurt you. I understand that they'll probably try to get at me. Look into my eyes. I don't care. You are one of the most important people in my life, and I would be beyond happy to face all that and more to protect you, to be by your side, and to keep you happy and healthy and smiling. Yes, like that," Yang added with a wink.

Kassidy stammered, unable to decide on which expression to wear or which emotion to feel… before rushing Yang, wrapping her up in a hug, and shoving her head into her shoulder. Her shoulders shook, though Yang legitimately couldn't tell if it was from crying or laughing. Eventually, Yang heard, "Those were the hardest words I've ever had to so much as think about, let alone say, and you wave it all away like it wasn't anything. You are one incredible woman, Yang Xiao Long. Not to mention incredibly annoying at times." Kassidy brought her head up whenever Yang retorted with a 'hey', but her small grin quickly faded. "Why me? Why am I worth so much to you? Why are you willing to deal with… with… all of this?"

Because I think I love you! Yang all but screamed out in her mind. Only a tremendous amount of both self-control and uncertainty kept her from actually blurting the words to her girlfriend. Instead, she took a few steadying breaths, and explained, "Because you're the strongest person I know – and no, I'm not talking about the bench press record. You're the funniest person I know that isn't my dad. You're the smartest person I know that isn't Weiss."

"Not really helping your case, partner," Kassidy snarked. "Also, I'm way smarter than Weiss."

Yang giggled. "That's exactly it. You make everything so much better. You care so much about us that you were willing to do anything to keep me safe, no matter how painful. You can always bring in some new perspective, showing how anything that could be bad or wrong isn't as bad as we think it is… or even if it is, that we can beat it. You're smart and funny and strong and so much of what I try to be. You're my partner. You're my girlfriend. You are more than worth anything I can give you."

Kassidy's face was unreadable for a moment, before her expression morphed to look almost… annoyed? "Are you sure you're not reading my mind? I was just about to say literally all of that about you."

Yang couldn't help it; she giggled again. She put a lid on it quickly, however, put her hands on Kassidy's shoulder, and stared straight into the depths of her nearly non-existent soul. "As long as you will have me, I promise I will always stand by your side. As your combat partner, as your girlfriend… maybe even as more, if and when we get there. I will not leave you behind. In whatever you do, I will support you."

Kassidy put her own arms on Yang's shoulders. "You sure about this? If you say 'yes' again, I'm going to have to declare it officially too late to back out of that deal."

"Hmm… well, when you put it that way…" Yang teased. Booping K on the nose, she smiled and simply said, "Yes."

"Then know you have that same promise from me. And a Smith is always good for their word." They hugged again, fiercely, each conveying every emotion they've felt over the past twenty minutes in the embrace. Finally, Kassidy spoke up on Yang's shoulder. "Well, that was freaking exhausting, and I'm starved. Why don't you say we find something to eat?"

"Actually," Yang stalled, thinking of something that'd been bothering her for the past few days. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it… but I never knew you had a sister."

Kassidy shuddered again, before answering, "Yeah, I don't like talking about it." Before Yang was able to apologize, however, Kassidy continued, "Ezra was stillborn."

"Oh," Yang said dumbly. Really, what were you supposed to say to that? Finding K's hand, she forced out a weak smile before adding, "Yeah, food sounds wonderful right now."

As the two blondes wandered down the hallway and across the campus, there was definitely a new air between them that more than one person noticed as they walked. For Yang and Kassidy, however, it only meant one thing at the moment: they were back, baby.

Honestly, for how that whole mess started (and continued, now that she thought about that), Yang couldn't have been happier about how that turned out.

AN 2: Alright, let me check the time… Wait, still not finished downloading? Did I seriously just write this thing in four stinking hours? I guess it kind of helped that, similar to last chapter as well as the next couple chapters, I had basically plotted out the whole darn thing in advance, and all that was required was typing it out.

Also, Kassidy's final, truly last secret has been revealed. Well... okay, I have a couple personal ideas, but considering that they have exactly zero bearing on the story at this point (and yes, Ezra will still have bearing on this story), I have no purpose nor desire to mention any. I know I made the offer once already, and now I'm remaking it. Consider this open season on any questions you have regarding Kassidy's character. I'll do my best to answer in Reviewer Responses.

So ends this particularly traumatizing arc. Time for my usual drill: proofreading, Reviewer Responses, upload, and… not bed, since it's not 1 AM here yet. Probably studying. Oh, who am I kidding? It's almost definitely going to be Skyrim.

Coming up next: …not the dance arc! Sorry, but there's one last thing I want to set up before we get to see how that particular trainwreck shapes up. Just know that a particular shotgun boot-wielding totally-not-villain is going to feature prominently

Akshka: Yes, things have definitely gotten real… and now I feel a sudden and intense urge to go hide in my basement. Shortly after changing addresses. And possibly names.

AgentDraakis: Well… not sure if this counts as fluff, but here you go. And don't worry, we still have the dance coming up. Nothing could possibly go wrong there, right? …right?

Mama Wolf Pack: Believe me, I spent a lot of time agonizing over that chapter. Given just how much conflict I'd created between the powers that be and Kassidy, however, I honestly couldn't justify it not coming to a head somehow. Uh… thanks for thinking I wrote the torture scenes well? Not sure if that counts as a compliment. Glad to hear you've been enjoying the story so far, here's to hoping I can continue to entertain.

Guest: Glad to hear you like it so much. Whether I'll continue through vol4? Spoilers. Also, yes.

Tykene: Again… not sure if being complemented on how well I wrote the torture chapter is a compliment or a less flattering reflection of me. Glad you enjoyed it, I guess?