Finally got around to writing the second part of this. Content warning for vomit. Enjoy!
When Ruby wakes up again, her head is pounding harshly. Even with her eyes closed, the light stings harshly, and she tries to turn away from the overwhelming brightness. The movement proves to be too much for her headache; she barely has time to let out a pained moan before her stomach is lurching up her throat. She curls over the side of the bed with a groan, spitting up a mouthful of bile onto what she hopes is the floor.
"It's okay, just get it all up," a kind voice says quietly. Ruby startles at her sister's attempt to comfort her, which sends another shock of pain through her skull that only worsens her nausea. She feels a soothing hand on her back as she pitches forward to retch again, and a cool palm rests on her forehead, sweeping her bangs out of the line of fire without putting pressure. When she's finally done, Yang helps her slump back against the pillows and pulls the blankets back up to her chin.
"Get some rest, Ruby," her sister murmurs as she feels herself slipping back into unconsciousness.
The next time she wakes, the ache behind her eyes has dulled slightly, and she's able to squint her eyes open slightly without the light immediately blinding her. She spots her sister perched at the end of her bed, messing with something on her scroll.
Yang glances over at Ruby. Her face immediately lights up when she sees that she's awake. "Oh good, you're up. You feeling any better?" Ruby makes a noncommittal sound, careful not to move her head too much. "That great, huh. Do you feel up to taking something for your head? I don't want to give you something if it's just going to come back up."
"Hmmm." Ruby considers the question. Her head still hurts, and her brain still feels fuzzy, but the nausea from before seems to be gone, or at least held at bay for now. "Sure."
"Great." Yang helps her sit up enough to take the pills with a small swallow of water, before gently lowering her back once more. The change in elevation makes her slightly dizzy, but thankfully her stomach doesn't protest the medication. Eventually, slowly, the pain begins to ebb away, and Ruby lets herself fall into a light doze.
Yang settles next to her on the bed, on hand resting lightly on Ruby's back, rubbing gentle circles between her shoulder blades and around the nape of her neck. "You're going to give yourself a tension headache at this rate," her sister murmurs, strong fingers gently kneading at the base of her neck.
Ruby is more than content to just drift, half-asleep, as the pain finally recedes to a barely-noticeable level, until Yang speaks again. "I'm sorry, Ruby."
"Huh?" Ruby blinks, suddenly wide awake again. What is Yang apologizing for? She turns her head slightly, as far as she dares to get a look at her sister's face. She looks—sad. And guilty. "What're you talking about?"
"What you said earlier," Yang says, sighing heavily. She scrubs the back of her free hand across her face. "I thought about it and—you were right. I'm sorry."
"Huh/" she says again. What she said earlier? She tries to think back to figure out what her sister might be talking about, but the past few hours are just a haze of pain. The last thing she remembers is the training session they had earlier. "What are you talking about, Yang? What did I say?" She starts to panic when her sister still doesn't respond. "Look, I was pretty out of it earlier, whatever I said probably wasn't—"
Yang cuts her off. "But you were right."
Huh? "Right about what?"
Yang sighs deeply. "I have been pushing you away lately. Not on purpose, I swear," she elaborates immediately, when Ruby can't quite hide her hurt expression. "Just—like you said earlier, things have been busy lately. I've been dating Blake, you've been catching up with Penny, and we haven't exactly seen eye to eye on everything lately. We've grown apart a bit, that's all."
"Oh." Ruby isn't quite sure how to respond to what her sister is saying. She doesn't remember saying any of that, but it does echo some of the things she's been feeling deep down—things that hurt to think about but she felt too guilty to talk about. "Yang, I don't—"
But Yang interrupts her. "Sometimes I don't tell you things because I'm scared of looking weak in front of you. Because, deep down, I still want to be the invincible big sister that you looked up to as a little kid."
"But that's silly," Ruby can't help but interject. "I'll always look up to you. You're my sister."
"You're right, it is silly of me. I should know better." Yang laughs, shaking her head. "But that's going to change. Because even when we disagree, you're still my baby sister, and I will always love you more than anything. It shouldn't have taken you getting brained by Nora's hammer for me to remember that. And, most importantly, I will always have your back. Got it?" Yang finishes, looking Ruby directly in the eye.
Maybe it's the head injury, but Ruby suddenly feels dizzy. "Uh, y—yeah," she manages to stammer out.
"Good." Yang runs a soothing hand through Ruby's hair, gently sweeping her bangs off her forehead. "Now, get some sleep. "When you're feeling better, we'll have a talk about how we can make sure this never has to happen again."
Nodding, Ruby lets herself slump back against her pillow and closes her eyes. She'd never really doubted how much Yang cared about her, but still, it feels nice hearing it out loud. They'll always have each other's backs.
Thank you for reading! Please leave a review if you liked it. Happy new year!