A shorter story this time, but it was an idea I like around a dynamic I really like!
Blake had to get away. The same nightmare had plagued her since Argus. She would find herself alone on that cliff with Adam, stalking her with those eyes and drawing his blade. Like so many nights before, the faunus awoke with a start, sat up and breathing heavily. Yang's snoring above her eventually drew her into the real world, but she found herself leaving their dorm quickly with a frown on her face. She had to get away.
It helped that tonight was one of Atlas' relatively warmer nights, a rarity in the kingdom that meant when one awoke from night terrors the air didn't feel too frigid on the skin. With that in mind, Blake hastily headed to the roof.
Turning left, she bounded up the nearby staircase, feeling her unnecessarily heavy breathing weigh down on her as she reached the roof. Opening the door, the calm Atlas air hit her face and she simply stood in the centre of the roof, staring up at the sky and relaxing her breathing slowly. Using the moment, she counted the stars all above her, made note of the various formations and saw the shattered moon shining down. The faunus wasn't an astrologer by any means, but one or two patterns, namely The Silver Crown, were as clear as day. They reminded her of some of the clearer nights growing up in Menagerie, before the White Fang, before any of this.
Taking deep breaths, she found herself absorbed in the serenity of it all. The stars still, yet bursting with light, the dim blue night sky an ocean of stillness. A shooting star sped through, disturbing the patterns briefly before disappearing from view. To Blake, the stillness was alluring, the constellations and patterns a constant order, a picture of the world's ebb and flow that she could get lost in.
Her thoughts were soon interrupted by the rooftop door swinging open and a silver-eyed girl blearily wandering through. Ruby stopped in surprise at seeing the faunus currently in her own world. She started to step back through the doorway with a soft smile, seeing Blake so calm and in her element.
"Ruby? You're up here too?" Blake had turned to see her backing through the doorway, her friend clad in her pyjamas and with a sheepish smile.
"Erm… hi, Blake. I… I was coming to check on you, but you seem fine…" Ruby quietly fumbled her way through her explanation, slightly puzzled by the faunus looking at her and then chuckling slightly.
"You aren't interrupting anything, come on." Blake offered, smiling at seeing her friend relax, her posture settling and wandering over to stand next to her. Ruby could see why she was entranced by the sky above them.
"Wow, I see why you come out here." Ruby wistfully said, staring up at the stars with wide eyes. She didn't see her friend's smile falter or her rubbing her arm in nervousness.
"You know about this?" Blake inquired.
"Yeah. Is everything OK?" Ruby turned to her friend with a slight frown.
"Erm…" Blake's nervousness took over, she averted her gaze from her friend. Her breathing started to pick up in pace, all of her thoughts swimming as she tried to piece together how to explain all the emotions occupying her mind. Eventually, she took a breath and looked back up to the stars to relax her mind.
"It's just these nightmares that keep happening. It helps to come up here, get away from it." She explained as calmly as she could. Even then, Ruby looked at her with worry, spotting the faunus' general weariness.
"Well, I'm here. You can always talk to me about them. Are they about Adam?" Ruby inquired softly, trying to be a calm presence. Blake for her part was slightly startled, yet not completely. She always knew her leader was very intelligent, a keen mind operating underneath her exuberant exterior.
"Yeah. It's exhausting." Blake uttered, wiping her brow with her hand reflexively.
"You don't have to tell me." Ruby muttered under her breath. The faunus was about to ask what she meant, but then figured there may well be another reason the silver-eyed girl had come here.
"Look, I can't pretend to know how to fix it, but talking might at least help. I won't tell Weiss or Yang. Promise." She affirmed to Blake, taking her right hand in both of hers in a comforting gesture.
"Well, you could tell me about yours." Blake deflected back calmly, not trying to accuse. Yet it hurt her leader. She stepped back a bit from the faunus with a slight frown on her exhausted face.
"Blake, don't deflect. You keep coming up here instead of coming to anyone. I'm worried about you. You don't need to tell me everything, just enough." Ruby implored.
"I could say the same thing, you know." The faunus retorted harshly.
The silver-eyed warrior sighed and looked up at the sky, the still image broken by a few clouds overhead having gathered to obscure the brightness of the stars and the pale moonlight. The silence between the pair was palpable, both not budging from their positions or removing their gaze from the sky. That was until the silver-eyed girl spoke.
"I dreamed about the Apathy. About the farm. I knew it wasn't real but I still remember it so clearly." Ruby spoke slowly and tiredly, her lack of vigor betraying her. She clasped her hands together, rubbing them nervously.
"It just reminds me sometimes that, well, we almost lost you. So I just wanted to check on you and… actually, I'm sorry, I shouldn't make you deal with that." Ruby faltered, her gaze now down at the floor. That was when she felt a pair of arms pull her into a soft embrace.
"No, it's OK. That's just who you are, looking out for me and Weiss and Yang. Thank you Ruby." Blake's voice was beyond soft, her words deliberate and purposeful. She relaxed as her friend reciprocated the hug, her arms tightly around Blake's back. Although she was slightly surprised at the faunus continuing.
"We killed Adam. We kill Grimm all the time but this felt different. Sometimes I wish it had gone differently but we had no choice. I know that, so why do I keep dreaming about it?" The faunus was desperate, her eyes starting to tear up.
"Maybe because you haven't talked to Yang about it yet. She was there as well, she'll understand how you feel." Ruby's assertion was a reasonable one.
"I don't know, things still feel a bit off between us. We're much better now, but I don't want to hurt her." Blake's nervousness was bursting from her, a slight shake to her body that her silver-eyed friend noticed in their embrace. Ruby eased back and looked at the faunus in her face.
"Blake, talk to her. You know Yang, it might take her time, but she can face anything. Both of you can." Ruby smiled at the end before being engulfed in another, tighter hug.
"Thanks, Ruby."
The two stayed in the embrace, both turning their heads to the sky and staring at the stars, shining just as brightly as they had been earlier in the night. The clouds had passed through, the moonlight luminescing on them. The alluring silence was broken by a yawn from the team leader, drawing a small chuckle from the faunus. As they both went inside, they realised just how drained they were, stumbling down stairs drowsily.
When Yang awoke that morning, she stretched and lazily fell out of the bed only to see a pair missing from their beds. Before she could panic, as she opened the front door, she was halted to see her teammates fall inwards having been against the door.
The two blearily opened their eyes to see the blonde standing above them, arms crossed and a smirk plastered across her face.
"You two OK? Hope the roof wasn't too cold." Yang offered her hand to the faunus, which she took with her own smile.
"It was actually very good. Thanks." The faunus took the hand from Yang. Even if she wasn't talking to her.