"Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine."
That was the mantra Yin kept quietly repeating to herself, over and over again. A habit she found herself doing whenever things in her life got dire - be it a world-ending threat or just her brother getting them both into trouble bad enough to be grounded for a month; keeping herself calm and optimistic was the key to keep things from spiraling further out of control.
...Not that anything was spiraling out of control. Of course not! Absolutely not! Because everything was perfectly fine!
Her life was perfectly fine!
She was perfectly fine!
And the fact that she was out by the outskirts of town, all by herself at the edge of the woods, had nothing to do with it! Because once again, everything was fine!
"Everything is fine." But just for good measure, she kept repeating her mantra as she stared at the stars from her seat on a fallen log. Brushing her blue skirt to make sure it didn't wrinkle or get snagged- one, two, five more times just to be sure and definitely not as a nervous tick. "Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine."
"If you have to keep saying that out loud, I doubt it."
Yin's nails dug into the blue fabric the sixth time.
It took a while for her to find him through the trees- but there he was to her left; no matter how dark were the shadows he hid in, both his fiery eyes and toothy grin betrayed him right away. "If you're looking for a fight, it's not happening tonight. Go away, Yuck."
"First of all, rude. I was just passing by." Stepping out of the shadows and into the clearing untilt they were face to face, Yuck crossed his arms in mock indignation; "What, you own this part of the forest now? Because I don't see your name anywhere."
Yin just glared without answering.
Yuck's grin fell, taking that as his cue to glare back. "And second of all, I should be asking YOU what you're doing here. All alone, here in the forest…" His eyes wandered downwards, and then back up with a raised eyebrow, "...and all dolled up, apparently?"
Yin's hands released their tight grip on her skirt to fix her matching bow and smooth down her white blouse. "None of your business."
"Don't tell me the old man changed the dress code at the dojo. Is Yang going to jump out of the bushes and stab me while wearing a tuxedo or something?"
"Are you really going through with this?"
"And what if I am? I don't see why you're being so difficult about this."
"Oh, I'M being difficult? Sorry if I'm not thrilled to see you go out with the guy that nearly killed me and Lena!"
"You're still on about that!? He-"
"What, apologized? No, he didn't even do that, Yin! He just ran off into the mountains to some random old dude and then went right back to throwing himself at your feet the second he returned! And worst of all, that was enough for YOU to forgive him!"
"W-well, so what!? He did it to control his powers! He even helped us defeat Eradicus! Isn't that enough proof that he changed!?"
"Changed!? Did you forget that he sold us out to the Night Master for you!? Under control or not, he's still a creepy jerk who only cares about impressing you; he doesn't care about the rest of the team! And you don't even really like him; you just like his looks!"
"And why do you care now, Yang!? You've never cared about how I feel before; all you ever do is make fun of me every time I'm finally enjoying myself! So how about you let me be happy for once and go back to not caring and rotting whatever's left of your brain with videogames instead!?"
"...fine. FINE! Go out with him, what do I care! Just don't come back crying to me when it blows up in your DUMB FACE!"
"Yang isn't here." The bark of the log she was sitting on snapped loudly under the pressure of her fingers digging into it. "And I don't need him, anyways. Certainly not when I'm going out on a date."
...He wasn't supposed to know about that last part. But it didn't matter anymore. It was fine. Everything was fine.
Yuck's eyes widened for a moment, and then narrowed into slits as his face suddenly twisted with disdain. "...That's right. It's you and that traitor chicken now, isn't it?"
"Again: none of your business."
"And you're meeting him now? Alone, all the way out here?" A scoff, and then the grin was back- but it didn't have any amusement like before. In fact, it made him look even angrier, teeth bared and grinding together. "Come on. I know love makes you stupid and all but you HAVE to know that's a horrible idea."
"Yin, this is a horrible idea."
"You too, Lena!? Hearing it from Yang is bad enough, but you're my best friend! Friends are supposed to support each other!"
"Yeah, and they're also supposed to stop each other from making bad decisions! This is Coop we're talking about! Don't you remember what he almost did to us? What he did to YOU!?"
"Yeah, but the two of us have been trying to get past that and none of you are making it easier! Why can't you be happy for me instead and move on with your lives!?"
"Move on- Yin, we almost LOST OUR LIVES! He almost made YOU kill us for him!"
"WILL YOU STOP BRINGING IT UP?! Ugh, admit you're just jealous I found the boy of my dreams while you're stuck dating Yang out of pity!"
"Wh-That's your brother you're talking about? What's wrong with you!?"
"What's wrong with YOU!? You're supposed to be MY best friend, but right now you're doing a horrible job at it!"
"...You know what? I changed my mind; you two definitely deserve each other. So if this is me being a bad friend, then I don't want to be your friend anymore!"
"Shut up! What do you know about real dating, anyways!?" Yin saw Yuck actually do a double take from how quickly she stood back up and got up in his face- good; he deserved it. "And for the record, this isn't where we're gonna meet up! We're gonna meet at the ice cream parlor downtown!"
"Wh- but that's downtown? What the hell are you out here for, then!?"
"The date's at six o'clock; I wanted to wait here till then!" Yin growled, harshly jabbing a finger into Yuck's chest and forcing him to stumble backwards. "What, am I not allowed? Cuz I don't see YOUR name around here, either!"
That's right. She was here to wait until it was time for her date. And she chose to head to the forest despite the distance because it was peaceful there, and she needed peace and quiet to calm the butterflies in her stomach.
Because that was definitely what they were. The nausea, the goosebumps, the feeling of a bottomless pit being carved out in her guts- those had to be jitters right before her lovely ice cream date with her new, dreamy boyfriend.
They had to be. Because everything was fine.
What was not fine, however, was the look Yuck was giving her. He was obviously irritated, a hand rubbing the spot on his chest he had jabbed- but worse than that, he stared at her like she had grown a second head in front of him.
"Six o'clock? Yin, exactly what time do you think it is?"
Yin scoffed. More cheap jabs at her intelligence? Couldn't he at least be more original? "How stupid do you think I am? It's obviously…"
…
Wait. Was it supposed to get this dark before 6 o'clock already? Because Yin had definitely noticed it getting darker the whole time she had been here, but she hadn't really thought about…
"It's…"
At what time had she left the dojo? Half-past four? Five o'clock? Downtown was only a 20-minute walk away from the dojo, but she ended up going to the forest first to kill time because she had left so early, and she had left so early before her date because...
Because…
"H-hold on."
Stuffing her hand into her skirt pocket, Yin rummaged around until she felt something smooth and oblong- and then she pulled out an old, worn flip phone. She and her brother had begged Master Yo for cellphones because all the teens they knew had one, and with his budget these had been the best he could afford.
"Yin, I need to talk to you."
"Can it wait till later? I have a date with Coop downtown tonight."
"...I'm afraid that's exactly what I need to talk to you about."
"Oh, for the love of- first Yang, then Lena, and now you!? Why is everyone picking now to stick their noses in my love life!?"
"Yin, I'm sorry, but this is getting out of control! Yang told me what happened between you two, and then he got a call from Lena about how she kicked you out of her house! This situation with Coop is affecting you in the worst way possible!"
"YOU can't complain about this, Master Yo! YOU said Coop had the Night Master's power under control, and that's why you didn't do anything to take it out of him! YOU trusted him with it!"
"I did, and look how it paid off! He corrupted you, and about half of the town too! You almost became Night Masters together! If I had known that would happen-"
"I am SICK of people bringing that up, every time! We're both past that! We're finally happy together! So why is it that no one in my life can be happy for me!?"
"I also heard how you and Coop nearly let the Woo Foo Army get hurt by putting them after your relationship! Can't you see that you're still doing it? And pushing all your family and friends in the process? I can't let you-"
"NO! YOU don't get to say ANYTHING about it! Because if you actually cared about me or Yang or the Woo Foo Army, you would've stayed around to do something about it instead of making us watch you DIE and then run off to a resort WHILE WE FOUGHT FOR OUR LIVES THINKING YOU WERE GONE FOREVER!"
"Oh."
The slightly scratched screen showed 7:54 PM in big, white letters. And right under it, her inbox was displayed:
27 MISSED CALLS and 43 MESSAGES from SUGARBEAK
6 MISSED CALLS and 4 MESSAGES from YANG
4 MISSED CALLS from UNKNOWN CALLER
(She recognized the unknown number as Lena's from before she erased her from her contacts).
And her phone was set to silence. She couldn't remember silencing it. When had she done that?
"Wow." It wasn't until Yuck's warm breath slightly tickled her cheek that she realized he was watching over her shoulder. "You weren't kidding about killing time, huh?"
She was late. She was almost two hours late, and because she hadn't told anyone where she was actually going and also made herself impossible to reach, no one knew she had run off into the woods for those two hours she now realized she could barely remember.
"...It's fine." She whispered, more to herself than to anyone else. "Everything is fine."
...Yes, everything was fine! Because Yang and Lena were worried no doubt, but Yin was furious at them at the moment. So they deserve it! And they could continue to worry all night for all she cared! And her Sugarbeak was probably more worried for her than the other two and Master Yo combined, but it was also okay because knowing him, he would still be waiting for her! It was all fine!
"You keep saying it's fine." Yuck's voice was quiet all of a sudden, no longer next to her ear but still close by. "It's creepy. What's up with you?"
"I-I can still make it." She spoke up a little louder, holding the flip phone close to her heart. "He'll...he'll still be there, and he'll forgive me because Coop would do anything for me."
like stalking her and begging her to date him no matter how many times she refused joining the night master selling out her loved ones and the world for the promise of her spying on her and slowly earning her trust only to betray her and then betraying the night master at the last second stealing his powers using them to corrupt her manipulate her into loving him making her think the only way to be happy together is to destroy anyone getting in their way like her brother and her best friend and she can't do anything she can't stop him she can't stop she can't stop SHE CAN'T STOP SHE CAN'T STOP SHE CAN'T STOP STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPPLEASE
The phone vibrated in her hand.
In front of her, Yuck did a double take as his fur bristled, glaring at the source of the unexpected noise. Slowly, numbly, Yin raised it closer to her face to check the caller ID: Sugarbeak.
She didn't open the phone. It kept ringing.
"...Aren't you gonna take that?"
She ignored him, continuing to stare at the phone as it shook in her hand, Sugarbeak taunting her in big, bold letters.
In one sudden, swift swing, Yin silently chucked the phone into the closest tree and watched it explode into pieces of plastic, sparks and broken circuitry- while Yuck shielded his face with his arm as he jumped back.
And it was in that moment - that finality, that knowledge that Coop wouldn't be able to reach her anymore - that the dam in her finally broke.
"Yin, what the fu-"
The most horrible wail tore out of her before he could finish, so horrible that whatever sense remained in her couldn't believe it was really hers. And with it came the tears- and the tears and the screaming kept coming until her throat burned and the world around her blurred into nothing.
"I ALMOST KILLED THEM!" Finally, through her uncontrollable sobbing and incoherent shrieking, she managed to form words- just barely, while she struggled for air,; "H-HE ALMOST MADE ME KILL THEM AND I COULDN'T STOP HIM!"
"What are you…"
"I DIDN'T WANT TO DO IT! BUT H-HE KEPT USING HIS POWERS ON ME AND IT HURT SO MUCH AND I C-COULDN'T DO ANYTHING-" Her fingers, dirty with grass and mud from digging into the ground, pulled on her fur and smeared her face every time she tried wiping the tears away; "I-I-I JUST WANTED TO FORGET! I WANTED TO FORGET EVERYTHING!"
She pulled harder, grabbing more fistfuls of her fur. Maybe if that hurt more, then this pain inside her would go away. These awful memories that kept flooding back would disappear, and everything would be fine again.
"B-but then...Master Y-Yo...he was gone, and C-Coop was back, and he said he w-wouldn't do it again…" She whimpered as she fell to her hands and knees, "A-and I was so afraid and s-so tired of always being the one left b-behind, and I just wanted s-something to go right…"
Yang, Lena, Master Yo...in a way, they all had let it happen that day. In a way, what Coop had done to her was partially their fault too. Is that why she had pushed them away when they tried to warn her, why she stubbornly refused to listen even though part of her already knew they were right from the start?
"BUT IT'S NOT! NOTHING IS RIGHT! No matter h-how hard I try to ignore it, how hard I try to b-block everything else out, I CAN'T FORGET! I CAN'T FORGET HOW MUCH IT HURTS! And now he's g-gonna freak out again, and he's gonna lose control of his powers again, HE'S GOING TO HURT ME AND THEN MAKE ME HURT THEM AGAIN-"
In a rush of blind panic, she scrambled for something - anything - to hold on to. And when her hands grabbed Yuck's gi, she didn't even question it.
"Don't let him hurt me, please! PLEASE! I DON'T WANT HIM TO HURT ME AGAIN!" She begged, she pleaded, she sobbed completely lost in her desperation and fear. "I CAN'T GO THROUGH THAT AGAIN! PLEASE DON'T LET HIM TAKE ME, PLEASE-"
In that moment, her tears cleared just enough to let her see Yuck's face.
Her throat closed up.
Never in her life had she seen Yuck so utterly, completely terrified.
And he did so while looking at her.
Immediately she let go of him, falling back on her butt. He remained where he was, never taking his eyes off her, looking completely sick to his stomach.
...And why wouldn't he? They were enemies, and she had just completely lost her mind in front of him. She had let herself become the most vulnerable, the most pathetic, she had ever been all in front of him.
No. No. Nonononono. Everything is fine. Everything is fine, EVERYTHING IS FINE-
Her throat opened up, letting out another sob.
So while she still had some clarity back into her, she scrambled to her feet and ran. She ran and ran and ran aimlessly, as deep into town as she could and as far from Yuck as she could. She pushed her way through irritated - then concerned - passerbys, across streets and alleyways, and she still kept running.
But just like she couldn't forget what Coop had done to her no matter how hard she tried to look the other way…
...she couldn't get the terror in Yuck's eyes out of her mind no matter how far she ran.