I can't tell if we've won or not. The only sound that reaches my ears is my ragged breathing; a stitch in my side, that may or may not be several broken ribs, turns the end of each exhale into a rattling wheeze. A gentle touch on my arm draws my attention and what remains of my vision momentarily swims when I turn to face the source. I stumble, the strength leaving my body and the only thing that stops me from collapsing is Crescent Rose being driven into the ground and my inability to let her go. The pressure on my arm increases, silently asking if I'm okay, and I manage a weak smile as the blurry colors in front of me begin to settle into the familiar face of my partner: Weiss. Relief fills me. Beyond an extensive collection of new cuts and bruises she appears relatively unharmed.
She mouths my name and for a brief second guilt flashes through me as my eye flickers down to the grimy, bloodstained, bandages that wrap her throat; the memory of the attack that had been meant for me replaying in my head for the millionth time since my friend's voice was stolen weeks ago. The brief movement doesn't escape Weiss' notice though and she smiles; but that smile doesn't quite reach her eyes the way it used to. She doesn't blame me for what happened; the tight hug she'd wrapped me in while I'd babbled an incoherent apology through snotty tears had told me that in a way her words never would have been able to. Neither her forgiveness nor the fact that I'd be dead if she hadn't protected me, or even knowing that she'd do it again without hesitation, does much, however, to assuage my guilt. Remnant has lost one of its most beautiful voices forever; and it's my fault.
Leaning heavily on my partner, I pull Crescent Rose free from the scarred earth before folding and storing her away; her shattered blade making her uncomfortably light on my back. Pain begins to seep through my body as the adrenaline from the battle finally begins to drain away and I grit my teeth as fire spreads across my face, radiating from my destroyed left eye. I'd overtaxed my power at the end there and the icy shock of my eye exploding had nearly driven me to my knees; my stubborn determination to see this bloody business with Salem finished once and for all the only thing that had kept me standing in that moment.
"Yang? Blake?" I rasp out as my slow, albeit blurry, survey of the area reveals no sign of our teammates. We'd all become separated at some point early in the fight and although it hadn't worried me at the time, the fact that they're not here now begins to eat at the back of my mind.
Weiss just shakes her head and shrugs. She's trying to act like it's no big deal; both my sister and Blake can handle themselves just fine after all and if Weiss and I both made it through more-or-less okay then surely they did as well, but I can see my own concern mirrored in her eyes. Moving as fast as our battered bodies can manage, we set out to begin searching; thunder rumbling in the distance telling us to hurry. We'll both feel much better once we find our missing sisters.
I don't know how long we search through the rubble and wreckage left behind by the battle and neither of us are even certain where exactly all this came from. Unfamiliar symbols adorn much of the broken buildings and equally strange machinery and vehicles are scattered throughout the area. The longer we search, however, the more I'm beginning to suspect that the relic of creation had come into play at some point during the battle. No further sign of the staff, nor who may have been wielding it, are immediately apparent and I file that concern away for Future Ruby to deal with.
The bodies scattered throughout the destruction all blur together; faceless soldiers, human, faunus and mechanical alike and I can't stop the numbness that begins to engulf me with each ended life we come across. So far, we haven't recognized anyone but a small part of me knows it's only a matter of time before that changes and my heart briefly stops with each mangled corpse we discover.
The first person we find that we do know is Nora and we both breathe a sigh of relief when our friend comes into view. As we draw closer, however, it becomes apparent that something isn't right. The normally spastic redhead is eerily quite where she kneels, staring at something clutched in her lap. Lightning flashes in the distance, followed quickly by more thunder.
"Nora?" I croak out and after a long moment where I think maybe she didn't hear me over the noise, she briefly looks up before her tear stained and lifeless gaze falls back to the burned cloth in her hands. My heart twists as I realize it's part of Ren's jacket, the quiet boy decidedly absent. Giant scorch marks are visible across virtually every nearby surface and a short distance away lies the unmoving form of Cinder, a warped sword blade sticking out of her back. Just in front of her head is a vaguely familiar looking shield, nearly melted beyond recognition.
I squeeze my eye shut to stop the tears welling up and Weiss hugs me, both of us shivering with the knowledge that we've lost several friends in this fight. Reaching out we both place a hand on Nora's shoulders; it's the only thing we can do for her right now. She doesn't acknowledge us any further though and after a few minutes we move on, leaving her alone with her grief as we resume our search for the other members of our own team. The worry in the back of my mind has returned.
That worry drives us forward faster now, into the approaching storm, and I can feel panic beginning to take hold of us both the longer we go without finding Yang and Blake. We stumble across several more survivors searching the ruins for their friends and I allow a small spark of hope to ignite within my chest. Maybe they know something.
"Have you seen a tall blonde human woman or a dark haired faunus woman with cat ears?" There's no way they won't be together. They're always together. Practically joined at the hip ever since we all reunited after Atlas fell. My face heats and a smile tugs at my lips at the memory of the way they had embraced after the shock of seeing each other again had worn off. Blake had been completely besides herself until my sister finally just kissed her to prove that she was, in fact, still alive. Weiss and I had made ourselves scarce after that, once it became abundantly clear the other two women had, for the moment, entirely forgotten about us. We were too happy for them to mind being ignored…though later we had teased them about it mercilessly.
None of the people we encounter have seen our sisters though and the sun has begun to set without any clues as to their whereabouts. At this point I'm not sure how long we've been looking…hours, days…weeks? It probably hasn't actually been weeks but where can they be? My vision is still blurry if I move too quickly but the burn in my left eye has dimmed considerably though I don't know if that's from the passage of time or from the fresh shot of adrenaline I can feel racing through my veins as our search drags on. Or perhaps it's from the cool drizzle that has begun.
"They're fine," I say quietly, over and over although I don't know which of us I'm trying to reassure but Weiss nods along and I'm fairly certain that she'd be echoing me if she could still speak.
A flash of gold catches the corner of my eye and I whip around to see my sister off in the distance, waving to me, a huge grin on her face, looking for all the world like she just stepped out of a fashion catalogue and not just a grueling battle. Lightning illuminates the sky, causing her to vanish.
"Yang!" I scream as best I can, my abused ribs protesting the misuse. Relief floods through me as she turns and disappears around the side of a ruined building. I take off after her, nearly blind as I activate my semblance and drag Weiss with me. My blurry vision combined with the fading light limits me to short bursts of my semblance but, even so, we quickly arrive at where Yang had been. My sister is still further ahead though and with another wave and a flash of golden lightning she's gone around yet another corner. Again, I take off after her and again she's once more still further ahead. I lose all track of time chasing after her, but the sun has just about set when we finally catch up, the dying rays illuminating the blur that is my sister and Blake where they sit waiting for us.
"Yang, Blake!" I gasp and shake my head, trying to clear my vision, "We found you!".
Next to me I feel Weiss stiffen, the hand I still hold crushing mine in a vice grip as a tortured sob slips from her throat. Confused, I glance at her while my vision slowly clears to reveal our sisters. Yang sits with her back against a large tree, fast asleep with Blake splayed out on top of her. Both women wear matching, small, smiles, their faces tilted towards one another.
"Yang?" I whisper, taking a hesitant step forward, part of me not wanting to wake them when they must be exhausted but another part of me wanting, needing, to hear their voices.
"Yang? Blake?" I repeat, louder this time but Weiss' hand on my shoulder stops me from taking another step. She's crying as she pulls me back towards her and wraps her arms around me, burying her face in my shoulder. Thunder and lightning split the sky almost simultaneously.
Still confused I slowly look from her and back towards the others. The light shifts again, and I begin to notice things my blurry vision had hidden from me: the trickles of dried blood leaking from our sister's mouths; the ragged hole in Yang's chest; the wickedly deep slashes down Blake's back; the dark stains on their clothes and the ground around them; the growing puddle of rainwater they're sitting in; the bloodless color of their skin.
"Yang?" I say again, my voice sounding tiny and shaky, even to my own ears, an emptiness forming within my chest. A small breeze kicks up, ruffling our hair but neither of the two women stir, "Say something. Please."
Weiss' legs give out and her weight drags me to my knees as the sky finally opens up and I continue to stare at our two sisters. Hot tears begin to roll down my cheek, quickly washed away by the downpour, as Weiss sobs behind me; my mind refusing to process the lie that's in front of me and I desperately grasp my partner's hands, my entire body trembling.
"Okay, joke's over you guys, it's not funny. Please get up," I wait for Yang to spring to her feet with that Cheshire cat grin of hers while Blake tries not to laugh at her girlfriend's antics, but the couple remains still. They don't move. Won't move. Can't.
For a moment I gasp, unable to draw air into lungs that seem to have vanished into the void in my chest before a strangled sob of my own finally tears free. With a vicious crack that drowns out both the rain and thunder, my heart shatters.
