Vengeance Is My Name
Chapter Three
Author's Note: I have nine chapters written so far, and I am currently working on the tenth. I'll admit, this story starts a bit slow, but it does pick up. Reviews are appreciated, let me know what you think. I'll have the rest of the written chapters uploaded as soon as they make it through final editing and spell check. Once I get caught up to my most currently written chapter, I'm going to try to update every Monday night on a weekly basis.
"God, why does it have to be so hot?" Yang whined to nobody in particular. Mostly because there was no one around, she reflected internally as she reached up to push her damp hair back out of her face. The sun had begun its descent a few hours ago, curving a long arc down from the zenith. In an hour or two, she would notice the temperature begin to fall, and glancing to the north, she saw an endless expanse of flat, low lying cloud cover that seemed to be taking its time approaching. If that managed to pick up any sort of speed, she could have relief from the heat much sooner than waiting for sunset.
Wet dark strands of blonde hair clung to her forehead, small droplets of sweat tickling her skin as they rolled down her temple. Reaching up with both hands this time, Yang raked her fingers through her hair, peeling it all back from her forehead in a chaotic, high piled lion's mane of messiness. Pulling it over her right shoulder in an attempt to keep it out of her face, a cool breeze kicked up on cue and made short work of that idea.
Cursing softly to herself as she plucked an errant strand from between her dry lips, she liberated an elastic band from around her wrist and swiftly gathered her hair up, tying it back into a high ponytail.
"Time for a water break, I suppose."
Yang noted with a wry smile that talking to herself was never something she actively, consciously did before setting out on this trip. An outgoing person with many friends back home, she was almost never without someone to talk to, and being the center of attention had never bothered her in the slightest.
Now, she thought, twisting the cap off her water bottle, out here by herself, she was dying for someone to talk to. She had resorted to making conversation with herself, but she could only provide so much feedback.
Tilting the bottle up a lot higher than she would have liked, she was somewhat comforted by the fact that she would make it to Nova tonight, giving her an opportunity to replenish her supplies. Despite her endless appetite, a bit of hunger never bothered her, but in her mind, she could feel herself becoming dehydrated within mere hours of her last drink of water.
Lost in thought, she took another sip from her water bottle as she glanced up from the worn dirt path she was ambling along, and the sight of a treeline in the distance caused a spike of adrenaline to lance through her body. It would only be a few more hours until she made it to town, and the thought of a nice, quiet inn and a cool bath made her skin itch in anticipation, and she bit her bottom lip to contain her excitement as she quickened her pace. As her steps grew more swift, she cast her gaze to the setting sun and familiar words passed unbidden from her lips.
"All we can do is do our best."
The sun had fallen behind the treeline when the terrain switched from brown dirt and farm fields to trees reaching up toward the sky with long, grasping branches, and although the sun was hidden from view, the rays still managed to somewhat penetrate the forest. The dying red rays lent everything a reddish orange hue, a beautifully saturated landscape that almost seemed otherworldly at this time of evening.
Yang slowed her pace as she passed a crudely constructed sign pointing in the direction of Nova.
She was finally here.
Leaves and fallen twigs crunched underneath her feet, a vastly different sound than the scraping of dirt she'd experienced for the last few days. It was a welcome experience. Coming to a stop, Yang tilted her head back and closed her eyes as she inhaled, focusing on picking out each individual scent as best she could in this new environment.
The smell of wet soil, sharp and acrid, was accompanied by the scent of the forest itself, the smell of the bark and leaves that combined to nearly euthanize her, relaxing her until the tension and fatigue seemed to fade from her muscles.
"This is a lot different than the rock and mountain of Solis." She murmured to herself. She felt her heartbeat pick up as she realized the unexpected benefit to embarking on this journey; the places she had been, the places she would go, they were all new to her and each one an incredible experience she was sure she would never forget.
And she hadn't seen even a tenth of the entire continent, nevermind the world.
A strange sort of energy pulsed through her as she let her mind wander, wondering if once she was done with this search for the mysterious girl, if she might simply continue travelling the world. She missed her family, to be sure, but it was nothing compared to the thrill of adventure she got when she travelled, a feeling she was swiftly becoming addicted to.
Plus, she would have no qualms about travelling home every once in a while to let her family know she was still alive.
There was just something so... so...
Yang sighed and began slowly trodding forward, all senses alight as she took in as much of the forest as she could. Her mind whirled, attempting to put a label on the feelings that raced through her like winds through a canyon.
It was a raw, powerful feeling, taking in this vast, beautiful world that she had never seen before. Everywhere she went was a new step for her, and she wondered if one day she might take a step somewhere that was new to all of them.
Her mind raced with the possibilities, her lilac eyes glazed over as she imagined the landscapes she had yet to see, the people she'd yet to meet.
Pausing once more to take in the sounds of the forest, she closed her eyes and strained her ears as best she could, intent on absorbing every sound the forest produced.
The whispers of wind caressing countless tree branches, leaves trembling in response. Creatures rustled in the foilage out of sight, and...
... Voices?
Yang opened her eyes once more, and began walking, blocking out all ambient noise and focusing on the distinctly out of place chatter of human voices.
Although, she supposed, she shouldn't think of them as too out of place. They were close to Nova, after all.
A thatch of trees up ahead blocked Yang's vision of the curving trail, and as the murmur of voices grew louder, Yang impatiently broke out into a jog. Rounding the bend in the trail, the trees seemed to curve away as if to invite her forward, and whatever she was expecting, it wasn't a group of people standing in a circle blocking the path a few meters up ahead, their heads bowed as they stared at the ground.
Yang fell out of her jog and allowed her pace to slow to a comfortable crawl. Approaching the group of people, she threw out a hearty wave as a few noticed her approach, and she grinned her widest grin.
"Howdy! What's everybody staring at? Did someone... die... ?" The poor choice of words died on her tongue as the group of people shuffled to the side, making way for her approach. As they separated, Yang caught a glimpse of a body laying on the ground, surrounded by a dark puddle of blood.
Lilac eyes shot open in surprise, disbelief distorting her features into an unrecognizable mask as she got a good view of the body.
It was a raven-haired girl, who looked to be slightly shorter than Yang herself. A black cloak covered most of her body, disguising her more prominent features, but her face and long hair were visible, and it was obvious as to what was the cause of death.
A solitary knife wound to the stomach, the blade still stuck in her gut. The handle protruded into the air proudly, as if staking a claim to its victim.
The blood was still wet on the ground, and Yang had a suspicion that the murder was very, very recent.
Suddenly a wave of nausea hit her, and Yang found herself choking back the urge to throw up. Slamming a hand to her mouth, Yang closed her eyes as she turned her back to the corpse, her stomach performing weird flip-flops as bile rose to the back of her throat unbidden.
It suddenly dawned on her that she had never seen a dead body before, much less the victim of a murder.
A murder.
The thought sent an icy chill down her back, and Yang couldn't keep her hands from trembling as she wondered if it was someone she had seen today. She had seen a few people on the path coming from the direction of Nova, so it wasn't that far-fetched an idea...
Of course, the opposite was equally terrifying. Maybe they hadn't fled out of town, and instead returned to Nova, lurking in the shadows and waiting for another young girl to make the wrong move...
Yang cursed her wild imagination, shaking her head as she tried to clear away those thoughts. She swallowed a few times, her mouth watering uncontrollably as her body prepared itself to wretch the contents of her earlier lunch all over the ground.
Yang straightened up, taking deep measured breaths through her mouth a few times in an attempt to calm her racing heart and settle her stomach.
"Are you alright, girl?"
Yang jumped a bit at the feeling of a hand on her shoulder, but when she turned to the voice that had spoken to her, she relaxed slightly as she saw an older man looking at her quizzically.
Yang took a moment to study him. He seemed frail, bent slightly at the waist and appearing shorter than Yang assumed he truly was. His hands shook, not out of fear or a negative reaction to the slaughtered girl on the ground, but simply due to age. He was tanned, with an unusual amount of dark liver spots dotting his skin, and his brown eyes held a warmth and caring that Yang had only seen previously in the people from her home town. His greying hair was whisper thin, but none the less carefully combed over, and his method of dress was very sensical and practical.
Yang used that moment of examination to make sure she wouldn't puke the moment she tried to speak, and when she was sure that the urge had passed, she nodded slightly.
"Yeah, thanks. Sorry, it's just a bit... surprising, that's all."
The elderly man folded his arms behind his back and slowly shuffled in a circle, looking back to the girl on the ground.
"Well, it's certainly an uncommon event around these parts, that's for sure."
Yang examined the girl a bit more closely as a few people turned back toward the town, intent on finding someone to deal with the body, no doubt.
"It's truly a sha-wait... " Something caught Yang's eye, a hint of movement, and Yang chanced a closer look, shuffling closer and kneeling down at the edge of the pool of blood. Focusing her gaze on the girl's chest, she watched closely, intently, for any sign of the movement she had thought she'd seen.
Yang stared for what felt like an eternity, and just when she thought she was losing her mind, or perhaps fallen victim to a trick of the light, a slight movement caught her eye once more.
"There!" Yang pointed. "Did anyone check to see if she's still alive?"
The old man shook his head, his loose jowls swaying back and forth.
"Alive?" His tone suggested Yang were insane. As Yang scrabbled closer, blood soaking into her clothes, she wondered if she might be. Still, she knew that if there were even the slightest chance, then she had to do everything she could.
She had to try. Swiftly she discarded her pack, ignoring the feeling of tepid blood soaking through her clothes and squishing against her skin.
Her fingers clawed at the bloodied girl's cloak, finding the edges and tearing them back with more force than was strictly necessary. Underneath the cloak, the girl wore a simple shirt indicative of her probable status within the community; a commoner.
Yang tore it open as well, pushing the fabric aside before pressing her ear to the girl's chest.
What the hell am I doing? The thought tore through Yang's mind before she could stop it, and she ignored the few people still around who were staring at her as if she had grown an extra head.
Maybe she really is... dead...
Yang bit her bottom lip, closing her eyes. If only she could just-
There!
It was faint, but Yang was sure she'd heard a heartbeat. Faint, but there nonetheless.
"Her heart is still beating!" Yang exclaimed. Without waiting for a response from the surrounding people who had effectively fallen into bystander mode, Yang straightened up. Tearing off her overshirt with a haste she'd never known before, she carefully wrapped it around the knife protruding from the girl's stomach before gently sliding her arms underneath the girl.
With a bit of effort, Yang worked her way to her feet, the girl safely in her arms and supported under her knees and behind her neck.
"What's the quickest way to the infirmary? Is there one in Nova?" Yang spun in place, eyes wide as she examined the few people still present.
The old man who had spoken to her earlier thrust his hand out, pointing in a direction down the path the way she had been treading before she'd happened upon the poor girl.
Yang didn't have the presence of mind to spare them thanks. Instead, she swiftly turned on her heel and began moving as quickly as she could down the path. Glancing down at the cloaked girl in her arms, she was overcome by an alien sense of duty, a desire to see this girl live despite meaning nothing to her. It was a strange feeling that she couldn't quite place, one that seemed to make less sense the more she thought about it.
Pushing those thoughts to the edges of her mind as she strode swiftly down the pathway to Nova, she clutched the girl tighter to her chest and doubled her resolve as the girl's weight slowly began to take its toll on her arms.
Yang jostled the pale faced, raven haired girl in her arms, pulling her tighter to her chest before leaning back on her left leg, lifting her right leg into the air even as her body screamed at her to cease her exertions.
Pushing open the door to the clinic with her foot, Yang turned sideways to carefully navigate the girl's body through the doorway without further injuring her. The door slammed against the wall, causing two people inside to jump and turn at the noise.
"She needs help." Yang stated, her voice strong and commanding and surprising even herself with it's authoritative tone.
The two people, a male with closely cropped black hair, and a female with shoulder length red hair, seemed frozen in place for but a moment before springing into action. The man grabbed a rolling table from alongside the wall behind the front desk and slid it over to where a weary Yang stood, breathing heavily from her exertion.
"Lay her here on the gurney." His voice was soft, soothing, and inspired a sort of trust that Yang wouldn't have immediately held for anyone else.
Carefully Yang leaned forward over the wheeled stretcher, her lower back aching in protest as she did so. Wincing in pain, Yang gently laid the girl down on the clean white sheets.
Part of her was reluctant to release the girl, but she knew it was for the best. Ever so carefully adjusting the girl's legs into a more comfortable position upon the gurney, Yang hesitantly turned over the care of the strange girl to the clinic aides, biting her lip and crossing her arms under her chest as the red haired girl approached with a handful of items.
"What can you tell us about her? Her name? Age?" The redhead rattled off swiftly as began peeling back the girl's clothes around the wound, working swiftly yet expertly with a razor sharp knife.
Yang shook her head, shifting her weight from her left leg to the right, jutting her hip out.
"No idea. I... I found her like that."
The male paused in his work, looking up at Yang with a confused expression on his face. He opened his mouth as if to question her, then seemed to think better of it, shaking his head and dropping his gaze to the girl on the gurney.
"Let's get her into a clean room and try to remove the knife."
Yang tore her gaze away from the two aides to glance down at the girl laid out unconscious in front of her. Her skin was sickeningly pale, and Yang could barely spot any movement of her chest that would indicate breathing.
It was entirely likely, Yang realized, that this girl would die despite Yang's attempt to get her to help.
Yang reached out and gently touched the girl's forehead. Pushing back her hair to better reveal her face, a thousand thoughts flashed through her mind of who this girl might be, and of the life that she might have lived.
A life that might end tonight, despite everything she'd done.
Yang blinked as she felt tears spring unbidden to her eyes, and in an instant, the gurney was being wheeled away from her. In a few seconds, it had disappeared from her sight.
Uncertainty and trepidation washed over her now as she realized that her part was done. There was nothing else she could do, no amount of effort she could put in to influence the outcome and produce a favourable result.
Now she was stuck doing the one thing she hated most, waiting helplessly.
Yang sighed as the adrenaline began wearing off, the nervous energy fading and leaving behind nothing but sore, trembling muscles.
Turning around, she glanced around the small clinic, finding a waiting room of sorts tucked into the far corner.
Making a beeline for the closest empty chair, Yang fell into it with an ungraceful 'thump!', sighing deeply once more as she tilted her head back and closed her eyes. Exhaustion flooded her limbs, leaving them heavy and unresponsive. Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, her heart still hammering wildly in her chest from the difficult trek, she let the events play through her mind as she wondered if she could have done anything differently.
Her heartbeat calmed, her breathing slowed, and as thoughts of the mystery girl's well-being plagued her mind, she slowly drifted off into an uneasy sleep.
She awoke abruptly, pain erupting along her nerve endings and electrifying her senses. Eyes flying open as she gasped for air, the first thing she saw was an unfamiliar ceiling above her head.
"Weiss!" Her voice was hoarse, weak sounding when it reached her ears. Panic flooded through her, and her head whipped back and forth as she tried to make sense of where she was.
Nothing seemed familiar, and she couldn't figure out where she was. Wide golden eyes took in the stark white walls of the room she occupied, and as an unbearable pain tore through her abdomen, she tried to figure out how she got here.
What was the last thing she remembered?
Blake struggled to sit up as she reached down with a weak, trembling hand to grasp the edge of a blank white sheet that covered her waist. Peeling back the covers, she caught a glimpse of her abdomen, and froze.
It was wrapped in bandages.
Bandages that were soggy with dark red blood, drying at the edges into a flaky, mottled brown.
Cursing softly, Blake threw her head back as her strength failed her, and she fell back onto the bed.
The movement proved to be too much, however, and she ground her teeth together against a renewed wave of pain as recently stitched together flesh tore anew, hot blood spilling across her skin and soaking into the saturated bandages.
"Weiss... " She choked out a sob, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she squeezed them closed against the pain and rage writhing in the pits of her stomach.
Bits and pieces were starting to come back to her, and she felt an overwhelming furious shame burning in her chest as she realized that she had let Weiss get taken, by those bastard Winchesters, no less.
The pain in her stomach seemed to grow more fierce, and a grunt of pain escaped her. She reached down to press her palm against her stomach in a feeble attempt to stop the bleeding, but it was useless.
"Whoa, I leave for five minutes and you go and tear open your wound? What the hell?"
Blake's half demon ears pressed flat against her skull at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, burying themselves in her hair as a defense mechanism against both the onslaught of the loud voice as well as being found to be a half demon.
Her teeth creaked audibly, her fangs grinding together as she clenched her jaw closed against the pain. Cracking open one eye, she was met with the blurry image of a tall blonde woman standing on the right side of her bed.
"Who're you?" Blake asked, her voice guarded and low.
The girl shrugged, and Blake reached up with her blood-free hand to scrub at her eyes. Reopening them, she got a better look at the girl just as she opened her mouth to speak.
"I came across you on the path just north of Nova. Name's Yang. " The girl said conversationally, as if finding unconscious bodies were a regular occurrence.
"I didn't find you; that was a group of six or seven people. I just did what I could to help you."
"What did you do, exactly?" Blake reached up to rub at her face, her muddied mind somewhat thankful for the blonde distraction as it seemed to take her mind off the overwhelming pain.
Yang moved a bit closer, putting Blake on edge as every muscle in her body tensed up. Painfully.
Yang didn't notice as she reached out to pluck at the edges of the bandage around Blake's bare abdomen, increasing Blake's discomfort past her limit.
"Knock it off!" Blake hissed, reaching out and swatting at Yang's hand, her nails catching the edge of Yang's hand and lightly scratching her.
Yang jerked her hand away, eyes wide as she clutched her hand to her chest.
"Sorry." Yang said quietly, glancing down to look at the superficial scratches on the back of her left hand.
Blake glared at the girl, wincing as the torn flesh of her abdomen protested her movement.
"Where's W... " Blake trailed off, thinking for a moment. As Yang stared blankly at her, Blake tried again.
"Did you see my attacker? A large man dressed in black, possibly holding a silver-haired girl captive against her will?"
Yang shook her head immediately, and Blake sighed.
"Are you sure?" Blake asked.
Yang shrugged. "Something like that, I would have seen. I would've remembered. Sorry."
Blake was silent for a moment. She glanced down at her stomach, then looked back up at Yang.
"Are you a doctor here?"
Yang shook her head again. "Nope."
Blake lifted her left hand from her stomach, the blood that had seeped through the bandages staining her skin.
"I don't have any money." Blake warned. "Whatever you're hanging around for, some type of reward maybe, I don't have anything to give you."
Yang tilted her head to the side, a quizzical expression forming on her face as her pony-tailed hair tickled the back of her neck.
"A reward?"
Blake glanced up at Yang, her face set in a scowl and distrust clear upon her features.
"Why else would you be hanging around?"
Yang took a step closer to the bed in response, prompting Blake to tense up again, raising her hands in warning as she glared at Yang.
Yang smiled, raising her hands up non-threateningly.
"I'm not looking for a reward. I saw you hurt, and had to help. That's it. You're still not okay, so if you'd just relax, I can get you the help you need."
For what seemed like minutes they stared at each other, neither making the first move. It was only a matter of seconds, however, before a stab of pain made Blake rethink her approach to the strange blonde.
Slowly lowering her hands, Blake kept her gaze trained on the blonde as she slowly closed the remaining few steps between them.
"This might hurt a little, but it's for the best. You really shouldn't have moved around like that. You've probably undone a lot of work that the aides had done."
Blake said nothing as Yang reached out toward her stomach, gingerly peeling back the blood soaked bandages that limply clung to her skin.
"It's impressive that you're even alive." Yang said conversationally, biting her lip in sympathy as a bit of bandage tugged on a patch of ragged skin near the knife wound. Blake bit back a snarl of pain, instead choosing to clench her fists as tightly as she could, fighting the instinct to swing at the girl who was irritating her injury.
"Most people wouldn't survive such an injury."
Blake shrugged, unwilling to divulge any information about herself that wasn't completely necessary.
"Must've gotten lucky." She replied, reaching up to run her hand through her hair, surreptitiously making sure her half demon ears were well hidden.
Yang hummed appreciatively, a small smirk ghosting over her lips.
"Must've." She copied.
Blake sighed softly, deciding to ignore the girl in favour of leaning back and closing her eyes. Instantly she was assaulted with visions of Weiss.
Her heart ached with the absence of Weiss, a feeling of uncontrollable despair threatening to envelop her completely.
Why would the Winchesters do something like this?
Even as she asked herself the question, she knew that anyone with even the slightest bit of knowledge regarding the history of Nova would immediately know why.
Revenge.
Whether Weiss had been taken alive or not, Blake didn't know. But until she had seen Weiss' body with her own eyes, she wasn't going to give up hope. She would tread to the ends of the earth in search of her girlfriend, no matter what the odds.
Blake twitched uncontrollably as Yang tugged at her skin to remove the last stuck on bandage.
"Yeah, you've definitely torn the stitches out. It's gonna have to be redone." Yang clucked her tongue sympathetically. She looked at Blake, who had opened her eyes at the sound of Yang's voice.
Blake nodded wordlessly.
"Whatever it takes."
Yang smirked at her.
"I'll go get the doctor."
With that, the blonde disappeared as swiftly as she'd appeared, leaving Blake alone with her thoughts.
Blake tilted her head to look out the window to her right, a glare on the window keeping her sharp eyes from penetrating the inky blackness of the night.
Trapped here in this clinic with a debilitating injury, she knew she'd have plenty of time to think.
And right now, there was only one thing she could think of.
She needed to recover, and she needed to get out of here. Then she needed to find a sword.
Then she needed to find that bastard that had taken Weiss, and nearly taken her life.
She needed to make him pay, and vengeance would be her name.