Vengeance Is My Name
Chapter Five
The sun was moments away from rising when Blake awoke the next morning. The grey skies were dimly lit by scattered light from a sun not yet risen over the horizon, but that didn't stop Blake from awakening with an incessant feeling that the day was already slipping away.
Gripping the edge of her blanket, she slowly pulled it back as she sat up. A mighty yawn halted her movements and she paused to stretch out her limbs, mindful of the lingering pain in her abdomen.
It was much less now, but still a reason for concern. Infection was still possible at this stage, and Yang was concerned about too much movement irritating her stitches.
Speaking of Yang...
Blake pushed herself up off the bed and approached her door. Grabbing an oversized shirt, she pulled it on before padding bare foot and bare legged out into the hallway.
Yang had mentioned last night that she had secured a room at an inn for her short duration in Nova, but when she mentioned where she was staying, Blake had waved her off.
The inn was on the other side of town, and it had been late. Letting Yang walk home alone at that hour, barely aquainted with the steets would be a recipe for disaster. So Blake had offered Yang to stay the night. At first Blake had offered Yang her bed, but Yang insisted that the couch was no place for a recovering woman. The mere thought of trying to curl up on the couch for a full night's sleep had her wincing internally, and she agreed. Bringing down a large pile of spare blankets, Blake had attempted to make the couch as comfortable as possible for Yang.
Stepping into the living room, Blake paused a moment as she processed what she was seeing.
All of the blankets had wound up on the floor and the tall blonde had relegated herself to an... interesting sleeping position.
With her head and shoulders hanging off the foot of the couch, nearly touching the floor, her left leg was thrown up on the back of the couch, foot hooked around the edge to hold herself in place. Her right leg was propped up on the opposite arm, and her hands were stretched out above her head as if someone were attempting to rob her.
Despite knowing that the couch would have done her abdomen no favours, she felt a twinge of guilt at not trying a bit harder to get Yang to accept her bed. The girl was the taller of the two, afterall.
Padding over softly to the blonde, Blake bent down and gently tapped Yang's shoulder.
"Yang, get up." Blake whispered softly.
In return for her efforts, she received no response.
Trying again, she tapped the blonde a bit harder.
"Yang!" The whisper was louder this time, not enough to be jarring, but enough to rouse the girl from her sleep. Yang squeezed her eyes closed for a moment, before opening them slowly. Blake watched in mild amusement as the blonde looked all about the room, no doubt slightly perplexed by her inverted view of the world, before they settled squarely on Blake.
Blake stared back, one eyebrow rising curiously.
"Morning Blake!" Yang greeted, far too chipper for having just woken up. Blake rolled her eyes and straightened up, sighing.
"Morning Yang."
Yang stretched languidly, yawning mightily as she let herself slide off the couch onto the floor. From there she reached out over her head, making a grab at Blake's ankles.
Stepping back out of reach, Blake had to curb the strong initial reaction to kick at Yang's hands.
"What. Are you doing?"
Yang pulled her legs up, then pushed herself along the floor in Blake's direction, reaching out and making grabbing motions at Blake's ankles.
Sighing in exasperation, Blake turned on her heel and headed toward the kitchen.
"You wouldn't know what to do with me even if you caught me." Blake said, dismissively. "Now come on, I'll make breakfast this time."
Yang laughed, rolling over onto her stomach and pushing herself up onto her feet.
"What's for breakfast?" Yang asked, reaching up to run her fingers through her wild mane of messy golden hair.
Blake glanced over her shoulder at the girl trailing at her heels.
"What do you want?"
Yang shrugged. "I'm not picky."
Blake sauntered over to the cupboards above her sink and pulled them open.
"How about-" Blake paused when she realized that aside from the food Yang bought last night, her cupboards were empty.
Yang leaned against the counter, a smirk forming on her face.
"How about we go out somewhere to eat?" Yang asked.
Blake slowly closed her cupboards, nodding as she turned around.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea. Let me just go put on some real clothes."
Blake watched with a sort of morbid fascination as Yang shoveled dish after dish of pancakes and fruit into her mouth, seemingly no end to her appetite. The blonde had jumped at the opportunity to take advantage of the endless pancakes for ten copper pieces special, and while Blake had long ago folded after merely three, Yang was showing no signs of stopping.
"Where... where are you putting it all?" Blake's voice was a mixture of amazement and disgust, her nose crinkling up ever so cutely.
Yang set her fork down and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, leaning back in her seat as she regarded Blake with sharp lilac eyes. She contemplated her response as she slowly chewed for a moment, savouring the taste of fresh strawberries.
"Well Blake, " Yang began, "There are some things in life you need to take advantage of. All-you-can-eats are one of them."
Blake hummed softly as she ran her finger around the edge of her empty plate.
"And the others?"
Yang half shrugged, her left shoulder lazily rising and falling.
"Men buying you drinks in the taverns. I'll take advantage of that for as long as I can!"
"I see."
Yang nodded as she reached for her cup of water, her blonde hair falling over her left shoulder in a cascade of gold.
"So, when do we leave to go get your friend back?" Yang asked, raising the cup to her lips and taking a drink.
"We?" Taken by surprise, her response was a bit sharp. "There is no 'we'. What made you think there was a 'we'?"
Yang shrugged once more, clearly not perturbed by Blake's response.
"Well, I mean, I am on a journey across the country. I've lingered here far longer than I'd have liked to, and I don't think what I'm looking for resides in this town. Epica is my next stop, and logistically, it should be yours as well. Unless you're barring me from sharing the road with you, it only makes sense that we would travel together for as long as we need to to get where we're going."
Blake was silent for a moment, a worried expression crossing her features as she bit her bottom lip.
"I don't know... " Blake hesitated.
"Why not?" Yang asked, clearly confused. "Give me one good reason why we shouldn't travel together."
Blake looked up from the table to meet Yang's stare, her golden eyes darkened with some unnamed emotion.
"What I'm doing, where I'm going, it's... dangerous, Yang. Needlessly dangerous, and it doesn't make any sense for you to get mixed up in it."
Yang laughed, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms under her chest.
"Me travelling alone is needlessly dangerous, if you think about it. You, as well, probably moreso since it appears you have a target on your back. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone to trade night watch with?"
Blake regarded her with distrusting eyes, unsure of what to do.
"What reason would you give me as to why I should agree? Why do you even want to?"
Yang reached up to twirl a lock of hair around her finger, eyes roaming all over the diner as she contemplated her answer.
"I can't really give you an answer other than that I think it just makes sense, and... and that I want to. It'll be much more exciting than travelling alone, at the very least." Yang forced herself to stop looking anywhere but at Blake, locking her eyes onto twin pools of fiery gold.
"At least think about it? Consider it as an option?"
Blake broke their staring contest, unable to maintain eye contact any longer. Her gaze dropped to her plate as the gears in her head turned.
"I'll consider it, but only if you can provide me with a truly compelling reason." Blake said softly. "Otherwise, I cannot justify endangering you, especially given what you've done for me so far."
A wide grin slowly spread across Yang's face, and she nodded slowly. "Consider it done! Before the end of the day, you'll have one kickass, irrefutable reason as to why I'll make the best travel partner you've ever had!"
Blake felt a wave of uneasiness slash through her stomach, a discomfort that had nothing to do with her slowly healing knife wound.
"I'm sure you will." She replied slowly.
Yang tilted her head to the side as she picked up on Blake's discomfort, surveying her quietly for a moment. When she spoke, it was to change the subject.
"So what's on the agenda today?"
Blake regarded her empty plate with somber eyes, idly tracing the gilded edges.
"I have to go into work. Sun will be there. I need to let him know that... "
Yang opened her mouth as Blake trailed off, a question forming in her throat, but she paused when she saw Blake swallow thickly.
"I need to let him know that I won't be coming back."
Yang inhaled slowly through her nose, her jubilant personality inherently at odds with Blake's serious demeanor. Exhaling quietly, Yang raised an eyebrow.
"Well?" She asked cheerfully, attempting to bring some color to Blake's mood. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Blake rose gracefully from her seat, needing no more encouragement than that. Yang slapped both palms down on the table, pushing herself up with more force than strictly necessary. The table, which wasn't affixed to the floor, rocked dangerously, sending their empty plates and glasses skittering perilously close to the edge. One empty glass careened off the edge, and Yang's eyes widened as she watched it fall in slow motion.
"Oh sh-!" Yang made a grab for a glass, nearly slipping in the process, and missed. Blake spotted the glass tumbling toward the ground and before she could reign herself in, her hand shot out and snagged the glass mid tumble.
"Damn." Yang eyed the glass with ill-concealed incredulity. "Nice catch, Blake!"
Blake glared at her, slamming the glass down on the table with a bit more force than strictly necessary.
"Try to restrain yourself." Blake said sharply. Her words, however, did not have the desired effect as Yang merely grinned mightily at her, producing a double thumbs up as they began walking toward the front door.
"I can be restrained no easier than the sun can be made to stop shining, Blake!"
Blake's eyes narrowed, her eyebrows creasing as a light frown dimpled her cheeks.
"Something wrong?" Yang asked, her voice shifting to one of mild concern.
Blake closed her eyes and shook her head.
"Yang, you and I, we're two very different people. The thought of travelling with you makes me feel physically ill."
Yang jostled a bunch of coins in her hand, a sudden excess of energy making her fidgety.
"That's awfully insulting." Yang replied, mock hurt filling her voice.
"Whatever." Blake glanced at Yang as the girl deposited a slew of copper and silver pieces upon the front desk. "What are- Yang, you've done enough, you can't pay for my breakfast as well!"
Blake glared at the taller girl as Yang bared her teeth in a playful grin- an expression that Blake had a feeling was more a default expression than anything else.
"Too late. Let's get out of here, we have things to do!" Grabbing Blake's hand, Yang didn't bother waiting for a reply from the raven haired girl before dragging her out of the diner and into the morning sunlight.
Biting back a growl of frustration at being manhandled, Blake had to take a deep breath to calm herself as she told herself that Yang was just being... Yang. Pushing down the growing anxiety forming in her stomach at the thought of the adventure that lay ahead of her, she tried to enjoy the next little while that she'd be spending with this golden haired enigma. If not for herself, then at least for Yang.
The walk was spent in relative silence, Blake having pulled her hand out of Yang's grip almost immediately. The unnecessary contact left her feeling awkward and uncomfortable, and Yang seemed to have picked up on it. She left a fair amount of space between them as they walked, a space Blake was grateful for as she tried to process what was happening.
The last week had been a blur, for more reasons than one. She couldn't recall much about the attack she had suffered, and couldn't remember seeing her attacker actually make off with Weiss. So that meant Weiss had either fled and escaped, or she had been picked up and taken out of Blake's fading sight.
Now that she'd had some time to think clearly, unencumbered by pain, she realized that the first place she should look would be Weiss' palace. If she'd made it out in one piece, she might be simply hiding within the protection of her kingdom. It would explain why Blake hadn't heard nor seen her since the attack. If Weiss was well and truly gone, there was a small chance that the Schnee kingdom didn't know, or at least, didn't have any solid leads. Blake figured that she wasn't expected to have survived the attack, so knowing that the Winchesters were behind it was privileged information.
Blake's head was spinning with the endless possibilities of what had happened, but dwelling on the more dire ones only made her feel sick. She refused to believe that anything bad had happened to Weiss, and she promised herself over and over that she wouldn't stop looking for her girlfriend until she'd seen a body with her own eyes.
She owed at least that much to her.
Searching for Weiss at her palace presented Blake with two possibilities. First, she was in no condition to be climbing stone exteriors and vaulting her way undetected into bedroom windows. This made covertly checking on Weiss neigh on impossible.
Second, a commoner like herself waltzing into the great hall and requesting a meeting with the Schnee patriarch would more likely be met with spears and swords than acquiescence. They would have no reason to believe that Weiss was out gallivanting with a half demon and had been set upon by the Winchesters. If anything, Blake herself would be the first suspect, with ransom no doubt being the first thing to come to their minds.
No, that was definitely not the solution to this problem.
"You know, if you think any harder over there, I'm pretty sure you'll explode."
Blake raised her head, a questioning sound tickling the back of her throat as she glanced up at Yang.
Yang was staring down at her, concern written loosely across her features.
"I know you're worried about your friend, but you're gonna give yourself brain damage thinking that hard."
Blake sighed softly, her furrowed brow relaxing slightly.
"I'm having a problem trying to figure out what my next move should be." Blake reluctantly admitted, reaching up to rake her fingers through her hair. Discreetly, she made sure that her ears were still well concealed by her voluminous silky raven hair.
"Do you have any ideas at all?"
Blake shrugged. "A few, but none of them are any good." She admitted.
Yang snorted, earning a raised eyebrow and a confused look from Blake.
"Your friend disappeared to who-knows-where, and with nearly a week of travel between you and her, she could be hundreds of kilometers away in any direction. Further, if she was taken aboard a vessel. Not having a good idea is about right, I would say."
Blake sighed dejectedly, her shoulders drooping. "And here I thought you were gonna offer some helpful advice."
Yang grinned reaching out and clapping Blake on the shoulder.
"I don't need to. You might not know what action to take, but you're doing what you can. That in itself is admirable."
Despite the praise, Blake felt a well of uncertainty spring up in the pits of her stomach. Gently leaning to the right, she coaxed Yang's hand from her shoulder. Yang obliged, letting her hand fall back to her side as Blake shied ever so slightly away from her.
"Well, " Yang said, coming to a stop and pointing her thumb at the bookstore. "This is it."
Blake nodded. Without hesitation, she pushed her way inside, feeling Yang close on her heels.
"Welcome to - oh, hey Blake! Glad you're feeling better! Hey blondie." Sun greeted the duo as they stepped into the dark, cool store.
Yang waved, but said nothing. Blake stepped up to the counter, Yang stopping a few feet away. Turning her back to the pair, she idly scanned a row of books upon a shelf as she tried not to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Sun, I'll be going away for a while."
Yang furtively glanced over her shoulder under the guise of turning to the right to scan for more books. Sun's bushy yellow monkey tail waved nonchalantly as the boy carefully stacked up a set of new leather bound books.
"For sure! How long? A week? Two weeks? You're gonna need time to recover, right?"
Blake held up a hand, urging silence. If she didn't, his questions would never end.
"I'll be going away for a long time. And possibly not making it back."
"Huh? What d'you mean?" Yang could hear the confusion in his voice, but having turned back to the shelf, she could only speculate as to what his face looked like right now. Yang had only interacted with him a few times, but he seemed like an expressive character.
"I don't know if you heard, but Weiss went missing in the attack. I have to go find her. I have one lead, and it's leading me right into a fight I don't think I can win."
"Missing? Blake, how long have you been out of it? Weiss isn't missing."
"What!?"
At that, all thoughts of privacy disappeared. Yang replaced the book she was thumbing through and turned around, stepping up to Blake's side. She eyed the demon curiously, but he ignored her.
"Where is she?" Blake demanded, slamming her hand down on the counter. Sun raised an eyebrow in surprise, holding his hands up defensively.
"See for yourself." He said. Reaching under the desk, he withdrew a flyer. Yang had seen several of them around, mostly posted on public boards in the town square, a place that seemed to be an information hub for the town.
Turning the flyer around so that it faced the girls, Sun placed it on the counter and slid it toward them. Leaning back, he crossed his arms over his chest as he surveyed the girls closely.
"It was delivered this morning. I just hadn't gotten around to posting it in the window yet."
Blake looked down at the flyer, her narrowed golden eyes widening in horror as she read the words that were finely scribed upon the thick paper.
"We are overjoyed to announce the marriage of Cardin Winchester and Weiss Schnee!"
Underneath that, elaborately drawn house symbols took up a large portion of the flyer.
Blake looked further down, and saw a date and time as well as a location.
"Blake... that's in a month. And it's in Citadel. That's Winchester territory. That's their kingdom."
Blake was silent, wide golden eyes sweeping back and forth as if she couldn't believe what she was reading.
"No." Blake whispered, pushing the flyer away.
"No. No!" Blake growled, looking up to Yang. Blake's face was devoid of color, as if she'd been terrorized to within an inch of her life.
"Blake-"
"There's no way it's by choice!" Blake interrupted. Sun raised his hands in an attempt to placate her, but it was useless as Blake whirled on him, slamming both palms down onto the table.
"Blake, chill!"
"I don't accept it! There's no way she would do this! It doesn't make sense!"
Sun sighed, grateful that there were no customers yet in the store.
"Blake, wreaking havoc in my store won't fix this. I'm gonna need you to relax, or I'll have to forcefully restrain you myself."
Blake glared at him, her jaw clenching as she tried to force herself to calm down.
"Hey, at least she's alive." Yang spoke up, attempting to help.
Blake clenched her hands into fists, knowing that getting worked up wouldn't help anything at this moment. However, it was difficult to quell the burning anger coursing through her veins, and she couldn't help but wonder who she had angered to receive such divine punishment.
"I need to stop this." Blake said curtly, reaching out and grabbing the flyer. She picked it up and looked down at it once more, searing the date and time into her mind. Lip curling in disgust at the sight of the Winchester house symbol, she crumpled the paper in her fist.
"Hey!" Sun snatched it from her hand, carefully unfurling it and laying it flat on the table in front of Blake.
"I have to hang that in the window." He grumbled, slowly smoothing out the creases in the paper with measured strokes of his thumb.
"How are you possibly going to do that?" Yang asked, referring to Blake's declaration.
Blake ignored her, surveying Sun for a moment.
"Sun, I need a loan."
Sun scoffed, turning the paper over to bend out a crease.
"You came in here and told me you were going away and might not come back. Why in the world would I loan you a sum of money?"
Blake sighed, reaching up to rub at her forehead.
"Sun, I'm serious. This is important. I need to buy a sword, and I need to go get my girlfriend back."
At that, Sun burst into laughter. Raucous laughter that filled the store, echoing off the walls as Sun slapped at the table with his open palm.
"Something funny?" Blake growled between clenched teeth.
"You-" Sun paused to catch his breath, wiping unshed tears from his eyes as another bout of laughter immobilized him for a moment. When he regained himself, he focused his gaze on Blake, snickers lifting the corners of his lips.
"You want to take on the entire Winchester army and disrupt a royal wedding- with a single sword?"
At that, he began laughing again, unable to contain himself.
"Sorry Blake, but the idea is ridiculous!"
"I have to try!" Blake yelled, catching both Yang and Sun off guard. Sun quieted, realizing that Blake was serious.
"Blake... " Sun began, unsure of what to say.
"Blake, what you're proposing is a suicide mission. You may be willing to die for your little girlfriend there, but what good does that do my loan? Any quality sword is going to be more expensive than I can afford to give away. I just can't do it. I'm sorry."
Blake could hear the sincerity in his voice, but it was of little comfort as she lowered her gaze to the counter, fighting back tears.
"What am I supposed to do, then?" She asked, her anger leaving her as swiftly as it had arrived. "Just... give up?" Her voice was pitiful, as the familiar feeling of despair began to creep in, festering in the place where anger had resided only moments ago.
"Blake... I don't know what to tell you." Sun said softly.
"Weiss would never agree to this. I believe that. Whatever this is, it's not by her hand. Her father must have arranged it. She often spoke of arranged marriages, alliances between other powers that would further their standing. That's what this is. I know Weiss doesn't want this, but she might not feel like she has any other choice. If the last she saw of me was bleeding out on the ground, then she rightfully believes me dead. I'm going to go show her she has a choice. I'm going to go get Weiss back, no matter what it costs."
"It's going to cost you your damn life, you fool." Sun said dismissively.
Blake raised her head to glare at him defiantly. "I told Weiss I would do whatever it took for us to be together." She raised her hand to her face, angrily scrubbing away tears.
"I know that she never believed me because I never had the chance to prove it. Well, now I do. Now there's something I can do to prove how much I love her. I'm not backing down now."
Sun sighed, clicking his tongue as his tail twitched agitatedly behind him.
"Whatever. Look, I'll give you a thousand silver pieces. It's not enough to buy a weapon, but you're gonna need more than a weapon to get anywhere on this suicide run. Hopefully it helps."
Sun bent down and disappeared behind the counter, his twitching tail the only thing visible as he rooted around in a lower drawer. After a moment, he popped up. He was holding a small leather bag, and it rattled heavily with the sound of many coins.
"Thanks, Sun." Blake said, reaching out for the bag. Her fingertips brushed the leather, but Sun jerked it back, out of her reach.
"I know this is useless, but please, Blake. Don't die. It's not about the money. Your story wasn't meant to end like this. I urge you to rethink what you're doing. I'll always have a place for you here."
Blake hesitated, then nodded.
"I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do something to try and get her back, Sun." She said quietly, accepting the bag of coins. "Either way, I'll be dead."
Sun sighed quietly. He glanced at Yang, and saw her staring intently at Blake. Blake was staring at the bag in her hands, no doubt wondering how she would come up with the rest of the money for a weapon.
The silence seemed to stretch on for a while, each alone with their thoughts, before Yang began pulling at her clothes like they'd been set alight.
Startled, Blake and Sun turned toward Yang as she pulled off her worn leather jacket, carefully setting it aside. Next, she lifted off her sleeveless thin leather chest protector.
"Yang, er, what are you doing?" Blake asked, puzzled. "I don't think stripping is the way to get more money for weapons. At least, not in this dead bookstore."
"Hey!" Sun protested.
"I'm not stripping." Yang said, pulling a thin cotton sleeveless shirt over her head. Her hair was disheveled, but she ignored it. She only had one more shirt on, and it clung tightly to her chest. Grabbing the hem of it, she lifted it up before either Blake or Sun could look away. Thankfully, her chest was compression wrapped, and all they caught sight of was white bandaging. Just below her breasts, however, was a thin black strip of leather. Wrapped securely by the leather were four solid silver bars, pressed tightly to her skin. From the other side of the counter, Sun hummed, clearly impressed.
Yang carefully worked a bar loose, about five inches long, two inches wide, and a quarter of an inch thick.
She wiped a thumb over the face of the bar, feeling the indentation of the maker's mark. Glancing up at Blake, she hesitated just a moment before holding the bar out to Blake.
"You needed me to give you a good reason as to why you should let me travel with you, right?" Yang asked. "I've got one hell of a convincing reason right here."
Blake's eyes fell to the ingot, hesitation and desire warring inside her head.
"Yang, that's too much... I can't afford to ever pay that back."
Yang shrugged. "I'm not worried about getting paid back. What I'm worried about is you. Let me go with you. You can't do it alone."
Blake looked up at Yang, hesitant, distrusting gold meeting pure, innocent lilac. Yang tilted her head to the side and smiled softly.
"Please. If you won't do it for yourself, then do it for Weiss. She needs you."
Images of Weiss cascaded through Blake's mind, and her heart ached painfully at the thought of how much she missed her girlfriend.
"Okay, " Blake nodded as she reached out to accept the silver bar from Yang. One side of it was warm where it had been pressed up against Yang's skin, and the other side was cold. Scratching her thumb nail over the stamped maker's mark, she marveled over the feel of pure solid silver.
"Let's go get Weiss back."