Vengeance Is My Name
Chapter Fifteen
Yang was pissed off.
She stomped through the forest a bit louder than was probably necessary, but she didn't care. She'd been walking for two days, periodically checking to make sure she was still heading north, and she'd seen neither hide nor hair of Blake all this time.
It would have been obvious if she stumbled across Blake camping out and taking a break to get food or sleep. There was a main trading route that cut through the thick foilage and dense grouping of trees, and she had kept her eye out for lesser travelled paths that split off from the main route, sure that if she found one, Blake might be hiding out down it.
She'd found nothing.
It was almost like the girl had up and vanished into thin air.
Yang had spent whatever energy she could running. Or at least, briskly walking. She figured that when she left that morning, Blake only had a few hours lead on her. So assuming Blake was going slow and steady, taking regular food and sleep breaks, there was no reason that Yang wouldn't have caught up to her by now.
Yang was worried. This behaviour wasn't typical for Blake, as limited as her knowledge was of the girl. Something had obviously gotten to her, convincing her that getting up and abandoning her partner was a good idea.
Yang worried about Blake's wounds. There was no way that Blake could accurately tend to her own wounds. Much less so the one on her head. She couldn't even look at it, how was she supposed to clean it and restitch any of it if it got torn?
There was a good chance that Blake could lose her ear if the cut got infected.
Yang felt her stomach twist painfully at the thought, and she put it out of her mind lest it drive her insane.
It wouldn't be long now, she assured herself silently as the soles of her boots scuffed across the worn dirt path.
It couldn't be long, now. Yang had no choice but to find Blake.
Blake needed her.
... Didn't she?
Yang swallowed dryly.
Blake didn't need her, Yang conceded.
But having Yang at her side would have been a damn good idea. They both knew it, too. Had agreed on it, even.
Her stomach twisted again, but this time it had nothing to do with fear and trepidation. She was hungry, and her body was begging her for a moment of rest.
Yang was torn, her mind filled with conflicting thoughts.
She knew it was a good idea to stop, to rest. Not for long, but long enough to catch her breath, rest her weary muscles, gather her thoughts, and find a bite to eat.
She didn't want to stop. Yet, she knew she should.
If she got too fatigued and fell victim to an illness, she would be delayed countless days, and that wasn't a thought she was willing to entertain.
Deciding to play it safe rather than sorry, Yang unshouldered her bag, dropping it listlessly to the dirt.
Falling gracelessly onto her behind, she savagely tore into her kit, still royally pissed off at Blake. Digging through for something to eat, she was certain that her actions of the last few days have been fueled by nothing but dissatisfaction and disappointment in Blake, and, if she was being honest, herself.
"If that cut up alley cat thinks she can ditch me, she's got something else coming to her." Yang grumbled loudly to herself, reaching up to push her dirty, tangled mess of blonde hair out of her face.
Gods, she needed a bath.
One thing she had noticed, Yang thought, was that Blake was as thorough as she could be when it came to cleanliness. Blake was always looking for somewhere to stop and bathe.
Yang faintly remembered a conversation way back when Blake was holed up in the clinic. Blake glossed over the details of her life, but from what Yang had gathered, Blake had spent her childhood roaming the streets of Nova.
At first Yang had assumed that meant that Blake was used to filth and disarray, but now, having seen Blake's meticulous hygiene firsthand, it made sense. It was understandable that Blake would do whatever she could to avoid the painful memories of her childhood, even if it was as simple as keeping herself clean.
There was no way Blake went two days without bathing. Yang had passed three suitable bodies of water that had tempted her to take a dip and cool off, so there was no way Blake hadn't been delayed by at least one of those spots for an hour or so.
"Ugh! Where the hell are you, Blake!?" Yang yelled to the empty skies, frustration building inside her with no outlet for release.
There were only a handful of times that Yang had doubts about what she was doing and where she was going.
Not once had those doubts occured while she was fighting for her life. Granted, she wasn't very good at it, but swinging a sword with Blake at her side, knowing her life hinged on the outcome... nothing had made her feel more alive.
Now that she was here without Blake, she began to doubt that what she was doing was right. Blake obviously didn't want her to follow along; she'd said as much many times. Each time, Yang had been able to talk her down, convince her that it was a good idea.
Travelling through this empty forest alone, with no idea where Blake might be, if she was okay, or if she was getting herself into trouble... nothing had ever made her feel so empty and meaningless.
After two days, Yang's anger was beginning to fade to depression and exhaustion. Taking a slow bite of some cured meat, she silently resented the dry food that seemed so tasteless in the absence of Blake.
"Stupid girl... " Yang muttered.
Yang, at some point, had accepted the possibility that this might have been her fault. She knew Blake had a girlfriend that she loved very much, and yet Yang was still stupid enough to fall for the raven-haired beauty. Maybe she hadn't hid those feelings as well as she should have?
No, that's stupid. Yang thought. She had never made a move or done anything she could think of that would have made Blake uncomfortable. As for that night, Blake had asked her to stay and cuddle.
Yang slammed her fist into the dirt at that thought, embarrassment burning her cheeks as she remembered it.
It was wrong. She knew it.
But it was wrong because it meant something different to her than it did to Blake.
To Blake, Yang was sure that it was just friendly comfort.
To Yang, it was something much more.
At least, she wanted it to mean something more.
Yang had to accept that it hadn't meant anything at all.
Yang was chasing something she could never catch, and nothing illustrated that point more clearly than her present situation.
"So the half-demon left you, eh?"
A spike of adrenaline shot through Yang, her heart nearly leaping out of her chest at the sound of a voice coming from the treeline. Instantly jumping into action, Yang leapt to her feet and drew her sword.
"Who's there?" Yang snarled, spinning in place as she tried to figure out which direction she'd heard the voice from.
"I am."
Yang paused as the voice reached her ears for a second time, and this time it sounded somewhat familiar.
Consternation filled her gut as a slew of faces flitted through her mind, red filling her vision.
Who was it? Yang thought. Her lilac eyes examined the brush around her, trying to pick out any hint of her attacker.
Suddenly the blurry picture in her mind coalesced into a solid form, and Yang swallowed dryly, fear pricking her nerves.
"Pyrrha." Yang stated.
"Correct." The warrior seemed to materialize from the forest, looming into view as she pushed aside a large bush to stand in the same clearing as Yang. The girl was clad in roughly the same outfit she was in the last time Yang had seen her, the standard Rose Army attire.
Pyrrha looked relaxed, almost serene. It did not do Yang's nerves any favors.
"Can you guess what I'm here for?" Pyrrha asked calmly, raising her empty hands in a harmless gesture that made Yang's hair stand on end.
"My life." Yang answered grimly, tightening her grip on her sword.
Pyrrha tilted her head to the side, as if considering her words.
"There's a very good chance I'll be taking your life today." She said conversationally, nodding as her ponytail bounced energetically behind her.
Yang grimaced.
"There's one other thing I'll be taking for certain, however."
Yang raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?" She asked, "And what's that?"
Pyrrha's eyes lowered pointedly, and she unclasped her hands from in front of her waist to point toward Yang.
"My sword."
Yang glanced down at the sword in her hand, and she immediately remembered where she'd procured it from.
Her hand tightened on the sword grip, the leather creaking audibly beneath her hand.
"You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands." Yang growled threateningly.
Pyrrha smiled calmly, the very picture of self-confidence.
"Oh, don't worry, that won't be a problem."
This girl's confidence was beginning to piss Yang off. Her anger at Blake's disappearance, combined with the seriousness of her current situation served to push her over the edge. This was wasting valuable time, and Blake was currently slipping ever further away...
That was the thought that made her snap. The thought that the distance between her and Blake was increasing with every moment she stood here pushed her past her breaking point, and she threw herself at the cocky girl, swinging her sword with all her might as she let loose a furious roar.
Pyrrha was quick to react, stepping back just out of reach of the sword. Pyrrha appeared to be unarmed, but that didn't mean Yang was about to go easy on her. Instead, she pressed the attack, swingly wildly left and right in an attempt to keep the pressure on her and keep her from finding or procuring a weapon.
Still, the frustratingly lithe girl evaded every strike.
Yang knew she had the advantage right now, however, as with each swing, Pyrrha took yet another step backward.
It didn't take long for Pyrrha's foot to catch a rock, and she stumbled, almost falling to her knees as she fought to regain her balance.
Now! Yang thought, lunging forward. Swinging her sword down from an overhead position, Yang thought for sure it would be a lethal strike as Pyrrha reached out with her left hand to deflect the blow.
A loud clash reached Yang's ears and the sword vibrated violently in her hands, nearly shaking it from her grip. Yang ground her teeth together in an attempt to suppress the pain as she realized that Pyrrha had blocked the blow with a metal bracer that adorned her forearm.
Worse still, the backside of the bracer was lined in rows upon rows of teeth, pointing up and outward at roughtly 35 degree angles.
"Fucking hell... " Yang growled. She tried to give her sword a tug to free it from it's toothed resting place, but it appeared jammed from the force of her strike.
Pyrrha grinned, and gave her left arm a hefty tug. Yang, not willing to relinquish her grasp on the sword handle, held on steadfast and was nearly pulled off her feet as she stumbled toward Pyrrha.
"Give it up, Yang. You're nowhere ready to take me on face to face, and I don't see any rocks around."
Yang ignored the barb, and dug her feet into the ground, desperate to find solid footing and a way to pull her sword free from Pyrrha's bracer. Pyrrha, however, seemed unbothered by the scuffling, keeping her balance easily as she allowed Yang to tire herself out with the constant fighting.
Yang leaned back, growling furiously as she gave a mighty heave on her sword, and to her surprise Pyrrha didn't resist. Rather, Yang found herself stumbling backward as Pyrrha lunged forward, offering no opposition to Yang and sending the poor girl sprawling on her back in the dirt.
Pyrrha landed on top of her, the sword breaking free of her bracer and skidding through the dirt not too far out of reach. She ignored it, however, in favor of drawing a small dagger from her hip.
Yang's eyes widened in fear as she saw the blade, and she raised both hands up in a futile attempt to block Pyrrha.
With no hesitation, Pyrrha drove the blade down through Yang's left palm, wincing as a piercing scream filled her ears and echoed off the trees. Warm blood splashed up onto Pyrrha's hand, but she ignored it in favor of watching Yang writhe in agony.
A rough tug had the blade free from Yang's palm, and as Yang retracted her hand to cradle it against her chest, Pyrrha slammed the blade down with all of her might into Yang's left shoulder.
This time when Pyrrha tried to pull the knife free, the blood soaked handle slipped from her grasp, leaving it embedded in Yang's shoulder. Pyrrha glanced over at her sword laying in the dirt, and with a look of disdain at Yang, pushed herself off the blonde and strode over to her sword. Picking it up off the ground, she turned her back to Yang and took her time inspecting her weapon, making her contempt for Yang known without uttering a word.
Yang couldn't hold back her wretched sobs of pain and fear, blood seeping out of her wounds to drown everything in crimson. It was hot and sticky, and the barest hints of metallic tang pervaded her nostrils and teased her tongue.
When Pyrrha finally spun around in a lazy, unhurried circle, it was to level her sword at Yang's supine body.
"This only ends in one of two ways." The girl said, ignoring Yang's shuddering breaths and grunts of pain.
"Option one, I kill you. Your pathetic life ends here, in this forest. I'll hunt down your partner, and she'll meet the same fate. Maybe worse, for what she did to Jaune."
Pyrrha's jaw tightened, as if she were considering for a moment making that the only option. After a brief pause, she spoke again.
"Option two... you pledge your life in servitude to the Rose Army. We'll train you, feed you, clothe you, and arm you. You'll fight and kill as we order, and if you're lucky, you'll die a glorious death on the battlefield in service of the Rose Commander. Instead of... well... " Pyrrha gestured at Yang, "Like this."
Yang briefly considered the two options as the pain cleared just enough to let her think, the agony settling into a rather manageable dull roar.
"If I choose option two... " Yang's jaw clenched, and she took a few shallow breaths through her teeth. "If I choose option two, what of Blake?"
"I'll find her. I can't promise very many things in this world, but I promise that I will find her. I will fight her to the death, or until she surrenders. If she dies, it will be an honourable death. If she surrenders, I'll give her the same two options I gave you."
Yang opened her mouth to speak, when a commotion from the forest drew their attention. Both Yang and Pyrrha glanced toward the trees where Pyrrha had first emerged, only to see a figure appear from the treeline.
"Well, well, Pyrrha, look who I found stalking us in the forest!" The man spoke smugly, roughly shoving a raven-haired girl to the ground. She grunted as she hit the ground hard, no way to break her fall as her hands were bound behind her back.
"No... " Yang's eyes widened in disbelief as Blake sprawled in the dirt face first beside her, head bowed and hair hiding her face.
"Blake!" Yang could barely believe her eyes. Beside her, Blake slowly raised her head, hair falling to the side as she looked up guiltily at Yang.
"Blake, are you okay? What the hell happened!?" Yang's tone was frantic, and as she looked over Blake, she could feel herself being worked into a panic. As Blake stared wordlessly at her, a foreign, pleading expression on her face, Yang could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate.
"I'm... so sorry." Blake choked out, squeezing her eyes closed as tears began trailing down her cheeks.
"Blake, what do you-"
"I never meant for this to happen!" Blake interrupted her, a distraught fearful expression slowly contorting her face into an unrecognizeable mask of regret.
Yang blinked slowly, trying to piece together what Blake was attempting to say.
"What do you mean?"
Blake shook her head, unable to look at Yang.
"This... This wasn't how it was supposed to end." Blake muttered pitifully. "Not like this."
A cold fear gripped Yang's heart, and she could do nothing but stare at Blake as the harsh reality of defeat began to set in.
This was it.
This was the end of their heroic journey to rescue Weiss.
Yang tore her gaze away from Blake to stare up at the sky.
Honestly, she didn't know what she had been expecting. Blake had warned her that there was a good chance it would end badly. Blake had repeatedly told her to leave while she still could.
And yet, Yang had stayed. She'd stayed, and now she was facing either death, or what amounted to slavery.
Yang would have laughed if she wasn't already about to cry.
Why?
What was the point of it all?
Why had she stayed? Out of some misguided attempt to 'do the right thing'? Because she had developed a crush on this girl?
Yang felt like kicking herself.
What a stupid fucking reason to risk your life. Yang thought bitterly. All for a crush on a girl who has a fucking girlfriend!
Yang felt like screaming. Not at her captors, not at Blake, but at herself. So many poor decisions had lead her to this moment, and the only thing she could think of, the only thought playing through her head on repeat, is that when she looked at Blake, she knew she'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Idiot.
"Time's up!" Pyrrha approached the two on the ground, sword held loosely in her grip.
"Do you want to give up? I'm not cruel. I'll make your death quick and painless." Pyrrha hefted her sword, twisting it around in her wrist comfortably, handling the weighty object as if it were a feather.
"Or would you like this chance to start over, stand for something greater, and become a warrior you can be proud of?"
Yang glanced at Blake, who looked away, shame burning clearly in her amber eyes. Yang looked away, and looked back to Pyrrha, who was spinning her sword around lazily, her skill and dexterity in handling a sword far outstripping Yang's own.
"I... " Yang tried out her voice, hating the way it wavered. "I choose to live."
"Wise choice." The man beside Pyrrha spoke, crossing his arms over his chest and flicking his dark grey hair back out of his face.
"What will it be, half-breed?" Pyrrha turned to Blake, who turned empty, emotionless eyes on Yang.
Yang turned her head to look at Blake, ignoring the way her hand was painfully cramping and her shoulder ached in favour of smiling weakly at Blake.
"We're not finished yet, are we?" Yang asked.
Blake barely seemed to register her voice, eyes falling away to stare at the dirt. Still lying on her stomach, Blake heaved a tired sigh into the dirt.
"I give up." She muttered quietly, refusing to look at Yang.
Yang almost didn't believe her ears. Frowning, she ducked her head a bit, trying to get a better look at Blake's face.
Blake turned her head so she was facing away from Yang, but that didn't stop Yang from hearing Blake's next words.
"I give up." Blake's voice cracked, her tone wavering. "Just kill me. Please."
Author's note: My thoughts go out to everyone in the southern United States being bombarded by hurricanes the last few weeks. Stay safe, stay dry, and take care of yourselves and those around you.