Just Tell Me To Stay

Summary: Yang and Blake have been in love with each other since the moment they met, but neither could ever reveal their feelings. But now that they're entering their senior year and all the talk is on colleges and plans for the future, their friends aren't sure they can just sit by and watch as they lose each other for good. High School AU. Bumblby, WhiteRose, Arkos

Author's Note: Part 3 finally here! Left on a pretty big cliffhanger with Yang finally making the decision to put it all on the line so this is really the moment of truth. Hope you all like it!


Chapter 18: Unraveling Pt. 3

"I'm done waiting. Let's go find her."

She sees Pyrrha share a look with Ruby and Weiss, all three of them wearing equally shocked expressions on their faces, as if none of them can really believe the words are actually coming out of her mouth.

"You mean…" Pyrrha says slowly, "you're going to…"

Yang takes in a breath, already starting to feel uncertain about making this big of a decision so impulsively. "I'm going to tell Blake how I feel. Let's go find her."

"Now?" Weiss asks, already starting to move to her feet.

"Yes. Now." She confirms sharply, "Like I said, I'm done waiting."

With that they instantly kick into action, all of them overcome with a new sense of energy and rushing to pile into Pyrrha's car with Weiss still being a little too worked up to drive.

Blake's house is only about ten minutes away from Weiss's, which ends up being just about halfway to her and Ruby's. Although it takes them a few extra minutes because they're a little less familiar with the area around the park.

The second she gets in the car she can feel the other's staring at her, watching her very move. It only takes a few minutes for it to wear on her nerves.

"What?" She spits out, a little harsher than intended.

"Sorry Yang." Pyrrha says, snapping her eyes back to the road in front of her. "It's just… what are you going to say to her?"

She shoots a quick glance at the rearview mirror and confirms that both Ruby and Weiss are watching even more attentively than before.

"I don't really know." Yang says slowly, "there's just… so much to say, I don't even know where to begin."

"It's… probably best to keep it simple." Weiss says quietly.

Yang can't really manage more than a nod in response with the way her heart is pounding in her chest. And it only gets worse as the surrounding streets and houses become more and more familiar.

Maybe it's just her brain being overdramatic in one of the most vulnerable moments of her life, but it feels so much like she's driving through a timeline of her and Blake's relationship.

They pass by a small yellow house with a single oak tree in the front yard where they had tried to rescue a cat supposedly trapped in its upper branches, only for the cat to jump off the second they reached it, ironically leaving them as the ones stranded in a tree.

Then they move through an unmarked intersection, seemingly insignificant, but one Yang will always remember as the first and only time she had gotten Blake to ride on the handlebars of her bike. It was the summer of their sophomore year and they had made some remarkably vague plans to hang out. Which led to both of them heading for the other's house and rather stupidly bumping into each other here. But eventually she had convinced Blake to hop on her bike and they'd gone for a ride down one of the trails in the neighborhood. It's easily one of Yang's favorite memories.

And they pass by over a dozen more on the way. The bus stop that she used to drive by in the mornings to take Blake to school before the girl had gotten her car, the rickety old swingset where they used to meet in the middle of the night when one of them couldn't sleep, even the little family owned coffee shop that they'd gone to the first time Yang had worked up the courage to ask Blake to hang out just the two of them.

It's honestly more memories than she can count that all mean the world to her. How is she supposed to put that into words? How every hour of her day she's looking for her. How empty she feels when they're apart. How she's not sure how she's going to manage without her.

She's abruptly yanked back to reality by someone screaming her name and violently shaking her shoulder.

She snaps her head to the side to come face to face with Ruby, eyebrows furrowed in concern. It's only then that she realizes how fast her breathing is, and that Pyrrha had pulled the car over to the side of the road.

"Yang?" Ruby says, "Yang what's wrong?"

"Nothing." she replies shakily, "I was just…"

Not waiting for her to finish the thought, Pyrrha gently takes her hands in her own and guides her through a few deep breaths. It takes a minute or so until her breathing is back to normal and she immediately lets out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks Pyr'," she says weakly, "I… don't know what happened."

"Yang if you don't want to do this…"

"No!" she shouts before Pyrrha can finish the thought, "if I don't do this now… I just… I can't lose her."

"Okay…" the redhead answers hesitantly, not losing the concerned expression on her face even as she goes to start the car back up.

It only takes another minute or two to reach Blake's house and as they pull up she immediately notices the lack of cars in the driveway.

But she doesn't pay it any mind and quickly pops open the door. She makes her way up to the front door quickly, not allowing herself any chance to change her mind and immediately presses the doorbell.

Pyrrha watches Yang standing impatiently on the Belladonna's front porch, ringing the doorbell every few seconds.

"Doesn't look like anyone's home." She says.

Ruby steps out of the car and pulls her phone out of her back pocket. "I can call her maybe…"

"She doesn't have her phone." Weiss says quietly. "She left it behind after our fight and… it's still in my car."

Pyrrha lets out a frustrated sigh. It was really starting to look like this wasn't going to happen. Without another word she closes her door and walks up the driveway to join Yang, the blonde nervously tapping her foot against the floor.

"Yang. I don't think she's here."

"Well then where is she?"

"I'm not sure, Weiss says she doesn't have her phone with her."

"I'm going to try the back," Yang says.

Before she can say anything to stop her, the blonde takes off, going straight for the fence on the other side of the driveway and hopping over it without a moment's hesitation. It's not a great sign that Yang is reverting back to being so bullheaded right now, not to mention the fact that it's right off the back of what Pyrrha can only describe as a panic attack in the car earlier.

She's not sure she's ever seen Yang like that before. Sure she'd seen the girl cry plenty of times in the past, but watching her hyperventilate like that was absolutely terrifying. It makes her wonder if there's something else bothering Yang beyond just what was happening with Blake. She'd heard Ruby and Weiss mention something about how the blonde used to have nightmares around the time that Summer had died, but other than that, this was a totally different side of Yang that she'd never experienced before.

And it's one that she definitely doesn't ever want to see again.

When she heads back down to the car she's surprised to find that Ruby and Weiss aren't alone, the couple talking to a girl with black hair that's probably just a few years younger than them. But the girl runs off just as Pyrrha is approaching and she gives Weiss an inquisitive look.

"Who was that?" she asks.

"She's Blake's neighbor." Weiss says solemnly.

"Oh, well does she know where Blake is?"

"Yeah." Ruby answers, "she said she saw Blake and her parents leaving in a car maybe twenty minutes ago… she said they had luggage with them."

Pyrrha feels her heart sink and her eyes immediately snap over to Weiss, "Luggage? Weiss, you didn't tell us that she was leaving today!"

"I didn't know!" Weiss cries, angrily running a hand through her hair, "she was so being freaking vague! I swear to god that girl is going to be the death of me."

She lets out a frustrated groan of her own. "I can't believe her!"

"Ok guys," Ruby says gently, "let's just get Yang and we can go home."

Just when she's starting to feel like she'd rather keep tearing her hair out than tell Yang that Blake has already left, she's hit with a sudden moment of clarity, quickly running through some numbers in her head.

"Wait." she says, "you said that Blake left twenty minutes ago?"

"That's what her neighbor said…" Weiss answers.

"Ruby, go get Yang. Fast." She orders, "we are not letting Blake get on that plane until she hears what Yang has to say."

Ruby's eyes go wide and without another word, takes off for the house at an impressive speed.

"Pyrrha." Weiss says, "are you sure about this? She'll be back in a week."

"I'm sure." she answers, "if she goes on those tours she might make a decision by the time she gets back and all of this will have been for nothing. I refuse to sit around and watch while Yang gets her heart broken again."

"You're right," Weiss agrees, nodding her head, "but do you think we can really make it? The airport isn't that far away, they could already be boarding by the time we get there."

"We have to try."

The fierce concentration in Pyrrha's eyes would be intimidating enough on its own without adding on the way that the redhead is gunning it down the highway.

Yang would have expected Ruby and Weiss to voice at least a small protest at the dangerous speed but both of them have the same determined expression on their faces. She probably shouldn't find it so touching that her friends are willing to be this reckless just for her sake.

They make it to the airport in record time and suddenly her heart isn't just racing because of the car ride anymore.

There's a bit of arguing about whether or not they have the time to find proper parking before Pyrrha overrules them and pulls into the departures lane.

"Just go." The redhead says, "It'll take too long for us to all park and head in together. I'll meet up with you inside."

Yang gives her a grateful look before ripping off her seatbelt and throwing the door open.

But right as she takes the first step out of the car Pyrrha grabs her hand. "Yang," she says, catching the blonde off guard with the fire in her emerald eyes, "make sure you get her."

She responds with a solemn nod and takes off running for the entrance, followed closely by Ruby and Weiss.

"Do you know what flight she's on?" Ruby asks frantically.

"No she never told me!" Weiss huffs.

They come to a sliding stop in front of the departures board and she immediately starts scanning the screen, eyes darting back and forth through flights going to cities all over the country.

"There's a flight to Mistral leaving in fifteen minutes." Ruby says urgently.

"And one to Vacuo in ten." Weiss adds.

Yang lets out a frustrated growl, heart beating faster every second. "This is hopeless! If we don't even know where she's going, she could be on any one of these!"

She anxiously whips out her phone to check the time, knowing full well that it doesn't make a difference if they don't know what flight Blake is supposed to be on.

"Maybe she's still at security." Ruby suggests.

Weiss nods her head quickly, "but if she's not, we'll need tickets to get to the gates. I'll go buy some."

With that the heiress runs off for the front desk while she and Ruby rush for the escalator leading down to security. It's already packed with people, carelessly standing in the way with their stupid bags taking up way more room than necessary. Without a second thought she starts making her way to the bottom, stepping over luggage and shoving past their owners, ignoring all the angry voices on her way..

She's running out of breath by the time she reaches the bottom but still lets out a groan when she sees the ridiculously long line before her.

"Let's split up." Ruby suggests, breathing heavily herself.

She gives her a sister a quick nod before they each take off for opposite sides of the crowd. Her lungs start screaming almost immediately but she doesn't dare slow her pace. Her eyes snap from person to person, momentarily fixating on every girl with fair skin or dark hair but is only rewarded with frustration.

She narrowly avoids crashing into a young couple walking aimlessly in the opposite direction and nearly falls on her face when her foot catches on a rolling suitcase being dragged carelessly by an angry looking businessman. But she catches herself just in time and hastily stumbles to her feet, nervously scanning through the mass of unfamiliar faces.

God where is she?

She forces herself to stay calm, trying desperately to suppress the growing panic that she might be too late, that Blake might already be boarding her plane and that all of this may have been for nothing.

Her anxieties are only made worse as she gets closer and closer to the body scanners and metal detectors that mark the final stretch before the tunnel leading to the gates, the furthest point she can go without going through security herself.

Just when she's considering whether or not it's worth jumping the guardrail, she catches a flash of black hair out of the corner of her eye. At first she thinks it's just one more stranger that she's mistaken for Blake due to a few similar features, but then the girl turns and she spots a familiar glimmer of gold that's absolutely unmistakeable.

She feels her breath catch in her chest as she watches Blake retrieve her bag from the conveyor belt just a few feet away from her.

It's her, she had actually found her, and literally at the last possible second. If she had taken even a minute longer, Blake would already be through the tunnel and well on her way to boarding her plane.

Before she even knows it she's desperately screaming the girl's name.

Blake perks up at the sound of her voice, turning aimlessly in search of the source.

Yang calls out her name again, drawing the dark haired girl to spin on her feet, this time making no mistake and slowly turning in her direction.

Once again time itself seems to slow to a crawl. It must be some kind of superpower that Blake has that doesn't let her miss a single second as recognition slowly washes over her beautiful face. She watches intently as Blake's shining golden eyes go wide, her own heart racing and hands digging into the metal railing, desperate to close the distance between them. But in another instant the look of shock and recognition fades away, replaced by a nervous tension that Yang doesn't quite understand.

They keep their eyes locked for only a second longer, barely enough time for her to spot the trembling on Blake's lips.

And then, with one final, lingering glance, Blake slowly turns on her heels, picking up her suitcase as she disappears into the tunnel, leaving Yang watching on in shock, the emptiness growing inside her as she crumples to the ground.


Author's Note: I swear I thought about ending it here with a big confession of love and our Bees finally getting their moment but it ended up feeling to... cliche? I just feel like I couldn't do it the kind of justice that they deserve, and I'm sure plenty of you will remember the amazing ending Gold by momoxtoshiro and that's something I kind of wanted to avoid. So this is the reveal that we actually still have a whole lot more to go, I hope all of you are willing to stick it through for the long haul because I have a lot more chapters planned out already and I'm pretty satisfied with how it's looking. Anyways, hope you all liked it and! Loving the continued feedback so leave a review and thanks so much for reading!