LOL Holy hiatus this was one long update. For such a short chapter too :( My apologies. I haven't given up if that's what you're thinking. It just takes me a bit to write. Nonetheless, I'm doing my best to continue writing. Both RWBY S4 and Walking Dead have continued, and so must my fic. Heads up to the Mercury Headcanon! Please leave a review to give me that well needed boost to continue~ Enjoy and take care! May the Freezerburn and Bumbleby return to your shipper heart.
No one screamed. It was as if they had just accepted their fate. Between the shattering of glass and the groaning of the Grimm, Yang couldn't do much but stare. She didn't want to go down without a fight. But how would she fight? Her mind was racing, a gun in one hand, a bat in the other. She could…
Her thoughts were broken by the suddenly loud sounds of gunshots piercing the air. It was coming from outside! The blonde whipped her head toward the source of the sound, as well as everyone else. It was as if that one sound was their savior. Some of the Grimm turned back, heading toward the noise. Another gunshot, and more of the dead turned away from the jewelry shop.
Weiss held her breath, afraid that even by making a squeak, one of the infected would be on her. She instinctively had her hand clenched around the hem of Yang's yellow tank top, which was stained with blood, both hers and others. The gunshots kept going, and the Grimm were leaving. After what seemed an eternity, suddenly, nothing. The gunshots stopped.
Yang peeked out of the broken display glass, the Grimm were surrounding the apartment building entrance across the street. Up at the window, the neopolitan colored girl was gone, it was if she was never there in the first place.
"N-Now's our chance! Let's go!" She said in a rushed whisper, trying to pick Weiss up. Jaune was helping Ren up, slipping his right arm over his blond hair and onto his shoulders for support, everyone was aching everywhere from the fight, but no pain would keep them from dying. With a rush of adrenaline and hope, the two golden haired colored adults carried their friends to safety. Exiting the store, the group ran down the street and to the nearest vacant looking building. Grimm littered the streets and attempted to grab the runners, but ultimately failed and gave up. Yang ran up the apartment building, quickly finding her way through to the fire escape, where the four continued up the building, seeking safety on the rooftops.
At last, out of breath and exhausted, Yang and Jaune collapsed onto the flat roof of the apartment building, gasping and coughing. Weiss slowly stirred and grabbed a water bottle from the backpack. Her voice wouldn't come out. Still struck in shock, yet she needed to care for her savior. She rolled the water bottle onto the Brawler's hand and sat beside her, hugging her own knees. "Drink up… and don't you dare die here…" The heiress finally said, biting her lower lip. "A-and… thank you…"
The blonde chuckled as she weakly tried to drink the water she was given. Jaune was busily tending to Ren's wounds. With so many injuries, Yang wasn't so sure if they could continue on. Maybe just resting here would be good for a bit.
"But… our families…" Yang said out loud. Weiss shook her head, making sure the Blonde wouldn't move. "Oh no, you aren't going anywhere. Right now you're going to stay here and rest. You could have died you know!" She scolded her. The blonde just laughed, it had been awhile since anyone yelled at her. "I know… I know…" came the reply.
The Schnee just gave a stern look but softened. It was weird. She had just met Yang, but throughout the course of running for their lives, she had come to trust her a bit. A small smile curled up on her lips.
It was silent, save for the groaning of Grimm down below. The building was only about 3 stories up, and the roof was quite empty, save for a few flower beds. The apartment itself was entirely made of brick, giving it a faded red color. The windows were all shut and it seemed as if it was hurriedly vacated, which made sense given the current situation. Out on the city skyline, fires, smoke, and the occasional screaming and gunshots were all that could be heard in the distance, and would quickly fade after the initial start.
Yang was badly beat. She was a star athlete, but even her endurance has its limits. From the beating she took from the attacker, she received bruises all over her face, arms, hips, and legs. Her lip was split, an eye was blackened, and sweat matted her skin. The extra adrenaline used in fighting the man and running from the Grimm took its toll on her body, causing aches and pains.
Beside the blonde was Weiss. Despite not having fought that much, she had quite the bloody wounds. Her left eye stung from where the knife nicked her skin. The wound was still open, but she was doing her best to cover it up. She had much less bruises than the brawler, but they were there nonetheless. Weiss may have been the top of her class in studies, but nothing prepared her fragile self for the beating. The white haired heiress felt so useless for once. Not having been able to fight, only being cared for, it angered her. Is brawns the only thing that matters in this situation?
Leaning over the brick wall, staring at the burning streets, screaming people, and shooting looters was Jaune. His face was all beat, similar to Yang. His legs burned with the over exertion of carrying Ren up stairs. He wasn't an athlete like the blonde, but he was determinedly fit. His hair was messy, and dirty, but that was the least of his problems. He watched as a man ran out of a house with a TV set, only to get gunned down by another looter. Atlas police were scattered, trying to get order but ultimately defied by the masses. A woman carrying her baby was trapped in a store when a Grimm appeared behind her. He grit his teeth and forced himself to look away. Jaune felt powerless to stop anything.
Sitting against the wall beside Jaune's legs was Ren. His black hair stuck out in multiple places, but still kept pretty ruly with his ponytail. He was just as beat up as the rest, the random man was a tough opponent and truly was a brute. He felt as if there was still glass shards in his back from being on the floor. His eyes were closed as he tried to rest, but the screams and shots would occasionally incur a flinch.
The day would grow darker, and there would be less and less noise. Vale was a small port city to begin with. But that didn't stop the four survivors from thinking about how far this epidemic could have spread, or even, where did the breakout begin?
The first person to break the silence was Weiss. "We… should try to find shelter inside. It might rain and if the building is really deserted, we could find a room to stay in." Her suggestion was sound, and the others could only agree. Pulling together what energy they could recover, everyone stood up and headed for the roof access, going into a hallway of the third floor.
Surely enough each room was vacant, but being an apartment many personal belongings were left behind. "Let's search the rest of this floor, then pick out rooms to stay in. With luck the water and the electricity are still running or something, and we have to pick them close together in case we have to run." Weiss suggested. She kept her left hand over her injured eye and was doing her best to suppress the occasional wince. The wound finally dried after a while, scabbing. She knew it would become a scar later on. A first-aid kit in Yang's bag produced a gauze and bandage, so now the Schnee had an eyepatch.
A quick look up and down the hallway revealed no other living bodies, or Grimm for that matter, and the group filed into two rooms, separated between men and women. Before they entered their respective rooms, a quip from Yang shot out, mostly toward Jaune. "If you want to peek, I won't mind. Just don't let me catch you." Mostly as a joke of course. That didn't stop the blond male from blushing, as if he actually contemplated it.
Yang was just so tired, she collapsed onto the bed, flopping onto it with her back to it, staring up at the ceiling. A small 'ew' came out from the corner of the room where Weiss sat on a chair, holding a water bottle.
"Hm? What's up Weiss?" the blonde asked, not bothering to move.
"That was a bed someone slept in before you, don't you think there's some kind of health hazard there?" The heiress gave input. She was trying hard not to complain, but hadn't slept in another bed but her own since she was a child.
"Ehhh… you could be right… but I haven't really slept on a real bed in what feels like forever… I guess you could just say I'm Lay-zee..." Came a lazy response. Typical.
Weiss threw her arms up in the air and rolled her eyes, then decided to explore the room. It was an apartment room so it wasn't all that big. It was just a large living room with a queen sized bed against the right wall. Across from the bed against the left wall was a dresser and a TV mounted above it. Further into the room was a small kitchen and dining table, and to the right of the kitchen was the bathroom. The place seemed fairly clean, aside from most items missing, like majority of the canned goods, pictures, clothes. It seemed the previous residents were able to pack up before leaving.
Next to the bed, a room phone with a receiver blinked. It seems someone left a message. Yang, curious as ever, picked up the phone and hit the messages button. The phone crackled to life before a male's voice spoke up. "Hey Merc. The White Fang are bringing in the package tomorrow. Make sure to catch the boat to Atlas first thing in the morning. Things are about to get… Grimm…" The message blinked off.
Dumbfounded, yet impressed by the pun, the blonde stared at the phone as it listed the options of what to do with the message. "Was… was the person who lived here connected to the outbreak?" She spoke aloud. Instantly, she flew through the living room, checking for clues. Meanwhile Weiss was in the pantry, trying to see if there was any food she could possibly make.
"Hey Yang. What would you rather have for…" Weiss trailed off as she had seen the state the living room was now in, a long flowing blonde mane rushing from corner to corner displacing things. "Excuse me?! Can you not make a mess in a room that's not yours?"
The blonde brawler had barely heard what the heiress even said, busy in her own search for evidence. "Oh? Huh? Whatever is good." she said halfheartedly. She had just checked all the containers in the room, and not one shred of evidence leading to the outbreak. People were dying outside, looters killing, Grimm eating, she demanded an answer to why her world was suddenly collapsing.
"C'mon you dunce!" the heiress poked Yang with the handle end of a wooden spoon. "Food!"
Finally snapping out of her trance, the blonde sighed and acknowledged her partner. "Yes… you're right." she said defeated.
"Good. There's just a bunch of canned goods but I'm sure we can mix stuff together." Weiss responded and turned around, a smile on her face. "I can show you my cooking skills."
"So Ren, where exactly did you learn how to cook?" Yang asked the raven haired man.
"Oh, my friend Nora would often come to my house for food. So I learned how to cook for her."
"Friend? Isn't that more of a girlfriend?"
"Girlfriend? No… we're just friends."
Yang, Ren, Weiss, and Jaune sat together in the boy's room at the dining table, a spread of food out prepared by Ren. Apparently, the food was cooked right before Yang and Weiss started cooking, so it saved them canned goods. The blonde and the brunette were exchanging words, but the blond and the whitette were silent. Jaune mostly quiet because he was too embarrassed to talk to her. He would probably say something stupid, but that wouldn't stop him.
"So… Ms. Schnee…" The blond started.
"Okay, stop right there. My name is Weiss, and I prefer to be called as such." She interjected, her eyebrows furrowing slightly.
"Oh! Eheh… right, Weiss. Uh… so… do you like caviar and… stuff?"
"Fish eggs? No thank you. I prefer not to eat the eggs of other animals thank you."
"Oh… right…"
Yang couldn't help but stifle a laugh. It had been nice that they could finally sit down, rest, and just chat. It was as if there was no outbreak outside, just friends. Then she had the thought of how, if the outbreak hadn't happened, would they have ever met? Weiss is from Atlas, so they probably would have never met. The thought kind of saddened her, but… why?
Dinner continued with idle chatter, and once the food was gone, and the night was still young, Yang and Weiss headed back to their room. Making one last check to ensure the hall was clear, they entered the room.
"Yang, since you stink, you should shower first." Weiss spoke up. "I need to make sure I have my bandages. I'll be sure to change your bandages too."
"... Gee, thanks. That comment just watered down my feelings" Yang said in a monotone way, sniffing at her shirt.
"Err… sorry that… didn't quite come out right… I mean… ugh! Just go shower!" She said hurriedly, trying not to show she was embarrassed.
The blonde grabbed some clothes from her bag and sauntered off into the bathroom.
Weiss tried to put out of her head the seemingly insensitive words she had just said, and bothered herself with the first aid kit. Her eye needed the gauze, and Yang had multiple cuts and bruises. She wanted to at least treat her.
In the bathroom, Yang undressed, removing her tank top and shorts, as well as her underwear. She stepped into the shower and threw the handle, for the hot water. Thankfully, there was still hot water and the liquid fell over her aching body. The steaming water felt so good on her skin, she placed her hands on the shower wall and leaned over, the water falling onto her hair and wetting her mane. At the same time, her mind wandered toward her family. Her step-mom Summer was in Atlas with her younger sister Ruby, and her father Taiyang. Her real mother Raven was nowhere to be found, apparently Taiyang said she passed, but for some reason, Yang didn't quite believe him.
She picked up the shampoo left behind and used it on her hair. Surprisingly, that 'Merc' person had quite good taste in quality shampoo and conditioner. There was no evidence of him living with anyone else, so she assumed he just took good care of his hair, as she does her own. After lathering her entire mane, she washed it out, making sure to get out all the soap, before she repeated the order with conditioner. In about 20 minutes, she was finally out, finding a fresh towel in the bathroom cupboard and wiping herself down. In a flash she had on another tanktop of orange color and tights over her underwear.
"Weiss, I'm finished." Came out of Yang's mouth, the white and blue striped towel hanging around her shoulders. She found the heiress sitting next to the bed on the floor with the first aid kit at her crossed legs. Understanding what she was going to do, she sat down in front of her.
"Just use this ice bag to fix your face." Weiss responded, and stood up, placing the first aid kit on the ground. "I need clothes… can I borrow some of yours?"
"Weiss… I don't think you could even fit them." She stated, looking at the smaller frame of the girl before her.
"Geez, just say yes! Be grateful I'm even relying on you for clothes!" The heiress just about yelled. Another chuckle came from Yang's mouth.
"Okay, okay."
Weiss pouted and found some clothes that she could possibly wore. She was uncomfortable just wearing clothes that weren't hers, but she wasn't just going to run around naked. She hated relying on others, but this was all she could do.
Yang laid on the bed with the ice pack over her swollen eye, sighing. She had many a black eye before from the boys who would play rough in her sports, but remembering how she got the black eye suddenly shocked her. She had just killed someone, not a Grimm, but a live person. Why wasn't she bothered by it? Was it because she felt it was self defense? Because she was in danger? Because… Weiss was in danger…? The blonde shook her head, the ice moving inside the bag.
"What bothers me is that I'm not bothered by it…" She reached into her bag and pulled out the revolver, 6 bullets remained. Had she felt to use it back then, could she dare even kill people off to save them? Self defense was one thing, but mercy killing… It's just not something she could even consider. "Yeah… If I could go down fighting… I sure damn will." Yang steeled her resolve and returned the gun, closing her eyes and relaxing a bit.
The sound of the shower running was calming, and she could hear humming as well. It would appear that Weiss has a rather nice voice, the blonde thought to herself.
Soon the water stopped, and soon out of the shower came a whitette clad in a large white undershirt and shorts, which were all baggy and hung onto her body.
"Yang, can you help me put my bandages on?" She asked, approaching the relaxed blonde. Her left eye was still closed, and Yang could see the wound and how it had begun to dry.
"Sure. I can aid you with that" was all she said, getting off the bed and picking up the first aid kit, producing the bandage and gauze. "By the way Weiss, I heard you in the shower. You've got quite the voice."
The heiress just smiled. "You're quite lucky. Not many people get to hear me sing privately." She closed her other eye and leaned forward toward the brawler, who placed the gauze over her right eye and wrapped the bandage around it.
"Thank you… Yang. You've done so much for me, I'll be sure to pay you back." Weiss finally said after the aid was administered.
"Don't mention it. I'm just glad I could stop one person from dying today. I mean, you did take care of all my pain." Was all Yang could reply with. She didn't want to admit she felt quite sheepish about it all.
Weiss was about to say something when the lock to their door suddenly popped, and everything went silent. The two froze and instantly they knew it couldn't be Ren or Jaune, no one saw a key.
Suddenly the door handle rotated and the door cracked open… and the reflection of a blade shined with the hallway light…
Yang knew right away, whoever this was, was not there with good intentions.
