"What do you mean you lost Oscar?!"
The sound of Ruby's voice from the other side of the room startled Blake awake. She sat up to open her eyes to a living room inside of the Schnee Manor. She was on a sofa, and beside her was Weiss, who was still asleep. Blake took a moment to process what she'd just heard before realization set in.
She shot up off the sofa rushing to Ruby who still was using her scroll. The caller id appeared as she realized it was Yang she was talking to... It'd been hours since they'd heard from the rest of their team, and Blake had been worried most of the night for Yang.
"We were clearing up some grimm down in Mantle and this grimm came in and scared away a few beowolves before literally taking Oscar! This grimm... You won't believe me when I say this Ruby..." Yang held a pause for a moment which gave Blake an opportunity to hear the engine of a motorbike at full speed in the background, Blake was pulled back to the original conversation when the words she'd never expect to hear in her life rushed out of Yang, "The grimm talked! It even knew how to protect itself! We weren't able to stop it, at first it kept using Oscar as a... Almost like a meat shield! Then while we're chasing it-it called for help! Grimm don't do that... Something is really off."
"How is that even possible?" Ruby spoke with pure shock. She turned to notice Blake was now awake, "You... Did you hear what happened Blake?"
"Blake?" Yang's voice came over. Blake's ear twitched to the sound of her name from Yang.
"I heard... Are you coming back? And even then... What are we going to do?" Blake replied. She felt her ears press against her head as she took a step back.
"I don't know... But we're heading back. Are you guys already in Mantle?" Yang was quick to ask her sister.
"No, Nora got injured while we were in the Compound, we're in the Schnee Manor now letting her rest, but once she's ready to go we'll be back down as quick as we can," Ruby paused for a moment, "So we can figure out how we're going to get Oscar back from Salem."
Within an hour Weiss had woken up, along with May who had been sleeping on another sofa. Nora still was unconscious and her aura only in the middle. Blake hoped it wouldn't be too long before they could get back down to Mantle, she was worried about them. About Jaune, Ren, especially Oscar... And Yang.
Her mind wouldn't drift to anything else aside from Yang. The fear in her voice still shook her. She'd witnessed probably the first grimm ever in the history of Remnant talk and show signs of actual intelligence.
Ruby and Weiss had been lightly conversing about the situation, Weiss, who was also very shocked to hear what had happened to the other group, had barely spoken all morning. Blake still sat by the window, wondering just how bad it was... If grimm learned how to actually protect themselves, that could be bad for all of Remnant, not just them.
...
She'd been tempted to call Yang, she figured they'd be back in Mantle by now waiting for them, but part of her wouldn't let her pick up her scroll. If she did she'd stare at the call button for a few minutes before putting her scroll back down.
Things finally started to get a move on for the morning when Nora awoke around 15 minutes later. Her aura was still around halfway recharged but they had an actual emergency now. The burn marks from the electricity though were healing to be scars that ran throughout her body.
After an even longer amount of time, Ruby and Weiss went off and made breakfast for them, something quick since they didn't have much time. Waffles, something Blake enjoyed. The 5 of them had sat and eaten quickly before checking to see if they had everything and soon enough they were back in the airship they came in. They took off, and Blake was beside Ruby, who stared out the window.
She took the moment to talk to her.
"Are you okay..?" She asked, Ruby, didn't turn around as her face grew slightly sadder.
"Yeah... I'm just worried about Oscar... And Penny... Keeping Penny out of reach of Salem is the best option we have right now but I still worry... If the littlest thing goes wrong with launching Amity..." She paused, taking in a breath of hesitation. Ruby turned to Blake, and Blake met her silver eyes.
"Oscar... We know Salem has the relic and... Oscar technically still has Ozpin buried inside him somewhere... I worry... Salem probably doesn't know how to work the Relic of Knowledge but Oscar does." Ruby spoke. Blake understood the point, who knows what Salem would even want with the Relic of Knowledge.
"We're here." May cut off the conversation as Blake finally looked out the window again and realized they were down in Mantle. As they landed Weiss pulled out her scroll and began to pull up a call with Jaune Ren and Yang. Within moments it was Jaune who answered.
"We're back, are you guys at the restaurant?" Weiss said.
"Yes, we're working on a plan, you really need to hurry," Jaune said.
"Why? More news?" Blake asked.
"No... It's just really bad." Jaune sighed. The group hopped out of the airship and set off for the restaurant and within seconds they were back inside the same room they started in.
The reunion was... Different than expected. When Blake entered Yang hadn't even turned to her, she stood up to hug Ruby, looked at Weiss then sat back down.
Is she... Mad at me?
The horrid thought wouldn't leave her, but it stayed for a while when they all sat around the table. So far the only plan they'd had was to go straight into the giant Grimm whale and see if that was where Oscar was.
Of course, that plan had been thrown off the table quickly, and in this case literally. There was a scrapped piece of paper on the floor of a battle plan of sorts.
What felt like hours passed by and nothing. They'd had smaller plans that would quickly be scrapped. They decided to take a short break, take a minute to breathe, and see if any good ideas would come that way. Blake had sat nervously, wondering if Yang would maybe acknowledge her now. She'd conversed with her in parts of their planning session but they still hadn't had an actual conversation.
What she didn't expect was to not have been paying attention when she did eventually speak to her.
"Are you... Mad at me?"
The tables almost turned as Blake realized Yang wasn't mad at her... She was... Was she worried she was mad at her?
"No! I'm not upset... I'm just worried. Everything going on..." Blake sighed as Yang took a seat beside her, "I thought you were mad at me for not going with you..."
"Blake, you were doing what you thought was right and in this situation, I'm just glad you're okay." Yang sighed.
...
"Are you okay, Yang?" Blake asked, turning to face her partner more directly. Yang took a while to respond. Blake grew anxious more and more before the response came.
"I don't know..." Yang's voice was barely a whisper. Blake could see invisible tears roll down Yang's face. Just by the looks of things it seemed worse than she'd expected overall. She spoke again, still in a whisper, "I just feel like this is partially my fault... Oscar being taken and all."
"It was not your fault." Her hand moved to caress Yang's cheek, "No one has ever seen a grimm like that before, and look now, we have no idea how to handle this. Even if you'd tried something then there's no guarantee it'll work. We'll get Oscar back. I promise." Yang stayed silent again as she leaned forward to fall into a hug with Blake, to which Blake moved her arms to hold onto Yang who by this point was almost crying. She noticed Ruby in the background, staring at the two of them. Her eyes wide with worry, but Blake nodded and Ruby turned away.
Once the hug was released she held eye contact with Yang.
"Yang, I know this wasn't your fault, and you did everything you could. You, Jaune, and Ren. This wasn't any of your faults, and I want you to know that." Blake said, "I'm not mad at you whatsoever, I just don't want you to get too worked up over this... I don't know what the future holds if I'm being honest, but no matter what, I promise I'll stand by your side in the end."
Silence rested between the two as Yang stood up with Blake. They hugged for a moment before Yang's eyes lit up.
"Guys, I have an idea."
,,,,,,,
WELP THAT'S A WRAP
I don't usually like writing things that could be in a canon setting per say but this was actually fun, writing hurt/comfort is kinda my jam, and for what it usually turns out to be this worked out a bit better than most I feel. Anyways... Please just be okay you two omg :(