"Here we are sis!" Said Ruby.
Yang and Ruby were in the attic of the church. Weiss and Ruby had converted what they could into a viable gym. The room wasn't very big, maybe the size of a normal classroom, but they had managed to get a blue two inch foam mat that covered most of the floor. There were a set of twenty foot parallel bars along the outskirts of the room. Next to those were two sets of bicycles that had the front and rear tires removed. The frames were bolted to a wooden frame with a chain running to a wench. The wench had a steel cable attached to a weight that hung through a hole in the floor. Yang could see the framing for the church that held up the roof. Strangely enough there was a dart board on the opposite wall.
"How did you get all of this equipment?" Asked Yang, "this is amazing!"
"We didn't stop going on runs just because you were out of commission...So...why haven't you put it on?"
"I...Well...It's just that... I know how this Atlesian tech works, and... I don't know...what if it changes me?"
"Hey! Could someone help me up? It's kind of hard to climb a ladder with just one good leg." Blake called from below.
Ruby and Yang went to the hatch, each of them grabbing one of Blake's hands and pulling her into the attic.
"My cane…" said Blake as she let go of the girls' hands.
"Don't worry, I'll get it." Said Ruby
As Ruby started down the ladder Yang saw Blake struggling and said. "Here, lean on my until she gets back."
"Okay."
As Blake leaned into her, Yang wrapped her arms around her, being careful not to jostle her shoulder.
"It's a good thing your injuries are on opposite sides or you'd be unable to walk at all Kitty Cat."
"I know! I spent the first two weeks in bed...Adam wouldn't let me leave. He said it's for your protection. What does that even mean? Protection from who?"
"Blake...can't you see he's abusive?"
"...I know...I know it's just, what am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go? It's not like I can just up and leave. I would give anything if I could just run away from here…but how could I make it on my own? Especially with this!" She gestured to her leg.
Yang sat down and pulled Blake onto her lap. "At least I know, that you know, we can't stay here... after we get fixed up, you, me, Ruby, Weiss, and anyone else who wants to come with us will take off and never have to deal with Adam or any of his followers ever again…"
"It's a pipe dream. Where would we even go?"
Blake's cane flew up through the hatch, Ruby followed it.
"Hey, are you two alright?"
"Yeah! Great!" said Yang
Ruby helped Blake to her feet and they all three walked onto the mat.
"Alright Yang, I know you don't feel like you're ready, but…"
Yang cut her off, "I've got this Rubes." She felt a brand new sense of purpose, she had a new goal, get her friends out of this cage they called home.
"You may need to hold me down...this is gonna suck." Yang layed down with her back on the mat. Ruby and Blake sat next to her.
Yang took the hand out of her jacket pocket. Surprisingly it was about the same size as her own. She adjusted the wrist length so it would fit her and brought the hand to what was left of her arm.
"Here goes nothing…" Yang pushed a button on the part that attaches to the limb and an audible countdown started backwards from three.
Yang got her finger out of the way as Ruby held her shoulders, kneeling above her head. Blake lay across Yang's stomach.
The hand whined as a drill came out from the center and four needles came from the edges. Yang felt a pinch as the needles entered her skin, thankfully they numbed Yang's arm. The drill slowly started into her arm, blood pouring out onto the mat.
"Just don't look at it!" Yelled Blake.
Yang looked down at Blake as she said this and noticed her shirt was riding up. On Blake's side there was a yellowish greenish bruise the size of a softball.
"It's done! I think? The bleeding stopped at least." said Ruby. "Yang you look Pale...You've lost a lot of blood. How do you feel?"
"I feel fine….I think."
Yang sat up and immediately wished she hadn't. She was dizzy, her vision started going spotty. "I can't see, I'm…" Yang layed back down. "I think I'll just lie here for a while."
"Okay, don't rush yourself…" Said Ruby.
After about a half hour Blake said, "don't you have guard duty soon?"
"Oh crap!" Ruby rushed to the hatch. "Keep an eye on her will you?"
Blake nodded and Ruby left.
Yang was back in the void. She was standing on the watery floor confused.
"Why am I here? You let me leave! Why am I back?!"
Almost as a response a light came on behind her. In the center of the light was a metal four legged chair covered in blood.
"What is this? I don't understand!"
A flash of yellow. The smoke appeared behind Yang moving around her to hover above the chair. It took the form of Yang. Sitting in the chair, the smoke started writhing bucking back and forth unable to free itself from its invisible bonds. Suddenly the smoke slumped in the chair, shortly after that, what would have been its right hand fell to the floor.
A Flash of violet.
Yang opened her eyes.
"Yang!" It was Blake's voice. "Yang! Are you okay?"
Yang was sweating, she could feel her heart beating in her chest.
"Yeah…It was just a nightmare."
"What was it about?" Asked Blake.
It was at this point that Yang noticed Blake was laying next to her with her head on Yang's shoulder and her arm across her stomach.
Yang flushed. "I...Don't…" Yang sat up and slid backwards until her back was up against the wall. "How long was I asleep?"
"A couple hours I'd say, hard to tell really." Blake moved and sat cross legged in front of Yang. "So, tell me about this dream."
"There's not really much to tell...I was in a place that's extremely hard to describe...You know? I felt cold, scared, and confused. Not really sure what was happening. There was this...being...it looked like it was being tortured...and its hand was removed in the process. It seemed like it was me...Everything in there was so...familiar...like I had been there before. Right before It ended there was this flash, it didn't come from anywhere...it was like for a millisecond all I could see was purple..."
"Wow...it seems...is that? Was the being you?" Asked Blake.
Tears started down Yang's cheeks. "I don't know...I...Blake...I…" Yang started to convulse.
Blake moved next to Yang and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay Yang... don't push yourself. It was only a nightmare…"
"Was it?"
The girls sat there holding each other for the next couple hours. Yang was grateful to finally have someone she could talk to. They sat there, reminiscing about how things were before the fall.
Blake said. "Do you remember, I think it was third grade, we were in Mrs. Brunger's class. There was a kid in our class, I think his name was Russel? Anyway, he got a nose bleed so Mrs. Brunger left to walk him down to the nurse. After she left Cardin started flicking my ears." Blake pointed to the cat ears on top of her head. "I tried to ignore it...but he just wouldn't stop. He asked why I was even going to school. He said I was an animal that deserved to be put down. You couldn't stand for that...you got up and told him he was a 'stupid jerk' and you told me not to listen to anything he said."
Yang started to laugh, "I remember that! And then, he decided he was going to pick on me instead. He pushed me backwards, I fell and flipped over a desk."
"Yeah! And then you got up and kicked him in the knee! I thought you broke his leg." Blake Laughed. " It was at that point, I decided I wanted to be your friend Yang...Nothing would stop me. You showed me that not all humans were like Cardin."
"I never knew that…" Replied Yang. "It's a shame we drifted apart once we got to high school."
"Well, It's just how it goes sometimes. I fell in with the faunus crowd and you had Ruby to take care of...If there is one thing that makes me glad about...all this." Blake Gestured all around her. "It's that it brought you and I back together."
Yang hugged Blake. "Thank you…and, you know I never slept with Cardin. Right?"
A few days later Yang and Blake were back in the attic, but Weiss joined them this time.
"How's the new hand feel?" Asked Blake.
"It's weird...it's almost like it's the real thing." Replied Yang.
"What do you mean almost? It should be exactly like the real thing! It should've attached all your nerves and muscles automatically!" Weiss interjected.
"Thanks Weiss I know how the technology works!" Replied Yang. "It feels like my hand, and it doesn't hurt or anything, it's just not the same."
"Well...let's get to work." Said Blake after a few moments of silence.
Blake's leg was now out of the cast, although she was still walking with a cane.
"We've gotta get your leg working at full capacity if you ever want to go on any runs again. We can not forget to work on your shoulder too!" Said Weiss.
Weiss pulled the cable out of the hole and attached a 50 pound weight to the end. "I know this is a little rudimentary but it's what we've got."
Blake sat on the bike and used her legs to raise the weight through the hole in the floor and then slowly lower it back down..
"Alright, now do that nine more times." Said Weiss.
Blake did as instructed.
"While she's doing that…" Weiss threw a grip tool to Yang. "Use this, it should be sufficient, your new hand will be stronger than your body is used to, you need to get stronger so it doesn't rip itself out of your arm…"
The girls continued training like this for a couple of weeks. After the first week Blake was able to walk without her cane and Yang was completely used to her new hand. Yang kept working anyway, motivating Blake to push herself harder, to get stronger.
Yang and Blake were using cinder blocks to do shoulder presses.
Blake dropped her block heaving. "It hurts...I can't do this…"
"I don't want excuses from you!" Suddenly Yang dropped to her knees.
Yang's wrist started burning, It felt like someone was pouring liquid steel all over her hand.
I don't want excuses from you!
"Adam?" Said Yang.
You make excuses for everything you do! You need to be punished now that you've done something wrong...Doctor.
"Wolfe?" Questioned Yang
Yang's heart was racing, her breaths coming in short heaves.
"Yang what is going on? What does this have to do with Adam and Doctor Wolfe?" Blake Pleaded.
Blake's voice brought Yang back to the present.
"Yang, tell me what this is." Blake wrapped her arms around Yang.
"I don't know...I don't remember everything...it just seemed so real." Said Yang.
"What did?"
"I was in the chair, from my dream...Adam was yelling at me...he told me humans always have excuses, and he told me about the people that murdered his sister…"
"What did he say happened to her?"
"He said she was strung up and killed in front of him."
Blake pulled away from Yang. "I don't...how do you know about that?"
"Blake...he told me...he told me that I needed to be punished...and then...all I can remember is that look...the look in his eyes. He loved seeing me in pain…"
Blake's eyes widened. "I know that look…" Blake stood up and removed her shirt.
Yang saw fresh bruises, all over her chest, ribs and stomach. Dark purple splotches of varying sizes. There were ones as small as golf balls. Then there were others the size of bricks. Blake turned around and revealed older bruises on her back. These were different from the ones on her front, they were long and about two inches wide. Almost like she was hit with a quarterstaff, or a sheathed sword.
"Blake…" Yang started crying. She stood up walked to Blake and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry I didn't do something sooner...We can't stay here."