Chapter 4: Past and Future
"Oh I'm sure you'd love that."
She bit out a hiss as she moved. The robot broke under her bare fist, its torso warping and shattering as her aura clubbed into it with the condensed force of a speeding car. The follow-through tossed it aside, another piece of scrap, and it was quickly forgotten as two more took its place. They lunged at her, weaving in and out of her guard, their slick blades cutting air as she backpedaled.
She planted her back foot and countered. A single straight punch twisted and snapped the neck of the first. The next, she took apart in two fluid motions—a leg sweep to put it in the air, twisting into one of her own original moves, a modified axe kick built off the momentum of the earlier attack, which slammed the bot's metal torso into the training floor so hard it came apart in an almost comical explosion of robotic gore.
She sat down, giving herself a moment to breathe. A gear rolled past her hand, tipped, fell onto the mat beside her.
The foam of the practice floor soft under her back, the burn of adrenaline in her veins, the quiet ache in her spine, in her side, in her head, all fading fast. The quiet sound of panting breaths beside her, mirroring hers. The voice.
"Yang… do you believe in destiny?"
She grit her teeth, punching the mat to dismiss the memory. "Fuck," she spat, hauling herself to her feet. She walked over to the wall of the training room. A couple of freshmen waved at her through the reinforced glass, and she forced a smile and waved right back. She knew she had fans, but she tried not to think about that too much. No need for an inflated ego on top of her existing emotional baggage.
She swiped the control panel and keyed up seven robots this time, sparing only a single, solitary fuck for Beacon's budget.
It was hardly training. Hardly a warmup, for her. But it was cathartic, and that was kinda what the tangled and frustrated ball of emotions that was Yang Xiao Long needed right now.
The far wall disgorged the machines, gleaming and sharp as they fell into basic formation and charged. The last three had taken all of about six seconds to dismantle. This, she figured she could pull off in twenty.
I've got two problems, so let's start with the easier one, she thought, as she dove into the squad of death machines.
She was jealous. Which was about as impressive an observation as "Blake and Weiss are very attractive," but it still warranted some attention.
Break it down. One problem, in three parts.
Part one: Yang had been dating Blake since last November. It was April now, so in total they'd been together about five months. That was a respectable length for any relationship between people their age, and probably already a new record for Yang, if she was being honest with herself. The connection between her and Blake was unlike anything else she'd ever had. Not absolute trust, but certainly as close as she'd ever come. Love, of the barely-conditional kind.
(She drove a knee into a robot's crotch, not to cause pain, but to give herself leverage to rip its leg off at the hip.)
And now Yang had just sent that true love of her life on a romantic excursion with two other women, one of them her sister. Honestly, she was kinda surprised how weak the jealousy was. It'd be absolutely bonkers if she wasn't feeling a little unsteady over it.
(She parried a blade with her aura-coated arm, using the opening to drive a fist into the robot's face. Metal warped and glass shattered around her knuckles.)
The fact that Yang had suggested her teammates do the ritual together, plus the fact that she was dating Weiss now, too… those didn't really factor into her feelings. Which, led her to Part Two of Problem One.
(A robot she'd dismembered had switched its arms to gun mode, and was firing at her from the ground. She dodged around her assailants, slipping into range and crushing its neck with a precise stomp.)
Part Two: Weiss was wonderful. Yang did love her, and every time she gave herself time to think about being with her… it was like a supernova inside her chest, all this light and warmth that made her just want to dance around and shout at the sky!
But the idea hadn't really settled in yet. She still loved Blake, and her heart wasn't really prepared to hold two people in it yet. She was quickly getting there, but the idea of Weiss stealing Blake away from her still hurt, even thought she knew none of them would let it happen.
Even though Yang knew she could have Weiss too, if she asked.
And then of course, there was Ruby.
(She loosed a crescent kick with a bit more force than she'd intended, and another robot head banged off the reinforced glass wall of the arena.)
Part Three: There was a part of her that wanted to hug her sister and cackle at how much of a devious little shit she was, to thank her for making this all happen. A part that wanted to sit with Ruby under a tent of covers and pillows and whisper in together in giddy tones about how pretty Weiss was when she let her hair down, or how their hearts both fluttered whenever Blake wore that one tube top.
And there was another part which wanted very much take Ruby and punt her straight through the goddamn moon.
(She settled for punting a robot into the ceiling hard enough to chip the paint.)
Because how in the sandblasted fuck were they going to make this work? Because frankly, Yang had been pretty happy with her dating life as it stood before last night. Because this was a lot to process, and as much as she loved and believed in Ruby, she still really wasn't sure that any of them were ready for something like this.
She wasn't sure she was ready for this, because for all of that, for all of the legitimate worries that were rattling around in her head, the thing that was actually eating at her? The thing that actually lay on the back of her eyelids, that actually rang in her ears in quiet moments?
It wasn't even them.
"So? You don't have to say yes, obviously, but what's the worst that could happen?"
"We destroy our friendship and alienate several of our closest friends? I've heard that relationships can do that."
Laughter. "Yeah, but I don't think we're that stupid."
Laughter. "I know, Yang, sorry. I'm just a little nervous. But… I suppose… I wouldn't be opposed to the idea."
She'd grinned. "Cool," she'd said, and then the night had spun on, flirtations turning into touches turning into kisses turning into more, until they were tangled together in the morning light, wrapped in the sheets of a bed in an unoccupied dorm room.
She'd woken to a kiss on her nose, to vibrant green eyes looking down at her, crinkled at the edges, dimpled at the smile.
And, like an idiot, she'd smiled right back, and leaned up for a kiss.
Yang punched the last robot's head off so hard that it exploded against the far wall, stray pieces of shrapnel tearing into the mat. A couple even stuck in the concrete itself, dust pooling below them.
She walked away from the bodies of the fallen, retrieving her sports drink and towel from where she'd left them in the corner—next to the crate of literature she'd picked up from a dazed, rumpled, and very slightly smelly Velvet earlier—and sat with her back against the glass, watching as the cleaning robots dropped from the ceiling to pick up her mess and recycle it for later. One even darted around stitching patches onto the mat itself.
She took a swig, wiped her mouth on her arm, and—hesitantly— glanced at The Box.
It was an actual, honest to starstuff, wooden crate, divided into fourths by two boards slotted together in an X. The front had an old- looking label on it, a smiling rabbit faunus in overalls who looked suspiciously like Velvet, holding up a miniature, old-timey fire truck in her palm. Scarlatina Toys and Contraptions, Proud winners of the Southwest Vale Toy Exhibition, 723-726.
And it contained, of course, four stacks of books. Each and every one had a colored slip of paper poking out the top.
Yang chuckled affectionately as she pulled a book from the top of her stack. The Sacred V: Jealousy, Boundaries, and Learning to Share your Love.
Her eyebrows rose in amused surprise, as she opened the cover to read the note, written in Velvet's neat, flowing handwriting.
Hey Yang! I figured this was probably a good place for you to start, since you already kinda know what polyamory is. I don't want to make too many assumptions, but I imagine this is going to be hardest on you, at least to begin with. You're now suddenly sharing your girlfriend with two other women, and especially in Ruby's case that's going to mean a lot of complicated feelings and boundaries for all of you to respect. I don't have any books on siblings dating the same person, but I'll let you know as soon as I find one and read through it myself to make sure it's not awful garbage. TwT
I recommend you give this one to Ruby after she finishes The Patient Heart! And of course talk with her yourself if you think anything in this book could help you both. Also of course, if there's ever anything I can help with, don't hesitate to ask!
Also also, I just want to say that I'm very proud of all of you! You're going to be great together, I know it!
3
V.
Yang felt a big goofy smile spread across her face. "Aww," she muttered. "Thanks Velvs."
She flipped through the introduction. It was mostly things she already knew intuitively, but seeing them written out in someone else's hand was a neat experience, and it was definitely a good thing to have, given where she was at emotionally. Still, she stopped at the start of the first chapter, slotting the note in as a bookmark. She'd read through it sometime this week, between studying.
Right now, she couldn't focus on it at all.
She huffed, setting the book back on the stack and laying back down to rest her eyes.
Alright, Problem Number Two. One part. Face the issue.
She grimaced. Facing the issue wasn't an issue! The issue was that it hadn't been an issue!
It had only ever been a few hours, a few evenings together. Starting back in their first semester, with some sparring matches that she'd pretended were dates, because she was convinced she could get with the ("mostly") straight girl if she got her in enough headlocks.
Was it better or worse that she'd been right?
The cascade of hair down a naked back. Auburn. A beautiful color. She planted kisses between it, earning gasps and giggles for her efforts.
"Hey, babe," she'd whispered, between the touch of lips, nervous and raw. "Would it be cool if I said I loved you?"
A tilted head. A shift in the cascade. "I don't know," Pyrrha had said. "Why don't you try it and find out?"
Yang almost laughed aloud at the memory. They'd been dumb like that. All silly flirtations and innuendos, but with nerves behind them instead of confidence. Pyrrha was surprisingly good at that sort of thing, but… that was because she worked feverishly at it, just like everything else. It'd almost been enough to make things work.
Still, it ended well. Yang and Pyrrha were still friends. Close friends. They joked and teased each other over the things they'd learned in that hazy week. They didn't pretend it'd been nothing, but they didn't make a big deal about it.
Or, they hadn't until yesterday.
Obsessing wasn't helpful, and Yang knew that, but… she just couldn't get that sneer out of her head. The utter void of those green eyes, the total contempt , written all over the familiar face of someone she trusted. Someone she still loved , even if the shape of it was different.
She'd played it off at the time. Surprised, but ultimately unfazed. But it'd been rattling around the back of her skull ever since. She just couldn't figure out what she'd done wrong. She'd only been able to come up with one answer that made any sense, and it twisted like a knife in her stomach.
"You gotta give me an unofficial rematch sometime though, okay? That was the best fight of my life."
It wasn't an innuendo, but maybe Pyrrha thought it was? She knew that Yang often considered a friendly spar as good as a date. She'd teased Yang about it endlessly, way back when. Yang was a deeply physical person. The clash and the strain of a good fight were more than just a rush to her—they were one of her favorite ways to connect with people. With friends, with family, with rivals. With lovers.
They'd stopped sparring together for months after they broke up, specifically to help Yang move on.
Was that why Pyrrha had gotten angry? Was the idea that Yang still had feelings for her so upsetting, on such a gut level that she'd snap like that without even thinking?
Yang put her head back against the glass and slid down it with a wistful groan. I'm obsessing, twisting this way out of proportion. It was just a single comment, and a weird look. But… everyone noticed it. Her teammates rushed her out of the room afterwords. Jaune basically admitted it was something serious, and we're going to have a "talk" about it later, whatever that means.
So it was real. It meant something.But… what? What possible reason could she have for saying something like that?
…Does she regret what we had together?
The door to the practice arena chimed.
Yang cracked an eye, half-expecting to see Blake, Weiss, and Ruby, having come back from the temple a little early.
Instead, she saw Pyrrha.
She walked in, walked over, and sat next to Yang without a word. She was in her own workout clothes, water bottle in hand, but her hair was all done up, not a stray strand in sight. She'd just arrived, then.
"Hello, Yang," she said. She smiled, awkward as always. That was part of what Yang liked about Pyrrha; she was this huge, graceful, utterly powerful presence—but when you got to know her she was just this super awkward dork. It was adorable.
Yang didn't find it too hard to force a smile back. "Hey," she said. "You ah… here to train?"
"Something like that," Pyrrha said.
Her voice sounded… off. Strained. Desperate? But before Yang could analyze it further, Pyrrha stood, and offered her a hand.
"Why don't we go a few rounds?" she said.
Yang looked up in shock, mind whirling to process whatever was happening here. "What? Oh, uh…" She blinked. "Yeah. Sure, cool."
Pyrrha looked askance. "It's not exactly a rematch if we don't have our weapons, but…" she smiled a friendly smile, "think you can still beat me in hand-to-hand?"
Yang let out a startled laugh, head spinning with the whiplash between her thoughts and reality. She slugged back a drink, then tossed her bottle into the corner again. "Sure, hell yeah," she said, meeting Pyrrha's eyes and grinning. She took Pyrrha's hand, and hauled herself to her feet. "What's our end condition? Knockdown? Aura break? Submission?" She resisted the urge to waggle her eyebrows. Probably best not to push her luck.
"Why don't we go with submission?" Pyrrha waggled her eyebrows, and Yang's mind went thoroughly blank. "If you're up for it."
"No auras, grapples only?" Yang asked with a shaky laugh.
Pyrrha gave her a light punch to the shoulder. "Let's not get too carried away," she said. "You can use your semblance if you like, I don't mind."
Again, that same desperation in her smile.
Yang gave her a wary eye her as they squared off. Pyrrha held herself like she always did—loose, confident, scary, but that strange tension coated every little aspect of her, set her just slightly off-kilter.
It was odd, but… Yang smiled, razor-sharp. If Pyrrha wanted to do this? They were doing it right.
Pyrrha let Yang make the first move. Not that Yang would have let it be any other way, of course, but you could see the hesitation, the way she shifted onto her back foot before Yang had even committed to moving forward. She ducked Yang's opening salvo, weaving between blows and looking for openings for hard blocks and counters.
It was Pyrrha's signature style—by huntress standards, she wasn't actually particularly strong, but she had unbelievable defense and an uncanny knack for finding her opponent's weakest points and hitting them at the worst possible angle. It worked better when she had her shield to take hits, but she didn't lose any of her skill in a bareknuckle match.
She threw out a sweeping block, catching Yang's arm and hurling it off-course. Before Yang could maneuver herself back out of the way, Pyrrha advanced and slammed two uppercuts into her guts—smashing a wheeze out of Yang's lungs—then casually stepped back out of range, quick as the wind.
Yang came back up with a feral grin, recovering her loose stance rather than going for an immediate counterattack. Sure, those hits hurt like hell, but both girls had their auras up. Pyrrha's fists were jackhammers, but Yang's guts were armor-plated. She'd live. She could feel her semblance growing, the energy crackling inside her bones.
"Gotta say," Yang said, shifting her stance as they circled each other. "I'm impressed. You sure didn't slack off over winter break, huh?"
Pyrrha smiled sweetly. "I went with Jaune to visit his family. Taught one of his nieces a few moves. It was surprisingly good practice."
"Hah," Yang panted. "Glad you're getting along with the in-laws."
Pyrrha laughed. "We're not getting married yet." Some of the weirdness seemed to be easing off her. "What'd you do over the break? I don't think I ever actually asked."
"Had my own in-laws to visit," Yang said. She advanced a step, and Pyrrha retreated, not quite rejoining the bout just yet. "Went with Blake to visit her folks in Menagerie," she continued casually, then quickly darted forward for a few quick jabs, unsurprised when Pyrrha evaded them all.
Pyrrha hummed, bouncing back almost effortlessly, eyes sharp but not deadly. "That must've…" she ducked another punch "…been a big deal. What were they like?"
"Freaking awesome… actually." Yang chuckled, quietly frustrated that Pyrrha could keep such a casual tone while in the middle of a fistfight "Have you ever heard of Ghira Belladonna?" she said, still locked on the other girl's eyes, her stance, looking for any sign that she was going to launch an attack of her own. "Because I sure wish I had before I walked into his house."
"Ghira—" Pyrrha's mouth dropped open. "Gods… isn't he the founder of the White Fang?"
"Yup." Yang shrugged, pretending to let her guard down for a split second, just to see what Pyrrha would do. "He's really chill actually. Blake's mom is way scarier. Order of magnitude."
Pyrrha didn't go for the feint, offering a raised eyebrow and a smile as her only response. Yang sighed, and then rushed forward, closing the gap and loosing more jabs at Pyrrha's head. The strikes found air, as usual, but then Yang mixed up her routine, throwing in a snap-kick. It didn't quite catch Pyrrha's chin, but she felt hair sweep her toes as Pyrrha leaned back to avoid it.
Close, but not close enough. Pyrrha tried to catch her leg in the air, but Yang just barely managed to evade it. She clicked her tongue; that could have been a match-ender.
"Not a bad move," Pyrrha said, shifting her stance into a slightly more aggressive posture. "You've seriously improved… I'm only barely keeping up with you." She paused. "You know, when we have that proper rematch… I'm not certain I'll win."
Yang barked a laugh. "Hah. You were sure last time?"
"No," Pyrrha smiled easily.
Then suddenly there was a spiral of pain slamming into Yang's nose.
She recovered from what she deduced had been an unbelievably fast straight punch, but Pyrrha was in kill-mode now, and it was all Yang could do to fall back fast enough to avoid being locked down. Pyrrha's defense was plenty scary, but her offense was like rocket surgery; Yang had learned long ago never to let one of Pyrrha's hits land where she'd aimed it.
Yang's defense… well, she was better than she'd been at the Vytal festival, at least.
She took six blows on her arms, wincing each time at the spikes of pain through her aura as the crackle in her bones grew and grew. One nearly slipped past to strike her cheek, but she threw out a hard block to slam it away. She was just starting to get a rhythm, when Pyrrha whipped a roundhouse kick out of nowhere and slammed into Yang's side hard enough to throw her off her feet.
She was only in the air for a second, but Pyrrha was coming after her. There was no avoiding the follow-up, but Yang still threw an aura-boosted fist into the ground, boosting her into a seemingly-unpredictable spin, pushing herself farther from Pyrrha for a few precious seconds.
Her feet hit the wall of the training room, sinking into the padding. In the span of a quarter-second, she forced her aura into her legs, eyed the surprised look on her opponent's face, and triggered her semblance.
She exploded towards Pyrrha, rotating into something that might have been a drop kick if you squinted.
Pyrrha pivoted to dodge, and Yang's feet went past her, but she only noticed the hooked arm too late. An elbow closed around her neck hard enough to spark their aura against each other, fire against steel, and then Yang's momentum dragged them both to the ground. The sound Pyrrha made as she went down was somewhere equidistant between a laugh and a gurgle.
Yang landed in a crazily tilted crouch, and scrambled to keep Pyrrha's head under her control. She swung around, pulling the girl into the start of a rear naked choke.
Pyrrha very nearly managed to get out of it, one hand's fingers snapping up to yank Yang's hand out of position, while her other elbow hammered Yang's guts as hard and as quickly as it could.
Yang groaned at the spikes of pain in her ribs, focusing on punching Pyrrha's hand away so she could scrabble her arms into the proper position, locked tight around Pyrrha's neck. She ducked her head forward and squeezed.
A second later, she felt the tap on her forearm.
They both gasped as Yang let Pyrrha go, falling onto the mat beside each other, panting hard as their auras flared to correct all the tiny tears and fractures. The adrenaline started to filter out, and Yang glanced over at her friend with a big grin on her face.
Pyrrha looked back with a wry smile. "Now I'm … impressed." She extended a hand, and Yang met her knuckles.
"Good fight," Yang wheezed. "Damn, girl. Your… hand-to-hand is… getting a lot scarier. Couldn't have beat you… without my semblance."
"That's a high compliment… from you."
Yang flushed, grinning as she forced herself up. She snagged their drinks, and handed Pyrrha's over. "How ya feelin'?"
"Achey," Pyrrha laughed, her eyes sparkling from the mat. Her hair tie had come undone at some point, and her hair was splayed out around her. Yang hadn't even noticed it happen, somehow, but she found herself having to look away.
"Oh, I'm sure you'd love that."
Dammit…
Yang sat down hard, glancing at the box of books she'd brought with her. Wonder if there's something in there for dealing with the crush you still have on your ex?
"What's with the library?"
Yang clicked her tongue, shooting a smile Pyrrha's way. "Long story."
Pyrrha smiled back, brushing a strand of hair off her face. "I've got time, you know," she said.
A clench in her heart. Yang shook her head. "In a bit," she said, taking another swig.
Pyrrha hummed acknowledgement, smile drifting off towards the ceiling. "It's been a while since I've lost. Honestly it's refreshing."
Yang thumbed snot, or sweat, or something off her nose. "Still sick of being the Invincible Girl?"
Pyrrha blushed, but didn't retort. She lay her head back on the mat and closed her eyes, slowing her breathing down a bit. A wistful pause.
Her placid smile set off something in Yang, and she lay back as well, huffing out a grumpy grunt. "Man. How the fuck does Jaune keep up with you anyway?"
Pyrrha cut off a laugh. "He's better than you might expect."
"We're talking about—"
"Yes."
"Great." Yang wheezed out a laugh. "Hey, how do you even get space? Like do you sexile Nora and Ren every now and then, or like—"
" Mostly it's the other way around…" Pyrrha's chuckle trailed off into a happy sigh. " Mostly. It's… funny, actually; It used to be this whole big thing, spreadsheets and everything, but lately it's… I don't know how to explain it. It feels simpler, I suppose?" She huffed. "I imagine things with you and Blake are a bit more difficult."
"Honestly it's pretty fine." Yang stretched her back, cracking some of the aches out of it. "Weiss likes to drag Rubes off on study sessions after classes, so we tend to have a good bit of time to ourselves. More than we need for that kinda stuff." She rolled her closed eyes. "Well, it was like that. Who even knows what it's gonna be like now."
"You mean with Ruby and Weiss getting together?"
Yang debated leaving the assumption where it was… but…
No secrets.
" Kinda, but as of last night it's way more complicated than that."
"Oh?" Surprise colored Pyrrha's voice.
"It's nothing bad," Yang started, uncertain where exactly she was going with this. The high of the fight was fading, but she still felt a little dizzy with it. "It's good, actually. Impossibly good."
"Well, now I have to know," Pyrrha said. She shifted, and Yang opened her eyes to find the Vincible Girl turned her way, looking at her across the mat. For a moment, she imagined they were in bed together again, but that passed.
Yang sighed, turning her eyes back to the roof. "So… don't spread this too far, yeah? It's not a secret, but… you'll understand when I tell you."
"Mhmm."
"So… last night…" Yang chuckled. "Man, I can't even figure out where to start." She thought back, to Weiss's starry dress, to flirtations, to art, to stories, to truth, to the end, to a hungry kiss, the promise of many more in the air.
Eventually she found the words, and told the story.
It took a while, and the narrative rambled a bit, but Pyrrha was patient, and interested, and open. And it was a good story, as far as Yang was concerned. She was certainly smiling by the end.
"So basically," she said, throwing her arms to the blocked-off sky. "Blake and Weiss are anxious little sweethearts, Rubes is about an order of magnitude more devious than I gave her credit for, and everyone lived happily ever after." She let herself grin. "Well, lived happily for the rest of the night and the following morning, at least. Honestly it feels like we packed ten months into the last forty-eight hours."
"I can imagine," Pyrrha said. Her smile was bright and warm. "I'm really happy for you, Yang. That's honestly incredible."
"Haha, yeah, it is, innit?" Yang grinned, sheepish and a little giddy. "It's a lot to adjust to overnight. I'm still kinda… I think I'm still not fully processing it yet. Like, I barely even got my head around Ruby and Weiss being a thing, and now this. " She shook her head in resignation. "Anyway… thank you for the spar. And for listening. Talking about it is… making it feel more real."
There was a wistful edge to her voice. Pyrrha hummed, seeming to notice it. "That's a good thing, right?"
"Yeah, yeah…" Yang smiled, feeling a rush of emotion she wasn't sure she could name. "I just kinda, want to run to them and sweep them into my arms, y'know? Even though I've been dating Blake for half a year already, it just… it just feels like we renewed something. Woke up something sleeping?"
"There's probably not a perfect metaphor for it." Pyrrha looked skyward, her smile going somewhere far away. "I… I don't know if I ever told you, but it made me very happy when you and Blake got together. This… it's the same, but even more. I'm so happy that you're happy."
Yang turned to face her, smiling gently. "I think you've told me," she said. "But thank you anyway. And hey, not sure if I ever actually said this, but I'm glad Jaune finally noticed you pining for him. You two are good together."
"Thank you…" Pyrrha sighed. "...I was worried, you know? I know it's silly, but I've always felt bad about how… how we broke things off."
"Yeah?" Yang sat up, surprised. "Why?"
"Just…" Pyrrha stayed prone, looking up at nothing. "It was nice. It really was, and I sort of wish I'd been better at… anything."
"You were fine," Yang said. She shifted closer, offering an arm. Pyrrha shifted into it, snuggling up beside her. "We had a good time," Yang continued, "but you're more straight than gay, and neither of us is the kind of emotional support the other really needs. Neither of us messed it up. If anything, we did a good job breaking it off and not hurting each other more than we did."
The last sentence had an edge to it that she hadn't planned, and she winced when she realized why. But the words were out, and there wasn't anything Yang could do to take them back.
It seemed like Pyrrha wanted to say something, but she stopped herself, measuring herself carefully. "I'm… sorry, for yesterday," she said. "I… I wish I could just explain what happened, but…" she swallowed, and Yang looked into her eyes and saw the last thing she'd expected.
Terror.
"Pyr…" Yang moved without thinking, pulling her friend into a tight hug. She held the invincible girl until she broke, sobs rolling her body, her hands clamping around Yang's back. "You can talk to me," Yang said, brushing her hair. "Whenever you're ready."
Pyrrha laughed. "You don't even know what's wrong."
Yang rolled her eyes. "No kidding. But it's not about me, is it? Yesterday, that wasn't you being angry at me ." It was obvious in hindsight, really. The rest of Pyrrha's team wouldn't have rushed her out of the room for getting a little pissy. "This is something big , isn't it?"
Pyrrha nodded. "So much bigger than you think," she whispered, her voice weak.
"Well, you shouldn't be bearing it alone. And neither should your team. Spread the weight." Yang squeezed her tight, then let her go.
Pyrrha clung on a moment longer. Yang didn't push her away, waiting patiently. Eventually, Pyrrha let her go.
"Jaune said you guys would tell us today," Yang said, once Pyrrha had recovered enough to look her in the eye. "But if it takes longer than that, don't sweat it too much, okay? I'll be there when you're ready. We all will."
Pyrrha nodded, blinking tears out of her brilliant eyes. "You're good at this," she said with the faintest smirk. "Your girlfriends are lucky."
Yang cracked her own grin. "You better believe it," she said. Her voice softened. "And hey, just because we're not dating doesn't mean we're not still friends. You wanna talk, just ask me. Okay?"
Pyrrha nodded, her smile signaling everything else that needed saying.
Yang smiled right on back. "Wanna go for another round?"
Pyrrha laughed, stepping back into a fighting stance. "Absolutely."
A/N:
Oh hey wow an actual fight scene! Only took us... 22 chapters to get here! Disclaimer: I am not a martial artist.
Thanks to FriendofYggdrasil and SeventeenFables for looking over this one! And thanks to all of you for reading!