A/N: Yay! I hit over 10.2k views for this story! (And 119 followers and 88 favorites.) Thank you so much everyone for dropping by, following, favoriting, reviewing, commenting, and reading! ^_^
Also, to the Guest who left a comment on Feb 2, 2019 for Chapter 14, you asked for a better glimpse into Ruby's thoughts of Weiss, so here you go. Can't say I'll always be able to work in these kinds of requests, but this time I think it worked out nicely. And I'm really glad to hear you're enjoying how our girls are interacting with each other. *happy dance*
Now without further ado, enjoy~
EDITED 1/21/2020
Word Count: 10,449
Chapter 15 — Black Rock
Ruby was dreaming.
She stood alone in a barren forest, her skin pale in the moonlight and the scars that criss-crossed her body even paler as they were bared for all the world to see. Here she could not hide herself away with long sleeves and her cloak. Here she could not protect herself with her swords and bow. Even the ever-present whistle around her neck—the symbol of her family's love—was nowhere to be found. Here every single thing Ruby used to protect herself was gone, and she was left naked, alone, and defenseless.
Her heart trembled, sending a ripple out to the rest of her body. The ripple turned into a quiver and suddenly, Ruby was running, her bare feet digging into the earth as she looked for any sign of Yang or Uncle Qrow—for any sign that she wasn't alone. However, no matter how hard she strained her ears or how many times she lifted her nose to scent the air, she never got the sense that there was any sign of life in this dark place. No birds, no animals big or small, no trickle of water, not even the slightest breeze. There was nothing here save complete and utter stillness. Emptiness. Even the trees around her seemed dead—their dry, leafless branches stretching impossibly high above her, shattering the black sky and the eerie moon into little fragments like cracks on a broken mirror.
Ruby ran and ran until she could run no longer. That was when they found her.
One by one, they appeared on the very edge of her senses. Their beady red eyes glared out at her from under their white, skull-like masks. Their powerful claws, hooves, talons, and whatever else scraped the earth or dug into the boughs above in hungry anticipation. Their growls, snarls, screams, and roars echoed out from seemingly everywhere. If the Grimm were even capable of hate, Ruby knew that at that moment they hated her. Here in this dream world, they saw her as a threat and wanted more than anything to just rip her to pieces.
Their bloodthirst slammed into her like a rolling wave, and Ruby's pulse leapt to her throat. She dropped into a defensive crouch, but she knew it was hopeless. She wasn't as strong and powerful as Yang. She wasn't as tenacious or crafty as Uncle Qrow. Without her swords and bow, without her protective cloak and whistle, without the love of those she cared about, Ruby was nothing.
As though scenting her weakness, the Grimm crept closer and closer, circling her, waiting for a single moment of inattention so they could tear her to pieces. Then suddenly, they halted. Their cries dropped to a low, resentful rumble.
A shiver ran up Ruby's spine. She and the Grimm weren't alone. Something else was out there—something much bigger and stronger than all of them. Just as the thought crossed her mind, a deep, air-rippling growl reverberated through the dark forest, causing Ruby's hair and fur to stand on end and making the Grimm around her shrink back. The earth boomed and trembled in regular intervals. Whatever was out there was drawing closer. Ruby's breathing hitched in spite of herself. It was coming.
Ruby bolted awake, trembling and drenched in cold sweat. Her heart raced, and her lungs gasped as she tried to make sense of where she was and where the danger was coming from, except...there was no danger. There were no skeletal trees, no stalking Grimm, no unseen force approaching from the darkness. All she saw was a sloping canopy above her. The tent. She was in the tent.
Gradually, Ruby took in the rest of her surroundings. Her blankets lay twisted around her, forced into a chaotic mess from her nighttime thrashing. Her bedroll lay slightly rumpled beneath her. Yang slept on one side of her while Weiss was on the other.
When Ruby's fever suddenly spiked that first evening, her companions had shuffled her bedroll to the middle of the tent so that both of them could check on her throughout the night. Considering Ruby had woken up the next morning still feverish, laid out on her stomach with a damp towel stretched across her bare back, and covered only by a thin blanket, her temperature must have gotten dangerously high that night. Yang knew Ruby didn't like taking off her shirt in front of people because of the scars that littered her skin, so her older sister wouldn't have done it unless things had been dire.
Ruby flopped back down, both thankful and mildly surprised that her nighttime thrashing hadn't woken either of her companions. Then again, both Yang and Weiss were probably tired after staying up for several nights to make sure Ruby's fever didn't spike again. Now that the worst of her fever was over, they could finally make up for all that lost sleep.
Ruby closed her eyes and breathed in deeply through her nose, mentally cataloguing every scent to make sure everything was as it should be—to make sure everyone was safe and accounted for. Instantly, Yang and Weiss's scents filled her senses, reassuring and calming her, but it still wasn't quite enough. She opened her eyes, sat up, and got to her knees so that she could see both of her companions at once. She knelt there utterly still until she saw the steady rise and fall of their chests. Only then did she finally breathe a soft sigh of relief.
She turned her attention to outside the tent, listening for any sign that something might be amiss, but all she heard were the usual night sounds. Bats flying overhead and scooping insects out of the air, the distant sound of frogs singing out by the river, the wind blowing through the grass, the occasional yip or bark of a fox. All was well. Everyone was safe.
Ruby's thoughts turned inwards as her wolf ears folded back and her tail curled tightly around her body.
It was that dream again—the shadow dream—the one she always had at least once either during or after she had one of her fevers. Were they connected in some way?
And for some reason, the shadow dream always made her uneasy and made her want to check on everyone she cared about. Her urge to protect her people—to protect her pack—was never as strong as when she was thrust out of that dream. Maybe she was afraid that all the things in her dream would follow her out of it? And what was that thing, that presence, that always showed up at the end? Was it an enemy? An ally? Neither? And why did it keep showing up in her dreams? She didn't know.
Ruby's eyes fell to the gap between Yang and Weiss where her bedroll was. She wished it was narrower—wished that Yang and Weiss had fallen asleep slightly closer together so that Ruby could curl up against both of them at once. She didn't care if she got a little squished. She liked that of feeling closeness—that feeling of being surrounded by and being pressed up against people who cared about her and who she cared about in return. Yang used to tease her about it, saying that Ruby was like a puppy curling up with all of its littermates, and Yang had been more right than she knew. That was exactly the case. There was just something extremely comforting about going to sleep and waking up with the scent and warmth of family—of...friends?—surrounding her.
Ruby glanced at Weiss, who was sleeping neatly on her back as she always did.
Was Weiss a friend? How did two people become friends anyway? Did it just happen or did Ruby have to ask if Weiss would be her friend? And technically Weiss was their employer. Were employers even allowed to be friends with the people they hired or did they all have to wait until the job was over? Maybe she should ask Yang how this friend business worked, because Ruby sort of, kind of, really wanted Weiss to be her friend.
Which was strange. And a little scary, because Ruby had always been fine with just Yang and Uncle Qrow. She'd never needed or even wanted to be close to anyone else before, but for some reason, Weiss made her feel otherwise. Like if it was Weiss, then maybe having a friend wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. People were scary, but Weiss wasn't. Well, Weiss could be a little scary when she was irritated or mad, but she wasn't scary-scary.
Weiss would never hurt her just because Ruby was a Faunus. She'd never look at Ruby's wolf ears and tail as if they were something disgusting, and she'd never look at Ruby herself as if she were something that shouldn't even exist. Because sometimes people did that. They'd be fine with Ruby until the moment they happened to catch sight of her lupine ears or tail and then everything changed. They'd give her that look, the one that made Ruby feel so small inside and made her pull her hood even lower just so that she didn't have to see it again. The look that made Yang and Uncle Qrow get into arguments and fights on her behalf even though watching them get angry was the last thing Ruby ever wanted.
Weiss wasn't like those people, and she had never given Ruby that look. In fact, Weiss had even given Ruby ear rubs and helped her brush her tail out that one time! It had been so long since anyone had brushed out Ruby's tail for her. Yang used to do it for her before Ruby had gotten old enough to do it herself and still did on occasion, but it had been a while since the last time Yang had offered. The two of them had just been so busy back in Patch, and while they made sure to make time for cuddling every now and then, some of the other things they used to do had fallen by the wayside. Ruby promptly decided to remedy that as soon as possible. Maybe she would offer to brush Yang's hair for her tomorrow evening.
Also...Ruby wasn't entirely sure, but she had half-formed memories of someone else brushing her tail for her as well—memories that Ruby didn't even know she still had until that moment with Weiss. They weren't whole memories—more like fragments or brief impressions at best. Warm hands. A wooden comb. The gentle hum of someone singing a lullaby, the one that Yang sometimes still sang to her when Ruby was feeling particularly bad. A white cloak—her mother's cloak.
Ruby didn't know if it was the color of Weiss's hair overlapping with the cloak of her memories or if it was simply the gentleness of Weiss's fingers as they combed through her tail that called Ruby's mind back to brighter times, but somehow Weiss had brought all those distant memories bubbling back to the surface. If those faint impressions and images were real, then Weiss had given a part of Ruby's mother back to her—the mother who was fading from Ruby's memories more and more with each passing year.
Ruby's heart had been so full then that she had unthinkingly treated Weiss like she would have treated Yang or Uncle Qrow, rubbing her cheek against the noble's shoulder affectionately in thanks. At first, Ruby had been a little worried that the cheek-nuzzle had upset Weiss, but when Weiss gave her wolf ears a gentle rub, Ruby knew things would be alright.
That was the moment that really made Ruby feel like she wanted to be friends with Weiss.
The feeling had been a long time coming, of course. Ever since Weiss had helped Ruby through her panic attack in Treline, Weiss had started feeling like a second Yang to Ruby—as if Ruby would always be safe with Weiss no matter what. As if Weiss could be family. The noble might still have her prickly moments, but the rest of the time she was really nice—like when she started teaching Ruby how to read and write!
And perhaps even more importantly, Weiss let Ruby cuddle with her when she wasn't feeling well. Yang-cuddles were great and all—they were warm and always made Ruby feel safe and protected—but Ruby wasn't allowed to have them when she was feverish. Plus, they weren't really soft; Yang had too much muscle for that.
Weiss-cuddles, on the other hand, were a lot softer. Not that Weiss was weak or anything like that, but she didn't quite have Yang's hard muscle or even Ruby's leaner muscle. And better yet, Weiss's extremities were always slightly cool to the touch, meaning Ruby could go to her for physical contact even when she had a fever and Yang wouldn't scold her. That is, as long as Weiss didn't mind Ruby getting all touchy with her. So far it seemed to be fine. True, Weiss still did this thing where she tensed up a little at first whenever Ruby reached out to her, but she always relaxed after a little while and lately even seemed to enjoy the contact.
It was extremely subtle though. The minute softening of Weiss's expression. A slight loosening of her shoulders. An almost unnoticeable exhalation through her nose like a super tiny sigh.
It made Ruby think that maybe Weiss didn't dislike being touched as much as Ruby had first thought. Maybe she just wasn't used to it. Ruby was more than willing to help her get used to it if that was what Weiss wanted. Hugs were great, and everyone deserved the occasional hug!
It was why Ruby always made sure to hug Yang and Uncle Qrow whenever she had the chance. It made her feel better, and she knew it made them happier too, even if Uncle Qrow liked to pretend she was making him look soft in front of the other Riders.
Ruby looked back down at her two sleeping companions with a little frown. If only one of them would scooch over just a bit so that she could get double-snuggles. Though in hindsight, it was probably best that neither of them moved much in their sleep. That way Ruby never had to worry about one of them rolling over onto her tail in the middle of the night.
Well, Ruby was nothing if not stubborn and resourceful when it came to problem-solving. The question now was who should get primary snuggles and who should get secondary snuggles.
In the end though, there wasn't much of a choice. Yang never slept well when Ruby fell ill, and now that Ruby was finally feeling better, she wanted Yang to get plenty of rest. Unfortunately, that meant Yang could only get secondary snuggles this time around. Ruby would have to give Yang extra hugs later to make up for it.
Her decision made, Ruby laid back down and stretched out her tail so that she could drape it over Yang's arm (which, as usual, had made its way out from under her blankets) and let the remainder run along her older sister's blanketed side. She made sure to keep her movements slow and light so as not to disturb her sister's rest. It wasn't ideal—Ruby would much rather have Yang pressed up against her back—but at least she could feel Yang's comforting warmth seeping into her tail. She had to fight the urge to wag the appendage lest she do exactly what she was trying not to do—wake her older sister.
Then Ruby scooched forward, shifting her body until she was lying diagonally across her bedroll so she could lightly rest her cheek against Weiss's upper arm while still keeping her tail in place. Unfortunately, Weiss must not have been sleeping deeply for her breathing suddenly stuttered and changed.
"Ruby…?" Weiss murmured, her voice still thick with sleep. "Is something wrong?"
Ruby's lupine ears drooped guiltily. She hadn't meant to wake Weiss, and she definitely hadn't wanted to make her worried.
Unaware of Ruby's silent dismay, the noble started shuffling around in the dark. Weiss pulled her arms out from under her blankets, rolled over onto her side, and reached out blindly towards her. Already knowing what Weiss was trying to do and well aware the noble couldn't see half as well as she could in the dark of the tent, Ruby lifted her head and met Weiss's questing hand with her forehead. She couldn't help but close her eyes briefly upon contact, relishing how nice the noble's cool hand felt against her skin.
Upon finding what she sought, Weiss pressed her hand even more firmly against Ruby's brow, any hesitancy she had once shown was now entirely gone after spending several days helping Yang nurse Ruby back to health. Weiss held her hand there for a few seconds before she said softly, "You still feel a little warm, but not worryingly so. Do you feel alright?"
Ruby reached up, brought Weiss's hand down to her cheek, and nodded, holding the noble's hand in place so that she could feel Ruby's answer even if she couldn't see it.
"You don't feel sick?"
Ruby shook her head, privately enjoying the way Weiss was brushing her thumb along Ruby's cheekbone, a habit that Ruby was sure Weiss had picked up from Yang over the past few days. Ruby wasn't sure if Weiss was aware she was doing it, but she didn't want her to stop. It felt really nice—different than Yang's touch, to be sure—but still nice.
Weiss fell silent, and Ruby could see the noble's brow furrowing as she tried to figure out why Ruby had woken her up. Oh well, since Weiss was already awake, there was no sense in not taking advantage of the moment.
Ruby scooched forward some more and this time, pressed her cheek firmly against Weiss's shoulder before briefly snuggling in, her request plain. She pulled back slightly to check the noble's expression, hoping Weiss wouldn't mind.
Weiss's thoughts and emotions fluttered across her eyes far too quickly for Ruby to read any of them, but eventually Weiss gave a sigh, grumbled something that sounded a lot like, "cuddlebug," and rolled back over onto her back. Then, to Ruby's great surprise and glee, Weiss scooted a little closer and held the corner of her blanket up slightly, a clear invitation if Ruby ever saw one.
Grinning widely, Ruby quickly fixed her own mussed blankets so that they covered her more thoroughly, made sure her tail was still brushing up against Yang, and then nestled her cheek once again against Weiss's shoulder. Once Ruby was settled, Weiss draped the corner of the blanket she had been holding up over as much of Ruby's shoulders as it could reach.
"Now go back to sleep," Weiss said, her words already sounding drowsy again.
Ruby nuzzled her cheek against Weiss's shoulder in response, closed her eyes, and slowly drifted back off to sleep, letting the scent and comfort of companionship gradually wash away the last of the unease left behind by her shadow dream.
Ruby ended up having two more fever attacks in the course of roughly as many weeks, though thankfully the following two bouts of fever weren't nearly as bad as the first. Ruby's first fever had lasted three days and spiked so sharply that both Weiss and Yang stayed up all night that first night. When they weren't waking Ruby to get her to drink another dose of her medicinal tea, they were constantly wiping down her overheated body with cool, damp cloths, desperately trying to keep her temperature from rising any higher. Yang had told Weiss to go to sleep more than once, but Weiss couldn't. She had been far too worried about their youngest member to even think about falling asleep.
Also, Weiss didn't like the idea of leaving Yang to worry over Ruby all alone either. It almost physically hurt to see how worried Yang was and how she pushed away that concern time and time again to greet her little sister with a soft smile whenever Ruby was cognizant enough to respond. The sheer tenderness and care with which Yang treated Ruby with made Weiss's heart ache. How different could Weiss's life have been if her family—if her father—had even a fraction of the amount of affection Yang and Ruby had for each other. Once Ruby's fever fell, Yang and Weiss started taking turns, sleeping in shifts so that someone was always awake to monitor Ruby's temperature.
More than once, Weiss used her Aura-sight to check on Ruby's Aura and as expected, the girl's Aura had those dark bands of crimson running through it every single time. It seemed the bands got darker and wider as her temperature rose and thinned when her temperature went back down. Weiss had never seen anything like it and neither had Yang, but Yang remained outwardly optimistic. All they had to do was find someone well-versed in Auras and luckily, Vytal was the central hub of all Huntsman and Huntress activities because it was where the Huntsman and Huntress licensing exams took place every year.
It was after Ruby had taken another dose of her medicinal tea and was dozing in the tent during her third fever attack that Yang pulled Weiss aside to speak with her.
Yang took a moment to fetch their map of Atlas and laid it out so both of them could look at it.
"This is roughly where we are now," Yang said as she tapped a spot on the map with her forefinger. Then her finger slid over to a symbol that lay somewhat farther west than their current route would take them. The symbol looked like three pine trees surrounded by a circle. "And this is a mining town by the name of Black Rock." Yang hesitated before adding, "Uncle Qrow told me that this is where he's been getting Ruby's medicine."
Oh. So that's what this is about.
Weiss looked more closely at the map. To get to Black Rock, they'd have to cross several streams and trek partway up a mountain, assuming the map was accurate. It would undoubtedly add at least two or more weeks to their journey. They weren't on a timetable, but Weiss had still hoped they would be able to reach the Vytal-Atlas border before the snows hit. Unfortunately, all of their recent delays made that unlikely. The three of them expected it to snow any day now, and they'd already had several mornings where it had been so cold that the morning dew had turned to frost.
From the corner of her eye, Weiss saw Yang lean forward, rest her elbows on her knees, and bring her hands together to form one tight fist, revealing to Weiss just how tense the other woman was right now.
"We're not out of Ruby's medicine," Yang continued. "And we probably have enough to last a while, but since it's on the way, I was thinking we should stop by anyway and get some more just in case.
"The thing about Ruby's fevers is that they're not regular, like, at all. Sometimes she'll go for months without having one only to have a really bad one followed by several weaker fevers like she did this time. Other times she'll have a whole bunch of weak ones fairly regularly before they taper off again. We just never know." Yang's voice shook at the last word, and she swallowed hard to steady it. "And I don't know if they'll have the right herbs and stuff when we get to Vytal, like, what if some of the plants are only native to Atlas? It might take time for us to get more once we cross the border, or it might get super expensive, or—"
"Yang," Weiss interrupted before Yang could get any more worked up. "Calm down. Of course we can go."
Yang turned to Weiss and blinked. Her mouth flopped open and closed a few times before she said, "Really? You're sure?"
The hopeful doubt in Yang's voice hurt more than Weiss wanted to admit. Did Yang really think she was so cold and heartless as to refuse to pick up medicine for someone who so clearly needed it? To refuse to pick up medicine for Ruby?—after everything the young girl had done for her?
"Of course!" Weiss snapped far more sharply than she intended.
Yang stiffened at the harshness of her tone, and Weiss was forced to close her eyes and take a deep breath before continuing. She only opened her eyes again when she was certain her emotions were back under control.
"Of course," she repeated, her voice softer. "It's one of our rules, right? Take care of each other. So this is us taking care of Ruby. We're going to this...this Black Rock place to get more medicine, and that's final."
Yang stared at Weiss, those lilac eyes of hers flickering as one thought after another passed through her mind before she suddenly said, "I'm sorry."
Caught by surprise, Weiss asked tenatively, "For...what? Exactly?"
"I hurt you. I didn't mean to, but I hurt you."
Weiss could feel her expression harden at the implication that she cared about what Yang thought of her. That she was weak enough to be hurt by the other woman's apparent lack of positive regard.
Then Weiss remembered that Yang wasn't her father; that she did care what the sisters thought of her, for better or for worse; and that thus far, their positive regard of her had done more good for her than bad.
The way her thoughts had flip-flopped so instantaneously made her want to groan. Allowing herself to have emotions was so frustrating sometimes.
"Were you ever planning to tell me about any of this?" Weiss asked quietly, hating the thread of insecurity that had woven its way into her voice.
Would the sisters ever have told her about Ruby's fevers or that they needed to go to Black Rock for more medicine if Ruby hadn't fallen ill? Was Weiss so untrustworthy that they couldn't have mentioned any of this sooner?
A part of Weiss recognized that she was being unreasonable—that she couldn't possibly expect the sisters to share every aspect of their lives with her when she was such a relatively new addition to their lives—but it hurt nonetheless.
Weiss refused to look at Yang directly lest the ridiculously perceptive woman read more from her than she was prepared to show.
"Aw no, Weiss, it's not—that's not—"
Yang made a frustrated sound and when Weiss chanced a brief glance, she saw Yang was rubbing her face roughly with both hands. Weiss looked away again before Yang could catch her staring. Eventually, Weiss sensed rather than saw Yang turn her head back towards her as she kept her eyes locked on the map between them.
"Look, Weiss, it's not you, alright? It's...it's me...being silly and foolishly hopeful and…" —Yang breathed a heavy sigh and her next words were so quiet that Weiss doubted she would have caught them had she not been right next to her— "and scared."
The tremor in Yang's voice brought Weiss's eyes back up. It was only then that Weiss noticed the weary cast of Yang's shoulders and the bags beneath her eyes.
She's tired, Weiss realized. Had Yang slept at all even though she had been the one to suggest sleeping in shifts so that each of them could get some rest? Or had she only pretended to sleep and instead spent the entire time lying awake and worrying about her little sister?
Yang continued as though she'd forgotten Weiss was even there, her eyes uncharacteristically downcast. "She's been getting these fevers for so long, and every time I hope and pray that this fever will be the last one. That she won't have to suffer through one of these things again because they take so much out of her. And we've been lucky so far, but what if we run out of luck? What if one of these times, she can't bounce back like she normally does? What do we do then?"
Yang's eyes were glistening when she turned to meet Weiss's. "It's not that we didn't want to tell you. It's just...I don't want to think about Ruby being sick until I absolutely have to. I hate it so, so much. I hate seeing her lying there so sick and tired. I hate seeing her so miserable and weak. I hate that I can't do anything for her to make things better. I hate that all I can do is sit there and worry." Yang ran a hand through her hair agitatedly as she choked out the words.
Weiss hesitated a moment before she lifted a hand and placed it lightly on Yang's shoulder as Yang so often did for Weiss. She half expected Yang to pull away from her and was rather surprised when she didn't.
"You are helping her," Weiss found herself saying. She pulled her hand back awkwardly and gripped it tightly in her opposite hand as she tried to find the right words to help. She wasn't good at this sort of thing, but something compelled her to try regardless. "You're there looking out for her, getting her medicine ready, taking care of her, even holding her hand whenever she asks for it. And every time you do, she wags that tail of hers and her expression relaxes." Weiss took a deep breath, feeling the weight of Yang's widening eyes on her. "I know it's not my place to say this, but you are making things better. Even if it doesn't feel like it, you are."
I know you are because ever since I've met the two of you, I've felt the same way.
How many times had Yang's encouraging words or Ruby's unbridled enthusiasm dragged her from her frustration when her training wasn't going the way she planned? How many times had one of the sisters done something for her—set up her bedroll for her when she was particularly tired or something similarly considerate—and suddenly she was filled with a strange sense of honest gratitude and warmth? How often had a simple smile or pat on the shoulder flipped her mood around entirely even though she might have been feeling less than gracious only moments before?
How did it even make sense that such simple things now meant more to her than all the riches and comforts of her previous life?
Weiss fell silent, lost in her own thoughts, and a long silence stretched between the two of them.
Eventually, Yang was the one to break the silence, her voice slightly rougher than usual. "Thanks, Weiss."
Weiss just nodded in return, breathing a small sigh of relief when she saw that her awkward words had indeed helped, if only a little. At the very least, Yang's shoulders had straightened and that despondent look had mostly left her eyes. For now, it would have to be enough. Although...
Weiss rose to her feet. "Shall I see if I can catch a fish or two for supper?" Perhaps if Weiss took responsibility for tonight's supper, Yang could relax a little and focus more on Ruby instead of worrying about all the other things that needed to be done around camp.
Yang had just tucked the map under her arm and was about to walk away when Weiss spoke. Yang's brow quirked up. "Uhh...I don't mind, but no screaming this time? Ruby needs her rest."
Weiss's cheeks reddened. "I only did that the one time!"
It had been unavoidable! How was she to know that fishing required bait and that the bait Ruby handed her would be a grotesque, fat, appallingly large, brown-headed, white-bodied, monstrous grub that made her skin crawl just looking at it. Surely anyone would have jumped and shrieked had one been plopped into their hand with absolutely no warning. Yes, Weiss had been wearing gloves (gloves that she had promptly removed and wouldn't touch again until Ruby had wiped them down for her), but still. Even the thought of the revolting creature was enough to send fresh shudders down her spine.
In the end, Ruby had gone digging for earthworms for Weiss to use instead (which were only mildly less repulsive) but at least she could touch them without cringing too much. Since then, Ruby had fashioned an earthworm-holding container (complete with a lid) out of the cross-section of a hollowed out tree branch, and filled it with damp soil which she exchanged with new soil regularly. Supposedly, the soil kept the creatures alive, though how any creature could subsist solely on dirt was beyond Weiss's understanding. Whenever Ruby went digging for bait, she would plop any earthworms she found into the container for Weiss's sake. That way, the noble wouldn't have to go digging around in the dirt whenever she decided to try her hand at fishing and far more importantly, she wouldn't have to worry about possibly finding and touching one of those horrendous grubs. Weiss's gratitude had been so great at that moment that she had offered Ruby a rare, appreciative, though somewhat awkward hug, something that Ruby had accepted with a ridiculous amount of tail-wagging enthusiasm.
"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure my hearing hasn't been the same since." The grin on Yang's face told Weiss that she was just poking fun at her, yet again.
"Hmph! Well see if I share whatever fish I catch with you tonight! Maybe I'll just cook it and split it with Ruby, and you'll be stuck with cold, hard jerky." Which was probably one of the weakest retorts Weiss could have come up with since Yang seemed to like meat no matter what form it was in (unlike Weiss) and had no problem with jerky. And then there was that little issue of Weiss still being relatively new to fishing, meaning she probably wouldn't be able to catch anything unless she was particularly lucky today...
Still, Weiss turned her nose up into the air and crossed her arms for good measure, playing up the part of a haughty noble to the best of her ability, ignoring the way her cheeks were heating up.
The light chuckle that reached her ears made all this...foolishness...worth it.
A stray thought crossed her mind. I wonder if this is how Ruby feels when she manages to make Yang or myself smile and laugh.
"And what a tragedy that would be," Yang said as she gave one last chuckle before sobering up, though a small smile remained on her face. She met Weiss's eyes, and Weiss knew then that Yang knew exactly what Weiss had been trying to do just now. Knew it and appreciated it. Which, for some reason, made Weiss feel even more embarrassed than before.
Weiss looked away, wishing she had a way to hide her flaming cheeks. Thankfully, Yang said nothing more. She only patted Weiss's shoulder lightly before moving away.
Weiss stood there for a moment longer, letting the last of her embarrassment ebb away, before wandering off to locate and borrow Ruby's fishing gear. And to find that little bait container. If Weiss recalled correctly, Ruby kept it in one of her pack's outer pockets.
As soon as Ruby had recovered, the three of them headed for Black Rock. It took about three days of continuous travel (Yang decided to cancel group training sessions for a while to give Ruby extra time to recover before letting her use her Aura again) to reach the edge of the open hill country, and suddenly they were back to being surrounded by trees. Another four days and they had reached their destination. Yang left all of her things with Ruby and Weiss (except for a light canvas sack that she planned to use to carry any purchases she made) and gave the other two strict instructions to avoid all people before heading into town alone.
The Black Pines Apothecary ended up being smack dab in the middle of Black Rock. Yang soon learned that the name "Black Rock," literally referred to coal, the mining town's main commodity.
As Uncle Qrow had told Yang all those months ago, the town was fairly large for a mining town. It stretched out between the side of the mountain where the mines probably were and a forest that was gradually thinning due to human activity.
Yang was surprised so many people could survive out here. The rocky earth probably made any sort of farming difficult judging by the meager gardens dotting the cleared land just outside the town palisades. The gardens were few in number (compared to the apparent number of people living in the town) and what few crops that still hadn't been harvested were rather stunted looking. Either the mines were rich enough to let the townspeople trade for what they needed or they had other ways to supplement for what they lacked. Maybe they traded lumber as well.
Upon entering the town, Yang found that the people were friendly enough and seemed used to the occasional stranger. She only had to stop and ask a single person to find out where she could restock up on travel supplies and where the Black Pines Apothecary was. Yang chose to pick up supplies first, all of which went into her canvas sack.
Once her newly purchased supplies were squared away, Yang headed for the apothecary. Like all the other buildings in town, it was made of wood and had a raised porch to help keep the entryway from getting snowed in during the winter months. Yang knew she was in the right place because the building had the apothecary emblem (three pines in a circle) forged out of wrought iron and hanging outside from an extended roof beam. As Yang pushed open the door, she heard a musical tinkle. Looking around, she noticed someone had tied a string of bells to the inner door handle.
"Just a minute," a gruff voice called out from the back.
Yang took a minute to glance around the store. Like most apothecaries and herbalist shops she had visited over the years, the storefront was narrow, providing only enough room for a handful of customers to stand or sit as they waited for their order to be completed. There was a narrow bench in the corner opposite to where the door opened and a tall stool in front of the store counter, but that was about it. The rest of the building was dedicated to storing all the herbs and medicines. Rows and rows of small wooden drawers lined every wall, and there were several sturdy wooden shelves in the center of the space that housed jars and bottles of all different sizes and shapes.
To be honest, it looked a lot like the inside of the workshop Yang had built for Ruby behind their cabin back in Patch—a sea of organized chaos. Yang couldn't help but smile a little at the familiarity of the place. Memories of watching Ruby tinker around in her workshop rose up from the back of Yang's mind. Ruby's tail would be hanging off the back of her stool, wagging whenever something she was working on was going well, and her wolf ears would flick this way and that as she concentrated.
It helped Yang relax as she waited. Not that she was tense exactly, but she hadn't liked leaving Ruby's side so soon after her little sister's last string of fevers. Unfortunately, Yang hadn't much of a choice. There was no way she would bring Ruby into a town that Uncle Qrow told her was anti-Faunus.
Thankfully, Ruby hadn't had any more fevers since the first three, and even if she did get another one, Weiss was with her. After helping Yang care for Ruby through all three fever bouts, the noble knew exactly what to do now in the event that Ruby got another fever. Yang could trust her to look after Ruby until she returned.
Yang's thoughts wandered further and as usual, they turned to other not so pleasant thoughts.
In between Ruby's fevers, Ruby had just enough energy to check on their distant followers, and lo and behold, they had seemingly caught up and were still traveling parallel to the three of them. While Yang was well aware that their map might not have every town and every road noted on it—that there was a chance, however slight, that the other four travelers just happened to be heading to an unmarked location on the map that mirrored Yang, Ruby, and Weiss's route—the rest of Yang felt it was all too much of a coincidence.
Even if there was a chance the four travelers in the distance were heading to a place that mirrored the trio's route, there was no way they would have stayed so consistently nearby. Between the days the trio spent camping because of Ruby's fevers and the time they spent training instead of traveling a few extra miles each day, the distant travelers should have overtaken them and moved on ahead long ago. Instead, they were still out there hovering like a pesky swarm of flies.
Then after Yang, Ruby, and Weiss had decided to take the detour to Black Rock to get more of Ruby's medicine, Ruby reported a few days later that two of the distant travelers had suddenly disappeared, and the remaining two had changed direction and were heading away from them. The next evening when the trio stopped for camp, Ruby told her that the two that had changed direction were now out of range. Yang breathed a small sigh of relief upon hearing that they were gone, but what had happened to the other two? Had they fallen to Grimm or perhaps a wild animal?
Ruby offered to venture out farther to see what she could find out, but Yang didn't want to let Ruby out of her sight when there were so many uncertainties about this whole situation. Grimm she knew Ruby could handle, but when it came to human adversaries? Ruby sometimes held back or hesitated when she shouldn't. Both Yang and Uncle Qrow had tried to break Ruby of the habit multiple times but still it persisted. If there was even a quarter of a chance that Ruby might run into the two missing people and they turned out to be perfectly fine, Yang didn't want to risk Ruby facing them alone. That, and Ruby was still recovering from her fevers, meaning she shouldn't be running around on her own anyway. What if something happened to her while she was out there and she was too far away for Weiss and Yang to hear her whistle?
After Weiss had caught Yang and Ruby discussing the issue one too many times, Yang finally told the noble about the situation. To Yang's surprise, Weiss had been surprisingly calm about it, stating plainly that even if something did happen, the three of them were practically Huntresses and therefore well prepared to take on most threats.
Yang couldn't help but grin at the noble's straightforward assessment. It was hard to believe that this was the same young woman who had been so nervous the first time they had encountered a small pack of Beowolves. She'd come so far since then and was still going strong. It was good to see.
An uneven, three-beat thudding sound echoed out from the back of the shop, dragging Yang away from her thoughts. She lifted her gaze to see an older man, whose ponytailed hair and grizzled chin were more salt than pepper, making his way to the store counter. The odd cadence of his steps turned out to be because the man had a peg-leg and was using a well-worn cudgel as a walking stick to help him keep his balance. The man's sharp, dark brown eyes swept over Yang as he reached the counter.
"Greetings, stranger. Rather late in the season to be traveling into the mountains," the man said as he leaned his cudgel against the nearby wall and levered himself down onto a stool that Yang only just noticed was on the other side of the counter.
Yang gave a light shrug and offered the man a friendly smile. "Yeah, but an old bird told me this is the only place where I can get the medicine I need."
The man's bushy brow rose in question. "Would you happen to know the name of this old bird?"
"A Rider and ex-Huntsman by the name of Qrow Branwen. He's my uncle." Seeing that the name rang a bell, Yang asked, "Are you Kuromatsu?"
"I am." Kuromatsu looked her over a second time. "Huh—wouldn't have pegged you as one of his lot. Don't see much family resemblance to be honest."
Yang shifted uncomfortably though she kept her smile. "You wouldn't. I take after my father, and Qrow's my uncle on my mother's side."
The man grunted in understanding. "You don't look much like a pipsqueak, so you're the one he calls 'Firecracker'?"
Yang grinned. "Got it in one. He talks about us?"
"A little. Not as much as you'd think. Still, doesn't take a genius to see how much the man cares about his two nieces."
Kuromatsu was about to say something more when they both heard the sudden clanging of a large bell echoing out over the town.
Yang tensed almost immediately.
A town like this would only need a bell that large for one reason: warning the townsfolk of a Grimm attack.
Yang was already moving by the time Kuromatsu hurriedly pushed himself off his stool and took his cudgel in hand again. She tossed her canvas sack over the counter for safekeeping and met the older man's eyes.
"Which way do I go?" she asked him.
While the big cities might have a bell located at each of its gates or at each of the cardinal directions to warn which direction a Grimm attack might be coming from, a smaller town like this could probably only afford having one bell made, meaning Yang shouldn't just run blindly towards the sound.
The man took one look at her, his eyes making her feel oddly scrutinized, and then replied, "Look towards the bell and a flag should be going up to tell you which way the Grimm are coming from."
Well, that'd be easy enough. The four cardinal directions had long been associated with the four provinces and thus shared the colors of their provincial emblems. North was white for Atlas, east was blue for Mistral, south was yellow for Vacuo, and west was green for Vale.
Yang nodded in acknowledgement and rushed out the door.
It turned out that the Grimm were pouring out of one of the mine entrances.
Yang would discover later that the miners had been trying to open up a new mine shaft and accidentally broke into a subterranean cavern filled with Creeps, a bipedal, claw-footed, thick-tailed, mutant Grimm that broke the mold by not resembling any normal creature. Creeps were vaguely reptilian with their pebbled bone armor, stubby skulls, and sharp fangs but walked more like some sort of bird. They could stand as tall as a man's chest, were devastatingly strong and unexpectedly fast, and even if one managed to avoid their lunging bites, that heavy tail of theirs could send a man flying with a single swing.
Yang hated Creeps.
She was fine against one or two of them, but they were annoying when they swarmed. Unlike Beowolves, Creeps were hardy enough that Yang couldn't take them out with just one or two hits unless she was heavily boosting her strength with Aura or her Semblance. Plus, their attack radius was wider than Yang's. While Yang had to get up close and personal to deal any damage, they could easily tag her at five feet with their thick tails or powerful lunges.
"Keep moving!" Yang bellowed at the escaping miners as she raced to take out the closest set of Creeps.
Yang summoned her Aura as she ran. It wrapped around her, sending her blood pumping and putting a wild smile on her face. This was the only good thing about Grimm hunting. It was the only time she could really let loose and let her Semblance burn without having to worry about hurting someone or breaking something. Well, she supposed she should still worry about breaking stuff. But it wasn't entirely her fault if a Grimm ended up flying farther than she expected it to, right?
Yang slid to a stop, pivoted the entire right side of her body back, and blasted her fist forward into a Creep that was inches away from catching one of the fleeing miners. She might not have her cestuses, but she could still pack a punch. She smirked inwardly at her own joke and made a note to remember it so that she could use it again sometime later. Seeing the look of utter exasperation on Weiss's face would be so worth it. It might even be good enough to get Yang an eye-roll from the noble, which, of course, would make Ruby smile as well.
Yang had left the battle gloves in question with the rest of her things outside of town. One, because Yang hadn't wanted to advertise her warrior status (it would make her stand out far too much considering female fighters were a rarity in Atlas these days); and two, because this was supposed to be a quick trip and Yang hadn't been expecting any trouble. There shouldn't have been any trouble. Seriously, what was with this timing? It was like traveling with Uncle Qrow all over again. Which could be pretty exciting so she didn't actually mind his bad luck Semblance all that much—at least not as much as he did. But right now she just wanted to get Ruby's medicine and get back to Ruby and Weiss before her baby sister went off and did something crazy or dangerous again. Or did something crazy and dangerous.
The Creep hissed in pain as it crashed into two of its companions. They wouldn't be down long, but it still bought the escaping miners a little extra time.
Yang glanced back to see the town gates were nearly closed and that a handful of men were standing by, ready to pull them all the way shut once everyone had gotten to safety. Several other men and even a few women stood on the palisade walkways with bows or crossbows at the ready. One man even had what looked to be a handful of javelins.
Yang grinned. It was always nice to deal with people who had a decent Grimm defense plan in place. It meant she could focus solely on monster extermination rather than organizing panicking townsfolk.
Yang dodged just as another Creep lunged at her, and she slammed her Aura-infused fist just behind its thick bone mask, sending an Aura-spike straight through the back of its neck where it lacked armor. The creature collapsed with a hissing keen as whatever served as its spine was severed in two. Its head and jaws continued thrashing, but its body only twitched. Yang had always found it odd that although Grimm didn't look like they had bones or organs, they still took damage and reacted as if they did.
Yang flipped backwards just as a Creep's tail whipped through the space she had been occupying. There was a flash of white in the corner of her eye, and she brought her arms up just in time to protect herself from a third Creep's lunging headbutt. She grunted as her Aura took the hit, and she could feel her temperature slowly rising as her Semblance absorbed and started multiplying the energy. The raw power simmered beneath her skin, ready to explode the moment she chose to release it.
A hissing snarl split the air behind her, and Yang simultaneously dropped to the ground and launched a backwards Aura-kick into a Creep's throat from below, sending it a good four feet into the air. She rolled out of the path of another attack and used the momentum to get her feet back under her.
Two Creeps lunged at her, their jaws opened wide and revealing rows of sharp fangs. Yang dropped again and managed to send a powerful uppercut into the bottom of one set of jaws, but the other Creep took advantage of the distraction caused by its brethren to snap its jaws shut around her other forearm. Yang gritted her teeth as she felt the Creep's fangs trying to break through her defensive Aura. It felt like her entire forearm was being stabbed with a multitude of red-hot knives.
Yang's body grew warmer with each passing second as her Semblance continued to do its thing. She didn't want to reach full capacity too soon so she grabbed a pinch of her stored energy and bashed the Creep on her arm with her other fist until it let go.
Something thick and heavy slammed into her from behind, throwing her forward. She turned her tumble into a controlled roll and got right back to her feet as soon as she was clear. She turned, ignoring the bone-bruising pain radiating across her entire back; caught the next Creep tail coming her way with a growl by trapping it against her side; and heaved at it with all her Aura-infused strength. She spun the Grimm in a circle, effectively bowling over all the Creeps that had been trying to swarm her, and then flung it into another set of Creeps.
Snarling, a new wave of Creeps immediately started closing in, and Yang could see the Creeps she had just dealt with wobbling to their feet again just behind them.
Stupid blunt force-resistant Grimm, Yang thought with a grimace. She tightened her fists as she watched the new wave approach.
This really wasn't good. Not only was she surrounded and outnumbered, but her style of fighting was at a clear disadvantage here. Unless Yang could deal a decisive blow, the Creeps would just keep getting up.
It was at that moment, Yang sorely missed having Ruby and Weiss at her back. Both of the swordswomen would be in a far better position to face off against these Creeps than herself. Their blades would be able to slip between the gaps in the Creeps' armor far more easily than Yang's fists could, and their greater mobility would allow them to dance circles around the Grimm.
Maybe I should pick up weapons training again…but then again, there's nothing quite like sending a Grimm flying with just your fists or wrestling an Ursa into submission through sheer raw strength, she thought as the Creeps crossed the seven-foot line.
It was then that Yang felt a strange tingle of energy sweep past her, and the ground around her suddenly exploded. Instinctively, Yang shielded herself as she was pelted with dirt and soil from all directions. When the air finally cleared and Yang lifted her head, she stared in shock as all the nearby Creeps seemed to have been impaled by wooden spears that had erupted from the ground.
No, they weren't spears. Were those...tree branches? Yes, yes they were. It looked like tree limbs had suddenly sprouted up from the ground, impaling everything in their way, leaving a good fifteen or so Grimm pinned in the air. It was brutal but highly effective.
Yang turned around to see the old man, Kuromatsu, standing just outside the town gate. He had his arm outstretched and his hand closed in an upwards fist that Yang recognized as a method of Semblance activation. She and Ruby didn't need those sorts of focusing methods since they had physical Semblances, but Weiss sometimes did something similar with her offhand whenever she was summoning her Glyphs.
His Semblance must allow him to manipulate wood. Yang wondered offhandedly if his Semblance was limited to either dead or living wood. Or maybe he could manipulate both.
Yang started retreating to his side, slamming her fists into a few Grimm stranglers as she went, and he limped forward to meet her. Once they had reached each other, each of them turned so that they stood back to back as the remaining Creeps began to regroup.
"That's a pretty neat Semblance you got there," she said. "Thanks. You saved my butt."
The old man snorted. "Did I now? Seems to me you were doing just fine. Did you know your hair's starting to shimmer?"
Yang glanced down and realized he was right. "I was a little distracted," she admitted.
Yang launched a spinning kick at a Creep that had ventured too close, and a thud and subsequent hiss told her that Kuromatsu had just dealt with his own Grimm behind her. The old man's got skill. Wonder if he's an ex-Huntsman or something.
"How many times can you use that trick of yours?" Yang asked, grunting as she let loose a series of devastating Aura-punches against another Creep. When it finally fell, it didn't get back up.
"Not many," Kuromatsu said. "Maybe twice more if I'm forced to reawaken dead wood and if I keep the area of effect small. Three or four times if I can use live wood. Unfortunately, all the trees around here have already readied themselves for winter so they're basically the same as dead wood until spring."
Well, that answered Yang's earlier question. It was still a pretty awesome Semblance even if the old man could only use it a few times.
Yang glanced around the battlefield after knocking back another Creep and blanched. A fresh wave of Creeps had just crawled out of the mine.
Yang growled as she wiped the sweat from her brow. "We gotta close up that entrance!"
"We can't," Kuromatsu shot back, his voice rough from exertion. "The mines are the town's lifeblood. Close up even one mine, and they won't be able to survive the coming year."
"Then what do we do?" Yang drew on a little more of her stored energy as she pounded, kicked, blocked, and sidestepped Creeps that were only growing bolder as reinforcements poured out of the mines. Another Creep tail whipped towards her, and she wasn't quite fast enough to avoid it. It smacked her across her temple, temporarily blinding her, and a second Grimm barreled into her, knocking her down. A third Grimm leapt on top of her and tried to eviscerate her with its clawed feet. Yang hissed as its claws dug into her Aura, sending fiery streaks of pain across her ribs and stomach. She barely got her arm up in time to prevent the creature from closing its jaws over her head, and for the second time that day, she went through the agony of a giant monster trying to tear her arm off.
Yang lost it.
With an enraged warcry, her Semblance exploded. Every inch of her body thrummed with power, making the air seem to shimmer around her. She launched the Creep off of her, rolled to her feet, and leapt into the closest cluster of Creeps. Every skull-mask that met her fists caved in, and every limb, tail, or neck that got too close to her shattered under the force of her blows. She kept moving, kept punching and kicking—even throwing in the occasional headbutt when the need called for it. She was only vaguely aware of where Kuromatsu was, just enough so that she didn't accidentally get him caught up in her rain of fury. When Yang's energy finally ran out and she came back to herself, she and Kuromatsu were standing in a wide circle that was entirely empty of Creeps and covered with the ashes of fallen Grimm. The remaining Creeps had retreated back, perhaps recognizing that if they came any closer, they would die like the rest of their companions.
Yang stood there with heaving lungs and dripping with sweat. Her arms and legs trembled, but she quickly worked through each of her muscle groups to shake off her after-Semblance unsteadiness as quickly as possible. They weren't out of the woods yet, and who knew how many more Creeps might find their way out of the mine.
She checked her Aura levels and knew she could keep going. She had to keep going. There was an unprotected town behind her and judging by the fact Kuromatsu, an old man with a peg-leg, was the only one out here on the battlefield with her, the town's only protection against the Grimm was a wooden palisade and a few archers. And unfortunately, a few measly arrows wouldn't be enough to take down a Creep, and Creeps were strong enough to ram right through the palisade if they made a concentrated effort.
That was when Yang heard it—that familiar piping of a small handheld whistle that she knew was always around a certain wolf Faunus's neck. However, instead of relief, a stab of icy fear filled her chest.
No, Ruby, I told you to stay away from town!
But at the same time, Yang knew she and Kuromatsu needed help. There were just too many Creeps for them to deal with alone.
So Yang took a deep breath, shoved away her fear to deal with later, and tried to placate herself with the knowledge that this had been bound to happen the moment the Grimm appeared. Ruby would always step in if she knew that someone was in trouble, and with her sense of hearing, there was no way she wouldn't have heard all the commotion here at the mines. And Yang was pretty sure that if Ruby was on her way, then a certain noble would be on her way as well.
It was as unexpected as it was amusing how Weiss could sometimes be even more protective than Yang when it came to Ruby running headfirst into a Grimm fight. The thought brought a small smile to Yang's face. She did not envy her little sister who had been on the receiving end of more than one scolding from their noble companion after doing something particularly crazy in battle.
Yang took another calming breath before squaring her shoulders, bringing her fists back up, and widening her stance once more.
Help was on its way. She and Kuromatsu only had to hold out for a little while longer. Then the real battle would begin.
A/N:
Cuddlebug-Ruby strikes again!
Not much else to say about this chapter except that I hope you all enjoyed it. I'm always happy to hear what you think, whether it's a part that you really enjoyed or if there's a part you think could be improved. I make an effort to respond to every comment/review, even if just to say thank you, so feel free to leave me a message.
Thanks again for reading, and I'll see you all again next chapter~