Chapter 13

Blake's head peered around the corner, further down the street she spotted their destination. The building the address from Junior led to appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary. Her golden gaze squinted as she remained cautious. Night had sunk in and made Blake especially hard to spot in the dark. Behind her around the corner Yang waited, making sure nobody was following behind. "Which floor is it?" asked Blake as she continued to scan the building with her eyes.

Yang opened up her scroll to double-check the address. "Uh... fourth" she replied as she looked back to Blake.

After a short while the Faunus replied, "Some of the lights on that floor are on but I don't see anyone..." she answered, turning away from the corner to lean against the wall besides Yang. "So are you actually going to...?" questioned Blake with uncertainty.

"What... kill her?" asked Yang in response, even she seemed uneasy about the idea. There was a line she felt they couldn't cross whenever she thought about it, but Neo had more than earned her fate. Or so she kept telling herself.

"It's... It's murder, Yang" replied Blake with a grimace, she clearly wasn't fond of the idea.

"Don't call it that..." answered Yang hesitantly, once more glancing around her surroundings. "Didn't you say you were going to do the same to Adam?" she asked, returning her attention to the Faunus besides her.

She shook her head sceptically. "That's not the same, I mean- I..." She took a breath. "This is a lot more difficult when you actually talk about it... isn't it?" she answered, idly turning to peer behind the corner towards the apartment once more.

"Did you like... kill anyone when you were with the White Fang?" asked Yang, taking care to make sure her voice was lowered.

Blake once more shook her head, "No... Every time I got close someone else did it for me. I guess I was just lucky like that" she answered.

After further silence Yang pushed herself from the wall, "Is it clear?" she asked, not wanting to discuss the topic any further.

"Yeah..." Blake confirmed reluctantly. She felt Yang's hand pat her upon the shoulder, reassuring her only a little. What they were planning to do plagued her mind. As Yang passed by her she followed after.

They entered the front lobby of the building, the receptionist appeared to be an old man, fast asleep at his desk. It only worked in their favour as the two agreed to cross the lobby in silence, heading for the stairs. The floors were all carpeted which made their footsteps near impossible to hear as they tread softly. The complex itself seemed more expensive than your average one, the walls were neatly decorated with fancy wallpaper and framed pictures. The lights hung from the walls and worked better as nice ornaments than their actual intended function. Yang paused as they reached the fourth floor as she checked her scroll. The room number they were looking for was 4-10.

Silently the two continued, passing each door and looking to the numbers as they drew nearer. When they were closer to their destination they readied their weapons and finally they found themselves at the tenth door. They exchanged glances before Blake leaned in towards the door, turning her head to listen for anyone on the other side. No sound came from inside the room. The Faunus reached her hand towards the handle as Yang readied her fist, she was prepared to attack anyone through the door. But to their surprise Blake found she could simply push it open, it wasn't even locked.

The door made no sound as it opened fully. They beheld a vibrant room of pink and white, the decorations intricate and almost historic in a sense. For the most part it seemed empty and so the two doubtfully entered the room, Blake warily closing the door behind herself. The room appeared separated into three parts. One being the bathroom on their left, the kitchen to their right and straight ahead was the bedroom. The two peered through each doorway to once more find nothing. The apartment smelt of vanilla as they continued to search. Yang entered the bedroom while Blake investigated the kitchen.

Within the bedroom she could see what was likely Neo's bed, a large one that took up most of the floor. There was a wardrobe upon her left and ahead to her right was a cabinet filled with old porcelain dolls. In front of the cabinet was a finely crafted and small wooden table. Resting upon the table was a decorative tea set that sat on a doily. There were two chairs at the table and an empty cup upon a plate in front of both. Yang wondered if Neo was expecting guests. The thought that she might be watching them right now passed through her mind and just to be sure she spun herself to look towards the entrance. It was empty.

As she continued to snoop around the room she found a small box upon a pedestal besides the bedroom doorway she had entered. It looked old and worn, coloured pink and white like most furniture within the room. The object looked like it had been the subject of some abuse but other than that it seemed meaningless. Keen to discover more she turned to the closet and opened one of its doors. Inside was a strange set of costumes. One was black with white thrills, almost like a maid's outfit. Another appeared to be an Atlesian military uniform. There was even a nurse's outfit. Either Neo was in some way a collector or really just enjoyed playing dress up.

A click at the door to the apartment. Yang's heart skipped a beat and her first instinct was to enter the closet and close the door behind her. She couldn't see Blake who had entered the kitchen and only hoped that she had taken a similar course of action. She heard the door slam shut as footsteps came towards her, it could surely only be one person. Her fears were confirmed as through the crack between the closet doors she saw her.

The first thing she noticed was that Neo seemed restless, she was panting heavily. As soon as she had entered the bedroom she reached for the box on the pedestal. Flicking it open she grabbed at a small crank inside, quickly twisting it and placing it back down. A soft melody began to play as the short woman dropped her umbrella to the floor and briskly walked over to the table with the tea set. She sat herself down with her back turned to the closet.

Neo's panting began to steady as she reached a shaky hand out to the teapot, grasping it by the thin handle as she began to pour herself a cup of the tea. She set the pot back down before pulling the plate and cup towards herself. She shuddered heavily before lifting the cup to her lips and taking a large gulp, afterwards she breathed out a long and silent sigh as she rested the cup back upon the plate, seeming more relaxed now as the melody continued. At least if her body language was anything to go by.

This look into her private life gave Yang an entirely new perspective upon the girl who had done nothing but beat her up and humiliate her. She mostly wondered what could coax such a reaction from Neo for her to be like this. Continuing to observe she saw her pull out her scroll from one of the pockets upon her jacket. She placed it down flat on the table while sipping from her tea as her other hand began to swipe across its screen. She halted before her shoulders seemed to lower in an almost sulky manner. Whatever she was looking upon seemed to disappoint her. Shortly after she started tapping her slender index finger against the screen and in sudden shock and realization Yang pulled out her own scroll, moving through its settings with haste.

Just as she set the option she received a message, and of course it was sent by Neo who was just in front of her with her back turned. Thanks to her quick thinking the vibration feature of the scroll had been disabled. The message simply read "(~_^)". It appeared to have become her usual greeting for Yang whenever she did send her a message. Yang looked back to Neo who appeared to be just sitting there, staring at her scroll. For several seconds Yang watched her do absolutely nothing else other than sip her tea. Was this what she did every time she messaged Yang?

Out of curiosity Yang tapped out a reply as quietly as she could manage, the message returned nothing but a question mark. As soon as Neo's scroll vibrated her fingers snapped back to it. She peered at the message and starting tapping with haste against the screen again. Another message popped up on Yang's scroll reading "\ (•◡•) /". She looked back to Neo and just as before she had her head locked towards her scroll patiently.

Deciding to reply quickly Yang typed out a longer message. "wat do u want?" she sent. She hoped that Blake wouldn't assume the worst considering she likely had no idea what was going on from the other room.

Neo took her scroll into both hands as she held it up to her face, seemingly growing more eager as she tapped out yet another response, she even appeared to be swaying left and right slightly in her chair. The third message showed up on Yang's scroll, "( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)". It was an expression she had never seen before and so its meaning was lost to her. Unable to think a response to it she decided to put her scroll away and wait for her chance, watching the girl again.

For minutes Neo simply stared at her scroll. As each minute went by her arms seemed to lower the scroll more towards the table. Eventually it was back upon it entirely as one of her hands slowly turned to grab her cup, finishing off her tea but promptly pouring herself a second. After finally guessing she wasn't going to receive another response from Yang through her scroll she looked to the chair across from her, her head slowly inclining and remaining so. The melody started to stutter as it drew closer towards the end of its tune.

Yang couldn't keep hiding like this, she came here to do something and she had the perfect chance. Crushing her eyes shut Yang envisioned the times Neo had made a complete fool of her. It didn't take long for her to remember why she wanted to do what she came to do. Her attack had to be quick. Quick enough to collide into the woman before she gets a chance to react. With this in mind Yang silently moved her right leg with Celica upon her ankle to rest against the back of the closet wall. She would launch herself out with a blast and slam into Neo with Ember. Her eyes blinked into red and she clenched her jaw with the memories of humiliation. It was time for Neo to take a hit.

Neo placed her cup back onto the plate with the quiet clink of porcelain, she sat before her audience of dolls in the cabinet behind the empty chair in front of her. The box stopped its melody as Neo idly turned her head towards it, a frown clear on her face. But it was too late to notice the expression before Celica had fired. Yang launched from the closet, Ember prepared and ready as it came colliding towards Neo. The smaller girl hadn't even time to look surprised, not even a second to turn her eyes towards Yang. It happened too fast.

Ember collided into the back of Neo. Her mouth had started to open in silent pain as her eyes grew wider and turned white. A sickening crunch resounded within her body. A flash of pink as her aura completely collapsed from the single attack. The table splintered, the tea set cracked. Her body crashed against the wooden structure as it broke apart, accompanied with fragments of porcelain and splashes of tea. The frail girl smashed through the entire thing as she collided into the glass cabinet, utterly destroying the dolls within. Her face a frozen expression of shock.

Yang stood with Ember still forward, frozen in her own position as she watched Neo fall against the floor in front of the shattered remains of the personal possessions that seemed to comfort her. Her body shuddered violently as she steadily started to curl up on her side amongst the splinters, the glass and the porcelain. Her mouth was agape, the tears running down her cheeks as she cried out in silence. Unable to voice even her agony.

Blake came sprinting into the room after the crash to find the scene, stopping in her tracks as she watched Yang stare at Neo in disbelief. Yang expected a fight but what she did only seemed to leave her feeling rotten to the core. It came to her understanding that Neo must have become so skilfully evasive because she was so frail. Her aura had shattered upon a single attack and allowed her to be damaged.

She kept staring at the shorter girl, taking a step back as she shut her eyes tightly, avoiding the sight of Neo's tears still gushing out. To say she was in pain was surely an understatement. Blake gave Yang an expression that seemed similar to fear, but not for what had happened, it was fear directed at Yang and what she was capable of.

Slowly the blonde woman lowered her fist. She couldn't move herself, she couldn't look away. She came here with the intent to kill Neo... But after seeing her now... After seeing what it looked like to let those intentions come to fruition. She knew she should hate the girl but a part of herself was simply too good, too pure of a person, to allow herself to commit such acts.

"Y- Yang..." stuttered Blake as she looked back to Neo upon the ground.

Yang shut her eyes as tight as she could, forcing herself to turn her head away. She felt the guilt crawling across her skin. She couldn't take it. She hated it. She opened her eyes only to guide herself as she ran for the exit of the room, avoiding Blake completely as she ran for the door.

"Yang!" yelled Blake as she went to chase her, she halted at the exit and turned to look back at Neo. The smaller woman had opened one stark white eye to look back at her, her entire body still shaking. A part of Blake didn't want to leave due to the simple fact that Neo couldn't call for help. She shook her head to herself before aiming Gambol Shroud at the ceiling. She fired three loud shots, loud enough for the entire apartment complex to hear before she started running. That would be her mercy to Neo, surely someone else would come to her aid as she ran to chase Yang who had already vanished from sight.

She dropped to her knees within a quiet part of the street, her hand pressed to her face as she began to sulk. Violence had only ever upset her when she was young and in training, her first few real fights often caused her to feel depressed afterwards as if regretting the harm she caused. Since that time she had grown used to battle. But within that room... That was something else entirely. Something that caused her to feel that depression once more. She didn't want whatever that was to become what was normal for her. She couldn't inflict that kind of harm upon someone. As much as she enjoyed fighting it dawned on her that there were thresholds not even she was willing to pass.

And the look Blake had given her. That fear. That wasn't what she wanted to become. She didn't want her friends to ever have to look at her like that. Her blood boiled with her depression, she hated revealing such personal emotions and in an attempt to stop herself she raised her clenched her fist and slammed it into the ground. The impact made a crack in the concrete but it didn't stop the tears as she brought her hand back to her face afterwards.

Arms clasped tightly around her from behind as she felt someone fall against her. "It... It wasn't you..." came Blake's soft voice besides her ear, her embrace around her tightened.

"I can't..." sobbed Yang, leaning back against her friend. "I- I'm so sorry... I-... I-" she stuttered before dropping into silence again.

Blake leaned her head against Yang's. "It's okay... It wasn't your fault you just... It won't happen again..." replied the Faunus, she wanted to comfort Yang but the right words simply refused to come to her. Blake continued to cradle Yang in her arms, she wouldn't leave her like this. The two of them promised to do everything together now, and no matter what Yang turned into Blake would be there by her side. Such was their friendship.

Author's note:

Let me start by saying that I am not one for interrupting a story with AN's, it's just not my jam. But I felt that I should take at least one chance to speak to those who read, favourite, follow and review my content. Otherwise I fear I may come across as cold or uncaring towards the readers (I'm really not).

So I'd like to thank you. From those who are actively reading and following, those leaving kind reviews that honestly brighten my day to find after coming home from work, and even to those who took the chance to read one paragraph and decided it wasn't their thing. If it's not immediately apparent let me state that this is my first piece of fanfic and to see such positive feedback is just, well, pretty great no matter how little or often it becomes. So this is my thanks to you.

Other than that I'll politely state that you should hopefully not expect to see any further AN's on this fic. The only time I'll make additional ones is if a large number of people are asking the same questions or if something that directly impacts the story needs to be addressed, like a hiatus or continuation under another title (Not that I've plans for either yet).

And just out of courtesy. Chapters will generally come out between a time-span of one or three days after the last.

If you're still reading, please enjoy the rest of the story. You're here for that, not AN's.

- 2101817