Chapter 55

A rhythmic beat sounded in her ear, it was muffled but clear and with each one she gradually began to stir from her slumber. It was not the only sound she could hear though, there was also the hum of the engines that had helped her fall asleep in the first place. The heat in the cramped space had only grown more intense with the addition of two people occupying it, but it was a comfortable temperature. Not hot enough to sweat, but not cold enough to need a quilt. Her ice blue eyes had crept open, her head was resting atop Neo's chest who still slept soundly. The mattress beneath them was soft and comfortable, making it difficult for Weiss to want to wake herself up properly, she just wanted to lay still a little longer, enjoying her relaxation as well as the soothing company of her lover. She smiled softly as she closed her eyes once more, lulling herself back into a deep sleep.

Suddenly the deafening scream of a man came through the speakers. Weiss' eyes shot open, she felt the craft had tilted, they were crashing! Neo had also been startled awake from the scream as Weiss held onto her tightly, giving out her own scream of panic as she heard Yang and Blake do the same.

The scream of the man shifted into absurd laughter as the aircraft righted itself, Weiss could feel her heart pounding hard as she glanced around, Neo had an arm wrapped tightly around her form. It took a second for Weiss to realise what had happened. "Y- You idiot!" she screamed as she buried her face against Neo's chest, annoyed that the pilot had caused her to react as she did. Neo on the other hand looked more angry than anything as her eyes narrowed up at the speakers, she held Weiss in an almost protective manner.

"Asshole!" came Yang's voice from behind the thin door.

The pilot continued to laugh in hysterics before his voice started to calm, "Oh you're killin' me, that was gold!" he laughed, "That screaming! I think I can hear ringing!" he continued.

Weiss sighed heavily before her eyes glanced up at Neo, "How is your arm?" she asked quietly. Neo's right arm was still in a sling and she hadn't taken it off since leaving Atlas, that being a result of Winter telling her to keep it on until she felt she was ready to start using it again. Her mismatched gaze glanced down towards her right arm, her fingers flexing as she gave a slight expression of discomfort in response to the action. "Better then?" asked Weiss with a gentle smile. Neo looked to meet her gaze and nodded in response, donning a smile of her own in the process. She kept her left arm around her, their forms pressed against one another and sharing their heat. She felt her partner's slender leg brush against her own but with a lack of intent. Weiss adjusted herself slightly to crawl further up Neo's form so that their faces met. Her delicate hand placing itself upon Neo's cheek as it brushed against her smooth skin in a loving manner. Weiss took extra care as to not accidentally nudge Neo's right arm, it made the position she found herself in unsatisfactory but if it would spare Neo some slight pain then it was worth it.

Neo's left hand stroked up the back of her partner, fingers tracing across her spine which made the target of her affections shiver with delight. The hand came to rest firmly upon the back of her neck as it slowly pulled her down into a loving kiss. Weiss indulged in the interaction and responded in kind as she tilted her head slightly, making the deepening of the kiss more comfortable for herself as the two opened their mouths wider for a more passionate action to take place. Neo's hand softly squeezed at the back of Weiss' neck during the heated moment, the silver-haired woman giving out a muffled moan of content into the kiss. How lucky she was, thought Neo to herself. To have someone as beautiful as Weiss this close to her in not only relationship but also in a more practical sense. She thought that the only person that would have been able to sate her carnal desires would be Yang, but in Weiss she found something softer, more delicate and compassionate than just simple lust.

Their kiss broke as Weiss pulled her head back steadily and in a pleased manner. She gave out a sigh as she blushed and smiled down at her girlfriend. "Neo..." she whispered as she lowered herself slightly to rest her head against her collarbone. Mismatched eyes blinked into ice blue, once more mimicking the eyes of her partner. Weiss still did not understand why she would sometimes don her eyes, but she guessed it must have been something romantic, for she only ever did it when the two were together in a similar fashion as the one currently taking place. She smiled back at her as she planted a kiss against her head.

"Why are you whispering her name? What are you guys even doing?" came the intrusive voice of the pilot through the speakers.

"What? I'm not whispering anything" answered Yang's faint voice from behind the thin door once again.

Weiss' blush grew more intense, could the pilot actually hear her? "Not you, the Princess" continued the pilot, "She whispered her friend's name. It was like this" paused the pilot. Weiss' eyes widened, as did Neo's, in response to what they heard next. The pilot had put on a poor feminine voice as he moaned in an exaggerated fashion, "N- Neo...!" he cried out. "... B- But that's forbidden love! Ah~!" he mocked, followed by another poor impression of a moan that seemed to come straight out of a low-budget porn flick.

"Shut up, shut up! SHUT UP!" repeated Weiss as her voice grew louder with each repetition, she covered her face with her hands as she felt Neo try and stand up, she had murder in her eyes.

"Hey knock it off, they can do whatever they want and you shouldn't be listening!" came Yang's voice, it was some relief to Weiss to know that her friend always had her back when it counted.

"Woah now, chill a little. I ain't got nothing against it. Lesbians are awesome" replied the pilot casually.

"That's not what I was-" paused Yang's voice.

The pilot inhaled sharply as he seemed to come to a realization, "Does big sis know? Does she approve? You know that lady has her standards and nobody is good enough for her precious little Weiss in her eyes-" the voice halted. "... Shit... Sorry Weiss, I didn't mean to..." he spoke, and for the first time seeming to actually have some shred of sympathy in his voice as he referred to Winter's condition by mistake.

Weiss remained silent, too flustered and annoyed to care for the fact he mentioned Winter. She did however have to restrain Neo who was more than willing to march out of the door in her underwear with a blade in hand. She succeeded in keeping the short woman from making any mistakes.

There was an awkward silence aboard the ship, eventually the pilot's voice broke it once more. "So... We're getting pretty close to Patch now. We're over the Forever Fall already" he spoke.

"Wait, really?" asked Yang, turning her attention away from the door that separated herself and Blake from Neo and Weiss. She was already clothed as she stood up and peered out from the window. Below she could see nothing but a red canopy. Blake shortly appeared behind her, looking over her shoulder at the scenery. "This thing really does go fast, you must be pretty tired by now though" assumed the blonde.

"Tired? Why would I be tired? In case you didn't notice, this thing doesn't have pedals. It moves by itself, insane I know" answered the pilot.

Yang looked up to the camera with narrowed eyes, "No you jerk, you must be tired because you haven't slept" she replied.

"... But I did" responded the pilot as if the answer should have been obvious.

"What?" asked a rather concerned Blake as she also turned to face the camera.

"Am I also a bat now? Do I not sleep? Am I a stalker of the night?" asked the pilot.

Yang approached the camera, "You... Fell asleep while driving this thing!?" she yelled, "We could have crashed!" she added.

"Yeaaah, could have. But didn't. Besides I don't get paid for nights, what are we gonna crash into anyway? Clouds?" replied the pilot.

"You are the worst! When did you fall asleep!?" continued Yang.

"Straight after I muted the microphone back there" answered the man casually once again.

Yang couldn't believe it, they were talking normally while their pilot slept at the wheel of an aircraft. "Does... Does this thing have some sort of automatic mode?" asked Yang, trying to find some way to excuse the situation in her head.

"I like to change my own gears thank you" answered the pilot.

"N- No! Like, like..." paused Yang as she thought to herself.

"Like maaaagic~?" asked the pilot.

Yang grit her teeth and kicked the door with her boot, "Just get us to Patch before we blow up or something!" she responded before turning around to sit down in her seat with a huff, clearly annoyed and concerned for the safety of her friends.

"Chill. I ain't Winter's personal pilot for nothing, lady. Have a little faith" he replied.

"Faith is what probably kept us alive last night..." sighed Blake as her golden gaze remained locked onto the camera.

"Oh snap, that one hit deep girl. Like, come on..." answered the pilot.

The rather sizeable cabin had been abandoned for some time now, but not long enough for it to fall into any state of repair. The surrounding green trees rustled in the wind as a soft humming approached the humble building, four white ribbons streamed after the aircraft as it hovered low and steady over the trees as it neared the house. One of its lower wings knocked over the small chimney, sending clumps of stone clattering down the side of the wooden roof.

"Fuck" commented the pilot casually as the airship turned to start lowering itself in front of the house.

"What was that bang?" asked a very concerned Yang as she glanced out the window.

"Uhh... Think it was your chimney?" responded the pilot.

"What!? Why'd you knock down my chimney!" yelled Yang as she banged her fist against the door of the cockpit.

"Hey! Your chimney hit my ship! Why'd you build it so high? It scratched the paint!" answered the pilot.

"I don't care about your paint, fix my damn chimney!" yelled Yang once more as the airship touched down upon the grass, the door-ramp slowly beginning to open.

"I'll do it later, get off my case already!" yelled the pilot back in response as Weiss, Neo and Blake began exiting the vehicle, more for the fact they didn't want to chance being spectator to an endless argument than actually wanting to get off the ship.

Blake was the first to step down and onto the grass. It felt relieving to be on firm solid ground once again. Her eyes looked forward towards the large cabin, it was clear that it had been well cared for when there was actually somebody around to do so. Her eyes glanced to the path that led up to the door. Yang stood out from the ship and besides her, moving past and towards the door. She pulled a key from her pocket as the three followed her. The pilot remained aboard his ship, he would be their personal transport from here on so they didn't have to worry about him suddenly flying off without a word. Though at this rate it wouldn't surprise any of them if he did.

The key fit perfectly into its place and with a twist and a push the door swung open with a creak. "Come on in I guess, make yourselves at home" sighed Yang as she entered the building, pulling her jacket off as she tossed it over towards the back of a sofa, landing upon it as she glanced around. The three others followed in, Neo closing the door behind them. If one thing was immediately evident to the group, it was the fact that it was cold. Nobody had been in the cabin for a few weeks at best, so there was no fire that could have been lit to warm it up. Yang made her way over to the fireplace, kneeling down as she set about lighting it.

Weiss seemed a little surprised by how small Yang's home was, not that it was a bad thing, it was cosy in a sense. Probably more so once the fire would be lit. She looked to both Neo and Blake, both of their eyes were darting form every corner of the room they were currently in, their curiosity for Yang's private life set ablaze. "So... How long are we staying here?" asked Weiss as she approached Yang.

The blonde finally sparked a small fire in the fireplace before turning to peer at Weiss. "Probably just a day, maybe two if we're not feeling ready. Hopefully Neo gets rid of her sling by then" she answered as she turned her attention back to the fire, grasping a poker that was leaning against the stone frame of the fireplace and poking at the logs within to urge the fire on.

"Where do you want me sleeping?" asked Weiss as she folded her arms, glancing down the only hallway in the building. At the end of it was a closed door, and on both sides of the hall were two additional doors each.

"Well... Ruby's room has two beds" answered Yang. She was hesitant to let Weiss use Ruby's room if only because she knew she wouldn't be sleeping alone.

Weiss nodded, her attempt at being subtle was poor. "O- Oh. I suppose that works" she answered, ice blue eyes briefly glancing over to Neo who was currently searching more thoroughly throughout the building. "Why does it have two?" she asked, turning back to Yang.

"We used to share a room, guess we just never got rid of my old bed" replied Yang, halting her poking at the fire as a suitable blaze had been nurtured within the fireplace. She placed the hot poker back against its resting spot as she stood to her feet. The fire quickly began to warm the surrounding area as it crackled and snapped, burning at the logs inside. "We got food in the fridge by the way, help yourselves" added Yang, speaking louder for the rest to hear.

"Actually, how do you have power here? Your house is fairly... Isolated" asked Weiss, and she was right. Yang's house was quite far from any real town or village that could be found on Patch.

"There's a shed down the hill with a generator. Dad normally throws a good amount of dust in it before he travels anywhere, so the fridge isn't spoiled by the time he gets back" answered Yang, moving over to the sofa and promptly sitting down on it with a relaxed sigh.

"That doesn't sound very cost efficient" spoke Weiss as she held her hands against her hips.

"Probably not, but it's nice and quiet here so I feel like we pay for that too, instead of being in a loud town or something" replied Yang.

Weiss looked up to see Neo had vanished from sight, but she then noticed that the door furthest at the end of the hall was slightly ajar. She was exploring no doubt. "Well, I suppose you're right. Peace and quiet is a luxury" nodded Weiss as her eyes peered back towards the blonde who smiled back at her in agreement.