Chapter 71
It was an early morning. Yang sat upon the side of her bed with one foot upon it as she tied the laces of her boot. The fingers of her artificial hand struggled with the finer tasks and movements that they had to perform but it wasn't impossible for her. She glanced back as she heard Blake's voice, "She's coming with us then?" The dark-haired Faunus had just finished her own preparations as she looked over towards her partner.
Yang frowned lightly as she turned her head away while speaking, "Yeah. Qrow says she'll be safer with us instead of staying here."
Blake eyed Yang curiously as she walked around the bed and towards her side, "Have you even spoken to her since?"
The blonde shook her head as she replied; her voice seemed saddened but it was clear that she was trying to hide that fact, "What do I have to say to her? "Hey Weiss remember that time you strangled my sister?" I've got nothing to talk to her about."
"She's... Still your friend right? You're not usually one for the silent treatment and it's been three days now," Blake placed her hand upon Yang's shoulder as she looked down upon her with an expression full of concern.
Yang paused in thought as her lilac eyes glanced away, and with a sigh she voiced her words in a tired fashion, "I just don't care about her right now."
Blake frowned as she sat herself down besides her partner. She leaned over towards her and wrapped her arms around her form while being cautious of her own bandaged right arm. She pulled her into a comforting embrace as Yang leaned into the hug, but she continued to think upon the subject. Eventually Blake pulled back and looked into Yang's eyes, "Either way, you need to promise that if she is in danger you'll protect her. It's what we need to do now, and if she dies who knows where that... "Maiden" power will go next."
"Yeah, I'll protect her. I don't like her right now but that doesn't mean I want to see her die either. You don't need to worry about things like that," Yang offered a weak smile to Blake in hopes to instil some form of confidence in her.
The Faunus gave a nod and a smile in response before she stood back up from the bed. She moved across the room to where they stored their weapons. They were in a small narrow box upon the floor. She knelt down besides it and opened it to reveal four weapons in total: Gambol Shroud, Ember Celica, Myrtenaster and what was left of Neo's umbrella. She looked to the last weapon and briefly frowned. While the blade inside the umbrella could still be repaired and used they had given no thought to actually utilizing it, and instead they had kept it simply for Weiss' sake. Blake straightened her expression and looked over her shoulder and back to Yang, "Do you think Weiss will still use her sword or does she just... Do magic now?"
Yang shrugged her shoulders lightly, "Best to give it to her just in case..."
Blake gave a nod before turning back to the box and beginning to sort through the weapons. She put Ember Celica to the side for Yang and pulled out Gambol Shroud and Myrtenaster. She was about to close the box once more before her golden gaze settled upon the umbrella again. With an unsure expression she picked up the charred weapon and set it on the ground.
"What are you gonna do with it?" Yang's voice was heard from behind her as the Faunus stood up to her feet.
"I'm going to give it to Weiss, she seems to have settled down now so maybe..."
"Maybe she'll start blaming people again?" Yang finished Blake's sentence, although it was clear it was not what the Faunus had intended to say.
"Yang..." Blake sighed as she glanced around for something to wrap the weapon in.
"I'm just saying. Do you really want to remind her?" Yang replied before finally standing up to her feet and stretching her arm.
Blake ignored her words as she rolled the umbrella up into a white cloth. She tucked it under her arm after strapping Gambol Shroud to her back and picking up Myrtenaster. With her other hand she picked up Ember Celica and held them out to Yang who approached her. The blonde took the weapons into her own hands as she started to put them on. "I'll be back in a minute," Blake had said before turning towards the exit of the room and making her way to it.
"Good luck," commented Yang.
She closed the door behind her and found herself in the short hall. Her eyes briefly glanced over to where Ruby's room was. It had been a few days since she was rescued but still she slept and showed no sign of waking up. That was why Tai would stay behind; to watch over her and keep her safe while herself, Yang, Weiss and Qrow searched for the Spring Maiden. With a short sigh Blake turned and made her way towards Weiss' room. She pushed open the door and was greeted with a cold breeze; such had now become commonplace around Weiss.
The room itself looked normal; the only thing out of place being the cold air. Weiss was stood in front of the window. Her hair hadn't been tied up and was left to flow down her back and she was dressed in her usual SnowPea outfit. Blake was quick to notice that the sleeves were a dark shade of crimson and the cuts in the fabric itself showed the scars across her arms. It forced her attention to her own bandaged arm. Now and then it stung when too much pressure was applied to it, and she didn't actually need the bandages... But she wanted to keep her arm hidden, for like Weiss' injuries it had been scarred by the burns she received during the events of Higanbana. She blinked and set her gaze back upon Weiss as she approached her from behind, "Weiss, we can probably find you something else to wear if you want?"
Weiss turned in her once usual elegant fashion as she faced Blake. She looked no different than she usually did but with one exception; beneath the scar across her eye was now three additional horizontal scars that crossed her left cheek. She offered a half smile towards the Faunus as she glanced to her stained sleeves, "I tried to get it out but no matter how many times I scrubbed..." She paused and closed her eyes as she took in a breath. Her eyes opened again as she looked to Blake, "It'll be fine, and besides, I don't like wearing clothes that don't belong to me. It's hard enough to find my size in a store, never mind a village in the middle of nowhere."
Blake smiled at Weiss, she was happy to see that she had, to some extent, returned to how she used to be. "Oh, I brought these for you. I'm not sure if you still need your rapier but you might feel more comfortable with it in your hand. Here," she extended out the hand with Myrtenaster towards Weiss. The woman looked upon the blade and slowly took it into her own grasp. She held it up to her side as her eyes examined the weapon.
"It feels... Heavier?" Weiss commented as a faintly puzzled expression crossed her face.
Blake looked to the weapon curiously, "It does? I guess your arms aren't done healing yet?"
"Mm... Maybe," Weiss lowered Myrtenaster and looked to the cloth-wrapped object beneath Blake's arm. "What's that?"
Blake looked down to the covered umbrella, taking it into her hand. She paused in consideration before peering back towards Weiss. "It's... I know memories might still be fresh, but I thought you'd want it..." She held out the object towards her friend.
Weiss paused as her cold blue eyes glanced across the familiar shape. She reached an arm forward as if to pull back the material to reveal what she knew was beneath it. Yet she hesitated and instead took the object in her hand; she left it concealed beneath the cloth as her expression frowned briefly. She looked back to Blake and offered her a saddened smile, "Thanks Blake. I was worried you might've... Might've gotten rid of it by now." Blake nodded in response, truthfully she knew not the words to respond with and so offered a soft smile in return. Weiss turned and placed the concealed weapon down before glancing back upon the Faunus. "How is Yang...?"
Blake ran her hand through her dark hair awkwardly as her eyes peered up at the ceiling, "She's uh..."
"I see..." Weiss lowered her gaze to the ground, "It's understandable though, after what I did..."
Once again Blake wasn't sure how to response, "At least that bruise healed up nicely...?" Her golden gaze looked to the eye that Yang had punched, there was visibly only a slight alteration in colour now; it was barely noticeable in fact.
Weiss' slender fingers reached up to just below her eye in memory, "I know that I've asked you this multiple times already but... Can you tell her I'm sorry again?"
Blake gave a nod, "Of course, but you might be able to tell her yourself soon. We'll be travelling together after all."
"Maybe that's what we need, just a little bit of fresh air?" Weiss smiled re-assuredly and with a hopeful glint in her cold eyes.
The Faunus turned as she started making her way back towards the door, "It might just do the trick. I'll come by again before we leave."
Weiss nodded once more as she watched her move closer towards the door. Before she left completely however, she called out. "Blake?"
The woman in question halted as she turned to look back at the white haired girl. "Yeah?"
For some reason she was hesitant in her words, but her voice finally emerged. "We're doing this to save as many people as we can no matter what, right? That's our end goal?"
Blake was a little confused by the words but she nodded in response, "Yeah, that's exactly it. Why?"
Weiss gave a bright smile, probably the most genuine she had since days. "Good. I just needed to hear it. I know I've not been... Good... Recently, but I want you to know that I'm not going to stop until we do exactly that, and if I ever falter again I want you to remind me of that goal."
The fact Weiss had vowed to redeem herself in such a bright manner brought comfort to Blake, perhaps they really could return to how they used to be. They just needed Ruby to wake up now. "I'll make sure to do that, Weiss."
"All set?" Qrow looked upon the three in front of him. Blake, Yang and Weiss were geared and ready for travel; each with their weapons and their backpacks. They all nodded towards the man as he smirked, "Good because we've got a long road ahead of us. We have a solid idea on where the Spring Maiden is, so let's not waste any more time okay? I'll be some distance ahead of you guys serving as a scout, so just follow my trail and everything will be fine."
"We won't let you down," Weiss answered as she smiled. Yang glanced over towards Weiss, she hadn't seen her upbeat nature since Neo had died so it came as some surprise to her.
"Right, let's move out then," responded Qrow as he turned to start their next journey. His crimson gaze glanced up to the blue sky as he muttered to himself, "It might not be perfect, but it's a team to replace the one we lost, Oz."
"Qrow?" Yang raised a brow as she heard the man muttering.
"Ah, it's nothing kid. Just talking to myself," he pulled from his pocket his silver canteen; he unscrewed the cap and took a large gulp from it before pocketing it once more.
The four set upon a dirt path that led out from the village and over the green hills ahead. The sun was bright and ahead of them as they travelled east and further into Anima. They had a new mission; to find and protect all four maidens. With one already with them they had a good head-start, but only time would tell wherever they would be successful in their endeavour.
AN: I'm sorry to say this is the last chapter. Or maybe I'm happy to say that, I'm not sure. Depends on how you look at it. You might think it's sudden, well it is. But if I keep the "next journey" going on any longer we're going to hit 300k words on one fic that'll have lost its purpose more than it already has, and that's not something I want to do.
There will be an epilogue soon, and a second part to the whole thing but that will come some time in the future. But the point of the original fic was to re-unite the team, and they've somewhat accomplished that. So any further adventure will be under a new title with a new purpose and a bit of a time-skip.
So with all that, a huge thank you to everyone that stuck it out this far. Seriously, I'd be bored reading any fic after 100k words so that fact there are some still going... Well, it's flattering to say the least.
I'll see you all later.