Gaining entry into Atlas had been a lot more difficult than any of their group had originally expected. After Weiss finally gave up his charade and confirmed his identity with Winter, all of Team RWBY, JNR, and Oscar were escorted onto a private military base just inside the kingdom's walls. Winter had taken Weiss away, presumably so Weiss could better explain his situation to his sister, while the rest of their group finally met up with Qrow and Ironwood, who informed them all that the Relic was now in safe hands.
After taking an airship into the large, industrial city, Ironwood showed them to a very cozy, luxurious suite on the top floor of one of Atlas's most regal chains. But while everyone else seemed to be having fun, ooh-ing and aah-ing over their new scenery, Yang found herself pacing a small corner of their spacious sitting room, worried about the one person who was still absent from their group.
She knew, logically, that there was nothing to be so worried about, as Weiss had promised Winter would be nothing but accepting of his new identity. But so much time had passed since they'd separated from the border, that Yang couldn't help but fear that something had gone amiss. Of course, she assumed Winter just wanted the chance to be able to catch up with Weiss after having been apart for so long, but it had been almost a month since Yang had been separated from Weiss for such an extended amount of time, and she had to admit that she just wasn't used to it. It had only been a few hours, it wasn't like Weiss was in another kingdom again, but still… after everything that had happened, Weiss had become a sort of reassurance to Yang; just having him near always seemed to make her feel more confident, and ready to take on whatever the world threw at her.
At some point, Ruby and Blake had finally convinced Yang to stop brooding in the corner, and had dragged her into the city to do a little sightseeing. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, many citizens seemed to stop and stare at the trio, uttering some less-than-friendly words toward their Faunus companion as they walked by. If Blake was bothered by it, she certainly didn't let it show, as she continued to listen to Ruby's hyperactive ramblings with a smile on her face as if nothing had even happened. Although Yang couldn't help but still feel the tiniest amount of bitterness toward her partner for leaving her what seemed like such a long time ago, Yang also felt a pang of remorse for her friend, wondering if this was what daily life was like for a Faunus in such a discriminatory kingdom. The more she glanced around, the more "We don't serve Faunus" signs she recognized hanging in the windows of shops and restaurants, and the larger that pit in her stomach seemed to grow.
Yang was still lost in her train of derogatory thoughts when she felt a sharp jab in her side. She blinked herself out of her haze, and was just about to turn to apologize to whomever she bumped into, when a flash of white passed before her, followed by a loud thunk!
"Hey!" Came Blake's voice as she pulled herself back up to her feet, her amber eyes narrowed in disgust as she observed the large black patches of oil that now stained the hem of her trench coat.
The person whom Yang had bumped into was now standing over Blake with a menacing scowl, a long, bony finger pointed at her face. "You should watch where you're going!"
"She didn't do anything!" Yang cut in, stepping in between the man and Blake. "I was the one who bumped into you, and I was going to apologize, but now I think you don't deserve one."
He glanced Yang up and down, letting out a huff as he finally met her gaze. "Says the country bumpkin. Why don't you bring your pet back to the farm where you both belong?"
"Alright, now you're just asking for it," Yang growled, the pit in her stomach having grown into a much more overwhelming, scorching fire of rage. She balled both of her hands into fists, her eyes closing as she sensed them beginning to change colors. But just as she was about to wind back for a punch, she felt two pairs of hands latch onto her arm, holding her back.
"Yang, this is not the time or place," her sister reminded her, a noticeable crack in her voice as she tried to hide her own anger.
She gritted her teeth, her fists tightening as her left hand began to shake. She drew in a deep breath, realizing Ruby was right, and opened her eyes again to glare at the man. "I'm sorry you were born without a heart," she sneered. "I hear it's quite common here." With that, she turned around, taking each of her teammates' hands in her own, and started forward.
Once they were finally out of earshot, Blake pulled Yang to a stop outside an abandoned construction site, and turned to her with a frown. "Are you okay?"
"Me?" Yang shook her head, drawing in another breath as her pulse began to quicken again. "I wasn't the one he tripped. Stupid lowlife."
Blake turned her gaze downward, her ears drooping as she bit her bottom lip. "I… Thank you for standing up for me, Yang, but you have to be careful, here. If any of us says one wrong thing, it'd land all three of us back outside the border."
Yang sighed. "It's not fair. You, your family, and a huge army of Faunus just took down the radical faction of the White Fang and saved Haven, but people still treat you like you're less than a person."
"To be fair, word hasn't gotten out about Haven, yet," Blake stated, seeming to ignore the rest of her partner's words. "At least not to anyone but Ironwood."
"That's not the point."
"Well, the point is moot." Blake glanced back down at her coat where the oil was starting to dry, and let out the smallest of sighs before looking back up at her teammates. "Looks like I could use a new coat. Maybe a shopping trip will be just what we need to get back to our senses."
"That sounds like a great idea!" Ruby chimed in, ever the optimist. She pointed her thumb behind her back toward the business district. "I think I saw a few shops without those signs a few blocks that way. Let's check them out."
So they turned back the way they came, Yang biting back her anger as she followed her sister and partner, hoping that Weiss was at least having an easier time than she was. She knew that coming to Atlas was going to be difficult, but she had no idea just how truly horrible some of the citizens were, here. It wasn't fair; Yang couldn't even begin to understand the pain and resentment that Blake must've been feeling right then. Still, Blake kept her head high, as she always seemed to, and Yang couldn't help but admire her for that. It didn't make her feel better, not by a long shot, but it was least a small comfort knowing that her friend no longer let ignorant people make her feel ashamed just for being who she was.
Yang was still dragging her feet when her teammates came to a stop in front of a very small, vintage shop that was wedged between two larger, corporate-looking buildings. She glanced up into the window, half-expecting to find one of those dreaded signs, but when she didn't, her stomach finally began to unfurl, and she let out a breath of relief. Ruby held the door open for both Blake and Yang as they stepped inside, Yang squinting her eyes as they adjusted to the dim lighting of the cramped space.
"Oh, hello!" a surprised voice came from the back of the store. They all turned their attention to a petite, fair-skinned elderly woman as she came toward them, a stack of neatly-folded clothing balanced in her arms. "What can I do for you ladies today?"
"I'm looking for a new coat," Blake replied, offering the woman a soft smile. "Preferably something that washes easily."
"Of course! Right this way!" She set the pile of clothes on a nearby shelf, and led all three of them to a corner of the shop featuring outerwear. She gave them a toothy grin, revealing two long, snakelike fangs that Yang found herself wondering how she kept them concealed. "If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to ask!"
Yang watched her walk away before she turned her back to her teammates, and started shuffling through a rack of fur-lined jackets. "So how long do you think this is going to take?"
Ruby sighed. "Can't you at least pretend to be having fun?"
"What do you mean? I'm having a great time," Yang mused sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She pulled on the sleeve of a brown leather bomber jacket with a white fleece hood, scrutinizing it for a moment before letting it fall back into place on the rack.
"Why don't you go look over there for me, Ruby?" Blake asked their leader, pointing toward a clearance rack several rows down. Ruby merely nodded before disappearing into the aisle, and Blake moved over to the rack where Yang was still aimlessly searching. "So."
Yang glanced up at her partner. "I'm not sure any of these coats are really your style."
Blake raised an eyebrow. "That's not really my concern right now."
"Cool, so what is?"
Her friend just stared at her expectantly. "You've been in a mood ever since we got here."
"Well, yeah," Yang shrugged. "This place really sucks. I'm surprised you're not in a mood."
"We have important business here," Blake reminded her for about the hundredth time. Yang was really getting tired of people telling her that. The Relics, the Maidens, Salem… All Yang wanted was for all of it to end so she could go back to living her life the way it was before she had to start questioning and fearing every dark corner she turned into.
It wasn't like any of them really even wanted to be in Atlas in the first place. Weiss had just escaped, Faunus relations still sucked, Ilia was being put on military watch, and Ironwood's status as an ally was still… questionable, at best. Why did Ozpin choose to bring the Relic here, instead of somewhere more peaceful, somewhere warmer, like Vacuo?
"Yang."
She groaned, and looked back up at Blake. "What?"
"Is this still about Weiss?"
"Weiss?" Yang frowned. She wasn't even sure what her friend meant by that. Of course Yang wanted to know that their friend was safe, and of course she had wanted him by her side again. But she wasn't in a bad mood because of him. Weiss had been nothing but kind and supportive to Yang ever since they'd reunited at the Bandits' Camp. Not a day had passed since then that Yang didn't wake up grateful and happy just to have him near.
Blake moved closer to Yang, now, pretending to check out one of the coats as she used the rack as a crutch to block Yang's viewpath. Her amber eyes were soft, sympathetic, as though she saw something in Yang that Yang somehow couldn't see herself. "You know what I mean. Ever since we left Haven, you've been glued to his hip. When he's not around, you're constantly worrying about him, and don't think I didn't notice the way you looked at him yesterday when you were telling him how perfect you think he is."
Yang's cheeks immediately reddened at Blake's words, though she wasn't even entirely sure why. The way her partner worded it, she made it sound like she was accusing Yang of having feelings for Weiss. But they were just good friends… right?
"Let me ask you something."
She remained quiet, knowing Blake would just continue anyway whether or not Yang spoke up.
"How did you feel when Weiss and Neptune were dating?"
Yang snorted. "They weren't actually together. Weiss told me himself. Neptune was such a fake."
Blake rolled her eyes. "That's not an answer."
"You really think I cared about that?" Yang shook her head. What was with these twenty questions, anyway? Was Yang supposed to be jealous, or something? Whether she wanted to admit it or not, back then, the only person Yang had really had eyes for was Blake, and it had been clear to her ever since Sun came into the picture that he would be the one to steal her heart. Yang had made a promise long ago never to go after someone whose heart already belonged to someone else, and that had included Weiss.
"It sure seems to me like you care now, even if you didn't then."
Yang huffed. "Okay, just because I want to help Weiss with this stuff he's going through, it doesn't mean I like him like that. And even if I did, so what? What does that change anything? We're here to buy you a coat, not to meddle in my nonexistent love life."
Her partner finally moved away from the rack, but her gaze lingered on Yang for a moment longer. "You should really think about what you just said. It may sound like a bunch of nothing, but it feels like a lot more than that."
"I'm thinking you need to hurry up and pick something so we can just get out of here," Yang deflected, tired of trying to appeal to her friend. She just wanted to go back to the hotel, to the one good place in Atlas where she and all of her friends were actually welcomed. She wanted to wait for Weiss to come back, to make sure he was okay, sit with him if he needed someone to talk to, the way it had been for the past month, now.
Before Blake could respond, Yang decided to walk away, opting instead to check out the winter accessories that were kept up front. The longer she stood there and continued to argue with Blake, the longer it would take for her partner to find what she was looking for, and she wasn't about to be the reason she and her teammates had to stay in this horrible city longer than they needed to.
She found a rack of assorted scarves arranged by colors, and immediately reached for an orange one. Though the lining of her jacket had done a pretty decent job of keeping her warm, she couldn't deny that she still missed her old infinity scarf, which had been destroyed by copious amounts of dirt and blood from the Fall of Beacon that no matter how hard her dad had tried, just wouldn't come out. She ran her fingers over the soft material of the scarf, pulling it closer to her face so she could examine the stitching, before she decided to try it on, draping it loosely around her neck. She peered into the mirror just beside the rack, and frowned. It utterly clashed with the neckpiece of her jacket.
Letting out a disappointed breath, Yang hung the scarf back on the rack, and picked out a red one, wondering if she would ever be able to convince Ruby to take her cloak off for five seconds to try it on. She missed the days her sister would let Yang bundle her up when they went out to play in the snow. Yang would always pull the scarf extra tight, wrapped snugly around Ruby's ears and nose so she wouldn't catch a cold. She always looked so cute…
But now, Ruby had her hood. The cloak was always thick and long enough to block out the sharpest of winds, and she didn't even need Yang's assistance anymore. She missed the days they used to pick out their accessories together, matching to show the world just how close they were, the sisters whose bond could never be broken. And they still were close, closer than Yang had ever been to anyone in her life, but now, Ruby was getting older, more mature, and each and every day, Yang would awaken to realize that her sister didn't need her anymore; that, in fact, Yang was the one who needed her. When had she gotten so big?
Yang placed the scarf back with a melancholic smile, and was about to move on when another scarf caught her attention out of the corners of her eyes. It was red, much like the one she'd just put away, but there was a cute little white snowflake pattern at each end, similar, but not quite a replica, of the snowflake symbol that Weiss used to wear proudly as a representative of his family name. But he'd since stopped wearing the snowflakes, stopped endorsing his father's business practices, and Yang didn't blame him. From what Weiss had told her, Jacques Schnee was as close to a monster as a human could get. Well, not counting whatever it was that Cinder Fall had become…
She reached for the scarf, admiring the pretty pattern. She thought back to the dress that Weiss wore back during their first semester at Beacon, and how it had little red accents, much like Winter's military uniform. She wondered for half a second if red had been a significant color of the Schnee family, before she remembered the one photograph that she'd seen of Weiss's grandfather, Nicholas Schnee, the former owner of the Schnee Dust Company, and Weiss's own personal role model. Yang vaguely remembered perusing an article about him in a magazine once while she was at the doctor's office for her pre-admission exam at Beacon. His most defining feature had been a long, frayed red scarf that looked like it had been with him through countless battles. It had clearly been a dear item to him, much like Ruby's hood, and much like Yang's old scarf.
Now that she thought of it, Yang realized just how much Weiss resembled his grandfather now that he'd changed his look. She made a note to tell Weiss that later, knowing it would make his day. Though Yang didn't know much about Weiss's late grandfather, she knew that he admired him more than he admired anyone in his family, even his older sister. He had been a good man, from what Yang could recall, one who was well-respected by rich and poor, Human and Faunus alike. Yang often wondered what the social state of Atlas would be like had Jacques not taken over the company and started using Faunus for cheap labor, but she knew better than to vocalize questions she knew Weiss did not have an answer for, especially since she was well aware of just how often Weiss asked himself those same questions.
"Are you getting that?"
Yang blinked at the sudden voice behind her, unaware of how long she'd been staring at the scarf. She turned to find Ruby and Blake waiting for her, Blake having picked out a new coat, a shorter black one this time, one that wouldn't drag or stain as easily as the white. "That was fast."
Blake smirked. "You did say to be quick."
"True, true, I did say that." She glanced down at the scarf, about to place it back on the rack, but something inside of her held her back. She lifted it up again, showing it to her teammates. "Do you think Weiss would like this?"
Ruby tilted her head to the side, a curious glint in her eyes as she looked over the scarf. "I think it's really pretty! I really like the snowflakes."
Yang nodded. "Yeah, I like them, too."
"You should get it," Blake coaxed her with a knowing tone. "I think he'd really appreciate it."
Of course you'd say that, Yang thought as a small blush warmed her cheeks. Why did the idea of getting a gift for Weiss suddenly make her feel so… bashful? Weiss had been through a lot; he deserved something nice. It was just a token of appreciation, of acceptance. A reminder that Yang would forever be there for him, just like he'd promised not too long ago that he'd always be there for her. "Okay. I'll get it."
"Great! Let's go check out!" Ruby led them to the counter in the front, and they made their purchases, thanking the elderly woman for her help once more before they left the shop.
The walk back to the hotel was much better than the one they'd taken into town. No one seemed to bother Blake this time around, though she still got a few unapproving looks from some passerby who couldn't keep their eyes to themselves. Yang was in a much more upbeat mood as she imagined Weiss's reaction to the scarf, hoping he would like it just as much as she did. She hoped he wouldn't be taken aback by the snowflakes, since they weren't exactly the same as his family's crest. Just like the beautiful design, Weiss himself was still very much as dainty, as bold, and sometimes could be as cold as a snowflake, but he was also so much different, now, so much more special than the name he'd let define him for most of his life. Yang hoped he would see what she saw in him, would see that behind the fragile appearance, he was strong, and beautiful, and unique in a way that only he could be.
When they arrived at the hotel, they rode the elevator all the way up to their suite, Yang nervously tapping her fingers against the bag as she waited for it to ding. She didn't even know if Weiss would be there, yet, but all she could do was hope. And sure enough, when they reached their floor, and opened their door, all of their party, Weiss included, was there.
"We're back!" Ruby announced as she sped into the spacious suite, greeting everyone with a large smile.
Sun was the first to notice and question the damage to Blake's coat, but she brushed it off with a small, but tense smile, shrugging off her jacket and revealing the new one she'd just bought. She, Sun, and Ilia disappeared into one of the guest rooms while Ruby followed Nora into the kitchen where Ren had been making cookies. Only Jaune and Weiss remained in the sitting area, Jaune seeming to whisper something to Weiss before he patted his shoulder, and got up to go see what his own teammates were up to.
Yang furrowed her eyebrows as she approached Weiss, debating whether or not she should ask him what he had been talking to Jaune about. Instead, she opted to ignore it—they were friends, after all—and lowered herself to the cushion beside him where Jaune previously been. "How'd things go with your sister?"
Weiss simply grinned, his expression so full of happiness that it filled Yang with a warmth she couldn't quite explain. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Weiss this at ease. "It went so much better than I expected! Once she finally understood that this new look is more than just a disguise, she was incredibly accepting. And I don't want to brag, but she said that I'm now her favorite brother."
"Well, based on what you told me about your brother, I don't blame her," Yang joked with a smile of her own. "Though sisters aren't supposed to have favorites, just between you and me."
"That's easy for you to say," Weiss teased. "You only have one sibling."
Yang chuckled. "Even if I did, I don't think anyone could ever be cooler than Ruby." She glanced down at her bag, biting her lip. "So, uh, I found something at a shop that reminded me of you."
Weiss's eyes widened. "You didn't have to get me any—"
"No, I didn't," Yang cut him off, turning her head away so he couldn't see the pink in her cheeks that now seemed to be a common tinge whenever he was around. "But I wanted to."
He remained quiet, seeming to wait for Yang to continue.
She swallowed down her nerves, and reached for the bag, finally glancing up and offering it to Weiss. She watched as he took the bag, eyeing it uncertainly, at first, until Yang nodded, and he gave her a small smile as he reached inside. As he pulled out the scarf, his entire face lit up, his baby blues so filled with awe that Yang could physically feel just how much the gift had touched his heart. It made her own heart want to leap right out of her chest and engulf him in a huge bear hug.
"Yang, this is…" he started, his voice cracking as he trailed off. He glanced up at her, his eyes glistening, before looking back down at the scarf. "It's just like my grandfather's…"
"I know how much he meant to you," was all she could manage to whisper, words seeming to fail her otherwise as she sat in anxious excitement for her teammate.
Weiss wrapped the scarf around his neck and lifted the top over his nose, looking up at Yang over top of it. She could tell just by the way his eyelids creased at the bottom that he was grinning underneath the scarf, and Yang wished she could take a picture of just how adorable he looked right then. It had definitely been the right gift.
"So do you like it?"
He let out a breathy huff. "Of course I like it!" He lowered the scarf from his mouth, and quickly leaned in to peck Yang on the cheek. "Thank you."
Yang blinked, her mind seeming to draw a blank as she processed the kiss. It had been just a simple, grateful gesture, but for some reason, Yang couldn't help but feel there was a deeper meaning to it. Weiss had become increasingly affectionate ever since they reunited in Mistral, but hugs were about as touchy as he was willing to be, and even those were still rare unless he was leaning on Yang in distress. But this, the kiss, was impulsive, and genuine, and it felt sweeter and gentler than any other hug Yang had received from him up until that point. As much as she wanted to prove Blake wrong, she couldn't deny it any longer.
She didn't know when, or where, or even how, but at some point, somewhere down the road she'd been taking with him, Yang had fallen for Weiss.