Blake was on her bed, reading a book. The open window provided enough light from the full moon to read the pages. Blake tried to ignore her white-burned knuckles and the dry tears on her cheeks. She pretended she could follow the shaking words across the page like she didn't wake up hours ago, gasping for air, crying, and shaking like she was struck with palsy. A scowl marred her face. Come on Blake. Get real here, she thought, This is the fourth night this week you've woken up gasping for air. You should be used to this by now. If you're not used to this you must be sick of this.
She recalled her vision: Adam slaughtering his way through innocent people to the finale with the two children that Blake would save before they tore her jugular out. None of it scared her. The blood on the walls didn't scare her. The corpses didn't scare her. Adam's "Don't do that" spiel didn't scare her. Even the part where she lets the children rip her neck apart didn't scare her. But despite her beatin-in fear, she thought Why are you still scared?
She tossed the book at the foot of the bed, throwing her sheets away and grounding her feet to the floor. The hardwood made a soft pop at the weight. She surveyed the room. Ruby and Yang were nowhere to be found and Weiss was fast asleep.
Blake thought back to the first time Ruby had discovered her "episodes" as she came to call them. Come here, Ruby would say, wrapping her hands that were rough above a soft palm around her head, pulling Blake into her bosom. Then she would stroke her hair softly before letting it rest around her waist and making time stop for however long it took for Blake to stop losing herself.
Afterwards, Blake would apologize for the tear stains on Ruby's blouse. She would say no problem and smile. The rest of the day would carry on as usual.
Half of Blake wished Ruby was there that night to comfort her and the other half didn't. She refused to go to Yang, the woman she confessed her love to, and decided she would not tell her about these episodes. So, Blake went to Ruby every single time. Blake thought of how much the word girlfriend didn't sum up at all how much she loved Yang. But she couldn't deny it anymore.
When Ruby embraced Blake for the first time in the library almost a month ago now. She felt a spark ignite in herself that she never felt before. She tried to deny that Ruby had something that Yang couldn't give to her. As much as her "sessions" with Ruby helped her to overcome her episodes, she knew that it was creating a stronger and stronger bond between the two of them.
Ever since the first episode, Ruby had been acting stranger than usual. At first she acted distant and didn't want to face Blake, like she had some kind of secret. But, a week later that was gone and she would talk with Blake and ramble about stories with her as usual. A week later, Ruby would make it her obligation to hover around her in case one of her visions popped up. A week after that, the two would end up meeting at dawn to converse. Just yesterday, Ruby bought Blake the book that she was trying desperately to read. During all that time, Blake forced herself to lie to Yang to avoid telling her the truth-that she was haunted by ghostly visions of her past that was driving her insane. Most of all, Blake feared she was making Ruby into more than just a teammate and friend. She feared Ruby and her were beginning to form the same bond that she and Yang had. It made Blake sick.
It felt as if she was cheating on Yang. She knew she wasn't, of course. But, she knew that if things kept going the way they were, if Yang found out there would be too many pieces to glue back together.
Blake walked, her light steps making no sound, to the closet where she changed out of her yukata and into a pair of grey sweatpants and a black wool sweater. You've got to fix this before it gets out of hand, she thought, pulling her tongs from under her bed and sliding them on. You're going to find Ruby and Yang and fix this. Tying her hair into a ponytail, she grasped the doorknob. Take you with me? A voice called out. Out of the corner of her eye Blake saw her own Gambol Shroud laid against the weapons rack facing the corner of the wall, next to Myrtenaster.
She scoffed. Great Blake. Now you're talking to your own sword. She turned the doorknob; again she felt like the sword was speaking to her. Not with words or anything of the sort. It felt as if the sword was sending an S.O.S. directly into Blake's mind. Glaring at her weapon fearfully, Blake swiped Gambol Shroud out of the corner and quietly stormed out of the dormitory.
Blake knew it was idiotic to bring Gambol Shroud with her. The school grounds were guaranteed safe even at night. But, Blake felt a humongous wave of fear overshadow her realism when she tried to leave. It was different from the fear she felt in one of her "episodes." This fear was more genuine. It felt like if Blake didn't have Gambol Shroud with her at all times, she would be cut down and killed in a second.
Blake looked at Gambol Shroud, expecting it to utter words. Swords can't talk, she scolded herself. She flung her weapon over her shoulder where it magnetically locked into place. everything set, she made her way down the hallway in her search for the two sisters.
A/N: BTW if you ever need a good Beata Reader, message Anime Girl 144 (she's kind of amazing.)