And here is Chapter 2 (finally !). I wrote it pretty quickly, but I had to do an impossible amount of edits to try to improve it, so... I hope you'll like it. (Also, the traduction took me a looong time, I had to modify so many things thanks to the damn broken translator...).
Today, we learn a little more about the life of Yang and Zenith! I warn you, for the first chapters we will alternate between the lives of Yang and Weiss until their paths cross again. It allows me to introduce elements for the future, I will try to make it interesting to follow.
No more chat, happy reading!
Yang sighed. Accompanied by Zenith, they were currently in the street, heading towards their home. She held the little boy's hand firmly, preventing any possibility that he would go on the road or no longer follow her. Zenith didn't protest, seeming deep in thought and following her mother without really paying attention. Usually he spoke a lot more, talking about what he had been up to and asking his mother lots of questions. Yet Yang didn't worry about his current silence: he always remained silent on 'failed job' days. She suspected that her inability to find even a small job weighed on her son, and certainly more than he let appear. Her little sunshine had a very mature side to his carefree child's attitude ...
Yang knew the neighborhood like the back of her hand: for that, she didn't even have to think about the way to their home. She set the 'autopilot mode' - while still paying attention to her surroundings and during pedestrian crossings - and took the opportunity to organize her thoughts.
Starting with the job... When she had seen that the library was looking for someone to help arrange the books, she had immediately thought it was worth a try : in her situation, she was ready to do almost anything. It had been obvious she wasn't going to be taken, because -as the manager had intelligently pointed out- her handicap would not allow her to have the speed necessary to work properly. She wasn't really surprised: she had already experienced this several times, and suspected from the start that she would not be retained. She always avoided making false hopes during her attempts, knowing that being recruited in her current state would be a miracle. Still, she couldn't help the edge of disappointment she felt with each refusal, each defeat increasing her insecurities, lowering her self-confidence and shaking her resolve. Each day became a fight, in which Yang struggled with abandonment and continued to move forward. However, this fight became more and more difficult as the failures accumulated. The only thing that gave her the strength to continue was Zenith: she had sworn to herself that she was going to be a good mother, to be there for him and to never give up on him, and she intended to keep her word! With his cheerfulness, optimism and incredible perception, his son was the light chasing the darkness that threatened to consume her. He was the most important person she had.
Thinking of her son also made her think of the second topic of the day: the woman of the library. She hadn't really stressed out when she had seen Zenith discussing with a stranger: on the one hand because a library isn't - in most of the cases - a place used by bad people to approach young children, and on the other hand because despite his young age her son was surprisingly good at judging a person. He always seemed to know whether a person was dangerous or harmless. As a mother she would always worry -obviously- but she was more often afraid that her son would bother someone rather than that person would turn out to be bad. Today, he seemed to have found a rather interesting person: at the beginning very guarded and quite annoyed, Zenith had succeeded in making her smile and forget all her problems for a while. Yang smiled: it was typical of her son.
He even managed to get the person's name! Weiss, if she remembered correctly. Yang didn't know why, but that name seemed familiar ... but no matter how hard she struggled, it was impossible to find where she had heard it before.
The blonde was pulled out of her thoughts when she realized they had arrived. Their home was a medium-sized house, a bit far from the heart of the city. Of course, she couldn't afford the luxury of a house in her situation - even an apartment would have been complicated. That is why every day Yang blessed the person who housed them and helped them financially. Then grimaced, remembering that they had been helped for several years and that every day they weighed a little more on this person. She felt like she was using their generosity without giving anything in return. Moreover, she knew very well that they would never admit that Zenith and her were a burden on them. Holding back a sigh, she took out the key, turned it in the lock, and opened the door announcing "we're home!".
She seemed to be heard as someone came out of the kitchen a few seconds later. It was a rather tall woman, with platinum blonde hair tied in a bun and emerald green eyes covered by glasses. She had a stern look, but Yang knew that she wasn't a strict and cold person. Well, not all the time.
When he had finished taking off his shoes, Zenith rushed towards the newcomer.
"Glynda! What were you cooking?" he chirped.
Glynda looked at him, then replied cautiously:
"Pasta, nothing new-"
As soon as the word 'pasta' left her lips, the child cried out "yay !" before rushing to the living room, presumably to set the table. Glynda watched him leave silently, then turned to Yang with a raised eyebrow.
"I still don't understand his enthusiasm for pasta."
"Me neither ... maybe it's just because he ate a lot of it while growing up ?" Yang replied, smiling at Zenith's attitude.
"Maybe ..." Glynda replied thoughtfully. She seemed to struggle internally for a few seconds, then continued more cautiously.
"So... ?"
Yang immediately lost her smile and made a face that said it all. Glynda nodded, then gave her a look that said 'we'll talk about this later'.
The two women joined Zenith who was starting to get impatient, and a few minutes later, the three sat down at the table.
"So Zenith, did you enjoy going to the library?" Glynda asked once they had started to eat.
The young boy swallowed a fork of pasta before answering.
"Yes, I met a very nice lady! She was dressed all in white, even her hair was! And she had a mark on her eye!" the child replied enthusiastically.
"A... mark ?" Glynda repeated confusedly.
"A scar." Yang clarified.
The scar had been impossible to miss. It was on Weiss's left eye, making her face asymmetrical. However, Yang didn't find it ugly; on the contrary, it gave the impression of a warrior princess, beautiful, charismatic and leading her troops in battle, positioning herself in the front lines. Lost in thought for a few seconds, the blonde had quickly questioned the story behind this scar and the effect it had on her vision before dropping the subject and carefully avoiding staring at it for too long afterwards, fully understanding the discomfort that it could cause.
"Yes, that! And she even gave me her name, her name is Weiss!" replied Zenith.
At these words, Glynda, who was drinking water, widened her eyes and nearly spit it out. Yang frowned at this, and took note to ask her if she knew anything about this 'Weiss' later. She finally answered:
"What he doesn't say is that at the beginning he was the one annoying her while she was working, and that she gave him her name because he called her 'lady in white'. I thought that I was going to die of shame at least three times during the conversation! "
"But she didn't seem to be doing well! If she had told me to leave I would have!" pouted her son.
Glynda continued to listen to them, but Yang noticed that she seemed more distracted. Finally, after having finished eating and washing the dishes, Zenith got ready to go to sleep. He went to see Glynda and gave her a hug, which she willingly returned, then went up to his room to wait for his mother. Yang ended up joining him.
"Everything's okay? Are you ready?" she asked him smiling.
Her son was already buried under the blankets, his dragon plush - his favorite - in his hand. It was a dragon with golden scales and flaming red eyes. The eyes gave the impression of a fierce anger, however when looking at the mouth of the dragon it was easy to notice that it was wearing a mocking smile. The scales were fluffy : it lacked realism, but made the plush very soft and pleasant to touch. When he had received it from his godfather on one of his birthdays, the boy had immediately adored it. He had named it Yin without hesitation. When his mother had asked him why, he had simply replied, as if it was obvious "it's mom when she gets mad". His response had drawn approving smiles and nods from the other adults, while Yang had remained puzzled, unsure of how she was supposed to take it - even though she had praised her son for the pun.
Zenith nodded to show that he was ready. Yang was going to give him a kiss and wish him good night, but she noticed that he looked preoccupied, his face closed and his ears drooping. She didn't have to be a genius to figure out what was wrong, so she took his hand in hers to get his attention.
"Hey, little sun, don't worry! I'll find something. You know that we are too stubborn to give up like that, it's in our genes ! And you are there to give me support, so everything will be fine." she said smiling.
Her son looked at her hesitantly, as if he didn't believe she could stay so happy after this umpteenth failure. He wasn't wrong, his mother was not in the best state of mind. However, she continued to display the most confident smile possible while looking at him: he was only a child, it was Yang's duty to be strong in front of him. To reassure him, Yang decided to bring out the bigs guns.
"After all, I'm always in good hands with you, aren't I?" she said to him with a wink.
At these words, Zenith smiled and let out a small laugh.
She could have done anything for that sound.
"I'm your right hand man, huh mom?"
Yang laughed softly. Growing up, her son used to imitate his mother by doing puns all the time. Recently, she had even encouraged him to do it on her arm, arguing that she preferred to laugh about it and that she had already mourned her loss long enough. In return, her son had stated that she could make puns on lions when she spoke to him, saying he would rather laugh and be proud of his animal side than be ashamed of it. Her son was clever ... However, they still avoided doing it in front of strangers, not wishing to make the other uncomfortable. Puns were regularly flowing between the two when they were in the house, to the horror of Glynda who pinched the bridge of her nose with an exasperated sigh everytime she heard one. However, mother and son could see that she was not as annoyed as she claimed: on the contrary, most of the time she was more amused than anything about their 'childishness' as she called it. After hearing them allow jokes on lions and arms and, she even allowed them to do the same when they spoke to her. Therefore, witchcraft-themed puns were often used, given that her last name and appearance 'undeniably proved that she was one' according to the mother-son duo. Glynda had plenty of time to regret her decision since then ...
Lost in thought, Yang had not noticed that Zenith had risen in his bed. He threw himself on his mother's neck, hugging her as tight as he could.
"I love you very much mom."
There was such comfort in the little boy's words and hug that Yang's vision blurred: she didn't understand how he came to know so well when she needed comfort. Holding back the tears that threatened to fall, she reciprocated the hug with her arm, and answered him with a trembling voice.
"I love you too Zenith. From the bottom of my heart."
They maintained contact for a few minutes, then slowly pulled away from each other. Yang checked that everything was fine. Then, smiling, she gave him a kiss on the forehead.
"Good night little sun."
"Good night mom !" replied Zenith, yawning.
Yang went to turn off the light, then left the room after giving the boy one last look. As she descended the steps to join Glynda, her smile faded. When she got downstairs, her expression was dark: frowning, worried look, dark circles more visible than ever around her eyes. She walked over to the table, sat down and covered her face with her hand. A low but long moan was heard.
Glynda, who had watched the scene silently, winced at the sound. She went into the kitchen, and returned with two cups of tea. Without saying anything, she put one down in front of Yang, and went to sit on the chair next to her with the second. Then, still silent, she waited.
At first, it seemed that Yang didn't even notice the steaming mug next to her. However, after a few minutes, she lifted her head, grabbed the cup and took a sip. Keeping the cup in her hand, she turned to the other woman tiredly.
"Thank you."
Glynda nodded. The two women fell into a comfortable silence. Glynda knew perfectly well that overwhelming Yang with questions would lead to nothing: she would rather wait for her to decide to speak rather than try to force her to communicate. Eventually her patience paid off : having finished her tea, the young woman suddenly began to speak.
"It seems that a single arm isn't good enough for sorting books." she declared. Then, continuing with a depressed look, "If even the library doesn't want me, I don't see how I can hope to find something ...".
"Don't say that." interrupted the other woman sternly. "You will necessarily end up-"
"No." Yang cut her off. "No. No need to try to convince me, you don't believe it yourself. Can you think of a single job for which the number of arms isn't important? Obviously not since it doesn't exist. So stop making me believe that it will eventually work out, because it's obvious that IT WILL NOT! ".
She had almost screamed the last part, restraining herself at the last moment when remembering that Zenith was sleeping upstairs. During her tirade, she had squeezed her cup with her hand, so hard that it was now shattered. Sharp shards from the cup were sunken in the palm of her hand, blood was flowing, but she didn't even seem to feel the pain. Realizing that she was getting angry, Yang closed her eyes and tried to calm down, taking deep breaths.
Glynda hadn't flinched during the small explosion. Her only reaction had been to widen her eyes when Yang had broken the cup. Seeing the damage, she headed for the bathroom to get some bandages, and let Yang calm down. Coming back, she noticed that the young woman had become calm again. She was visibly ashamed of her behavior, since she avoided looking in her direction. Glynda walked over to the table, picking up tweezers to remove the mug tips that were stuck in the younger's hand. As she was about to start, Yang suddenly spoke again.
"I'm sorry. It's completely unfair of me to lash out at you, you're not responsible for it and you're just trying to help."
"Glad you noticed. Now shut up and show me your hand."
The tone Glynda had used was so bossy that the young woman did not think of disobeying even fo a second. She silently watched the other woman patiently remove all the shards, methodically disinfect the cuts, and finally bandaged her hand, being careful not to over tighten.
"There you go. Next time, go hit a pillow, that way your hand and my cup will stay in good shape."
The sarcastic comment drew no response from Yang. She just stayed in her place, motionless and looking even more miserable. Glynda sighed.
"Yang. Look at me please."
Seeing that the young woman persisted in not moving, she rolled her eyes before lifting Yang's chin herself. It was impossible to describe the suffering visible in the eyes of the young mother. Doubt, anger, frustration, stress, shame and guilt mixed together, making her gaze painful to bear. Glynda couldn't stand to feel so helpless in front of the distress emanating from the younger one. She had to do something.
"Yang. Talk to me. You have to express your feelings." she begged.
Yang remained silent, her gaze filled with guilt as she looked at her.
"No ... it's unfair. It's always you who helps me while I remain a burden to you. It's always you who has to put the pieces back together. I can't ... keep weighing you down... like that." she whispered.
Hearing this, the older woman froze. Then, slowly, she took Yang by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes, her emerald eyes filled with determination.
"Yang Xiao-Long. I have told you this many times already, and I will keep saying it as many times as it takes: you are in no way a burden to me."
The young woman made an amused noise, not convinced at all by what she heard. This did not stop Glynda, who continued in her tracks.
"You can say whatever you want, I have no intention of letting go. No matter what you can think of, you are a wonderful person. You have always recovered from what life has inflicted you, and I am in a good position to know that you have a foolproof mind. You try to be the best mother you can be. You try not to rely on others despite your situation. You keep looking for a job where many would have already given up. "
Throughout her speech, she stared at Yang had such intensity in her eyes that the young woman remained frozen, unable to turn her gaze away.
"I will help you as much as I can and as much as you need, not because I am your godmother and I have an obligation to do so, but because I know you and I want to help you. I consider you part of my family whether you like it or not. "
Glynda paused for a few moments, before taking a deep breath.
"I love you, you idiot, and nothing you can say will make me move from here, so talk to me. Please."
It was rare for Glynda to show how she felt. It was even rarer to hear her confess the affection she had for someone -Yang could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times it had happened with her-. Hearing this, the walls the young girl had built weakened, and a tear rolled down her cheek. Still, she struggled to hold back the other tears that threatened to escape her eyes, and struggled to find her words.
"I ... I'm just ... so ... tired of it all. I can't take it anymore ... I can't anymore, I don't ... I ..."
She couldn't express herself, couldn't control the negative emotions that were invading her mind. As she started to panic, she felt two arms surround her, gently but firmly.
"Don't worry. You don't have to explain anything. Don't lock up your emotions, let them out: I'm here to catch you." Glynda whispered softly.
It was the final straw. Yang's last walls collapsed, and she began to cry freely, unrestrained, resting her head against her godmother's shoulder. Throughout the time of her goddaughter's cracking, the older woman continued to hold her firmly against her, whispering reassuring words to her from time to time. When the crying began to subside, Glynda began to gently run her hand through Yang's hair. She was one of the very few people allowed to access her goddaughter's golden hair, and had made a habit of doing this to calm her down when she was younger. It still worked, apparently, since she felt Yang relax as she went. Finally, after long minutes of silence during which neither of the two women moved, the younger one ends up slowly detaching from the older one, until looking her straight in the eye. A smile, albeit faint, spread across her still damp face.
"Thank you. And ... I love you too. Very, very much."
Her godmother just smiled upon hearing this, happy to see that Yang already seemed to be doing a lot better than a little earlier. Each sitting down in their place, the two women fell into a comfortable silence. Suddenly, after a long time, Yang let out a small laugh, before declaring to a Glynda who was watching her questioningly:
"I really don't know what I would do without you. I was just thinking that I'm really lucky you're always there to give me a hand."
She winked at her godmother at the end of the sentence while ostensibly showing her stump, a wide smile on her face. The other woman shook her head at the pun, yet smiling at the same time. She knew that if Yang started making jokes, it was a sign she had come out of the semi-depressive state she had been in since the beginning of the evening. After a few more minutes of silence, Yang suddenly thought about what she had noticed during dinner.
"Glyn?"
"Hm?" replied the person concerned.
"Earlier, I noticed that you reacted strangely when Zenith spoke about Weiss, do you know her?"
Glynda stared at her goddaughter for a few seconds blinking, then pulled out her Scroll and started tapping on it under the curious gaze of the other blonde. She ends up turning to Yang, showing her a picture on her Scroll. It was a photo of Weiss having the same neutral expression Yang had seen her display at the start of the meeting.
"The Weiss you were talking about ... is that her?" Glynda asked cautiously.
"Yes! Is she famous or something? I thought she looked familiar..." her goddaughter replied.
Hearing this, the older woman put down her Scroll and took off her glasses for a few seconds, a look of dismay on her face, as if Yang was a particularly slow-minded student. Putting her glasses back on, she finally answered:
"Your son has become 'friends' with Weiss Schnee, the CEO of the Schnee Tech Company."
When Yang fully understood what Glynda had said, her eyes comically widened as her mouth opened in an expression of utter surprise. Then, slowly, almost in slow motion, she brought her hand close to her forehead before finally facepalming. The motion was followed by a growl of pain, Yang having forgotten that her hand was injured.
"I'm an idiot."
"I always told you so."
Hello again ! I hope you liked this chapter. I tried not to do something that seemed forced or unrealistic but I really wanted to show how the situation weighs not only on Yang but also those around her. So ... I hope that reactions / conversations and actions feel natural to you. I also hope that the end isn't too abrupt in the change of atmosphere!
Otherwise normally you are asking yourself a ton of questions about Yang's life (and rightly so). I'm obviously not going to spoil it, but here is my comment on an important point:
- Glynda is Yang's godmother?
Yes, and for several reasons.
First reason : I like Glynda and find her character to be underused, whether it's in the show or in fanfictions in general (she often has a supporting role or a tertiary or even spectator character). So, it pleased me to be able to integrate her as an important character in the plot.
Second reason : I really like the idea of this relationship. What I want to say is that I find their personalities to be very interesting put together. At first, we can think that they are completely opposite (exuberant / reserved, explosive anger / cold anger, loss of control easily / self-control in all circumstances, displays her emotions / keeps a neutral face, brings chaos / brings discipline, always warm / always cold - seriously has Glynda smiled more than zero times in the anime? - etc ...) but when you think about it you realize that they have nevertheless several common points (get annoyed easily, are not afraid to say what they think, are loyal and care about those close to them ... -yes as Glynda isn't too developed it's not very easy to know her personality, I do my best from what we know! -). That's why (in my opinion) they can make a good duet, and Glynda seems very interesting to me as an adult figure who has always been present in Yang's life. For example, she might've being able to teach Yang to better control her temper among other things... Hence the decision to make her Yang's godmother when I needed someone for this role.
Third reason : ... It will sound silly, but I burst out laughing when I imagined her face the moment she found out she was going to be a godmother...
As much as I don't have too much trouble writing for Yang, I have more difficulty for Glynda. I hope I have succeeded in transcribing her personality ...
That's it for today ! (Wow, I really have to calm down with the author's notes ...).
Take care of yourself and see you next time!
