I'm back after writing 'World Is Mine'!
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I do not own RWBY.
#
Chapter 9: Farewell, My Friend
Yang felt a sting in her chest when she saw Blake and Weiss hugging each other near her house yesterday.
She bit her lips to stop herself from thinking too much; she was currently sparring with Ruby as the latter had agreed to help her train in order to pass the application exam for the scholarship at Signal Academy.
Weiss had excused herself from meeting them at Secret Base today as her sister Winter had come back to visit her, and Blake had to help her parents in taking care of the shop because her father was sick.
So that left the red and yellow – and the dog.
They always trained when the monochrome pair wasn't around to help both improved in fighting. Ruby was amazed by the blonde – she was pretty much naturally gifted in fighting, unlike Ruby who had no talent at all and had trained very hard to be as skilled as she was today.
And today was the first time Yang had a real spar with little red. Roman had gifted her a pair of gauntlets which according to the man was a prototype his friend built a long time ago before he passed away.
Before this they had always spar bare-fisted and using sticks; however after receiving the yellow-colored gauntlet they had agreed to try a real fight. Of course they had activated their auras fully to protect themselves from fatal injuries.
Yang was totally excited for this – but her mind couldn't stop thinking how Blake and Weiss had hugged each other yesterday. That caused her attention to be distracted as she received a full hit on her stomach from Ruby's scythe.
"Shit!" She shouted as she was sent flying backwards.
"Yang!" Ruby and Topaz dashed to her immediately, the former trying to help her get up, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah…just a scratch…" She forced herself to smile but ultimately failed.
Because her orange T-shirt had turned red from the bleeding at her stomach.
"Oh Dust! I'm so sorry Yang! I…what to do…you…uh…" Ruby dropped Crescent Rose and squirmed, trying desperately to clear her mind.
"Hey…it's fine. It's starting to heal up already…" Yang patted Ruby's head.
"But…" Little red started to cry, "But I almost cut you in half!"
"Hey hey, it's really fine Rubes. It's my fault for not paying attention. I should've focused my aura on the spot where you were gonna hit…or dodge it. That strike wasn't very fast, yeah, I should've dodged it. Sorry Rubes…"
After half an hour of sharing aura and cleaning off wounds, they had finally settled down. Presently they were sitting by the lake side, Yang wearing Ruby's cloak to cover herself while waiting for her shirt to dry off; Ruby had helped her to wash the blood off.
"Yang?" Ruby said, unable to withstand the awkward silent.
"Yeah Rubes?" The blonde answered casually. Her wound had already completely sealed up, thus not bleeding anymore. It still hurt though.
"Are you okay?"
"You've been asking that for…I don't know, sixty two times already? I'm fine Ruby."
"No, not the wound…" She frowned in concern, "What makes you…unable to focus?"
Yang flinched. Topaz was looking at her with a pair of concerned eyes; he knew what was making Yang so unfocused.
"Are you sick? Are you hungry?"
"No Rubes, I'm fine." Yang smiled gently, "Just…you know, worried about…school."
"Was it about Blake and Weiss yesterday?"
She flinched.
Again.
This little red had really good observation skills which Yang sometimes really hated.
"Nah, just thinking about what will happen if we didn't find Blake in time." She brushed it off.
Ruby narrowed her eyes, but shortly after had sighed and decided she would respect Yang's decision.
"Just…you know, if you need anything…I'm right here." The girl said.
"Aww that's so nice of you Rubes!" Yang grinned while ruffling her head.
"Ruff!" Topaz wagged his tail.
"A…anyway, I think that's enough for today. How about I send you back to your house Yang?"
"Just admit that you want to come to my house little red~"
"What? No! I just want to make sure you're fine!"
"Yeah yeah whatever~ let's go."
They got up and started to move through the forest. Throughout the year Topaz had learned and recognized the route to their house directly from Secret Base; that would make their journey shorter now that they didn't need to go out the forest and then reenter again from the other entrance.
Yang had never invited any of them to her house before, thus making the trio extremely curious. But there wasn't any special reason she didn't want to do so – she just didn't feel the need to.
"Wow!" Ruby exclaimed when she saw Yang's house.
"Ruff!" Topaz barked as if he wanted to welcome the girl.
"Bring me in! Bring me inside for a tour Yang!" Ruby burst into a swirl of rose petals as she dashed to the house.
"Whoa chill Rubes. Never seen old houses before?" Yang said as she followed the girl, carefully measuring her step so that she wouldn't trip and hurt her stomach even more.
"I love abandoned houses! They have this…mysterious force that keeps pulling me in!" She squealed, "But, please don't tell mom and dad…I don't wanna let anyone know…"
"Why is that?" She opened the door, allowing the younger girl to walk in, followed by Topaz and lastly herself.
"Well…" She chuckled nervously, "It's weird."
"No it isn't." Yang smiled and patted her head gently, "Everyone has their own hobbies. Admiring ruins certainly is not weird."
"Aww Yang! I love you!" Ruby tried to hug her but was stopped by a pair of powerful arms.
"Rubes, stomach, remember?"
"Ah, I'm sorry…"
"Anyway, make yourself home!"
"Okay!"
#
Time passed by so slow – especially when you were waiting for your study session to be over.
Weiss didn't hate them; in fact, she loved them. She got to know more things and it helped a lot for her to be prepared to take over the company one day. Plus, Glynda was a perfect teacher. There was not a single reason for her to dislike the study session with her private tutor.
Had it been another usual day, she would've enjoyed it.
But not today – not when her sister Winter was visiting her.
Presently the heiress was trying her best to force her brain into focusing at the current task, but the sound of the clock ticking on the wall had made her felt uneasy.
Winter had reached the mansion several hours ago but she insisted Weiss finished her study session before meeting up. The heiress truly missed her sister; she had been in Atlas with the military since her last visit around four months ago.
"Thinking about your sister, Miss Schnee?"
"N…no."
"You're so bad at lying." Glynda chuckled.
"…" Weiss' face was red as Ruby's cloak as she turned to another side, unwilling to let the woman witness such embarrassing scene.
"Miss Schnee, it is okay to miss her. After all she's your sister."
The heiress sighed before shaking her head, "I'm sorry. I'll focus."
And after another two hours of torment, Weiss' daily study session was finally over. She had to use all her energy to not jump and squeal in delight.
"I'll see you tomorrow Miss Schnee. Have a good day with your sister." Glynda said as she left.
"Thank you Miss Goodwitch."
The moment the woman stepped out of the front door, Weiss had practically run to her sister's bedroom with a speed that could almost rival Ruby's.
She stood in front of the door, made sure her clothes and hair were fixed before clearing her throat. The moment she was about to knock the door, it opened itself, revealing the tall woman behind it.
Winter Schnee was seven years older than her sister; she also possessed those ivory hair and blue orbs just like Weiss did. She was very tall and had a rather huge bust along with a stern expression.
Which had softened the moment she saw Weiss.
"W…Winter!" Weiss resisted the urge to spread her arms and hug her sister.
"Hello Weiss." Winter however had initiated the hug.
"I miss you…" The heiress whispered, both wrapped up in a tight embrace.
"Me too." The woman smiled.
#
Blake had spent the entire afternoon reading.
There wasn't a single customer the whole day, which she was both happy and upset about.
No wonder papa was so stressed. How is he going to keep us fed without mama working?
She shook her head; she shouldn't feel happy about not having customers at all. She couldn't be so selfish for hoping that there weren't any customers today just because she didn't like to deal with people.
Her mother had a shift in the cafe until six in the evening, so she could only come to take over the shop after that time. Which meant Blake still had around four hours of being alone in here.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the two books she brought in her kitty backpack. At least she wouldn't have to stare at the door for the whole day; she could read.
And reading happened to be her one and only hobby.
#
Another year had passed since then.
Their lifestyle had encountered a drastic change; Blake and Yang had more schoolwork and assignments to focus on so they couldn't hang out in Secret Base much. Ruby was selected to enter a tournament among all the elementary combat schools in Vale, while Weiss had officially started her combat training with Glynda, that taking away most of her free time in the afternoon.
Thus, the four girls barely saw each other anymore.
However, when they had free time, they would definitely pay Secret Base a visit to see if they could run into any members of Team RWBY. Usually it was Blake and Yang bringing their schoolwork there to discuss or study together as both their houses weren't exactly the perfect spot to do so, and that Yang hated the library.
Plus she couldn't leave Topaz alone for very long; they'd miss each other.
Blake had grown taller over the year thanks to the training with Yang. She had decided to enter Signal Academy together with Yang as she was inspired by her to become a huntress too, therefore she requested to train with the blonde.
The blonde had of course happily agreed; she couldn't find anyone to train together due to Ruby being in school getting ready for the tournament 24/7. Blake had told Beatrix about her will to enter a combat school and she had gifted her daughter a set of weapons as an encouragement.
It was a black-colored katana with shiny surface. Beatrix told her that her father crafted it for her. Her father wasn't really good with metal considered he spent his whole life carving woods but somehow he had managed to finish the katana for his daughter.
Blake named it 'Gambol Shroud'.
She often talked about upgrading their weapons with Yang, like how Ruby had forged her scythe together with a sniper rifle (under Qrow's supervising of course). Yang told her that students normally upgrade their weapons when they entered a middle combat school. The teachers there would teach them how to do it - which had made Ruby a genius for getting her weapon upgraded at the age of ten.
Presently only Blake, Yang and Topaz were at Secret Base; Yang was helping Blake with her mathematics homework.
Believe it or not, aside from physical education, the blonde's best subject was mathematics.
When she first told Blake, the Faunus had to spend three whole days to carry out her own investigation to prove that Yang was lying – because there was just no way the blonde would excel in mathematics.
During her investigation she had run into one of Yang's classmate who was also a Faunus – Sun Wukong. He was a monkey Faunus and had really friendly nature, which made Blake's conversation with him much easier. Sun told her that despite that naughty look Yang was actually very good in her academics; in fact she was in the top three of her class.
"And here, you just carry out using the equation from page thirty-three. Blake? Are you listening?"
"Yes. Just…couldn't focus. I'm sorry." Blake apologized.
"Something wrong?" Yang asked.
"No. I just…I was thinking of something."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I was…" Blake hesitated, but ultimately decided that Yang was the best person to talk to, "I was just thinking about us."
"You mean…us? Team RWBY?"
"Mmhmm. I just…don't know until when we can keep this going."
Due to Ruby and Weiss' busy schedule, the last time Team RWBY was complete was around two months ago. Since that day, it was always either Blake and Yang or Ruby and Weiss; they never had the chance to get together as a team again.
"Someday, we will be separated…" Blake continued, her voice getting lower.
"Even if we're separated, we're still friends. Don't worry about that Blakey." Yang smiled, trying to give her reassurance.
But they both still felt really lonely – although the blonde had never showed it.
They hadn't seen their precious little white angel in two months and they missed her very much. Of course they missed little red too, but Blake being her neighbor could easily see her if she really wanted to. She just didn't want to bother Ruby in preparing for the tournament.
"I know, Yang. We made a vow last year, remember?" Blake smiled, "I'm just worried."
"Aww don't worry Blakey, you still have me!" Yang pulled her into a hug, "We're gonna enter Signal together!"
"Ruff ruff!" Topaz barked.
Yang realized his intention and had released the poor girl as she panted for breaths.
"Yang…I swear…someday…you'll…really…kill someone…"
"Sorry kitten." She scratched her head, "Hard to control my strength sometimes…"
Blake simply glared at Yang and the latter had raised both her hands in surrender. It was then the blonde noticed something wrong with her dog.
"Topaz? Are you okay?"
The golden retriever was not as energetic as he was usually. His eyes were dull and his breaths were uneven.
"Are you sick buddy?" Yang gently stroked his fur.
"Ruff!" The dog tried his best to put out a strong bark. Blake frowned; she knew how alike Topaz was with his master – both liked to appear strong to not let people worry. And apparently Yang took that as a good sign as she happily hugged the dog.
Blake's amber eyes got in contact with Topaz's brown ones when the blonde continued to hug him. Her Faunus instinct had sensed something from the dog; something that he was desperately trying to tell her.
He was telling her to take good care of his master.
Blake held back the urge to cry and nodded to him.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
As soon as Yang released him, he bolted off suddenly, startling her as she fell backwards onto the ground.
"Topaz?!" She quickly got up, "Hey Topaz! Where are you going?"
But the dog ignored her; he just ran straight into the opening and disappeared.
"Topaz!" Yang ran after him but had bumped into something as she was approaching the opening.
And that something happened to be a certain heiress.
"Yang! Watch where you're go-"
Her scolding was cut off when she saw two lines of tears on the blonde's face.
"Out of my way, Weiss!" Yang shouted as she pushed the heiress out of the way and went after Topaz.
"What happened?" Weiss got up as Blake approached, asking if she was fine.
Although she was really happy for finally seeing the heiress after two months, she was in no mood to express it. She had been together with Topaz for two years. They said cats and dogs didn't go well – but two years of friendship had proven it wrong.
"Topaz…he…" Blake stiffened.
"What's wrong with him?"
"Let's go after Yang…I'm worried about her." Blake took off as soon as Weiss nodded.
It wasn't hard to trace where they had run off – the blonde got so emotional that her semblance was activated and there would be a gush of warm air at the place where she had been at.
The two followed the hot air and eventually had reached a familiar place. It was the place where they made their vow last year – Yang's house.
Loud thuds were heard from the inside as the two quickened their pace towards the building. The door wasn't locked and when they pushed it open, the blonde was kneeling in front of the coffee table.
A golden ball of fur was beneath it, lying there lifeless.
They could hear Yang's faint sobbing as she brought Topaz close to her chest and hugged him tight, whispering his name, desperately trying to revive him.
"Yang…" Blake said, her eyes watery too, "Topaz had some last words…"
The blonde turned to face the monochrome pair, giving them a good look of her current expression. Her eyes were red – burning with the flame of anger and grief; two lines of tears were on her cheek, blood on her lips as a result from biting them hard.
"Topaz…he…asked me to take care of you." Blake's cat ears flattened on her scalp; her ribbon had gone off when she was running earlier.
"Why?" Yang released Topaz and stomped to the Faunus, grabbing her shirt tight as she snapped, "Why didn't you tell me earlier? Why?!"
"Yang…" Weiss tried to touch the blonde but was yanked off roughly.
"Belladonna…what more do you know?"
"Topaz…told me that…" She sobbed, "Right before he ran off…"
"Yang, stop! It's not Blake's fault!" Weiss got up from the nasty fall, both hands grabbing Yang's arm tight, "Yang…"
"I know…" The blonde released the Faunus as she fell to the ground kneeling; both arms supporting her upper body, "I know! I know it's not her fault! Because it's my fault!"
"Yang…" Weiss eyed Blake, telling her she got this as the latter nodded.
"It's my fault…" She mumbled.
Weiss touched Yang's shoulder gently, trying to get attention from the crying blonde. She lifted her head and met with the heiress' own watery blue orbs.
Yang, it's fine.
She saw the message as she moved slowly towards the heiress, powerful arms wrapping around her back. She then buried her face into Weiss' chest while whispering.
"It…It never occurred to me…that Topaz was…old enough…to die already…" She sobbed, "I should've noticed…I should've…"
"It's not your fault, Yang." Weiss placed gentle stroke on the blonde's head, "Topaz departed peacefully, and he didn't want you to be sad over him."
"It's my fault…my family…left me again…dad…mom…and now Topaz…"
"You still have us, Yang." Blake got near and hugged the both of them, "We'll always be here for you."
"He was so energetic yesterday…it happened so sudden…I should've noticed…what a bad master I am…"
"It's okay Yang, just cry, you'll feel better." Weiss placed a kiss on her head.
"Topaz…Topaz…please come back…I need you…"
They waited patiently for Yang to cry out her grief. After sometime she had cried herself out until she was so tired that she fell asleep. Blake and Weiss helped moved her onto the couch, covering her with a blanket they found nearby.
"Ruby can't know about this." Weiss said when she lifted Topaz's body up; he had already stiffened and was hard to be moved.
"Ruby has the right to know about this!" Blake shouted, but was not loud enough to wake Yang up, "Aside from Yang, she was the closest to Topaz!"
"Ruby has a tournament to focus on. If she knew about Topaz she would lose focus." Weiss tried to answer calmly but her voice was shaking, "We don't have to ability to revive him…but, I think this is what he would've wanted. He would've wanted Ruby to win the tournament and…for Yang to carry on without him."
"Yes…when he told me his last words…I was really…" Blake shook her head, "I've promised him to take good care of Yang."
"I'll have my family arrange for Topaz's funeral." Weiss said as she put down the body and took out a scroll from her pocket.
Blake shot her a questioned look and she noticed.
"Schnees are more capable of you think they are. I wanted to tell you about the new scroll I bought, that's why I came here."
The Faunus simply gave her a pitiful smile.
Weiss returned the smile as she dialed a number.
"George? Please send some men here to pick up Topaz. He's…dead, and I want to prepare a grand funeral for him. Yes, at Yang's place. Yes, thank you."
"I can't believe he's gone…" Blake knelt down to stroke the dog, "It's so sudden…"
"Me neither." Weiss sobbed, "But I guess…he's lived a wonderful life. He brought us so much happiness and he helped Yang went through her most difficult times."
"And we'll help Yang go through this. We should go through this together…as a team."
"After the tournament, Blake." Weiss said, "It's only two days away from now. Let's wait until that time to inform Ruby…"
"Yeah…"
Farewell, my friend.
#
Topaz…*sobs*
I really understand how Yang feels you know. It's been 3 years since my dog died and until today I still can't let go. I will cry like a child whenever I thought of how I found him lying near the drain at the back of my house.
And no, he hadn't died that time. He was half dead so I brought him to a more comfortable place for him to rest. I knew he had not much time left…but I wasn't there for him. I shouldn't have gone to school that day! I should've stayed and be with him for the last time. He died when I was still at school.
My dad buried him without waiting for me and I couldn't even see him for the last time. That's like the most regrettable thing in my entire life. I broke down for so long.
A reminder to all readers…
Cherish something when they're still alive. Because when they are gone, you can never turn back time and that regret will haunt you forever.
Anyway.
Back to the story.
Did anyone get scared by the title of the story that one of the four girls is going to die? Haha. Sorry, I didn't mean it. Just wanna surprise you. XD
Thank you for taking your time to read this series.
Lastly, please support me on Pa/tre/on as 'The Tanker' if you like my stories!
