Chapter Notes
Okay. So I know it's been a long time for this. But I figured with RTX out of the way, I could devote a little time to finishing this off. So, expect a final ch5 coming up in a week or so, depending on how long it takes me to finish. Just as a reminder, this story has a very specific 'style,' so it's not like some of my other works.See the end of the chapter for more notes
The raven-haired woman was warm beneath the blankets. Even with the doors and windows shut tight against the cold, the winter chill slipped in, biting what skin it could reach above the covers. Weiss buried her face in her lover's chest, breathing in her scent, doing everything to forget this might be their last chance together. The last time she felt Blake's skin against her face. Her hand sliding through Weiss hair as she lay against her, trying not to think the worst. That Blake would leave. That she'd never see this stupid, stubborn, wonderful woman again.
"I love you too, Weiss." She could hear Blake's voice rumble in her chest, feel her breath against the top of her head.
She wasn't going to cry. She wasn't. It was just the cold hurting her eyes. So what if this stupid Faunus needed to run off for a few months? She would be back. Shewould be back.
"... I know."
Weiss woke with a start. Cold sweat coated her skin beneath her nightgown, chilling her even as the sun's first rays trickled in through the window, sunlight warming the bed.
Weiss grabbed the blankets and tugged. It was too hot in here. To stuffy. The air was dead, cloying, trapping her, smothering her. She needed free, needed air, needed …
Needed her.
Throwing the blankets aside, Weiss stumbled out of bed, tripping on the trailing edge of the comforter as she made her way to the window. Fumbling fingers fought with the latch, trying desperately to get the damn thing open. A growl rumbled in the back of her throat, her patience waning thin until finally, finally, the latch popped free.
Swinging the window open, Weiss thrust her head out and breathed.
Her heart calmed as the breeze hit her face, tugging at her nightgown and drying the sweat from her skin. A bird chirped, and Weiss opened her eyes to the spring morning, taking in the forest outside.
Winter had long since turned to spring, the snows melted away, leaving the forest lush and green. The flower had yet to bloom, but she spotted buds sitting on a few of the branches, waiting for spring rains and sun before they would slowly unfurl their petals. A chickadee sat on the branch by her window, wide eyes trained on this strange, featherless creature, before cocking its head and belting its song.
Weiss sighed and slumped against the window frame.
"It is spring. You searching for someone too?"
The chickadee turned, cocked his head one more time, and leapt into the air, flapping furiously as he sailed up towards the treetops.
"No. Go right ahead," Weiss snapped. "Leave. Everyone else does."
Planting her head onto her arms, Weiss scowled out at the forest, trying not to glance down at the empty path that led to their cottage, and failing miserably.
Two months, she thought, eyes narrowing in anger. That was all the time Weiss had given her. Two. Two months to make sure no one would follow her to the family's cottage in the woods. Two months to come back, or Weiss would hunt her down and make her very, very sorry for failing to keep her promise.
Two months. So where the hell is she?
Breakfast was a subdued affair. It wasn't always. Ruby usually had more than enough energy to carry the conversation herself. But today, even she seemed affected by the gloom.
Finishing her porridge, Weiss set the bowl aside and went about her day – washing laundry, darning socks, gathering roots from the garden - doing just about anything to keep busy. Too busy to wonder where Blake was, if she was alright, if the people hunting her and caught up to her or-
"What did the towel ever do to you?"
Blinking, Weiss pulled herself back to reality. Her mother sat beside her, smiling, nodding down at the washcloth Weiss was throttling in her hands.
"Sorry," Weiss grunted, relaxing her grip. She kept her eyes away from her mother as she spread the cloth on the table, trying to smooth the wrinkles she'd caused.
A hand came down onto her shoulder, squeezing gently.
"She'll be back."
Weiss' eyes went wide. Her head popped up to stare into her mother's violet eyes, sympathetic and understanding as she reached her arm around Weiss' shoulders and pulled her against her side.
"You knew," Weiss murmured, not quite able to believe her ears.
"Of course I knew. You spent the last few weeks sulking around the house like a bear with a bee up its butt." Weiss glared up at her just in time to see her mother's shrug. "If that's not love I don't know what is."
"… when?"
"Please." Yang laughed, leaning her head atop her daughter's. "I'm your mother. I've always known. I didn't say anything because it looked like Blake was good for you. Both of you. And every girl deserves the chance to have one little secret romance in her life."
"You … you don't disapprove?"
"Nah. Hell, if I was a few years younger-"
"Mother!"
"What? In this world, neither of you would have been born yet." Weiss' mother smiled, hugging her daughter all the tighter. "You're going to go look for her, aren't you?"
Weiss nodded. It was a decision she'd made days ago, when every other minute had been spent staring at the door or the path outside, waiting for a knock that never came.
"Alright," Yang nodded against the side of Weiss' head, stroking her hair before pulling back to look her daughter in the eyes. "Just bring your sister. It's dangerous to go alone. And she's been about as depressed as you without Blake here. Going out would probably do you both some good."
Reaching behind her, Yang lifted a bundle onto the table. Weiss' rapier was there, along with a bow for Ruby, wrapped together with their rain cloaks and more than enough supplies to last them the day.
Swallowing, Weiss glanced back up, and then buried her face in her mother's shoulder, hugging her tight. Clearing her throat, Weiss pulled away and grabbed for her gear, packing faster than she ever had before. Within minutes, Ruby was downstairs, putting the last touches on their packs.
"Be careful and stick to the path." Yang said, hugging them goodbye as they stepped through the cottage door. "And if you find Blake, tell her she's late for dinner."
"We will." Weiss nodded, hand tight on her sword hilt.
"I'll make sure to keep her out of trouble," Ruby said, thumbing the arrows in her quiver and grinning when Weiss shot a scowl her way.
Yang nodded and smiled and caught them both in one last hug before she waved them on their way.
Waving goodbye, the two girls started down the path, their faces set and determined, eyes locked on the trees before them.
"Don't forget to mark the trees so you don't get lost."
Weiss twitched as she turned to wave goodbye one last time. "Of course Mother."
"And watch out for the animals – the bears are finally starting to wake up."
"We will, Mother."
"And don't go too far! Stick to the woods!"
"We got it, Mom!"
The trek through the woods was long and quiet. Neither girl felt much like talking, and the only sounds either heard were those of the forest. Hummingbirds flitted about overhead while sparrows and starlings cried out their first few songs of spring. Leaves rustled as a squirrel darted up a nearby conifer. A twig cracked beneath Ruby's boot. They were the sounds that heralded spring, that meant it was time for the family to start tending to the garden again, for their mother to trim the rosebushes that lined the path.
And instead, Weiss grumbled to herself,we're out here hunting for someone who might not even want to see us again.
Putting the frustration out of her head, she put one foot in front of the other and kept moving. The last thing she needed was for Ruby to realize what was going through her head, to have the same thoughts about what might have happened to keep Blake from them.
They were headed the same direction Blake had left, out to the west, away from the nearby river and the village to the south. Both girls knew the way like the backs of their hands – it was a rare season when they and their mother didn't make their way to the village, trading herbs and game for salt and wool and the few things they couldn't grow in their garden.
Both girls froze as a branch cracked a ways down the path. Within seconds, Weiss' hand was on her sword-hilt, Ruby's fingers already toying with the boy that sat on her back.
"Bear, you think?" Ruby asked, her free hand closing around one of her arrows.
Weiss shook her head. Under the crunching sound, the cracking of twigs, Weiss could have sworn she heard …
Words.
The white-haired girl wasn't sure if her heart beat slower or faster. People meant news, maybe – assuming she dared ask if anyone had seen a cat-eared Faunus wandering around. Then again, at least a bear would be predictable. People were … people.
Holding out her arm, she pulled Ruby back to the side of the road. Not off of it, but far enough to be out of the way for anyone was trying to pass.
A few seconds later, she could make out the words. Slightly slurred, as if drunk, and coming in a chorus as four men rounded the turn.
"I told you," the first one said, blond hair waving as he spoke. "We should have gone-"
One of the others grabbed his shoulder. The blonde looked back at his friends, and followed their gaze to the two young women standing by the side of the road.
"Well, wha'do we have here?" the blonde grinned, only to get jerked back again as his bigger friend stepped forward.
"Hey," the taller one grunted, his voice low. "You two live here?"
Weiss looked between the four men, taking in the heavy leathers the group wore, the weapons worn belted at their backs and sides. But no bows or traps, nothing they could use to take down a running deer or rabbit. Not hunters then. Mercenaries, maybe?
"No," she said, her head ready to jump to the hilt at her side. "But near enough."
The tallest one nodded, his brown hair cut close against his head.
"You know which way is it back to town?"
The others aren't interrupting, and the blonde one hasn't opened his mouth. Which means he's the one in charge.
"Back the way you came," she said, polite, if a little brusque. "You probably took the wrong fork at the crossing."
"See?" one of the others said, brown, bowl-cut hair flopping in the breeze. "Toldja we needed to go left."
"Alright Dove, you made your point." The tall one shrugged and adjusted the mace hanging off his back. Waving to his companions, he made to move back down the trail, then stopped. Thumbing his jaw, he turned, twisting to look back at the two girls.
"Hey. You haven't seen any White Fang around here, have you?"
Weiss blinked. That was it. They werehunters, just not the kind they normally got this deep into the forest. They're hunting Fang members. Bounty hunters, or just a posse gathered together to go hunt a rumor. Either way, if they're looking through the woods, they might know something, might have heard something about Blake.
Then again, who knows what might happens if they mistake Blake for one of those monsters …
Like I did.
"No," Weiss shook her head. "No Faunus at all, actually."
"You hear that, boys? No Faunus." The others laughed as the tall mercenary turned back to the road. "If only the rest of us were that lucky."
The laughing lingered long after they vanished around the bend in the road, harsh and jarring in the forest calm. The silence that followed was dense, nearing painful as the birds and animals slowly made their way back into the area. The two girls stood and waited, watching as the squirrels and other animals darting out from their hiding places to go back to scrounging as much food as they could lay their hands on.
"So," Ruby said quietly, when they ran out of excuses not to talk. "You think one of the Fang is out here too?"
Weiss shook her head. "Who knows. Maybe it's just a rumor. Or maybe someone made a mistake."
"You don't think-"
Weiss slammed her blade into her sheath, closing that small inch she'd drawn when they heard the men coming around the bend. "No, I don't."
They spent the night staring at the stars, curled up in their bedrolls beneath the branches of a sycamore tree. Weiss took the first watch, glancing down as Ruby slept soundly beside her, trying to forget Ruby's question and the answer that had immediately come to mind.
What if they mistook Blake for one of them? What if they're here, hunting Blake? Or if they just run into her? Or if she runs into the real Fang member? Or …
Worry was her constant companion through the night. Even when Ruby woke and took her place, and Weiss lay down in her bedroll and shut her eyes, the last thought in her head was of Blake.
The next morning was a miserable one. Weiss had barely slept, woken time and time again by nightmares of Blake alone in the woods, running into the waiting jaws of the Fang or the sharpened weapons of the hunters.
Weiss didn't feel like talking, and to all appearances, neither did her sister. Breakfast was made from some of their mother's supplies and eaten quickly. By the time the sun was fully in the sky, their camp was clear, their bags packed and ready.
The rest of their morning was uneventful. They saw a deer, and Ruby managed to hit a limping rabbit from forty paces through the trees, bolstering their meager supplies. They took lunch on the rocks near a stream, dipping their feet in the water and trying not to worry why they hadn't found any sign of Blake.
It was well into the afternoon when Weiss heard it. They were near the mountain, standing beneath an outcropping when the sound reached her ears, echoing off the rock.
Voices. Familiar voices. Familiar, raisedvoices.
"Think it's the hunters?" Ruby asked, her hand tightening on the grip of her bow.
Weiss nodded. "It does sound like them."
"So?" Ruby asked, glancing over at her. "What's the plan? Sneak up, try to see what they're arguing about? If it's not Blake-"
"Just … stay here." Weiss looked over at her sister and scowled, trying to sound stern and commanding. "Just until I see what's going on."
Ruby's jaw set the way it did when she got an idea into her head, when she decided to dig her feet in. Weiss had seen that look a hundred times before, usually right before Ruby did whatever she wanted, regardless of the danger to herself.
Weiss couldn't have that. Reaching out, she grabbed Ruby's shoulder and squeezed. "Ruby," she said, forcing her sister to meet her eyes. "Promise me you'll wait here."
Ruby held her gaze, bristled under it, then nodded unhappily.
Deciding that was the best she would get, Weiss let go, drew the blade from her waist, and made her way around the curve of the mountainside.
It took her only a minute to make it to where the hunter stood. They were right up against the base of the cliff, weapons drawn, speaking in low voices as they circled to surround one solitary figure. A figure with long black hair and a longcoat just as black. Already on the defensive, she held her blade out before her, her scabbard primed in her free hand, ready to intercept any attacks they made. And there, nestled in the mass of black hair, were two, small, tufted ears.
Weiss swallowed, her heart aching in her chest. She'd recognize that woman anywhere.
"Blake?"
Chapter End Notes
Well. That took a while to get around to. Apologies to anyone who was waiting for this. Now, if you can spare a second, PLEASE take the time to leave a review (even if it's just a word or two saying if you liked it or not). I love hearing what readers have to say, even if it's just a word or two saying if they liked it or not. You can also find me on tumblr as 'redsuitwriter' – I love getting asks, and, I'll even take fic requests/prompts (short ones).