Bumblebee chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.
Chapter 3. Troubled Pasts
It was still early – too damn early, in Yang's opinion – when she woke that morning.
She groaned a wheezing sigh as she blinked open her eyes, looking to the window shrouded in curtains, easily able to tell it would be a while yet till sunrise. She liked that she could still sleep a bit, but was annoyed at even having woken in the first place.
But there was one good thing about waking up like this.
She rolled over onto her other side, and a familiar warmth bubbled up in her chest as she caught sight of the person beside her.
For about ten years now, she had never woken up alone, not once.
A girl with hair as dark as the night slept beside her, her Faunus ears flicking periodically as she dreamed. The moonlight cast smooth shadows over her pale white cheeks, and Yang listened to her soft breathing.
Yang closed the distance between them, pulling herself in closer and nestling into the girl's collar.
She remembered the first few months Blake had shared her bed, how she had always jolted awake screaming or crying due to nightmares. It was nothing new to Yang; when she was younger and still slept in the same bed as Ruby, her little sister often suffered from the same ailments.
But now – as it had been for several years – Bake's slumber was peaceful and deep, and Yang was relieved for that. Some nights, Blake's ease even rubbed off on her, and the blonde would sleep fully.
But not tonight, it seemed.
The blonde sighed again, holding a long kiss to the girl's neck before squeezing her waist lightly. She closed her eyes again, letting Blake's warmth calm her. Her mind started to drift off again, and it brought back images from ten years ago that only seemed like yesterday.
. . .
Yang had first met Blake when she was about eight years old.
That day, she had been out with Ruby and their guards, as even at such young ages, the princesses were brought out to see as much of their kingdom as they could, starting with the closest village.
A crowd always gathered around them to greet them, to see the young princesses and kiss their hands or offer small gifts. Yang always held onto her little sister's hand, each of their free hands taken by one of their two guards.
Yang always thought the guards were a little mean; she did not like them that much. They were always reprimanding her: "Miss Yang, please slow down a little. Princess Ruby can't keep up."
They always treated her like a nuisance; she was not Vale's future Queen, after all.
But she was never jealous of Ruby; Yang did not want to be Queen, anyway. She knew she would be happy just being the Queen's big sister.
But still, the way some of the adults treated her only made her want to rebel more.
That day, Ruby had been bouncing around, begging to go to the bathroom. One guard had went off to ask the nearest resident of the village if they could intrude, the other guard hoisting Ruby up into his arms. Yang had been left behind as they turned their backs, and she had taken the opportunity to flee; she never planned to go far, just around a few corners, just to be free for a minute or two.
So she zipped through the legs of the passerby and street vendors, breaking from the crowd until she found herself in an empty alley.
Well, she had thought it was empty, until she heard the harsh laughter of fellow children.
It sounded like a fight – she had heard enough of them to know a harmless one from a hurtful one, and this was definitely the latter.
She rushed off, kicking up dust and soot behind her and rounded the corner.
There were four children, all of them Faunus, and three boys stood over a small girl, kicking and pushing her and pulling her ears as they yelled at her.
"You're worthless! At least if you join the White Fang you can die in a fight instead of on the streets!"
"Yeah! You should just die for Vale like your parents did!"
"You're gonna die anyway, stupid!"
"No!" The girl screamed, smacking their hands away. "Queen Summer said it was bad! She said we can't fight the Grimm and kill them all! She said we should only fight when we have to! We can't kill them all or else the world will be imbalanced and the Dragon will come back!"
"Shut up!"
"If you die in a battle, then someone else gets to live another day! That's heroic, isn't it? Better than dying in a gutter!"
Yang could tell they were trying to drag the girl away, likely to wherever the White Fang was going to hold a secret meeting. If she told someone, they could follow these children and learn where the group of radicals was hiding out and hopefully stop some of their activities.
She could have run back to fetch the guards.
They could have organized a search party to snuff out the White Fang.
But Yang could not bare the thought of letting that girl get hurt another second.
"HEY!" She shouted and stormed over to them, gaining all three boys' attention. "What kinda cowards pick on someone who won't fight back?"
"Huh?" one boy scoffed. "She's the coward cause she won't even fight back!"
"No!" Yang growled. "She's the smart one cause she's choosing not to fight back! And you guys should respect that and leave her alone!"
It was then one of them seemed to recognize who Yang was.
"Uh-oh." He nudged the other two and whispered something to them.
Yang took another step forward, feeling the anger flowing through her veins. It made her so angry to see that girl hurt so badly, one of her teeth lying on the ground, blood spattered around her as she coughed.
It was the first time Yang had ever gotten so angry.
When Ruby got nightmares, she would get scared, when the guards ignored her, she could get frustrated or ultimately indifferent.
But this was rage.
That was the first time her semblance was activated.
Suddenly, her long, golden hair started to rise up around her, and the breath from her mouth became hot and steamy. Her eyes burned red, fists clenching at her sides as she took another threatening step toward the Faunus boys.
And there was not a shred of doubt in her mind that she could beat them all if she wanted to.
They scattered and ran off yelping almost too quickly, and Yang might have spared a minute to be disappointed if it had not been for the girl still lying at her shoes.
The fire inside of the blonde girl subsided, her eyes regaining their natural lavender tint. She got to her knees, helping the Faunus girl sit up.
"Hey, are you okay? Where does it hurt? Have you unlocked your aura yet?"
The girl slumped in her arms, still looking confused and a little scared about it all, her ears flat and trembling against her head.
"A-Aura?" she repeated nervously.
"Oh, so you don't know about it? Okay just hold on a second."
Yang reached up and gently pressed the fingertips of one hand over the girl's forehead, her other hand finding the ones in her lap. Yang murmured a chant of sorts, something she had learned to recite and memorized only a year ago, the words that would unlock someone else's aura.
She could feel the flow of energy inside of herself, letting it reach out to the Faunus girl. Yang felt her jump a little bit, and she remembered the first time her father had unlocked her own aura, how it had felt a little strange, so she knew the girl was a bit frightened.
But her stiff shoulders soon relaxed under Yang's touch, and at last the blonde girl pulled away.
"There. It probably feels a little weird, but your aura's unlocked now! See, look!" She held up the girl's arm and had her look down to where the scratches were starting to heal. The Faunus girl's eyes blinked wide in disbelief, and Yang chuckled a little. "What? You didn't know about aura all this time?"
"N-No..." she gasped. "Well, I knew about it but... I tried all this time to unlock it by myself and I couldn't... I thought I didn't have any. I thought I wasn't good enough..."
"That's not it at all!" Yang reassured her. "Everyone has an aura – even animals. Just not Grimm. But you can't unlock it yourself; it's a gift someone else has to give you!" She lowered her voice a little. "Your parents never unlocked yours for you?"
The girl went silent for a moment, and Yang wondered why until she recalled what one of the boys had said earlier.
"My parents... died when I was young," the Faunus girl explained. "They always took care of me, but then the White Fang forced them in as recruits and put them on the front lines. They... never came home..."
Tears started welling up in her eyes, and Yang bit her bottom lip hard.
For some reason, seeing this girl cry was like seeing Ruby cry and she could not bare it.
The Faunus girl covered her face with her small hands and hiccuped. "A-And now... they're trying to recruit me, too. Cause I'm useless and I'd be... better off dying instead of eating more food that other, better people could be eating. They're gonna get me soon too and I'll be dead just like my parents. It's only a matter of time- A-And I wanna be with my parents again, but I don't wanna die!"
She was sobbing now, knees pulled to her chest as she wailed. Yang tasted blood in her mouth, and she felt anger swirling up inside of her.
"Those White Fang..." she growled. "They act like they're all high and mighty, but they're really just breaking the Queen's law! And they're basically murdering people!"
The girl beside her nodded her head, looking helplessly up at her.
Yang tried to think quickly, refusing to let this girl go back into these stinky alleys by herself only to get dragged away in the night.
She could only think of one thing that might have a good chance at working.
The other girl's whimpering brought Yang back to the present, and she slid closer, wrapping a tentative arm around her shaking shoulders.
"Shhh, it's okay. You're gonna be okay," she soothed. "What's your name?"
The Faunus girl sniffled and coughed before finding her voice again.
"Blake..."
Yang grinned.
"Hey, that's a pretty name!"
"...P-Pretty?"
"Yeah!"
Blake was humbled to the point of silence. All of the other Faunus children who lived in the slums were always picking on her, saying her name was "gross" or "boring".
This was the first time she had ever heard "pretty."
Her lips started to curl in the beginnings of a smile, and Yang gave her an encouraging squeeze, wanting to see more of it.
"My name's Yang!" she beamed.
But her introduction did not go as planned.
Instead of smiling all the way, Blake immediately frowned, gasping as her ears that had started to lift fell flat again.
"M-Miss Yang?!" Her voice sounded almost terrified, and Yang felt the girl quickly scramble away. Blake got onto her hands and knees before folding herself over, bringing her forehead to the ground in a deep bow. "F-Forgive me! I didn't realize it was you, Princess Yang! For you to h-have gone out of your way for a lowly Faunus like myself..."
"Hey, hey!" Yang reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, feeling Blake flinch. "Don't worry about it! I'd do the same for anyone being bullied, Faunus or human or whatever! And you're not lowly. Just because you're alone doesn't mean you're a lesser person than anyone else." She put her other hand on Blake's opposite shoulder. "Please sit up. I can't stand it when people bow down to me. I'm no one special..."
Blake peeked slowly up at her, one ear flicking before she slowly lifted herself up off the ground. Her eyes flashed nervously around until at last they met Yang's.
"But... But you are someone special. You're one of the princesses of Vale!"
The blonde girl only shrugged.
"Well yeah, I guess..." she muttered. "But I'm not the real princess. That's Ruby. I'm just a half-princess. A fake. A backup in case something happens to her, but nothing ever will because I'm gonna protect her no matter what. And I'm okay with that. I can help her out, but there's no way I could ever run this place. Ruby's been raised to be the future Queen all her life, so she's gonna be used to it. But me... heh, they kinda don't care too much about what I do, so long as I put on a dress once a month for the banquets."
Blake listened in silence, slowly moving back over to press her back against the wall of the alley beside her.
"...You're not a fake. You're you. And you're real." Her hand went down, paused, and then covered the distance to Yang's fingers. "You are a princess. And a very nice one at that."
Yang looked up just in time to see the flash of her smile, and it warmed her heart. She blinked back what she felt were tears and tried to smile as well.
"Thanks." It was the first time someone else had validated her being a princess, and it felt nice. "That was... the first time anyone's ever called me "Princess." It sounded weird, but kinda cool!"
Blake's tense shoulders finally relaxed altogether.
"And... that was the first time... anyone's ever helped me out. Or said my name was pretty."
"Well yeah!" Yang grinned. "You're a pretty girl, so of course you've got a pretty name to match!"
Her words sent a bright red blush over Blake's cheeks, her ears flicking about, not knowing what to do with themselves.
"P-Princess-"
"Ehh you don't have to call me that. That's what the adults call me. Just call me Yang!"
"...But... But that's so improper for me-"
"Hey, don't worry about what the rest of Vale thinks about it." Yang took both of her hands and lifted them up into hers. "I'm saying it's okay, so it's okay!"
Blake's gaze went to the ground again, her hands trembling a little bit. It took her a few minutes, but Yang waited patiently until at last their eyes met again.
"Y...Yang...?"
"Yeah, yeah! Just like that!" The blonde girl threw her arms around Blake in a zealous hug. The Faunus squeaked – panicked – until she pulled away. But Yang's face was covered with a wide smile, and when Blake looked long enough, she could feel a warm feeling budding in her chest.
But then, her keen ears picked up on a sound; it was voices and they were calling out Yang's name.
She instantly tried to pull her hands away, yanking herself free.
"They're looking for you! I need to go-!" She got to her feet, stumbling a bit. She turned her back but paused just a second to look over her shoulder. "You... thank you for saving my life, Princess Yang."
And with that she tore off.
But Yang was not about to let her go.
"Wait!" She stood quickly and took off after her.
Yang was well-fed and had training lessons every day, and Blake was clearly tired and weak. Yang caught her quickly, grabbing hold of her wrist. Blake stopped, panting as she turned to look back at her slowly. Yang was grinning again.
"Hey now... I might've saved you today, but if you go back out there, you're only gonna be putting yourself in danger again. So..." She gave a tug, pulling Blake closer. "So let me save your life a little longer."
Blake cocked her head to one side, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Yang gave her hand another squeeze.
"Just trust me, okay?"
And Blake did.
Because for the first time in her life, she felt she truly could rely on someone.
Yang had led her back to the frantically-searching guards who had Ruby in tow. They had cried out in relief to find Yang unharmed, scolded her a bit, then demanded to know what had happened.
Yang told them everything, all the while keeping a tight hold on Blake's hand, knowing the Faunus girl was nervous at being in the presence of royal guards.
When Yang finally finished her story, she got to the real part she had wanted to say.
"And-" she said loudly. "You have been telling me I should soon pick out an aide. And I have." She pulled Blake forward and presented her to them. "This girl is Blake, and she's going to be my personal aide from now on."
It had caused a bit of an uproar – one of the princesses of Vale choosing a Faunus as her aide.
But Yang's decision to take Blake in as an honorary member of the royal family had been a major turning point in Vale's history.
After that, Faunus were treated with more respect, more were given jobs and offered opportunities.
And Blake was given new clothes, warm meals, and a soft, safe place to sleep.
And Yang had gotten the only thing she had ever wanted; a friend.
. . .
As the memories played through her mind, Yang had started drifting off back to sleep.
Blake's breathing was soft against her temple, her heartbeat slow beneath her ear.
But before Yang could succumb to sleep again, her efforts at slumber were thwarted once more.
It was the image of a great beast, a terrifying roar filling her ears as massive wings spread, its fangs snapping as they stretched out for her-
She gasped, eyes flying wide open to find herself still in bed. Her panic had jolted Blake from her rest as well, and the Faunus girl quickly looked down at her partner.
"Yang?"
She brushed the sticky bangs away from her charge's forehead. Yang's skin was burning and wet with residue from sweat, her eyes wide and rimmed with crimson. Blake moved herself down until she was eye-level with her, cupping her cheeks gently.
"Yang? Calm down. It's okay. It was just a nightmare."
Blake leaned in, pressing a long kiss to Yang's lips in an effort to snap her out of her torment. Yang's breath was hot in her mouth, and Blake knew by now how to handle this sort of thing.
She kissed her softly before pulling back, waiting, and repeating the process for several minutes until at last Yang's eyes returned to their natural color, albeit slightly glazed. Still, the Faunus continued to press kisses to the girl's forehead until her abnormally-high body temperature began to drop. Blake held her tightly until Yang let out a long sigh.
"Yang... are you okay?"
The princess nodded against her shoulder.
"Yeah. Sorry for wakin' ya."
"Don't worry about it."
Blake had vowed to dedicate her life to Yang years and years ago; if losing sleep meant her partner felt better, Blake would gladly become an insomniac.
When her semblance was back under control, Yang lifted her head again to kiss Blake's cheek.
"Thanks. I don't know where I'd be without you."
"Well I know for sure I'd be dead."
"I might be, too," Yang sighed.
Blake kissed her again, running her hands up and down her back, through her mussed mane of hair that put the circus' best lions to shame.
"You're okay, Yang. I'm here. Just go back to sleep."
Yang nodded and nestle gratefully into her collar.
"Yeah. You, too..."
They slept soundly for the rest of the morning, until the sun rose and signified that they would need to get out of bed.
They felt much more refreshed as they pushed themselves up, ruffling hair and ears affectionately.
They helped one another to their feet, supporting and being supported, then took turns freshening up and getting changed before heading down to breakfast.
A/N: The whole concept of someone else needing to unlock your aura for you is pretty much just exclusive to this story and chapter to demonstrate Yang and Blake's bond.
Chapter 4 preview: A short walk away from the castle grounds was a vast expanse of smooth, open property that stretched out behind a large building, its size bested only by the royal castle itself.
This was where Vale's troops trained. It was a constantly busy place, lined with stables full of the best horses. While some of Vale's police force were out preventing crime and rallies to the best of their abilities in town, here was where the soldiers trained to prepare for battle against the Grimm.
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