Jaune sighed, tossing the Scoll in his hands away without caring where it might land. Too much stuff had happened in the last couple of hours, and he did not need this crap right now.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha called out. "What's wrong?"
"Got a call," he replied flatly, touching the scar on his cheek absentmindedly. It had failed to heal properly, and now he was stuck with it. "Apparently the attack on Beacon's going to be tomorrow morning. If we don't go with them, we'll have to get there by ourselves without backup."
"Then why don't we just stay here?" Pyrrha asked. "They have more than enough people to beat the White Fang there; our presence or lack thereof won't make a difference."
"I know," Jaune agreed, nodding slowly. "But I can't just sit back and let someone else take care of it. You should know that, Pyrrha."
Pyrrha said nothing as she looked away, unable to refute those words. She knew very well what kind of person Jaune Arc was, and it was one of the reasons she had fallen in love with him. Even though the right choice was to convince him otherwise, and possibly saving their lives in the process, Pyrrha just could not do it.
"But what'll we do?" she asked. "We're the only ones who can actually fight right now. You can't possibly-"
"I am," Jaune cut across her sharply. "We're going with them, but it'll just be the two of us."
"Are you serious?" Pyrrha asked incredulously. "You're just going to keep this from them?"
"Yes," Jaune replied fiercely. "I can't let them walk into a death trap like that, Pyrrha! They'll just lose their lives and-"
"That's not for you to decide."
Interrupted in the middle of his outburst, Jaune turned hastily and came almost face-to-face with a rather frustrated-looking Blake, who had her arms crossed across her chest.
"You shouldn't underestimate a Faunus's hearing," she sighed, walking in on the conversation. "And you shouldn't be making our decisions for us.
"You're not the only one on edge here," she added, just as Jaune opened his mouth again. "But that doesn't make it alright for you to get all whiny about it. You're the only man here, so act like one and keep it together. We can decide what to do with our own lives, thank you very much."
Far too tired to retort, Jaune sat on the floor, leaning against the cold stone wall. Pyrrha, looking equally if not more stressed, walked over to Blake.
"Are they…?" she began.
"I don't know," Blake replied. "Ruby's asleep now and Yang's with her, but she hasn't said a single word. I'm going to go get them some food."
"I see," Pyrrha muttered. "Blake, about tomorrow…"
"It's fine," Blake shook her head. "You don't have to say anything. I'll talk to Yang about it and let you guys know by morning. And…"
She leaned closer to Pyrrha and whispered a question in her ear, making sure that Jaune could not hear it:
"Are you fine with not telling him before you go?"
She did not wait to hear Pyrrha's reply, which was fortunate since the red-haired warrior had none to give.
"I got you something to eat," Blake informed her partner, putting down a plate of food next to said blonde. There was no reply, though it was not as if she had been expected one to begin with.
"Weiss…" Ruby mumbled in her sleep.
"You hear that?" Yang asked, smiling bitterly as she stroked her sister's hair. "I'm not the one she wants to see."
"Yang," Blake said, but paused when she realized she did not know what to say.
"She used to follow me around everywhere," Yang reminisced. "I was worried that she'd become too dependent on me, so I was glad whenever I graduated since it gave her two years to make friends on her own. When she got accepted by Beacon early, I was happy of course, but I was also kind of disappointed because of that. But then she met Weiss.
"Unlike a certain then-antisocial ninja cat, Weiss spoke to Ruby normally," she added, but neither of them laughed. "I was really happy when they became partners, but as the days went by I realized I was the one feeling lonely. There were even times I felt that Weiss was taking Ruby away from me."
"I know," Blake said, putting a hand on Yang's shoulder. "We had a long talk about that, and you-"
"I'm a terrible person, aren't I?" Yang asked, a thin layer of tears across her lilac irises. "After all that's happened, all I'm thinking about is myself."
"Terrible?" Blake asked incredulously, surprising Yang with her tone. "You think that's bad? Do you know what I've done, Yang? If you're terrible, then what am I?"
Yang's eyes widened as she recalled the dark secret Blake had told her. It was something carved so deeply into Blake's soul that Yang could not believe she had forgotten about it for even a split second.
"You know what I did," Blake went on agitatedly. "You know what kind of monster I am. Do you really think just being a little selfish is 'terrible'?"
"Blake, I-" Yang began.
"Do you know what I had to say to Ruby?" Blake cut across her viciously. "I told her the Faunus she murdered had it coming because of their species! They were Faunus like I am, but I said they deserved to die because of who they were! You think you're terrible? What on Remnant does that make me, Yang?!"
Normally, Yang would have understood. Everyone was on edge, and she and Blake were no exemptions. It was only natural for Blake to snap, and Yang – as her partner and friend – would have accepted that and tried to calm her down. But right now, she was equally stressed out, if not more.
And for a split moment, she snapped.
"I don't know, okay?!" She screamed. "And I don't care! I don't give a damn about them or what you freaking did and said! My sister's just killed a family and I can't do shit about it! She's not dead, Blake! Your family is long gone but mine is still alive, right now, suffering and I can't do anything but watch! Do you really think you have it rough right now?!"
In the deafening silence that followed her words, Yang finally registered the words she had just blurted, along with the look of transfixed horror on Blake's face. In a world where her own panting shakily filled the space, she realized far too late what her outburst had done.
"Oh my God…" she gasped. "Blake, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
The moment those shallow words left her lips, they had already lost all meaning. No matter how sincere they had been, they were unable to erase the ones that had come before. In the end, it was nothing more than trying to stop a roaring geyser with a piece of cloth; the damage had already been done, and whatever actions she had left now served little purpose besides damage control. But nothing she could say now would make a difference anymore.
"It's okay," Blake deadpanned. "Jaune got a message from our contacts that we're attacking Beacon tomorrow morning. He wants us to make up our mind about whether we're going or not."
Her message delivered, Blake turned around and walked out without another words. Powerless to do anything besides let her walk away, Yang fell to her knees, two burning hot trails of tears flowing down her cheeks.
"Yang…"
A faint, weak whisper reached her ears, instantly jolting Yang upright. Rushing to her sister's side, Yang, hastily wiped away her tears.
"I'm here, Ruby," she said. "Are you feeling alright? Do you need-"
"I'm fine, Yang," Ruby assured her. "Don't worry about me. Go after Blake."
Still in shock, Yang did not immediately process Ruby's words. Even when she finally did, however, she still could not move.
"I'll be fine," Ruby told her, sitting up and giving her sister a faint but reassuring smile. "She's important to you, right? Go."
A few more seconds passed in silence, and Ruby waited Yang out. After what felt like hours of drawn out silence, the blonde finally managed a shaky nod.
"I'm sorry," Yang said in almost a hushed whisper, letting go of Ruby's hand and sprinting out of the room.
Ruby watched her sister go, keeping that smile on her face even after she left. When she was finally unable to hold it anymore, the red-cloaked Huntress let it slide off her face as her eyes glistened with fresh tears, threatening to burst forth at any moment.
However, the effort it took to tell Yang what she did had cost her everything. Unable to muster any control whatsoever, Ruby cried painfully into her hands, covering her face in an attempt to muffle the sound.
In the empty, lifeless space that was a mere shadow of its former lively self, the loneliest of them all let her tears pour like falling rain.