The Lines We Draw
Chapter 5
That dream again, always the same thing.
There it sat, lingering in the fog of her mind. It made her wake up with a small jostle and a soft disappointed sigh. Then she realized the weight pressing into her, the body of another. In her sleep induced haze, she wrapped her arms around that figure, pulling it closer, and taking a deep breath. Much to her confusion, though, it wasn't the smell of Ruby's soap that invaded her nose, and then she remembered.
It was Weiss.
The flood of memories returned, wordless emotions that Yang couldn't speak catching themselves in her throat. Now with the darkness to hide her, she cried softly. She didn't make a move, her breathing completely controlled, totally even. Well practiced out of force, she knew how to cry under the silence. How to hide it from the world, and even as she held a bedfellow so close. She did have years of practice after all. There was only one thing Yang didn't account for…
Weiss was a light sleeper. A very light one, in fact.
Her ears might not have been as sensitive as Blake's, and she could admit that she could be ignorant of the world around her at the best of times…but there was no mistaking the tight hold around her thin body. The shaking in those strong arms…the outright solid perfection of the immovable object that was, in general, a distraught human being trying to hide their pain. Yang was that unstoppable force.
Opening her eyes to the darkness of the room, she wordlessly snuggled into Yang, turning in the embrace so that she could hold the much taller, robust woman.
She said nothing, unsure of where exactly this inexplicable sadness was coming from. She dared not assume, because if Weiss did, she knew she would conclude the worst. So instead, she steeled her own nerves, locked away her own preconceived notions. She simply held Yang, even if she doubted that it really did any good.
…
The sun lifted to the morning sky, and so with it, the students of the academy. Well, most of the students. A select few had decided the day didn't exist at all, and they refused to acknowledge it. Ruby had even crawled back to her own bed to avoid being easy to reach. She just wanted to be left alone. They all tried, and they all failed in getting her to open up to them.
Finally, it was Blake's turn to try, and she gave it an honest effort.
"Ruby, look at what I have…" Blake coaxed. "It's your favorite kind of candy bar…" She was not above bribery to get what she wanted. She rustled the packaging to make sure Ruby heard it. "Do you want it?"
The young leader remained uninterested. "No."
"It's no use." Yang pointed out. Blake had been at it for several attempts, but Ruby wasn't taking the bait. She wouldn't. "When she's like this, nothing will pull her out of bed, not even our dad's fresh baked cookies."
The two partners shared a look, Blake's ear flicking unhappily at the news. She let loose another tiny growl.
"It's not going to work." Yang murmured sadly. In truth, she had tried her best too…and even her triple chocolate brownies had gone by, ignored.
The cat-eared woman persisted anyway. "Coffee cake?"
"No."
"Cinnamon rolls?"
"No."
"Hot chocolate?"
"No."
Blake switched gears. "We can go on a shopping trip to the forge after class...get some new gear for your scythe?"
Another sad little sigh. "No thanks."
"I will literally buy you anything if you'll just get out of bed." Blake prodded, now at the end of her rope.
"Blake, please, just let her sleep." Yang said, as Ruby not only skipped breakfast, but denied wanting any of the sweet confections that had been wafted by her buried head. Blake hadn't held anything back, having deposited so many sweets and even some savory delights in front of the upset team leader. "Besides, we have bigger fish to fry."
Blake looked up to where Weiss was also buried under the covers. "She's still stuck up there too, isn't she?"
"Yep…" Yang sighed. This was not going to be a good day. "Weiss, we have class…up now."
"There is no way I'm going to class right now…and you know why."
Yang knew that things weren't going to be easy. Romance wasn't exactly new to Yang, and she expected a bit of hesitancy when it came to Weiss, purely because Weiss was such a highly strung out person. The heiress didn't know how to relax. In her mind everyone had an agenda, and everything shouldn't be trusted. The members of team RWBY had taken great time and effort to dispel any of those myths, biases, phobias, and general snootiness. It was a hard won battle, but they'd all managed to get Weiss into a mindset that worked well for the entire group.
Yang's confession derailed that comfort, greatly.
Weiss was slowly getting wound up, and whatever it was causing the situation, Yang hadn't been sure. She could barely coax Weiss into bed with her the night before, even though she swore over and over that she wasn't going to do anything other than sleep. This was getting comp0letely out of hand.
"Uh, actually, I kind of don't." Yang said a bit sheepishly. Did she do something wrong? "So why don't you come down from there, and we can go to class, and then I'll be sure to get us a huge lunch to make up for skipping breakfast."
"I said no, Yang!" Weiss shouted as she clung to the covers for dear sweet life.
"You can't skip class." Yang said as she began to get dressed, as she did every single day. In the middle of the open room, not giving a rat's ass who saw what. "We have to go, and we have to go now."
"Every faunas in the school will know." Weiss protested.
"Oh for the love of god…" Yang huffed, giving Blake a look. "Jokes over…tell her you were just screwing with her head. If we're late, we're all going to get slammed with detention."
"…I wasn't joking." Blake muttered with a blush. "I do have a nose, you know."
Yang's eyes went wide, and suddenly she found herself blushing too. "So then, whenever I showed myself a good time, and I thought you were asleep…?"
"Yes, Yang." Blake sighed as she fixed her bow that had come askew during the night. "I can smell that too."
"…huh you know, that's kind of hot."
"Yang!"
The twin shouts caused the blonde to smirk, before she let the implication set in. "Okay, so let me see if I can get this down. What you're saying is that really, there's no hiding this."
"That would be correct." Blake nodded having gathered the rest of her things. "Unless you get really good at hiding your scent. It gets deeper when you hang all over someone like you two have. That doesn't include the pheromones all over you guys, either."
"Which is near impossible to hide, I'm assuming?" Yang surmised, only to see Blake nod in agreement. "Well, crap…"
Weiss sighed at length. Ruby hadn't budged from her bed, and Weiss knew that Yang was just as reluctant to leave her alone. "Blake, I'm calling in a favor, and I'm doing it now." The white haired woman said as she hopped down from Yang's bed with that same self-important air about her.
Blake, expecting that, deadpanned. "And that would be…?"
"We're sick…with a...a flu bug…" Weiss intoned, pointing at Ruby. "Too sick to go to class. We need you to take notes."
Blake growled deeply, but she shook her head at the sight of Yang, who truly did seem to be in agony about leaving Ruby to her lonesome. Seeing as she didn't want to have a repeated performance of the last time Ruby couldn't find her sister, Blake relented. "Today only." She muttered as she prepared for the inevitable inquiries from a plethora of teachers. "And only if you to two promise me that neither one of you will go looking for a fight with Nora."
"I don't intend to do anything." Weiss proclaimed, though she looked down at her body with newfound trepidation. "…except take a shower."
Blake eyed the blonde firecracker. "What about you, Yang?"
The blonde was quiet. She was, in fact, thinking of having words with that troublesome Nora. Jaw stiffened, she let out a harsh curse instead. "I'm…not…going to hurt Nora…" Yang muttered with thinly veiled contempt. "I am…however…going to have a talk with Nora. Just later." Right now, she needed to deal with Ruby. Climbing up to Ruby's bead, she wrapped her arms around the big fluffy mass of blankets, hulling the younger girl into her lap. "Hey short-stack."
Ruby only scowled in her petulant little way and crawled off of her sister, curling up into the tiniest possible ball she could, as she bit back a sob.
"Yang..." Blake hissed...
"What?" Yang asked, eyes wide. "What did I do this time."
"Pancakes." Blake mouthed soundlessly in agitation.
That clicked, and Yang felt guilty all over again. "Oh..." She wasn't even thinking about that. The term just came out of her mouth. "Oh, Ruby, I didn't mean it like that, honest." No response, only more tears, and this had Yang on the verge of crying too. "Please, you have to believe me..."
"Weiss, do you think you can hold down the fort here while I go to class?" Blake asked, but the silver haired girl just shook her head.
"I can handle one of them, but not two of them." Weiss whispered into Blake's bow, for her ears alone. "I've never seen Ruby like this before."
Blake, unfortunately concurred. She looked down at her books, and shook her head, putting them all into a corner with a muted thud. She refused to leave Yang with the two of them as they were, even as she resigned herself to be annoyed before the afternoon even began in earnest. She plopped down on her bed, and crossed her arms.
None of them were going to class, it seemed.
…
As expected, a teacher came by to check on them after having been missing from the class as a unit. Glynda cleared her throat to step into one of the many rooms she considered a disaster area. The beds alone were a danger to the health of the inhabitants, but she bit back her retort on the matter. She had been told several times that children will be children, and this was included in that long never ending rant.
Still, as she took in the sight of a completely anti-social Ruby, she couldn't fathom what was wrong with any of them. As was normal, she looked for the usual symptoms, but she found none. "Do any of you actually have a fever?" She asked this with equal measure sternness and caution as her palm landed on the last of the group to meet her inspection.
"No, but we all skipped breakfast because we were feeling like shit." Yang said from her bed, feigning illness to the best of her ability, even as she moved her forehead disobediently from the outstretched palm above her.
"You do feel warm to me." Glynda murmured.
"My semblance causes increased levels of body heat." Yang muttered. "I don't count."
Long slender fingers pressed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose. "Indeed, I see." It was true though, all of team RUBY had locked themselves away, unwilling to even make a peep out in the hall. That was rare indeed. Even more of a concern was that the youngest of the group surely wasn't acting normal at all. "I suspect this is less of a stomach bug, and something else entirely. Regardless, your team leader is in no capacity to function under her current condition…whatever that may be. I'll have you excused from attending classes."
She noted the sigh of relief that issued from Weiss, but she made no indication to it. She exited the room, satisfying the school's requirement…even if not her own. Glynda was a woman too, after all, fully aware of the plight of teenaged girls, and the drama of high school. Unlike most other schools, however, students had to overcome their problems themselves. Even if she wanted to help them, without being asked to do so, her hands were tied. Such was the training in such a place as Beacon.
When the room was no longer occupied by the faculty member, Weiss flung the covers off of her. "That was way too close for comfort…"
"Good thing Blake has sensitive hearing." Yang agreed as she made beeline over to her sister's bunk. "Ruby, you okay?" It wasn't exactly a shock to Yang when Ruby's only answer was to back into the far corner, away from human warmth and comfort. "Okay…" Yang swallowed hard. "Okay baby-sis, I'm going to be right back." A hand reached out then, grasping onto the fabric of her shirt.
"No." That was the only real word Ruby had used all day, but it was one that intoned a world of pain for anyone who might cross it.
"You want me to stay here?"
"No."
"You hungry yet?"
"…No."
Yang sighed, knowing why Ruby had her in a vice-like grip. "I promise you, I'm not going to throttle Nora." Though, Yang dearly wanted to. Another unhappy noise of denial greeted her, and Yang sighed hard. "Do you want me to…um…" God's she didn't want to ask this, because she didn't want to see the girl right now. "Want me to track her down, bring Nora to you?"
"Blake…" A sniffled little request caused more pain than Ruby would ever know.
Blake stayed put, the partners looked at each other. Yang knew that the hurt was etching across her features. A flash of red swallowed by the tidal wave of emotions that Yang couldn't process. A wordless question met lilac eyes, and Yang couldn't believe it. She could feel Weiss at her side now, but even that wasn't enough to calm the whirlwind her mind had become.
"Ruby…do you want Blake to go get Nora?" Yang tried to verify, though her voice shook senselessly. She knew what the request had really been.
"No…" Ruby murmured. "I want Blake."
Feeling like she had just been punched in the gut, Yang felt her head, her chest, her whole body just hurt. Part of it was her semblance, but the other part...the other part was a history, a routine, that was no longer Yang's alone.
"Yang…" Blake asked, feeling those unsteady waves of emotion. "Should I?"
"If it's what she wants." Yang bit out in the only way she possibly could. "Make it worse, Blake, I'll kill you." It wasn't a threat, it was a promise. She needed to get out, get away, before she caught fire. Before she knew it, her feet were moving on their own. Out the door, down the hall, Weiss following after her.
All Blake could do was stare at the aftermath of it all. The emptiness of the room, the choked back sobs, the fact that once again, she was covering for Yang. And she understood. Yang stepped down, backed away, because that's what Ruby wanted. The baby of the family was so loved and protected, that Yang would give her anything Ruby wanted…even if that something was to be given space. Resigned to look after Ruby once more, Blake climbed up to the top bunk. Just sat there, with her legs hanging off.
Her fingers brushed the fabric of the blanket, and Ruby finally emerged, eyes blurry and bloodshot from tears. Blake only sighed, patting her lap in welcome as Ruby rested her head there. It was going to be a long day without something to read, so she reached over and grabbed the book of fairytales that Ruby kept under her pillow. Opening the book, she settled in for a long, tedious, afternoon.
The only sounds permeating the room was Blake's voice as she read, and Ruby's occasional sad little sigh.
…
"I just don't get why?"
"I don't know either."
"Yeah, but she's my sister."
"And that matters?"
"It should…and even if it doesn't, she's your partner."
"So?"
"So why! Why pick Blake! Why not me…or you?" Yang punched the stone bench, cracking it. "Why not Nora? This whole stupid thing is her fault."
Weiss didn't know why, so she couldn't give Yang an answer. They sat on a bench concealed by a rather large tree and a few bushes. "Yang…she's…growing up. These things happen."
"Not to us, it doesn't." Yang retorted, a heat in her voice, pure rage that was kept lit by her own confusion. "You get right down to it, we're all each other really has. I've made it a priority to be there when she needed me…all she ever had to do was ask, and I was there." She said, snapping her fingers. "In a heartbeat."
"You can't always be there." Weiss murmured after a little while.
"But, that's not true, Weiss…" Yang gripped the bench as she leaned forward, eyes glued to the ground.
"What about after graduation?" The white haired woman asked. "Do you really think it'll be fair to her, or even you, if you keep trying to always be right there next to her? What about her dreams…and yours?" Weiss shook her head.
"It'll be just like always." Yang murmured.
"Would it?"
"Well, yeah." Yang was starting not to even believe her own words anymore. "The four of us, like always…why does it have to change? Don't fix what isn't broken, right?"
"It's not that simple, that's a pipe dream." Weiss told her. "There's no way of knowing if that'll pan out, and you can't expect that it will."
"Logic's a bee with an itch, isn't it?"
Weiss only shrugged. "Take it from a fellow baby sister. We don't like holding our siblings back. We don't want to be in their shadow forever. If I hid behind my sister for my whole life, I'd never be able to surpass her. I'm sure Ruby feels the same about you. You're a tough act to follow, you know."
"Heh, I wish I was." Yang laughed.
"You are…"
"No, really, I'm not." Reaching out, taking a hand into her own, she kissed those knuckles of porcelain. Weiss pulled her hand away though, and Yang bit down on her lower lip. She pushed away the hurt. Instead, she kept talking. "There's only one thing I know for sure in my life."
"Can I ask what?"
"I don't want to be my mother. I don't want to just abandon people…and never my family. So, when it came to Ruby, I always made sure if she needed me, I was there. Only a call away, but now we're living in the same dorm, on the same team…and I can't do anything to help her."
"Give it time, Yang…" Weiss soothed. "Knowing that you care is probably enough for her…"
"It's not enough for me." Yang protested, the hurt renewed in her eyes once more. "We're a team, all of us…I want to be able to do something. I hate feeling powerless, and you know that."
"No one wants to feel powerless."
"But that's how I feel right now."
"Then swing the power back into your own hands." Weiss told her, voice full of soft reassurance. "You can do that, can't you?"
Yang just forced a smirked. It was so bad, it even looked faked. It was the best she could do right then. "Not like I really have a choice…"
"No." Weiss agreed. "I suppose not."