The world hadn't suddenly exploded.
The apocalypse didn't come.
No men in black suits came to take her away.
Instead, there was a strange silence that filled the room. Yang simply stared wide-eyed, unsure of what just happened. Yang's comprehension of what just happened seemed to completely jumble up, there was no making sense of anything as the drugs she was on also seemed to screw with her mind.
But there was a part of Yang that couldn't help but ask, "Did you just…?"
Weiss stared quietly and wide-eyed herself. There was no taking her first word back, her first word happening to be just Yang's name. Now Weiss wasn't going to willingly and openly talk all the time, she wasn't ready to just start talking. There was no way she could just start dialoguing as a normal person could.
But maybe she could try out a few words here and there. Short sentences. Something that could tell Yang to keep trying with Weiss. To keep going. Weiss just wanted to make sure that whatever words she used every now and then kept a certain value to it. That whatever she did have to say in that moment, once she used her voice, was meant to be important. At least for now, that was how she wanted things to work.
A simple nod would suffice, would it not?
Yang seemed at a loss for words. Maybe this had been too much. Maybe too soon?
Yang looked down at herself and what was missing. She looked back up at Weiss, who stared at her expectantly. "If I'm being honest… I feel weird. About all of this. None of this feels… real. But I know it is." A melancholic tone escaped from her as she spoke. "The worst part is, I remember everything. I remember how the car swerved right into us, and Pyrrha turning the wheel a little too late. I remember feeling everything, and then suddenly nothing... I still…" She paused, her eyes glazing over. Her left hand wandering over to the phantom limb. "I still feel numb."
Yang now looked up at Weiss, whose look of concern had only increased tenfold. Weiss sat silently still, not sure if Yang could be counseled. "It's weird, when I look at you, I feel…" Her right arm outstretched, but stopped short, aware that she was no longer able to reach out to Weiss. "Nothing," she muttered at last.
A look of horror overtook Weiss, her nostrils flared, eyes widened. Her posture completely changed as her back straightened. What did this mean exactly?
"People leave me… and it seems even my body parts do, too, now. But you…" Yang seemed to look at Weiss, wearily. "My guardian angel, Weiss, never leaves me."
Weiss's brows furrowed, but before she could start signing she heard a slight click from behind her. She turned her head where she found Blake entering the room.
"Oh, hey, Weiss. Neptune told me you were in here. I just wanted to warn you, but uhh… it seems like you've already gotten an earful." Blake stepped toward the two of them.
Yang, on the other hand, seemed to grunt at Blake's arrival. "Be gone!" she exclaimed, seeming to shoo Blake away.
"Yeah, she's really high right now." Blake seemed to deadpan as she looked directly at Yang, who was sticking up a middle finger. Or, at least, what would've been a middle finger where her right hand used to be just a few days before. Even though Blake couldn't see it, the shit-eating grin on Yang's face made it clear that was what she was imagining.
It took a second for Yang to figure out what was wrong. "Oh." Now sporting a nasty smirk, she said, "Just pretend I'm flipping you off."
Weiss facepalmed, mostly as a sign of relief. Yang didn't suddenly hate her or spite her. She was just in her own world filled with what Weiss might've considered — although wrongly — psychedelics. Yet, Weiss was still filled with guilt, that lurking feeling that this was all her fault.
"My guardian angel speaks to me, cretin," Yang seemed to huff as she gripped at her phantom limb, scowling.
Weiss raised an eyebrow, looking over at Yang, then at Blake who was shaking her head. "Yeah, I don't know what she's saying. Half of it makes sense, and the other half… well, it seems like pure gibberish," Blake stated. "It probably isn't gibberish to her, but really, who knows at this point?"
Parts of Yang's words did make sense to Weiss, at least. Weiss had vaguely remembered the accident itself, along with her weird dream of it. That she wasn't so sure it was just a dream anymore. The small notion that had said Yang's name, not once, but twice, had filled her with an odd sensation.
"Who has silenced you, angel?" Yang's left hand now lightly touched Weiss's arm. "Was it our shadow friend?" Yang looked toward Blake. "They say shadows always follow you wherever you go." There was an odd, almost unreadable tone coming from Yang. "Mine didn't." She seemed to glare at Blake as the words clearly carried some weight, at least to Yang.
Blake sighed, shaking her head. "I know, Yang. I know. Go back to sleep. I'm just going to talk to Weiss for a bit." Blake's tone hinted at recognition of what Yang had said, there was obviously something between them that Yang wasn't necessarily over, and it seemed like that medication had made this very clear. "Weiss, let's… leave Yang to her own devices for now. She needs the rest more than she needs to be talking to us right now." Blake turned, expecting Weiss to follow.
Weiss now slowly backed away from Yang, who seemed to be looking at her. Or was it through her? Yang's eyes were a bit glazed as they now seemed to dart all over Weiss's body. "You're real. You're here. You're real," Yang muttered as she watched Weiss back away. "Where are you going?" she now asked.
Weiss pointed at Blake who gestured for her to follow.
A small sigh escaped Yang. "Shadows take you." Yang laid her head back and closed her eyes. Weiss seemed to frown at her words, not sure what to make of this. Of any of this. If only Weiss had simply chosen to be by herself, she wouldn't have caused so much trouble for everyone.
Now following Blake outside of the room, she noted Blake leaning on the opposite wall. "We'll just talk here. I feel like you should know some things… between Yang and me." Blake looked a little uneasy, another set of emotion-filled floodgates were about to be released. Of that much, Weiss was certain.
"I was a Shadow, once upon a time. Well, I was Yang's shadow. I bet you didn't know this, but I've known Yang since we were ten. As kids, Yang and I were inseparable. But even as kids, I recognized our lives were totally different. I was the rich kid, with a politician dad and lawyer mom, and Yang was just… Yang." Blake's arms crossed, she wanted to close herself off, but this wasn't the right time, so her arms returned to a neutral stance by her side. Yet, a small tick was noticeable as she clawed at her leg.
Weiss brought up her hands to sign, grabbing Blake's attention, and as she did, she mouthed, "I don't understand."
"I figured out something, why your sister and mother looked so familiar and why I just thought your last name was a coincidence. You're the fabled Schnee sister. So, in a way, you know what it's like to be a little different. I haven't told anyone, though. That your father, Jacques, is one of the richest CEOs in Atlas, and basically the world. My parents hate him."
Weiss's eyes narrowed, that was something she hadn't even mentioned to anyone. Not even Yang, but Blake… Blake was a lot more perceptive than anyone here, it seemed. That, or she was extremely knowledgeable about world events. Weiss's stomach churned at the sound of his name. She swallowed hard, her throat suddenly feeling dry.
"I guess I'm going a little off on a tangent, but I realized one thing. You weren't like me, but more like Yang. And while I don't really talk to you a lot, I feel like this information I want to share will be better left off with you." Blake sighed, now propping her leg up against the wall and lowering her head as she spoke. "As Yang and I got older, I started to… rebel. I hated that everything had seemed to perfect that my life was too perfect, and there were things out there that I wanted to do and see. I told her I wanted to run away, but she begged me to stay, she told me, 'I would do anything for you', and I knew she would. But I didn't want that. And at fourteen years old, she told me one thing that scared me more than anything anyone's ever said to me. She told me that she loved me." Blake's hand covered her face. "An emotion I had been given too much of. Who would've thought that a simple word, so universally wanted, could be easily thrown away, as I had done to Yang?"
An audible noise escaped Weiss's mouth. Weiss herself wasn't sure if it was shock, or something else entirely.
Blake's head popped up, an eyebrow raised. "Yeah. Shocking, isn't it? It was scary for me, too. I didn't want to fall in love. I didn't even like her like that, but the thought of rejecting my best friend became too much over all of what I had put on myself. I was selfish. So I ran. I ran away from a perfect life." Blake held a rather monotonous vibe about her, eyes lingering from side to side as she seemed to recount every moment of her past.
A story she was living again, for the sake of Weiss Schnee.
"I was gone. For two years. At first, everyone thought I was kidnapped, but no… being the daughter of a politician and a lawyer, I was smart enough to avoid any sort of law enforcement. To make matters worse, I had involved myself with an underground gang, and it was only when I ran into Sun, that I finally saw the light. A boy that I happened to run into, that happened to be going to Beacon. A boy that convinced me to come back after all this time, and I did. What he did was stupid, he could've gotten himself killed. But luckily, he was smarter than that, and the authorities busted the gang. And me?" Blake took a deep breath, her eyes directly meeting Weiss's.
Weiss herself held her breath, she hadn't realized that there was more. So much more to Blake, to Sun, and even to Yang, that made things so much more complicated, and yet at the same time, made everything finally seem to make sense.
"I was back home. My parents were glad, but then there was Yang. Yang was no longer the same Yang I had befriended those many years ago. It was hard for the both of us, but mostly for her. She didn't talk to me for months, my existence to her just wasn't there. Sun, once again, was my saving grace. He eased us back into a friendship. But even then, I knew Yang wasn't the same. Yang, the girl who would've done anything for me, was now a headstrong, hard-working, and a happy person. She was stronger than I knew. At first, I thought she hadn't missed me because when we did reconnect, everything felt so… normal." Blake sighed, shaking her head.
"Honestly, I thought that was enough. To have things back to normal, but then I noticed that she was a lot more distant. Not with just me, but with everybody. Yeah, she was smart and popular, but you could tell… that her heart just wasn't entirely there. That she wasn't entirely there. Like she was on autopilot." Blake stepped forward, now taking another short pause. Blake's amber eye's slowly began to make their way to meet Weiss's curious, icy-blue gaze. "The sad thing about this… is that I only noticed she shifted out of that autopilot when you came around. I think you put the fire back into her eyes, Weiss. You gave her a genuine reason to smile, which is something I feel like I hadn't seen in years." Her arms crossed, slightly closing herself off. "It's embarrassing, as one of her best friends, I know so little about her and how she feels. Yang is afraid that I won't listen, and for that reason she shares very little of her feelings with me. She doesn't talk to me like she might talk to you."
Weiss raised an eyebrow, it was true. Yang had shared with her information that hadn't been shared with anyone else, or, well, Weiss had assumed as much. And, now, it was safe to say that Blake had basically confirmed that the talk at their sleepover was the first time Yang had probably spoken about it. An emotional side of Yang that had only been shared with Weiss.
Yang had made an effort since the very beginning. No one else, except for Winter, had made the attempt to try and learn sign language for one simple soul. In a world filled with booming voices, Weiss wasn't even considered a whisper. But with Yang, she felt as if the world could finally hear her.
But why had it done this to her? To them? She needed to talk about this. But it couldn't be with Yang, not yet, and with Winter, she wasn't sure that her sister would understand. The person who might understand, was the person standing in front of her.
Blake Belladonna.
Her hands lifted up, she began to sign slowly as her mouth moved at the same pace. While she had talked to Blake at lunch here and there, she made sure that Blake could understand her. "I feel guilty. This accident was my fault." Weiss's words were simple, but understandable; but the undeniable look on her face was clear that she did, in fact, feel guilty.
A small sound of confusion escaped Blake, drawing Weiss's attention back up to her. "Why do you think it's your fault?" Her once-crossed arms now made their way back down to her sides as she curiously listened to the selectively mute girl.
Weiss struggled to find a good answer. Yet the only good answer came with honesty, and she had to face it, she was bad at lying. Once more she began to sign, "You already know I was drunk, but the reason why was…"
"Neptune?" Blake interrupted. Weiss shook her head. "Oh, sorry, go on."
Weiss started up once again. "I was too nervous to face Yang, because… I like her. I like her more than just a friend." She could feel the 'words' pour out from her, and yet at the same time, it had felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.
While Neptune had seemed to be right on the nose with his assumption, Weiss never actually admitted it. 'Out loud.' She still wasn't even sure how she felt back then. But now, now that she had said it, everything felt so real.
"O-oh," Blake seemed to mutter out. "Weiss, I don't see how that makes it your fault." She shook her head, a little lost.
"Because if I had never started to like her, none of this would've happened! Neptune never would have found out, he wouldn't have tried to convince me to go to the party, and then Pyrrha and Yang would've been alright! It's my fault. It's all my fault. Neptune just wanted to help and Pyrrha and Yang were just being nice. Now everyone is hurt because of me." Surprisingly, Weiss's movements were still fluid and calm, even if her heart was racing at what felt like a thousand beats per minute.
"Everyone is realizing things because of you, Weiss," Blake immediately seemed to respond.
"Shit like this happens. All the time. But it's not because of you that this shit happens. I've never seen Neptune so down. And it's not like he's good at hiding things, but you can tell how he feels. I think he knows what he did was wrong. And me? I just confessed to you something that only a few people know, and while we weren't that close before, this definitely makes us close now. None of this is your fault. And as for Yang? You can be there for her, she'll like that. Because I know she likes you." She paused. "But know this, this is going to be a hard recovery. I don't know what she'll do, but it may take some time for Yang to get used to all of this. But with you around, it might make everything easier."
Weiss's movements seemed to stop. Her hands found their place back down by her sides. She seemed to contemplate what had been said to her. There was always more to be said, but for right now, things seemed to be a little clearer.
The talk with her sister, then Neptune, and now Blake, had all finally hit her. That this was all a first for her. She'd never had so many people looking out for her. She'd never had so many people apologize, and then lift her up into a position that she'd never even imagined.
In her world, this had called for an absolute revolution.
Weiss Schnee was going to become the person Yang needed. It wasn't about saving her. Or fixing her.
It was about growing with her.
Together, they would achieve new heights with these new changes. As friends or as… best friends? Whatever Weiss wanted would have to wait. Even if she knew, or if she felt was implied, that Yang wanted the same, she was sure that there were more pressing matters at hand.
Weiss wasn't going to run away. Not this time. She looked up at Blake and signed, "Thank you for listening, and… thank you for being a good friend."
Blake smiled and simply nodded. "If you want to get out of here, I can take you home."
Weiss shook her head and motioned back toward Yang's room, wanting to stay.
"Alright, well… I won't be in the hospital for too long, and I'm sure you don't have a phone. But, I think Yang's dad is coming back with Ruby," Blake added, checking her phone. "Are you going to be okay?" Blake lastly asked before she seemed to step away.
Weiss nodded, now turning toward the door again, and entering.
"I'll see you later." Blake now walked toward the elevators, disappearing from sight.
Weiss entered the room to a sleeping Yang. She grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it up to her bed. It had been a long morning, and Weiss was a little exhausted. There were so many new revelations that she had to try to process, and now, she was just ready to tap out for the day.
As she sat on her chair, she leaned onto Yang's bed. Weiss used her arms as a makeshift pillow, now lying on them. She was careful not to irritate her injury any further. Her eyes felt heavy as she finally drifted off to sleep with Yang by her side.