Chapter 13
"First stop, crisps!" Yang announced as she, Velvet and Nora entered the grocery store.
"Chips." Velvet corrected.
"Huh?" Nora asked.
"You call chips crisps." Velvet observed. "It's weird. You're weird."
"But chips are hot!" Yang protested.
"Hence, hot chips." Velvet said. "Which are chips meant to be served hot and fresh."
"Who cares?" Nora said. "They're tasty, hot or cold!" She ran her arm along the shelf, scooping a random assortment of chips into the trolley. Yang rolled her eyes and Velvet just looked on in amusement. "Next stop, gummy bears!" She rushed ahead.
"I can't wait to see her on a sugar high." Yang said.
"It's like you're bloody related." Velvet sighed.
"She would make a great little sister." Yang thought aloud. Yang spaced out a bit, lost in thought until Velvet put a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, lost you there." Velvet said. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Yang confirmed. "Sorry, just took a trip down memory lane."
"Good trip?" Velvet asked.
Yang closed her eyes and smiled. "Yeah." She nodded. "When Ruby and I were kids, we never went anywhere without each other. Nora reminds me so much of her sometimes."
"Ruby was a bit wild I take it." Velvet guessed.
"Give Nora some humility and a filter, and you've got young Ruby." Yang said. "She mellowed out a bit as she got older, but she was always a bundle of energy." She stared at Nora as she returned with an absurd quantity of gummy candy.
"Yang help!" Nora exclaimed. "I can't...Velvet, are you okay?"
Yang looked back to Velvet. She was smiling but wiping tears from her eyes. Yang huffed and pulled Velvet into a hug. "Silly, I'm the one who's supposed to cry from old memories." Yang said.
"Coco always said I was a bleeding heart to a fault." Velvet laughed.
Nora dropped the candy into the trolley and hugged Velvet from behind. "We should all hug more." Nora said.
"There's never enough hugging." Yang declared.
"Yang...your boobs are smothering me." Velvet struggled.
"Let it happen." Nora laughed. Yang laughed too and let go, and the group finished up their shopping.
Winter and Pyrrha carried the bags into the bedroom, setting them down on the bed. Blake followed, carrying a chair from the dining room. "Blake, can you move that mirror to the living room?" Winter asked, pointing to the full-body mirror off to the side of the room.
"What for?" Blake asked.
"The big reveal." Winter replied.
"Hmm...good idea." Blake agreed. She hefted the mirror, slowly and carefully making her way out the door.
"You're having fun with this." Pyrrha said.
"Today is a good day for fun." Winter laughed. She started going through the shopping bags, occasionally pulling something out and setting it aside. "Besides, you're going to look like a new person when we're done with you. I want you to get the full effect." Winter picked up the clothes she had set aside and held them out to Pyrrha. "Put these on."
Pyrrha looked at the outfit - a tight, backless red dress, black stockings and heels. As Pyrrha put them on Winter ducked into the bathroom, returning with a hairbrush. She then moved on to the living room where she helped Blake position the mirror for maximum effect. When they returned Pyrrha was sitting in the chair, just slipping on the heels. Winter sat on the bed behind her and undid the tie that held Pyrrha's hair in a tight ponytail. Blake knelt on the floor before Pyrrha, taking hold of a brush from her makeup kit.
"Your hair looks much nice undone." Blake said as she started working on Pyrrha's makeup.
"Nora feels the same." Pyrrha admitted. "It's just too wild to have this way. It gets in my mouth and eyes, and it's so much work to brush it out."
"Nora would do it for you in a heartbeat." Winter suggested as she brushed Pyrrha's hair. "And it's not so hard from this side."
"I...I didn't think of that." Pyrrha said.
"It's beautiful seeing the way Nora looks at you." Winter said.
"Yang looks at you the same way." Pyrrha observed.
"She does?" Winter gasped. "She does…"
"I only hope I look at Velvet that way." Blake sighed. "I know I'm not the most expressive, but she means the world to me. I've actually been considering taking things further."
"So soon?" Pyrrha asked.
"We haven't been together romantically for long, but we were close before that." Blake explained. "It was really just a line that needed to be crossed. I can't see my life being complete without her, but I'm still giving it some thought."
"So it's too early for wedding planning?" Winter laughed.
"You'll be the first person I ask when the time comes." Blake promised.
"I've never been to a wedding before." Pyrrha admitted.
"I've only been to upper class weddings." Winter sighed. "The ceremonies are dull, as they tend to be arranged for business or financial reasons. But the after parties can be quite...eventful."
"Ooh, I smell drama." Blake said.
"And booze." Winter groaned. "Lots of drunk businessmen in one room is a recipe for disaster, and gold diggers."
"I think that's that." Blake said. She put her kit away and looked at Pyrrha's face from a few angles, smiling all the while. The front door slammed and she flinched. "They're back. I'll get them ready." She headed out.
Winter finished brushing Pyrrha's hair, got up and circled around to her front. She pulled Pyrrha up by the hands, then adjusted her hair so that some fell over the front of her shoulders. "You look...amazing, Pyrrha." Winter said. "Even more so than usual."
"Thank you Winter." Pyrrha said, blushing and smiling. "For everything."
"It's Nora you should thank." Winter suggested. "She did this. We just helped."
Pyrrha embraced Winter, careful not to mess with the makeup. "Regardless, I'm grateful." Pyrrha said.
Blake poked her head in the door. "Everyone's ready." She reported.
"Are you?" Winter asked, looking Pyrrha in the eyes.
"As I'll ever be." Pyrrha said with an uneasy laugh. She headed for the living room, Winter and Blake just behind her. When she got there the others were already seated on the couch. The mirror was leaning against a chair with a sheet covering it. Nora gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.
Blake walked up to the mirror and grabbed the sheet as Winter positioned Pyrrha before it. "Ready?" Blake asked. Pyrrha took a deep breath and nodded. Blake yanked the sheet away and Pyrrha was presented with...herself. Unlike most of her clothes, the tight red dress did not hide her curves, it accentuated her hourglass figure. The hair, let down and draped over her shoulders, gave her a more mature, natural and sensual look. The lipstick made her smile gleam, while the eyeshadow and eyeliner highlighted the emerald of her eyes, making them appear to almost glow in the soft light of the room.
Eyes wide, Pyrrha stepped closer to the mirror. She felt her own hair, her face. It was her, but not her. "Nora...is this...me?" Pyrrha gasped.
"Of course it is silly!" Nora exclaimed. "It's always been you!"
"God I look...good." Pyrrha said, still in shock. "Damn good." She shook her head and laughed. "I feel amazing! Thank you! All of you! From the bottom of my heart!"
"It's us who should be thanking you." Yang said.
"You've been so good to us." Winter added.
"You were the one who suggested Blake and I live together, and now look at us." Velvet said. "We have you to thank for that."
"You take care of me." Nora said with tears in her eyes.
"You're as much a part of our therapy as Glynda, never faltering, always supporting us." Yang continued. "We're glad to finally give a little back."
Pyrrha walked to the couch, a little unsteady in heels that were taller than she was used to. She sat beside Nora who immediately wrapped her in a tight embrace. "You all make me so happy." Pyrrha cried. "I've never had so many friends! I'm so glad to have met you all." She sniffled and reached to wipe her eyes before stopping so as not to smudge her makeup. Winter handed Nora a tissue box, and Pyrrha took one to dab her eyes.
"You wanna' know the best way to celebrate a makeover?" Nora asked, shaking with barely contained glee.
"An orgy?" Yang suggested.
"Yang!" Winter gasped.
"Close!" Nora exclaimed. "Girls' night in! Break out the body shots! I volunteer!"
"Woo!" Yang cheered.
"God…" Velvet sighed, covering her face with her hand and shaking her head.
The night turned out to be a fun one though Yang's hopes for orgy never materialized. In the end it turned out they had purchased far too much alcohol and since they had paid, Yang and Winter went home with most of the leftovers. The next few days were comparatively uneventful. Yang had a job interview to go to, Winter had more business to attend to. Nora was reluctant to leave the house, preferring to stay in for more sexy fun with Pyrrha, an idea to which Pyrrha was not necessarily opposed. Soon it was Thursday.
As had become her habit, Winter stumbled out of her bedroom mid-morning, still barely awake. Yang was cooking breakfast as usual. Barely aware of her surroundings, Winter plopped down in a chair at the 2x4 legged table and Yang placed her breakfast before her. She ate, basically on autopilot, then got up and stumbled back into the bedroom to shower in its attached bathroom. She emerged feeling refreshed and finally awake, but the house was quiet. Normally Yang would be watching television or playing a videogame with the volume up way too high, but not today. Winter took a quick look around. No Yang. She checked the business center. Still no Yang. The bathroom was empty too. She looked through the window in the front door. The car and motorcycle were still in the drive.
Then Winter spotted her. Yang was sitting on the back porch in a chair facing the ocean. On the table beside her sat a bottle of scotch and a glass with a few ice cubes in it, along with some of the intoxicating liquid. Yang never drank at home except during meals, so to see her drinking before noon, staring blankly into the distance, was alarming. Winter was worried. She opened the sliding door and walked up behind Yang who seemed not to notice.
"Yang?" Winter said. No reply. "Yang." Winter put a hand on her shoulder.
"Huh?" Yang jumped, twisting around to face Winter. "Oh, sorry."
"Yang, what's wrong?" Winter asked.
"Just some...stuff on my mind." Yang sighed. She turned back around, returning her gaze to the sea's gentle waves.
Winter bent down, wrapping her arms around Yang and planting a kiss on the back of her neck. "Talk to me, please?" Winter implored.
Yang closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Today is...the anniversary of Summer's passing." Yang said.
"Ah." Winter said.
"Summer was very important to me." Yang explained. "She treated me like her own, and loved me like I was. I miss her so much, Winter. Almost as much as Ruby." Yang gripped one of Winter's hands. "When I lived on Patch, I would visit her every week, sometimes with Ruby, sometimes alone. I would talk to her about my life, about Ruby, about...dad. Even though she was gone...it still felt good to talk to her." Yang twisted back around and looked at Winter once more. "I want to go again. It's been so long...too long. Can you...can you take me? It's a long way between the ferry and the taxi...I...I don't want to go by myself."
"Of course." Winter agreed. "Anything for you."
"Thank you." Yang said. "It means more than you know."
The trip to Summer's grave was indeed a long one. The ferry from Vale to Patch took over an hour. Riding in Winter's convertible rather than a taxi was surely better for Yang, but the drive still took the better part of another hour. Yang spent it in silence, staring at the familiar scenery. Winter tried to start a few conversations but Yang would give her nothing more than the occasional "yep", "sure", "uh-huh" or the like. It was worrying but hardly surprising. It was not as if they were going to a party.
The car's GPS got them to the cemetery, and once there Yang finally spoke up to direct Winter to the right place. Once as near as they could drive Winter pulled the car over. Yang took a deep breath and got out, Winter following as she walked to the stone. The dark granite was ornately carved with rose patterns. Clearly Taiyang had spared no expense in honoring his wife. The inscription caught Winter's eye:
Summer Rose
Loving wife and mother, taken from us too soon.
Taiyang Xiao-Long
All that followed Taiyang's name were the dates of his birth and death. Yang apparently noticed Winter reading it. "I always meant to have more added for dad." Yang sighed. "I was...I was just too busy dealing with everything. I was only in high school, and I had to take care of Ruby, make sure she would have the money to go to college. I figured once she graduated and we got that paid off, I'd come back. That's what dad would have wanted, right? But then Ruby got sick and...I had to sell everything, and I still didn't have the money. I couldn't even afford to come back here to visit."
Winter stood beside Yang, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure he'd understand." Winter said.
"He would." Yang agreed. "Hell, he probably wouldn't care. He never really cared about himself. After Summer died he started drinking too much, he shut down emotionally, but I could tell he still loved Ruby and I. He was just in too much pain to really show it. When he died it was almost a relief. His suffering was over. Qrow said the crash killed him instantly, so at least his death was painless. I wish I could say the same for Ruby and Summer."
"I'm sorry." Winter said.
Yang shook her head. "No, you have nothing to be sorry about." She said.
"Before your mother died, what was your father like?" Winter asked.
"He was...he was a lot of fun." Yang replied. "He smiled a lot, laughed all the time. We had some great father-daughter outings. He took me fishing once. Do you have any idea what kind of hell it is to get fishing line stuck in your hair?" Yang managed a laugh. "Still, we had fun. He did stuff like that with Ruby too, but she was always closer to Summer."
"And what was she like?" Winter asked.
"Super-mom." Yang answered. "Taking care of two little girls and a husband who could be like a kid sometimes, it must have been a lot of work, but she never complained. She made the best cookies. I guess she was pretty great at cooking in general. She's the one who taught me. Even when she was in the hospital dying she kept smiling. She must have been in so much pain but she never showed it, at least not when we were around. She didn't want us to be sad. That last day...I think she knew. She wanted to talk to each of us alone. I don't know what she said to dad and Ruby, but she asked me to take care of Ruby, and to never stop smiling. She said I shouldn't be sad because when she was gone, that I should be happy for the times we had. It was hard, but I really took it to heart, and I lived it...but then Ruby got sick. I put on a brave face for her but...I didn't have anything to be happy about anymore. That is until I met you. You showed me life was still worth living."
"Maybe I helped." Winter said. She stepped up and embraced Yang. "But you helped me just as much. I lived for Weiss and when she passed...I guess I ended up in the same mindset as you. I had nothing left, at least nothing I really cared about. Then you gave me something."
"I guess we're both lucky to have found each other." Yang said.
Winter released Yang from her embrace. "We are." Winter confirmed. "Now, I'll wait at the car and give you some privacy. I'm sure you have a lot to tell your parents about."
"I do." Yang said with a faint smile. She knelt down and placed a hand on the stone as Winter walked away, closing her eyes and lowering her head. "I just wish I had a place for Ruby." She whispered once Winter was out of earshot.
Yang was no more talkative on the ride home. It was early afternoon when the pair finally got home. On the way Winter had received and ignored a call from the bank. She checked the voicemail once back at the house. Apparently all the money she was transferring was making a few people worried and they wanted her to come in to answer some questions, just to make sure everything was on the level.
"I didn't even move that much money yet." Winter complained.
"Try to look at it from the perspective of a normal person." Yang said. "My parents bought their house for 80,000 lien and it took them almost a decade to pay it off. My dad never made more than 70,000 lien a year, and that was before taxes. If you transferred that kind of money most people would consider it a lot."
"Okay, so maybe it was a lot then." Winter sighed. "I guess I have to go sort this out. Are you going to be alright?"
"I'll be fine." Yang assured her. "Just bring back some food, I don't feel like cooking tonight."
"Sure thing." Winter agreed. "See you in a few."
Winter's trip to the bank took longer than expected. She was bombarded with all kinds of questions about why she was transferring the money, how it had been earned, what she planned to do with it, and several questions she found irrelevant and inappropriate. Then they made her sign paperwork detailing the questions and answers to certify that she was telling the truth. Winter understood the bank's desire to protect itself from any legal issues that might arise, but she felt it was all a bit much. It was well after closing time once it was over and done with. Winter grabbed some takeout from a place she and Yang enjoyed, then headed home.