Thank you to those that have written reviews! I've actually gotten some good ideas from some of you (which is making the story even longer, I believe). We still have a long way to go, so I hope that you're up for ride! Everything will (or should, unless I forget) be explained in due time. I hope everyone enjoys this continuation of the story.
I still don't own RWBY or the characters.
The next day, Blake sat curled up in her favorite chair with a book open in one hand and a cup of hot tea in the other. Try as she might, she could not get her mind off the blonde haired huntress who had stormed back into her life last night. Realizing that she had just read the same sentence for the fifth time, she gave an exasperated sigh and set the book down in her lap. There was no use in even trying to avoid the thoughts of Yang and her former teammates today.
For the past three years, she had done a decent job of shutting out memories of her time at Beacon. That was one of her skills, after all. Being distant and unattached were two of the traits that had allowed her to survive years in the White Fang.
Beacon had changed all of that. She had enrolled in order to hone her fighting skills and become a huntress. Once a huntress, she would be able to protect others from some of the dangers in the world; she would be able to protect her Faunus brethren, as well.
She had never expected to make friends there. In fact, she had intentionally been keeping a distance from the other students when she first arrived. The last thing she wanted was someone to become a distraction for her. Of course, once they had been forced into pairs, Blake ended up with the biggest distraction of all, Yang Xiao Long.
On Team RWBY, Yang and Ruby had gone out of their way to try to form a closely knit group. Blake had been opposed to this at first, just as Weiss had been, but eventually she found the two sister's appeals to be too overwhelming. They were so sincere and honest that it became increasingly difficult to rebuff them time after time.
After several months, Blake had the first two human friends she'd ever had in her life. Weiss soon came around, as well. A year into their schooling, they were all close friends, which led to the unintended benefit of a startling improvement in their fighting capabilities. For their second and third years, Team RWBY was consistently the best team at Beacon, a fact that had made Weiss exceptionally proud (and sometimes downright unbearable).
Blake smiled, remembering the time Yang and she had intentionally fumbled their parts of a "relay" race in order to let Team JNPR win. Weiss didn't speak to them for an entire week after that.
It was during these last two years of school that Blake felt her relationship with Yang begin to shift slightly. At that time, it had been easy to find other students who would get fed up with their partners at one point or another. Or partners would avoid each other because they "spent too much time together already." Blake had thought that these other students were strange because no matter how much time she spent with Yang, she never got tired of the girl. In fact, she always felt like she didn't spend enough time with her fiery partner. And, strangely enough, the immensely popular Yang seemed to feel the same way.
It had taken Blake a long time, much longer than she'd like to admit, to realize that the feelings she had for her partner ran deeper than just friendship. And when she had realized, she had decided that she could never say anything, afraid of ruining their friendship and the team chemistry.
This had been one of the most difficult decisions in her life. It had been especially hard to adhere too when the object of her affections was becoming increasingly flirtatious towards her. On multiple occasions, Blake had overheard students in the hallway wondering if they were actually a couple. Those comments always brought to live the butterflies that seemed to live eternally in her stomach when Yang was around.
She was still happy and excited to be with her team, although they were all a little unsure of what the real world held for them after graduation. Would they stay together as a team, or drift apart as many hunters and huntresses seemed to do? There were currently no active teams of huntresses, only individuals who worked alone. Weiss was going to be taking several months off to attend to some family business obligations. Ruby and Yang didn't have any real plans other than to "have a blast," as Yang had so eloquently put it.
It was at this time, shortly before graduation when the future was so uncertain, that a surprise visitor had showed up at Beacon. Adam.
Blake had been delighted to see him. She had never really been sure if he had made it off that train alive the last time she had seen him. Without realizing it, she had been harboring a great deal of guilt over maybe having gotten him killed by leaving in the middle of the operation. Seeing him alive and well lifted this unknown burden completely off of her shoulders.
But Adam hadn't come all the way to Beacon just to say hello. He wanted her help. "Needed" her help. He said that he was still committed to improving the world for the Faunus race, but through non-violent means. The White Fang had become corrupt and uncontrollable, striking deals to work beside criminals and create a "new world order," and this didn't sit well with him.
She was the only other Faunus he knew that was also committed to non-violence. If they joined together, soon they would be able to recruit others like them. They could form another group to stand against the White Fang, a group that would show humans that not all Faunus were violent criminals.
All of the time spent at Beacon, Team RWBY had talked about how they would be able to save people. Save the world. Save Vale. But Adam was offering something that Blake hadn't even realized she wanted desperately. She wanted to save the Faunus.
So, under that intoxicating haze of saving her race, she had said yes.
She had gone back to the room to tell her teammates that she would be leaving. Even though it was only a few weeks before graduation, she couldn't see a real point in becoming an official huntress anymore. It was only a formality, after all. At least, that's what Adam had said at the time and Blake had wholeheartedly agreed.
Weiss had only said, "You're making a huge mistake," and stood there with her arms crossed over her chest, head turned away from Blake in apparent disgust. Ruby had started crying and said, "If you think it's for the best…" before giving her a long hug. And Yang…well Yang wouldn't even look at her. She only sat on the edge of Blake's bed staring at her hands, which were balled up tightly in front of her.
When Yang wouldn't even acknowledge her as she tried to say goodbye, Blake had become unreasonably angry. Uncharacteristically so. She had shouted at the silent girl that now she could see how Yang truly felt about her. Apparently, they had never been as close as she had imagined, Yang had just been playing with her emotions with all the flirting and "innocent" bits of physical contact. It was such a typical human thing to do.
Blake cringed, that was one sentence she wholeheartedly wished she could take back.
She had then turned on her heel and stalked out of the room, seething in an uncontrollable rage. But Yang had followed her. She caught up to Blake near the front entrance and had grabbed Blake's hand to stop her. Blake had spun around, ready to chew the blonde out some more, only to bite her tongue when she saw the tears in Yang's eyes.
"Please…" Yang had begged her as the tears began to spill over, "Please don't leave. We're partners, remember? If you want to help the Faunus, then I'll help you. Team RWBY can do anything, remember?" She had given a tiny, quivering smile at the end, looking so hopeful that Blake would reconsider.
But Blake was too disillusioned at the time to think through anything properly. Adam's offer had cast a spell so fiercely over her that she could not use think and anger was still clouding her normally astute judgment.
In the face of her tearful partner, she had said, "You could never understand what it's like to be treated differently just because of your appearance. How could you possibly fight for something you could never even truly understand?"
Looking back on this moment, Blake may as well have slapped the girl. It would have hurt her much less than that statement had. It had taken Blake several months to realize that Yang was treated differently just for her appearance. Although it was different from some of the bullying directed towards the Faunus, Blake had personally witnessed many people judge Yang unfairly based solely on the girl's beautiful looks. If only Blake had understood that then…
But Blake had then turned and walked away, leaving the stunned girl behind. As she was walking through the exit, Yang had shouted after her, "But Blake, I love you!"
She had pretended that she hadn't heard her.
Adam had heard the confession as well, and was laughing outside when Blake walked up to meet him. He had said, "Such infatuation from a human girl…I think that's one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time!"
Blake had told him to shut up and tried to seal her heart shut once again.
Blake wiped her eyes on her shirt, realizing that her tears were freely flowing at this point from the memories she had been avoiding for some time now. She was such an idiot. Why hadn't she taken the time to think things through like she normally did? How could she ever have thought it was a good idea to leave her team? Why hadn't she responded to Yang?
All she could remember was how intoxicated she had felt with the plans Adam spun for her. That together, they would be able to conquer the world.
The days after Beacon had been filled with one disappointment after another. While it had initially been nice to be working with Adam again, she soon realized just how difficult a task there was at hand. There were three groups of Faunus: those in the White Fang, those who tried hard not to draw attention to themselves, and those who hid their Faunus traits in order to avoid discrimination. Finding people willing to break out of any of these molds was exceptionally difficult.
Blake and Adam had moved into the little two bedroom apartment, which Adam had dubbed their "HQ." In the past three years, they had been able to recruit several willing Faunus, but nowhere near the amount that would likely be needed to make a real change. They had ended up back at the crossroads the White Fang had found themselves at years ago. Continue on this path of failed peaceful protests, or resort to more violent measures to garner attention.
It seemed Adam had given up a long time ago. Only months removed from Blake agreeing to help him. He would go out for long periods of time "recruiting," but would never have much success to speak of. He always rationalized that it was difficult to find people willing to risk their lives for any cause these days.
Blake had realized her mistake around the same time, but she didn't think she had any other options at this point than to continue down the path she had chosen. She was too proud to try to rejoin Team RWBY, not like they would take her back anyway, after what she did. Even if they were to let her back on the team, she would be far too humiliated with having left them for such a failed cause. Their movement could hardly get out of the grassroots stages.
To top that all off, they were doing just fine without her.
She had been exploring a new part of the city some six months after she would have graduated from Beacon, when she had heard a familiar laugh. Her ears had instantly perked up as she followed the sound towards its owner, and that's where she saw them. Her old teammates.
They seemed like they had gone shopping, judging by the bags that Ruby was carrying (no doubt for Weiss). Ruby and Yang were laughing as Yang seemed to be making a joke at Weiss' expense. The heiress was pouting, but didn't seem to be all that disturbed by the occurrence. In fact, she looked rather pleased by the attention she was getting.
Her heart had constricted tightly at the sight of the three of them walking along so jovially. They were still together. They were still a team. And they were still happy, even without her there.
She had hidden in the shadows as they passed on the other side of the street. She concluded on that day that even if she was able to swallow her pride and ask for their forgiveness, they had already moved on. It was too late.
But that was before the events of yesterday.
Looking around the apartment, she suddenly realized that the most alive she had felt in years had been the hour she had spent with Yang yesterday. Yang's confidence and energy had always spilled over onto her. When Blake was with Yang, she always felt like she could accomplish anything in the world. It was like Yang ignited a fire within her that could never be extinguished, as long as they were together.
At that thought, she jumped up out of her chair, setting the book carefully back in its place on the bookshelf and placing the mug on a small table. She knew what she had to do now.