I got sidetracked by the newest chapter of Citrus, but I'm back in action now! Please read, review, and have a great weekend!
PS don't own RWBY.
Blake sat at the kitchen table, head resting in her hands as despair consumed her. She should never have come back to the team. If she had just stayed away, Yang would never have had to partner with her and would never have gotten injured. Yang hadn't even wanted to be her partner, anyway, with good reason.
While she hadn't been completely inactive during the past few years, she certainly hadn't been as active as she had been while a member of the White Fang or while at Beacon. There had never been good opportunities to do battle against Grimm, unless she traveled all the way back to the Emerald Forest. Going there alone just hadn't seemed like the safest idea, at the time.
After Weiss had made her leave the med room, Blake had decided to go change her clothes, which had been covered in Yang's blood. She had then taken a quick shower and gone back to the kitchen to wait in the same place she still occupied.
Having run out of things to do to distract herself, she could not keep her mind away from the thoughts of the day. She replayed the battle over and over again in her head, trying to pinpoint exactly where she had made mistakes. So far, she had come up with a list of at least twenty major things she had done wrong.
The door to the med room finally opened as Ruby and Weiss exited, closing the door softly behind them. Blake scrambled to her feet. "How is she? She's ok, right?" Her eyes quickly shot back and forth between the two girls, looking for the answer.
Ruby gave her a small smile before saying, "Don't worry, Blake, she'll be ok. We stitched her up and stopped the bleeding. The cuts weren't nearly as deep as they seemed. She'll be back up on her feet by dinnertime!"
Feeling relief wash over her, Blake took a couple steps backward until her back was pressed against the wall, sliding down until she could rest her head on her knees. Ruby carefully sat down on the floor next to her and put an arm around her shoulders reassuringly as Blake began crying as the events of the day finally caught up to her.
Weiss quietly passed by the two girls, muttering, "I need to call Glynda and fill her in on the situation…"
Ruby held Blake close as she sobbed, telling her that it wasn't her fault. Blake heard Weiss walk back into the room at one point, but the heiress had quickly exited again without saying a word.
Ruby and Blake sat there for some time, until Blake could find no more tears to shed. The young girl stood up and offered a hand to Blake, who somewhat reluctantly accepted it. Once on their feet, Ruby handed a nearby box of tissues to the sniffling girl as she said, "She's resting right now, but she'll probably be up in a few hours. You should probably get some rest as well, or maybe eat something."
At that moment, Ruby's scroll began to buzz. As she fished out the device to check the message, Weiss poked her head into the kitchen.
"Time to go, Ruby!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Ruby saluted, gave Blake's hand a quick squeeze, and quickly exited the room after her partner.
After trying and failing to force down a little bit of food, Blake had sat at the kitchen table again, staring at the closed door to the med room. She convinced herself multiple times that she should go check up on her partner, standing and walking over to the door, only to back away right before touching the handle. She didn't want to accidentally wake the injured girl up. Or worse, she didn't want Yang to already be awake and yell at her for causing her injuries.
Now she roamed the upstairs hallways of the huge mansion. She hadn't explored much of the building yet, mostly because she was afraid of what her teammates would think if one of them caught her strolling around the place alone. She wasn't dumb enough to play so loosely with their trust so early; even she would admit that it would look a little suspicious. And she hadn't thought to ask one of them for an official tour yet.
She passed by the door to her room and came to a stop in front of Yang's bedroom, peering inside. She didn't want to go in and disturb the girl's privacy, but figured that she could take a look from the hallway since the door had been left open.
From what Blake could see, the girl's living habits had changed little since their time at school. Various articles of clothing were strewn haphazardly about the room, which only served to direct attention away from the tangle of covers on the unmade bed. Across the room, several picture frames resting on top of a chest of drawers caught Blake's attention. Straining her eyes, she was able to make out one that was familiar. It was taken of the four of them plus Penny after Ruby and Penny had won the Vytal Festival in their first year.
Blake chuckled at the memory. Penny had completely obliterated all of her opponents and then refused to fight against Ruby in the finale. Ruby wouldn't fight against someone who wouldn't defend themselves, so the tournament directors had decided to call the Festival in a draw in the first time in the history of Vale. Though Blake believed that they had probably just been happy to end the tournament unscathed, after Yang had nearly burned down the entire stadium in her battle with Nora.
Weiss had been beyond furious at the results.
She turned away from the room and continued down the hallway towards Ruby and Weiss' rooms. Both girls had closed their doors in the morning, so Blake didn't get to look inside, but she couldn't help wondering if the two girls even slept in separate rooms anymore. If not, whose room did they spend most of their time in? She was willing to bet it would be Weiss' immaculate room.
Besides their four rooms, there were many other rooms upstairs that were currently unoccupied. Satisfied that there wasn't much else to be seen, Blake had decided to head back downstairs when she heard the front door open. She descended the stairs to find an exhausted Weiss and Ruby slowly putting their weapons and shoes back into the hallway closet.
"Are you guys ok?" Blake asked, concerned by how gingerly Weiss was moving.
"We're fine," Weiss replied tersely, flinching slightly when Ruby shot her a quick look. She continued in a somewhat softer tone, "We just had to deal with a Nevermore, is all. Stupid giant birds…"
"But we taught him! Didn't we, Weiss?" Ruby said proudly, earning a small smile from the icy girl. "I'm going to go check on Yang real quick. Weiss…why don't you show Blake around a little bit?"
The heiress sighed before slowly replying, "I guess I could do that…"
"You're the best!" Ruby exclaimed, leaning in quickly to give the surprised girl a quick peck on the cheek before disappearing in a cloud of petals.
Blake watched as Weiss briefly closed her eyes and inhaled the smell of roses Ruby left in her wake. Yang was right; Ruby had certainly done a number on the girl. She smiled, but it quickly faded as Weiss turned to her, exasperation radiating off of the girl.
"You don't have to take me for a tour…" Blake said as she involuntarily backed away. She didn't want to make the girl angry by having her do something she clearly didn't want to do.
Sighing again, Weiss replied, "Yes…I do. It will make Ruby happy. So which parts of the house have you already seen?"
"Well…" Blake began slowly. "I've only see the upstairs bedrooms."
Weiss arched an eyebrow at that response, so Blake quickly put her hands up in defense, "I didn't go into anyone's rooms! I was just walking the hallways."
"Ok…" Weiss said slowly, "then let's start right here."
"That room is the study," she began, pointing to the room on Blake's left. "And that is the TV room slash living room" she continued as she pointed to the room on her right. "Ruby and Yang watch a lot of old action movies in there," she added with an eye roll.
Weiss then walked past her, beckoning for her to follow the girl underneath the staircase.
"This is obviously the kitchen," she said as she waved one hand absentmindedly. "And you now know where the med room is."
Yes, she was certainly familiar with the med room now, Blake thought, feeling her heart clench as her thoughts flew back to her injured partner.
"Through the kitchen is what I consider to be the best room in the house." Weiss continued walking without noticing Blake's pause. Walking through an open doorway on the other end of the kitchen, they reached an empty hallway that contained a massive set of double doors directly in front of them.
Weiss walked purposefully up to the doors and pulled both of them open at the same time as she proudly said, "The situation room."
Blake followed the girl into the enormous room, looking around her with her mouth hanging open in amazement.
"Wow, Weiss…" was all she could say as she walked further into the huge empty space.
The situation room was nearly the size of an auditorium; it felt cavernous. In its inactive state, the walls and ceiling were composed of solid black tiles. Tiny seams could barely be seen where the tiles had been carefully fitted together. The floor was composed of similar tiles, only these were a light gray in color. The only piece of equipment that could be seen in the room was a standing panel located right by the front door.
Blake walked over to look at the panel, careful not to touch anything under the heiress' watchful gaze. This was the most hi-tech room she had ever seen.
Weiss walked over to stand beside Blake as she continued, "This room has the best equipment money can buy. You can create multiple different environments and fighting scenarios from this panel. You can summon any Grimm creature that is known to exist, as well as change some of their core attributes: speed, strength, health. You get the idea. And the best part is, it's completely soundproof. Yang and Ruby have definitely tested out that feature more than a few times…"
Blake looked at the girl in awe as she asked, "Can you be injured during a simulation?"
"Well, you can be thrown around quite a bit." Weiss waved her hand dismissively at the question. "But if the Grimm is about to land what the computer calculates to be a lethal attack, the simulation will automatically end. Game over."
Running her hand absentmindedly along the outside of the panel, Blake took in the rest of the room. She had heard that this technology was available, but only to the ridiculously wealthy. She didn't know why it surprised her that Weiss had her very own then; you couldn't get much richer than the Schnee family.
"You can use it whenever you'd like," the heiress said, tearing Blake from her thoughts. "Actually, you probably should use it before you get one of us killed," she added sarcastically.
Blake looked away, feeling the sting from that comment.
"I know…" she said sadly, ears drooping slightly. "I feel awful for what happened to Yang, you know," she added.
Weiss scoffed at her response. "Do you mean what happened to her today or what you did to her at Beacon?"
Blake shrank back from the girl's withering tone and stared at her in shock.
"I'm sorry…" she began, not knowing what else to say in the face of the girl's wrath.
"You should be sorry," Weiss snapped at her, arms now folded across her chest as she prepared to lay into the Faunus girl.
"If you feel awful about seeing her hurt today, then I can't imagine how you must have been feeling for the past few years. Oh, that's right, you probably felt nothing because you didn't stick around to see the damage you caused." Weiss jabbed one of her fingers towards Blake's chest as she emphasized each 'you' she spoke.
"Ruby is too forgiving to say anything to you. And Yang has, unsurprisingly, gotten pretty good at hiding her feelings, but I'll tell you what really happened after you left."
"You broke her, Blake," Weiss continued, fire now burning in her eyes. "She wouldn't leave the room for weeks. She skipped graduation; she's lucky she even graduated with all of the classes she missed. It was months before we even saw her smile again. And then, she just wouldn't let go of you. She insisted that she had, but Ruby and I knew better than to believe that. We knew that she was searching for you; everywhere we went she was always searching for you."
"And then, we finally got the distraction we needed. She finally started focusing on something other than you, and surprise! You finally decide to show up."
Blake looked at Weiss sadly as the fuming girl finished her tirade. She could feel the moisture building in her eyes and willed herself not to start crying. She took a deep, shaky breath before she began speaking.
"I'm truly sorry for leaving. I really am, Weiss. If I could go back and make another decision, I would! Believe me that was the single biggest mistake I've ever made in my life."
She felt the first tear roll down her cheek as she tried to continue. "I've spent so many days wishing that I could go back to that day….but no matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, I can't change the past. I can't take away all of the pain I've caused. I can only try to make things right going forward."
"I promise you," she said as she looked Weiss in the eyes, "I will not hurt her again. I would rather die than to cause her anymore pain."
Weiss scrutinized her closely as the two girls stood in silence for several seconds. Finally, Weiss slowly nodded her head as she mumbled, "That could be arranged."
Blake managed a wavering smile, until she realized that she wasn't sure if Weiss was actually joking or not. Either way, it seemed like maybe her response was somewhat acceptable to the heiress.
"Come on," Weiss continued in a much softer tone as the fire left her icy blue eyes. "There's one more room I want to show you."
Exiting the situation room through the door they had used to enter, Weiss took a right in the hallway and quickly strode towards a second unimposing door that Blake had failed to notice earlier. Reaching the door, Weiss turned back and motioned for Blake the hurry up. When Blake reached her side, Weiss gently pulled open the door and stood back, waiting for Blake to step through first.
The instant the door was opened, a familiar smell washed over Blake's senses. As she peered inside, she gasped at what she saw. The room was filled with books, lots of them. While nowhere near as big as the situation room, the library was as big as the study, with high ceilings and walls that were covered, floor to ceiling, in bookshelves. Rolling ladders were placed strategically around the room so that readers would be able to reach the books furthest from the ground. Lounge chairs were located in the center of the room with some small tables.
Walking further into the room, Blake closed her eyes, using a few seconds to take in the smells and sounds (or lack thereof) of the room surrounding her. She looked back at Weiss, who was still standing by the door, looking slightly unsure of herself.
"This room is amazing," Blake said as she continued to eye the stacks and stacks of books. She managed to stop herself from racing over to them and pulling out the first one she got her hands on. So this is what a child must feel like when they're in a candy store…
"It's not used very much. Ruby and Yang aren't exactly avid readers, you know," Weiss said. "Except for comic books," she added with a huff.
"So…you can borrow any of the books you'd like read, whenever." Weiss' words came out in one breath, as if she wanted to breeze past the implication of what she had just said.
Blake looked at the girl in shock. She could borrow any of these books? Whenever she wanted to? This was effectively like giving Blake her own private library. Something she had always wished for, but knew she realistically would never have.
"Weiss, thank you!" she exclaimed, unable to control her jubilation. "I think this is the nicest thing anyone has ever offered me!"
A faint blush grew on Weiss' cheek as she quietly muttered, "It's not a huge deal or anything…"
She grinned back at the embarrassed girl. It was a huge deal to her, and that's all that mattered. Weiss grew even more uncomfortable under Blake's gaze and coughed slightly before saying, "I'm going to go prepare dinner with Ruby. It will be ready in about 45 minutes, if you're hungry."
Before Blake even had the chance to respond, the girl had turned on her heel and strode back out of the library towards the kitchen. Blake watched the girl's back until she was gone, before letting out a sigh. Maybe now that Weiss had aired some of her grievances to Blake, she would start treating Blake with a little less hostility. Weiss was just trying to protect Yang. Blake couldn't be angry at her for that.