The much anticipated (and highly contested) continuation! Please read and review :)
Sitting in one of the uncomfortable chairs in the hospital waiting room, Yang stared down at her hands resting in her lap. They were still covered in Blake's blood; she hadn't even bothered to go wash them yet. The sight of dark red dried and cracking on her palms kept her rooted in the memory of her partner, lying in an ever growing pool of blood, as they tried desperately to save her.
And she hadn't been able to do anything.
Even though Ruby was fast, she hadn't really stood much chance against the six of them. Especially not when Weiss and Yang were so intimately familiar with all of her moves and attacks. Team JNPR mostly helped with keeping all of the White Fang soldiers and Paladin rockets away from their battle, while occasionally trying to take a swipe at Ruby when she was distracted.
Yang had been the one to garner most of Ruby's attention, while Weiss provoked the brunette with a myriad of glyphs meant to slow down or immobilize her. The heiress was at the unfortunate disadvantage of having to dodge all of Ruby's swings with Crescent Rose, rather than blocking them. At full strength, a blow from Ruby's weapon would likely be powerful enough to cause a great deal of damage to Myrtenaster.
As Crescent Rose would swing towards her, Yang would either dodge or deflect the blow with her gauntlets, feeling the reverberations vibrate through her arms at the collision. Weiss would then try to snare Ruby in a glyph before the brunette would speed away.
After several unsuccessful attempts, and Weiss nearly losing her head when she nearly didn't duck quickly enough, a well-timed hit in the back from Pyrrha's shield knocked Ruby temporarily off balance, allowing Yang to jump towards the brunette and punch the end of Crescent Rose, burying the tip of it several inches into the concrete floor. As Ruby took an extra second to attempt to free her weapon, Weiss furiously threw glyphs Ruby's way, locking in her legs, then her arms and weapon, in a case of ice. Ruby had snarled at them in frustration as her movement had become completely restricted.
That was when Yang had noticed Blake was gone. Her heart had sunk, instantly knowing where her partner had gone. She had rushed to the hallway she had seen Adam and Cinder exit through moments before. Trying to calm her pounding heart, she had listened for any sound that would give her a clue as to where they had gone. The only open door at the end of the hallway drew her attention, and she was tearing off in its direction as fast as her feet would take her.
But she was too late.
She had crashed through the door and watched as Adam plunged his sword through Blake's chest. Watched as her partner had clawed at his shoulder, desperately trying to keep herself upright. Watched as Adam had ripped his sword out and walked away, never looking back as Blake crumpled to the ground.
Yang was at Blake's side in an instant. She had tried to stem the blood loss by pressing down on the wound, but the thick fluid just kept gushing out over her fingers. She could feel Blake's heart pounding rapidly in shock through the palms of her hands, working against whatever pressure she was able to apply.
She had never felt so pathetically helpless in her life, being forced to watch the girl she loved bleed out at her feet.
It had only been through Weiss' genius that they had managed to get Blake to a hospital, at all.
Weiss had chased Yang to the second hanger after she had been sure that Ruby wasn't going to get away. When it became clear that the wound was far too serious for mere compression to help slow the blood loss, the heiress had ordered Yang to remove her hands.
Initially, Yang had adamantly refused, shouting that they could still save her. She hadn't been willing to give up, not until the very end.
Weiss had agreed and explained her idea in a rush.
If Weiss froze Blake's heart slightly, it would slow down and stop trying to circulate so much blood. Maybe that would buy them enough time to get Blake to a hospital. It had never been tried before and she had no idea if it would work or not, but it was at least a shot.
So, Weiss had pointed the tip of Myrtenaster down towards Blake's heart as she closed her eyes in concentration. Yang watched for several seconds as ice began seeping out of the end of Myrtenaster and onto Blake's chest. A tiny, circular patch of frost appeared, growing larger and larger by the second. It seemed to be working, as the blood flow looked like it was ebbing away. Either that, or Blake didn't have that much blood left to force out anyway.
Yang couldn't bear to watch any longer and had moved back above Blake's head, grabbing ahold of one of her partner's hands, only to find it cold and limp.
"Blake, Weiss is going to slow down your heart so we can get you to a hospital, ok? Everything's going to be ok. It might be a little cold for a bit, but hang in there for me, ok?" she had said as she looked down into Blake's amber eyes, hoping that she could still understand what Yang was saying.
When Blake's eyes had watered up, Yang felt her own tears start falling, many of them landing onto her partner's cheeks. She refused to look away though, staring down into Blake's eyes for as long as possible. She wasn't going to miss a second, not a single second. Not if this was the last time she would see those eyes staring back up at her…
One last ragged breath and Blake's eyes had finally closed. Yang had been pretty sure that her own heart had been ripped out at that moment, looking down at Blake's lifeless form: pale, cold, and covered in blood.
Yang had reached down and scooped Blake into her arms, clutching her tightly to her chest as she struggled to breathe through her tears and anguish. Only then had the sound of another airship caught her attention. Initially, she had thought that it was Adam and Cinder, coming back to try to finish them off, but instead found it was Ren piloting the craft, coming to save the day.
They had carefully loaded Blake on board before hopping in themselves. The rest of Team JNPR were still cleaning up the mess that was happening downstairs, but it seemed like that battle would soon be under control.
Yang had looked towards Ruby, who was very effectively strapped into one of the seats. Either the drug was wearing off, or Ruby's success at keeping them from following Cinder had calmed the girl down. She sat in the seat without struggling, looking at them with emotionless eyes as they huddled around Blake and flew back to Vale as fast as the vehicle was capable of going.
Yang had wanted to hold Blake the entire way to the hospital, but Weiss had insisted that she set her partner's body down. She didn't want Yang's aura to undo the work she had just done before they made it back. So, she had settled on holding Blake's lifeless hand the entire way, sobbing uncontrollably, not daring to look into the uncaring eyes her little sister was directing their way.
And now they were sitting here, covered in blood and bruises.
'Please, wait here.'
That's what the head of surgery had told them hours ago. And they hadn't heard anything from him since.
Thankfully, the other doctors were now steering clear of her, even going as far as to walk on the opposite side of the hallway, hugging the wall as much as possible. News must have spread fast to leave her the hell alone after the first idiot who made the mistake to approach her had ended up with a broken nose.
She didn't know what he had been thinking anyway. How does someone see a girl, obviously upset and covered in someone else's blood, and think 'let's try to ask her out on a date?'
Yang had head-butted him, sending him crumpling to the floor.
He had gotten up and run off, crying like a baby. Yang should probably have gotten into some trouble, but Weiss had calmly stalked off after him, no doubt dropping her family's name several times in an obviously successful attempt to convince him not to file a complaint. It probably helped that "Schnee" was already written in huge letters on the outside of the building.
Why would she ever go out with a guy like that anyway? He couldn't even take a little broken nose without bursting into tears. Wimp.
Ruby stirred beside her, drawing Yang's attention away from her bloodied hands. Her younger sister had fallen asleep with her head leaning against Weiss' shoulder just a little while ago.
After they had brought Blake inside, Weiss and Ren had dragged Ruby in, feet and arms still bound tightly together. Weiss had ordered the nurses to take a blood sample and begin a complete blood transfusion immediately. She didn't want a single drop of that drug in Ruby's system for a second longer than necessary.
A nurse had approached Weiss some time later and took the heiress to see Ruby, leaving Yang to wait in her chair alone.
Ruby had appeared a few minutes later, looking beyond exhausted and leaning on Weiss for support as she walked. The girl was crying, and the second she saw Yang she burst into even more sobs as she stumbled forward and crushed Yang in a hug.
Yang had hugged her back, feeling her own tears begin to fall again as Ruby apologized again and again for what had happened. The brunette was distraught and nearly inconsolable, blaming herself for what had happened to Blake. Yang had immediately fallen back into the role of protector, murmuring that it wasn't her fault, that everything would be ok, even though in her heart she didn't know if she truly believed those words.
After a few more minutes of crying, Ruby had detached herself from Yang as Weiss sat down, launching into another round of apologies before Weiss had cut her off. Ruby had settled for crying softly into her girlfriend's shoulder, where she had eventually fallen asleep until now.
Yang and Weiss both turned towards the brunette, who smiled at them sleepily.
"Sorry I fell asleep," she apologized with downcast eyes, although the apology seemed to extend to more than just her slumber.
"Don't be sorry," Weiss replied before placing a chaste kiss on Ruby's forehead. "We know you're probably exhausted…"
Just then, Ruby's stomach let out an outrageously loud grumble, causing even Yang to break out a small smile.
"And hungry…" Weiss concluded with a shake of her head as Ruby looked embarrassed.
"Yeah…I think I'll go to the cafeteria and get something to eat…" Ruby stated as she unsteadily stood up from her chair.
"Wait!" Weiss nearly yelled, panic lacing her tone as she reached out and grabbed one of Ruby's arms.
"I-I'll come with you," the heiress finished softy. "If that's ok with you, Yang?"
Yang smiled and nodded as icy blue eyes met her own, pleading for her to be ok with it. She understood Weiss' desire to stay near someone she had nearly lost twice in the matter of a day. Ruby was going to be extremely lucky if she could spend more than a minute out of Weiss' vision in the next year or so. Even when they confirmed that there was no trace of the drug within Ruby's body, Weiss would probably still follow the girl everywhere.
At least there was one good thing that came out of this…Ruby was safe.
As soon as the two girls had strode off, with Weiss insisting that she hold Ruby's hand, Yang buried her head in her own hands.
She didn't know what she would do if Blake didn't make it through this. With all her worries over Ruby's safety, she had never once paused to think that they could also be in danger. That it was possible one of them could be hurt while trying to get Ruby back.
There were so many things she had never said…but the worst part were the things she did say. The lie she had made up in an effort to protect herself from any more emotional pain.
Could it be possible that Blake could die, and Yang had told her that she was moving on, that she didn't love her anymore?
The thought sat like a rock in the pit of her stomach.
She prayed for Blake to make it through this. Yang wasn't sure if she could live with the regret if Blake didn't…
For the first time in her life, Yang couldn't feel the fire within her chest. Her pain wasn't calling forth her semblance; she felt no pent up pain or anger; her vision was crystal clear, with no tint of red.
It was as if her own flame had been snuffed out.
Ruby and Weiss returned from the cafeteria several minutes later loaded with an assortment of food. Apparently, being kidnapped and drugged had granted Ruby permission to eat as many cookies as she wanted, since Weiss was carrying an entire bag full of individually wrapped cookie packages in one hand. They offered some food to Yang, but she declined. Even though her body probably needed the nutrition, she doubted she would be able to force anything down.
Fortunately, Ruby was blessed with the ability to eat under any circumstance, so she quickly scarfed down all of the food she had carried with her and set in on the cookies in Weiss' bag. Weiss picked at her own food, managing to get a small amount down, but mostly just stared at Ruby while the younger girl demolished everything set in front of her.
Once all of the cookies had been consumed, the three of them relapsed into silence as they continued their wait. Weiss was still holding onto one of Ruby's hands, refusing to let go.
After what must have been half of a literal eternity, Yang saw the surgeon from earlier push through the double doors in front of her. She shot to her feet immediately, feeling her heart begin pounding as she saw the blood stains on the front of his scrubs.
"How is she?" Yang asked as soon as he was close enough to hear.
"We closed all of the wounds and were able to stabilize her vitals," he began, looking at Yang closely, never breaking eye contact. "But…"
Her heart plummeted at the word.
"The internal injuries were extensive, and the blood loss was nearly catastrophic to her system. She's stable but…she hasn't woken up yet. And…we don't know when she will…or if she will."
Feeling her legs turn to jelly, Yang stumbled backwards and sat back down in her chair, clutching at her own heart. Blake…might never wake back up?
She could hear Weiss speaking to the doctor now, getting some more details and finally thanking him for his efforts. How was Weiss always able to stay so collected in times like these? It was like she always knew exactly what to do, exactly what to say…
"Yang?"
Ruby's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, finding that her sister was now kneeling down in front of her, holding one of her hands.
"He said that we can go see her now…if you want to…"
The only thing she could do was nod dumbly. Yes, she wanted to see Blake. She needed to see her.
Ruby kept ahold of her hand as Yang stood up on unsteady legs and followed her down the hallway to Blake's room.
Opening the door, the smell of antiseptic invaded her nose. The room was very large, which would be expected since she was being treated as a VIP patient. It had its own bathroom off in one corner, but most of the room was empty space; white, clean, sterile empty space. So unnaturally clean. A soft, steady beeping noise could be heard coming from a machine by the bed.
And there was Blake…lying in the hospital bed that seemed far too small in the giant room. With her eyes closed, it looked like she was peacefully sleeping. Looking closely, Yang could see the slow rise and fall of Blake's chest with each slow breath.
Yang felt relieved by the sight of her partner. At least Blake was breathing. At least she was alive.
The three of them walked over to stand by the bed. Yang went over to the far side and pulled a chair up to sit down right by Blake's side, picking up one of the sleeping girl's hands. She didn't know when she had started crying, but realized that there were now streams of tears falling down her cheeks. Weiss and Ruby stood on the other side, with Ruby also in tears as she grasped Blake's other hand.
"H-hey there, partner," Yang whispered, voice wavering with emotion. "Weiss and Ruby are here too," she nodded towards the two as if Blake could see her. "W-we all…m-made it…"
She stopped talking, clearing her throat in an effort to rid herself of the large lump that had just settled there. She opened her mouth to try to speak again, but abruptly closed it with a shake of her head. There was no use speaking if it was going to come out as blubbering nonsense.
So they stayed there for some time, exchanging no words at all as they cried for their teammate lying in front of them.
Weiss was finally the one to break the silence, voice wavering with unshed tears.
"I-I think I'll order a real bed to be moved in here, something to make her more comfortable. A-and Ruby and I can go get some things to make the room more cheery."
Yang swallowed and nodded her head, still staring down at her partner.
After several more motionless moments, Weiss finally broke the mood again when she tried to stifle a yawn. Ruby slid her hand out of Weiss', earning a small noise of distress from the heiress. Ruby held up a finger to signal that she would be right back and slipped out of the room. Seconds later, the brunette returned carrying one end of one of the lobby sofas while a hospital attendant helped with the other.
They carefully maneuvered the piece of furniture into the room and sat it down in between Blake's bed and the hallway wall. Ruby thanked the attendant and carefully closed the door behind him.
Turning around, Ruby gestured for Weiss to join her as she curled herself up on one corner of the little sofa, drawing her feet up with her and pulling off the heels she had been wearing to the party. Weiss hesitated for only a second before she joined her girlfriend. The two of them resituated until they were comfortably snuggled into each other, then they looked over at Yang. Weiss patted the cushion beside her, indicating that there was still plenty of room for one more.
Yang shook her head though. She wanted to stay here and hold Blake's hand a little longer. She couldn't let go just yet.
Thankfully, her teammates understood her thoughts and didn't press the issue any further. Within a few minutes, both girls had fallen asleep, leaving Yang along with her agony.
With Blake's hand clasped in one of her own, she stroked the back of the girl's hand softly with her thumb.
She cursed herself for being such a colossal idiot. She should have just kissed Blake the first time she had seen her in the supermarket. Even then, Yang could see how unhappy the girl was. And after Adam's explanation, now everything made so much more sense.
Blake hadn't left of her own free will…she hadn't decided to abandon her teammates…she hadn't chosen Adam over her…
She had lost so much time with Blake already, but had let her hurt feelings get in the way of moving forward. She hadn't wanted to believe that they could just pick back up where they had left off. She thought that she needed to move on…that they should just be friends…so that neither of them would risk hurting the other again.
And now? She might never get the chance to make this right.
"H-hey, Blake," she whispered, voice hardly audible even in the silent room. She focused intently on Blake's face, searching desperately for any sign of comprehension from the sleeping girl. Seeing nothing, she felt tears well up in her eyes once more. Or maybe they had never even left to begin with…
"I-I…I'm r-really, really s-sorry." She muffled a sob as the tears began to fall. She could feel all of her hopelessness and regret bubbling over within her.
"T-this is all m-my f-fault! If I…If I h-hadn't been s-so d-damn stubborn…y-you p-probably wouldn't have…wouldn't have chased him…"
"I..s-shouldn't have lied to you!" she wailed quietly, trying not to wake Ruby or Weiss in her distress. "I-I should have…t-told y-you…h-how much you mean to me."
She took a long, shaky breath, looking up towards the ceiling as she blinked away tears only to find that they were instantly replaced by fresh ones.
"Blake, I l-lo…l-like you…so much…"
She stared at her hands, self-loathing rising in her throat.
Even with her partner in a coma, Yang couldn't find the courage to tell Blake how she truly felt.
"P-please…w-wake up…so that we c-can…try again…"
She laid her head down on the bed beside Blake's shoulder, letting her tears soak the sheets as her shoulders quaked with chest wrenching sobs.
Every breath she took brought another dreaded beat of her heart. Every heartbeat brought another pang of agony that ripped through her chest like a lightning bolt.
But she could stop neither.
The next morning, Yang woke with a start when the door clicked softly open. She immediately jerked her head up, nerves still on edge from the battle that had occurred yesterday. Finding it to be merely a nurse doing her morning rounds, Yang settled back into her chair.
Her neck and back were completely stiff from sleeping bent forward in her chair with her head laying on the hospital bed. She rubbed the back of her neck tenderly as the nurse stepped up to the side of the bed and checked Blake's pulse before copying down some numbers from the machine onto her clipboard.
"Any improvement?" Yang asked the nurse hopefully when she seemed to be done with her routine.
The young lady smiled at her sadly as she responded with a gentle shake of her head.
"Same as yesterday, I'm afraid…"
Yang felt her hopes deflate as if the nurse had just taken a needle to them.
"But, there's no setbacks either, which is a good thing," the nurse suggested with a kind smile.
Yang managed a weak smile in return as the nurse excused herself from the room and Yang settled back into her chair, staring at Blake's sleeping form. A few minutes later, Ruby began to waken, as well. When the brunette moved an inch, Weiss' hands grasped onto her arm tightly. Even while unconscious, the heiress was refusing to let Ruby move away from her for an instant.
Ruby's movements eventually woke Weiss, as well, and all three girls looked towards Blake's still unmoving form for several minutes before Weiss finally stood, stretching her arms high above her head.
"We should probably at least go home and get cleaned up…" she suggested, looking carefully towards Yang to gauge her reaction.
Yang shook her head immediately. She wasn't going to leave this room. Not right now.
Eventually, they were able to agree that Yang would stay there (like there was going to be any other option), while Ruby and Weiss went home and collected some things.
Even after the pair had left, Yang remained in her seat, holding Blake's hand in both of her own.
"I won't let you go, Blake. I'll never let you go again…so please…just come back to me…" she whispered.
When Ruby and Weiss did return, they had some fresh clothes for Yang as well as breakfast. While she refused to leave the room, Yang wasn't that much of a slob to refuse a shower and clean pair of clothes when she was still wearing the bloody, sweaty clothing from yesterday. After a quick shower in the attached bathroom, she was back in her seat within ten minutes. She needn't have rushed though, as nothing changed in the time she was away.
The three of them made idle chitchat while they ate their breakfast. Yang picked at hers, managing to get some food down, but not much at all. Her appetite was completely destroyed by the image of her partner lying motionless beside her.
It was only when their scrolls started going off did Yang realize that life was still continuing on without them outside these walls. There were still people in danger from whatever crazy plan Adam and Cinder had hatched. As huntresses, they were still needed to help protect those people who were in harm's way.
But…she would be useless. She had already proven that she couldn't protect her own partner from harm. How was she supposed to go out and save the citizens of Vale? And, she could no longer even feel her own aura; she would be completely hopeless in a fight.
They decided that Weiss and Ruby needed to go meet with Professor Ozpin. They wanted to give him all of the information they had gathered from yesterday so that they could create a strategy for what to do next. While they did this, Yang would stay with Blake, making sure that someone would be here if…when…the girl woke up.
Over the next few days, Weiss and Ruby came back many times when they weren't running around gathering information for Professor Ozpin. They brought all kinds of things with them each time. Pictures for the walls, vases with beautiful flowers in them, Blake's normal pajamas…Weiss even brought in a stack of books from the library in their house (Yang hadn't even known they had a library). Apparently, these were some of the books Blake had picked out that she wanted to read and ones that Weiss knew were her personal favorites.
And, last but not least, a new bed was delivered, as Weiss had promised. Yang had picked Blake up and held her partner in her arms as the hospital attendants removed the hospital bed from the room and began setting up the new one.
Holding Blake close to her chest, Yang realized just how fragile her partner felt. She didn't want to set her back down on the bed, wanting to hold her and keep her safe forever.
Once everything had been set up, the hospital room looked very much like a regular bedroom, save for the beeping machines placed near the bed.
Weiss had nodded in satisfaction as Ruby sat down on one side of the bed and picked up one of Blake's hands.
"How are things going with…you know…" Yang finally dared to ask. The attacks in Vale had only increased in severity after they had rescued Ruby, but Adam and Cinder had yet to show their faces. Yang knew that her teammates had been running around looking for any information that might lead them to the evil duo, while also fighting around the clock.
Weiss shook her head.
"We haven't been able to find any sign of them. It's like they've completely disappeared."
Yang narrowed her eyes. Somehow, she had thought as much.
"But Ruby was right, we're the targets now…they're trying to turn us against each other…until there are only hunters and huntresses left who are under their control. Then, no one will be able to stop them from taking over the city."
Yang shivered at the thought of having that drug injected into her again. Of having to turn against everyone she loved.
It had been like having ice injected directly into her veins. She felt cold everywhere. And then…that cold had wrapped itself around her brain, attempting to rip control from her grasp. She had felt the desire…so strongly within her…to follow whatever words Adam uttered, no matter how crazy.
It was like being under a spell.
They had thrown out several possible explanations for why the drug hadn't worked on her, but only one really seemed to make sense.
Her aura had saved her. Her blood simply ran so hot that it burned up the drug as it ran through her veins.
She still felt like hurling whenever she thought about how close Adam's face had been to her own. And the feeling of his crunchy, way-too-much hair product spikes on her palms. Looking back, she wished that she had wiped that arrogant smirk off of his face with a few good blasts from Ember Cecilia. Then he would never have been able to hurt Blake the way he had.
But she couldn't go back and redo her decision. She would have to live with the choices she had made and make better ones in the future. She was positive that she would not let Adam get away with his life the next time she laid eyes on him.
"Did you want to come home for a few days, Yang?" Weiss asked cautiously. "Ruby or I could…"
"No," Yang cut the girl off with a shake of her head. "She's my partner…I'm staying here with her."
Yang could tell that Weiss wanted to say something else, but the heiress simply sighed and nodded her head in resignation.
Weiss and Ruby eventually left, leaving Yang and Blake alone once more.
Plopping herself down on the edge of the new bed, Yang lightly brushed a single strand of hair behind Blake's ear before leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to the girl's forehead.
"So, what did you want to do today, Blakey? Some more reading, maybe?"
"Tomorrow, I'll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day…" Yang let her voice trail off as she closed the book in her hands and quickly rubbed the back of her hand across her watery eyes.
"Jeez, Blake. How do you read such sad books? That ending was really depressing."
Not getting a response, as usual, she sighed as she placed the book on the stack next to her and picked up Blake's hand once more. Nothing had changed in the past week; Blake's condition was still officially listed as serious, but stable. The doctors and nurses had been trying to hint, ever so slightly, that it could be this way for a very, very long time, if not forever. But Yang refused to listen to them.
Deep down, Yang knew that she wouldn't be able to stay here forever though. Eventually, she would have to leave Blake's side. Eventually, she would have to return to…real life.
Her sister needed her. Weiss needed her. The two of them would be getting married, at some point. They would be moving forward with their lives.
And Yang knew that Blake wouldn't want her to let life pass her by. Blake would want her to keep living…to live for her, as well.
She scanned the spines of the pile of books sitting on the table next to her before finally pulling one out, running her fingers fondly over the familiar cover.
"This is one of the first books I ever saw you reading, Blake," she commented lightly as she turned to the first page. "Let's see what it's all about, shall we?"
Yes, one day she would have to leave this room. But…today was not that day.
"I became a ninja for the reason any young girl might decide to pursue such a hazardous lifestyle…love."