A/N: Hey all!
So, I'd like to clear a few things up with you all, just to avoid confusion.
Right now, I'm going through one of the hardest decisions of my entire life. College isn't what I thought it would be, but I really want to at least get my certifications before I leave. The decision I face is whether or not I want to stay past that.
I'm outright failing Trigonometry, and I just can't bring myself to care about my English class anymore. I just feel like I'm being fed the same stuff from High School all over again, and I really don't find it worth my time or money. I think that once I finish with my certifications, I'll probably just withdraw and start working somewhere.
Part of this is because I've lost myself over the last few months. Between my sister getting married this summer, my grades dropping, and the pressure of having to focus on life and college at the same time, it's just all getting to me in a way I never expected. At first, college was nice, a break from the norm and something I was genuinely interested in. Now, I just can't push past having to deal with the same core classes for the 9th time in a row.
I just needed to get that off my chest, and I'll be meeting with my advisor about a plan for this. It's obvious that I'm not cut out for this kind of system, and I'd rather be doing something with myself instead of sitting in a room for 2 hours every day learning absolutely nothing. I'll probably still take a few classes here and there, but only classes I'm genuinely interested in taking.
Anyway, enough with the serious stuff.
This chapter is just kinda filler until I figure out how to progress further. It's taken a lot out of me to just write sometimes, but I genuinely still love to do this. Writing is my second favorite way of self-expression, and my favorite is singing.
Enjoy the chapter!
Thorns on a Rose
Chapter 4: A Sister's Troubles
1 hour and 40 minutes after the group separated
Yang was beyond worried.
She had swept up and down the entire school at this point, and not even a sign of her sister was found.
Blake had met up with her at the fountain as promised, albeit 20 minutes early.
"No sign of her?" Blake asked as she approached.
"Nothing. I'm guessing you had similar luck?" Yang responded. Blake simply nodded her head.
Yang hung her head low in disappointment. Blake was quick to notice the blonde's emotions.
"Don't worry, Yang. I'm sure we'll find her soon. She can't have gone too far. After all, it's not like she'd want to give up on her dream just because of something like a simple fight." Blake reassured her partner to the best of her abilities.
"You're right, but I'm still really worried about her. It's getting late, and there are a lot of Grimm around the area this time of year." Yang said, looking out towards the Emerald Forest.
"I just hope she didn't do anything stupid…" the blonde sighed.
Silence fell over the two, a good half hour passing.
"Man, where is she? It's already 10 minutes after the time we agreed on and she's nowhere in sight." Yang commented.
"Well, it's certainly out of character for her to be late, that's for sure." Blake agreed.
"You don't think she left campus, do you?" Yang asked.
"It's possible. After all, we didn't exactly set any boundaries." Blake answered.
The two waited for Weiss for another 20 minutes, until Yang decided it wasn't worth it to wait at the fountain any longer. At this point, Yang had already sent her several texts and called many times. None had a response.
"When she comes back, she'll know to head back to the dorm by now." Yang reasoned, not wanting to think that anything bad had happened to another person that she considered a sister.
Blake nodded in agreement, and together they headed back to the dorm.
When they reached their room, Yang once more pulled out her scroll. Typing in the number, she held the device to her ear and called Weiss one more time.
She felt her heart drop when she was instantly sent to voicemail.
"She's either not in service, or her scroll died." Yang said. She tossed her scroll onto Blake's bed and fell backwards onto the mattress next to where her partner was sitting, bouncing them both a little in the process.
Blake noticed the concerned expression on the blonde's face.
"Yang, I'm absolutely certain that they're fine. Weiss has her weapon, and Ruby's no pushover when it comes to kicking things." Blake tried, but the concern wouldn't leave Yang's features.
"I know they're able to defend themselves, but I'm still worried. Weiss hasn't ever gone silent before, and the last time Ruby ran away like this she almost got herself killed." Yang replied, brows furrowing a bit.
A few minutes passed, and Yang was tired of waiting. Noticing this, Blake put her book down and stood up.
"How about we go for a walk? Might help clear your head a bit," the faunus suggested. Yang nodded slowly, picking herself up from the mattress. The two left the building at a slow walking pace.
They walked in silence for several minutes, before they reached the fountain again. Yang decided to sit down and look up at the stars. Blake soon joined her, taking the spot to Yang's left.
"You know, Ruby and I used to do this all the time when we were kids. Just sitting outside at night, staring at the stars." Yang said, recalling memories from her childhood.
"Of course, there was a whole lot less light pollution out in Patch," the blonde continued.
Blake checked the time on her scroll. The screen displayed 10:32 PM.
Yang, who looked over at the light coming from the screen, began to worry again. "It's already been over an hour…"
Blake knew better than to try to convince Yang that she shouldn't worry. She'd continue to have concerns no matter what Blake did or said, so it was useless to try. Instead, she simply put an arm on the blonde's shoulder.
The two sat in silence for a moment, when Yang finally spoke again.
"You know, I always thought it'd be me that pushed her just a little too far." The blonde commented.
"How did you figure that?" Blake asked, slightly confused.
"I guess I was the only one who really ever pushed her until Weiss came along. Get her out of the comfort zone and try to help her." Yang continued.
Blake nodded in understanding.
"A few years after Summer died, I tried to get her to go to the carnival once." Yang started, memories flowing through her mind. "You can imagine how upset she was with me when there was a massive crowd there." A few seconds of silence passed.
"I managed to get her to ride the carousel after like 20 minutes and an entire box of cookies." Yang chuckled, the image of a small, 10-year-old Ruby holding an entire box of cookies. "I'd never seen her smile so wide before. She looked like a normal little girl, having fun at the carnival with her big sister. After that she wanted to do everything there, and Dad almost ran entirely out of money from all the games she played." Yang had a smile on her face, looking up at the stars with nostalgia.
"Sounds like you had a lot of fun." Blake commented, a small smile appearing.
"It was the most fun we've ever had. The only time I've seen her smile more than that was when Weiss finally agreed to go with her weird team bonding ideas." Yang laughed.
The two were interrupted by the distant howl of a Beowolf in the Emerald Forest.
"We should probably go back inside…" Blake said, noticing the concern on her partner's face.
Yang nodded after a moment of hesitation. The two stood up from the fountain, heading back to the dorm.
They walked into the lobby of the dorm building, a small common area for the students to meet up and hang out. Beacon had no formal Rec center, so each dorm building had its own area for it.
Yang walked over to the plush couch in the corner, plopping down unceremoniously. Blake sat down next to her in a much more controlled fashion.
After a few moments, Yang spoke up.
"You know how I said this reminds me of last time she ran away?" the blonde asked her partner.
Blake nodded, a bit concerned with where Yang was headed with the conversation.
"Last time it was all my fault." Yang said quietly.
"She was 13 when it happened. It was the middle of Spring, and we got into an argument about which was better, chocolate or peanut butter." Yang recalled in detail.
"Eventually it devolved into a more personal argument." Yang took a moment to recall.
"I started it, I think. I told her she was weird because she liked eating peanut butter alone at recess. She got upset that I basically called my own sister a loner." Yang scoffed lightly at the thought.
"She took it personally when I said that I didn't see her ever hanging out with any friends. I told her she just needed to get out of her shell and smile more at people, but she got mad at me. Kinda like how she got mad at Weiss for just wanting to help. Ruby was always like that after Summer died. Never wanted help from anyone but gave it to everyone she could."
"Anyway, we started yelling at each other. Got kinda nasty. After about a minute she crossed a line that nobody ever should."
Yang took a few moments to collect her thoughts. The sudden silence confused Blake.
"What did she do?" the Faunus asked.
"She called me a whore."
Blake was immediately shocked.
"We're still talking about Ruby, right?" the cat-girl asked confused, unable to picture Ruby screaming at Yang for any reason.
Yang simply nodded.
"That one caught me off guard too. She crossed a line then, and I let her know immediately. I still regret ever reacting that way, but I called her a burden on everyone. I told her all she was doing was taking up space. That she shouldn't be there. I still haven't forgiven myself for that." Yang said sadly.
Blake took in the information, eyes widened. She couldn't see Yang saying that to anybody, much less Ruby, any more than she could see Weiss suddenly deciding to join the circus as a naked contortionist.
"Yeah. I basically did the same thing Weiss did. Smacked my hand over my face and tried to take it back, but the damage was done. She used her semblance at full power and nearly blew all the windows out. Took us 3 hours to find her, and when we did she wasn't looking good." Yang paused.
"We found her in a fight with 3 Beowolves. Her left arm was shredded, three long cuts from the claws from her shoulder to her elbow. I'm still not even sure how she survived that long without a weapon. Me, being me, charged in without hesitation to protect her. The Beowolves didn't seem to want to bother with us, though, and they just ran. I'd like to think I scared them off, because I was really mad." Yang continued.
Indeed, a furious Yang Xiao Long is one of the most frightening things one can witness.
"Anyway, after that Ruby and I made up. We forgave each other and realized we had said some pretty stupid things. She and I haven't had an argument like that ever since." Yang finished.
Blake sat there, speechless.
"Yeah. I know it seems wrong considering how we are now, but back then she was, for lack of better term, volatile. She'd explode at the smallest of things. She wasn't happy, and she wasn't stable." Yang said.
Blake opened her mouth to reply. Just as she drew a breath, the doors to the lobby opened.
Ruby and Weiss had returned.
A/N: Hope you liked it! This was actually just a bit longer than my usual chapters, surprisingly. I hope the little backstory bit wasn't too out of character for them, but I thought it would do well in the story I'm trying to tell.
Well, I'll see you all next chapter!