Okay... who knew having multiple friends all with free gaffs and a lot of booze is a bad thing for productivity.
Chapter 4:
Walking up to the grave marker, the blonde woman smiled as she placed the bouquet of flowers down. Crouching down the blonde lowered her hand and lightly rubbed the ground.
"Velvet was worried about not bringing you some flowers last night. So I thought it would be best to bring you some before she got up." Yang began as she took a look around the cemetery. Just seeing the few elderly women walking around caused her to just smile. "I just know that you would love this place." She continued as she took a deep breath looking down at the engraved stone.
"She is taking it really bad Ruby. We all are trying to help her, but she keeps trying to push us back." Yang continued as she begun to get into a sitting position. Loathing the wet ground but she already could tell that she was going to be here a while. It wasn't that it was a bad thing, it is just with what the group had planned to do to hopefully help Velvet out meant that she couldn't stay as long as she would have liked. Even though she would love to stay until the last possible minute, but that would make it so much harder to leave.
"I know you would give me a lecture on coping, but I don't think she has entered denial yet. I'm trying though to get her mind out of this self defeating spiral." Yang spoke in a soft tone just knowing that she would have called what her sister would do in this situation spot on. "So, we are all trying to get a surprise ready for her, for tonight. Something I think we all would be happy with. It is also why I can't stay longer." Yang continued softly as she patted the ground. A small smile on her face, as she could just see the morning sun starting to peek out. It just gave her the confidence that it was going to be a good day.
"I love you Rubes. Until next time." Yang said standing up to her full height. Walking carefully towards the gates, Yang shoved her hands into her pockets. She already knew that Weiss and to a lesser extent Pyrrha would be peeved with how she was late. She just hoped that they would understand it won't be the easiest thing for her to enter.
As she begun to walk towards the house, she took a deep breath as she tried to steel herself. This was going to be tough on her. She hasn't stepped foot into Ruby and Velvet's apartment since before the night that Velvet had all but become inconsolable. She would just have to push through everything if it would give Velvet a chance to come out of the spiral. They had been at their wit's end about it. They were just short having Velvet committed to any of the psychiatric facility that owed Ruby so much that they would gladly try and help Velvet out.
Taking a deep breath, Yang begun to cross the road. Looking over in the direction of her place, she could have sworn she could see Velvet walking down the road. Figuring that it was her mind playing tricks on her given the time of the morning is far too early for Velvet to even leave the bed. It would still be around the time of Velvet talking to herself.
It had long gone past the point where Yang had thought it was just Velvet trying to make heads or tails of the situation. It had gotten to the point that she was starting to think it was a ritual she didn't know about between Velvet and Ruby that she just couldn't break. It had already become the entire group's consensus that it was just escalating the downward spiral.
Walking down the dark alleyway, Yang just began to wonder a little at how Ruby could walk down such a dreary area every time she would walk back from her house. She could see some people clearly trying to stay hidden and warm by bunching themselves up in the small crevasses of the walls. She knew that was probably a large factor given Ruby's penchant for helping. She could even see the distinctive hoodie that she knew most likely was one of Ruby's spares.
Smiling a little as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Pulling her phone out to see who was calling her. "Weiss, I'm on my way. I needed to make a few stops. I'm like half a block from her place." Yang said, slightly exhausted at the white haired woman. She knew that she was just wanting to keep everything on some schedule that she wouldn't reveal to anyone else.
"Are you sure she'll be fine for the entire day?" Weiss asked as Yang just shook her head.
"I left a note saying I was just going to do some quick errands. She will probably go to Ruby's grave to talk to her. She'll be fine until about six. I told you this all before." Yang said softly as she begun to swivel her head down the road as if she was trying to navigate the imaginary traffic. Quickly walking across the road as she heard some soft talking coming from the other end of the phone.
"I'm just worried Yang. About both her and you." Weiss said as Yang just begun to shake her head. Feeling exhausted as though she had already explained this to the group on multiple occasions.
"I'm going to be fine Weiss. Velvet hopefully won't do anything that brash. She still thinks I may be back at any minute if I'm not there. Now can I go? Because I can see the front stairs right now." Yang said, not even waiting for a response to come from the woman as she hung the phone up and began to just climb the stairs.
Laughing as she began to punch in the door code that she was surprised Ruby hadn't changed since she moved out. Opening the door, she begun to walk up the stairs, a small smile as she heard some of the profanities coming from just under the normally well held woman's breath. Turning around the pillar, Yang fished the spare key out of her pocket, actually enjoying the look on her friend's faces.
Opening the door, breaking the small seal on the side of the door, they all quickly covered their noses from the smell of the oxidised blood. "First thing's first. Open all the windows. I'll open them in the guest bedroom. Some one, make sure there is hot water, and a lot of cleaning chemicals." Yang said stepping in pulling her key out of the lock, and just trying to resist the urge to vomit.
"Why didn't the cops or someone on their payroll clean this?" Blake asked with her nose pinched so tightly, everyone was positive that they could see small amounts of blood slipping past.
"Apparently they don't handle that unless it is in the public space, or you pay them." Yang said as she walked down the hallway, seeing all the pictures of her sister, her, Velvet and their friends just hung up with care. As though Ruby was trying to keep a time capsule of all the time they spent with each other.
Stopping at the door of what once was her room, and was the last thing Ruby would have seen. The walls that she remembered she kept an almost beige, with just yellow along the trim of everything. Something that even the thought now of being the final sight of anyone was enough to make Yang feel a little depressed.
Opening the door with a solid push, Yang was shocked to see the blood having stained into the small carpet that Weiss had given her. She remembered that Ruby had told her it was worth something like twice her normal yearly take home.
Walking over towards the small windows, she could just see the red staining the bed linen. The once bright colours that always at least made the day a little more enjoyable to Yang just stained a dark red. As the air begun to flood in, Yang turned around and just took in the sight of the room.
That was when it clicked to her. The pictures weren't really the time capsule. From the sight of the room, she kept as much as she could from what Yang had it with all the things she had been given. From patients, to friends, to even the small trinkets that Ruby had been able to save from before their parents kicked her out.
"Do you ever wonder why she did it in there?" Reese asked softly as Yang walked out of the room. She knew that the expression was clear, but if she was being honest there was a nice bit of relief from not only the near noxious smell being so much more bearable by comparison, but also from how everything wasn't seeming as bad to her.
"It was out of the way. You would need to go for the room to see it." Yang began as she took a seat on the couch. Already wondering what her sister's last minutes were like. "How is the cleaning situation looking?" Yang asked as she could see Weiss walking out with a slightly quizzical look on her face. Like she wasn't sure what she was really meant to look for.
"We should have everything to take care of the large stuff. Just need to get some extra thick bags if we need to throw anything away." Pyrrha said walking out from the kitchen as well, just behind Weiss.
"Let's not throw away anything from that room if we can help it." Yang said, clearly sparking the group's curiosity from that simple statement. Something that alone was strange to Yang. "Just look in the room. Clearly the pictures weren't really what we thought." Yang continued as she looked towards the wall directly in front of her.
"We can look later. We should really clean as much as we can. There is a trail of bloody foot prints, and this is going to take a while to actually clean. Even longer to where it won't just feel like someone is stabbing my nose." Blake said as Yang actually couldn't help but feel like she was in agreement.
The first real down time Yang had was in that sitting down, and she wasn't liking it at that moment. She knew that making this place at least liveable for Velvet was a decent goal, but she wasn't sure if she was comfortable with actually meeting that goal. Once that would happen, she'd have no chance but to actually feel the weight of all that had happened. And she didn't want to feel that just yet.
"Let's start from the front. I... I just really don't want to see that sight right now." Weiss said softly as Yang just nodded in agreement. Just the sight of where the blood once was, was troubling to her. She didn't want to think what would Velvet have seen with the blood in a much fresher state with a body on the bed and all.
Unzipping her coat as she stood up, Yang quickly walked towards the coat rack and hung her coat up on it. "Let's start going then. We don't stop scrubbing and airing until it is either four, or Blake says she can't smell what I'm positive at this point is rot." Yang said as she begun to roll the sleeves of her yellow and brown flannel shirt up as she walked with Pyrrha into the kitchen.
'One hurdle at a time Yang. That is what Ruby taught you for dealing with things. I'm sure once Velvet is back here she'll be able to get over that first one, and from there she'll be able to get to the rest.'
Author's Note:
Welp, this took a while. Mostly because I'm finding it hard to start these chapters. Like three or four stabs minimum each. But I'm happy with how this is turning out. Onto the Guest Reviews...
Guest 4: I suggest some delicious food to help you get back into the right headspace. Note when I say delicious does not mean unhealthy. Glad you like the chapter regardless, as for the Mob... I'm pretty sure I sent you the morse code for it.