Piece of Mine

by YouWouldntUnderstand

Team RWBY never formed. Blake and Yang have lived their separate lives and never met. They are stable as they are, but when their fates are mysteriously intertwined, Blake and Yang are forced to interact and rebuild their new, fractured existences around each other. It's a disturbing predicament, but nobody ever said switching bodies would be easy.

6. Chapter 6: The Switchuation

Chapter 6: The Switchuation

Yang's cast had come off. Yang's cast had come off. It was worth repeating, and perhaps even shouting from the highest rooftops, but Yang's cast had finally been removed and her sling had been thrown who knows where and now she was free. She felt like a new woman. Well, technically, she felt like the same woman who now had this weird, infrequent problem of switching bodies with another woman—but her arm was back! Ahh!

As one would expect, Yang's freedom meant dinner with the boy. She and Sun were celebrating—making up for all the time Taiyang had so torturously kept them apart—not only because Yang finally had the chance to scratch her desiccated arm but also because she got paid for the stupid mission that had put her in that cast in the first place. Moreover—and this was the really exciting part—the payment from that mission, plus the compensation she received from her hunter's insurance, finally put her over the amount she needed to start renting her own apartment. Absolute freedom! And the boy!

"Yang, that's great!" Sun had said. "Babe, that means you're gonna be your own person and do your own things without having to get your dad's permission."

"And I'll be able to see you more often!" Yang had added.

"That, too!"

Markkanen's was a nice, little, loud sports bar in the middle of downtown Vale. It didn't have a club atmosphere, actually being a semi-respectable restaurant with its friendly wait staff and tiered levels of booths, thus making it a little intimate. But it also didn't have that uppity feel of some of the other restaurants in this area, being that there were holoscreens everywhere playing all sorts of sports and sports commentary, thus making it completely fun. Yang and Sun were in a booth on the second level, eyes on each other, their drinks, and the current basketball game between the Southside Monarchs and the Schneestadt Jaegers. The entire bar seemed to be fans of the Monarchs, which made for some great, occasional eruptions that got the spirits going. Meanwhile, Yang and Sun found themselves caught between playing footsies and cheering for the block party one of the Monarchs was currently having.

"Have you got a place picked out yet?" Sun asked, grabbing one of the chips in their chip basket and dipping it in the salsa in their salsa bowl. "I mean, you could always save that money and move in with me."

"Not so fast, monkey boy." Yang took the uneaten chip from his hand and crunched into it, winking at Sun's glare. "I like you. And I like Neptune. And as much as I like the thought of waking up in your arms every morning, I don't plan on doing that while you're being Neptune's little spoon."

"I'm not sleeping with Neptune!" Sun objected, perhaps a bit too loudly, eyes wide. He and Yang looked around, one in horror and the other in glee, seeing how a few other booths turned away from them in embarrassment. Sun then said, much quieter, "I'm not gay. Neptune's seeing a few girls right now and he's still trying to decide which one he likes."

"Uh-huh… Still trying to decide…"

"Well, testing the waters, if you know what I mean—"

"It gets cold in the winter, you know."

"—except the water is commitment."

"And sometimes when you find yourself without a blanket or fire, you might have to snuggle up with your bros."

Sun smiled at Yang's ongoing monologue. "I'm never living that one down, am I?"

"Especially when backup won't arrive until the morning," she added, smirking into her margarita. "Babe, I don't even know why you two chose a multi-day mission to be your first experience in Atlas."

Sun sighed dramatically, placing his face on the table, between the chips and salsa. "I regret telling you that story," he said, kind of laughing. "It was really cold, we were really tired, and I was really stupid because I didn't bring my own sleeping bag. I thought Atlas would be a bunch of skiing and hot springs."

"How were his arms?"

Sun lifted his head from the protection of his own arms, looking at Yang with faux-tiredness. "What do you expect me to say, Yang?"

"Your true, inner feelings."

"My true, inner feelings say that we didn't hold each other. But what you want to hear is that his arms were tight and snug and made me feel loved. Happy?"

"Pleased as punch." She had more margarita, then more chips and salsa, then more chips and salsa, and then she smiled widely. Sun was a good sport about this—he knew Yang was just ribbing him. His relationship with Neptune was completely bromantic, but it was also never anything more than platonic, much to Yang's joking disappointment. Teasing Sun still brought her great amusement, though, and Sun seemed game for it, too. However, the ego could only take so much, therefore Yang relented for the time being. "But as for your question," she said. "I do have a place picked out. It's actually sort of near where we are now—just, like, twenty or so blocks away."

"Yeah. That's very near."

"Excuse you," Yang retorted, slightly defensive but mostly still teasing. "Compared to Patch, that is very near. Plus, it's a really cool bachelorette pad with a really cool view and a really short drive away from where you and your goggles daddy live."

"He doesn't wear goggles anymore!" Sun objected again, causing everyone around him to be even more embarrassed for him, somehow—honestly, Yang didn't realize a person could be more embarrassed for him, but here they were.

She sipped at her margarita again. "You're right—also a little defensive of him, but you're right. He doesn't wear goggles anymore, but he did steal my aviators look."

"He says they're an homage."

"Uh-huh." Yang rolled her eyes. "And that's how he gets all the girls—'cause that's how I get all the girls." Not that she'd ever been with any girls, but it was a safe assumption that she was more of a ladies' man than Neptune would ever be.

Sun shook his head back at her for a moment before pausing, smirking, and leaning forward with a charming, smoldering, boy smile. "Baby, I'm all the girls you'll ever need."

Yang nearly choked on her drink. Covering her mouth, she sat back in her seat and exclaimed, "Lol!" thereby earning yet more embarrassment from the patrons around them. Fortunately, all the embarrassment was then washed away as that Monarchs player blocked yet another shot before running the length of the court and posterizing the guy who had made the shot in the first place. The bar was loud and rowdy, and this gave Yang the opportunity to fight back against her amusement. It was a losing fight, of course, but she still tried to mirror Sun's expression, leaning back across the table, giving him an a-little-more-amused-than-smoldering look back and battling through giggles to say, "Baby, you're, like, the best futa ever."

There was a look of confused amusement in Sun's expression that quickly boiled into troubled breathing, then a red face, and finally loud, outright laughter. The patrons were still so perturbed by the noise the young couple was making, but neither really cared. Sun tried to say something—something mostly inaudible through his wheezed noises—but it sounded like, "Yeah, it's these man-boobs! You just can't get enough of them!"

Yang laughed with him, having been caught up in his infectious happiness. "You're like," she managed, "the most flat-chested futa ever."

Upon saying this, Sun stifled a snort from among his guffaws and began flexing his sexy pecs, making his semi-buttoned shirt bounce. Yang just about died. The embarrassment of the patrons around them turned to concern as it was Yang's turn to put her face against the table and repeatedly hit it with the bottom of her fist. She could barely get a laugh out—it must have sounded like she was crying, and she didn't care at all. She probably was crying anyway.

Amid their crying and laughing and boob-bouncing—because Yang tried to mirror Sun's actions with her own pectorals and succeeded more than she had anticipated—a friendly but completely awkward waiter came by with their burgers. Sun and Yang had to quiet down their laughter and make room on the table, but, as soon as he was gone, they began giggling again, much quieter and more relaxed this time.

Yang wiped a tear from her eye and sighed contentedly. "Oh, Sun," she said. "I am definitely taking that apartment. I'm gonna enjoy doing this more often with you."

"You mean eating out?"

Yang shook her head. "Making boob jokes. And yeah, eating out." She waggled her eyebrows.

"You're insatiable," Sun said. "What'd I do to deserve a girl like you?"

"Well, you're cute, funny, kind, and you've got a rockin' bod. And you've been a really good friend to me and Ruby in the past, soooo I'm glad to spend time with you like this."

He extended his hand across the table and beside their burgers, and she put her hand in his, and they continued making faces at each other like the sappy dorks they were. Sun really was a great help and a really great guy. To think they had been only happenstance acquaintances way back during the Vytal Festival, and now here they were: on a date, celebrating Yang's impending independence and probably going to have sex on the way back to Patch. They could probably find a quiet spot on the ferry since it was so late…

In either case, Yang looked into those stormy, blue-grey eyes and, dotingly, said, "Excuse me. I was reaching for the ketchup. Could you move?"

"You grabbed my hand."

"And you grabbed my heart. Now get out of the way. My fries demand tomatoes."

The bar continued cheering for the Southside Monarchs as they kept beating down the Jaegers. It was a good place and a good night with really great company and a really great future ahead. Despite the weirdness of the body-switching problem and the fact that Yang and Blake hadn't had an episode in a little over a week now, things were looking up for Yang. Her cast was finally off, she was out on the town again, and she was with the boy. She felt free again, like her life was getting back on the right track. There were a few things she needed to take care of before she actually moved out—namely, letting her dad and Ruby know about the idea in the first place—but, for now, she could be contented with getting buzzed and making goo-goo eyes at her boyfriend.

---

Blake sailed through the air and landed on the mat, rolling over her shoulder and immediately springing back to her feet. She let out a brief puff of air, flicking a few strands of hair out of her face, and then paused to stretch her muscles. Behind her, the obstacle course's finish gates closed shut.

The quiet click seemed to echo a little in the empty gym, and Blake's cat ears flickered backwards, but she put one foot in front of the other, some distance apart, and reached down with both of her hands to hold her ankle. She held there for a moment, breathing evenly, and then repeated the movement with the other foot in front.

It was late in the evening, and Blake was alone in here—all by herself with Beacon's high-tech obstacle course and every other possibly imaginable piece of equipment for working out. The students' curfew was an hour ago, so none of them would bother her, and as far as Blake could tell, the other teachers didn't care to visit the gym at this time. She seemed to be the only person who didn't like being watched while she trained.

Staying in shape was one of her requirements as a teacher at a combat academy. There were a certain number of hours per week she had to put into keeping sharp—and she had to use the obstacle course, specifically, to this end because it could materialize hologrimm. Whether or not she decided to work out beyond these requirements and on different machines was up to Blake—and she did, since the expectations set for Beacon's teachers were fairly minimal and did not demand any rigorous difficulty or pacing, meaning professors like Peter Port could still get out of shape if they didn't exert themselves enough.

Tonight, Blake had only gone through the obstacle course once, without any hologrimm to fight and the bear minimum of obstacles in her way. She was just warming up. The Faunus stood normally and then rolled her shoulders a few times before bringing her left foot up behind her and holding it there with her right hand, keeping her back straight.

She was trying very hard to focus on what she was doing—to just find her calm spot and think of nothing as she stretched and moved—but, inevitably, her mind drifted and returned to that meeting on Saturday. Returned to Yang.

Yang, with her casted arm somehow matching a ridiculously revealing outfit that also seemed so casual and comfortable; Yang, with her open curiosity and friendly lilac gaze; Yang, with her sunny smile that seemed to light up the sky; Yang, with every awkward and embarrassed reaction yet still able to radiate charm at every turn, still inspiring confidence amid an otherwise regrettable situation.

She was both everything and nothing like what Blake had seen in the mirror. It left her at an utter loss. Why in the world was Blake switching bodies with this woman? For all intents and purposes, they were nothing alike. There was nothing in their lives apart from Beacon and their careers as huntresses that linked them to each other. They had never met before, they weren't remotely related, they weren't even of the same race, and their personalities—semblances, auras!—were practically polar opposites. They should have been repelling each other, not drawing each other in like this twisted, nonsensical mosquito lamp that was body-switching.

There was one strange coincidence about this whole ordeal, however—one that made Blake suspicious and hesitant. Yang's semblance, while completely different from Blake's, was entirely similar to Adam's. The means were not the same—Adam used his sword to charge his semblance while Yang made no mention of needing an intermediary to accomplish this—but the parallel was disturbing. Adam had been Blake's partner, Blake's closest friend for years. They had trained together and their fighting styles were complementary. He was a heavy hitter, just like Yang, and Blake was a precision striker.

The only argument Blake had to counter the unsettling possibility made by this coincidence—the thought of auras reincarnating or merging with someone after death, something Blake had completely failed to consider during her research—was one of the things Yang had said. Yang had moved on from being exclusively destructive with the damage she absorbed and released. Yang had grown and learned and was now a more effective combatant, using her semblance to keep herself fighting longer instead of giving devastating yet self-defeating blows.

Yang was not Adam. In fact, she was not even like him. The similarity with their semblances still remained, but unless Yang had been lying—which Blake did not think was the case—she and Adam were two very different people. Adam had not come back in the flesh to execute revenge for what Blake had done to him.

Blake stopped her stretching, a deep frown on her face as she made her way back to the start of the obstacle course, footsteps soundless on the padded floor. She stopped again in front of the sleek white control panel at the entrance of the course, swiped her finger upwards above it, and activated a bluish holoscreen in midair.

The situation unnerved her to no end. It hadn't been a constant thing on her mind for the past few days—she had classes to teach and other things to do, after all, and she and Yang hadn't switched for over a week now, so maybe it wouldn't even happen again—but when Blake's mind wasn't otherwise occupied, all she could think about was this stress that lingered due to the lack of answers.

What had caused it? Why wasn't it happening again? Why them? Were there others dealing with this? How was it even possible? What had caused it?

Because the cause wasn't Blake. And the cause wasn't Yang. And the cause certainly wasn't Adam. Neither girls had the ability to make this a reality, and Adam was dead. And neither girls seemed to have anyone else in mind who would want to make this happen to them.

Blake sighed, frustrated, and scrolled down the list of possible holographic opponents, adding Grimm to the course. She then chose an uneven terrain with lots of drops and jumps and turned the holoscreen's dial on the right, upping the difficulty to medium. Next, she placed her palm on the control panel and it lit up around her fingers with a dark violet light for about two seconds. The holoscreen beeped, and a blinking symbol in the corner indicated that the course had synced with her aura, ready to monitor it.

Blake set a timer, and then pressed start.

---

Yang had found her sea legs tonight. After two margaritas, two beers, and two risky, public orgasms, Yang's legs had been a bit wonky for a while, but now she walked just fine. As expected, the ferry was mostly empty, aside from the crew and a few straggling passengers, so Yang and the boy had found a nice, quiet, waterfront spot to get their lovin' on. Now, however, she stood before the lantern-lit entrance of her cabin home, waving goodbye to the taillights of Sun's beater as they disappeared down the dirt road. She was by herself now—by herself with the sounds of crickets and the rustling forest and the wind that breezed through her golden locks—and she sighed in contentment. She could definitely go inside and sleep like her body wanted, but Yang wanted to spend just a little while longer like this—alone.

She liked Sun. And Ruby. And Taiyang. And JNPR. And, heck, she even sort of liked Blake in a passing thought. But Yang also liked this moment of uninterrupted peace. She wasn't putting on a mask for anyone, wasn't keeping her energy high, and she also wasn't switching bodies. It was just Yang, her cast-less arm, and whatever she wanted to do next, and that was good. She liked that, too.

In her buzzed, tipsy, not completely drunk state—but also in her sort of drunk state that made her feel slightly more confident and happy—Yang thought it would be a good idea to face the music. After all, in the past week, she had gotten her cast off, had sex on a ferry, and spoke face-to-face with the girl who was switching bodies with her, so going inside and talking to her father, who likely sat in the living room, nervously awaiting Yang's safe return, about her plans to move out seemed like nothing in comparison. Telling him about the apartment would definitely suck, but it had to be done sooner or later. So, Yang decided, why not do it under the influence of crushed ice and tequila?

She giggled slightly as she turned herself around. For some reason, she cleared her throat, facing the door she never intended to speak to in the first place. This made her giggle a little more. Tequila turned her into a giant baby sometimes, causing her to revert back to her most primal roots of laughing at stupid things like her toes or the air. She reached out for the door knob but stopped herself with yet another giggle. With her right hand—with her newly freed hand—Yang opened the door, resisting the urge to exclaim, "Honey, I'm home!"

Instead, she mumbled, "I'm home, dad." She then closed the door and started slowly trying to get her sneakers off, something about the laces making her grin. They were so wriggly.

"Hey, Yang. I'm glad you're all right." Taiyang came walking out of the living room. The kitchen light was on, and he casually sat on one of the stools at the island counter, watching with a growing frown as Yang fiddled with the laces until she got one sneaker off at a time. "Are you drunk?"

"No. Are you?"

"What? No. Are you sure you're not drunk?"

Yang snickered. "Are you sure you aren't?"

"Yang!"

The blonde slowly straightened her posture and gave her dad a reassuring smile. "Just tipsy. I know what's going on, no worries."

Taiyang stared at her, but then he relaxed his frown and sighed. "You were being careful, right?"

Yang bobbed her head, trying to be sage. "Condom in the water!"

Cobalt eyes narrowed suddenly. "What does that even mean? Yang, where did—"

She motioned for her dad to calm down with a wave of her hand. "'S okay, 's okay. We were safe. I promise." She grinned and made her way over to the sink, turning on the tap and grabbing some soap to wash her hands.

Taiyang rubbed his face. "All right, I believe you. This is your home, too, and I don't want you to feel like you can't just walk in here whenever or for whatever reason. I just don't want you dealing with an unplanned baby."

The comment, albeit honest and coming from a place of care, hit a sore spot for Yang. She felt the alcohol-induced happiness start to vanish as aura assisted her liver and certain memories came to mind. Yang deliberately turned the tap off after making sure her fingers were clean, and then dried them with the nearest hand towel hanging on the oven's handle. She didn't want to show that she was mildly upset about the comment—like how Yang, herself, was an unplanned baby and how her own mother had abandoned her after birth. Yang had never actually been wanted, and this point had been hammered in when Taiyang had failed to take care of her after Summer's death.

Still, she wasn't able to remain completely unfazed due to her lowered inhibitions, and her tone was less jovial when she said, "Speaking of home—I want to move out. I have the money for it now." She rested a hand on the counter.

Taiyang turned in his seat to look at her in surprise—and maybe in mild hurt. They had never seriously spoken about this before—Yang had broached the topic sometime after graduation, that she thought she might eventually find her own place once she saved up enough funds, but it had only been an idea at the time. Nevertheless, Taiyang had not taken the hypothetical lightly. But now they had to talk. And she was an adult, and she would be her own woman.

Eyebrows creased in concern, Taiyang asked, "Why now? Why so suddenly?"

"It's not sudden. I've wanted to have my own place for a while. It's just that I haven't told you about it until now. I've been saving and working hard for the past three years to be able to afford my apartment in Vale, and I know I can pull the trigger with what I've got."

Taiyang looked down. He swallowed, and then seemed to think for a moment. Finally, he said, "Okay. I'll support you, Yang. But I just want to make sure you know you have a place here. You're not leaving because of me, are you?"

Yang wasn't the only one who dealt with insecurity. Her father had experienced loss, too. Unfortunately for him, after having been forced to shoulder both her own pain and his for years—and take care of Ruby's emotional wellbeing and physical needs on top of that—Yang had become a bit numbed to his worry. She firmed her gaze. "No, I'm leaving because I've been ready to be on my own for a very long time." It was tempting to add thanks to you, but she refrained. "I just needed the means. Now I do. I love you, dad. But I need to be my own person."

Taiyang probably caught the insinuation. Yang wasn't being as tactful or smooth as she usually was. His voice was a bit hoarse when he asked, "When do you plan on leaving?"

"I don't know yet. Soon. I have a place in mind, so probably within the next few weeks."

Her dad stared at her. His eyes seemed vaguely bloodshot, as if he felt like crying but was holding himself back from doing so. He eventually rose to his feet and then came around the island counter to stand before Yang. Taiyang had always been a giant in her young eyes, and even now, he stood almost a foot taller than her. She remembered him holding her small form on his broad shoulders, back when Summer was still alive. He should have been Yang's fortress. That was what dads were supposed to be. But he hadn't been there. He hadn't been the safe place she could find refuge in when she was scared and alone.

Taiyang gently put his hand on her cheek. It was warm, and in any other circumstance the gesture might have been reassuring, too. "I'm sorry, Yang," he murmured. "I never meant…"

"I know. But that's in the past." She stepped away from him, if only to keep herself from feeling vulnerable, from letting him make cracks in her armor, and said, "I need you to support me. Can you do that?"

He sighed deeply, his shoulders drooping. "Yes." He then motioned towards the stairs halfheartedly. "Ruby came back from her mission. Maybe you should go speak with her, too." Taiyang started back towards the living room. "I just need some time right now. Thanks for letting me know."

Yang didn't reply. She watched him for a moment, a twinge of hurt and guilt constricting her chest, but she couldn't deal with this now. His pain wasn't her problem. They were long past that point. And so, Yang did her best to block out the stress and remain untouched, and set her mind on a more joyful conversation—the one she would have with Ruby.

With a sigh of her own, trying and failing to bury her frustration, Yang started up the stairs. She found herself gripping the railing a little tighter than usual, not out of inebriated clumsiness—which, unfortunately, had been diminished once her aura had decided to kick in—but out of impatience at her father. This was not how she wanted to see Ruby. Yang had not seen the little goof in about a week now, and going into Ruby's room when she was most likely smelly and tired from her mission for the sole purpose of dumping all these frustrations on her wouldn't be healthy for either sister.

Besides, Yang still had to tell Ruby about Blake and the whole interdimensional, interspiritual confusion that was body-switching. That would be…a thing. And a thing meant more stress. Weh.

Standing atop the stairs, Yang let her shoulders sag. It was dark up here, but there was a glow emanating from the bottom of Ruby's door, the second on the right. Yang could hear tinny rock music playing in Ruby's headphones and an occasional hum that went along with it. She was in a good, normal, the-laws-of-physics-still-kind-of*-work mood, and Yang was about to drop a bomb on her. At the very least, Yang was still a little buzzed. She could work with that.

Yang walked up to Ruby's door and knocked.

No answer came.

Yang knocked a little louder.

There was still the rock music and the humming, but no answer. Sighing, Yang decided to just enter because the only bad thing that could possibly happen would be a loud, startled squeak from Ruby, and that was comparably tolerable to what other siblings might have to deal with. The door opened, and light spilled into the hallway, and as Yang stepped into the light-ish-red room, she saw her little sister—in her pajamas, at her desk, with headphones on, doing something on her laptop, and generally being oblivious to Yang's presence.

As Yang got closer, she noticed that Ruby had already showered. Her hair was still a bit wet at the tips, and she smelled tropical. Her rucksack was lying on the floor next to her bureau and Crescent Rose was in its case, placed neatly before Ruby's mirror. For a moment, Yang thought about taking advantage of Ruby's obliviousness and doing something creepy like sneaking up on her and taking a long, loud sniff of her face from behind, but tonight was not that kind of night.

Instead, Yang sighed and made herself at home. She took off her olive bomber jacket, held it to her chest, and then proceeded to fall face-first onto the bottom bunk of Ruby's bed. Oh, what a relief it was to fall without arm pain.

Upon Yang's hitting the mattress and shaking the room around her, Ruby jumped. Her headphones practically flew off her head, she just about climbed up her chair, and she half-glared, half-stared half-wide-eyed at Yang, who could only half-smirk into her sister's pillow. Even if Ruby wasn't feeling better, Yang was, and the blonde would take that as a victory.

"Yang!" Ruby loudly squeaked, startled. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Hello to you, too," came the rough translation of Yang's "Mm-hmm mm moo, moo."

Yang turned her head a little and saw Ruby climbing down to sit in her seat like a normal person. Apparently, she too was frustrated, though Yang figured this was a pretty new development considering she was no longer humming to the song that was on her floor. Ruby clicked a few things then pressed a few buttons on her laptop and then finally—exasperatedly—turned to Yang. "What?" she asked, having no time for Yang's shenanigans.

Having lain down, Yang felt some of her buzz return to her. Giggling, she outstretched her arm towards Ruby—who didn't know what she was expected to do in return, just staring at the intrusive limb—and began waving really quickly. "Hi!"

Ruby's posture relaxed, her frown disappearing. "You were out with Sun tonight, weren't you?"

Yang nodded. "And you were out on a mission! How'd it go?"

"Well, I, uh," Ruby began, leaning back in her seat, "I didn't make it back alive. So, that sucks. And the monsters got away. And everybody died. And now we have to live under the rule of a great, big Goliath. So, it was kind of an all-around disaster."

"Ooh," cooed Yang, completely a propos of Ruby's story, reaching out and trying to poke a now-dodging Ruby's cheeks. "Holo-Ruby…" When Yang finally got close to poking her sister, leaning a little off the bed to do so, Ruby moved towards her and tried to chomp at the offending digit. She missed, thankfully, which allowed Yang to poke Ruby right on her little nose. "Poke." She smiled, not as drunk as she probably seemed. "I'm glad you're back in one piece."

Ruby tried biting her sister's finger again, but Yang pulled her hand back while Ruby relaxed and found some semblance of her usual pep—it was a tired semblance, but she smiled nevertheless and always had an ear to bend. "Same, TBH," she said. "And it looks like you're back in one piece, too. How'd taking the cast off go?"

Yang waved her itchy arm flippantly. "Doctor had to cut me out. I couldn't hulk out of it like I wanted to, but whatever. At least I'm free."

"You actually thought you could hulk out of your cast?"

"Well, yeah!" Yang defended. "I'm, like, me!"

"Nobody has forearms that big, Yang."

"Sun could do it."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yuh-huh!"

Yang accentuated this rebuttal by blowing a raspberry. Truly it was smoking-gun evidence if ever there were any. But then there was a pause between them, a long, comfortable pause as Ruby went about rolling her eyes, tapping the side of her chair with her fingers, and otherwise swinging her legs beneath her seat. Their dad had bought her that chair when she was seven, and she had never fully grown into it. But Yang never pointed that out. With her other friends, she felt confident bantering with them, but with Ruby, Yang had no such instinct. Well, there would always be some banter—because how could there not?—but Yang's instinct was to only say and do nice things for her tiny baby sister.

Unfortunately, the things Yang had to say tonight weren't exactly nice. They weren't bad, necessarily, but they weren't the easiest things to digest—or understand. Ruby was waiting on Yang to say something, just looking at her expectantly, and Yang thought about just leaving then and there, but she decided that would get no one anywhere. She sighed. "So…Ruby," she said, earning a semi-eager nod. "I have two maybe kinda sorta big things to talk to you about."

Ruby frowned. "Are they serious?"

"Eh, not really. At least, they're nothing bad."

Ruby smiled. "Are they about your arm?"

"Nah. Well…actually, kind of? But, like, they're not?" Yang buried her face in Ruby's pillow, staring into soft, cottony darkness. "Anyways, I don't know which one to start with because they're both kind of…"

"Difficult?"

"Yeah, sure. That's an understatement, but let's go with it." Yang shook her head and tried to force an amused smirk. She was in an okay mood now—much better than she was only minutes ago and probably better than would be once she had time to reflect on her previous conversation with her dad—but neither subject brought Yang any joy, and she still felt a little frustrated. It was just anxiety—that newfound horror. "But yeah," she said. "Difficult subjects. I've got two of 'em, and I don't know which one to pick first, so I'll have you pick. A or B, Ruby?"

"Umm…" Ruby scratched the back of her head, squinting in actual thought. "I'll pick…B."

"B for body switching it is."

"What?"

Yang rolled over and sat up, facing Ruby as she tried—a very, very key word—to explain something that Yang could hardly explain to herself. She got comfortable against the headboard and let out a long sigh. "So, you're probably not going to believe this because it sounds crazy, but…yeah, I've kinda sorta switched bodies with another girl… And it's happened twice since my last mission." There was a pause, and as the silence persisted, Yang moved her gaze from her feet to Ruby.

Ruby was just staring at Yang intently, searching her expression in confusion. "Like…switched bodies? Yang, are you drunk? You sound drunk."

Yeah, Yang's timing hadn't been great for this, honestly. She put a finger up. "Just a bit tipsy, thank you very much. But both times, I wasn't under the influence of any alcohol when it happened." The blonde put in an extra effort to look focused and serious. "I met her, Ruby. In real life. Her name is Blake—she's a cat Faunus and works at Beacon as a new professor. We talked about the whole weirdness of this. We both completely agree that this is nuts—but it's totally happening."

Now Ruby was squinting at Yang, loosely holding on to her chair, the perfect picture of skepticism. "There are words coming out of your mouth, but none of them make sense. What…language are you speaking?"

Yang sat up from her slouch and positioned herself on the edge of her little sister's bed. "I," she said, gesturing exaggeratedly at herself, "went into," her hands moved widely somewhere in front of her, "another girl's," they formed the vague shape of a person, "body. And that same girl," now Yang just pointed at the invisible, imaginary vague shape of the person, "went into my body," her hands returned and patted her upper chest, "at the same time."

It was funny how Ruby still looked absolutely disbelieving—really, it was. "But, like…how? When? That doesn't seem possible…"

Yang lifted her arms up to the heavens—maybe partially thanking said cloudy meadows for even being able to do that in the first place with two arms—and then dropped them again. "Same! Blake and I have those exact questions. We don't know what's going on. I mean, the first time it happened was during my fight with the Petra Gigas. I passed out after I broke my arm and she's the one who got me—well, my body—out of there. She saved my life. And then the second time was pretty much a week ago during the night, randomly. Both times lasted only fifteen minutes or so. We're just as confused as you are."

Ruby was clearly stumped. Her eyebrows were furrowed in a cute frown and she still looked lost. "So…you're telling me that if I go to Beacon, I'd be able to meet Blake and ask her about this, and she would validate everything you just said?"

Yang nodded vigorously. "I swear I'm not pulling your leg. I could call her right now and get her to talk to you."

Ruby shook her head. "Yang, this is crazy. I mean, you seem pretty convinced of all of it. But…well—so…I guess I believe you."

That was…surprisingly quick. And a lot less painful than Yang had anticipated. Maybe Ruby didn't completely believe her—and, hey, Yang wouldn't blame her—but Yang wasn't going to look a gift Ruby in the mouth.

Speaking of said credulous girl, she asked, genuine curiosity shining behind her still-skeptical expression, "What does it feel like?"

"Well, it just feels like I'm me but with a different body I can control. It's totally weird."

Ruby just stared. And then she said again, "Yang, it's so crazy. Just…how?"

"I don't know, Ruby."

"Yeah, but…how?"

"I don't know!" Yang's eyes widened. "Magic or something! It just…is."

There was a moment where nothing happened, and in that moment Yang was scared that she had completely weirded Ruby out. But before she could look over to her sister, she heard a small laugh. Yang looked to Ruby, who, with a completely terrible smile, said, "Yeah, but how?"

Yang's expression cooled. "You want me to come over there?"

She didn't have to say anything more. Ruby's eyes were full of fear. "…No," she squeaked.

Yang exhaled, venting the frustrations that were catching her. She stared up at the wooden slats of Ruby's upper bunk. "So, yeah. Me and a professor at Beacon are magically switching bodies for some reason. And I thought I'd let you know in case it happens while you're around. But don't tell anybody. Please. This is, like, way too weird to let other people know."

"Yeah, okay. No intentions of doing that. But more importantly, how will I know if you are…Blake?"

"Or Blake is me."

"That too."

Yang rubbed the back of her neck. "That's an interesting question. Well, if I suddenly become really awkward or polite or edgy and very serious, then probably ask me if I'm Blake."

Ruby narrowed her eyes. "I take it that means Blake is really awkward or polite or edgy and very serious?"

"All of the above." Yang creased her eyebrows and let herself fall back down, careful to not bump her head against the wall and knock herself into a worse situation than body switching. Because if a broken arm had caused this, she wondered what a concussion would do… "I mean, I think you'll know," she sighed. "I'll probably have a different look in my eyes."

"Yang…it's a little scary when you put it like that."

It's a little scary when we body switch. The blonde waved her hand aimlessly in the air. "No, don't worry. It'll be okay, Ruby."

They both fell silent, both thinking about their conversation and what it entailed. One girl sat at the desk, idly kicking her feet back and forth, chewing on her lip as she evidently tried not to be concerned, while the other girl lay on the bottom bunk, passing an absentminded hand through her hair, trying not to be overly concerned—and failing, honestly. Eventually, though, Ruby asked, "What was A?"

"What do you mean?"

"A."

"Ruby."

"I mean the A or B choice. I chose B. What's A?"

Oh. Right. There was something else Yang wanted to talk about. "Uhhh." Her hand dragged down her face. It did nothing to soothe her unease. Technically, this was supposed to be good news she was about to say. But it stressed her out, especially after the way her dad had reacted. Nevertheless, Yang sat back up and attempted a smile. "I'm gonna move out," she said. "I have the money now, and I think I have a place picked out."

Ruby stared at Yang, blinked, and then she grinned, immediately peppy, silver eyes bright. "Oh, that's cool! Can I come?"

It was Yang's turn to blink. Of all the reactions, this was not the one Yang had anticipated. And that made it so much worse. Dread settled in her gut. Her smile became very difficult to maintain. "I don't know…" she replied, finding herself off-guard.

"It would be just the two of us, Yang!" Ruby sounded elated. "I mean, I get it, Sun might be around kinda often, but he's a lot of fun! We'd be roomies!"

The dread was turning to ice in Yang's stomach. She loved Ruby. She loved Ruby to death. But…but… "Ruby," Yang tried, a little strained and struggling and failing to find anything appeasing or smooth to say. She did not want to make Ruby sad. She did not want to make Ruby feel like she wasn't wanted. She was wanted. Yang wanted Ruby to be in her life forever. But Yang had not planned on taking Ruby with her. The older sibling needed to be on her own now, and Ruby could handle herself.

As if things couldn't get worse, Ruby hopped from her seat and plopped down next to her sister, putting one chummy arm around her shoulders. "I have money, too, if that's what you're worried about. I can chip in."

Yang's mind was pulling a blank. She tried backpedaling, tried to come up with a joke, but she didn't want to lie, either. She didn't want to break Ruby's trust. She had expected some kind of resistance or support, not a wish to come along, and that threw all Yang's drunken expectations to the wayside. Her heartbeat accelerated. All she could see was Ruby's hopeful, jubilating expression, and normally this would have been the best, most adorable thing, but now it was an insurmountable obstacle.

She didn't want to disappoint her. She didn't want to see that light fade. What was she ever supposed to… "Ruby, I'm sorry," she tried. "I just…" It was so hard to say, and the alcohol was no longer helping her. "I just need to move out. By myself."

Yang saw it. From this distance, it was unmistakable. Little by little, as realization dawned on her, the light faded from Ruby's gaze. The change in demeanor was subtle, and Yang could have missed it if she didn't know Ruby well enough, but it was obvious to the blonde that Ruby was disappointed. She dropped her arm from Yang's shoulders, and Yang's heart was torn. First, her father's pain, and now Ruby's. Yang was the cause of it—all of it.

"You want to move out," Ruby said, going over what she heard, "by yourself."

"Ruby, I'm sorry."

"I mean, it's okay. I get it. It was bound to happen eventually." The younger girl swallowed hard and sighed, just a bit raggedly. "But, like…" She shook her head. "Never mind."

Yang pushed herself over to the edge of the bed. She needed to be closer to Ruby. She was already beginning to feel so far away from her. "Ruby," she said, reaching out and trying to find Ruby's hands with her own. She failed in this endeavor, though, as her sister shied and turned away from her attempt. "Ruby, I should have told you earlier. I shouldn't have kept this a secret. I don't know why I did, I…"

"No, it's okay, Yang. Baby bird's gotta fly the nest sometime, right?"

Yang's heart went from racing to sprinting. It didn't care anymore about winners or losers—it was looking to run itself out of Yang's chest. "I didn't want to hurt you," she attempted, finding herself short of breath in this panic. "That's why I didn't tell you."

Ruby slowly looked down at her lap. "Everybody moves on eventually."

Yang may not have been breaking Ruby's heart, but Ruby felt like she was losing her sister. She wasn't, but that's what she knew. It was abandonment or disinterest or, worse yet, betrayal. This would be loss, a lessening of the happy life Ruby had become comfortable with. It was all stemming from selfishness, from Yang's self-preserving instinct to move on and bring no one with her. But that wasn't right. It was hurting Ruby. Yang was hurting Ruby—her sister—her one true constant.

Through her quick heart and fast breaths, Yang watched, as if from suddenly and ethereally afar, the glow of Ruby and her happiness and the room fade. Darkness crept in on Yang's vision, and she felt that pit in her stomach plummet, and she along with it. She was falling, now in complete darkness, and Ruby was gone. Yang was gone, too. Gone and away. In that moment of panic, the Yang Ruby knew slipped elsewhere, and, in that Yang's place came another. The body dipped a little, nodded a little, nearly fell over, and then it jolted upright, revivified with a new persona. The room—wherever it was—was unfocused and blurry, shades of pink and brown and white helping Blake quickly realize that she was no longer in Beacon Academy's gym.

Now in Yang's body, Blake felt her—or not her—heartbeat race, and the pounding of blood in her veins caused Blake to refocus on the present room, quickly taking in everything that was visible and reacquainting herself to the imprecision of human senses. But despite the slightly dimmer vision and the slightly muted hearing and the olfactory senses that made her feel slightly claustrophobic, Blake was able to detect one peculiarity amid this already peculiar situation.

There was a girl, and she wasn't a reflection of Yang.

She was looking at Blake weirdly, like she had just seen a ghost. Blake didn't know the specifics of this body switching yet, and she certainly didn't know how it must have looked from an outside perspective, but she knew it must not have looked graceful. Thinking this and being Blake, the only response she had to this strange, weirdly staring girl was to weirdly stare back.

They were motionless like that for a long time. Blake couldn't tell if this panic was her own or if it came from Yang's body. She figured, though, that this was not worth splitting hairs over, so she decided that she was indeed panicked and that it didn't matter whose panic it was originally because it was completely and totally hers now. There was a girl here—with big, uncertain, and barely tearful silver eyes—and she was looking at Blake like she knew. She was looking at Blake like she knew that Blake knew—and that Blake knew that she knew that Blake knew. Whoever this was, it was a person in Yang's life. Blake's instincts told her to run and deal with this problem another day, but Yang's rules from a week ago told her to not mess any of her relationships up. Whoever this was, they were putting Blake in a predicament, so all the Faunus could reasonably do was sit, wait, and watch as this silver-eyed girl sat, waited, and watched her in kind.

This lasted for probably longer than they were both comfortable with. Finally, though, those silver eyes blinked and narrowed a little, and the girl asked in a—unsurprisingly, surprisingly—childlike voice, suspicious, "Are you Blake?"

Blake, whose mind was already in overdrive trying to figure out who this was and what to do and how to act, was again tempted to make a run for it. With a great deal of effort, she managed to stay in place and form a few logical thoughts. This girl had just said her name. She knew who Blake was. She recognized that Blake may be the one sitting in front of her, despite being in Yang's body. And Yang had said there was only one other person she would tell about this whole body-switching problem—her sister, Ruby. This girl sitting before Blake was the same one from the photographs on Yang's bureau, too.

She didn't look like Yang. But, for all intents and purposes, this was Ruby, Yang's sister, asking Blake if Yang was Blake.

Blake exhaled unsteadily and decided to answer honestly—because, really, at this point there wasn't much else she could do. Not smoothly, anyway. "Yes, that's me."

Ruby creased her eyebrows, her expression becoming even more suspicious, eyes narrowing. "Yang, are you just pulling my leg?"

Uh-oh. Ruby wasn't convinced. Blake scrambled for something that would be sufficient evidence to prove Yang was no longer present. She did this for about five seconds before realizing the cause was lost. Blake let out a long sigh and simply said, "I'm sorry. There's nothing convincing enough that I could say to make you believe I'm Blake now. You'll have to trust that I…just am."

Apparently, though, something about Blake's words made Ruby lean away with a frazzled expression on her face. "Okay, yeah, you're definitely not Yang." There was a pause, and then she inched away from Blake's side, looking a lot more worried now as the truth seemed to actually dawn on her. "Oh… You're not Yang. Oh. New person."

"Um…yes."

"Oh." Ruby hopped to her feet, looking both confused and incredibly awkward. "Um, hi. I'm Ruby. Er, it's nice to meet you? How does this work?" She peered at Blake again like the Faunus was some kind of bizarre circus attraction. "This is really, really weird…"

Blake couldn't agree more. She still wasn't quite over her panic, either. "It's…nice to meet you, too…um, Ruby. Yang told me about you." Blake's eyes drifted around the room, taking in the desk and chair and laptop nearby, and then the top bunk above her head. She hunched her shoulders a little.

Ruby just stood there, and there was another painful silence that stretched on and made Blake want to hide somewhere—anywhere. "Do you…want a glass of water?" Ruby asked.

Blake couldn't determine if she did or not. She felt a bit strange—but, then again, she was in Yang's body. So, feeling strange was probably normal, all things considered. Why had this happened again? One moment she had been working out in Beacon Academy's gym, and the next she was in a room that likely belonged to Ruby. Which suggested a different question. Her gaze suddenly locked with silver. "Ruby, where are we?"

This gave Ruby a puzzled look. With mild bewilderment, meanwhile, Blake realized she hadn't even answered Ruby's own question and had jumped to an entirely different topic. But Ruby was already answering, "Um, my dad's house?"

"No, thank you."

"…What?"

Blake put her face in her hands and sighed deeply again. She knew she wasn't always the most socially adept person, but for some reason she was even more incapable of a sensible conversation right now. Blake dropped her hands—hands that were soft yet calloused, as if often given rough treatment but kept moisturized. They were nice. "I meant the glass of water." She slowly shook her head and asked, "Where's your dad's house located?"

"I mean…we have coffee, too. Or milk."

"What?"

Ruby chuckled. "Sorry, the drinks. If you don't want water."

"Oh." Blake squinted. This was, by far, the strangest and bumpiest conversation she'd ever had—and Blake had had a lot of those, so that was saying something. It was making her conversation with Yang back on Saturday seem smooth, and Blake would have never thought of it as such until now. She had to try and stay on top of things here. "I don't need anything to drink. But, again, thank you."

"Okay." Ruby nodded. There was another short pause. Ruby stared at Blake. Blake focused very intently on her lap. Side note, Yang was wearing decent, non-scandalous jeans this time, much to Blake's relief. Suddenly, Ruby exclaimed, "Oh, right! My dad's house is on Patch. We're on Patch."

Patch. The small island just off the west side of Vale. Blake wasn't all that far from Beacon. That was reassuring. Thinking about Beacon made Blake realize that Yang was now in her body at the academy. This made Blake stand up and start looking for something, although she really didn't know where she would find it. "Ruby, I need to contact Yang. Where's her scroll?"

"Uh…probably in her jacket."

Blake stared at Ruby. They blinked at each other.

"…On the bed?"

"Thanks." Blake immediately turned around and found an olive bomber crumpled against the wall. She grabbed it and started searching the pockets until she found the device she was looking for, vaguely aware of Ruby still observing her from behind. Blake opened the scroll and then paused, taking a moment to remember Yang's password. It was… "Ruby, what's your…" Blake shut up. Maybe Ruby shouldn't know Yang's password. While Blake had no urge to look at the kind of things Yang kept in her scroll, the same may not have applied to Ruby.

"What's my what?"

"…favorite color?" Blake winced as soon as the words came out. She faced Ruby. "Don't answer that. Can you give me a moment? I'm going into Yang's room to contact her. I'll be right back."

Ruby's eyes widened a little, but she nodded and stepped out of the way, hands held behind her back. "I'll be here. Um, dad's downstairs, just so you know."

"Thank you." That was useful information. Blake had no intention of going downstairs, but now she had a valid reason to avoid the action altogether. She left Ruby's room, scroll in hand, walking on socked feet in this body that just felt…heavier and far less graceful. Lumbering. She knew Yang most likely didn't feel like this—Yang would know how to use all of these muscles and height and long limbs—but Blake had never felt like this in her life, and it was the worst. Combined with the imprecise vision and other underdeveloped senses, Blake still felt like she was wearing one those old diving suits.

Right now, she was really hoping Yang had abided at least somewhat by the plan they had formed on Saturday.

The hallway was dark, like last time, but the ambient light from Ruby's room made things easier to see. Blake made her way to the farthest door on her left, the one closest to the staircase, and opened it. She flicked the light switch up and found that this was indeed Yang's room. The blonde had said she would put her password on a piece of paper on her mirror. Blake went over to the wooden bureau in the corner and stopped in front it, staring into the mentioned glass.

She was still a bit startled when her reflection did not show a black-haired, pale-skinned, amber-eyed cat Faunus. No, there was Yang—in all her tanned, disheveled beauty. This was ridiculous. Blake ignored the foreign glaring eyes as best she could and looked at the actual mirror's frame instead. She breathed a sigh of relief. Yang had at least upheld this part of the agreement—the little paper was in the corner, a few numbers scribbled on it.

Blake opened Yang's scroll again and punched in the numbers. The scroll unlocked. She quickly found Yang's contact list and found her own name. There was a cat emoji next to it. With a weary sigh, Blake pressed the call button and brought the scroll to her ear, making a point of turning her back to the mirror. For some reason, staring at Yang made her frustrated.

The call rung five times before Blake heard her own voice say, "You've reached Blake Belladonna. I'm unavailable at the moment. If it's an emergency, please leave your name and number and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks."

Blake hung up, cringing a little at her voice. She stood there for a moment. Why wasn't Yang answering—hadn't they agreed on the procedure they would follow if they switched bodies again? It was really difficult for Blake to tell if Yang was the responsible sort, but, honestly, she didn't come across as such. Still, Blake was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, even though she didn't have much of another option. But that left Blake with a more pressing kind of worry. What if something had happened that forbade Yang from answering? What if it was bad?

Blake clenched her teeth. She didn't like this. Blake pulled up her messaging conversation with Yang and typed, I really hope everything is okay. Please call me when you see this text. She pressed the send button.

She wasn't really expecting to receive an answer right away, so Blake took a calming breath in and slowly exhaled. There wasn't much else she could do right now except wait. She could try calling again later, but for now, there was no way of even getting to Beacon so late into the evening. From Patch, it would be impossible to make it to the last airship leaving for Beacon at this time. And even if she could make it, Blake would first have to convince Ruby to help her leave Patch somehow, and that would not have been ideal.

So, Blake was stuck in Yang's body, in Yang's house, with no news about her own body until further notice.

The best thing she could do right now was probably interact with Ruby and see if there was anything else that could be done—even if whatever that was only turned out to be a distraction.

Blake let out a short breath and found her gaze wandering to the mirror again. Yang's eyebrows were kind of furrowed, a crease between them showing she was contradicted. Even those lilac irises looked more vivid and intense somehow, the laugh lines at their corners doing nothing to make the expression seem more friendly. It was a very alive face—alive with emotion, and Blake was fascinated. She looked at Yang's lips, the bottom slightly fuller than the upper, which had a very defined cupid's bow. They had a naturally mischievous quality about them, and yet somehow they held a bit of a pout, as if they couldn't decide whether their owner was hiding something for a prank or for her security.

Blake looked away and let out a longer, sadder sigh. She hoped Yang was okay, too, after all—not just Blake's own body.

She shook her head and left the room, switching off the light as she went and closing the door, making her way back into Ruby's room.

Ruby was sitting at her desk this time. Except she was twisted around in her chair so as to lean her forearms on the back of it and also her chin on her forearms, staring right at Blake when she entered. It seemed Ruby had been waiting for her. Blake noticed this and stopped. They were both quiet, apparently trying to figure each other out in the most awkward way possible.

Blake finally decided to cut to the chase. "Your sister didn't answer my call." She carefully closed the door.

Ruby raised her eyebrows. "Was your scroll near your body?"

"Not really. I was working out and using Beacon's obstacle course. But I had my scroll near enough that I would be able to hear it if it went off. And I told your sister that we had to try and contact each other as soon as we could if possible—if or when we switched again. She agreed to that." Blake hesitantly sat on the bottom bunk again. It creaked a little as her weight set upon it. Her fingers drummed on the blankets. "Ruby," she said, testing the name out and trying not to be as awkward as her impending question. The girl perked up and nodded. "Is your sister the responsible sort? Like, does she keep her word often?"

Ruby smiled, apparently thrilled by the opportunity to talk about her sister. "Nope!"

Blake's expression sank.

"Well," Ruby said again, elaborating, "I wouldn't say responsible. But she definitely keeps her word!"

"Explain."

"It's kind of hard. She's… She's Yang." Ruby scratched the underside of her chin thoughtfully. "If she says she's gonna do something, she does it. And if there's something she needs to do or something somebody expects her to do, she'll do it. But, like, she doesn't always do it for the best reasons."

Blake felt a little apprehensive. People doing things for not the best reasons usually meant, in her experience, doing things for the wrong reasons. "Is she…reprehensible?"

"Well, like…she's…a troll. So, yeah."

That was a bit of a relief—or as much of a relief as it could be. After all, Yang did tell Blake she was a bit of a troublemaker back in school, and if that's all Yang was, then Blake would be marginally comforted. Things could have been a lot worse. At the very least, Blake could purportedly expect Yang to keep her word, which would be a godsend if it were true. As it was, though, Blake still worried about the state of her body in the middle of that obstacle course.

The silence that had settled between them was then broken by Ruby's saying, "Also, if you were working out before you…switched—is that how it works?—then I think Yang would probably try to continue working out. She likes working out."

"I can tell," Blake said, a little quietly. This was followed by intense mortification. Why did that leave my mouth?

Then they were both quiet. Ruby turned back around in her seat and faced Blake, kicking her legs beneath her chair as she held her hands anxiously between them. She was looking at her lap. Blake, meanwhile, did the same—except it was her own lap she looked at, not Ruby's. Obviously.

God.

In any case, if Yang was indeed still working out, then she wasn't technically breaking any rules. Blake was the only person left in the gym, and she had left her body within the walls of the obstacle course. So, Blake knew her body was safe. But still…she didn't like putting her trust in someone she barely knew—and, worse yet, she really didn't like having trust put in her by that same someone she barely knew. That wasn't a responsibility Blake needed in her life, yet it was one she needed to deal with anyway. She sighed and looked up at Ruby, who looked up at her in kind.

"So, Ruby," Blake said, starting off totally strong. "Yang and I still don't know what's going on between us."

"Yeah, she told me."

"Right. And, so, we're trying to figure out how or why this is happening." Blake scooted closer to the edge of the bed and, in effect, Ruby. She didn't understand why, but conversation was unreasonably difficult right now and Blake's actions felt a tiny bit disorderly in general. It could have been an effect of the body-switching, but, more likely, it was just the effect of awkwardness. "If you wouldn't mind telling me, do you remember what was happening right before Yang and I switched?"

Ruby fiddled with the fabric of her pajama pants. "Yeah, we were just talking."

"Just talking? Nothing strange about it?"

"Hmm… Not really." Ruby wasn't looking at Blake. She was a terrible liar, it seemed.

Something must have been on her mind—perhaps something other than the plain impossibility of speaking to a duller, less expressive person inhabiting her sister's body. Maybe that was what she was thinking, and Blake could not blame her for it, but Blake had also been trained to see when certain things were bothering others. She wasn't great at understanding what the bothersome things were, but it was part of her job as a teacher to identify when things were interfering with her students' ability to learn. Ruby may not have been learning under Blake, but Blake felt obliged to help out, considering she was Yang's sister.

"I don't have to ask this just for research, you know," Blake tried, finding Ruby's gaze. "Even though I don't know you, I'm still available to help if there's anything I can do."

Ruby's voice was quiet. "No, it's okay."

"I don't want to impose, Ruby, but I think I know what you're doing when you say 'It's okay' like that. I do the same thing." Ruby looked away, which caused Blake to do the same. "What I'm trying to say is that… Well, I'd like to help if you'd let me. I may not be the easiest person to talk to, especially like this," Blake half-heartedly motioned to Yang's self, "but I'm a decent listener, and I promised Yang I wouldn't let her relationships with you or anyone else be harmed while I'm in her body."

Ruby's eyes began scanning the room, ending up on the same unimportant spot Blake had been looking at somewhere in the shadowy corner. In the reborn silence between them, Blake thought about toying with those shadows, shaping them into a wispy whirlwind or some flowery shape, but she figured it would be inappropriate. Ruby was deliberating with something, her legs continuing to tighten on the hands they squeezed. "Well…" the younger girl drawled, looking somewhere else and then somewhere else after that.

Upon finding whatever it was she was looking for, Ruby's shoulders sagged and slumped. "Blargh," she said, dejectedly and under her breath. "Yang wants to move out."

Blake had wanted to say something comforting or helpful—to offer appropriate counsel to Yang's sister—but she was finding herself…stumped. Yang wanted to move out. Okay. That meant…she had plans to leave home? Which was a normal thing for a twenty-four-year-old girl to do these days. Obviously, though, this meant something significant for Ruby, else there would have been no "Blargh," but Blake just wasn't following.

This not following unfortunately meant not talking, which caused Ruby to shift in her seat with a foreign gaze trained curiously on her. "That's, uh, not good," Ruby added, as if clarifying. Then, in a quieter voice, she continued, "Like, you know, if you weren't getting the memo. I don't know."

"I'm…sorry," Blake said, trying to apologize, she guessed. But then, deciding she didn't have enough information to be truly apologetic, she asked somewhat matter-of-factly, "What's wrong with her moving out?"

Ruby let out a deep sigh, staring down at her lap, and Blake saw the similarity with Yang this time—both siblings were incredibly expressive with their entire bodies. "Yang's always been there for me," Ruby revealed in a small voice. "And I thought we'd always be together because…well, that's the way it's always been. But…" she motioned towards Blake—towards Yang's body—and started speaking a little faster, as if anxious, "she doesn't want me with her now. I'm gonna be staying here while she lives her own life in Vale. Without me. And we'll barely see each other anymore. I don't know what to do. I just don't want to be apart from her like this."

It was Blake's turn to let out a bit of a sigh. She found her hand going through her hair—Yang's wild, thick blonde locks—as she tried to piece the situation together and come up with something intelligent to say.

So, Yang moving out was a problem because she was moving out on her own, leaving Ruby behind, and it made Ruby sad. And it made Ruby sad because Ruby felt like she wasn't wanted anymore—that Yang, the person who seemed to mean very much to her, didn't want her around anymore.

But Blake had seen the look in Yang's eyes and saw how it changed when she spoke about Ruby. Yang cared very much about her sister—there was no question about it. After all, Ruby was the only person Yang had chosen to tell the truth to regarding the body-switching dilemma. It hadn't even been an option that Blake had offered at the time—Yang had specifically asked to tell Ruby, gone out of her way to get Blake's permission about it. This may not have been much proof to back up what Blake was about to say, especially considering that she didn't know Yang all that well, but the Faunus believed she was hitting close enough to home to be able to reassure Ruby.

"I think Yang still wants you in her life, Ruby," Blake finally said, pulling the younger girl's silver gaze. "She cares about you very much. I know she does. And I'm sure she'll find ways to visit often and still spend time with you." It wasn't much, but it was the most Blake could say with confidence.

Ruby looked to the side, biting her lower lip. She then creased her eyebrows. "…You think so?"

Blake nodded, adding, "And she'll probably be happy to let you visit her, too. Your sister is just reaching an age where she needs to gain more independence—and the only way she can do that is by moving out and taking on more life responsibility. She's an adult—and so are you. But I don't think that means she's trying to get rid of you. If anything, I would assume that means she trusts you. You'll both grow out of this to be better people. I think Yang's decision is mature and admirable."

Ruby's eyebrows were still furrowed. She wasn't looking at Blake, but Blake gave her some time, letting Ruby process the information and figure out if it soothed her. Eventually, though, Ruby met Blake's gaze. "Thanks, Blake. I, uh, think that helps a little bit. I mean, I wanna hear it from Yang still, but what you said makes sense, I guess. It's just…" She trailed off.

"It's just what?"

"I know Yang has to change, but…I don't want things to change between us."

Blake nodded. "I understand. But if that's what you want, you should make sure and communicate that. Yang doesn't strike me as the type to pick up on every hidden desire, but she does strike me as the type to listen when you have a problem."

For a moment, Ruby's eyes widened at this epiphany of age-old, works-in-every-situation relationship advice that should have been common sense for everyone. "Wow, Blake," Ruby said. "I hadn't even thought about that. But it makes so much sense! I should just be direct with Yang and actually talk about the real issue instead of beating around the bush!"

Good girl. Blake smiled. It was kind of sad how many people avoided communication when they had problems—the White Fang had done it, Blake frequently did it, and now Ruby and Yang were doing it in front of her. Their problem was definitely not simple enough to solve with one piece of advice, but Blake's advice would at least allow them to start working towards a solution instead of fighting each other and getting nowhere. Blake felt a little out of place giving this advice to Ruby, but the suggestion was solid, even if Blake still needed to work on practicing what she preached.

"Yeah, I think that'll work," Ruby reiterated, turning to her desk. She noted what Blake assumed to be the advice on a nearby notepad then underlined it—then underlined it again—and then once more—before turning back to Blake. "Thanks a bunch. I appreciate it. Hopefully Yang will come to her senses and let me live with her."

Blake winced. Oh dear. "That's…not…"

"I'm just joking," Ruby said with a wave of her hand, snickering. "I get what you meant. It's gonna take me a bit to accept that Yang's gotta move out, but, you know, I think I'll get over it. But thanks."

Blake nodded at Ruby, intending to reply silently and more than a little nonchalantly. But then she realized the end of Ruby's sentence had been the end of Ruby's speech. There was nothing more to be said. Yet Blake kept nodding to Ruby's speech because stopping at this point seemed like it would only ruin the agreement they had arrived to, even though Ruby was starting to look at Blake as though a second head was slowly sprouting from her shoulder.

Then Ruby started nodding, too. "…Yup…" She said, agreeing to something.

"Yup."

After a moment, it dawned on Blake how ridiculous she was being. Yup? Her nodding ceased, and her thoughts turned inward, and all she could hope to do was show whatever amount of restraint her previous blunder would allow.

But Ruby kept on nodding, having caught the awkward fever apparently. She did this for a few more seconds until she noticed that Blake had stopped, looking away. This caused the girl's nods to peter out slowly and as discretely as possible, bringing her to the point where Ruby was simultaneously nodding and not nodding as she tucked her chin into her chest bashfully, clearing her throat.

"So, um," Ruby said, looking up at Blake with a guilty, nervous smile. "Can I talk to Yang now?"

Blake found her hand going to the back of her neck to massage it uneasily. She then creased her eyebrows in confusion, struck by how uncharacteristic that move was for her. She dropped her hand back onto her lap. It seemed that along with some amount of brain chemistry being left behind during the body switching, there was also some muscle memory staying with the original body as well. Interesting. Blake could use this habit if she ever needed to pretend to be Yang.

She slowly shook her head and sighed, focusing her attention back on Ruby, who was staring at her strangely again. "I'm sorry, Ruby. Yang and I don't have any control over this issue. It just…happens. We don't know why and we don't know how, and I can't even tell you how long it's going to last. Trust me, I have no desire for this to be happening at all. If I could make it stop and bring Yang back to you immediately, I would."

This caused yet another silence to ensue, neither girls looking at each other while Ruby processed the information.

"So…" she eventually drawled. "Does that mean we just have to…wait it out?"

Truly, Blake knew exactly what kind of apprehensiveness Ruby must have been feeling. It was the worst. At least Ruby was being fairly reasonable and calm about it, whatever reassurance that was worth. "I guess so," was all Blake could reply, somewhat tiredly.

Ruby seemed to consider this, her mouth twisting into a bit of a thoughtful frown, but then after apparently failing to find any miraculous solution, she just turned on her chair, back towards her computer and generally leaving Blake to her own devices. She did say, though, "Well, um, just make yourself at home, then. Let me know if you need anything."

Understanding that Ruby was trying to put an end to the conversation—out of awkwardness, no doubt—Blake merely acknowledged with a movement of her head and then just sat there quietly for a moment. She had no idea what to do. Of course the situation was bothersome for everyone. But there really wasn't much that could be done except do precisely what they were doing now—namely, waiting it out.

Blake's gaze returned to Ruby. "Do you have any books?"

The Faunus knew there were books in the house, obviously, as she had perused a few in the living room during her last time here in search of clues, but since Blake didn't want to go downstairs and have to possibly interact with the siblings' dad, she figured asking might have been better. Plus, there was a bookshelf literally right in front of Blake on the other side of the room. And Blake didn't want to be rude and touch things that didn't belong to her.

The request seemed to pleasantly surprise Ruby anyway, as the younger girl's eyebrows rose high and she smiled a little. "Yup, sure do. What do you like to read?"

"Fiction, mostly. Fiction and romance."

Ruby hopped up from her chair. "Then I've got you! I mean, I don't really have much for romance, but I definitely got fiction." She went over to the same bookshelf Blake had noticed and ran her fingers over the spines of a few of the books, skirting titles. Finally, she pulled one novel out and approached Blake. "Here, try this. It's one of my favorites."

Ruby looked genuinely happy to be sharing this, an excited twinkle in her silver irises, and Blake had to smile a little back at her as she took the book. So, they had something in common. They both loved reading. To be honest, Blake was glad to have discovered this. It allowed them to have more normal interactions, and that helped ease the tension and weirdness. Blake could work with that. Plus, once she got to reading, the silence would be justified.

"Thank you, Ruby."

"No problem! I'll leave you to it. You can lay down or whatever on my bed. Whatever you prefer." She beamed and then went back to her desk to sit down. After one last glance at Blake, she returned her attention to her laptop.

Blake, meanwhile, quickly read the blurb at the back of the book and determined that the plot was worth delving into. She made herself more comfortable on the bed, not feeling so out of place intruding like that anymore, and opened the novel to the first page.

---

The moment Ruby's room and silver eyes disappeared, and the world became dark, Yang was struck with vertigo. Along with the erratic pounding of her heart, her stomach lurched, and the reason very quickly became evident the second she could see again. She was airborne. Feet touching nothing. And the ground was rushing towards her faster than she could process and react to.

Yang only had time to cuss loudly before her face collided with the floor with a hard, unforgiving thud, hands and shoulders and chest next, and then sliding some distance, skin scraping and squeaking until she finally came to a stop. Ow. That was definitely going to leave a mark.

She groaned, panting, ears ringing, muscles protesting, and blearily looked up, trying to figure out what in the world was happening. What a mistake that turned out to be. There were half a dozen Grimm sprinting towards her—snarling, growling Beowolves. But they were ghosts. See-through and glowy.

"What the—?!"

Yang was not prepared. Not in the least. She had no freaking idea what was going on and how these monsters could even exist. They were actual ghosts—not Gheists. And the specters were getting closer and closer, red eyes ablaze, and all Yang could do was stare, frozen in place, knowing she had to move but being unable to get her body to respond. Their fangs gleamed. Fear clutched her gut, and Yang was about to close her eyes so she wouldn't have to watch herself be torn to shreds when the see-through, glowy Beowolves suddenly disappeared.

Just like that. They were gone. All was silent, except for the deafening beat of Yang's heart in her ears.

Also, except for an unknown voice that seemed to somehow emanate from all directions which said, "Error. Connection lost. Please resync aura to continue."

It took a while for Yang to understand what was going on. She was so frazzled, so confused and still dealing with a flurry of intense emotions, and it wasn't until she heard that same voice repeat the same message a second time about a minute later that it dawned on Yang that she knew exactly what this was.

Way to go, hotshot. It was Beacon Academy's obstacle course. She had used this several times back when she was a student here. The memories were coming back to her. It all made so much more sense now. She should have recognized it right away. And the Grimm—they weren't ghosts. They were holograms. Yang had been in no actual danger.

"Error. Connection lost. Please resync aura to continue."

"Oh, my God…" Yang groaned again, and then slowly, painfully, dragged and pulled and pushed herself off the floor. That had been a pretty phenomenal fall. Fortunately for Yang, her aura was passive and therefore always active. She might get a bruise, but that was all.

Well, not her, specifically. Blake might get a bruise. Because Yang was in Blake's body, no doubt about it. They had switched again. Just when Yang had been beginning to think that it may not happen anymore… Here she was. The timing could not have been worse.

Yang pinched the bridge of not-her nose, wincing a little as she tried to calm herself. As much as the situation had been stressful and upsetting, Yang wanted to be with Ruby right now and find something soothing to say to make everything okay again. Instead, this stupid and impossible body-switching problem had forced her to leave Ruby with the impression that her older sister didn't love her enough to want to live together anymore. It was awful and completely not true.

Now all Yang could do was hope Blake didn't mess the whole thing up even more because, to be honest, as considerate as the Faunus seemed to be, she came across as vaguely socially inept. "Ugh! This is so frustrating!" Yang clenched her teeth—and her fists, but found that Blake's muscles lacked the brawler's crushing strength. This frustrated Yang even more, and it was triply frustrating because she couldn't even blame Blake for any of that. Blake was dexterous, not powerful. And it wasn't fair to blame this predicament on her because it certainly wasn't her fault. Darn it all.

"Error. Connection lost. Please resync aura to—"

"Alright, I get it!"

"—continue."

Yang scowled. She needed to cool off. It was hard to determine if she was alone in the gym, but the odds were that she was. Blake seemed like the type to do something this solitary. And if Yang was alone in here, then she could do whatever she wanted as long as she wasn't harming or taking advantage of Blake's body. She knew she was supposed to try contacting the professor, but said professor had decided to not divulge her password in public and Yang had no idea how to get to Blake's home to check the note that was assumingly stuck somewhere on a mirror.

This was so dumb.

Therefore, Yang marched her not-self to the closest wall and slammed her palm on its surface. Immediately, a bright yellow glow contoured her fingers, and the obstacle course's voice said, "Resyncing in progress. Resyncing complete. Start session with current parameters?"

Next to Yang's hand, a small section of the wall illuminated itself, revealing a holoscreen with the obstacle course's options on it. There was a button at the bottom right that read 'Start with current presets,' next to another that read 'Cancel session.'

The smart thing to have done was cancel the session and find a way to contact Blake. This gave Yang a moment of pause, surprised that she was even second-guessing her decision after already determining that the other option was too complicated. She normally would have just gone straight into it on the whim of emotion. But she didn't know where Blake lived, as previously established. And, if anything, it might help to discover how Blake's body functioned in combat—especially if this body-switching thing insisted on being chronic and extraordinarily random. And Yang still needed to blow off some steam.

So, Yang finally pressed the continue button.

And immediately after, realized she was weaponless. Great. "Just why, Blake?!"

Obviously, Yang wasn't going to get an answer to that completely sensible question. The obstacle course came to life with the roars of half a dozen angry hologrimm, and Yang's eyes widened, wondering what the heck Blake did to attack the monsters and defend herself if she didn't have a weapon. Maybe Blake thought she was magical unicorn, for all Yang knew. Unfortunately, there was no time to think or figure out a solution past this dumb assumption.

Yang would just have to improvise. The machine was monitoring her aura anyway—if it got too low, the session would end.

For the moment, Yang dove to the side, avoiding the pack of Grimm and making them crash into the wall and each other. She stood and took several steps back, finding that she was much quicker on her feet than she usually was. It made sense. Blake was lighter and probably more agile. Yang tried positioning herself into her boxing form, but the motion seemed awkward and didn't make her feel as in control of the situation.

How am I supposed to do this?

She wasn't able to think on this problem for long. One of the Beowolves had recovered and was already running towards her. It jumped, claws out, and Yang swung a punch at it with all the force she could muster. Her fist hit it in the neck, but instead of making the Beowolf stumble off like Yang had expected, it just shook its head and swiped back. Yang was the one who careened off and hit the ground with an oomph, her aura fortunately taking the brunt of the impact.

That hadn't worked. Blake did not possess Yang's strength. And now all the Beowolves were rushing at her again.

Yang stood up and started sprinting in the opposite direction. This had been an absolutely stupid idea. There was no way for Yang to defeat those Grimm without a weapon—and she couldn't use Blake's body as a substitute, either, because it was clearly not trained or built for that.

As Yang attempted to form a plan in her mind while she ran, hologrimm growling and howling behind her, the brawler ended up forgetting that she was in an obstacle course. Before she knew it, there was suddenly a wall erecting itself right in front of her, smack in the middle of the path. Collision was imminent. But Yang tried. She veered, wanting to get around the wall, but it wasn't going to do. At the last second, though, Yang found herself stepping diagonally up the wall instead before propelling herself off to land on the wall perpendicular to it. She slid down to the floor harmlessly, a bit dazed, wondering where that had come from.

The Beowolves were already on her, though. She had no time to think. One swiped and Yang ducked, another lashed forward and Yang jumped over it, landing in a roll to avoid a set of angry jaws, and then she was immediately back on her feet, dodging several ghostly claws at once via a series of backwards acrobatics, flipping and spinning and twisting and feinting. By the end of it, Yang could barely follow what she was even doing anymore, like her body—Blake's body—was going through the motions out of sheer muscle memory alone.

But Yang didn't know how long this was going to last. She had to keep going and just finish the course. Except, this time, she had a plan. And that plan was to think as little as possible! Yang was great at that, after all. She was a woman of action! The least thinking she did, the more she could just let Blake's body do its thing.

So, once Yang saw an opening through the mass of monsters, she grabbed the opportunity and just went. Obstacle after obstacle were thrown at her—dips and dives, more walls, bars and poles, platforms, moving pillars, holes to hop through, uneven terrain—and Yang felt a rush of adrenaline and glee at how fast Blake's body tackled each problem like they were just minor hiccups she could easily and smoothly maneuver through. It was almost like riding a rollercoaster.

Even the Grimm barely interrupted this body's progress. All Yang had to do was take in her surroundings, and Blake's body seemed to just know how to use it to the best of its advantage, reacting before Yang could worry about what to do next and, in most cases, avoiding the Grimm altogether.

Yang finished the course on an exhilarated note. She was a bit sweaty and only panting a little, and she stood there at the end for a moment, admiring how amazing that had been.

She understood now that Blake's goal had never been to fight the hologrimm to begin with. Blake had just wanted to get through course, and she must have been really confident in her abilities to not have brought her weapon in case. But the Faunus had every reason to be confident. Yang could have never done that so quickly and so gracefully. The brawler was more of the type to stop and fight, and then keep going—but certainly not with the flourish Blake was capable of. Yang's body was strong and could take a beating, so she wasn't so careful about the way she moved. And Blake seemed to just have a vaster pool of tactics under her sleeve.

Without a doubt, Blake's parkour skills were on mastery levels. And that was so cool.

It didn't matter what Blake said. She really was a ninja.

Yang found herself laughing a little. Yeah, she had really needed that. Her stress had diminished considerably, and although she was still worried about Ruby, she felt like she could make things better now. They would get through this—there was no reason to be so panicky about it.

Remembering Ruby reminded Yang that Blake was currently in the blonde's body in her sister's company. And it also reminded Yang that she was supposed to be trying to get in contact with herself—er, Blake. Yang jogged over to the beginning of the obstacle course, still enjoying how light Blake was on her feet, and looked around for a possible placement of the Faunus' scroll. She noticed a bag and a sweater on the benches nearby, and made her way over to the items.

It seemed a bit taboo to look into Blake's bag, especially considering that Yang knew she still didn't have the password for her scroll. The blonde stood there for a second, struggling with the ethicality of the problem. She had already crossed a line she shouldn't have previously with the groping of Blake's chest—and the mere thought of that caused Yang to blush darkly again—and it made Yang reticent to impose on any other possible boundaries.

As she debated over what to do, and as she was deciding she might just sit down and drink some water instead, Yang was taken with vertigo, her vision going black. She felt weightless, senseless, floating in abyss, and then there was a notion of speed. Suddenly, Yang slammed against a cushiony wall, and her eyes flew open, jumping as if intensely startled.

"Oh, whoa."

Yang took in Ruby's room, blinking a few times, reorienting herself and getting used to her regular, terrible vision and hearing. Yeah, she was definitely starting to empathize with Blake about how going from super-developed-senses-Faunus to why-is-the-world-so-blurry-and-muted-human sucked.

There was a book on Yang's lap—she recognized it as one of those she used to read to Ruby when she was younger. Yang was still on Ruby's bed, but now she was lounging against the wall instead of sitting on the edge like she had been before—before Blake…took over.

"Yang?" came Ruby's piping and worried voice, causing the girl in question to look up, seeing Ruby sitting at her computer again. "I mean…Blake? Er, are you back, Yang?"

Yang slowly sat up. "Uh…define back."

She barely had time to react before Ruby tackled her, wrapping her older sister in an inescapable hug. Arguably, this was more startling than the hologrimm.

"Yang!" the younger girl cheered. "I'm so glad! It was so weird seeing another person use you like that."

"Okay…?" Obviously, Blake had done stuff in Yang's body while Yang was gone—or else Yang wouldn't have woken up against the wall. But what else had Blake done?

She did not think much on this, however, as Yang felt her sister's head nestle up against her shoulder. For all the weirdness that this switching stuff involved, it was good to be home. Yang placed a hand on Ruby's back and heartily patted the younger girl in a half-attempt at a hug, which resulted in a calmed wriggle and stillness.

"So, uh," Yang said, finding herself speaking a bit deeper than usual. She cleared her throat a couple times. "Apples," she said. "Apples. There we go." Her voice was back to normal. "What did you guys talk about?"

"Well, we, uh… Hm… It's kind of interesting…?"

"It was about our talk, wasn't it?"

Ruby was silent.

"I'll take that as a yes, then." Yang sighed. The situation was already stressful enough. Now she had to worry about roping Blake into this discussion and leaving her with Ruby's hurt feelings. "I'm sorry, Ruby. I was thinking selfishly. You're old enough to want to live on your own, too, and I'm sorry for not thinking about if you'd like to join me."

"Yang…" From her position, Ruby couldn't look up at her older sister. "It's all right. Blake and I talked, and helped me understand your point of view."

"She what?"

"She convinced me to let you go. You know, by yourself. To your new place. Without me. Without your dear sister who has never done anything wrong."

"Except guilt-trip me." Yang smirked.

Ruby contented-wriggled again.

It was manipulative and deplorable, but it allowed Yang to breathe easier. "You really don't mind me moving out?"

"I mean, I do, but it's probably for the best that I get over it. Blake just helped make that a bit clearer." Ruby hummed. "It's okay. Go be yourself."

Blake made the situation clearer? Yang hugged Ruby closer and smiled. How that girl had managed to convince Ruby that the move was a good idea—and how she had managed to keep Ruby calm about this—was nothing short of extraordinary. Honestly, Yang had expected to return to a Ruby who was tearful and terrified, not one who was so understanding and warm. The blonde was torn between wanting to send thank-you flowers to Blake's place (whose address she still hadn't figured out except for the fact that it was somewhere on Beacon's campus) and to pick her kitty brain for ways to calm Ruby down. Surely she must have some arcane Faunus or ninja techniques to soothe a small child.

Ruby began to pull away. She smiled at Yang, her eyes a bit misty but her demeanor completely serene. "Don't do anything dad wouldn't do when you move out."

As Ruby began to crawl backwards and stand up from the bed, Yang scooted forward, sitting up and frowning. "Are you sure you're all right? I can find space for you at the apartment."

"Yang, seriously. I'll be fine. I promise." She sat down at the chair in front of her desk. "I mean, unless that whole body-switching thing causes you to fall on your face with no one around." For a moment, Yang motioned as if she was going to speak, but Ruby cut her off with a wider smile. "But we can talk about this more tomorrow. I've gotta get to sleep in a minute, and this is still a lot for me to process. Think you'll be okay for tonight?"

"Y-yeah. Thanks, Ruby." Yang was still kind of dumbfounded with the whole situation—it was why she kept making sure that Ruby was truly fine with everything—because she was so unused to someone else deescalating Ruby's emotions…this successfully, at the very least. So, Yang stood and tried giving her sibling a reassuring smile before laying a quick kiss on her forehead. "I just want you to know that I still love you. Nothing will ever change that."

And Ruby smiled a little now, too, a caring glint appearing in her silver irises, which automatically helped appease Yang's nerves. "I love you, too, Yang. Night night."

"Night night. Get your rest."

Yang left Ruby's room on those words, ensuring she had her scroll and jacket with her, and then gently closed her sister's door behind her.

Her scroll immediately started buzzing.

Fumbling and practically dropping the said device, Yang quickly went to her room and shut the door, managing to answer the call and bring her scroll to her ear after some more scrambling. "Hello?"

"Um, Yang? This is—"

"Blake!" There was a sudden swell of positive energy that rose inside Yang at the sound of the Faunus' voice. She had recognized it immediately. "Oh, my God, Blake! How did you do it? Thank you!"

"I... What? How did I do what?"

Yang chuckled a little and sat down on the edge of her own bed, crossing her legs as she grinned. "Ruby was okay with me moving. What did you say to her?"

Blake sounded confused when she spoke. "I just…told her to speak plainly and actually address the issues? Um, I'm glad it worked. I guess I figured I'd make myself useful. But that's not why I'm calling you."

It was then that Yang caught the apprehension in Blake's tone. She really wanted to ask Blake how she knew what the issues that needed addressing were in the first place—which also worried the blonde because that brought on the question of what did Blake think Yang's problem was—but for now it seemed more important to appease the tension in her voice. Yang sat somewhat straighter on the bed. "Yeah, no problem. What's up?"

Blake let out a bit of a sigh. "I'm just concerned that you didn't answer my call after we switched. What were you doing?"

"I kept working out. I'm sorry I didn't answer your call—I couldn't get to your scroll soon enough. But you were alone in the gym and I figured that if I…" Yang's voice trailed off as she realized that what she was about to say would probably sound wrong.

"If you…?"

Yang chuckled awkwardly. "If I learned how your body moves it might make this switching thing easier…?" It had definitely sounded better in her head.

There was a pause on the other line. It stretched on long enough that dread started to settle in Yang's stomach. Maybe she should just abide to the rules Blake had made from now on—this wasn't an easy situation and Blake was clearly (and understandably) aversive to the whole thing.

"Okay."

Oh. Yang's eyes widened. "O-okay? You're fine with it?"

"It's an acceptable explanation, so long as you feel that me doing the same thing in your body is also reasonable."

A smile crept back to Yang's lips as her shoulders drooped in relief. "Yeah, totally. Just don't—" She cut herself off. She had been about to jokingly recommend that Blake not break anymore of Yang's bones, but that seemed pretty dumb. Of course Blake wouldn't do that. Blake had saved Yang's life. And Yang had groped Blake's chest. If anything, Yang probably deserved to have some other bone broken—like, her apparent lady boner. "Er, never mind," she corrected herself sheepishly. "So! What did you tell Ruby that was so magical?"

"Just that it's normal that you'd want to move out because you're an adult now and you need your space. I told her you still cared about her and that you'd still visit sometimes."

Yang was silent as she assessed this. She supposed that the circumstances maybe weren't that special—it seemed Blake hadn't actually said anything mindboggling, but it nevertheless made her information accurate. And Ruby had accepted it. But still. It made Yang feel oddly seen that Blake recognized these simple facts about her and had defended Yang's perspective with them. "Thank you, Blake. I really appreciate it." She paused. "And your body is super agile."

Wait! No! Why did that leave my mouth?

"Um, okay… You're welcome. I mean, thanks? Ugh. I have to, um, put Silver to sleep—I mean, myself. I have to put myself to sleep. To bed. God."

They were both in quiet awe as they processed whatever that was supposed to mean.

"...Goodnight, Yang."

Blake abruptly hung up.

"Goodnight…Blake." Yang was already grinning, feeling inexplicably giddy. Well, maybe not inexplicably. Ruby was okay, and it was all thanks to Blake. And Blake was an adorable, thoughtful dork, and Yang had never felt like she was in better hands. Everything was all right. Her dad might have still been sitting in the living room, coming to terms with an impending loss in his life, but that wasn't the most important part to Yang. He would deal with it. And she could be an adult and make her own decisions and be free.

Yang quickly changed into her pajamas and sent a few goodnight kiss emojis to Sun, and then burrowed herself into the blankets. With a contented huff, Yang closed her eyes and was soon asleep with a bit of a smile on her lips.

---

* : In the RWBY world of Piece of Mine, the laws of physics are studied but not understood. Everything we know about physics in our world does indeed apply to the world of Remnant, but only conditionally. This is to say that the laws of physics are the same in both worlds, unless they're not, and there are numerous, frequent times when nothing matters and nobody knows anything because things don't work and we don't know why. Therefore, in this world of Remnant, the people who try to study physics know both something and nothing, thus making physics a pseudoscience and all the physicists in the world mad scientists. But not, like, supervillain mad. Just frustrated and in need of a nap.

---

THE RUMORS OF MY DEATH HAVE BEEN GREATLY UNDEREXAGERATED. FOR THE PAST FEW MILLENIA SINCE POSTING THE LAST CHAPTER, I HAVE BEEN BEHIND ENEMY LINES, TAKING FIRE FROM AGENTS OF DARKNESS WHO WOULD SEE THE FREE WORLD AND ALL ITS LESBIAN ANIME WAIFUS ELIMINATED. I AM A HERO, AND YOU ARE WELCOME FOR MY SERVICE.

But in real news, hi. I have officially finished drowning myself in this chapter, and now I am back.

But not for long~