Author's Note- I say this with every new chapter but this is the longest chapter I have written to date. This chapter I would like to say shout out to Cat (AKA AmbidextrousLion) and Poz for editing this story for grammar and just generally making sure this chapter isn't terrible. Also special shout out to ElfenLied1012 for reasons that will become very obvious once you start reading. I really recommend you read Elfens stories Snowy Vale and Melting Vale the second of which I beta read for, both are awesome and two of my favorite stories. I would also like to suggest you guys check out the /r/Reiss subreddit for great fan art and fanfics and the Reiss Steam group which is near 100 members and you can talk to me and the other people I mentioned who all write great stories that I really like. Leave a review and tell me what you think of this chapter and if you see any errors that I can fix, I always like feedback and I read every review that you guys post. I am also holding a contest to make the cover for Icy Rose, with 172 followers I know that some of you can draw the only stipulation is it must be something from Icy Rose so if you think you can beat Cat's drawing for Icy Rose send it to me, hell even if you just want to draw a something from Icy Rose I'd appreciate the hard work and I'll will most likely give everyone who sends in a submission a shout out when I close the contest. It will last until the end of March so you guys have plenty of time to draw. Alright enough of me droning on, I know you guys are only here for the story so Read, Review, Favorite, Follow, and most importantly Enjoy!
Yang was walking down the main street of Vale, which crossed through the heart of the city. The tall blonde was walking through a crowd of people who all had places to be with a certain spot in her mind. Taking a right at a four way intersection, Yang was soon on a less busy road where the crowds were thinner and easier to maneuver through. Yang smiled to herself as she got closer to her destination. When she arrived at a bookstore, Yang had a sudden rush of nostalgia — this was a special bookstore after all.
Pushing the door open and striding in, Yang looked around and smiled when her eyes settled on the small café area. "Ah, the memories," she thought as she walked into the heart of the bookstore towards the fantasy section. She had a particular book in mind. Walking up and down the aisle she scanned the shelves, craning her neck to look at the top shelves. Eventually, she saw the book she was looking for. The letters on the spine were colored red to contrast with the white cover. Reaching her hand out, Yang gently took the book out from its place among its other copies, and turned the book to look at its front cover. The cover showed two girls, the older one was paler than the younger girl, and had lighter colored hair. They were holding each other in a close hug, the younger girl kissing her partners neck. Yang held back a chuckle at the cover as she read the title to make sure she had grabbed the right book. Melting Vale: Book 2 in the Vale Series.
"Alright, got the right one," she thought, not even bothering to check the author. She knew it was the right book, the one that Blake had been so excited for. This was a perfect gift for her bookish girlfriend, whose birthday was coming up very soon. She had read the first book, Snowy Vale, and had loved it. She had gotten incredibly excited to hear that a sequel was being made. Yang had been happy to hear that the book was coming out not too long before Blake's birthday, and had decided that the book would be a great gift along with something else, which was why she had gone to this particular bookstore that was off the beaten path. Walking up to the register with the book, Yang put on a friendly smile, since she liked to talk to people. She looked behind the register and saw the cashier, a young rabbit Faunus with long brown hair and large brown eyes.
"Hi there!" Yang said happily, seeming to startle the girl.
"H...hi, did you find everything okay?" she asked, somewhat cautious of the boisterous blonde.
"Why yes I did…" Yang leaned to the side to see the girl's name tag, "...Velvet. Mmmhhh, what a pretty name," she said, making Velvet blush.
"Thank… thank you" she mumbled as she rang up the purchase.
"Hey Velvet, are you attending Beacon University?" Yang inquired of the girl.
"Yes, I'm a freshman…How did you know?" The rabbit Faunus asked suspiciously.
Yang pointed at a Beacon University backpack behind the counter. "Well I see you have a Beacon University book bag, so I just guessed. I'm a freshman as well," Yang said, beaming a wide smile at the other girl, "Maybe we'll have some classes together."
Velvet looked at her bag and then back at Yang with a small smile on her face.
"Yeah maybe. Is there anything else I can do for you?" she asked as she put the book into a plastic bag and handed it to Yang.
"Yeah, actually there is! I got this book for my girlfriend's birthday in a few days, and I was wondering, if I bought this book back gift wrapped, if you could keep it here 'till I bring her here?"
"I don't see why not, but why bring her here?" Velvet asked, genuinely confused as to why the girl in front of her would bring her significant other to this bookstore.
"Well, this is actually the first place we met, so I thought it would be a good place to bring her for her birthday," Yang told Velvet as she picked up the plastic bag. The rabbit Faunus smiled at this.
"Awww, that is sweet. Yes, I can hold onto the book until her birthday. When is it?"
"Three days from now," Yang replied, "I'll bring the book back tomorrow gift wrapped if you are working."
"Sure, sounds good…" Velvet said before pausing and Yang realized why.
"Oh, how rude of me! I never told you my name," she exclaimed, slapping her forehead before holding her hand out. "Yang, Yang Xiao Long," she said with a big smile on her face. Velvet looked at the hand held out to her before smiling and taking it in her own and shaking it.
"Nice to meet you, Yang Xiao Long. I'm Velvet Scarlatina."
"Nice to meet you, Velvet. I've got to go, but I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, good luck with your girlfriend's birthday!"
"Thank you," Yang said as she turned and left the store leaving the rabbit Faunus with a smile on her face.
As Yang closed the store door behind her she turned to look at the sign on the store, and she smiled, thinking back to the last time she had been at this store.
Snow. It fell from the sky, silent but steady, blanketing everything in the city of Vale. Yang looked around at the white scenery as she walked through the commercial district with her little sister Ruby, the snow crunching under their boots. Yang took a deep breath, filling her lungs with cold air before she exhaled, her breath billowing out in front of her in a white mist.
"Hey Yang, let's see what's down here!" Ruby exclaimed as she ran down a less busy street. Yang just shook her head and smiled. "This girl," she thought as she followed her sister down the street. The street had less people on it, so Yang was easily able to keep the red form of her sister in sight as she ran down the street before stopping in front of a store. The sign denoted the store as A Separate World Bookstore, and Ruby's silver eyes were wide in excitement.
"Yang! Yang! Yang! Let's go in here!" she squealed, practically bouncing around her taller sister.
"Alright, let's go," Yang sighed. She wasn't a big reader, aside from classes and the fairy tales she had read to Ruby when they were younger, but she would go in to keep an eye on Ruby. Yang followed her sister inside and looked around the store. It was a nice bookstore. It had two floors, the bottom floor containing a small cafe with plenty of space for customers to read and drink. The cafe was right next to the registers, which were separated from the rest of the store by a counter where you could set your books down. The rest of the first floor, and the entire second floor, was dominated by book shelves with books of all kinds. From kids books to textbooks, the shelves were laden with books, but Yang wasn't interested. Ruby had dashed off into the store the second she had entered, leaving Yang by herself to wander around. . Yang didn't care about the books, so she started walking around random sections, trying to kill the time, waiting until Ruby was ready to leave. As she passed the fantasy section she stopped in her tracks, her eyes riveted on the one other person who was in the aisle. Standing in the section was a girl browsing for new books, or maybe a particular novel, Yang didn't really care why the girl was in the store, she was too interested in the mystery woman. The girl had long black hair, which framed her pale face and amber eyes perfectly. She had a purple scarf wrapped around her neck, and a black sweater and warm pants to fight off the frigid weather outside the safety of the store. Yang looked at this girl, who hadn't noticed her, and came to a quick decision. "I need to talk to her". Yang looked around to see where Ruby was, making sure that her sister was still busy in the depths of a book so she could talk to this stranger, but didn't catch sight of the younger girl before she approached the mystery girl. The stranger was still looking at the shelves of books, when Yang casually walked up behind her and tapped her shoulder to get her attention.
"You know, I was about to give up on finding anything worthwhile in this store, but then you caught my eye," she said, with a smile on her face. The girl was taken aback by Yang, with her wild blonde hair and friendly lilac eyes, but was willing to talk to her.
"And why is that?"
"Because you are by far the prettiest sight in here," Yang said, with a wide sweep of her arms to emphasize her point. This made the dark haired girl blush at the generous compliment.
"Thank you, though you aren't terrible to look at either," she answered, earning a wider grin from Yang.
"Aww, thank you," she said, directing her bright smile towards the unnamed girl, who looked her new friend up and down. Yang was only wearing boots, jeans, a yellow t-shirt, and a lightweight jacket.
"Weren't you cold outside?" the more warmly dressed girl asked.
"Nope," was Yang's cheery response. "Would you like to go get a cup of coffee?" she asked.
The amber eyed girl thought about this for a moment before responding. "Sounds lovely," she said before leading the way to the cafe, with her new blonde haired friend following close behind.
Yang wasn't sure exactly how long they talked, but eventually Ruby found Yang, and she came over with a bag in one-hand containing the books she had bought. "Hey Yang, look at all the books I got!" she said excitedly, holding up the bag and pointing to it. It was only then that she noticed the dark haired girl sitting opposite her sister. "Who's your friend Yang?" she asked, cocking her head to the side like a puppy.
"Oh yeah, Ruby this is…" Yang trailed off, realizing she had never learned her friend's name.
"Blake, Blake Belladonna" The girl answered.
"Blake… that's a beautiful name," Yang commented, earning another dusting of red on Blake's pale face. "Well Blake, my name is Yang. Yang Xiao Long," The blonde put her hand out as she introduced herself. Blake took Yang's hand and shook it.
"Her hand is so warm and soft," Blake thought, before she stopped herself and wondered why that had crossed her mind.
"Well Yang, as nice as it has been talking to you, I must be going," Blake said, finishing her drink and standing up.
"Hold up Blakey," Yang said, oblivious to the reaction on Blake's face at the nickname as Yang took the napkin she had and started writing on it. "Here, take this and call me sometime," she said with a wink that went unnoticed by Ruby, but not Blake. She took the napkin and read it. Call me was written above a string of numbers which she presumed to be Yang's phone number.
"I might just take you up on that," Blake said as she folded the napkin carefully and put it in her pocket next to her phone. "Now I must be going, it was nice meeting you both," she told the sisters with a wave of her hand as she left the warm store interior and ventured out into the cold day. She headed off to her next destination, but she felt a little warmer as she thought about the rather odd encounter she had just had. "Yang… what a strange girl," she thought absentmindedly as she walked through the snow covered streets. "Yet, I enjoyed her company." her mind continued to wander as the snow fell around her, swirling in the air before settling on the ground, but Blake paid it no mind, her thoughts still on the fiery blonde. "I will call her sometime," Blake resolved.
Yang watched Blake the entire time she left, her thoughts focused on the mysterious girl whom she had known for such a brief period of time. "How pretty was she?" Yang wondered as she stood up and walked out of the store, not really paying attention to the snow as it fell around her and Ruby as they headed home to relax for the night. "I hope she calls. I wonder what came over me to; just talk to her like that?" Yang pondered. She was normally an outgoing and friendly person, but something had been different with Blake, though Yang couldn't quite place her finger on it. Maybe one day she would understand what was different about Blake, the mystery girl she had met at the bookstore.
"Now I understand what was different," Yang thought with a shake of her head. She had been staring at the bookstore sign, reminiscing about the first time she had met Blake. "One of the best decisions I've ever made." Yang thought as she turned around to head back to the main street, so she could get home and wrap the copy of Melting Vale with gift wrap — patterned with small kittens of course. Yang still had one more stop to make, though, before she could head home. She was going to get one last present for Blake. "Hopefully she'll like it!"
"BLAAAAAAKKKKKKEEEE, HURRY UP!" Yang whined as she stayed a few steps ahead of the Faunus girl who was content to walk at a leisurely pace, and enjoy the frustration her slow pace was causing her blonde girlfriend.
"What's the hurry?" she asked in a wondering tone, as she looked at Yang, who was walking backwards so she could face Blake
"I have a surprise for you, so come on!" she moaned as she turned around and continued walking. Blake shook her head, but did speed up a little to appease Yang.
"Alright, alright, I'm hurrying up," she sighed, which got a triumphant smile aimed at her from over Yang's shoulder.
"Just follow me," Yang said as she reached out and took Blake's hand, helping to speed her up further. They walked down the main street of Vale with only the leading blonde knowing their final destination. Eventually, Yang lead them down a side street, to a less busy part where the crowds were smaller, and Blake got the vague notion that she had been here before.
"Ta Da!" Yang exclaimed with a dramatic flourish of her hands as they arrived at A Separate World Bookstore, and it clicked in Blake's mind why this place was so familiar.
"Yang, is this…?"
"Yep, it's the place where we first met," Yang finished Blake's sentence for her. "Now come on inside, I still have a surprise for you!" Yang urged her inside. Blake entered the familiar bookstore and turned her head to look around, her eyes caught by the cafe. Everything was normal, except for one table in the corner that had two things out of the ordinary. One was the small reserved sign and the other was an ursa teddy bear sitting in one of the seats.
"Yang, would that have anything to do with you?" Blake said already knowing the answer.
"Maybe," Yang answered in a sing song voice. "How about you go take a seat there, while I go get your surprise," she said, giving Blake a little push towards the table. Blake stuck her tongue out at Yang as she went to sit at the table, moving the teddy bear to the table so she could sit down.
Yang came back a few minutes later, with two gift wrapped boxes in her hands. What surprised Blake, though, was the shy rabbit Faunus who followed behind Yang, holding a tray with two ordinary cupcakes, plus one with a candle stuck into it." "Happy Birthday!" Yang exclaimed as she sat down at the table, putting the presents at her feet and taking the tray from the other girl, who looked very shy.
"Yang…why… why are there three cupcakes?" the rabbit girl mumbled. Yang looked at the girl with a smile on her face
"One for me, one for the birthday girl, and one for you," she said matter of factly, causing Velvet to look surprised.
"M-me?" she said pointing to herself.
"Of course Velvet! You helped me set all this up, you deserve it," Yang said, patting the third seat at the table. Velvet smiled a watery smile as she sat down
"Hello, my name is Blake," Blake introduced herself to the new addition to the table as she held her hand out.
"Hi, my name is Velvet," she said quietly, "You're lucky to have such a thoughtful girlfriend" she said while averting her eyes, still uncomfortable around the new person. Blake noticed this, and had an idea on how to make Velvet more comfortable. Reaching up, she undid her bow and let her cat ears free.
"Hey, no need to be nervous," Blake said. Velvet had noticed the motion around the corner of her eye, and, looking up, saw the cat ears that swiveled around on Blake's head, getting accustomed to sound now that they weren't muffled by the bow, which Blake put in her pocket. She visibly relaxed at the sight of the ears atop Blake's head.
"Alright, time to sing," Yang said cheerfully, as she pulled out a lighter and lit the candle on the one cupcake, pushing it closer to the birthday girl.
"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday Blake! Happy birthday to you!" Yang and Velvet sang together to a smiling Blake, who blew out the candle when they finished singing. Taking out the candle, she took a bite of the cupcake; it was lemon vanilla and it tasted great. Yang and Velvet both picked up their cupcakes and started eating.
The trio made small talk while they ate the cupcakes, and when they finished Yang clapped her hands together.
"Alright, it's gift time," she said, pulling out one of the wrapped gifts. "These are the gifts from me, I don't know what Ruby and Weiss are doing for you," she informed Blake while handing her the package.
"I'm sure whatever they do I will love it," Blake said as she tore off the gift wrap, noting that the gift wrap was patterned with small black kittens. "Typical Yang," she thought. She tore off the last of the gift paper and found herself holding a book. Turning it around, she looked at the title, Melting Vale, before smiling at the gift. "Thank you Yang."
"I know how excited you were for it, so I thought it would make a good gift," Yang beamed at Blake with a wide smile, glad that she had been right in picking that book. "And, you still have one gift left from me," she said, handing Blake a small box. Velvet was just sitting passively, happy to be with her two new friends. Blake opened the box and smiled at what she saw lying inside, a simple silver bracelet."
"Yang, it's lovely," she said as she took it out of the box and put it on her left wrist.
"I'm glad that you like it, but it's not the only thing in the box," Yang said cryptically, making Blake look back in the box and notice something else. Pulling it out, she realized it was a picture of Yang's room, but there were added additions that caught the dark haired girl's attention. There was lots of leather, straps and...
"Oh God," Blake thought, feeling her face flush a brilliant red as it clicked in her mind what the items in the picture were. "Yang, what is this?" she said trying to fight the crimson blush on her face.
"That, is part of your birthday gift," Yang said with a wink, making the flush on Blake's face worse .
"How did you…"
"I may have read your diary," Yang confessed.
Blake looked from the picture to Yang's sheepish face. "Note to self: talk to Yang about not looking in my diary after…" she stopped there, not wanting the blush to get any worse with Velvet still there, as the rabbit Faunus hadn't seen the picture and didn't know about what was waiting in Yang's room.
"What about the talk you had with Weiss and Ruby?" Blake wondered, remembering the rules that had been set down for all four girls about what they could and couldn't do with their significant others and where.
"I told them it was part of your birthday gift, so they were fine with it this one time." Yang told Blake, Velvet not understanding what they were talking about, "and you still have one other gift waiting for you."
"What is it?" Blake wondered, not sure if she could handle anymore without her face catching fire from how hot it felt.
"Oh, I can't tell you just yet, you have a few... tasks, to complete, before I can give you that gift," Yang said, emphasizing the word and topping it off with a wink.
"This fiend!" Blake thought indignantly, barely able to stand how warm her face felt.
"Well Velvet, it was nice meeting you, but we must be going," Blake said as she put the picture back in the box and stood up, grabbing her book.
"It was nice to meet you as well Blake," Velvet said with a smile, "hopefully we have some classes together."
"Yeah, that would be nice," Yang said as she stood up as well.
"We'll see you later Velvet," they both said as Blake took Yang's hand, and practically pulled her along as they left the store. Velvet smiled to herself, happy to have new friends, when she realized something. Blake had forgotten to put her bow back on in her haste to leave. Velvet wondered at this, not aware that Blake had had more pressing and interesting things occupying her mind, the foremost being getting back to Yang's house and how they would spend the rest of the night.
Velvet stood up and pushed the chairs in that the two girls had forgotten to push in in their haste to get out of the building. She picked up the dirty plates, and grabbed the forgotten teddy bear from its place on the table. Making her way back to the counter, she silently thanked the fact that no customers had come in during the little birthday party. She leaned against the counter, thinking about the two lovestruck girls she had befriended. "They seem nice… weird, but nice." The rabbit Faunus thought as she got back to work, unaware of what had really gone on between her two new friends.