Yang kicked the snow from her boots and wiped the sweat from her forehead and neck, while behind her Neo shut the front door and went for her water bottle. Another run was completed, and Yang felt like she needed a shower. A hot one, both to wash the sweat from her skin and to warm herself up after running through the snow.
She felt Neo's mismatched eyes on her, and turned around to face her.
"Mind if I hit the showers, pint-size?"
Neo smiled, then reached up to play with the single heavy braid that hung over her shoulder. Yang smiled faintly as she remembered the quiet evening she had spent braiding it, Neo sitting between her legs and laughing quietly at her jokes.
Neo quickly pulled her Scroll out from the pocket of her new coat and typed away at it.
[Maybe a quick one. We're going back outside afterwards, though.]
Yang raised one eyebrow.
"You sure?"
Neo gave her a single, brief nod.
[The clearing north of here. Why, don't like the cold?]
Yang shuffled her feet self-consciously and reached for her water bottle.
"Yeah. This never used to happen. My Semblance always used to keep me warm no matter what..."
[What do you think happened?]
Yang turned her water bottle over in her hands and opened it, her mechanical hand deftly twisting the cap off.
"I don't know...it just hasn't been the same since Beacon."
Neo hummed thoughtfully to herself while Yang drank deeply from her water bottle. She cleared her throat and replaced the cap, then frowned as she saw Neo studying her.
"What?" she asked.
[Your Semblance activates when you get hurt, right?]
"Or when I'm angry sometimes, yeah."
Neo nodded once and set down her water bottle.
[Take your shower and meet me back here, make sure Ember Celica is loaded.]
/
A cold wind picked at Yang's hair and clothes, tossing strands of loose golden hair around her face and making her purple scarf flutter like a banner. Neo planted the end of her parasol on the ground and leaned on the handle.
"Today we're going to start sparring," she said, her voice a whisper barely audible above the wind.
Yang set her jaw and gave Neo a stiff nod. It was bound to happen sooner or later, no reason why they couldn't start now. She looked down at her robot hand and clenched it. She'd been learning to use it. It was still painfully unlike her old hand, in lots of different ways - the lost senses, the stiffness, the occasional moment when she misjudged her strength with it - but she could hit things with it. She could definitely do that.
"I'm ready," she said. Neo tilted her head.
"This will probably hurt," she whispered. Yang bared her teeth in what could generously be called a smile.
"The harder you hit me, the stronger I'll get."
Neo gave her a crooked grin in return, and Yang felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
"That's what I was counting on."
Neo twirled her parasol and began walking in a broad circle, keeping Yang to her right.
"You're not a bad fighter, Yang. I've seen what you can do. You have one glaring flaw, though."
"I let my anger do all my thinking," Yang said bitterly. She knew that well enough - after her fight with Adam, the thought was engraved in her mind.
"Precisely. You get emotional and lose sight of your goal. In this fight, you only have one goal. Hit me. In return, my objective is to knock you down."
She opened her parasol and settled it on her shoulder.
"Now. Hit me."
Yang immediately dropped into a fighting stance. She licked at chapped lips and sized up her opponent, as instantly all of her memories came flooding back. Learning from her dad, sparring with her classmates at Beacon, her fights with Neo and during the tournament...and, of course the encounter with Adam.
She couldn't try a head-on attack, Neo was too smart for that.
Yang fired the left gauntlet of Ember Celica, feeling the familiar recoil push back against her. The round burst from the muzzle in a flash of red and yellow, and just like that her heart was pounding, and she was fighting again.
Just like riding a bike, you never forget, she thought, But both are way easier with two arms...
/
Yang's opening shot came in low, and Neo flipped backwards to avoid it. She landed neatly on her feet and brought up her parasol to block the next shot, and then Yang was rushing forwards, kicking up snow as she aimed a blow with her right hand.
Neo thought for a split second about falling back and leaving an illusion in her place, but she decided for this first sparring match she didn't need to use the full breadth of her abilities.
Instead, she danced backwards, bobbing and weaving just outside of Yang's reach.
Neo found herself avoiding Yang's blows by a hair's breadth more than once. Clearly Neo was also a little out of practice, but even then she was ahead of Yang in skill - though the gap had certainly closed a bit.
The opening salvo was good, she tried to catch me off balance, she thought, as Yang gritted her teeth and aimed another blow at Neo. Seeing an opening, Neo ducked to the side and kicked Yang in the ribs, knocking her back a step and hopefully giving her a chance to recover.
Instead of taking it, she fired off a round from her right gauntlet, and Neo swung her parasol in a wide arc, deflecting the shot, then closing it and bringing it up in a ready position.
That was a mistake, she noted with a little disappointment. True, Yang was rusty, but one of the biggest flaws Neo had found in Yang's fighting style was the inability to recognize opportunities.
For example, the opening Yang had just created by extending her arm to fire. Neo darted in close, jabbing with the tip of her parasol at Yang's stomach and chest. Yang moved with her, using her gauntlets to block or deflect the blows, but Neo was quicker, and for every two hits Yang blocked another one connected.
Not bad, she's certainly more composed than she was on the train.
Neo gave Yang a smirk and studied her face. She'd landed more than a few solid hits on Yang, but for some reason Yang's punches didn't feel any stronger, nor could Neo see the red rising behind Yang's eyes.
Yang let out a scream of frustration as she prepared to fire a blow directly at Neo's center of mass, but Neo batted her fist aside, and the round went off over Neo's left shoulder. Yang let the recoil push her back, and she pivoted on her right foot, spinning around and aiming a kick at Neo with her left.
Now that was impressive, Neo thought as she blocked the kick with her parasol. The blow was jarring, but she was able to recover quicker than Yang, hooking the handle of her parasol around Yang's right ankle and executing a backwards flip that planted her boot on Yang's throat while pulling her off her feet.
/
For a moment, the world spun around her, then Yang's vision cleared and she found herself staring up at the sky. Clouds the color of gray unpolished steel obscured the sun, but there were large gaps where she could still see the azure blue sky.
Yang groaned as she felt a dull pain spread through her back and shoulders - she had definitely landed hard. The snow crunched beneath her as she shifted, feeling the pain subside.
Her view was soon obscured as Neo leaned over her, the girl's mismatched eyes staring into Yang's own.
"And that's all for today," she said in a sing-song tone. Yang threw her good arm over her face and let all of her frustration rush out of her, now replaced by shame. She must have let out a heavy sigh, because Neo knelt down next to her and nudged her shoulder.
"Hey, don't be upset. That was pretty good for your first time," she said lightly.
Yang removed her hand and sat up, brushing the snow from her shoulders and hair.
"It wasn't my first time," she snarled. She glared at Neo, who stared at the ground with downcast eyes.
"I didn't mean to be patronizing," she said apologetically, "But it was your first time, with the arm at least."
"Yeah, but...it was over so quick..." Yang sighed.
"I've been in shorter fights," Neo replied with a shrug, "Where do you think you went wrong?"
Yang scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"I didn't think, as always," she spat. Neo shook her head.
"See, I noticed some improvement."
Neo stood up and offered Yang her hand. As she helped Yang to her feet, Neo explained.
"Your opening move was to try and soften me up, get me off-balance. Before, you nearly always rushed in as a first instinct. Second, you pulled some fancy footwork. Like in your fight against Mercury. Far better than our first time."
Yang gave her a hesitant nod as Neo stepped back and prodded her with the tip of her parasol.
"Your problem is your guard. I know you can block and deflect blows, but you overcommit, and it leaves you open."
She stared closely at Yang.
"How are you feeling?"
Yang sighed and ran a hand back through her hair.
"Um...kind of dumb, honestly. And frustrated at how rusty I am and..."
She shook her head and frowned.
"You're not dumb," Neo insisted, "Just unrefined."
She tossed her braid back over her shoulder and turned towards the house.
"You shouldn't expect to be an expert the first time, sunshine," she called back over her shoulder as she set off for home. Yang followed her, rubbing at her right shoulder and trying to fight her frustration over losing so easily.
You're so...useless. Sloppy. Maybe you would have been better if you hadn't stayed in bed for two months, she thought bitterly. She shook her heads again to dislodge her thoughts.
"Hey, Neo," she asked, to try and distract herself, "How do you feel?"
Neo turned to look back at Yang over her shoulder, eyes glinting.
"I'm excited for when we have a real rematch."
Yang shivered and pulled her jacket closer around her. It was hard to forget that Neo was still a trained killer, one who had nearly succeeded in killing Yang before.
Still, who better to train her than someone who knew all her weaknesses?
/
Four sparring matches later in as many days, and Neo was still running rings around her. Literally.
Yang planted her feet and raised her arms, going into a defensive stance.
Tighten your guard, Yang, she thought as she watched Neo move in a wide arc.
She had to admit, Neo was impressively quick and agile. Despite being so small, her limbs were slender and strong, and every move she made seemed so...effortless.
Yang bounced from one foot to the other, and Neo brought up her parasol, ready to respond.
She's literally running rings around you, Yang, focus! If you try and move in close, she'll just start dodging, it'll be like she's not even there - wait!
Yang fired off a blast from Ember Celica and spun around, but it was too late. Neo shattered into shards of glass as the bullet smashed into the illusion, and Yang turned just in time to see a blur of pink, brown, and white appear in front of her. Neo's heavy boot connected with the center of Yang's chest, and all the air rushed out of her lungs. Before she could recover, Neo had landed, jumped again, and slammed her boot into the side of Yang's head. She saw a flash of light, then she was on the ground, dazed.
Neo shook her head and paced in a broad circle around Yang.
"That was good, but you were a touch too slow. And your stance when you turned - left you wide open. But you caught on quick enough, that's good."
Yang didn't listen, instead she screamed and slammed her robot hand into the ground. She hated it, she hated herself, she hated everything, and she was sick of being weak...
"It's no use," she spat, "I'm not going to get any better. I think...I think I'm just too broken."
She felt the anger drain out of her, replaced only by cold grief.
"Is that it, then? You're going to give up?"
Neo walked closer, towering over Yang.
"Maybe I should," Yang muttered. She stared at Neo's black riding boots.
Neo kicked out suddenly, slamming the toe of her boot into Yang's stomach. Yang barely had time to block it; she barely tried to do so anyway, and the blow knocked the breath out of her, drove a stabbing pain into her core through her Aura, and flipped her over onto her back. Neo looked down at her, a twisted scowl on her face.
"What the hell was that?" Yang growled, clutching her stomach and propping herself up on one elbow.
"You're telling me you want to give up? You want to give up on yourself the same way everyone else gave up on you?"
Yang felt anger, true anger, rising up inside her. The edges of her vision turned red.
"You want to be like them? Like your mother? Like Ruby? Like Bl-"
"Don't. Don't say her name," Yang said as she got to her feet, her voice cold and hard. She stood in front of Neo, fists clenched, eyes blazing red. Neo smirked.
"Getting angry?"
Yang felt her teeth grind together as she stepped forward, wishing so badly that she could punch that stupid smirk off of Neo's face.
"What do you think?"
Neo tilted her head.
"Who are you angry at, sunshine?"
"I'm angry at you, you little shit! I'm angry because you don't get it! I'm. Useless. You wanted this! You wanted to team up, but you didn't know how weak I was. I'm not talking about my skills, I'm...I'm talking about me."
Yang stomped in a circle, waving her arm - her robot one - at Neo, not even caring to look at her, simply wanting to release all of her anger. As she ranted, though, she just felt worse, she felt the weight of her depression coming down on her, she felt all that self-loathing creeping back. The winter afternoon suddenly felt very cold.
"Why? Why me? Why don't you get it?" she asked dully as she stared at the dead treeline, feeling tears well up in the corners of her eyes.
/
Neo wanted to scream.
This isn't her. This isn't Yang!
Yang wasn't broken, she just thought she was. Neo had tried so hard to reawaken Yang's inner fire. That was Yang - the glowing, fiery young woman, full of strength and will. But nothing was working!
Neo stepped forward and shoved Yang, sending her stumbling back a few feet. The blonde didn't even try to resist, she merely fixed Neo with that same cold stare. When Neo saw the tears in Yang's eyes she felt a stab of helplessness.
Where is your warmth? Where!?
"No, you don't get it, Yang," Neo snapped, raising her voice in a harsh bark. Her throat stung, but she stared up at Yang, her teeth bared in a snarl, "It's you! You're angry at yourself, and it's holding you back!"
Yang blinked at her, then gave her a confused frown.
"I've been trying my best, I don't-"
"No!" Neo shouted again, "I mean all that anger is directed in! That's why your Semblance hasn't been working like it used to! That's why you can't fight me!"
Realization dawned suddenly on Yang's face.
"That's...I..."
Neo pressed on.
"You're angry. Stay angry. But be angry at the people who hurt you! Be angry at me if you have to! But whatever you do, stop directing it at yourself."
Yang paused, deep in thought. Neo let out a ragged cough and turned to face the house. She'd rather go inside to the warmth than continue this argument out in the cold. Behind her, Yang finally spoke.
"Neo, I don't want to be angry at you."
There was something in her voice, something about the inflection, that made Neo wonder about the unspoken meaning.
But you are anyway, aren't you?
Neo sighed heavily and walked back towards the house. She heard the crunch of Yang's boots in the snow behind her, and felt a bizarre twinge of awkwardness.
You live in the same house, silly.
She tried to ignore Yang's presence just behind her, though she could swear Yang's eyes were fixed on the back of her head. Instead, she looked around at the dead trees, their branches clacking against each other with every gust of wind. A raven cawed at her and fluttered off, but otherwise the forest was dead and cold.
Neo coughed again and watched a puff of breath vanish in the wind. She turned the sparring match, and the conversation over in her head, wondering how she could get through to Yang.
It was so frustrating! She felt like she was staring at a puzzle, unable to find the one piece that would fit just right. Neo was worried that there was nothing she could do but keep encouraging Yang, until maybe she would stop blaming herself for her failures. And while Neo was more than willing to do that, she still felt a tiny bit helpless. And that was not a feeling she enjoyed in the slightest.
Finally, Neo reached the house. She stomped across the yard and threw open the front door. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder at Yang, but the blonde was staring at the ground, apparently fuming. Neo sighed and walked through the open doorway.
Maybe they both just needed some time alone.