Chapter 35 - Help Me Help You
Sun was teetering somewhere between shocked and offended at Blake's reaction to their reunion. His own response was neither warm nor cold, though a bit sarcastic. "Nice to see you too..." He had either already forgotten, or else blocked out, the fact that he had just tackled one of, if not the single most important person he'd met since arriving in Vale. For a brief moment, they remained motionless on the ground, each trying to prove to themself that the other was real.
Blake decided that physical evidence would do just fine. She shoved Sun off of her, and having determined that the boy was not a hallucination, quickly rose to her feet. Before either of them had time to say anything else, the first silhouettes of a pack of Beowolves appeared in the shroud of dust that was settling agonizingly slowly in the room. They hadn't been able to visually track their prey, which had evidently been Blake, but Sun assumed that their collision and ensuing exchange of greetings had been far from inconspicuous. The growls were getting louder. The sound of approaching footsteps revealed the telltale trot of four-legged beasts.
By the time Sun made it to his feet, the Alpha of the pack had spotted them. He readied himself for a fight with the half of a weapon that he still had in his possession. Beowolves were a welcome change from the things he'd been fighting in the last hour or so. He began to narrow down his targets from the silhouettes and shadows in front of him. Then, from behind him, he heard Blake's voice call out, its inflection revealing a hint of disbelief. "What are you doing? You're not going to fight all of those..."
At first, Sun didn't know what she meant. "Uh... why not?"
"You look like you just got hit by a truck. And you have half of your weapon." She couldn't understand why Sun was throwing caution to the wind. He had always been an aggressive fighter, especially thinking back to the acrobatics he had displayed fighting Torchwick on the highway, or the head to head confrontation with him at the docks, but this time, it seemed borderline suicidal.
"Less is more, Blake. This is all I've got right now. Don't worry about it." Sun took a quick inventory of his appearance, discovering minor smudges and tears on his clothes. "... And if you think I look bad, you should see the truck. That does explain where my other gunchuck is, though. It's in here somewhere, I've just gotta find it."
Having explained himself thoroughly, Sun turned his attention back to the fight ahead of him. He knew roughly where the downed Goliath would be, so that much would be simple. Finding the other half of his staff amidst all of the chaos would be more challenging. Retreat was the last thing on his mind when the sudden and unexpected pressure on his arm dragged him off balance, and towards the door he'd entered from at the top of the room. The only explanation accompanying this apparent change in strategy came from Blake. "Come on!"
Out of the deluge of incoherent sounds that he made, only a few of Sun's syllables even came close to being words. "Wha- Hey! Blake? Why? Where?"
Apparently, they were running now. Sun wished it had been this simple to escape the room earlier in the night, but he had Goliaths and psychopaths to contend with, not to mention wounded teammates. Now, despite not knowing exactly what had happened to the rest of his team, he could leave the room and get out of the forsaken hellhole that Beacon had become.
Or… not. Blake made a right hand turn on the way out of the room, exactly the opposite direction of the way Sun had entered. Before he could dispute her judgement, he heard her voice calling back to him. "The good news is, you've got half a weapon... The bad news is, that's half a weapon more than I have... We're not about to fight an army of Grimm with... two shotguns tied together by a chain." Sun was taken aback somewhat by the last part of her comment. He liked to think that the weapons he had chosen for himself were more than adequate to handle any situation, and this was no exception. Part of him wanted to turn around and prove to Blake that he could handle a few Beowolves without even breaking a sweat. The only thing stopping him from this excessive display of bravado was the other part of him that knew how difficult that fight would actually be. For now, he decided it would be best to just keep following her.
As he ran, he thought about Blake's motivations, Sun hadn't realized that she was still missing her Gambol Shroud until now. He knew that she hadn't been carrying it back at the hospital, but he never actually asked what had happened to it. He'd meant to bring it up as a point of conversation, but in the last few hours he'd spent with her in Vale, the opportunity just never presented itself naturally. For now, he decided to remain focused and just follow her lead, which turned out to be much more difficult than he remembered. She was remarkably fleet of foot, and in the narrow hallways that were unfamiliar to him, Blake was very nearly leaving Sun in the dust, and the Grimm had all but given up chasing them after a short time.
Seeing Blake active again so soon was refreshing. It had only been a few days since Sun had to literally carry her up to her hospital room because she couldn't walk far enough to... escape, for lack of a better word, on her own. Now she was almost moving too fast, and seemed to have a distinct purpose. Unfortunately, Sun had no idea what that could be. With no idea where they were, or where they were going, he was along for the ride.
After an exhaustingly circuitous sprint down several unfamiliar halls, they stopped. Blake made sure that the Grimm did not have line of sight on them any more, and the two Faunus ducked into a small room, which Sun assumed was likely a storage closet of some sort based on the school supplies and janitorial equipment strewn throughout it. As quickly and quietly as possible, the door was pulled shut. It was crucial to maintain absolute silence. Beowolves were good trackers, but the ambient haze would make it difficult for them to pick up a scent. For now, Sun and Blake sat in almost complete darkness, each staring at what they assumed was the other.
It didn't take long for a half dozen lost and confused Beowolves to catch up, but now their howls and grunts were different. They no longer seemed to be planning an attack with one another, now they were hunting, with little success. Once again, the Grimm were foiled by a door. Perhaps if they knew that their prey was inside, they might attempt to break it down, but without any way to ascertain such a knowledge, they were left to wander the halls of a nearly abandoned building aimlessly.
Seconds passed, then minutes, then an hour, then two. The temptation to say something was maddening for Sun. He had begun their residence by taking a seat on the floor, but eventually grew stiff from staying in one position for too long, so he stood up, and leaned himself against a shelf to stretch his legs. Blake never moved. It was difficult to tell if the figure sharing the room with Sun was actually Blake, or just a statuesque copy that she'd left behind.
The night was nearing the end of its stay in Vale, and the hall had been quiet for some time. Blake shifted from her seated position on top of a box, startling Sun. He watched as Blake walked past him, in an impossibly silent manner, and rested her hand on the doorknob. With the utmost care, she twisted it excruciatingly slowly, testing for any creak or squeal that would give them away. It had been well oiled, apparently. The only sound to be heard was the click of the bolt unlatching from the groove cut into the door frame, and even that was barely audible. As it swung open, a dim light flowed into the room. It wasn't excessively bright, but all of the time spent in the dark made it seem that much more intense.
Blake peered out into the hallway, looked around for a bit, and then stepped out entirely. Sun still didn't move, instead resigning himself to wait for some sort of signal. There was no reason to block the doorway, in case she came darting back in. Fortunately, she didn't have to. At first, she never even came back into the room. From outside the door, she spoke with a soft tone, "Looks like we lost them. Come on, let's get moving."
Sun didn't show any signs of urgency as he pushed himself off of the shelf he had been leaning against, and now stood completely upright again. He felt stiff… or more accurately sore from the various skirmishes he'd been through earlier that night. He took a moment to stretch out his arms and back, bending over forward, and then to the left and right. Various cracks and pleasurable groans accompanied his exercise. This delay irritated Blake, causing her to poke her head back inside to see what was slowing them down. She saw Sun in the middle of his stretching, but failed to see the point of it. She raised an eyebrow as if to ask for an explanation.
Sun met her eyes as she rounded the corner. They seemed to have a nonverbal understanding that his stretching was taking up precious time, but they differed on whether or not it was worth it. Sun, pleaded his case, "What? I don't know about you, but I've had… kind of a rough night."
Blake made it clear that her night hadn't exactly been a stroll through the park either. "We... both have. Trust me. Now come on, I've got to take care of this."
The two hours he'd spent in a dark room, barely moving at all, had given him time to dwell on two things. His focus shifted back and forth between the well being of the rest of his team, and trying to rationalize the fact that Blake was here, in what was probably the most dangerous place in all of Vale, after he had specifically told her not to do anything stupid. As much as every fiber of his being wanted to confirm the safety of his friends, he could tell that Blake had something else on her mind.
"So-uh, where exactly are we in such a hurry to get to?" He hesitated, hoping for some sort of response, but got nothing. "I mean, it seems like the Grimm lost track of us, and it looks like it'll be dawn pretty soon, we could just wait it out...here...for a while...ya know...regroup...rest up…"
Blake seemed surprised, in fact almost irritated, at how patient Sun was being. Her numerous interactions with him over the course of several months painted him as someone who was very willing to follow her lead, especially if it meant adventuring into the unknown. "Wait it out?" She repeated, then paused, seemingly trying to collect her thoughts before continuing. "I can't wait it out any more. I need to put this behind me. I have to move on, and… the only way I can do that is to… is to…" The words wouldn't come out.
He had paused his stretching so that he could give his full attention to Blake. Her voice was becoming more unsteady with every passing word, and Sun could tell that whatever was causing it was troubling her greatly. "Move on? From what?" She didn't answer him, and her eyes had the telltale blankness of a thousand yard stare. "Blake, what is it? I want to help you... but you have to let me…" He walked to the doorframe that she had resorted to holding on to for support, and wrapped his arms around her. "Whatever it is, we're gonna figure it out, and we're gonna take care of it. Ok?"
Blake shifted her grasp from the door frame to Sun. The supportive embrace that they now shared was a complete departure from the strength and composure that she had shown earlier in the night, leading them away from the Grimm. In two hours, Sun had strengthened his resolve, but Blake's had crumbled. To him, it was almost unsettling that someone with such a strong will could break at the mere thought of having to do… something. She still hadn't told him what it was.
"We don't have to stay here if you don't want to. I just need you to tell me how I can help. We can't run around like crazy people and hope for the best. That only works against the Grimm." Sun looked down at Blake, who was now looking up at him. She had apparently found some humor in his comment about the Grimm, as she cracked a smile, but it didn't last long.
"Thank you," she started, as her smile faded away. "I… already tried to do this once… a-and I couldn't. I ran away from it. I wasn't strong enough." She paused again, in an effort to compose herself enough to finish her thought. "The whole reason I'm here is to get my weapon. I had to leave Gambol Shroud behind when I... carried…" She literally couldn't say the word that came next, but Sun knew what it was. He had been there when they arrived at the docks. The blood, the tears, he'd seen it all, and he knew how scarring the experience was for her. But in order to put it behind her, she would have to push through it.
"Yang." Sun said the word knowing full well what it meant. The guilt, the misery, the regret… all of it, encapsulated by a single four letter word. Even still, he couldn't understand what Yang had to do with any of this. Blake had said her goodbyes. Sun knew that much from talking to Weiss in the morning, before he left Vale. So, she would have known that her fiery teammate was, at the very least, not in critical condition any more.
He decided that good news might settle her down a little bit. "You know, she woke up. The night you left, actually." Blake's eyes went wide at the news. He continued, "Yeah, Weiss told me before I left town. She's gonna be fine. Just needs a lot of rest and a lot of time." The expression on Blake's face was temporarily full of hope, but as it slowly reverted back to sadness, Sun began to suspect that he was still missing a detail somewhere.
"That's great news," she said, in the least enthusiastic voice Sun had ever heard. "Maybe if I didn't know that her condition was all my fault, this would all be easier…"
The words were so self loathing that Sun couldn't stand hearing them. "You've gotta stop talking like that. You can't control everything in life. Stuff doesn't always just… work out. The world needs people like you… like me… like Yang and Ruby and Weiss. If everything was all rainbows and butterflies, you probably wouldn't even be a huntress. There'd be no point. We're here because we have to be. Because somewhere, sometime, every little thing we do is gonna affect something. It's our job to make sure that it's all for the best. If getting your weapon is part of the path to helping somebody, then that's worth it to me." Sun stepped off of his metaphorical soapbox, and tried to finish his rousing speech on a high note. "Now, are we gonna go get Gambol Shroud, or not?"
He expected a hopeful smile, or maybe a confident nod. The look she gave him was completely the opposite of that. Blake looked pale, almost sick. The words she said were barely able to make it out of her mouth. "The only way I can put all of this behind me… I have to go back... there." Sun nodded, he knew this much already. "I almost made it the whole way to where I left it… and then I saw her. Still lying there, mocking me. Letting me know that everything I did in my life brought me to that moment, and in that moment... I couldn't save her..."
Sun was totally lost. "Who?" His best guess had been that Gambol Shroud was a 'she'.
Blake took a step back from Sun, and looked at the ground, apparently in shame. "Yang."
If he had been lost before, Sun was now mystified by the logic he was hearing. Based on what he knew to be true, he tried to explain the situation again. "Blake, I just told you… Yang's in Vale. She's safe there. I think maybe you should rest up a bit before we-"
She cut him off, "Not... all... of her." Her words were so quiet, and filled with anguish. It hurt Blake to blurt everything out as much as it disturbed Sun to hear it, but the point had been made very clearly. The room fell silent as Sun searched for the right way to try to defuse the tension.
"So her… it's still..." He stopped mid-sentence, and tried to expunge the thoughts that his mind had conjured. "...after all this time?" He didn't want to say it, not only because of how gruesome the mental imagery was, but also because of how visibly distressed Blake was to even talk about it. Her mouth moved, but only short, unintelligible gibberish came out of it.
After several agonizing seconds passed, Sun realized that he was asking about a trauma-inducing experience, and that it might not be the best medicine for Blake's wounded psyche. Then, in an instant, the words came to him. He knew how to help. "Where is it?" The question caused her to slowly raise her eyes up to meet Sun's. "I'll get it. Just tell me where it is."
"Sun, no. I-"
"Blake, yes." With more confidence than ever, Sun shut her rebuttal down. "Maybe you can't see what this is doing to you, but I can. You're a wreck. Your instincts got you this far, but your emotions are going to get you killed. I don't know what motivates you to step out of a hospital bed and into a warzone, or how you ended up running from a pack of Beowolves, but I won't let you keep doing that to yourself."
"I'm fine!" Blake shouted back, with much more intensity than she probably intended.
"You're not!" Sun's initial outburst caught Blake completely by surprise, but he returned to a more natural, calm state almost immediately. He tried to give a fair assessment of Blake's composure. "You look like you haven't slept in… actually… have you slept since Vale?" It was a rhetorical question, so he didn't wait for an answer. "You don't have a weapon, and if I had to guess, I'd say you're still not a hundred percent healed. So, Blake, either you let me come with you and we do this together, or I'll go find Gambol Shroud myself. Either way, we're moving past this. Right now."