Behind Bars, Volume 2
Part Three: Tooth and Nail
"Grrrrr – AHHH! Son of a- Umph!"
Cadeja chuckled darkly.
"A little rusty Xiao Long?" she teased, still laughing.
"No! I got this!"
The wolf Faunus disappeared in a blur of motion and the next thing Yang knew, Cadeja landed another solid blow on her shoulder.
"Dammit!" cursed Yang, holding her arm.
"Yeah – you definitely got this," purred Cadeja.
"Stop playing around!" growled Yang, feeling her frustration start to take over.
"Oh, I'm not playing," said Cadeja, her face growing more serious.
Thinking that Cadeja's guard had slipped while they were talking, Yang dropped her hand from her bruised right shoulder and lashed out. Propelling herself forward, she feinted like she was going to throw a jab at Cadeja's jaw. But instead, she kept barreling forward – trying to tackle the Faunus.
But Cadeja wouldn't be caught by surprise. Somehow she'd anticipated the move – and instead of raising her arms to block the punch she sidestepped neatly, grabbing onto Yang as she passed and giving her a not-so gentle shove.
Yang stumbled and nearly lost her balance. Before she could turn back around to face Cadeja, the Faunus landed another kick – this time between Yang's shoulder blades.
"AH! How did you do that?" hissed Yang spinning around. "How did you – what the hell are you doing?"
Cadeja smiled – her eyes were closed.
"Somethin' the matter, ave rota?"
"Yeah – I'm not gonna fight you with your eyes closed. Come on, you don't have to go easy on me."
"I'm not – believe me. Just try to hit me – you'll see," said Cadeja, never once opening her eyes.
Yang hesitated.
Is she trying to make me feel worse? Am I really doing so badly that she feels like she has to handicap herself to give me a chance?
"Cadeja, I won't-"
"Yes, you WILL!" she shouted. Not giving Yang a chance to respond, Cadeja nimbly leapt up onto the pile of rubble beside them. Running at full speed, she leapt from one rock to the next – arcing down at Yang from above.
Yang barely had time to react. Throwing herself backwards, she landed on her back. Curling up so most of her weight was on her shoulders, she lifted her feet above her – legs bent at the knees.
She'd moved just in time – her feet caught Cadeja square in the chest. Heaving, Yang kicked out and sent the Faunus flying past her. Quickly, she launched herself off of the ground and back onto her feet – spinning around to face Cadeja.
"That's better," said Cadeja, reopening one dark green eye.
At this point they were both breathing heavily. Yang's muscles burned – after several months they weren't used to the abuse. She smiled – it felt good.
Yang watched as Cadeja straightened up, seeming to relax for a moment. Taking a second to catch her breath as well, Yang quickly glanced around. Even with the pile of concrete blocking them from the view of half the guards and inmates in the Yard, there were still several people who could see them.
But for whatever reason, none of them had so much as reacted to Yang and Cadeja's sparring.
Yang frowned.
What did she do to get them to leave us alone? She'd said they'd never let us-
Yang's thoughts were interrupted when she felt a sudden gust of wind whoosh by her head and she heard the scuttling descent of a pebble disturbed in the pile of concrete. Looking up, she saw Cadeja taking the high ground – eyes closed once again.
Deciding to meet her on the offensive, Yang jumped up onto the nearest rock, racing her to the top.
Cadeja was fast – but so was Yang. Using her long legs to propel her up the pile, Yang managed to reach the top just one step ahead of the Faunus. Turning on her heel and letting gravity add to her speed, she fell on Cadeja with her left hand pulled back – balled up into a fist.
For a second Cadeja frowned and her step seemed to falter. A rock had shifted under one of her feet. Taking advantage, Yang lashed out –
"Ha! I got you now," she growled.
As Yang's punch connected with Cadeja's ribs, the Faunus twisted – moving impossibly fast. Yang grimaced as they both fell down the pile. She'd only managed to land a glancing blow – barely enough to do any sort of damage.
The fight stopped momentarily as they both fought to regain their balance and they tumbled back down to the grass of the open field. Each of them landing on their feet, they ended up standing about five yards apart.
A fire burned in Yang's gut.
Now! Move before she can recover –
Swallowing a war cry, Yang sprinted across the gap between them and grinned – satisfied – as she leapt and managed to land a flying kick on Cadeja's upraised arms. Yang's foot impacted one of Cadeja's forearms heavily and for a moment the world seemed to come to a standstill.
Yang watched as if it was in slow motion: Cadeja's other arm snaked around her foot – hand reaching for Yang's ankle.
Yes! she thought triumphantly. She's falling for it! I just have to let her take hold…
Yang had purposely left herself open to the counterattack. Hoping that Cadeja would take the bait, she intended to take the full force of the blow and absorb it with her semblance – only to send it hurtling back in Cadeja's face.
Then, one of Cadeja's shaggy white ears twitched.
"What the-" sputtered Yang.
Cadeja's grip released from Yang's ankle and her arm slid back behind the forearm that had taken the brunt of the kick. Exhaling heavily, Cadeja shoved back hard – sending Yang flying away from her.
Yang flipped over backwards once gracefully in the air, landing on the balls of her feet with a muted thud. It was all over in a matter of seconds.
"What did you do that for?" she yelled, her eyes flashing red. She could feel the heat of her semblance rising over her skin in anticipation of what should have been an easy counterattack for the Faunus.
Cadeja opened her eyes, studying Yang with a bemused look on her face.
"You think I don't know what you were tryin' to do, Xiao Long?" she asked, a lopsided grin pulling up at the corner of her lips.
"But how could you?" demanded Yang. "I've never told you anything about my semblance! There's no way you could know what I was doing."
"Obviously," said Cadeja, "there was a way."
Yang practically seethed, her ribs heaving with each ragged breath. Panting, she took a moment to puzzle it out.
"It's your eyes, isn't it?" she asked after a moment, her breathing slowly returning to normal.
Cadeja straightened up out of her crouch, holding her side where a sharp cramp bit into her lungs. She may not have taken a lot of hits during their exchange, but the sparring had lasted long enough to start to tire her out.
Cadeja grinned – for a moment flashing her teeth, marked by two dark spots where her fangs should have been.
"Isn't it?" repeated Yang. "You're doing something… I just don't know what. Your semblance – it comes from your eyes."
"Yes, and no," said Cadeja, still catching her breath.
"Oh c'mon don't pull that cryptic crap on me, I get enough of that from Church," Yang muttered.
"Va-le," said Cadeja, exaggerating the first syllable. "My semblance isn't somethin' I usually talk about, but I guess you've earned that much."
Walking over to the pile of rubble, Cadeja seated herself on a low shelf of concrete. Yang remained standing.
"You were right to think it's in my eyes – otherwise I wouldn't have been able to fight you like that. But that's only part of it," she said, pausing. "My semblance is a rare gift – only known to show up amongst my people once in a generation."
She frowned.
"It can be difficult to explain. For starters, I don't actually have to close my eyes to use it," she said, smiling up at Yang. "That's just me showin' off – tends to fuck with my opponents a bit too."
Yang grumbled under her breath, causing Cadeja to chuckle.
"It allows me to sort of… I guess the word is borrow other people's sight. In most cases, they don't even notice it happenin' – unless I want them to."
Realization dawned on Yang's face.
"That's why nobody paid attention to us…"
Cadeja nodded.
"But it's more than that. Like I said, it's not just in my eyes. It's up to me to learn how to interpret what I see through those around me – everybody sees the world a little differently. By piecing it all together, I can see a picture that most people could never imagine," she said, her voice muted. "It takes years to master – if not decades. Even I'm not completely in control of it."
"Did someone teach you?" asked Yang.
"Yes, but that was a long time ago – and that's a story for another day."
"That still doesn't explain how you anticipated what I was trying to do with my semblance," she said.
"It's like I said. I pull all that information together to see patterns in the fabric of the world – if I'm good enough at it, I can learn to predict somebody's fightin' style, even after a brief encounter. And sometimes, I can even see somebody's semblance – know what it is before they ever use it in front of me. They don't even necessarily have to have their aura unlocked, but that happens more rarely."
"That's," said Yang, her head spinning, "impossible."
Cadeja shook her head grinning.
"No, it's not ave rota. Difficult, yes. Impossible? No. That's how I knew – I knew you wanted me to attack you, just so you could double the force and send it back at me."
Yang looked down at her hand numbly, her open palm turned upwards.
I never had a chance, did I?
Cadeja noticed the pause and shifted off of her seat on the pile of rubble.
"Don't get down on yourself. Here – let's try again," she said, sliding back into her stance.
"But how am I supposed to fight that?" asked Yang, dejected.
"There's more than one way to win a fight, Xiao Long. It's plain to most anybody who sees you fight that you favor direct attacks and brute strength. With your semblance you can afford to – at least, up to a certain point. But sometimes you'll find yourself up against an obstacle you can't simply punch your way through, ave rota."
For a moment, Cadeja's eyes softened.
"But givin' up isn't the answer. You simply have to find another way around."
For a moment, Yang said nothing – still staring at her hand.
"When I get outta here I'm gonna have to do this all over again, you know," she said. "A general from Atlas built this arm for me – and I'm gonna have to learn to fight, again."
Tears of frustration welled up in Yang's eyes.
"And you'll be ready for it, Xiao Long. Take this one step at a time – first learn to fight without it, and then with it. You never know what will happen – you may not always be able to rely on that new arm, even when you're outta here."
Yang closed her hand into a tight fist, muscles in her forearm clenching. Looking up at Cadeja she smiled, determined.
"Let's go," said Yang, widening her stance and raising her fist in front of her.
Cadeja returned her smile and leapt forward – closing the gap between them.
For several minutes they exchanged a series of blows. Yang found herself backpedaling and dodging frequently – on the defensive more than she would have liked. But without her right arm, she had to be more cautious.
Even still, Cadeja landed several small blows to her jaw, ribs, and shoulders – but none were forceful enough to fuel her semblance to the point where Yang could cause any major retaliatory damage.
But bit by bit, Yang noticed Cadeja starting to tire out faster than she was. Feeling confident, she tried to regain some of the ground she'd lost. At one point, she had managed to step inside Cadeja's guard, knocking her left foot out from underneath her and landing a series of quick punches in her gut before she could fully recover her balance.
Reeling, Cadeja leapt away and gave herself some space. They both paused for a moment, fighting to draw a breath.
The wolf Faunus smiled.
"Are you ready, ave rota?" she asked, tone playful.
"Ready for what?" Yang gasped out between breaths.
"For me to push you," said Cadeja.
Before Yang could ask what that meant, the edges of Cadeja's form seemed to shudder for a moment and then she was gone. If Yang hadn't known any better, she would have said she was never there.
To her right – on her weak side – she heard a low chuckle and she turned, braced for the attack. An invisible punch landed on her jaw and her eyes burned red again, tinting her vision. For a split second while the jab made contact with her skin, Yang thought she could just glimpse Cadeja – but when the strike had ended she was gone again.
In a defensive crouch, Yang slowly turned in a circle – eyes searching the field around her.
Almost a whisper, Cadeja's voice sounded just behind her left shoulder.
"You'll have to rely on more than just your eyes, ave rota…"
Spinning around, Yang raised her arm – ready to defend herself. But no blow came. Cautiously, she started to turn in a circle again, trying to anticipate Cadeja's next attack.
Unfortunately, she failed to stop the next several blows. Cadeja came at her from all sides – darting in and out too fast for Yang to retaliate. Another punch connected with her jaw, a foot stuck her hip, another kick landed across her ribs.
Dammit! There has to be a way…
By now, Yang's semblance had started to build from the number of blows she'd taken from Cadeja.
I just need one clear shot… she thought, biting down on her lip.
While the wheels were turning in her head, another attack came at her from behind. A split second before she felt Cadeja's fist connect with her shoulder, Yang heard a low grunt and a muffled footstep.
Wincing, she smiled.
Or maybe I just need to…
A new plan was taking shape in her mind.
Only one way to find out.
Nervously, Yang let her eyes close and she put everything she had into listening for the small sounds of Cadeja's approach. She frowned – other noises from the Yard babbled around her head and she had to force herself to concentrate.
A pebble skittered across the pile of rubble to her right – again on her weak side.
There!
Eyes snapping open, Yang spun out of the way and felt a small breeze as Cadeja whirred past her. Dancing around the lower levels of the rock pile, Yang skirted up into the concrete – luring Cadeja away from the soft grass and up to where she'd be forced to make more noise.
Careful to pick a stable spot, Yang forced herself to listen even harder than before. Something crunched lightly a few feet below her and Yang jumped backwards, propelling herself further up the pile.
For several minutes, Yang danced her way around the pile of fallen concrete – managing to keep a few feet between her and Cadeja most of the time. No more sudden blows came out of nowhere, no more heavy-fisted punches landed in her face.
Yang's lungs started to burn and her legs were like ghost limbs beneath her. Once, she didn't quite jump far enough to land on the next slab of rock and she nearly fell. She'd gotten lucky that Cadeja wasn't closer when that happened.
Finally, when Yang thought that just maybe she wouldn't be able to outlast Cadeja, the fabric of the world seemed to twist for a minute and then the white-haired Faunus appeared a couple yards away from her. Cadeja was panting hard, crouched down on one knee. Her eyes were squeezed shut tightly, and she grimaced.
"There you are," muttered Yang.
Steeling herself, Yang leapt across the space between them and landed heavily, shaking the slab of concrete where Cadeja knelt. Yang's hair glowed with a yellow fire and her eyes burned brightly. Her fist swung around in a deadly arc – aimed right between Cadeja's eyes.
But her hand stopped right before the Faunus's face and she smiled.
"Game over," she whispered between shuddering breaths.
Cadeja peeked up at her, peeling open one eye. She grinned briefly.
"Well done, ave rota. You found a way," she said.
After that, they both slid down the pile and collapsed on the ground in a heap. Lying on their backs, they stared up at the sky above the force field – exhausted. Dazed, they watched rain drops bounce off of the invisible barrier, landing in a subtle pitter-patter above them.
"It tires you out, doesn't it?" asked Yang after a few minutes of silence.
"Yes, it does. I usually wouldn't rely so heavily on my semblance in a fight – or else I'd risk someone figuring out what you did and taking advantage. I only did it this time to help you train," said Cadeja, turning her head to look at Yang.
"So it does have a weakness," Yang murmured.
"Yes – but that's not the only one," said Cadeja.
She paused for a moment and then seemed to make a decision.
"This isn't somethin' we usually tell outsiders. So, ave rota," she said, pulling herself up onto one elbow to glare down at Yang, "Never repeat what I am about to tell you. It's not safe for just anyone to know your weaknesses, you got me?"
Yang nodded, eyebrows knitting together.
Satisfied, Cadeja laid back down on the grass.
"Yes – fighting with my semblance makes me tired faster than fighting without out it. Especially when I try to use it on more and more people. But there's a reason why it's called el camino ciego amongst my people."
"What does it mean?" asked Yang.
"It means the blind path," replied Cadeja.
"That doesn't make much sense," muttered Yang. "If it lets you see more than anyone else by taking the sight of others, it should be called borrowed sight or vision stealer or something cool like that."
Cadeja chuckled once and then coughed – her lungs still not fully recovered from earlier.
"There's a reason," she said when she got her voice back. "It's called the blind path because if my aura were to break while I'm using it – or even if I use it on too many people for too long – there's a price to pay. My vision would actually get worse. I wouldn't quite be blind – and it's only temporary – but I would be vulnerable. I've trained to fight in case that were to happen, but still…"
Her voice petered out, and for a moment she just stared up at the sky.
"I think I get it," said Yang, glancing over at her cellmate. "It's kind of like when I release my semblance – after it builds up, if I put everything I've got into one attack, I feel just so… drained afterwards. I could still fight, but I wouldn't be strong enough to keep going for long."
"Mhm," Cadeja hummed in her throat, her chin bobbing once in a slight nod.
After that, they were silent, and a few minutes later, they heard the voices of some of the COs calling out to the inmates.
"D Block! Time's up! Line up for transport – you're hittin' the showers!"
Sighing, Yang picked herself up off the ground. With a grin, she reached her hand down to Cadeja and helped pull the Faunus up to her feet.
Making a face at Yang, Cadeja wrinkled up her nose.
"Well, at least there's one good thing," she said.
Puzzled, Yang asked, "What's that?"
"We got the showers next – by the gods you stink."
"Hey!" yelled Yang, chasing after Cadeja as she ran across the Yard to where guards were lining girls up to be cuffed for the walk to the B Block showers.
Cold water pelted the skin on Yang's back – the jet from the showerhead stabbing into her like a blade of ice.
For once, she enjoyed the sensation. Rolling the muscles in her neck and shoulders, she let the icy water knead into the sore spots from her sparring session with Cadeja. Still wary of the time limit on shower privileges, Yang washed her hair and scrubbed a ragged wash cloth across her skin.
Quickly glancing behind her, Yang made sure no one was looking before she let her aura build up for a few seconds – letting the warmth from the energy soothe her tired muscles.
Hurrying to shut the faucet off before the timer ran out on her shower, Yang stemmed the flow of her aura and grabbed the towel she'd draped over the side of the stall.
As she turned around to step out of the shower, Yang's cheeks flushed. In the moment before she could wrap the towel securely around herself, she found that she still felt embarrassed about being naked in front of so many other women. After two months, it wasn't something Yang had been able to get used to.
Even with a corner tucked tightly into the top of the thin towel, Yang still held onto it with her hand, her arm draped protectively across her chest. Walking back through the rows of shower stalls, Yang made her way over to the counter where she'd left a change of clothes.
Try as she might, Yang couldn't help but catch a few quick glances of other girls in the showers. Some women didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that they had no privacy – perhaps, they'd just been here too long to care anymore. They'd walk naked around the bathroom and as far as Yang could tell they didn't gave a damn who saw them.
Other inmates were more like Yang. They hurried through their showers and tried to cover themselves with their hands. The worst was when you had to use one of the first stalls closest to the door – there, the guards could see you and with the recent shortage of COs, it wasn't always women who were assigned to escort the inmates to the bathrooms.
More than once, Yang had noticed a male guard not so subtly sneaking a peek at some of the girls. And, depending on the guard, some girls seemed to encourage it – possibly hoping to win a favor.
But at what cost? thought Yang, shaking her head.
When she made it over to where she'd stashed her clothes, Yang found that Cadeja was already there and dressed. Not noticing Yang's approach, her eyes were distant and unfocused as she stared blindly at the wall length mirror in front of her. Gingerly, her hand came up and touched her mouth – just over where one of her fangs would have been.
Feeling awkward about intruding on the moment, Yang hesitated for a second before making a low coughing sound in her throat.
Cadeja's ears perked up on top of her head and the dazed look left her face.
"Hey," said Yang, coming to stand next to the Faunus.
"Sup," she muttered. Picking up a hair brush, she started to tug it through her wild mass of hair.
Still wearing her towel, Yang slipped into her underwear and stepped into her khaki colored pants. One leg at time she tugged them up until the elastic waist band sat just above her hips.
Looking around at the other inmates, Yang dropped the towel from around her chest. For a moment, she stood there half naked, fumbling with her bra. Hooking the clasp, she pulled it down over her head like a t-shirt. Carefully, she finagled her ruined right arm through the straps.
Still combing through her spiky white hair, Cadeja teased around the base of her wolf ears with the brush. The black tufted tip of one ear flicked and she closed her eyes, smiling at the sensation.
Yang peeked over at her through the curtain of her wet hair, and she couldn't help the bemused grin the tugged up the corners of her lips. It was a rare moment to the see the usually hard woman relax and enjoy something like scratching her own ears.
Still smiling to herself, Yang dropped her eyes back to the counter in front of her as she went about the business of unfolding her shirt.
"Don't think I forgot, by the way," said Cadeja.
Still fumbling with her shirt, Yang looked over at her. Cadeja's eyes were open in narrow slits as she pulled her long white hair over her shoulder, teasing out the ends with her brush.
"We had a deal. I spar with you and we talk – you've still got some explainin' to do," she said. Her eyes flicked up in the mirror to meet Yang's.
"I didn't forget," said Yang, returning her gaze. "Later, we'll talk. When we're at dinner or something – we got work duty coming up after this."
Cadeja nodded.
"Have fun with that, tell Darrah I said hi," she said wryly.
"I'll make sure to do just that," Yang muttered as she pulled her shirt down over her head.
After a minute, the two of them had finished cleaning up. Gathering up their stuff, they turned to walk back towards the entrance to the B Block showers.
Several latecomers were still in the showers, some were even just starting. Most girls, however, had finished. A long line of inmates clogged up the area by the entrance to the showers as inmates cued up to get handcuffed.
Standing at the back of the crowd, Yang and Cadeja waited. Occasionally they muttered something to one another, not really talking about anything.
The line crawled, moving up only once every few minutes. The few guards assigned to the showers that day were overwhelmed by the crush of inmates waiting to leave the bathroom.
A handful of girls decided to take advantage of the distraction. Looking over Cadeja's shoulder, Yang saw two girls in the same shower stall. One was ripping at her clothes, pulling her shirt up over her head. The other had already been in the shower –tendrils of wet black hair sticking to her naked back.
Yang had started to look away when her eye fell onto the inmate's exposed back. Dark black ink snaked across her skin, curling lines with sharp, clean edges. The tattoo was massive – it stretched from her shoulder blades down to the small of her back.
It was an eagle in midflight. Its wings reached from her right shoulder to her left hip, ending just below a patch of red, shiny skin – as if grown over a recent wound.
The eagle's feathers came to neat little points, and around the wings were scrawled stylized little lines – indicating motion and wind whirring around the bird. Some of them rippled like dark flames, and they curved up onto her neck and down between the dimples of her lower back.
The beast's head arced across her right shoulder blade. Its beak shrieked open in a silent cry, a sharp little tongue poking out of its harshly curved mouth. The pupils of its eyes were slitted like a snake's.
The eagle flexed and moved as the muscles in the girl's back tensed. Her hands hungrily tore into the other girl's hair, yanking back her head as she trailed kisses across her neck. In some places, her teeth left small red marks across the girl's skin.
Yang lost sight of the sprawling black bird as the girl turned and shoved the other inmate against the wall of the shower stall.
Ears swiveling towards the noise, Cadeja turned to see what Yang was staring at.
"Ay, esa pendeja," she muttered.
Now that the couple had turned, Yang could see the girl with the tattoo's face. Unsurprisingly, it was Sasha.
The other girl in the shower – nobody that Yang recognized – reached up to squeeze Sasha's breasts but Sasha growled and batted her hands away. Her face practically a snarl, she latched onto the girl's wrists and pinned her arms behind her back.
The girl's shoulder wrenched and she let out a small yelp. The cry only served to encourage Sasha, whose teeth clamped down around the girl's lower lip.
Curling herself around the girl's body, Sasha's eyes glanced up over the girl's shoulder and for a moment her eyes met Yang's. She smiled darkly and continued to stare at Yang as her tongue teased in and out of the other girl's mouth.
Sasha's hands released the girl's wrists and clawed into her back, trailing bright red lines across her skin.
Yang frowned, eyes narrowing. She wanted to look away but she didn't want to give Sasha the satisfaction.
Sasha laughed and blew a kiss at Yang.
"Come on," said Cadeja. Tugging on Yang's arm, she pulled Yang up through the crowd of waiting inmates. Around them, a couple girls protested as they cut in front of them in the line to leave the B Block showers.
"Sasha's such a creep," spat Yang. "Sometimes it feels like everywhere I look – there she is!"
Cadeja frowned, trying to catch Yang's eye.
"Don't let her get you, me entiendes, Xiao Long?" she said, voice commanding.
"It's easier said than done. Sasha's not gonna leave me alone anytime soon," muttered Yang, eyes trained on the floor. The muscles in her jaw clenched and rolled under her skin.
"La Mala is a royal bitch – trust me, I've been around long enough to know that. But she'll find a new target – she always does. One day you'll wake up and she'll be somebody else's problem."
Yang tightened her hand into a fist around her thumb, pressing on the joint until it cracked with a loud pop.
"Even if that's her usual MO, unfortunately for me that just isn't gonna happen in my case," she murmured.
Cadeja flashed her a confused look.
"Da fuck does that mean?"
Yang shook her head.
"I'll explain later – it's sort of a long story."
Cadeja narrowed her dark green eyes, studying Yang's face. Yang felt the hair prick up on the back of her neck, feeling as if something was trying to brush against her thoughts.
"Hey!" she yelled when she realized what the sensation was. "Don't think I don't know what you're up to – stop trying to use your semblance on me! I promised I'd tell you what's up, later."
Cadeja smiled.
"Cálmate, ave rota. I can't actually read your mind – I'm just trying to make sure you're okay. I don't even think you realize how much your aura spiked just now."
Feeling called out, Yang made a visible effort to relax the muscles in her neck and jaw, releasing the tension that had started to build up. Slowly, she took a deep breath.
"Your eyes were gonna do that thing again, you know," said Cadeja. With her index finger, she reached up and poked Yang in the middle of her forehead, just above her eyes. "Your frustration builds, and focuses your energy on a point right here. When it breaks a certain threshold," she said, removing her hand and making a gesture that imitated a sudden release, "then poof! Red eyes."
Yang flashed her a sarcastic look.
"You're kinda creepy, you know that?" she said, one eyebrow raised dramatically.
Cadeja laughed surprisingly loud, startling some of the inmates around them. One of the guards looked over at them quizzically for a moment before going back to cuffing a pair of manacles around a girl's ankles.
"You have no idea, Xiao Long," she said, grinning broadly at Yang with her broken smile, two black holes gaping between her sharp white teeth.
Author's note: So! That's done – on to the next! Chapter 4 is currently in the outlining stage, hope to have it done for the end of the week (if work allows)!
Wrestled with revealing Cadeja's semblance for a long time, trying to show that it's cool and at the same time not excessively OP (it has its weaknesses). Also, apologies for the shower scene, if you'll remember Sasha's tattoo was mentioned waaay back in chapters 3 and 6 of the first volume, so this scene has a been a very long time comin'.
Not sure how many of you out there are following along, but thank you to everyone who's been leaving comments! When you guys let me know what's working for ya/drop suggestions it seriously does help so please keep 'em coming! It's all for you guys in the end :)
Also a quick note about similarities between Yang and Cadeja's sparring dynamic and what happens between Taiyang and Yang in RWBY 4.9: I had been planning this training arc since long before that aired, I created the monitors and emphasized the arm thing in Volume 1 for a reason I promise!
Next chapter we'll see some more of the contraband sneaking in through the work crews, plus I'm hoping (hoping – I always overestimate how much I can fit in these chapters) to have another encounter with Winter!