Another red mark signified another day's end. The calendar showed week number twenty-four, and Blake could have sworn she was much further along. Even if she did have three along for the ride, her lower back was aching something fierce. The cubs had undergone a growth spurt, the likes of which made Blake's desire to start nesting even worse than before. She even began to start rearranging the bedroom, driving Yang crazy as she ordered the blonde to move the furniture over and over again.
Blake was also agitated without more alone time than usual. Thankfully, Weiss had been rather distracted with heated discussions with the Atlas military.
Ever since Coco dubbed the northern mission a failure, Atlas called for drastic measures. General James Ironwood himself had been involved in dealing with the Grimm threat. His rather militaristic demands on the dust supply aside, the man took to the invasion with gusto, perhaps to the point of overkill. With the general taking his time in long meetings with Weiss, his usual traveling companion was left free from the standard day-to-day protocol.
"He means well." Winter excused, when another long debate ran well into sundown. "Sometimes he just forgets that not everyone is as used to his fixations as he is."
"Not that Weiss is any better." Blake replied, having given up on the idea of sharing dinner with Weiss hours ago. Instead, she took late night refreshments in the parlor with her sister-in-law. "It's a reasonable excuse this time, at least I'd like to think so."
"Well, I wouldn't put up with it." Winter told her. "Though, I suppose you put up with quite a lot more than that. Even if Weiss is the figurehead of the SDC, it can't be any easier on you as her wife."
"If the Grimm can be dispatched, all of her sleepless nights will be worth it." Blake said after a moment of consideration. "The Grimm keep traveling further south, and that's more terrifying than I care to admit. While I would never turn my nose up at our military, your training doesn't tend to include slaying Grimm."
"No, we're not taught to do that. We're often called to deal with them, but that's just an unfortunate byproduct of our weaponry skill." Winter agreed, though one glance at the clock cause her to give Blake a sympathetic glance anyway. "You must be tired…broth is no substitute for good tea."
"I do miss drinking tea, but, I'm not as tired as you'd think I'd be." Blake said with a small laugh. "I do tend to nap a lot more than I expected, but, unfortunately the cubs are largely nocturnal."
"They keep you up?" Winter asked, though her voice still carried that sympathetic tone.
"A great many things keep me up these days." Blake flicked her ear as her head cocked to the side. Golden eyes fell to her belly. Her daughter, ever wakeful at the late night hour, made her demands known. "As I've begun to discover, gestation is both very similar, and yet entirely different from that of a human. The older they get, the more my urge to nest kicks in. It's a very powerful thing. I thought going into heat was bad, but the desire to go into hiding isn't exactly a mood booster."
"Heat?" Winter tasted the word, rather confused. "That's merely an old wives' tale, isn't it? My father throws around the word with distaste, but I hardly assumed it appropriate to take that seriously."
"It depends on the type of Faunus that you are, and it mostly applies to females. Though, I once met a male seahorse Faunus who found themselves facing the same cycles...so one can never be too sure." Blake shrugged then. "However it is not as mind numbing, as some articles would have you believe on the subject."
Winter sipped at her tea idly, and then she leaned forward. "You mean to say that my sister wasn't merely using some sort of questionable euphemism?"
Blake began to laugh, waving off the question. "I'll leave the extent of that, and the intent, to your imagination. Though, you really should come home more often…" Trailing off with an amused little sigh, she became thoughtful once more. "You'll be an aunt to three Faunus cubs. What do you think about that?"
Winter was going to brush away the question with her usual flippancy. Saying that it didn't rightly matter what heritage the children carried. Winter felt that way personally, that it wasn't exactly headline news. The problem was, she knew that not everyone would feel that way. Many would be curious, if not opposed to the fact that Faunus children carried Schnee blood.
Rather than voice her opinion outright, she posed a question of her own. "Why do you care what I think?" Winter murmured. "I won't even be around enough to influence their lives one way or the other."
"Yes...that's true... but..." Blake began, before halting herself.
It was a very valid rebuttal, and one that Blake found herself lingering on. Part of it, she realized, was merely that she wanted a sounding board. Winter was often the neutral party in the Schnee family. Secondly, more importantly, she worried about the future.
Her home was peaceful once more, as Coco finally relocated her sprawling family back to their vacation home. Located nearby in the heart of Atlas proper, Coco made sure to be close at hand. Jaune and Pyrrha were preparing to take their family home just as soon as all of the arrangements were finalized. Ruby was busy pouring over every latest cybernetic advancement to become mainstream within the last decade. Yang was coming to terms with her little sister's stubborn streak, which was easier said than done.
With everyone else so busy, she didn't want to burden the household with what she considered to be trivial worries. Winter was easy to talk to.
"I'd like to pretend that my heritage only reflects myself, and doesn't overshadow your accomplishments. I know that's not true. The moment you make any public announcement even remotely addressing my children as your family, the eyes of Atlas will be on you." Blake shrugged then. "You hold a position that the public sees constantly. Weiss hides behind years of corporate power. You stand in front of that power. The government that you serve won't protect you."
"Fair point." Winter drawled, leaning back and crossing her arms. With her eyes closed, she didn't answer right away. Instead, she rolled it around in her head a little bit, and finally she opened her eyes once more. "I'll be honest. You're the only Faunus I've spoken to at any length that isn't in the military. My subordinates are good people, I don't doubt that…but at the end of the day, that's exactly what they are. Faunus or not. I don't have the luxury to know the depths of their minds. As an members of the military, we don't have the same rights as civilians anyway. We're all equal in the laws we must obey."
"But you're still in a position of respect, and authority." Blake reminded her. "I'm not Weiss, you don't have to protect me from the hive-minded mentality that's used to condition others."
"Then I'll say this." Winter began. "Atlas should know my loyalty shouldn't even be a question."
"And if it is?" Blake returned.
"If I cannot stand up to those inquiries, then it speaks of me as weak. Not to mention morally unsound. I'm someone who puts men and women into the line of danger every day." At this, Winter only sipped at her tea. "If I cannot be trusted to hold those lives, I should be removed from that power. It's that simple. My niece and nephews shouldn't be a point of contention. If it becomes something so controversial, Atlas doesn't deserve my skill. I would resign and move elsewhere…I'm sure I'd be plenty welcome among Ozpin and his fold."
The air was thick with the warfare of sisters. Ruby and Yang were two very passionate people, with two very different views. They disagreed so vehemently, that the volume grew louder the longer they went at it. It was becoming a daily occurrence.
They're still fighting, aren't they?" Blake asked, when she entered into the dining room, only to find that both Yang and Ruby were missing from the breakfast table.
"Something like that." Sun offered, while his excited little boy tried to gobble up the fruit that sat on the table. "I never knew Ruby could yell like that."
"Family trait." Blake replied offhandedly, accepting the offered glass of water her wife had handed to her. A huge platter of streak and eggs sat in front of her, part of her constantly growing diet of protein. "You have your final doctor appointment today, right?"
"Yeah, I'm hoping they can tell me when I can get back into the field. I'd assume it's going to be another month or two, easy, Anyway, the sooner I can get back into it, the sooner I can start earning some cold hard cash again." Sun said, cleaning Zhu's face with a napkin when pineapple juice began to dribble down his chin. "Can't be freeloading all my life."
"I've been meaning to talk to you about that." Weiss said quietly. She'd called the doctor again, just to be sure. Trying her hardest to find any way that Sun might be able to resume his life as the hunter he once was. "I'd like to offer you a job within the SDC proper. We could use another liaison between Atlas and Vacuo."
"So…I'd be a paper pusher…" Sun deadpanned.
Blake sighed, setting down her fork and steak knife. "Sun, I didn't want to have to say this, if there was any way to avoid it…but since there doesn't seem to be, and the doctors are positive…" Her ears flattened back in sympathy. "You took too many internal injuries. Aura is a powerful thing, but once it's been shattered, you take damage that's not so easily repaired. You very nearly gutted yourself…you're not going back into the field."
He sat back in his chair. "I don't believe you."
"Then believe yourself." Weiss said giving him a look. "Try to flair and maintain your aura."
"I…can't…" Sun admitted then. "Not for more than a few seconds."
"Indeed…and no matter how hard you try, that isn't going to get better." Weiss told him.
"With practice, it's got to." He said, hands resting flat on the table. "It's like any other muscle, work it hard enough, it'll get stronger."
"Just like any other muscle, it can be damaged irreparably." Weiss told him, from personal experience. "To be a hunter in the first place, you need aura to close your wounds and break down scar tissue. Superficial wounds are one thing, but tell me that you aren't still sore…" When he looked to her, she sighed. "A properly flaring aura would mend the rest of your injuries in a matter of hours from this point…but for you it'll take days, maybe weeks...you aren't fit to be a hunter any more than I am, and like it or not, your days in the field are over."
Sun sat there, cold ice in the pit of his gut. "So that's that, then. My license is no good?"
"It…depends…" Weiss replied. "There are places for retired hunters to find work, places that would rely on your license directly. The academies are always an option. They have rather extensive programs for tutors of particularly young children. They're becoming more and more common, even among the middle class. Furthermore, in Atlas the military accepts anyone, aura users or not…having a hunter's license makes you well sought after, even if armed combat isn't possible."
Sun thought about this. "I can't do either of those things. Enlisting means leaving Zhu and Ruby behind…and being an in-house tutor…I can't take Ruby with me."
"There are plenty of jobs that will hire an ex-hunter. People respect the work you do, and having that license will open doors for you." Blake told him. "Besides, you have friends in high places. Putting those names on a resume will guarantee recognition."
"Or you can cut away all of that, and work for me." Weiss replied. "I don't hire worthless people, Sun, friend or not. You'd be an asset to me…and I think you'll find being a liaison isn't all the boring. You'd be traveling a lot. Probably more often than when taking missions. The trips would be shorter, but there is a lot of back and forth. Your monthly income wouldn't be anything to sneeze at either…"
Sun nodded dumbly. "Can I…think about this?" He sighed, feeling like he already knew his answer.
"Indeed." Weiss told him. "Take all the time you need..."
Yang did not run from fights. Not ever…but even she knew enough to know that some fights just weren't worth it…and her shouting matches with Ruby were only getting worse, not better. Needing to get away, even for just a little while, she got on her bike and drove.
Her destination became easy enough, the large vacation home that Coco and her family were currently occupying. Her target was one man who seemed to be so unflappable that she prayed even just a little of his unending calm would rub off on her.
As she soon came to discover, however, his views were ones buried deeply in Ruby's own ideals.
"I do not think that a mechanical arm would impacts Ruby's decisions as frivolously as you fear." He replied as they sat in his room. Yang had brought an overnight bag with her, and he eyed the long nightshirt she chose, skeptically burying his thoughts on the beautiful material. "It may be a poor choice to go through with it, but that rests within the countless medical complications that might arise. Not because she chooses to resume her job as a huntress."
"Yeah, and how would you like it if Coco and Fox wanted to do something equally as stupid?"
"I am not saying that your anger isn't justified." He answered softly, he voice gentle and even. "Only that you root rage inside of fear, and it might behoove you to acknowledge that."
"Yatsu, I get it." Yang said softly. "I'm being a bitch…"
"I also do not believe anyone else thinks that." He said simply.
"Oh yeah, Ruby's thinking it." Yang sighed. "If she isn't, she should be."
"I doubt she has the capacity to think that way." Yatsuhashi chuckled then. "The two of you are too tightly bonded as family. That warrants consideration. You fight because you care...you would not be so invested in shared arguments if you did not...and that, I believe, is important to consider."
"...I don't want to fight with her anymore." Yang admitted, hand running through her windblown yellow tresses, grasping and tugging ever so gently at the roots. "How can she not hate me? I hate me." A sign that she truly was at the end of her rope. "When did I become this person?"
"The two of you deal with fear very differently. Ruby chooses to defy her fears, and you choose to attempt and overpower them. Neither outlook is inherently bad, but the two methods do tend to conflict. Neither one of you are cowards, but there is no middle ground in the methods that you use. You must accept that. This is one issue that the two of you simply cannot compromise on."
Yang huffed a sigh. "Yeah, well then what do you think?"
"I do not think." Yatsuhashi smirked then.
"Well that's helpful." Yang bit out.
"It's not within my control, nor does it impact my day. Therefore, it is not a cause for concern." Yatsuhashi told her. "Now, if you were to ask me whether or not she should get the arm, I believe it comes down to the quality of life Ruby intends to live. You look at it from only one level, and that is the jobs she intends to keep. However, you might consider the long term ramifications of nerve damage. The loss of feeling, lack of proper grip…as she gets older, even simple things will grow more difficult."
"You're right about that, and I know there's some truth to it….but...damn it..."
"Yes?" He prompted, his large hand falling into her back, rubbing at the tension he found in her shoulders.
"Can she really justify all of the rehab for little things like that?" Yang wondered. Ruby's resolve about anything she put her mind to went without question. At the end of it all, would it actually make her sister happy, or would she just regret that too? "They say it takes years."
"For a civilian." Yatsuhashi corrected.
"Even hunters have it rough." Yang shot back.
"We adapt to, and take to training differently." He soothed, feeling her temper flair along with her aura. "Civilians cannot muster the same sort of training we can, and an aura goes a long way to speed up many processes. She will heal in less time, and her training can be much more intensive for a much longer time. Years for a civilian can mean months for a huntress of Ruby's caliber."
"You're not helping." Yang sighed.
"hmm." He noised impassively. "What should I do to help you, then?"
"Lay with me?" Yang asked, looking at the late night hour that blared on the clock. "Talk about something else?"
The tall man nodded, gathering his tea set and placing it away on a far counter to be taken to the kitchen and washed in the morning. Then with the greatest of care, he hoisted Yang up into his arms and carried her effortlessly to the bed, setting her down on one side before traversing to his own. He crawled under the blankets, where Yang already waited to cuddle in close. He slung one of his arms over her, offering the connection Yang often demanded of their nights together.
Absently, he toyed with a lock of blonde hair. "So, we were to be speaking of something other than your sister…"
"We going to keep doing this?" Yang asked, now able to count the times they shared a bed on both hands when long nights kept them up. They'd talk the night away like this, and while she had to admit she took comfort in it, she wasn't sure she liked the fact that her friends had ongoing bets about her love life. "Whatever…this is?"
"You wish to, so yes." He said softly, thinking it obvious.
"We can step it up whenever you want, you know." Yang told him.
"You know I cannot." He replied carefully.
"Real talk…" Yang said slowly. "Are you really that afraid of me?"
He took his time kissing the top of her forehead. "I believe that intimacy on the level of which you want, changes our priorities. In short, we both know that our future is uncertain…we've made commitments to our teams…and they have become our families…would you truly be willing to turn your back on that?"
Yang licked her lips. If someone had asked her that a handful of years ago, she would have told them where to shove that question. A few months ago, she would have wavered, arguing that she would never turn her back on her team. That she would never leave them either. As time went on, though, her answer has slowly begun to change. "I'm tired of watching other people be selfish. They're all getting what they want out of life, setbacks or not…team members or not…why should I sit on the sidelines, while everyone else is living the life they want to live?"
"Because it's our place to do so…it was the place we chose to be in."
"Yeah, well, what if I choose not to stand in that place anymore?"
"You would grow to hate yourself." Yatsuhashi sighed at length. "Yang, you are not living as vicariously as you think. You have a place in the lives of a great many, and as that place slowly changes, so do the opportunities to lead a fulfilling life…there is a time and a place for everything...this included…and plenty of it. You simply need to take a breath and let the days come as they may."