Day 2: Sacrifices

Beacon's cafeteria had been a happy place for Blake, sharing meals with her team and JNPR. And on a memorable occasion, an exhilarating food fight. A place for enjoying fish and friendship with Yang right beside her.

Adam didn't belong there. She found him murdering students among wreckage of the benches and tables. Blake stifled the urge to run and instead tried to stop him from killing again.

She failed. She'd never been a match for Adam with swordplay.

His promise to kill everyone she loved rang in her ears.

Then Yang's voice, calling for her.

Adam saw right through Blake, a single terrified look at Yang telling him everything.

"Starting with her."

No, not her, not—

Agony radiating from her hip. Blake tried to stifle her scream. Yang hadn't seen her yet. She still had a chance. She—

Adam twisted his sword.

Blake failed again. The scream escaped, tearing her throat raw.

Yang's eyes briefly met hers, wide with horror and pain.

Yang glared at Adam., fists clenched. "Get away from her!"

"No… Please…" Blake reached out with a shaking hand, trying to catch Yang's attention. Again, she failed. Yang's furious red eyes stayed fixed on Adam.

Ember Celica blasted Yang across the ruined cafeteria, her fist outstretched, hair burning bright gold, tears in her eyes.

Adam chuckled. He drew Wilt. The red blade flashed.

Yang fell.

Blake couldn't move.

Adam stalked closer, drawing his sword back for another blow, intent on taking Yang's life this time. His mouth was set in the same cruel sneer as it always was when he killed a human.

Blake needed to block his path. She had to get Yang out of there.

She couldn't move.

Adam swung for Yang's neck—

"Blake!"

Yang leaned over her, hand on Blake's shoulder. Her prosthetic hand.

Just a nightmare. Blake slumped against her bed, forcing herself to take slower and deeper breaths.

She looked Yang up and down. Atlas Academy pyjamas. They were in Atlas. They'd been here for long enough for Ironwood to make them huntresses.

Adam was dead.

He couldn't take Yang from her.

"You okay?" Yang squinted at her. Right, humans couldn't see terribly well in dim light. Yang had her scroll's display set just high enough for her to find Blake, but hopefully too low to disturb Ruby and Weiss.

Blake nodded, not trusting her voice yet.

"Want to talk about it?"

Blake was tempted for a moment. She knew she could talk to Yang about anything. Well, almost anything. Not whatever was between them. Blake couldn't bring herself to take the risk yet that she was wrong, that her feelings for her partner were one sided. Besides, even if she was right about Yang's interesting reaction to her new haircut, they still had things to talk about. To clear the air between them. The only problem was finding time to do it. Ironwood was running them ragged between escorting supply runs to Amity and missions in Mantle.

Blake shook her head. She cleared her throat. "We don't have time. Penny will be here at what always feels like the crack of dawn to drag us to the briefing room."

"Maybe we should make time. The mission information will be on our scrolls, we can nap instead of listening. We've done it before."

Blake blushed. She was glad Yang probably couldn't make out that embarrassing detail. She enjoyed napping on Yang's lap far too much. For all that she was a faunus and not an actual cat, those warm thighs made her want to curl up on them and purr. Not that she could. Her sole faunus trait was her ears.

"We can't talk here," Blake murmured. "Weiss will kill us if we disturb her beauty sleep."

"So we sneak out. Screw curfew, we're not students."

Blake smirked. "Sneak? You?"

Yang looked about as unimpressed as she'd been the last time Blake questioned her sneaking skills. "What happened to 'you're great?' Y'know, I'm not that bad when not clomping about in combat boots and without Ember Celica. Come on." She led the way outside, padding around in her slippers.

They found themselves on the roof, looking down at the dingy lights of Mantle and the white blanket of the tundra beyond. Despite only wearing pyjamas they were warm enough, even without snuggling together. Pity. Atlas had to have some sort of technology to keep it warm. Or maybe it was magic. Oscar had said something about the Staff of Creation being used to raise Atlas. Maybe its magic had done more.

"Blake?"

Right. Talking. That's what they'd come out here to do. Blake took a deep breath. This was Yang. No secrets. Or almost no secrets.

"It was a nightmare about Adam. He's never going to leave me alone."

Yang put an arm around her. "I still get them too. But it's easier after I wake up, when I can remember that he's gone."

"It helps me too." Blake thought about mentioning her guilt. That she wished he'd left them alone when given the chance. That she hadn't wanted to kill him. That she never wanted to kill someone again. She decided against it. Not yet. It was too heavy for right now. "I just wish I could stop dreaming about him killing my friends. It was you tonight. Last night it was Sun. The night before that, Weiss. And Ruby before that."

Yang winced. "At least with mine it's mostly about my arm. So, uh, Sun. Did Adam target him at Haven?"

"No. I mean, Sun helped me fight him, but Adam didn't lash out the way he did with you."

"Really? He saw something between us and acted like a jealous ex, but he didn't with Sun?" Yang sounded so very casual. Deliberately so?

What would happen if Blake acknowledged Adam had reason to be jealous? She decided to ignore that dangerous topic. For now.

Blake cleared her throat. "He didn't. Sun was injured in a fight against the White Fang on Menagerie. Adam wasn't there. Sun was only there because he followed me. I thought it was my fault, that it was another sign I should go it alone. That even if leaving my friends made them hate me, it was a worthwhile sacrifice to make if they were safer without me."

Yang pulled her closer, tightening the embrace into a one armed bear hug. "We could never hate you, Blake. The most I felt was angry."

Blake cringed. "I'm sorry."

"Water under the bridge. We're good," Yang reassured her. "But what changed your mind? Sun was there in Haven. Obviously. You also came with a bunch of other faunus. A militia. That's hardly going it alone. You rejoined us too, even promised to stay."

"Sun did. I mean, I'm the one who changed my own mind, but talking to him helped. He said it was my friends' choice to fight with me and take the risk of getting hurt doing that. That I had no right to take that away from them. That pushing my friends away, even for their protection, hurt them more than any physical pain."

Yang's breath hissed between her teeth. She opened her mouth to say something, shook her head, and gestured for Blake to continue.

"He said he'd do it all again for me. And that he was sure you would too."

Yang's eyes fell to her prosthetic, metal fingers flexing. She looked up at Blake. She shrugged. "For all that Sun doesn't know me very well, he was right. I would."

Blake's breath caught. For a moment she saw the memory haunting her nightmares all over again. Wilt flashing out. Yang's arm severed. Yang falling. Needing to stop Adam's murderous advance.

"Please don't. I want you in one piece."

"Meaning this bothers you." Yang stepped away, out of the hug, and clenched the prosthetic into a fist.

Blake reached out and gently pried the fist apart, taking the prosthetic hand in her own. "Only because I never wanted you to get hurt, least of all for me."

"Oh, I think it'll bother you in other ways if my aura ever breaks out on the tundra. That's what keeps the prosthetic warm. Imagine cold metal wherever I touch you."

Blake very carefully didn't think about what cold fingers would feel like in intimate places. "I think I'd be more concerned about you freezing to death without your aura."

"You'd keep me warm."

"It'd certainly make a change to you keeping everyone else warm." Blake shook off the thought of how they'd best keep each other warm. This was meant to be a serious conversation. "Anyway, I did take on board what Sun said. I don't get to choose what my friends do for me. What's important is that I'm there for them. That's why I accepted it was time for me to stop running from Adam, and to take a stand against him. It could have gone so badly wrong."

If Ilia hadn't sided with them, if she hadn't disabled the bombs at Haven in time. If Adam had lured Sun away and killed him. If he'd killed her at that waterfall near Argus. If he'd killed Yang, back at Beacon or at the waterfall. Those what ifs would haunt her nightmares for a long time.

Yang squeezed her hand. "It didn't. He's gone. We don't have to worry about him any more."

Blake squeezed back.

Yang stared down at Mantle. "Funny how looks can be deceiving. Sun came out with some pretty wise stuff, and so many people called him a himbo at Beacon."

"He did. But that doesn't mean he's not a himbo. You should've heard the stuff he came out with when he met my parents." Blake groaned at the memory. "I wanted the floor to swallow me. Or him. Preferably him, tail and all."

"I wonder if there's a Grimm out there that can do that."

Blake blinked. "A lot of the giant ones can swallow people whole."

"I meant one disguised as the floor."

"I don't need more nightmare material, Yang."

"There's scarier things than Grimm mouths. Oh wait. I take that back. It's terrifying when it's someone I care about in their jaws. Did I ever tell you about the time I had to get between Ruby and an ursa charging at her teeth first? Back before Beacon."

"No. Please tell me you didn't end up in its mouth instead."

Yang rubbed at the back of her head, grinning sheepishly. "I don't want to lie to you, and I'm pretty bad at lying anyway."

Blake stared at Yang for a long moment. "How did you survive long enough to reach Beacon?"

"That was nothing, it didn't even break my aura." Yang waved a dismissive hand. "Not quite, anyway," she muttered under her breath, failing to account for Blake's keen cat ears. "You saw me get punched through a concrete pillar. And many other things. Taking hits is how my semblance works. This isn't news."

"No, but…" Blake paused, trying to find the right words.

"We're huntresses, Blake. Putting ourselves in danger to protect people is part of the job."

"Yes, but… We can't protect anyone if we don't protect ourselves."

"Hey." Yang smiled at her. One of those soft smiles she saved for Blake alone.

Blake's heart skipped a beat.

Yang stepped closer and pressed their foreheads together. "We're protecting each other, remember?"

Blake really wanted to kiss her. She really shouldn't. Not yet.

Yang sighed. She took a step back. "I don't think I can keep myself from reacting when someone I love is in danger. Especially Ruby. After Summer died, I was the closest thing she had to a mother. I can't see her in peril and not do something if I can. I don't even think about it."

"Just as well you were out of range of that leviathan Grimm."

"In all seriousness? I would have thrown myself at it if I could have when it looked like it'd eat Ruby."

"Did you even have any aura?"

"Not much. It broke after I disarmed Adam. A little bit came back by the time we reached the others. But even having no aura wouldn't stop me from trying to save my sister."

Blake's ears pinned. "Yang… You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days. Please don't throw yourself into any more Grimm mouths, aura or no aura."

"No promises if it means saving someone special."

Blake sighed. "Ruby."

"Of course Ruby. And you. Weiss. Probably JNOR or ORNJ or whatever name the remains of JNPR settled on after adopting Oscar."

"Me?"

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Really, Blake? You have to ask? Of course I'd do anything for you." She cleared her throat. "To save you, I mean." She looked away, blushing.

"Silly of me to ask. There's a permanent reminder that you did exactly that." Blake took Yang's prosthetic hand in both of hers. "Thank you. I don't think I ever said it. You must think me so ungrateful."

Yang smiled. "Nah. I don't remember much after seeing Adam stab you. Everything went red. And the next thing I knew was waking up with a missing limb. But you're the only one who could've got me out of there, so I'd say we're even."

"Protecting each other, like you said."

"You said it first."

Blake looked away from Yang's smile. She'd do something she might regret at this stage if she kept seeing it. "I'm sometimes still not sure my life is worth protecting."

"What?" Yang stared blankly at her. "Blake. Look at me."

Blake met Yang's eyes without further prompting, if only to spare herself an encouraging touch to the face. If Yang touched her right now, all restraint would fly out the proverbial window.

"That's Adam talking. Isn't it. Well, fuck him. You've done so much good with your life already, and you're not even twenty yet. You kept Haven from falling. You are worthy."

Blake blinked back tears. "You really mean that."

"Of course I do. What's it going to take for you to believe me, hugging you into submission?"

Blake danced back out of reach. "Oh, anything but that. Come on, let's get back to bed. I've kept us up too late already."

Yang checked her scroll and groaned. "We're going to need more than a nap. Maybe we'll be lucky and have a supply run to sneak in some sleep."

"First time I've heard you call a supply run lucky."

"They tend to be boring. Perfect for napping."

"True. If one of us keeps watch. We do have a job to do."

"Race you back to the dorm for rights to napping first." Yang didn't wait for Blake to start with her, sneaking in a head start.

Blake got her revenge by using a shadow clone at the last minute to get ahead and through the door to the dorm. Yang hadn't specified no semblances, and had to keep her outrage quiet at Blake's 'cheating.' Or Weiss really would make them suffer if they woke her.

AN: Comments appreciated. I'm pretty new to RWBY, so I hope they're in character.