"Hey, sis."
Despite the early hour and her budding hangover, Yang's head is spinning. Whoever—or whatever—she was expecting to see when she opened the door, it wasn't her sister. What is Ruby doing here? Yang can't even remember the last time she spoke to her sister. It's been a couple of weeks, at least. So why . . .
"Ruby? What are you doing here?" she demands. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"Hello to you too, Yang," her sister quips quietly. "It's nice to see you."
"I'm serious, Ruby." Yang sighs. "You could have called first, at least, instead of just showing up here in the middle of the night."
"Yeah, sorry about that. It took me longer than I thought to drive here." Her sister shrugs casually. "And I did call you. And text you. I even shot you an email, but I guess you didn't get any of that."
Yang falters. Now that she thinks about it, she does remember seeing a text from Ruby. Several texts, actually, and a couple of voicemails. But she'd ignored them, figuring that she'd get to them later. It'd been a busy week, and with Halloween (and the anniversary of her mother's death) coming up, Yang hadn't really been in the mood to talk to her sister. This time of the year was always a reminder of the way they'd grown up after their mom's death, all the ghosts and monsters and learning to hunt and fight. Yang just wanted to forget about all that. Ruby showing up all the sudden in the middle of the night threw a wrench into all of that.
In the back of her mind, she realizes it's been a while since she spoke to her dad as well. She should probably give him a call soon.
She doesn't mention any of this to Ruby. Instead, all she says is "It's been a busy week."
Her sister nods. Ruby doesn't quite believe her, Yang can tell, but she doesn't bother to call her out on it. Her sister doesn't even really seem angry about being blown off, or upset, or even disappointed. She just seems—resigned.
Time to steer this conversation back on track, retreat to safer territory. "So, what are you doing here?"
"Well, uh," Ruby suddenly seems nervous, pausing for a second and shoving her hands in her pockets. "Something came up, and I kind of need your help."
"Help with what?" Yang frowns, confused. But before Ruby can even open her mouth to respond, she's interrupted by a voice behind her.
"Ruby! I thought I heard your voice," Blake says with a smile, peering around Yang and wrapping an arm around her girlfriend's waist. She sounds way too cheerful for how early it is. "When did you get here? Yang didn't mention that you were coming for a visit."
Before Yang can scramble for an excuse, Ruby chimes in. "Actually, this isn't really a planned visit, so I didn't really have time to give her a heads up," her sister replies with a sheepish smile. "Something came up kind of last minute."
"I see. Well, please do remember that you're always welcome to swing by here whenever you like," Blake reassures Ruby, placing a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.
"Thanks, Blake. I really appreciate it," Ruby replies with a smile.
"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Yang cuts in. It's still far too early to be awake right now, at least in her opinion, and all she wants to do is collapse back into bed. Every second they spend standing out here is another second that she could be sleeping.
"Right." Ruby's grin falters. "Well, uh—can we talk about this inside?"
The two of them take a seat at the kitchen table while Blake bustles around the room, insisting on making coffee despite the early hour. So much for making this quick. It doesn't seem like she'll be getting back to bed anytime soon. Yang leans back in her chair, studying her sister seated across the table from her. Ruby seems oddly out of place in the bright, cheerful kitchen.
She and Blake had built their home here, and even though it's their first apartment, it represents everything that Yang had wanted when she'd quit hunting to go to college—stability, normalcy, peace—a place to finally call home for the first time in far too long. Everything about Ruby, from her red leather jacket and the ends of her short dark hair that she's dyed to match, to her worn-out combat boots, to the knives Yang knows that her sister is carrying in her sleeve and in her boot, clashes with the peaceful normalcy that she clings to here.
"So." Yang clears her throat. Ruby startled slightly. She seems jumpy. Her sister's hair is damp from the rain that must have started after they got home from the bar, and she's pale, her striking silver eyes underlined by extensive dark shadows. Something must really be bothering her. "What brought you here? You said that you needed my help with something?"
"Yeah," Ruby says quietly, staring down at the table between them as she traces the patterns in the grain of the wood. She slowly raises her eyes to meet Yang's and takes a deep breath. "I think something bad happed to dad. He's gone missing."