Yang is vaguely aware that her scroll is vibrating with new text alerts from the second she steps out of her mother's portal and onto the balcony in Haven, but she's a little more focused on finally seeing her sister after more than a year apart. Everything else seems to fade into the background as she waits impatiently in the living room, listening to Qrow call Ruby to come join them. When she hears Ruby respond, her sweet voice almost bringing tears to Yang's eyes.

That had been one of the worst parts about being left behind; how quiet it was without her sister's constant chatter. It had been hard to escape the traumatic memories of that awful night when there was no cheerful little sister to break the silence. And then suddenly Ruby is right there in front of her and none of it matters anymore.

It breaks Yang's heart to see how nervous Ruby is, to hear her tearful apologies and to know that it's her own fault that Ruby is so afraid. That Yang is the one who made Ruby doubt that she was loved by her big sister. Three little words and Yang could have avoided this, could have avoided so much pain and heartbreak. Well, better late than never.

"I love you."

After their tearful reunion, there's a whirlwind of activity as they catch up over dinner and Yang and Weiss are introduced to Oscar/Ozpin (and that whole thing makes Yang's head hurt if she thinks about it for too long, but she trusts Ruby's judgement on this one). It's a while before she even remembers the flood of texts from earlier, let alone gets a chance to actually check them. In the privacy of the room she's sharing with Weiss, Yang pulls up her messages.

Honestly, she's not sure what to expect. Yang has no idea who would be texting her, given the communication issues after the fall of Beacon, let alone in that quantity. She's definitely not expecting the texts to all be from Ruby, or for the messages to stretch back over several months. The most recent text is from a couple days ago, a picture of Yang's favorite chocolate at the market in Haven. The oldest one is from a few months after Ruby had left for Haven, and it's about a funny sign that Ruby had seen outside a restaurant that had reminded her of Yang.

"It said that they had nachos as big as your, well, your butt, but it was phrased a little differently, if you catch my drift. Wish we'd gotten a chance to investigate for ourselves!"

Ruby hadn't sent her texts every day, but she'd apparently messaged Yang pretty frequently, usually every few days. The messages range from funny to sweet; everything from inside jokes to funny-looking plants to just little things that made her sister think of Yang. It's a sort of diary of Ruby's journey, and Yang is touched to know that her sister had been thinking about her so much.

It's also clear that Ruby has no idea that Yang has received any of her messages. She's pretty sure that Ruby never meant for any of them to actually go through, given the lack of long-distance communication between Vale and Anima. Plus, some of the messages are pretty personal, and much more open and honest about her feelings than Ruby tends to be.

"Hey, Yang, I hope that you're doing okay. I hope that you're not still mad at me, but I understand if you are. I'm sorry I left and I really miss you, but I had to try to do something. Nothing I tried to do to help you seemed to work at all and it felt like I was just making things worse. Maybe if I can find the people that hurt you and Penny and Pyrrha and stop them from being able to hurt anyone else it'll at least be able to help when you wake up from the nightmares to know that they're not out there anymore. Love, Ruby."

Yang isn't going to tell Ruby about the messages. She's pretty sure that would be the quickest way to shut her sister down and make sure that Ruby won't talk about any of the more personal troubles expressed in the texts. No, Yang is going to have to be creative about this.

But whatever she does, it's clear that Yang can't just leave Ruby hanging on this one. Not when it's so clear that there's so much guilt and doubt and hurt still eating away at her sister from the inside. Someone's gotta set Ruby straight and pull her out of her own head, and Yang has always been up for that task.


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