Yang awoke with a deep inhale to hold back her wall-shaking groan. Eyes still closed, she rolled over and wrapped an arm over her sister, pulling her close and snuggling into her hair. She drew a long breath, expecting the familiar comforting smell of the forge, of heat, and of work.
Something else met her nose. Spice and lavender, both smooth and sharp. Her eyes flew open. A thick bundle of shimmering purple met her.
Yang panicked and shot out of the bed, tumbling gracelessly and making a great thud on the inn's creaky floorboards. What the hell? Why was Blake in her and Ruby's bed? Why was she sharing a bed with Blake? And why did she feel so… limber? The last time she'd felt like this was when— crook and cane, she'd done it, hadn't she?
She'd seduced Blake. While drunk, apparently, considering how little she remembered of the last night. Yang couldn't stop the grin that crawled over her lips.
A groan from Blake made her jump, but the fay didn't seem interested in awakening. Yang cast her gaze around the room, searching for Ruby, but finding nothing. She was absent from the room.
Ah, shite. The tourney. Yang had forgotten the tourney— what kind of idiot was she, getting drunk and sleeping with her sister's friend, staying up so damn late when the tournament was so damn early! "Blake, get up," the Huntress commanded. "We overslept, the tourneys going to start soon."
Yang approached the fay to shake her awake, but stopped when she noticed how her upper body rose past the sheets. Blake's pale skin was decorated with straight black lines that plunged down from under her chin, falling all the way to her sternum before dispersing into tiny dots that wrapped around her waist.
Her arms drew her eye even more, though not out of admiration for the girl's ethereal beauty. Her lips pulled wide as her expression pinched with pain. Thick, violent scars wrapped densely around the fay's forearms, spacing slightly out as they curved their way up to her shoulders. What could cause such grievous injury, Yang couldn't guess, but the unique form and the way each mark had a distinct hole… chains? She bent down to inspect them more closely.
Blake groaned and rolled onto her side, her arm dramatically lifting to plant her palm directly into Yang's face. Her Aura may have shielded it, but the surprise made the Huntress yelp. "Hey!"
Blake's eyes pried open with the same confusion Yang had faced just minutes ago. Here was Blake stark naked and in the bed Yang and Ruby usually shared, Yang being the only one still present in the room. Worse, the blonde shared her state of undress. Shite. They must have—
Yang interrupted her thoughts by shouting in a panic, as if wildly flailing her arms would cover up the fact she'd been staring at Blake's bare form. "We have to go! The tournament's gonna start soon!"
Blake stared at the Huntress, then flopped back onto the bed. "Eh, go ahead. I'm just gonna stay… here…" Her voice trailed, slowly drifting into a snore.
Yang huffed and stomped, but Blake's snoozing remained undeterred.
"Fine," Yang relented with a low growl as she began plucking her clothes off the floor. "Guess I'll go on my own."
She threw her apparel back on herself with reckless abandon, hopping madly as she tried to put on pants and a shirt at the same time. With imprecise stomps and kicks, she managed to slip her feet back into her boots, then threw a cloak around her shoulders. It was dandelion in hue, but she figured Blake wouldn't mind— it suited her quite well, anyways.
Before she could exit, something caught her eye. A giant leather rectangle— her sister's cleaver, snugly sealed in its sheath. She quickly lifted her cloak and tried her best to position it in a way that subtly hung off her shoulder. How Ruby did it, she couldn't fathom, resulting in an obvious rectangle pushing her cloak out. After a few more unsuccessful attempts to reposition it, she sighed and left.
The creaky floorboards heralded her path out of the inn, each plank groaning as she descended the steps. She heard voices before she entered the bustle of the downstairs proper.
"You 'ear about the Schnee?"
Yang's steps froze, ears perking as she eavesdropped.
"Which one?"
"The one they're 'olding the bloody tourney for, ya git!"
Weiss? The one Ruby had a crush on? Yang smiled, excited for the teasing she would soon unleash onto her blood relative.
"Fuck off, I don't… whatever. What about her?"
"I 'eard she got caught past 'er curfew."
"Who the fuck cares?"
"Ohohoh, mate, way past 'er fuckin' curfew. Leavin' an inn a few buildings down, this fuckin' morning. Got caught by the guard, apparently they'd been lookin' for 'er."
"Okay? When does this get interesting?"
Yang leaned closer, her interest piqued. What was this guy getting at?
"Mate! She fuckin' roomed with Rupert the fuckin' Red! Innkeeper fuckin' spilled!"
The whole inn went quiet, as if everybody in the building had an ear turned to this particular conversation. Yang's smile immediately vanished.
"Lord Schnee's gonna 'ave the dumb bastard, posted up extra guard just for it."
"Shit, mate."
Yang concurred. Shit indeed. She whirled on a heel and sprinted back up to her room.
"Blake!" She yelled into the space. "Get up! Get up, we have to get Ruby. It's bad, she did something with Weiss. They're going to fucking arrest her!"
Blake pushed herself up on her elbows. She stared at Yang with bleary, crusty eyes. "Whuh?"
Yang huffed and grabbed the girl by the shoulders. "I don't have time to explain, come on!"
"Fine, fine!" Blake slurred as she slapped the Huntress away. "I'm naked, lemme get something on…"
Yang tapped her foot impatiently as the fay scoured their room for clothes, hands clenching as she tried her best to not angrily rush the woman she'd just slept with. "Blake…"
The girl in question tugged on a pair of pants of indeterminate ownership, then threw a shirt over her shoulders. She was too tired to care for the fact that it was obviously backwards. When she looked more than half done, she began searching the room with a lost look on her face. "Where's my…"
"Fucking hurry!" Yang seethed. "Ruby is—"
"Hey! You took my cloak, you bint!"
Yang threw her hands in the air. "Who cares! Let's go!"
Blake seemed to have scraped together some consciousness, at least enough to affix Yang with a razor-sharp glare. "I care. Unlike you all, I need to keep myself hidden, and you're already asking for a lot— I've not even wrapped myself! So spare me a fucking moment and give me my damn cloak!"
Yang wasted a few moments feebly grasping for a response before grunting in defeat. She ripped the dandelion cloth from her shoulders and tossed it to Blake, who swiftly mantled herself with it. The fay took a few more moments to arm herself, then nodded to Yang.
Blake and Yang rushed across the market square, boots clomping loudly as they ran to the tourney field, which was blessedly close. It wasn't long before Yang could hear the announcer's unique voice ring out over the square.
"Another victory for William, hail to House Winchester!"
Wild cheering followed, accompanied by chants of 'Win-ches-ter! Win-ches-ter!'
Yang pushed her way into the crowd that spilled past the stands, her strong arms snaking out to push bystanders aside as Blake followed closely behind. Grunts and shouts followed after her, especially when her sister's unwieldy weapon poked someone, but she dutifully ignored them. When they finally forced their way into the raised stands Yang found herself situated near Penny Polendina, who shot her a glare and a sneer. The Huntress didn't return it— she was too busy searching for Ruby.
"Now to the field, Rupert the Red!"
A deafening wave of boos and jeers crashed into Yang's skull. She desperately searched the stands, dread clawing at her chest as she finally caught sight of her sister. On the other side of the field.
Ruby looked lost as she waded through the sea of hateful bodies, hands covering her face as rotten fruits and vegetables were thrown her way. She had no armor, this time, it had been left in their room. Crook and cane, she was a bastard for doing that with Blake, or even just going out for drinks like that! It was clear Ruby hadn't wanted to go, and now shehad to pay the price for Yang's mistakes!
The worst thing was the gnawing feeling in the pit of Yang's stomach. What she'd heard this morning— it worried her. Greatly. She looked around the stands. No Weiss. Jacques held a peaceful, satisfied expression as he watched her sister descend into the field's center. Oh no. It was—
Before Yang could rise, a firm gauntlet tightly gripped her shoulder.
"Don't," Penny insisted, face serious as she gazed down to the field. "You'll get gutted if you do, and I won't help you. I'm not the only Knight here."
Yang grit her teeth and tightened her fists. Penny was, unfortunately, correct. She could see almost a dozen other Knights in gleaming armor like hers, strewn across the stands with even spacing. She imagined she could take one Penny, maybe even two, but that many, plus however many guards were stationed nearby? She was good, but not that good.
She watched helplessly as Ruby took her position at the field's center. The announcer regarded her with an overdramatic sneer before raising his voice once more. He spread his arms wide as he turned boisterously to the crowd.
"Rupert the Red, welcome!" The announcer called before bowing out. The bodies packed tightly against the boundaries of the tourney suddenly separated behind him, splitting as a cadre of orange and blue-clad guards vaulted the fence and took positions around the field's perimeter. They glared at Ruby as they formed up, then leveled their spears with her in unison.
Knights poured into the hole the guards had left in the crowd, including the ginger girl she'd met earlier, the one that wasn't Penny and carried a large maul. They formed a much more claustrophobic circle around Ruby, swords drawn.
Ruby's hands hovered over the weapons at her hips. The Knights had a barely-constrained hunger in their eyes.
"Rupert the Red," a different voice called from the crowd as another Knight crossed the boundary. She was tall and beautiful, with a high ponytail of bright red hair. She approached Ruby with cautious, controlled strides.
Ruby met her emerald gaze, thoroughly confused. The situation was seriously beginning to unnerve her, enough to keep her from blushing as this stunning Knight stared down at her.
"I am Knight Captain Pyrrha," she introduced herself with a curt bow. "Rupert, you're under arrest."
AN: got my cdl jajaja, sorry it took a while to post. had a whole lovecraftian body horror thing going down but it just didnt fit right. it was really nasty brah, way too grody for the vibe of this fic. maybe ill save it for TC lol