peasant ft. bees baby
Yang blinked herself awake, rubbing her eyes with her hands as she sat up in her too-large bed, and started when she saw her handmaidens standing by the side of her bed, seemingly anxiously waiting for her to awake, but not anxious enough to the point of trying to wake her up.
She groaned and rolled off of the side, landing in a crouch on the side of the bed, the older handmaidens rolling their eyes and moving towards her while the more recent addition panicked slightly at the movement, not being used to her yet.
They shuffled her off to the bath, carefully going over nearly every inch of skin that left Yang much more uncomfortable than she was willing to admit, and then got started on her unruly hair.
Well, to the outsider it was unruly, but the closer one got, the more one noticed that there was a clear curl definition and pattern to her blonde curls. She hated having people touch her head, but she bore the ladies touching it for their sake. She’d done her own hair a couple of times but stopped after she overheard a conversation where the handmaidens had panicked about it, wondering if she was upset with them and if she was going to have them replaced if they were inadequate for her tastes. One of the women had nearly gone into a panic at the thought of losing her job and started talking about how her family would suffer if she lost it. And then to top it off, not many places actually paid Faunus anything remotely decent for their labor, though almost everywhere one looked there were Faunus workers.
That was one of the many things Yang hated, and one of the things she had managed to convince her father that needed to change and to lead change by example. Her father was all for it, as was her sister.
So if the woman lost her job at the palace, her family was almost sentenced to starvation.
Yang felt a deep sense of guilt and regret that day, and though she didn’t like it, she let the handmaidens do her hair in elaborate hairstyles to try and keep them from feeling the way that one woman felt that day.
They finished and Yang looked in a mirror and say that her hair was in a simple but elegant updo, with pieces hanging out to frame her face, and one piece on each side extra long, something her maids did so she could mess with it, twirl it around her finger, do whatever without taking apart their hard work like she had accidentally done the first time.
Yang slipped into a lilac dress that ended a couple inches below her knee, the short petticoat that she was wearing fluffing it out making her cringe internally. She hated it, but who was she to say otherwise?
She walked out and put on some white pumps, keeping the look simple and clean. The maids gave her a lookover and deemed it appropriate enough for her to go about her day. She was feeling a little drained and she hadn’t even left her room yet. Yang wasn’t looking for anything big, so she decided she’d spend the day wandering the halls, knowing that someone was usually watching her so they’d have a general idea of where she was should something happen or for some reason they need her.
Her heels clicked softly against the floor as she made her way to her sisters workshop in one of the more protected areas of the palace, even though her workshop was underground and Yang was nearly certain that there was something more dangerous in Ruby’s workshop than whatever was outside it. Like, in case of emergency, Yang would make a beeline for the workshop and not for the “royal bunker” which was just a repurposed bedroom.
She knocked twice, waited and knocked twice more.
“Come in! SLOWLY!”
Yang turned the handle of the door and inched the door open, which gave her enough to dart out of the way as something came hurtling out of the door and splattered on the floor.
“Ruby, can I come in now?”
There was some clinking, almost as if Ruby was walking in--armor? Yang desperately wanted to peek, but had learned the hard way to not stick her head inside Ruby’s workshop until she gave the all clear, and even then she had to be careful.
“Yeah, you’re good now Yang!”
She waited for a few more seconds, and then ducked into the room, careful to watch her step, lest she trigger one of Ruby’s defense mechanisms the girl may have forgotten about. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that had happened.
Ruby stuck her head out from behind her desk where she was crouched, fiddling with something laid out on the floor. Yang leaned over the desk and noticed something that looked vaguely human-like in shape, though it had very little resemblance to well, anything.
“Hey Rubes, want to go anywhere?” she asked while she tousled her sister's already messy hair. There were moments where Yang was jealous of the freedom Ruby was given while she on the other hand had several things she was not only expected to adhere to, but was constantly reminded to.
The younger girl shook her head, before gesturing wildly at the wires and metal bits strewn about her.
“Not today! Maybe soon, there are a couple things I’m beginning to run out of, but I’ve made big progress and I wanna continue on the roll I’m on!” Ruby cheerily explained, not noticing in the slightest the way Yang’s face fell slightly.
“Oh, alright. I’ll be popping in and out, so please don’t aim too many things towards the door! I still wanna be able to come inside and see how my baby sister is doing on all her science-y things.”
Ruby snorted and smiled at Yang, her eyes knowing.
Yang sighed. She should know Ruby would see through it, but the girl hadn’t objected, so there was that! She waved goodbye and walked out, continuing her endless trek throughout the palace, occasionally popping her head in rooms just to see what was in there and waving hello to all the housekeepers she passed, and occasionally helping some of the older or injured ones. She knew they took great pride in their job, and some would only feel insulted if she tried to help, but she had learned to read people so she could recognize when she was beginning to cross unspoken lines.
She stopped when she noticed a figure hunched in the shadows of a library type room she had stuck her head in by pure coincidence.
She knew it was a terrible idea to approach a stranger, a possible assassin or someone of the like totally unarmed and completely trusting, but there was something about this person that made it different. There was a little voice in the back of her head that nagged at her that this person needed help--help she could give.
“Hey, are you okay?”
The person’s head snapped up with a speed that had Yang concerned as they tried to make themselves smaller than they already were. At first glance, and even the second, Yang was convinced it was a younger child, hiding a child in their hoodie.
Before she could reach out, or ask again, a voice that ground her mind to a nearly audible halt was heard.
“And what does that matter to her royal highness? What does she need from her loyal subject, a meager peasant?”
Yang felt the bite behind the words, but was still stuck on the voice. The woman--so it seemed--was obviously hiding something, and her stupidly nosy self was absolutely dying to find out what it was.
“I just want to ask you a few questions. I don’t know what’s going on, what’s happened to you, but I want to help.”
A scoff was heard and then was quickly followed by a stifled whimper of what was clearly pain.
And then Yang made up her mind.
Reaching out, palm up, she slowly reached towards the woman who shied from her touch.
“Sweetheart, I’m not going to hurt you.”
The woman froze, looking up at Yang with a pair of golden eyes that told stories and gave Yang insight into her. Yang’s face softened at the eye contact, and to solidify her point, she repeated it one more time.
“Sweetheart, I’m not going to hurt you.”
She could see the fight leave the woman’s body, though a battle still raged in her eyes on whether to trust her. Yang wasn’t sure what else she could do to convince her that she wasn’t going to hurt her. Her train of thought was derailed by a whisper.
“Can you, can you hide me? He can’t get her, he can’t he can’t he can’t.” There was a desperation, a pleading in that voice that spurred Yang into action. She reached for the woman who allowed herself to be held by her, and she did her best to walk on her own, though the majority of her weight was leaning on Yang as she half-walked, half-carried the woman out of the room.
She was heading towards her own room when suddenly guards began pouring into the hallway, calling out her name and telling her to hide, that there was an intruder, that he was currently unidentified, but that he was determined to make it into the palace, claiming something of his was stolen by the family.
Yang was confused until she went to move and the woman had turned to stone.
“Ma’am? Miss? Hello? Hey, hey, focus on me. Listen to me. We’re gonna hide, and the guards are gonna help distract, and we’re gonna be safe. You gotta move.”
The woman shook her head frantically, her breathing accelerating rapidly as pleading cries dropped from her lips faster than Yang could even keep up with. But there were a few she managed to catch that made her blood run cold.
“Hey. Ma’am. Sweetheart?”
The woman seemed to react a little to the endearment, so Yang kept pushing it.
“Hey, right now, you aren’t a peasant, I’m not a royal. We’re just you and me, and her. If you can’t do it for you, do it for her. Think about her. If he’s here for you, he can’t find her can’t he? That’s not good?”
Yang felt terrible for scaring her, but it spurred her into action. Though keeping up with her was hard. The woman turned and broke into a fear-fueled sprint, Yang doing everything to keep up with her and try to guide her towards Ruby. She finally caught up to her when the woman stopped short, nearly causing Yang to knock them both to the floor with the sudden stop.
“Hey, what-” she trailed off when she saw the man at the other end of the hall, a bloody sword and smoking gun in either of his hands. The woman began to tremble, and Yang looked around desperately, and noticed they were in Ruby’s hallway, and the door was closer to them than him. She leaned into the woman and whispered a set of instructions and hoped she was aware enough to do them.
A tiny nod was all she got in affirmation. She took off her heels and held one in each hand, prepared to fight for the woman, though she knew nothing about her. There was just something that told her that was what she needed to do for her.
“HEY!” The woman flinched at the loudness of her voice, but dashed for the door like Yang had asked her to. When the man made a move towards her, Yang threw her first shoe, causing him to stumble and turn his attention from the woman to him and Yang silently pleaded for Ruby to hurry.
She saw the door click open, and threw the other shoe at the man’s head as the woman slipped in the door, Yang right on her heels. She heard the sound of a gunshot but didn’t stop moving until she’d managed to close Ruby’s door behind her, her instincts overriding her panic and forcing her to go about the locks on the door.
As all the different locks and tumblers fell into place, Yang allowed herself to lean back and relax, just to turn and look at the other two in the room, who were staring at her in growing horror.
“What?”
“Yang, your, your arm- it’s-” Ruby couldn’t finish, no matter how she went about her sentence.
Yang looked down just to see streaks of blood streaming down her arm. The sight of the blood made her grip the edge of the table and that spurred the nameless woman into action. Had she really, had she really just risked her life to save a nameless peasant she knew nothing about?
‘Yes. Because you know deep down she’s so, so, so much more than that.’
The woman brushed a pile of papers off of a stool and tugged Yang’s good arm in that direction, sitting her down before resting her hands on Yang’s knees as she tried to steady her breathing, before seemingly giving up and crumpling to the floor in front of Yang.
Ruby managed to snap out of the shock of seeing her sister injured and was digging around in one of her drawers before finding what she was looking for and grabbing a clean towel, made her way over to Yang. She used one end of the towel to wipe the blood, and then sprayed some of whatever was in her bottle on her arm.
Yang bit her lip to muffle her scream at the sharp burning that sprinted up and down her arm, totally unprepared.
“Sorry! Sorry Yang, I know it hurts, but it hurts less when you’re not expecting it…”
Yang just nodded before clenching her fist and realizing she could move her arm without extreme pain. There was still pain, just greatly diminished. Ruby wrapped the towel around her arm, tying it off to keep it in place before turning her attention to the woman at Yang’s feet.
“Hey, I’m Ruby. Can you stand? What’s your name? Can you tell me that, can you talk?”
The woman grunted softly before trying to stand and promptly falling back down with a half bitten scream in her mouth.
“Blake,” she nearly growled. Yang saw her face change, like she hadn’t meant to say her actual name, but then another wave of pain racked her body. Yang couldn’t help it, something possessed her to reach out to Blake, to help her.
“Sweetheart, Ruby can help. She’s got gadgets and gizmos a-plenty. But you gotta tell us what’s wrong.”
Blake looked up at her from her spot on the floor, her eyes calculating, almost like she was trying to figure out if it was in her favor to take Yang up on her offer.
A gunshot from outside aimed at the door made her jump, but Ruby just grumbled in annoyance and moved over to her setup, where she began pushing buttons and moving things around. There was yelling, a rapid succession of shots and then silence. Then a thud of something large and heavy hitting the ground.
Ruby flipped off the door, unknowing of what was beyond, but already mad at it for hurting her sister. That was enough in her book.
Yang looked back at Blake who seemed more resigned than anything. She cast one more furtive glance at the door, and when nothing came to break it down, she finally spoke up.
“Labor. Help me, please.”
Yang’s eyes grew wide and Ruby panicked slightly, having no experience whatsoever in this area. Yang slid off of her stool, her arm burning a bit at the movement, but she pushed her own pain to the back of her mind, overwhelmed by the all-consuming need to help Blake.
She motioned to the wall and helped Blake scoot over to it, where she pressed her back against the wall where what Yang assumed was another contraction tore through her.
Yang nestled herself between Blake’s legs, pushing them apart gently and holding the edge of the baggy sundress Blake was wearing in a silent question which Blake answered with a nod. Now with permission, Yang moved the dress back, and noticed that Blake was at the point she needed to push.
“Ruby! Towels, clean as many as you can!”
“Alrighty-”
“And water! If you have any, and like a bowl.”
Yang could hear her sister moving around, and some towels quickly appeared. Yang placed one on the floor and then gently pushed Blake’s knees back towards her.
“Okay, when I say push, I’m going to need you to push as hard as you can, or I will lose you both, and I don’t know why, but I just know that that can’t - won’t - happen.”
Blake nodded and another contraction started and Yang pushed her back a bit.
“Push!”
Blake grabbed Yang’s hand and pushed as hard as she could, before stopping.
This cycle went on for what was forever, but couldn’t have possibly been. Finally, the baby - who looked like a carbon copy of her mother - was born and Yang delicately wrapped her in a fluffy towel and tied off the umbilical cord and snipped it before handing the newborn baby girl to her mother.
Ruby crouched behind Yang whispering her inquires as to not disturb.
“How did you know what to do?”
“I remember when Mum had you. And I helped that one girl in housekeeping a couple months ago, Saphron I think her name was.”
Ruby nodded, and then seemingly uncomfy with the blood, moved back towards her desk.
Blake looked at Yang hesitantly, almost as if she was expecting something from her. Yang just helped her clean up and get her into a chair, but Blake never stopped looking at her, seemingly transfixed by something on her face.
“What?” Yang finally asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.
“Your eyes, your eyes are her eyes but how-”
Yang immediately looked at the baby, surprised when Blake held her out to her.
“Well the fates are tricky. But isn’t she just the most adorable baby ever!” Yang gently took her and rocked her, pausing only slightly when the girl’s eyes opened and were her exact shade of lilac, only with gold flecks along the center.
Blake was muttering under her breath, seemingly unable to convince herself of something.
Yang placed a hand on her shoulder, turning Blake’s attention to her.
“Hey, what is it?”
Blake shook her head, but then stopped, once again fighting an internal battle before seemingly losing.
“There’s a tale in my town, that one’s soulmate would be reflected in their child no matter if they were together or not. And your lilac eyes, nowhere in the kingdom have I heard of them, but I’m just a peasant. You’re basically Princess Regent! I can’t figure it out, and you probably don’t want anything to do with us-”
Yang cut her off and shushed her gently.
“Hey, I don’t care about titles, or positions or whatever. All I know, is that there is something about you that is oh so alluring, and I want to know what it is. And I want to keep an eye on cutesy here” she poked the baby’s chubby little cheek before continuing. “I don’t expect you to believe, or for this to make sense, or for us to like, get married or whatever tomorrow, but I would like to get to know you at the very least.”
Blake flushed and busied herself with her baby, while Ruby suddenly found her ceiling tiles quite interesting.
“You don’t know what you’re asking, what you’re agreeing to--with me.” Blake mumbled.
“Oh sweetheart, of this I’m sure, for you? I’d try anything.”
“Even if I’m a peasant?”
“Blake, even if you’re a peasant. Though if we will be doing this, you are most definitely not going to be a peasant. Maybe some type of noblesse...”
Blake laughed at that comment, and Yang felt a warmth make its home in her heart and knew, that no matter what, Blake was something to her, something big.
Something she wasn't going to let stumble out of her life in a similar matter to the way she stumbled in.
No way in hell, stalkers and bullets be damned.