Blake was starting to get worried. They were supposed to meet half an hour ago. Where could they be? Were they okay? Was Yang, okay?
Ruby seemed to be worried as well, pacing back and forth across the shop, muddling something over in her mind. She stopped a moment later. “I’m going to look for them.” She decided, grabbing Crescent Rose from where she had set it down and began walking towards the door.
“I’m coming with,” Blake said almost instantly, following Ruby to the door.
“Actually y-” Whatever Penny was about to say was cut off by the door banging open.
Jaune, Oscar, and Ren stepped in. The moment Nora saw Ren, she bounded over to hug him tightly. But Blake couldn’t see Yang anywhere.
“We have a situation,” Jaune said, walking over to a nearby table and setting something down. Blake didn’t see; she was too focused on the fact that Yang wasn’t there.
“We most certainly do,” Weiss said, coming over to them. “Where’s Yang?”
Jaune laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, that’s the situation. She-”
“Is she okay? She’s not hurt, is she?” Blake asked quickly, cutting him off, her eyes going wide. She glanced down at her scroll to check her partner’s aura, still in the green.
“She’s fine!” Jaune replied, stopping Blake from asking any more questions. “She’s okay, I think.”
Weiss gave him a look. “You think? Did you get separated?”
“Not exactly. I-” Jaune cut himself off this time, glancing back at the thing that he put on the table.
Blake didn’t look at it, though. She was too busy worrying. She didn’t even notice when the sound of ruffling feather filled the air. She did notice, however, when something landed on her head—something with sharp feet.
She flinched, and the sharpness disappeared, getting replaced with a soft weight in between her ears.
Confused, Blake reached up to find out what had landed on her, only for her fingers to come in contact with soft feathers.
“Jaune. Please tell me why you brought a bird back and not Yang.” Weiss leveled him with one of her heavy glares.
Jaune sighed, shaking his head. “As I have been trying to explain. We didn’t lose Yang.” He pointed to the bird on Blake’s head. “That is Yang.”
Blake gasped in shock and picked the bird up off of her head. Ignoring the squawk that it made, she brought it down in front of her so that she could take a good look at it. It was almost all yellow, with only a few black spots on its wings, back, and head. But what surprised Blake was the bright, familiar, violet eyes staring back at her.
“...Yang?” Blake asked, and she hoped that her voice didn’t crack as much as she thought it had.
The bird chirped at her and nodded it-her head.
Blake sighed in relief. She would have hugged the bird tight if she wasn’t afraid of accidentally crushing her.
“How did this happen?” She heard Ruby ask. Tearing her gaze away from Yang, she looked back over at Jaune. Yang hopped out of her hands and onto her shoulder.
“We don’t really know.” Oscar replied, “I was the one who found her. One moment she was fighting grim with us; the next, she was getting tackled by a Saber. By the time I came over and killed it, Yang wasn’t there. But that bird was.”
Penny suddenly appeared next to Blake, looking at the bird on her shoulder. “Fascinating. How does she turn back?”
Yang did her best version of a shrug that she could do as a bird.
“We don’t know. She was trying to shift back for about twenty minutes before deciding that maybe you guys would have some good advice. That’s why we were late.” Oscar explained.
“I reeeeaaally wish Uncle Qrow was here now. He would be sooo good at giving this kind of advice!” Ruby huffed, crossing her harms.
“What should we do? Yang can’t fight as a bird…” Nora paused. “... Right?”
“No, I don’t think so. At least, she wouldn’t do as much damage.” Jaune replied, shaking his head.
Ruby thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers as an idea hit her. “She could be a lookout! Tell us what’s coming our way.”
“Good idea,” Weiss said, but she didn’t look like she thought it was a good idea, “But, how would she tell us what she saw? None of us can speak bird.”
Blake’s ear twitched as she heard a bearly audible chirp coming from her shoulder. She didn’t even get a chance to look at Yang before a large weight replaced the bird's lightweight on her shoulder, and she got sent to the ground.
Blake groaned once she hit the ground. She started to get up but was stopped by the fact that another body was on top of her.
“Oh! Problem solved then! Welcome back, Yang!” Blake heard Ruby say.
Yang only groaned in response. She stayed lying on top of Blake for a few moments before finally getting up.
Once she was standing, she turned and held a hand out to Blake, a sheepish smile on her face. “Sorry about that. I would have gotten off of you if I knew it was transforming back.”
Blake took her hand and pulled herself up, hoping she wasn’t blushing as hard as she thought. “It’s alright. I’m glad you’re back now.”
“Me too. That was so weird. I was trying to talk to you, but I either chirped or nothing came out at all.” Yang shivered. “So weird.”
“How did you turn back?” Weiss asked, drawing their attention away from each other. “You seemed stuck.”
“I was,” Yang replied, shrugging. “It happened so suddenly, and I didn’t even realize what was happening until I was on top of Blake and fully human again.” Blake realized that she was still holding her hand, but she didn’t move to remove it.
“Maybe it has a timer or something like that?” Jaune suggested, “So that you couldn’t get stuck as a bird?”
“Maybe. But Uncle Qrow could tell us for sure.” Ruby replied, “We should probably break him out soon. He’d be a big help.”
“Until then, I’ll try my best not to turn into a bird again,” Yang said.
Nora pouted. “Awwww, but bird you was cute!”
Yang smiled at her. “Thank you, Nora, But I’d rather be big and be able to fight.”
“Good point,” Nora mumbled, “But still.”
“Anyway!” Ruby clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. “Let’s figure out what we’re going to do next now that everyone is completely here.”
While everyone else started discussing the plan, Blake pulled Yang to a small back room. Once they were alone, she pulled her partner into a hug.
“Woah,” Yang gasped, hugging Blake back. “Not that I’m complaining, but what’s this for?”
Blake waited a moment before speaking. “I was worried about you. I thought something bad had happened.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.” Yang pulled away from the hug just enough to give Blake a grin. “Next time I’m stuck as a bird, I’ll definitely fly to you.”
Blake rolled her eyes, smiling fondly. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to look out for a yellow bird stalking me.”
“I won’t be stalking you. I’ll be watching over you! Like a spirit animal or something.”
“Sure. Whatever you want to call it.”
They stood there and just smiled at each other for a moment before Yang decided to break the silence.
“So, Blake, I wanted to tell you something before we set out again.” She started, looking a bit nervous, “It’s pretty important.”
Blake tilted her head in confusion, “Okay, what is it?”
Yang took a deep breath. ”I really like-”
Before Yang could finish, the door to their room slammed open to reveal Nora standing there.
“Found ‘em! Come on, guys, you have to be in on this plan! You can’t hide back here forever.” She said, walking back to the group.
Blake looked back at Yang. “What were you going to say?”
Yang hesitated for a minute, then shook her head. “It’s not that important. I’ll tell you later.”
“But you said it was pretty important before.” Blake pointed out. She was trying not to get her hopes up. For a second there, it sounded like she-
“It’s not more important than the plan.” Yang flashed her a smile. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell you later.”
And with that, Yang walked out of the room and back to everyone else.
She sighed, following after Yang. Feathers. Dang, it Nora...