“Are you sure you’re up for the journey, Yang?” Weiss asked. “We can take a break if you want.”
Yang kept walking, only turning slightly to the left to face the heiress. “It’s all good, Weiss,” she said. “I can keep on truckin’ all day.”
“Weiss is just worried about your well being, Yang,” Blake said, walking alongside on her right. “You were… injured.”
“Yeah, and let’s not forget whose fault it was, Blake!” Yang hissed, whipping around to face the Faunus. Blake flinched, stepping away from the blonde.
“I’m… I’m sorry, Yang,” Blake said quietly, barely above a whisper. “I’m really, really sorry.”
Yang turned away. “No, you’re not,” she muttered. Her gaze met with Weiss’. Weiss’ eyes darted to her useless stump of an arm, and back to her face. The look Weiss had was clear; hurt. Yang felt the fire clouding her vision; she wasn’t supposed to be this way, she was supposed to be carrying Ember Celica, she was supposed to be a Huntress...
“Yang… I don’t know if we should do this…” Weiss said.
“I TOLD you, I’m FINE.” Yang barked. She focused her breathing, feeling the heat fade away. “Just forget it.”
“I just… I…” Weiss stammered. “... Okay.”
The group kept walking, an unsettling silence settling over them. It did little to help Yang’s mood.
The sun was setting by the time someone spoke up again. “Yang, it’s getting late,” Weiss said. “We should make camp soon.”
After a short pause, Blake spoke. “That might be a good spot over there,” she said quietly, looking out a short distance. “Could be a small clearing with an outcrop.”
“That looks good to me,” Yang said. She looked back to Weiss, who shrugged.
“Lead the way, chief.”
Yang made her way to the spot, and to Blake’s credit, it did look pretty okay. It was kind of a stretch to call it a clearing, cause the area was quite small, but an outcrop overlooking the area spanned a good way around the area. Not great, but decent.
“It’ll do, I suppose,” said Weiss. “Good eye, Yang.” Yang simply grunted in response.
The group took off their bags, getting their things and preparing for the coming night. With their bedrolls out and ready, Weiss started getting out a small pot along with their modest stash of rations. Yang stared at her wordlessly for a good minute before looking around trying to be useful.
“We’ll need firewood,” said Blake before turning away and wandering off into the forest. Cursing under her breath, Yang turned to face Weiss.
“Weiss, I’m gonna go with Blake,” Yang said. Weiss looked up, a look of confusion turning to a look of concern. “It’s nothing. We’ll bring back firewood.”
“Oh… firewood,” Weiss said, slowly. “I mean, you don’t have to. I’m sure we can manage just fine… There’s some dead branches close by.”
“Don’t be dumb. That’s not gonna last. We’ll need more.”
“I… just… be safe, Yang.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Yang turned on her heel and stormed after the Faunus.
“BLAKE!” she called out. “BLAKE! BLAKE!”
She was only greeted with the silence of the forest. God DAMNIT. HOW COULD SHE BE SO STUPID!? OF COURSE BLAKE WOULD JUST LEAVE AGAIN, THAT’S ALL SHE EVER-
“You know, yelling in the middle of a forest can get you killed,” Blake said, from behind her, carrying a small bundle of dry tinder.
Yang whirled around, fuming. “Maybe I want to get killed. Finish the job your boyfriend couldn’t.”
Blake again flinched. “Adam is not my boyfriend. He’s a monster.”
“I’m not really sure who the monster is, anymore,” Yang muttered.
“Yang, I’m not a monster! I’m your partner!” Blake had a pained look on her face.
“Partners don’t leave each other to die, Blake,” Yang growled.
“I… I did what I could, Yang. I got us out of there.”
“And then you left. Left to go god knows where. You LEFT ME ALONE!”
“I made sure you were safe. You weren’t safe around me.”
“YOU CALL THIS SAFE!?” Yang screamed, waving what was left of her arm at the Faunus. The tied sleeve dangled uselessly at the end. “GUESS WHAT!? MY ARM IS FUCKING GONE, BLAKE!”
“I couldn’t… I couldn’t do anything, Yang,” Blake whispered, hands quivering. “He was just… just too strong.”
“I’M supposed to be strong! And thanks to you, now, I’m FUCKING NOTHING!”
“You’re… you’re still my partner, Yang. My friend.”
“You don't care. Don't pretend you do," Yang snarled. "I don’t even know if-”
“Yang?” Weiss’ voice called out. Yang turned to face the heiress. “Are… you okay?”
When Yang didn’t answer, Weiss looked down towards the ground. “Firewood all good?”
Yang looked to Blake. The hands clutching the small bundle of firewood were shaking. Blake herself looked like she was fighting back tears. Yang exhaled, letting the fire she didn’t realise was creeping in fade away.
“All good.”
Back at camp, the group ate their supper in silence, the crackling of the campfire notwithstanding. Weiss had apparently gone and collected some firewood on her own before getting Blake and Yang, which might have been for the best, as Blake only got a small bundle and Yang didn’t get any at all.
“I’ll be first watch,” Blake said, putting aside her bowl.
“I’ll take watch after Blake,” Yang said, before going back to her stew.
“Wha-? Oh…” Weiss said, looking up from her dinner. She shuffled nervously, staring into the fire. “You know… maybe I should take first watch. You’ve been at home, I’ve been at Atlas, but Blake’s been on the road for a long time. Maybe… she can take it easy tonight?” Yang glared at Blake from over her bowl. Blake could only give a worried look as a response.
“Whatever,” she muttered. She gulped down the last of her food, and lightly rinsed it out. “Wake me when you’re ready to switch.” Yang crawled into her bedroll and closed her eyes. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep.
Weiss looked back to Yang’s sleeping figure. Her body gently rose and fall in rhythm with her breathing. She looked so peaceful. When Weiss was convinced that Yang was finally asleep, she pulled out her Scroll, and punched in a familiar number.
WEISS: Hey.
RUBY : Hey. How you holding up?
WEISS: I’m doing fine. But I’m worried about Yang.
RUBY : What’s wrong? Is her arm bothering her? Is she okay? She was supposed to have stabilised by now.
WEISS: It… is and it isn’t. Physically, I’d say she’s fine. But… something’s wrong with her head, Ruby.
RUBY : What do you mean?
WEISS: She’s been talking to Blake.
RUBY : Yang managed to get a hold of Blake?
WEISS: No. No one’s seen Blake for months.
RUBY : So, what do you mean?
WEISS: Yang thinks she’s here. I mean like, here here. She thinks Blake is travelling with us.
RUBY : I don’t understand.
WEISS: She’s speaking like she’s talking to Blake, and it sounds like “Blake” is talking back to her.
RUBY : That’s… not good. How bad did it get?
WEISS: Earlier, she was screaming in the forest, lashing out at “Blake”. She seems to blame her for a lot of what happened.
RUBY : I thought she came to terms with it before I left. If I’d known she’d relapse and this badly I’d never have gone. Where are you now?
WEISS: I don’t think any of us could have thought this could happen, Ruby. We’re about a day’s journey from the port off from Patch. Don’t come straight here, I think it’s best if we meet you halfway. We can still drop by Vale if you need a follow up on that lead.
RUBY : She’s my sister, Weiss. I need to get to her.
WEISS: Yang might get agitated if we stopped travelling, and I don’t want to restrain her by force.
RUBY : Oh.
WEISS: I don’t like it either.
RUBY : I should have stayed with her.
WEISS: You can’t blame yourself, Ruby. I’ll take care of her as best I can.
RUBY : Thanks, Weiss.
RUBY : …
RUBY : You know, she really cared for Blake. More than anyone else I knew.
WEISS: I know.
RUBY : She loved her, Weiss. She really loved her.
WEISS: I know.
RUBY : Do you think it was a good idea for me to let Yang come and join us?
WEISS: …
WEISS: I don’t know. But we’ll get through this.
RUBY : I hope we will.
RUBY : Got to go. Ren might have found another lead.
WEISS: Go on. But be safe.
RUBY : I will.
RUBY : Love you, Weiss.
WEISS: I love you too, Ruby. We’ll see you soon.
RUBY : See ya.
Weiss put down her Scroll. If the minor airships were still running they could meet up with Ruby in a week, spend a few days in Vale, and another week to get to Mistral. But that was a rather large “if”; the airships now ran on an erratic schedule, if at all, and if it was anything like Atlas, they’d be taken off schedule many times to serve an emergency role. She hoped Yang could last that long.
Weiss looked back to Yang. She had hardly moved since she went to bed, her golden hair splayed out whichever way it felt like. Weiss knew the peace Yang exhibited now would be gone when she woke up, haunted by whatever demons continued to stalk her. She gazed into the dying fire, tossing in another chunk of firewood to keep it going.
It was going to be a long night.