Chapter 7
"I still think this is a stupid idea." Weiss mutters as they break through the trees and start walking through the park.
"What else are we supposed to do?" Yang asks, letting out a quiet sigh. "This dog isn't leaving, our only choice now is to chase it out."
Weiss grumbles something inaudible under her breath and goes quiet, the four of them making their way over to where Cinder's group are stationed at the foot of a tall birch tree.
"Was beginning to think you lot wouldn't show up." A dark-furred, greying queen says as she steps forward from the group of five. "But here you are. I'm pleasantly surprised."
"Hey, we keep our promises." Yang replies, stepping forward as well. "So, where's the spot?"
One of Cinder's cats beckons for them to follow with a flick of her tail, leading them through the bushes and into an open clearing.
In the center of the grassy field is a large pile of various different prey animals, all looking relatively freshly killed. There's birds, squirrels, mice, and even a couple rabbits, Blake's stomach growling at the sight.
She didn't have much to eat before they left, only part of a small mouse she shared with Ruby, and she's feeling rather hungry.
"Alright, so we wait in the bushes for the dog to show up, then attack all at once while it's distracted?" Yang questions as she turns back to the greying queen.
The queen nods. "Hopefully our combined numbers will be enough to drive it off. As long as we're careful, we shouldn't need to worry about losing any cats."
"Right, so... I guess we just wait then, yeah?"
Yang gets another nod in response, and the four of them follow Cinder's cats back into the bushes, settling down and beginning to wait.
Blake watches as Ruby and Weiss press close to each other, the two of them looking tense and uneasy, though a quick glance at the cats around her proves there's not a single one amongst them that doesn't look on edge.
"Don't worry." Yang murmurs after they've been sitting in silence for a few minutes, leaning close so she can whisper in Blake's ear. "Just stick close to me and you'll be okay. And don't be stupid and try playing the hero, alright?"
Blake opens her mouth to reply, but one of Cinder's cats speaks first.
"Shut up!" She hisses, and Yang goes quiet again after that.
It feels like it's been hours since they started waiting, and Blake's anxiety has reached a peak. Beside her, Yang is clawing the ground underneath her, tearing up bits of dirt and grass with her long, curved claws.
The sound of heavy footsteps causes Blake to glance away from Yang, peering through the gaps in the bushes to see a massive, black and brown dog lumbering toward the pile of prey. Instantly, the fur along her back begins to rise and her tail puffs up, the rest of the cats around her looking equally nervous as they watch the dog eat.
It's sloppy and messy and loud, and Blake finds herself feeling a little sick as the dog rips a rabbit apart and gobbles it down, smearing blood all over the grass.
The older, dark-furred queen looks over at Yang and nods, raising her tail high, poised to deliver the signal at any second.
They wait, nobody daring to move or make a sound as the dog continues to tear through the prey, lips smacking noisily as it eats.
Then, finally, she flicks her tail forward.
Everyone rushes out of the bushes all at once, spreading out across the clearing and running, hissing and spitting, at the dog from all different directions.
The dog growls and leaps to its feet, its attention switching instantly from the prey to the cats attacking it. It lunges at one of Cinder's cats, but she's too fast, its jaws snapping at thin air as she jumps back and swipes at its muzzle.
Snarling, the dog tries to bite Yang as she rushes past, allowing two more cats to run in and claw at the dog's face in its distraction.
This cycle is repeated over and over, one cat rushing in and grabbing the dog's attention, and others attacking while it's preoccupied with the distracter. It seems to be working for a while, and Blake feels her confidence growing as dog slowly accrues more and more injuries, its movements becoming even more frantic and enraged.
And then everything goes wrong.
Weiss darts past, trying to bait the dog into chasing her, and it moves just a little quicker than she seems to have been anticipating. The dog's jaws close around the end of her fluffy tail and she screeches in pain, clawing at the ground as she's yanked backward.
She rolls over onto her back and begins weakly swiping the dog's face, trying to make it release her, but it only bites down harder, jaws clamping around her lower back this time.
Horrified, Blake glances over to see Cinder's cats standing back and looking hesitant how, none of them making any move to help Weiss.
"Weiss!" Ruby cries out, running straight for the dog, but Yang reaches it first.
She rams into the dog's side with enough force to send it stumbling back a couple feet, staggering from the impact. Ruby runs up to it and rakes her claws along its other side, earning a yelp from the dog as it releases Weiss.
Ruby easily dodges out of the way as the dog snaps at her, beginning to attack with a renewed fury, latching onto one of its back legs and tearing into it with claws and teeth, kicking it repeatedly with her hind legs.
The dog attempts to shake Ruby off, howling as Yang and Blake attack its left side, Cinder's cats seemingly inspired to rejoin the fight now as they rush in to attack its right.
"This is the dog that's been attacking our cats?" One of Cinder's cats, a thin brown queen sneers, ducking an attack from the dog and leaping at its throat, claws extended. "This is too-"
One of her back paws gets caught on a raised root mid-jump, bringing her crashing down to the ground right at the dog's feet. The dog lunges at her and she lets out a terrified shriek, a sickening crunch following as its jaws close around her skull. It shakes her violently from side to side, her body flopping around limply in its mouth before she's tossed aside.
She twitches for a moment before going still, blood pooling around her broken body and soaking into the ground beneath her.
The dog lets out a low, guttural growl, blood staining its fur and dripping down its muzzle, and everyone begins to quickly back away, any sense of confidence lost after witnessing the gruesome scene that just transpired.
Cinder's cats share a quick look before turning and bolting, immediately dashing for the trees and disappearing from view.
"Ruby, Blake, you take Weiss and make sure she gets home safe!" Yang orders, attacking the dog and drawing its attention to herself. "I'll handle the dog!"
"But-" Ruby tries to protest, but she's cut off by a growl.
"Ruby! Go!" Yang snarls. "Just go!"
Ruby nods meekly, turning to Weiss and offering her shoulder for support as she helps Weiss limp away as quickly as possible.
Blake just stands there, frozen. She's unable to move even a single muscle.
Back when she was a human, she would've been disturbed by the sight of a cat being killed, but she wouldn't be frozen with terror and fear in the same way that she is now. Cats aren't just animals to her anymore, they're people, and she just witnessed one die right in front of her.
She's never seen someone die before.
Blake watches as Yang fights the dog, one on one, and just continues to stand there. It's hardly a fair fight, the thing's four times her size, Yang should be struggling to even hurt the dog, and yet...
There's a weight and power behind Yang's movements, Yang's attacks, that Blake didn't notice earlier. Her claws leave deeper wounds in the dog's flesh than the other cats, her strikes land more heavily, as though there's a latent strength to her that even a cat as large as her shouldn't have.
Yang launches herself at the dog and climbs onto its back, clawing and biting the back of its neck as it tries to shake her off. She sinks her teeth into its neck and the dog's actions seem to gain a new desperation, its head whipping around in an attempt to bite her.
Yang is pulling a little further away, removing her teeth from the dog's neck and putting more distance between herself and its jaws, when a sudden powerful shake sends her flying off of it. She's unable to right herself in time before hitting the ground, impacting the earth with her shoulder and bouncing a couple of times before coming to a rest in a crumpled heap.
Instantly, the dog is upon her, its jaws closing around Yang's head before she even has time to recover from her daze. It begins shaking her with a brutal intensity, Yang's body snapping back and forth as blood and drool are flung everywhere.
Blake can't do anything but watch.
Yang's screaming something incomprehensible now, kicking and clawing at the dog as it continues to shake her, her fur rapidly becoming more and more soaked with blood by the second. Blake's reminded of the dog that belonged to the owner of the orphanage she grew up in, how once, when she was a young child, she witnessed it catch a rabbit and shake the poor thing to death before ripping its head off.
She couldn't go anywhere near dogs for years afterwards.
The dog stops shaking Yang and bites down even harder, Blake prepared to hear the horrible sound of Yang's skull being crushed between its jaws, waiting for it to toss Yang's mangled body aside and turn to her next.
But it doesn't happen.
Its jaws are shaking a little now, visibly straining as the dog tries to crush Yang's skull between its teeth but seems unable to do so. After a moment, Yang's thrown away as the dog lets out an irritated huff, directing its attention toward Blake now, a low growl rumbling in its throat.
Blake quivers, shaking on the spot as it advances on her, preparing to be torn to pieces or suffer some equally gruesome fate.
The dog charges.
Blake can't even close her eyes. She doesn't want to look, she doesn't want to see what happens, she wishes this was all just a nightmare.
The dog continues barreling toward her, eyes blazing and maw open wide, teeth stained red with blood. It's going to kill her. This is how she's going to die.
There's a blur of motion and suddenly something darts through the dog's legs, running under it and reaching Blake before the dog can even touch her. It impacts Blake and she goes rolling for several feet, stopping with her face buried in something soft.
Raising her head, Blake takes a second to realize that the thing that hit her is Yang, and another to realize that she's currently lying on top of Yang's fluffy belly, the larger cat clutching her protectively to her chest.
Blake looks up into Yang's eyes, the fur of her face matted and sticky with blood, deep marks scored into her flesh from where the dog's teeth dug in, blood gushing from a couple punctures in her neck.
"It's okay." Yang rasps, leaning in to lick Blake's ear. "You're okay, it's dead now."
At that, Blake glances over to see the dog lying on its side now, trembling as blood pours from a long gash running down the length of its stomach. Yang must have attacked it as she ran through its legs.
The dog goes still a few seconds later, its head falling to the side as it drops lifelessly to the ground.
After another moment, they stand up and begin walking away, Yang hobbling alongside Blake as they exit the park.
"Stupid fucking Cinder and her stupid fucking cats..." Yang eventually mutters with a growl. "If they hadn't bailed on us, this would've gone so much smoother."
"H-how-" Blake swallows, still trying to comprehend everything that just happened. "How are you still alive?"
"Huh?"
"Your skull should have been crushed, just... just like that other cat." Blake continues in a quiet voice. "You should be dead, Yang. There's no way you should be still alive."
Yang doesn't respond at first. She just continues walking, limping forward at a steady pace. "I guess I'm just hard to kill." She finally answers, giving a little shrug and wincing afterwards.
"But that doesn't explain-"
"Blake, can you just shut up?" Yang snaps, letting out a pained grunt as she stumbles briefly, taking a few seconds to recover before resuming walking. "It hurts to talk, so please, just stop asking questions right now."
Blake nods, going silent for the rest of the walk home.
"It's been too long." Ruby frets as she continues pacing in front of Weiss. "They should've gotten back by now. Weiss, I should go-"
"Ruby, stop it." Weiss groans, her back and tail aching horribly and making her temper very short. "Your pacing is giving me a headache."
"But Weiss-"
The sound of approaching footsteps causes them both to quickly glance toward the broken window, Weiss's eyes falling upon Blake and Yang as they enter the house.
Yang's a terrible sight. She's covered in blood and her right ear is badly torn, the upper half of it barely even attached anymore. Bite marks are clearly visible on her face and neck, several deep punctures left in the side of her throat, and her right eye is swollen shut.
Weiss's stomach turns at the sight. She's seen Yang survive some pretty nasty injuries before, but this is something else entirely. Even though she knows that Yang is tougher and stronger than an ordinary cat, she's still amazed that Yang is even able to move right now.
Luckily, Blake seems to be completely unharmed, and Weiss wonders if Yang got so injured protecting her.
"Y-Yang?" Ruby whispers, tentatively padding over to her sister, a look of complete and utter horror on her face. "What happened?"
"Yang killed the dog." Blake answers for her. "She saved my life."
There's something off about Blake's voice, and she doesn't really seem to be all that aware of her surroundings, her gaze distant and unfocused.
Ruby presses her nose into Yang's neck and whimpers, slowly beginning to lick the dried blood from her fur. Yang weakly nuzzles her, and Ruby sniffles. "Hey, hey, I'll be okay." Yang murmurs, coughing quietly as she speaks. "Don't worry about me, Ruby. I'll be fine."
"I should go get Jaune. He'll have some plants that can help." Blake mumbles, mostly to herself it seems, slowly beginning to make her way over to the window.
Ruby glances over at Blake before turning and looking uncertainly between Yang and Weiss. "Go, Ruby, we'll be fine." Weiss assures her, and Ruby nods, scampering after Blake.
She and Yang sit together without speaking for a while, Weiss taking note of just how worryingly shallow Yang's breathing is. "You know," She begins, Yang slowly opening an eye and looking over in her direction. "You don't have to pretend to be alright, Yang."
"I'm not pretending." Yang grunts. "Believe me, I've survived worse. What about you? How are you holding up, Weiss?"
"I'm... in a lot of pain, actually." Weiss admits with a breathy laugh, glancing down at her bloodied tail. "Feels like my tail was nearly ripped off, and my back is killing me."
Yang nods. "Well, it did get you pretty good. You're lucky you didn't lose your tail."
Yang closes her eyes again and they fall into a silence once more, Weiss keeping an eye on her friend just in case Yang's condition worsens.
Eventually, Ruby and Blake return with Jaune in tow, all carrying plants in their mouths. Jaune eyes widen in alarm at the sight of Yang's battered state, and he quickly rushes over to her.
"Ruby said it was bad, but I didn't think it'd be this bad." He mutters, dropping his mouthful of plants in front of her and beginning to inspect her wounds.
Weiss watches as he chews up his plants and begins to work, cleaning Yang's wounds with the watery fluid from one plant before plastering a mixture of sap and chewed up plant matter over them.
"That sap should hopefully keep those wounds closed." Jaune says, turning his attention to Weiss next. "I'm not entirely sure how those wounds didn't kill you, Yang, but if you've survived this long I'm pretty confident you'll heal from this."
He starts applying the plant mixture to Weiss's injured tail next, and she grimaces at the sharp sting, but doesn't complain. She's far too tired for that now.
Jaune wraps up his work and they all thank him as he leaves, Ruby and Blake helping Yang get settled somewhere comfortable before assisting Weiss in making her way up the stairs and into the room she shares with Ruby.
Ruby helps her up onto the bed and she immediately collapses into the blankets, falling asleep within moments with her mate right at her side.
"Here you go, I caught you a squirrel." Blake says as she nudges the squirrel over to Yang, who's currently resting on a pillow beside the couch.
Ruby and Weiss and her have all been tending to Yang's needs for the past ten days now, much to Yang's indignant protests that she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself.
"Someone else can have it, I'm feeling more than well enough to hunt my own food." Yang mutters, standing to her feet and heading in the direction of the window.
"Hey!" Blake forgets the squirrel and chases after Yang, catching up to her outside. "Where do you think you're going?"
"I just told you. Hunting." Yang replies gruffly, not looking over at Blake as she continues walking.
Blake frowns. "But you need to rest, Yang, your injuries are still healing!" She protests, and Yang just snorts.
"Blake," The larger cat stops in her tracks and turns to face Blake. "Look at me. Look at my injuries." Yang instructs her, and Blake stops as well.
Blake sighs and rolls her eyes, but she does as requested and begins looking over Yang's injuries. The gashes in Yang's face are covered in thick scabs, as are the bite marks on her neck, and her ear, while missing a large chunk from the top, is also well on it's way to healing.
Actually, now that she's examining Yang's injuries more closely, they look far closer to fully healed than she was expecting.
Confusion fills Blake, and her frown deepens.
Considering the severity of Yang's injuries, there's no way she should have healed this much by now. It's been hardly more than a week and her wounds were very deep, it doesn't make any sense.
"Yang... how...?" Blake glances up at the large cat, tilting her head questioningly to the side.
"I heal quickly." Yang says simply, continuing to walk down the alley again.
Blake blinks. "You... heal quickly?" She repeats, her confusion growing.
"Yup. It's pretty convenient." Yang affirms with a nod.
Blake shakes her head, unsure what to make of this information.
A cat that heals at an accelerated rate, now that's something. Not only is Yang very strong and positively massive, with bones strong enough to resist breaking under the full bite force of a massive dog, but she also heals quicker than an ordinary cat.
It's bizarre, and fascinating.
Back when she first started working for Merlot, nearly four years ago, he told her about one of his experiments from a few years prior.
It was on cats, as Merlot has always favored using the local strays to conduct his experiments. A test of some new, experimental hormonal drugs he'd been developing. He told her that his tests were ultimately a failure, that none of the cats survived more than a few weeks after being administered the drugs, but perhaps...
Perhaps Yang is one of those cats? A cat that somehow survived Merlot's experiments? It would certainly explain some things.
But... to be one of those cats Yang would have to be at least seven years old, and that's assuming she was a kitten when everything happened. Blake's sure Yang isn't that old. She acts like a pretty young cat, not one that's had nearly a decade of life experience.
"Hey, Yang?" Blake finally speaks up, deciding that she might as well ask to be completely certain. "How old are you?"
"Huh?" Yang stops again and gives her a confused look. "Uh... three winters. Why do you ask?"
"Just curious." Blake mutters, nodding and returning to her thoughts.
She wonders if Yang is the offspring of a cat that survived Merlot's experiments. Maybe one of them lived long enough to reproduce and Yang was the result?
Yang did say she never knew her original parents...
Blake doesn't speak up again for the rest of the hunt, merely pondering it all in her head.