134

Chapter 134

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"So… how are you feeling about the trip?" Blake asked quietly, holding onto Yang's hand as she sat in bed with her girlfriend. Yang had been… just about healed for a while now, but would still require more than a little bed rest and light exercise only to make sure that her bones would return to full strength. She could still fight, theoretically, but the risk of her limbs breaking again was… going to be higher than average for the next couple of weeks, especially with how Ember Celica continued to be an utter menace of a weapon and hell on Yang's wrists and ankles. "We're leaving soon…"

"I know. I'm… I dunno. I just feel kinda tired and useless most of the time these days, even though I can get out of bed and walk around and still do stuff that's a light workout… for a Huntress at least," Yang almost chuckled at that last bit, then sighed and shook her head. "I'm actually kinda excited, y'know? Meeting your parents and all. What's it like living on a tropical island, anyway?"

Blake snorted, looking away and chuckling a little with a bit of a sardonic grin. "Hot. Sweaty. Humid. Lots of fruit and fish, not so much in the way of livestock. Get used to deep fried seafood burgers, by the way, because there's a lot of those. Spices too. Kuo Kuana's got loads of spices… not so much in the way of common household brands but at least the Duskway ships always bring good stuff from the mainlands… even if it's entirely just Mistral stuff."

"You're not getting much outta Atlas and Vale's native food is kinda bland, honestly," Yang responded almost instantly, nudging Blake with her elbow and grinning slightly as she leaned against her girlfriend. Idly, she wondered how Weiss was doing- the heiress had been… rather insistent on not using her own Scroll for the past while- ever since her father decided to try and recall her to Atlas after the Cataclysm had happened. She paused, then shook her head. Worrying about Weiss would do nothing, really. Her father wasn't even in Vale, and they were leaving in the next few days anyway. Really, it was likely that she was keeping up with her sister Winter, who had taken on a semi-permanent position in Vale to help with repairs, general organization, and all of the things that Professor Goodwitch was supposed to do before she'd left with Team JNPR and Team CMNE to go hunt Relics and left Qrow in charge of the school… for… some reason. "But hey, I'm pretty excited for island food- it's gotta be better than the Menagerie inspired stuff here in Vale, right?"

Blake shrugged. "Mostly. A lot of the actual faunus places claiming to be Menagerie inspired are actually pretty good, but the lack of spice variety in Vale makes them just a little more bland than you'd like. Given everything, you might actually enjoy the spicy wings better down in Menagerie. And then you'll be ruined for them forever, just like I was."

She nudged Yang right back, smiling softly as she cuddled against Yang and thought about Weiss as well- the last member of their trio had been pushing herself ragged lately, and while Blake came back to Patch as often as she could during the early days after the Cataclysm, Weiss hadn't ever slowed down and was taking… way too long on average, coming back once a week at most because she was so tired from rebuilding the massive rents in the city's understructure and helping seal up holes that it was… well. Hard to even get on a transport back to Patch- to say nothing of the effort it took to actually make it back and forth in the first place in those early days- every transport and person had to be vetted thoroughly, everyone was paranoid about the saboteurs sneaking in and causing trouble… but they seemed well and truly gone now after a solid two months.

Gods. What a nightmare of a scenario the entire Cataclysm had been- explosives planted all over the city in key locations, grimm waiting in the tunnels, the entirety of Mountain Glenn erupting, the grimm nearly overrunning everything, the chaos and fear making things worse, the fact that Cinder was technically something approaching a demigod now or something given the sheer power of her Maiden powers, the destruction caused all over Beacon, the near crash of the Amity Colosseum into Vale itself that was only stopped because Team CMNE had been tasked with providing security while minor repairs and refueling was done… Team CALC and Team VERM had caused a significant amount of damage, and Blake… Blake clutched Yang's hand gently, both of them having fallen silent in thought as the mood, the circumstances in Vale, and the winter chill outside dampened their spirits.

Ruby hadn't woken up yet. 

They didn't know when she'd wake up, really, just that she was still somehow some kind of conscious- Penny had said before she'd returned to Atlas with her father that leaving food and gifts there would result in them vanishing the day after. Qrow had confirmed it, having left an offering of Ruby's favorite cookies and kept an eye on it for nearly an hour until a swathe of thorns had covered the spot and left the area cleared.

Ruby was clearly alive, some kind of conscious, and wasn't injured in any way that any of them could see- not that she was usually capable of being injured in the first place. So… what was it that was keeping her asleep?

From what everyone could figure, it was just the sheer amount of damage that she'd taken during the explosion. Penny had given up her recordings of the fight, downloading them to Yang's and Cinder's scrolls. It was… telling. There were sensor readings and HUD recordings, and… Ruby had been disintegrated . The explosion threw her upwards and away and then she'd vanished after shielding everyone from the blast. Then she'd somehow woken up long enough to aid Penny during the fight with the Wyvern. And then… nothing. Nearly every grimm in the area had then converged on the site of the Wyvern's defeat, and a castle had sprouted like an unholy mass of twisting thorns and evil spires, surrounded by a strangely fertile and untouched field of rose bushes. And she'd stayed that way for over two months now, with Penny only waking up near the end of that first month.

Both Blake and Yang stared off at nothing for a bit, settling quietly against each other as Blake's fingers entwined with Yang's in silent comfort. Blake couldn't really imagine how Yang felt now, couldn't imagine how even Cinder felt, as much as the older girl had gone off already. Their sister was… gone . Still there, but gone in every way that mattered. Their team was broken in half, Weiss was stressed out and starting to isolate herself by working herself to the bone, Yang was falling into a spiral of self doubt that Blake didn't know how to manage, and Blake herself was starting to feel like running away until she could figure out how to fix things. Just like always, wasn't it. Yang took everything on her shoulders and blamed herself for failure, Weiss tried to remain in control with endless busywork so she wouldn't have to think, and Blake was falling on old habits by running away again.

But…

It wasn't like before. Weiss was going to come with them, had been calming down the last two weeks or so as they finalized their preparations for the trip to Kuo Kuana. Yang was starting to lighten up again as her mobility and strength returned and she started being able to do work again. And Blake… Blake was still there. Still with the people she cared about. Still doing her best to keep things in the moment instead of running away again.

It might take a while, but… hopefully they'd be okay. Hopefully Ruby would wake up soon. Hopefully Penny would be back. Hopefully… hopefully…

Blake sighed and nudged her head against Yang's, purring quietly as she tried to think of something other than the mess right across the shallow strait that separated Patch from Vale. She paused, looking down at her scroll for a moment before nudging Yang again.

"Hey, Yang?" she asked, keeping her voice low so as not to disturb the moment.

"Yeah Blake?" Yang answered, blinking slowly as she looked up from where she'd been staring at her covers and flexed her hand a few times- reveling in the lack of pain, it seemed. "What's up kittycat?"

"I just remembered something that's… I'm not actually sure how to feel about it, but… I do think it's a good thing, in the long run," Blake answered, holding up her scroll and shaking it a bit before flicking over to the news app.

"Oh? What's that?"

"Adam's dead. Died during the Cataclysm- got torn up and dragged away by a Beringel, apparently."

Yang blinked. "Huh."

"Yeah."

"Should we celebrate or…?"

"I'm not sure… it just feels really anticlimactic for some reason. Like it should have been way more emotional and intense than it really was."

"... Well. We can celebrate with hot cocoa by the fireplace, if you want?" Yang suggested, clearing her throat as she moved to get out of bed- still in her pajamas given that she'd just done some light exercising before taking a shower and returning to bed out of boredom.

There really wasn't a lot to do in the winter on Patch, it seemed.

Blake smiled. "Sure."

And then, as they got their hot cocoa together and sat by the fire waiting for Weiss' return, snuggled together on the couch… the aforementioned heiress kicked open the door and rushed inside with a frantic, urgent air that heralded her arrival with a blast of cold that made the relatively sunny winter day outside seem like a frigid blizzard.

"YANG! BLAKE! WE HAVE TO GET TO KUO KUANA YESTERDAY! MY FATHER'S COMING TO VALE AND HE'LL BE HERE IN TWO DAYS!"

"... Well shit."

Notes:

I really gotta remember to have Jacques die violently at some point in the story, but he's just... not relevant yet