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Black Rose Blooms SilverCyberQueen_JolyneChapter 6

Chapter Text

Growing up with a little sister that was half grimm and an older sister that was both traumatized and hated being seen as weak meant that Yang was… honestly the most normal of the three, somehow? It kinda sucked being shoved from the beloved "Oldest Child" spot down to "Middle Child" but Yang didn't mind as much as she knew some people would- Cinder was a super cool older sister, and the fact that the both of them had fire based Semblances meant that it wasn't Yang everyone made marshmallow jokes about anymore- now if Ruby had a hankering for smores and was too lazy to ask Dad to fire up the grill or build a fire in the backyard, she went to Cinder instead of just poking Yang with a stick until she turned on her Semblance.

Despite the fact that Yang knew for a fact that Ruby had eaten Sulfur Fish and Sphinxes and Manticores and gods knew what else by now and had fire powers of her own- for an eleven year old, Ruby had a grimm kill list that was honestly more impressive than most full Huntsmen.

A fact that made Yang just a little bit jealous and a little bit bitter because she was supposed to be the older sister, dammit! She was thirteen and well into her fourth year at Signal and had already built the first iteration of her weapon (which she named Ember Celica and they were totally badass shotgun gauntlets with exploding shots and she wanted to add a bunch of stuff after too) and started training seriously ever since her second year! She needed to be better because what if Ruby got hurt? What if something managed to get through all of Ruby's grimm stuff and hurt her directly? She had to be a good big sister and make sure that she never let Ruby down again- not like she did that fateful night…

Yang shuddered slightly as she sat on her bed, shaking her head as she stared out of the window and tried not to think about how she'd nearly died when she was six- almost killed Ruby when she was four . Had gone off on a stupid suicide mission like the idiot child that she was, had gotten massive rows of claw and fang marks permanently scarring her abdomen and neck and back, had been the one responsible for Ruby's new status- it was just her luck that she'd managed to get to the one place on Patch where Uncle Qrow hadn't been able to catch up quite in time. By the time he'd come for her, it was only a minute too late- she'd tried to run and gotten clawed up, nearly had her neck bitten through by a Beowolf. She'd gotten separated from Ruby, had tried to drag Ruby back with her but the woods were full of uneven terrain and she'd let go of the handle and sent it careening into the woods and Ruby had run off in a blind panic and-

She sniffled quietly, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand as she turned her attention back to the half disassembled shotgun gauntlet strewn in front of her on a towel- she really should have been doing it on a desk, but she wanted to know when Cinder got back- her older sister was due back from her trip to Mistral soon, and Cinder had promised both souvenirs and cool stories about her travels.

Yang thought it wasn't fair that Ruby and Cinder got to leave all the time for cool trips to other countries, but as the sole normal member of the Rose/Xiao Long/Branwen kids, she had to try way, way harder to actually keep up with her ridiculous half grimm prodigy of a baby sister, and make sure that her super cool fire wielding older sister (who had turned sixteen right before she left for Mistral) was keeping up with her studies.

That meant not only studying her school material, but studying ahead as much as she could- reading through textbooks at least two years ahead of where her classes currently said she was, doing extra homework, putting in as much extra practice as she could- if Ruby was going to be the strongest Huntress in the world, then Yang's exploding punches would have to be tempered with finesse and pure badassery!

Sadly, that didn't leave a lot of time for other pursuits like gaming or hanging out with friends or going to the movies or trying to drink alcohol while her friends' parents weren't looking or mooning over new bikes in the catalogs they got in the mail.

…

Okay, well she had plenty of time for gaming and mooning over new bikes, but actually hanging out with friends beyond school hours had kinda… fallen by the wayside a little. Sure, she tried to be available on weekends, but sometimes her training sessions ran long and her workouts were extra hard and maybe sometimes her head hurt from all her advanced studying but at least it meant she got perfect grades on her exams so that was nice… so she ended up not really seeing her friends as much as she'd have liked. It was okay, though- she could keep texting and calling to make sure they didn't think she'd forgotten about them. Their group chat was always lit and she always made sure to have a lot of fun with her friends when she did make time for a social life…

But Yang wouldn't have minded if they moved on without her, honestly. It would hurt… but she could tell that their friendship was a little strained. Tulip kept complaining that Yang always missed the best inside jokes, Henna said it just wasn't the same when Yang beat them at rhythm games… honestly, there was a lot of awkward bumping elbows sometimes. That was fine though- Yang needed to focus on her actual reason for training to be a Huntress. Once upon a time, she wanted to be a Huntress because she saw her mom training and thought that Summer Rose was the coolest person in the world. Then she wanted to be a Huntress so she could track down her birth mother and force her to come home. And then… maybe if things hadn't been the way they were, she might have once said that she wanted to be a Huntress so she could get her adrenaline rush- to be fast and free and do what she wanted with no one to tell her no.

But things had been different, and as much as she wanted to still be that same adrenaline junkie… she also had to become a Huntress- no, the best Huntress- in order to make sure that, for all of Ruby's strength and prodigal skill with a blade, her little sister never, ever had to live through what Yang had accidentally dragged her into ever, ever again. It was her fault that Ruby was like this. Her own fault that she was scarred and broken at the tender age of thirteen.

She had to make up for it somehow.

Yang sighed, shaking her head as she fully reassembled her left side gauntlet and flicked at the mechanisms a few times to make sure it still shifted as quickly and as smoothly as she needed it to- she'd definitely have to upsize it and rebuild it as she grew, but thankfully Ruby had helped her make it so it already had room to grow with her for at least a year or two- oversized as it was, it'd probably feel weird when version one finally got too small for her to wear.

As she slid on her full pair of Ember Celica, she perked up- there was a taxi coming up to the door! That meant that Cinder was home! And also that storm of black rose petals rising from the forest off in the west meant that Ruby was coming back from her daily trip out into the woods, too!

Wait.

Shit.

Ruby wasn't supposed to be home for another hour! Why was she already heading back- Ruby always said that she'd be out late unless she sensed… wait.

Yang looked down at herself, frowning slightly as she tried to think about something other than her own fears and worries- Ruby was like a damn shark sometimes, and if she smelled any trace of negative emotion then she'd pounce and Yang would end up getting blankie wrapped with a puppy in her arms for the better part of an hour!

Ergo, she'd probably have to distract Ruby with the newcomers, who were still a bit a ways away- the taxi was following the road, which wound around some of the weird patches of forest around their cabin and took a winding path that was weirdly visible from the second story window that Yang was currently looking out of.

Ruby was headed her way at nearly top speed if Yang was judging those petals on the wind right, which meant that the car would arrive at the front door in about ten minutes, and Ruby would be there in…

Well.

"Aw shoo-" Yang bit out, only to get a faceful of flying grimm puppy as Ruby leapt through the open window and cocooned Yang in a single, swift movement, the entire room filling with aura-made rose petals and the quick thump of a slightly struggling body hitting the floor moments later. "Ruby!"

"Yang! I could smell your angst from miles away! That means blankie cuddles and puppy time!!!!" Ruby almost shouted, enthusiastically hugging Yang about as well as she could despite being a stubby limbed corgi grimm, her cape swirling and clutching Yang tightly like the world's softest, most comfortable weighted blanket. 

"B-but I- Cinder's almost back!" Yang protested weakly, trying to motion towards the window about as well as she could without actually being able to move her arms. Or… anything really. "Go bother her!"

"Mmmnope! She's got two other people with her and they're the kinda broody and angry that actual therapy fixes, not just puppy cuddles! Also I don't like being near other people so nyeh," Ruby stuck her tongue out, then nuzzled against Yang and closed her eyes. "That means blankie cuddles and naptime!"

Yang sighed, accepting that she and Cinder would never escape the cruel fate of being continuously wrapped up in a blanket cocoon with a corgi that happened to be their little sister. "... Can you at least move us so we're not lying on the floor?"