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Red eyes. Long, spiky black hair. Sword at her hip.
"Mom?"
"Yang, we have a lot to talk about."
"I don't care what you have to say. You show up now when you could have helped me?"
"I wasn't...permitted to interfere."
"You weren't permitted? I could have died! I could have...I lost my fucking arm, Mom! And you weren't there."
"I couldn't be there to prevent it, but I can give it back."
"What?"
"Come with me."
-
Where am I?
Dust crystals jutting up from reddish earth. Everything covered in a hazy fog.
How did I get here?
Two forms standing in front of her. One, her mother. The other...Yang wasn't sure she could call her human.
What's going on?
The pain overrode her thoughts as the large black bug burrowed further into her skin, just above her heart.
What the hell is that thing?
"...done well to bring her...perfect replacement for Cinder." The words faded in and out along with her vision. "All that pain and rage...perfect conditions to take over...will make a wonderful Fall Maiden."
They're doing something to you. Fight it!
A scream tore itself from Yang's throat as the insect disappeared fully beneath her flesh. Then everything went black.
-
"We're done in Vale. Move on to Atlas. You already know your assignment there."
"Understood."
Raven disappeared through a red and black portal as Yang stood from her crouching position next to Ozpin's corpse, flicking blood off of the red blade clutched in her right hand.
"Guess I should thank Cinder. You weren't much of a fight, old man," she muttered, loading a fresh clip into the single gauntlet on her left arm. "You never really recovered, even after all these weeks."
She didn't spare her former headmaster a glance as she stalked off into the snowy night.
-
She was too late. She sprinted into the room just in time to see a crimson blade pulled out of her sister's still form.
"Yang? How could you?" She put herself between Winter's body, blood still trickling from her chest, and Yang. She held Mytenaster in a shaky grip, blade aimed at the blonde's chest. "How could you?"
"I'm not the same person you knew," came the response, cold voice in juxtaposition with blazing red eyes.
"This isn't you, Yang! Please," she pleaded.
"Things change. This is me, now," the blonde snarled.
Weiss tightened her grip on her rapier's hilt and charged, glyphs giving her speed. "I'll have to knock some sense into you, then. I can't let you hurt anyone else." Just after raising her blade to strike, she found herself on the ground, coughing up blood from a devastating punch from Yang's left hand.
"Stay out of my way, Ice Queen, or I'll do worse than that," Yang warned, blade held to the heiress' throat. Her eyes flickered to lilac before she shut them tight, shaking her head. They were back to red when she opened them. "With General Robot and his little bitch gone, I'm done here. Off to Mistral. If you stay here in your little castle, you'll be safe."
-
"She wouldn't do that, Weiss! She would never...You're lying!"
"If I hadn't seen her kill my sister, I wouldn't believe it either. But it's not too late. She's changed in more ways than one. She has power she couldn't possibly have. I think someone must have done something to her."
"So why are you here, talking to me?"
"Because I need your help."
"I can't go back, Weiss. It's all my fault."
A sharp smack as Weiss' palm connected with Blake's cheek.
"That's bullshit and you know it. She needs you, Blake. They need us. Our partners. Our family. My father ordered me to stay - ordered - and I disobeyed. I came back here because I remembered that there are far more important things than listening to my father. He has never been family like Winter and you girls are. Our team is the most important thing in our lives, Blake. You need to remember that, too."
"I can't, Weiss. She hates me. I know it."
"Yang could never hate you. She loves you, idiot."
"You don't know that. You can't. I'm sorry, Weiss. I don't think I can help you."
"You can. We can't do this without you. We need to help her find herself; be a team again."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry, too. But I can't force you. I'm going whether you join me or not. If you don't? Just hope that we can bring Yang back without you. Before we lose her forever. She's still in there. She could have killed me, easily, and something stopped her. We can get her back, Blake."
The heiress turned on her heel and stalked out of the alley. Blake watched her go with tears pouring from her eyes, glancing at the right half of Ember Celica attached to her wrist.
"Weiss, wait!"
-
"Of all the times to learn subtlety, Ruby Rose, it had to be when I'm trying to find you," Weiss muttered as she finally lead Blake to her partner's campsite. Ren, on watch duty, was the first to see the white and black forms headed their way. Eyes widening in recognition, he swatted at the shoulder of the petite form curled up in the sleeping bag next to him.
"Uggh, Reennn. I already did my shift," Ruby grumbled, turning her back to the older boy.
"I have spent nearly a week searching for you, dolt. The least you could do is wake up to greet me."
Ruby shot upright as soon as the voice registered. "Weiss!" She jumped to her feet, tackling the older girl to the snowy ground. Hands on either side of her partner's head to hold her up, she surprised them both by bringing her lips down on Weiss'. Her eyes flew wide and she tried to push herself up, but the heiress' arms locked around her neck stopped her, pulling her down for another kiss.
"You've grown up a bit in the last few months, I see," Weiss said with a smirk once they'd parted.
"I mean, I did turn sixteen since I last saw you," Ruby mumbled, face flushed. A clearing throat had them scrambling to their feet with matching red cheeks.
"Nice to see you, too, Ruby," Blake murmured, eyebrow raised.
Ruby grinned and went to greet her other teammate, though this time without the kissing. Pulling out of the hug, she glanced around as her face fell into a frown.
"She's not with us, Ruby. I'm sorry," Weiss said.
"Is she still at home? Is she okay? Not that I'm not glad to see you, but why are you guys here, then?"
"Ruby...I'm so sorry. It's all my fault," Blake said, eyes misty with tears. "I'm so sorry."
The leader's blood ran cold. "What happened to my sister?"
-
"You will kill Ruby Rose next; she's too dangerous. She took out Cinder. You'll need to catch her by surprise. She likely can't control her powers yet and will use them on you if the need is great enough, family or not."
"What?!" Her eyes flickered between red and lilac before settling on the latter. "She's my sister! You can't ask me to do that!"
"I am not asking," Salem stated coldly.
"Well then I'm not listening! I won't do it!"
Raven circled behind her daughter, grabbing one of her wrists and twisting it, the pain bringing Yang to her knees. Salem held her hand up, an insect appearing from her palm. It burrowed through Yang's forehead as the blonde screamed, not leaving a single mark of its entry.
"You will kill Ruby Rose."
Yang could hardly mumble out an affirmation before losing consciousness.
-
"When I ran into her, she said she was headed to Mistral. Then just yesterday I heard that Haven's headmaster has been killed. It was likely her. Hopefully she's still here since that's the only lead we have," Weiss explained.
Ruby nodded, face pale and clenching one of the heiress' hands in both of hers. "What do we do if we find her?"
"Stay alive long enough to get through to her."
"What if she finds us?" Jaune countered. "She could be after Ruby if this is related to the whole Cinder thing. She's been taking out anyone powerful; the biggest threats. I think Ruby's on that list now."
"She wouldn't hurt her own sister. She wouldn't," Nora said with a frown.
"None of you saw her," Weiss replied, shaking her head. "She's not Yang anymore. I'm not sure there's anything she wouldn't do, if she's ordered. If she does find us, the plan is still the same."
-
Blake's ears perked up from under her bow as a muffled thump caught her attention. Nora's quickly cut off scream followed shortly after. Ember Celica activated on her right wrist as she unsheathed Gambol Shroud with her left. She caught a flash of blonde hair as she hopped down from her perch, high up in one of the leafless trees.
She's here.
-
Yang tossed Ren's unconscious body to the ground next to his teammates as Ruby, Weiss, and Blake converged on her, weapons drawn.
"Well look. Team RWBY's back together," she drawled, smirking. "It's a shame, you know. WBY doesn't have the same ring to it."
Weiss stalked up to the blonde, Myrtenaster aimed at her throat. "You will not touch her, Yang. I won't let you."
"I told you before," the blonde replied, flames flaring up around her red eyes as they glowed even brighter. "Stay out of my way. You aren't part of this." Fire erupted around her gauntleted fist and she backhanded Weiss in the face, hard. The heiress went flying into the trunk of a nearby tree, Aura vanishing after a brief flash of white.
Ruby hurried to her partner's side, helping the groaning girl sit up. "Why are you doing this, Yang? This isn't you!"
"Mommy dearest and a friend of hers fixed me up. Then they made me stronger than I've ever been. Just repaying the favor by doing what they asked."
"You've killed people, Yang! How are an arm and a power boost worth lives?" Blake asked, striding up to the blonde. "You aren't acting like Yang. Like my partner."
"Oh, you're one to talk. You abandoned your partner in her time of need. Ran off, too scared to face the consequences, like you always do."
"You're a better person than me, Yang! You always have been. You can't do this. You won't."
"I don't have a choice!" Yang roared, eyes hovering between purple and red. "You're wrong, Blake. I can and I will," she growled, red winning out.
"I love you!" Blake shouted. "That's why I ran. I love you and I almost got you killed and I couldn't face you. I couldn't see you again, knowing that you couldn't possibly love me back. That you could only ever hate me."
Yang frowned, purple just barely visible behind the flames. "I loved you, too, Blake. I did. You shouldn't have run away. But that's exactly what you should do, now. Run, Blake. It's what you're best at. Run before I have to hurt you."
The Faunus scowled, eyes hard. "No. I'm not running from you, ever again. I'm saving you from yourself no matter what it takes. Even if it means killing you before you kill your sister. The real Yang would gladly die before she let that happen."
"None of you get it!" Yang snapped, eyes blazing the same bloody hue as her sword. "I am the real Yang. And I'm going to do what I was asked. None of you can stop me."
Blake put herself in Yang's path as the blonde tried to charge at her sister, just barely blocking a strike from Yang's sword with Ember Celica. "Looks good on you, Blakey. I'll be taking it back when we're done here, though," the blonde said with a smirk. She reached up with her own gauntleted arm, gold metal clanging together as she grabbed Blake's wrist. She tossed the other girl over her shoulder, wincing as Blake crashed through dozens of branches before landing on her back on the snowy forest floor. "Ouch. Guess cats don't always land on their feet." She focused her attention on her sister with a chuckle. "Get it? She's a cat Faunus."
Casually lifting her sword to block a blow from Crescent Rose, she frowned. "Not in a joking mood, sis?"
"Don't make me fight you." Ruby gritted her teeth as she tried to force Yang's sword back.
"Seems like you already are. Trying to, anyway," Yang said flippantly. She pushed back with her sword, knocking the flat of Crescent Rose's blade into Ruby's face. She followed it up with a quick jab from her left fist, sending her sister sprawling to the ground.
"Well, it's been fun, little sis. But I think it's time for me to become an only child," she stated jovially, watching as Ruby shakily got to her feet. She lashed out with her fist again, easily tearing the scythe from the younger girl's hands. She brought her sword up, feeding Aura into it until the red blade burned with golden and orange flames, before stabbing it towards her sister. Her wide eyes went lilac as Blake jumped between them, the crimson blade sinking through the Faunus' chest.
"NO!" Her Aura flared to life around her, the golden flames turning the snow at her feet instantly to steam. Sword falling from her grasp and eyes clenched shut, she shrieked in pain as the two black insects were forced out of her forehead and chest. They disintegrated to ash before a breeze pulled them away. She fell to the ground, out cold, as her right arm disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Her Aura faded out around her as a darker gold hue took its place, her back arching as the light flew from her chest and into the sky, vanishing from sight.
The shadow clone dissipated, revealing Blake and Ruby - both alive - on the ground, the Faunus having tackled the younger girl out of the blade's reach.
"Are you okay?" the Faunus asked, helping her leader to her feet.
Ruby nodded, if a bit unsteadily. "Yeah. Thanks, Blake. You saved me. And I think you saved Yang, too." Weiss stumbled over and wrapped an arm around her partner's waist, Ruby doing the same so they could keep each other steady.
Blake hurried to her partner's side, dropping to her knees in the snow. She quickly unraveled both wrist ribbons as well as her bow, hurriedly tying all of them around Yang's bleeding stump to serve as bandages, one of them farther up the blonde's arm, tied tightly to act as a tourniquet.
"You're gonna be okay, Yang. And I'll be here when you wake up," she mumbled. Ruby and Weiss dropped down beside her, the younger girl throwing her arm over Blake's shoulders. "We'll all be here. Your family."
-
Yang let out a groan, eyes cracking open for a moment before the pain made her close them again. She heard a gasp as a weight next to her shifted away, off the mattress. "You're awake."
Her eyes flew open, watering from the pain, but she ignored it. "Blake? You're okay? But I...I stabbed you."
The Faunus shook her head. "You stabbed a clone. I'm fine. Ruby, Weiss, and team JNPR - I mean, everybody else, too. How much do you remember?"
"My mom coming to me. She told me she could get me my arm back. I had a bad feeling about it but I went with her anyway. Then this...place. It didn't look like any other place on Remnant I've seen. There was this woman with white hair and these crazy lines on her face. Kinda looked like a Grimm. After that it's kinda hazy. I remember hurting a lot. Then when I woke up...it was like I was me, but not me? Almost like I was watching myself. Sometimes I was more me, like when I warned Weiss. But most of the time...Killing people. Hurting all you guys, trying to kill Ruby." She broke off, taking a minute to fight back a sob as she looked around the room. "Where are we?"
"We took you to Haven; we're in one of their dorms. Other Huntsmen are the only people that trust us and will take us in, nowadays," she explained, brows furrowed.
"But I killed their headmaster. It's like a bad dream, but I remember it," the blonde protested.
"No one saw you when you did it, I guess. No one recognized you aside from some kids that remembered seeing you fight in the tournament. And you did not kill anyone, Yang. You were being controlled. That wasn't you."
"In my head, I know that. Might take my heart some convincing, though. I can still see their faces when...Fuck. Weiss' sister. Ozpin..." She trailed off, trying to push herself into a sitting position. She slipped back against the pillows when she, for some reason, only had one arm supporting her. She let out a quiet whimper when she saw her bandaged arm.
"It's gone again, Yang, I'm sorry. Whatever those things were that they put in you to control you must have given your arm back, along with the Fall Maiden's powers. Both left you after your Aura forced the bugs out."
The blonde nodded miserably as she let Blake help her sit up. "Wait, Fall Maiden...what?"
The Faunus managed a small chuckle. "It's a long story. We'll fill you in later. Your uncle knows more about it than we do."
Yang nodded again, following her partner's gaze to her right arm. "It's not your fault, you know."
"It is. Everything that's happened, even this. If I hadn't abandoned you, maybe Raven wouldn't have been able to get to you."
"No, Blake. If I don't get to blame myself for the lives I took, you don't get to blame yourself for my arm. It wasn't your fault. I can't say I wasn't mad when you left, I was. I was mad at everything. But that doesn't mean I blame you, and it doesn't mean I don't want you here now."
"I'm not leaving unless you ask me to. But the minute you do, I'll be gone, I swear."
"I'm not asking you to leave. I want you here. I need you with me."
"You'll change your mind once you're feeling better and you remember how terrible I - "
"Blake, I didn't mean what I said before," Yang started, her partner cutting her off.
"You said a lot of things you didn't mean. It's okay. That wasn't you talking."
"No, this is important, okay?" She reached her hand out, clasping the Faunus' tightly. "It wasn't something the bugs made me say. It was me. I wanted to make you leave again before I lost control again."
"What is it?"
"I said...I said I loved you. Past tense. But - "
"It's okay. I don't know how you could love me after everything. You don't have to pretend you ever did."
"No, Blake! Just listen to me for a damn second!" Yang barked, flinching at the way her partner's ears lowered. "Sorry, just, you're so hard-headed that it gets annoying sometimes."
"That's rich, coming from you," Blake said with a rueful grin.
"Heh, yeah. Very true. But, anyway..." She trailed off, taking a deep breath. "I do love you. Still. Always. I don't know. The point is that I love you."
Tears welled up in Blake's eyes as she turned away. "You shouldn't."
"No. Enough of this guilt crap, okay? I love you, Blake Belladonna. I'll say it as many times as I have to until you believe me."
Her partner's response was a barely-audible whisper. "Why?"
"Because you're everything to me, Blake. You're my partner and my best friend. Because I can't live without you. I can live without an arm, but not without you. Look at me, please." Blake cautiously turned her head, her free hand swiping at her tears. "After that whole Mercury thing, you asked me to look you in the eye tell you that Mercury attacked me. I did, and you believed me. So Blake..." She trailed off, staring straight into her partner's amber eyes. "I love you. I don't blame you. And I am not asking you to leave, ever."
So much like the last time, Blake looked down for a moment before a small smile crept up onto her face. Her reply was different, though. "I love you, too."
"Good," Yang said, mirroring her partner's smile. "Just..." Her smile faded as she glanced at her arm again. "Please don't leave me, okay? I really do need you. I don't know if I can ever get past this otherwise."
Blake looked her straight in the eye and avowed, "I won't. You're stuck with me, partner."
Yang believed her.