Chapter Text
Willmore Wilderness Park, Alberta, Canada – 31st of October, 1997
*crunch*
*crunch*
*snap*
*thud*
“OUCH!”
So much for celebrating my birthday out in the wild...
A very young, newly turned 13-year-old Ruby held her knee on the ground, sulking from tripping and falling due to a hidden rock on the path she’d been treading.
It was her dad’s idea- to come out all the way into Willmore Wilderness Park to celebrate the occasion. The location they were camping at was an indescribably beautiful, scenic spot, she had to give it to him- though, it would have been nicer to stay closer to civilization... if anything, to ensure ease of access to first aid, considering the kind of klutz she was.
Sighing and scrambling to her feet with a now scraped, bleeding knee, Ruby gathered the sticks, foliage and pieces of thicker lumber she had scavenged from the nearby woods. She was on kindling duty for the next hour or so. The sun had long-since set and it was getting colder and impossibly darker by the minute- making it harder to see where she was stepping, the low temperature pushing her to hurry back to their camp.
To avoid getting lost and endangering herself needlessly, she had brought a torch, compass and knife on her brief night stroll.
Limiting her walk to 10 minutes in each direction, she was now 2 minutes into the trek on her way back.
The crisp, fall-scented breeze surrounding her turned chilly every time the wind picked up, which, in this mountainous region, meant more often than not.
She shivered, clutching the kindling closer to her, trying to pick up her pace when, all of a sudden, where the path gave way to a more open clearing, a flash of white caught her attention and made her drop what she’d been holding, her mouth agape in shock.
A really strong blast of air sent her flying back a couple of feet, making small trees and bushes in her immediate vicinity bend and creak.
With her rear end firmly planted in the dirt, Ruby shielded her eyes from the leaves and granules of soil that had been blown in her face, trying to catch a glimpse of the white, giant, soaring creature that had just darted past her, obscuring the full moon for a good second or two- only to vanish as hastily as it had appeared, leaving her exposed and confused, wondering what the hell she’d just witnessed.
Not too far from her, on the ground, laid a small, glistening item that had been left behind in the tall grass. Shuffling closer, in a half-crouched position, she carefully clasped the foreign object, afraid it would get lost if she wasn’t careful enough. Pinching it firmly with two fingers, she held it up against the pale moonlight, observing a faint silver glint reflecting off it, which, upon closer inspection, was more so the result of tinier, shimmering particles trapped within what resembled a cross between a fish scale and a reptilian scute, but not quite. It felt as smooth as polished bone, yet remained flexible and lithe, thin as paper- but paradoxically impossible to break or tear. It was pristine white in color.
“Just what in the world-”
She looked up again, noticing the same creature ascending into a very distant set of clouds at mountain-height, disappearing into the night shortly thereafter.
In that fraction of a second, just before it disappeared into the mist, she did manage to catch a good glimpse of its shape. Despite what her eyes told her, she remained frozen in place, utter denial and disbelief keeping her rooted right where she was standing, unable to process reality. Massive bat-like wings, yet a sinuous, serpentine build- four limbs tucked against its reptilian form to stay aerodynamic and, apparently, white scales and spikes covering its body... a crown of horns adorning its head.
She just saw a mother-fucking dragon.
It had flown North- slightly North-West, towards the similarly-named Canadian territory.
Was she dreaming? Hallucinating?!? She didn’t do drugs (she was barely 13, for crying-out-loud!), nor did she accidentally eat any unknown mushrooms during the day- all things that would easily explain away the “encounter” she’d just had.
With now trembling hands, she ran her fingers over the scale- cementing the unbelievable notion within her that- what she had just experienced was, in fact, very, very real.
And as any kid her age would do, she broke into a sprint, running back to safety as fast as she humanly could, which, for Ruby, was very fast. She was a gifted runner and multiple marathon winner at her local middle school, after all.
The moment she reached camp, frazzled and out of breath, she rambled on—her heart pounding against her rib cage—for a good few minutes about what she’d seen- trying to show off her scale to Yang, Summer and Tai, her sister snorting and rolling her eyes, complimenting her on finding a “nice and unique fish scale” while also completely forgetting about kindling for their fire in the process.
Upset and defeated, she made sure to treasure the scale, ticked off that nobody had taken her seriously, simply chalking it up to Ruby being “a kid with an overly active imagination”. To hell with it. She made a promise to herself that she would prove them all wrong someday- and then they would be really sorry for it too.
The night had gone by without any other disturbances or incidents. The same could be said for the remainder of their outdoors excursion.
..
...11 years later...
Ruby had never forgotten that fateful night, all those years ago. If anything, it had shaped a large chunk of her interests now that she had matured into an adult, had a part-time job at a local records store- and nearly saved up enough to move out. Some people could argue, her sister included, that at 24 years old one should stop obsessing over Canadian native folklore, cryptids and, specifically, the tale of the Headless Valley- but she would blabber on to anyone who would lend her an ear, be it a customer at the store, an acquaintance, a friend- or any poor soul who would make the mistake of expressing interest as a polite gesture to entertain some small talk. Her hyper-fixation had even made it onto some small corners of the early internet- mostly forums where she would trade stories and accounts of the supernatural with complete online strangers. If Tai hadn’t died in a car accident many years prior, he too would have had to suffer the annoyance of having to yell at Ruby to get off the dial-up internet, as it prevented Summer, Raven and Yang from making any calls with the landline at home most of the time.
Yang had recently finished college and thankfully lived with other people in a flat downtown. She was so fed up with Ruby constantly clogging the line that she’d been acquiring and upgrading mobile phones ever since they started being a thing. She now had a flip phone, namely a Motorola Razr V3- and couldn’t be happier. Ruby, on the other hand, was still stuck with one of her old hand-me-downs: a Nokia 1200 that only had Snake on it as a game... not even Space Impact. Not that Ruby particularly cared- but it meant she couldn’t really keep herself entertained when her shifts at the record shop were dragging, as it was particularly dead quiet early in the week.
Their moms, Raven and Summer, had reconnected over shared memories of Tai at his funeral.
...Was it weird for their moms to be dating? To most outsiders, sure- but they had gotten used to having weird family dynamics from the get-go, and despite Raven and Yang’s mother-daughter relationship being quite tense, abandonment issues and all- they at least acknowledged each-other’s existence during family gatherings now, which was... something.
Yang had picked up Tai’s late hobby of motocross, among a slew of other extreme sports that were popular in Calgary, Alberta- where they’d grown up. It was over a shared mutual interest of Yang’s, of being a cowgirl and partaking in rodeos and competitions, that Blake had met, befriended and ended up dating her hot-headed, dare-devil sister. Ruby hadn’t really expressed much interest in relationships so far- considering herself either ace-spec or simply a late bloomer, but she didn’t mind hanging out with Blake and Yang, supporting their relationship fully. Yang was lucky enough to have gotten a well-paying job with flexible hours as an engineer. It would be a lie to say that Ruby didn’t envy how much she could splurge on expensive commodities like bike-components for Bmblb, a modded Suzuki RMZ450 with yellow, black and red flame graphics- a car, car insurance, health insurance, an unlimited calls phone plan- hell, she gifted Blake one of those really expensive iPods as well. Those things weren’t cheap! All while she still used this old Walkman dad used to have. Ruby had mooched off her a few times to get her teeth fixed and to pay for doctor’s appointments, but beyond that- it would be a miracle if she saw a pretty penny for any sort of thing she needed, like brand-new running shoes, or hard-to-find, exclusive editions of books she wanted for research purposes. That wasn’t to say that she didn’t love Yang, but it definitely felt unfair that she herself always got the short end of the straw.
Currently, it was mid-June, which meant that the new motocross season had begun- with Yang immediately jumping at the opportunity to partake in the Canadian Triple Crown Series. The first race was set to take place in their home town, at the “Wild Rose MX”.
Ruby had accompanied Yang to these competitions for years, though she’d gotten bored of them eventually, especially now that Blake had taken her spot in cheering her on.
Just as she was about to leave for the day, Ruby decided to stop Yang to beg her for a massive favor.
“I know you’ve said that I should ‘get over’ my childish interest involving the supernatural many times, but I think I have finally compiled enough evidence to look for the dragon- the giant white flying creature I saw many years ago- and bring back irrefutable proof of its existence-”
Yang sighed, her shoulders slumping, pinching her nose.
“Ruby- I really don’t have the time for this. We have talked about this many times- I am not dropping you off somewhere in the middle of bum-fuck-nowhere, in the wilderness, all on your own- just because you can’t let go of some stupid fantasy you had as a kid-”
“But Yang-”
“Ruby, nO. No means no, do you understand?”
“You won’t even hear me out-”
“And why would I? What’s this evidence that you are, once again, going to use as an excuse to get your way and put yourself in harm’s way for no good reason?”
“Look, if I had a car and driver’s license, I would go there myself- The North-West Territories are not even that far away from where we live- and there are still ways to get into the Nahanni National Park Reserve-”
“Oh, dear. God. Not the goddarn Headless Valley again. Ruby- I’m not arguing with you over this- get out of my way. I’m gonna be late- Blake is waiting for me.”
“Also, you are one to talk about going out of your way to seek danger- you’re a literal adrenaline junkie. Every sport you get into could land you in a hospital at the very minimum if something were to go wrong.”
“Yeah, I know. So take it from someone like me- and understand that if I say that something is a bad idea, I mean it. I may be a ‘thrill seeker’ and whatever else you want to call me, but even I know that going to a place that—according to your research—has: A. Been barred from entry for good, B. Only had corpses turn up / recovered from it- or people who were traumatized and scared shit-less to an inch of their life and C. Been shunned by the locals- and you know the locals or natives know things better than anyone else- and you can see why I’m starting to think that you want to head to this place because you are suicidal! Do you even know how that makes me feel, by the way?!”
“...”
“You know what? Never mind. Forget I ever asked.”
“Just- please. Try to understand my point of view. I’m saying this from a place of concern. I care about you, sis- but I cannot, in good conscience, let you pursue goals that are too foolish and dangerous for your limited understanding of the world.”
“Are we really doing this again? The whole discourse of ‘I’m more mature than you because I have a real job, live away from home, pay my bills and am 2 years older than you?’”
“I don’t mean to say that you are not an adult, Ruby- but you’ve been sheltered, living with mom- and Raven...”
“When will you actually start calling her ‘mom’ too? Isn’t it a bit mean that you are still holding a grudge against her?”
“I will call her whatever I feel like. You’re not the one who got left behind by a dead-beat parent, Ruby.”
They both stopped, sighed and apologized to one-another.
“Look, I’m sorry. Why don’t you come out to the Wild Rose MX with me and Blake? Maybe you’ll have some fun- or meet someone new. You never know.”
It was Ruby’s turn to feel hurt.
“You still think I don’t have any friends, do you...?”
“I think you could use some more real-life friends, Ruby. This Patty girl-”
“Penny. Her name is Penny- and unlike you, she has actually helped me do some of the research on what I need to be aware of when visiting the Nahanni Valley-”
“Penny. Right. Sorry- I’m sure she’s done it with very good intentions, but I still believe it would do you some good to have someone to hang out with, in person, who isn’t a million miles away and could be a morbidly obese guy living in his elderly mother’s basement, pretending to be a girl online-”
“I hate you.”
“Love you too, Rubes. Seriously though, why don’t you come along? It might brighten your day. I’ll give you some spending money for ice cream as well. Deal?”
“...”
“One day you’ll stop treating me like I’m 5... Hopefully. I’m just coming along because Blake is nice- and actually listens to me.”
“Alright Rubes, whatever suits you... You do know that I wouldn’t be able to take you to any far away place even if I wanted to, though- my summer is packed with competitions between the Triple Crown and the Calgary Stampede-”
Ruby just grumbled a response. “Yeah, I know. Let’s just go...”
..
With Yang speeding farther down the motocross track, Blake and Ruby didn’t really have much left to do while sitting in the sidelines, once she was completely out of sight.
It was rare to see Ruby so upset and disinterested in eating her favorite brand of strawberry ice cream. She held it loosely, twirling the cone in her hand as it melted, part of it dripping to the floor.
Observant as always, Blake broke the ice with the most tactful sentence she could muster:
“Rough day? We can go somewhere quieter if you need to vent. You know I don’t mind in the slightest.”
Ruby’s cheeks pulled back in a faint smile, responding with a nod, glancing at the loud, packed crowd surrounding the spectator benches they were at.
Moving past another group of people headed for the show, the duo ignored and surpassed several fast food stands and vendors trying to pitch them a lunch on the fly. They settled down on a bunch of rocks in the shade of an oak tree, at the edge of the race track.
“What’s gotten you so worked up that you wouldn’t touch your ice cream? Did something bad happen?”
“Yang and I had a fight. Nothing new. What’s getting under my skin is, she knows I am the way I am- but still tries to push me to be different, to me more like ...her.”
Blake frowned, knowing how stubborn and insensitive her girlfriend could be at times, with the best of intentions at heart.
“She’s a blockhead.”
“Mhm. Unfortunately.”
The two of them got slightly more comfortable. Ruby had discarded the wasted, soggy cone in a trash can before they sat down, now keeping her hands busy by pulling at the hem of her shirt, running the texture over her fingers- an old self-soothing behavior she’d picked up as a kid and had never grown out of.
“I don’t know if it’s normal for sisters to fight this much. I always thought it was a sibling thing, but some of the people I went to school with back when I was 18, like Jaune... He seemed to get along okay with his sisters. Granted, I didn’t know him too well. It’s not like we were best friends, but he didn’t mention arguing with them. The worst it got was some teasing.”
“Is Yang still having a hard time accepting your hobbies, or the fact that you’re an introvert...?”
“That’s part of it. I just- I don’t feel listened to, or like she really cares to get to know me and accept me for me, you know...? There are so many things she just dismisses- or calls a ‘phase’, or simply ignores. It would be nice if she could show that she cares in a bit of a more... caring way...”
“Have you tried telling her any of this?”
“Yeah. She always promises to do better- but I don’t think she intends to keep her word at this point. I really want to visit the Nahanni National Park Reserve before I grow old and move on to have a life of my own. It’s been a dream of mine since I was a teen- but I can’t drive, don’t have money for driving lessons, a license, or a beat up car- and Yang cannot help. She either doesn’t have the time- or has her own life to worry about already, financially-speaking.”
“What’s so special about the Nahanni Valley? Isn’t it just a closed off national park?”
“Ah, right- I forgot about the fact that I never told you. Yang forbade me from ranting to you about anything involving my interests.”
“If you want to, you can fill me in. I’m always up for a good story.”
Ruby smiled again, piping up and unleashing the list of facts she had learned by heart.
“The Nahanni National Park Reserve is also known as the Valley of Headless Men. It earned its infamous nickname and reputation from the many—still unexplained to this day—events that were recorded over the course of the past century. Firstly, you should know that the few natives that have lived around the area, have failed to settle within it for over 10’000 years! That alone- is insane to think about, considering how much of the Americas have been urbanized and laid out with infrastructure. That means that there is no roads leading into the valley whatsoever. You can only reach it by hiking, taking a small plane or accessing it via boat or canoe. The rapids of the river are no joke either- with the hikes being notoriously treacherous due to the elevated terrain, many steep cliffs and dangerous drops.”
“Interesting... I take it the headless men part comes from casualties of people who have attempted to mess with the wild and take their chances then...?”
“Yes and no- let me explain. Most of the people who have tried to settle there during more ‘modern’ times, were Dust prospectors. They were on the hunt for elemental Dust crystals, which sometimes wash up from the river, likely residue that fell into it from the mountains’ many ravines. However, the reason it’s called the ‘Headless Valley’, is due to the large majority of those Dust prospectors winding up dead under very strange, inexplicable and mysterious circumstances. The first recorded instance of such happenings dates back to 1905, where 3 men went missing during a Dust prospecting expedition. They headed up the South Nahanni River, through the Big Bend, into the affluent Flat River, which leads to the 2nd Canyon. Apparently, there's 4 Canyons in total, but only the 2nd one is as creepy, difficult to traverse and dangerous, with really deep waters and high peaked cliffs- towering above the waters, with no shores to speak of. It is said to have a myriad of unexplored cave systems, the vast majority out of reach- and many explorers who passed through that stretch have reported feeling ‘watched’. By what? No one really knows. Be as it may... these prospectors initially found copious amounts of rare elemental Dust, when they first entered the valley, but lost it when their boat broke down and sank. I think they had another explorer with them who went back to get supplies and left the other 3 to try and set up camp. That’s how we know about what they were doing when they were last seen alive, before they met their demise. When the man came back looking for them, he found a beheaded, burned body reaching for a rifle and a half-way burned body laying midway through the tent opening of the camp they had set up. The third man was not found until much later- his skeletal remains discovered near the river. The strange thing about the man in the tent is, it looked like he had leapt out only to be decapitated on the spot and burned right after. The burns were also so severe that he was literally charred. All the remaining rare Elemental Dust they had recovered from the river was also gone.”
Blake raised an eye-brow, intrigued by the very detailed account provided.
“Is that what caused people to rename the Valley, then?”
“Oh no, we are just getting started. This was the first of a series of heinous deaths. Another Dust prospector, named Martin, tried building a cabin in the same location many years later, in 1913. Any Dust he collected- also mysteriously disappeared, his corpse recovered decapitated and burned. In 1921, an even more bizarre event occurred: a Dust prospector named John also ventured out to the same valley. He was discovered frozen to death- but not under any normal circumstances. He looked like he had been ‘flash frozen’, and if you know anything about Ice Dust and Ice Dust-based technology- there was no way in 1921 that anyone would be able to achieve flash-freezing an entire human being unless they were in a specialized lab with very, very sophisticated equipment. This was in the wild, Blake- and he looked like he had just been relaxing, facing his own campfire. It’s as if he had been frozen in an instant- or frozen in time that very moment, forever... Things only get weirder from here.”
Blake blinked, disconcerted at the tales Ruby was narrating.
“And all of this is a confirmed fact? As in, authorities sent rescue parties and they found all these people decapitated, burnt- and one flash-frozen...?”
“Yep.” She popped the p, adding a bit of character to the whole storytelling.
“Documented in the historical records that the few sheriffs kept and preserved. The next strange report, however, is not a death, but rather a woman named Annie that went missing after heading to the Headless Valley accompanied by a hunting party. They had searched for her high and low, without any success, after she went missing one night. It’s only months later that an explorer would stumble upon her in a completely feral, frenzied state- running around on all fours, naked, climbing a cliff near the river. They just attributed her state to her having had some kind of mental health episode or a mental breakdown, but they never managed to recover her alive, or her body, from the wild either- as no one managed to take her and bring her back to civilization... I could go on for hours. In 1931, Phil, another Dust prospector, built a cabin in the same region. He was found burned to a crisp and his cabin? Also burned down, but from the investigation they carried out, they found that he was already charred into coal before the fire even started- and that the cabin had been set ablaze from the roof. There was no indication that it had been an accident either. In 1936, 2 men, William and Joseph, Dust prospectors, disappeared. Their cabin also burned to the ground, but their bodies were never recovered. In 1945, Earnest, the umpteenth Dust prospector who thought he could strike it rich and ignore all the ‘rumors’ surrounding the valley, was also later found dead, decapitated in his sleeping bag, near the Flat River. In 1946, yet another John, also a Dust prospector, went missing. Also never found. The search party that came looking for him, however, got warned by natives living outside the area that there were ‘white, dangerous creatures’ roaming in those cursed grounds. They got told, ‘you don’t want them to see you’ and were later scared off by howls, screams and wails in the middle of the night. They packed up first thing in the morning and gave up the search, not wanting to find out what was out there. After that year, they basically closed off the park for good, claiming ‘protection’ as the reason behind it. From what? It was never really disclosed or understood. They probably wanted to advertise it as protecting nature from greedy, pillaging, good-for-nothing humans, who would stop at nothing to get rich- but truth be told, I think it was more so to prevent more casualties in the form of those people dying upon entry.”
Blake remained silent, mulling over the information she’d been told, piecing together the timeline in her head.
“I imagine Yang had her own reservations and safety-related concerns about you going there...?”
Ruby sighed some more.
“Yeah, something like that... but I’d be much more careful! And prepared! Besides, I don’t care about stealing any elemental Dust from the land! I will probably just end up hitchhiking rides until I get close enough- and hike the rest of the way.”
That last part heightened Blake’s worries and anxiety tenfold.
“...Ruby... I don’t mean to echo what your sister said, but- I take it, with how informed you are on certain topics, that you know about the Highway of Tears, right...?”
“Ah, yeah. I’ve heard about the many women and girls that went missing...”
“Then please, don’t go the hitchhiking route.” She crossed her arms, grasping them tightly as her frown deepened. “I had a friend go missing that way. Ilia. She was never found...”
She took a deep breath and continued.
“She was an adventurous, free-spirited, loyal friend. I think about her every other day- wondering if there was anything I could have done to prevent her from disappearing.”
Ruby’s mood went from hyper- to sad and somewhat embarrassed.
“I don’t want to end up like that either. I’m really sorry, Blake. I hope they find her alive and well someday, even though the chances of that are very small. I still really want to go. I just have to find the right means to do so. Or the right person, I guess.”
“...What if I took you...?”
“Huh?”
“You heard me. What if I drove you all the way to the closest, safest point, dropped you off and we would have a rendezvous time and date?”
“You would really do that for me...?”
She nodded.
“There is another thing that allows me to empathize with your situation a lot. I know what it’s like, to have people hover above me- make decisions on my behalf and never let me experience life. While I love them dearly, my parents—in particular my father—would always chase away anyone I dated, set strict curfews- and generally be over-bearing and over-protective of me. I know Yang, but also Summer and Raven- treat you the same way. Yang has told me how frustrated you get with them as well.
“Yeah... it’s not been fun. I’m 24, you know? I understand that they worry about me- but it would be nice if they would stop seeing me as this baby who hasn’t managed to survive a single day on her own.”
“I also promise that I’ll have a chat with Yang about her behavior. I think it’s about time that she learns what the word ‘neurodivergent’ means.”
That word piqued Ruby’s interest. “I think I have heard that term before, but I cannot remember where. What does it mean?”
“It means you function slightly differently than everyone else Ruby. I do too- though, I guess I can mask better so it’s not as obvious in me as it is in you.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“I assure you that I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. Us neurodivergent folks, we... Have our own very specific interests, or things we are good at that we love doing. We ramble a lot. Some of us like to stim or have sensory issues- or preferences. I noticed you playing with your shirt a lot. That’s one thing that might fit the bill for it. That- and how you shy away from prolonged eye-contact. It’s relatively new information and barely talked about, so I didn’t think you'd know.”
“Y-Yeah, I mean, it does explain a lot. I hope Yang won’t mind if I’m like that.”
“It’s perfectly normal. To be like that. To be different. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise.”
Ruby nodded and smiled at her, appreciating her kind words.
“For now, let’s keep this whole ‘I’ll drive you there’ discussion to ourselves. Yang can easily get overwhelmed when you talk about emotionally demanding topics- let alone multiple at once.”
“Understood. Will keep my mouth shut.”
“Oh, and Ruby?”
“Yeah?”
“Make sure you plan and pack for any necessity and scenario you might encounter. I don’t know if you carry, but I wouldn’t go to that place unarmed if there truly is something prowling in the wilderness that ended so many people all those years back.”
“Oh, I know. I already have a complete set of supplies and survival gear. I will bring knives and a couple of other tools and backup weapons, just in case. Penny has also helped me get some tech to document any findings I may come across. I have this digital camera with an integrated screen, a Canon IXUS 400. Had to save up for a good few months to buy it second-hand!”
“Good. I trust that you already know how to use a map and compass, light a fire- and obtain clean drinking water. That means we only have to consider the length of the drive, your stay- and your food supplies. Don’t worry about fuel money, I'll cover it- and part of any meals we will stop for along the road.”
“Thank you, Blake! You’re the best!”
She got pulled into an impromptu hug, not minding at all, returning the gesture before ascertaining their destination.
“Do you already know the closest point to the natural reserve that still has road access?”
“Yup. It’s called Ford Liard. There’s a little over 400 people living there. I can then hike to the Nahanni Butte, which is the closest shelter that leads to the river where I’ll likely have to rent a canoe. It’s the only option that will allow me to cross into the closed off canyons.”
“How long a drive is it? Have you looked it up?”
“A whole day’s worth of driving. 15 hours and a half... Are you sure you want to do this...? I know it's a huge ask- and really long journey.”
Taken slightly aback by the ETA, Blake hummed, thinking it over one more time for good measure.
“It’s okay. We will have to consider taking several pit stops every 4-5 hours, but it should be manageable.”
“Sweet! I will hopefully only be gone for a couple of days. We can reconvene at Fort Liard on day 4 if that works!”
Blake agreed, doing some quick math in her head to remember to save up the money required for the trip. They settled on a day two weeks from then. By that point Yang would be far away, on tour to try to win her motocross championship.
..
Later that night, Blake drove Yang home with her truck, stopping to have a brief conversation during the drop-off.
“Yang, we need to talk about how you treat Ruby. I know it’s a sensitive subject, but continuing to infantilize her when she is an adult who can make her own decisions isn’t healthy, for either one of you.”
“Blake... I’m glad you care, but now might not be the best time to talk about something like that. I’m shattered from the race. Scoring second place was still good, but every muscle in my body is screaming at me to go lie down. Can we maybe do this tomorrow...?”
Blake deflated slightly, knowing full-well that Yang would likely just find the next excuse to continue avoiding the conversation, no matter what day it was.
“I’m sorry for bringing it up all of a sudden. It’s something that’s been bothering me for a while- I should have brought it up sooner.”
“It’s okay. If it really can’t wait, I can spare a few minutes.” She then placed a hand on Blake’s shoulder, tiredly but supportively.
“Yang... what do you know about Autism?”
That question threw the blonde off far more than her expression was letting on.
“Wha- What does that have to do with anything...?”
“It’s not that much of a stretch to put 2 and 2 together. Have you really not noticed anything different about Ruby...?”
Yang’s face contorted as it went through several emotions- confusion, surprise, shock, then anger.
“Are you calling my sister a retard?!”
Now it was Blake’s turn to be extremely offended.
“Don’t *EVER* use that word. It’s a horrible slur- and just so you know, I am Autistic as well- I’m merely better at hiding it.”
“Uh. Oh.”
“Yeah... I’ve been meaning to tell you that for a while too...”
“Blake, I’m so sorry- I didn’t mean it that way.”
“I know you didn’t, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. The media has made a mockery of Autistic and neurodivergent folks. There are so many horrible stereotypes out there, mixed with misinformation. The R word you used there is one of many issues that stemmed from people misunderstanding this condition and immediately assuming that people who function differently are somehow less intelligent than the rest. It doesn’t work like that at all. Many of us have specialized brains- we are really good at some things, less so at others, which can include troubles or delays with social skills, learning about emotions and how to handle them- or even excessive stubbornness that can be detrimental.”
Yang took in the lecture the best she could, nodding and scratching the back of her head somewhat sheepishly.
“Some of us are able to mask and appear more ‘normal’, but it doesn’t take away the fact that it takes effort- or that there will always be the risk of continuing to be misunderstood...”
She paced around on the side walk, gripping her crossed arms firmly, trying to emotionally regulate the best she could.
“The point is, Ruby very much shows many major hallmarks for both Autism and ADHD. I’m not a psychologist or mental health professional, but when you are like us- let’s say we just easily recognize each-other and gravitate towards one-another. It’s like having someone that truly gets you- without you needing to explain them anything.”
“You are talking about my sister like you’re going to cheat on me with her.”
Blake snorted a bit at the badly timed joke.
“Not like that, you hoser. But you get what I’m trying to say... Hopefully...”
“I do, I do. I hope you can teach me more on how to behave around people that function—as you put it—differently. I think I have been doing a really poor job with Ruby.”
“I’m willing to teach, if you are willing to learn.”
“I’m all ears.”
They then made up, hugged and talked late into the night, until it was time for Blake to head home.
The Headless Valley was never brought up. Still, it remained at the forefront of Blake’s mind... What in the world had she gotten herself into?