Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dark hair. Amber eyes. A black blade. Her name, coming from perfectly shaped lips. Perfect little cat ears. Dark purple. Black. Shadows. Again her name. It sounded so mournful, coming from this girl’s mouth. Why was she so sad? Yang opened her own mouth to call out to her, let her know she was there. The girl’s voice echoed around her again, a flash of a hand in the dark as the shadows overtook it all again.

More shadows. A flash of red. A scream, high and horrible. Yang was sprinting through the dark, chasing the noise. Where was she? Where was --

The scene changed again. Long white hair, almost glowing in the dark. Ice blue symbols. The woman moved like a ballet dancer. A rapier gripped tightly in her hand. She turned, calling Yang’s name. It was full of fear, not mourning like the other girl. A name floated through her mind, but before she could pin it down --

Red rose petals floated through the void. Crying surrounded her. The sobs weren’t of her name this time, they were for someone else. Yang ran through the dark, trying desperately to find the source of the crying. She stumbled upon her little sister and reached out to her --

A mirror. Yang approached it slowly. When she caught sight of her reflection, she reeled back. Her hair was glowing white-hot, her eyes were red. Her hands were encased in bright yellow weapons. Red glowed behind her in the dark. She turned to face it, throwing her hands up and --

Pain.

Blood splattered across the ground as her right arm was taken from the elbow down.

A horrible laugh surrounded her. The dark-haired woman screamed again. Yang ached to tell her it was okay, but she couldn’t form the words.

Pain.

She was drifting. The world went dark.

Yang sat up, gasping. Zwei snored at the foot of her bed. She laid back down, listening to the sound of Zwei and Ruby breathing, willing her heart to slow. She thought of the tricks her therapist taught her after the accident. Five things you see, Yang , she thought. She looked around slowly.

The spot of water damage on the ceiling, dark and noticeable even in the night. The glass on the nightstand, still filled with water from before bed. The chair in the corner, her jacket thrown over it. Zwei at her feet, heavy and warm, his ear flicking in his sleep. The alarm clock, display glowing 5:07 A.M .

4 things you can touch.

Slowly, she slid her hands through her hair, scratching at her scalp slightly, letting the strands run fully through her fingers.. She shuffled her feet against Zwei, taking in the warmth and softness of his fur. She rubbed her hands over her blanket, it was soft as well, nice to touch. She touched her face. Sticky, like she’d been sweating. Or crying, her mind whispered.

3 things you can hear.

Zwei snuffling and sighing. The wind moving the tree near the window, making the branches scrape against the side of the house. Ruby moving in her sleep, probably curling into a ball.

2 things you can smell.

She rolled her face over and inhaled deeply. Her pillow smelled like her hair products, slightly sweet and herbal. She pulled her blanket up and smelled that, too. The laundry soap her Mom liked to use. Clean and refreshing. Calming.

1 thing you can taste.

She focused on the inside of her mouth, really trying to figure it out. It tasted stale and dry and she grimaced. Nap taste. She heard more movement from Ruby’s bed and sighed through her nose. 3...2...1…

“Yang?” She rolled over and looked at her.

“Yeah?” Ruby’s eyes were almost glowing in the moonlight coming in through the curtains. Her eyes were locked onto her face, watching carefully.

“I can’t sleep,” she whispered finally. Yang said nothing, just held the blanket up. Ruby rushed over and tucked herself under it. She curled up into Yang and slowly her breath evened back out. Yang held her and thought back to her dreams, to the girl who was calling her name in such a sad way. She laid awake for another hour, stroking Ruby’s back and watching the numbers on the clock change slowly. Eventually Ruby’s alarm went off and she stirred. Yang shut her eyes so Ruby wouldn’t know she’d been up the entire time and listened as Ruby moved around the room, collecting her things to go shower. Yang adjusted the blanket, pulling it more fully around herself and slowed her breathing until she felt herself teetering on the edge of sleep.

She finally let herself fall back into the dark, thinking of dark hair and brown skin and amber eyes.

The girl was there again, but she said her name lovingly. They were laying together in a bed, and she was running her fingers through Yang’s hair. She smiled, amber eyes soft. Yang traced her fingers over a scar on the girl’s abdomen and felt her shiver. “Yang,” she whispered. Yang hummed, warm and content. She began to tilt her head down, bumping their foreheads together. “Yang,” she said again.

“Yang!”

Yang’s eyes cracked open, alone in her bed again. With how bright the room was then, Ruby was probably already off to school, and had been for a few hours, and Yang needed to get a move on to not be late to her own classes. Summer was standing in the doorway, her eyes soft. “Mama,” she murmured, wincing slightly as pain twinged in her stump. Summer walked over and sat on the edge of her bed and ran her hands through Yang’s hair. Yang leaned into the touch, exhausted from waking up in the middle of the night and being unable to get back to sleep until late.  

“Nightmares again?” Summer asked, voice soft and low, soothing the exhaustion in a way little else could. Yang nodded and winced again, feeling something in her neck pull in protest.

“My arm hurts,” she said, voice raspy. Summer hummed.

“Want me to call Uncle James? Might be time for an adjustment, and I know you like talking to him about Bumblebee.” Yang nodded again, sitting up this time. Summer kept one of her hands on Yang’s head and texted James with the other. Yang laid her head on Summer’s shoulder and let herself drift for a bit. “Alright, he’s on his way over. Qrow is coming as well, they’re bringing Penny and Oscar.” Yang hummed, letting Summer know she had heard. Her mom hugged her close for a second before letting her go. “Go shower really fast and get dressed. You have class today if you’re feeling up to it after. Mom has already taken Dad to work, she should be back soon though. If you’re up when she gets here she might even make breakfast.” Yang laughed a little at that.

“Alright, I’m up! Can’t miss out on Mom’s breakfast!” Summer laughed and patted her shoulder. As soon as she left, Yang started grabbing things for her shower, including her phone so she could blast music to try and stay awake. She just hoped the hot water would soothe the ache in her stump a little. She showered briskly, flinching away from the hot water at first but relaxing by increments. She tried to keep the quick pace, tried not to let her mind wander to her dreams from the night before. The shampoo bottle hit the floor.

It was raining. The car skidded across the slick road and Yang heard Ruby scream next to her. Her fingers slipped against the seatbelt and finally got it to release. She threw herself over Ruby as the car rolled -

No, she was running through the school, screaming a name. She got to the cafeteria and saw the girl from the shadows lying on the ground, a man standing over her. He had his sword stuck in her abdomen. Yang felt heat surge through her and she threw herself forward crying -

No, she was in the car, glass shattered around her as she tried to protect Ruby. Dad was driving. Her arm was pinned between the seat and the door, she was bleeding from how much glass there was in it, the paramedics -

He cut it off -

They cut it off -

Bright red glow around him -

The red lights from the ambulance -

The girl screaming -

Ruby screaming -

She slipped back and gasped. Her head was pounding and she gripped the wall with slick fingers. She heard Raven’s voice through the door, the edge of panic in it. Yang called out to her. “I’m fine, Mom! I’ll be out in a minute!” She reached behind her and turned the water off and listened for Raven’s footsteps to retreat from the door before setting her head back against the wall. She hissed out through her teeth and slammed her fist back. She gave herself a few minutes before towelling off and getting dressed.

She opened the door slowly to keep the hinges from creaking and listened. Voices floated up to her, both of her mothers’ and her Uncle Qrow’s. She crept closer to the top of the staircase, trying to catch anything they were saying. She didn’t have to hear them to know what it was, but she liked to be prepared before she walked into a room. She suddenly heard James’ voice too close to the stairs for comfort and scrambled back. She grabbed her prosthetic from her room, adjusted her hair, and headed down the stairs. Her little cousin, Oscar, was seated at the foot of them, messing with his phone. Yang remembered Qrow mentioning it last time he’d called, the kid had finally hit the ‘moody teen’ phase of his life and James was taking it hard. She ruffled his hair as she walked by, and he made a tiny annoyed noise. He looked up as though to glare at her, but when he realized it was her he gave a tiny smile instead.

“Hey, Yang,” he said. Yang grinned back.

“Hey, kid. Your papa in there?” she asked, jerking her head towards the kitchen.

“Yeah, he and Aunt Raven have been talking. Aunt Summer and Dad are in the back yard with Zwei and Penny.” Yang smiled again and nodded.

“Alright, I’m gonna head in. You wanna come watch him mess with my arm or are you gonna sit out here and be grumpy?” Her voice tilted into a teasing lilt at the end, ruffling his hair again. He swatted at her hands and puffed his cheeks out. He pushed his hair back, a near-perfect mimic of Qrow, and gestured to the kitchen.

Yang put her hands up and laughed, heading in with only mild dread. There was nothing to truly worry about, but Yang hated the adjustments. They weren’t so bad anymore, unlike when she was much younger and had only just gotten her prosthetic. She rapped her knuckles against the wall once, announcing her presence to her mother and uncle. They both looked up at once, red and blue eyes settled in on her. Raven motioned to the table.

“Sit, breakfast is almost ready,” she said. Her voice was always so brisk compared to Summer’s. Yang settled into a seat next to James and he smiled at her.

“Hey, Yang. Summer says your arm is bugging you again?” His voice was calm, soothing. She nodded tiredly.

“Yeah, it’s probably nothing, but every morning when I wake up it seems to ache a little more, and some days I can’t even get myself to put the prosthetic back on.” A tiny lie. Yang hardly ever took the prosthetic off now. Only for showering and occasionally when it was raining and hurt to much to wear. She knew if she said that to James, though, he’d definitely make her keep it off for a few days. He nodded.

“Okay. I have my tools with me, so I can see about adjusting it a little. If it still hurts, I can talk to Dr. Polendina about ordering a new one, if you’d like,” he said. Yang rolled up her sleeve so he could check as thoroughly as possible. She winced as he probed around the top of the arm, fingers brushing bruising around the edge. He didn’t make any noise, just glanced up at her. Caught, then, she thought with a grimace. He pressed his finger against the release mechanism, the arm coming off easily. He pulled his tools over to him and started fiddling with the joints, bending the fingers, rotating the wrist. He hummed, and started fiddling with the part of the prosthetic that attached to the rest of her arm and gestured, a silent question. She nodded, and he pulled a measuring tape from his bag, wrapping it around her bicep, noting something, then doing the same with the prosthetic. They were near-silent through it and Yang almost desperately wished they were working on Bumblebee instead. They were always able to joke when they were doing that, but when he was checking her arm it was always so quiet. She fidgeted a little as he marked down comparisons, measuring her other arm as well.

“Alright,” he said finally. “It looks like some of the discomfort may be from some built up muscle mass in your arm, but most of it,” he dropped his voice, “is because you aren’t taking it off at night like you’re supposed to, Yang.” His face was soft, but still stern. She looked away.

“I don’t like feeling so vulnerable,” she muttered. He sighed, squeezing her shoulder.

“I am going to insist you either don’t go to class today or you go without the arm. Continuous wear can be extremely dangerous, Yang. Especially since you’re already bruised and inflamed.” She glared at the wall. She needed to go to her classes today, finals were coming up, but she didn’t want to go without her arm. It wouldn’t be impossible to navigate without it, she’d done it for over a year before getting the arm, but it would be uncomfortable. The stares, the misplaced pity and offers of help, gritting her teeth against the rage that wanted to boil over in the form of harsh words and fists. She felt Qrow walk into the kitchen before she saw him from her peripherals and she felt the look the men exchanged.

“Fine. I’ll go without it,” she snapped. She slouched back. She knew she was pouting, knew she looked like a child throwing a temper-tantrum, but she didn’t see why she should stop. Raven sighed, exasperated with her oldest daughter, and slid a plate in front of her.

“Eat. I’ll drive you,” she said. She hesitated for a moment, then kissed the top of Yang’s head.

“Okay.” She started eating, unable to stomach much knowing she would be at school, vulnerable to all the prying eyes. When she finally pushed her plate away, deciding she’d hesitated for long enough, Raven patted her head and went to grab her keys. She called out to Summer, letting her know she was taking Yang to class and would be back in a few minutes. Qrow hugged Yang briefly, Penny allowed a fist-bump, Oscar nodded, and James patted her shoulder. They wouldn’t be there when she got back, then.

They settled into the car, Yang absently rubbing at her arm. As they pulled out of the driveway she thought she could see amber eyes in the bush. She blinked hard and rubbed at her eye, but when she looked again, nothing was there.

She shook herself mentally, pushing her hand through her hair.

It’s just a dream, Yang, she thought. Right?

Chapter Text

They got to the school and Yang just sat in the car. She could feel her mother wanted to say something, reassure her, maybe, but also didn’t want to push. She sighed and reached out, setting her hand on Yang’s shoulder.

“You’ll be fine, little dragon,” she said. Yang let out a shuddering sigh, betraying the tears building in her eyes. She wanted desperately to just go back to sleep, to her dreams of the girl from the shadows, of warmth and comfort in her arms. Raven unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned across the center console to pull Yang into a brief hug. Yang took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down before going out to face her peers. Yang suddenly remembered being a very small child, wrapped up in her mother’s arms as she sang a very quiet lullaby to her.

She couldn’t have been older than 6. She woke up in the middle of the night, unsure of why. Ruby wasn’t crying, Dad wasn’t moving around, so why…

Someone was holding her. They were singing something very quietly.

“Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,

“Smiles await you when you rise.

“Sleep, pretty baby, do not cry,

“And I will sing a lullaby…”

Yang closed her eyes again, beginning to drift off again, listening to the woman sing to her. She didn’t know who she was, all she knew was that she was safe with her. Everything was warm and she was safe.

She felt her head begin to pound as she tried to figure out the memory. It was already fogging over, fixing itself, while the pain in her head grew.

She couldn’t have been more than 6 years old. She woke up in the middle of the night, and began to cry. She had had a nightmare.

Her mother was holding her. She was singing Yang’s favourite lullaby quietly to her.

“Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,

“Smiles await you when you rise.

“Sleep, pretty baby, do not cry,

“And I will sing a lullaby…”

Yang felt herself calming and drifting back to sleep, listening to her mother sing so quietly to her. She was safe and warm with her.

Yang’s stomach began to turn and the pain crescendoed and settled in her temple and behind her right eye. Which was the correct memory? Which was a dream? She pressed her fingers against her temple and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to will the pain down. Raven looked at her with concern.

“Yang…” she started, and Yang waved her off.

“I’m fine, Mom. Just a bad headache starting. I’ll get some water and be fine.” She tried for a reassuring smile but wound up wincing again. She stumbled out of the car before Raven could call her back again and headed for the building. She still had twenty minutes before her Physics lecture started and she went to find a vending machine or a bathroom. Whichever she came across first.

She found a bathroom first and staggered into a stall, her stomach turning against her. Her head was still throbbing and her eye felt like it was going to pop. What little bit she’d managed to eat for breakfast came back up mixed with acid. She coughed hard when she was finished and gagged again on the taste in the back of her throat. She heard the main door of the bathroom open and tried to quiet herself even as hot tears began to drip down her cheeks. There was a very soft knock on the door to her stall and a quiet voice asked, “Are you okay?” Yang swallowed hard and cleared her throat.

“Yeah, I’m- I’m fine,” she said. She stood shakily and turned to the door, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She gently pulled the door open to see who was on the other side. Standing there was a petite girl with long, white-blonde hair pulled into a ponytail. She was dressed in a blue and grey hoodie and black jeans, and she looked very surprised to see Yang in the stall.

"Yang?" she said softly, staring at her. Yang leaned back a little in shock, unnerved that this girl knew her name.

"Uh, yes? Who are you?" she asked, getting very nervous.

The girl jumped a little. "I'm...Weiss. We have, uh, Psychology together?"

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Really?" The girl nodded quickly.

"Yes! I sit in the very last row all the way to the left. By the windows!" her voice pitched higher, like Ruby's when she was lying. She shuffled her feet nervously. "I'm sorry for bugging you. I saw you rush in here and I got worried. So...sorry for troubling you. See you in class tomorrow?" Yang blinked. She nodded.

"Yeah, sure." The girl quickly turned and scurried off and Yang walked over to the sinks and splashed her face with water. She cupped some in her hands and rinsed out her mouth, spitting it back out. She grimaced a little as her stomach rolled again.

"Alright...let's get a snack and then get to class," she muttered to herself. She wandered back out into the hall, looking up and down for the vending machine she thought might be near by. She spotted it and rushed over, looking up and down for the best snack. She spotted a thing of peanut butter crackers and eagerly yanked her wallet out, hoping the more plain taste and salt would soothe her stomach. She glanced at the drink vending machine next to it and payed for a bottle of water as well. As she tore open the package of crackers, she pulled her phone out and check the time. She gasped and choked on her snack as she shoved the bottle of water in her bag and took off for her lecture.

Shit shit shit shit!, she thought, I'm so gonna be late!

She slid into the classroom with moments to spare. Her rear hit the seat as the teacher walked in and she sat her head down, breathing a sigh of relief. 

As Professor Adel began the lecture, Yang shut her eyes and let her mind drift back to the girl from her dreams, wondering who she was. Behind her eyelids black hair and amber eyes danced and a soft laugh echoed through the dark.

Chapter Text

Weiss stayed outside of the bathroom for a few moments, head pounding. She wasn’t lying when she said she and Yang had Psychology together, but it felt like she knew Yang from somewhere else. She yanked the elastic from her hair and ran her fingers over her scalp, trying to soothe the pain in her head.

She took a slow, deep breath in and held it for ten seconds before letting it out and moving towards the front doors. Her classes were over for the day, so it was time for her to head home. As she walked, she pulled her hair back up into its neat ponytail and took began searching for her car keys. The pain in her temples faded out to a dull throb as soon as she stopped focusing so much on Yang, so she thought of other things, like what she should make for dinner. Or was she supposed to pick up Whitley today, or was it Winter’s day? Should she drop by her mother’s house before going back to her apartment to study?

By the time she reached her car and got in, her headache was almost completely gone. She decided she would visit her mother today, and call her sister to see if she was picking up Whitley from their father’s house, and she would actually make something for dinner not just order takeout again. She pulled into the turn lane that would take her to her mother’s house and allowed herself to relax. Her mother had been sober for almost 5 years, ever since the divorce proceedings started, and their relationship was a lot less strained than it had been when Weiss was a child. She stopped at the grocery store that was on the way and picked up one of those fancy boxes of chocolates her mother was so fond of, hoping they wouldn’t melt in the last few minutes they’d be in the car.

It was the hottest fall they’d had in years, already October and yet it was still 85°F+ in the afternoons, and Weiss was starting to regret wearing a hoodie just because it had been cool that morning. When she parked in the driveway she pulled her hair back down and quickly brushed her fingers through it, remembering how her mother loved her hair down. She grabbed the box of chocolates and climbed the steps of the front porch and knocked on the door. She settled back to wait for a moment, looking appreciatively at the lilies her mother was growing in front of the porch. She heard the lock click and turned back to face the door.

“Oh, Weiss!” her mother said, smiling broadly at her. “I wasn’t expecting you today, sweetheart! Come in, come in, get out of this dreadful heat!” She allowed herself to be ushered in the door and stopped for a moment to pull off her shoes. Weiss held out her chocolate gift and her mother gasped. “Oh, thank you, Snowflake, how thoughtful. Would you like some tea?”

“Coffee, if you have it, otherwise tea is fine.” Weiss followed her mother to the kitchen, trailing behind her to look at various pictures hung on the walls. She smiled softly at one, it was taken just after the divorce was finalized, and it was of Weiss, Winter, Whitley, and Willow. All four of them were wearing huge grins, and Weiss had her arms wrapped around her little brother. She turned away and quickened her pace to catch up with her mother. She found her already bustling around the kitchen, putting on the coffee maker and kettle, pulling mugs and plates down from the cupboards, and setting a covered cake plate on the table.

“How are classes, my dear?” her mother asked as she cut a piece of cake. She handed the plate to Weiss and smiled at her.

“Classes are good, I’m considering dropping one but I’m not sure yet,” she replied, settling down at the table. Her mother hummed as she got up to pour her water into her mug. “I’ve made friends with some people I see in the gym, as well.”

“That’s great! Winter will be so proud.” Weiss fought the urge to smile and wiggle happily. Winter had been her biggest role model when Weiss was young, so hearing that she would be proud still sent a wave of joy through her. Her mother sat Weiss’ coffee in front of her and snapped her fingers. “Oh, yes, I wanted to talk to you about something! You remember my old friend, James Ironwood?” she said. Weiss nodded.

“Yeah, he helped us out a lot when the divorce was happening.”

“Yes. His younger niece is having a little trouble in school, and he was wondering if you’d be willing to tutor her. It would just be for an hour or two a day, and you’d be paid of course.” Weiss thought of her bills and how much she’d spent on eating fast food lately.

“Sure! Just let me know when he needs me to start, yeah?” she said, sipping at her coffee.

“Oh, wonderful! I’ll give him a call after you leave. Now tell me more about these gym friends of yours!” Weiss settled back and started telling her mother about the very kind, but slightly intimidating Pyrrha Nikos and her girlfriend Nora Valkyrie.

Chapter Text

Ruby stumbled through her school day, head pounding and exhausted. She’d had the nightmare about the crash again, the one that left her unable to sleep without someone else with her. The dream had ended differently this time, though. At the very end it morphed into a dark scene where she was hiding behind some rubble, watching as one woman shot another through the heart. Ruby didn’t remember much else about it, besides the girl’s red hair and her own screaming. After that the dream switched back to her pinned under Yang while the paramedics were forced to remove her sister’s arm.

Ruby walked into someone and stumbled back with a gasp as she hit the ground. “Sorry!” she said.

“Miss Rose, please be more careful,” they said. They offered Ruby their hand and pulled her to her feet. Ruby risked a peek, hoping it wouldn’t be Dr. Oobleck.

“Sorry Mr. Torchwick,” she said. The new teacher took one look at her face and shook his head.

“You’re going to the nurse, young lady.” Ruby groaned. Of course he’d do that. She supposed it made sense, Mr. Torchwick had dated her uncle Qrow for a while and Ruby had played with his child, Neo, for longer than she could remember. “What’s your next class? I’ll call the teacher and explain,” he said. Ruby groaned again. Next was gym with Ms. Goodwitch and if Mr. Torchwick told her Ruby wasn’t feeling well, she would almost certainly call Ruby’s parents. Or at least her uncles.

“Mr. Torchwick, seriously, I’m fine! I just didn’t sleep well last night. There’s only two more periods and I really don’t wanna miss for lost sleep when I’m just gonna be told to rest for five minutes and then sent to class.” Mr. Torchwick sighed.

“If you’re sure…” he said. Then he shrugged. “Alright. Neo wants you to text them later, by the way. We got them a new phone, same number, but their contacts didn’t transfer over.” Ruby lit up.

“Got it! See you later, Mr. Torchwick!” As she rushed off to gym she pulled her phone out to send Neo a quick message. She got a reply in record time. She smiled at the cute emojis Neo sent alongside a picture of them and their older friends, Emerald and Mercury.

The rest of the day felt like a blur as an ache started up behind her left eye. She walked out of the school with her hood up to block out the bright afternoon sunlight while she waited for one of her moms to come pick her up. She checked her phone and found no texts waiting for her so she pulled up one of her fighting games to maybe pass the time and distract from her headache. As the game loaded, Ruby remembered playing an older version with Qrow. The pain in her head swelled suddenly as the memory changed, they were sitting on the floor in a dorm just a year ago playing the game on their Scrolls and projector-

No, that was wrong, it was last week and it was on their phones. She jumped when her mama touched her shoulder suddenly. “Ruby?” she asked. Ruby tried a smile but knew it was probably more of a grimace.

“I’m fine, just a headache,” she explained. Her mama pressed a hand to her forehead.

“I hope you girls aren’t coming down with something, Rae said Yang was also complaining about a headache this morning.” Ruby leaned her face into her mama’s cool hand, before registering what she had said.

“Yang is sick?” she asked. Her mama started ushering her to the car.

“I don’t know if she’s sick, but I might keep you home tomorrow to make sure you aren’t getting sick,” she said. Ruby’s phone buzzed and she found Neo had texted her. She smiled brightly and started texting them back.

thembo torchwick: Hey.

me: hey!

thembo torchwick: Did you know your dad is a himbo?

Ruby sputtered a laugh.

me: what????

thembo torchwick: Yeah merc said so when i showed him a pic of all of us. The one from last summer.

me: merc really isnt one to talk!!

Nothing more came through for a few moments.

thembo torchwick: I told em you think merc is a himbo and she says you have to be attractive to be one.

me: merc *is* attractive!

thembo torchwick: Red, this is Emerald and I say you have zero taste.

thembo torchwick: little red this is merc and i thank you for calling me attractive ;)

Ruby gasped and blushed. She hadn’t realized that they were actually with Neo.

thembo torchwick: You’re blushing arent you ruby ;3

me: shut up neo 😣😣😣😣

Ruby put her phone away and leaned against the door so she could shut her eyes for the last few minutes of the ride home. She drifted for a few moments until her mama shook her shoulder gently. “We’re home, Petal,” she said. “Why don’t you head upstairs and nap until dinner is ready?” Ruby rubbed at her eyes and nodded. She stumbled up the stairs to her room, tossed her bag onto her desk chair, and flopped onto her bed. She toed her shoes and kicked them off, then curled into a ball around her raven plushie. As she dropped into sleep her last thought was a prayer for no dreams.

Do you believe in destiny?

Ruby woke up screaming with her sister and mom running into the room. Yang got to her first and Ruby flew up to cling onto her, sobbing. She felt her mom’s fingers in her hair and started to relax and finally let go of Yang. Her mom continued stroking her hair and leaned over to say something to Yang, who then nodded and left the room. Raven tucked Ruby against her chest and rocked them both slowly back and forth.

“What happened, Petal?” she murmured. Ruby shook her head and reached up to wipe at her face.

“It was just a nightmare, Mom.” Raven set her cheek on top of Ruby’s head.

“The crash?” she asked. Ruby felt her head throb and nodded slowly. She knew her mom wouldn’t pry, neither of them were good at talking about feelings, that was Yang and Summer’s strong suit. Raven would just sit with her for as long as she needed. Tai wasn’t good at feelings either, but he tried. Ruby sat with her mom for a few more minutes before breaking the silence.

“Is dinner ready?” Raven hummed.

“Yeah, you ready to head down?” she asked. Ruby snuggled down and shut her eyes.

“Five more minutes,” she said. She felt more than heard her mom laugh.

“Alright, five more minutes.”

Chapter Text

Blake woke up with a gasp, pouring sweat and tangled in her blankets. The dream was already fading from her mind and she desperately tried to cling to the memory of glowing blonde hair and kind purple eyes. She laid back and pressed the heels of her hands into her closed eyes and took a deep breath.

“Yang,” she murmured as colours flashed and danced behind her eyelids. “Her name is Yang, we’re dating, but we’re in a strange universe where we’ve never even met before.” She swallowed hard around the lump in her throat and struggled to not cry. Her head throbbed painfully but she pushed through and began to get ready for her day. Today she would start university classes at the same place Yang went to school!

She took some Tylenol before grabbing an apple and kissing her mother and father on the cheek. Her mother smiled and squeezed her in a hug, while her father patted her hand. Blake bit into the apple as she started down the street, pausing outside of a nicely painted two-story. Sun came rushing out the door with his shoes untied and his bag slung over one shoulder. He smiled brightly at her and waved.

“Hey, Blake!” he said, tossing his arm around her shoulders. Blake tilted her head to take in all the little differences between this Sun and the Sun she knew in her universe. She could see the black roots in his hair, his freckles seemed more prominent, and his arm felt less bulky. He smiled at her and tilted his head to the side.

“Hey, Sun,” she said finally. He beamed.

“Sooo. Ready to go back to school, finally? Your mom said you were down with some nasty flu bug thing?” Blake nodded.

“Yeah, not really looking forward to having to make up work for Professor Alistair, though.” Sun laughed at that.

“Sage would probably be willing to lend you his notes,” he said. Blake smiled at him.

“That’d be great if he would.” Sun glanced down at his phone and froze for a moment.

“Shit, I’m gonna be late if I don’t make like a banana and split. See you later, Blake! I’ll get those notes for you!” He said as he ran off. Blake sighed and started towards her own class before stopping in her tracks and staring as Yang stumbled out of a car and head towards the building Blake was going to. She stared after her before following.

She loitered a little ways away from bathroom Yang had disappeared into, feeling more than a little like a creep. She peeked and saw a familiar white-blonde ponytail disappear through the door. Weiss is here, too? she thought. Is she my Weiss or is she like that Sun? Part of this world and this Blake’s life? Her head started to pound again. She watched as Weiss left the bathroom and sat outside of it for a few moments, holding her head before walking off and out of the building. Blake figured she only had a few minutes to get to class before Yang found her standing there like a weirdo, so she booked it.

She sat down in her Political Science lecture and let her thoughts drift as she doodled in the margins of her notebook. She looked down and flushed when she realized she had drawn Yang. She slapped the notebook shut and brought out her laptop to take notes instead. She wasn’t really sure why she was bothering, she wasn’t even sure how much of this world was real.

All she knew was that she had to talk to Yang.

Chapter Text

haha hi all!! this fic is on a very brief hiatus until the end of september! now don't worry, i'm just working on ladybug week stuff and i have to finish my fic for the bumblebyzine! ladybug week ends on the fifteenth and my bbzine piece has to be done by the 22nd, so you should probably expect a new update on this around the 28th! sorry for the inconvenience! ilu all!!!