Chapter Text
Yang laid flat on the grass. Her dull lilac eyes watching the clouds go by.
“Yang!”
She looked. Lilac met natural silver. Yang quickly shut her eyes and turned away, as if she feared to be blinded by those mirror-like orbs.
“Are you okay?”
“I'm okay.” Yang lied. “Just leave me alone.”
“No!”
“No?”
“No!” Ruby pouted before tackling the seven year old girl to the ground.
“What the—Rubes?!”
“I’m not leaving you until you're okay!”
Yang laid on the barren land. Her wounds bleeding without stopping. Her prosthetic arm worn and broken in pieces. Rusting into nothing.
She didn't care about what happened to them.
They’re probably dead. And maybe she would be joining in the death march as well. Staring at the red sky, she remembered her childhood. She remembered how she lived it. With Ruby in it.
She laughed. She laughed so hard as tears came out of her eyes. Then her voice slowly turned hoarse, and coughed out blood.
She continued to stare at the red sky in silence. The laughing ceased. But her tears didn't. Before she knew it, she was crying.
Of all things she went and met and fought against, she only remembered Ruby.
Seven. That was how old she was when she learned about Summer and Ruby. It was around the time before Summer left. Before Summer died.
“We should tell her.” Summer suggested that morning.
“Tell her what?”
Neither she or Taiyang noticed Yang peering behind the door frame. She listened as Summer answered.
“About her mother.”
There was weight in those words. To Yang, they were heavy. Summer wasn’t her mom?
“Summer, we’ve talked about this—”
“So what? We're going to continue this charade?” Summer questioned him. “Let her go about her life without knowing the truth?!”
“Why is it so bad to you?” Taiyang argued.
“Tai, if we don't tell her, she will know sooner or later on her own. She'll get hurt.”
“She won’t.” His voice spoke darkly. “I’ll make sure she will never know about her.”
From time to time, Yang wondered if his promise was out of love. Or was it out of grudge?
That must be it, she thought.
Whenever her eyes turned red, and looked at Taiyang, he always turned away. If her father were still alive, he would start denying her assumptions if spoken out to him. Actually, she didn't blame him for having such feelings. But she wished he should just let go of his hatred.
After all, her own mother left for a good reason.
And she found out too late.
She could see blue sparks surrounding her. Is this what she would see before she die?
“Heh, kinda reminds me of Weiss.”
Ever since she met her, Weiss have always been cold to others. So she gave her the nickname Ice Queen.
Maybe Yang was harsher than her. Whenever the heiress ridicule her little sister or bossing around, Yang would internally want to punch her in the face. But she never knew how her heart turned cold by a selfish and greedy father. Abandoned by her mother who chose wine over her children. Her eldest sister tied with military by choice. And her youngest brother being prophesied to be the next heir of their family creed.
Somehow, Ruby was able to melt down that ice cold heart. It would take guts and patience to do something like that. Especially when she was dealing with Weiss.
Yang never saw Ruby being this friendly, compassionate and determined to help someone such as the likes of Weiss Schnee. She have watched the young heiress who throw daggers with her cold blue eyes, slowly transforming into a gentle princess with blue lukewarm eyes that reminded her of the ocean.
Ruby just... changed her.
Before Yang knew it, Ruby was suddenly surrounded by friends. Too many friends. Yang was proud at her sister's achievements. But at the same time, she couldn't remove what her heart have been carrying whenever she sees her with them.
Now, she understood what it was.
“Are you okay?”
Yang spoke. “No, Ruby. I'm not. I'm not really okay.”
She was jealous.
She felt her eyes drooping as her head turned to her right. Amongst the small pillars of blue crystals lying about, she saw the sun finally rose. Her eyes blurred by her tears, causing her to see two suns.
“I really want to believe you.”
“You don't have to, Blake.” Yang said, her voice fading. “Because you were right.”
Even if she swore she didn’t mean to hurt anyone and never will. Even if she said she was innocent, she still ended up killing someone by her own hands.
She even hurt Blake.
“I’m sorry...” More tears flooded from her eyes as she stared into the sun.
Her team changed into better people than they were before. Yang, however, turned into the worst version of herself.
“I wish... I can go back... And set this right...”
Thunder clapped at the distance as rain poured harder. It frightened Yang. To hear it booming across the dark covered sky. So she ran as fast she could. To hide from this madness.
“Yang!”
She froze.
“Yang, where are you—AH!”
“Ruby?!”
She turned. She couldn't see Ruby anywhere in this darkness.
Lighting struck again. She saw a glimpsed of Ruby kneeling on the ground, crying.
“Yang!!!”
Should she... go?
“..set this right.”
She blinked. She looked at where Ruby fell. And the tree beside her, that was about to fall on her as the storm broke it down.
“..set this right!”
“RUBY!”
BAM!