Work Text:
Ice Cream with Honey
By: theycallmestephlee
Headcanon supplied by: tutantmeenageneetleteetles on tumblr
Blake and Yang made their way through the streets of Mantle, taking on any of Salem’s Grimm that they came across.
They were beaten and bruised and exhausted, but they persevered as they continued on in their fight to protect the city and its people.
The image of the Ace Ops giving up on Mantle had seared its visage into Yang’s mind’s eye. She refused to be like them. She refused to give up. And she knew Blake and the others felt the exact same.
A winged Beringel took a hefty swipe at Blake, and Yang saw her purple aura flicker again as Blake grunted from the force of the blow.
Yang shot herself forward at the Grimm, loading it with time delay explosives as Blake wrapped Gambol Shroud’s ribbon around its body. She landed next to Blake and grabbed onto Gambol Shroud and the two of them heaved the Grimm up into the air together before they watched it explode in the sky.
Yang put her hand on Blake’s shoulder as she breathed heavily, her abused lungs burning as they fought for air.
She looked at their surroundings, at all of the ruined buildings with smoke billowing high above. She could see several bodies buried under the rubble. The city’s sirens blared loudly, telling anyone who didn’t already know that the Grimm were running rampant.
“I’m not sure how much more of this my body can take,” Yang said between breaths.
“We’ll take as much as we have to in order to save the city,” Blake said, her eyebrows furrowed in determination and her ears flat.
Yang glanced sideways at her partner and nodded.
Moments later, they heard an explosion a few blocks away.
Their eyes met before they both took off in the direction of the blast.
Yang saw a pink and black blur fighting several Atlesian Knights with an umbrella in the center of the ruckus as they neared.
“Neo,” Yang growled.
Blake’s eyes narrowed as the two young huntresses threw themselves into the fray.
Their arrival only surprised Neo for a split second as she registered who the two young huntresses were.
She grinned, tipped her hat and sketched a quick bow before she twirled her umbrella, Hush, in preparation.
Yang’s jaw bulged as she ground her teeth at Neo’s cocksure attitude, her semblance seconds from exploding in irritation.
She glanced over at Blake’s steady presence and calmed herself with a deep breath.
Blake met her gaze and they both leapt into action.
They circled Neo, both shooting at the small woman from opposite directions.
Neo deftly dodged most of the their attacks and blocked the rest with Hush.
Blake threw Gambol Shroud to Yang, yanking the blonde back across the circle they’d created. Yang aimed a kick at Neo as she soared through the air, but the small woman bent backwards as Yang flew past her, leaving her wholly unharmed before she popped back up.
Yang landed next to Blake and quickly turned to face Neo once more.
Neo smirked and leapt at them, lashing out in a flurry of attacks that made both huntresses retreat a few steps back from the force of the onslaught.
After several moments of being on the defensive, both Blake and Yang finally regained their footing. Yang blasted forward and began an onslaught of her own while Blake gave her support fire from behind.
Punch. Dodge. Parry. Kick. Duck. Round kick. Back step. Jab. Upper cut. Side step.
The two seemed quite evenly matched as Neo had to fight off both Yang’s direct attacks and Blake’s support fire, until Yang just barely overreached.
Yang leapt forward, her prosthetic arm leading the way in a punch as Neo side stepped out of her path. The smaller woman grabbed Yang’s arm, utilizing her momentum to yank her forward and throw the blonde off balance as Neo’s knee connected with tender ribs.
Yang’s aura flickered miserably but held as she crumpled to the ground, spurring Blake into further action.
She threw herself forward into a front flip, whipping Gambol Shroud around with her, causing Neo to step away from Yang and pay attention to this new assault.
Yang recovered a few moments later and gave Blake support fire as the Faunus huntress trapped Neo’s umbrella in an ice shadow clone.
Neo grimaced but broke the ice, brandishing Hush once more with a flourish.
Blake spun Gambol Shroud on its ribbon in a renewed attack, forcing Neo to parry each blow until she finally slipped past Blake’s guard and sliced Hush along the young huntress’ lower leg.
Blake’s aura shattered and she cried out as the sharp tip of Hush drew a deep gouge down her shin. She stumbled a moment and fell to her knees.
“Blake!” Yang screamed in concern, blasting herself forward.
Neo smirked as she eyed the vulnerable Faunus girl and thrust Hush forward toward her chest.
All Blake could do was watch as the umbrella came at her.
Suddenly Yang let out a grunt as Hush’s tip pierced her weakened aura, allowing the blade to plunge into her abdomen.
She gave Neo a gruesome smile as she grabbed Hush and released her semblance in a massive blast of fiery energy aimed directly at her enemy.
The last thing Yang saw before Neo shattered and disappeared was a look of pure surprise on the small woman’s face.
After her semblance blast died down, Yang collapsed.
Hush landed several paces away, bent and burned.
“Yang!” Blake cried out, rushing as quickly as she could to Yang’s side.
She placed her hands over Yang’s wound, applying pressure in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
“Why would you do that?!” She said, tears glistening down her cheeks.
Yang wiped one away. “You really think I’d let her kill you? We protect each other, remember?”
Blake stifled a sob and held Yang’s hand to her cheek. “But you got hurt because of me. Again.”
“Better for me to take a gut shot than for you to take one to the chest. I’ve got abs of steel, after all,” she chuckled lightheartedly, but the laugh quickly turned to a groan of pain. “This sucks, to be sure. But at least I’m fairly sure I’ll live. A chest wound would have a less than optimal outcome. And I’ll take a hit for you like this any day if it means you’re still with me.”
Blake couldn’t stifle the sob this time and Yang tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear as she cried outright.
“I’m so sorry…” Blake’s voice trembled. “You’re always getting hurt because of me.”
Yang gazed into golden eyes that seemed connected to her very soul, and saw the pain and fear and self-loathing within them.
A moment later, she recognized the look as Blake’s flight response.
She’d seen it before.
She could never forget that look. Or how it made her feel.
She removed her hand from Blake’s cheek as if stung, a hollow feeling resounding throughout her body, drowning out the pain of her wound.
Blake could see the hollowness reach Yang’s eyes.
“Yang, wha—”
Yang’s eyes grew watery and she looked away. “Don’t leave me again…” She said, her voice small.
Blake’s eyes went wide. “What? NO! No no no no no! I’m not leaving again! I won’t do that!”
Blake gently turned Yang’s face to her and wiped a tear away as she pressed their foreheads together.
“I’m not leaving again! I promised!” She said, her own tears beginning anew. “I swore to you that I’m not going to break my promise! And I won’t!”
Yang sniffled. “You won’t?”
“No! I won’t! I—I can’t!”
Yang cocked her head to the side in confusion.
“I can’t leave you because… Because I love you.”
Yang froze for a moment, processing what she’d just been told. “Yo—You do?”
Blake’s cheeks were on fire, her face still mere inches from Yang’s. “Of course I do…”
Yang ran her fingers through Blake’s hair and blinked when one of Blake’s tears dripped onto her face.
She drew Blake down closer to her and lifted her own to meet her halfway in a gentle kiss.
“I love you too,” she breathed when they parted.
Blake’s breath hitched at her words and she leaned back down to kiss her again.
“I’m sorry you got hurt again,” she whispered moments later. “Because of me…”
“Hazard of the job, you know that.”
Blake nodded.
“But at least I was able to give you more of a hand with Neo than I did with Adam that first time…” She paused in thought. “Well, maybe not as much of a hand as that time,” she said with a grin, waving her prosthetic in the air.
Blake gave her a wry look, her ear twitching in mild annoyance as she smacked Yang lightly on the shoulder before she leaned down to kiss her again.