Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You sure you want to go last Blake?” Ruby asked over her shoulder, eyeing the Faunus with worry. Blake nodded, chuckling a bit.

“Well it’s not like any of you guys can hit the button and go down the chute simultaneously. I’ve gotten better at my Semblance, so I can lie in the chute and press the button at the same time. Don’t worry about me, now go catch up to your girlfriend.” Blake grinned a bit. Ruby seemed puzzled at that last part, then the lightbulb went off. 

“Blaaaaake, just because you’re gonna be my sister in law doesn’t mean you get to tease me like one!” Ruby crossed her arms, pouting. 

“Don’t you have a chute to go up?” Blake changed the subject, coughing awkwardly into her elbow. Seems the returned teasing did away with whatever witty comeback she had been planning. Ruby stuck her tongue out at her and hopped down into the chute.

“Happy trails!” Blake squeezed out one more joke before hitting the button, the team leader vanishing in a blur of red up the pipes. Blake let out a soft sigh, trying to avoid mulling over said leaders words. Yeah, she liked Yang- She liked her a lot, but, was now really the time to be thinking about that? They have a kingdom- No, all of Remnant to save, no time for even entertaining that sort of thing. 

“...Yeah, probably should focus on what’s in front of me.” Blake’s ears flattened a bit at that thought, speaking into the empty air. Well, empty excluding the SDC robots.

“Now how is this gonna work…?” Blake walked over to the tube, giving it a once over. She could make a mad dash from the console, but then she’d be rushing in and might not align herself properly, she really wouldn’t want to hit her shoulder or leg on the lip of the pipe at that speed…

“That’d definitely break a bone, Aura or not…” Blake mumbled, wincing at the thought. So that’s out, maybe she could direct a shadow clone at the controls from sitting in the tube? Worth a shot…

“Well, here goes nothing.” Blake nodded to herself, stepping towards the chut-

SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Blake jolted a bit at the sudden shrill screech, ears flattening in protest to the sudden noise. 

What the-?” Blake started fumbling through her pockets, where it seemed to be coming from. She then found her scroll in her hands. ...What? Was someone calling her- No, no that isn’t a ringtone, that’s something else. But… What?

Blake opened her scroll, confusion in her face- But then in an instant it was gone and replaced by panic. Her eyes flitted over the screen, reading and rereading the text on it, looking over the screen frantically. 

Yang. Yang’s picture was flashing on the screen- Why is it flashing on the screen?! W-Was that…?

“...Y-Yang?!” Blake gasped out loud as the reality dawned on her. 

Yang’s Aura was in the red.

It was almost gone .

“Nonono-” Blake started panicking, fumbling to get back to her scroll’s homescreen. Immediately she went to the ‘phone’ app, punching in the oh so familiar scroll number that she, at this point, knew by heart. 

“Come on, come on pick up…” Blake practically whimpered as the ringing of her scroll droned on, monotonous… Almost mocking, really. Blake waited with baited breath.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited…

“Heyo, you’ve reached the scroll of Yang Xiao Long! Sorry but I’m not picking up right now, I guess you could say I’m.. Xiao Long gone! Heyo! Anyways, go ahead and leave a message at the beep and I’ll get back to you! Out with a Yang!” 

Blake felt her heart catch in her throat as the beep droned on again.

“...Y-Yang, it’s Blake, I saw that your Aura dropped in the red, please call me back as soon as you can! L-Let me know if you’re okay!” Blake rambled out before the call ended. 

“...Yang… Please… Please be okay…”

Chapter Text

“...The more you hide from what you’re feeling, the more alone you’re going to feel. Trust me.” Yang paused a bit, eying Jaune and Ren before Ren turned and left, shoulders hunched and expression unreadable. She let out a small sigh before she continued making her way in with her prize, as insignificant as it felt at the moment…

“If anyone cares, I found a part to fix the bike. So, yaaay…” Yang drawled in mock celebration. Her heart wasn’t in it right now, or really at all anymore. The cold was starting to bite, her aura was already in the red, she’s not sure how much is left anymore. She thought back to Ren’s outburst, frowning. Jaune was taking it in stride, but…

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry he said that to you. I know you’ve had to work hard to get here, Jaune.” Yang offered a bit of comfort, something that she knew was in short supply. Jaune just shook his head, a sad smile on his face.

“We’re all under a lot of stress right now. I used to push people away too…” Jaune looked a bit distant, and Yang felt these words strike a chord. Did she…? No, no she can’t focus on that right now. Just repair the bike, Yang.

The blonde made her way to the workbench in the room where a piece of the hoverbike rested, starting to work on it. Well, she tried to. But… 

Yang stared at the canister, at the bright violet almost glowing off of it. ...Did she… Did she push her away? They were supposed to be united, even divided, but… Yang hadn’t talked to her about it, had she? The blonde was so worked up she just left without a word… 

Yang bit her lip thinking about a certain dark haired girl. Sure they had their… Struggles relationship wise, they’ve gone through a lot, but they could survive this bump in the road… Right? 

“...Do you… Do you think she thinks less of me? For not helping with Amity?” Yang blurted before she could think through what she was saying. Oh boy. Mentioning relationships to Jaune Arc of all people was probably not a good id-

“Ruby is your sister, she’s always going to love you even if you disagree with each other.” Jaune sounded encouraging, positive, even. Oh. Oh. Figures.

“...Yeah. Ruby.” Yang muttered under her breath as she continued working on the bike. She heard the springs of the bed, and soon, silence. Well, between dragging Ren back inside that is. She wasn’t sure what time it was honestly, she just kept working on the bike and thinking about a certain someone with a violet pallet, until-

“Cause though the truth may vary this~ Ship will carry our bodies safe to shore~” Came the soft sounds of- Blake singing? Yang jumped, eyes darting around. Where- What- Her scroll buzzed. ...Oh, right. It had been so long since they’d been apart, Yang almost forgot that’s what she made her ringtone for Blake calling… She’d had it like that for so long, she remembered the day she set it well… Yang woke up from a nap one day back at Beacon to Blake singing. She smiled softly remembering that, she scrambled to record it as quietly as possible, she told Blake she had a beautiful voice and Blake just, denied everything. It took a bit, but she convinced Blake to let her make it her ringtone. It was wild to think about how different things were now…

Wait.

Wait she’s getting a call from Blake?! But they have no reception, how- Wait, Amity, did they get Amity up?! Oh nevermind, she needs to answer! Yang immediately opened her scroll, holding it up to her ear with shaking fingers, waiting with baited breath…

“...Y-Yang? You- You picked up?! Are you okay?!” Came Blake’s voice, panicked, concerned, worried ....

“N-Not really, we got attacked-” The line went dead. ...What? Her eyes darted to her bars, only to see the connection was lost. What happened…? What made Amity go down? 

Yang sprinted out, ignoring the soft snores of the boys and the biting cold of the snow draining her still low Aura. She looked skyward, spotting Amity, hovering high above Atlas. She saw streaks of light in the sky, shooting at each other. Bright green, that had to be Penny, and…? Was Amity being attacked? Were they okay?

“𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚂𝙴𝚅𝙴𝙽 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚟𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚜.” Chirped her scroll. She glanced back down at it, and sure enough there were 7 voicemails. Who had…? She fiddled with it, getting to the voicemails. ...Almost all of them were from Blake. Did something happen? 

She opened the first one.

“...Y-Yang, it’s Blake, I saw that your Aura dropped in the red, please call me back as soon as you can! L-Let me know if you’re okay!” Came the Faunus’ voice. When was that? When the hound first attacked? When they chased it? She wasn’t sure, but now Blake’s concern made a lot of sense…

The next one was from… Ruby? Huh. She opened it.

“Yang, are you okay? We’re all at the Schnee Manor, we, uh… We’ve got what we need to boot Amity, but… Well… Nevermind, I’ll tell you in person. You can make your way back up to Atlas at Snow Shoe Shipping, it’s uh, how we got up here. I don’t know where you are in Mantle, or why you aren’t picking up, but… I’m uh, I’m sorry, about all of that. If you aren’t picking up because it’s me, that’s okay. I uh- I messed up, I know- I just… Y-Yeah, just, come up here, or call one of us back when you get this… I love you.” Came her voice, soft, worried… Guilty. Yang felt her shoulder slouch a bit at that, expression hardening. She… Was a bit harsh. It wasn’t all Ruby’s fault, Ironwood seemed to be hanging from a thread when they got here, she’s not sure they could’ve had this end any other way… At least she knows where they are now.

Next one, another one from Blake.

“Yang? Yang are you there?! Ruby said she’s tried calling you and got no answer, what’s going on?!” Came her voice again. Yang’s brow furrowed, moving on to the next one.

“...Yang? Are you getting these? Are- Are you okay?! Please, answer me!” 

Next.

“Yang… Yang come on, this isn’t funny anymore, I- I know you’re upset about all of this but- But please, please just call me back!”

Next.

“...Yang… Please…”

Next. 

“...You aren’t okay, are you…? You… You wouldn’t ignore Ruby like that, and I’d- I’d hope you wouldn’t ignore me… Gods, Yang… What happened to you…?” Yang’s hand on her scroll was shaking more now. Blake sounded like she was about to cry…

“...I-I said I’d protect you, a-and you’d protect me, w-we’d protect each other… I’m… I-I’m so sorry, Yang… I…” Blake’s voice trailed off, turning into a sob at the tail end of the sentence. 

“...I-I was so worried about not leaving you, b-but… I n-never thought it w-would end up the other w-way around… I’m s-so sorry…” Blake’s words came through tears and hiccups. Tears blurred Yang’s vision as she stared down at the scroll…

“Yang… I…” She took a sharp breath. “I l-love you…”

“𝙽𝚘 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚖𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜.” Chirped her scroll, snapping her out of her stupor.

“...Blake…” Yang whispered, eyes stinging from tears and snow. The bitter cold nipped and bit at her, but she didn’t care. Blake loved her. She loved her. And she had managed to make contact, Blake knows she’s okay…

One thing is for certain.

They need to save Oscar…

And get to Atlas.