Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandom:
Relationship:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2021-04-13
Completed:
2021-07-14
Words:
1,710
Chapters:
2/2
Comments:
40
Kudos:
341
Bookmarks:
27
Hits:
1,981

i want you to be the last thing i see

Summary:

It's a long run from the Beacon cafeteria to the docks, and Yang doesn't stay unconscious for all of it.

Notes:

hi hello i'm having a little bit of a moment here. i'm rewatching the early volumes trying to get a friend into the show and i've had this fic idea in my head since i first watched v3 and i'm just. i'm having a moment.

this is not technically speaking canon compliant but, like, you could definitely think of this as their last conscious interaction and it would definitely change how you view the v5 beeunion/all of v6. just saying. you could choose to do that. i'm choosing to do that and it is fucking me UP.

please enjoy!!

Chapter 1

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Yang’s head is spinning.

She’s moving, she can feel that much. She’s…being carried? Yes, that’s right. She can feel the rapid, rhythmic footfalls of the person carrying her. They’re running, running fast. They’re warm, too, Yang notices. Their arms are strong around her back and beneath her knees. Their shoulder is solid against her cheek. Yang feels…safe in their grasp.

With great effort, Yang blinks her eyes open. They take a moment to focus, and even once they do, all she can see is dark hair and the underside of a sharp jawline. Yang takes a deep breath and lifts her head from the person’s shoulder, trying to find their face.

“Blake,” she says the moment she does, her face splitting into a grin. It’s Blake who’s carrying her, Blake whose arms are strong and firm around her body, Blake who is…crying? “Are you okay?” Blake glances at her, and Yang sees panic in those amber eyes.

“I’m fine,” Blake says. Her voice shakes, and she’s short of breath. Yang understands why; their surroundings are moving fast enough to be blurred. Or maybe that’s just Yang’s vision. What’s wrong with her, anyway? Did she hit her head? “Go back to sleep, Yang, please.” Yang almost listens, almost sets her head back down and closes her eyes. Blake is a comfortable pillow, even while she’s running as fast as she can. What is she running from?

“No,” Yang says, slowly shaking her head. “You’re upset.”

“I’m not upset.” Blake leaps. Yang can’t see what she’s jumping over, but she clears it, landing so smoothly on the other side that Yang is barely even jostled. Blake is so strong, so good at this, at moving. Yang wishes she could see better so that she could watch.

“You’re crying,” Yang says. She wants to reach up and wipe away Blake’s tears, but her right arm feels strange and maybe it would be a bad idea while they’re moving. She might end up missing, taking one of Blake’s eyes out, and that would be a travesty, to deprive the world of any part of Blake.

“It’s fine,” Blake says. She looks down at Yang, smiles wider and faker than Yang has ever seen her smile. “They’re…happy tears. I promise.”

“Happy tears,” Yang echoes. It doesn’t sound right, but her mind is too jumbled to argue. Instead, she leans her head against Blake’s shoulder again and tilts her chin up so that she can see Blake’s face. “That’s good. You’re so pretty when you’re happy.” Blake makes a choked noise that sounds a bit like a sob.

“Thank you,” she says quietly.

“I just wish you were happy more.” Yang shifts in Blake’s arms, trying to reach up and grab at her shoulders to make herself easier to carry. Her right arm twinges painfully and doesn’t lift when she tells it to. She frowns, starting to look down, but Blake suddenly holds her tighter, pressing Yang’s face into her chest.

“Don’t look,” Blake says, that sob still in her throat. Her grip relaxes, and Yang frowns up at her. Don’t look? Don’t look at what?

“Blake…”

“Don’t look,” Blake says again. “Just—go back to sleep, Yang. Or—or look at me. Just don’t look at that.” Again, Yang can’t find the words to argue. Her arm aches, and her mind is scattered. She rests her cheek against Blake’s shoulders and smiles up at her.

“Okay,” she says, because it seems like a fair compromise. “I like looking at you.” Blake’s jaw clenches, and a fresh flood of tears covers her cheeks. Yang wonders if, since those tears are happy tears, that means Blake likes her, too.

Yang drifts back into unconsciousness, and the next time she wakes up, Blake is gone.

Notes:

i hope you liked this!! if you did and you have not read my bachelorette au for these two, i would recommend that as a fic that is absolutely nothing like this one at all. it is long and it is not particularly sad. check it out.

i'm on tumblr @sevens-evan and on twitter @sevens_evan. please leave a comment if you liked this; i know it's short but i would really appreciate it!

Chapter 2

Notes:

surprise bitch. bet y'all thought you'd seen the last of this.

this second chapter is a late birthday present for my friend bien, who is probably reading this and definitely upset with me for it. love u bro. happy birthday hope this makes you unreasonably sad.

this is another little tidbit that could hypothetically one day exist in my hypothetical v1-v3 rewrite, so if it doesn't totally line up with canon don't worry about that. pretend you do not see it i promise there are reasons. just enjoy the vibes.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Yang sees white when she wakes up.

It takes her a moment to open her eyes; they’re crusted shut with…something. Not blood. It’s not sticky enough for that, just rough and flaky against her skin as she peels her eyelids open. She reaches up with her hands to rub at them—

—her hands. Her hand.

The pain hits a moment later. It’s muted and distant. She’s clearly on some kind of drugs. But her hand—it isn’t there.

She rolls to the side of the bed she’s lying in and gags. A trash bin appears before her just in time, and she vomits as her vision begins to clear. When she’s done, she flops back over onto her back, eyes adjusting to the light. The ceiling above her is white and tiled. The room is well-lit, with fluorescents that buzz loudly—or maybe that’s the tinnitus. There had been a lot of explosions happening while she ran through campus looking for Blake.

“Hey.” The voice is from beside her, from whoever placed the trash can for her. With great effort, Yang lolls her head to the side, and there, seated at her bedside, she finds…well, not the last person she was expecting to see, but certainly not the first.

“Sun,” Yang says, blinking at him. “What’s…where am I?”

“Hospital in Vale,” Sun says. “You haven’t been out that long.” Yang squints, trying to ease her growing headache.

“Blake,” she says after a moment, adrenaline flooding into her veins and fighting valiantly against the painkillers already there. “Where’s Blake.”

“Gone,” Sun says with a wince. Yang’s heart drops through her chest, out her back, crumbles into dust and blood against the bedsheets.

“The fuck do you mean, gone?” she says, sitting up in bed. The room tilts violently around her with the movement, and her stomach tries to revolt again. She ignores it. “She carried me. She carried me out, I remember, she can’t be—she was fine. Did he come after her?”

“He?” Sun says, shaking his head slightly.

“Adam,” Yang says. “The—her ex, her partner, the fucking guy who did this to me.” She tries to raise what’s left of her arm. It screams with agony, muted by the painkillers but still sharp enough to make Yang flinch. “Did he come for her?”

“No,” Sun says. “No, I’m—I’m sorry, I didn’t think about my words. Blake isn’t dead.” Yang drops her arm back to her side and stares at him blankly.

“She’s not?”

“No.” Sun shakes his head. “That’s not what I meant. She carried you out of Beacon, yeah. She got you onto the hospital airship, made sure you would live, and then…I don’t know. She left. She’s gone.”

“That can’t be right,” Yang says. “If she’s alive, why isn’t she here?”

“I don’t know,” Sun says quietly. “I’m sorry.” Slowly, Yang sinks back into her bed, swallowing back the bile in her throat. She doesn’t know why Blake would leave, but she must have a good reason. She must have gone back for something. For Adam, maybe, to—to hunt him down, or bring him in, or something. She went back for something, but she’ll be coming back. She’ll be here soon. Right?

“What about everyone else?” Yang says, pushing down the thought. Blake will be back soon. Yang doesn’t need to, she can’t worry about Blake right now or she’ll be sick again. “Why are you here? No offense.”

“None taken,” Sun says. “Weiss went home to Atlas. An SDC ship showed up. I…don’t know if they gave her a choice.” Another bolt of worry rips through Yang at that, and she cuts that one off in its tracks, too. Weiss is safe, physically, at least. That will have to be enough for now. “Ruby—they found Ruby a few hours ago. She’s unconscious, but she’s fine. She exhausted her aura. She just needs rest. Her room is on another floor.” Yang exhales slowly, her eyes slipping shut.

Ruby is safe.

“Yang—“ Sun hesitates. Yang opens her eyes, looking up at him. She’s never seen Sun look so sad. “Yang, Pyrrha is dead.”

“…What?”

“Pyrrha’s dead,” Sun repeats. It doesn’t make any more sense the second time. “I don’t know what happened. Ruby was holding her circlet when they found her, and Jaune—he’s certain of it. I don’t know how, but he says he knows.” Yang straightens her neck, staring up at the white ceiling of the hospital room. Pyrrha. Yang can’t even make sense of it. She’d always thought of Pyrrha as…sort of invincible. But if Jaune is sure, Yang is sure he’s right. He wouldn’t give up on her unless there was no other choice.

“And Blake is…gone,” Yang says. “You don’t know where.” Sun shakes his head. Yang closes her eyes and lifts her hands—no, hand to cover her face. “You should go,” she says through her fingers. “I need a minute. You should go be with your team.”

“My team is all fine,” Sun says. “I can go if you want. Just—Blake asked me to make sure you’re okay.” Yang lifts her hand for a moment, meeting his eyes.

“I’m fine,” she says. Blake would see straight through her, if she were here. So would Ruby, or Weiss, or Pyrrha. But she hasn’t spent too much time with Sun, and he hasn’t learned how to tell when she’s lying. So, looking a little uncomfortable, he nods in agreement and gets to her feet. “Sun,” Yang says. “If you see Blake, tell her to come back soon, okay?”

“I’m…not sure she’s planning on that,” Sun says quietly. “Coming back soon. Or ever.”

“Just do it.”

“Yeah,” he relents. “Yeah, okay. I hope—I hope you feel better soon, Yang. I’ll get a nurse for you on my way out.”

“Thank you.” Sun turns away, and Yang lowers her hand over her eyes again, catching the tears that slip through with her fingertips before they can fall.

Sun is wrong. He has to be. Blake is planning on coming back. She wouldn’t just leave Yang, alone and injured and rotting in a hospital bed. She wouldn’t leave her to pick up the pieces, with Weiss gone and Ruby hurt and Pyrrha—Pyrrha—

Yang rolls onto her uninjured side and grits her teeth to stop the tears. Blake will be back soon. Blake will be back soon. She’s sure of it.

Notes:

i'm on tumblr @sevens-evan and on twitter @sevens_evan if u wanna keep up with me. please leave a comment on this if you liked it; i would love to hear abt my impact on everyone's emotional state this evening. thanks for reading!