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Chapter Text

As they watched the sun begin to set behind the hill they were facing, Yang could feel her body protesting. One more hill , she told it. She’d been telling her body this very thing for the past few hours and she wasn’t sure how much longer it would believe her. How much longer until it simply refused to carry her any further. Why did Vale have to be so damn hilly, anyway? Not to mention big.

Ruby and her had been on the road for weeks. Since they’d had to save on everything, they had been neither getting enough sleep nor having enough food and Yang was starting to seriously feel it.

This sunset was supposed to mark the end of their journey but they had gotten somewhat distracted by a farm selling baby animals that morning. Dragging Ruby away from the baby goats had arguably been the hardest thing Yang had had to do on their entire journey.

As it was, they still had some ground to cover before nightfall, so Yang dragged her body up that hill. Only to reach the top and discover another hill waiting for her. Her body was definitely silently screaming at her.

“Remind me again why Beacon is at the highest point in all of Vale”, Yang groaned.

Ruby was practically hopping alongside her. “Advantage in case of attackers. And this way the capital would be the last place to fall in a war.”

Yang snorted. “What attackers? There hasn’t been a war in decades.”

“Well they didn’t know there would be a peace treaty when they built Beacon.”

“I suppose they didn’t” Yang reached over to ruffle Ruby’s hair but she ducked out of Yang’s reach just in time. “I still wish we didn’t have to walk all the way up there. They should have developed a transportation system into the city. For the peaceful times.”

“I told you we should have gotten one of those goats”, Ruby sighed.

Yang barked out a laugh. “You wanted to ride that baby goat up the mountain? I don’t know if it would have made it, Rubes.”

“Well no..”, Ruby amended, “I guess it would have been too small. But it still would have been great moral support.”

At Ruby’s bright grin, Yang could feel herself instantly relaxing. She had had her doubts about bringing Ruby along knowing it would not be easy and probably fruitless in the end but perhaps she had grown to need her sister as much as the other way around.

She slung her arm over Ruby’s shoulder and bumped their hips. “I’m sorry I robbed you of your moral support. Guess you’ll just have to make due with me instead.”

“No, you were right,” Ruby mumbled, “We need that money for your entrance fee.”

Yang winced at that. It was almost all they had at this point. And she was about to throw it all away. For a chance, a long shot. Probably for nothing. And maybe (if she was really honest with herself) for a dream. A ridiculous, irrational dream of a Yang much younger, much more innocent, much happier.

Ruby bumped their hips again and, looking down at her, Yang could see that she was grinning again, her eyes sparkling. The knot in her stomach began to loosen.

“But it will be so worth it!” Ruby announced, “Cause you’re gonna kick ass and show them all what a girl from Patch can really do!”

With that Ruby broke free from Yang’s arm and began theatrically making fighting motions, kicking and punching the air, twirling up the hill. 

Smiling at her little sister, Yang felt that knot of guilt and worry loosen further and instead felt something like hope begin to light in her chest.

Yeah, bringing Ruby along had definitely been a good idea.

Blake could see the arena from the window of her rented room. The Inn was nothing fancy, but it was close enough to the event, not very expensive and had had a room available. Those had been pretty much her only criteria. 

She was used to shabby accommodation, terrible food and watered down Ale and she’d never complained before. She wasn’t going to start now, when freedom was so close she could practically taste it.

The arena itself was nothing spectacular. It was only a few hundred feet from the Castle (that was the real attraction under normal circumstances) but all the festivities would take place in and around the arena this time. Thus it was already decorated accordingly, with banners and flags of Vale and the other Kingdoms on the walls, dancing lights in the air (created and lifted by magic) and the streets filled with stalls selling food and all sorts of trinkets.

Blake wasn’t here for any of that though. She was here only for the tournament, to prove once and for all what she was worth (even on her own).

Returning to this thought for the hundredth time that day Blake got up to pace the room, to get the nervous energy out. This was very much unlike her. She wasn’t nervous and restless. She was cool, calm and collected. Always.

She shouldn’t really be surprised though; this was, after all, the first time she was doing something for herself, making a choice herself in a long time.

Deciding to settle her nerves she picked up the book that lay face down on the bed, sat on the floor against the wall and tried to focus on reading once more, determined not to let her thoughts drift to the following day anymore.

She had already tried to distract herself by drinking in the tavern downstairs, but had soon decided she didn’t like the attention drawn her way there.

She knew she looked out of place: a girl her age – a faunus girl her age, on her own, clearly having travelled from far away, in a tavern that obviously catered to a specific clientele (middle-aged men trying to drink their sorrows away), she was bound to draw some odd looks her way. And uncomfortably, some interested ones.

She also knew she didn’t exactly look the part of a powerful wizard intending to participate in the tournament, didn’t look like much of an opponent.

But she would show them. She would show them all.

Finally, finally Yang spotted The city of Beacon sitting proudly on the next hill. The last hill. Finally.

Yang tugged on her coat sleeves, making sure her arms – and her tattoos – were covered. No need to draw any attention just yet and give herself away.

As the two sisters trudged through the settlements outside the city proper their energy was instantly replenished by the bustle of excitement that suddenly surrounded them. Colourful banners were hung up everywhere. People were rushing around and talking excitedly. They passed the first few stalls selling merchandise and Yang had to laugh at a man showcasing a handkerchief used by the tournament’s favourite, Phyrra Nikos.

Ruby frowned at him. “Why would anyone want to buy somebody else’s used handkerchief?”

Yang hummed thoughtfully, “I don’t know. For smelling?”

Ruby stared at her, scandalised. “Smelling?!”

Yang burst out laughing and Ruby slowly joined in. The man selling the handkerchief eyed them suspiciously so Yang reined in her laughter and led Ruby further down the street.

“I just figure someone who buys somebody’s handkerchief is bound to do something weird with it.”

Ruby gave another chuckle. “You’re probably right. I think we should talk about something else before we think of other things they might want to do.”

“Oh Brothers, you’re right.” Yang scrunched up her face, then shook her head. “So!” She spread her arms wide, gesturing to their surroundings, “Vale! What do you want to see first?”

“Well,” Ruby bounced excitedly as she walked beside Yang towards the imposing gate that would lead them into the city, “first we have to register you!”

Yang reached over and ruffled her hair fondly before Ruby ducked out of her reach. “Yeah, yeah. Relax. I’m already signed up, just gotta let them know I’m here. I mean, as soon as that is done – which will take us like a minute – what do you wanna do? Check out the food stalls? Cheesy souvenirs?”

“Don’t you wanna train?” Ruby looked up at her with wide eyes. “The first round starts tomorrow.”

Yang let out a sigh and looked around them. No one was paying them any attention but still…

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Rubes. No such thing as privacy in a big city like this.”

Ruby rolled her eyes but still stepped closer to Yang and lowered her voice as she replied impatiently, “Not with me. Duh. But the invitation said there’s like training grounds for participants, right? We could also check out the competition”

Her eyes sparkled excitedly with the last sentence but Yang shoved her away gently.

“Well, maybe I don’t want the competition to check me out just yet.”

Ruby shoved her back with a groan. “Brothers, you’re so dramatic. I just wanna see people fight!”

Yang laughed and put arm around Ruby’s shoulder, drawing her in as they finally reached the city gates and joined in the line of people streaming into the city. “We’re here for a magical tournament. Don’t worry, you’re gonna see plenty of people fighting.”

Ruby just squealed excitedly in response.

Yang looked around at the people entering the city along with them. Were any of them competitors, too? Also hiding their carvings to ensure the element of surprise? Was she going to be facing one of them in the arena tomorrow?

Her gaze moved to the balcony inside the gate, where two people in sleeveless cloaks watched over the crowd, their gazes focused. Their bare arms and legs were covered in intricate designs, runes and symbols carved into their skin in dark ink, displayed proudly. Thaumaturges. The magical elite trained in prestigious academies all over remnant and employed by the crown. The most powerful magicians in the world.

Supposedly.

If you asked Yang, all they really had was money for more and better carvings and the ego to constantly show those carvings off to display their power. She didn’t think that made them more powerful than her. But then again, she was here to prove exactly that.

Blake adjusted her position, her legs starting to get tired being stuffed into the alcove she had chosen as a hiding spot. Not that it was necessary to hide. Maybe it was just a habit. But from up here she had a perfect view of the training grounds so that she could analyse some of her competition. And besides, she had no intention of interacting with any of them apart from the actual challenges, so staying out of sight was simply for the best. She could not afford to get distracted.

She watched a dark skinned woman in a tailored coat with fine golden embroidery activate a rune on her forearm and set her hand aflame and then launch the flames at a training dummy while running towards it. The dummy instantly burst into flames that even Blake on her perch could feel warm her skin slightly, but the woman kept running up to it and as she passed right beside it she closed her fist and the flames disappeared as quickly as they had started, leaving only a charred, barely recognizable dummy behind.

The woman smiled, satisfied. Blake rolled her eyes. Sure, the flames made for a great show and she controlled them well but all she had done was set an unmoving object on fire. Any half-talented magician should be able to do that. The upcoming challenges, where they would be facing other capable magicians as opposed to inanimate training dummies, would be an entirely different thing. 

Blake wondered how many of the competitors had actually been in combat before, whether that is something they’re even taught at their fancy academies. Nobody here was actually sparring right now, they were just training by themselves. It made sense, Blake supposed. They had no idea yet who they were going to be facing in the coming days. You don’t want to lose to your opponent before the tournament even starts.

Blake sighed, beginning her climb off of her perch. She had learned all she could from this observation, which honestly wasn’t much considering she also had no idea who she would be facing the next day.

As she made her way out of the competitor’s quarters her eyes caught on someone standing outside one of the tents, someone she recognized instantly: Phyrra Nikos. Three time winner of the Mystral tournament. Most people on Remnant knew who Phyrra Nikos was, especially magicians. Blake had certainly had to listen to Ilia gush about the famously undefeated girl enough times.

She tore her eyes away and shook the thought out of her head. She’d made her choice and she wasn’t looking back.

Still, she wished the best of luck to whoever would have to face Phyrra Nikos in the first round. And she prayed to the Brothers it wouldn’t be her.

“Oooh, look at this one!” Ruby held up a tiny piece of metal shaped to look like flames with wide, excited eyes. “It’s totally your style.”

Yang tilted her head at her, holding back a smile. Ruby had been excitedly exclaiming we need this!   about at least ten cheesy souvenirs at every stall they had passed in the last hour or so. “It’s kinda cool, i guess…”

“It’s also enchanted.”, the vendor at the stall added, almost matching Ruby’s excitement.

Ruby turned to him, eyes almost comically wide now, bouncing on her feet. “Really?! What does it do?”

Yang gave an exasperated sigh and stared down the vendor, unimpressed. She was really going to have to reign her sister in.

The vendor ignored Yang and focused on Ruby, leaning back and crossing his arms, cocky and proud. “It produces flame. Can use it to easily start a fire anywhere, anytime.”

“Ooooh” There really was no tempering Ruby’s excitement.

She turned to Yang with wide, pleading eyes.

Yang crossed her arms, raising her eyebrows at her sister. “We don’t really need help to start fires though, do we?”

Ruby deflated slightly but decided to add a pout anyway. “But it’s super cool.”

“It is super cool. But if it’s enchanted it’s probably very expensive.” She threw a look at the vendor but he just shrugged.

Finally Ruby gave up with a sigh. “You’re right. And I guess we don’t really need it.”

She handed the little flame back to the vendor who was already turning away from them to speak to the next potential customer. Ruby gave the little souvenir another wistful look before she turned back to Yang, the pout still on her face.

Yang threw her arm around Ruby’s shoulder and led her to the next stall.

“Come on, Rubes. The tournament hasn’t even started yet. We’ll be here for days. Plenty of time still to find the perfect souvenir. You don’t want to fulfil your main mission on the first day here, right?”

Ruby immediately brightened once more, the spring returning to her step. “You’re right. I can’t just buy the first cool thing I see if I wanna find the perfect one.” She grinned at Yang for a moment, then, “Oooh, look at this.” And she was off to the next stall. Yang followed her with a laugh.

Ruby turned back to her, holding up a palm sized piece of wood carved into a lightning bolt.

“Lightning!” Ruby hissed before proceeding to wave the wooden bolt around and making hissing noises that Yang assumed were supposed to be lightning sounds.

Yang tried to stifle her laugh to prepare to once again talk Ruby out of this purchase, but before she can even speak, another voice joins in.

“Oooh, lightning!”

Yand blinked as a girl with spiky red hair appeared by Ruby’s side in a whirlwind and watched Ruby waving the bolt around wildly with fascination.

Ruby grinned at her. “It’s cool, right?”

“Super cool!” The girl nodded enthusiastically.

Ruby handed the bolt over to her and she immediately waved it around like Ruby did only even more wildly, if that was even possible.

Yang eyed the girl and studied her bare arms, many intricate carvings on display.

“You competing?” That finally drew the girl’s eyes to Yang.

“Hell yeah I am!” She grinned, flexing her arms next to her head. Then she stuck out her hand at Yang. “I’m Nora, by the way.”

Yang shook it with a smile. “Yang.”

“And I’m Ruby!” Ruby piped up from beside Nora, who turned to her and put her hand up for a high five that Ruby immediately complied with.

“Cool! It’s so awesome to meet you! Are you competing too?”

“Yang is! I’m too young. And I also don’t have any carvings. But Yang is gonna kick some ass.”

“Well hopefully not mine!” Nora laughed as a boy with long black hair jogged up behind her.

“Nora! There you are!” He came to stand beside the girl.

“Ren!” she threw her arms around him, “Where have you been?”

He rolled his eyes as she released him. “Looking for you. Because you just ran off again.”

“Oh.” The girl gave a chuckle but she did look a bit sheepish. “Right.”

Then her eyes widened with excitement again and she held up the wooden lightning bolt. “Oh! Look! It’s a lightning bolt!”

Ren’s face remained expressionless. “I can see that.”

“I have to buy it!” Nora insisted.

Ren sighed. “That’s what you said about all this stuff too.” He held up a clearly fully stuffed satchel that Yang assumed was full of souvenirs and she couldn't help an amused chuckle at the boy’s misery.

Nora, however, didn’t back down. “But this is lightning!”

She turned to Ruby, buzzing now. “I specialise in lightning, you know.”

Ruby’s eyes widened. “Really? Wow. People do that?”

“Well, I don’t know if people do that, but I do!”

As the two girls continued to discuss Niora’s use of lightning in her magic with way too much excitement and energy, Yang let her eyes roam over the crowd and the brightly decorated stalls. There was chatter, excitement and colour everywhere. It had been many years since Yang had been in a place even remotely this big and busy and loud. She was going to love it.

She was drawn out of her pondering as her eyes caught on a girl. Yang’s breath caught. This girl was literally breathtaking. A slender, elegant shape that moved like water, smoothly and naturally. Dark, thick waves of hair that fell over her shoulders and down her back. Not to mention the adorable cat ears on top of her head that swivelled around, in constant movement, to take in the surroundings.

And then the girl looked up and Yang’s heart stopped. The girl’s eyes were sharp and piercing and golden .

Their eyes met and Yang’s heart started up again, at maximum speed.

She blinked a few times to gather her composure and kickstart her brain, then gave the girl a lopsided grin.

The girl didn’t smile back but she held Yang’s gaze for a few seconds before turning away and continuing down the road.

Yang couldn’t take her eyes off of her until she was lost in the crowd.

Blake woke before sunrise on the first day of the tournament. She got dressed, making sure to wrap up her arms and went out for a run before the day would really start.

The cold morning air and exercise always helped Blake focus. And if there was ever a day to be focused, it was today.

She was one of the first to arrive at the back of the arena where she was led into a gated area that was the meeting point for the competitors. Only few magicians were already waiting there, Phyrra Nikos among them. When Blake entered she gave her a warm smile. Blake blinked at her, not expecting the warmth from her opponents, much less from everybody’s favourite to win.

Before she could attempt to react further her eyes were drawn to the entrance where more magicians started to filter into the place and she decided to ignore the people around her and focus on herself instead.

With hardly anyone saying a word this was going splendidly until loud, excited chatter interrupted the relative silence. Blake looked up to the entrance and froze.

It was the blonde girl she had seen the previous day at the market. The beautiful girl with the charming, crooked smile that Blake had decided to never think about again. Once again Blake struggled to take her eyes off of the girl.

She was just so… bright .

But she was not the one talking so loudly and excitedly. Just outside the gate stood a short, scrawny girl with short, dark, spiky hair, gesticulating wildly, her eyes comically wide and talking and talking and talking. At a speed that quite frankly impressed Blake.

The Blonde slowly backed into the space laughing and waving at the girl. “Alright, alright, Rubes. I’ll see you out there. I gotta go now.”

The small girl jumped up excitedly and threw up her arms. “Good Luck, Yang!”

Then the Blonde - Yang - turned and scanned the waiting faces (many of them looking at her now) until her eyes got stuck on Blake and, once again, Blake felt her heart inexplicably speed up as their eyes met. and stayed locked on each other.

Slowly Yang approached her, her eyes never leaving Blake’s, her lips spreading into a slow smile.

She settled in, leaning her back against the wall next to Blake, still looking at her.

“Hi”

Blake fought to keep her face neutral despite her heart absolutely not cooperating with her.

“Hi”

Yang’s smile grew broader. Her eyes travelled down Blake’s body and up again and Blake had to suppress a shiver at the attention. “Good to see the competition’s going to be tough.”

Blake simply raised an eyebrow at her. “And how would you know that?”

And Yang full on grinned at her at that point, showing her teeth. She shrugged. “Just a hunch.”

Blake finally dragged her eyes away and huffed. “Of course.”

She heard Yang chuckle beside her but before she could be tempted to look at her again a thaumaturge in a bright red cloak strode into the space, tattooed arms spread wide.

“Welcome competitors!” he exclaimed with a broad smile. “We are beyond excited to have you all here for the annual Vytal Festival!”

The magicians present stirred, turning towards him, standing up straighter.

“Wonderful. Wonderful.”, he continued, “But enough of that. There will be more welcoming very soon. The Festival is just about to start, in fact. In just a few minutes you will all be officially welcomed and introduced. And then it will soon be time for what you are all really waiting for today: the drafted pairs for the first round will be revealed. All in good time, though, all in good time.”

Blake blinked at him a few times, overwhelmed by the speed of his speech and by how frantically he was pacing in front of them as he spoke. He, however, seemed unperturbed.

“Plenty of time for all this later and for you to get acquainted with each other. We’re just about to start. So follow me, please, follow me.”

With that he turned on his heel and swiftly headed back into the arena through the door he had come from.

The magicians looked at each other, somewhat confused but soon hurried to follow him.

Blake calmly moved with the crowd, trying to ignore Yang right behind her who seemed to be radiating heat. Just as they entered the building loud music began to play: The tournament had officially begun.

Yang stepped out into the bright light of the arena, blinking against the brightness of it, overwhelmed but grinning at the deafening cheers.

One by one the competitors were being announced and the audience was at least as excited as the magicians themselves. Yang had never had the chance to visit the tournament before, or any of the smaller tournaments for that matter. Now that she was here, and at the centre of it all no less, it was all just so much… bigger than she could have ever imagined.

The arena itself was huge and yet the space around it for the audience to stand or sit as they watched was filled with people. She’d never even seen a structure this big before, much less as many people as could fit in it.

There was no way to contain her grin as she stood beside the other magicians.

Above them the king of Vale, Ozpin, stood addressing the crowd, introducing the magicians and then moving on to begin explaining the rules.

There was no way Yang could pay attention to his words at the moment, though. She was buzzing, scanning the crowd. Could she make Ruby out in the masses? She had no idea where to even begin looking for her. She would have to ask her later where she was standing. They had been told that there was an area in the stands reserved for personal guests of the competitors but Yang had no idea where that was.

“...sponsored by the Schnee Dust Company.”, Ozpin's voice finally filtered into Yang’s awareness.

She looked back up at the king as he gestured even higher to another balcony, where Yang could see Jaques Schnee, stoic as ever, looking down on everyone. Beside him stood his daughter, heiress to the company, Weiss Schnee, with her signature white hair pulled back into a high ponytail. And beside her - 

Yang froze, shocked, not believing her eyes.

Next to freaking Weiss Schnee , looking completely comfortable and at ease, stood Ruby. She bounced on her feet excitedly and then – 

Yang’s eyes widened further.

Then she leaned over to the heiress and whispered something in her ear. And Weiss Schnee…

Weiss Schnee didn’t baulk at her, didn’t screech at her or do any of the insulted things Yang thought she might do as a response to being spoken to by someone beneath her. Instead she actually looked like she was trying to suppress a smile.

Yang huffed and turned back forward. Leave it to Ruby to befriend even the famously icy princess of Atlas – the icy kingdom.

“And now let us get to the actually interesting part.” Ozpin was now saying and Yang perked up, deciding to finally actually listen to him. “The first round! One on one duels. Anything goes. And they will start today!”

Deafening applause and cheers erupted from the crowd once more and the wide grin found its way back onto Yang’s lips.

Without thinking her eyes wandered over to the beautiful girl she’d seen the day before and had been ecstatic to find out was also competing in the tournament.

The girl was staring straight ahead into the crowd, her face blank, just as emotionless and stoic as before. Yang studied her. Not even this overwhelming atmosphere could get the girl to show some facial expressions. None of Yang’s antics or jokes had managed to draw even the slightest smile out of her and Yang saw that as somewhat of a personal insult.

She also saw it as a challenge though. If the girl was this stunning when showing zero emotions Yang had to see what she looked like when she smiled – or maybe even laughed.

Yang was going to be the person to get her to do it. Yang had to be the person who managed to get her to smile.

Blake watched the battles of the first round from the balcony, wishing she were closer, wishing she could see every tensing of a muscle and facial twitch. Any of these contestants could become her opponents in the upcoming rounds, so the closer she analysed them and their techniques in this round, the greater her advantage over them in the future.

She was sure many of them, like she planned to do, weren’t showing all their cards just yet. Holding back to not give away all they were capable of, to keep some surprises for the next rounds.

Well, many but not all of them, she thought and almost rolled her eyes at the flashy display of one opponent in the arena at that moment. The redhead she had seen talking to Yang the day before. She had seemed very loud and flashy then and this theory was only being confirmed in the fighting she was displaying. It was interesting still. Blake had never before seen someone who focused on lightning as their main type of magic and while this girl hurled all kinds of magic at her opponent non stop, her favourite by far seemed to be lightning bolts that she drew from the air and redirected in zig zag lines at the man across from her.

Though not an elegant tactic by all accounts her constant barrage of attacks seemed to be weakening and slowing her opponent down and Blake held back a wince as he was too slow to dodge one of the girl’s lightning bolts and it hit him straight in the chest, knocking him down. He stayed lying there, twitching slightly, and the redhead started celebrating her victory before the clock actually ran out. But he did not get back up and victory was indeed hers.

As the crowd exploded into cheers and the redhead fired lighting bolts into the air and let them crackle like fireworks, Blake directed her attention to her right. To the giant of a man standing a few people over. A man named Yatsuhashi. The man she would be fighting in her first round the next day. He was at least two heads taller than Blake and four times as wide. Which probably meant he was strong and hard to take down. But it might also mean that he was slow, which she could use to her advantage. His large arms were bare, displaying the many tattoos he wore. From her distance she couldn’t make out all of them but from what she could tell he had an earth based theme going on. She could work with that.

“You rethinking your earlier confidence?”

Blake startled at Yang’s voice next to her. She hadn’t noticed her getting so close. When she looked over at the girl her eyes were sparkling with challenge and Blake’s eyes were drawn to her smirk.

“Didn’t take you for the kind to be intimidated by an opponent’s size.” Yang still didn’t back away, simply raising an eyebrow at Blake.

“I’m not.” Blake didn’t back away either. “I’m just analysing, preparing.”

Yang’s smirk grew wider. “And staring at him, while he’s standing still, is telling you a lot about his fighting?”

“It’s telling me some things.”

“And what things, pray tell?”

This time Blake raised an eyebrow at Yang. “Things I won’t tell you.”

“Oh right.” Yang was full on grinning then and it was, frankly, way too good a look on her. “So that when he beats you tomorrow and I face him in another round, I won’t have an advantage.”

Blake scoffed. “Don’t worry. I’ll beat him so you don’t have to face him. If you make it to any future rounds that is.”

Still grinning, Yang leaned even closer, holding Blake’s gaze and Blake could see the tiny golden flecks in her striking purple eyes. 

“Oh no. I’m not leaving this tournament until I face you in that arena.”

Blake almost let a smile creep onto her face then. Almost. “How sweet. You want me to be the one to defeat you?”

“Maybe.” Yang’s voice was low and she was so close, Blake felt the warmth of her body everywhere. “Or maybe I want to be the one to defeat you.”

“Don’t dream too big, Xiao Long.”

And with that Blake finally stepped back, putting space between them and turning her attention back towards the arena, where the next two contestants were preparing for their battle.

She could still feel Yang’s eyes on her, burning into her, but she resisted the temptation to meet them again.

Yang glanced over at Blake walking beside her. She hadn’t really expected her to agree but Blake had just shrugged and said: “Why not.” Yang didn’t want to give her a reason to change her mind, so she tried to stay cool. For now.

But her body was still buzzing from the excitement of the day and, yes, also from Blake’s presence beside her. She didn’t even know the girl but watching her cool facade the whole day had only made her more and more curious to find out what was hiding beneath it. The glimpses of what she thought might be what’s hidden, that she’d seen during their bantering, had already made her a little desperate to discover the rest.

She’d never met someone like Blake, who covered herself up quite so thoroughly, but Yang was nothing if not persistent in charming her way into someone’s heart.

And besides, Blake had agreed to go get a drink with her even after Yang had spent much of the day trying to tease her into a reaction. That seemed like a promising start.

“Here we are.” Yang swept her hand toward the bar they had arrived at, voices and laughter filtering out through the propped open door.

Blake raised an eyebrow. “So this is like your favourite joint?”

“Well” Yang let out a nervous laugh. “No. I haven’t actually been here. Or at any bar in Vale. First time in the city, ya know. But Nora recommended this one so I thought we’d check it out.”

Blake’s second eyebrow joined the other high on her forehead. “Nora? The hyperactive lightning throwing maniac? Sounds promising.”

“That’s exactly what I thought!” Yang grinned brightly at her, then rushed to the door to hold it open for Blake. “After you, milady.”

Blake walked up slowly and stopped only inches from Yang. She raked her eyes over Yang’s face, making Yang swallow hard under the intense gaze.

“Such a gentleman.”

Yang sucked in a sharp breath as Blake turned and sauntered past her into the bar.

An hour and a few ales later Yang was loudly telling Blake the story of how she’d almost died when she was six trying to hunt Beowulfs.

“I was entirely confident that the one carving I had meant I was fully prepared to–”

She interrupted herself as, in her wild gesticulation, she’d knocked over her mug, fortunately empty. Still, she quickly grabbed at it to right it and gave Blake a bashful smile. “Oops.”

She could have sworn, Blake’s lips twitched just the tiniest bit, as if she almost ( almost ) wanted to smile. “I think you’ve probably had enough ale.”

“What are you talking about? I’ve only had like–” She frowned, trying to come up with a number, then shrugged. “Maybe you’re right.”

“You do have that little fight tomorrow.”

Yang scoffed. “Oh, please. Have you seen the guy I’m up against? He’s got blue hair. I mean, blue hair , Blake. He’s no threat to me.”

“You sure cockiness and overconfidence are what you want to enter your first round with?”

Yang just gave her a confident smirk. “Well, cocky is kinda my brand. And it’s not overconfidence when I’m right. Then, it’s just confidence.”

Once again, Yang could have sworn there was just the slightest tilt to Blake’s lips.

“Yeah, Blake! You got this! Whooo!”

Blake had a very hard time suppressing the smile that desperately wanted to sneak onto her lips at Yang’s cheers, as she stepped onto the platform that took her down into the arena for her first round. Just moments before the woman had been teasing her about whether or not she was still confident about her chances and if she really wanted to take her insights on her opponent to the grave.

Yang had just wanted a reaction out of her, of course, but Blake had kind of enjoyed letting her ramble on and on trying and failing and becoming more and more ridiculous as Blake remained stoic.

But as she moved into the arena she looked back over her shoulder and let a small smile spread as she met Yang’s eyes. The answering grin was blinding.

Excitement buzzing under her skin, Blake stepped onto the sand of the arena and faced her opponent. Yatsuhashi. The Giant.

She glanced up at the stands once more, Yang and her bright blonde hair easy to make out, even from down here. Then she focused all her attention on the upcoming fight and activated a row of runes that ran down her right arm.

Blake let Yatsuhashi make the first move, keeping her shadow clone illusion up and watching his wall of stone smash right through it. He did rely on force, then. She could work with that.

She let him crash through illusion after illusion until she could sense his frustration. At his next forceful attack she activated a few more runes and let her shadow clone morph into tangible shadow that swept over the rock, sped through the air and hit her opponent straight in the chest. He stumbled backwards just a step and when he looked up at her, his eyes dark and his body tense, she knew the battle had truly begun.

His attacks became smaller but more frequent and better aimed and Blake struggled to keep deflecting them with her clones while also trying to launch her own attacks.

Just when she managed to hit him with a wall of shadow, she felt a sting of pain race down her shoulder as one of Yatsuhashi’s boulders hit her hard.

But she didn’t let it slow her down. She had learned by now to never show weakness or pain. And she used his moment of satisfaction to surprise him by summoning a rock right behind him and slamming it into the back of his head.

That he clearly hadn’t expected. He growled at her and sent a dozen rocks flying her way but she easily deflected them with another shadow wall.

They continued trading blows and Blake took a few more hits that were starting to wear her down. She had landed many more hits on Yatsuhashi than he had managed to hit her, but he was sturdy and not easy to take down. Blake had known this wasn’t going to be an easy fight and she would never let a few injured joints slow her down.

She continued to use her speed and her illusions to evade attack and surprise her opponent, watching him get slower and slower. She was wearing him down too.

She summoned a shadow on his left and let it speed toward him. As he moved to defend himself, he was apparently too tired at this point to notice that vibration at his feet. A wall of stone shot up right under his head, hitting him in the chin and snapping his head back.

He didn’t get back up.

Blake won. She made it through the first round. The first step to proving that she belonged here. That she didn’t need anyone else. That she was strong on her own. The hope of that truth expanded in her chest and overrode any pain she might have felt.

As Blake moved to the back of the balcony towards the elevated platform, where the other contestants that had already progressed to the second round were gathered, she leaned close to Yang.

“Try to keep up.”

Yang barely shifted her body to the side as a gust of wind shot past her. She hoped it looked as cool as it felt.

As she had thought, the blue-haired guy – Neptune – didn’t appear to be much of a threat. His attacks – exclusively air magic so far – had been easy to doge and admittedly Yang was playing with him a little bit.

Her attacks had had more flare than force and she relished in dodging his attacks without even putting up a defence. Yes, she was showing off. Not for anyone in particular, just in general. To put on a show for the audience. That’s what they came for, after all, and Yang was intent on delivering.

She could feel this little dance they were doing becoming monotonous though, so she lit up three of her runes on her right arm at once to summon a wall of fire and with as much speed and force as she could slam it into her opponent.

To her surprise, though, Neptune dispelled her fire with another massive gust of air and remained unscathed.

Yang’s eyebrows rose of their own accord. Huh. Apparently there was a little more to this guy than it seemed, after all. She could almost hear Blake’s voice talking about her overconfidence in her ear and she rolled her eyes at it.

This wasn’t a problem for Yang. This just meant she was going to have more fun with this than she had expected. She began her assault in seriousness.

She sent attack after attack at him, but no matter how big or how fast she created her fire, he dispelled it before it could singe even a single hair. 

She had to change up her tactic. Fire was her signature magic and what she was best at, but she had made it a point to never rely on it solely. Relying on only one type of magic was arrogant and though Yang liked to put up a facade of arrogance she was anything but. 

So she decided to change it up and activated a rune on her right thigh and with a quick stomp of her foot summoned a block of stone to shoot up right beneath Neptune. Once again, he used a gust of air to avoid the attack. When she sent rocks flying at him from all directions he deflected them.

Changing things up again, then. A bolt of lightning, deflected. Vines, evaded. A gust of air, predictable deflected.

Yang had never been adept at illusion magic and water also wasn’t her speciality, but she had tried almost everything else she could do. Neptune was starting to look tired, but Yang didn’t really want to win by wearing her opponent down. She wanted it to be spectacular.  

She looked around but there was no water anywhere near them and summoning it was a bitch. 

Keeping her eyes on her opponent, ready to avoid any incoming attacks, Yang activated her water summoning rune and focused on the element – the opposite to her specialty.

Slowly a sphere of water began to form between her hands and as she kept her eyes on Neptune she suddenly saw a spark of fear in his eyes. Interesting.

Bolstered by this discovery, Yang expanded the water into a wave that she let crash into her opponent.

And Neptune was bowled over by it with a screech, not even trying to defend himself. He tried to get back up, but Yang summoned more water and he froze in fear.

Yang couldn’t suppress her smirk as she let it loose on him.

And then she fired off a few more balls of flame, just to be safe – and for flare (and the audience).

She stayed in position, ready to launch more attacks, but the countdown passed and Neptune didn’t get back up.

The audience erupted into cheers and Yang spread her arms drinking it in.

Up on the balcony she stood next to Blake, leaned over slightly.

“So, did that meet your expectations?”

Blake hummed. “Jury’s still out.”

But Yang could finally (finally!) see a tiny smile on her lips.

“So, you like squid?” Yang stared in open horror and disgust, as Blake enjoyed her bowl of rice and the aforementioned fish.

Once again, Blake had a hard time, holding back a smile. What was it about this girl?

She schooled her face and shrugged. “I love it. This one’s not the best I’ve had. The squid back home was leagues better. But it’s still good.”

Yang was quiet for a moment and Blake prayed that she hadn’t caught onto what Blake feared she had. Something that had slipped out. But, of course she had.

“Back home as in…?”

Blake stared into her bowl for a moment. She hadn’t meant to prompt a personal question and blamed the ale for loosening her tongue (nevermind that she’d barely had three sips).

She looked back up at Yang and took a breath. “Menagerie. I’m from Menagerie.”

“Oh cool! I’ve never been but I heard it’s beautiful!”

Blake can’t help a tiny, fond smile to form on her lips at the memories. “It is.”

Yang seemed to have entirely forgotten about her own food at this point. “ So is that where you’re gonna go after the tournament? Back to Menagerie?”

Blake’s hesitant smile faded in an instant, her voice suddenly small. “Probably not, no.”

“Oh.”

Blake looked up at Yang, who seemed suddenly hesitant and guilty, not sure what caused Blake’s mood shift. Blake let them sit in the uncomfortable silence for a moment. For some reason she wasn’t freaked out at having told Yang this. And even crazier, she kind of wanted to tell her more.

“It’s just that I haven’t really talked to my parents in years so it’s… complicated.”

“Ah” Yang’s eyes softened into something akin to sympathy, but not quite. It was more… understanding. “I get that.”

And for some reason, Blake believed her.

For a few seconds they just looked at each other until Blake became aware of the fact and cleared her throat looking for something to change the topic to. Her eyes landed on Yang’s arms as they had done often this evening, since Yang was sleeveless, her strong arms with all her intricate carvings on display.

Blake nods to them.

“That’s quite the collection of carvings, by the way. They’re beautiful”

Yang looked down at her own arms and Blake could have sworn she flexed them, just a bit.

“Thanks.” 

Blake had to hold back another smile as she watched a blush creep onto Yang’s cheeks.

“Did you get them all done by the same carver? The style is super consistent.”

At the White Fang the carvers had always changed, so it had often been difficult to keep hers consistent. And besides, the point had never been aesthetics to them.

“I did most of them myself actually.” Yang shrugged, casually. As if that’s something to just casually drop into a conversation.

Blake stared at her.

“You’re a carver?” 

Yang blinked at her, apparently just realising what she’d said. This probably wasn’t something she usually offered people she had just met. Blake watched her throat bod in a swallow.

“Um… yeah. I am. Never could have afforded all these otherwise.”

Blake studied her. Watched a slight blush creep up her neck. “But you’re also a fighter.”

Yang shrugged, squirming under Blake’s gaze, but Blake was too fascinated, too eager to know more. Yang only became more intriguing with every minute she spent with the girl.

“Where we grew up, Patch, doesn’t have thaumaturges. Or any sort of law enforcement. Has a lot of Grimm though. And Ruby and I… we were always kinda on our own. I mean, not really. For a time we still had our Dad, but he was… well. I just wanted to be able to protect my sister.”

Blake had never seen her eyes that soft, her face that serious. She let the silence sit for a moment and then went to tell Yang that she thought that was very admirable. But as soon as she opened her mouth, Yang cut in, the words seeming to tumble out of her.

“Luckily, it turns out that I’m a damn good fighter, on top of a good carver. A double threat, you might say. That’s why I’m gonna win the tournament.” She leaned back, draping her arm over that back of her chair, cocky grin in place again.

But Blake had seen what was beneath it now, and she had to admit, she liked it. Maybe a little too much. Maybe she should distance herself. She had thought the friendly rivalry with the charming blonde would simply make her time at the tournament a bit more entertaining, could distract her from why she was here, what she had left behind.

But now, looking at Yang’s grin that was starting to soften once more, she could feel a familiar stirring in her gut, that she hadn’t felt in years, that she refused to call butterflies. It couldn’t be. That was not what this was supposed to be and she needed to get it back on track. Get them back to the distracting but harmless teasing.

Just as she was brainstorming what she could say to bait Yang into their old pattern, the door to the pub flew open andYang’s sister, Ruby, rushed in with an excited and altogether too loud “I’m heeere!”

She plopped herself down next to her sister and squeezed her in a quick hug. “Sorry I’m late. I was doing some investigating.”

Yang frowned at her. “Inves–”

“What are you guys talking about.” Ruby leaned forward, her elbows on the table, resting her head on her hands and flitting her eyes between Blake and Yang.

Yang shook off her confusion at Ruby’s statement much quicker than Blake did, probably used to Ruby’s rambling without questioning it too much. Her grin slid back into place.

“Oh, you know, just talking about how I’m gonna win the tournament.”

Blake had to hold back a scoff and just wanted to interject when Ruby nodded vigorously, her eyes wide and shining. “She really is. She’s the best.”

And, unlike Yang’s cockiness, Ruby’s confidence in her sister seemed to be completely genuine. Blake swallows her retort.

“Maybe she is.”

Ruby nodded once more with enthusiasm. “She is!”

Then she took a deep breath and blew it back out with force. Blake watched her with a mixture of amusement and concern and then blinked at the rapid fire word spewing out of Ruby’s mouth.

“Anyway, what I actually wanted to talk to you guys about – well, technically I wanted to talk to Yang, but you’re here too and Yang likes you” (Blake forced herself to ignore that part) “and you’re cool – I’ll just tell you both. You know how I said I was investigating, well I really was, I think I have a gift for it, actually. Anyway, you know how I’m kinda friends with Weiss Schnee now–”

“I have and, actually, I wanted to talk to you–” Yang tried to interject, but Ruby just kept going.

“ – and so I’ve gotten a bit of a look into the behind the scenes of this whole thing. I mean they’re still being super secretive but I can be pretty sneaky and Weiss has some insights too. So anyway, what I have discovered…” She paused for dramatic effect here. “There’s a conspiracy!”

She spread her arms to emphasise her point, as if having just presented them with a major revelation.

Blake just blinked at her, not sure how to react. Then she glanced at Yang, who seemed equally at a loss, opening and closing her mouth repeatedly, searching for something to say until she finally settled on: “A conspiracy?”

Still practically vibrating with excitement, Ruby nodded almost aggressively. “Yes! There’s definitely something going on!”

Blake still wasn’t sure how to handle the situation, but when she saw Yang giving her sister an amused smile, she let herself relax as well.

“And what does that mean?” Yang questioned.

At that Ruby frowned slightly, thinking. “I haven’t quite figured that part out yet…”

Yang’s smile widened.

“But!” Ruby reiterated, lifting her finger for emphasis. “There is definitely something fishy going on.”

Yang gave a laugh. “Rubes, this thing is run by politicians and thaumaturges. There’s gotta be at least five fishy things going on. But I don’t think we need to worry about any of them.”

Blake had to suppress a smile when Ruby tried to look serious, shaking her head. “We can’t know that, Yang. I’m gonna keep investigating. To be sure.”

“Fine. Keep me updated.” Yang reached out to ruffle Ruby’s hair, but she ducked out of Yang’s reach just in time.

Yang laughed but it faded quickly and she grew more serious. She put a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “But, Ruby, please be careful. I know you’re having fun, but these are really powerful people. Please don’t piss any of them off, we really don’t need them on our bad side. Okay?”

Blake was amazed as Ruby’s jittery energy actually seemed to calm for a moment as she met Yang’s eyes. “I’m being careful, I promise.”

A soft smile spread on Yang’s lips and Blake felt her heart clench at the sight. “Good. Cause I’ll need my biggest cheerleader to keep cheering me on if I’m gonna win this thing.”

Ruby grinned up at her sister. “Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. I can cheer you on in my sleep.”

“I don’t know, Rubes, that seems kinda hard.”

“Haven’t you heard? I’m a professional cheerleader.”

Blake watched the sisters bicker quietly, something in her chest squeezing tighter and tighter.

Yang: Round Two: Race. Yang vs. Neon vs. other. Neon annoys her, looking at Blake calms her down.

Yang casually stretched out her limbs and studied the route ahead of her. Round Two of the tournament was a race with plenty of magical traps and obstacles in which the three contestants were allowed to sabotage each other any way they wanted (only killing was discouraged). Yang had just witnessed Blake leaving her two opponents in the dust, fooling them with one of her shadow tricks, and now Yang had to, once again, try to keep up.

Speaking of, Yang glanced up at the balcony where she could make out Blake among the other remaining competitors. Yang still couldn’t believe how close she already felt to the girl after knowing her for only a few days. The other night her well kept carver secret had just kind of slipped out and then she had even started talking about her childhood, about Patch. When Blake had admitted that she hadn’t talked to her parents in years, she had even briefly considered telling her about Raven. And she had the feeling that Blake had also been surprised about how much she’d shared. She didn’t seem like the type to open up easily.

And yet, she had opened up to Yang, even if only a little. That had to mean something. Yang’s stomach fluttered pleasantly at the thought.

“Be careful not to fall over, Top-Heavy.”

She was ripped out of her thoughts by a high pitched voice on her right. Scowling, Yang looked over to one of her opponents, Neon, who honoured her name with her bright orange and blue hair and bright, colourful clothing.

She gave Yang a bright grin. “I’m just kidding! No need to look so offended!”

Yang didn’t stop looking offended, but focused her eyes forward again.

“I really expected you to be more chatty. Didn’t peg you for one who backs down from a little trash talk.”

Apparently she couldn't take a hint.

Yang really didn’t want to let this girl bait her into and argument, but she was starting to truly get on Yang’s nerves.

Luckily she was saved by the countdown that started the race. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down and stay focused. She threw one last glance up at Blake. She could not lose this race. For more reasons that not embarrassing herself in front of Blake, obviously, but that’s what she decided to focus on. Her fire runes were already activated, glowing on her skin.

Just as the last gong rang Neone shouted: “See you on the other side!”

And they were off. 

Yang sped forward, using her flames to propel herself further, but to her great frustration… Neon was faster than her.

Time for sabotage.

Yang focused her flames forward for a moment and hit the girl in the back of her legs. Neon shrieked in surprise and summoned air to defend herself. It slowed her down and Yang caught up with her.

“Oooh” Neon cooed beside her “You are fiery! I knew it!”

With another large gust of air, however, she quickly got ahead of Yang again.

“Just a bit slow, apparently!” she called over her shoulder.

Yang could feel her skin heat up, flames growing around her in her anger. With a yell she hurled a fireball at Neon’s back but she expected it and dodged easily. The only one Yang had slowed down this time, was herself.

She looked to her side, now being side by side with their third opponent, a blonde guy who looked at her a little panicked and didn’t make any attempt to attack her. She focused her attention back on Neon who was gaining more and more ground and let out an obnoxious cackle that only made Yang’s blood boil more.

Yang hurled another fireball forward and this one, Neon didn’t even have to dodge. Yang missed. She cursed quietly.

“What’s wrong, blondie.” she barely heard Neon call over the blood rushing in her ears. “Lost your cool?”

Yang was burning with anger now. And it was slowing her down. She knew it was. She needed to focus. 

She looked up at the balcony again and picked Blake out easily. From down in the arena she couldn't really make out Blake’s face, but she could picture it easily, calm and composed as ever but also – the tiniest smirk on her lips, the hint of a sparkle in her eyes.

Yang felt calm wash over her. Neon had no power over her. Yang had the power.

Neon was faster than her, so Yang had to be smarter.

So Yang focused on her own race, on being fast, always staying behind Neon, but occasionally throwing another well placed flame at her to not get too far behind. She circumvented the obstacles and avoided the traps and tried to not feel too much satisfaction when Neon stepped onto a disappearing stone and tripped up entirely without Yang’s help.

Finally they were coming up to the final stretch and Yang could swear that she could hear her name being cheered in Blake’s voice and everything inside her warmed once more, not from anger this time.

She pushed herself forward, actually closing in on Neon and only a few metres before the finish line Yang pushed out her hands, runes glowing, summoning a wall of fire to rise up right in front of Neon, who shrieked and stumbled to a halt as Yang speed past her and across the finish line.

As Yang got closer to the balcony she could see Blake was no longer cheering, but she was looking at Yang and she was wearing an actual real genuine smile.

“I really don’t want to get into trouble after I’ve already made it through the first two rounds.”

To Blake’s horror, Yang laughed at that, loudly. And Blake rushing to her, covering her mouth with her hand and shushing her, didn’t stop her laughing, either.

Yang took Blake’s hand and removed it from her mouth. “Relax , Blake. It’s late. And super empty. There’s no one who could get us into trouble.” Then she flashed a cheeky grin. “Besides, I didn’t take you as someone who’s scared of a little risk.”

Blake rolled her eyes. “I’m not scared. But I’m also not an idiot. So would you at least be quiet while we sneak into places we aren’t supposed to be.”

Yang just kept grinning at her, which did things to Blake’s insides that she did her best to ignore. 

“Yes, ma’am!” That also did things to Blake’s insides.

So she rolled her eyes and turned away to stride further down the corridor, only to freeze when she realised that Yang was still holding her hand.

Yang seemed to realise at the same time, as she cleared her throat and pulled her hand away. Blake didn’t look back at her, just kept walking, fighting the blush rising into her cheeks.

As they approached their goal: The King’s balcony, the highest balcony from which the King and the other organizers of the tournament controlled and watched the whole thing, Blake suddenly froze, her ears twitching.

Yang walked right into her. “Umm, Blake…?”

But Blake quieted her with a firm hand on her arms.

So much for super empty.

“There’s people in there. I hear voices.”

She turned back to Yang and saw her frowning, probably straining to hear.

“Really? This late?” Then she looked down at Blake, a smile tugging at her lips. “Are you messing with me? You’re messing with me, right?” Trying to freak me out?”

She huffed a laugh and slipped past Blake towards the door, reached for the handle and froze.

“You’re right. There’s people inside.”

“I told you!” Blake’s voice was a low hiss.

Yang held up her arms in defence. “Sorry. I honestly thought you were messing with–”

“Shh!” Blake’s ears twitched again, she felt herself go still as she realised where the muffled voices were moving. “They’re coming this way!”

Yang froze, then looked up at Blake with wide eyes. “Oh my God, you’re right.”

Giddy, nervous energy practically radiated off of her, but Yang didn’t move. Blake took one step toward her, took her hand and dragged her down the corridor. “Let’s go !”

That finally kicked Yang’s body into motion and the two snuck back the way they had come as quietly as possible. Well, Blake tried to be as quiet as possible. Yang seemed to have no such aspirations, giggling as Blake dragged her along.

And despite her heart racing, Blake had to admit to herself that she was kind of giddy too, that this was fun, sneaking around with Yang.

Still giddy and full of nervous energy the two stumbled into Yang’s room, only to freeze when they realised it wasn’t empty.

Ruby sat on Yang’s bed. And on the chair in front of the desk, sitting primly, straight back, hands folded in her lap was – Weiss Schnee.

Blake was immediately on guard. If there was anyone here she distrusted, it was the Schnees. She sensed Yang tensing up right beside her.

“Ruby? What is going on?”

Ruby jumped up with as much energy as ever. “Right! Well. I told you we were going to do more investigating. And–”

“Right.” Yang interrupted. “We.”

Ruby nodded, unperturbed. “Yes. Without Weiss I wouldn’t have by far as much access.”

“Sure.” Yang seemed just as unconvinced by this team up as Blake felt.

“So we’ve been trying to find out more about this conspiracy.”

“Ruby.” Yang interrupted once more. “Can I talk to you alone for a minute?”

“Ya-ang.” Ruby was clearly starting to be impatient. She moved closer to Yang, her eyes big and pleading. “Don’t worry. Weiss is cool, I promise. She’s my friend.”

Blake could tell Yang had trouble withstanding Ruby’s puppy eyes and then watched crumble and sigh. “Well, as long as she’s your friend.” Then she turned to Weiss. “So, you also believe in the conspiracy, princess?”

Weiss’ nose wrinkled briefly, but Yangs wasn’t sure whether that was at the question or the nickname. She suspected both.

But then Weiss straightened even further, if that was even possible, and looked straight at Yang. “I believe there is something going on at this tournament that shouldn’t be.”

“And what do you figure that is?” Yang questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.

At this Weiss deflated slightly. “I… don’t know exactly.”

Yang scoffed a laugh and threw up her hands, but Weiss wasn’t finished.

“What I do know is that my father has been acting very suspicious and secretive about the whole thing for weeks. And if he is involved, that can’t mean anything good.”

Blake felt her eyebrows raise at that statement. That was not something she would have ever expected to hear from a Schnee, much less the heiress to the kingdom.

Yang seemed to also have been surprised by the statement. “Oh… Uhm… Wow. Okay.”

Weiss rolled her eyes at her, which looked weirdly proper on her face. “Yes. I’m aware of who my father is. I know he’s a dick. I’ve been experiencing it first hand for years.”

That seemed to have finally made Yang completely speechless. Blake looked over to find her staring at the heiress, her mouth hanging open. It was a strangely adorable sight.

Her eyes snapped back to Weiss, when she heard her take a deep breath. “In any case, I know you all have no reason to trust me–”

“I trust you!” Ruby piped in and Weiss threw her the tiniest smile, another thing Blake had never expected to see  on a Schnee.

“I’m just trying to warn someone . I would warn someone else, someone with more influence, but well, I–” She looked over at Ruby again. “We don’t know who else is involved.”

Ruby nodded in agreement. “Any of the higher ups could be involved, so we gotta be careful. We are sure, though, that the tournament is being manipulated, sabotaged.”

“To what end, though?” All eyes turned to Blake as she piped in for the first time in this conversation and she had to fight not to shrink back or flee the room.

Yang saved her from her discomfort. “Yeah? Why would your father wanna sabotage the tournament? It’s not like you’re competing and he might wanna ensure the family’s win or something. So what’s his stake in this?”

Ruby and Weiss exchanged looks and an uncomfortable silence spread over the group.

Eventually Ruby looked up at Blake and Yang and shrugged. “We… don’t know.”

Yang gave another exasperated sigh and Blake could feel her temper rising beside her. She put a hand on Yang’s arm and Yang’s eyes flicked over to her as she immediately calmed down.

“How about this, then? We don’t know what is going on. We don’t even know if anything is going on at all.” Ruby opened her mouth to protest, but Blake cut her off. “But, we’ll just all keep our eyes and ears open, keep our guards up during the coming tournament proceedings.”

“I think that sounds good. No reason to go to extremes just yet.”

Ruby and Weiss exchanged another look, before they reluctantly agreed as well.

Yang was leaning over the bannister, screaming her lungs out. It wasn’t always easy to see what was going on in the arena, but the landscape had just shifted again, trees disappearing into the ground to reveal Blake and one of her opponents locked in a tense battle.

Blake was elegant as ever, moving like water, evading attacks and smoothly shooting off her own dark purplish shadows. It was honestly one of the coolest types of magic Yang had ever seen. She had never even thought to use magic like that and often wondered how Blake had thought of it and made it her signature.

Maybe Yang could ask her about it sometime. They had been sharing more. Blake seemed more comfortable around Yang. She might even tell Yang.

The thought made Yang giddy, but she was quickly ripped out of her thoughts and winced, when a bolt of fire hit Blake’s side and she stumbled back. 

“You got this Blake!”

Yang was sure Blake couldn’t make out her voice among the crowd, and perhaps she imagined Blake standing taller after her cheer, but either way Blake followed it up with a vicious attack, hitting her opponent from both sides and knocking them out swiftly.

The arena shifted again, and Blake disappeared into the emerging rock face, in search of her other opponent, who hadn’t shown his face since the start of the fight, probably waiting for the other two to fight it out first. Well, his number was up now.

Yang scanned the arena for any sign of him or Blake, and she didn't have to wait for too long before a wave of water rose up, transformed into spikes of ice and shot forward, only to hit a wall of shadow.

Both Blake and her opponent emerged and began their assaults. It didn’t take long for Yang to realise that the two were pretty evenly matched. Trading blows, getting in hits, and evading attacks in equal measure.

And then the arena shifted again and Yang knew Blake was going to win.

Large trees rose up everywhere and Blake wasted no time jumping up and disappearing in them, her opponent seemingly had no such skills. He prepared to defend, pulling up a shield.

But only seconds later attacks hit him from seemingly all sides. He twisted and turned to try and make out where Blake was, but she moved too quickly and kept attacking until his shield broke and he was eventually knocked out.

The arena shifted back into sand floors and revealed Blake as the only one left standing, the victor.

This time, when Yang screamed her throat roar, she saw Blake looking straight at her, a confident smirk on her face. And Yang knew exactly what she was thinking.

Yang would once again have to try and keep up.

The thought buzzed through her like lightning. This little challenge she and Blake had going on since the beginning had pushed Yang like nothing else these past days. She wouldn’t say, that without it she might not have made it this far, but, well… maybe not.

“And then, I just saw my opportunity and bam! Out like a light.” Yang finished her story with a bright grin, punching the air in front of her, and Blake couldn’t help but smile fondly at her antics. Or maybe she just didn’t want to stop herself smiling anymore.

There were once again sneaking around places they shouldn’t be, but for some reason Blake was much less anxious this time around. It was like Yang’s presence simply eased her worries, allowed her to relax, enjoy.

So, for once, she would let herself.

Technically, they were on a mission. Investigating for Weiss and Ruby. But neither of them took it all that seriously.

Still, Blake was following Yang down another dimly lit corridor in the middle of the night. Yang had taken hold of her hand a while ago and Blake didn’t even consider dropping it, letting herself enjoy the contact.

A tiny part of her was still screaming at her that she should run from these feelings, That they were dangerous. That she’d been down this path before and it had brought her nothing but pain.

But that part of her grew more and more quiet as time went by. As Blake witnessed Yang’s kindness, Yang’s goofiness. The way Yang put no expectations on her and made her feel warm, and strong, and worthy.

This was different than before and Yang had proved it every day they’d known each other.

Suddenly, Blake ran straight into Yang, not having realised Yang had stopped, lost in her thoughts.

Yang spun around to her, eyes wide. “Someone’s coming.”

Blake blinked at her and then focused on her hearing. Indeed, there were footsteps coming their way. How had she not noticed them?

“How did you not hear them before me?” Yang teased her as Blake quickly pulled her back the way they’d come. Blake only rolled her eyes, even though she knew Yang couldn’t see her face.

They hurried along the corridor, but it was long and the footsteps were coming closer. Blake tried every door they passed. All of them were locked.

As she could sense the voices about to round the corner behind them, she heard Yang giggle behind her.

“Are you enjoying this?” Blake whispered.

Yang giggled again. “Honestly? Kind of.”

Blake had to roll her eyes again.

Just as they’re time was up, they came across a dark alcove that, in this dim lighting, might just do. Well, it had to do. 

Blake slipped into it and dragged Yang after her, backing into it as far as she could and pulling Yang close.

Then she held her breath as the footsteps got closer. Soon a royal guard and a thaumaturge passed them, probably on patrol. They must not be taking their job particularly seriously though, neither of them sparing the alcove even a glance.

Only when she could no longer hear the steps did Blake let herself relax and —

Realised how close she and Yang were standing, practically pressed chest to chest. She could feel the warmth from Yang’s body everywhere. She was still holding Yang’s hand.

She swallowed hard and then looked up at Yang.

Yang was already looking back at her, her eyes tracing Blake’s face, pausing on her lips, before wandering back up to meet Blake’s eyes.

Blake held her gaze. She could feel her breathing become heavier, her heart beating faster.

She leaned in until their noses brushed.

She felt the shuddering breath Yang took.

And then Yang’s lips were on hers.

Blake’s hands shifted to Yang’s neck, her thumbs stroking Yang’s jaw, as they deepened the kiss.

She felt Yang’s arms circle her waist and draw her even closer and Blake melted into her, lost herself in her arms, her kiss, her smell.

The tiny moan that left Yang’s mouth only spurred Blake on and she stepped closer, inadvertently pushing Yang backwards out into the corridor.

They broke apart, both breathing heavily.

A slow grin spread on Yang’s face and Blake couldn’t resist kissing it again and they lost themselves in each other once more.

Blake was just starting to kiss down Yang’s neck when a door slamming closed made her pause and look up at Yang, before taking in their surroundings.

Yang cleared her throat, drawing Blakes eyes once more. Yang’s eyes were dark and Blake wanted to kiss her again, wanted to make her moan again, and more.

“We should probably…” Yang nodded her head down the corridor, not taking her eyes off of Blake.

Blake let out a laugh. “We probably should.”