章 1875: 106
"Gods, what a mess…" Weiss murmured softly, wrapping her arms around herself as she leaned back in her chair, sighing quietly as she stared out of the window at the moon high above. Penny and Ruby were… still gone. Missing, it seemed, on yet another midnight hunt. The past day and then some had been… okay for Ruby, but their team leader wasn't at all back up to her normal self yet. She winced a little, shaking her head ever so slightly before a gentle tugging in her hair stopped her motion.
"Yeah, it is. I'm… gods, I should have been there. I should have done something . My own sister was right there and we were stuck barely holding off that bastard Taurus," Yang muttered back, her teeth gritted and hair flaring slightly with her own emotions even while her own two hands remained soft and gentle, gently pulling the brush through Weiss' hair and removing the mild tangles that had built up over the course of the day- ceaselessly brushing out the imperfections and loose hairs until Weiss' hair became a silken, snowy, perfect curtain of shimmering white that gleamed in the low light of the dorm. "I'm… gods, I can't believe I'm getting mad at Penny for being there for Ruby, when I know they're doing better together than they would apart."
"Give it time, Yang," Blake chided gently from where she sat in Weiss' bunk, reading on her scroll with her own blanket wrapped completely around herself and shivering every now and then- she'd taken a harsh cut to the leg during their fight, and although she wasn't going to be crippled from such an attack, it had chipped the bone and she was on strict bed rest only until it healed. Weiss and Yang had been injured during their clash against Adam as well, all three of them taking scrapes and bruises and minor slashes, but Blake had bore the brunt of it when she'd only just barely dodged out of the way of a Moonslice wave that still clipped her femur and nearly took her out if not for the sudden intervention of Ruby's silver eyes. "We… we've all had a pretty bad few days. I'm…"
"Stop. Both of you. This isn't the time to beat ourselves up for what happened. We did what we could, we did everything as planned, and though things went wrong, we still made it out with our primary objective and got the information to Professor Ozpin with no more than some comparatively minor injuries," Weiss interjected, crossing her arms as the mood in the room started to dip- her Aura flaring out and suffocating the mild flames of Yang's aura as she chilled the room with her presence. "Yes, we were stuck fighting Adam Taurus while our friends had to handle Ruby. Yes, Ruby has been a wreck for the past few days and has largely been letting Penny take the lead and drag her into the forest to hunt grimm. But do you really think we should be kicking ourselves for what was, other than a small hiccup at the end, a mission that still managed to execute every single one of its objectives? We infiltrated without detection, we ruined their recruitment of new soldiers, we destroyed a significant military advantage of theirs, we figured out where they were hiding and what they were planning, and we managed to… mostly … fight off their benefactors. We did fine. So we have to try and focus on the good things. We're alive. We're okay. We did what we went there for and we're all safe now. All we can do is… try to heal from that."
She didn't move for a moment, continuing to stare out of the window even as Yang's hands fell limply from her hair, the brush clattering to the floor as the blonde slumped in her seat.
Then-
"I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't beat myself up but it just feels like it's not enough. Like it's never enough," Yang whispered quietly, leaning forward and resting her forehead against the back of Weiss' neck. She sniffled quietly, hands knitted together as she shook almost silently- tears refusing to fall from her eyes as her Aura turned them to steam drifting upwards. "I was supposed to protect her, dammit. I was supposed to make sure she never got hurt again, and every single time I've failed her . Ruby is so, so strong but… I'm supposed to keep her safe . Because of me… she's almost died twice. Because of me, she's been mind controlled and isolated from her peers, she's barely capable of handling other people… I just… am I wrong to keep trying to protect her if this is all I can do? Cinder was the one to help keep her contained during that fight. I just…"
"You helped keep us alive," Blake answered, slipping out of bed with her blanket still wrapped around her shoulders, coming up to Yang from behind as she leaned over and engulfed the both of them in a warm, tight hug. "Ruby might not be here right now, but it feels like you need this. So… blankie hug. You're more than enough. Always. You try so hard, and you've done so much."
"But I-"
"Hush," Weiss grumbled, standing up and plopping herself down into Yang's lap with an annoyed puff of breath, crossing her arms as she leaned herself against the taller woman and rested her head against Yang's shoulder. "No protests. You are enough. You're Yang Xiao Long, the dragon sister. You've spent all your life taking care of Ruby, and just because she's gotten into trouble now that the stakes are rising doesn't mean that you've failed her, it just means that we need to try harder and be better- and that means we can't beat ourselves up over things that were beyond our control."
"But… wasn't it under our control, though?" Yang muttered, not wanting to dare hope that she was as good of a sister as Weiss and Blake implied when Ruby was out there, barely finding it in herself to replenish her lost mass even with Penny doing her level best to encourage her girlfriend to recover. It just… didn't feel right. To try and pat herself on the back for doing whatever little she did, when Ruby was going through the last day or so in a daze, seemingly unused to looking human for the first time in a very, very long time. "I could have stopped Ruby… could have gone to help her. We should have all gone to help Ruby first- why didn't we…?"
"Because we made the best decision we could with the tactical information we had. We needed to fight the Paladins outside of the building, and Ruby was the best choice to fight what we thought would be a normal amount of White Fang troops," Blake answered, nuzzling into the mass of curls that was Yang's hair, pressing a gentle kiss to the back of her girlfriend's neck and shaking her head. "We made mistakes, sure, but we did what we thought was best at the time. Now we know better. They won't surprise us again next time."
"I… okay… okay. I-"
"Please- if you can't trust yourself to say that you haven't failed Ruby , then believe us instead- and believe in Ruby too. She's… she's still the best of us," Weiss murmured, gently taking Yang's hand and holding it in her own- delicate fingers tipped in red standing out starkly against Yang's rough, calloused digits. She looked down, kissing Yang's knuckles and smiling ever so softly as the moon highlighted their features and cast deep shadows, the stark contrast giving everyone an almost ethereal glow. "All we can do is try our best day by day. We can't let the past hold us down, no matter how much it tears us up inside. Just give it time, Yang. You'll see."
"... Alright. I'll… try. Thanks, Weiss."
Yang sniffled quietly, her Aura still pulsing against Weiss as Blake hugged them both, the three of them huddled together for a long moment as they enjoyed each other's presences and emotions- their souls pushing and pulling against each other's in synchronous union, filling the entire dorm with the scent of mint and flame, the whisper of coal black and darkness washing over the room in slow, steady cycles in time with Blake's heartbeat like an ephemeral purr.
"I think… we should get to bed, then. It's getting late, we still have lectures in the morning, and my leg is killing me just standing here," Blake deadpanned after a moment, cutting through the silence and wincing as she hopped on her good leg to try and alleviate the pressure. "Tss- ow ow, ohh shit that's starting to hurt a lot more now oh my gods fucking-"
"Blake! Lie down already!" Weiss yelped, hopping out of Yang's lap in favor of all but manhandling Blake into bed, her delicate fencer's wrists still somehow managing to almost pick up her taller girlfriend as her Aura activated and a set of Glyphs began to form ice around the stitched shut wound- alleviating some of the pain instantly as Blake all but fell back into bed with a muted thump and shifting of covers, with Weiss piling in a moment later and clinging tight to Blake to keep the catgirl from moving. "Ugh, why didn't you say something earlier!? You've made a mess of your bandages- do you want this to reopen!?"
"Easy, Weiss. Let her at least get comfy before you start pecking her like a mother hen," Yang joked, immediately starting to feel better at the unintentional comedy happening before her, already picking up Blake's bottle of painkillers and tossing it to Blake, also moving over to the pitcher by their bed to pour her girlfriend a glass of water.
"She should have known better- ugh why didn't we do this while we were all lying down… gods… how ridiculous…" Weiss sighed, all three of them collapsing back into bed once the minor problem was fixed and Blake's leg was once again dry and more or less pain free for now. "Ugh…"
Yang chuckled. "Well… at least we're not focusing on my angst anymore, right?"
"Hmph, don't remind me. We're gonna have a long talk about our issues tomorrow, and neither of you are getting out of it!" Weiss harrumphed, crossing her arms as Blake and Yang wrapped their arms around her and sandwiching her firmly into her favorite place in the world. "Now goodnight! And don't either of you dare to get up for anything less than an emergency!"
"Alright, alright… g'night!"
"Goodnight."
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