Author's Notes:
Hey guys. I'm back at it again with the "writing the scene from Canon but adding more romance and changing the middle and the end of it to my own liking" thing. I don't know if I'm going to keep this up. I mean, it's good for practising my writing, but I fear the readers will get bored half-way reading it since they're reading what they've already watched. Oh well.
When I first saw this scene I just knew I had to somehow make a fanfiction out of it. Argh. The potential is just too great! I'm sure you'll like it as well.
Also, I'm calling it now. I'm calling it right now: Weiss and Yang are gonna be affected by the same "not magic" that effected the town... With Qrow's words that "It's like the whole town just went to sleep" and both our Ice Queen and Baby Dragon saying that they're tired... Yep. I'm calling it. If it actually happens... You guys better worship me, dammit.
Enjoy~
A BLIZZARD AND A CONVERSATION
Blake rushed inside and assisted her partner in closing the door, gritting her teeth as the frosty wind hit her face, forcing her to close her eyes. With one last grunt, they were separated from the threat of the blizzard outside.
Though that didn't mean they were safe from whatever was inside.
Blake's ears were perked up and alert, her hand tense and inches away from Gambol Shroud, ready to draw it in case something were to happen.
She surveyed the room, holding her breath for a sign of Grimm or people or anything.
A moment passed. Nothing happened. Blake released her breath.
Yang strode across the room with heavy, measured steps. She followed behind, stopping for a moment to look at a weird, dangerous-looking vehicle, commenting, "Something tells me that's not street legal."
Yang didn't even acknowledge her, much less laugh at her - admittedly dry and forced - joke.
She had to jog to catch up with the unusually-quiet blonde.
Blake's steps were lighter than her partner yet they still echoed in this eerily large, empty room. Her amber eyes trailed onto each and every box, scanning each and every one of them in hopes of spotting something that could be of use.
"What do you think happened here?"
Blake frowned, looking down in thought before up to meet her partner's blank gaze. "There's that well on the square. Maybe water contamination?" It wasn't a solid theory, but it was the only one she could come up with.
"Yeah. Maybe…"
Her worry shot up when Yang heaved a weak sigh, bringing her arm - the flesh one - to her temple, rustling her wild mane in the process. Lilac eyes disappeared behind heavy lids.
Yang… looked like she needed to rest.
Blake's ears slowly drooped down.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Yang's hand slowly lowered and her eyes opened. "Yeah, I mean-" her hand tensed in frustration "-no…" Her arm dangled on her side as the blonde looked down, deep in thought, a pain of some kind still etched on her face. "But…" Those distressed lilac eyes gazed at her own amber eyes for only a moment before they were re-glued to the floor again, her shoulders lowering in something akin to exhaustion. "I don't know. I'm just tired."
That… wasn't reassuring in the slightest.
"Yeah…"
Blake looked at anywhere but her partner, torn between suggesting that they should go back to rest and continue their search.
Her time ran out before she could make a choice at all as Yang kept on walking and searching.
Blake was rooted to the wooden-tiled floor.
She wanted to chase after her partner, maybe ask her how she was feeling, or maybe just wisely tell her it would be better if they both take a short rest.
But she didn't do that.
Maybe, once upon a time, she would've done that.
But… She didn't. She couldn't.
"Hey, I found something."
Blake looked up to find Yang far away from her, hands on her hips, smiling broadly as she looked at… something.
Blake smiled, watching her partner smile…
But frowned when she suddenly let out a huge, terrified gasp.
Blake ran to her, looking at each and every direction, hand already glued to her trusted weapon. "What is it?" she asked wildly, looking at her partner who had yet torn her eyes away from the window.
Blake tried to look at that, squinting her eyes, trying to look past all that white.
She found nothing.
"I…" Yang huffed a breath, forcing herself to calm down, her face twisting from petrified into solemness. "I was just seeing things. I'm sorry."
Blake's heart sank when her partner apologized for something that clearly wasn't her fault and struggled to meet her eyes, as if she was ashamed.
It shattered, however, when Blake caught the sight of Yang's arm trembling uncontrollably, almost painfully.
"I still get flashes from that night."
Blake's lips were parted as she saw the blonde brought up the trembling hand, squeezing it with her metal one in an effort to calm it down.
Once the trembling died down, Yang's eyes were seeing the blizzard outside. Blake had a feeling she was seeing something else, though. Something worse than the maddening storm of white.
"I don't know," Blake admitted with a shrug, her ears flattening against her skull as she looked away. "If he went back to the White Fang there would've been serious consequences." Blake forced herself to meet her partner's gaze, her insides twisting at how utterly defeated Yang looked. "But… he never really liked people telling him what to do," she continued, one eyebrow raising slightly.
Yang looked away again, pursing her lips, bringing her only real hand closer to her, almost cradling it.
"Adam's strong." It was almost painful for her to admit it; to admit that, if she were to encounter him again… she likely wouldn't survive. "But his real power comes from control."
Blake took a couple of steps, each of them slow and quiet. Just like her voice. "He used to get in my head, make me feel small." She turned to face her partner, determined, ears perking up again. "But now I see he just wanted to pull me down to his size."
Yang brought her hand - the one that wasn't flesh - up to her face, examining it. Blake didn't know what her exact thoughts were, but she knew they must be painful, judging from her face.
Swiftly, she grabbed that hand, trying not to think about how cold and rough and inhumane it felt against her skin. She smiled comfortingly at the blonde brawler. "Hey. I'm not leaving," she said with a small shake of her head. She looked down to Yang's arm, squeezing gently. "And if we ever see him again, I promise I'll be there." She looked up at her partner again, smiling earnestly for the first time in what felt like forever. "I'll protect you."
Her eyes widened when Yang's face slowly twisted into a frown.
"What?" she asked, her tone making it sound like she disapproved of her.
"What?" parroted Blake, one ear slightly more perked up than the other. Wasn't this what her partner wanted? Wasn't this the whole reason why she was mad in the first place - because Blake was unable to protect her?
Yang pulled her arm away from Blake. It hurt Blake to see her doing so but she tried not to let it show.
"No, Blake, I…" She shook her head, leaning away from Blake. "This isn't about you protecting me."
She tilted her head to the side, frowning. "Of course it is," she said matter-of-factly.
Yang gritted her teeth, her eyes darkening with a hint of red; universal sign that she was mad. "No, it's not." She ran her hand through her hair, growling, "God, I thought you understood…" Blake tried to reach out. Yang scooted away from her before turning to leave. "Ugh, forget it."
Blake caught her wrist before she could so much as take a step. "No, Yang, wait," she said quickly. Desperately. Yang didn't look over her shoulder to meet her. "Please tell me. Please… I can't stand seeing you like this."
Blake was never good at opening up and sharing her feelings and listening to others sharing their feelings… but she knew she had to try. To fix their partnership, to get back to the way they were… she'd do anything.
Yang's shoulders sagged as she drew in a deep breath. "Blake… The reason why I'm mad… It's not because of what Adam did to me." That was when she turned around. Blake's breath hitched at how devastated she looked. "This-" she raised her metal arm "-is never your fault. You blaming yourself for his actions… You leaving me…" Her voice rose and cracked and Yang blinked a couple of times, looking away, wiping something wet in her eyes with her sleeve. "That's why I'm mad."
Blake's own eyes were watering as well, though she didn't dare look away from her partner.
"I… Yang…" She looked down only to gather her thoughts. "He hurt you because of me." Yang looked back at her, her mouth opening. Blake continued before she could say otherwise. "He saw you shouting my name and he knew… If not for me, you would've…"
She couldn't even finish her sentence.
… She really was pathetic, wasn't she?
Yang's eyes squinted a little and she slowly shake her head in something akin to regret. "Blake… I honestly don't know how to convince you otherwise."
Blake could only shrug. "I can't deny the truth."
Suddenly, Yang's face hardened in determination, and just as Blake was about to question it, her voice caught in her throat and she wasn't able to utter a word…
Because her lips were crashed against Yang's.
It took her a while to fully process what was happening.
Yang's lips were gentle and patient. Blake tasted something close to sweet lemon, which was odd because lemons were far from sweet.
She didn't force herself too roughly, giving Blake the space she needed to get away in case she wanted it to stop.
She didn't.
And Yang pulled away. And they were both panting. And Blake didn't know what to say.
She forgot how to breathe again when Yang's warm hand caressed her cheek with such delicacy, as if she was touching a rare gem.
"If only you didn't blame yourself too much… You would've realized how much I'm in love with you. How much I've always been in love with you."
Blake wanted to take a step back… but she was so transfixed and too much in awe to do anything other than stand and speak. "Yang, I… You can't…"
Yang smiled crookedly. "I can't what, Blake? I can't feel this way towards you. You don't get to decide how I feel." Her other hand went up to touch Blake's cheek and Yang slowly leaned forward. Their noses were touching when she whispered, "You're not to blame, Blake." And their lips meet again. And this time, Blake closed her eyes just so she could savor it more.
This one lasted shorter than before, and when Yang pulled away once more, Blake yearned to pull her into another kiss, her ears twitching as she fought herself from doing just that.
"Well, Blake?" asked the blonde, looking at her hopefully.
Blake's ears flattened. "Well... what?"
Yang sighed before rubbing her neck, looking almost bashful. "You really gonna make me say it?" Blake kept on staring at her. Yang stared back for a couple of seconds before breaking her gaze, planting her hand in her temple, groaning again. "You're not at fault for what happened."
"Y-Yang-" Blake squeaked when a finger was roughly placed on her lips, cutting off her words. She was about to complain but, after seeing her partner's glare, thought better of it.
"Look, Blake, this isn't about you protecting me. Say it with me now: 'I don't blame myself'."
Blake stared.
It took Yang a couple of seconds to realize.
"Oh!" She removed the offending finger, but glared in a reprimanding way again. "I wanna hear you say it."
Blake rolled her eyes at the sheer childishness of it. "Yang, you-"
She was unable to finish her sentence again, but this time, it wasn't a finger that was pressed against her lips...
It was Yang's own pair of addicting lips.
It was only natural for Blake to forget anything and everything and focus on the sweet lips, humming.
And suddenly, Yang pulled herself away. And Blake was still dazed.
"C'mon. Say it."
"Say what?" she asked, mind still reeling about those soft lips.
"Say that it's not your fault."
"'Kay. It's not my fault."
"There!" Yang grinned. And Blake realised what she said. "Was that so hard?"
"I... I..."
"Let's head back." Yang snaked her arm around her shoulder, pulling her close as she began to walk away, her steps much more boisterous than before. She didn't even give Blake the chance to speak - not that Blake would know what to even say, her mind was still scrambling itself back to pieces, trying to think about anything other than Yang kissing her, and failing miserably. "And don't worry, we can hook it and flap it up to Bumblebee in the morning. Should carry everyone."
Blake blinked a couple of times, trying not to think too much about how close she was with Yang and how happy her partner was.
"Mission accomplished..."
END
Author's Notes:
It was interesting for me to write it all from Blake's POV, but I think I made the right call. Yang and, literally, everybody else (the characters of the show and us, the viewers) know there's something wrong with Blake wanting to protect Yang and nothing else. If I write it from Yang's POV, it'll just be her thinking "Oh my Grimm, Blake, this is not your fault, stop blaming yourself!" over and over again. Whereas, from Blake's POV, I get to write her slowly coming to the realisation that it really isn't her fault. It is more challenging, but at the same time, it's like watching a flower bloom.
I could've kept on writing this to them coming back to the cabin, and maybe talking about it more, but I want to stick to the canon. And, in canon, the scene ends with them still being in the warehouse/garage-place. It sort of beats the whole purpose, you know.
Also, I feel like the ending's a bit rushed. I rewrote it and edited it, but it still looks rushed... or maybe that's just me... I mean, I hope that's just me.
See you next time~