Chapter 17: Sisters

Upon the ashen field, the flowers began to sing…

Ruby woke with a start, the strange old melody ringing in her ears. It took a moment to realize where she was, and to recognize the dream.

She'd had it since she was little. Once or twice a month, sometimes more in times of stress. It was short, and she could never recall the words to the song, but she remembered the flowers and the light. Only… it was familiar this time, in a way it had never been before.

She blinked herself awake, stretching the kinks out of her spine. She was in bed, and very warm, with strong arms wrapped tight around her waist.

But Weiss wasn't here. And, as she carefully turned her head, she realized that Blake wasn't here either. It was just her and Yang, who had her trapped in one of her big unbreakable hugs. Ruby tried to wriggle her way to freedom, but Yang just mumbled something in her sleep and squeezed tighter.

"Yang!" Ruby whispered. Then, realizing that they were alone in the room and that the only person she was in danger of waking was the one she wanted to wake, repeated herself at full volume. "Yang!"

Yang jerked. Her eyes flew open and then slammed shut again as she let out a groan. "What? Oh my god Rubes, what time is it?"

"I dunno, but Weiss and Blake are gone!" Ruby tried to escape again, but Yang's hold was unbreakable as always.

"So? They're fine, Ruby. If they're both gone, then they're probably together." Yang sighed, squinting at Ruby through the dark. "It's okay, sis. They're safe."

"Y-you don't know that!" Ruby whimpered, her eyes suddenly burning. "They could be, I dunno, someone could have snuck in here and grabbed them while we were—"

"Nobody can sneak up on Blake, and she'd have woken us up instantly if there was anything dangerous going on." Yang tucked Ruby's head under her chin. "We can text them if you want, but first you gotta breathe, okay? You're hyperventilating. C'mon, breathe in…"

Ruby swallowed, and carefully breathed in.

"…Out…"

The air fled her lungs, and the tension went with it. Yang repeated the exercise a few more times, hugging her tighter until the heat and pressure drove the rest of the panic away. "You're safe. Everything is fine," Yang promised. "Did you have a nightmare?"

Ruby shook her head. "Just the flowers and singing dream again. But, it was louder this time."

Yang stared at her seriously, even while fighting to keep her eyelids from drooping. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry I woke you up."

"Hi, sorry I woke you up. I'm Yang."

A little giggle, and Ruby snuggled closer to her sister. "You suck."

Yang gently kissed Ruby's forehead. "Shh, I rule."

"…Thank you."

"Anytime."

Ruby felt herself drifting off, but she caught herself at the last moment, looking up at Yang's goofy nose. "Hey, sis?"

"Mm?"

"I'm sorry I scared you. Before."

Yang took a deep breath, and forced her eyes open again.

Ruby struggled with the words as she continued. "I saw that Weiss was in danger, and I just knew what to do. And I really think I saved her life, but I… I don't know what I did, or how." She shuddered. "I'm glad I did it. I'm so happy Weiss is okay, but… I'm also really scared."

"I know, Rubes. It's okay to be scared. I'm scared too." Yang's arms tightened around Ruby's body, strong and warm and unyielding. "When you jumped in front of Weiss, I thought I was gonna lose my girlfriend and my baby sister, but I didn't. Whatever's going on with you, it's protecting you. And it's protecting the people you love." She chuckled. "And given that you can't stop plunging into danger for five friggin' seconds, that's honestly a bit of a relief."

"Hey! I'm not that bad," Ruby mumbled, knowing she was entirely that bad. She looked out the window at the stars, and felt a chill she couldn't explain. She huddled closer to her sister, tucking herself into Yang's arms.

"Um… Yang?"

"Yeah, Rubes?"

"I love you."

"Love you too, sis."

They drifted off after that, only woken briefly by their girlfriends' return. The sisters didn't ask Weiss and Blake where they'd been, merely accepting them back into bed with open arms. Soon Ruby was drifting back to sleep.

And as her eyes closed, if anyone saw a flicker of light beneath the lids they surely assumed it was a trick of the moonlight.

Though neither of them would remember it in the morning, Ruby and Yang shared the same dream that night.

They were children again, playing wildly under a silver sky. They rolled and laughed and wrestled, tumbling through the ashen flowers. And as they did, those flowers began to sing…

"My sweetest children, shining bright
Put far away your fears tonight
For you're the keepers of the light
Which cleanses ev'ry curse and blight

"Do not this shadowed world despise
Within your hearts our hope yet flies
Falsehood will fall and truth arise
Revealed by burning, mirrored eyes

"So have no fear, o' daughters mine
For you the heavens shall align
Let all your courage freely shine
What lived in me is also thine."

A/N:

Bit of a mini-update! This was originally gonna be part of the last chapter but I ended up cutting it to get that one out a little earlier. And then I fell behind on next chapter, so I figured I might as well bring this back to fill in the gap. I don't want to overload yinz with spooky stuff for the sake of spooky stuff though, and I promise we'll be getting a bit more lighthearted fluff in the next couple chapters.

Credit to Sgt. Chrysalis for coming up with part of the poem at the end! Didn't have anyone read through this though b/c it was short and I wanted to make sure to get it out sooner than later. ;w;

Anyway, thanks for reading!