Blake is sitting at a holographic computer screen and keyboard in the giant school library.
There are a few other students in the library but it's mostly empty since it's a Saturday and the day before the big dance.
Blake's eyes are barely staying open and the dark bags under them are clearly visible. But she continues to type on the computer and search for a clue or anything that can help lead her to Torchwick or the Fang. But as she types it's clear that she is barely able to pay attention to what is on the screen due to her exhaustion.
Blake blinks, and when her eyes open again she sees a red dot on the screen. Blake blinks two more times, thinking that the dot is just from exhaustion but it doesn't go away.
The dot moves up and down across the screen and Blake follows it with her eyes. The dot then goes down off the screen and lands on the back of her right hand. Blake turns her hand so the dot is on her palm. The dot then moves down off her hand as Blake turns around and angrily looks around the library for the culprit.
However, Blake isn't able to spot anyone with a laser pointer so she turns back to her computer and continues where she left off. A slight frown remains on her face, but at least she is more awake than before now.
Not 3 seconds later, as she is typing, the red dot appears on the back of her right hand again.
Blake clenches her fist and slightly raises it in the air as she glares around at her surrounding but she still doesn't see anyone.
After a breath Blake goes back to her search.
Immediately as she puts her hand back on the keyboard the red dot reappears in the center of the screen again. But instead of moving along the y-axis it begins moving in circles and figure eights across the screen.
Blake watches it for 15 seconds before clenching her teeth and slamming her fists on the table. She furiously stands up from her seat and looks around, specifically behind her.
After she stood up she sees something at the bottom of her vision and looks down at the floor in front of her.
There on the ground she spots the damned red dot.
Blake walks towards it with her arms straight and unmoving at her sides and her steps stomping towards the dot.
When she is about to step on it the dot moves a little farther away.
Blake's amber eyes become feline like with vertical slits. Her ears press forward against her bow as she pursues the red dot.
Her steps are short and quick for some time until she is led between some shelves of books.
Blake continues to look down at the dot as she blindly follows it without looking where she is going and being led to.
The dot pauses a few steps ahead of Blake before turning left down another row of books.
Blake catches up to the dot and turns the corner. But she is shocked when she bumps into Yang who is holding a laser pointer pen in her right hand at neck level and waving with her left hand.
"He-llooooo~" Yang says in a cheerful, almost singing, way.
Blake is taken out of her pursuit mode and shakes her head as she looks at Yang with her tired and slightly wide eyes. "What are you...?"
Yang grabs Blake's right hand. "We need to talk"
Blake doesn't get to respond and yelps as Yang pulls her from the library.
Yang brings Blake to a classroom. She finally lets Blake go once they get through the door and walks down the steps to the front of the room where there is a desk and chalkboard.
Blake looks around the giant empty classroom that has a few lights on. "Since when did you have that laser pointer?"
Yang holds it slightly above her head as she gets to the bottom of the steps. "I'll tell you if you come down here"
Blake sighs and then walks down the steps. "And tell me WHY you have the laser pointer"
"Demanding today aren't we?" Yang sarcastically says as she gets up ontop of the desk and sits cross-legged on it. She holds the pen in her palm. "I've had it for about two weeks and I got it to test it on three people. You were the first" Yang smiles at Blake.
Blake folds her arms over her chest and glares angrily at Yang. "Let me guess. Me, Alabast, and Sun. Very original Yang" Blake thought that atleast Yang was different than this. It kinda hurts Blake a little.
Yang continues to smile but shakes her head. "You were 2 for 3. I did want to use this on you and Alabast, but not Sun. I'm not close enough to him for that"
Blake stops glaring for a few seconds but then goes back to it to keep face. "Then who is the third?"
Yang makes the red dot appear on her palm and moves it around slightly. "It was to mess with Ruby a bit actually. And potentially make her annoy Weiss a bit. Haven't planned that far ahead yet"
Blake closes her eyes and turns towards the back of the classroom. "Yang, if you're going to tell me to stop, you may as well save your breath" She had to change the subject. Blake hated that she was the one that was prejudicial in this case. Would she have made that same mistake if she wasn't exhausted?
Yang turns the laser pointer off and puts it away. "I don't want you to stop; I want you to slow down"
Blake begins pacing back and forth along the left side of the desk. "I DON'T have the luxury to slow down"
"It's not a luxury" Yang shakes her head once. "It's a necessity"
"The 'necessity' is stopping Torchwick" Blake stops pacing and drops her arms to her sides and balls her hands into fists.
"And we're going to. But first you have to sit down and listen to what I have to say" Yang pats the desk in front of her.
——————
Alabast has a few drinks in a bag that he just got at the on-campus store. He was originally going to meet up with Yang and Blake at the library but by the time he got close to them they started to rapidly move from the library to a classroom.
And instead of just using his semblance to appear next to them, he decided to just walk towards their new location. He had scared the girls a few too many times and they asked him to not just appear from their shadow.
So Alabast gets to the classroom and hears the girls talking inside. He hears Yang talk to Blake about a story, and he doesn't want to interrupt so he decides to just wait it out. He didn't want to eavesdrop but then he hears something that changes his mind.
——————
Yang pats the desk in front of her for Blake to come and sit on.
Blake looks towards the door defiantly, but then she relents and walks to the desk. "Fine" The Faunus girl sits on the desk and swings her legs over the desk's edge and looks to Yang.
"I haven't even told Alabast about this story yet. But I need to tell you a little bit about me and Ruby" Yang looks down at her hands as she prepares herself to tell Blake. "Ruby and I grew up in Patch, an island off the coast of Vale. Our parents were Huntsmen" Yang puts her hands on her knees and looks at the exhausted eyes of Blake. "Our dad taught at Signal, and our mom took on missions around the kingdom. Her name was Summer Rose, and she was, like... Super-Mom: Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters. And then..." Yang looks down at the desk like she is seeing something there. "…one day she left for a mission and never came back"
Blake's eyes soften as she can't imagine her mom being gone forever, even if she chose to leave her parents for the White Fang. Just because she left them it doesn't mean she doesn't miss them.
"It was tough. Ruby was really torn up, but... I think she was still too young to really get what was going on, y'know? And my dad just kind of... shut down. It wasn't long before I learned why. Summer wasn't the first love he lost; she was the second. The first... was my mom" Yang pauses after dropping this. She's only ever told Alabast this part, so it's still a bit hard to say.
Blake's eyes widen upon hearing this and her shoulders relax a bit as she gets more interested in Yang's explanation.
Yang continues on. "He wouldn't tell me everything, but I learned that the two of them had been on a team together with Summer and Qrow, and that she'd left me with him right after I was born. No one had seen her since" Yang hangs her head slightly, a small and helpless smile on her face that is full of various mixed emotions.
"Why did she leave you?" Blake softly inquires.
Yang sighs and turns towards the chalkboard. "That question... Why?"
Yang hops off the desk and walks to the chalkboard. "I didn't know an answer, but I was determined to find out. It was all I thought about. I would ask anyone I could about what they knew about her" She grabs a piece of chalk and holds it in her hand.
After a deep breath Yang takes the piece of chalk and begins writing on the board as she reminisces about her story and the reason why she said all this to Blake to begin with. "Then, one day, I found something. What I thought was a clue that could lead me to answers, or maybe even my mother"
Blake quietly listens and wonders what Yang is drawing. "I waited for Dad to leave the house, put Ruby in a wagon, and headed out. I must've walked for hours. I had cuts and bruises, I was totally exhausted, but I wasn't gonna let anything stop me. When we finally got there, I could barely stand, but I didn't care; I had made it. And then I saw them. Those burning red eyes..."
——————
Alabast slides down the wall he was leaning against. He hears Yang talk about glowing red eyes and he pictures the various Grimm. But what sticks in his vision are the eyes of the wolves that tore his flesh apart and away from his bones in his last life. The way the eyes cut through the darkness of the night. The weight of the wolves as they pressed him down into the dirt and leaves on the ground. The leader of the pack's eyes….
Alabast puts his left hand on his face, beneath his hair that covers his left side, as he goes through his last memories of his previous life. The terror he felt. The way his blood went cold. The pain that he felt… He doesn't exactly remember it. And it's indescribable. How can he describe having his flesh chewed and ripped off his bones? And the helplessness…. The way he just accepted his fate…..
Why would he ever go through that again? But he sorta did. Because as soon as he was given a second chance he watched his own mother get beaten and die…. but apparently not die…. And then he ran and ended up getting captured by humans and got sliced all over. That was bad, but having his left ear clipped over and over was probably worse.
Alabast moves his left hand to his left wolf ear. The way it's flat… at least it was a clean cut each time. And it was clipped in one cut. If each time it was cut it took multiple clips… he might have gone mad from the pain….. Or has he already?
He gets brought out of his thoughts when he hears Yang continue.
——————
"There we were" Yang continues moving the chalk across the board. "A toddler sleeping in the back of a wagon and a stupid girl too exhausted to even cry for help. We might as well have been served on a silver platter" Yang harshly says.
Her tone suddenly softening. "But, as luck would have it, our uncle showed up just in time"
Yang lowers her arm to her side as her shoulders droop down and her head lowers. "My stubbornness should've gotten us killed that night"
"Yang... I'm sorry that happened to you, and I understand what you're trying to tell me, but this is different. I'm not a child, and this isn't just a search for answers! I can't just-" Blake started out sympathetic but then switched to a more defiant way of speaking.
"I told you!" Yang sets the chalk back where she found it. "I'm not telling you to stop! I haven't! To this day, I still want to know what happened to my mother and why she left me, but I will never let that search control me. I thought I was done… but I just can't bring myself to completely let it go"
Blake walks over to Yang, her hands behind her back.
"We're going to find the answers we're looking for, Blake. But if we destroy ourselves in the process, what good are we?" Yang turns around and confronts Blake.
Blake looks down and to the side. But then she feels anger well up inside her and she glares at Yang. "You. Don't. Understand! I'm the only one who can do this!"
"No, YOU don't understand!" Yang's eyes go red and she points at the doors at the other side of the room. "If Roman Torchwick walked through that door, what would you do?"
"I'd fight him!" Blake steps forward and states.
"You'd lose!" Yang pushes Blake back.
"I can stop him!" Blake tries to push Yang back but she isn't able to and just struggles.
"You can't even stop ME!" Yang pushes Blake back harder this time and the Faunus girl lands back on the desk behind her.
Yang furiously walks up to Blake. Blake props herself up and angrily stares at Yang, expecting the fight to continue she stands back up.
Yang gets in front of Blake. But instead of punching or pushing, she does something unexpected. She embraces Blake in a hug as her eyes go back to their normal light lilac color. "I'm not asking you to stop. Just please, get some rest"
Yang puts her hands on Blake's shoulders and backs away a step and looks into her partner's eyes. "Not just for you, but for the people you care about"
With that said. Yang walks around the desk and up the stairs as she goes to leave the classroom.
Blake is still a bit shaken by Yang's actions as she turns towards the blond.
Yang pauses half way up the stairs and turns around. "And if you 'truly' feel like coming out tomorrow, I'll save you a dance" Yang winks at Blake before turning back around and leaves the classroom.
Blake watches her friend, partner, and teammate leave. "Haaaah" She heavily sighs and looks at the board.
——————
Yang walks out of the classroom and sees Alabast sitting down against a wall down the hall. She is surprised at first but shakes her head and walks towards him. "Hey Bast!" She cheerfully greets.
Alabast closes his eyes and when he opens them it's like he hadn't just been reliving the worst moments of both of his lives. "Hello"
"What are you up to?" Yang moves in front of him and crouches down. She then spits the plastic bag. "Snacks?"
Alabast looks over at the bag he set beside him when he was listening to Yang and Blake talk. "Oh. No, they're just drinks"
"Do you mind?" Yang asks as she grabs the bag. After Alabast shakes his head Yang opens the bag and sees various drinks inside. Specifically a can Sunflower Drop, a soda. "Oh hey! It's been a while since I've seen one of these"
Alabast watches Yang grab the yellow can from the bag. "They just got a new shipment of them at the student store. Figured you'd like that the most"
Yang puts one knee on the ground and gives Alabast a hug. "You remembered"
Alabast puts his left arm on Yang's back. "It wasn't hard. The can matches your hair"
"Still, I don't think I've mentioned my favorite drink in a while" Yang moves to Alabast's left and sits next to him.
Alabast moves his arm from Yang's back to her waist as she leans her head on his shoulder. "Haven't mentioned it in a while? You were just complaining you haven't had one in weeks two days ago"
Yang shrugs. "And that felt like a while ago"
Alabast shakes his head. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop"
Yang smirks. "Yet here you are"
Alabast sighs. "Here I am"
"Are you mad that I didn't tell you I still want to find my mom?" Yang quietly asks as she looks down at the can in her hands.
"No" Alabast moves his right hand across his body and places it on Yang's right thigh. "I'm not mad or disappointed. I know it means a lot to you, so I'm not surprised either. I just wish that you would have told me"
Yang moves her thumbs over the can. "My bad, it's just… it's complicated"
"I understand" Alabast looks at the opposite wall. "I found some information about my parents"
"Really?!" Yang whips her head towards Alabast. "What did you find?"
"Not much. But a lot at the same time" Alabast cryptically says.
Yang moves Alabast's hair to see his face. "If you don't want to tell me you don't have to"
"What?" Alabast wonders how she came to that conclusion. "No. I'll tell you what I know"
"Who told you? I thought that your parents had very little information about them known?" Yang remembers that talk they had near the beginning of their first semester on the balcony.
"I'm not sure" Alabast closes his eyes. "I talked with this person in the CCT when Weiss and I went there. The person didn't show their face and their voice was altered or something because I couldn't tell the gender of it. Anyway, this person told me that my parents are alive-"
Yangs eyes widen and she grabs Alabast's school jacket and shakes him. "Your mom is alive?! Wait!" She stops shaking him and looks to the side. "How do you know this person is telling the truth? Maybe they're just trying to mess with you"
"I think that was their goal anyway" Alabast rolls his eyes. "This person knew who I was and who my parents were. They also knew things that they shouldn't normally know. Like my name and my mothers name, her maiden name. I took their words with a grain of salt but still. Basically through a long winded speech the person told me that my parents are alive. And that I won't be able to see them in a while. The person also said that when I do find them I won't like it"
Yang doesn't say anything but just goes over what Alabast said. After a minute she looks down at the can in her lap. "What are you going to do?"
"There isn't anything I can do" Alabast brings Yang's waist closer to him. "I won't be able to find them if I try to look for them. So I just have to wait. It's not any different than what I was doing before. I just want to live happily with my girlfriends"
Yang lets Alabast's school uniform jacket go and rests her head on his chest. "That's doable"
"I hope so" Alabast looks down the hall. "And what about you? The whole 'finding your mom' I mean"
"I've still got nothing" Yang shrugs. "After my lead that took me to Junior's club I haven't found anything new"
Alabast sees Blake walk out of the classroom and immediately walk down the hall. Blake didn't look down the hall and just kept walking while looking down at her feet, seemingly lost in thought. "In the future, will you tell me if you find anything? I'll also tell you if I find anything about mine"
"Yeah" Yang says and just enjoys being in Alabast's arms. "What do you think about the fog machines?"
Alabast looks down at Yangs blond hair. "I think it's a very 'you' idea. And that the dance will be perfect because it's you and Weiss who are coordinating the entire thing"
"That's an acceptable answer" Yang smiles at how Alabast avoided the question. "What drink did you get Blake? And was the strawberry milk for Ruby?"
"Yes, the strawberry milk is for Ruby. It's not like they had milk that tastes like cookies, and strawberries are her favorite anyways. And I got regular milk for Blake" Alabast looks in the bag. "And I got Weiss some iced coffee"
Yang watches Blake walk down the hall and turn the corner. "I think Blake would have probably preferred tea"
Alabast's eyes wander the ceiling in thought. "Hmmm, maybe. But there are so many types I just went with milk"
"Fair enough, milk is her second favorite drink anyway" Yang states. "What about yourself? Let me guess, it's the giant 36 ounce water bottle"
"I drink a lot of water" Alabast says as he takes his right hand from Yang's thigh and grabs the water bottle.
"Ok" Yang pats his chest and sits up. "I've gotta get back to decorating"
Alabast doesn't say anything and just brings Yang into their shadow and reappear just outside the doors to where the dance will be held.
"That's very handy" Yang says as she stands up along with Alabast.
"I hear that a lot" Alabast says and gives the bag to Yang. "I've gotta get some things prepared myself. Hand these to the others would you?"
"Sure thing" Yang takes the bag. "But I'll need some payment"
Alabast has a confused look on his face. "What?"
"I require payment. And handing out drinks costs about one kiss" Yang holds up 1 finger.
"Such a steep price" Alabast sarcastically says as he leans down and kisses Yang.
And when Alabast is about to end the kiss Yang throws her arms around his neck and hangs from his neck slightly.
Alabast puts his hands on her waist and gets a surprise when Yang slips her tongue into his mouth. He accepts her challenge and does the same. He also tastes her…. lip gloss? It's got a sweet taste to it, almost lemony.
After a minute Yang let's go of his neck and places her heels back on the ground. She smirks victoriously and winks. "Payment accepted"
Alabast stands up and wipes his lips with his thumb. "That was a little more than a kiss, did you rob me?"
Yang shrugs and and holds her hands up. "A kiss is a kiss" She makes peace signs. "And just like my lil sis, I am not a crook"
Alabast rolls his eyes. "Yeah right. The both of you definitely stole something"
Yang walks towards the door. "Don't you dare say your heart"
Alabast turns around and waves her off with his right hand. "Guess I just won't say it then. See ya later Saphy"
"Bye" Yang can't help but smile and shake her head as she opens the door and walks inside.
Alabast turns the corner but can hear Yang shout.
"Doilies?! Fine! Im going to grab the fog machines!"
Alabast continues walking away. He has a tough decision ahead.
What color tie is he going to wear??????