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Her eyes were closed and yet she still felt… dazed. None of her thoughts quite made sense. One second tied together, and then… not. Some things were clear, yeah. Like the gut-wrenching feeling of falling. Others, not so much — she opened her eyes slowly, even though the effort made her head ache even worse.
… why was it so dark? Wasn’t she falling? Why didn’t she hit the ground yet? She couldn’t even see the place where she fell from. What was going on?
Focusing in one string of thought hurt so much. She quickly gave up and her eyes fell shut once more, giving into the ever-present feeling of free falling.
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Next time she opened her eyes, it wasn’t to the sight of absolutely nothing at all. The sky blue of the hologram street lights shone so brightly it hurt her eyes, making her raise a hand to hover over her eyebrow. Vaguely recognizing her surroundings as a side street where she and… she and… who? Well, the thing is, she remembered being there once, with somebody else…
She was in Vale and it was night and the sky blue street lights damn hurt her eyes. When she looked forward though, there was a figure standing there, her back to her. A girl. Her age? It seemed so. The way she just stood there, so graceful and serene, it almost seemed like she could blend into the night. She had midnight, raven hair, long and cascading lusciously down her shoulders.
If she indeed was here before… Why did this feel so much like a scattered dream? Or maybe… it was more of a far-off memory? That may be it. But had this actually happened before? More important yet, did she know this person? She couldn’t tell.
Before she could think any further, however, something suddenly caught her eye. Was that some kind of weapon she carried on her back? Why would she be walking the streets at night carrying a weapon? Unless she was a huntress. But she looked so young…
Wait a second. Vale. Young huntress. Beacon. Teams. Partners. Lusciously long, raven hair. Blake! That was Blake! Yeah, now she was sure of it! She couldn’t believe it. Her sheer happiness at finally getting something right reflected in her wide smile. There’s no way — after all this jumbled mess her thoughts had become — she was standing aside and simply letting it continue any longer. Blake’s going to help her, she’s sure of it.
She took the first step, her body vehemently following the sudden motion only to stumble backwards at the huge concrete chunk falling a few steps ahead. Soon enough, almost every building in the vicinity had blocks of varying sizes coming down from them.
Why wasn’t Blake saying anything? Why was she doing nothing at all and just… standing there? But then her partner’s slender silhouette calmly turned around, as though she had all the time in the world. A shy and sweet smile graced her features. She extended her hand.
What was she supposed to do? Take it? Wasn’t the city falling apart? Shouldn’t they be helping people? They were the only ones here though… that's strange. Shouldn't… shouldn't there be more people around?
Just then the building beside them started collapsing and several large chunks threatened to fall directly atop Blake. Dammit! Why wasn’t she moving?
Either way, no matter what's going on with her partner, there’s no way she’s letting anything happen to Blake. Along with one of her hands, her feet immediately shot ahead, trying to reach her in time.
“Blake!!!”
If it wasn’t for her jumping in time to push Blake out of the way, what seemed like a monumental block of concrete would've hit her. What the —?
Taken by her momentum, she rolled away until it eventually died down. As soon as she came to a stop, she looked up with clenched teeth, her body protesting every move, searching for... Blake! Thank dust, she looked fine. Blake extended her hand once more, and, in a desperate attempt at getting up, she staggered to the side trying to reach her. They locked eyes. Dammit, they were so far away! No matter how hard she tried, though, her body wouldn’t cooperate.
It didn’t matter in the end. Another big chunk fell from above the place where she was leaning against. This time, it hit her, shattering the ground beneath much like shards of glass.
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How long was it before she regained consciousness this time?
The pain in her body was… gone. Well, not gone, but subsided, manageable. She remembered it hurting a lot. Wasn’t it? Hurting? Now her head was back to aching disorientingly. She wanted to line the pieces up so bad. It's so simple, so normal, so natural. Why can’t she just remember ?!
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She’s been having these weird thoughts lately…
Like…
Is any of this for real?
… or not?
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She desperately gasped for air as she came out of water, taking quick breaths like she was running out of breath. Well... had she been?
Patch. Yeah. That’s where she was, she recognized cheerfully as she looked from side to side. More specifically, five feet deep into water, at the shore. It stood maybe one or two miles far from their house. When she looked up, her little sister stood there, enthusiastically waving at her a mile a minute. Dad, too. He had his hand on her shoulder, keeping her close to him. Both her eyes and her heart warmed at the sight of them. Yeah, she was home.
Her feet moved as if by their own volition after she momentarily waved back. Her steps were heavy and dragged, weighted down by the water’s resistance. Not long after, though, she came to a stop in front of Rubes, bowing to catch her breath as her hands clasped her bent knees. It was only when her gaze met the ground that she realized how close it was. She was… small.
Wasn’t she taller than this? Or had it been nothing but an impression?
Her head shot upwards at hearing her sister’s high-pitched voice, rambling away just like always. She chuckled in her mind — no sound could ever come as close to home as this.
“Did you get it? Did you get it ? Dad just wouldn’t let me go too! Dad! Why can Yang go but not me? I’m old enough now, I can get crabs with her just fine !” Her little sis’ finished crossing her arms, outraged. Then she flashed dad her signature ultimate attack, the super pout. She was so glad it was dad who had to deal with it and not her.
“Now, now, Ruby…” Dad dragged out Rubes’ name, like he was still unsure about how to proceed. Eh, not that she could blame him. Under the same circumstances, she probably would’ve caved in a lot sooner. “If you go with your sister, who would protect your poor old man then? All alone here, on this terribly dangerous land. What would a true huntress do, huh?”
In a matter of seconds, Ruby’s wide, imploring and glistening eyes were replaced by a fearless expression, followed close by a puffed little chest.
Rubes turned to her again.
“Sorry, Yang! I guess you’ll be doing it alone for now.”
Yang… she tasted the name in her mind. Oh.
Yeah, that's it, right? Had she forgotten?
Regardless of her confused mind, she shook her head in mirth, chuckling softly.
“It’s okay, Rubes. I’m sure I can find a way to manage on my own.” She heard herself say in a voice that sounded much younger to her ears. Although… how could that be? Helpless, she could only watch as her sister nodded fiercely and dad rolled his pants up so he could step in the water, looking for something in the wet sand.
Then Ruby blinked and her eyes got a gleam of wonder on them. She pointed to the orange sky, where the sun already hid in the horizon and white shooting stars fell, arm forming a 135º arc. And… Yang… Yang turned to look at whatever it was Rubes wanted her to see.
She drew a sharp breath upon lying eyes on the appointed mark.
It was a body falling from the sky. But that was impossible, right? There wasn’t any indication as to why a body would be falling from the sky. She blinked fast, testing if she was in fact seeing well. It didn't make any sense. Why —
Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Ruby’s jaw drop as she came to the same conclusion Yang had just a few moments before. Her little sis’ round and super cute small fingers hovered over her mouth in a shock gesture.
Before Yang could say anything, however, her face scrunches up as another strong wave of headache hits her hard. Hazily, her eyes fall shut and everything becomes foggy once again.
And when she opens her eyes to look at Ruby, it’s the coral sky she sees, and she’s free falling again. Then she blinks once more and —
“Yang!” Ruby tries to reach for her, she even sees dad running towards them, but it’s too late.
She falls backwards so abruptly her arms flail desperately. All she can see is Ruby’s hopeless tries of getting to her and the endless orangish blue sky in the background as she hits a deep blue… water? Liquid? Well… a fluid mass of something, and when she moves amidst it, iridescent blue bubbles appears. Her head hurts so much and she’s so confused that her sister’s name’s her last thought before she blacks out.
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Disoriented, she blinks her eyes open. It feels like she’s leisurely falling, but the next second her feet are gently touching the… ground? She isn’t stepping on anything, how can her weight be supported?
She looks from one side to another and all she can see is a deep blue vacuum. Void. Vacancy. Emptiness. Whatever you wanna call it.
She takes a step forward and it seems like the whole place bursts in green light, dozens of doves flying upwards as they uncover backlit patterns. She’s mesmerized by what’s happening, looking quite dumbly at the parting doves (if she’s being honest with herself).
It’s a stained glass on a round platform she's stepping on, she realizes once it’s all over. And the patterns… they actually depict something.
In the portrait, there's a very muscular, nude blue guy?
Well, whatever. He has long hair tied in a low ponytail, and his eyes are closed. His whole body occupies the right half of the platform’s round shape, like he was leaning against something when he nodded off. One of his legs, the one at the front, is bent at the knees and slightly arched, covering the area of his private bits. The other half of the stained glass is filled with the greenest of prairies and circles containing little white flowers and animals along the brim.
What caught her attention most of all, though, was the scepter in his hand.
Why was the sight of it so baffling?
Except... she couldn’t quite remember.
In fact, she couldn't remember much of anything from... before , so to speak. So, when a door appeared and, behind it, the platform extended in an ascent spiral of white steps, she took the path leading her… beyond whatever it is she was.
Looks like the only way's forward, after all.