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1
It’s completely normal for Yang to want a snack after training—after all, the intense physical exertion during practice is no joke. She usually keeps a pack or two of crushed nuts, dried fruit, or energy bars in her pocket, so she can pull them out for a quick bite as soon as training ends. It helps curb her hunger just enough to hold her over until mealtime. Or sometimes, she just snacks for the sake of it.
Of course, she often shares her snacks with her teammates. Ruby loves her cookies, Weiss prefers dried fruit, and Blake enjoys chocolate oat bars. So Yang tends to stock extra snacks in her locker, just in case her teammates also need a little energy boost after training.
But she realizes she doesn’t always remember to restock.
Take today, for example.
They had just finished training for the tournament. In a single afternoon, they went through team drills, partner exercises, and solo practice. By the time most teams had wrapped up and left the training hall to have some fun in the city, Team RWBY was still there. They weren’t sure how long they’d been at it—no one had checked the time on their Scrolls—but they knew it was late enough when no more sunlight streamed in through the high windows of the training hall.
On days like this, they’d usually treat themselves to a hearty dinner in the city as a reward for their hard work. But Yang still made a habit of munching on an energy bar right after training.
“If I don’t eat something like right now, I’m gonna pass out on the way,” she exaggerated, opening her locker and rummaging around for her stash.
But after searching every corner, she still couldn’t find anything edible. Frowning, she pouted and kept looking, as if another round of searching would magically make a snack wrapper appear.
“Ruby, did you take my snacks?” she asked.
“Nope!” Ruby popped the “p” sound at the end, making Yang roll her eyes and finally give up her futile search.
“Maybe you just finished them all and forgot to bring new ones,” Weiss suggested, re-tying her ponytail as she spoke.
“I thought I restocked,” Yang shrugged.
“Nah, you’ve forgotten to restock a bunch of times before. Blake’s the one who kept you from starving by doing the job for you,” Ruby said, jerking her thumb toward the dark-haired woman behind her, who was packing her sweat-soaked clothes into her bag. “Who knew you’d run out again so fast this time?”
“Sorry, Yang. I was in a hurry today and forgot,” Blake smiled at her, slinging her bag over her shoulder.
“Oh,” Yang blinked, watching Blake walk briskly past her. “It’s fine. It’s not like I’ll die without it.”
Blake’s light laughter lingered in her ears after she left the locker room, making Yang’s heart flutter just a little.
Maybe she’d still forget to restock her snacks in the future. But Yang couldn’t help wondering if Blake would still thoughtfully help her out.
2
Although Weiss didn’t have a great time during the doubles match, the fact that they advanced to the next round left her with little room for complaint. To thank her for her final act of sacrifice, the team decided to head to her favorite restaurant right after the match—both as a gesture of gratitude and to celebrate their progression.
Due to her depleted Aura, the medics checked her over to ensure she had no issues beyond a hoarse voice and treated her mildly scorched skin. Ruby and Blake went to gather their belongings, while Yang stayed in the infirmary waiting for clearance to leave.
After applying a cooling patch to Weiss’s back, Yang took a seat nearby. She pulled a chocolate bar she forgot she had from her pocket—softened by her body heat, probably a little gross—and offered it to Weiss, who was lying face down on the med cot.
The white-haired girl frowned at the crumpled wrapper, but accepted it anyway. She tore it open and popped the chocolate into her mouth without a second glance.
“It tastes disgusting,” she mumbled, her voice still raspy. The medics said it would take a few days for her voice to return to normal—and even longer before she could sing again.
“Hey, I gave you my only energy bar. You know I like having something to eat after a fight,” Yang pouted, poking Weiss’s arm lightly.
Weiss rolled her eyes and turned her face away, quietly finishing the chocolate bar.
Noticing a smudge of grime still on Weiss’s cheek, Yang grabbed a wet wipe from nearby and gently cleaned it off.
“What I wanted to say was… thanks for putting yourself on the line to take out Flynt for me. Even if it didn’t quite work.”
Weiss shot her a sidelong glance and smacked Yang’s thigh firmly with her free hand.
“Ow,” Yang complained, rubbing the spot. “I give you a heartfelt thanks, and this is how you repay me?”
Weiss rolled her eyes again, but this time, there was a smile tugging at her lips.
“Thanks for the energy bar.”
“Aww, love you too, Ice Queen.”
3
Yang lay on her bed, raising her arm to stare at the prosthetic attached to her stump. The cold, silver metal continuously sent a blade-like chill deep into her skin. Even under sunlight, she felt no warmth from it—she couldn't feel anything beyond pressure.
She still remembered the sensation of warmth gathering in her palm, but she didn't know how much longer that memory would last. Forgetting always seemed to happen so quickly.
She sighed, letting her hand fall back onto her stomach.
Tai was in the kitchen preparing lunch. They had finished their morning training just a little over ten minutes ago. Yang had already showered to wash off the sweat, and Tai had set out some fruit for her to snack on before the meal.
Before, she would've eagerly grabbed an apple and taken a bite without a second thought. But now, it seemed she had lost interest in post-training snacks. She'd noticed it when they first started training again, but she never brought it up with Tai. He seemed to have noticed too, but he didn't ask—he just kept preparing something for her, just in case she needed it. She guessed he was giving her space to process everything.
Losing interest in snacks wasn't that strange. She'd been losing interest in a lot of things lately. And snacks... were just snacks.
Without snacks, she didn't have to remember the times spent with her teammates at Beacon. She didn't have to recall how they'd gather in the locker room after each training session, sharing snacks, clinking energy bars together like glasses in a toast. She didn't have to remember how Weiss, despite complaining about the melted-and-rehardened chocolate bars from Yang's pocket, would still accept them when offered.
She especially didn't have to remember Blake restocking for her. She didn't have to remember always saving a special spot in her pocket for Blake, or intentionally stocking extra of her favorite snacks in the locker.
Snacks were a thread connecting her to her teammates. Without them, she didn't have to feel the hollow ache in her chest and the pain it brought. The phantom pain in her arm was already more than enough to handle—she didn't need anything else that would cause her hurt.
Maybe after she found Ruby, she could regain her interest in post-training snacks.
But not now.
4
The whole situation at Haven Academy was a total mess. All Yang wanted was to wash off the dust and the bloodstains—who knew where they came from. Maybe they were hers. Her senses felt numb; she couldn't tell.
She didn’t need to handle the aftermath at the academy itself, thank gods. Qrow knew how to talk to the police, offering limited but sufficient information while skillfully avoiding any mention of the Relics or Salem.
By the time everything was settled and they could leave for their temporary home, dawn was almost breaking. Her exhaustion hadn't faded—instead, it grew heavier. That made sense, of course. They had spent the entire night fighting enemies with everything they had, and her confrontation with Raven had drained most of her remaining energy. In fact, she felt somewhat grateful that Salem's lackeys had decided to retreat. She wasn't sure how much longer she could have held on.
Back at the house, Qrow first got Oscar settled. He was just a kid, after all—such a long battle must have pushed him far beyond his limits. Yang wouldn’t have been surprised if he slept straight through the next 24 hours.
As for herself, she slipped into the bathroom, turning on the shower to isolate herself from the outside world.
It wasn’t just about washing away the stains she’d accumulated. It was also about avoiding Blake, who had suddenly reappeared in her life.
She knew she had accepted Blake's return back there, and after so long, she had finally felt her warmth and the feeling of her fingers curling around her arm again. It all felt so supernatural, and so utterly overwhelming.
She just needed more time.
It had taken her months to get used to Blake's absence. Maybe it would take months, or even longer, to get used to her presence again.
After her shower, her hair was still damp. She grabbed a clean towel and hastily dried it, then headed to the kitchen to grab something to eat before resting.
Her habit of snacking after a fight had finally returned—even if now it could hardly be called a post-fight snack. It was more like breakfast, though she was about to catch up on the sleep she’d missed last night.
“Do you want something to eat?” Ruby asked, pouring hot water into a teapot. “Kali, um, Blake’s mom, made breakfast.”
“Oh.” Yang blinked, her breath catching in her throat.
“Yeah…” Ruby shifted her weight uncomfortably, twisting her fingers together in front of her chest. “Did you… want to have some? It’s in the dining room.”
“No, I’m good.” She smiled, feeling like she might bolt the next second. She was surprised her feet hadn’t carried her away already. “Just getting some water.” She took a cup from the cupboard and held it under the tap, deliberately ignoring the trembling in her hands.
“They want to meet you.” Ruby said softly after a moment of silence. Yang almost missed it—she almost thought Ruby had already left. “But if you're not feeling like it, I can tell them you’ve already gone to rest.”
Yang paused. Maybe for a little too long—long enough that she wasn’t sure if it still counted as a pause. She nodded, but it was an ambiguous response. Was she saying she could go meet them, or was she hoping Ruby would convey her regrets?
“They said they just want to thank you. For saving Blake.” Ruby added quietly.
She kept nodding. No matter how dry and sore her eyes felt, no matter how the water overflowed from the cup in her hand—she just kept nodding.
“I’ll tell them you can meet them another time.” Ruby turned off the tap for her, placed the cup by the sink, brushed back her hair, stood on her toes, and kissed Yang’s forehead. “I love you.”
“Love you too,” Yang murmured only after she had left.
5
If they kept getting away with the consequences of breaking the rules any longer, Yang was going to start thinking rules weren't actually meant to be followed at all.
Everything hit her the moment they arrived in Atlas—exhaustion, excitement, hunger. The exhaustion nearly overwhelmed everything else, but she could still hear the faint grumble from her stomach.
Come to think of it, it had been a while since they'd last eaten.
But the Atlas cafeteria wasn't going to start cooking for them in the middle of the night, and traveling light to steal the airship meant they'd left almost all their belongings behind. Aside from their weapons, hardly anything made it with them.
Ruby collapsed onto a bed in their assigned room the second they entered, already half-asleep, but was quickly pulled up by Weiss to go wash up. Blake had already headed to the bathroom to clean up. With all the commotion, Yang wasn't really sleepy anymore, but she still couldn't resist the lure of the bed and flopped down, not wanting to move another inch.
Though her eyes were closed, she wasn't asleep. The sound of someone's heels gradually approached the door. Judging by the rhythm and the volume, it sounded more like Blake than Weiss. Their heels made distinctly different sounds, a difference that became even more noticeable in the quiet of the night.
"Hey," the sound of heels stopped beside her, accompanied by a light poke on her arm. Yang opened one eye and saw Blake's amber eyes glinting in the moonlight. Her heart might have skipped a beat or two, but she ignored it.
"Hey," Yang mimicked her tone with a soft sigh. "You wanna sleep here? I can move to the top bunk."
"I don't mind the top bunk," Blake blinked. "You should go get cleaned up. Come on, I'll help you."
Yang let out a grumble of protest but allowed Blake to take her hand and pull her up.
She patted her pocket and felt a plastic wrapper along the way to the bathroom.
It was a miracle. She thought she'd finished all her snacks. She had no idea how she'd missed this one tucked away in her pocket.
She pulled out the wrapper. It was an granola bar, completely crushed by now, but that didn't mean it wasn't edible. They couldn't afford to be picky under these circumstances.
She glanced at Blake walking ahead of her. The cool white light fell on her shoulders, making her look even thinner. They really hadn't had a proper meal in quite some time.
Her fingers tapped the wrapper a few times. She stuffed the granola bar—or rather, granola crumbs now—back into her pocket. Maybe once they were back in the room, they could sit cross-legged on the floor and share it.
+1
Yang couldn't tell if it was her imagination, or if the temperature today was genuinely lower than usual. She'd almost thought it was impossible for Atlas to get any colder, but clearly, reality always had a way of surprising her.
She and Blake had just finished clearing a section of the Dust mine, wrapping up their mission for the day. Even before stepping out of the cave, they could feel the icy wind whipping against their faces. Inside the mine, shielded from the direct blast of cold and with some active Dust crystals around, it was actually quite warm. But once those conditions were gone, the cold of Atlas felt particularly brutal.
She stretched, and the cold wind immediately seeped through the gaps at her collar and cuffs, between her clothes and skin, making her quickly cross her arms over her chest to ward off the chill.
If only she had something to warm her up right now.
Blake was checking her Scroll, probably seeing how far away their pickup vehicle was. Out here in the middle of nowhere, there wasn't much that could provide temporary warmth. If she and Blake stood close enough, they could probably use each other's body heat.
Of course... Yang looked down at her toes, trying to hide the blush coloring her cheeks, and shoved the thought into the farthest corner of her mind.
If Blake asked, she could blame it on the cold.
Maybe eating something would help warm her up. A bit more energy, and her body might be more willing to generate heat.
Yang patted her pockets, searching for the chocolate bar she'd stuffed in there before leaving this morning, but found nothing.
She frowned, turning the pockets of her jacket inside out. Aside from some bits of shredded paper, there was nothing. It was as if her chocolate bar had vanished into thin air.
She swore she'd put one in there this morning. She even remembered Weiss rolling her eyes at her, telling her she shouldn't keep chocolate in her pocket where it would melt, and Yang retorting with, "You still ate the melted chocolate from my pocket last time." So she was absolutely certain there should have been a chocolate bar in there.
"What are you looking for?" Blake asked, tilting her head, probably having noticed her frantic searching.
"Nothing," Yang shrugged, shoving her hands back into her pockets, hoping it would at least reduce the loss of body heat, and praying the transport would arrive before she developed hypothermia.
The dark-haired woman blinked at her, then reached to open the pouch on her hip. She pulled out two nougats and placed them in Yang's palm.
"Here," she smiled, her fingertips brushing against Yang's palm, leaving a searing trail. "I keep some snacks in my pouch for you, just in case you forget."
"Oh," was all Yang managed to get out, her cheeks burning along with the spot Blake's fingers had touched. She supposed this counted as a way to fight the cold.
"You're welcome," Blake chuckled softly, turning her attention back to her Scroll, but Yang catched a faint pink tinge on her cheekbones. She hoped it wasn't just the work of the biting wind.
Silently, Yang quickly unwrapped one of the candies and popped it into her mouth. As the sweetness bloomed on her tongue, all she could think about was the warmth of Blake's fingers.