The Last of Us

Chapter 18

"Mom?" Yang asked slowly, staring up at the red eyed bird, who stared back at her for a moment before it started preening, shedding another feather in the process.

Yang laughed and turned away to go home, her mother died almost a century ago, Ruby was in Atlas getting revenge for them both!

It hit the red head alot harder for some reason, maybe due to being younger, and when she found out he married into the Schnee family, a once kind dust mining company, now led by a murderer, just the sight of their snowflake emblem turned her eyes blood red.

When Weiss knew about them being vampires, it hadn't taken her long to connect the dots, she'd started apologising to the blonde and asking how she could make it up to them, Yang hadn't been sure and just told her to talk to Ruby; though to her Weiss hadn't done anything to apologise and make up for.

"Yang." a familiar voice said, one she thought she'd never hear again.

Yang stopped, but didn't turn around.

"I'm going crazy," she laughed. "Or maybe I'm just dreaming."

"You're not crazy, and even if this is a dream, wouldn't you rather enjoy it?" Yang spun around.

"Why would I enjoy something I can never have back!?" Yang demanded, silent tears running down her cheeks.

Raven just stared at her sadly.

"I taught you to always ask questions, will this prove I'm real?" Raven took something from her pocket and offered it to Yang, who frowned at it.

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"Mommy, come on! It's your birthday!" a much younger Yang whined, trying to get her mother off the couch.

"Yang," Raven said softly, allowing herself to be pulled up before the blonde brandished a small present from her pocket.

Raven carefully opened it, Yang watching excitedly, it was a bracelet, made using Summer's wooden beads, a repeated pattern in different orders of everyone's aura colors, with the first letter of their names on each bead.

"Keep it forever, okay?" Yang ordered, raising a finger to her mother sternly.

Raven kissed her daughter and put the bracelet on.

"I'll treasure it." she promised.

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Raven lifted her free hand to wipe Yang's cheek, the blonde not even realising she'd been crying.

"Am I dreaming?" Yang asked, clutching her mother's hand.

"No Yang," Raven shook her head. "Let's go home, and I'll explain."

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"So Weiss," Ruby began as they walked through Mantle. "How did you know about your dad?"

Weiss stared at her partner for a moment, then sighed.

"You would've asked eventually." she complained.

Ruby tilted her head curiously. "Should I not have? You don't have to tell me, I did just kill your dad Weiss."

Weiss flinched at the casual tone. She was admitting to murder! Although maybe it's not the same for vampires.

Weiss heaved another sigh and went into the cafe. "Would you like some coffee?"

"Sure, thanks." Ruby said, trailing after her.

Weiss ordered two coffees and a slice of cake Ruby was drooling over, and sat down in the almost empty cafe.

"It's really quiet today." Ruby commented over her drink. "Is Mantle always like this?"

"It can be, but never like this." Weiss admitted, wondering if she should be worried.

Ruby just shrugged. "Patch is always like this."

"Patch is a tiny island Ruby, Mantle is a city." Weiss pointed out flatly.

"It wasn't always," Ruby admitted.

Weiss frowned in confusion.

"Patch used to be bigger, the war destroyed most of it, like Mt. Glenn, the people there were really nice." Ruby commented, biting into her cake.

Weiss stared in awe, not expecting a history lesson on Vale. "What about here?"

"Atlas was on the ground, obviously." Ruby grinned, as though amused by a joke only she and Yang understood. "One day someone literally carved a big piece of Atlas and attached all this gravity dust, every decade they gather more dust to keep it from falling."

"What about where Atlas used to be?" Weiss prodded.

"I think they filled it in and built a huge house there." Ruby shrugged as she ate her cake.

"The biggest?" Weiss asked.

Ruby gave her a confused look, but nodded.

Weiss' eyes widened as she realised that was her house.

"Weiss, are you okay?" Ruby asked worriedly.

Weiss cleared her throat. "Yes, you had questions as well?"

Ruby hummed. "You knew your dad was my family's murderer."

Weiss nodded.

"How did you figure that? It couldn't have just been a lucky guess." Ruby said, though not ruling out the idea.

"It was, in a way," Weiss took a sip of her drink. "Blake had just started questioning Yang, and we were looking at the cloth she keeps on her leg."

Ruby nodded. "It was her dad's, uncle Tai's, it used to be orange, but he dyed it when he gave it to her."

"When I was young, before my brother was born, Winter and I snuck into father's office," Weiss began. "We were playing, I don't remember what exactly, but something fell off a shelf and it had the same heart emblem, only blood stained."

Ruby's eyes widened, suddenly glad Yang wasn't there.

"We were curious, so we looked around, and found two other things with emblems; a silver rose, and a cog inside a bird's wing." Weiss continued. "I assume the rose was your mother, and I was able to figure out the last one a while later."

Ruby nodded. "Branwen." she confirmed right as the cafe windows exploded.