Dream Theory - Chapter 16 (Patreon)

By the time the car pulled into the garage, Yang was ready to move on to the next phase of this ‘master plan, which explained why her nerves and restlessness reappeared as soon as the vehicle powered down and the doors opened.  Either that, or her body was reacting to Blake’s proximity in a not altogether positive way.

Following Weiss inside, Yang removed the wig, shrugged out of the blazer, and tried to ignore the growing worry that Blake wouldn’t be here.  She would be here.  She would.  She had to be, because she was the only one who knew how to fix Daydreamer.  And it would be her - the real her.  Not...not the other versions of her.

Yang’s rapidly rising concerns disappeared in a wave of relief when she walked into the kitchen and saw Ruby and Blake sitting in the new computer room.  As usual, Ruby never stopped moving while working on something only she understood.  And Blake...Blake was still there, capturing Yang’s heart while pouring over a tablet.

With Weiss immediately walking over to Ruby for a kiss, Yang pulled over a chair and sat beside Blake.

“Hey.”

The greeting seemed woefully inadequate compared to the impassioned kisses being shared by the other couple in the room, but Yang couldn’t think of anything better.  Was a kiss appropriate?  Had Blake worried enough to warrant a kiss of relief or...something?  Were they even at the point where they could kiss like that?

“Hey.”

Blake’s response and subsequent smile said everything Yang needed to know.  Apparently, she wasn’t the only unsure about their current relationship standing...

“Did I get enough?” she asked instead of addressing the awkwardness.  She knew the question swept their problems under the rug, but...there were bigger problems to deal with first.

After briefly studying the tablet in her hands, which displayed a model of Taven’s room, Blake nodded and returned her gaze to Yang. 

“Yes,” she said with a small smile.  “This should be more than enough.”

“So...what’s the plan now?”

As soon as Yang asked the question, she felt Weiss and Ruby’s attention from across the room.  By now, all three of them were wondering the same thing - how would this work?  What would Blake do?  How could the image of someone’s room help fix this?

“I’ll use this to recreate his room within Dreamscape,” Blake explained, her eyes drifting to the screen once more.  “Once his dinner is over and he logs in, I’ll join his sequence and trick his system into giving me access to the designs.”

“And you’ll get into his dreams using the very loophole you’re trying to close,” Weiss pointed out.

“It’s...necessary.”  Sighing at the screen, Blake set the tablet down and looked at Yang - her eyes seeking an ally to her plan.  “This is the best chance we have - we need to risk it.”

Foolish or not, Yang trusted Blake, and trusted that this was what they had to do.

“What do you need us to do?” she asked, ready to get this over with.

“I need you to join the Dreamscape with me.”  Blake met Yang’s eyes and didn’t look away.  “If you’re willing.  You were in his room, so you should notice anything wrong with the ‘feel’ of it.”

The idea of going anywhere near a Dreamscape sounded horrible, but Yang wasn’t going to chicken out just because of what she went through.  She knew she could, if she needed to.  The look in Blake’s eyes said as much - that she could choose not to participate if she was scared.

Maybe she was scared.  Maybe she was a little terrified, actually.  But she wasn’t a coward.  Not today, at least...

“I can do that.”

“Thank you,” Blake replied with a small smile.  “We can set up now?”

“Guess that means we’re sleeping in Weiss’ bed again.”  Throwing on a grin to hide her sudden nerves, Yang turned and caught Weiss’ eye roll.

“Let’s move it right now.”

“Awe, don’t be like that,” she joked while following Weiss out of the room, grabbing her mechanical arm from the table as she went and quickly fitting it into place.  Having her better half back made her feel better, but that didn’t stop her palm from sweating while she trailed Weiss upstairs, where she waited on the landing while Weiss retrieved the Dreamscape and carried it into the hall.

“All yours.”  

Yang didn’t want to touch the thing, but she didn’t have a choice when Weiss’ phone rang and she quickly emptied her hands to retrieve the device.  After glancing at the screen, she gave them a curt “I need to take this” before heading back downstairs.

“Guess it’s just us,” Yang joked while walking into the guest bedroom with Blake and Ruby.  She gave the Dreamscape to Blake, who quickly hooked everything up before sitting down beside it.

“You’re going to record, right?”

“Of course.”  After setting up the system, Blake handed one of the Dream Disks to Yang and gave a hesitant smile.  “Are you ready?”

“Are you?” Yang asked in return, and her confidence wavered when Blake looked at the floor rather than meet her eyes.  

“Ready as I’ll ever be…”

Giving Blake a sidelong glance - because that was not at all the response she’d expected - Yang nonetheless laid down and sighed at what was to come.  Before closing her eyes, however, she smiled at Ruby.

“Keep an eye out?”

“You know it,” Ruby whispered, looking a little too concerned for Yang’s liking but still managing a smile.  “Just like old times.”

Ruby’s presence was reassuring enough that Yang closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep.  Or, at least, tried to calm down enough that the Dreamscape could take over.  Normally, it wasn’t difficult to do.  Tonight, however, her mind fought against the notion of going back into a dream - because what if something happened?  What if she ‘woke up’ but never really woke up?

“It’s ok, Yang,” Ruby whispered while setting her hand over Yang’s.  “You’ll be with Blake, and I’ll be right here the whole time.  No one’s going to get you.”

That was the crux of her worries, wasn’t it?  Someone breaking in while she was asleep and vulnerable.  That’s why she wouldn’t be sleeping without her arm anytime soon, but Ruby’s words also served as reassurance - enough so that Yang took one more deep breath and exhaled her anxiety away.

The next second, she found herself standing in Taven’s room.  Or, at least, a mirror image of Taven’s room. Blake was already there, standing in the center of the room and slowly taking in every inch of her creation.

“How does it look?” she asked, her eyes flitting to Yang before returning to the dream.

“I...I can’t tell the difference.” 

With a soft hum of approval, Blake walked slowly around the perimeter of the room.  Every piece of furniture, every picture, every memento received a long, thoughtful expression before she moved on.  All the while, the room shifted. 

The changes were slight - so slight that Yang would miss them if she didn’t stand still.  But, if she focused on where Blake was looking, she could see or sense the miniscule changes as they occurred.  The bed moved an inch closer to the left wall.  The color of the wood frame deepened ever so slightly.  The metal instruments on the nightstand found a nice gleam - bright, but not too bright under the light of the chandelier above.

A lot of small, unnoticeable changes.  Together, however, they made the room feel more...real. 

“How about now?” 

“I still don’t understand how you do this,” Yang remarked, finally drawing Blake’s gaze to her.

“Just like I don’t understand how you walk into a crime scene and come up with theories on what happened.  Practice, experience, and intuition.”

“Still…”  Looking around the room, Yang tried to differentiate it from the room she’d walked through today.  Was anything different?  Was anything out of place?  “It looks perfect,” she concluded, to which Blake nodded and let out a small huff.

“I’ll go alone from here -”

“I’m coming with you.”

The words flew out of Yang’s mouth before she thought them through, but the idea of Blake continuing without her didn’t feel acceptable anymore.

“This isn’t your world, Yang,” Blake replied with a shake of her head.   “You might be able to run down a criminal and put them in cuffs, but that’s not how it works here.”

“This isn’t a negotiation,” Yang retorted as her resistance grew.  “I’m not letting you do this alone.”

“Yang...Taven might not be a dream theorist, but he’s skilled enough to know when something or someone doesn’t belong.”

“You’re one of the best theorists in the world, and you’re saying you can’t mask me into a dream or something?” 

Blake stared at her for a long time, thinking through the question before responding with a slight nod.  

“Maybe I can, but it will take more focus and seems...ill-advised.”

“Isn’t it also ill-advised for you to be the only one with all the information?”

The question came out harsher than Yang intended - a fact reinforced by the flash of hurt in Blake’s eyes - but it was true.  While the rest of them had only a vague understanding of the situation, Blake held all the cards.  That was no way to solve a problem of this magnitude.  They needed to work together, which meant they all needed to be on the same page.

“Ok,” Blake finally agreed, looking reluctant to agree but also reluctant to argue.  “I’ll do it, but you have to stay calm no matter what you see.  If you start affecting the dream, I’m going to force you out.  Ok?”

“Ok.” 

Blake nodded but looked less-than-pleased with the direction this plan had taken.  Yang, however, felt energy and anticipation pour through her veins, similar to how she felt before interrogating a suspect in a big case.

“So what do we do when he gets here?” she asked, if only to break the silence.  “Ask him questions?  Trick him into giving us the details?” 

“Hopefully, we won’t see him at all,” Blake explained while leaning stiffly against the dresser.  “I’m going to bolt this room onto whatever dream he’s having and try to trick Daydreamer into giving us access to his personal safe.”

“How’s he not going to notice that?” 

“Do you know what’s going on outside this room right now?” Blake asked in return.  When Yang’s brow furrowed, Blake gestured to the nearest wall.  “What’s happening beyond this wall?  Do you know?”

“...no.” 

“And neither does he,” Blake answered with a small smile.  “Dreams are infinite, Yang.  We can be anywhere, do anything.  We’re bound by nothing except the limitations of our imagination.  Yet so many of us are content to dream in boxes, never looking outside the walls we build around ourselves.”

“Now I’m wondering what your dreams look like when I’m not around…”

Blake smiled at the response and shook her head.

“You probably don’t want to know.” 

“What if I do?” Yang asked, earning another head shake from Blake.

“It might be a lot for you to handle.” 

“Haven’t I handled a lot already?”

For several long moments, Blake stared at Yang with a hint of a smile - pride emanating from her in waves.  She’d always loved it when Yang pushed to try something new, and Yang always loved the challenge.  Regardless of whether or not this was ‘her’ realm, she wouldn’t back away from learning more about Blake’s work.

“Wait.”  

Suddenly standing straight, Blake turned towards the window and briefly disappeared.  She re-appeared seconds later and moved towards the center of the room.  “He just logged in.” 

Yang’s adrenaline immediately returned full bore, and increased when Blake leveled her with a serious gaze.

“You can’t say anything, do you understand?”  Her eyes gave away the gravity behind the instruction, and Yang didn’t hesitate to agree.

“I understand.” 

Accepting the answer, Blake took a deep breath and attempted a smile.  Unfortunately, Yang could read the concern in Blake’s eyes, which only increased her stress.  But she couldn’t stress - she had to stay calm.  She needed to trust in Blake’s ability the way Weiss trusted in Ruby’s - totally, completely, without hesitation.  Even if they’d been apart for a long time, even if Yang wasn’t sure about their current relationship, and even if ‘Blake’ had literally and figuratively stabbed her in the back more than a few times, she would trust in Blake’s ability. 

Because as long as Yang did her part of this, Blake would get them through.  She was that good.  The best to ever set...mind...in a Dreamscape.

Still, Yang’s heart hammered in her chest while waiting for something in the room to change.  

Nothing did, except Blake suddenly disappeared.  The action sent a spike of concern through Yang’s chest, but she quickly got the emotion under control.  

She knew Blake could appear and disappear at will.  This was all part of the plan.  Blake needed to be somewhere else, and that was ok.  Yang would wait, and she would do her best not to move.  If it really did take more effort to mask her inclusion in the dream, she didn’t want to make it more difficult than necessary.

When Blake abruptly re-appeared, Yang couldn’t help but feel relieved.  She felt much better when she could see Blake, even though she realized that played into everything Blake had told them about falling victim to a dream.

“Has to be here somewhere…” Blake muttered to herself while sweeping through the room, searching high and low for something Yang couldn’t see.  After passing every possible surface, Blake started again, faster this time. 

It wasn’t until she walked towards the bed that she stopped.  After standing motionless for a second, she stepped backward and tapped her foot on the floor.

Yang’s heart jumped into her throat when Blake suddenly disappeared and Taven appeared at the door.  Every part of her wanted to call out, or move, or in some way hide from the man, but - miraculously - she kept herself from reacting.

He walked through the doorway with the same intimidating posture Yang had witnessed earlier that day.  His hair swept the same way, he wore the same outfit, down to the same watch.  

When he walked over to where Blake just stood, Yang realized he was actually a figment under Blake’s control - yet another example of how the general public barely scratched the surface of dreaming.  How many people could create lifelike copies of a human being?  Yang could hardly create a chair, let alone something this complex and realistic.

Blake directed Taven to that particular spot on the floor, where he knelt down and pressed his palm to the wood.  As soon as his hand touched a specific piece of the panel, the room changed - as abruptly as flipping through two photos taken on separate days. 

An identification panel now stood by the bed, complete with a retina scanner attached.  Without hesitation, Taven pressed his palm to the panel then let the scanner read his eyes.  “Open Dream Safe,” he added in his smooth, tenor voice, and suddenly, numbers and letters filled the room.

“Welcome to Daydreamer,” a voice said while fragmented code surrounded them, littering the air with bits and pieces that had no rhyme or reason.

To Yang, the experience was overwhelming - the values swirled in the air around her, looking so twisted and convoluted that she would have no idea where to start.  

When Blake re-appeared, however, she walked into the center of the room and looked around.  She looked right at home in this strange place, which Yang should have expected.  Blake and dreams had always mixed very well.

“Blake Belladonna,” she spoke aloud, and the code suddenly changed color - from light orange to a deep purple that bordered on black.  Some sections disappeared from view only for others to take their place, but the room still swam with letters and numbers jockeying for position.

“Open Project Daydream.”

As soon as Blake said the words, the room shifted and disappeared.  In its place was something so indescribable, Yang couldn’t even begin to put it into words.  She could barely even comprehend what she was seeing - a vast, black void that was somehow empty and filled to the brim at the same time.  There was so much yet so little.  Everything yet nothing.

“Welcome back, Dr. B-”

As soon as consciousness returned to her, Yang opened her eyes and sat up.

“Are you ok?”  Standing up from her seat by the door, Ruby hurried over to the bed and looked at Yang with worried, anxious eyes.  Yang, however, frowned and looked at Blake, who was still locked in the Dreamscape doing whatever it was she needed to do.

“I’m fine,” Yang muttered when Ruby started to look worried by her silence.  After removing the Dream Disk from her temple, Yang tossed it onto the side table and tried to figure out what she was feeling.  Frustration, confusion, concern.

Project Daydream.  That void - that was Project Daydream.  Blake knew exactly how to get to it, exactly how to open it, and then she kicked Yang from the dream before it welcomed her back.  That’s what just happened...right?

But why?

“What happened?” Ruby asked.  “Did you find it?  Why’s she still in there?”

“We’ll have to ask her when she wakes up…”

Yang couldn’t give a better answer at the moment because she didn’t know.  She was still in the dark, just like the rest of them, and she was tired of it.  She’d fought against the idea that Blake was hiding something from her, but now couldn’t get the thought out of her head.  Something didn’t add up, and Blake needed to explain why.

Standing up, Yang paced in front of the bed while waiting for the sequence to play out.  Out of curiosity - or following a hunch - she walked over to the Dreamscape and checked to see if it was set to record.

It wasn’t.

“Figures…” she mumbled under her breath while resuming her pacing.  Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait long.  Several minutes later, Blake sucked in a deep breath and opened her eyes.

“Did you get it?  Is it done?” Ruby instantly asked, hardly waiting for Blake to sit up before pelting her with questions.  Removing the Dream Disk, Blake set it on the table and carefully avoided Yang’s gaze.

“What happened?” Yang asked when she realized Blake wasn’t going to volunteer the information.

“You panicked - the system started to recognize you -”

“Why did it greet you?” Yang added before Blake finished the lie.  “It knew your name.”

“I helped design the Dream Safe,” Blake answered, briefly rubbing her eyes to remove any effects of the sequence.  “Of course it remembers me.”

When Blake refused to make eye contact, Yang set her jaw and clenched her fists.

“Is that your final answer?”

The question finally drew Blake’s gaze, but when she opened her mouth and said nothing, Yang shook her head and stalked out of the room.  Ruby gave her a baffled look while she passed, but she just shook her head again and walked into the hall.

“Yang, wait.”

“Why are you lying?” she asked, turning around when Blake followed her out of the room.  “You knew exactly where to go, and that thing greeted you by name.  Why would it welcome you back?  And why didn’t you want me to see it? What are you hiding?”

Looking miserable at the questions, Blake opened her mouth but said nothing.

“How about that she was the head of Project Daydream?”

Turning in surprise, Yang watched Weiss walk up the stairs before tossing a memory chip her way.  While she transferred the file to her hand, Weiss crossed her arms and glared at Blake.

“Betty was more bribable than I thought,” Weiss explained while Yang projected the file.  “She pulled this from Dreamscape’s records.  You’re listed as the lead theorist on every single project they’ve had over the past four years, yet you led us to believe that Taven set up a new team and didn’t put you on it.”  Moving closer to Ruby’s side, Weiss scoffed and shook her head.  “If you left out that little piece of information, I can only imagine what else you aren’t telling us.”

“It wasn’t relevant at the time.”

“Seriously?  That’s your defense?  How is that information not relevant?”

Blake had no response to the question, as Weiss seemed to have expected from her resounding scoff.  Meanwhile, Yang hastily read the files in front of her before looking at Blake.  The question was unnecessary, but she had to ask anyway.

“Is it true?”

A long moment of silence settled over the upstairs landing, where no one seemed willing to move before hearing an answer.  Eventually, Blake looked down and nodded.

“Yes.  I was in charge of Project Daydream.”

Weiss shook her head and turned away.  Ruby’s brow shot up in surprise.  But Yang could only stare while confusion, betrayal, and anger swirled through her.  

All this time, Blake pretended to be the victim, but from what she’d told them about Project Daydream...

“Why didn’t you say anything?”  

Yang’s question was nothing more than a whisper, but Blake heard it.  And she took a deep breath before meeting Yang’s gaze.

“About a year ago, I figured out a way to reach other dreams without permission - essentially, how to hack into someone’s subconscious.  I thought it could be used to reach coma patients, kidnapped children, people who needed help.  We could find them and communicate with them, learn where they were and bring them home.”

That didn’t sound like a bad goal, and didn’t explain the guilt radiating from Blake right now.

“I’m the one who created Project Daydream,” she admitted, dropping her gaze to the floor and shaking her head.  “I developed the linking system and integrated it into Daydreamer.”

“But...what about Bishop?  I thought he told you to create it,” Ruby said, to which Blake gave a dry laugh.

“Taven doesn’t have the faintest understanding of dream theory.  He’s nothing more than a rich figurehead who goes on TV and promotes the products.  He offers vision and publicity, nothing else.”

“So you weaponized the Daydreamer,” Weiss replied.  Blake balked at the statement, but she didn’t argue against it.

“It should have been fine,” she insisted instead.  “It would have been fine, but I…I…”

Taking a deep breath, she met Yang’s gaze and didn’t look away.

“I taught someone else how to do it, Yang,” she whispered, her lip quivering before she wrapped her arms tightly around herself.  “I thought I could trust them and...I was so wrapped up in changing the world, I never even saw how it could be used for evil.”

Silence returned while they digested the information.  Ruby and Weiss exchanged glances, but Yang never turned away from Blake.  She couldn’t turn away from Blake - Blake, the person she loved with all of her heart, who’d refused to be truthful until this time.

“Who was it?” Ruby asked, breaking the silence.  Sighing yet again, Blake looked at her feet.

“I taught Lyla...”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”  Running her hands through her hair, Yang tried to figure out what to do or how to feel about this information.  “Let me get this straight,” she said while turning back to Blake.  “You figured out how to hack people’s minds without them connecting to the Dreamscape.  You taught Lyla how to do it, then the two of you took turns brainwashing interns?”

“That’s not how it went.” 

“Then what, Blake?” Feeling her frustration boil over, Yang threw her hands in the air.  “What was it then?”

“They volunteered.  They wanted to be a part of something big -”

“You know that’s bullshit,” Yang interrupted.  “You know those interns will agree to anything.”

“They still agreed,” Blake argued.  “We told them what we were trying to do.  At least, I did…”

“And then you convinced them to kidnap people?  Build bombs?  Commit murder?”

“I didn’t do anything like that!”  Blake reached for Yang’s hand, but Yang pulled out of reach and ignored the pain in Blake’s eyes.  “Everything I did was documented and analyzed like we’re supposed to do.  The experiments were small and controlled - the only purpose was to test the connection.  But Lyla...took it a step further.”

“She brainwashed them.”

“She manipulated them,” Blake corrected before sighing.  “I was so caught up in the research, I didn’t notice for months.  Not even when one of them got arrested for trying to rob a store, even though it was completely outside of their personality.”

“How did you not notice that?” Ruby asked.  It was the same question on the tip of Yang’s tongue, but Ruby posed it in a much kinder, less sarcastic way than she would have.

“There was so much going on, and I was making such great strides of my own.  I found someone’s long-lost sibling.  I helped another communicate with a parent suffering from failing memory.  I thought we’d broken through to something good.  Something...amazing.”

For a moment, Blake looked at the floor and dwelled on the memories of that time.  After a few seconds, however, she shook her head and looked up, but avoided anyone’s gaze.

“While I was doing that, Lyla figured out how to control them.  She hijacked their dreams and their realities.  Pretty soon, they couldn’t tell which ‘reality’ was their own.  Their behavior became erratic...and aggressive...and in some cases, they just stopped coming to work altogether.”

The truth was hard for Yang to accept.  After a year searching for the culprits - for the people responsible - Blake shared some of the blame.  Blake wasn’t the victim here.  Instead, she was the mastermind who let her creation grow out of control.  She was the scientist trying to play god, only to find out that there was a reason why some realities were never tested.

“Why would you ever share that information?” Yang asked.  “Why wouldn’t you test the hell out of that first?”

“We were coworkers.  We’d worked together for years - I thought I could trust her.”

“Yeah, just like I thought I could trust you.”

She regretted the words the instant they left her lips, but she couldn’t take them back now.  Nor could she remove the hurt from Blake’s eyes.  But Blake had lied to her.  Or, at the very least, purposefully misled her - all of them.

“Just...tell me you fixed it so no one else gets hurt,” she mumbled, unable to meet Blake’s gaze.  

“Yes.  I fixed it...for now.”

“What does that mean?” 

“It means I need to come up with a permanent solution once it’s released, but it’s fixed for now.”

“Guess that’s good enough.”

After sharing a quick nod with Weiss and Ruby, who seemed to feel the same, Yang turned and walked downstairs without another word.

“Yang.”  

She heard Blake follow her but didn’t slow her pace heading into the entryway.  After all this time wishing for the truth...now, she wished she hadn’t learned it.

“Yang.”  Reaching out, Blake grabbed her arm to turn her around.  “I’m sorry -”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded, feeling hurt at having been left in the dark all this time.  “You could have told me.”

“I was scared of what you’d think of me.”  Letting go of Yang’s arm, Blake wrapped her arms around herself instead.  “I thought I changed the world - I was excited to tell you once we had a reveal.  Turns out, I only changed the world for the worse.”

“And then you ran -”

“To protect you.”  Blake immediately looked up at the response.  “I knew she’d watch you to make sure I was gone.”

“And when you came back?” Yang asked, feeling her anger return.  “You said nothing.”

“I was ashamed.  And guilty, and scared, and I just wanted to fix everything so that you’d never look at me the way you are right now.”

Blinking at the statement, Yang felt guilt erode her anger while she stepped back to put more space between them.

“You’re perfect, Yang,” Blake continued, her eyes shimmering with tears.  “You always make the right or moral choice, no matter how hard it is.  How am I supposed to keep up with that?  I tried - I really tried.  And I was so excited to show you what I discovered.  Instead...all I did was prove that no one can be as good as you.”

“You think this is a competition?” Yang asked, dumbfounded that that was Blake’s excuse.  “You think I expect you to be perfect?  Because I don’t.  I expect you to be my partner.  The person I can trust no matter what - who always has my back.”  

Hearing the anger in her voice and feeling it in her chest, she quickly shook her head.

“I just...need some time to think,” she said before walking away.  And she didn’t know if she felt better or worse when Blake let her leave - just let her walk away to stew on her hurt.  It was probably better this way.  Otherwise, she might say something else she’d regret.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t leave the house without risking a camera picking her up, which meant her options of anger rooms were limited.  So she walked into the living room, with its comfortable, white sofas and chairs and a desk littered with files and paperwork.

Knowing Weiss would fleece her if she sat at the desk, where ‘sensitive’ client information was in plain view, she sat by the window instead.  It was late, and she was exhausted, but no way was she falling asleep now.  Her mind was running too fast to take a breath.  And her heart hurt too much to relax.

She’d never expected this.  Never in a million years would she have expected this - that Blake pulled the wool over their eyes while hiding her mistakes.  That her mistakes included creating a monster that could change life as they knew it.

They were safe, for now.  But who knew what the future held, especially this future where the worst possibilities became reality.  Having experienced just a taste of that future firsthand, she could say it was something she never wanted to experience again.

Hearing someone walk into the room, she stared at the tinted window and refused to acknowledge whoever it was.  If it was Blake, she wasn’t ready to talk yet.  She needed more time to sulk and sort through the torrent of mostly-negative emotions she was feeling.

When Ruby sat on the sofa beside her, however, she looked over and caught a small smile.

“Hey,” Ruby said while pulling her legs up onto the cushion.  Even though she said nothing more than that, Yang knew she’d come to talk about what just happened, and what they just learned.

“Hey.”  

Remembering the look in Blake’s eyes when she admitted what she did, and the experience in the Dreamscape...where Project Daydream welcomed Blake home like an old friend...Yang sighed and shook her head.

“Thought we knew who the bad guys were, right?  Turns out, we should’ve been looking in our own house.  Isn’t that great?  Isn’t that just...fucking fantastic?”

When Ruby said nothing, Yang took the silence as permission to vent.

“Why didn’t she tell me?” she asked, raising both hands in the air.  “I mean, what did she think I would do - tell her good luck and throw her out on the street?  Or, I dunno, break up with her?  ‘How dare you invent some unbelievable advance in dream science?’  Why the hell would I do that?  Am I that type of person?”

Sighing at the question, she dropped her head into her hands.  That was the most hurtful part of this - that Blake didn’t trust her to accept a mistake.

“She handled this so wrong…” she muttered before wiping her eyes and looking up.  “She probably couldn’t have handled this any worse, actually.  Instead of coming to me, or to you, and asking for help, she decided to take this all upon herself.  Like...just...why?”

With another heavy sigh, Yang hung her head and tried to think of a reason - any reason - for Blake’s actions.  Did Blake not trust them at all?  Have no faith in their capabilities?  What drove her to make those decisions?  To Yang, it made no sense.  It was important to lean on others for support, not push them away and try to make it on your own.

After several long seconds of silence passed, Ruby finally shifted in her seat and spoke.

“Can I tell you something?”

“More top-secret confessions?” Yang joked, expecting Ruby to crack a smile but receiving a thoughtful expression instead.

“Kind of.”  Surprised by the response, Yang gave her sister a concerned look.  Ruby, meanwhile, wrapped her arms around her legs and stared towards the window.  “So...some people don’t like Weiss.”  

“You don’t say,” Yang replied with a light chuckle, finding that statement hardly surprising given what she knew about Weiss.

“They really don’t like her,” Ruby added.  “They hate her, actually.  They hate her so much that they’ve threatened to...make her go away.”

Yang lost her laughter at that.  When Yang turned to the side, Ruby furrowed her brow and searched for what she wanted to say next.

“This one guy was really angry because she refused his case.  Because he had no case - he straight-up stabbed someone with twenty cameras watching.  But he had money so assumed she had to help him.  When she turned him down, he threatened to kill her.  I was worried he might actually try, so I...I kind of retasked a satellite to keep tabs on him and everyone he talked to.  Hacked every security camera in the city to track their whereabouts.  Flagged bank accounts.  Voided and declined travel requests.  The works.”

“Uh...are you allowed to do that?” Yang asked, watching Ruby frown and shake her head.

“No.  Well, not legally.”

“So you broke the law for her - that’s sweet.”

“I didn’t just break the law, Yang.  I was ready to fabricate a report and send a tactical team after him.  I would’ve gone after him myself if I had to.  I honestly would’ve done anything to keep him away from her.”

Stunned into silence, Yang stared at Ruby and tried to figure out what to say to such a disclosure.

“You...never mentioned this before.”

“I didn’t want you to worry.”  After pausing for a second, Ruby sighed and shook her head.  “And I thought you would...judge me.  Or tell me I was crazy.  Or worse - tell me to stop.”

“Or I could’ve put the hurt of the century on this guy.”

“It wasn’t your fight…” Ruby replied before finally meeting Yang’s gaze.  “I’m not trying to say that what Blake did was right.  What I’m trying to say is...when it comes to protecting the people we love, you’d be surprised what we’re willing to do.”

“Like retask a government satellite?” Yang joked, feeling the mood lighten when Ruby finally smiled.

“And not be honest about how scared we are?”

With the present problem dumped back in her lap, Yang sighed and hung her head.  She only looked up when Ruby reached over and squeezed her shoulder.

“To us, it looks like she messed up - big time.  But when you’re in that moment...it’s really hard to see it as ‘messing up.’  All you know, and all you care about, is making sure the people you love are ok.  If it was you or Blake in danger, I’d do the same thing in a heartbeat - I wouldn’t even think twice about it.”

Turning away, Yang fell silent and tried to figure out how she would’ve responded if Ruby told her about this situation while it was happening.  Would she have supported such extreme measures to keep Weiss safe?  Possibly.  Or she might’ve told Ruby to let private security do their job - which was the issue, wasn’t it?  

Maybe she didn’t understand the situation as well as she thought she did.  From here, it was easy to say Blake should have done things differently, but how hard would it be to make those decisions in the moment?

“And I’m not saying you should forgive her or anything,” Ruby added.  “I’m just saying...try to put yourself in her shoes.”

Thinking about the advice, Yang stared at her hands and frowned.  It was easy for her to feel hurt and betrayed, but she would probably do something equally reckless if Blake, Ruby, or Weiss fell in harm’s way.  If there wasn’t time to go through the proper protocols...if there wasn’t time to call for help...she might take everything upon herself - for better or for worse.  But she’d never been in that type of situation before, so...she really couldn’t say.

“I guess you’re right...” she mumbled before looking over and finding Ruby picking invisible pieces of lint off the leg of her pants.  “When’d you get to be so smart?”

“Pretty sure I’ve always been this smart,” Ruby joked with a smile that grew when Yang laughed. 

And when Yang laughed, she felt better.  Not fine, but better.

“Just...remember that she loves you a lot,” Ruby added gently.  “We can fault her decisions but not the motivation behind them - she did what she thought was best for you.” 

With that last piece of wisdom, Ruby pulled Yang into a sideways hug and kissed the top of her head before leaving the room.  Alone once again, Yang stared at her hands and stewed on her thoughts for a long time - long enough that the automatic lights turned off and left her in darkness.

Ruby was right.  Sure, it hurt.  Sure, she felt betrayed.  Sure, she wished none of this had ever happened.  But Blake’s heart was in the right place.  That just seemed like such a small consolation right now...

When the automatic lights suddenly kicked on, Yang raised her head and found Weiss walking past the entrance to the living room.  Sensing the motion, she glanced over and caught Yang’s gaze.

“What’re you doing in here?” she asked, stepping inside and looking around the empty room as if it held the answer to that question.

“Testing your lights,” Yang joked before looking towards the ceiling and nodding.  “They work.”

“They should.  It cost a small fortune to get them running properly.”

“Money well spent.”  

When Weiss sat down on the sofa, Yang smiled and pulled her into a sideways hug.  While Weiss initially stiffened at the contact, she quickly relaxed - a night-and-day reaction compared to when they first started spending time together.  If Yang had pulled a ‘stunt’ like this then, she might’ve lost an eye.  Instead, Weiss was gradually warming up to it.

“How are you feeling?” she asked after settling into the hug, and it didn’t take Yang long to think of a response.

“Really mad, really hurt, really...confused.”

“Sounds about right.”

Initially, Weiss didn’t seem to have much more to say, but after a few seconds of silence, she spoke again.

“You know, I don’t want to like her.  After everything she put you through, I’d really like to hate her.  Unfortunately, she seems to genuinely care about you.”

Seeing Weiss’ furrowed brow, and the way she looked honestly upset by the realization, Yang smiled.

“I appreciate your concern,” she replied, lightly squeezing Weiss’ shoulder before sighing.  “I know it must’ve been hard for her to do what she did and finally admit to it, but...it’s just...how do I trust her now?”

The question was a serious one, because she needed an answer.  If Blake was willing to lie about this, what else might she lie about?  

Weiss, however, frowned while thinking through the question.

“Trust is something you build day-by-day...one breath of honesty at a time.  Unfortunately, it’s not a switch you can just flip.  It’s earned, not given.” 

“So just...try again?”

“Your other option is not to trust her at all,” Weiss replied.  “In which case, you don’t have a relationship and might as well break up now.”

Yang cringed at the bluntness of that response, and her heart protested the idea of breaking up with Blake at all.

“I don’t want to do that.” 

“Then you have your answer - give her the chance to earn your trust back.  If you’re not willing to do that, or if she’s not willing to try, then you’re both just fooling yourselves.”

Thinking about the candid advice - which hurt, but at the same time gave her some amount of hope - Yang finally smiled.  

“Since when are you the master of relationships?” she teased, pulling Weiss closer and gently poking her in the side.  

“Since I met Ruby.”  Smiling at the response, Weiss finally stood up and dusted off her pants.

“That means you trust Ruby then?” 

After straightening her hair, Weiss looked at Yang and scoffed.

“Most days, I trust Ruby more than I trust myself.”

In the midst of a nod, Yang paused and tilted her head.

“Huh?”

“I don’t know.  It sounded good in my head.”  

When Yang laughed, Weiss smiled and patted her shoulder before leaving the room behind.

Even though her heart still ached fiercely, the fog of anger had lifted.  She could still feel it there, somewhere, but it was more of a memory than a current state of being.  

Which meant...maybe it was time she faced Blake.  

After pushing herself to her feet with a sigh, she left the living room and walked upstairs to find Blake.  It felt like cement blocks were tied to her ankles, but she forced herself to carry on.  They couldn’t avoid each other forever, not that she wanted to do that.  She just wanted...reassurance, or something.  Like what Weiss said - she wanted to know that Blake was willing to try, if given the opportunity.  

Walking into the room they’d stayed in last night, she found Blake sitting in the chair by the window, hugging her knees to her chest and staring off into space.  She looked over when Yang closed the door, and it was immediately obvious that she’d been crying.

The remainder of Yang’s anger dissolved at the sight, which she could only consider to be her fault.  She’d once promised never to make Blake cry - look how well she’d done with that promise...

“Hey,” she said, sitting across from Blake while amber eyes never left her own.

“Hey,” Blake replied with a brief, forced smile before they drifted into silence - a weird, unusual silence that neither of them seemed to know what to do with.  Once it grew long enough to become unbearable, Yang grasped onto anything to say and gestured towards the tablet laying in front of Blake.

“Do you think you can fix it?  Like, permanently?”

“I think so,” Blake directed towards her hands.  “But it could take some time.  They integrated it more fully than I expected.”

Unsure of what to say next, Yang nodded and felt another uncomfortable silence fall over them.  There was an elephant in the room, but neither of them seemed willing to acknowledge it, which meant she needed to do it and get it over with.  Bandaid approach - get all the swearing out of the way and move on.

“You lied.”

That felt like the crux of the issue, and brought Blake’s eyes back to her in a heartbeat.

“I did,” Blake admitted, her eyes again growing moist with tears.  “At the very least, I intentionally misled you.”

“Then...how am I supposed to trust you?”

The question needed to be asked, but Yang regretted it the moment she did.  The hurt that crossed Blake’s face wounded her more than she could’ve imagined.

“I...I don’t know,” Blake whispered, looking lost while her eyes swam with tears.  “I guess...I don’t know.”

Sinking further into her chair, Blake clutched her hands and bit her lip while staring pointedly at her lap.  

The sight made Yang feel worse than she already did.  She wanted to pretend that everything was alright - that everything could just spring back to the way it had been - but her mind wouldn’t let her do that.  Her heart refused to let go of the pain she’d lived with for what felt like years now.  Pain that was, to some degree, of Blake’s own doing.

“We’ll figure it out,” she finally said, attempting a smile when Blake looked up at her.  “We’ll figure it out,” she repeated with a little more certainty, although she felt none of it right now.

From Blake’s weak smile, she felt the same way.

“Yeah...we will.”

Blake didn’t add what Yang felt left unspoken - ‘I hope.’  

They both hoped it would work out - that was a start, right?  It wasn’t a solution, but...they could at least try.

Feeling a sudden wave of exhaustion after the events of the day, Yang leaned back in her seat and briefly closed her eyes.  The stress of Tavon’s house plus the unexpected secrets lurking in her own life had worn out her energy, and now she just really wanted to go to sleep.

Once the feeling ebbed ever so slightly, she opened her eyes and motioned towards the bed.

“We should probably get some rest.  There’s more sleuthing and problem solving to do tomorrow.”

“Right.”  Standing up when Yang did, Blake looked at the bed and frowned.  “I can sleep downstairs,” she suddenly said, but Yang grabbed her hand before she walked away.

“You don’t need to do that.”  

When Blake looked at their joined hands, Yang let go - then immediately questioned why she did.  Even if she didn’t know what their future held, she knew she still loved Blake more than anything.  That’s probably why it hurt so much - because she loved Blake so much.  But, even if she felt wounded, she wanted Blake nearby.

“Are you sure?” Blake asked, looking at Yang with an expression still filled with regret.

“I’m sure.”

Though Blake looked hesitant to agree, she eventually nodded and moved over to her side of the bed.  From her posture, and the way she stared at the floor, Yang felt the urge to say something - anything that lifted Blake’s spirits from where they currently were.

When no obvious response emerged, however, she sighed and got ready for bed herself.  It was late, and she was exhausted.  After getting some rest, she would feel recharged and better suited for making progress tomorrow.  Right now, she just didn’t feel emotionally or physically capable of helping much.

By the time she got into bed, Blake was already under the covers with her eyes closed and her back towards the center of the bed.  The way she curled towards her heart projected her anguish, and Yang...Yang didn’t know what to do about that.  Normally, she would try to comfort.  Tonight, however, she got into bed, turned towards the door, and sighed.

This wasn’t how she imagined Blake’s homecoming to be.  She always thought they’d celebrate through the night, rejoicing in each other’s company for weeks on end.  Instead, she was...confused, hurt, and scared about what their future held.

They loved each other.  Was that enough?