Chapter 6: Getting a Clue

Yang's entire body reeled with pain. None of her senses responded. Internally panicking at the uncertainty of her situation, Yang forced her eyes open through her inexplicable lethargy. What greeted her both relieved her and grievously wounded her.

What relived her was the familiar sight of the walls of her team's shared apartment. Her duffle bag, the familiar part of the wall she stared at when she had trouble sleeping (which meant she hadn't fallen asleep on Blake again, thank god), and the foot of her bed, assuring Yang that whatever happened probably just involved having too much fun. What grievously wounded her, however, was actually seeing all of it. It was bright, too bright. Her eyes felt like they were being pierced in the brief moment she had them open before she snapped them shut and tried to sleep off her unknown affliction. It only took a few minutes for her to conclude that the hammers banging against the inside of her skull would not allow her to sink into her dreams as she so desperately wished to, leading her to groan into the ragged pillow at her predicament.

"Having fun?" A familiar voice rung in Yang's ears, which she would have welcomed if it weren't for the fact that it seemed horrifically loud and made the ache in Yang's head even worse, something she didn't think was possible.

"Oh yeah… having a… blast… everything… hurts… even talking" Yang managed to eke out painfully, her face still buried in the pillow in a futile attempt to alleviate her splitting headache.

"Here, drink this. Ren said it would help" Blake instructed, handing Yang a glass of strange bubbly green liquid that gurgled as if alive, or brought back from the dead.

Without even questioning the contents, Yang downed it in one gulp. So what if she just chugged some unknown green liquid that looked like zombie juice? She was willing to do a lot worse to make her head stop feeling like it was getting danced on by loader bots.

Blake remained silent after Yang snatched the glass out of her hand and greedily drank from it, waiting for it to kick in. After a few moments, Yang opened her eyes, which had dark circles of exhaustion under them and sat up; revealing her wild mane of golden hair to be an even more jumbled and chaotic mess than she usually liked it to be.

"Wow, this really helped. Like a lot. I thought I was gonna have to spend today lying in bed and moanin-hrrrk!" Yang finally said, looking significantly better, but turning green soon afterward as she rushed out of the apartment. Blake followed suit, sighing at the dire condition the blonde brawler was enduring.

When she finally made it to the little space in front of the apartment, she was greeted with the sight of Yang retching into a trash can, probably cursing fate for her affliction. Again, Blake said nothing; simply waiting for Yang to finish throwing up into the trash can with a handkerchief ready.

When Yang's body finally decided it purged a satisfactory amount of whatever was in her stomach, she gladly took the handkerchief Blake gave her and wiped her mouth before tossing it in the trash can as well, its usefulness forever compromised.

"Ughhh I take it back I don't feel better" Yang moaned, clutching her stomach.

"It doesn't hurt to talk and see, does it? I can help you back to bed" Blake replied with open concern.

"No, no I can talk, it's just my stomach now" Yang said back, fumbling around for her canteen, finding it and drinking from it as if she just suffered a trek through the desert. After she finished off the canteen, she pocketed it and started to head back into the apartment, gesturing for Blake to follow her.

After getting settled at the coffee table and seeing the new four she met yesterday, team JNPR she thinks they called themselves, out cold on the floor, Blake sat down across from her, taking a sip of her tea before putting it aside and looking directly at Yang.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" Blake asked.

"Uhhh, hold on, my head still hurts a bit" Yang answered, mentally scrounging for bits and pieces of the previous day. "I remember starting the vote to go party with the new guys. Walking with them to the bar, and… that's it" Yang added.

"Oh you partied alright, I think I should start from the beginning though…."

One night earlier, at "The Crow Bar"

The town of Newer Haven was in a panic. Townspeople cowered in their homes, the streets cleared, and the air grew thick with tension. For the worst thing that could possibly happen was happening. Eight young vault hunters were having a night out.

The bar reeked of dirt, cheap spilled alcohol, and a little blood, but the town had no other forms of entertainment for its residents, so it still had a healthy number of guests. A black haired giant of a man with a goatee clad in a dress shirt and vest stood behind the bar, adjusting his tie with a confident smile on his face before Yang and the seven other vault hunters entered through the front door. The man, named Junior, scowled at this, leaving his spot at the bar to approach Yang.

"Goddammit, blondie, I just cleaned up everything from the last incident, I swear if you-"Junior tried to say, but was swiftly cut off by the realization of his error in approaching Yang and putting his face in punching range. His face fell from agitated to silently begging for mercy after his epiphany.

"Oh calm down, We're just here for drinks, that's all. I swear if anything happens to your bar tonight it won't be our fault" Yang promised with a wink.

"Uh-huh, suuuure" Junior answered sarcastically, still not trusting that his bar would survive, but unable to do anything to prevent what he thought was its inevitable second destruction.

The night started harmlessly enough, a few rounds of drinks, some more getting to know each other, which revealed Weiss had an older sister named Winter who left the corporate world for the military, and Ruby and Yang had a supposedly "super cool" uncle named Qrow.

Alcohol and youth do not mix well for anyone nearby, however, as more rounds passed, the troublemakers of the team became more rambunctious. Not even one hour into the night and chaos ruled the bar, Nora and Yang flinging themselves at each other and at the walls of the bar for no discernable reason, Weiss becoming especially affectionate, chasing an inebriated Ruby who, even in her intoxicated state, knew something had to be off if Weiss was asking for a hug. Jaune was locked in a drinking contest with a burly man in green who was accompanied by two young women, one with floppy rabbit ears, and another with a beret and shades that for some odd reason remained equipped even inside the bar, and Pyrrha cheered him on from the side.

In the midst of the pandemonium stood Blake and Ren, still at the original table paying no mind to the ruckus that surrounded them. Both had their ECHO communicators set on "Record" and were saving it all.

"Blackmail?" Ren asked, more out of curiosity than to disapprove. After all, he was guilty as well

"Who wouldn't pass this up? " Blake answered with a rare mischievous smile.

"Whatever we get, let's hope the only use we'll have is to laugh at it" Ren agreed.

Eventually the energy of everyone died down enough for Blake and Ren, the only ones who didn't drink, to walk their wobbly teammates back to the apartment.

Present Day

"So to be concise, you have a textbook case of hangover" Blake finished her story, leaning back in her chair and offering Yang a bottle of water.

"Oh. Uh, thanks, for helping me. How long did I last?" Yang inquired.

"Not that long, you were the first of us to be all the way drunk" Blake answered

"What?! No way I-"

Blake cut her off by playing the recording she had of the night before, playing the part where Yang's speech started to get notably more slurred than all the other voices.

"I stand corrected" Yang backpedaled. "I'm still feeling really crappy, so I'm gonna be in my bed, but if you need help with any of their hangovers just yell. Actually don't, sound is awful for a hangover" Yang said, stumbling up to her bed before falling over into it and almost immediately falling asleep.

No one else got up in the short while that Yang took to go back to her bed besides Ren, who was already up and knew well enough to mind his own business. Perfect, this was Blake's opportunity; she silently crept up to Yang's duffle bag and began rifling through it before finding her prize. "Ninjas of Love", the cover read, Blake's favorite book ever since she lifted it off of that one Atlas general, now lay in the hands of its rightful owner.

The ex-assassin's thoughts drifted back to Yang. As much as the brawler's antics should have irritated her, Blake couldn't help but stick around. Yang even made her laugh sometimes, and she can't even remember the last time she laughed, if she ever had, before meeting Yang. Blake still remembered when she first escaped Atlas and resigned herself to a life of running and solitude. Not exactly a good life, but anything was better than killing for Atlas. She couldn't stand what she saw, what she had to do, what they tried to make her into. She wanted to be rid of that, to run away. Of course, Blake didn't plan on running into Ruby and Yang. At first, she tried to part ways with them because their exuberance got on her nerves, but necessity demanded they stick together. Blake had no quick way around Pandora yet and she was starting to run out of ammo. She was good with a sword, sure, but not that good, forcing her to travel with the sisters. Over time, their bright personalities grew on her, she felt genuine concern when Ruby came down with a fever from waiting at her sniping spot to clear out the bandits guarding an ammo cache, and she even caught herself smiling when Ruby and Yang found chocolate chip cookies. In the back of her head a voice told her this wouldn't last, however. It told her she would not have companionship for long, or ever again. Her mind always went back to that spot in idle times, but she fought against it every time. Besides, why would she ever let herself lose Yang? She was so carefree, so sweet, and she also had those amazing abs and Blake would do anything just to feel Yang's…

"No. Bad Blake. Bad" she chided herself for having such thoughts. Pandora must have gotten to her; the last thing anyone needed to know was Blake's more… superficial opinions of Yang. No, that would be something that would stay in her books. Thankfully the remaining people in the apartment awoke, allowing Blake to distract herself from her thoughts by helping Ren make sure no one on their team was too hung over.

After a little while of team JNPR slogging through the morning sickness, they announced their departure, making for the garage to pick up their gear and head off, but not before leaving contact information for a future date.

Almost immediately after the team left, Weiss's ECHO communicator rang to life with a simple message that said "Come to the town square and knock on the really tall building door" sent by a nondescript "WS"

"Is that a trap?" Blake asked immediately.

"Probably not, look it has the little WS at the bottom- wait. Weiss are you lonely? You know Ruby would be fine with keeping you company more often" Yang suggested not so subtly, lightly elbowing Weiss.

"I am perfectly fine, thank you very much! Also, we can trust this message. I know who it is, but there's no sense in telling you now, considering we'll meet them" Weiss answered.

"Alright, let's go then! Always nice to meet the townsfolk!" Ruby exclaimed, again dashing off and leaving her team in the dust.

After the rest of her team caught up with her, Ruby knocked on the door before the intercom next to it gurgled to life. "Who is this?" the intercom asked, carrying a woman's harsh voice.

"Weiss Schnee, I got a message from a "WS" saying to come here" Weiss answered haughtily, as if she owned the massive building that overlooked the town"

Without a response, the door opened to reveal a tall woman with white hair gathered into a bun, save for a curled lock on the left side of her face and bangs hiding the right side. She was clad in a ragged white military uniform, which would have once looked regal if it weren't for the grimy wear and tear that Pandora seemed to curse every piece of clothing with.

"Winter!" Weiss shouted happily, rushing forward to hug the woman without delay.

Winter, unsurprised by this, readied herself to receive her younger sister in her arms.

"It's good to see you too, Weiss" Winter replied, returning the embrace before looking at the other three vault hunters at the doorstep.

"My sister says you're all looking for a vault. If that's true, I may have some useful things for you"

"HEY ICE QUEEN. THE HELL YOU TALKING TO MY NEICES ABOUT?!" a slurred, clearly inebriated voice called out from the distance.

Winter's face almost instantly fell from a smile to a scowl as her hand floated over the sheath on her hip, waiting for the voice to show itself.

"Hey don't get mad, I was just asking a question" the voice added, revealing its owner to be a thin man with spiky, greying hair, a grey dress shirt, and a tattered red cape.

"Uncle Qrow?!" Ruby and Yang both yelled in surprise.

"Uncle Qrow" Qrow answered back before turning to Winter. "Really, I'm just asking a question, what're you doing with my nieces?"

END OF CHAPTER 6

A/N: I'll get more Weiss screentime in here I swear. Also hope you liked the little CFVY cameo, they're in here too!