Chapter 14

Yang turned the steering wheel and maneuvered the car onto the freeway. Her knuckles were white against the cold leather, as if they tried to sap as much warmth from the wheel as they could.

Sitting next to her was Ruby. She had said nothing since leaving the restaurant.

The two continued in silence as the car rolled down the highway, climbing in speed.

Ruby turned her head so she looked at Yang. Not taking her eyes off the road, Yang stared straight ahead.

"Can I ask what prompted this?" Ruby whispered. Her voice cut like a cold knife piercing flesh.

Yang opened her mouth to respond. She thought she had the words to respond, but fell short. Her fingers fumbled with the radio, flipping it on to a random station.

Ruby paid no attention to the radio. "There's someone else. Someone else has gotten between us?"

The mechanic tried to respond, but Ruby shut her down.

"No! What happened to the past five years of the two of us? Don't I matter? Weren't you words, family first?"

"I never should have let this go on," Yang whispered.

There was a moment of silence, in which the radio filled. "Next we have a track from one of Vale's newest artists, Roman Torchwick. He's joined to night by his co-star, pianist Neo Politan!"

"Five years is a long time, sister," Ruby spat out. "And you think you can just sweep it away, thinking you could leave me for some bitch you met in a club?"

"I didn't meet him at a club," Yang murmured. Tears had begun to spill from her eyes, though neither noticed.

"Great, so are you even into women? Did you lie about that, too? Are my affections a cheap trinket to play with for years and ready to be thrown aside when they don't work for you?"

"No," Yang sputtered. She looked at Ruby, and saw her sister was in tears.

A hand rested on Yang's shoulder. Ruby's hand gripped her tightly, and began trailing down her chest.

Yang shuddered with desire. She knew Ruby could feel it as well.

The mechanic hated it. She hated it all. She hated herself.

The radio continued on, with Roman's voice fighting to penetrate their argument.

Yang squeezed her eyes shut as Ruby's hand roamed. In a moment of clarity, she opened them.

And knew what to do.

Yang let go of the wheel. Ruby screamed. But it did nothing to stop the white car from barreling towards their car.

An Atlesian Knight, Yang's inner mechanic mused.

Then it crashed.

Yang opened her eyes with difficulty. Bright lights assaulted her vision.

"Good. You're awake," a soft voice said.

The mechanic turned toward the voice. A tall man in a white coat smiled down at her.

"You're at Vale Regional, Miss Xiao Long. My name is Doctor Lie Ren, and I've been taking care of you the past three days you've been in a coma."

She nodded, not comprehending what had happened. Yang tried to open her mouth, and ask about the shotgun and why she wasn't dead.

Dr. Ren interpreted her attempt at speaking differently. "You survived that car crash. Remarkable, if I might say. But enough of that. I need to run some tests on you before we talk anymore."

She was assaulted with yes or no questions that she tried her best to answer.

When he finished, Dr. Ren opened the door and spoke to someone outside. "You can come in now."

Jaune Arc barreled into the room and knelt by her bed. He took her hand in his, and sputtered a relieved, "Yang!"

The blonde offered the man a small smile, too weak to attempt anything else.

But the joy that came from seeing Jaune was short lived. He squeezed her hand tight and said, "Ruby…she didn't make it."

Yang blinked, all too conscious of the man's hands on hers.

Those hands had come with a cost.

Yang closed her eyes. She did not open them for a long.

Author Notes: I'm shit at delivering on longer chapters when I promise them XD

Well…that's the end! Not the happy one I'm sure you were looking for. But not many mindfuck stories do.

I'm sure some of you are confused by this chapter. The first scene is what launched Yang into a coma. She hallucinated the events of canon and beyond in that coma. Then the second scene of this chapter occurs.

But as for every other little detail, you'll just have to reread parts of the story to find how they're reflected and just what they mean. The only thing I'll offer to clear up in a PM is who/what 'she' was, and that's only if you offer me a theory first.

What, I like to make my readers think ;)

Thank you so much for getting this story as popular as it has become! It's my most followed, and one of the most viewed I've written! I can't thank you all enough.

And enjoy V4 this Saturday/Sunday!

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