A/N: Volume 4 of RWBY is almost here! Before that happens, I wanted to post this brief story on some of the behind the scenes things around the end of volume 3 of RWBY, specifically Yang's reaction after she regained consciousness and what was going through Blake's mind at the end. This story won't really have much of a point when volume 4 releases because I'm sure these conflicts will be resolved in it, but hey, there's still time before that happens.

In contrast to the dark campus around her, it was easy to see into the library because of the flickering illumination provided by the flames. And what she saw sent an icy current of fear through her veins. The cold was short lived as her legendary temper exploded and made her blood boil. She saw the girl weakly raise her hand and saw her lips move, but even if she had been close enough to hear the whisper it would have been blocked out by the pounding in her ears.

"Get AWAY from her!"

The masked man regarded her contemptuously as he faced her and slid the sword back into its sheath, and Yang's rage burst. Flames erupted around her and a blast from Ember Celica launched her across the room to kill the White Fang thug that had hurt Blake—

The sounds of the festival pressed in on them from all directions and Yang's spirits couldn't have been higher. They had won their match and could spend the next couple of hours relaxing and watching other fights, and even better, Ruby and Weiss had disappeared somewhere. Yang had Blake all to herself for the time being.

The black haired Faunus smiled at her and Yang felt her heart beat faster. She opened her mouth to suggest they go to a less crowded portion of the festival so they could actually hear each other talk (and maybe the blonde would come up with an excuse to snuggle up to her partner under the guise of friendliness), but something wasn't right. The grounds had been full of people, hadn't they? Yang turned in a circle, trying to make sense of it, but the harder she tried to concentrate on her surroundings, the more indistinct they became.

As Yang turned back to Blake, something new caught her attention: eyes were appearing out of the dark that had fallen around them. Red eyes, dozens of them. She raised her hands to defend herself, but with a shock she realized that Ember Celica was gone. Her breath caught in her throat and she grabbed for Blake's hand to run with her, but her hand passed through empty air.

Blake was gone.

She started to run, and around her the stands and tents of the festival began to flicker with the light of flames. Panic squeezed the air out of her lungs and threatened to engulf her, when she caught a glimpse of black and white ahead.

The blonde staggered to a stop in front of Blake, never happier to see her in her life, but she could tell immediately that something was wrong. Blake was looking at her with such remorse that the terror Yang had been experiencing was driven out of her mind. The world around her blurred, but Blake remained clear. The Faunus reached out and took Yang's left hand in both of hers, squeezing it tightly as she leaned in.

"I'm so sorry, Yang."

And she kissed the blonde on the forehead.

Then she was gone, and the world faded into nothingness.

She became aware of a lot of shouting and crying nearby but was unwilling to open her eyes. Something was wrong with her…her head was fuzzy and she couldn't move properly. She wished she could just go back to sleep but now that she was awake she couldn't block out all of the noise.

Gradually Yang tested what she could perceive and found that she was lying on something soft but that something tough and unyielding across her belly and chest kept her from moving. When she couldn't figure out anything further, she reluctantly opened her eyes at last.

She was met with a scene that was just short of being complete chaos. She could see people running to and fro, but she couldn't sit up to get a clear look at them because the unyielding something across her torso turned out to be a set of straps that immobilized her against the bed that she had been laid on. She could hear the moans of the injured and the sobbing of the scared or bereaved all around her.

Yang turned her head and received a welcome sight at last. "Weiss…"

The pale girl had been staring at her scroll with a tight-lipped scowl, but started at the unexpected murmur from Yang and shakily turned to face her.

The look on Weiss' face scared Yang more than everything else. The heiress put on a brave attempt at a smile, but just behind it Yang could see the tough girl was starting to crack.

"Yang…I'm so…you had us all scared."

The brawler blinked a few times, trying to clear her head, and said, "Could you let me up? I don't want to be strapped down like this." Her words came out slurred; her tongue felt thick and it was hard to speak around it.

"Yang, you can't…the medic said you can't move yet. You'll hurt yourself—you lost a lot of blood and you're on strong painkillers."

Her head was still too fuzzy for her to realize that this was the cause of her clouded mind, but even in her dazed state Weiss' words triggered alarm and she began struggling to sit up.

"Yang, stop it! You can't—you need to stay—!"

But Yang had finally noticed something as she attempted to push herself up: only her left hand was actually doing anything. A sickening sensation of dread settled in her stomach as she craned her neck as much as she could to see.

The sight of the bloody bandage covering the stump of her right arm stopped her heart. She turned to look at Weiss again, who was watching her with a faint glimmer of tears in her eyes.

"Where's Ruby?" she croaked. "Where's—" Her heart rate spiked again as she remembered seeing the White Fang pierce Blake's belly with his sword and she started struggling against the straps again. "Where's Blake?!"

Weiss put a hand on her shoulder and forced her back down. "Ruby is being taken care of. Something happened, I don't know what, but she was right at the middle of it and…and when your uncle found her she was unconscious. She hasn't woken up yet but-but he said she was going to be okay." She turned away long enough to wipe her eyes and when she was facing Yang again the tremble in her lips had been replaced by a scowl. "And Blake…Blake's gone."

The blood drained out of Yang's face and she stopped struggling. Weiss noticed right away and looked horrified.

"No, I didn't mean it like that! She-she left, Yang. After they bandaged her injury she just…left."

The blonde sank back into the mat, utterly deflated. Ruby was in trouble, she was maimed and stuck in this triage, and Blake…Blake had left her.

"When will she be back?" she whispered.

Weiss shook her head. "She didn't say. She didn't say anything at all. She just—" Her teammate stopped abruptly, looking uncomfortable.

"What?"

Her pale cheeks gained a pink tinge and she looked away. "She held your hand and whispered something to you, then she, well…kissed your forehead before she left."

All of Yang seemed to droop as it all sank in. Her last moments of consciousness, charging at that man…the nightmare that had become real at the end…Blake's parting words to her…

"I'm so sorry, Yang."

"She's not coming back," she whispered as tears gathered in her eyes.

Nervous fingers hovered over the scroll for the fifth time that day, and just like the other four times withdrew without doing anything. Blake set the scroll down and buried her face in her arms so she didn't have to keep looking at it.

She hated herself. Yang probably hated her too, now, but she wouldn't know how Yang felt, would she? Because she couldn't bring Yang up on the scroll and talk to her. Tell her she was sorry. Tell her that it was all her fault.

Tell her that she missed her more than she had ever missed anything in her life.

And that was why she had to cut yang out of her life.

As long as she stayed away, Adam would be too busy hunting her to hurt Yang again. If she cut off all contact, Adam couldn't hurt Yang to hurt her.

She had almost cracked, once. She had written out a full letter explaining everything and apologizing. Blake could have sent it and had no further contact with Yang. The White Fang would never find out. Only…

Only, Yang would have come looking for her. Blake knew her partner well enough to know that, if she saw the depths of the feelings expressed in that letter, she wouldn't have been able to stay away, no matter how angry she was at her.

She had poured her heart out into that letter.

And then she had burned it.

And now, because each day she kept opening her scroll and staring at Yang's contact entry in it…

…she removed that, too.

This was the only way.