Yang laid in her bed and looked up at the ceiling. She held the stump of her arm up and tried to look through the fingers of the hand that she had lost in her fight with Adam. She counted the mistakes she'd made in that battle and realized that her arm would forever serve as a reminder that she had made a mistake and she was unable to protect those she cared about. Of course Blake was still alive but she'd left and Yang couldn't understand why she had, she seemed to blame it on herself. Why would Blake want to be with a woman who'd gone insane a few days before hand during a tournament? Left alone with her thought, Yang had been sent into a depression with an end in sight. Her father was there, but he wasn't good at dealing with depression, her and Ruby's childhood was testament to that. Being trained by her uncle and occasionally her father she'd taken up Qrow's drinking habits. And now he was gone, so she couldn't even share that with him now. Depression is best not left alone, and in Yang's case that rang all too true as her mind began to wander. Why did Ruby leave her in this state instead of staying to comfort her, but she wasn't the big sister so why did she have to help. These were the thoughts that kept Yang away at night and so often kept her from getting out of bed. She dropped her arm down and sighed as she turned her head to look out the window at the snow slowly falling over the land of Remnant. A raven sat outside her window and looked in at her.
Of course, the raven. This raven had taken to sitting outside of Yang's window, seemingly mocking her lack of freedom. It almost seemed like this raven knew about Yang's abandonment issues and sat outside of her window to further remind her of her past. This raven reminded Yang of her mother. She was just out of Yang's grasp and refused to approach her.
"I reached out for you, you know?" Yang said as she looked at the raven, "You never came around and this happened." She held up her mutilated arm. "I suppose I can give up my search now."
Another raven flew to the branch and cawed. The two flew off together singing their winter song. The song was at the same time beautiful and haunting.
Yang looked back up at her ceiling and gave out another sigh. She closed her eyes to try and sleep again but images of Adam, Blake, Ruby and what little she'd seen of her mother passed through her mind before she could fall asleep and her eyes opened abruptly. 'Sleep', Yang thought to herself and gave out a slight, sad chuckle. She'd had a trauma induced insomnia for a couple of weeks now due to the prior events. She closed her eyes again to try and sleep and she began to feel herself fall into what she could tell was going to be a good long sleep for the first time in a few days, but a knocking came on the door.
"Yang." Taiyang's voice came from behind the paper thin door, "Can I come in."
Yang sighed as she looked at the door, "Fine." She said with a slightly annoyed tone to her voice.
Taiyang opened the door and walked in. Behind him stood a shorter, pale skinned woman with long black hair and lime green eyes. She was wearing a fur coat and a longer skirt. She had a bag over her shoulder that she placed down at the foot of the bed before taking a look at Yang. She cringed as soon as she saw Yang's arm. As soon as Yang saw the woman she shook her head.
"Melanie here says she's a friend of yours from school." Taiyang told her, "Is that true?"
Yang nodded, "More like acquaintances but she can stay if she wants to." She responded with a slight scowl.
Taiyang looked at the two of them and smiled. "Then I'll leave the two of you alone." He responded as he left. He was glad that somebody else cared for his daughter, somebody that wasn't Yang's own sister. "I'll make some tea."
Melanie looked up at Taiyang and smiled, "Thank you." She responded, "That would be nice."
After Taiyang had left and made his way down the hallway Yang spoke up. "How'd you find me?" She asked, "This place is pretty remote."
"Junior used to know a Qrow Branwen, who's supposedly your uncle." Melanie said as she began to take off her jacket, revealing a tank top underneath. "Your dad's a pretty easy man to track if you look in the right places."
Yang looked at Melanie with slight confusion. "I kicked your ass," Yang said before pausing, "Why did you go out of your way to find me?"
Melanie smiled as she opened her bag. "You want a drink." She asked as she began to take out bottles, "If I remember correctly Junior never did give you that drink you asked for."
"You're not answering my question." Yang said, "Why did you track me down?"
Melanie sighed as she put the bottles down. "Because I heard what happened to you." She responded, "Junior heard about it from one of his guys and I overheard them talking about it."
"Of course he'd be happy about it." Yang nearly spat before stopping herself.
Melanie shook her head, "No, was actually sympathetic and asked if either me or Miltia wanted to visit you."
"I assume your sister didn't want to." Yang asked.
"Somebody had to stay behind and help Junior with the bar," Melanie told her before starting to mix the alcohol, "No ice, correct." Yang nodded. Melanie finished mixing and got up to hand it to Yang, as she did so she continued talking, "Miltia sends her sympathies though."
"So you came on Junior's behalf?" Yang asked as she took the drink. Melanie continued to make herself one as well.
Melanie gave a half nod and smiled slightly, "Partially." Melanie said, "And you've been on my mind recently. The way you fight is so aggressive yet calculated, I was kind of fascinated by it."
Yang blushed slightly. She didn't know what to say to Melanie after hearing that, or how to take it.
"I thought you could use some company." Melanie said, "Don't take it the wrong way."
Yang sighed, "Thanks." Yang said, "I guess it has been lonely here."
"Hey." Melanie said as, "If it starts your weekend off with a Yang…"
Yang looked at her, a slight smile cracked at the side of mouth and she began to laugh. Melanie started to laugh with her and they went on for a few moments before Taiyang knocked again, opening the door. Yang placed her Strawberry Sunrise on her bed side table and looked up at his smiling face.
"It's nice to see you so happy." Taiyang said placing the tray of tea on Yang's bed.
"It's been nice to see a friendly face." Yang told him, "No offense meant."
"None taken." Taiyang responded. He stood up and began to walk out of the room again, "I've got some distance teaching I have to do for the next bit, so if you need me I'll be in my office."
Melanie watched Taiyang as he left and smiled, "He's a teacher?" She asked.
"Yep." Yang responded, "He teaches at Haven, he'd be there right now…" She sighed as he mood began to wane, "If I weren't relying on him so much."
Melanie looked at her, "He just loves you." She said, "I'm sure he's glad to look after you in this state."
Yang looked at Melanie and sighed, "I suppose it's what any good father would do." She said.
"Exactly." Melanie said as she finished her first drink and made another. "So anyway, that guy where with, and this is a question from Miltia, is he still single."
Yang thought for a second, "Neptune?" she then thought for another second, "Pretty sure one of my team members was dating him, don't know if she still is though, what with her being sent back to live with her father in Atlas."
"Wait he was dating a Schnee girl?" Melanie asked, "So why was he hitting on us, he's already pretty much gotten to the top of the world as far as women go."
"He does that to all women." Yang said, "I think I even saw him doing that to a feminine man at Beacon. He's pretty faithful to Weiss though."
"Damn." Melanie said, "She was actually kind of interested in him."
"I'm sure she'll be able to find somebody else." Yang responded, "If she looks anything like you guys are probably pining after her on a daily basis."
"Yang." Melanie said, "Are you flirting with me?"
Yang thought for a second and she started to blush heavily. "I-" Yang started, "I didn't mean anything by it."
Melanie smiled, "It's fine." She said with a smile beginning to sprawl across her face, "I'll just take the compliment."
Yang sighed and sat back in her bed still blushing. Instead of just leaving it be Melanie smiled and stood up. She finished her second drink and walked over to Yang's bedside and sat down. She put her hand on Yang's thigh and smiled. "We could use a girl like you at the bar."
Yang's blush deepened. "I've only got one arm though." Yang said, "And I kind of beat the crap out of everybody there."
"Who better to protect Junior than somebody who could beat him in a fight." Melanie said as she moved her hand up Yang's arm, "Regardless, you still have a lot of muscle in this arm, it's rock solid."
Yang continued to blush. "I-" Yang said nervously, "I'll think about it. You'd probably have to clear things with Junior right?"
"It won't take much convincing." Melanie said, "It'll bring in more people if it's known that we hire inclusively. Having a woman as physically powerful around might be a good thing as well."
Yang sighed, the blush slightly leaving her face. "I'll consider it." She said, "If you'll come back sometime soon."
"Am I starting to grown on you?" Melanie asked.
"You're just, being nice to me is all." Yang said as the blush ran away from her face, "I don't have many people I can trust."
"I'm listening if you want to talk about it." Melanie said, she started to sink into a bit of a numbness as the drinks started to kick in, plus a few that she had had before she had arrived. She laid down on her side beside Yang and smiled at her."
"You're drunk." Yang said.
Melanie looked up at her, "How'd you know?" she asked.
"I can smell the Whiskey on your breath, there's no whiskey in a Strawberry Sunrise." Yang responded.
"You can still tell me." Melanie said, "If you're lucky I won't remember it. If I do I won't tell anyone, not even my sister."
Yang sighed. "Fine." Yang said as she sat up a bit more and moved over so Melanie could be a bit more comfortable than she already was. "Well it seems like everybody but my dad's left me. The woman I loved ran away from me and betrayed my trust and now my sister's left without even a word about it. It seems like my Uncle Qrow left with her. Then there's my ongoing search for my mother, the woman that I was looking for the first time I walked into Junior's club. Then there's…" Yang's eyes started to water at the thought of the next person.
Melanie looked up at Yang slightly dazed, "Go on." She said.
"A friend of mine was killed in the Battle of Vale." Yang said and she began to cry, it wasn't loud but the tears fell.
Melanie sighed and sat up so she could pet Yang's hair. "Go ahead." Melanie whispered into Yang's ear and continued to stroke her golden locks. Yang rested her head on Melanie's shoulder and began to cry, instead of her usual silent crying she began to cry, quite a bit louder than she had been before. Her tears started to drop down Melanie's shoulder. The tears rolled down into Melanie's tank top. Melanie payed not attention to it and continued to stroke Yang's hair. They sat like that for a good long while, after a while Yang's cry became quieter. There was sudden a honk coming from the driveway in front of the house and Taiyang yelled out the window at the driver. Melanie looked at Yang and smiled, though slightly disappointed at the idea of having to leave. "That's my ride home, I suppose they realized I'd drink a bit too much after I brought that bottle of vodka from the bar." She said, "I'll come again sometime next week."
Yang smiled after she heard this. "I'm looking forward to it." She said.
"Good." Melanie said with a gleeful smile, "And try to get out of bed a bit more. Trust me, it gets better."
Yang's smile grew a bit wider as she watched Melanie grab her things and throw on her jacket again. "Melanie?" Yang said.
"Yes Yang?" Melanie responded as she put one foot out the door.
Yang looked at her and a single joyful tear came out of her left eye. "Thanks." She said, "For everything."
"It's no problem." Melanie said. "I'll see you soon."
Yang watched Melanie leave. And for the first time since Haven she had felt happy. Even with her injuries and her team members running away. She felt genuinely happy and relieved. Maybe what Melanie told her would come to fruition. She'd just have to wait it out and see what the future held.
