This is just something I threw together in a couple of hours to melt away my persistent writer's block. Enjoy, as much as the subject matter can be 'enjoyed'.
Blake, without thinking, picked up the letter opener and brought it to Yang's throat in one swift motion. Yang, more startled than threatened, took a step back.
"Blake."
The faunus stopped. Her face, until now an emotionless, focused void, contorted into a look of utter horror. The letter opener clattered to the floor.
"Yang! I-"
The raven-haired girl was struggling for words. Her partner smiled weakly.
"Sorry… I guess I shouldn't have-", the blonde apologized.
"Don't do that.", the faunus replied, interrupting Yang.
Yang's weak smile faded, replaced by a look of confusion.
"Don't do what?"
"Apologize for doing something completely normal.", Blake replied, her voice tense.
"If it was completely normal, you wouldn't have-"
"Well, I just did!", the raven-haired girl shouted.
"Blake!"
Yang looked at her partner in the eye. Her violet eyes pierced through whatever inner storm the faunus was going through.
"Blake, I… I'm not gonna say I get it, because that's impossible. I have some idea, though."
"Oh, yeah?", the faunus replied defensively.
"Even seen anyone run their fingers through my hair? You haven't, because is someone tries, I'll beat them until their aura breaks."
"What does that have to-"
"You think I've enjoyed the Vale underground night life without running into some seedy types?"
Silence fell between the girls.
"Yeah. You don't need to apologize to me. I'm not a complete stranger to what you're going through.", the blonde finished.
Blake looked at Yang, her face reflecting a mix of intense emotions even the faunus herself couldn't quite identify.
"Yang. I attacked you. I- If you didn't have aura..."
Yang looked at Blake, determined and serious.
"But I do, and you knew that. Besides, you didn't even touch me. I don't even want to think about why kissing your neck sets you off like that, but…"
Yang caught herself before threatening harm on someone she didn't even know, someone Blake may or may not have cared about.
"...but I'll never intentionally do something I know makes you uncomfortable."
Blake sighed deeply.
"Please, don't do that."
Yang couldn't help laughing.
"What did my dumb ass do wrong this time?"
Blake shook her head.
"Don't write off something just because that asshole-"
Blake's voice broke. Insted of saying anything, Yang simply waited to see what Blake would do next. After a few moments, the faunus continued.
"For him, getting close to you was a way of controlling you."
Yang felt she already knew who 'he' was, but chose to focus on another, likely no less sore, detail.
"Getting close?", like literally-
"Physically and emotionally. He manipulated me for a good while.", Blake replied, her voice dark and tired.
"Want to know the worst part?", the raven-haired girl continued.
"I'm here for you, Blake. Always.", Yang replied.
"I actually thought..."
Blake's words got caught in her throat. Yang saw the tears in her girlfriend's eyes.
"I was stupid enough to think he actually lo-"
Blake couldn't finish the sentence. Still, Yang had heard enough.
"He did. I saw it when he...", Yang said, motioning to her prostethic arm.
Blake, wiping the tears, looked at Yang with a mix of confusion and a hint of anger.
"How… could you know that?"
"Attacking you was personal to him. It wasn't a revenge against a former ally. It was… deeper than that."
Blake caught Yang looking at the scar on her side.
"I hope that wasn't a pun."
"Sh- No, not this time, I swear.", Yang laughed. "Anyway, he loved you, in some way. No one puts that much effort into revenge unless they've been hurt really, really badly."
Blake stared into space.
"Loved me?", Blake asked, her voice tense and challenging.
Blake's implication was clear, but Yang wasn't sure how to approach the question.
"He… wanted to be with you. You really gave him something he wanted, something he needed."
Yang was hoping Blake would finish the thought herself. The blonde didn't have the heart to voice the conclusion.
"Isn't love supposed to mean you care about the other person? Wanting to posses something isn't exactly love."
Thank you, Blake.
"Yeah… you're right.", Yang sighed.
The blonde herself couldn't help thinking back to the attention she'd received on the romance front. It was almost always about her body. That, and maybe the humor. Always about what someone could get out of her, not what they could give her. There had been a couple of guys and one girl. Those three were probably the only people who'd really cared. Them, and Blake. The faunus now sitting on the bed next to Yang, still in her t-shirt and panties, truly cared about the blonde.
Blake slammed her fist on the bed.
"Blake?", Yang asked carefully.
"Am I an idiot or is he a manipulative asshole?", the faunus asked.
"He's charming. He's good at making people believe in what he does. That's his whole deal, right?", Yang replied.
Blake punched the bed again.
"So… I'm the idiot who fell for a manipulative asshole.", Blake asked, her voice dark.
"You believed in what he was doing. Hell, equality for the faunus is a good cause, that's a fact.", Yang replied.
"I should've just told him no when… when he-", Blake hissed.
"You ran away from home. It was him, you, and the Fang members under his command. Your camps were in the woods in the middle of nowhere, right?"
"Yeah… most of the time. Why?"
"Tactical question: would you keep fighting a known enemy or run away if you knew you were surrounded by grimm-infested forest?"
Blake sighed.
"Keep fighting… Until there's a way out.", the faunus conceded.
"And that's what you did."
Blake stayed silent for a moment.
"How much do you want to bet he knew that? That I couldn't escape? That I'd put up with whatever he did. That I'd convince myself he loved me the same way I loved him."
Yang couldn't answer. Had Blake's drive to help the faunus been taken advantage of? Had Blake, a sixteen-year-old, been taken advantage of by a terrorist leader in his twenties? Yang didn't know. She wasn't sure she wanted to.
"Remember when I told you he… changed at some point? First it was no killing...", Blake started.
"Then it was an accident. Then self-defence. They deserved it. They'd do the same to you. Does it matter as long as the job gets done? Yeah, you've told us.", Yang replied.
"There's something I didn't tell you.", Blake stated.
Oh, no.
"Yeah?"
"I think it was eating at him, too. Something was happening to him. He needed… Something. He needed me. He never showed to the others, but he'd just hold me. He'd go over what had happened on the mission, or try to forget. I talked it over with him. At first he was… disqusted with the deaths. Said we're better than that. I really tried to help him. Then… I was just a body pillow he'd hold to feel better."
Yang was starting to feel physically sick.
"Then the deaths stopped bothering him. It just became a ritual for him. For both of us. After a raid, he'd hold me, kiss me… That's when I started to get scared of him. If he killed so casually, what could he do to me? I loved him. But I was scared of him. I loved him. But he'd become a monster. He hadn't just distorted what the Fang stood for. He'd lost himself. He wasn't the Adam I'd fallen in love with. I think he realized that too. That's why he was holding on to the one thing he still had. Me. That's when I started trying to find a way out."
Yang stared at Blake, unable to find words. A knock on the door saved her from having to try.
"We need to get going. Terra says it could take you an hour to get to the tower, and Weiss' flight leaves in ninety minutes."
Ruby wasn't even trying to open the bedroom door. It was lucky, because Yang didn't have any innocent explanation for the door being locked, and Blake wasn't ready to tell the team yet.
"Ten minutes. I need to check my weapons, just in case.", the blonde hastily replied.
"Okay, meet us downstairs. J.N.R. should be ready in a few minutes. Maria and Qrow are downstairs.", Ruby shouted, walking away from the door.
Instead of going downstairs, the young reaper headed for the bathroom. After the conversation she'd just accidentally witnessed, she needed a few minutes.
Take care of her, sis. She needs someone right now. She needs you.
Ruby could only think of one silver lining to what Blake was going through. Team R.W.B.Y. would probably never have to see Adam Taurus' face again.