A/N: Hey all! So here's a new story for you all. It is our first RWBY story! Please thank BG-13 for the awesome revisions and for being great in general. R&R!

Blake's POV

I came to a stop, caught off guard by the sounds coming from beyond the tree line. I could feel my heart thudding in my chest, as heavy as lead but not as slow. I shook my head, my nerves getting the better of me, making turn to go back to Vale where I'd left Sun, who stayed within the town to help with restoration efforts while I came here.

We'd gotten in late last night from Menagerie, running from Adam and the White Fang once again. Heh. Running away only to run some more. My ears pressed themselves back against my skull as I turned back around, toward my destination, fists clenched at my side and back straightening in determination.

No more running.

Sun, despite his support, had been weary about staying behind. But I'd put my foot down on this. This was something I needed to do myself. I couldn't blame him for being skeptical, thinking I might need someone to keep me from backing down. Given my track record, it was more than a fair assumption.

I took a steadying breath, and broke the tree line with one confident stride, stepping into the clearing, squinting as the sun beat down on me at full force. My breath caught in my throat when my eyes adjusted.

The noise I'd heard early had come from the two figures sparring in the yard. I could hear a triumphant battle cry as the shorter figure landed a successful hit with her arm...a metal arm. I watched as the figure prepared another hit, only to freeze when they spotted me.

If my heart had been pounding before, it was running a marathon now. Those lavender were wide as they stared back at me, watching as I took another, less confident step forward. But the moment was over once their sparring partner took advantage of their distraction and swept their feet out from under them.

The woman landed on her back in the dirt, and the man chuckled in response, a hearty laugh that sounded so familiar. He helped the younger blonde stand, but she never took her eyes off me. And finally the man noticed me as well.

No more running. Not this time.

Yang's POV

This had to be some sort of joke, some sort of cruel, cosmic joke at my expense. I'd lost my mind. I'd gone crazy. But I blinked, and she was still standing there at the edge of the treeline. Blake. She was here.

I saw movement from the corner of my eye and was reminded that Dad was still out here. But I kept my focus on her, not daring to look away in case she decided to vanish on me. Wouldn't be the first time, I thought.

"I think I'm going to go inside and make some lemonade," I heard Dad say, one of his hands resting on my shoulder. "I'll be just inside if you need anything." I spared him a glance, but his gaze was on the newcomer as well before his blue eyes looked back at me.

"Yeah," I replied absently, but this was enough for him to walk back into the house, Zwei trailing after him. And then there was only the two of us.

She took a hesitant step forward, not even really a step, careful, as if afraid I'd be the one to retreat. And that's when movement on the top of her head drew my attention. Her ears. She wasn't wearing her bow. It was strange, but the sight kind of...made me want to smile. I'd liked the times back in Beacon, on lazy days where the bow lay forgotten somewhere... I shook the memory away.

"I went to Menagerie," she finally said. Amber eyes were watching me, just as intently as I was watching her. They were looking for something, though I wasn't sure what. "I went there to see my family, sort some things out."

I said nothing. Menagerie. That's where she'd been.

She bit her lip, nerves starting to be more apparent, and one hand moved to rub her arm self consciously. She looked so incredibly small. The silence was making her jittery and I saw her eyes finally leave mind, flicking briefly around. Already planning her exit strategy, it seemed.

"I wanted some time to clear my head," she tried again. "Everything just went so wrong and I..." She trailed off. When she still didn't get a reply she started to turn. "I should go."

"I knew you'd leave."

That froze her, and slowly she turned to face me again. "I... You weren't saying anything."

"So a little silence makes you uncomfortable." My stomach was twisting itself into knots, boiling and burning. But my voice, it was pretty even. "Try going months like that."

"Yang-"

I took a step forward this time, and I watched as she held her ground, ears pinned back against her head. "No. You don't get to 'Yang' me." This wasn't back at Beacon. I took a deep breath. That twisty feeling in my stomach soothed a little, and instead something heavy was settled in my chest. She didn't get to just show up out of the blue...

But she was here.

She looked down and then met my gaze again. I could see all the apologies in the world in honey colored eyes, I could see every emotion swimming there and it hurt more than it should have.

"You probably want to know more about why I left," she offered.

"Actually, right now I'm more interested in why you came back."

She opened her mouth to answer, then closed it, taking a deep breath. "I missed you," she answered simply, but sincerely.

"Well," I started. "I've been right here, in Patch," I replied with a shake of my head. "But you, I had no idea where you were."

There was another moment of silence. After an extended moment of that I was the one to turn, back toward the house, my home. I paused at the edge of the porch, and I bit my lip, looking back over my shoulder. Blake was still there, watching me. I sighed, cursing those eyes and that sad look on her face.

"My dad's making lemonade," I said, trying to keep my composure neutral. "I'm sure he has enough for one more." Something sparked in those eyes, but I chose not to linger in that moment too long. I also chose not to linger on the feeling of relief when I heard her boots following me.

I walked back into the kitchen where Dad was waiting, already drinking his own glass of lemonade at the table. I walked over to the counter where the pitcher sat with a couple glasses, taking my time to pour some for both me and Blake, listening as her and Dad introduced themselves. Dad even managed to make Blake chuckle. I took a deep breath.

Blake said her thanks as I handed her a glass, taking a seat across from her and next to Dad. The older blond caught my eye as we all sat there drinking our lemonade, his gaze shifting between me and Blake with some curiosity. But his gaze settled on the Faunus and he cleared his throat.

"So, it must have been a long trip to and from Menagerie."

Blake seemed relieved that the silence had been broken. "Well, the trip down there wasn't as boring as I'd been promised, that's for sure," she replied. "We ran into a giant sea Grimm. Sun and I had a pretty hard time -"

"Sun was with you?" The words left my mouth without permission.

Her eyes widened marginally before she seemed to gather herself, those cat ears twitching nervously. Well, they certainly hid nothing. "Not by choice," she said carefully. "He sort of followed me home."

"I see."

Blake looked at a loss for a reply, so Dad stepped in. "You know," he started. "Yang talked to me a lot about -"

"Dad," I cut him off, on purpose this time. "Didn't you have something to do after our sparring practice?"

His brow furrowed as he met my gaze head on, a small smile of surrender on his lips as he stood from his seat with a sigh. "Well, yes. But I reckon I should walk Zwei before I get started on it." He walked over and grabbed the corgi's leash as said dog started trotting toward him. "I assume that the house will still be in one piece when I return?" he called with a laugh.

"Sure," I answered with my own smirk.

He looked over at the ravenette again. "It was nice to meet you Miss Belladonna."

Blake nodded. "Likewise."

And with the sound of the front door slamming, it was just me and Blake. I heaved a heavy sigh as I got back up on my feet, heading back over to the counter where the pitcher sat. "Do you want anymore?" I asked.

"I'm fine, thank you."

I put the pitcher in the fridge and put my glass in the sink, turning on the water and lathering the sponge with a little bit of soap. I listened as Blake scooted her chair back and as her boots moved toward me and she sat her own empty glass in the sink as well.

"Yang, about Sun..."

I shook my head. "I'm just glad you weren't alone," I started with a small smile in her direction before returning my attention to the dishes. "At least someone had your back." When I couldn't.

When she doesn't answer, I can't help but chuckle. "Why are you here, Blake?"

"I missed you," she repeats the answer from earlier, with just as much conviction and sincerity. You wouldn't of had to miss me if you hadn't left, I think to myself. But I'm not going to say it.

I'm just leaning with my hands clenching against the counter top. Nothing could change how stupid and foolish I'd been, how reckless. Nothing would change the fact that she left.

But she came back.

I look over to see amber eyes watching me again. She's looking at me with so much going on in those gold orbs. So many thoughts are swirling around in that head of hers. She sighed. "I know I hurt you. I know running wasn't the best thing for me to do. But I... There was so much that was going on, and everything just became such a mess so quickly. I needed to go home, to clear my head, to sort some things out." She looked like she wanted to reach out toward me but thought better of it. "I am - was your partner. I was supposed to have your back."

She takes a deep breath. "I don't expect forgiveness... But do you think, just for tonight, we can pretend that none of the bad stuff happened?"

I feel my jaw tick. This feels like another form of running. My stomach starts twisting again. "That's a lot to ask."

She nodded, because of course she knows. "I have no real right to ask this, I know. But..." She trails off, and I can tell she's rethinking the request. My whole body sags and I can feel my features soften.

I look down at my robotic arm with a heavy exhale. "I've been thinking about coloring the arm," I state, looking back up at the other woman.

She looks at me, and I think I see a bit of gratitude in the cautious smile on her lips. "Really?"

"Mmmhmm," I hum. "I mean, I could do a nice flame design or maybe the same shade of yellow as Bumblebee but I don't want to be too predictable." And I even grin at her.

Blake's POV

It felt so much like old times, and yet I was painfully aware of the differences. But, with Yang talking to me, even smiling at me in that oh so familiar way, I was willing to let myself forget all of them. I'd been surprised she'd gone along with my request, knowing I didn't deserve it. But if I looked close enough, I thought I could see a little bit of relief in her amethyst eyes too.

She'd asked about Menagerie and Sun and what it had been like reuniting with my parents. I told her everything, from all of Sun's...antics to reconnecting with parents I had expected to hate me. She told me about her training with her dad, about trying on the arm, how hard everything had been at first with learning to adapt.

Taiyang had returned long before the sun went down, had said a good night to the both of us with a kiss on the head for his daughter before he headed off to bed. It had been just us, talking and even laughing for a while now. But even we were getting tired now.

Yang showed me where I'd be sleeping, a large room with two beds and a desk stacked with books. Both beds were made, looking like they hadn't been touched in a very long time. One bed had a red pillow and the other a yellow. This was...her and Ruby's room. I looked at her, and she merely answered my stare by saying that if I needed anything she'd be just down the hall in the guest room.

I followed her into said room, taking in how small it was, with only a night stand with a vase of sunflowers and the bed. I did notice that one half of Ember Celica sat on the bare bookshelf that went along the opposite wall.

"Why are you in the guest room?" I took a seat on the edge of the bed, watching as Yang took off the robotic arm with a click and a sigh, sitting it on the bedside table.

She gave a halfhearted shrug. "I've been in here since I woke up after the fall," she revealed. She rubbed the stump as she took a seat next to me. "Ruby was still out cold when I woke up. My baby sister was in a coma and I was feeling sorry for myself. I couldn't act like everything was okay and help take care of her, so I moved in here."

"You had every right to-"

"No," she interrupted gently, shaking her head. "That's the thing. I don't."

I sucked in a sharp breath. "You don't actually believe that."

She glanced at me from the corner of her eye before looking away. She bit her lip. "The last conversation we had, I told her to leave me alone. Before she left she said she loved me. And I didn't say it back." She took a deep, steadying breath. I could almost feel the regret rolling off her in waves. "A couple months later she's gone on some quest or whatever and I... She could be dead out there and the last thing I'd have said to her..."

A second of hesitation passed before I took her left hand in mine, and I relaxed when she squeezed back. I let her regain composure before I spoke. "We're going to find Ruby and Weiss."

Something changed in her posture, a minute shift. "How?"

"I don't know," I admitted.

The blonde hummed, slowly pulling her hand from mine, wrapping her arm around her middle. "When are you leaving?"

I realized she had misunderstood. "I...wasn't planning on leaving without you."

She finally looked up at me, lilac eyes staring through my very being. "And what if I'm not ready?"

I stared back just as steady. "Then I'll wait," I answered, giving her shoulder a light squeeze as I started toward the door. "We should get some sleep. We'll figure out the details tomorrow."

"Good night, Blake."

A shot a smile over my shoulder. "Night, Yang."

I was tired. So when I curled up in my assigned bed and my head hit the pillow, sleep found me pretty quick. But of course, that should have been the first sign something was horribly wrong.

What greeted me in my dreams was fire, and red eyes. It was a red sword and a yell of pure rage followed by the sounds of distant screaming. It was blood and pain and wrong. And it made me jolt awake.

My ears twitched on high alert, my breath came in uneven pants. God, I hated nights like this.

"Nightmare?"

I stiffened momentarily, my ears flickering toward the sound before my body relaxed and I turned my night vision on Yang, who sat on the edge of Ruby's bed. Her eyes were just as tired as mine, but openly showed their concern.

"Yeah... Sorry if I woke you."

She dismissed the apology. "I don't sleep much either." I nodded, having already guessed she had her own version of those events to keep her mind occupied at night. "I'm gonna head back to my room. I just wanted to check on you. Didn't want you waking up alone."

I watched as she stood, heading toward the door. "We're not alone anymore. Neither of us."

She paused. "It'll take a while, before it feels that way, I guess."

I nodded my agreement though she couldn't see as she left me alone in the room again, the door softly clicking shut behind her. I sighed as I leaned back into the yellow pillows. There was so much to do, so many apologies to be made, so much making up to go. It would never be enough, never make up for months of being gone. But I had to try. Yang was my partner, and I was never leaving her alone again.