A/N I missed posting the last part of the last chapter for the first couple hours. So if you read last chapter early when it came out, you might have to re-read the end to not be confused. Also, please don't hate me for this chapter.
It was morning when Blake woke up with her hair stuck to the side of her tear streaked-faced. Last night's talk with Yang had taken such an emotional toll on her that she passed out on the floor, exhausted. She remembered the pure unadulterated pain on Yang's face and in her voice when she told her what it was like to get left behind.
When she left that night, Blake thought it was for the best, that she was protecting her. Now Blake realized that she just caused Yang even more pain with her leaving. It was a horrible mistake.
Blake leapt up and ran to Yang's room. She just couldn't let it end like that, especially when they were so close to resolution. She finally understood how hurt she was. Maybe now they could move forward from what happened. But when she got there, she found Yang's bed unslept on, and her weapons and clothes gone.
A feeling of dread crept up on her.
No.
Blake frantically ran to Ruby's room next, clapping her hands on the door.
"Ruby! Ruby, open up!"
After some shuffling, Ruby answered the door with bed head hair, rubbing her eyes.
"Blake? What's wrong?"
"Is Yang with you?"
"No," Ruby said, clearly confused.
"She's not in her room. Her clothes are gone. We talked last night. Oh god, I drove her away!" Blake cried. Her breaths were coming in fast little huffs. She was hyperventilating.
Ruby was having trouble understanding her. Blake said so many things in one single breath.
Weiss came out of her room from all the commotion.
"Blake, calm down." She had never seen the faunus like this before.
"Weiss, what about Winter, where is she?"
"Winter? She left for Atlas yesterday afternoon."
That was before we talked, so she can't be with her…
"What's this all about?"
But Blake couldn't answer, there was only one thing repeating itself in her mind. I drove her away.
She covered her mouth in an attempt to stop the sobs. "No!" she said in a strangled voice.
"Yang! Don't die, don't die, please?"
"I need you…"
"I love you…"
Yang woke up from her sleeping bag with a start. She touched her fingers to her lips. They were still tingling from the dream she had of that night. Unbidden, tears filled up her eyes. She took a deep breath and blinked them away, letting them fall on to her chest.
It had been awhile since she had those dreams. Her talk with Blake triggered painful memories that she had spent the last six months trying to forget.
With Winter's strenuous regimen, on and off of the training field left her too exhausted to brood, and she often slipped into a dreamless sleep after they were done. Now Winter was gone too.
Yang got up and retrieved the binoculars from her pack. She turned the sights to the shanty town of tents the bandits called a hideout. Yang had found it easily enough. There was a wooden sign post that said 'Bandits' pointing in the opposite direction of Mistral.
It took over an hour of convincing but Ozpin finally agreed to let Yang go on a mission to find Raven. She had a feeling that the stakes were high and Ozpin and Lionheart were desperate. If her uncle Qrow was here, he would have never let her go. Good thing he was off on his own mission, collecting intel for the headmasters.
Apparently Raven and her gang of bandits had a penchant of killing people on sight. They thought Yang, being her daughter, would have the best chance at persuading Raven to help obtain the relic. Yang didn't know if she would succeed in getting her help, but she wanted to see her mother anyways. Maybe she could get some answers from her as well.
Yang had been watching the camp yesterday afternoon until night fall, there were no bandits to be seen. She thought they had gone somewhere and that they would be back eventually but there was still no one in sight.
She watched for a few more hours that morning. Maybe they had abandoned the camp and moved somewhere else? Yang got restless. After thinking about it for a while, she made the decision to go in and search for clues of where they might have went.
Yang crept through the front gate of the log enclosure and walked a few steps into the camp. When the gate suddenly slammed shut behind her, she knew she had made an awful mistake. One by one, Yang lost count after twenty, members of the White Fang came out of their hiding places and surrounded her.
"Look what we have here," a low raspy voice said.
Yang turned to the direction of the voice and saw a masked face that was burned into her memory and nightmares. Adam Taurus was standing on the front platform of the biggest tent, smiling at her.
"We were waiting for that traitorous bitch Raven to show up but I suppose you'll do."
Yang growled and shot a shotgun shell right at his face. He ducked and the other White Fang members swarmed. Yang spun and let off five more shotgun shots, knocking out the first circle of approaching enemies. She lunged at Adam but someone jumped on her back.
She elbowed them on the stomach and threw them off, landing a front kick on the chest of the next person who came up to attack her. Five more shots. She narrowly ducked a blade slashing at her head and landed a hard gut punch that sent them flying.
Ten more shots. They were relentless in their assault, each downed enemy getting replaced with another. She was running out of ammo.
Yang punched and kicked as hard as she could, not even looking as each attack blurred into the next. She felt like she was making gains, over half of them were lying on the ground. But then a tall lizard faunus wielding a spear checked her kick with a scaled knee and she felt a sharp pain lance through her right shin from the impact.
She stumbled away, trying to shake out the pain but it persisted. Her leg was fractured. The remaining White Fang members seized their opportunity and attacked in full force.
Yang continued to fight but their numbers were too great. The last thing she remembered when she lost consciousness was getting hit in the back of the head by something that felt like a sledgehammer.
The next time she awoke, she was being dragged by the arms, her knees scraping the rough floor, down a dimly lit hallway. Where was she? She vaguely recognized the scent of dust and motor oil in the air.
They brought her to a dark room with a single light bulb hanging over a chair and tied her to it. Her head bobbed and she lost consciousness again.
Yang woke up from a hard smack in the face. Adam leered over her, holding her prosthetic arm in his hands.
She stared up at him with pure hatred in her eyes.
He smirked and dropped the yellow and black arm to the floor, crushing it to pieces with a hard stomp.