Yang's POV

The world around me slowly came back into focus, the harsh lights of our med-bay starting to register in my mind as I blinked. My head pounded obnoxiously. I groaned and pushed Ren away when he shone a light in my eye, my body feeling like it weighed a million pounds. I felt like I could fall back asleep, and I would have had a pair of hands not shook me back toward consciousness.

I breathed deep, allowing my mind time to recall what had happened before now. Honestly, I wished it hadn't. My hands fisted into the blanket, feeling the shame and frustration welling up in my gut. Pathetic. Why was I even still alive? Did my team get me out of there? I'd been dead weight. They'd had to save me. What good was that?

"Yang!"

My sister's voice was enough to momentarily snap me from my thoughts, as was the discomfort that surged through me as she wrapped her arms around me. I felt some of the tension melt from me, lethargically using one arm to hug her back before she pulled away.

Then the light came back toward my eye and I felt my annoyance wind up again. "Cut it out, Ren!"

"I'm just making sure you don't have any permanent damage," he lightly scolded as he lowered my arm. "Now open wide." He didn't seem bothered by how I was acting, and I felt a pang of guilt for treating him like that when he was only doing his job. Because he was Ren, because he cared.

I took a deep breath through my nose and allowed him to finish, catching the relief on Ruby's face for the first time. It was also the first time I'd actually gotten a good look at the rest of the room. Weiss and Winter sat on the adjacent bed, and my partner stood by the door, arms crossed over her chest. One look told me she was upset.

"What happened?" I asked looking toward our leader.

"You got your ass handed to you, that's what happened," she answered, no discernable emotion there to detect. I hadn't heard that tone directed at me in a long, long time. "You've been out almost a week. I was starting to think you wouldn't recover from this."

"A week?" I rubbed my head, wincing when I brushed over a nasty feeling bump. "Raven...she-"

"Had a message for you," the eldest Schnee interrupted. "She told us that she let you live this time, but you shouldn't expect that kindness again."

It was an insult. She'd shown this twisted sense of 'mercy.' In this profession, you didn't show mercy. For an assassin not to kill a rival assassin... it was a slap to the face. How dare she... Where did she get off... My jaw clenched. She was toying with me. Telling me I was alive because she had allowed it. My hands fisted the sheets around me. Even more of a reason to kill her.

"So what are we going to do?" Ruby asked softly.

"I'm going after Raven," I replied without hesitation.

"You've got to be joking," Weiss answered with a scoff.

"I'm sorry," Blake said, speaking for the first time as she pushed off the door to come closer. "You're what?"

"I'm going after Raven."

"Raven is a monster. You're in this bed because she knocked you out cold." My partner shook her head and turned to leave the room. "I need some air. I'm glad you're not dead."

I was on my feet, swaying and still feeling like I was made of lead, and following her out the door despite the protests of those around me. I hadn't expected Blake to understand, for anyone to understand.

I waved off the concern of those in the living room as I passed, heading out back to the training area where I found Blake sitting on one of the benches, face in her hands.

"Blake-"

"I need some air means I don't want to talk."

I sighed. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" she snapped, standing up. "Can you be a bit more specific?"

"For making you worry, for not being strong enough to-"

"No that's not- How do you-" She looked on the verge of tears, frustrated and in disbelief. "This isn't about you being strong or weak, this is about you being reckless. It's about you not realizing the kind of danger you put yourself in. Raven could have killed you."

"I have to kill her. I have to."

"I understand that, but we talked about this," Blake replied, holding my hand between both of hers. "You go at her like this and it's going to be your body strung up in the square as an example."

I pulled away. "I'm sturdier than you give me credit for."

"No you're not. You're not indestructible, Yang," Blake replied, her voice rising. "Why? Why can't you see that?"

"Because this is what I'm supposed to do!" I shouted. "I'm supposed to be useful! That's what I do! I take the hits so no one else has to! I don't matter!"

It was silent, and I could almost feel the air around us shift. Blake's golden eyes, eyes I loved, stared at me as if she had no clue who I was. The hand that had reached out toward me dropped to hang limply by her side. I hated it. I hated that look on her face, like I'd slapped her. It made my chest constrict.

"You actually believe that," she said quietly, as if afraid to actual say it.

I didn't respond.

After a moment of this, she sighed. She looked tired as she turned to go back inside. "Get some rest, Yang." She bumped my shoulder as she walked back toward HQ and it took a moment before I turned to watch her leave.

"Blake?"

But she didn't turn. And I was left alone.

Nora's POV

Well, things had certainly taken another turn for the awkward. This past week had been filled with nothing but tension whenever Yang and Blake happened to be in the same vicinity. Yang had tried approaching her and the hurt in her eyes whenever Blake walked away was hard to see. It was the first time I'd ever seen Yang look so lost. Ren and I had come back in from a kind-of date to see her still awake, unable to sleep.

Ruby, sweet kid that she was, tried to stick close to her sister. With her arm almost fully healed thanks to Jaune's semblance, however, she would be going out on missions soon.

So Ren and I had decided to intervene. Well, actually, I had insisted we do something and Ren had agreed, cautiously. Details. After some discussion on what the actual objective was, I'd volunteered to chat with our resident Faunus while he did what he did best and talked to Yang.

"Hey there," I began with a wave when Blake did open her door.

The ravenette had dark circles under eyes, a testament that this thing with Yang was causing her to lose sleep as well. We all knew that they had taken to spending the night with each other. "What do you want?"

I grinned. "Hey, that is no way to treat your second favorite teammate that brought you a nice tuna sandwich."

She blinked, looked from me to the paper bag I was holding out toward her then sighed in resignation before stepping aside and letting me in. What could I say, the girl had a weakness for tuna. "I'm so sorry, where are my manners. Come on in." The dry sarcasm did not go unnoticed but I chose to ignore it as I walked into Blake's room for the first time.

I took my time to look around. It was pretty standard, but there were little touches here and there that made it feel more like it belonged to the girl. One thing that caught my eyes was the black and yellow hoodie that sat on the bed, and I had to fight back my smile. These two, they were too precious, honestly. Then, of course, there was the bookshelf.

"Whoa, that's a lot of books."

"Yeah."

"Ren loves to read too," I continued with a smile. "I've never been much of a reader. Don't have the patience for it, but Ren did read to me when we were little...when we managed to find something to read, I mean." Those times still made me sad sometimes. I wasn't always proud of what we'd done, but we'd done it together. Nothing else had mattered.

Blake sat down on her bed, next to the hoodie I noticed. "Yang and I don't need a counselor, Nora," she finally spoke.

I tilted my head to one side. "She's hurting you know. Being without you." It was best to drop any actual pretenses when it came to these kinds of things. Or so Ren had told me.

"Did she put you up to this?"

I shook my head. "Nope. She doesn't even know I'm here." I paused. "You know, I understand how you feel. Ren nags me all the time whenever I use my semblance in a less than desirable way." I flexed my hand a little. "I don't usually talk about it but electricity still kind of hurts, even though it's supposed to make me stronger. I get why he worries, why everyone does, but I always think about how if something happened..." My mind flashed to Penny, and I swallowed back the sour taste. "I'd hate myself for not doing my best, and taking a little pain if it meant that he, and Night Raid, were going to be okay."

I could have stopped Penny's death. I should have had her back. Deep breath. It wasn't my fault. Release, as I brought myself back to the present. Blake was watching me, like she knew where my mind had gone. She couldn't possibly, of course, but there was an understanding in her eyes even if she still seemed so...mad.

"You don't go to extreme lengths though. If you get hit with electricity, that's one thing, but you... you don't seek it out as if you deserve to be punished for something that's not your fault." She sat there, and shook her head, her voice getting softer as her ear twitched. "You don't think you don't matter to the people you're around."

"You're right about that," I admitted. "Yang..." Sigh. "Yang has been alone for a long time, kept herself at a safe emotional distance from us because...well, she's always been the protector. For as long as I've known her, I don't think I've ever actually seen her talk to anyone. At least, not the way she talks with you." I bit my lip and twiddled my thumbs. "It sounds bad, and we should have intervened a long time ago, but it's hard to fix something you don't actually understand is a little bit broken, you know?"

I hoped I was explaining this all right. I couldn't really afford to mess it up and I knew I tended to get a little rambly. "She needs you, Blake. And I've never seen her need anyone before."

Blake's brow furrowed and amber eyes stared pensively at the ground. She missed her. I don't Blake has ever needed anyone quite like she's needed Yang either. They both were miserable. With a deep inhale, Blake managed to collect herself.

"Thank you for the sandwich," Blake said.

I nodded. "Enjoy."

Ren's POV

Yang had been spending a lot of her time training. Well, training may have been a bit generous a term. Before her latest encounter with The Omen, it had been intense and non-stop to the point of breaking. Now, after Blake had stopped talking to her, it wasn't even really training. It was almost aimless, formless beating of a punching bag or throwing knives. She didn't seem to care if she actually hit the target.

This would be why I'd chosen to wait for her in the gym.

Blake and Yang had never been very discreet about their relationship. They didn't flaunt it but neither were particularly subtle. I'd never seen Yang look at anyone the way she looked at Blake. As for Blake, for someone who valued personal space and privacy, she'd never seemed to mind any affection Yang sent her way. There was also the constant staring before they'd become "official" but they were far from the only members on the team that were guilty of such things.

The door to the gym opened and Yang walked in, brow furrowed as she tossed her bag onto the bench and wrapped her hands. I waited, because I knew that she knew I was there. We were all too paranoid not to notice someone else's presence anymore.

"Come here often?" she asked. It was probably meant to be a joke but it was clear her heart was in it.

"Oh yes, the ambiance here is excellent." I wasn't normally one for jokes myself, but it was worth a shot.

Yang glanced at me before heading over to her punching bag. And thus began the steady tempo of her fists hitting said bag. Well, steady wasn't correct. Yang's mind was obviously elsewhere as her strikes had none of their usual rhythm. Didn't mean they weren't as hard.

This carried on for awhile. I didn't mind. Patience had always been one of my stronger qualities.

"It wasn't that big of a deal, you know." It wasn't a question. So I didn't answer. "The Omen, she got in a lucky shot is all. We get hurt all the time. I'm made for this though. My semblance... the extension of my soul... it's made to take the hits." Each word was punctuated by a punch. "She caught me off guard, that's all," Yang continued, stopping the bag with her hands. "It's not like I couldn't take it."

I wasn't really sure if she was talking to me anymore. I took a chance. "Do you really think we don't care about you?" I finally asked.

The brawler seemed to pause, turning to face me. The surprise was clear in her lavender eyes. "What?"

"You seem to be under the impression that we don't care if you get hurt."

She shook her head as she started toward Blake's throwing knives. "Listen, Ren, I don't need a shrink, alright? I know what my job is. I know what I need to do."

"Do you remember how you felt when Ruby was hurt?"

Her hand froze around the handle. "I know I failed. I almost... She..."

I sighed. "Why are you putting her through the same thing?" No reply. "I know we've never talked about your behavior but that doesn't make it right."

"My behavior?" It was amazing how quiet her voice got. The knife was long forgotten on the table.

"We all noticed that you tended to let yourself get hit during a fight. However, after the incident with Ruby it got so much worse."

"I wasn't doing enough."

I stood, taking careful steps toward her. "Yang, look at me." She did. "You are not expendable."

"I did it to-"

"Protect them?" I interrupted. She nodded and I hummed thoughtfully. "So who's supposed to protect them when you're gone?"

"That's not going to happen."

"You don't know that," I countered. "None of us here know when our time will be up. If something happened to Nora while she was protecting me I'd never forgive myself. I wouldn't be able to live without her. And I know for a fact Blake and Ruby would feel the exact same."

She shook her head.

"Blake's mad at you because you don't seem to realize this."

"I have to be strong."

"You are," I answered, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm just saying we want you to be careful."

She looked away toward the ground before patting the hand that was on her shoulder in a silent thanks before she walked out of my reach, over to her locker no doubt to grab Ember Celica. I didn't have anything else to say, and only time would tell if any of it had gotten through to her.

I could only hope that Nora had managed well with Blake.

Yang's POV

I could almost feel Winter's disapproval as she waited for Ren to finish fixing up Blake and I after our latest mission. Well, not an official mission. Winter hadn't exactly known I was going out. It had been a success, though it could have gone a lot smoother if we'd actually been working as a team. It hadn't been a particularly hard trip, just something to get my mind off of things with Blake for a little bit. It had just been a group of imperial soldiers anyway. They were practically fodder compared to the Fang and Salem's Elite.

However, I'd apparently had a tagalong. It hadn't worked out in our favor because we seemed to only be capable of getting in each other's way. I'd heard get hurt, lost my focus, and had gotten hit hard in the head as a consequence.

It hadn't been fun explaining all of this to Winter when she caught us coming back.

Once Ren had finished with Blake's left arm and left the room, Winter grabbed an alcohol soaked cotton ball and rubbed it gently against the laceration on my temple causing me to hiss. I should've had my aura up but hadn't felt the need considering my opponents.

"Does it hurt?"

I winced. "Yes, it stings."

"Good. That's what you get for trying to take on a group of soldiers all by yourself."

"Yeah, well." I didn't really have a comeback or defense. "At least it wasn't the Fang or..." I stopped, not wanting to talk about Raven.

"Your partner was there."

Blake placed a hand on her upper forearm, on top of the bandage. "Sorry, I couldn't help out. It's a long story."

Winter finally turned her ire on her. "It's not a long story. You two morons went on ahead on a mission without asking for backup and nearly got killed," she snapped. "Until now I have stayed out of this mess because I thought you two could get your heads out of your own asses but clearly that's not happening any time soon."

"Winter-"

"I don't want to hear it," she continued, cutting me off. There hadn't been many times in the past where I'd heard this tone directed at me. It felt weird. It felt like I'd let her down. "This is the part where I talk and you listen. Both of you nearly got killed tonight because you didn't have each other's backs."

"It won't happen again," I lied through my teeth. Because I didn't know if it would. I wanted things back to the way they were. I wanted to help keep Blake's nightmares away. I wanted to see her smile at me again. I missed holding her.

"Oh, I know it won't. Because the two of you will sit in here until you've talked. Do we have an understanding?"

"I-"

She raised a brow at Blake, and it was clear that this wasn't optional. "Do we have an understanding?"

"...Yes."

"Good. Now, I actually have to go and meet with Coco. If you two have not resolved your issues by the time I get back, one of you will be leaving with her."

With that final statement, she walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Once again, I winced. Winter didn't make empty threats. She'd said one of us would be leaving with Coco and she meant it, she meant Blake. My uncle had already talked to Coco about letting Blake go with her months ago. If we didn't fix this, he'd be getting his wish.

"It's been weeks, Blake," I finally began quietly. "I don't know what you want me to say."

She was quiet for a moment, and I thought she'd ignore me and walk away like she had done before. I wasn't sure what I'd do or say if she did. All I knew is I didn't want her to.

"Yang, this isn't about forgiving you," she answered. "It's never been about that. It's about you forgiving yourself."

"I get it. I get that you want me to care more about myself, I get it." I shook my head. "It's just...my parents told me to look after my sister. It's my job to look after people and I can't lose anyone else."

"You think I can?" she replied, her voice wavering slightly. "I'm a child soldier that has survived where many others haven't. We did our best everyday to move forward. Just like you all did with Penny." She got up from her bed and walked over to me, holding my face between her hands. "You're enough, Yang. You've always been enough. You're so strong, and kind, but you have to let us take care of you sometimes too. You have to stop and rest."

Golden eyes looked at me so intently, and I soaked up the feeling of her being so close again. I felt the burning in my eyes so I shut them. "I'm sorry."

Blake sighed and it felt like she was about to pull away when I took her hands in mine. "Let me finish. I just mean... I'm sorry I... I'll work on it. I'll stop. I'll rest. I'll take better care of myself."

Her ears flicked up, now standing at full attention. She searched my face. "Promise?"

I nodded and squeezed her hand. "Promise."

Blake smiled and I slowly stood, giving her temple a kiss. She started to walk toward the door, my hand still clasped in hers as we walked through the hallway until we made it back to her room. Our boots and jackets were discarded as we climbed back into her bed. She nuzzled her face against my neck, giving my jaw a kiss, sighing in contentment as she relaxed in my arms.

It felt like coming home.

Adam's POV

I sat up in my chair, watching as Fennec and Corsac squirmed under my gaze. They had failed once again to bring Blake back. It had been almost year since she had left my side. At first I had acted indifferent, thinking she was dead after our last little...disagreement. Then she'd been spotted assisting Night Raid, the anger had come back full force and I had tasked the brothers with the simple task of bringing her back to me.

Ilia shifted next to me, and I clenched my fist before pointing at the pair. "Did you bring her?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even.

The older Albaine brother shook his head, gaze on the ground. "Master Adam, we've been close to getting her but we-."

"Night Raid, though a nuisance, is one of the best members of the rebellion," the other brother added. "It's not an easy task to take one of their own."

I leaned forward in my seat, hand going to the blade at my side. "Did. You. Bring. Her?" I asked deliberately.

Fennec and Corsac shared a look before bowing their heads once more. "No."

"Wrong answer."

Without any warning I drew Wilt and Blush, slicing the fox-eared brother's head before driving her into the other's chest. I smirked as I watched them struggle, a feeling of satisfaction coming over me as they gurgled. It didn't take long for them to stop, for them to die and put away my weapon, dusting my hands.

"Set up bait for Night Raid," I instructed the chameleon. "We're going to get what's mine."

"Yes, sir."

I strided back to my seat and sat down. "Get this trash out of my sight." She nodded and started towards the bodies before I reached out and grabbed her forearm. "You know what will happen if you fail."

She nodded again and pulled her arm out of my grasp. I smirked and leaned back. I would get her back, and when I did...I'd remind her of what happened to those who forgot their place.

Once again, sorry for the long wait but life and all that jazz.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and please leave a review to let us know what you think.

We out! Peace!