A Fledgling Phoenix

Pt. III

"I love you, Yang."

Those four words had been floating around her head for the last couple of hours; haunting her whenever she had a moment of silence in her mind. Blake's voice was on repeat, her words echoing at every given moment. Worse still, was how her heart fluttered when hearing those words from her; she had to hold her breath and avoid her gaze just to tell her she was with Neo, biting her tongue to stop herself from saying the same words back. Yang had to remind herself that Blake did not deserve her love, Neo did.

She was the one that was there to help her up after her whole world came down- not Blake. She was the one who stayed by her side for their entire trek through the forests of Vale, over the sea and into the heart of Mistral- not Blake. She was the one who held her after all of her panic attacks from her nightmares of Adam Taurus, the man who stole her arm and began the whole descent into the bottom of the bottle- not Blake. She was the one who was with her every night, stealing her breath with moans and gentle cries of ecstasy from her mouth as they made love in the moonlight-

Not Blake.

But she was there, in her mind, like a shadow that never went away. Her eyes, her hair, her soft voice that made Yang want to drop everything and cry for her- but she did not. She could not. She felt her life was being torn in two because of Blake. One the one hand, Neo was everything she wanted out of Blake. She was open, smiled lots, and was not afraid to open up to her. Sure, Neo had a few touchy subjects; anything to do with her childhood or before her and Roman paired up, but everything else she was willing to talk about, in a sense.

But Blake was still Blake, the woman who was her partner and opened her heart to help her get out of the darkest ditch in her life. What made matters worse right now was that after Blake confessed to her, Yang got ready to go on her first mission as a member of the Black Fang, a mix of Humans and Faunus doing what needed to be done to stop the White Fang from destroying everything they touched. What really made her sad about the whole thing was Velvet, the kind rabbit Faunus she knew back in school, was now ordering people to kill and steal in the name of the greater good.

Yang knew that the White Fang were killing indiscriminately, but what the Black Fang did sometimes made them seem to be just as bad... She just hoped that Velvet knew where to draw the line; and when to stop. Not like Yang had any right to tell her that, it's not like she hadn't killed people already while trying to end this war to save her sister. Sure, one of them was Mercury and she had burned him from the inside out with her Aura. But the other one was Cardin, a former classmate.

Granted he was a giant asshole from the moment she met him; but still, he died by her own hand. That blood will never wash away.

To make things worse, Neo hadn't been able see her off. The van was loaded and Yang waited around to give her lover one last kiss before they were separated for a few days. But she never got to see the tri-coloured woman. Figuring she was still busy with Velvet's needs for more supplies for their guerrilla operations, Yang settled for a text message goodbye. She smiled gently at the simple typed heart she got back from the shorter woman, feeling a little better about the war that was happening inside her heart and mind.

Of course, to make matters worse for Yang, she was now stuck in one of three large box vans that were traveling across nearly half the continent to get where they needed to go; filled with Black Fang members of different races and creeds, all armed to the teeth and ready to do what needed to be done for peace. A grumpy Emerald wasn't helping; she really did not want to get dragged into this since had already spent so much time travelling from one place to another, but she would be regulating Yang's alcohol intake like she had been for months.

And her mother.

Just the fact that she was going to be stuck next to Raven for almost the entire trip was driving her to the breaking point. In the cabin of the front van, Yang was looking out the passenger window as her mother was driving down the beaten dirt roads. For the last few hours, the only conversation between them had been a simple greeting and then nothing else at all. She knew they had a talk before at the bar, but if she was telling the truth, she could not really remember some of it. Maybe she was drinking a little too much.

Speaking of... Yang reached into her pocket and pulled the silver and black leather flask out of her pocket and popped the top. Even with her new hand, some habits were just too hard to kick. Like opening her flask with one hand, operating most things left handed despite getting her dominant hand back, and several other things she had never even thought about. With a little shake of the container, she guessed she still had maybe half a flask left to last her until her next refill from Emerald. They were just turning a corner when Yang started to take a sip, but then her mother spoke for the first time since they began their trip several hours ago.

"Shit."

Lowering the flask, she saw a large tree had fallen over the road when they came around the bend, forcing them to slow down to a stop. Capping her drink, Yang raised her eyebrow and looked around, trying to find a different route that did not involve going through the forest by foot or getting the vans stuck in a marsh. "It's a bandit trap," Raven said as she put the vehicle in park and checked in the mirror to see the rest of the vans pulling up and stopping behind them, confusion on the driver's faces.

"How do you know?" Yang asked.

"'Cause it's my trap..."

From the trees, a group of people began to come forward, each of them pointing weapons at the vans as the one in charge stepped over the fallen tree and stood there with a smirk on his long face. He had dark blond hair and an unkempt face aged him terribly, making him look older than he probably actually was. A torn denim jacket and a red bandana tied around his neck completed the look of total scum. Yang heard Raven sigh in disgust when she saw him. "You know him?"

"Unfortunately..." Brushing some of her black hair out of her face, Raven went to grab her weapon and mask when Yang held her hand up and opened the passenger door.

"I'll take care of it, I've got some stuff to work out..." Without waiting for her to voice her disapproval, Yang was already walking towards the group. From the back, Emerald poked her head out from between the seats and watched as Yang strode out to "talk" to the bandits.

"What's her problem?" Raven voiced as she watched.

"Other than alcoholism and mommy issues?"

If looks could kill, the look Raven gave Emerald would probably have killed at least fifty people. Not caring about the older woman's feelings, Emerald just shrugged it off, "Some kind of drama between her, her girlfriend, and her former best friend..."

The mother was silent for a few moments before looking back to witness whatever her daughter was about to do.

"Sounds like my fourth year at Beacon..."

Outside, Yang approached the bandits. Up close, the main guy looked like the shadiest character she had ever seen. The grin that grew on his face as she walked forward made her stomach roll as she suppressed a shiver of disgust running down her spine from where his eyes crawled up and down her body. "Well, look at you..." his voice scraped across her eardrums; just hearing his voice was causing her physical pain. She was not drunk enough to deal with this.

"Move the tree..."

"Seriously," he went on as he began to walk towards her, appraising her body, "not too bulky, not too lean, you're-"

"Move. The. Tree." He was next to her now, still soaking in her body.

"And your hair..." His dirty hand came out and went to touch her golden locks. Before he could defile her hair, her hand struck out and grabbed his wrist. With a quick motion, she twisted his arm, forced him around, and kicked at his knee; dropping him down before throwing him into the dirt face first. Everyone flinched and averted their aim from the vans to her now as the man sputtered and spat dirt out of his mouth, trying to get back up to his feet.

"You'll pay for that, bitch!" he growled at her as he finally got up and wiped his mouth of any remaining dirt that was on his face. Yang just put a smile on her face, folded her arms behind her back, and took a step back.

"Oh, come on now! I was just playing with you. Don't be so sensitive, how about we kiss and make up, okay?" Yang offered with a sultry smirk on her lips. The man just narrowed his beady little eyes at her as she leaned over just enough to be playful. Agreeing to the terms, he nodded and walked up to her and leaned over to pucker his lips. Without warning, Yang's metal arm shot out and connected to the man's mouth, sending him flying back and into a tree.

Men...

Watching their band leader slowly get up, he opened his mouth to spit, sending a tooth out with the blood, sporting a new hole in his mouth. "Kill her!" With a throw of her arm, Ember Celica expanded and covered her left forearm in its protective shell. On her right, a small port opened up and a gun barrel expanded from it, making her even on both arms. Reading through the blueprints had revealed that the arm had a gun port hidden inside the forearm that fired the same calibre rounds as her gauntlet did.

They took their aim and Yang pulsed her Aura, covering her body in its protective barrier while turning the chrome in the arm to a brilliant yellow. Bringing her metal arm to cover her face and her other arm to cover her chest, she made herself as small of a target as she could as the group opened up on her with their firearms. Simple scavenged weapons that had not been maintained did little damage to her face and simply bounced off her Aura, letting melee fighters with machetes close the distance.

When the bullets stopped, Yang stalked forward to meet her enemy head-on. The first was a simple guy with a large blade; he went to step off with one leg, but Yang easily kicked his knee, knocking him off balance before sweeping his other leg and punching him into the ground with ease. The next came at her with a horizontal slash, but she easily ducked under it and flipped back to kick it out of her way as she landed. When he swung back, she shot a round behind her to build momentum and backhanded his knee, making him miss again.

Spinning as she stood, she dodged another slash as she jumped into the air and dealt a hard roundhouse kick to his face, knocking him to the ground. The rest started to close in, so Yang had to start acting faster to avoid being surrounded. She was good, but even with her semblance, she did not like her odds if she was overwhelmed by them. Using her shots to propel her from side to side, she dodged their shots as she closed the gap.

Simple bandits were easy to take care of when she was close to them, with little to no Aura to call upon, a single, good punch took them out of the fight pretty quickly. Before she knew it, there were only four of them left; the others lying on the ground, either groaning in pain or making no noise at all. Jumping into the air, propelled by her fists, she kicked the rifle out of one's hand so hard that she heard the snap of bone as he cried out in pain before having his feet taken out from under him and falling flat on his back.

Next was a woman who straight up charged at her with a fist. Yang had to give her props for doing so, but she was simply countered with a block and a jab to the chin. With a sharp turn and a high kick, Yang managed to push back the other three enough to bump into each other in confusion. With a wind-up, Yang brought her fist up and took it to the front person's chest with enough force for them to catch the other two behind them and sent all three of them flying.

Looking back at the man who started this whole thing, she was surprised when two people slowly approached from behind. Each of them were wearing a martial arts gi in two different shades of green. They looked like twins with dark olive skin and shaven heads. Each of them had half a skull tattooed on the opposite sides of their faces. On their wrists and legs were stolen vambraces and greaves from Atlas soldiers painted black and white with barbed wire wrapped around them, one of them said "Truth" while the other brother had a set that said "Lies".

At least they looked like more of a challenge.

Before anyone could act, Yang charged the shady man first. He raised a revolver and aimed at her, only for her to grab his wrist and aim it away as she stomped on his foot. As he tried bend over in pain, he only found her knee waiting for him; waiting to make his jaw snap shut and knock him to the ground. Quickly turning, she launched herself up into the air and punched towards the new arrivals, sending explosive rounds towards the twins, forcing them to do a series of flips backwards to dodge out of the way.

When she landed, she kept firing rounds at them until they closed the gaps and began their assault. They attacked as one, knowing where each other were at all times as punches and kicks came at her from every direction. From the way they took her hits, Yang could tell their Auras were unlocked, and that if they had better training, they probably would have made decent Huntsmen. Spinning, she tried to kick one in the side, only for her leg to be caught in one of the brothers' grasp. Before he could do something with it, Yang leapt into the air and spun in his grasp and connected her heel to his face, dropping him to the ground.

Launching herself up into the air, she soared over the other twin and began her own attack now that the numbers were no longer in their favour. With quick strikes and kicks, he blocked and countered her attacks, trying desperately to stifle her assault on him. With a final kick to his thigh, she broke through his defence with a shot to his stomach, doubling him over. With two more quick jabs, he was launched into the air with her shotgun rounds before one final punch sent him flying through the air past the other twin coming towards her.

Trading blows, they danced around each other with barbed wire scraping against her own metal and brushing against her Aura. With a sudden kick to her stomach, she was forced back from his blow and further back when he began to take advantage of the break in momentum. More punches and kicks were traded, and Yang knew she needed to take care of this one before the other came to intervene. With a sudden drop, she spun and brought her elbow to his stomach, pushing the air out of his lungs.

Disorientating her foe, she grabbed his arm and began to spin him around to further confuse him. Releasing his arm, she continued to spin until she jumped up and delivered a massive kick to his face, dropping him to the ground with a small cloud of dust and a painful groan escaping his lips. Yang only had a second to react as she heard the sound of a round being loaded and fired at her. Moving her head out of the way, she watched a bullet fly past her face and looked to see where it came from.

With his revolver aimed at her, the shady man pulled the trigger again, only for the weapon to misfire and stop working, no matter how many times he pulled the trigger. After she launched herself forward with her weapons, the closer she got, the more panicked he became. Eventually, she was about to the blade that was attached to the bottom of his revolver when she raised her arm and grabbed the hand that was wrapped around his weapon.

She held her ground as he tried to free his hand by pulling, only to cry out in pain as she began to apply pressure. Slowly, she squeezed down more and more, making him cry out louder and louder until he fell to his knees. Faint cracks entered her ears as he tried to pull his hand from her metal grasp before all of his fingers broke. She stared down at him and gritted her teeth together as she saw tears running down his face from one particularly loud crack from his knuckles.

Pain.

The one thing she knew better than everyone, was hers to control now. She still remembers how painful her arm was when it was taken away from her; the constant throbbing from her stump and the phantom pains when she tried to do something from memory or habit. That pain fueled goal to save her sister. That pain fueled her ability to fight. That pain filled her ability to cause pain to others. She wanted to make Adam feel as much pain as she felt when he took her limb. She wanted Blake to feel as broken as she had left her.

"Please! let me go!"

The man's cry for mercy broke her from the dark thoughts she did not even realise she had slipped into. Opening her hand, he gasped as he gripped his broken fingers and began to limp away, whimpering as he walked. Gathering their wounded and still unconscious members of their band, Yang could hear the twins muttering to each other. "I could have taken her if you hadn't fucked it up," said one brother to the other.

"No you couldn't, shut up."

Leaving them to do that, Yang turned her attention to the object that had caused this in the first place, the fallen tree. Walking up to it, she tested how heavy it was before nodding, it was not too heavy for her to simply pull it off the road using her Aura to strengthen her. When she reached out, she saw that her real hand was shaking a bit. She watched it for a few moments before taking a deep breath and gripping her own wrist with her metal one. After a few moments, the shaking died down and she reached for her flask to down a few sips before lifting one end of the tree with ease and dragging it off the road.

With the tree out of the way and the bandits all gone, Yang returned to her spot in the passenger seat of the lead van. When she got in, she sighed and ran her hand down her face to try and wipe the dark thoughts from her mind. "Better?" Raven asked as she put the vehicle into drive and began to continue their path towards their mission. Yang just stared at her hand and pulled it into a tight fist, hoping that her mind would not wander like that when they all got there.

Yes, she wanted Adam to suffer a fate worse than death for what he had done to her, but Blake? She was not too sure if she really wanted Blake to feel like that. Sure, she made her feel like shit for years after she left, but something deep down inside of her wanted to forget all of that and pull the cat Faunus into her arms and forgive every little thing she had done. With a defeated sigh, Yang pulled the flask from her pocket and lifted it to her mouth.

"No..."

A/N: Dun dun DUUUNNN!

Big thanks to StreetAngelJ for always taking the time to beta read and edit my mess for me!

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