Chapter 38: Pandora's Little Box

It's funny. One simple misunderstanding can cause the best of friends to fight. One simple misunderstanding can cause a great many problems down the road. Do I blame Yang? No, of course not. She was in her own boat with her own struggles, but do you think I saw it at that time? Of course not.

We tend to get trapped in our own little worlds and sometimes we need help to get pulled out of that whirlpool.

Yet we are often too afraid to provide that lifeline.

"Blllllllaaaaaake….. Please."

"Nope." The bookworm turned the page as she did her best to ignore the pleas for help.

"Whhhhhhhhyyyyyy?"

"Nope." She continued to ignore the blonde girl.

"You wouldn't leave your lovable friend hanging, would you?"

"I would, " Blake countered.

"But you're my friend…" Yang clasped her hands in prayer towards her savior that had all the answers.

"Okay, your point?" Her savior swatted her hands down. Realizing that she was beaten, Yang buried her head in her arms.

"What am I missing?" Pyrrha walked up to the table, placing her tray down on the table.

Ruby giggled. "Blake won't tell Yang what's on the test for Geometry."

The redhead shook her head with a look of disappointment, "Yang, that's cheating."

Yang shot up with a finger in the air, "What you call cheating, I call strategic… strategic… strategic…" She faltered.

"Reconnaissance!" Ruby chimed in.

Yang slammed a fist down on the table and offered a fist to Ruby who returned it in kind, "Yeah! Strategic Reconnaissance!"

Blake managed to peer over her book, "Cheating."

"Tomato, potato" Yang countered with a cheeky grin.

"That's not how the saying goes..." Blake countered with a facepalm.

"But they're both delicious." Yang fired back.

"You're going to fail," Blake smirked behind her book.

Yang slumped down with a grumble almost like a five-year-old child. "Proofs. The entire test is all proofs." Pyrrha answered.

Yang immediately hugged Pyrrha, "This is why you're my favorite!" She stuck her tongue out at Blake

"What would it even matter?" Blake placed her book down with a smirk, "You're probably going to fail."

Yang's jaw dropped. "Wow…. that was… that was… brutally savage."

Ruby snickered, "She isn't wrong either…"

"MY OWN FAMILY TURNS ON ME!"

"So…" Pyrrha decided to alleviate the pressure on her blonde friend, "Anyone planning on attending the Homecoming dance?"

A gloomy Blake was first to answer, "Unfortunately, yes. Sun asked me."

"Really?" Yang perked up instantly realizing that she had the greatest opportunity to harass her friend. "But I thought you two weren't a thing."

The girl shrugged with a sigh, "Yeah… I don't know. He said he wanted to go just as friends…"

Yang smirked with a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "You want more." She stated more than asked causing the rather stoic girl to blush. The raven-haired girl nearly smacked herself with her book, no doubt trying to hide her rosy cheeks.

The blonde girl patted the bookworm's back, "Ahh Sun is a nice guy!"

"We've already done this," Blake warned.

"And you had some time to think about it!" Yang countered.

"And what about you…?" Blake deflected the heat off of herself, "Who are you going to take?"

Yang tossed her head back in mock dignity, "No peons are worth my notice."

"Except for Jaune!" Ruby countered causing everyone to freeze. She totally just went there.

"No!" She blurted out defensively. "We're just friends." Though she flashed daggers at her cousin. Ruby knew not to go there, and she totally went there.

"As if…" Blake drew out with a chuckle, "I hear how you talk about him. I see how you look at him."

Now… here is where Yang notorious emotions got ahead of her. On pure instinct, she reacted, "Just because I live with him doesn't mean that I like him!" She seethed, her fist hitting the table.

If what Ruby said derailed everything, then what left Yang's mouth was like a nuke being dropped. "He's living with you?" Blake repeated questioningly.

The blonde shook her head fervently, "No! No… No! I didn't say that!"

Pyrrha's emerald eyes looked at the blonde then to her cousin. Ruby's eyes were filled with a definite fear. A fear of something that should not have been leaked. If only one of them were fast enough to contain the fallout.

"Why the hell is he living with you?" Blake almost sounded disgusted at the thought. "You barely even know him."

"He's my best friend!" Yang countered, her eyes flashing practical warning signs.

"How the hell is he your best friend…?" Blake narrowed her amber eyes. Something was off.

The redhead watched with trepidation as her longtime friend, without even saying a word, stood up and picked up her tray. Yang's heavy footfalls rang through the cafeteria causing a certain blue-haired boy sitting behind the girls to smile. A sinister smile crept in as he continued to listen.

Blake's amber eyes were filled with guilt. "I didn't mean… I don't-I just…the idea of a stranger of living with you… I mean Jaune's good guy and a friend-" She trailed off.

"But it's really really unusual…" Pyrrha finished the thought, earning the nod of Blake. "The whole stranger living with you thing. That was my first reaction."

Blake nodded sorrowfully, feeling ashamed of her initial disgust. Now something else didn't add up. Amber eyes locked with silver eyes. "Ruby…"

The girl cocked her head like a bird, "Hmm?"

"You didn't even bat an eyelash…" Blake observed, "As if you already knew…"

Just like that, the little Rose turned into a nervous wreck as she rubbed her hands together, "Yeah… well… you see…. I… um…. Errrm."

"You knew, didn't you?"

…

...

The Rose meekly nodded, "Yeah… it was supposed to be a secret. It was more for the sake of our parents. Imagine what would happen if that rumor got out." Ruby explained, "IF that secret got out, imagine all of the rumors that would spread, our parents could lose their jobs, or worse…" She trailed off.

The raven-haired girl turned to the redhead, "You said when you first heard. When?"

Pyrrha bit her lower lip with a look of guilt. "Awhile ago… during the summer."

She was the only one that didn't know. Why? Was she untrustworthy? "Everyone knew…" She thought out loud, "but me…?"

The redhead placed a hand on her shoulder, "Blake, don't think like-"

Blake slid away, "Like what? That my own friends can't even trust me. That's fine, leave me out of the loop. Am I not trustworthy?"

Ruby frantically shook her head and hands, "Blake! That's not it."

Blake stood up and collected her own belongings, "How long have we been friends?" She hissed. With anger in her heart, she stood up and left the table. It was time to confront the source of this new found anger.

The blonde's temper was notorious, in fact, beyond notorious. Now Yang was a popular girl, a lot of people liked her laid-back style, her pun's, her easy to get along with personality. It was a good combo in order to become a popular kid in the school, not to mention being on the varsity soccer team as a sophomore, which only added to her reputation. Yet with everything, there was also a darker side to the sunny dragon. Just as her name suggests, she was a dragon; she had the temper of the mighty beast. The poor fools that thought they could bully Yang Xiao-Long, or the slick boys that could make a move on her, were both out of their own leagues by a long shot. That being said, people in Newport High School knew to stand out of the angry blonde's path.

Thank God gym is next, the blonde thought to herself as her knee-high boots clacked on the floor.

"Yang," She heard her voice being called out which she paid no mind. Blake can go shove it.

"Yanggg!" Blake's voice rang louder

"Goddamnit." The blonde muttered upon the realization that she needed to stop at her locker to pick up her gym bag. She stopped by her locker fully aware that people were making their best effort to avoid her. Yet in reality, she just wanted to avoid Blake, she just didn't want to deal with that now.

It was harder to ignore the same girl who was leaning on the locker right next to yours… "Not now, Blake."

"Yang." The seriousness in Blake's voice almost caused Yang to look at her, yet Blake wouldn't receive that satisfaction. Her lilac eyes seemed fascinated with her own locker then one of her closest friends.

"You told everyone." Blake accused. "You told Ruby and Pyrrha?!" Blake hissed.

Yang was in no mood to deal with this when she slammed her locker, "So what? You think you can be a judgemental bitch? You don't get to talk shit about my friends, Blake."

"I didn't even say a fucking thing." Blake shot back.

"Uh. Yeah, you did." The blonde countered using air quotes "Why the hell is he living with you? Or how about 'How the hell is he your best friend?' Do you find that disgusting or something Blake, cause that's what you made it sound like."

"That is normal Yang. A fucking stranger comes into your home. How would react? But… hey, that's fine. I guess I'm not trustworthy enough, huh? But hey Pyrrha is your 'favorite.'"

Yang turned before her temper got the better of her and decided to walk away. "Guess I know where I stand, huh!" Blake shouted, "Guess I'm not a good enough friend! Fuck you, Yang. FUCK YOU!"

The blonde girl was still beyond pissed as she clutched her trembling hands together. Her hands just could not stop trembling after that whole ordeal in lunch. She thought she could beat it out of her in Gym. Clearly, she was wrong.

When it came to conflicts with close friends, the bitterness—the anger—does not evaporate as easily. This was something that Yang was experiencing, sure Yang had disagreements with her friends, but a full-on blow out event like this never happened.

Hell, she even decided to skip soccer, telling her coach that she was sick. The only thing she wanted to do was go home. She called her parents telling them that she was taking the bus home. Of course they asked what was up, but frankly, Yang didn't want to deal with anyone.

Sure she was angry with Blake and her initial attitude, but what was really sinking in, weighing her down, gnawing at her, was the fact she let out the secret out. She never did that. She never exposed secrets, yet here she did at lunch, in public. She exposed one, if not her closest friend's secret to the public, and not discreetly.

She was beyond furious with herself. She let her anger get ahead of herself, check. She lashed out at Blake, check. Called Blake a judgemental bitch. Check. Made sure that Blake questioned the value of their friendship. Check. Blake made valid points. Checkmate. It wasn't that Yang didn't trust Blake, far from it. She had an obligation to keep a secret. Ruby knew because well… Ruby was family. Pyrrha knew because Yang sought advice. Maybe she should have also told Blake? Then that would have broken his initial to Jaune not to tell Jaune. Yet she already broke that promise with Pyrrha. FUCK!

Fucking stupid. Yang gritted her teeth as she got off the bus. Opening the front door, she hoped her mood would lessen up. No luck though. "Hey Yang!" Her father called from the kitchen.

"Hi." She grunted as she walked in, her heavy footfalls from her boots set the tone for her.

"You didn't answer any of my messages…" Tai turned around the from the counter. He rubbed his chin in worry.

Yang back was turned as she went through the fridge. Grabbing a can of soda, she cracked it open and took a long gulp. "I was at school. Kinda can't text in class unless you want me to get detention..."

"Yeah… I mean no… of course I don't want you to get in trouble," Taiyang murmured to himself, "I suppose that makes sense."

Yang barely even looked at his direction as she went to grab a plate and make a snack. Silence filled the room as Yang grabbed an apple and started to slice into it. The thwack of the knife cutting through the apple hitting the plate was the only sound between daughter and father.

Thwack

Thwack

Thwack

She could feel his eyes on him as she grabbed the peanut butter and spread it on each slice of the apple. The question was just a matter of when.

"Wanna talk about it?"

There it was.

"No." Yang stated flatly.

"Did you hit someone…?" Tai narrowed his eyes. "Did someone start shit?"

Yang whirled around, her fists clenched at her sides, "No, dad, I did not hit anyone." There was just no way to hide the bitterness in her voice. Though she really reallllyyy wanted to hit something or someone. "Sheesh… way to assume the worst, huh?"

"Talk to me, what's up?" Tai sat down at the table hoping that his little sun dragon opened up to him.

"I said I don't want to talk about it." She grabbed her plate of apple slices and her soda and left the kitchen. "Does that ring any bells?"

Yang stared at her phone absentmindedly. There was a huge "disagreement" in the group that was set up. Basically, Blake told them all to fuck off, Pyrrha and Ruby were trying to talk to her, but Blake wouldn't respond.

Yang just stared absentmindedly as everyone tried to explain… well almost everyone.

R: Blake, we know you can see these.

P: Same goes for you, Yang.

R: Guys come on… talk to us….

B: Why would I want to talk to any of you? It's kinda clear that I'm outside of the circle.

Lilac eye read that message over and over. Outside of the circle. Outside. Of. The. Circle.

B: I know you can see that, Yang.

How could she even respond to that message.?

R: Blake… come on! We love you!

P: You are one of our closest friends!

B: Don't lie to me.

"Don't lie to me…" Yang lead out angrily. She sat up on her bed and furiously tapped her response.

Y: No one lied to you, Blake. It wasn't my place to tell.

B: No… but you told other people but that doesn't matter What gives? Are you replacing me for someone that you just met for like three months? We were friends since we were four! And here comes a stranger who you drop everything for! What the fuck is that kind of bullshit?

Y: I didn't drop everything for him. Why are you being a bitch? So what? I talked to Pyrrha about it, it doesn't mean I don't trust you. I value you equally. The only reason I went to her was because she knew him! Why are you getting so hung up on this?

B: Don't lie to me, Yang. I can smell the bullshit from here. You do NOT value everyone equally. Seems to me that I'm the low one on the totem pole and you pointed that out very VERY clearly. Fuck all of you. I guess years and years of friendship doesn't mean shit to any of you. I'm fucking done. Go fuck around with Jaune, clearly I'm not wanted anymore.

The next thing that she saw stunned her: Blake Belladonna has left the chat.

The last straw broke as her phone ended up across the room, its glass screen shattered and cracked. She was fuming, her cheeks red with pure anger, pure, unsaturated anger. God damn Blake Belladonna.

"So… if the weather holds up, the competition should be a go." Raven said as she opened the door.

Jaune nodded, "So does that mean…."

The women let out a sigh, "I'll ask Qrow."

Jaune shot her a cheeky grin, "You're the best," He said as he closed the door behind him.

"Hey guys…." Taiyang's dejected voice called from the living room.

The pair walked into the living room to see Taiyang absentmindedly thumbing through a magazine as the t.v.

"How's it goin, Tai?" Jaune offered cheerfully.

"Uh… well…" Tai sat up on the couch to see his wife looking down at him with a concerned look while Jaune shifted uncomfortably. "Well… Yang's kind of pissed about something."

"How angry?" Raven asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Really pissed."

Odd… wonder what it could be? Jaune thought to himself. This morning, she seemed pretty alright… alright for being a brain-dead zombie in the morning, but still, nothing was out of the ordinary. "Did she say what about?" Jaune asked.

The man shrugged, "No… but whatever it was… It's really bothering her."

Well, he knew what he had to do. "I'll go see what's on her mind." He said as he started to make his way to the staircase.

"Jaune… you don't want to do that…" Tai warned.

"Why?"

"Yang's temper… is notorious for being… well… she doesn't hold it in," Raven turned with a slight look concern, "It's better to let her cool down on her own."

Normally, Jaune should have—would have—listened, but it was Yang; He'd be damned if he let her wallow alone. It was his time that he returned the favor. Friends help out friends; friends stick together; friends don't let friends be alone.

He headed upstairs and stood before her door, a sense of trepidation ran through him as he listened in. Absolutely no sound.

He gave a short staccato of knocks.

"Go away," A muffled voice called from her room.

"Yang, it's me, Jaune."

There was a slight pause then a: "Go away… Jaune…" The voice seemed to sink lower. He hesitated by the door, debating if he should try and open.

His hand drifted closer to the round door knob.

Then he retracted his hand.

He was about to turn around when he heard a muted sniffle from beyond the door. That was enough for Jaune as he turned around and quietly opened the door slowly. "Yang?"

"What part of 'Go away,' did you not understand?" One of her eyes popped up from her pillow.

"I heard you…" He never got to finish that thought.

"You heard 'go away' and I wasn't fucking joking," Yang scowled.

That was a stab to the heart.

"What's wrong?" Jaune tried again.

"None. Of. Your. Damned. Business." She punctuated, "Get. Out."

Jaune blinked seeing this unusual side of Yang. He only experienced this form when he was in the hospital, but that was more from exhaustion. This time, Yang was hurting, hurting very bad. Taking a step back, he realized that maybe her parents were right. "Sorry…" He murmured

He closed the door, lingering a moment longer to hear a whimper from his best friend's room. "I warned you," Raven smirked.

Jaune turned to see the smirk slowly fade into a look of concern. "She didn't say, did she?"

He shook his head, "No she didn't…"

Raven walked up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, she didn't mean what she said…"

That might true, and Jaune knew it, but it didn't hurt any less. "Yeah…" He murmured as he went back to his room.

Yang's mind was slipping, bad. Losing all track of time, she was exhausted just by her sheer anger. She had no energy to watch t.v., to get on her computer, to play any video games. She was just done. She would check her phone… but you kinda can't do that when you break your own phone.

The whole thing with Jaune did not help in the least bit. She shouldn't have lashed out at him, he was perfectly innocent, and she knew it. She knew that he did nothing wrong, that he didn't deserve the anger, but how could she tell him what on your mind. 'Yeah, just basically ended my friendship because I told Pyrrha that you were living with us and I let it slipped. Oh and Blake basically views you as an outsider now.'

Yeah… that's a great conversation starter.

*Knock*

"Yang." She heard her mother's voice. "Can I come in…"

The blonde didn't want to budge from her bed, "Yeah…" She muttered dejectedly.

The door creaked open causing Yang to perk up slightly from her pillow. There, her mother stood with a plate in her hand, "You missed dinner…" Her mother observed as she walked in, "So I made your dad make you a plate…"

Yang heard her footsteps in the room and a small thud of the plate hitting her desk. A few steps again and she felt her bed sink in. "How is my little phoenix?" The blonde felt a hand go through her blonde locks of hair which helped to soothe her exhausted nerves.

Yet it didn't help with her guilt or shame, "Not good, Mom. Not good." The girl turned to her side, yet still unwilling to lift herself from her bed.

"What's got you down…?" Raven asked with concern.

"I…" Yang shut her eyes tightly, "I… might have ended my friendship with Blake…"

She expected her mom to practically berate her for her sheer stupidity, yet there was none of that. "You wanna talk about it?" She offered.

Just when Yang thought she couldn't let out any more tears, they flowed down causing her mom to rub her back reassuringly. "It's fine…. Just let it out…"

Yep… it seemed that there was indeed another dam that was waiting to burst. She sobbed into the pillow, clutching it tightly to her chest.

And she continued to sob. "I fucked up, Mom. I fucked up so bad…. I fucked over so many people… and I… I don't know what to do."

"What happened?"

"Blake hates me…. Jaune is going to hate me." She murmured as she tried to swallow the tears and fix the cracks in the dam.

"They don't hate you…." Raven reassured, "they can't."

"You don't even know what happened." Yang looked away.

"I don't need to know," Raven countered with a certain smug hum.

"I… I broke everyone's trust in me."

She felt a soft hand rest on her shoulder and lift her up into a sitting position. Yang almost fell apart again when she was brought into a warm and loving embrace. "What happened?"

"I told Pyrrha that Jaune was living with us…" Yang sobbed into her mother's shoulder, not able to see her mother's slightly confused look. "We were talking and the dance got brought up… Ruby said that I wanted to go to the dance with Jaune and I really don't want to… but Blake kept pushing it… and I and I…"

"Let it slip-" Raven connected the dots which Yang nodded to. The blonde shuddered at the fact that she confirmed that she breached Jaune's trust. She half expected her mother to berate her and say something absolutely horrible. Her heart thudded in her chest as she waited for the salvo to come.

Yang defended herself, "I didn't mean to! I was stressed out! Jaune was in a deep spiral, and I just-"

"Needed someone to talk to." Raven finished the thought as she rubbed her daughter's shoulder reassuringly.

"And Blake… figured it out and… she figured that Ruby and Pyrrha knew. I wanted to tell her, I really did, but I couldn't."

"She didn't take it well, did she?" Raven ran her hand through her daughter's hair as she did her best to soothe the girl's shot nerves.

Yang nodded with a sniffle, "She said I replaced her with Jaune. That I didn't trust her because I didn't tell her. God… I'm a horrible friend. A horrible person."

She felt her mother grasp tighten pulling her in closer. "Don't say that. You made some mistakes, but everyone does. I love Blake, but I think she overreacted."

Yang didn't budge.

"Just give it some time, honey. Things will come together. Blake will understand."

Yang couldn't understand that, though. There was a lot of bad blood between the two former friends, "What if she doesn't…?" Yang absent-mindedly asked

"Don't focus on what ifs. They only make things worse" Raven suggested.

Yang looked up at her mother, "Mom?"

She looked down with a warm smile, "Hmmm?"

"Do you think Jaune will be upset… If I tell him I told the others...?"

"Honestly… I don't think so." Raven tried to reassure her as she let go, "He's reasonable, more so than most adults."

Yang nodded feeling much better. "Thanks, Mom."

The woman scoffed, "Just doin my job. Eat up." She nodded towards the plate on the table.

With that, her mother was gone leaving her to her thoughts. The smell of enchiladas filled the room. With a sigh, Yang sat up from her bed and stood up, enjoying the pops of her bones and the loosening up of her muscles.

Wondering over to her desk, she picked up the plate and opened her door.

She lingered over by his door, taking a deep breath, seeing if she could hear anything. Nothing.

*Knock knock*

She waited for a response.

Silence.

*Knock. Knock.*

She heard a faint stirring, Within a few moments later, it revealed a rather surprised Jaune. "Yang… I…. uhhh…. Hi…"

Yang rubbed her arm as she kept her eyes towards the ground. "Hey… um… do you mind if I come in?" She asked hesitantly.

Jaune moved aside letting his fellow blonde inside the room. Yang looked around the neat and tidy as usual, his laptop on with a headset plugged in. He must have been listening to music.

"So… what's up?" Jaune asked wearily as he sat down on his bed while Yang sat in his desk chair.

The question… the ultimate question. "I'm sorry, Jaune. I shouldn't have snapped like that. I was just dealing with stuff. I just… if I had told you, I would have thought you would be mad at me… and I didn't want that."

"So you tried to push me away?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I was scared and angry." Young scratched the back of her head.

She watched Jaune stand up and walk over to her. He took her hand into his own causing her look up. Lilac and Sapphire intertwined. "Yang.." He said in a hushed, soothing voice, "There is no way I can be mad at you. You helped me through so much shit. You are literally my best friend. So what's up?"

God that stung so hard.

"Please…" Yang whispered, "Don't be mad at me"

"I won't," Jaune smiled, "I promise."

A/N

Hey peeps! I'm back with a new chapter and let me say that I had a nice little break… well the whole "nice" part might be me exaggerating but anywho.

I just want to thank all of you. I legit consider all of my readers my family and your support helped me get through a pretty rough patch (I'm exaggerating, the patch was scary bad.) I don't want to say I'm out of the woods now, but the seas have calmed a lot. So thank you, truly, from the bottom of my heart (if I even have one,) I appreciate it.

I'm not going to spoil anything about RWBY or how it ended, but I think after the conclusion, we needed Raven and Yang happy time bonding (even though it wasn't really happy)

Also… I hope Jaune can keep that promise.

And this fight between Yang and Blake? I don't like it when they fight :( How do you think it will change things? Do you think they can patch it up!

Love to hear from you guys, let me know your thoughts, reactions, predictions, any and all are definitely welcome.

P.S. I will also be working on a new story, Our Shadows, I want to get this off the ground, so if you're bored, give that a look.

Thank you so much and much love,

LordxSauron