V/N : 'SUP MA DUDES! (And for once, I'm not telling you that later than expected, because Amish remembered it... somehow.) People who know me should have known that, when I saw the prompt "Aftermath of Warsaw/Gatecrasher" I would do a Bumbleby scene... Well... Okay. To be fair. I would probably have done a Bumbleby scene no matter what... I just love them so much you know? Anyways. This was written in the span of like... six hours because I was so inspired by the prompt so, without further ado... showtime

The soft hum of the Avenger's engines and the blow of the wind. The sounds of the waves under them and the smell of the sea. The cold of the wind and the heat from the blanket over her shoulders. Those were the only things that Blake could feel. Well… No. She was feeling something else too. But these things… they were the only things that she wanted to feel right now. But deep down, in her heart, in her guts, in her mind, she couldn't shake that one feeling. The guilt and the shame that ate at her from the inside. The self-imposed guilt and shame of having failed at her task.

The feeling of having abandoned someone else, of running away, of leaving a part of her behind, of leaving someone else to die. She had told Yang, Ruby, Weiss and the other people at XCOM that she wouldn't run, that she'd stay with them, that she'd fight alongside them… And she had been forced to run away. She had been dragged out, fighting and screaming, she had done all in her power to prevent such a thing, but… Beagle died because she couldn't help him.

Tears flowed down along her cheeks as she observed the night sky and the millions of stars. She followed along the various constellations she knew of, trying to find one in particular. It took her a little while, their northern position having changed the look of the sky slightly. But, after a few minutes, she found it.

People called it The Guardian. Standing not too far from the Big Ursa and the Small Ursa, it looked like a shield, standing steadfastly against the onslaught of the monsters of darkness, guarding the innocents and those unable to protect themselves from the atrocities of the world. There was a story, probably more than one but she remembered that one from her childhood, about how the spirits of the dead Huntsmen, Huntresses, soldiers, and every other person who protected others from the terrible things in life, would congregate in that constellation and would, for the rest of eternity, protect Remnant, just like they had done in their life.

Of course, she didn't believe in that story anymore. But… For a moment, Blake wondered if Beagle's spirit would end up with the others. Or would his spirit go back to Earth, go back to their own Heaven, go back to his loved ones? Would he prefer to stay here to look over his comrades in arms? Or would he want some peace and quiet after all of this, with his wife and his friends?

Whatever it is, whatever happened after death… She truly hoped that he was happy that he found peace in all of it.

"So that's where you are."

Blake turned her head, flinching as she heard a very familiar voice right behind her. Yang stood there, a cup in each hand, as she smiled softly at the faunus. She walked closer to Blake and motioned towards Blake's left, which the girl nodded softly. Yang sat down beside Blake and handed her one of the cups, which the faunus took slowly. One whiff of the content and she knew that they were cups of Shen's tea. They sat in silence for a while, sipping their beverage as they continued observing the sea under them or the sky above their heads.

As time passed, and as the cups were emptied, Blake could feel the melancholy welling up in her chest. The events of that day with Beagle were bad, but a glimmer of steel on her left brought back another pang of guilt and pain in her heart, one she thought she had managed to overcome long ago. Pulling the blanket closer to herself and huddling tighter under it, Blake sighed softly, biting down on her lip to stop herself from saying three words she knew Yang wouldn't want her to say. She had made herself clear, on multiple occasions, that she didn't blame Blake for becoming a MEC, but deep down, it still haunted the faunus, it still ate away at her from the inside.

"Want to talk about it?"

Yang's voice was soft, it was low, it was comforting. It was such a far cry from her usual bombastic personality, it was so different from what Yang represented in her mind, from what Blake associated Yang with. She always forgot that Yang had raised Ruby, that she'd become her mother when she herself was still a always forgot that Yang had taken up the role of "Team Mom", as she called it, back on Earth. She always forgot how filled with love and care Yang could sometimes be, for the people she cared about.

"I… Don't know…" came Blake's answer, barely above a whisper, barely confident in what she was saying.

"Alright."

It ended there. No questioning, no pressuring, no anger, just Yang making her know that she was there for her. Just Yang's reassuring presence, just Yang's love, just Yang's support. They stayed like this for a long time. Blake didn't care to count the time, she had stopped doing so a long time ago when in Yang's presence. With Yang, time both seemed to stop to a crawl and to go by in a couldn't explain how Yang did it, but it was truly a blessing.

"Do... you think he's happy?" Blake finally asked, turning her head to look at Yang.

Yang stayed silent for a long moment, another surprise for Blake. Usually she would come up with an answer quickly and say whatever was on her mind. But not this time. Instead, Yang seemed to be lost in thoughts.

"I think…" Yang's voice managed to make Blake jump, being surprised by it somehow. "I don't think he's happy." At that, Blake's ears pinned themselves on her head and she looked down, feeling a vice tighten around her heart as she listened to Yang. Of course he wouldn't be happy. Who would be happy of dying and leaving all of their loved ones behind?

"I think that he's at peace." Yang continued, which made Blake look up with wide eyes. "He saw a catastrophic moment, he saw the incoming death of many, many, many more operatives and innocents and he made a decision to prevent it. He saw a way to end it all and he took it. You heard him. He wasn't angry. He wasn't sad. He was determined. It was his time to go, not because he had to… but because he wanted to."

Blake stayed silent for a long while after that, thinking over Yang's words. She shimmied her way towards Yang and rested her head on her best friend's shoulder, a small and sad sigh escaping her lips. Yang snaked her arm over Blake's shoulder and held her close, simply showing her support to Blake.

Once more, Blake didn't know how long they spent like this. It could have been seconds just like it could have been days and she wouldn't mind either way. Yang's reassuring presence and support were enough for Blake, it was enough to make some of the pain go away. It was enough, just for a second, to ease the vice around her heart, to ease the guilt eating at her from the inside.

"He… Asked me something…" she said softly, a small whisper against Yang's ear as her eyelids grew heavy. She snuggled against Yang, enjoying her natural higher body temperature and her hotter air surrounding her because of her Aura. It was such a calming moment every time it happened, she had to remind herself… That sleeping alongside Yang was truly a blessing. "Remind me... to… to do it… later…"

Yang didn't say anything, she simply ran her hand along Blake's hair, soothing her pain and her guilt away. Her sleep was dreamless, but it was restful. It was a first in the past few days, when she usually woke up in the middle of the night, panting and alert, covered in sweat because of a nightmare she just had.

When she finally opened her eyes, she noticed three things. The first was the bright lights surrounding her. The second was the whispers coming from three other people. Last was that her head wasn't resting on Yang's shoulder, but was against someone else's lap, while her legs were resting against another metallic set of legs. She wondered if she ever would get used to being able to feel through her aura, to feel through those metallic limbs that weren'T hers, that weren't her.

When her eyes finally accustomed themselves to the sunlight, Blake yawned as she fluttered her eyes slightly, observing the area. She was still on top of the Avenger, and they were still over the sea. The sun was still low in the sky, meaning that it was still in the morning. She turned her head and looked at whom she was resting on. She locked eyes with two silver orbs, she saw a small nose and a wide smile, and instantly Blake's heat filled with happiness. In her sleep induced confusion. She had forgotten that Ruby had come back the other day and seeing her again brought up a sense of relief and happiness at seeing her team leader and friend. She turned her head once more and hummed softly, a smile on her lips, as she saw Weiss sitting on Ruby's right. The team was back together.

Her friends were all safe. She closed her eyes once more, basking in the feeling of peace just a little bit more, before she looked up at Ruby, a small smile on her lips as she looked at her friend.

"Hey, Ruby? I have a message for you…"