Thank you so much for all of the support. You have no idea how much it meant to me 3 Now back to it!

Edit: if you already posted a comment on this chapter from two weeks ago, it probably won't let you comment again. That's ok though - I appreciate your thoughts anyway!

The next few minutes - or hours, she wasn't sure - were a messed up jumble of loud words, bright lights, a blistering headache, and a very, very heavy fog covering every bit of it. There were faces and voices and sounds, but she couldn't make sense of anything. It was like...wearing a pair of earmuffs while watching a movie through a dirty glass window.

By the time she came out of that daze, she was lying on a bed with...it was Blake sitting in the chair beside the bed, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Blake?" For a split second, Yang wasn't sure that was the right name. It sounded right, but...where had she seen this before? Sitting like that, Blake looked so...small and...vulnerable.

Immediately releasing her hold of her knees, Blake leaned forward.

"Hey…how are you feeling?"

Blake's voice was soft and soothing, but her eyes were filled with concerned. The expression did nothing to wipe away the confusion running through Yang's mind. When she tried to sit up, however, Blake quickly pushed her back down by one shoulder.

"Woah, slow down there. You just took a nasty hit to the head."

Giving in to the gentle pressure against her shoulder, Yang laid down and groaned at the way everything hurt right now. Her mind was all kinds of foggy. The room was faintly ringing. She had a massive headache. Her left eye was practically swollen shut and throbbing painfully.

"Mmmk…" she mumbled, accepting that she shouldn't sit up right now. Not that she wanted to anymore - not moving was much better than trying to move.

After watching Yang very intently for a few seconds, making sure she didn't try to get up again, Blake finally sat back in her chair. The chair looked familiar...and the room looked familiar...

They were still at school, right?

Slowly looking around the room, Yang confirmed it was the school clinic. But how did she get here? She didn't remember walking. Had someone carried her? And where was everyone else? Blake was here but hadn't there been others...

"Where…?" Yang began to ask, sending a confused look around the otherwise-empty room.

"Ruby went to calm Nora down," Blake answered without hearing the end of the question. "I told her I'd wait with you. She called your dad already. He should be here soon."

Right. Ruby - Nora - Dad on the way. That sort of made sense.

"Mmk," she mumbled again, briefly touching her fingers to the side of her head before pulling them away with a wince of pain. So that's what it felt like to get hit with a sack of bricks...

Catching sight of her hand, she stared at her fingers - but had no idea why she was so confused. It took several seconds before she figured out that someone had un-taped her hands, and she had no memory of that happening. Glancing down, she found that she was still in her boxing uniform, so at least no one changed her without her noticing. But who took off her gloves? And the tape? And how did she get to the clinic?

"The nurse said you could have a concussion…" Blake commented softly, drawing Yang's gaze away from her unbound hand.

Her mind sluggishly registered that Blake was upset. Gone was the usual sparkle of mirth in her eyes, replaced by worry. Was this the first time Yang had seen an upset version of Blake? Yes, maybe. Then why did it feel familiar? Where had she seen that look before?

With her head still ringing, it was difficult to pull any memories to mind, let alone a specific one.

"Are you...ok?" Yang asked, feeling a spike of worry that Blake responded to by looking even more concerned.

"I'm fine, Yang." Holding out her arms, Blake turned them over to show that she was uninjured before leaning closer. "You're the one who's hurt today…"

Slowly processing that information, Yang eventually nodded and instantly regretted moving her head. But Blake was ok, which was good. Why did she think that Blake might be hurt?

"Glad you're ok…" Yang whispered while closing her uninjured eye and reaching up to gently touch her swollen left eye. It was too tender to touch, but she could feel heat rising off of it while blood rushed to the surface of her skin. Hearing a rustling noise, she opened her eye and watched Blake grab something off of the nearby table.

"Here - ice for your eye."

Accepting the small bag wrapped in a soft cover, Yang leaned back and set it over her eye - an experience that was both painful and relieving at the same time. Sighing as relief spread through her tense muscles, she didn't say anything for a long time. Or maybe it was only minutes...it was hard to tell. But as the chill crept from the ice to her eye, more of the fog cleared from her mind. That, and the ringing started fading away, making way for the stillness in the room.

It was nice...and mostly quiet, minus the dull ringing in her ears. It would be peaceful too if not for the general throbbing in her head and stiffness in her neck.

Peeking her eye open, she found that Blake was still there, sitting silently in the chair while keeping a watchful eye on her.

"Does anything other than your head hurt?" Blake asked, keeping her voice to a low enough level that it didn't add to the pounding in Yang's head.

"Just my pride…" Yang mumbled while gently resituating the bag of ice on her eye. If her head ever stopped throbbing, she'd fully feel the mortification at having been leveled in front of all her friends and Blake.

That's what happened, right? The last thing she remembered was boxing. Emerald. The bell sounded, the round ended. And then, a glimpse of a bright green boxing glove hurtling towards her face. Seeing as how she was now laying in the clinic with one eye swollen shut and a distant ringing in her ears, she had to conclude that Emerald cold-clocked her between rounds. Just when she thought that girl couldn't get any more evil…

"You have nothing to be embarrassed about," Blake replied firmly, scooting forward to be that much closer to Yang's side. "Everyone saw exactly what she did, and it didn't look even remotely legal. Your coach had some...very choice words for Salem's coach."

Coach Ironwood going off on someone? He was always so composed though. Made of iron! Or wood. That was the running joke. They could hardly get him to crack a smile, let alone get angry about something.

"Wish I could've seen that…" Yang whispered. Taking a deep breath, she let it out in a long exhale while the room lapsed into a comfortable silence. The fog was lifting, and she tried to get rid of it faster. But clearing away the fog meant she felt all of the pain - it was really a lose-lose situation.

Hearing a soft sigh, she slowly turned her head so she could see Blake better with her good eye. Finding that Blake was still visibly upset, she tried to come up with something that would cheer her up. Something...anything...if her brain would work properly.

"So...how'd I do?" she asked, cracking a smile when Blake managed a light laugh.

"Well, I don't think you've changed my mind about boxing."

"Next time will be better; you'll see."

"I don't know...I wasn't very fond of watching one of my favorite people take a cheap shot to the head."

Tilting her head at the term, Yang felt her grin widen. One of Blake's favorite people? She could live with that label forever and die happy.

"So you're jealous some other girl got to knock me out," she teased, pleasantly surprised when she thought she saw a faint blush dust across Blake's cheeks. But with basically zero vision out of one eye, it was hard to tell if it was a blush or just her remaining eye messing up.

Fortunately, the joke had eased the tension and Blake appeared to be a little less upset, shifting more comfortably in her seat.

"At least now we know who would win between Nora and Emerald in a fight…"

Nora and Emerald? But why would Nora be - oh.

"Is Nora ok?" Yang asked, filled with immediate concern thinking about what Emerald might do in a fight without rules. Even with rules she was a malicious fighter, but without them...

"Yeah. Yeah, she's fine," Blake replied quickly, already understanding Yang's worry. "But it took three people to separate them. It looked like Emerald definitely got the worst of it..."

"And I missed it?" Yang mumbled. "Dang…"

Nora kicking Emerald's butt? What a lame time to be knocked out. She would've paid good money to see that fight - and she would've wanted to be there to back Nora up.

"It was...pretty much complete chaos," Blake explained, frowning at the memory. "The second after Emerald hit you, Nora plowed into her like a freight train - shoved her right out of the ring. While they beat the crap out of each other on the floor, your coaches were yelling at them to stop while trying to keep the rest of your teammates from joining in. And...a-and you were…"

Briefly biting her lip, Blake cleared her throat before continuing.

"And you were...really out of it…"

Shocked by the rundown of events, Yang opened her mouth but couldn't think of anything more profound than a simple, "Wow."

"Wow is right," Blake agreed before briefly rubbing her eyes. "Your coach was really angry about Emerald's gloves though."

"Yeah…" Gently removing the ice from her eye, Yang set the bag on the bed beside her. "They were filled with something."

Now that she remembered. Those gloves were way too hard to be anywhere near regulation. She was about to ask the referee to check them when Emerald clocked her.

"Will she get into trouble?"

"Probably not...she does this stuff all the time, but she wins so they let her get away with it. It's not usually on this scale, but...she's a dirty fighter. Always has been."

"So...would you fight her again?"

"I might have to if she makes it into the tournament at the end of the season." The thought made Yang frown towards her hands while her head pounded a little harder.

"But she just tried to kill you."

"I dunno about kill…" she mumbled, closing her eyes to escape the bright lights that seemed to aggravate her head. "Definitely wasn't well intentioned though…"

"She could have killed you," Blake pressed.

"She's a bully," Yang replied while waving off the concern. "They'll do anything to put someone down. Can't let 'em get to you."

"There's a difference between standing up to someone and putting yourself needlessly in harm's way, Yang."

The forcefulness of the reply made Yang open her eye and stare at Blake for several seconds. Why was Blake so upset about this? Yang had been doing this since she was nine years old. Sometimes bullies got the best of her, but it was rare.

"She cheats because she knows she can't beat me," she explained. "And I can still win. I just need to not turn around when she says something."

"Clearly she dislikes something about you personally, Yang. She's not going to stop doing this if you keep going out there."

Yang looked at Blake carefully - perplexed by the resoluteness in her tone and the firmness in her eyes. She wanted Yang to stop...what? Standing up to Emerald? Standing up to everyone?

"But if I don't put her in her place, who will?"

It was a genuine question that Blake didn't have an answer to. Her mouth opened, but no words appeared while they stared at each other. Finally, she sighed and leaned forward, resting one hand on top of Yang's while leveling her with a concerned gaze.

"If you're in charge of standing up for everyone, who stands up for you?"

That tingling sense of familiarity tugged at Yang's mind when Blake's eyes grew damp with emotion and she turned her gaze towards the floor. As she did so, locks of raven hair fell over her shoulders like a veil, and Yang's heart thumped achingly at the thought of having caused Blake this type of pain. Blake was too kind and caring to cry...and Yang certainly didn't like being the cause of it.

"I'm sorry..." she apologized. For what, she wasn't quite sure - for making Blake worry, for making her feel this way, for having any role in causing those tears - but Blake immediately shook her head.

"Please don't be..." Blake whispered towards the floor. Taking a few seconds to collect herself, she sucked in a shaky breath, wiped the back of one hand across her eyes, and returned her gaze to Yang with a wavering smile. But her lashes were still damp with tears and her eyes were now lined in faint red.

And Yang suddenly remembered why it felt so familiar - because she'd seen this person before. Not at Vale High - sometime before - sometime long ago.

"Have we met before?" she suddenly asked.

"We go to school together, Yang. Same homeroom?" Blake answered, her worry doubling at the unexpected question. But Yang shook her head - a massive mistake that generated a wave of pain that made her close her eyes until it passed.

"No...before. We went to school together before…"

While Yang spoke, she struggled to grasp onto the thread of a memory and pull it into view. It'd be easier to do without that fog clouding the way, but it was there...hidden deep in the recesses of her mind. Blake - much smaller than now, but still her. And four bullies - all boys.

The memory made Yang's lip curl in distaste and anger.

"They made fun of you for reading," she said, clenching her fists when she remembered the four boys pulling Blake's books out of her backpack and throwing them onto the ground. "They made you cry."

Everything came back in a rush at that moment - still cloudy, but clear enough for her to see. She was walking home with Ruby. She punched one of the boys in the nose because they wouldn't stop. They went to the principal's office, and Blake was just like this, only worse - more upset, more...victimized.

That was the day Yang's dad decided to sign her up for boxing lessons - she started the next week. That was the first time she stood up for someone besides Ruby. It all started with -

"Book girl?" she whispered, knowing it was true but not understanding why it hadn't come to light until now. Blake's eyes widened at the name, but any response was cut off by the clinic door opening and someone rushing into the room.

"Yang!" her dad called out, hurrying to the other side of the bed and kneeling down so she could read the concern in his eyes. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Dad…" she said while he prodded at her. "Just a little woozy."

"'A little woozy' doesn't explain why you're down to just one eye," he replied, sitting back and looking at her with an expression that expected a response.

"I should get going," Blake cut in quietly, standing and grabbing her bag from the floor. "I hope you feel better, Yang. We can...talk later..."

As best she could, Yang watched Blake slip out of the room without another word.

Her mind still reeled from the revelation she just uncovered. How did it take so long to piece two-and-two together? Why had it taken Blake's tears to jog her memory? They went to school together before. Yang watched Blake get teased in the halls for loving to read, and did nothing about it.

"What happened?" her dad pressed, not allowing her a moment to digest her discovery. "Ruby only said that you got knocked out and I needed to come right away."

"Yeah...she kinda decked me after the bell rung…" Yang mumbled. "Now who's bell is rung, huh?"

From his dumbstruck expression, he had no idea what to do with that response. A laugh might've been appropriate, but apparently it wasn't that funny.

"Between rounds?" he asked in shock.

"Yup. Good thing you weren't here," she added, closing her eyes and picking up the bag of ice. "Pretty sure your face would never be normal again. Not that it ever has been."

Imagining his reaction, she grinned at the tease.

"Glad your wit is still intact," he replied. "And she's the one who's lucky I wasn't here."

"Did you just threaten a high schooler?" Yang asked in amusement, peeking one eye open to find her dad with a serious frown set on his face.

"I might have. That girl's been after you ever since you knocked her out freshman year. I had a bad feeling something like this would happen..."

"She dropped her elbow too low," Yang reiterated for the hundredth time before shrugging one shoulder. "What was I supposed to do?"

Ordinarily, she would've shown a little more mercy, but she'd just watched Emerald reduce one of her teammates to tears before the fight started - all with that fake smile set in place. So maybe she'd been a little more...motivated...than usual. When Emerald slipped up, she jumped at the opportunity to teach a little lesson. She felt horrible immediately after...until Emerald got up and spat in her face.

"You didn't do anything wrong. I'm only saying that she's been out to humiliate you ever since."

"Hmm…" was all she said while thinking about his words. That made sense with what Blake said - it was personal. And with no guarantee that they'd meet each other during the end-of-year tournament, this was Emerald's last opportunity to exact revenge. That explained why she was willing to stoop so low, although Yang wondered if there was even a level that Emerald considered 'too low.'

"I'm just glad you're ok," he concluded with a heavy sigh. "And I'm not letting you into a ring with her ever again."

"Come on, Dad…I was winning before I was dumb enough to turn around."

"Nope," he replied with a firm shake of his head. "You're done fighting against Salem."

Sighing in exasperation, Yang dropped the subject for now. If she somehow got matched against Salem in the tournament though, no way was she sitting out. She'd just beg him to change his mind if that time ever came.

"Pretty sure she won't be able to set foot in this school again anyway," she muttered while allowing her eyes to drift shut. But hearing two light taps on the door, she opened her uninjured eye to watch it open and the school nurse poke her head in.

"You have visitors," she whispered before opening the door. Ruby buzzed into the room as soon as there was enough space for her to squeeze past the door.

"Yang!"

Somehow, Ruby managed to shout Yang's name while also whispering it so as not to hurt her head.

"Hey," she said, smiling and reaching out for Ruby to hold her hand. Behind Ruby, a rather timid-looking Nora and worried Pyrrha walked into the room.

"Mr. Xiao Long?" the nurse asked from the door before nodding towards the lobby.

"I'll be right back," he said. After squeezing Yang's shoulder, he stood and followed the nurse out of the room, most likely to discuss her current health status. Yang's health, not the nurse's.

"Yang," Pyrrha exhaled in relief as the adults left the room. "You look like you're doing much better already."

"Yeah, no kidding," Ruby added from the bed beside Yang. "You were pretty impossible to get over here. All stumbly and super heavy and stuff."

"Sorry I made you worry," Yang said, squeezing Ruby's hand and responding to the fear lingering in her eyes. "But I'm doing fine now."

While Ruby smiled in relief, Pyrrha sat down in the chair Blake had recently vacated, and Nora stepped forward without ever lifting her gaze from the floor. Her entire persona right now was that of a puppy who'd done something wrong and knew it. A welt was rising under one of her eyes and scratches ran up and down her arms, but the injuries didn't appear too serious.

"Heard you beat the crap outta Emerald," Yang said, raising her free fist Nora's way. Immediately breaking into a relieved grin, Nora bounced over and cracked her knuckles against Yang's.

"You bet I did!"

The volume of Nora's voice made Yang wince, which Pyrrha noticed and made a soft 'shhh'ing sound to calm Nora down.

"She never saw me coming," Nora continued in a hushed voice. "Took her right off her feet like wham!" She smacked one hand enthusiastically into her other. "Flipped her over the ropes and pinned her to the floor. She couldn't even hope to get up."

"Maybe you should get into wrestling," Yang suggested with a grin.

"Maybe I should!" Thinking about the idea, Nora's eyes sparkled with glee. "You wanna start a wrestling team with me?"

"Depends. Does Salem have a wrestling team?"

Giggling at the question, Nora shrugged - her happy-go-lucky energy restored.

"They canceled the rest of the fights," Pyrrha explained softly. "Well...the referee disqualified the team and sent them home. It looked like your coach was about ready to step into the ring with theirs."

"Wouldn't that have been awesome, Yang?" Nora added, slapping Yang lightly on the arm. "I wanted it to happen! We've never seen Coach box against someone for real before! And him against Ms. Fall? Oh man...I bet he'd beat the crap outta her. She's so tiny, and he's so freaking tall! Although I bet she's sneaky good - don't you think? Like tricky, right? And you know Emerald learns how to cheat from somewhere..."

When Nora finished rambling, Yang locked eyes with Pyrrha.

"So everyone left already?" she asked.

"Their team shot out of here before there was a riot, but a lot of people are still milling around outside."

"The team's still here!" Nora piped in. "I told 'em they couldn't leave until you get to go home. Even if that means we have to sleep here."

"I'm sure they'd be thrilled to stay here overnight…" Yang replied before Ruby bounced eagerly on the bed.

"Can I stay overnight too?"

"Definitely!"

Yang and Pyrrha shook their heads in unison. Of course Ruby would be excited to spend the night at school...

"I believe our rivalry with Salem just grew exponentially larger…" Pyrrha added.

"Oh, you know it. When their track team gets here, I wanna crush 'em." While Ruby spoke, she ground a fist into her palm. "I'm gonna run so fast - I'm gonna lap 'em."

Chuckling at the bold claim, Pyrrha shook her head while Yang reached out and rustled her sister's hair in appreciation.

"I'll make sure to be there for that," she said, earning a wide grin from Ruby.

The door opened, and their dad walked back in then, looking much more relieved than when he'd raced in a few minutes ago.

"Alright Yang, you can go home. We'll just keep an eye on you tonight."

"I'll do that!" Ruby immediately volunteered, raising her hand in the process. "Not just one eye though - I'll keep two eyes on her!"

When Ruby giggled, their dad smiled at her before turning back to Yang.

"Do you want to wait here a bit longer?" he asked, still far more concerned that he probably needed to be.

"I think I'm good," Yang answered before pushing herself into a seated position and then pausing. Waiting for the temporary lightheadedness to abate, she only swung her legs off of the clinic bed when the world stopped swimming.

"I gotcha," Ruby whispered, appearing by Yang's arm and helping steady her while she stood and immediately clamped her mouth shut.

Yup, that was a nice wave of nausea...

When the unmistakable feeling of needing to hurl passed, she took a deep breath and moved several shaky steps forward. It was like she was re-learning how to walk, like somehow her brain had forgotten in the past hour.

"Want me to carry you?" Nora offered, looking just a little too excited about the prospect.

"I'm good," Yang answered. "Gotta leave me with some dignity…"

Eyes trained on the floor, she slowly followed Ruby's lead out of the clinic and into the main office beyond. Hearing multiple people get to their feet and sensing more company surrounding her, she gently lifted her eyes and found her teammates approaching her.

"Wow, nice shiner," someone joked.

"When are school pictures again? I hope they're next week. You'll have the best yearbook photo ever."

"Ha ha very funny," Yang replied with a grin, already feeling uplifted by their light-hearted teasing. "I may be half blind, but I could still take any of you right now."

"She says while leaning on her sister for support…"

"Hey!" Straightening away from Ruby's supporting shoulder, Yang pointed towards her team. "Let this be a lesson to all of you. Never turn around when someone calls you. Like ever. Even if it's your own family."

Smiling when they laughed at her joke, Yang leaned towards Ruby.

"Now take me home, lil sis!"

Trying to ignore the throbbing in her head, Yang headed out into the atrium of the school with her teammates giving her a chorus of 'feel better's as she left them behind. Walking was a little easier now that she'd regained her balance, but she kept her eyes trained on the floor regardless. All of the colors and motion were enough to make her feel a little woozy and confused whenever she briefly looked up to see where she was going. Thank goodness for Ruby's subtle help - nothing more than a light touch on her elbow that she knew would turn into a firm grasp if she needed it.

There were a lot of people in the main lobby talking and walking around, but none of them approached her. She felt the eyes on her though - lots and lots of curious eyes following her towards the front doors.

"Let me go get the car," she heard her dad say before he rushed off. Pausing by the exit to school, Yang briefly looked up and saw her dad head outside so he could pull up to the front of the building.

"Like I can't walk an extra twenty feet?" she joked, only loud enough for Ruby to hear and giggle. Glancing towards Pyrrha, Yang caught a glimpse of someone familiar in her unclouded eye.

Blake.

Blake was still here - sitting next to Weiss on the other side of the lobby. Her eyes were trained unflinchingly on Yang, who looked back in confusion. She thought that Blake left...but maybe she was waiting for Yang to go home like everyone else seemed to be doing.

This time, Yang didn't bother trying to hide her staring. Instead, she fully turned so she could see Blake perfectly with her good eye.

Could that really be the same girl? In her mind, they were completely different people. One was small and needed protecting. The other was...well, Blake.

When Ruby tried to take a step forward, Yang refused to budge. She didn't want to leave. There were a lot of questions she wanted to ask right now. And she just...she didn't want to leave Blake sitting there. Not with the secret out in the open but hanging between them undiscussed.

"I'm going to miss our date…" she whispered, and that realization made her feel worse than anything else that had happened up to that moment. She'd been looking forward to tonight...and she thought that Blake had been too.

"I'll update her," Pyrrha whispered back before squeezing Yang's shoulder. "I'm sure she'll understand, so don't worry. Feel better."

With a parting smile, Pyrrha walked across the lobby and stopped by Blake's side. Blake immediately stood up to speak with Pyrrha, but her eyes never left Yang's. Even while Pyrrha spoke, Blake nodded but never looked away.

Hopefully, Pyrrha told her how sorry Yang was that this ruined the evening they'd planned...and that this wasn't what she'd wanted to happen. And that they really, really needed to talk soon.

"Yang," Ruby said with a more forceful tug at her arm, trying to get her to move outside.

"Come on, honey," their dad added, holding the door open and gesturing her forward. "Let's get you home."

Finally tearing her eyes away from Blake, Yang walked slowly through the door and accepted Ruby's help heading down the front steps to the car waiting just a few feet away. Her dad opened and closed the door for her, and Ruby hopped into the back seat beside her instead of sitting up front.

Closing her eyes and leaning against the window, she let out a long sigh as they set out on the short trip home.

This wasn't at all how she'd wanted the day to end, but she wasn't in the condition to do anything other than go home and try to get some rest. Hopefully, tomorrow she'd feel good enough to sort through what just happened.

How had she been so blind though?

All this time...she never even saw it.