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The bright, florescent light finally broke through the haze of sleep as Yang cracked one eye open and instantly regretted it. The pain in her head was like the pounding of a drum, constant and loud.

She reached up with both arms to wipe the sleep from her eyes but only one hand touched her face. She was too miserable to care as she tried to clear her vision. As the world started to come into focus, Yang realized she was lying in her empty bathtub, her body began to scream in protest as her aching muscles moved.

Sitting up, she took an estimate of the damage. Her shower curtain was on the floor and both the towels were there as well. An empty bottle of liquor sat next to the sink and beyond that she saw a large crack in her bathroom mirror.

She suddenly remembered smashing her head through it. Reaching up, she checked for any cut but found nothing - her aura must have protected her.

"Dammit Yang." She cursed herself.

"Yeah that's pretty stupid."

The voice made her jump as Yang looked behind her to see her father sitting on the closed toilet seat with his scroll in his hand. "Dad?" She called but he continued to tap at the screen. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to beat this stupid Angry Nevermore game. It's pretty fun and super addicting." He continued to focus for another few seconds before a defeated chime came form the scroll. "Crap, this game sucks." He said before closing his scroll. "Though I'm assuming your question refers to me being in your bathroom?" Yang nodded, her throat too sore to talk. Although the nod jostled her brain a little too much. "Well when you didn't come to the front door for five minutes I came in through the window and looked for you, then found my pride and joy lying in her bathtub with a leather jacket as a blanket and that bottle of whiskey I'd been missing."

Yang knew he was disappointed, even if he tried not to be. She could hear it in his voice.

If it was meant to make her feel bad, it didn't work. "Funny, I think I found you in the same position a few times. Except I was eight."

She watched him nod tiredly. "So that makes it okay?"

"Learned from the best." She knew she was going too far, she didn't care. Her body hurt, her heart hurt, her arm was missing. She wanted to see how low she could sink.

"Yang," he sighed. "What are you doing?" The way he spoke brought angry tears to her eyes. He didn't understand, he couldn't. He was still a huntsman. He still had a purpose. Despite her rage, she couldn't find any words to answer with. Her leg was beginning to shake as the tension built up. "Your mirror broke."

She glanced at it again and swallowed the foul taste in her mouth. "My eyes were red, I hate it when they do that."

"Something upset you?" He asked knowingly and she turned to look at him.

"You saw her?"

Taiyang shrugged. "Might have," he gave her a smile. "She's nice."

"She's a coward."

He chuckled. "Says the girl who passed out in her bathtub."

Yang could feel the heat pulsing in her blood, her fists clenched, he was pushing her. "What do you want, Dad?"

"I want my girls back."

Ruby…

The name alone calmed Yang down, grounded her. She couldn't help Ruby, she'd refused to help, but she was still out there and Yang's concern overpowered her anger. "I don't know how to find Ruby."

"Of course you don't, you're lost too." When she looked at him again he had moved off the toilet and was kneeling next to her. "You're right, Yang…I messed up bad after Summer died and I ended up putting a lot of responsibility on you. Responsibility that you should have never had to deal with so young. I can't make up for that, but I can tell you that I regret every second of that time of my life." Yang fought so hard, but once the first tear escaped more started to follow. "I missed out on so much. Precious time I could have spent with you and Ruby. I wake up every day worrying that I might never see her again and I know you do too." She tensed when his hand reached up and touched her cheek. Yang could feel her bottom lip quivering. "Mornings like this, when I wake up and you don't answer your door and…I find you like this? Yang I don't want to have to start worrying about you too. I can't lose anymore people I love."

With a deep breath, Yang tried to calm herself down. She relaxed into her dad's hand on her cheek and brushed at her eyes. A burdening weight held her down. "I was never good enough for her. Raven…mom…I always wondered what I did wrong. Why I didn't matter enough." Yang met her father's eyes. "She's never coming back, is she?"

She could see a flash of anger in his eyes. Anger at Raven for doing this to her, to him. "No…I don't think so.

"It's selfish of me to wish she'd never left. To wish that I still had my mom. Because if she'd stayed then you and Summer…you and mom would have never had Ruby." Yang smiled as memories of a silver eyed little girl happily squealing her name came into focus. "I just always wanted both. I wanted Ruby and I wanted Raven and I wanted to matter enough for her to come back."

"Blake came back."

Sometimes she really hated how good he was at twisting her words. Just like Ruby. "Yeah, and I pushed her away. I can't just forgive her, Dad. The hardest time of my life and she runs away? It's not fair."

He nodded slightly. "You're right, it's not fair—and if your mother walked through that door right now I wouldn't forgive her either. But that's the difference." She saw a sadness fall over his face that she'd seen before. It reminded Yang of when she was little and Summer died, the long nights he'd spend lying around ignoring her and Ruby. It was a face she hated to see, and was relieved when he quickly removed it. "Raven's never coming home, she chose the life she leads now over both of us. That girl that came back for you, chose to. I'm not telling you to forgive her, that's not my choice—but I think she deserves a chance."

"Did you talk to her much?"

"Uh," he suddenly wouldn't look her in the eye. It was the same expression she'd seen from Ruby a thousand times before. A guilty expression.

"Dad," Yang's voice rose a bit. "What did you do?"

"Well…she had a bag," he shrugged. "I had some spare beds."

"DAD!"

"What?! She needed a place to stay and honestly, I needed some backup."

Blake was still here; she was right up the road—within walking distance. This knowledge made Yang's chest tighten. She wasn't sure how to feel. On the one hand, she was still so betrayed. Even if Blake had come back and was committed to sticking around that didn't change the last five years of hurt that Yang had gone through. She couldn't just wash it all away and forget the night she sat up crying because she thought she wasn't good enough for someone she loved, again.

Another part of her just wanted to be around Blake again. To feel that same comfort she had briefly felt yesterday. In a way, it made her feel whole again, if only for a moment.

Yang ran a hand through her long, blonde mess of hair. "I can't believe you let her stay with you."

"Did you…" she peeked over to see him eyeing her suspiciously. "Did you have a thing for her? Like…a romantic thing?" Yang's eyes narrowed. "Hey, I know what Beacon was like. They put you in a room with three other people and…you spend a lot of time with them. It makes sense for feelings to develop. I'm not judging—I'd mostly be relieved it wasn't the Schnee girl, could you imagine? That'd be like walking into a snake pit."

As his question sunk in, Yang realized she was still sitting in the bathtub and still had a throbbing headache to go along with the overnight stink of her drunken escapades.

Abruptly, she grabbed the nozzle of her shower and quickly turned it on, not bothering to take off her clothes. "I'm going to shower!" She shouted over the running water as her wrist casually flipped to spray her dad.

"Hey!" He cried as he stumbled backwards. "You know you could have just said you didn't want to talk about it!"

As her dad raced out of the bathroom, still screaming, Yang rose to her feet, fixed her shower curtain and shed her now wet clothes.

She did not want to talk about her feelings for Blake.

Wearing a dark yellow hooded jacket and black sweats, Yang trudged her way up the hill towards her father's house. He'd been gone by the time she'd gotten out of the shower and though she dreaded coming up to this place knowing that Blake was still here, she needed to go shopping for food.

As she drew closer to the house, Yang slowed her steps down. Blake was in there somewhere; she could feel it even without knowing. That strange sensation that seemed to attach itself to her when they were at Beacon. Yang had always felt drawn to Blake, connected to her from that first day in the forest. She wanted to see Blake, to be able to take in the sight of her before having to interact again. Yesterday morning she'd been caught off guard and it completely wrecked her. Perhaps having a few moments to prepare and take in the ridiculously attractive girl would make things easier.

Sneaking around the back of the house, Yang sought out her old bedroom window and ducked down to stay out of sight. She knew exactly where the window was and looked behind her to make sure no one was watching. As she approached the house, she looked back to have a peek.

"What are you doing?"

Yang jumped and fell backwards on her butt as Blake's voice was right in her face. She looked up to see her former partner leaning out the window with a curious look in her eyes.

"I was just…how did you know I was coming?"

Blake smirked as her ears moved atop her head. "I have very good hearing."

Turning to her right, Yang pushed up slowly and dusted off her pants. "Right, probably even better without the bow." She said, not daring to look fully at Blake.

"The bow didn't prevent much, I still had a front row spot to your nightly snoring sessions."

Yang rolled her eyes. "You sound like Weiss." Blake let out a soft laugh but Yang could sense the tension in it. The same tension she felt whenever thoughts of Weiss or Ruby or anything related to Beacon came up.

Talk of their past life at Beacon felt taboo—that day was so black in Yang's mind that she had spent years learning not to touch on it. Now, one of the most important facets of that life was right in front of her, leaning out the window and watching her.

"You don't wear the bow anymore." Yang said as her eyes lingered on the two pointed ears atop Blake's head. She'd seen them before, during rare moments in their dorm when Blake would let herself relax. At the time Yang longed to touch them, wanting to know if they felt as soft as they looked. With the light of the sun gleaming down on them now, they were even more enticing.

Blake gently laid her ears down atop her head and nodded. "Yeah, I'm not trying to hide anymore so…I left the bow behind."

That's not the only thing you left behind. It was on the tip of Yang's tongue but she held it in. It wouldn't do her any good to attack Blake. She probably already knew where Yang stood. Besides, she was glad that Blake had found the strength to leave her personal shackles behind and be herself. It was the only thing Yang ever wanted for her partner back at Beacon—to feel free enough to show everything she was.

"Good," was the best response Yang could find. The remained in silence for another few moments, Yang hating every minute of it, before she finally had enough. "Is my dad here?"

"Oh," Blake frowned slightly and Yang wondered if she'd thought Yang had come here for her. "Uh…no he said he was going to Signal? Something about a meeting. Your dad still works there?"

Yang nodded. "Yeah, he hasn't taken any hunting assignments since I've been back but he's still gotta pay the bills so he's been working full time at Signal." Yang had forgotten about his weekly meetings at the school, mostly because she'd forgotten what day it was. You're such a mess. "I just…" for some reason, asking Blake for anything, even things that weren't hers, was hard. "Can you bring me a box of cereal from the kitchen?"

"It's one in the afternoon. Is that going to be your lunch?" Even at Beacon, Blake always took the time to make sure that Yang ate properly. Back then it was mostly keeping Yang from devouring a plethora of unhealthy snacks and eating so fast she made herself sick. Still, it was treatment that Yang had appreciated back then. Being looked after and tended to, it was unfamiliar, she was usually the one keeping Ruby from stealing cookies before dinner.

Now though, Blake was standing between Yang and her painfully empty stomach. "I don't have any food and I was counting on Dad taking me to the store and…he's not home so it's going to be cereal." She could see the questions running in Blake's head based solely off her confused expression. Yang's hunger, hangover and frustration were getting the better of her. "I don't ride my bike anymore and I never learned how to drive a car and I have one fucking arm, so yeah…he takes me to the store."

A look of guilt flashed across Blake's face and Yang had to look away from her. "I'm sorry." She said and Yang felt her fist clench.

"Don't be, you didn't cut my arm off."

Blake's voice broke. "It's still my fault."

The fire rose in Yang's stomach almost immediately. She knew her eyes were red, a part of her was even aware that her hair might be catching fire—but she didn't care. Those four words made her want to scream. "Shut up." She barked and looked up to see Blake reeling back. "Don't you…" Yang took a few breaths to calm down, she was slipping. All she could see was Blake on the ground, that man driving his sword into her stomach. The emotions of that moment never left her, the way she felt when she thought of Blake being hurt like that. It plagued her thoughts and even after Blake ran away and Yang wanted to hate her, she couldn't shake that feeling. "I've been mad at you for a lot of things, Blake. But never this." She raised what was left of her right arm for emphasis and watched as the tears spilled over in Blake's eyes.

"I'm still sorry it happened," Blake whimpered and Yang felt all of her anger fading away. "You didn't deserve it."

Yang had to look away again, her mind was in overdrive and her heart was hammering in her chest. She wanted to be away from this house, away from this girl and these feelings. "Neither did you." She said finally before turning away. "I'll wait till he comes back." Yang said as she started moving around the house to go back down the hill.

Suddenly she heard the sound of feet landing in the grass behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Blake had jumped out the window and was behind her. "Please don't leave." Blake pleaded. "I'll make something for you, or take you to the store or…something. Please." Yang stared back at her former partner and felt herself being drawn in. There was always something about Blake that broke down her strongest barriers. Yang could be the life of the party—she could be loud and be the center of attention. That was easy, it was natural to her growing up to have all the eyes on her. But the deeper stuff, the real person she was behind all the energy and good times, those were kept hidden away.

Until Blake came along and Yang felt the need to share them with her, if only to try and learn more about this amber eyed girl who Yang couldn't stay away from.

She wanted to be mad at Blake, and she was. More so, she was mad at herself for being so weak. "You don't have a car, I know you've never liked the idea of driving." Yang said with much less hostility than she intended.

Blake looked slightly defeated. "I can still make you something. I know I can find enough to make you a meal."

"I'm not a child, Blake. I can make my own food."

"That's not what I mean." Blake groaned with frustration. "I'm not trying to make you feel incapable, Yang. I'm not trying to make you feel weak or like you can't take care of yourself. I just want to…" Blake looked away and the light of the sun made the tears in her eyes glisten. "I just want to spend time with you."

Yang had absolutely no defense for that. "Fine," she relented. "Let's see what my dad's got in there."

With her smile slowly coming back, Blake trotted in front of Yang to lead them to the front door.