Author's Note: Blatant plug here for my new fic A Band of Four. It's an AU, so if you don't like AUs, read it anyway. Thanks for reading guys and, as always, reviews are much appreciated.

Yang

I sat at Blake's bedside, as I had for most of the day. I watched Blake sleeping peacefully as I tried to pretend that the threat hanging over her wasn't there. I'd spent the morning talking to her aimlessly, rambling on about my childhood, my parents, all but raising Ruby, and everything in between. I knew she couldn't hear me, but it made me feel better. I know she didn't talk back, but if filled in the silence.

The silence was deafening. That was the worst part. Blake was normally quiet, never talking much, and taking a while to open up, but at least she spoke to me. This silence was… unsettling. It felt too much like she wasn't going to wake up. So I filled that gap with nonsense, knowing that she'd never hear a word.

I'd rushed to Ruby's room in the late morning, when she'd been brought in by Weiss. The nurses had assured us both that Ruby would be okay, so I'd sat in the room with Weiss, hearing her recount the morning's events. I was concerned, of course, but I'd told Weiss that there was nothing we could do about it until she woke up, so I took my own advice and tried to relax. I'd stayed in Ruby's room with Weiss for an hour or two, watching her sleep. Eventually I decided to return to Blake's room, and that's where I stayed until the sun set.

I looked at the clock on the wall, shocked to how late it was, and hurried down the Ruby's room. Weiss was still sitting at Ruby's side and Ruby was still sleeping peacefully. Weiss looked up as I entered, smiling slightly.
"She still hasn't woken up?" I asked as I sat down next to the bed, opposite Weiss.
"She woke up a little while ago, but she went back to sleep. I'm surprised you didn't hear us." she replied, smiling sheepishly.
"Why? What happened?" I asked, confused. Weiss looked at Ruby, avoiding my gaze, her cheeks turning pink.

"I uh… Might've lost my temper," She murmured.
"Why would you lose your temper?"
"I guess I was still a little stressed out, she nearly killed me when she freaked out."
"Well," I said gently. She had a right to be upset about that. She had nearly been injured by her own team mate. "I guess that's fair enough. I hope you two made up though."
"Yeah, we did. It's okay now." Her smile widened slightly.

I jumped to my feet, sliding the chair back a few inches.
"Well I'm going to get something to eat," I declared. I looked down at Weiss questioningly. "Would you like to join me?" Weiss stood elegantly, almost gliding out of her chair.
"Sure, I haven't eaten since breakfast." I held the door open for her, letting her out first. I cast one loving glance back at Ruby before closing the door behind me.

After dinner we made our way through the throngs of students returning to their dorms, or heading to the library, eventually reaching the infirmary. This part of the academy was empty, the nurses were no doubt off duty, and there were very few patients needing care. Silence hung in the air, unsettling me again. It felt like the silence of the grave.

"So," I began, more to fill the silence than anything else. "How are you feeling after this morning?" Weiss looked at me in surprise, pausing for a few seconds before answering.
"I'm fine. I was lucky to not get injured, but I came out alright." The silence returned. I racked my brains to think of a way to fill it.

"Thanks for looking out for Ruby, Weiss." I said, latching onto the first thing I thought of.
"What? Where's this coming from?" she asked, looking utterly bewildered. I smirked. I didn't really know where it was coming from myself.
"You're always around when she needs someone. I try to look out for her, try my best to be there. But, try as I might, sometimes I can't always be there to watch over her. It's good to know that you'll be there for her when I can't be." I didn't know why I was spilling all this out to Weiss, but once I started, it felt right. "She's a strong girl, we all know that. But she needs someone to be there for her now and then. She's still only fifteen, and as hard as she tries—and as well as she's doing—she can't handle all this by herself. We need to support her as much as she supports us, maybe more. She's been through a lot in her life, as young as she is. And she's lost people already. She can't bear all that weight alone, we need to help her Weiss."

Weiss just gaped at me, speechless. I blushed slightly, I had prattled on a bit. Maybe I'd said too much. I turned to walk away, but Weiss grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
"Absolutely," she said, her face resolute. "No matter what happens, no matter what comes, I'll be there for her. I'll take care of her when you can't, and support her with you when you can. All I ask is that you do the same for me." Her face took on a worried, sombre expression. "If anything happens to me, anything that prevents me from being there for her, I need you to cover for me."

"Of course Weiss," I said as a smile broke out on my face. "Team RWBY's tag team support crew. That's us." I saw a smile edge its way onto Weiss' face. She nodded and made to head up the hall. "There is one thing though," I said, stopping her. She looked back questioningly. I grinned wickedly at her "I'm her big sister, my concern for her is a given. What makes you so desperate to take care of her?" Weiss turned away in a huff, stomping her way down the hall. But, in the dim light of the hallway, before she turned away, I could've sworn I'd seen her cheeks turn bright red. Oh Ruby, I thought, what have you gotten yourself into?

I followed Weiss to Ruby's room, still grinning at her sudden tantrum. She quietened quickly as we entered Ruby's room, not wanting to wake her. We sat with her for a while, watching her sleep. I was too busy laughing at Weiss' reaction earlier to worry about the silence. After a few minutes I left Weiss with Ruby and headed down the hall to see Blake.

My unease returned as I approached the door. How would we actually know that she would wake up? I'd been worried about what would happen once she did, but what if she didn't at all? Then at least she died like a Huntress, a voice in my head whispered. I squashed it down, dying in bed, in a coma, was not how a Huntress died. And Blake wasn't going to die. I tried to convince myself of that as I opened the door, letting myself into the dark room. I slumped into my usual chair, sighing heavily. I glanced over at Blake, who still appeared to be sleeping peacefully. I hung my head back, staring at the blank ceiling.

I froze as I heard a quiet groan.
"Yang?" a quiet voice murmured. I whipped my head around, looking at Blake. Her eyes were ever so slightly open, there was a small smile on her face and it only widened as I leapt out of my chair, sending it clattering to the floor. I all but threw myself onto Blake, squeezing her tightly.

"Oh my God, you're awake!" I gasped. I pulled away from Blake, kissing her on the forehead. Then I wrapped my arms around her again, unable to resist the urge. "Are you okay? Oh I've missed you. How're you feeling? You're gonna be fine. I can't believe you're finally awake!" I knew I was prattling, but my excitement had got to me. I was just so happy to see Blake waking up at last.

I felt Blake's arm reaching up feebly and pulled back, thinking I was smothering her. I leant back, with my hands on her shoulders, looking at her questioningly. She smiled at me, oh that smile made me weak at the knees, and placed her hand on my upper arm. She grabbed a handful of my sleeve and tugged, pulling me back down. I wrapped my arms around her once more and felt her arms wrap around my neck.

I smiled, pressing my face into the curve of her neck. I felt tears beginning to well up in my eyes, tears of relief and joy. We stayed like this for a while, just holding each other. After a while I felt Blake push against, pushing me up. I pulled myself away, sitting on the bed, just next to her. Blake lay back on her pillow, still too weak to sit up.
"What was that about?" she asked breathlessly, a light smile on her face.

My face flushed red I realised that she had no idea what was going on. She didn't know how long she'd been out, or what had happened to her. She didn't know how much I'd worried. My heart sank as I remembered that, as much as I'd talked to her over the last couple of days, she hadn't heard a word of it. How I felt about her might have changed, or developed, in recent days, but to her, nothing had happened between us. She hadn't heard me profess my love to her. She hadn't heard me recounting my life.

She began to look concerned as my smile faded.
"I was worried about you, that's all." I said hurriedly, trying to plaster a smile back on my face. Why do you have to force a smile? Blake's awake! She didn't fall for it. She was weak, tired and still recovering, but Blake was never stupid.
"Yang, what's wrong?" she asked, her face turning more serious. I sighed, Good one Yang. How are you going to get out of this one?

"Oh I was just upset because you were asleep and didn't hear all the times I said 'I love you'." I muttered out of the corner of my mouth. Blake looked shocked for a second. Then she smiled, giggling lightly.
"You never change do you, Yang?" she asked teasingly. I wasn't sure if I should be happy that I successfully deflected the question, or upset that she didn't believe me. I smiled anyway. "So, what's the matter, really?" She was always good at getting back to the point. "What happened with the Beowolf?"

The Beowolf! I'd been so worried about Blake that I'd almost forgotten about it.
"Ha ha, yeah…" I laughed, somewhat embarrassed. "We took that thing out, all sorted."
"What happened?"
"You got caught by surprise. When we tried to jump out of the factory, it managed to get up faster than I expected and followed us. It hit you from behind, knocked you out straight away." I was getting upset—angry—remembering what had happened that night, but I forced it down. Blake needed to be brought up to speed. "Then, after that happened, I—we—managed to take it down." I couldn't tell her that I'd taken the thing out alone, that would eventually lead her to questions about how, and why I'd gotten so angry, and so on and so forth until I was forced to confess my feelings.

"I?" Blake asked, raising an eyebrow. My head whipped back to Blake, panic showing on my face.
"What?" I asked, frantically searching my brain for an out.
"You said 'I', and then changed it to 'we'. Which was it?"
"We," I said, hoping she'd believe me. "We took it out as a team."
"Then why did you say 'I' in the first place?" She had her serious face on again. I looked away, abashed. "Tell me the truth Yang."

"Okay," I said, grimacing. "I did most of it. Ruby helped out a bit."
"And how did you manage that?" I knew this was going to happen.
"I got angry."
"And?"
"You've seen me when I get angry."
"I have." She said, clearly expecting more. I rolled my eyes.
"You've never seen me get really angry. It's rare that it happens, but I sometimes it gets bad enough that everything just turns white, slows down, typical 'berserker' story. When that happens… Heck, even I get a little scared sometimes of what goes down."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense." I sighed in relief, she wasn't going to ask. I smiled at her, but it faltered when I saw she still had her serious face on. "Why would you get that angry over me?" Dammit.
"You're my partner Blake! I didn't like seeing you get hurt!" I hoped that that would be enough. I held my breath while she mulled it over. She nodded, accepting the answer. I let out the breath I'd been holding, smiling at her. This time she smiled back.

"How are you?" She asked quietly.
"Me? Ha! I'm fine." I puffed my chest out, acting cocky. She just rolled her eyes and looked at me. "Oh alright, I came out with a concussion and a couple of fractures. My aura fixed the fractures, the concussions been getting better for a couple of days." A panicked expression came over Blake's face.
"Days?" she asked. "How long was I out?"
"A-a few days." I stuttered. "It's Tuesday night."

I froze as I remembered why we—why I—had been so worried about her. Did Blake still have her aura? She didn't even know that she might have lost it. How am I going to tell her?
"Why was I out for so long?" she asked in a worried tone. God dammit Blake, how do you do that? She always seemed to follow the exact train of thought as me. Where would I even begin? Was there any way to break it to her gently?

"Blake," I began hesitantly. "Have you ever heard of 'aura shock'?" She shook her head slightly, a confused expression on her face. "It's what someone may suffer from if they are attacked when they're not expecting it. It doesn't happen all the time, 'cause they need to be hit extremely hard, like you were by the Beowolf." I stopped, racking my brains. I didn't know where to go from here. I didn't want to frighten her.

"Okay," she said, accepting my explanation without a second thought. "What is it?" I looked at Blake, locking eyes with her. Raw strength radiated from those eyes; like she was ready for battle. She looked like she was staring down Death itself. In a way, for someone dreaming of being a Huntress, she was. All thoughts of reassuring her flew from my mind in an instant. You don't need to be strong for her, Yang. Blake was strong enough to handle this. I loved Blake for her strength. I had no right to coddle her like this. She needed to know.

"Blake," I began again. Be strong Yang. "There's a chance you might never be able to manifest your aura again." Silence rang heavy in the air as Blake stared at me. She didn't say anything, she didn't move, she didn't react at all. But I saw her face turn visibly pale, saw a tremor pass through her shoulders. I fought the urge to grab her and hold her tight. Blake needed to deal with this herself. You don't need to be strong for her, she's strong enough.

Blake nodded. That was all. No words were said, no tears were shed. They didn't need to be. Huntresses had to be strong. Blake was. I nodded back, standing up.
"I better go get Ruby and Weiss. They'll want to know you're awake." I said, heading towards the door.

"Wait," I heard her call. When I turned back around, she was holding out her hands. I approached her, reaching out take them in my own. "Help me up." She said. That strength was still burning in her eyes. I nodded, giving her a smile. As gently as I could—she was still weak—I pulled Blake up and propped her pillows up behind her. Once she was comfortable I turned back to the door, but Blake squeezed my hand, stopping me. "Thank you Yang," she whispered. "Thank you for being honest with me."
"Anytime," I replied with a grin.

Ruby was still sleeping peacefully when I entered her room. But now Weiss was asleep too, her head resting on Ruby's bed. I smirked at the pair of them, they looked so adorable together. I noticed that Weiss was holding Ruby's hand. What is she up to? Weiss had been acting strangely recently, especially around Ruby or when Ruby was mentioned. Maybe they're just bonding. Even I didn't really believe that. Something else was going on.

I rounded Ruby's bed, gently shaking Weiss.
"Hey, Weiss," I said in her ear. "Wake up!" She sniffed, turning her head away from me. I shook her harder and she groaned, her eyes cracking open.
"Stop it Ruby," she whined, waving her hand at me. "That's enough for one night." I stepped back, gazing at her in shock. What the Hell had she been dreaming about?
"That's my little sister, don't you try anything." I muttered as I heaved Weiss' chair out from under her, sending her thumping to the floor.

Weiss was awake in an instant, leaping to her feet. Indignant rage covered her face before she recognised me, then it just turned to rage.
"Yang!" she yelled. I shushed her, pointing at Ruby. She at least had the good grace to look embarrassed, blushing as she whispered. "What are you doing?"
"Waking you up," I replied, smirking at her.
"Why?"
"'Cause Blake's awake."

Weiss froze, staring at me. I broke into a grin, trying to contain my laughter.
"Really?" She asked.
"Yep," I replied, moving over to Ruby. "She woke up a few minutes ago. Do you think we should wake Ruby up?"
"Yes, she'll definitely want to see Blake as soon as possible."

We both had a battle to fight, waking Ruby up. How she woke up before us every morning before class I would never know, this girl slept like a rock. Ruby moaned, rolling away from us.
"Cut it out Weiss," she muttered. "It tickles." Weiss stood straight, her face turning crimson. I just rolled my eyes. God, I thought,both of them? This is going to be interesting.

"Ruby!" I yelled in her ear. "I baked cookies!" Ruby rocketed up in a flash of red. When she solidified she was standing on the bed, battle ready. I rolled my eyes again, putting my hands on my hips. Weiss was still shell-shocked, her face the colour of Ruby's cape.
"Cookies?" Ruby asked, her face looking excited. I shook my head and her face fell. "Cookies…" she whined, sounding for all the world like a lost puppy.

"No Ruby," I said. "No cookies. But I have better news." Ruby cocked her head to the side, looking at me questioningly. She was still standing on the bed, her head almost brushing the ceiling. I tried to hold my grin, tried with all my might. "Blake's awake." Ruby's eyes widened and—in a flash of rose petals—was gone.

I shook Weiss, snapping her out of whatever fantasy she had spent the last minute. Her face was somehow getting redder as time went on. I wanted to snap her out of it before her head exploded, or her nose started bleeding.
"What?" she asked, looking around. "Where's Ruby?"
"I think I know," I said, smiling. I hooked my arm through Weiss', pulling her towards the door. "Come with me."

Ruby was sitting on her knees, almost in Blake's lap, talking animatedly to her as I dragged Weiss through the door.
"–and then Yang was all like 'Raaaaargh'! And she pummelled it. Like, there was nothing left. It was awesome!" I couldn't help but break into a grin. Ruby was back to normal. She'd been very reserved, by her standards, over the last few days. Worrying about Blake must've always been niggling at the back of her mind.

Blake was sitting up in her bed still, just smiling at Ruby. I stopped just inside the door. Weiss kept going into the room. I stood back, letting them have their moment with Blake.
"I'm relieved to see you awake." Weiss said, smiling at Blake. Blake turned her head to smile back but Ruby wasn't letting her get a word in edgewise. Weiss stepped closer to the bed, grabbing Ruby around the waist and lifting her off the bed. Ruby flailed her arms around, panicking, before Weiss dumped her unceremoniously into a chair. Ruby blushed red as Weiss began berating her.

"She's only just woken up Ruby. You can't just start beating her up like you're on the sparring ground." She droned. Ruby hung her head, pouting. I searched for Blake's eyes and found them as she searched for mine. We shared a smile over the heads of the other two. The team was finally back together.