A/N: Thank you for the encouraging reviews, they're really cool to read.

Ch. 3

Yang sat in the autobody shop, drumming her fingers on the counter, enjoying the resounding clicks the metal made, and resting her chin in the palm of her other hand. She loved her job, she really, really did. Cars were her passion, and she got to spend every day with Ruby, her favorite person in the entire world. But right about now, 4:30 to be exact, Yang couldn't wait to get the hell out of there.

The clock seemed to be running slower than usual, and Yang let out a long sigh at seeing that only 21 seconds had gone by since she last looked.

Ruby scoffed and rolled her eyes when she where her sister was looking. "Dear Ohm Yang, would you get out of here and just go see her already. You've been staring at the clock since noon, and if you sigh one more time I'm going to have to gag you."

Yang smiled slightly at Ruby's ability to read her mind, but it quickly dropped from her face. "I can't Rubbles, she's not expecting me until 5:30 at the earliest." She sighed again, noticing that the clock now only read 4:31.

"So? Weiss gave you a key to the house, didn't she? Just go early and say that we had a slow day, it's not exactly a lie dude. We've only had like four people all day," Ruby said from the behind the tv, still playing Mario Kart. Yang smiled at the suggestion, grabbing her keys and heading out the door before Ruby had even finished talking. The only thing that alerted the younger girl to her sister's absence was the slamming of the garage's side door and the sound of a car engine starting. "You're welcome, ya boob," Ruby chuckled to herself.

oO0Oo

Yang pulled up to the enormous Schnee Manor, grinning to herself as she thought about the girl that was just inside those doors. She unlocked the door and let herself in, sending a quick text to Weiss and Neptune saying that she had arrived earlier than usual today. The blue haired boy replied almost immediately, saying "Couldn't get enough of me huh? Sorry to disappoint, but I'm out for the day, if you could just keep working on Trident, that would be great."

The blonde scoffed at his message, but was disappointed by the lack of response from the person she really wanted to hear from. The garage was extremely lonely without Weiss there to keep her company.

The white-haired girl had stayed with her everyday for the past three weeks and in that time, Yang had felt extremely privileged to get to know a side of Weiss that was never put on display for the world. For example, Yang had learned that Weiss's favorite color, contrary to popular belief, was not white, but red. It lined the inside of all her clothes while she still maintained the pristine Schnee exterior. She preferred Sangria to any other kind of wine (or alcohol for that matter). When she was younger, she had wanted to be a social worker, but soon realized she would have more influence as the Schnee CEO (Yang had called her the "Schnee-E-O", much to Weiss's displeasure). And one day she had accidentally let slip that she had a tattoo, but refused to tell Yang where it was, blushing madly the whole time.

But then there were all the little things Yang picked up from being around Weiss. The look on her face when she was thinking, the sound she made when she was annoyed with something Yang had said, the way she brushed her hair out of her eyes. The smile that Weiss seemed to reserve only for her. Just thinking about it was enough to set Yang's heart racing.

The blonde decided that she had gone long enough without seeing her favorite white-haired beauty and walked into the main house. Weiss had given her a tour after her first day there, so Yang was able to travel from room to room, peeking into each looking for the heiress. She had barely made it past the kitchen when she heard it. She froze in her tracks, trying to commit the sound to memory, engraving it in her mind so she could hold onto it forever. Weiss was singing. Weiss was singing. And it was the most beautiful thing in the world. Yang felt her feet start to move towards the sound as if they had a mind of their own. Soon enough, she found herself in the grand foyer, standing stock-still in the doorway watching Weiss play the piano. Now that she was close enough, she could make out the last few lyrics of the most heartbreaking song she had ever heard.

"I can keep it from the world, why won't you let me hide from me? Mirror, mirror, tell me something, who's the loneliest of all?"

Yang knew Weiss spent most of her days in the Schnee manor by herself, but she never once thought Weiss was lonely. Clearly she was. Clearly she wanted a friend. Clearly she just wanted someone. Anyone.

"I'm the loneliest of all."

The song ended with the most beautiful note, hanging in the air, almost palpable to Yang. Weiss played the last few notes on the piano, sighed, and pushed the bench away. It was then that she turned around and noticed Yang standing there. She flushed and looked away, and Yang thought she heard the girl sniffle.

"I-I...I'm so sorry Weiss, I was just coming in to see where you were, I texted but I didn't get an answer, so I just figured I would come in and see where you were...I um, I already said that didn't I. I didn't mean to just burst in on you-"

"Yang."

"Y-yes?"

"It's fine. I know you didn't mean to spy on me." Weiss stated calmly, but her eyes were still shining with unshed tears.

"I...okay." Yang said, still very unsure of herself and the situation she put herself in. "Would you, um, would you like to keep me company in the garage?" she asked tentatively, gesturing back towards the way she came weakly.

Weiss turned away and cleared her throat, clearly trying to compose herself. When she turned back, she gave Yang a small smile and said, "Yes, I think I would."

Yang waited for Weiss to take the lead, and followed her back to the garage in a somewhat uncomfortable silence. She regretted invading the white-haired girl's privacy, but definitely, under no circumstances, did she regret hearing her sing. So it was with a slightly guilty grin that Yang made her way through the giant house trailing Weiss.

Once inside, the heiress saw Neptune's car hoisted up in the air by a giant metal rig. She was about to ask Yang what she was doing to the automobile when she heard a yelp followed by a resounding clang. Weiss spun around and had to stifle a laugh, the blonde was stuck to the -apparently magnetic- rig by her right arm with a sheepish grin on her face.

"Ah...haha...I may have forgotten I left that on yesterday….I have to take this thing off when I work on it…" she said, gesturing to her metal arm. "Um...do you mind turning it off for me?"

"Well that depends, are you going to keep spying on me?" asked Weiss with a teasing smile, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms.

"Hey I didn't mean to spy on you, and it's not my fault you have the most beautiful voice on the planet." Yang stated, turning a brilliant shade of red after she realized what had just slipped out.

Weiss felt her own face begin to flush as she looked around for the switch, Yang pointing it out to her on the far wall. The car began to lower to the ground and the magnet turned off, Yang ripping her arm away and massaging her shoulder.

"Thanks Princess, don't exactly know what I would have done if you hadn't been here." Yang chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck nervously with her right hand. She saw Weiss's eyes follow her arm, and knew the question the girl was sure to ask eventually.

"Yang, what happened to your arm." The question was more a statement, like the heiress was sure the blonde would tell her.

Yang cleared her throat, "Wow...no one has ever really been that direct about it before….How's this, I'll tell you about mine...if you tell me about yours," she stated, gesturing to Weiss's left eye. The girl in question grimaced slightly at the mention of her scar, it was a physical representation of everything that she disliked about herself. It was a huge flaw, a permanent reminder of her failure right on her face for everyone to see.

The blonde could see Weiss's hesitation and immediately looked at her feet, feeling extremely guilty for bringing up such a sensitive topic in the first place. "Why would you want to know about something as ugly as a scar?" The question the heiress posed made Yang's head snap back up.

"What are you talking about? Ugly? It's beautiful," the comment had slipped from her mouth before she could stop herself, bringing a blush to her face and sending her gaze back to her feet. "I-I mean...scars are a beautiful thing, you know? It shows that you've done things-been through them. And came out of it tougher, better, smarter. It's your body remaking itself, replacing old matter with something brand new. It's a reminder that you can't be broken, your body won't let it happen. It's amazing, and special, and something uniquely you. It makes you even more beautiful than you were before...which is a pretty hard thing to accomplish if you ask me." Yang finished her impromptu rant still staring at her timberlands, left hand fidgeting with the metallic joints on her right.

"It happened when I was seventeen. I was in boarding school, walking back to my room after I had been studying in the campus library," Weiss started, causing Yang to slowly look up, but Weiss refused to met her eyes, staring instead at her own hands. "A few of the boys there thought they were just a touch more privileged than everyone else at that god-forsaken school. They got away with just about everything. They used to loiter around the girls' dorms at night, hoping to prey on some innocent female, no doubt.

"One of them, Cardin, I believe his name was, decided to grab me as I went by his little gang. When I shoved him off, he pulled out his pocket knife. I don't even think he knew what he was doing, they all smelled of alcohol. He tried to threaten me with it, so I panicked and punched him, and that...didn't go over so well….One quick slash on his part and I was left with this,"she gestured weakly to her eye, "I should have seen it coming, I was just startled and honestly, a little scared. Though, I'm sure my fear was nothing compared to what Cardin's family felt when the Schnee's came after them," Weiss finished with a cold smirk that faded almost instantly. "Everyone kept their distance from me after that. Well, everyone but Neptune." A small smile appeared on the heiress's face, and Yang wasn't sure if she was happy that Weiss had someone there for her, or absolutely furious that it hadn't been her.

"Weiss, I...I'm so sorry. I know what it's like to be treated differently after something like that happens," Yang said sincerely, unsure of whether or not she could reach out to the heiress.

"Yes, well...as you said, I told you about mine. Now tell me about yours," It was more of a command than anything, but not an unkind one. If anything, the white-haired girl sounded curious as to what could have happened to take away someone's entire appendage.

"Do you want the version I tell at parties, or what really happened?" Yang asked with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Why not both?" Weiss said with a small chuckle. Only someone like Yang could joke about a subject that was this painful and clearly made her uncomfortable.

"Well the party version is that the auto-shop cost me and Ruby an arm and a leg, but we got one of those 50% off deals," Weiss scoffed and rolled her eyes at the terrible joke, but kept her attention on the blonde. "They real version is a bit...heavier."

Yang paused, took a breath and continued. "When I was in college, I got my first apartment with my best friend, Blake. She had a habit of dating the worst men possible. As it so happens, she plays for the other team now, but I digress," Yang said with a chuckle, rubbing the back of her neck again. Weiss noted that this seemed to be a nervous tick of hers.

"Anyways, I was coming home one night when I heard Blake and her boyfriend at the time, Adam, arguing. It wasn't really anything unusual and I was about to go back out to give them some space when I heard Blake stop yelling all of a sudden. Now Blake is a really good arguer, and definitely not the type to just stop mid-conversation. I thought something might be wrong so I went inside to check on them. Adam was standing in the middle of the kitchen with a gun trained on Blake. My adrenaline kicked into overdrive and I charged him. He heard me coming and turned on me, shot me right here," Yang tapped her right forearm with her knuckles, emphasizing the metallic clang. "Then he freaked out and ran, the police found him the next day hiding in the woods. Idiot." Yang scoffed, turning away from Weiss.

"I was bleeding pretty bad, so Blake made a tourniquet and rushed me to the hospital. By the time we got there, I had no feeling left below my elbow, and even if I did, my arm was pretty mangled. So off it went, and here we are. One metal arm and several 'physical therapy' sessions with my dad later. Blake blamed herself for a really long time, but eventually she realized it wasn't her fault. It wasn't anyone's fault really, it just sort of...happened."

Yang finished her story still facing the opposite wall. When she didn't hear a response, she turned to Weiss and raised an eyebrow. "Not what you were expecting, Princess?" the blonde asked with a hollow smile.

The heiress was staring at Yang with her mouth slightly open. "Well...no, not exactly. I'm not sure what I was expecting, maybe a car accident or something of the sort, not anything like that. That was very...heroic of you, Yang." Weiss couldn't help but think what some of her "friends" might have done in that situation. Probably encouraged her assailant to pull the trigger.

Yang snorted, smiling with her eyes for the first time since they had started this conversation. "Try telling that to Ruby. She was furious that I had just charged headfirst into the situation...literally."

Weiss laughed at the joke and Yang went about gathering up some tools to continue her work on Trident. She stopped when she felt a soft hand on her left arm. Trying to ignore the butterflies that immediately filled her stomach, she turned to see Weiss looking up at her smiling softly, with an unidentifiable look in her eyes.

"Thank you for telling me." Weiss hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then wrapped her arms around the taller woman's waist, pulling her in for a hug. Yang froze, but shook herself out of her reverie and encircled the heiress's shoulders with her own arms.

"Thank you for listening." Yang said with a smile, reveling in the electric feeling of holding, and being held by, Weiss.

Little did she know that Weiss was enjoying it just as much.