A/N: In the first half, Yang, Weiss and Jaune take a solid look at Lightning in her current state. Without the knowledge of what to do, will Ruby and Blake be able to help them find a way to get through to Lightning? This takes place in Chapter 2-B in 'Anything to See Her Smile'. Language and adult situations are the warnings.

The Talk, Part 1

"Poor Lightblub… I don't know if she's anywhere near the person Rygdea described her as to us... wouldn't it kill her to smile at LEAST ONCE?! I thought YOU were bad, Princess..." Yang pondered to her fiancée Weiss in frustration, not being fully aware that Weiss is seeing the same exact version of Lightning Yang has been seeing since their arrival to the Guardian Corps. Speaking of the white haired woman, all she could do is cry at Lightning's situation. She only overheard bits and pieces of the older Farron's backstory from Lightning herself, which broke her heart as it reminded the former heiress of her own past with her estranged family back in Atlas. It was bad enough of what Weiss Schnee went through before moving out of Atlas - reliving her past through Lightning's current nightmare was another story. For Yang - it was all about that accident which that douchebag Adam Taurus caused and resulted in the blonde losing most of her right arm while Yang was protecting Blake, which brought back painful memories of her own once she saw the pinkette in that current state. With one Oerba Yun Fang giving her what she needed to know out of respect for Lightning, Yang felt the best course of action to get the rest was to go straight to the source - which was easier said than done.

In the other side of the dormitory where he's been stationed at, Jaune bolted awake from yet another nightmare - the same one he'd been having for months - the nightmare where he saw his late girlfriend Pyrrha die by Cinder's hands at that tournament, the same damn nightmare preventing him from moving on in his life despite Cinder herself being killed by the Atlesian Military, led by Penny and Jaune was given words of wisdom from Penny herself on the matter. A part of him wanted to die when Pyrrha died, but something told him to keep on living his life, knowing that a silver lining will come his way if he believed. Without any hesitation, Jaune made his way to Yang and Weiss's shared room, hoping that either one of them could provide insight to his recurring nightmare, if it had a secret message of sorts.

Upon arrival to the shared room Jaune could hear Weiss crying, and Yang struggling to hold back her tears. This broke Jaune's heart. It didn't take long for Yang to answer the door after Jaune was knocking on the door. Once inside, Jaune feared that worst, that Weiss and Yang had broken up for some reason. A sigh of relief came from Jaune once he saw the engagement rings were still on their fingers, but Weiss's crying didn't stop. Jaune took it upon himself to look out the window, to find any clue as to why Weiss was still crying, and why Yang was struggling to hold back her tears. It took a bit of time, but Jaune was able to pinpoint the exact reason: Claire 'Lightning' Farron, and the state that she was in when the engaged couple saw her a short time before. Lightning clearly is in a shitty state, but with Weiss only knowing a small piece of the story what else was in the pinkette's past that was causing things to be as bad as they are? And who would be willing to provide them the remainder of the story if Fang's unable to do so?

"Damn... Lightning... I wish we knew... let us help you with whatever you're going through... know that you're not alone..." Jaune said to himself while comforting his two buddies, trying to formulate a plan of sorts to help his superior get through what he feels is a very tough time. During the group hug, both Jaune and Yang somehow built a will within themselves, determined to help Lightning through her rough patch. The biggest question is what will the plan be to get to that point in time? Who can they turn to? It was several minutes later that Jaune went back to his room so that Yang and Weiss can get some sleep, and to clear his mind. When morning came, something in Yang wanted to check with Blake over at Farron Jewelers for any info the cat faunus she could have been told about the older Farron Yang wasn't aware of before, but the blonde was also aware that Blake wouldn't know anything else. Yang had to at least try, if anything. Upon bringing this up with Weiss and Jaune over breakfast, both immediately agreed that Blake would be best hope they have.

The trio would have Lady Luck on their side.

XXX

Blake and Ruby are having a quiet day at the Belladonna residence when Ruby's scroll rang. Blake, at first, wanted Ruby to ignore the call as the newly married couple wanted some 'Ladybug Time' but the scroll kept on going off, which only meant that either Taiyang or Yang is trying to reach the redhead. When Blake got to the scroll she saw Yang's info on the Caller ID, it was then that they picked up the phone. "Hey kitty cat, just the person I need to talk to!" Yang greeted her sister in law, causing Blake to release a chuckle of sorts. "A part of me is thinking that you should call back later but my gut is saying this is important..." Blake answered back, not realising that her gut was right in this situation.

"Damn right this is important, kitty cat..."

"You mind if I put this call on speaker?"

"I don't give a shit about that, Blake. You know that, as does Ruby."

"How's everyone doing over there... Lightning included..."

"That's the person who I wanted to talk to you about..."

"Is this about her pompous arsehole of an ex-boyfriend Snow Villiers, Yang?!?"

"Who?!?"

"You never heard of him...?"

"Not until now kitty cat. Lightning has been in a really shitty mood lately here at the GC, and no one here knows why. Not even Rygdea has a real clue although he thinks it's related to someone back in Bodhum, where she's originally from..."

"Let me give you the 60 Seconds version since you three are short on time. Assuming you have this on speaker, Weiss can likely figure out the rest. Snow 'Douchebag' Villiers controlled the entire relationship by being an abusive prick, cheated on Lightning by fucking her sister Serah's, Light dumped him. Snow went on to hire someone to murder her parents - the same ones who made me the head of their 2nd Farron Jewelers location, Etro bless them - and hit Lightning with his car, badly injuring her and fled the damn scene quicker than her namesake according to Setzer. If it weren't for Galuf and Krile she'd be dead by now. Snow wants her back. The only reason why I know of Snow was because of Lightning's dad when he was still alive. Kain HATED Snow like you wouldn't believe. If I had to be honest here, Snow's a LOT like Adam..." Blake said, finishing what info she knew about Lightning.

This had Yang, Weiss and Jaune in a complete state of shock, for this wasn't something they knew about their superior at all.

So this is what Lightning was hiding from us... she has a good reason why she doesn't want any of us to know if I had to be honest here... but she has to see that there's others who can relate toher and her past. Blake gets it, since Lightning's dad told her about Snow. With Weiss's own issues back in Atlas, and Jaune's recurring nightmares, can this help us help get through to her? I can only hope so. I know that Ruby believes in us, I have to try. For her... Yang mused to herself, knowing that the older Farron has a painful past involving an arsehole who won't let her go, something that Blake understands and is something similar to what Weiss went through when the white haired woman was growing up in Atlas. Yang, Weiss and Jaune talked to Ruby and Blake some more before ending the call, as they all had to get back to whatever they were in the middle of before the call began.

In the meantime, they sought out one Oerba Yun Fang for advice on how to approach Lightning with the info obtained from Blake. If they needed to find a way to approach their superior on a sensitive

topic, it was the brunette, one who knows Lightning well. At first, Fang was stunned by finding out that the faunus was told anything about Snow by either Kain or Sonia, but she was also happy that Blake told them, and not her, as if there was anyone who understood how people like Snow are that also wasn't the Oerban native, it was Blake Belladonna. Blake clearly was in Lightning's shoes. Lightning would've had a field day with beating the shit out of Adam Taurus if those two ever met face to face. When Fang was told about this, the brunette was laughing her arse off before letting them know that Lightning would probably kill him if she could get away with it.

With this new piece of information, Yang, Weiss and Jaune came up with a plan to get through to Lightning, by words. Knowing that it won't be easy, they had to at least try. Simply because they wanted to be Lightning's buddies, or mates. People Lightning can call her family. Friends, something Lightning needed besides Fang and Faris. Even an encouraging text message from Ruby was willing to help them try. The biggest challenge was Claire 'Lightning' Farron herself.

Would Lightning let them in?

Only time will tell...

To Be Continued...

A/N #2: Massive apology for the delay - a combo of work, illness, writer's block and other obligations got in the way here. Please keep in mind that this is a slow going here, so I kindly ask for your patience here.

The Talk, Part Two is next, where Yang, Weiss and Jaune finally have that talk with Lightning - will the trio's past get through to her?