Heart to Heart

Chapter 12: Alone Together

Jaune was going through his stuff trying to think of what they would need for Atlas. From what he figured, he would need some warmer clothing as Weiss had said that Atlas was cold and with winter coming Jaune had a feeling it might get pretty cold up there.

With a sigh, he realized that he really didn't have much in the way of winter clothing. It would take some time to get the next train to Argus. It would be nice seeing Saphron again, the last time he saw her and his sister-in-law Terra had been the last family gathering before he left for Beacon. He'd also only seen his nephew Adrian when he was first born. The little guy would be a toddler by now when he thought about it.

Jaune decided he needed to go out and see if he could find something out in the town. Maybe he could find someone to go with too. Going downstairs, he saw a Ruby and Oscar playing a game on their scrolls connected to the television.

"Hey where is everyone?" Jaune asked.

"Blake went with her parents to help set up somewhere for her dad's new group, Ilia went with them and Sun went with them as well as his team and since Neptune was there Weiss decided to go as well." Ruby explained not even looking at him as most of her concentration was on the screen.

"Oh," Jaune scratched his hair. "That it?"

"Nora dragged Ren off somewhere and Uncle Qrow," Ruby sighed at his name. "He said he was going for a drink and would be back soon."

Ruby really hoped that her uncle would keep it in moderation this time, the last time he went out drinking was when Oscar found him all plastered and dragged him back to this house when they first met.

"You didn't join them?" He asked curious.

"Uncle Qrow wants at least one of us guarding that," Ruby pointed to the golden lamp like artifact that they had been keeping sitting on the table in front of them. "Since we're getting ready to go he doesn't want it out of sight given all the trouble we went to get it only to lose it or something just before we leave."

"Oh okay then, well have fun," he told them.

"You want to join us?" Ruby asked.

"I got something to take care of maybe when I get back," he shrugged at them going for the front door.

"Hey wait how do you do that?" Oscar cried out as Ruby only laughed to herself.

Jaune smirked and shook his head as he left from the front door. He thought he saw a shop that might have what he needed in the downtown area. As he was leaving the house, he heard sounds coming from the small garage. As he walked towards it he saw Yang, her coat was off to the side as she was sitting down next to her bike doing something.

For a moment he paused as he was about to say something but he froze for a moment. Yesterday played out a bit again in his mind and he wasn't sure what to do. Even after his talk with Ren, it was still a little uncomfortable to be around her at the moment. Sure, it wasn't as bad as it had been yesterday but maybe a few more days and he might be able to just put it all behind him.

He was about to turn around when Yang turned to see what she had caught in the corner of her eye.

"Oh hey Jaune." She said in a friendly tone.

"O-oh hey Yang," He stood there a part of him cursing his luck. "So uh, what are ya doing?"

"Well since we're leaving soon I wanted to make sure Bumblebee is all set to go since I'm not sure when the next time I'll have a chance to do any kind of maintenance work on her will happen." She stood up and stretched out her back making a few light crack sounds from being hunched over for so long. "I just need to do an oil change and I'll be good to go, only one problem."

"What's that?"

"No oil in this place," Yang sighed gesturing to the small garage.

Looking around he noticed that while there was a space for a small vehicle there didn't really seem to be much in the way of anything else. Thinking back they did have to restock all the food when Lionheart gave them the place to crash. So it stood to reason this room would be the same as the rest of the building.

"What are you up to?" Yang asked him picking up her coat.

"I was just going out to look for some winter clothing since it's going to get cold when we start moving north." He explained.

Yang thought about it and it made some sense her traveling clothes were okay but her shirt under her jacket wasn't exactly made to cover much. Well she could do that later they still had some time before they left after all as first she needed some oil for her precious bike. The poor girl had gone all this way without any maintenance and she took care of her bike as she took care of her hair.

Actually that reminded her she was running low on her hair care products.

"Well I need some oil and a couple of other things, you mind me going with you?" She stood up and brushed herself off. She hadn't started on the really dirty jobs yet since she hadn't the materials she needed. Maintaining her bike was one of the few things, she didn't mind getting all dirty for.

Jaune knew it was silly to be hesitant about being alone with her but he knew it was just silly. Yang was his friend, a good friend now actually and with everyone else busy he would like the company. He was used to being around a lot of people growing up after all.

"Yeah I think it would be nice." Jaune told her.

"Of course it will be nice," She smirked at him. "You'll be with me and I know how to have a good time."

Jaune shook his head as they made their way down to the main streets of the city.

-Elsewhere-

Out in front of a small building stood Ghira with his wife as they looked at it, they had been working towards starting up the first chapter of this new Unity group. Of course, the first step had been to establish a place for people to gather. It was like the days when they first started up the White Fang as he saw people moving in furnishings and other small things. They were of course mostly donated and those that weren't were from second hand stores.

After all, they hadn't step up a proper donation drive yet but it was a start.

"Reminds me of how we started out," He commented.

Kali nodded with a smile, "Those were good days, we were filled with so much optimism and hope."

"Simpler times," He sighed. He hadn't liked how the White Fang had degenerated from his time of a Faunus rights group to a violent group of terrorists and extremist. For a moment, he felt a sliver of fear in his heart. Would the same thing happen this time as well? Would he make the same mistakes? The White Fang had been his creation but it had gotten away from him and turned into a monster.

When his daughter had fully explained what the White Fang had done as Beacon that night he hadn't slept thinking that all those deaths could be laid at his feet. Yes, he had left before the group had turned that violent but was he not responsible for its origin? How much could a man be blamed for his creations when turned to evil? Was this was the person who figured out how to use dust felt when the knowledge was turned into weapons? When the first weapons were used in a war against fellow Humans and Faunus instead of the Grimm?

"Ghira?" Kali asked him seeing him go quiet. She knew that he was thinking and they weren't pleasant thoughts.

He shook his head, "Sorry dear, it's just…I don't want history to repeat itself."

She took his hand and squeezed. "It won't, this time will be different because this is different. Just take a look."

There were many Faunus in the group but they could both see a few humans as well. Not just their daughter's friends or the teammates of Sun's either. A few humans came to join after the press conference he had given. Somewhere there to support their friends who were Faunus and he saw one mixed couple as well. A Faunus woman and her Human boyfriend by the looks of it, he watched as both races came together to try and set up something that he hoped would bring together both people.

In that moment he felt his heart lighten, yes this was different. He could feel it in the atmosphere, in how they were working together. This was different and maybe just maybe, it gave him a bit of hope for the future.

"Hey I can help with that." Sun's voice called out.

"Wait, Sun don't!" Blake responded, as there was a small crashing sound of something falling.

"Oops." Sun replied.

"I really don't like that boy," Ghira narrowed his eyes at the monkey Faunus.

Kali had to hold back her laughter, personally she liked Sun. He was a funny boy and he could see that he deeply care for their daughter. In addition, she felt he was good for Blake he pushed her to be more social and outgoing.

To try and enjoy life which was something she had tried to do with her growing up but it hadn't been easy. Looking at her daughter scolded the boy she couldn't help but smile, as she could tell that Sun meant something to her daughter as well. She had seen it back home and she had hoped her daughter had found some kind of happiness but she seemed to be keeping up some walls.

Blake did that as times when something or more importantly someone hurt her. Maybe it was time to finally have a mother and daughter talk with her when they were ready. A rumbling sound could be heard as they looked up to see dark clouds coming in.

"Just perfect," Ghira didn't want everyone to get wet moving things in as he stepped in. "Hurry up everyone before it starts to rain or you'll get drenched."

"I hope not," Kali said to herself looking up as she started to help too. "This looks like it might be a nasty one."

Across the city, two young adults were running through a rainstorm. Yang and Jaune had been in the middle of finishing their shopping when the rain started to fall on them in the middle of the street. It wasn't a light rain either as it was a Minstral rainstorm. Being closer to a tropical climate, this area of the world could get hit by rain from time to time. Sometimes it wasn't too bad but at times like this, it could get downright nasty.

This was more in the nasty category.

"We should have grabbed an umbrella!" Jaune shouted as they tried to run back to their place.

"Those cheap ones we saw wouldn't last more than five minutes before blowing away!" shouted back as her irritation started to grow. Of course, it would rain on them and of course, it would pour as well. For a moment, she was wondering if her uncle's bad luck could be passed on through her family or something.

"Maybe we can find a place to get out of the rain then," Jaune offered looking around. The streets were getting deserted fast the people that lived in the city knew when bad weather was coming and shops were closing shutters and windows. Restaurants had already pulled in chairs so they might not get too wet or blown away.

"There!" Yang bolted as Jaune followed her as they were under the arch of a building. At least they weren't being belted by the cold rain.

"Stupid weather," Yang tried to rub her arms but winced from her robotic arm coming into contact with her skin. The stupid metal was freezing so she tried to warm up with her one arm. She noticed that she was starting to shiver a little which wasn't a good sign.

"We need to get warm," Jaune noticed, as he wasn't doing much better given the metal armor he wore. Sure, his hoodie might have helped a bit but said hoodie was soaked. "Where are we anyway?"

They both looked to see that they were at the entrance of a hotel of some sort.

"Huh…think we can get a couple of rooms with room service and laundry service?" Yang only half joked. Personally, both of those ideas sounded perfect for the moment.

As they got in, they could already see wet guests were making their ways to the stairs for the upper rooms as well as a few at the front desk. Jaune and Yang moved off to the side hoping to at least not block the entrance as well as not to drip too much water on the main carpet. Jaune checked with his scroll and tried to find the local weather connecting to the city.

He groaned with what he found.

"What?" Yang asked as he showed her his scroll and she groaned with him. The weather was supposed to rain for the next several hours. Even if they could stay in the lobby (which she doubted) it would still be extremely late at night before they could walk back to the house.

"Maybe we should see if we can get a room," Jaune sighed not happy with it. At least the place looked decent it was only three stories tall so it might not be too expensive at the very least. Maybe they could pull their money together for two separate rooms for the night. They hadn't spent too much in fact looking down he saw that the plastic bag had kept a good amount of the rain out so at least that long sleeve shirt he got should be dry.

"Can I help you?" a voice called out to them.

They both looked up to see the last of the costumers had moved off as the person working the front desk saw them. Yang and Jaune shared a look as Yang shrugged and moved forward apparently in the same mind as Jaune. She also really needed a place to dry off as she was starting to get very cold now.

"Yeah, you got a couple of rooms left?" Yang asked.

The man at the desk looked at the small computer screen and shook his head. "I'm sorry but we only got one room left."

"What?" Yang blinked.

"With all the students returning but the school not open and all the Faunus that came to the city to help who have stayed a lot of the hotels have been booked up lately. With the storm outside we've been getting a few more last minute customers as well as the rest of the rooms are booked." He explained.

"You telling me that someone is going to travel through that for a room here?" Yang pointed her thumb out to the front door behind her.

"It's policy to hold the rooms until cancellation or they don't show up." He stood hide ground on that.

"I'm not sure what much choice we have," Jaune told her. "We either go back out there or, well maybe we can wait for a room to get cancelled?"

Yang mulled it over but damn it they were wet, cold and just miserable. She sighed as she thought about their choices but she really wanted a nice place to sit down, have a shower and get under some warm blankets.

"You guys got room service and a working laundry?" Yang sighed.

"Yes we do although we're backed up on the laundry service it might not be ready until morning." He apologized. "We have a lot of guest requesting that more than usual and some of our workers didn't make it in for obvious reasons."

Yang looked at Jaune defeated. "Well it either this or nothing."

"A-are you sure you want to share a room?"

"Hey I trust you plus you shared one with two girls right?" Yang told him with a shrug. If it had been, anyone else she might have been more concerned but Jaune was a safe guy to be around. Plus he had roomed with Pyrrha and Nora and neither girl had any complaints about Jaune or Ren. So she turned to the counter and saw about how much it would be for a single night.

After paying for the night, which they decided to split on just to be fair, they made their way up the stairs as Yang pulled out her scroll. She was giving Ruby a text on what was happening, well mostly. She wasn't saying about the shared room in case she told Qrow and the last thing she needed was a pissed off black bird trying to fly through their window.

It was still really strange to know her mom and uncle could do that even after seeing it.

"What are you doing?" Jaune asked as they made their way to the second floor.

"Giving Ruby a text on why we won't be back." She explained.

"Good idea," Jaune stated as he found their room. He opened it up as the two walked in, there wasn't much just a simple bathroom to the right as the small hallway opened up. They kicked off their footwear by the door as they moved on deeper inside.

They didn't have to pay as much as they thought since it was a smaller room a simple little fridge was there, a desk with a small TV there. However, there was one thing that both of them suddenly realized when they took in the rest of the room.

There was only one bed.

While the two blondes were trying to figure out what to do next, their friends were all stuck inside of the new Unity group headquarters. They had finally managed to get everything in as some people had left before the rain really started to get bad. Some had vehicles or friends some to pick them up which left most of the people there Blake, her family and friends.

She was currently sitting on a desk with her head in her hands just staring out of the window. She didn't really like the rain and it wasn't because she was a cat Faunus, that was a stereo type anyway. It was just she didn't like being out in the rain and it was really coming down.

"Well Ruby just texted me," Weiss came to her side. "Turns out Yang and Jaune got caught in this storm and are laying low in a hotel until it stops."

"Hope it wasn't too bad for them." Blake sighed.

"Ren and Nora managed to get back but Qrow apparently got soaked." Weiss continued on as she scrolled down. Blake noticed something, Weiss looked slightly annoyed, not the usual kind but a more personal one.

"Are you okay?" Blake asked.

"Fine," the icy tone told Blake that her friend was far from fine.

"Hey ladies," Sun walked up to them. "We were going to see about ordering something in if we can, you guys interested in trying out some of the local food?"

Sun suddenly felt the atmosphere and glanced at the two of them from one to the other. "Uh…everything okay?"

"I'm not sure," Blake looked to Weiss.

The former heiress saw the look and rolled her eyes with a frown she pointed to a corner. They both looked to see Neptune there talking with two Faunus girls. He was learning up against the wall with an arm as both girls looked very interesting in whatever it was he was saying to them.

"Ah." Both Blake and Sun said at the same time.

"Whatever," Weiss frowned she really should have seen it coming.

"Yeah the thing with Neptune is that he is a good guy," Sun trailed off. "I mean he's loyal to the team and would do anything for a friend but when it comes to girls…"

"We've noticed," Blake narrowed her eyes and shook her head.

Weiss was just looking out the window and noticed Blake looking at her with concern. She sighed as she waved it off. "Okay look, yes he's good looking and he can be very charming but beyond that I don't think we had much of anything going."

Her time back in Atlas being surrounded by people who wore empathy and concern like someone wore a mask, to hide who they really were and what they felt made her see things differently. Beacon had changed her in more ways than she had known until got back. She had been used to the false words, the barbs hidden behind compliments, the horrible gossip, the backstabbing.

She had grown up in that kind of environment and being free of it she had found that she couldn't really go back to that kind of world. She didn't like that world, she much preferred the one she was in now. She saw the world differently and now, looking back on her time with Neptune while she didn't regret it. She did look at it with a different view.

It wasn't as if they were dating, they had literally one date at the dance and that was it. They hadn't even really gotten to know each other. She would have liked to get to know him but he didn't seem to want to settle with anyone now. Therefore, while she was disappointed she could live with it.

"Still I should talk to him about doing this all the time," Sun said looking at his friend, sure at first it was fun but he was starting to worry that one day his friend would either end up hurting someone by accident or he would miss out on that one special girl that comes around.

Blake gave a small smile at Sun at his willingness to help out in his own way.

"Blake," Her mother called to her. "Can you help me with something?"

"Sure mom," Blake hopped off her seat and went over to her mother. "What do you need?"

"Just a little help with the storage room," Kali said as she lead them to the back, the storage room wasn't very big and was nearly filled with boxes that weren't even unpacked yet. They still had no idea what was in some of them, as they hadn't gone through everything yet.

"So what do you need help with?" Blake asked looking at the boxes but then noticed that her mother had shut the door and sat down on one of the sturdier boxes. "Mom?"

"Sit down dear," Kali asked and Blake gently sat down across from her. "Sorry but I felt it was time for a mother and daughter talk."

"What's this about?"

"I'm actually a little worried about you," Kali said honestly.

"I know I've been a little odd with everyone," Blake said rubbing one of her arms and slightly looking away. "I'm just trying to fit back in with the team and with Yang."

The amount of guilt she felt to just leaving her teammates still ate at her today, she hated herself for running away like she had.

"Yes there is that but I've also wanted to talk to you about you and Sun."

"Mom!" Blake's ears flattened.

"I'm serious here Blake," Kali said sternly taking her daughter by surprise. "Anyone can see that the boy cares for you a great deal. He followed you across the world because you were in pain after all."

Blake wanted to say something but she really couldn't, what her mother didn't know was that this was the second time Sun had done something like this for her. The first time when she ran away after that horrible argument with Weiss where he had kept her company when she had been alone and confused.

Then again when he had shown up on the ship, of course he thought she was going on some insane mission against the White Fang instead of just running away to home.

"I've noticed this bad habit you have of running away from your problems Blake," her mother said in a soothing tone. "It's got me really worried about you."

Blake winced at the statement as she did run away when things got too much for her. She ran from her parents to join the White Fang, she ran from the Fang when Adam went too far, she ran from her friends after that argument and she ran away again when Beacon fell. She never felt more of a coward than she had in that moment.

"I can tell something happened to you," Kali reached across from her and lightly gripped her daughter's hand with her own. "You put this wall around your heart."

"You can't know what it's like," Blake shook her head feeling the sting in her eyes but refusing to let any tears happen.

"Oh I don't huh?" Kali smirked knowingly, children always felt that parents never understood forgetting that they themselves had grown up at one point just like them. "You think your father was the first person I loved?"

Blake looked up and then at the ground, "Well…no but I never really thought about it."

"Well let me tell you, I was madly in love with a man before I met your father. That is until the day I came to our apartment and found him in bed with my now ex-best friend." Kali said in a cold tone that old wound had mostly healed but she never forgave either of them. To this day, she had no idea whatever happened to them but personally, she didn't care. They were in the past and that kind of betrayal wasn't something you could just get over easily.

Blake looked up horrified at seeing the slightly pained look on her mother's eyes. "Mom…"

Kali smiled at her then, "Well it all worked out. You see I ran away in tears after that, I have no idea where I was going or for how long. All I knew if that in my most painful moment I ran into someone that would change my life."

"Dad?" Blake asked.

Kali nodded. "I ran right into him and fell." She shook her head in amusement. "He looked down at him and offered his hand and asked me if I was okay."

"And then you got together I suppose." Blake sighed.

"Oh no." Kali waved her hand making Blake surprised. "He helped me out but I was in no shape to start anything like that. He did become a friend for me that day, he helped me in my darkness moment and when I finally started to feel like dating again I actually dating this other man."

Blake blinked in surprised.

"The real world doesn't work like your books you think I don't know about that you read." Kali winked as Blake blushed. "Anyway it didn't work out but then I thought about your father, I started thinking more and more about him but I was scared to do anything."

"He was my friend and I didn't want to ruin anything but here was a good man with a passion in him to change the world for the better. Someone who was there for me and the more I thought about it the more it tore me apart. Until I finally decided that I would face this head on, if I ended up hurt again then so be it but I would not let my fears get the better of me."

"Well I took a chance and you see where it led me," Kali smiled as she leaned in and caressed Blake's cheek. "When I look at you I see myself when I was hurt, pushing things away that would give me a chance at real joy and I worry."

Blake tried to say something but she wasn't sure what she could say after all that. She had never known any of this about her mother or how her parents actually got together until now.

"Blake if Sun makes you happy then you need to get the chance, yes you might get hurt but trust me it can be worth it if it works out."

"What if it doesn't," Blake looked away. "What if one of us chances or what if I don't know what I feel?"

"Then you should find out," Kali told her. "If you feel that he's not the one for you then you should tell him as I think he deserves to know if he has you as a friend or as something more."

Blake looked at her feet as she had no idea how she felt, she felt so confused but then she felt her mother's embrace as she was pulled into a hug.

"No matter what you have family and friends Blake," Her mother said soothingly. "We'll always be here and you'll never be alone again. You just need to start taking this wall down and you'll be able to enjoy so much out of life."

"M-mom," Blake said in a shaky voice as she hugged her mother tightly. She felt the warm embrace of her mother and for a moment, she felt like she was a little girl again being protected from all the dark things in the world by her mother's love.

TBC…