Yang's aura rippled as she crashed through a -slightly thicker than she had thought- branch, snapping it off entirely.

Her feet pounded against the forest floor as she ran after Blake. The girl had a small lead on her, as well as the advantage of being far more nimble and speedy. The sound of Blake's tears over the whistling of the wind in her ears pains her, but Yang is too focused on keeping up to be able to call out to her.

But even as she runs, the thought comes to her. Why would Blake be hiding the fact that she's a Faunus from them, from everyone? Yang might have only known her teammates for a month and a bit now -barring Ruby of course- but she could tell that none of them were racist, which was to be expected with how rare anti-Faunus sentiments were these days.

She can't think of any reasons why Blake wouldn't feel comfortable telling them all that she was a Faunus… So it must be a personal thing for her. But if it caused her so much grief that I caused her to snap at her friends, was it worth keeping hidden?

Yang is somewhat glad for the frustration of her lack of an answer as she funnels her confusion and anger back into herself, pushing harder, and running as fast as she can. There is nothing to hear but the crying of the girl in front of her and her feet hitting the ground for at least 3 minutes or so, but eventually, Yang feels like Blake's sobs are getting closer.

That realisation distracts her for a moment, and she runs right into a tree. But with her Aura up and reinforced by her determination, as well as the speed that she was running at… It's the tree that loses the contest of durability, exploding outwards as Yang barrels right through it.

She hears a cacophony of crashing noises from behind her as the upper part of the tree she just bulldozed through smashes into other trees and causes a small domino effect, but she doesn't care enough to turn back and look.

She breaks through the treeline in front of her and skids to a stop. She can see Blake now, the girl not running away from her anymore. Blake is sitting before a wide, rushing river in front of them, her escape cut off by it.

Now that Yang isn't focused on catching up, she briefly wonders how they had gotten so close to the river without her hearing the wild splashing of the water in front of her.

Yang's steps are slow as she approaches Blake, who is kneeling in front of the river, her head in her hands. Yang's eyes dart to Blake's ears as they twitch when Blake hears her, and the girl's head whips around to look at her.

Yang mentally chastises herself as it becomes clear Blake sees her looking at her ears as the girl's arm weakly rises to the top of her head to cover them. Blake looks away, tears in her eyes. Yang gulps and sits down next to her, trying to think of something, anything to say…

"So… You're a Faunus. That's pretty cool. What kind?"

Yang winces, only just stopping herself from facepalming. 'Why that?! Anything would have been a better opener than that!'

But, by some miracle, the stupidity and the suddenness of her statement seemed to have thrown the girl off for a moment. Blake just stares at her, her ears flattened against her head as her expression shifts to one of confusion.

Blake starts to say something in response, but another sob interrupts her, hiccups hitting her whenever she tries again. Yang scoots a little closer to Blake, a hand reaching up to the girl's shoulder and softly grabbing it, causing Blake to meet her eyes.

"Blake… I promise, no matter what the problem is… You can tell me."

That seems to be the final nail in Blake's coffin. A cry of anguish escapes her as she slumps down onto the ground fully, her knees having given out on her. Yang pulls her closer and presses Blake's face into her shoulder, muffling her as she repeats the words 'I'm sorry' over and over again.

Yang… Yang lets her cry. One arm hugs her while the other hand comes up to the back of the girl's head, and she strokes her hair, purposely avoiding the section of Blake's head that her ears poked out of. As much as there was definitely a part of her that wanted to pat them… Now was very much not the time.

Yang doesn't keep track of how long they sit like that, and a little while later, Blake starts to calm down. Yang kept her arm around Blake, however, as she was still able to feel her shaking slightly. Blake remains silent for a minute or two, but Yang has faith that she is just collecting her thoughts instead of plotting her escape this time around.

"I'm a Cat Faunus."

Yang feels herself perk up as Blake speaks, and a small smile appears on her face. "Thought so. It was either Cat or Dog, with ears like that."

Blake smiles softly, shaking her head for a moment. "I grew up on Menagerie. My… My parents are actually the joint leaders of the Council right now. They've been re-elected for the position like four or five times, I think."

Yang stayed silent, understanding that Blake needed to talk now, and not wanting a dumb joke to slip through and break her focus. Blake seemed to realise that she was staying silent for her and squeezed Yang's hand slightly in thanks.

"I hid the fact that I was a Faunus because… Because I'm trying to hide from someone. Not my parents, before you think that. They're great…"

Blake met her eyes, silently gauging her reaction, and Yang just nodded. Blake took a deep breath, summoning up as much of her courage as she could, and when she felt that falter, her old habits threatened to kick in… So she drew more from the pools of bright, supportive purple that stared at her.

"Growing up, I had a pretty good life. My family is wealthy, and I was surrounded by friends. There was one that I was especially close with… The son of one of my father's work friends, a boy named Adam."

Yang noticed how even just the name of the boy caused Blake to tense in her arms and had a feeling that their friendship hadn't ended rather well.

"We were inseparable, and everyone knew it. We played together, went to school together, slept over at each other's houses… I once overheard my parents telling his parents that they basically expected us to get married one day with how close we were."

Blake lets out a large sigh. "As we got older, our relationship became… Well, a relationship. Hanging out turned into dates, and playing together became flirting… It was good, but I always felt like… Like something was wrong with it all. Like there was something I wasn't seeing about it all. It made me nervous."

Yang rubbed Blake's back, and she heard Blake mumble a thank you. "Eventually, Adam started to get into politics at my father's suggestion. He was charismatic and passionate, and he was well-liked. He quickly rose to popularity because of this, and because he was seen as a beacon to the younger generation, bringing fresh new ideas. And I will admit, he was good at it. Life was good… I… I-I was genuinely considering marrying him one day… But then things started to get worse."

"It started with small things. Arguments between us over things that hadn't mattered before, in both our personal and professional lives. I caught him bribing someone for a better slot on TV during a big event once, I don't know if it was the first time, but he assured me it was only for small, quality-of-life things. But over time, he fell into the less… Reputable side of Menagerie politics that my parents have tried to steer clear of their whole lives."

Yang frowned at that. Older people always joked and talked about how politicians were untrustworthy as if it were just an undeniable fact, but she knew that a lot of younger people like her hadn't truly realised how bad it could sometimes be… But even she could tell that Bribery for a better TV slot wasn't the worst kind out there.

"He was smart, I will give him that, and he started to realise that certain views, and the way that he expressed them, got him more coverage by the news on the island. It was just a way to get more popular, he would tell me, he didn't actually believe the antagonistic things he said, they were just a vehicle for him to get votes…"

Blake let out a laugh at that, but Yang could tell that it was a sarcastic one, brimming with Irony. "And I believed him. I cared about him so much… I didn't want him to be a bad person. Wanted to believe that he was just playing the people who hated humans for fools to get their votes. But after a while, it became clear even to me that he was a full-blown Faunus-supremacist."

Yang winced at that. Historically, the relationship between Humans and Faunus had quite literally never been better. The joint creation of the Arks that protected the world from the Grimm had helped pave the way for equality by acting as a beacon of cooperation… But racism still existed, albeit less so than it probably would have been if the world had gone to war like some people had thought it might.

Blake was continuing to speak, however, so she pulled her focus back to the girl, pushing the rest to the side. She could think about it later.

"I… The turning point was a big, crazy fight that we had. I'd caught him planning on framing a Valean Ambassador for a crime while they were in Menagerie negotiating a trade deal, so that he could demand 'reparations' from Vale. I stopped him from doing it by threatening to tell my parents about his plot, but… After that day, he changed, at least how he acted towards me."

Blake was constantly shaking now, and Yang could see why as she likely approached the parts of her story that brought up the worst memories. She just squeezed Blake a little tighter, making sure the girl knew she was there for her.

"He got cold… Distant. And while I couldn't prove it at the time, he was talking about me behind my back to our friends, poisoning them against me. He spread rumours about me, told lies and secrets I had entrusted him with… There was only one person he wasn't able to sway, a friend of mine named Ilia. Ilia came to me one day and told me that Adam had been saying some… Scary things."

The shaking got worse, and Blake had to stop for a moment. Yang kept her arms around her, just… Being there for her. She didn't know what else to do to help her, and it made her feel terrible, but she knew that it had been working so far.

Blake did eventually recover a little. The shaking slowed, as did her breathing, having picked up to near hyperventilation. She looked up again and met Yang's eyes once more, and Yang urged her to continue with her eyes. Blake took a deep breath and then continued.

"Ilia told me that Adam had been telling their friends how 'his woman couldn't be seen to be against his views by the public', and that when she had excused herself, feeling uncomfortable with the topic, the last thing she heard was them starting to plan how to 'show me the right path for the Faunus', whatever that meant."

Yang could tell that this was a struggle for Blake. Her ears were pressed flat against her head, something Yang was fairly sure indicated stress, but… She was still going, pressing forward, and Yang respected the hell out of her for that.

"My parents knew about mine and Adam's spiralling relationship. They knew things were getting worse, but after I told them about what Ilia had said… They suggested that maybe I could 'study abroad' while they did their best to try and defuse Adam and his friends while I was gone."

Blake sighed deeply at that, a hand rising to remove the tears and snot escaping her, wiping it on her armbands. "I said no, initially… I thought I could deal with it myself, But… H-he sent a bunch of thugs after me! To 'convince' me, or something! The only reason they weren't able to is that my parents had assigned a couple of guards to me, and they got spooked and ran away! I-I… I took my parent's offer after that."

"I had planned to go to a normal school, honestly. Live a normal life away from Adam and Menagerie entirely, but… Ozpin contacted my family before I left. He was somehow aware of the whole ambassador thing that I stopped Adam from doing… And he offered me a place in Beacon. A chance to grow strong, strong enough to fight my own battles, to protect myself. And since I already had my Aura unlocked and had some basic training with Arks since I was a kid… I accepted his offer."

Yang's eyes widened at that, genuine shock running through her. Most people knew what they wanted to be planned out from the start, and practised extensively with their Aura in training simulators specifically to help teach controlling an Ark…

And then the fact that she spent so much time training in the simulators hit her. It… It made sense, if Blake was slightly behind them all, how she would want to catch up, as well as the fact of her Ark not showing her ears…

"So that's why you train so much! Your Aura doesn't sync with your Ark!"

She hadn't meant to blurt it out, and she froze. Blake laughed softly at her, before nodding. "Yeah, that's why. I actually only arrived in Vale about a year before all of you would have gotten to Beacon, and life has been fantastic since, especially this last month or so with all of you… Other than this last week I guess, but that's my fault."

"It was when we went to the bookstore in Vale… He would know I would be interested in a place like that, and to see a van with his logo on the side… I realised that even after I left, he was still looking for me."

A sob escapes her and Yang feels Blake grip her arm tighter. Not quite enough to make her Aura visible, but getting closer. "I was so scared, Yang! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to lash out at you and Jaune and the others, but I was panicking and oh my god I am so sorry…

"You are the first new friends I've made in years. Everyone but Ilia sided with Adam… I've practically been by myself for two years, and I was so scared Adam would find me and turn you against me as well… I'm sorry, Y-yang."

Yang swallows as Blake digs her face into her shoulder again, her mind whirling. She… She understood why Blake acted how she did. Lord knows that she would be pretty scared if some obsessive ex-boyfriend turned into a racist prick and started hiring thugs to follow her around town…

Yeah, when she put it like that, it was definitely understandable. So what should she do? Other than getting herself ready to absolutely deck Adam across the face, that is. "Thank you for the apology, Blake. I'm happy you told me about this, but…"

"But?"

Yang raised her hand and chopped down onto the top of Blake's head, just enough to get her Aura sparking. "But you're one hell of an idiot, you know that? Even if 'Adam' does show up at some point to try and ruin your reputation… Why on Remnant would we ever listen to some asshole we don't know, over our teammate and friend?"

Blake's ears stand back up as tears form in the corner of her eyes as they blow open with shock, and a wet laugh escapes her mouth, her entire body shaking from it. "Right, yeah, of course you wouldn't. I… I don't know, really..."

Yang knows she didn't, because there was no way any of them would ever care about what this "Adam" had to say about Blake. They hadn't grown up on Menagerie, hadn't even heard of him before now, so he couldn't use their respect for him against Blake as he could on the island. To fireteam JSBYRR, he would have just been someone insulting their friend.

And Yang knows that at least she would have knocked him on his ass for that. So while she can't find it within herself to blame Blake for being scared… "It's alright. I can't blame you for being afraid, but I can blame you for being stupid about how you went about it."

Yang wraps both of her arms around Blake for a moment before she releases the girl and scoots back a touch. "I have a deal for you. If you make sure that you tell everyone exactly what you just told me, and apologise for how you acted, I can guarantee that none of them will ever take Adam's side of yours."

Blake pauses, seemingly thinking about Yang's words, but after a moment she frowns, looking at the ground. "Are.. How can you be sure of that? They probably like me less than ever now, after how I treated them…"

Yang just grins, shaking her head at the girl. "Like I said, you're an idiot, so why don't you just trust me on this? No one on the team hates you, they're just miffed 'cause you were being… Catty."

Blake lets out a gasp at the pun, leaning over and punching Yang in the arm for it even as a small burst of wet-sounding laughter escapes her. Yang threw her head back and laughed so hard she snorted. Something to their left caught her eye, however, and she smirked at Blake.

"Oh, and here's your first example of that, by the way."

"Wait, what?"

Yang sees Blake's ears flinch as footsteps come into earshot, as Jaune breaks through the treeline. Yang meets his eyes and sends him a sharp nod when she sees the question laid within them, and his face lights up.

"Yang! Blake!"

He rushed over, kneeling once he got close, and Yang couldn't help but grin to herself as Jaune gave Blake a small smile that caused her to start crying all over again, glomping onto Jaune and apologising over and over again, just like she had done to Yang.

"I'm so sorry, Jaune…"

Jaune mumbled something into her hair, which had covered his face almost entirely, that she couldn't quite hear. So instead, she turned the hug into a three-person hug as she came in from the side, practically tackling both of them and squeezing like hell.

After crushing them both for a moment she releases the two of them, and they all collapse away from each other. After recovering their breath, Jaune reaches over and places a hand on Blake's shoulder. "You don't have to repeat yourself for me just yet. Let's wait until we get to the others so that you can explain it to everyone else at once, alright?"

Yang chucked him a thumbs up for the idea as she saw a look of gratitude appear on Blake's face. Jaune hopped up to his feet and dusted his pants off, and Yang took Blake's hand to help her up.

Yang bumped Jaune with her shoulder once Blake was standing, a grin on her face. "Mission accomplished, Chief. That's one kitty cat recovered."

Jaune laughed, shaking his head at her, before offering up a fist bump, which she gladly reciprocated, and caught Blake softly laughing as Jaune winced slightly from the impact. Yang is glad to see it, a spark in her eye that hadn't been there for the last week or so having returned.

With a small cough, Blake reached out to Jaune just as he had finished shaking his hand out, clasping her fingers through his, and then reached out for Yang's grabbing her hand as well. "Let's go back, I want to apologise as soon as I can. Oh, and Yang?"

"Yes, Blake?"

"Do not start calling me Kitty Cat."

"Whatever you say, Kitty Cat."

Blake sat upon a log back at camp, her eyes wet with fresh tears that sparkled in the firelight, as she finished telling the rest of her team the story that she told Yang.

"And… That's the story. Once again, I am so, so, so sorry for my actions over the last week. I truly hope that you can all forgive me for them, but I understand if you don't."

Silence reigns for a moment. And then another moment. Then, a burst of Rose petals shoots forward as Ruby tackles Blake into a hug, ugly-crying as she somehow gets the message that she forgives Blake through her wailing.

As Yang extricates Blake from Ruby's full-body hug/crushing, she turns to the other two members of their fireteam. Ren's response is much more conserved than Ruby's, which was to be expected, but even less emotional than she had thought he would be. But that was probably because he was tired from blood loss, even if it looked like he was healing quickly.

"I do not, and did not at the time, approve of how you treated me and the others… But I understand what it is like to lose oneself when overcome by fear and anger. As long as you can promise to leave those behind us… Then I shall leave any grudge behind as well. We can just call us even after you helped me with my injury."

She felt herself let out a sigh of relief, and her eyes flicked over to her bow, still wrapped around his bicep, with bandages half-covering it from further down his arm. She mentally thanked it for helping hide herself for so long, and for helping heal her friend.

'Now I just have to decide whether I am going to keep wearing you or not…'

But with Ren and Ruby done, Blake's gaze falls to Weiss, the person she most recently antagonised. Blake gulps as Weiss stares at her, silent, and she's fairly certain there is an icy tint to Weiss' eyes.

Blake freezes as Weiss rises to her feet, approaching her with slow, deliberate steps. Was she going to hit her? Yell at her? Snipe at her and treat Blake how she had treated Weiss on the Bullhead?

The worst-case scenarios flew through her head, which was why it was so shocking to Blake when Weiss sat down next to her, and… hugged her. "I am… Sorry, I'm so sorry to hear what you are going through. A stalker is a terrifying thing, I would know, and one that can hire people to do the grunt work for him is even more so."

"Aww, she's crying… She does care."

The whispered words from someone other than the girl she was being hugged by caused her to giggle softly. Weiss pulled back from the hug, red around her eyes, and before she could say anything Weiss's face turned towards the others, especially Jaune. "I am not crying! How dare you insinuate that."

With the group properly chastised -huddled together, chuckling and poking fun at Weiss- Weiss turned back to Blake, her eyes serious. "If you like, I can ask my mother to assign some of my reserve bodyguards to your care. They are the best in the business, which is only fitting for the future Heiress to the SDC, of course."

Blake can feel tears leaking from her eyes again as she reciprocates the hug from earlier. "Knowing that you all are on my side and that every day I spend at Beacon I'm getting stronger, is enough for me. But thank you, Weiss, truly."

Weiss pulled herself out of Blake's arms and got to her feet again, patting down the front and back of her coat and totally not blushing. "Well, that's alright. I'm just glad that you weren't scared of me for being a Schnee, or such nonsense."

Blake can tell that this was a very real worry for Weiss, even through her flippant tone when talking about it, and smiles softly. "I know that you're not your father, Weiss. And I have seen your mother in person before when I was much younger, actually. She was visiting Menagerie on some sort of PR thing to help show that she didn't have the same views as her late husband did. I have no fear for the SDC of today, knowing that Lady Willow is at the helm of it."

Weiss seems shocked for a moment, surprised by the fact that she knew her mother, perhaps, but after she recovers herself, she gives a sharp nod and returns to the log she had originally been sitting on.

Blake notices that she sat closer to Jaune's side than before this time though, close enough for the boy to place a hand on her shoulder and whisper something to her that very definitely doesn't cause Weiss to tear up again.

Blake doesn't remember much else of the night after that, to be honest. Jaune stands up and changes the topic to… Something else, and they eat and drink around the fire Ruby and Weiss had set up while they were at the river.

Ren and Ruby are the first to fall to the clutches of sleep, both of them recovering from injuries -albeit at different stages in their recovery- and Weiss leaves to go to bed about twenty minutes after that.

She can see that Jaune and Yang are starting to get tired too, so Before Yang and Jaune can head to bed, Blake grabs them both in a 3-way hug again, her forehead pressing into their shoulders. "Thank you, both of you. The others have forgiven me, but I know you planned to try and help me during this assignment. Thank you so much for not giving up on me like they did back then. I don't know how I'll ever repay you."

Yang huffs softly, wrapping her arms around her and Jaune as well. "Well for a start, you gotta promise me a good few punches on Adam's face when he shows up, alright?"

Jaune nodded, his voice deathly serious. "After that, do you reckon you can hold him down for me? I'm gonna aim a little lower and get a couple of critical hits when you're done if you get my meaning."

Blake laughs, feeling lighter than she had in months, and closer to them than she had felt to people her age for years. She could feel a smile growing on her face as they both explained so passionately how they would 'Beat Adam into the dirt if he thought about coming to Vale' and had to quickly let them go before either noticed.

After she got into her tent and laid down next to Ruby under their large, thick blanket, she could hear them talking softly for another five to ten minutes or so, before Yang finally retired herself, leaving Jaune on first watch.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as the events of the night played through her mind on repeat, and how her cheeks were warmer than the blanket was as she fell asleep, the sight of blonde hair filling her dreams.