No words. Only tears.

One per day this has been late.

Please pray for next year.

Chapter 80: Bumblebee Care

"Yang! Wait up!"

With Ruby back and the class schedules settling as more and more professors focused on their lessons instead of rebuilding the city, Blake could finally breathe in relief at the routine that has returned.

Unfortunately, the moment the class was dismissed, Yang bolted out of her seat.

Despite Weiss and Ruby's concerns, Blake assured them she would speak with her partner and took off as well.

Quickly catching up to the blonde, Blake rounded in front of her to block her path.

"Are you… okay?"

"…" Yang didn't answer her immediately, instead tilting her head inquisitively. "Uhhh- yeah? Why?"

Doubtful. But Blake didn't let her frown show.

"Were you planning on training today too?" Yang's fist tightening was all she needed to know. "Come on, Yang," Blake sighed. "You've been working out non-stop for weeks now."

During Ruby's sniper training, she and Yang had to rehabilitate while their wounds healed. Her partner's gusto was a welcomed motivator, especially when the pain in her side was a bit too distracting.

But ever since Ruby came back and Weiss revealed her plans, Yang's schedule became increasingly packed with visits to either the gym or sparring arena. Enough so as to arouse Blake's suspicions that Yang was trying to distract herself from something.

"I'm fine," Yang scoffed.

"Really?" Blake raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You wrote in class that the Mistral army lost because they were caught with their cargo pants down instead of cargo lines."

"Still technically correct! Which is the best kind of correct," Yang huffed and crossed her arms. She could tell that Blake wasn't going to budge though. "Why are you so concerned with what I'm doing right now?"

Blake thought for moment, picking her words carefully. "…Remember when we returned from Mistral after crashing that White Fang meeting? You've always listened to our troubles, I just wanted to do the same for you for once if you had any." Lightening her tone and smiling, Blake continued,"Or we could just relax for a bit and enjoy ourselves."

"Relax huh?" Yang perked up at the idea. "What'd you have in mind? And where's Ruby and Weiss anyways?"

Shrugging, Blake answered, "Nothing really, just wanted you to take a break. Weiss and Ruby are on their shopping date."

Her breath nearly hitched when Yang leaned in close and whispered sultrily, "In that case, I know a dark, quiet place where we can be alone too…"

"… You certainly know how to show a girl a good time," Blake stated sardonically.

Yang's good-natured chuckle was punctuated with the light ratcheting of her spanner.

"Sorry Blake," Yang apologized, though her tone was anything but repentant. "But hey, we are alone."

That much was true. Blake looked around the parking deck where tiers of alcoves stacked along the walls, each indention big enough to store van at least. Most were empty as the majority of students opted to use public transportation instead.

The walkways were wide enough to drive across but for easy access, each storage had a terminal. Yang had entered a command and the center of the ground floor corkscrewed a pillar up that extended a bridge for her to drive Bumblebee over before carrying them down to the ground floor.

While the alcoves above were for storage, the ones on the ground level were bigger and acted as a shared space where owners could work on their vehicles in relative peace.

Or absolute peace at the moment because she and Yang were the only ones in the building.

"So why the maintenance on Bumblebee again?" Blake asked. So far, Yang had checked the engine, oil, spark plug, and brakes. With no sign of stopping any time soon, Blake was pretty sure her partner was going to give a thorough inspection of everything.

"It's relaxing," Yang answered cheerfully. "I don't have to stress out my body or brain. Just have to follow the steps." Plus, she had been neglecting her ride for months so giving a tune up was more productive than lazing about somewhere.

Blake didn't comment. Somehow Yang's comment felt… off to her.

Still, she wasn't as bored as she thought she would be. Simply sitting and watching Yang work was somehow soothing in its own right. The quiet was broken by the regular clinks and clangs of metal and occasional beeps from Yang's scroll monitoring various information like voltage and tire pressure.

The lights, the chain, the tires, the grip. Everything was systematically inspected with a veteran hand and given a quick clean.

"Phew! That should be everything! I'll put her away and give her a good wash and wax some other day," Yang grinned as she wiped her brow.

Smirking, Blake reached into her pocket as she rose up. "For how much you worry about your hair, you really don't take care of your skin do you?"

"Hm?" Yang turned and suddenly felt the soft cloth of Blake's handkerchief dabbing at her forehead to clean the smudge she left. "Ah," she uttered looking over her hands darkened by oils, grease, and dirt. "Thanks, I might have needed to punch myself," she joked and saw the corners of Blake's lips twitch.

…

Once Blake was done, Yang went over to a nearby sink to clean her hands. Seeing her own reflection in the streaked mirror made her take pause. Blake hadn't been kidding earlier. Beneath Yang's lilac eyes were the faint traces of dark stress and tension.

Slight bags under her eyes weren't an immediate concern but Yang knew when she dug in her heels she often took everything too far until her fire burned itself out. Blake probably thought it was best to snap her out of it before she went too deep.

Fingertips trailed to her forehead where Blake's warmth bled through the cloth merely minutes ago.

Yang would have noticed eventually and have cleaned herself up but… maybe she could depend on her partner just a little bit more… instead of subtly pushing her away.

Tuning up Bumblebee had been a good excuse, it gave her time to think and forget about her other worries. If she was being honest with herself, she had expected Blake to leave out of boredom by now. They barely spoke and Yang certainly didn't go out of her way to keep her interest.

But… Blake still sat in quiet acceptance. She mentioned earlier that Yang listened to their troubles after returning from Mistral. Yang hadn't put much thought into it, but the memory resurfaced as she continued to work. She remembered patiently letting Blake open up first while making bad jokes and friendly gestures to help put her at ease.

Maybe this was what Blake was offering in turn: an opportunity to get things off her chest and into the open.

Easier said than done. How was she supposed to even broach the topic? Straight up ask her?

Splashing water on her face and giving her cheeks a hard slap, Yang snorted at the sheer stupidity of such a question. Straightforwardness was the only thing she was good at.

Plopping herself on the bench next to her partner, Yang took a deep breath.

"Do you remember why I became a huntress?" Yang asked, looking down at her hands.

Blake had to take a moment to remember and quietly nodded when she did. Yang had told her and Ruby when they visited Patch that she needed hunter access and strength find someone important to her: her mother.

Running her fingers through her golden locks while looking wistfully into the distance, Yang continued, "Have you ever felt… like you haven't accomplished anything?"

Ah. Things were starting to become clear to Blake.

"You're talking about Ruby and Weiss?" she asked to make sure.

Scratching her head a bit, Yang smiled briefly with a hint of pride. "I'm… happy that Weiss is finding her own way to stand against her dad, and Ruby's really growing up and finding her strength." Casting down her eyes once more, "And here I am with… nothing to show for two years. No leads, nothing."

Blake said nothing at first, but then answered in a self-deprecating tone. "You're not the only one."

Lifting her head to face her partner, Yang replied, "Oh come on, Blake. That's not true. You've-"

"-Barely done anything," Blake finished, folding her arms across her chest. Her nails dug into her arms bitterly. "I ran away from the White Fang to find my own justice. I only wanted to help the other Faunus! But… I couldn't stand up for Velvet when she was bullied like Ruby. Even Weiss is doing more for them than I am!

"So… I kind of know how you're feeling."

No response. Yang wanted to reject that, to say what she really thought of Blake. How she was a great partner and teammate, how she tried to take on the White Fang by herself to rescue Ruby, how she faced down Weiss' dad despite his overwhelming pressure.

But she knew none of those mattered. Not to Blake anyways. She saw herself needing her team: she hadn't saved Ruby by herself, and she stood shoulder to shoulder with all of them in Atlas.

Most importantly, she was saying this for Yang's sake.

"Heh," Yang snorted. "Guess that's why we're partners huh? Two girls just falling behind."

"We can't all go as fast as Ruby," Blake smirked.

Yang grinned, "Just means we have to catch up as soon as possible."

Seeing Yang's fire rekindle in her eyes, Blake closed her eyes and surreptitiously breathed out in relief. This wasn't too far from what Yang was doing before, but Blake was sure this little conversation had been necessary. Now her partner had more perspective and knew she wasn't in this alone.

That was what worried Blake the most. She knew how it felt to shoulder a burden alone and unable to share it with anyone. She liked to think that she had become better at that since joining the team.

Perhaps she had needed this as well. Like Yang, she couldn't help but compare herself to Ruby and Weiss. Their paths seemed so clear, their actions and choices so decisive. Nothing like herself, wavering back and forth, worrying just what she was supposed to do. But now…

A ringtone from Yang's scroll interrupted Blake's pensive thoughts and she looked up as Yang read aloud the message she received.

"Hey Yang, how are you and Blake doing? Me and Weiss are picking up food and wanted to know if you two wanted anything."

Yang barley turned to Blake before a ping popped up another message: "Weiss and I. Sorry Weiss!"

"Well, you heard them. You in the mood for anything?"

Shrugging, Blake gave a non-committal, "Eh, I'm fine with whatever everyone is having."

Thinking for a moment, Yang quickly typed her response asking for some baked salmon. It would be a nice surprise for Blake and Yang wanted to show a small gesture of appreciation for spending the day together.

Because she hadn't answered though, Blake looked over and Yang hurriedly closed out the text message. A few other programs were still running in the background though, like Bumblebee's vital records so Yang started closing them out as well.

Blake's eyes must have noticed something because she called out, "What's that?"

"Hmm?" Yang looked down to see a map of Remnant speckled with red dots. "Ah, something I picked up from Glynda way back." She tilted her scroll to show Blake the documented titled "Grim Movements".

"They look like what we were helping Qrow with," Blake muttered, her eyes narrowing on the clumps shifting around as she flicked through the files.

"It is," Yang snorted and pointed to the name of the surveyor.

What interested Blake wasn't who collected the data though, it was what it pointed out.

Yang noticed her partner's expression growing darker and darker with every map. Blake was flicking through it so quickly Yang could start seeing the clumps growing and ebbing in certain directions.

Blake knew they were meaningless to Yang though. They seemed to be in areas far from any major cities, desolate areas where no one would be hurt or affected.

'No… not quite no one. Far from it.'

"These… places…" Blake spoke slowly, hesitating if she should even bring them up. Her resolved steeled reflecting what she had just talked about with Yang. If she felt stuck in what she wanted to do, shouldn't she be upfront with her team about what she knew?

She steadied herself and looked sharply to Yang, "They're Dust mines."

Not all of them, and there were a few peculiar patterns that she didn't understand given the short time she had to look at it.

"Are you sure?"

"…Certain."

How could she ever forget? Memories drifted up of maps and rescue operations, of angry voices shouting back and forth from behind inscrutable masks. Memories of failure after failure.

"Not just that," Blake grimaced. "They're all Schnee mines."

Ahhh… it's certainly been a while, huh? Sorry everyone for the delay and brevity of this chapter. Constant death marches aren't fun. On one hand, I was invited to be full time in the coming year; on the other hand, I don't know if I'll have any time left do anything, let alone write.

Still, I wanted to get a chapter out before the year ended as something to look forward to. Hence why this chapter has a few lead ins. Originally, I wanted to spread Yang's descent into hellish training and Blake's subsequent conversation with her over a course of chapters but… well, I was getting worried that if I kept putting this chapter off, I'd never get to it.

I hope everyone has been well, and I apologize if I haven't been able to respond to you. Let's look forward to the coming year, and I'll see you next chapter.