At Arms Length

She was having a heart attack.

Chest pain

Lightheadedness

Nausea

All signs of a heart attack.

Sun didn't seem to register Blake's myocardial infarction as he continued his exuberance.

"So I was just hanging around the docks right? Just getting a feel of Menagerie, giving you some time with the parentals, and guess who I ran into."

"It was m-"

"IT WAS YANG!" Sun interrupts the other blonde, arms outstretched and directed towards Yang as if some sort of game show host.

Amber eyes shift about to take in the other girls appearance, as if she hadn't been the only thing they could focus on in the last sixty seconds. She wore white shoes, grey pants, and an orange shirt beneath a khaki jacket; her blonde hair was pulled back and contained with a purple band.

Yang was still standing just outside the front door, as if she wasn't quite sure if she should cross the threshold into the Belladonna home. Lilac eyes shifted about, looking anywhere but at Blake. Her shoulders looked stuck somewhere between rigid tension and sagging defeat, and hands tucked securely in the back pockets of her pants.

Upon realization, Blake's eyes quickly flashed between Yang's left and right side looking for any evidence of the traumatic event that she herself had witnessed. To the naked eye nothing seemed out of place, but the faunus could only image what lay behind that jacket.

She didn't know what to say. She had to say something.

"How..."

That single syllable alone seemed to crack upon release, and Blake wasn't sure she could bare more.

Just as Yang's mouth opened to respond, Kali Belladonna seemed to appear out of nowhere beside her daughter.

"What's going on? Who is this... human?"

Kali's eyes widened in surprise before looking to her daughter for an explanation. Blake, however, was unable to break her gaze from the blonde girl before her. Sun jumped in excitedly.

"This is Yang Xiao Long, Blake's old partner from Beacon." He turned back to Yang. "Yang, this is Blake's mom, Kali Belladonna!"

Both women shared a surprised Oh! in almost perfect unison, but it was Yang who seemed to recover first.

"A pleasure to meet you m'am."

Kali smiled kindly before looking to her daughter. Blake in turn finally pulled her gaze from Yang to her mother before dropping it it completely to the floor. Kali frowned and looked back to Yang, noticing that the new blonde seemed to be avoiding making direct eye contact with Blake.

A dead, awkward silence quickly took over.

Sun looked between the two, his initial excitement upon seeing Yang finally subsiding enough to feel the thick tension that had been steadily filling the air around them. Looking to Kali, the two faunus seemed to have a silent discussion before he nodded his head and approached Yang.

"Hey Yang, how about I show you to the spare room? You gotta be tired after that trip. I mean, I should know!"

Yang looked startled upon hearing his offer, looking between the two Belladonna women and then back to Sun.

"Oh! Umm, you know what, I'm fine. I'm thinking of just heading back in to town; see when the first ship leaves in the morning, and then maybe just getting a room for the night. I think I saw an inn when I was down there."

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Kali, moving away from her daughter to approach Yang, putting a gentle hand on her left arm. "You are a friend of our daughters, and in this house friends are family. Besides," Kali's cat ears drew down a bit as she continued, "not everyone around here will be quite so willing to rent a room to a human."

The older woman moved to retrieve the beige duffel that sat at Yang's feet before promptly dropping the strap when she seemed unable to lift it. Yang jumped in, bending down to scoop up the bag and drape it over her left shoulder. Kali looked impressed, giving the girl a once over.

"Well aren't you strong. Ghira is going to just love you." She turned back to Sun, nodding, letting the boy know he could take it from here. Sun sprang forward, draping an arm casually around Yang's shoulders and guiding her forward.

"Dude, wait to you see the rest of this house! It's awesome!"

Sun's exuberance slowly faded away the further the two got into the house. Kali turned to Blake.

"So..."

Blake bit her lip, cat ears folded down against her head.

"So..."

Kali approached her daughter, pressing against the girls side and placing a caring hand on the middle of her back.

"So... she's the reason you left Vale?"

Blake was at a loss for words, but luckily, or perhaps not so luckily, Kali continued.

"Look, we only know as much as Sun has told us, which to be frank, isn't much. Something about a food fight?"

Blake huffed out a laugh at the thought of a more innocent time before sobering up and looking at her mother. Identical yellow eyes bore back into her own. Kali had begun to move the hand on Blake's back, back and forth in comforting circles. The teen leaned back into the hand, a soft purr escaping her lips.

This was her mother; the only woman who had always been able to calm her down. Well, until recently.

Kali continued.

"I don't want to pressure you. You can tell me when you are ready, and if that day never comes then so be it. But you are and always will be my kitten. I know you; this girl means something to you."

Her mother's words hung in the air thickly.

This girl means something to you.

That was an understatement.

She couldn't speak, caught somewhere between the inability to express how she was feeling and fear that it would somehow all come spilling out of her.

Sensing her daughter's struggle Kali leaned up, pressing a kiss to Blake's temple before moving away.

"Tell you what, dinner should be done soon. Why don't you go see how our guest is getting on before then," the older woman spoke over her shoulder before disappearing around the corner into the kitchen.

It had taken all of her will power just to approach the door to the guest room Sun had said he dropped Yang off at, and now she couldn't find anything left within herself to knock. Movement could be heard within and that only seemed to terrify Blake more.

Just as she was resigning herself to being the coward she is and turning away, the door abruptly opened, and amber slits met surprised lilacs. Blake's eyes shot downward in an effort to avoid the emotions that looking into Yang's eyes brought up and that's when she saw it.

Yang's arm.

Or, rather, Yang's new arm.

The blonde had appeared to have taken off her jacket in an attempt to get more comfortable. Blake was in awe.

The arm was clearly robotic, Atlesian possibly; scuffed steel atop some form of synthetic, black material. The limb moved fluidly, as if it had always been a part of the girl. A million questions popped in to Blake's head at once: how could Yang afford such technology? Was it dust powered? Was the metal cold? Would Yang ever be able to forgive her?

Did she deserve forgiveness?

Yang cleared her throat, abruptly ending Blake's train of thought, before stepping to the side to allow the other girl entrance into the room. The faunus stepped in wordlessly as Yang closed the door and turned around.

It was awkward, the tension in the room was beyond stifling, and something was crushing her heart and simultaneously creeping up her throat. Her vision tunneled to the point where she didn't seem able to register anything but Yang's arm.

But it wasn't Yang's arm. It wasn't flesh, it wasn't blood; it wasn't Yang.

Was it possible to have two heart attacks in one day?

"Do you want to touch it?"

Well that shocked Blake's system back to reality. She stuttered to respond.

"Excuse me?"

Yang was rubbing her right arm, running the fingers of her left hand along the joint between flesh and steel. A new nervous habit perhaps? Blake wondered if she still twirled her hair like she used to.

"I asked if you want to touch it? The arm? You seemed to be staring."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," Blake stuttered out, cat ears pinned down and face beat red in embarrassment."

Yang chuckled, but it sounded nothing of the girl Blake used to know. Yang had always laughed freely, and it had always been contagious. This was something else entirely; it was controlled, and bordering on bitter.

"It's fine. I don't really mind anymore, and I can't blame you for being curious. Here..."

Yang held her right arm out towards Blake, palm up, and despite her embarrassment Blake couldn't miss the opportunity.

When would Yang allow her to be this close ever again?

Blake moved a step towards the blonde before reaching a shaky hand towards the appendage. Fingertips grazed the metal before Blake's palm completely flattened and her fingers wrapped around Yang's arm in surprise.

"It's warm."

Blake took a chance glance up at Yang's face, but the other girl's eyes were locked on where the faunus' hand met her arm. Blake looked back down.

"Yeah. Something about all that power generating a lot of heat. Ironwood said they even had to develop a special cooling system to combat my own added temperature."

Ah. Ironwood. That explained a lot.

"I'm surprised Ruby hasn't tried to modify it yet."

She had been aiming for lighthearted, anything to help lessen the tension in the room; to get even a glimpse of her old, exuberant partner. But upon glancing back up into the blonde's eyes she noted that they seemed to darken even more. Long gone was the sparkle of excitement that those lilacs usually held.

"Umm, Ruby never got around to seeing it."

For the first time since their reunion Yang finally made direct eye contact with Blake and it was world shattering. In all her years Blake couldn't recall a time when she witnessed someone looking so... tired. And then Yang's words sank in.

Ruby never got around to seeing it.

Yang continued.

"Shortly after we returned to Patch Ruby went off with Jaune, Ren and Nora. Dad said something about Haven, but no one has heard from her in months."

Blake's throat tightened. Ruby left?

"Weiss?"

"Back in Atlas. I guess her Dad snatched her up pretty quick, cause by the time I woke up she was gone."

Yang said all of this as if it was some normal, every day event. As if Blake had asked her what she wanted from the cafeteria. Only not, because any time Blake had actually asked her such a question the blonde would respond by playfully stroking her chin in thought before exclaiming, I'll have whatever you're having Blake! I trust you.

What had she done.

The taste of guilt was bitter, like stomach acid, and seemed to have taken permanent residence in Blake's mouth.

She looked back down where she was still tightly gripping Yang's arm. The other girl hadn't even seemed to notice and that's when Blake realized that she probably couldn't even feel it. She snatched her hand back as if she had been burned. She might as well have. Perhaps if she had some sort of physical reminder, something tangible, something glaringly obvious that made it impossible to pretend she could forget.

Yang had one of those.

Blake glanced back up at the blonde, who remained standing there awkwardly, clearly not willing to be the one to break the silence. It was then that Blake remembered how odd it was, that Yang was here.

Here. In her parents home.

She was reminded of something she had tried to ask Yang earlier.

"How did you find me?"

Yang's demeanor shifted, becoming more rigid, if that were even possible. Lilac eyes rolled off to the side and away from Blake.

"Honestly? I wasn't even looking for you. The morning Qrow left to go after Ruby he left me a note folded up on my bed. It said You'll find what you are looking for in Menagerie. When I finally decided to set out from Patch I didn't really have a destination in mind, but then I remember that note..."

"Oh."

Blake didn't know what else to say, and Yang huffed bitterly.

"Uncle Qrow has always been a bit of a useless drunk."

That hurt. An involuntary rush of moisture filled Blake's eyes and she blinked rapidly to will them away. She had no right. Before she could even begin to develop some sort of response, a voice could be heard calling from just outside the door.

"Yo girls! Dinner is ready!"

Sun. Her mother must have sent him. Yang quickly turned to the door, swinging it open as if they hadn't just been picking through the ruins of an emotional apocalypse.

"Be right there."

Sun nodded, knowing well enough not to acknowledge the tension now able to spill out through the open door and continued on his way back to, presumably, the kitchen.

Yang spun about and moved to brush past Blake, the latter's breath hitching before she realized that the blonde was moving to retrieve her jacket. And just like that, she slipped the material, her armor, back on, covering her robotic arm. She moved to exit the room, but before she could Blake couldn't help but to blurt out one final question, the very same question that everyone else had been asking her; the question she had yet to answer.

"Don't you want to ask me why?"

Yang froze in the doorway, and at first it seemed like she might not even know exactly what Blake was talking about. But then, without turning around, Yang spoke.

"I think I'm finally past the point of wondering why the people I love leave me."

And with that, the blonde left the room.