It's too much, Blake realizes as she relies on her semblance again, her shadowy twin taking the next blow for her, again and again. She rushes her closest opponent, gambol shroud managing to land a few hits, before she's hit from behind again. She knows she's bleeding. Also, without backup. Who were these people? Blake ducks another blow, and manages to hit an opponent in the neck, but her aura is failing. Three was too many, these were no mere students. This was not a regulated match, losing would mean death.

This was not what she'd expected. Adam showing up to kill her, maybe. Swarm of Grimm? Sure. White Fang members, perhaps. Three strangers? Somehow she hadn't seen that coming. She hadn't been able to handle Sun, or team SSSN any longer. The constant ribbing and testosterone fuelled bullshit had finally gotten to be too much. Sun, as much as he liked her, didn't understand her at all. And he'd tried. They both had. At least a little.

She catches sight of a gold flash but it can't be, it can't. Here she is, injured and attacked by Grimm, and she wants to fantasize about Yang showing up to save her. Even after the last year.

The rest of the Grimm driven away, she'd rolled over to face her saviour, firing weapons, hitting opponents with swift punches and the occasional kick.

Yang.

Just as quickly, she receive a blunt blow to the back of the head, she falls unsure if she's hearing herself scream, or someone else. She hears the fight more than sees it after that, aware dimly that she's bleeding. She drifts in and out of consciousness until she's rolled to face up and examined, the sky still dark with rain and her former partner looking down at her.

"How?" She blinks up blearily, but an arm reaches for her and picks her up. Yang had always been strong, but this arm was hard metal under the fabric of her coat. Not a dream, Blake realized, just before she lost consciousness altogether.

It was dusk before she'd made it back to the campsite, her bag still tied up high in a tree and she'd been reluctant to set Blake down. She looks at her former partner now, sleeping on her own sleeping bag right next to the fire. She sat on the ground, watching her, unsure of what to do now. A small vengeful part suggests, leave her, but Yang cannot bring herself to make that more than a dark fantasy in her mind.

Yang felt silly, she'd even felt strange about pulling up Blake's garments to bandage and treat her wounds. She'd done the best she could, with her first aid skills Hopefully it would be enough.

She looks at the faunus, stirring slightly in her sleep, ears twitching. An unwelcome warmth surges up within her, she wasn't supposed to feel this anymore. Blake left. And she'd leave Blake, as soon as she was satisfied that she was not leaving her to die.

Yang cannot deny part of her is still furious. And yet, she hadn't really changed. When it came to Blake Belladonna's life, she would save it again without hesitation. She wasn't sure what to do with the faunus now, though she supposes she can let Blake recover for a couple days, drag her to the nearest village and then part ways, as quickly as possible.

She's on a hunt for her Uncle Qrow, and then, her mother. She doesn't have time for Blake. And why should she? Blake obviously didn't care enough to stay. Probably thought she was useless as a partner since she'd lost her arm.

"You can't be real." A small voice murmurs up from the fabric.

Yang laughs mirthlessly, "I'm real." She exposes her metal arm, and flexes the fingers.

Blake looks up at her, and then props herself up to get a look at the bandages. "How? Why?"

She's unsure how to answer, she hadn't meant to come across Blake. She'd heard the sounds of a fight and had rushed over to help. Since Haven fell, Mistral had been even more of a mess than Vale.

"Don't move so much, you'll start bleeding again." Yang states plainly, trying to seem disinterested. After all, shouldn't she be? After all this time.

"You're in Mistral." Blake blinks up at her disorientedly. Perhaps that hit to the head the faunus had taken was harder than she thought.

Yang explains quickly, no point giving Blake details when she'll just run away again. "Yeah, my dad and I went after Ruby. We didn't find her, yet." I found you, instead, Yang finishes to herself quietly.

"Your dad is here?" Blake shifts again, so she presses a gentle hand on her, pinning the girl to the sleeping bag. No sense letting her injure herself more, Yang tells herself as an excuse.

"No…" Yang shakes her head. "He's in Haven, trying to help. and trying to figure out where Ruby went. But everyone has seen the Beacon tournament. I couldn't take it, so I left. Either way, you're going to stay put. You're in no shape to fight." As much as she tries to keep all tenderness from her voice, some seems to bleed through. Perhaps it is that Blake looks helpless. Maybe it's because it has been so long since she'd seen her.

"Why…why did you save me?" Blake shifts on the sleeping bag. "You lost your arm because of me."

"Yeah. I did." Yang nods, her feelings for Blake had caused her to rush in, and leap ferociously at Adam. Losing her arm in the process for a partner who didn't care enough to stay until she'd regained consciousness. But Blake herself hadn't done anything to cause it, it was that man. Adam. The White Fang leader. Blake was only guilty of abandonment, as if that were a small thing. And perhaps, for her it was. Her mother left. Her mom, Summer, died. Ruby left. Blake left.

"Yang…" Blake repeats her name, before she lays back down to rest again.

8 months earlier

"No, don't stop Yang, you're doing well! Hit me again." Her father encourages her, and before he can make another crack at her she lands a punch with her real fist. Followed by a sharper one with the prosthetic, she's sure it hurts, even with aura blocking the force of her blows.

"Stop talking!" Yang grits out between her teeth, she uses the prosthetic the next time, hearing the hydraulics shift, the slight noise that will never cease to remind her that this is not her arm. This is a tool, but for doing this, it's enough.

"What? Am I harder to punch than your teammates?"

Teammates, Yang falters at the word, and Tai lands his own punch to her shoulder, the stump. She falls backwards, onto her ass, breathing heavily.

"I'm done for the day." Yang says, after calming slightly. She considers removing the prosthesis, putting it away like she does to sleep. Instead she leaves it on, twitching the fingers and trying to get used to the sound of the hydraulics responding to her nerves through the metal adapter that had been installed on her...stump.

"Alright." Tai nods, grabbing two bottles of water. Tossing one at her, he smiles when she catches it, measuring the force and uncapping it to take a long swig.

For a few minutes it's silent. Like they never talk of anything of consequence. But maybe, if she's careful she can wheedle a little information out of her father.

"Dad… what was it like with your team? Your partner?" Yang pries. This has always been a topic her father has never wanted to discuss. She's not even sure who her father's partner was at Beacon. Uncle Qrow? Mom? Her…mother?

"Partners." Taiyang repeats thoughtfully, looking at his daughter, both seated and breathing heavily from sparring. "So, this isn't about the prosthetic arm?"

"No… what was it like with your team? Team STRQ?" Yang leans back on the couch, trying to seem casual.

"Well… Raven was my partner at Beacon. And Summer Rose was your Uncle Qrow's." Tai answers her simply, almost cautiously. He doesn't want to talk about either of them, Yang knows too well. They never talk about anything serious.

"But… how was it?" Yang pries gently.

"What is there to say?" Tai shakes his head. "We were partnered at Beacon, I fell in love with her, we finished school, and had you."

"And… Mom?" She's sure that the intonation of her voice tells her dad that they are discussing the woman that raised her.

"Summer? We were great friends then. Teams get close. Yang, I'm sorry that your time with yours was cut so short." Tai shrugs as if this closes the discussion, purposely sucking water from his water bottle with vigour. Before pouring some on himself, and Yang, to rinse off some of the sweat.

She'd usually laugh, or swat him. But she wasn't giving up that easy this time. It was far past time to get some answers.

"Qrow and Summer were close too?" Yang questions again, unsure of whether or not to push further. To tell her father that the loss of Blake was more than she could take. Not that she really wants the mental picture of her mom doing anything romantic with Uncle Qrow. Surely, not everyone was as stupid as the Xiao Longs.

"Yes, but honestly they bickered, they were like siblings to each other. Qrow always said it's practically incestuous to date within your team. But it happens." Tai smiles, laughing, his eyes glazing over as he remembers his youth. "Raven was… beautiful, and talented but she was also…difficult."

Yang shifts, wondering how much she could prod, how much about her mother could she learn? "I mean… if Raven was so…difficult why have me with her at all?"

"Well," Tai shifts regarding Yang seriously. "We were young, in our final term at Beacon and on a mission. And it was cold…" He trails off, grimacing.

"Are you telling me I only exist because you and Raven got cold?" Yang regards her father incredulously, and yet, it all makes a weird sort of sense. That she'd been an accident, that Ruby had been the purposeful child with Summer Rose.

"For weeks," Tai continues, "and eventually we got…careless." He shrugs. "But I loved Raven and I am so happy to have you."

"Wow." Yang nods unsure of what else to say, or how to make a pun out of it. Somehow 'Yangcident' doesn't seem like the thing she really wants to say.

"Well, at least you don't have to worry about that. All-girl team." Tai laughs, "so… should I get us a snack? I think we've both worked up an appetite. And I remember how much you can eat!"

For a moment, she considers going with it. Letting her dad pretend she's okay. That everything is still okay. But it's not.

"Dad… it's not just the arm."

"You lost a lot." Tai acknowledges, "Your school, your team, your partner, your arm." He nods, "But you're not letting it stop you, that's the important thing. I can train you as well as anyone can."

"I…. I'm in love with Blake. I'm…like you, Dad. I fell for my partner at Beacon." Yang admits finally, her eyes tear up slightly. "And she…she just left me."

"Oh…" Tai looks blankly at his daughter for a moment. And for a split second, Yang fears his reaction. It's less common after all, falling in love with another girl. But there were a few same sex couples around, even if it is rare.

"Well, that explains a lot actually." Tai finishes, looking at Yang with a renewed sense of understanding.

"I just…. I don't think she loved me back. I wasn't sure she even could. I thought…maybe, we kept getting closer and closer and… I thought we had four years! But I never thought she'd just leave me." Yang cries, finally letting go of the burden, of keeping this to herself.

"Oh…" Taiyang repeats, less shocked by the minute. "Well, good. You won't get pregnant. That's a plus." Her dad seems ultimately cheered by at least that much, until her expression makes him falter again.

"I guess we have more in common than we thought." Tai says finally, speaking in a low serious voice.

"I guess." Yang repeats, uncertainly.

"Not just ribbing and puns." Taiyang stretches, "so is this the part where we talk about girls?"

"I don't know." Yang shrugs, pulling her knees up to her chest. "Maybe we just… keep talking?"