Chapter 4: Back At Last

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The second that the taxi pulled up to the airship station, Yang jumped out, excited to be on her way back to Beacon. While Blake was unloading her various items, a hoverjet zipped by, it had just taken off from one of the many landing pads nearby. Yang's blood ran cold and she dropped to the ground as she heard the sound, ready to fire at any White Fang soldiers in sight as she moved to prepare her gauntlets, surprised by the lack of her weapons when she found nothing on her wrists.

"Yang, what are you doing?" Blake asked, placing a hand on her right shoulder and bringing the blonde back to the present. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just tripped. Sorry." She replied, her voice cracking slightly as her own actions had surprised and embarrassed her.

Blake gave the girl a doubtful glance, but just went back to unloading Yang's belongings. What are you doing Yang? The brawler questioned in her own mind, annoyed at her response to the sudden sound. Whatever, I just want to get back into my bed and eat some actual food. She told herself, purchasing a ticket to return to Beacon from the automated vendor in front of her.

"Hey look! It's Blake!" The shout came from across the terminal.

The exclamation caused many around Yang to turn and look at her partner, eyes wide with reverence and respect.

"Yang! Time to leave!" The faunus shouted, gripping the other girl's good arm and dragging her onto the airship.

"What was all that about?" Yang questioned, her expression one of suspicion.

"So, remember when I told you about all those civilians I rescued? One of them was taking video on their scroll and it kind of went viral after they posted it to social media." She replied, her cheeks tingeing red slightly as she turned away and looked out the window. "People are viewing me as a hero. It's ridiculous, it's not like I'm the only person who helped fight. Many did even more than me. The real heroes are the people who were hurt and killed."

Yang smiled and gave the girl a very aggressive hug when she heard the end of her sentence, causing the faunus to jump.

Finally back at Beacon, Yang made a beeline straight for her room, excited to see everyone again. When she opened the door, the room was unusually dark. Then, the lights came on as a yell of "Surprise!" echoed through the room. The remainder of her team jumped up from behind their hiding places and into the room, joined by the entirety of team JNPR as well. Yang reacted quickly, bringing up her fists and moving to activate Ember Celica, once again surprised at the lack of her weapon. She quickly scanned the room and realised that it was only occupied by her friends, the banner of "Welcome home" that hung between Ruby's bunk and her own revealing the purpose of the shouts. What the hell is wrong with me? She asked herself the second time that day. Her thoughts seemed to be racing at a million miles an hour, her heart feeling as if it would beat out of her chest.

"Yang, are you ok?" Ruby asked walking up and looking at her big sister with concern.

"Yeah, Rubes. I'm perfectly fine." The blonde replied, sounding more confident than she felt.

"You are obviously not fine. Come on, let's go down and see the school counselor." Pyrrha said, placing her hand on her back and pushing her gently out the door as they turned around.

The room had become silent, the happy mood lost after Yang's reaction. Replaced with one of worry for Yang.

When they arrived at the counselor's office, Blake and Pyrrha both moved to knock on the door, running into each other.

"I'm sorry, go ahead." Pyrrha apologized to Blake, since the faunus seemed to be the most concerned out of all of them when Yang reacted the way she did. "I'll wait out here and keep Ruby, Weiss, and the rest of my team outside, so you two can have some privacy."

"Uh, actually. Blake, could you stay out here too?" Yang asked, ashamed that she didn't feel comfortable around her partner.

"Of course." She replied, as Yang searched her face for signs of annoyance or anger but found none. Surprised to see instead a concerned smile her teammate's face.

Yang strode up to the door, forcing her to keep an image of confidence even though her insides were a bundle of nerves. She knocked twice with her good arm, forcefully to make sure she was heard but mainly so she didn't seem weaker than she already felt. She started slightly when the door opened and a small young woman stepped out and looked up to her.

"Yang! Hello. I must say, I never expected to see you here." The woman said happily, shocking the blonde by knowing her name.

"Why is that? And how do you know my name?" She asked, annoyed at being recognized on sight.

"Oh, I know all the students by name. It's part of my job! As for the unexpectedness of your visit, you always seemed to be much too proud to ask for help." She replied, cheerily yet bluntly at the same time. "My name is doctor Shannon. What brings you here today?"

"Well, my friends wanted me to come. They were worried about how I was acting after getting out of the hospital."

"Oh, of course. Come on inside and make yourself comfortable. We can talk in privacy there." She said in her ever optimistic, bubbly tone.

Her office was small, but felt cozy instead of cramped. She had a small loveseat pushed against the wall to the left of the door, a tiny end table in the corner where the couch didn't quite extend all the way. The end table had a basket filled with various candies and another basket with various colors and designs of stress balls. The blonde brawler absentmindedly snatched one of the balls up into her hand and sat on the end of the couch, squeezing the small purple object repeatedly. Directly across from her Doctor Shannon took a seat on a comfortable looking office chair, which she pulled up to her desk and turned the computer in front of her to sleep mode.

"Now that you're comfortable, what is on your mind? Know that everything you say in this room will stay here, unless of course you are a threat to yourself or others, or you share it with someone yourself." The doctor asked, respectfully waiting for an answer.

"Well, my friends think that I've been acting odd ever since I was discharged." She said after waiting a few seconds.

"And how have you been acting that struck them as odd?"

"Well, I dropped to the floor when I heard a hoverjet fly over and I was ready to punch anyone who ran at me when they staged a surprise party for me in our dorm." She said, nervously looking down at her hands and continuing to play with the stress ball. "I've also been having a lot of nightmares recently, but those my teammates don't know about."

"What have those nightmares been about?" The counselor asked respectfully.

"Well, mostly about the White Fang attack that happened recently. I got hurt pretty bad and so did my younger sister." Her eyes never moved up from the object in her hands.

"How did you two get hurt?" The doctor asked as she leant forward slightly in her chair.

"A White Fang hoverjet shot me twice. Once in the left shoulder and once in the left lung." She shivered at the memory, a slight burning sensation spreading out from her newly acquired scars as her heart began to beat faster. "My sister got shot by a different group in the arm after I had passed out. She almost had to have it amputated."

"Is this the first time you have been seriously injured like this?" Shannon asked, genuine concern in her voice.

Yang simply nodded, having a hard time finding the strength to speak.

"Well, it seems to me that you have some PTSD from the event and that it is serious enough to be impacting your daily life. I'm going to refer you to a specialist for this sort of thing and he will help you to get through this and learn how to cope." She stood as she finished her sentence, scribbling furiously on a small piece of paper before handing it over to Yang. "Please visit him as soon as you can."

It was another few minutes before Yang had collected herself enough to be able walk out. When she exited she was met by the rest of her team and team JNPR, all of them with worried expressions on their faces.

"How did it go?" Blake asked, stepping forward and giving the blonde a delicate hug.

"Good." She said, even though she was still a rollercoaster of emotion inside.

Both teams relaxed visibly at her answer. Everyone except for Blake. Damn her perceptiveness. She thought to herself as the faunus raised a single eyebrow at her reply. The girl's expression quickly changed to surprise, then annoyance however at Yang's hands. Both of which had moved up and massaged her exposed ears.

"Not in public." The girl whispered into her ear as she batted the brawler's hands away and disengaged from the hug.

Yang's only response was a devilish grin and a lunge towards her ears for a second time.

Blake is just too cute! Even Yang cannot resist the beauty that are her ears.

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