Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to RWBY. It is the creative property of the late, great Monty Oum, as well as Miles Luna, Kerry Shawcross and the rest of Rooster Teeth.

Phantoms

i.

Vale was lost. In an instant, it had been entirely overrun by the Grimm. The country's Tower was ransacked and brought to its knees, blinding the entire Cross-Continental Transmission System. There was no form of global communication once the sun finally rose. The people of Remnant had been played like a fiddle from hell and its tune had robbed the lives of countless civilians, hunters and huntresses. The world had fallen apart at the seams.

Frankly, Yang couldn't find it in herself to care.

The blonde stared up at the dull, white ceiling of whatever Atlesian hospital she'd been put in. The whole room had been draped in dull whites and greys, all colorfully dead. Typically clinical.

Yang Xiao Long! Stand. Down.

Yang felt a twitch in the palm of her right hand. Her forearm was sore.

I want to believe you…

Hot tears streamed down her cheeks. Cords, wires and tubes were scattered all across the huntress' left arm, pinning the appendage down near her bed. She raised her right arm to wipe the tears away, but the water just wasn't leaving. Yang saw the stub again.

She wanted me to tell you that she saved you once. But you shouldn't expect that kindness again.

There was a scream somewhere inside Yang's throat. It just couldn't find its way out. Like her, it was trapped underneath the blank stare of that man in the Grimm mask.

ii.

There was a new arm coming, they said. It would be the very best that money could buy and Yang Xiao Long was going to get it for free. Yang wasn't sure if that had been out of sympathy on Ironwood's part or if it had been Weiss' doing. They were in her home turf now, after all.

Ruby had gone off to meet with the man who had been contracted to build the prosthetic. Someone they'd referred to as 'Professor Polendina.' Yang made the connection rather quickly and felt a tinge of guilt for not being able to figure out the truth in time. If she had, her sister wouldn't have lost Penny.

There was an ache in her right wrist. The wrist wasn't there, of course, but Yang still felt it. If she wanted to, Yang could sometimes imagine the outline of her forearm resting in place on the bed, perfectly attached to the maligned stub that was now her right arm.

"Yang? May I come in?" Blake called out from the other side of the door.

The blonde's eyes widened. Yang had wondered when her partner would finally be able to come visit. Apparently that masked bastard had done some severe damage to Blake's stomach. Though Yang wondered if Blake had been deliberately waiting until the right time to drop by.

Yang noticed the ears immediately as Blake entered the room.

"You aren't wearing your bow."

The faunus girl gave a small, pained grin. She replied, "No. No, I'm not."

"Why not?" Yang questioned with a tilt of her head.

Blake pulled up a chair and sat to the left side of Yang's bed. She reached out and took Yang's hand into one of her own. Her amber eyes stayed fixed on Yang, a soft smile resting on her face as she pulled out a bloodied piece of cloth from her pocket with her free hand.

"Because you needed it more than I did."

"Oh shi- Blake, I'm sorr-"

"Don't apologize," Blake interrupted, as her eyes began to water. "This… this was all my fault. Not yours. Besides my… disguise is the least important thing on anyone's mind right now."

For a moment, Yang felt her lips curve upward.

I want to believe you…

And then her breath hitched. Her right arm ached all over.

"Blake," Yang whispered. "Blake… I need to ask you something. It might be a tough question for you to answer, but- I need to ask you. Is that alright?"

The faunus girl looked at her slowly and nodded.

"That… person. The one who was dear to you?" Yang broke out, "Was that… him?"

There was a stillness in the room. The faunus girl remained silent, though Yang noticed that she was beginning to shake. Blake pressed tighter into Yang's left hand. It was the only answer Yang needed. She got a little more from Blake though. "I was a fool. Ruby told everyone already about what happened- how they did that to you and to Pyrrha… and I had the audacity to doubt you and compare you to Adam."

"Adam? So that's his name, huh?" Yang muttered. The faunus girl nodded. Yang's right arm pulsed with a bit of pain all across, from the top of her shoulder to the tips of her non-existent fingers. "Don't blame yourself, Blake."

Blake gave a low chuckle and replied, "I tell you that it's not your fault and then you turn around and tell me not to blame myself either. We're pretty messed up right now, aren't we?"

Yang nodded in agreement. They sat there for a while, silently, just clinging to the other's hand. Once she'd worked up the courage to speak again, the blonde whispered, "So what do we do now?"

Amethyst eyes met amber. All of their apologies to one another, their confessions and everything else all collided into each other's eyes. Blake smiled softly, "I'm not sure. What do you want to do?"

Yang thought hard about the question, before answering, "I want to be able to make puns again."

Blake gave her another small grin and nodded, "That's a start. A good short term goal." She pondered for a moment and then added, "How about long term? What do you want to do in a year's time?"

"A year, huh?" Yang turned and looked at her sore stub of an arm. She wondered when the phantom pain would subside, at least for awhile. Her mind drifted back to her mother's message and the offer that her Uncle Qrow had given her. Yang would need time to heal and learn how to live with her new arm, but seeing as how Beacon wasn't around anymore, she had a pretty good idea of what she wanted to do by a year's time.

"I want to find my mother," Yang smiled, "and it'd mean the world to me if you came along with me, Blake."

Blake gave a short nod of approval. "Nothing would make me happier."