In this One-Shot taking place during Volume 3 Chapter 12, Sun Wukong pays a welcome visit to his friend Blake, who has begun a vigil at Yang's bedside. Sun enters with the intention of helping Blake, but he soon finds that she has conflicting ideas.

Fight or Flight

Sun stood at the door, trembling as he did so. He adjusted his grip on the little tray in his hands - the last thing he needed was to make a mess. There was a quick glance downwards to check that he didn't look scruffy, before breathing in and out deeply. With all final checks completed, he anxiously pushed open the door and shuffled through.

There she was. Blake sat at the other end of the room with the same blank expression on her face, and in exactly the same position as when he last saw her just before dawn. She sat slightly hunched forwards with her two hands cupping Yang's. His heart dropped. Yang laid still on the white hospital bed between him and Blake, seemingly in a state of complete peace. Unfortunately, Sun couldn't prevent his gaze from falling on the part of the bed where Yang's right arm should have been. Instead, there was just an empty space. It was a sickening sight.

"Hi."

The gentle greeting brought him back from the dark thoughts. He shook himself out of the trance, and averted his eyes towards the black-haired girl. Blake sat up straight and offered a warm smile, as if she too had escaped from the depressive state. Previously, whenever he saw this smile he would feel that his day had just gotten better. But, his time spent with Blake beforehand had given him the chance to understand how she hid behind these outward displays. He could see the trauma in her face - not surprising given the fact that they had been evacuated from Beacon the night before. And, he also sensed that there was something else in her expression; a more secretive thought that she did well to conceal from him.

He returned a little smirk and walked towards her, before setting down the small tray at the foot of the bed. He nervously looked for her reaction to the surprise he had brought her: a large mug of freshly-brewed tea (extra milky, of course) and a handful of fruit. With some delight, he saw her face light up a little.

"You really didn't have to," she said, blushing.

"Well, erm, I thought it would help you out a bit", he mumbled.

"You… you didn't steal any of this, right?"

"No no no, I didn't." He noticed her shoot a quizzical look. "I promise."

She nodded and reached for the mug. Sun held his breath, hoping that the tea would spark his friend back into life. She took a long sip, smiled, and said a quiet "thanks". Now that Sun was closer, he could see the toll that had been taken on her. Her eyes and nose were red, meaning that she had been crying a lot. Small black bags had formed under her eyelids - a sign that she didn't get much sleep at all. These things weren't surprising to him given the circumstances, but it still cut deep for him to see Blake like this. Thankfully, her pale complexion did appear to be replaced with a warmer glow, indicating that the tea was having the desired effect. He gave himself an imaginary pat on the back.

"Is the cut healing?"

"Yes, a doctor did another check-up just before you came in. The stitches are strong and the treatment is working, so I'll be up and running soon."

"Good, good. And how are you holding up?"

Blake put the mug down and sighed. The blank expression that she wore before he entered the room returned once more. She took a while to gather her thoughts.

"I'm… It's just a lot to take in, y'know?"

"Yeah, I can't believe we got out of Beacon last night. It's crazy thinking that we were fighting for our lives only a few hours ago. Did you sleep well?"

"I tried. It was a long night for me. It's just… there were so many thoughts swirling around my head that I couldn't rest."

"What sort of thoughts?" Sun was concerned. He sat down on the bed so that he was directly in front of her.

"It's nothing, really".

He leaned a bit closer, and offered her a reassuring smile. "Please. If you don't want to talk about it, I'll forget about it. But, I want to be there for you. Let me."

She sighed. "OK. Well, I can't shake this feeling that it's all my fault, because I know it's true."

"Woah," Sun interjected. "You're wrong. None of us had any idea that this would happen, and there's no way it's your fault; Not for Pyrrha, not for that robot girl."

"No, I'm right. So many people got hurt because of me."

She pointed at Yang's bandaged stump, and her voice began to quiver.

"That… is because of me. Someone wanted to hurt me, and he did that by hurting Yang. If I wasn't at Beacon, he wouldn't have been there either. And if he wasn't there, neither would the White Fang."

"Was it that guy from the docks that got arrested? Roman?"

"No. His name is Adam. It's someone I know from the White Fang. He became a leader around the time that I ran from it. He's a monster now, and he wants to hurt me. I know for sure that's why the White Fang joined the attack on Beacon."

Sun leaned back, exhaling deeply; this wasn't what we expected at all.

"Well, the White Fang disappeared during the battle and haven't been seen since. And the level of security here is insane; I've never seen so many Huntsmen and Huntresses in one place before. And you've got me here along with my team. We don't know when we'll be taken back to Mistral, but we can lay low here if you need us. You're safe from him here, I promise."

Her bow twitched, and she shook her head once more before averting her gaze downwards.

"That's not what I meant. He wants to hurt me, and he's going to do that by hurting everyone I care about. Yang was just the start. We can't stay at this hospital forever; at some point we won't have the protection that we do now, and that's when he'll strike. I've got to do something."

"You don't have to do any-"

"Yes I do." She snapped back. "I'm the only one that can prevent it. I can make sure that you, Yang, Weiss, Ruby, Jaune, and all the others don't get caught in the crossfire."

She met his gaze with a look of ferocity, her nostrils flared and her mouth curled into a snarl. The sight intimidated him a little.

"What's your plan?"

"I was up all night thinking about it, picking it apart and putting it back together again. I've thought long and hard about what I should do." She gulped. "I've got to leave here as soon as possible, and-"

"You're kidding me!" He stared at her wide-eyed. "I can't believe you're saying this! It hasn't even been a day since the attack and you want to run away?!"

"I'm NOT running away!"

She leapt up as she said this, firing a furious glare at him. The outburst made him jump. She had never raised her voice at him, not once. And he had never seen this side of her. She noticed his reaction, and raised her hands to her mouth in shock. She breathed in and out deeply, and then slowly took her seat cautiously, as if she too feared what she would do next.

"Well, I am. But it's different this time."

She moved in closer to him, and reached out to clasp his hands in hers. Sun could feel his palms beginning to sweat at this contact. He could feel her grip tighten, as if she was trying to draw strength from him through the connection. He waited intently for her next words, with both excitement and fear.

"On the day that we first met, I ran away from my friends. I ran away because a problem came up, and the only way I knew how to deal with it - how I've always dealt with big issues - was to run. Run, run, never looking back: not at my friends and not at the problem that drove me away in the first place. And soon, I will be running away again."

A lump formed in Sun's throat. She tightened her grip again.

"Except this time, I won't be running away from the problem; I'm running straight at it. I'll look for clues about Adam's whereabouts in Vale and at Beacon, and once I know where he is I'll confront him myself and put an end to all this."

Fear finally took hold as Sun shot upwards, ripping his hands from her grasp. The tray shook violently, making some tea spill out of the mug.

"What?! You're insane! You're in no shape to go after anyone, never mind the guy that did that to Yang."

"Worse will happen if I don't confront him. He's out there, waiting to strike again. I can't let that happen!"

"But you-"

"I have to!"

Her face was unchanged; she wasn't even blinking. Their eyes were locked in an intense duel that only stopped when he yielded. He took a step back and turned away, ruffling his hair whilst his mind became cluttered with thousands of thoughts. He knew that he couldn't convince her to stay - he couldn't even look her in the eyes - so he searched for anything that would fix his own fears. Finally, he came across something optimistic.

"Well, let me come with you."

"What?"

"Let me come with you. You'll stand a better chance with me by your side. I'll even bring the guys along. My team doesn't need to go back to Mistral anytime soon. That makes it five against one. We can take him down that way, altogether."

He had been overcome by a sense of excitement, but that swiftly dissipated at the shake of her head.

"It's too dangerous."

"What do you mean? It's more dangerous if you fight him alone!"

"Yes, but at least no one else gets caught in the crossfire. You didn't understand when I told you before: I'm pursuing Adam because I don't want to get anyone else hurt. This is between him and I, and it needs to stay that way."

"No it doesn't! I… I mean you… it… just no!"

He flung his arms to the ground wildly. He was breathing heavily, and he sealed up his mouth to stop his bottom lip from wobbling. Everything in the room apart from him seemed to freeze; Blake sat looking up at him wide-eyed. However, she suddenly rushed around the bed and threw her arms around him in an embrace, burying her head in his chest like a scared child seeking comfort. In an instant, all of his rage vanished. His fists unclenched and he held her. He was still shaking, but her still demeanour steadily calmed him down. He felt at peace.

After a short while, Blake's soft voice disturbed the tranquillity.

"You know that I have to do this alone."

He responded with a deep sigh.

"I need to run away and fight him so that he doesn't get to hurt anyone else."

Her words, though said softly, punched him in his chest like bullets. And he was paralysed; the tight embrace and stillness made it impossible for him to dodge them. The only things that he could do were taking the pain and offering only a weak response.

"I know."

"I'll be okay, I swear."

The trembling returned, and his voice became shaky.

"And what am I supposed to do?"

She took a while to respond, making his trembling intensify a little more.

"You need to make sure that no-one tries to get involved in the fight. Not Weiss, not Ruby-"

"What about Yang? She'll want to fight him as much as you do when she wakes up."

Another long, drawn-out silence set in. Sun felt the bow twitch underneath his chin as she thought. He felt her grip loosen slightly.

"Just tell her that I ran away. Tell her I ran away as soon as we got to Vale. She won't want to find me if she thinks that I abandoned her without checking that she was recovering."

"That's going to hurt her."

"I have to."

The pause that followed gave Sun the chance to gather himself. In the midst of all this drama his eyes had begun watering. Noticing this, he rubbed his eyes discreetly, not wanting to upset the girl in his arms. Reluctantly, he asked the question that plagued his mind.

"Are you going to set off now?"

"No, I want to sit with Yang a little longer before I go. Can you stay with me for a while?"

"Sure. I'll be here."

Notes:

First of all, thanks for taking the time to read this Chapter. It's been a long time since I last updated this (Sorry!). I've been busy preparing for exams, and I've also been chopping and changing a few of my One-Shot ideas. This Chapter in particular has undergone a lot of changes from my initial idea.

Ever since the V3 Finale came out, I've wanted to write a story that doesn't paint Blake as a coward. When I saw the episode, I didn't think that she would just run away like that out of habit, especially since Yang was in such a bad state. When the episode showed her running around Beacon, it further reinforced my idea that she was pursuing Adam since she was looking around the last place she saw him. For me, it makes more sense that she left to confront Adam before he gets to harm another of her friends.

In terms of writing this, I originally planned on having Blake leave at the end, but I struggled to write it that way. By having it end with Sun and Blake embracing for the last time in a while, I thought that it was more poignant. It also allowed me to end on the conflicting attitudes between Blake and Sun. While Sun wants to help by being there for Blake, she thinks the only way she can help the situation is by going elsewhere - a nice little juxtaposition. And, for an Eclipse shipper like myself (although I do like Bumblebee too) it feels like a nicer ending.

Thanks again for reading this, and I'd be happy to talk with you about your thoughts on this version of events and my writing in general. I'll try to update this with another Chapter before the end of the month, and from then on I think updates will come semi-monthly (1 or 2 a month).