Athazagoraphobia

Yang stared at Qrow for a few seconds, waiting for him to elaborate on what he meant, but he just stared back at her. She could practically see the gears turning in his head.

A what now? Yang thought to herself. What the heck is a Rakleft? The name sounded vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn't place where she'd heard it. What's going on?

Jaune looked like he was going to be sick. Her 'team' looked shocked and… Not surprised. 

What? Yang blinked, and they went back to being shocked. Ugh... They're messing with me.

"What are you talking about? There's nothing "attached to me" Qrow, you're just pulling my leg." She stated.

"This isn't a joke, Yang." Weiss stated, a carefully calm look on her face, but her eyes gave away how worried she was. "There's a grimm on you."

Penny was already nodding in agreement. "Yes, I noticed it earlier when I scanned you."

Ruby turned towards Penny, her eyes wide. "You knew? Why didn't you tell us?"

"I tried, but then the blindworm attacker-"

The conversation blurred to the background for Yang. They're lying. They're just looking for an excuse to get rid of me. They're all in on it. She realized with a start. She shook her head to snap out of her thoughts and backed away from them, closer to the edge.

A spark of anger flared in her, and she glared at them, her eyes flashing red. "You're lying." She growled, and all conversation stopped. How dare they act as they care about me. They were just ready to leave me behind. And the thing they're "worried" about doesn't even exist.

"Why would we lie about something like that?" Someone said Yang didn't care to see who.

Qrow took a step closer to Yang, and she took one back. "Yang, whatever it's telling you, it's not true."

"What does that mean?" Blake asked, her voice cracking. "What is that thing doing to her?"

Yang finally looked at Blake, which she had been avoiding doing so far. She was trying to keep a calm expression on her face but was failing miserably. She looked so worried that Yang almost believed that she cared about her. Almost. If she hadn't heard her talking to Sun earlier. She's just acting. She has to be.

"I'll explain later. First we have to get it off of her." Qrow looked over at Jaune. "Boost her aura, Raklefts can't hold on to a person with a full or mostly full aura. It's probably why her aura hasn't been regenerating this whole time." 

Jaune took a deep breath and nodded sharply, "R-right." He walked towards Yang, his hands glowing as he activated his semblance.

Yang took another step backward, almost to the edge of the shell. Her anger was quickly replaced by fear as he got closer and closer to her. Qrow was coming towards her too, arms out as if he was going to grab her. She needed to get away, but how..?

She glanced at the sheer drop behind her, and an idea popped into her head.

Blake realized it at the same time, fear flashing in her eyes. "Yang, don't-"

Yang didn't let her finish.

She jumped.

The wind rushed past her ears as she fell, blocking out anything the others were saying as she fell. 

She could use her landing strategy to land safely, then run away from them. They wouldn't follow her. It's what they wanted anyway, to get rid of her.

The thought still leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. But what did she expect? I always get left behind.

So, she could land safely and run. Or…

She could just fall.

That might be better. Yang thought as she closed her eyes. No one can hurt me if I'm dead.

She'd only been falling for a few seconds before she was jolted to a stop, the sound of rushing air being replaced by the rapid flapping of wings. The feeling of falling through the air now was the feeling of someone's strong arms wrapped tightly around her, pressing her into a warm body.

"I got her!" They yelled, and suddenly, she was going back up. She struggled against them, but their grip was firm.

Yang twisted around to see the person who caught her, and her eyes widened in shock. Blake? Why would Blake catch me?

Before she could expand on that thought, the thing they were on- Weiss's queen lancer, she came to realize- disappeared, and they fell back onto the shell. Blake shifted to pin Yang against the ground, her back facing them.

Yang immediately began to struggle against her grip again, but it still wouldn't break.

"What do we do now?" Blake asked someone, probably Qrow.

"Just hold her until it lets go, then we need to kill it right away." He responded. "Hang on there, kid, this is probably going to be pretty painful."

"What are you doing? Let me-" Yang cut herself off and stilled, feeling a searing pain from the back of her head. 

Jaune had started amplifying her aura, and her head was exploding.

STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP--

Yang let out a scream and started to struggle again. Her semblance activated, giving her an extra boost to her strength, especially with Jaune amping her up like that.

"Shi- Guys! Help!" She heard Blake yell as her grip on Yang started to slip. She sounded so far away and right there at the same time.

Yang had just broken free of Blake when she felt two other people begin to hold her down. Their grip was solid; one had so much strength, it was as if an Atlesian Paladin on top of her. And the other felt like they were electrocuting her over and over.

Even with her extra strength, she couldn't break free of both of them. But she didn't give up. 

The pain kept building and building up for what felt like hours, and just when she thought her head was actually going to explode-

It stopped.

And the buzzing that filled her head( How had she not noticed that? ) was gone.

Yang's body relaxed as the pain left, and she let out a sigh of relief.

"Quick! Kill it!" She heard someone yell. 

She looked over at the source of the sound, but her eye caught on something much, much closer.

It looked like a giant tick or something. It had long, black legs with barbs on the ends, and had two huge mandibles on its head, which looked so strong it could probably crush anything it wanted. And its abdomen.. It was a red, sack-like thing that looked like it was glowing slightly, and it had two white armored plates on top of it with red designs on it.

Yang's eyes widened, and she gasped, Was that attached to me?!

A black katana came down and stabbed it right through that sack-thing. It screeched loudly but then died, disappearing into dust and floating away into the wind.

The pressure on Yang's back disappeared, Penny and Nora. That made sense; it looked like someone had given Nora some lightning dust to make her stronger.

Ruby ran over and hugged Yang tightly the moment she had started to push herself up. "Yang! I am so sorry we didn't notice it sooner! A-are you okay?" She asked, sounding close to tears.

Yang hugged her back weakly. "I'm.. I'm fine, Rubes." 

Someone else came over and joined the hug, too. "Don't you dare scare us like that again, you big oaf." Weiss stated. "Or I'll freeze you solid."

"I'll.. try not to." 

Yang glanced to the side, where she could see Blake standing awkwardly to the side. She was about to pull her into the hug, but then she remembered all those things Blake said about her… Or... Was that her? Ugh... My head hurts.

She, instead, turned her gaze towards her Uncle. "Qrow… What was that?"

Qrow sighed and sat down on the ground, gesturing for everyone to sit with him. Once everyone was all settled, he cleared his throat. "Alright. Let's see what you remember from school..."