6 months later
It had been tough, but Yang had finally gathered her courage and left the house to take Zwei for a walk. The first time she had done that had been a week ago. Now she was walking on Beacon's streets running an errand for her father, with her dog by her side.
Ruby was still missing, as well as Qrow and Ozpin. She had also received a letter from Weiss saying she was okay, but that her father wouldn't take his eyes from her. She was being trained by her sister Winter and, as incredible as it may seem, Weiss had said she missed them. Yang had been surprised to read those words from the heiress, but after all they had gone through together, she also missed the ice queen.
Yang had tried to write her friend back, but she wasn't used to writing with her left and she had ended up breaking the pen in frustration; therefore she didn't finish the letter, hardly even started it. She couldn't call her either, she wasn't ready to talk to anyone, and she didn't know if they were going to allow her to talk to Weiss.
She wanted to thank her for taking care of her sister when she was unconscious on Beacon's battle and also tell her she was undergoing surgery for a new prosthetic robotic arm. It was a long process and tedious too, and she had a lot of rehab and more surgeries to go. Right now, the robotic arm was a simple one, to verify her body didn't reject it. It didn't allow many movements; she could close and open the hand and do simple tasks that didn't require excessive force, but it was better than nothing.
As she was walking Beacon's streets, she had her father's things on a paper bag held by her left arm and she had Zwei's leash on the right. Ironwood had promised her the best technology he could offer, an arm that would have Ember Celica reproduced so she could use it. That's why she was wearing the pair of her weapon only on her left.
Suddenly, the leash escaped Yang's hold and she kneeled to pick it up. Unfortunately this would happen often, unexpected spasms that would drop anything she was holding with her new hand. Carefully, Yang tried picking up the leash unsuccessfully; the hand would not obey her orders.
"For dust's sake, Yang, do it." She cheered herself, but her patient was starting to wear off.
She ignored the pitiful looks people would give her and focused on her task, managing to complete it after a few tries.
She got up with a sigh, wishing to be home as soon as possible when she saw a ghost. Or who should've been a ghost.
Standing in front of her, at the end of the street, was Blake.
She paused, her heart missing a beat and eyes opened with surprise.
Blake was also looking at her, and even in the distance Yang could see she had changed since the last time she saw her. She seemed hardened, like she was carrying a heavy weight on her shoulders, and she was slenderer.
Recovering from the surprise of seeing her there, Yang resumed her pace in Blake's direction. It wasn't because of Blake, but she had to go that way and she wasn't coward enough to turn and take another route.
Blake stood there, watching Yang near her with pain and sorrow in her eyes. But Yang set her jaw, hardened her eyes and commanded her heart to beat at a normal pace.
She got to Blake's level and with her eyes set to the front, she walked by Blake.
She felt Blake's pain when she did that but Yang didn't stop. What made her come to a halt was Blake's hand on her arm.
"Yang…" Blake said.
The blonde didn't turn and didn't tore her arm from Blake's grasp. She just spoke what knew would hurt Blake the most. "Am I supposed to know you?" She said with in a low voice.
That made Blake release her as if she had touched fire. But Yang couldn't turn, couldn't face her without saying something that she was going to regret later. So, as much as it pained her, she resumed her walk.
"Yang, wait." Blake said with pain in her voice.
That did it.
Yang felt her eyes turn red and slowly she turned.
"Wait? You are asking me to wait?" The words left her mouth like an endless river. "I waited! For you, I waited every day, every single day! For you to come to me, to say something, and you left me!"
Tears were gathering in her eyes but she couldn't stop.
"The last image I had from you was you lying in a pool of blood, dying! And then you ran, you just ran not even waiting for me to wake up and tell me you were okay! You have no idea what it is to wake up… wake up like I did and to be told that you're… gone."
Her voice broke and the tears fell.
Blake was also suffering, flinching at Yang's words knowing they were true.
"I… couldn't stay. It was my fault you ended up hurt, I couldn't stay there and hurt you further."
"No! Don't you dare pull that on me, don't you dare put me like an excuse, to say it was for my safety!"
"Yang…"
"I get it, okay? You've always felt responsible for everything, even if you could've done nothing to change the results. But you also know me, or I thought you did, because I told you how I felt when my mom abandoned me and you went and…" she didn't finish the sentence.
"I didn't…"
"What is so wrong about me that makes people leave me?" Yang cut her. "My mom was the first, after Summer's death my dad was somewhere else, you ran away and now Ruby is missing too? Wouldn't it be better if I just wasn't here?" She had so much pain inside, pain she never let people see surrounded by a wall that was now crumbling down.
"Yang, I didn't want to leave!" Blake yelled.
"Then why did you!" Yang shouted back. "Why did you…" She ended with a fading voice.
Blake didn't have answer for her.
"I see. I hope you find what you're looking for." Resigned, with her shoulders hunched, Yang turned around.
"Please don't go, Yang, I'm still your partner. Let me explain." Blake begged.
The blonde turned her head enough to see Blake.
"Partners? I once thought partners didn't abandon one another. Now I don't know what that is anymore. You are free to go back to Adam for all that I care."
She left Blake there, hurting more than she would ever admit to and she knew that because she was hurting just as much as her. But she couldn't turn around and pretend nothing had happened and that everything was alright.
She was done being the happy one, the one who always ended up hurt.
Without looking back, she left Blake behind.