Hey everyone. I had this idea for a story. It's been a while since I wrote one of these, I hope everyone likes it.

This story takes place right after the end of volume 2. There will be some intense moments with a bit of violence.

Blake's POV

The echo of screams flow through an open window, sailing on the soft summer breeze. I've never heard screams like this before. Something about them terrifies me to my core. I cover my ears, but it doesn't keep the sound out. It only warps it, making it imposable to tell where the chaos is coming from. And the smell. Oh god, the smell is worse than the sound.

The scent of blood and fire forces its way into my nose, and the bitter taste of rot and death lingers in my mouth making me gag. My face is wet with tears. No, not tears, blood. Their blood. I look down and see them, their hands reach for me even after death. I scream.

I sit up and gasp for air. I feel someone grabbing my arm and swing at them wildly.

"Easy Blake, it's me!" I look at the person grabbing my arm, my eyes finally come into focus, and I realize it's Yang. I look around me, I'm back in our room at Beacon. I'm not surrounded by death and destruction, though I can still smell the scent of smoke. My eyes settle back on Yang. She's kneeling next to me on my bed, concern written all over her face.

"What… What's going on?" I ask Yang, my voice shakes.

"You were having a nightmare. Looks like it was a pretty bad one." she says. I glace over at the clock, it's three in the morning. I instantly feel bad for having woken up Yang. I look over at Ruby and Weiss, they're both still sound asleep in their beds. "Don't worry, you didn't wake them up. The only reason I heard you is because my bed is literally right on top of yours."

"I'm sorry." I say. I try to catch my breath and still my shaking hands.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for." she says. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I say. I want her to go away. I know how weak I look right now. I hate it when people see me like this.

"If your fine, then why are you crying?" she asks. I raise an unsteady hand to my face and find that my cheeks are soaked with tears. Just like in my dream. Except it wasn't tears in my dream, it was blood. I move passed Yang and slide out of bed, drying my face as I go. "Where are you going?" she whispers, so as not to wake up our teammates.

"A walk." I say. "I need some air." She follow and stops me before I can exit the room.

"It's three in the morning, and less than twelve hours ago we were fighting a hoard of Grimm after crashing through the ground on a runaway train. What you need is rest." Yang's right. After the day we had sleep should be the only thing on my mind. However, sleep is the last thing I want right now.

"I can't." I say. I keep my back towards her. "I can't even think about closing my eyes right now. Please just let me go." She sighs.

"Okay, fine." She says. "But I'm going with you."

"Yang, I just want to be alone." I say. "And you're exhausted, you should go back to sleep."

"Right, like I could sleep knowing my partner was wandering around upset in the middle of the night." she walks passed me out into the hallway. "What are you waiting for, let's go get some of that fresh air you need." I sigh and follow her out of the room. I don't feel like fighting her on this, and even if I did, I would still lose.

We make our way out of the building and walk in silence around the dimly lit campus. There's a small chill in the night air, but it feels good against my skin. Yang doesn't push me to talk, which surprises me. I can tell she wants to ask me questions, but she lets me have my peace and quiet. It's different from what I'm used to.

When I was with Adam, he would basically force me to talk to him, even when I desperately wanted to keep something to myself. Or he would be completely opposite and refuse to discuss certain things, no matter how important they were. It was always one or the other with him. No middle ground.

I notice that I'm no longer shaking or crying, and my breathing has normalized. I'm actually glad Yang came with me. I feel more relaxed having someone watching my back. We walk for a while longer, until we reach a grassy hill that overlooks Beacon. Yang sits down on the grass and stretches.

"Let's take a little break. Okay." She says. I sit down next to her and sigh. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah." I say truthfully. "Thanks for coming with me. I needed to clear my head."

"No problem." She says. As we sit I think about the dream that had forced me from my bed. It was more a memory than a dream.

"It was about my parents." The words spill from my mouth before I can think about it. "The dream I had. It was a memory about my parents." I can't believe I was telling Yang this. I hadn't meant to.

"Must have been a bad memory." She says.

"The worst." I say. "It was something I hadn't thought about in a long time. Something I tried hard to bury."

"What unburied it?" she asks.

"Yesterday. When we crashed into the middle of town. All the people that were there started screaming. Those scream. They reminded me of…." I can't finish. I can't bring myself to tell her what happened all those years ago.

"I've never heard you talk about your parents before." She says. "Ruby and I talk about ours all the time, and Weiss complains about hers now and then, but you never mentioned yours before."

"They…. They both died when I was five…. I don't remember much about them." I say. My chest aches from sadness. Even after all these years the pain of losing them hasn't gotten any better.

"I'm so sorry Blake. I know how hard it is to lose a parent." I look over at Yang. I see real hurt in her eyes, not just for her own loss, but for mine as well.

"Thank you." I whisper. She smiles.

"What's your happiest memory of them?" she asks.

"What?" her question surprises me. I was expecting her to ask me how they died, not this.

"You heard me." she say.

"I… well. Like I said I don't remember much about them. Sometime I can't even remember what they looked like."

"Come on, you have to have at least one good memory." She says.

"Their laughter." I speak without thinking again.

"Their laughter?"

"Yes, I remember they were always laughing." I smile. "My mom was a wolf Faunus, and my dad was a cat Faunus, so they clashed a lot, but not in a bad way. They would tease each other, but they always had a smile on their face and it always ended in laughter."

"Sounds like fun."

"It was. We were always poor. We didn't always have a place to live. But that never stopped them from being happy." I say. "They would sit and read to me every evening, and when we couldn't afford books, my mom would make up stories to tell me."

"She sounds amazing." says Yang.

"She was, they both were." I turn to Yang. "I've never talked about my parents to anyone before. This is the first time since they died."

"Why?" she asks.

"I don't know. I guess because it hurts to think about them. And I never really had anyone to talk to before." I say.

"I get that." she says. "When Ruby's mom died, she didn't want to think about her because it made her cry. So I started reminding her about all the happy times we had with her, and soon she stop crying and started smiling whenever she thought about her."

"And that's what you just did for me."

"Yep." She says with a proud look on her face.

"Thank you." I say. "I didn't even realize I remembered that much until I started talking."

"It's better to think about the happy stuff, that's what they would want." She says. "And Blake. You may not have had anyone to talk to before, but you do now. Me, Ruby, and even Weiss, we're all here for you. You don't have to do things on your own anymore."

"I'm starting to realize that." I say. "But you're going to have to be patient, this is all pretty new to me. And you might have noticed that I'm not that great at talking."

"I can be patient, it's not like I'm going anywhere." She smile. "You're stuck with me whether you like it or not."

"I think I can handle that." I say.

"Good. Now what do you say we head back to the dorms, do you think you can sleep?" she asks.

"Yeah, I think I'll be alright now."

"That's good. We need to get some rest. Ozpin scheduled that assemble before breakfast in the morning. Who knows what craziness he's going to drop on us." She says.

"It's probably about what happened yesterday with the train." I say.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." We talk as we make our way back to the room. When we get back we quietly crawl into our beds and say goodnight. Exhaustion hits me as I lay down. It's after four in the morning, and we have to get up before long. But I don't mind. I feel good. Lighter. Better than I thought I could feel after a nightmare like that. I would never have guessed that simply talking to someone would make me feel better. I could really get used to having friends.

I hope you guys enjoyed this! Please leave a review and tell me what you think, and I'll update soon.

-Rin Veil