It was another one of those nights.

A heavy downpour had fallen upon Vale the entirety of the day, the city streets rife with puddles and overflowing sewer vents. The cloudy sky reflected in the shallow pools, the light trickle of water from above distorting the rippling images. The lights in the windows of the apartment complex across the street were shutting off one by one with every passing minute. It was nearly one in the morning.

Yang wasn't sure why she was still awake.

She was lying on the couch, television on but muted. The late-night infomercials illuminated the dark apartment room with flashes of bright, multicolored light. She gazed out the window, watching the rain trickle off the hooded cover of the balcony like a miniature waterfall. It was almost perfectly quiet: a perfect atmosphere for her sleeping daughter in the closed room behind her.

In the reclining chair across the room, Gray was out cold. His old White Fang mask covered his face, his snoring echoing under his facial covering. The former Lieutenant had once told Yang he like to sleep with it on because it kept his skin from drying out. She humored him and questioned that no further. For being the third wheel in the apartment, he kept to himself quite a bit since she first moved in six years ago.

Damn. Had it really been that long?

Yang reached for her scroll to check the time. 12:56 AM.

Time was nothing to her anymore. It went by so fast. All those years ago, the experiences in that penthouse had changed her life. It felt like days ago that it happened. So many friends made, good and bad memories.

They were just that now: memories. Nothing more.

After graduating, she soon lost contact with many of those she had once known. Her classmates had become adults, with their own duties as Huntsmen or Huntresses, or even a completely different career than they had once set out for. Her husband Adam had kept the path, and was now fighting against the corrupt White Fang he had once served in. Even after a decade since his departure from the organization, they had continued their terrorist ways. He would come home from campaigns completely exhausted, beaten, but still valiant in his goal. The Faunus was a much different man than he had once been. No longer was he the terrible, violent boyfriend Blake once had feared; the only trace of his old self was the occasional moment of oblivious stupidity Yang had grown to love.

It had been ages since she had talked to Blake. Months, almost a whole year. She was back in Anima now, with Sun and their kid. They were still friends, but not as close as they once were. She saw Weiss more frequently, with the Heiress now her sister's partner. She and Ruby kept in touch, but their tag-team expeditions across the globe to stop Grimm made any visits brief and unpredictable.

Uncle Qrow still kept in touch, like he always had since she was a kid. Running Beacon Academy all by himself had pushed him away from his drinking habits. Couldn't have a drunk Headmaster for a school full of teenagers, could you?

The last she heard of Ozpin, his trail of petty (and not so petty) crime shad finally caught up to him. With several hundred charges of grand theft auto, robbery, lying to authorities, child endangerment, tax evasion and money laundering on top of other things, the dimwitted but devious man was currently spending the rest of his time up in Atlas as General Ironwood's personal butler.

Yang had no idea what Jaune and Pyrrha were up to. After their last year, the two had parted ways, to the astonishment of many. A difference in what they wanted with their lives: Jaune wanted to settle down, Pyrrha wanted to continue with a life of adventure. It was mutual, and heartbreaking. Everyone close to them was hurt almost as much as the two of them.

At least Nora and Ren had made it out together. Being side by side for most of their life had sealed them as a couple for life.

As for everyone else – Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, Roman, Neo, Penny, Velvet – nothing. They were out of her life completely, any of them likely halfway across the world from her.

Quietly, Yang lifted herself up from the couch and turned off the TV. She picked up the black lighter on the coffee table, pulling two cigarette from her carton. After lighting the tobacco up, she walked over to the clear sliding doors and stepped outside into the cold, damp night air. A gentle breeze blew over her exposed skin, her tank top and pajama shorts not the most ideal outfit for standing outside in a rainstorm. But it felt relieving, letting the shivering feeling wash over her. She'd get used to it.

At first, she cupped her singed cigarette in her hand, but soon realized the wind had died down enough that it wouldn't blow out. Ruby always told her to stop smoking, that she would regret it one day. Just thinking about how much her sister worried about her little bad habit made her smile, a single tear dripping from her eye as she thought about how long it had been since she had last seen her face to face.

The blonde took another puff as she gazed at the street below, a single car passing by. It honked at someone trying to run across the street in front of them, and the sudden noise echoed through the small room behind her. Yang heard Gray let out a yelp, grunting and shuffling to his feet.

"The heck was that?" Gray mumbled, still half asleep as he adjusted his mask to his face, "I was having the best dream…"

Yang took a step aside as the big guy joined her on the balcony. "The one about the nude beach again?"

"Nah. The nightclub this time. I can still feel the glitter on my nips."

Yang chuckled. "Never change on me, you fabulous bastard."

"Pinky promise, girlfriend."

The silence between them was filled by the pitter-patter of drops on the canvas above them. Gray rested his elbows on the metal railing beside Yang, watching as she flicked her cigarette to the street below. "He'll be back in a few weeks, Yang. Get some rest."

"Its not why I'm up."

"Trying to catch a cold on purpose, then?"

"No. Not that."

Yang extended her hand out into the rain, letting the water fall into her palm. It was warm, and tickled. But familiar. It felt the same way it always had.

She enjoyed this little consistency. There wasn't much of that left anymore.

"Don't you ever just look back on everything and just wonder? How'd we get to this point, how many people we meet truly change our lives for the better, only to be out of them so quickly?"

Gray looked at her from behind his mask. "I guess so. I mean, I don't really think about it a lot. But I get what you're saying."

"If you asked me where I saw myself ten years ago, when we were all still living in Ozpin's penthouse, I'd say I couldn't see myself living a life without any of those people not being a part of it. We were all so close, you know?"

"We still keep in contact some of them, Yang."

"It's not the same. It won't ever be the same. There's days where I wish I could go back to that. Just a simple life, with adventure and fun, and no care in the world. Like Ruby's having right now with Weiss. And I'm here, with a husband living that life I dreamed of while I'm watching over Aurora day after day… Not that I'd give her up for anything. I love her more than the world itself. I'd take being a mother over being a Huntress any day."

Gray nodded solemnly. "That's life. It never goes the way you want it to. Hey, just look at me. I'm living with the woman, my best gal pal who married my first and only love who is still my best bro. I'm so dependent on you two's company I just can't leave your side. You two are all I have left."

Yang smiled softly. "And I thought I was depressing."

"You're not. You're just missing the possibilities of what could have happened. Everyone thinks like that. But that's no reason to hate the present you're living in now. Nobody ever has the perfect life story, as much as they'd like to imagine they could."

The two stood quietly together, watching as the last light across from them went out. The only light came from the moon, barely peeking through the cloudy night sky above.

"I don't regret any of the choices I made, Gray," Yang said, resting her chin on her hands, "I'm happy where I am now. I just feel… older. A lot older than I want to feel."

"Oh, come on. You're not even past thirty like I am yet."

"I'm 27. Close enough."

"At least you still look good. This beer gut has been messing up my wardrobe for months now!"

"That is true…" the blonde smirked, her eyes trailing back to the sky. The dreariness had a beauty to it she had only started to appreciate recently. She wanted to savor it just a bit longer. "Go back to sleep, Gray. I'll be back inside soon."

The Faunus sighed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't fall asleep out here again."

"I won't. I've got one more cigarette to burn up."

"Good night, Yang."

The door slid shut, and Yang watched her roommate plop back down in his recliner. Soon enough, she could hear him snoring again as the rain finally stopped.

Yang slid her body down the railing until she was sitting on the balcony's damp wooden floor. The cigarette burned down in her fingers as she brought it to her lips, her breath longing on the sharp smoky taste.

Another familiar, warm feeling.

She'd take any she could get.

The End.