Behold! A new one-shot!

I kinda forget what my inspiration for writing this was. Inspiration flickers on and off in my head like a light switch. Enjoy it anyway!

There wasn't much you could do to shock someone like Yang Xiao Long. But if there were two things Jaune excelled at, it was putting his foot in his mouth and making others feel awkward. In this case, he had managed to do both.

"Jaune?"

He had been staring at her like a deer caught in the headlights when the words left his mouth. He froze as the weight of what he asked crushed him. It was only her voice that made him snap out of his self-induced trance and turn in away in embarrassment and shame.

"F-Forget it. It was dumb of me to ask." He couldn't even look at her anymore. How could he when he just offered to… he wanted to smack his stupid head against a wall until he was as brain-dead as his words.

What the hell was he thinking asking her that? Was he trying to open up old wounds, or was he really just that stupid? It was amazing how Yang wasn't pulverising him with her prosthetic right now for his idiocy. He wouldn't try to fight back. He deserved it.

He just had to get cocky, didn't he? He had his shiny new semblance now, and he thought he was a miracle worker. He had brought back Weiss from the brink of death a few days ago, so he should be able to do anything, right? He could fix anything with a snap of his fingers, right?

Idiot. Fucking idiot.

He could feel Yang's cybernetic arm hold his shoulder, the metal exuding a strangely warm and comforting heat. He turned around and saw her giving him a gentle smile.

"I'm not angry if that's what you're worried about," she assured him. It was a kind gesture, one that he didn't deserve.

"You should be," he muttered. It was such an insensitive thing to ask. Yang had undoubtedly struggled for months over the loss of her arm, and judging from how she trembled at times, it was clear she still wasn't over it. She put on a brave face, but deep down they all knew she was fighting her own war on the inside.

Way to remind her that things were hard for her, Jaune. What he had suggested was basically a spit in the face at all her efforts to recover.

"But I'm not," she insisted. "I'm not even annoyed. Come on, don't give me that look." She ended the last part with a laugh and a playful punch to his arm.

"I was a dick," he murmured. Her carefree attitude did little to cheer him up. Not that he should be feeling happy anyway.

Her laughter stopped and her expression softened. "No, you weren't," she said gently. It was unusual to hear her so soft-spoken. "I get it, Jaune. You were just trying to help. I'm not gonna get mad at you for that."

Oh great, now he was the one being comforted. This was a disaster. It was just his luck that he'd be the guy needing support when he was offering help. It wasn't like he hadn't planned things out beforehand - he was gonna find a private moment between them, and then as casually as he could… offer to use his semblance on her.

What was the old saying? If it ain't broke, don't fix it? Well, Yang Xiao Long was far from broken.

"I wasn't trying to undermine you or anything," he said. "I just… look, things have been hard for all of us, Yang. You especially. I just thought… maybe I could-"

She stopped his stammering by placing one of her metal digits on his lips.

"I said, I get it, Jaune." A very Yang-like smirk was on her face when she addressed him. She pulled the finger away when he stopped trying to explain himself. "It was sweet of you to offer, honestly. You're not a bad guy for trying to give me a helping hand..." She blinked at what she had just said and laughed. "I swear, that one was unintentional."

He had to laugh at the accidental pun, even if it was a shallow reminder of what he had suggested. "So, you're definitely not mad then?"

"Hell no, I ain't mad, you idiot," she chuckled, suddenly pulling him into a headlock and giving him a noogie with her cybernetic arm. Jaune swore he could feel himself losing IQ points as the metal knuckles dug into his skull. The only thing more painful than an angry Yang was a happy Yang.

"Alright, I get it," he yelped, pulling himself free from her grasp. She laughed as he rubbed his head in discomfort. His hair probably looked more dishevelled than what it already was.

"Then stop beating yourself up over it," she giggled. When her laughter died down, a sudden thoughtful expression formed on her face. She looked down at her prosthetic for a moment with a hard gaze. It was hard to tell what she was thinking behind those lilac eyes.

"Yang?"

She blinked at the sound of her name. "Oh, sorry, I kinda blanked on you there," she mumbled. Jaune frowned at her demeanour. She had gone from playful to serious in a matter of moments. It was worrying.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked her gently. "Look, if this is about what I said-"

"No, no, it's not that. Well, it kinda is, but-" She paused when she realised she was yammering and sighed. "To be honest, I've been kinda thinking the same thing myself."

Jaune's eyes widened. Was she being serious? All of a sudden, his offer didn't seem too foolish. He still kept silent before he could say anything stupid.

"Don't look so surprised," she said. "We all saw what you did for Weiss. She should've died, but when you were done there wasn't even a scratch on her. It makes you wonder what else you could heal with that semblance of yours."

Yang started flexing the fingers on her prosthetic. The way she was staring at it made Jaune feel uneasy. Yang was usually proud of her new arm, treating it more like a fashion statement than a means to help her. It had already proven itself capable in a fight, perhaps even more so than her old arm.

Yet the way she was staring at it now… he wouldn't say she was disappointed with it, but there seemed to be a sense of longing in her eyes. The way she twisted her robotic hand and inspected the fingers made it seem like she was looking for something. Something lost. Watching her made him bury his own right hand in his pocket and out of sight.

"I was seriously thinking about going to you about it," she continued, still inspecting her arm. "If you could patch Weiss up from something like that, maybe you could bring it back. Never asked in the end though, obviously."

"Why didn't you?" he asked her. It went without saying that he would've helped her without hesitation. He liked to think she knew this.

"Why, huh?" She looked at him with a sad smile on her face. "Two reasons, I guess. First of all… well, let's not kid ourselves here."

A whirring noise came from her prosthetic, and it popped off the stump on her right shoulder. She caught it before it could hit the ground, and gestured to the empty space of her right sleeve.

"The arm's gone," she stated. "You're great at closing wounds, but I dunno if you can regrow severed limbs. Especially ones that have been gone for a while now. Didn't wanna get my hopes up and ask you for something you wouldn't be able to do. Sadly, some things are a little too good to be true."

He could feel his face burning up from shame. He hadn't even considered that before he asked her. Imagine if she accepted his offer, got all excited at the thought of a new arm, only to have that hope dashed when he realised he couldn't do the job. He didn't want to think about it - her disappointed look would haunt him.

"I should have thought about that before," he growled, staring a the ground pathetically. He only looked up again when she tilted his chin upwards.

"Hey, come on now, I already said we thought the same thing," she smiled. "I also didn't want to give you the pressure of trying to regrow an arm. You just got your semblance and are still figuring it out. Throwing a job like that your way would just be overworking you. It would've been bad for both of us."

Limits… it was something he hadn't really considered with his semblance. He'd be lying if he didn't think having such a power made him feel like he could fix anything. There was still no telling what he was truly capable of, but if there were limits, he would break them. For the sake of his friends and all those counting on him.

No one else would suffer with him around.

"Second reason is kind of a weird one. Try to bear with me as I try explaining myself." She paused to think about her words. "I've been doing some thinking. Even if your semblance was crazy enough to regrow my arm… I wouldn't want you to do it."

For the second time today, Jaune froze from shock.

"But it's your arm," he gasped. "Don't you want it back?" Didn't she just admit that they both had the same idea? So why was she saying this all of a sudden?

"I mean, I'd like to have it back," she said, looking down at her arm again. "But the more I think about it, I realise it'd probably be a bad idea having it again. And not just because it took a while getting used to the new one."

She walked towards a table and gently placed her prosthetic on it. Up close, Jaune could see how impressive it looked - perfectly crafted to resemble a normal arm and equipped with an inbuilt shotgun. Everything was accounted for to suit its user. Whoever designed it did an excellent job.

"I used to hate this thing," she said. Her voice sounded sad as she admitted her past feelings. "Every time I looked at it, it was a reminder of what happened. Of what I had lost." She looked at her right sleeve and visibly shuddered. "Getting this new one felt like life's way of telling me that I screwed up. I couldn't stand the sight of it."

It was hard to imagine that now. These days, Yang wore the arm with pride and even bragged about how amazing it was. Nora had gone on to say she wanted a prosthetic herself. He and Ren were - understandably so - not too keen on her chopping off body parts just to get a power boost.

"So what changed?" he asked.

"Me. I changed." To prove her point, she attached the arm back onto herself. "I was running myself into a muck with my original attitude. These days, whilst my arm still reminds me of what happened, it doesn't feel like a punishment anymore. Now it's a lesson - a lesson that I can't be so reckless anymore in my fighting style."

A lesson she seemed to have taken to heart. From what he had seen of her, Yang was more careful with her attacks. She wasn't charging wildly into battle like what she used to. She still fought with the same amount of spirit as always, though. He was glad to see some things never changed.

"As much as it sucks getting your arm cut off, I got lucky," she went on. "At least that prick Adam only went for the arm. He could've easily gone for my neck…" Another shudder passed through her. "Those guys in Atlas are good, but I don't think they make replacement heads."

Yang's eyes appeared vacant as she recalled the memory and what could have been. Yet another example of her not truly over her encounter. He recognised that look. He had seen it in the eyes of other survivors of the Fall of Beacon. He had seen it in Ren, Nora, and sometimes even Ruby as they recalled what happened. He was certain he had looked that way too at times.

Seeing her looking vulnerable, Jaune attempted to ease the tension the only way he knew how - by saying something stupid.

"I guess it could be worse," he began, praying her sense of humour was still intact. "At least you wouldn't make as many terrible puns."

Yang's head whipped around, lilac eyes wide with shock. "What?"

"Think about it. You don't think a bunch of scientists are gonna give Robo-Yang a pun feature, do you? That's just bad engineering. You'd drive everyone in the lab crazy."

There were two ways this could go down: she would either go along with the joke or beat him to a pulp for saying that. He'd been expecting a punch from her earlier anyway, so he was prepared for one if she did decide to hit him. He just hoped she used her human fist.

Yang looked stunned for a moment before he saw the corners of her lips twitch. To his relief, that twitch became a grin from his stupid joke. She remained smiling even when she raised her prosthetic arm with the gun aimed at his face.

"I'll have you know that 'Robo-Yang' already exists," she said cheekily, "and she doesn't appreciate her jokes being slandered. It makes her wanna overthrow some humans."

The merry glint in her eyes told him she was joking too. Just as well, cause that gun looked pretty powerful up close. With her already effective fighting style, combined with her new arm and semblance, Yang was pretty overkill.

Jaune raised his hands in mock surrender. "In my defence, that joke was just as bad as the ones you come out with."

"I'm about to shoot a hole in your defence if you keep this up," Yang winked. Her gun made a little whirring noise to prove her point.

She held it to his face for a little while, before finally making it retract back into her arm. They both laughed at the silly stand-off they had found themselves in. It was great to see Yang in good spirits again. Seeing her as anything but upbeat and positive didn't sit right with him.

After a few moments, their laughter finally died down. Jaune looked down at Yang's prosthetic again. "So, that's why you wanna keep it? Because it reminds you not to be so reckless?"

"Pretty much, amongst other things," she said. "I've gotta be ready to change if I wanna learn from my mistakes. This thing helps with that. If I were to just have my old arm back, I'd probably be in danger of slipping into my old ways. Especially if you could just heal me in an instant. I won't let that happen. This arm is now a part of me just as my old mistakes are. Making them disappear won't help anyone."

He nodded. "I take it that's a 'no' to my offer then?" He already knew the answer, but he felt compelled to repeat it.

Just as he predicted, Yang nodded in confirmation. "It was really thoughtful of you to ask," she said, examining the arm herself. She flexed the fingers again as she stretched it outwards. "But yeah, I'm gonna have to pass. What happened is something I don't think anyone can change. This feels like something only time can heal."

Yang Xiao Long - ever set in her ways. The girl could lose a limb and was still able to get back on her feet and fight. He hoped he could achieve the same level of strength one day.

He nodded. That was all the assurance he needed. Offering his help was the whole reason he sought her out. As far as he was concerned, their business was done.

"Fair enough, just thought I should ask," he chuckled, already starting to turn away. "Anyway, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna check up on everyone else. Ruby's probably got a papercut or something that she wants me to heal."

He was nearly out of the room when Yang called him back. He turned around and saw Yang with a soft smile on her face. A certain change from her earlier playful attitude, but not an unpleasant one. He wasn't sure what to expect.

"I'm serious, you know," she said warmly. "That was a really nice thing to offer. Thank you, Jaune."

He shrugged and smiled back. "It's the least I could do," he said. "I know what it's like to lose something precious to you."

A lump suddenly formed in his throat. His expression wavered as memories came flooding back to him. He looked down at the ground, unable to meet Yang's startled expression. Emotions hit him like a truck as recent events flashed before him.

A sleepless night, filled with shouting and crying.

Days spent blaming himself.

Possibilities of what could have been.

It had been a while since he had felt such a reaction. To think it had been a year since the fall. Time had passed quickly and yet so slowly at the same time. He sometimes dreamed about it at night, though he was hesitant to call them dreams or even nightmares. From how accurate they were, it was like he was actually watching footage from the attack. Some events would change, some people would say different things, but the outcome was always the same.

The pain, however. The pain was always the same - that same piercing ache in his heart that made every step exhausting. He was getting tired. Going back to bed was the thing he looked forward to the most some days. He had thought he was strong enough now to deal with it.

He was wrong.

"I know what it's like," he mumbled again, still looking down at the floor. Already he could feel his eyelids begin to feel heavy, his body losing all of its energy. Misery was the worst kind of exhaustion. He could hear his bed calling to him already. It wasn't even noon.

He didn't want Yang to see him like this. He turned to leave but was stopped when he felt her grab his arm. He turned back and saw her looking at him sympathetically. Her hold on him wasn't strong, indeed he felt like he could slip away any moment. But it was the look she was giving him that compelled him to stay.

"I first heard about it on the news," she said quietly. "I was gonna ask you, Ren and Nora how you were coping, but I didn't know how to approach it. You weren't the only one afraid of making things worse."

A weak laugh escaped him. It was hardly old. She couldn't cause him any more pain than what he was already feeling. He thought he was getting better at coping until she showed up again. Then all of his grief and misery manifested and moulded into a burning flame of hatred. And when the flame finally faded, all that was left was the cold pain from before.

"Listen, Jaune. I may not have a fancy healing semblance like you," Yang began, suddenly spreading her arms out. "But I do know how to give a pretty mean hug. I promise it works just as well."

A hug? Huh. It had been a while since he had one of those. That was the same comfort method his sisters gave him when he was feeling down. Being an older sister herself, Yang probably knew what she was talking about.

Ah, what the hell? It couldn't hurt.

Slowly shuffling towards her, Jaune awkwardly slipped into her embrace. Her human arm held his back whilst her cybernetic hand gently rubbed the back of his head. His arms felt floppy and he was worried he wouldn't be able to return it. For a moment he just stood there, almost as stiff as a statue.

And then memories flashed before him again. Memories of Pyrrha, those sleepless nights, those agonisingly long waking hours. They appeared only for a moment, but that was all it took.

Wrapping his arms tight around her, he buried his face in her shoulder. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried desperately not to cry. Yang's new coat was impressive, he didn't want to stain it with his tears. He tried controlling himself, but the more he remembered, the tighter he held her.

Yang weathered it, still stroking his head gently. "That's right. Let it out, doc," she said softly. He couldn't tell if she was activating her semblance or not, but she was suddenly the warmest thing in the room. It had been so long since he felt this safe and secure. He almost didn't want to let go.

She was right. This was exactly he needed.

Eventually, his grip loosened and he stood weakly with his head resting on her shoulder. Her arms were still wrapped around him, which he was grateful for. Even if he no longer had the energy to keep this up, he still didn't want this to end.

"I wanted to kill her," he mumbled. The foul memory of Cinder Fall burned in his mind like a brand of shame. "I still want to for what she did to Pyrrha."

"I know," she whispered.

"... I don't think I will."

"I know," she repeated with a sigh. "I used to feel the same way about Adam. I still wanna kick his ass for what he did to me, but kill him?" She shook her head. "We're not like them, Jaune. We're good people. We're not gonna sink to their level."

He didn't think he would. But it was tempting, and it would be what they deserved. He didn't know if he could live with any more blood on his hands though, and Pyrrha likely wouldn't approve. She would never want him killing someone for her sake. Justice and revenge were not the same thing.

"You know that thing you were saying?" he asked her. "About you needing to let time heal you?" He chuckled lightly. "I think I'm gonna need to join you on that one."

She laughed and patted his back. "Waiting sucks," she said, "and you know me - I'm not a patient girl. But time is honestly the best healer." She gently tightened her hold on him. "Next to you, of course."

"At least I'm quicker," he chuckled, returning the hug again. To be honest, he wasn't much of a patient person either. If he wanted something he'd do everything in his power to get it, rather than just sit around and wait for life to happen. Recent events hadn't helped, thinning his patience to the point where you could floss your teeth with it.

But unfortunately for him, he didn't have a whole lot of options. He wasn't about to go off on some kind of crazy warpath like an idiot. He trusted Yang's judgement, and if she could force herself to take things slow and steady, then so could he. He had to for the sake of himself and his friends.

He just hoped it worked. He wanted results now rather than later. What if it didn't work? What if he was stuck feeling like this forever? He knew the pain of Pyrrha's loss would always stay with him, but he hoped it would get a little easier.

He had to have faith. In the end, as much as it pained him to admit, only time would tell.

He wanted to groan.

I do wonder what Volume 6 has in store for Jaune and his semblance. I'm at least hoping Weiss thanks him for saving her life. Only time will tell.

Groan.