So, I wanted to try and make this one early and put my best into it. I hope you enjoyed it, comment what you think, it really helps me out, offer suggestions if you want, and I'll see what I can do. Next up is Whiterose after this. Stay tuned!

Silence. Complete and utter silence. There was nothing but darkness around Blake, the cold nip in the air chilling her right to the spine. The silence was so prevalent that the only sound was the blood rushing through her head, rapid heartbeat, and the raspy, desperate breaths of fear. There was no taste or smell, something that completely irritated every animal instinct instilled by her faunus heritage. The near complete sensory deprivation crushed Blake's mind like a weight, restricting her breathing like a clawed angry hand was clutching her throat even when there was nothing there.

Suddenly, there was a rhythmic tapping behind her. Footsteps of a very well made, yet very worn shoe that made quite a little click with each step. A drop of sweat trailed down her face, eyes wide in terror. She remembered that sound because she bought those shoes with little scraps of lien pieced around here and there for the person she thought she loved. Move. She had to move now, before he caught her. Before she could even take a step, all of the power in his limbs had drained, growing stiff, contained in the shadows around her. Not even words could come out. It was too late. A large hand brushed against her bare stomach, making her breath roughly hitch in horror.

"After all this time, you still refuse to open your eyes and see, Blake." The raspy, bordering sensual voice said. It was brimming with power, the tones almost forcefully pulling the wool over her eyes, laced with a heavy amount of trickery. That was the voice of Adam Taurus. "You spend so much of your time running. If not from what you should be doing, then the people who hold you under their care. Do you even know what you're running away from anymore?"

Blake struggled, completely immobilized in the shadows, as if they were constricting every bone, every muscle in her body. She wanted to open her mouth and scream that she wanted nothing more than to run from him, but it was for naught.

"Exactly. You don't even know. You just run and run and run, like a rat in this giant maze we call life. You just scurry around without a goal other than avoiding the problems you want to face. You're weak. A coward, right to your last breath." Each worried hammered nails into Blake's heart. There was no aggressive tone. It sounded so sure, so certain that this was fact, that even she started to believe it. The spark of charisma always pasted in it didn't help either. "And sorry Blake. Cowards lose everything."

All of a sudden, all of her breath seized up entirely. Adam's gloved hand curled deliberately slowly around her neck, almost taunting how helpless she was, and gripped hard. Blake's eyes nearly bulged out of her head, gasping and choking. The darkness suddenly grew heavy and hot, swelteringly so. A crippling weight pressed down from all sides as the shadows closed in. Just end. Just end already. She found herself begging for it to just stop. Suddenly, something jerked at her shoulder hard, forcing her eyes open again.

In an instant, light flooded the room, almost blinding her. In an instant, the years of mental fortitude training kicked in, taking deep breaths, taking in every sense little by little to make sure this was real. Analyze the facts. She was in her room in Haven, safe and sound. No darkness, no sudden chill, no… Adam.

Covered in sweat, tears bordering in Blake's eyes, she slowly rolled over, where she saw Yang, looking very concerned, gently holding her shoulder. She couldn't help but let out an uneasy chuckle. "How loud was I?"

"I think you woke up the neighbors. As well as the entirety of Haven, Blakey." Yang answered, holding her hand. A little smile inched onto Blake's face. Such a gentle warmth. It made her feel so safe. "Are you okay? That screaming nearly tore my heart out there."

"Sorry. It was nothing." Blake abruptly said. "It's gotta be what, five in the morning? I could use some more sleep. You could use some too, Yang. We need our rest for our trip."

"Blaaaaake." Yang drawled, looking at her with a rather bored expression. "I'm smarter than that."

Blake sighed. Of course she wasn't. "It's just… Adam."

The name itself was enough to make Yang tense up, her robot arm trembling, eyebrows knit in a mix of concern, fear, and anger. There was even some pain in there, like the arm was freshly being cut off again. Blake flinched. That was the price to pay for bringing Yang into this. It was such a miracle that Yang decided to take a chance and forgive her.

After a tense silence, Yang sighed, staring outside the window wistfully. "It's alright, Blake. I wish I could say that he's not here right now, and he can't hurt you, but honestly, I'd be spitting fire out of my ass on that one. He's kinda always with us." All the while, Yang twirled her robotic finger in her hair, damn near the point of tugging at it. "Alright, enough of that. You need a snack. Some damn good pizza will stink the Adam out of your head. I mean, it did mine."

Blake gave Yang a sideways glance. "Since when were nightmares chased away by pizza?"

"Since I left it in the fridge for over a month back home and decided that was the best time to chow down on it." Yang shuddered, staring off like she was having some stomach-induced PTSD flashbacks. "I didn't have time to think about Adam. But I did have a terrifying crisis during that mess. Innocent little me was just staring at the bathroom door and just thinking… shit, I'm actually going to die on that toilet. What would dad say?"

Before Blake knew it, she had burst out laughing, already feeling the lingering effects of the nightmare start to go away. "Yang, take your food seriously. It'll be the death of you if you don't."

"You're telling me. I guess I've got quite a crappy sense of taste. Eh?" Yang joked, tossing out one of her signature fingerbangs.

Blake groaned.

"Blake, you've gotta admit, that was funny! Don't be a party pooper! Eh?"

Blake groaned louder.

"Or was that too low class for a warrior princess like you? Maybe I should come back when you're feline better! Eh?"

"I am an inch away from finding the nearest tree branch, and hanging myself with Gambol Shroud." Blake said in a low tone.

"Well now, Blake, you're definitely bringing a bit more to the conversation. I should probably just throw this out there, when I mentioned we'd be hanging out, that's not what I meant… Eh? Eeeh?" Yang punned once more.

"Oh gods, please make it stop." Blake moaned, hiding her head under her pillow. "I will get on my hands and knees and pray if I have to."

Yang suddenly grinned, eyeing Blake like a prey in her sights. "Well, I'll consider stopping if I can take you downstairs for a bit of an early morning snack. I mean, it's very early, and surprisingly, no one else is awake."

"Thanks, but no tha-anks!" Blake's voice cracked, thoroughly embarrassed, as Yang slung the poor faunus over her shoulder like a sack of the most adorable potatoes you've ever seen. The brawler knew Blake's one weakness. Manhandling. Oh what a cruel world. "Yang! Yang, this isn't cool! Put me down, put me down!" Blake squeaked, squirming and clawing at Yang's top.

"Oh no you don't, Blakey. You're gonna eat something nice, then you'll go back to sleep. That's how early morning snacks work." Yang chirped, walking out of the room callously slowly, and into the kitchen. "Ya gotta eat right to be right, got it?" She turned and plopped Blake, rear first, into one of the kitchen stools, grinning rather sweetly. "It's a free meal. You're really gonna start refusing free food now? Something tells me that you're not making the meow-st of it!"

"Ah, no more! No more puns!" Blake whined. "I'll eat, alright? Just please stop tossing out puns. My poor head can only take so much."

Yang turned around, working tirelessly on food that it seemed she had already begun preparing. Something told Blake she had been planning this. Thinking about it now, it was odd. Blake had never seen Yang cook before. Their journeys to the kitchen always involved getting the standard issue food, which was good enough on its own. They even offered dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets. The rate of which Jaune and Ruby devoured them was awe-inspiring. They were a living plague on the poor hapless fools that were the chickens. Even so, none of them had cooked in front of each other before yet. Ruby baked, but that was about it. Blake was almost at the edge of her seat, curious.

Smoke. That was not a good sign. The room was starting to reek of it now, Yang frantically whipping around the frying pan, as if trying to fight for control. Blake cleared her throat, almost entertained by Yang's little struggle. "Uh, Yang? Are you okay?"

"Yeah! Perfect! All under control! Nothing to worry about here!" Yang urgently wheezed, probably getting affected by the smoke. "You do something with your hair? It looks good! Bed Head really suits you… c'mon, cool down, cool down, cool- holy shit!" A plume of fire burst out of the frying pan, nearly scorching the eyebrows right off of her face. The fire died down nearly instantly, leaving the charred remains of whatever poor victim that suffered under Yang's poor culinary skills. Sweating nervously, Yang put whatever that was on a plate, and slid it under Blake's nose. "Um… tada."

Blake blinked, eyes wide of seeing that… thing. "If you don't mind me asking, what's this supposed to be? And… why is it looking at me?"

Yang sighed. "It was supposed to be tuna. Sun caught some and gave it to me to give to you. Pretty damn good guy, I have to admit."

The charcoal stick with eyes deserved a better fate than what it got. The poor fish. "Thanks for the gesture, Yang, but I think I could've dropped it in a volcano, and it would've burned less. And not to mention the smell- Yang, it blinked. It freaking blinked!" Blake nearly topped the stool, trying to back far away from that thing. Yang nearly screamed her head off as she saw it too. One good smack from the brawler shattered the plate, sending the remains of that somehow-still-alive fish crashing through the window.

Now that was a crisis none would expect this early in the morning. Both of the huntresses eyes met, lighting up little by little, on the verge of just breaking down laughing. It felt so natural being around each other, hearts racing just at the sight of lilac meeting gold. As the feelings of love and care began surfacing again, so did some guilt, almost like Blake didn't deserve to see Yang so loving and open. Perceptive as ever, Yang closed the distance between the two, wrapping Blake in a firm hug. The warmth was immense, easing Blake's spirit almost instantly. Blake coiled her arms around Yang's waist as best she could, resting her cheek on Yang's shoulder.

"Yang, I do have a question." Blake hummed, nuzzling her face deeper into Yang's neck.

"Shoot." Yang cooed back.

"Why are you awake so early?"

Yang pulled back slowly, her warmth going along with it. Blake nearly moaned in anguish, wanting it back. "You want the honest answer?" Once again, her robotic right arm was trembling. She had to hold it gently to calm it down. "You're not the only one trying to forget about him."

Blake's hand met Yang's cheek, caressing it gently. "Please, Yang. It's only me here. You don't need to be afraid."

"That's exactly why I shouldn't be afraid. You're here. I'm supposed to be this teams big sis. The strongest of the lot, the protector. I take care of you all because that's what I do, and what I want. Suddenly, big, bad, bull-boy comes in and… suddenly I'm not strong anymore." Yang shuddered, thinking about it. "I look at this arm and think of him, and when I do, I just feel helpless. It gets a little hard to sleep at night knowing that someone much stronger than you is gunning for everyone you love."

Truer words could never have been said. Those thoughts cross by Blake's mind day by day. It almost made her debate whether leaving the White Fang was even a good idea. Then the people around her would never have to suffer. That robotic arm that was forced on Yang. She didn't deserve something like that. A little tear crept once again into Blake's eye. There was nothing that could be done to reverse what had already been done. The past couldn't be changed with a snap of her fingers. What's done is done. But why did things have to be so cruel?

The melancholy had nearly completely set in until Yang smiled again, surpringsing Blake. "Hoo boy, that was relieving. You had no idea how long I was holding that in. It's like that one far you don't wanna let out in an elevator." she laughed at Blake's surprise, rubbing her cat ears. Any offense was instantly whisked away as Blake outright purred shamelessly under Yang's warm hand. "It's nice to have someone to talk to about that stuff. Thanks, sweetie."

Blake was taken aback, tears flowing down her cheeks, completely forgotten. "Yang, what is the matter with you? Any sane woman would've left me for dead by now."

Yang shrugged. "Who the hell told you I was sane? I've lived years under a Xiao-Long household, and I'm pretty sure my clumsy dad dropped me on ma' noggin a few times. What, you expected to spear you, gut you and turn you into some damn good shoes?" She snickered.

"Well, something like that. I just feel like I caused this. All of this." Blake somberly looked away, feeling a little unworthy to look at her. A woman she loved so dear. "I left you after all. All of you. I'm not worth the trouble."

"Blakey, Blakey, Blakey, you've got a lot to learn about us still." Yang drolly said, shaking her head. "You know, I'll be honest, when you left, that killed me inside. I hated you, but I kinda realized a few things along the way, especially when you brought an army to our door to save us. I have to appreciate everyone I have around me, even when they've done themselves wrong. And to be honest, I love you too much just to let you go like that." and just like that, Blake kissed Yang hard, tugging the blonde brawler towards her. Right at that moment, she felt safe, pure, and most importantly, loved. The two embrace each other longer before breaking away, smiles stupidly plastered on their faces. "Got the answer you were looking for?"

"Yeah, for the most part." Blake said with a yawn. "I think I could use a bit more sleep." she gestured to her bed with a smile. "Do you mind? I would try on my own, but… I don't really like being on meown."

Yang's face lit up like a Christmas Tree. "You said a pun! Yes! I knew you were the one!" With that, the two slipped into bed, completely in bliss in each others arms, sleep finally taking them. They didn't even wake Ruby screeched in the kitchen.

"Gah! It blinked! It bliiiiinked!"