No Pov
Y/N had been called back to Ironwood after dealing with a few more Grimm. It was late afternoon.
Y/N: "What do you want?"
Ironwood: "You have done enough. You asked for our help, so here we are. You should take some time away from the front."
Y/N: "What is with you people? I can still help."
Ironwood: "And you could help more effectively if you would stop and maybe clean yourself up." He looked at his jacket which had several holes in it.
Y/N: "No, I'll just be wasting time. I can still fight. Besides, until Beacon is fully open again, I have nowhere to go."
Ironwood: "I am leading this effort right now, and I order you to get some rest. I can set you up with somewhere to stay until the school is stable."
Y/N: "Well, thank you for your time, general. I'll get back where I can help." He stormed out. Ironwood knew from how Ozpin spoke of this boy that there was no point in arguing with him.
He was selfless to a fault, never even giving his own life or health any consideration. He was also the most stubborn person Ironwood had met, which was really saying something. He would go until his body failed him, if even that could stop him. Ironwood sighed, and got back to his work of coordinating the cleanup.
Ruby's Pov
Wiess had gone back to Atlas by request of her father, and Blake and Yang were still in the hospital recovering. Thankfully, I was still around and able to fight. I still was wondering what happened when I saw Yang on the ground, but I couldn't even remember it well enough.
I got to a temporary base that had been set up and saw Y/N getting on a bullhead. I asked what was happening, and he said that they were going to the front, and I could join in if I wanted. I noticed his eyes looked dark, and he looked like he came out of a warzone (which I guess he had).
Ruby: "Are you ok? You look like you haven't slept since I left."
Y/N: "I stayed to help."
Ruby: "Why? They had it under control."
Y/N: "Because I could still fight and I figured they would benefit from having someone from Vale around just to tell them where the more important choke points were."
Ruby: "So you haven't had a break since all this started?"
Y/N: "I haven't. I don't need to right now."
Ruby: "Fine."
Y/N: "How is your team doing?"
Ruby: "Wiess had to go, and Blake and Yang are still recovering. Blake said she would probably go home after she could move again. Yang seemed... Not herself. She wasn't acting crazy at all. She was almost reminding me of you."
Y/N: "What happened to her?"
Ruby: "Her arm got cut off by some White Fang guy. When I saw it, I don't know what happened, but I saw him run away and he looked like he was burned or something." Y/N looked like he was going to say something, but stopped himself. I noticed Ozpin's cane still on his belt. "What are you going to do with that?"
Y/N: "Keep it until we figure out what to do with it."
Ruby: "I'm so sorry about him. If you need anything, I'm here."
Y/N: "For now we need to focus on cleaning up this mess."
Ruby: "Sure. I came back to help." We were out there for a few hours just killing whatever Grimm we came across. We went back, rested, and kept going. I decided to stay a few days. I didn't want Y/N to get in trouble because no one was watching his back. Each day it was the same thing.
Timeskip
We were assigned to guard some workers helping clean up Beacon. It had been a few months, but things were still going. Vale had been mostly cleaned up and people were moving back in. Yang had gotten a robot arm, but she didn't want to put it on. I was really starting to worry about her. I left telling her that we all missed her, and that she wasn't acting right. I hoped she would get better soon. We all needed her.
Y/N and I arrived where we were supposed to be. We got out and looked around, mostly just patrolling. Eventually he walked by where Yang had gotten her arm cut off and tripped over something.
Y/N: "Ruby! Get over here!" He bent down to look. It looked like a bone. He dug around it, not knowing what I was thinking. He eventually froze in place. I saw a glint of yellow buried in the rubble. He reached down, and pulled out Yang's right gauntlet. "...What should we do with it? Would she want it back?"
Ruby: "I don't know. Just hold onto it for now." We did our job there, which turned out to be pretty boring. No Grimm came at us. Eventually we went back. Then the issue of Yang's gauntlet came up again. "Why don't you take it back? It would be a quick break and you would be back here faster than actually going on leave for a while. And it would get Ironwood off your back."
I knew that last part would have some appeal to him. Ironwood had been telling him every chance he got that Y/N needed to rest, to which Y/N would reply with increasingly hostile and colorful language. This would be a good chance for him to get Ironwood to shut up.
Y/N: "Why don't you do it? She's your sister."
Ruby: "Because maybe if she thinks I'm not the only one that misses her, she might actually try to get back to normal."
Y/N: "I'm not the best person to help someone with emotional problems."
Ruby: "You don't have to directly. Just go to our house and give that to her."
Y/N: "Fine. I'll be gone about a day then. Hopefully less, but your home is pretty far." He left to head there. I hoped he would be gone longer. Yang needed to see someone. Maybe her old crush would help.
Y/N's Pov
I didn't plan to be there long. My plan was to just go there, hand over the gauntlet, and leave. I hoped I could hold in my feelings for Yang long enough. The best case would be that Tai would answer the door and I could just hand it to him and get out of there before she even saw me. I arrived and knocked on the door. Yang answered. My luck was already against me.
Yang: "Oh, hey. What's up?" Her hair was in a ponytail and she still wasn't wearing her cybernetic arm. Other than that she looked mostly normal. Ruby made it sound like she was never happy anymore, but I clearly saw her normal bright smile that I had to struggle not to melt in front of.
Y/N: "I-I just came because Ruby and I found this at Beacon." I showed her the gauntlet. "She told me to give it to you. I know you don't really have any use for it, but we wondered if you might want to keep it as a memento or something." She looked at it for a second.
Yang: "Uhh... I don't know. Dad!"
Taiyang: "What's up... Oh hey kid." I explained why I was here. "Come inside. We were just getting lunch ready."
Y/N: "I have to go back to the front. I just had some time so Ruby had me deliver this to you."
Taiyang: "No, its fine. Ironwood said you needed a break." I clenched my fists. He really had some nerve to call ahead to keep me away from the fight.
Y/N: "I don't need a break."
Taiyang: "Come on. You look hungry." He pointed at my torn clothing and clearly malnourished body. I saw Yang looking at me, clearly hoping I'd stay.
Y/N: "Fine. But after that I'm leaving." I sat down with both of them and put the gauntlet on the table.
Yang: "Why do you have Ozpin's cane?"
Y/N: "Did Ruby not tell you?"
Yang: "I heard he died, but I never heard you decided to pick it up."
Y/N: "I'm just keeping it safe until we can figure out what to do with it."
Yang: "I'm sorry to hear about that. I know you didn't really have anyone else growing up." I looked up at her. She was actually being serious. We all talked for a while, but I ate as quickly as possible. I got up to leave, but Yang grabbed my arm. "Can we talk... Alone, really quick?"
Y/N: "Just take the gauntlet. I have to go."
Yang: "It'll only be a few minutes." I didn't know what she could possibly want. She was acting mostly like herself. I could tell she wasn't totally normal, but she was still smiling and getting a little too close to me like normal. I thought Ruby had said that she was acting like me. Maybe she was getting better. Or worse.
Y/N: "Just don't take too long." She led me out back to a shed. She opened the door and I saw the arm that Atlas gave her on the ground. She had painted it yellow, judging by the color around it. She picked it up.
Yang: "After Ruby left, I though about this again. I went into school thinking it would all be fun and adventure. I guess I got a wake up call."
Y/N: "What is this about?"
Yang: "You still owe me a training session." I rolled my eyes. She was fine.
Y/N: "I thought Ruby said you were being serious. She was actually worried about you."
Yang: "I was, then I realized it was too depressing. I have no idea how you do it." She flashed a bright smile and giggled a little.
Y/N: "Fine. I said I won't go easy on you." She put the arm on and untied her hair, letting it explode out. I'd forgotten how pretty she was. We walked to opposite sides of the backyard and got ready.