Author's Note:

This chapter is pretty feely, so I've heard. So tell me how you feel about that.

Roman tried for a while to pick himself off the ground, but found that Cinder had done a fine job of making walking a daunting task. He had ended up crawling a short distance to a nearby tree, putting his back to it, and taking some time to recover.

Cinder had dragged Neo off, and he didn't know what was happening to her. Cinder had been getting weirder and weirder, but this was over a line. If there was anything he could do to get his friend back, he was going to do it. At some point he must have slipped into unconsciousness, because when his body jerked back into motion, and his eyes opened again.

A small crowd of people was starting to surround him again, drooling and muttering to one another about various things, the way Roman looked when he slept, the complexion of his skin, color of his clothes, things that seemed totally random to Roman. They seemed to be some of the more "normal" people who followed Cinder, and by that, he meant that they weren't starting to mutate into disgusting monsters. At least, not yet.

His action was based mostly on his gut reaction, and that was to tighten his fingers around his cane and take a few swings at the freaks.

A smile came across his face as the metal end connected with more than a few cheekbones, resulting in some satisfying cracking sounds, but they were also accompanied by a few satisfied yelps and moans. A scowl came across Roman's face, and he started to push against the tree, getting back to his feet. "Alright, back off, or you get a nice hot Dust round to the face."

The threat seemed barely effective, but did award him some space. He found that his body didn't have quite the ridiculous pain he had suffered before passing out, but he was still considerably sore. That had never stopped him from beating someone down before, though, and now was going to be no exception.

He took a threatening step towards them, feeling his legs wobble beneath him, but didn't let his weakness show. The others did back off slightly, but not as much as he would have liked.

His cane met the grass, and he was glad to find that he could walk with nearly no pain if he put his weight on it. He wasn't used to doing that, but it would have to work. He took another step towards the people, larger this time, and found that they did move to the side. He continued to walk, parting the small group and looking around. The airship was still hanging in the horizon, but there was something different about it now. It took Roman a few seconds of peering, but eventually he saw that it was turned the other way, returning to the clearing. That would mean that it had been taken over, no doubt.

In his mind, he saw Neo being dragged away again, and shook his head to rid himself of the grogginess that still lingered. A kind of fire burst to life in his veins that he hadn't known for a long time, and he found all his motions faster, and more aggressive. Cinder was going to give him Neo back, and she was going to pay for anything she had done.

The only problem was that he didn't know where Cinder was. The clearing was large, but there weren't many structures. If he wanted to find Neo, he was going to need some information.

Without hesitating, he turned on his heels and reached out for one of the cultists. They seemed to have mostly forgotten about him, and as he dragged them the few feet between them by the collar of the ragged shirt they still had. It was a young woman, perhaps in her twenties, and her eyes took several seconds to focus on his face. She didn't seem to grasp that Roman was ready to tear her head off if it would get him the answers he wanted, so Roman gave her a few good shakes to try and bring her mind around.

"Hey! Where's Cinder? I'd like to have some words with my "boss" now."

For a few seconds it was like he was talking to a brick wall, then she responded. A dazed smile crept across her face, and she pointed towards the opposite end of the clearing. "She's over there. I wish I was with her, but she wants to be alone right now." A confused look came across her face, and she tilted her head to the side. "Can't you feel her? I can feel her. Everyone can feel her. She's impossible not to feel! You feel her too, right?"

Roman didn't answer. Instead, he let the girl go with an abrasive shove, and turned again to walk in the direction she had indicated. She stumbled back, but caught herself before she fell. Roman started to stalk off, walking as fast as he could making use of the cane that had served him in almost every way other than what a cane was actually designed to do. Now it was serving that purpose, and he was glad he had it. Its use as a blunt instrument, and as a launcher of explosives, was no doubt going to be useful again. Potentially very soon, depending on how Neo was doing.

The wanton acts of debauchery all around were still going on, but his rage made it easier to ignore than before. Now he walked on, knowing that if Cinder wanted, she could probably kill him in a heartbeat. She couldn't just do what she wished with Neo and expect to get away with it.

As he drew closer, he saw a large tent, surrounded by those Cinder had already enslaved. If Neo was going to be like one of them, Roman didn't know what he would do. It was impossible to imagine, and every fiber of his body rejected contemplating it further.

He reached the exterior of the tent, and stopped for a moment to listen. There was heavy breathing by one person, and a slight rustling in a different spot. Two people, one of whom could be Neo. That was enough for him, and he took the last few steps towards the entrance before shouldering his way through the small flap and stopping.

It appeared to be some kind of military tent, with communication devices and maps of the world. On a chair near the map, Cinder was sitting, facing away from him, and giggling quietly to herself. The sight was unnerving, but it was far from his only interest. His eyes drifted around the tent, adjusting to the dim light.

Lying on a pile of what looked like broken shards of mechanical devices, twitching and spasming, was Neo. Her eyes had rolled back in her head, and she looked like she had lost it completely.

Roman moved to her side, his legs flaring up in pain as his cane dropped to the ground, forgotten. He didn't care though, all he wanted to do was see if he could help her. His knees met painfully with the dirt ground as he bent over her, taking her body in his hands and pulling her closer. One hand gently wrapped around the back of her head, gloved fingers running through her hair.

He spoke in a soft, desperate voice, praying to every deity he didn't believe in that she would be alright. When he touched her, her spasms seemed to increase. He didn't know if she was in pain or not, but he started trying to find out. He snapped his fingers in front of her face, saying, "Hey! Neo, come on! Wake up! Give me something!"

She didn't respond in any way that suggested she was conscious, instead her eyes simply rolled back further in her head. From behind him, Roman heard Cinder's chuckling stop, and she said, "Don't worry. She's simply in awe of the things I gave her. It's such a pity though, she was far more resistant than the others, and in the end, I don't think that she would have adjusted. Now she'll just have to feel my gift-" she drew in a breath, like she was savoring the moment "-forever."

Roman's eyes widened, and he turned to look at Cinder, Neo still firmly in his grasp. "What? How could you do that? What did you do to her?"

His shout rang out in the clearing beyond the tent, but he didn't care. Cinder had crossed a very clear line. It was hard to see the woman he used to work for anymore. Now he only saw a monster. A smirk slid across Cinder's face, and she spoke in a sultry whisper, barely loud enough to hear. "She was so fun to toy with. You should have seen her face."

Neo slid out of Roman's arms and gently back to the floor, while Roman stood back up and faced his former mistress. He wanted to say something, to make some demand or throw some scalding insult, but nothing came to him. Instead, the only sound he made was a low growl from somewhere deep in his throat. His vision went red, and he charged at Cinder.

He didn't remember picking his cane off the ground, but when he lashed out to attack, it was back in his hands. The curve of the handle felt smooth against his palm, and the end whistled through the air as it rushed towards Cinder.

Just before it hit, Cinder moved almost faster than his eyes could see. She ducked down, allowing the metal to soar over her head, then leaped off the chair towards him. He didn't have time to react before her knees hit his shoulders, and he was knocked off balance. He fell towards the ground, and felt the air leave his lungs when his body slammed into the dirt.

Cinder spoke again, leaning close to Roman's face, breath heavy on his face. "Oh Roman, do you really think you can hurt me? You? No, my dear, to me, you are like an insect. I could swat you away any time I please." Her knees pushed down harder, and he felt sharp pain start to stab into his shoulders. Bone was beginning to be pushed apart, and if she kept up his arms would be dislocated.

Cinder didn't look like what she was struggling in the least. In fact, if Roman were to focus on her face instead of continuously struggling to push her off, he would have seen a twisted, perverse expression on her face. She was taking a great deal of pleasure in this, and he knew it.

One of the legs slid across his chest, and for a second provocative thoughts entered his mind, before the smooth leg pushed against his throat, cutting off his heavy breathing. "You have no idea what you passed up, Roman. You could be over there, losing yourself with her, unable to think about anything else. But no, you kept your control, and decided to stay miserable. It's sad, really. You don't even know what you're missing."

If he'd had the ability, he would have spat the glob of saliva that had gradually built up in his mouth directly at her face, both trying to get her off of him, and to show what he thought of her offer. He couldn't, though, and instead simply continued to struggle. His head was starting to ring, and his vision started to blur. The feeling of the ground starting to undulate underneath him was disorienting, and soon the only thing that he could make out from his eyes was Cinder's smirking face.

Then the pressure lifted off of his throat, and Cinder's face disappeared. He gasped for air, fingers clawing at his windpipe, trying to make sure that there was nothing obstructing it. His body gradually scraped enough oxygen back through his lungs to bring his mind back around, and he rolled over, coughing and spluttering, crawling over to Neo once again.

The strain on his shoulders and arms didn't feel good at all, and his vision still swam, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. Neo was still twitching and jerking in an erratic manner, and her eyes were still rolled back. Roman tried to get her to look at him, but her eyes simply ignored him, like he wasn't even there.

It was a crazy idea, and he was sure that his oxygen deprivation had something to do with his coming up with it, but that didn't deter him as he reached for his chest, digging his fingers under his clothing for the little medallion he had been given. It protected him from what Cinder tried to do, so maybe it would be able to drive out whatever she had done to Neo. He felt blisters as he pulled it away, and was sure that there was going to be some permanent damage to the area from the heat that the thing had generated. It was better than the alternative, though.

As he drew the thing out from beneath his coat, he started to feel nervous. Would it be safe to take the thing off? If he did, would he become corrupted? He didn't know, but it was a risk he had to take. Carefully, he lifted the line that had kept it secure over his head, and drew it away from his body. Immediately, he felt his muscles relax, almost against his will, but he bit down on his tongue and kept going. The further the trinket got from him, the more he wanted to simply slump over and go to sleep. He bit down harder on his tongue, and leaned closer to her. "Don't worry, you're going to be alright."

He didn't know if that was true, but he had to try. He pushed his trinket against Neo's chest hard, and closed his eyes, hoping that it would work. Neo continued to twitch under his fingers, he could feel it, but it could have been his imagination.

Her breathing was hard and ragged, but started to slow. Roman felt the amulet grow hotter and hotter, burning his hand through his glove. He wasn't about to let go of it, though, Neo meant too much to him. The heat in the object continued to grow, as if it was leeching some kind of energy out of Neo's body. He hoped it was, but also that it wouldn't do any damage to his friend. The smell of burning skin started to enter his nostrils, and the pain in his hands was too much to bear.

He withdrew his hand, eyes watering and fingers closing tightly into the scorched palm, trying to keep it from hurting. He looked up at her, hoping to see that she was getting better, but what he did see horrified him.

The object was lying flat against her exposed skin, and the fat around it was starting to practically boil, sizzling and spitting. The amulet looked like it couldn't be removed now if he tried, and if he did, his hands would join the melting mass.

Neo, though, didn't look like she could feel the slightest bit of pain. Instead, her eyes had locked to a certain point on the limp ceiling of the tent. She was blinking rapidly, like she was trying to interpret what her eyes were showing her, and slowly coming to grips with reality again. It was a bizarre to see her like this, and he didn't like it. She was always more handled than this, and he knew she wouldn't like him seeing it.

The only thing that he could do was to struggle back to his feet, and turn to the door of the tent. No one was going to interrupt this process, and he wasn't going to let Neo get hurt. He had to make sure that the amulet didn't burn straight through her, and that she wasn't disturbed.

He bent over and picked his cane back up, stretching as best he could. If anyone was going to come in, he would beat them senseless without hesitation. Unless, of course, it was Cinder. Then he would be hopeless.

There was no need to stay standing and wear himself out, though. He found the chair that Cinder had been sitting on and positioned himself nearby Neo. It didn't sound like anyone was drawing near, but he tried to keep his guard up. The drain on his mind continued to try and beacon him to sleep, but he continued to resist as best he could. It was certainly more difficult without the amulet, but it was too hot to touch now, and he knew that the thing probably didn't need the extra strain.

He looked over his shoulder again, and found that Neo was starting to seem more conscious. Her eyes roved around the tent like she was trying to take in her environment but couldn't quite get it right. He spoke hopefully, saying, "Neo? Can you hear me?"

Her eyes flicked to his face, lingered for a few seconds, then returned to flicking around. She could hear, he was sure, she just didn't quite know what it meant. He shook his head, trying to calm himself without giving the urge to sleep any ground in his mind.

At least it didn't seem that he would have to wait long. Neo seemed to have made great progress in recovering very quickly, which was good, because the skin around the amulet was starting to look quite damaged.

He had to wait what felt to him like a painfully long time, doing nothing but watching the entrance, and occasionally looking back at his friend, trying to see if she was conscious yet. The first time he did, she seemed to be coming around a little more, with fewer movements and slowing breath, but still not responding to anything with understanding. The second time, her movements seemed to be more efforts to figure out where she was. She grasped around at the dirt, the material of the tent, and the pieces of metal beneath her. It occurred to Roman that he probably should have checked to see if any of those shards were stabbing into her back, but it was a little late for that now.

The third time that he looked back, he jumped up to his feet, finding that Neo was reaching out to him. "Neo! Hey, are you alright? What's wrong?" She seemed like she was in pain, and was reaching out to Roman, her fingers stretched out, trying to get as close as possible. When he leaped over to her side again, he could also see a hand clutching at the charm, like she was trying to scrape it out.

Roman paused for a moment, unsure of what to do. If she took it out, any corruption that was still afflicting her would remain. He could do this again later, of course, and make sure that she was fixed, but he would have to wait for the thing to cool off.

Neo's eyes gave him a certain glint, showing clearly that she was in pain. Something like that was impossible for him to ignore. He couldn't just let her suffer, even if she was still somewhat different. Without hesitating, he reached forward, gritted his teeth, and wrapped his fingers around the thing. The pain was immediate, he could feel the heat radiating through his glove and burning his flesh, but he didn't let that stop him. His fingers dug into the hardened flesh around the object, and he found that it was surprisingly stuck. A panic started to set into his mind, and his movements became more frantic, trying to work the thing from one side to the other, loosening it.

Pieces of charred fat and other tissue started to fall away, and Neo expression changed from one of panic and pain to one of just pain. Her arms flailed in Roman's direction, and one just happened to impact one of his injured shoulders. The pain was immediate and sharp, but when he glanced back to her face, he saw that her eyes were tightly shut. To someone else that might have meant little, but he knew Neo's pain tolerance was far beyond that of a normal human's. If it was bad enough to make her act like this, then getting the thing out was the best thing he could do.

He dropped his cane and put both hands towards his task, leaning as far away from her flailing arms as he could. It was a few tense seconds before he got any kind of a good grip on the thing, but when he felt one side pop out of the indent it had created, he didn't hesitate to jerk it out with as much force as he could manage.

Neo had never made so much as a whisper before, but the amount of air that suddenly started to come from her mouth indicated that if she could, she would be screaming bloody murder. His hands started to burn again, and he dropped the amulet. It skittered across the dirt, making more hissing noises as it destroyed anything it touched.

Without tending to his own injuries, he reached out to Neo, and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her and whispering uncharacteristic comforts to her. Slowly, he felt the panicked and pained movements slow, and eventually stop. When they did, he slowly moved her away, until she was at arm's length, and looked her in the eye.

She was looking at him too, still scared, but also grateful. Her hands were over the burn, covering it from Roman's sight, but he wanted to see if it was going to be a serious problem or not. He wasn't very experienced with medicine, but he was sure that he could do something about it. Clean it, give her painkiller, something.

The two stared at each other for a few moments, Neo gradually calming down, before Roman finally asked, "Can I see that?"

He pointed to the spot her hands covered, and she gave a slow nod, hesitating slightly before letting them fall away. Roman was surprised to find that the blackened, burned, and aggravated red flesh was almost gone, replaced by normal pale skin. A few lines of redness, speckled with blisters and burns, still stood, but they gradually disappeared as it seemed like pale healthy skin knit over it, repairing all the damage that Roman could see.

Roman smiled and laughed, shaking his head as he spoke with renewed spirit. "I can't believe I forgot about that." He sighed, and Neo gave him an enthusiastic smile.

She lurched forward and hugged him again, and he returned the motion, happy that she seemed to be fine. As he did this though, his hands erupted in a new wave of pain, and he involuntarily jerked back. Neo backed off, sensing his pain before he could say anything. She grabbed his wrists and turned them to the side, revealing the palms of his gloves.

Charred and melted leather met her eyes, and she looked back to Roman's face with an expression he didn't know how to place. It was like she was furious at him for doing this to himself, but also overtaken with gratitude he had.

She gently moved his hands away, and wrapped her arms around his neck. This hug was different than the last. That one had been from the heat of the moment, two desperate people overjoyed that they hadn't lost everything. This one was between two people who owed each other everything, and knew they would do anything for one another.

Roman tried to return it as best he could, keeping his hands from touching anything that might cause more pain. He normally considered himself a fairly cold person, not easily moved by anything. But now, the tears that started to drip from his eyes seemed to tell a different story. He could've blamed it on the manipulating effect that the area had on him, or on the stress of the situation, or any number of other reasons, but he knew that they weren't the cause.

He loved Neo.

Penny hugged herself tightly, trying not to look at Ironwood, who was nothing short of furious. His hands slammed down on the metal table she sat at, and he shouted, "What were you thinking? I mean, what possible excuse is there for this behavior?"

She shrank back away from him, scared for the first time of what he might do to her. He didn't lose his temper easily, and it was a terrifying thing for her to see. He usually kept a cool head, but now he had lost all composure.

She felt terrible about what she did. At the time, it had seemed like the best thing to do. All she ever wanted to do was help, and she had been kept from it. But, maybe her eagerness to do something had made her get ahead of herself. It was simply that when Naze had suggested that she could do something that would benefit everyone, she couldn't possibly say no.

"What did you even hope to accomplish, Penny? All you did was throw a known criminal's weapon away? Do you know what that man is doing now? Do you have any idea what would happen if he managed to get his hands on that thing again? And now it's gone!" The anger was clear in his voice, in his face, and in his body language.

Penny's eyes went to the silvery metal table, and she pushed further against her chair, hoping that maybe she would be able to find some refuge in it. She couldn't, and the one who she considered to be her father continued to berate her. "I try to keep you safe, to give you everything that you could want or need, and this is how you act?" He pinched the bridge of his nose, took a deep breath, and shook his head. "I just don't know what to do with you, Penny. You seem to be determined to make everything difficult."

She shifted her arms uncomfortably. She wanted to speak, to say something about how she had only wanted to help, but she knew that doing so would only make him angry again. He seemed to be calming down, which was good. Now she had to make sure that he stayed that way, otherwise she wouldn't be able to handle the situation. Something inside of her simply shut down when Ironwood was angry, and she knew it wasn't a simple mechanism or physical component.

She didn't want to speak, but the silence seemed to generate a pressure on her that continued to grow. After several seconds, she was pushed over the brink of what she could take, and her mouth opened as she started. "I'm sorry Mr. Ironwood. I know that I shouldn't have done what I did. I didn't mean any harm by it, though. No one got hurt, and I'm alright, so there's nothing too bad about it, right?"

This was the wrong thing to say. Ironwood's hand left his nose, and his fingers curled into a tight fist, the material of his glove making a noise as it was pulled. He turned his back to Penny, and seemed to be struggling to keep from becoming too angry. Penny started to stand, wanting to move in front of him so that she could continue apologizing.

When the back legs of the chair scraped against the smooth, sterile floor, Ironwood turned fast, whirling around and slamming a fist into the table, putting a sizeable dent in its solid surface. His face was suddenly mere inches from hers, and was beet red. His voice was the loudest Penny had ever heard, and while it didn't make her ears hurt from volume alone, there was another ache deeper in her chest.

"It is very bad, Penny! We've been working on you for years, and yet you still behave like a delinquent sometimes! It seems that you can't follow even the simplest orders!" It looked like he could have kept going, but made a strong effort to stop. He simply stared, breathing deeply, straight into Penny's eyes.

Tears started to accumulate in Penny's eyes, and her body started to shake. She had been halfway standing, but the strength drained from her legs, and she slumped back into the chair. Her arms were hard to move, but she managed to pull them up to her face, not wanting Ironwood to see her just as much as she didn't want to see him.

Her body curled up, legs pulled towards her chest, and she started to disconnect from the world around her. All she had wanted to do was to help, to save the world, like she had always been told she would do. Why couldn't anyone see that? It seemed like she had been given the power, and the will to become a great hero, but those who had created her were holding her back from this. It was all so confusing. What she was supposed to do and what she wasn't supposed to do were apparently nearly the same thing. Why couldn't she figure the difference out?

When she looked up again, she found that Ironwood was gone. She was alone. She didn't want to be alone, but she was. He had promised to always be there for her, but now he was gone. Nothing was right anymore, and it was all her fault. It had to be.

She stayed there, crying, for a long time. She didn't want to leave, because outside the small room, there would be more people who blamed her for what she had done. They weren't wrong, of course, but she wished desperately that there was something she could do to redeem herself.

As if she could really hear it, the offer Naze had made rattled around in her head again. If she ever wanted, she could seek refuge with him, and escape from Ironwood until she was ready to face him again. It sounded good, but she couldn't simply leave Ironwood like that. She needed him. He supported her whenever she needed it.

Except, of course, for now.

A shift started in her mind, her thoughts starting to slowly rearrange as she thought about her current predicament. She loved Ironwood, but she didn't know if he still loved her. She wanted to stay with him, but she also wanted to save the world. These two things didn't seem like they could both happen, and it broke her heart that she was going to have to choose. It was horrible, but she had to think about it.

Naze had said that she could return to Ironwood whenever she wanted, so maybe that option wasn't so bad. Ironwood didn't like Naze, though, and it was possible that he wouldn't like her either, if she really did go to serve him. But she was sure that she would be making a difference if she went to Naze, as opposed to what she had done so far.

Her emotions started to swirl around in her head, guilt about wanting to leave Mr. Ironwood, who had given her everything, unease at being forced to make a decision like this, anxiety that she would make the wrong choice, and excitement at the prospect of helping people. She just didn't know what to do.

Her bawling returned in full-force now, and made her curl up on the chair, hoping that some kind of freak accident would cause a chasm to open up in the ground below her, swallowing her whole, or that the ceiling would collapse and crush her. Neither of these things happened, though, and she was still left with only her thoughts.

Slowly, and agonizingly, she came to a decision. She would wait to make her final choice. Maybe Ironwood did still love her, but she had been restricted by that for far too long. She had always held her tongue, and tried not to disappoint him in any circumstance. She still desperately wanted to please him, but now she saw that her own goals, wants, and desires were different than his. It all became so clear, when she thought about it, that she didn't know how she had never seen it before. Her desire to help her friends, like Ruby, and to make new ones, like Naze, were things that she ached for, yet had little to no place in Ironwood's plans for her. She, as an independent being, wanted them.

Very suddenly, everything around her seemed sharper, brighter, like a lens had been taken away from her eye. She considered, for the first time, that she wasn't simply "Ironwood's daughter" or, as she had once heard someone say before, "Ironwood's pet." The comment hadn't made sense at first, but now she could see plainly why they had drawn that conclusion. He had trained her, and she had obeyed.

The tears stopped flowing from her eyes, and Penny stood again, her revelations restoring her strength. He considered her a child, and maybe he was right, but she was going to make her own choices from now on. She loved Ironwood dearly, but she would not follow him blindly.

She was going to lead herself to her fate. She was going to make all the friends she wanted, and would do everything she could to make the world a better place.

She was going to talk to Ironwood in a few hours, when she had time to think things out properly. Until then, she was going to return to her room, and think very hard about what she would do. She pulled the door to the room open again, and she stepped out. The place felt different now, but she moved on, undaunted. She was a new girl now, and she wasn't going to try to be anyone else.

Yang was pacing in the halls of the hospital, when the looming feeling of Naze's attention turning towards her. She didn't need to ask what was up, because before she could, the Lich's voice was already bouncing around her skull. "Yang, go out to the street. There will be a blade in the alleyway across the street from the hospital. Take this blade, and wait for Blake to wake up. When she does, tell her that she is to return it to Adam Taurus, and that she may have to communicate for me to him."

Yang couldn't quite believe what she was hearing was accurate. She knew talking back to Naze might not have been the best idea, but decided that now was a justified time to do it. "Do you remember the last time she tried to talk to him? She got a crack in her skull for her trouble. I really don't think that sending her back to that guy is a good idea."

Naze's response came fast, as it always did when he was communicating directly. "He has been made more aware of his strength by that little incident, and I believe will be able to exercise a little more restraint. At least, long enough to receive the message I have for him."

Yang didn't want to, but she agreed. She would have to make sure that Blake was alright with doing something like that though. If she had even the slightest doubt that she would be safe, Yang couldn't ask her to do it. It wouldn't be right for a friend to ask another to do something like that. Yang didn't know if she would feel good again if something happened to her.

The way to get back to the street was easy, she just had to take another ride on the elevators, and soon she was back out in the sunlight. It didn't feel as good as when she had been alive, but she didn't mind that too much. She scanned the line of buildings opposite the hospital, looking for the alleyway that Naze had told her about. A shade, barely visible against the shadows behind it, was peeking out to look at her.

That was enough direction for her, and she started walking towards it. There wasn't much traffic in the area, so she was fine simply jaywalking. When she got to the alleyway, the Shade beckoned, and led her deeper into the alley. As she followed, she saw the weapon laying on the ground.

As she picked it up, she was surprised by how heavy it felt. From the outside it looked like a simple sword, curved in a way that would make it a ferocious cutter. Its sheath seemed to make up the bulk of the weight, and Yang could tell that there was something she couldn't see about it. Perhaps there were multiple functions to the thing, like most weapons had. She had no doubt that Ruby would love to get her hands on the thing and pick it apart, but she wasn't about to simply give it away.

As she turned to leave, something occurred to her. It wasn't a question of any real consequence, but she decided to ask anyways. "Hey, ghost guy, do you know what this thing is called?"

The Shade turned to look at her, stared for a moment, and then in a voice like a metal brush against a brick answered, "Wilt and Blush."

Yang nodded. That was an alright name, she supposed. There was probably some story behind the name, but she didn't know it. All she did know was that she doubted the wisdom of giving the demon possessed violent psychopath a tool to do more damage. But Naze had a plan, she guessed. He always did. Whether it would work out, she didn't know, but he had to weaken Cinder. That was the most important thing.

As she walked back into the hospital, she got a few scared looks. That was too be expected of someone lugging a blatantly dangerous weapon around with them, she supposed, but most of them had seen her before.

One trip back up the elevator and a quick walk down another hallway was all it took to get her back to Blake's room. The bed that had contained Weiss was still gone, and she knew that there would be some kind of indication if the surgery were over. On what she considered to be a slightly more positive note, the large number of Paladins who had been standing outside were gone, which made entering the room a much less intense experience. When the door shut behind her, she looked at Blake, who was still lying down flat.

She looked peaceful when she slept, in a way that she never did while awake. Yang hated to try and wake her up, but there was nothing else to do. She had to hear the request, and hopefully accept. Yang pulled the weapon close to her side, and walked carefully over to the sleeping faunus.

"Blake, are you awake?"

No response came, so Yang sighed, quietly laid the blade on the ground, and put a hand on Blake's shoulder, shaking.

"Blake, wake up."

She flinched a little, but other than that had no reaction. Yang rolled her eyes, and shook her friend harder. Normally she was a light sleeper, but normally she wasn't recovering from a concussion.

"Blake, get up. We've got serious work to do!"

Her friend groaned, and rolled over on her side, back to Yang. Yang's shoulders slumped, and she glared for a moment before trying a different approach. "Alright-" she spoke with a high, sarcastic tone "-I guess I'll have to deliver Adam's sword by myself."

As soon as the name left her lips, Blake's torso shot up and out from the covers like a catapult, her eyes wide and her breathing suddenly quick. "Adam? Where?" Her voice was panicked, and her eyes darted around the room in erratic patterns.

Yang quickly dropped Wilt and Blush, putting her arms as comfortingly as she could around her friend. "Hey, clam down. He's not here. He's gone, we drove him out of the city. You're in the hospital."

Blake took a few moments to calm, breathing deeply, body tense, before relaxing. "We… we did?" Her voice was skeptical and curious, and Yang didn't blame her. Of course she was going to be confused, she had gotten knocked out.

Yang smiled, saying, "Yeah, we did. Or, well, I guess you did that, mostly. See, he hit you pretty hard, and I think he thought he killed you. To be honest, we all sort of thought that at first. After he hit you, he started to freak out, and just ran away. I think that when he hurt you, he kind of realized what he was doing, and decided he'd try to control himself. He ran off to go wait for Cinder to reach Vytal, and he's going to fight her there."

Blake blinked as she took this information in. "Oh. Well, how are the others? I remember Weiss got pretty hurt, right?"

Yang sighed again, and sat down on the bed nest to Blake, starting to explain.

When she was done, Blake's expression was a mixture of horror and resolve. She didn't like hearing any of it, but she knew she had to. Yang finished, saying, "So, that's why Naze wants you to take this back to him. If you can't, that's fine. He just thinks his message would be better received if you were the one saying it."

She bent over the side of the bed, took Wilt and Blush again, and held them out to Blake. The faunus looked down at them, like they had stolen the very air from her lungs. Yang started to feel like she was putting too much pressure on her friend and started to back off. "It's alright, you don't ha-"

Blake responded before Yang could finish her sentence. "No, Yang, it's alright. I'll do it." She reached out, and took Adam's weapons, then started to push off the bed.

Yang watched as Blake slipped her feet to the floor, wobbled unsteadily, then righted herself. After she did this, she looked over her shoulder, a determined scowl on her face. "How do I get to him?"