*Special thanks to Mecharic for Beta-ing*

I didn't waste much time pulling myself together, the sunlight helping me to push past what'd happened the night before. There were things that needed tending and no time to rest. I showered enough to rinse off any remaining blood, sweat, and vomit from me; then pulled on my leather armor and got moving. I rummaged through the remains of my food for breakfast, then collected a couple of key items before catching the earliest airship into town. First on the list was stopping off at Byz's and giving my condolences for the outfit I'd had to incinerate. I refrained from buying another set, but did leave him with my duster and other clothy garments from my Riot Gear. I could repair some of it, and already had, but Byz did that by trade and probably had better ways of doing it. Plus, if he couldn't salvage my duster, he could just make a new one. Which, given the state it'd been left in, was entirely possible. I left him to it and meandered around town for a while. Not because I didn't know what to do next though, I knew that. I needed to get some food to keep my supplies up.

I was wandering to see who, if anyone, was tailing me.

After what'd happened last night at Junior's, I knew better than to not expect some form of reprisal or unwanted attention. I'd made a stop by the burned-out shell of the club during my walk. The bodies had all been carted off hours before hand. The police seemed to be keeping the massive number of deaths under wraps for the time being. Given that the Grimm were supposedly attracted to 'negative emotions' and fear, I could understand it. With the recent upswing in crime, Vale was probably looking like a tasty snack right now. Last thing this place needed was to worry about a serial killer being on the loose. I'd only stopped by to see the damage I'd left behind first hand. A dangerous move on my part, if I drew too much attention it wouldn't be good.

Of course, I'd also lost Junior in aftermath anyway. If any of the contacts he'd had were worth a damn, they'd be gunning for me anyway.

Which is why'd come prepared for a fight, and was working to get my Riot Gear fixed. My leather armor probably wouldn't do much for bullets, but something was better than nothing. I had That Gun strapped to one hip, and Vulpes' ripper on the other. Last night had finally gotten a message through to me: I couldn't afford to be so lax. Everyone else wandered around with arms and weapons, and now I had quantifiable reasons to do the same. Which was why I also had a .45 Submachine gun also strapped to my back. It was one I'd nabbed from the white legs, back in Zion. Though I'd installed a compensator to it, and bought a couple drum magazines to replace the box magazines it normally used. I figured if it'd do as a step up in fire power if I needed it. Though I'd only really thought about it because I'd grabbed the one in the club before burning it down. It would make research easier if I had something familiar to work off of.

But traveling armed must've been enough of a deterrent, because no one had accosted me so far. I'd been on high alert since I'd stepped onto the airship bound for Vale, but hadn't yet run into anything. With all the cops on alert, trying something without having the police come down on you like a hammer was next to impossible. That didn't change that I was ready for a fight though. I'd dealt with far worse than a few suit-clad numbskulls who had a bone to pick with me.

Technically they were also on the list, but that wasn't important.

After about an hour, I stopped walking and confirmed I wasn't being followed. My paranoia said otherwise, but unless this world had stealth-boys odds were good I was in the clear.

I continued through Vale at a more relaxed pace. Byz was going to need time to make his repairs anyway, and it would be rude to rush the man. So the question became: What should I do in the mean time?

I needed to restock my food, but carrying it around until Byz was done would be annoying. Plus some of it would be liable to spoil. I had some other things to get besides that, but they could wait too.

Having finally regained autonomy over my travel schedule, I was actually interested in getting some more reading material. I'd been reading through some of the books and had found them enjoyable, but had regrettably run into a road block. I'd finished all of the comic books.

What can I say, Navy Hale was a riot.

So, in the midst of everything else that'd gone on over break, I'd made the firm decision to find out what happened next.

After finishing my walk-around, I made tracks for Tukson's book trade. I was operating under the assumption that he hadn't already skipped town. When I'd last seen him, he hadn't been too keen on sticking around, seeing as the White Fang didn't care for deserters. Last time I'd been in there I'd helped bank-roll his escape in exchange for helping Blake with something. I was never certain on the specifics, but he'd been paid a fairly tidy sum for his services. So assuming he was good on his word, he wouldn't have left until Blake had bothered to come collect.

As I rounded a corner and started down the street his shop was on though, I took note that this likely wasn't the case. At a glance, the shop looked to be closed. The windows blacked out to the rest of the day. A pretty tell-tale sign that no one was in at the moment. As I drew closer, that feeling just became further solidified. There was no indication the place was open. I stood outside the shop for a moment and tried to get a look inside, but nothing leapt out at me.

Feeling a bit obstinate, I went over to the door and gave it a knock. I didn't say anything, but there was little I could say anyway. If no one was in, no one was in. But I waited a moment and gave the door another rap regardless. Taking my time to read the signage.

Which said the shop should've been open for a few hours by this point.

No one was home, simple as that. Tukson had been working on deserting the White Fang last, I'd seen him. It was possible he'd already up and left.

With a shrug, I turned and prepared to get back on my merry way. There wasn't much sense standing around mindlessly banging on a door no one would answer. I gave the door handle a small tug as I left, not quite sure why. It was just some unconscious action from the stubborn part of my brain that wanted answers to Hale's journey.

When I felt the door glide open under my fingertips, I stopped.

"… Aw dammit."

If Tukson had actually left, he'd have locked his shop up on the way out. Not because he planned on coming back, but if anyone noticed something out of place they'd be after him sooner.

'Or maybe he's just careless?' I thought 'You don't necessarily have to walk in and find out, do you?...'

I released the door and let it softly close. I leaned a little ways out into the street and double checked. As it stood, the street was more or less deserted. Though I wasn't secure I wasn't being watched anymore.

I rolled my shoulders, drew That Gun, and checked the cylinder. It was loaded, which meant I was good to go. I took a deep breath, turned back to the door, opened it just enough to squeeze through, and crept inside.

One thing became immediately clear as I did: I'd been wrong.

Someone had been here, and they'd wrecked the place. All of the display tables were either knocked over or destroyed. The shelves that'd lined the walls were overturned, scattering books everywhere. Numerous books were little more than loose paper and ink now. The main counter and register had large segments broken from them or were completely smashed, respectively. The entire place looked like someone had turned a super mutant loose after dosing it with psycho. Perhaps a tad redundant, but comparable.

Tukson lay in a hole smashed into the main counter, deathly still and silent. I didn't immediately move to help him. He was clearly laid out in a manner that anyone walking in would see him. That was trap laying at its most basic. So I took a moment to make sure there wasn't anyone lying in wait for me. There wasn't much of a place for them to hide, given the room was a disaster area. But that was no excuse to not pay attention.

Plus, with the way the blood was pooling under Tukson, odds were good he was dead anyway. Which meant whoever had done it likely wasn't planning to jump anyone, but send a message.

'Eh, still good to be cautious.'

Seeing that no one was going to rush out and attack, I left stealth mode, and walked over to Tukson, gun at the ready.

As I got closer, I got a better look at him. What was left of him anyway.

He was deathly pale, all the blood on the floor was clearly his. One of his arms was broken mid-way up the humerus, leaving his arm painfully bent at a wrong angle. Chunks of skin and tissue had been blasted off of his chest, in much the same way a close quarters shotgun blast would. The resultant wounds were ragged and puckered a purple-crimson. He was covered head to toe in deep bruises, none of them anywhere that would've killed though. Whatever'd been hitting him had wanted him to suffer. One of his shoulders was slumped at an odd angle, either broken or dislocated. But the worst of it was his head. His right eye… or rather where it had been, had a massive burn covering it and the skin around and atop his skull. His eye was gone, whatever had hit it had fucking shredded it. I was pretty sure the remnants of it were lying on the floor next to him. The skin over his scalp had been scorched down to the bone and his skull cracked open. I could see his brain.

I had to resist the urge to vomit, just a bit. Tukson had been butchered. I could guess it was the White Fang, but that didn't change the fact that it'd happened. I knew first hand that they weren't afraid to kill each other if they needed to. But this had brutal for no reason than to keep people in line.

And that… that pissed me off.

I didn't know Tukson by any real stretch. He was just some guy who ran a book store and might have been a terrorist at one point. But he'd also decided to jump ship for one reason or another, and was on good terms with one of my teammates. I didn't know him, but I knew enough. Even if I didn't, it's just a part of the human machine. Unless something's broken in us, we don't like seeing others hurt. I've killed plenty, even barring since I got here, and despite needing to do it 90% of the time, I was never fully ok with it.

But there's a much larger distinction between what'd been done to Tukson and killing a few raiders or legionnaires.

I knelt beside Tukson and bowed my head. If he was gone, there was nothing I could do anyway. But that didn't change how it made me feel. Nor did it change that the stubborn part of my brain refused to not try something. So I acquiesced, and gently grabbed his hand in a halfhearted attempt to see if he'd gone cold yet.

Imagine my surprise when he gave a little hiss and sucked in a small breath. It actually made me fall back on my ass in surprise. I'd been sure he was dead. But following that little hiss, I heard something much fainter. A soft, throaty rumbling that pulsated at irregular intervals, growing louder and softer at a ragged and worn pace. It took my brain a moment to click into gear what it was, but when it did, I knew what it meant.

"Holy shit, you're still alive."

Once I said it though, I felt my heart kickstart and the warm flood of adrenaline washed over me.

"You're still alive!"

I didn't waste a second after that. I cleared off the remains of the counter and carefully hoisted Tukson onto it. Taking special care not to let anything hit his head wound. I laid him down on the counter and began running through whatever first aid knowledge I could. Tukson didn't have long, and if I didn't do something, we'd be right back to where we'd just been. I'd be damned before I let that happen.

Judging by the blood on the floor, He was likely going to bleed out first. If the blow to the head hadn't killed him, it could wait. I took a few extra books that were lying around and used them to prop his legs up. Let gravity work it back out of his capillaries and to the rest of him. While that happened, I used his shirt to start bandaging his wounds. They weren't exactly clean, but it was what I had to work with. As I bound him up, his breathing became labored and further pained. A guess to that was his ribs were either cracked or broken. The extra pressure must've felt like hell.

"You can go walk into the light on your own time, dammit." I growled, cinching another bandage tight "But until I'm done, your ass isn't going anywhere."

I watched some color work its way back to the rest of him, starting from the waist up. But as it did, I saw the maroon cloth of the bandages grow darker. The bleeding was slowed, but it wasn't stopped. That didn't change I had no clue what to do about his head either. I hadn't tried to patch a wound like that since Cass-

I put that thought immediately out of my head. Nothing good or helpful there.

But there was nothing I could do. Assuming the bandages held, It was going to take more than a bit of shredded cloth to fix the hole in his skull. Again, all I'd done was buy him some time. I didn't have the tools or resources to help him to the best of my ability. I needed an auto doc. I needed skin grafts and a steel plate. I needed a bonesaw, scalpels, and a suture. Fuck, I needed some actual bandages. But I didn't have any of those. I didn't even have a stimpack.

As I put pressure on one of the bandages that began to bleed over, I looked at Tukson's face. He was in pain. He was hardly conscious but I could guess the kind of hell he must've been feeling. I'd been there, it was never fun.

So it didn't really surprise me when I reached into my pocket and pulled out the syrette with the most recent version of my stimpack formula. I'd been planning to test it earlier, before my hangover and general disposition improved. I had no idea if it would work. Most of the previous batches had been painfully abysmal failures. Which, given Tukson's condition, made it absolutely lethal. If I used it, and it didn't work, the shock would probably rip through Tukson so fast he'd be dead before he could register it.

If it worked though, it might stabilize and heal him enough to buy time to get him to a doctor, or at least the equipment to patch him up. I didn't have time to dither though.

'… screw it.'

I kept the pressure on Tukson's wounds, and moved to put the syrette into his neck. If I could get his wounds clotted it'd be enough, but his head needed a patch ASAP. The brain wasn't meant to be exposed to open air.

The syrette pierced his skin easy. I'd pretty much assumed his aura, if he had one, was down given the grievous injuries. I squeezed the fluid into his system and hoped my bad luck wasn't going to translate into his sudden and painful demise.

Tukson's ragged breathing suddenly transitioned into a muted cry of pain. He began thrashing against the counter, clearly in pain but unable to do anything about it. If he hadn't been in the shape he was, he probably would've thrown me off him and torn the bandages free. As it was though, I was able to keep him pinned, even if he didn't make it easy. The thrashing stopped after a minute though, and his body went still and stiff. Every visible muscle contracting at once.

I pushed off him and looked at his head.

I watched as bone crept back over his brain and flesh knit itself back into place. It was as amazing a sight as it was macabre.

The flesh wasn't the same though. It was mottled and darker in color, clearly scar tissue. But with the wound it was repairing, clean and perfect were never going to be a possibility to begin with. Just like how his eye didn't return, either. Whatever was left, little that there was just shriveled, dried, and fell from the socket. With the damage done to it, even if it had healed, it would've been completely blind anyway. Honestly though, I didn't much care about that. Despite the damage done, the truth was plain to see.

It'd worked, after dozens of failed formulas, I finally had a working stimpack again.

I resisted the urge to celebrate though, Tukson's head trauma had cleared but he wasn't out of the woods yet. It was a start, at least. With it, I double checked his wounds and found them clotting readily. They'd probably leave scars as well, but that didn't matter. It meant he at least wasn't going to bleed out in the next five minutes.

Which meant I had a window.

I couldn't piece him together with what was here. As dangerous and stupid as it was, I was going to need to get the supplies to do it properly. Which meant leaving Tukson alone to potentially bleed out if the clotting didn't hold, or worse. But I didn't have many options, and at this point, just his still being alive was a miracle. If I wanted to make sure it wasn't a wasted one, I needed to do things right and not leave it to chance.

Before I did anything else though, I took several books and set them as a fulcrum for his broken arm. The stimpack had been focused to the damage on his head, but any residual medicine wasn't going to waste. It would get to work on patching up the rest of him, and wouldn't waste time about it either. If his arm wasn't set before it did, it'd heal wrong and have to be re-broken and set. Even as I applied pressure though, having to adjust has Tukson squirmed weakly, I could feel resistance. Like I was having break little slivers of wood. Not a good sign, but I was glad I'd bothered to do it before it'd finished setting. I broke off a pair of legs from one of the display table and did my best approximation of a splint. It was going to have to do, at least until I got the proper supplies.

I stepped back and looked at Tukson. He was still healing, but aside from his head, it was slow and getting slower.

'Aight, window's closing, time to go.'

Without a word, I made a bee line for the door. I had an idea about where a number of the stores in the area were at this point. I needed bandages and gauze, some better splints or casting, some disinfectant, and something for the pain. If I had some whisky I could substitute it for the last two, but I didn't have any yet. So for the time being, I was going to have to make due.

Once I was outside the shop, I was sprinting down the street to the nearest places I could think of that would have what I needed. I couldn't be gone long, anything could happen while I was. I was sprinting nigh constantly and only stopping long enough to either pay or throw money at people if there was a line. I could've stolen what I needed, but I've danced close enough with the police in the last 12 hours already.

I was gone only about ten minutes, but in emergency medical terms that was practically an eternity. You lose or save lives in only a fraction of that.

I came back and the clotting had already begun to fail. Tukson was bleeding straight through the improvised bandages. But I was prepared now. I sterilized my hands and removed the bandages. Blood welled readily from them, but before it could worsen, I placed gauze on them and did my best to sterilize the area. Not the best job, but keeping the wounds from becoming infected required more effort and time than what was available at the moment. After enough pressure was applied, I'd tape the gauze in place and move onto another.

By the time I'd had his wounds bandaged, and some gauze over his eyesocket for posterity, the stimpack had worn off. Tukson was still way too pale for my liking. But I wasn't carrying any blood packs, and even if I was, I didn't know his blood type or the negative effects of mixing his blood and blood from my world - not even counting the fact of how old the stuff was. But his wounds were now properly bandaged and the hole in his head was now just scar tissue. Most of the bruising was faded, and even as thin trickles of red began to boil up into the white bandages, I knew it wasn't enough to be problematic. I put a few finger to his neck and checked his pulse. It was around 70 or 75 bpm, a touch high for someone of Tukson's age. I chalked it up to adrenaline, his systems would've gone into overdrive once the damage was done. The returning blood flow had probably renewed it as well. I moved my fingers from Tukson neck and put them under his nose, checking his breathing.

He nearly bit them off.

The moment my fingers were in place, his teeth snapped at them, and his good eye snapped open. My hand reeled in fast enough to avoid his teeth, and I took a cautious step back. Tukson head whipped frantically back and forth for a second, and he tried to roll off the counter. Before he could though, I put my hands on him and held him in place. He snarled and tried to take a swipe at me, but while his arm had enough strength to get up to me, he wasn't coherent enough to actually hit me.

Plus it was his broken arm, so the motion alone was enough to turn his snarl into a peel of pain. I caught his arm mid-air and gently put it back down. I got a look at his face, and amidst the pain were a few other emotions. Namely confusion and fear. Considering the state I'd found him in, understandable.

"Easy Tukson, you're hurt bad, you need to stay still." I said as calmly as I could.

The confusion in his expression didn't fade much, but dwindled as he began to take in his surroundings. His little thrash had caused a fresh bout of bleeding, but the gauze was catching it, so I focused on his arm. He flinched away from me a little as I moved towards his broken-but-healing arm. But when he tried to move it, he seemed to realize the untold pain awaiting him, and stayed still.

"You know who I am?" I asked.

"I… think so." Tukson grunted weakly "You're Ms. Belladonna's friend… right?"

"Close enough."

We'd only met once, for a grand total of five minutes. I honestly didn't expect him to remember me, aside from the fact I'd helped bankroll his planned escape, of course. But the fact he remembered anything was a good sign.

"… My eye" Tukson said "Why is it dark?"

"Whatever attacked you shredded it. There wasn't anything I could do for it, I'm sorry."

"Oh…"

Tukson returned to silence. If the look of blank shock was any indicator, he was trying to process that piece of information. I couldn't imagine it was easy.

I finished setting the splint and moved around to his other side. I'd left his shoulder alone to focus on the more pressing issues at the time. But If I didn't do something about it, it wasn't going to heal right.

"This next one's gonna hurt too." I asked

"What-"

Mid-sentence, I pivoted Tukson's arm at the shoulder and popped it back into place. His train of thought was abruptly cut short by a small yowl of pain. The muscles in his arms tensed and I watched as inch long black claws sprouted from the beds of his fingernails. They looked sharp, doubly so since the ones on his broken arm dug effortlessly into the wooden countertop. I made a mental note to avoid them.

Tukson snarled again and glared at me with his remaining eye.

"Warned you." I said, carefully setting his arm down. "If I'd left it for too long, you'd begin losing mobility with it. I'd say you're impaired enough right now."

Tukson growled, then relaxed back onto the counter, his claws retracting back into his fingers. His face said he was troubled, or more accurately: that he was in shock. Something tells me he hadn't planned on today being the day he got beat to death or lost an eye.

For a short while then, I stayed quiet and continued cleaning him up. He didn't put up much resistance, which was nice of him, But I'm sure the experience wasn't comfortable for him either.

"… What are you doing here?" Tukson asked.

"Had some time to kill." I shrugged "Figured I'd gotten some good reads from here and I'd continue patronizing you. Almost thought you'd left; the windows were blacked out."

"… So you broke into my shop?" Tukson asked after a moment to think."

"Hardly, the door was unlocked. I only came in because I got a bad feeling. Count yourself lucky, I'm feeling paranoid today and wanted to keep walking."

"… Thank you."

"… Yeah, whatever." I shrugged "So, Tuk, care to fill me in on what went down?"

"Seems kind of obvious, doesn't it?"

"Mmm… yeah, kind of, but for all I know you could have tripped, fell, and cracked your head on the counter… and on the displays… and the walls…"

"No, someone tried to take me out." Tukson huffed.

"I can take a guess at who too, White Fang?"

"I… think so?"

"… You think so?"

Tukson stayed quiet and I eyed him for a moment. "It's… fuzzy. I'm pretty sure it was the White Fang, but most of my day before waking up here is a blur."

"… Brain damage."

Tukson looked at me, either slightly insulted, confused, or both.

"Don't look at me like that." I groused "I found you with your skull cracked open, I'm more surprised you're this coherent and not complaining about migraines."

"Now that you mention it… owwwww~."

"There they are."

I Saw Tukson's jaw tense for a bit, then relax as the headache ebbed. "So now I've got brain damage?"

"A small amount, yeah."

"Fantastic."

"Count yourself lucky, you've still got most of your memories, and you're liable to get the rest back in due time."

"How do you know that?"

"Don't. But you've got most of them, so the damage might not be that severe."

"Great, everything was going smoothly too."

"Hey, at least you're hearing is still good. So you're only dumb and blind."

Tukson glared at me again.

"… Ok, that was a touch too soon."

"Hrmm..."

"So let me ask, what are you still doing here?"

"I think I was waiting for Ms. Belladonna to come back and get what she'd asked for. Promised her I'd look into it, and you did pay me to help her, remember?"

"Yeah, figured you'd skip town or something before that though."

"Hmph, was planning to be out of here tomorrow if she didn't come back. Wanted to try and be good to my word though. My mistake."

"For what it's worth, I can respect that."

Tukson fell silent, and I finished the last of my mending. I took a step back and double checked my work. It was as good as I could do given the circumstances. There wasn't much that could be done for most of his wounds. Most weren't bad enough to need stitches, and the one that needed that and more had already healed. Tukson still looked like a mess, but by comparison to how I found him, he at least looked like he'd pull through.

"… Alright, you know what?" I asked "I don't care."

"… What?"

"I don't care." I reiterated "Under different circumstances, I might have offered to look for who did this to you or something similar to it. But, I don't care. I've got enough on my plate right now, and the last thing I need is to go play vigilante."

Tukson eyed me in confusion "Why would you offer in the first place?"

I shrugged "Because I don't like it when shit like this happens. But, again, I don't care. You're alive, that's good enough… can you walk?"

Tukson looked at me like I was an idiot.

"You survived getting your skull cracked open and are coherent enough to talk to me, can you walk?"

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"… No" Tukson said, trying to sit up. After a moment, he was seated up right on the edge of the counter, looking rather piqued. "My Aura isn't recovered yet, might be able to if it was."

"If I found you a cane or something, could you hobble?"

"… Maybe."

"Good enough. What's your plan, I'm not going to assume that you were just planning to roam aimlessly until you died."

"Hmph, no, I'd been planning to go to Vacuo. Big desert, and I knew some people out there. Could've gone anywhere from there."

"Did they figure that out?"

"… Don't remember."

"Hm, assume they did then."

Tukson gave an aggrieved sigh "Perfect, all that work for nothing. As soon as they realize I'm not dead, they'll be back."

"Probably. That just means you can't be here when they do."

"They'll find me anyway." Tukson slumped, not hard to do when you're beaten down like he was.

"… Alright, you want some advice?"

Tukson looked at me.

"Go to Vacuo anyway."

"… Why-"

"But" I continued "Take the long way there."

"… Long way?"

"Yeah, Make a trip out of it. Take in the Atlas air, climb some mountains in mistral, or visit Menagerie. Just travel a bit, go slow, try not to attract attention, and double back over your steps a few times. Do it long enough and you probably won't even need to go to Vacuo."

Tukson looked at me a moment, still initially confused. But as I spoke, the thoughts seemed to settle on him, and he stopped looking so down.

"… You just said you don't care." Tukson answered, after a moment's thought "Why're you telling me this?"

"You're right, I don't care." I answered shrugging "But… I guess I can empathize is all. Besides you don't have to listen to me either, you can do whatever you want. Hell, you could even just go to the police, let the local justice system handle it. Though it's worth noting they might try to scapegoat you."

"… Thank you."

"Again, not needed. I'll find you a cane, but after that you're on your own."

Tukson turned quiet, but bowed his head to me as I turned and headed for the door.

"… Oh, and I'm going to raid what I want from your inventory, just a heads up."

"Hmph, won't be needing it anymore anyway."

I wasn't gone as long this time. I just needed to find Tukson a sturdy enough stick to help him walk with. After I did, I went back and helped him to his feet. I spent only a short while perusing Tukson's stock. Opting instead to just grab anything that seemed even remotely interesting. By the time I was done, I'd amassed a tidy little collection of my own.

Tukson came hobbling out of the back not long after, a box under one arm and most of his balance set precariously on the length of pipe I'd found for him. He set the box on the counter and began rummaging through it.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Few things I need to finish. I'll be out of here in less than an hour though… There wouldn't be a chance I could convince you to take Ms. Belladonna's book to her, could you?"

I thought about it for a moment. I didn't really have much reason not to. Plus, I'd been planning to have a chat with them later anyway.

"… I don't see why not." I shrugged once more.

"Great." Tukson grunted.

He fished through the box for a moment, then pulled out a book and handed it to me. It was an old, light blue book that looked like someone had fished it out of the dumpster. The covers were chewed up, the spine was cracked, and the pages were yellow. It looked like it'd survived through war. It…

It was a copy of Huck Finn.

It was my copy of Huck Finn.

I practically felt my heart stop as I stared at the book.

"Damnedest thing was I couldn't find any information on it either." Tukson said "Give Ms. Belladonna my apologies, but as far as I can find, that book doesn't exist."

"… Yea, I'll make sure to do that."

…

As team RWBY stepped from the airship, they were surprised to see how much more active Vale had grown. In the weeks' time since their punishment was laid down far more people, both students and gentry alike, had arrived for the festivities. Though the festival itself was still some weeks away.

"Ok" Weiss snipped "Where's this bookstore you were telling us about?"

"It's a couple blocks down." Blake answered, walking ahead towards the street with her team in tow.

Out on the streets, the city was alive and humming with activity and music. All of which, to the perspective of Yang Xiao Long, may as well have been nails on a chalkboard. Her head was pounding and the thought of being awake displeased her greatly. Though she'd put the effort in to make herself presentable, it hadn't changed that even the faintest sources of light felt like a Beowulf was gnawing on her skull. She felt like she could be sick at any moment, and was hating every second of it. The only comfort coming from the blue aviator sunglasses she wore, which helped to dull the sun's rays.

"Did we have to do this so early in the morning?~" Yang complained "I had a long night~"

"It's 2 in the afternoon!" Weiss barked, causing Yang to wince in pain.

"Please keep your voice down." Yang asked.

"Are you going to be ok Yang?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, it's just a hangover Ruby." Yang reassured with a half-smile.

"And you're sure you don't remember anything?" Weiss asked.

"Again, yeah, Weiss. Most of last night is a blur."

"Including anything you might've learned?"

"…I do remember hearing something about a 'whisky' situation, But don't know why."

"perfect."

"Yep, guess the whole night was completely… wasted." Yang snorted a little chuckle at her own joke, while the rest of her team glared at her in annoyance. The blonde brawler then grabbed her head as another spike of pain stabbed into it. "You know what, the sooner we do this the better. My head feels like a Grimm's been chewing on it."

"It shouldn't take long." Blake re-affirmed "If Tukson found anything, it'll be invaluable."

"And if he didn't, then that means it's time to talk to Six anyway." Ruby groaned.

"It won't be that bad." Yang reassured "If Tukson didn't find anything, we'll just pin Six down and force the truth out of him."

"Yang!"

"Heh, kidding, kidding… mostly"

"Honestly, we should by this point." Weiss fumed "It shouldn't have taken this long, or this many tries to find something."

"Hey, you were the one who tried to ask him questions and kept getting made fun of."

"Which was infuriating."

"We'll handle it." Ruby affirmed, steeling herself "One way or another."

The quartet of huntresses in training walked the streets of the city in quick fashion, eager to discover the results of their potentially most conclusive endeavor. Though an air of uncertainty hung over them as well. They had uncovered little through the course of their investigation, but what they had only served to unnerve them.

For a time, they walked in silence, listening to the sounds of the city.

"… Why do you think Six is trying so hard to keep who he is a secret?" Ruby asked.

"Dunno-" Yang groaned "Maybe it's super embarrassing."

"It could be that he just doesn't want to talk about it." Blake offered "I can relate."

"But why?" Weiss continued "What could he possibly be hiding that, after what we all went through at the docks, would be so hard to understand?"

"That's what I'm saying!" Ruby groaned in exasperation "I just don't understand."

"Well, by the time we're done with him, I'm sure we all will." Yang assured.

"But what if-"

"No buts."

"But-"

"Shh."

"We're here." Blake said.

The girls stood outside Tukson's Book Trade. To them the building looked closed, the windows still blacked out with nary a sign of light or life. There was a stillness to the place that was beholden to vacant spaces. A vacuous serenity that at the commotion of the city, but gave none in return.

"… You sure this is the place?" Yang asked "Looks kinda… dead."

"It's supposed to be open, isn't it?" Weiss asked, scrutinizing the signage at the door.

The black bowed faunus gave a look to each of her teammates. One of concern and caution that melded seamlessly into one of hardened determination. As if signaled, the entirety of team RWBY was ready for a fight the moment the door opened. Hands at the ready to unsheathe their tools of choice.

With caution, Blake opened the door and slid into the building, silent as the shade.

She found the room in disorder and disarray. Tables and shelves overturned, books of all types scattered on the floor, and a swath of dried blood smearing the ground close to the counter.

Though less graceful, and nowhere near as quiet, Ruby, Weiss, and Yang followed close after Blake. They too took in the distraught nature of the room with unsure silence.

"… I don't hear anyone." Blake said, relaxing slightly. Her teammates followed suit. They spread out through the room, surveying the damage.

"Something tells me it's not normally this much of a mess." Yang said, stepping around some of the fallen merchandise.

"It was much more put together last time I was here" Blake said, approaching the counter "Tukson always bragged about being able to find any book available. It's why he made it his slogan-"

"Hey! He has a copy of Violet's Garden." Ruby said, picking up a hard-backed book.

"Cool" Yang smiled, recalling memories of reading it to Ruby when they were younger.

"Please focus." Weiss intoned "We have more important business to tend to than shopping for books."

"Right." Ruby said, sobering and focusing on the store around her "Alright, so it looks like Blake's friend was attacked. So it's up to team RWBY to find him and bring him ba-"

"He left a note for me on the counter." Blake said, holding up a folded slip of paper.

"Oh." Ruby said, deflating slightly.

"What's it say?" Yang asked, approaching the counter with Weiss and her sister in tow.

Blake unfolded the slip of paper and began to scan the top of the paper. "Ms. Belladonna- " Blake said, reading aloud. "Though I do not expect you to come looking for this letter, I thought leaving it for you would be a good idea on the off chance you came looking for me."

"Oh boy" Yang sighed sarcastically.

"I was attacked by the White Fang while preparing to leave, and only survived by some small miracle." Blake continued "Don't think ill of me, but I wasn't going to push my luck waiting for you to come back. To summarize, if you are still unaware, I couldn't find any information with regards to the book you had me searching for. The author wasn't listed on any available registry, the numbers didn't match with any cataloguing system, and the title was one no publishers were familiar with (though on a personal note, it was a passable read). As far as all the official channels I've checked are concerned, it doesn't exist…"

"He couldn't find it?" Ruby asked "How could it not exist; we have a copy of it."

"Apparently it's the only one of its kind then." Weiss scowled pondering "But then why's it got all of the information that states otherwise?... What else does the note say?"

"… I apologize, both for being unable to find you any useful information, and for potentially telling any White Fang members that find this note before you now knowing you are in the vicinity."

"Well that's nice of him." Yang said sarcastically.

"Lastly, since you came looking for this note, that would mean that the book itself was never delivered to you-"

"Hold up, what?"

The eyes of the huntresses present widened, and Blake quickened her reading.

"- If this is the case, I advise you to track down your friend with the gasmask. He arrived not long after the attack and helped me recover, and I entrusted him with returning the book to you. Do not come looking for me. Sincerely, Tukson Concolor…"

A heavy silence blanketed the huntresses, a fresh wave of unease washing over them.

"Oh no" Ruby whined.

…

To say Byz worked a miracle with my duster would be an understatement. Considering it was as porous as cheese cloth when I gave it to him, I wasn't sure what he could really do with it. I expected him to just throw it away and make me a new one if it was beyond salvaging. Instead, he somehow managed to piece the entire thing back together, and have it looking better than when I'd found it months ago. It took him about three hours, all told, but when he was done it was back to fighting form and then some. But it was a long three hours for me to wait, considering what I was doing immediately after that.

I caught the first airship back to Beacon that I could, and returned my gear to my locker. I wasn't going to need it for what I had planned. At least I was hoping I didn't because, if I did, then things would've had to have gone catastrophically wrong. Once I was back at the dorms, in the seclusion of my closet, I did change out of my leather armor and back into my Riot Gear - mostly out of a sense of comfortable familiarity. After the docks had ripped it to pieces, it was nice to have it back.

I shrugged into my duster and gave myself a once over, reveling in the feeling. Then I left my closet and walked down the hall towards my teammate's room. I steeled myself as I walked. Something told me this conversation was not going to be a pleasant one. But enough was enough. My teammates acted like they were walking on eggshells with me for the past few weeks, and I was sick of it. Last night had been the 'scrap to break the brahmin's back' so to speak. Dumb decisions were made by everyone involved, but this had to stop. I had no idea where to begin, and this was probably going to end poorly. But nothing new on that end, really.

I stopped in front of my teammate's door, and reached out to knock. I let my fist hover over the door for a moment, ready to rap knuckles against it. But I got the unconscious sense that whatever was coming wasn't going to be pleasant. It was enough to stop me, initially. But I muscled past it, and knocked three times in short succession.

I waited a moment, giving time for anyone on the other side to react and come to the door. After it passed, I knocked again, and waited. But I didn't hear anything from the other side of the door. I moved my ear up to it and focused on discerning who, if anyone, was inside. All I got in return, though, was silence. Which meant everyone was either ignoring me, or there was no one home.

I again fought the urge to just leave, and instead chose to try something stupid. I took out a bobby pin and my screwdriver, and set to work on the lock. It didn't take me long; the locks were standard issue and well maintained. The pins moved easily enough, and didn't require any jimmying to move. With a levering of fingers and the flick of my wrist, I twisted the lock and it opened. I twisted the door handle, and the assembly swung inward, revealing the contents of the room.

Or the lack thereof at least, since it was completely devoid of occupants.

The entire room was in order and neat. Beds made and ready to be slept in. Books standing neatly on shelves, desks organized. It was a model room by anyone's standard. Which meant that either someone was anal retentive when it came to cleanliness, or enjoyed badgering others to it. There was no way a room of four teenagers was normally this clean.

I shrugged, stepped in anyway, and closed the door behind me. My teammates were away, which actually worked in my favor. I may not have had a clue what I was doing, but getting to pick the where things went down was a nice change of pace. I walked into the room and grabbed a chair from one of the desks.

"Hey there, Six!"

"Agk!"

I turned and found Nora standing in the doorway behind me, toothy grin on her face and hands folded behind her back. The door on the wall behind her was open and I could see her teammates cautiously stepping out.

"How do you keep doing that?" I half growled.

"It's not hard, I've had lots of practice~"

"She has." Ren confirmed, looking as disgruntled as I felt.

I gave a grunt of acknowledgement, and focused back on the present situation.

"Uh… what are you doing?" Jaune asked, stepping from his doorway and hovering outside my teammates'.

"Eh, a little prep work." I shrugged, sitting in the chair and facing the door.

"For what?"

"Oh, just a little conversation is all." Said, leaning in the chair, trying to appear relaxed.

"You know you could've done that without breaking into their room… right?"

"Hmm… probably." I shrugged again, switching positions so I was sitting upright, but with my legs crossed. "But this seemed a little more direct."

"Also illegal." Ren chimed in, clearly trying to hold Nora back for some reason.

"Psh, breaking and entering isn't a crime unless you steal something. Only a misdemeanor."

Unhappy with the positions I'd tried, I stood up from the chair and spun it around. Sitting in it backward and facing the door.

Finally slipping past Ren, Nora stepped past Jaune and entered the room. Joining me in the misdemeanor of trespassing. Which opened the flood gates for Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren to follow suit. I got comfortable in my chair as they came into the room.

"Misdemeanors are still illegal, you know." I said rather snidely.

"What did you need to talk with your team about?" Pyrrha asked "Breaking into their room just to talk is a tad… excessive."

"Well, if you must know" I said, trying to get comfortable in my chair "They've been acting kind of funny the past few days and, after an incident last night I'd rather not get into, I'm finally sick of beating around the bush and decided to ask them what's going on."

Pyrrha's eyes widened a little in response, and she nodded. Though it seemed less a nod of acceptance, and more one of understanding. The kind you give when you come to the conclusion something's not going to end well.

Odd, very odd.

"Something wrong, Pyrrha?"

"N-no!" Pyrrha answered hastily "Just surprised."

"There's actually something we want to talk to you about too, Six." Jaune said.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah~" Nora said, giving me a flash of quite the menacing smile "And we want the truth!"

"… The truth?" I asked "That seems kinda redundant to ask-"

"Hey, no back sass, mister!" Nora exclaimed, stalking closer, though Ren seemed to be trying to reign her in.

"Yeah, um…" Jaune stuttered "Well, do you remember that story you told us?"

"… Yes."

"Um… "

"… Well?" I asked, masking my unease with agitation "Come on, what about it?"

"… How much of it was real?" Jaune asked, speaking quickly "Is that city you told us about real? Were those monsters real? I really hope you'll say no, because I've been having nightmares about them ever since you told us about them and I keep worrying every time I'm in a dark room one's going to jump out and grab me."

"… What?"

"AGH!" Nora groaned in exasperation, her stance briefly deflating in emphasis "We know he's lying already; do we have to keep pretending he isn't!?"

I swore the room suddenly became so quiet you could hear a pin drop. To me it did anyway, since for a flat second the only thing I could hear was my own heartbeat.

"What?" I reiterated

"We know you're lying!" Nora boomed, finally working past Ren "Ruby told us that you've been keeping secrets from everyone, and we want answers dang it!"

Nora's voice carried its same bombastic tone but lacked any real intended malice. I couldn't tell if she was trying to threaten me or just state facts. Given that I was feeling like a radroach under direct sunlight right then, threatening me wasn't hard.

"What!?" I asked again, still dumbstruck.

"Drop the act buster!" Nora squawked, getting a little close for my immediate comfort. "We'll get the truth outta ya, just you wait!"

"Nora, please stop-" Jaune said quickly "Ruby asked us not to-"

I stopped paying attention to Jaune as I suddenly felt my heart begin jackhammering. A nauseating, cold sweat began to glaze me from absolutely nowhere. My mouth got a metallic tinge, and one very important feeling settled over me. One too heavy to immediately shrug off.

I was afraid.

I hadn't fully processed everything, but on some subconscious level, I'd already gotten an answer that I hadn't wanted. My body's natural response was to do something irrational, even as my Brain was fighting to take the controls back.

"-we don't even know what he's lying about." Pyrrha chimed in "Just that he hasn't told anyone the truth. Ruby asked us to avoid doing anything-"

"Oh well, too late now." Nora shrugged, turning to look at me "So Mister, what's it gonna be?"

I didn't move. My brain couldn't give input that my body would listen to.

'Stupid fight or flight bullshit.'

"Nora, we're not trying to force him to do anything." Ren said, apparently picking up that backing me further into a corner was a bad idea. "Let's just back up and give him some room."

"No way, everyone kept saying he just weasels out of talking whenever they get this far!"

'I do no such thing!'

"Besides, he can't go anywhere-" Nora continued, smiling "-what's he gonna do, jump out a window?"

'…'

I stared at team JNPR for a few seconds longer. Then turned to look at the window directly behind me. It was more than large enough, and maybe five or ten feet away. Two thin, brittle panes of transparent glass covered by a wooden lattice and split into independent sections. I turned my head back to team JNPR. We stared at each other in a moment of silence.

I watched the color drain from each of them.

'… Don't do it you moron, we can still talk-'

"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!"

I leapt up from my seat and kicked it towards Nora. I closed the distance between me and the window, and dove for it without a second thought. There was a momentary impact as the glass and wood tried vainly to stop me. Then I was past it with a fibrous crack and a shrill snap, hanging momentarily in the open air.

Then plummeting to the ground. From three stories up.

'YOU FUCKING MORON!'

I fell for only a few seconds, so I only had a few seconds to react. Gravity is faster than many give it credit for. I rolled through the air as I fell, angling to get my feet under me. I hit the ground with considerable force not long after, and rolled with it, trying to dampen the force of impact. To my surprise, the landing didn't hurt all that much. Of course, then I saw my aura warble around me and then disappear, followed by the feeling of something disappearing.

Aura was slowly proving itself very useful.

I came to my feet and kept running, finding the nearest pathway I could to the rest of the grounds. I couldn't stick to them if I was going to keep running though. I wanted to stop, since this was only going to make the situation worse.

"After him!"

Unfortunately, that was right about the time I heard Nora begin shouting and, more than likely, jump out the window after me. My brain tried to re-exert its control over the rest of me though, and I tried to stop. But that was more or less a lost cause at this point. So instead, it focused on untangling the web of information I'd been given.

It didn't take long, since it'd been pretty much laid out in front of me. Somehow, my teammates had figured out I'd been lying to them. Granted, my lies and half-truths had been shaky, but they hadn't really questioned them. At least not until recently, which also explained a lot. It also didn't speak well of me for willingly ignoring it. On some level, I had to have known that was what this was about, but I had been too stubborn, stupid, or scared to face it. Or maybe I'd hoped they'd just believe me. In the end though it didn't change I was still running scared. Like a moron.

I didn't even have an end goal right now besides run; I hadn't had time to think that far ahead.

My brain finally got control of the rest of me again about the time I'd arrived at one of the main quads. One spotted with trees and shrubbery. Even with my lead on JNPR, there was no way I'd be able to clear ground enough to lose them. The quad was too large and open.

The scenery however, made up for that.

I dove into the nearest nestling of bushes and crouched there, controlling my breathing and doing my best to go silent.

I'd been there maybe five seconds, when Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren came bursting out of the corridor after me. They screeched to a halt less than ten feet away and I felt my pulse quicken. Jaune quickly surveyed the quad, likely looking for any trace of where I went. There was a tense moment, where I wondered if they were going to see me.

"… Dang it, we lost him." Jaune groaned, having given up searching. He turned back to Pyrrha and Ren "What was Nora thinking, we were trying to avoid something like this."

"I'm surprised you thought she'd do something different." Ren answered "She's only subtle when she thinks it'll be fun."

"And now Six knows that everyone knows about him." Jaune groaned "Couldn't she have just waited?"

Ren appeared to ponder it for a moment. "… No."

"I suppose it doesn't matter now." Pyrrha interrupted "We're here all the same."

"… Right." Jaune sighed "Man, they're going to be angry."

"Perhaps we should try finding Six and properly talking to him." Pyrrha said soothingly "I don't quite understand what's so important that he felt he needed to run away. But when we were talking, he seemed less inclined to do something as rash as, well, jumping out a window."

'Gee, you think?...'

I shook my head and thought about it. If they'd done that, I know I wouldn't have told them the truth. I'd have just kept lying. Which, given they were onto me in the first place, would've made me look more guilty.

"We'd have to find him first…" Ren interrupted "Assuming he's trying to get out as fast as possible, he'd probably try to run for the airships."

Although my brain didn't like the idea of running, Ren's words resonated with my instincts. If I was to keep running, I needed to get off the grounds. Lose them completely, even if only for a little while. Catching a ship back to Vale, and hunkering there for the night would ensure that, and give me time to plan. It was a plan that made sense, and one I'd done a number of times when something got too big for me to immediately handle. Though the correct term for it was strategic withdrawal, not running away.

But my brain knew I couldn't keep running, even if the rest of me wasn't getting the message. I was only making things worse by running away. But what else could I do? The truth was unbelievable, and growing more so the more I fought to hide it. But if I told the truth, there was no way they'd believe me anyway. Because, even given everything I'd seen in this world, why would they?

"… Hey, where is Nora?" Jaune asked, looking around again.

That got a reaction out of Pyrrha and Ren, a look of surprise, as they both joined him in scanning the area again. Even I looked around.

Not more than a second after he said it though, there was a sound. A trilling note that one might mistake for either some form of faux bird-call or a sloth.

It came from right above me.

My head snapped up. Hanging upside down amongst the boughs of the tree was an orange haired girl with a manic grin on her face.

"Found you!" Nora shouted.

Someone let out a rather girly scream, and I leapt out of the bushes and back into the open. Not that it did any good, because Nora swung out of the tree and landed on my back anyway. I felt her legs lock around my waist like bands of iron and an arm crooked and locked around my neck like a steel hook.

"Where do you think you're going, mister!" Nora bellowed.

I tried to say something smarmy in response, but since she was choking me, it only came out as "Gagh ger og gack!"

Instead of coming to my feet, Nora's extra weight pulled me to the ground. We grappled there for a moment, me trying to toss Nora off of me and Nora riding me like a bucking deathclaw. A desperate struggle on my part, because Nora was actually choking me, whether she'd known it or not.

"Nora, stop!" Ren shouted, preparing to intervene

"Don't worry Ren, I got him!" Nora answered back, sounding like she was having the time of her life.

'You ain't got shit.'

With a concerted effort on my part, I rose off the ground enough to slam my back, and Nora with it, on the ground. I knew her Aura would eat it, but doing so would take her off her guard, at least for a moment.

In response to the sudden impact, I felt Nora's grip wane. Nowhere enough to break free, but enough for what came next. I turned in her grasp, so that instead of being at my back, she was at my front. Adjusting just enough so the top of her head reached further than mine.

I felt her grip re-solidify, but with the position change, it hardly mattered. Though it was funny to watch the confusion on her face as she suddenly found herself turned around. Even more so, when I returned her grip with one of my one, locking my arms around her chest and back.

Now on even grounding I found my footing, got to a knee, and pushed into a backward flip.

I suplexed Nora head first into the ground.

Then I used the momentum, in addition to Nora as a fulcrum, to push the flip the rest of the way through the air. I came to a low crouch just behind Nora, who now lay stunned on the ground. Rather than stayed stunned myself though, I sprang from my crouch and bolted. I didn't bother looking at JNPR or waiting for them to throw something else at me. I had a goal now, and if my memory was correct, the next air ship should be pulling into port any moment now.

"Six, wait!" I heard Jaune call after me.

That wasn't happening.

I cut out of the quad as fast as I could, and began racing the corridors and alleys of the campus. I knew the routes well enough, but JNPR didn't. There was a slim chance they'd know how to get to the port faster than me and cut me off. But it was a slim chance. If they followed me instead of cutting me off, they'd get lost. This place was a maze if you didn't bother learning it.

Aside from that, if they needed to stop and help Nora up that just bought me even more time. Though I didn't count on it, since aura was good at brushing off that sort of thing.

I came out a corridor in front of the main administration building, the one with Ozpin's tower. I poured the speed on as I saw the massive airship coming around to pull into the dock. There were other students in the near vicinity. Arriving back from their little vacations. Sun was dipping towards the horizon, but not there yet, light still getting in my eyes.

I weaved through the throngs of people and did my best not to draw attention to me.

The ship pulled in to dock, and I spared a glance back.

JNPR was nowhere to be seen.

I was home free.

I turned back and poured on the pressure to my legs, racing towards the ship as quick as my feet would take me.

Fifty feet away.

Forty feet away.

Thirty.

Ruby ran off the ship at twenty.

I stumbled to a halt as she was followed closely by Weiss, Blake, and Yang.

"C'mon!" Ruby called, looking back at our teammates "If we hurry, we can find-"

Weiss, Blake, and Yang came to a stop before Ruby did, by virtue of having their eyes forward. Ruby stopped in turn herself, turning back to see what had stopped her teammates.

I felt four sets of eyes on me, and my heart sank.

'We know you're lying!... Ruby told us!'

Without a second thought, I turned and ran back the way I'd come.

"Hey, wait!" I heard Ruby call, apparently having picked up that something was amiss.

I didn't bother weaving past people this time. Anybody not bright enough to move out of my way was getting tackled. I ran about half way back before veering off down a side path. I spared a look over my shoulder and saw to my temporary satisfaction I was losing them.

Then Ruby suddenly shot forward like a missile, clearing ten feet in the time it took me to clear one.

'WHAT THE FUC-'

I rolled out of the way at the last second, and Ruby shot past me, little more than a red blur and flower petals. She came Screeching to a halt and faced me as I got my footing and prepared to keep running.

"Six, stop!" Ruby shouted, trying to bar my way "We just want to talk!"

"Over there!" I heard someone call from further away, it sounded like Jaune.

I didn't answer Ruby, instead just choosing to run at her. Either she'd get out of my way or I'd get past her. She stood her ground.

"Move!" I bellowed.

I ran into her, and she grabbed hold of me with her tiny hands. She wasn't trying to grapple with me like Nora had, Ruby sucked at close quarters fighting. Instead, she just grabbed onto me and clung for dear life, hoping her extra weight would slow me down.

Which it did.

I kept moving, but was now carrying an extra approximate weight of 125 lbs. Which, while not enough to stop me, was notable.

"Get off!" I growled, trying to shake her loose.

"I just want to talk!"

"We're way far past that!" I snarled, trying to shake her loose. It gave me a good look at her though, as I tried to be rid of her. She looked… sad.

I buried whatever emotional baggage she was trying to pull up and tried to push on. But I suddenly found it much harder to move. It wasn't because of Ruby though. My feet just wouldn't budge, like someone had encased them in lead. In the time it took Ruby to stall me though, the rest of our teammates had caught up to us. A black, circular glyph had materialized under my feet. The longer it was there, the heavier everything felt too. I tried to move, but my carrying threshold was long past with whatever pseudo-magical bullshit was now transpiring. Only trapped by some non-physical means, did Ruby decide release me.

"We just want to talk." Ruby said again, a tinge of something emotional in her voice "Please."

I tried to stay upright, but whatever was happening was just slowly pulling me to the ground. I came to a knee as the glyph continued to intensify. My teammates were beginning to surround me. Scrutinizing me with cautious gazes.

"Let. Me. Go." I punctuated.

"Please." Ruby said again, much more softly.

The weight continued to intensify. It was becoming harder and harder to keep off the ground. I looked at Weiss, who appeared to somehow be responsible for my current predicament, and saw that restraining me was an effort on her part as well.

"Pinning me to the ground… won't get you anywhere." I said, the exertion of staying up made it hard to talk. "You can't force me… to do something… I don't…" I stopped talking, and just focused on keeping off the ground. It was getting hard to breathe.

"… We don't want to do this, either." Yang said "But you wouldn't stop."

"… Doesn't… Justify…"

The pressure ratcheted another notch, and one of my arms caved, slamming my shoulder into the ground.

"Justify?" Weiss asked, clearly angry "We've been trying to civilly talk to you for the past two weeks!"

"We just wanted to talk." Ruby said, sadness clear in her voice "We just want to understand."

I didn't respond. I didn't need to, because I knew they were right. Even if what they'd done wasn't straight forward or completely honest, they'd never tried to force answers out of me. Sure, they'd tried to talk them out of me, or get me to slip up, but never once had they physically tried restraining me and kicking the information out of me. Which, as right now was showing, they totally could have.

But why would they want to, they were my teammates, they were my… my…

"…We just want to understand." Ruby said again, her voice cracking "You're my friend… I just want to understand."

That thought settled on me even more heavily than whatever Weiss was doing. They were my friends. How could they not be? We laughed at one another, talked, shared stories and secrets. We'd been there when Blake had run away. Hell, I'd gone through the ringer to make sure Yang came back safe not even twenty-four hours ago.

We were friends.

And I was still lying to them.

Even now, as Ruby was very much on the verge of tears. How was any of that justifiable?

"… You'd never… believe me." I said weakly, probably the closest thing I'd ever said to them that was the truth.

"How would you know? You haven't even tried."

"Because… I know I wouldn't… believe me… either."

Weiss seemed to scrutinize me more thoroughly for a moment. Then she took a deep breath. "Excuse me, Six, but if I remember correctly, you're the one who didn't want us jumping to conclusions with Blake."

I felt the invisible force that'd been holding me down release its grasp. I stayed as I'd been, propped up by one arm, and in no rush to get to my feet. My head pivoted, looking towards Weiss.

"-And yet, it's okay for you to assume that whatever you could possibly tell us is so outlandish we couldn't understand it… You're joking, right?"

"…If that's what you want to call it, sure." I grumbled "But it's a pretty bad one if it is."

"Clearly, because you seem to have forgotten something."

I tilted my head, confused.

Weiss stabbed a finger a Ruby "Your teammates are a hyperactive child, -"

"Wha-" Ruby said, startled.

"A temperamental knucklehead, -" Weiss continued, pointing to Yang.

Yang didn't say anything, but looked like she wanted to.

"A literal former terrorist, -"

Blake shrugged uncomfortably.

"and... myself." Weiss pointed at herself "An… occasionally overly critical, stuck-up heiress." She stopped pointing, and looked down at me, expectantly. "What could you possibly say that would be so unbelievable?"

"… Heh- he he" Finally able to breathe again, I sat there chuckling for a minute. "heh… Shit, I must've really screwed the pooch if snowflake's the voice of reason. The world's gotta be upside down."

"Hey!"

I looked back to Ruby, her eyes were still wet and glistening. They had a stupid amount of sway over me that they shouldn't have. But that didn't change the fact that this had gone on long enough. No sense in making a young girl cry.

Just had to hope they were willing to listen.

"… Alright, you win." I sighed "I'll tell you-"

Before I could finish, something hit the top of my skull and slammed me face first into the dirt.

…

Flying in from beyond their small circle, Nora crashed down on the Courier's head with an elbow drop. Slamming his head into the dirt akin to a sledgehammer driving a stake. Causing the members of team RWBY to step back in surprise.

"Got you now!" Nora shouted, flipping off the courier and into a stance ready to catch him if he ran away. She then blinked and looked at the collected team RWBY, seeming to only then take note of the fact that team RWBY was present "Oh, hey!"

"Nora!" Ren gasped breathlessly, quickly approaching from the distance, followed by Jaune and Pyrrha.

"Don't worry Ren, He's not going anywhere now."

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?" Weiss screeched.

"Do what?" Nora asked "I was just making sure he didn't run away this time."

"Don't think he will be now." Ren said, being the first to approach after Nora.

"He wasn't going to!" Ruby cried "He was about to tell us everything!"

The energetic huntress blanched "… oops."

"Is he alright?" Pyrrha asked, stepping close to the Courier.

"I'm sure he's fine~" Nora said quickly.

"…He's gone awfully quiet." Yang said, leaning over and waving a few fingers in front of the Courier's gasmask. "Yoo-hoo, you in there Six?"

Both teams waited in silence for a moment, collectively holding their breath and hoping for a reaction. But the Courier remained silent.

"… Is he dead?" Nora asked fearfully.

"… I think he's alive." Yang said, carefully watching the Courier's chest to see if the was breathing. She placed a pair of her fingers in the soft portion of the courier's neck, just below the right side of his Jaw. "… his heart's beating, so I'm pretty sure he's still alive."

The two teams exhaled and relaxed.

"Oh, good." Nora said, the color returning to her "I was worried for a second, heh."

"So… what do we do now?" Jaune asked "He can't answer our questions if he's- uh- not awake… right?"

"… Right." Ruby said, brushing an arm over her eyes "Let's take him back to our room. He'd probably appreciate the privacy."