Author's Note:

guys, were almost at a hundred follows. That's awesome.

Once Nora was brought back to the ziggurat, she was immediately rushed to the chambers where research into demons was carried out. Protective sigils and powerful wards kept the series of areas more isolated than others. It was a necessary precaution, given the dangerous subject of their attentions.

Naze didn't visit often, the success of the research that took place was often limited by the subject of the studies themselves. Demons were careful to keep themselves shrouded in mystery, especially when summoned by someone with the intent of summoning them. No summonings had taken place since the undead had awakened, though, at least not by them, so they had fallen quite behind on their learning.

Little was known about the world from which demons sprang, but the undead had gathered what they could about it over the years. From the things that they could tell, demons fell into three general categories; minor demons, major demons, and Arch-demons. Minor demons were weak in comparison to their cousins, yet they made up the bulk of any invasion force. They were formed by a variety of forces, but most often their life sprang from the more powerful beasts. Greater demons were far more powerful, having the ability to control hordes of varying sizes, usually quite large. They could drive incursions all on their own, or they could band together to form an even more deadly offensive. Where they came from was almost always the same, but what they were could vary widely. Greater demons could be once-mortals who had gained the favor or proven their worth to an Arch-demon, or they could be purely the construction of an Arch-demon, a fraction of their own power given life and will.

Arch-demons were much more complex than the other two types, and far more mysterious. They ruled the lesser beings in a way that no other thing could quite parallel. Their minions were made extensions of the Arch-demon, manifestations of their will, once they were made into its servants. Where the Arch-demons came from, Naze didn't know, but it was evident that each one had a very particular sphere of influence. An Arch-demon could be a master of something simple, like an emotion, or stand for a more complex idea. What dictated which emotions or ideas were imbued with the power of an Arch-demon, they had not found out. It was clear, though, that they did not ally with each other. Demons that had been occasionally summoned told of great battles between the Lords over power, but beyond that, they knew nothing of the inner workings of the Demons' dimension.

The chambers themselves were as ancient as every other part of the Necropolis, but were also quite a bit darker. Those who worked in the area didn't generally want much light, it tended to drive demons away. The many specimens that were kept here, severed limbs or half preserved corpses, gave the place a horrendously strong odor of sulfur. None of the undead minded, of course, and nor did the demons, but no human would be able to walk in without likely suffocating.

Nora, however, was unaffected by the smell. As Naze entered the rarely-visited section of his domain, he spied the girl laying on the floor inside of a strong rune of containment. He could tell that she wouldn't be able to get out, she was too much of a demon now to pass through any barrier like that. Naze peered at her with his piercing gaze, examining what lay under the surface of the warped flesh that resulted from the demons corruption. Demonic energy obfuscated everything, but he was able to parse it without too much distortion. Nora's soul was still there, not yet having been entirely consumed by the demon, but it was nearing its limits. Soon, the demon would have absorbed everything that Nora had been, and she would be lost. There was something else as well, something that slightly surprised him. There was another soul within her. He could tell at a glance whose soul it was, Ren's, but how it had gotten there was something of a mystery.

The practice of taking another's soul within oneself was ancient beyond even Necromancy, and had fallen into taboo soon after being discovered. Precious little evidence existed that it had ever been practiced at all, and what did was horded elsewhere in the ziggurat. It was an excellent question, then, as to why Nora had been able to do it. Demons could rip the souls out of the living, such was not incredibly difficult, but they would absorb them immediately into their own power. Ren's soul was completely untouched by the demon. It was a mystery, then, how either Nora or the demon inside of her would be able to accomplish such a feat.

It was something that Naze could worry about at a later date, though. Now was the time to extract the demon, freeing Nora, then to remove Ren's soul and hold it until a later date when it could be replaced, given that the boy was still alive.

He would have to cut her soul apart, something that he didn't do much. He was perfectly willing, when given no other option, but generally avoided. It would be difficult, as demons had rather volatile energy, and it would take quite some time to remove. Not unlike a parasite, the demon had integrated itself into her soul deeply, and it would require some minor reconstruction of damaged segments to make sure that all of the demon's power was gone. He would not, of course, alter any more than he had to. In fact, he would leave most of the damage that the demon did. It was not his place to heal the soul, only remove the demon and ensure that she was semi-stable.

He took a step towards her, staff making a small hollow noise against the floor as he did so, and prepared to do his work. Before he could, the girl started to stir.

The first thing that she moved was her hands, fingers twitching as she started to awaken again. Naze watched, not putting any stop to it. She was in an utterly controlled environment, with next to no chance of getting out. He could allow her a few minutes of wakefulness, he would be interested to see how she reacted to her confinement.

Her eyes slowly opened, and she simple lay there for a few moments before seeming to realize what had happened, and springing into action. In one motion, she sprang from the ground, using her arms to fling herself in the direction of Naze. He didn't react, and Nora slammed against the invisible barrier that stood between them, created by the rune on the floor. She obviously hadn't expected to find such a barrier, because she was knocked back flat again. She hit the floor with a dull thump, and a vicious look came across her face as she looked up at Naze, rage barely contained on her face.

Naze gazed down at her, his glowing eye sockets presenting a stark contrast to the dull light of the few candles that sat at random intervals around the corners of the room. To Nora, they were like spotlights, the intensity behind them almost blinding. They sat there for a minute, simply staring at each other. Nora met the cold blue with her own fiery black pupils, trying her best to intimidate the lich. It was clear this wasn't working, and wouldn't work, but she kept doing it. She couldn't claw at him, gouge him, rip his body apart and burn everything that he treasured, all of the books that had to be elsewhere in the tomb.

As if reading her thoughts, the lich shook his head in stiff, almost robotic motions, and spoke in his horribly grating voice, "You won't get out of there, Nora. Not without someone letting you out. And I'm terribly afraid that I will not be doing this." He wondered if her response was going to be the rage-driven response that was typical of possessed individuals, or whether there would be some variance from the norm. Perhaps there was something different about Nora, or the demon that had taken up residence inside of her. Naze recalled the time not too long ago that he had pulled the demon from Nora the first time, and had asked it questions. It had seemed rather pathetic then, but now it had gorged itself on Nora's soul, and built itself up from that worm that Naze had seen. Now Naze wondered what he would find when he cut it out of her. Perhaps its shape had changed.

Nora launched herself again at the lich, but instead of trying to reach him, her only goal was to get through the barrier. She punched, scraped, and heaved herself at the wall, doing her very best to breach it. She had no luck though, and she stopped after a few attempts. Instead, she started to prowl around the edges of her container, testing for weaknesses. The whole time, she kept her eyes locked on Naze, not daring to let him act without her knowledge.

Naze could clearly see that things were not going to yield many results, and decided that it would be best to cut the confrontation that they were having. Instead, he would knock her out again, and start his work.

He put his focus towards the girl, reaching through the rune's shield with his mind, and took hold of Nora's soul itself. First he would have to snuff out her mind, then remove her soul entirely so that he would have more control. He started to tighten his hold around her mind, and felt himself slightly impressed. She did not fall unconscious as soon as a normal human would've. Instead, she remained aware much longer. The human part of her mind did fade out, but the demon fueled her mind with a fire that was much more difficult to extinguish. Naze tightened his grip even more, and started to put major power into it.

The demon was powerful, but it was no match for Naze applying himself to that degree. Even its flame wasn't strong enough to keep Nora awake. She slumped to the floor, now entirely unconscious. Naze then stepped inside of the containment circle himself, aiming to get a better position for the operation. Typically, this was one of the most dangerous things that one could do, but he was protected by numerous wards that would keep him safe, no matter what could spring from Nora.

Using a simple spell, he drew Nora's body off of the floor, and brought it into the air in front of him, hovering solidly in place. It would not only make any physical aspect of the procedure easier, but also restrain her if she were to wake up. With all the preparations that he needed in place, he set about drawing the spirit out of her.

It was a difficult thing to do without causing damage, but he was experienced enough to do it even without focusing on it, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't. Instead he devoted his whole attention to the matter, wanting to make sure that he did this well.

There were a few muscular convulsions as her soul tried to keep itself inside of its owner, but failed. Slowly, the small wisp of light came out of Nora's chest, somehow emitting a radiant brilliance that any feeling creature would have called beautiful. Luckily, Naze was no such creature at the moment, and was able to take a critical look at the thing, unhampered by emotional distractors.

It was brighter than most souls, and still condensed because Nora had not technically died yet, instead of being in the ghostly form that they took after death. It was much easier to work with them dead, but he knew that Ozpin would not want the girl back as an undead. There was another abnormality in the soul that was readily visible, and Naze knew instantly what it was. The off-colored, diseased looking darkened part that made up the majority of the thing. Even so corrupted, many would say it was a thing of beauty.

This discoloration was where the demon had integrated itself into Nora. It wasn't going to be as easy as coaxing the thing out this time. It had woven itself into her very being, and he was going to have to get it out. It was going to be an involved, extensive process, and Nora would lose some of her soul in the work, but it was what Naze had agreed he would do. She would still be able to function, at least to some degree. She would lose most of the powers she'd had, but that was the cost of what she'd done. Besides, she could recover, if she were strong enough.

Naze started to work, pulling away small portions of the demon where he could without impacting the rest of Nora's soul. One good thing about the demon having absorbed so much of the soul was that they were easy to tell apart. As he whisked away the demon with exact movements of both his power and his bony fingers, he thought about the Paladin's attempt at the same goal. They had tried to simply blow the thing out of her, like using a shotgun to remove a tumor. And that hadn't even worked, as she had simply escaped. And they called him a monster. The irony seemed only to be clear to him.

Of course, the claims weren't undeserved, only irrelevant. He'd done horrendous things for research, but those weren't the things that earned him the title in their eyes. They didn't even know about those things. A good thing, without doubt. He didn't need Paladins having any valid grief with him.

He brushed a particularly stubborn part of the corruption, and Nora's body gave an abrupt jerk, straining against her invisible restraints. Her soul was still connected to her body in a small way, even though it was outside of her body. It would remain so until she died. As Naze continued, he considered Nora's body in a more logical sense. The removal of the demon didn't mean that the features she had gained since its introduction would fade. She would have an enormous energy upkeep, it would be a struggle for her body to keep from devouring itself to burn enough energy to continue function.

It would not be too bad, though. If anything, she would only have to eat more food then she normally would. That was something that would likely not be a problem, if the size of her teeth were anything to judge by. She would not quite be human anymore after this, not that she was now, but that was something that she would have to come to terms with. She would have more bodily functions as well, such as the one that allowed a drug-like oil to seep from her pores. Whether she would be able to control something like that was going to play a large part in her reintegrating into society. If she couldn't, it would be excessively difficult, and if she could, it would still be a test of character to see if she would take advantage of others using that power. It could certainly make her abnormally persuasive to the average person. The opportunities to manipulate people would be boundless.

There would also likely be changes to her brain, changes to things like adrenaline production, and focus levels that she would have to learn to deal with. She might not even be able to return to being a Huntress. It would surely be a shame for her, but the greater source of grief would likely be the things that she had already done. The removal of the demon wouldn't alter her memory at all. Everything that she had done would still be crystal-clear to her. She would have to live with having attacked her best friends, gouging out Pyrrha's eye, manipulating Jaune with her musk, and stealing Ren's soul.

At the thought of Ren's soul, Naze looked up, and took it from Nora's body as well, placing it in a fold in his robes for later. It was odd, the physical properties that souls took when out of their hosts, but he had learned them well. The orb was far brighter than Nora's, and lacked nearly all the corruption and flaws that were present on the other. But still, there was nothing for him to do but keep it until it could be returned.

Naze separated a particularly large part of the demon and discarded it, a shrill, piercing noise of pain echoing through the room as he did so. Nora's body gave another violent spasm, and then went still again. What would be done with the demon after it was removed still had to be decided. It would likely die, but there was no solid guarantee of that. If they were able to procure a live specimen like that here, now knowing what they did about its capabilities and actions, the prospect of knowledge seemed a fairly good bet.

The discarded piece of demon hit the floor with a wet squelching sound, and started to move, expanding slightly into the worm-like thing that seemed to be its physical form. Naze watched it for a moment, waiting to see if it did anything else, but it did not. It was mostly, if not entirely, dependent on Nora, then. An excellent factor in capturing it.

He continued to work. Progress had been made, but this was delicate work. It would take at least several hours to be sure that the demon was gone without causing collateral damage. It was work that he found familiar though, and it was an excellent refresher as to what it was like to work directly with a soul, something he had not done in a long time.

.

Yang, Blake, and Weiss all walked through the streets. They had been away from their room now for hours, but still did not want to return. Ruby had probably finished telling Naze everything that she could about Summer by now, but they wanted to be safe and not interrupt, just in case. They had been all over town, and seen almost every street that made up the city. Weiss was starting to complain, and Blake was obviously eager to go back as well.

Yang supposed that it was time to return, but still wanted to give Ruby as much time as possible. So, at the mild groaning of her friends, she suggested that they take a very roundabout way to get back to Beacon. They had agreed though, knowing that it was good that they were getting to return yet at all. That was how they found themselves on the brick of one of the oldest streets in Vale. No one was talking much, they'd spoken enough to last several days in the mere hours they had been out, but when Yang spied something in the distance as she rounded a corner, she broke the silence.

She pointed, stopping, and said, "Hey, what's going on over there, do you think?" Weiss and Blake both followed her finger, and came to the source of the question. It looked like a large gathering of people were gathered around something, although what it was, they couldn't tell. It looked to be a park or something, but there was no way to be sure. "I don't know." Came an answer from Blake. "Maybe there's some kind of rally or something?"

Weiss's eyes narrowed at the distant crowd, and she said in a somewhat suspicious voice "What kind of rally? The last one we heard about…" Blake gave Weiss an angry look. She knew that her teammate hadn't meant anything by it, but it was almost instinct to be offended when discussing the White Fang. Weiss's voice trailed off when she saw the look that the Faunus was giving her, and she said "Sorry. I didn't mean that."

Blake nodded, saying "It's alright, I know you didn't." before looking back off into the distance and saying "They aren't Faunus. At least, not most of them that I can see. It's got to be something else." Weiss nodded, and also started to stare at the distant gathering. Yang's curiosity grew, and she started to walk towards it, saying "Come on! It's on the way anyways, so we might as well see what's up."

The other two gave each other slightly exasperated looks. Of course Yang wanted to go on an adventure now. She was probably trying to give Ruby even more time with this little distraction. But still, neither could say that they weren't interested to see what was going on. They agreed, and started to follow Yang as she walked down the street.

They were about halfway there when they started to tell what it was that people were gathered around. A cemetery, the graves of people long gone all arranged in a block-sized field that had been blocked from their view by the buildings around them. Yang thought that she instantly knew what it was that was going on, but she didn't want to tell the others. Instead, she wanted to see their reactions. It was exciting to know that the things that Naze had talked about were going forward like this. As they got still closer, she started to hear some of the shouting from the crowd aimed at whoever was inside of the cemetery.

"Go away!" "What do you want them for?" "They don't deserve this!"

She felt her fists clench. She didn't need to see what was going on in the graveyard, she already knew. These people just didn't understand, just like a lot of the people that Yang talked to. They didn't like the idea of people coming back from the dead, and were very vocal about it. Her first instinct was to tell them all off, and go join the undead who had to be in the graveyard, but she remembered what Naze had said about her needing to be well behaved in public. She was the face of the undead in the eyes of the public, she couldn't just fly off the handle like that.

Her anger wasn't unnoticed by her friends. Blake put a hand on her arm and said "Yang, what's wrong? Do you know something about this? What's going on?" Yang turned her head to her friend after one more second of staring at the gathering, and saw the concerned look on her face. Instantly, she started trying to hide her anger, knowing that it wouldn't be good. "No, nothing wrong. Why, do I look angry?" In spite of her best efforts, her smile looked forced, and her voice sounded far to chipper to be genuine.

Weiss and Blake both gave her strange looks, as if she had suddenly been replaced by an alien, and nodded simultaneously. This wasn't the normal way that Yang acted. She never hid anything. Obviously, she did know something about what was going on. Either that or she was having another attack of paranoia. Blake felt her body tense up involuntarily at the thought. She knew that it hadn't really been Yang doing that, but she still remembered very well being slammed into the wall and shouted at. It wasn't something that she wanted to repeat.

After a few more seconds of heavy silence, Yang let her shoulders drop, and her gaze shift scornfully back to the crowd. "Yeah, I am. I know what's going on, and these people don't. It's that simple."

Blake and Weiss looked at each other again, confused, and said "What's going on? You can tell us, we won't tell anyone." Yang nodded, and said "I know you won't, but still, I don't want to tell you. I won't have to, though, if we just go and see."

Her two teammates gave each other puzzled looks again, but conceded to Yang's request that they simply see what was going on. The three of them made their way to the center of what was going on, pushing through some of the people to make way. Yang was at the front of the group, and was the main one pushing her way through the crowd. There were a few protests muffled by the voices around them, but it was clear that Yang didn't care. When they got closer, it started to become possible to see through the cracks between people. Blake and Weiss didn't know precisely what they were looking for, but they could start to make out certain things about what was happening in the graveyard. There were occasional flashes of light, and a voice that seemed to make its way out over all of the others. They couldn't understand quite what it was saying, but they could tell that it was raspier, and more rugged than the others. They could also tell that it was not quite as impassioned, simply saying things to the crowd without much conviction.

When they finally made their way to the front, Weiss and Blake were able to see through the barred fence. The scene that greeted them was something that neither had really expected. What they could only describe as zombies, half-rotted and falling apart, bone and muscle exposed to the air, as well as the eyes of those watching. It was clear that Yang wasn't disturbed by the sight, but Blake and Weiss were not as accustomed to views of such rot. Both suddenly felt queasy, their hands going to their stomachs, trying to keep them from churning too violently.

They were able to keep their lunches down, though, and took in more about what was going on. The zombies were hunched over individual graves, shovels in their hands, tossing dirt aside from them, digging their way to the coffins that lay beneath the surface. In the center of the graveyard, there was one zombie that didn't appear to be like the others. It stood up straight, and made gestures with its hands, speaking not to the crowd, but to some unseen audience. It spoke with a strong accent, like it wasn't speaking its native tongue. The three of them looked on, two of them shocked about what they were seeing, and the other one glaring at those around her with an angry look. Weiss put a hand on Yang's shoulder and nearly shouted over the shouting around her "What are they doing? Are they stealing those bodies?"

Yang looked at Weiss for a moment like she had said something completely ridiculous, then shook her head, sending her wild mane of golden hair lashing up in a few faces behind her. "No, they're bringing Hunters back so they can keep serving! These people just don't get that! What that Necromancer is doing is asking them if they do want to come back! They don't dig up people who say no!"

Weiss looked slightly taken aback at this. She had hit a nerve, or something. Her question was a bit insensitive, now that she thought about it, but she thought it was valid. How was she supposed to know what they were doing? Blake spoke next to Yang, and said "Maybe you should tell these people that! I mean, it doesn't seem like that…" she motioned to the Necromancer, still chanting and casting spells, draped in robes that covered mostly everything except its bony face and its somewhat shriveled hands. "…guy is doing much communicating with the crowds."

Yang looked from the Necromancer to the people heckling him, wondering if that was something that she could do very well. Sure, she was the face of the undead, but was that something that these people would be receptive to? She looked around the crowd again, paying special attention to trying to tell if they would be receptive to something like that. The people were certainly angry, but maybe she could do something to calm them down. The last thing that they needed was for them to break out into a riot.

Still, though, it was worth a shot. If she could manage to do it, it could have benefits beyond just this incident. She was willing to wager that there were similar things happening wherever the undead were trying to get this to happen. She could make this one easy, and give an example of how easy this kind of thing could go.

Yang looked back to her friends, a look of slight worry on her face. "Are you guys willing to help me out here? I think it would really help if I had some support here." Her friends' responses came almost instantly, sweeping any doubt aside from Yang's mind that they would want to be associated with her in public like this. "Of course! What do you want us to do?" Yang stopped for a moment, thinking about what they could do, then put a hand out, taking a hold of the metal bars of the fence. "Do you thing that you guys could climb that?" She looked up at the solid line that ran across that top of the bars, confident that they could all stand on it together. Both of them nodded, and Yang gave them a confident smile. "Alright then, just roll with it!"

With an energetic start, she leapt up and started to scale the bars, moving her whole body to make the task easier. She didn't need to worry about injuries or discomfort, but it would be much easier in the long run if her muscles weren't torn from the climb if something were to happen, and she find herself in combat again. It would be a true shame if these people weren't able to overcome such a thing as this, but it was one of those things that Yang supposed that she couldn't get mad about if she thought about their point of view too much. She had to admit, if someone was messing with the grave of someone she had lost like that, and she didn't know what was going on, she would be pretty ticked off too.

She looked down, and found her friends doing the same, Blake being much more able than Weiss at climbing. Weiss was probably worried about getting rust or grime or something on her dress. Blake never really cared too much about stuff like that. Yang reached the top of the fence and pulled herself up, her feet meeting the flat part, and she steadied herself on top of it before taking one final look at the graveyard so that she knew what was going on before she turned to face the crowd again.

None of the graves being dug had been fully ousted yet, but the tops of the coffins were starting to show. The shovels that the zombies were using were coming somewhat worryingly close to the tops of the caskets, but Yang had confidence that they weren't going to just blow through them like that.

Weiss and Blake clambered up with her, and she turned to face the people, saying "Alright, hey, listen up!" Some of the crowd did silence at the call, but most simply kept on jeering. Weiss and Blake also tried for a moment to silence the crowd, but their voices were lost. Yang drew in a huge breath, filling her lungs as much as she could, then shouted "Shut up!"

Yang had never really exercised her voice to its fullest extent, but when she wanted to, she could have quite a booming yell when she wanted to. Her being dead only made it easier for her, as she could keep it up as long as she wanted. The shout had a much greater effect than her living one did, and most people did as they were told, and shut their mouths. Weiss and Blake both looked at their friend, slightly shocked at the zeal she used, but they knew its importance.

Yang looked out at the now stricken faces, a smile starting to spread across her face. Yeah, she could do this. It wouldn't be too hard, she just had to be a little more tactful than she had just been. Not too much, though. If she got too soft on them, she knew that they would start to jeer again. She didn't really have to get them all to stop, she just had to buy the Necromancer enough time to get one person out of the ground, and then they could explain the situation. That was all she had to do.

"Do any of you really know what you're doing here?" One of the people responded in a shout, among others, but his rang out the loudest. "We're protecting our ancestors! You have no right to take their bodies!" The people around the man started to agree loudly, but before the agreement spread too far, Yang responded, saying "We aren't taking their bodies! We're bringing them back from the dead, with their permission mind you, so that they can keep protecting your stupid-" she cut herself off at that point, not wanting to go too far with her words. She needed to not offend them too much. She stopped for a few seconds, thinking, then continued "Anyways, they are coming back to help you with the Grimm! You shouldn't be against this, you should be glad that its not just some faceless warriors that you would be scared of! This of what you would do if your whole security was put in the hands of people you didn't know! Instead, you're getting people you respect, and people who actually care about you! Isn't that what you want? Because if it's not, I'm sure that it could be fixed!"

An uneasy silence settled over everyone who was listening, even her friends. No one was really sure if the threat was true or not. Could she stop what was happening? They started to consider what it would be like if the place that would be filled by their returned dead were filled by individuals that they didn't know. None of them liked the series of images that presented themselves, and some of the crowd along the sides started to dissipate, people figuring that they had better things to do than what they were doing now. The more resolute people near the front were still glaring up at Yang, anger on their faces, but even those looks were starting to fall apart. She knew that her efforts were good, and she only had a little more to go.

She spread her arms in a comforting, open manner and said "We're really just trying to be as un-invasive as we can. We don't want to shove a bunch of people in where they're not wanted either, but something has to be done. This is the best that we can do, given the circumstances. If you think of something better, I'm sure that Naze would love to hear it, but pitch the idea to him, not this guy." She pointed over her shoulder at the Necromancer with a thumb. "So come on, calm down, and let the guy do his work. No need to make him think badly of you, right?"

Weiss and Blake shuffled slightly uncomfortably. They didn't like being looked at by so many people in circumstances like this, but they had to stay by their friend. Yang was standing solidly, not even worried about falling. There was something endearing about that confidence, but neither of them was able to focus on it too much, given the fact that they were both worried about falling off themselves. The people, though, seemed to take Yang's words to heart, and started to depart without much more trouble. A good few stayed, their arms crossed, with angry or expectant looks on their faces, either waiting to see the resurrection, or waiting to see their loved ones again. Yang was glad that a few did stay, because it would be nice for those who were waking up to be greeted by familiar or friendly faces.

As the zombies continued to dig, tension seemed to build up in the air, and she figured that she didn't need to be at the top of the fence anymore. She bent down, took a hold of one of the bars, and slid down to the ground. Her friends followed her after a few moments of hesitation, and she took a position some distance away from the Necromancer, watching what he was doing with interest. Her friends joined her, if somewhat hesitantly. There was a pervading feeling of discomfort in the yard. What was happening simply felt wrong to the two living individuals in the cemetery. The magic in the air simply grated across their nerves like a jagged razor, making their fingers curl and their hair stand on end.

They wouldn't leave, though. Not so long as Yang stayed. They had to stay by her side, until they were all good to return to the dorms. Maybe Ruby could use the time anyways. They both looked around, finding spots against the fence that they could lean on to wait until Yang was finished making sure everything went smoothly. They didn't know how long they would have to stay, but it would feel good to rest their feet, even if it was just for a little while.

.

The last vestiges of the demon's presence within Nora fell to the floor, and joined the rest of the beast's physical form on the opposite end of the rune, almost touching the wall. It was larger now that it had once been, but was still a pathetic little worm-like creature. Nora, for her part, had endured well enough. There was going to be damage, likely permanent, to everything about her, but such was the cost of what she had gone through.

Her body was still suspended above the ground by Naze's invisible bonds, as it had been for hours now. Her muscles were limp, though, and her face relaxed. A body without a soul couldn't feel much discomfort, but she would certainly feel it when he placed her soul back in. That would be the least of her worries though. She would have mountains of physical and mental trauma to overcome. Naze doubted that the previously boisterous girl would be able to do it, but things of that nature were generally hard to predict. It was possible that she bounce back from her experience, and it was possible that she turn into a train wreck, to whom death would be a mercy.

He held the soul again, suspended between his fingers. The ball glowed a little brighter than it had before, but it was also much smaller now too. The light it threw in every direction was dissipated slightly by the nature of the place it now found itself.

It was "pretty", Naze supposed, but it roused no feeling in his chest. Something that was to his slight relief. With one last manipulation of the thing, he thrust it back to its owner, and it floated through her flesh without resistance. Nora's eyes shot wide open and her whole body tensed again as she fought against the bonds, this time consciousness awakening in her mind.

Her body revolted for a few more seconds before she fully woke, and she went limp again, eyes staring straight forward as if she were reliving everything that she had done when the demon was within her. It didn't take long for her to start sobbing. Not just regular crying, but whole-bodied weeping, as if her body was trying to reject the things that it had done. Naze afforded the girl slightly more freedom, and she made use of it by curling up into a ball, her limbs wrapped tightly around herself, and trying to isolate herself from everything else.

Naze turned and started to walk, taking her with him without saying a word. Nothing he could say would comfort her, and doing so would be rather pointless anyways, as the crushed feeling would return almost instantly. The rune dimmed for a moment as he walked through it with her, but there was no other way to get her out. In body, she was still partially a demon, and that wasn't going to change. As he walked, he looked down to his orb of control, and started to move his puppet. He would have to deliver both Nora and Ren's soul to the hospital, where they had gone to try and make sure that Ren was alright. They didn't know the magnitude of what had been done to him, but they also did not know how easily it could be fixed. Yes, Ren would have some similar traumas to Nora, being drugged in the way he was and having his soul pulled out would not have been a pleasant experience for anybody. The effects of the experience, Naze would be interested to see. There were still many questions he had about demons, and although demon corrupted individuals were nowhere near as rare as the causers of their corruption, still there remained mysteries as to the process that a recovery might take. In the overwhelming majority of cases, subjects were simply killed.

In order to prepare for dropping the two things off, he put his mind towards the shade that watched Pyrrha and Jaune. Its vision became his, in addition to his own eyes, as well as those of his puppet. He allowed the information into his mind, paying mild attention to it as it came to him.

.

Ren was lying in a hospital bed, eyes closed, unmoving. The numerous medical instruments all beeped and flashed, showing that he was very much alive, but only weakly so. There was no brain activity, beyond his automatic functions like his breathing and pulse, both of which were strong. No test that the doctors had been able to complete yet yielded a reason as to why he would be afflicted like this, but both Jaune and Pyrrha had a creeping feeling that the cause lay beyond the realm of the physiological.

There was something wrong with him on a deeper level. He was missing something. Pyrrha had thought that it had just been her imagination when Nora had taken something from him, but now it seemed that it wasn't. Neither one wanted to say anything about it, though. They didn't need more failure.

They had gotten Nora to Naze, though, and that was the goal. Now they just waited for either Ren to wake up, or for Naze to contact them again. They had no idea which would happen first, but they hoped that they would get to speak to Ren again, too. Things would seem empty without him, they already did now.

Pyrrha heaved a heavy sigh, and scratched idly at the metal eye patch that sat on her face. Jaune looked up, having noted that she was doing that a lot lately. He still didn't say anything, though. He simply had no energy. It was an unfortunate thing, but having to attack Nora and to carry Ren to the hospital had drained him physically, emotionally, and mentally. He was tired. All he wanted to do was to fall asleep, but he couldn't. Not yet. Pyrrha hadn't left him alone other than when she had been knocked out, so he wouldn't leave her until something knocked him out. He made a promise to himself that he wouldn't.

He looked again at Ren, and the instruments that continued to read out his medical data. Still, there was nothing that indicated he would be waking up any time soon. It stung his eyes to see, and he looked away, feeling his eyes start to leak. He wiped the tears away with the back of his hand, and moved his gaze elsewhere. His blade and shield laid against the wall by the door, a slight glint coming off of the edge of the blade and hitting his eyes. He glared at the light for a few seconds before the pressure on his pupil became too much, and he looked away, blinking the outlines out of his vision as best as he could.

When he regained the ability to see enough to take in the room again, he saw Pyrrha looking at him with her single green eye. There was a hurt look on her face, and she definitely wanted to say something to him, but couldn't. He remembered getting upset with her earlier, and felt guilt about that flood his mind on top of everything else.

It grew to be unbearable, and he started to feel his mind crack. Things that had made sense before started to become riddles, and he started to move himself into the past, trying to figure things out. What if he had been able to save Pyrrha before she got her eye clawed? What if he had been able to stop Nora from ever becoming possessed? The further back his mind stretched, the more pain built up in the lower-back of his skull.

What if he had gotten into Beacon legitimately? Cardin never would've been able to blackmail him like he had. Then Jaune would've been able to do better in his classes. But then Pyrrha might not have offered to help him. If she'd never offered to do that, they might never have gotten as close as they were. But would she have gotten injured? Was it worth something like that?

Something warm joined him in the seat, pushing him to the side slightly, and he gave a startled jump. When he looked to his side, he found Pyrrha looking back at him, immeasurable sorrow on her face. The two had shared more than they ever thought they could in the past few days, and this look confirmed it. She understood just what was happening to him, and she knew that she had to stop it. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders gently, and she leaned into him, pushing him slightly over to the side. "Jaune, it's alright. Please, don't worry. Have some confidence that things will be alright! I know it looks bleak now, but give things a chance to work out!"

She sounded like she was trying to convince herself to do these things just as much as she was Jaune, but he supposed it made sense. He sighed again, weary of everything. His mind was starting to slow, though, and order was returning to his thoughts. At least he had Pyrrha to keep him sane.

The two drifted off to sleep together in each other's arms, snoring softly and sharing their comfort between them. Together, they had just enough to stave off the maddening nightmares and terrors that gnawed at the fringes of their minds now. They dreamed of happy things, and of things that they hoped would happen, about successes, and of happy accidents, and everything in-between. It was their greatest hope of all, though, that when they woke, the world wouldn't be quite as bleak and horrible as it seemed now.

.

The Necromancer finished the spell of binding, and the spirit that had been in front of him seconds before disappeared into the still sealed casket that lay at the bottom of the small hole that had been dug in front of the grave. The Necromancer glanced at the headstone briefly, the spirit's name not having come up during their conversation, and read "Tanner MacArthur" running across the top. There was a brief epitaph about how he had died at the cities borders, giving time for the regional defenders to establish defense, but the Necromancer already knew of the man's deeds. What he cared about was his service.

The lid of the casket was about to be opened when a rumble from inside made the Necromancer halt his minions. Whatever the corpse was doing in there, it wanted to do on its own.

With a sudden, forceful blast, the lid of the casket was blown several feet in the air, splinters and screws exploding out with it. A collective gasp from the living onlookers made things seem more intense, and when the dirt and wood dust cleared, the Necromancer saw that the man wasn't lying when he said that his body had been preserved.

It was clear the man was dead, but from a distance he would look no more than a bit pallid. He could tell that injections of preservatives had been used, as well as some reconstructive work on his musculature and bone. It was aesthetically pleasing, but functionally useless. The man would have to report back to the ziggurat for his body to be made fit for battle once more. That weak work, though, had obviously not stopped him from showing what he was capable of.

The corpse picked itself up from its final resting place, one leg ridged and unwilling to move on account of being mostly plastics, and clambered out, clawing at the dirt sides of its hole in order to get a grip. Once it did, it pulled itself out, getting awkwardly to his feet afterwards.

His eyes passed over the faces watching him briefly, and in the instant that they did, he saw the face of his little girl. She wasn't so little anymore, of course, but he would recognize those big, awe filled eyes anywhere. His attention was drawn back to the Necromancer, however, who said to him in a raspy voice too low for the others to hear, "Now pledge yourself, and you may go."

It was part of the deal they had come up with. He would pledge himself to the Necromancer's master, Naze, and be allowed to defend his homeland, as he had died doing. He did so, taking a knee and swearing fealty so long as their goals remained pure. The Necromancer then gave him instructions about where to go, but instead of listening he ran to the gate, arms outstretched, and hugged his daughter through the bars. His body was stiff, and difficult to control, but her warm embrace made dying seem like nothing.

It was shortly after that he bade a regretful goodbye, and started to go where the Necromancer had commanded. There wasn't much time to spare, and he would be serving his dear daughter just as much as his home by doing this.

Scenes like this one were playing out all over the world, the Necromancer knew. The first of the dead heroes being awakened and recruited. He looked around that graveyard again. The Ambassador Yang and her two companions had gone once the trouble died down, and left him to do his work alone. That was how he liked it. There was still an audience watching, but they were outside the gate, and he was not. That was good enough of a divide for him.

He set back into his work, spreading the powers of death around him to strengthen the spirits in the area. It would take time to raise those remaining in the yard, and time was something that he didn't want to waste. He set back to the work with undivided attention, and let his thoughts about other matters fade into the back of his mind.