AUTHOR'S NOTES: Because of the contents of this chapter, some extra information is in order, please read:

Geography: Because I don't believe that there's been any official release on what places on the map of Remnant are what, I had to make some assumptions/ choices of my own. In the map with the four glowing dots, Vytal (where Vale/ Beacon are located) is the center dot, with Atlas to the north, Vacuo to the west, and Mistral to the east.

Professor Ozpin sat in his command tent watching the security footage from the many cameras around Beacon that Glynda had delivered to him the night before. The footage, in conjunction with the little sleep he had gotten, had done little for his mood. Watching this footage, he had seen the death of one of his oldest friends, the destruction of his school and home, and the suffering of the students he was supposed to have been watching over. He heard footsteps on the rug behind him and recognized the familiar footsteps of his ever present assistant, and slid his hand over to the scroll to pause the many video screens arrayed against the walls of his tent. Glynda held out a cup of steaming chocolate, his third of the day despite the early hour, which he took with quiet thanks.

"How are you feeling, Headmaster?" Glynda asked by way of introduction into the conversation.

Ozpin sighed a heavy sigh. "I am… heartbroken. And I want revenge. But I suppose that isn't the healthiest mixture of feelings." He sipped the steaming cup of chocolate, savoring the heat.

Glynda glanced up at some of the screens surrounding them, scrutinizing a group of them. "Is that…?"

"Yang Xiao Long, yes." Ozpin replied in answer to her unfinished question. "Keep watching her fight here," he pointed at a screen to Glynda's left, "at the landing pads behind the school."

Glynda watched in silence for minutes, before finally saying, "She was quite the powerful huntress. More so than I had thought." She added, watching as the fiery huntress fought her way through groups of soldiers.

"With another year or two of specialized training, she would've been one of the most powerful huntresses in the world, Glynda. She was miles ahead of any of the other students at Beacon. As for her being powerful… look here." Ozpin pointed to another screen above them, which had a still image on it, and tapped his scroll to resume that screen's video.

Glynda focused on the screen and saw that Yang was lying on the ground, mortally wounded, with more soldiers scattered around her than she could make out. A man in a uniform was crouched down and speaking to her, but began backing off quickly. Glynda moved closer, curious, only to see Yang begin laughing, then glowing, then there was a flash of light before the camera feed died. She turned to Ozpin, a questioning look on her face.

"She used the last of her energy to do… something." He explained with a shrug. "Her aura or semblance I assume. She turned Beacon into an inferno, killing everyone in and around the school." Glynda looked back at the blank video feed, a hint of respect showing on her face, which spoke volumes about how much respect she actually was hiding beneath her cool exterior. "But we'll review these along with the others when we meet with the council later. What news do you have for me?"

Glynda looked at the screen for a few more seconds before recovering her composure and summarizing her report out loud. "Most of the students have recovered, physically. There are still a number of them who are still in shock from yesterday." Glynda started, reading from her clipboard. "As for the soldiers, my contacts tell me they were just a detachment from the main Vacuoan army. My network is still looking for motive behind the invasion of our schools. Atlas and Mistral were attacked as well, and have refocused their efforts to defense and recovery. They have offered no soldiers or aid, and have retreated to their major cities." Glynda continued. Though her voice was calm, thanks to their long relationship Ozpin could hear the undercurrents of stress and resentment. Glynda clearly disapproved of the actions of the other lands, seeing their caution and defensive posture as cowardice.

"Well, I can understand their desire to defend their homes, even if I disagree with their actions." Ozpin said, glancing down at his watch. "Miss Schnee and Miss Nikos should be here soon. Will you handle the other students' reports while I go over those?" Glynda nodded, stepping out of the tent in order to prepare for a station to speak to the students.

Weiss could hear muffled noises around her, rousing the young heiress from her tempestuous sleep. She slowly opened her eyes, wincing as they adjusted to the bright light of the early morning light filtering through the tent. Realizing how uncomfortable her sleeping position was, bent over at an angle in a chair with her head on Ruby's bed, she sat up straight. Raising her arms to stretch, she encountered some resistance and found that Ruby had gripped Weiss' hand in the night. Weiss blushed slightly, remembering she was the one who had held Ruby's hand in the first place last night. Gently working her hand out of Ruby's, she stood up to go fetch Pyrrha, assuming she wasn't already awake, so they could report to Ozpin as they discussed the night before.

Looking back at the sleeping Ruby once more, Weiss closed the curtain behind her and crossed the hallway to see if Pyrrha was sleeping in Jaune's room, as she suspected. "Pyrrha?" she spoke softly against the curtain. "Are you in there?"

"Yes, I'll be out in just a moment," she heard Pyrrha reply softly.

"Okay. I'll meet you at the front of the tent." Weiss replied, turning to stroll down the tent's hallway. She stopped and looked into Blake's room, but found she wasn't there. Deciding she would look for her later, Weiss continued on her way. As she approached the staffing station towards the front, one of the doctors looked up at Weiss and motioned for Weiss to come closer. "Yes?"

"Did Miss Rose finish her breakfast?" the elderly woman asked, her soft yet clear and powerful voice belying her appearance and age.

"Ruby woke up already? She was asleep when I woke up just now." Weiss responded, surprised at hearing Ruby had already woken up once already.

"She was up quite early, before sunrise. I found her walking down the hall here looking for breakfast."

"Oh. I suppose she did then. I didn't see any food when I woke up."

"Excellent, a good appetite is a sign of recovery." the doctor said, making a notation on a nearby clipboard. She glanced up, looking at Weiss' face. "Did you get enough sleep? You seem to be a little flushed." The doctor reached up to feel Weiss' forehead to check for a fever.

Weiss backed away a step, waving her off. "I'm fine, I was just a little warm," she lied. She had began blushing and turning red once she realized that if Ruby had woken up and left, that meant that when she had lain back down in bed, she had also grabbed Weiss' hand. In an effort to change the subject, she asked, "Do you happen to know where Blake Belladonna is? She was in room 37 last night."

The doctor turned to consult a clipboard hanging on a post. "It says here Miss Belladonna signed herself out early this morning, and has since left."

"Oh, thanks. I'll go look for her later." She thanked the doctor again before stepping outside into the cool morning air.

"Morning, Weiss." Pyrrha said from behind her a few moments later. "Shall we?" Weiss nodded and they walked towards Ozpin's tent.

As they started off, they made small talk on various subjects- how Jaune was handling the situation, speculating on who the soldiers were, how this new war would affect the conflicts with the White Fang, and what this fight meant for the huntsman and huntresses who were fighting Grimm. If the huntresses and huntsman were to join in this war, it would mean less of them keeping back the Grimm, which would be an issue for the whole world. The chat continued for only a few minutes before they arrived at Ozpin's tent and proceeded inside.

As they entered they could see a large array of screens covered in all sorts of information lining two of the walls of the tent behind the tables and desks. Some of the screens had lists of numeric information, others had maps, and others had various video feeds on them, some paused, some still playing in silence.

Ozpin turned, "Ah there you are. Please, sit." He gestured at some chairs next to one of the large tables near the screens. "Did you sleep well?"

Both the girls mumbled their responses of "yes, sir" and "I did" as they sat, paying more attention to the screens than to the small talk. Ozpin sat across from them, and said "I have been reviewing the video footage for a while now, and feel I have a grasp of yesterday's events. But-"

Weiss cut in, "You have the footage? Did you see what happened to Yang?" Weiss' voice was somewhat frantic and hopeful, but she calmed down as Pyrrha put her hand on her knee.

Ozpin tipped his head in appreciation to Pyrrha. "Yes, I did. If you aren't uncomfortable, I can show you. It's understandable if you'd rather not, though."

Weiss hesitated. "Yes, please. I need to see this."

Ozpin gestured to one of the lager screens and fiddled around with his scroll, causing an image to pop up and begin playing as a video. It started with Yang's landing after destroying the gunship, surrounded by soldiers. The number of soldiers was overwhelming to Weiss and Pyrrha, who thought for sure they were about to watch their friend die. But to their surprise, before the soldiers could attack her she had said something to them and leapt into their ranks and began wreaking havoc on the soldiers. What had at first appeared to be an unbalanced fight with Yang fighting for her survival soon revealed itself to be quite the reverse- the soldiers were trying to escape from her, fear evident on their faces. Entire squads were wiped out, either shot or beaten to a pulp or ignited in flame. Her injuries were adding up though, until the resolution of the fight when she collapsed onto the ground after all the soldiers had either fled or been killed. Weiss and Pyrrha's mouths were hanging open in shock, unaware that Yang was such a powerful fighter. And seeing her final destruction of Beacon only shocked them further still.

Pyrrha looked back at Ozpin. "That was… amazing. She's a hero!"

Weiss also shared that sentiment, but had a slightly different take. "Yes, but she's still dead regardless of how good she was. We aren't invincible."

Ozpin looked saddened. "No. It seems we aren't." He walked to another table off to the side of the tent, and grabbed two more cups of steaming brown liquid, "Coffee, this time." He set the drinks in front of them. "Now, give me your version of the events of yesterday, please."

Weiss and Pyrrha each alternated telling their story. A day that began perfectly normally waking up and eating breakfast. A breakfast that went horribly wrong as Professor Port ran in to alert them to the incoming attack and setting up a defense. A defense that was holding up nearly flawlessly until team CRDL abandoned them out of cowardice, which resulted in the compromise of the rest of the school. As each of the girls told their stories from their respective sections of the school, Ozpin used his scroll to flip through screens and video feeds to reference areas they were talking about. His brow furrowed upon hearing about CRDL's desertion, and he spent a long while watching the battle at the front of the school, analyzing it. As he traded information with the girls, they finally reached the end of their story as they arrived at the camp the night before.

"It seems I need to have a talk with CRDL, then." Ozpin concluded. "It is my judgment as well that if they had not run then the school would have fared much better. They are in the camp." Weiss and Pyrrha stood up, outraged. "You are forbidden from confronting them." The last statement was backed by a pressure and force that the girls could feel, and their sense of it was so strong they immediately hesitated and sat bat down. "I will deal with them." The girls nodded, reluctant to go against the Headmaster. "Now go eat some breakfast and rest. I'll call together all the students for an assembly later."

The girls nodded again before excusing themselves from the tent. As they stepped out Weiss heard a rushing of wind, but looking around she couldn't identify the source. Weiss thought she could smell a hint of roses in the air, but again couldn't identify the source after looking around. "Weiss? Everything okay?" Pyrrha asked.

"Uh yeah, I just thought I saw something. Let's go eat so I can get back to Ruby." Weiss responded, walking towards the mess tents for their breakfast. As they left, a rose petal drifted lazily to the ground behind them, landing on the grass and dissipating in the wind.

Ruby was hiding behind a small stack of metal crates watching Weiss and Pyrrha leave. She had been hiding outside of the tent as her friends told their story to Professor Ozpin and had peeked into the tent to watch the video feed as he scrolled through, including her sister's death. She had followed Weiss because she wasn't sure why her partner had left so early and not stayed with her, but now understood about the necessary report given to Ozpin. But her curiosity had allowed her to learn some important information: Team CRDL was responsible for the school falling, and therefore her sister's death, and Ren's death, and team SBLE, and a whole host of others.

A tiny voice in the back of her head was telling Ruby that blaming CRDL for everyone's deaths didn't make sense, but Ruby was beyond listening to that voice now and pushed that voice behind a cacophony of other voices telling her that all of this was team CRDL's fault. A plan already in the making, she disappeared in a small flurry of rose petals.

Blake Belladonna was kneeling at the edge of a small creek; her hands were pressed together, fingers intertwined as she said a silent prayer to not any deity, but to Yang's soul- asking for forgiveness for being unable to keep her safe. She wasn't wearing her normal outfit, instead wearing a black, silk kimono with some yellow stitching at the edges of the fabric, mostly around the collar and cuffs, but at the bottom of the kimono as well. She also had the orange scarf that she was clutching so tightly last night wrapped snuggly around her neck, not for warmth so much as for comfort. At her side sat a bouquet of belladonna flowers of a variety of colors- deep blue, violet, indigo, lavender- which Yang had loved comparing Blake too. Yang had always managed to acquire them for special events as well, despite the flowers' poisonous nature and illegality.

Blake stood up, picking up the bouquet of flowers to leave at the small tombstone she had erected here next to the creek. As she set the flowers down, she heard a disturbance in the air behind her. Catching a faint scent of roses with her sensitive nose, Blake didn't even need to turn around to identify the figure approaching her. "Morning, Ruby."

"Morning, Blake. Is it okay if I'm here?" Ruby asked hesitantly.

Blake turned around, embracing the shorter girl. "Of course it is. You're my team leader, and Yang's little sister, and my friend. You're always welcome here." Blake let go, feeling Ruby's shoulders shudder as she sobbed a little. "Don't cry Ruby. Yang would want us to smile and go enjoy ourselves right? Beat up some bad guys, spend time with our friends." Blake wiped away a tear, and put a smile on her face. "Right?"

Ruby let out a little giggle and smile, the same one that Blake remembered from their first year at Beacon. "Right." Ruby sniffed.

"And you're like my little sister too, so come to me if you ever need anything okay?" Blake added, taking Ruby's hands in her own.

"Yeah." Ruby used her wrists to wipe her eyes, her hands still in Blake's. "Will do." Ruby glanced over Blake's shoulder, and saw the bouquet of flowers on the makeshift tombstone Blake had erected. "Well, actually, can I have a few of those flowers? I wanted to do something special for Yang and since those flowers meant so much to you and her…" Ruby asked.

Blake blinked in surprise. "Um… yeah, sure. Do you want some fresh ones, or will a couple of these ones work?"

"Two or three should be fine, it shouldn't take very many for what I want to do. Just a small sort of tribute to my big sister, you know?" Ruby explained. Blake pulled a few of the nightshade flowers out of the bouquet, and held them out for Ruby. "Thank you, Blake." Ruby hugged the faunus girl again, before backing away. "I'm going to go start working on it now, thank you so much for the flowers."

"Anytime, Ruby." Blake replied. "I'm going to go apologize to Weiss; I wasn't very polite to her last night even though she was trying to help me. Do you want to walk back together?"

Ruby shook her head. "Sorry, but I really wanna get started on this as soon as possible." Ruby explained, holding up the flowers before putting them in the small bag at her hip. "I'll see you later Blake, bye!"

Blake smiled and waved goodbye as the young redhead disappeared in a flurry of rose petals and disturbed leaves. "I wonder what she's making." Blake pondered as she returned to camp to search for Weiss.

Nora was quietly sleeping in her small bed in the medical tent, dreaming of her past adventures with Ren when she felt a hand gently shake her shoulder. As her eyes fluttered open she muttered a soft protest. "Ren, let me sleep in today." But as her eyes focused in the bright light she found, not Ren, but Ruby Rose looking down at her. "Ruby?" Where's Ren?" Nora looked around. "Is he sleeping somewhere else? Usually he sleeps with me." She rubbed her eyes. "Have you seen him?"

Ruby felt a twinge in her heart, realizing that Weiss and Pyrrha weren't exaggerating in their report to professor Ozpin about Nora being in extreme denial about Ren's death. Ruby could see it in Nora's eyes; they were empty, devoid of conscious thought, clinging to a false past. But she needed to break Nora out of this prison that her mind has concocted to protect her from the truth in order to move forward with her plan. Ruby leaned in close, whispering in Nora's ear. "Ren is dead. He was killed." Ruby heard Nora begin to voice her protests against that fact. "He died protecting you," Ruby continued, still whispering, "and it's all CRDL's fault."

Ruby straightened up, looking down into Nora's eyes. There was a flicker of light in Nora's eyes for the briefest of moments as her mind registered what Ruby had said. "It was CRDL's fault?" Nora whispered.

"Yes. Because of CRDL, Ren is dead, and Yang too." Ruby answered, still whispering.

Then, for the first time since Ren's death, her eyes came into focus. "Ren and Yang? They're both dead?" Nora felt her heart pounding, her delusion finally shattering as Ruby's words ripped it apart around her. Nora had Yang had been good friends, somehow always getting along splendidly despite their personality differences. Her eyes narrowed. "CRDL." The word had a startling amount of hate and venom in it.

"CRDL. I think they should be punished. Are you with me, Nora?" Ruby asked, putting just as much venom and hate into the team's name as Nora.

Nora nodded, and the look of pure malice on her face. That look would've frightened Ruby at any other time, but at the moment, she had the exact same look on her face.

Nora crouched behind CRDL's tent, waiting for Ruby's signal. Ruby had a plan and Nora was glad for it. Anything Nora came up with would've been a very straightforward plan that would've mostly likely resulted in Nora's arrest, at best. But Ruby's plan had the touch of elegance that a leader should have and Nora immediately agreed to it. Nora was feeling restless and wanted to move, but she knew that she had to stay down and out of sight while keeping watch. Her patience paid off a couple hours later when she heard four distinct muffled thuds coming from the inside of the tent. She smiled, and turned around to lift the bottom of the back side of the tent and slipped under and in.

Ruby was standing there, the convulsing bodies of team CRDL lying silent on the floor of the tent around her. Ruby smiled as she turned to close the flap, cutting off the view from anyone outside. Nora looked at each member of team CRDL as their eyes darted around sightlessly and they mumbled incoherently, flopping around on the ground. "What did you do to them?" Nora asked, crouching and poking Cardin Winchester's face in curiosity.

"I got some nightshade flowers from Blake." Ruby explained. "I ground it up and put it in their drinks before they woke up." Ruby was moving between the members of team CRDL, tying their arms and legs together and gagging them.

"Poison, huh?" Nora paused in the act of throwing Cardin over her shoulder. "Is Blake helping with this plan then?"

"No, I didn't tell her. The less people that know, the better." Ruby explained, helping Nora throw Sky Lark over her other shoulder, Nora's immense strength shouldering the load easily.

As Nora waited for Ruby to lift the back of the tent to scout out their surroundings, she asked, "Why ask me for help then, and not do it yourself?"

Ruby signaled that the coast was clear, and Nora followed her out. "Because I'm not strong enough to carry them on my own." Ruby glanced at Nora as they began running towards the forest. "And I knew you would understand the same need for revenge I feel."

Ruby's honesty made Nora laugh. "Good point." Nora replied as they ran as fast as they could towards the nearby forest without attracting attention. After they got in just past the edge undetected, they dropped their captives and went to fetch the other two members of CRDL. Fifteen minutes later, Nora and Ruby arrived with the other half of CRDL and began tying them together into one chain of people, feet to hands.

"All done!" Nora announced. "Where to now?"

"This way, I found the perfect place." Ruby led the way into the depths of the forest.

"Okay~" Nora sang.

Weiss and Pyrrha were leaving the mess tent when they encountered Blake, who was wearing a kimono and the orange scarf that was her keepsake of Yang. Weiss stiffened, nervous at how Blake may react to seeing her. Her fears were groundless as Blake simply embraced her gently and apologized for her behavior the night before, which sparked a back and forth of apologies as Weiss insisted it was understandable and Blake insisted her behavior was inexcusable as a teammate. Their silly argument ended with them embracing again, and with Pyrrha as well. Weiss broke the hug, asking "We're about to go check on Ruby and Jaune, would you care to join us?"

"Ruby? I just saw her down by the creek; I don't think she's in the medical tent anymore." Blake explained.

"She left? Ugh, how did I miss her again!" Weiss complained.

"Its okay, Weiss. She probably just went to your team's tent." Pyrrha soothingly replied.

"Team tents?" Blake asked.

"Professor Ozpin had tents set up for teams to stay in." Weiss mentioned as she gestured towards a large sprawl of smaller tents.

"I see. Why don't you two go check there then? I wanna walk around a little more," Blake suggested.

"Sure. We'll see you at our tent later, okay?" Pyrrha responded, walking off towards the tents with Weiss.

"Bye." Blake waved a small goodbye. She was beginning to get curious about the circumstances of her team leader, Ruby Rose. Why would she ask Blake for help doing something for Yang, but not Weiss? Weiss was her partner and a teammate of Yang's as well. Blake decided the best way of finding Ruby would be to try to follow the smell of nightshade flowers through the camp, as the chances of anyone else having them were next to nothing.

Nora and Ruby were trudging through the forest with Ruby leading the way while Nora dragged team CRDL behind her through the dirt and brush. "Are we nearly there, Ruby? We've been walking for hours now." Nora asked, not tired so much as she was bored at the long journey.

"We're here, actually. It's this clearing right here." Ruby hopped into a grassy clearing just ahead of Nora. "Throw them in the center, there." The clearing was a simple, large, and grassy area devoid of trees with small cliff side rising above. At the far side was dark maw of a cave in the side of it that the girls couldn't see in to.

Nora unceremoniously tossed team CRDL into the center of the clearing with no regard to their well being. She did, however, notice Cardin's glare and grunting complaints. "Hey, it looks like the poison wore off of Cardin!" Nora jumped and plopped down on the grass next to him. "How ya doin' sleepyhead?"

Cardin struggled to break his bonds, grunting and moaning into the gag in his mouth. "Is he trying to say something?" Ruby asked, stepping closer. "Let's take the gag out and see what he has to say for himself." Ruby reached down and viciously tore the cloth gag from his mouth, earning a grunt of pain from Cardin.

"What the hell are you doing? Let me loose!" Cardin immediately yelled.

"Nope. You get to stay right there." Nora said playfully, rolling Cardin around with her foot.

As Cardin continued to struggle with the ropes binding him, Ruby began explaining. "Well you see, because you and your team," Ruby waved her hand over the still unconscious members of Cardin's team, "abandoned your post at Beacon, my sister and many others died."

"Like my Ren." Nora whispered in Cardin's ear, frightening him, as he had not seen her creep up on him.

"We were fighting an army, it made sense to run, everyone should've!" Cardin tried to justify his cowardice with coward's logic, which only infuriated Ruby and Nora.

Ruby furiously stuffed the cloth gag bag into Cardin's mouth, explaining "You're going to want to keep this in so you don't bite your tongue. Nora, will you do the honors?"

"My pleasure." The dark tinge to Nora's voice was enough to make Cardin shudder in fear. Nora reached behind her and pulled out Magnhild, extending the weapon to its hammer form. Cardin tried to wiggle away, but his futile effort was rewarded with Nora's hammer smashing down onto his left knee, shattering the bones.

Blake heard a scream of unadulterated pain coming from deeper in the woods. She was rushing through the trees more slowly than normal because she was wearing a kimono rather than her normal attire. She had not found any trace of Ruby during her walk, but had caught a whiff of nightshade as she passed team CRDL's tent. Suddenly worried at Ruby's intentions, she entered the tent to find spilled drinks on the floor and no team CRDL. She did smell Ruby and Nora's scents though, which only made her worry more. She found the scents led to the forest, and immediately began following the six human scents through the forest. The smell of nightshade had faded, indicating to Blake that the flowers had been either left behind or ingested. She was beginning to suspect ingested.

As she rushed through the trees she heard a second scream of pain from the same voice she heard earlier, which she was beginning to recognize as Cardin. Blake began to get an idea of what had happened- Ruby had most likely tricked CRDL into drinking something made with the flowers Blake had given her and rendered them either unconscious or hallucinating. Nora then carried them into the woods, and the two girls were beginning to do… something. "Why though?" Blake wondered out loud.

As Blake approached the source of the screams she slowed her pace and quietly crept closer through the trees, happening upon a strange scene. Ruby and Nora were standing above a terrified team CRDL, Nora with weapon in hand. In front of the pair of girls was a screaming Cardin. It wasn't difficult to see why- Cardin's legs had been shattered, bent at places they weren't meant to bend. The rest of his team looked terrified with a hint of groggy, indicating to Blake that they were awakened by Cardin's screams.

As Cardin's screamed finally settled into pained whimpers, Blake's sensitive faunus ears could hear Ruby start talking. "You see Cardin- you ran away from a fight a got my sister killed. And Ren. And many others. And now, I think it's time someone ran away from a fight and left you to try to fend for yourselves." In one swift motion, Ruby unsheathed, extended, and swung Crescent Rose at Cardin, cutting the ropes binding him, freeing his arms and legs and separating him from his teammates. Blake couldn't believe the menacing voice she was hearing belonged to Ruby, who only this morning seemed to still be the innocent girl she remembered.

"Now, you seem to have a slight handicap in a fight now, so we recommend trying to free your teammates. All that screaming you did seems to have attracted some unwanted attention." There was a skittering sound from the far side of the clearing, in the direction of the dark cave entrance. Something was moving inside the cave. "It seems that a fight is about to start. Looks like it's time for us to go."

"After all, it makes sense to run from a big, scary Grimm, right?" Nora finished, putting her weapon back onto her back. She turned with Ruby and left without another word, running back through the forest towards the camp.

Blake watched them leave and waited until they were out of earshot before leaping down from her perch in the trees to land at the edge of the clearing where CRDL resided. Cardin saw her and yelled for help. "You have to help me! Please! I don't want to die!" Blake could only watch with morbid curiosity as Cardin attempted to crawl towards her with just his arms, his legs dragging uselessly behind him. His teammates were struggling on the ground, their pleading gazes alternating between Cardin and Blake, clearly begging for help. The skittering noise from the cave was getting louder.

"So you'd rather crawl away and leave your teammates than try to help them out so they could help you?" Blake asked.

"Please just help me!" Cardin pleaded, ignoring Blake's question. His cry for help was punctuated by the emergence of a Deathstalker from the entrance to the cave clicking its pincers menacingly and hissing.

"As much as I think you deserve it, I don't want to kill you, Cardin." Blake said, crouching down in front of him.

"Thank you so much. Please, you have to hurry." Cardin had tears of both pain and relief falling from his eyes.

Blake put her fingers under Cardin's chin and lifted his head so he could look her in the eyes. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to save you." Blake let go of Cardin, dusting her hand off on her side as if she had just touched something filthy. Looking down at Cardin, who had frozen in shock, she turned and casually strolled away into to forest, ignoring the screams coming from behind her as the Deathstalker charged at its helpless prey.