Author's Note:

Some cooldown after last time. Hope you like this. Climax soon.

Naze gazed through the eyes of the Shades that watched almost every corner of the earth, peering at the way Cinder and her force moved on from the battle with Adam. He had done substantial damage to her numbers, but more interestingly, he had done something to damage Cinder herself. He knew that she bore the seed of her demon master, and Adam had somehow managed to damage that.

It was an intriguing event, not only because he was sure that the damage would be to his advantage, but also because it meant there was a much more effective means of battling Cinder than he had originally thought.

Unfortunately enough, he didn't have the means to create demonic hellfire on his own. Even its source was still a mystery, whether it was simply a byproduct of demonic corruption, or a specific effect created by the demon lord. Regardless, it would be an advantage once he did battle with her.

If there was no means of finding out how to get it, though, it was simply time wasted. Cinder's display of power had proved that she would be a dangerous opponent, even to the Lich. There would be no room for error once they were on the battlefield, and Naze had already spent time tweaking his most powerful spells and tricks. The Black Morass was, as it had been many times in the past, overflowing with zombies once again. They weren't the mundane predatory corpses that he normally produced en masse, nor were they the type that rotted away all life they touched. They were something much more malicious, and that would be much more damaging.

Then there were his more elite soldiers to think about. His Death Knights would be able to finish off the remainder of her forces, if there were any, but beyond that, he doubted that they would be very effective against her. Not for doing any major damage. It would take something beyond what they were capable of to finish Cinder off.

And that would be his task. Pooling energies for the battle would be his main priority while the living continued to do as he had suggested. Ironwood's forces were deploying already in the mountainous regions, and Huntsmen readied for the trials they would face.

His chamber was silent, as it always was, and he waited. His dry, bony husk of a body was completely still, but his mind whirred ceaselessly, working over every possibility and variable that could take place.

Then his silence was interrupted. Not by a noise, but by something that disturbed the dead stillness of the room. He turned his attention towards this anomaly, and found a demonic rift. It was small, barely able to be detected, and lasted only a fraction of a second.

Dolor did not know where his necropolis was, and Cramus had never demonstrated any interest in infiltrating his lair in such a manner. There was only one demon lord who had demonstrated a desire to contact the Lich directly in the past.

He moved, making his way towards the halls. If the demon desired to speak, he would allow it an audience. Perhaps it even had another offer for him.

Ren's legs hung over the side of the bed, and he glared at his feet. It had been a long time since he had walked, and he was tired of being useless. Pyrrha and Jaune and Nora had been fighting, saving lives without him, It wasn't right.

The nurses, doctors, and even his own teammates had told him to simply sit still, and take the time to recover, building up his strength. He couldn't do it anymore. He had to act.

He took in a deep breath, and started pushing himself off the edge of the bed. Enough was enough, he wasn't some baby that had to be kept in a crib. He was tired of being treated like one. All three of his team members were in the room with him, but Jaune and Pyrrha had already fallen asleep. Nora was awake, but her eyes were glued on the TV, watching some cartoon show he had never seen.

His arms felt weak as he pushed himself, but he didn't let himself stop. That wasn't going to get anything done. He continued, and felt the thick hospital socks touch the floor. There was still no weight on them, but even this felt good. He could walk, and he could do it without help.

He lifted his weight up with his arms, and tried to balance his weight on his legs. He was surprised at first with how difficult it had become. Maybe it wasn't as going to be as easy as he thought.

His legs felt like jelly, and they did shake unsteadily, but he smiled as his body weight was held up without too much issue. He let his arms leave the bed, and took a few experimental steps. He had to be careful, as the shape of his feet seemed almost unfamiliar to him, but he got more used to it as he walked more. His muscles started to feel strained after the first few steps, but he continued, gritting his teeth.

By now, he was breathing more heavily, and Nora was starting to take notice. He could see out of the corner of his eye that she was starting to lose her focus on the show she was watching. She was probably going to ask him to get back in the bed, but he had the feeling that she wouldn't try to force him. She was still feeling guilty over the fact that she was the reason he was here. He didn't blame her, though. He had told her that, but she still felt the guilt.

He decided that he would try to surprise her. It might make her feel better, and then he could ask her to help him train. If they tried hard, he could make use of the few days they had before they would be called upon. He wanted to help drive back the demons, but he couldn't do it in the state he was in. A few days would be good enough, if he put in everything he had. One could cram in a lot of improvement, if they were dedicated enough.

He took a few more steps, approaching Nora from behind. Her hair was longer than he'd seen it in a long time, hanging just passed her shoulders, and she had become much taller than he'd ever imagined her, but she still seemed as soft and huggable as she ever had, at least to him.

He reached his arm out, and put it on her shoulder, leaning some of his weight on her. She turned her head, eyes still on the TV for a few seconds, before they flicked to the side. She started to ask, "Wha-" before her eyes met with Ren's chest, then flicked up to his face.

She jumped up from her chair, then her hands went to her mouth as she held in a shout. There was a happy glint in her eye that Ren recognized, though, and he smiled at her, holding his arms out, inviting a hug.

In hindsight, he supposed that he should have done at least a little training before putting his body through something as stressful as a hug from Nora.

She sprang forward faster than he could've hoped to react, even making a fluid leap over her chair before wrapping her arms around Ren in a rib-cracking embrace and lifting him off the ground. He did his best to keep from saying anything that might hurt her feelings, or raise any of the guilt in her mind, so instead he let the air slowly leak out of his lungs, keeping the muscles in his torso as firm as he could. After a few seconds of her nuzzling her face into his shoulder and saying a few gibberish words that he couldn't understand, she put him down, and he was able to breathe again.

He swayed unsteadily, and reached a hand out towards Nora for support. He managed to grab her arm, and balanced himself before looking back at Pyrrha and Jaune. Both were still asleep, and neither looked like they had been too disturbed by the noise.

Ren looked back to Nora, and pulled her closer to him, trying to keep their noise to a minimum. "Nora, do you think you could help me with something?"

She pulled her head back and nodded excitedly, a huge smile on her face. Ren grinned, and started to walk towards the door, motioning for her to come with him. She did, keeping her steps quiet, and listened to Ren as he walked. "Alright, I've been in there for a long time, and I want to get out. You know that the big fight against the demons is coming really soon, and I want to be a part of it. I can't fight like this, though. I want you to help get me back into fighting shape."

Nora gave him an abashed look, hesitating. He raised an eyebrow and fell silent, wanting her to voice her thoughts. She obviously didn't want to voice them, but after a few seconds, she started to speak. "Do you really think that's a good idea? I mean, you'd have to train really hard, and I don't know if you can…"

The rest of her words were too quiet to hear, and she quickly stopped speaking. Ren knew that she didn't quite mean it the way it sounded, but it still hurt his feelings slightly. He nodded, saying, "I know it's going to be hard, but I have to do this. I can't just let you guys fight without me. That wouldn't be right."

Nora gave him a pained look. She didn't want him to risk injuring himself any more than he had been. It was good that she cared about him, he knew, but he simply couldn't stand at the sideline anymore.

If they could get back to Beacon, they could use the training arena there. If they couldn't, then they could fine somewhere else to do it. It hardly mattered where the training happened.

The pair reached the elevator doors, and he started to communicate his plan. "When we get back to Beacon, I want you to help me train. Real training. You have to fight with me for that. I know that you don't want to, but there's no other way I'm going to get strong enough in time."

The elevator doors opened, and the two walked in. Ren was feeling tired from the amount of walking he had done already, but he wasn't going to let himself stop now. He couldn't give in to weakness now, so close to an important battle.

The doors slid shut as he hit the button to head down to the ground floor. As he did so, he pulled his Scroll out, preparing to send a message to Jaune and Pyrrha. It would be wrong to just leave them in the dark like that, doing nothing but worrying where they had gone. He started typing out the message, hoping that it wouldn't wake either of them up. Things would be easier if at first it was just him and Nora.

As he hit the button to send the message and pocketed the device, he saw Nora staring at him out of the corner of his eye. She always seemed to be staring at him now whenever there wasn't something at least a little interesting she could focus on. It was starting to get a little unnerving, but he wasn't going to tell her to stop. It made him feel good, in a strange kind of way. He turned his head towards her, and she looked away, averting her eyes to the buttons on the elevator panel.

He moved to the side slightly, and put his arms around her, taking a moment to simply be happy with her. It seemed like so long since he had been able to simply be happy with something, and Nora was someone that could easily fix that.

The rest of the elevator ride went quickly, and when the doors slid open again, both of them were hesitant to leave. Ren was the first to break the embrace and walk, though, and Nora was quick to follow.

When Naze reached the dark rooms that he had first met the demonic lord of fear, he found that a summoning circle was already prepared.

A wealth of demonic energy was already welling up inside it, and it was clear that the demon was practically trying to summon itself. Naze ensured that the summoning circle was functioning fully before feeding a small amount of power to the rift. It exploded out, giving Naze the strange impression of enthusiasm before the energy settled, and a projection of Timor now stood in its place.

Its many faces writhed and twisted across its constantly shifting form, and it wasted no time in starting to speak. "You've done quite well. I'm pleased to tell you that our mutual enemy, Dolor, had effectively "quit" this world. Though perhaps more amusing to me than to you, it blamed Cramus for the killing of its champion-in-progress. It even seems that the man's soul was stolen by Cramus's minion, which makes their rivalry all the better. You wouldn't have anything to do with that, would you?"

The multitude of voices cover every range of intonation, but the majority seemed to be sly and smug, as though he knew Naze's trick. Naze thought it best not to say anything on the subject, instead opting to change the subject. "Perhaps. Tell me, is there a way I could replicate Adam's hellfire? It seemed to be very effective against Cinder."

Timor's mouths all seemed to smile, saying, "Envious of the powers of demons? I would share, but you know things like that can only come at a price, and you have no soul to give me. No soul of your own, at least, and that's a very important part of the deal. I said I would reward you with knowledge, but I'm afraid that hellfire is no small thing. I cannot share it so easily as that. What I can offer you is assistance in the case that you are unable to keep her from become one with Cramus. If that happens, then consider a number of my demons at your disposal. If she manages to transform, you won't have to worry about summoning them. A large enough rift would open that I could send them to you without much issue. Mine won't be the only demons to come through, though. That is something that you can be sure of."

Naze considered this. "Somehow I doubt that more demons entering the world would be an overall positive effect. Regardless, why have you come to speak to me? I hardly think that it was simply to congratulate me. There must be some kind of other motive."

All of the demon's mouths gave a small chuckle, collectively sounding like a huge crowd. "So paranoid, very smart of you. Unfortunately your suspicion is misplaced. I have no interest in this world, beyond my rivals not getting it. The workings of our game might appear strange to a mortal, but I assure you, it makes perfect sense to us."

Naze supposed it would. Timor's comment about him being a mortal was incorrect, but he didn't bother to correct it. Timor continued speaking, thousands of voices bouncing off of the small room's walls. "I came to give you advice, as you are acting as my hands in this matter. You should not claim responsibility for the Champion of Dolor attacking Cinder. Both of my opponents hold grudges, and either one might come back to this world to take their revenge."

Naze gave a small nod. That was something that would be far more trouble than it was worth. The demon Lord wasn't done speaking though, and continued to give his chosen ally advice. "Now, as for Cinder, she is not invincible. She has fears, and those are enough to crush her. She dreads the prospect of her link with her master being severed. She is terrified that you might have some way to do that, so I suggest you find a method of doing it. You are more than experienced in tearing souls apart, you should be able to figure something out."

Naze could see the projection of the demon starting to falter and fade. It seemed that the time it had to speak was running short. That, or it had nothing else to say. The grotesque multitude of shifting faces all smiled, and the vaguely humanoid shape made what looked like a bow.

With that, the rift that had bourn the creature into existence started to shiver as the space around it started to bend. With a sudden snap, the creature was sucked back through, like it had been reclaimed by the lord that created it.

Naze was left alone in the room, and soon turned to walk out. How would he take advantage of Cinder's fear? It was definitely something he could exploit, but how would he do it most efficiently and effectively?

He turned to return to his chamber, giving the matter thought.

When Yang opened the door to their dorm, she was careful to avoid hitting Ruby's head on the doorway. She was so cute when she slept, it would be terrible if she woke up. Getting back to sleep wouldn't be a challenge at all for her, though. Ruby barely ever got this tired.

It wasn't just team RWBY that was coming in. They had a new member who would be spending the night. Penny was following behind Blake, who was at the back of the normal group. Yang had liked the few interactions she had with her, but that wasn't really enough to form a good opinion. All she knew for sure was that Ruby trusted Penny as much as she trusted any of her teammates, and that was good enough for her.

Blake seemed fine with Penny staying the night, and Weiss had her usual suspicions, but seemed to be fine with it as long as Penny didn't make a mess. Weiss was also loaded with painkillers as well, that had been given to her before the surgery. That was probably a good reason as to why she was so groggy. Falling asleep wouldn't be any challenge for her either.

Blake seemed like she was alright, but Yang could see that bags under her eyes too. All of them needed rest, and it would be a blessing to get it. Penny, however, didn't seem tired at all. Granted, she hadn't done anything nearly as stressful as what the team had, but it was still late, and Yang expected to see some sign of fatigue by now.

She didn't seem tired at all though, and Yang was fine with that. Maybe she would have some company during the night instead of just waiting in silence for the others to wake up. It might be nice to have someone to walk to, and she looked forward to having the chance to learn more about Penny. She wanted to know how they had met, and what they actually did together.

That was going to have to wait, though. She flipped the light switch, and walked over to Ruby's bed, setting her down and putting her under the covers. The others went to the bathroom to get ready to sleep, and Penny walked to Yang's side.

Yang looked over at her, a smile on her face. "Hey Penny! What's up?"

Penny gave Yang a friendly smile, then said, "I was just wondering if there was a place for me. If there isn't, that's fine. I can sleep on the floor."

Yang raised an eyebrow before responding. "What? No, no, of course you'll have a bed. You can have my bed, I don't need sleep anyways. To be honest I feel like I'm just wasting it every night. It'll be nice to know that someone is actually putting it to good use."

Penny looked from Yang to the bed, then back again. "You would really give me your bed for the night? That's so nice of you!"

Yang smirked and said, "Sure, you can have it any night. Like I said, I can't really use it, so it's fine."

Penny tilted her head in a puzzled manner, and asked, "You can't sleep? You mean at all? Don't you get tired?"

Yang gave a small chuckle, and started to talk before she stopped herself. "Not really. I guess there are more than a few advantages to being dea-"

The last time that someone had talked to Penny about death, nothing good happened. Yang didn't want to risk that happening again, so she changed directions as best she could. "To being, uh, you know…"

Her voice trailed off as her mind drew a blank as to what she could say. She didn't like having to do something like this, but there was nothing else she could really do. Her hands crept up to her hair, and she pulled a big portion of it over her shoulder, running her fingers through it.

Penny gave Yang a puzzled look, and finished her sentence for her. "Dead? Is that what you were going to say?"

Yang's eyes shot open, and she looked around the room for help. Ruby was still sleeping like a rock, and Weiss and Blake were in the bathroom. She was basically alone with Penny. There was no real way to get out of this.

"Yeah, maybe."

Her voice was uncertain, and she felt like Penny was getting a little too close, both physically and conversationally. She was starting to lean towards Yang, and it seemed like she didn't even notice that she was doing it.

Yang moved around Penny's side, and put her hands up. "Look, but forget I said anything, alright? I shouldn't have said anything. Just enjoy the bed, alright? That'll make me happy."

Penny continued to give Yang a puzzled look, but shrugged her shoulders. If Yang simply wanted her to take the bed, she would. She seemed upset, and Penny didn't want to offend her friend. She started trying to think about what she could have done to make her mad, and how she could apologize.

Yang was walking away now, like she was trying to get away. Penny opened her mouth, tried to think of something to say. She spoke before she had fully thought about it, sounding a little desperate. "Wait! I'm sorry if I said something wrong! I didn't mean to make you mad. Please, I want you to be my friend!"

Yang turned back to Penny, a strange look on her face. Penny couldn't identify the emotion in her eyes, but it made her think that Yang was feeling guilty too. She gave her a sad smile, then the sadness started to disappear. "I think I can see why Ruby is friends with you, Penny. You're a really good person. I'm not mad."

Penny didn't know exactly why Yang said that, but she was glad she did. She was glad that Yang was her friend. Her eyes moved to the side, at Ruby, who was still sleeping. She was glad that Ruby was her friend too. Ruby had stood by her side, even after she had found out about her secret. Would Yang do that too? Penny thought she would, but she wasn't entirely sure. It was easy to imagine, but Penny wasn't going to volunteer that information. She couldn't do that even if she wanted to. It would be too hard to explain.

She didn't notice when Yang walked back towards her, but she jumped in surprise when a hand came down on her shoulder. She looked to the side, finding Yang also looking at Penny, a soft look on her face. "She really does like you, you know? You must be pretty special."

Penny let her eyes drift back to Ruby. Did she really think that highly of her? It gave her a good feeling to think that it was the case. She thought a lot of Ruby too. She was the nicest, most gently person that Penny knew.

Penny and Yang both sat on the side of her bed, talking to each other. After several minutes of chatting, the bathroom door opened again, and Blake and Weiss came stumbling out. Both were wearing their night clothes now, and seemed to be on the verge of collapse. They practically crawled into their beds, and drifted to sleep without saying a word.

Yang laughed to herself, and got up to go turn out the light. Her boots hit the floor quietly, and no one else in the room stirred when she flicked the lights out. She turned back to her bed, and was somewhat surprised to see a faint glow coming from the green of Penny's eyes. Was she part faunus or something? Blake's eyes reflected light like a cat's did, but it didn't seem like it was a reflection. It seemed like her eyes were actually giving off light.

Yang decided it might be better to ignore this, and simply keep talking. She found that Penny was a lot of fun to talk to, and spent more than a few hours just chatting randomly.

Before she really knew it, it was three in the morning. She only became aware of the time when she glanced over at the digital clock on the bed stand. Her eyes went wide, and she turned to Penny again, saying, "Oh, it's really late! Aren't you getting tired? How late do you normally stay up?"

Penny seemed like she thought about the question for a few seconds, then yawned. "I am getting tired. Maybe I should go to sleep."

Yang nodded. She was sure that having another exhausted companion wouldn't be a good thing, so it would be best if Penny got at least some sleep. She didn't know what time that Ruby wanted to wake up, but she guessed that the team would be sleeping late.

Yang stood from the bed and Penny stretched out, looking up at Yang. "Goodnight." Her voice was even, almost without tone, and her eyelids fell closed. Yang thought that she saw the glow in her eyes shine through her lids for a brief second before fading away.

Her breathing slowed, and it seemed like she had fallen instantly asleep. Yang raised an eyebrow. She must have been much more tired than she had let on.

Yang sighed and looked around the room. There was nothing that she could really do until the others woke up. Her back touched against the wall, and she brought her hand up in front of her face. Sliding towards the ground, she conjured a flame in her fingers. She started bending the fire in the directions that she wanted it to go, trying to make sure that she kept up with her magic. If they were going to be fighting soon, she needed to be as in control of as much as she could.

Ironwood sat in the darkened room, only the light of his tactical screens met his eyes. He could feel his mind slowing down, but he wasn't about to go and sleep now. Not with so many of his men's lives on the line.

The tactical readouts showed their positions, their fortifications, and all the equipment that they had. Almost everything he could imagine. Everything except for where Cinder was. His nerves almost made his fingers shake, but he was able to control it enough to continue working.

It had taken a lot of thought to assemble his teams, especially because there simply wasn't enough room for all his men. The operation to get them all in position had been one of utmost secrecy, no one on any one team knew anything of the other teams, not even how many there were. He was the only one who knew everything about what was going on. This was to prevent anyone corrupted by Cinder from giving her any useful information.

Every person he sent out understood the risks involved, but he wasn't too sure about that. What kind of person would agree to being sent off like this, to fight an enemy they stood hardly any chance of actually defeating?

He wished more than anything that he could be standing by their side, but he didn't have that option. He had to stay back and command from afar. It was a bitter pill to swallow. He knew each and every one of their names, and he was going to make sure after this was all over that they were remembered as the heroes that they were. Anything else would be a travesty. They couldn't be forgotten.

He took a deep breath, becoming aware of the fact that he was shaking again. A dull ache in his arm made it difficult to focus, and he tried his best to ignore it. The old pain had haunted him for years, and he supposed that now would be no different.

He sent out a query to those positions who had been setting up for some time, asking how their progress was coming. All reported back well, saying that their spots allowed them a great range of fire over the mountains. That was good. He was glad to see that he had picked the right spots. They also reported that their setting up was going very well, even slightly ahead of schedule. That was good, and he felt gratitude towards every single one of those people who had agreed to do this, and felt like he had chosen the right people for the job.

He stared at the screens blankly for a few seconds, then felt a lead weight drop in his chest as the face of Penny popped up in his mind. He remembered everything about their last conversation, her words, her expressions, and how guilty he had felt. It didn't fade. He still felt awful about everything, including that Penny was going to be in so much danger. It was terrible, but she had made up her mind that she had to do this, and Ironwood couldn't control her any more.

She was strong, though. Stronger than almost anyone else in the whole world. If there was anyone who was capable of doing some damage to Cinder, and getting away without being too affected, it was probably Penny. He just hoped that she would take care to avoid the corruptions that other's fell prey to so easily. She didn't know things like lust that Cinder took advantage up, and he hoped that she couldn't feel something like that. It would be a great boon for her if she couldn't.

But Ironwood didn't know if that was the case. He had familiarized himself with every facet of her programs and capabilities that he could, but he didn't know if she could feel that. She had grown so far beyond anything anyone could have predicted, and obviously wasn't done. She still had more maturing to do. It was hard for him to think that she would change even more, but he had heard similar things from parents he had talked to.

He sighed. That didn't make the feeling any easier to bear. If anything, it only made things worse. She was leaving him behind, losing her dependence. It was a good thing, he knew, but difficult to bear.

He shook his head, focusing on the screens. His nerves were starting to get to him, that had to be it. He could feel the bags under his eyes, and his mouth stretched slowly in a wide yawn. His arms stretched out to his sides, and his body suddenly felt very heavy.

Perhaps getting some sleep would be wise. He wouldn't be able to do his duty if he was completely exhausted. He could get at least a few hours before returning to his duty.

He was hesitant to do so, however. What if something were to happen while he was away? Cinder attacking, or something else? He yawned again, feeling even the ache in his arm die down a little. He had been told before by friends that he needed more sleep than he normally got, and supposed that this would be even truer now.

He went about making preparations, signing off of all communication channels and shutting his systems down. The bed would be a welcome comfort after everything the day had presented him with.

Candles cast a flickering light around the small room that had effectively become Amber's in the warehouse. She read from her holy book, memorizing the last few passages that remained. They were the words of the first Paladin, urging anyone who might read the book to take the Light into their own hands, no matter whether they really needed it or not. The Light could only help a person, and to bring oneself closer to it was the best thing that someone could do. It gave the strength to make changes, and that was all someone really needed. If they had a good cause behind them, then they would be able to gather the help they needed to bring right.

Amber was stunned by the beauty of the words. It was strange, the words didn't translate exactly to her normal language, but their meaning seemed to almost transcend the normal words. She had learned the ways of a long dead language, and the meanings of it were so much larger than she ever could have imagined. They didn't just mean that someone should try to improve themselves, but that someone should make an effort to improve everyone they knew, making humanity as a whole better.

It almost seemed like they spoke directly to her. She felt a connection to the man who had said them, and suspected that anyone who had read the book would too.

She leaned back, resting against the soft cushion of her chair. She had been hunched over for a long time, and an uncomfortable bend had formed in her spine. She pushed up against the soft chair, stretching her arms out in front of her like a cat, and making a low growling sound as muscles all over her bod contracted.

She stopped, opening her eyes again and seeing stars briefly dance in front of her eyes before those slowly faded away, and she was left with a soft, contented feeling spreading through her body.

She looked over to the side, at the small clock that sat on the floor. Her eyes widened when she realized that she had been up, reading, almost the entire night. She hadn't meant to, but she had simply gotten absorbed in the book.

It was alright though, she didn't need that much sleep. What she could squeeze out of the few remaining hours would be fine.

She hoped that the next day would bring news on what Naze had planned for them. Everyone was ready to fight, becoming as skilled as they could in the use of both their hammers and in using their Light to protect themselves. They had all come so far over the short amount of time that they had been together. It was clear that Solace was proud of every single one of them, and that he had complete confidence in all of them.

Amber shared his confidence, but knew that they wouldn't be able to fight Cinder alone. They would need her help, her protection from the withering corruption that Cinder used. But given that, she was sure that every single one of them could do massive damage to the demons. It wasn't only their resolve that would help them, but it was their purity, and their hearts. They fought for a higher purpose than themselves.

She closed the book gently, and laid it on the floor like it was made of glass. No damage would come to it from her treatment, she made sure of it.

Amber got up and walked towards the bed, looking forward to resting her eyes. She had nearly exhausted herself healing the Huntsmen at the hospital, and had thought that she would collapse instantly. This hadn't turned out to be the case, however. Maybe she should have, though.

She decided that getting what rest she could would be the best thing that she could do, and settled down to sleep. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she laid still for a moment before she drifted off, a dream starting to form in her head.

It wasn't a long enough dream. Before she really knew it, her eyes were cracking open again, and she could hear voices not too far away. She sat up and yawned. The details of her dream quickly slipped away from her as she thought about the bizarre things she had seen. There had been a horse, a few cacti-

She shook her head. Maybe it was good that she didn't remember what had happened.

She picked herself up off of the bed, and made herself ready for the day. She didn't feel quite as good as she had thought she would, but it still wasn't terrible. When she walked out into the hall, she smiled, finding many of her friends already present.

The smell of breakfast was amazing, and she started to walk towards it eagerly. Soon things would be much less happy than this, she was sure, but she pushed those thoughts aside.