Author's notes:

Taking the ACT is no fun. Other than that, I don't really have anything to say. Do the reviews.

Weiss was just about to crawl into bed, when her scroll started to buzz, and she looked down to see the notification, "You have: 1 call waiting for you at the CCT."

She heaved a heavy sigh. There was only one bunch that she knew who needed the CCT to call her, and that was her family. Whether it was her father, or her sister, or someone else, she didn't know, but she did know that she wasn't making it to bed without a massive headache.

She had to respond to it, there was no way that she would be able to get away with leaving a call overnight. And besides, if she did that, she would have to either make it to the CCT before classes, or delay even further by waiting until the end of the day. Either one would be unacceptable, so she had to go now.

She heaved an annoyed sigh, then started to put her regular clothes on again. Her teammates eyed her questioningly, and Blake asked, "Uh, Weiss, what are you doing?" As Weiss turned around to look at the faces of her friends, she started to become more annoyed.

"I'm supposed to go and pick up a call, apparently. My father, no doubt." She finished pulling her hair into a ponytail and let off another sigh. Yang and Ruby had returned a short time before, and Ruby had been chattering excitedly about her meeting with her mother. She had calmed down by now, though, and Yang had left most of the storytelling to her.

Ruby spoke from the bunk above her, saying, "Do you want us to go with you? I mean, I know that this kind of stuff really gets to you, but you don't have to go alone." As she spoke, Weiss looked up at her. She was already prepared to sleep, her pajamas on, and halfway beneath the covers of the bed. The offer might have been filled with good intentions, but there was a certain quality about Ruby's voice as she said it that made Weiss take it as some kind of insult.

"No, Ruby, I'm capable of handling my own family, thank you." The sound around the room quieted, and she was left in the wake of her words. She intended to walk straight to the door, but guilt immediately started to make her feel as though she had to apologize. "I'm sorry." she said, "It's just that I always get like this when I have to deal with my family. I didn't mean to get mad."

Ruby shook her head and said, "No, its fine. Don't worry about it. You're sure about not wanting us to go, though?"

Weiss nodded. "Yes, I'd rather face whatever mess there is now alone. It's nothing against you. If I need you, I'll call you." Her teammates nodded now, and started to go return to their bedtime preparations. Weiss stepped towards the door, doing her best to mentally prepare herself for whatever was going to happen next. Matters with her family always seemed to turn out in chaos, so it would be best if she stayed on her toes. It was late, and she was tired, making that a difficult thing to do.

After saying a series of short goodbyes, as well as promises that she would try to not wake anyone up, she departed, letting the door close behind her. The walk to the exit of the dorms was just as it always was, and she soon found herself in the brisk evening air. The sun was more than halfway tucked behind the horizon, drifting lazily down as Weiss walked through the streets. The CCT wasn't far from the dorms, not more than a ten minute walk from the housing, which was something that was appreciated by everyone who made use of the facility.

The streets proved uneventful, but Weiss couldn't help but feel on-edge, and she wasn't sure why. Every small sound was something that she reacted to either by jerking her head in the direction of, or walking faster away from it. Why she was so anxious, she wasn't sure, but she was sure that it had to do with the prospect of talking with her family again.

Despite the slightest disturbances making her jump, nothing happened during her walk. She reached the tower without problem, and was soon walking past the guards standing outside the main door. The tower would close soon, but it was the policy of the tower to not cut calls off when the tower closed. If Weiss hurried, she would be able to receive the call before the tower closed. She stepped into the doors, and hurried towards the elevator, readying her scroll to set the elevator going.

When the disembodied voice asked for her identification, she provided it, and the voice greeted her by name before she told it what floor she wanted to go to. The elevator started to move, and she leaned against the wall behind her, wishing that she was still in bed.

When the doors opened again, she stepped out to find the holographic secretary seated behind the greeting desk. Weiss stepped towards her, and she looked up at her, speaking in a slightly distorted voice. "Hello Ms. Schnee! If you'll just step over to one of the terminals, I'll connect you to your call."

Weiss nodded and thanked the projection before turning to the large number of terminals that she could choose from. It didn't strictly matter which one she took, she just wanted one that didn't have wads of gum stuck under the desk and soda spilled over the terminal. She didn't know how people could do things like that to things that everyone had to use, but it certainly happened. As she walked towards them, the secretary disappeared, the lights projecting her flicking off. Weiss knew the reason for that. People tended to be more comfortable in their communications when there was no official employee of the building watching over them. She doubted that this would ease her talk, though.

Once she found a station that was more-or-less spotless, she sat down and turned the thing on, waiting to be connected with her no doubt upset family member, whoever that may be.

When the screen blazed into life, she found the face of her father, teeth gritted and hair hanging down over his forehead just enough to make him look insane. Weiss nearly jumped when she saw him, and was about to speak when he beat her to it. "Weiss, do you care to explain to me why there are zombies trying to break their way into the family crypt?"

The question itself was enough to catch the man's daughter off guard, but the angered tone he used added to this effect, making Weiss stumble across her words. The only reply she could respond with was, "I… who… what?"

Her father, obviously irate, growled out the words, "Are you telling me that you don't know? There was an announcement about it on the news, I highly doubt you missed it."

The pieces snapped into place in Weiss's mind, and she experienced a moment of confusion. "Wait, who in our family are they trying to get? I'm not…" The Schnee family had been one of warriors before their company grew to a near-monopoly on everything dust related, and there had been many generations before the family crypt had been put into service. Weiss had always known that it existed, but had never really thought about it. There had never been a reason to. Now that she considered, though, it was a slightly odd thing to have, but it was something of a family tradition to be entombed there. She didn't know who Yang had put on her list, but there was something slightly amusing about it. It would be much funnier if her father wasn't staring her down like a bull, though.

"Father, I don't know who they're going after, but why are you getting upset? I mean, the Schnee family has had a lot of heroes in the past, and I'm sure that they would want-" her father cut her off, hard businessman voice overpowering his daughter's smaller voice.

"I should certainly think that you'd know! The one with the cane said that all the names were chosen by that Yang girl, your friend! I would expect her to tell you, if you're really as good of friends as you've said!"

Weiss felt a sudden pang of doubt. Why wouldn't Yang tell her? Had she done that on purpose? She didn't think so, but that possibility still existed. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the thoughts. Her father was doing this knowingly, trying to make her doubt. She wasn't about to let him get away with using his "aggressive deal" strategies against her.

Somewhere behind her father, she could hear Winter's voice shout, "Dad, calm down! You don't need to do that! Just ask her if she can get Yang to talk to!" Weiss breathed a sigh of relief. Winter was the same ilk as her father, yes, but she was much more reasonable.

She responded to her sister's comment before her father could, saying, "Yes, that's a good idea! It wouldn't take too long to get her here. Give me a minute, I'll call her." Without waiting for another word, she put the call on mute and stood again, pulling her scroll and calling Yang. The device only ringed once before a click on the other end indicated the call had been answered, followed by the hushed but boisterous voice of her teammate.

"Hey buddy! How's it going? Is there a problem or something?" Her voice was clearly an unconcerned kind of drawl, but Weiss didn't know how she could be that calm.

She responded, "Yang, get over here, now! How come you didn't tell me that one of my own ancestors was going to get reanimated?"

There were several seconds of silence from the device, before Yang's voice said, "Okay, do you want me to explain that first, or to get over there first?"

It sounded like a joke, but Weiss wasn't in the mood for jokes. Her only response was to nearly shout "Yang!" into the scroll, and hear Yang fumble the thing in her startled fingers.

As the scroll was brought back under control, Yang said, "Alright, alright, calm down. I'm on my way, just sit tight." Weiss hung up the call, and turned back to the console on which the muted call was still holding. She didn't want to go back to her father without Yang present, but every second that she delayed would be one more that her father stewed in his anger. She didn't want the man to get too angry.

She sighed, and put a hand to her face. She wanted to be asleep by now, not dealing with a stressful situation like this. It wasn't going to do any favors for her ability to sleep at all tonight, that much was certain.

She decided to wait for Yang to arrive. It would be much easier then, and if she was lucky, she could just push Yang in front of the screen and step out of frame. A bit mean, perhaps, but a viable option anyways.

It was only about two minutes before Yang arrived, and Weiss could only assume that she had gotten a ride somehow. Taxis didn't run on campus, and the CCT was just on the edge. When she arrived, the elevator doors dinged open, and she walked right past the holographic secretary, ignoring her, and waving at Weiss. "Hey, what's up? Am I in trouble or something?"

She reached Weiss's side, and the smaller girl only took her arm, pushed her into the seat in front of the screen, and said, "You are going to explain everything to my father. Got that?"

Yang gave her teammate a half grin, half frown, and asked, "He isn't really that mad, is he? Like, I mean, not super mad, right?"

Without saying a word, Weiss reached over and unmuted the call, revealing her father's face again. He didn't look like he had calmed down at all, instead having grown more upset. Weiss made a brief introduction by saying "Here she is. She'll tell you whatever you want."

After she finished, she stepped back, putting distance between her and the golden-haired undead so that she would appear out of focus to the camera. Yang turned back to her, an indignant look on her face, before Weiss's father cleared his throat and said "Good. Now, perhaps you can tell me why there are festering corpses vandalizing my private property and trying to exhume my forefathers!"

There was another brief moment of silence where Yang didn't know what to say, then she responded with, "Well, first, you know about the big order thing, right? Like, the kingdoms all agreed that we could to that. So we aren't really doing anything wrong there." She paused, then seemed to correct herself. "Well, at least not legally, anyways. Second, they don't try to get the bodies out unless the spirit agrees to the whole deal. And, sorry, I know you probably don't like this, but your say really doesn't mean a whole lot, because it's not your choice."

Weiss's hands were over her mouth, although she wasn't really aware of it, and what little color her skin normally held had faded in less than a heartbeat. She couldn't believe that Yang was talking to her father like this. The only person who ever had were White Fang representatives, and they usually tried to kill him. The fact that Yang was being so brazenly disrespectful was horrifying, not because she was worried about Yang, but she was worried about what her father would think of the undead afterwards. His opinion already wasn't high of them, but now it was bound to be worse.

Her father's face started to turn beet-red, and Weiss could tell even through the screen that he was clenching his fists under the desk. When he got like this, people usually started to lose their jobs. Yang didn't work for him, though, so she didn't know what he would do. A feeling of dread came over her as she started to think about what her father might do to her instead of Yang. Even if her father ordered, she wasn't leaving the school. She hoped that it wouldn't come down to that, though.

Her father stared at Yang through the screen, obviously trying to keep himself under control, when Yang asked, "Hey, what was that guy's name, again? Sorry, but I had to read through like a few thousand when I was making that list, so I don't remember everyone. He was the General guy or whatever that fought in the uprising, right?"

Weiss's father looked taken aback, and said, "Bartholomew Leroy Hitchcock was not a general! He was a noble, who rose to the occasion of defending what he loved from the tyrannical threat that loomed over the world!"

Weiss saw in the reflection on the screen that Yang raised an eyebrow, and she leaned in as close as she could without appearing on the camera, using Yang's wild mane to hide, and whispered "From my mother's side."

This seemed to answer the question that had popped into Yang's head, and she went back to the topic at hand. "So why not let him do that again? It sounds like he's the kind of guy who would want to come back and fight demons. Aren't you kind of being a little bit of a prick for not letting him?" The urge for Weiss to smack her own forehead was a difficult one to resist, but she managed. It was difficult to tolerate the fact that she was being so casually disrespectful towards someone like her father.

Weiss empathized with her father's anger to a point, but he had always had issues with it. He had a very stressful life, yes, but sometimes it simply went further than that. He was something of a control freak, and this whole situation was sure to only inflame that problem. He was being unreasonable, though. Weiss could see that, even as often as she had sympathized perhaps a little too much with her father.

The screen suddenly went blank, and a small message appeared, informing them that their "partner" had discontinued the session. Yang stood from her seat, and turned to Weiss, putting her hands up, preemptively stopping the storm of curses that was about to be thrown her way. "Alright, hold on. That was like, half not me. I wouldn't have done that normally, and you know it! Naze was telling me to be rough with him. Something about "testing his limits" or something, I don't know. Just don't be mad at me, Naze has a plan. As usual."

Weiss put several fingers to her temple, rubbing them in a circular motion across the soft skin, hoping it would do something to mend the pain of the brain aneurism that Yang was giving her. She spoke, her voice weak now, as she had mostly given up being angry, "I could have told you that. Why did he…" she sighed, abandoning the line of inquiry. Probably for the same reason he had allowed Yang to die a preventable death, or worked to improve relations with Ironwood. It all worked out in the end, somehow. She felt some doubt that Naze really intended any of it, and was sure that she would find the energy to be upset tomorrow. For now, she was tired, and needed to go to sleep. It was hard to care about the desecration of the family tomb when she both couldn't think straight, and considered it to be a very weird thing in the first place.

Yang put a hand on her back and said, "Are you alright? You don't really look too good." Weiss nodded, and made a weak attempt to shrug Yang's hand off. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it. Let's just get back to the room, shall we?" Yang nodded, and the two started off towards the elevator again. The whole time, Yang kept a close eye on Weiss. It looked like she was getting sick. She hoped it was nothing serious, but didn't take any precautions. She didn't have to worry about getting sick anymore, of course.

The walk back to the dorms was quiet, with neither girl having anything to say to the other. When they got back, Yang opened the door, and held it for Weiss without going in, saying, "Do you think you can make it on your own from here?"

Weiss gave her a raised eyebrow and asked, "What, you're not coming up?"

Yang shrugged her shoulders and replied, "No, I've got some other stuff I have to do. Official undead business, you know." Weiss nodded, too tired to care, and started to walk inside, waving over her shoulder as she went. Yang called, "See you tomorrow!" before letting the door fall shut, and setting off on her own again.

Amber felt nervous about the meeting that she had agreed to. Yes, Yang was the most relatable undead she had met, but she was still undead. And big, at that. She recalled the crushing hug that she had received, and could only imagine what would happen it that strength was turned at her in violence.

Her hand drifted to the ever-present holy book at her side, and she shifted her weight on her heels. This was where they had agreed to meet, on the corner of a street not too far from the monastery. She hadn't told anyone about the meeting, as she knew that it would cause a ruckus if anyone found out. It was simply much easier to keep in the dark. She didn't like keeping secrets, though. It was the exact opposite of what she was supposed to do. It was a necessity, though, and at least she didn't have to lie. That was where she drew the line. Not telling someone something was bad enough, but she would outright refuse to tell a lie. She could not do that to her brothers and sisters.

The sky started to leak a slow drizzle past the streetlamp she stood by, and she was thankful that her hood protected her from most of the water. Rain was all she needed to make the wait seem more ominous. She looked around herself again, waiting for something to come stalking out of the darkness that surrounded her.

Eventually, she did see a form walking out of the darkness. There was no light around it, as the path of its approach was an alley across the street, but it seemed to stride in the shadow easily. Amber felt herself start to ready herself for a fight, even though she was terrible in combat. It was all she really could do.

As the figure got closer to her, the pale streetlamp revealed that it was Yang. Amber breathed a sigh of relief. The lack of light had made her seem more imposing, and her nerves were jittery because of the feeling of wrongness that pervaded in what she was doing.

As Yang walked towards her, Amber saw the large smile on her face, as well as her arms spread in greeting. "Hey, I remember you!" A small smile spread across Amber's face, and she nodded, brushing a few strands of wet hair out of her face.

Yang continued, saying, "How have you been? I haven't really heard from you! Although, I guess that's kind of my fault, but whatever. Anyways, we're going to talk about some stuff?"

Amber nodded, and motioned to the building behind her. "Yes, we can get out of the rain in here, if you like. Its abandoned, and no one's going to hear us."

Yang looked up at the building, sizing it in her mind, then nodded. "Yeah, it certainly looks that way." Amber went to open the door behind her, and walked in, holding the door for Yang. It led into a long hallway, whose plaster walls were rotting and falling down. Mold clung to the peeling paint, and eroded the wood supports behind the plaster.

It looked like it was about to fall apart, but Amber knew that it would be safe from collapse, at least for a few more days. It was slated for demolition soon, but when, she didn't know. Amber did know that no one came around this building, though. It was utterly useless to anyone that wasn't entirely desperate.

They came to the end of the hall, and turned left to find a large room, with a door laying on the floor inside and the frame hanging off the surrounding wall. A small table sat at the center, just as decrepit as everything else. Two chairs also inhabited the room, pushed to the side and forgotten long ago. Amber took them with slight hesitation, and placed them at opposing sides of the table. She then motioned for Yang to sit, and did so herself.

There was a brief instant where Yang simply looked around the room, unsure of what to say, before making the joking comment, "Nice place you've got here. How much is the rent?"

Amber raised an eyebrow, not expecting to hear a joke, but smiled anyways. "No one will bother us here, and I want to talk about this away from the Order. Now, can we get down to business?"

Yang nodded and said, "Yeah, alright. No problem. So, Naze wants to work out a deal, and he thinks that you would be a lot easier to talk to than Solace. Nothing against either of you, it's just, you know, he hates us with a burning passion for no real reason. So, you know about the whole demon thing that's going on, yeah?"

Amber nodded, and said, "Yes, I've heard about how bad it's getting. It's horrible to think about, but we can't really do anything about it. We just don't have enough numbers to effectively do anything about it."

Yang smiled, and shook her head. "Yeah, you don't, but Naze is offering that we put aside the little feud that you have with us, and you actually get a little help from us to fight the demons." Yang seemed honest enough, but Amber didn't know what to look for. So instead, she simply listened to Yang's words.

She asked, "What kind of help would he give us? We can't use any magic, and we want none of his foul technology. I'm sorry, but I find it hard to believe that you're trying to-" she made to stand up, but Yang put a hand on her shoulder and forced her back down to her seat. Her hand went to her holy book again, and she prepared herself to use it.

Yang held Amber down for a few more seconds before letting out a heavy sigh and starting over. "Look, look at me, right? I know that you don't like what I am, and I know it's because you think Naze screwed with my soul, or whatever. But you were there when Nora went crazy, right? Remember how fun that was? Would you rather have the occasional creation of someone like me, who goes slightly against your weird religion thing, or would you rather have everybody turn into something like Nora?"

Amber had not quite thought about it that way. Given the choice between the rational, yet subtle slant of human purity, or the outright perversion of the human body and soul, she would choose the former. Yang's point was well made, but there was still a problem with it. Amber voiced this, saying, "Even if we agree, our fighting won't do much. We use holy power, which is not very effective against demons. There must be better choices…" Her voice trailed off, and she recalled some of the passages that Solace had taught her about the importance of remaining strong. Would bending a knee to the undead, even for only a little while, be a sign of weakness?

Yang snorted, and said, "That's a lot better than nothing! Besides, Naze might have a natural reason to dislike holy power, but that doesn't mean that he ignores studying it. There are little things that you can do that will make your people a lot more potent against demons. Naze is willing to tell you what that stuff is, if you agree to this." Yang finished her pitch, and sat back slightly in her chair.

Amber bit her lip. It was a great deal of pressure to be asked something like this herself, especially when it was not her place to make decisions about the destiny of the Order of the Holy Light. She would have to make this proposal to Solace, and he would, in turn, know that she had considered it. She didn't want to disappoint him, but she didn't want to sit idly by as good men and women died, or worse.

Her distress about the offer must have shown, because Yang stood from her chair and said, "You look like you're freaking out a little bit about this, so I'm just going to go, if that's alright. If you want to call me or something, just get in touch with Beacon or something, and they can connect you to me. You catch that?"

Amber was looking down towards the floor, thinking when Yang asked this, which pulled her back out of her thoughts. She looked back up and said "Yes, I did. I will, if anything comes of this. Though, I can't promise anything. Solace may not take kindly to it."

Yang nodded and said, "Yeah, I guess that's the best we can do. Well, thanks for listening to me, and for not whipping that thing out and frying me." She pointed to the holy book at Amber's side. Amber smiled and nodded.

Yang walked back out of the building, but Amber stayed behind to think. If she really was going to make this proposition to Solace, which she didn't know yet if she was going to do, then it would take quite a bit of preparation on her part. Not just to make Yang's offer as appealing as possible, but also to work up the guts to do it. The power she'd found within herself helped with things like that, but certainly didn't carry her. Not with important authority figures.

Yang lingered for a while by the door, waiting to see if Amber would come, but she did not. With a shrug and a turn, Yang started to return the way she had come.

Summer Rose looked around her in utter disbelief at the multitude of corpses simply wandering around, doing jobs as if they were just regular people at their jobs. She was sure for a while that there must have been ropes, pulleys, or some other system that worked the series of dead bodies like they were alive, but after a few minutes of investigation, she was satisfied that the corpses were, in fact, animate.

She was shown a brief tour by Naze, and the whole while she asked him questions, receiving answers that shocked it. It was insane to think that the kinds of powers she was seeing now had always existed, and simply been hidden beyond their observation.

If the modern people were to gain access to it, it would change the world for the better in numerous ways. They would never have to worry about power again, medicines would be advanced by leaps and bounds, and they could be able to throw off the shackles that the Grimm had always placed on humanity. When she asked about whether Naze was going to provide this knowledge to the living, he only responded by saying, "I will provide them the tools to rediscover what they once knew. The rest will be only for them to find."

Summer sighed. It felt wrong to withhold information like that, but she supposed that she understood. It would be bad if some people were to get their hands on the kinds of things that Naze had locked away. She couldn't find herself getting used to her spectral form, though. It was a very bizarre thing to have one's body (or what served as one) be controlled totally by one's mind.

Naze's power strengthened her, keeping her awake, but there was more it did. She could feel herself linked to the sorcerer, the pressure of his thoughts weighing on the edges of her mind. If she concentrated, she could feel beyond that, detecting thousands upon thousands of other connections. Some seemed to be in constant contact with Naze, and others seemed to be mostly isolated. She couldn't figure out what made these different, but there was something about them. She wondered which one her daughter was. She was certainly in that bundle of nerve-like connectors somewhere. She also wondered if she could talk to Yang through it. If she could, it would give her an excellent way to communicate with Ruby.

Still, though, there was some part of her that was still in shock. It was a huge piece of news to hear that her daughter was dead. It filled her with sadness, and were she not dead herself, she probably would have gone into a depression. Yang had told her how she died though, and the story filled her with pride. She had died to save her sister, the most valiant and noble thing she could have done. There was no shame in giving everything for someone else.

Although it had little relevance, it reminded her of the circumstance that surrounded her own death. While she didn't remember much about the act itself of dying, she did remember that she had done something similar to what Yang had, taken a blow in the place of another. She got the distinct impression that she had misjudged her opponent, though. It wasn't something that she was prone to do, but was a mistake that could certainly lead to death.

When she asked Naze why she wasn't able to remember, he responded by affirming, "Yes, it is not uncommon for spirits to forget after a period of time like the one you have been dead for. It simply indicates that your death was not the most important thing to you. You will remember when you are needed to. Now, have you any recollection of where you died? This is important, should you want your body back. It could be arranged that you be put into another, of course, but I find that warriors often prefer the body that they spent their lives learning."

Summer found the option puzzling. Could she really be put in someone else's body? She assumed that he meant another's corpse, but could she be made alive again? Given the chance, she didn't think that she'd take it. She started to rack her mind for any information she could about where she had been killed. Doing her best to picture the scenery, she shut her eyes and stopped moving. "It was… it was cold, and white. There was snow. It must've been somewhere far north. I was there on a mission. I don't think that anyone was issued to go with me, but I could be wrong about that."

Naze didn't respond at first. Instead, Summer could almost feel the gears turning, and the thoughts cascading through his mind. It wasn't just contained to his head, it seemed to be all around. Summer wondered if he was really contained to the body that he seemed to occupy, or if there was something else. She was just about to ask this question, when something else attracted her attention. The two came to the entrance of a massive library.

Summer had never seen so many shelves in one place before. There must have been trillions of books, all stored and organized on the shelves. There were many undead shuffling around the massive room that stretched as far as the eye could see, some reading books, some writing in books, and some moving books from shelf to shelf.

The amount of knowledge that must've been contained within this one room boggled Summer's mind, and she took a few gliding steps into the room. There were tomes enough to last her hundreds of lifetimes in here, and she always had loved reading.

Naze's voice came from behind her, a slight echo being lost in the gargantuan room, "Impressed? It's taken some time to amass this horde, but I believe it time well spent."

Summer turned to him again, almost more breathless than a ghost could possibly be, and asked, "Have you read all of these? Certainly not, right? I mean, how could you remember all of this?" She made a weak gesture back towards the books, and shook her head as if answering her own question.

If Naze still had the muscles to smile with, he would have adopted a small grin. Not because he actually felt happy, but because it helped to communicate his meaning. Instead, he said, "I have, and recall every detail. I may have to refresh my memory with a quick second look occasionally, but otherwise, yes, I have."

Summer didn't believe him. How could she be expected to? No human could accomplish something like that, not even a dead one, no matter how long they had been dead. In an attempt to test whether he was telling the truth or not, and went to one shelf, pointed towards a random book, and said, "What is this?"

The spine of the book bore characters that she didn't recognize, but they looked like vicious slashes of a pen. Naze glanced at the spine, then said, "That would be an instructional guide on correct and efficient usage of varying styles of runes and symbols. It's a beginner's text, but I have read it, yes. While it claims to have the majority of styles covered in its pages, its selection is actually quite pitiful."

Summer moved again, going over several shelves, and pointed to a book several shelves out of reach. Naze followed her, and when he gazed up at it, he said. "That one is the third of a fictional series telling of the seven-year siege of a city. The focus is on a mage who works to stop the conflict with his magic, and eventually simply allows the city to fall."

Summer knew that he could just be making it up, but the monotone voice, in combination with the eddies of thought that lapped against the side of her mind, made her think that he was telling the truth. She was about to ask about another one of the books when Naze said, "If we spend all day conversing about this, there will be no time to reclaim your corpse before you're needed to protect the citizens of Remnant from their natural predators."

Summer nodded, and said, "Right, sorry. I'm simply curious. There's so much here that I don't understand."

Naze nodded, and replied, "Yes, of course. Perhaps you will, in time, but you do have a task, and that task must take precedence until complete. If you think you are able, I might like for you to be the head of the protection efforts in Vale. You are relatable enough, and those who know of you would have a high regard for your deeds, as I understand it. Are you willing?"

Summer was taken by surprise with this question. Naze wanted to put the responsibility in her hands? She was unable to respond at first. "I, uh…" her voice trailed off, and she stared at Naze blankly, mind reeling at the responsibilities that such a duty would encompass.

Naze noted this, and spoke to clear up what her job would be. "This would, of course, make it necessary for you to be in communication with the living government, as whomever may be managing the fighting forces. I expect that all but small reserve forces, both military and Hunter, will be redirected at the demonic threat. You'll command a large undead force, and be responsible for the safety of Vale, as well as the surrounding territories. Are you willing to take this responsibility?"

Naze's explanation moved things along in her mind, but she still found it very difficult to think about such a large decision. Naze sensed this, and added, "This decision need not be made immediately, of course. You have time to consider."

Summer nodded her head, and affirmed, "Yes, I think I would like to think about it."

Naze responded, "Very well. Now, there's much more here than a library, but this is as much time as I have for a tour. A ghoul will be by to show you the rest. If you desire, attempts to recover your body can be made if you recall more detail about its location."

With that, Naze turned to leave. Summer watched him go, old faded robes dragging on the ground as he went. She wasn't sure what to make of her new master, but she could certainly say that Yang's brief description of him as "a nerdy skeleton with magic and superpowers" was in many ways accurate.

Smoke leaked through the door behind the chair Cinder was sitting in, but she didn't mind. The smell of melting steel, electronics, and flesh wasn't too bad. It was, at least, different from what she was used to. In fact, she rather found herself loving it.

The smoke wasn't the only sensation that was out of the ordinary. A shrill, repeating siren was blaring from above her head, warning her that the airship was about to crash. As if she didn't know that already. The steep incline of the ship had told her about half an hour ago that the ship's time was limited. Most of her followers had survived the attack of the foolish people who had tried to stop them. They wouldn't succeed, not when she had the strength of her lord behind her. While the ship had been falling, though, she had received a revelation from her master. A plan of attack as to how she would destroy the horribly pleasure-devoid undead. She would spread her gift throughout all of Menagerie, then use the White Fang to plant the seeds even further. If it all worked out, she would be perched perfectly to take control over the world under her master.

She would have to be fast, though. The world knew that she had broken free of their shackles, and was going to do their best to suppress them. She had to sweep across the continent with as much haste and decisiveness as she could. She had to share her gift with as many as possible, and get them to spread it just as well. It would take all of her focus to do that.

The airship started to drop as one of its engines gave out entirely, exploding somewhere near the back of the ship. Cinder saw for a brief moment on the screen in front of her a damage readout, and knew that the ship was beyond salvage. Air started to rush into the bridge through the blasted out front, and Cinder stood from her seat. It was a good time to go now, she knew. She probably could survive the impact if she stayed, but then she would have to recover, and every second counted. She left the bridge, and started to make her way back towards the middle of the ship. She passed many of her followers along the way, and gave them a brief summary of their plan before reaching her destination, the cargo bay. It was here that would be easiest to disembark from the ruined ship, and make the rest of their way of foot. They were close now, and would be able to reach the city before sunrise.

The forests below grew closer and closer, until eventually she could see leaves and branches being swatted off of their trunks like nothing. The roar of the grating between steel and wood was like music to her ears, and the vibrations that raced through the floor as the remains of the hull were rended apart by rock were spectacular.

Eventually, there was a great jolt, and most people were knocked to the ground as the ship stabbed its belly into the earth. Cinder stayed on her feet, and watched as a wave of dirt, tree bark, and other filth spewed out in all directions. Somewhere else of the ship, the already weakened structure started to give way, skeleton of supports and reinforcements buckling under the pressure. The whole ship heard one long, almost earsplitting moan of agony from the crumpling structure, before the ship stopped, and all was still.

Cinder didn't hesitate to run out the bay doors, not waiting to see if her people would come as well. She knew they would. They had to. Her legs carried her like a gazelle over the ruined crater that their ship had left, leaping over destroyed stumps and exposed rock like it was nothing. After that, she was in the trees, sidestepping thick trunks and ducking under low hanging branches like she had spent her entire life doing this. She started to feel something new, something that she had never known before.

Primal drums started to pound, echoing in the recesses of her mind that her master had unlocked. She felt the sweat start to run from her skin, every pore on her body, as intensely as a hot needle. She started to lose herself in the feeling. She knew that her followers would, as well, and let her mind go into a kind of "autopilot" mode. She didn't need to think, the instincts that had been given to her would tell her what to do. She only had to endure the pleasure.

It was in this way, like an animal, she spent most of her night. Pursuing her prey, ready to take what was hers, and give them everything in return. There was no kinder thing she could do, really. She would free them from a bleak existence, and show them the extremes that they could reach.

It wasn't long before the distant lights of the city came into view over the treetops. It repulsed the darkness of night like two magnets repelled each other when of the same poles. It shone out like a target, and that's exactly what it was. Cinder could only imagine the delights of being allowed into a city of millions of people, helping all of them. It would be the most pleasurable thing she had ever felt by far. Her legs pumped faster, and her mind started to change again. She would enjoy this, and that was all she cared about.