Shifting flicks of fire sat framed in a brickwork fireplace. The slow crackle and warmth and soft orange light were a cold comfort to all in the room. Jaune sat with tired eyes, his head propped up by his arm while in the other hand he wrung a small handkerchief in frustration. Ruby sat beside him, desperately trying to take her mind off the situation by reading a book Blake had loaned her, but she hadn't turned the page since she's started. She simply stared at the grey-black ink on those pale yellow pages, worrying about her friends in the other room, in the same room, and scattered across Remnant. Qrow and Taiyang stood in the hallway, not-so-quietly arguing about what should be done about the current situation. Yang sat on the mantle of the fireplace, waiting for someone to break the uncomfortable silence that hung over the room like an oppressive smog.

Neo stared absently into the flicks of the fire, reminded of the man who had damned her to a horrible fate and haunted her to this day. And yet she could not deny the comfort it brought her, neither of this fire nor of that monstrous excuse for a man. She sat with her knees clutched to her chest and her chin rested upon them, her hair was disheveled, brown and pink mixing and tangling like her own confused thoughts, memories and emotions. Ruby had brought her a blanket to keep her warm, wrapping it around her shoulders, but Neo hadn't responded. She hadn't said a word since she'd come to and seen Ren and Nora's condition. She was transfixed by the fireplace, by its slow crackle that reminded her of bones snapping, by the warmth that reminded her of a father she missed, and by an orange light that reminded her of the father she hated.

An audible huff came from the other room before Taiyang and Qrow shuffled back into the room. Tai looked decidedly nervous, while Qrow had a hand rested on the hilt of his scythe, ready to draw his weapon at any time. Jaune, Ruby and Yang stood up as they came in.

"How are they?" Was the first thing out of all their mouths.

"They're going to be okay. Nora has a minor concussion, puncture wounds and bruising, but she'll be up and walking by tomorrow."

"Oh thank goodness!" Ruby sighed.

"And what about Ren?" Jaune asked.

Tai scratched his head, "Well Ren's injuries were much worse. He's stable, but just barely. He has several large puncture wounds that will take a lot of time to heal, broken bones and lots of deep bruising. The problem is that he's lost a lot of blood, so he's having a hard time recovering. We've sent word to a nearby hospital asking for a transfusion, but it'll be a few days before they can get out here. He'll be bed-bound for a few weeks no matter what."

Qrow shoved his way in front of Tai, "Which brings us to the next problem," He raising a hand and pointed at Neo, "Her. She's dangerous. We know she's worked for Cinder in the past, and she might have been working for her this whole time."

Jaune placed himself in between Neo and Qrow, "Just what are you suggesting?"

"We kill her. Can't just let her go, she'd just tell those friends of hers where we are. We have to get rid of her or we're all in danger."

"We won't let you-"

Qrow stopped him, "But Tai disagrees. He think she just had an episode and that she's going to be fine in the long run. We couldn't talk it out, so we're putting it to a vote. All in favor of getting rid of Neo?"

No one raised their hand for a moment, "C'mon, there's no shame in having an opinion, people," Qrow added, raising his own hand. Neo feebly raised her arm, the first thing she had done since they found her. Yang reached over and put her arm back down, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Qrow threw his arms in the air, "Psh. You kids are gonna get us all killed."

"She's their friend, Qrow. They've got as much of a choice as we do." Tai scolded.

Qrow brushed him off as he made his way to the door, "Yeah, whatever. I'm going to go keep watch, make sure her friends aren't already on their way."

With a slam, Qrow was gone and Ruby, Tai, Jaune and Yang were left awkwardly standing in the soft glow of the fire once more. Tai coughed before announcing that he would start cooking. Jaune walked past him to check on his teammates, while Ruby returned to her book, now actually reading it. Yang, meanwhile, sat down next to Neo and stared at the fire with her.

"You remembered something bad huh?"

Neo nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Neo shook her head.

"That's fine. When you're ready, I'll listen, okay?"

Neo nodded and leaned against Yang. A small smile crossed her face for a moment before she stared back into the fire with a scowl

"What has you so quiet, Neo?"

Neo's reply came as barely more than a hoarse cough, "I'm worried."

"About attacking someone again?"

Neo nodded, "And about Ren and Nora."

"Would it help if you got to check on them?"

Neo nodded and stood up, providing Yang a shoulder to balance on as she did the same. With Ruby's blanket wrapped around her, she looked like a child, but the fear and worry on her face made her seem old beyond her years. Yang led her to Ruby's bedroom where Ren and Nora had been tended to. Jaune was outside the door, expecting them.

"How are they?"

"Well Nora's awake and she's… well she Nora. Tai told me to make sure she doesn't get excited or move around too much, but there's nothing I can really do to stop her. Ren's still out cold, probably will be for a while. Your dad has some surprisingly nice medical equipment, Yang."

"Oh, yeah… Dad has always been a stickler for that kind of thing, says a Huntsman has to be well rounded. Do you think we could see them?"

Jaune leaned to peak in through the cracked door, "Uhh, yeah that should be fine. Come on, let's go in."

The three walked into the makeshift hospital room. Neo's eyes were immediately drawn to a grim sight: on the right side of the room, Ren was limp on Ruby's bed, wires and needles sticking out of him and his many casts, a pulse monitor beeping at an eerily slow pace, and breathing mask covering his mouth. He was entirely still, and the sight filled Neo with dread, not helped by the fact that Nora was glaring daggers at her. Neo clenched her hands as she stood at her bedside, feeling herself sweat with worry and anxiety.

"Jaune, what's she doing here?"

"She wanted to see that you were okay. I didn't think it'd be a problem."

"Oh no, no big deal. She's just the crazy axe murderer who attacked us out of the blue, has been our enemy ever since we started fighting Roman in the first place, has us all fooled that she's some sweet and innocent little angel that could do no harm to anyone, has been eating our rations and getting herself hurt to whittle down our supplies, has been a constant emotional burden to our team and nearly killed Ren! No, no big deal at all."

Neo felt herself tear up, "I'm sorry," she squeaked in response, her eyes falling to the ground as she tried to stop herself from crying. Her words stung, and some of them weren't true, but Neo couldn't deny what she had just done to Ren, and seeing her victims in person only made the guilt weigh on her even harder.

Nora continued to glare for a few moments before her anger shifted to excited happiness. She leaped towards Neo and pulled her down onto the bed with her, wrapping her in a hug and shaking her around, "Oh, I can't stay mad at you! I'm sorry Neo! I didn't mean those things, I just thought I had to seem tough after what happened! I'll make it up to you, I promise!"

Neo sniffled before giggling lightly, "It's fine, Nora. I'm just glad you're going to be okay."

Jaune cut in and pulled Nora's iron-armed grip off of Neo, "Nora, you have to stop bouncing off the walls like that, we don't want your concussion to get any worse!"

Nora ignored him, "Pffft! Of course I'm okay, Neo! Do you really think a tiny shrimp like you could hurt me? Hah!"

Neo pouted, "You're only a couple inches taller than me!"

"But you wear heels, without those you'd be teeny tiny!" Nora tilted her head to look past Neo as something caught her attention, "Good morning, Ren! How do you feel?"

They all turned to see Ren's eyes opening up. He looked disoriented, which made sense considering how many medications he was on, but when his eyes rested on Neo, his heartrate suddenly skyrocketed, the beeping that filled the room reached a fever pitch. From under his breathing mask came a muffled cry.

"Stay away!"