"Well, well." Flux giggled, tossing a strand of her black hair out of her face, the smooth lock falling into place behind her head. "Looks like I missed. Ah well, I'll just get that one."

She aimed her lance at the tent Jet was in! Ruby sprang to action at once.

"Transcend!" she screamed and hurled herself between Flux and the tent. The blast came thick and fast, pushing Ruby with an insane level of force, but Ruby persevered. She resisted the light and power of the attack, and as it ended, looked behind her flaming form to see that Jet's tent had not been damaged. She locked eyes with Flux as she grimaced.

"So you know how to use those powers too, hm?" Flux asked her. The embers of the ruined tent flickered and spat. "It's a pity you didn't see until too late. Now, another of your number has been taken. Lilac is gone now." No. Not another one!

"YANG! WEISS! BLAKE!" Ruby yelled at the top of her lungs, wondering why her teammates weren't coming out of the other two tents.

"They're locked, my dear Ruby." Flux replied, almost as if she was lamenting their loss. "Izzet's gone to look for herbs for our sweet Jet, who's sick. It's just you and me, pet." She landed, and disengaged her weapons. Ruby watched them fade as she approached, and she raised Crescent Rose, even though she knew she couldn't do any damage.

Flux drew in close, pushing her scythe down, but not hard enough that it slipped from her grip.

"It's sunset right now, and the clouds above us cover the sky." Flux hissed, getting right up in Ruby's face, and she could feel the heat of Flux's flame-aura, giving her a crimson glow. "Prepare thyself, Rose, for I will strike when the full moon is clear in the sky." She turned to go. "Tell Izzet that the order goes orange, green, red. She'll understand."

With a cackle, she took off, flying off into the distance. Ruby could only watch her go. After she disappeared, Ruby shot into Yang and Blake's tent. Sure enough, they were frozen in place by a ghastly red aura. A familiar one. Only Jet would know how to break these locks.

She ran back outside in time to see Izzet reappear at the campsite with a collection of orange, red and green plants. She took one look at the smoking crater and at Ruby's face, and her eyes grew fearful.

'What happened?' Izzet asked.

'Flux attacked us!' Ruby thought back. 'Lilac's dead, no body, and everyone except me and Jet have been locked by her. What do we do?'

'First we make Jet better.' Izzet replied, a look of purpose covering her face. 'Then, he unlocks the others. Is Flux going to attack again?'

'When we can see a full moon.' Ruby replied.

'That's tonight!' Izzet said quickly. 'Right. Come with me, I'll need you for this bit.'

Izzet took Ruby by the hand and dragged her into Jet's tent. Ruby saw him shivering in his sleeping bag, arms crossed against his chest, clearly cold. There was no invulnerable flame barrier around him. He was vulnerable. Izzet set down the bunch of plants and separated them into a red pile, an orange pile and a green pile. She then looked up at Ruby.

'We need to chew up these plants in our mouths, mix it up with our spit.' Izzet said, reaching for a set of green leaves. 'Then, we kiss Jet and let him drink it, alright?'

'Wait, what?' Ruby asked, watching as she placed them delicately on her tongue and began chewing. 'Why can't he do it himself?'

'There's a chemical in our saliva that activates the healing properties of these herbs and leaves.' Izzet explained, continuing to chew. 'It dissolves them and turns it into a natural medicine. If you're sick, or overexerted as Jet seems to be, you can't produce this chemical. We have to give it to him, as he can't produce it himself.'

'Wait!' Ruby thought quickly as she reached for an orange bulb. 'Flux told me the order that it goes in! Orange, green, red.'

'We don't have the time to question your source.' Izzet sighed. 'Start chewing just one of those. Wait until it liquefies in your mouth, when you can't feel any bits.'

Ruby obeyed, stuffing the plant in her mouth and beginning to chew. It was an odd taste, a cross between a lemon and a strawberry. Ruby crunched away, watching as Jet looked up and met her eyes.

'What are you doing?' he asked, using his own telepathy. The bits in Ruby's mouth were getting smaller and smaller as she kept chewing, determined to make this medicine work.

'Izzet found a way to give your energy back.' Ruby replied, not even sure of her own words. 'We need you to drink what's in our mouths.'

'That sounds disgusting.' Jet replied with a grimace. 'At least I'll get a chance to kiss both of you.'

Ruby felt the mush in her mouth. There were no bits anymore. She leaned towards Jet's face, and he rolled so that he was face-up, and opened his mouth. Ruby opened her own, and made contact, allowing the fluid to exit her mouth and enter Jet's. Ruby heard him cough into her mouth as he swallowed, and after a full five seconds, he broke the kiss.

'That wasn't so bad.' he thought to her.

'My turn now.' Izzet asserted. 'Ruby, the red ones are going to be nasty. Do you want me to do it?'

'No, I'll do it.' Ruby replied. 'The quicker we cure him, the better.'

With that, she picked up the red leaves as Izzet gave Jet the contents of her mouth. Her lips overlapped his own, and Ruby took a deep breath as she put the leaves in her mouth. Her eyes immediately watered as the sour, bitter leaves hit her tongue, but Ruby resisted the impulse to spit them out and began to chew. The leaves were tough, and Ruby chewed as much as she could, ripping and tearing them.

Izzet broke apart and Jet erupted into a coughing fit. Ruby wondered what was happening to him.

"That was nasty." Jet said aloud.

'Ruby, are you ready?' Izzet asked her.

'These bits aren't dissolving!' Ruby thought back.

'Then they're ready. You might have to use your tongue for this one, though.' Izzet replied. Ruby immediately moved towards Jet, and he opened his mouth for her. Ruby covered his mouth, before depositing the fluid. Jet jolted against her, but Ruby kept him still. Pieces of the leaf clung to her tongue, and she realised that Jet would have to get them off.

'Jet, lick my tongue. There are bits that I can't get off.' Ruby ordered.

'If you say so.' Jet replied, and Ruby stuck her tongue into his mouth. She felt his running smoothly around her tongue, collecting the pieces of ripped leaf. Once the last, gentle ministrations of Jet had ended, she withdrew her tongue, but she dragged it along one of his fangs, and she felt a sharp pain which could only mean that she had cut it.

Ruby immediately released him and reached for her pack, desperate for a drink of water. Izzet did the same, and watched as they guzzled fluids as Jet started to move out of the sleeping bag. He got to his feet and flexed his muscles. Black aura started to rise off his skin once more, and his eyes were glimmering that sinister red.

"Thank you, my angels." Jet said, with a little bow to the pair of them, then, seemingly without noticing the aura, he stepped outside. 'You said something about the others being locked?'

When had Ruby said it to him? She gave chase and pointed him in the direction of Yang and Blake's tent. Jet moved inside as Ruby turned to Izzet, who had joined her.

'Did you see the aura coming off him?' Izzet asked as Ruby heard a cracking sound, like a whip, accompanied by a white flash from inside the tent. She pressed her bleeding tongue against the inside of her cheek, the coppery taste of blood fresh on it.

'Yeah. And he's not reacting to it?' Ruby responded. Another flash, another crack. 'I also didn't say anything about the others being locked. Did you?'

"Thank you, Jet." she heard Blake say from inside the tent. "Who did it?"

'No, I didn't.' Izzet replied. 'Is he able to read our minds?'

"Our enemy did this." Jet's response sounded out from the tent. "I can feel her presence. She's close. Lilac's dead because of her as well. We need to get Weiss, then be ready for her. She's coming. Tonight."