A little out of place, but this time around I'm prefacing with my author's note. Primarily to apologize for this chapter being relatively short and only slightly late by comparison to what I've done before. I honestly didn't feel like this chapter fit within the end of the last one, rather as a small bridge to the next segment, but also because I couldn't really think of more to put in without it feeling rough. Honestly, this chapter is still kind of garbage compared to my usual work, but it will get the job done for now. Hopefully you can all forgive me for slacking a bit this week before moving onto the next big segment and chain of events. It'll be...interesting to say the least.

Neo's head throbbed as she slowly regained consciousness, a groan escaping her lips as she carefully moved into an upright sitting position with one hand keeping her propped up while the other gently rubbed the back of her head where the pain felt it's most prominent. As she did so, she slowly looked around to see where she was, the soft glow of lit candles and torches offering the only light to see around her. As far as she could tell, she was inside what looked like a rather basic room without much in the way of furnishings, though she wasn't alone as her head finally made its way to facing the entrance of the room where a visitor silently stood against the wall. Emerald silently stared back at Neo with what appeared to be a neutral expression as Neo shook her head slightly to clear the lingering traces of drowsiness from her head, a groan of discomfort accompanying it as the sudden movement caused a brief rush of pain to weave its way through her skull once more.

"Head hurting a bit?" Emerald asked with a slightly sour tone. "Good. Maybe it'll teach you to not act so much like Frost when things get crazy." Neo's face scrunched up into a look of anger, something that Emerald ignored as she continued. "I thought you were supposed to be HIS anchor whenever he got worked up, but from where I was standing you're just as unhinged as him sometimes. And you don't even have a Grimm inside you."

"Emerald…" Neo slowly uttered through clenched teeth. "Shut. Up. You don't know anything about the two of us, even if you have been travelling with us for the last few months since Beacon was attacked. So you can keep your words about Cobalt to yourself."

"Oooooh, we're using his first name now, that's a change of pace." Emerald sniped without missing a beat. "You must be really upset to go there."

"You have absolutely no idea how I feel right now since all you can do is pick people's pockets and use illusions to trick people into doing what you want. You've never been good with people, and you never will be." Neo hoped the words – no matter how little she actually meant them – would suffice in getting Emerald to go away. She didn't want to deal with anyone right now. She just wanted to curl up and cry now that Frost was gone without anyone to see her at her weakest. Only he got that privilege given how close they were.

"I know when someone's lying to themselves given how often I used to do it." Emerald stated plainly as she moved away from the wall and walked over to sit next to Neo on the mattress she had been left on. "I can at least take a guess that this is you being defensive without Frost here, but you may have to accept that he's gone for good this time unlike when he ran away from Cinder to get you two help."

"I CAN'T!" Neo cried out as her eyes scrunched shut and she felt the burning sensation of tears forming once more. "He can't be gone! Not after everything we've been through!"

"You saw what happened as much as the rest of us. He got picked up by a Nevermore and carried off to who knows where. What are the odds he'd actually survive that, especially since wherever it took him there was likely to be tons of Grimm that he couldn't fight on his own?"

"…he can't be gone…he just can't…" Neo sullenly mumbled as the tears fell at a rapid pace. "…I finally got the chance to show him how I felt…and then those stupid monsters took him away…it's not fair…"

"Hey," Emerald called over to the grief-stricken girl, to which Neo turned her head somewhat to acknowledge she was listening. "If it's any consolation, you seriously fucked up those Grimm you went all rage mode on until Qrow knocked you out so we could keep moving." Neo's unchanging expression showed that whatever her efforts had been didn't seem to succeed. "…Shit, bad time. Still getting used to some of the more complicated friend things, I guess."

"Emerald, I appreciate what you're trying to do but-" Neo's voice was suddenly cut off as a beeping sound echoed from her Scroll, much to the confusion of the two girls in the room. Her hand slowly reached out to the device to see what it was, only to see an unopened file sitting on her screen. The two of them gave each other a silent look before Emerald nodded her head back to the screen as though stating that she should open it. Both of them kept their eyes glued to the screen as Neo pressed the button to open the file and view its contents.

Frost grumbled to himself as he sat on the bed in his inn room back in Atlas, his Scroll set to recording and sitting on the dresser across from him as his head hung looking towards the floor.

"…How in the hell am I supposed to even start something like this?" His voice was filled with hesitation as he looked up towards the Scroll as its red light flashed on and off to show that it was still running. "Seriously, I feel like such an idiot right now. I shouldn't be doing this with a Scroll; I should be saying it to her face." He slowly got up from the bed to walk over to the dresser, his hand gently reaching out for the Scroll as though to turn it off, but he hesitated at the last minute before kneeing down to have his face in view once more.

"I think we both know how that would go, you idiot. You'd freeze up like every other time and just change the topic to finding the others again. She doesn't deserve that, and you know it." Frost silently stared at the screen before chuckling to himself as he shook his head gently. "…and now I'm talking to an image of myself on a Scroll as I try to record something important. Maybe I should just keep this as part of it to give her a laugh or something." He got up from his position before moving back to the bed and sitting on it once more.

"Might as well get it over with." Frost cleared his throat for a moment before gaining a more serious expression as he stared directly at the screen. "Neo, if you're watching this, then something has likely happened to me where I'm unsure if I'll ever get the chance to be completely honest with you. If I never have to send this recording then I'll be a happy guy because nothing went to absolute shit before I got this opportunity. Either way, here's the truth." He was silent for a moment as he turned to glance out the window of the room into the open streets of Atlas.

"I love you, Neo. I always have. It just took me longer than it should have for me to realize it. Ever since everything that happened when we were kids to everything that's happened now has truly made me realize how much I appreciate you being there at my side all these years. Even if we never get the opportunity to do what we truly want, I want to at least be able to tell you how I feel. You've been my anchor for so long, keeping me from being more of an idiot than I already am, to making sure that I keep on the path that I set for myself all those years ago. Anyone else might have tried to take a chance with some of the students our age when I was stuck at Beacon for a bit, but I could only ever think about you and how badly I needed to set things right and get you out of there. Even if it was for a different reason at the time since we didn't know the truth about the experiments Cinder was trying on us behind Torchwick's back. Either way, you have always been my better half, and I hope that one day I can get the chance to actually tell you in person rather than through some dinky recording like this. You deserve better than that. And even if it kills me, I'll make sure you get to live a happy life, no matter what."

Neo's eyes glistened with tears as she slowly set down the Scroll next to her, the recording having stopped there. However, a soft smile lit up the bottom half of her face, leading to a very conflicting image as Emerald sat in silence next to the girl.

"…Wow." The green-haired girl uttered with disbelief as she tried to put her thoughts together. "I never would have guessed he was any good with words considering previous conversation we've had."

"He'll surprise you like that." Neo stated plainly as she slowly got up from the bed, the pain in her head now forgotten as sheer bliss coursed through her. "Now we just need to find him so I can give him an answer."

"Uh…what?" Emerald shook her head in disbelief. "…He got snatched up by a Nevermore. How in the hell are we supposed to find him when we don't even know where he was being taken or even knowing if he's alive or not?"

"Because he had to be alive to send that message." Neo replied as she walked over to the door before looking back at Emerald expectantly. "And if that's the case, then I'm not giving up hope that he's still alive."

"But you heard what he said. That message was for if he was unsure how good his odds were that he'd be able to give you the truth. How is that supposed to be a good sign?"

"Because he never specified that he thought he was going to die. I know Frost, and he would have said that directly if he thought there was any risk. Knowing him and his occasional paranoia, he probably recorded a similar message for in case he was about to die to make things more clear. All we have to do it find him."

"Without any clue whatsoever?"

"…Shit." Neo commented as she put her Scroll back into her pocket with a grumpy expression. "…Why do you do these things, Em? I was in a really good mood after seeing that and now I'm upset again since we don't have a trail to follow."

"Hey, I-"

"I believe I may be of some assistance, you two." The voice of an older man came from just outside the room as the two turned to face Ozpin. "You see, there was another reason that I happened to be in Menagerie when Qrow found me. And I believe it may be of some use in finding Mister Frost. But first, we must gather the others to talk strategy before we can continue."

Without another word, Ozpin walked away from the room and down the hall, leaving the two girls standing there in confusion before they quickly gathered up their things and hurried to follow after the previously missing headmaster and towards the next leg of their journey.