Maria blinks, her eyes reverting to auburn in an instant. Time slows to a crawl as the full realisation of what she has just done dawns on her. Immobilised with shock, she can only watch as her best friend falls to her knees, then collapses to the ground, a red stain slowly spreading through her white midriff fur.

Pure vengeance slams into Maria with the force of a landslide. The next thing she sees is a volcanic Rob Stiil pinning her down, his eyes filled with an inferno of unrestrained fury. Rob raises a sai for a killing blow, the monouchi catching the sunlight. But as he's about to strike, he hesitates.

Maria, her eyes flooding with tears and her lower jaw trembling, can only whimper quietly.

The sai clatters to the ground.

"Maria, I‑" Rob starts, his anger forgotten.

Maria throws her arms around Rob, hugging him tightly. "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to I couldn't help it I didn't want to it was too strong I tried not to I would never please don't kill me!" she wails.

Rob puts his arms around the distraught lynx. "I know, and I won't," he assures quietly. But Maria is too traumatised to respond, instead repeating her pleas endlessly, her cheeks sodden with tears, her entire body quivering with shock and despair.

As Rob tries to calm down the inconsolable lynx, Danny tends to Hanna. "Stay with me, Hanna!" he instructs as he removes his vest and tries his best to tie it around Hanna's abdomen to slow the bleeding.

"I feel cold," Hanna mumbles almost inaudibly, her eyes glazing over.

"You should cover up better," Danny quips as he secures his vest‑bandage in place with his belt, hoping a little humour will keep Hanna talking.

"I've never felt this cold before," Hanna continues.

"We'll get you warm again, don't you worry," Danny assures. "Do you have a radio?"

Hanna doesn't respond.

"Hanna?" Danny prompts. His worry building, he places a hand in front of Hanna's mouth. Unable to determine if she's breathing, he then tries to find a pulse to no avail. "Hanna?"

Hanna doesn't respond.

Stifling a curse, Danny rolls Hanna onto her back, taking care not to allow the sword to shift even slightly. Trying and failing to find pulse or heartbeat, Danny commences CPR, though his efforts appear to be in vain. "Rob, I'm losing her!"

Rob breaks free from Maria's grasp and scrambles to Hanna's side. "Dammit Hanna, don't die on me now!" he commands, taking Hanna's hand in his.

Suddenly, Hanna coughs and splutters back into life.

"Thank the Ancients!" Danny sighs in relief, backing off to allow Rob to comfort his injured wife.

"Welcome back honey," Rob smiles, tears of relief and happiness rolling down his cheeks.

Hanna takes a few deep breaths, then relaxes and looks up at Rob. "Hey babe. Did I… Did I just die?"

"Little bit," Rob confirms.

"Huh." Hanna pauses a moment. "Didn't feel like I expected. How long was I gone for?"

"About a minute," Danny answers.

"Huh." Hanna pauses a moment. "I don't like being dead. And I'll tell you one more thing: a sword through the stomach really fucking hurts!"

Rob cannot help but chuckle in response. "And now I know you'll be fine."

"You called Yoshi yet?" Hanna asks.

"We were a bit busy bringing you back to life," Danny explains.

Hanna rolls her eyes and sighs in mock exasperation as she unclips the two‑way radio from Rob's belt. "Hey Yoshi, it's Hanna. Got good news and bad news. Good news: we rescued Maria and Danny. Bad news: I got turned into a kebab. Send medics and hot chocolate." Hanna switches the radio to beacon mode, then hands it back to Rob. "I'm thirsty," she explains. "Where's Maria?"

"I'll get her," Danny volunteers.

"I can't believe how you're so casual about this," Rob remarks to his wife as Danny walks over to Maria.

"You know death doesn't scare me," Hanna reminds. "Plus, when you've been through the sort of shit we all have and survive, hardness just kinda… happens."

Several feet away, Danny crouches beside Maria, who's curled up in the fœtal position, quivering and crying silently. "Maria?" Danny asks softly.

Maria curls tighter. "I… I killed her…"

"Hanna's not dead," Danny assures. "In fact, she wants to talk to you."

Maria uncurls just enough to look at Danny with a single bloodshot eye. "But I‑"

"Was under mind control, just like me," Danny reminds. "Come on, before the medics arrive," he encourages, extending a hand.

Reluctantly, Maria uncurls further. Taking Danny's hand, she allows him to help her to her feet. But when she turns and sees Hanna, the ninjato still through her abdomen, Maria breaks down again.

"I can't do it!" she wails, burying her face in Danny's chest fur.

"You can," Danny encourages. "One step at a time."

Slowly, Danny leads Maria over to Hanna. The distraught lynx's eyes keep darting to her ninjato, willing every time that the next time she looks, it's not impaling her best friend anymore. Eventually, Danny helps Maria sit next to Hanna.

"I have only one thing to say to you," Hanna informs Maria, keeping her tone and expression neutral.

"Please don't be angry I don't want you to hate me I didn't mean it I'm‑" Maria starts babbling.

Hanna places a hand on Maria's cheek. "I forgive you," she assures, her voice soft, warm, and kind.

Maria pauses a moment. "R-Really?" she asks nearly silently.

"Absolutely," Hanna confirms.

"But I‑"

"Was a slave to a psycho and a pervert."

"But‑"

Hanna gently pulls Maria into a hug. "Shit happens," she comforts.

Despite the immense guilt weighing her down, Maria cannot help but giggle. "Please don't die."

Hanna's ears twitch at the sound of an approaching helicopter. "I'll be back on my feet before you know it," she assures her best friend. "And I'll make sure you get your sword back."

"I'd rather get a new one," Maria replies.

The helicopter lands nearby, two medics leaping out while still a couple of feet from the ground. Rob and Danny move back to allow the medics to attend to Hanna. Maria initially refuses to move back, but after some gentle encouragement, she complies.

"Bite on this," one of the medics requests, holding a strip of leather in front of Hanna's face.

"What for?" Hanna asks.

"We need to remove the sword," the medic answers.

Hanna accepts the leather strap and bites down firmly as the second medic removes and discards Danny's improvised bandage. The second medic then smoothly removes Maria's sword from Hanna's abdomen. Extracting the sword sends a fresh wave of agony through Hanna's body, and she bites down on the leather strap so hard she almost bites right through it.

With the sword removed and discarded, the medics switch into high gear, quickly and expertly bandaging Hanna's midriff tightly to minimise blood loss. Once it's secured, the medics quickly and carefully load Hanna onto a stretcher, then walk the stretcher to the helicopter, securing it and Hanna to a specially‑designed platform alongside the cockpit.

As the medics board the helicopter, Rob scrambles on board beside them. "Husband," he explains, showing his wedding ring.

"We've been briefed," the first medic assures. "Welcome aboard, Rob Skarlett."

Maria and Danny watch as the helicopter takes off and heads towards the dojo.

"What do we do now?" Maria asks quietly, silent tears rolling down her cheeks.

"We find our own way there, I guess," Danny answers.

Maria's ears twitch. "I hear a car."

It takes Danny a few moments to pick up the sound, but soon he hears it too. Another few moments later, the car emerges from a side road, a familiar steel‑blue canine at the wheel.

Xander Lykos parks in front of Maria and Danny. "Kasai‑dojo has some of the finest medical facilities in the whole Gotoshi," he greets in reassurance. "Glad to have you guys back on our side."

A couple of blocks away, a lone pika limps painfully through the quiet roads on the southern city. Approaching a bench, Kaede elects to sit and rest her injured leg a while. After a couple of minutes, her attention is drawn skywards by an unexpected sound.

A helicopter? Kaede watches the helicopter descend behind the buildings. Must have landed to pick someone‑ So, loverboy and the kitten tracked them down. I wonder how it went? Kaede waits until the helicopter takes off again before standing and heading in the direction of where it landed. As she watches the helicopter ascend, she tries to work out who's on board. I wish I had binoculars or something… Wait… the one on the stretcher… is that the vixen? It is! That must be her husband with her then. But where are loverboy and the kitten?

Curiosity gets the better of Kaede. Wincing as her injured leg triggers fresh sparks of pain, she limps the two blocks to the intersection where the helicopter landed. Looks like everyone's disappeared already. They left stuff behind though. Kaede approaches the two discarded items in the middle of the intersection. A navy‑blue vest and a bloody ninjato… Kaede picks up the vest and finds it's soaked in blood, but otherwise undamaged. So, the Shade Virus lasted just long enough for Maria to skewer Hanna, but not long enough for her to finish the job. She must have been utterly inconsolable… At least loverboy's alright. The vest is undamaged, so assuming he used it as a bandage, this blood must be the vixen's. If only he was around when I got shot. He could have taken care of me, made me feel protected… But he's back with his friends now. I miss having him around.

Kaede drops the vest. Dammit, Tsubaki's right: I've developed an affection for them both! Especially for Danny! In the name of the kitsune Kaede, you know better than to feel affection for the enemy! I need to get out of here and regroup.

Leaving the vest and ninjato behind, Kaede resumes her retreat.