Jay closed her eyes, sighing as she stopped in front of the hospital room door. After Jaune had the floor cleared of anyone except loved ones, it was possible to finally visit Jahim. Yet, Jay had been standing outside his room for nearly five minutes, unable to move. Jaune and Alice stood at her sides, and Alice placed a hand up on her shoulder.

"Hey, we're here. He wants to see you," she said.

"I know," Jay said, "I'm just nervous, is all."

"You don't have any reason to be, you saved his life," Alice said. "You'll be fine."

"I hope so," Jay said, before knocking on the door. She heard Nero's voice from inside, something that didn't surprise her at all.

"Come in," he said, and Jay complied, twisting the handle on the door, and pushing it open as she braced herself for what awaited her on the other side. Despite this, her eyes still bulged in shock at what lied in the bed before her.

Jahim sat upright, with no bandages to be seen on him. There wasn't an oxygen mask on his face, nor an IV drip in his arm. He was merely in a hospital gown, looking more tired than anything else. Nero sat next to him, looking even more tired, and smiling at Jay while holding Jahim's hand in his own. Jahim turned to Jay, and also smiled.

"Hey," he said, exhaustion prevalent in his voice.

Jay was still unsure of what to do, too hesitant to even enter the room. "H-hey," she replied, her voice shaky.

"I saw your speech," Jahim said, nodding towards the television. "You're pretty good at that stuff. I'm kinda a mess when it come to public speaking."

Jay managed a nervous chuckle, but only walked a few steps in before pausing again. Nero noticed her behavior, and spoke out. "Jay, what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Jay responded a little too quickly. "Nothing's wrong."

"Jay," Jahim said, "Yang told us. She told us about what happened. I left before the fight was over, and only heard it over the intercom."

Jay's face cracked, and she sniffled, turning her vision away from Jahim and Nero. "I-I… I…"

"You were right," Jahim finished for her, snapping her vision back to him. "You were right about everything."

Jay sniffled again, a single trail of tears carving its way down her face. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Jahim asked, his tone making her jump again.

"I… I let you fall… I killed you…." Jay stammered.

"No, I killed myself," Jahim said. "You told me nothing but truths, nothing but what I needed to hear, and I still flung myself off of that airdock. You leapt right off of it, and subjected yourself to who knows how long of a living nightmare, watching me die over and over and over again, and you still came down and restarted my heart when you knew I was doomed to fall." He looked down, at his own hands. "I threw my life away. I gave up, killing myself to avoid conflict like a selfish coward. I hurt everyone close to me for even trying, and I hurt you most of all. I'm sorry, Jay."

Jay was silent for a while, before walking up to Jahim, and taking a seat on the chair next to him. "Promise me you won't give up again," she said, grabbing onto Jahim's hand. "Promise me you'll be strong. You deserve so much more."

"I promise," Jahim said. He chuckled, nodding his head towards Nero. "You shoulda seen him after I woke up. Dude was a mess."

"My boyfriend falls ten stories, then wakes up in perfect health? I wasn't sure I wasn't dead, man!" He and Jahim laughed, earning a chuckle out of Jay, which made Alice smile from the doorway.

Jay looked at Jahim, and turned to look him in the eye. "Jahim, I want you to know that this prize money they saddled on me, it's yours too. I, uh," she said, beginning to stumble on her words, "I read that transitioning can get kinda expensive, but I've gotta find a way to spend this million damned Lien somehow. So, uh, if you need cash now that he's not holding you back, consider it all paid for."

Jahim was silent for a moment, before leaping up and wrapping his arms around Jay's neck, pulling her in for a tight embrace. "You have no idea how much that means. Thank you," Jahim said, his voice hitching on his tears, "Thank you so much."

Jay was still, before finally reciprocating the hug, her embrace tender for not wanting to hurt Jahim further. She held him for several minutes, before Jahim eventually pulled back, and laid down. "Jahim," Jay asked, after he had settled, "how did you recover so fast? I only restarted your heart."

"Actually," Jaune said from the doorway, "you didn't." All eyes were suddenly on the headmaster, and he raised his hands in worry. "Okay, maybe not the best line to open on."

"What do you mean?" Jay said. "I performed CPR, and his heart restarted in the ambulance."

"Jay, you did perform CPR, but…" Jaune shook his head. "Jahim was dead." Every single other person in the room began to stammer questions, and Jaune raised his hands again. "Okay, I am very bad at this, but I'm gonna have to give a history lesson to explain myself." He cleared his throat.

"Kasbah is a strange place," Jaune said. "It's a city in the middle of an arid desert, with no barriers to keep the grimm out, so surviving there took a lot of two things; brawn, and faith. Kasbah was a holy city in the old days, for a religion lost to time, and like a lot of religions back then, there were some really messed up rituals. They thought Semblances were signs of divine favour, and would make self offerings to their gods for power, and as time progressed, Kasbah denizens evolved to have Semblances that would save them from the procedure 100% of the time, and then awaken. Eventually, this made the religion fall apart, but the procedure of nearly killing yourself to unlock your semblance stayed, and even escalated to the point where the semblances would have to actually resuscitate them from death. A Kasbah-born person, upon death, would be rapidly healed back to as if it had never happened, but they'd have a semblance. That," Jaune said, pointing at Jahim, "is what happened yesterday, to you."

Jahim looked at his hands again. "I… died?" He paused for a moment, before shaking his head. "This only changes one thing." He turned to Nero. "We've got a semblance to find, don't we?"

"You took that… shockingly well," Jaune said.

Jay and Nero both nodded, with Jay even chuckling. "Jahim's semblance finally showing up? Now that, I can't wait to see."

"That was a beautiful speech, don't you think?"

Donovan looked down, the words pulling his attention. He was sitting on his bed, his back against the headboard, and his left hand holding a book up to read. His right hand gingerly rubbed Amber's feline ears as she laid next to him, his fingers always seeming to linger on the scar tissue around the missing area of her left ear. Donovan marveled at how soft they were, and smiled at the soft, rumbling purr that would emerge, and that Amber would always swear she never actually did. This time of relaxation had become a favourite of theirs after their talk several days ago, the silence relaxing them both. It was for that reason that the breaking of the silence made Donovan realize something must be wrong.

"Yes, it was," Donovan replied, still petting Amber's ears. "Jay's far more eloquent than her text messages would have you believe."

"It's just," Amber said, pausing long enough to make Donovan put his book down and look at her again. "I've been thinking about it. About surviving, and strength, and living. You know she directed some of it at us, right?"

"Yes, because we're survivors," Donovan said. "You're a survivor."

Amber raised her hands up into the air, looking at them. "Only because of this damned body. Monsters tend to live a lot longer than men."

"Amber," Donovan said, his hand reaching and taking her left into it, "do you really believe you're a monster?"

"No, no not anymore," Amber said, sitting up next to Donovan. "It's just… I was one for so long. It's like Jay said. I survived that, and I'm stronger for it. It's just, living as one that long… it doesn't just go away. Life goes on, but I still worry about it."

"Worry about what?" Donovan said, his grip tightening on her hand in worry. "If there's something troubling you, please, let me help."

Amber froze, thinking to exactly what was troubling her. Her mind went back to her conversation with her mother, that night.

You're going to have to tell him eventually. He deserves to know.

"Donovan, what's bothering me is something that not even my team knows, something that scares me more than anything." She swallowed hard, and Donovan moved closer to her.

"Is it something I can help with?" Donovan asked.

"It…" Amber sighed. "It's this body. My body. What I was made for. It's… It's time I told you."

Donovan nodded. "Okay."

Amber cleared her throat, and shut her eyes. "From the first moment I can remember, I was a weapon. I knew nothing but what was told to me, and that was that what Knightsnow, my 'master', told me needed to die, I had to go kill. And kill I did, hundreds of people. I even had my own team, the bunch of savages." She sighed. "That wasn't the only thing they told me though. They told me about my body. That is what worries me.

"My body was engineered as a weapon of mass destruction. I can survive for 3 months without a single calorie of food, I can survive a full 6 weeks without a drop of water. When I'm at my peak, I can lift twelve tonnes. I can run at speeds that rival some cars if I push myself. All this is thanks to whatever they pumped me full of, whatever they used to replace most of my muscles. But it came with a cost." She looked at her hand that wasn't currently in Donovan's. "I'm stuck like this."

"What?" Donovan asked. "What do you mean?"

"I… I don't age." Amber said, keeping her eye contact onto her hand. "Whatever they made… me… out of, it doesn't age. They told me I'll be like this forever. I'll live until something kills me, and it'll be like this." Donovan watched her as she sniffled, tears forming in her eyes. "I'm gonna… I'm gonna outlive you by centuries. All of you. You'll grow old and I'll still be this. I'm frozen." She let out a single sob. "If this.. If this is too much I won't ask you to stay with-"

"Amber," Donovan said, before letting go of her hand, and wrapping himself around her. "I'm here. I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you."

Amber hesitated, before falling into Donovan's embrace, crying into her shoulder. "I'm so scared," she said around her sniffling, "b-before, it didn't matter, I was a weapon. Even after I was free, I didn't have enough attachments for it to matter. But… now I have things to lose, and I will lose them to something I can't control." She felt her anger flare, banging her clenched fist into Donovan's metal shoulder blade. "I never asked for this! Why me? Why was it me? Why do I have to lose you? Why? Why?" she screamed, before devolving into sobs.

Donovan shushed her, patting her back and petting her ears in an attempt to relax her. When her crying had settled somewhat, he began to speak softly, not wanting to startle her. "Amber, you might lose us in body, but not in spirit. Do you remember what Headmaster Arc said to us when he explained his semblance?"

"N-no one is dead until they're forgotten…" Amber stammered.

"Right," Donovan said. "You could live past my death. You could live past it by centuries. But, I'll still be here, in your mind, your memories. When we met, when we first talked, our first night together, everything between us will still remain. The mind is something time takes only if you let it." He pulled her in tighter. "It's okay to be scared, Amber. I'm so proud of you for staying strong this long when you had this bottled up, and I'm thankful you shared it with me." He leaned back, and looked into her teary eyes. "You're the woman I love. As long as I'm here, I'm here for you. As long as I'm here, as long as I'm in your mind, you won't ever be alone."

Amber was wordless, only leaning in and kissing Donovan, pressing deep into him and feeling him press back. She broke off after what felt like forever, and managed a chuckle. "We've been a real mess, lately, huh? Both of us, falling to tears in each others arms in the span of a week."

"We're barely adults, and we're trying to save the world," Donovan said. "I think we'll be forgiven if we both need to cry every now and then. We traded our youth so that others wouldn't have to."

Amber smiled, and they remained together, cuddling for hours, until a message to Donovan's scroll finally drew him from his comfort.

"Who would be… oh, no," Donovan said, reading the message.

"What?" Amber said, sitting up, "What's wrong?"

"Emissaries just arrived at the Vale foreign affairs office," Donovan said, looking at Amber. "The Chieftain and High Priest of Kasbah are in Vale."