A/N

Hey everyone! Super quick author's note that contains some important information!

Important-ish… anyways…

Today's chapter will be the second last chapter for this story. I will be posting the Epilogue AND the final author's note on Monday, which will be the official end of this installment. I encourage everyone to read the final authors note, as I'll be doing something that will require audience participation.

Ah screw it… I'll be doing a Q&A, alright? There, the secrets out…

I will NOT be answering any personal questions, as in my real name, vocation, etc… this is for the obvious reason that I would like to maintain anonymity. However, questions concerning any of my stories, writing style, future work or even simple questions will be answered to the best of my abilities.

Curious about anything? Now you'll have a chance to ask.

For those curious about how to send in a question, has a private messaging system that can be easily used. Do not expect a personal response from me through this messaging system, just leave your question and go and I will give you a confirmation reply. I'll be taking all of the questions and answers and compiling them onto ONE massive document. I will be posting this document on October 23rd, which is next Friday; it will be attached to the end of THIS story.

When I post the Q&A, I will leave the username of the person who asked me that question beside my answer. If you do NOT want this and would prefer to remain anonymous, please let me know, once again via the messaging system.

I will be repeating this information next week in the final authors note.

Chapter 43…

Mauve settled herself deeper into the uncomfortable mattress of her hospital bed, nestling her head into the lumpy pillow she had been provided by the nurse. She used one hand to gently play with the fingers of her other hand, feeling the small red bumps and burns that covered the digits.

The nurses had told her she was very lucky that she got away with minor burns. If Asher hadn't pulled her down and if Sage's shield hadn't been there… she would have been in much worse condition.

Frankly, Mauve wasn't feeling all that lucky in that moment.

While her hands were left bare her arms were a different story. They had been carefully wrapped in multiple layers of white bandages to cover up the burns and prevent infections.

Thankfully, her slowly recovering aura would erase any scars she would have sustained otherwise… but her wounds still stung like the surface of the sun, even while she was on painkillers.

The lynx girl moved one hand up to toy around with her silver and purple hair, mostly just to confirm that it was still there. Mauve had no doubt that her hair was in awful condition, but the fact that she still felt it running through her fingers meant that it hadn't been burned off.

Mauve just wished she had someone to talk to. She knew Rust and Asher were most likely in different rooms receiving their own treatments, Sage had stayed behind with Ironwood.

Sage… he was the person Mauve really wanted to talk to. She didn't know if any words could be shared between them, she had screwed up pretty badly back in the fight.

'This is all your fault...' Her own words played back in her head, giving her a haunting reminder of the blame she had shifted off herself. Sure, Verdant Bulwark had been the one to orchestrate everything, but she was solely responsible for getting her team into the mess back in the warehouse.

What about Rust…? The dependable foundation her team was built atop of, he was their rock. She wondered what he would say to her if he was in the room, probably a word of encouragement, knowing him. Although she didn't want to admit it… for a little while she had been close to giving up, but Rust reminding her of her strength was what motivated her to stand up to Ironwood.

And Asher… if he was here they wouldn't need to talk, Mauve would simply be content to bask in his familiar and comforting presence. As much as Mauve wanted to believe that she and Asher could stay professional during missions, his supposed "death" had shattered those illusions. She loved him, perhaps more than her ability to put into words, and being told that he was dead left a crushing, all-consuming emptiness in her chest. He wasn't dead of course… but everything still felt so strange, as if she was dreaming.

Wait a minute, had Asher actually died? Had she been hallucinating his survival? It wasn't out of the possibility and that terrified her… the brain was known to do strange things in the interest of continued survival.

But was Asher really dead or was she just confused? Now Mauve didn't know and she could feel her heart beginning to thump in her chest. The lynx girl tried her best to stave off the terrible thoughts, instead trying to focus on a new one.

But no new thoughts came to mind...

Sage, Asher and Rust… her three teammates, her rosary beads…

She had failed them… she had failed all of them as a leader. A leader was not supposed to be impulsive, reckless and needlessly theatrical… but she was all of those things. A leader was not supposed to lose their cool and disrespect the people who counted on them to make the right decisions… but she had.

She was a terrible leader… there was no doubt about that…

"Mauve?" A familiar voice called out softly from the door of her room. Mauve's amber eyes snapped up to meet the piercing blue eyes of Verdant Bulwark.

No… not Verdant… those were Sage's eyes.

"Sage?" Mauve whispered, watching as the green haired boy slowly tiptoed into the room and closed the door. "Are you okay?"

Sage shrugged. "More or less…" The faunus boy was dressed in a hospital gown just like hers, his arms and face were dotted with small band aids and binds. "How are you?"

"In pain," Mauve croaked, holding up her bandaged arms. She winced a little and frowned before turning back to Sage. "They don't have any mirrors… how does my face look?"

"You're face is fine," Sage chuckled, shuffling his feet. "Your hair is a little singed on the tips though… you might need to cut it a little bit shorter…" The faunus boy trailed off, his feet shuffling a little louder against the linoleum floor.

"I'm sorry!" Mauve blurted out, faster and louder than she had intended.

"What?" Sage squawked, a look of surprise in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Mauve repeated, battling down a wad of emotion that was stuck in her throat. "I said and did some terrible things… before today and during the fight… you didn't deserve any of it."

"I-" Sage paused. "I accept your apology… tensions were running pretty high for a while."

"Yeah… they were."

"I need to apologize to you too," Sage looked down at his feet. "I- I said some things to you that I really didn't mean… I'm not exactly innocent here either."

"You were scared," Mauve frowned. "I was just being nosy-"

"Look," Sage squeezed his eyes shut. "We can go back and forth all day about who's the bigger asshole… or we could just put this all behind us."

"I'd like that," Mauve cleared her throat. "Thank you, Sage…"

"No problem, team leader," Sage cracked a small smile. He didn't notice Mauve cringe a little at her semi-official title. "Other than the burns and the wounded pride… you okay?"

"Yeah," Mauve smiled. "Asher's plan was… crazy…"

"That it was…" Sage smiled, his words trailing off a little at the end and the smile dropping off his face. "I- I need to talk to you about him…"

Mauve's pace quickened, she could feel the cold sweat building on the palm of her hands. This was it… Sage would tell her that Asher was actually dead… her memories of him during the fight were just a fantasy she had concocted to ease her mind…

"It's about his new… powers…" Sage muttered, once again oblivious as Mauve shot up in surprise.

"Oh…" Mauve felt herself deflate as a fresh feeling of giddiness swept through her. So it was all true! Asher was alive! The relief she felt was immeasurable…

"He…" Sage paused. "He just appeared out of thin air… I don't remember him ever doing that, not since that night in Vale…"

"Truthfully, I- I don't know anything about it either," Mauve replied, wringing her hands in her lap. "He- I shouldn't talk about it…"

"Why not?"

"It's private," Mauve frowned. "I told you about this a while ago… I don't know if he would want me to say."

"I understand," Sage nodded. "But I really wish he could just… talk to us for once."

Mauve lifted her head to meet Sage's gaze. "I love him… but you're right… it's something he needs to work on…"

"I hope you aren't talking about me behind my back," Rust chuckled, making his presence instantly known as he barged into the room. "What's with the sad faces?"

"Oh nothing," Sage turned his head to stealthily wipe his right eye. "How are you, Rust?"

"I've been better," Rust shrugged, his smile pushing up his casted nose. The large boy wiggled his shoulder to show off his left arm, which had been pinned to his chest by a sling. "The doctors said I had multiple bone fractures… nothing aura and time can't take care of though."

Rust paused his speech and took a step towards Mauve, gently brushing past Sage in the process. "I won't lie… you've looked a little better, Mauve."

"Thanks," Mauve chuckled back with a smile, internally she felt great relief in Rust's presence. "Not looking too hot yourself…"

Rust chuckled, wincing slightly as he did so. "Like I said… nothing aura and time can't fix. How about you, Sage? You good?"

"Fine," Sage shrugged in response. "But my entire body hurts…"

The three teammates fell into a comfortable silence, but Rust was the one to break it.

"Listen," Rust annunciated his words carefully. "I'm not oblivious to who you guys were talking about when I came in… you guys saw what I saw out there… right?"

"You mean Asher vanishing into thin air, only to reappear in a completely different spot," Sage clicked his tongue. "Yeah…"

"What do you guys make of that?" Rust frowned. "It's not his semblance… the only time we ever saw it happen was at the-"

"Precinct," Mauve finished Rust's sentence, flicking her amber gaze up to meet his own. "Yeah…"

Rust frowned and looked away, shifting uncomfortably in his spot.

The room felt a little bit cold…

Three pairs of eyes turned when the door lock suddenly clicked. The door slowly opened with a sinister hiss until it was fully ajar, the door knob tapping gently against the wall.

"Was that the wind?" Sage whispered.

"Hardly," spoke a familiar voice, prompting all three sets of eyes to whip around to view the space near the head of Mauve's bed. Asher was standing there nonchalantly, an easy smile on his face. The large gash that had dominated his cheek had been sealed by a neat row of stitches.

There was absolutely no way Asher could have snuck in…

"Where the hell did you come from?" Rust spat in shock, his eyes scanning around to try and construct some sort of logical explanation.

Asher snorted and stayed silent, removing his hand from the frame of Mauve's bed. In an instant he vanished from where he was standing, eliciting three yelps of shock from his teammates.

"Where did he go!?" Mauve demanded, carefully scanning the small room with a frantic look in her eyes.

"I don't know!" Sage cried, searching around. "He just disappeared! Rust!?"

"I've got nothing!"

"Well then- MMTHPH!" Mauve cried in surprise when a pair of soft lips pressed against hers. Asher had re-appeared right in front of her, instantly closing the distance between their lips with a hard kiss. Mauve was still in shock but leaned into the kiss, moving her injured hands up to gently caress the sides of Asher's face.

All at once he pulled away, moving a hand up to grasp one of hers. "Hey…"

"Asher?" Mauve wheezed out in shock. "How…?"

"I know you guys have a lot of questions," Asher held up his hands, shooting a nervous glance in the direction of Rust and Sage. "I can try to answer them as best I can… given what I know…"

"How do you do that!?" Sage demanded, a curious look in his eyes.

"I imagine a door, and then-" Asher disappeared mid-sentence, prompting his teammates to wail in shock. He reappeared just as quick as he left, a sour look on his face. "Sorry… it's a finicky little process…"

"So what?" Rust clutched his chest in surprise. "You can teleport now?"

"It's not teleportation," Asher frowned. "It's related to my semblance, most likely an evolution… Doctor Fern is going to want to run some tests, knowing him…"

"Doctor Fern!?" Sage shook his head. "Who-? Asher… what are you talking about? What is all this!?"

Asher blinked, turning his dark grey eyes down to face Mauve. "You haven't told them anything?"

"No," Mauve very gently shook her head. "They've asked but… I haven't said anything…"

"Oh," Asher nodded, looking up again to face his teammates. He moved his right hand down to rest atop Mauve's head, gently rubbing the sensitive spot between her lynx ears and feeling the soft texture of her hair; Mauve melted into his touch as if she hadn't felt it in years. "It's a long story… one I know you guys would like to hear…"

"Spare us no detail…" Rust gulped.

For the first time in a long time, Asher didn't spare any details from them. The beginning of his crazy tale harkened back all the way to the night at the precinct and finally ended once he started talking about the fight with Verdant. Rust, Sage and Mauve were dumbfounded by the absolute wealth of information Asher offered them in that one sitting.

"So, you have a voice in your head?" Rust mumbled in confusion.

"Not right now I don't," Asher frowned. "He- They fell silent after the fight… I haven't heard anything since."

"And when you… shift," Sage tilted his head. "You're not on Remnant anymore?"

"That's right," Asher nodded. "It's strange… like I'm a ghost or something, but it's proved useful so far… and that's not the only new trick," Asher paused his speech and held up his left hand. In just under a few seconds the limb became wreathed with the wispy grey smoke of his semblance; Asher's team watched in curiosity as he lifted the limb up to his lips and deeply inhaled the smokes, the fair haired boy pulled away the arm soon after, seemingly suffering no ill effects.

"What!?" Mauve blanched, shivering when Asher dug his fingers deeper into the sensitive spot on her ears. "You… don't choke anymore?"

"Looks like it," Asher frowned, he flicked his arm and the smoke disappeared. "It feels like I'm breathing regular air… almost…"

"I still have a thousand questions," Rust whispered.

"And I'll answer them all," Asher nodded, a serious look taking hold of his features. "But that can wait… there's a more pressing matter at hand," the grey eyed boy focused on his green haired teammate. "Sage, any word about Honey?"

"No," Sage frowned. "I still don't know if she's okay, but Ironwood sent a team to protect her. Verdant told us-"

"Wait a minute!" Mauve snarled, shaking her head to bat Asher's hand away. "He's still alive!?"

"Yes," Sage nodded and frowned. "He survived the blast-"

"How!?" Asher demanded, leering forwards menacingly. "No one could survive something like that… that explosion did a number on us and we weren't even at ground zero!"

"He tanked it," Sage shrugged. "Maybe he managed to activate his semblance at the last moment… I don't know. He wasn't in good shape when we found him…" Sage trailed off, his eyes focusing on Mauve before a small smile edged up his lips. "He lost all his hair…"

Mauve couldn't help but chuckle a little. "All of it?"

"Eyebrows too," Sage gave her a small smile. "But he made a deal with Ironwood… the General had to meet his demands and in return he would tell us how to save Honey."

"Ironwood took the deal?" Rust muttered.

"He did," Sage smiled, but his expression hardened not long after. "But even he doesn't know if Honey is alright… the only thing he could do was send a message to call off the hit."

The four teammates fell into an uneasy silence.

"All we can do is hope for the best," Asher muttered under his breath, reaching down to resume scratching Mauve's ears. "Are you okay, Sage?"

"I don't know," Sage admitted. "Not until I get the news…"

Another uneasy silence settled over the team.

"I want to thank you four," Sage muttered under his breath, catching the attention of his teammates.

"What for?" Rust cocked his head.

"Everything!" Sage threw up his hands and frowned. "I tried to push you guys away... but you wouldn't budge,"

Rust smiled. "You were foolish for thinking we would..."

Sage tilted his head in curiosity. "You know... my uncle asked me a few times if there was any love left between us, and I could never give him a proper answer. But after today… I think I know who my family is."

There were no more words to share, the teammates gently embraced each other, gathering around Mauve so she was the centerpiece of the team hug. Although Mauve's heart sang with happiness, there was still the nagging feeling of doubt and guilt in the back of her mind.

'You don't deserve to be their leader,' a cruel voice snarled, ringing and reverberating around inside her head.

"Y'know," Rust spoke softly as he maintained the group hug. "I think I know what the biggest problem we have as a team is."

"What is it?" Sage raised an eyebrow.

"Secrets," Rust answered as he straightened his back. "Mauve, Asher… I never really told you two about what happened to my dad… Sage knew from the start but you guys never got told."

"You don't have to say anything you don't want to," Mauve frowned, a feeling of uneasiness growing in the pit of her stomach.

"That's the problem!" Rust countered, a soft look on his face. "It's one thing to keep things to yourself… but it's another thing to let secrets harm us as a team. When we have some time later… I'll tell you guys about my dad… there's a story there."

"And I should probably tell you guys about my childhood too," Sage's eyes flitted down. "No more secrets… right?"

Mauve cleared her throat and nodded in affirmation. "No more secrets… "

The teammates broke apart, each of them lifting their eyes to stare at Asher, who shuffled in place uncomfortably.

"Well… I already told you guys about what's going on with me, but I suppose I could elaborate a little more" Asher smiled and shrugged. "No more secrets…"

Soon Mauve's teammates would pile out of the room, not out of their own volition but from the pleas of the nurse who stormed into the room, demanding the three males of Team MARS leave so that Mauve could get some rest.

Mauve managed a small smile when they waved her goodbye before piling out the door.

The nurse huffed and gently held Mauve's arms to inspect the bandages. "How are you feeling?"

"Still hurts a little," Mauve frowned. "But I think I'll be alright."

"I told you before and I'll say it again," the nurse huffed. "You're very lucky…"

"I guess…" Mauve whispered, her eyes looking down to stare at her injured hands again.

The nurse frowned and stood back up. "How about I leave you to get some rest…?"

"What time is it?"

"It's a quarter past noon," the nurse answered. "But you were up all night, weren't you? I think a little bit of rest would do you some good…"

"Maybe you're right," Mauve blinked her eyes, realizing in that instant just how tired she was. "Maybe you're right…"

The nurse left and Mauve soon fell into an uneasy sleep.