Lotus arrived back at the safe house to see Widow frantically making her exit. The two locked eyes on each other as Lotus came within range of Widow's extra sense, both staring for a moment. Lotus in confusion, and Widow with a tight lipped panic that quickly devolved into relief as her eyes searched Lotus up and down.

"Where have you been?" Widow demanded as Lotus crossed the remaining distance. Her hands clenched as she brought them up to rest on her hips.

"Uhhhhh," Lotus wasn't sure how to take this sudden shift in Widow's usual laid back attitude, "I went… out?" She could immediately tell that had been the wrong response, if Widow's scowl was anything to go by. Lotus shifted awkwardly, the moment making her anxious.

After a handful of silent, tight lipped seconds, Widow sighed and opened the door to let Lotus inside. She put a hand up to her face and shook her head, "You gave me a heart attack, little spider. Waking up without you there… not even a note…" Widow continued talking as she followed Lotus into the house, the younger faunus leading them back towards their shared bedroom to deposit the day's earnings, "And after you'd been so torn up over what happened last night… I was about to tear this town apart looking for you."

Lotus wasn't sure whether to be glad that Widow cared so much, or worried that her first response was so drastic, "I'm fine, Widow. I can take care of myself, ya know?" She emphasized her point by dropping both of the heavy duffel bags to the ground and zipping them open in one fluid motion. The bulging contents spilled out partially, lien cards clattering to the ground off the sides of the bags.

Widow's eyes widened and her shoulders stiffened as she slowly bent down to pick up one of the lien cards to see if it was real. She straightened, eyes whipping to lock on to Lotus's own, "Did you rob a bank!? Of all the ill advised, reckless-!"

Widow stopped her tirade as Lotus hurriedly latched her hands on to the older woman's shoulders, "No no no! I didn't rob a bank, Widow!"

Widow dropped the lien back down on top of the duffle bag, only for it to slide off the stack to the floor with many of the rest, "Then where did you get this much money?" Her eyes firmly searched Lotus's, demanding the truth.

Lotus brought her hand back to rub the back of her neck as her eyes drifted off to the side in embarrassment, "I… put in a request for Malachite to find out who betrayed the White Fang. She had me do a job for her. There was a… gang, that was selling drugs to the faunus in the slums. I put a stop to it, burned down their hideout, and took their lien."

Widow tensed at each admission and rubbed her forehead in frustration, "Did you at least make sure not to leave any survivors?" When Lotus refrained from answering, her eyes snapped back open to stare at the girl, "Please tell me you did, Olivia."

The girl flinched, 'My name is Lotus."

Widow scoffed, "Really? The Lotus I know would have learned from her past mistakes. Did you not just say you went to Malachite to find someone you left alive because you thought they'd betrayed us all? What if any of those gang members hold a vendetta? What if they follow us back to the safe house? We can sense a lot as spider faunus, but a bomb planted under our beds?"

Lotus shrivelled under the searing words, "I...I…" Every question came as a blow to her confidence.

Widow put a hand on each of Lotus's shoulders and shoved her down on to the bed behind her, firmly holding her there for a few seconds while she spoke firmly, barely contained contempt in her words, "Stay. Here. I'll go fix your little screw up. In the meantime, I don't want you taking a single step outside. Do you understand?"

Tears came unbidden to Lotus's eyes as she nodded, turning away from Widow to lie down and hide her face, her shame, from the older woman. 'She's never treated me like this… I'm sorry!' Lotus couldn't bring herself to say it, though. She couldn't face the woman that had begun furiously rifling through her belongings to get changed, to get ready to fix Lotus's mistake. It wasn't the anger the woman displayed that had gotten the girl so worked up. It was the disappointment. The thought that she had failed her, the only family she had left.

Widow finished getting ready and stopped at the door. Lotus could feel her eyes on her, "Are they strong?" Three simple words, yet Lotus quivered at the tone.

Incapable of speaking, Lotus simply shook her head 'no' from where it rested on her pillow. Widow left without another word, slamming the door behind herself as she left.

Lotus curled up beneath her covers, content to hide herself from the world as she cried.

'Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!'

Widow was furious. First, Lotus had decided to sneak out before Widow had woken up, leaving nothing to let her know what she was doing, nothing to alleviate the fear that had gripped her heart. Her mind had instantly jumped to the worst conclusions in a panic. That she had run away after last night's episode, that she had stepped outside and been caught, that Widow herself had driven the girl away with her drinking.

The truth had been worse. Even after trying to steer the girl away from asking Malachite, she had still gone to her… 'And without me!' Widow was equal parts frustrated and worried. 'Everything I do is for that girl! Does she not trust me!?' She had been so careful… Now the silly girl had gone on a mission all alone, without Widow's protection or guidance. 'Leaving survivors like that?' Widow scoffed out loud as she walked, 'I thought she would have known better by now.'

Widow readied herself as she prepared to step into Malachite's hideout. She let the tension ease from her posture and relaxed her frustrated expression, returning to her calm, composed self. The first thing she noticed when she stepped inside was how full the hideout was. Every chair at every table was taken, aside from the one across from Malachite herself. Widow had never seen the place so packed.

Widow's hairs stood on end. She could feel all of the attention in the room immediately divert to her, even if only a few actually raised their eyes to look. She was a single spot of red in a sea of purple. Some of the tension returned to her shoulders as she waded through them, to the one open chair in the building, directly across from Malachite. Widow's apprehension increased the further she walked inside, as she felt more and more eyes on her back, thinking themselves unobserved because her own eyes weren't on them. Widow's senses were going haywire.

Widow paused, 'I… I should leave. This is wrong.' She both felt and heard a number of chairs scrape back behind her, a wave of purple stepping between her and the exit. Widow grit her teeth and continued forward a moment later. Malachite was smiling at her over a cup of tea in one hand, cigarette in the other.

Malachite gestured for Widow to sit with the cigarette, smiling more intently as Widow accepted the wordless command. The woman sat there, letting Widow stew for a few more seconds, before lowering her cup, "I was hoping you'd stop by."

There was a prolonged silence between the two. Widow waited for her to continue, while Malachite seemed content to drag out her words.

"Your little protege hired me to find something out for her. Now can you imagine my surprise when I thought it was information she was already privy to? She does work so... closely with you, after all."

Widow's hands fell to her daggers, drawing them out a hair as she shuddered. Every muscle in her body was screaming to silence this woman. 'Lotus can't find out!' Dozens of chair legs scraped on the floor, a cacophony of swords being unsheathed and guns being drawn following after.

Malachite's smile grew, sizing up Widow, "Even with your little friend here, I doubt you could take all of us and live to tell about it. So why don't you just sit down and relax? Have some tea." At that, one of the guards flanking her stepped forward, pulling out another cup and filling it with the steamy liquid before pushing it on its saucer to Widow's side of the table. Widow waited, flexing her fingers across the handles on her daggers. 'I'll… play her little game…' Widow slowly removed her hands from her daggers, setting both hands on the table instead. She made no motion towards the cup that sat in front of her.

Malachite quirked an eyebrow, "It really is good." When Widow still made no attempts to reach for it, she instead gave a polite shrug, "Have it your way. Now, you must be wondering, 'What does Little Miss Malachite plan on doing with this information?', and well, I was considering just giving it to the girl as she'd asked."

The larger woman laughed at the fear on Widow's face, "But that would hardly work in my best interests, now would it? If I did that, I would lose two very valuable resources." Malachite tapped a finger to her chin, "The girl was so prompt in dealing with her side of the bargain, though. My sources tell me the place in question burned down along with everything inside. Only one body, but that was more than I was expecting after seeing the state she was in this morning."

Widow couldn't help but feel a tinge of regret for how she had treated Lotus earlier. 'Was she that worked up over last night? Did the girl never realize that most of the people she killed had families too?' Widow could only be frustrated now by her own lack of empathy. She wanted what was best for Lotus, and part of that was putting her on the right track when it came to their line of work.

Widow had picked up on the clear hesitation in Malachite's words, though. "What do you want, then? If you tell her the truth, she'll fall apart. Lotus will never work with you or anyone again."

"And there lies my problem. I want you both to continue working for me. So… perhaps we could come to an arrangement?" Malachite smirked as she raised a hand, gesturing for Maca to bring her the manilla folder. Malachite pushed the entire folder to Widow's side of the table, "In exchange for keeping your little secret, you agree to work for me. This," she gestured at the folder, "becomes your job. Whether you bring your little protege into it or not is your choice."

Widow pulled the folder the rest of the way to her side. There were dozens of pages, each listing off either a singular person or a group, ones that Malachite would all prefer to be six feet under.

"You'll still be paid, of course. Take them at your own pace. As long as they're dealt with then I don't care how you do it," the smile played across Malachite's lips, "Oh, yes. I'll also be giving you two better accommodations in one of our other safe houses. Somewhere that we can still keep an eye on you. So don't get any ideas about running off. My informants are everywhere, and they will all have specific instructions to let slip your little secret if I give the word."

Widow sat in defeat. 'There's nothing I can do.' While she was confident that she could draw one of her daggers and reach across the table to kill the offensive woman in one smooth motion, she would certainly get gunned down in the next instant. 'I can't kill my way out of this one…' Did she try and tell Lotus herself? 'No…' Imagining the look of utter betrayal on the girl's face who she had long since come to think of as a daughter smothered that line of thinking. 'I have to protect her, even if it's from the truth...'

"Fine."

Malachite clapped her hands together once in delight, "Wonderful! Some of my men can help show you to the new place later today! It is more spacious, just like the two of you wanted." Malachite waved a hand, motioning for Widow to leave, "Take the folder with you. Once that's complete, I'm sure we'll have another one prepared."

Widow stood to leave, but froze at Malachite's next words, "Oh, and thank you for the wonderful idea. A bomb would be a good way to handle a person of your… expertise."

'They bugged the safe house!' Widow shivered, refusing to turn back to see Malachite's smirk, even if she could already feel it stretching across the woman's face. 'I will kill you for this, Malachite. Perhaps not today… but I will.'

There was a long drawn out pause between them before Malachite broke it. "From one… motherly figure to another. Why did you do it?" Her tone had gone somber with the question. She was truly letting her curiosity get the better of her.

Widow turned back to level a glare at the woman, "The longer I stand around, the longer it will take to finish these," she waved the folder over her shoulder, "Are we done here?"

Malachite laughed, "Of course. Due diligence is appreciated."

Widow's empty hand clenched one of her daggers in a tight grip as she left the building. She still needed to clean up after Lotus's morning activities. As much as her own issues would need to be resolved, keeping her 'daughter' off anyone's vengeful radar was her top priority.

The column of smoke still lazily drifting into the sky across the slums was a clear enough indication of where she needed to go.

Widow was not in the mood for her usual subtlety.

She had spent the last few minutes asking everyone nearby if they knew anyone from the gang, or where they had gone. When she had found someone twisting their words to hide the truth from her, all it had taken was a few severed fingers to get the truth out of him. She cut his throat afterwards for good measure.

Now she stood in front of their secondary hideout. Widow frowned at the White Fang slashes across the front of the dilapidated one story building. She could feel the presence of ten people inside, gathered around the center of the room. Moving silently up to the door, she put an ear to it and listened. The voices were muffled. Widow smiled, her semblance could fix that little issue.

As far as she'd ever told anyone, it could only dampen sounds around her. If only they knew about the rest of its capabilities… 'The others might not have fought to the death if they realized I was the one making them hear things…' All the more reason to keep it a secret.

"What are we gonna do about this?" a male voice increased in clarity as Widow raised its volume for her ears alone.

"Nothing, right? You saw how she manhandled Maho! And the way she killed the boss…" a younger woman trailed off, her voice full of fear.

'I should give Lotus more credit. It sounds like she tried to scare them off.'

"I've never had that much lien in my life," another man chipped in angrily, "And she took all of it."

"She let us keep some!" another male piped up.

The other man scoffed, "A few hundred each compared to the thousands she either burned down or took with her. I say we find out where she is and take back what's ours!"

When a few others muttered words of agreement, Widow figured she had heard enough. The door opened with a loud creak as she opened it, eyes taking in the scene before her. They sat around a small table, a medium stack of lien piled on top of it. Several sat in mismatched chairs, or on a couch that had been pulled up next to the rest. They all turned in shock when the door opened.

Widow strode in, ignoring the questions they threw her way. She gave away nothing as she stepped up next to the first few, a smile on her face. They were weak, as Lotus had suggested.

'At least I'll be able to vent some of my frustration out on them before I go back to the safe house.'

Widow began the grisly work of silencing the young faunus forever, a slow smile coming back to her lips.

'I will always keep you safe, my little spider.'

Lotus snapped back awake as Widow's presence returned. She grumbled to herself silently, flipping her pillow over to avoid the wet spot she had left after falling asleep in her own tears. The door to their room opened and Widow stepped in.

The older faunus only spoke a few words, excusing herself to the shower. Lotus couldn't bring herself to reply, but instead buried her red rimmed eyes back into the fresh side of her pillow. Widow paused for a few moments, likely waiting for a reply. When none was offered though, she simply stepped into the bathroom, closing the door quietly behind herself and starting up the shower.

Lotus couldn't stand just lying around and listening to the shower through the wall. She needed to do something, anything, to take her mind off the shame she felt for failing Widow. For failing her expectations of her. Lotus retreated from the room and into the kitchen, mind set on making something for her companion. 'Eggs and toast isn't enough…' Lotus desperately searched through the cupboards and refrigerator for anything else she might be able to make.

During the midst of her search, Lotus noticed the large package that Widow had left on the countertop, but she kept away from it. She hardly wanted to add 'invasion of privacy' to her growing list of personal failures for the day.

A small flicker of a smile crossed Lotus's face as she hefted out a bag of pancake mix she had found in one of the lower cupboards. The smile fled immediately as she flinched, caused by the sound of the running water stopping from the bathroom. 'I'm still close enough for her to sense me,' Lotus told herself. Widow wouldn't be barging through in another fit of panic thinking she had left again without permission.

Lotus set about making the two of them a stack of pancakes each. She decided to get a little experimental with it, adding in blueberries with the mix to try and make the most of what they had on hand. She could feel Widow moving around in their room while she got dressed, and silently hoped she wouldn't come out before the pancakes were done. It would be better, somehow, to present them to her once they were fully prepared. 'And not a moment before…' Lotus managed to convince herself that she wasn't just putting off a conversation with Widow. 'Nope, not at all.'

The young faunas was just about finished distributing out the pancakes on to each of their plates when the bedroom door squeaked open. Lotus winced even though she had been expecting it, and dropped the last pancake off center of the rest. She worriedly bent over it and adjusted it, trying to move the last fluffy treat into perfect alignment with the rest. Widow watched her frantically repositioning the pancake without comment, and instead sat down across from where Lotus was standing.

The plate slid over to Widow the next moment. Lotus kept her head down as she pushed it over, averting her gaze from the frown crossing her companion's face. Widow just sighed and let her eyes drift down to the plate as she picked up a fork, "Do we have any syrup?"

"R-right, of course!" Lotus stammered, quickly turning away to begin searching through the cabinets again. 'Why didn't I think of that?' Lotus chastised herself. It needed to be good. Needed to be perfect to make up for being such a disappointment. A growing sense of distress invaded the young girl's mind as she searched, slamming each cabinet closed when it failed to hold what she needed. 'Where is it? Where is it!? We have to have some!'

Lotus recoiled when she felt Widow's hand on her shoulder, shying away from the touch, "I'm looking! J-Just give me a second!" Lotus blinked the tears that had started to form in her eyes. 'I don't have time for that again!'

Widow's hand returned more forcefully this time, stopping Lotus in her tracks and spinning her around to face the last remaining family she had. Lotus froze in place, blurry eyes taking in the worry in Widow's eyes. She pulled Lotus into a tight hug the next second, bringing a hand up and brushing it lightly through the young girl's hair.

'What's wrong, little spider?" Widow's voice was soft, soothing. Lotus could also hear the undercurrent of worry there.

Lotus broke down. It was too much. "I'm sorry, Widow. I-I messed up this morning, and you were so worried about me, and you were right, I didn't leave a note, and I-"

"Ssshhhhh," the sound interrupted Lotus's slew of words that had become more and more unintelligible as she continued to break down. Their hug grew more firm, with Widow tightening her hold around Lotus's back, "It's okay. I forgive you, little spider. You don't have to apologize for anything, anyway. I already took care of them. There's nothing for you to worry about, alright?"

Lotus finally returned the hug, wrapping her own arms weakly around Widow.

"Why did that get you all worked up in the first place? I didn't mean to make you so worried," Widow's voice was tight. Lotus could tell she was blaming herself for the girl's current state.

"I… I don't know. You're… the only one left. Everyone else... I… couldn't bare the thought of losing you, too," Lotus whispered it out, trying to piece together her own twisted and convoluted feelings.

"Oh, sweetheart," Widow pulled back to hold Lotus by her shoulders and look her in the eye, "I will always be there for you." She tapped a fist to the girl's forearm, voice switching to a more teasing tone, "You can't get rid of me that easily."

Lotus let herself be drawn back into their hug, now more firmly returning it.

After a few minutes, Widow pulled away. "I have something for you, actually. You never told me when your birthday was, but I figured it's been at least a year since we met…" She stepped away to the package that was sitting on the counter, and pulled a wrapped parcel out of the bag, handing it to Lotus. When the girl just stood there in confusion, she laughed lightly, "Well? Open it."

Lotus's fingers trembled as she tore the packaging off slowly, piece by piece. She stood in silence, staring at the black hoodie that she held up before her, much larger than she was.

"It took me a while, but I finally found the same one you had before," Widow's voice lowered uncertainly when Lotus remained silent, "Do you… do you like it?"

With a laugh that was also a sob, Lotus threw herself back into Widow's arms, "Thank you! Thank you so much!" Widow released her as Lotus pulled back away, already tearing off the robe she'd worn before to don the hoodie instead. Once it was on, she hugged it to herself, feeling the familiar sensation of scrunched cloth and warmth that she had associated with Copper for so long. She breathed out a low sigh of contentment, hugging it tighter as she rocked herself side to side.

Widow placed a hand on her shoulder from behind, waiting for Lotus to slowly turn back to face her. "I love you, little spider. Nothing will ever change that."

Lotus laughed and wrapped her arms around Widow one final time, "I love you too, Widow!"

It was a long time before either of them pulled away.

'We're the only one that either of us has left…'

Lotus remembered the words Widow had admitted to her before, and echoed them back.

"I'm glad you're still here with me, too."