Miltia Malachite whirled about the stage, hand to her heart, voice ringing out.

The only lights on in the bar were the ones casting their glow down on her.

She sang her soul out, every bit of vigor poured into her body's movements.

In the end she came to a halt in bow, an arm across her stomach, the other extended from her side.

The music ended; she flipped her head up, hair whipping back - absently adjusted the earpiece and mic.

She stepped off the stage, going for the only person that mattered to her.

"What'd you think?"

Mercury Black pushed off from the wall, unfolding his arms. He cocked his head, pulling a thoughtful look. "It wasn't bad."

"Asshole!"

"Hey, do I really need to remind you that I'm a mercenary, not a music critic?"

"Hey, do I really need to remind you that I'm your girlfriend, and that it wouldn't kill you to just say that I totally rocked the place?!"

"I thought it was obvious enough not to need mentioning." Mercury gestured broadly, put hand over an ear. "Unless you have hearing problems? 'Cause all of that? That's all for you. Obviously you did great, okay?"

"...Thanks."

"You're welcome. Hey, you want me to take you out for dinner or something now?" Mercury suggested quickly.

"What do you think?"

"I'd say...yeah, you probably do want me to do that."

"So let's get to it."

"Sure thing, babe. Just let me find my...key. Wait, why do I need to find my key?" Mercury patted himself down, annoyed. He groaned and threw up his hands. "Oh man, not awesome; if Em was here, she'd be the top suspect!"

Miltia sighed with irritation of her own, scanning the busy bar's patrons over. "Well, she's not. So let's find out who did this."

Suddenly, Mercury's eyes went wide - a hand raised to point at the wall, which was twisting with living shadows. "I'm going to take a wild guess here and say: whoever the hell is causing that to happen. You've got your weapons on you, right? I'm thinking we're gonna need them..."

Miltia nodded, grasping her wrists and pulling back her long, wide sleeves to reveal her gauntlets in full. She extended the blades and took up a combat stance, as tendrils of darkness emerged from the wall.

Mercury did the same beside her, and they stood shoulder to shoulder waiting for the threat to make a move.

The bar had emptied real quick; they were the only two left in it now.

And then the wall rippled, whispers echoed, and then there were three.

"What the hell..." Mercury gasped.

Miltia was similarly dumbstruck - that tended to happen when you saw someone materialize right out of a wall. It was shadow and strangeness; it was Atlas all over again. It was...it had to be some kind of magic. There wasn't a semblance in the world that could do something like this! It was something like Cinder, like Emerald, like Salem.

Black smoke wafted as the person fully formed. A fair skinned young woman, of frizzy blonde hair and light blue eyes, and many freckles.

Miltia threw out her arm, directing her claws at the woman. "You! You ruined my big debut! I had several more acts ready to go - and you ruined that!"

"I'm so sorry," the woman said, in quite earnest tones, face twisted with remorse. "But, I think I can make it up to you, Miss Malachite. How would you like to have the chance to perform for thousands, instead of only a few dozen? Everyone would be so glad to listen to you!"

Miltia eyed the woman's face. Flushed, smiling, full of sincerity and hope... "Go fuck yourself!"

The woman sighed, shook her head. "The youth of today are so rude - and crude..."

"Bitch - you're hardly any older than we are!" Miltia retorted.

"I'm actually three hundred years older than you are," said the woman simply.

Miltia and Mercury looked at each other.

"Why is it always the weird shit?" Mercury groaned.

"Leave us alone, weirdo!" Miltia hurled out at the woman.

"The name is Lisume, and, I'm sorry, but that isn't going to happen. I've been ordered to invite you to join us. I was given permission! You should be so grateful! It's wonderful; it's going to be so wonderful. You'll see, once you're with us!" The woman, Lisume, her face was just shining now. Glowing. Those blue eyes of hers sparkling, totally just looking...

Miltia chortled. "Are you on drugs? I'm not joining a drug-addicted cult!"

"Me neither," Mercury commented. "I work best with a clear head, thank you very much."

Lisume pulled an offended look. "You'll work better with us, Mr. Black; there will be so many advantages in life for you too! So many improvements, in ways you couldn't imagine! You just have to experience it for yourself."

"I'll pass. I like my life where it is now - girlfriend included," Mercury said, with a quick glance at Miltia - a little smirk and a nod.

"That's so sweet," Miltia responded, heart a flutter. "What would be even sweeter is if we could kick her ass together."

Mercury's smirk widened. "I'm down for that. Been a few weeks since I gave someone a nice beatdown."

Miltia and Mercury lunged for Lisume as one.

Even as they darted at her, Lisume suddenly exploded out of her own skin, shifting and changing and growing - sprouting twelve feet tall, maybe more!

She was a monster that only looked vaguely like a woman now, with even her womanly features distorted - she was all spikes and claws, sharp teeth and mandibles, a whip-like tail with a stinger on the end of it, and too many eyes on her face now that looked, disturbingly, still very human. Her hair reached the floor, but it wasn't hair anymore - it was strands of what looked like barbed wire, metal and dangerous.

Mercury leapt high, bringing a boot across Lisume's monstrous face in spinning kick, on momentum of a rocket Dust round from his boots. He then blasted four rounds into her face in mid air and backflipped away on that burst of momentum.

Miltia slid low past the woman, slashing at an ankle. She stabbed into the floor and twirled around with a leg out, then she hurled herself forward with an Aura burst to slice for the ankle on the other side of the monster's body.

Lisume crashed backwards onto the floor, shattering a table and several chairs.

Mercury sauntered forward, idle hand brushing his hair back out of his eyes. "Cake; the bigger they are, the harder they fall, am I right?"

Miltia kept her guard and her claws up, eyes fixed to the monster.

Lisume continued to lay there, sprawled among wood debris.

"I'm right, right? Come on, Milly, tell me I'm-"

Lisume's tail lashed out, the stinger surging for Mercury like a spear.

"Whoop!" Mercury threw himself into a spinning backflip, landing on a knee far out of Lisume's reach. He stood slowly. Pointed a finger at the waving tail. "I almost didn't account for that thing - tails are more a grimm thing, and grimm fighting isn't really a me thing. I'm more of a people person. But you, lady...you're a bit of both, aren't you?"

"I'm more!" Lisume's distorted voice responded. Monstrous and raspy, but still recognizable. She rose to her feet, those many eyes fixated on Mercury. Her long claws, each like a sword, were twiddled at her sides. That tail of hers flicked about behind her back; Miltia made sure she was far out of its range.

"You know, it's the funniest thing: I've heard that before." Mercury smirked. "Wasn't too impressed when the other lady said it either."

Mercury and Miltia moved together again to engage the monster.

Claws and boots, kicks and slashes, they darted around Lisume - mindful of that tail of hers - always attacking from opposite sides. Left and right, front and back. Above and below. Always keeping her off balance, keeping her distracted, keeping her whirling and twisting.

Miltia leapt onto Lisume's back and slashed for her neck in a twirl, both claws rapidly ripping through it.

The head fell, and then so did the body.

Blake smoke hissed from both halves of the decapitated being.

"Good going," Mercury exclaimed, giving her a double thumbs up and a grin. "Now that that's over, what do you say we go get that dinner? All this fighting is making me one hungry-"

Lisume's tail flashed out and pierced Miltia through the small of her back.

Miltia gasped, staring down at the protruding black stinger, and the blood gushing from the wound.

Shadowy tendrils burst from Lisume's neck stump, connecting with the head and pulling it back into place - the slash wounds sealing in an instant.

Lisume rose to her feet and drew Miltia in close on her tail, impaled still. Suspended now.

Clawed hands took hold of Miltia; mandibles chittered.

Sharp teeth...

Lisume pulled Miltia right to her mouth, and bit down on her skull.

Miltia felt it crack, exploding agony, she was screaming and thrashing-

And then she went limp, and she was just numb.

Numb and cold...and then burning, bursting inside...

And then she felt good!

It was wave after wave of pleasure, it was a dizziness, a heady feeling, it was joy soaring in her soul, it was everything!

A sense of completion, of wholeness that she hadn't felt since her sister's death. It was connection, it was-

We're here for you now, Miltia...and we always will be.

Shadows and tendrils enveloped Miltia and Lisume, and then it all swallowed them up completely, plunging Miltia into total darkness.

The problem, Flora thought, was that Cinder's issues were Flora's issues; she didn't let her - that was it. Every time, Cinder was leaping in front of her, putting herself in the way, pushing Flora back. Cinder probably never even gave it a thought. But it was what she did. It might have been logical (Cinder was stronger, more skilled, more experienced), and also sweet (Cinder loved her so much that she'd risk her life for her without even giving it a second thought), but...maybe Cinder should take a second to think about it sometime. Maybe Flora just needed a second to tell her...explain it. Have a nice discussion about it. Clear it all up.

Cinder would rethink it, and she'd concede.

And then, they could be true partners - fighting together as a team. On equal footing. Or, as equal as they could get in the area of combat.

Flora was just so sick of being useless, and...well, she guessed Cinder wasn't the only one feeling particularly helpless lately - like everything around her was just always out of her control.

It happened so fast; Qrow was knocked off the building, and then Blake was being snatched up from behind.

Twisting tendrils emerged from the monster's back, and plunged into Blake's body.

She screamed and thrashed, but she didn't gain even an inch of freedom.

And then she suddenly slumped over in monster's grasp, black smoke rising from her skin.

The monster set her down almost gently, shifting its stance to a more relaxed posture.

Blake shivered, she gasped, her veins pulsed beneath her skin with a black and white glow...and then she stood again, weapon in hand. Her keen cat eyes found Flora - flickered to Qrow (who had come flying back up in bird form in recovery) before returning to Flora again. Blake seemed totally unconcerned now about the hulking monster standing right behind her.

"Blake..." Qrow said, hesitant. He turned his scythe back into a sword, holding it at the ready. Eyes narrowed, his mouth a frown.

"Blake!" Flora called out to the young woman. "What are you doing?"

Blake smiled beautifully, stretched across her entire face. "What the Order wants."

"Hey!" Qrow yelled, stepping forward. "Whatever that bastard just did to you - snap out of it, kid! Right now! I don't want to hurt you; how would I even explain that to Ruby?"

Blake raised her gun, aiming it squarely at Qrow. "It's fine - just say we had a conflict of interests."

"Blake, please-" Flora started.

"It's fine," Blake repeated firmly. "The Order doesn't want anyone dead - that's the last thing they want! And that's the last thing I want, too. I don't want to hurt you, either - but it might have to happen, if you want to keep trying to stop them. If Cinder could just agree to come to us, this could all be over. It's in her hands - it always has been."

"Kid..." Qrow's expression was pure anguish. His knuckles were white on his weapon hilt. "Please don't make me do this. Not with you. What about Yang? What's she going to think about you? About this?"

Blake's face flickered. She shook her head, sighing. "Yang wouldn't understand - like you wouldn't. None of you. Like I didn't, until I was here. Until I met them, connected with them! And that's okay, that's understandable - that's fine. Just know that there won't be any hard feelings on my end of things. All I want...is to help these people. That's what I've always wanted: to help as a huntress, to help the faunus. That hasn't changed. That's all I'm doing here. Because there are so many people who need my help! They're trapped, Qrow, locked away by Ozpin. His mistake, his sick, evil...mistake. There are centuries worth of children locked away in there, away from everyone here on Remnant! How is that even right, fair, justifiable?! Should they pay for how they were born, for who they were born of?!"

"Blake, please, whatever's really going on, we can talk about it," Flora said desperately. "Just come back over here, just put that down - we can discuss all of this together like civil, normal, reasonable people. We don't have to keep pulling weapons on each other at every turn, attacking each other..."

"You only don't want that because it's me now," Blake said quietly. "And I get that. You don't want to hurt a friend. But you're fine with hurting monsters. And that...that isn't okay. A lot of people justify attacking the faunus that way, too, you know." Her eyes blinked at Flora with utter disappointment, and sorrow.

"Blake-"

"I'm going to do what I can to help all of these poor people, and then after, I'll come back. But until then...I'll put myself between them and you every time."

The monster, Darbron, lowered a great clawed hand to Blake's shoulder. A towering shadow. "And we're grateful to you for that resolve, Blake. It's time to go now."

Blake nodded, finally holstering her weapon. "Right."

"Blake, don't go with him!" Qrow shouted, incensed. "We don't know what the hell more they'll even do to you!"

Blake smiled almost sadly - like she thought Qrow was sad. "They're not going to do anything to me - except give me a wonderfully kind welcome."

Shadows rippled beneath Blake and Darbron's feet, and then they sunk down into the ground and vanished in smoke.

Qrow stood stock still, weapon trembling, staring at the spot where the pair had vanished.

He started to chuckle to himself, louder and louder, quavering and high. Then, he tossed back his head and let loose a scream.

Emerald pocketed her scroll and held her weapons at her sides as she stared down at Neo. "You really are messed up in the head now! You're on that monster's side now!"

Neo pulled a face, rising to her feet. "Don't make this into a fight! Not here - not with Bae and Maggy around."

"I'm sure that's what you want - for this to just be easy! To screw up my head, to screw up their heads too, just like yours was!" Emerald snarled. "God knows what that woman even did to you!"

"Emerald-"

"Don't you come any closer!" Emerald shouted, aiming her guns and stepping back.

Neo tilted her head, frowning intensely. She looked like she was listening to someone else in the room - someone who wasn't even there. Then, she nodded. "You need time; that's okay. We'll see you again soon. Cinder isn't ready yet anyways." Neo bowed as the wall behind her shimmered with shadow, and stepped back through the darkness to disappear into smoke.

"'Cinder isn't ready yet?'" Flora quoted, squeezing the subject of said quote's hand.

After meeting up and pooling together their lien, those who remained after the Order's simultaneous attacks had managed to make it back to Atlas - and now they sat together in late evening's waning light in Emerald's apartment. A day of respite, at last, truly and together.

"Those were her exact words?" Ozpin spoke heavily.

"Yes," Emerald confirmed, peering worriedly at Cinder. "What does that even mean? What did she mean about you? This is all about you, isn't it? What do these monsters want with you?"

"Apparently," Cinder began, slow and quiet. Controlled. "they need me to free thousands of more monsters just like them, who are locked away in another dimension."

"Monsters - or people?" Flora said, her eyes landing squarely on Ozpin.

Ozpin gazed back at her evenly. "Both. People who were twisted by power, magic gone wrong, and whose desires and intentions are now anything but benevolent. I assure you of that completely. I did the only thing I could - the last thing I could think of. It was desperate, it was terrible, perhaps, I acknowledge that...but it was what I had to do to stop them at the time. I'm under no illusions that innocent people were locked away along with the rest - but those innocents had their minds and bodies changed just the same, making them beyond help. Making them a threat to more innocents. It is something you have now seen for yourselves, in Neopolitan, in Miss Belladonna, and in Miss Malachite. That is what we are dealing with: friends who become enemies, innocents who become threats."

"Those damn Relics made them all this way in the first place - can't they be used to change them back?" Mercury demanded, balling his fists in his lap. "Get h-her back...? That's all I give a shit about right about now - no offense, Cinder."

"I care about getting people back, too," Cinder replied, waving a hand in dismissal. She fixed her amber eye on Ozpin. "So, answer us: can we use the Relics to change Neo and Blake back to normal?"

"Oz..." Qrow said, his head in his hands. As he'd been for the past hour now.

Ozpin eyed everyone in the room. He drew a breath. "I'm not certain. The way the Relic of Creation in particular works...it is very tricky to use properly, or any sort of accurately. Even for myself, if the picture in my mind was off...if my wording was not...the results could end up being something less than satisfactory. Again. And going for the Relic again ourselves would only inform the Order exactly of its location - and allow them to obtain it again after three hundred years. I cannot risk revealing its hiding place, or the manner in which it was hidden." His eyes roamed the walls, the ceiling. "Even now, they may be listening to us. Watching us."

"I don't see any spooky shadows right now," Flora spoke. "I think we're all right for now."

"For now, yes," Ozpin agreed. "But that could change in an instant. At any instant. We must make our plans while we still have our privacy."

"I was under the impression that that was what we were doing here," Cinder snarked gleefully.

Ozpin sighed at her. "Quite. I suppose we should begin by discussing how to best keep our remaining allies, friends, and loved ones safe from the Order - from being taken by them, and changed just as the ones already stolen from us have been."

"How?" Flora questioned.

"Well, for a start, I would say we do not allow them to be ignorant of the threat out there - or let them be apart from us for any great lengths of time." Ozpin's eyes went to Cinder. "I understand you dropped Maggy off at the day care center this morning? And that you allowed Bae to return to school as well?"

"What? Are you going to tell me how to be a parent now?" Cinder scoffed. "Because the parenting advice I'm going off of with this decision, is that children need normalcy and routine in stressful times - hence, I dropped them off at school today."

"No - but I am going to tell you that the best chance your children have of surviving this crisis, is to remain by their mothers' sides at all times," Ozpin said calmly. "The Order is not a stranger to taking children - and, as some of you are now aware, the process of being transformed is quite a traumatic, terrible, and painful one. Would you wish your daughters to undergo that near death experience?"

"But why would they even want to just...go after ours like that? Alone?" Flora stammered. "That isn't strategy, it isn't tactics, it makes no sense. There's no advantage! And- and- a three year old? Would they really just...that's-"

"It's reprehensible, and disgusting, and any number of other words to describe such an act," Ozpin interrupted, nodding. "But, all the same, it is what the Order does. It is what I have seen them do before, time and again, three hundred years ago. They do not believe they are acting maliciously, or cruelly; they believe everyone deserves to be an Ascendant, that it is a higher state of being, a higher quality of life. A gift and a reward. That to allow anyone to remain not so is truly what is immoral in this world. And, in this situation, I believe they wouldn't hesitate to do so for another reason: because it would allow them to draw Cinder out, and force her cooperation."

"But...a school...a public..." Flora whispered out, trying again. "They wouldn't just..."

"They would," Ozpin said with finality.

"Alright, I'll go and get her. It's about time to pick her up anyways," Cinder replied, rising to her feet.

Her scroll went off in that moment, beeping loud in the silent living room.

Cinder pulled it out and gave it a glance. She frowned.

The caller was unknown. In name and number both.

She accepted it, and brought the scroll to her ear. "Who is this?"

"Cinder, dear - hello there," came a cheerful, sweet female voice. "If I'm not mistaken, little Maggy needs someone to pick her up right about now - but we're having a bit of an issue here I was hoping you could clear up."

A tremble ran through Cinder's body; the world around her fell away, the voices were distant and muted. And her mind was a barren wasteland, save for a single little thought in a sea of horror.

Salem!

A woman in flowing gown, with fair skin, beautiful blue eyes, and golden locks gorgeous beyond measure, all but glided into the downtown Mantle's education center.

"Can I help you, ma'am?"

The woman flashed a beautiful smile. "Yes. I'm here on behalf of Cinder Rynon and Flora Castella to pick up Maggy - bring her home for them."

A duck of a head. Eyes focusing on screen. "Name, please?"

"Lilith. Lilith Zang."

"I see. Well, Ms. Zang, I don't see your name anywhere on the list of approved contacts or caretakers for Maggy Rynon. So I can't let you in for her. You'll have to leave, or get proper verification for me from the parents themselves."

The woman's eye was caught by a shadow creeping along the wall to her left - a wall entirely bathed in sunlight come through the floor-to-ceiling windows at the facility's entrance.

"Ma'am, if you can't square this with us now, I need you to leave," the receptionist spoke again, more firmly.

"What was that?" The woman shook her head, flashed another radiant smile. "Oh, yes. That's right; I'll do that. Just let me make a call - I can have Cinder Rynon clear this all up directly with you. She must just not have gotten around to contacting you yet. I'll just step over here, shall I?"

"Of course. I'd be happy to help you - if you can give me proof of authorization from either parent."

The woman moved away from the desk - over near the left wall. She pulled out a scroll with long nailed fingers painted black, tapping through it and then holding it up to her ear.

"Who is this?" Cinder's voice came immediately, confused.

"Cinder, dear - hello there," the woman replied cheerily. "If I'm not mistaken, little Maggy needs someone to pick her up right about now. But we're having a bit of an issue here I was hoping you could clear up."

"D-don't...don't g-go near her, don't-"

"You all seem to be a bit preoccupied at the moment," the woman carried on, voice dripping with sympathy. "and so you obviously needed someone else to step in and bring Maggy home. But, the problem is, that I can't do that for you unless you give your express permission to the diligently hard-working young man at the front desk here! Just a trifling matter - a little issue - nothing too serious, is it? Could you speak to him for me, help me here...so that I can help you?"

"I a-am not- letting you get anywhere near her! Do you hear me?! I'll fucking kill you if you even-"

The woman sighed, shifting the scroll against her ear and tilting her head back as shadows squirmed across the high ceiling. "Cinder, I know you still don't exactly have very fond feelings for me, but you need to work with me here - or else Maggy is going to be in quite a lot of trouble! All you need to do is grant me your permission - that's all. Just a few little words..."

"Don't you dare touch-"

"Cinder, stop panicking and listen to me!" the woman hissed, lowering her voice. Silence on the line. "That's better. Now, if you want Maggy to keep her cute, happy little life...I need you to just do this for me. Help me here, so that I can help her. I am not here to hurt her. Quite the opposite: I'm here to get her out of danger. There are very powerful, very old, and very dangerous forces moving in this world again, and they seem very intent on targeting you and your circle of family and friends - something I'm not too inclined to let happen."

"Why?"

"Because I always meant it when I told you I was proud of you, and pleased with you - and even that you were almost like a daughter to me. Regardless of how it all turned out between us, I still bear you no ill will whatsoever. And you know, you're only going to be around for another few decades; I'd like to spend more time with you before you're gone forever. After millennia of watching people come and go, you come to quite miss most of them for the familiarity alone. And it's really quite impossible to hold grudges. But besides all of that, Maggy is quite adorable; I wouldn't want to see her torn apart and pulled into shadows for the rest of her life."

"The Order...is targeting Maggy now?"

"Specifically, and immediately - yes," the woman said softly, casting another glance about. "I have my ways of tracking their kind - I have dealt with them before, just as Ozpin did at the time; they were a very annoying organization for both of us - and I followed them right to this quaint building after I recognized that they were active again in Remnant; I imagine they're going to move to take Maggy within minutes. I've glimpsed them even as we speak. So, Cinder, what will it be? Let me take your daughter to safety - or refuse me, and leave her to them?"

"I...you could be lying to me."

"Cinder," the woman sighed, exasperated. "When have I ever lied to you? About anything at all? You can't think of a single example - don't even try! And if I were here to hurt her, why would I walk in and do this as a normal person would? Why call you at all? Why wouldn't I have just strolled in with magic blasting, and killed her and walked out again? I could have been in and out in two minutes. But instead I'm wasting precious time staying on this line with you."

"You- you might be trying to kidnap her. To use her against me, or- or to turn her into some devoted, twisted new follower!"

"As much as I find her just the cutest little thing - hardly, Cinder. I wouldn't want to waste years mothering a toddler, even to be some faithful follower. Not least because I haven't actually mothered any little girls in millennia, and I can't trust that I haven't gotten rusty over the eons. But also, well, I haven't done that before, have I? Why would I now? No, I prefer finding already competent, mature individuals to work for me, as you well know."

"Well then you're-"

"The longer we play this game, the less time Maggy has left. Are you going to give her up to the Order like that just because of who's offering to do the saving? Are you really that angry with me? That you'd be that spiteful? That petty? Your own daughter's life, just to score a point against me?"

"Okay."

"Thank you. Now, one moment, please." The woman moved back for the receptionist, tapping at and offering out her scroll. "Here we are - Cinder, if you'd be a dear and clear this up for us now?"

"Y-yes. Hello. This is Cinder Rynon; my partner and I are- being held up at the moment, and it seems that the current caretakers you should have on file, Emerald and Neo, aren't able to make it. It's a big- a big mess, sadly. So I- I've asked my...old acquaintance to come pick Maggy up for us. For them."

"Very good, Miss Rynon. All right, then; we'll let Ms. Zang through."

"Alright...g-good. Thank you."

The woman turned on heel and strode through the doors, into a colorful hallway. "That wasn't so difficult, was it?"

"You're going to bring her to me. And you're going to let me talk to her - she won't go with you if I don't."

"Of course."

"Then you bring her to me. To us. And nothing else. And after that, you get out of my life again. For good. You're immortal; surely you can restrain yourself for another few decades until I'm dead and gone."

"Such hatred," the woman remarked, disapproving. She paused, then pushed through a door on her right. "Best get rid of it; wouldn't want little Maggy thinking you're upset with her, yes?"

A sharp breath over the scroll call.

The woman glided around groups of little ones playing games, drawing and babbling to one another - a heartachingly familiar sight (for she'd once had her own little gaggle of babbling girls before, the one real remorse she would carry with her for her eternal life on Remnant - and one she carried a hundred times more intensely these past two years now in particular, since her de-grimmification at the hands of Ruby Rose).

"Hello; Lilith Zang - I'm authorized by Cinder Rynon to pick up Maggy for her. I have her right here on the line for you if you need to speak to her."

"We're having a bit of- trouble- and I asked her to pick her up for us," Cinder affirmed.

"Very good, then." The educator gave a nod and a smile, then settled his gaze on a particular girl shrieking with laughter in a corner with two others. He led the woman over. "Maggy, it's time for you to go home now. Ms. Zang is here for you."

The girl looked the woman over, gazed into her face of soft eyes and softer smile. She shook her head. "Not Emmy or Neo!"

"No, she's not, sweetie," Cinder's voice came loudly over the scroll. "But I asked her to come pick you up for me. She's- an old- friend. Okay? So you go with her, you let her bring you to me. Emerald and Neo are...Neo is sick, okay? And Emerald is- busy. They can't pick you up. They can't take you home. So that means you have to let Lilith bring you to us. All right, sweetie? Maggy?"

"Neo is sick?" The child's face twisted with worry. "Is she gonna get better?"

"We hope so," Cinder said quickly. "That's why Lilith is going to bring you to me and Flora. Okay, please? Just go with her. She'll take very good care of you. Or she'll be hearing from me."

"Oh, Cinder, I was a mother once myself - to four girls, not much older than Maggy here. I'm certain I can take wonderful care of her."

"Right - you were."

The woman let out a sigh and lowered herself to her knees. "Come along now, sweetheart - let's get you back to your mommies, all right?" She offered her arms.

"Go with her, Maggy. She's a- friend. She's very...nice. She'll be good to you."

"Ok mommy." The girl stepped into the woman's arms.

The woman held her in her arms as she stood, instinctual and proper - muscle memory of millennia ago returning to her in an instant - along with a wave of emotion, overpowering as any destructive grimm desires, that she'd never imagined she would feel again after millennia untold. For those very grimm desires had been overwhelming all else - sheer clarity of mind included - for so long now, that she had quite forgotten... Yes, she had forgotten all these things - Ozma had been right. And it was honestly a great relief to be standing here feeling them again in full, so pure and true. A hand to back of head, an arm under to support. A lovely fragrance in her nose, a warm little body clutching to hers... "Very good, sweetheart. Thank you for being so good for me! Now let's get you to mommy again - safe and sound." The words came to her drifting out of ancient memories, the tones adopted once again with ease.

Salem left the daycare with Maggy in her willing embrace, thinking that she would not have minded this being her new eternity.

For once, so long ago, even in all her grimm desires, when she'd held four separate girls in her arms like this...she had had the very same thoughts as she was now - before they'd been swallowed up and swept away by the darkness again.