Hey, Summer. I can't believe that this is the way that things went down, I always kind of imagined that Raven would be in my shoes and not the other way around, my life has a strange and cruel way of denying us of such pleasantries. A lot has happened, even though it wasn't all that long ago that I stopped by to talk to you. Frankly, I'm not even sure where I should start, but if I just keep talking maybe what I mean to say will finally stumble its way out. Two days ago the White Fang launched a large and full-scale attack on the kingdom of Vale, taking the lives of many officers, several civilians, two members of the graduating class, and Raven. Yeah, I can hardly believe it either.

They knew that Ruby and I would be gone on business, one group of them that seemed to be accompanied by the Stardust Gang nearly destroyed the power plant completely, but Arslan was on her way to Beacon to discuss something with Glynda when she noted the fight going on and did her best to put a stop to it. By some miracle, the entire gang escaped. Hopefully, once the new Hunstmen settle into their roles we'll see less activity from the gang, it'll be much harder for them to operate once the force is doubled in size. We're still not entirely sure what they were after considering nothing was found to be missing afterward, Glynda made quick work of the cleanup efforts at both the plant and the school.

The Fang, led by Athena Taurus, attacked the school in the middle of the graduation ceremony. Most of the teachers had left on vacation, leaving only Blake, Yang, and the students to defend the academy and they did one hell of a job even if we did lose Raven. Aside from the two graduates that were killed, most of the other kids were just banged up. Crimson and Ebony both died at their master's hand, the woman had turned on her own people in order to secure as much power as she could. Irving was arrested after being found in the vault of the Fall Maiden, unconscious with a surprising amount of bruises all over his body. Athena's body was found battered on the jagged rocks at the bottom of the school's cliff overlooking the ocean… along with Raven's.

The girl that I fought in Atlas that possessed the stone of death was taken quickly to the hospital along with Tawney, the two of them the worse for the wear with Yang insisting that she was okay and didn't need to be checked. I swear, that girl sometimes. Mattachanna, that's her name, ended up alright after they gave her some medical attention and her aura kicked back in. Tawney has some dead nerves that didn't seem to want to heal, but Jaune and Ren are on their way back from their vacations to see if they can do anything for her. If worst comes to worst they've already talked to Weiss and she said she could have prosthetics made up right away. Of course, there are other things that are causing us concern now.

The White Fang is gone, but after investigating the school grounds during the cleanup, we were unable to find the stone of death. We're not sure who has their hands on it now, and Blake is blaming herself, but how could we realistically expect her to have remembered to retrieve it, especially amidst the trauma. I can only hope that some Grimm or animal carried it off and that it'll rest in a cave somewhere for some time. Mattachanna and Eliana were both pardoned by the council at Ruby's request, though Atlas seems to think the punishment should have been more harsh. We did however manage to repossess Wilt and Blush, both of which Yang snapped in half with her bare hands. I guess that's it… that's all I really have to say.

She finally did it. I wasn't sure that she'd be able to, but I think that Raven's last act, the only selfless thing that she's ever done in her life, was enough to make amends with Yang, and despite being as stubborn as her mother, Yang finally accepted it.

"Do you want to say a few words?" Ruby asked as they stood in front of Raven's grave. Yang's tears wouldn't stop, she didn't want it to hurt as bad as it did, but there was no way to change that. Yang wiped her eyes and nodded, but was having trouble finding the words as Blake placed a hand on her shoulder. Neela held Shadow, standing beside Blake and staring at the gravestone. It was hard to believe at first that Raven had shown up, demanding that they give her a place to stay. It was even harder to imagine now that she was gone. She wouldn't be there to play with Shadow anymore. There wasn't any more training for Neela to have. Tai and Qrow suffered losses that were inexplicable. Yang just wanted her back to apologize.

"She was a horrible mother, wasn't she?" Yang spoke softly at first. Qrow moved to take a step towards Yang but Tai stopped him. "She let fear drive every decision that she made in her life, leaving us before I was old enough to hardly remember what she looked like. She was afraid to talk to me. She was afraid to face Salem. She always ran." Yang took a deep breath before exhaling slowly. "And then she came back and I was afraid. Afraid that she'd hurt me again. That she'd use us and then just leave. I didn't think that she could change. But she proved me wrong.

We were both stubborn and afraid. I was afraid to forgive her, and she was afraid that I wouldn't and so we tip-toed around each other and forced the other to keep their distance. I could see that she was changing, but was afraid to admit it. I'm not proud of the way that I handled things with her, but I owe her so much more than I could have imagined. If she hadn't shown up during that fight, Neela and Shadow might not still be here with us. She had no reason to do that, she could have just run like she always had. She had to know that she wasn't going to win, but she did it anyway.

All I can say is that I'm sorry that we didn't make things right sooner. And thank you, for saving my girls." They all stood in silence for a long moment, Yang leaving a lily on the grave before taking a step back and tearing up again. Blake brushed the stone as she walked by, moving to her wife and comforting her as they walked away. Neela set Shadow on the ground and let the girl place a lily on the grave before she leapt forward and hugged the stone tightly.

"Thank you, grandma!" Shadow exclaimed. She looked up at Neela who was trying her best not to cry for Shadow. "I feel sad."

"Me too, Shadow," Neela admitted as she knelt with her sister and placed another flower onto the grave. "But we should be happy when we remember Grandma Raven. Think of all the fun that you had with her. Okay?" Shadow nodded as she hugged Neela before leaping into her arms.

"Okay," Shadow agreed. Tai knelt at the stone, kissing it softly before leaving his lily and walking back towards the road where Blake and Yang were already heading to.

"Dammit, Raven," Qrow sighed. He walked up, opening his flask and dumping it on the ground before stepping away, arms flapping lightly as he kept his hands in his pockets.

"You two ready to go?" Ruby asked them. Neela nodded.

"What's your focus now that the White Fang are gone?" Neela asked Ruby. The huntress smiled and she placed an arm over Neela's shoulders.

"I'm leaving the Stardust Gang to some of my best," Ruby stated. "I'm sure that with the help of the police and Coco that you kids will get them eventually."

"Us?" Neela inquired.

"You think that I don't keep a close eye on my niece?" Ruby questioned. "I know you've gone toe to toe with them on more than one occasion. If anyone can take care of them, it's you guys. Besides, it's not the first time that a bunch of kids would have taken down the leader of a crime syndicate." Ruby winked at her.

"Aunt Ruby," Shadow started.

"What's up?" Ruby replied.

"Do you think that when I get older I can use Grandma Raven's weapons to fight?" Shadow asked. Ruby and Neela laughed.

"That's a question for your moms," Ruby chuckled.

"But they'll say no and her sword was so cool!" Shadow exclaimed.

"So then what will you be up to?" Neela repeated. Ruby thought about it for a moment.

"I guess we'll turn our focus to the Neo-Salems. I don't know what they have up their sleeves, but it can't be anything good," Ruby noted.

"Who are the Neo-Salems?" Shadow pried. Neela poked her stomach and she laughed before Neela placed her up on her shoulders.

"Nothing for you to worry about," Neela answered.

"Come on!" Blake called back to them. "We've got dinner to prepare!"

"Coming!" Ruby yelled back. "I swear she has no patience."

"You don't even live with her," Shadow stated. They laughed again as Neela glanced back once more, swearing that she caught a glimpse of Raven and Summer, standing side by side and staring out at the sunset.

Strakh Temnota slowly limped across the room as he approached the two large black doors that were heavily guarded by Vacuo militants. He nodded to one of them, spreading his arms out as they patted him down, there weren't very many places in his suit that he could have hidden a weapon, even if he wanted to. They felt him over, opening his suit jacket and prodding and poking at the inside before stepping back and nodding at him in approval. He buttoned his jacket back up as his hands shook slightly. Salem's domain was always so cold, or at least it was to him. The doors slowly swung open and he peered into the darkness of the next room before they entered in front of him.

"Follow closely, Mr. Temnota," one of the men instructed. He smirked.

"Of course," he replied. The two guards that walked before him carried torches, lighting the short, dark corridor and revealing most of it to be filled with large purple crystals, they seemed to be growing from both the floor and the ceiling. He followed as quickly as he could, despite his left foot-dragging on occasion. He thought that it feigned too much weakness, and as the leader of the Shadow Dust empire in Vacuo, he refused to allow himself to appear weak. They waited a moment for him to catch up before reaching the end of the hallway and slowly pulling the next door open.

"We weren't aware of the fact that you were going to be visiting us today," the second man offered.

"I wasn't aware until about an hour ago. He does have a bad habit of giving us short notice, doesn't he?" Strakh noted. The men nodded and light poured into the hall from the small room, It was lit by a candle chandelier that hung from the vaulted ceiling, but it contained no windows or other doors. On the far end of the room was a glass case that was filled with a sort of reddish blackish tar, similar to the liquid that the Grimm were birthed from outside. Strakh gritted his teeth and looked at them. "You may leave us. Wake her up on your way out."

"Yes sir!" They complied in unison and they stepped out of the room, activating a lever as they did so. Slowly the case began to drain, revealing a naked woman that was suspended inside. As the liquid slowly siphoned out, she gasped as she gently collapsed on the floor, coughing up more of the liquid and looking around frantically in a slight state of confusion. She shook her head in an attempt to clear it, finally recalling where she was and slowly looking up from the floor at Strakh. Her silver eyes caught his and she turned from him, facing the wall and sitting so that he could only see her lower back, the upper half of her torso covered by her long black mane. She wrapped her arms over her breasts.

"Who do you serve?" He asked quietly.

"I serve no one!" She spat angrily, her body tensing.

"Anyone else who has ever been submerged in Salem's 'water' has come out as a creature of pure destruction, yet your body still continues to reject and fight against it," Strakh noted. "If I had to guess, it's because of the silver eyes. A damn shame that you won't just give in."

"I will never give in to you!" She shouted, wrapping her arms around her body more tightly.

"No need to be so shy, my dear, I've seen you naked many times, I don't see why you should be so ashamed," he told her.

"I am not ashamed, but I don't think that you deserve to lay your eyes on me in that way ever again," she told him quietly. He chuckled as he walked closer to the glass, standing but a few feet from it now, still drinking in what he could.

"You're lucky that I'm in a good mood today. You remember how it ended last time, don't you?" He asked. She shuddered and he chuckled again as he licked his lips. "Of course you do…"

"What do you want, Strakh?!" She snapped, looking back over her shoulder at him, her eyes piercing him. He shook for a moment and grinned as he steadied his hands, his smile unnerving her and she turned away again. He removed a piece of paper from his jacket pocket that had been folded up and was worn on the corners, and slowly began to unfold it. He removed a pen from the same pocket and jotted something on the back of the page to make sure it still worked before reading it over.

"Roughly ten years. You have served us well for ten years, Oracle, so why has your mind changed now? Why are you so hostile?" She scoffed, shaking her head.

"Are you joking?" She asked. She sounded like she was wounded, drawing her breath in slowly. "I'm tired of this small talk." He gritted his teeth.

"You predicted Beacon's Fall, you predicted Salem's Death, and you predicted the end of Adam Taurus's reign. When we implanted Summer's eyes into you, we thought that you'd be able to use them in the same way, but we were wrong…"

"You also told me that the choice I was making would help our daughter, or have you forgotten that? It seems that you'll tell people what they need to hear in order to keep your position of power," she reminded him. He walked to the glass and slammed his fists against it, startling her.

"I risked just as much! I can't walk normally! My hands shake! My face is still horribly scarred!" She stood and moved to the glass, slamming her fists back against it.

"Is that all!? How has your life been, locked inside of some box like a monster!? Put to sleep until the next time you're needed!?" She demanded an answer from him. He yelled at her and stepped away.

"You were right again. Raven is dead now. Tell me what happens next and I will leave you in peace." She chuckled, covering her breasts and crotch with her hands again.

"Peace." She repeated. She looked him over, sighing. "One of the council members will die, and will push Remnant to the brink of war." He jotted down what she said and gave her a wicked smirk as he began to walk away.

"I'll put you back to sleep again. Until next time…" His hand reached for the lever as he stopped in front of the door.

"I saw Her," the Oracle told him. He glanced back at her. "What do you want with her?" He laughed, slowly and quietly at first before it became an out of control cackle that he doubled over from.

"Do you know where she is?" He asked her. Her eyes changed and she looked away. "So do I." She looked back at him again and threw herself against the glass.

"Strakh, leave her alone!" Oracle screamed. Strakh laughed again as he threw the lever and slowly her prison filled with the liquid once more.

"She was easy to find after a while. As much as she wants to leave the past behind, she made the mistake of using your name as an alias…" He paused and watched the horror in her eyes as she watched the tar begin to rise from the floor. Her eyes met his again, hearing what he had said. "Iliana."

"She's our daughter! Why can't you let her live her life!?" Iliana demanded of him, her heart racing as the chamber filled more quickly now.

"She's a threat to our plans!" He replied, throwing the door open. "And I hate looking at her, she looks just like you." He stepped out and prepared to leave, the men tending to him as he seemed to shuffle along a bit faster, staying just ahead of his as they showed him out. He looked out at the barren landscape, the Grimm watching him as he walked through the endless wasteland before reaching the barrier on the edge, stepping through and finding himself in the dark forest on the edge of Mistral's territory, looking at the tattered bridge before him, his driver waiting.

"Well?" The attendant asked as he entered the car and they began to drive.

"It's time to plan our next step," Strakh exclaimed. "Abigor will never know what hit him once I've realized my full potential."

"Is it wise to go against the man's wishes?" The driver asked. Strakh coughed hard before wiping the corners of his mouth.

"As if it matters," Strakh scoffed. "He is nothing. I am meant to be Salem's right hand, not him. Besides, we're not going against his plans, we're just omitting some of our details." Strakh's phone rang and he stared at it for a moment before answering with a sickening smile. "You have her?"

"Not yet, but something even better," the voice told him.

"Oh?" Strakh questioned.

"The stone of death is in my possession," the voice replied. Strakh smiled slyly.

"On my way," Starkh informed him before hanging up.

"Do we need to change our route?" The servant asked.

"I'll buy new tickets once we arrive at the airport," Strakh told him.

Emerald stood at the edge of the airship dock, looking down the courtyard and path towards Beacon Tower and the school, still recalling the first time that she'd ever come here with Cinder and Mercury, the feeling sending a shiver down her spine, a chill that she'd sooner forget and so she walked onward in hopes that it would subside. She couldn't shake the memories, instead, they haunted and betrayed her as she made her way closer, sure that Cinder and Mercury stood beside her now, discussing the plan that they were to set in motion.

"Why are we here again?" Emerald asked.

"Do you ever pay attention?" Mercury groaned as he placed his hands behind his head, winking at girls as they passed by him.

"We're students that are here from Haven Academy in Mistral to participate in the Vytal Festival," Cinder explained to her with a smile. "Nothing more than that."

"I understand what our cover is, but what's our goal exactly?" Emerald questioned.

"She really doesn't pay attention," Mercury repeated.

"Shut up, Merc!" Emerald shouted at him.

"Maybe if you weren't so busy chasing Cinder around like a lost puppy dog, you'd know that we're here to mess shit up!" Mercury replied.

"That's not true," Emerald denied blushing.

"We're going to sabotage the festival and destroy the tower," Cinder said as she quickened her pace to stop in front of Emerald, grabbing her tenderly by the chin. Emerald blushed again as Cinder moved in close. "Let me worry about the details. Just do what I ask and you'll be taken care of, okay?" Emerald nodded, the scene fading and replaced with reality as she continued down the path. The statue of RWBY in the central courtyard served as another reminder of Emerald's transgressions and the closer she came to the tower, the more she doubted that she should be there.

"Beautiful," Cinder stated as she watched the horror unravel before them, students and Grimm clashed in a fight unlike any other that Emerald had ever seen and it was devastating to the girl.

"It's almost sad," Emerald stated with remorse, looking to Cinder and Mercury who both seemed to be enjoying the carnage laid out before them. One of the students from another school fell to an Ursa and Emerald covered her mouth in shock. This wasn't what she wanted, what was she doing?
"It's horrendous. Focus on the Atlesian Knights," Cinder commanded Mercury, her chest rising and falling as if she was getting off on the destruction.

"Oh, I'm getting all of it," Mercury assured her as he recorded the scene.
"Emerald!" called a voice that freed her from the visions of her past. She looked down the path, seeing that Coco was on her way to greet her.

"Hey, Coco," Emerald replied sheepishly, rubbing her neck.

"I'm glad that you decided to show up, I can't begin to tell you how much we need you," Coco explained.

"Listen… Coco…" Emerald tried to interject but Coco began taking her into the tower.

"The job is nothing, to be honest," Coco noted. "The Fang are gone now, so if anything, nights will probably be pretty quiet except for the occasional student that's out wandering around, but no harm no foul. It pays nearly as good as mine does!" Coco laughed and waved her off. "Not really, but it does pay really good money."

"Coco… I…" She stammered.

"I don't need an answer right away," Coco insisted. "School is going to be out for about 3 months so just think about it as long as you need to." They stepped into the lobby and Emerald finally stopped her.

"Stop!" Emerald interjected.

"What's wrong?" Coco asked.

"I can't do this," Emerald noted, shaking her head and burying her face in her hands.

"Why not?" Coco asked her. "Was it something that I said?"

"I was fine the entire flight over, but I have no right being here," Emerald informed her. "I did unspeakable things. People died because of me. Even some of your close friends."

"It probably wasn't the best decision that you've ever made, but I think that all people deserve forgiveness," Coco told her. "I've been told that I'm one of the council's most valued strategists, if I didn't think you were trustworthy or up to the task, I wouldn't have sought you out. You tried helping us out in the end!"

"It doesn't make up for all of the bad things that I did," Emerald seethed, gritting her teeth.

"Maybe not," Coco declared. "But your past doesn't need to define you! I've done unspeakable things in my past as well, but if we can't learn from our errors and move on, we're just doomed to repeat them!" Emerald was shocked at Coco's sudden yelling.

"But Pyrrha…" She stammered.

"You know Pyrrha's fine," Coco asserted.

"And the school," Emerald added. Coco laughed.

"Look around you, Emerald," Coco instructed. "Nothing that you did was unrepairable. A few lives were lost to Grimm, but that's a price that those huntsmen were willing to pay to protect those they held dear." Emerald couldn't come up with any more arguments.

"We all forgive you," Pyrrha said behind Emerald. She turned to face her, it was the first time since they had seen each other since Emerald had watched her being held captive. She bawled her fist and held back tears.

"Why are you people so damn forgiving?!" Emerald shouted at them. Coco laughed.

"It's what we do," Coco replied. "Still want the job?" Emerald nodded as she looked back at Coco and wiped her eyes.

"I'll make up for what I did," Emerald stated confidently. Coco smiled warmly back at her.

"I know you will."

Neela made her way towards the dorm rooms with Blake, it had been three days and it seemed like the best thing to do was to talk about anything they could think of that wasn't related to the events of the attack.

"Excited for summer break?" Blake asked her. Neela nodded and let out a sigh of relief.

"More than I can find the words to say," Neela told her as they passed by the tower. "I haven't heard from Elli since we took down Irving, I'm starting to worry."

"I'm sure she's just trying to sort things out in her head," Blake assured her daughter. "Everyone kept telling me that she wanted to see you while she was still locked up, but I don't think that would have been for the best. Now that things have blown over, the two of you can figure things out and maybe do cute couple things together?" Neela looked at Blake for a long moment.

"Coco told you?" Neela inquired.

"Oh yeah," Blake replied. Neela shrunk down slightly as they stopped.

"I wasn't sure that she heard me telling Elli," Neela noted.

"She said that you really let her have it," Blake explained. "Sounds like it all just came out at once, huh?"

"I didn't mean for it to, but I was just so angry at her and I was afraid that I'd lost her," Neela detailed.

"The two of you will never lose each other," Blake assured her as she began walking again and Neela followed suit. "Trust me."

"Right," Neela agreed, even if she wasn't completely convinced. They stopped outside of the dorms and went their separate ways, Blake moving to the apartments to pick up a few last things that she'd left over there, Neela heading into the dormitory to retrieve her clothes and toiletries, then back to Patch to plan her summer vacation with Eliana. She only made it into the doors before she ran into Lykos and Bái who had packed up their stuff and were leaving the building.

"Hey, Neela," Bái said quietly, unsure how to proceed.

"We heard about Raven…" Lykos added. Neela rubbed her neck and waved them off.

"She's finally at peace, and I think it was for the best. She was such a troubled soul for the longest time," Neela explained to them.

"Are you and Elli hanging out this summer?" Bái asked.

"Yeah," Neela nodded. "Can't wait to go explore Atlas! Of course, it'll probably just be places we've already been, but as long as I'm with Elli it's always a good time. What are you two doing?"

"We're going down to the nurse's station to see if Jaune and Ren are having any luck healing Tawney," Lykos told her. "Cobalt has been there the entire time and I'm guessing he's pretty low on sleep and feverishly working on some kind of tech to help her if they can't get her back to normal. After that we're heading into southern Vale, Coco has a mission for the two of us with Titus and Ilia who were more than happy to volunteer to help out."

"Sounds like you guys will be busy," Neela noted.

"That's alright," Bái stated. "Lykos and I don't really have anywhere to go."

"We'll be fine though," Lykos said wrapping his arm around Bái who blushed and smiled at him. "Have fun."

"You guys too!" Neela exclaimed as she saw them off. She headed upstairs, reaching her floor and walking down the hallway, now running into Ilia and Titus who were discussing something feverishly, though quietly. Titus spotted her out of the corner of his eye and turned to greet her.

"Neela!" He declared walking to her. Ilia stayed behind him, looking at her scroll and sighing in frustration. She looked at the two of them.

"What's going on?" Neela questioned. Ilia shook her head and put her scroll away.

"Just looking over these mission details, if you can call them that," Ilia confessed.

"They did the best with what they could," Titus added. Ilia waved him off. She looked away.

"Not to mention how close we all cut it at the tower has me a bit on edge, but I'll be fine though" Ilia assured her. "Have you seen Elli?"

"I helped her get out of the vault, but I haven't seen her since Friday," Neela told them. "I'm sure she's just at home spending time with her mother." Titus shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as ours, we just finished cleaning out the rest of our stuff," Titus noted.

"He forgot his handbook," she jested. He cleared his throat.

"We need to meet up with Lykos and Bái," Titus reminded his partner. Ilia chuckled and nodded.

"Right," she agreed as they stepped past Neela.

"We'll see you later," Titus spoke before they headed down for the main floor. Neela stared back towards the end of the hall for a long moment before heading to the room, opening the door slowly and stepping inside to find that everything was missing with the exception of her two duffle bags that sat on her bed. She lifted her bags up, something jostling between them and tumbling onto the bed which gave Neela pause. She turned back, a familiar wooden box remained on her bed, along with a note that had been taped to the top of it. I… I recognize this box…

Neela picked it up, carefully removing the note and unfolding it so that she could read its contents.

Dear, Neela. I want to thank you for everything that you've done for me. I don't think that I ever would have found the strength to be a huntress on my own, let alone the strength to get over the death of my father. You were the best friend that I ever could have asked for, even better than I could have asked for if I'm being completely honest. I guess at this point though, I'm just avoiding the subject of this letter. Typical me, right? There's no easy way to say this, and from the tear stains that already plague the page, I can tell this is the hardest decision I'll ever have to make. I'm sorry.

There's no easy way to say this, but I can't stay at Beacon or in Vale anymore. What I did was unforgivable and I can't be there as a constant reminder of how much I hurt you and your family, you'd probably think about it every time you see me, I know that I have. It's hard to even look at myself in the mirror, the thought that I could have stooped so low and become the very monster that your mothers and loved ones had convinced you that we weren't. I know that everyone who stopped by to check on me while I was locked up assured me that you all still loved me and forgave me, but I can't forgive myself, Neela. I don't deserve your love, be it sisterly or romantic.

I asked Glynda to let me transfer to Haven back in Mistral the second day that I was stuck in that vault. She tried to talk me out of it, saying that what I did never got outside of the people who absolutely needed to know, so I shouldn't think everyone will be out for me. But that doesn't stop it from eating away at me whenever I see you or your family. After Glynda put in a good word, Arslan headed to Vale to make sure that it was what I wanted and to sign off on sending my transcripts to Haven, that's why she was in the area to help stop the attack at the power plant. Please don't be mad or demand answers from Blake, I made Glynda promise that she wouldn't let her know I did this because I know she would have found a way to talk me out of it.

I need to work things out and be a person my dad would be proud of and right now I'm far from that. Neela, you did nothing wrong. No matter what was said after you found out what I did, all of it was justified so please don't think you drove me away. You mean the world to me and you always will. But I don't deserve the love that you professed to me that morning in the vault. I'm sorry. You'll always be my best friend Neela, I wouldn't be half the person I am if you weren't always there for me. Take care of yourself and the rest of the team. I know you all will do great because they have the best team leader they could ever hope for. Goodbye, Neela.

P.S. I don't deserve to carry these the way that you carry Predator's Edge.

"Elli…" Neela gasped, unable to find air in her lungs as she had been reduced to a paralyzed state of shock. Elli's… gone? Her body was tensing up, she couldn't draw in any air, her body quivering as she grasped at the bed and violently wretched, desperate for oxygen. Her body finally gave up, letting her gulp in a sharp, meaningless inhalation before expelling it back out in a violent sob and scream for her friend. "Elli!" She couldn't be gone… she couldn't be… it was a lie… it had to be one of Elli's jokes… No… Please… Elli!

"Neela?" Blake asked as she approached the door, she'd headed back to the dorm to ask Neela if Eliana was still holding on to the books she'd borrowed. She decided against knocking and instead opted to throw the door open as she could hear her daughter suffering on the other side. "Neela!" Blake moved to her quickly, pulling her in. "Neela! Breathe! It's okay, I'm here! What's wrong?!"

"Eliana!" Neela shrieked. Neela clung to Blake, her mind still refusing to break free of the spiraling darkness that enraptured her.

"Neela, speak to me," Blake pleaded. She hadn't experienced this with Neela in a long time, not since her parents had died.

"She's gone…" Neela exhaled in realization.

"Elli?" Blake asked. She reached around her daughter to discover the note. "Neela…"

Next week, Chapter 141 - Enter DAMU!