A/N: the last chapter title was, indeed, my apologies to those who like Weiss and the most frequent phrase of the chapter. My response to those who like Weiss can only be, WHY? I can sort of understand now that she isn't a completely stuck up, stereotypical rich kid, but I just don't understand why anyone liked her character the moment she was introduced. Anyway, I'm definitely not here to rant. I'm here to write. You're here to read. That's the way our small little world works. Also, to those of you who are wondering, Lumin bled out. He didn't turn. He had enough time to, but he didn't turn. When Velvet delivers this news to the group, they're going to have some questions. (The group now consisting of Ruby, Velvet, Blake and Yang.) [Funny. The abbreviation of Ruby, Velvet, Blake and Yang is: RVBY. Let it roll around in your head for a while that Velvet being on team RVBY would have made a huge difference. Especially the fact that saying "Team Ruby" still works with Velvet's V replacing Weiss' W.]

I stumbled out of the door to the trailer that Weiss and Lumin had…kicked the bucket in. I was a bloody mess from shooting Weiss, and a sobbing, hot pile of mess from watching Lumin slowly die in front of me. It was dark. I was tired. Everyone was scared out of their minds. I was just lying on the cobblestone path. I watched as my chums all gathered up in a line in front of me. I watched as each of them slowly turned away from me and more toward the trailer.

"One enters. They leave, and then the next goes in. Say nothing about what you see. Not until I'm ready to forget what I saw and did and put it out into words."

I said that. It was slightly deeper and more assertive than what I was used to sounding like. I hated myself then. I had basically murdered the last four survivors of the Schnee bloodline and saw the leading cause of Weiss' change in personality slowly drain of the will to live. All in cold blood. I waited until all of them had seen what I had seen. Then, I ran off.

I ran. I ran and I never looked back. I ran until my lungs felt like shriveled up grapes and then ran some more. I stopped when I felt myself growing tired. I fell onto my back in the soft dirt and slept for what felt like forever.

"Velvet? Velvet wake up," said a muffled voice.

I opened my eyes, hoping that I had just fallen asleep in the dorm room of Weiss' sister and had yet to report back to her. Sadly, I woke up in the soft dirt with a dark haired figure with a strange shape above their head standing over me. Suddenly, my face was burning a bright shade of red. It was just me and Blake. She was great at finding people. I never really found out why until my eyes decided to come back to the land of the living.

"What? I-"

Blake stopped me from going any further, "Stop right there. I want to ask you something before you say anything. Why?"

"Why what? You saw his marks. He was bitten on the neck. Weiss had already turned. I shot her and he didn't turn. We were there for two hours before I tripped out of the trailer and ran."

"That doesn't make sense. Most people take two hours or less to turn."

"I know. You know what I'm thinking?"

Blake, deciding to humor me, said, "What are you thinking?"

"You said most people take two hours or less to turn."

"Come again? I'm not sure I'm following."

"People aren't Faunus, Blake. And vice versa."

"It is a human affliction, but I don't see how that adds up."

"On the contrary, my dearest cat-like compadre," I said, gesturing toward the pair of ears atop her head, "it is the only way that it would add up. If humans can get infected by the fungus, then why can't faunus? Have you ever seen a faunus zombie?"

"No."

"Exactly. I think that we are immune."

"How and why, exactly?"

"I don't bloody f**king know! I'm not a scientist, I'm a bloody medic! All I know is this is the only reasonable f**king explanation! Sorry. I get excited when I'm a bit too onto something as big as this."

We batted this back and forth for way too long, and before you knew it, we had already gone hours without heading back to the others to discuss our theory.

"So," Ruby said, "You think that, because Lumin had enough time to, but didn't turn, and the fact that we've never seen a faunus zombie, that faunus are immune to the shrooms?"

"Pretty much," I stated, matter-of-factly, "Also, I'm thinking of a real shot in the dark, here, but what do you think are the chances that we can find the cure if we were to mix the blood of one of those who are shuffling around with some faunus blood?"

"Very, very, very, very slim," Ruby said, dragging out the 'V' in the last 'very,' "But not impossible."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Now all we need is a zombie that's been strapped down onto a table, Frankenstein style, a syringe, a faunus and a centrifuge."

I could almost hear Weiss, half shout-half whine, "Great. That shouldn't be hard to find at all."

It hurt.