"Ow! Is this really necessary?"

"You know Sergeant," Said Merith as she wrapped Cade's tortured hands in white bandages, "You talk tough, but you are just a big baby. And yes, if you are determined to tear up your hands and not tell me how, I'll treat you as I see fit."

Cade chuckled, "Touché. You, dear mother, are more evil than you look." He winced again as Merith worked a bit more roughly than was perhaps necessary. "It's confirmed; you're a sadist."

Merith smiled cheekily, "No, I'm your medic." She finished wrapping his hands and peeled the medical gloves from her hands methodically. She reached out patted his cheek in a motherly fashion. "It's in the job description to be a sadist."

"Thank you for your comforting words." Cade deadpanned, trying and failing to avoid the pat on his cheek.

Ruby was on her cot, propped up upon a bleached throne of pillows. She was trying her best to contain snorts of laughter, holding her side in pained mirth.

"Don't you start with me Skirts!" Snapped Cade. He looked at Merith, still smirking and pointed at Ruby, "Shouldn't she be seeing a real medic or something?"

"Probably," Said Merith, ignoring his jab entirely. "But there isn't a whole lot you can do for broken ribs. Since she isn't coughing up blood, I think it's safe to assume there's no punctured lungs." She then glared at Ruby, "And someone insists they don't need to go."

"Good," said Cade as he looked at Ruby, who was just starting to settle down, "Start talking,"

Ruby's laughter slowly died and she wiped her eyes, a chuckle or two still sneaking out of her. "Okay, but first, help me up. I need to show you something." Merith was by her side immediately and helped her slowly to her feet. Ruby looked at Cade, "Close your eyes."

"Uh, O… Okay?" He obeyed and shut his eyes.

Ruby looked at Merith and unzipped the jacket she was wearing, exposing her abdomen. Merith was, again, stunned. "How is this possible?" She gingerly reached and felt along Ruby's ribs, who jerked away at Merith's touch. Merith, thinking she hurt her, pulled back, "Oh! I'm sorry!"

Ruby smiled, "No, that just tickles."

Merith couldn't help but smile back as she felt along the ribs once more. Her fingers gently examined the warm mottled flesh, confirming with touch what her eyes refused to belief. Already, the splotchy bruise, a product that would take weeks to dissipate, had begun receding. "You really are blessed by the Emperor." She said in awe.

"I'm missing something important aren't I," Interrupted Cade who was apparently irritated at being kept, literally, in the dark. His fingers tapped a vigorous beat of impatience.

Merith stepped back, her fingers tapping along her lips as she stared at Ruby's side. Her azure eyes were wide and questioning. Ruby zipped up her jacket, hiding it from view. "You can open your eyes now." Said Ruby.

Cade cracked his eyes open and silently looked at Merith who, with halting words, explained what she had seen. As Merith finished speaking, he looked at Ruby

"That is something called an Aura." She explained. Cade and Merith only looked at her with blank expressions. Ruby bit her lip thoughtfully. "It's like, like my soul is a physical shield. It protects me and helps me heal when I'm hurt. But, as you can see," She gestured to her side, "it's not impenetrable."

Cade raised his hand. Ruby pantomimed as if she was in front of a large audience, looking around the room before pointing at Cade, "You there, in the front row."

Cade smiled appreciatively before speaking. "Where did this" He gestured vaguely at Ruby, "come from? What about your arm though, it took what? Three weeks to heal?"

Ruby shrugged, "On my world, which we called Remnant, it's something everyone has to some degree, but not everyone could use. I don't know where it came from or why, it's just always been that way." She held her left arm up, displaying the scars that crisscrossed over it. "As for this, I don't know. It was a serious injury after all. I did notice it was taking a long time to heal but I can only guess it's because they had to add bionics. Maybe it was harder to adjust." She shrugged again and dropped her arm to her side.

Cade leaned back and rested on his elbows, seemingly satisfied with her answers.

Ruby, however, still had more to show them. "I may need your help with this part. My Aura is still depleted and yeah, broken ribs." She stepped out into the aisle between the bunks and looked to the far wall.

Merith raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing?"

"You asked about rose petals Merith?" Ruby asked, to which she received a nod. "Let me show you." She inhaled as deeply as her ribs would allow and bent down until her chest was nearly level with her bent knees. She inhaled once more, pushed off and was gone.

She zipped across the room in a streak of green fatigues and red whirlwinds of rose petals. The air was awakened from its customary stagnation, forcefully pulled along by a sentient force of nature. She slowed herself before she collided with the wall. There, she collapsed to her knees, gripping her side and hissing painfully. Cade was by her side moments later gently reaching out to pull her up, but she waved him off. With a growl she pushed herself upright and nodded her thanks to Cade.

As Ruby made her way to her bunk, Cade took the moment to stoop and pick up a small rose petal that had been left behind. He ran his fingers over the soft petal, appreciating the silken texture and finding it oddly comforting. Looking around at the rest of the petals which marked the trail Ruby had ran upon, he watched as the remaining petals slowly vanished from existence. Save for one, which he held gently in his bandaged fingers.

Ruby sat upon her bed and looked back to see Cade standing still. He was staring intently at the floor, deep in thought. "You know," She said, "If you stare at the same spot long enough, it can catch on fire."

Cade shook his head and looked up at Ruby as his hand surreptitiously pocketed the small flower petal. "What?"

Ruby smiled, blushing in surprise that not only had a petal remained, but that Cade had decided to keep it. "Oh nothing." She said as she waved him over. "But I'm not done explaining stuff, get over here." Obediently, he made his way over and sat back down across from Ruby and Merith.

"That," Ruby said, "is a Semblance. Unlike an Aura, few have it and fewer can use it. But of those that do have it, everyone's is different. For example, mine is speed, but my sister gets stronger as she gets injured." She glanced over at Merith and Cade, "Is this making sense?" Both Cade and Merith looked at Ruby, then to each other, and shrugged simultaneously. Ruby found it somewhat humorous and giggled at the display. But she took it as a sign that they mostly understood.

Cade spoke again, "So, why aren't there whole regiments of you… Remnants? Remmartians?" He chuckled at his own word play, "Anyway, you get my point."

Ruby tilted her head back and stared wistfully at the ceiling, "Well, that's just the thing. I don't know where it is."

"You really were lost in the woods, weren't you?" Asked Merith, referring to the first day they had found Ruby, alone in the forest.

Ruby nodded and , "I want to go back. I wish I could so much it hurts!" Her eyes moistened, but no tears fell, "I miss my family, miss my friends. This," She gestured broadly with her arms around the room, "isn't where I belong." She lowered her arms and crossed them over her chest gently, flinching as her ribs painfully reminded her of their state. "I hope they are still alive." Merith gently placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder, consoling her as best as she could. Ruby reached up and grabbed her hand tightly.

"Why wouldn't they be?" Asked Cade.

Ruby sighed. Her shoulders slumping. "There were terrible things happening. My world was made up of separate Kingdoms and they were going to war with each other. It was bad enough but we had Grimm too destroying towns and killing people. It was awful! We were losing everything we…" Ruby shut her eyes and covered her face with her free hand. "Sorry, I don't want to talk about it anymore."

Merith gently patted Ruby's hand which she held. "Don't worry dear. We may not be who you had, but you're family to us." When Cade didn't immediately speak up she flung an accurate kick at his shin. He yelped and glared at her, but got the message.

"Right, you have us on your team."

Ruby dropped her hand from her face and looked back at them, eyes glistening. "Thanks guys." She hummed happily, "My new team." She paused, brought her hand back up her face and tapped her fingers against her chin. Her face lit up and she snapped her fingers. "I got it! We could be team Cream!"

"What?" Both Merith and Cade said in unison.

"Where I'm from, we always had team names made from our names." Ruby explained excitedly. "C for Cade, R for Ruby and M for Merith. CRM!"

Cade's response was to slap his palm to his face in amusement and chuckle. "You are inexplicable."

"Word of the day?" Asked Ruby, recalling when he said the same thing to her in a certain Medicae wing.

He smiled all the wider, "Maybe."

Merith, for her part, only watched and grinned happily; something she hadn't done in a long time.

By the time Lovelock, Trunks and Grandy returned, it was nearly time for lights out. Only, when they did arrive, they looked worse than when they had left. Grandy, for reasons that could only be blamed on copious amounts of pain-relievers, had a blissful smile on her face. Her arm was contained in an unusual apparatus that looked like the offspring of a common cast and an iron maiden torture device. Her nose was stuffed with gauze, but was otherwise straight.

Ruby still flinched at the sight of her, her heart picking up its pace ever so slightly. It was a sight Cade was quick to notice, his back being to the door and facing Ruby.

Trunks, despite being physically unharmed and untouched, looked to be the worst. His face was pale, and he was muttering to himself silently. His lips moving in barely perceptible formations, spouting prayer after prayer. He went straight to his cot and lay on his back. He stared blankly at the ceiling, continuing his silent benedictions.

The only one who still looked sane, was Jorge Lovelock. He led Grandy to her cot where she proceeded to collapse on her cot, grab her pillow and hug it lovingly, before falling asleep moments later. Lovelock merely laughed at her and left the intoxicated woman alone in her sleep. He guided himself over to the newly named team CRM and plopped himself down on the cot to sit side-by-side with Cade.

"Hello love," He said to Ruby, "How're you doing?"

She waved her hand aimlessly at him, "Oh fine, fine. Grazing shot after all. No worries!" She hoped he would buy the lie.

"Uh huh, 'grazing shot' that breaks ribs?"

Nope, didn't buy it.

Ruby tried to stutter out a response beyond 'well, um, you see, er…' but was finding words more than one syllable long to be suddenly out of reach.

Lovelock winked at Ruby as he watched her struggle, "Don't you fret, I don't really care as long as you're okay." He then turned to Cade. His mouth opened to speak before he caught sight of Cade's bandaged hands. "Uh. What happened?"

Cade held up his hands and smirked, "Skirts and I had a chainsword duel." He glanced at Ruby, "Did we call it a draw?"

Lovelock eyed him doubtfully, "You're not going to tell me, are you." It wasn't a question.

"I just did."

"Riiiiight." He stared a few more seconds at Cade's hands before lifting his gaze up to meet Cade's eyes. "You're really lucky though, you know that?"

"What happened," asked Cade, his eyebrows knit together in suspicion.

"Well, remember Faulkner?"

"Cantankerous? Likes shooting people?" Cade said sarcastically. "I know several of those. Could you be more specific?"

Lovelock merely grinned at the Sergeant's sarcasm. "Trunks here was spouting about you preaching heresy and such when we ran right into Faulkner."

"Damn."

Ruby's voice broke through condescendingly, "Language!"

Cade was quick to wave her off and focus on Lovelock, flicking his eyes to the door as if expecting the Commissar to come bursting through. "What did Trunks say?"

Lovelock scratched his chin, nails grinding against the five o'clock shadow that darkened his jaw. "It was touch and go for a moment. I thought he was going to rat you out, but looked like he decided at the last second to cover for you." Lovelock laughed as explained, "He said you were 'training us to hard.' And, believe it or not, Grandy completely milked it with him, saying you were having us do 'real' fighting. First one to break bones wins." Before Cade could interfere, Lovelock continued, still laughing, "But wait, here's the best part. Faulkner bought it and said he wished more Sergeants were like you."

If a person could be described as deflated, Cade would fit the description. He collapsed backwards across the cot in relief and lay there, stretched uncomfortably with his head hanging off one side and legs off the other.

"Hey Jorge, I think you killed him." Ruby whispered conspiratorially at the accented Cadian, "Dibs on being new leader."

"You've got mine and Bearing's votes," He said with equal furtiveness, "we've been planning mutiny for months." Both he and Ruby devolved into quiet chuckles. Merith smiled at the duo, eyebrow raised in amusement.

Cade suddenly shot up so quickly that Merith jumped. "Where's Bearings?"

"Remember that Navy girl he was eyeing?" Said Lovelock, having sufficiently swallowed down his laughter to explain. "Find her, you find him."

"Oh, I'll need to have a talk with him," groaned Cade, "there's this thing called fraternization."

Lovelock snuck in one more veiled insult, "Good luck with that one, 'Dad'"

Ruby giggled and pointed at Cade, "He just called you old."

"Thank you for summing that up." He stood and slapped Ruby's hand aside playfully. "Alright, let's get some sleep. I've had enough excitement for one day." Walking away, Cade stopped Lovelock at a comfortable distance from the two women. "Lovelock, can you do something for me?"

"What?"

Cade nodded to Trunks and Grandy, "Help me keep an eye on them. I don't think this is over."

"Sure, Sarge but, why not be off with her in the first place?" Asked Lovelock while nodding surreptitiously at Grandy. "Don't get me wrong, I don't want to see anything happen to any of us. But I mean, she deserves whatever punishment she gets don't you think?"

Cade nodded, "Yes. She does." He turned his head slightly and glanced at Ruby. She was speaking with Merith, a bright smile on her face. Somehow still brightening the room with her indomitable spirit in spite of what had happened only hours before. "But maybe Skirts is right. Don't we all deserve a second chance?"

Lovelock sighed, "I hope this doesn't come back to haunt us."

"Me too." Cade said. As he spoke Ruby's eyes flicked up and met his. She smiled brightly him and Cade returned it with a crooked smile of his own before turning back to Lovelock.

"Me too."

Eh. It's an alright chapter.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready for some good 40k bloodshed!

FYI, I have the worst work schedule coming up. I'll do my best to be ready for next Sunday, but no promises.