*Month*One*

She still hated him. Theron ground his teeth together and stared at the thinner-by-the-day Huntsgirl, whose blonde hair was becoming greasy and whose were glazed over – except for when she glared at him with her signature icy hatred. He hated how she curled her lips at him and how she refused his nice gestures.

"Dark Dragon," Theron hissed.

"Yes?" The Dragon purred in return.

"I think that it's time we begin with the tough love." It hadn't been an easy decision – to harm the Huntsgirl, but it was now deemed necessary.

She would break, and she would break soon.

"Excellent," The Dark Dragon muttered.

(-.-)

Nicholas and Kyle looked at all of the computer monitors, wondering how Rose could stand in front of the entirety of the Huntsclan and still keep her calm.

Their guts ached.

Where was Rose?

"We are frantically searching the cities, working closely with all of our allies to locate our Mistress. We will keep you all posted with daily updates," Nicholas explained.

"But who will take her place?" The head of the Mexican branch demanded. "We need someone in her role."

"I vote Huntsboys Nicholas and Kyle," the head of the Scottish branch cried,

"And it is done!" All of the branches roared.

(-.-)

"We've searched everywhere a hundred times, Jake. I don't know what more we can do."

"She has to be here," Jake cried at Lao Shi. "She has to be in New York."

"But we don't know that," Fu sighed. "She could, honestly, be anywhere."

"And," Lao Shi added softly, preparing to say the forbidden words, "After so long, and with her being so strong, the reality probably is –"

"NO!" Jake shrieked, placing his hands over his ears to block out the sound. "Rose is not dead. Rose is still alive. She has to be."

*Month*Two*

Rose felt cold all of the time. Nothing in her world felt right anymore. She felt like she was spinning, round and round and round and that nothing ever stopped her. The only thing that broke the monotony of her cold, black, hungry days was the pain. The pain was associated with him.

Jake Long. The name was always said and pain always followed it. His name made her hurt and cry.

She wanted to remember that she loved Jake; that Jake loved her but it was getting so hard to hold onto that when all that his name did was make her sob.

(-.-)

"How did she do it?" Nicholas asked Kyle. "How did she handle all of this?"

Kyle shrugged, just as lost as Nicholas. There were two of them, one of her, but she had been so capable where they were fumbling around, attempting to fit her shoes – knowing that they would never fit.

"Do you honestly think that we'll find her?" Nicholas whimpered.

"Absolutely," Kyle swore. "What happened to never giving up on her?"

"What about the difference in giving up and accepting the reality of the situation?" Nicholas asked darkly.

Kyle didn't have an answer.

(-.-)

Haley sat on the couch at her home, Jake's heavy head on her lap. She didn't know what to say to him – didn't know how to comfort him. He'd been in such a daze lately and Haley didn't know how to reach him.

Dad had made him take a drug test.

Mom had cried when Haley told her the real story.

And now she sat with Jake as they watched dumb animated movies and tried not to think about anything beyond Jack Frost and Pitch Black. The outside world was too hard for her brother and Haley wanted to protect him.

*Month*Three*

"Tell me," Theron asked.

"Tell you what, Master?"

He grinned. She was giving in. There was still a hitch to her voice, a tang of fight, but it was fading fast. And he loved hearing that name come from her again.

"Tell me who our true enemy is, Huntsgirl."

She blinked, blue eyes confused. "Lao Shi," she stuttered, "And the dragons …"

"And?" Theron encouraged her.

"J-Jake …" her eyes clouded over. "NO!" She cried. "I love him! I love him, you bastard!"

Theron cursed at her, delivering a blow to her kidneys. He had lost her again.

(-.-)

"Huntsboy Jeremy," Kyle greeted tiredly. "You have something for me?"

"Yes, sir." Huntsboy Jeremy replied.

"Well!" Kyle snapped, long since ready to go to sleep.

"I was out with the search party, sir, far behind the airport. And, I, uh, I found something."

Kyle glared. "Get on with it."

With a trembling hand, Jeremy deposited a handful of fabric in Kyle's hands. Kyle took one look at it and knew.

"Leave and speak of this to no one," he commanded Jeremy before exiting the room himself and running to Nicholas. He burst into his best friend's room, waking the boy.

"Her mask," Kyle cried. "They found her bloody mask."

(-.-)

"Jake," Trixie said softly, sitting down next to him and gently rubbing between his shoulder blades. "Gramps called us. He said you haven't been talking lately."

Spud crouched down in front of Jake. "We don't want to lose you again. We don't want you to go back to that place."

Jake glanced at them, how even when they were with him, they were still holding each other's hands. They loved each other so much. And they didn't understand. When he'd been trapped there before, Rose had drawn him out. Now, without her, he was nothing.

*Month*Four*

"Dragons are the root of all evil. They tricked their way into the minds of the weak Clan members. Jacob Long and Lao Shi are both masters of deception. They cannot be trusted. But to win back our Clan, and our rightful places as Hunters, we must play into their game and defeat them from the inside out."

"And what does that entail?" Theron asked, please with Rose's progress.

"Soon, when I am ready, I will leave this place. I will pretend that I am in love with him, as he believes me to be. And when the moment is right, he will die."

(-.-)

"An announcement has to be made to the Clan!" Nicholas cried. "Kyle, we've been hiding that destroyed mask for a month – even from Jake and Lao Shi. You know, as well as I do, that a mask can only be taken off by a Clan member. One of us doesn't have her, so she must … she must be …"

"No," Kyle shouted. "She mustn't be! She's alive, Nicholas, can't you feel it?"

"Oh want to but I just … I can't. Kyle, you and I both know she's gone."

(-.-)

Jake retraced an old path – one that he had not walked in many, many months. He wove through the backstreets of New York City, to a place that you couldn't find when you were looking for it but that always presented itself when you needed it. He needed that place and he found it now.

It was empty, as he knew it would be.

But he still sat down on the street corner and waited for a man he knew must have moved on long ago. He sat and waited for Andrew, who always carried salvation in his pocket.

But Andrew never came.

*Month*Five*

Master's breath was hot and her neck as he moved over her. Rose let him take her body, enjoying every minute of his illustrious attention. He ran his hands all over her body, drinking in every inch of her skin. She preened under his touch, rising into him.

But as his Huntsgirl, this was what she was meant for. She belonged to him: mind, body and soul. As it always should have been, before her mind was twisted by the evil dragons, there was now only room for him and the Clan in her life.

(-.-)

"And has your searches yielded anything?" Lao Shi asked into the telephone.

"Negative," Kyle said, though his throat was tight and Nicholas was glaring at him due to the lie. "We have no found a single thing that could indicate her whereabouts." That part was true. They had no idea where their Mistress was.

"I worry, not just for the girl but for Jake," Lao Shi sighed. "He has been so withdrawn lately."

"We have not seen him here as much," Nicholas sighed.

"I worry I will lose him again," Lao Shi admitted, heart heavy.

(-.-)

Jake sat in his room, throat dry and hurting. He hadn't used it for months now and it ached. But he liked the ache; liked the pain. Wherever Rose was, she was hurt and crying – he just knew it – and he deserved it much more than she did. He wished that he could take her pain – that he could bring her back and he would take her place, just so that he knew she would be safe.

He wanted her to be safe, with all of his heart.

But, selfishly, what he really wanted was to have her back in his arms.

*Month*Six*

Theron watched the Huntsgirl sleep, her nude body curled into itself. He allowed himself an arrogant smirk – he had done it. He had successfully turned her back from the dark side. She was now wholeheartedly ready to dive headfirst into his plan to take down the magical creatures – something that the Dark Dragon had been helping with from the wings (he hadn't introduced them, for fear it would confuse her).

Yes, she was ready to go but Theron wasn't going to let her – not for another month or so yet. He was too busy enjoying her.

(-.-)

"Kyle, she gets one more month. This Clan is hanging in limbo, trying to find her and wasting resources trying to do just that. I hate to be the bad guy here, and I know that it seems like I am, but we cannot sacrifice this entire organization just for her. You and I both know that's not what Rose would have wanted. She would want us to be strong in her absence, to run the Clan the way she dreamed of. It's not that I'm giving up on her, it's that we have the rest of the Clan to think of."

(-.-)

"Jake!" Haley screamed, planting herself in front of her brother. "DON'T YOU DARE DISAPPEAR ON ME AGAIN!"

But he didn't even react to her exclamation. He lay, dead-eyed on the couch, staring out at nothing.

"How dare you do this," Haley accused. "After the entire family fought for you, after you fought so hard for yourself, after Rose fought so hard for you, you're just going to let yourself slip away to nothing? How dare you, Jake! I'm ashamed."

Jake simply put in enough effort to roll over, blocking out Haley completely.

*Month*Seven*

"Are you prepared to reenter to world?" Theron asked, clipping an anklet around the Huntsgirl's ankle. It would not only tell him where she was all hours of the day, but allow him to listen in on her conversations and give her a jolt of pain if she needed reminding of her true mission.

"Yes, Huntsmaster. I'm fully versed in my mission. I will be able to withstand the temptations of the dragons. I will be able to covertly be able to turn the Clan onto its rightful path – no matter how long it takes."

"Good girl."

(-.-)

"And it is with a heavy heart, that we say goodbye to our Mistress. Our search for her was long, but we all know how cruel the world truly is. We can all feel the sorrow in our hearts that is her absence. Her presence, however, will live long in the Clan. She changed us forever – she changed us for the better. And for that, we give her our thoughts and our hearts." Kyle managed, tears rolling unashamed down his cheeks – as they did with every other Clan member.

"Rest in peace," Nicholas sobbed.

"Rest in peace," the entirety of the Clan echoed.

(-.-)

Jake sat in the back of the hall, Fu on one side and Lao Shi on the other. He was stony and cold as Nicholas and Kyle said their final prayers for Rose. He couldn't bring himself to cry for her; he couldn't bring himself to hate them for giving up. He simply felt nothing. He felt entirely empty.

Fu placed a soft paw on the back of Jake's hand.

"Hang in there, kid, it will get better. This doesn't have to be the end of her, but even if it is, you have a lot of beautiful memories to carry you through."

Jake closed his eyes.

Please remember that I don't have a beta. I don't own anything recognizable.

~TLL~