Chapter warnings: character(s) in bindings; allusions to medical experimentation; allusions to sexual assault; descriptions of injuries.

Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!

~TLL~

Rose was not a person to break promises. She didn't have a lot to her – she wasn't honest, she didn't have a lot of integrity, and she'd been known to do her fair share of bloodshed. The one thing that she could do would be to at least try to be better than the Huntsman and she nurtured every promise he'd ever broken to her in the hard, angry spot in her heart. She wouldn't get out of bed without it most days and she supposed she should thank him for that, if she wouldn't rather be dead.

Rose forced her sore body into the heating vents, moving slowly and quietly until she dropped into the dragon's area. She looped the tape and then she walked down the steps. Jake woke immediately, trying to lift his head and turn to see who it was.

"It's just me," Rose said, pulling off her mask and stepping into Jake's field of vision. "Hold on and I'll loosen your jaw."

Rose stepped back quickly when Jake was unmuzzled, just in case he was going to send more flames in her direction. He wiggled his nose and she caught sight of the deep lines that cut across his nose, warping the growth of his read scales.

"You don't have to sneak up on me," he rasped. "You don't know what they do to me down here."

"I have some idea," Rose said, trying not to sound cold.

She didn't know him and he didn't know her. She had to work on being less dismissive. It was something that Spud and Trixie had always accepted about her, especially after seeing her in battle. They had admired her ability to turn it all off. She had told them her home life made it easy and it had shut down any questions; she wondered what they thought of the excuse now.

Jake snorted and smoke curled from his nostrils. "What's the potion of the day?"

"They're not ready yet. Fu said probably tomorrow."

Jake looked surprised. "Then why are you here?"

"I said I would be," Rose said, deciding to sit in the sand. She couldn't pace around like a rabid dog for their entire conversation; her sore legs wouldn't allow it. "And I did the beginning of some strategizing with Lao Shi today."

"Gramps," Jake said. "It's weird for someone to call him anything else."

"Well, I don't think he'd like it very much coming from me," Rose said. "I'm not his favourite person right now."

"I can't imagine the Huntsgirl being his favourite person at any time," Jake said with a snort.

"I was until I told him I was the Huntsgirl. Well, Haley was probably the favourite but he liked me." Rose frowned. "But, that's not the point."

"What is the point?" Jake asked. "Why are you here?"

"Because I said I would be," Rose reiterated.

"Not to let me out?"

"Not yet."

"Soon?" Jake asked. "I hurt. I feel like I've been down here a hundred years."

"Just two," Rose said casually, while Jake choked on his tongue.

"You said yesterday," Jake snapped, "but how can it be? Two years!"

"It's better than a hundred," Rose said, and then they stared at each other for a long moment. Sympathy, Rose thought. This is the time for sympathy. "I can see how it's hard to lose two years."

"I didn't ever think it would be years. I thought I'd win that fight and when I didn't, I figured they were going to kill me. I was supposed to go drink in Canada for my nineteenth!" Jake cried and it was so unexpected that Rose couldn't help but laugh. "I didn't ever think I could make a Clan member laugh either."

Rose rolled her eyes at him. "Don't get used to it. I'm not here for idle chit chat."

"Why not?" Jake asked. "Got anywhere better to be?"

Rose thought of her cold bedroom. Rose thought of the Master's bedroom. She thought of where Spud and Trixie might be. Rose thought of the fact that she was here. It would be easier if she didn't like any of these people. She had set out to not like any of them at all, to operate amongst the Magical Militia as she had the Clan; she would serve them well, but she would remain afar. The fact that she had even told them about Jake was a testament to the fact that she had ended up liking them. She couldn't afford to so much as like Jake. Getting him out was a mission. If by some miracle they both made it out alive, she could see about being friends. For now, she needed to focus. It was going to be hard, it was going to be dangerous, and they were going to need to push beyond their limits for the slightest chance of success.

"We have better things to discuss," Rose said, cutting any warmth out of her voice.

Jake seemed confused, if a little rejected, but he didn't say a word about it. Instead, he said, "so discuss."

And Rose was almost sorry for ruining what could have been a nice moment.

"You do want out, don't you?"

"I would literally bite your head off right now to get out of here," Jake snarled.

"Don't or you won't get out of here," Rose advised. "But hold onto that fire, you're going to need it."

Jake let a small fireball fly across the room.

"Don't set off any of the sensors," Rose snapped. "Or we'll both be dead before we can blink."

"They can't get down here that fast."

"Not the Clan. This room. There are sensors all over filled with a fatal gas in case you ever got out. The reason I can't let you out or loosen your restraints any further is because it would fill the room instantly."

"So, how am I getting out? Are you going to disable them?"

"I can't," Rose admitted. "The Huntsmaster is careful about what knowledge and responsibilities he gives to who. No one can make decisions about you except for him. I can't even give the order to have it done."

"So, someone's going to have to come get me."

"You're going to have to fight your way out. It's going to be a complete assault on the Huntsclan. The entire magical resistance –"

"Resistance? What the hell is going on out there, really?"

"It's been a war since they took you," Rose said. "They thought you were dead. They are the Magical Militia. The Dragon Council won't send help, though Lao Shi is making one last plea. Thirty-three days from now, Jake, you're either going to be free or you're going to die trying."

"Way to sugar coat that."

Rose pushed herself up from the sand, thinking that pacing like a rabid dog might be better. She wasn't the person for this! She could strategize in the calm but during the storm, she was just a weapon. Point her at a target and she would get a bull's eye, every time. She didn't know how to sit here and calmly discuss with Jake about the fact that it was going to all be over soon. She had made peace with the fact that this was likely to kill her; she welcomed the freedom of death, even. She didn't know how to sit here while someone hoped about freedom, thought about the consequences that were likely to come with his escape.

Point gun.

Shoot.

It was all that Rose was capable of.

"Sorry," Rose mumbled. "I understand that it could be hard to hear."

"Could be? Pretty soulless of you."

Rose straightened, staring at him. Soulless? He was right but no one had ever said it to her face before; she'd only thought it about herself. She found it stung, coming from someone else's mouth.

"And dumb of you to try and alienate your only ally in here! If you could get out of here without me already, you'd have done so. Your friends and family wouldn't even know you were still alive if it weren't for me."

"You're right," Jake said, "but you shouldn't get a pat on the back for doing the right thing. Anyone else would do it without a reason."

"You don't know my reason."

"A Clan member trying to do the right thing?" Jake snorted, mostly humorously but slightly dismissively. "I've been in captivity but I'm not that stupid. You've done something awful. What was it? Are you the reason I'm here?"

"No."

"Then what?" Jake demanded.

Rose closed her eyes, shutting down the images that ran through her mind: her blood on the sheets, the way that she would never get clean again, the way that she had cried the second time when she understood she couldn't stop it and had been punished for it. That was her pain and it wasn't his to know.

"Some things are personal," Rose hissed. "Don't ask me again."

Jake evaluated her for a moment and then said, "Yeah, okay. I hear you, Rose."

It wasn't what Rose was expecting to hear and she had to pause, her mouth half open, ready to yell at him to back off again.

"So, if there's this toxic gas, how the hell am I supposed to get out of here?" Jake asked, switching topics. "What's the plan?"

"The gas is built to be confined to the square footage of the room – even if the door to the control panel was left open, for example, it wouldn't leak in. So, we just need to get you out of this room."

"To the control panel room?"

"No," Rose said. "It would be too easy to lock you in there. The minute you're out, the gas starts, alarm starts blaring, the building itself starts to seal off individual rooms."

"I can melt a door, Rose, even a metal door," Jake said, letting a fireball fall lamely into the sand. "I can fight my way out."

Rose just didn't think that was the best way. It would be too easy to get cornered – the control panel room led out into the room with all the restricted doors, which was its own hub and always full of Huntsclan guards. To lock themselves in one place, the gas behind them and the guards in front of them seemed like a fool's errand to her. She stretched her arms out, rolling her shoulders and her neck, staring up at the low ceiling, feeling the burn of her sore muscles.

"And hopefully you can fight too."

"I can fight," Rose said, but her tone lacked the bite she meant it to have. There was an idea … something tugging at her. A way out without using the one door.

"Well?" Jake asked, his tone warm and teasing. Rose registered that he was trying to bait her but there was something in front of her. Something that she wasn't focused enough to see, just as Master always said. "Can you fight?"

Oh!

"I need to measure you," Rose blurted. "Do you know how long you are? I think you might be too short."

"Wow, I've waited my whole life to have a girl say those words to me."

"Jake!" Rose cried. "Be serious."

"I haven't talked in two years, let alone to an ally! No, I will not be serious."

"Jake! Can you claw through a ceiling?"

"Oh." Jake rolled his eyes upward. "Yeah, I could. But, like, what's between here and the next floor? It might take a while."

"Practice holding your breath," Rose advised, "That's how we're getting you out."

(-.-)

Rose stared at herself in her bathroom mirror.

Awful. She looked awful. There were bruises around her neck, a healing scab on her cheek, and there were dark circles under her eyes. And that was only what she could see. It was all that she wanted to see. Rose closed her eyes against the image, pushing up from the bathroom counter and turning away so that she didn't have to look at herself. Her thoughts were getting to her and she didn't have time for that. She didn't have the time to think about how she wished that she was someone else.

She packed up all of her things into a gym bag and then dressed herself strategically. She wouldn't be able to hide herself completely, not with what she was going to Lao Shi's to do, but she didn't have to look at herself either. She took a deep breath and ran her tongue over her split lip to give herself a jolt. Then, she was on her way.

Rose let herself into the training arena. Spud, Trixie, Lao Shi, and Haley were already there, warming up. Rose took the stairs down to them slowly, letting herself feel the stiffness and the soreness for one second before she banished it from her mind. She had things to do.

"That's a hell of a fat lip," Spud said when he saw her face. "What happened to you?"

"I bit it," Rose said, putting her bag down on the gym floor. It wasn't even a complete lie.

"How's Jake today?" Haley asked.

"Getting grumpier, now that he's got some energy again, I think," Rose said, and she dug into her bag, handing over a file folder to Lao Shi. "Those are his medical records for Fu. I don't recommend you read them or let anyone else read them."

Haley took a few steps back. "I never want to know."

Rose knew by the look in Lao Shi's eyes that he wouldn't take her advice. She supposed that was none of her business and she turned her attention to what she was really here to do.

"Okay," she said loudly, "step one: the anatomy of Huntsclan armour."

"Is it really armour?" Trixie said. "It always just looks like cloth. I've seen you stab people. It rips like a t-shirt."

"It's not. The Huntsclan weapons are actually the best at penetrating their own armour but there is less protection on the face to keep it from feeling weighed down. There is no protection on bare skin," Rose said. "I'm going to dress to show you how it's all put together."

Rose stripped off her baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants to reveal the sports bra and spandex workout shorts she was wearing underneath. It wasn't as though she were properly naked, but she felt like it.

"Oh my God," Spud said.

"Fu Dog can heal those for you," Haley said.

"No," Rose said, not wanting to explain to Haley that scars were a sign of pride in the Clan. If she didn't look like this, she wouldn't be as valued, and this plan hinged on her being somebody. Plus, as ugly as she knew it was to look at, it was also the body that she was used to living in, and she didn't know how to give that up.

Trixie approached her and touched her own neck, in the place that Rose knew the Huntsman's fingers were bruised onto her skin. "That's not right."

"None of it's right," Rose agreed. "That's why I'm here. Now, come on. We don't have all day."

She had their rapt attention as she laid out the thin pads that went on first, covering the joints such as the ankles, knees, elbows, and wrists. Then, came the thin pants and the shirt, which didn't look like much, as Trixie had pointed out, but were weaved with special material, that allowed it to be lightweight and nearly impenetrable to sharp objects.

"In Huntsclan masks, you can find the earpiece and mouthpiece in the stitching so that there's no way for an enemy to remove it and cut you off," Rose said. She handed out a mask. "This is a decommissioned one so there's no more technology in it but you can feel where the that would all sit."

"What about fire?" Lao Shi asked. "What are the precautions there?"

"It's as flame-retardant as it can get, but, no, it's not completely fireproof. With as hot as dragon fire is, you'd have to work to roast someone alive, but you could do it."

Haley hid her face in her hands at the words and Rose struggled to remind herself to have empathy. Haley had seen and done much, but she wasn't that old, and if she had to have her innocence, better it be stripped away be necessity than Rose's carelessly cruel words. Rose looked away from Haley and refocused.

"The most important thing that you can do when fighting a Huntslcan member is separate them from this pouch that sits on their right shoulder," Rose said, pointing it out. "In a battle, this is their life force."

Lao Shi leant in, curiously.

"We call it gruel but it's not the porridge. It's a compact, almost biscuit like substance. I wouldn't call it food but we do eat it." Her attempt at humour was lost as everyone kept staring at her with serious eyes. "It won't heal wounds, it won't bring you back from the dead, but if eaten, it will give you the energy and ability to keep going long after a normal person would have collapsed. It dulls your ability to feel pain while keeping your reflexes heightened. Every uniform has one of these. It's mandatory to keep one all you at all times."

"What's the dose in that?" Haley asked. "Like, if you ate it, how long could you go for?"

"Depends on your wounds," Rose said. "Like I said, it won't stop you from bleeding out, for example. But, you keep about twenty-four hours worth of gruel on you at all times. You won't need to sleep or eat or drink anything else. You can just fight."

She could see the fear in their eyes. An army of people who didn't feel their wounds? Who had no need for eat or sleep or food? Who could go for a full day like that? Longer, if there were more stores of gruel that they had access too?

"The Council cannot ignore this," Lao Shi said. "They cannot leave us alone in this."

"Will you tell them about me?" Rose asked.

"Eventually, yes, if we win," Lao Shi said. "If we lose, I don't see how it will matter either way."

"This all seems so simple," Spud said, picking up the second Clan shirt that Rose had passed around to them all. "It really looks like it would just get torn if you looked at it funny."

"Pass it to Haley," Rose suggested. "Ask her to shred it."

Haley took the shirt into her dragon claws but no matter what she did to the shirt, nothing happened to it. Rose picked up her Huntsclan spear and stabbed it downward through the shirt and it tore as easily as if it were a spiderweb.

"Don't underestimate what kind of technology there is." Rose spun the spear in her hand and swapped out the real one for one of the dummy ones that the children would use in their training. It will leave a nasty bruise if someone were struck with it, but someone would have to be intentionally trying to kill with it to do so. "Lao Shi, care to demonstrate some Huntsclan training techniques with me?"

Lao Shi followed her in his dragon form while the spectators gathered along the edges, making sure not to crowd one another so that everyone could see. They faced each other and Rose took a deep breath.

"Come at me," Rose said. "Really, just start fighting me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Make it look real. No, make it real."

Rose had seen Lao Shi fight before. She knew how he had been trained and how he would move. She had seen the same moves in Haley, although she knew that Lao Shi hadn't trained Haley – at least, not before the war had started. When Lao Shi started coming bluntly at her, she was ready. And, she surprised him, something that she could see very clearly that he didn't like it all. Smoke rolled from his nostrils and Rose held her ground, trying to do what Master had always instructed her to: drop the anger, drop all emotion, see everything at once.

The physical weight of Lao Shi crashing into her was more than enough to take her breath away. Rose planted her feet and then started talking, trying to explain why she was doing what she was doing in response to Lao Shi's movements. Lao Shi moved in slow motion with her, as if they were doing some kind of bizarre dance. Rose was covered in sweat by the time that they called a truce for the day.

"Next time," Rose said, "We'll take some of the stolen Clan weapons and I'll take you all through the basics, like you were actually in training."

Spud shivered. "Even the thought of that makes me feel dirty."

"We gotta do what we gotta do," Trixie said. "What do you think, Haley?"

"I think I can't do this!" Haley cried and then she ran from the training room.

Lao Shi and Trixie both immediately made moves to go after her but Rose burst out ahead of them.

"Please, let me."

"Okay," Trixie agreed.

Rose found Haley sitting in one of the changing rooms, her knees drawn up around her chest. Rose couldn't believe how small she looked, with her tiny wrists and her hair braided into pigtails. Haley looked up at Rose and wiped at her eyes but the tears didn't stop. Rose sat on the floor next to Haley, focusing on evening out her breath while she waited for Haley.

Finally, Haley sniffed. "You must think I'm stupid."

"Why?" Rose asked.

"You probably didn't cry when you were thirteen."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You probably didn't get scared either," Haley continued.

"Are you scared?"

Haley nodded. "I shouldn't be. I can't be."

"Why do you say that?"

"'Cause if I get scared, then Jake's really going to die," Haley admitted. "If I get scared at the wrong time and I screw up, I might cost us everything! I'm not the American Dragon! I never was. I can't do this!"

"But, you have been," Rose pointed out. "You haven't been the American Dragon this entire time and look at everything you've done. You are so much stronger than you think."

Haley peeped up from her knees, staring at Rose.

"It's good to be scared too, you know?"

"Is it?"

"Sure. It means that you are truly brave, if you're scared of something and then you go and do it anyway. Haley, look at everything you've done so far. It's not fair that you've had to do it but look at how you've done. You've handled everything with intelligence and strength. No one can ask more than that."

"I got myself injured a week ago," Haley said, "because I was being stupid."

"Why were you being stupid?"

"Trixie was in trouble," Haley said, sniffling. "And I didn't want anything to happen to her and I knew I could help her."

"Was that stupid or was that honorable?" Rose asked.

Haley thought about it. "Both, actually."

Rose chuckled. "That's fair."

Haley smiled for a moment and then it faded.

"What else is on your mind?"

"I should be more like you," Haley said. "If I were more like you, I wouldn't have to worry about anything like this. I'd just be good enough."

Rose felt as if her heart had turned to ice and then pumped it through her veins all at once.

"Haley, you do not want to be anything like me," Rose said harshly.

"But, you –"

"But nothing. To have a childhood and worry about saving other people's lives and to have a conscience are things that I would trade anything for."

"You don't care about saving other people's lives?" Haley asked.

"I hope you don't understand this," Rose prefaced, "but I care more about killing those who hurt others than saving the lives of those who are hurt."

Haley shook her head immediately. "I don't think I understand that at all."

"Which is why you should want to be you. Just nothing but the best version of you."

Haley nodded. "I'm still worried about not knowing enough about fighting the Clan. We're going to be trapped in the Huntsclan building and I've only ever fought in open spaces. It's different and I'm not ready!"

"You will be," Rose said. "Lao Shi is going to help you and I'm going to help you. You are going to be ready and you're going to win this fight. The most important thing, Haley, is that you're not going to be alone. You have a whole army, no, a whole team behind you, who are fighting for the same thing that you are."

"You are on our team, aren't you, Rose?" Haley asked.

"Yes," Rose promised. "A thousand percent, I am on your team."

Haley let her knees drop and then she crawled to Rose, hugging her tightly. Rose just rocked her and hugged her back, hoping that she hadn't lied to Haley about a single thing.