She woke up, and realized that she was being carried by someone. She closed her eyes again and gritted her teeth. He ribs hurt, and she did not want to start walking.

Suddenly she realized what had happened and looked up, only to meet Rogue's unflinching gaze.

"Sting, she's awake." So his name was Sting, she thought, she flailed her hands, trying to escape, and muster some magic, when Rogue interrupted again. "Those cuffs block magic use."

She scowled and saw that her belt with the pockets was gone. Dammit, her herbs and tools were in there. He charm bracelet was gone too.

Now it was Sting's turn to interrupt. "Listen up girl, or Talia, or whatever your name is. We're going to get on a train now. Any sound and you'll be toast. Understood?" He tightened her grip around her ribs and growled. She fought not to cry out, and gasped, "Ok." Followed by, "My name's not Talia." "Whatever," he said in return.

She started to cough. After around a minute, Sting complained, "Can't you stop coughing."

She looked down and scowled. She was coughing up blood, and a piece of her throat lining lay in the palm of her hand. She vaguely remembered the injury to her throat and grimaced.

Rogue looked down and his eyes widened. He started, "String, she's coughing up blood–" Only to be interrupted as String roughly set her down and grimaced. "You better not have gotten it on my back!" he shouted at her. She didn't look at him and swayed before finding her footing. She walked and lurched towards the beginning of the line as Sting complained.

She thought to herself about how she had gotten into this mess. She wasn't a criminal, that was for sure. She spun her head around, trying to decide whether to make a break for it. Sting seemed to hear her thoughts and muttered, 'Don't even thing about it.' She looked herself up and down. Her tight black combat shirt was ripped in various places, but her khaki shorts has stayed the same.

They reached the train station and boarded the train. They handcuffed her to the seat as Minerva scowled at her.

As soon as the train started moving, Rogue sat next to her, Minerva in front of her, and Sting next to Minerva. Minerva started to talk.

"Well then, dearie, we're going to start by asking you some questions. Answer properly, and you won't get hurt." She smiled when she got to the last part.

"Ok, first, what's your name."

"Arya," you replied. "Thalia's my sister."

"BULL****!" She screamed. "I'm getting mad already. Rogue, do it."

She turned to him nervously, and he slapped her across the face. She recoiled and glared at Minerva and Rogue, a dangerous magic aura surrounding her.

"What makes you think that was a wrong answer!" She yelled angrily.

Minerva smiled. She was enjoying this.

Rogue, on the other hand, felt bad after he had done the deed. She didn't seem like the criminal type to him, and she might have been telling the truth anyway. The rest of the journey continued this way, Minerva instructing Sting and Rogue to hurt her when she "answered wrong." Sting seemed to take pleasure in this, while Rogue felt worse and worse with every jab and slap. At the end of it, Minerva had smiled and stared out the window as the girl lay across the table, unconscious.

3 hours later

Minerva spoke up, "We're here! The Grand Magic Council Building!" Everyone looked up and Sting once again slung the unconscious girl over his shoulder as they walked towards the building. A guard guided them inside to the law enforcement authorities and they handed her over. The officer took one look at her and then frowned. "What happened to her." Minerva piped, "Oh, she put up a fight." The guard nodded and then took a blood sample. Minerva spoke up once again. "Will we get our reward now? I heard it was 1,000,000 jewels." The guard looked up at her and mentioned how they had to confirm her identity first. They took her in and the team waited outside for a good hour. Orga and Rufus grumbled about the wait, while Sting talked to Rogue about what he was going to do with his portion of the reward. Minerva smirked as she heard Sting talk, and Rogue remained silent, listening to Sting.

A guard came outside. "I'm sorry, but…

… her identity doesn't match with the identity samples we have of the criminal."