Author's notes: My apologies everyone for the long wait. Before we get back to the chase, I wanted to give you some background, without spilling too many of the details, and without boring you all. So instead, here's a little fairy tale for you.

Interlude:

From the safety of his fortress he watched the outside world. It was so peaceful without him. So tempting. People smiled. Children played. Everyone was happy. But he knew better, so he stayed inside.

Every now and then, a curious child would walk over to his fortress, impressed by its strength. They would look at him through the bars of the gate with wide eyed curiosity, their innocence masking their brutality. He never fell for their allure. Grasping the giant key firmly in his frail fingers, he was sure to never let it out of his sight. No one could reach him without it, so he guarded it fiercely from the reach of others. Boredom would eventually send his unwelcome visitors away, and he would be left in his sweet solitude.

"Why are you all alone in there?"

He looked up to see a small girl in a pink flowering dress and big blue eyes frowning at him through the bars.

"Where are your friends?"

He ignored her, clenching his tiny fingers tighter around the key to make sure it was still there. It was.

"Why don't you come out? We can play together!" She gave him a hopeful smile, but he wasn't so easily fooled. She was more persistent than the others. More dangerous.

"Go away!" He growled.

"But . . . why?"

"I said go away!" He yelled, throwing a stone at her. It didn't hit her, but did its task. She got scared and ran away. With a sigh of relief, he could relax again. He was safe.

The rest of the day played out like all the others. People came and went, most never paying him any mind. He liked it that way. Watching three small children play, he wondered what they were feeling. Giggling with wide smiles, they chased each other about, romping and rolling through the lush grass of the forest floor bathed in dappled sunlight: sunlight that never reached him. What was it like? Surely it couldn't be any different than what he felt watching the world from the safety of his fortress, but if that were the case, why did he never smile like they did? Why did he never laugh?

The next day, she came back.

"You're still in there?" She asked.

"Go away."

"But then you'll be all by yourself."

"Go away!" He shouted, throwing the same rock that saved him the day before. With a loud crack, it bounced off the bars of the imposing fortress gate where she peered in. Paled in fright, she turned to run, but stopped. Foreboring her escape, she turned back to him. She frowned at him, scrunched her shoulders, and pointed her toes inward.

"But aren't you lonely?"

What was she talking about? "What's . . . lonely?" Softly he asked.

"It's what happens when you stay all by yourself."

"Then I like it that way. I like to be lonely."

"But, no one likes to be lonely. Everybody needs somebody else."

"I don't." He stubbornly replied. "I don't need anyone and no one needs me."

She frowned and looked at the ground. "Okay." she said with a defeated sigh, sounding both sad and disappointed. Still frowning, she walked away to join the other kids.

Her visits continued for many days. At first, he found that if he ignored her, she would eventually go away, but as time went on, she became more persistent. Now she would spend the entirety of each day sitting outside the iron gate of his fortress. When she ran out of things to say to him, she would either sit quietly or hum little tunes to herself. At sunset, she would go home, promising to return again in the morning.

He wished she would leave him alone. Despite her harmless appearance, she was just as terrible as the rest of them. Knowing better than to fall for her tricks, he always held his key close, never letting it out of his grasp.

The gentle scuttle of tiny feet announced her arrival. "Hi!" she chirped.

He was trying so hard to ignore her that he didn't hear the sound of clinking metal.

"It's so dark in here."

"How did you get in here?" He yelled, startled by her appearance so close to him.

"I used this!" She held up a key identical to the one in his hand.

"Wha-Where did you get that?" He backed away from her. Startling at the touch of the wall against his back, he fell to the ground and trembled before the invader.

"I found it. It looks just like yours."

"B-but, you can't come in here. This is my place! No one can come in here!" His voice was shrill with fear. Without the safety of his fortress walls, he was without defense. Petrified, he watched her close the distance between them.

"But I just did, silly!" She giggled. She sat down right in front of him. "I thought you might like to play, but we can't play through the gate, and you wouldn't come out, so I came in!"

"I don't want to play!" He hugged his knees tightly, clutching his useless key in front of him.

"Aww, but it'll be fun!" Her smile waned. "Why are you crying?"

"This is my place! You ruined it! I'm supposed to be safe here!"

"Is it worth being safe if it means you have to stay locked up in here all the time?"

"Just go away!" He begged, sobs shaking his voice.

"But I can't leave when you're crying. Who's gonna cheer you up?"

She reached towards him and he panicked. He scurried to the corner and curled up behind his key. He was so scared and didn't know what to do. He couldn't leave, but she wouldn't go away. This was never supposed to happen. She walked up to him again and sat in front of him so close they were almost touching.

"You don't need to be so scared, you know."

He tried to push himself further into the corner to no avail. "Go away!" He yelled, trying to sound scary, but the pathetic squeak was anything but.

"No. You need a friend. If you stay all by yourself all the time, you'll always be scared." She smiled at him and reached out to him again.

This time he had no place to run. Glossed with tears, his eyes grew like saucers when she touched his shaking shoulders. Fueled by fear, he tried to push her away, but she was too strong, and he was pulled into her embrace.

Despite his frightened whines and his squirming, scraggly limbs trying to pry her away, she held him tight and close. "It's gonna be okay. You don't need to be scared anymore."

His best efforts were no match for her determination. Realizing he couldn't win, nor did he have a place to run to, he gave up his exhausting struggle. He curled around his useless key, trembling and crying in her arms until eventually his tears ran dry.

"Do you feel better now?"

"Why. . . why didn't you go away. . . like everyone else?" His weak voice was broken up by the hiccups of dry sobs.

"Well, someone needs to be your friend."

"B-but why. . . why do I need one? I'm fine on my own."

"You didn't look fine by yourself everyday locked up here in the dark."

"But. . . I was. . . happy."

"Really? 'Cus I never saw you smile. How can you be happy if you never smile?"

He didn't answer. He wasn't sure how to. After being kept in her embrace a bit longer, he was given a little squeeze before being let go. Scrambling free from her grasp, he pressed himself back into his corner.

"I have to go, but I'll be back tomorrow, okay?" He cringed away from her one last time as she reached towards him and booped his nose with her finger. She giggled and left his fortress.

He remained curled up into a tight little ball in the corner for the duration of the night. His whole world had been turned upside down. If only he could get her to stay away, then everything would go back to normal, but everything he'd tried failed.

The next day, she arrived as promised. With her cheerful greeting, she put her key into the lock on his fortress gate, turned the key and pulled the gate open.

"No!" He leaped forward and grabbed the gate. He fought to close it, but after a brief tug of war, she pulled it open, causing him to lose his footing and fall face first on the ground. Outside.

When he realized where he was, he screamed and shot back into the comfort of his fortress, into the back corner he spent the night in and curled himself up again, hiding his face behind the tangle of his bony arms. She let herself in and closed the gate behind her. Skipping over to his corner then sitting down in front of him, she showed him the blue ball she brought along.

"Let's play catch!"

"I don't wanna."

"Oh, but it's easy! You'll like it."

"I won't."

"All you have to do is catch the ball when I throw it, then throw it back to me. It's not that hard. Ready?" She gently tossed him the ball, but he cowered even more and the ball bounced of his shoulder.

"Uhh, well, let's try this." She hopped up and retrieved the ball. Setting it down in front of the whimpering boy trembling like a bracken in the breeze, then backing away a foot or two she said. "Try throwing the ball to me." She outstretched her hands, ready to catch.

His terrified gaze shot back and forth from her to the ball, but he didn't move.

"Come on, you can do it!" She encouraged with a smile.

He sat still a little longer, then poked the ball with his key, sending it slowly rolling toward the girl.

"I think like that idea better." She sat down and rolled the ball back to him. It tapped against his foot and came to a stop.

Hesitantly, he poked it again, this time a little harder. Her smile grew wider as she tapped it back. Their unimpressive game continued for a little while longer.

"See? Isn't this fun?" She asked with a giggle.

"I. . . I guess." Came the unenthusiastic answer from the boy still curled up in the corner.

She set the ball aside and scooted over so she sat next to him. He cowered away and pressed himself into the wall opposite to where she sat. She took the opportunity to scoot even closer, and he found himself scooshed between her and the wall.

"So what do you do for fun in here?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Isn't that boring?"

"Uh. . . I don't. . . well. . . I. . . I guess."

"Do you daydream?"

"Huh?"

"Daydream! It's like playing make believe, but in your head."

"I. . . I. . . I dunno."

"Sometimes, I daydream about fighting bad guys and saving people! It would be so cool, but my mom says I'm not old enough to do that. So I daydream about it instead."

"But. . . Aren't bad guys scary? Won't they hurt you?"

"Yeah, but I'm more scared of what would happen if no one stood up to them. How about you? What do you like to daydream about?"

"I. . . uh. . . I don't."

"Never?"

"Well. . . sometimes. . ."

"About what?"

"I don't wanna say."

"Oh, okay." Her smile faded momentarily while she tried to think of something else. "What's your favorite thing in the whole wide world?"

"I. . . uhh. . ."

"If you can't pick a favorite, how about something you like a lot?"

"Umm, I. . . I think I. . . I don't like this game."

She frowned and looked away for a moment. "Okay. . ." She noticed he had loosened his tight coil a bit, and wasn't hiding his face anymore. "You have pretty eyes."

"I. . . I do?"

"Yeah, they're my favorite color!"

"But. . . everyone says they look stupid."

"Well, I think they're cool." She giggled when she saw him try to hide his blushing cheeks. Looking outside, she noticed the setting sun and frowned. "I have to go, but we'll play again tomorrow. Okay?"

"Okay." He watched her pick up her ball and leave his fortress, closing the door behind her.

Her visits continued for many days. He still rarely left his corner while she was there, but he stopped trying to get her to go away. He wasn't sure about how he felt about her company.

One day, she didn't come. At first, he was relieved to have his fortress back to himself, but he grew worried as the day went on with no sign of her. Like she always did, she promised when she left the day before that she would be back. Did something happen to her? Or maybe she got sick of him and didn't want to be around him anymore. By nightfall, she still hadn't appeared. He couldn't sleep.

By the next morning, she still hadn't come. Was she okay? What if she needed help? He paced back and forth from his corner to the door, conflicted between possibilities. Looking all around, he saw no one was outside. With a nervous gulp, he undid the latch to the gate and pushed the gate open.

With his heart racing, he looked out into the world he vowed he would never return to. Clutching his key with white knuckles, he took his first shaky step and the grass softly rustled under his feet. After he had crept a few yards, he looked back to his fortress. It looked nothing like he thought it would from the outside, nothing like a fortress at all. A few hesitant moments later, he continued off into the danger of the outside world.

Not knowing where he should search, he wandered about like a lost child. The gleeful cheers of the other children petrified him as if they were the snarls of hungry wolves. They darted into view, chasing each other with mischievous smiles. They stopped when they saw him.

"Hey, it's that weird kid that's always hiding."

"Eww, what's he doing out here?"

"Maybe he's lost."

"Well, why don't you go ask him!" The speaker pushed one of the boys forward.

"Hey, weirdo, what're ya doing in our woods?" The other boys snickered behind him.

"I. . . I . . . I. . ." The poor boy trembled behind his key.

"What's the matter?"

"He probably forgot how to talk 'cus he's by himself so much." They all sniggered at the crude remark.

"Hey, what's this stupid thing?" The biggest of the boys stepped forward and pried the key from their frail victim's hands. He turned the filigree over in his brutish hands, easily keeping it away from the boy's attempts to retrieve it.

"Give that back!" he cried, trying to swipe the key from the taller boy's hands.

"Why should I?" He said, pushing the nuisance to the ground, much to the others' entertainment. "Aww, look. The little baby's crying."

"I. . . I'm not crying!" He sniveled, wiping the damning evidence from his face. He tried to get back up, but was pushed back down each time. They had surrounded him, laughing at him and calling him all sorts of terrible names.

He tried to get up again, but was pushed backwards into the grasp of one of the bigger boys. The one with his key punched him while the other held him back and the rest of the gang laughed and taunted. He was too weak to do anything about it.

Terror boiled in his stomach. Why did he come out here? He knew what would happen if he did. That girl. She didn't want to be his friend after all. She did this to trick him. Gritting his teeth, he felt a new feeling accompany his terror. Anger. After receiving a few more cruel blows, he hit his boiling point.

"Leave me alone!" his demand was accompanied by a weird pink burst of energy that flung his two oppressors back and left the other three gaping. Before he turned to run, he whisked up his key that had fallen free from the other boy's hands.

"Hey, get back here, freak!" "You're gonna pay for that!" He heard them yell. More terrified than ever, he retreated through the woods. What happened? What did he do? It helped him get away, but now they were going to hurt him worse if they caught up, and he had no idea how or if he could do it again.

His scrawny legs begged him to give up, but their strength renewed when his tiny fortress was in sight. Those monsters were too far behind. He'd get in and they wouldn't be able to harm him. Approaching the door, he pushed his key in the lock.

But the key wouldn't turn. Panicking, he tried again and again to get the door to open, but his key no longer worked. Maybe he was doing it wrong? The angry threats from his pursuers closed in on him. He tried a few more times without result and was forced to abandon his only hope.

Scurrying frantically through the forest, he ran farther than he had ever gone before. The tame forest where the children played grew wilder with each desperate stride. He didn't stop to see if they were still following him. He ran until his little body couldn't move anymore then collapsed on the ground.

He lay in the dirt and sobbed. He hated them. He meant nothing to any of them, yet they couldn't leave him alone. They had to hurt him, because letting him be alone wasn't bad enough. And he hated her. This was all her fault. She was even worse than the rest, making him believe there was actually something better out there for him, but it was all a cruel ruse.

Most of all, he hated himself. Why did he have to exist? No one needed him. No one wanted him. So why? Why did he have to live only to be reminded every day, every moment, of the wonderful world which he was denied? He watched it taunt him with its riches. It was everything he craved but nothing he was ever meant to have.

As nightfall nestled in for its shift, he lay sprawled on the ground, hopeless sobs ringing in his ears. But he wasn't the one crying; he'd stopped some time ago. Curiosity overtaking his woe, he pushed his sore body off the cold ground and looked around. Creeping after the cries through the shadows of the moonless night, he was led to the base of a massive oak tree where in the washed out cavern beneath its gnarled, knobby roots hid the origin of the cries.

Ducking under mighty, sweeping branches and slithering through the tangle of roots centuries old, he made his way towards the small figure in the shadows. As he got closer, the maze became impassible. Searching for a way through, he came to a heavy wooden door, framed by the mess of roots that prevented his advance.

First trying the handle, then pushing and pulling with all his strength, he found the door would not yield. His attention fell upon the artifact he held in his hands: the useless key he had in his possession since before he could remember. The lock was well out of his reach, but scrambling a few feet up by way of the roots intertwined amongst themselves and carefully balancing himself so as not to fall, he managed to slip the key into the lock and turn it. With a satisfying click, the lock loosed the mighty door which creaked as it opened inwards, allowing the boy access to the chamber it guarded and the occupant within.

"Are you okay?" He asked, as he approached the huddled figure. The pitch darkness made him feel safe. Whoever it was, they couldn't see him, even as he made his way beside them.

"He. . . he won't s-stop chasing me." Though the tone was choked by sobs, he recognized her voice. She crawled into his arms and this time, he didn't shy away, even when her tears stung his skin.

"Who won't?"

"He hurt me. A-and he hurt my sister."

"But. . . he can't get you in here."

She pointed somewhere past the wall of roots. "He's over there."

"Where?" the boy looked, but saw nothing but shadows. "I don't see anybody."

"Nobody believes me."

"I believe you! I just can't see him."

"He says he's gonna hurt me again."

"I won't let him." He said, holding her closer. He had never realized until then how small she was. She had such a big personality, he didn't notice.

"But he'll hurt you, too."

"I don't care." He yelled, not to the girl, but to the shadows where the man was hiding. "I won't let you touch her!"

"Stop, you're making him mad."

"It's okay. I promise."

It took many hours, but the man grew frustrated with his inability to scare away the boy, and he went away. Once he did so, the girl finally was able to calm down and she fell asleep in her friend's arms.

There, in the womb of the mighty oak tree, safely tucked away from the world that left them both behind. they stayed, uncertain that they would ever return to the upper world. She often saw the man that hurt her return and try to get to them through the tangle that protected them. Though he never saw the man himself, every time she said it was there, he would protect her until the man went away. Whether the man was real or not, he wouldn't let this girl, the one person that didn't give up on him,' be harmed.

In time, the man stopped lurking, and the two felt safe enough to venture past the door and into the surrounding jungle of roots where they'd play silly games and explore. They bonded so much so that they never left each other's side.

When they each felt they were ready, they left the safety of the nurturing oak behind and returned to the edge of the forest where they each thought they'd never return to again. Though their fears were still present, together they had the strength to face them and to carry on, but there was one fear neither had the courage to face: the fear that they'd be separated again.

While searching the lecture hall with Jaune and Pyrrha, Ren had a hard time bringing himself out of his discouraged stupor, but thankfully his teammates hadn't tried to pry any further. He distracted himself from his own woes with hopes of finding Nora and bringing her home safe and sound. He dared not think of what would happen to him should he ever lose her.

The trio finished searching the lecture hall and found nothing to aid in their search for their missing comrade. Ren and Jaune took a few minutes to change into their sets of dry clothes that they each kept in their lockers. Disturbing the heavy silence, Jaune's scroll chimed loudly enough to echo about the dark locker room. Answering it, he found Yang on the other end.

"Well?" Ren asked him, eyes brightening from their dull sorrow.

"Blake spotted her. We gotta move!" Jaune urged as he fumbled to fasten the last piece of armor over the dry hoodie. "Pyrrha?"

"Coming!"

The trio left the building and ran towards the rendezvous point. They met Ruby, Weiss and Yang at the top of the cliff.

"Blake followed her into the forest." Yang explained; the urgency of the situation put an edge in her voice. "Let's go over the plan, then we'll catch up to them."

Ren felt his strength and determination return. There was no way he was letting Nora get away again.