"I can't stand having to be stuck in this awful town!" Mr. Greenwood said with disgust, pacing around the room. "I came here on business, I was only supposed to be here a month!" He huffed, plopping down in an expensive looking leather chair. "Then there was that nasty bit of business in Vale, and all of a sudden communications are down all across Remnant, and Atlas has enforced a blockade!"

He took a sip from a glass of wine, before continuing his rant. "Honestly, I can't believe it! Barred, from my own city! Ridiculous, is what it is. Criminal. How does a kingdom fall, anyhow? I would like to get my hands on whoever's responsible for that mess, if only to wring their neck for getting me stuck here." He held his glass towards her, waiting for a refill. "Wouldn't you?"

"Of course." Emerald agreed, pouring more wine.

Mr. Greenwood nodded, as if he had expected her answer. "Now, that's not to say it couldn't be worse. I could be stuck in Haven, or Vacuo, or something like that. At least in Argus there's something resembling a proper military." He dabbed his mouth with a handkerchief. "No, it honestly wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for all those refugees piling in the city. It's a mess, I tell you."

"Absolutely, sir. Nothing at all like Atlas." Emerald once again agreed. Of course, she had never been to Atlas, but he didn't know that. He also didn't know who she was, per se.

She'd done her research, and spent a lot of time selecting her mark. It was a new experience for her. Before Cinder, she never put much thought into who she robbed, usually content picking pockets, occasionally robbing smaller stores if she needed lien quickly.

Mr. Greenwood was no one special, in the grand scheme of things. Some rich Atlesian asshole, who had been caught in Argus when the fall happened, and wound up stuck living in what was normally his summer home. He spent his days appealing to the military base in Argus, to permit him to travel to Atlas as an exception to the blockade, and complaining about the state of the city.

Getting in hadn't been hard at all. She just had to find a servant who worked for the man, slip a little food poisoning into one of their meals, and make sure they stayed at home. Her semblance did the rest. She had to be wary of groups of people, but Greenwood's Argus residence was relatively small, and thankfully he didn't keep much staff around him. Besides, she was always pretty good at staying out of sight, even without her semblance. And wouldn't you know it, Greenwood had a habit of spending his days locked up in his study, whining about his life, and occasionally sending a servant to fetch more wine.

Which meant Greenwood was the only other person in the study at any given time, allowing her to use her Semblance.

"Would you like some more wine, sir?" She offered, holding up her pitcher.

"Hmm? No, no, I'm quite alright, Cynthia." He waved his hand dismissively. "It's just this Vale business that has me all out of sorts."

"Perhaps a small nap would clear your head?" She suggested.

"Bah. As if I could get any sleep. Too many headaches, Cynthia, far too many." Mr. Greenwood sighed, slumping in his chair.

She hid a smirk as his eyelids began drooping, desperately trying to stay awake. "Are you sure? It's getting late, sir, and don't you think that chair is comfortable? A little nap couldn't hurt…"

"Perhaps…perhaps you're right." He yawned. His eyes snapped open briefly, and he held out a finger. "But I won't take a nap! I must go down to the military base, later today. They must see sense sooner or later. I'll just…just rest my eyes for a spell."

His eyes finally closed, and a few moments later he began snoring. Emerald smiled. I should drug people more often. This was way too easy. Why the hell didn't I think of ever doing this before?

Greenwood stirred in his sleep, but she ignored it. With the dosage she put in his wine, He'd be out for hours. As soon as she thought it was safe, she began zipping around the room, looking everywhere she could for the item that had brought her here.

The business that had brought Greenwood to Argus in the first place was what drew her attention. A local fence she was using had mentioned offhand that someone had come to Argus a month before the Vytal festival looking to buy a very curious item.

The crown of the last king of Vale.

Why the hell it was in Argus of all places, she didn't really care. What she cared about, was the not insignificant sum of money being offered by the fence if she went to the trouble of retrieving it for her.

After that, it was as simple as making sure the fence wasn't trying to lead her on, and then getting a way to isolate herself and Greenwood in the study. Now, she just had to find the damn thing.

Unfortunately, Mr. Greenwood's study was a mess. His desk was a cluttered mess of papers and empty bottles. A snow globe with the SDC logo inside of it teetered on the edge, threatening to fall over.

The curtains were drawn closed on the windows, with only a thin light making it through to the room. A small dust lamp sitting on his desk gave the room most of its light, with a jewel-encrusted cane leaning up against it. An imitation of a Beowolf's skull hung over the fireplace, and she rolled her eyes. What the hell was the point? Pretty much everyone knew Grimm evaporated when they died.

But the crown was nowhere in sight.

Where the hell is it? It had to be in the study. This wasn't exactly a large residence, not by the rest of Argus' standards, and this was the only room explicitly closed off to staff without permission. There was just nowhere else it could be.

No safes, no hidden switches behind a painting, not even any booby traps to alert any security. Lame.

With a groan, she moved over to the desk, and began skimming over the papers strewn about. Maybe I'll find something here. Most of it was gibberish to her, accounting nonsense and the like. Sifting through the stack, she found an already open letter, and skimmed the contents.

As she read, her brow twitched, and she fought back the urge to scream at the top of her lungs. It was a stupid hoax. The letter is from an appraiser who identified the crown as a fake. Greenwoods been holed up here ever since.

Her entire plan had been a waste of time. A week of preparation, only to get screwed over in the end. I should have seen this coming, she sighed. Honestly, the crown of the last king of Vale just happened to go up for sale in Argus, without any other buyers?

Emerald's eyes fell onto the jewel-encrusted cane leaning up against Greenwood's desk. It was no legendary crown, but at least it was something. She would not go back empty handed. She refused. Better than nothing.

With one last look around the study to make sure there wasn't anything else of value, Emerald snatched the cane up as she walked out the door, desperate for this whole affair to just be over.

Unfortunately, she walked right into one of the guards, who had presumably been coming up to check on Mr. Greenwood.

The two stood in shock for a moment, eyes wide open as three tiny little details ran through her head, one after the other.

Her semblance was not active.

He was armed.

And she was not. Maids weren't supposed to have weapons, so she had left Thief's Respite back home with Mercury. In hindsight, it wasn't the best of plans.

Before he had a chance to react, Emerald swung the cane upwards, catching him on the chin and throwing him back. Her eyes frantically searched for an out, and landed on a window at the end of the hallway.

"Why is my existence the butt of some cosmic joke?" She moaned.

"THIEF!" The guard on the ground called for help. He was struggling to stand, still dazed from her attack. "THIEF IN THE STUDY!"

"Damn It!" Emerald muttered. Now she really didn't have any choice. The rest of the staff would come running to investigate, and while they certainly wouldn't be a problem, eventually city police would get involved, and right now her and Mercury needed to avoid attention above all else.

So, stuck between a rock and a hard place, Emerald took the only option available to her.

She ran down the hallway at a full sprint, and sent herself flying out the window.

"FUCK!" She roared, punctuating every curse by slamming her foot into a trash can. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, stupid, fucking, waste of time!"

She should have killed that fat bastard Greenwood while she was there. She should have burnt that stupid house down, and let the police try and figure out what happened. How could I be so stupid?

Emerald winced as she walked away, limping. Her aura protected her from the worst of the pain, but it still hurt like hell. She had been running for the last twenty minutes, no one was going to find her. All running would do for her now is make her stand out. Still, she decided to keep to the alleyways the best she could. Better safe than sorry.

Isn't this just the cherry on top of our stay here? Emerald hated Argus. Probably more so than Greenwood did. Coming here, she thought they had a chance to start over, to finally get away from everything, but three weeks later, and nothing had changed.

Worse, it was all too familiar. Living on the streets, picking pockets just to get by, disappointment every time she tried to plan a job. It sickened her. She had lived this life once before, and she thought it was behind her. She wouldn't live like this again, she refused.

Her argument with Mercury from a few weeks earlier still echoed in her head. Well, not really the argument itself. Her and Mercury had patched things up soon after they reached Argus, and things had been normal ever since.

But ever since the crash…or Evernight…or really, ever since Beacon fell, Emerald was just so tired. Things had been one chaotic mess after another, but at least she always had something to hold onto. Someone. Cinder, she , who she knew without a doubt wanted nothing more than to kill her and Mercury right about now.

She knew that, now, she did. Mercury's constant pushing hadn't been in vain after all. Or maybe she always knew, she just wanted to ignore the truth for as long as she could. Either way, Emerald knew just how little she mattered to Cinder, now.

And she was completely lost without her. The moment she chose to run from Evernight, she had abandoned any agency she had in her life, and followed Mercury without a second thought. And it worked, for a while. He got them out, and got them to Argus in one piece. One good thing, at least. I don't have to do this alone. Even now, he was looking after the two of them, watching over what little supplies they had for themselves.

But that was all they had managed since they came here. As soon as they arrived in Argus, everything…stagnated. They had fallen into the same old loop of just barely managing to steal enough to get by, all with the constant threat of discovery hanging over their heads.

She was sick of it all. Things were going to change, for her and Mercury both. She couldn't live like this again.

The Fence's name was Jadis. A woman a few years older than Emerald, it hadn't taken very long for her and Mercury to start hearing her name once they arrived in Argus. They had been right on the money assuming organized crime didn't really have a foothold in Argus, but if anyone came close, it would be Jadis.

She wasn't all that intimidating herself. A couple inches shorter than Emerald, with red hair done up in a ponytail. She had a small scar on her lip, and a tattoo of a spider on her collarbone. She wore a green tank top and jeans, making her virtually indistinguishable from any other homeless girl in Argus.

But for all that, she had managed to gather some heavy muscle around her, and established a hideout in an old warehouse that had gone unused for years. From what little Mercury had been able to learn before they met with her for the first time, she seemed to have some old ties in Mistral, with some lady called Lil' Miss Malachite. Cinder had spoken of her, occasionally, as a potential threat in Mistral, someone to look out for.

Jadis, on the other hand, seemed content to operate as a small-time crook, presumably using her old contacts to offer her service as a fence. A service she and Mercury had been using quite a bit since arriving in Argus.

As Emerald approached the warehouse that served as Jadis' base of operations, a large man held his hand out. He wore a green parka, with the hood pulled down. He leaned against the door to the warehouse, and it looked like he had just been sleeping on the job. Amateurs, she thing Jadis definitely lacked was a professional presence.

"I have to search you, you know." The guard said casually.

Emerald rolled her eyes. "Clive, how many times have I been here this week alone? I'm not gonna try anything when I need Jadis' help."

Clive shrugged. "I have to search everyone, even if we both know there really isn't a point. I'm not looking to lose my job."

"If you don't want to lose your job, you can try not falling asleep when you're supposed to be guarding the entrance." She sighed, but held her arms up. Clive turned red from embarrassment, and searched her as fast as he could.

"I was stuck loading some of her "merchandise" all night," He defended. "I'm not even supposed to be here today, I'm filling in for someone else."

Emerald smirked. "If you want to get into a competition over whose having a worse day, Clive, don't even start. At least you didn't have to jump out of a window after nearly getting caught by security."

Clive winced. "Yeah, that doesn't sound great." He held up the cane she had nabbed. "What's this?"

"Merchandise." She answered.

He frowned. "This isn't a crown…"

"The crown was a bust. Some hoax that asshole Greenwood fell for. Managed to grab that from His study at the last minute. See what I mean when I say I had a bad day?"

Clive scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I don't really know what to tell you there. Jadis is gonna be pissed." He moved to the side, giving her room to reach the entrance. "You're all good to go. Good luck with her. Hope you get something for the cane at least."

"Thanks. With the way things are going for me, I'm sure I'll need it." She took the cane back, letting it hang from her belt, and entered the warehouse. Clive was alright, truth be told. At least, he usually managed to make her laugh before she had to deal with Jadis. And usually, she needed it.

The inside of the warehouse was no more impressive than the outside. Half loaded shipping containers jammed full of all sorts of stolen goods, without any thought into how it would be packed. A few tables were scattered around where groups of three or four would chat with each other.

And at the center of the building, Jadis sat on a dingy old sofa, feet kicked up on an equally shoddy table. It was a miracle anyone ever took her seriously. No one in Vale would ever get away with this.

But then, they don't have to care about appearances. It wasn't Jadis' connections that allowed her to set up her position in Argus, though she was sure that helped. It was the fact that she had her Aura unlocked, and a few of her lackeys did as well.

Not all of them, of course. Clive, she knew, wasn't one of them. Not even a lot of them had Aura, probably only five or six. And while most of them probably didn't have much combat training, you didn't need any when you had Aura. Not when your only competition is a few petty thieves. Jadis probably didn't even have to tryto get recruits, just let it slip one or two of them may get their Aura's unlocked if they do good work. No wonder Jadis was the only serious criminal outfit in a city as large as this.

"Emerald!" Jadis called out cheerfully, holding out both arms. She and Mercury initially went with false names, but surprise, surprise, Jadis saw through them pretty quick, what with the whole "Internationally wanted criminals" thing. "Where's my crown? And where's the snarky one? I don't think I've ever seen one of you without the other."

She walked right up to Jadis and glared, crossing her arms. "You. Knew." She growled.

Jadis smiled. "Knew what? You're going to have to elaborate on that, sweetheart."

"There was no crown, asshole!" Emerald erupted. "It was all bullshit from the word go! You just sent me there as a complete waste of my time!"

"I thought you were the one who decided to go after Greenwood." Emerald growled again, and Jadis held up her hands. "Alright, alright, relax! Look, I didn't know anything. Now, I may have had some serious doubts about Greenwood, I admit. But it was possible the crown was legit. I just didn't want to waste any men on it. So, I may have let it slip to you and a few others and withheld a couple details regarding how likely it was to be in Greenwood's possession. Besides, you're here, aren't you? Things couldn't have gone that bad."

"I jumped out of a window!" She yelled.

"And I'm sure you did so with excellent form." Jadis laughed, before finally noticing the cane hanging on her hip. "But it looks like you weren't completely empty-handed. What's this?

Jadis held her hand out expectantly, and Emerald unclipped the cane from her belt, grumbling as she handed it over. "It was the only thing I managed to snag from Greenwood's study."

Jadis twirled the cane, testing its weight, examining it. Come to think of it, I haven't really had a chance to get a good look at it either. It was a simple design, as far as canes for rich people went. At least, she assumed so. Never really had a chance to look at very many. The shaft was unadorned, polished black wood, topped with a simple, round handle encrusted with jewels circling around it.

"Well, this is certainly pretty to look at, I'll give you that." Jadis smiled while inspecting the cane. "At least the whole Greenwood mess didn't turn out as a complete disa…point…ment" She trailed off, frowning as she held it closer. "Oh you are going to be pissed."

"Oh, what the hell is wrong now?" Emerald sighed.

"Take a look at the "Diamonds" circling the handle." Jadis instructed, tossing her the cane. "It's glass. Guess Greenwood was a cheap bastard."

Her eyes widened in disbelief as she caught it. "You have got to be kidding me. Glass? I spent a week preparing for today, found out it was a bust to begin with, and jumped out a freaking, window, for a cane with fake jewels?"

"To be fair, you do have Aura, and you technically went to Beacon. Is jumping out a window really that big of a deal?"

"How about you go jump out of a window?" She snapped.

Jadis sighed. "You kinda got screwed here, I admit, but I can't really help with that. It isn't my problem. The cane…I can give you two hundred lien for it, and that's honestly a bit much."

"That's it?" Emerald hissed.

"The wood is more valuable than the rest of the cane." Jadis said bluntly. "That's the only reason I'll even give you that much. Why someone bothered putting fake jewels on a decently made cane beats me, but hey, at least it's something."

Two hundred lien. I don't even know if we're going to be able to eat tonight, and you're going to offer me two hundred lien for something I spent a week planning for. She clenched her fist and took a deep breath. It's not worth the trouble starting a fight if it draws attention.

"You're the one who got me to go after Greenwood. You're the one who cost me precious time, and precious money chasing nothing. And you have the gall to offer me two hundred lien?"

Jadis groaned, running a hand over her face. "Get over yourself Emerald! I don't owe you anything, and I sure as hell didn't have to give you so much as a single lien for the cane either! Look, I used you! Get over it! It was your own fault for falling for it, not mine for laying the bait. Besides, If it wasn't you, it would've been some other schmuck." Jadis lounged back on the couch, kicking her feet up once again. "I needed someone to risk something for me, and you handed yourself over on a silver platter. Seriously, It's not like this is new for you or anything. Isn't that what happened with you and that psycho chick in Vale? Cinder?"

Emerald's eyes widened in anger. "You can take your cane, and shove it up your ass!" She threw it back into Jadis' arms, and turned, storming off towards the exit.

"I'm just trying to help you, Emerald!" Jadis called after her. "You won't get very far in this city without my help! You or your friend! You'll see…"

Emerald shoved the door open, nearly snapping it off its hinges. Clive jumped almost a foot in the air, wincing. "I take it things didn't go so well?"

She ignored him, getting as far away as she could from the warehouse, from Jadis. She was right. Completely right. I didn't even bother looking into how legitimate the job might be, all that time I spent was just finding a way to pull it off. Didn't think for a moment what I would do If I was working off of bad information.

And then the bitch brought up Cinder, as if she had any idea. I'm over this. All of it. I'm sick of Argus, sick of Jadis, sick of starving half the time, sleeping in the freezing cold! And I'm sick of falling in line, playing the patsy for everyone else. No more Cinder's, no more Jadis', no more doing other people's dirty work for them.

Jadis had said they wouldn't get anywhere in Argus without her. Emerald scoffed. They brought Vale to its knees. They crossed the most dangerous people on Remnant, and lived to tell of it. And she wanted them to play by her rules? The bitch can stuff it. From here on out, the only ones I help out are myself and Mercury.

And as Emerald marched her way back to their makeshift home, a plan began brewing in her mind as to how she would do just that…

She left her weapons here. Careless. She spends a week preparing for something, something she refuses to tell me about, and when the day finally comes, she leaves her weapons. Mercury shook his head. Since when the hell was Emerald this cocky?

Eh, maybe she left them for a reason. Lot's of places where sneaking weapons in can be a tricky business, even with her semblance. Mercury considered for a moment. It was possible, but why leave him in the dark? He had been staying in their "home" the last couple days, watching over to make sure no one tried to rob them while Emerald was out.

It doesn't really change much, he decided. Emerald's not an idiot, at least, not when Cinder isn't involved. She wouldn't throw herself into something she couldn't handle on her own. Still, a word of warning would have been nice. They were supposed to be looking out for one another, and he couldn't really do that if he didn't know where she was.

Mercury sighed to himself. Emerald hated it here. Anyone with half a brain could see that. And he couldn't exactly blame her, either. Their "home" was a crappy room inside of an unused apartment building. Every day, they barely managed to get enough food for the two of them. Any second, Atlas security could come bursting through their door.

Things were rough, sure, but they could be so much worse. Emerald didn't see that. She just thought things were exactly the same as they were before Cinder, starving and homeless. She didn't get it. We're free. They had chosen this for themselves. They had escaped Cinder, both of them. They were hungry, but that was a problem that could be fixed. She'd get used to it in time. He knew for a fact that she knew what it was like constantly walking on eggshells, praying that every little thing you did wouldn't set him off.

Her, he corrected, pretending to believe himself. Set her off. It's Cinder I'm talking about.

Point was, Emerald would recognize that this was for the best, if she hadn't already.

And why do you care about what's best for her anyways? Mercury frowned. The two of them had left Evernight, and made it all the way to Argus together. They were the only people they could even try to trust, so of course he'd look after her interests. Because ultimately, he was looking after his own.

But why bring her in the first place? You could have left her with Cinder. He set a mug he had been cleaning down with a bit too much force and grimaced. He knew why, of course. The very fact that he was in the middle of an argument with himself proved so.

Mercury sighed, sitting down on their couch. Emerald had always been a source of entertainment, nothing more. Watching her fawn over Cinder, desperately trying to convince her they didn't need Mercury. It was adorable.

Things were better by Beacon, if only marginally. They could work together, at least. But even then, he didn't really care one way or another what happened to her. Hell, he was planning on ditching her and Cinder after Beacon fell, only, Emerald got Watts involved before he had a chance.

Evernight was when things started to shift. All of a sudden, he and Emerald were the ones out of their depth. Cinder started lashing out, and then he started to see her in a different light. The eagerness to please, the familiar look on her face. Cinder, who had always manipulated Emerald, for as long as Mercury had been with them. It had never bothered him before, until Evernight.

Then it got more dangerous. The worst Emerald had to put up with wasn't just a few words of disappointment, but third degree burns. And every time, she ran right back to Cinder, wanting nothing more than to make her happy. And as for him, he had started recognizing something in Cinder, and in Emerald.

He saw his father, and himself. And once he had, he couldn't unsee it. Couldn't ignore it, and shove it away like he had been ever since he met them. It started to get to him, and he couldn't just…he couldn't let it happen, not without trying something.

The plan he had in his head, of ditching Cinder, slowly started to expand to include Emerald. He hadn't been sure if he wanted to leave, not back then, but still. He started hinting to her that maybe she shouldn't have so much faith in Cinder. Somewhere along the line, she stopped being someone to mock and belittle, and instead…

Well, she was sort of his friend now, wasn't she? He wasn't really sure, the term didn't sit well with him. People like him didn't get friends. But he had been at Beacon too, and he had watched those brats just as much as her and Cinder.

Emerald was someone he cared about, in a way. He couldn't really get out of that now. They looked out for each other, they fought well together, and they trusted each other, surprisingly enough. He was pretty sure that was what those teams at Beacon had, and he was certain they were all friends with each other.

The stomping of footsteps outside their room broke him out of his thoughts. His hands instinctively went for Emerald's weapon, but he relaxed as he recognized the footsteps. He hid a smile. Emerald was back, and she was not happy.

Their door flew open, and Emerald stormed in. "I am sick of this!" She hissed before even getting both feet in the door. "I'm done being practically homeless, starving and freezing every night! We aren't small-time thieves, who have to steal pocket change to get by, we brought Vale to its knees! We escaped from Salem! We earned ourselves better than this!" She spat the last words out.

Mercury almost rolled his eyes, but he stopped himself. Something about her tone, the way she spoke, the gleam in her eyes. She wasn't just complaining for the sake of it, like she had been for the last few weeks. She really was over it all.

And he had a hunch. She has a plan. "Ok," He said evenly. "So what are you going to do about it?"

Emerald grinned. "We're going to rob a train."

Oh, he thought, eyes widening. Well this'll be fun.

The old man was thrown through the table, groaning in pain. "Please!" He begged, holding one arm out, and another clutching his stomach. "There is no need for this!"

Tyrian strode slowly over to him. There was no delight in this, no maniacal glee to be found from it. He was not here to enjoy himself, he was here to repent. I have failed the Goddess. Betrayed her for my own selfish enjoyment. I cannot fail her again.

"Where are the children,?" he snarled. "They came through here, I know it. When and where did they go?"

The old man looked confused. "Children? You mean, the young huntress and her friends? They were only passing by, and stopped to help. Please, there's no reason for you to go after them, they're only-"

Tyrian delivered a kick to the man's gut, silencing him. The old man coughed, spitting up blood. A pity. Those without Aura are so fragile, and I cannot kill him until I have learned what he knows.

"Do not presume to know why it is that I search for them. I have my reasons, none of which matter to you." He crouched down, leaning forward, and whispered. "All that matters to you, is what you choose to tell me. No matter what, you die tonight. The Goddess has ordered that I keep my presence…unknown, for the most part. But if you hinder my search, then I shall kill everyone in this little town, saving you for last."

He yanked the old man up by his arm, and held him against the wall. "It is your duty to look after the village, yes? Then I urge you, tell me what you know. No matter what, I will find their trail again. It's simply a matter of how soon I do so. And whether or not all those innocent people getting ready for sleep tonight, wake up tomorrow."

The old man spat in his face. "They passed through a little over a month ago, and cleared out a nest of Nevermore while they were here. They took the road towards Haven."

Tyrian smiled, letting go of the old man, who fell to the floor once again. "There, now, was that so hard?"

"I hope those children make it to Haven." The old man hissed, rising to his feet. "They'll be Huntsman there, real ones who've trained for years. I hope they find you!"

"Not so long ago, I would have hoped so as well," Tyrian said mournfully. "But now, I must hurry, before they do. I cannot afford any unnecessary fights, not after failing so recently. I dare not displease the Queen."

A flash of metal glimmered, and the old man clutched his throat, eyes wide. Blood began seeping through his fingers, pooling on the floor. "Worry not, friend! You may die knowing that the rest of your town shall survive my visit. I haven't the time to waste on them, I fear."

Tyrian calmly buttoned his coat, making his way to the door. He looked back, before he left, just to be sure. The old man fell one last time, slipping on his own blood. His hands came away from his neck, and he soon stopped sputtering.

Satisfied, he finally left the building. The town was quiet, for the most part. It was the middle of the night after all. Tyrian followed the road to the edge of town, checking the sign to be sure this road led to Haven.

A month ahead of me, Tyrian thought. He would have to move fast to catch up, but he was not worried. The young Rose and her companions were in no hurry to reach Haven, certainly not if they were stopping to help any no-name town that needed it.

Tyrian, however, had no other purpose than to find the girl, and bring her back. He would stop for nothing, rest as little as he could, and cover far more distance traveling alone than they would.

He had failed his Goddess once, allowing Mister Black and Miss Sustrai to depart. He would not do so again.

Robbing a Train? Gee, I wonder which one it could be.

Not much to say this week. I've been making steady progress, finishing roughly one chapter a week. Hopefully, my life is going to be calming down a bit soon, and I can focus more on writing.

Currently, 27 chapters are planned, although I am planning on plotting out a few more, bringing it up to thirty. As that's yet to be done, and there could be more down the line, and there's one or two chapters I initially plotted out that I'm not sure will be enough for a full chapter, I'll refrain from putting a solid number on the final chapter count. Expect it to be around thirty, though. I'm also hoping for the word count to be above 100k, but we'll see.

Thank you for reading, and please, leave a review or comment! I really do appreciate it, and I read them all.

And remember, I crosspost on ao3!

Next Chapter: Tuesday, March 26