The doctors said a transhumeral amputation wound generally healed within a month. The real problem was the scar tissue healing process that took months afterwards.

The day of my one month appointment I knew nothing was going to go right.

I woke up screaming. Another stupid nightmare. They were so common these days I didn't even need to take the time to cry about it. Zwei had been whimpering next to me, licking my hand in a desperate attempt to wake me up. I tried to pet him to get him to quiet down, but…

I was bleeding?

"Ugh!"

Must have slept wrong again. Reopened the wound somehow in my sleep.

Keeping the bandages on was supposed to be important for the healing process, but every time I finally managed to sleep at night, the tossing and turning would unravel them no matter how tight they were bound. Somehow I kept doing something that reopened the wound each time, and it was pissing me off.

"Fucking hell," I groaned, holding my bleeding arm with my left hand. I ran to the bathroom, trying to make it there before I spilled blood all over the floor but-

"FUCK!" I tripped. Fell and landed right on it. Even with my Aura to protect me from the worst of it, it sent instant pain shooting up my shoulder. It felt like it rattled my teeth and made my bones ache. I rolled onto my back, trying to catch my breath as I kept myself from shouting in pain and anger and frustration. Why was everything going wrong?!

Zwei started barking, desperate to call someone to me. He was just doing his job- he'd done it a dozen times before, but I didn't want it now. I didn't need it now. I was fine!

"Yang! I'm- I'm here! Okay, okay, let me-"

"I'm fine, Ruby." I rolled back onto my stomach and got my knees under me. I just needed a couple seconds for the pain in my arm to stop making my ears ring. I was fine, and Ruby was just overreacting when I needed her to-

"Here, just wrap your arm around my shoulders and I can-"

"I'm fine, Ruby." I was in such a rush to show her I was okay. That I didn't need her to worry so much and she could go back to her room. I tried to use my right arm to rest my weight against the wall for just a second! But I still wasn't used to using it like this. I slipped down the wall and fell back onto my stomach.

"Yang! Okay, okay, just let me-"

"Ruby, juST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

She pulled away like I'd hit her. To be honest, hitting her probably would've hurt her less than the way I'd yelled at her. I really wish I hadn't done that. I wish I hadn't been so angry. I wish I hadn't taken out how helpless I felt on her. She didn't deserve it.

It wasn't the first time I'd told her to leave me alone since we'd been back home.

It wouldn't be the last.

She wrapped her arms around herself and I could feel the way the tears welled up in her eyes. I could hear the little choked breaths that barely made it past her throat. I don't think I'd ever made Ruby cry before. I'd spent our entire lives trying to be the best big sister I could be. Honestly, I'd spent that time trying to be more of a mom than a sister, trying to fill the shoes that mom had left behind.

But the worst part about this? She didn't cry. Not a single tear. She was still trying to look out for me. She knew how garbage I'd feel about myself if I'd seen I'd made her cry. Instead she took a couple steps back and did what I asked. She let go of me. She left me alone. She walked back to her room and closed the door behind herself. But I didn't hear any more footsteps. She was right there. Still waiting to run and help me if I needed it.

Zwei kept whining, licking at my hand to encourage me back to my feet.

It took about a minute for me to finally stand back up.

Truth be told, I was exhausted. I brushed myself off, my arm still leaking blood, and walked into the bathroom.

I'd been avoiding him since that night. Ever since The Fall, I knew he'd been trying to find me. I wasn't exactly certain as to why, but Sun Wukong wasn't exactly the most cryptic person on Remnant. He likely wanted to talk or make sure I was okay or something similar. Conversations I was trying to avoid. Conversations I needed to avoid.

He'd nearly caught me twice. Both times I was on assignments that I probably shouldn't have taken. Assignments that I knew would put me too close to the students from Haven. But I took them anyway. I just… needed to know that he was okay. He was my best friend, after all. And one of my only friends not currently protected from Adam.

It'd taken weeks for Haven, Atlas and Vacuo to divert enough of their militaries towards Vale to get their students home. And even more weeks for those students to prepare themselves for the journey. Some had been too injured to be moved, still in recovery after having been mauled by some Grimm or injured by a White Fang member.

Ruby and Yang were together. Home safe in Patch. Too far for Adam to purposefully go out of his way after the move the White Fang had just made. Plus with Taiyang and Qrow watching over them… they'd be fine.

Weiss was in Atlas. I'd watched the Schnee airship cross over the kingdom on its way to Patch, then cross back over in the opposite direction a couple of hours later. I thought I could almost make out her sky blue eyes looking down onto the kingdom below for just a moment, but it was probably just my imagination.

Team JNPR were under Professor Goodwitch's wing. Nora and Ren were orphans with nowhere to go, and Jaune had vehemently refused to be separated from his team. I'd begged her to not tell them about me. She seemed exasperated, but she begrudgingly agreed. I was worried they were beginning to suspect I was still around after my last assignment, but thankfully they were too busy coming to terms with their own loss to worry about me.

Speaking of Pyrrha… there wasn't even a body to bury. Just a name on a wall of names of students that hadn't survived the Fall. She was at the top, as if that were any consolation. A little peel off sticker of a happy sloth eating a leaf was stuck next to her name. A final goodbye from loving teammates.

Penny… The Atlas military had collected Penny's remains. Well… what was left of them. An arm, part of a leg, maybe…? One of my previous assignments had been finding and collecting her head. It'd been a little crushed- the lifelike polymer surrounding her left eye had been damaged, revealing the machinery underneath. Had she really been an android the entire time? She'd been odd, yes, but an android?! Professor Goodwitch thanked me and said that it'd- that she'd be delivered to General Ironwood as soon as possible.

But Team SSSN? They were vulnerable! The visiting student teams had been spread throughout the city, all given short-range radios in order to be contacted when it was time to leave. They were left to their own devices until then, with no guidance or supervision. Their teachers were too busy working the walls and helping with reconstruction. Adam could target them at any moment to get to me. Especially Sun… I had to keep tabs on them! It wasn't for selfish reasons…

It wasn't just for selfish reasons.

Team SSSN had been doing as much as they could to assist with Vale's reconstruction. Most notably, they'd cleared the mall of Grimm all on their own. It hadn't been a strategic victory, but it'd been a huge boost for the morale of civilians. With the mall reclaimed, they were using the large building to trade for things they needed and make some Lien quickly. It'd been such low priority that no other Hunter groups had decided it was worth it. But Sun and his team had taken it on anyway and succeeded at something that far more seasoned teams had expected to take a group effort. Because of course they had.

But it was time to go. Back to Mistral. And hopefully they'd be far enough away from Vale to be safe. Far enough away from Adam.

I sat on one of the rooftops two blocks away and watched the thousands of students file into the airships to take them home. Atlas. Shade. Haven.

SSSN were some of the last of the groups to enter. Sage was tall, practically towering over the people around him. Easy to spot from my position. Neptune's bright blue hair contrasted sharply against the rest of the folks gathered to thank them all as they left. Scarlet's jacket. Sun…

He was the last student to board the airship. I watched him take his final steps into the vehicle before looking over his shoulder.

He looked right at me.

I panicked. I pulled my head down, hiding behind the ledge of the roof. There was no way he'd seen me- I was over a hundred feet away, hiding in the shadows where no one could've spotted me. But if anyone could have anticipated me being here… it was Sun. He knew how I operated. He knew so much about me it made my head spin. But the one thing he didn't know was the one thing that'd save his life! He needed to leave! He needed to run home and never look back. Never even think about me ever again. I'd had some feelings for him once- feelings that'd made my feelings for Yang difficult to understand. But I swallowed those down and silently begged for him to board the airship.

Minutes ticked by before I finally dared to look back. The airship was already rising into the sky. Headed for Anima. Headed for Mistral. For Haven…

Headed home.

I breathed a sigh of relief and picked myself up off the brick and concrete roof. I had to get back to Professor Goodwitch. I had more work to do.