A dark-haired girl walked through the forest, going east as she was directed. She was back in her normal clothes, the sheet tucked away and still had the ring on her finger. In her rush to get to the warehouse, she forgot to take it off and put it back in the box. She sighed; she wasn't going to mess with it right now. She had more important matters to deal with.

"Hopefully, this guy's answers aren't a dead end."

After a few minutes of walking, she came to a clearing with a white warehouse. She looked around, noticing no guards or patrol agents. But they easily could have been inside. She looked at the walls of the place, in which she noticed the white paint rusting and fading away. She didn't take it as a good sign. But then she noticed the claw marks. They were once here. Were they still here? If not, what, if anything, was left?

To be on the safer side, Blake snuck in through the back entrance. As she entered the door and tried to walk forward only to be snagged back. That's when she realized a piece of her hair was caught on a bolt in a metal rod. She worked with her fingers and then yanked her hair out of the bolt. She lost a few strands, but told herself it wouldn't matter. Who else would come here? She rubbed the back of her head and looked around, but no one was there. Not a single person, living or dead. The place was mostly empty, it's cold black title floor mostly clear, save for a few bales of hay. No crates, no traces, no leads as to where they went. Not even a map or a note indicating anything of their whereabouts.

What now?

The catwoman slumped her back against the wall. She was back at square one. She sighed, inhaling deeply through her nostrils. The perfume she wore for the wedding reception had worn off and she realized just how horrible she reeked of odor. And that was the least of her problems. She exhaled sharply and stood up, deciding to vacate the abandoned warehouse. She went out the way she came in and went back into the forest, going in a different direction from where she came.

A few minutes later, the 'monkey king' arrived at the warehouse. Unlike Blake, Sun did not bother to sneak in. He busted through the doors, creating a hole in them as he entered the dark warehouse. Not bothering to conjure a light source, he looked around, trying to find something. But the ground was bare. He sniffed the air, smelling hay... and something else. He walked to the metal rod, looked closely at it and found a few strands of Blake's hair.

She was here. Where did she go? He pocketed the hair strands in a plastic bag and left the warehouse. She couldn't have gotten far.

Turning in the northwest direction, Sun continued searching for Blake, trying to use his faunus senses to aid him. As he ran through the forest trying to find her, he thought he heard footsteps in the other direction. He turned the other way and tried to follow those steps, and as he ran in the direction of the sound, he could see a visible shadow on the ground. The shadow was noticeably bigger than the figure it belonged to, hanging upside down from a figure in the woods over by him. He noticed that the figure was wearing a bow- or was it... cat ears? Believing the shadow belonged to Blake, he chased after it.

He ran along the ground, himself parallel to the shadow. The shadow leapt away, leaving him baffled as he followed the footsteps. He raced into the forest after it, trying to find the shadow by tracing the sounds of the figure's footsteps. His mind starting racing with thoughts as he dashed through the forest.

Is this really Blake? If so, what should I say to her? What if it's not her? What if she- Dugh!

As he got lost in thought, he ended up hitting his head straight into a tree. His head spun as he heard the steps fade into nothing. He groaned, got up and moved around, trying to get his head to stop pounding. He lost her scent and had run out of leads as to where Blake had gone. Had he truly gone mad? He did not know anymore. Tired and exhausted, he leaned back against the nearest tree and felt more lonely than ever.

He sighed in defeat. There was no way out of this.

Meanwhile, Blake had gotten out of the forest and checked herself into a cheap motel room. Her normal outfit had been washed and was currently drying via fan current air in the bathroom. Wearing a black miniskirt and a black shoulder strap top as pajamas and a white towel on her head holding up her hair, she sat on the bed sadly, her knees curled to her chest and her arms linked around her legs. The towel hair bundle fell down, so she ruffled her hair with the towel before tossing it aside, her cat ears seen by no one and her hair damp from the shower she had just taken. She turned her neck to the left, staring out the window at the city below. She sighed sadly to herself and turned back to face the wall in front of her before looking at the ring she forgot to take off earlier. It was supposed to be a promise of love, but now it served as a reminder of a broken promise. She took off the ring and placed it back in the box, putting it back in her bag.

She took the ribbon she had wearing for several months in her right hand. As she held the ribbon, her cat ears drooped in sorrow. Could she really even hide her true self from the world? Could she really even stop Adam Taurus? She couldn't even find the thrice-damned White Fang leader. And even then, if she found him and executed him for his crimes, would she really be able to stop the White Fang? Could she really undo so many years, decades, and even centuries of hate and discrimination. She remembered what he said to her...

"This could've been our day! Can't you see that!?"

"I never wanted this! I wanted equality! I wanted peace!"

She raised her sword, the blade folding into a shotgun, and fired away at Adam, who blocked both bullets with his sword as he retaliated, "What you want is impossible!"

Was he right?

Sighing in sorrow as she returned to the present, she put the ribbon back on. It had been a long day, and the night even longer. She stood up and looked at the city below her. The lights in the city shone through the night, yet it wasn't bright enough to trick her brain into thinking it was day, which was nice. She needed some sleep after the day's events. But with her emotions tormenting her, was she ever going to get any rest? Closing the curtains and shutting out the light, she slumped her back against the wall. Lonely and lost, she felt like feelings had failed her. This was it. She had reached the end. She was right at square one. All of her efforts seemed to have been for nothing.

Both Blake and Sun were in their separate locations, both thinking of how they had reached the end of the road. A road to nowhere. No leads on finding their desires, no way to fulfill their goals, no rest, no love, no hero to rise above, no way to fix what was broken, both completely alone. They were so so close, yet so very far away.

Meanwhile, a small fisherman's ship was sailing through night. It was a small boat with an even smaller group aboard it; the ship's pilot, the navigator, and the scientist. The navigator was still asleep within the shared cabin, while the captain was still awake to navigate and be on the lookout for potential threats. The scientist stood at the backward edge of the boat, looking back as the sea slowly passed by him.

Alright... Hopefully, I should be able to get back to her domain within the next four days. Time for a brief sanity check. Wallet, keys, scroll, post-it notes, pens, check to all of these. Wait a second... He checked his pockets, found that something wasn't there. Where is it? Where is it?!

"Oh no... Don't tell me I lost it..." he mumbled to himself.

"Is everything alright, Mr. Watts?" the captain asked.

"It's Doctor Watts. And everything's fine. Just do your job."

"Yes, sir."

He internally groaned to himself.

The boss is going to be disappointed. I could make another, but it would take time. Time I can't afford to waste. I don't get it, where could I have lost it?

Many days had passed in the Mistralian wilds. By now, Pyrrha was very far from the city. Although she encountered Grimm at sporadic times when she was upset, going through the stages of grief and mourning, she still moved forward. However, she was growing tired by the minute. She sat down on a big rock, breathing to calm and reassure herself and regain her lost energy from the fight earlier. After doing this for a few minutes, she looked around. There were two differences patches of dense forests, whereas the rock she was on and the vertical column of grass surrounding it was a gateway between the two woods.

Believing she was alone, she said to herself, "Well, you're going to be okay. It won't be easy, but you'll make it. Somehow..."

"You seem like the optimistic type." a feminine voice spoke. It belonged a woman underneath a forest green cloak. "If only I had all the faith that you do."

Pyrrha dryly chuckled. "You really believe I'm the optimistic type?"

"From what I can tell, yes." she answered. "Then again, you could easily be hiding a sad, tormented look underneath that red cloak of yours."

"You're not wrong." She got up, stretching her legs. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what brings you here?

"I was on my way to Kuchinashi." the cloaked figure spoke. "I notice that you don't want your identity revealed, but why are you wearing that cloak?"

She hung her head in sorrow. "I was wrongly blamed for an incident. Many people believe I'm a murderer when in reality, I never meant to hurt her, or anyone else for that matter."

"That's exactly the same reason I'm wearing this cloak. A group of people went against my orders, I'm being blamed for a huge incident that wasn't my doing, and now there's a price on my head."

"That's even worse than my predicament. Even though some people want me dead, no force of authority has labeled me as a criminal or placed a bounty for my head."

The figure laughed without humor. "You're lucky then. They've labeled me as a criminal."

"Looks like we're both being blamed for incidents that aren't our fault."

"It seems we are in the same boat. I know it's none of my business, but underneath that cloak, who are you?"

Pyrrha mused to herself. "Hmm... Tell ya what; if we make a truce, agree not to kill or hurt each other, then we may let our hoods down and keep our identities secret from all other persons."

Underneath the hood, the woman nodded. "That sounds fair to me."

"On three." They remained still. "One..." The duo moved their right hand up. "two..." They softly clasped the hood of their cloaks with their right hands. "three."

Their hoods fell down, revealing their identities. The woman saw Pyrrha Nikos, and she saw a face she had seen on a poster.

She blinked in surprise. "Maura Celandine?"

The leader of Mistral's White Fang branch smiled. "Guilty as charged."

The gladiator girl nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I can understand why you would want to hide yourself from prying eyes."

Maura smirked. "I figured I was in the presence of a human, but who knew it was you? The Mistral Champion?" She chuckled. "Are we really all that different?"

She softly grasped her right wrist with her hand. "I wouldn't say so."

"So you respect faunus?"

"Oh yes, absolutely." Pyrrha nodded to reaffirm her statement, sliding her hand down to let it rest on the other. "I judge people based on their character, not their looks or species. I feel like what a lot of the White Fang is doing is wrong, but I suppose there's two sides to every coin."

The leader nodded. "You are wise beyond your years."

"That's a new one. I've been called strong, untouchable, even invincible before. But wise? I suppose that is true, even if I never thought about it. If I was wiser, I'd actually know what I'm doing as opposed to just going down a road to nowhere."

"You're trying to find your way, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am." Pyrrha admitted.

"Hmm... I haven't done this in quite a while, but back my younger days, I was a tarot card reader. I'll do you a reading for ten Lien."

"I don't know..."

"Alright, I'll be nice. Five Lien."

"Sure. Why not?" She handed the money to her. "It's not like I have anything to lose."

"But first, let us get to a more deserted location where I can easily set my cards down."

The two cloaked figures walked through the forest to a small clearing with a lone tree stump. The green cloaked figure got out a set of tarot cards. She shuffled the cards and held them facedown in her hands.

"These cards will foretell your future." Maura said. "Choose three of these cards with your instincts, and we'll see what the future holds."

Within her hands were 12 cards, each having the crest show a dark green background with a square outline and an octagram in the center. With her instincts, Pyrrha choose the one the second to last one on the left, the right-most card, and then the card right in the middle.

What will these cards tell me?

The faunus picked up the first card, examined it and showed it to her. "So for your first card, we have the ace of pentacles. This is a card of opportunity, prosperity and new venture. I've always found this card to be of continuity, and what goes around comes around. Who knows? A missed opportunity may even come back to you."

"Hmm..."

"For the second card, oh yikes." She showed it to her. "A three of swords. This is a card of heartbreak, emotional pain, sorrow, grief and hurt." Maura paused. "You told me about how you were falsely accused of murder, but is there anything else that is causing your heart to break apart into pieces, as if it was being slashed by a sword?"

A wave of memories flashed over her; the shock and horror of accidentally killing Penny, the downfall of Beacon Academy, leaving her teammates (especially Jaune) behind, the struggle of finding her destiny, the destruction of her house, the death of her parents, and not being able to find her missing brother. She slowly sighed with a troubled look on her face. "More than you can imagine."

"So you have felt all of these recently?"

She nodded. "Unfortunately."

"Sucks to say that it may stick around. For how long it will stay-that I do not know."

Pyrrha sighed. "And for the third card, we have the star. This is a card of hope, faith, purpose, renewal and spirituality. A card of seeing the smallest fragment of hope, the tiniest of light in the world. I'm guessing you've lost almost everything, including your hopes and dreams? Am I right?"

"You're... not wrong. I mean... for a brief while, I was dead inside."

"But you're not dead. Physically or emotionally. You are still alive, and you can find your destiny, if you just keep moving forward."

"This is a lot to take in..."

"Try not to overthink it." Maura advised. "Sometimes these cards may have more than meaning. Now before you leave, I have one last piece of advice to give you; if you can, find a friend to lean on."

She blinked. "A friend?"

"Yes." She titled her head towards her. "Don't you have a friend to count on?"

Then Pyrrha remembered... She got out the slip of paper she kept in her left pocket and saw the top address. "Jaune..."

She felt her heart pound out its chest and tears about to spill from her eyes. The gladiator girl made a grueling effort to keep them from falling. Maura looked at Pyrrha, nodding up and down. "You know what must be done. Go to him. Embrace him and never let him go."

"Maura?" The White Fang Mistral leader turned to the champion. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Good luck out there."

"And to you as well."

Lifting her hood up once again, Pyrrha ran off into the woods, the tears in her eyes fading. She wasn't going to cry; not yet. There was work to be done. It didn't matter how far she had to run; she would find him.