[A/N: I added a little tiny bit in chapter 29 as of Sat. Dec. 5th. Its not a big thing but still...]

Everyone was in rough shape after that.  Jaune seemed to heal the fastest, but was almost sick with worry for his team. Ren had finally woken up, but was still recovering from the pretty severe head wound that had caused him to pass out in the first place. Nora was stubborn. She wouldn't even leave Ren's  side long enough for the nurses to look at her arm, which had been cut open and the multiple bruises from fighting. Pyhrra was was told to stay off her knee for a while. She had injured that in the explosion.

Team RWBY was worse off than team JNPR. Yang was being the strongest. Despite the dislocated shoulder from the explosion and multiple cuts from debris, she was making bad jokes to try to cheer people up. It wasn't working. Ruby had twisted her ankle up pretty bad, and used crutches to limp over to Weiss's bed silently. She was the leader, and felt that she had failed her team. No consoling from her sister could convince her otherwise. Blake was bed bound due to blood loss from multiple wounds. Weiss faded in and out of consciousness. The wound on her side was pretty bad. The nurses said that she should heal fine but for now she needed to rest.

And team RNBW, where do I even begin? Bolt was suffering some memory loss and other effects from a concussion, and had a large head wound. Recherche sat on the edge of his bed, staring down at the floor. Physically, she was the least injured of the team. She had a badly bruised wrist, and had to relocate her shoulder. Nothing too severe but she was emotionally damaged. She had let go of herself for revenge, and it allowed those that she was responsible for to get badly hurt. On top of that, she had let Nevermora's killer get away not once but twice, and the second time she almost killed another of our teammates. Wolf was still unconscious. Sleepslicer had caught him with a poisoned blade. It had been eating away at him, but the nurses had caught onto it. They said that he should wake up soon.

Me? I was on the end of Wolf's bed with my knees tucked up to my chest. If you had thought that I had been quiet before I was even more so now. I couldn't get myself to say anything to anyone. Even when Yang had thrown a bad joke in my direction I had just stared at her with a blank expression until she left me alone. I rested my head on my knee and tried to ignore the pain.

I had a large gash on my cheek. They said if I was lucky it wouldn't scare. I had a large bump on my head from the explosion. There were also burns and scratches. None of them hurt quite as much as my cracked ribs. My arms and legs were covered with bruises from trying to match my old mentor's moves. The nurses insisted repeatedly that I stay in my own bed, but they couldn't get me to move. Sometimes I'd make an illusion to make it seem like I was asleep, but then one of the nurses would touch it and it would break and they'd come back to me. Eventually they just stopped asking. None of the physical wounds compared to how messed up I was on the inside.

I had seen a ghost. My mentor, the man that practically raised me, the one who created whatever I was, he had come back from the dead to tell me everything that I knew was a lie. Everything that I had done, every reason for why I had become a killer was a lie. He never really liked me. He liked Scary Neo, and there was no telling how far he would go to get her back.  Before using her abilities was easy. It was a way to distance myself from killing. Usually I got the job done and she'd be satisfied enough to calm down on my own. But now, how can I guarantee that I could get her back under control? That she wouldn't go after my friends? There was a good chance that she could see them as holding me back and decide to get rid of them. But right now, she was my only chance at beating Sleepslicer.

And if all that wasn't enough, all of them had disappeared. Nicholas Sleepslicer, Cinder Fall, the White Fang general, and their largest bomb that they had managed to get away with, the one that could level a city, were all completely gone.

"Hey," Yang said loudly, pulling me out of my thoughts. It actually hadn't been that loud, I just didn't realize that she had managed to come stand right in front of me. I sighed with exhaustion and brought my eyes up to hers, silently asking her what she wanted.

"Walk with me," she said, holding out her hand that wasn't in a sling to help me off the bed. I wasn't feeling up for a walk, or for talking to anyone. I stared at her outstretched hand and shook my head no without much effort.

"I'm not asking." She grabbed my arm and yanked me off the bed, being forceful but still careful not to hurt my ribs too badly, and all with one arm. I almost forgot how strong she was. For a second we just stared at each other. Me silently telling her with a sort of glare that I really wasn't interested, and her matching me with a look of determination that told me I didn't have a choice.

"Are you going to walk or do I have to drag you?" She said in a not very nice tone. I jerked my hand away from hers but rolled my eyes, giving in. "Good," she said with a nod, "follow me."

Before I  moved I glanced back to Wolf. "He'll be fine," Yang sighed, it now being her turn for a dramatic eye roll. I let out a short huffy breath and followed Yang out. It was quite a walk out to the cliffs. We walked in silence and for a moment we just stayed at the edge of the cliffs, looking over the Emerald Forest. Finally Yang took a deep breath and turned to face me.

"What is going on with you Neo?" She asked gently. I shook my head and faced the cliffs. She walked me all the way out here for a heart to heart chat? I wasn't in the mood.

She put a her hand on my shoulder and said softly, "You don't have to go through this alone Neo." I scoffed silently. I needed to do this on my own. I always pulled through whatever was happening by myself before. I shook her hand off.

"Don't shut me out Neo," the told me, still soft but slightly annoyed. I wanted to tell her that I want mad at her. That I was tired and worried and it made me irritated, but I didn't know how, so I just folded my arms across my chest.

"If that's how you want it to be, fine," she said, her tone turning harsh. Now I made her angry. I sighed, wondering how to explain everything. I felt a hard shove on my shoulder. It caught me off guard and I fell to the ground. I glared up at Yang giving her a look that demanded 'what the hell?!', but she wasn't looking at me. Her gaze was lowered and her hair covered her eyes. Her mouth set in a hard line before raising her head. Her eyes glared into mine, glowing red. She was mad, but I was getting to that point too.

Ignoring the pain in my ribs, I pushed myself to my feet and stood closer to her, not even an inch away from her as a sort of silent challenge. I glared up at her, wondering what she wanted from me. What was her deal? I opened my mouth to ask her, but nothing came out. She gritted her teeth and shoved me back again. Instead of falling down I only slid back a little ways. What was her problem? Why was she doing this. I adjusted my footing and shoved her back. Not waiting a second, she spun around. I waited for her to shove me again, but instead she kicked my feet out from under me. My anger was getting the better of me. If she wanted a fight, she was getting one!  

I twisted my legs around and pulled myself back to my feet and faced off with her again. When I got close enough, she aimed a kick at me. I dodged it with ease, stepped closer, and shoved her shoulders roughly. I didn't want to fight her dammit, but no one was going to push me around. 

"What's your problem?" I snapped finally. She ducked her head again and I got ready for her to charge me. To my surprise, she brought her eyes back to mine and instead of them being their angry burning red, they were her normal lilac, and they had a determined look in them. 

"You're angry," she said calmly. "Good, now control that anger." Not trusting my voice to convey the right message, I glared at her, speaking with my eyes to say 'This is controlled'. Instead of glaring back or snapping at me, she laid her hand on my shoulder again. 

"Control doesn't mean holding everything inside. Control is knowing how to channel it." Now she grinned at me. "Trust me. You're looking at a girl who used to have some pretty serious anger issues." I involuntarily switched my eye color as realization hit me. Yang's rage mode was pretty similar to my Scary Neo mode in a way. All of the power that she gained when she was angry must have been difficult to keep in control, especially when she was younger.  

"How am I supposed to channel it?" I asked in confusion. 

"Holding all of that stuff inside is bad for you, Neo. You need to let it all out." I arched an eyebrow at her, not knowing what she wanted me to do. She used the hand on my shoulder to direct me so that I was facing down the cliffs, staring down at the Emerald forest. 

"Scream," she said simply, and I turned my head to look at her. She wanted me to do what now? "Scream," she repeated. "We're far enough from beacon where no one will hear. It'll be good for you. See?" She took a deep breath and held it in for a moment before shouting over the cannon. It wasn't a high pitched shriek, but like an enraged war cry. It echoed throughout the trees, even frightening a small flock of nevermore and causing them to fly away in fright. When she had let the full breath out, Yang took another breath to calm and steady herself before turning back to me. "Now you do it. I won't judge, I swear." 

I glanced back at her and then closed my eyes, facing the forest again. Following her instruction, I took a deep breath, filling my lungs. I opened my mouth, and at first nothing came out. Then I remembered everything that I was going through. The pain and frustration of everything. I scream, forcing the air from my lungs, almost forcing the pressure of everything out of my body. My fears, my pains, my sorrows. All of them were rushing out of me. Washing out of me like receding waves. I kept screaming, releasing everything that I had been fighting to hold back. Everything that I had forced to stay deep inside. And it felt good. Like a pressure being lifted off of me. 

I opened my eyes and gasped for air, realizing that I hadn't taken a deep enough breath. I realized with a small amount of pride that my scream had sounded just as fierce as Yang's and echoed in the trees below us. A grin rested on my face. 

"Feel better?" Yang asked me. I nodded and looked back to her. 

"Yeah," I smiled. "Ah, thanks." I blushed a bit. That was a stupid way to thank her for helping me get through this, but just because I had found my voice doesn't mean that I was good with words. She smiled back and nodded, seeming to understand. I took a deep breath as a sense of calm came over me. It had been a long time since I had felt truly in control of myself. A smile rested on my lips as I followed Yang back to Beacon.