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I wiped my face with a handkerchief, "Don't worry Scarlet, if you don't release your emotions...well it can end badly. I'm sorry about that....emotional breakdown. I haven't told anyone that, ever."

I walked through the deep woods of my forest, drinking in the sights and sounds of the night. Trying to calm myself down was hard for once, I stepped over a fallen log and took two more steps before a knife embedded itself in the branch near my head. I immediatly dropped to the ground and looked around, something dripped down from the blade and landed on my hand, it burned and I scrubbed it off hurridly, I looked up, a wet gold blade, no doubt that was holy water, someone was trying to kill me. I looked around and spotted a mask in the trees. Thats all I saw before it was too late, the shade dropped on me from the trees, I grappled with him as we hit the forest floor. This fight was on my home-ground, roots began to sprout from the ground, trees shifted, the shade's arms, legs, and chest bound tight to the ground, it struggled and hissed. "Who dares attack a druid?" I said in a commanding one fit to make an army bind its knee. I sent a mental message to Scarlet, along with a picture of the scene to teleport here if she wanted, and could at her current power.

"Why did you do that?! I had him bound completely! We could have gotten very valuable information from him!" I bent down and picked up the mask, which hadn't dissapeared with the rest of him. I broke the mask cleanly in two, one have black, and the other white, I stuffed them into my shirt.

I grabbed Scarlet by the arm and turned her around slowly, "Scarlet...I'm sorry I snapped at you....it's just....when I told you about that need to kill I get from my ancestors....it...came back..I can't calm myself down. I don't know what to do, in truth I think I snapped at you because I wanted to kill him myself. I'm sorry" I sat down on a root and put my head in my hands, I focused on the need, I mentally focused everything on it and tried to wall it away, to no avail.

I pulled the two pieces of the mask out, "This was his heart you know, it never beat, but it gave him life, I broke it." I crushed the black half in my hand, "Scarlet...a broken heart can always be mended. Even if it has stopped beating." I put the pieces of the black half back together and connected it with the white half.

I stood up and sighed, grabbing Scarlets shoulders and staring deep into her bright orange eyes, "Scarlet....we need to end this fight with the government. If we keep waiting there will just be more assasination attempts, and im afraid, afraid that one of them will work. If anything happened to you...." I brushed the tears from my eyes, "This is getting more and more dangerous, and you in this weakened state...." I took a shaky breath. "Promise me you wont try anything dangerous without me...please."

When she was gone I whirled around and punched a boulder, shattering it. When I was around her I it was so hard to think, I felt so helpless. I pulled off my glove and stared at the ring, it took me months to design it, years to craft it. Would it ever come to fruition? I slipped my glove back on and motioned for Shade to follow. We walked on through the forest. I was losing my will to keep on fighting, I was so tired, but there was so much to do yet.