Lily lived up to her promise. Within thirty minutes of leaving her cabin, she arrived outside the Ravens' camp. Although she had connections to a few of their members, she had never actually been to their camp before. Her special hut was strangely the most modern spot in the forest, and she had her boyfriend to thank in part for that. He was known to carry out an assortment of odd jobs for unknown sponsors. He hated talking about who his employers were, and Lily figured it was better not to ask. He generally never came over bloody, which meant he wasn't hired as a hitman.

"Who's there?" One of the guards called as she approached the gates. It was Yasmin on duty that day, her dark hair french-braided into two tight plaits reaching her upper back. "State your name and purpose."

"I have a message for your leaders, then I'll leave," Lily smiled. Like everyone else in this forest, giving away her name scared her.

Yasmin nodded, "Hand over your weapon." The Rogue nodded and handed her her dagger. Lily had barely armed herself for this mission; this was the part of the forest where she lived, and so she was well-known among the Rogues. She was more worried about the Ravens than the lone rangers. Yasmin opened up the gate, and Lily entered the camp for the first time.

"Lily!" Mai screamed, running across the camp. As Lily had protected her for months before she returned to the Ravens' camp, the two girls had an inseparable bond. They had known each other since long before the plague, however. They had gone to school together since second grade, when Lily moved to their small town. They had not travelled to the Grove together, but they were beyond pleased to find each other again in the woods. "What are you doing here?"

"I have a message, leaders only," Lily explained. She then leaned in and whispered, "So do I finally get to meet Sebastian?" Over the time spent hiding in Lily's cabin, Mai had told her plenty of stories of the boy whom she was so close with in the camp. She had built him up to be a hero of some sorts. She had always admired his tranquility and heart, but after being separated from her friends for months, her stories of him quickly became glorified.

Mai hesitated, however, after this request, "Some stuff has happened lately, I'm sure you've heard about Emma, right?" Lily nodded, as suspected. It made her feel strange keeping the secret of the other girl's survival. She could see how this saddened Mai's eyes, and she hated hurting her that way. "Well Sebastian stepped down from his position. He's a wreck, understandably."

Lily's eyes widened, "I'm so sorry. I can't imagine how hard this has all been on your camp." Again, that guilt of keeping Emma's status hidden felt awful. "So who's in charge now?"

"Hayden and Dylan," Mai said, and at the same time the two leaders came over. Hayden was still getting used to wearing Sebastian's jacket. It didn't fit him right. He was tall and lean, while his predecessor had a far more athletic build. He thought that the uncomfortable size of the garment was a metaphor for how this position was too big for him. By no means did Hayden consider himself qualified to protect this many people.

"Hey, what's going on? You have a message?" Hayden asked, trying to maintain the image that he was in charge and had any idea what he was doing.

"Yeah, leaders only. Sorry, Mai. Those were my instructions," Lily explained, handing them the paper.

"Who's it from?" Dylan interjected, as Hayden unfolded that sheet.

"How'd you get paper?" Hayden asked, confused by where the resource had come from. Nobody heard this question though, or if they did, they didn't acknowledge him in the slightest.

"All I can tell you is what's on that sheet. They said you'll understand it though," Lily smiled. With that, she hugged Mai goodbye and left the camp to return home. At this time, Mai walked away as well, respecting that, despite her curiosity, this note was not meant for her. It bothered her, however, that Lily was one of her closest friends, yet Dylan got this piece of information instead of her. The two of them had no relationship, and though Mai realized that the other girl was their leader, and that Lily did not decide who would receive this message, she couldn't help but feel a tang of jealousy.

"'The nightingale awaits," Hayden muttered, reading aloud the sheet, "Does this mean anything to you?"

"Well it's a code," Dylan explained, "The nightingale is obviously supposed to mean something."

"Obviously, it's not like a bird told that Rogue to tell us this," Hayden rolled his eyes.

Dylan sighed, "It's a metaphor. My guess is that the nightingale is our enemy. Ravens and nightingales, both are small, black birds? It makes perfect sense."

Hayden shook his head, "We're overthinking this. It's meant for the leaders only, right? Well, I've had this job for about two days, and nobody has left the camp. It's for Sebastian."

"You heard her rules, only the leaders are allowed to see this," the girl declared.

"What's she going to do?" Hayden smirked, "Either we show Sebastian and we decode this thing, or he doesn't understand it and we're back to base zero, which is where we are right now. It's not like there's a downside here."

"Fine," Dylan snapped. She shouted the moping boy's name from across the camp, and he walked over from the rock where he'd been sitting. Just from the way he moved now, it was evident that a deep sadness weighed down his bones. He was left with only pain being pumped through his arteries. His blood was made of pieces of her: his memories, his love, the genes they shared.

"The nightingale awaits," Hayden said, almost a little too loudly. Dylan sent him a short glare, warning that he should lower his voice, but he didn't really care. He realized that Sebastian was the only one who could theoretically understand this message. And understand he did.

His face dropped, and he stared at the two leaders, "Where'd you get that?"

"Some Rogue stopped by. It was supposed to be for leaders only, but Hayden insisted we break that rule," Dylan said. She clearly didn't respect the boy's decision, especially since he hadn't considered her advice in the slightest. She'd had this position for a year; Hayden had worn the jacket for less than a week.

"But they didn't know that I stepped down," Sebastian nodded, understanding exactly what his successor had realized. "So you think I know what it means."

"Do you?" Hayden asked hopefully. Sebastian closed his eyes for a moment, and took a long look at the paper. The other boy stared at is as well, and pointed out, "They spelled 'nightingale' wrong." The others hadn't realized this yet, but it was spelled with a g-a-i-l.

"No, they didn't," Sebastian looked up, a new hope appearing in his eyes. The other two looked at him puzzlingly, desperate to know what thoughts were rushing through his head, "It's her."

"Sebastian—" Dylan began, "I'm sorry, but we both know that isn't true."

"No," Sebastian shook his head, smiling now, but he lowered his voice, "The nightingale. Our parents called her that when she was little because Gail is her middle name. It's not spelled wrong."

Hayden and Dylan made a wary eye contact, neither of them fully sure that Sebastian was right in his suspicions. It seemed like there was evidence to support his claim, but they couldn't gauge if he was stretching some truths. He seemed so sure that it was his sister, and it seemed like a little flicker of light had returned to his eyes. Neither of them wanted to bring the darkness back, as it was eating up their whole camp's morale, but they were more afraid of false hope.

"Talk to Mai," Sebastian said, fully aware of the leaders' disbelief, "She knows that Rogue. See if there's any evidence there that I'm right about this."

"I just don't want you to get hurt again if you're wrong," Dylan sighed, being blatantly honest with him. She had grown to care about Sebastian deeply over the past two years. He was the person who was always supportive, always willing to help someone else, and always willing to do whatever it would take to keep their people safe. To see such an admirable person become this broken was heart-wrenching.

Sebastian made one last comment before walking away, "I can't get hurt if there's nothing left to feel." He was past the point of sadness, he thought. He felt anger, but he mainly felt lost. The one reminder of who he used to be had been stolen from him, the one person whom he had left to love was gone. And he had sworn to protect her, had he not? Who was the post-plague version of him if his little sister was out of the picture? If he had failed his most fundamental goal?

Eventually, the leaders went to talk to Mai, see what she knew about this Rogue. She was more comfortable telling the story of her year in the wilderness now. She wasn't as ashamed of what she'd done. This transformation was massive compared to when she and Sebastian had first discussed her journey. In that first conversation, Mai wasn't quite sure she even wanted to stay. Back then, she'd felt like had dug herself into a dangerous hole, and was putting everyone else in danger just by being in the camp. But she came to realize that she was not the biggest threat to her friends, and in truth, her story was to their own benefit.

"Lily protected me for months," Mai explained, and she noticed the two leaders make eye contact again. "What was on that note? What aren't you telling me?"

"We aren't allowed to say," Dylan cut her off quickly. She was clearly a little bit pleased that she got to keep this important secret, since she felt that if Sebastian was still in charge, he'd have trusted her with it. Dylan couldn't deny that she felt a little threatened by Mai; every time she questioned one of her own decisions, she knew that the camp was comparing her to the old leader.

"What if they go visit her?" Hayden suggested, turning to his partner.

Dylan's eyes widened, "No, Mai can't. That's strictly against her rules."

"I think Mai's an exception," Hayden shook his head, "Especially if she's bringing Sebastian there."

"What are you talking about?" Mai interjected, frustrated with all the secrets.

"Take Sebastian to Lily's camp," Hayden declared, "He'll explain the rest." Dylan huffed and walked away. She hated how arrogant Hayden had become. He somehow felt that he was qualified to make all these big decisions, which only she seemed to understand were meant for them to make together. That was the point of having two leaders—it would check the other's power.

Mai and Sebastian soon headed out for this mission, although the former had no idea what she was walking into. She did notice, however, how her friend's eyes were gleaming again, and how there seemed to be hope in his steps. Nobody had to tell her what was going on; she had a vague suspicion that another girl was heading down the exact same path she once took.

Back at camp, Dylan turned to Hayden and sighed, "You can't just make the calls like that."

"Sebastian needs it, we both know that," was all the boy responded.

"He'll just get hurt again if we were wrong," she warned.

"He's already hurt. I don't think it can get any worse."

"You'd be surprised."

---

A/N

As an explanation to this title, which I didn't want to explain before the chapter, "gail" is a  Hebrew name meaning joy. I don't think that should be too hard to understand its context to the chapter