Remy went back into Emil's room a little while later and was happily surprised to see his friend awake. Tante Mattie was nowhere to be found, but Mercy was there, talking to Emil and holding his hand.

"Merce, can I talk to Emil for a minute?" Remy asked his sister-in-law. Mercy nodded and got up to leave the room, giving Emil's hand a gentle squeeze before she left.

"Hi Rem." Emil whispered, giving his best friend a small, pained smile.

"How are you feelin'?" Remy wanted to know.

Emil coughed for a few minutes and then groaned before answering. "I've been better." He replied. "I feel like someone ran me over wit' a transfer truck. How angry are Theo an' Claude?"

"I had to talk dem outta findin' Gris an' killin' him right now." Remy explained. "Dey're angry; dey want him to stop what he's doin' an' dey're startin' to be convinced dat de only way to stop him is to kill him."

"Dat's not de way it should have to be…" Emil whispered. "What's Bella Donna doin'?"

"What do you mean?"

"She came to see me. Said she'd do what she could to make all of dem stop. Huh. I shoulda known she wouldn' be able to do it."

"She said she'd help you?" Remy was amazed. He knew that deep down in her heart, Bella Donna was an assassin and always would be. Helping thieves was not what assassins do.

"Oui. She said she'd do what she could to stop de problems. For you an' for me." Emil explained.

"For both of us?" Now Remy was really amazed.

"Yeah. She said she'd do it for you b'cause you wanted her to, an' she'd do it for me b'cause I needed her to. Dat was a couple of days ago. I guess she either didn' try or she failed." Emil whispered sadly, coughing again. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

Remy reached over and took his friend's hand, concern showing in his red on black eyes. He knew his friend was miserable and he felt helpless because there was nothing he could do to take the pain away. "Emil?"

"I'm tired, Rem. An' I'm sore. I can' take anymore, 'specially while I'm sick. You gotta help me. Please."

"You have my word, Emil. An' de others will help. I promise." Remy confirmed.

"Remy an' I have called dis meetin' for a reason." Bella Donna said. Both she and Remy were standing at the front of the safehouse living room, and neither one of them was smiling. The thieves were on one side of the room and the assassins were on the other. The hostility between the two groups was incredible, an' before they started the meeting Remy commented to Bel that he thought they would be able to cut the tension in the room with a knife.

"De problems b'tween de people in dis guild have to stop, an' dey have to stop now." Remy said. He was at the end of his patience with the assassins, although he wouldn't tell Bella Donna that, because he needed her on his side.

"Dere wouldn' be any problems if dey didn' keep startin' dem." Gris grumbled.

"Dat's a valid point, Gris, although I have to tell you, what you did dis mornin' wasn' called for." Remy replied.

"Dey needed to be taught a lesson!" Gris exclaimed.

"It's not your place to say dat, Gris." Bel commented. "You wanted to get Theoren, Claude an' Genard off your back, an' so you turned 'round an' did de one t'ing dat would make dem even more angry wit' you den dey already were."

"I wanted to tell dem to back off." Gris muttered.

"Oui. We realize dat. But Gris, tell me somet'ing now." Remy said. "Say someone threatened or hurt Questa dere. What would you do?"

Gris contemplated that idea for a few moments before replying to Remy's question. "I'd get mad, an' I'd want to get dem back for it," he said eventually.

"Dat's how we feel, when you hurt Emil." Theoren explained. "'Specially what you did dis mornin'."

"It's one t'ing to get after him for sayin' somet'ing obnoxious or stupid, Gris, but it's quite another to hurt him when he hasn' done or said a t'ing to you in days." Claude continued.

"De lesson needs to be taught." Fifolet replied. "We're gon' do what we want, an' you guys have to learn dat you can' stop us."

"What 'bout de unification?" Bel asked.

"Screw de unification, Bel. I'm sorry, but it isn' gon' work." Gris told her sharply. "It will fail, unless dey learn to back off!"

"It'll also fail if you don' start to realize dat we're not stupid, we jus' see t'ings differently." Came a whispered voice from the doorway, followed by a series of coughs.

Emil looked at the assembled thieves and assassins, his blue eyes filled with pain. Upon seeing him standing there in his bathrobe and fuzzy slippers, leaning against the wall, his arms wrapped around his midsection because it hurt so much, they all realized that he was in very rough shape.

Bella Donna decided to be a role model for the other assassins, even though it was totally against her character. She went over to Emil and put a hand on his shoulder, her eyes widening as she discovered that he was shaking from the exertion of being up. "Why don' you go sit down, an' get off your feet, huh?"

Emil nodded and went over to the couch. Mercy and Genard moved over to make room for him between them. He didn't want to disturb the meeting, so he leaned against Mercy and did his best to regulate his breathing so he wouldn't cough so much.

"We have a problem, guys." Remy said. "An' we have to work together to fix it."

"What if it can' be fixed, LeBeau?" Questa asked.

"It can be, Questa." Bella Donna replied. "We're not two separate guilds anymore. No one ever told us dis was gon' be easy, but if we work at it, we can succeed, we can uphold de prophecies de way we're s'posed to."

"An' if we don' want to?" Gris questioned darkly, casting an evil look in Emil's direction. The big assassin really didn't like the young thief at all and it was starting to become clear that he wouldn't stop his actions anytime soon.

"I saw that look, Gris, knock it off!" Zoe exclaimed. "Leave him alone!"

Gris snickered. "Make me, little girl." He said as he got up and headed out the room, followed by Questa and Fifolet. "Far as I'm concerned, dis meetin' is over."

"Well, dat went…lousy." Remy said as the others filed out of the room.

Bella Donna sighed, watching as Mercy helped Emil, who was overcome by another coughing fit. "I told him I'd do what I could to stop dis mess…"

Remy put his hand on Bel's shoulder. "I know. An' we both 'preciate it. But I t'ink it's gon' take more den a joint meetin' to make de problems go 'way."

The patriarch and viceroy of the Unified Guilds looked at each other, matching looks of 'what-do-we-do-now?' on their faces. Little did either of them know, but it was going to take much, much more than just group meetings to make the problems stop. Gris was determined to hurt Emil, and the other thieves were just as determined to defend their comrade. Something big was going to have to happen. And if Remy and Bel had any idea of it, they would have been very, very concerned.