RWBY Through Worlds

158: Meet Me On the Battlefield

Everyone in Haven was rounded up now that it wasn't dark--they'd all seen the message, they were already moving back to the house when the DJs' group and Weiss and Meridian came back.

By then, Weiss had filled everyone in on Vacuo's situation.

Wally and Shine didn't seem that surprised.

"I guess we knew she'd hit Vacuo with something," Wally said. "But that stuff? I still don't know how it works."

"It is the most like the monsters of my world," Shine said. "So much so, I wonder about immunity to it. Things that are similar to our own world often are worse for us."

"So even you wouldn't be able to fight it?" Weiss said, in horror.

"No, I wouldn't go that far," Shine said. "But I'm not sure it would be like the others. They are just destructive, much easier than ones that latch onto your own soul. The Apathy aren't just mind Grimm, not from what you described. The mind and the feelings are not always the same thing. There's some more sinister twist to their powers. You said they don't eat people's bodies?"

"No," Weiss said.

"Hmm..." Shine thought.

But she didn't share her conclusions until everyone was gathered, and not immediately then because the others had to express how surprised they were that the DJs, Yang, Oscar, and Raven had finally come...in Raven's case, that she'd come back so soon.

"Not my idea," she said flatly but less surly than before.

"So the others are--?" Qrow began.

"Fine," Raven said, shrugging. "Other than Winter almost took my head off for dragging her along...and for other stuff."

"Ruby was there?" Qrow asked.

"Yes...would have come with us if Likstar hadn't insisted she go with the others to Vacuo...who knew you'd already have heard about it," Raven said.

That turned Qrow's mind more to the point.

"How could you send them there!" He almost blew up at Shine for real. "Did you know that attack was going on?"

"Not in certain terms, till Weiss told us," Shine said.

"You're not usually that reckless," Qrow said.

"Oh wait till you hear what else she did," Raven said.

"I'm sure we all have stories to swap," Shine said. "But we must leave Mistral at once. Salem will be furious after that shell disappeared like that, but she may choose to follow us out of Mistral if she thinks her attack will yield nothing. We need to go quickly."

"We can't go to Vacuo," Qrow insisted. "The Apathy, it's too deadly."

"They aren't in Vacuo yet," Shine decided against having this out right now. "Just all of you get ready."

"Fine," Mercury said. "I'm sick of this house anyway."

He had ended up helping them fight the grimm after all, out of boredom he claimed, but no use of his eyes, not that anyone expected it.

He noticed Shine looked at him closely though. Did they tell her?

Kip wanted to leave--but not to go back to his kingdom.

Blake's parents offered to let him stay with them, but he didn't want to leave Vara and Theo, and Penny, the people he seemed to feel the most comfortable with, so after some protest, he finally said he'd go with them anyway.

It wasn't ideal, but at this point, Shine knew it wasn't going to be no matter what they did--and if these attacks persisted, no kingdom was safer than other anyway. Being picky about which one it was made no sense.