RWBY Through Worlds

25: Clouds start to Darken

"Normally I'd think that would be scary," Oscar said thoughtfully. "But it's kind of a relief to know someone around here can tell us apart. In case..."

"I have no intention of forcing you to do things anymore," Ozpin said.

"I'll hold you to that, as well as Oscar will," Shine spoke.

"If I can't use magic," Oscar said, "how am I going to fight? I don't have a Semblance yet."

"You could always learn our way," Shine said. "But for now, don't worry about it. We're here to protect you until you figure this out. And remember, there is no shame in not being able to fight dirty. Being weak in this way can be a type of strength, and you'll see that soon enough. Trust me."

Funny, Shine wasn't speaking in the most gentle tone, as she usually didn't, but she was still reassuring, at least to Oscar.

It was still strange for him, being treated like he was of principal concern by anyone, but he was starting to get more used to it. He was too awkward to know how to express this to her, however, but he was pretty sure he'd have lost it after what had happened in the last couple days if he hadn't had some kind of hope and outlet in her and Wally, and of course Pyrrha had also been kind.

He shivered.

"Here." Shine motioned him over.

He moved closer and leaned on her shoulder like he was a little kid--well, compared to her, he kind of was pretty little; she was tall.

Shine was silent for a while, glancing up at the sky, looking for the others. Her eyes gleamed gold. "Well, it won't be too long now..."

She privately wondered how they were doing. Was Fria okay? 

They pulled up about 10 minutes later, without her.

"Hey." Ruby waved them on.

Oscar got up, and they hurried on board.

"You guys okay?" Wally asked. "You scared the crap out of me just jumping out of the plane like that. Where did you go?"

"Midair," Shine said.

Wally stared at her.

"But aren't you...scared of heights?" he said.

Oscar turned to give Shine a look of amazement again at this. So it was that bad?

"Yeah...it was good I couldn't think about it," she said.

Ruby shot Shine a look.

"I hate to admit it...but that was pretty gutsy," Blake said reluctantly.

"Where's team JNPR?" Shine asked.

"Pyrrha didn't want to, but we made them wait at the new shelter we're hiding out in," Wally said. "We found some of Robyn's Huntresses while you were gone. They said they'd let us crash with them since we did Robyn a solid. I guess that did work out for something."

"Small blessings," Shine said. 

"The Maiden is with them," Weiss spoke up. "Jaune boosted her Aura, and she's alive...but she's not as stable as she was before, from what we can tell. We really need a doctor. And a better hiding out place. And a plan."

"Now that we have Oscar, at least we should be able to come up with another strategy," Ruby said cheerfully.

"But where is Qrow?" Shine said.

Wally rubbed his head. "Qrow and Robyn were hunting Tyrian. We heard that they caught them, along with Clover--I mean, he was there, not that they caught him. But since then we haven't heard from them. They were supposed to take him back to Atlas."