RWBY Through Worlds

25: Clouds start to Darken

"It's weird that we haven't heard from him," Ruby said. "Uncle Qrow would check on us by now."

"And we're all fugitives," Weiss said. 

"So maybe he was...caught?" Blake said hesitantly.

"Even if you were fugitives," Shine said, "Qrow wasn't there when you did that, or called Jaune, right? From what I heard."

"No." Yang frowned.

"So technically he hasn't done anything illegal yet," Shine said. "Would James immediately assume he would, or hear him out? He has been working with him much longer than you have."

"Uh...about that," Oscar said, "I kind of got...shot...off a cliff...by James...so..."

"Wait, what?" Shine turned to look at him sharply. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"I honestly was too worried about falling to think about what happened before it," Oscar said.

"That snake!" Shine was livid. "He shot you? A kid?!"

"He shot Ozpin," Oscar said. "And me...by default."

"Wait, Ozpin talked to him?" Yang said warily.

"No, no, but he still figures he's in here." Oscar decided that they were too mad at Ozpin for him to mention that he'd returned yet.

"Back off, Yang." Shine put a hand on Oscar's shoulder. "He's been yelled at enough today. And he almost fell to his death. This was your guys' decision anyway, he's just been roped into it."

"No one made him go talk to the General of Bad Ideas," Yang said.

"At least someone tried communication first," Shine shot back.

"It's fine, Miss Likstar," Oscar said. "It was a bad idea. And none of my ideas have worked... I failed."

Despite her words earlier, facing his actual team, he still felt guilty for it.

Ruby looked sympathetic. "You're safe. That's all that matters," she said.

"'Sides is not like anyone else is doing better," Wally said helpfully. "So you're really not failing more than them."

The girls all shot him dirty looks.

"More importantly," Shine spoke up more staunchly, "at least you tried to do what was right. Like I said before, you can't control how people respond to it. Right is right, whether or not people approve it, remember that. All of you."

"Oh, great, thanks for the pep talk," Yang said crossly. "Because that helps so much right now. We're all doomed if we don't stop Ironwood. So unless you want to portal him here right now so I can punch him, maybe save the speeches."

"Wait, can you do that?" Ruby asked, hopefully.

"I can, but I won't," Shine said.

"Why not?" Blake and Weiss both asked.

"Because this is beyond our jurisdiction," Shine said.

"It is?" Wally said.

"Yes, dethroning Ironwood is up to all of you," Shine said. "I'm happy to help, but doing it that easily would be too suspicious. Yes, I could theoretically drop him into the middle of the ocean or the tundra and solve all of this. But it solves nothing in the big picture. Only you can do that. We don't strike people down with lightning either, in case you were wondering. I can get you to him, if you like (I advise against that at this time, however). But I will not capture him for you."

"Wait, what are our rules again?" Wally said. "Fight is okay, but capture isn't?"

"Anything that can alter too much by just our interference alone is too much," Shine said. "Killing, seriously injuring someone, capturing them, and forcing them to do as we wish by threats and violence--except on a very personal scale--is all too much."