RWBY Through Worlds

84: Save From the Hate

"So you want to confront him finally?" Winter said.

"No," Shine said. "No, if we blow everything now, it was all for nothing. But it would also be odd not to tell him, and if he's not in on this, it may make him have second thoughts about who he's working for. If he is in on it, we can learn something from how he reacts. But it occurs to me that Vara herself is also someone who might know. Or know part of it... Neo did say she wasn't quite as sold on their plan as he was."

Neo confirmed this with a nod.

"But we don't know where she is," Winter said. "And even you can't find her."

"No, but there might be one way to," Shine said. "We'll need that key. I don't have a rescue plan, but I might have a way to get more info. That could be helpful. If that will suffice for now, you could help me with that."

"I'm willing to if it works," Pyrrha said.

"I don't know if I want to stake all this on something that uncertain," Blake said. "I think we need to go get them ourselves. I mean, the plan is no good if more of us die over it."

"Salem always makes you all desperate, then she moves," Shine said. "Whether or not this is her doing, it's not any different. Do not walk into a trap."

"No offense, but I'm not sure you know what you're talking about," Blake said. "You just said you don't know what to do. And I'm tired of losing people."

Shine gave her a long look, then, turning to the others she said, "To handle this with Theo, we're going to need Qrow and Tai. Theo has some kind of conscience, I've seen it. I'm not sure he'll resist them so easily, if they're upset. And they will be upset. Better them than one of us--it looks more convincing that way."

"I can't believe you're more worried about your plan than about Yang," Nora said, suddenly. "Do you even care about us as people, or is it just about doing your thing? You don't even like Yang. Is that why you're okay with stalling?"

"Nora!" Pyrrha cried.

"You don't know her that well either," Nora said to Pyrrha angrily. "But if you like her better than your own team, fine. But I didn't think that meant we just left our friends behind."

Shine looked bothered by that.

"Hey, hey," Wally said. "No one cares more than Shine about saving people--but you have to be willing to make tough calls. I'm not saying I like the idea of leaving Yang on her own, or Raven, but if we all get caught, we're worse off. I think maybe I could get them out."

"I don't feel like that will end well," Shine said. "This could happen again. We need an idea that will prevent that, not just a temporary fix."

"And you're gambling with our friends' lives about that?" Ren said. "I'm with Nora--this is not the time."

"Your impulsive decisions have not ended well in the past," Shine said icily. "Do you really want to go down that road?"

"You're not always right!" Ren said angrily.

"Enough," Winter cut in. "Miss Likstar has earned some amount of confidence on our part."

"Not really," Blake said. "It looks like her plan is unraveling the same way ours have. So maybe she's not really smarter than us. Maybe it doesn't matter. It seems like, no matter what we do, Salem or someone else is one step ahead of us. But we might be able to save our friends, now, if we hurry."

"You don't know that her plan hasn't worked yet," Wally said. "What about trusting us?"

Ruby suddenly looked up sharply.