RWBY Through Worlds

142: Don't Look Back

Now, on the train, Emerald wondered. But based on what she'd heard about Ruby's eyes...she couldn't picture Mercury ever doing that. He didn't care about that much. Especially life.

That reminded her, though, that Salem's curse was to walk the earth until she learned the meaning of life and death.

"Hey," she spoke. "Do either of you...I mean, do you think you'd know what life and death really mean? If you had to break that curse?"

"What curse?" Mercury said.

"Salem's," Emerald said.

"Huh?" Mercurey said.

"That's her curse." Emerald only knew this from the team filling her in, because Ozpin had neglected to mention that to Hazel--probably because it might have distracted from his turning him to his side.

"I've wondered about it," Winter replied. "But I do not have the answer. I believe Miss Likstar has said there is no meaning in life or death in of themselves. Don't we assign meaning to them? I can't argue with her answer, because in the abstract, very little has meaning unless you give it meaning."

"But that just means that stuff can mean whatever you want," Emerald said.

"No, I believe there is a correct interpretation of things," Winter said. "But that some people miss it."

"How could you know? It's pointless," Mercury said. "Asking stuff like that is pointless. Everyone just has their take on it. No one's can be proven."

"Could you prove what you just said?" Winter asked him.

"Huh...? No... I don't get it," Mercury said.

"You think that what you just said is true, but most of us do not," Winter said. "If you can't prove you're right, then you invalidate your own statement. One has to believe there's a way to know, or knowledge is an illusion."

"What if it is?" Mercury said.

"We could know about nothing, then. We might as well not speak to each other," Winter said. 

"I think some of us would like that," Mercury said.

"You can't go 5 minutes without opening your mouth," Emerald said. "I couldn't pay you to shut up--you really think you want total silence?"

Mercury made a face at her and leaned back in his seat.

"The gods must have had an answer in mind," Emerald said, "if they cursed Salem with that."

"Miss Likstar thinks they don't know themselves," Winter said. "And I'm inclined to agree with her, because all they seemed to care about was balance...and their treatment of Ozpin challenges the idea of that even being consistent. Nothing about this feels like balance to me. The scale has always tilted in Salem's favor. But I see no real purpose in it."

"I've read their book a little," Emerald said. "Death is supposed to be the enemy, according to them. It's not balance. I think that makes more sense. We fight Grimm; they're kind of like the embodiment of death--even if they're alive, but they aren't really alive, right? Salem is like the queen of death."

"Not so," Winter said. "She had children once--I'm still trying to accept that."

"EW!" Emerald still didn't like it either.

"But that means she's capable of producing life," Winter said. "Perhaps Miss Likstar is right that she is still human somewhere under that Grimm exterior."

"If that's so, that's worse for her," Emerald said. "Being a human and a Grimm mistress at the same time, that's not even something that should be possible. I'd almost feel sorry for her."