RWBY Through Worlds

164: Burnt to Dust

For once the plan was enacted with very little bellyaching.

Shine declined to join them, saying she was too affected still, so Wally headed it up.

Vara splashed water on herself before going with him.

Ruby and Oscar also joined him, and Victoria seemed determined to go, though Robyn's medic in the Huntresses said that Victoria was showing some signs of exhaustion and looked kind of glassy-eyed, but the woman declined any advice to slow down.

"Time to go destroy some Apathy." Wally tried to sound upbeat.

Meridian also insisted on going. He said he was fine now that he'd rested.

"Okay, but remember, we might get one shot before those things get really angry," Wally said, "or whatever they get. If we get in trouble, you know... You're sure?"

"You're all risking your lives," Meridian said.

"Nothing new there," Wally said.

"Just hurry," Theo called. "Outside of the camps, people are getting worse."

It had been maybe an hour and a half, even, since they had first started moving people--already you could see more of a change than in the others. The Apathy might be increasing, even though they'd killed a lot of them.

Or it could be the remaining ones had started moving towards the edge of the kingdom more.

"All right, let's go." Wally waved at the small crew.

One of the Huntresses had found them a car so that they could save their energy more.

"You're going to be careful, right?" Weiss said to them. "You saw what those things do, so..."

"We'll be fine, okay?" Oscar tried to sound confident.

"Yeah." Ruby made a fist. "Easy peasey."

Qrow shook his head, but he knew by now he couldn't talk Ruby out of doing this.

"I'll be watching from a distance," Raven said. "Just in case."

That had to be the most comforting thing she'd tried to say in weeks...or years.

"Sure," Qrow said.

"See you in a few, Snow Tiger," Meridian said to Weiss, who frowned at him. 

"You could be a little more serious. This is a crazy idea," she said.

Meridian suddenly stole a quick kiss, to her shock.

"Sorry, just in case," he said.

Weiss glared at him, then she turned red. "You could have asked."

"I'll ask next time, promise," Meridian said.

"You--" Weiss sputtered, then she just stopped talking and walked away.

[I know, I know, consent is sexy. Give the guy a break--this is Vacuo. Even as an afterthought it's a surprise.]

Weiss just hoped Winter hadn't seen that--actually that was the main reason she was mad.

Luckily, Winter hadn't been looking right then, but she did see her storm away and wondered what happened.

"We're sending 5 people to do this?" Tai said to Shine.

"People have saved the world with less," Shine said, nonchalantly.

"So what do we do?" Yang asked.

"Pray," Shine said. "I know I'll be doing it. And stay hopeful."

The 5-man band and Victoria left.

[Let's see, Wally, Oscar, Ruby, Vara, and Meridian. Ruby's the Paragon, so Oscar must be the Smart Guy, Meridian would probably be the Lance, Vara is the Tank, and Wally is the Heart. If you're a story analyst nerd, you know what I'm talking about. Victoria has to be outside it, so is she like the antihero who occasionally works with the team?]