RWBY Through Worlds (End)

BC58: Capital Loss (Raven's team & Co.)--2

Cinder shrugged.

"Well, sorry to detour about me. So basically, Neo was bugged by these guys...literally, and then you had to turn back?" Emerald asked.

"It was infuriating." Cinder scowled.

"I bet, to get that close...but probably for the best. You need way more manpower to stand a chance against people who have weapons like that." Emerald shook her head. "Maybe it was smarter to just let them go. To think they were right underneath our nose though. Ugh. I hate this. Why couldn't we find them all right away? Though Ruby told me, when I complained about that to her, that that was how they felt looking for us for weeks. Karma sucks."

"You'd think, since we were once these people, we'd know how to find them," Cinder said. "But I think I've exhausted my resources. I'm not in the ring anymore. Miss Malachite won't help us after that incident."

"Are you sure about that?" Emerald said. "Sure, you messed with her worker, but if she knew what these people were trying to do..."

"No, according to Neo, she knows they're smuggling something." Cinder shook her head. "And that it's trouble to look into it. She wouldn't care. They're criminals, Emerald, scum. Not everyone is like you, a bleeding heart under the tough exterior."

"That's...almost a nice thing to say, if I didn't know what you think of people like that," Emerald said. "Are you so sure everyone is so different though? Maybe people have more of a conscience than we think."

"It won't happen," Cinder insisted. "If we don't catch Dawkins, we're at another dead end."

"No, at least you know where you can find some of this stuff--that's not a dead end.... Listen, trust me, you have to learn to take the small successes." Emerald shook her head. "Enforcing the law isn't like breaking it, I've figured that much out. Breaking the law is easy, and it's a rush. Every scam you pull off feels like a big deal because you know it's illegal and you could get caught...at least it felt like that at first. Then after a while you just start to feel guilty, at least I did. But my point is, everything feels like a big win when you think someone is looking to catch you. But when you're the law, it's work to catch anyone, even a small criminal...so any success is good. Besides, I'm sure we just need one big breakthrough on this case, and we can nab 'em."

"Not necessarily. They may just be too good at their job," Cinder said. "What if we can't? What if this is too big to stop? You can't stop all the evil and all the crime in the world! We thought we'd stop the Grimm, and instead of doing that, they got worse. Who knows how they're even capturing Mind Grimm without the Grimm lands even being there anymore? And if that didn't stop it, then what can we do? Maybe evil just doesn't stop!"

She paused. Where had that come from?

Emerald stared at her blankly.

Then she said,

"Okay...look...Cinder, those are not...questions I can answer, all right? I'm still working on this too. And I feel that way, sometimes. I bet everyone does. Maybe someone wiser than me could tell you something more helpful...but I don't think we can just give up just because it's harder than we thought it would be.... Shine and Wally told us before they left that it wouldn't be easy, probably painful."

She leaned on her hand. "I don't know what to do to help you...but maybe this doesn't have to be for you. If getting this close to it is just too hard, you can...well, after Raven decides it's safe, you can leave. You can just go back to your other job and focus on making a better life for yourself, and you don't have to spend your time doing this. Public service is not for everyone.... Just ask Robyn--it's pretty annoying actually. People aren't always thankful.... Then again, you have to think anyone who needs our help is already having a bad enough time--maybe I wouldn't be in a thankful mood either. So it's all in our perspective. But don't...freak out about it, all right? If you get so tied up in what's going wrong, you're just going be miserable. There's still a lot that's going right."