[AMV by Nath Schnee.... This song was written for Weiss, but I think it fits Winter far better than her, and the show did make them share themes.]
Winter was out for many hours before she woke up finally with a pounding headache that came from pure exhaustion.
It was dark by now.
She'd been having some troubling dreams...flashes of the last few days and visions of things going wrong that hadn't actually happened...but lastly of Weiss, slipping away.
She woke up with tears on her face, and it took a second to remember why, then she sighed and her shoulders slumped.
"Good to see you finally awake, Miss Winter." Klein startled her by coming up to check on her.
"Ho-" Winter's voice was hoarse from the sand and dust and heat, but she cleared her throat. "How long have I been unconscious?"
"Nary 6 hours by now, Miss," Klein said. "Gave us quite a turn."
His eyes changed color. "You should be more careful!" They changed again. "Aw, but of course you've been stressed. It's to be expected."
Winter was well used to his mood swings and paid no mind to them whatsoever. "I suppose I overexerted the magic..."
"About that--" Klein returned to his doctor mode. "I did my best to treat your normal symptoms, some heat exhaustion and lack of rest and water seem to be the chief problems with you. I wouldn't get up too soon. You may feel dizzy. Your Aura was strangely depleted, however. And the effects the magic has on you aren't ones I can trace with my instruments... Perhaps that Mr. Branwen would know more--or that professor who's really a little boy."
"So you know about that?" Winter said.
"I know mostly now. I've been caught up on it," Klein said. "Doing a lot of listening... Your, uh, mother was a bit worried about you also. Shall I tell her you're all right?"
"I don't care one way or the other." Winter still found it strange that her mother was even here...well, she'd be here, she supposed--but actively doing anything. They'd stopped speaking years ago except at very brief moments when she visited Weiss.
While they lacked hostility, Winter really had a low opinion of her, as she judged people by her own standard of what was strong and what was weak.
"Did anything go wrong?" she asked, rubbing her head.
"Nothing much has changed," Klein said. "And no sign of Miss Weiss, yet." His eyes changed. "But I'm sure she'll turn up. She's been through worse than this."
Winter severely doubted that, but she didn't want to burst his bubble, just yet.
"I'd better see to it." She got up.
"Miss, I strongly advise you to take it easy for at least the rest of today," Klein said.
"Nonsense, my Aura is restored." Winter looked at her hands. "There's no reason for me to loiter around like this. I have to oversee the relief efforts."
"Miss, even with your Aura, your new powers may have adverse effects," Klein said. "I've been led to understand that the previous Maiden expended herself by using them, partially. Until you have a handle on them, it would be wise to not exert yourself above usual."
"I'll be fine, Klein," Winter said grimly. "I know my limits."
That was not remotely true, as evidenced by her fainting at all, but Klein didn't get a chance to protest this because she left anyway.
She felt filthy, she noticed with distaste. Dust everywhere...
She surveyed herself in one of the window's reflections. This uniform was not going to suit Vaccuo's weather; it was too layered.
"No wonder I got heat stroke," she said. "It's just the climate. A few adjustments and it'll be fine. All of us should adapt."
Of course she knew in the back of her mind that thrusting a settlement's worth of people adapted for extreme cold into extreme heat was a recipe for illness, but there was nothing for it now.
It occurred to her that Theodore really could have helped alleviate this if he'd cared to do so, and where had he been all day?
Straightening her hair as much as possible, Winter went down the hall and stairs to the lower level of the school.
A scorpion skittered around the floor in front of her, making her jump back.
The insect ignored her and scuttled up the wall.
"Hideous, isn't it?" Coco from team CVFY walked past her and nodded. "But you get used to it. No way to keep the bugs out of here in this sand. But mostly if you don't bother them, they don't bother you. Getting stung isn't a huge concern if your Aura is up. You'll probably just feel ill for a bit. Fox had it happen when we arrived here in the first week, but he was all right after a few days. Unless you're allergic to it, I suppose."
"Lovely," Winter muttered.
"The spiders are almost worse." Coco adjusted her shades, that for some reason she didn't take off even inside, and kept walking.
Atlas didn't even have bugs outside the protected garden areas because the cold made it too hard for them to live. Winter and the other Atlesians had lived in blissful, bug-free homes for most of their lives. Even seeing a mouse would be rare, even in Mantle.
Still, Winter could resign herself to the vermin themselves as a part of the environment, but not if they went around stinging people... That would lead to yet another problem on top of the heat...
She rubbed her head.
Coco had headed for the mess hall, but Winter was not hungry. She felt nauseous, so she just went in search of the other older team members.
Robyn had refused to camp in the school when the citizens were outside, as part of her usual annoying nobleness...even more annoying because having the team leaders close enough to confer after dark would really have been more useful than her showing off how she wasn't pampered.
But some of the Ace Ops were around, and Ren and Nora, who both looked exhausted. Nora probably really wasn't recovered enough for this either. She looked flushed.
"Maybe you should take it easier tomorrow," Ren was even telling her.
"There's not enough of us for that!" Nora voiced Winter's own thoughts. "I can't slack off."
"Geez, we won't die if you take a break." Emerald was sitting in one corner, polishing her blades. "You people ever get tired of being so noble all the time?"
"We are huntsmen." Ren still didn't quite like her being there.
"Sure." Emerald rolled her eyes.
Hazel was standing along one wall. "Killing ourselves by overexertion won't solve anything either," he said.
Oscar was sitting at one table, looking dejected--more so than usual.
"What about you, Teach?" Emerald said to him. "Any brilliant ideas yet?"
"Huh?" Oscar started.
"Geez, what part of outer space are you in right now?" Emerald said. "You've been acting weird all evening."
"How do you know?" Nora joked. "You don't even know Oscar."
"I'm pretty sure he's not this unfocused," Emerald said. "I mean, after holding out against torture, you'd think so anyway."
They frowned at her.
Oscar smiled rather flatly. "Yeah, I guess... That's...sorry. I'm just...lost in thought."
Winter walked in, looking around.
"Oh, look who's back from the dead," Emerald said, then seemed to remember that phrase might not be as sarcastic as it used to be.
"Are you okay?" Nora asked Winter. "We heard you collapsed."
"I'm fine." Winter put her hand on the back of a chair to steady herself while the room stopped moving. "Where is the rest of our diminished group?"
"Shine and Wally both went upstairs a while ago to shower and change, I think," Oscar said. "They said they were tired... But the good news is, Shine did get the tower here at some point today. I don't know where she found time for it. But Pietro is going to start working on it. And we're not to tell anyone about it, since that backfired so much in Atlas..."
Winter nodded tightly. "Yes...it would be best not to get people's hopes up until we can deliver."
"Oh, and Blake's parents are here," Oscar said. "They said they'd stay a few days... We...kind of had to tell them Blake is missing... We didn't say where, but they said she'd probably turn up. I'm sure they're worried...but they're willing to help us out while they're here. Gira wants to get the Faunus here to join his new White Fang...the peaceful one now. I guess their new mission is to partner with humanity instead of fighting it?"
"I'm sure that'd catch on," Emerald said sarcastically. "Hey, where's Qrow?"
Winter had been thinking the same thing but didn't like to say it.
"I don't know. I haven't seen him since this morning," Ren said, not very nicely. "But knowing him, he's probably at a pub."
"Or he could be patrolling around, looking for trouble," Nora offered. "After all, that's kinda his job, right?" She tried to sound upbeat, then she deflated. "He has to be taking Ruby and Yang's disappearance even harder than us."
"Oh, they're fine I'm sure." Emerald rolled her eyes. "No way they'd go out that easily after all the effort we went through to stop them."
"Are you purposely trying to be unhelpful, or is it just natural for you?" Ren said to her sharply.
Ren never made remarks like that, and it shocked his friends, and even Winter, who at least didn't take him for the type.
"Hey," Hazel said firmly. "Fighting each other is not useful. The girl has a point that your friends are pretty strong willed. If they're alive, they'll be working to get back here."
"If they can," Oscar said. "But...there has to be a way. I just wish we knew something."
"Ozpin really doesn't?" Hazel might not have been the brightest bulb in the shack, but he was suspicious of Ozpin enough to think of this.
And he kind of was right...though Winter didn't know this yet. But she thought Oscar looked uneasy.
"He kind of knows about it," he said. "But not how to get them back...honest. I've even tried searching his memory and nothing. Shine and Wally know the most about it."
"And why is that?" Emerald said suspiciously. "Are they from another world or something?"
Silence for a moment.
"That's ridiculous," Nora scoffed. "People don't just appear from other worlds!"
Winter thought it was an odd idea too...but then she thought...it would explain a lot...
She glanced at Oscar again, and he looked a little caught off guard.
"We have no knowledge of any door to another world ever opening before," Ren said, echoing Nora. "Just ours, so unless Ozpin made a portal like that, I don't see how anyone could have already made this trip."
"Well, I know they never said it when we talked about it," Nora said. "No way they'd not mention that, right? Besides they're, like, human--they can't be aliens!"
"It does seem improbable," Ren agreed. "It's pretty impossible...at least...it was."
Winter scrutinized Oscar and noticed Hazel was doing the same thing.
"Or it's possible," Hazel said aloud.
"Listen to the big guy." They all looked up to see Raven sitting atop one of the shelves for weapons in this hallway, cross-legged like it was her perch. How did she get up there?... Oh...she must be able to do the bird thing also...
Winter hadn't seen her do it, but it would make sense--she used to work for Ozpin.
"Maybe he's onto something," Raven added, arms folded.
"And why would you think that?" Ren looked up at her warily.
"Maybe I know things that you don't." Raven hopped down and sidled past them like she was trying to seem mysterious--kind of worked, too.
"Raven," Oscar said warningly, "don't put ideas into people's head just because you think it's fun."
Raven glanced at him and sized him up, then shrugged. "Well, it was just a thought. I just find it weird that the Staff can apparently do this, and none of you think that it could have happened before, that's all. Too bad you lost the Lamp. You could probably ask it what happened."
"Are you really just messing with us?" Emerald asked warily. "Or do you actually know something?"
"Do you think I'd be here if I knew?" Raven said, deflecting.
"I don't know," Emerald said. "Would you?"
"I have questions," Raven said. "Knowing Ozpin, I won't get the answers to them."
She sat down atop one of the desks and put her feet on it. "But I guess that doesn't deter his blind followers."
"We're not his blind followers," Ren said. "And you shouldn't do that to school property."
"This is Vacuo." Raven tapped the desk. "You really think I'm the first? You always this high strung, ninja kid?"
"Don't talk to me that," Ren said. "I'm not even sure why you're here. Didn't you stab us in the back in Haven?"
"In all fairness," Hazel said, "she did that to everyone, at least from what Watts told me."
"Oh, he talked?" Raven said airily. "Yes, he's the only one in the outfit with any brains. At least he knew that messing with me was a bad idea."
"Actually he was worried about the red-hooded kid," Hazel said. "But your besting Cinder certainly tickled him."
"Ew." Emerald made a face. "What did you do to Cinder anyway? I never heard what happened."
"She didn't talk about it?" Raven feigned surprise. "Wow...and here I thought freezing her in ice would finish off the b---h. Guess not if she's already stone cold."
She glanced at Winter. "Or should I reserve that moniker for you?"
"I prefer Lieutenant, actually," Winter said.
"A Lieutenant without a kingdom or an army is pretty sad," Raven said. "Probably pointless also. Seems like a hollow title to me."
"Better than Bandit Leader," Winter said.
"Oh, that one hurt," Raven said. "Schnees have never had good comebacks or good technique." She smirked. "I should know--we've robbed a multitude of your shipments."
"I'm aware. I'm not involved in the family business," Winter said.
"Oh, I know the whole story." Raven gestured widely. "I remember Qrow told me all about that scandal, back when we still kept in touch. Not that I didn't hear about it on my own. Honestly, I thought it was hilariously fitting, but also stupid. Who walks away from money just on principle?"
"Someone with principles," Winter said.
Oscar winced.
Nora choked on a laugh.
Raven frowned at her like that had actually hit home.
[You have to admit, that was a pretty good burn.]
"And how did that work out for you?" she asked snidely.
"So far, no complaints," Winter said stiffly.
Raven had no comeback for that, so she just dropped it. "Anyway, it's amounted to nothing. The SDC won't recover from this blow for ages. If we even have that long. Won't be worth the robbing, no doubt."
"You're really just going to sit there and talk about robbing?" Ren said. "The rest of us want to protect this kingdom, and you just talk about your own goals. If you don't want to help us, you could leave."
"I'm not here for you, kid," Raven said.
"Why are you here?" Nora was quizzical. "I don't get it. You just appeared. Kind of like Qrow, but not like Qrow, also."
"Where is he anyway?" Raven asked. "I'd think he'd be here if he wasn't off on a bend."
Emerald looked down.
"And where's that ever elusive Theo?" Raven said. "He was always the least boring of Ozpin's Lieutenants, but this is just underwhelming."
"He's still not speaking to us," Ren said.
"I wonder if it was something to do with what I saw him do yesterday." Raven held up her hand to examine her nails casually.
"What?" Nora said. Of course she was dying to be asked.
"Oh, nothing," Raven said.
"Don't frick with us. You clearly wanted to bring it up," Emerald said.
"Maybe, but why should I help you?" Raven said.
"Because we're letting you stay here," Ren said.
"Letting me?" Raven said warily. "And how would you propose to stop me, little man?"
Ren stood up.
Raven's eyes lit up with red flame.
Ren stepped back.
"Wait...Raven?" Nora look stunned. "You're the Maiden... I don't understand..."
"Really, no one told you yet?" Raven said.
"I...we've been busy," Oscar said. "I was going to fill you guys in when we had a moment, but it's been...hectic."
"And you didn't think to mention it at any point?" Ren said, looking around. "The Spring Maiden was her the entire time? Did anyone know about this?"
"No one," Oscar said.
"I think someone." Emerald crossed her arms. "Blondie, I bet. She got that dumb Lamp from somewhere. What, you think Miss Bandit just opened the door and then left without it? But why did you give it to her?"
That must have been a sore point with Raven, because she looked murderous.
"I had my reasons," she said warningly. "And they are my own. It doesn't concern you."
"I bet you just wanted Salem to go after them instead of the Bandits," Emerald said. "Wow...that's impressively diabolical. Aren't you worried for your family?"
Emerald really had no idea how much of a sore point that was--she was just going off what made the most sense to her, a criminal, and how they would think.
The reality that it was, in a twisted sense, true, but in another sense, not entirely true, only infuriated Raven further.
She sprang toward Emerald furiously. "And who are you to judge me, little girl? My tribe and I need to survive also, and do you really think you're more righteous? Who've you been working for? The person who put us all in this position to begin with!"
Emerald flinched.
Hazel put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back. "That's enough," he said firmly.
Raven didn't seem to think she could easily take him, so she backed off.
That outburst stunned everyone.
Raven, probably regretting it, angrily turned into a bird and flew out of the room.
"Well...that was weird." Nora said the obvious.
"Maybe she is a little like her brother," Oscar mused. "Something about that temper seemed familiar."
"No, she's far more coherent," Winter said coolly. "But also more threatening, I would judge."
"You really do talk just like Weiss." Nora eyed her knowingly. "Do you guys practice that snobby speaking at home?"
"The correct term would be cultured." Whitley came in. "My, my, I'm surprised you're all not off fighting monsters still."
"We should be," Ren said. "The huntsmen told us to take a break, but we'll take another watch in a few hours... I'd rather be out there now."
"We can't just work till we collapse," Nora said.
Oscar sighed. "Missing half our team isn't helping anything."
"Ah, Winter." Shine suddenly came in. "Glad to see you're awake. And the rest of you look like crap. You should go to bed."
"Thanks." Nora gave her a thumbs👍up.
"I don't think I could sleep," Oscar said.
"You know, if you mix a little whiskey in your water, it helps," Emerald said.
They all looked at her strangely.
"You drink?" Ren sounded horrified at the thought.
"I'm a thief, assassin, and former henchgirl," Emerald said, "and that's what shocks you? I mean, I don't really. Just...sometimes it gets hard to sleep on a giant Grimm..."
"Would drive most people to the bottle," Hazel agreed. "They're not the most reassuring companions to have in your house."
"I can't even imagine how you all stood it," Shine shuddered. "I hate the sight of them."
"They're even uglier from the inside," Oscar said.
"I'll bet," Shine said.
"The worst of it was the doorways," Oscar said.
"Oh yeah, the death tunnels," Emerald agreed. "They were so gross!"
"The way they opened too...and even looked like organs," Oscar said.
"Yeah, and even worse, it was, like...damp in there, like we were walking on spit or something." Emerald made a gagging face.
"Did it have a blow hole?" Wally followed Shine into the room.
"I don't think so," Emerald said.
"Might have," Hazel said. "I never saw how Salem got on the top of it."
"Ew..." Wally, Shine, Oscar, and Emerald all said in unison.
Oscar bonding with the newbie ex-henchgirl over how gross Grimm were was not something Ren and Nora were ready for, and Ren grimaced.
"You should have seen the Grimm ponds," Emerald added. "These things would just rise out of them. It was awful."
"What Grimm ponds?" Winter looked up sharply.
"Like that river," Shine said, "but the origin of it... How Salem got that to run through the ground is beyond me."
"Got me," Emerald said. "But yeah, exactly. There's these gross ponds that the Grimm pop out of on their own, but Salem also can just make them, however she wants. That's how she made all the stuff...and the Hound too, I bet..."
"Did she...toss a person in there?" Ren asked, in horror.
"I'm not sure," Emerald said.
"Could that be the effect it had on regular people?" Shine wondered. "I'm sure there's more to it than that, but still...ugh..."
Oscar touched his face. "Would...touching that goo do it?"
"I'm sure it takes more focused magic than that," Shine said quickly. "Humans touch Grimm all the time. It can't be as simple as that."
Emerald shuddered.
"No one knows how she did that," Hazel said. "Some things are better left unasked."
"And it took you this long to quit?" Wally said. "I think Monstro would have done if for me even before the Hellhound did."
Shine laughed.
"You tell yourself you don't mind things until you believe it," Hazel said grimly.
Emerald shook her head.
"But where are these ponds?" Winter asked.
"They're...in the land of the Grimm," Emerald said.
"No one ever goes there," Hazel said. "Not unless Salem allows it. No one would make it across the border."
"That's where her headquarters is," Shine added. "Her weird, dark castle."
"You've seen it?" Emerald looked at her oddly.
"In a sense," Shine said. "Horrifying, isn't it?"
"Wait...you've all been to her hideout?" Oscar said. "I didn't even know she had one."
"You thought she had no home base?" Hazel said. "By the gods, how thickheaded is Ozpin?"
"I knew that!" Ozpin said snippily. "Just because Oscar didn't, doesn't mean I didn't."
"Really the time for wounded pride, Oz?" Shine said dryly.
Everyone looked at her oddly except Oscar.
"Ozpin didn't say anything," Emerald said.
"You just didn't hear it." Shine shrugged.
"Stop doing that," Ozpin said. "It's unsettling."
"Oh, cry me a river," Shine said. "You do it to the rest of us when you can."
"Was that still to Ozpin?" Nora asked.
"I assume so," Ren said. "She can hear him?... She's spoken to him before...I think...hasn't she?"
Around them, Shine wasn't sure.
"Well, I see you're feeling better, Mr. West," Oscar changed the subject hastily.
"Yeah," Wally said. "Just better not push it like that again."
"Where is Qrow?" Shine asked. "I'd have thought he'd be back by now."
"We don't know," Nora sighed.
"Raven was here, briefly," Ren said. "She hinted at knowing something about Headmaster Theodore, but then she would tell us nothing. Also, apparently she is the Maiden."
"Did you not know that?" Shine asked. "Huh..."
"What if Emerald is right about Yang knowing?" Nora said suddenly. "Why would she keep that from us?"
"I'm sure she didn't," Ren said.
Emerald snorted contemptuously at that idea.
Oscar was pretty sure Yang had known, even without hearing the conversation already that confirmed it.
"Yes, I suspected it must have been her," Ozpin said in his mind, "ever since Miss Likstar said it was someone on the team. Who else would it be?"
"I just didn't want to think it," Oscar sighed.
"I know the feeling," Ozpin said.
"It's funny--" Qrow suddenly startled all of them by appearing in the doorway. "--how you think you know people, and then you don't."
"Where have you been?" Nora asked him.
Qrow didn't appear drunk, to their surprise.
Winter eyed him suspiciously.
"Aren't you supposed to be on bed rest?" He caught her looking and gave her an annoyed look.
Winter straightened, which made her headache worse.
"Well?" Emerald looked at Qrow hopefully.
Qrow frowned. "Well, there's good news, and there's bad news."
"What's the bad news?" Shine asked.
"What's the good news?" Wally asked.
"About what?" Ren asked.
"Huh?" Nora said.
"Just shut up," Emerald said. "What is it?"
"The good news is, I did spy your little friend on the east side of the kingdom," Qrow said. "The questionable side of town...even for Vacuo. Not a kid-friendly place, I'll just put it that way."
"Oh..." Wally said. "Yugh..."
"So what was the good news?" Shine said dryly.
"The bad news is, Tyrian wasn't with him," Qrow said.
"Wait, how is that bad news?" Emerald said, hopefully.
"Because if he isn't with him, he's somewhere else," Hazel said stoically, "probably killing someone or plotting to. Mercury left on his own is strange, however. He might be an assassin, but I thought that his only confirmed kills were his father and that one shop owner, which wasn't even alone."
"Hey!" Emerald said.
"You killed a shop owner?" Ren said.
"He was a rat!" Emerald said. "I mean, technically he was a puma, I think, but the point is...uh... Hey, like it's that big a deal."
"It kind of is," Nora said testily.
"It wasn't anyone you knew," Emerald said.
"That is hardly the point." Winter frowned.
"The military kills people all the time!" Emerald said.
"Enough," Shine said. "We knew Emerald had a record. Why are you all acting surprised? It changes nothing. To the point, Qrow, did he see you?"
"Whom are we speaking of?" Winter said, rubbing her temples. "The other minor? What was his name? Merry..."
"Mercury," Emerald said.
"Mercury Black," Ren frowned. "The one who got Yang disqualified at the Festival."
"Actually that was me," Emerald said.
"Right." Ren frowned at her even more.
"He's a jerk," Nora said.
"But he's a kid," Shine said.
"A mean one, but still, a kid," Wally agreed. "And Tyrian is...Tyrian, so I hope that we're all thinking that Mercury would be better off with us."
Emerald looked at him, surprised.
"Wait, with us?" Ren said. "Two of them is bad enough, but a third one who hasn't even been disloyal to Salem yet? That's just insanity."
"That does sound problematic, at best," Winter agreed.
"And it's less problematic to have him work for the enemy?" Shine said. "What is wrong with you people and your strategy? A double agent is far more useful than an enemy, if you'd prefer to see it that way. Anyone who might leave Salem is a plus for us."
"Do we have any sign that he would?" Winter asked.
"He will!" Emerald insisted. "I'm sure, when he knows the truth."
"I hate to be a naysayer," Hazel said, "but didn't you try to tell him the truth before he left?"
"Yeah, but Tyrian got in the way," Emerald said. "I mean, maybe if we'd had a few more hours--he left before Oscar gave us the password."
"You gave them that password?!" Ren and Nora both turned to Oscar in horror.
"It...was a risk I had to take," Oscar said meekly.
"What if it had backfired?" Ren said. "Or it did, in fact, if that other woman took it. What if she heard also?"
"Pine trusted us," Hazel said. "It was his move."
"You can't just do things like that," Ren said.
"On your own," Nora added. "I mean, what happened to making team decisions about things like that?"
"Hey, he had to bail himself out of a tight spot," Emerald said. "Why are you getting mad at him?"
"Because it could have gone wrong in so many ways," Ren said. "What if you were only pretending to be wavering in order to get it? It was pure foolishness."
"Even if they had been, there could be truth in that," Shine spoke up. "Leave him alone, Ren. He had success. That is all that matters."
"I'm not of the mind that success justifies foolishness," Winter said.
"She wouldn't like my League strategies," Wally muttered.
"Winter--" Shine gestured around. "Playing it safe got all of you nowhere in Atlas. Like it or not, risks are part of success. Oscar took a gamble, but some gamble had to be taken. Things couldn't go on this way forever. And if he was right, then it shows his judgment was sound in assessing the situation, not that he was reckless. He understood Hazel and Emerald enough to know they were sincere. A trait, I might add, that none of the rest of you possess that I've noticed."
Qrow cocked his head at her.
Oscar nodded at Shine thankfully.
"And hey, don't pick on the kid who just got tortured to protect your guys' secrets," Wally said.
"In all fairness," Ozpin said, "Hazel did think it could be a trap, so there was some chance that he would not have gone right to Salem."
"Well, there you go," Shine said. "Ozpin just said that Hazel thought it was a trap at first, or could have been, so he didn't rush right to Salem. And of course he'd be suspicious of Oscar just giving him an answer--he could have been stalling, hoping for rescue, after all. So it wasn't as reckless as you all think, but that's beside the point. He's done well."
"Maybe you trust them, but I don't," Ren said.
"No one asked you." Emerald crossed her arms.
He glared at her.
"I don't blame you for not trusting us," Hazel said grimly. "We know why we're here. That's all that matters to me. I don't care what you think. I never expected to make it out alive."
"You're welcome." Wally waved.
Hazel only nodded in response.
"All of you seem to have forgotten we were actually talking about someone else," Qrow said.
"So what did you do?" Emerald said.
"Nothing. I said I'd look for him, not talk to him," Qrow said.
"Why would you agree to do that at all?" Winter said. "Did you think he was a threat?"
"Yeah, kind of," Qrow said. "But also, kid had a point." Nodding at Emerald.
Emerald looked surprised again.
"Well...assuming he is a threat...what was he doing?" Winter said.
"Weirdest part of all--nothing," Qrow said. "Figure he was waiting for something, some signal."
Shine suddenly got a strange look. "Or someone," she said. "Excuse me." She ran out of the room.
"What was that?" Qrow said.
Winter suddenly stood up. "Miss Branwen."
"I don't get it," Nora said.
"You think Raven is working with them?" Qrow said.
"No, you idiot," Winter said, starting to move after Shine--then she stopped and put a hand over her mouth.
"Winter?" Oscar said, concerned.
"You look a little whiter than usual," Emerald said.
Winter ran out of the room suddenly, and they all heard her be promptly sick right in the dirt just outside the front door.
"Oh dear." Klein passed by the door. "Miss Winter? Perhaps you had better go on an IV..."
"Well...that wasn't good," Nora said.
"This is just great." Qrow rolled his eyes. "Half our team is gone, Theo is MIA, one Maiden is down, and the other is my sister. My Semblance is working overtime."
"Your what now?" Emerald said.
"Bad Luck," Nora said.
"Dude, there's no way that's just your Semblance," Emerald said. "I think your lives just genuinely suck."
"Then why are you here?" Ren said crisply.
"Maybe Salem sucks more?" Wally suggested. "I'd better find out what Shine was onto. Later." He dashed away.
"How is he so fast?" Hazel asked. "Even with a Semblance, I've never seen anyone move that fast."
"Maybe it's all the coffee," Nora suggested humorously.