"What did you see Theo do?" Shine grabbed Raven off the windowsill she was on before the older woman could even react. She must really have been lost in thought.
"Get off me." Raven threw her off. Then she put a hand on her hip. "Why should I tell you? You still owe me information."
Shine looked annoyed for a moment, but then she drew a deep breath. "Fair enough. You first."
"Why would I go first?" Raven asked.
"Because I told you something last night, and it's your turn," Shine said.
"I've given you more leads than that," Raven said.
"No one ever said anything about amounts. I gave you a bonus tip," Shine said. "It's your turn."
"I don't think that makes us even," Raven said. "My information is more useful than yours was."
"That entirely depends on your point of view, Raven," Shine said, crossing her arms. "And you're kind of dumb to assume that right off. I thought you were smarter than that."
Raven frowned at her...then, after giving it some thought, she said, "How about I give you part of the answer?"
"It's a start," Shine said.
"Then you give me something," Raven said, tapping her sword hilt. "I'm not the most patient woman in the world."
"Neither am I," Shine said. "But I'm working on it... So what did Theo do?"
"I don't know exactly what he did," Raven shrugged. "But I saw him on his scroll after you all left, and then he left his office very fast. I followed him at a distance, and he headed off to the east side of the kingdom...not a lot of cover there, and he'd definitely notice a bird out there, so I stopped following him... Anyway, he knows what I look like."
"But there's a bit more to it," Shine surmised. "What do you want me to tell you?"
"After what I heard earlier, I already know, but I want to hear you confirm it," Raven said tightly. "You're really from another world?"
"Sure," Shine said. "Is that all you wanted to know?"
"No," Raven said. "How are you here? Why?"
"Oh, I think that's extra info," Shine said slyly.
"What did I miss?" Wally skidded into the hallway, making Raven tense.
"Theo's up to something weird in the east side," Shine said.
"So he's, like, meeting up with that kid?" Wally asked.
"That remains to be seen," Shine said.
Raven accepted his intrusion into the conversation with quiet resignation and sighed. "Well, I might have gotten a look at his scroll screen before he answered it."
"And?" Shine asked.
Raven hesitated. "It said Madman."
"Tyrian," Shine said at once.
"He labeled him Madman?" Wally said. "Savage."
"Sounds like Theo." Shine shook her head. "This is worse than I thought."
"And...?" Raven looked at her pointedly.
"We're here to help," Shine said. "Sent from the unknown God, (to you anyway). Elohei haElohim. The God of gods."
Raven narrowed her eyes. "The god of gods?"
"Lord of Lords, King of Kings, Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counselor, Lord of Light, God Almighty, The God Who Sees, The God Who Hears, The God Who Heals," Shine rattled off. "God With Us: Emmanuel. Jesus: Deliverer. He has many names. The most Holy of all is I AM."
Raven stepped back a little. "I AM?" she said, and it made her feel odd to say it, despite her not understanding what it meant.
"Was, and is, and is to come," Shine shrugged. "Well, you wanted the truth. If you don't like it, do not blame me. Toodles." She walked away.
Wally chuckled. "My girl sure does know how to make an exit, huh? I'm not really that good at that so...bye."
He vanished from sight.
Raven now understood that he was, in fact, moving too fast for her eyes to pick it up. At first it had seemed like teleporting.
She just stood there for a second before following them back down to the others.
* * *
Winter had refused to go back to her room, but Klein made her sit down and take some medicine to help boost her electrolytes, and drink water.
The others were too afraid of her to argue about this, but they wondered if she'd faint again.
Qrow just thought she was being stupid, but of course his vote wouldn't get very far.
Shine and Wally rejoined them much sooner than they thought they would.
"It would seem that Theo may already have played us false," Shine said. "It's not any great surprise after the welcome we had. But it looked as though he may already have met up with that fiend Tyrian."
"What?" Emerald stood up.
"How do you know?" Hazel asked.
"Raven saw him head to the East Side, same as where Qrow saw Mercury," Shine said. "But yesterday, meaning it could explain why Mercury was alone today, waiting for a message, I suppose. And Theo does not seem to be around now."
"Are you saying he's already sold us out?" Qrow was mad. "That snake! I'm going to kill him when he gets back."
"You'll do nothing of the sort," Shine said. "This is the time to be cautious."
"Cautious?" Qrow said. "I'll show you cautious! Aren't you people sick of the double crossing yet?"
"And do you want it to keep happening?" Shine asked. "What do you think would be accomplished by you fighting him now? Even if you did kill him, Vacuo already hates us. You want to make it worse. As if they'll take our words for it that it was shady. We have no proof. So sit the heck down and shut the heck up, Qrow. We need to discuss this rationally."
Qrow stared at her for a second, then, to their shock, he actually did it.
Winter couldn't believe it. Since when did Qrow listen to her?
"Nice," Emerald said to Shine.
"Don't start, Emerald," Shine said warningly. "Now let's think carefully about this."
"What is there to think about?" Ren said. "We're not safe here."
"Well, hey, no one's come yet," Wally said.
"It could happen tonight," Ren said. "We could be murdered in our beds! I bet he only agreed to let us stay here so we'd be easy to keep track of."
"And if you really thought that wasn't the case anyway, you didn't learn much from Atlas," Shine said cuttingly. "Now shut up and let us talk."
"Why should I?" Ren said.
"Ren," Oscar said.
"No, I'd like to know why you suddenly are in charge," Ren said.
Winter rubbed her head.
She looked terrible, Shine thought.
Wally frowned at Ren.
"You know why you're going to listen to her?" he said, speaking more forcefully than they were used to from him. "Because she's been right about every single thing she's told you since day one, and none of you gave us a freaking ounce of confidence about it. Shine predicted what would happen in Atlas, and she predicted who you could trust, and she's been helping Oscar and Pyrrha and all of you. And most of you haven't said even one thank you about it. You kids have to be the most ungrateful people I've ever met--I mean, outside of bad guys, anyway. Usually when someone saves your butt, you thank them, even if you don't like them. So, Ren, kid, how about you sit down, button it up, and let us actually help you before this turns into Atlas 2.0."
They all stared at him in shock.
Raven, who was in the hall listening to this, almost laughed.
Ren looked at Wally in bewilderment, then he sat down and clammed up.
Winter looked up at them, amazed again.
No one else dared to argue.
"So, what do you think we should do?" Oscar was the first to say.
"Here's the deal," Shine said, after nodding at Wally to show she was impressed. "Theo thinks we're all too stupid to be onto him, right? Why not keep it that way? You think Tyrian will come here, but let's be realistic--even if he got in and killed someone, the rest of us would be bound to notice. There's a lot of huntsmen here, and he could hardly go unnoticed. Plus, it makes Theo look bad if that happens. Theo wouldn't be conspiring with him to do that. If he wants us dead, he'll set a trap for us outside the school where it won't be traced back to him. Whether or not that means us all having to pull double shift out there, I'm not sure. Somehow it doesn't feel like a trap yet. We can't assume he's actually selling us out till we know more--there's a strong chance, but while he seems like a rat, he doesn't seem quite that cold to me. He would have to have a reason. We find the reason, we find another solution, we solve the problem."
"You want us to try to solve it?" Nora said. "But he's a rat. We should just take him down."
"Without proof?" Shine said.
"So we get proof," Qrow said.
"How?" Shine asked him.
Pause.
"Well...we could wait for him to make a mistake," Qrow said. "Bait the hook a little."
"I believe that was exactly what she was suggesting, Qrow," Winter said wearily.
"It was actually," Shine said, "if you'd let me finish."
Qrow looked perturbed.
"A fair idea, Miss Likstar," Winter said, wincing again. "But how do we survive in the meantime?"
"One has to figure, until they can secure the Summer Maiden, Tyrian will not cause a huge fuss," Shine said. "Much as he'd like to, it's not pragmatic--this whole city would be looking for him, and I somehow doubt they'll mimic Atlas' policy of not informing people about the known murderer. Everyone looks out for themselves here, right? So they'll just tell people, 'Shoot the guy on sight.' It would behoove us to out Tyrian first. The harder we make it for him to snoop around, the more time it might take for him to find the Maiden. While I think the powers are stupid, we certainly don't want Cinder having them. She's enough trouble with one set of them."
The kids nodded at that.
"So we stall," Shine said. "Meanwhile we try to find her ourselves. We need to decide if she's in on this, or Theo is acting on his own. He hasn't shown Qrow where she is yet, so that's also odd."
"He never was one to share that bit of info," Qrow said. "I thought he didn't know for a long time. But now I think it must have been deliberate for a lot longer than he said."
"Question," Wally said, "wasn't there someone called Summer here? I know all of you Maidens have, like, some name that has to do with the powers."
Silence.
"Summer Rose was Ruby's mother," Oscar said finally.
Hazel looked way.
"You...don't know what happened to her, do you?" Oscar asked him.
Qrow looked up.
"Some things you don't want to know," Hazel said.
Qrow jumped up and lunged at him, slamming him into the wall--impressive, considering how huge Hazel was.
Winter stood up--and then sat back down.
"Did you help kill her?" Qrow said in a dreadful voice.
Even Hazel seemed nervous about this. "No..." he said.
"Then what? What do you know?" Qrow said.
"Stop it!" Emerald had her hands on her weapons.
"Wally." Shine jerked her head frantically.
Wally pushed Qrow and Hazel apart. He was much stronger than Qrow expected for his size.
"That's enough," he said. "You guys need to chill. I'm sure Hazel didn't...right, Hazel?"
Hazel looked down. "I knew of her confronting Salem."
A pause.
"She was never seen again," Hazel said. "She might have been the only one who ever made it that far, but, no one comes out of those lands alive."
Qrow hesitated for a second, then he punched him.
"Qrow!" Oscar cried.
"What is he doing?" Ozpin said. "Qrow, what is wrong with you?"
Of course no one but Shine heard that.
"You people don't care who you kill, do you?" Qrow said, livid. "What it does to people."
"Hazel didn't kill her!" Emerald said. "Neither of us did. Why the heck would she go to find Salem anyway?"
"Because she was a hero," Qrow said.
"But what about the Houn--?" Emerald began.
Wally covered her mouth really fast. "Shhh."
Emerald realized that wasn't a smart thing to bring up right then.
"I'm sorry," Hazel said regretfully, "for what it's worth. We can't stop Salem from what she does... If your friend went to find her, there's a reason that no one ever came back."
"You can shove your apologies up you--" Qrow used some choice words there. "It doesn't change anything."
He made a fist.
A summoned bird flew in between him and Hazel and shoved him.
They all turned. Winter had her sword jammed in the ground.
She was perspiring, but she said slowly, "That is enough!"
Maybe her condition at the moment actually did her a favor; Qrow might have retaliated against anyone who looked healthy.
He clenched his fist tightly, but then he stalked away, kicking the wall as he went out.
A crack in the wall appeared.
"I don't understand," Oscar said. "Why did he react like that?"
"Summer and Qrow were very close," Ozpin said regretfully. "I believe that is why he is so attached to Ruby. Sometimes I think he would not have joined us if Summer hadn't befriended him."
"I thought as much," Shine sighed, leaning on the wall. "Don't take it personally, Hazel... There's a lot of painful memories involved in team STRQ's history. Summer's loss tore them apart, I think. I'm glad Ruby was not here to hear that, in a way."
"It's better that she's gone?" Ren said.
"While usually reckless and insolent, I have never seen Qrow as unhinged as the past two days," Winter said, leaning on the desk she was by again. "Loss does strange things to people, I suppose."
"It did a number on Ironwood," Emerald said. "But that guy is almost scarier than him."
"No, he's not," Shine said, "believe me. Qrow has a temper, but he'd never hurt an innocent person over it. Ironwood did that even without being angry. Don't confuse the two. Hazel is not personally responsible here, so I can't assign blame personally. We don't know what happened, but I think I've pieced together that Summer hunted Salem down."
"Salem did say that," Wally said. "Something about her saying she couldn't stop her and that she was wrong, too... It was totally creepy. That was when I told her off... I guess that's why she hates me now."
"Oh gosh, what did you say?" Nora said.
"I might have...kind of said that she had kids once and shouldn't be picking on kids because of that..." Wally said.
"What?" Emerald said.
"Salem had kids?" Hazel said.
They both looked horrified.
"Actually they were normal," Oscar said. "Other than they could do magic... They...uh...they died..." He felt Ozpin's sadness as he said it.
"And she didn't kill you right then?" Hazel said.
"I don't think smokey Salem could actually hurt people," Wally said.
"That would do it." Shine patted him on the back. "She'll be out for you now...but it's fine--I won't let her get close. I can just stab her again."
Emerald just shook her head at Shine.
"Hey, telling Salem off is pretty awesome," Nora said. "At least I think so... Weren't you freaked out?"
"Well, yeah, but she made me mad," Wally said. "I hate it when people push kids around."
"Me too," Shine said.
Whitley, who'd been silent this entire time and hiding in the corner, looked over at her. So that was consistent, huh?
"Back to the point," Oscar said. "I don't know if Qrow will cooperate with our idea to play this close to the chest--Oh, I sound like them." He winced. "But...uh, assuming he does, then what? How can we trap Theo?"
"Let him trap himself," Shine said. "Perhaps there is a reason he's doing this. He wouldn't side with them so lightly. Despite Ozpin's poor hiring strategy, I take it he at least chooses people who are not outright evil. That makes it harder to judge."
"Why? They are still siding with evil," Ren said.
"And I am against that," Shine said. "But no one always does good either, Ren. We can easily blame them and then get caught ourselves in doing the same thing--oh wait, that happened already, didn't it?"
That savage roast made all of them wince, even the two villains.
"Or, we can try to understand it, and so turn the tide in our favor again," Shine said. "We can use this time to get stronger as a team. And when it's opportune, we make a move."
"That's what we did at Haven, and it didn't go that well..." Oscar said.
"The difference is this time we're not going to be chasing false leads and planning to attack Raven," Shine said. "I think there are better things we could be doing than that, but you all seriously need to practice your teamwork also. Atlas just about broke you, and if you don't clear the air and get rid of this big, tumescent chunk of resentment and guilt that's eating you all up, you might as well just march into Salem's house yourselves, because that is how easy it will be for her to defeat you."
"If you want us to cooperate so much, why not finally tell us who you are?" Ren said.
Shine narrowed her eyes at him. "I won't tell you for your asking," she said. "You earn my trust also, same as everyone else's. I've seen far too much lack of consideration for people from you today to feel like you're ready to hear it. If you want us to be comfortable confiding in you, Ren, than you had better dang well start opening up to your team yourself. Do not ask for what you will not give."
"Well, it's about time someone said that," Emerald shrugged.
"And what about them?" Ren pointed at them. "Have they earned your trust?"
"Well, it takes a big person to admit they were wrong," Shine said.
"And Hazel is a big person." Wally winked.
Nora snickered but then saw Ren's expression and stopped.
"So they got off to a decent start," Shine said.
Ren shook his head. "I don't get it. You hold back from us, but you freely trust people who are known murderers and liars and thieves and who work for our worst enemy. That makes no sense."
Shine frowned, then with a nod at Wally, who nodded back, she walked a few paces around the room and then she answered:
"Let me tell you a story or two. One of the writers of my home once told a tale in which he said that there were two sorts of people in the world: ones who were humans turning into beasts, and the others who were beasts turning into humans. It's a metaphor... The person with true discernment can tell the differences. But the ability to discern such things was only given by fire. Who can tell me what that means?"
Silence momentarily, then Oscar, seeing no one else was going to answer, spoke up. "It means that sometimes, to really see who someone is, you have to suffer something first."
"Suffer it willingly," Shine clarified. "When you choose to suffer, it brings clarity unlike anything else. It changes us. All life is not pain, but all life has pain in it. Those who accept that and learn from it will get the farthest, not those who take only pain or try only to avoid it. But basically yes, Oscar."
Emerald and Hazel glanced at Oscar. They clearly understood her point.
[Because how could I not? Another AMV by Apotheosis to "Believer".]
"And there's another story," Shine said. "This one is from my teacher. There was once a man with two sons. He told the first to go and do a task, and the son said, 'I will do it,' but then he did not do it. The second son said, 'I will not,' but then he went and did it. My teacher then asked His class: Which of these sons loved the father best?"
"It would be the one who did it," Winter spoke up. They'd all forgotten she was there, she'd been so quiet.
"That was what He said," Shine nodded. "Now, if you understand what I'm saying, I hope that's the last of this conversation."
She hadn't much hope of it, but if it was least postponed, that was something.
Emerald wasn't sure what she was saying at all, but Hazel had a pretty good guess.
"On top of that," Wally added, "it's just the right thing to do. And I mean, it takes serious guts for them to walk out on Salem. She is not a very nice person. She'll come for them first, right? So it says something that they're even here."
"Unless it was a trick," Ren said.
"Oh, frick off," Emerald said. "It's not a trick!"
Ren shook his head. "I should go stand watch," he said, leaving.
"He's...not himself," Nora said. "He's upset about Jaune and Pyrrha...so...it's...just... Don't worry so much. I'll watch him."
She followed.
"Our numbers are dwindling enough without dividing us more," Winter said.
"Sometimes you have to be willing to stand your ground," Shine said, firmly. "People do not always agree, but there is a right path and it has to be found. We cannot compromise on this one. Either we are in or out. And if out, we're doomed, to put it bluntly."
"I won't stop you from pursuing this end," Winter said, "but I prefer to have another plan."
"And you need to go rest," Shine said.
"There is no time for that," Winter said.
"You'll find time," Shine said. She fixed her with a look.
Winter knew that she could not keep going in this condition, despite her words. So she conceded very reluctantly.
She went back to her room, but she would only sleep fitfully, given her agitated state of mind.
Klein shook his head, but he had plenty of other people to attend to. Penny had brought many more people to the medical tents who were getting heatstroke--though it was finally dark and this had died down.
Oscar and the two villains remained, but Shine told him to go to bed also.
Oscar obeyed her as meekly as he usually listened, but he said, "I'm sure you can come up with a way to solve things with Theodore, but it's disappointing how few friends we have left...and I'm worried about the ones who are still missing. I just wish we knew what happened to them."
He left sadly.
"For real, are you just not telling them that they're probably dead?" Emerald asked, rather subdued despite her word choice.
"I don't think that they are." Shine rubbed her face. "But I can't be sure what has happened to them."
"Seems like we could find some way to get them," Wally said.
"But we have not been given permission to do this," Shine said.
"You worry an awful lot about permission," Hazel said. "Sometimes you need to do a thing because it has to be done."
Shine's temper was frayed enough, as the whole conversation had shown, without getting this from Hazel.
"The man who just found the right path yesterday should not be so quick to tell us what has to be done," she said sharply. "I'm quite pleased that you've joined us, but I do not take council from people with such demonstrably poor judgment until I've seen proof that they've learned better. Don't presume to know why we need permission. You know nothing of these matters whatsoever. It's just cheeky to advise us on them."
"A man can have an opinion," Hazel said.
"Certainly," Shine said. "And God can tell him that opinion has no relevance whatsoever to the truth. A man may not like that, but it does not change what is true. Perhaps you also do not like the law that cutting someone means they will bleed, but it will not change that law. The same with tearing things in reality. Do not try to circumvent those laws."
"I...uh... Not to be rude--" Emerald was oddly meek. "--but...can't you circum--surpass--get around those laws with your doorway thingies?"
"Not at all," Shine said. "We follow them. Sanctioned interference is different. What is stolen and what is given serve two different purposes, don't they?"
"No they don't," Emerald said, shrugging. "Something you steal, you'd use the same as if it was given to you."
"Is that so?" Shine tilted her head. "So you think the attitude we use it with has nothing to do with the outcome?"
"I don't see how it would change the purpose." Emerald shrugged again.
"If you don't read the manual, don't you think you might miss something?" Wally said.
"All you do is echo her." Hazel nodded at Shine. "But you ought to think for yourself. Take responsibility. If you can help those kids, you should do it. Whatever she thinks."
Shine looked at Hazel with something like disbelief, then at Wally.
"I think there was something wrong with that," Wally said.
"Hazel!" Emerald hissed, freaked out. "Don't say that!"
He raised an eyebrow at her.
Shine looked him up and down, then suddenly she laughed, it seemed sincerely.
"Normally, I'd be pissed off, but I don't have the energy for another lecture tonight," she said, waving her hands. "Well, let him be that way for now. If it matters later, I'll do something about it, eh, Hon?"
"Sure, if you feel that way," Wally said. "I mean...it was kind of insulting to me too."
"Oh, sure, but I wouldn't want to 'speak' for you," Shine said with killing sarcasm. "But I won't stop you from speed punching him if you want to. I'm going to bed. Goodness knows we'll need energy for tomorrow, and I'm not sure I've slept 8 hours since Atlas last week."
She walked out of the room without another look at Hazel.
"I'm kind of too tired to punch people." Wally waved at them, but not very friendly like. "I guess you're kind of bitter and angry, but geez, man, show some appreciation. We're some of the only people okay with you being here. Now is the time to start questioning our judgment? For real? Bye."
He dashed away.
"Are you crazy?" Emerald demanded of Hazel.
"Why are you so jumpy?" Hazel failed to understand her.
"Um, did you miss that that woman stabbed Salem and somehow got away?" Emerald said. "The frick, she's not afraid of her at all. You want to screw with that? She could kill us both."
"I don't think they believe in that," Hazel said.
"Real comforting," Emerald shivered. "The worst of this is not having anywhere to go. We're surrounded by enemies, literally, and even that headmaster is dirty."
"Makes one realize how it must be for them all the time," Hazel said. "How many allies have we turned against them, and for a lie?"
"We didn't know it was a lie..." Emerald said.
"Deep down, I wonder if I always knew," Hazel mused grimly.
"I'm just saying, can you not make it worse by picking a fight with the two scary powerhouses who are whipping everyone else into submission?" Emerald said. "They are not the ones we should risk pissing off. Seems to me if they have your back, no one else can touch you. Oscar seems all right, but if they turn on you, it's probably a death sentence. Even Raven is cooperating with them."
"And right you are to fear them." Raven appeared in the doorway, looking smug.
They both turned. Emerald jumped, and Hazel only stiffened.
"Eavesdropping is not appreciated," he said.
"As if it makes any difference," Raven said. "Let me give you a free tip, girl." She looked at Emerald. "I remember you from before. Don't think I've forgotten. Gullible and easily led, not much of a threat. Far as I'm concerned, you're both sheep, actually. So let me spell it out for you--you want to frick with this group of people, it's a safe bet with most of them. They're stupid. Especially my brother... But those two are the reason I'm here. The guy isn't as dumb as he looks, though he's nothing to the girl. She's the trickiest woman I've ever met, and I'm not used to saying that. I'd say we're about evenly matched, but that's me, the infamously clever Bandit Queen."
"And infamously humble." Hazel had no opinion of Raven whatsoever.
Raven shrugged. "It's not only myself who says it, but have whatever opinion you wish. I'm saying you're both outmatched. You push them, they could make your life a living hell. They know how to get what they want, and you want to mess with people who can bring someone back from the dead and laugh like it's nothing? Clearly they aren't scared of you."
"And you care because...?" Hazel didn't think Raven's advice came for free.
"I don't," Raven said. "But I'm not dumb enough to trust either of you myself. If you are tricking us, don't think you won't get found out... I'm just saying, you may not think I can do much to you, but they can... You won't be able to touch them, and I'm not going to cross them till I know more."
"So you just want to threaten us with them because you think you're on their good side?" Emerald said.
"Well, I've been quite useful to them. Can you say the same?" Raven said.
"I... They.." Emerald trailed off.
"And then there's Pine, who's been most, surprisingly, not as thick as his intruder," Raven said. "Kid has potential. Another 10 years might make him a pretty formidable force in the Bandit world. He got you fools to follow him."
"We didn't follow him, we just escaped with him," Emerald said.
"It's hilarious to me that you see a difference there," Raven said. "Where will you go? Who would take you in?" She scrutinized them coldly. "You would be wise to play it safe."
Hazel wasn't scared of her in the least, but he didn't care for her frightening Emerald further.
Putting a hand on Emerald's shoulder, he said firmly, "We don't need your advice. Mind your own business, and we'll mind ours."
Always a man of few words, Hazel still managed to make them pretty intimidating.
Raven had no real retort for it. She was one to be quick and control the conversation, but without that, she had few threats that wouldn't sound foolish under the circumstances.
So she just smiled rather unsettlingly and flew away.