[Ready to finish this? I know I am.]
* * *
"Alice, where are you wandering now?" Her sister's voice startled her out of her musings.
Alicia Vundar sat up straight and lifted her teacup.
"Beg pardon," she said. "You were saying?"
"Oh, it doesn't matter, it was nothing of importance," Clara, her sister, who was 10 years her senior, said mildly. "But I declare, you've been wandering all afternoon. Have my tea parties grown so dull after all these years?"
"Oh, no." Alicia put the cup down and straightened her dress. "You know me, Clara. Always off in some other world."
"Quite literally," Clara said, amused. "I still remember when you told me of that first adventure of yours and I thought it was a strangely real dream. If I'd known it was only the beginning back then, I'd have written it down."
"I wrote it down myself, so there was no need," Alicia said, amused. [Real reference to Alice in Wonderland, by the way. Alice tells her sister everything, and her sister actually finds it enchanting rather than silly like in the movie.]
"Alice--" Clara always left off the 'i' of the name, and Alicia always left off the 'a' of hers. "I've been thinking, lately... well, is everything all right? Your last mission went all right, didn't it?"
"Oh, yes, splendidly." Alicia had only just returned from one, a short one. "They just needed a bit of a nudge."
"You never go on those long ones now," Clara noted. "Not that I'm not glad to have you around... but don't you get lonesome, alone in this house?"
"I'm not alone. There's the servants," Alicia said.
"Oh, I know." Clara sipped her tea. "You don't care about rank... and that's lovely, but... well, how could they be the same as real companions who don't get paid? Surely not all relationships in your life should be professional ones."
"Well, I have you," Alicia said.
"Yes, but one tea party a month is hardly enough. What do you do with yourself when you're not on missions?"
"I've always been fond of my own company," Alicia said. "You needn't worry."
"Well, if I may risk being more bold, then," Clara said candidly, "I don't quite think you've ever been the same since that one mission."
Clara knew about her failed Remnant one. Alicia had no secrets from her sister... but she had kept some of the particulars to herself.
"I suppose it's hard to feel as sure of oneself after one has failed," Alicia said slowly.
"It was not your fault, I'm sure of it," Clara said. "Even if you won't tell me exactly what happened."
"I prefer not to... You know we must be circumspect," Alicia said.
"I know, but you changed. Became more reserved," Clara insisted. "I always thought you were a bit too blunt, but somehow, I don't quite like you becoming more polite just because of some sadness. I think I liked it better before."
"That's very kind, Clar, but you don't need to worry. I am quite content," Alicia said.
"Well, that is almost what I worry about." Clara fingered her spoon. "That you will always be content to be alone and busy. Pretending to be two people, instead of one person. Your work is important, Alicia, but it's not going to replace real, ordinarily important things. Don't you ever wish to have a family? You might meet a respectable man, you know, if you ever left the house to do anything except visit the library."
"Well, if a man doesn't like books, how respectable can he be?" Alicia asked dryly. [Amen, sister.]
"Oh, have your fun then." Clara made an annoyed motion. "I've been married for these 15 years now, and we all thought you would catch up to me in time."
"Not everyone is suited to it, you know," Alicia said.
"I never presumed you were unsuited, just uninterested," Clara said. "But we used to talk about it. You used to say you would marry a noble man, a knight or hero of some sort. One who would be brave and true and have a sense of fun. Now where did that go?"
"Oh, those are the things children say," Alicia said. "Real men, and real women, are much more complicated than that. As you well know."
"Well, I know this also--even if my husband is not always the embodiment of the things I married him for, those things are still inside him," Clara said seriously. "And I trust they always will be, because he takes care to practice them. So even on a bad day, I can remember that and get back on track. I hope you've not taken to expecting perfection all the time just because you can jump between realms so easily that you never need to stay long enough to test anyone."
"I have tested people," Alicia said. "They do not always pass, Clara. I prefer not to speak of it."
"I see." Clara studied her. "Your hope in someone was disappointed. That is what it is. Did they lose themselves?"
"Why, you sound like me." Alicia made light of it. "Lost themselves..."
"I believe you said it once: 'I can't explain myself because I'm not myself.' I've been listening to you for 35 years, dear. I think I know your quaint phrases by now. Am I mistaken?"
Clara was a little too clever at times. She was well named. [Clara means 'clear', bright', or 'famous'.]
"It was 5 years ago now," Alicia said, distantly. "In their time it would have been a thousand."
"My... what a discrepancy," Clara said. "Still, after 5 years, you have not had enough success on your missions to forgive yourself for it? And to forgive... whoever it was."
"I have forgiven," Alicia said, sincerely. "But... perhaps you are sensing something in me. I've been stirred up about it again lately... I've had... visions."
"You're always having visions. Are these ones more disturbing?" Clara took her seriously.
"Not disturbing exactly," Alicia said. "I believe I've seen what has been happening there currently... for them. I've... spoken to someone. A boy. A boy who has picked up my work, and... there have been two people like me sent to them to replace me to finish it."
"No one could replace you," Clara said. "But if they do what you were not able to do do... will you finally let this go?"
"I never meant to carry it," Alicia said. "I just hate to leave a job undone."
"And that was all?" Clara said suspiciously. "Nothing more personal was involved?"
Alicia felt she had turned pink. "How could I be so foolish?"
"I don't know that it's foolish. I always wondered if it would be that way. You were never quite satisfied with regular people." Clara smiled oddly. "Perhaps it's as it should be--but not if it broke your heart."
"I wouldn't put it that strongly," Alicia said. "I would never allow myself to give up because of one failure."
"And what would you tell yourself if you were me and I were you?" Clara asked.
This was a game they'd played their whole lives when Alicia was too stubborn to admit what was going through her mind, all as proof of her pretending.
Alicia didn't feel much like pretending right now.
"Oh... I don't know." She looked down.
"Come now, what would you tell me?" Clara asked. "I'm Alicia right now."
Alicia sighed and looked up. "I would tell you that there's always hope, even if it's unexpected in nature. And I would tell you that your effort was not wasted... and hope soon you will know that things came right in the end."
"I would tell you that," Clara said. "And I would also tell you that things never are perfect in any world where human beings are. But you may find that, with a little change in perspective, a lot of things stop being so difficult. Perhaps just a slight nudge, even. Most disagreements happen just because people won't budge even an inch, if you ask me."
"It's more than an inch," Alicia said gloomily. "To tell you the truth, Clar, the man I told you about... they've come right to the brink of perhaps ending this all for good, and they may yet fail. I knew the odds were against me when I was there before, but all the evil they've stirred up... well, I wonder. I hope they have more success than I did. Perhaps with more people there will be a better chance. But I fear for him. His heart was noble enough, but full of fears. A curse changes a person so much."
"He sounded very infuriating from your letters," Clara said roundly, "always going on about how nothing could change. However did you put up with him?"
"Because between that, Clara, he wasn't the sort of man to do such a thing," Alicia insisted. "I told you. He certainly was infuriatingly stubborn, but then the curse helped that along. I always felt the gods' influence was present even with them not having a physical shape. I'm sure that's part of why..." She paused a moment and looked sad, but then she resumed with more determination. "Even so, you would never meet anyone who'd devote more time to doing things to help everyone other than himself. Twas his very undoing. Were he more selfish, he might have been less susceptible to the gods' whims. His pride was encouraged by them, you know. How can you ask someone to discard that for a vague hope? For his part, I could see why it was irresistible. And yet..."
"And yet those very things are what kill us," Clara said somberly. "A hope in anything other than what is true. No matter how tempting it is. You knew that. He did not."
"I keep thinking if I'd just said or done some differently..." Alicia said.
"You must let this go," Clara said firmly. "You know if anyone wants to know the truth no one can stop them. If they don't want to, nothing can persuade them. I hope he has changed in a thousand years. But if it takes a man that long to learn wisdom, one has to wonder."
"Perhaps I did one thing wrong," Alicia said. "I allowed myself to become focused on solely opening his eyes... If I had gone to that woman then, before even more evil had transpired, would she have listened? Could I have helped cure her? Then they both could have been free."
"I hope you did not hold back because of a personal wish not to have her around," Clara said warily.
"How could you say such a thing?" Alicia cried.
"Well, it doesn't sound like you, but it does beg the question: Why didn't you?"
"I never felt it was my mission to talk to her. Though I didn't suppose she was beyond hope. Just that I never could have reached her."
"Well, of course not," Clara said. "All that time with that fellow, what would that woman have thought of it? No doubt she'd have felt rivaled. No woman would ever listen to the pleas of a woman she felt rivaled by. I do hope that your successor is a man."
"A man and a woman," Alicia said.
"Well, that settles it," Clara said. "My dear sister, I may not be a world traveler, but I have feminine instincts, and I can understand that much. You do make things a little too mysterious sometimes when plain human nature would make them obvious."
"Is that all?" Alicia said oddly. "Well, now that you say it, that does make sense... How odd, we were never involved. Do you think she'd really have not been able to see that?"
"If she did, she'd have seen more than I do," Clara said rather severely. "Because I don't know if I quite believe that. Though why such a fool should ever deserve my wise little sister's affections is beyond me."
"Nothing ever happened," Alicia said, flushing.
"I believe you. I believe that it just barely didn't," Clara said. "But he is not worthy of you."
"It would never matter now. I only wish for him to find peace."
"How very noble, sister, just as your name would suggest," Clara said. "And I believe you. Now. But I wouldn't have then. Perhaps this woman's fate was always in someone else's hands. I pray that they will deliver her and you will have peace of mind about that world. And then you will learn to be a part of your own again. Not always one foot in another mission."
Alicia glanced at her and then nodded. "Perhaps you're right... If I could just know it would all be all right, I think I wouldn't mind. I will know soon. I'm sure of that."
"Then, dear, I think you must come stay with me for a bit," Clara said.
"Why?"
"Well, for one thing, the children miss you," Clara said. "They think their aunt tells the best stories. And I surely could use more time with my husband since these last unexpected twins arrived."
"A late blessing is still a blessing," Alicia said wryly.
"All too true for you, little sister. But also I'm worried about you. If things do not end well, and you know it as you always do, I worry that you will be downcast. I don't like to think of you alone with these servants, most of whom know nothing about it. I've always kept your secret and understood. You must allow me to watch over you, just for a short time," Clara insisted.
"I suppose I could do with a visit," Alicia said. "And I haven't spend nearly enough time with the nieces and nephews lately. If it would make you feel better."
"It would, if I can't persuade you to do it for any other reason," Clara said.
"Very well then," Alicia accepted.
Privately she thought being around small children of all ages might not really distract her from what she knew of Oscar's progress and his friends. But Clara meant well... and on the other hand, it would be nice not to be alone with her questions about Remnant always weighing on her mind.
But Oscar had stopped seeing her in his memories, and she'd not been able to reach him in any dream or hint since. Even her own flashes of what went on in that world were fainter and less detailed than before.
But she knew they were very near Salem's residence now, with their dangerous magical items and burdens.
And she knew that they'd just lost hold of one of their team.
[I know it's a bit odd to spend so much time on Alicia's perspective here, but I thought it might be nice as I feel that she's been integral to the story in many ways even in her absence.]
["Lament of Eustace Scrubb"--The Oh Hellos]
* * *
Mercury might have felt better if he knew Alicia was watching him... if only because he had no expectation of seeing any friendly faces for the remainder of his likely short life.
Tyrian had him well away from the field by the time the lava flow hit, and he was aghast when he saw it.
Tyrian was rather concerned himself that Salem might have lost her prize and hurried Mercury to her ugly castle.
One Grimm ride later, they arrived outside it.
It must have only been 10 miles or less from the plant-trap maze. Mercury knew the others would reach it within the next day if they had survived... but had they?
Salem was in a fine temper when they arrived.
"Your Grace, I brought the boy," Tyrian said.
"You're late." Salem's tone was what tipped them off that she was in a temper; her face gave nothing away right off.
"I came as fast as I could," Tyrian said. "I had to avoid those insipid heroes. But it seems they had other troubles. Have they been disposed of?"
"Did you cause that lava?" Mercury spat out, though he shouldn't have risked provoking Salem.
Salem gave him... was that actually an uncertain look? Did she not know?
"I was going to ask you the same question," she said in a coldly removed tone. "To explain how, somehow, after that eruption came out of a vein that has not been active in 3000 years, I still see survivors."
"How?" Tyrian exclaimed.
"Branwen's rogue sister," Salem said furiously. "For some. The others I cannot account for. The Grimm only picked up some of what occurred. But the trap has been less effective than expected. Explain how that is, Tyrian."
Why blame him? Cinder was the one who was supposed to make it happen.
But Salem would blame anyone but herself.
Mercury, who thought he was doomed anyway, couldn't resist having some fun with it.
"Oh, why blame him?" he said, snidely. "He was just following your orders. If someone failed here, is it really him? I mean, here I am. Wasn't getting them all your job?"
Salem shot him a sharp look. "You dare address me like that?"
"Oh, come off it." Mercury tried to hide his fear. "The jig is up. I know the whole story. You're not a goddess, you're just a human who got majorly fricked over by the gods of this world who blew up the moon."
Salem began to come towards him in a manner that would have struck fear into the hearts of anyone.
Mercury quivered, but he struggled not to act like it bothered him.
Salem held up her hand, and Grimm arms crawled out of a magic circle, yanking him down.
Mercury struggled.
"How dare he," Tyrian said unhelpfully. "You should tear his tongue out."
"Unfortunately, then he'd not be of much use to us." Salem glanced down at Mercury. "But there are other ways."
"Oh, do your worst, hag," Mercury spat at her. "It won't matter anyway. You can kill me or turn me into one of your monsters, but they're not gonna stop either way. We're too close now, and, FYI, you want a free tip about them? I'll give it to you: They're smarter than you."
Salem eyes gleamed red, and she clenched her hand, making the arms tighten, but Mercury didn't shut up.
"Yeah, they've bested you at every turn," he said, smirking. "Why do you think we all switched sides? Read the signs, witch. They'll be here soon, with your precious Relics, and if you want to get them, you'll have to hold up your end, or they'll get rid of them, somehow. So do what you want to me, but I know that your time is almost up, so I get the last laugh."
Salem raised her hand like she'd tear him to shreds--but then she stopped and smiled more evilly.
"I suppose that would be true," she said, "if I didn't have something that they might have to consider bartering for."
She glared down at him. "Much as I'd like to do any and all of those things you just mentioned, Mr. Black, I need you in reasonable condition for the next 24 hours. After which, well, I wouldn't answer for your life for even 5 minutes."
"You think they're going to budge just because you have a hostage?" Mercury scoffed. "I'm just one person. They'll cut their losses. Most of them don't even like me."
"That may be," Salem said. "But I think they'll agree anyway. Heroes are so incurably noble. Tyrian, lock him in one of the holding rooms. Make sure there's not a Grimm in there first. I would hate for anything to happen to our guest before his team has a chance to see him again."
The arms receded, and Tyrian grabbed him.
"Won't matter," Mercury said, as he dragged him away. "Either way, no matter what you do, you're going to lose. Because they've got something way more powerful than you've ever had, Salem. It's just a matter of time. Hey, you should be happy. Isn't dying what you always wanted?"
"Quiet!" Tyrian finally hit him so he'd shut up.
Salem glowered after him for a moment, then she violently defenestrated another part of her hapless furniture.
The thing was that she wondered if Mercury might be right. Suppose they did just cut their losses? She'd not managed to kill any of them except that useless General, and that was not much of a loss.
At this rate they'd be powerful enough to do some real damage when they got here.
Still... she did have their charge. They were bound to try to get him back.
She could threaten to turn him into a Hound--she had no further need of Hounds now that all the Maidens and Relics were so close, but if they thought a fate worse than death awaited him, perhaps they'd be more afraid.
Which meant she would need to contact them.
* * *
"Who could have survived that?" Emerald was hysterical after telling them Mercury was gone. "What if they were still around when it happened?"
"I didn't see Mercury when I was looking around." Shine tried to calm her down. "I mean, not specifically. Perhaps they'd gone already."
"And that's better? Do you know what Salem will do to him?" Emerald cried. "It's unthinkable!"
"I could think of a few things," Yang said distastefully.
Ruby covered her face. "No, no, no! We can't let that happen to anyone else!" she cried.
"You'll have to accept at some point that you can't stop everything horrible thing from happening," Vara said flatly. "What about Theo? What if he didn't survive that?"
"He survived." Shine pointed to her eyes. "Him, Neo, and Roman all appear to be out of range, but I can't say where exactly they went. I'm not that specific."
"I don't remember seeing Neo or Roman after we got separated," Pyrrha said.
"We saw enough," Raven said.
"Now that our heads are clear, I'd think we'd all like to know how Cinder played into this," Jaune said.
"What did you do?" Emerald exclaimed suddenly, looking at Cinder. "What does he mean?"
"I..." Cinder was really not sure how to make herself not sound completely unreliable by answering that. [There's a reason for that.]
"Okay, okay," Wally said. "Let's stay calm. Cinder did kind of try to stop us, but for her it was pretty mild. She was just going to slow us down while you guys got separated. Salem made her do it."
"Oh, sure, 'made' her." Vara made air quotes. "What, did she ask harshly instead of nicely?"
"I couldn't say no when she was threatening me," Cinder said. "If I didn't survive to get to her, all of this was for nothing for me."
"And what else do you deserve?" Ren said. "How can anyone be as selfish as you? All the rest of us need to save the whole world, not ourselves."
"As if you do none of this for yourselves also," Cinder scoffed.
"We really don't." Ren frowned darkly.
"Did you know that Tyrian would take someone?" Emerald asked.
"I didn't know who." Cinder didn't realize that denying that she knew would have been smarter than trying to deny that it was specific. "She just wanted to know how to manipulate the leaders. I never gave her a specific person."
She got murderous looks in response to that.
"So you did know," Emerald said.
"Do we even need to ask?" Nora said tightly. "It's Cinder."
Cinder felt she was in danger. "Well, just one or two people out of everyone seems like a smaller price to pay than throwing the whole thing--" She stopped because suddenly she'd been slapped in the face.
Emerald appeared in front of her. She'd used her Semblance to get close without Cinder seeing her.
She looked livid, though she had tears in her eyes also.
"I know that this is what you do," she said in enraged voice that was almost frightening, "so I shouldn't be surprised that you'd pull this s--- so close to finishing, and that you're a stupid enough b---- to not realize that it could ruin everything. But you know what Salem does to people like Mercury, and you don't freaking care because you're scared of them. I hate you!"
Cinder didn't really think hearing this from anyone would ever bother her of all people, but it was a little startling from Emerald, the one person who used to actually look up to her.
It made her both angry and... something like guilty, but Cinder didn't feel guilty, so it had to be a different feeling.
[I actually think she does experience guilt, she just interprets it as indifference and triumph because she pushes it aside, and that makes her angry.]
"Hey, if she gets to hit her, can I?" Yang asked, making a fist. "Because I've been dying to for ages."
Cinder put a hand to her face, still in disbelief.
Emerald made a fist. "I could do way more than just hit her right now."
Hazel suddenly grabbed Emerald's shoulder. "Enough," he said. "This will not bring Mercury back to us. What's done is done. We well know how Salem forces people to do things. Of Fall's many crimes, this is the one I most understand. Salem would have taken someone either way... We were never going to be safe from her."
"You don't understand," Emerald said, tears flowing openly now. "It didn't have to be Mercury--it could have been me. He made me. That's what Callows wanted, the snake! But maybe he'd have settled for anyone. Maybe if we hadn't been separated like that... That was her fault." She pointed at Cinder. "And I hate her! And Callows! And Salem--I hate them all!"
She tried to draw her knives.
Hazel plucked her off her feet before she could do anything and put her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Put me down!" She hit him with her fists--which was hardly a tap to him. "Put me down, you b-----d! They took Mercury! They took him, and they're going to kill him, and I can't--we were too late! You all were too late! Why didn't you come find us sooner?! Why...?" She finally broke off into sobbing instead.
She wasn't the only one who was upset. Ruby was weeping already because she was afraid of what Salem would do to anyone with Silver Eyes.
Pyrrha was starting to cry just out of sympathy, though she tried to hide it.
Most of the others looked uncomfortable or else angry at Cinder.
"Do you think I care about this?" Cinder was not going to show any sort of fear or remorse. "Since when do you expect me to be concerned about what happens to a nobody like him? I--"
"Cinder," Shine said, in a voice that made her stop. She'd seen Shine lose it already, and now she knew it was nothing to mess with.
Though Shine didn't sound like she was going to lose it, just like she was disappointed and also resigned.
"There is no need for this act," Shine said firmly, so much so that it made protest seem pathetic. "Enough damage is done without you making it worse still. No one is going to kill you. Let it go."
"You presume a lot there," Qrow said.
"There is no need to kill her this close to our goal," Shine said.
"Your goal, is that all you care about?" Winter burst out. "The General did not make it out of that field, Miss Likstar, and neither did Miss Goodwitch. We left them to die, and if the Grimm didn't do it, then surely the lava did. I thought we did not do such things."
"It was clearly part of the trap," Shine said. "Salem would have used them to stall us because she thought we could not bear to leave anyone behind. Cinder as much as confirmed this."
"So that makes it okay?" Jaune said. "Just showing up Salem, is that all you care about now? Did you ever really care about us?"
"Jaune!" Pyrrha said, shocked.
"You idiot!" Shine lost her temper much faster than usual. "It's because I care about you that I left them behind. Suppose we'd still been out there when that lava spill was set off or the things were crawling out from the giant living mouth? Ironwood would not have been rescued by our effort at the rate he was going. He could have been pulled to pieces in front of our eyes, and then the Grimm would have snatched us and the Relics also. Those cursed Relics are perhaps a small enough matter on their own, but if Salem gets them all without us, we'll have no chance to finish doing what we must to save the world. And then you all will die, and so will we, and so will Remnant. Do you think I wanted to leave James behind? I saved him in Atlas because I had hoped that it was not the end of his story to fall. And for a brief time it seemed as if it would not be--but he just had to follow us here. He had to give in to fear again. However much it hurt you that we could not help him, it hurts me just as much, because I hate losing any of my charges! It has only happened once before, and I will never forget that!"
She stomped suddenly as if she was a kindergartner.
Wally put an arm around her, and she shook her head.
"Well, I couldn't lose you all also," she said finally. "Not now. James chose what happened to him, and as much as I'd like to always be able to override that and give people another chance... we cannot always presume to be able to save someone. The good Lord knows when it's too late. If James was burned alive, then it was because it was his fate this time. He had his second chances and more than that. Remember that we are not God. We cannot save everyone. If we have disappointed you finally in this area, then it was something you were always going to have to learn. I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me, Winter." With an apologetic look at her. "But there's nothing I can do about it."
"What is wrong with you anyway?" Pyrrha burst out. "Ironwood broke her arm almost while she was trying to help him. I pity the man, and I would have done anything I could to save him, but are you seriously going to blame Shine for what happened? We'd tried already to save him, and he didn't even care. Even Glynda understood in the end that we were not her enemies. If he wanted to, if any part of him had wanted to recant that pride and arrogance, surely he would have then. Nothing worked! I'm sorry, but I think he was... he had the darkness inside him for too long."
"And she doesn't?" Ren savagely pointed at Cinder. He'd always been far more understanding of Ironwood's desperation than the others, since he'd felt it himself. "The General was a good man once, and he became incurably poisoned by evil, according to you, though to the last he only thought what many of us did, that this mission was a terrible idea. And I still think that. But she, she's never been good in her entire life, and yet you think that sparing her makes sense but not leaving him behind does not? And Ozpin? He's had thousands of years, and you think that he's more worth preserving than Ironwood? We should have sent him out of Oscar, if you had power, and we should have sent the Fall powers somewhere else. Anyone but them."
"Ren, what a thing to say," Pyrrha said.
Ozpin was right there of course, and Oscar felt him flinch.
Ren glared at Pyrrha. "It's true."
"Maybe we're being a little too quick to judge," Blake said carefully. "We're all upset. But... well... Ozpin is in a different position than Ironwood. He was cursed. Ironwood wasn't. Clearly Cinder... is no good, but I don't know if we should just be threatening to kill someone like this."
"If you're so wary of me, then I'll just leave," Cinder spat. "Like it matters anymore. We're close enough now, and I suppose you'd all hand me over as soon as we got there anyway."
"What makes you think we'd just let you walk away?" Raven put a hand on her sword.
"You of all people would know how to walk away," Cinder said. "What right do you have to stop me?"
"Okay, okay." Wally clapped his hands loudly. "Ladies, gentlemen, please... This won't solve any of our problems. As much as you think that punishing Cinder will make you feel better, it won't. It doesn't bring any peace to strike someone else just because they struck you first. I'm really sorry about Ironwood. But it wasn't that long ago you were all willing to just leave him to die yourselves and were upset that Shine saved him. I don't know why you suddenly changed your minds."
They stared at him.
"You just want someone else to suffer instead of him," Wally said, "or along with him. I get it, but that's not any more justified than anything else. We can't blame Cinder for what he did. He did it on his own. And Mercury made a choice to trade places with Emerald and not put up a fight because he knew that a fight would just end badly. We can help him most by getting there faster before Salem can do anything to him. She'll want him alive for now. I know how these hostage situations work. I'm sure she's going to be making some demands to us soon, so for now, let's just try to stay calm. Once we know what she wants, we can figure out what to do."