When Shine and Wally both shattered their respective prisons, the others suddenly saw them appear in the field in a flash of light and glory.
Though it was not coming from them, but it certainly was around them.
Then it was gone.
Then the field itself was suddenly gone, and everyone was standing in the Grimm lands where'd they'd been, and the moon looked the same as before, and the smell was the same, and it appeared that no time has passed.
The team gathered around the DJs to express their relief that they were okay.
Even Salem was relieved, though perhaps for her own selfish reasons.
But after their first gladness, the team at once turned somber and told them about Oscar's silence.
Shine put a hand on Ozpin and announced that Oscar was still there, but he was faint and it seemed he was asleep, or nearly.
"You can help him, right?" Weiss said.
"The gods still need to renounce their claim on this world," Shine said. "We broke their game. And you all did wonderfully... I saw what happened to you. I couldn't do anything to help--I tried."
"I did too," Wally said. "They had us radio silent, but I was rooting for you the whole time."
Emerald sniffled. "Well... we knew you'd have helped if you could have. It was their fault."
"They're just like you said," Yang said. "I think they're worse, actually. Can we just get rid of them already?"
"Easy there, Firecracker," Qrow said. "Where are they now?"
"They're still here," Shine said. "I can feel it."
She looked around. "Come out, Brothers Grimm, or whatever you are. I know you're here."
"Quit hiding, we're not done yet." Wally cupped his hands over his mouth.
The kids and adults chimed in with demand for the gods to show themselves.
Finally, the god of darkness arose out of his own Grimm pond--as some of them had seen him do in the vision, and then the other came out of the sky like lightning, but weaker.
They regarded the humans with something like anger--and also contempt.
"You tested us." Shine held out her sword. "Our turn now. We will pass judgement."
"One moment," the god of light said. "There is one of you who did not pass any test."
He pointed at Salem.
They all looked at her.
She looked--even in her Grimm form--frightened and small.
"Why does she need to? I think we all know where she stands," Wally said.
"I believe you said it yourself, Worldling." The god of light glanced at Shine. "Curses have rules. If you want ours to be removed, then she must fulfill it, as must Ozma. Only then will we release them."
Salem threw her hands up. "I knew you would never relent!"
"Wait a moment, Salem," Shine said. "We prepared for this, remember?"
Salem looked at her strangely. "Do you really think that will work?"
"I'll help you," Shine said. "And, Wally, if you would help Ozma."
"Me?" Wally said.
"There are two of us," Shine said. "This must be why. They can't get free on their own, but we cannot do it for them without their help. We must stand in the gap with them. That is our job. And it is allowed--" She glanced up at the gods. "--for those who wish to share in the punishment of others, and in their mercy, by the sacred laws of the universe, if it is done willingly."
"We ought to punish you with them anyway," the god of darkness said nastily. "Go ahead, then. It won't matter. They will not pass. We all know that they have not fulfilled their missions."
Salem looked as if she'd have flipped him off if that was not too unclassy a move for her.
"But, Shine," Wally hissed, "I'm down to stand with them and all, just like with GL that one time, except I have no more clue than I did before how to break Ozma's curse."
Shine put a hand on his shoulder. "His quest was to unite the world, honey," she said seriously. "This is perfect for you. Your League is the best preparation anyone could ask for for answering this riddle. If you think carefully and you listen to your instincts, I think you can answer it."
"You can't just tell me?" Wally said.
"Of course not. Now that we agreed to this, if I help you, I'm doing it for both of them, and it will not be allowed, I think, not now. The gods are too strong here," Shine said. "One of us each is sparse enough protection for so many people. But I have to help Salem figure this out, and she's the most stubborn woman in the world, so..."
"Right... well... good luck, or whatever we do," Wally said nervously. "Just gonna go solve a riddle that's thousands of years old... No problem."
"We're trained for it, Wally. Let the Spirit help," Shine said. "You've been doing it already, you just didn't know it. I don't always know it either, but I believe."
Wally rubbed his hands together. "This is the riskiest thing we've done so far. I have a feeling if we don't do it, they'll kill us both... Well, I love you."
"I love you too... and thank you... and I'm sorry for whatever I did on this mission that was unfair," Shine said.
"And I'm sorry for whatever I did that was unhelpful," Wally said, "but no hard feelings."
"Me neither... Well, better just get it over with." Shine walked over to Salem and nodded at the others.
"What are you doing?" Salem asked her.
"Perhaps the stupidest thing I've done since we got here, which says a lot," Shine said. "I'm actually trusting you to work with me on this. I just tied my fate to yours... Well, a true model of the Lord to the end, I hope."
Wally moved over to Ozpin. "I hope you won't take this personally, but I wish Oscar was more alert right now," he said.
"And I hope you won't take it personally if I say I wish the same thing," Ozpin said uneasily. "What have you done?"
"Oh, the usual, put our lives on the line to help our friends save the world." Wally rubbed his neck. "Just another Friday for us... or any day."
"Then it is done," the gods said. "Let the trial begin."
"Trial?" Raven repeated.
At once the landscape changed again.
This time there was a dais, and on it sat the gods, in serpent form.
In front of them, in the style of Eastern old courts, the plaintiffs were standing on two smaller sections of floor each, but they were shut in by burning lines of fire or shadows hat looked as if they'd stop any rash attempt to escape.
The rest of the team were standing back, watching but unable to get any closer.
"Okay... if I'm following this," Neptune, the son of the lawyer, spoke up, "Shine and Wally both just agreed to share the punishment of Salem and Ozpin or to share their freedom if they were cleared, and they will now have to answer the riddles of the gods."
"But... I think Ozpin's was more of an assignment," Sun said. "Unite the world. That's not really a riddle."
"Unless it is." Blake put her ears down and frowned. "Maybe there's more to it."
"What they just agreed to is mad," Hazel said. "Those are the most unreliable people in the world, and they are counting on them to do as they said."
"I knew it would come to this." Winter put her hand to her face. "Somehow I just knew in the end, they would make a move like this and risk it all for us... Why couldn't they at least ask us first?"
"You really think they'd start asking our permission now?" Qrow said.
He sighed and put an arm around her cautiously.
Winter swallowed but didn't pull away. She put a hand on Weiss's shoulder.
Weiss shivered and grabbed Meridian's hand.
Everyone did similar things.
Ruby put her hand on her chin and glanced at Yang and Qrow. "Oscar's still in there, too," she said.
They all had a bad feeling that, if Ozpin blew it, Oscar would go with him.
* * *
"Now, let us begin," the god of light spoke from his position on the dais. "Ozpin, your task was to unite the world. Do you think you have completed it?"
"I--" Ozma began.
"Shh, dude, I'm your lawyer. I'm supposed to speak," Wally said.
"Mr. West, this is ridiculous," Ozpin hissed. "We both know I--"
"Shh." Wally covered his mouth. "Don't admit anything, I know that much. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you."
"What rights are you referring to?" Ozpin said. "Do you know what you're doing?"
"Not really, but don't tell them that," Wally said.
"We can hear you," the god of darkness said. "This is laughable."
"What's laughable, buddy, is that a dragon-faced worm is putting us on trial over a curse," Wally said. "Now shut up. I need to talk to my guy over here."
"You imbecile--" the god of darkness began.
"You can allow us some time to discuss our answer," Shine cut in. "There is no reason to rush anything."
"You have 5 minutes," the god of light said.
Whatever five minutes was to a god, Wally hoped it felt longer than that to them.
"Okay, Ozpin, you need to work with me here," Wally said. "We've gotta figure out how you united the world."
"They aren't at war," Ozpin offered feebly.
"That's a good start," Wally said. "It's like my League... Well, I have been comparing this group to my friends a lot... Maybe if I thought about why I did that."
He felt like he was floundering here, but he hoped the gods couldn't tell.
"I mean, of course you guys are like them. You're concerned about saving people," he said, listing it on his fingers. "You're brave, smart, kind, and... pretty snarky a lot of the time. I fit right in with you."
"Aww," Nora said.
The others gave her odd looks.
"Well, it was sweet." She shrugged.
"But that is not the same thing," Ozpin said. "I have worked all of my lifetimes to unite mankind only to find mankind cannot be united. You said so yourself."
"I mean, it's not united most of the time." Wally rubbed his head. "There was one time all my heroes and our villains united to fight off this alien invasion because it was our planet. I figure, if we're all fighting for a common cause, that's when we unite..."
He looked back at the others. "Come to think of it, it is kind of the same, isn't it? I mean, look, you've got people from every kingdom here standing over there."
Ozpin looked. "That is true. Miss Rose and her sister and Glynda and Mr. Arc are from Vale. Miss Nikos, Mr. Vasilias, Miss Sustrai, Mr. Black, and even Miss Fall are all from Mistral."
"Just saying, Mistral represented more," Neptune muttered.
"Technically I'm from Vale also," Hazel said.
[Makes sense if his sister went to Beacon Academy.]
"Then the Schnees are from Atlas." Ozpin seemed almost not to have noticed this before. "And Theo, Vara, and Mr. Wu Kong and Mr. Wallace are all from Vacuo."
"And hey, dude, Qrow and Raven are even from Mistral or outside it, right?" Wally said. "And Blake is--"
"From Menagerie, yes," Ozpin said.
"I didn't notice before how motley this group is," Raven said.
"Really?" Emerald glanced at them all. "It never crossed your mind?"
"And if you think about it, Shine and I being with you even represents the patching things up with World Walkers," Wally said. "I think that's pretty cool. It is just like my League."
Ozpin rubbed his chin. "Come to think of it, Mr. West, the entire world knows about this mission now, since you spilled the secrets to the Mistral Council and it spread all over. They're all waiting for us to come back."
"Yeah," Wally said.
Ozpin looked up at the gods.
"Your time is finished," the god of light said. If he'd heard any of this, he gave no sign.
Ozpin glanced at Wally like he thought this was a bad idea.
"Go on," Wally said. "I think we've got it. And if nothing else, we're all united because we're working together even if we don't always agree, especially against the Grimm, so there's always that."
Ozpin suddenly got a gleam in his eye.
He turned and looked at the gods.
"Mankind has united," he said with an odd air of disbelief. "In the last way I ever thought to see again, but perhaps I should have realized it sooner. It is the only way it happened before. We united against you. The entire world is supporting our removal of these curses. And they support the removal of the Grimm. Both are your work."
The gods both looked furiously at him. Their eyes seemed to burn with fire.
Wally put a hand on Ozpin's shoulder.
"I agree with him," he said loudly. "So... I guess that means he finished your dumb quest the only way it could ever happen. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean you get out of it. You've gotta stand by the rules. Let him go."
The god of light clenched a fist, and the god of darkness bared his fangs.
But then, from overhead, thunder rumbled though where was no cloud in the sky.
The god of light unclenched his hands slowly... and then in a voice that sounded like it had lead weights in it, he said, "It is fulfilled. Ozma, you may... go free."
Ozpin gasped in astonishment.
"But I cannot free the other," the god of light said. "The one inside him chose his own fate."
"Leave that to us once this is over," Shine said. "Let him off the stand now."
The god of light glared at her resentfully, but then he snapped his fingers, and the stand disappeared, and Wally and Ozpin were on the ground, waiting.
"Yay, Ozpin!" Ruby cheered. "Of course! This was so simple this whole time! You did it."
"I think I did nothing," Ozpin said.
"Yeah, he was fighting us on this the entire time," Yang said. "Weird."
"Nevermind that," Cinder said. "I think our bigger problem is her."
She meant Salem.
* * *
Shine and Salem had been discussing while Ozpin and Wally were.
"We both know they will not accept the solution you gave." Salem was as near panic as she likely was ever to get--which seemed like mildly upset for her, but Shine could see past it.
"Will you please try to stay calm?" Shine said.
[Just made this myself, couldn't resist. Keep Calm and Destroy False gods]
"Don't tell me to do that." Salem's eyes flashed. "You were foolish to throw your lot in with me. The gods hate me."
"Well, use it to your advantage then," Shine said. "The gods do not have everything. What do you have that they don't?"
"Nothing," Salem said. "You said it yourself--I have no love, and I have no other ideas... I believe this was a poor idea. Perhaps I should have gone with my old plan."
"You can see perfectly well why it would not have worked. That is your fear talking," Shine said. "By all fairness they should have let us get out of making you answer this, but I think they can't."
"Then... it's no use," Salem said. "I can't think straight. It's been too long. I can't think like a human anymore..." She stared at her veined and dead white hands. "I've been twisted for too long, Likstar. I have only a faint memory of ever not being this way, and it only causes pain." She winced.
"Then let it," Shine said.
"What?" Salem looked up.
"Accept the pain," Shine urged her. "In there somewhere is the answer. It hurts so that you will not look for it. I have felt it myself already. It hurts. All real things hurt. Giving birth hurts, but it's how we give life as women. For men, all sorts of things hurt that they must do to survive also, but they must endure it."
"Your riddles do not help." Salem put her hand to her temples like this was hurting her to think about. "I can't."
Shine tilted her head.
"I think it's there," she said. "But you can't accept it. Perhaps you always knew, in a way, what that was going to mean... We can't hold on forever to something, but it is mistaken to think that that means it does not matter. Love always matters."
"Words, just words," Salem said, eyes shut.
Shine glanced at the gods and knew they wouldn't give them much more time. Ozpin and Wally seemed already almost done.
"Listen to me," she said in a different tone, an intent one. "This is all I can do for you. Do you know what I realized recently? Alicia was sent here for Ozma... but we were sent here for you also."
"Didn't you say that before?" Salem glanced at her vaguely.
"Why do you think that is?" Shine said. She put a hand on her arm--which few people would have dared to do. "I do not know why or how it happened, for me, but somewhere in the course of hearing the story and seeing the truth, I found the ability was given to me to love even you."
Salem stared at her blankly. "What?" she said with some justified bewilderment.
"Not the way Ozma did." Shine shook her head. "It's different. It's a choice... It's a mindset. But it's real. I care about everyone I help, no matter what the reasons. I think it's how God must feel, taking care of us all, though some of us will never thank Him for it as long as we live, but He's fond of us, because he takes care of us. I can't make you love, but I can give you some of mine. Take it." She smiled faintly. "Accept it. For one moment, try to believe that this was just to save you, even if it was only you."
Salem stared at her like she spoke another language.
And to Salem it was one.
And the Grimm in her recoiled at it. Grimm did not like love. Love was their enemy.
Love was the source of all Salem's suffering from the start--or lack of it.
She hadn't liked Shine's answer to her before because it was so--well, maddening to think of it being the right one. And it might have been worse to think it was wrong.
For after all... Salem's chief reason to hate Ozpin (as well as everything else) was that her love was there at one time, then stolen again by the gods, and the shame of it was something she had never let go of, even in all her slow killing of her own soul. As things will torture us even if we no longer would see any value in them now.
But...
This woman had come to her, not in war or in anger, but in honest compassion and had done what no one had ever done before and actually taken the time to understand her, Salem... and what she wanted.
Was that love?
Salem didn't know...
If it was, it wasn't anything she'd experienced before, but by now she knew her idea of love wasn't what most people called loved.
Certainly... she could have been wrong about it.
Oscar... Ruby... everyone had all agreed to push aside their grudge out of a concern for each other and their world and maybe even... if Oscar could be believed... herself.
Salem suddenly wondered why. What had she ever done for them that they should care about settling this matter for her?
Even now, they were all watching, and they weren't urging the gods to kill her, like they should have been. They were waiting for them to be stopped.
If it was that something had gotten through to Salem's long frozen, cold heart, this might have been it.
It wasn't a feeling for her so much as a realization.
A falling into place of the pieces.
["Hello My Old Heart"--The Oh Hellos]
[Salem's realization here reminds me of a story by Hans Christian Anderson that I've always liked. It's called "The Girl who Stepped on Bread". It's about a girl, Ingrid, who trampled on all the good things people ever gave her and was sent down to a kind of purgatory. After being there a long time, and mocked and condemned by the world, there was one girl who heard her story and felt sorry for her. In time this girl grows old and dies, and Ingrid, who's in prison, sees her crying for her in a vision. This melts her inside and out, and she is turned into a bird. As a bird, she pays back in small amounts the things that she trampled on, and then she flies up to Heaven. I recommend looking the story up for yourself for the full thing. It's a pity they didn't make a short film about it, but it wouldn't be long enough for a movie.]
Before she could say another word, the gods called upon Ozpin to give his answer.
Shine thought she saw the light come into Salem's eyes briefly, bringing a softness to them, but she had no chance to confirm it.
Ozpin's answer was just as she had thought herself, and the team cheered for it, echoing her own sentiments.
"I don't believe it," Salem said.
"Believe it," Shine said. [Not a Naruto reference.]
The gods were not happy and perhaps more anxious than ever to prove that they were right about Salem. They turned to her.
"Well, witch, what do you have to say?" the god of darkness said meanly.
Salem glanced at her hands.
"Do not fear them," Shine said. "We will fight this even if this fails. It's not really fair to begin with. But if we can force them to admit it, so much the better, so give it your best shot."
Salem thought Shine was crazy if she thought the gods would give them another chance to resist after this.
But she had nothing else to do.
She glanced at Shine and then at the team, who did not look confident in her at all.
She then grabbed her dress just as any schoolgirl might have.
The feel of Grimm wasn't reassuring.
"Have you accepted the meaning of life and death?" the god of light asked her. It was clear he expected her to throw it back in his face again.
And in a way he was right. Salem would never have just meekly answered that question.
But with more sass than confidence perhaps, she looked up.
"There is no meaning in life or death," she said. "Alone."
The last word might have saved her from being vaporized right then or else cursed further.
The gods hesitated.
"But..." Salem looked them right in the eyes. "...when you do not feel love, life only means pain, and death doesn't matter. Love is the thing that neither of you understand. But it is what gives the lives of mortals... and the other God also... meaning. The pain that is caused when you lose it is the meaning of death, but it's also the only reason people really find meaning in life. Love... if it was to be real, would not stop with death... as... mine once did not." She glared at them, suddenly livid. "But you wanted to poison it, didn't you? I knew it..."
Shine cleared her throat to indicate this was starting to go into unwise territory.
Salem unclenched her dress.
"Nevertheless, I think I finally see it was all of a piece," she said. "Even other significant moments tend to revolve around this thing humans call love. And I think you know nothing of it. So you may not like the answer, but it is the realest answer possible."
The gods frowned at her.
Overhead there was another sound of thunder. Perhaps it was that this had been the answer.
The gods both glowered, but then the god of light said--even more slowly than before, "This answer is acceptable."
Salem's mouth dropped open.
Up to now, everything she had said, she hadn't thought it would work. Whatever they all thought, she was sure the gods wouldn't care.
The god of darkness snarled then, and then the floor vanished, and they were on the ground.
Shine sank to the ground and put a hand to her chest.
"Oh, that was the longest few minutes of my life," she said breathlessly.
"Babe, you did it!" Wally said.
Shine laughed oddly. "Not me... it was just through me. It was a miracle."
"You humans are all the same," the god of darkness said. "You put your faith in things called love. It doesn't save you."
"You be quiet," Shine said, standing suddenly back up and taking her sword out. "Listen here, you foolish spirit. You forsook love a long time ago to be what you are, and you will never understand it. But it is our greatest gift as humans to still be reached by it no matter how far we fall. And speaking as an ambassador of the King of Love, I am now going to declare that under His laws, this trial is over. The guardians of this planet are released, and they are under our rulership now."
The gods flinched, but then they both said in grave tones, "It is as you say."
"Good," Shine said. "But we're not done yet."
"We're not?" Wally said.
"Oh, no," Shine said. "I don't want to leave a trace of you behind."
She was always kind of scary when she was like this, but her team was loving it this time.
Even Salem was impressed by her guts.
"You will be on trial now," Shine said.
"What?" the gods said.
And then the scene changed again--and they all thought this time it was not the gods who did it.
The court changed to being something a bit more like a king's throne room, but with podium for the judge instead.
[I wouldn't take this metaphor too seriously. Shine and Wally are from America, so the American model would fit them better, but it is not supposed to make a theological statement about the nature of justice.]
Shine and Wally were now sitting inside the judge's box, and all the kids and adults were in the jury box, to their surprise.
The gods were down on the dock. Looking angry.
Salem and Ozpin were in the position of witnesses and plaintiffs.
"What is happening?" Ozpin asked.
"We're having our own trial." Shine leaned on the podium, looking pleased. "I have no idea why this just did this, but somehow it's not that surprising for me right now."
"Which you think it would be." Wally rapped on the edge. "It sounds like real wood..."
"You can't pass judgment on us." The god of darkness raised a fist at them. "You're not ready yet."
"Not a permanent judgement," Shine said. "But we can pass enough to banish you forever from this world, with their help."
She nodded at the others.
"We passed your tests," Shine said. "But can you pass this one? Tell us the truth about you. Where did you come from, how did you get here, and why did you take over this planet? And what was your purpose in doing so? Let us see how it holds up."
The gods appeared to try to leave, and then found they couldn't.
Additionally, the team looked and saw that the 4 spirits of the Relics were in the audience. They were watching this with bewildered expressions.
"All right!" Wally banged a gavel he'd just found on the stand. "Let's do this thing!"
[This ought to be good.]