[Opener--"Paranoia" by Neoni--Yeah, I got plenty of songs about this.]
There was at least a medic in the ship's sick bay. They had thought someone might need them.
Though they yelped when Pyrrha shoved the door open hard, like they thought it was a Grimm.
"Oh...it's just you, Mrs. Arc," they said.
"Hello," Pyrrha said. "We have a problem. My friend--she inhaled a lot of smoke."
Mercury appeared behind her. She helped him get Emerald inside.
"We have oxygen," the medic said at once. "I can check her vitals."
They put her on one of the cots.
Emerald was breathing kind of shallow still.
Pyrrha pursed her lips but put a hand on Mercury's shoulder.
After a few tense minutes, the medic said, "She's looking good, all things considered. Her Aura's low, and she won't be fighting for a while, but I think she'll be okay, no permanent damage. I mean, you'd need better stuff than we have here to be really sure, but I don't see any really bad signs. The oxygen will help. She'll probably wake up soon."
"I wish we could wait till she does, but they need us out there." Pyrrha was saying this more to Mercury.
Mercury glanced at her.
"We have a job," Pyrrha said firmly. "You know that."
Mercury frowned.
Pyrrha half expected him to say he didn't care about anyone else and he'd just stay here--and she wasn't sure how she'd pry him away if he did.
But then he sighed. "Yeah, fine. You won't leave her here alone, right?"
"No," the medic said. "I have to stay anyway, in case... No one else wanted to be in here. But I think all the shots left in here are normal ones...I hope, anyway."
"Those ones?" Pyrrha pointed at the open cabinet.
"Yeah," the medic said.
Pyrrha picked them up. "We'll just toss them overboard, problem solved."
"I guess we could do that too..." the medic muttered.
Pyrrha and Mercury rushed back to the deck.
"Grimm." Mercury looked over the side and pointed.
"Yeah," Pyrrha said, tossing the box over the side, hitting one of the Grimm with it.
The other ones hissed up at her.
"Oh, go away!" she yelled at them.
They backed up a little.
Right after that, the music suddenly shut off.
The others on land looked their way in confusion.
"Did it run out of power?" Mercury said.
"It was plugged in," Pyrrha said. "No, someone turned it off."
She drew her sword. "Come on. We need that on if we're going to hold them at bay."
"That better not have been a pun, Invincible Girl," Mercury muttered.
They rushed to the part of the ship where the sound system was, which was below the top deck.
In fact it was at the bottom of the ship, where most of the machinery for it was.
It was kind of creepy down there. Mercury didn't care for small, dark places.
And his shoes made way too much noise. Pyrrha stepped lightly because of her Semblance.
Then she stopped short.
The captain, who had been there to guard the system, was lying in the hallway--dead, from the look of it.
In the control room, looking at dials and wires, was Mino.
"It's that inbred Faunus." Mercury really shouldn't have led with that.
Mino turned to look at them, and his tail twitched. "Black?" he said. "I'm surprised you're here, not with your girlfriend... Oh, right, she's probably dead by now. Nice and toasty."
"Why, you--" Mercury stepped forward, and Pyrrha stuck out her arm to stop him.
"What are you doing?" she asked. "Why aren't you trying to escape?"
"I am escaping, you twit," Mino said. "Everyone on this ship is too scared to come out of hiding except you two. We'll be long gone from here by the time they dare to come out."
"If you start this thing, they'll come out," Mercury said.
"Well, I have insurance for that." Mino shrugged. "You two are in my way."
"I'm about to be more in your way," Mercury said. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't just waste you right here."
"You could hit some pipe and blow this whole tub sky high," Mino said.
That was a good reason.
"You guys are so pathetic," Mino went on. "It was so easy to sneak on here. You were all too busy crapping yourselves because of the Deimos. This plan really was brilliant on Mala's part. I do have one question though--what did you do with Sand? She never met up at the house. Did you guys already arrest her?"
"I think he means that woman they brought in," Pyrrha said.
"Yeah, I got that." Mercury frowned. "Why should we tell you? Maybe we killed her."
Mino frowned. "That would be unfortunate for you."
"Let's not lose our heads," Pyrrha said. "She's still alive. They were trying to save her from the grimm. I'm surprised you're not bitten yet.""
"I fled those little suckers. I would have thought they'd be smart enough to do that also," Mino said. "Well, take me to where they put her, or--" He held up something. "I'll set this off and the Grimm will be all over this ship. It'll probably sink."
"Then you sink also," Mercury said.
"I can find another way," Mino said. "I doubt you can. There's some nasty Megas out there."
Megas were the name for the big Grimm, shark things that swam around the channel.
"Of course there's no need to resort to drastic measures," Pyrrha said. "We can take you to her."
Mercury gave her a look of disbelief. He was sure they could take this guy. But she frowned at him.
He stayed quiet.
They slowly led Mino up towards the ship's version of a brig. Every Argus ship had one. Though it wasn't that fortified.
They had put Hypnosia in there, and she hadn't put up a fight.
Mino had the device in his hand still.
[Okay, so for those who had not Googled it yet, Hypnosia is from Hypnos, Greek God of sleep. Her last name, Somnus, is the Latin god of sleep, and her alias Sand is a reference to the Sandman. You probably figured that one out already though.
Mino is, of course, a reference to the Minotaur.]
"Hyp?" Mino called.
She peered at the door's window. "Mino? What are you doing back here?"
"Unlock it," Mino said to Pyrrha.
"I don't know how," Pyrrha said.
She clenched her fist, and suddenly the device flew out of Mino's hand. "And I'm not interested."
"What the--?!" Mino said.
"What a moron," Mercury said. "Didn't even know what your Semblance was."
"Here, get rid of this," Pyrrha said to him, levitating the device over to his hands. "I'll deal with this guy."
"Oh sure, you take the fun part," Mercury said.
He raced away.
Mino frowned at Pyrrha. "You're not a match for me."
"I don't wish to brag--" Pyrrha held up her sword and shield. "--but I am a world renowned champion. And you're not armed. Are you sure you should be so confident?"
Somehow her lightly questioning tone with her sweet smile made Mino far angrier than open trash talk would have.
"Why, you cocky b---h!" he said.
He slipped some metal, claw-like weapons out of his pockets and onto his hands.
[Finally, someone other than Theo who thinks to bring backup weapons. Never did understand why everyone else only has one--the military carries more than that.]
He lunged at Pyrrha, who dodged easily and blocked his claws with her wrist guards, with a smile.
She maneuvered them away from her, and then she ducked and kicked his legs out from under him.
He swung with his foot and tripped her, but she recovered quickly.
"Mino!" Hypnosia called. "Can we talk for a second?"
"In the middle of something," Mino said.
"It's kind of important," Hypnosia said.
Pyrrha used his distraction as an opening to leap at him with her sword and shield.
To her surprise, when he swung back at her this time, it hit much harder--harder than she even thought he should have naturally.
Pyrrha hit the wall in shock and then ducked as he nearly jabbed his claws into her.
She rolled out of the way but felt off balance.
"Not so confident now, are you?" Mino jeered at her. "What will you do without your Semblance?"
Pyrrha panted. "You can stop Semblances?" she asked.
"Better, I can turn their force back on the bearer," Mino said. "Hit me all you want. It'll only make me win faster."
Pyrrha tossed her hair. "I'm actually pretty used to not relying on my Semblance to fight," she said.
Mino looked a little less cocky.
Pyrrha raised her sword again.
Mino suddenly looked at the light panel in the wall and hit the switch to turn all the lights in the hallway off.
Then he slashed through the controls so that they couldn't be turned back on.
Pyrrha wasn't sure if he had night vision. He might be a bull Faunus, but she'd heard a lot of them had it even who weren't predators.
She got her answer when he slammed into her while she couldn't see him, and she tumbled down the hallway.
Mino then seized her shield and used it to hit the door with Hypnosia in it till he broke the lock open, which sent an alarm off on the ship.
That wouldn't help people not panic.
Pyrrha felt around and moved her weapon back into her hand. She could hear him...but she didn't want to hit the girl by accident--she was being compliant.
"Come on, let's go," Mino said.
"Mino, I don't know about this," Hypnosia said.
"What? There's no time for hesitation. Come on." Mino grabbed her arm and began to yank her away before she could stop him.
Pyrrha ran after them--and tripped over the broken door that she couldn't see.
She activated her Semblance again so she could feel the doors and handles in front of her.
They'd gone up the stairs now. It was dark on the stairs. The deck lights were off... They had done that on purpose, not wanting to give the Grimm a visible target on the deck--it just made it easier for them to find the humans.
But the starlight did light up just enough for Pyrrha to see their silhouettes as they ran for the deck.
"We could have just used this ship, but the pricks know we're here now, so we'll have to steal a different one. But the Faunus here are cowed--I doubt they'll put up a fight after what they've seen out here, or they might already be losing it," Mino said.
"Mino!" Hypnosia said more loudly. "I've been trying to tell you something! I'm not so sure we should--:
"The h--- are you doing up here?" Mercury had heard them. "I thought Pyrrha was whooping your a--."
"Turns out she's not as good as she thinks she is," Mino said, frowning. "All the top huntsmen are the same, especially the women--no Semblance, and they're trash fighters."
"What, can you take people's Semblances?" Mercury sounded unimpressed.
"I can do better than that." Mino seemed to love bragging about this. Probably because it usually scared people he was fighting.
But...
"Well, isn't that cute," Mercury said, putting his hands up. "Well, I owe you first for Emerald and second for Pyrrha--though she can be a pain in the neck, but she's 100 times better than you."
Thanks, Mercury, Pyrrha thought. But she was looking at the sky.
She was sure she saw something else against the stars now...Grimm...flying ones this time.
Deciding to leave Mino to Mercury's capable hands--or feet--Pyrrha lifted her spear and began shooting at the Grimm.
Hypnosia just stood there.
Mino put his claws back on and swung at Mercury.
The funny thing was, not all fighters used their Semblances. It was true pretty much all huntsmen did--they were trained on how to unlock them--but not everyone's was combat based.
Mino likely was formidable to anyone's who was, which would be 80% at least, but many bandits didn't use Semblances, and likely that was why he talked a big game to people he assumed would be more bothered by it.
So he was quite surprised when Mercury didn't appear the least bit affected.
He kicked aside his claws easily and then kicked Mino into the side of the ship and then down to the ground.
Mino grunted.
Mercury shook his head. "Amateurs," he said.
"Do you not use your Semblance to fight?" Hypnosia asked curiously, and she didn't seem that concerned that Mino had just gotten his tail handed to him.
"Nope," Mercury said, then he smirked. "I don't have a Semblance."
"What?" Hypnosia said.
"Yeah, this is all me," Mercury said, just as if it hadn't bothered him for most of his life. He gestured at himself.
"But...aren't you the Grimm slayer?" Hypnosia asked. "The one who can kill Grimm with a single look?"
"One of 'em," Mercury said, planting his foot on Mino's collarbone.
"And you don't have a Semblance?" Hypnosia couldn't get over this for some reason.
"Not anymore," Mercury said. "And if countering other people's is the only way this guy got tough, then he's a loser. I really don't like people like that."
Mino coughed but was pinned.
Mercury got ready to shoot.
"Wait!" Hypnosia said. "Don't... He was just trying to save me, that's all. We're partners. Surely that's not enough reason to kill him, if you've beaten him... Aren't you people more merciful?"
"A) I'm not really one of those," Mercury said. "And B) he almost killed my partner." (He forgot that Emerald was not currently his partner.) "And tried to kill Pyrrha. So why should I not return the favor?"
"Mino hates humans and Faunus both," Hypnosia said, as if that helped. "Rather, he doesn't trust either. But he's been nice to me... Maybe the things they gave us made us worse. You spared me, didn't you?"
"Lady, that was because I had better things to do than kill you," Mercury said.
"How can you be so quick to dismiss us?" Hypnosia said, more passionately. "Once you were one of us, weren't you? It's us against the world. We do what we can to get ahead. But I think the bandits lied to us... They gave us a place, but then they turned us into their living weapons with those...enhancements... At least it looks that way. We're not all...we're not all the same at first, you know."
"I'm not the sob story person," Mercury said. "That's Em, the person you almost burned down. But if you're so set on stopping me, why didn't you just use your d--- Semblance?"
"If I do that, Mino will kill you," Hypnosia said.
There was a tense pause.
"I could kill him before you get me," Mercury said. "As long as I fire before I pass out."
"Yes..." Hypnosia said, holding her hands up. "So I don't want to test which of us is faster. It's a life either way... Either I choose whose, or you do, or..."
Or maybe he let them live.
"One of you, just do it," Mino choked. He would have pried Mercury off, but Mercury had him too tightly pinned to move his arms or feet without Mercury feeling it.
"Please, Mr. Black," Hypnosia said, tensely, though she was asking. "We aren't much, but we're all we have."
Once, Mercury would have said the same about Emerald, maybe Hazel...but usually just Emerald, the only person who wouldn't have knifed him in the back if it suited them, even in their worst days.
Not that these two creeps deserved his mercy, considering what they'd just been doing to helpless people.
"Once you ruined the lives of helpless people," a voice said in his head. "Once you took innocent lives, if not directly, then by helping it and not stopping it... Once you killed in order to protect your designated group where you thought you belonged, because nowhere else would accept you."
"D--- it!" he swore.
Then he kicked Mino in the head and moved slightly off of him.
But that didn't knock the guy unconscious--the horns probably made his head harder to jar. He sprang up to jump on Mercury from behind, throwing him off balance.
But then he dropped to the deck.
Hypnosia had snapped her fingers.
Then she sighed. "Can you...take the Grimm out of him also?"
"Maybe." Mercury decided to pretend that hadn't happened. "Get back to your cell."
"The door's busted anyway," she said. "Clearly I'm not going to run, or you would have been on the ground."
"Why aren't you running?" Mercury asked. "Might as well."
"If I run, the tribe will find me," Hypnosia said. "They'll either kill me for getting caught, or they'll restart the process of...enhancing. They may kill me anyway, but it's just possible, in Argus custody, they might not dare to try to attack... I may hate all of you--" She clenched a hand. "--but I like my mind to be my own. What could I be sure of if I went back there?"
"I think that's the smartest thing any of you fools has ever said," Mercury said. "Now get back below deck. If the captain was still alive, I'd have him lock you back up."
"The captain is dead?" Hypnosia said.
"You friend there killed him, at least it looked like it," Mercury said.
She sighed.
"Mercury!" Pyrrha cried.
Other Grimm were starting to land on the deck. Some that were more amphibious than aquatic were trying to climb up the side of the hull.
The Grimm were avoiding Mercury, with good reason, and not many were anxious to attack Pyrrha either. Instead they were going for the stairs, aiming to get to the passengers.
"Can you fight Grimm?" Mercury asked Hypnosia.
"Can't everyone?" She shrugged.
"Better fight for your life then," he said coldly, and rushed to head them off.
* * *
Royal wasn't sure he'd find Cinder before it was too late, but he knew what the others were thinking she might do.
It wouldn't be her fault, if the Grimm were as bad as they'd described, but he didn't think the Faunus here would see it that way... In fact it could be the end of Cinder's freedom if she lost control. Even if all of them swore it was only the Grimm, not everyone would believe them. The council wouldn't care if it was true or not.
Fortunately, Cinder was far too disoriented to run as smoothly as she might normally have, and it was easy to catch up to her.
By the time he had, she was slowing down and holding her head in her hands.
On Cinder's part, she'd been intent on finding somewhere she could shut herself in before the poison took over. She had felt the prickly feeling like you get when you're spooked and startled almost at once, but not the full power, not yet.
But by now she was starting to feel less focused... The objects on the ground were starting to take on a sinister look.
Your consciousness of it being an induced state was the last thing to go, so she still knew it wasn't natural. Somehow that made it worse, feeling control slipping away. It brought back the horror of the Grimm lands... Only, then she'd been growing her arm back at the same time... Horrible thing to think about with the Grimm dust around.
Don't think about it, she told herself. Don't think about anything that might be stressful...
Oh, right, the street was full of other panicking people. How would you not be stressed?
Most of them ran from her at once--they would have run from anyone, but it reinforced the idea that she was already becoming dangerous again.
It was one thing to be dangerous because you chose to be, but to feel the control slip away from you without your consent was a whole other... It might make Cinder lose the last of her wish to dominate people through fear...at least like this.
She rubbed her temples, trying to stay focused... She was never going to make it away from the city before she lost control... Might as well give up now.
It wasn't fair. She'd been so close to getting through this without getting bitten. It was like the enemy Grimm targeted her by sneaking up like that... It was trying to get her to fail.
This might have been more truth than paranoia, but it didn't help.
There were still Deimos flying through the street here, though they were running out of new victims. They flew by her, knowing she was already stuck.
Royal, finding this street just then, saw them coming towards him.
"Whoa." He dodged. "More of you? I hope not for long..."
Come to think of it, did he have a plan? he asked himself. He wasn't Oscar--how was he going to stop this?
Maybe it was just blind concern. Might have been better to send someone else...
Then he realized this was stupid. Whether or not he was qualified to help, he was the only one here. He'd better do something. No time to second guess now.
Perhaps this reason annoyed the Deimos, because they flew toward him.
Royal could dodge them while he could see them, but there were others behind him.
He ran faster and caught up to Cinder, since she'd stopped moving mostly and was just standing along the wall now, maybe trying to find a doorway.
"Cinder," Royal called, hoping no one was around who'd know that name and freak out.
She looked up. She already looked half wild, so he had to guess the stuff was taking effect.
Cinder backed up.
"It's okay, listen, you can come back to the others. They can fix it, just like before," he said, holding up his hands.
Cinder stared like a wild animal...
"Are you still there?" Royal began to worry she wasn't understanding him at all.
"Go away," Cinder said.
Well, that was more normal.
"Not this time," Royal said. "It's too dangerous out here in the street... The people aren't violent, yet, but they're getting worse..."
The other people were breaking things now.
Cinder, clinging to her slipping rationality while she still could, had a thought of what might help.
"If you want to help, knock me out, now," she said, stepping forward for the moment. "While you still can."
"I'm not doing that," Royal said.
"You fool!" Cinder was in no mood to be gentle. "It's already started. Another few minutes and I won't be able to think. Do it now, while I still can."
"Maybe it wouldn't take that kind of effect. Things are different now," Royal said.
"It doesn't matter!" Cinder was yelling because she was frustrated and panicking. "It works the same on everyone."
"Not quite the same," Royal said. "There's--ow."
He had been still too long. He looked up. One of the Deimos had just landed on his hand and bit it again.
That was the minute that Royal, normally the calm one in a crisis, lost it.
Not that he panicked, but that he suddenly was filled with a rage that was almost not his own.
With lightning speed, he hit the little monster with his other hand. Thankfully it was turned into smoke right away.
"Get away from us!" Royal said to them all without thinking why he was doing it.
He sounded convincing about it though.
The Deimos seemed to hesitate, like suddenly they were finding this human more trouble than before.
It might have helped that the others were currently working on stopping them all together. A lot of the Grimm near them were stopping to listen to them talk.
The ones near Royal and Cinder weren't totally drawn yet, but they might have wavered.
Royal began to feel strange...
Perhaps, before, Oscar had stopped it, but it didn't mean Royal's Aura wasn't already down more from the strain, and the situation made it easy to be on edge...
But he couldn't lose it here also. They would both die then, probably.
Cinder gasped as the tension was getting worse... Her heart rate was speeding up against her will...
She turned to look at a house window, and then, seeing her own frantic face in the reflection, she looked down and picked up a rock.
Better to just be unconscious than to risk going berserk on the city... She raised it to hit herself in the head.
"Stop that." Royal grabbed her wrist. "That's not the answer. Drop it."
"Let go!" Cinder fought--but didn't have the Aura to make herself strong enough to break free. "Don't you see what's going to happen? I would kill you also, and then anyone else!"
"I don't think that's going to happen, and if you kill yourself trying to stop it, that's not any better," Royal insisted. "Try to calm down."
"I can't!" Cinder strained. She was going more into a frenzy.
Royal's head was starting to feel lighter...not in a good way.
"No," he muttered. "Not now... Stop it... Help..."
He looked upward... What did the others do to get help when they couldn't do it themselves? He wished he knew more...
Something shifted, so fast that he almost didn't know it had. It seemed the whole street was gone...
Or was it him who was gone?
For a moment Royal thought it was the poison's effect on him, and he'd wake up later and have done any number of scary things with no memory of it...and he began to see why Cinder might be so afraid of it.
But he only thought this for a few seconds, because then the scene around him cleared.
It wasn't Menagerie anymore... It was something that looked like Vale's climate, but it would be hard to say.
The effect of it was like being in a dream: It wasn't quite real, but it didn't seem quite fake either.
He must be hallucinating because of the poison.
He tried to speak--and couldn't, so also like a dream.
At least he could still think... Maybe he wasn't totally gone yet.
Then people seemed to materialize in the landscape...a yellow bearded man who might have been in his 30s or 40s, dressed in very old style clothes...and a woman, light blonde hair and a very strange dress on, with a headband that had a snake's mouth instead of a bow...and a staff with a snake tip.
She struck Royal as familiar, though he'd never seen her in his life. Something about that description though...
There was a third man, in the background, brunette, older, and holding a book, a very old style book, without any title on the cover.
He was murmuring something. "I can't find any description of what we saw in there..." His voice reminded Royal a little of Oscar for some reason.
"It was a devil," the woman said, in an odd accent that resembled some of the Vacuo and Atlas' upper class tones. "That's what it was. Attacking the mind and soul. I've seen the like many times, Oz, but your people don't seem to know much about it."
"Alicia," the yellow-bearded man said, "you were indispensable, we never would have been able to fight them off without your help. I believe your way is truly the only way, more than before."
"Thanks, Charlie," Alicia said, tilting her head. "It pleases me that some of you have seen the light is true...even here."
She gave the other man a sad look.
He seemed to pretend he didn't see it, though he was looking up in the moment. He went back to the book. "We need more information on these Grimm...the ones that infect your soul...or your mind..."
"The townspeople are spooked," Charlie said. "I would wish that I could help them somehow. I think Ozwald is right--we need to know more. Those devils come from the northern lands themselves. Someone should go there."
"That would be madness." Oswald looked up. "No one ever comes back from those lands. Even I couldn't hope to, with the Grimm and..." He trailed off.
"Not to fight them," Charlie said. "Just to learn what to expect... A group of us could... What do you think, Alicia? You have a foresight for that?"
"It's not a foresight. That's not proper grammar," Alicia said. She tilted her head and closed her eyes for a moment. "It won't be an easy course of action... I can tell you now, not everyone would survive it. There are other people who live up close to the north, aren't there? But they never last long... One day there will be a kingdom close to there, I believe, further west than the one that's there now... A mighty kingdom that will still have evils inside it...so close to the land of darkness, it's risky."
"So you say we should not go," Charles said.
"I do not say that," Alicia said. "It's up to you. If you think the risks are worth the reward, perhaps. It is true, even I don't know all the gruesome forms these devils may take here. And I cannot go looking. But someone must identify them for the world to have a fighting chance... I've a hunch you may need to know it someday too... Yes, that's clear to me, but I can't even promise that you would come back."
"Would anyone?" Charlie siad.
She paused. "If you keep the light...then someone will come back. I don't know whom."
"That would be good enough for me," Charlie said. "Come now, Oswald, the world needs us. We can prepare for these monsters... We don't need to leave ourselves in the dark about them."
"I cannot go there," Oswald said. "You would be certain to fail if I did, trust me, and I would not advise going at all. You have a wife, Charles. You can have a future.""
"But if I do and the others don't, can we really have any future to speak of with such monsters out there?" Charles insisted. "If you will not go, then that is your choice, but someone must."
"I can give you one gift if you embark on this," Alicia said. "You have accepted our ways...so you may share our protection."
She held out her hand and put it on his head. "I bless you. May all who walk with you find protection from evil and be led away from trespassases, as our own Guide has asked for us. And may this extend to you and your whole family, even to the future generations."
"That is quite a blessing," Oswald said dubiously.
"You can bless as well as curse, Oz," Alicia said to him. "You just don't believe me when I say it."
"And if he does not come back, what becomes of your blessing then?" Oswald asked.
"Who knows what it really means to be blessed?" Alicia asked. "Perhaps it just means success. Perhaps it means blessings of life, or perhaps it just means peace in the end. We all seek different things. If he seeks to bring wisdom and knowledge to his fellow man, and, in the end, that is the result of this, then is he not blessed?"
Oswald had no apparent answer for that.
"I agree. Let it be so if it must be," Charles said.
"You were well named, Charles," Alicia said. "Truly a kingly attitude if I ever heard one. It's a pity the current lords of this country do not have the same state of mind."
"I knew kings before," Oswald said. "They were unpleasant."
"Well, power corrupts." Alicia shrugged. "But there are always the good examples also, you know. Many of our kings start as lowly men...ones not out for power, like your lords are."
Charles bowed. "I should go. I believe I know some men who will go with me if I ask... Best not to wait... Oswald, you will keep an eye on things here till we return?"
"Oh, of course," Oswald said, uncomfortably
Royal was puzzled by this scene...and then it changed.
It must have been many months, even years later, in the vision, and Charles, looking very worn and with a new scar along one side of his face, was approaching a small house in a field.
Oswald, also looking older and greyer, was sitting on the porch, looking dull.
Charles came up to him. "Oz? So you really are here."
"Charles?" Oswald looked up. "What...? I thought you died."
"I guess almost everyone did," Charles said. "But no... Me and one other fellow survived. Only one..."
He looked grave. "They were horrible. Worse than anything we could have imagined. I do not know how we even escaped. Perhaps it was the blessing of your friend...but towards the end of the trip, that seemed to weaken... I felt something was wrong. We ran for the mainland...and I see we were right."
"I can't believe you even got so far," Oswald said.
"Not that far...no more than the edge... But, Oz? Where is she?" Charles said.
"Who?" Oswald said flatly.
"Alicia...your friend? The one who can stop Grimm with one word? That Alicia?" Charles said, angrily. "They told me she was gone...but no one knew why."
Oswald looked very bleak. "She had to go home..."
Charles frowned. "Is...is that really all? Was she really finished?"
"It no longer matters," Oswald said. "You should go back to your family."
"A nice mess I found the village in," Charles said. "They're asking me to take over... Everyone else who could do it apparently has been killed off... I swear, Oz, it's like trouble follows you around."
Oswald looked grave. "That may be more true you know. You'd best stay away from me now...all of you better. Go on, forget about all this. Forget about her."
"Forget? No, we had...we finally had a chance to fight back, really fight back," Charles said.
"That chance is over," Oswald said.
"I don't believe it," Charles said angrily. "But you've lost your heart, it seems... Whatever happened must have been pretty bad. I shudder to think it... I will go... I hope you find your soul again, Oswald. I did not think you were a man to give up."
He turned angrily and walked away.
"She'll be back," he muttered to himself. "No way that was the end of it... There was so much more to learn... We'll keep waiting. I swear...even if it's not in my life, I'll teach my children the same, until we finally put an end to this war against those devils..."
The scene faded.