Cinder had no reason to doubt Mala's words.
But, she reasoned to herself, Mala still didn't suspect her own servants. For some reason she was missing the obvious... It was almost like a gift.
So...why not just lie?
But it had to be a good lie.
One that would seem true.
"All right," she said aloud. "I'll show you."
"Show me? That sounds like an obvious trick," Mala said.
Cinder just took off her other shoe.
"Why isn't she tied up?" Mala suddenly noticed this.
"She wasn't?" Striker said blankly.
"You morons!" Mala hit him into the wall.
Then she gave Cinder a cold look. "At least you knew better than to try anything. Or were you just waiting to?"
Why would that be shocking?
"I know I'm outnumbered," Cinder said fatly. "Why would I give you a reason to hurt me more?"
"Bold of you to assume I need reason, but whatever. What does that shoe have to do with anything?" Mala asked.
Cinder was furious at Royal for making her have to give this away so soon--she'd wanted to buy more time. But maybe she'd had time enough; the other surely would know by now.
She cracked open the shoe.
Inside the glass she'd hidden one of the tracking devices the base used. Long range.
She'd formed the shoes around the chip.
Even Mala looked a bit impressed, though not in a way that would be reassuring.
"Wow." She took it. "That's almost kind of clever. It's such a shame we can't use you more. If I didn't hate you so much, I'd really want you to work for me."
"I would prefer to die," Cinder couldn't resist saying.
"Well, that does almost make me want to spare you," Mala said, looking up. Then tossed the tracker to one of the others. "Make sure that ends up somewhere far away from here. Somewhere dangerous, preferably. I want you to set a trap."
"Yes, milady," he said, running off to no doubt get help.
Uh oh...this had backfired... Maybe the others would catch on though. It's not like it would just move for no reason.
"So Fly Boy here tracked you," Mala said. "That would explain the plane they found. So far it checks out."
Hopefully that meant she was falling for it.
"And he was dumb enough to come here with just a couple people?" Mala said, amused. "Wow...that is amazingly suicidal. I wonder how you have such loyal followers. Tell me your secret."
The way she said that last part sounded more like a threat than the rest.
"It's all in the line of duty," Cinder said shortly. "It's an Atlas thing. Bandits wouldn't understand it."
"Oh, shut up." Mala tired of this game. "Big from the person who wanted to destroy Atlas. Where did that ambition go?"
"I found a better target," Cinder said pointedly.
Mala shook her head. "The nerve of this woman," she said to Striker, who was rubbing his shoulder where she'd hit it into the wall.
"She's really brazen," Striker said. "We should take her down more."
"I agree. But how?" Mala mused. "Which method should we use first? And what to do with that guy in there. He's pretty cute...might make a good toy."
"Are you sure, milady?" Striker said.
"Why not?" Mala suddenly was on edge.
Apparently she didn't handle being told "no" that well.
"As much as that would probably humiliate them all," Striker said, rubbing his chin now, "I've heard things about this fellow. Something about dispelling the Grimm. You shouldn't expose yourself to that."
Mala frowned. "I suppose that's a fair point, if it's true...but it's likely limited. All of them crack sooner or later. And if they don't, they die. It's just another game to find out how."
She looked in the door. "So, Mr. Zapato, I hear you're pretty resistant to Mind Grimm. That's what you all call them, don't you?"
"I can't claim any special talent," Royal said, stiffly. "Gifts as God gives."
"How quaint," Mala said, but there was venom in her tone, "that you actually believe that... We'll see."
Cinder felt cold.
"Well, Cinder, any last words for your hero?" Mala shoved halfway her into the door frame.
Royal glanced up at her.
The eye contact said a lot...
Cinder saw at a glance he at least didn't look like they roughed him up much. Yet.
Though Royal had screwed up all her hard work, so she was going to give him her mind if he got out of this.
On his part, he didn't see much sign that she'd been manhandled, and she didn't seem that afraid, but it was hard to tell with her.
Mala already was freaking him out. She could be vile even without seeing what she did.
"No words?" Mala said.
Cinder frowned.
Any word she said, Mala would be checking to see if she let anything drop.
No way they could try to even hint at the real plan. It was better to say nothing at all. Anything they said so far wasn't evidence that Cinder hadn't told her the whole truth. No time to let anything else out of the bag.
Silence was a defense at time like this...
She just gave him a kind of desperate look like "don't talk."
Royal at least knew better than to ask her if she had any plan or anything like that, but also it seemed like a waste of a chance... But no, Mala was watching them--no way she didn't intend to use it against them.
"How disappointing, nothing to say," Mala said. "As far as you know, lovebirds, this could be the last time you see each other alive if I don't feel generous."
Cinder just looked down.
"Pity." Mala shrugged. She motioned at the others, and they grabbed Cinder again. This time they pinned her hands more effectively.
"Well, to be continued," she called at Royal.
Cinder was marched away.
* * *
"So we're going to intercept the pirates' ship here." Raven was showing the team on her holographic map. "I'm fairly certain this has to be the same one."
It had been hours by now.
"Mom--" Yang was checking her scroll. "--I still haven't heard anything from Team Obsidian or Zapato."
"Service is spotty out there," Qrow said.
"Nothing on the radio either," Winter reminded them. "It could be there's nothing to report, but I would expect them to check in at least."
"Uh oh," Jaune said. "What if something happened to them?"
Winter pressed a button to radio them herself. Nothing but static came in.
"We were fairly sure they weren't that close." Raven checked the map again. "But we could have been wrong. It's impossible to know how far underground tunnels might go."
"Should we go after them?" Yang asked.
"By the time we got there, it'll be even more late," Raven said. "If they were found, we can assume they were caught, or we'd have heard from them. I'm not sending any more small squads out there. If we're going in, we're going in to crush them."
"I hope they're just asleep or something," Pyrrha mused, hugging her sides. "But I have a terrible feeling."
"If they were caught, that's 5 fighters down," Neptune said.
"Down? They could be dead!" Ruby cried.
Everyone looked at her.
"I'm sorry...I just...this suspense is killing me," she said.
"Then make yourself useful," Raven said curtly. "Glynda should have rallied the help from Vale by now, but you can go collect them in person and debrief them so I won't have to waste my time doing it again."
She pushed Ruby out the door and then opened a portal.
Ruby didn't go through the portal though. Tai was waiting on the other side with the people from Vale who were going to help them.
Raven shut the door so that she wouldn't have to hear them talking.
"Ouch," Nora remarked.
"It's still going to be a while before everyone is ready," Raven said. "Then there's help from Menagerie. I'm still not convinced we have enough people anyway. I'd want 100 to feel confident that we had more than the bandits, and that's not counting Grimm."
"But we can't wait around for that," Qrow said. "And some of us are worth at least 2 or 3 fighters on our own. I think we can make up the difference, sis."
"I want to leave nothing to chance." Raven was visibly stressed.
It was dawning on the others that she was pretty nervous about this. None of them had much faith in their own strategy--but had thought she'd at least be more sure of herself. But she was anxious not to mess this up just as much as they were.
With 5 people already missing in addition to Cinder, they all felt less confident already.
"What did I miss?" Theo came charging in the other door that was for the hall leading to the outside.
He was decked out for war, at least. In his usual ridiculous outfit with his tool belt.
"Please tell me you brought someone else with you?" Winter looked up.
"I didn't want to lose too many people," Theo said, "in case they try coming back to the school...but I do have a few old friends. Though maybe they're not really Vacuo."
Team CFVY followed him in, moving more slowly.
"Velvet." Jaune waved.
"Hi," Weiss greeted her.
"Hello!" Velvet was still the only one who acted at all happy to see any of them.
Coco was indifferent, Fox was more interested in the situation, and Yatsuhashi was always silent.
But they were all quite powerful hunstmen by now and would be helpful.
Theo had already debriefed them, so all they wanted to know was if they were moving yet.
"Not yet," Raven said. "But soon."
"I would rather we go now," Winter said.
"Good news then, someone is finally ready to intercept the pirates," Raven said, getting a message on her screen. "That took longer than it should have. Too many of our ships were elsewhere. All of you, go. I want to be called if anything goes wrong."
By "all of you", she meant the people who were going to capture the pirates before heading to the bandits.
Those people were Yang and Neptune, in case they ended up over water; Meridian, since they probably would have to deal with Mind Grimm; and Qrow, who was going to basically just beat the crap out of them.
Velvet and Yatsuhashi volunteered to join them for extra insurance. And because they could beat up pretty much anyone.
Penny and Kip also offered to go at that last second, because both of them could fly, and in an airship battle that would be helpful.
"Just be watchful," Winter told them. "Even if you outnumber them, they always have tricks."
"We'll be fine." Qrow kissed her. "After all, luck will not be on their side."
Winter raised him a look.
"I meant probability," Qrow ammended.
Winter sighed and kissed him back.
"Ew, stop that," Ruby said, coming back in. "Look who I brought."
"Sure, she brought them," Raven muttered.
Ruby had Libby with her. Also a team no one but her and Oscar knew.
"This is team CTTS," she said. [I know it looks like "citrus", but my thought was "chartreuse" because it's a color.] "Guys, this is Copper Coin, Goldie Trent, Tenn Dere, and Blaze Silver."
[Tenn and Dere are both real names. They are both Chinese. Tenn is an alternative spelling of the name of one of the Dynasties, and Deng (in the character I used) means several things: "to thank, apologize, wither, or decline." And since it's Chinese, the first one written is actually the last name, and the second is the first name.]
All of them were younger than Ruby and about the same age as Oscar.
[Their names are a reference to the Andersen story The Tinder Box. There are three dogs in that story. Each has a different precious metal: copper, silver, and gold. It's a fun story, but weird, like most of his.]
And one last person Ruby had with her was someone that Yang and Weiss were both surprised to see.
"Hello, girls!" Dr. Oobleck waved at them with his coffee mug.
"Dr. Oobleck!" Weiss actually moved to hug him, which showed how much she'd thawed out in all this time. She never would have hugged a teacher before.
Oobleck was surpisred.
"Who is this?" Meridian asked.
"Bartholomew Oobleck at your service." Oobleck nodded to him. "Hello, Mr. Pine."
Oscar waved at him. He enjoyed Oobleck's class.
"Well, this takes me back," Obobkl remarked, at high speed. "Remember when we fought those White Fangs members in that train tunnel? It was quite an experience, only that time we had a flaming dog with us. Of course, we may have that advantage this time."
Ruby motioned, and Zwei came into the room also.
"Ruby, we don't allow dogs on a military base unless they're trained," Winter said.
"But, Winter, he's so cute--I mean, so helpful." Weiss gave her the puppy-dog eyes. "Remember, in Vacuo?"
"That dog is as good as some hunstmen," Yang agreed.
"No dad though," Ruby said.
"I wanted him to say in Vale so that we could portal back there if we needed to." Raven didn't look up from the map while she said this.
"Right," Ruby said. "I suppose he has to stay anyway, for Caiden..."
Sometimes she wished Tai would go with them on missions, but it never seemed to line up.
"Hey, once we get back from the coast, we'll all go apes--- on those bandits," Qrow told Ruby. "See all you slackers later."
He and the pirates squad all ran for it.
"He really shouldn't use that language in front of the troops..." Winter mused.
"I can't believe we get to work with the heroes of Remnant," Copper Coin said.
"I can't believe your name is Copper," Libby said. "Was Brass taken?"
"That's my dad's name." Copper frowned.
Copper and Dere were boys, while Goldie and Blaze were girls, naturally.
Blaze had brilliantly red hair to match her name and bright blue eyes. She looked kind of like Nora.
Goldie was blonde, also naturally, though a darker shade of it than Yang or Jaune, and she looked more cheerful than the other three.
Dere was stoic.
"I know I've seen you before." Libby was studying Copper.
"We have the same Grimm Fighting class with Port," Copper said. "I sit in the back."
"Oh, well, I don't look back there, too busy keeping my eyes on whatever monsters he's got that day." Libby shrugged.
"Are these rookies really experienced enough of this?" Winter asked Ruby severely.
"Well, uh...they were the only ones who wanted to help," Ruby shuffled a bit. "Everyone else was likely already on a different assignment or heard about how bad the bandits are and didn't think they were ready. Plus, these guys are all Oscar's mentees, so they know how to defeat the Grimm."
"We've never exactly put it into practice," Goldie objected. "We just kill them like everyone else."
"But this experience should be useful for us," Dere said.
"I'm just here for the expereince points in class," Blaze shrugged. "And to see Oscar in action finally. If he lives up to the hype."
"Heh..." Oscar did his signature nervous laugh.
"I don't really feel like joking," Ren said. "We have serious business to focus on, and letting rookies who haven't even graduated yet go with us almost seems like more of a liability than anything else."
"Wow, coming from the people who were doing missions before they were old enough to graduate and got their licenses early?" Raven said mockingly. "If they're up for it, I don't see why they can't join us. Unless they're garbage."
"We're not," Goldie said.
"Yeah, they're not bad," Oscar assured her.
Of course, they'd never fought bandits before, and it was very different Grimm...but Oscar said they'd just put them on backup for the Grimm, like the other less experienced fighters who were backing them up.
"Oh, I forgot--one more person did come with me," Theo reflected. "But he had to use the little boy's room once we arrived. That should be him now."
Theo's hearing was keen. A second later, Hamish walked into the room.
"What did I miss?" he asked.
"Hamish!" Weiss cried.
"Hey, Snow." Hamish always shortened her various nicknames to that.
Weiss hugged him also. "You just missed Meridian."
"He'll be back, I'll wager. He wouldn't stay out of this fight." Hamish held his club. "Now, where's the a--h---s who we're going to beat up?"
"We still have to wait for the Menagerie bunch," Raven reminded them wearily. "And then we'll all head to the capital and pick up those few people. Then we go. You all should get some rest if you can."
"I couldn't possibly," Jaune said.
"But we should go home and make sure we have everything we need--and say goodbye to the kids," Pyrrha said.
"You really don't have to do this." Winter felt guilty. "You have so many, and Nora is new."
"Uh, Winter, you're a new mom also," Nora said.
"But it's my duty as Commander to do this," Winter said. "You don't have to."
"I think we do have to. They're our friends," Nora said.
"It's bad enough Blake has to hold back because she's already expecting," Pyrrha said. "We can't let anyone else stay out of this. You need us. We're the Grimm defeaters, after all--the only ones the bandits are scared of. You know that's what they really want to get rid of us for. So I'm going. I know the kids will understand why we have to."
"We'll be back soon," Jaune said.
They left.
"I don't know if I feel right, leaving Storm with Mrs. Arc," Ren mused.
"We can't not go," Nora said. "They need you, to mask them from Grimm...and I have to break stuff. Mostly their legs for taking our friends."
"I know, it's just so much more responsibility when you have a family," Ren said.
"Welcome to the world of adulthood," Raven said.
She clenched a fist.
Winter looked at her sideways. "I'm sure Hazel is all right," she said, tentatively putting a hand on Raven's shoulder.
"I'm sure he is too," Raven replied tightly. "Not much could kill him. I just think they might outsmart him you know."
"Well...we can hope he wouldn't fall for that..." Winter didn't know exactly what to say there.
"Poor Emerald and Mercury..." Weiss looked downcast again. "I'm praying that they're okay somehow...and Royal too...but I am worried."
Winter shook her head.
Suddenly, a letter appeared in front of her.
To team CTTS, that was quite a shock. They yelped.
Team CVFY wasn't to be so easily fazed.
"What interesting timing," Ren remarked flatly.
Winter unfolded it. "Wait...Shine wrote this because she had a letter from Cinder..."
"What?" They all straightened.
Winter began to read aloud:
"It worked for me, thankfully. I have copied down what she said because it was very hard to read. I trust I got it right or close enough..."
What followed was the entirety of what Cinder had written to her, no doubt, since it had no explanation for why Cinder was in this position. Instead it was a dictation as follows:
"You need to warn the others about this place. It's even worse than we envisioned. The bandits are numerous--I think I saw at least 50 easily, and that wasn't all of them. They have Grimm claws all over the floor and walls and guarding the cell they keep prisoners in who they aren't currently torturing. If you try to leave without their permission, the Grimm will drain your Aura and who knows what else.
"I have seen very little of their fighting ability themselves. Outside the waterfall entrance, there were scouts for miles, and the Grimm in the forest seem to be actually spying for them, whatever methods they are using to control them. They act like watchdogs, rushing toward the first sign of human emotions. That warning is enough to make the scouts follow them. It's impossible to get close without them seeing you.
"As for the other hostages, I have only seen one: Kate. The others are either being made into bandits or were killed a while ago. Kate is not in the best state of mind but probably as well as you could expect. She's the only holdout.
"Aside from her, there seems to be one other ally we have here. Her name is Esmeralda, also called The Slave by the tribe. She's Mala's younger half sister, but Mala hates her, and she's clearly been treated like less than a dog here. She's more than willing to leave if she gets the chance and is willing to help as far as she can, which is not far. As of now I don't know where she is or when she'll be back, but she said she would keep an eye out for other hostages... She said also that the bandits were bringing more people in, but I have no idea who.
"I don't know what other traps they have or what other tunnels they have. I doubt I'll leave this cell unless it's to be...treated a certain way.
"I do not have the space to write any more even if I had more to tell. Warn them not to worry too much about finding me. If they get here and do anything, I'll find them, if I still can...and Somnus and Mino both left already. I doubt they'll help me or anyone else any more than they did. Only Somnus is serious about leaving here, unless the bull-headed idiot has a change of heart..."
Here the part of Cinder's ended and Shine took back over.
"I was not happy to hear from that that she was in their camp," she said. "But I can't do anything about it so might as well help. I will send her instructions as soon as I'm done writing this for how to hopefully resist the Grimm better. But I knew I had to tell you all first. You had better be careful. This is the belly of the beast. Wally says that if the bandits are so numerous and so well defended, your best bet is not to try to be subtle. Sometimes you have to go in and just punch people... I have found that strategy to be useful defeating other foes like them. There is a time subtlety is out. I hope that helps. Try to keep a prayerful and worshipful attitude when you find them. And do not kill anyone who is not for sure an enemy, as it sounds like there may be some even in the Baba tribe who are more innocent. It would stain the victory to harm them.
"We will pray for you, and our friends here will too. You have our love always--Shine and Wally."
Winter looked up from reading with a grave expression.
"So this is good, right?" Nora spoke. "She's made it a few hours at least, right?"
"This is good in that it tells us they did not kill her right away," Winter reasoned.
"So they intend not to probably," Raven said. "At first. But she said nothing about Mala except that she had a sister. I would have hoped she'd learn something more about what that woman is like."
"Maybe there wasn't anything that would help us," Winter said.
[Truthfully, not much about that would have really been helpful for strategy, so perhaps Cinder gets a pass.]
"Mala has a sister?" Ruby said. "Weird."
"You have one," Oscar said. "And a half one at that."
"Well, yeah, but from all we've head, she's totally psycho. It's weird to think about," Ruby said.
"You don't have to be sane to have siblings," Weiss said. "At least it sounds like it doesn't run in the family. What an odd name though."
"This is quality information for us," Winter said. "We now know what they have... It sounds ghastly." She grimaced. "But we can be prepared. She may have given us a high advantage. I'm amazed she had the wherewithal to think of bringing this and sending it to Shine."
"It's almost as if Cinder is smarter when she's on the right side," Raven said, leaning on her desk with a wry look. "Or when she has no bitter goal and no cheat magic to fall back on. I'm starting to like her, almost."
"It looks as if her gamble did pay off," Roman offered.
He'd been silent all this time, since everyone was still mad at him, but by now they were too focused on the problem to really have room for anger.
Neo nodded.
"If there are people there still--" Raven tapped her chin. "--ones who are not corrupted, we should save them if we can. But they might be baggage. Not like the girls she mentioned can fight. It doesn't sound like it. If we can't save them, I don't want anyone to die trying...but I suppose Shine is right to say we shouldn't taint this with any unnecessary killing."
She glanced at everyone. "But to be clear, you'll have to kill these monsters. If they're so far gone in the Grimm that they can't be reasoned with, I see no reason to think it's a sin to kill them, just like other Grimm. To my mind, you are what you choose to let control you."
"Yes..." Weiss hesitated. "But to be fair, we can't know that right off. Dolly Fina seemed pretty bad to you guys when you got her, but we found out that she was forced into it."
"You can't tell just from what someone will do," Roman said, with a tilt of his hat. "It's how they do it. People will do many things out of fear, but what they will do out of true enjoyment is another matter. Anyone who is out of fear, you might turn."
"You think so?" Ruby said.
"Well, Red, to wax nostalgic, I once did things for Fall because I was afraid," Roman said. "And I can even admit now, I did feel a little guilty about it. That's why I was so anxious to make that speech, but it was out of fear. I thought there was no other choice anyway, except dying...which didn't work out. But the point is, I wouldn't have done those things on my own. I did bad things, but they were smaller. Now, it's to my understanding here that we don't necessarily want all these bandits to be all noble, just as a reason to save them. Sure, you heroes would like it if they were, but the most you're likely to get is if they are sick enough of being forced to do this crap or are afraid of the Grimm. Or even of you. If you work with that and loosen your standards a little, you could turn some of them. If you want everyone to be like you, brave, noble, honest, or unselfish, I doubt any of them are untainted enough for that."
"Huh...that almost sounds kind of wise," Nora said.
"But why should we worry about them if they are not good people?" Ren said. "We have real victims to worry about. I'm sorry if it comes to that, but I wouldn't choose the bandits over them."
"But is that really our way?" Weiss asked. "If Shine and Wally treated us like that, we'd not be here. We almost murdered, and we stole and lied, and cheated, and broke trust, and that was all for what we thought was a good cause... What's the difference between us and someone who's been bullied into it?"
"Motive," Ren said. "If the end justifies the means, at least some of the time."
"I don't know if they do," Winter said. "Sometimes maybe, but that was what made Atlas fall."
"Cinder didn't mention Royal," Oscar noted, more to the point. "Or Emerald, Mercury or Hazel. She did mention other prisoners... That tells us they hadn't been captured. Or not yet. So, depending on when she said Shine that letter, it was before they disappeared, or right after, or the bandits don't have them in the camp."
"So they're already dead, or on their way, or not where she would see them," Raven said. "That narrows it down."
"It's something we have to be aware of," Oscar said seriously. "I want to find them...but we can't be sure we will... I hate to say it, but I think our focus should be on taking out as many bandits as we can and taking the tribe in. Rescue should come second...if only because we can't be certain there's anyone to rescue. We could waste precious time looking for them, for no reason. We need the element of surprise to even win this at all."
"But we can't just abandoned our friends," Weiss said.
"If there is no one left to abandon, he's right," Raven said. "And I agree. I know you won't like it, but we must do our job first. If they are alive, and we win, there's a chance we'll save them also. But even if they were alive, they may try to use them against us...and sadly, we cannot let the bandits win. We cannot choose our own people over the kingdom's."
"Qrow would be proud of you," Winter said.
"Don't give me that crap," Raven said.
"No, I'm serious," Winter said. "It is a hard choice...one the military emphasizes. And I've seen it lead to evil before. But...this time it is not as if we'd be dropping a bomb on them ourselves if we take this view of it. It's just...not letting it stop us. And after all, what right do we have to say our family and friends are more important than anyone else's who will be harmed later if we don't do this right?"
"Right, by the way," Raven said, "means that we capture Mala. If we don't, this will start all over again. She has to die. I'd have all her closest associates put to death."
"I hate to talk about killing them," Ruby said. "But I know we might have to... Maybe I could just knock the Grimm out of them."
"What if that kills them?" Winter said. "I would not fault you, but will you fault yourself?"
"I guess if I didn't mean to, I wouldn't..." Ruby said uncomfortably. "But we're supposed to protect life, not take it."
"We have to sometimes," Winter said somberly.
* * *
"There's a chance you might not come back, isn't there?" Ben said when Pyrrha and Jaune had gathered them at their house.
"There's always a chance of that on any mission," Jaune said, trying to sound light.
"Not like this." Ben was no fool.
"Those people were terrible," Polly agreed.
The younger kids looked scared.
Jodie seemed to be trying to look calm.
Lux was asleep, thankfully.
Pyrrha pursed her lips and took their shoulders, meeting their eye level.
"Listen," she said, "I've lost my life over defending my friends and my world. It was frightening, but it was something I was proud to be able to do. The truth is, no one will live forever. Not many get a chance to choose the way they will die in a meaningful context. There are worse things. Greater love has no one than they lay down their life for their friends. But I want you all to remember that our Savior died even for people who were not good. So perhaps, if we die, it will even be for the ultimate good for those people who don't know they're in need of help yet. Or perhaps we will not die. I think we have a good chance against these people. But things happen, I won't lie to you about that. But it has been a great privilege to be part of each of your lives, even for a short time. And I'm happy that I spent my time with you. And Jaune." She smiled at him. "All I wanted was to be able to share my adventures with someone else and have a home to come back to. I've been given that and then some. I have no reason to complain. And if we return, which is likely, things will go on this way. But remember that life is not guaranteed, it is gifted, and I want all of you to live yours to the fullest quality every single day because of that, as I've tried to do with you."
The girls were sniffling. Ben was trying desperately not to cry.
Davi and Franz were crying more openly.
Jaune was choking up too, but he fought it. "She's right," he said. "It's been...so good to have all this time with you guys. And I'm really proud of all of you for how much you've grown and want to help people, the way we do. But that's why we need you to understand why we've got to go save our friends... And you guys will be okay. Our parents said that they would take care of you if they have to. Don't give up trying just because of us and what we do or don't do."
"Yes, we've been happy to impact your lives, but we'd never want to determine them," Pyrrha said seriously, "though I know you've all suffered already, losing your parents and homes. Yet it would be selfish for us to let that happen to more people just becuase we want to be safe and comfortable here. We have the ability to fight, and so we have the responsibility." [Pyrrha would make a great Spiderwoman.]
Ben shook himself. "Well, don't be so serious," he said. "You'll be fine. The Grimm don't bother you and the bandits are pushovers without their creepy pets. You can devastate them."
The others perked up a bit.
"Yeah, thanks, Ben," Jaune said. "That's true. Maybe they're the ones who should be worried."
"Hmm, if I find one of the ones who hurt those girls, they'll have reason to be," Pyrrha said fiercely.
"One last group hug." Jaune brought everyone in.
"Crushing me..." Franz gasped.
[Aw...that made me want to cry.]