[Have you figured out why the same song is at the beginning of each chapter yet? My guess is half of you don't actually play it, since I often don't.]

The surprise was a huntsmen licensing ceremony.

Ironwood had decided to grant them all their provisional licenses early.

It was a nice gesture--though Shine pointed out to Wally that it also ensured he could have them on his payroll.

"Hey, honey, do you think we could not look at the potential ulterior motives?" Wally asked, while eating some of the provided cake. "I think he was just trying to do something nice. I mean, look at them."

They seemed happy about it, though less excited than they would have been a year ago.

However, Pyrrha was not.

"I really don't think I deserve this," she told Ironwood plainly. "I lack the experience of the others."

"I think the hardships you've endured since the attack at Beacon more than qualify you," Ironwood said.

That hurt.

"Enduring hardships do not make you a huntress," Pyrrha said.

"Come on Pyrrha, this way all of us can be ones at the same time," Nora urged. "Don't be such a Debbie Downer."

"I just feel I have not earned this yet," Pyrrha said.

"How could you not have earned it?" Jaune was incredulous. "More than any of us, you earned it."

"I agree," Ren said.

Pyrrha pursed her lips and shook her head.

"Well, I'm not taking it back," Ironwood seemed to find Pyrrha's self doubt sort of amusing, though he didn't laugh. "I guess you feel like you need to do more work first, feel free to train in your down time, but you could still go on supervised missions even as a student. You were practically qualified even when you started at Beacon. I wouldn't worry about it."

Pyrrha tried to smile and walked away to sit on the bleachers.

Jaune joined her.

"Pyrrha, is something wrong?" He asked. "You just don't seem...as happy about this as I would have thought. Or about anything."

"Oh, I'm happy," Pyrrha said. "Just...not for this...it just feels...I don't know... inconsequential."

"I guess...but still, you earned it," Jaune insisted. "Or...do you not want to be a huntress anymore?"

Pyrrha stared at her hands. "Jaune, have you asked yourself what being a hunstmen means in light of what we now know?" She asked in a low voice.

Jaune looked sober. "Actually yes...but, I think...I mean it could still do some good. At least it's not illegal for us to interfere anymore."

"Somehow, I don't find that incredibly reassuring," Pyrrha said. "I...I'm sorry, I shouldn't be putting a damper on the party. I think I'll just go back to my dorm, rest for a while. I'm tired after our adventure earlier."

She wasn't really that tired from that, it had been light compared to the training she'd done right before Beacon fell--and to her that was where her body still was, she wasn't out of practice like Yang had been or Weiss before leaving their homes.

But she felt mentally exhausted from trying to figure all this out.

Jaune didn't like how much Pyrrha was reminding him of how she acted right before Beacon fell.

It made him feel paranoid.

"Hey, you can at least stay with us," he said. "Even if you don't want to celebrate, I mean, it's like a big deal to the rest of us, right?"

That kind of sounded angrier than he thought it would.

Pyrrha was surprised at the wording of that.

"I suppose if that's what you want..." she said.

But it bothered her.

And, of course, took all the fun out of it.

The rest of the party was rather lackluster.

Ruby and Qrow had one conversation about her mother...he told her a bit more about her...but no one knew why she'd gone on that last mission.

* * *

After that day, the kids started getting missions every morning.

Pyrrha was expected to participate.

Winter, finding out that Shine and Wally were in fact, not huntsmen, could have mentioned it to Ironwood--and she was going to, but then she considered that there might be a reason they were there anyway. To protect Oscar perhaps, as was said before? And Pyrrha apparently.

That made her wonder just how Pyrrha also knew them. Ozpin and his connections...

Anyway, what difference would it make, they'd already been there...they had no criminal record, no death record...no record at all. They had to be from outside the kingdoms...but they might be harmless enough. (She as yet had no inclination how powerful they were.)

No one did. Only the teams had a clue, and they said nothing, they didn't want to have to explain.

Most of them were glad enough to avoid the two by going on the missions and doing 'normal' huntsmen stuff.

Oscar wasn't allowed to do this, so he spent his time training or hanging around the school.

When no one else was around, Wally and Shine trained with him. They needed to stay fit also.

Wally was actually better for Oscar than the others had been. He never knocked him around, and he knew how to attack him without really harming him. And he was fast.

Shine didn't physically fight that often, but she would watch and then ask Oscar what he noticed about his opponent.

She did that even after he trained with team FNKI also, who happened to be around.

Oscar at first didn't have a lot to tell Shine, but with prodding he began to give her more detailed descriptions of people.

One day, a few days in, he had trained with Ironwood, and Shine was asking him about that--she also has a book with her. One she carried, he noticed, at all times.

"I just...get the feeling he's really scared about everything," Oscar said. "And he likes to be in control...he fights really directly, up close, and using a lot of force. Which is great if you have the power, I just wonder what does he do if someone is too far off to hit?"

"It take intelligence and different skills to attack an opponent from far away," Shine mused, turning a page. "You have to be able to anticipate what they will do fairly well, or you could end up hurting yourself instead."

"Yeah... that makes sense," Oscar said.

"Hey Shine, look," Wally was on top of one of the cubes. "The floor and the ceiling look so similar it looks like I'm floating."

"Yeah," Shine nodded at him, but she frowned. "I guess I do tend to look at the dark side of things."

"Huh?" Oscar said.

"Something Wally said a few days ago," Shine mused. "I guess he's enjoying the ride here. I keep seeing potential threats in everything that happens. Just how I learned to be...I'm not saying it's good, and yet..."

"Yet you end up proven right," Oscar said. "Somehow...I kind of get it. Or...Ozpin does."

"Ozpin and I are not the same," Shine said.

"I didn't mean that," Oscar said.

Shine shrugged. "Well, it's not fair for me to put it on you. You're 14, I don't expect you to support me, should be the other way around."

"Actually, it's nice to have something to think about that's not just...well this," Oscar tapped his chest. "He hasn't spoken to me since you dragged him out. And I haven't told anyone...do you think he'll hide forever?"

"He can't...but how long he can try, I have no idea," Shine said. "Well, you know, there are other things we could focus on."

"You're right...sorry," Oscar said. "I guess I just feel stuck...and like the others are just wondering why I'm even here if he won't talk."

"They like you," Shine said. "They just don't know how to human. I guess the drama has killed the camaraderie aspect of this."

"Which I get...it just..." Oscar sighed.

"Oh, come on now," Wally joined them. "That's no way to be, little dude. We gotta cheer you up. What do you like to do?"

"I don't know, I haven't done that much...I mostly just read," Oscar said.

"Wait, doesn't this school have a library?" Shine asked. "I can't believe we haven't checked it out yet. I hate all this techno stuff. I want to hold a real book, dang it!"

"That sounds weird when you say it like that," Wally said. "I'm not that into reading, but the TV around here is pretty boring, so I think some entertainment would be good. What do you say, Oscar?"

"I've never actually gotten to go to a library before, or with anyone else," Oscar said.

"That is so sad," Shine said. "Come on, let's go."

She put her book in her bag.

"What's the book you're always reading?" Oscar asked.

"The Bible...God's book," Shine said.

Oscar did a double take. "God has a book?"

"Yeah...you want to check it out?" Shine said.

"Can I?" Oscar's eyes were huge.

"Of course, I should have asked before, duh," Shine hit her forehead.🤦

* * *

The library was quiet, naturally, and had a real person on staff, thankfully, though they looked pretty bored.

"I didn't think they were allowing kids to tour in here without their parents anymore," she said oddly.

"Huh?" Oscar said. "Wait, they aren't--"

"It's weirder if we're not," Shine hissed.

"I mean, I'm here as a special guest," Oscar held up his scroll. "The General said it was okay."

"Fine," the librarian opened a book.

"Just like at home," Wally said. "I guess some things never change. Wow, there's so many books in here, I get a headache just looking at them."

"Mr. West, didn't you say you worked at a crime lab?" Oscar asked. "Don't you have to like...have a degree for that?"

"Oh sure," Wally said. 

"He's smart," Shine said. "He just...doesn't like books that much."

"They take too long, I like to do everything fast," Wally said. "Movies are faster...and you can do more than one thing while you watch a movie, you can't really do that with a book. I mean, they're fine, but...I just don't love them."

"I do," Shine said. "And while we're here, I want to look at the fairytale section. Or the history section, as we really should call it."

"Come to think of it, that's not a bad idea," Oscar said.

That took a while to find...the library in Remnant wasn't quite like the one at Shine's home, or at the library she worked at. But finally they found a collection of fantasy and fiction stories.

Oscar's scroll buzzed while they were looking.

"Pyrrha texted," he said. "She wants to know where we are. I guess she got back from her mission."

"What was she doing again?" Shine asked.

"I think tracking down grimm with Ren and Nora," Oscar said. "And the Ace Ops. It's pretty nice of Ironwood to let us train directly with Atlas' best instead of the lower ranking soldiers, don't you think?"

"Yeah...great," Shine muttered. 

"I guess it's because we all know about the you-know-what," Oscar said.

"You know, I like Jimmy better than I thought I would," Wally said. "He seems nicer than he was in Beacon."

Shine snapped a book shut. "I have a good amount here, I think I'll go sit down and start looking through this more carefully. This is the one you mentioned, right, Oscar? The Girl Who fell Through the World?"

Oscar suddenly felt Ozpin almost...twitch? Inside him.

He frowned.

"I...it's like..."

"Ozpin," Shine's eyes glimmered. "Why does this story make you so nervous?"

No answer.

"I want to hear this then," Wally said. "But first, why are you acting like you're mad at me?"

"Excuse me?" Shine said.

"You've been acting like that for days, like there's something up," Wally said. "What did I say?"

"I think I'll just go check the history section..." Oscar ducked out of there before he could witness another argument between people.

"You don't really want to talk about this," Shine hissed at Wally. "After all, I wouldn't want to bring you down by seeing the negative side of everything."

"Huh?" Wally said.

"Like at the licensing party?" Shine said.

"Oh, is that what this is about?" Wally said.

"I have concerns about all this," Shine said. "But you don't want to hear them because they are unpleasant. I'm sorry I'm not as much of an optimist as you and that I don't see the best in people all the time. I thought we agreed that Ironwood was suspicious."

"We do, but I just thought maybe there's some good in him," Wally said.

"I never said there wasn't."

"Then why can't it be in the whole thing about licenses?" Wally said. "Or the training, why can't that be some good?"

"Wally, I'm not saying that he may not have good intentions somewhere in there, I'm saying that his whole approach is skewed and always has been, and that makes whatever he thinks is a good idea all part of the keeping a tight rein on them," Shine said in a lower voice. "Which he thinks is a good thing, FYI. So what I said was true, whether he means it well or not. Did I say he meant it badly? I just said it was a fact. You know me by now. If I think something is done for the wrong reasons, I say so, if I think it is just wrong period, I say so. I don't play games when I'm talking to someone I trust."

"Okay, okay, so maybe you didn't," Wally said. "I guess it just makes me uncomfortable how we have to suspect everyone, it feels like we're just like the team, and isn't that their problem?"

"I don't know that it is, not if there's a reason for it. Isn't it what they do about it that's the problem?"

"But how are we different just because we have different reasons? Can't we try trusting anyone?" Wally asked.

"I think it's a big difference, but we have trusted a few people..."

This argument was going to go on for a while.

* * *

Oscar had gone into a corner and kept texting Pyrrha since she asked what they were doing when he'd told her they were in the library.

"Mind if I join you?" She texted back. "I haven't had a chance to read in ages...even beforehand, too busy training for the festival."

"Sure if you want," Oscar replied.

He liked Pyrrha, not like, like liked her, she was kind of too old for that, and didn't really strike him that way, anyway. More like she was what he thought he'd have liked a sister to be like if he had one, or maybe a cousin. She seemed sweet and caring and not as quick to judge as the others were...and at least she didn't hate him because of Ozpin. 

He wished he could connect with the others, also, but they still seemed wary of him. Jaune had tried to be nice as if to make up for the past...and Oscar appreciated it...and there were times, he felt like he really was friends with them...but Ozpin always hung over him, and he wondered, if they were his thoughts, his feelings, or Ozpin's...Did he like these people...or did he need them?

Every time he got on this, it depressed him.

But Pyrrha was less touched by it than the others, since she was not really a part of their quest in the same way yet, she was still neutral...so he couldn't really feel he was misleading her. Same with Shine and Wally, they were separated from it.

Pyrrha reached the library a few minutes later, it wasn't that long of a walk from the rooms, for obvious reasons.

But Jaune had come with her.

Ren and Nora must have been hanging out together.

Oscar didn't mind Jaune being there actually, but he wondered if this would be awkward.

Jaune waved. "Hey Oscar...whatcha reading?"

"Oh, you know, just trying to get caught up on some of the world history I didn't know about," Oscar had some books about the war.

"It's been ages since I studied this," Pyrrha turned one around. "I almost forget why we have an army at all in Atlas."

"Oz didn't like it," Oscar said. "He wanted to unite the world. That's why we have kingdoms, I think...I'm still learning this."

"I guess one plus to having Ozpin's memories is you won't have to read all this stuff, eventually you'll remember it like you were there," Jaune said.

Oscar felt that strange sense of dread he always did when someone reminded him of this.

"Jaune," Pyrrha said, warningly.

"What?" Jaune didn't understand. "What's the problem?"

"I think it's commendable that Oscar is trying to learn this on his own and not rely on Ozpin," Pyrrha said pointedly.

"Oh...sure?" Jaune didn't get why he was in trouble.

Were guys always this dense? Oscar wondered.

While he might be 14, living with his aunt had always made him more attuned to girls' signals than most boys, he didn't have much to compare her to, so he had to learn. He was pretty sure Pyrrha was trying to tell Jaune something without telling him.

[Tell me you ship Arkos without telling me you ship Arkos:

I wrote this fan fiction...]

"Learn anything interesting so far?" Pyrrha asked.

"There's something here about Faunus having Night Vision," Oscar said.

For some reason Pyrrha started laughing.

She had a musical laugh, and it was nice to see someone happy after all this time.

For some reason, that, coupled with the reference to the past, kind of just made Jaune get hit with the truth: Pyrrha really was...back?

This hasn't be some long extended memory that he was going to wake up from...It wasn't a trick...

Just something that simple was enough to prove it.

Oscar and Pyrrha were oblivious to the fact that he was reeling, but he went really quiet.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha finally asked. "Is something wrong?"

"I...just...need a second," Jaune suddenly bolted for the balcony--the library was on the second floor just like the dorms were.

"I don't think he's okay," Oscar said.

"I would say not," Pyrrha said. "But we were just talking..."

"Do you think it's because you're back?" Oscar was getting good at this. "I think maybe your friends are still getting used to it...sometimes when you lose someone...the sadness just kind of hits you at weird times."

He looked somber. "Like you don't know what you're even missing, you just know you're missing it. And...I guess, I think it could be like that. Maybe they still feel sad, even though it's over, because they missed so much."

"That's very wise, Oscar," Pyrrha said. 

"Yeah...I hope it's not just Ozpin talking..." Oscar said.

Pyrrha put a hand on his arm. "I've met Ozpin before, Oscar, and I've never heard him say anything like that." She said sweetly. "That sounded like you had experience there, personally."

"Oh..." Oscar said. "I guess, my parents...so..."

"I'm sorry," Pyrrha said slowly. "Really...I've never lost anyone...I never was close enough to most people for it to be like that. But in a way, I understand why the others feel like they missed something, because I feel the same way about everything that happened to all of you that I was not there for. Even when I wanted to be."

"Well...you're here now," Oscar said, oddly, like it was a new thought.

Pyrrha glanced at him. "Yes...and maybe I should act like it. I think I'd better check on Jaune."

* * *

"You know what it is," Wally said after they'd gone in circles for a while. "We just have a different approach to this. We always have...but in my world and yours, we worked together just fine anyway. Is this getting to us because we feel like we have to make a good impression?"

Shine put a hand to her chin. 

"I think I know what we should do, and you think we should do something different," she said. "We can't both be right."

"Maybe we're both a little right," Wally said. "I mean, what is it that keeps making us butt heads? Like I said, we don't at home."

Shine thought for a long moment.

"Maybe it's my fault," she said.

"Your fault? Why?" Wally said.

"I don't think I've communicated enough what I want to do. I guess...I feel like this is my thing. I've never had to share before."

"So you don't want me here" Wally had been afraid of this answer.

"No, I do...this is so much better than being alone was," Shine said sincerely. "It was always so nerve-wracking being the only one on my side. But it's also hard when we don't agree, because it throws me off. Before I never had to have my way challenged. Perhaps it's good for me...but if I started telling you how to do your job, would you like it?"

"I think you did that with me and my friends," Wally said.

Shine's eyes widened, then she started laughing dryly. "Well, go figure..."

Wally put his hands on her shoulders. "And it worked out for the best. Turns out we needed it...so maybe these people need a good kick in the pants too...I just am not used to telling people what's best... I mean, I want them to like us...I want to be able to trust them, to make friends."

"What if that only happens once we're willing to stand our ground at all costs?" Shine asked. "What if trying to be friends before we've really told them what's wrong isn't going to work? They can only accept us for what we are."

She put a hand on his shoulder now. "Not what we pretend to be for show...Even if the Flash is the real you, it's still a glammed up version of it. The human side? That's not so easy. Not everyone is going to like you."

"Ouch, that hurt," Wally said. "And, not everyone has to dislike you...in fact, I think they really don't. So, maybe, take it easier on Winter?"

"I'll ease up on Winter--if you tick off at least one person." Shine said.

"On purpose?" Wally said.

"On purpose," Shine said.

"Uh...you know what, maybe we should just stick to our strengths," Wally said.

Shine kissed him.

"Maybe one person..." Wally said.

"Uh..." Oscar wished he hadn't looked for them right then.

Shine stepped back and held up a book. That read "Through the Upside Down Door."

"What's your favorite fairy tale, Oscar?" she asked.

* * *

"Okay..." Oscar said, about an hour later. "Are you saying that all these stories you found--are based off real life?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Shine said. "The Girl Who Fell Through the World, this one about the door, a few others. They all sound like stories of people like us. This is a common thing."

"And you're saying that real events in other worlds are translated into fictional stories by people who catch...visions of them?" Oscar said.

"Yes," Shine said.

"I'm a TV show in her world," Wally said.

"My world is probably a book or show in another one," Shine said. [👀]

"And this world...is also fiction?" Oscar asked. "Somewhere."

"Better not to answer that," Shine said. "Suffice it to say, there are records--not 100% accurate ones, but they exist in some form. Usually they get twisted and spun over time--some you wouldn't even recognize the original people from the caricatures of them...but all stories start with some truth."

"This is a lot to take in," Oscar said. "Why are you telling me this now?"

"We think we should trust you guys more," Shine said. "And...I'm starting to think Ozpin already knew."

Oscar felt like Ozpin almost shivered when she said that.

"I'm starting to think he did too," he said. "Time for some answers.... Oz, I swear if you don't come out, I'll let them pull you out again."

Pause...

Then Ozpin's consciousness suddenly resurfaced. Oscar's eyes flashed.

"Weird..." Wally said.

"Hello..." Ozpin said.

"Enough of this," Shine said. "I still think you weren't surprised enough by our arrival. Spill it, Ozma. Why do you know about other worlds already?"

Ozpin hesitated. "It's a long story..."

"Can you give us the 5-second version?" Wally said.

Ozpin took The Girl Who Fell Through The World up in his hand.

"You wrote that, didn't you?" Shine said.

"A long time ago... It's been retold a few times since, but it hasn't changed much," Ozpin said. "I mean, the kinds of things the girl meets, why she fell...people have all sorts of guesses. But the intrigue, the upside-down nature of the story, remains the same."

"Why was it upside-down?" Shine asked.

"I believe the idea was that the girl was the only upright one," Ozpin said. "And she fell into a world that was upside-down, nonsensical...and no matter what sense she spoke to them, they didn't understand."

"We have something like this in my world," Shine said. "We call it Alice in Wonderland."

"Alice...that's close," Ozpin said. "I never named this girl, however, in my versions. I thought it was better that way."

Wally blinked at him.

Wait, Oscar said inside his head, "That's close?" That makes it sound like you knew her name...like.... Oz! You met her?

Shine and Wally had figured it out too.

"Oscar's with us, right?" Shine said. "I thought I could feel that lightbulb go on."

"I couldn't understand your abilities, Miss Likstar--they are new...but in a manner of speaking--" Ozpin gripped his cane. "--I suppose I did meet one of you World Walkers before."

"One of us...what?" Wally said. "We call it Dimension Jumping."

"Alicia called it World Walking," Ozpin said. "Well, she said she didn't have a name for it, but it sounded like one we'd use. I always call it that."

"You met someone from another world before..." Shine said.

[You know, given where the show is, it sure looks like this is what happened.... Funny how this stuff always comes back around to support my fan fic ideas. I had this in mind ages before Volume 8 came out. Just needed to have the right springboard point in the story.]

"Once...a thousand years ago now." Ozpin looked sad. "I've forgotten a lot of it. It was only once. Those were the days before I hid the Relics beneath the schools and built the kingdoms. The world was still in a barbaric state."

"And you never mentioned this before now!" Oscar cried inside his head. "Why not? You knew them all along! You could have confirmed they were telling the truth to the others! And we could have told them the full story then!"

Ozpin winced at the ceiling. "I was not sure my vote would really be beneficial to you, all things considered. They might have just thought it was another trick."

"That's a bullcrap reason, and you know it," Shine said. "You were scared--still, you might be right. Tying us to you right off might have been a bad idea. But I didn't know you'd encountered one of us before. Sounds like one from a world like ours."

"I think it was similar in some ways, yes," Ozpin said. "In others, not so much. She knew animals who could talk. The Faunus didn't bother her much."

"So that part of the book is true," Shine said.

"I'm still trying to get over that you knew one of us," Wally said. "What happened? What was she here for?"

"I suspect to help, as you were.... She never really said exactly, just as you don't," Ozpin said. "She would say things that were hard to understand.... Hmm, sometimes I think I picked up my way of speaking in a vague and crytpic manner from my time with her. She was...tricky, like you also...but I never thought she meant badly... She didn't like Remnant very much."

"No?" Shine said. "It didn't grow on her?"

"She seemed to like the people, but she said this world was full of darkness and despair and that it operated on rules that seemed to favor evil. That it had been that way since the gods abandoned it."

"She knew about them?" Shine said.

"She knew all about it. I told her," Ozpin said. "Back then, I was less afraid to do that. And she never used it against me...exactly. But she grew tired of my caution, and...well, she left."

Oscar got the impression he wasn't being entirely honest about that but couldn't pull the memories out. Ozpin was holding it too tightly from him.

"That's not all there is to it." Shine didn't miss this.

"That's all that matters," Ozpin said firmly. "It's too late for the rest. Whatever help you have to offer, if it's like hers, I don't think it will work. I don't know where she came from or where she went. She had that book that you have, only smaller."

"That's not unusual," Shine mused. "Didn't she ever give you the book?"

"Yes...she offered. But I wasn't interested... It wasn't helpful to me," Ozpin said.

Oscar made some kind of strangled sound inside his mind.

"Anyway, the other people she met didn't know the full story of what happened, and she didn't tell them. Once she left, they assumed a Grimm ate her or something...though it was unlikely.... They were afraid of her also. I...wrote the book so I wouldn't forget what happened...but I never really knew how to end the story."

"I remember that," Shine said. "This is not the only one like it. I've been to another world where Alice was a real person also. Sometimes these stories mirror each other...but the truth is the same."

Ozpin sighed. "I don't know why you two are here. And frankly, I'm not interested in helping or hindering your efforts, nor do I think I could stop you. But, if you give people false hope...you're not going to solve any of our problems. They are ours and ours alone to solve. Their world is our burden. It would be wisest if you went home."

"No!" Oscar said. "That's not what's wiser! Don't send them away."

"Don't worry, Oscar," Shine said. "He can't. We are not here for Ozpin, we are here for you."

Ozpin stared at her, with something like fear, Oscar realized.

"That's it." Shine stood up suddenly. "Alicia...she came when you'd already merged, didn't she? She came to help you...and you refused...and so the door shut for 1000 years...and the world's in a bigger mess than ever. Now, because of Oscar's searching and fighting with your control, it has reopened."

She tapped the other book. "She told you about doors between worlds, didn't she, Ozpin? She warned you that once you shut it, it can be permanent...at least for you. It would have been wrong not to warn you...and you didn't listen. So she left... I still think there's more to it, but you don't want to tell us. Fine. Don't tell us. But Oscar knows... This makes so much sense."

Oscar found himself back in control suddenly.

And he knew what he thought.

"I guess it's your call, kid," Wally noted.

Oscar later thought his reaction must have seemed a little over the top, but he was so emotional after Ozpin's revelation that he sort of just did the first thing that came into his mind, which was grabbing both of their hands.

"Don't leave," he said. "I don't have any other--way out of this."

That sounded kind of pathetic to him even at the time.

But not to them.

"We're not going anywhere," Shine said, patting his shoulder. "At least not of our own volition."

"Yeah, buddy, we're here for you," Wally said. "I mean that two ways, like, support and literally."

Oscar let out a long sigh. "That's good to hear."

"But this won't be easy from this point," Shine mused.

They all walked outside, and she was still deep in thought.

"So...what did you mean, it won't be easy?" Oscar ventured finally.

"Because we have to work inside out," Shine said. "The opposite of what you guys have been doing. That is always harder. But not to worry, that's what we're trained for."

Wally wondered if he really was trained for it...but if Shine said so, he wasn't going to argue. Enough of that already.

As if still on this track of thought, Shine started singing something that struck them as a little too fitting.

"...Age don't matter like
Race don't matter like
Place don't matter like what's inside                                                                                                                            Let the kick drum kick one time 

Breathe out let your mind unwind

Eyes on the ceiling
Looking for the feeling
Wide open let your own eyes shine. Yeah, it's where the fight begins
Yeah, underneath the skin
Between these hopes and where we've been
Every fight comes from the fight within 

(I am the war inside

I am the battle line
I am the rising tide
I am the war I fight
Eyes open, open wide
I can feel it like a crack in my spine
I can feel it like the back of my mind
I am the war inside!)

I get the feeling that we're living in sci-fi

I get the the feeling that our weapons are lo-fi
Ain't no killer like pride
No killer like I
No killer like what's inside. Yeah, it's in the air we breathe
Yeah, it's in the blood we bleed
Beneath these dreams and what we've seen
We are the kids of the in-between...

Yeah, every thought or deed, Yeah, every tree or seed, the big things come from the little dreams. Every world is made by make believe."

https://youtu.be/vaacJQEN3y4