Oscar, Ruby, and Theo left Argus before midnight. It was still going to take them a lot longer to  catch up. They just hoped this ship was fast enough.

They didn't know that the others had left for Beacon already, or they would have figured they'd never catch them in time.

They also didn't know their ship had gone down, because Winter did not hear that update till she and the other two teens were at the train station and the base notified her that the ship had completely lost contact with them--which, with the arena up, it should have still had.

It could have been a fluke with the tower still being only just launched, but it seemed unlikely.

"But they could have survived, right?" Emerald said.

Winter wasn't sure... They needed to get to Haven and find out. If they had just lost connection, the others would be fine, or they might have gotten off of it in time--there were parachutes... But they'd be closer to Haven than Beacon if that was the case, so better to look for them there.

She tried not to think about the alternative.

"Welp, they're doomed." Mercury was not open to optimism. "I knew this idea would never work."

"Do you have to say the worst thing?" Emerald said.

"I call it as I see it," Mercury said.

"Through grey tinted glasses," Emerald muttered.

Funny, that sounded like the Silver Eyes.

Mercury wondered why Ruby had given him such a weird look before they'd left earlier, like she wanted to say something but then wouldn't say it. And then she'd looked in a mirror at her own reflection, like she was wondering if she had something crooked.

Girls were weird.

Oscar had actually asked Emerald aside if she knew anything about Salem's knowledge of Silver-Eyed warriors.

"No, that's Hazel's thing. I don't know," she said. 

"And...this might sound weird, but did anyone ever say anything about Mercury's eyes being ...you know, grey?" Oscar asked.

"No," Emerald said. "It's kind of weird, huh? Since it's such a big deal. But I guess maybe it's not the right shade of grey?"

"I don't know about that," Oscar said. "I saw the Hound... That person's eyes weren't the same shade as Ruby's, but they were grey."

"You mean it's not that easy to tell?" Emerald said. "S---, Mercury could have--but no way, Salem would have killed him or...worse."

"Yeah...unless she just didn't care as long as they weren't activated," Oscar said. "It's just a thought. It just seems weird--we don't know anyone else with grey eyes."

[As a side note, I noticed Winter's eyes were a lot greyer in Volume 3 and much lighter in Volume 7, like they purposefully changed it to make it less confusing. I think hers were supposed to be just greyish blue anyway, not actually grey, but they've cracked down on making it less confusing. I think Watts' eyes initially were a more greyish-tinted green and then also changed to be more clearly green. But Mercury's have stayed grey. Actually, comparing how they looked in Vol. 2-3 and now, his are closer to Ruby's shade than before.

Apparently there was some BS way to tell by how much light reflected in them, but that's not a very reliable source, since, depending on the animated shot, it wouldn't be visible all the time. The color is the easiest way to tell. I think they just wanted people to stop speculating--too late though. Kind of did this one to yourselves.]

Now, on the train, Emerald wondered. But based on what she'd heard about Ruby's eyes...she couldn't picture Mercury ever doing that. He didn't care about that much. Especially life.

That reminded her, though, that Salem's curse was to walk the earth until she learned the meaning of life and death.

"Hey," she spoke. "Do either of you...I mean, do you think you'd know what life and death really mean? If you had to break that curse?"

"What curse?" Mercury said.

"Salem's," Emerald said.

"Huh?" Mercury said.

"That's her curse." Emerald only knew this from the team filling her in, because Ozpin had neglected to mention that to Hazel--probably because it might have distracted from his turning him to his side.

"I've wondered about it," Winter replied. "But I do not have the answer. I believe Miss Likstar has said there is no meaning in life or death in of themselves. Don't we assign meaning to them? I can't argue with her answer, because in the abstract, very little has meaning unless you give it meaning."

"But that just means that stuff can mean whatever you want," Emerald said.

"No, I believe there is a correct interpretation of things," Winter said. "But that some people miss it."

"How could you know? It's pointless," Mercury said. "Asking stuff like that is pointless. Everyone just has their take on it. No one's can be proven."

"Could you prove what you just said?" Winter asked him.

"Huh...? No... I don't get it," Mercury said.

"You think that what you just said is true, but most of us do not," Winter said. "If you can't prove you're right, then you invalidate your own statement. One has to believe there's a way to know, or knowledge is an illusion."

"What if it is?" Mercury said.

"We could know about nothing, then. We might as well not speak to each other," Winter said. 

"I think some of us would like that," Mercury said.

"You can't go 5 minutes without opening your mouth," Emerald said. "I couldn't pay you to shut up--you really think you want total silence?"

Mercury made a face at her and leaned back in his seat.

"The gods must have had an answer in mind," Emerald said, "if they cursed Salem with that."

"Miss Likstar thinks they don't know themselves," Winter said. "And I'm inclined to agree with her, because all they seemed to care about was balance...and their treatment of Ozpin challenges the idea of that even being consistent. Nothing about this feels like balance to me. The scale has always tilted in Salem's favor. But I see no real purpose in it."

"I've read their book a little," Emerald said. "Death is supposed to be the enemy, according to them. It's not balance. I think that makes more sense. We fight Grimm; they're kind of like the embodiment of death--even if they're alive, but they aren't really alive, right? Salem is like the queen of death."

"Not so," Winter said. "She had children once--I'm still trying to accept that."

"EW!" Emerald still didn't like it either.

"But that means she's capable of producing life," Winter said. "Perhaps Miss Likstar is right that she is still human somewhere under that Grimm exterior."

"If that's so, that's worse for her," Emerald said. "Being a human and a Grimm mistress at the same time, that's not even something that should be possible. I'd almost feel sorry for her."

"I wouldn't," Mercury said. "She chose it, right? Why would she care? She's gets to be the most powerful thing in the world."

"At the cost of never enjoying that power," Winter said. "I wouldn't like it."

"Well, not everyone is like you," Mercury said. "Some b-----s just like power."

"Your philosophical presentation is truly fascinating, Mr. Black," Winter said dryly, "but hardly helpful."

Emerald giggled at that, which made Mercury glare at her.

"Sorry," she shrugged. "But you are kind of being an ass. We're trying to have a serious talk here. Aren't you at all concerned with saving the world?"

"And you think the two of you are gonna come up with answers to something Salem hasn't figured out in thousands of years?" Mercury scoffed.

"Has she ever tried?" Winter said. "I've heard nothing to indicate that."

"I don't think so," Emerald said. "From what I heard, she just rebelled. But I mean...aren't we kind of doing that too?"

"For different reasons," Winter said. "She wanted Ozma back to life, as I understand it, but she was willing to sacrifice the whole world when she didn't get what she wanted. I could understand wanting him back, and I fail to see why the request was so impossible to grant when she asked, instead of going through this reincarnated nightmare...but beyond that, she could have accepted it more gracefully. All of us are treated unfairly. Not all of us pull the world down with us."

"I guess, though maybe she didn't think that would happen then," Emerald said. "Why try to confront the gods if you knew you'd lose?..."

Winter thought of Shine's idea that they should do the same. 

"Well...perhaps gods must be fought if they are unfair," she mused. "But how anyone could win, I don't know."

"You'd have to be a god to fight a god," Mercury said.

Winter glanced at him.

Emerald did too.

"Hey...that's not bad," she said.

"Huh?" Mercury actually hadn't meant anything by that--he was just trying to be cynical.

"I believe that is their thinking," Winter said, "but in such simple terms, I hadn't thought of it. Of course it is rational to think only a god could fight another god...but will He?"

She felt afraid. It seemed so uncertain. This God was unpredictable, unlike the other two. He didn't seem to act on command.

Emerald didn't have all the context Winter did, but she knew at least that the idea was worth thinking about.

"Do you think Salem would be worried about that?" she asked. "If she knew what was up with Ozpin and Oscar wanting to break that curse and stop this? Would that make her angrier, or would she think that served the gods right?"

"She's not mortal anymore, so why does it matter?" Mercury said.

"Yeah, but is she capable of feeling curiosity anymore?" Emerald wondered. "Or feeling fear?"

"The General didn't think so," Winter said. "But I'm no longer sure she's as far removed from human emotions as we thought. Only of feeling compassion for other people's because of them."

"Salem cares about no one," Mercury agreed flatly. "It's hard to believe that was ever not true, but that was ages ago."

"And if you care about no one, you can't understand life," Winter said. 

"You can't understand death either," Emerald said. "We don't care if people die if we don't care period."

"Then the answer seems to be that the loss of her humanity has rendered her riddle impossible," Winter said.

Emerald looked glum. "Then I guess there's no hope that she'd just quit and do it for us."

"Were we actually hoping for that?" Mercury said sarcastically.

"I think Miss Likstar would agree with our conclusion," Winter mused, looking out the window. "But she always has something else to add to it, some answer that would make the puzzle fit together. I suspect she already knows what Salem would have to understand in order to be free."

"If she did, could she tell her that?" Emerald wondered. "Or would Salem even listen to it? I don't think she would...so what good does knowing it do? If it was that simple, someone could have told her that ages ago."

Winter wondered if Ozpin had ever tried... She somehow didn't think so. She didn't think he knew, either. Something to ask when they reconvened.

Dawn began to break ahead of them. It would still be another few hours to Mistral though.
[This Will End--the Oh Hellos]

https://youtu.be/QfWvrElYqpc

* * *

Raven had sat for a long time after the magic spasm was over.

Hazel had just stood there also, clearly not sure whether leaving was a good idea or not after that.

Raven's mind was whirling with a thousand thoughts, but she didn't voice them until suddenly she just reached her limit.

"You know, if I hadn't ever met Ozpin, none of this would have happened," she said, in a fury. "I had a life before that. Maybe Qrow would say it wasn't much of one, but it was better than this endless servitude to some ideal that can't be realized! Because of Ozpin, my family and I fell apart, my tribe was destroyed, and I am left with nothing except this useless power that I can't even get rid of without dying! On top of that, it doesn't even work right anymore. I curse the day I ever joined that d----d school."

Spitting the venom out made her only feel more angry, not better.

She didn't really expect a response from Hazel. The guy never said much to begin with.

And, in fact, Hazel wasn't that interested in responding in a comforting way. That wasn't his thing.

But he could never pass up a chance to criticize Ozpin, so he did venture to say, "Ozpin has cost many people their families and worse."

Raven had almost forgotten that Hazel's whole shtick was that his sister died.

She got to her feet and then kicked a table.

"Right," she said. "Your sister, right? What was her name...?"

"Gretchen," Hazel supplied.

"Right, her." Raven didn't have any idea who that was. "Training mission, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Hazel said. "It's all the same thing."

Raven laughed bitterly. "It is... Doesn't it just make you crazy? The dying part isn't the end of it...it's the knowing that it was inevitable, being part of the whole scheme. Being a pawn."

"Yes." Hazel was, as usual, laconic about it, but you could tell he was mad.

Raven paced around the room. "But here we freaking are...back in the same s--- as before. You never really leave."

"It was between this and being Salem's pawn," Hazel said.

"Oh, sure," Raven said flatly. "But doesn't that just piss you off more? Why not just leave? Why work for Ozpin?"

"I don't," Hazel said. "But the boy wants to change his fate. I wouldn't pass up a chance to see if that's possible. If any of this means anything later, it will only be if the cycle can end."

Raven laughed at that again--but more like she was instead of crying.

"Yeah, that'd be the day," she muttered to herself.

She sat on the table, because she was too upset to care what was supposed to be a chair.

"I feel sorry for Oscar," she said flatly, "but I was never that convinced that he'd succeed. The power to fight magic seems small compared to the power of magic."

"If you knew Salem wasn't killable--" Hazel had honest curiosity. "--why did you side with her at Haven?"

"Do I really need to explain again that that was my plan to get the Relic away from Cinder?" Raven said.

Hazel shrugged. "Well, it worked out perfectly."

Sarcasm.

"Not my fault," Raven said.

Sort of...

"Anyway your plan was to help Salem destroy the world," she said.

"Not what she said," Hazel said. "But it shouldn't surprise me she was a liar."

Raven privately thought that Hazel wasn't the brightest bulb in the shack if he'd needed Oscar to tell him that...but typical of Salem's minions.

It didn't matter.

"But more people will suffer if she wins," Hazel said. "I don't think they need to die. Maybe things will change."

"Maybe they won't," Raven said.

"A chance we can't afford not to take," Hazel continued firmly. "Or they won't for certain."

Well, when you put it that way...

She kicked her heels flippantly.

"At least your family is still alive," Hazel remarked. "It's not too late to save them."

"Not all of them..." Raven said flatly. "Summer is gone. Not that she wasn't insufferably naive at times...but teammates are teammates."

Awkward.

"For whatever it's worth, I regret participating in that," Hazel said.

"That doesn't matter," Raven said.

Hazel didn't take offense to that.

Raven looked at the ceiling with a scowl. "It's her fault anyway. And Ozpin's. Logically, Salem just does what she does. We're the ones who line ourselves up for it. What do we expect? She's a force of nature."

"But she can be fought." Hazel said the same thing Ozpin had told him.

"What is fighting going to really do?" Raven said. "She can't be reasoned with either. Without strength or reason, there's nothing else."

"There may be another way."

"No," Raven said.

"You'd better hope there is." Hazel was not so dense as to miss that Raven was shooting herself in the foot with this thinking.

Raven knew it, too.

She rolled her eyes.

"Well, even if there was..." she muttered. "I don't think I'll ever get my life back. It makes me wonder if it's worth it. If I wasn't afraid to die, I probably wouldn't even bother trying to survive."

"There are worse causes to die for," Hazel remarked.

"Cold comfort," Raven said.

"Fighting for yourself usually is." Hazel said one actually clever thing.

Raven paused... That was actually kind of good.

"Oh, and what do you fight for?" She used her usual personal attack once she'd been cornered.

"Admittedly, for myself," Hazel said. "I hate to give Ozpin any credit, but perhaps he was right about that. But not now. Now I'm carrying on my sister's legacy. I should have done that a long time ago. She might have been innocent and not ready, but at least she wanted to help people. She wouldn't have liked what I did. I was too angry to realize that for a long time, but now, I no longer think that's a good excuse. I was foolish to believe Salem. This is what I should do, to serve as penance. It's not enough to make up for years of bloodshed, but...it's the only thing to do."

That was the most Hazel had ever said.

And kind of hard to argue with.

Raven had a moment of thinking that even Salem's mindless goons were more noble than she was.

"So...you're not afraid to die?" she said blandly.

"No." Hazel wasn't. "All of us have to die. I only fear dying for the wrong reason."

"But not today," Raven mocked his favorite phrase.

The look she got in return made her regret it. Very not amused.

Gosh, this guy was intimidating even when he was on the right side... How did Oscar stand up to him?

But sometimes people who are kinder sense kindness in others easier and are able to respond to it instead of being afraid...not something Raven would have understood.

She hastened to move on.

"Well, I'm sure it's very noble to try to correct your mistakes," she said in the same tone she used to imply that she couldn't care less even if it was. "I suppose that's what most people would say is the right thing to do."

"But not what you're doing," Hazel guessed flatly.

"I don't have a lot of faith in concepts like redemption." Raven walked to the window and looked out. "It's just an idea."

"Ideas are worth something."

"I guess if they're based on facts," Raven said. "But sacrifice, courage, and forgiveness aren't based on facts, just on how you look at those facts."

"I don't have a philosophy." Hazel didn't want to get into this kind of argument; he hated debate. "I just know that you do the right thing or you don't."

Raven was annoyed at how simplistic that was... It sounded like Qrow.

"As long as you know the right thing," she said dryly.

"We all know," Hazel said. "Even if we don't acknowledge it." He considered himself someone who had purposely ignored the right thing for decades.

Raven clenched a fist.

"Random question," she said, "and don't think it offends me if you say yes, but don't you hate Qrow and I and everyone else who works for Ozpin? Why does Pine change anything?"

That was a good question.

Hazel had to think about it.

"I haven't given a lot of thought to hating any of you," he said frankly. "I figured everyone was a pawn. And Pine is a victim...but one who wants to change his fate. That should be celebrated. Impossible or not. Not much else worth fighting for. The rest of you aren't trying to fool the world anymore. That puts us all in the same boat. Why does it matter?"

"It doesn't," Raven said. "I was just curious. If I were you, I'd hate us all."

"Do you hate them all?"

"Me? I don't know," Raven said. "The line between hate and resentment is kind of thin. I hate Salem more."

"She doesn't care about that."

"I know...which is why I don't waste my time acting on it," Raven said. "But there's a point where not hating something like that seems inhuman."

Hazel shrugged. "True...I'll give you that."

That might be as close as he got to finding commonality.

She was only trying to distract herself from how freaked out she was by what happened earlier.

But it was kind of interesting anyway to consider how different everyone who'd joined this group was, and yet they'd all decided to work together. If she was younger, and more foolish, she might have found it inspiring.

But it was just astonishing that they all believed it was worth it.

But who was she to tell anyone how to live? Her choices hadn't worked out either.

[Now she sounds like Qrow. Both of these siblings are just depressed all the time.]

"Raven--" Qrow scared the crap out of her by opening the door without even knocking.

Then he stared at Hazel.

"What are you doing?" he said.

"Something happened." Hazel had no reason to lie. "I think it passed."

"You too." Qrow looked at Raven. "You felt that, right?"

"The magic?" Raven said. "Yes...as if it wasn't bad enough already. But this was different than Kanap's. This felt like it was internal."

"Yeah, I lost control," Qrow said, "like you have, but it wasn't like I just did it alone--it was like it made me do it."

"I agree, it wasn't the same thing," Raven said. "But I didn't turn into a bird."

"I did... Huh, weird," Qrow said.

"If we felt it, I think the other three did too," Raven said. "I couldn't care less about Cinder, but Sol and your girlfriend might have been in a bad place for that to happen. I don't know what it would do to Sol with her condition she already has, but I'm surprised we haven't heard from them yet."

That was because Winter had been talking to Oscar. And Vara hadn't cared to answer.

"Do you mean Schnee?" Hazel assumed that's who "girlfriend" was.

"Duh," Raven said.

"I guess nothing really happened..." Qrow said slowly, "but it makes you wonder what's going on."

"I think we're being punished," Raven said.

"I'm not surprised you're taking that view of it," Qrow said. "Maybe it's just bad luck."

Raven smacked him. "No amount of luck could explain that."

"I was joking." Qrow rubbed his arm. "Also your right hook is a lot weaker than it used to be. All that time hiding in the woods made you rusty."

"Say that again and you'll see rusty." Raven made a fist--but then she stopped. She wasn't in the mood for this.

"Not to interrupt whatever this is--" Hazel knew perfectly well what sibling banter was. "--but perhaps one of you who actually can should be calling the others to see if they experienced the same thing."

"If he's saying that, it has to be obvious." Raven gestured flippantly.

"Oh sure, pick a fight with the tank." Qrow rolled his eyes at her.

Well, Winter didn't answer because she was still on the scroll with Oscar at the time.

Vara didn't answer because she had her scroll turned off.

This was enough to worry them for hours, up until Vara finally called him back.

"What is it?" she asked.

"The h--- were you?" Qrow said.

"On the train, duh," Vara said. "Actually I'm almost to Mistral, just another mile or so. Hey, what's with the big, black ash outside? Was there a fire also?"

"Ash?" Qrow said.

He ran outside and got on the roof.

She was right--there was a black cloud along the horizon...but it didn't look like the consistency to be ash.

"Qrow?" Weiss was outside also, widening her eyes. "What is that?"

"I don't like it." Sun was with her.

"It's not that," Qrow said to Vara. "It looks like...bugs?"

"More dipteras?" Vara asked.

"No, too small for that..." Qrow squinted.

"By the way, something weird happened with magic earlier," Vara said.

"We know! Why do you think we called?" Qrow snapped.

"Right, well, your girlfriend called also. She just wanted to consult the old man," Vara said. "I guess she felt it too."

So she was okay... Qrow let out a sigh of relief...and then he got mad. Why hadn't she called them?!

True...she didn't have to...but still.

He was going to kill her when she got back.

"Was she on her way?" he said.

"No, she was going to come a little later. I don't think they'll be back till mid morning," Vara said. "But I wasn't waiting around Argus. It's too cold. I've got the two clowns with me. Theo went on ahead with Pine and Rose."

"What? Where are they going?" Qrow asked.

"To head off the people going to Vale, I guess," Vara said. "They didn't tell you that? Go figure."

"Ask him if the Grimm are gone," Qrow heard Roman say.

"They must be or he'd have said so already," Vara shot back. "Now pipe down, Gangster Wannabe."

"How crass," Roman said.

"Theo let you go alone with them?" Qrow said.

"He's letting me be more independent now," Vara said dryly. "I'm like the wind, untamed."

"And full of hot air," Qrow said.

"Shut up. Look, now that we're getting close to those bugs, I don't quite like the look of it. They look like they're flying towards you."

It did look like they were coming closer.

"Might be another attack," Qrow said. "Kids, get inside!"

Weiss and Sun ran inside.

The swarm came closer.

Qrow turned into a bird and flew up to look at them more closely.

They were Grimm, all right, but they were small. Grimm were always big, even when they were bug-shaped ones. But these were the size of normal bugs, but with reddish and white markings of Grimm.

They flew past him. Apparently he wasn't powerful enough to be a Maiden to them.

Qrow followed them, trying to stay ahead of the bulk of the swarm, but they were pretty fast.

It was too dark to see much, but he heard the bugs start smacking into things like pebbles or hail stones.

People started screaming.

Landing on a street with lamps along it, Qrow pulled out his scythe.

The bugs were splattering onto every surface in the area, and, instead of dissipating, they were just covering it like sludge.

People were getting hit with them also. They were trying to scrape it off themselves frantically.

But it couldn't be that painful...

It didn't look like anything was melting, it was just getting covered in...goo.

Gross.

One hit Qrow's scythe, and he looked at it more closely.

It wasn't entirely squished. It still had its tiny, little head sticking out of the middle of the blackness...

Also gross.

They looked like gnats, though they were bigger than regular gnats, more like the size of big crickets.

Qrow didn't see the biggest danger right off, until people began yelling, "I can't see!"

The gnat things had flown into their faces and splattered over their eyes, and they weren't coming off just by the people trying to peel at them.

"Get it off me!" people screamed.

Everyone who wasn't hit began to run inside and slam doors, then windows.

"What are they?" some man yelled.

"They look like Midges," a woman answered, "but Grimm."

[Did you know that gnats aren't actually their own species? It's a blanket term for several species of flies and insects that are that small. Live and learn.]

Midge would do as a name for now.

He held his sword up to shield his eyes. This wasn't good.

But...what was the object of it? Blinding a few people couldn't really be what Salem was after.

Unless...she knew that some of them were trying to leave the city--or would try to leave at some point...

Shine had advised that people should evacuate before they arrived just in case, but most of them hadn't listened to that warning, and now they wouldn't be able to if those things stopped the cars.

But how bad were they?

Resuming his bird form, Qrow flew back towards the train station.

Sure enough, he found they were splattering themselves over the train engines that were still in the station and over the windows.

Great...and how was he supposed to kill those things?

Fire might do it.

Well, some huntsman at the station had that idea. They'd taken some electricity dust and were firing at the Midges, zapping them.

That did seem to work. But no way there was enough dust to go around.

"Sir, there's another problem," one of the huntsmen said to one who must have been the overseer. "Another train is scheduled to arrive in about 5 minutes, and we can't see well enough  to bring it in safely. We can't move the other trains either."

The overseer cursed. "We'll have to feel our way forward then."

"Sir!" someone else called. "They're covering the tracks also."

Qrow flew that way to see for himself.

It was true... That goop didn't look like it was that good at traction either.

Uh oh...

Just a few seconds later, the train appeared that had Vara, Torchwick, and Neo on it.

Qrow dialed Vara frantically.

"Are you seeing this?" she said when she answered.

"Yeah, get the frick off the train," he said.

"Are you crazy? We can't just jump off a moving train!" Vara said. "I'd never make that."

"You can fly!"

"Those things are in the air. I'd be swamped as soon as I got out!" she said.

"Can't you make a whirlwind or something?" Qrow shot back.

Pause.

"That might work..." Vara said. "But without any shelter, for how long?"

"Just try. Are there other passengers on the train?"

"Not that many, but there's a handful."

"All of you need to get off. It might go off of the rails when it gets close," Qrow said. "They're coating the track."

"Holy crap!" Vara had opened the window, from the sound of it. "They're doing it out here too. We don't have that long! I've gotta go."

She hung up.

Qrow called Winter. She better answer this time.

* * *

By now Winter was just counting the seconds till they got to Haven. Emerald and Mercury had both fallen asleep... They'd been up late.

She jumped when her scroll rang, but she went into the next car to answer it.

"Qrow?" She was surprised--and then she saw she had some missed calls... Oops.

"Well, it's about time!" Qrow snapped.

"I'm sorry. I was talking to Oscar--" Winter began.

"Winter, do you see anything weird on the horizon?" Qrow cut her off.

He sounded stressed.

Winter looked out the window.

It was only just about 8 a.m. by now.

"No..." she said.

"How far away from Haven are you?"

"We must have at least another 60 miles, so about 2 hours... Maybe less. So far there's no Grimm."

"Can you get off before then?" Qrow said.

"I don't think there's another stop." Winter didn't remember there being one on the way. "Why? What's happening?"

"I don't have time to explain the whole thing, but the track isn't going to be safe once you get close to Mistral. There's more Grimm. Get off the train as soon as possible."

"And do what, fly the rest of the way?"

"Look, someone might be out there. Maybe you can hitch a ride, but the train's not safe. They should stop it, completely."

"They won't do that," Winter said.

"Use your rank or something," Qrow said.

"Did you actually just tell me to--" Winter stopped. This wasn't the time for quips. "I can try." she said instead. "But did Var--?"

"She's going to crash if she doesn't get off her d--- train," Qrow said. "I have to go. Just don't be on it."

Winter saw a shadow. She looked up.

Some Sphinx Grimm were flying this way. They'd come out of nowhere.

"Oh no..." she said.

"What?"

"We've had no issues up till now, but there's Grimm..."

"Passengers," a voice came over the intercom, "please remain calm. We've spotted some Grimm. Please remain inside your cabins."

The train began locking down.

"This is not going to be as easy as I thought," Winter said. "We're going to have to fight first."

"Of course," Qrow muttered.

"We'll be fine." Winter hoped that was true. "Vara needs more help right now."

"Don't let your guard down." Qrow hung up.