The Fall Relic was indeed hidden in a cave. Shine had been right.

It seemed fitting, as Ozpin had wanted to hide it more than the others.

Cinder flew in, like walking was too basic for her, and picked it up.

It shrank to fit her hand.

Then she flew out.

Shine had not gotten up yet. The blast had damaged her more than Ozpin.

Pyrrha, who was still feeling it, but more resistant than Shine, pushed herself up again.

"Well, this is really pretty ironic." Cinder, of course, had to gloat. "All that, and you fell for it."

"Not all of us." Ozpin struggled to get up.

Cinder shot him down again.

"Stop it!" Pyrrha jumped to her feet. "Stop doing that."

Cinder turned to her.

"Ah, Nikos." She made a sword in her hand. "This is almost nostalgic for me. Remember what it was like before? But an arrow is too good for you this time. I think I could make it more painful."

"Are you really just going to ignore  everything we talked about up there?" Pyrrha said, without any fear, to Cinder's surprise.

"Why would I listen to that?" Cinder said.

"Because you know we're right," Pyrrha said, steadily. "You can sense it, can't you? Even with all our failings, have we ever lied to you?"

"Are you really doing this right now?" Cinder pointed her weapon at Pyrrha quickly. "You do realize I'm about to kill you, again, and I'm even stronger this time than before? This is the time for stupid questions?"

"Do you remember what I said to you?" Pyrrha tried something different. "Right before you killed me?"

Cinder raised an eyebrow. "Yes." 

"What was it?" Pyrrha challenged her.

"You asked me if I believe in destiny," Cinder said.

"And you told me 'yes,'" Pyrrha said.

Pause.

"What's your point?" Cinder didn't get it.

"Why did you say yes?" Pyrrha aksed.

"Because, I think destiny is something that you seize for yourself," Cinder said. "You take it in your hands. In fact, that's something I think you'd know all about, since you hid your Semblance from people. You were good, Nikos, but I was better."

"Maybe." Pyrrha didn't take the bait. "Interestingly, it's very like something I said right before that happened... I also thought destiny is something you choose."

"Well, then why is it my fault if I've just chosen it more strongly than you have?" Cinder held up her sword again. "Admit it, we're the same. You just lost."

"Yes." Pyrrha looked her in the eyes. "We were the same."

Cinder wasn't ready for that.

"That's what I've been thinking all this time," Pyrrha said. "I couldn't explain why I didn't hate you for what you did to me--but I see it now. It's because I came to the tower to do the same thing to you and to Amber that you did. You just beat me to it. Do you know  what I was most upset about when I remembered what happened? It wasn't that I died, it was that I lost."

She had succeeded in shocking Cinder into forgetting that she was going to stab her for a few seconds.

Cinder was gaping.

Then she frowned. "Well...that's surprising... Not very noble, is it?"

"I suppose it's not," Pyrrha said. "Everyone else thinks you're a monster--but when I looked at you, I saw myself. I just didn't like what I saw."

Cinder didn't know how to take this either. "What...?" she said blankly.

"There's something else," Pyrrha said, "something that I don't understand. You never actually tried to kill me until I came after you. You didn't care. And you want to again because you think my coming back to life somehow proves that you're weaker than me. But it doesn't. If anything it proves that I'm weaker. And...I'm okay with that. Now." She looked steady. "I don't need to be stronger than you. I didn't come down here to beat you. And neither did they."

Cinder turned to look at Shine and Oscar, and Pyrrha realized that wasn't the smartest thing to say.

"I just want to ask you why you're doing this?" she hastened to say, getting her attention again. "You know Salem is going to destroy us all."

"I'm not giving this to Salem," Cinder said scornfully. "If everything you said was true--and knowing you fools, it probably was--then I'd be smarter to take it for myself. But if I have a Relic, I'll have more power."

Pyrrha looked at her somberly.

"You're afraid," she said.

"What?" Cinder narrowed her eyes angrily.

"You're afraid to pick a side," Pyrrha said. "You want to defeat her, but you know you can't, but you wouldn't pick our side either. You'd be her enemy then... And you want to be on top, but..."

"You really think I'm afraid?" 

Pyrrha held up her hands, like she wanted to call a truce.

"Everyone is afraid," she said. "Fear just means that you know you have something to lose... But do you really just want to run?"

She had no idea that Cinder had heard very similar words to those before.

Cinder winced slightly but looked angrier.

"What are you even talking about?" She frowned. Suddenly she kicked Pyrrha into the wall.

Pyrrha wasn't too much hurt by that. She just looked up.

"Do you really think you can just talk me into giving up?" Cinder said angrily. "Do you think I'm that much of a fool?"

"I'm not..." Pyrrha said with difficulty, "...trying to get you to give up. I just want you to think. I didn't know last time why you were doing what you did. I think I see now. You want power, right?"

"So?" Cinder tightened her grip.

"But you're not free." Pyrrha got back to her feet. "If you disobey Salem, she'll still come after you. You most of all, you're her closest associate. Maybe you're stuck. I can't pretend to understand you that well, but you just strike me as the type who'd rather be free."

Cinder finally seemed to waver slightly from rage to confusion.

"Well, of course if I got the power I--" she began.

"You will never beat her," Pyrrha said firmly. "Maybe you're more like me than you think, hmm? Picking a fight you know you're not going to win, because you think you have no choice."

Cinder frowned at her--but it was not as angry now. It looked more uncertain.

"I can promise you, no one is going to resurrect you," Pyrrha added.

Cinder went from uncertain to openly afraid.

"You will not get a second chance," Pyrrha gestured around. "This is your second chance."

Oscar, at this moment, felt Ozpin was trying to get up and attack Cinder from behind.

Now was the perfect time to do it. Pyrrha had her complete attention--

But Oscar thought, why wasn't Cinder just killing her? She had before.

Could it be that a part of her might have wondered if Pyrrha was right? Was she no longer as certain of this course of action as she'd been before?

Ozpin started to move, and Oscar suddenly grabbed ahold...but only just barely. He was weakened from Cinder's blasts. They'd hurt him more than Ozpin, even if he'd not been in control. He felt like the curse was stronger right now--was exposure to all magic, not just Ozpin's, feeding into it? One thing was like another?

He didn't know, but he felt he'd lose his grip any second. Pyrrha needed to hurry.

"You must be crazy--" Cinder's voice sounded much more shaky than before. "--if you think I'd believe that."

"I might be." Pyrrha somehow was keeping her cool. "But I don't remember seeing fear in your eyes before. I do now. I think you know I'm right. Take the Relic if you want it."

She paused, and the words just came to her--they had been this whole time. She wasn't sure where she was getting any of this from.

"But only if you really still want it," she added. "If not--we can take this from you. Salem can come after us instead...and we'll stop her. Then all of us can be free. But you, you'll only still be her slave if you take it. She'll find you... And it's also what she expects you to do, isn't it? The one thing she would never see coming is you letting us have it. Maybe that would change the game. Maybe it would change your destiny."

Pyrrha really couldn't have played off Cinder better if she'd been doing this her whole life.

But it was almost not even Cinder she was speaking to any more, in her mind. Because these words resonated with her too. Wasn't that why she was alive? Wasn't that why she'd chosen this path again? When she could have just ignored it? 

She hadn't wanted her destiny to just be dying for something she didn't even believe in. Not free, not what she really wanted.

It was possible she could even have stopped Cinder in this moment, using her Semblance, had she chosen to. She'd gotten the woman off balance enough.

But she had no compulsion to do so. That wasn't what Pyrrha wanted. It never really had been.

And honestly, it was good that she was thinking this. If Cinder had felt that Pyrrha was really just stalling and this was a trick, she would have reacted instantly the way she always did.

But it was just this mix of indifference and yet sincerity that was throwing her off. Cinder was not the strongest minded of people, even if she was stubborn, and she had no real reason to think Pyrrha was lying, except spite...and Pyrrha's calmness right now made that seem like it wouldn't work.

Ozpin broke Oscar's hold for a second and jumped up, holding out his staff. Using the stored energy in it might finish her off.

Pyrrha saw.

"No, don't!" she yelled, lunging forward.

Cinder was prepared for Pyrrha to attack her, but not for her to just shove her aside, and throw her shield into the air.

The attack hit it--and sent it flying into the wall.

Oscar finally pushed himself to the front again.

"Stop it, Ozpin!" he said aloud, and they both fell to the floor.

"Go!" he strained. "Quick, I can't hold him for long. Too weak..."

"Oscar?" Pyrrha said, upset.

Then she realized that she shouldn't turn her back on Cinder.

She looked back in time for Cinder to hit her right across the face.

She sprawled on the floor, and the edge of the glass struck her along her shoulder and arm.

She really should wear armor over that area...

Cinder then held up the crown.

"You fools," she said, "you think that you'll stop Salem by using these as bait? I see what's going on here. You think if I take it from you here, your little friends will all stop me up there. Well, I'm not that stupid. The chances are better taking this when you're less prepared."

She then threw the Crown at Pyrrha, hitting her in the chest, which hurt a lot.

"I'll be waiting," she said, haughtily. "Salem will wipe this whole place out anyway. I'm not going to be here when it happens."

So saying, she sprang into the air and raced along the room.

Shine, who was struggling to get up, smiled oddly.

Cinder, annoyed, smacked her in the head, and she fell back over.

But Cinder didn't bother to finish the job. She just bolted up the stairs and was gone.

"Oww...." Pyrrha finally winced.

"Miss Nikos," Ozpin said, "we must put that Relic back, now. Before she changes her mind."

"Are you joking, Ozpin?" Pyrrha stood up. "This is what we wanted. We have to take it out of here and leave before Salem realizes we moved it. Beacon is not safe even now."

"No, we must not have this out where anyone can use it now." Ozpin got up.

Pyrrha didn't like the look in his eye.

"Ozpin..." She backed up, putting the Relic behind her back. "Listen, Cinder is gone. The only people who will have this are us, and I don't intend to do anything with it."

"You don't know the power of that Relic," Ozpin said. "It's better locked away."

"You can't keep on just locking things away!" Pyrrha said. "When does it stop? We have a chance to end this finally. Did you see what just happened? That was a miracle. Don't spoil it--"

She summoned her shield back in front of her. "I don't want to do this."

She was pretty sure she wouldn't win if he tried to fight her--he had magic!

Why didn't Shine wake up? Had Cinder hit her that hard?

Oscar struggled more.

"Ozpin, stop it!" he said.

Why was Ozpin so strong?

It occurred to Oscar that he always seemed to be when they were near the Relics. And always more reluctant to do anything different.

Was it their magic influencing his own? They were from the god of light.

"Ozpin, listen, it's just the curse talking. This is not you," he said.

Be quiet, Oscar, Ozpin shot back.

"Pyrrha--" Oscar knew she couldn't hear him, but still... "--just use your authority."

Pyrrha looked at him oddly.

"Oscar?" she said suddenly.

What?

"I can tell he's fighting you," Pyrrha said firmly. "Let him go, Ozpin."

"Not now," Ozpin said.

Oscar used this distraction to get an edge.

"Pyrrha," he said, throwing the staff at her feet, "just run."

"I can't leave you here," Pyrrha said.

"I'm pretty sure he's going to try to stop you," Oscar said. "I'm trying to give you a head start. Go!"

"But what about Shine?..."

"Send help, but go!" Oscar winced. "Please... I might have another magic seizure at this rate, and it'll be hard to regain control."

"I'm going to send help then," Pyrrha said. A tear ran down her face. "Hang in there, Oscar."

She used her shield to levitate herself to the stairs and then rushed up them.

Oscar managed to keep Ozpin in check for a few seconds, before Ozpin tried to go after her.

Oscar somehow managed to hold his legs in check and make him stumble.

Then his prediction came true: The curse flared up as it had before, trying to swallow his will and force Ozpin's upper hand.

He fell to the floor and struggled.

* * *

Cinder, by now well away from Beacon already and headed off into the woods so that no one would see her leaving, felt the sudden pull of the spasm and cursed, falling to her knees.

* * *

Raven, still waiting for the others to return to Haven, suddenly gasped.

"Are you all right?" Willow was in the same room as her and Hazel. Klein had made them some tea.

"No, it's happening again!" Raven clutched at her chest and fell on the floor. "Ozpin, what are you doing? Stop it!..."

Hazel and Willow exchanged looks of concern.

Willow started shaking.

Hazel put a hand on Raven's shoulder, for lack of a better idea.

"Fight it," he said.

"I can't..." Raven was in too much agony to care about how embarrassing this situation was. "In fact...it feels worse. It's like something happened--"

Images of when she had visited the Vault flashed through her mind right about then, even though that hadn't happened before.

* * *

It was really crap timing for the others, because they had just finally gotten almost to Mistral's city again.

Though they were very tired, and by this time, the passengers had had to help each other--and Winter, even--keep walking.

Weiss was running out of energy to summon things to help.

"I almost kind of wish Jaune was here," she remarked.

After the spasm before, Vara had been a bit nervous about flying, but other than that, she seemed okay except that she was cold. So when this one hit, she screamed suddenly.

"What is her problem?" Mercury winced.

"It's him again!" Vara gasped, and then she fainted.

"Whoa!" the huntsman with them said.  

Winter felt it gripping her also.

For whatever reason, this time Qrow wasn't that affected. It could perhaps have been the influence of the Relics or the Vault drew the Maiden's power more than his in this case, but while he felt slightly tugged, he didn't turn into a bird.

Winter tried very hard to hide that she felt something, but she had scenes flashing before her eyes again.

For some reason, she saw Cinder too, when she'd fought her over the powers--

"You all right, lady?" one of the passengers said. "You look kind of paler than before."

Winter didn't answer him. Her eyes did flash light though.

"Hey! She does it too!"

They suddenly stepped back.

"What are these two women?" they asked Emerald, who shrugged. 

"They just have weird powers, that's all," she said, like it was no big deal.

"Never seen a Semblance that powerful," one of them muttered.

Neo and Torchwick had joined them along the way, along with the rest of the passengers, who kept their distance.

Neo tapped Vara and motioned at Torchwick.

"I don't know," he said. "This keeps happening today."

"Did she faint before?" Mercury asked.

"Yes. I don't really understand why," Torchwick said. "Something to do with Ozpin."

Winter finally lost her ability to balance and fell to the ground.

"Qrow," she said, through gritted teeth.

"What?" Qrow was already there, bending down.

"Something is wrong..." Winter could barely speak. "...with Ozpin...or Oscar... I think...I think they have the---" She winced. "--the item..."

"I feel like something is off." Qrow rubbed his neck nervously. "But why would that...?"

"They must be fighting again," Winter said with difficulty. "Ah!"

She lurched forward.

Qrow caught her by her arms.

"Just hang in there." He had absolutely no idea what to do here. "It always stops..."

Winter was beyond words right then. She was just trying not to scream like she was being murdered.

Vara actually snapped back awake because the pain got too bad for her to stay unconscious.

But she didn't scream, she just started sobbing.

This scared everyone a lot more.

Emerald was shaking.

"This is...this is weird..." she said.

Mercury put a hand on her shoulder, and, to his shock, she actually turned and hid her face in his shoulder.

"I admit this is disturbing..." Torchwick couldn't joke about this.

Neo grabbed his hand like it was a lifeline. She seemed pretty freaked out too.

* * *

Pyrrha was a fast runner, thankfully, and while all this was going down, she'd made it out of the basement and up the elevator.

She found Glynda where Cinder had very harshly smacked her aside with magic, but Glynda wasn't that much hurt.

"I was just going to find you, but I thought you'd all be dead--" Glynda began.

"No time, I have to get help." Pyrrha didn't even slow down.

"What?" Glynda said.

Pyrrha was already out of the room.

Thankfully, Wally and Jaune were just outside.

Wally had rushed back here, feeling like something was off, and Jaune had come with him.

"Pyrrha?" he said.

Pyrrha had almost forgotten their fight at this moment.

"Help!" she spat out frantically instead. "Oscar, Shine, Vault--" She pointed.

"Did Cinder--?" Jaune began.

"No, no, it wasn't just her," Pyrrha said.

She held up the Crown. "She's gone."

They didn't know whether that meant she was dead or she'd run, but Wally didn't waste time. He raced toward the Vault instead.

"You're bleeding," Jaune said.

Pyrrha realized she still was.

"It's just a scratch," she brushed it off. "Shine will need more help. Come on."

Without thinking about it, she just put the Crown on her head like she would have with her old tiara--and it shrunk to fit at once.

It wasn't at all the same color though, so it didn't match her armor.

But she rushed back, and Jaune followed.

Wally got down there in time to find Oscar and Ozpin still fighting.

"Hey, man, knock it off." He grabbed ahold of their shoulders. "Stop it!"

With authority.

Then Ozpin lost his hold.

Oscar gasped suddenly, his eyes clearing.

"Are you okay, kid?" Wally asked.

"Uh...yeah...now..." Oscar said weakly.

"Good." Wally hugged him, to his surprise. "Where's Shine?--" He looked back and saw Shine was still lying by the stair.

"Oh no." He dashed over to check her over.

Oscar felt shaky, but at least the horrible feeling of magic was gone.

* * *

Vara didn't stop crying right off when the spasm passed, but she became quieter.

"Is it over?" Emerald asked.

Winter straightened, finally.

"It's over." She put a hand to her head. "And for some strange reason, I get the impression that Mr. West may be the cause... If this is what having a 6th sense is like, I think I prefer having only 5."

She realized Qrow was still holding her shoulders and then was a moment of awkward eye contact.

"I'm all right now," she said.

Qrow stood up and pulled her up. "Right...well, that was unsettling."

"What are you all looking at?" Vara suddenly snapped at the passengers. "Haven't you ever seen someone get frostbite before?"

As if that was a believable excuse, but they all looked away. Vara scared the crap out of them.

"And stop gawking at me," she snapped at Roman, Neo, Mercury, and Emerald.

Emerald still looked scared.

"Well, so much for team bonding," Roman said. "I almost miss your boyfriend. You should be his problem."

Vara threw cold mud at him--by now that's what they were walking on.

The only good luck was that some people from Mistral, who'd heard about the train crashes, sent out search parties for them, now that the Midges were gone, and found them right after that. They flew them back to Haven.

They found Raven there, hugging her sides but otherwise now unharmed.

Willow was even more rattled and was on her third cup of tea.

The others had given up trying to get the Grimm off the house, and they all proceeded to swap stories.

"I'm just glad you're safe." Weiss hugged Winter. "It was so frightening... I can't believe I missed the attack. I was so far ahead I didn't hear anything. Why didn't you all tell me?"

"Hey, at least one of us wasn't freaking out," Mercury said. "You should consider yourself lucky."

"It wasn't anything you'd want to witness." Winter shivered even though they'd heated the house. "But I'm more concerned about Oscar. This must have been 10 times worse for him, and I think the Relic may be the reason."

"You know, I saw it too," Raven said.

"I saw something." Vara had two blankets on. 

"The only good news I'm hearing is that you did hear from the others," Qrow said, with relief. "Did they say Ruby was with them?"

"Yeah, Pyrrha said they were there," Nora replied. "But she was in a hurry. I just hope they were okay, since there was another plague--I guess we're calling it that now."

"All in all--" Winter picked up a cup of tea. "--the fact that they all survived the crash and so did we, is really more of a miracle than anything else, even if it feels undermined by what happened to us. Today could have been a lot worse."

"True..." Sun said.

"But we don't know what's coming next," Blake said. "Should we just get the Relics and go?"

"Go where?" Weiss asked. "Where do we have left to run?"

"Mistral won't want us here if they think this is because of us," Raven said. "Trust me, people who bring misfortune after them aren't usually welcome."

Qrow looked away.

"Shouldn't we wait to decide anything till the others get back?" Ren said slowly.

"I don't like this." Kip shook his head. "I always thought being a huntsman sounded cool, but it's actually really scary."

Raven laughed dryly.

"Well, it's not usually this bad." Vara looked up. "We're just really unlucky, that's all."

Qrow frowned again.

"Luck has nothing to do with it." Winter glanced at her. "Please, Miss Sol, you know perfectly well that we all got into this on purpose. This is the result of that choice."

"Yeah, well, I don't like that I haven't heard from Theo," Vara said. "There's giving me space, and there's completely out of character. Nikos wasn't nearly specific enough, from the sound of it. I wonder if some of them are already down."

She got up. "I'm going to bed."

"It's, like, the middle of the afternoon," Sun said.

"Shut up, monkey boy. I was up all night." Vara left.

"Is that racist?" Nora asked.

"I'm not sure." Sun glanced at his tail.

* * *

Shine regained her senses to find Wally had carried her to one of Beacon's dorms, where everyone was holing up for now to hear what happened.

Jaune was boosting her Aura, which felt weird, but not unlike the grace of God.

"Welcome back." Wally saw her blinking. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Shine spoke quietly. "I didn't even pass out while the fight was going on. It must have been later... I heard the whole thing. Is Pyrrha okay? Oh...and Oscar..."

She knew she'd heard Oscar having some kind of attack before she'd passed out.

"Well..." Wally hesitated. "He's...stable. But, uh, Shine, Ozpin is not happy."

Shine sat up. "Please tell me he didn't start ranting."

Jaune looked at her tightly. "He didn't go into detail about it," he said, "but he said he was disappointed in all of you and that we were going to have a talk about it later."

"I think he didn't want to go into it while we were still trying to repair damage," Wally said. "I mean, he's not totally heartless, right? But...uh, I'm kind of wondering what happened."

"Jaune, you can go now." Shine leaned on the wall.

Jaune frowned. "Sure, why not you too?" He left.

"I just didn't want him to get caught in the middle..." Shine said more sadly.

"Yeah, normally I'd think he'd understand that, but he's acting off," Wally said.

He patted her head. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"It was just magic." Shine rubbed her arms, shivering. "I feel kind of sick, but the physical damage is minimal. I wasn't ready for it, that was all. I expected her to attack me, but not while I was focused on Ozpin. I didn't activate my Aura...and it didn't automatically this time, for some reason... But perhaps it was God, because I think it went off better without my interference."

"That is not something I ever thought I'd hear you say." Wally looked a little freaked out. "Honestly, Shine, you scared me, though. I wasn't sure how badly Cinder could mess you guys up if she went haywire. Can you not do that?"

"But Pyrrha had it under control," Shine said. "I'm sorry... Is Beacon okay?"

"Uh...well, for now, but the Relic is out, so...who knows how long that will last?" Wally was becoming a lot more cynical about Salem's attacks than he usually was about villains. She was too predictable.

"Ozpin won't let this rest..." Shine recalled what he'd said before. "Okay...I should probably tell you what happened."

So she did.

"You were going to let her take it?!" Wally was stunned.

Shine wasn't sure how to feel about that reaction.

"It seemed right," she said.

"But...isn't that...? I mean..." Wally sputtered.

Then he drew a deep breath. "Okay, I know that Salem getting them isn't exactly the worst thing ever, but couldn't she misuse them? It's kind of risky."

"Yes...risks are necessary," Shine said.

"Shine, you are either way more reckless than I realized, or you are way better at calling what people will do." Wally shook his head.

"I'm not usually like this." Shine was actually kind of surprised at herself. "I've never been this reckless at home, but...I don't know, the job brings it out in me, somehow more here than anywhere else. Any step away from Ozpin's way seems like a good step. But if even you don't like it, I'm not sure what everyone else would think if they found out."

"Well, we could just not tell them," Wally said. "And that'll work until Ozpin decides to... Oscar's not suppressing as easily as before--they keep switching control. I got him to let go for awhile, but then they both started talking. It's kind of unsettling. Pyrrha told us that Cinder just left, without the Relic, on purpose...which is hard to believe, but Pyrrha's not a liar. She didn't mention how she talked her down though."

"She was incredible," Shine said. "I always knew she could do this, if she really wanted to. Call me crazy, but I see this as an absolute win for us."

"It is...but it could have been a loss--at least they would have felt it was a loss," Wally said. "And it's not like we told them."

"I wasn't sure about doing it," Shine said. "But I knew I had to once I told them the truth. I could see it was getting to them. It would have been a missed opportunity not to let them choose for themselves, and our victory would be meaningless if it's just one of force. Surely...surely that makes sense."

"I'm not about making people do what I want either," Wally said. "Like...okay, in my heart, I agree with you, if that makes sense, but in my head, it sounds nuts."

"With all due respect, babe, you do stuff just as reckless on a regular basis," Shine pointed out. "You just tend to think of it as necessary in the moment. Remember when you ran a bomb out of a city in 2.5 seconds?"

"It was less, I think."

"Whatever. And you took on a mind controlling ape?"

"That didn't end well..." Wally said. "At first."

"Who are you and what have you done with Flash?" Shine raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, okay, but this is...it's the fate of world," Wally said.

"Yeah...it usually is," Shine said.

"But not my world, someone else's," Wally said. "And I have a whole team of people at home to back me up if I make stupid decisions. To cover for me, who are on the same page as me usually. Not who are going to be horrified if we make the wrong choices."

"That's giving your friends way too much credit," Shine argued. "They're only human. They take issue with stuff each of them does."

"It just feels different," Wally said.

"I know it's more uncomfortable when we're not used to how things work," Shine said, "but if we let doubt in, we'd be too petrified to do anything. It's always going to be there, at the edge of our minds, when we're going against the world, because it's hard to resist the pull of that peer pressure, even if they're not our families and friends at home. But knowing that, I choose to ignore it."

"I should..." Wally said, "but just the same, Salem getting power like that...she's powerful enough."

"We have no reason to fear the gods," Shine insisted.

"If it was just us, Shine, I'd agree with you," Wally said. "I'd take on anything--you know that. But if we screw this up, they'll wipe out this whole planet, and it'll be our fault... Doesn't that bother you?"

Shine was quiet for a long moment.

Then slowly she said, "The fate of the whole world has always hung on two people, Wally. Since Adam and Eve, till now. It's the few who decide, not the many. Of course it bothers me. I've messed up my own life often enough to not think I should be ruining other people's--but that's the reason that we have to do it. We know that we can't do it, so we'll let God lead us. As Paul said, 'when I am weak, then I am strong.' If we were smarter and perfect, we'd probably doom them all. I don't trust myself, but I do trust the Lord. And I followed His lead on all of this. If I doubt it, I doubt Him, not myself. That's why I don't let it stop me. Or you'd be right. But that is what Ozpin does. I refuse to be the same way. They don't want the same thing from us... Even if they get angry, they must know deep down that if we did it like Ozpin, they'd be just as doomed as they are with him."

She tilted her head. "Either we have faith or we don't."

Wally thought about it.

"I guess there's not a lot of room for doubt when you're saving the world," he said. "We always say in the League that it's better to do something than nothing, because you can't just do nothing when the world is in danger. Only thing necessary for the triumph of evil and all that. So...why do I get that at home, but here I'm freaked out so much?"

"This has a way of stripping you of your pride," Shine noted. "Familiarity can lead to overconfidence. It's not logical, it's just human nature. If you wanted an answer..."

"I can't get anything past you," Wally said. "That's the problem with dating you."

"Sorry, I could try to just be supportive and stop explaining things for a while," Shine offered.

"I'm pretty sure you can't physically do that," Wally said. Then he kissed her. "It's okay. I think it's growing on me."

Shine blushed.

[Well, good, we had a wholesome moment...because I'm sure there's a big storm coming in the next arc.

Be excited, we're getting closer to the finale arc--which will be long, since all mine always are, but at least it's in sight.]