[Theme 12: "Meet Me on the Battlefield" AMV by QueerNoob]

"Ready?" Raven asked Vara shortly.

"No." Vara rolled her eyes. "Your brother and the Ice Queen are making out on some roof."

"Ugh, at a time like this?" Raven replied.

"So you see that too?" Vara said.

"I don't know that there's anyone who doesn't, except maybe the kids," Raven said.

"Be honest," Vara said, "how long have they had a thing?"

"To my mind, he liked her from the day they met in Atlas," Raven said. "But he's a stubborn ass. I can't say when it was mutual. Same, maybe. Schnees are weird like that."

"Excuse me?" Willow passed by the door and gave Raven a strange look.

For some reason she made Raven kind of uncomfortable--like maybe she'd never had a mom, but Willow acted like one.

Right after that, Weiss and Winter returned with Qrow right behind them.

Winter looked like she'd either cried or had some other kind of emotional moment, but no one asked her what.

"So what is the plan?" Winter asked tiredly.

Weiss explained.

"What? We're not just going to abandon this city." Winter said exactly what they thought.

"I thought you were going to talk her into it," Vara said unhelpfully.

"I was getting to it," Weiss said.

"Look, I have the d--- Relic." Raven held it up like it was snake. "Let's just go."

"Miss Likstar gave no such instructions," Winter said.

"She's not here right now," Raven said. "And clearly she can't come, or she would have already. Face it, we need to fend for ourselves. This idea is worth trying."

"Or do you just want to save your own skin?" Winter said.

Raven narrowed her eyes--because that was partially true.

"It might still be smarter," Qrow said.

"So far only the Maiden powers have been able to compete with these plagues," Winter argued. "If none of us are here, it's going to be impossible to remove them."

"We're hoping it'll lift if Salem thinks you're not here," Weiss said.

"It could get worse, Weiss," Winter said.

"I'm not doing this." Raven's temper was short. "Stay or come, but we're going before it gets worse again."

She pulled her sword out and sliced into the air. A red portal appeared.

Weiss glanced at Qrow questioningly, who shrugged.

Vara flipped them off. "Bye, b-----s."

She dove into the portal.

"I don't envy Theo when she finds him," Qrow muttered.

"Well, Schnee, are you?" Raven asked. "This is not as easy as it looks, so hurry up."

"I most certainly will do no such thing--" Winter began.

"Sorry, Winter," Weiss said, making a glyph behind her and vaulting her into the portal before she could stop herself.

"Weiss!" Winter caught herself with magic.

Raven unceremoniously kicked her the rest of the way in before she could get a good grip.

"She's going to kill you," Qrow said.

"Like you did not want me to do that," Raven said. "I hope you don't miss your girlfriend too much, Qrow. Let us know if you don't die by tomorrow, all right?"

She jumped through before Winter could come back out.

The door shut.

"Why does she keep calling Winter that?" Weiss asked Qrow.

"Because she has a s----y sense of humor," Qrow said.

"I don't think you should have forced her to go," Hazel said. "She'll only come back now."

"As long as it takes her at least a few hours to pull that off, we can see if this idea will work," Qrow said.

"No Maidens, no Relic..." Weiss said uneasily. "Yeah, what could go wrong?"

[Never say that on this show, Weiss.]

* * *

Before the Maidens arrived, Shine and Wally had decided to just stay in Beacon for the time being.

Shine wasn't sure she could portal through the Grimm anyway.

This did not satisfy anyone...but they couldn't do anything about it.

"So now you're refusing to help us do that also," Yang said.

"All I know is that I got that we should stay for a while," Shine said.

"Great, Salem can take that Relic too," Yang said.

"Your mother can leave any time she wants, if she doesn't want to get it back out," Shine said.

"Why did we ever agree to this plan?" Yang griped.

"Yang, if you want to whine, go somewhere else," Shine said, shaking a book at her. "I have better things to do with my time. I'm sorry, all right? That you're mad--but I would change nothing, and I'd do it again. Deal with it."

Yang, instead of walking away, just clenched her fist.

"I just don't get it," she said. "You knew it would piss us off, so why did you do it? And why don't you just leave now? We already don't agree."

"Because I do not just leave when things get difficult." Shine was looking at her book, but when she looked up, Yang was staring at her.

"What?" Shine asked.

"You know, you really annoy me," Yang said.

"I'm aware. You don't really try to hide it," Shine said.

"If you hate how we handle this so much, why do you even want to help? Why not just go home?" Yang said.

"Are you asking me or yourself?" Shine asked.

Ooh, got her.

Yang made an angry sound and kicked at the floor.

"Yang," Shine finally said in a more gentle tone, closing her book, "what's wrong?"

"You know what's wrong." Yang scowled.

"All that anger, all that fear you hold," Shine said slowly, "would it be so bad to let it go and just admit what's underneath it? Just for once, let your guard down, try to not be the tough girl? It might be a relief."

"You think I want to talk to you after what happened?"

"I think so," Shine said. "I've clearly let you down. I can't change what I did, but you could change how you talk to me about it. You could be honest."

"It's just that you act like all you care about is the 'truth', and you preach at us, but you're always going against what we're trying to do, and later you go behind our backs and do other stuff," Yang said.

"None of that stuff hurt you," Shine said. "Even this one didn't."

"It could have."

"Many things you all did have hurt people in reality far worse," Shine said. "You are in no position to judge me. And I honestly don't think that's really why you are, is it?"

"Don't try to get around me."

"Don't make it so easy," Shine replied. "I'd have no ability to do so if you'd be honest. You wonder why I trick people? They lie to themselves. I can't trick people who don't trick themselves--little known secret of people who use manipulation--unless they agree to it, and in the real world we call that compromise, not manipulation."

"Stop it!" Yang said.

"You stop it first," Shine replied. "Would you feel better if I yelled at you? I don't wish to stoop to that. I've told you before, I don't actually enjoy this. I only listen because I care about you."

"No, you don't," Yang snapped. "You just care about your dumb cause."

"That is why I care about you. I can't separate those things. It is part of me, and has been for a long time," Shine said calmly. "People think it's foolish to have this faith, but when you truly have faith, it's what you are--you are nothing without it. Cinder said something to me, in captivity, that struck my attention, something she said to someone once: 'Without you I am nothing, but because of you I am everything.' She may have the right idea there, in a twisted way. Only everything does not mean I have it all--but that I have all that I need. You may resent this, but I won't change it. I can't. If I did, I wouldn't be myself anymore. Or anything else. I wasn't myself before I believed this. I was an empty shell, full of anger and bitterness because I didn't love. I wouldn't go back to that. So yes, I will have this cause, and with this cause, I will continue to love you in the way I can manage. Not perfect, granted, and you may not see it as love, but regardless I will attempt to do it."

Yang stared at her.

"People can call a lot of things love that aren't love," she said.

"And people can call things that are love not love," Shine countered. "People lie a lot, Yang, but the truth always comes out. Look for what people do on the sly--it always shows. Once they get what they want, their true colors come out. On the other hand, I've known some people with a sharp tongue who have a kind heart behind it. One must learn to judge fairly."

"If that's it, then you going behind our backs was proof of how little you care."

"Conclude that I was delusional if you must," Shine said. "Though facts would suggest otherwise. But not a liar. I honestly believed while I did it that I was helping you. I'm sorry if that doesn't matter to you."

Yang stared again.

"Why would you think that?" she asked.

"The short version is that I might know Cinder better than you do, because you don't try," Shine said. "The long answer is that I only calculate all the angles of something as I go. I believed that if I told you all what I'd offer Cinder--and I wasn't sure I would until I did it--you would all react, and she would not feel safe enough to take the offer. Then really it would be a self fulfilling prophecy that she'd refuse to be rational. In fairness to her, I had to keep it to myself. Any slightest doubt she detected in us and she'd have gone berserk. That's how she is--the most strung out woman I've met, honestly. As it was, Ozpin nearly threw a wrench in it. If Oscar hadn't held him back, Cinder would have killed us all. And if Pyrrha hadn't been able to talk her down. It was one chance in a 100, but it worked. And that is why I let no one who would have shown fear or hostility to her go."

Yang shook her head. "That is insane."

"Fine," Shine said. "It's far from the craziest thing any of us have done."

"But you told me that we didn't want Cinder to get the Relic," Yang said.

"Of course...but that didn't mean I wouldn't let her, if she insisted," Shine said. "Considering what I stood to lose if I didn't let her have it at that moment, I would have felt it nothing."

"Lose?" Yang said.

"Yes, fighting her would have meant she'd kill someone here. Maybe not me, but someone," Shine said. "She'd never have let us off without a scratch after that. I consider that much more important than that stupid thing. But we had to get it out to save Beacon."

Yang put a hand to her face. This thought hadn't occurred to her before.

"You may not like me acting like that," Shine said, "and newsflash, I actually don't really like this method myself--makes me feel weird--but I had to. If you all didn't fly off the handle so much when I suggested cooperating with Cinder, maybe I'd have shared, but you all want her dead. I had little choice. I don't want blood on my hands. Do you know what that would feel like for me? I've lost someone already on this job that I had tried to protect. Cinder might be nothing to you, but I offered her my help. If you'd all killed her, I would have never forgotten it. And, for once, she responded. It might be small, but that was a miracle. I can't guarantee you she'll ever truly change--but I ceased to see her as an enemy. I can't make the choice for you, but I would ask you not to make it for me."

Yang looked at her hand.

"Are you serious?" she said.

"Do you think I don't have emotions?" Shine said, a bit warmly. "Laugh at me if you want. But I don't pick people to hate. Your enemies are not my enemies. And anyone I try to help, I want to see helped. So yes, you'd have made me an accomplice to murder and betrayal if you all killed her. Given that you all said we should many times, I had only two people who were open to sparing her. You might not understand that, but it's how it is for me."

She stood up and shoved her book at Yang.

"You can read the story of Jonah in there if you like," she said, walking away.

"Hang on a minute," Yang said, walking after her. "I already did."

Shine stopped. "Oh."

"You know, you could have just said that," Yang said.

"I did!" Shine turned and her eyes flashed light. "Nobody listened! Do you appreciate how exhausting this gets for us? But we can't complain, because as soon as we do, you all start up with how unfair it is. I know, it's so hard to be you." She frowned. "I am sorry for you all, but I didn't start this fire, I'm just trying to put it out. An ounce of gratitude would have been nice, though I don't do this for gratitude. This whole world needs saving, and someone has to stand in the gap--but I could just scream sometimes."

She left.

Yang hardly had time to even think about what she just heard, because a red doorway opened right after that and spit out Vara, Winter, and Raven.

Winter immediately tried to get up and dash back through it in a fury, but Raven came out, and it shut before she could.

"How dare you!" Winter said.

"Hey, your sister started it. Get mad at her." Raven walked past her.

"Mom?" Yang sputtered.

"Hello, Yang, did you miss me?" Raven said, though rather flatly for her.

"You brought the Sword?" Yang saw it.

"Yeah, what do y'know?" Raven walked out of the room.

"Miss Branwen, if you don't send me back right now--!" Winter hurried after her.

"I know, you want to get back to Qrow, but sorry, we're here now," Raven called.

"How dare you do this against my will!" Winter shouted.

"They are so dramatic." Vara waved her hand. "Now, where's Theo? I need to skin him alive."

"Uh...that way..." Yang pointed.

Vara ran out of the room.

Was every Maiden just this short tempered?

[Coming from you, Yang?]

* * *

Outside Pyrrha was talking to Neptune, Theo, and Penny.

"This not going back is crazy," Theo said. "They're in trouble."

"We would leave Beacon undefended then," Pyrrha said.

"We can't fight on two fronts like this," Theo argued. "I think we should get some say in it."

"Technically we could go anytime if we got a ship," Neptune said. "I mean an airship..."

"Yeah, we could get on a real ship, and we might get there in 5 days at the fastest. I'm not counting on it," Theo said. 

"I'm not going on any boat," Neptune said.

"Why?" Theo asked.

"We're all not," Pyrrha said. "We're a little wary of water after the Grimm we saw on the way here. They came right for us."

Theo seemed to accept that explanation, and Neptune gave Pyrrha a grateful look.

"Still, that'll be a problem no matter what; there're so much more than usual," Theo said. "But that's just it--we're leaving them to deal with this alone. That's just what she wants. And Vara is still vulnerable, because she doesn't know that we took that d--- Sword out yet."

"Are we sure of that?" Neptune said, looking past him. "Actually, I think Vara might be fine."

"How would you figure that after all we've seen--?" Theo began before he was cut off by wind snapping him in the back.

"Theodore Rhodes!" Vara thundered.

Theo grinned and turned around.

Pyrrha pulled Neptune back abruptly.

She wasn't at all surprised that the first thing Vara did was spring into the air, using her feet, not magic, and knock Theo onto his back, pinning him down.

"Why didn't you call me?" She hit him on the chest several times. "The other ship went down! There were bugs everywhere! And then you got the plague! I should kill you!"

"I--was--busy," Theo wheezed.

Why was he smiling?

"That guy is weird," Neptune said.

"Just don't look." Pyrrha turned away. "Their relationship makes no sense to me."

Raven had gone to the other side, looking for Shine, but Winter was looking at them uncertainly.

"Winter!" Pyrrha saw her and waved, then ran over. "You're all right!"

"And so are you," Winter said. "But what happened to this place? Was this all from the infection?"

"No, this was the locusts," Neptune said helpfully.

Yang had followed Winter, looking confused.

"But why are you guys here?" she asked.

"I didn't want to be!" Winter said. "Those fools have some nerve for trying to make this decision on their own. Where is Miss Likstar?"

"Last I saw she was in the room where you all were," Neptune said.

"She left," Yang said.

"Did you say something to her?" Pyrrha frowned.

"No!" Yang was definitely lying, from the look on her face.

"Yang, really." Pyrrha sounded like a mom. "After the way everyone went off on them, don't you think they've had enough? Even if you're angry, people aren't machines that can just take endless attacking and not reach a limit."

"You're telling me?!" Yang said. "Anyway, I didn't say anything that bad. Buzz off. It's none of your business."

"I see nothing has improved while you've been gone in the teamwork department." Winter frowned.

"Shut up." Yang should not have said that to Winter.

"What?" she said in a tone that could have frozen you stiff.

"You weren't even here. You don't know what they did, so just lay off." Yang just doubled down.

"Can we not?" Neptune said, holding up his hands. "Before we go into all that, shouldn't we be asking how it's going at Haven?"

"To answer that, not good," Winter said, still glaring at Yang.

Wally and Ruby came speeding around the corner now, and then Shine came out of the dorms building and crossed the courtyard to them.

"Raven? Winter?..." She looked at Vara. "Vara... What are you all doing here?"

"You--" Raven pointed at her. "--left us to rot in Haven, or do you really not know yet what happened over there?"

"Do you mean the sun-blocking, black dome you've got, or the other stuff?" Wally asked.

"It's blocking Sun, all right," Neptune said. "Or he'd have come with you."

Yang gave him a look.

"What?" he said.

"Not the time," Penny said. "Is Kip all right?"

"Not even close." Vara finally got off Theo. "No one is. Why didn't you come get us? Can't you?"

"Not as easily as you apparently think," Shine said. "It would have been crazy to just try without some kind of plan. We know nothing about this plague that she's imitating. All of hers have these nasty twists on the story. Except the locusts one. That was almost the same."

"Except that they went for the dust." Oscar joined them finally. "Hey, why are you all here?--Stop it, Ozpin!" 

Ozpin had tried to speak as soon as he saw them, perhaps to plead for sympathy again or perhaps in panic.

"Cinder really did just leave." Raven looked around. "And I see you do have the Relic still." She eyed Pyrrha. "So now what?"

"Why did you all come alone?" Shine asked.

They explained rapidly, with Winter making it clear she didn't want to be here.

"This is a problem," Shine said, after she heard. "You brought the other Relic. Salem will attack harder once she knows there's two of them here--if she doesn't already. I've been keeping track of the plagues. There's only a couple left: hail and...death and the animals dying. She can't make it hail, I don't think. Or can she?" With a look at Ozpin.

"Technically speaking, she can do what I can do," Ozpin admitted sullenly. "But that was never her preferred magic."

"Still, from wherever she is, she couldn't," Shine reasoned. "And I think maybe the gnat things were also the hail, based on how they worked. So assuming she may skip that one, and I don't think she could do the death one, and the animal one seems unlikely, but maybe we shouldn't rule it out--we can assume she'll move on to a full scale siege from here."

"We can?" Raven said nervously.

"Of course. Two Relics? Are you kidding? It's Atlas all over again. She won't let that slip," Shine said. "We have to leave. But we have a conundrum. There is nowhere to go. And if we go to the wild, we'll be easy to pick off. We'd have to move constantly, and you all can't do that. Even then, she'll just hem us in with Grimm."

"Didn't you expect this?" Raven asked.

"Yes, in fact it was my goal," Shine said.

Everyone stared at her.

"Your goal?" Neptune said finally.

"Why?" Ruby asked.

"Something I've been working on since I met Salem," Shine said. "It's been tough to keep it going, I admit, thanks to you all obsessing over those stupid Relics, but I think it's been coming along nicely. I just need to solidify it now."

"What is it?" Raven asked.

"That, I won't tell you," Shine said.

They all groaned or glared.

"Of course you won't," Yang muttered.

"May I ask why?" Pyrrha said calmly.

"You guys aren't ready for it," Shine said. "And you brought that Sword here. I was going to only get it back once we'd finished here so that she wouldn't come down on Beacon again. Now she will unless we go, now. But we can't go to Haven either. The trap is already there. She's likely to use our friends as bait."

"Then we have to go and save them," Ruby said.

"No," Shine said.

"That's not right. We can't just ditch them," Jaune spoke. He'd joined them a few minutes ago, unnoticed.

Shine suddenly looked kind of angry.

"To save time with the usual argument we have right about now, I'll just make this simple," she said. "If you don't want to listen to me, or Wally, then do what you want. But don't expect us to bail you out of it goes wrong."

That staggered them.

"I helped you with your stupid plan in Atlas even after I said it was a bad idea," Shine reminded them, now definitely angry. "And that didn't end well. I've held back on the methods I'd think it would make the most sense to use because you were too angry to use them. We've playing defense with Salem, when we didn't have to. That's also because you were not ready. But now it is at the point where you'd have to either be ready or you'd have to give up working with us. Because if you go down the path we always said was a bad idea, guess what? You don't get infinite chances."

"Excuse me?" Raven said. "But isn't your thing kind of giving people more than one chance?"

"A fact I don't appreciate you all exploiting," Shine said. "Going against my instructions has never once ended well for you. Yang got kidnapped because she did that. I don't want to dredge up the past too much--but if at this point, nothing has changed, just tell us. Do what you want. But if you're with us, you're with us. And you will have to do what we say, even if you don't like it and think it sounds crazy. So decide."

"You can't just demand we decide," Tai said. "You already played us once."

"What are you referring to?" Winter asked.

"She almost let Cinder take that Relic," Tai said.

"What?!" Vara exploded.

"I'm tired of explaining myself," Shine said. "I'm not going to do it anymore."

She crossed her arms. "You will earn our trust, or you won't. That's the end of it. I feel I've already made a fool of myself by even trying to defend my actions thus far. The Lord said to shake the dust off our feet if people rejected us--but we gave you more chances because you didn't have anything to go by beforehand. But, you know us now. All this contention is just your own doubt. So I'm sick of it. Either you're in, or I'm out. Wally, if you agree..."

"I won't have a choice," Wally said. "I think we knew that from the start."

That was sobering.

"And I am tired of this too," Wally sighed. "I never hear the end of criticism at home, so I'm used to it, but when they're supposed to be your team, it's just...not the same. I guess we let you guys down, but we tried our best. If that wasn't good enough, I'd just as soon go home and go back to helping people than keep trying to do anything I can't do here. If you don't want us, then...well, it's been a long enough time to know we should just call it if it's still not working. Heck, I've never spent two months trying to convince anyone to get help before."

"Why are you doing this now of all times?" Raven demanded. "Don't you think you've messed us up enough? The curse is going crazy. You'd just leave us to the mess you made."

Winter turned red with anger.

"Hey--" Shine began, but Winter jumped in before she could even finish.

"Raven Branwen, if you don't shut up right now, I will cut out your tongue!" she exploded.

"What--? " Raven didn't expect Winter to go off like that.

"It's no secret that you took those powers by killing someone." Winter had lost her tact--which was never that great to begin with. "You accepted that bird form. You chose to go after Victoria alone. You cannot blame everyone else for your decisions! All of the ones that led to this were yours. Just because they made you aware of it, doesn't make it the others' fault. I don't want to hear one more word from you, or you can look for a real fight this time!"

Raven didn't think she could win that fight at the moment--and after that she didn't want to try. She clammed up.

Vara almost laughed, but she was also on edge, and she shivered instead.

"D---," Theo muttered.

"But what I don't understand is how you could threaten to leave Oscar alone like that," Winter said to Shine.

Shine looked a little watery-eyed then.

"Well, I don't want to," she said. "But we can't possibly finish my plan without your cooperation...at least I doubt it. Defeating Salem is all you guys care about, after all. What use do you have for us if we can't do that?"

That one sentence made all of them pause.

"What?" Pyrrha said. "Is that what you think?"

"That's all you've ever talked to us about," Wally said.

Winter gasped slightly.

"No!" Oscar said. "It's not all I care about."

"It hardly matters." Shine sounded on the verge of a meltdown. "Now that we've played this game so long, if we don't finish it, she'll finish this. If there was a time to question our goal here, it's long gone. You get what you ask for. I've tried to tell you this many times. 'All get what they want, they do not always like it'. You asked us to help you stop her, and so we have--but coming in for the clutch, if you won't go through with it, then we cannot either. We'll have to make a clean break then. So put the Relics back. Go hunt Cinder down and kill her, then you can do the same with the Fall one. Salem got the other two for reasons that were not our fault, so I think we can't be held accountable for what you do about that. Now is the time to change your decision."

"Miss Likstar, I think you're getting a little too worked up," Neptune said. "No one has said that yet."

"Ozpin wants it," Shine said.

Now Shine making an emotional accusation was very unusual--but the thing was, she wasn't wrong, not exactly.

Ozpin didn't make an immediate move to deny it.

"Oz?" Oscar said, aloud. "Why aren't you saying something?"

"He never wanted us here, right?" Wally rubbed his head. "Not that surprising. He didn't want Alicia either."

"It's no good to live in regret and do nothing about it." Shine looked at Ozpin. "But if that's the path you choose..."

[Put that on a t-shirt.]

"Just a moment." Winter held up a hand. "You said you know how to stop Salem--and that is what we asked for. Fair enough. But there is more to this than that, isn't there?"

"Only if you want there to be," Shine said quietly.

Why did that scare the team so much? It wasn't that intimidating of a thing to say...

And Shine wasn't even trying to be intimidating--that was what was scary. She sounded 100% serious.

"We've repeated this conversation so many times," Pyrrha said. "Why can't we just commit? I know I have."

"And you will be fine," Shine said gently. "No one can unmake your choice, with or without us. You know what to do now. I'm not sorry about you."

"Maybe you guys don't need us to win," Wally said helpfully. "I mean...if you won't do what we want to do..."

"What is it you want to do?" Vara asked.

"Not going to tell you," Shine said.

"Then how do we know if we can trust it or not?" Theo said.

"Telling you won't make that easier," Shine said. "You'd better just decide first. All I can tell you is our plan will hang on our God intervening. I believe He will--but if you don't, it's not likely He will. God is not to be mocked. You cannot mock Him all this time and then expect Him to take the wheel at the ideal moment. That is not how it works. But if you take a chance on Him, freely, He will answer. You cannot guilt Him into acting. You cannot beg for it only to ditch Him as soon as He does what you want. God will not sell Himself to you like some whore."

That word made Neptune and Penny flinch.

"Whoa, there," Jaune winced.

"And I refuse to do so anymore either," Shine said hotly. "Enough getting you to listen to us. I'm done."

She threw her hands up and then walked away.

"I can take a lot," Wally said weakly, "but Shine and I talked about this, and I don't see any way around it. I'd like to help you guys anyway, but I'm not a superhero here..." He said that like it was nothing. "I'm a DJ. I can't just throw my weight around like I would at home--it's too dangerous. Great power, great responsibility, as my friend Spiderman would say. So...I think we're going to have to wait for you to want us to do it. She's right, too... There will be no going back once we commit to her final plan."

"Do you know what it is?" Raven asked.

"Actually, yeah," Wally said. "I figured it out finally. Took way too long, but I got it. It won't work if you don't trust us."

He saluted and ran off.

A lot of their discussions seemed to end this way.