The team presented Shine and Wally with their decision, much to their surprise.

No one looked happy about it except Ruby. Even Pyrrha felt it was a little too hard fought for her to be really smug about it. Also the looming threat kind of made it hard to feel celebratory.

Shine and Wally didn't expect them to be really upbeat, though, and took it in stride.

"Just please tell us you have an idea," Yang said, hand on hip.

"Have you met her?" Wally put a hand on Shine's shoulder proudly.

"I did give it some thought while you were all talking." Shine said a thing that was starting to be reassuring to them after all this time.

"Remember you said you'd go with what we said," she prefaced it by saying. "This is what I want you to do. No ships will go to Haven, but they will probably go to Vacuo. Have Glynda get you one, go to the edge of the kingdom, but don't go into it. Can you manage that?"

"Duh," Yang said.

"And?" Penny said. "Won't the Grimm come for us?"

Shine gave her a look like, "I'm not done yet."

"Right, proceed." Penny waved.

"Since you brought the Relic, we'll have to make the most of it," Shine said resignedly. "Take the Crown with you. Off chance Salem may assume Cinder is still with you, she may refrain from attacking you as harshly if she thinks Cinder will just bring that thing to her. But I'm hoping that you'll only be waiting for a short time. Make sure you land somewhere stable, because we'll join you as soon as we can. Raven, you and Oscar will come with me and Wally. We are going back to Mistral. Wally will run us there."

"Why do I have to go?!" Raven whined at once.

"Because, Raven, if the others need a quick escape and I'm not available, you are the only one who can portal!" Shine said. "And you can portal through the black wall, which I can't. Tai will go with the other group, and Yang will come with us. With Qrow inside, that will cover every angle of the group, and you can go to whichever one we need. Simple."

Raven knew that was smart.

"Why does Yang have to go with you?" Tai was still not sold on trusting Shine.

"I'll do it." Yang was surprised to be included at all.

"Assuming we get everyone out of there," Shine said, "we'll rendezvous with you. If we aren't there by the end of the day, assume we're in trouble and come help us if you can. Don't enter Vacuo if you can avoid it. We're not sure what's waiting for us there."

"So far this is sensible," Winter allowed. "Though having two Maidens together... What about Cinder?"

"Cinder will follow you," Shine said. "If you catch her, I want her unharmed. You ought to be able to work out some kind of deal after before. Just tell her I said that we're planning to take Salem down and she won't want to miss it. That should do it."

"And if she still attacks us?" Vara said.

"If she forces you to, and only if she forces it, do I want her harmed," Shine said. "If I find out later that you started it, you are going to get it."

"Get what?" Vara said.

"It." Shine made that sound ominous.

"Okay..." Neptune said. "So far so good."

"And am I really going to be wasting my talents doing this?" Watts said.

"No, I have a special assignment for you," Shine said. "And it's kind of complicated so please don't screw it up."

Watts raised an eyebrow.

"I figure Tyrian doesn't know you've switched sides yet," Shine said. "Could you convince him that all this was just a part of your plan?"

"Of course I could. He's not that bright," Watts said.

"And you are the only one he respects, correct?" Shine said.

"I'd say so," Watts said.

"Good, I'm going to send you to him," Shine said. "He may be with Salem, but if not, it's a little less dangerous. So, once you find him, get in touch with Salem also."

"With her?" Tai said.

Shine gave him a look.

"Shut up," Winter said, glancing at him.

Tai frowned.

"I want her to know that we left Beacon," Shine said. "She will probably know already, though, so you'll have to tell her why. Then tell her I want to speak to her myself. And if she shows up, I will tell her how to defeat the gods."

Watts raised an eyebrow. "You want to just tell her that?"

"I'd be stunned if she takes me up on it," Shine said. "But if she's just unsure enough to buy time, that's good enough for me. I'm going to make sure she takes us seriously soon enough, if the Lord allows. I also want you to tell her that she can check the book of Kings if she wants a hint. If that doesn't keep her occupied for a while, I miss my guess. Oh, and Psalms 73, that's good too."

"I assume she'll understand what you mean by that," Watts said.

"You can tell her that if she doesn't, she's a fool," Shine added, with an impish grin. "Two can play at this Bible game she's at. And she ought to be careful about trying to use someone's own weapon against them--they always have a better knowledge of its abilities than you do."

"Should I be writing this down?" Watts said.

"If you need to, go ahead." Shine waved her hand.

"So we're going to rescue everyone?" Ruby said.

"We can try," Shine said. "Can't leave half our team caught in eternal night, can we? Watts, one more thing--while you're out, can you get a map of Northern Remnant? I have a hunch that might be useful later."

"You know that's mostly uncharted, right?" Watts said.

"Did I ask?" Shine replied.

"Fine," Watts said.

"Are we sure he won't tell Salem too much?" Theo said.

"What could he tell her that would really change anything?" Shine said. "And that won't get him killed?"

"Your cockiness is really off the charts," Watts said. "But it's usually rewarded. I just hope this goes over well."

"Don't stand too close to the Seers if she gets angry," Shine advised.

Watts did a double take, like he hadn't realized she knew how Lionheart had died.

[Ever notice that everyone from Mistral had Latin names? Leo, Pyrrha Nikos, Neptune? Kind of disappointed they didn't do a roman homage in the design of the place.]

"Why am I going with you and not the others?" Oscar didn't think he'd be much help--then again, who knew?

Shine gave him a long look.

"Is it so he won't have another magical spasm?" Neptune asked.

Shine shrugged.

"Oh..." Oscar said.

Moment while that sunk in.

Also, Winter thought to herself, Ozpin couldn't tell them the password to the Relics and use them if he wasn't there... Perhaps Shine was erring on the side of caution in more ways than one.

But she was a bit put out that she wouldn't be able to go get Weiss herself. Qrow better be taking good care of them all.

* * *

The plan was enacted with surprising ease. Actually, Vale wanted someone to go check out Vacuo, and licensed huntsmen volunteering to do so seemed to them to solve the problem perfectly.

Yang, Oscar, Raven, and the DJs just went to the harbor to get started.

Watts was sent on his way with very little trouble. Shine believed Tyrian must have left Salem's land again, if he'd ever been there.

"Betting on a scoundrel like that again," Raven said. "There is no end to the mad gambles you take."

"You would know," Shine replied.

"Everyone ready?" Wally said. "Yang and I will run there, and Raven, you can bring Oscar, and Shine on her own."

"Sounds good," Shine said.

"I'm ready." Yang braced herself.

Wally took off.

Yang had been run by him before, but not this far, and with the ocean and air change, she realized it was a lot different than Ruby's Semblance. No sense of just whirling through the air blindly--she saw everything at high speed so that it hurt her eyes, and her stomach felt like it got left behind on the shoreline.

She had no idea how he dodged the amount of trees he did on the way, but he must have been used to it.

Then he stopped all at once, and they were roughly a mile or so out from Mistral's mountain range.

"I missed it by a bit..." Wally held up his hands like he was framing. "But I've never come this way before..."

"That was awesome!" Yang forgot that she was supposed to be salty for a second. "A total rush! Is it always that pumped?"

"I don't notice it as much anymore, but it is pretty fun," Wally said. "The trick is slowing down again. Used to run into trees a lot and fire hydrants. You gotta watch the road when you run at the speed of sound."

"I guess you'd always end up taking it too fast," Yang punned.

"Well, to really get your feet wet, I think you have to run on water," Wally said.

That line only kicked in when Yang remembered that he just ran on water and snickered.

A red doorway opened, and Raven and Oscar came through.

Raven seemed okay right now. 

Oscar looked around. "This isn't Mistral."

"Nothing ever gets past this kid." Wally patted his shoulder. "I aimed a little off, but it's cool. It's right over there, right?"

He pointed to the wrong mountain.

"That's away from it, you idiot," Raven said.

"Hey, it's not like I saw it from this angle before. We flew here!" Wally defended himself.

Shine joined them and rubbed her arms. "These constant temperature changes are really... Oh, we missed. But just as well. I can't see the blackness."

"We have to be at the wrong angle," Raven said. "If I could turn into a bird without trouble..."

"Want me to just run us?" Wally asked.

"No, at risk of running right into a trap, let's just walk," Shine said.

"It may be a mile that way," Oscar pointed. "But uphill..."

"That'll just take 20 minutes or so," Wally said. "And we can get a good look then...I hope."

"If it's dark, maybe we wouldn't get that good of a look," Yang said.

"We just need to shed some light on it," Wally said.

"If you two are going to do that, I'm going to knock myself unconscious," Raven said.

"Buzzkill," Wally said.

They walked towards the kingdom.

Shine noticed Raven kicking at the rocks angrily and fell back.

"I'm sorry that those attacks started happening," she said.

"Sure." Raven sounded sullen. "I don't need your pity, Likstar."

"I'm just trying to be a friend," Shine said.

"I don't have friends," Raven said.

Shine snorted a laugh.

Raven glanced at her.

"Sorry." Shine held up a hand. "I just think that's a funny thing to say when you have all of us."

"For one thing, friendship is kind of a watery term for idiots who think they need that to be satisfied," Raven said. "It's not based on the real world."

"Honey, I read enough wildlife magazines to know there is absolutely friendship in the natural world," Shine said.

"I don't need your smarta-- answers," Raven said.

"Okay, well, if you don't want me to talk about reality, just let me know. I'll turn my brain off." Shine mimed doing so by flipping a switch.

"It's just about survival," Raven said.

"Hmm, you know, I once watched a documentary about lions where their prides were rivals--Do you have lions here?"

"Yes..." Raven said it like it was a stupid question.

"Sorry, I've never seen any sign of a Savannah in this world." Shine wondered where the lions lived. [I would also like to know, Remnant only has, like, 4 climates that we're shown, but a a lot of Faunus are animals that don't live in any of those climates...so where do they live?]

"Anyway, the prides were fighting over this areas, and one pride attacked a single lioness from another pride. And the oddest thing, according to the documentary, was that the lionesses from the third rival pride stepped in and stopped it. No reason to, they didn't make her part of their pride... It was like they were just capable of feeling sympathy."

Raven rolled her eyes.

"But it's not that far-fetched," Shine said. "Cats feel sympathy for people. My point is, compassion is in fact part of nature, though perhaps extending it when you don't feel like it is only a human trait. So friendship is also natural, not just survival. What is not natural is thinking that survival is all there is to life."

"I didn't need a lesson from you on animals," Raven said. "You have a story for everything."

"I will take that as a compliment," Shine said. "And if you'd just answer me to begin with, I wouldn't have gone into any of this, so whose fault is it really?"

"I'm fine, all right?" Raven snapped.

"You are not fine," Shine contradicted roundly. "Have you even been sleeping? I know we had a hard time on our end, but it was worse for all of you. I could tell Winter and Vara were worn out, but they're in good shape compared to you."

"Why don't you fix it then?" Raven snapped. "You said we'd work on it, whatever Victoria did."

"I did talk to you before," Shine said.

"All you wanted to do was some hippie nonsense," Raven said.

"I'm sorry you feel that praying is hippie nonsense." Shine said this so calmly for someone who just had her whole belief system insulted. "It's working pretty well for me so far."

[Studies do show that prayer works better than meditation for getting people to feel calmer and more alert. Just saying.]

"Why not just heal?" Raven said.

"Raven, we both know by now that you are not only suffering these symptoms because of Victoria," Shine said. "That didn't help, but would you really have called yourself balanced before that?"

"I had control," Raven said.

"You had a semblance of control," Shine said. "But not real. What would it take to get you to admit that?"

"I don't know what you want from me," Raven said.

"The truth," Shine said. "That's your thing, right? You have no problem telling the truth about other people, but about yourself, that's the hard part. I've been waiting for it for weeks."

"You're a weirdo then," Raven said.

"Why? You've been waiting for it for decades," Shine replied.

Raven sighed.

"Why not just start with whatever is eating away at you so much?" Shine said.

"Why should I? Do you know what it's like to get treated like some toy?" Raven said.

"Yes."

Raven did a double take.

"Didn't I tell you that before? I've been around that block," Shine said. "Plus, I was captured by her too. Remember?"

"You just shook it off like it was nothing," Raven said.

"Well, the first few times it happened, I had nightmares afterwards," Shine admitted. "But I found that praying my way through that did alleviate a lot of the fear. I don't know if it makes you feel like you're doing something and that's why, or if it's supernatural, or both. I know that the loss of control is what is so traumatic about experiences like that, not the pain. We can endure pain just fine if we chose it, but when choice is removed, we're paralyzed by it. Considering how fragile we are, it's odd how much we resist that. That's human nature. It is almost worse when someone does not resist, though. Anyway, I can't predict your path for sure, but I do know bottling it up won't help. So...you know, I'm always here to listen."

Raven clenched her fists.

"I don't want to gripe about it," she said. "I just want to defeat Salem."

"Raven, you're not ready to do that yet," Shine said.

Raven glanced at her sharply.

"You're still scared," Shine said. "The fight will come to you, rest assured. You will never get away from her as long as she's still here. But you aren't going to win, not like this."

"Well, thanks." Raven gestured wildly. "Thanks for dragging me back into this."

"I never did. You chose it," Shine said. "You chose all of it."

Raven stiffened.

"A lot of good that did me," she muttered. "There is no real choice."

"Maybe not," Shine said. "Maybe there was. I won't by any means say you need to be perfectly together before you do the right thing. That will never happen for us. I don't mean that you should lose all your fear--that's highly unlikely. But you could feel fear and not be ruled by it. You could face Salem, if you simply were able to resist fear. If we got as far as that, I'd be satisfied for now."

"Oh, very generous of you," Raven said sarcastically.

"Why do you feel the need to talk to me that way when I'm trying to help you?" Shine asked her quietly. "Do you kick at me because it's safer to do so?"

Raven didn't know how to answer her.

She sighed and unclenched her fist.

"What if you can't help?" she said in a different voice. "No one else ever has. I think you never lose your fears. I've...I've tried to before, and I couldn't. I've always spat in the face of death because I could make the choice to survive. I could call that strength, but if it was at the price of someone else facing something I was too afraid to face, is that really strength? But even if I wanted the courage to throw my life into the fray--even knowing it wouldn't end well--that, I never had."

She rubbed her arms suddenly, sounding a bit teary. "I suppose you know that already."

"Everyone does," Shine said. "But who am I to judge you? I was a coward once. More of one than you'd like to imagine. You'd have despised me if you met me before I knew the Lord. I was pathetic...and I could no more leave it than you could. Logic, reason, morals, none of them mattered in the least. I only ever remember one thing that helped, for a short time, and that was  the love of helping other people. Once or twice, that overcame my fear...or doing something that I really enjoyed. But, it was only a few times, and later that didn't even work. Because I think it wasn't the answer, it was just calling to me from where the true answer was. See...there is truth in that. When we care about something deeply, we'll take risks for it that we'd never take normally, and serving people can help us cease to fear them, if it's freely done. But neither of these will actually cure fear. They're more likely to be a byproduct of being cured. Do you know what actually cured me?"

Raven shook her head.

Shine looked at the skyline.

"It happened in two stages," she said. "First, meeting the Lord, I had peace. That was supernatural. I knew because I never had that emotion before. It was deeper than just emotion, too...but that didn't last. I can find it now, if I stir it up, perhaps not as much as that first time, because God doesn't let us ride the high forever. He wants us to learn what it means to overcome fear, not just to be carried over it. But a taste of freedom was enough to make me want more. I began working at it in stages. I didn't have anyone to teach me directly, you know, but I took what I heard, and I applied it step by step, pushed the limits of my fears more and more... I can say most of the phobias I had as a kid are now gone. I hardly even think about them anymore."

Raven shook her head at her.

"My point is that if you could just get started, you'd find the way as you went," Shine mused. "But it does take a transformation. I didn't change myself. I was shown, and I believed. Luckily I was too young and too naive to ask myself if I should be trusting something so unprovable as God's grace. Now that I'm older and more skeptical, it's a much harder choice to not use just my own mind. You have proven to me why I was lucky to start when I did."

Raven made a sound of derision.

"Well, don't spare my feelings," she said.

"Would you really argue with me?" Shine said. "How does someone go from being the way I was to how I am now? You've not changed in 20 years, unless it's for the worse. Surely age is not the only explanation. People say you grow out of fear, but the truth is, you don't grow out of fear because you get older, you grow because you're taught in a way that encourages you to do so...and it is still a choice. I know people older than you who are just as cowardly as they were when they were 5 years old. Probably more so. Kids can be blindly brave more than adults."

"If you're trying to hype me up, it's not working," Raven said.

"Raven, be serious."

"Okay, fine, I'm a coward!" Raven growled at her in a low voice. "I get it, this worked for you. I respect you trying to share the wealth, but I don't think it's for me."

"And why not? Do you not need it?"

"I--" Raven had no ready comeback for that. "I just don't know if I'm suited to it. Can you see me being all saintly and crap?"

"Not now," Shine said. "But our hope is in transformation. What you are now, what you will be, how could I know? Do people usually picture women as birds? Yet you can assume the shape. Why not a whole new creature? Ozpin has changed over and over again for the worse. Why is it so inconceivable that someone could change for the better?"

"I really don't mind being the way I am," Raven said. "Except when I'm afraid. You may think I have some secret issue with the life I've led, that I feel like I should have known better, and I'm ashamed of myself. But it's not true."

"Funny, because I've never said any of that to you," Shine said. "But you've clearly thought it. Doesn't that say more about you than about me?"

Got her.

"I don't presume to know what you feel guilty about," Shine added. "Except what you make it clear you feel guilty about. I've not been one to judge your actions. I've defended them, if you'll recall. But you judge them. You judge yourself. Who do you really blame, Raven?"

Raven looked at the ground again.

The others had gotten way ahead of them by now, as they'd slowed way down.

Yang and Oscar had begun to notice, but Wally quickly distracted them. He figured Raven and Shine needed to talk, and they wouldn't get much of a chance later.

"Me..." Raven was tired of lying. She sighed in a small voice. "It's my fault."

She put a hand to her face. "All of it."

Shine was silent.

After a moment Raven continued. "I gave up too soon...but I still killed the Spring Maiden. I called it mercy, but I was more afraid that Salem would destroy us and she wouldn't be able to ward her off... The truth is, I've never really known how to be there for my family...and they know it. I'm selfish and cruel. Even when I try, I can't really..."

She paused, then went on. "I just have nothing, nothing inside me that I can actually offer. I suppose I thought sooner or later they'd figure that out. But once they did, it didn't help. If you'd left me in the woods, I'd be dead now, and no one would have bothered to notice till it was too late. Even so, it didn't make it okay for the tribe to just pay for it--"

She made a face again. But shook her head. "That was my fault too. Should have just gone off alone, but I knew I'd be easier to pick off that way. I'd rather let Yang become the target than me..."

"Raven, you did try to warn her," Shine cut in. "Let's not be unjust. She could have walked away."

"I could have not let her," Raven said.

"Technically that would not have been the smarter choice," Shine said. "Perhaps it changes nothing deep down for you, but it is what it is. Remember she is not always fair either."

"No..." Raven smirked very mirthlessly. "Like mother, like daughter. Well, you know, Tai can't blame me for trying to not influence her... Are you satisfied now?"

She practically spat that last part.

"I had no reason to not be," Shine said. "The question is are you satisfied? Does admitting that make any difference?"

"No," Raven said. "I still feel like s---."

She shivered. "That's why I don't talk about this. It's like being stripped naked in front of a whole group of people, and you just freeze to death. Because..."

"Because who could love someone like that?" Shine finished.

Raven wouldn't have said it that way,  but that about summed it up. She shrugged.

"But you don't have that problem," she said.

"I have it all the time," Shine said. "Raven, come on...haven't you been listening? We all do. Under all their judgmental attitudes, all of them have the same feeling as you--that they are completely inadequate. And there is truth in that. None of us are adequate to really meet anyone's needs. We could give all we have, and other people would still be empty. We're all like sieves. But...if we will take what people have to offer, in whatever form they have it, we might find even if it's not enough, it's better than nothing. Perhaps I find that God makes up for the rest. I still feel empty sometimes... I still feel ignored, judged, and hated...but the difference is, those problems used to dominate me. Now they are a nuisance. But they are not all I feel. My center, under it all, is that God is there and God is Love. And God loves me. I may not feel loved, but I know that it is there, behind my feelings. That makes all the difference in the world. And would it help you to know that God doesn't care how inadequate you are? He already knows that. He always has. But here we are... Isn't that worth something?"

Raven looked at her like she was crazy.

"Sure, because He clearly cares so much about me," she said. "Why did all this happen then?"

"We've been over that," Shine said. "Are you really going to blame God for what other people did, including yourself? You are free to choose. Do not blame Him if you all abuse that freedom all the time. Look, you can either get help, or you can die. There is not a third option for you."

Put that way...

"We might remove the Maiden powers...if you wanted," Shine said in a lower voice. "But we couldn't control it so well. Still, if that's your choice, you should be able to choose it. But would that really make up for anything? I hope you are not that delusional."

"If you're going to try to talk someone into something, you shouldn't insult them," Raven said.

"My frankness is proof to you that I'm not simply sweet-talking you," Shine said. "And you respect that in me more than if I was coaxing you. Don't even lie."

She was right.

"Still, even then, your suggestion sounds like one I'd have to be a lot braver than I am to take," Raven said.

"Raven, God is not going to make you do anything," Shine said. "All it takes is asking for forgiveness and believing... Now, what you do after that, if He was to give you the courage, then do it. If you can't...don't. This choice is not one that I want you to make so you can help us. I'd want it regardless. The change is inside first, then outside. Don't let that stop you from doing it."

"Even that takes courage," Raven said.

"Only as much as it takes to say we need to change," Shine said. "And to really mean it. That's all. The rest can come as it comes."

She smiled and moved to catch up with the others. By now they were rounding the edge of the mountain, and they saw the full outline of Mistral--or they would have, if a huge black wall hadn't been blocking them.

"EW!" Yang didn't like seeing it up close.

They rushed up to it.

No Grimm were waiting outside it, as they'd worried about.

"Well...this is weirdly familiar." Wally picked at it with a stick, and the Grimm wall just sucked the stick into it.

"Shine, this looks just like when the--"

"Aliens invaded earth," Shine finished, "from Mars."

"Yeah!" Wally said. "Gross."

"Are you telling me you've seen this before?" Yang said.

"Oh, sure," Wally said. "Shapeshifting aliens, no joke. That's how the League and I got together." [In the 2000s show's version anyway.]

"I'm sure they can't see a thing in there." Shine peered at it.

Then she pulled out her sword and stuck the point in.

The wall sizzled, but seemed to grow back as soon as it was dissolved.

"It's like a bacteria," Shine said. "Self replicating... If it's damaged it'll grow back. Well, this is every biology class's worst nightmare."

"So what do we do?" Oscar asked.

"Well, the one way to kill this thing would be to destroy it all at once probably," Shine said. "Or so fast that it couldn't regenerate."

She glanced up. "I think it's going to rain."

It had clouded over.

"Okay," Wally said. "Fast...fast is what I do."

Raven followed behind them slowly. She was thinking.

She glanced upward.

"If I agreed to give this a try," she muttered, "I'd need a pretty big sign that it's actually going to work."

No sooner had she voiced this (and not even loudly--no one heard her), then the clouds darkened overhead, and the wind picked up.

"Whoa," Wally said. He was building up speed, running in place.

"Everyone, stand back," Shine said suddenly, getting an idea that the clouds didn't look so friendly.

She pulled Oscar and Yang behind a rock.

"Why are we hiding?" Yang asked.

"We're taking cover," Shine said.

About 5 seconds later, lightning suddenly blasted out of the sky--not magical lightning, real lightning.

And it blasted out in at least 4 or 5 tendrils that hit all over the black dome, sending thousands and thousands of bolts of electricity through it at the same time.

[Lightning is typically 300 million volts, to give you an idea how much more that is than the electricity we use for our machines. A household has close to 120 volts. That is more than 10,000 times as strong.]

Wally did a high speed run around the kingdom, partly to see what was going on and partly to draw the lightning after him.

But it wasn't even necessary. The whole dome was fried in about 3 seconds flat.

When they could see again, they saw that Mistral was now visible.

As an added bonus, a bunch of small, gremlin-like dog Grimm all began to howl when they found themselves exposed to the light, and they ran out of the city.

Wally fried all of them as they went.

"Well...that wasn't so hard." Shine stood up, feeling static electricity in her sweater.

"What the h--- was that?" Yang sputtered.

"What the Heaven was it would be accurate, Yang." Shine pointed upward.

Raven gaped blankly.

"Come on, we need to find the others." Shine's eyes lit up.

She rushed into the streets of Mistal, where a lot of Faunus were coming out and gaping.

The others ran after her.

https://youtu.be/cYQDkO4nYr4

["Hometown"-21 Pilots--thought it was fitting for this plague.]