Qrow immediately regretted his impulsiveness

He wasn't supposed to do that. D--- it, why didn't he have more self control?!

He stepped back at once.

To his great shock, Winter did not immediately punch him.

She just stared at him in abject astonishment and put a hand to her mouth.

"I'm sorry." Qrow heartily wished he could sink through the ground. "That was stupid. I should have known better."

"Why did you do that?" Winter didn't sound very calm right then.

Not that he could blame her.

"I told you, it was stupid," Qrow said. "I didn't want to talk about this for a reason, okay? It was--something I thought I could control better if I just...ignored it."

Winter regained her power of coherent thought.

"Wait, is that what this was about?" she said. "I...you--so what did that mean?"

"Nothing," Qrow said.

"Nothing!?" Winter sounded angry then.

"Nothing. I mean, I didn't mean to," Qrow said hastily.

Winter was like other women in one way--that was not the thing she wanted to hear after a kiss.

"Well, what did you mean to do then?" she said. "Explain."

Qrow put a hand to his eyes. "I'm such an idiot..."

"Qrow!" Winter said in a harsh military whisper. "Stop saying nonsense and explain yourself right now."

That jolted him a little bit.

"I guess I'm more of a cur if I don't explain after that..." he said, more subdued. "The truth is..." But he paused.

Now he was just stalling, period.

Winter drew a deep breath.

"I'm just going to ask," she said. "Just answer yes or no." She paused. "And I feel ridiculous asking this question, by the way, but do you have some sort of...I suppose the word to use is...attraction...towards me?"

Wow, she'd never asked someone that in her entire life.

"You could say that." Qrow wasn't making eye contact.

"Oh...I see," Winter said.

Well... she supposed that wasn't... as insane as she'd thought.

Vara had been right? What a strange turn of events.

"You could say it might be a little more than just an attraction..." Qrow was miserable.

He never imagined he'd be doing this in his entire life--normally he didn't have to tell girls his feelings out right; they just kind of assumed it.

But of course Winter wouldn't have let him get away with that. That's why he didn't want to have this conversation. But now he was stuck having it.

"How much more?" Winter raised an eyebrow.

"D---it, do you have to ask that?" Qrow said.

"Yes!" she snapped.

"A lot more," Qrow said, almost angry--but really it was nerves. "Look, do you really want to hear this?"

He just got a look in return.

"I didn't think it would turn into anything serious," he said with a long sigh. "So I wasn't careful. And then it did. Feel free to say how ridiculous it is to talk about this now of all times, but I honestly was going to try not to let it get in the way. But I'm as bad at that as I am at everything else--"

"Did I ask for a list of excuses?" Winter held up her hand. "Just how long has this been going on?"

"Um...in years or since I figured it out?" Qrow said meekly.

"Years?!" Winter cried.

Had Raven been right then?

Winter was starting to feel like a moron.

But she didn't want to say that out loud.

"Well, not seriously." Qrow was not helping himself here. "But all this...it's got its drawbacks."

"I'm sorry it bothers you so much." Winter went back to being annoyed. "I certainly had no intention of making things difficult for you."

"Not you," Qrow said. "It's me. I'm... Look, I don't know how to deal with this. I'll admit that. It's all on me. That's why I wasn't going to say anything. Shouldn't have to be your problem."

"But it most certainly is my problem," Winter said, "if you want to call it that. Do I not play any part in this? How long before I was going to know about it?"

"Why would you want to know?" Qrow said.

"Because anyone would want to know," Winter retorted. "This was really behind all that strange behavior? You should have told me from the start."

"I didn't think you would really have wanted that," Qrow said.

Winter felt she was beet red, but it was too dark to really tell.

"Well, I would have wanted to know something," she said with more difficulty. "And that thing you just did, without any kind of warning..."

"Yeah, that wasn't right," Qrow said. "Sorry. Old habits--"

Winter glared at him.

"I mean that I haven't always had the most...maturity about this," Qrow said weakly. "So..."

"All this time I thought..." Winter was back to being confused.

She wasn't sure what she was, actually.

After walking a few paces around, she shook her head. "I don't know what to think. I'm...not angry, if that's what you expected. I'm not sure why I would be angry."

"Look, you don't have to talk about this," Qrow said. "Can we just pretend this conversation didn't happen?"

"No," Winter said severely. "That's just insulting. Do you really think I'm incapable of having a mature conversation about this?"

She wasn't actually sure she was capable of such a thing, but if Qrow said that, she was going to kill him.

"Uh...no..." Qrow said. "But what is there left to say?"

Winter just stared at him.

"Isn't it customary to say something after this point?"

"This only ends of one of two ways," Qrow said. "And I think I know the way it ends, so..."

"And what way is that?" Winter demanded.

"Well, it's not like it's hard to figure out that you're not in the same situation as me," Qrow said.

"Same...what?" Winter puzzled.

"You know... mutual," Qrow said.

It took her a few moments to figure out what that meant, and then she went red again.

And she couldn't think of anything to say.

But her long silence finally made Qrow a little suspicious.

"Hey, how did you know though?" he said. "I mean, I can't picture you just asking that for no reason... Someone said something, didn't they?"

Winter just waved off the question. It wasn't important.

Qrow put his hands in his pockets.

Winter was thinking to herself.

She'd never had any romantic inclinations in her life before, at least not real ones... she'd avoided asking herself that question for as long as she could remember.

But...

Well, she wasn't sure she could in good conscience actually rule it out as impossible... not without feeling like she was lying to herself.

But with Qrow?

No way...

Right?

How could it be possible?

She glanced at him oddly and then shook her head.

Granted, she'd seen another side of him recently, and her anger had died out ages ago... and she perhaps understood better now that it had never actually been hatred, just... frustration with her situation.

But she'd never stopped to ask herself why she and Qrow were drawn together so often if it wasn't out of hatred or utter necessity.

And she hadn't really asked if the others could be right about their constant interactions, because the idea seemed mad to her. Qrow never spoke to her like that...

Usually...

And that was a joke...

But it wasn't a joke...

At least, apparently it hadn't been for some time.

So did that change anything?

She didn't realize how long she'd been silent till Qrow finally said.

"Is everything okay in there?"

Winter looked up.

"I am right, right?" Qrow couldn't take the suspense.

"I don't know," Winter blurted out the truth.

"Huh?" 

"I wouldn't know how to tell," Winter said, in a rush. "I suppose that sounds pathetic, but it's honestly true. The idea hadn't... well, it wasn't real to me till you admitted it. I thought it was a joke."

Qrow paused. "Well, a lot of that was my fault," he admitted. 

"I never thought about this." Winter put a hand to her head a little nervously. "Thinking about it in serious terms."

"Wait just a minute," Qrow said. "I hope that you're not about to say you'd consider it."

"Excuse me?" Winter said. "Isn't that fair? At least to take time to sort it out. It would be rather flippant not to do so, don't you think?"

"No," Qrow said. "Because this is a no-brainer. We should not be together."

"I'm sorry, but I think I'm the one to say that, since you are the one who already admitted you have feelings." Winter was puzzled--and a little annoyed.

"You should be saying it, but if you're not going to right off, then I will," Qrow said. "This wasn't any kind of plea for that kind of thing."

"I'm confused. Did I miss something? Or did you kiss me a few minutes ago?"

"Yes, but that--" Qrow paused. "Of course if it was a normal situation I'd--but it's not. I'm not, all right?"

"I don't understand," Winter said.

"There's a reason I've never been in a real relationship with anyone," Qrow said. "Don't you get it? I already told you. My Semblance."

Well, he finally made Winter more angry than puzzled by saying that.

Her eyes flashed.

"Are. You. Serious?" she said in a voice that startled Qrow slightly.

"Uh..." Qrow was afraid to answer that.

"Qrow, if you are about to tell me..." Winter had her hand to head in the most annoyed manner you could picture. "...that the reason I didn't find out about this weeks ago was because of your Semblance and your ridiculous complex about it, I will absolutely kill you."

"In that case I think I won't answer that," Qrow said, backing up a little.

"I'm sorry, did you miss the part where I gave my very firm opinion on that?" Winter said. "I can't believe you would hold back for something that intangible. There have to be all kinds of better reasons, such as the situation we're currently in, the fact that I'm not entirely sure--but that? That cannot be it."

"Those are other reasons," Qrow said, "and that I feel like I'm probably not the right kind of person for you, but that wasn't really going to be a problem because you were supposed to already think that. But the big problem is that it wouldn't matter if we were perfect for each other--I can't put someone through that."

"Through what?" Winter said. "Risk? I--you... It's like you don't even know me."

She was clearly pretty upset.

Qrow felt guilty.

"No," he said. "I know. I know what you think. I just think you're wrong."

"Wrong?" Winter said.

"Yeah," Qrow said. "Just can't... can't take that chance."

Winter was sombered.

Her anger receded somewhat, and she felt sad.

She knew this kind of sadness. She had often felt it for her mother, sometimes for Weiss or Whitley...

The feeling when you know what someone is doing to themselves--and you know you can't stop them.

Well, who was she to think one person would have changed anything about this? That was stupid.

Funny... that realization kind of made her wonder if she already knew how she felt on her end.

But she decided that voicing that would be a bad idea if Qrow was already feeling this bad.

She could have lashed out at him instead, but she knew it wouldn't help.

She just shook her head.

"I see," she said finally.

"It's really about me," Qrow said. "I didn't mean to... insult you."

"No, I understand that." Winter gave him a much more calm look--because she knew where this was now. "I think I understand perfectly, actually."

Qrow had a bad feeling that maybe she did.

Winter went on, "You must get tired of telling people this over and over again. One would wonder--" with an edge, "--why, with so many people who are willing to look past it, you persist in making it an issue, but that is your choice. I'm no one to make other people's choices for them."

"I think you're more angry now than you were before," Qrow said warily.

"Of course I am." Winter suddenly knew exactly what she thought. "Your actions I could have put down to the heat of the moment, and that's nothing. I could easily overlook that--one might even take it as a sort of compliment. But this is the highest sort of insult there is. I see why you didn't want me to know--you didn't want it to be my choice. It's all your choice."

"What?" Qrow said.

"And that's your right," Winter said still coldly, "to make that choice for yourself. But at least own up to it. That would have been less cowardly. It doesn't matter what I felt, clearly, so you're right--it's pointless for me to ask myself, then. You made up your mind. Nothing that humans would call love or affection is good enough to induce you to leave this state of mind you've been in your whole life and consider another way of looking at it. If things like love are of that little importance to you, it's almost better that you're alone."

That was brutally savage--and it was totally right.

[Qrow, and I'm sure all of us and me, felt that on a spiritual level.]

Qrow looked like she'd kicked him in the gut...

"But I wouldn't call this luck." Winter put more contempt into that last word than you could have believed possible. "This is a choice. In my humble opinion, a stupid choice. With your family as well as anyone else, but fine. I won't stand here and try to talk you out of it. It's too humiliating."

"Hey--" Qrow begin.

"No," Winter said. "Do not say anything to attempt to smooth things over. I won't say you shouldn't have told me. I made you do it, after all. That was on me, and I should really stop expecting my opinions to carry any weight with people's personal choices, so..." She slowly clenched her fists and then unclenched them. "...don't worry about it. We have to cooperate in this group, and I understand how you want it. I'll comply. I won't bring this up again. You can be sure of it. I'll try to forget it as soon as possible."

"Winter--" Qrow said.

Winter could bear no more.

She was going to cry if she stood here any longer.

She turned and walked away.

And Qrow was left to feel he'd made an idiot of himself.

[You know, one has to think that if he'd just taken his sister's, and all his friends', advice that he should just date Winter, he could have avoided this.

This is what happens when you don't confront your demons before trying to tackle a loaded subject like that.

Even so, I'm not making a statement as an author that it's not right to be honest. I think you have to be, or you won't move forward. But this is just not ideal--but then, when is real life ever ideal either?]

https://youtu.be/8mtbGedn1V4

["Happier"--Bastille]

* * *

"D--- it, looks like it didn't end well." Raven was spying on the whole exchange from a tree branch.

"I thought you said you were going to watch for Grimm." Hazel didn't approve of spying.

"I am," Raven said. "I can multitask... Well, he probably said something stupid."

She sat back. "Err, Qrow... always the same thing with you."

Hazel made no comment whatsoever. The whole thing bored him.

But Raven never could sit very long without talking.

"I suppose I'm no one to talk," she muttered. "Not that he ever took my advice anyway."

She got no answer to this either.

"Can I ask you a question?" Raven tried something more direct--she was getting bored.

Only a shrug in response.

She took that as consent.

"If your sister was still around now, what do you think you'd tell her?" Raven leaned on one knee. "I mean, assuming she was still a huntress."

"To get out," Hazel said flatly.

Raven laughed wryly. "Figures. I bet she'd be doing the same thing we are, though. Where does Ozpin get the charisma to inspire loyalty from people like this?"

"I'm not doing it for Ozpin, I doing it in spite of Ozpin," Hazel said. "Just like the boy."

"Oh, sure," Raven said. "Qrow and I are both realizing just how much of our lives we sacrificed to this madness. It's like a parasite. I wonder what we would have been without Ozpin."

"Freer." Hazel's mind was made up on this point.

"Yeah, well, maybe being Bandits wasn't free either." Raven was starting to get reflective about this. "But it was better than this. I wonder why I bound myself to the magic... or if I could even help it. Maybe we can't change our path."

"Trying to set it right finally is not a dishonorable ambition." Hazel said the closest thing to praise he usually said.

"Yeah, but that's not why I'm doing this." Raven stared at the landscape. "I'm still as selfish as ever. I want to be free."

"The reason doesn't matter as much as the outcome."

Fitting, from one of Salem's former hires.

"Let's say for one second we actually win this thing." Raven was hardly daring to picture it herself still. "What will you do?"

"I doubt I'll survive." Hazel was so cavalier about this.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "You could."

"It's not likely," firmly.

"What if you did? What would you do?" Raven asked.

"I've not given the matter any thought." Hazel's tone implied he didn't intend to.

Raven sat up more and glanced at the stars.

"Well, I have no life left," she said. "I guess I figured I'd die somewhere along this quest anyway. But I've been thinking what if we did survive, what I'd even want to do. It's much too late to start another tribe, and I'd be marked after the last one... No one would join me after that massacre. Can't blame them either. I wouldn't go back to being a huntress. You know, that's what it amounts to, with Ozpin--I have no purpose, either running from him or working for him. The strangest thing about him is he has a way of making everything about him, even indirectly. Maybe it's the curse. Maybe it's just he's so old he's in everything."

Hazel was struck by how true that was--he had no purpose whatsoever outside Ozpin either.

"You could probably go in for being a bodyguard." Raven attempted to lighten the mood. "Those two street kids are going to need supervision."

That was the course Hazel was most likely to follow if he did survive.

"I'm focused on Salem for now," he said gruffly.

Raven mused, "We'd probably fight harder if we weren't so focused on how impossible she is to stop all the time. Nice trick to that. But that's why Likstar and West never give up. They don't think it's impossible... I'm starting to wonder if they were right. If I knew then what I know now, would I have made those choices?"

"None of us would have," Hazel said.

"Frustrating, isn't it?" Raven frowned to herself.

"It's infuriating," Hazel said. "But on the other hand, there is an advantage to knowing more about Salem. If it helps these children evade her. Maybe it was for something, all those wasted years."

Raven sighed. No smart aleck remark for that. She just hoped it was true.

She squinted at the horizon... She saw dark shapes moving. More Grimm.

In fact, a lot of Grimm crawled out of the woods and rocks that night.

But Shine and Wally had thought to put a barrier around the camp, and none of the Grimm crossed it.

They made sure to check it during the night many times.

People who switched shifts checked it also. It held up, but the Grimm would sit right on the other side of the line and growl at them, which made it harder to sleep.

It didn't help that some of them also howled, so even if you weren't on the line, you could hear them.

Ruby covered her ears, and Vara put in earplugs.

A lot of people woke up in a cold sweat because of nightmares that the sounds weren't helping.

Blake had a nightmare where she was attacking her friends again and she couldn't stop herself. She woke up trying to yell "no!" at herself.

She had to check to make sure they were still there, but her pulse was still pounding. She kind of wished her mom was there.

Emerald woke up crying and gasping also from one of her recurring nightmares--she'd had less of them lately, but the Grimm were making it impossible for her to relax.

At this point, Shine was up for better or worse. She could hear the others moving and shaking.

Oscar was sitting against a tree too, looking worried.

"Should have done this before." Shine took a scroll and turned on music.

It drowned out the Grimm a little bit. Some people were able to sleep after that.

Shine also moved closer to Emerald and put an arm around her shoulders, trying to help her calm down.

Emerald seemed to be a little better after that.

Cinder, who seemed to barely sleep ever, just paced around like a madwoman--but she didn't make fun of anyone for freaking out. Either she knew better than to start it at this point, or perhaps she herself was unnerved by the huge crowd of Grimm to not want to call attention to it.

https://youtu.be/GqAdT5bGkH8

[The Oh Hellos--"Zephyrus"]

"What do you find within the lines of distant suns and their systems where I come up empty? What of those painted songs of heroes, or the moon, herculean, pulling a half of me?

"Are we not threaded by the same weave of the wind, terra firma, and unparted sea? Whether by accident or fortune, you and I, we are matter, and it matters..."

* * *

Dawn came almost too soon for some people, though the night had felt very long.

Everyone was stiff and cold, but they pulled themselves up and started to make breakfast.

Winter, who had not slept at all, took the chance to tell Shine and Wally about the ugly incident with the General the previous day.

Oscar would have told them himself, but Ozpin was straining a lot, and he was worried that he wouldn't have been able to without breaking down, and that wouldn't help.

Pyrrha noticed he was acting down.

"Is it getting worse?" she asked gently.

Oscar nodded. "I... soon I might not be sure who's really in control anymore," he said, "if he keeps forcing me to... He's not...holding back like he used to."

Ozpin made no attempt to defend himself.

But that was a bad sign, because to Oscar, it signified that Ozpin was just determined to do as he saw fit and not bothering even trying to get Oscar to cooperate.

Pyrrha wondered if it would get worse when they crossed over to Salem's land.

Even the green parts of it looked foreboding after yesterday.

They heard some commotion suddenly.

Shine and Wally were talking to Ironwood, who was getting quite loud. The whole group could hear him.

"I haven't done anything treacherous," Ironwood was arguing. "We've not even left the continent yet. This is unacceptable."

"If you go back now, you might make it," Shine said.

The Grimm who'd been watching them all night had left--very uncannily, it seemed like they were just waiting to return.

"That's not likely." Glynda seemed to be a little more on Ironwood's side. "You can't just force him."

"Well, then I can just send him back," Shine said. "But we won't stand for this kind of insubordination."

"Well, you do know all about that," Ironwood said.

"How can you talk to her that way?" Wally said. "She saved your butt, dude. You're really ungrateful."

"This isn't about personal feeling or debts," Ironwood said.

"Either way, it wouldn't look any better for you," Shine said tightly. "If you expect me to believe that it's merely the influence of the Grimm that would cause you to suggest something like you did, you really think I'm stupid. You're not in, James. That's the end of it."

"She attacked one of our own yesterday." Ironwood pointed one metal hand at Cinder, who was watching this with interest--but then she scowled. "And yet she stays?"

"Two things, James," Shine said, in her cold tone. "One, that is not your decision, and she did that more fully under the influence of the Grimm than you did. Two, if you really think the bar is as high for her as it should be for you, a man devoted to duty and protection, then that is just a sad statement on your grasp of what being a leader is about."

Ironwood frowned.

"'To whom much is given, much shall be required,' " Shine quoted glibly, "'But to him who has not, even what he has shall be taken away.' I'm sorry, James. It was a long shot to allow you to accompany us at all, but I tried to be fair. You're not going to be a part of this anymore. Perhaps, if we win, you'll regain your senses enough to work again--but Salem has too big a hold on your mind, clearly."

"To think you're actually going to go right to her and give the most valuable things in the world to that witch," Ironwood said furiously. "Who would let you do that? Are they all bewitched?"

"That's enough," Winter said.

"You're a disgrace, Schnee." Ironwood glared at her. "All of you..."

"Good news," Wally said, "you won't have to look at us if you leave. So just go."

"I think there should be more of a vote--" Ironwood began.

"James," Shine said. "Leave." 

She pointed.

No one made any move to interfere.

Ironwood seemed to read their expressions.

"You'll regret this," he said sullenly, then he walked away from the camp.

"I'll call a lift for him," Glynda sighed.

"Wait just a moment," Shine said. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't book you also? You were certainly on his side."

"I wasn't entirely with the plan," Glynda said. "I never said we should just throw you to the wolves... Surely you can't put me on the same level?"

She glanced at Cinder. "And with the other companions you have here..."

"Oddly enough, Cinder so far has been less difficult to deal with than you." Shine did not pull her punches. "Maybe because at least she's honest about being a conniving witch."

Glynda stared at Shine in shock. "What did you just call me?"

"You can just go." Shine folded her arms. "I'm sure you and James can survive long enough to get picked up, with joint effort. We don't need your help."

"Your chances aren't good to begin with, and you want to whittle down your team even more?" Glynda said.

"You heard her," Raven said, smugly. "Get going."

"Likstar, aren't you being a little hasty?" Qrow said. "She could still help."

Shine gave him a warning look.

"To think she'd send two of Ozpin's lieutenants packing before you," Mercury said to Cinder flatly. "She really is trying to be different from him."

"Shut up," Cinder said.

"Ooh, that one hurt," he said.

"You know, maybe you're right, Glynda," Shine added. "Maybe you should ask James why we all distrust him so much. I don't think we've filled you in on how bad it was. You knew he lost his mind and was discharged, but did we tell you that he almost bombed a city and shot Oscar off a cliff?"

"What?" Glynda said oddly.

"I prefer not to live in the past," Shine said, "but when someone doesn't learn from it...well, think about who you're backing. This plan of ours might seem crazy to you, but it's more honest and noble than the means you all take to defend those stupid items. And one might ask why you think they are so valuable? All they represent is power. Humans are more important than power."

"Who made you judge of us?" Glynda asked. "You're an impudent little girl. You're not even involved in this. Even with your powers, you're not much older than most of these other students. You have no idea how we got here."

Wally frowned at her. "Lady, that has nothing to do with how qualified we are."

"If age was an indicator of wisdom, Ozpin would have won hundreds of years ago." Shine leveled Glynda with one well-timed remark that made Ozpin wince mentally.

Glynda blanched like she realized that she couldn't get out of that one.

"And furthermore," Shine said, "while I'm not really about hyping myself up, the word does say not to let anyone look down on you because you're young, but set an example in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. [References 1 Timothy 4:12]. And, madame, while I'm clearly not perfect in these areas, at least I try to attain to those things. Can you say the same? And no matter my age, I was chosen to be leader, and your disrespect for me is out of line. I think you'd know, of all people, that that's true. So you're not reassuring me. I don't tolerate this even from people like you. Go on, now."

Winter smiled faintly at that.

"Well, she said it," she said.

Glynda frowned at her. "I never liked you, Schnee."

Winter cut her eyes at Glynda like she didn't really care.

"Well...I suppose I can't stop you." Glynda seemed embarrassed. "But you will regret this. You'll get all these children killed and the world too... I'm sorry for you."

"The feeling is mutual." Shine didn't let her have the last word. "Bye."

Glynda frowned and walked away angrily.

She cast a look at Ozpin/Oscar like she thought he might speak up, but Oscar kept him from doing so with great difficulty.

Shine and Wally looked annoyed after that.

"I can't believe this," Wally said. "He only came to screw things up for us."

"There's one in every group," Shine said flatly. "Well, we need to get moving."

That was kind of demoralizing for the teens, though, losing two people and not even across the channel yet.

Oscar walked away from the others and went to stare at the water.

He felt unusually pessimistic. He hadn't slept well last night either.

He missed seeing Alicia in visions... She'd given him hope--he hadn't realized how much till it stopped.

But then, Alicia would tell him that wasn't how it was--hope wasn't from her. He knew that.

It was hard to want to go forward at all, knowing that it would only get worse.

"You know, I'm trying to be obedient," he said out loud. "It seems like no one wants to believe, no matter what."

"So how we going to get everyone across?" Wally asked Shine in the background. "I still don't know, not without taking the chance of being separated."

"I don't like that chance after yesterday," Shine said. "Even if you ran everyone across, it's miles. It would take some time, even for you. The Grimm are right on our heels."

"That's more true than you realize." Raven suddenly landed in front of them. "The ones from last night didn't retreat that far. Maybe they didn't like the music, but they're back now."

Everyone looked back. The Grimm were creeping out of the flora and rocks behind them.

"Uh oh," Meridian said.

The team drew their weapons.

But there were a lot of Grimm.

"I can't hide us from that many," Emerald said.

"Neo?" Torchwick said. "Any chance we could hide from them all?"

Neo shook her head and mimed the Grimm eating them.

Oscar looked back.

"Oh no..." he said. "That's a lot of Grimm."

He looked back ahead. Funny, this reminded him of something he'd read...enemy forces closing in behind them, water in front of them. A barrier kept them away at night but then disappearing in the daytime--

He suddenly noticed there was a slightly higher sandbar in the water... still too deep to be waded through, but higher than the rest of the channel. He wondered if it went all the way.

He waded into the surf and used his weapon to poke at it--he thought it might be about 12 feet deep. He couldn't reach the end of it.

Some fish swam across his line of sight.

Then suddenly he dropped his spear quite by accident, and it sank under the water.

"Oops..." he said.

The water suddenly sank down around it.

Oscar was confused. Was there a hole in the surf?

But instead the water fanned out from it--and there was a strong gust of wind behind him.

Like a hand or a broom, the wind shoved the water forward like it was a pile of dirt, and it fell away from the sand strip.

To Oscar's astonishment, it spread out in a wide wave-shaped pattern, leaving the ground below it dry.

"Uh...guys!" he called.

The team looked at him from the Grimm.

"What is going on over there?" Ruby asked.

"Something weird is happening to the water," Oscar said.

Everyone ran that direction, bringing the Relics with them.

The Grimm suddenly howled and took off after them.

"Oh crap!" Vara said.

"Whoa..." Wally glanced at the water. "It's just like--"

"I know. Get in," Shine said.

"What?" Neptune said in horror.

"No time to think about it. Go." Shine shoved them.

Some of them ran in readily enough. The Grimm were right behind them.

Neptune might not have, but Meridian and Sun dragged him after them and ran onto the sand strip.

The water that was being held at bay fell back in behind them and cut the Grimm off as they reached it, some of them actually got caught in it and proceeded to try to swim, only to fail.

In front of them the water kept moving forward.

No one had time to ask questions, they just ran to follow it.