"Cinder's in trouble." Emerald peered out from the shelf she was hiding under.

"Get back." Mercury pulled her in. "Who cares?"

"We need her!" Emerald said. "She's a Maiden!"

"She'd never die that easy," Mercury insisted.

The goo was piling up in puddles around the uneven terrain, seeping toward them, but they were a little higher.

"We're not gonna be able to walk through this for a while," Mercury noted.

"I can't see most of the others." Emerald only saw Ruby (who had her hood over her head), other than Cinder.

Cinder was sitting in a puddle of the juice by now, her left arm sizzling still.

"Did... is that thing growing back?" Emerald asked oddly.

"It did before," Mercury said. "But I thought Kanap took all the juice out of it."

"Maybe she did... but there's plenty of it around," Emerald said. "S---, what if it's recharging her arm?"

"Well, if she gets the power to steal magic again, we're all in trouble," Mercury said.

* * *

Yang found a taller rock formation that wasn't hollowed out enough to fit in.

She hit it a couple times, building up her power...

The black rain splattered over her arms--it had no effect on the metal one, however.

"Any luck?" Neptune and Sun ran up to her.

"Not enough," Yang huffed. "One of you, hit me-- really hard."

"What?" Sun said.

"Just do it!" Yang snapped.

Sun hit her with his staff. "Sorry, sorry."

Yang didn't care.

With more power, she hit the weak point in the rock and broke off a chunk big enough to fit inside.

"It'll be tight, but I think all of us can squeeze in." She ducked under it.

"Where's Blake?" Sun looked back.

"She's probably under cover already," Neptune said.

"I don't see her," Sun said.

"Isn't that good, then?" Neptune said

"I'll be right back. I'm going to check." Sun held up his pole and deflected some goo off of it. "Stay put."

He jumped over the rock to check the other side.

Neptune ducked under it. "I'm sure Blake's already hidden somewhere. She's pretty good at that."

"I don't see Ruby," Yang said with concern.

"She's already hiding. We saw her," Neptune said. "Hey, how are we going to walk?"

"It's not bothering our clothes." Yang looked at her shoes.

A bird flew in after them.

"Qrow?" Neptune said.

"Nope," Yang said. "Mom."

"Of course it's me," Raven said in bird form. "I just hope I can hold this form long enough for the rain to stop."

"Huh, that's kind of neat," Neptune said.

Raven gave him a sharp look.

"Who's still out there?" Yang asked.

"I counted about 8 of us already under cover, but Rhinehart couldn't fit in most of these crevices, and both the Schnees and the DJs were still running," Raven said, "also that Wallace kid--no surprise there. Other than the Wukong kid and Belladonna, only one I saw was Fall--and she's sizzling."

"Is she dead?" Yang asked.

"No, worse-- I think her arm is growing back," Raven said candidly.

"Ugh." Neptune made a face.

"Yeah, so we might have to ditch her," Raven said. "Unless we can cut it off again. No one's safe with her around. I saw the umbrella girl and the hat guy trying to hide using her umbrella. And I didn't see Sol or Rhodes at all. Must have run farther off."

"Uncle Qrow?"

"As long as he's a bird, he should have no trouble hiding, but I didn't see where." Raven ruffled her feathers, which might have been shrugging for her.

"So how long did it take you to learn how to talk like this?" Neptune asked. "And why do you turn into the same bird as your name? Doesn't that make it a little easy to guess?"

"Take it up with Ozpin," Raven said.

"And Ren and Nora?" Yang said. "And Arkos?"

"Don't know," Raven replied. "I had to get in here fast, you know. I don't know if that stuff will slide off my feathers like water does."

"Well... we'll just have to check after..." Yang sighed.

"I would have taken real rain over this," Neptune said. "Honestly, it's not that bad. It's worse if it's a body of water."

"Hmph, you know, you should work on--" Raven paused. Then she cawed and hopped closer to the outside.

Which looked pretty funny, but Yang didn't laugh.

Raven tilted her head, bird-like, at the black pools of Grimm juice.

"Is that bubbling?" she asked. "Or am I seeing things?"

Yang squinted at it. "Yeah, it is..."

The pools were getting bigger and spreading.

"I think we know why this whole land looks like this now," Neptune said. "And why there's more of the ponds..."

"If it grew at this rate, the whole land would be an ocean by now," Raven said. "This has to be some trick of Salem's to deter visitors like us. Who had the Relics? I think it was Ruby for one."

"I think Weiss had the other one," Yang said. "Oh... where's Ozpin?"

"I didn't see him either. He's usually close to Ruby," Raven said.

"Wouldn't he just be inside Oscar?" Neptune said.

They both glared at him.

"Right..." Neptune said weakly.

"Hey, Mom, I don't think that's just bubbling." Yang suddenly glanced at the pools again.

The juice was moving more... no, things were coming out of the bubbles.

They were small like the gnats. But they weren't gnats.

"What even is that?" Yang didn't recognize it. It had a long, pointy nose like a bug's and tiny wings with very long legs.

"You've never seen a mosquito before?" Neptune said.

"Eh, we don't really have them on Patch," Yang began.

"Nevermind that, I've never seen a Grimm mosquito either," Raven said.

"Maybe Shine's right about Salem having a library of this crap," Yang said. "Someone should destroy if it she does."

"Uh, Yang, mosquitoes suck blood," Neptune said. "So... you know, might not want to be near it."

Yang unlocked her gauntlets, though she doubted her chances against a lot of small Grimm like that.

Raven cawed again.

The mosquitoes began to flap their wings, making a whining sound. Then they lifted up.

[Them coming out of the water is fitting because that's where mosquitoes hatch. At least they didn't do a larvae stage first.]

Neptune pulled his gun out.

"I don't think this is going to work on them."

"Well, water might," Yang said.

"What? Are you nuts?" Neptune said.

"These things are all over," Raven said.

So they were... there was a wall of them now.

"You guys have to do something," Yang said. "I think it's not my forte."

"Why does it have to be us? Why can't anyone else?" Neptune cried.

Yang punched his arm. "Will you get a grip? Everything here has been horrible, and I doubt these things are a mild irritation."

"Watch the tone," Raven said.

Some of them buzzed at him.

Yang, who hated bugs, swatted one into the wall.

It was squashed flat and then turned to smoke.

"They're not very durable," Neptune said, as more flew towards his face.

He swung at them blindly.

Raven flew out of the way of one and hit the wall by accident.

"This is not the best spot to fly in," she cursed.

Yang pulled out some fire dust and threw it onto the ground. Then she shot it.

Fire blazed up and destroyed some of the bugs. They backed off a little.

"Why bother with these if they're killed that easily?" Neptune wondered.

Yang frowned. "There has to be some reason they're here."

* * *

The others saw the bugs.

Some of them still weren't undercover.

Winter had just frozen and flown over one rock and pulled Weiss after her.

She peered out of it.

"I think we should be out there helping the others," Weiss said.

"You have the Relic--you need to stay put," Winter said. "I'll try to herd some of them toward us. Don't move."

She shielded her face and stepped out again.

Shine and Wally had run farther ahead, and they seemed to have taken Vara and Theo. Good idea--Vara couldn't possibly have run in this. But they might be miles away.

The rain seemed to be passing over, but when she saw the bugs crawling out of the pools, she knew that the acid hadn't been the real purpose after all... Of course, it was much too easy to evade!

"Perfect," she muttered angrily. "What now?"

And what was going on with Cinder? She was just sitting there.

Meridian had tripped and was being pelted with acid.

Sighing, Winter flew over and used magic to shove it away, then got him up and dragged him back to her shelter.

"Oh my gosh!" Weiss cried. "Is he okay?"

"I don't know." Winter wasn't sure how deep the acid was going.

Aura seemed to stop it somewhat.

Meridian groaned and looked up. "Thought the other pests were bad... Uh, what is that?"

One of the other bugs had latched onto him unnoticed since it looked just like the rain.

It seemed to be trying to suck out his blood or his Aura.

Weiss swatted at it.

It flew up and buzzed at her angrily.

"What is that?" she asked.

"I have no idea." Winter blazed fire into her hand. "Don't touch it."

"That's a mosquito," Meridian said. "You've never seen one of those before?"

Well... they didn't live in Atlas--not a lot of bugs in Atlas, period.

[And mosquitoes are warm climate bugs.]

"No," Weiss said.

"Well, don't let it bite you. It's nasty when it gets irritated," Meridian said. "And this is a Grimm one, so..."

As if to spite him, the mosquito bug suddenly landed on Weiss's hand very cheekily.

"Hey, get off!" She wrung her hand, but it latched on with its little jaw and bit her.

"Hold still!" Winter told her sharply. "Activate your Aura."

Weiss did so obediently.

Winter sliced the Grimm off of her with her sword.

Weiss sighed.

"Well, they're ugly little buggers, aren't they?" Meridian said cheerfully. "Did it bite me? I don't see anything..."

He checked himself over.

"I'd better try to bring someone else in," Winter said. "Don't move."

She moved out.

She didn't see anyone else, but she saw a lot more of the bugs hovering, like they were just waiting to strike.

The rain had now passed them by, so they should be all right now.

"Well, we should probably keep going." She turned back. "Once we figure out a way to ward off the bug-like Grimm."

But instead of an answer, she just heard Weiss scream.

She rushed back under the ice.

Weiss was straining, while Meridian, who looked completely baffled, was trying to hold her in place.

"What are you doing?!" Winter yanked him away.

"I didn't do anything!" Meridian said. "One moment she was fine, and then she started yellin'. And swinging at me."

"For no reason?" Winter was skeptical.

But her skepticism died, because Weiss looked at her with utter terror and then yelped, "Get away from me!"

"Weiss?" Winter was puzzled.

Weiss ran past Winter and out of the shelter.

Winter gave Meridian a strange look.

"It's that bug, I'll warrant you," Meridian said at once. "Just like the other ones. Did something, must be venom... I seem all right, but I don't know if it'll last... Better go after her."

"Yes," Winter said.

And Weiss had the Sword... The grimm would go right for her.

Well, they did. More of the bugs followed her.

Weiss had just run blindly away from them and toward the north.

Winter took off after her, and the creatures swarmed around her also.

She started to ward them off with wind and ice, but there were dozens of them... maybe hundreds.

"What's going on?" Ruby had appeared, holding her cloak around her tightly.

Some of them swarmed around her.

"Ah!" She pulled her hood over her ears. "Stop it! I don't like bugs!"

"Miss Rose, get under cover," Winter shouted at her.

Something bit her in the neck.

She slapped at it, and the Grimm came off in her hand, with its horrid little legs crumpling up, and then turned to smoke.

For a moment, Winter felt nothing at all, and she thought it had no effect.

She waved at Ruby to run.

Ruby grabbed her own hand suddenly. One of them had bitten her on it.

Then, with no warning whatsoever of it, the effects set in.

Winter didn't remember it very well later, but she thought that her hearing went kind of funny--everything seemed too loud and too shrill.

Her vision seemed out of focus, like when you have a rush to your head.

She felt cold and hot at the same time.

Those were like symptoms of toxin, but she didn't remember that, because it was what followed that was the worst.

It was just like sheer panic, panic that came from nowhere and had no direct, tangible cause to it, but it seemed utterly irresistible.

She didn't know what exactly she did, but the world around seemed to become one massive picture of nightmare fuel--though it still looked the same, if you'd been thinking clearly.

But now everything was terrifying, everyone was deadly.

And there was no fighting it because it was complete. There was only... running.

Everything was a blur after that point, but she was told by Meridian much later that she'd screamed and run the same way Weiss had.

Ruby? Well... the effect on her wasn't quite as bad, perhaps because she had Silver Eyes, but she did start breathing really fast and looking around nervously.

"What's going on?" She seemed to know something was unnatural about it, at least. "I feel weird."

Meridian wanted to find Weiss--but knew Ruby was in trouble also and ran up to her.

"All right, Red, let's not panic," he said steadily. "There's some rotten stuff in those little beasts, but we won't let it get the better of us, will we? Just block it out."

Meridian's Semblance made even simple words have an effect on people.

Ruby stared at him and then nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, okay..."

"I'm never going to complain about my Semblance ever again," Meridian muttered to himself. "Risks be d----d. Hey, Pine, are you in there?"

Oscar had been with Ruby, both shielded by her cloak, but now he was out, using his staff to ward off the bugs. They hadn't bitten him yet.

"What's going on?" he asked. "These things... are they making people freak out?"

"Well, based on the past few days, it seems likely enough," Meridian said. "I've got to find Weiss before she gets eaten. You've got that healing thing in your spear there, right? Maybe you can cure this blasted venom. Don't let 'em bite you. Take her."

He pushed Ruby over to Oscar. Ruby looked kind of confused still.

"I'll be back, hopefully." He winked and ran off.

"Right... no problem..." Oscar said nervously.

"Well, I would point out that this is the time to take the Relic," Ozpin said in his head, "but I know it won't do any good."

OZ! Oscar said. What about Ruby?

"Yes... well... I suppose," Ozpin said, very salty. "But we could take the Relic for safe keeping. If she were to run off, it would only make her a target, and I'm not sure how long Mr. Wallace's Semblance will last."

Not too long, from the look of it. Ruby was already a little more tense.

"Oscar, I don't like these things. I think they're doing something weird to my head..."

Oscar felt he was not the best person to be helping ward this off.

"Ruby, can you run? Maybe get away from them," he asked. "I don't know if Ozpin will cooperate."

The worst of it was, part of him wanted to agree with Ozpin. Ruby was probably in more danger if she had the Crown, but... he knew it was a trap. Once Ozpin got one Relic, he wasn't likely to ever let it go if he could help it, and he had the passwords.

Qrow suddenly appeared out of a smaller hole.

"I only caught some of what he said," he said, "but it's bad. What are these things?"

"You might want to stay in bird form," Oscar said. "They're... inciting some kind of panic."

Well, to confirm this, they heard more screaming.

Nora and Ren were suddenly running for it also.

"They'll be scattered all over at this rate," Qrow said.

Oscar suddenly felt something bite him.

He'd gotten distracted, and one of the things had landed on him.

Things seem to get really fuzzy...

"Ruby." Qrow's voice sounded distorted. "Kid?"

Oscar hit the ground, luckily not in a pool of juice.

Everything seemed distant and far away...

"I don't seem to be as affected by this." Ozpin's voice was much louder. "But I can't seem to take control either. Whatever is the purpose of these creatures? It's some kind of frenzy... makes the mind scattered. It's like no one can take over... Oscar? Oscar, are you there?"

Everything... is... too... loud, Oscar's faint mental voice answered him.

"Their toxin appears to enhance the senses and strip one of rationality, like the other Grimm's," Ozpin said. "But I seem to be all right."

Not... taking... the Relics... Oscar said.

"For the time being, forget about them. Oscar, you must not lie here. It's not much resistance, but our two souls seem to provide a bit of an edge against these kinds of attacks--use it. Or I fear Miss Rose and Qrow will both soon be out of their minds."

Oscar winced. "I can't move."

"You can. Perhaps the staff can help. It has some virtue in it, does it not? Pick it up."

Oscar had dropped it a few feet in front of him. It had rolled.

"I can't," Oscar whimpered.

"Oscar, if you don't, this may well finish us off," Ozpin said. "I've heard of these creatures... They were in that book. The Deimos... they aren't so strong in of themselves, but they make you vulnerable to any other Grimm around, one of the few Grimm that seemed to work in tandem with other types. I'm certain that Salem is using them to separate us so that they can pick the Relics off our friends. We must break the spell before it is too late. Now focus... Try to block out everything else. Listen to me."

Oscar really didn't want to.

"I really don't like doing this, but if it would help... What were those psalms Miss Likstar said to use again?" Ozpin asked.

"I... don't remember..." Oscar said.

"You do. Concentrate."

Ozpin seemed to push them to the front of his mind.

"'The Lord...is my shepherd...'" Oscar mumbled finally. "'...He restores my soul.... Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I...will fear no evil...for you are with me.... Your rod and your..." His eyes cleared a little suddenly. "...staff...they comfort me."

His Aura shimmered suddenly, and strength flowed through his whole body.

He put one of his hands on the staff handle, then held it up.

Ruby was just about to break into a frenzied run, when Oscar grabbed her arm--and put it on the staff.

Her eyes cleared.

"What... what was I doing?" she said oddly. "Oh... oh, no... Uncle Qrow!" She caught his cape right as he almost ran for it.

Qrow tried to kick her off, but Ruby was good at hanging on.

"Quick, help him!" she cried.

Oscar stumbled and managed to look Qrow in the eye and hold up the staff.

Qrow's eyes cleared also.

"Huh?" He blinked. "What?... What the hell was that?"

"Hell is appropriate in this case," Ozpin muttered. "Well, good... Now everyone else."

Oscar explained as fast as he could what he'd been told.

"Ozpin actually helped?" Ruby said.

"I guess for now our goals are the same," Oscar said. "And... I mean, I don't think he wants us to die... It's just hard, Ruby. You don't know how much it pulls at him..."

"Forget about it right now," Qrow said. "We have to find everyone else. Are we cured now? Will we need that again?"

"I hope not," Oscar said.

"Then we have to round everyone else up and bring them back to you before they lose their minds," Qrow said. "Do we know how many people were bitten?"

"I can't recall anything from while I was out of it," Ruby said. "I know Weiss, Winter--"

"What?" Qrow said sharply.

"Weiss had the other Relic!" Oscar sputtered.

"Oh no!" Ruby said. "But wait, Meridian already went after her."

"He seems immune," Oscar said.

"That boy's Semblance might be his saving grace in life," Ozpin remarked.

"But if they go crazy, he couldn't fight them off," Oscar said. "None of us could except maybe the DJs. Qrow, could you find them?"

"Hopefully, they aren't affected," Qrow said. "What about Raven?"

"Over here." Raven appeared, still in bird form. "While you were out, Yang and that blue-haired idiot both ran off. I couldn't stop them... I tried to use ice, but they broke through it."

"Okay," Oscar said. "Qrow, Raven, try to round up as many people as you can and restrain them if possible. Ruby and I will run after as many as we can find, and I'll try to cure them. Then they can help us. We'll catch up to you, all right? Don't get bit..."

"They didn't really try to get me," Raven said. "I guess they couldn't get through these feathers anyway. What did you say they were called? Deimos? Why does that seem familiar?"

"Sounds like demons," Ruby said.

[Exposition dump: Deimos and Phobos are both the sons of the Greek god Ares. One causes terror and dread and the other panic and flight from battle. They were the sons of Ares and Aphrodite, so they also represent the fear of loss. While I named these Grimm Deimos because I think it sounds better than Phobos, they are a combination of both.

And I couldn't think of a better metaphor for panic than a swarm of mosquitoes in the middle of nowhere with no bug spray. Also they're a good depiction of what phobias are like: in small amounts, it's an annoyance; in larger amounts, it's a deadly plague.]

"Okay," Oscar said. "I... we have to hurry. They could either go mad or get found by other Grimm."

"I'll use my Eyes too," Ruby said.

"Raven, stay clear of it," Qrow warned.

"Won't be easy if we're this spread out. This'll be fun," Raven said. "But we're wasting time." She took off.

"I'll try to find the DJs and anyone else who went that way," Qrow said. "Careful." He took off as a bird also.

"Ren and Nora went that way," Oscar pointed. "Can you run, Ruby?"

"Yeah, I'm okay now." Ruby suddenly used her Eyes and fried all the Deimos in direct line of sight. "That oughta hold them off a little. Let's go."

But they hadn't gone that far before she literally ran into Cinder, who they didn't even see sitting there.

Cinder looked up at them, oddly.

She didn't appear to have been bitten, but... her spooky arm was back.

"Oh... no..." Oscar said.

"Cinder... you... you...?" Ruby said.

Cinder gave her an angry look.

"Yes." She stood  up. "I guess being here did it... or this pond stuff did. I'm back."

Ruby backed up. "You better not try anything..." She put a hand to her eyes.

Cinder clenched a fist. But then she said coldly, "You're not of any use to me. The other Maidens... but not right now."

"Huh?" Oscar said.

"Do you think I'm a fool?" Cinder said. [Yes.]  "With that curse of yours acting up, if I was to take on more magic, I'd probably kill myself. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Oscar did think she was a fool, but if she was being logical for once, he wasn't one to say her nay.

"Oh, yeah, you know, that's a good point," he squeaked.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Ruby said, "but if you don't want to kill anyone right now, can you help us? There's going to be more coming around here, and someone has to keep them at bay while we're freeing the others."

"I have no wish to help you," Cinder said. "But since I have to survive this hellscape, fine. But this does not make us friends."

"I didn't say it did," Ruby said. "I don't want to be friends with you. But I do want to save them, so let's go. Try to keep up."

She took Oscar's arm and burst into petals.

Cinder followed them.

[Yeah, I really still don't trust Cinder, but I guess she knows when it's pointless to fight these people.]

* * *

Mercury and Emerald had run from the Deimos before they even started attacking. They knew they had to be something bad.

But the swarm followed them.

Mercury realized too late they were a lot farther away than he'd intended to be.

"Emerald, I think we might be lost," he said.

"No, no, no! we can't be lost!" Emerald sounded like she was going to have a panic attack without the bite. "We can't survive alone! They're everywhere!"

Mercury grabbed her shoulder and shook her. "Will you get a grip?"

He looked behind her. The Deimos were right there.

Sighing, he tried to picture the things Ruby had told him.

Surprisingly, it worked. His Eyes flashed silver and decimated the entire cloud that was there.

The ones that were farther off seemed to realize he wasn't a good target and flew away after the other hapless huntsmen.

Mercury hated that he felt like that was kind of cool.

Emerald glanced back and then blinked at him. "Wow."

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Mercury said, "but I'll make sure the Grimm don't hurt us, all right? I mean, I'm the only one who could do that single-handedly out here... at least for a while. But it's not gonna work if you lose your head, so can you please stop freaking the frick out?"

Emerald nodded silently.

"Good," Mercury said. "Let's just try to find someone else... We know they're going west... I think that's... that way..." He pointed.

"It's that way." Emerald moved his hand slightly to the right. "You can tell from where the moon is. It was in the west yesterday. And the light is a little brighter that way also, not that you can really tell in this wasteland, but..."

"All right, stop being a smarta--," Mercury said. "Fine, it's that way. So we go that way, we're bound to find someone else. Cool?"

"Cool," Emerald said in a small voice.

She grabbed his hand then.

"Just so we don't get separated or anything," she said.

"If we have to fight, you're going to need both hands," Mercury said.

"Well, if I can use my Semblance, then we don't have to fight," Emerald said. "Let's just run."

So they ran.

[AWWW.]

* * *

They were the only ones who avoided getting bitten. Everyone else had been except for the DJ team that had outrun the swarm.

They did realize that no one was following them, though.

"I would have thought the rain would have passed by now." Shine didn't like it.

"Something's wrong, I can feel it," Vara said. "One of my gut feelings. Maybe those rain drops weren't just goo."

"That would be sadly in sync with the other attacks," Shine said. "Theo, can you tail any of them? My Sight doesn't work here."

Theo's Aura shimmered.

"I can, but they're all moving. If they don't stop, it won't matter," he said.

"We have to help them, right?" Wally said. "I can run back and check on them. Uh... but all the land looks the same here, so maybe we could wait and you could find us."

"Yeah, that might be better," Shine said. "We might be able to send notes, though. That takes a lot less energy... so if you need help... I haven't tried to portal ahead, and I think I probably shouldn't, but in a pinch sometimes..."

"I don't want you to try it if it's a bad idea," Wally said. "We can't afford to make a mistake like that. I'll be fine. It's them I'm worried about. Just keep a look out for anyone."

He ran away.

It was about 10 minutes later that Qrow found them, sitting by a tall rock, trying to stay out of sight of any rogue Grimm, though they tended to avoid Shine anyway.

"There you are." Qrow dropped out of the air and landed as human. "We've got a problem."

He explained in as few words as possible.

"And I think just about everyone is in trouble," he said, "but I didn't see them all... I didn't see the Schnees anywhere."

"That's not good," Vara said.

Theo shook his head.

Shine took out the map.

"I think we're about there." She pointed. "This map is not very detailed, but you see that it slopes a little into a valley? It's possible they went that way, and they could get lost in the hills around it, out of our sight. The problem is we'd never find them until they stopped moving. If the toxin wears off, which it might, they might come to their senses, but the Grimm won't wait for that. You guys have to round them up. I might be able to help them out of it if you brought them to me, or Oscar can. Pyrrha also has two of those little cakes left... If she took one, she might be all right, but if not, she's probably also under the influence... We can try to pray about it too. But the end of it is, you have to find them. And be careful--they might attack anyone."

"That's the running theme of this." Qrow was terse because he was worried. "How could we let this happen?"

"None of that talk," Shine scolded him. "Qrow, you have to think of this the right way, or it's hopeless already. It's not impossible, remember that. They're stronger than they think they are. And One is greater still. We have to think hopefully. 'There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has torment. Anyone who fears has not been made perfect in love.' " [1 John 4:18]

Qrow paused. "Likstar," he said, "do you really believe that?"

She looked him in the eye. "I really do. I've seen it before. I believe it's the only thing that does."

Qrow shook his head, then he said, "You'd better be right." And he took off again.

"Hmm, that was easily the most positive I've heard him be this entire time," Theo said.

"That was positive to you?" Vara shivered. "We're all going to die here."

"Vara, shut up," Shine said. "I'm sorry that you're suffering, but do not talk like that. I don't like attracting more of those Grimm while we're waiting for the others. Some of them will probably come this way. we need to be ready."

"Nothing ever stops you, does it, Likstar?" Theo noted.

"Theo, if I stopped right now, there'd be no going back, would there?" Shine said.

He shrugged.

* * *

Meridian was fortunate to get to a high point and spot Weiss before the Grimm found her.

He shot a few down that were on her heels and then raced after her.

Weiss's frantic running had become more of a stagger from pure exhaustion-- and tripping, since she didn't really know where she was going, and that slowed her down.

He caught up to her just as a few more ugly Grimm were crawling out of the woodwork.

He shot them also, and, running out of arrows, he used his sword instead to finish them off.

Meridian tended to retrieve his arrows after he used them, because Grimm just vanished after you shot them; the arrows were still good usually. But right now, he didn't have time.

"Weiss." He grabbed her before she could run again.

"No!" Weiss tried to pull free.

"It's all right, love," he said, getting a better grip. "Nothing to be scared of now. Look... they're gone."

He activated his Semblance.

He really hoped this would work. He prayed it would work.

Weiss stared at him, then finally she seemed to recognize him.

"Meridian?" she said slowly.

"Right." Meridian nodded. "It's just me."

"Oh..." Weiss put her hands to her face. "It... I thought... it..."

She started crying.

"I know." Meridian patted her hair gently. "It's all right..."

Weiss was shaking.

Another Grimm came bounding out from some more rocks.

She looked up, and a knight appeared out of the ground and sliced it in half.

"D---..." Meridian muttered.

"Brutes," Weiss hissed, still shaking. "Horrible, horrible brutes! I never want to see another Grimm ever again."

Not much hope of that, but Meridian didn't point this out.

"You all right now?" he asked. Though of course she wasn't.

"I'll be fine..." Weiss said. "I just... I'm so sick of them messing with my head."

"Don't let it get to you," Meridian said. "You're one of the bravest people I've ever met. These buggers aren't normal."

"I know! I know!" Weiss said sharply. "That doesn't make it better."

"Well, maybe it doesn't right now," Meridian said, "but once it passes, and you're reasonable again, you'll realize this was all just a shadow and it's not real, and that's comforting."

Weiss glanced at him, then she nodded. "Yeah... yeah, you're probably right... Once it passes." She looked a little faint. "Uh...I hate to ask this, but can you...help me? I'm not sure I can...walk...far."

"Oh, my pleasure." Meridian took her arm. "Better find your friends now. Just stick close to me, in case more of those things pop up..."

"You're so lucky to have that Semblance," Weiss grumbled.

"You're telling me? I used to think it wasn't that impressive, but I'm never going to say that again," Meridian said. "Even if people do stupid things because of it, you can't beat it for these Grimm fights."

"People do stupid things because they're stupid, not because they're fearless," Weiss said flatly.

"You might be right there. Attagirl," Meridian said, "back to your old self already."

"You are so incorrigible!"

"I know, it's one of my best qualities," Meridian shot back.

He wasn't always as cocky as he tended to sound, which by now Weiss was starting to figure out, but at the moment she'd take even the pretense of it if it kept the fear at bay.

[Fake it till you make it, right?]