"Are you okay?" Pyrrha said, finally.

"I just... What does that even mean?" Jaune asked. "What does all of it mean, all this suffering? I mean, why let people do these things? Why are we going through this? Why not just take us right to Salem? Why does everything have to be so hard?"

He sighed.

"But hard is how we grow," Pyrrha said.

"Don't tell me you believe that makes everything worth it," Jaune said. "There have to be some things no one would go through just to grow."

Pyrrha glanced back at him... He was reminded of their first conversation in the forest outside Beacon. 

Funny, just a little thing like that and Jaune reflected how little had changed, even if so much else had.

Pyrrha took his hands between hers in a comforting sort of way.

"I can't explain it all," she said, "but I believe, in the long run, it's for the greater good. All of this somehow is... Maybe just accepting that would be the easiest thing to do."

"If I could," Jaune puzzled. "I... believe in God and all that... I believe that it's true. I just don't get it. All that suffering, even that He died Himself, I still don't get why that was the only way."

"That question takes more wisdom than I have to answer," Pyrrha said. "But remember what Shine said a couple days ago? Jesus didn't resurrect everyone, not even His own family. And He didn't spare Himself death, a much worse one than I've undergone, or anyone else in the party, in fact. All the stories I've read, it just seems that pain and suffering are a part of life. I don't know... There's even one book of a man who lost everything in one day, just to prove a point."

"Yeah... exactly," Jaune said. "Is it just to prove something?"

"But perhaps His ways are not our ways," Pyrrha said. "I think I read that somewhere also... or His thoughts our thoughts. Perhaps how we think of it is too narrow, too low. We want to spare ourselves suffering--and I do too, don't misunderstand me... but perhaps there's a reason I'm not allowed to make the decision. Perhaps the reason the Lord would suffer is to show us something about it... I suppose one could just try to avoid all the pain in the world, but things are real... and evil leads to pain, and I see no way around that while people are still free to be evil... so it seems fine to me, in a way, that the Lord wouldn't just avoid the pain... He...well, He became part of it, part of the world, for a short time."

Jaune glanced at her.

"I mean, would you?" Pyrrha said. "If you couldn't stop someone from suffering, would you at least go with them? Is that why we're here?"

"Yeah, I would," Jaune said. "I would definitely want to at least be there with them. That's why I don't..." He paused.

Pyrrha tilted her head. "What?"

"Of course even God has died..." Jaune said, as if he was thinking of something else. "I haven't, but... I guess there really is no experience that He hasn't... even with family, friends... Suffering, all that... I guess that's for us. I mean, we read how He was in the wild for 40 days too... so... I guess it's all in how you look at it."

"I'd say so..." Pyrrha wasn't entirely sure what Jaune was thinking. 

"Is that it then?" Jaune said, looking at her strangely. "There's no stopping all that suffering, so the only thing to do is share it?"

"I believe Shine would say that He gives it a purpose," Pyrrha said. "I don't know if that's because He has it or if it's His way of letting it not be a waste. But if pain must happen, I'd rather it be for a reason. Seems to me I don't mind it so much then... In fact, I began to see what happened to me as less of a failure since I began to see it might have a purpose."

"I didn't think about it that way," Jaune said, "like all of it together might actually have purpose. But what purpose?"

Pyrrha shrugged uncertainly.

"I guess..." Juane thought. "I just didn't want to think pain was inevitable. I wanted to think I could stop it."

"But Jaune," Pyrrha said quietly, "your literal Semblance is to heal... It only protects you. I don't think we can keep everyone else from getting harmed--we just try to help them when it happens."

Jaune stared at her thoughtfully.

"And... maybe it would be better to just be grateful for that," he said slowly, "instead of wishing that stuff just didn't happen... Maybe that's what you've always been telling me this whole time."

"If God can't prevent things always, or won't, out of some wisdom, then who are we to question it?" Pyrrha echoed her earlier thought. "If that's how you want to look at it... You know, I wish sometimes I could do what you do. I really only can try to prevent bad things from happening. I don't know anything about fixing them later. That's what you've always known better than me."

"I wouldn't say that," Jaune said.

"I believe it's true," Pyrrha said. "Honestly, Jaune, it's always been that way. And I guess I like to help other people get there. Like Shine, I guess. But you know, if something happens, and it always does, someone has to pick up the pieces. That's so important."

She glanced upward.

"Especially right now..." she muttered.

Jaune glanced upward and then down again.

"Maybe I've been missing it," he mused. "Maybe the answer was right there the whole time."



"...And then I felt chills in my bones
The breath I saw was not my own
I knew my skin that wrapped my frame
Wasn't made to play this game
And then I saw him, torch in hand
He laid it out, what he had planned
And then I said I'll take the grave
Please just send them all my way. And then I felt chills in my bones
The breath I saw was not my own
I knew my skin that wrapped my frame
Wasn't made to play this game

"I began to understand why God died. The air begins to feel a little thin
As we're waiting for the morning to begin
But for now you told me to hold this jar
And when I looked inside, I saw it held your heart
For me to walk away with.
I began to understand why God died."

Pyrrha was peering ahead. It was getting darker by now, but she thought she saw movement.

Was that a pink parasol?

"Neo?" she called. "Neo, is that you?"

The parasol promptly disappeared into the rocks.

"Roman might be close," Pyrrha said. "Careful, it's really uneven here."

She pulled herself over the rocks and scrambled after Neo.

Jaune followed her closely but ended up slipping and falling part of the way down into the indent between the rock formations.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha called.

"I'm okay..." he wheezed.

"Neo's hiding. I can't quite make out what she's saying, but this might take a few minutes. Can you watch the perimeter for Grimm?"

"Is she saying that Roman is gone?" Jaune called.

"No, not that. I can't make it out... Just hang on."

Jaune sighed and looked around.

He didn't see Roman anywhere...

He decided to walk a bit farther in and look for Grimm.

He saw one that looked like a rat but way bigger.

[Oh crap, it's a ROUS! Jaune would be Wesley, I guess... if he was more nonchalant. Or non-jaune-lant? I know, I know. Yang's not here, let's act like it.]

https://youtu.be/d6UR0FRL_q4

[Red-- Beth Crowley. Fits Cinder]

Jaune chased it, thinking it might be looking for Roman.

But instead he found the last person he expected to find here.

Cinder, who was lying in a pool of her own blood and attempting to crawl out of a rocky crevice that she appeared to have fallen into.

Judging by the trail of blood behind her, she hadn't made it that far since she'd fallen in.

Jaune had seen enough carnage since last year to not throw up at the sign of this, but he just stood there.

He wasn't sure what happened, but Cinder appeared to have been stabbed or punctured by something, and she must have been bleeding for a while.

She must have been using her Aura to avoid bleeding out instead of flying, but it hadn't stopped it. She also had some scratches along her face that she'd probably got from falling.

A part of Jaune thought, Well, she got herself into this... might as well get herself out.

He didn't really need to care if Cinder was stuck...

The Fall powers probably wouldn't go to anyone they knew, right?

The rat-like Grimm sniffed and then scampered toward Cinder, who pushed herself up on her Grimm arm.

Jaune almost had a conniption... When had that grown back? This was bad!

"Get away from me, you little demon." Cinder formed a sword in her human hand and attempted to stab the Grimm.

The sword shattered way too soon, and she swore.

The rat was unimpressed. It sniffed at the blood, as if it was trying to gauge if Cinder was Grimm or human.

It must have decided she was human enough, because it bit her hand.

Cinder's eyes blazed with fire and then died out.

Jaune thought she'd expended herself.

Well, he really should be looking for Roman...

He started to back up and then stopped.

No... come on, it was too dangerous to even think about...

But a voice in his head said, "What would be the merciful thing to do?"

Jaune really, really wished he could just say, "Run and hope she doesn't survive!"

But...

He wouldn't be able to look anyone else in the face again if he did that, especially Pyrrha.

He very reluctantly took out his sword.

Cinder hadn't even seen or heard him, being far too busy trying not to pass out, and her thought when Jaune appeared with his sword up was probably that he was just going to finish her off.

She glanced at him angrily and made a kind of snarling sound.

Lucky for her, Jaune was really past paying attention to what she said or did, so he took no notice of it.

He stabbed the Grimm.

The creature hadn't even noticed him. It burst into smoke.

Cinder looked up. "What, you wanted to finish me yourself?" she spat. "Well, fine. It'll be faster than this."

Jaune didn't say anything because he was pretty sure he'd say something he'd regret later if he did.

He knelt down resolutely and held out his hands.

Cinder started to recoil, until her Aura appeared.

Then she just blinked.

"What... what are you doing?" she said savagely.

"It would be better to hold still," Jaune said through gritted teeth. "It just makes it worse if you move before it's over. Take it from Weiss."

That little reminder didn't clear anything up for Cinder.

[If you've forgotten, Cinder impaled Weiss, and Jaune unlocked his Semblance.]

Cinder just stared, and then she gripped his arm firmly in her human hand. "I don't need your two-faced charity! You hate me. What are you doing?"

"If we don't hurry, this is going to be too late," Jaune said in a very flat tone still. "Do you want to die here?"

Cinder stared at him and then let go very begrudgingly.

Jaune had gotten a lot faster at this than he used to be, and it didn't take that long, though longer than he would have liked to sit that close to Cinder.

Still, after a certain point, he almost forgot to be disgusted and just felt calm. After all... this was what he did...

Cinder stop frowning and just stared in confusion.

"What happened?" Jaune finally asked.

Cinder made a tiffing sound. "Neo."

Jaune had a hunch as to why Neo might have hid from them... Uh oh...

"On purpose?" he said.

"I don't know," Cinder snapped. "On purpose, or it was... whatever those things were. She hates me. It could be either."

"Yeah, well, as much as I think she probably would like to, I don't think she'd have sabotaged us like that on purpose," Jaune said. "Unless..." If Neo saw Cinder's arm... she might have thought that was a good thing.

He wasn't sure if it was or not... but he couldn't have done it... not like this.

After another second or so, he pulled back. "It might be sore, but I think that should be all the internal damage. The other abrasions don't look that bad, and it's probably not worth the Aura to heal them. If you can get up, get moving."

He stood up and walked away.

Cinder pulled herself to her feet and brushed herself off.

"I suppose you think I owe you now," she said in a dark voice. "Like I have to spare you."

"I don't think any such thing." Jaune gave her a scathing look over his shoulder. "I wouldn't believe you if you promised it anyway. I'd probably faint of shock if you even thanked me."

Cinder was so annoying!

"Then... why did you...?" Cinder wasn't usually one to just ask that outright.

Jaune shrugged. "Does it matter?"

"Didn't you swear that you'd... take revenge?" Cinder was puzzled. "What is this? Some kind of joke? Or you just need me."

"We don't need you that badly." Jaune was irritable again. "But... whatever. Revenge is... a waste of time."

"Waste of time." Cinder spoke like they weren't plain words. "No one just gives up like that."

"Cinder, newsflash, not everyone is like you," Jaune said. "Pyrrha's not... I did what she would do, all right? I really don't want to talk about it. So if you'd shut up, I'd take that as enough of a favor, all right? Just... stop..."

He wanted to add "for once in your life" but didn't think it was worth it.

Cinder just stared at him.

"You're crazy, Arc," she said, without much emotion.

Jaune didn't bother to answer that either.

He wondered if Pyrrha was okay with Neo... If Neo was, in fact, in that frenzied state still, she could hurt her instead, but she hadn't seemed that way...

* * *

Pyrrha figured out that Neo had been hiding in an area of the rocks that was hollow like a tunnel--but with gaping holes in it where erosion had eaten away the rocks.

Neo was avoiding her.

But she finally ran out of room and was stuck.

Pyrrha, not having a working scroll, lit up her Aura to try to see.

"Neo, I don't know what's wrong, but you're going to have to try to show me," she said carefully. "Is it the venom from those bugs? Are you still under it?"

She seemed a little too clear-sighted for that.

Neo shook her head.

"Come on, it's all right. We're trying to find everyone." Pyrrha held out her hand. "We'll find Roman also."

Neo shivered. Then she pointed to her head like she was tipping a hat. And then she made a motion like something was disappearing.

"He can't be too far." Pyrrha hoped that was true. "Come on, I would have thought you'd want to find him."

Neo stood up. She could--she was short enough. Pyrrha was bending over pretty far.

Then she held up her parasol.

Even in the dim light Pyrrha could see blood on the blade.

She put a hand to her mouth. "Neo... what did you do?"

Neo looked at her helplessly.

"Do... do you remember?" Pyrrha said.

Neo began to motion at her way too fast.

"Slow down..." Pyrrha held up a hand.

Neo stopped, then she pointed to her head and turned into Roman, then Cinder. Then, reverting to her normal form, she mimed stabbing someone and gestured helplessly.

"You... think it was one of them," Pyrrha said. "But... do you not remember who it was?"

Neo shook her head and pointed to her head and made a sign that looked kind of like 'splat' or maybe 'kaput'.

Then she mimed being off balance.

"Oh... yes, the toxin from those awful creatures," Pyrrha said, horrified. "I got stung also. I don't remember a lot of what happened either. It was all distorted... So you only vaguely recall that you saw them but not... oh... but it was someone..."

Neo nodded with a tight look, then she sniffled.

Pyrrha, not sure what else to do, put a hand on her shoulder. "Neo, it wasn't your fault," she said. "Those things made us all crazy with fear. No one knew what they were doing..."

Neo gave her a look like that didn't make it better.

"I know, I know, it's... it's still awful, but just... don't blame yourself... okay? We'll find them. Maybe it's not too late. Jaune is right behind me. If it wasn't that long ago, we could still save them. Let's not assume the worst. Come on, we have to search."

Neo seemed to perk up at the idea of Jaune being there, and she nodded.

They crawled back out and started to find their way down, but they found it was easier to go a different way than the way they'd come.

Pyrrha really hoped whoever Neo had stabbed was still alive. She didn't know if Neo cared about Cinder, but if it was Roman, she'd probably never forgive herself for it--and it would be too awful, after how she worked so hard to get him back... Would God allow that?

But then... Pyrrha supposed that it might not be fair to think that. They'd all gone on this, knowing that Grimm would be there. Wasn't it their choice if they'd risk that? 

Neo wrung her hands nervously, which Pyrrha wondered if was kind of like other people making nervous sounds.

They saw some more of the rat Grimm, presently, climbing up part of the rock.

Pyrrha hurried to get up there, but Neo, much more nimble than her, scrambled up like a monkey.

Then she made a very wild gesture of what Pyrrha thought was relief and pointed to her head.

Torchwick?

It was hard when she couldn't ask Neo outright what she saw, but Pyrrha waved back at her.

Neo proceeded to stab some of the rats, and Pyrrha threw her javelin through two more.

They went down pretty easy.

Neo then sprang up over the ledge.

By the time Pyrrha found a way to get herself up there, Neo had already been checking Torchwick over. But he was fine... except that his Aura was almost gone, and he appeared to still be kind of groggy from the toxin.

"Well... at least we know it wasn't him," Pyrrha said aloud, then thought maybe she shouldn't have said that.

"What wasn't me?" Roman asked.

Neo shivered.

"Neo... stabbed someone while she was under the influence of those monsters," Pyrrha said. "You remember."

"Yes, it was like every worst summer day where I come from, multiplied by a billion," Roman said. "I really don't recall how I got up here, but at least I must have run from those gross things."

"It's almost too fortunate that the Grimm weren't faster..." Pyrrha said. "I feel as if the focus of this was more on finding us and picking us off slowly than a full fledged attack. Like Salem wanted to be sure she got the right people... It can't be a coincidence that no more dangerous Grimm showed up."

"Well, she played herself then. That is if... and if the Relics are still around..." Roman said. "I'm getting really sick of the mind Grimm attacks. They're not my flavor. My flavor is Neapolitan."

Neo smirked.

"Ah, that's sweet," Pyrrha said. "Though I'm really more of a strawberry person."

"You know that Neapolitan has strawberry in it, right?" Roman said.

"Yes..." Pyrrha said. "I mean I know. I just forgot for a second..."

She looked back down. The moon was starting to come a little over the edge of the rocks and illuminate the crevices below them.

"Jaune!" she called, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Are you down there?"

"Shh!" Roman said. "The Grimm."

"There aren't that many of them around. I think it's more important to find each other," Pyrrha said.

Then she saw Jaune's Aura light up, and his sword was waving.

"There he is," she said. "Come on."

She jumped half the way down, using her shield to levitate herself.

"Oh, sure, she makes it look easy," Roman grumbled.

Neo scrambled down after her.

"And she does too..." Roman added, starting to creep down.

Finally, he got down there.

Pyrrha hadn't expected to find Cinder with Jaune.

And Cinder looked very salty.

"When did... that grow back?" She looked at Cinder's Grimm arm.

"It had happened before we split up, you idiot," Cinder said sourly.

"I didn't notice it either," Jaune said. "It does blend in with the landscape, I guess. But yeah..."

He looked at Neo.

Neo held up her umbrella and then looked at Cinder.

"You!" Cinder's eyes flashed.

Neo hid behind Roman.

"Now, now." Roman held up his hand. "Let's not lose our heads. It was an honest misunderstanding."

"Honest? I almost bled out!" Cinder said.

"Well, you seem fine now," Roman said. "Couldn't have been that bad."

"That's only because--" Cinder broke off.

Pyrrha shot Jaune a questioning look, and he just shrugged.

Pyrrha smiled. Wow... she couldn't believe it... To think...

"At least we're all okay," she tried to distract them. "Cinder, come on, you know as well as we do that Neo wasn't in her right mind."

"I don't really know that," Cinder said.

"Well, then give her the benefit of the doubt. We've all done that for you when you attacked the Maidens with those other Grimm," Pyrrha said evenly. "I believe her, though. She wasn't sure if it was you or Roman she attacked. Now why would she tell me that if she knew it was you at the time?"

"I mean, you can't really think anyone would be that mad if Neo accidentally stabbed you, so there's no reason to hide it," Roman said rather unhelpfully.

"You know what I don't get?" Cinder seemed angrier than usual. "You tried to kill Little Red plenty of times, and you've had people snuffed, I'm sure, and that little psycho there almost killed the blonde girl, and I know it wasn't her first time. But everyone acts like your murdering is nothing, water under the bridge, but mine is so bad."

"Aren't you the one who's always saying it is?" Roman said, confused. "Besides, dear, you really ought to think more about reminding everyone about your kill count constantly. We don't do that. At least we have some class about it."

Neo nodded.

"Also, you know, we didn't kill anyone they knew," Roman added.

"That really shouldn't make that much of a difference." Pyrrha straightened her hair. "Though I see why it does. But since I no longer care, it's nothing to you."

"You've got spirit, Nikos," Roman admitted. "Brushing off dying so cavalierly? I mean, it's not something I'd think one of you heroes would do, but I kind of respect it. What's the point of it, am I right? S--- happens."

"I guess if you want to look at it that way," Pyrrha laughed.

Cinder just glanced at him like he was crazy.

"Oh, don't feel too bad, Fall," Roman said. "From what I hear, this Salem person we're going to find has failed to kill Ozpin at least 100 times or more, so, really, what's one or two people?"

"Shut up," Cinder snapped.

Neo elbowed Torchwick.

"Right. Three, I guess,"he said. "Though, you didn't actually die..."

Neo shrugged.

[I wonder how many people are bemoaning that I didn't just kill Cinder off... What can I say? I thought this would be more interesting.]

* * *

But what had happened to Ruby and Oscar--and Ozpin?

[Yes, the ever-present 3rd wheel to Rosegarden, to everyone's annoyance.]

They'd been looking over the same rock cluster that Pyrrha and Jaune had found, and had found hollowed out tunnels, same as Neo.

And then Ruby had promptly fallen down a hole in one that she hadn't seen because it was so shadowed.

Oscar, perhaps foolishly, went down after her.

But it was a steep incline, not a full drop, so except for some scrapes, he was okay.

"Well, that wasn't a great idea," Ozpin complained. "How will we get up?"

Oscar rubbed his head.

"Oscar?" Ruby said, sounding a bit tense. 

Oscar looked up. He saw glowing red, Grimm eyes... He didn't see anything else.

Ruby lit some fire dust up on the floor, and they saw a whole nest of rat-like Grimm, only they had four eyes each and much longer claws than real rats.

"Ah!" Oscar did not like rats, and there wasn't a trap big enough for these ones.

The rats made squeaking noises that somehow still sounded menacing.

Ruby closed her eyes and then opened them and vaporized pretty much all of them.

A few stray ones ran around her, and Oscar quickly speared them.

"So glad I though to make this bigger," he said. "And sharper. I don't know if a cane would have done it."

"Hmprf, amateur," Ozpin huffed.

"Is Ozpin still there?" Ruby asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah," Oscar said. "But he's been more behaved since earlier."

"I resent that remark," Ozpin grumbled. "I am not your dog."

"And I'm not your puppet, Oz," Oscar said aloud.

But, looking at Ruby, he said, "He did help me break the hold of those fear-causing things..."

"Oh," Ruby said. "Well, does he know where we are?"

"A veritable rat's nest. That's all I know," Ozpin said

"Nope," Oscar said aloud. "Can we get back out the way we came in?"

Ruby looked up.

"I mean...maybe...but I can't see where we're going, so I'm not sure how good an idea that is.... Do you think there's another hole?"

"I don't know. We don't really have a light, though," Oscar said.

"Hmm, you know, maybe not carrying around more supplies isn't such a smart idea," Ruby said. "Ever feel like we rely on our scrolls too much?"

[As a millennial...yes.]

"Wait." Oscar suddenly remembered something. "I wonder if I still have it..."

He took off his backpack and struggled to use the fire light to go through it.

It took him longer than he'd have liked, but finally he fished out a small flashlight.

"I forgot I had this," he said. "I brought it when I left home, in case I was walking at night.... I didn't have a scroll so..."

"Huh, and that's never come up till now?" Ruby said.

"We...really don't travel in the dark that often," Oscar noted.

"Too bad we can't do that thing Shine can with her sword," Ruby said. "But this works...if it works."

Oscar turned it on. It wasn't that strong, but he shone it up at the hole over them.

"It does look pretty slick..." he said.

"Onward then!" Ruby pointed.

Oscar pointed the light down then. There was another tunnel, though it looked narrow.

"I don't know, Ruby. Rats can fit into anything they can get their heads into. We might not be able to fit in."

"I guess we come back here then as Plan B," Ruby said.

She was kind of hoping this tunnel would take them back to the ground level so they wouldn't have to climb down in the dark.

"Well," Ozpin said, "alone, in a tunnel. Qrow won't like this. I would downplay this part if you ever find him again."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Oz," Oscar said.

"Not to worry. If you fail, I can always use magic," Ozpin said.

"Oz, I said not to do that," Oscar grumbled.

"Yes, and if you get eaten, your opinion won't matter."

Oscar couldn't even argue with that and just sighed.

They started making their way along the tunnel.

It was awkward for Oscar. Ruby kept bumping into him by accident, which she laughed off, but...it was making him nervous. [I do not miss being 15.... I mean, it was fun and all, but having some more emotional control is just so much easier on your life.]

They went on for a while with only more tunnel.

They didn't meet more Grimm, though. It was like they ran from them.

Ruby thought it was strange because she still had the Crown with her. She wondered why Ozpin wasn't trying to take it.

"Do you think we'll make it to Salem?" she asked aloud.

"I hope so," Oscar said. "I mean, we have to."

"And...you're okay with that?" Ruby asked.

"Okay with it?"

"I mean...I feel like this has been really unfair for you more than anyone else," Ruby said. "And knowing Salem...she won't be happy with you either. I mean, we could lose everything. And...we're still not that close. All the horrible Grimm...I just wonder if some people are wondering why they even came."

Oscar couldn't say he hadn't thought that a few times.

"Well, I guess for me it's not like I have any other options," he said. "If I didn't do this, I'd be gone anyway."

"Yeah...but...I don't know, maybe it would have been more painless," Ruby said quietly.

That...did not sound like a very Ruby thing to say.

"Are you starting to wonder if we can do it?" Oscar said.

"Heh...well, even I have my moments..." Ruby tried to make light of it, not very successfully.

Wow...they were in trouble.

"It's understandable," Ozpin muttered. "How much can one 16-year old take?"

Oscar didn't give Ruby the cliché pep talk.

"You know, Ruby, I think it's fine to wonder that," he said thoughtfully. "I guess anyone would. But I don't think it changes anything."

"Nope, it really doesn't," Ruby agreed.

"And...yeah, I wish this whole thing was less painful." Oscar wished it a lot more than he wanted to let on. "But...maybe there's a reason.... I don't know, sometimes it's better if it hurts, I think, than if you don't notice it at all. That was really creepy. I don't know, I guess I wish sometimes I didn't feel it, but when I feel it, I can fight it. I couldn't do that before, not that well. So..."

"Well, that's a very brave thing to say," Ruby said, with a note of admiration.

Oscar's face turned red if she could have seen it.

"It's not...that..." he sputtered and then stopped. Why was he always so awkward?!

"Oh, dear me," Ozpin sighed. "Children..."

[Not that the adults in the group are much better at this...]

"That's the thing," Ruby went on. "I guess I wonder.... I mean, I've had to deal with everyone else suffering, but personally, it's...not like I've been as much in that position. I wonder if I would put up with it that well. I mean, I don't want to be--that would be weird. But with the Maidens and...well, I just.... You know, I think everyone should be okay...even Cinder...which is also weird."

"Heh...you know Cinder is a huge pain," Oscar said, "but somehow, I expected her to be more trouble than she's been. Do you think even she wants this to be over?"

"If anything could make her do it, it would be if she was suffering because of her choices," Ruby said, rather bitterly for her. "I know one thing--I've been fighting Cinder since Beacon, and I've never seen her so un-smug as this journey. I think even she can't deny what's going on anymore. Maybe that's a good sign...or is it a bad one? I don't know. I just wonder what Salem will do.... I keep getting this feeling that Shine and Wally haven't told us something still about what they're going to do when we find her. I mean...this whole plan seems like it's harder than it has to be. Couldn't they have run themselves there?"

"Yeah, but they couldn't have just taken us," Oscar said. "I think we have to be there."

"Is it weird if I don't even care if Salem dies anymore?" Ruby said. "I just want this to end. I mean, I know she has to die, but it's just not...personal for me."

"Even though your mo--" Oscar broke off. Why had he said that?

But Ruby didn't get mad.

"I know," she said. "But we don't even know if Salem was the only reason for that...after the story we heard. So...I'm not sure. I mean, yeah, but Salem killed a lot of people, not just my mom. So...even if she just gave up.... But she'd never give up."

"You know, in one way, I understand why now," Oscar said. "I have had this curse for about...6 months, and I'm sick of it. She's had hers for hundreds of years, and she can't really feel like all the death and destruction matters in the long run to her. Which is wrong, but then, she is part Grimm. I mean, Salem's always been selfish, but I don't know if she wanted to be evil. She was mad at the gods, from what we saw, and I understand that at this point. They aren't fair. She wanted to show them up...but what if she was right about that? If they were the real God, it would be wrong, but what real God would have been that...unfair?"

"My dad always said life isn't fair," Ruby said. "It's just how it is. I guess that's what I've always thought. But even if life isn't fair, that was more than just not fair.... Seeing Ozpin back that way, it's like rubbing it in her face that she didn't get what she wanted. That just doesn't sound right to me. If someone did that to me, I'd be...furious." She sighed. "But...well, it's no reason to get everyone else killed."

"Yeah...well, we know she didn't think that would happen," Oscar said. "At least...maybe not like that. She wants that now...but I guess she doesn't see any meaning in this. For her or for anyone else. It's...kind of harder to judge when you've seen it this way for a while. When you have nothing to live for, except death, it's...well, I think I see why Ozpin and her both play with people's fates. I guess it's like drowning, you know.... You know it's wrong to pull people down with you, but you're so scared that you do it anyway."

"Yeah...but that's just it--what could we even tell her?" Ruby said. "That would seem different? I think I see why telling her we'd stop her didn't faze her at all. I mean, it just has to sound foolish to her.... Even if we stopped her now, we don't live forever. She'd just come back. I was trying to be brave, but I just sounded naive. And to be honest, Salem didn't bully me just because she's a jerk.... It's also the truth. We can't actually beat her, not like that."

[And would that be so hard to admit, real show?]