Salem was still tracking the group's progress. 

She was well aware that there had been many Grimm attacking them, but aside from sending out the signal to get the Relics, she hadn't particularly controlled most of them except the Deimos.

And even that hadn't worked so well.

Though at least she'd divided the group--should be easy to pick off now.

She was really quite surprised, however, that none of the Mind Grimm had finished them off. She had seen many people fall to them over the years who even made it this far.

The whole thing was unsettling, and it had been centuries since Salem was unsettled by anything.

As it was, she'd have preferred to just capture Ozma and the Relics alone and save herself any annoyingly drawn out tests of strength.

And she didn't quite like her chances if the entire group made it to her castle... It was possible they could overpower her, take the other two Relics, and get out alive at the rate they were going.

She began to think that was Shine's real plan, the clever witch. [Yeah, sure, from you?]

She was sure that Cinder's Grimm appendage was finally restored--she could sense it--but, to her surprise, no sense that Cinder had made a move to attack the Maidens yet. What was she good for if not keeping those powers away from Ozpin?

Salem surveyed her territory with dissatisfaction. She'd been staring at this land for thousands of years, and it never got any less bland... though there was a sort of solace in it at this point, like she belonged here, not in the world of men. They only annoyed her.

It wasn't always so... though why she should think of that now she didn't know... Thinking of Ozma always brought up those painful memories.

But the Relics were so close... Soon she could finally get her revenge.

She thought more darkly of Likstar's offer to tell her about the gods. What did she know about it?

Granted, the book talked about many other deities... many more than Salem cared to hear about, actually. Two were more than enough to grate on her.

But the one who dominated the whole story didn't make any sense to her. Powerful and angry by turns and compassionate by others, all contained in one personality. It made no sense whatsoever.

By now she knew that it was from another world. She wasn't stupid. But what was it doing here? What were they doing here?

It was like some great interference was finally warranted... and while Salem was well used to this, she wondered what especially she had done to invoke this. Surely, in all this time, only getting two Relics was not enough of an accomplishment to make them afraid... particularly when, for all she could tell, they'd arrived before she even possessed either one.

And... how did she explain their actions? How did they sway so many people to their side? Were they magic?

No, Salem didn't like it at all. And she was beginning to think no Grimm in the land would be enough to stop them.

The thing was... for the first time, she really wasn't sure exactly what she was going to do if they did arrive. She was not as powerful as people thought she was, a fact that annoyed her constantly... And if they arrived, unscathed, it was a problem.

Only now did she see that agreeing to that deal might have been reckless. But how was she to expect a real challenge for the first time in millennia to be so... stupid sounding?

Tyrian was no help whatsoever. He had only asked every day if they weren't nearly there by now, and when she said "no" he seemed disappointed... and she didn't care for that.

Lastly, after the Irasci, Salem was more enraged than before and actually let more details go.

"That young fool, Mercury Black, has Silver Eyes," she said angrily.

"I knew it!" Tyrian said, with a psychotic laugh. "So... we'll add him to the collection."

Salem intended to, but also... two of them? On the same team... That wouldn't be a problem, would it?

https://youtu.be/eYJF3X-kQ0U

[AMV by Kitty Kaluver. Yet another Beth Crowley song that just seems perfect for these characters. "Empire". I meant it for Salem, but it really fits them both.]

* * *

Wally found Pyrrha, Jaune, and their company sometime right around dawn, when he finally saw the last of the Deimos fly away.

The attack seemed over for now. They apparently only bit once.

Wally wasn't sure where everyone was. He'd run looking for them, and they'd all been moving too much, and there were too many obstacles in the landscape. Even he could spend hours looking for them.

He took the group he did find back to Shine, who was still waiting for any sign of anyone else.

"I would have thought Qrow would find us by now," she said.

"I hate to say it," Theo said, "but we can't stay here forever waiting. If they're all alive, they'll meet us going West. We'll get cleaned out if we stay here."

"We'll get cleaned out if we go," Vara said. "We don't have enough people now."

"We have as many as we have," Shine said. "Anyway, two Maidens and us probably gives us the distinct advantage. But I don't understand where Ruby and Oscar went."

"We looked all over." Pyrrha sounded tired. "If they were there, they aren't now. Perhaps they fell down the side of the hill and back into the wasteland itself. I can't believe they'd just leave us there, but things were so uneasy..."

"We don't have time to wait for them," Cinder said testily.

"No one asked you," Vara said to her snippily. "As if you'd wait anyway. Selfish b----."

"Hey!" Shine said sharply. "I think Theo just said the same thing."

"Yeah, but I like him," Vara said.

Theo smirked.

"Dude, don't be proud of that," Wally said. "That's just not fair."

"I like unfair if it's in my favor," Theo said.

Jaune shook his head. "We can't leave everyone."

"Sadly, Jaune, looking for them may not gain us anything in the long run," Shine said, after a moment of considering it. "We have to keep moving and hope they run into us. Come on... I don't think we slept hardly at all, but it's dawn now."

So it was... though it was always so hard to tell here.

Reluctantly, they resumed their journey westward.

They kept looking back for any sign of anyone else following them, but so far nothing.

To help resolve this, Shine sent more letters to the other people to update them and got responses that told her who'd grouped up. They all agreed to just try to catch up.

No one told Shine and Wally right off what had happened with Neo and Cinder; they weren't sure it mattered that much, but Cinder really was unusually subdued.

Pyrrha did smile at Jaune and hold his hand, rather to Roman's disgust, but that was all.

Cinder was consumed by her own thoughts... and they made little sense to her.

She avoided self reflection as much as possible, but the facts were hard for even her to ignore.

She puzzled as to why they were allowing her to live... Surely just letting someone else get her powers, for the short time they intended to even have them, would have been much, much safer, and their plan was more likely to work if Cinder didn't mess it up later.

It made no sense... It wasn't logical.

Finally, she could stand it no more.

When Shine and Wally were farther ahead, she caught up to them.

"I just don't know," Wally was saying. "I could keep looking."

"If you got caught somewhere, we'd have no way to know," Shine was arguing. "Please... I think they're at least in groups. They might be all right... We just can't do this, we can't just think we can just grab everyone and keep them safe."

"This just doesn't sit well with me--" Wally noticed Cinder watching. "Oh, problem, 10 o'clock."

Shine looked back.

Cinder frowned at Wally.

"Well, you wouldn't be this close if there wasn't a problem," he shrugged. "What?"

"Is something wrong?" Shine asked, rather naturally, all things considered.

"You." Cinder pointed at them.

"Me?" Shine said

"See, I would have gone with the arm growing back," Wally said.

"Hmm, she hasn't gone for Vara yet, much to my shock," Shine muttered.

"Well, with us right here it wouldn't work," Wally added.

Cinder gave them another annoyed look.

"Sorry, what is it?" Shine asked.

"You both are really annoying me," Cinder said. "What is the point of this anyway? All this helping and sparing people... I mean... You can't really think I believe it's just to keep anyone else from those powers. At this point it wouldn't matter that much. If you're so sure you can win, wouldn't they be gone?"

"I wondered when you'd think of that," Shine said.

"Oh, stop insulting my intelligence," Cinder snapped. "I'm not that stupid--I mean I'm not stupid, at all..."

Wow, that was a terrible line.

Wally snickered. "Sorry, that was kind of out of character."

"If it helps you feel better, we always mean stupid when it comes to deciding the right thing to do, not intelligence," Shine said. "I'm sure you're smart enough when it doesn't count."

"That's not better," Cinder said. "And there, right there--you despise me. I don't get it."

"Better question is why does it matter?" Shine asked her pointedly. "What's it to you if we despise you or not? I mean, you only came to stop Salem. You don't want to be liked, and if you wanted to be respected, you'd try harder to do anything worthy of respect. If you want to be feared, well, you know that no one feared you to begin with. I don't know why you're so discontented. No one has particularly been unfair to you, you admit yourself. Now, a few snide remarks here and there are no more than you've incited yourself. And I can't stop that."

"But why... you...?" Cinder sputtered.

"I think she might be asking why we'd bother," Wally said. "Huh, this is new. Usually villains just assume I'll be nice to them because I'm a good guy."

"Why would that change anything?" Cinder said.

"I find it sad that you don't think that good people are merciful," Shine said. "Shows what the idea of goodness has come to here. I'm still surprised that we're even having this conversation. Why does it matter?"

"It doesn't," Cinder said. "That's why it makes no sense."

"If you're wondering if we're tricking you, the answer is no." Shine rubbed her neck like she was tired--because she was. "Please, by now you must realize that this is what it appears to be. I suspect you secretly are planning to try to screw us over at the last, but by then I rather think it won't matter, so there was no reason not to include you in this. And so far you've been helpful, I suppose, so... what's the problem?"

Cinder had no ready answer for that.

"Oh my gosh, I think we got to her!" Wally said that way too enthusiastically and forgot his tact.

Shine shoved him.

"Oh... oops... Uh, forget I said that," he admitted sheepishly.

"You did not." Cinder was not a very convincing liar about this.

"If you want the answer to your real question," Shine said, "we're supposed to love our enemies."

"Who could love their enemies?" Cinder said. 

"No one, easily," Shine replied. "But we do try. I'm sure we're not perfect. I've said my share of things to you that I probably shouldn't have, in good faith, if I was going to call it love. But I try at least to not let my actions follow it. Anyway, you'd never believe anyone who wasn't insulting you anyway. Too weird."

"Stop that," Cinder said. "I'm not saying that any of this got to me, I just don't get it."

"That is still strange from you," Shine said. "You never used to care about anyone's actions but your own. And you never used to ask about anything that wouldn't be a threat to you and what you could get out of it. I'm surprised to hear that's changed, but of course... with what we've seen, you'd have to be a fool more than ever not to at least ask it. But careful, Cinder, this is where you tend to mess it up."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Surely you've noticed by now that any time the light starts to get through that head of yours--" Shine pointed at her. "--that ego tries to snap it up. I have the same problem, but there are happy moments when the light of truth does get through. We all try to numb ourselves to both guilt and revelation. I saw it myself. When Watts told you what he did, you knew he was right, for one moment. But, that voice pipes up. 'How dare he.' 'I'll show him.' 'No one will ever look down on me.'"

It was that it was exactly the same words that ran through Cinder's head that freaked her out.

"Or maybe, 'I want to be strong. I want to be feared. I want to be powerful,'" Shine doubled down on it. "Or, my favorite--'Don't think, obey.'"

"That wasn't to me--" Cinder realized she shouldn't have said that.

"I know." Shine shrugged. "Perhaps I should give you the same advice. Stop thinking. Just obey. Make this easier on yourself."

"That's not a good policy," Cinder said.

"Right, it's not," Shine said. "But isn't it fair to tell you what you tell other people? Isn't it fair to deal back the same thing you've dealt? Suppose we did tell you you shouldn't have threatened any of us? That you will fail everything you do, that you shouldn't have been born?"

Cinder recognized those words... She winced.

[This is oddly satisfying.] 

"Are you trying to teach me?" she said oddly.

"Yeah." Shine didn't deny it.

Wally nodded.

"Why...?" Cinder probably should have just gotten angry, but the whole thing baffled her.

"For whatever reason, you were thrown into my path," Shine said. "I don't choose who, it just happens. Not my first choice, but I don't pass up any opportunities."

"To what, get more servants?" Cinder said.

"Servants?" Wally said.

"No..." Shine looked kerflummuxed. "Who is serving us?"

Cinder had no real example of that.

"I mean... just... why? I mean, how--who...?"

"One of those," Wally said.

"Wally," Shine warned.

"Sorry, this is driving me crazy." Wally rubbed his head. 

"What I don't understand--" Cinder switched tactics. "--is that I remember in Atlas the first time I saw you, really, and Ironwood was there, and Salem was, and all you said to me then was 'screw you.'"

"I did..." Shine recalled with an odd smile. "That's so laconic for me."

"Iconic?" Wally said.

"No, laconic.... You know, few words?"

"Oh, then you're right, that is," Wally said.

Shine pretended to shove him.

"And you have nothing but insults for me," Cinder said, "so it's useless to pretend you like me. So why not try harder to...? There has to be some trick."

"Cinder, allow me to spell this out for you." Shine held up her hands. "Listen carefully. There are some people in the world--not that many perhaps, but some--who actually can dislike someone without making any move to either destroy them or ruin their life. Because some of us have other things to worry about besides petty revenge. And there are people, rare, but there are, who think that even if they dislike someone that's no reason not to do the right thing. And that right thing can, in fact, be doing their best to help. Now, you can claim that I haven't done my best, and that might be fair enough, but it was what I should have done. I won't let you dictate my morals, of all people, and if I wasted my time trying to get back at you for anything you've done to my friends, it'd be useless. As for me, what have you even done to me directly?"

"She kicked you around in Beacon," Wally said.

"I never took that personally. She was trying to escape," Shine said.

"And that's what I love about you." Wally patted her shoulder.

"Stop doing that in front of me." Cinder was tired of watching flirting. "Are you really sticking with that story? You're just above vengeance?"

"Below it," Shine said. "Vengeance is God's, not ours. But yes. I swear to you, I have no intention of taking revenge on you or anyone else at any point. I may have to stop you, but that's not personal. No hard feelings, surely? After all, it's destiny."

She gave her a knowing look. "Have to do what we're called upon to do. It's not as if I chose to be here just to stop you. What a sad existence that would be."

Cinder frowned. "Because I'm not that impressive?"

"You ought to be proud of that," Shine said. "This concept seems hard for you to grasp, but evil does not impress me. If you were that bad, I'd think no more of you. In fact, I'd think less, but it's like clearing out an infestation--you have to do it anyway."

"Nice," Wally said.

"Thanks." Shine shrugged.

Cinder ignored them and reverted to her old line. "I'm sure I repulse you..."

"And is that what you want?" Shine asked. "Do you really want to be repulsive? At least with the fear part?"

"No--I mean... you..." Cinder found no reason to convince them to fear her... and not much energy to try. "Just... I'm sure you don't think I'm worthy of any kind of part of whatever this is you think you're doing to help the world, so..."

"Well, that's true," Shine said. "No one is worthy of that."

"Good thing this isn't about that," Wally said. "That would suck."

"If it would help, I don't think you're any less worthy," Shine said. "Because it really is not important. If anything, you need this more than anyone else, but that's just human logic talking, not reality."

"But you think I'm vile, right?" Cinder persisted. "Everyone does--out of all of you. No one understands what I want."

"Do you?" Wally asked a good question and caught her off guard.

Cinder clenched her human fist.

"Your opinion of me is not good." She ignored him.

"I suppose I should stop playing games," Shine said. "That is true. It's not... but I find that's bothering me less and less with time. I think I've almost gotten attached in a strange way."

"Really?" Wally said.

"Really?" Cinder said in a tone of utter astonishment--and not flattered astonishment.

"Yeah, you're kind of like a dog that I don't really like, but, you know, I just have to feed it because it's so pathetic," Shine said, just as if that wasn't an insult. "I mean, there's not that much about you to like. But there's this weird thing about humans--we tend to resent people more who we do like, and who don't conform to our will, than we resent anyone who we figure just has an honest indifference to us. It's like that. I don't really have any investment in you personally, so my dislike is mostly just based on you annoying me, and since we get used to annoyances with time, it's hardly noticeable anymore. If that isn't what you wanted, because you take up every offense you can in order to fuel that rage that you'd be quite lost without, don't blame me."

"Seems to me that what she's really trying to say, behind all that, is that she's not worthy," Wally noted. "And she's trying to get us to say it so she can blame us for making her feel that way, instead of just admitting that it's her own fault."

"Whoa... that was good." Shine was impressed.

"Eh, I've seen this enough times to know how it goes down," Wally said. "Most supervillains have this complex."

Cinder sullenly wouldn't let it drop. "I've gone out of my way to be everything that you stand against. And I liked it."

"I know," Shine said.

"You don't try to hide that," Wally added.

"Exactly, so... so what then?" Cinder was starting to sound frantic.

Shine tapped her chin. "You probably can't imagine this--and this isn't an insult, really; most people can't--but those of us who have been freed of our own sins, at least somewhat, even if we struggle with them, we now look back and wonder why we ever enjoyed them. There was a time I would have enjoyed being spiteful, just as you do. And I would have liked to feel I was hurting someone else. I think we all have that time. But what I know now is that it was empty. I wasn't happy then, and it made no real difference to anyone else. What pain I caused them when I was sinful, it was worse for me, because it never made me hurt any less. And the power trip of anger is a cold comfort for a broken spirit... so... I look at you, with all that anger and all that spite and all that hatred, and I see someone who's not happy and has never been happy. I pity a human being who doesn't understand love, because that is real joy. And real power. And I pity you for being miserable. And you think you have to be strong but don't realize that it makes you weak. But do I really think that makes you worse than me? How should I know? I was blessed to be freed. And you, for all I know, have never had anyone ever really tell you any different, other than that one person, but it sounds rather inconsistent to me. I mean, what's the point of endless suffering and turning from revenge if you don't get anything better in return? You are rather short-sighted, but then, what child isn't? So I can't judge that harshly."

"Well, that's a new way to look at it," Wally remarked. "I guess that makes sense."

"And I think you've never really grown up," Shine said to Cinder, who was wavering between boiling and feeling near tears the longer she listened to this. "But some of us have... so... yeah... I know you want to be special and above anyone else. And who knows? Cinder, maybe you are. Maybe there is something in you that is powerful. But you'll never find it like this. For that I am sorry. I always think about villains like you. There's at least a faint virtue, as damaged as they are. There has to be some skill involved somewhere. Some determination. Oh, it's frustrating, but it's there. If it was turned in the right direction, who knows? Well, the devil always fights harder for the people who could do the most damage to him. And he's gotten you to believe that the good people are your obstacles instead of your salvation from all this mess. You'd probably jump off a cliff before you'd ever take a hand that was offered to you to save you. Or... maybe not. Maybe there's hope. You stopped in Beacon."

"That was to get a better chance later," Cinder said.

"Hmm, I always thought you were utterly unteachable," Shine said, as if she hadn't spoken, "but I learned something from what happened with Watts and later. I realized that you're more of trying to deliberately block out any bit of truth so that you don't have to face yourself. Because if you did, if that facade of not caring you put up cracked enough for you to ever feel the weight of your actions, you'd know what you are, and you couldn't bear that. It has to be everyone else's fault, but if it was yours, if you were the monster the whole time, that would be unbearable."

She was making Cinder very uneasy.

"Stop it," she said, unsteadily.

"Whoa." Wally was impressed in turn.

Shine didn't seem bothered.

"Well, I risk making you hate us more by pointing it out," she said. "You don't like to be exposed, Cinder--well, no one does. 'Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.' [John 3:20] But there's something I've never forgotten from one of my mentors who once said that, 'Those that hate goodness are sometimes nearer than those that know nothing at all about it and think they have it.' Perhaps all that spite of yours towards goodness is just a symptom of the fact that you wish you had it and you know you don't. Perhaps you try to shut it down because you know there is a weak point for you. Monsters are nothing new to our God... What is interesting is when He turns them into human beings. For all I know, if you actually hurt one of us, it could be the beginning of the end for you in your quest to plunge into darkness. For all I know, hunting Ruby and killing Pyrrha were exactly the way you signed your own death warrant, because it made you aware of the weakness of evil to the light. For all I know, you might be better than the people who just don't actually care, maybe than Salem herself. We'll have to get to that. But you must understand that the main reason you haven't killed me or Wally yet is that you know it won't matter to us if you did."

Cinder frowned at her.

"And to answer your other question about why you're here," Shine went on, "I guess I hoped that maybe this would give you some food for thought. I've no doubt you'd have followed us here either way, but with us, you have to look at this the way it is, at least a little bit. Fighting with us, for the first time, you must understand some of what this team has gone through and learn how very little it's about you. The world will never revolve around you, Cinder, no matter how hard you try to ignore that. The world hardly remembers most people, and it remembers the evil only for the lessons they teach it of what not to do. The great good are forgotten also, but to the few who try to remember them, they spread more of their work than evil will. Evil is a fad, you know, but good never changes. It never stops being important. And you will realize this at some point if you live long enough. So... yeah, I don't know what else to tell you about it."

Cinder stared at her longer, and then she looked away.

"And what makes you think that's not all a waste of time?" she said in a low voice. "You said yourself--I don't learn."

Then she added, "Not that I think you're right. But by your own reasoning..."

"Who says reason always is right?" Shine said. "I love reason, don't get me wrong... but there are things beyond pure reason that I can't explain. Not the rules and laws--those are explained easily enough--but when it comes to transcending the world, reason fails me. That's why. You see, Cinder, I can't be wrong about you because I don't presume to know your fate. I have no idea. You could be good or evil by the end. I won't call it because it's not my place. I wish heartily you'd realize attempting to convince me of either is futile. We are not God for a good reason. You ought to find that freeing. You can be whatever you choose to be. No one is forcing you to be either one. But you will not be able to never decide. You always have to pick a side sooner or later."

"I already chose to be evil," Cinder said.

"Granted, but the choice is always reversible for a time." Shine shrugged. "As is good. People have changed at the very door of death before. So again, I won't judge."

"Me either," Wally said. "I don't see that many bad guys who are ever really sorry for what they do, but once in a while I think it hits home. And you know, you've gotta let people have that... I mean, sometimes I guess it's gotta end, but I'd rather let other people decide that. Not me."

"That's why we don't kill," Shine shrugged. "We are supposed to bring hope. What hope is there in death? What hope do you have in it?"

Cinder frowned at them. "There's a good chance I'd still kill you if I could... and you don't care, obviously, but you're risking all these other people on that."

"Cinder," Shine said evenly, "if you really wanted to kill them, you would have by now. I know you hate them, and you want power. But at the moment, killing them wouldn't get you power. And killing for its own sake is worth little to you. If ever there is a time when you would feel powerful because you killed them, then I'll be worried about it. And, as open as we try to be, know that we'd never have let you come on this trip if we thought any different than that. We sent Ironwood packing for a reason. He'd have killed just to get what he wanted. If you wanted it, you'd have it by now."

"No, they'd have stopped me," Cinder said.

"Is the Relic really what you want?" Shine asked. "Why did you let Salem have them at all? Come on, you can't use them even if you had them. You don't want the gods to return. Face it, you played yourself by working for Salem at all. Now that thing on your arm is just proof that she owns you... but she doesn't have to."

She gestured at this. "We could help. That thing returned because you've sold yourself to her, but, more than that, to evil. Salem herself can't own someone's soul. But she certainly can use one. However, you have your mind, still, even if it's in pieces. You could still ask for freedom. But it would be a gift, nothing you'll fight for, sorry to tell you. The war always is stronger against you if you're using only anger to fight it. But accept that you can't help yourself, and you'd find true freedom. No hard feelings on our part. All of us get the same thing, no matter if we're good or bad. What you do with it is up to you."

Cinder eyed her Grimm arm warily.

"I have a suspicion you could just take it off anyway," she said.

"You have no idea how much that would hurt if it was against your will," Shine said. "I could if I had to... but it would only come back. You have to let it go willingly, or it will always come back--why, Salem could die and it probably still would. Evil is like that. You allowed her to make you like her, but if Salem ceases to be, you are still the same, are you not? Or is true that without her you are nothing?"

Cinder looked sharply at her.

"I guess you went over that bit," Shine said. "Because of you her, you are everything--everything she is... and you've seen how little that is? Or you will, when we find her. But I advise you not to wait till then to choose. She might kill you before you ever can."

"Even if you have some insane reason to think this is helpful," Cinder said, "you're trying awfully hard to get me to ask what you think will be the best choice for me. Why not just get me to destroy myself?"

"That wouldn't be the kindest thing to do," Shine said. "What if, in our way, we love you? Not as a feeling--you could hardly expect that--but as a choice? And with that choice comes a desire to see the good of the person you love, even if it would hardly benefit you either way. I have no tender emotions towards you, but in some way I do wish your wellbeing. 'Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.'"

"I'd have to second that," Wally said. "I don't like you at all, but I kind of wish the best. I feel like that's what we should want for everyone."

Cinder had no answer for this.

What could a woman like her have said to it? If you couldn't make people angry, and their concern for you was not based on emotion itself, what could someone who lived on spite and rage and selfishness say to them?

She could have either attempted a fit of rage or run.

And since the former wouldn't work, she elected to run.

She backed up at once.

[Hmm, you know, I kind of feel sorry for her at this point.

I may never have liked Cinder's character, but really, the one thing the show does a good job of showing is how utterly miserable people like her really are--at least until undid it again. I kind of think people took the wrong message away from her backstory--which was badly done--but it did at least show the truth. It's all just a cover for fear and suffering. It's still despicable to do what she does, but it's pitiable also.]