Dinner was still awkward after that.

Jaune went over his plan in more detail.

Shine would have nitpicked it, but Wally whispered to her that maybe they should be more supportive... This was their first day.

Shine shrugged it off.

While it couldn't be denied her plan was way safer, the others were still hesitant to take her advice, it seemed. Maybe because she was a stranger...who was freaking them out.

So, in the end, Jaune's plan was adopted.

Shine had to choke down her objections to how stupid she thought it was.

After the meal, everyone went up to different rooms or around the ground floor.

Jaune's sister and her partner went to bed. They were pretty tired.

Shine and Wally didn't really have a room...and it seemed the spares were all full anyway.

Qrow did not offer to share his.

They were kind of wired anyway.

"So...our first day was...weird," Wally said.

"Seems to have passed pretty quickly," Shine commented. "I'm not sure it's over yet actually. But yeah, it's a ride."

"So...about what I missed..." Wally said, "what happened in Haven again?"

"You didn't view that Volume, did you?" Shine wasn't stupid enough not to have figured this out by now.

"Uh...okay, just a few parts of it..." Wally said. "I mean, I was busy that weekend."

Shine shook her head. "I guess I did have more time... Okay, well...in a nutshell, Blake and Sun took back the White Fang with her parents. They turned it around, came back, the others went to Haven, found out Lionheart sold out all the Huntsmen there to Salem. Lionheart, the principal of Haven, was also working for Salem out of fear. Raven Branwen, Yang's mom, also sold them out, sort of, but double crossed Cinder later."

"And Cinder was the one who killed Pyrrha, the nice girl," Wally said.

"Yeah...and Ozpin," Shine said.

"She's got a body count," Wally said. "Yikes..."

"She's a psycho," Shine said. "She, Emerald, and Mercury all showed up at Haven with Raven to fight the team and get the Spring Relic. Raven lied about who the maiden was. They thought it was her lackey, Vernal, but it was actually her."

"Okay...I don't remember her at all," Wally said. "Must have been in a different episode."

"Long story short, Yang confronted her after she whupped Cinder pretty good," Shine said. "Popular belief is that Cinder probably died, but I don't buy it. No way. She would never die that easy and do anyone a favor."

"That's...pretty harsh," Wally said.

"She's got a Grimm arm and is basically a demon at this point," Shine said. "My pity well has kind of bottomed out for that woman...if she is a woman."

"And I missed that too..." Wally said.

"Yang got the Relic from Raven but, as far as I know, never told anyone what happened," Shine went on. "And that brings us to here...trying to get that relic lamp to Atlas... If there's any more, I've missed it. But there was also this guy named Hazel who has it out for Ozpin...so he might be an issue if he finds Oscar again."

"Why does he have it out for Ozpin?"

"His sister died on a training mission for the huntsmen."

"That's...stupid."

"Maybe there's more to it," Shine mused. "Anyway, do you follow? One thing I can't understand is, where is Sun?"

"The monkey guy? He's so cool," Wally said. "Yeah, I totally wanted to meet him. I was hoping he'd do that tail trick."

"I was hoping he'd lighten the mood--everyone seems so down," Shine said. "Something bad happened since last Volume, but I can't figure out what. It has to have something to do with Ozpin."

"So you really don't know?" Jaune startled them by coming into the room, looking subdued.

"Were you eavesdropping?" Wally asked.

"No... Honest, I only heard that last part," Jaune said quickly, holding up his hands. "But you were serious about not knowing... You know all of us but not Ozpin's real past?"

"Maybe you're supposed to tell us instead." Shine tapped her chin. "Or it doesn't matter."

"I'd say it matters." Jaune looked angry. "But I don't know if I should say. The others wouldn't like it."

"It must have been bad," Shine said thoughtfully, "to bring out the side of all of you I've seen today."

Jaune wasn't sure why a person he'd met 2 hours ago expressing disappointment in him bothered him, but it just kind of did.

He hadn't forgotten Shine's odd words before about Pyrrha.

He sat down in a chair.

"Your sister seems nice," Shine said.

"She is..." Jaune said. "But...uh...so why were you by the statue earlier?"

"Just looking for Wally," Shine said. "But I recognized it. Made me sad."

She put her hands under her chin. "Some things are hard to understand."

"Yeah..." Jaune said. "But why did you tell me...uh...what you said?"

"What'd she say?" Wally asked.

"You said 'it wasn't my fault,'" Jaune said. "What did you mean?"

"I meant it wasn't your fault," Shine said. "Simple enough... I know you blame yourself for it, but it was her choice."

Jaune looked a little mad suddenly--and considering what he'd been through the last couple days, it wasn't surprising.

"It wasn't a fair choice," he said. "Knowing what we know now, it was for nothing."

"What do you mean?" Wally said.

Jaune made a fist. "Salem can't be killed," he said. "Literally, the gods made her unkillable...and the Grimm pond made her want destruction. She's impossible to beat."

"Oh...so that's her deal?" Shine said with the most unconcern Jaune had ever heard to such a statement.

"Yeah..." Jaune wondered if she understood. Were these people delusional? "It's horrible news... I mean, what are we fighting for?"

[Doubts that aren't resolved in one conversation about the past? Imagine that...]

Shine and Wally exchanged a look.

"Tell us what you learned," Shine said. "The lamp is the Relic of Knowledge, right...? Does that have something to do with this?"

"Uh...well...actually everything," Jaune sighed. "Look...it's a long story, but Salem and Ozpin were...kind of together once...but he died."

"Wait...what?" Wally said. "They were... But isn't she, like...part Grimm?"

"I thought she was all Grimm--who knew?" Shine said. 

"She was human once," Jaune said. "Ozpin died, and she tried to get him back. The god of light said no, because of balance. The god of darkness said yes to show him up...but then the god of   light, he showed up and told him Salem was playing them, and they made Ozpin go away again."

"Huh?" Shine said.

"That's...stupid," Wally said. "Why would you do that? Wasn't that a bit rough on her?"

"I guess," Jaune said. "But she was wrong to ask for it."

"Why?" Shine said, unexpectedly.

"Because...balance..." Jaune said. "People can't come back from the dead."

"Why not?" Shine asked. 

"It's not right," Jaune said.

"Who said that?" Shine said.

"The god of light," Jaune said.

"Then he's an idiot," Shine said.

Jaune stared at her. "What?"

"Well, before we get more into that, what happened to Salem?" Shine asked.

"She got in trouble for demanding things from her creator," Jaune recalled. "So they made her immortal as a punishment, so she couldn't die until she learned the meaning of life and death...but she kind of led the whole world into the rebellion. And...yeah...the god of darkness destroyed it."

"How did the other one feel about that?" Shine said.

"I don't know. He didn't stop it," Jaune said.

"Some god," Shine muttered.

Jaune looked at her oddly again, but then he shrugged. "Salem wandered the world and dove into the Grimm pond to try to kill herself...but it just made her a Grimm... She's just a monster now... Then the gods sent Ozpin back, as a reincarnated person, to try to fix humanity, I guess. To unite them...so they could come back...and he ran into Salem...and...yeah...but it didn't last."

"Oh, so she knew it was him even though he's in a new body every time, right?" Wally said.

"Yeah...the lamp said it was strange, but maybe there was a power even the gods didn't know about," Jaune said.

"The lamp said that?" Shine said.

"Yeah...it...uh...talks," Jaune said.

"Oh, that's not the part I was wondering about," Shine said. "But go on."

"Uh...well...that's about it... The rest is history," Jaune said. "I can't believe I just told you all that... I shouldn't have."

He shook his head.

"Clearly you want to talk about it to someone, someone who you can't make feel worse by going over it again," Shine remarked. "Don't worry about it. We can't use this against you. Why would we want to? It's interesting to finally know the truth...deeply disappointing, but interesting."

[Yeah...my thoughts exactly about Volume 6.]

"So you feel the same," Jaune said, clenching his fists again. "Ozpin lied about us having a chance to stop Salem...which means Pyrrha, and everyone else, died fighting a war that we could never win... We have to keep fighting now, there's no choice...but...it's just...so unfair."

He shook his head. "I shouldn't be talking about this to you."

"He's really hung up on not telling us anything." Wally was surprised.

"He's embarrassed," Shine said. "He has to hold it together with everyone else. He's forgotten what it's like to be able to admit he needs help. Pyrrha used to remind him of that."

Jaune looked up.

[You can't tell me Jaune's character didn't get destroyed by Vol. 3... Who thought it was a good idea? A lot of people were saying he needed it to grow as a character... Joke's on them--he didn't grow at all from that point, he just became depressed and then sort of less depressed. Nothing else changed. Turns out killing someone's best friends doesn't always make them stronger anime, you sick freaks.]

"Can you stop doing that?" he asked.

"I'm sorry... I'm sure this is weird for you." Shine clasped her hands around her knee. "I feel like I've known you for months though, on my end. I wish I could help you more, Jaune, but, if you don't want it, there's not much I can do. You don't need to be strong in front of us though. We could not care less if you have it together. We can't be hurt or disappointed by that."

"Yeah, no judgment here," Wally said. "If you do need to talk about it, I've kind of been in your place once or twice, so it's rough."

"I told you I already have experienced it," Shine said. "We all have. I saw it right in front of me." She hugged her sides. "I was a wreck... It's okay."

She sounded exactly like Pyrrha. Was she doing this on purpose?

Jaune couldn't take this much longer. He was going to end up bawling in front of people he had just met that day!

[Hey, sometimes that's easier than people you know.]

"I just...don't know how to be okay with this," he said.

"I'm not okay with it." Shine folded her arms. "Those gods are so stupid! I didn't expect to be impressed, really, when I heard of them, but now I'm sure of it. What a pair of posers. Balance! Wiping out the world of people they claim they created!... Power-mad suckers."

"Uh...are you sure you should say that?" Jaune said.

"What, you think they can hear me? If they were all-knowing, they'd have known someone as unsubtle as Salem was trying to trick them," Shine said. "Figures that the light one knew she'd go to his brother... Why not just give him a heads up then? And if it's possible to bring people back to life, it can't really be wrong, can it?"

"Uh..." Jaune said.

"That just pisses me off." Shine stood up and started pacing, angry.

"Shine, calm down," Wally said. "They're just stupid gods."

"But it's so ridiculous!" Shine cried. "What a load of crap... Balance? Bringing someone back to life does not upset the balance... And why is it okay to do it when he's reincarnated and stealing someone else's life but not into his own body? Seems like one's a bigger violation of balance to me. Snuffing out some other soul just for a stupid curse? To what, unite the world? A thing that is not possible and should not be possible in a world like this."

"What is she saying?" Jaune asked Wally.

"She's mad because your gods suck," Wally said. "Ours is so much better. Geez, Diana is right--He really is way more compassionate than any of the smaller ones."

"Wait, what?" Jaune said. "You have a third god?"

"There's only one God, Jaune," Shine said. "The other two are not gods... Gods would not be fooled by humans. Nor would they be so inconsistent. It's not the way Deities work. Two bumbling fools with power over life and death aren't gods." She frowned. "There are imitations... This is disturbing... This means this world has been under the rule of some false beings..."

"Are we sure?" Wally said. "What if it was just...you know...kind of...like...a misunderstanding? I mean...could they be kind of gods but like, you know, like the greek ones? It's kind of...a misnomer, you know?"

"Probably, but if they let it stand, it's their own fault," Shine said. "Must have liked the hype."

"I don't get it. How can there be fake gods?" Jaune said.

"It's crazy to me that you don't know that's a thing," Shine said. "In my world it's been a thing for the gods for years... New ones pop up every now and then, but there's a bunch of ones that people worship. Some with power, some without. But none are the real thing."

[Anyone who has problems with this will not like the rest of this story very much...but I personally feel like those two morons of Remnant don't deserve the title of gods. I've read mythology from real cultures that made more sense than their decisions.]

"That's a pretty wild thing to say," Jaune said. "We saw them."

"You saw only what the lamp allowed you to see," Shine said. "Where does the lamp come from?"

"Well...the god of light..." Jaune suddenly stopped. They could see the idea was sinking in.

"Really? I didn't know that," Wally said.

"I didn't either, exactly, but I saw it earlier and thought it felt like magic was emanating from it," Shine said. "So I'm not surprised... I know it when I see it."

"You can see magic?" Jaune said. "But...only Grimm can...sense that."

"No, not true," Shine said. "Please...I'm sure Ozpin can also. But that's neither here nor there. Don't buy a word of all that crap about life and death, Jaune. It's pure lies."

"You think so?" Jaune said oddly. "You think they could actually be wrong?"

"I ask you, how can gods argue about what is right and wrong?" Shine asked. "Doesn't the very fact that they are disagreeing show that there is a standard beyond them? One they must adhere to?"

Jaune rubbed his head. "I guess so," he said. "But what does that prove?"

"That there must be something that standard comes from," Shine explained. "We believe that it comes from the true God. Any time you have contention about right and wrong, it means you are dealing with two finite beings. God never asks what is Right--He knows what is Right. He is Right. If God could ask what is Right, He could not be God, because who would set Him straight? Doesn't it imply there has to be a higher standard still? And where would that come from? You arrive at that same dilemma. Jump through whatever hoops you like, they could not argue and be the gods of all reality."

"That's...a lot to take in," Jaune said. "Could that be true?... But would that mean...that maybe they were wrong about Ozpin?"

"Uh...well, not entirely," Shine said. "Now that you've told us what happened, the curse makes sense to me...but sadly, the curse stands. All magic does what it says it will do...but it also does more than that. I'm guessing he didn't know how bad it would be."

"It doesn't sound like it," Jaune said.

"Well, that's just awful," Wally said. "Poor Oscar...no wonder he was depressed."

Jaune shook his head. "I think I made it worse too."

"You had reason to be upset," Shine said. "But don't take it out on Oscar. He has no more choice in this than anyone else did."

"Can't you see why I'm mad, then?" Jaune remembered his problem. "And you're making it worse...because even then...then the gods are wrong...and all this is even more meaningless. What can we do?"

"I think the solution is obvious--" Shine said. "--forget about those gods, forget about that stupid mission, and defeat Salem the right way."

"And what way is that?" Jaune said.

"I don't know yet, but something is bound to become clear in time," Shine mused. "She's not invincible, no way. How did she end up with magical powers though?"

"The god of darkness gave everyone magical power," Jaune said. "Only they faded."

"And became semblances." Shine clasped her hands. "I see."

"Huh...oh..." Jaune hadn't made that connection. [Yeah, surprising how few people did.]

"This all makes a lot more sense now," Wally said. "But kind of still none at all. I don't get what the point of that curse was...seems like throwing it in Salem's face that she didn't get Ozpin back."

"All things considered...wouldn't it have caused less damage to grant her request?" Shine said. "I mean...then only one person would be the worse off."

"Maybe they thought everyone would ask for that," Jaune said.

"As to that--" Shine sat back down finally. "--death is rather unnatural in of itself. It wasn't the plan...but we die because we are evil."

"No, not everyone who dies is evil," Jaune said.

"You misunderstand what I mean by that," Shine said. "But it's too much to go into right now... But don't worry Jaune, death is not nearly as strong as you think it is. Anyway, even your dumb lamp admitted there are powers beyond the gods, ones like love...and we have  a verse in our holy book that says, 'Love is as strong as death, jealousy demanding as the grave.'"

"That...sounds nice," Jaune said. "But, if it was true, people wouldn't die as often. Love isn't enough to keep them alive."

"Actually, love does increase your life," Shine said, "often...scientifically speaking... But, even beyond death...love is strong. Love has saved lives, Jaune... I know it sounds cliché right about now, but it's true."

Jaune looked down. "But not enough," he said. "You guys have a nice philosophy. I mean...it would be nice if you were right, but there's no way that you are... There's too much suffering in the world."

Wally looked sad. "Well...I think that we suffer more because we don't look at it that way."

"How many people would you say go through life understanding what it's really about?" Shine said. "Ironically...maybe the gods had a small point... If Salem knew that, she could have known better--not to not wish for her lover back...that's natural enough, and, really, I see no reason not to grant it...but to grab at more than that and drag everyone down with her...that is not life. But it's their own fault for being so stupid as to let it get that far. Just boggles the mind... Well, once mankind united in my world too and tried to reach heaven..."

"Did your God destroy them?" Jaune asked.

"No, my God ruined their plans by making them speak different languages," Shine said.

"Different... Huh?" Jaune said.

"Wait, don't they have that here?" Wally asked.

"No, they all speak the same language," Shine said. "Perhaps it's just as well they aren't united... It would be scary. Proof also that we don't need a language barrier to have divisions, but it helps."

[POV: What would a world like Remnant think of the concept of different languages? Isn't it likely that they wouldn't understand it at all? How could you imagine language if you had only ever heard one?]

"I don't get it," Jaune said.

"Claro que no," Shine said. ["Of course not."]

Jaune looked at her like she'd spoken a curse. "What?"

"Well, you know," Wally said, "I think, Jaune, that you're more right to think all this was unfair. I wish we could do something about it...but, I mean...it would be hard to know what to do when we've never even met Salem."

"I don't know," Shine said. "Why start with her...? Why not start with Ozpin? What things that could be made right, now."

"I don't know what you mean," Jaune said. "Maybe I shouldn't have brought this up... Now that you've said all this, I feel worse... I don't know if you're right, but if you were, I hate those gods...and it's more hopeless than ever..."

He stood up. "I just wish..."

"Wish what?" Shine asked.

"Nothing," Jaune said.

"No, really...what?" Shine pressed.

"I was...thinking that if you'd shown up just...6 months ago," Jaune said, "said all this then, maybe people would have made different choices... Maybe...well, maybe she wouldn't have died..."

"Oh...ow..." Wally rubbed his neck. "That hurt... That's not true, is it?" He looked at Shine.

"Maybe it is," Shine said. "You just reminded me of a story, though, Jaune... But suppose this is as it should have been? Maybe for your sakes this is the right time for us to be here. Maybe it's not hopeless even now. Maybe whatever we ask can be given to us, if it's right and we believe God wants to help us."

"I hope if you're serious about that, that He wants to give you a way to stop Salem," Jaune said. "That's the only thing that would be any good now... It's too late for everything else."

"Perhaps it isn't as late as you think?" Shine said. "You've lost your faith, Jaune... If you want us to help you, you have to try to believe again in doing the right thing... Pyrrha always believed in it, whatever happened to her because of it... Maybe she wasn't always right, but she had pure intentions... I believe in that end, people are not punished for doing what they do out of purity."

"That's exactly what happened to her." Jaune was bitter. "Why didn't she get a chance to really choose, like the rest of us? Why did she have to be sacrificed?"

"Pyrrha gave her life to save her friends," Shine said seriously. "Whatever else happened around it, there is no shame in that... She is just not invincible...but that doesn't make it hopeless. We are not invincible people--we're all mortal...but that doesn't make our stories meaningless, and it doesn't mean they have to end either... We're promised that we will never die, truly, if we live for the Truth... Even if we die in one way...death has no hold over us."

"Huh...you sound like her," Jaune said. "She said that once...'unbound by death'... I wish I knew what that meant."

"Perhaps the old sayings are more truthful than you think," Shine mused. "Maybe we really are unbound by death, if we die to one thing first... There're so many mysteries about the world, Jaune."

Jaune couldn't understand her. "Right...I mean...I guess.... It just doesn't make me feel any better."

Wally shook his head. "It's rough...yeah..."

Jaune went upstairs. He was too sad now to want to keep talking.

"What was that about, Shine?" Wally asked her. "What are you getting at? I kind of think I knew, but you were being really cryptic."

"Perhaps it wasn't clear before," Shine said, walking to the window, "but it is now... The things that began to go deeply wrong here started a long time ago. Similar problems... As always, someone throws aside everything for selfish reasons...but the twist is that it's the gods themselves..."

"Yeah...it's weird," Wally said. "So what do you think we do about it?"

"Well, I'm not about to try to replace any gods," Shine said. "But I see only one thing to do... They've lost their hope...and they don't even think it's right to hope for the things we hope for. I mean, our Lord says, 'I am the resurrection and the life', but here they think that's...evil...because of what happened... I don't like it."

"Okay...but what can we do about that? I don't see how they would change their minds," Wally said. "I feel like seeing something like that, it would freak you out pretty badly. I can't say I wouldn't worry about it too. I just don't see how to convince them anything we say is right."

"Remember when we reversed the Anti Life Equation?" Shine said. "That was basically reversing death."

"And it was cool," Wally said. "You were awesome. I was pretty good too. But I think we really weren't that weirded out by it. I don't know how to explain this to people who already had this story about the gods and Salem and stuff... I wish we'd known that before coming. It kind of hit me like a bus this way..."

"Yes, but I think it's not that complicated," Shine said. "There is one thing that would change this."

"What?" Wally said.

"Weren't you thinking it?" Shine said.

"I was thinking that if that poor kid Pyrrha hadn't died, they'd feel a lot better about this," Wally said. "I mean...talk about messed up. Ozpin should never have lied to her... I remember that part."

"Yeah," Shine said.

[For people who say Ozpin never did anything wrong...I present not telling Pyrrha the truth and then asking her to get her soul crushed by the Fall Maiden just to keep it out of the clutches of someone he knows he can't beat anyway... That's not pretty heinous to you?]

"But...you really think that's it?" Wally said.

"You feel it's not right?"

"No...I like where you're going with this," Wally said, "but I do think it might be a lot for them to handle."

"Well, compared to everything else, it can't be that bad," Shine said. "It'd be nice, if they had a good thing to believe in... Look, I have this intuition this is the right track. I think you do too."

"Somehow, yeah...I can't explain why...but yeah," Wally mused. "Is that normal?"

"Pretty normal," Shine said.

She slid the window open. "I'm just not sure now what to do exactly."

The wind blew in, cold and crisp.

Leaves blew onto the floor with it,

"That was...kind of weird," Wally said. "Timing wise."

Shine picked up the leaves. "I remember the symbolism from the show.... Guess here it's real.... You know, it reminds me, though, leaves and seeds fall to the ground... Leaves die, but seeds, they die sort of, but then they grow into a new tree. Jesus once used that as metaphor for rebirth. Am I weird for thinking of that?"

"For you, that's pretty normal," Wally said. "For me, it would be weird...but kind of like a movie."

Shine shrugged and dropped the leaf outside the window.

"Pyrrha," she said softly. "Unbound by death. I like it."

She shut the window.

* * *

Jaune didn't have the consolation of whatever words and hope Shine and Wally did.

He was sitting next to his bed, staring at his shield again.

Nora and Ren didn't talk to him.... They figured he needed time to think after all that.

https://youtu.be/wGqkioFRetY

[Did I make you cry yet? Haha... No, I'm not crying!...]

 I never felt that it was wise to wish too much. To dream too big would only lead to being crushed.

  Then I met you. You weren't afraid of anything. You taught me how to leave the ground, to use my wings.

  I never thought a hero would ever come my way, but more than that I never thought you'd be taken away.

  Now it's cold without you here. It's like winter lasts all year. But your star's still in the sky, so I won't say goodbye. I don't have to say goodbye.

  My days of doubt were in the past with you around. You helped me feel I had a place, direction found.

  You showed me that a greater dream can be achieved. Enough resolve will conquer all If we believe.

  The light you gave to guide me will never fade away, but moving forward never felt as hard as today.

  Now it's cold without you here. It's like winter lasts all year. But your star's still in the sky, so I won't say goodbye. I don't have to say goodbye.