Blake and Meridian actually had very similar tests.

One that, for Blake at least, was much harder.

[Maybe it's not the gods who are making it easy or hard. Maybe it's something in the person.]

They both saw their homes, and the god of light gave them almost identical offers.

"I understand much suffering has happened to your people because of the world," he said. "We cannot change the past."

And here, to Meridian, he said, "But I can restore Vacuo to how it was, before it was ravaged by greed. Give the people a new start."

And to Blake, he said, "The Faunus could have more and stand on equal footing with the humans. Their land could be better, a whole kingdom for themselves without the Grimm. They would be the envy of the world."

Blake could see them--and her parents...

Meridian could see Vacuo thriving again, and the people there far happier and less alone.

He put a hand to his bow/sword.

Blake had tears in her eyes.

"There's a catch, ain't there?" Meridian said to the god.

"No," the god said. "I can do these things. But only if I rule. I want peace and life. I must have the authority to provide them."

"And your brother would be okay with that, would he?" Meridian said.

"My brother and I share the burden of the world," the god replied. "He will have his part, I will have mine. As it should be."

"That sounds nice and all, mate," Meridian said, putting an arrow to his bow. "Just one problem: Any world your brother is in won't just have life now, will it? They'll be death and destruction and darkness. Given time, wouldn't that just eat its way right back into my home? Can you promise human nature would change?"

"Humans are what they are. They can choose," the god said.

"That's another way of saying 'no'," Meridian said. "All this is nice--wouldn't I like it if those pricks in the past hadn't ruined our land? But it'd be a tad heartbreaking to see them ruin the future also. Nice offer, but I think we'll have to learn to mend fences ourselves. I don't want your blasted charity."

"It's no shame to seek help from a god."

"You helped that lady, didn't you?" Meridian scoffed. "Her and Oz had a right time with your help, didn't they? Not sure I want it. Might end up like them. I ain't no saint, but at least I'm human. Not something... less than human."

"Then human is all you will be," the god said with a note of severity.

Meridian's test ended there.

He was in the field.

"Holy smoke," he said. "Was that it? Just a little chat? All that for nothing." He lowered his arrow.

"Meridian?!" Weiss called, as they rushed to him.

"Oh, hello... Did I miss anything?" he asked. "Where are we?"

Meanwhile, Blake...

"I don't understand," she said, hugging her sides. "Why are you showing me this? Why would you offer me a chance like this when we've been planning to get rid of you?"

"I can show mercy," the god of light said. "You were misguided children, led astray by those who sought only to use you. But you could make it right and be rewarded."

"It... seems more like a bribe than a reward..." Blake said faintly.

"You call the security of your people a bribe?" the god said. 

"No, it's... the way... this feels wrong." Blake shook her head, confused. "I want it, but getting it this way... betraying my friends... that doesn't sound right."

"I would see it less as a betrayal and more as having the courage to do what they will not do and put an end to this," the god of light said.

"Put an end to it?" Blake said. "Even if I agreed, it only helps me. They won't side with you."

"But they have their chance," the god said. "Any of them who want this can have it. Perhaps if you do, they will also. And if they did not want your people to have a better life, are they your true friends?"

"No, no... I think that's confusing things." Blake began to feel stressed. "It's not the same... We didn't come here for the Faunus, we came here to stop... Salem."

"I will deal with Salem."

"You will? But... but we just wanted..." Blake trailed off, but she meant, "To get rid of you."

"Salem is not your concern," the god pressed. "The world is. The world is not united. How can it be when they oppress these people? Do you not want to remedy that?"

"I do, of course," Blake said. "But I don't know if I can... undo all the damage. I used to feel like I needed to. But I couldn't even undo the damage I did without help... help from my friends, my parents, my people... I mean, what you're offering is... nice, but would it solve our problems? I felt like if I realized one thing, it's that the problem starts inside. More land and more power for us wouldn't make people not hate us... It might just put a target on our backs. Can you make people not hate each other?"

"This is not something I can do," the god of light said. "People must choose what to do."

"Then what is the point of this?" Blake said, a bit more bravely.  "I... no, I don't need this. I don't need this to make things right. I already know that making things right takes our personal willingness to change, to admit our mistakes, to learn, to forgive. I learned all that because of other people, not because of getting things we thought we wanted... so... I don't need your help."

[And a note that this ties into her prophecy: "You already know what you need, but you must act on it." Also from Chapter 56: "Locked Away".]

[The hardest reality to face about hatred is that it can't be forcibly removed. People must let it go willingly.]

"Think carefully," the god said. "This will be your only chance."

"The cost is too high," Blake said. "I wouldn't abandon my friends just for this. I'm done doing that. You can't make me."

She was afraid that the god could make her.

But it must have been true that he could not force her to choose one thing, for he left her after that.

And then she joined the others, to the same reactions and questions as anyone else.

But with new concern that Yang was now the only RWBY member who had not appeared, and Team Arkos was nowhere to be seen.

And still they were missing two Maidens and both DJs.

* * *

Hazel's test was short and simple also.

The god of darkness offered to just take Ozpin off Remnant.

After all, he'd clearly failed.

That would have solved Hazel's problem.

Except that Hazel had other people to worry about besides Ozpin. He wondered what would happen to Emerald and Mercury if he agreed to this proposal.

Once, he might have been selfish enough to do it anyway, but if he'd not become less determined, he had softened in the last few months.

He didn't have a long debate, he just said a firm, "No."

[My sister thinks Hazel's other fairytale inspiration should be the Selfish Giant, which is a very cute story about a giant whose heart is opened up by children bringing life back into his existence. It's fitting.]

The god of darkness apparently knew that Hazel was pretty much immovable. So while it took him a while to say it, once he had, the god gave up and returned him to the others.

But Emerald and Mercury were not actually there.

No one had any idea what they'd be facing right now.

* * *

Emerald was confronted with being alone on some street somewhere and hearing people looking for her--not for a good reason.

"You see, you will always be on the run," the god of darkness said. "You will never escape."

He offered her no obvious choice.

Emerald struggled to get away and ran into a dead end.

People were getting closer.

And no one was coming to help her this time.

Her heart almost beat out of her chest.

But then the thought came from somewhere inside her: This isn't real.

Emerald looked around. It seemed real.

The scene pressed on her mind the way things will look too sharp when you're in panic mode.

"You can't defeat a god, human," the god said.

Emerald was breathing too fast.

What was she even doing? She wasn't ready for this...

No, no... if she gave in now, everyone else might be in trouble, and she... would she die?

But what could she do?

She went back and forth for a while, while the voices seemed to get closer but never so close she could see them.

Then, instead of humans, they seemed to become Grimm, sneaking around the corners, closing in, turning the space around her black, like the god of darkness had her in his claws now.

It would have driven some people mad to see this, and Emerald just barely hung on to sanity as she tried to think that it was not real.

It wasn't real... It wasn't real...

"It's real enough," the god of darkness said. "I make the Grimm... I am the devourer."

He almost sounded different now...

Suddenly, Emerald looked up. 

The god suddenly was overhead, and he didn't seem the same to her anymore. His shape was the same, but he had another quality to him, as if she was seeing him for the first time.

"You're not a god," Emerald put it into words. "I can... I can see it now. So clear. You're... what are you?"

"It doesn't matter, because you won't be able to escape." The god of darkness was quite nasty when he thought someone was easily frightened.

[He did make Grimm that feed off fear. Really, he was more chill than I'd expect in the show.]

Emerald screamed and covered her face--but then she looked up at the heavens--or the image of them, and yelled, "Help! Something help me! He wants to eat me!"

The Grimm pressed close to her.

Emerald slashed at them with her knives. "Get back, you demons!" she said. "I know this is an illusion. It's only real if you make it real. I'm not really here... You're not really here..."

Or were they?

Emerald began to see that Illusions and reality might be more alike than she thought, in that there is an edge of truth to an illusion or it wouldn't be convincing. But the twist is always where it misleads you.

She didn't know what the twist part of this one was... just that it must be there.

Then she suddenly had a brainwave.

Suppose the twisted part was that she was being attacked at all? At least like this.

The god might be playing off her fear, but she of all people knew how easy it is to fool people when you do that.

She lowered her knives, and then she sank to the ground and closed her eyes.

She thought she'd feel things tearing into her at any moment, but instead the snarls faded away and so did the god, and then the light was bright.

She looked up. and she was in the field.

[The choice there was not to engage in the lie, if you were confused.]

* * *

Mercury was back in his old house. Literal nightmare.

He was running from his father, with the sure feeling that he'd be caught soon.

"You would have a fighting chance if he hadn't taken your Semblance," the god of darkness remarked to him. He seemed only to be a shadow following him along the walls. But Mercury could still tell what he was. "I could give it back to you."

"Go to hell, freak," Mercury panted. "What is this, some kind of trick? My father is dead."

"Is anyone ever really dead?" the god replied. "We could bring him back. We could do anything we like to you. Are you sure you want to defy us?"

"So that's what this is? A threat?" Mercury panted. "Like I'm going to curl up and kiss your boots if you put on a show. I admit this is pretty convincing, but no deal..."

He thought that he was pretty near maxed out as it was. "I won't take anything from you."

"You should know that this dream pales in comparison to what we will unleash if you defy us," the god said. "Your soul will be dragged through greater darkness than this."

Mercury ran out of room to run.

"Couldn't get much worse..." He looked back. "Get out of my head, punk."

The god snarled. "Why are you all so difficult!"

Then he was gone.

Mercury fully expected his father to show up and beat the crap out of him to make good on the god's threat, but just as this was supposed to happen, the mansion turned to a field, and he fell to his knees.

"Mercury!" Emerald was there, grabbing him.

Mercury almost hit her because she surprised him, but then he realized it was over... at least for now.

"Where is this?" He looked up.

"We're not sure." Hazel was there too. "Did they hurt you?"

"You look pale," Emerald said. "I almost got eaten..."

"Why were yours so awful?" Ruby was there. "Most of us were offered something we'd want."

"You just assume mine was awful?" Mercury said.

"You should have seen the look in your eyes when you appeared, mate," Meridian said. "Like you were running for your life."

Mercury stood up slowly.

"Yeah, it was hell," he said. "But then it ended."

"It's like a nightmare. It ends just when you're going to die," Emerald said.

"Maybe it's something different about us," Cinder remarked. "Those of us who have had checkered pasts are getting worse treatment from the gods. For whatever reason."

"Mine wasn't painful," Hazel said.

"You can block out pain, dumba--," Cinder said. "Why would they bother?"

He shrugged.

"What'd he do to you?" Mercury asked her. "Threaten to take your eye out again?"

"No." She frowned.

"Maybe they despise us for our past weaknesses," Emerald mused. "Different from the rest of yours... I don't know, but it almost worked on me... Maybe I'm still weak."

"No," Blake said to her more kindly. "It almost worked on me too. I don't think it's just having a past. They used it against us, is all... Maybe we doubt things more."

"I hate when it's all emotional crap. When do we just get to fight?" Mercury complained.

[That about sums up most of his personality in the first Volumes.]

https://youtu.be/NAZk6GJEN_c

[This AMV sums up pretty well Emerald, Mercury, and Hazel's difference from some of the rest of the team. AMV by Christian Werewolf, to "Monster". I think it's that they all struggle with their pasts more than Cinder does, and their tests seem to center on that.]

* * *

Yang's test seemed less like a test than a taunt.

The gods seemed to summon every person she'd ever taken issue with and use them to shove her around--literally.

The blows did little damage to her, as per the limitations of the gods, but they did piss her off.

The angrier she got, the stronger she got.

"Will you quit it!" she yelled finally. "I know this is a trick. Come out and face me yourself, cowards."

Both gods appeared, not looking pleased, and the other images faded.

Yang held up her hands warily.

"You want to confront us?" the god of darkness said.

Yang set her jaw.

"Be advised that it will not end well," said the god of light.

It was like seeing two halves of a choice, and each path was equally unpleasant. Rather like that Janus thing.

Yang frowned.

"So which will it be?" The god of darkness began to slither around her, and god of light did the same, though less like a snake. He just hovered.

"Will you fight the darkness?"

"Or the light..."

"Stop." Yang was starting to feel dizzy trying to keep up with them.

"Maybe you don't really want to fight," said the god of light... but they were starting to blur together.

"Maybe you're weak," said the god of darkness.

"Stop!" Yang covered her ears.

They pushed her slightly as they circled, so that she almost fell over.

"You're off balance," said the god of light.

"How can you save anyone?" said the god of darkness.

They kept urging her to choose.

Yang wanted to blow them both up but couldn't have done so if she tried, and she knew it.

Her anger was turning to fear quickly.

But also, she knew that this was what they wanted.

Did she have to choose? 

Maybe Shine or Wally had said something to give her a clue here... She wished now that she'd listened more.

All she could think of was Shine asking her to tell her how to know the difference between right and wrong, and that was just because the gods' taunting her felt so similar to it.

Dark or light, right or wrong...

How was Yang to answer such a question? Who could agree on it?

She'd never known. She'd always just gone with the flow...

She remembered Alicia's warning to her that she should listen to her elders, which had seemed mind-numbingly insulting at the time.

Now she'd have been glad to have anyone to tell her what to do...

It was in thinking this that an idea finally hit Yang.

Maybe there was a reason she always went after Ruby and always went with other people.

Maybe she knew she wasn't smart enough to answer this question alone. But she'd made her choices with the others' help. She'd come on this mission not because she knew best, but because she knew that they knew stuff that she didn't, and she could help.

And what was she good at? It wasn't being the person with the answers, it was helping other people to find their footing.

Maybe... maybe it was okay to need other people to help you figure out the right thing... as long as you did it.

After all, a choice of listening to other points of view is still a choice, even if they are not your points of view.

That acknowledged, Yang immediately felt a lot better.

Looking up, she smirked. "You know, maybe I don't have this down quite yet on my own, but I know one thing: I sure as h--- know better than to listen to you."

The gods stopped circling.

"I guess I don't really decide right or wrong or whatever you call it," Yang said. "But I know who's got it, and it's not you. So stop pushing me around. I want to go back to my team." She clenched her fists. "Take that."

The gods seemed dissatisfied that she hadn't tried to fight.

But they let her go.

Yang gasped, and she was in the field.

"Yang!" All her team was there.

"Oh my gosh, we were starting to get so worried," Ruby cried, grabbing her by the waist while Weiss and Blake went higher.

"You're okay? What did they do?" Neptune asked.

"Oh, I'm fine." Yang tried not to fall over with all of them hanging on her like this. "I mean, they tried to rough me up, but you know, I handled it."

"Did you?" Weiss was skeptical.

"Okay, so I was in trouble, but then I realized that it was simpler than I thought," Yang said. "And they left me alone after that. Turns out it's okay to not have it all figured out on your own as long as you have people to help you."

"Are you feeling okay?" Blake said strangely.

"Well, whatever that meant," Ruby said, "I'm just glad you made it... We're still missing Uncle Qrow."

"And your mom," Neptune said. "And a few others."

"These tests are so stupid," Emerald said. "Why can't they just fight or leave like we asked? Why are they making us do this?"

"I think it's because we have to choose something," Weiss said. "Between them and... everything else. They offered us all options, didn't they? But there was something wrong with each of them. It seems like the only way to win is not to play, though, after hearing yours."

"And mine," Yang echoed it. "What did you all see?"

They exchanged notes.

"There's nothing really alike about a lot of what we saw," Blake said. "I was hoping it'd fit together in some kind of puzzle that we could solve. But it's all just stuff that's haunted us for a long time."

"Oh, I can answer your puzzle," Mercury said flatly. "They want us to be tortured."

"Or, it could be that it's like choosing between the past and the future," Ruby said. "I don't know. I feel like it could be a lot of different things. But we know what happens if we give into them: curses and magic and more of this 'balance' stuff. We can't do it. I mean, you guys... you all said no, right? We have to hope the others will too."

"I just wonder what they'll ask them," Weiss said.

* * *

Raven and Qrow were put in the same landscape.

No doubt for different reasons, but they soon found each other.

"Does this look like the tribe to you?" Raven said to him once they'd gone through the first "I have no idea what's happening" speeches.

"Kind of, but not like the camp," Qrow said.

"No, it's like an old one," Raven said. "But it looks like Bandits."

Then they began to see younger versions of themselves.

They stared.

They were too little to have any memory of this, but the Bandits were taking them into the camp.

Some Bandits took a shine to kids they found while pillaging and would bring them to raise them in the tribe, which is what Raven had been told happened to her and Qrow, but it was another matter to see it.

Someone who must have been the leader inspected them.

"They're pretty small," he said.

"They're a bit scrawny now," said the person who'd brought them in. "But they'll grow. Found 'em under a bridge. Someone in the town said they were cursed."

"Cursed?" said the leader warily. Bandits were known for being superstitious.

"Bad luck follows 'em around," said the bandits. "But they're spunky."

As if to prove his point, Raven tried to kick him.

"Let us go!" she said in a high voice that made the adult Raven wince.

The leader laughed. "Well, she'll do. Make a fighter out of her. What about the boy?"

Qrow looked a lot more scared as a scrawny kid.

"Yeah, he's the cursed one," said the bandit. "But, could be useful you know? Against enemies."

"Well, try 'em out," said the leader. "If trouble comes, we can just kill 'em later."

The bandit grinned and took them away.

"I have no memory of this," Raven said, "other than vaguely that I put up a fight."

"Same," Qrow said. "I always knew they kidnapped us."

"Can't really kidnap someone if they weren't with anyone to begin with," Raven said. "I knew it--our parents must have just left us there."

"This is not new information," Qrow said. "Why show us this?"

"If I had to guess, Qrow, they're going to make a point," Raven said flatly.

She was right.

The scenes changed to later scenes in their lives--right up to entering Beacon Academy.

And here Raven understood the point.

But just in case she hadn't, the god of light made it for them, as he appeared.

"Your lives were very different before Ozma. He gave you purpose, guidance, light," he said. "And now you've both turned on him and forgotten what you owe him. Think about what you are doing to him."

"Is this your attempt at manipulating me?" Raven spat. "I don't care about Ozpin. Or Salem, whoever she is. I'm not here to get back at him, I'm here for me... and for everyone else, I suppose," with an annoyed look. "Qrow, don't listen to this."

Qrow did feel guilty--because he always felt guilty--but still...

"It sounds a little like changing the subject," he said. "What about his curse? We just want it lifted."

"It can't be lifted if you're all divided," the god of light said. "That is why I'm pleading with you to reconsider. You are some of his oldest friends now."

"Wouldn't that be you?" Raven sassed him. "Why don't you just cut him some slack if you're so worried about him? Let me out of here. Dressing up my past won't change my mind about any of this, and it's making me sick to watch it."

She turned and tried to leave--of course it didn't work.

"Even though magic has been your biggest strength," said the god. "Without it, what would you have done?"

He snapped his fingers, and Raven turned into a bird.

"Hey!" Qrow said.

Raven squawked in anger, as if she couldn't talk this time.

"You chose this," the god of light said. "Now you must live with that choice."

"Let her go," Qrow said. "We don't want this anymore."

"Just because someone told you not to?" the god said. "Look around you. Because of magic, this was your life. Because of Ozma."

Qrow rubbed his head. "You can't just make it out that the only things that changed were because of him... I mean, yeah, he started it, but there were other people too. It's not like he controls everything."

Saying this out loud felt oddly fortifying.

"What if I said I could change your Semblance?" The god changed tactics. "Then your problems would be resolved."

Qrow paused.

Raven squawked again angrily.

"Brother, remove her," the god of light said. "I must have a private talk with this one."

The god of darkness appeared and grabbed Raven-in-bird-form and then disappeared.

"Where did you just take her?" Qrow said.

"He won't kill her." the god of light was oddly vague about that. "But she is not involved in this. It's your Semblance. It's your choice."

"And why do I think there's a catch?" Qrow was good at being suspicious.

"There is none, just that I would like to continue helping mankind," the god said.

"You don't help mankind." Qrow suddenly stepped back from him, hand on his scythe. "You never help."

"You don't know of all our gifts," the god said.

"I don't really need to. You haven't cared about us for a long time," Qrow said. "And you know what? You're right, my past does show me one thing: It's that people who ditch you don't care about you that much. And you should stick with the people who find you. And in that case, I think I've got my answer already. And maybe my Semblance is a problem, but I know there's a better way to fix it than letting you change it... I mean, I'd give up freedom just for security..."

Not that it still didn't hurt to say that.

But he went on. "And I can't do that... I've gotta see this through, for reasons other than just myself, but that also... so, no thanks."

Rather simple, all things considered.

"And this is your answer?" The god of light almost sounded impressed but still annoyed.

"Yes," Qrow said.

"I did not  expect you to answer thus," the god said.

Qrow felt that was probably an insult to him.

"Very unusual," the god of light said. "Even with Ozma's debt..."

"I feel like I'm paying him back better by not going along with this," Qrow said. "I want to go back to the others."

"If that is your will," the god said.

The scene vanished.

Qrow looked around.

"There!" Yang pointed at him.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby cried.

Everyone rushed him.

"Well... here you are," Glynda said.

"But Mom is not," Yang said.

"I saw her," Qrow said. "At least I think she was real--somehow it still seemed like a trick. The god of dark emo colors took her away, though."

"He did what?" Yang cried.

"I didn't like it, she wasn't having it, and they got mad," Qrow said.

Yang looked up. "Bring her back!" she yelled at the air. "You hear me?"

"Yeah, give her back!" Ruby echoed.

"I don't know if yelling at the sky is going to help," Glynda said.

"I know they can hear me," Yang said. "And I'm tired of Mom getting eaten or caught by things. Just once it'd be nice if we could all not have that happen. Especially since she doesn't want their stupid magic. So it's not fair."

"I mean, I agree with you, but do you think they're going to just let her go?" Qrow said.

"They let Vara and Cinder go... Though..." Ruby glanced at Vara, who was still lying on the ground.

Theo shook his head. "She's still barely breathing, if she's breathing at all. Are we sure they can't kill?"

No one could answer that for him.

[The title is becoming more ironic every scene.]

* * *

Pyrrha thought the gods' choice for her was cruel.

She found herself on top of Beacon's clock tower.

It was destroyed, so she knew the scene was from during or after the Fall of Beacon.

"You know why we're here." The god of light rose up from out of view below her--which seemed odd.

Pyrrha drew her sword and shield warily. Deja vu.

"Do you plan to defeat us with mere weapons?" The god snapped his fingers ,and her weapons disappeared from her hands.

"You will come to understand that there is a time for every human to die," the god said. "All things must die." [Hey, that's the name of a RWBY song.]

"Must you?" Pyrrha asked, trying to stay steady.

"I am a god," the god said.

"I know a God who died," Pyrrha replied. "I like that one better than you."

What had Shine told her about this situation? She knew she'd prepared her.

Oh... right.

"You can't kill me," she said aloud. "My life doesn't belong to you now. It wasn't your doing."

At this, the god recoiled slightly.

"Even if that was true, you're being selfish," he said, circling around her in serpent form... well, in almost a circle, more like around the top of the tower, in a way that reminded her of the Wyvern doing it before.

The scene was somewhat triggering, even if Pyrrha mostly no longer cared. It was hard not to think of that night and how despairing they'd all been.

But she wrestled with herself to not focus on that, as she supposed it was exactly what the god of light wanted her to do.

"If you live, it will teach mankind to think that things do not have consequences and that suffering is avoidable," the god of light went on. "They will not accept the hardships of life. Why do you think I refused Salem's request?"

"Just because one person is restored does not mean every person will be," Pyrrha said.

"And then people ask why favoritism is shown to some and not to others," the god of light replied. "And why do you deserve it more than many other noble people?"

Pyrrha backed up.

This did play off her weakness; she thought little of her worthiness.

Oddly, here she thought of Cinder's jab at her and what she'd spoken of with Emerald.

After all, she'd asked the same things after she was brought back. She didn't deserve this...

"Humans will never be content with suffering as long as there is an escape from it," the god of light said. 

Pyrrha found she'd stepped almost off the edge of the circle herself, trying to get away from him, but now he was behind her, and she turned, disoriented.

But she spoke, "Why should they just be content with suffering?"

"It's unavoidable. Even your own guides, liars as they are, would not try to convince you otherwise," the god said. "They will say it all has a purpose and that it will be mended in the end, but it is simply the way things are. The sooner humans learn to accept that all life has pain, the better."

Pyrrha felt there was something off about what he said.

"But why do we suffer at all if it's just part of life and there's no purpose?" she said. "Why do we live...? Isn't that the same as if you're saying life itself has no meaning?"

"Its meaning is in something besides what it is," the god said.

Pyrrha almost laughed oddly. "Is that what you wanted Salem to think?"

"What do you mean?" The god paused as if puzzled.

"That being what it is is all there is to it, and we should accept reality as what it is and not want anything better than what we see?" Pyrrha said. "I understand that we cannot avoid some realities, but that doesn't mean that this is all there is, not by a long shot. It just means that we can't always change it when we want to, but things change, sooner or later. And if it comes to that, if someone can be raised to life, is that not reality?"

She felt a little more steady on her feet.

"But--" the god began to protest.

But Pyrrha went on, not heeding him. "Granted, it is special treatment," she said. "And I can't explain why or how it is that some people get it. But in all of life, nothing is equal. People do not have equal talents or riches or friends, or size, or strength. But everyone has their own portion. My life is extended for whatever reason because that is my story, and any other person who has seen a miracle here, there's a reason it was for them... but perhaps, really, every life has miracles."

She began to sound stronger as she spoke and she knew what she really thought.

"In fact, I think there is a plan to all of this," she said. "It's no coincidence that things turned out this way. And I think you know it. And maybe some people will be jealous and angry that they do not get the same gifts as others--but that is what tells us that things need to change. Death is not going to last forever, I've been taught that much. But... but you, you would only offer people the choice to be stuck in the same cycle forever. Nothing new, nothing but what you give them at the start. And you care nothing for what happens to them because of it. Did you care about Salem's broken heart when you turned her away? Or did you care about balance? Granted, not every person could live again--but death is not what's supposed to happen to us. It's a tragedy... and we should know that no tragedy cannot be made right in the end... And for that, I'm glad my story is what it is."

Her weapons came flying back into her hands abruptly.

"And you can leave," she said firmly. "I don't need you! And I won't give it up for you. I choose to believe that I will help more people by accepting what happened to me, both bad and good, than only the bad. Begone!"

She threw out that last part because she'd read it and it sounded good.

It also seemed to work. The god, with a hiss of rage at this answer, vanished from her sight.