"Party shoes, you say?" Elle said to Emerald when she dropped by the shoe shop the morning of the big day.

"Yeah, the last pair of those I had broke." Emerald held up one. "Strap caught on something, snapped right off. Cheap junk, am I right?"

"Oh yeah, what bargain bin did you drag those out of?" Elle inspected it.

"A Vacuo shop that was giving us all free stuff. I guess I have trash taste." Emerald shrugged.

Really, she wouldn't know a name brand from a knockoff if her life depended on it.

"Where's your pretty friend?" Elle asked, as she took down some samples. "Here, these would go just perfect with your style."

"Thanks--and Ci--uh, Scarlet, didn't want to come. She'll just make her own perfect shoes." Emerald rolled her eyes. "I think they're uncomfortable, but what some people will do for fashion."

"Hmm, did you get rid of that awful woman who came in the last time?" Elle asked.

"Well, we talked.... Maybe she's not so bad, at least as an ally." Emerald shrugged.

"Hmm, I guess if you have to have one," Elle sniffed. "I hope the boss never sells this shop to someone like that. Personally, I'd love to take it over if all I had to do was sell the merchandise, but I hate the business side of it. I don't get it."

"Maybe you can learn."

"I'm not sure I'm cut out for it. Anyway, it's not a one-person job. If only we had more help, but pay isn't good enough, you know, for people who just want a part time job to want to work here when they could work in other places...and no one appreciates the art of shoes anymore." Elle pouted.

[Elle was a reference to the Shoemaker And The Elves story, her name is supposed to be similar to elf. Though my family thought it was a reference to Cinderella, which I only realized after writing the prior chapter.]

"I guess you'd be with Lavida. They should start making the Perfect Fit shoes again," Emerald said.

"If they could without putting us out of business," Elle said. "I do miss those shoes though. I never could afford them, but they were just the bomb to even look at. Both delicate looking and sturdy. Mr. Shoemaker says it's all in knowing how to shape them. They don't make 'em like that anymore."

Emerald finally selected a pair and left to meet up with Weiss and Yang at a salon--Weiss' idea.

Yang swore up and down she wasn't doing a thing to her hair or nails, never again. She was just going to criticize the others spending money on it--in person.

True to her word, she didn't do anything except that, but they ignored her.

"It feels good to do this again. It's been a while since we had a real party," Weiss said. "But Deliverance Day number 5 is coming up. Theo says they want to have a bigger celebration this year, since we'll have made it 5 years, which is longer than some people believed we'd survive without the gods."

"The gods didn't help a thing," Yang said, from over a magazine she was going through to judge how expensive everything was. "We're better off without them--and really? 20 lien for a basic manicure? Who has money to waste on this."

"It makes my hands feel dainty," Weiss said. 

"It's back to work after this though," Emerald said. "I wonder...but I promised myself I was not going to think about dismal things today."

"Is it that easy to turn it off?" Yang muttered. "Ruby, you're not really going to get highlights here?"

"I've never had them done professionally before," Ruby protested. "What's the harm? Don't be such a buzzkill."

"Why anyone wants to color their hair at all is beyond me," Weiss said.

"I'm trying to picture you without white hair." Emerald held up he hands like she was framing her. "I just can't see it. You'd not even be a Weiss anymore."

"A Weiss? That makes it sound like I'm a species!"

"You are," Yang said.

"A one of a kind species." Ruby snorted a laugh.

"Stop it!" Weiss pretended to be offended.

After some "pampering" as Weiss put it, they left, to Yang's relief.

"Is Blake flying in?" Ruby asked.

"Last I heard from her, she was going to try," Weiss said. "She said she wasn't feeling so great the past few days."

"She did say she was tired when we were in Menagerie, but I thought she just had a cold or something," Yang said.

"Maybe she does. It's only been a few days," Weiss pointed out. "But she shouldn't be traveling if she's not feeling well."

"Aww...I was hoping Team RWBY would be together again," Ruby pouted, then glanced at Emerald. "Not that it's not nice to hang out with everyone else too."

"No, I get it." Emerald held up her hands. "I'm being a little selfish here. My original team is all here. I mean, granted, I'm still awkward with Mercury, and Cinder doesn't like to hang out with me unless it's for work, and Neo hasn't spoken to me in years, but, you know, still."

Yang laughed at the Neo joke.

"Is that wrong?" Weiss asked.

"I dunno, but it was still funny," Ruby said.

"Well, at the party, want to hit the floorboards?" Yang asked. "Speaking of which, we're kind of banned from that last club. Well, not banned, but that barmaid put us on the list of people to keep a close eye on, so it's no fun now."

"You deserved it for brawling in a club meant for the military workers," Weiss said. "Those jerks!...I hope that team...Jiffy? Or Jeffery?"

"JETT," Emerald supplied.

"Yeah, that, I hope they got banned for real," Weiss said.

"I haven't seen them in ages," Yang said. Which, of course, was just weeks.

"Dang," Ruby said. "Well, good riddance, though it is a little sad."

Yang didn't think so.

* * *

"Hey, Prince Roy." Mercury approached Royal in the weapons locker hall at the base. "You coming to Raven's thing later?"

"First, stop calling me that," Royal said. "Which I know you'll ignore my saying because you're predictable, so now that I have that formality out of the way...I wasn't sure about it. On the one hand, I want to, but on the other, it's a little odd to see your boss get hitched."

"Hmm, well, Cinder will be there," Mercury said casually.

"So?" Royal slammed his locker door shut on his shotgun.

"So?" Mercury repeated meaningfully.

"I told you I'm not doing anything," Royal said. "And whatever Emerald or Oscar told you, it was strictly friendly."

"Huh?" Mercury said.

No one had passed that along to him.... They all knew he couldn't be trusted with that kind of information.

"Nevermind." Royal realized his mistake immediately.

"Are you sure, though?" Mercury, of course, couldn't let any reason to rib someone drop. "If she's so great, according to you, why not shoot your shot? Unless you're lying about really not having a problem with her past."

"Is that something you really think is going to work on me?" Royal frowned.

"Maybe not, but you really think you can stop yourself?" Mercury said. "I don't think you really like her that much if it's that easy."

"Speaking as the guy who's never made a move on the girl he's clearly in love with," Royal said.

"What? In love? What kind of sentimental stupidity is that?" Mercury immediately became unsettled. "You don't really believe in that, do you?"

"What do you call it?" Royal asked.

"You might feel an attraction, I guess--biology and stuff--and you might like someone okay, but I don't believe in that whole 'in love' crap. I think it's just something movies say is real to sell to airheaded, lonely people."

"Huh...and any of the married couples you happen to know have never corrected that notion?" Royal said.

"I don't think they'd say any different. They're all together because they think they make good teams, not because of some fairytale." 

"You've lived through a few fairytales, and you still don't believe in them. That is so typical Mercury." Royal was beginning to get tired of Mercury's constant jerkishness.

"Excuse me?" Mercury said, which was an odd phrase for him to use, but perhaps the others had rubbed off on him.

"It takes a pretty thick-headed idiot to not believe in something he's seen with his own eyes," Royal said, savagely. "But it's not the first time I've seen you deny reality. Hey ,see you at the party. Maybe you can lead the way. Practice what you preach, you jackass."

He walked away in a huff.

"No need to stop being a lady!" Mercury called after him, to no avail.

[But really, it was about time someone said it to him.]

* * *

Raven had just finished getting ready for the event when she stepped out of the bathroom and found Shine waiting in the hallway.

"Surprise!" Shine held up her hands like she was doing the jazz move. "Sorry we didn't reply. Thought we should just come as quickly as possible."

She hugged Raven before Raven could respond, but then Raven pushed her back and gave her a shake.

"You idiot! You're not supposed to dimension travel when you're pregnant. You told me that!"

"I'm not pregnant," Shine said.

"But you said you were." Raven frowned.

"I was, then." Shine smirked. "Can't you tell? Don't I look different?"

Raven looked her up and down. "Slightly, but not enough to be sure. You're lucky."

"I'm lucky? No one could ever tell you've had a daughter." Shine shook her head. "All you Remnant women, you're so fit."

"Wait, but then where's your husband?" Raven asked.

Shine took her arm without a word and pulled her into the hall to the bigger room.

"Hi, Raven." Wally waved.

He had a baby carrier strapped to his torso with a baby in it who had a pink and white hat on.

"Oh my gosh, you brought a baby!" Raven exclaimed. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Not really that much more dangerous than leaving her home with all those mutants would be," Shine said.

"Is that okay to say?" Wally asked.

"Someone got stuck in the planter for the 5th time last week." Shine rolled her eyes. "I trust Storm and Rogue, but they've got enough kids to keep out of trouble. So yes, we brought her. Raven, meet Grace Terra West. We all call her Gracie because of Rogue, so...isn't she precious?"

"Well...she does look like you." Raven wasn't the type to call a baby cute. "Unfortunately for her, she also looks like Wally."

"Not completely," Wally said. "And what do you mean unfortunately?"

"She has both of us," Shine said. "But really, your daughter looks like your twin, Raven."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Raven said. "The others will flip out when they see her. Way to steal my thunder."

"Sorry our having a kid does that," Wally said.

"Doesn't matter. In fact it makes it easier for me not to feel too smothered," Raven said.

And hopefully would spare her more remarks about finally tying the knot.

"So you're actually going to become an honest woman," Wally said.

So much for that.

"Babe!" Shine said.

"I didn't mean that. Sorry, poor choice of words." Wally rubbed his head. "Blame it on my brain being tired."

"Sure, out of the many times, this time you can use that excuse," Raven said. "But I don't understand--how could it have been 9 months for you since yesterday?"

"You mean we didn't get that letter after months had gone by?" Shine asked. "I did think it was odd no one had updated us in so long. I started to suspect the time schism had changed."

"Why would it?" Raven asked.

"I suspect it might have changed actually after we got back from the future," Shine mused.

"That would make sense." Wally snapped his fingers.

Grace looked at Raven as if she was an alien...which she was, she supposed.

She was pretty cute...Raven had to admit inwardly.

"Wait, you went to the future?"

"Did I not tell you that? I guess I forgot to mention it. We kind of found out we were moving not long after that was over, and then Emma went home, so we were a bit sad about that," Shine mused. "Then we realized we were expecting, and it got crazy. Sorry...yes, we had a time thief situation. Very dangerous kind of dimension walking, one of our worst challenges yet. I'll tell you about it later."

"Didn't you say you couldn't time travel?" Raven said.

"Oh, no, I said we shouldn't," Shine said. "We only did it because someone else already had and we had to stop it. Otherwise you should never time travel. Especially not to the past. We only went to the future, so it was a little less risky, but still...don't overthink it."

"It was one scary ordeal," Wally said. "After that the guys there felt so bad for us they offered to let us stay with them forever."

"No, he's kidding," Shine said.

"So it's true. You really have a new home." Raven was a bit surprised. "Isn't that strange?"

"No...it feels right," Shine said. "I never fit in my world that well."

"And while I do miss my old friends, they all had kind of moved on in their lives," Wally said. "I still visit them, just like we visit you...but they just didn't need me anymore. These new friends really need us, and they're just great people. Weirdos. But great. I hope you get to meet them someday."

"Hmm." Raven straightened her clothes. "And they're mutants? Like the Faunus?"

"Some are kind of like that, but more like comic book characters. I think you even have comics like it here," Shine said.

"And their names are things like Rogue? Storm makes more sense, but Rogue? Gambit? Wolverine?" Raven was skeptical.

"They're code names. We kind of call them both, just depends on the mood we're in."

"Shine's best friends with another Raven, actually," Wally said. "Told her all about you and that Ever After Girl. She wasn't that flattered to know she was the third Raven we've met, but she warmed up to us eventually."

"That I do remember. You think the most mundane details are important," Raven said.

"Well, I can't tell you the huge details very safely," Shine pointed out.

"Oh my gosh!" Yang cried, as she, Ruby, Weiss, and Emerald had just walked in. "You guys actually came!"

"Yep." Wally waved and made Grace wave also, which she thought was funny. "She has my sense of humor," he said proudly.

"Oh, I hope not," Raven said.

"What...a baby?!" Weiss cried, eyes huge.

"Awww," Ruby cried, racing forward. "She's adorable!"

"What's her name?" Emerald asked.

"Grace," Wally said. "Also hi to you too."

"Yeah, I feel so loved right now," Shine said dryly.

"Oh, sorry. Hi." Emerald hugged her. "I just got excited. We thought you weren't coming."

"Psych, we did," Wally said.

Shine explained about the time schism again.

"So when did it change?" Weiss asked.

"I'm not sure, but sometime after our future trip, I guess. I could have sworn it was still moving faster here when I last heard from Cinder, but the ripple effect of it might have taken a while to set in," Shine mused. "There's other discrepancies at times. Dimension travel is not a very strong link between worlds, for good reason, and time is fluid between them. Sometimes the rate of exchange changes without any noticeable reason, so certainly it could because of us moving through it. But it's nothing to worry about. What's 9 months?"

"It means you might age faster than us now," Yang said.

"We don't age faster, we're in a different time zone, that's all," Shine insisted.

"It worked out this time though," Emerald pointed out. "Maybe not look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Where are all the bros?" Wally asked. "Or the gentlemen, as Professor X would say."

"You think we talked weird before, try mixing 80s slang with our decade's, and now we're even weirder," Shine said. "I've already gotten used to Logan calling me 'darlin' and not meaning anything by it. Never thought that I'd stop noticing that. Oh, and being called 'sugar' by a grown woman and it not being weird either."

"Yeah, I can't see that not being weird." Yang made an odd face.

"She calls everyone that," Shine shrugged. "It's a Southern thing...uh...in my country."

"Then your country is weird," Ruby said.

"Yeah, it is...but do you really think yours is normal?" Shine replied.

"Sorry I'm late!" Blake and Sun suddenly came running in. 

"Did we miss anything?" Sun asked.

"Look!" Ruby pointed at Grace.

"Oh my gosh, one of you had a baby!" Sun put his hands to his face. "How could you not tell us?!"

"We haven't had enough time to!" Weiss cried.

"How long does it take?" Sun asked.

"9 months, you doofus." Yang shook her head at him.

"Or 7 or 8," Ruby said.

"It's our baby," Shine said, "okay? Time lapse."

"Oh, wow.... Aw, she's so cute," Sun said. "I like her hat."

"I made it myself, so thanks," Shine said.

"You knit?" Emerald asked.

"Yeah...so?"

"Nothing, it's just not something I picture you doing, sitting around with a ball of yarn," Emerald said.

"I do normal things most of the time, Em," Shine said. "This may shock you, but I actually fold laundry and do jigsaw puzzles on the same day."

"There's that Shine sass we know and miss." Sun gave her a guns up sign. "It's just not the same when the others sass us"

"Aw, that's so sweet," Shine said. "I've missed all of you for the last several months. Crap, I'm going to cry.... I'm still kind of emotional."

"Stop it," Raven said. "And I forbid you to cry during the ceremony. It'll be about 5 minutes long anyway, and if you cry, you're leaving the room."

"I'll try to hold back, but after those heartfelt words, it's going to be hard," Shine said more dryly.

Most of the other guys finally came in. They'd been out chatting about missions and other boring stuff--according to Ruby anyway.

Everyone was surprised to see Shine and Wally--and Grace, but couldn't get enough of the last one.

"Good thing she likes people," Wally said.

"She has to. Our house is full of them," Shine said.

"Why would you want to live at a school?" Qrow asked.

"We want to move out eventually, but it's kind of free, and we're not mad liquid right now." Shine shrugged. "Besides, I teach them, so we earn our keep."

Royal walked in, looking a bit self conscious.

"Hey, man." Wally waved at him.

"Oh, hey--oh." Royal did a double take. "What are you two doing here?"

"Nice to see you too," Shine said.

"Sorry, my manners. I meant it's great that you made it. They just said you wouldn't be able to," Royal amended.

"Surprise," Wally said.

"Where is Hazel?" Raven murmured. "We should be getting started."

"It would just be so cruel if he stood you up," Qrow said.

Raven punched his arm--and not very lightly.

"I was kidding.... You didn't invite Tai, did you?"

"Uh, no...for reasons I think would be self explanatory," Raven said.

"Some people do that," Wally said.

"Not me. Now drop it."

"I think I'll just sit down," Wally said meekly.

"We'll catch up more later," Shine said, before joining him.

"Where's Cinder?" Mercury came up to the girls to ask.

"I don't know. She should be here," Emerald said.

"Why would she come? She's a buzzkill about stuff like this," Yang said. "She's allergic to happiness." She made a face and gestured like Cinder was a vampire.

"Maybe that's the reason she didn't show up," Blake said. "Because of you doing things like that."

"Well, I'm sorry, but if she's not gonna be on time, I think we should just start without her," Yang said.

"True..." Raven said.

Hazel finally appeared, so this was possible.

"No one's made any jokes to him, right?" Neptune said.

"I don't have the nerve," Jaune said.

"Me neither," Sun said.

"Yeah, are you kidding? I wasn't sure if I should say anything at all," Mercury said. "I think I said 'cool' and that was it."

"Qrow will have to give him the speech about not hurting her," Oscar pointed out, with a wry smirk for him.

"I'd be more likely to give her that speech about him," Qrow said. "But not much could get to that guy.... I can't figure out why she's doing this."

"Qrow, what a thing to say about your own sister," Winter scolded, yanking his arm.

"Look, I care about Raven, and I might even like her, now." Qrow held up his hands. "But she's just not the kind of person I'd see settling down. This whole thing seems rushed to me."

"Hush," Winter said firmly. "This is her decision. And I might point out, people told me the same thing about you when we got married. I'd say so far it's working out."

"Yeah, man, give her a chance," Wally called. "Have a seat. You should introduce Nicky and Whitney to Grace. They'll be pals."

"Sure, they'll remember this later," Qrow muttered.

But they sat down.

Cinder came in literally 60 seconds before things got started, to slip in the most back part of the room.

Not everyone was even sitting because the ceremony part was supposed to be so short. And it was. It did take probably less than 5 minutes, and of course no sentimental speeches.

Raven kept giving everyone looks that dared them to laugh or do anything else showy or embarrassing.

In fact the ceremony was a formality. The contract was already signed before they arrived--this was more like everyone witnessing it.

That said, it wasn't very memorable because it was so short and to the point, and before they really knew it, it was all over and the justice of the peace had left, probably glad to get out so soon.

"That was unromantic," Weiss complained.

"What did you expect? It's my mom," Yang said, shaking her head. "This does not make Hazel my step-father."

"Do you two even get along?" Emerald asked.

"We don't talk," Yang said. "I never thought Mom was serious about this...and now she's married."

"This is just how we felt when you and Neptune did this," Shine said. "Karma sucks, doesn't it? Just saying, I got married in another universe, and I still told you all and let you be there."

"That was your choice," Yang said. "And I'm not saying I'm judging her, it's just...odd. He's not gonna try to act like my family now, is he?"

"Yang," Shine sighed, "take a word of advice, all right? I doubt he will try anything...but if you give things a chance, sometimes you get unexpected blessing out of it. He's a good guy, and he's been a steady help and support to your mom all this time. Not everyone has highly romantic notions about marriage. At bottom, it is a partnership."

"Thanks, honey." Wally patted her head wryly.

"With a lot of other things," Shine said, with a sly smirk. "And a lot of euphoric moments, sure, for many people...but not everyone is like that. I think your mom, at this point in her life, wants consistency and reliability and support more than she wants butterflies and fireworks. She's been through that already and it's not enough. Attraction is one thing, but it's not the only thing."

"Hmm." Emerald looked at her. "Would you say the lack of attraction is a bad sign in a relationship then? Or...it should be prerequisite?"

"No," Shine said. "I think it should be if it can be, but frankly the most successful relationships are based on other things besides initial attraction. Attraction can grow or change with time. Physical attraction especially. It's good, but you need to be attracted to someone's soul first of all. Also, not to be crass, but spicy moments, while fun, are basically the icing on the cake of a marriage. The main ingredients are all about your character.... However, on a different note, if you are fundamentally unattracted to someone, it could be more than just their looks. Looks tend to grow on you with familiarity, even if someone is not good looking, so if you're still repulsed by them after a length of time, that is a bad sign. They just shouldn't be the first thing you decide to disqualify someone."

"Does any guy go for a girl he doesn't think is pretty?" Neptune asked. "Not to be shallow, but that's not anything I've ever thought with my wife."

"Right answer," Yang said.

"I can't speak for all men, or all women even," Shine said. "But I believe sometimes, yes. 'In Faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes, for they do in thee a thousand errors note, but tis my heart which loves that which they despise, which in despite of view, is pleased to dote.' That's from the most famous playwright in my world. In other words, attraction can be to other things besides looks and can puzzle us. But also standards of beauty are different, aren't they? If you love someone, aren't they beautiful to you? Love is funny like that."

"Gross," Mercury said.

Emerald rolled her eyes at him.

"Not helping himself there, is he?" Wally muttered to Shine.

"Not at all," she replied. "Sometimes I want to smack their heads together."

"Well, you guys are right," Sun said, putting an arm around Blake. "I think Blake is the most beautiful girl in the world."

"Sun!" Blake blushed.

"Well, easy for him to say. She is gorgeous," Emerald grumbled.

"Hey, you're very pretty, Emerald," Blake protested.

"Eh, I'm cute, but I don't know if I'd say gorgeous." Emerald shrugged.

Funny, she wasn't actually digging for a compliment, she just seriously thought that.

The guys all gave her odd looks...and so did most of the girls.

"She's kidding, right?" Weiss asked Yang.

Yang shrugged like "I dunno."

"Hmm, am I the most beautiful women in the world?" Shine asked Wally.

"There's only one right answer to that, Sunshine," Wally said.

"And it is?" Shine asked.

"That is an obviously loaded question that you know I would only answer one way, so why even ask?" He shrugged nonchalantly.

"That was it," Shine agreed.

"Oh, come on, don't let him off that easy," Yang protested.

"I'm just messing with her," Wally said. "Or with all of you, really. She knows I think she's the hottest woman on the planet or any planet."

"Hot and beautiful aren't the same thing," Yang said. "One's just to objectify women."

"I really don't split hairs like that." Shine shrugged. "And one child in, I will take hot, Yang, trust me. You'll see when you have one."

"Nothing wrong with having a kid," Neptune said. "Most people do. I mean, if that stopped them, Jaune wouldn't have 7 sisters."

"Hey! Dude!" Jaune said.

"Very funny," Pyrrha said in a not amused tone. "Maybe we should just dance, huh, Jaune?"

"Yeah, you said it, Pyrrha. These guys are weird," Jaune said, and they walked off.

"Probably should turn up the music if we're gonna do that. I'm on it," Emerald said.

"No, I'm on it. I've planned more parties than you," Yang said.

"Exactly, give me a chance."

"You like that edgy crap. That's not festive."

"Edgy crap? Did you just insult my playlist?"

"No, just the songs on it."

"Oh boy, here we go," Ruby sighed. "There are times I think my sister's only bonding strategy with our friends is to argue with them over nothing."

"Only times?" Oscar said, hoping Yang didn't hear him, which she didn't.

"So are you going to catch us up on what we must have missed?" Shine asked. "There wasn't a whole lot about your mission in the last letters."

They all looked at her uncomfortably.

"Maybe we should talk about that after the party," Ruby said.

Shine gave them a long look.

"Here we go," Weiss said. "She'll figure it all out without us saying a word, and then we'll not have to explain."

"Tell me, what happened?" Wally asked Shine.

"Something unpleasant," Shine said. "Something Royal isn't happy about."

"How on Remnant did you guess Royal?" Ruby sputtered.

"He's hardly moved since he got here and is avoiding eye contact with most of you." Shine cocked her head towards him. "That's not like him, is it? I know he's not been happy about the mission not going so smoothly, so I take it didn't get better."

"Dang." Mercury leaned on the wall. "Any more specifics?"

"You weren't there for whatever it was," Shine replied dryly. "But I'm close."

"Close," Mercury agreed. "Can you guess who was there?"

"Strongest guess is Cinder, but it could be any number of you," Shine said.

"And what happened to Cinder?" Pyrrha was amazed.

Shine glanced at Cinder, who had been glancing at her off and on with a kind of guilty expression and then looking away.

"Something she wouldn't want to tell me," she said slowly. "And all of you are aching to, apparently."

"She's right, isn't she?" Wally said.

"Yeah," Neptune said, rubbing his jaw. "That is just so scary."

"Your mom is never going to let you get away with anything," Wally told Grace resolutely. "Goodness knows I can never lie to her."

"Why would you?" Ruby asked.

"I wouldn't, but if I did, it'd never work." Wally shrugged. "She even impresses the telepaths."

"That's because telepaths don't rely on logical reasoning when they can read people's minds," Shine said. "Actually, their reasoning skills are weaker because they can take shortcuts. Unless they try to learn better. Explains a lot, really."

"That would make sense..." Weiss said. "Though I can't believe you know telepaths."

"I knew telepaths before we moved," Shine said.

"One of my best friends is a telepath." Wally pointed at himself. "Seems more like a pain in the neck than a blessing most of the time, though."

He hefted Grace. "So what did she do?"

Meaning Cinder.

"Well, we can't go into it--" Weiss lowered her voice--but of course she was terrible at keeping secrets. "--but one of the bandits who attacked us...she dispatched them."

"Whoa...wow." Wally turned somber. "That's heavy."

"This is bothering you?" Shine's classic response was to say something unexpected, of course.

"Not me," Weiss said. "But it seems to be bothering other people." Significantly.

"We all thought it was okay," Ruby said.

"I'm not so sure," Pyrrha spoke. "While I understand the reason, I had thought we swore off of that method. But I haven't had the heart to bring it up. Not sure it's my place."

Blake glanced at her. "You know, others of us have resorted to that method, Pyrrha."

"Oh...I...didn't remember that." Pyrrha hadn't really been there anyway. No one had except Yang.

Blake shivered. "I didn't like doing it, but I had to."

"Who does she mean?" Wally asked Shine.

Shine whispered, "Adam."

"Oh. I totally forgot that happened right after we arrived...dark."

"I didn't blame you for that." Shine looked up at Blake. "We've talked about it before. But I blame her even less if these bandits are as evil as you've said. It wasn't in revenge, I hope?"

"To save me," Weiss said. "But we can't go into the whole story...and there's a lot more disturbing parts to it."

"I see," Shine said. "Well, whatever happened, you all probably had no choice. I know you don't do things like that lightly."

"Wow, that actually means a lot that you have that much confidence in us," Neptune said.

"You weren't even there, Neptune," Mercury said.

"Neither were you," Neptune countered.

"So, it's bugging her?" Wally said. "I gotta say, not the person I expected."

"I have a guess as to why," Shine mused.

"But you two never resort to that," Pyrrha said. "Why are you okay with it?"

"I always told you it was up to you in certain cases," Shine said. "Remember? We had that rule because we can't make interferences that big, and while you are under our authority, that applies to you. I can't order you to do it...but if you must, I'd much rather you let them die than let them kill you. Let's remember who the good guys are."

"I'm not comfortable with it because of my League's rule," Wally said. "But I know that law enforcement has to make that call, and so does military, and I'm okay with it for them, and you guys are more that than superheroes. Not that you're not super." He winked, but then got serious again. "But it's your job. We can't expect you to fit our mold either."

"If you don't want to talk about it now, though, we don't have to." Shine recalled their words. "I'm sure we can later, if you want."

"Yeah, let's do that," Weiss said. "Raven probably wouldn't want us to focus on it anyway. We're trying to get our minds off it for a day."

"Come on, guys, let's throw down!" Yang yelled at them.

"Case in point," Ruby said. "Let's go. Come on, Oscar."

"Oh, me? Uh...sure," Oscar said.

[Lol, will he ever get it?]

https://youtu.be/PIf9GvWaxQQ

[Clean Bandit--"Symphony".... Come to think of it, Clean Bandit would be the perfect artist for Raven.]