RWBY Through Worlds

52: The Hour is Nigh

The third day dawned as hot and dry as the previous two.

Shine realized that Neo had never returned and wondered if she'd driven her off. It was not her intention to do so. But then, if she had been, she had not been that committed to her request after all. Would the woman fall back on revenge rather than humbling herself so far?

She wasn't sure.

She got ready... She had the strange feeling she'd had an odd dream last night. It had mostly faded now, but she thought she'd seen the fallen teammates...and some strange environment around them... Could it have been a vision?

Shine didn't get visions usually while she was awake, but her link with worlds sometimes worked while she was asleep, giving her small glimpses of events.

Was it a hint that they might return? Or that they needed help?

Whatever the case, she was troubled and kept praying in her head all throughout the morning.

Wally was more chipper after a good night's sleep and more his usual self. He even got breakfast ready for everyone--the school's cooking staff was gone, and the teams all got their own meals.

The kids doubted his culinary skills but were surprised. While it was nothing elaborate, it was edible.

Team CVFY was around this morning. Mostly they ignored the others, but Velvet was making friends with Oscar because she thought he was just too adorable! She also wanted to take a picture of his cane, for some reason. [Can't see how that one would be helpful to her, but guess she's thorough.]

"And coffee for the coffee queen." Wally handed Shine her mug. ☕👑

"Thanks." She kissed his cheek.

A lot of the teens looked way jealous of their open affection.

Winter was up, Shine learned, and out on the field, though she shouldn't have been with any common sense.

"But at the same time," Willow commented, "there is no one else to take charge. I do not understand why Theodore is not helping us."

"The embargo really made people angry," Velvet spoke up sadly. "Theodore was furious with the General over it. He said he abandoned his own friends in favor of safety. In Vacuo, you don't do that."

"Still, it's no time to be petty." Coco sipped her own coffee coolly.

"What do we do about him?" Wally asked Shine in a lower voice. "Are we supposed to fix that?"

"If we could help him, I'm sure we should," Shine said. "It's easy to assume that he's doing this for petty reasons, but somehow he struck me as not the sort."

"I know, right? He didn't seem like such a rat," Wally said. "But didn't we kind of know he was off even before? How can he be a good guy?"

"While Truth is always true, Wally, it is not always simple," Shine said. "I want to know what the truth is before I do anything. But I do not know if our allies, such as they are, will cooperate. I hate to focus on myself, but losing Pyrrha and Jaune weakened our group of people who we can rely on also. I don't trust the others very much. Even Ruby was showing some more promise right before, and I had hope that Blake and her were coming around. Now that's been halted, for who knows how long. We cannot do that much if we are not trusted to help... What galls me is that we have done nothing wrong, and we get less confidence than General Jump-The-Gun."

"Ooh, I like that one," Wally said. "But you're so right. Even Hazel was all like, 'You don't think for yourself, Flash.' Like I haven't heard that one before."