RWBY Through Worlds

113: Never Welcome Here

Vara was finally persuaded to join them, very reluctantly.

Theo glanced at her, but wisely chose not to say anything right off.

"You're Sol?" Qrow looked at her.

Vara looked guilty and avoided eye contact. "Yeah..." she mumbled. "I'm sorry."

"Forget about that for now." Qrow wanted to ask her about Summer, but this was not the time, and he knew it.

He could just hear Winter saying there were higher priorities to focus on.

"You're Vara Sol?" Yang eyed her. "Not what I expected."

"I can't say you're exactly what I expected either," Vara said.

"Ahem," Pyrrha interjected before they could start a fight. "Vara, as I said, Oscar was hoping to get some help rescuing our friends."

"They're doomed," Vara and Theo said in unison and then glared at each other.

"You know, if I had known what you were planni--" Theo began.

"You'd what? Have KO-ed me again and shut me in one of those cells!?" Vara stood up, wind stirring up around her feet.

"At least that would be safer than your plan!" Theo said.

"Safer? You sicko!" Vara said, enraged. "At least I could make my own choice this way. And I wouldn't have to go around kidnapping people and experimenting on them!"

"Because forcing them to take those powers is so much better!" Theo said.

"Shut up before I fry you!" Vara cried.

"Hey, break it up!" Qrow got between them. "It's not the time for this. I thought you were concerned about fixing this situation."

They glared at him.

Then Vara sat back down, wincing at how hard the chair was.

Theo sighed and leaned on the wall, arms crossed.

"I was saying ," Oscar spoke nervously, "that since you know Victoria best, perhaps you could tell us if there's any way we could reason with her."

"Not much chance of that," Vara said flatly. 

"But does she have anything she cares about other than science?" Oscar said.

"Her son," Yang offered, looking at her list of things. "But he's not much help."

"Do not blame that boy," Vara said. "He's the victim here. He's never had any kind of normal life. He doesn't know any better. He's a sweet kid."

"Kip is a good kid," Theo agreed, sourly. "He wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Could have fooled us," Blake said.

"Well..." Yang sighed, "I admit, he didn't do that much, and he kinda helped us escape..."

"Yes," Hazel said. "I pity him."

"Then perhaps we could..." Oscar said. "But no, we can't ask a kid to get to her. That's not right."

"Is this the time to ask that?" Emerald said.

"Yes!" Several people glared at her.

"If Ruby was here," Blake said, "she'd say for sure that we shouldn't do that."

"I agree," Jaune said.

"Would he help us?" Pyrrha asked.

"What do you expect him to do?" Vara demanded. "He's there with her--she won't let him out. It's ridiculous to even ask what that poor kid can do, even if it sucks, though I would say rescuing him would be one of my priorities if we actually pulled this off, which we won't. But the odds of him helping us are about as good as of him walking through that door right now."