RWBY Through Worlds

176: Passed By

"What if we could help?" Shine asked. "What if your Semblance wouldn't matter anymore?"

"You keep saying that," Qrow said.

"And why do you never believe it?" Shine asked.

Another question Qrow couldn't answer.

Suddenly, it kind of hit him what Shine was getting at by asking him.

He never even let those thoughts in... or tried to picture his life without his curse. And why? It was too new.

After a long pause that made Wally fidget like crazy, Qrow looked around and then said, "I guess I have no real life outside of being this way. I wouldn't even know where to start. So... I didn't think about it."

"That is actually an honest answer, finally," Wally said. "Only took us weeks to get here."

"Hey!" Qrow said. "Gloating is not a good look for you, Mr. Flash-Is-A-Hero-Name."

"I still don't get why you guys think it's so weird," Wally grumbled.

Shine didn't bother to answer that for him.

"Why not just let it happen?" she said to Qrow. "Be reborn--in our sense, which is not like Ozpin's."

"It's hard for me to think I even could be," Qrow said. "I guess even with your God and your powers, I think I'm just too screwed up. I've never really been on the straight and narrow path my entire life, properly. Even the things I thought I did right, they were wrong."

"Oh, I know. We've pointed it out a lot," Shine said. "But I never meant to imply that nothing you have done was ever right. Anyone can see that is not true. Most importantly of all, you really do love your family. Even if you were ungraceful about it, that is something very valuable... and it's more graceful than you think. Even poor Raven would acknowledge that."

"Yeah, well, I didn't do so well with her there either." Qrow's mind turned to that. "Maybe you were right about that. I didn't give her a chance. I schemed against her the same way she did with me--heck, I started it. How did I get so lost so fast?"

"There has to be some grace--Ozpin did mislead you," Shine said.

"But I'm not responsible for myself?" Qrow said. "I should have asked more questions. I shouldn't have done things that sounded wrong in the name of serving him for the greater good. You two can see it. Why couldn't I?"

"Wow," Wally said. "I feel like it's been months and you've never admitted that to us once."

"Wally, sore winner," Shine hissed.

"Sorry." Wally made a goofy face.

Honestly, their couple-ness was grating on Qrow's nerves, like rubbing salt in the wound.

"If it would help, Qrow," Shine said, "I'll let you know something that I hate thinking about, myself. But it must be said... Many atrocities have been done in the name of our Lord also. Of every god, I think. But ours too. Murder and slaughter and theft. People have been put to death who were innocent, spared who were guilty. Sold out just the way you guys sold out the Maidens."

"What?" Qrow said. "But I thought it was all about mercy and life."

"Qrow, I am going to say something that you need to listen to carefully and remember," Shine said, "because it will matter in the future, I guarantee it: No matter how perfect the machine, human error means it will be misoperated. Yes, God's revelation is pure, and it is flawless. But He pours it through these vessels that are broken, and we have biases. And God does not heal them all at the same time. It's true that anyone who truly knows Him, they will change. But what is also true is that anything can be treated like a fad. And the more you make something sound like it's normal, and common, the less you truly understand it. The more people who know of the truth, the more it's diluted. Because people are selfish, and they apply their own bias to the Word. Lewis called it the 'Christianity and--' mentality. Using God as a means to an end. You see, people have tried to obliterate other nations of people that they hated, because they made it out that God hated them also. They've enslaved people and used God as an excuse. But the truth is far deeper than that."