RWBY Through Worlds (End)

214: Alive

"I'm confused. I thought we were doing this," Jaune said when Shine told them.

"Salem isn't ready yet," Shine said. "As it is we have precious little time, but it will have to be enough. I must instruct her on what she should say to the gods when they show up. And all of you must be prepared also. Ozpin, is Oscar there?"

Ozpin winced. "Barely. The Relics are so near, I feel it even now."

"Well, he must pay attention also. He may be called upon to speak," Shine said.

"You sound like you're preparing us for a diplomatic meeting," Weiss said.

"I am," Shine said. "Listen carefully: It may not seem like it, but the spiritual world has rules, same as the physical. Authority works  in certain ways. We know the gods to be incompetent fools, but it will not do to address them as such. What is true and what is wise to say are two different things. It is important to be as well defended as possible from them. I don't know what they will do. They may give up easily, or they may drag it out. If it's the latter, it's critical that you all have nothing they can exploit that you know of."

"You don't think they'd try to curse us, do you?" Yang said.

"They might," Shine said.

Everyone stared at her.

"Don't have fear," Shine said. "You're with us. We will put you all under our protection. They can't curse us. We won't allow it. Some of you already have that protection also, but it's always good to go over it again, make it as strong as possible. That is what I want you all to do. Pray for each other. We've told you this many times--but most especially now."

"Are we just going to ignore Salem sitting right there?" Ruby asked. "Because... it's weird."

So it was.

They all kept trying not to look at her, and she had ignored them entirely except for Ozpin, but even he didn't interest her as much as before.

"I'm going to speak to her separately and then all of you together," Shine said. "But the hardest part perhaps is this: You will have to treat her as one of the team for now."

"What?!" Theo almost choked.

"Yeah, what?" Yang frowned.

Shine gave them a warning look.

"The gods must not have any excuse to further dismiss this world," she said. "They may try to change the rules if they can. Now, if Wally and I have to break up fights between you and Salem, we can't focus on the gods. No human can do everything. I'm asking a small enough thing in the long run. This is not about forgiveness, yet. It's about accepting that she is part of this final thing. Is it not worth it for ending this war?"

They looked down.

"Okay, fine," Theo said finally. "To end the war. We don't have to be talking nice to her."

"If you can't manage respect, then be silent." Shine rolled her eyes. "Now, I must go see if I can teach her anything of wisdom in the span of one hour. Wally, take it from here with them."

"Me?" Wally said.

"Of course you. Remember how we handled Darkseid and Luthor and all those others?" Shine said. "Just tell them what we did. We only have a short time to finish this up. And here." She handed him her notebook. "I wrote down some passages over time that I think will be useful."

"Just how long were you planning this?" Blake asked.

"This? Since I heard the story of Ozpin and Salem." Shine walked away.