RWBY Through Worlds (End)

232: No Cross to Bury

"So, when are you leaving?" Raven asked Shine bluntly while they were running her errands around the marketplace.

"Oh... that came out of nowhere," Shine winced.

"I like to be prepared," Raven said.

"I'm not sure yet... Soon, I suppose," Shine said vaguely.

"Is that it?" Raven seemed unusually subdued. "Forever?"

"Oh, no." Shine waved her hand. "I've visited my friends before.. .usually at big events, so it's not so apparent that a stranger shows up. People might talk, you know... unless I can get away with it. I'm sure Wally will agree with me that we'd have to check in. But it...well, it won't be the same."

"How often do you go?" Raven said.

"For me? It can be months or years," Shine said. "But for them, it's usually much longer. I find DJ portals tend to work like an expanding cone. You enter and exit from a narrower point of time in your own world than you come into the other in. Meaning that your time will move faster than ours. It's to prevent the strain on us of aging so many years for the job. It's been... probably at least 10 years for my first mission friends' world since I left them the first time... but that's not so bad, really. The time skips can be thousands of years, as you saw with Alicia, but for her it was... I think she told Oscar 5."

"Won't it be weird for you to see us get older like that then?" Raven said.

"I'm pretty used to it," Shine said. "But it is a little weird. But I wouldn't want to just not see you either. I'll miss you guys." She paused and mused. "I know we haven't been so easy to get along with. I am amazed how much time we spent arguing and in peril. Usually I have a bit more breathing room on missions... but even so, I loved every day of it. I enjoy doing this, even on the bad days. I hope you won't take that as flippant. I don't mean I enjoyed your problems, but... being a part of it... well, there's nothing like it. It's immersive. Wally felt it too. We just knew we were meant to do this. But you won't need us anymore now."

"I'm not one for sentimental speeches," Raven said, "but I would think that most of them would say that they still do need you. What are we supposed to do now? The world won't share our new beliefs or even our knowledge of the gods and their deception. We could end up right where we started... Even the gods said--"

"The gods were right," Shine said. "In one way."

Raven paused. "What do you mean?"

"It is true that other false gods will try to rise," Shine said. "Other movements of man too. Empires rise and fall, as the saying goes. It's how the world is. 'You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but the end is not yet.' It's the same where I live. History swings one way and the other. I find it fascinating to be caught up in it, but I can't change that. We must do what we can where we are. The gods were trying to get us to despair by pointing out the inevitable decline of mankind to evil again. But it's only half the truth. Mankind will always slide back into the light also. It is our job to keep it alive in the dark times so that there is a light for them to come back to. And to keep the flame alive while they are looking for it. Otherwise, we have truly failed. You see, the task of mankind is to keep the flame alive on this earth, not to keep the whole world in check. We can't. But there must be a map to follow. There must be someone to look to for answers." She glanced at her. "That is what we'll leave you with, our tools and gifts. You must use them the way you will. We can't tell you that part. We don't know it. All of this was just putting it in your hands. I've told you how little time we have."

"It's not hard on you to be that limited?" Raven asked.

"Was it hard on you?" Shine said. "You've been in our shoes."