Tuesday, May 29th

"Alright jerkwad, talk."

Yang was sitting on a wooden chair backwards, and Mercury could see his reflection in her aviator sunglasses. Yang's room was dimly lit by the morning light streaming through the window, and Mercury was handcuffed to the bed's headboard. A small plate sat on a bedside table, the food completely untouched. Mercury let out a deep breath and pretended to ignore his interrogator.

"Look, it's clear your friends aren't comin' for you." Yang gestured around the room. "And we're gonna take 'em out no matter what you say." She emphasized this point by pounding her fist into her open palm. "So if you talk, you'll make things much easier on you."

"You think you can take them out, huh?" Mercury chuckled lightly, looking lazily out the window. His body seemed… drained. His skin was more pale than usual, and was pulled tight against his bones. The fact that he hadn't eaten since they captured him didn't help, but he was looking rough by the time he was about to inject more dust into his bloodstream anyway.

Yang had been warned about this – overdosing on Dust could cause serious side effects. She believed the reason the food was left alone wasn't because he thought it was suspect – but because the drug had severely reduced his appetite.

"Well, after how easy we took out you and the other one, I'm pretty sure we can." Yang rolled her shoulders. "It wasn't even difficult.

Mercury's eyes went wide. "Wait, Emerald!" his gaze darted around the room. "Where is she?" He struggled slightly against his constraints as he rose his voice to something other than an disinterested sneer for the first time since his capture.

Yang was slightly taken aback. She took a moment to regain her composure, and grinned to herself. "Well, I guess if you can't cooperate, you'll never find out." She stood up and made for the door.

"Wait." Mercury narrowed his eyes at Yang from the bed. "I'll talk."

"How was your visit to the velvet room?" Pyrrha sipped gently at her tea as she glanced up at Jaune from across the couch. Blake was sitting across from them, writing something in her notebook and glancing over at her textbook. Ruby and Weiss were at their classes, leaving the three, Yang, and Penny to watch over their prisoner in shifts.

"Well…" Jaune massaged his head. "I talked to Ozpin, and… it doesn't add up. At least, I don't think it does. Oz thinks that Raven is doing it to stop everyone from suffering. I just… don't think that makes a lot of sense. How does summoning a giant evil serpent stop everyone from suffering?"

Blake glanced over her notebook. "From what I understand, she's been through quite a lot. It may be that her trauma is causing her to act in an irrational manner." Blake shrugged. "Sometimes, misery just wants company."

"Well, yeah, but to the point of ending the world?" Jaune scratched his head. "She used to be like us. Fighting shadows and exploring Muspell with Qrow. Why the sudden urge to bring it all to the ground?"

"Maybe she got frustrated." Blake drew a line through something in her notebook and turned the page. "It's a lot of work, what we do. It's only because there are so many of us that we've gotten this far. Imagine if there were half of us."

Pyrrha nodded in agreement, gently returning her teacup to the coffee table. "While she did have her brother fighting alongside her, she didn't have nearly as much support as we do." Pyrrha smiled up to Blake and Jaune. "I for one am thankful to count so many as my allies."

Penny walked into view, looking over the seated hunters. Not finding her apparent quarry, she gave a small wave. "Greetings. I see that Yang is not with you. I shall go find her." She marched upstairs in a not-quite-organic fashion.

"… as strange as some may be." Pyrrha chuckled as she watched Penny leave the room. Jaune chuckled with her, and even Blake joined in.

After the laughter died down, Jaune let out a deep sigh. "Oz also seems to think we're near the end." He stretched his neck back, looking up at the ceiling. "Which makes sense, I guess. We defeated three of the Salem goons, we've fought who knows how many shadows…" Jaune leaned forward in his seat. "We just have to finish them off and finish the rest of Muspell."

"The end, huh?" Blake had a thoughtful look on her face. "I almost can't picture it. This has been such a big part of my life since you rescued me from Adam."

"That seems like forever ago now, doesn't it?" Pyrrha said, looking over to Jaune. "Back when we were still just learning how to cooperate."

"Before I had La Pucelle…" Jaune said, looking at the back of his hand.

"Before I had Freya, even." Blake said, smiling into the air. "I'm just glad she's part of me now."

"I agree. I can hardly imagine life without Baldr." Pyrrha said, eyes closed. "These parts of us have grown as we have. Maybe not in as drastic a way as some of our allies' Personas have grown, but grow they still have."

A brief silence followed, punctuated by the sound of Yang descending the stairs with a wide smile on her face. "Alright gang, I've got some great news." She stretched her hands over her head. "The rest of Muspell is gonna be a breeze." A small silver chain dangled from her wrist, holding a glowing gem that seemed to sparkle with every color of the rainbow in the light of the room.

"W-woah." Jaune, Blake, and Pyrrha all moved over to Yang to inspect the stone. Jaune poked it with his finger, and it dangled in the air. "What is it?"

"It is a translocation device that will allow us to move through Muspell at a much more rapid pace." Penny said. Seeing the confused look on Jaune's face, she rephrased. "It will teleport us."

"My, that's convenient." Pyrrha said, looking the gem over. "Is this what Salem used to vanish when we encountered them?"

"It would seem so." Blake looked it over. "How does it work?"

"We have to be in Muspell, but…" Yang snatched Jaune's wrist and put the amulet in his hands. "Once we're there, you just have to focus on where you want to go, and it'll take us there. Mercury called it the Bifrost."

"The rainbow bridge…" Pyrrha nodded to herself. "A shortcut through Muspell."

"That seems easy enough." Jaune rubbed his forefinger over the gem. "So once we reach the end… we just have to stop them from summoning Jormangandr and we're done."

Yang nodded. "Just be careful. Mercury said that it's super draining to use. Everyone in Salem has one in case of emergency, but they have to be careful or you'll find yourself weakened and staring down a bunch of hungry shadows."

"Speaking of Mercury," Blake said, looking the group over as Jaune pocketed the gem. "What are we doing with him?"

"Oh yeah, I guess I hadn't thought of that…" Jaune looked at Pyrrha and Yang, who both shrugged.

"Perhaps someone from the Schnee company could collect them." Penny added helpfully. "They may be interested to see what the Dust has done to a subject. They may even have the tools to help fight his addiction to the substance."

"That's… actually not a bad idea." Blake said, looking the others over. "I still don't trust Schnee, but it's better than turning him over to the cops and admitting we kidnapped someone and tied them up in a room for days on end."

"True." Pyrrha said. "I'll contact Weiss and see if she has any ideas on the specifics."

The hunters all nodded to each other and went about their day - distracted by thoughts of endings, and what waited on the other side of those endings.

"Compromised." Raven sighed, massaging her temple with her hand. Emerald was on her hands and knees behind her, breathing deeply as her body shook. Her eyes were wide, and she seemed to be struggling to keep herself off of the floor. "And I'm only finding out about it now… why?"They stood in a large marble chamber punctuated by golden columns. A large, unoccupied golden throne sat to the rear of the room. A huge set of golden double doors stretched to the heavens next to them.

"I had to hide from the shadows." Emerald said, gulping down breath. "I couldn't use Bifrost after using Utgardaloki to make them fight each other so long…." She took a few deep breaths. When no one spoke up, she continued. "I couldn't fight them alone."

"First Adam, then Mercury." Raven looked at her open palm and clenched it into a fist. "Why can no one just do as they're told?"

Cinder stood next to Raven, looking at Emerald with a mix of concern and pity. "So we lost Mercury… but we should be able to proceed as planned." She gave Raven a meaningful look.

"B-but… if they got his gem." Emerald clenched her teeth, the pain evident on her face. "It will only be a matter of time before they show up to stop us…"

"Precisely." Cinder said with a smile. "Which means instead of transporting the guardians outside of Muspell…"

"We just have to gather the remaining ones together for those idiots to defeat." Raven chuckled to herself. "They'll do the last of it for us, and then…"

Cinder finished for her. "And then the power of the serpent will be yours."

"Well, lets get to work, then." Raven said, rolling her right shoulder. "We wouldn't want the little brats to show up before we're ready." She pushed at the golden doors, which swung open. Leading up to the door, a giant column of rainbow light stretched out into an endless abyss. She stepped onto the rainbow colored light and vanished. Cinder turned to Emerald with a gentle look on her face before following suit. The door came to a thudding close after their exit, leaving Emerald alone in the massive, empty room. She collapsed onto the floor and huddled herself close, shaking from the cold and the exhaustion before closing her eyes.