Mercury did his best to remain seated as the truck rattled along, traveling at speeds that were far beyond what could be considered a normal drive. His hands were bound behind him in a set of huntsman's cuffs, and the lower sections of his legs had been removed and placed underneath Nora's seat. He was soaked, freezing, annoyed, and terrified by the situation. The nature of the journey wasn't helping at all, nor was the rain pounding against the window glass at high speed. Another harsh bump in the road caused him to slam into the side of the door with a pained grunt.

"You tryin' to flip us over?" Mercury asked, doing his best to right himself without use of his arms or legs. "You're not going to be able to help your friends if you don't get there to begin with."

"Shut up," Nora snapped as she looked up from the scroll in her hand and over her shoulder into the back seat. "Just… shut up. This is partially your doing! If you hadn't helped them when Beacon fell…"

"Like you've never done something you regret," Mercury seethed.

"This goes beyond simple 'regret,'" Ren agreed. "And we'll get there safely. I need to focus…"

"Turn that thing off," Mercury warned as he craned his neck to look at his scroll as Nora flicked through it. "They can use it to track me. Do you really want to go up against whoever Salem sends to bring me back?"

"Like hell I will," Nora snapped. "Hazel and Tyrian are in range. Neopolitan isn't, for some reason…"

"I think she's trying to get out," Mercury replied as he shook his head. "I know Hazel's starting to question things, too…"

"And we're supposed to believe you on this?" Nora asked. "All of Salem's lot is just magically starting to realize what's going on, and you're not scheming something? You're part of the reason people died at Beacon. You're part of why we lost Pyrrha and Penny. I'm not listening to a word you say."

"Then don't blame me when Tyrian attacks the truck and ends up costing you valuable time," Mercury spat. "I don't even want to help you two- I just want to stay alive, and you're both making that harder."

Ren let out a weary sigh, catching Nora's attention.

"…turn it off. If he's actually being truthful, we don't need to be ambushed from behind. We're almost there…"

Nora scoffed and rolled her eyes as she pressed a button on the side of the door to lower the window.

"I'll do you one better."

Without warning, the young woman chucked the scroll out of the opening, letting it fly off into the forest to parts unknown.

"…great. Thanks," Mercury said. "Glad to see 'the heroes' are such reasonable people…"

"Compared to you? We're saints," Nora replied.

"Nora…" Ren began as the truck came around the final bend on the way to the resort.

"Don't start, Ren," Nora warned. "And get your head in the game. We need to be ready f-…"

The truck screeched to a stop as Ren slammed on the brakes. Where the hotel should have been was nothing but rubble strewn out over the parking lot and flakes of ash lazily floating through the air. Not a single sign of life was in the area, and the place was entirely devoid of grimm.

"No…" Nora said in a near whisper.

"…it's… gone," Ren said solemnly as he popped open the door of the vehicle. "Stay with the truck and Mercury. I'll go…"

"Ren!" Nora said as she gripped her friend's arm. "You are not going in th-"

"I can cloak myself," Ren interrupted. "It isn't safe for both of us to go, and we can't leave him alone. Get in the driver's seat, and if something goes wrong… you get out as fast as you can."

"Damn it," Nora cursed as Ren slipped from her grasp. "Fine, but just… just look for anything that can tell us what happened and get back here. Be quick."

"I will," Ren assured as he slipped out of the vehicle and drew his weapons. "If I see anything hostile, I'll run back."

Nora was quick to shuffle over the arm rest and into the driver's seat. She took up Magnhild and leaned out the window, aiming out over the desecrated parking lot while sweeping the weapon from side to side. Even so, she kept her eyes fixed on Ren, who had faded to a muted shade of grey with his Semblance.

"…it wasn't like this an hour ago…" Mercury said softly. "Everyone was here, getting ready to fight…"

"Yeah, well, it looks like they did," Nora let on. "They must have escaped. "Raven must have taken them… somewhere. Kuo Kuana, Atlas, I don't know…"

"Wishful thinking," Mercury commented. "There's no way, with what was coming."

"…what's that supposed to mean?" Nora asked as she leaned back into the cab of the truck.

"Not that long ago, Neo and I were down in the basement. Heard some shit late at night. The entire lower level was just… covered in grimm. Deeper below, we found a… I don't even know what to call it. A projection? Manifestation? Salem herself showed up, and nearly killed Neo. I had to step in. Right before I ran out tonight, there was some kind of chrysalis forming in the hotel. Either she was forming some kind of super-grimm in preparation for you and yours, or… it was her. There's a good chance Salem did this."

"…I don't believe you," Nora replied with a shake of her head. "Ruby would've called. She would've said something if…"

"Nora!" Ren called from atop a section of rubble.

The girl hesitated only a moment before grabbing one of Mercury's legs from below the passenger seat and hopping out of the vehicle.

"Oh, for the love of… really!?" Mercury called behind her.

Nora didn't bother to look back as she broke into a run, Magnhild in one hand and the metallic leg in the other. Ren stood waiting for her, perched upon a brick and with a large blade in his hand. As soon as Nora understood what she was looking at, she dropped Mercury's leg and put a hand up to her mouth. The charred, warped steel arc was attached to a damaged red frame, forming the detached blade of Crescent Rose.

"…you… y-you don't think Ruby's…?" Nora began, unable to bring herself to finish the sentence.

"…I don't know," Ren said solemnly. "But… it doesn't look good. "There's something else you should see, too…"

Nora silently accepted the blade and followed Ren's pointing finger. After cresting a small mound of rubble, she found a crater within the detritus that was coated with slick, black grimm matter. Down in the middle was the tough shell of some sort of cocoon with deep red veins reaching down into the destroyed remains of the building. The structure seemed as though it had recently ruptured, and whatever was inside of it had escaped only a short while before Nora had arrived.

"…you can't use magic?" Qrow asked. "You could use magic before?"

"I could," Oscar confirmed as he folded his hands before himself. "I had stockpiled the magical power from my first life, as part of the first iteration of humanity, within my cane. That cane is now lost to us, and likely utterly destroyed. I used some of that magic to keep Mr. Alistair alive, but now… all that I have now is Oscar's natural semblance, which is yet to be discovered."

"Fuckin' sick," Coco commented with a roll of her eyes. "So, let me guess- all that freaky rainbow shit Salem was doing was magic? Actual, raw magic that we can't compete with using dust?"

"You are correct, Miss Adel," Oscar confirmed. "The only other 'magic' that still exists would be that of silver eyes… though Miss Rose's are not yet strong enough to affect Salem. They may never be."

"Don't tell me that," Ruby warned. "They will be, and I'm going to be the one who handles her. No one else is getting hurt. No one else is going to die because you set us up to fail… and that includes Oscar. I heard what Salem said- whatever spell you were planning to cast was going to kill him. Is that how you see Oscar? He's just your vessel? Why don't you let him speak, and hear what he has to say about that."

"That… would not be wise," Oscar warned. "Letting him take control back would end badly. Had I been allowed to carry out my plan, you would still have Crescent Rose, and we would still be in Sanus, where w-"

"Fuck your plan!" Ruby seethed, causing everyone assembled around the ledge to wince in surprise. "I'm tired of hearing from you! Now, you listen to me. All of you are going to listen to me and hear what I have to say. I've been manipulated since day one, and I'm sick of it. I know you're keeping even more from us, and I know it's going to come back to hurt us later!"

"Listen to yourself," Qrow cut in as he put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Your first instinct upon hearing that we're at a disadvantage is to say you're going to take matters into your own hands and stop putting faith in others? That sounds like something one of your teammates did not too long ago that ended up causing her a lot of problems. She grew out of that mindset, and you should, too."

Ruby clenched her jaw and gave her uncle a hard stare. When he refused to blink, she instead looked to Cardin, who stood with his arms folded over his uncovered chest. Nasty scarring from his burns was partially visible beneath his limbs, trailing down toward his navel and up one side of his neck. The flesh was still red and looked incredibly sore and swollen, especially within the frigid air. Ruby then refocused to Fox, whose shirt was stained black with dried blood. The boy's breathing was labored as he held on to Coco, and his knees were shaking slightly.

"…I'm not doing what Blake did," Ruby said slowly. "I'm not relying only on myself and pushing all of you away. I'm just… I'm putting myself into the firing line because I have to, thanks to these stupid eyes. Maybe I stepped over the line, but I still think Raven should be the one calling the shots from here on out. I don't want to be the one in charge, but I will be if I have to be."

"You aren't going to like what I have to say if I do," Raven cautioned. "But if that's how everyone else feels, I can try."

"We need to have a discussion about how to proceed," Taiyang offered. "But… we also don't have time for that discussion, with everything going on."

"No, we don't," Ruby agreed. "We can't stay out here in the cold. We don't have the equipment to last through the night, and we need to get Fox and Cardin medical attention. I… where are Blake and the others staying?"

"I don't know," Qrow admitted. "And signals are all being jammed. Something's going on in Argus that's preventing me from being able to contact them. There might be medical supplies down there. The hospital might still be standing. We could… look for shelter on the outskirts, try to find a place to stay while hiding from grimm…"

"If we are found, we would be unable to hold the position," Oscar considered. "Finding Blake is also off the table, if they really are 'a few hours' behind us. We need to take immediate action."

Raven took a deep breath and shook her head from side to side as she folded her arms over her chest.

"Then I see only one path forward. If you want me to make the call, Ruby, then I will… but it isn't going to be pleasant or easy, and I don't want to hear any complaints. We're going to have to take a risk to save Fox and Cardin. One that could potentially get us all killed."

Author's Note:

Raven thinks they should all kiss.

Next week- Sun & Cin's scene concludes before we start the wrap-up of the night. Finally. After like 20 chapters. Christ.

-RD