Cinder was getting ready to leave with Emerald for Atlas when she overheard Emerald and Mercury talking in the hallway. She peaked at them through the crack in her bedroom door.
"Why did you come with us the night Cinder and I found you? What do you get out of all of this?" Emerald asked.
"I came because it seemed to make sense," Mercury shrugged. "The night you two found me, I had just fought my father to the death and had nowhere to go. I stay here because Salem has promised we'll be top dogs in her new world if we win this thing for her."
Cinder recalled Mercury sharing with them how his father had used his semblance to take his, and how their training sessions were really beatings. She hadn't really thought about the similarities in their pasts before- both had had to deal with abusive guardians, and Salem had been their salvation when they'd had nowhere else to turn to.
"Mercury, I think I want to leave," Emerald confessed.
"What?"
"Cinder is like family to me, and I can't trust Salem not to hurt her, so as long as Cinder's here, I'm here. But I don't want to be here anymore," she explained. "It no longer feels safe or right, the things that we're doing. I want to tell Cinder the same, but I don't know if she'll leave with us. I don't even know if she can leave Salem with that grimm arm."
"Emerald, now is not the time to have a crisis of identity," Mercury said, his voice taking on a pleading tone as he took both of Emerald's hands into his. "We're so close to what we set out to achieve. Salem is going to win this- she can't be stopped. I'm not going anywhere. I think I'm right where I'm supposed to be. And I want to be in that new world with you."
The two of them made eye contact for a long moment, and then Mercury kissed Emerald.
"Please, stay with me," he said afterward.
Cinder moved away from the door and thought back to the day she'd found Emerald. Emerald had been a homeless street thief, kicked out by her own mother and stepfather for rejecting their religion, Children of Light. Cinder had caught Emerald when she'd tried to steal her leaf brooch, felt sorry for her, and offered her a place to stay- Salem's castle. She'd told Emerald that Salem was going to bring about a better world. Although part of her had been using Emerald at the time, a part of her had genuinely believed she was helping her, and she had come to care deeply about her. But now, as her mind went back to Salem's threat to punish Emerald the next time she displeased her, Cinder found herself questioning whether or not she had really done what was best for her or Mercury. A part of her now wanted to get them away from Salem.
...
A significant amount of time passed, and team RWBY was eventually reunited with team JNPR along with an elderly woman named Maria Calavera- who happened to be the legendary silver-eyed huntress known as the Grimm Reaper- in tow. The girls recounted their tale of almost giving up on the mission when they had encountered apathy grimm along the way, and Ruby defeating them with the power of her silver eyes. Jaune was so relieved to see his other friends again. They were all staying in a private home the royal family owned in Argus.
Jaune stood beside Pyrrha's mother, Rouge Nikos, gazing at a gleaming golden statue that was built of Pyrrha. The woman had placed a boquet of red lilies beside her daughter's statue. They talked about Pyrrha, what she was like, what being a huntress had meant to her, and what kind of princess she would have been for Vale. Gathering his courage, Jaune asked for the advice he needed from the person who was most personally affected by the loss of Pyrrha.
"Do you think I should do it?" He asked. "Should I accept the invitation to kill Cinder in the Hunt as justice for Pyrrha?"
There was a long moment of silence before Rouge Nikos answered.
"True justice does not revel in the suffering of others. And The Hunt is all about reveling in another's suffering," she finally stated. "The truth of the matter is that none of the things that will be done to that girl will bring my daughter back. It's important that in seeking justice and punishing evildoers for their crimes that we do not lose our humanity ourselves."
...
A day later, Yang and Blake each pulled their parts of Gambol Shroud, Blake's weapon, from the body of Adam Taurus. Adam stumbled forward and fell over the edge of the mountainside, plummeting into the lake below.
He had cornered Blake and tried to kill them both, and now he was gone.
Yang watched her girlfriend drop to her knees and start crying. She trembled in Yang's arms. As she sobbed, Yang knew that Blake was mourning the man that Adam once was, before his descent into madness.
As Yang held Blake, she noticed a small device with a red light hovering above them. It was a hover camera. Were we being watched this whole time? Yang thought. She moved to get closer to it, but it quickly zipped farther and farther away from her until it was no longer in sight.
Later, on a stolen airship to Atlas, the girls recounted their experience to their friends.
Yang and Blake