[Theme song AMV by Batman FanGurl--and was the first time I heard this song. It's awesome.]

Winter kept a close eye on Weiss as they kept going.

Both her and Meridian seemed to grow more peevish with time, and his Semblance did nothing to help, from the look of it.

But there was no outright loss of control.

Winter wondered if they'd overreacted.

But Qrow was still uneasy, especially since they hadn't found anyone else yet.

"I just can't believe they all wouldn't have gotten this far if we did. There were only 4 of us--the odds weren't in our favor," he said.

At least he was talking about numbers and not his Semblance.

"Plus, with my Semblance--" Qrow said, more from habit.

"One more word," Winter warned.

"Okay, but get real, it can't be helping," Qrow said.

"I fail to see how bad luck would make us lost," Winter said, "or how good luck would magically arrange a pathway through this maze. And since you seem to be the least affected by these Grimm, it really doesn't have any bearing on this conservation."

"About that, I can't figure that part out," Qrow said. "They feed off weaknesses, right? There's no way I'm immune to that. But none of them got me completely except the Deimos, and that wasn't just the mind..."

Humility? How disarming.

Winter reminded herself not to say that outloud.

Aloud, she said with a shrug, "Perhaps higher Aura? Schnees don't have that, unfortunately, not inherently. Hazel has also been less affected, and he regenerates fast."

"I guess that could be it," Qrow said thoughtfully. "Hmrf... you're worried about succumbing?"

Winter had hoped it wasn't that obvious.

"Well, after before, I wonder..." she said.

"That doesn't make you a worse person." Qrow seemed to read her mind. "Just seems to depend on other factors... and then, there's the magic..."

"Magic?"

"Well, the Grimm have been after the Maidens as well as the Relics. With all we've learned about them, I wonder if the magic itself makes it worse... I do have the least of it."

Not a pleasant thought.

"But it's also a boost to Aura," Winter said. "Though... that seemed not to help Cinder at all."

"I don't know, it's just a thought."

Winter looked at her hands. "I look forward to this finally being gone."

Qrow looked like he wanted to say something else--and not something upbeat--but before he could decide to do it, Weiss interrupted them.

"Are we getting anywhere yet?" she said. "I'm tired."

She was working Winter's last nerve with this whining--especially since it was just not like Weiss and she wanted to slap her and snap her out of it.

[It's cute that Winter actually thinks that whining is not something Weiss does naturally. But I guess Weiss is usually on her best behavior around Winter.]

Qrow sighed and flew upward to try to get an idea of where they were going.

Winter didn't like to say it, but she was tired also... more so than she'd been in general.

"I don't want to go any farther without rest," Meridian agreed with Weiss. Though she gave him a salty look.

Winter was on the point of yelling at both of them, but suddenly she noticed something.

"Quiet." She held up her hand.

"Winter--" Weiss began.

"I said quiet!" Winter snapped in a different tone.

One she'd regret using later, but she was too distracted to care.

Weiss was surprised enough to be quiet.

There it was... an odd humming sound, almost melodic but not quite like music.

Somehow, though it made no sense logically, it sounded the way the false sunlight looked. Soothing, reassuring, but... not entirely real.

"What is that?" Meridian apparently heard it also. "That music?"

"I don't think it's music," Winter said slowly. "I'm not sure what it is."

["UNDER MY SPELL" (MLP). This song from Equestria Girls is not one I expected to find actually unsettling, but my sister made me listen to it, and I was shocked that it's pretty effective. Who knew? ]

The longer the sound went on, the less jarring it seemed.

Then it stopped sounding like humming. It was more like a song or a chant.

Winter didn't realize she'd been standing still, listening, for at least a full 2 minutes, till Qrow flew down and startled them all.

"What are you all doing?" he asked.

"Shh," Meridian said. "I'm trying to listen."

"Listen to what?" Qrow tilted his head, and he heard something. "What is that?"

"Hush." Weiss held up her hand. "I think we should follow it."

"Follow it?" Qrow said.

"It's coming from outside this blasted maze," Meridian agreed. "Might finally take us out of here."

"Come on." Weiss turned around one rock and started to hurry with more energy than she'd shown all day.

Meridian was right behind her. Soon he outpaced her.

"Hey, not fair," she cried. "I heard it first!"

"You snooze, you lose, Lassie," Meridian called.

Winter moved to follow them, and Qrow grabbed her arm.

"What are they doing?" he said.

"Stop it." Winter tried to tug free. "They're going to get ahead of us."

Qrow frowned. "Fine, but this isn't right. Something about that sound is off."

"At first, but once you get accustomed to it, it's actually rather pleasant," Winter said.

"Winter..." Qrow gave her a long look. 

Her pupils were dilating...

[Sometimes pupils dilate with high emotion and more sensory exposure.]

In this bright light, they shouldn't have that much.

"Right, I'm going to say that this is probably not a good sign," Qrow said.

But his voice sounded odd to him, far away. Like the sound was making its way into his brain and making it hard to think.

[And just to round out our creepy but alluring songs list, "Sirens" from the Sinbad OST. This was also suggested. Anyone care to vote on which song fit the theme best? I really can't pick, honestly.]

Winter followed the other two, and Qrow didn't stop her. It felt as heavy as lead to even try to pull away from the sound.

But following them, it was light as a feather, and he would know.

Something in his head said this wasn't right, that it didn't make sense, but that voice was getting fainter every moment.

* * *

Yang and Neptune (who'd not said a thing to her in several minutes), were struggling to get Raven to walk away from the river.

"Looking at the river," Yang said, "we have to be close to the far shore... How did we come this far in just one day without the glyphs? But I don't know if we're near the head or not. Really could use a bird's eye view!"

She gave Raven a jerk.

Raven looked at her sleepily.

"Why is she acting like this?" Neptune did not make eye contact with Yang. "We're fine now."

"I'm not good at this analysis crap," Yang said tightly, "but all I remember of what the others said means either a natural weakness to whatever is causing this or maybe her magic is making her weaker. I've got nothing else. I mean, why did the horse things go for us and just leave her there?"

"Salem wouldn't want to destroy her," Neptune said, "maybe, if she wanted the magic powers back. Just in case."

"Yeah, that could be it." Yang wasn't at all embarrassed and was actually finding his shyness kind of amusing--though slightly insulting. "Anyway, it's like she's been drugged."

"I wonder if using our Semblances also made our Auras spike a little more." Neptune glanced back. "...but how long will that last? I don't get it, though, other than that. Grimm don't make people calmer. And this isn't at all like that Apathy feeling. Not that I really know, but it didn't sound like it."

"I would know, and no, it's not like that," Yang agreed.

If anything, she felt more wired than usual.

"Can we stop now?" Raven asked.

"No!" Yang said. "Are you really going to let Salem get the best of you like this? Snap out of it."

That had some slight effect. Raven stood up a bit more.

"I feel awful," she said, a bit more clearly. "The smell... the air, it's so thick."

"I do smell something, now that you mention it," Neptune said. "But it's not a nice smell--like something rotting."

"Hmm, I thought that was just the Grimm soil." Yang frowned.

"I didn't notice it before," Neptune said.

Yang looked a bit angry. "I don't like that at all, then." She made a fist. "Like a Grimm pot... And why do I feel like it has to do with this weird sunlight we're in?"

"Yeah... uh, I feel like the sun should have moved by now," Neptune said. "That's not really the sun, is it?"

"Maybe it's magic also." Raven had her eyes half closed. "Magic would be good..."

She started to sink down.

"Mom, will you quit it!" Yang iasd.

Unfortunately, in the next minute she got her wish far more than she wanted.

A strange sound drifted into their ears. Humming, pulsing...

Raven's eyes flickered open, and they looked too big.

"Magic!" she said. "Yes, more!"

"More what?" Neptune said.

Raven yanked out of their grasp, because they weren't ready for her to actually use force, and rose into the air. Then she flew northward.

"And we just lost her." Yang threw her good hand up.

"We can't catch her!" Neptune said.

"Just don't let her out of your sight." Yang took off running. She felt tired though.

Neptune did also.

They chased Raven for at least 10 minutes, with her getting far away from them, but then suddenly she dipped down, and the land sloped upward--or it had been for some time.

It became more rocky, with rocks going up like hoodoos.

Which Neptune apparently knew. Yang had no idea what he was talking about.

They reached the edge of a ridge when they saw something that made them both stop and gasp.

* * *

"We're losing time," Ren said, as their group tried to find their way out of the rock spires.

Grimm were tailing them now.

"I know!" Emerald snapped.

"Hang in there, Sun." Blake had his hand, though Hazel was still carrying him like a potato sack. "Please... Guys, he looks worse."

"How long before we call it?" Mercury said in a low voice to Emerald. "We all know we're not going to find anyone before he's too far gone, if he's not already."

"Mercury, can you try to have a little compassion for once?" Emerald hissed.

Mercury scowled at her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that," she said hastily. "It's... it's just..." She looked down. "Look, Sun's never really treated us any different. Mostly that's because he's an idiot, but he's a good guy... He deserves better than this."

Mercury sighed and put a hand on her shoulder, to her surprise.

"Look," he said sullenly. "Out of this group, I guess he does get on my nerves the least out of most of them. But we're slowing ourselves down, and if it's too late for him, do you want someone else to be next?"

"We... we just have to keep trying," Emerald said shakily. "Come on, look at Blake--she'd just stay with him if we ditched him."

"Yeah, people are so weird," Mercury said.

"It's called love, Mercury," Emerald said.

"Fine, call it what you want, but it'll get her killed too if she acts stupid because of it," Mercury said.

Emerald sighed.

"Wait." Nora, who'd finally come more to her senses a few minutes ago and began to look ahead faster than any of them, said, "I think I see a break in the landscape."

She was right. It soon opened out more into another flat shape... and they saw water not that far away. It was just a shimmering line right now, but it was water.

"And we all see that, right?" Mercury said.

"I see it," Emerald said.

"We can't be at the head of the dragon yet," Hazel said. "It's not been enough time... but there is a bay below it... It's possible we veered southwest and came to that instead."

"It looks kind of bumpy," Ren said. "Are there caves?"

"Maybe some of us could wait there." Blake looked up. "With Sun, so he doesn't have to keep moving, and then the rest of us could look for anyone else. Maybe they made it this far and are hiding in one of the caves."

A ridiculously long shot, but no one wanted to say that to her, even Mercury.

"All right." Hazel supposed if it was in the vein of getting them under cover, he should humor this. "But Grimm will probably attack us, so be ready."

Blake pulled out her weapons and nodded.

Everyone else held theirs up.

Hazel wasn't wrong. The Grimm that had been tailing them got closer once they saw their prey nearing possible escape and picked up the pace.

They held them off and ran into the empty space... but there was a strange quality to the ground.

It felt almost... squishy?

Emerald thought that it might be mud instead of the same disgusting soil they'd seen, so if it as was... why was it wet? The ocean? Or more Grimm juice?"

"What is with this area?" Mercury noticed it too. It stuck to his metal feet.

He stomped on it.

And it moved. The ground itself twitched.

"Uh... did you see that?" he asked.

"I was really hoping it was my imagination," Emerald said.

"What?" Ren looked back.

"Hurry!" Nora urged them.

The ground twitched again, and they all felt it.

"What is that?" Blake asked.

Hazel looked around. "I don't know..."

The ground suddenly rose up under them like a piece of rubber unrolling itself, and they all fell over. It didn't feel like hitting rock, either. It jerked, and they all slid to the left until they were falling off it onto actually hard ground.

"OW!" Emerald gasped, nearly dashing her head on a rock.

Ren wasn't so lucky--he did hit a rock and blacked out.

"Ren!" Nora grabbed him. "Ren? Wake up!"

The piece of ground was hovering over their heads... It looked a lot like a finn, the way it was shaped.

"That... that's Grimm," Hazel said after a moment of being too dumbfounded.

"Run, get out," Mercury said.

They ran, dragging Ren with them.

The shifting creature made black dust scatter everywhere.

The humming that they heard this whole time got worse now... It filled their heads, making them swim.

* * *

"What is that?" Vara suddenly said.

"It looks... like it's been destroyed," Theo said.

They ran forward.

"What has?" Shine saw nothing but wasteland.

"Is that... the castle?" Wally asked suddenly. "With Salem?"

"No way," Jaune said.

They all charged forward.

"Cindy," Shine said, "if you tell me you see something here, I'm going to scream."

"I see absolutely nothing," Cinder said.

"Okay... I still might scream," Shine said. "What do they all see?"

"Well, you might not like this since it's probably some power-mad fantasy of mine," Cinder said, "but it would seem Salen's suggesting that she already lost? I see nothing at all there, but perhaps they see the end of this stupid quest."

"That makes no sense because of one thing--I want that also," Shine said. "And you certainly do."

"But you want to talk Salem out of her destructive plan," Cinder said. "And I want to destroy her myself. I would hardly be satisfied if she just disappeared, and neither would you."

Shine looked at her in surprise.

"I'm not that unobservant." Cinder frowned at her. "Which of us have you actually tried to destroy? Is Salem any different to you? You propose that she's only human under the Grimm."

"I'm not sure if I'm more shocked that you'd even voice that or that you'd figure out that I have no wish to destroy her," Shine said.

"Her being weaker suits my purpose anyway," Cinder said. 

"Hmm, it's like we agree on paper but in practice couldn't be more different," Shine said.

"The point is, some delusion about her death wouldn't be appealing to either of us," Cinder said. "Also, I'm well aware of Emerald's mental tricks. This seems much the same."

 "I'm never affected by those kinds of  hallucinations. My mind just tends to gets confused the more something tries to pry into it, but I don't see things."

Her eyes suddenly lit up gold.

"You're doing that eye thing," Cinder informed her. "What does that mean?"

"It means usually that I'm unaware of some danger that I don't know but my gifts are already activating," Shine said. "But the problem is... Wally appears to be affected."

All of them were running.

"So he is an idiot," Cinder said.

She got a warning look.

"His world has more of these mind games than mine, thus far, anyway," Shine explained coolly. "Unfortunately, your built-in strength can also be a weakness. I think Salem would have told you that. She would know. The same things that give her power also eat away her life. I can't just stab the ground again." 

"What is that anyway?"

"Staking a claim. Like when you raise a banner. But, I'd need Wally's help. I could pass out again if I try it... Ugh..." She rubbed her forehead. "I can't imagine what they're even going toward, though.."

Cinder looked at the false sun.

"Is there something behind that?" she said. "I keep thinking I see it, but then it's gone."

"Yeah, I have also--" Shine suddenly looked up. "You said my eyes were lit up... I wonder..."

She closed her eyes and said, "Show me, show me the truth, please... Lord, open our eyes."

Whether she had any effect or not it was unclear, but what happened next implied it.

Because it was as if the sun in the sky got dark for a moment, that made no sense, really, as it didn't seem to move. It was like a hand had covered its light partially.

But suddenly all of them saw by the light a huge shape... black and white, like the Grimm, but not shaped like anything they'd ever seen.

Well... anything most of them had ever seen.

"What... what is that?" Cinder gaped.

The thing was vaguely fish-like in the back. It had scale-like skin, though it was still a Grimm, and what looked like two fins that went on either side, laying almost flat so they blended in with the rocky landscape.

But its face was like some horrifying bug crossed with a fish.

Huge round eyes that stuck out of its face like bowling balls. No real vision seemed to be in them.

And huge teeth that were the size of trees coming out and under its mouth like a very ugly dog's might.