SAPR

by Scipio Smith

Prologue II: Scattered Points of Light

The sky was red without the halls of Salem, and that same reddish light overwhelmed the candles burning in the hall to cast the room in crimson shades.
Salem sat at the head of the long table, a table fashioned out of wood but layered with amethyst, so that it had a purple surface on which to lay her hands. Her throne, grown out of living crystal, sat at the head of the table, while six chairs rough hewn and bound out of crude wood by obedient beringels lined the table.
At present, only four of those chairs were filled. That would have to be rectified.
“Spring, Summer, Winter,” Salem murmured. “We must fill these seats. With Cinder’s betrayal we are without a Maiden candidate. Arthur, do you have any contacts remaining in Atlas who might be worthy of a place at this table? Any who would be worthy to become our Maidens of the seasons yet to come?”
Doctor Arthur Watts tugged at his moustache. “I might, ma’am. I can reach out to my contacts, if you wish.”
“I do,” Salem said.
“I might have recommended Tempest if things had proceeded differently,” Watts said. “Such a shame.”
“I understand your disquiet,” Salem said. “But our actions in Vale may yet prove to have been worth it.”
“May?” Hazel Rainart rumbled, opening his eyes at last.
“That all depends,” Salem said. “We shall see very shortly.”
The great doors at the far end of the hall swung open, and Sonata Dusk strutted in, followed closely behind by Tempest Shadow.
“Hey Salem!” Sonata cried cheerily.
“Sonata,” Salem said evenly. “How nice of you to join us. As you can see, your sisters have not been harmed.” She gestured idly to her side, where Adagio Dazzle and Aria Blaze writhed in the grip of the shadow hands, which held them bound and gagged, unable to speak or really move.
Sonata’s eyes brightened. “Hey there girls! Check out this great new style of mine, it turns out that fashion has come such a long way since we first got imprisoned and once we get to Vale we can go shopping and paint our nails and oh I have to get you to try these great things call tacos and fruit punch, seriously, the food there is so-“
“Ahem,” Salem said. “You have the Relic of Choice, I take it?”
She didn’t need to ask, and only did so for politeness sake. Her grimm could feel the relic’s presence, it was drawing them to it. It was drawing her too, it was only with effort that she was restraining herself.
Sonata held out one hand, and Tempest produced the crown from her satchel and handed it to the Siren. She held it, clutching it to her.
“My sisters?” she said, her voice mild and small seeming.
Salem waved one hand, and the shadow hands binding Aria Blaze fell away. She gasped for breath. “The crown,” she said softly.
Sonata walked towards the table. “Aria?” she said. “Are you okay?”
Aria glared at Sonata. “Took you long enough to get around to rescuing us.”
“What kind of a thing is that to say when I’m getting you out to here?”
“It’s the perfect thing to say when you’ve been so slow about it.”
Sonata scowled. “I ought to just leave you here, you know that? You are the absolute worst!”
“I think that you’re the-“
“Mmmh mmmmphmm!” Adagio mumbled loudly through her shadowy gag.
Sonata laughed nervously. “Right, sorry about that.” She reached the table. “Their gems?”
“Beringels are placing them aboard your ship even as we speak,” Salem said. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind.” She gestured to the table before her.
Slowly, Sonata placed the Crown of Choice upon the amethyst table and slid it down the table top the rest just in front of Salem’s hands.
She stared at it, enraptured. So, this was it. After so long desiring it the Relic of Choice was finally in her possession.
It was the genuine article, she was in no doubt about that. She would have smelt a forgery a mile away and so would her grimm. This was it, this was one of the four relics given to Ozpin by the gods.
One down, three to go.
But first there was the matter of payment. She was a woman of her word, after all. Salem waved her hand, and Adagio’s bonds fell away.
“As promised, you are all three of you free to leave,” Salem said. “And the Kingdom of Vale will be yours to do with as you wish. Although…it is a pity that we must end our association in this way. A relationship as profitable as this might bear repeating, don’t you think?”
“Not really,” Adagio said. “We just want to be left alone to rule over our kingdom. You’ll do that, won’t you?”
“Of course,” Salem said. “What is Vale to me now that I have the relic? Although…”
“Although?” Adagio repeated, her eyes narrowing.
“There is the matter of the Fall Maiden,” Salem said. “Against whom your record has been…less than stellar. I would be happy to take care of that for you.”
“I think we’ll manage,” Adagio said. “Come on you two, let’s get out of here. We have a kingdom to claim.”
She pushed past Aria and Sonata to lead the way out of the hall, leaving the other two to trail along behind her. Salem wondered idly how long it would be before Sonata, having tasted freedom and control, began to resent her sister’s effortless assumption that the former status quo of their relationship would resume.
The door slammed shut behind Tempest Shadow, the last of them to depart.
“Was that wise, ma’am?” Arthur asked.
Salem reached out and picked up the crown, holding it lightly in her fingertips. “The Relic of Choice, Arthur. Ozpin dead, Beacon Tower destroyed and the relic in my hands. And all it cost me was Cinder Fall and a kingdom I did not even own. For this, I would have given ten times more.”
Gently, she placed the crown upon her head.
She closed her eyes as a myriad of possibilities were spread out before her, the ramifications of every possible choice flashing before her eyes as she was guided by the magic of the crown down the best possible route, the best possible choices that she could make to reach her goal: the destruction of Haven and the acquisition of the Relic of Knowledge.
Salem’s eyes opened. “I know what we must do,” she declared. “Hazel, find the Spring Maiden but do not approach her, once you have found her then you will await further instructions from me.” The Relic of Choice was limited in its abilities by the scope of Salem’s own knowledge. Once she knew who the Spring Maiden was and where she was then she would be better placed to decide what to do about obtaining either the services of said Maiden or taking the powers for someone who would do her bidding. That was why she had given the assignment to Hazel, Tyrian could not be relied upon for the patience required.
“Doctor Watts, finding new recruits to fill our diminished ranks is important, but do it quickly,” she said. “Once that is done I need you to go to Mistral and meet with our new ally there. She is sheltering Leo for us at present but I have doubts about her commitment to our cause. Make sure that you impress upon her that this is not a commitment she can back out of on a whim.”
“Of course, ma’am,” Watts said. “I’ll leave right away.”
“Tyrian, you will take the Four Kings to Vale,” Salem said. “Hunt down Ozpin’s young protégés…and eliminate them all.” They were all too dangerous to be allowed to live: the Equestrian who had gotten under Cinder’s skin with such efficiency, the silver-eyed girl, the heiress to the throne of men, even the Arc boy was dangerous, if only when joined together with the others. If they were to make contact with Ozpin…her best choice was to kill them all before that could happen, and her best choice to achieve that was the one that she had made.
“Majesty, I can handle that-“ Tyrian said.
“Perhaps,” Salem said, cutting him off. “But you will do as I command.” She smiled. “However, rest assured you may be as bloody as you wish.”
Tyrian laughed at that, and Salem let him laugh, his cackling filling the hall.
If you really cared about these children, Ozpin, you would not involve them in our affairs.
Haven’t you learned by now that all your plots and schemes only end up dooming those you love?

Sunset crouched atop the ridge, taking cover behind a tree trunk as she looked down at the bandit camp spread out beneath her. It was not a huge encampment, only about twenty, thirty men if she was judging it right, but that was enough to be terrorising the villages around Alexandria, looting and despoiling those that didn’t have an adequate military presence to secure them.
The fact that these particular brigands only ever attacked villages that hadn’t been secured against attack might well be more than just a coincidence, and Sunset intended to find out one way or another soon enough.
Because she was going to put a stop to this right now.
If only I didn’t have to do it with people who were just as bad as these bandits, if not worse.
Sunset shook her head. There was no help for that. There was no help for any of this. Team SAPR was gone, and wishing for it wasn’t going to bring it back. She had what she had, and railing inwardly against the fact that what she had was a cohort of scum wasn’t going to get her any more trustworthy team-mates any time soon. She should suck it up, get on with the job, and be thankful that she had Cinder to watch her back.
Cinder crept up towards her, her glass bow wrapped up in a dull brown oilskin to stop any of the light from glimmering off it as it filtered in through the trees. The snow crunched beneath her feet, but too softly to alert the bandits down below.
“Everyone’s getting into position,” Cinder said softly. “They’ll move at your signal.”
“We hope,” Sunset murmured.
Cinder glanced at her. “It’s not as bad as you think it is.”
It was Sunset’s turn to glance at Cinder. “It isn’t.”
“I know that you’re not used to this, but I’ve worked with scum like this, remember? You just have to know how to lead those beneath you. Once you master commanding them you can get results out of these kinds of people.”
“Remind me,” Sunset said. “Didn’t your crew of scum end up betraying you?”
“I didn’t say that they were trustworthy I said that they could get results,” Cinder said.
“Good,” Sunset said. “Because you’re the only one I trust around here.”
Cinder chuckled. “Of course. That’s because you’re smart.” She fell silent, and joined Sunset in studying the bandit camp. “No sentries, not even a ditch.”
“They’re paid up with all the right people,” Sunset said. “They think that protects them.”
“You’re sure of that? It’s only a theory.”
“A plausible theory,” Sunset said. “I’d be surprised if it wasn’t true, look at them.” The bandits were incredibly lacking in alertness. They were taking their ease around a giant fire burning in the centre of their camp, smoking and drinking, lounging around outside their tents of hide and pelt. “This won’t be hard.”
“It would be even easier if you still had the Maiden powers I gave you,” Cinder said.
Sunset rolled her eyes. “Are you still upset about that?”
“I gave you my magic,” Cinder said. “And you gave it away to somebody else.”
“You sound like a heartbreak song,” Sunset said. “I gave them to someone who needed them…someone who I thought would make the best use of them.”
“If being good means intentionally hamstringing yourself then can I stay morally grey?” Cinder asked.
“You’re the one who gave up the Maiden’s magic in the first place,” Sunset pointed out.
“To make you stronger,” Cinder said. “Not to have you play pass the parcel with them amongst your other friends.”
“What’s done is done,” Sunset said. “They’re gone…like everything else.” She huffed, the breath in front of her face congealed into steam. “Let’s get this done and find the proof that Cardin needs.”
“Do we go in hard?” Cinder asked. “Or are you going to be noble and give them a chance to surrender first?”
“You’d be dead by now if I didn’t believe in second chances,” Sunset said, bristling at the way that Cinder said that as though it made Sunset weak to even consider it.
“True,” Cinder conceded. “I notice that you didn’t believe in second chances for Mercury or Lightning Dust. They would have been useful for a force like ours.”
“I have to sleep in close proximity to some pretty wretched people,” Sunset said. “I’d rather not sleep close to the ones who have personal reason to hate me already.” She cast a quick spell to amplify her voice, so that it boomed down from the ridge upon the bandit camp. “This is the Valish military! You are surrounded! Throw down your weapons and get down on your knees with your hands on your heads!”
One of the bandits shouted something indistinct, as he pointed up towards Sunset and Cinder’s position on the ridge. He leapt to his feet, one hand reaching for the gun in his holster.
Sol Invictus cracked as Sunset shot him before he could even draw. There was a tiny red spray as the bandit flew backwards into the snow.
“I guess we get to do this the fun way,” Cinder said, unwrapping her bow and fitting a glass arrow to the string. Sunset had fired a second shot before Cinder had loosed her first arrow, which buried itself in the shoulder of a female bandit who had been aiming a large hunting rifle up at them.
By now the bandits were up on their feet, smoke issuing for the barrels of their pistols and rifles as they shot upwards at Sunset and Cinder. Sunset fired again, and another bandit was hurled backwards off his feet.
Come on, where are you? Sunset shot another bandit, and Cinder’s arrows claimed another. But there was no sign of any of the rest of Sunset’s team.
It isn’t the fact that I need them for this, Sunset thought, as she fired her fifth round. So much as I worry about what they’re doing when they’re not here.
“Cover me,” Sunset said, as she fired her sixth and final round, leaving the revolving chamber of her rifle empty. Of course, that didn’t mean that she was out of tricks, not by a mile. She stood up, inviting the fire of the bandits – and she heard a couple of bullets slam into the tree she was using for cover – and slung Sol Invictus over her shoulder.
She teleported, appearing right in the middle of the pack of bandits. “Hey, fellas.”
They were turning towards her, their faces masks of astonishment, when she flung out her hands and blasted bolts of magic out from her fingertips, flinging eight of the remaining bandits backwards instantly.
The remainder swiftly dropped their weapons and raised their hands.
“That’s better,” Sunset said, levitating their weapons away so that they couldn’t make a grab for them again if they changed their minds. Now if only my brigands were as well behaved.
“You did it again, boss; always a pleasure to watch you work.”
Sunset glanced upwards to see that Cinder was keeping her bow training upon the wounded and surrendered bandits, which meant that she could turn around to see Sami emerging from out of the trees to the west. Emerald followed a little behind her.
“Took you long enough,” Sunset snapped.
“You looked like you were doing fine on your own,” Jack said, as he strolled into camp from the other side, his shotgun axe resting lightly on his shoulder. “Why get in the way of art, right?”
I wonder if the fact that this is my team now is ever going to stop irritating me, or if I’ll one day forget that I used to have reliable team-mates.
I hope not.
“I don’t care if it worked out okay,” Sunset said. “Where were you? All three of you?”
“We got a little lost in the woods,” Sami said.
“It’s hard to move through all this snow,” Jack said.
“Perhaps you’d prefer to be walking around the prison yard again,” Sunset said. “Because this isn’t your vacation, if you don’t start to pull your weight I’ll have you thrown back into the hole you crawled out of.”
“Don’t do that,” Sami said.
“Do what?”
“Talk like you’re better than us,” Sami said. “Like you’re some high and mighty huntress. You’re not. You’re a criminal, same as we are.”
Sunset stomped through the snow towards her. Sami was a reindeer faunus, with antlers growing out of her forehead; her face was covered in tattoos, and so were the other visible parts of her skin. Sunset didn’t know, and didn’t care to know, what they all meant. What she knew was that Sami was a murderer and Sunset didn’t trust her an inch.
“I am not the same as you,” Sunset growled. She reached into her pocket with one hand. “And I’m not the same as you because unlike you, I can do this.” With the hand in her pocket she grabbed the switch and activated Sami’s collar. Sami grunted as her aura was abruptly cut off, leaving her swaying unsteadily on her feet. Sunset glared at Emerald, standing submissively behind Sami, but the other girl didn’t meet her eyes.
“Watch them,” she said, gesturing with one hand towards the bandits who were now kneeling on the ground with their hands over their heads.
“Right,” Emerald said, drawing her pistols and pointing them at the prisoners.
Sunset turned away, only to see Jack bending over the body of a dead bandit, stripping the rings off her fingers.
Sunset scowled. “What are you doing?”
Jack looked up at her, and shrugged. “He’s not going to need them any more.”
Sunset took a deep breath. “You realise that he probably stole those himself, right?”
“So?”
“So they should go to the kin of the victims he took them from,” Sunset said. “Leave them.”
“Who’s going to care one way or the other what-“
“I do,” Sunset barked. “I said leave them!”
Jack was a young man, with down on his cheeks from his failed efforts to grow a beard. Armed with his shotgun axe he had robbed the houses of the rich, entering in the middle of the night and terrifying the inhabitants into giving up their valuables to him. But you didn’t carry a weapon like that unless you were willing to use it, and eventually he’d stopped leaving the victims of his robberies alive. He stood up, anger flashing in his dark eyes, but he could see that Sunset still had her hand in her pocket and knew that she could switch her collar on just as easily as she had Sami’s. So he backed off, raising his hand apologetically. “Okay,” he said. “But we’re leaving golden harps and geese where they lie, you realise that don’t you?”
“We’re not here to make ourselves rich,” Sunset growled. She became acutely conscious that those she was supposedly leading were no better than those she was leading them against. She was always aware of that fact, it was always in the back of her mind whenever they fought anyone who wasn’t the grimm she couldn’t help but ask what made her new comrades any better than the so-called bad guys, but there were moments like these when it just hit her like a wave of nausea and she had to… “I’m going to look for the evidence,” she declared, and stalked into the nearest ox-hide tent. It was dark in there, lit only by a couple of candles, but Sunset was only half there to look around.
She was there so that, when the tent flap closed behind her, nobody could see her run her hands through her hair and let out a sound that was almost like a sob.
Was this her life now? Was this her team? The murderous thief, the straight up murderer, and Emerald? And only Cinder whom she could trust, only Cinder to console her. Sunset’s chest rose and fell. She missed Ruby with that eager gleam in her eyes, she missed Pyrrha’s quiet grace, she missed the way that Jaune would do absolutely anything to help out.
And instead of them I have…these.
I know I had to be punished but this is a bit much don’t you think?
Is this my life now?
Unfortunately yes.
So I’d best get on with it, hadn’t I?
Sunset started to look for the evidence that Cardin required.

Captain Cardin Winchester of the Valish Corps of Specialists strode down the hallway with a determined stride.
He wasn’t wearing his armour, since he wasn’t in the field; instead he was wearing the navy blue uniform of the Corps, complete with his epaulettes of rank upon his shoulders. That rank, coupled with his broad build and determined stride, made those walking the corridor in the headquarters of the garrison of Alexandria get out of the way for him, scrambling to one side or the other as he walked past.
Some people pointed to him, and he heard snatches of what they whispered.
“Cardin Winchester who-“
“-helped save Vale-“
“-I heard he killed twenty beowolves-“
“-fought the dragon single-handed-“
Cardin scowled. He hadn’t asked the Committee of Public Safety to make him into a hero, and he certainly hadn’t asked to have all of this crap attributed to him that he hadn’t done or had been nowhere near at the time. Anyone who had actually fought at the Battle of Vale knew that nobody had fought the dragon single handed even if Penny Polendina had been the one to strike the killing blow. And he hadn’t killed any beowolves because there hadn’t been any at Beacon where he’d been fighting. He’d killed some ursai, but then he got injured by a big monkey and that was his fight over. He hated this. He hated that he could see a poster stuck on the wall with his grinning face on it like he was some kind of icon. He hated being put on a pedestal that he didn’t deserve to be on. If he was going to admired and revered then he wanted it to be for stuff that he had actually done.
His free hand – his left, since he had the warrant tucked under his right arm – went to the Valish flag pin he wore on his lapel. He was doing this for Vale, his home. His home which didn’t have a lot of heroes at the moment, since embarrassingly so many of the real heroes of the battle of Vale had been either from Atlas or Mistral. And what with Yang being dead (not that being dead had stopped the Committee from exploiting the hell out of Yang Xiao-Long, but as a symbol of remembrance, not to drive up recruitment) and Jaune and Ruby both gone, well, Cardin was just about it.
And he had been told that he looked like a hero. Somehow that only made the fact that he knew he wasn’t one sting all the more.
But at least he was doing some good. That was the knowledge that got him through the day: he and Sunset were doing good, and day by day they were making Vale a safer place.
He reached the door to the office of Colonel Rice, commandant of the garrison of Alexandria and the officer tasked with the defence not only of the port town but also of the surrounding villages beyond the walls. Cardin didn’t bother to knock, but simply slammed the door open so hard it hit the wall and strode into the office.
Colonel Rice was a former cop given military rank when the Committee of Public Safety had drafted the police into the new Army of Vale; he was middle-aged, heavyset, and going bald. He jumped in surprise at Cardin’s entrance, spilling coffee all over his desk.
“What the-“
“Colonel Rice, I have a warrant here for your arrest,” Cardin said. “Stand up.”
“Arrest?” Rice spluttered. “On what charge-“
“Collusion with criminals, extortion, treason,” Cardin said. “I know that you’ve been in contact with those bandits plaguing the hinterland, I know that you’ve been charging the outlying villages for protection from them and withdrawing security from those that couldn’t or wouldn’t pay and I know that you’ve been coordinating attacks with the bandits, letting them know which targets in exchange for a cut. And I can prove all of it. Now get up!”
Day by day, with every grimm pack slaughtered, every bandit tribe taken care of, every crooked official brought down, he and Sunset were making Vale a better, and a safer place.
And that was worth having to lie to everyone as to who the real hero was.

The blinds were drawn, and the sunlight was coming in through the window in a bright pillar that fell directly on her face, but Pyrrha was still sleeping.
Jaune lay on the other side of the bed, his head resting upon the plump pillow, and watched her.
Gods, she’s beautiful. With the way that the light was falling through the window to shine directly upon her she looked more angel than human. And it wasn’t just the light, either. Ever since Sunset had passed the magic onto her there seemed to be…maybe it was just Jaune’s imagination, nobody who wasn’t in the know seemed to notice – or at least they hadn’t said anything about it – but it seemed there was an extra glow to her now, brighter than mere activated aura could explain. She shone, as if the sunlight through the window wasn’t the only source of illumination in this room.
He could watch her like this for hours, except that she was even more beautiful when she was awake, active, vibrant.
Jaune turned in bed, looking at his pants slung across one of the chairs in Pyrrha’s spacious bedroom. The ring that Kendal had given him was in his pocket, and burning more and more of a hole in it every day.
Come on, Jaune. You can do this. Just take out the ring and ask her. It’s not as if she’s going to say no.
Jaune turned back to look at Pyrrha, still sleeping in spite of the light falling on her peaceful face. She wouldn’t say no, he felt pretty sure of that. He felt pretty sure that she wouldn’t have allowed him into her bed if she wasn’t certain about them. She was probably just waiting for him to ask.
But that didn’t mean that he didn’t have to do this properly, this was Pyrrha after all. She deserved something…special.
Pyrrha’s eyes fluttered open. She smiled. “Hey, you.”
“Hey,” Jaune said, he leaned forward to kiss her. “Sleep well?”
“Yes, thank you,” Pyrrha said softly. She looked up towards the window. “What time is it?”
“I’m not sure,” Jaune admitted. “Does it matter? We could just stay here-“
Pyrrha’s scroll began to blare out like a klaxon on the nightstand beside her side of the bed.
“Or you could answer that,” Jaune said disappointedly.
Pyrrha sat up, and quickly reached for her scroll. “That’s the alert ringtone, something’s going on.”
“Another attack?” Jaune asked, getting out of bed and reaching for his trousers.
“Apparently so,” Pyrrha said. She opened up the scroll. “Uiharu, what’s happening?”
The high-pitched voice of Kazari Uiharu issued out of the scroll. “A request just came in from Messene; grimm moving in their direction.”
“Jaune, who has the vanguard today?”
“Sun,” Jaune said. He had written out the schedule, and had even managed to memorise most of it.
“Is he getting in the air?” Pyrrha asked Uiharu.
“Yes, they’re taking off now.”
“Good,” Pyrrha said. “Contact everyone else and tell them to meet me on the landing pad. I’ll get Ren and Nora.”
“And I’ll come down to you,” Jaune said, as he pulled on his pants. “I’ll be right there.”
“Right,” Uiharu said.
Pyrrha snapped her scroll shut and got to her feet. “I would have liked a shower but it can’t be helped.”
Jaune pulled his hoodie on over his head. “Is it me, or are they getting more frequent?”
“It’s not just you,” Pyrrha said. “The kingdom is on edge, there’s so much uncertainty, no wonder the grimm are being drawn in.” She sighed. “What can we do except beat them back when they come?”
Jaune didn’t answer that. “Good luck out there. Come back safely.”
Pyrrha smiled at him. “With you watching over me, I know I will.”

Ruby trudged through the snow towards the edge of the cliff. The white stone was there, the way it had been for years, but now there was another stone sitting beside it.
A yellow stone, gleaming slightly under the light of the winter sun.

“Hey, sis,” Ruby murmured. “Hey Mom. I know that it hasn’t been that long, I don’t mean to bother you guys, but…sometimes I just need someone to talk to, you know? I hope that’s okay.
“Dad…Dad’s not doing so great. He doesn’t…I don’t…what am I supposed to do, Yang? What did you do…when Mom left? How am I supposed to make this better?” Ruby sank to her knees in the snow, feeling a wet sensation on her stockings as the snow began to melt through them. “Is there anything that I can do to make this better?” she asked plaintively, clasping her hands together.
Her small body trembled. “I know…I know that we’re supposed to keep moving forward and never give up but…but how am I supposed to do that when you’re not around any more. I’m sorry, Yang. I’m so sorry. I…I spent so much time with my team and my new friends and I left you behind and now you’re…now you’re…now I’ve lost you and all I can think about is that we barely spent any time together last year and I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Yang.”
Her hands fell to her combat skirt, clutching the black fabric tightly. “I got another letter today. From the Council, or whatever. They call it the Committee now or something like that. Anyway, they wrote to me. It’s pretty much the same as last time: they want to make me a huntress, like a real huntress, graduated. They want me to join the Specialists, like in Atlas. This time they weren’t quite so nice about it. They didn’t say please. They said that I should come to Vale and report in for my assignment. I threw it in the fireplace just like the last one. I can’t go back there right now, Dad needs me. You…I’d say that you should see him except that I don’t think you really want to. He’s…he can’t take care of himself on his own, and if I went away I don’t…who am I kidding? I don’t want to go back.
“And I’m not sure if I ever will.”

Junior-grade Specialist Blake Belladonna put on her beret. It wasn’t a great fit what with her ears – they were designed for humans to wear, without too much consideration for faunus – and said ears caused it to bulge up a little on top, but it didn’t look too bad.
It wasn’t as though anyone would be looking at her anyway.
“Your tie is a little crooked,” Ciel said, reaching out and straightening it up. “There, that’s an improvement.” Behind her, Blake could see that Twilight was tying Rainbow’s tie for her.
“Thanks,” Blake said.
Ciel nodded, and stepped back. “Welcome to the Atlesian forces, Specialist Belladonna,” she said. “I wish it were under better circumstances.”
“I think that everybody wishes that right now,” Blake murmured.
“It feels,” Penny said. “Is this…this is going to be the last time that we’re all together, isn’t it?”
A silence descended upon the four huntresses and Twilight. Blake glanced at Rainbow Dash, waiting for her to say something, but she didn’t. It was an open question whether or not she’d even heard what Penny said. She didn’t seem at all herself today, her head was bowed and there were bags under her eyes like she hadn’t been sleeping well. Her face was a little paler than normal.
Twilight seemed to have been waiting for Rainbow to speak as well, because she said, “I’m sure that’s not true, Penny. I’m sure that we can find time to all hang out if we want to.”
“But it won’t be the same,” Penny said. “Because it won’t be Team Rosepetal any more.”
There was no denying that. After today the team that the four Atlesians had been serving under when Blake met them would be gone. Rainbow and Ciel, like Blake and like all of the student huntsmen and huntresses who had fought at the Battle of Vale, had been given accelerated graduation to the rank of junior grade specialists, and – also like Blake – Rainbow Dash was still awaiting an assignment from headquarters, but whatever it was it was likely to take her away from Atlas and her friends. Twilight’s skills were too valuable to waste anywhere but the metaphorical lab, she was going back to R&D to work on helping the huntsmen from the rear; there was so much to be done in the wake of the battle, not least getting communications back online, that there was as much need for scientists and technicians as soldiers in Atlas right now. Penny Dragonslayer was the hero of the hour, in Atlas at least, and it seemed that Atlas meant to milk her newfound fame for all it was worth as they despatched her on a tour of Mantle and the outlying settlements to raise morale, calm the fears of the populace, and sell the war bonds that would pay for the vast programme of military expansion that seemed to be on every lip nowadays. The world was changing, becoming more dangerous; or perhaps it was fairer to say that it seemed to be more dangerous than it had appeared before; the CCT was down, there was no news from Vale or Mistral but the last Blake had seen of the former had been a kingdom that was beginning to turn in on itself and even before the battle Mistral had seemed to be spoiling for a fight. The certainties that had underpinned the world, the international system founded on peace and cooperation represented by the Vytal Festival, were falling away, and Atlas was arming itself against the challenges posed by a more hostile world.
In that new world they all had a part of play, whether that was a part yet to be assigned – as it was for Rainbow and Blake – a part that sent them to the backroom while her friends fought as in Twilight’s case, or a part that was more symbolic than actual, like for Penny. Or in Ciel’s case continuing to act as Penny’s minder as she embarked on her propaganda tour, which Blake couldn’t imagine that the other girl was too happy about for all that she kept her feelings very well hidden.
But it was the end of Team RSPT, even if none of them yet knew what it was the beginning of yet.
“You’re right,” Twilight said softly. “It won’t be Team Rosepetal. But I’ve never been on the same team as Applejack, or Pinkie or any of my other friends from Canterlot, but it doesn’t mean that we aren’t friends. It doesn’t mean that they’re not as dear to my heart as they were when we are combat school together. Change isn’t always easy, Penny, but sometimes it’s inevitable…but it doesn’t mean that you have to lose everything you love when the change comes. Sometimes maintaining friendships takes more work than others, but that’s no reason not to work at it.” She smiled. “This past years has been…well, sometimes it was terrifying and other times it was just mind blowing and I’m not going to lie, I have no idea how you make it look so easy to not be scared by it all but…but it’s been kind of wonderful, too.” She reached out, and slipped one hand into that of Rainbow Dash. “So whatever happens, and wherever we go next, let’s stay friends, and make sure that we don’t lose touch with one another.”
Penny smiled, and took Rainbow Dash’s other hand. Rainbow didn’t appear to notice much, what was with her today. Penny held out her other hand to Ciel, who took it.
Blake was surprised when Twilight and Ciel both offered her their free hand.
“But…I’m not your team-mate, and I never was,” Blake said.
“Perhaps not,” Ciel said. “But you have fought beside us and that is not nothing.” She paused for a moment. “Though our roads diverge for now we will continue to be bound together by a common purpose as defenders of Atlas.”
Blake couldn’t help but let out a little snort as she took their hands. “Blake Belladonna, defender of Atlas.”
Ciel checked her watch. “We should go.”
They left the locker room and started down the wide, clean but somewhat clinical corridor leading down towards the Atlas Academy courtyard. As they walked Blake caught Twilight’s eye and slowed her pace, which the other girl matched allowing Rainbow, Penny and Ciel to swiftly outpace them.
“Do you know what’s going on with Rainbow?” Blake asked.
Twilight frowned. She pushed her glasses back up her nose. “No,” she admitted. “I’m concerned but…she won’t talk to me. Or anyone else.”
“Would you like me to try?” Blake said.
“That’s very kind of you,” Twilight said. “And maybe it will come to that if this keeps up but…hopefully if we just give her some space she’ll come around.”
They had to walk quickly to catch up with the others, doing so just as Applejack joined them. It was kind of strange seeing everyone in their Atlas uniforms like this; she had never seen Penny wearing the white and grey before, nor any of them for that matter. Some of them it suited more than others: Twilight looked decent enough in it, and Ciel looked half as though she had been born to wear it; but it was strange seeing Applejack without her hat, and Rainbow just looked uncomfortable in it.
Of course that could just be that she looked uncomfortable in general.
They made their way out of the academy buildings and into the courtyard, a greenhouse space with a glass roof to keep out any snow that might fall upon the floating city, a space within which grass could grow despite the cold. They joined all the teams from the academy in filing out of the school and assembling in lines by squad upon the grass. Though every squad was aligned, forming neat columns running down the lawn, there were numerous gaps in the formation. That was intentional: the gaps represented all those team members who could not stand alongside their team-mates today; Blake could see Team PSTL with an empty space on the right of their line where their team leader ought to have stood, she spotted another team where only a single huntsman stood surrounded by a trio of empty spaces, and there were even broad gaps in the formation where a whole team ought to have stood had not they all made the ultimate sacrifice for Atlas and humanity.
These are my jewels, Blake thought, remembering the memorial she had seen in the city; how many new pictures adorned the column now, how many photos of young huntsmen and huntresses taken before their time? How many jewels of Atlas had ceased to gleam in just one night in Vale?
Team RSPT formed upon the extreme left of the courtyard, placed there because they had two ancillaries, in the form of Blake and Applejack, who had no other team to stand beside but nevertheless ought to be here for this. They formed up in order, with Rainbow Dash upon the right of the line stretching through Ciel and Penny down to Twilight, with Blake and Applejack awkwardly tacked on at the end, disrupting the neatness of the leftmost column.
The students – some of them were no longer students now, but in this place it still felt as though they were all learning – were arrayed facing northwards, where a platform had been erected out of white wood. Before the podium were placed wreaths in memorial of the fallen, and before the wreaths themselves the photographs of all the students who ought to be standing here but were not.
General Ironwood made his way to the top of the podium. His hands were clasped behind his back, and he looked as solid as Blake had ever seen him: a solid presence forged of steel, representative of all that was best about Atlas. But when he reached the front of the assembled ranks and spoke she could hear his voice shaking, and Blake knew that the impression he was trying to give was just that: an impression, not the truth.
“Every year,” General Ironwood began. “It is my pleasure to preside over the graduation of the latest class of huntsmen and huntresses to pass through these halls. This year is different. This year…it is my solemn duty to preside over the remembrance of those who didn’t make it that far.
“When I was a student here my class was asked to define what makes a huntsman. I don’t remember what I said, but I remember the answer that our teacher gave us: when the rest of the world is running away from monsters, a huntsman is somebody who runs towards them. That seemed like a pretty good answer to me.
“When the grimm attacked Vale, when the Coliseum came under assault, when Beacon Academy was threatened, these brave young men and women chose to run towards danger. Towards the monsters. They didn’t hesitate because they believed, they knew, that they could make a difference. Their courage, and sacrifice, embody the finest traditions of the Atlesian forces.
“There isn’t anything that I can say to ennoble these young men and women more than they have already ennobled themselves by their actions. There is nothing that any of us can do except vow to continue the struggle that they started. None of you who fought in the battle at Vale are students any longer; you’ve already proven that you have the courage, skill and dedication that are the marks of true huntsmen; so when you leave this place and take up your postings whatever or wherever those may be, I hope that you live up to the high example that has already been set for you.”
General Ironwood came to attention and saluted. “Ten-hut!”
There was a thump as the entire assembly came to attention as one man, saluting the fallen as the strains of a bugle began to play.
Out of the corner of her eye Blake could see that Rainbow Dash had tears in her eyes.

Rainbow Dash stood in General Ironwood’s spacious but austere office, standing at attention and looking just over the general’s shoulder.
She wasn’t sure that she could look him in the eye right now. Not after what she’d done. Not after what he was about to find out that she’d done.
All those guys died because of me. If I’d told him then, if I hadn’t listened to Sunset, if I hadn’t decided that everything had worked out just fine in the end then…then maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe Flynt and Neon and all the rest would still be alive.
“At ease,” General Ironwood said, and he sat down as Rainbow spread her legs out a little and clasped her hands together behind her back.
The general picked up a piece of paper sitting on his metal desk. “Dash, what is this?”
“It’s my resignation, sir,” Rainbow said.
“I can see that,” General Ironwood said. “What I want to know is why? Why you thought that it was a good idea to resign at a time like this. Don’t you realise that the world is in crisis right now?”
“I know sir, that’s why I’m quitting.”
General Ironwood stared at her. “Explain further, because I’m still not seeing it. This kingdom needs every soldier it can get right now, especially good soldiers like you.”
Rainbow closed her eyes for a moment. “Sir, I…I knew. I knew about what Sunset had done during the Breach. I saw her smash up the controls and I didn’t say anything about it. And because of that…all the rest of this crap happened and all of those guys…that’s why I’m resigning.”
General Ironwood stared at her in astonishment. Rainbow didn’t want to look at him, but she found that she couldn’t look away. She had to look and see the trust he had in her shattering in his eyes.
She hadn’t meant to betray him, but that was exactly what she’d done. General Ironwood, who had given her a chance when a lot of people wouldn’t have, who had gone out to bat for her, who had sponsored her through Atlas, who had trusted her…and she had betrayed him. And she hadn’t even thought about it.
“You knew?” General Ironwood repeated. “You knew, for all these months?”
“Yes sir,” Rainbow said.
“And you didn’t think to say a thing about it?” General Ironwood yelled, bringing his fist down on the desk so hard that it left a dent. “Not a thing? Not a damn thing?”
“I thought that-“
“That wasn’t your call to make!” General Ironwood snarled. He rose to his feet. “You don’t get to decide when you turn away.” He turned away himself, turning his back on Dash as he walked to the windows looking out over Atlas. “Do you understand why I’m angry?”
“Yes sir.”
“It’s not because you let this happen, every young soldier chokes in the field at least once,” General Ironwood said. “It’s that you didn’t tell me about it afterwards.”
“Yes sir.”
“Why?”
“Because she saved Ciel, sir, and Penny,” Rainbow Dash said. “Or at least…she talked me into thinking that she had.”
“You confronted her about it.”
“Yes sir.”
“And she convinced you not to say anything about it.”
“Yes sir,” Rainbow said. “I know that…I know that it shouldn’t have made any difference, I know that we have to be willing to sacrifice ourselves for the glory of Atlas-“
“The glory of Atlas doesn’t have a thing to do with it,” General Ironwood said sharply. “This is about lives, Dash, human lives; thousands of them, tens of thousands, maybe millions, all put at risk because of what happened out there.”
“Yes sir.”
“Don’t say that if you don’t understand!” General Ironwood snapped. He took a deep breath. “We’re guardians, Dash; we stand on a wall-“
“And we say nothing’s going to hurt you tonight,” Rainbow said.
General Ironwood was silent for a moment. “I thought you understood what that meant. I thought you understood that we don’t take chances with people’s lives. You should have told me what she’d done on the train the moment the battle was over. If you had…it’s possible that everything would have been different.”
“Yes sir.”
“I thought that I could trust you, Rainbow Dash,” General Ironwood said. “I thought that you were someone I could rely on.”
Rainbow Dash shuddered at that, and at the unspoken but nonetheless obvious implication of it. And there was nothing that she could say because…because the General was right; if she wouldn’t come to him with something this big then…then how could she expect him to trust her again.
“Resignation not accepted,” General Ironwood said.
Rainbow blinked. “I…sir?”
“Weren’t you listening?” General Ironwood said. “You don’t get to decide when you turn away. You’re involved in all of this, up to your neck; and if you don’t have my complete trust any more that is going to stop me making use of you. You’re not getting off that easy.”
“No sir,” Rainbow said softly.
“In the meantime you can brief Apple on the situation. I need a huntress I can rely on to get things done.”
Rainbow flinched as if she’d been struck. “Yes sir. I’ll tell her everything.”
General Ironwood nodded. “You’re dismissed, specialist.”
Rainbow came to attention, and saluted. General Ironwood’s returned salute was brusque. Rainbow turned on her toe and marched out of the door.
She had just lost one of the most important things that she had ever had.
Had she ever deserved to have it at all?

I didn’t think I’d be back here again so soon.
Weiss leaned on the balcony outside her bedroom and sighed. Atlas. The greatest kingdom in the world. A shining city aglow with possibilities.
A gilded cage.
A flicker of movement in the garden below caught her eye. Someone was down there, someone who was trying not to be seen. Weiss straightened up, taking a step backwards. Myrtenaster was sitting on the bed. She was considering making a dash for it when the figure in the garden emerged into the light falling out of the room and into the garden below.
Weiss’ eyebrows rose. “Wherefore art thou, Blake?”
“Hey,” Blake said, looking a little embarrassed. “I, uh, wasn’t sure how welcome I’d be at the front door.”
“I wish it wasn’t so, but you were probably right to be worried about that,” Weiss said. “Hang on, I’ll come down and-“
Blake toss her hook upwards, catching it on the balcony rail.
“Or you could just do that,” Weiss said, as Blake pulled herself up onto the balcony.
“Nice night, isn’t it?” Blake said, as she settled on the balcony, her legs dangling down outside.
“Nice uniform,” Weiss said, noting Blake’s attire as an Atlesian specialist.
“Thanks,” Blake said. “It feels kind of weird…but it feels kind of right, too. I…I can’t deny that it’s nice to be part of something bigger than myself. To have people I can rely other than myself, backup I can call upon. A place to belong.”
Weiss smiled, softly and a little sadly. “Yeah. That…that’s a great feeling, isn’t it?”
Blake glanced at her. “Are you not tempted to put one of these on yourself?” she asked.
Weiss snorted. “My father would never allow that. He’s already lost one daughter to the military. She…Winter was going to quit, but…with things being the way they are…Atlas needs her.”
“Atlas needs everyone it can get,” Blake said. “You’re far too talented to be shut up in these walls for the rest of your life.”
“Am I?” Weiss asked.
“Maybe you weren’t the best team leader,” Blake said. “But then I wasn’t great myself. Doesn’t mean that we’re not good huntresses.”
“I was a huntress,” Weiss said. “What I am now…I don’t know.”
“You’re not the first person to wonder that,” Blake said. She didn’t look at Blake, rather her eyes were directed up at the stars and the broken moon hanging in the sky. “After Mountain Glenn…I didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing or who I was supposed to be.”
“And now you know,” Weiss said. “You’re an Atlesian specialist.”
“I am,” Blake said. “But that…that’s not my end state. At least it doesn’t feel like it. It’s…it’s a way of finding out who I am at the end of the line.”
Weiss frowned. “And how will you know when you’ve found the answer?”
“I don’t know,” Blake said. “Maybe I never will. Maybe the journey is the only thing that matters, so long as I keep moving and changing…do you know how Flash is doing?”
Weiss bowed her head. “No. I…I haven’t been to see him.”
“Don’t you think he’d like to see you?”
“Why would he, I’m the reason he lost a leg,” Weiss said.
Blake looked as though she wanted to say something, but didn’t. “It’s your choice,” she said softly. “But…are you a prisoner here or can you leave the house.”
Weiss chuckled softly. “Father isn’t that bad…yet. I can go out, as long as he approves of the places I’m going.”
“In that case, Twilight asked if you wanted to come to lunch tomorrow.”
“With her?”
“With both of us,” Blake said. “I think her friend Rarity is going to be there too.”
“What’s she like?”
Blake considered that for a moment. “I think you might find her a little much at first. Unfortunately she’ll probably fawn on you a little bit.”
“Oh,” Weiss said. She wasn’t really looking forward to this.
“But if you can get past that…I think you’ll find she’s a good person. For what it’s worth I don’t think there are any of Twilight’s friends who aren’t good people. You could do a lot worse.”
Weiss considered for half a moment. “Okay. Tell Twilight I’ll be there…wherever it is.” After all, what was she going to do if she refused? Mope around the house? Sit and stare forlornly out of the window. If she was going to be back home in Atlas she might as well try and enjoy herself, at least a little. “You know she could have just called.”
“She doesn’t have your number,” Blake said. “Neither do I, for that matter.”
“Oh,” Weiss said. “I…sorry, I’ll have to rectify that. That way you won’t have to creep into my grounds in order to run Twilight’s errands.”
“That’s not the only reason I came,” Blake said. “Your security is terrible, by the way.”
“This is the heart of Atlas, we’re not expecting any trouble.”
“It still worries me a little,” Blake said.
“I’m glad,” Weiss said.
“That I’m worried?”
“No, that our security is terrible,” Weiss said. “Otherwise it might have kept you out. So what’s the other reason?”
“Huh? Oh, I…I just wanted to see that you were okay.”
Weiss smiled. “I’m much better now, thank you.” She looked up at the stars. “You’re right; it is a pretty nice night.”

Oscar Pine awoke, gasping for breath. What was that…that dream? He had dreamed of things that he’d never seen before, kinds of grimm larger and more monstrous than any he’d ever imagined in his worst nightmares, desperate battles, screaming…but it had all felt so real. It had felt as though he was really there, trapped in someone else’s body, unable to escape as the battle raged on around him.
He had dreamed of two girls with hair that burned like fire, and though dreaming of girls wasn’t entirely a novel experience for Oscar his imagination had never conjured any like these two before, or the third in a crimson cloak wield a scythe that was bigger than she was. The way that the faunus girl smiled, cocky and insecure at the same time, the way the moonlight caught their skin it was all so real.
And besides, if he had just been fantasising about a trio of girls ranging from cute to hot he wouldn’t have imagined a tall older guy with them.
If it had just been that it would have been a pleasant enough dream, but those three girls – and the guy – that he dreamt of were surrounded by death and darkness, and so was the body that Oscar had dreamed himself trapped in. Captivity, that was what he remembered most, that was what made him wake up gasping and caked in sweat. He was trapped, unable to escape, while pain and death closed in around him.
“Oscar?” his mother’s voice issued up from the kitchen. “Are you up yet? Breakfast is ready.”
“I’m coming, Mom,” Oscar said, as he got out of bed and prepared to face the new day.
It was a strange dream, but no more than that. It was just a dream, and being a dream was nothing for him to worry about.
Then why couldn’t he just forget about it?