//------------------------------//
// Equivalent Exchange (New) 
// Story: SAPR 
// by Scipio Smith 
//------------------------------//


Equivalent Exchange


“You believe that Twilight’s right? You really think there’s more magic out there than just Ruby’s eyes and all the stuff that you can do?” Jaune asked; Sunset couldn’t help but note the somewhat incredulous tone in his voice.
“I’m still getting used to the idea that ‘magic’ is a thing outside of genre fiction,” Blake said dryly.
“You should be honoured that I trust you with this instead of throwing you out of the room every time we want to talk about it,” Sunset said, though she grinned up at Blake to take some of the sting off her words. “And as for your point, Jaune… why should magic be restricted to the – no offence – singular and esoteric instance of Ruby’s eyes? It makes more sense that there should be at least some other kinds of magic out there too.”
“I guess,” Jaune said. “Although… I suppose I’m still getting a handle on this magic stuff. It’s a lot to take in, you know?”
“But if my mom saw it, and if Twilight saw it, and if there’s all this stuff written about it,” Ruby reasoned, “that means it… it can’t be a lie, can it?”
“I never said it was,” Jaune said. “I just…” He laughed nervously. “It feels like I’m the only person here who found out this huge thing about the world that they’d never known before and is actually treating it like this huge thing, and if what Sunset read is true, then it gets even more huge… anyone can have… magic if they… if they…”
“If they’re willing to kill for it, it seems,” Pyrrha whispered.
“A system designed to attract the worst and repel the best,” Blake observed.
“One hopes that there’s more to it than that,” Sunset muttered. “Perhaps Professor Ozpin knows, if anyone does. Since it seems that he knows a lot more than he lets on.”
“For good reason, don’t you think?” Blake asked.
Sunset leaned backwards, resting her hands upon the dorm room floor. “I… have yet to be convinced on that score.”
“After what you read?” Blake demanded. “After what you told us? If the White Fang knew about that kind of power, there isn’t anything that they wouldn’t do to obtain it for themselves. Can you imagine what that would mean for Remnant? Do you honestly think that people have gotten any wiser, any better than they have since those days? Do you really think that the world can be trusted with the kind of power you’re talking about?”
“I think that the world is full of power, and it hasn’t ended yet,” Sunset said. “What’s one more power source in the scheme of things?”
“A power that can enable a bandit chieftain to bring down an empress,” Pyrrha reminded her. “Is that not a thing to be afraid of?”
“A power that can be defeated in its turn,” Sunset replied. She sighed. “Maybe there is a good reason for keeping this a secret, but that doesn’t mean that I have to like having those secrets kept from me, okay? It feels as though every new thing that I learn in this place only opens my eyes to the fog of mysteries that surrounds us all. Am I the only person who feels that way? Am I the only person who is troubled by the fact that everything we discover only serves to increase our store of ignorance by revealing new things that we didn’t know that we didn’t know about?”
“But if it’s for a good cause-” Ruby began.
“How can we know that for sure if we don’t know all the facts about the cause?” Sunset demanded, cutting her off.
“Perhaps there comes a point when we have to trust,” Pyrrha said, “as the rest of the world trusts in Professor Ozpin.”
Professor Ozpin. Trust in Professor Ozpin. Professor Ozpin, the great huntsman, the youngest ever headmaster, the great man of Remnant. Trust him. Trust him to do what? To defend Vale? To serve the best interests of the Four Kingdoms? To keep us safe?
That was the crux of it all: trust Ozpin to do what? Sunset could accept, in abstract, the argument that Blake advanced: in a system that seemed to self-select for ruthlessness and concentrate power in the hands of those least deserving to possess it, then it made academic sense to hide the existence of said power, and that was true irregardless of the existence of other forms of power, like particularly strong semblances and the like. But why should Ozpin be the one in the know; he knew about silver eyes, he knew about whatever this other thing was, he knew a lot that other people didn’t know, and why? Because he was a headmaster at a huntsman academy? So what? It didn’t make him Celestia, with whom Sunset might have disagreed, but she could at least acknowledge that she had the ages of wisdom to back up her claims to make the big choices for other people. 
And that was the other thing, the biggest thing, the thing that she wasn’t sure that anyone else in the room would understand because they were all too noble for their own good but which Sunset saw as clear as day: leaving aside why Ozpin should have the right to make those decisions, what kind of decisions was he going to make? Even if you trusted him to do the right thing, that was only going to be the right thing for Remnant, or the human race, or the Kingdom of Vale, or all the human kingdoms, depending on his allegiance and the breadth of his perspective. It wasn’t the right thing for Team SAPR or for the Xiao Long-Rose family or for any of them as individuals any more than Celestia’s decision, right for Equestria, had been right for Sunset Shimmer. 
That was the take away from Ruby’s account that no one else seemed to see: that Ozpin had set Team STRQ out into peril half-blindfolded by a lack of understanding of what was really going on around them. Sure, it had all worked out okay that time, but Ruby’s mom… well, she was dead, not to put too fine a point on it. It was all very well to send them out to fight grimm – that was what they were here to do – but what if Ozpin started giving them missions that brought them more and more into contact with the magic of this world, the way he’d apparently started doing for Team STRQ? 
Ozpin might be acting for the greater good of Remnant, but if that greater good entailed getting SAPR killed, Sunset… she couldn’t be sure that he’d do it, but she couldn’t be sure that he definitely wouldn’t either, and that… that was unacceptable.
Sunset’s hands clenched as she glanced around the room. Ruby and Pyrrha were just the kind who would readily give their lives in a worthy cause; Jaune would probably do it too, and Blake… Blake was so desperate to atone at any cost. Sunset had to protect them, but how could she do that when she was mired in this swamp of unawareness? When she didn’t know where the blows were going to come from?
I am not a piece on your board, Professor, and neither are they. 
Still, it wasn’t as though she could just march into the headmaster’s office and demand answers, was it? No, as satisfying as the idea might be, it wouldn’t actually get her anywhere. All she could do was keep learning as much as she could and hope it was enough when – if; she had to concede that none of this might actually matter – the time came.
There wasn’t much more to say on the matter right now, and in any case, there wasn’t any time to say it because Sunset’s scroll went off. So did Blake’s. They both fished them out and opened up their devices at the same time. 
Sunset saw a message from Professor Goodwitch summoning her to the amphitheatre. 
“The amphitheatre?” Blake asked.
Sunset looked at her. “You too?”
Blake nodded, jumping lightly off the bed and onto her feet. “I wonder what Professor Goodwitch wants?”
Sunset shrugged as he climbed up off the floor, more slowly than Blake’s acrobatic display. “Improvised sparring class?”
“It’s Friday afternoon,” Blake pointed out. “There are no classes today.”
“That’s why I said it would be an improvised class,” Sunset replied. “See you later, everyone; I’ll let you know if it was anything important.”
“Good luck, both of you,” Pyrrha called as the two of them left the dorm room. 
Outside, as the door closed behind the two of them, the huntresses were joined by Yang, Ren, and Nora of Team YRDN coming out of the room across the hall. 
“Did you guys just get a message from Professor Goodwitch, too?” Yang asked.
“We did,” Blake confirmed. “Are you three on your way over there as well?”
“We sure are,” Nora confirmed enthusiastically. “At first I thought she was going to yell at us again – even though I don’t think that we’ve done anything to deserve to get yelled at recently, but then, I don’t ever really think that we deserve to get yelled at by Professor Goodwitch – but if you two are coming over as well, then I don’t know what she could want.”
“We’ll find out when we get there,” Ren said.
“Obviously,” Sunset replied. “Where’s Dove?”
Yang shrugged. “Not with us. Maybe hanging out with Lyra and Bon Bon? He does that a lot. If it’s a whole team thing, he’ll meet us there.”
“Why would Professor Goodwitch want to see Sunset and I alongside your team?” Blake asked.
“Why would she want to see the three of us and the two of you?” Yang countered.
“As I said,” Ren repeated patiently, “we’ll find out when we get there.”
They made their way down out of the dorms and across the grounds. The summer sun shone high above them, and the air was warm as they followed the paved paths between the lawns. As it was Friday afternoon, with classes ended for the week and all the students at liberty, there were various parties of students from all schools – some recognisable from their different uniforms, others wearing their field gear – sprawled out on the grass, studying or reading or talking. Laughter echoed towards the skies, unbroken even when an Atlesian airship passed overhead, temporarily blotting the sun and plunging the ground into shadow. 
The five students made their way to the amphitheatre, eschewing the usual route into the changing rooms and heading straight through the main doors into the theatre proper where the spars and speeches took place. 
They found that they were not the first to arrive. Professor Goodwitch stood upon the stage, and with her stood Professor Ozpin, leaning upon his cane with both hands. Team BLBL – the three remaining members of it, anyway – stood on the right hand side of the lower gallery, side by side, waiting. They had their backs to the doors, but all three of them looked around as Sunset, Blake and the three members of Team YRDN strode in. 
The fourth member of Team YRDN had also preceded them there; Dove Bronzewing stood near the centre of the room, almost directly in front of the stage. He half-turned to face the others as they entered.
“Yang, Ren, Nora,” he greeted them affably, each with a slight nod of the head. “Blake, Sunset.”
“Dove,” Blake replied softly, and Sunset could hear – and feel – the concern in her voice. What were they all doing here? What were BLBL doing here? Why had Professor Goodwitch – or Professor Ozpin, who must have instructed her to do it – brought them all together like this?
The other three members of Team YRDN – minus Dove – stood on the left of the room; Sunset and Blake took up spaces in the middle, to the left of Dove. 
Sunset’s tail flicked back and forth as she waited to hear what this was all about. 
“Thank you all for coming,” Professor Ozpin said. His tone was genial, and there was a slight smile upon his face as he ran his eyes across the assembled students. “I would have called this meeting in my office, but as you can see, there are quite a few of you.” He chuckled for a moment. “Nevertheless, Professor Goodwitch has asked you all to join us so that we might discuss certain irregularities in the team roster that have arisen since the beginning of the semester and how those irregularities might be normalised.
“As you will all no doubt recall, at the beginning of Fall Semester, Miss Xiao Long, Mister Ren, Mister Bronzewing, and Miss Valkyrie formed Team Iron under Miss Xiao Long’s leadership, while Miss Belladonna, Miss Heartstrings, Miss Bonaventure, and Mister Lark formed Team Bluebell, led by Miss Belladonna. This was in accordance with the standard practices around Initiation, in which partnerships were formed and teams assigned according to the relics chosen during the Initiation itself. However, as you will also remember, at the beginning of this semester… certain facts about Miss Belladonna came to light which made it impossible for her to continue as leader of Team Bluebell… at least in the eyes of her teammates.” Professor Ozpin glanced at the other three Bluebells. Lyra shrank from his gaze, her expression shamefaced, while Sky shuffled his feet uncertainly. Only Bon Bon met the Headmaster’s gaze without a trace of nervousness. 
Sunset scowled at her. Self-righteous prig.
“The situation as it now stands is both undesirable and irregular,” Professor Goodwitch declared. “Miss Belladonna is now living with Team Sapphire, all the while undertaking extracurricular activities on behalf of General Ironwood and the Atlesian forces.” She managed to imbue the name of General Ironwood and his troops with a particular kind of disdain. “Team Bluebell, temporarily under the leadership of Miss Bonaventure, has only three members… and quite frankly, given your grades and performances in my class, I question whether you are capable of functioning in the field in your present state.”
It was all Sunset could do to keep the grin off her face as Professor Goodwitch said that. It was harsh and rightly so. They deserved to hear that and worse. They were lousy huntsmen, lazy – Sunset had overheard Pyrrha telling Jaune about the deal she had worked out with Dove and how Lyra only trained three nights a week to Jaune’s seven – and with the utter brass-necked gall to look down on Blake, though she was worth three times the whole pack of them! Imbeciles, the lot of them; it was high time that they were put in their place. 
Yang raised her hand. “Professor… Professors, I get that this is about Blake’s future, and I suppose Sunset’s here because Blake is living with Team Sapphire at the moment, but I don’t see how this affects Team Iron?”
“It affects Team Iron, Miss Xiao Long, because Mister Bronzewing has devised a solution which may resolve many of the issues thrown up by the current state of affairs,” Professor Goodwitch said.
“Mister Bronzewing,” Professor Ozpin added, gesturing out at the other students with one hand, “the floor is yours.”
“Thank you, Professor,” Dove said softly. Sunset had always thought of him as a little bit pompous, but he seemed uncertain in front of an audience now as he took a step forward so that everyone could get a better look at him. He didn’t seem to know whether he ought to be addressing his fellow students or the professors, with the results that he first started turning back and forth in an effort to do both, and then ended up turned so that he was facing his teammates, side-on to the professors, and had his back to Team Bluebell. Judging by the way he started looking over his shoulder, that hadn’t been his intention. 
“I… I’ve liked being your partner, Yang,” Dove said. “I was proud to fight alongside you at the Green Line last week. I’ve liked being a member of Team Iron; I’ve been proud to say that I was a member of Team Iron and that my teammates were Yang, Ren, and Nora.” He paused for a moment. “I’m sure that you’ll all be amazing huntsmen and huntresses and achieve all of the dreams we talked about on our first night together after Initiation.” He looked at Blake. “Blake Belladonna, I… I won’t pretend to know what made you do what you did, and if honourable people like Ruby and wise men like the headmaster believe that you deserve to be trusted then… then I suppose you deserve a second chance here, a real second chance.
“Lyra, Bon Bon, you… you were my first friends here at Beacon; when I stepped off the airship with no idea of where I was going or what I was supposed to do, the two of you helped me find my way. And Sky, you’ve been willing to listen to me and not judge and not spill… you’re all my friends, and the thought of you going into battle with one man down and maybe…” He paused, trailing off. “I don’t know, maybe it’s just my provincial nature talking; I’ve been told I’m a little bit of a hayseed, but…” He scratched the back of his head with one hand. “I was brought up to always help a girl in trouble and always step in to protect a girl in danger. I don’t really make a big deal of it because I’m not sure Yang or Nora really need it.”
“Not really, no,” Yang agreed, her tone playful and rich in amusement. “I’ll let you know if I ever start getting… vapours or something.”
“It’s 'the vapours,'” Blake murmured, so softly that probably Sunset was the only one in the room who heard her.
“Anyway, the point is,” Dove went on, “that I’ve suggested to Professor Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin that I should join Team Bluebell, and then Blake could take the open spot in Team Iron, since you don’t have to have a problem with her.” He shrugged. “Then Blake could get out of the Sapphire dorm room, and Team Bluebell would have four members. And I don’t think we’d even have to change the team names.” He smiled sheepishly. 
Silence greeted the end of this speech, broken by Nora, her voice small and a little childlike. “So… you’re leaving us?”
“I… I don’t know yet,” Dove said.
“But you want to leave us behind,” Nora insisted.
“I want to do what’s right,” Dove replied. 
Ren put a hand on Nora’s shoulder. “And that is a very admirable thing to want; that’s what any true huntsman should want.”
“Is that what’s going to happen, Professor?” Sunset asked.
“That depends on you students, Miss Shimmer,” Professor Ozpin replied.
“Some of you students,” Professor Goodwitch corrected. “You have neither choice nor veto, Miss Shimmer; you are here as a courtesy, since Blake is currently living in your dorm room.”
“And she’s welcome to stay there, if she wants to,” Sunset declared. “Don’t think that you have to clear out to go to any old place.”
“Hey!” Yang cried. “Team Iron is not 'any old place.'”
“Would you be willing to lose Mister Bronzewing and gain Miss Belladonna, Miss Xiao Long?” Professor Ozpin asked. “By the same token, Miss Bonaventure, Miss Heartstrings, Mister Lark, would you be willing to have Mister Bronzewing as a teammate? And of course, Miss Belladonna, so much depends on you? What is it that you want?”
Blake hesitated, one hand clutched just above her chest, close to her heart. “I… I understand that this would be a big help to Team BLBL-“
“You don’t need to think about what they want,” Sunset said. “They’re the ones who-”
“Miss Shimmer,” Professor Goodwitch cut her off in an icy tone, “perhaps you should let Miss Belladonna finish?”
Sunset cleared her throat. “Sorry, Professor.”
Blake’s ears drooped a little. “I… I don’t have any objection to joining Team Iron, if they’ll have me, but… with my obligations to the Atlesians, then there’s at least some chance that Team Iron will be left with only three members.”
“I can speak to General Ironwood and see if we can’t minimise the risk of that,” Professor Ozpin said, “but you are correct, Miss Belladonna; the chance cannot be discounted completely. Miss Xiao Long, Miss Valkyrie, Mister Ren, you should be aware of this before you make any final decision.”
“There… there’s something else that you should know as well,” Blake said, her voice rising for a moment to regain the attention of everyone in the room. “I… Rainbow Dash has asked me to transfer to Atlas at the end of this year. I… am considering it.”
Sunset wanted – she so, so wanted – to take a picture of Bon Bon’s expression when Blake said that. Lyra looked pretty startled to hear it too, but Bon Bon looked as though she had just bitten into a sandwich only to find that there were flies inside devouring the rancid meat. Oh, how it must gall her, Miss High and Mighty, that the team leader she had spurned and rejected as unworthy of her had been offered a place amongst the clouds of Atlas. 
Since she couldn’t really take a picture in front of the headmaster, Sunset settled for trying to fix the image in her memory instead. 
“Miss Dash has asked this of you,” Professor Ozpin murmured. “Has General Ironwood said anything about it?”
“We’ve talked about it,” Blake said. “I think that he’d support the idea if I decided to go along with it.”
Professor Goodwitch sniffed. “James continues to find ways of surprising me with his behaviour. Just when I thought that he couldn’t-”
“Now, now, Glynda,” Professor Ozpin interrupted quietly. “James merely wants what we all want: for all of our students to flourish to their full potential. If he believes that Miss Belladonna will do better at Atlas than Beacon, well… that is a matter upon which reasonable people might reasonably disagree. You say that you are considering it, Miss Belladonna?”
“Yes,” Blake said, and her voice shook only a little. She glanced at Beacon’s headmaster. “I mean no disrespect-”
“You needn’t worry about hurting my feelings, believe me,” Professor Ozpin said lightly. “I can acknowledge that Atlas is a fine school, and that some fine young men and women have emerged from it, without losing a scintilla of the pride I feel in Beacon and its students. You must do what is best for you, Miss Belladonna; so long as you find your path and walk it for the betterment of all mankind, then all of this great edifice erected for your education has been worthwhile. It has no other purpose.”
Blake bowed her head. “That’s very kind of you to say so, Professor,” she murmured. “But, again, if I do go to Atlas at the end of the year, then Team Iron will be left with only three members.”
“True enough, Miss Belladonna,” Professor Ozpin acknowledged. He leaned upon his cane, and a sigh escaped his lips. “Sadly, that state of affairs is not unheard of amongst second year teams and higher. We do what we can to protect our students, but this world and this life are dangerous, and sometimes, our best is not enough. Team Iron would, in some respects, be more fortunate than others in a similar position.”
“More importantly,” Professor Goodwitch added, “there is always the possibility that a student from Shade or Haven, or perhaps even the great Atlas,” – she laced the name with a touch of acid – “may decide to transfer to Beacon at the end of this year.”
“Also a possibility,” Professor Ozpin concurred.
“And it’s a position that Team Bluebell are in now, and with less…” Dove trailed off. He glanced at his new teammates, or at those who might soon be his new teammates. “I mean, no offence, guys, but I think Yang, Ren, and Nora could handle themselves a lot better without a fourth guy than you.”
“I think you’re probably right,” Lyra conceded in a voice that was half mutter, half groan.
Yang glanced at Dove for a moment, then turned her head towards Ren and Nora. She drew them close, the three other members of Team Iron huddling together, heads bent, speaking in whispers so that Sunset couldn’t hear them.
“You don’t have to take this just because they’re offering it to you,” she said.
A smile played upon Blake’s features. “You want me to stay that badly?”
Blake’s tone was fondly mocking, almost playful, but Sunset answered her in earnest. “I don’t want you to go.”
“It’s a good plan from Dove,” Blake insisted.
“Good for Team Bluebell; I’m not sure I’d say the same about Team Iron,” Sunset replied. “And it’s not-”
“Not good for me?” Blake guessed. “I don’t think it’s bad for me, either.” She smiled. “You... I’ll always be grateful for you giving me a place to stay when no one else would, but I don’t belong in your bed, or even in your room.” She paused. “Besides, I’m only moving across the hall.”
“For now,” Sunset said. “Is this what you want?”
“I… I don’t know what I want yet,” Blake admitted, “but I think that this might be a good start.”
Team Iron – minus Dove – had finished their impromptu discussion. Yang looked at him. “This is what you want, isn’t it?”
Dove didn’t reply.
“Hey,” Yang said. “Be honest. Don’t worry about hurting anyone’s feelings; just go for it.”
Dove nodded. “This is what I want, not because-”
“Hey,” Yang said, cutting him off with one raised hand. “You don’t need to explain. You don’t owe me – any of us – a word, and besides, I get it.” She grinned. “So go get ‘em, tiger.” She looked up at the professors on the stage. “We’re willing to take the risk of Blake being away or even leaving. Dove’s right; we can handle it on our own, but…” Now, she turned her gaze and full attention to Blake. “If you want the spot, you can have it.”
Blake smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “I want the spot.”
“Of course you do,” Nora cried. “The coolest team in Beacon!”
Ren bowed his head. “I hope that our duties give us the chance to work together.”
“So do I,” Blake agreed. 
Yang grinned. “Welcome to Team Iron, Blake.”
“Thank you again,” Blake said. She offered her hand to Sunset. “And thank you, for putting up with me and for always having my back.”
Sunset pulled Blake into a hug, wrapping her arms around the other faunus and holding her tight. “Just so you know,” she whispered into Blake’s ear, “there’ll always be a place across the hall for you when you ruin this chance like you did the other.”
Blake snorted. “I’ll keep that in mind. Don’t joke; I might actually hold you to that.”
I wouldn’t mind at all if you did, Sunset thought.



Blake sat down heavily upon her bed. Once all her stuff had been moved into her new dorm room, Team SAPR had insisted – with no possibility of refusal – that she had to come out with them to Benni Haven's for a goodbye, as though she was actually moving to Atlas instead of just across the corridor. Her new teammates had been very accepting about it, and honestly, Blake wouldn’t have refused even if she’d had the chance; it was a nice gesture on their part, one of a series of nice gestures from Team SAPR since her secret had come out and even before it. They had always been there for her, whether she deserved it or not, ever since she had run away from Rainbow Dash; the chance to spend another evening in their good company, with good food to boot, was too, well, too good to pass up.
And it had been a good night. A very good night. Ms. Haven had even broken with a custom and taken a picture of the five of them with Fluffy, since Blake was – or had been – an ‘honourary’ member of Team SAPR for just a little while. 
Blake didn’t know what the future held for her – either in the sense of her immediate future with Team YRBN or in the sense of her larger future and the choice between Beacon and Atlas that she had yet to make – but she would always be grateful for the kindness of Team SAPR.
Nobody had been that unconditionally kind to her since… since she had turned her back on her parents. 
The trouble was that the food at Benni Haven's was very, very filling, and her stomach was now feeling just a little bit delicate. 
Yang strode into the dorm room. “Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” Blake murmured, one hand over her stomach.
Yang chuckled as she sat down on the bed next to Blake – unlike in SAPR’s dorm room, the beds weren’t arranged by strict name order; Ren and Nora slept side by side, and Yang and Dove had sat on the other side of the room; now it was Yang and Blake. She kicked off her boots and crossed her legs on the scarlet quilt beneath her. “Did you guys have a good time down there?”
“It was very nice, at the time,” Blake said, with a slight touch of a groan. “The company was wonderful, but-”
“But you ate too much?” Yang said, with a grin on her face that could have devoured many unpleasant things.
“When Ruby is begging you to share a chocolate chip sundae with her, it’s very hard to say no,” Blake pointed out.
Yang let out a bark of laughter. “Yeah, don’t I know it.”
Blake’s lips twitched slightly. “You’re very lucky, to have-”
“A sister like her, yeah, I know,” Yang said. “Of course, if I was really lucky, we’d be on the same team together.”
Blake frowned. “I… I don’t have any siblings, so I can’t imagine what it’s like for you, but Sunset-”
“Is becoming more of a sister to her than I am.” Yang finished.
“That’s not true,” Blake replied. “I was going to say that Sunset takes care of her; they all do. Not that she really needs it. She’s brave, capable; you should be proud of her.”
“I am proud of her,” Yang insisted. “I just…” She paused, staring intently at Blake. “How much have they told you?”
Blake hesitated. Yang asked how much Blake had been told, but Blake found it difficult to answer without knowing exactly what Ruby had told Yang. Asking that question, however, could seem facetious at best and downright insulting at worst, so she tried – she had no choice – but to guess what it was that Yang knew. She guessed that Ruby would have told Yang everything that pertained to her, but nothing more than that; she wouldn’t have told Yang Sunset’s secrets. “I know about her eyes,” she said.
Yang nodded. “I thought you might. Hard to keep secrets from someone in the same room.”
“Do Ren and Nora know?”
Yang’s smile was a little wan. “I said it was hard, not impossible. Especially when you’ve no one to talk about it with where they might hear. No. They don’t know. I don’t… what would I tell them, that my sister has magic eyes? I like them both, but I don’t want them to think I’m nuts. And I’m not sure that this is their business.”
“But you were fine with Ruby telling her teammates and making it their business?” Blake asked.
“Ruby can trust who she wants to trust, and so can I,” Yang replied.
Blake’s brow furrowed. “Are you trusting me?”
“Ruby already made that choice for me, a little bit,” Yang declared. “But… yeah, I think I trust you.”
“Why?” Blake inquired. “I mean… why am I even here? Why do you want me here? Why were you so quick to offer me a place here?”
Yang affixed Blake with the gaze of her lilac eyes. "Because… because nobody should have to be alone, abandoned. Everyone should have… a place where they belong. A place they can call home. That's how I feel, anyway, and while I can't speak for Ren or Nora, I… I think that they feel the same way that I do."
"That's… that's incredibly generous of you," Blake murmured, "but all the same, you gave up one of your teammates-"
"What was I supposed to do? Tell Dove no, we couldn't spare him?"
"You could," Blake said, thinking to herself that Sunset probably would have said exactly that if Ruby or Pyrrha or even Jaune wanted to switch teams.
"Maybe," Yang allowed, "but I don't think Dove would have been very happy with me if I did. If this is what he really wants… it's better this way. If he feels that strongly about it, then who am I to stand in his way? I'm his team leader, not his owner."
"No, I suppose…" Blake trailed off for a moment. "I hadn't thought about it like that before." She paused. "Do you think they'll be okay?"
"Who?"
"Dove and Team Bluebell," Blake explained. "Or just Team Bluebell now, I suppose."
"I don't know about the rest of them, but Dove's got it where it counts," Yang assured her.
"Are you sorry to lose him?"
"Nah," Yang declared, and whether she was lying or not, Blake appreciated the fact that she seemed perfectly sincere. "I've seen you in sparring class. You're good. Not as good as me, maybe," she added with a chuckle. "But you're good. You'll do great as part of this team."
"If my situation allows," Blake murmured. "If… if I… you know."
"Don't worry about it," Yang said. "You do what you have to do right now, and later, we can worry about what'll happen if you decide to leave. You're really considering it then? Atlas?"
Blake nodded. "I really am. I haven't made my mind up to say yes, but I haven't made my mind up to say no, either."
"Why?" Yang asked. "I mean, if you don't want to talk about it, then just say so. I don't mean to pry into your business; I'm just curious, if that's okay."
"It's fine," Blake said, yet nevertheless, she paused a moment before answering. In fact, she did not answer, save with another question. "Yang, what is it that you want to do when you graduate?"
Yang shrugged. "The usual huntsman stuff, I guess. Saving people, hunting things; the family business."
Blake nodded. She had thought as much. "I… no offence, but I'm not sure that's enough for me."
Yang stared at her. "You're not sure that you can go out beyond the kingdoms to fight the monsters and then come back to find the monsters inside the kingdoms as high and mighty as ever."
"Exactly," Blake whispered. "If only people who deserved salvation were saved, then Ruby would be wandering the streets of Vale all by herself, but I think that we ought to at least try to make a world that doesn't deserve to be consumed by the grimm."
"No argument there, but you think Atlas is the place for that?"
"I think that in Atlas, a huntress can become powerful in ways that she can't in the other kingdoms."
"You mean in Atlas, a soldier can become powerful," Yang replied. "Because let's be honest, the reason why Atlas is different is that its huntsmen are military."
"Is that a bad thing, do you think?"
"I don't know, but you might find it isn't what you're used to."
"I've been in a military of sorts before," Blake pointed out.
"Right," Yang muttered. "Of course you have. And I guess you have a point; there isn't so much thing as a bigshot huntress the way that there are generals and stuff in Atlas. And if that's what you want, then… but do you really believe it? No offence, but it's Atlas. Do you think it can happen?"
"I don't know," Blake admitted. "That's what… I suppose you could say that's what's holding me back. It might be the best way to change the world, it might even be the only way, but I don't know if I have it in me to make that kind of sacrifice for nothing. That… and the fact that it's Atlas, and although the Atlesians I've met have been much better people than I expected, I haven't really met very many Atlesians." She sighed. "I just don't know. I haven't figured it out yet."
"You will," Yang assured her.
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely," Yang replied. "When the end of the year comes, you'll know where it is you need to go. You might not even make your mind up, but you'll know in your gut." She grinned. "Speaking of the gut, do you have any room in there?"
Blake's eyes widened. "You want to fill me up more?"
"What do you think Ren and Nora are doing?" Yang asked. "They're cooking. Well, Ren is cooking, Nora is… keeping him company. Dove's coming back too."
"Really?"
Yang nodded. "Ren suggested it: we say farewell to one member of our team and welcome a new one."
Blake smiled. "That… that sounds lovely," she admitted. "But I can't guarantee that I won't throw up if I eat any more."
Yang's cackling laughter echoed off the walls.