Pure (Rewritten)
Pure
Sunset hesitated outside the SAPR dorm room. Her scroll was in her hand to unlock the door, but she paused, dithering over actually doing it. She glanced at Blake as her free hand balled up.
“You’re going to stay with me, right?”
Blake had a slight smile playing across her face as she nodded. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Right, that’s… that’s good to hear,” Sunset said. She took a deep breath. And then another. She could do this. It was just walking through a door.
I am Sunset Shimmer; I have crossed worlds and universes and chased my fate across the world; I have walked through more imposing doors than this.
So why does it feel as though I’m about to be called out on the carpet by Princess Celestia?
Is this Cinder’s nervousness?
No. That would be too lucky. Cinder doesn’t get nervous.
Or does she?
It occurred to Sunset that while Cinder might not want to think that she got nervous, Ashley had certainly gotten nervous in the past. Maybe, just maybe, it was a touch of Cinder’s apprehension that she was feeling at the thought of confronting her friends.
After all, if Sunset could feel Cinder’s hatred of Pyrrha, why wouldn’t she also feel Cinder’s fear at the idea of confronting Pyrrha and Ruby together, head on?
Or Sunset herself was just afraid of telling them everything, but it made her feel better to detach herself from that particular unheroic emotion and pretend – and who was to say that she was definitely pretending? It might be true – that this wasn’t her but another instance of Cinder’s invasion of her soul.
Especially when that enabled Sunset to tell herself that Cinder was scared of a fight.
And she, Sunset Shimmer, wasn’t afraid of anything.
She flashed her scroll in front of the door, and it unlocked with a click.
The dorm room was as silent as a mausoleum as Sunset stepped inside and-
“Sunset!”
Sunset stopped, almost knocked over onto her backside as Ruby ran into her, wrapping both her arms around Sunset’s chest.
“You came back!” Ruby yelled. She looked up into Sunset’s face. “Where have you been? We were all so worried about you!”
Sunset made an awkward noise out of the back of her throat as she awkwardly tried to envelop Ruby without touching her with her hands, which meant that she was sort of flailing about with her arms and using her elbows to pat Ruby on the head. It was all very… 'awkward' was the word that summed the whole thing up best, really.
She looked over Ruby’s head. Jaune looked relieved but at the same time wasn’t making any effort to hide his curiosity. Pyrrha’s arms were folded, but she had a fond smile upon her face.
“Uh, Ruby,” Pyrrha said. “Perhaps you’d better give Sunset a little space.”
“Oh, right,” Ruby said, hastily releasing Sunset and backing away. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologise,” Sunset said, as she was able to make enough space for Blake to enter the room and close the door behind the two of them. Sunset sidled over to her bed but didn’t sit down on it. She clasped her hands together behind her back. “That’s my job right now, I think.”
Ruby laughed nervously. Pyrrha looked away for a moment. “Well, I can’t deny that we’d certainly like to know what happened last night… but it feels fair to admit that you aren’t the only one who feels at fault. I should have gone with you.”
“We both should have,” Jaune said. “If we’d gone with you, then maybe… maybe things would have been different, and that’s on us.”
“I’ve been trying to tell them that it wouldn’t have made any difference if they had come, or even if Blake had come too,” Ruby said. “That’s right, isn’t it? Cinder ran off as soon as she realised how outnumbered she was, and she would have done the exact same thing if Pyrrha and Jaune were there.”
“Definitely,” Sunset said. “She wasn’t going to stick around for a fight with two more fighters to go up against.” She considered the possibility that Cinder’s rage against Pyrrha – the rage that she could feel simmering inside her just by being this close to Pyrrha, the rage that she was having to keep a lid on and hope that it didn’t boil over – might have driven her to try and take her out when the chance presented itself, but she dismissed the idea as swiftly as it had formed in her head. Cinder Fall was a lot of things, most of them bad, but she wasn’t stupid. Not even her desire to murder Pyrrha would prompt her to fight a hopeless battle against unwinnable odds.
Despite her dislike for the champion of Mistral and everything she represented, Cinder was still cognisant of Pyrrha’s reputation. Her presence would only have made Cinder get out of there even faster.
Ruby nodded briskly. “And then Sunset would still have gone after her and then…” She trailed off, looking a little guilty for having brought the situation back to the ‘and then.’ “I mean, uh…”
“What happened last night?” Jaune asked. “Why didn’t you come back? Where were you?”
“In the library,” Sunset admitted.
Jaune frowned. “After lights out?”
“She slept on some books,” Blake said disapprovingly.
“New books,” Sunset stressed. “Books that I knew could stand up to it. Besides, it’s not like I’m heavy.”
“But… why?” Jaune demanded. “I mean there’s a perfectly good bed right here.”
“You’d be surprised,” Sunset said, risking a slight smile.
Judging by the expressions on the faces of her teammates, they weren’t in much of a mood for levity.
Sunset huffed. There was no getting away from this, was there?
Well, no, of course not, you idiot. Did you think that you could come back here and you wouldn’t have to tell them?
But Blake was okay with it, so they will be too.
Sunset glanced at Blake, who gave her a barely perceptible nod by way of reassurance.
You are Sunset Shimmer, and you can do this.
You told them about your magic; you can tell them this.
You are Sunset Shimmer, and these are your friends.
She clasped her hands tighter together behind her back. “As Ruby has probably told you,” she said, “Cinder fled the tower, and I teleported after her.”
“How did she get down from the tower?” Jaune asked. “I mean, aura and all, but that’s a long way to fall. Did she have a landing strategy?”
“You could say that,” Sunset said. “She flew.”
“What?” Jaune exclaimed.
“Is that her semblance?” Pyrrha asked.
“If flying is her semblance, then how is she stopping bullets with one hand?” Ruby said.
“That could just be theatrics to cover up the fact that all those hits are draining her aura away,” Pyrrha suggested. “I’ve taken part in a few blind tournaments – tournaments where only the referee can see the aura levels of the combatants – where some contestants tried to cover up the fact that they were using aura through flamboyant displays or misdirection; Cinder’s hand motions could be in the same line.”
Blake coughed into one hand, and with the other, gestured towards Sunset.
“I’m sorry,” Pyrrha said. “Please go on, Sunset.”
“I fought Cinder,” Sunset said. “I… I was holding my own, I suppose.” It was hard to remember how the fight had been going before she activated her semblance because of everything that had happened after that. “I… I wanted to know how she could do it. How she could betray us, betray the world, betray everything that huntresses are supposed to stand for. I liked her, you know? I… I like her a lot. I thought we were so alike.”
“Personally, I’m afraid I can’t say that I ever saw it,” Pyrrha murmured.
Sunset blinked. “Really?”
“No,” Pyrrha admitted. “You… you had your moments, but you were always quite open about how you felt, even if your expression of those feelings was… sometimes rather obnoxious. You were never snide, and I never felt as though your words had double meanings. Cinder… I always felt as though there was something I couldn’t trust about her.”
Sunset was silent for a moment. “You… I… thanks.”
Pyrrha looked a little confused. “For what?”
“You’ll understand soon, I think,” Sunset replied. “I was fighting Cinder, but while we were fighting, I kept asking her, demanding that she tell me why, why she’d done this. I just wanted to know how she could do it. I wanted to know how someone so like me – someone who I thought was so like me, even if some of you don’t agree – could do something like that. And that… it seems to have activated my semblance.”
“Really?” Ruby squeaked. “Is that what you were upset about? Wait, why would you be upset about that? Activating your semblance is awesome!”
“It is when you have an awesome semblance like super speed,” Sunset said. “My semblance is… not so great.”
Her words hung in the air for a moment before Jaune said, “Would you like us to guess?”
“Right, right,” Sunset said. “I… I’m not entirely sure what to call it. It’s like a combination of empathy-”
Ruby gasped. “You mean you can turn off electricity and deactivate robots?”
Sunset looked at her flatly. “No, Ruby, that’s EMP, and that would actually be cool to be able to do. Empathy is… feelings and stuff.”
“Your semblance is… feelings and stuff?” Ruby asked, sounding surprised and disappointed at the same time.
“If you’ll let me finish,” Sunset snapped, causing a crestfallen look to descend on Ruby’s face. She sighed and groaned at the same time. “Sorry, I just… this isn’t all me, but I can’t escape the blame for it. My semblance is a combination of empathy and touch telepathy. When I touched Cinder’s arm... I saw her past. I know who she is now. I asked how she could turn out this way…and then I found out.”
For a moment, none of them said anything. Then Jaune let out a soft, “Woah. Really?”
Sunset nodded and sat down on the bed with her hands resting between her knees. “I didn’t see absolutely everything. I didn’t see anything about who she might be working for, I didn’t see what she’s planning… but I saw her childhood, I saw the things that happened to her. I saw what took a good, sweet kid and turned her into a monster.”
She stopped, the words dying in her throat.
“Sunset?” Jaune asked.
“I… I’m not sure if I ought to tell you,” Sunset admitted. “It feels… it feels a little like betraying her.”
“You just said that she betrayed humanity,” Ruby reminded her. “Betrayed everything that being a huntress is about.”
“Does that mean it’s okay for me to betray her secrets?” Sunset asked. After all, just because we’re enemies doesn’t mean that we’re not friends.
And yet, Ruby’s response, lacking in sympathy as it was, made her think that perhaps betraying – some – of Cinder’s secrets might be the lesser of two evils. After all, it was clear that no one was particularly inclined to cut Cinder any slack as things stood, but perhaps once they had heard her story, they would look more kindly on her, they would understand a little better.
Perhaps, if they heard the truth, they would feel the way that Sunset did.
Without all the anger and hatred and desire to kill.
Sunset’s brow furrowed. “Cinder’s mother was an Atlesian pilot, in Argus. One day… one day, she didn’t come home from a mission.”
“That’s not an excuse,” Ruby declared.
“I’m not finished yet!” Sunset snapped. She shook her head. “Sorry, I… I haven’t finished. In fact, I’ve hardly begun. Cinder’s father decided that it would be for the best – best for him, anyway – to move away from Argus and the unpleasant memories. And so he took his little girl back to Mistral, where he’d come from. He was a kind and devoted father, as well as Cinder could recall anyway, but… I suppose he must have felt that she needed a mother’s care. And so he married again, choosing, for his second wife…” – she looked at Pyrrha – “Lady Clytemnestra Kommenos.”
Pyrrha’s eyes widened. “'Kommenos'? Phoebe’s mother?” She gasped. “Cinder was the stepsister?”
“You knew that Phoebe had a stepsister?” Sunset replied. “But you didn’t recognise Cinder?”
“I never met Phoebe’s stepsister,” Pyrrha told her. “Everyone… most of what I’m about to tell you has been told to me after the fact, I must confess. I was only a girl at the time; the only thing I really understood about Phoebe Kommenos was that she was my opponent… and not really on my level.”
“I’m afraid you did Cinder no favours with your prowess,” Sunset muttered. “After her defeats… Phoebe used to take her humiliation out on Cinder.”
Pyrrha frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I… I’d rather not say,” Sunset said. “I didn’t want to see it, and I certainly don’t want to repeat it.”
Pyrrha bowed her head. “So… it was true.”
Sunset stared at her. “You knew,” she whispered. “People knew.”
“Nobody knew anything,” Pyrrha insisted. “But… there have been rumours about Phoebe for several years, and amongst them… my mother says that Lady Kommenos married beneath her socially, the second time, but that her second husband’s wealth made up for it. When her second husband died, the Kommenos’ step-daughter withdrew completely from society. Lady Kommenos was well known, Phoebe competed in tournaments, but their stepsister… I don’t even remember her name; certainly, I do not recognise the name of Cinder Fall.”
Sunset said nothing. Cinder’s old name, the name of the little girl who had suffered under Phoebe’s cruelty, that was something she would not divulge. That was a secret that was not hers to reveal.
“A girl who was never seen,” Pyrrha went on, “who was always said to be ill, who might as well have been a ghost? Of course there were rumours.”
“'Rumours,'” Sunset repeated in a voice as sharp as Soteria’s edge. “Rumours. People talked about it, they whispered about it, they guessed what was happening to Cinder inside that house, and they did nothing! Celestia! No wonder she’s so angry!”
“What was anyone supposed to do?” Pyrrha asked.
“I don’t know, rescue her?” Sunset suggested acidly. “Gotten her out of that damn house? Fought for those who could not fight for themselves?”
“It’s not that simple,” Pyrrha murmured.
“Why not?” Sunset demanded.
“You know why,” Pyrrha cried. Her bosom heaved. “You have been to Mistral, you have stood in the company of the high, you know why.”
Sunset was silent for a moment. “Because the Kommenos family was well born, and wealthy too, so they could do as they pleased, and none dared challenge them.” She scowled. “No one even wanted to, did they?”
“I don’t know,” Pyrrha confessed. “I was too young to know.”
Sunset shook her head in disgust. “So much for the glory of Mistral,” she muttered, and in that moment, she felt in tune with Cinder’s hatred of the place, her feelings resonating with Sunset’s own. They had known. They had all known, or at the least had strong suspicions, and yet… and yet nobody had cared enough to do anything about it. None of them.
If that was the world they lived in, then let it burn.
Sunset scowled. No. No, that was too much, too angry, too wild and scattershot and too unjust in turn. Condemn, yes, but not punish.
Yes, wag your finger at them and then leave them free to abandon the next victim.
Or instead make so many other victims of those innocent of all part in this? Pyrrha was too young to know what was going on.
When she is older, she will turn away just as they did.
No, she won’t; she isn’t like that.
They’re all like that!
SHUT UP!
“Sunset?” Jaune asked anxiously.
Sunset blinked rapidly. “Sorry, um… what was I saying?”
“You weren’t,” Blake observed.
“But, I have a question,” Jaune said, raising his hand tentatively.
“You don’t have to put your hand up,” Sunset told him.
“Right,” Jaune said, but kept his hand up. “So, Cinder and Phoebe are stepsisters, and Phoebe… yeah. Is that why Cinder kept it to herself?”
“I think Cinder wanted to keep her past mysterious,” Sunset replied. “But… yes, that’s one of the reasons.” She didn’t mention what she’d seen outside the ice cream parlour, the way that Cinder had frozen up with terror in Phoebe’s presence. She wouldn’t humiliate Cinder like that, make her out to be even more of a victim.
She got the impression that Cinder wouldn’t appreciate that.
“And is that why Phoebe didn’t mention it either?” Jaune asked. “Because she was afraid that people would find out what she did?”
“No,” Sunset said. “I don’t think she has to worry about that,” she added, with a glance at Pyrrha that the latter did not deserve. “No, I think the reason that she didn’t mention it is that she didn’t recognise Cinder.”
“How could she not recognise her own sister?”
“Stepsister,” Sunset clarified. “And-”
“She believes that her stepsister is dead,” Pyrrha murmured. “As did everyone. There was a fire, in the year that Phoebe first went to Atlas; all the rest of her family burned to death, or… or so it was believed. When Phoebe came home for the funeral, she seemed… so upset. I… actually felt sorry for her, at the time.”
“Whatever she did, whatever kind of person she was, she did lose her mother and sister,” Jaune said. “If that happened to me, I… I mean I haven’t spoken to my Mom since I left for Beacon, but… if I found out that she’d died, that any of my sisters had… I… I’d just… God, I can’t even…” The very idea was apparently enough to leave him looking downcast and disheartened, and he started to half lean, half sit down on the nearest desk.
Sunset looked away. “Obviously, Cinder didn’t burn to death,” she said. “In fact… she’s the one who set the fire.”
“Really?” Pyrrha asked. “As far as I recall, there was no suggestion of arson.”
“Then she was good at covering her tracks,” Sunset replied. “But she did it.” She did not add that she could hardly blame her. “That… that’s the last memory that I saw; after that, she… she was able to throw me out somehow, break our connection.”
“I must say, it seems quite enough,” Pyrrha said softly.
“Mhm,” Blake agreed. “So, what are you going to do?”
“About what?” Sunset asked, genuinely curious as to what Blake meant.
“About Phoebe Kommenos?” Blake demanded. “She abused her stepsister; she can’t just be allowed to get away with that-”
“Has she not already gotten away with it?” Sunset replied. “In Atlas, she is considered a model student, and no one ever punished her for what she did.”
“Yet,” Blake added.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that that could change,” Blake declared. “You know the truth, you what she did, you could tell General Ironwood-”
“That my newly activated semblance enabled me to see into the soul of our enemy?” Sunset asked. “Lest you forget, as far as the world is concerned, I already have a semblance.”
“I am sure the General would keep your confidence,” Blake said.
“I’m sure you do, Rainbow Dash,” Sunset muttered. “I am not so sure.” And it wasn’t just because Cinder numbered General Ironwood amongst her enemies – although she did. She had contempt for Professor Ozpin, the senile old fool, but she feared Ironwood. No, that was not quite right; she did not fear the man. She feared no one – except Phoebe, the terror that she could not escape – but she was wary of the strength at his command. She understood what it meant to set herself against the power of Atlas, for all that she was resolved to do so, no matter the cost.
But it was not just Cinder’s feelings affecting her mind, although Cinder had told her something: there was a connection between the two men; they were more than just colleagues. Whatever Professor Ozpin was involved in, General Ironwood was involved in, too.
“And so you will say nothing?” Blake asked. “You’ll let her keep getting away with it?”
“It’s a little late for Cinder either way,” Sunset said.
“But not for her other victims,” Blake insisted. “Trust me, Sunset, there will be other victims. Someone like that… as good as she is at hiding what she really is, there’s no way she’ll be able to suppress it completely.”
So what if there are other victims? I don’t know them, Sunset thought bitterly, and although the bitterness belonged to Cinder, she could not with such certainty say the same for the callousness. She held her peace and kept that thought to herself as her tail curled upwards. “I… I will speak to Rainbow Dash about it,” she muttered. “I will consider it, at least.”
Blake’s lips twitched upwards ever so slightly, and only for a moment. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“But that’s not all there is to it,” Ruby whispered. “Is it? You didn’t stay away because you saw Cinder’s past.”
“No,” Sunset said, with a sigh. “I didn’t just see Cinder’s past; I felt her emotions as well.” She glanced at Pyrrha. “She really hates you. She doesn’t like any of us – she wants us dead – but you… you she hates especially.”
“Why?” Ruby asked.
“Yeah, how could anybody hate Pyrrha?” Jaune added, looking up.
“You were both at a party, a few years ago at least,” Sunset said. “You were only a kid, if her memories are accurate. Everyone was fawning all over you.”
“That describes several parties I attended with my mother,” Pyrrha said. “When I was still young enough that I was a precocious prodigy, before I grew up and my abilities started to become a threat to the dignitas of my fellow nobles. I’m afraid that I don’t remember encountering Cinder Fall at all before the spring vacation.”
“I’m sure she’d hate you even more if she heard that you didn’t remember her at all,” Sunset said, with just a touch of wryness entering her voice. “Considering that that’s the whole reason she hates you to begin with: you had everything that she wanted so badly but could never have.” She snorted. “Kind of like why I didn’t like you.”
"Sunset-" Pyrrha began.
"I didn't come home last night," Sunset said, cutting across her because she needed this to be out there, to be done with; she needed the sword hanging above her head to descend one way or another; she couldn't wait in trepidation for their reaction to this any longer. "I didn't come back here because… because I didn't stop feeling her when we broke skin contact. She… it's like she left something in me. I didn't suck her feelings away, but it's as if they're my feelings now as well. All of her hatred, all of her anger… everything she feels for you." She closed her eyes, but then she opened them once again and forced herself not to look away; she forced herself to look into those stricken faces, those masks of shock, until it was done. Till she was done. "She wants you dead. All of you. All of us. She's got a list, and we're all on it. Except… except she might be willing to take you off the list because-"
"Don't say it," Blake said.
"Huh?" Ruby asked.
Blake rolled her eyes. "Cinder and Sunset both have this idea that they're the same. I've tried to explain to her how ridiculous that is."
"I admit that we're not twins separated at birth," Sunset said. "But we're not so different that-"
"Yes, you are!" Blake insisted. "And I've already explained why. It doesn't matter that some of your backgrounds match, it doesn't matter that you feel the same thing, it doesn't even matter that you have similar natures if that's even true. It's what you do that matters, and what you do… what you do is right and righteous, even if it isn't always for the most righteous reasons. You're not a monster, Sunset, and you never were. If you were, then I… I'd know this time; I'd know better this time, and I wouldn't… I wouldn't let myself… I'd know."
Sunset stared at her. You wouldn't let yourself what? You'd know better than… than when?
When you were with Adam?
Ruby's voice, soft and trembling, cut across Sunset's thoughts. "Is that what you thought?" she asked. "That you were like her?"
Sunset's brow furrowed for a moment. "No," she said. "But I was worried – I am worried – that I could become like her; Cinder certainly thinks I can."
"Then she's an idiot," Ruby said. "There's no way in Remnant that you could become like Cinder because... because you've got us, and we'd never let that happen."
Sunset smiled thinly. "Yeah. Yeah, I've got you. I think… I think that's the difference between us. After her father died, Cinder didn't have anybody to turn to, but I… I've got you. You guys are my saving grace." She pursed her lips momentarily. "I just wish that all her anger and hate didn't feel so at home in me." I just wish I didn't feel as though I'm struggling to keep a lid on it just being in the same room with all of you. She could feel it inside of her like a tiger in a cage, growling and flashing its claws, lunging at the bars in the hope that the iron of Sunset's virtue – such as it was – would give way before the bestial strength of Cinder's fury. It wanted to lash out, it wanted to strike; it was as if, disconnected from Cinder's own mind, her wrath had no more caution but only a wild, untamed desire to inflict pain and destruction on all that it despised the most.
And why shouldn't it want that? Cinder won't be harmed by the consequences, only me and my friends.
Pyrrha looked pensive, Jaune looked as though he just didn't know what to say – or maybe even what to think – but Ruby had a look in her silver eyes as though she'd just come up with a plan. "So… what you're saying is that when you touch someone with your hand… you feel the way they feel inside you?"
"Yes," Sunset said slowly, wondering where Ruby was going with this. "That's about-"
"Got an idea!" Ruby cried, and before Sunset could say anything, do anything, Ruby had covered the distance between them in a burst of rose petals and grabbed Sunset's hand in her own small, pale grasp.
"Ruby, wa-" Sunset opened her mouth to protest too late as Ruby's warm hand pressed against her skin. There was that electric jolt running through her arm, and Sunset's head was thrown backwards as she saw…
She saw…
Ruby in a white cloak. No. No, it wasn’t Ruby, it couldn’t be. This woman was older, and she wore her hair braided at the back which Ruby never did – her hair wasn’t long enough.
Mom. The word echoed through Ruby’s mind, which was also Sunset’s mind right now, or something like that. Mom. Sunset was looking at Ruby’s mother.
Ruby’s mother, smiling at her. Smiling at Ruby, but as Sunset looked through Ruby’s eyes, it was as if Mom was smiling at her too, and she felt such love, love like a fire inside of her; not the all-devouring inferno of Cinder’s hatred but the cosy fire that rose from a fireplace to illuminate a draughty room, a fire to snuggle in front of with a blanket wrapped around your shoulders and a hot chocolate in your hands and Mom sat beside you while you leaned on her.
Sunset looked through Ruby’s eyes into the softly smiling face of Ruby’s mother, and she felt safe.
And then Summer Rose turned away, her white cloak billowing out behind her, and Sunset knew, Sunset knew just as Ruby knew, even if she hadn’t known it at the time, but she knew now that her mother was never coming back. That this would be the last time that Ruby ever set eyes on her mother.
Sweet Celestia, how old were you when this happened?
Summer Rose walked away, her white cloak rippling in the breeze like a forlorn flag of an army on the verge of defeat; she walked away, never to return.
Like Cinder’s mother.
Sunset gasped, or she would have done if she had had mouth to gasp or if there had been any air to bear the sound away. She hadn’t… she hadn’t thought about that before. She hadn’t made that connection. She’d been so focussed on herself, in the bond that Cinder saw between the two of them, that she hadn’t noticed that Ruby and Cinder also shared a connection: their mothers had walked away; they had gone off to fight in some battle of which their daughters knew nothing, for a cause which their daughters could not comprehend, and they had never come back.
As if in response, summoned by Sunset’s thoughts, Cinder’s anger reared its head like a dog catching the scent of a rabbit in the field, her anger at her mother’s death, at the Atlesian military that had taken her away, at the world that had driven her to risk her life in battle howled like a baying wolf, and in Ruby’s soul and in her thoughts, an anger answered like another pack returning that same howl. Anger at her mother, for leaving her daughters behind, for risking her life, for leaving them and their father to their grief and their guilt, for leaving Dad to decline and Ruby to cry and Yang to struggle with the burden of holding the wounded family together. Anger at her for leaving them.
Yes, there was anger in Ruby’s soul, and perhaps Sunset should have expected that; nobody could be as pure as a newborn babe, and Ruby wasn’t that much younger than the rest of them, not to mention she had cause enough for anger besides. But that anger was but a minor key in the music of Ruby’s soul, a dark discordant note that did not disrupt but rather almost enhanced the loveliness of the symphony that swelled around Sunset like the music of creation.
Cinder’s soul was a jarring sonata, full of angry swipes upon the strings and incensed pounding on the drums and notes played on instruments improperly strung and out of tune, all furiously competing with one another to strike the strongest note in the concerto of hate. At best, it achieved a certain dark majesty when Cinder managed to hold together all of her wrath and direct it to a single common purpose; at worst… at worst it crept out of Sunset’s soul and sought to corrupt the gentler, more harmonious music that entered from Ruby. Ruby’s soul sang of love, of friendship, of valour and compassion and so many virtues bundled up in such a small package. Though she felt anger towards her mother, she nevertheless revered the cause in which she had given her life, and she was prepared to give her life for it as well.
The peace that endured for fifteen years was purchased with blood that was red like roses.
That thought… it didn’t seem like Ruby’s thought; the language was too grand, too sophisticated, or was it that Ruby thought like that but couldn’t express herself in such words out loud, or simply didn’t want to? Whatever the truth, the thought echoed throughout Ruby’s mind, a low and sweeping note of the cello but one which nevertheless stood out clear as a bell amidst the other instruments.
The embodiment of courage indeed, she would think nothing of giving her life so long as but a single life – not even a life she knew; a complete stranger would suffice – was purchased by her sacrifice.
Truly, she puts the rest of us to shame.
And yet, that anger. The discordant note, the note to which Cinder’s anger called out eagerly, seeking and sensing kinship, reaching out, amplifying it, seeking to twist and corrupt all else, to burn all other feelings from Sunset’s soul and leave only anger and hate behind.
And then, in answer, a silver light rose up all around Sunset. All else dissolved, Summer Rose and all the rest, and there was nothing but silver light. There wasn’t even ground beneath Sunset’s feet, and she was falling through the void as the silver light rose up like shining wings to envelop her.
And it sang.
Ruby’s thoughts didn’t linger on any one memory for very long. Sunset tumbled through flashes, images of things past: Team SAPR carving their initials on the wall of the dorm room, Pyrrha’s smile when Ruby told her that she had at least one friend at Beacon, Sunset’s first real apology to her team after the Forever Fall field trip, dinner at Benni Havens’, Sunset singing to her that night..
The silver light enveloped Sunset like swaddling clothes, and the light, that bright, beautiful, glorious light seemed to burn Cinder’s anger all away. Sunset couldn’t hate Pyrrha because she was filled with the affection that Ruby felt towards her; she couldn’t hate or fear herself because she was swimming in Ruby’s trust in her; she couldn’t despise Jaune because the warmth of Ruby’s feelings towards him were wrapped around her like a cosy blanket; she couldn’t even hate Blake because Ruby’s feelings were too bright: the light that shone like a star from Ruby’s soul chased Cinder’s darkness all away like grimm feeling before the approach of a great huntress.
And the music, such music such as Sunset had never heard before: such sweep, such depth, such concord. Such beauty.
Sunset was once more in the dorm room, sitting on her bed. But now, she realised, she had tears in her eyes.
“Did… did it work?” Ruby asked tremulously.
Sunset looked at her in amazement and, to be quite honest, a degree of awe as well. “'Did it work'?”
“I thought…” Ruby hesitated. “I thought that maybe some happy memories would drive out Cinder’s bad ones.”
“'Some happy memories,'” Sunset repeated. You have no idea, do you? You’ve got no clue just what you are. Perhaps it ought to be kept that way. Sunset was living proof of the dangers of telling someone that they were too gifted, too special. “Yes,” she said simply. “Yes, it worked. I… I feel a lot better now.”
That was an understatement. It might even be the understatement. That light, that warmth, that music. Sunset felt as though she had woken from the kind of dream that made you cry to dream again; it was taking a great deal of self-restraint not to touch Ruby’s hand a second time to hear that sound anew, see that light, experience that feeling one more time. When she looked at Jaune and Pyrrha now, she felt not Cinder’s wrath but Ruby’s love; such feelings would fade, in time… but now, Sunset found that she didn’t mind if that fading took its time.
Pyrrha took a few steps towards her. “I can help you train your semblance, if you like,” she said. “So that you can control when you use it.”
“Thanks,” Sunset said. Until then, maybe she should consider a pair of gloves.
Sunset’s scroll went off; so did Pyrrha’s at the exact same time. With a glance at one another, they both pulled them out.
It was Professor Goodwitch.
Stats
Page generated in 0.055 seconds
Total duration
941 users online
258,619 hits today, 2,314,256 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Great chapter. I'm looking forward to seeing Sunset and Cinder's rematch.
Ruby’s mind was just what Susnet needed to see. The sheer purity of that girl’s soul is what makes her such a great character.
Now that I think about it. Man Cinder is fucked now. Sunset has seen her soul. All those mind games will crush Cinder's sanity.
And then Sunset bursts into song!
*****
https://youtu.be/XqnbYUG6Bn8?t=7
I own the first three volumes of that manga. Turns out, apparently, that they're all canon. Though honestly, I think they're just as easily ignored. Either way is fine with me, though.
Now that Sunset has discovered her semblance, I'm waiting to see whether she is tempted to use it to try and see what Ozpin is hiding.
I get the feeling that Sunset’s semblance won’t have nearly as deep an impact on her when used on most people. Cinder is a broken Maiden and possibly has some Grimm infestation. Ruby is Silver Eyed. Both have powerful magic welded to their souls and Sunset likely resonates with that.
Wonder if she would get Ozpin or Ozma?
Is that... is that a Sunset and Blake ship tease? Cause if so, I fully support the two of them ending up together!
Jaune, go call your mom, and tell her you love her. Heck, you probably should have done that after nearly being killed in a hostage situation.
9465042
She was totally hearing Red like Roses when in Ruby's head.
9465908 part 1 or part 2
9466191
1
Next training session they should have Ruby think happy thoughts and see what it does
Blake really gets all the girls, doesn't she?
I have no idea why.
but I hope sunsets doesn't give up on her goal and because of Ruby's sugar filled purity injection start trusting everyone
That or give her some happy emotion/memory addiction
No idea why this came into my head
This story is the best thing I've read in a very long while. The characters are unique, every detail and quirk is explored every motivation picked apart and looked at in a critical but fair light, and the plot still keeps moving along. Gotta say a small part of me wishes her semblance was still laser vision, it solves so many problems and lets you keep your cocoa/coffee at the optimal temperature on a consistent basis.
Oh, the magna has some good stuff. Admittedly most that good stuff is in Ruby’s and Weiss’s books over Blake’s & Yang’s, and most it doesn’t work without their team interactions anyhow, it’d be nice to see some of it implemented.
Of course those are the anthologies, I didn’t particularly get interested in the ones just retelling Volume 1 and 2.
It's stuff like this that makes me wish we'd gotten a sleepover chapter before the plot kicked off. Never minding the fact that they all sleep in the same room, but I love the lighthearted stuff, and I wish I could pin why Ruby is so fond of Sunset other than Ruby just being Ruby.
Still, if my critique is that I wanted more of your story, you're doing something right.
It's weird to think of Pyrrha (oh gosh, have I been misspelling this too this whole time, or is it just a late night thing?) being a people person, but she probably did get good at reading though the characters of her opponents as much as she did at more formal functions. Nothing normal, exactly, but Sunset and Cinder both probably fail to qualify as 'normal' in that sense either.
.
Trying to imagine a crestfallen Ruby just makes me think of those adorably sad kitten memes. I'm trying to feel bad for you, Ruby, don't make me coo over you being sad dang it!
If you remember me mentioning a few chapters back about the 'explanation cut,' this is still well executed. It does not use a line break, gives a paraphrase, and includes a relevant detail to reintroduce us to the new information in the conversation. Well executed.
"Please let this be a normal feels trip." "With the Ruby, no way!" "Awgh." *cue Magic School Bus Theme*.
More seriously, Ruby's antics aren't always this amusing, but there's probably room for more of them.
To Ruby's own 'dreamscape,' for lack of a better word, leaves me with an odd question. It's done very well, don't get me wrong, but is Ruby's own magic an influence on her mind, like a reverse-black-magic that Sunset talks about? I'm not sure if that's your intent, but if the magic drives a feeling of self sacrifice... that could have influenced this sort of magic nearly going extinct (to say nothing of the secret war and magic going on).
Also, I love how Sunset comes out of Ruby's mindscape. I'm sure it's not supposed to exactly draw comparisons to drugs, but with how Sunset narrates a desire for more, for getting lost in that bliss, yet I fail to find a more apt comparison for how I read it towards the end. Though being honest, you describe it better in the story, not to mention more appropriately and favorably.
Given Sunset's semblance, I'm wondering how this would have worked, but maybe there's a 'semblances 101' guide out there for general use?
And thus, the end arrives, and the plot marches on. I will miss the conspiracy-less school days, but there's still plenty more to go in part one to enjoy as well.
Beautiful red rose too good for this world, too pure.