The Sunset Strategy (Rewritten)
The Sunset Strategy
Sunset crept down the corridor. It was night, and there weren't many windows anyway. Sunset didn't dare use the torch in her pocket for fear of being seen, and she wasn't one of those faunus who had excellent vision in the dark, so instead, she had cast a night vision spell on herself to give her eyes some ability to penetrate the darkness. Even if it did make everything look a bit green.
Still, it was better than risking discovery by using the torch. She would probably only get one shot at this, so she had to get it done.
Problem: Jaune's transcripts were fake, and he obviously had no faith in the ability of those fakes to stand up to scrutiny; if he had, then he wouldn't have been acting like Cardin's lapdog under threat of exposure.
Solution: Well, now, that was the trick, wasn't it?
The best solution would probably have been to replace the fake transcripts with transcripts that looked a little less fake, but that required skills that Sunset didn't have – and acting like she had those skills anyway had gotten her into a bit of trouble at Canterlot – and if Jaune had them then he would have produced better transcripts in the first place, so that was out.
Sunset had studied the rules of Beacon Academy, all of them, including the arcane rules going back to the beginning of the academy that later headmasters had simply forgotten to do away with. For example, there was a rule that said that the leader of the highest-rated team in the final year could keep their own personal goat on the farm. Sunset wasn't sure why you'd want to, but she was going to do it anyway, just to prove that SAPR was the highest rated team in the final year.
More important were the rules around cheating, which were quite clear: the Headmaster or any other teacher for any reason could inspect any student's examinations, transcripts, or any other official documentation. If, upon examination, said material was found to have been tampered with, or any other evidence of cheating or deception was discovered, then the student responsible could be expelled from the academy without notice. Sunset was not as convinced as Jaune by Cardin's insistence that Jaune had also committed a felony, but that was irrelevant: expulsion would be bad enough.
What was interesting to Sunset was the turn of phrase 'upon examination.' Because you couldn't examine something that you didn't have, now could you? Absence of evidence, after all, was not evidence of absence, and it would be particularly cruel to expel a student simply because the Academy had happened to lose their paperwork somewhere in the bureaucracy, wouldn't it?
Which was why, in the middle of the night, with the corridors dark and the whole school asleep, Sunset was making her way to the school archives.
She crept quietly along, using a minor spell to muffle the sounds of her footfalls upon the tiles.
She stopped, frozen, upon hearing a noise. She pressed herself against the wall, looking this way and that like some prey creature trying to make their way across a field without the hungry owl spotting them. This was not going to be an experience she looked back on with fondness.
Jaune, you're going to owe me big for this. Of course, it didn’t really matter whether or not he felt grateful and obliged to her or no: once she had the transcripts, she would have exactly the same hold over him as Cardin presently enjoyed, and he would have no choice but to act grateful to her even if he wasn’t.
There was no more noise. Sunset resumed her course. The archives were stored at the end of a corridor, just past Professor Goodwitch's office. Thankfully, the lights were off in said office, or Sunset would have felt a little nervous, but the professor had turned in for the night, or gone out, or… she wasn't in her office was the important point. Nevertheless, as she passed the darkened room, Sunset had to resist the urge to duck beneath the window.
The archive door, by contrast, had no window in it. It was simply a dull, slightly ugly, iron door, locked of course. Not that that was any barrier to Sunset, who teleported across to the other side of the door.
Now she got out her torch, terminating the night vision spell that she had cast on her eyes. A torch was just easier, and it didn't tire her out to keep it switched on.
The archives were mostly enclosed, but there were a few small windows set high up in the ceilings. A black bird was perched on the sill of one of the windows, tapping on the glass with its beak. It was about the only sound in the cavernous chamber.
Sunset looked around, shining her flashlight up and down the tall shelves filled with boxes. Each cardboard box was labelled with a name, and it took Sunset less than a moment to work out that they were ordered alphabetically. That made it very easy to find Jaune Arc, whose box was near the very front of the archives.
The files started from the bottom up, so Sunset only needed to bend down to get at Jaune's box on the bottom shelf. She gripped the torch between her teeth, feeling the plastic against her tongue as she pulled open the lid and began to rifle through the contents of Jaune's box: test results, teachers' impressions, Professor Ozpin's personal evaluation. Sunset couldn't help but pause for a moment, the torchlight shining upon the piece of paper containing, in a handwritten scrawl, the headmaster's personal feelings regarding her team-mate.
Although untested and lacking in the raw skill and talent of Miss Rose or Miss Nikos, I believe that Mister Arc has within himself the qualities of heart and spirit that exemplify a huntsman. With good fortune, he may help keep his teammates grounded, a necessity for all those set above the common run of men.
'Grounded'? Why is it a necessity to keep them grounded? And what about me, Professor?
Although her brow furrowed a little, Sunset tried to dismiss the whole thing as she put the extraordinarily brief evaluation back and went down to the very bottom of the box.
Aha. There they were: Jaune's transcripts recommending him to Beacon. They purported to be from a combat assessor, confirming that Jaune's proficiency with weapons, aura – what a joke – and academic knowledge was up to the standard that would be expected of a graduate from a combat school. Apart from the fact that some of it could be proven false – like the fact that he hadn't known what aura was – Sunset couldn't tell that it was a forgery; but then, she wouldn't really know what a forgery looked like.
She pulled the transcripts out of the box, shut the lid, and put the box back where it came from.
She could go now. She had what she came for.
But something, some instinct or simple curiosity, wouldn't let Sunset leave just yet. There was something else she had to check up on first.
So she headed deeper into the archives, passing out of A and into B as she searched for the name she was looking for: Raven Branwen, the mysterious R in Team STRQ. The most enigmatic member of the famous team. Every other member of Team STRQ had their activities detailed in some form. A modest obituary for Summer Rose still existed in the archives of the website of a local newspaper. Taiyang Xiao Long was a teacher at Signal Combat School. Qrow Branwen had been a teacher there too, until the end of the last school year. But Raven Branwen had no present, and no past before coming to Beacon.
But she did have a box in the archives, one which was also conveniently nestled on the bottom shelf where Sunset could grab it, pull it out, and open it up.
It was empty. There was absolutely nothing there, not even Professor Ozpin's personal impressions. It was like somebody had beaten Sunset to the archives and cleared the records out.
I say 'as if,' but who am I to say that someone didn't do just that?
Who is Raven Branwen, and why is someone so determined to preserve her secrets?
Sunset got up. Looking around, feeling in some sense that she was not alone in there. But she couldn't see or hear anyone. There was no sound but her own breath and the tapping of that bird upon the small, high window.
Sunset should probably have left, but she was too curious to simply walk away, now that she had this chance which might never come again.
She headed into the recesses of the archives, past D and H and M and P; she was into S and approaching her destination when Sunset tripped over something lying in her path, flying forwards to land flat on her face upon the cold linoleum tiles of the archive. Sunset turned as she scrambled upright, turning her torch upon the offending object, a box removed from the shelves and left upon the floor.
A box which bore the name of Summer Rose.
Sunset stopped, looking up at the name of Ruby's mother illuminated by the light of her torch. The cardboard was crinkled with age and starting to fall apart in places; there were holes developing in the corners as though rodents had nibbled at them.
She could have passed on. She could have ignored it, looking for her own name as she had decided to do after getting Jaune's transcript. She could have left Ruby's mother be.
But she didn't.
Sunset knelt down beside the box and pulled off the lid. There was a lot more in it than there had been in Jaune's box: not surprising, since Summer Rose and her team had completed a full four years at Beacon Academy. She rooted through exam results, report cards, not really knowing what it was that she was looking for… until, underneath a pile of third-year midterms, Sunset found a book. It was small, leather-bound, with a black cover on which someone – presumably Summer herself – had painted a white rose in nail polish or something; it was the same symbol as on the wall of their dorm room.
Gingerly, with a feeling of trespass as though she were entering into a musty old temple intent on robbery of the idols there, Sunset opened it up.
Dear Diary
Sunset shut the book. Her conscience, such as it was, revolted at the idea of reading further. There were some things that she had neither the desire nor the right to know.
She slipped the diary into her jacket pocket all the same.
Her own box was not far away: Sunset Shimmer. Sunset dragged a conveniently placed ladder across the shelves and scampered up it to see what Professor Ozpin had to say about her.
Sunset Shimmer clearly has enormous potential, though I must question whether she will always be capable of living up to that potential, or if her own pride and stubbornness will get in the way.
What do you know? Sunset thought.
However, I have hope that with the support of her teammates, she may mellow considerably.
I've gotten by just fine on my own.
If she can overcome her flaws and rise to the occasion, then she has the makings of a skilled huntress, and perhaps much more.
Sunset blinked. 'More?' More what? What more is there, and how do I get it?
One thing is certain: Miss Shimmer is too powerful to be allowed to fall into her hands.
'Her' who? Why are you being so cryptic?
At present, Beacon is the best place for her: a place where she can learn and where she can be observed.
Sunset had to be careful; she almost swallowed with the torch in her mouth. A shiver ran down her spine. The words themselves were perfectly innocuous, but… something about them disturbed her. A part of her wanted to see what the Headmaster had to say about Ruby and Pyrrha, but another part of her… another part of her was afraid. She had felt, at the time of her interview with Professor Ozpin, as though he was weighing her, and it seemed that that was exactly what he had done: weighed her up like a prize pig at the county fair. Weighed her dangerous in the wrong hands – and whose hands were those?
Weighed her… and judged her.
Sunset shoved the box back and replaced the ladder quickly. With Jaune's transcripts in hand and Summer's journal in her pocket, she teleported out of the archive and fled, heedless of the noise that she made, back to her dorm room.
It was only when she got there, when she was standing outside the dorm with her scroll in hand, that Sunset started to calm down a little. It was the darkness of the room, the silence, the solitude… it had overcome her. There was nothing to worry about. Professor Ozpin's words were just words, meaning little and possessing no capacity to harm.
Put like that, Sunset could almost believe it.
She slipped quietly into the dorm room and stored Jaune’s transcripts somewhere safe, where Cardin wouldn’t be able to use them but she would, if she had to, or at least, she could threaten to use them to keep Jaune on the straight and narrow.
Summer's journal… Sunset was about to leave it on Ruby's bedside, but if she did that, then she would have to explain how she'd gotten it, and since she wanted to keep her nocturnal expedition to herself… the diary would have to say in her jacket pocket for now – not to be read but to be kept hold of – until the right time to give it to Ruby.
“There will always be a place at Beacon for those who are brave and kind.”
It was the words of Professor Ozpin that echoed through Jaune’s mind now as he stood, once more, in the courtyard of Beacon, once more looking up at the statue of the huntsman and the huntress. The ideal huntsman and huntress, embodiments of the figures they were all here striving to become.
Somehow, he didn’t think that the ideal huntsman would have gone along with Sunset’s plan.
“Sunset, are you sure about this?” he asked as they sat in the dorm room together, alone, after Sunset had found out his secret and decided to use it against him just as swiftly as Cardin had.
Maybe that wasn’t a fair comparison – Sunset was only acting in his best interests; she wasn’t making a servant of him the way that Cardin had – but it was one that Jaune couldn’t help but draw in the privacy of his own head. Just like he couldn’t help but think that Pyrrha had also discovered his secret and not used it to hurt him or gain influence with him or compel him to do anything in any way.
He couldn’t help but feel very naïve for thinking that Pyrrha’s quiet judgement was the worst thing that could have happened to him.
“Of course it’s going to work; it’s my plan,” Sunset declared magisterially.
“But Cardin-”
“Will have had his teeth pulled by the time this happens,” Sunset assured him. “You trust me, don’t you?”
Jaune hesitated, silent and wordless.
“The correct answer was ‘yes, Sunset, I trust you completely,’” Sunset declared.
Jaune waited until it became clear that she was waiting upon him in turn. “Yes, Sunset, I trust you. But… it’s not about whether this is going to work; it… it feels wrong.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s bullying!”
“You’re not the one bullying anyone.”
“I’m not doing anything to stop it either.”
“No,” Sunset agreed, “you’re not. You’re going to make sure it carries on until Cardin buries himself.”
“But what about Velvet?”
Sunset’s eyes were cold as emeralds. “What about Velvet?”
No doubt, that all sounded very fine to Sunset, but for Jaune… the idea of letting something wrong continue – of making sure that it did continue – just so that they could get Cardin into trouble, just so that they could punish him for what he had done to Jaune… it wasn’t right.
A part of Jaune wished that he’d asked Professor Ozpin about seeking revenge, but he had an idea of what the headmaster would have said about that: that it was something a huntsman – and a hero – didn’t do.
At least, not for something like this. He wanted to be free from Cardin, he wanted to be safe from Cardin, but it seemed like what Sunset really wanted was to get back at Cardin, and for what? For something that was Jaune’s own stupid fault in the first place? It wasn’t like he’d hurt Pyrrha or something.
And someone else had to suffer as part of this plan. That didn’t seem to matter very much to Sunset, but it mattered to Jaune.
Or at least, he thought it did.
But did it matter enough?
Did it matter enough for him to…?
How did I end up in this position? He felt like he was caught between two monsters, and either one would eat him without a second thought. If he didn’t do what Sunset wanted, then she’d turn him, but if he did do what she wanted, then surely, Cardin would just turn him in, Sunset’s assurances to the contrary aside?
Either one could get him sent away from here… but did he deserve to be here if he went along with either of them?
“The choice is yours, Mister Arc, it cannot be taken away by me or anybody else.”
Is that really true, Professor?
The seating arrangements for the first years at dinner that Saturday were a little different from normal. Team S_PR sat on the right hand side of the table, with the empty seat on the edge a reminder of the fact that Jaune was not sitting with them today, or any other day since Tuesday morning. Team YRDN sat on the left opposite Sunset's reduced team, while they had also been joined at their table by Team BLBL; or rather Bon Bon and Lyra had sat down there again and left Blake and Sky with little choice but to sit there too.
Weiss and Flash were absent from the cafeteria. Sunset didn’t know where they were, and she found that she had to work hard to keep herself focussed on the task at hand and not let her imagination run riot imagining all the intimate situations they could be in out of her sight. Were they enjoying a cosy dinner for two at Benni Haven’s? Were they dancing the night away in Vale? Were they cloistered in the library?
Perhaps I should have negotiated that Weiss would stay away from Flash instead of putting a leash on Cardin.
The thought of Cardin – and of the deal that Weiss had so singularly failed to honour between the two of them – brought Sunset back to the task at hand. Her glance flickered across the dining hall to where Jaune, like a serving man, was dancing attendance upon Cardin Winchester and Russell Thrush where they sat, at a different table, on either side of Velvet Scarlatina of Team CFVY.
Despite the fact that she was a second year, Velvet was taking – or retaking – Modern History with the freshman students, which was doubtless why Cardin and Russell felt bold enough to sit menacingly on either side of her, closing her in. Velvet, a rabbit faunus with long ears emerging from out of her equally long, brown hair, had tried to get up once already, but Cardin had simply grabbed her with one powerful hand and pushed her back down into her seat.
Both he and Russell took time out of their meals to pull at her ears, and judging by the laughter coming from the table, there was some verbal taunting going on as well.
And all the while, Jaune ran back and forth between Cardin's table and the queue, fetching anything that his lord and master might desire.
Or so Cardin thought, anyway. Sunset kept the smile off her face, but it was there within, hidden away so nobody could see it, and nobody could suspect that it was all part of a plan. Her plan.
In the meantime, the mood amongst all those students who were not aware of the fact that all things were proceeding exactly as Sunset willed was as bleak as a blasted heath; even Bon Bon's attempts to keep up conversation had faltered as the eyes of the first-years kept being drawn to the bullying going on not far away.
"This is disgraceful," Dove growled.
Sunset's eyebrows rose. "I would have thought this would have been your kind of thing, the way you stare at my tail."
Dove shifted uncomfortably. "You faunus are a strange sight, but that's still a girl in trouble over there." He glanced their way again. "I'm going to stop this." He started to rise.
"Sit," Sunset commanded him coldly. "Stay where you are."
Dove froze. "She needs help."
"And she'll get it," Sunset said. "Just not from you and your chivalry."
Blake's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"
"Everyone, just trust me," Sunset urged.
"I would like to," Pyrrha replied, "but this is very hard to simply bear without intervening."
"It won't be for much longer," Sunset assured her.
Yang looked towards the table in question. "It must be hard, being a faunus."
"You have no idea," Sunset muttered.
"And you don't seem to have much solidarity," Blake pointed out.
"I don't need you to help me how I ought to feel about other faunus and their treatment," Sunset replied sharply.
Pyrrha shook her head in disgust. "People like that are not worthy to become huntsmen."
"I don't understand how Jaune can just be okay with this," Ruby said.
Sunset allowed herself a brief smirk. “Is he? Are you so sure of that, Ruby?”
“Well…” Ruby paused, trailing off for a moment. “I mean… what do you mean?”
“What do you know?” Pyrrha asked the more pertinent question.
Sunset shrugged. Her scroll was in her jacket pocket, open but out of sight; she had a little while earlier – before coming down to dinner – performed a little technical trickery to mask her identity from the receiver of any message from her, just as she had earlier prepared a text that would alert the rest of Team CFVY to the fact that one of their number was in a pitiable state in the dining hall and in dire need of rescue.
Team CFVY were known as the best team in the second year; Professor Ozpin’s favourites, the team to watch, possible Vytal champions, if not this year, then certainly in year four. It was Sunset’s opinion that they were overrated – she was fairly sure that even now, Team SAPR could take them handily – and signs of Professor Ozpin’s supposed favour were few and far between to her eyes, but nevertheless, they were second years. They should have no trouble putting Cardin Winchester in his place when they stormed in to rescue their teammate.
The only regret was that Weiss wasn’t here to be humiliated by proxy.
Never mind. Her turn would come.
“I know a lot of things,” Sunset replied to Pyrrha. “Sit quiet and watch, and you might learn a few things, too.”
Jaune felt sick.
Velvet Scarlatina squirmed in discomfort, caught between Cardin on one side and Russell on the other, unable to leave.
Unable to escape.
And all the while, he got their lunch, he got their drinks, he got them anything and everything they asked him for while Velvet sat hunched inward on herself, frightened, alone.
She had looked at him, a pleading look in her soft brown eyes. She had looked at him, and he had… he had turned away to get Cardin another slice of pie, and he had left her there.
Small wonder, he felt ill.
Everytime he turned away, everytime Cardin snapped his fingers and sent Jaune on another errand, he had to walk past his teammates, YRDN, and BLBL, and it was excruciating. The way that Pyrrha looked so disappointed in him. The way that Ruby looked as though she was starting to wonder if she'd ever known him at all.
Only Sunset wasn’t glaring at him, only Sunset wasn’t looking at him as though he were a louse, and that was only because Sunset had arranged all of this, had written out a part for him in a puppet show of her devising, so that she could… what? Avenge Jaune? No, avenge the fact that she felt slighted and aggrieved, and never mind what Jaune thought or whether he wanted any part in this.
Was this who he was? Was this all that there was to Jaune Arc? Was the boy who had dreamed of a hero nothing more, in the end, than a tool of Sunset’s ill intent? A mute accessory to one form of bullying or another?
When Sunset had told him that he was done with Cardin, he had been relieved. What was the point of staying at Beacon if this was all that he would become: despised by his teammates, friendless, alone but for Cardin Winchester, who owned him? Sunset had offered him an escape from that… an escape that seemed to lead into a different kind of cage.
She had been right about Cardin: he had blustered about Jaune’s ignoring his messages, but ultimately, he hadn’t done anything about it, merely snarled at Jaune not to do it again and reminded him of just why he had better do as Cardin said from now on. Even if that ended soon, even if he really would be done with Cardin after this, was he just setting himself up to be in the same position, but with Sunset?
"How can you fight the grimm if you won't fight for your dreams?"
"There will always be a place at Beacon for those who are brave and kind."
Jaune felt his breathing coming heavier as he walked back towards Cardin's table. Professor Ozpin had told him that it wasn't too late for someone to start learning at Beacon; if that was true of the schoolwork, then perhaps it wasn't too late for someone to start learning the virtues too.
I’m sorry, Sunset, but I can’t just put you in Cardin’s place as the person with my lead in their hands.
Jaune's chest rose and fell as he walked up to the table where Velvet squirmed in between her tormentors. "Leave her alone, Cardin."
The laughter died on Cardin's lips. He looked at Jaune with incredulity upon his face. "What did you say, Jauney boy?"
"I said," Jaune said, and his voice rose an octave higher such was his nervousness. He had to keep going. He had to be brave, like the ideal huntsman. "I said, 'leave her alone, Cardin.'"
Cardin stared at him for a moment, before a laugh escaped him. "Hah! Good one, Jaune! I needed the laugh." He reached out to give a tug on Velvet's ears.
Jaune intercepted his hand upon the way, grabbing Cardin's meaty wrist. "I'm serious! This has gone far enough."
Cardin's movements were slow. He glanced at his hand, and at Jaune's hand holding his wrist. Then he looked at Jaune, his gaze travelling slowly up Jaune's arm towards Jaune's face that was pale with nervousness.
Cardin rose from his seat like a mountain erupting out of the ocean. "This joke is starting to lose its value, Jaune," he declared, shrugging off Jaune's hand. "Are you sure you're not forgetting something?"
Jaune felt his whole body trembling. His voice was tremulous when he could manage to find it. "You can do what you like to me," he just about managed to force out, "but I'm done doing whatever you say, and I'm done standing by and letting injustice go unchallenged."
By this point, Russell had gotten up as well and was beginning to circle around Jaune like a jackal. Velvet still looked too afraid to leave her seat.
Cardin stared down at Jaune. "Letting injustice go unchallenged?"
That had sounded cooler in his head. Jaune swallowed. "That's right."
Cardin scoffed. "So, you think you're some kind of big hero, Jaune, is that it?"
"No," Jaune admitted. But how will I ever get there if I don't start by doing the right thing?
"No," Cardin agreed. "Because heroes are strong!" He pushed Jaune, shoving him backwards so hard that Jaune was hurled onto his back, landing on the dining hall floor with a thump before he skidded backwards, the lights suspended from the ceiling seeming to pass over Jaune's head before he came to rest a few inches away from a pair of familiar black boots.
Sunset Shimmer stood over him, her arms folded. Her face was set in a snarl, her ears flattened against the top of her head, and Jaune had a sinking suspicion that she was more angry at him for messing with her plan than she was with Cardin for pushing him down. She didn’t look at Jaune, not even to glance down at him to see if he was okay. With the grace of a lioness, she stepped over Jaune, placing herself between him and Cardin, but as she stepped over him, her tail, twitching back and forth, tapped him on the face. Jaune could only imagine that it prefigured something much worse that she would like to do to him.
"You knocked him down easily enough," she said, and Jaune found himself impressed by the way that she was controlling her tone; you would never have guessed that she had as much anger for Jaune as for Cardin. "How about you try and knock me down, big guy?"
Cardin stared at her. Sunset had her back to Jaune, but he found it easy to imagine her staring right back at him.
“Is this what you want, Jaune?” Cardin demanded. “Is this how you want to do this?”
"Don't talk to him," Sunset snapped. "You're dealing with me now. So turn around, walk away, and forget all about this, or I’ll take this even more personally than I already am, and I guarantee you do not want to get into this with me."
"You don't seem to understand-"
"I understand," Sunset said. "I know everything." She stepped closer to Cardin, so close that the two of them were almost touching. "But here's something that you don't understand: I don't share the things that are mine, not with people I like, certainly not with people that I don't like, and Jaune is mine. My team: mine. Now get out of my sight."
Cardin’s face was becoming as red as Ruby’s cape as he bent down and whispered into Sunset's ear.
Sunset whispered something right back, though Jaune couldn't hear what it was.
Cardin's face reddened yet further, which Jaune wouldn’t have thought was possible if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes. His back straightened as though he'd been shocked. "Big mistake," he snarled. “When I’m done-”
“Cardin!” the voice of Weiss Schnee cracked like a whip, cutting through the cafeteria.
Jaune, still lying on the ground, twisted his whole body to look back towards the doors. Weiss stood there, framed in the open doorway, gleaming white in her bolero and skirt against the darkness that lay without the dining hall. Flash stood by her side, dogging her steps as Weiss strode down the corridor between the tables, her stride as long as her legs would manage, her poise and strut alike majestic. Her wedge heels tapped a staccato drumbeat on the dining hall floor as she approached the scene of the unfolding confrontation.
She stopped, her gaze as chill as winter wind sweeping across the Cardin, Russell, Jaune, and Sunset.
“What is going on here?” she hissed.
“Your word has been proven worthless, that’s what’s going on here,” Sunset muttered.
Weiss’ jaw tightened. “Is that so,” she said, and her voice seemed calmer as she said it, though no less cold.
Cardin growled. “He-”
“Quiet!” Weiss snapped, and Cardin’s mouth closed immediately as though Weiss’ true semblance was the power to command with her voice. She walked towards him, and he fell back before her, clearing a path for her to approach Velvet.
Velvet shrank back at her approach.
“I apologise for the behaviour of my teammates,” Weiss declared. “And for the fact that I was not here to stop it.”
Velvet’s eyes widened. Her lapine ears pricked up. “You… it’s fine, really, you don’t have to-”
“No, it’s not,” Weiss said. “And yes, I do. I’m sorry, and I assure you that it will not happen again.”
Velvet was silent a moment, still shrunk back from Weiss, still bowing her head. Her voice, when it came, was barely more than a whisper. “Thank you.”
Weiss nodded, before turning gracefully upon her toe and striding away with. “You two,” she barked. “Come with me!”
Cardin and Russell followed; it was clear from their looks that they didn’t dare not to, although Flash remained behind – he looked at Sunset but didn’t say anything – to shepherd them along from behind in case they lagged too much. Jaune would have enjoyed the sight of them cowed and submissive, but then, Sunset turned to look down on him, and Jaune was reminded that his own troubles were still too immediate for any feeling of victory over his tormentors.
Sunset knelt down beside him. “What was that?” she hissed.
Jaune swallowed. “That… that was me doing the right thing,” he said.
“The right thing wasn’t the plan,” Sunset reminded him.
“No,” Jaune admitted. “But it was still right.”
Sunset stared at him, glared at him, and Jaune found himself reminded of what she had said about Cardin, about how he wouldn’t turn Jaune in for disobeying the first time because he relished having power over Jaune too much to give it up.
He looked into her eyes, and he thought of her own words and wondered whether they might apply to her as much as to Cardin.
“Then it seems you’ve made your choice,” Sunset said coldly. The words ‘and now you’ll have to live with it’ hung unspoken in the air between them. She stood up without saying anything else and without allowing Jaune to say anything else to her. What would he have said, in any case? He couldn’t apologise for what he’d done; could he have begged her to stay her hand?
He didn’t. Whether he would have if she’d given him the chance, he didn’t know. She walked away before he could say anything, and whether she walked away to doom him or not, he really couldn’t say.
He hoped not, but then, his hopes had a habit of being disappointed around here.
A hand entered Jaune's field of vision: Pyrrha's hand, offered to help him up.
Jaune stared up at her, into her bright green eyes, so much warmer than those of their team leader, before he took her hand and let her pull him to his feet. "Thanks," he said.
Pyrrha smiled. "You were very brave."
"No, I wasn't," Jaune replied. "But... thank you anyway."
Pyrrha still had hold of his hand. She seemed in no particular hurry to let go of it. She kept a gentle grip upon it as he walked towards the table where Ruby sat along with YRDN and BLBL. He felt as though they were all watching him in silence, but the only one that he was looking at was Ruby.
"Do you… mind if I join you guys?" he asked.
Ruby scooted sideways so that there was an empty space between her and Pyrrha. "I saved you a seat," she said with a smile on her face that lit up her silver eyes.
Jaune could not conceal, nor did he try to hide, the combined sag and sigh of relief as he sat down, with Pyrrha resuming her seat next to him on the other side of Ruby.
Ruby reached out and took his free hand in hers. "Welcome home, Jaune," she said.
Jaune smiled down at her. "It's good to be back," he said. For however long it lasts. There was a part of him that was counting the moments until either Cardin or Sunset brought the whole thing crashing down upon him.
Nobody asked him any questions about what he'd been doing or why. They simply accepted his inexplicable conduct as an aberration, a kind of madness which had now passed, leaving him once more himself. He had gone away, now he was back, and there was nothing more to be said upon the subject.
He wasn't sure he could ever express how grateful he was for that. He would need to tell Ruby at some point, but she – and everyone else – was willing to give him time to do so as he chose.
And then, as dinner ended, Jaune got a text summoning him to the headmaster's office at once.
Ice gripped his stomach.
"What is it?" Ruby asked. "Is something wrong?"
"I… I have to go," Jaune said.
“'Go,'” Pyrrha repeated. “Go where?”
Jaune’s hands trembled as he got to his feet. All he could manage to utter was a single word: “Away.”
Weiss directed her teammates into their dorm room with an imperious hand, gesturing them to go in first so that she could slam the door behind her as she followed them in.
She felt as though she could shake with anger right now, and it took a great deal of effort on her part not to. She couldn’t afford to rage right now; she had to be… gods help her, she had to be like Father, cold in her wrath, with an icy temper that cut rather than burned.
So she kept herself still and poised, as a Schnee should be, and looked down at Cardin and Russell for all that they were bigger than she was. “What,” she demanded coldly, “did I witness the end of in the cafeteria?”
Neither of them would meet her gaze. Sullen schoolboys that they were, they looked away and down and pouted in a surly manner, and they did not speak.
Neither did Weiss. She would wait them out, confident their patience would expire before hers did.
“We were just having some fun,” Russell complained.
“'Fun,'” Weiss repeated. “Is that what you call fun, picking on those weaker than you?”
“If she can’t take a little thing like that, then how is she going to make it as a huntress?” Russell demanded.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Weiss snapped. “She can fail as a huntress, she can drag her team down, she can waste the lien being spent on her education, but you demeaned yourself by your behaviour, and you demeaned this team. And you demeaned me.” She sucked in a sharp intake of breath. “And I will not allow you to diminish me by your actions. From now on, I expect you to conduct yourself like gentlemen, whether you are gentlemen or not. Do you understand?”
Russell shoved his hands into his pockets. “Whatever.”
“Do you understand?” Weiss repeated.
“Yes,” Russell said, his tone aggrieved. “What’s your problem; she’s just a faunus.”
So was the woman who raised me. “It doesn’t matter whether she is a faunus or not; a huntsman should be better than such plebeian behaviour.” She turned her gaze on Cardin. “And what was going on with Jaune? I explicitly told you to leave him alone.”
“He shouldn’t even be here!” Cardin yelled. “He’s a liar and a fraud, and he doesn’t belong at Beacon! I was doing him a favour!”
Weiss’ eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
Sunset paced up and down, her boots scuffing at the earth as her tail swept back and forth behind her.
Jaune! She couldn’t believe the nerve of that guy! After everything that she had done for him, to turn around and treat her like this! She had saved him from Cardin, she’d gotten his transcripts, and all that he had to do in return was obey her instructions to the letter, but apparently, that was too much for his mind to handle; he had to listen to his conscience instead.
Why would anyone want to listen to their conscience when they could listen to me? How sharp was the tooth of his ingratitude that he should betray her trust, and for what? For who? For Velvet Scarlatina? Who was Velvet to him or he to her that he should throw Sunset’s plans into disarray for her? She had wanted… she had wanted to humiliate Cardin, and though it might be said that that had, in fact, happened, it didn’t satisfy her the way that she had thought it would, perhaps because Weiss had been involved. It didn’t make her feel any better, it didn’t make her feel as though she and Cardin were all square, it didn’t feel like a fitting way for her to get back at him.
It just made her feel empty. Empty and angry at Jaune.
She'd had a plan! It had been a good plan, too, a plan which would have concealed Sunset’s involvement completely: Cardin would have been hoist upon his own petard, with no way of knowing that it had been her, Sunset Shimmer, who had engineered his downfall. Sometimes, it was better that way; as desirous as Sunset was to be celebrated for her accomplishments, when it came to revenge, the best kind was the one your enemies didn’t realise you had exacted upon them. Cardin would have been brought low and with no cause to seek revenge on Sunset in his turn, because her involvement would never have come to light. If only Jaune had played his part.
But no, he had to do the right thing instead.
It would serve him right if Sunset turned him in for his fake transcripts.
In fact… in fact, she might have to do just that.
Except… except she didn’t really want to.
But if she didn’t, then she would be revealing herself to be no better than Cardin Winchester, making empty threats that she had no will or desire to follow through on, clinging to shreds of power over Jaune, even as that power slipped through her fingers by her unwillingness to use it.
But if she did expose him, then he would be gone, and she… she didn’t want to be Princess Celestia to Jaune, the destroyer of his hopes and dreams. She wanted to take him in hand and make something out of him. But if she allowed him to stay in Beacon in the face of what he had done, then where was her authority as his leader?
If I kick Jaune out, then Pyrrha and Ruby will never forgive me.
If I don’t, then he’ll never respect me.
Why does this have to be so hard?
Why couldn’t Jaune have just done what I said?
See, Princess Twilight, this is why I have no time for friendship; they’ll always betray you in the end.
Except that I don’t want them to hate me for what I do.
That doesn’t mean anything, except that it’s easier to lead people who like you. I’m just being prudent.
Indeed. Prudence. The thought of an air of pleading silver eyes filled with anguish had nothing whatsoever to do with it.
What am I supposed to do now? Jaune has transgressed, Cardin and Weiss have not yet felt my sting. What am I supposed to do?
Sunset was rather glad to be distracted from all this by the ringing of her scroll. She answered it to find Pyrrha’s face on the other end.
“Sunset,” Pyrrha cried. “Jaune’s just been called to the headmaster’s office.” She paused for a moment, a spasm of guilt crossing her face. “You see… the thing that I haven’t told you-”
“Pyrrha, it’s okay,” Sunset said. “You don’t need to tell me, and you don’t need to worry. Where are you?”
“Outside the dining hall.”
“Is Ruby with you?”
“I’m here,” Ruby said, pushing Pyrrha aside a little so that her face could appear in the screen. “Sunset, what’s going on? Is Jaune getting expelled?”
“No,” Sunset assured her. “Both of you go back to the dorm room and get ready to do the whole ‘we love you Jaune, don’t be sad’ thing you do so well. I’ll be along – with Jaune – in just a while.”
“Are you sure?” Pyrrha asked.
“Trust me,” Sunset said. “Everything is going to work out just fine.”
She closed her scroll and started towards the tower. She might not know exactly how she felt about Jaune, but she knew one thing: nobody was going to take one of her team away from her.
The headmaster’s office was empty and austere, so barren that it seemed larger than it was and so large that Jaune felt small and utterly insignificant within it. He felt the sweat pooling beneath his armpits as he stood before the headmaster and Professor Goodwitch.
Professor Ozpin wasn’t looking at him. He was reading something as he sipped his hot cocoa. Professor Goodwitch was staring at him though. Staring at him as though he were some kind of insect and she was about to crush him under her heel.
In the rare moments of coherent thought that escaped the combination of blind panic and bottomless despair, Jaune wondered at what point this had all started to go so horribly wrong. At what point had he made the big mistake that had led to all this?
Was it when I decided to come here in the first place? Was that where I went wrong after all?
It was all over now. His adventure, his dreams. But what Jaune felt most, somewhat to the surprise even of himself, was guilt. Pyrrha and Ruby… they’d believed in him. Nobody had ever believed in him before, not in his whole life. For as long as he’d known, it’d always been ‘you can’t’ or ‘you’re not strong enough’ or ‘it’s too dangerous.’ Nobody had ever trusted him, nobody had ever taken him seriously, nobody had ever looked at Jaune Arc and said ‘yeah, you can become a hero.’
But they had. Those two angels had believed in him… and he had let them down. He saw that now with a clarity that only the impending death of all his hopes and dreams could provide. He had been… he hadn’t been deserving of them.
And it was too late to do anything about it now.
“Mister Arc,” Professor Goodwitch said, since Professor Ozpin didn’t seem inclined to look up from whatever it was he was reading, “the allegations that have been made against you are quite serious. And unfortunately, they are allegations that I can only too easily believe in light of your underwhelming performance at this academy. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
Jaune opened his mouth, ready to let everything spill out: the truth, his excuses, his reasons, all of it. He couldn’t lie, not any more, not here, not with Professor Goodwitch glaring at him like that. He was too rattled, too scared, and too lost to deny it or stonewall or try to brazen it out. He opened his mouth and prepared to throw himself upon the mercy of the school.
“Sorry I’m late,” Sunset said as the lift door opened and Jaune’s team leader strolled into the office as if she owned the place. She advanced quickly across the floor, passing beneath the shadow of the grinding gears until she was standing at Jaune’s side. She clasped her hands behind her back. “I wasn’t around when Jaune got the summons; Pyrrha had to call me.” She smiled. “As I’m sure you’re both well aware, Professors, Article Fifteen Subsection Three states that any student accused of a disciplinary infraction is entitled to have their team leader present at proceedings.”
“Of course,” Professor Ozpin said, and Jaune must have been going nuts from the stress because it sounded like the headmaster was pleased that she’d shown up. “We wouldn’t want to do anything except follow the rules to the letter, would we? Thank you for joining us, Miss Shimmer.”
“Are you aware of the allegations made against Mister Arc, Miss Shimmer?” Professor Goodwitch demanded.
“I’m aware that Cardin Win-”
Professor Ozpin raised one hand. “I’m afraid that we don’t name accusers here, Miss Shimmer. That’s Subsection Five.”
Sunset took a breath. “Of course it is, Professor. But that doesn’t change the fact that the allegations are spiteful, malicious, and thoroughly false. Motivated by personal dislike of Jaune.”
“That is easily alleged, Miss Shimmer,” Professor Goodwitch said, “but the truth is, these allegations would explain a great deal about Mister Arc’s performance.”
Jaune might have said something at this point – he could still feel the pressure to confess like a weight pushing down upon his chest – but a look from Sunset silenced him.
“With all due respect, Professor, the fact that Jaune’s grades are poor doesn’t prove fraud,” Sunset said. “Only proof of fraud can prove fraud. Have you examined the transcripts?”
Professor Ozpin took another sip from his coffee mug. “Unfortunately, they appear to have gone missing.”
Sunset’s face was impassive. “In that case, I don’t see that the matter can be proved one way or the other, in which case, Jaune has nothing to answer for.”
Jaune’s eyes widened. He… he thought that he was starting to get it now. Sunset’s confidence, her assuredness that Cardin wouldn’t be able to do anything to him… she had done this; it was the only explanation. She had gotten rid of his transcripts somehow, knowing that without them nothing could be proved. He was safe! He was saved! He might get to stay at Beacon after all!
Professor Goodwitch’s expression was one of controlled frustration. “Despite the somewhat convenient loss of records, the fact remains that an allegation of this sort cannot simply be dismissed-”
“Forgive me, Professor, but if allegations are to be entertained regardless of the lack of proof, then that strikes me as the start of a very slippery slope,” Sunset said. “Jaune, did you forge your transcripts?”
Jaune swallowed, and managed to squeak out, “No.”
Sunset spread her hands. “Without any evidence to prove otherwise, Professors, you must accept his word. Anything else would be expulsion without cause.”
Professor Goodwitch pushed her glasses a little further up her nose. “Miss Shimmer, are you really comfortable having someone on your team who may not have earned his place here? Who may not be ready for this level of combat? Are you prepared for the consequences for your team?”
“I don’t believe that to be true, Professor,” Sunset replied. “But even if it were… I believe that with enough ambition to succeed, then we can achieve our destinies in spite of all of those who say that we’re not ready.”
“Ah, the confidence of youth,” Professor Ozpin declared with a touch of nostalgia in his voice. “When all life’s promise lies before you, and all obstacles seem only temporary and put in your way by malicious elders.” He smiled, if a little sadly. “I truly hope that your confidence is not shattered too soon. As for this business… you are correct, Miss Shimmer, in your interpretation of the rules. I thought that it might be worth seeing what Mister Arc had to say on the subject, but I see that… well, there seems little purpose now.” He chuckled indulgently. “Good day to you both.”
Sunset nodded. “Professor Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch.”
“Miss Shimmer,” Professor Goodwitch said with just a touch of coldness. “Mister Arc.”
Sunset gestured for Jaune to go first, and so, he led the way back to the elevator. Neither of them said anything as they climbed into the metal box, and Jaune pushed the button to take them back down to the ground floor.
The doors slid shut behind them, and the elevator whirred as it began to descend.
“Ruby and Pyrrha are waiting for you in the dorm room,” Sunset said. She looked away for a moment, and then glanced back at him. “Are you okay?”
“I…” Jaune trailed off and fell silent. Was he okay? How did he feel? He could barely work it out; he was feeling so much that just trying to put a name to how he felt, trying to distil it down to just one feeling seemed impossible. How did he feel? Relieved, delivered, a little guilty… purposed. “Thank you, Sunset,” he said. “I’m going to do better from now on.”
“Yeah, you are,” Sunset said. “I could have let you drown up there, and I probably should have after what you did to me in the dining hall tonight! So now, I expect you to show me why you’re worth keeping around.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Jaune said. “What I mean is… Pyrrha, Ruby, they’ve offered me so much help, and I… I’ve been such an idiot! But I’m not going to just trail after Ruby and Pyrrha any longer. I’m going to work hard and push myself, and I’m not going to stop until I can stand alongside them and you as their equal. I’m going to deserve this, you can count on it.”
Sunset looked at him, her face impassive and inscrutable. And then she smiled. It wasn’t a smirk; it was a real smile, not cruel but pleased, maybe even nice. “Well, you’ll never catch up with me… but don’t let that stop you trying.” She reached up and patted him on the shoulder. “I meant what I said up there: stop letting people tell you no and just go for it, and you can do almost anything.”
“You… you really believe that?” Jaune asked.
“I’d better,” Sunset muttered.
Inside the CCT, it had been warm, but as Sunset led the way out of the tower and back out onto the courtyard, she felt the bracing chill of the evening air return to tickle her face and ears.
She descended the steps and was surprised and suspicious and more than a little put off to find Weiss Schnee waiting for them there.
Or waiting there, at least, and waiting for the two of them, judging by the way that she approached them expectantly as they stepped down onto the courtyard proper.
“What do you want?” Sunset snapped.
Weiss raised her chin. “I don’t particularly appreciate your tone.”
“I don’t care what you do or don’t appreciate,” Sunset snarled. “We had an agreement, you and me! We had an agreement, and you broke it!”
“And you have broken something a little more severe, if what I hear is true,” Weiss replied coldly.
Sunset’s eyes widened. “It… it was you?” she gasped. “You were the one who reported Jaune to the headmaster?”
“When Cardin told me-”
“Cardin? You chose to believe Cardin?”
“It would explain Jaune’s ineptitude,” Weiss declared. “I felt I had no choice but to report the possibility to the proper authorities.” She glanced at Jaune. “Is it true?”
“No,” Sunset said, before Jaune could inadvertently drop himself in it. “There is no truth to it whatsoever. As Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch have accepted. There is nothing more to this than Cardin’s malice.”
Weiss blinked. “I… see,” she murmured. “In that case…” She offered them both a curtsy, hands resting delicate upon the hem of her skirt. “I humbly apologise to the both of you, both for my own having inconvenienced you but also for the inexcusable behaviour of certain members of my team.”
Sunset felt her eyebrows crawling up her forehead as her ears stiffened. Weiss was apologising to her? A Schnee was apologising to her?
She almost wanted to take a photograph to record it for posterity, but more than that, she didn’t want to appear gauche or vulgar. She was a daughter of Canterlot, after all, and had been taught by Princess Celestia herself, and she would not have it be said that a Schnee, a tradesman’s daughter, was more capable of gentilesse than the student of a princess. “Your apology is gratefully accepted,” Sunset declared.
“For your own part, at least,” Weiss replied, although she did straighten a little. “Jaune?”
"It's fine, Weiss," Jaune said. "I should be the one apologising to you. I've bothered you, and I kept on doing it when I should have taken no for an answer the first time anyway. Even if you were interested in guys right now, you wouldn't be interested in a guy like me."
Weiss raised one eyebrow at him. "Really? That's very mature of you, Mister Arc."
"Like you said, we're here to learn to fight monsters," Jaune said, "but it's more than that; we're here to learn to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be. So I'm going to do just that, and in four years time, I'll be able to hold my own against you in the sparring ring."
Weiss sniffed. "Small chance of that," she said. A slight smile graced her lips for a moment. "But don't let that stop you trying." She returned her attention to Sunset. “Is there any chance that this can be the end of it?” she asked. “Otherwise, you and I may have a problem.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want that to happen, now would we?” Sunset made a conscious effort to sound like a little less of an ass; she was, after all, trying to be gracious, and sarcasm hardly helped in that endeavour. “I mean that, I don’t want trouble from you.” The truth was…the honest truth was that there was a lot to admire about Weiss Schnee; even more than Pyrrha, she represented the kind of person that Sunset wanted to become, that she would become in this world through hard work and dint of her natural greatness: elevated, remote, set apart from the run of common men by virtue of that invisible quality called greatness, wanting for nothing, desired, admired, commanding by natural right and brooking no dissent.
Cold and lonely and all alone in the world.
Sunset frowned momentarily, because where had that come from? There was nothing wrong in being all alone. It was better that way; you couldn’t be hurt or betrayed if you didn’t let anyone get close to you. And as for the cold…the fires of ambition's flames would keep her warm.
“I don’t want trouble with you,” Sunset repeated. “Nor can I ask for it, after an apology like that. It would be said that I lacked all courtesy, and I would seem hopelessly vulgar compared to you.”
“And you certainly wouldn’t want that,” Weiss observed.
“I am as capable of good manners as you are,” Sunset declared. “I am as capable of everything as you are.”
Weiss smiled, if ever so slightly. “We’ll see,” she said.
“Yes,” Sunset agreed. “Yes, I hope we shall.”
Ruby and Pyrrha were waiting for them back in the dorm room when they returned. They had both been sitting on Pyrrha’s bed, but as Jaune and Sunset walked in, they both rose anxiously to their feet.
“You’re back,” Ruby said. “What happened up there?”
“Did they…?” Pyrrha hesitated. “Did… were you…?”
“Yes,” Jaune told her. “But… nothing happened. I’m not going anywhere. I hope.”
“You hope?” Ruby repeated. “What do you mean, you hope? Either you’re going somewhere, or you're not. Only… why would you be going anywhere?”
Jaune took a couple of steps further into the room. He kept his eyes on Ruby. He wasn’t sure whether to start with an apology or the truth. The truth, he decided after a moment; that way, if she was upset, he could apologise for everything all at once. “Ruby,” he said. “I… I lied, to get into this school. I didn’t manage to get admittance in spite of the fact that I didn’t know anything about aura. I got admittance because I lied about my aura and everything else. I didn’t go to Combat School; I didn’t pass any tests. I… I faked my way through the door. I don’t deserve to be your teammate.”
Ruby looked up at him. Her silver eyes shone bright as she cocked her head a little to one side. “Why did you lie?”
“Because… it was either that or give up on the thing I wanted more than anything,” Jaune replied. “This is my dream; it’s all I’ve ever wanted... but nobody else ever saw it that way. My family… they didn’t think I could do it. They never even gave me a chance to go to Combat School. So I got some fake transcripts, and one night, I stole the sword off the living room wall, and I left for Beacon, chasing my destiny. I… I’m sorry, Ruby. Not just for lying, but for neglecting you, for making you feel like you’d done something to push me away… you could never do that. That was all my fault. I let my pride and my stupidity nearly ruin something amazing. Something that means a lot to me. And Pyrrha,” – he looked at his partner – “for everything I said, and everything I did… I’m so sorry. I was such an idiot. I was so convinced that I had to do everything myself, and I… I have no right to ask this, but if you’re still willing to help me… then I would be honoured to be your student.”
For a moment, Pyrrha’s face was still. Then a smile blossomed upon it, brightening her eyes like sparkling emeralds. “And I would be delighted to help you reach your destiny,” she said.
Jaune could hardly believe it. “Really? Even now?”
Pyrrha nodded. “Even now.”
“I didn’t graduate from a combat school either,” Ruby reminded them. “And Ozpin let me into Beacon himself. You passed the Initiation, Jaune. You earned your place here, no matter what some pieces of paper say. Just… promise that you won’t lie to us again, okay? From now on, no more secrets. And no more hanging around with Cardin either.”
Jaune laughed. “I promise, to both of those. No more lies, no more secrets, and definitely no more Cardin.” He shook his head.
They both closed in on him, enfolding him in their arms, embracing him to their bodies as they had taken him to their hearts.
Jaune felt tears spring to his eyes.
Sunset watched the scene unfold from the back of the dorm room. Look at them, hugging him like that. It was so saccharine.
And yet, at the same time, it looked kind of nice as well.
“Sunset?” Ruby looked at her and held one arm open, inviting, even beckoning.
Sunset snorted as she looked away. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
I suppose you’re feeling rather pleased with yourself.
Sunset smirked as she wrote back. You say that as though I haven’t got anything to feel pleased about. Jaune got away with it, and more to the point, he stepped up in a big way. He’s sparring with Pyrrha now, and afterwards, we’re going to hit the books for Grimm Studies. And on top of that, I got to make Cardin Winchester look like a gelding, and my understanding with Weiss still holds. It’s true that I didn’t get everything that I wanted, but even still, I’d say I’m doing pretty well.
Except that you haven’t solved any of your underlying problems; you haven’t even tried.
Sunset stared at the words as though they might reveal their meaning if she just watched them long enough. You’ll have to unpack that for me a little bit. Is this a friendship thing?
Sunset could practically feel the frustration from Twilight Sparkle as she wrote back. You haven’t reconciled with Cardin.
Cardin was never my problem, Jaune was. Why would I even want to reconcile with a guy like that?
Because you haven’t addressed the reason why he’s behaving this way; you’ve just made him angry. He’s bound to try and retaliate against you somehow.
How? He only had one piece of leverage, and he’s just blown that. There’s nothing he can do to Jaune now, and my agreement with Weiss
Which you put too much faith in.
You think she’ll betray me?
No, I think that people aren’t toy soldiers for you to move around in a sandpit; they have their own hopes and dreams and desires. You can’t just say to Weiss ‘keep Cardin off my back’ and assume that it will happen. Cardin is an actor with his own will, and he might try to retaliate against the way you’ve treated him.
And if he does, I will crush him.
There was a pause before Twilight’s reply arrived. Where do you get your overconfidence?
I prefer to say that I have faith in myself.
Regardless, you seem to have an ample supply.
Sunset snorted. I suppose you’re one of those mares who carries a ton of insecurities around with her and has to be reassured as to your own virtues by the people around you.
I do not have a ton of insecurities. I have one or two.
Sunset shook her head. I don’t have the luxury of being insecure. I have to have faith because no one else will. Without my confidence, I’d be nothing.
I suppose I can see your point. Wouldn’t it be easier just to mend fences with Cardin and not have to watch your back all the time?
Two people need to want to mend fences. I’ve seen no evidence that he does. Not every problem can be solved by the power of friendship, Princess.
I disagree.
You would.
But you’re proving me right yourself; you just don’t realise it. Look at what you told me about Jaune, how guilty he felt, how he wants to improve for the sake of Pyrrha and Ruby, and how they’re willing to go out of their way to help him achieve that goal. That’s friendship in action, doing what blackmail and threats and anger and underhoofed tactics could never do. The bond they share has made them more than just three people thrown together by fate; it’s made them a team. And as for you, you may deny it, but I believe that you care about them just as I believe that you still care about Flash. I think you even like Weiss.
I do not like Weiss Schnee; you’re being ridiculous. She doesn’t like me either.
And if she did? If she held out a hand to you, would you reject it?
No.
Why not?
Because why give myself the aggravation?
Nobody wants to be alone, Sunset.
Is that your professional opinion?
That’s the truth that I’ve observed. Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me that you don’t care about your teammates. Tell me that you’re not as proud of Jaune as your words from before implied. Tell me that you don’t respect Pyrrha as your equal. Tell me that you aren’t moved to compassion for Ruby. Tell me that you don’t care.
Sunset snorted. Easily done. All she had to do was write the words. All that she had to do was write ‘I don’t care’ upon a piece of paper.
That was it. That was all she had to do. She could write it down, and nobody would ever know except Twilight Sparkle, the princess in another world. She could write it down, and she didn’t even have to mean it.
The pen shook a little in her hands.
She could write it down. She could write down that she didn’t care. She didn’t care about Ruby and her goofy smile, she didn’t care about Jaune and his quixotic hopes, she didn’t care about Pyrrha and the awesome skills she wished she didn’t have. She didn’t care about any of them.
But when she tried to write it down, her hand revolted.
She couldn’t write it down. She couldn’t write down because…
Can’t do it, can you?
I hate you, Princess.
I see the good in you, Sunset, and I’m not going to stop until I’ve brought that good to the fore.
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Well this is awkward.
HA! that Roman luck!
also, that was sweet of Sunset to give Ruby her mom's dairy, and it's nice to see her hang out with Ruby.
This’ll be interesting.
Eeyup! Another Roman-Ruby confrontation and it isn't the docks or the Paladin yet.
Well at least Sunset got to see that Ozpin did have his own evaluation of Jaune, and likely knew that the transcripts were forged. Though surprised that Ozpin have a close interest on Sunset which really ruffled her fur.
Oh Torchwick, you just have the worst luck in dust store robberies when Ruby is in town.
Well, luck. He's in dust shop with at least five hunters, where at least two have superpowers and at least two more have special ammo. And this is shop with special ammo, so they're have effectively unlimited supply of them now. And he doesn't have enough forces to siege the shop, so this is out too.
Seriously, he's lucked up.
It occurs to me that no one currently has their weapon... which means Ruby is SOL as she currently can't fight without her weapon... Sunset is probabily the most dangerous person in the room (on the good guy side) atm... followed by Weiss.
heh.
Woot! Torchwick! This is gonna be interesting XD Though with Neo there I'm slightly worried :/ Sunset, Pyrrha, and Weiss are the only ones barely combat effective right now... And Neo isen't exactly someone you want to go up against without bringing your A-game <.<;;
Really looking forward to the next chapter now XD hopefully you'll do Torchwick's snark justice too :3 I can't wait to see what kind of snark he'll toss at Sunset XD
So I'm guessing that since Sunset is an equestrian and not a faunus she doesn't have dark vision.
9202281
It's not that surprising, Ozpin was able to immediately identify her as having magic, being an equestrian, and someone that could be useful.
This is from Chapter 3: Initiation
Best Villians!
78.media.tumblr.com/c7cbcdbf1cf849dcf7d9d51d65886967/tumblr_oqay3klqrJ1vvmb67o1_400.gif
9202465
i wonder if Sunset will try to teach her how to fight without one or have her make another weapon as a backup.
9202528
I am aware that Oz was interested but not at that level... And didn't did my wordings right as Sunset isn't aware of Ozpin's interest until this infiltration.
On one hand, that's a lot of Huntresses... and one barely trained Hunstman, for Torchwick and Neo to fight. On the other, they don't have their weapons. I'm curious to see how this goes. As for not having their weapons, are they gonna use the rocket propelled lockers?
Also, are you telling me that Beacon's record room has files for every Huntsman/Huntress that's come through their halls for at least the last 15-20 years, all in their school? As someone who works in HR, I find that improbable. Though that's probably just me being like any professional and complaining about how their job is depicted in media.
9202585
You're right in that Sunset wasn't aware of Ozpin's interest in her. And right now Sunset is probably concerned about how he framed his interest in the report. While at first she had an interest of his circle and what possible benefits it might provide, what concerned her seemed to be the cryptic mentioning of 'Miss Skimmer is too powerful to be allowed to fall into her hands.' and needing to be observed. If it was just Ozpin gushing about how great she could become and wants her to be his right hand woman she probably would be happy about all this, but there are too many unknown factors at present for her not to be nervous.
9202465
Pyrrha is also incredibly strong and have her magnetic Sembalance. Don't count her out yet.
And maybe Sunset will be able to see Ruby weakness that her hand-to-hand skills are sub-par when she loose Cresent Rose. That way, Sunset will probably force Ruby to work on that sooner than in canon.
9202931
Wow... I can't believe I forgot about Pyrah
One point about Dust shops. It seems like the main direct users of Dust would be industry and hunters. Your typical consumer is going to get some package dealio Dust Battery sort of thing, or plug their thing into an outlet which gets something from a generator running on Dust, or similar. So the people patronizing a Dust shop, the people who want actual Dust, but by the kilo instead of the ton, are primarily going to be hunters. As we see right here.
Or if you distinguish between powder and crystals, and consumers use crystals for low peak power applications but hunters want guns and whatever, a Dust shop which sells the forms of interest to Hunters will tend to be patronized by hunters.
Why would Roman ever try to knock over a Dust shop? Tiny quantities and high likelihood of powerful resistance. Go rob a freight train or something. I give you a pass on this because canon, but seriously.
I think this freaks Sunset out so much because it's like she's run from one Celestia (as Sunset thinks of her) to another, only this one apparently has at least one powerful enemy... That Sunset is so deeply in error about Celestia makes this doubly interesting.
Sunset and Pyrrha are going to have the strangest friendship. I love the way they manage to work together and even get along on a personal level, without making any further moves to compromise on their deeply antithetical sets of values. For instance, Sunset already claims Jaune as her own, and has no romantic interest in him, while Pyrrha is shy about making a move on Jaune because of her romantic interest, and I think they pretty much recognize this about each other.
Roman has good timing! Weiss is already keyed up to be suspicious of Sunset and faunus in general, and they are totally going to continue to try to resolve their dispute after this is thrown into the mix. Could help, or not. Maybe Weiss will be put at ease seeing Sunset fight the White Fang, maybe Weiss will lump Sunset in with the Fang, maybe Sunset will react in some interesting way. There are several tense situations happening at once and interacting! Good work!
9203316
Who else would buy small quantities or just bullets? Err, dunno... Tailors and tattoo artist? It was mentioned that it's used in some form by those. Artist and performers wanting to add a little something to their show? Wow, so it could be possible to cross Trixie in a Dust shop... Craftsman like blacksmith and other inventor that builds and invent stuff for huntsmen? Survivalist? Scared grandma who wants something to protect themselves? LARPERS?
Who known why the next John Doe on the street would want to control the very force of nature at the tip of his fingers?
9203379
Paralleling the real world, I sort of assumed that artists and craftsmen are likely to get Dust products specialized for their application from a specialty store. Lots of stores are somewhat specialized. So a Dust store which sells powdered Dust, which appears to be a military consumable, I tend to assume is a specialty store in military Dust products. Even if there are enough civilians interested in using Dust for self-defense that one isn't guaranteed to run into Hunters, it's still like trying armed robbery on a gun store: you can do it, but it's a little riskier than armed robbery has to be.
Of course, the Fang were planning to blow things up in canon, so I guess they have to try to steal the explosive varieties? Dust-based tattoo ink probably doesn't make a good bomb without further processing, which would likely defeat the point of stealing it. Maybe Torchwick is also forging identities for a bunch of fictitious farmers in order to order a whole bunch of Dust-based fertilizer or something...
Anyway, assumptions are assumptions and maybe it's just supposed to be some sort of generalist store. It does remain true that it's the sort of place that Hunters might often want to patronize, because it has Dust, which still elevates the risk quite a bit. And because it's a retail store it probably doesn't have huge inventory, unless that's generally different in Remnant for some reason? Torchwick's canon on-screen thefts seem dumb, but I'm happy to pretend he got the rest of his warehouse full of stolen Dust through more practical means.
They called at a hardware store, where Sunset stocked upon spray-paint
1. Stopped.
Dogpile on the Torchwick
The appearance of Torchwick is good, the bit between Cardin and Sunset is great (though I wonder what it was we didn't hear), as well as... and Weiss.
What really gave my brain an itch though are Ozpin's organization and notes. I think it's actually a matter to take up with the source material of RWBY, at least in part.
The order of naming, if its from the series, lends itself to some interesting implications for the reason Sunset mentions it comforts her. Of course, we're also assuming her being correct, but it makes sense.
More to the point, why on Earth (Remnant) does he keep evaluations in student profiles if they're going to include this level of sensitive material? Perhaps his mention of "Her" and "The Circle" are simply out of place, but who else would be reading these profiles? Other members of the circle? Are other teachers that have access also in on this on some level?
I mean, it probably doesn't matter too much in the long run other than serving as a nice little way to tip Sunset off to more going on, but, hm.
While I still approve of the previous version of Sunset intervening more directly to make Jaune take things more seriously before he went too far along, it's good to see how he's really taken his first steps to being a better man. As Ozpin said, progress is so much more valuable when people choose it themselves.
10378333
As cool as it was to see Sunset take charge, I felt it was more important that Jaune got a chance to actually develop his character by making some choices of his own.
Is that Sunset semblance starting to manifest?
previous version was superior.
10493987
You are unfortunately correct.
Anyone else suddenly looking for dragons?
The slow burn is infuriating, but the progress is undeniable. You've earned a thumbs-up, and I must say that I'm officially having fun.
Awww, she does care. You will need a crowbar to pry that confession off her, thought.
Reading the comment is so confusing...
…but she’s right. There will be people, groups, ideals that can not be negotiated with, and where the only reasonable solution to a conflict is the utter destruction of one of the parties in conflict. That probably is not the case here, but when expressed as a universality, it’s simply incorrect.
As an example, if you’ll allow me to indulge Godwin’s law: nazis. Fanatical Nazis, a la the SS.
I think this some very good characterization for Twilight here. To truly believe that “every problem can be solved by the power of friendship” is a level of naivety that is dangerously ignorant and very character defining. Even if she only said so as a way to convince Sunset to see friendship as an option (not actually believing the literal statement herself), it still shows her-own, or maybe Equestria’s, disconnect from a less idealized society. After all, I believe it was stated that Sunset was shocked by the type of society she found herself in after going through the mirror. It really shouldn’t be a surprise if Twilight can’t even comprehend it.
11106625
An ideology by itself has no power, it is only when people are willing to follow it that it can do anything in the world, and so understanding what would make people accept such ideology and taking steps to remediate the issue is far more effective at dealing with a destructive ideology that just eliminating anyone who follows it like a eternal game of whack-a-mole.
To use your example, it's not like one day the people of Germany just decided that they wanted to do some mass slaughter. There was a long list of issues that pushed the population to such extremes that they were willing to follow such ideology to begin with, and if someone had "friedshiped" the situation (AKA solved the damn issue) then the entire mess could have been avoided.
To an individual level the results may vary, since people have free will and the other side can just refuse to change, but as a general rule? Yeah, it works, and with some great results.
I wouldn't call attempting to resolve such situations from the source as naïve, especially when it is done post-crisis. If Twilight believed that she could always stop evil by befriending the one doing the evil action then you could say it is dangerous naïve, but the girls have showed again and again that stopping the danger is first, befriending the bad guy is second, since that is what they do with almost all the bad guys they deal with.
11107500
This point is actually very well documented, and reinforced by historical studies; let’s take the Germany example a step further.
After WWI, the Germans had been beaten thoroughly. The victors of the combat footed them with the bill, resentment, and demilitarization- they could have possibly survived one of those three things back when they had money, but even an unfractured state at the time wouldn’t have been able to deal with all three. With little regard to the ‘other side,’ having crushed them wholly and utterly, human nature began to take over the country. Namely, the will to live and unify kept a culture alive that would have otherwise been turned to dust. Of course, past this, everyone knows the charismatic figure that then turned that human determination into an engine of hate and hellfire.
All of that was in the name of crushing the other side, refusing to look their fellow humans in the eye and accept them once more into civilized culture; what went around came around, and the “War to End All Wars” became something of small potatoes in the face of technology and malice.
After the dust settled, there was still the penalty of demilitarization, however this time the world came together and rebuilt Germany. Granted, there was still underhanded political motivations all around, but when we took the broken state and repaired it, allowing its culture to reinstate itself instead of backing them into a corner, the West made an influential ally that gave them many benefits all throughout their rehabilitation.
There are many examples of this wherever you look in history. The pride of an individual may be strong, but it is a deadly sin for a reason; reconciliation is genuinely one of the best things that we, as humans, can do.
Now this, was a massive change.
And the only reasons I can say I don’t like it is because it makes team CFVY less present, and makes manipulative sunset less present. Which are of course 2 things I very much liked.
The giving Jaune more agency is arguably much more important than that, and again, if I hadn’t read before I wouldn’t even have any complaints, though some of it does come at a cost of Sunset, who didn’t do anywhere near as much horrible shady shit at any cost.
If Sunset were half the manipulator she thinks she is (and not hung up on the whole friends only betray you thing), I imagine the aftermath of the meeting with the headmaster would have gone something to the effect of...
“Well done growing a backbone.”
“!?”
“I’m glad I didn’t have to spell it out for you anymore than I already did.”
“Then the blackmail...”
“I had hoped you wouldn’t figure it out until after Cardin self-destructed, though. I really wanted him expelled.”
“...you’re a very strange...friend.”
Or at least that’s roughly what I’m imagining. She could have really spun this in her favor as the team leader. She also had a good point about Cardin now having a reason to seek revenge, which Twilight also points out and Sunset decides to kind of brush off. Like, she has a point that she’s in a good position, but still.
On another note, I’m glad to see Twilight and Sunset are both planning to corrupt each other, they both know it, they both know each other knows it, and so on. Very enjoyable to watch.
11591984
Indeed. She might be smart, but she is far from wise. She made tons of stupid decisions that even readers could easily see through.
She grew up in magical fairytale utopia, so her "evilness" is on kiddies level.