SAPR

by Scipio Smith

Leaf (New)

Leaf

“You’re going down, Ruby!” Sunset shouted, with glee in her voice.

“You’re going … further down!” Ruby yelled to be heard over the noise of the revving engines. “So far down you can’t even see the floor!”

The two of them sat upon their borrowed motorcycles on the start line of the dirt course at the Blue Warthogs Motorcycle Club and Rally Course, which — although it stood in the middle of the city of Vale, behind the safety of the Red Line — nevertheless occupied a patch of greenery through which had been carved a dirt racing track which now lay before them. As a club, the Blue Warthogs competed in the city’s competitive rally circuit — not to any great success, but not to any immense shame either — but they also had days where they opened their track up to all comers, and this, it turns out, was such a day.

Sunset had been a little surprised when Ruby had suggested dirtbike racing as something they could do, but now, as she revved her bike and waited for the race to start, she was more than willing to admit that it had been a good idea.

Sunset had driven them both down there upon Sunset’s own bike, but Sunset doubted that her much-maligned machine would be judged eligible to compete, and so, she and Ruby had rented out a pair of dirt bikes from the club for the occasion. Sunset’s bike was an appropriate red and gold colour, painted as though it had been made for her, matching her hair which spilled out from beneath her helmet, with wings that were flamelike in shape and colour sticking out behind the seat.

Sunset … kind of wished that she could keep it, to be honest.

Keep the wings, anyway.

Ruby had been a little less fortunate in her bike, but she had still managed to find one that was a fitting blood red colour, the colour of the cloak that she had not been allowed to wear while racing. There were no roses anywhere to be found upon the motorcycle, but Sunset supposed you couldn’t have everything.

And besides, Ruby made up for it with the roses painted in black upon her red cycling helmet, joined by a pattern of thorns around the visor, which was up to reveal a little of Ruby’s pale face and silver eyes. In place of her cape and her usual outfit, Ruby was wearing a black padded jacket with red pads upon the shoulders and elbows, while her trousers, also black, had red stripes running down the sides; only her boots remained the same as usual.

Sunset herself hadn’t changed; she’d just done her jacket up and put an orange helmet on over her head, letting her flaming her spill out of it down her back. She had also exchanged her bridal gloves for a pair of padded gloves, through which she gripped the handlebars of her rented motorcycle while she waited for the race to start.

She and Ruby were not alone on the course; there were about a dozen racers in all, some of them club members and others, like Sunset and Ruby, come down for the day, all lined up on the starting line, all waiting.

Sunset wasn’t bothered about any of the rest of them. This race was between her and Ruby.

The dirtbikes revved, their engines growling so that they sounded as impatient for the off as Sunset felt.

A wire fence surrounded the track, and a few people had gathered at the fence to cheer on the racers.

“Come on, Leaf!” someone shouted. Sunset guessed that Leaf was also somewhere on the starting line.

It wasn’t hard to work out.

“Get ready!”

Sunset brought down the visor on her helmet; Ruby did the same, as did all those other competitors who had had theirs visors up until now.

A middle-aged man, his hair turning grey, stood just off the edge of the dirt track with a large red flag held in his hand. He raised the flag above his head so that it caught the wind, then brought it downwards in sharp motion.

Sunset let her bike off the leash, the vehicle leaping forwards as the race began. Her tires kicked up dirt on either side of her as the vehicle surged off the starting line, down into the depression, carved into the earth, which marked the first stage of the track.

She had been the first off, but not for long; Ruby had nearly matched her reflexes, and to her side, Sunset saw Ruby on her red dirtbike briefly pull ahead of her.

Not today, Ruby.

Yes, this was supposed to be fun, but it wouldn’t be fun if they didn’t take it seriously, so Sunset let the throttle out, accelerating to carry her past Ruby and back into first place.

Only to be confronted by a tight bend which was, no doubt, the reason why everyone behind was hanging back a little bit.

The rules of the race were very clear: fall, and you were done; leave the track, and you were done; get off your bike, and you were done.

Sunset swerved on the bend, wrenching at the handlebars to turn the motorcycle, her rear wheel spinning around, dirt fountaining up off the track to spray the grass verge and the wire fence and anyone unlucky enough to be standing beyond. The dirtbike slid as it rose up the dirt ledge towards the very edge of the race course. It wobbled; it swayed; Sunset felt herself falling sideways, the ground getting closer as she fought for balance in those fleeting moments.

And then the bike began to roar forwards once again, Sunset righting herself and the bike as she descended off the ledge and back down onto the main body of the dirt track.

A long straight lay before her, and Sunset had no need to decelerate.

The sound of an engine behind her caught her attention, a growling engine, a roaring engine, an engine catching up with her. Sunset didn’t dare risk losing her balance by looking back, but as the engine sound got closer and closer, Sunset risked a glance sideways. It wasn’t Ruby; this was someone else: a green motorcycle, the rider wearing a jacket of red gold like autumn leaves and a wood brown helmet. They were level with Sunset and very close. Their knees were almost touching as they drove hard down the straight, both of their bikes showering the other with dirt kicked up by the wheels.

The rider on the green bike swerved towards Sunset, forcing Sunset to swerve to the left to avoid a collision.

What the—?

The rider in red-gold swerved again, again forcing Sunset more to the left.

Are you trying to run me off the track? There was nothing in the rules against that, but it wasn’t very sporting if you asked Sunset.

She was tempted to let the other rider, whoever they were, run into her and see what happened; they would both crash, and both be out of the race, but with her aura, Sunset was almost certain that she’d be in a better state when the dust settled than whoever this clown was.

But ultimately, that was the reason why she had to keep swerving, because she’d be in a better state after any accident.

The track split in two up ahead, a path to the left and a path to the right, with a barrier of piled up tires marking the point at which the two separated.

Sunset was aiming straight for the tires; if she kept on going straight, then she would hit them and be out of the race; the rider on the green bike was keeping pace with her. If they kept going straight, then they’d hit the tires too, but there was no one on their right stopping from swerving in that direction.

Sunset understood: she didn’t want to run Sunset off the course; she wanted to keep Sunset from going to the right and force her to the left. The course to the right rose a little; it was hard to say for sure from here, but Sunset suspected that to the right, there was a jump, while to the left there was a depression. By going right but making Sunset go left, the rider in red-gold would pull ahead.

Or I could just wait until you break right and do the same.

But the other rider didn’t break right. They kept on going straight ahead, aiming straight for the tires, cutting Sunset off. Sunset accelerated, but so did they, keeping pace with Sunset, keeping her blocked off.

The game was chicken. One of them would have to break one way or the other, or they would both hit the wall of tires and be disqualified.

They both went straight.

The tires got closer.

They both went straight.

The tires got closer and closer and closer…

Sunset let out a wordless growl of frustration as she broke left, turning away from the tires and her red-gold opponent both alike. The rider on the green bike broke to the right.

Sunset descended into a depression, just as she’d thought, the course descending into an even steeper cut down into the ground which rose up on either side of her. Above, she could see the rider on the green motorcycle flying through the air as they made the jump, with Ruby following close behind.

It’s a pity you couldn’t wear your cape; it would look awesome flying out behind you right now.

But I should probably focus on myself.

There were logs down in the bottom of the depression, half-buried in the earth, because missing the jump wasn’t punishment enough for any fool who went left, but Sunset accelerated anyway, taking the bike as fast as it would go, ignoring the pain on her rear as it bounced up and down upon the motorcycle seat.

Like a bat out of Tartarus — or at least, like a motorcycle on a rock album cover — Sunset came roaring out of the ditch, and if she didn’t get to a make a jump, she still cleared the deck by a few feet before landing on the ground again to start pursuing Ruby and the rider in red-gold.

They were both ahead of her now; Ruby was in second place, with the green motorcycle in pole position, swerving left and right to keep Ruby cut off and maintain her lead. Ruby dropped back, trying to get more space to overtake where the other rider couldn’t so easily cut her off.

A mistake, with Sunset closing in on both of them.

Ruby dropped back, and Sunset caught up just as they came up on another bend, turning to pass beneath the tangled branches of some trees on either side of the track. Sunset braked a little, to avoid the problem that she’d had the last turn, but by this point, she was pretty much level with Ruby, only narrowly in third place, and she could afford to slow down just a little.

Especially since she had the inside of the turn.

A little throttle, and she was in second place, taking one hand off the bars to wave to Ruby as she passed her on the inside.

Ruby was behind, the red-gold rider in front. They put on speed in the straight, and Sunset did likewise. She did not catch up, but nor did any extra distance open up between them.

The rider on the green motorcycle pulled directly in front of Sunset; Sunset drifted to the left and so did they; Sunset drifted to the right and so did they.

There was another ramp up ahead. Inside her helmet, unseen, Sunset grinned.

The red gold rider made the jump, soaring up into the air, at which point, Sunset swerved inwards, towards the inside edge of the track, and took the jump herself.

She felt her hair stream out behind her, and no doubt, her tail would have done so too if Sunset hadn’t stuffed it into her pants — she didn’t want to worry about it getting caught in the wheel — as she took flight, wishing that she hadn’t had the visor down so that he could have felt the wind on her face.

Of course, she would have felt the dirt on her face the rest of the time, but still.

There was another turn just past the jump, or rather, just past the point at which most riders going a decent speed would land from the jump, and the rider in red-gold was already turning in the air, twisting round so that they would land ready to make the turn.

But they miscalculated and landed badly, the wheels slipping out from underneath the motorcycle as the rider hit the ground, skidding across the earth like a stone over water, coming to rest right in Sunset’s path.

There was no doubt about it in Sunset’s mind: if she landed, she was going to hit that other rider, whoever they were. There was no way she could avoid it.

She teleported, carrying her motorcycle with her in a flash of green light, reappearing with a crack on the other side of the fence, turning sideways to skid across the grass, tearing it up, churning the soil beneath as she slewed to a stop.

Sunset teleported again, reappearing on the track, standing over the fallen ridden and their motorcycle, kneeling down to grab them both.

A third teleportation brought all three of them beyond the track, safe from harm, as Ruby made the jump, turning with expert skill and roaring off down the track.

Sunset whooped. “Go on, Ruby!” she yelled, rushing to the fence, following the fire and the edge of the track, trying to keep Ruby in sight as she raced ahead of the rest of the pack, handling her motorcycle like a pro, mastering every twist and turn before crossing the finish line well ahead of anyone else.

As Ruby came to a halt, Sunset rushed up to her.

“Congratulations, Ruby!” she cried. “You were amazing out there.”

Ruby was beaming brightly as she pulled off her helmet. “Thanks,” she said. “You were good too; what happened out there? I saw you teleport, but—”

“The rider ahead went down; I would have hit them if I hadn’t done something,” Sunset explained. “I got myself out, and then I got them out.”

Ruby winced. “It’s great that no one got hurt,” she said, “but it’s pretty unlucky, though.”

“It is what it is,” Sunset said. “Congratulations!”

“Yeah, congrats,” came a voice, a girl’s voice, but on the deeper side.

Sunset turned around to see the rider in the red-gold jacket, now with her helmet off to reveal a faunus girl with squirrel ears — hitherto hidden beneath her helmet — sticking up from out of her brown hair, which was worn in a pixie cut and dyed luminescent blue at the tips. She had a couple of piercings in her nose and more in her ears, both human and squirrel.

“You were both really good out there,” she said. “And I’m not just saying that because you didn’t hit me. You do this a lot?”

“Not really,” Ruby replied.

“Maybe you should start,” she said. She thrust out one hand. “I’m Leaf, by the way, Leaf Kelly.”

“I’m Ruby Rose.”

“Sunset Shimmer.”

Leaf shook both their hands in turn. “Nice to meet you. Like I said, congratulations on the win.”

“Thank you,” Ruby said.

“You weren’t bad yourself,” Sunset said.

“Not bad? I’m good,” Leaf declared. “I’m more than good; I can be great sometimes; I just got unlucky.” She paused. “You said you don’t do this very often, but I can’t believe that this is your first time on motorcycles.”

“My sister taught me,” Ruby explained.

“I taught myself,” Sunset said. “I haven’t had the opportunity to ride much recently, but I’ve got my own bike out in the yard.”

Leaf smiled. “Then why didn’t you ride that in the race?”

“I wasn’t sure it would be allowed; it’s not exactly the same kind of model as these dirtbikes.”

“Some kind of road model?” Leaf asked.

“It’s … something of a hybrid,” Sunset replied.

“She built it herself,” Ruby interjected.

“And I’m not ashamed of that!” Sunset declared. “It wasn’t as though I had a lot of choice in my circumstances.”

“That sounds pretty cool,” Leaf said. “So you’re a mechanic, as well as a rider?”

“Of necessity, to an extent,” Sunset explained. She pointed to Ruby. “This one is the real gearhead.”

Ruby nodded. “I used to help my sister take care of her bike,” she said, “and, well … it’s nice to get your hands dirty sometimes. Nuts, bolts, wrenches … they’re easy to understand. Easier than people.”

“I hear that,” Leaf agreed. “Bikes are definitely easier than people.” She looked away from them, towards a woman on whose face the cares of the world seemed to sit almost as heavily as they did on Lady Nikos, although more in the hollowed out face and sunken cheeks than in her hair; that was yet untouched by grey. She was watching Leaf, albeit she seemed to be trying to pretend that she wasn’t watching. She looked back at Sunset and Ruby, folding her arms across her chest. “So, can I see this hybrid of yours?”

Ruby gave a little smile, and the slightest giggle passed her lips.

Sunset’s eyebrows rose. “And what are you sniggering at, Ruby Rose? Of course you can see my bike; I drove it here; like I said, it’s just outside.”

Sunset led the way, with Leaf and Ruby following behind her, passing through the club room — a dark space, with wooden walls and a bar set up against the back room — outside to where the cars and bikes that people had used to get here were all parked. Sunset’s bike was parked near the front, in all of its mismatched glory.

“Here she is,” Sunset proclaimed, gesturing to her bike with one hand.

Leaf blinked. “Wow,” she said.

“I know, right,” Ruby agreed.

“That is—”

“A beauty, isn’t she?”

Leaf laughed. “That is the ugliest piece of engineering I have ever seen.”

Sunset’s mouth opened, but no words emerged. “That,” she began. “That is…” She huffed. “Everyone’s a critic. She may not look the prettiest, but she gets the job done.”

“I mean, credit where credit's due, you put this together yourself, and it looks like you got everything to fit together in such a way that it works,” Leaf said as she walked closer to Sunset’s bike, circling it to get a look at it in the round. “Which, you know, impressive. Especially considering that there are, like, parts from twenty different models and manufacturers in here. Why didn’t you use more consistent parts?”

“My circumstances didn’t exactly allow for a lot of choice,” Sunset muttered.

Leaf looked up into Sunset’s eyes. “This is junkyard salvage, isn’t it?”

Sunset didn’t say anything.

“Sorry, I didn’t…” Leaf trailed off. “I know what it’s like to not be able to have everything that you want. At least, I used to, my stepdad…” She hesitated. “Anyway, that was a cool move you pulled, getting yourself off the track and then me; I’ve never seen anything quite like it. What was that?”

Sunset glanced at Ruby. “That … was my semblance.”

Leaf’s green eyes widened. “Your…” She looked from Sunset to Ruby and then back again. “Are you huntresses?”

“Sort of,” Ruby replied. “We’re students up at Beacon Academy.”

Leaf gasped. She clasped her hands together above her chest. “Oh, wow!” she cried. “Oh … oh, wow! This is … wow. This is incredible! This is … sorry, I’m babbling aren’t I? I don’t really know what I’m supposed to say, should I go?” She came to a sort-of attention, and gave a sort-of salute, and her voice dropped a little in an impression of a manly, martial voice as she said, “Thank you for all your service.”

Ruby grinned. “You’d only need to say that if we were all Atlesian. Or Atlas students.”

“Really, I should start practicing then,” Leaf replied. “But what do I say to you two?”

“You’ve already been doing it,” Ruby assured her. “You don’t need to stand on ceremony with us.”

“Really?” Leaf asked. “But you’re huntresses!”

“We’re students,” Sunset reminded her.

“Even so, that’s…” Leaf paused. “What are two huntresses, or students, whatever, doing at the Blue Warthogs?”

“Having fun?” Ruby asked. “We wanted to do something cool, and Sunset has a bike, and Yang — that’s my sister — taught me how to ride, so … why not?”

“If you say so,” Leaf said softly. She pulled a pack of cigarettes, only slightly squashed, out of her pocket. She offered it to Sunset. “You want one?”

Sunset shook her head. “No, thank you.”

“Ruby?”

“She won’t have one either,” Sunset said, before Ruby could.

Leaf smirked. “Are you her mom or something?”

“I probably shouldn’t,” Ruby said. “I’m only fifteen.”

“'Fifteen'? I was smoking twenty of these a day when I was fourteen,” Leaf muttered. “I started when I was twelve. Go on, try one; you might like it.”

“No,” Sunset said firmly.

Leaf seemed like a decent person, a good sport — and a good sportswoman, who knew how to handle a bike — but smoking, in Sunset’s opinion, was a habit for plebs and losers. It was, to Sunset’s mind, what you turned to when you’d given up; you couldn’t accomplish anything meaningful, you couldn’t matter, you couldn’t be anybody worthwhile so you stuck something in your mouth and set fire to it and let the drugs make you feel like you were winning — until you came back down to the reality that you weren’t.

Sunset had been tempted, back at Canterlot, sometimes. It would have been easier.

It would have been an admission of failure.

She had no intention of letting Ruby go down that road; especially since she had no need — absolutely no need — to do so.

“Okay, okay,” Leaf conceded. She pulled a single cigarette out of her packet, and stuck it in her mouth, holding it there with her teeth while she pulled a lighter out of her other pocket and lit the cigarette up. Smoke rose lazily from the burning tip of the cigarette before Leaf gripped it with her fingers, blowing a wave of smoke out of her mouth.

Sunset kind of wished that she was a pegasus, so that she could have conjured a gentle breeze to blow the smoke away from her and Ruby.

“I suppose you have to be good girls up at Beacon, huh?” Leaf asked.

“Not necessarily good girls,” Sunset murmured. “But we do have to keep our bodies in good condition.”

Leaf gave a sort of nodding, head tilting gesture. To Ruby, she said, “So, you’re only fifteen?”

Ruby nodded. “That’s right.”

Leaf frowned. “I thought Beacon only started at seventeen.”

“It does,” Ruby replied. “I … got let in early.”

“Really?” Leaf asked. “How did you manage that?”

“I … stopped a couple of bad guys from robbing a dust store,” Ruby said, sounding almost as if she were admitting to doing something wrong. “Me and Sunset did, that’s how we met. Professor Ozpin — he’s the—”

“Headmaster up at Beacon, yeah, I know; I don’t live under a rock,” Leaf said.

“He showed up afterwards and offered me a shot at his school,” Ruby explained.

“Cool,” Leaf said, smiling. “So, are you both fifteen?”

“I’m eighteen; I was already on my way to Beacon when I met Ruby and got involved in this robbery she mentioned,” Sunset told her.

“Right,” Leaf said. “So are you two on the same team together, or are you just friends?”

“We’re teammates,” Sunset explained. “Team Sapphire.”

Leaf’s eyes narrowed. “S something-something R?”

“S-A-P-R,” Sunset replied.

“I’ll remember that, and I’ll cheer for you when the Vytal Festival starts,” Leaf said softly.

“Thanks,” Ruby said.

Sunset snorted. “You say you haven’t been living under a rock, but you haven’t heard of Team Sapphire already?”

Leaf’s eyebrows rose. “Ought I have heard of you?”

Ruby glanced at Sunset, clasping her hands together in front. “Well, we … we have done some stuff.”

“We helped foil a massive dust robbery at the docks a few months ago?” Sunset suggested. “We helped catch Roman Torchwick?”

“And we fought at the Breach,” Ruby added. “Well, I didn’t, but Sunset, Jaune, and Pyrrha did — they’re our other teammates.”

Leaf stared at them, her gaze flickering between the two of them. “Okay, I don’t really pay much attention to the news, although I might have to start.” She took a drag on her cigarette. “I thought students at Beacon were supposed to learn how to be huntresses, not to … be actual huntresses.”

“I can see why you might think that,” Sunset said.

“We didn’t always have permission for all the stuff we did,” Ruby admitted.

“We did for most of the big stuff,” Sunset insisted. “And for the stuff that didn’t, most of the time, that was trouble finding us, not the other way around. We’ve gotten to skip ahead a little on account of our skills, which are in more than just motorcycle riding.”

Leaf nodded. She took another drag on her cigarette, blowing the smoke between Ruby and Sunset, before she said, “Was it hard to get into Beacon? I suppose I’m asking Sunset more than Ruby, considering that … foiling a robbery might not have been hard, but finding one probably was.”

Ruby chuckled. “I did get … lucky, I guess. You might not think so at the time, but if I hadn’t gotten caught in that robbery, then I never would have gotten into Beacon, so … yeah, I got lucky.”

Leaf sighed. “I wanted to go to Beacon,” she admitted. “I wanted to go to combat school, but my mom wouldn’t let me.”

“Of course I wouldn’t!” cried the woman that Sunset had seen earlier, the one with the hollow cheeks and the face that looked like it had been worn down by the world. Her hair was black and free from greys, worn in a bowl cut around her face; she was dressed in a grey jumper that was a little too big at the sleeves and black pants splattered with paint of various colours.

She stormed out of the club to join the three kids, followed slightly after by a man, bald and dark-skinned, and two children of his complexion, a girl about Leaf’s age and a younger boy, at least a year younger than Ruby, maybe more.

The worn-out looking woman snatched the cigarette from Leaf’s mouth and threw it to the ground, stamping on it with one booted foot.

“I’ve told you not to smoke; it’s disgusting,” she snapped. “And of course I didn’t let you go to combat school, or to Beacon; it’s dangerous! You could die! People die; someone died, didn’t they, a boy, at the Breach?”

“Yes,” Sunset murmured, looking down at her booted feet as she felt an icy fist grip her stomach. “Sky Lark. His name was Sky Lark.”

“Yes, it is dangerous,” Ruby agreed. “But … but it’s a worthy cause; it’s the worthiest cause—”

“I don’t care how worthy it is, and I don’t need you to encourage this!” Leaf’s mother snarled, rounding on Ruby, pointing her finger in Ruby’s face. “I didn’t ask you what you thought; I don’t even know who you are!”

“Now, hang on a second, ma’am,” Sunset said, stepping between Ruby and Leaf’s mother, putting her arm out to shield Ruby from the woman’s anger. “Ruby didn’t really say anything—”

“I don’t need anyone encouraging these stupid ideas!”

“They’re not encouraging anything,” Leaf said. “We were just talking.”

“Just talking,” Leaf’s mother said. “Just talking about Beacon, about things that we have already decided—”

“We didn’t decide anything; you decided—”

“I am your mother—”

“And I’m a person; I’m eighteen years old; when do I get to start having my own life?”

“When you can be trusted to do something sensible with it,” Leaf’s mother cried. She glared at Sunset and Ruby. “I think you should go.”

Sunset looked around theatrically. “We haven’t done anything!”

“Ash,” the man said, putting his hands on her shoulders. “Ash, calm down. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. It’s not their fault. They were just talking, right?”

Sunset folded her arms. “We weren’t trying to inveigle Leaf into Beacon, if that’s what you mean,” she said, a touch of sourness in her voice. “It’s not for us to say who gets in, or who tries to.”

“It’s Leaf’s—” Ruby began, before Sunset shushed her. Leaf’s mother — Ash — was clearly not in the mood to hear about Leaf’s choices right now.

The man looked at Leaf, “Leaf, maybe you should—”

“You’re not my dad,” Leaf snapped.

“Leaf!” Ash cried.

Leaf sighed and turned away, stomping off, her boots thumping into the pavement.

An awkward silence descended.

“I think we should go,” Sunset murmured, placing a hand on Ruby’s shoulder and starting to steer her towards Sunset’s bike.

“I … yeah,” Ruby said softly. “Yeah we probably should.”

Sunset didn’t particularly feel like remaining in the circumstances, nor was she certain that they would be welcome. However, when they returned to the bike, she didn’t start it off, but began to walk it out of the carpark and down the side of the street, pushing it down the road while she walked beside it.

“Um, Sunset?” Ruby asked. “You know that bike has a motor, right?”

Sunset chuckled. “Yes, Ruby, I know that the motorbike has a motor.”

“Then why?” Ruby began.

“Because I don’t want to go straight back to Beacon yet; it’s too early,” Sunset said. “But I haven’t figured out where I want to go just yet, so I’m walking the bike to give me extra time to think it over.”

“Okay,” Ruby said, walking on the other side of Sunset’s bike. “Well, we could … we could go get something to eat?”

Sunset looked at her. “Yeah. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Where?”

“Hmm,” Ruby murmured. “How about—?”

“Hey!” Leaf cried, running after them down the road. “Hey!” she shouted again, catching up quickly, for all that it left her out of breath and doubled over, hands on her knees. She gulped in air, her chest rising and falling. “Hey,” she said, for a third time. “You’re leaving so soon. I was hoping to get another match in.”

“I wasn’t sure that we’d be welcomed,” Sunset said.

“My mum doesn’t own the club, and neither does my stepdad,” Leaf insisted. “Come on, you have to let me earn my pride back.”

Sunset looked at Ruby. “What do you think?”

“It is kind of soon to be leaving,” Ruby said. “And I didn’t really want to.”

“And you’re sure—“

“It’s not a problem,” Leaf said. “I swear.”

So they went back and actually raced two more times, enough for both Sunset and Leaf to take a win, at which point, they decided that it was probably best to leave it there with the honours even between them.

“Thanks for coming back,” Leaf said. “I’m glad I got the chance to beat you both once, even if I had to lose to you twice combined.” She paused. “And I’m sorry about my mum. She can be…”

“Difficult?” Sunset suggested.

“Awful,” Leaf said.

“That’s harsh,” Sunset said.

Leaf boggled at her a little. “You were there in the car park, right? You heard how she acted?”

“She’s concerned about you,” Sunset said mildly.

“And so that gives her the right to decide what I can and can’t do, to control me?” Leaf demanded.

Yes, was the blunt answer, but Sunset guessed it would also be the unwelcome one, so she simply said, “It’s not my place to say.”

“You were right,” Ruby said. “It’s your life; it should be up to you what you do with it.”

“Thank you, Ruby,” Leaf said. “There, you see? Ruby gets it. How did your mum feel about you going to Beacon at just fifteen.”

Ruby glanced away. “My mom … my mom is…”

“Oh,” Leaf murmured. “Oh, gods, I’m sorry,” she reached out and put a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine,” Ruby said. “You didn’t know; you didn’t mean anything by it. I know that you wouldn’t mean anything by it; I mean, your dad—”

“My dad isn’t dead,” Leaf said. “He might as well be, but he isn’t. Mum just left him for ‘Daniel.’ Anyway, I’m sorry, but thank you, for being on my side, for getting it. Does someone try and tell you what to do? Your sister?”

“No,” Ruby said, “Sunset does.”

Sunset let out a spluttering sound. “That is … why would you—?”

Leaf folded her arms. “Ah, okay, that explains everything.”

“What does that mean?”

“The way that you act, the way that you make excuses for mum,” Leaf said.

“I do not … the fact of the matter is that, sometimes, other people know best,” Sunset insisted. “And it’s childish to pretend otherwise.”

“We should still be allowed to make our own choices, even if they are mistakes,” Leaf insisted. “Maybe I would have died if I’d gone to Beacon, but like Ruby said, at least I’d be dying for something. I wouldn’t be stuck here with nothing but riding a bike as the highlight of my life.”

Ruby took one of Leaf’s hands in her own. “So what are you going to do about it?”

“Ruby,” Sunset murmured, worried they were coming dangerously close to what Ash had wrongly accused them earlier, encouraging Leaf’s rebellion.

“Can you keep a secret?” Leaf asked. She looked at Sunset. “Can you?”

I should hope so; I’m keeping enough already. “Yes,” Sunset murmured

“You can trust us,” Ruby added.

Leaf nodded, yet still took a moment before she spoke again. “I’m leaving,” she said. “I’m going to Atlas. I’ve… Well, Daniel isn’t going to miss that lien anyway; he won’t even notice it’s missing. Anyway, I’ve got my airship ticket, I’ve got a place lined up to doss for a couple of days—”

“And then what?” Sunset demanded. “What happens when your stolen money runs out?”

“I’ll have found a job by then,” Leaf said, with what seemed to Sunset to be rather undue blitheness.

Sunset folded her arms. “Take it from me: being down and out in Atlas with no funds and nowhere to go is no fun at all. Do you at least have a friend in Atlas?”

“I told you, I’m going to get a job,” Leaf insisted. “There’s always work in Atlas; everyone knows that.”

Maybe Everyone doesn’t know as much as they think they do. “That,” Sunset said, “is rather optimistic of you.”

Leaf shrugged. “That’s my choice,” she said. “It’s my choice to do this, and it’s my choice to hope for the best, even if they both turn out to be mistakes.”

---

“We need to tell her mother,” Sunset declared.

Sunset and Ruby were in A & P, sitting downstairs, near the back of the lower room; they were the only people in there, and since they were downstairs, there wasn’t even the new girl behind the counter able to hear what they were talking about.

Ruby sighed. “We can’t tell her mom, Sunset.”

“Why not?” Sunset demanded.

“Because we promised we wouldn’t!”

Sunset folded her arms. “So, if Leaf had confessed to us that she was going to buy some dust and blow up a shopping mall, should we keep quiet about that, too, just because we promised?”

“Come on, Sunset, that’s a ridiculous comparison!” Ruby cried.

“Why?” Sunset asked. “What’s the difference?”

“Because in only one of those examples would Leaf be killing someone!”

“It’ll kill her mother when she disappears without a word,” Sunset muttered.

“Not literally,” Ruby pointed out.

“Okay, no, but why does physical harm excuse breaking a confidence but emotional harm doesn’t?”

“Because physically hurting people is … it’s physical, it hurts people,” Ruby insisted. “Can you really not see a difference?”

“I don’t see why we have an obligation to sit here and watch someone make a terrible mistake just because we pinkie swore,” Sunset said firmly. “Especially since we didn’t even pinkie swear; we just promised. I mean … do you really not see anything wrong with this? At all?”

Ruby dug her spoon into her chocolate cookie sundae, pulling it out covered in ice cream and fragments of chocolate cookie. She stuck spoon and sundae both into her mouth and masticated the ice cream for a few seconds before swallowing. “It’s like Leaf said, people have the right to make their own choices, even if they make mistakes.”

See if you say that when you find out about some of the choices I’ve made lately. “You sound like Princess Celestia,” Sunset muttered, rubbing the gap between her eyebrows with her fingers. “Which, unfortunately, means you might have a point.”

“'Unfortunately'?” Ruby asked.

Sunset chuckled. “She and I … discussed this, more than once. I used to think … I suppose since we’re now having this discussion, I still do think, at least in part, that … the world would be better off if someone set stricter limits upon the decisions that people could and couldn’t make, if the metaphorical parent stepped in more and closed in the walls of the playpen a little bit. I never saw the point in letting the children scrape their knees. I didn’t see why someone so wise, who had seen so much, experienced so much, couldn’t just … sort it out, you know?”

Ruby was silent for a moment. “And what did Princess Celestia say to that?”

“That it would make her a tyrant,” Sunset admitted. “That freedom was more important than perfection or the mitigation of all harms. I … didn’t get it.”

“Sounds like you still don’t,” Ruby pointed out.

“I … as huntresses, aren’t we supposed to save people?”

“Not from themselves,” Ruby replied.

“What about from the consequences of their actions?” Sunset asked.

“Not from those either,” Ruby said.

“Even if those consequences … what if she joins the White Fang because she ended up having such a bad time in Atlas?” Sunset suggested.

“That’s a little bit ludicrous, don’t you think?”

“Where do you think the White Fang comes from?” Sunset replied.

“What if she joins the White Fang because it’s the only way she can get away from her mother?” Ruby countered.

“That’s not—”

“It’s just as likely!”

“Her mother is not the problem,” Sunset insisted.

“Leaf thinks her mom is the problem.”

“That’s because she’s a spoiled little madam with no idea of what she’s doing who doesn’t appreciate everything that her mother does for her and is about to jump into a situation she can’t possibly comprehend!” Sunset snapped.

Ruby was silent for a moment. “Who are we talking about now?”

Sunset sighed. “Yeah, okay. I admit, but … it isn’t the mother’s fault; it’s often the daughter’s.”

“'Often,'” Ruby said. “Not always.”

Sunset picked up her spoon and played with her strawberry sundae without actually eating any of it. She picked up a strawberry slice on her spoon and then let it drop back down into the sundae again.

She closed her eyes. “When … when you woke up,” she said. “I … I promised that I would … listen to you more. That I would take what you had to say, your views, seriously. And so … as much as I disagree, if you think that we should let Leaf go through with this, then … then that is what we’ll do because … because I respect you and because freedom is the right of all … sentient morons.”

Ruby snorted. “Sunset!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Sunset murmured. She finally dug some of her sundae out upon her spoon and popped it into her mouth. It was cold upon her teeth. She swallowed. “So we’re going to keep silent?”

Ruby was quiet for a moment. “If … if this is what Leaf wants … even if it will hurt her mother, and even if it’s kind of a stupid plan—”

“It doesn’t even rise to the level of a plan,” Sunset said. “It’s barely an aim.”

“Then I think that we have to respect that, no matter how bad of an idea it is, because … because choices matter.”

Yes, they certainly do, don’t they? “Fine,” Sunset said. “Best of luck to Leaf, then.” She paused for a moment. Maybe I’ll give Rainbow Dash a call, check in with her that Leaf doesn’t end up homeless on the streets of Mantle.

“So … how did your meeting with Professor Ozpin go?”

“That’s a change in subject.”

“I think we’ve reached the end of the previous subject, don’t you?”

Ruby chuckled. “It … it was fine,” she said. “It was really good.”

Sunset smiled. “I’m glad,” she said. “You don’t have to tell me—”

“Mom came from outside the kingdoms,” Ruby announced.

Sunset laughed. “But you can if you want to.”

Ruby nodded eagerly. Sunset ate her sundae while Ruby kept talking, keeping her eyes fixed on Ruby as she scooped up spoonfuls of ice cream and strawberries and, upon instinct, moved them into her mouth.

“Mom came from the west of Sanus,” Ruby continued, “from out beyond the mountains, you know, the place the Great War was fought over? Apparently, there were people living there before Mistral or Vale tried to colonise it—”

“Which time?” Sunset asked, after swallowing.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Vale tried to colonise beyond the mountains at least three times that I can think of,” Sunset explained. “One of them is in The Song of Olivia; that’s why they went beyond the mountains, and they were on their way back when the rearguard was attacked. Also an example of choices,” Sunset added. “Olivia chose to do the proud thing and not call for help, and that choice got everyone else killed in spite of what they might or might not have chosen.”

“I never said she was perfect,” Ruby said defensively. “But … what are you saying?”

“I’m not sure,” Sunset admitted. “I suppose I was just asking for clarification.”

“Does it matter?”

“Not really, sorry,” Sunset said. “I can’t help it; it’s my nerd-brain at work. Again, I apologise; you were saying?”

“Yeah, right, so there were people living there … certainly before the Great War and when the two kingdoms tried to colonise beyond the mountains; maybe they’d always been there, I don’t know, but the point is that there were people there before, and there are people living there now still, and my mom was one of them.”

“Do they still have contact with Vale?”

“Not much,” Ruby said. “Professor Ozpin said that only a few traders go beyond the mountains to deal with them, and it doesn’t sound like they have much worth trading for, mostly … old stuff, or stuff that seems old, even if it isn’t. Honestly, from what Professor Ozpin said, without him, there might not be any missions over the mountains.”

Sunset frowned. “What does Professor Ozpin have to do with it?”

“He gets people to go so that they can spread the word about Beacon and get awesome fighters like my mom to come to school.”

“That … okay, yeah, that makes sense,” Sunset agreed. “Although, I’m not entirely sure why he bothers; was he hoping to find someone with silver eyes?”

“No, just strong people,” Ruby said. “Warriors, raised in a hard land.”

“If that’s what he wants, why doesn’t he look for some Vacuans? They’ll go on about how a hard land has made them strong,” Sunset muttered. “If that’s true, then why is Pyrrha, raised in civilisation and privilege as she was, tougher than any of them? Physically, anyway.”

“That’s a good point,” Ruby conceded. “But my mom was really strong. It’s a pity that her diary didn’t talk more about exactly where she came from. It doesn’t say anything really about where she came from; I had to find out from Professor Ozpin.”

“He couldn’t tell you more?”

“Mom couldn’t tell him more,” Ruby replied. “I mean … she couldn’t tell him where she came from because she couldn’t find it on a map, and it seems like she didn’t want to talk about her family much. I think she fell out with her dad about coming to Beacon. I suppose you think she should—”

“I do not necessarily think that she should have stayed at home and done as her father said; I don’t know enough of the details to say for sure who was right,” Sunset said. “I just think that more people might want to consider that possibly their mom isn’t the problem, they are. You could try talking to your father; maybe she told him some things.”

“That she didn’t tell Professor Ozpin?”

“She might have told her lover things that she didn’t want to tell her teacher.”

“Maybe,” Ruby murmured. “Doesn’t mean … I’m not sure how I could talk about this to Dad. Does he know that I know? Does he know that Professor Ozpin is going to tell me this stuff, or was?”

“When did you last speak to him?” Sunset asked.

“A while ago,” Ruby admitted. “I … I don’t know how. I don’t know how to … he knew so much, all this time, about Mom, and about my eyes, about Salem; he knew everything, and he didn’t tell me or Yang anything! How could he do something like that?”

It might have been inappropriate in the moment, but the corner of Sunset’s lip twitched upwards in a smile. “You know what I’m going to say, don’t you?”

“You’re going to tell me that he had his reasons, aren’t you?”

“I’m sure that he thinks so,” Sunset said.

“He doesn’t get to control what I do and don’t know and make my choices for me just because he’s my father or because he thinks that he knows best, no matter why he’s doing it,” Ruby insisted. “Because when he chooses to do that, he’s cramping my style.”

Sunset smiled. “Good point,” she murmured. “So you haven’t spoken to him because you’re worried that you’ll get mad at him?”

“Partly that,” Ruby said. “And partly because I … I’m worried about what he’ll say when I ask him about it.”

“And you’ll stay worried right until you actually have the conversation, at which point … you may find out that it wasn’t as bad as you thought that it could be.”

“Maybe,” Ruby murmured. “I mean, yeah, you’re probably right. I’m sure you’re right. I should talk to him. I will … sometime. Soon, but not right now.”

“No,” Sunset agreed. “Not right now. Did you get anything else from Professor Ozpin?”

Ruby hesitated for a moment. “He told me … he told me that my mom killed someone, on her first night in Vale.”

Sunset frowned, crinkling her brow; her tail stopped twitching. She put her ice cream back on the table, slipping her hands between her knees and closing said knees upon her hands. She licked her lips. “I’m sure that she had a good reason for it.”

“The person she killed was trying to mug her.”

“That sounds like a very good reason,” Sunset said.

“I know,” Ruby murmured. “But…”

“You know that ‘heroes don’t kill’ is just…” Sunset began. “Jaune killed someone, and it doesn’t make him a bad person for it, and I know that you’d never suggest otherwise.”

“I know, and I wouldn’t say anything like that to Jaune, but…” Ruby trailed off for a moment. “Mom was … at least I thought she was…”

Sunset leaned forwards. “What, precisely, is it that you thought she was that she has been proved not to be by defending herself on her first night in a strange place, a new city?”

Ruby took a moment to answer. “She wore a white cloak.”

Sunset cocked her head to one side. “Your mother?”

“Yeah,” Ruby said. “Like mine, but … well, but it was white, instead of red. In my dreams, in my … I don’t know if they’re memories or not, but in my mind … whenever I see her, she’s wearing that white cloak. And it’s spotless.”

“I do not know that this proves it was not,” Sunset said softly.

“Even with blood on it?”

“Not put there by her own choice,” Sunset reminded her. She reached out and put her hands on Ruby’s shoulders. “Should she have bared her throat for the knife rather than get her hands dirty? Is that the action of the morally pure? None of what you’ve told me makes Summer Rose any the less brave or kind or noble. In fact … I would say it makes moreso.”

“More?” Ruby asked. “How?”

Sunset snorted. “If I’d been mugged my first night in Canterlot, you wouldn’t see me risking my tail to protect anyone.”

Ruby smiled. “Yeah, you would.”

Sunset’s eyebrows rose. “Really? What makes you so sure?”

“You need the recognition,” Ruby pronounced.

“Nothing about my virtues then?” Sunset demanded. “You think you know me so well, don’t you?” She chuckled. “My point is, even after the first thing that happened to Summer Rose when she got to Vale was that someone tried to part her from her worldly possessions, even after that fine welcome to the big city, she was still determined to become a huntress and protect the world, even after that taste of the world’s sourness. That … that is something to be admired, to my mind, more than to be censured. Although I am curious as to how, having arrived in Vale from the middle of nowhere, she made it into Beacon.”

“Professor Ozpin was called down to the police station to talk to her, just like he did me,” Ruby announced. “And just like me, he offered her a spot.”

Sunset nodded. “So you could say that, without that mugger that she killed, you wouldn’t be here?”

Ruby shrugged. Again, she paused for a little bit. “I asked Professor Ozpin,” she said, speaking quietly. “I asked him what the difference between me and my mom was, that he made Mom the team leader and … and not me.”

Now it was Sunset’s turn to take pause for a while; there was an obvious question to ask in response to this, but she was not sure if she wanted to ask it.

So instead she asked, “I didn’t realise you were jealous.”

“I’m not!” Ruby insisted. “I’m really not. Not really. I don’t wish that I was the team leader, and I don’t think that I should be the team leader, but I do sometimes … I mean, I do wonder what Mom had that I don’t, that Professor Ozpin picked her and … and not me.”

“Before you pine away too much over what might have been,” Sunset drawled, “have you considered what a nightmare it would have been for you, having me as one of your teammates?” She grinned. “Have you considered how absolutely obnoxious I would have been to you if you had been my team leader?”

“You wouldn’t—”

“Oh, I would,” Sunset assured her. “Entitled, arrogant, I would have loathed getting passed over, especially for someone younger than me. I would have been filled with resentment; I would have made your life an absolute misery.” She paused. “You know, saying all that, it’s a miracle that Professor Ozpin thought I was leadership material, isn’t it?”

“I think Professor Ozpin wanted to give me a break,” Ruby replied. “He told me that Mom wore herself out trying to catch up on everything she hadn’t learned in Combat School, and leadership classes, and training her silver eyes. That’s why he never offered to train my silver eyes; he thought that I was busy enough, and he didn’t want to work me too hard. But … but more than that … he told me that he regretted making my Mom the team leader. I think that’s why he chose you over me, because looking back—”

“He wishes he’d made Raven the team leader instead,” Sunset muttered.

“How did you—?”

“Professor Ozpin has made the comparison to me directly,” Sunset explained. “I can’t say that I was flattered by it, all things considered.”

“He means it like … like a protector,” Ruby said.

“I know what he meant,” Sunset said. “But all the same, we’re still talking about someone who bailed on her team, on her family.”

“Nobody thinks that you’re going to do that, Sunset,” Ruby assured her. “I mean…”

“What?”

Ruby glanced away. “Well … when you went on that mission to Arcadia Lake, when you weren’t answering Pyrrha’s messages … Yang did get a little…”

“I can’t say I blame her, in the circumstances,” Sunset said. Especially since I did run away, in a sense. “All the same … it’s not the most flattering comparison, or at least, I don’t find it so.”

“Professor Ozpin gave it a lot more context, when he was talking to me,” Ruby insisted. “All the times when Raven was the one to step up, to protect Mom and everyone else: during Initiation, at Ozpin’s stand, when they struck at Salem.”

“'Struck at—'!” Sunset cried. She closed her eyes, a sigh passing between her lips. “Of course they did. That’s what Professor Ozpin was talking about in the tower when he inducted me and Pyrrha, and that … that’s what Salem was talking about, wasn’t it?”

“I think so,” Ruby murmured. “Professor Ozpin thought that maybe Mom could turn Salem to stone with her silver eyes, not kill her, but trap her forever; he thought that maybe that was why Salem had hunted them—”

“'Hunted them'?” Sunset repeated. “Hunted silver eyes?”

Ruby nodded. “That’s why we’re so rare.”

Sunset rolled her own eyes, though they be only green instead of silver. “He kept that quiet, didn’t he? And so did you, for that matter.”

“Is it important?”

“Is it important that our enemy has been actively hunting down the rare trait which you are known to possess? Yes, it kind of is!” Sunset squawked. “What if she sends someone after you?”

“Who?”

“I don’t know; Cinder’s still around somewhere, isn’t she?!” Sunset yelled. “We could … I don’t… honestly, the pair of you!”

“It’s not a big deal,” Ruby said.

“I disagree,” Sunset said. “Profoundly.”

Ruby folded her arms. “What would you have done if you’d known this before?”

“I would have had you wear coloured contact lenses.”

“Sunset!”

“What? It would have stopped people realising the truth.”

“I don’t want to hide my eyes!” Ruby cried. “My mom gave them to me.”

“Even though it turns out they paint a target on your back.”

“I want to be a huntress; my life was never going to be free from danger,” Ruby reminded her.

“Sure, but there’s a difference between that and … never mind,” Sunset huffed. “It’s a bit late now anyway; Salem already knows; just … take care, okay. Keep your guard up.” She paused. “So … it didn’t work, then? Turning Salem to stone?”

“No,” Ruby conceded. “Mom tried, but … it didn’t work. Raven got them out again.”

“I see,” Sunset murmured. “That … is a pity. A pity that it didn’t work, I mean, not that Raven got them out, obviously.”

And she managed to do it without risking anyone else’s life in the process.

I’ve got a way to go to measure up, clearly.

“So how does it feel,” she asked, “to know more than you did before?”

“No … no matter what I found out,” Ruby said, “finding out the truth is always better than not knowing.”

Sunset had to resist the urge to clutch her heart as Ruby stabbed her through it.

If only, if only that were true.

Comments

[Mastermind4892]

And so … as much as I disagree, if you think that we should let Leaf go through with this, then … then that is what we’ll do because … because I respect you and because freedom is the right of all … sentient morons.”

I see what you did there, Scipio, and you should be proud.

I would have firm words for Leaf's mother. Looking out for someone's safety (and curbing Ruby's deathwish impulses in this fic) is one thing, but disrespecting a soldier or warrior's commitment to the cause is quite another.

As for Leaf, I agree with both Ruby and thus Celestia. Free will is sacred and every sentient being deserves to make their own choices and then to reap the consequences whether good or bad. That being said, the proper decision here is to compromise by helping to make sure Leaf comes through intact, especially since she indeed barely even has an 'aim'. Leaf is trying to take the same actions as Sunset once did, to run away from her apparently over-controlling mother to another land, seeking independence purely for its own sake, and then wing everything from there. We just went through a whole arc showing how bad Mantle is, and it is even less friendly to Faunus (even without Dr. Merlot). Sunset went through all of that and managed to come out on top, but the difference is that Sunset Shimmer has magical powers, exceptional intelligence, and an indomitable will. Leaf isn't as lucky.

So yes, Sunset, please call Twilight and get something worked for Leaf!

[Lancerguy]

I am not that big of a fan of Ash's treatment here. With how she is portrayed here, only Ruby's point comes across as valid. While I agree with Ruby over Sunnykins on this chapter's philosophical debate virtually every time, it still cheapens it to only present one side. We do not see any reasons or elaborations for why Ash did what she did, nor do we see the background to how Leaf describes her current family situation, which comes from a biased source making her mom look even worse. Perhaps see doesn't have a point and Ruby/Leaf are 100% right and justified, but perhaps she does. We wouldn't know based on the corner this chapter boxes her into, and I think there is more of a story with this family than this chapter lets on.

[_CheckMate_]

11353421
I think considering she got an entire chapter named after her and how the rewrite has been expanding upon side stories and minor characters, this likely isn't the last we'll be seeing of Leaf and her family. I imagine Ash and Daniel's side(s) of the story will come to light in the next couple updates, perhaps tracking down the Huntresses-in-training who (potentially) helped spirit away their daughter after she stole their savings?

[UnexpectedOutcome]

Sunset herself hadn’t changed; she’d just done her jacket up and put an orange helmet on over her head, letting her flaming her spill out of it down her back.

Her flaming hair spill out

I think this is the first spelling mistake in this story i’ve noticed

And what an amazing story

[Scipio Smith]

11353701
Not 'in the next couple of updates' but yes, you'll be seeing Leaf again.

[Mister Morden]

Leaf is going to have a bad time in Atlas. Unless she ends up joining the military.

Sunset is very protective of Ruby. But at least she is following her promise of listening to her more.

[Stet709]

“Oh, I would ,” Sunset assured her. “Entitled, arrogant, I would have loathed getting passed over, especially for someone younger than me. I would have been filled with resentment; I would have made your life an absolute misery.” She paused. “You know, saying all that, it’s a miracle that Professor Ozpin thought I was leadership material, isn’t it?”

So... Sunset would've been Weiss in RWBY.