SAPR

by Scipio Smith

Shimmering Hope (New)

Shimmering Hope

"What do you think Sunset was so upset about?" Penny asked.

She and Ruby walked slowly, and rather aimlessly, across the courtyard, Ruby scuffing her feet on the stones beneath her as she went; they passed in front of, and a little beneath, the statue of the huntsman and huntress; the snarling beowolf below appeared to fix his gaze upon them as they walked.

Ruby wished briefly that she had a pair of pockets that she could thrust her hands into; sadly, she did not. It was the downside of wearing a skirt.

"I don't know, Penny," she murmured. "But…"

Penny looked at her intently, leaning forwards, green eyes widening. "But what?"

"Well, she wasn't like that when she and Pyrrha left to go and talk to Professor Ozpin, right?" Ruby asked. "But then Sunset comes back all by herself—"

"Do you think Sunset and Pyrrha had an argument?"

"No," Ruby said quickly. "No, that's not possible; Sunset and Pyrrha don't fight." She paused, but could not resist adding, "It's me they argue with."

Penny cocked her head to one side a little. "Are you … joking?"

"I wish," Ruby muttered. "Like … I get that we're not going to agree on everything, and Sunset has gotten better at, like, not always having to have her own way and stopping me from doing what I think is best, but … is it bad that I still kind of wish that she'd just let me be right once in a while instead of just 'I think you're wrong, but I'm going to let you have your way anyway because I'm…' what's the word? It begins with 'mag'. Magne…"

"Magnetism?"

"No, that's not it," Ruby replied. "Anyway, the point is that I wish she'd admit I was right more often, you know?"

"Have you told Sunset how you feel?" asked Penny.

"Yes," Ruby replied emphatically. "That's why she started forcing herself to agree with me."

"Have you told her that you want her to admit that you were right?"

"No," Ruby said. "But … that's … harder. Sunset can stop needing to get her own way all the time, even if she disagrees with me, but if she disagrees with me, then … what? Am I supposed to ask her to lie to me and pretend that she agrees with me even when she doesn't? I'm not sure I could do that." She paused. "I don't think I want that."

"What do you want?" asked Penny. "Ruby, do you wish you were somewhere else?"

"Oh, is there somewhere you want to go?" asked Ruby. "Because we can anywhere, or pretty much—"

Penny shook her head. "No, I wasn't being literal, for once," she said. "Well, perhaps I was actually being literal, but not in the exact way of meaning 'do you wish you were in a different location at this very moment.' I mean … what you describe sounds very similar to what I've been going through with Team Rosepetal, and I decided that I wanted to leave and go somewhere where I was appreciated."

Ruby didn't immediately reply to Penny's words; she hadn't thought of it like that before, but now that Penny had said it, now that Penny had pointed it out … she couldn't brush it off and tell Penny that there was no similarity there at all.

"I get what you're saying," she said softly. "But … the difference is … well, I don't know, maybe it isn't actually a difference, I don't want to speak for Rainbow or Ciel or Twilight, but … with Sunset, and Pyrrha … it's not that they don't care. In fact, I think it's the opposite; it's that they care too much. Care too much, and maybe don't respect me enough, but … they want to take care of me; they just don't get that I don't need to be taken care of."

Penny nodded. "Do you think it's because you're younger than they are?"

"That's probably some of it," Ruby agreed, "but honestly, I think I could be their age and I'd still have to put up with this because … I don't think you could get Sunset or Pyrrha to completely stop acting the way they do without changing who they are. If I told you that they treat me this way because they're both royalty, would you understand what I was saying?"

Penny was silent for a few moments. "No," she said eventually.

"Okay, so you know how Pyrrha's family used to rule Mistral, right?"

Penny nodded. "Uh-huh."

"And you know how Sunset was raised by a princess, right?"

Penny nodded again. "Princess Celestia. She's very nice."

"So while they both might not be actual princesses, they're both … they both think that way, because like … my dad is a huntsman, my mom was a huntress, my Uncle Qrow is a huntsman too, and so that was everywhere when I was growing up, all the stories, and … and I know what it means to be a huntress, or at least I know what I think it means to be a huntress, even if not everyone else agrees with me, because I agree with it: never back down from a fight, draw your weapon and face the darkness. But Sunset, and Pyrrha too, they grew up with different stories, different examples; a princess has a duty to protect her people, just like a huntress has a duty to protect everyone, but a princess has that duty because she's wiser than everyone else, more capable. Because the people she has a duty to protect can't take care of themselves, like a mom taking care of kids. Pyrrha used this phrase to me once, 'shepherd of the people', which sounds cool and all until you realise that you're the sheep." She sighed. "It's frustrating sometimes, but they can't change it without changing who they are, and to be fair, I couldn't change either without changing who I am, so…" She shrugged.

"That makes sense," Penny said, speaking a little slowly. "Only what you said also sounds a lot like Rainbow Dash, and she isn't a princess."

"No, but she is like a big sister to all of her friends, right?" Ruby asked. "That's another job that lets you think you know better than everyone else. Trust me, I know."

Penny chuckled. "But you didn't answer my question: do you wish you were somewhere else?"

"Like on a different team?"

"Or a different academy even."

"Nah," Ruby said, shaking her head. "Because … the stuff that we argue about, it's important. It's the stuff that you probably should argue about, the stuff that you should have feelings about, one way or the other. I don't think I'd like three teammates who all thought exactly the same way that I do. It might be a relief for a second, but it would get kind of boring after a while, and when we disagree, we have to think about why we disagree, and that's a good thing. Plus, when we're not arguing about something big and serious, I like them, a lot. I told you that Sunset and Pyrrha act the way they do because they care; well, I care too, or it wouldn't bother me the way it does."

Penny nodded. "I see," she murmured. "Feelings are very complicated, aren't they?"

Ruby grinned. "Oh, you bet."

Penny smiled too. "So, if Sunset and Pyrrha didn't have a fight, then why do you think Sunset was so upset? Do you think Pyrrha might know? Could it be something that happened with Professor Ozpin?"

"That would make sense," Ruby agreed. "Maybe Pyrrha can tell us? I'll—"

A single black feather floated downwards, out of the sky, wafting slowly past Ruby's eyes, almost touching her nose as it fell.

"I wouldn't do that, kid," Uncle Qrow said as he walked around the other side of the huntsman statue, his back stooped as it so often was, his hands thrust into the pockets of his jacket. "Your friends … let's just say they have their reasons for being a little unsettled."

Ruby stared. "Uncle … Qrow?"

Qrow grinned. "Hey."

Ruby gasped. "Uncle Qrow!" she yelled as she rushed forwards, trailing rosepetals after her onto the stone of the Beacon courtyard, throwing her arms around Qrow's slender waist and hugging him tightly. "When did you get here? What are you doing here? Does Yang know you're here?" She grinned up at him. "Did you miss me?"

"Slow down, that's a lot of questions," Qrow said as he picked Ruby up by the scruff of the neck like she was a puppy or a kitten and lifted her up so that they were at eye level. "But the answer to your last question is 'no.'" The tone in his voice and the smile on his face gave the lie to it.

Ruby pouted. "Well then, me neither."

Qrow ruffled her hair with his free hand as he put her down. "I just got back. Ozpin asked me to come in for a little while, which I was only too glad to, since it meant I could spend some time with my nieces. And no, Yang doesn't know I'm here, not yet. You're the one I found first. Lucky you, huh?"

"Does that mean you know what happened with Sunset and Pyrrha?" Ruby asked. "You do know, don't you? Did something happen when they went to see Professor Ozpin?"

Qrow hesitated, looking over Ruby's head at Penny. "So, who's your friend here?"

"I'm Penny, Penny Polendina," Penny said. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Qrow."

Qrow laughed. "'Mister Qrow' makes me sound like I belong in a kids book, just Qrow will be fine. And it's nice to meet you too, Penny Polendina; any friend of Ruby's is okay with me."

"You didn't answer my question," Ruby pointed out.

"No, I didn't," Qrow confirmed. "And I won't, at least not out here. It isn't something to talk about out in the open; none of this is something to talk about out in the open."

"I'd say we could go back to our dorm room," Ruby said, "but Sunset kicked us out. She said she needed to think."

Qrow shook his head. "I can't say that I blame her, but … she can think all she wants; it won't change anything. This whole thing is a mess, but it is what it is; there's no other option going to show up, no matter how much anyone wants it too."

Ruby frowned. "Uncle Qrow … you're starting to worry me right now."

Qrow closed his eyes and bowed his head. "I'm sorry, kid," he said. "I guess I'm starting to worry myself right now." He paused. "I know that Yang knows almost as much as you do—"

"She does?" asked Penny.

"Yeah," Ruby admitted. "Sunset told her."

"How did she take it?"

"She didn't like the fact that I didn't tell her."

"Anyway, why don't we see if we can talk about this in her room?" Qrow suggested.

"Okay," Ruby said, "but, just to warn you, I don't think Yang's very happy with you right now."

Qrow sighed. "Story of my life, Ruby. I've gotten used to it."

Penny took a step back. "I'll let the two or three of you—"

"No, Penny, it's fine," Ruby said. "This was supposed to be all about you and your transferring schools, I'm sorry."

"It sounds as though there's a very good explanation," Penny replied, "and if something has happened to Pyrrha or Sunset, I would like to know about it."

"If Ruby wants you to come along, then that's fine by me, too," Qrow said. "So, you're the one leaving Atlas and coming to Beacon, huh?"

Penny nodded. "That's right."

"Smart girl," Qrow said approvingly. "It'll be the best decision you ever made, trust me."

The three of them made their way back in the direction that Penny and Ruby had originally come from not very much earlier, back across the courtyard and into the dormitory. They climbed the stairs in silence, with only the sound of their feet softly thumping upon the carpet-covered boards to disturb the quiet. They reached the corridor leading to, amongst others, the dorm rooms of SAPR and YRBN.

"Yeah, I remember this corridor," Qrow said. "It looked as boring then as it does now."

He reached the point between the two doors, SAPR on one side and YRBN on the other, and looked for a second at the SAPR picture hung upon their door, of the four of them with Fluffy that they'd had taken at Benni Havens'.

"Cute," he said. "Where was this?"

"Oh, yeah, Benni Haven's wasn't around when you were here, was it?" Ruby asked.

"Is that a place?" asked Qrow. "I think I remember a Benni Haven; she was a year younger than us, I think."

Ruby nodded. "Now she runs a restaurant in the old lodge just outside the school."

"Huh, is that so?" Qrow asked. "Good for her, I guess."

"She lets all the teams that want to get pictures with the beowolf, and then she puts them on the wall," Ruby said. "To remember them, to make sure that they are remembered, when…"

"Yeah," Qrow murmured. "I know when. That … that sounds real nice of her."

"She remembers Mom," Ruby added. "She'd probably remember you too, if you went to see her."

"I doubt it," Qrow replied. "Everyone remembers Summer; your mom was … unforgettable. But I was just one face in a crowd." He turned away. "Anyway, this one's Yang's room, right? Let's see if there's anybody home."

Penny and Ruby stood on either side of Qrow as he knocked on the door to the dorm room.

There was a moment's pause before Yang answered the door. "Uncle Qrow?" she gasped. "What are you—?" She stopped, and seemed to remember, or maybe make herself remember, that she was mad at him. "We need to talk," she said, in a noticeably less enthusiastic tone than when she first opened the door.

"Yeah," Qrow muttered. "So I've been told." He held out his arms. "Can I at least get a hug first?"

Yang hesitated, staring at him with one fist plated firmly upon her hip, before she stepped forward, putting her arms around Uncle Qrow and letting him put his arms around her in tone.

"It's good to see you again, Firecracker," Qrow said.

Yang relaxed into his embrace, resting her head on his chest. "It's good to see you, too."

She let him go and stepped backwards into her room to let the three of them in. There was no sign of Ren or Nora in the dorm room, which was good; it meant that they could talk without having to worry about what they were talking about.

"Thanks for remembering to include me this time, Ruby," Yang said pointedly as she sat down on her bed.

Ruby laughed nervously.

"Don't get too mad at Ruby; it wasn't her fault," Qrow said. "Oz takes information security very seriously. The wrong people knowing the wrong things … it can get bad. Very bad."

"Is that why you didn't tell us?" Yang asked as Ruby and Penny sat down beside her, so that Ruby was sandwiched between Yang on one side and Penny on the other. "You or Dad? Because Ozpin wouldn't let you?"

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to know," Qrow replied as he sat down opposite them, on Ren's bed in the middle of the room. "What was I supposed to do, sit you down at age six and eight and tell you there was a monster named Salem trying to collect magical relics so she can kill everyone?"

"You didn't tell us anything!" Yang replied, her eyes flashing red. "Not about Mom, about her eyes, about Ruby's eyes; Ruby has magic eyes, and we had no idea! You and Dad and Oz, you hid Mom's diary from us, her words—"

"Words about classified intel—"

"You sound like an Atlas soldier," Yang said.

Qrow winced at that as if he'd been stung by a bee. "Don't say that, it … it's not … it's complicated."

Yang folded her arms. "Complicated how?"

Qrow hesitated for a moment. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to know—"

"That's obvious," Yang muttered.

"We were trying to protect you, me and your father."

"Like the way you protected us by not telling me anything about Raven, so that I put myself and Ruby in danger by going looking for her?" Yang demanded.

"Would you have rather I told you that Raven was a no-good, murdering, thieving bandit?" Qrow shot back at her. He closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, I just…"

"It's okay," Yang whispered. "I get it, I … I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have—"

"Yeah, yeah you should," Qrow replied. He sighed and groaned at the same time. "But that … that's why … Raven was the strongest person I knew; even when we were kids, she'd stand up to our Dad, stand up to grown men twice her size, and by the time we got to Beacon … she was the strongest, the toughest; she was a better fighter than your mom, easily; she could throw Summer around like a ragdoll when they sparred, and me and Tai didn't stand a chance against her, even together. And yet, all of this, Salem, the Relics, all of it … it broke her. Toughest woman I ever met, and I watched her crumble under the weight of this thing, first slowly and then all at once. That's why I didn't want you to know, why your Dad and I didn't want you to know, why I hate the fact that you're involved in this. Helping to protect the world sounds great when you're your age, just like it sounded great when I was your age; when you get to my age, you'll see it for what it is, a burden."

"All huntsmen carry that burden," Ruby pointed out.

"Not like this," Qrow muttered darkly. "Not like this. You might not want to hear it, but I'm sorry you're involved in this."

"It seems like Sunset and Pyrrha aren't the only people who want to protect you," Penny whispered into Ruby's ear.

Ruby sighed. "I think you might be right." To Uncle Qrow, she said, "You might not be, but I'm glad we found out—"

"That's because you're young."

"Maybe it is, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong and you're right; it just means you're older than me," Ruby replied. "The way I see it, I'm doing the same things any other huntress does; the difference is that I know what I'm doing, what I'm fighting against."

For a second, she expected him to tell her that she was wrong, but in the end, all that Qrow said was, "Maybe you're right. But you still didn't need to know this any earlier than you found out, either of you. What good would it have done you to know?"

"It wouldn't, I guess," Yang admitted. "So … where have you been for the last year? The last time we saw you was … yeah, it was about a year ago, when you quit teaching at Signal."

"You were a teacher?" Penny asked.

"Only part-time," Qrow replied. "But yeah, I was a combat instructor."

"Only at combat school, that means teaching us to fight grimm, not other students," Ruby explained.

Qrow's eyebrows rose. "You didn't go to combat school?"

"Um … no," Penny said. "No, I didn't. I was … homeschooled." She hiccuped.

"Really? You must be hot stuff for Oz and Jimmy to trust you anyway," Qrow remarked. "Anyway, yeah, I taught the kids a thing or two about how to handle their weapons against monsters. Ruby here was useless until I took her in hand."

"I wasn't that bad!"

"Yeah, you were," Yang said, patting her on the shoulder.

"Not a lot of people know how to handle a scythe; it's a specialist skill," Qrow said, sticking out his chest a little.

"Yeah," Ruby said. "Honestly … if I was building Crescent Rose today … I would have a sword alt-mode like your Harbinger."

Qrow smirked. "Finally found out what I tried to tell you, huh?"

"What did you try and tell her?" asked Penny.

"That a scythe is all well and good for keeping enemies at a distance, but you want options for when they close that distance and get inside your guard," Qrow explained. "That, or the ability to throw a mean right hook."

"I tried to tell you that too," Yang pointed out.

"I know, I know," Ruby said. "But if you were working for Professor Ozpin all this time, then how did you have time to teach at Signal at all? I know you weren't there all the time, but—"

"Things were quiet," Qrow said. "The enemy was passive, or at least, it seemed that way. These things, they … Oz says that they come and go. Sometimes Salem's trying something, and other times, she's licking her wounds from the last time … or planning her next attack, as the case may be."

Ruby nodded. "Professor Ozpin said that to us too; when Pyrrha was going out to fight Cinder, he told us that if she managed to win, and to kill Cinder, then it would take a while for Salem to … go back to the drawing board, I guess."

"I'd say it was a pity that she couldn't close the deal on that one," Qrow said, "but honestly, your friend is lucky to be alive."

"Why do you say that?" asked Penny. "Pyrrha's really good, she's better than Cinder, you just have to watch the video."

"Cinder … turned out to be holding back," Ruby said. "A lot."

Penny frowned. "It didn't look that way on the video."

"No," Ruby admitted. "But … when we were on our last mission, we ran into Cinder again." She decided not to get into the fact that they'd ended up working with her, in part because she was still a little … she didn't like the fact that they had done it. She understood why they'd done it, but she also couldn't stop wishing that she'd gotten the chance to take Cinder out at some point during the mission. "It turns out she's the Fall Maiden. She killed the previous Maiden and took her powers."

"'Maiden'?" Yang repeated. "You mean like Raven was talking about?"

"Magic powers," Qrow explained. "Four of them at any one time: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter."

Yang's brow furrowed. "Like the fairytale?"

"Exactly like the fairytale," Qrow agreed. "Story of the Seasons, it really happened, only instead of being immortal, it's only the magic that lives forever, passed down from host to host, always four of them at a time. When a Maiden dies, the power passes on to the last person in their thoughts — provided that they're an eligible candidate. Of course, if you kill a Maiden, there's a good chance their last thoughts will be of their attacker and bingo: you've got magic powers now."

"Magic powers that didn't stop Pyrrha from handing Cinder her ass with the trimmings," Yang pointed out.

"She was holding back," Ruby repeated. "To prove that she could beat Pyrrha without magic."

Yang snorted. "That worked well, didn't it?"

Ruby chuckled. "I guess," she admitted. "But still … she's more dangerous than we thought, and worse than we thought." Even if she did help us, she still murdered the Fall Maiden.

"That's true," Qrow said. "But what she's not is the Fall Maiden, at least…"

Ruby leaned forward. "At least not what?"

Qrow groaned. "I don't really know if I ought to tell you this, but—"

"But you're gonna," Yang said. "Right?"

Qrow stared at her, his red eyes into her eyes that were … a little bit red tinted at the moment.

"Sure," he said. "Sure, I'll tell you. Cinder lied to you about killing the previous Fall Maiden — or I should say, the current Fall Maiden. She attacked her and stole some of her power, but she didn't kill her. That's why I quit teaching last year; Oz ordered me to find the Fall Maiden when she … went missing. I caught up with her too late to protect her from Cinder, but in time to save her life and prevent Cinder from completing her theft of the Fall Maiden's power."

"Then how come Cinder was able to come into Beacon without anyone knowing who she was?" Ruby asked.

"I didn't see her face," Qrow explained. "She was … she must have had help, someone with a semblance that confused me or something; when I looked at her, all I saw was a blur, like a bad picture on TV. And with Amber in the condition she was in, I was more focussed on getting out of there than sticking around to find out who the enemy was. That was the next job Oz had for me: find who attacked Amber and where she went next." He snorted. "Of course, you figured that one out before I did."

"Amber," Penny said. "She's the Fall Maiden? That's her name?"

Qrow nodded slowly. "Yeah," he said, as slowly as he had nodded his head. "That's her name."

"So where is she now?" Ruby asked. "Is she okay? I mean, obviously she's not okay, but—"

Qrow shook his head. "It's bad," he said. "It's … it's very bad. The past year, medical technology has been keeping her alive, in stasis down in the vault below the school, but that's not going to hold forever. In fact, it's not even going to last much longer. That's why…" He paused. "There are times when doing this job means doing the same thing as every other huntsman, just like you said, Ruby: saving people, hunting things. The family business. And then there are other times, when doing this job means finding some kid and telling them that you want to take someone else's aura and cram it into their body."

Penny's eyes widened. "But that technology was designed to be used on inanimate objects!" she cried. "It was never meant to be used on another person!"

"Penny?" Ruby asked. "Penny, do you know what Uncle Qrow's talking about?"

"I … I think so," Penny murmured. "My fathers created a device, a machine capable of extracting aura from a person and placing it in … something else." Penny looked at her, lip trembling. "But they only meant it to—"

"I know," Ruby said, taking Penny's hands in her own. "I know; you don't have to say it."

Yang still didn't know about Penny, after all, and Ruby had heard enough to guess what Penny hadn't said: that that machine was how she had been created: they had built Penny, programmed her, and then they had extracted the aura from … someone, presumably one or both of her fathers, and they had used this machine of theirs to bestow that aura on her along with the gift of life.

But now … all the pieces fell into place in Ruby's mind; everything became as clear as if the sun had suddenly broken through the clouds that had obscured the sky: Pyrrha and Sunset had been told everything that Uncle Qrow had just told them, about the Fall Maiden, about this Atlesian machine, which they were going to use on Pyrrha, to transfer Amber's aura to her for … some reason, Ruby didn't quite get that part, but that was why Sunset had been so upset; she wouldn't have been if Professor Ozpin and the others had asked her to do it. She might not have wanted to, and she might have gotten sad and solemn about it, but she wouldn't have snapped at Penny the way she had.

But Pyrrha … they wanted to use this on Pyrrha, and Sunset couldn't think of a way to save her, even though she wanted to.

Pyrrha…

"Why?" Ruby demanded. "Why would you … how could you?"

It was one thing to give aura to something that didn't have any, and in so doing convert a something into a someone; it was another thing to do it to someone who already had an aura of their own. Would it replace it? Mix with it like porridge when you stirred the honey in?

"What's it going to do to her?"

"We don't know for sure," Qrow said.

Ruby got up off the bed, her own eyes as wide as Penny's now, her mouth hanging open when she was not speaking. "Why … why would you do this?"

"Amber's not waking up; if she dies, then Cinder gets all the powers; this is the only way," Qrow said. "Our hope is that the remainder of her powers will be transferred along with her aura."

"And she'll be dead at the end of this," Yang said bluntly.

"I didn't say it was pretty, but the hard truth is that Amber's been dying slow for a year now; dying fast at the end won't make much difference," Qrow replied. "Now do you see why I didn't want you involved in this?"

"And you're going to do this no matter what it might do to Pyrrha?" Ruby demanded.

Qrow hung his head, but at the same time, his voice was as hard as iron as he said, "What's one girl's life against everything that's at stake?"

Ruby froze in place, as though she’d just been slapped across the face.

That was pretty much how she felt to hear those words.

It was partly the fact that it was Uncle Qrow who had said them, her uncle, who never went away but who came back with a fun story of his adventures, but more than that, it was the fact that she couldn’t say he was wrong.

Because he was right.

“There … there has to be another way,” Ruby murmured. “If … if Cinder dies—”

“How?” Qrow asked. “We don’t know where she is, and that Mistralian trick your friend pulled won’t work a second time. I hate to say it, but she had her shot and she blew it.”

“That doesn’t mean you can just kill her!” Penny snapped. “You can’t … you can’t do this! Ruby, tell him! Tell him this isn’t right!”

Ruby said nothing.

Pyrrha.

If … if their positions were reversed, there was no doubt in Ruby’s mind that Pyrrha would try and talk her out of it, that Pyrrha and Sunset both would do everything they could to stop her from doing this, from going through with this procedure.

And they would be wrong. As they were always wrong and would never admit to being wrong, because they would have no argument as to why Ruby shouldn’t do it.

Say something, Penny said. But what was Ruby supposed to say? Let Amber die and Cinder get the powers? Use someone else instead, someone whose life wasn’t worth as much as Pyrrha’s?

Someone … someone who doesn’t have as much to live for?

“Don’t,” Ruby whispered. Her voice trembled, and it trembled more as it rose in volume. “Don’t do this, not to Pyrrha. If this is the only way, if it has to be done, then use me instead—”

“HELL NO!” Yang snapped, flames leaping from her golden hair, hair that turned visibly paler, lightening like sunlight as the flames spread outwards, making Penny recoil away from her. “No, no way, you are not—”

“Pyrrha has so much to live for,” Ruby said.

“You’re only fifteen; you’ve got a lot to live for!” Yang snapped. “I will break that damn machine into pieces if I have to—”

Qrow said, “Yang, calm down—”

“Don’t tell me to calm the—”

“Ruby isn’t doing this,” Qrow said firmly. “Ozpin won’t allow it, and neither will I.”

“Because my life is worth more than Pyrrha’s?” Ruby demanded.

Qrow’s face was unflinching, and his tone flat as he said, “It is to me.”

Ruby slapped him across the face, her palm scraping across his stubbled chin. He didn’t flinch from that either.

“I don’t want you to do this either, Ruby,” Penny whispered. “I … if this is the only way, if this is the price that has to be paid to save the powers of the Fall Maiden, then let Cinder have them.”

“We can’t do that,” Qrow said.

Penny ignored him. “Ruby … Ruby, come with me. Help me stop this. Help me find Pyrrha, help me … help me.”

Ruby said nothing. She didn’t look at Penny.

The peace that endured for seventeen years was purchased with blood that was red like roses.

Pyrrha.

Ruby pulled her hood up over her head, so that no one could see her face. She hid herself beneath the shadow of the blood-red cloth. She hid her face as the tears began to fall from her silver eyes, staining her pale cheeks.

She hid her face and turned away.

She felt sick to her stomach, but this … as horrible as this was, it was also the right thing to do.

“Ruby?” Yang said, the anger dying from her voice like a fire doused in cold water.

“Ruby?” Penny asked also.

Ruby didn’t reply, to either of them. She didn’t turn back to look at them. She bowed her hood-covered face as the tears fell and said nothing.

She felt a hand upon her shoulder, a firm hand, but that didn’t narrow down who it might belong to until the owner of the hand manoeuvred around her, revealing Penny’s slightly off-white smock with the lace-trimmed front and the grey overalls she wore over the top of them.

“Ruby,” Penny whispered, reaching out with her other hand, placing her fingers under Ruby’s chin and tilting it upwards so that Ruby was looking up into Penny’s big green eyes.

Ruby’s hood fell back just a little, but not all the way.

“Oh, Ruby,” Penny said, her voice soft and gentle and breathy, in a way, even though Penny didn’t breathe. She took her hand off Ruby’s shoulder and wiped the tears away. “You don’t want this to happen, do you?”

“No,” Ruby answered, in a whisper of her own.

“Then help me stop it,” Penny implored. “Come with me, to find Pyrrha and—”

“We can’t,” Ruby said. “This…”

I don’t want to do to Sunset and Pyrrha what they always do to me.

“Sometimes,” she said, “this is the only way. Even if we have to harden our hearts to do it.”

“I don’t believe that,” Penny replied. “I won’t accept that.”

“You don’t want to,” Ruby said. “I don’t want to either, but what other choice is there?”

“I have a giant laser; I’ll shoot Cinder, Maiden or not,” Penny suggested. She paused. “I don’t know what the answer is, but I know that sacrificing one another, trading lives, isn’t it. Ruby … do I have the right to be here?”

“Yes,” Ruby said at once. “Yes, Penny, of course you do, why—?”

“Even though I could do more in Atlas?” Penny went on. “Even though I could do more for the world, help more people, as a slave in Atlas?”

“'Slave'?” Yang repeated.

Ruby ignored her. “That isn’t the same thing—”

“Isn’t it?” asked Penny. “We all have a right to life—”

“We have a right to choose,” Ruby said. “Just like Pyrrha has a choice, as awful as that choice is—”

“Then why can’t we choose to help her?” asked Penny. “There is another way, I know there is; I can’t think what it is right now, but I know it’s there.” She paused. “Or maybe not. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m too young, too naive, too stupid—”

“Nobody thinks that, Penny.”

“And if there’s really nothing else, nothing that anyone can think of, and if this is what Pyrrha wants, then … then fine,” Penny admitted. “I won’t like it, I really won’t, I want my happily ever after, but … but I won’t stand in Pyrrha’s way; I don’t have the right. But let’s at least think first, together, the five of us. Come with me. You might be right, in the end, but let’s make sure it is the end first?”

That … that was difficult to argue with, not least because Penny really was arguing with Ruby and not just dismissing what she thought, but also because who could really argue with making sure that the last resort really was before you did it?

In the end, this would be the right choice. But had they reached the end yet?

It would verge on monstrous not to make sure.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s go.”

---

He had hold of Pyrrha’s hand.

They were walking, but they were not going anywhere. Their feet were moving, but there was no direction to it, nothing guiding them to any place, at any place. They were just walking, aimlessly, along the cliffs or back towards the school, but then turning away again before they reached it, as though there was a forcefield keeping Pyrrha away from the tower.

Jaune didn’t push her to return there. He didn’t really want Pyrrha to go back.

Just like he didn’t want to let go of her hand; it was almost … no, there was no ‘it was almost’ about it; he was afraid that if he let go of her hand, if he let her go, then … then she would be gone. Gone before his very eyes like morning dew, or a dream disappeared at waking.

He could not let her go.

And so they walked, Pyrrha’s hand resting on his palm, enfolded by his fingers, not speaking. Pyrrha wasn’t looking at him either, though Jaune kept his eyes on her for the same reason that he didn’t dare to let go of her hand.

He wished that he knew what to say. He wished that he knew the words to make her realise what a terrible idea this was, to make her realise that she didn’t have to, couldn’t go through with this.

He wished that he knew what to say to make her stay.

She didn’t want to do this. He knew that she didn’t want to do this — she had admitted as much already — but at the same time, she felt as though she had to do this, was obliged to do it, because … because of who she was, because of what she was, because of layers of Mistralian culture and expectation and her own desire to become a hero.

A desire which, as he himself knew, could make you do some pretty stupid stuff.

And in Pyrrha’s case, it wasn’t just a desire, not just a dream, not just something cobbled together from bored nights and a feeling of malaise and all-around lack of appreciation back home; she imbued it with something like reverence almost. Pyrrha’s idea of destiny might leave a lot to her own choice, but at the same time, it was still something more than a fancy way of saying ‘this is what I want’; it was a part of her.

And he didn’t know how to say it, how to ask her to turn her back on that.

He didn’t know how to cut through it all.

He didn’t have words enough.

“Pyrrha!”

The voice was Penny’s, although Ruby wasn’t far behind her — she seemed to be pacing herself so as not to run away from Penny with her semblance. As Penny ran up towards them, Ruby looked as though she was barely jogging.

“Pyrrha,” Penny repeated. “Ruby’s uncle told us everything.”

Pyrrha was silent a moment. She swallowed. “I … I see. Then—”

“Please,” Penny said. “Let’s think about this before you do anything; I’m sure that we can find some other way.”

Pyrrha closed her eyes. “Penny—”

There was a crack and a flash of green light that made Jaune flinch away and shut his eyes.

“Found you,” Sunset said, her voice ragged as though she were short of breath. “I … have been teleporting all over the school looking for you.”

“You could have just called,” Jaune pointed out.

Sunset ignored him. “Pyrrha, you don’t have to do this.”

“Everyone keeps telling me that,” Pyrrha said, “but—”

“No, listen,” Sunset cut her off. “I’ve spoken to Ozpin, and he has agreed to let me try and save Amber before we mess around with that Atlesian machine.”

For a moment Jaune doubted that he had heard her right. 'Save Amber'? Make sure that Pyrrha wouldn’t have to get into that machine, wouldn’t have to risk herself? Make it all okay? Surely … how? How was Sunset going to do that when Ozpin’s only way forward was … to kill Pyrrha, or risk her life.

“'Save Amber'?” Pyrrha murmured, and now she looked up and into Sunset’s face. “How?”

“Using my semblance,” Sunset said. “And my magic. We’ll need Twilight’s help, to keep Amber stable, and Jaune’s help, to use his semblance to make sure her aura doesn’t give out before I’m done, but I’m pretty sure that once I’m inside her soul, I can tie off the rip that Cinder tore in her aura, which should be enough to stabilise her, hopefully bring her round.” She smiled. “I can do this, Pyrrha, I am … reasonably sure that I can do this. I can save both of you. And Ozpin believes it too. I can do this, Pyrrha. It’s all going to be okay.”

Pyrrha stared at her, silently, her lower lip trembling. “Sunset,” she whispered. “I hardly … thank you.” She leaned forward and placed a kiss on Sunset’s forehead. “Thank you.”

Jaune let go of Pyrrha’s hand, free of fear that she would disappear the moment he did so. He released her hand, and as tears welled up in his eyes — tears of joy, tears of relief, tears that he cried because he would not have to cry, not for Pyrrha, not now — he flung his arms around Sunset in a bear hug.

“I owe you for this,” he whispered into her ear. “I owe you more than I can repay.”

“It’s what I’m here for, Jaune,” Sunset said. “You don’t owe me a thing.”

Jaune felt the fabric of Pyrrha’s glove upon the back of his neck as she put one arm around him, with the other arm drawing Ruby into their embrace.

Penny joined them from the other side, and soon, the five of them were locked together, four of them in a tangle of arms all surrounding Sunset, crushing her almost in the midst of them

Because she had brought hope to them.

And they wouldn’t let her go.

Comments

[AdverseFlower95]

Well that was a great chapter. Loved the inclusion of the Ruby and Crow conversation and how Ruby’s worldview would cause her to see the situation, especially how it happened right after her one-on-one with Penny!

[Mastermind4892]

First of all, "Shimmering Hope?" I see what you did there, and I love you for it.

Second, this was a very mature chapter. For the very first time, Ruby's logic has been challenged in a way that Sunset and Pyrrha couldn't. This is where Ruby and Sunset intersect. One of the things they have in common is that they're content with risking their own lives, but not the lives of others and especially not their loved ones.

And little wonder that Qrow wasn't keen on sharing everything with Yang. He still remembers the night he had to save her and Ruby from the Beowolves, when Yang was looking for her birth mother. What kind of cruel man would go and burst that bubble by telling her that the woman Yang risked her life trying to find was a back-stabbing, self-absorbed murderer?

"I … I think so," Penny murmured. "My fathers created a device, a machine capable of extracting aura from a person and placing it in … something else." Penny looked at her, lip trembling. "But they only meant it to—"

"I know," Ruby said, taking Penny's hands in her own. "I know; you don't have to say it."

That right there is the same problem that RWBY had in canon. I've never cared for the 'holier-than-thou' attitude of feeling entitled to all other people's private secrets while believing your own are off-limits. I mean, Yang still doesn't like to think about the time a Beacon professor died in front of her during first term, and yet she hasn't taken the hint from why Qrow's always drowning himself in the bottle? Do you freely talk about all of your battles... or are there some scars you want to forget? Here they are demanding sensitive and painful memories from their uncle, but something equally as personal like Penny being a robot is off-limits? What the hell?

[Lancerguy]

More of this Ruby please, an actual fleshed out, explored, and challenged character! please excuse me while I now prance in a circle chanting yes repeatedly She was confronted with a challenge to her morality and she responded. She second guessed herself, thought about alternatives which might make her a hypocrite but welcome to ethics (no, seriously) and eventually came to a conclusion that she could eventually live with, even if she dreaded having to do so. I kind of wish this was the entirety of the chapter, it does serve well as an enclosed read, but understand why the ending bit was added, even if it felt out of place.

Also, as we've been diving into the happy fun times that is the anime 86 on the server, this seems to be the perfect chapter to bring up the main character Lena from said anime, and how Ruby is starting to parallel her a little here. I did bring up that I thought Ruby could be written similar to Lena and this chapter appears to be proving that right.

[Raul]

11536865
That “welcome to ethics” comment. I do find that funny. If there is one thing Philosophy and Ethics did it was make me tighten up my views and become less of a hypocrite.