• Published 31st Aug 2018
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SAPR - Scipio Smith



Sunset, Jaune, Pyrrha and Ruby are Team SAPR, and together they fight to defeat the malice of Salem, uncover the truth about Ruby's past and fill the emptiness within their souls.

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A Quiet Place (New)

A Quiet Place

The farm was silent. Night was almost fallen, the last light of day lingering dimly upon the far horizon, the rays of the sun struggling to get up over the mountains. The chickens were nowhere to be seen; probably, they’d already gone inside their wooden coop to sleep, or to lay eggs, or to do one first and then the other. You could still see the goat, lazily chewing upon the grass, paying no attention to anyone or anything, his eyes looking towards the dying light, but was he even paying attention to that? Ruby couldn’t say.

“How’s this?” she asked, as Amber sat down on the wooden bench that sat beyond the chicken’s wire-fenced enclosure.

“Oh, this is perfect,” Amber said, laying her hands upon her knees. “Vale was lovely, absolutely delightful, but … but so crowded. So full of people, so full of sounds, even the skies were full. At times, especially after a day in a crowd, it’s good to be able to go somewhere quiet and peaceful.”

“This place is certainly quiet,” Ruby said.

“Whether it will stay that way with all of us around, I don’t know,” Sunset added.

Amber chuckled. “It will be alright, I’m sure, with you.”

Ruby sat down next to Amber, upon her right, while Dove sat down upon her left, one arm looped around her waist. There was only room for three people on the wooden bench, so Sunset, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Penny — Lyra and Bon Bon had gone back to their dorm room — had to either sit on the ground or stand up. None of them chose to stand up. Sunset sat down at Ruby’s feet, sideways on, her back to Amber — and also leaning on the side of the wooden bench for a little support, as her long hair spilled out behind her and into Ruby’s lap. Penny sat directly at Ruby’s feet, not quite leaning against them but getting pretty close, so close that Ruby was kind of amazed that Penny could balance herself like that. Pyrrha and Jaune sat down facing the same direction as everyone else, Pyrrha lifting her red sash up and draping it over her legs rather than letting it touch the grass beneath her, she and Jaune leaning against one another’s shoulders.

There wasn’t much to look at. In fact, there was nothing at all to look about, but it was certainly quiet, and it was certainly peaceful, and that was what Amber had said she wanted.

So as long as she wanted what she said she wanted, this place was pretty much perfect right now.

“I take it there are animals here during the day?” Amber asked.

Ruby nodded. “Chickens,” she said, “and, well, there’s still the goat.”

“Yes,” Amber agreed. “Yes, there is. It’s a pity there’s so little light left; he— is it a he or a she?”

“I haven’t checked,” Ruby admitted. “I think it’s a he.”

“Mmm,” Amber murmured. “He’d make a wonderful sketch subject, as still as he is, if only there was more light.”

A green glow intruded into the corner or Ruby’s vision as Sunset raised one hand up into the air. There was a soft snapping sound, and a ball of green light appeared over the goat, hovering above the creature as it looked up to stare at the sudden light above it.

“How’s that?”

Amber laughed. “That would be better,” she said, “and even better still if I worked in colour, but I don’t have my sketchbook or pencils with me. We left them in your room.”

“It’s your room as well, for as long as you’re with us,” Pyrrha reminded her, “and I could go and get them for you.”

“Or I could,” Ruby suggested. “I’m faster.”

“That’s very kind of you, both of you, all of you,” Amber said, “but there’s really no need. Drawing can wait until daylight.”

“Then you don’t need my light either, I suppose,” Sunset said. She raised her hand, holding it as though she was about to snap her fingers.

“No!” Amber said quickly, her voice rising a bit. “No,” she added, going quiet again. “Please, leave the light. I like it. I … I’m not too fond of the dark.”

Sunset lowered her hand again. “As you like,” she said softly.

“Thank you,” Amber whispered as the ball of green light that Sunset had cast spread out over the goat, across the grass, partway into the chicken pen, and touched the huntsmen and Amber like water lapping at their feet as the tide came in.

“You really do have the most versatile semblance,” Dove remarked. “It’s astonishing. How someone, just an ordinary person—”

“There’s nothing ordinary about me, Dove Bronzewing,” Sunset interrupted.

Dove ignored her and carried on regardless, “—can have a semblance that is even more versatile than the Schnees.”

“Versatile, yes, but I wouldn’t mind having their summoning on top of everything else,” Sunset replied. She paused for a moment, and her hair moved around on Ruby’s lap as Sunset shuffled a little bit where she sat beside her. She looked around, her back twisting, her hair flowing in the other direction. “But the truth is—”

“Sunset,” Ruby murmured, in case Sunset wanted a second to think about this, in case she wanted to reconsider telling Dove this secret.

Sunset did pause, long enough to sigh. “Now that Dove has been taken into our confidence,” she said, “he might as well know the rest. This isn’t actually my semblance. My semblance is the touch … telepathy, empathy mixture that I used to save Amber. This, and the energy attacks and the shield and everything else, that’s magic.”

“'Magic'?” Dove repeated. “So does that mean that you’re a Maiden too, like Amber? But then how come you can be here, where you could—?”

“No,” Sunset said, “no, I’m not a Maiden. I’m a maiden, as it were, but I am not a Maiden with a capital M. I can’t do what Amber can, and Amber can’t do what I can do. My magic is of a rather different sort.”

“What kind of difference?” Dove asked.

Sunset didn’t reply. “Well, when I said you might as well know the rest…”

“You don’t trust me?”

“It’s not about trust,” Sunset said.

“Isn’t it?” responded Dove.

“No,” Sunset replied. “I mean, I suppose it is sort of, but it’s nothing for you to take offence at. I trust your love of Amber, I trust you to protect her, I trust you to follow where she goes, I trust you to stay by her side, but you are not dear to me, you don’t have the sort of claim upon my heart that would lead me to tell you all my secrets. I hope you can understand what I’m getting at when I say we’re not that close.”

Dove chuckled lightly. “I suppose, when you put it like that, how can I take offence? It’s just a fact, after all; we really aren’t that close. I suppose I should be honoured that you’ve told me as much as you have.”

“Don’t go overboard,” Sunset said. “It’s not that much of an honour.”

“Nevertheless…” Dove began, but didn’t really get to saying anything about it. “I suppose I shouldn’t tell anyone else.”

“No,” Sunset said. “I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Then it will not pass my lips,” Dove promised.

Sunset chuckled. “‘It will not pass my lips’,” she repeated. “It’s a pity you’ll be leaving soon; you’d fit right in with us.”

“What do you mean?” asked Amber.

“Antique manners,” Sunset explained. “The knight in shining armour thing.”

Amber laughed lightly. “Yes,” she whispered. “He’s very gallant, isn’t he?” She paused for a second. “Speaking of gallant men,” she said, “Jaune.” She drew out his name, like an extra-long ‘aw’ sound, like ‘Jawwwwwwwn’.

“Why does that sound make me think that I’m in trouble?” Jaune asked nervously.

“A little bird told me,” Amber said, “that you have never written Pyrrha a love song.”

“Is that bad?” asked Penny.

“I don’t think so,” Ruby added.

“Well, it certainly isn’t a good thing!” Amber declared. “How can you call yourself a gallant gentleman if you haven’t written anything to serenade your lady fair?”

“One who can’t write songs?” suggested Ruby.

“Yeah, I’m with Ruby on this one,” Sunset agreed. “It’s all very romantic and all, but some people just don’t have the talent for it. You have to have a special gift to be able to write songs; not everyone is born with it.”

“Hey! What makes you think I haven’t written Pyrrha a song?” Jaune demanded.

Nobody knew quite what to say to that, and a silence dropped on them, like a bucket of water or something.

Sunset was the first to speak, “Because we haven’t heard it?” she said, “and frankly, I don’t think you have the self-control to keep quiet about something like that. If you’d written her a love song, she’d be blushing enough to light up the whole dorm room. She’d be blushing bright enough for Amber to draw by right now.”

“Sadly, you might be right about that,” Pyrrha murmured.

“It’s not a bad thing,” Ruby told her. “I mean, it might be funny for us, but it would also be really cute.”

“Well … Pyrrha hasn’t heard it yet,” Jaune muttered.

“That rather defeats the object of writing her a love song then, doesn’t it?” Sunset asked.

“Is this going to be one of those situations where Jaune claims that he’s written a song when he hasn’t and then has to scramble around to write something before he has to play it for everyone?” asked Penny.

“You mean like a sitcom?” Ruby asked.

“It’s not a sitcom,” Jaune declared. “I really do have a song, I just … I guess I was too nervous to actually play it for Pyrrha.”

“I sympathise,” Dove said. “I was a nervous wreck. And I didn’t even play any instrument, and I don’t have a great voice either—”

“Then why did you try and write a song?” asked Penny.

Dove smiled. “Because I thought Amber would appreciate it,” he said. “She was always singing for me; I thought that … I thought it might be nice to return the favour. Even if I did expect that she’d beg me to stop as soon as I’d begun.”

“And did she?” asked Penny. “I mean, did you?”

“No,” Amber said. “No, of course not. Songs from the heart can never be bad.”

“That’s a nice sentiment,” Sunset murmured, “but musically debatable.”

“Jaune,” Dove said, “however bad you think it is, however afraid you might be about how Pyrrha will react … just remember that you can’t possibly do worse than me, because you can actually sing and play guitar, so just go for it. You’ve actually written the thing; why make it wasted time?”

“Because…” Jaune murmured. “Because … what if—?”

“Jaune,” Pyrrha said gently, “do you really think that I’m the kind of person who would be unappreciative of something so heartfelt?”

Jaune laughed embarrassedly. “Well, when you put it like that,” he muttered, “I guess I have to play it for you now, don’t I?”

“For all of us,” Sunset said, “having whetted our curiosity.”

“No,” Pyrrha said. “No, I don’t think that’s necessary at all, not unless Jaune wishes it so.”

“Oh, come on!” Sunset cried. “At least sing us a few bars of it.”

“I’d like to hear it too,” Amber said, “but Pyrrha’s right; it ought to be for her, and her alone, at least at first. It’s her song, after all; Jaune wrote it for her, she should be the only audience.”

Ruby thought that wasn’t exactly why Pyrrha wanted to be the only one to hear it — it was as much about sparing Jaune any embarrassment, or so she thought — but Amber had a point, and a sweet point, and a point well made at the same time, so as much as she would have kind of liked to hear it too, she let it go.

“Thank you, Amber,” Pyrrha said. “Did you have a nice time today?”

“Yes, yes, I did,” Amber replied. “Yes, I really did. Vale … Vale was loud and crowded, and I’m glad to just have this moment to sit somewhere quiet, even it isn’t so quiet with us here—”

“As I said,” Sunset cut in.

“But Vale was … completely wonderful, too,” Amber said, sighing softly as she said it. “It’s just…”

“Just like Professor Ozpin said it would be?” asked Ruby, prompting Sunset to look around at Amber.

Amber frowned. “I … suppose so,” she muttered.

She really didn’t like him, did she? The same as Pyrrha. It was kind of funny really; Sunset had been ice cold on Professor Ozpin, then warmed up to him, but Pyrrha had gone cold on him now to balance it all out. Ruby … Ruby wasn’t surprised that Pyrrha had gone cold upon the headmaster, what he’d asked her to do … well, it would be enough to make anyone take a second look at someone, wouldn’t it? Especially kind of out of the blue like that, come down into this vault and do this thing that might kill you. It was more surprising to Ruby — a lot more surprising — that Sunset was still warmed up to him, for want of a better word. It was a little surprising that Pyrrha had started calling him ‘Ozpin’ like that — even when she didn’t like him, Sunset had called him ‘Professor Ozpin’; Ruby was surprised that Pyrrha had that much disrespect in her — but it was a whole lot more surprising that Sunset didn’t hate him for what he’d tried to do to Pyrrha.

There weren’t a lot of people who could do things to Pyrrha and not incur Sunset’s undying hatred in doing so; the only two people Ruby could think of who could get away with it were Professor Ozpin … and Cinder.

That probably wasn’t a list that Professor Ozpin would be flattered to know he was on, would it?

Mind you it showed … what did it show? Did Ruby even want to know what it showed? Did it show that Sunset trusted Professor Ozpin, or just that she thought he was evil but that that wasn’t a dealbreaker for her?

Probably the first one, given that she kept trying to get Amber to forgive him in ways that she never tried to get anyone to forgive Cinder.

Ruby wondered if Princess Celestia had anything to do with the way that Sunset didn’t seem to be down on Professor Ozpin for what he’d tried to do? She knew that Sunset had spoken with her old teacher, even if she didn’t know what they’d said to one another.

Sunset was very fond of comparing her situation with other peoples, as if it were the only way she could really relate to them; maybe she could forgive Professor Ozpin because she’d forgiven Princess Celestia, and thought Amber should do it for the same reason.

That … that might well be it.

Jaune, meanwhile, was as cold on Professor Ozpin as Pyrrha was.

Ruby could understand that, too.

As for herself … Professor Ozpin was trying to do the right thing. It wasn’t the nice thing, it wasn’t always a thing that they — Team SAPR, or anyone else for that matter — wanted, but it was the right thing. That wasn’t always easy, as Ruby had found out when Uncle Qrow had put the terrible choice to her, and so she had to respect Professor Ozpin’s ability to follow through with it.

He was… he was a strong man, Ruby didn’t think that that could be denied.

And Ruby did not envy him one little bit. She found herself very glad that she wasn’t in his position, deciding who had to die so that others could live.

She couldn’t imagine how he did it, day after day, and losing so many people along the way.

He must have numbed his heart, or he would never stop crying.

And the thought of that made Ruby feel a little bit like crying herself.

“Ruby?” Penny asked, breaking into Ruby’s thoughts. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah!” Ruby said quickly, and a bit too loudly. “Yeah, I’m fine, Penny. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” asked Amber. “Do you want to go inside?”

“No,” Ruby said. “No, I’m really okay; I was just thinking, that was all. Got carried away by them a little bit.”

“Ah, I see,” Amber murmured. “I suppose this place is conducive to thinking. Do you come here often?”

“Sometimes, yeah,” Ruby replied. “Not a lot of people do, so it’s pretty quiet apart from the chickens. It’s … it’s kind of like a secret hiding place, almost, just one that everyone could find if they actually wanted to.”

Amber laughed. “Those are the best hiding places. The ones that people haven’t found, yet they might find, but the ones that people just don’t want to go to, well … they’ll never want to go there, will they?”

Ruby grinned. “Exactly.”

Amber glanced down at her lap. “Thank you all,” she said, “for a fantastic day today.”

“It isn’t over yet,” Penny pointed out. “We’re all still here, and the light is amazing at this time of day. Night. The light is amazing at night.”

“Sunset,” Sunset said. “Sunset is amazing.”

“We know you are,” Ruby said. “But what’s the light like?”

Sunset snorted. “That was…”

“It is nice to look at,” Amber agreed. “It is nice to be here, with you, at the end of a good day, in a place like this.” She leaned her head upon Dove’s shoulder. “I wish that things could stay this way forever.”

“What if they could?” asked Penny.

“I don’t think it works like that, Penny,” Sunset said.

“But why not?” Penny asked. “Why should Amber have to go anywhere she doesn’t want to? Why should she be forced to do … anything? What if … what if you wanted to stay here, with us?” she asked, looking at Amber now.

“It would be dangerous for her,” Ruby said, “to be somewhere she could be found.”

“It was dangerous today,” Penny pointed out, “but we protected her. It ought to be Amber’s choice, not Professor Ozpin’s or anyone else’s. If … it ought to be Amber’s choice.”

That … was hard to argue with. Ruby would go even further than that and say it was impossible to argue with. Yes, Amber was a Maiden, and that meant that she was in danger from Salem’s forces; you could even say it meant that she had responsibilities beyond what she wanted. But you could say the same about Penny, that she had been created by Atlas, that she owed them, that she had responsibilities towards them, to serve the kingdom, to fight for them.

Except that nobody — at least nobody sitting here — had actually said that, because that would have been stupid and wrong. Nobody owned Penny, she was a person, she had her own will, she had the right to her own choices, and she had made her choice, to stay here, at Beacon, with them.

Why should Amber be denied the same choice? Why should she have to go into exile, to live in the shadows, to crawl under the bed with only Dove for company and hope the monsters didn’t find her? Why should she have to do all of that if she didn’t want to? If she wanted to stay here, if she chose to stay here, knowing the risks and accepting them, then what right had they, or Professor Ozpin, or anyone else to say ‘no, you can’t, you have to go’?

Just because she was a Maiden didn’t make her Professor Ozpin’s slave, or his soldier; he couldn’t just give her orders and expect her to snap to it.

They — Ruby and the rest — were his soldiers, from a certain point of view, but … while spending her life defending Amber wasn’t the top of the list of things that Ruby wanted to do either with her life or as a huntress, at the same time, it wasn’t unworthy either. It was kind of like Prince Tristan, sworn to serve the Lady of the Forever Fall, only they wouldn’t up sticks and leave just because Amber asked their name. Being a hero wasn’t always about seeking the monsters out, as the stories made clear; sometimes, it was about protecting a specific someone in case the monsters came to them.

Sunset looked uncertain. She licked her lips. She opened her mouth, and Ruby, Ruby knew — by the look in her eye, by the slight clenching of her jaw, and simply by the fact that Sunset would put them all on leashes if she could convince herself it was for their own good … in a good way, or a fond way anyway — that she was going to object, to point out some problem, point out the danger, something.

“Sunset,” Ruby said, before Sunset could say anything, “either the principle matters, or it doesn’t.”

If Penny deserved to leave Atlas, if Leaf deserved to go to Atlas, then Amber deserved to stay here if that was her choice. Either you had the choice, or you didn’t.

Sunset’s mouth remained open, but no words emerged. She closed her mouth, and then opened it again to say, “Valid.”

Wow. Is this the first time I’ve ever won or the first time I’ve won so easily?

“What say you then, Amber?” Pyrrha asked gently. “If your will could have its way, what would you do?”

A bird cawed from somewhere in the night, a harsh cry like a raven or a crow, coming from somewhere Ruby could not see it.

“I…” Amber hesitated. “It doesn’t matter. My will can’t have its way.”

“Yes,” Penny said, “it can. Trust your friends and trust … trust that Professor Ozpin really does care about you and about doing the right thing, even if it doesn’t seem like he does. Trust them, and you can do anything you want to.”

Except that it isn’t about doing the right thing, is it? Ruby thought. It’s about being free to do the wrong thing. The right thing would be for Amber to hide and keep her half of the Maiden powers hidden.

She kept that thought to herself; it would only muddy things that were clear to everyone else right now.

Again, it took Amber a couple of seconds to say anything. “I…” She leaned on Dove. “I would like to spend more time with all of you. Some of you, I feel as though I know already; some you, I wish to know better. And I don’t want to hide somewhere, with no one but … Dove, I love you, I love you more than anything, but with just the two of us … what if you grow tired of me?”

“That will never happen,” Dove assured her. He sounded kind of amused as he went on, “But if you’re trying to say that you’d like some other company than just me, you can say so; I wouldn’t blame you if it were so.”

Amber chuckled softly. “I don’t want to hide,” she said again. “I want to see Mistral with Pyrrha, I want to see all of Vale, I want … I don’t want to hide, but … but I don’t think that I want to stay here either, with all of these weapons and all of you training to fight and kill and die, it…” She shuddered, her whole body trembling. “I don’t like it here,” she said. “I wish I were somewhere else. So, I suppose, the answer to what I want is … I don’t know.

“I just don’t know.”


Lyra plucked at the strings of her harp, her fingers nimbly dancing from one to the other, a soft and calming melody emerging as each string vibrated in turn.

Once, like a dream,” Lyra crooned, eyes closed, her voice shifting up and down somewhat as the words emerged. She was on her feet, the better for her diaphragm, pacing up and down in her boots as she sang.

“Once, like a dream,” she repeated, “he looked at her.

“And everything felt new.” She stopped singing, the sound of the harp ceasing also as her fingers were stilled. “You know, for one of the great love songs, this gets awfully sad later on.”

“A lot of love songs are sad,” Bon Bon murmured from where she sat on her bed, not really looking at Lyra, rather looking at her own leg where it was crossed upon her other knee. “A lot of love stories, too.”

“I suppose so,” Lyra admitted, “but this one sounds like one of them’s died.

Bon Bon looked up. “You think so?”

“Don’t you?”

“I haven’t studied the song,” Bon Bon replied.

Lyra began to play again, her fingers moving as swiftly and as nimbly as before, the sound emerging from the harp as sweetly as before. “Some people fall in love for life,

Others never get it right,

Love’s fickle when it calls.

One thing that I know for sure,

Longer than our lives endure. 'Longer than our lives endure,' if you please, now what’s that supposed to mean except that somebody’s died?”

Bon Bon shrugged. “You’re probably right,” she said in an even tone. “But so what? It’s a sad love song. Like I said, a lot of love songs and stories are sad.”

“But not this one,” Lyra declared. “Not Dove and Amber, their story has come back from the brink for a happy ending. No, I can’t play Forever Fall for them, even if it is one of the great Valish folk songs; it’s too miserable. I need something with a bit more … well, something with the promise of a happy ending would be a start, something fitting for their story.”

She turned away, her cape swishing about her as she resumed her pacing up and down in the dorm room.

“Their story isn’t over yet,” Bon Bon muttered.

Though she had spoken more to herself, it was her misfortune to have spoken the words aloud, and so for Lyra to have heard them too.

She turned to face Bon Bon, looking down on her, a slight glint in her gamboge eyes as she began to play again, a tune that was perhaps a little less melodic than before, but with a rhythm to it that made it sound well suited to the plucking of the harp, bouncing rapidly from note to note as Lyra’s fingers danced the strings.

What’s the matter with you, my lass?

And where’s your dashing Lyra?

Them huntsman boys have picked her up,

And taken her far from me!”

Bon Bon looked up. “Huh?”

“What’s the matter?” Lyra repeated.

“Nothing,” Bon Bon said.

“I know that’s a lie,” Lyra answered. “Because if nothing was up, you would have answered that first verse with ‘and I wish they would’ or something like that.”

Bon Bon was silent for a moment. “It, uh … it’s been a while since you last played that harp. Not since…”

Not since we lost Sky.

Lyra smiled out of one corner of her mouth. “Yeah,” she admitted. “Yeah, it … it felt … I mean, it’s stupid; I’m sure that if Sky were here, he wouldn’t have wanted us to go around being all grim and miserable for his sake—”

“A point you made to me, if I recall,” Bon Bon said softly.

“I … might have said something to that effect, yeah,” Lyra replied. “But all the same, it … well, I hope I was right about what I said, because otherwise, he’s going to be upset with me, but all the same, it … it didn’t feel right, you know.”

“He thought you had a great voice,” Bon Bon told her. “He thought you played really well.”

“I know,” Lyra murmured. “But all the same, it didn’t feel right. Or perhaps it didn’t feel right because he liked it so much. It felt … disrespectful. That’s why I put it away.”

“But not anymore,” Bon Bon pointed out.

“No,” Lyra agreed. “Not anymore. Hopefully … hopefully, Sky is okay with us … moving on. With finding some joy. Amber … and Dove … they’ve brought joy back into the world.”

Bon Bon couldn’t help but smile at that, if only a little. “Have they now?”

“Yes!” Lyra cried. “I mean, don’t you think so? Isn’t it … it’s like a miracle or something, she was … we all thought she was dead, let’s be honest about that; we couldn’t find her, nobody could tell us anything—”

“Nobody chose to tell us anything,” Bon Bon corrected her. “Or else they chose to lie.”

Lyra ignored that, ploughing on ahead regardless. “It seemed like she must have died on the way here. Died on the road, or else…”

“Or else she didn’t love him as much as he loved her,” Bon Bon supplied the thought that had crossed both their minds upon occasion when it came to contemplating Dove’s forlorn search for Amber and her apparent failure to meet him as she’d promised.

Lyra nodded. “I preferred to think she was dead, almost. Dead like the singer of Forever Fall.” She plucked at her harp. “But now she’s back! Well, not back because she was never actually dead, but now she’s here! She’s … she’s here! It’s—”

“The first good thing to happen to this team in a long time,” Bon Bon said.

“Exactly!” Lyra cried. “Sky … Sky’s gone, and he won’t come back, and there’s nothing that we can do about that but carry him in our hearts, but Dove … Dove gets to get it right. Dove has been blessed. Dove … it’s like some god has smiled upon him.”

“Let’s not go nuts,” Bon Bon said.

“She was in a coma for a year, and then she woke up,” Lyra said. “What do you call that, if not a miracle?” Again she began to pluck the strings. “In this big world, I’m lonely,

And I am but small,

The angels in heaven don’t care for me at all.

They’ve heard my heart breaking,

It rang through the skies. But when they heard Dove’s heart breaking, they cared. They cared, Bon Bon, and they did something about it! This … this is the best thing that … this is the best thing,” Lyra finished simply. “I just don’t get why you can be like … like this?”

Because I know what’s coming, Bon Bon thought. I know that Dove and Amber haven’t made it to happily ever after just yet.

Cinder was still out there, and Tempest Shadow was still in here, and Beacon was a target for both of them, and neither of them would care whose blood they had to spill in order to get what they wanted: a golden crown, hidden somewhere in the school, a golden crown to place upon the head of Doctor Watts’ unseen mistress, the guiding malice behind all things.

Sky was dead because of them. Because of her, because of Bon Bon, because of her foolishness, because of her weakness.

Because she had been — because she had allowed herself to be — involved in this, to be used, to be flattered, to be manipulated.

Because she had been too weak to do anything about it.

Because of that weakness, Sky was dead. Because of her weakness, there would always be an empty bed in Team BLBL’s room.

Because she had drawn them into this. Into a struggle they hadn’t been aware of.

While this battle was fought over Beacon, neither Dove nor Amber could be counted safe from it.

Bon Bon had been too much of a coward to do anything about that fact up until now; she had put Lyra at risk, she had put Dove at risk, she had told herself with weak and faltering conviction that she could protect them, but the truth was that was nonsense.

She could save no one. Not even herself.

All she could really have said in her own defence was that Lyra and Dove — and Sky too — had volunteered for this life and the risks that it entailed. But Amber … Amber was not a huntress. Amber was just Professor Ozpin’s niece; she hadn’t chosen to be involved in this. She had already suffered from a tangential connection to Professor Ozpin, attacked because she was his relative, but now…

Brought to Beacon to be safe, only to end up in far greater danger.

Lyra was right, this was a miracle. This was a happy story in a sea of darkness. This was hope incarnate. This was … this was something to believe in.

Team BLBL was not a good team. Dove was good, and Bon Bon was better than she let on, but Lyra was painfully below average, a far better singer than a huntress, and even with Dove’s help, they would never be heroes. They would never be great huntsmen, their names renowned. They would, at best, reach the level of painfully average.

But they could be happy. Dove, at least, could be happy, with Amber.

So long as nothing happened to them here at Beacon because of Cinder, or Tempest, or Bon Bon’s folly.

She was fairly sure that Team SAPR were on guard against Cinder, if they knew half as much as she thought they did, but Tempest … nobody knew about Tempest; Tempest was free to do as she liked. Tempest was making her plans.

I can’t let Dove and Amber get caught in the middle of this.

I’ll … I’ll go to Rainbow Dash, I’ll tell her everything, I’ll swear on the honour of a Canterlot Girl, she’ll believe me, we were at combat school together.

She’ll believe me when I tell her that I’ve betrayed them all.

I’ll tell her about Tempest, I’ll tell her everything.

And then … and then she’ll kill me, or lock me up.

Bon Bon felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as she imagined the outrage, the fury in those magenta eyes, the hands at the end of those muscular arms balling into fists, and she realised with a chill that even the courage required to confess to Rainbow’s face would be beyond her.

I’ll leave her a message, and then run away before she hears it.

I’ll go to Vacuo and find some sand to crawl into and hide from Rainbow Dash and Doctor Watts, who isn’t likely to be very happy with me either.

She got up.

Lyra blinked. “Bon Bon?”

“I’m just stepping out for a bit,” Bon Bon said. “I just … need some air.”

Lyra frowned. “Seriously, what is with you?”

“I … I’m fine,” Bon Bon insisted.

“No,” Lyra said. “You’re not.”

Bon Bon hesitated. “No,” she admitted. “I’m not.” Because I’m never going to see you again. “But everything is going to be okay, including me; I just need to go out for a second.”

She walked to the door before Lyra could protest any more, throwing it open and striding through it. She walked quickly, down the corridors and the staircases, her pace quickening with every other step she took as she went from striding to power walking to almost marching at the double quick as though a snare drum’s rapid tattoo urged her on, until she was running, running as fast as she could, footsteps hammering on the floor as she burst out of the dorm room and into the night, running across the courtyard, running beneath the statue of the huntsman who seemed to glare down at her in disappointment, running, running, running until she came to the cliffs.

There was no one here. There was rarely anyone here. Sometimes students might come down here for private romantic rendezvous, but if she’d seen any of them tonight, Bon Bon would have gone somewhere else; there were other, only somewhat less secluded spots, but this was the most secluded.

Bon Bon’s hands trembled as she got out her scroll.

She … she didn’t really want to go.

But this was for the best, for Dove and for Amber.

All the same, she would delay the actual sending of the message, uploading it to the CCT and putting it on a delay to actually send to Rainbow Dash. That would give her a head start over the pursuit.

Assuming she wasn’t too pathetic to be worth pursuing.

She started recording.

“Rainbow Dash,” she said. “Hey.” She closed her eyes. “What I’m about to tell you is the truth. It might not seem true, but it is.

“I am a traitor. I’ve betrayed Lyra, and I’ve betrayed myself as a Canterlot Girl, and I’ve betrayed you and Trixie and Ditzy and Applejack and everyone else too. I’ve betrayed Lyra most of all.

“This year, and before this year, I’ve been working for a man named Doctor Arthur Watts. You don’t know him, but General Ironwood will know his name, I’m sure. And I’ve been working with Cinder Fall. Now I know you know who she is.

“I have no excuses. I don’t even have a sympathetic motivation for why I did what I did. I could say that I haven’t done much, and that would even be true, but I acted as though I was morally offended by Blake and her past even though I was as guilty as she was, I led my team to the Breach knowing what was coming, causing the death of Sky Lark, and I participated in the bombing of the Mistralian Embassy here in Vale and the murder of the Mistralian envoy Lord Kiro.

“And I did that alongside an Atlas student, Tempest Shadow of Team Tsunami. She’s involved with Doctor Watts as well; I’m ninety-nine percent sure that Trixie isn’t and that she doesn’t know anything about this, I’d stake my reputation on it if I had one, but Tempest absolutely is. She’s … Doctor Watts likes her better than me. I’m sure she knows where Cinder is. I don’t know that, but if you make Tempest talk, I’m sure you can snap her up as well.

“I’ve been a pretty rubbish villain, all things considered, which maybe isn’t too surprising, considering that … gods help me, I wanted to be you. I wanted Lyra to look at me the way Twilight looks at you, I wanted … I did whatever Doctor Watts asked of me because he seemed like he trusted me the way that General Ironwood trusts you. I wanted everything you had, and I was willing … I was willing to let people get hurt in order to get it.

“You might wonder why I’m telling you this now, and honestly, it’s because of a girl named Amber. Maybe you’ve met her; she’s tight with the Sapphires right now. She’s also Dove’s girlfriend. No, she’s more than his girlfriend, she’s … she’s his one true love, if that doesn’t sound too ridiculous. For some people, it would be ridiculous, but I can believe it of Dove because he’s … that kind of person.

“I don’t want to see them get hurt. They deserve their happy ending, and I won’t be a part of them not getting it.

“I wish I could tell you all about Cinder’s plans, but I don’t know what they are. I cut ties with Cinder after the Breach; my only contact is Tempest now, and she keeps things to herself. But Beacon still isn’t safe, although maybe it will be with Tempest out of the way.

“Take care of Lyra for me.”

She stopped the recording, and with a push of a button on her thumb, she uploaded it onto the CCT network. Unless she stopped it, the message would be sent to Rainbow Dash in twelve hours’ time.

Best catch an airship then, hadn’t I?

Nevertheless, Bon Bon stood still. She didn’t move. She was rooted to the spot like one of these trees that grew just behind the cliffs.

She really didn’t want to go.

But she didn’t really want to stick around at this point either.

Leaving was for the best for all concerned.

“Hello, Sweetie,” the voice of Tempest Shadow intruded upon her thoughts. “How lucky meeting you here. I was hoping to talk to you somewhere private.”

Bon Bon reminded herself that she wouldn’t have to put up with this for much longer as she turned around. Tempest stood a few feet away, bathed in moonlight, making her tall crest of hair seem to glow a little bit. Her tone had been playful, but there wasn’t a smile or even a smirk on her face.

Her eyes were hard and cold as they stared right at Bon Bon.

“What do you want?” Bon Bon asked.

“Brusque,” Tempest remarked. “Is something wrong?”

“Everyone keeps asking me that.”

“Maybe you should modify your behaviour so they stop,” Tempest suggested. She took a step forward, closer to Bon Bon. “You were with someone today, a girl named Amber.”

Bon Bon’s eyes narrowed. What does Amber have to do with this?

Was it … was it Cinder who attacked her? But why? Because she’s Professor Ozpin’s niece, so what?

“I was,” she agreed. “What’s it to you?”

Tempest hesitated for a moment. “That girl,” she murmured. “She … she is important in all of this. She has … she has to die.”

Bon Bon’s eyes widened. No. No, it can’t be. Not Amber, not Dove.

One thing that I know for sure,

Longer than our lives endure.

No.

“No,” she whispered. “No!”

“Yes,” Tempest insisted.

“She’s Dove’s girlfriend!” Bon Bon cried. “He loves her!”

“And that’s a pity,” Tempest said, “but nevertheless—”

Bon Bon hit her, punching her on the jaw hard enough to send Tempest’s head snapping around, to twist her shoulders and her body around besides, but her own fist got a bit of a shock as well; her aura flared as the blow landed as though she’d just tried to punch the cliff face behind them.

It was only with restraint and self-control that Bon Bon was able to stop herself from wincing or shaking her hand free.

Tempest was still for a few seconds, her body in that twisted unnatural position it had been in after that punch. She didn’t speak. She still didn’t speak as she gradually restored herself to a normal stance.

“What has gotten into you?” she asked.

“You,” Bon Bon growled, “are going to leave Amber alone.”

“I can’t do that,” Tempest replied, infuriatingly calmly. “Neither of us can.”

“Why not?” Bon Bon demanded. “What makes Professor Ozpin’s niece so important—”

“Is that what they told you?” Tempest asked. “Amber is so much more than that. She has … she has a power. A power that is the only way to get what we want. Cinder was supposed to take the power for herself, but — being Cinder — she bungled the job and only has some of the power.”

And I suppose that put Amber in a coma for more than a year, Bon Bon thought as everything started to make sense in her mind.

“When she dies,” Tempest went on.

“Amber is not dying,” Bon Bon declared. “Not by your hand or Cinder’s.”

Tempest’s eyebrows rose. “You seem to think you’re in some position to give orders,” she said.

Bon Bon permitted herself a smirk. It had all fallen into place in her head; she had it all worked out. “I’ve sent a message,” she said, holding up her scroll. “It’s already loaded up onto the CCT, and if I don’t stop it, it will be sent to Rainbow Dash, telling her everything about you, and Doctor Watts, and what we’ve done, and what you’re planning to do.”

Tempest’s lips curled into a sneer. “You’re bluffing.”

Bon Bon pressed her thumb against her scroll.

“Rainbow Dash,” Bon Bon’s recorded voice emerged from her scroll. “Hey.” She closed her eyes. “What I’m about to tell you is the truth. It might not seem true, but it is.

“I am a traitor. I’ve betrayed Lyra, and I’ve betrayed myself as a Canterlot Girl, and I’ve betrayed you and Trixie and Ditzy and Applejack and everyone else too. I’ve betrayed Lyra most of all.

“This year, and before this year, I’ve been working for a man named Doctor Arthur Watts. You don’t know him, but General Ironwood will know his name, I’m sure. And I’ve been working with Cinder Fall. Now I know you know who she is.”

Bon Bon thumbed the pause button. “Do you need me to continue?”

Tempest stared at her. Her eyes had widened a little. “Why?” she asked. “You didn’t even know that I was going to—”

“I was going to turn you in to protect Amber,” Bon Bon said.

“What makes you think Rainbow Dash will believe you?” Tempest demanded. “I’m an Atlas student, I wear the white, I’m part of the sorority of sisters—”

“You’re an outcast whose own team doesn’t like having you around,” Bon Bon replied. “You’re not part of any sisterhood. You might wear an Atlas uniform, but you might also find that going around acting so aloof and so superior has its consequences. What do you think is more likely: that Trixie is going to go to the mat for you with General Ironwood, or that she’ll say she always knew you were a bit of a strange one and all this is really no surprise? I’m a Canterlot Girl; Rainbow will trust me enough to act on this.”

Tempest was silent. The slight tremor of her arms showed that she thought — she feared — that Bon Bon might be right. Her hands clenched into fists.

Bon Bon took a step towards her. “Go ahead. Kill me.” She even deactivated her aura to make the job easier. “Snap my neck. If I’m dead, that’ll just lend credence to my account.”

Tempest took a step backwards, a scoff escaping from her mouth. “Why?” she demanded. “Why would you—?”

“For love,” Bon Bon said. “Because someone deserves to be happy. Because they deserve to be happy. They’re the ones who matter now. And so you are going to leave her be, you’re going to leave them both be, I don’t care what kind of powers she has, she’s going to stay safe, or everyone is going to find out what you really are. But so long as you stay away, then I’ll keep pushing delay on the sending of this message, and your secret will be safe.”

Tempest scowled. She bared her teeth. She snorted. She huffed. She muttered. “You’ve grown a backbone. I don’t like it. Doctor Watts—”

“I’m done with him, too,” Bon Bon said. “Just like you're done with Amber.”

This was … this was kind of perfect, honestly. Not for Amber, perhaps, except it was because Amber was going to be safe. Bon Bon would keep her safe, she would keep Tempest Shadow at bay, and she wouldn’t even have to go anywhere. She wouldn’t have to run away, she wouldn’t have to reveal herself to Dash, she wouldn’t have to leave Lyra. She wouldn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to do.

And she could keep Amber and Dove safe. It was like having her cake and eating it too.

Tempest glowered at her but said nothing before she turned and stalked away.

She was impotent. There was nothing she could do. She couldn't get to Amber while Team Sapphire was guarding her, and she couldn’t do anything to try and get at Amber without Bon Bon exposing her, which meant that she would have to flee like Cinder and lose all chance of getting the prize hidden away at Beacon.

She was toothless. And Amber was safe.

Everything was going to be just fine from now on.


Blake’s scroll buzzed.

“Who is it?” asked Nora.

Blake got her scroll out. “It’s from Sun,” she announced to the dorm room, “letting me know that the qualification tournament went well.”

“So he got in, then?” Nora asked.

“I doubt he’d tell me that it went well if he didn’t,” Blake replied. She put her scroll back. “If he didn’t qualify, he’d probably be too busy looking for a place to hide from his irate teammates.”

Yang snorted. She was sat down upon her own bed; she paused in the act of taking off one of her boots. “You know, it’s funny,” she said, “but at the same time … it kind of isn’t. I mean, I guess it doesn’t matter since he’s ditching them again to go live in Mantle, but … he’s their team leader; it’s not a good thing that they seem to hate him.”

“Neptune doesn’t hate him,” Blake pointed out.

“That’s one; what about the other two?” Yang replied. “It’s no way to run a team. Or to expect a team to function properly.”

“You … aren’t wrong,” Blake admitted. “Although, as you say, it doesn’t much matter now. He’ll be leaving, and … and they…”

They’ll be carrying on with three members. Like Team YRBN or YRN or YR_N or however they end up referring to themselves or being referred to.

“Hey,” Nora said, vaulting over Ren’s bed — Ren’s protests went ignored — to close the distance between herself and Blake. “Hey, Yang wasn’t talking about you. You’re not our team leader, for one thing.” She grinned. “And for another thing, Yang and I are awesome enough that we can take care of ourselves and carry Ren without needing a fourth teammate.”

Ren harrumphed. “I don’t need to be carried by anyone.”

“You do a little bit,” Nora said, holding her thumb and forefinger close together to emphasise the smallness of what she was describing. “Sometimes, anyway.”

“Nora’s right,” Yang agreed. “We’re completely different from Team Sun.”

“Have we ever actually seen Team Sun in action?” asked Ren.

There was a pause for a moment while they thought about it.

“We know that one of their guys was the only one who got in real trouble during that issue in the forest last semester,” Nora pointed out. “That’s not good.”

“Mmm,” Blake murmured. “Do you think they’ll be okay without Sun?”

“Is Sun really that good that he can make a huge difference?” Nora asked.

“Sun is … good,” Blake said. “I…” She searched for a way to phrase it without maligning him or seeming disloyal. “He’s no Pyrrha or Yang, but he’d do well in some match-ups.” She glanced at Nora, and ventured the slightest smile. “I think he might give you some trouble with how fast he moves.”

Nora snorted. “Maybe he moves too fast for the hammer, but I don’t meet many who can move too fast for the grenades, honey.”

Blake’s smile twitched ever so slightly up further. “Is he ‘carry a whole team by himself’ good enough? No, but then, who is? Hardly anyone, if anyone at all. Is he good enough to make a difference? Yes, without a doubt.”

“So … what?” asked Yang. “Are you saying you don’t want him to go to Mantle?”

“No,” Blake said immediately, without a trace of hesitation. “No, if this is what he wants, if this is the course that he’s chosen, then I want him to do it, especially since the flight from Atlas is easily doable.” Her smile permitted a momentary show of teeth. “What I worry about is that if something were to happen to Neptune, then he’d blame himself if he found out.”

“And if it did, and if he did, then you’d be there to help him through it,” Yang told her. “Which is really all that you can do in the circumstances. You can’t make the rest of Sun’s team, or his old team, or his soon to be old team, you can’t make them drop out, you can’t whip them up a new teammate — although maybe they’ll get one anyway, from somewhere. All you can do is hope that Haven’s headmaster doesn’t put them in any unnecessary danger and, if anything happens, be there for Sun.”

She paused a moment. “You can’t stop people from feeling responsible, even when there’s nothing they can do. All you can really do is be there if you need it.”

Blake nodded. “You’re right. As so often.”

Yang grinned. “Hard won wisdom that I’m happy to share. Hey, tomorrow, do you guys want to see if we can get some sparring in before Last Shot? I’ll see if I can get Sapphire and Wisteria down there, and maybe some others too.”

“Sounds good,” Nora said, “but are Sapphire going to be okay, what with the new girl, Amber, and all?”

“She can watch,” Blake suggested. “Or Rosepetal can stay with her.”

“Or Rosepetal can stay with her, and they can all watch,” Yang said.

“Right,” Nora murmured. “That … I know she’s Professor Ozpin’s niece, but is this much security really necessary? Did Blake really have to help stalk her—?”

“It’s not stalking; it’s surveillance,” Blake corrected.

Nora shrugged. “The point is, why?”

“Amber has already been attacked once,” Ren pointed out softly. “And severely too, by the looks of it.”

“Yeah,” Nora admitted. “And that sucks for her, I get that, I’m sorry. But that … these things happen to people; it doesn’t mean she needs a permanent bodyguard.”

Yang frowned, but both she and Blake were spared having to answer Nora by a knock at the door.

Yang glanced towards it, then strode to said door, flinging the door open.

The door, thus opened, prevented Blake from seeing who was on the other side, but she did see — could hardly miss — the way that Yang stiffened up, the way she took half a step backwards, the way her back straightened.

“Good evening, Miss Xiao Long,” Professor Goodwitch said. “Is Miss Belladonna here?”

“Uh—”

“Yes,” Blake said, wondering slightly why Professor Goodwitch’s appearance had so surprised Yang as she went to join her at the door.

And then she saw that Professor Goodwitch was not alone on the other side of the doorway.

Blake’s ears pricked up. Her eyes widened. Her stomach fluttered with nervous anticipation as a single word passed her lips.

“Mom?”

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