SAPR

by Scipio Smith

Be Free and Fare Thou Well (New)

Be Free and Fare Thou Well

The Liver Building was so called because it had once been the home of the Royal Liver … Liver Company? Or was it Liver Insurance? Royal Liver something, anyway, and they must have really been something because their old headquarters was still a pretty big building; it wasn’t the tallest building in Vale anymore, not by a way, with big towers around like the one Ciel was perched on top of, but it was still pretty big, up and across, with two clock towers set at either end of it, the clocks facing north and south across Vale. The style of the building was not really old-fashioned — it was built of reinforced concrete for a start — but it wasn’t hypermodern either; it was kind of in-between, solid and firm, but with a few old-style decorative touches on it, like the stone crown at the top, running between the two clock towers, which was done to resemble the crenellations of a castle wall, or the round domes on top of the clock towers: one was golden like the sun, the other silver like the moon.

Whatever the name of the company that had built the building had been, both the company and the building had been named after liver birds, and statues of said birds sat on the roof, chained down at the feet, looking down over Vale below.

Rainbow stood amongst the statues. Ruby had said that the liver birds were mythical creatures who had inhabited the coast when the first settlers had founded what would go on to become Vale, and that the statues were chained down because if they were ever to fly away then Vale would be destroyed by flood. Personally, as a result of birdwatching with Fluttershy, Rainbow thought that the birds depicted on the statue looked like spoonbills, birds which were very much alive and not mythical in the least. But she supposed that if they’d lived long enough ago it was possible that nobody had been able to draw pictures of the real thing, and anyway these statues were so high up hardly anyone would be able to spot the details anyway.

In any case, Rainbow had one hand upon one of the liver bird statues, resting on top of its head, as with her other hand she held up a pair of binoculars up to her eyes — the reason not to use the magnification on her goggles was in case she suddenly needed to look at something much closer, which could get awkward — and used them to sweep up and down the street.

“Okay, com check,” she said, speaking into the earpiece lodged in her, well, ear. “Everyone report in.”

“This is Yang, I’m right here if you need me.”

“Blake here. I’m about … thirty yards in front of Amber’s current position, nothing sighted so far. I’m continuing to move forward.”

Rainbow’s gaze swept down the street. It was hard to make people out in this crowd, from this distance, what with all the motion and the dancing, and everything, but she was able to catch sight of Blake, her white vest kind of glowing, or seeming to, underneath her black waistcoat.

“I see you,” Rainbow said. “Can you see anything?”

“Not at the moment, I just told you.”

“I meant ‘are you confident that you could spot a threat?’” Rainbow clarified. “There are a lot of people out here.”

“This is Sunset, I’m here with Pyrrha, Jaune, Penny. Not to mention Amber and Dove.”

“That’s great, but I need to hear it from them,” Rainbow said.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash,” said Penny.

Rainbow snorted. “Hi, Penny. How are you doing?”

“I didn’t expect there to be this many people.”

“Although I suppose we probably should have,” Pyrrha remarked. “I mean, this is Pyrrha here.”

“And Jaune here, receiving you loud and clear.”

“Are you saying you think we should abort?” Sunset asked.

“Would Amber go along with it if we did decide to abort?” Rainbow replied.

“I think so,” Sunset said. “I’m not sure she’d be happy about it, but I think so.”

“There are a lot of people out here,” Rainbow remarked. “But, like Pyrrha said, we probably should have known that there would be a lot of people out here; if we abort now, with no actual danger, just because we didn’t realise that a public event in the Vytal Festival would have a lot of public present then we’ll look like idiots.”

“I’m not sure that our saving face is a good reason to keep Amber in harm’s way,” Pyrrha remarked.

“Neither would I, but we don’t know that she is in danger,” Rainbow said. “I just wish that I could see more clearly from up here. Blake, you never answered my question, can you see clearly? Do you trust yourself to spot a danger or is the crowd concealing it?”

“I can see,” Blake said. “I know where to look and I know what I’m looking for. I’m fine.”

“Then we’re fine,” Rainbow said. After all, she’d told Professor Goodwitch that she trusted Blake, and she did, so she would. “Ruby, how’s it looking from your side of the street?”

“It is packed,” Ruby said. “I’m glad I’m up here and now down there. But I can see Blake, and I can see Amber and everyone else, too.”

Rainbow looked up the road; she spotted Pyrrha first, distinctive in her gilded armour — even when people were wearing costumes, Pyrrha’s Mistralian gear stood out, even more than Jaune’s armour over his hoodie — and then everyone else afterwards. Amber and Dove were in the middle, with Pyrrha, Sunset, Jaune, and Penny gathered around them. They looked like bodyguards, there was no getting around or away from that, but nobody seemed to be objecting to it or to the fact that they were armed. There was a slight degree of width being given them, but not too much — not too much from the perspective of someone who wanted to feel like part of the carnival anyway, from a security perspective the wider the better.

Amber and Dove didn’t seem to notice — no, that was wrong, they clearly noticed, it just didn’t seem to be bothering them too much. They were dancing, in the middle of their protectors. Or at least they were trying to dance, it wasn’t going all that well, it was like watching Twilight’s dancing. Rainbow guessed that they didn’t have a lot of practice.

Considering that Amber had been raised alone with her mom and visits from old Professor Ozpin, and that she had spent a lot of time with old stories, it wasn’t surprising that she was a bit arms and legs when it came to modern dancing.

And that kind of went for Dove and his rustic village, too.

They looked ridiculous, but at the same time it was kind of charming, if only because they were both so into it.

When two people look as happy as that, does the quality of the dancing even matter?

“Ciel,” Rainbow said, addressing the one person who hadn’t reported in yet. “Are you okay up there?”

“I can hear you,” Ciel said. “And for what it may be worth I think we should continue for now.”

“How’s it looking up there?” asked Rainbow.

“They are a handsome couple,” Ciel declared.

“I meant—”

“I know what you meant,” Ciel said, a little amusement creeping into her voice by the backdoor, like a teenager trying not to wake their parents. “I have a clear view of the entire thoroughfare, and I have eyes on Blake. Like her, I see nothing to be concerned about at present.”

“Good,” Rainbow said. “That’s what I like to hear.” She paused. “Okay, I’ll call for regular checks. If anyone doesn’t respond I’m going to abort. If you see anything or hear anything or even sense anything, let me know, okay?”

“Copy that,” Ciel responded.

“You got it,” said Ruby.

“Understood,” said Sunset.

Rainbow Dash lowered the binoculars. “Good luck out there, everyone.”

She fell silent. Everyone fell silent. There was no sound on the line.

Up here, so far from the partying crowds moving slowly and fitfully along down below, there was very little sound at all. She could hear, just about, a mélange of noise rising up from the road towards her, music and voices, but all vague and indistinct; it was like the arena, but worse. There the crowd sounds all mingled together, but they sounded loud at least, even if not very clear. The only sound that Rainbow could really make out from down below was someone playing a trumpet; maybe it was Flynt. Probably not, that would be pretty long odds, but if he was using his trumpet then that would explain why Rainbow could hear it faintly rising to make itself known above the other sounds.

Everything else was just a bit of an audible blur, really, although she imagined that Blake, Sunset, and all the others weren’t feeling the same way actually down in the carnival.

Rainbow was glad that the earpieces they were wearing had noise-cancelling to cut out all that excess sound, otherwise it might have been a struggle to understand what they were saying.

As it was, she could barely hear a thing, all the sounds were far away.

Except for…

Rainbow switched the hand that was holding the binoculars, and with her now-free hand she reached up and tapped the button on the lower back of her earpiece, switching the setting to one-way. For now, she would be able to hear what was being said, but nobody would be able to hear her speaking.

Nobody would be able to hear her as, taking a step back from the edge of the Liver Building and the statue of the liver bird, Rainbow turned around, facing the nearest clocktower, which also provided a route up onto the roof — the same route that Rainbow had used to get up here — and said, “Applejack? And who’s that with you?”

“I’m afraid it’s me, darling,” Rarity said, as she and Applejack stepped out from around the back of the clocktower, into Rainbow’s view. Rarity had a bag slung over one shoulder, and she was holding onto the strap with one hand.

“How did you know it was me?” Applejack asked.

Rainbow grinned. “Because you said ‘shhhh, sugarcube’.”

Applejack’s eyes narrowed a little.

“What are you two doing up here?” Rainbow asked.

“Do you think that maybe we oughtta be askin’ you that question, sugarcube?” Applejack suggested.

“This is the end, culmination, and high point of the Vytal Festival,” Rarity said. “You’ve just won a place in the final rounds of the greatest competition in Remnant. The whole of Vale is celebrating. And yet here you are, standing up on the roof - at the top of a very long flight of stairs I must say - with only these statues for company.” She paused. “You look as if you’re auditioning for the role of a grim and brooding superhero.” She ventured a faint smile. “I have to say your hair doesn’t really match the aesthetic, darling.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Okay, but Twilight—”

“We heard Twilight, and we heard Blake,” Applejack said. “And what we heard didn’t sound like the whole truth. I guess we were hopin’ that you’d be a little more honest with us.”

Rainbow was silent for a second, her eyes flickering between the two of them. “I mean … Twi told you that we had a mission, right?” she said.

“Eeyup,” Applejack said. “That she did. Somethin’ about the headmaster — Professor Ozpin, not even the General — the headmaster’s niece, if Ah recall.”

“You recall correctly,” Rarity murmured. “Professor Ozpin’s niece, who requires so much protection that you all have to provide it, and yet at the same time requires so little protection that it must be provided by students.”

“Hey, there’s nothing little about our protection,” Rainbow said. “We’ve done this really well, if I do say so myself.”

Rarity held up one hand. “No offence intended, Rainbow, of course, I merely meant to draw attention to the… well, the slight absurdity of this being done as an extracurricular activity, as opposed to Professor Ozpin hiring a huntsman or two if he is so concerned about his niece’s wellbeing.”

“It don’t make a whole lot of sense to us, is what we’re sayin’,” Applejack said. “It feels like there’s some part of all this that you and Twilight and Blake are leavin’ out. And Ah know that we aren’t the only ones who feel that way, Cadance feels it too, and Blake’s momma as well. Now Cadance is willin’ to trust you, although how much of that is because she’s already asked you the questions and gotten no answers from you Ah don’t know, but—”

“But you don’t trust me, is that it?” Rainbow asked.

“Ah would trust you with mah life!” Applejack declared, taking a step forward. “Ah just… Ah ain’t so sure that Ah trust you with yours. Whatever was goin’ on in Mountain Glenn, whatever you and Blake got yourselves involved in, and now this… there’s a lot of unanswered questions around you and we worry about you, Sugarcube. We worry about you and we worry about Blake and we worry about Twilight—”

“You don’t need to worry about Twilight,” Rainbow assured them. “Twilight is fine and Twilight is going to be fine, I guarantee.”

“Ah know,” Applejack said. “And Ah believe you, because Ah trust you with Twilight too.”

“Which is why we’re more worried about you, darling,” Rarity added. “You and Blake.”

“You can trust me with Blake, too,” Rainbow said.

“Can Blake be trusted with herself?” Rarity asked.

“I would say actually, yeah,” Rainbow replied. “More or less. Now.” She paused. “Listen, guys, I appreciate that you are concerned, and maybe in your position… okay, certainly in your position I would be concerned and I’d want answers too.”

“And I doubt you’d take no for an answer,” said Rarity.

Rainbow drew in a deep breath, and let out a laugh. “No,” she admitted. “No, I probably wouldn’t.”

She turned away from them, saying, “I have to get back to this, even if we’re not done.” She walked back to the edge of the building, and raised the binoculars to her eyes, sweeping over the partygoers in the carnival down below.

She heard, rather than saw, Applejack and Rarity coming to stand both on her left, since the statue on her right was obstructing the view from that direction.

“So Blake is down there somewhere, Ah guess?” Applejack said.

“Yep,” Rainbow said. “I’d give you the binoculars so you could see her, but I need to keep an eye on things.”

“You runnin’ this show?” Applejack asked.

“No need to sound so surprised,” Rainbow said. “Yes, I’m in charge. Sunset is down there in the field, I am up here … deciding whether or not to abort or not.”

“You don’t sound very happy about it, darling,” Rarity said.

“She ain’t happy about it,” Applejack said. “She wants to be down there with Blake.”

“I wouldn’t mind it if Blake were up here and I were down there,” Rainbow said. “She could do with some command experience. She was a team leader, briefly, but she wasn’t a very good one, not very … involved with her teammates. I think that she could do better the second time around.”

“Then why didn’t you suggest that she command from up here, if that would make you happier?” asked Rarity.

“Because this is a serious mission, and I — we, Sunset and I — thought that Professor Ozpin wouldn’t go for our plan if we left command in the hands of someone who didn’t have experience,” Rainbow said. “And besides … Blake is well-suited for her part of the mission. She’s on up ahead to ferret out danger in advance of Amber and the others.”

“I see,” Rarity murmured. “And Twilight, she—”

“Is up in the sky, waiting for the word,” Rainbow said. “If everything goes well tonight she won’t have to do anything at all.”

“Surely if everything goes well tonight then none of you will have to do anything at all,” Rarity said.

“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed. “Yeah, that’s right. If everything goes well.”

Neither Rarity nor Applejack said anything for a second. There was silence, or near silence, what with the sound coming up from the carnival down below.

“You know,” Applejack said. “That could be us.”

“If things were different, maybe,” Rainbow said. She frowned, and lowered the binoculars so that she could look at Applejack and Rarity. “Is that where Pinkie and Fluttershy are right now?”

Rarity shook her head. “It was considered, what with it being an experience, and you know that Pinkie would just love it,” she said. “But, ultimately, the fact that this was considered something that required such a degree of protection for Professor Ozpin’s niece made us decide that we couldn’t really risk bringing the girls. Just how dangerous is this event, darling?”

“Hopefully it isn’t dangerous at all,” Rainbow said. “It shouldn’t be dangerous to anyone—”

“Except Professor Ozpin’s niece?” asked Rarity.

“Amber,” Rainbow said. “Her name is Amber.” She paused, and raised the binoculars to her eyes again. “That being said… yes. Except to Amber.”

“What is it with this girl?” Applejack asked. “Sugarcube, what is goin’ on?”

Rainbow didn’t reply.

Rarity rummaged in her bag, making a noise that was much louder to Rainbow’s ears than anything coming from the carnival below. “Would you care for some tea, darling?”

Rainbow looked to see that Rarity was offering a vacuum flask, a royal blue one without any other colours or decorations on it.

“Thank you,” Rainbow said quietly. She raised her voice a little as she said, “You’re really not leaving here without an answer, are you?”

“Nope,” said Applejack.

Rainbow chuckled. “Rarity, would you mind pouring me that, I need to keep hold of these.” She held up the binoculars.

“Of course, darling,” Rarity said softly, unscrewing the lid off the flask, that could also serve as a little cup, and pouring out some of the brown, milky-looking tea into it. She held it out towards Rainbow.

Rainbow took it in one hand, downing practically the whole cup in one go. It was a little bitter, but not too much so on account of the milk. And it was warm, which was the main thing.

“Thanks,” she said, before going quiet. “I trust you with my life, too. You know that, right.”

“We know,” Applejack said.

“And I think Blake would say the same,” Rainbow went on. “And I know that Twilight would.”

“We know that too, darling,” Rarity said softly.

“I know,” Rainbow whispered. “I know that you know.”

She would have run one hand through her hair, but she didn’t have a hand free. Instead, she raised her head and looked up at the moon, shining down upon them all. The broken moon, with all the little pieces hanging up there. Rainbow had often wondered why they didn’t fall down. Twilight said they were being held in place by the gravity of the moon itself, the big part; that didn’t explain to Rainbow why they never looked like they were moving at all. Surely gravity would have pulled them back in by now and they have smashed into the moon like pieces of a jigsaw — or maybe something not as neat, but anyway, it was less like gravity and more like gravity dust.

Only dust didn’t work in space, so it couldn’t be that.

I’m distracting myself, aren’t I?

“I trust you with my life,” she said quietly. “But I’m not allowed to trust you with hers. You’re right, there’s more going on than you realise, but I can’t tell you what it is. And honestly… I’m not sure you want to know. There are times when I wish I didn’t know.”

There. She’d said it. She couldn’t have said that to Ciel, or Sunset, or Penny because one and all they would have judged her for it. She couldn’t have said it to Twilight, because although Twilight wouldn’t have judged… Rainbow didn’t want Twi to think of her as weak that way.

She certainly couldn’t have told Blake, and for much the same reasons that she couldn’t have told Twilight: Rainbow didn’t want Blake to think of her in that way.

But Applejack, and Rarity… them she could tell. She couldn’t tell them why, that there were times when the things that Rainbow knew felt like a tumour in her brain constantly pressing down against everything else in her head, but she could tell them the plain fact of it.

Yeah, sure, it was better to know, it was better to be a part of something, to do what she could; Rainbow knew all that, and she didn’t really regret being a part of all this, doing her part to protect Atlas. But the lying, even to the people who were closest to her, the mealy-mouthed excuses for why she couldn’t say anything, the way that knowing about Salem made everything seem like so much more of a grinding battle of attrition than just defending the kingdoms against the grimm had seemed, the way that Professor Ozpin was willing to trade lives for time, the way he’d been willing to give up one of either Pyrrha or Amber give himself some breathing room.

The memory of Salem herself, down in the tunnels under Mountain Glenn, what she’d put in Rainbow’s head, what she’d made her feel.

It was a lot. It was like a constant headache.

“That sounds ominous,” Rarity muttered.

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t…” Rainbow paused. “It’s not meant to… it’s the truth, but don’t get too down about it.”

“It ain’t always that easy, Sugarcube,” Applejack pointed out.

“I know,” Rainbow murmured. “But… I promise, I will not let anything happen to Blake or Twilight. I won’t let them come to harm.”

“And you?” asked Applejack.

Rainbow grinned. “You know me. I always come back, even if I’m carrying someone else across my shoulders. I’ll be fine.” She paused. “I can’t tell you what’s going on, but … if you wouldn’t mind sticking around I… I’d appreciate the company.”

Rarity smiled. “We’d be glad to, darling.”

---

Yang leaned back, her butt resting on her bike, which was in turn resting against the wall.

A polythene box filled with noodles slathered in ketchup, that she had bought from a van parked just a little way down the street, sat on the seat of Bumblebee, just next to her.

In her hands Yang held a magazine, Buffs, Babes, and Bikes, which she looked at for the pictures of the motorcycles, obviously, and not for the various attractive models who they took pictures of posing alongside them. Not that she would ever let Ruby catch her with this, it had been bad enough when Nora found them.

So Yang stood there, flicking through the motorcycle pictures, occasionally reaching down to twirl a few noodles around the plastic fork and put them into her mouth — they were holding their heat pretty well, and Yang liked the texture of them, the feeling of the oil they’d been fried in — as she waited to be needed, possibly.

Of course, she would only be needed if things went sideways at the carnival, so she should really be hoping for a quiet night.

Around her, the street was on the move, people were walking past her in both directions, headed this way or that; there was practically no traffic, she hadn’t seen or heard a car or another bike go by in ages, but there were plenty of pedestrians, passing her by without so much as a glance in her direction.

Not too long ago — as in, just days ago — Yang would have taken that as a pretty sad metaphor for her own existence, but now … it felt a bit weird to say that being involved in the war against an undying witch was making her feel better about herself, but, well… being involved in the war against an undying witch was making her feel better about herself.

Yeah, maybe she would have a quiet night tonight. Maybe she would stand here, with her magazine, buying food out of trucks parked on the kerb until morning came, but so what? If that happened it would be because everything was working out for Amber, there was no sign of Cinder, and nobody was in any danger, and that was a good thing. It wouldn’t be because nobody trusted her, or thought that she had a part to play in all this.

In fact, as much as she might not do anything tonight, if she did do something then she had one of the most important jobs in the whole plan. If anything went wrong then she was the one who would have to get Amber to safety, her, with only Rainbow Dash to support her. That was pretty important, you had to admit.

Yang certainly had no problem admitting it. It was pretty important. She was pretty important. And that didn’t change even if she had a quiet night.

A raven croaked from somewhere up above, it must have been perched on a roof somewhere.

Yang flicked the page of her magazine, although she was barely looking at it, lost in her thoughts as she was.

She… did she really want to do this all the time? Did she want to devote her whole life to it, the way that Mom had? Maybe not, was the honest answer; she wasn’t sure that she wanted to be on call all the time, ever-ready to drop everything and do Professor Ozpin’s latest bidding, run his errand, fight his battle. But she wanted that to be her choice, made on her terms, and not made for her by people who couldn’t see past who her birth mother was.

The only thing we share is long wavy hair, and sometimes eye colour. I’m nothing like her.

The raven croaked again; Yang ignored it.

And just because I don’t want to give up my life doesn’t mean that I’m not prepared to do the right thing. It doesn’t mean that I’m not willing to help out when necessary. Just because I don’t want to be always at the beck and call doesn’t mean that I don’t want to be trusted.

I’m stronger than Ruby is, I’m better at close quarters, I’m pretty much as good as Pyrrha is, so why shouldn’t they trust me?

An intuition prompted Yang to look up, from thoughts and magazine alike, and see Lavinia Andronicus walking towards her. She was wearing a white summer dress with flower print and a frilly neckline, and had partially covered up her prosthetic arms beneath a pair of old-fashioned opera gloves with gold scrollwork around the top where you pulled them on. Her hair was tied up in a bun behind her, except for two long strands that fell down on either side of her face to frame it.

A smile played across her face as she sauntered over to Yang.

Hey, she signed.

Yang blinked. Hey yourself, she signed back. What are you doing out here?

I could ask you the same question, signed Lavinia. What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this on the second night of the Vytal Tournament?

Yang grinned. Okay, first of all, I asked first. Second of all, what kind of a girl am I?

A cool one, signed Lavinia.

A laugh jumped out of Yang’s mouth. Well thank you, for that, she signed. But you still haven’t answered my question. What are you doing here?

I came here to see you, Lavinia signed. Do you know how rare it is to find someone who can read sign language competently?

We all took classes.

I’m sure you did, Lavinia replied. But the number who remember it is disappointingly rare. It’s… She paused, her fingers still and unmoving. It’s cool to find someone outside of my team who can understand me. And even cooler when the person who can understand me is someone that I… that was a good fight today. You were good out there.

Nora got the final blow in that took you out, not me.

Your friend Nora was good too, don’t get me wrong, Lavinia signed at her. But don’t sell yourself short.

Yang grinned. Are you telling me that I should think I’m all that because you couldn’t beat me? Someone’s not too modest.

What’s the point in being modest? Asked Lavinia. Nobody’s ever going to give you any credit for it, at least not in Mistral. Anyway, the point is, you can understand what I’m saying to you, and you seem like a pretty cool person, so… I was wondering… if you wanted… to hang out, or something? Lavinia cringed. That looked really pathetic, didn’t it?

What? No! No, not at all, Yang assured her. Before you think too much of me, be aware that you are giving my memories of sign classes a real workout but, with that said, and give you a warning that I may have to jump on this bike and run off at some point, although I hope not, sure, I wouldn’t mind hanging out with you either. She gestured to the polythene box. You want some noodles?

Lavinia looked down. Is that ketchup on those noodles?

Yeah.

Lavinia’s eyes boggled. Ketchup on noodles? What kind of a barbarian are you?

A Valish one, Yang signed back.

Oh, well that explains everything then, signed Lavinia.

Yang laughed. Do you want any or not?

No, thank you, I’m good, Lavinia signed. So what are you doing out here? After all, I answered. So now it’s your turn.

I guess that’s only fair, Yang signed. I’m waiting.

For someone?

Sort of, Yang replied. Someone or something. Someone might need me to pick them up and give them a lift, but only maybe. Or I might be free to spend all night out here.

And you’re okay with that? Just waiting all night on a possibility? There’s nowhere you’d rather be? Like … wherever cool girls go in Vale.

I wouldn’t actually know, Yang replied. I’m not as cool as I look.

Lavinia’s only reply to that was a sceptically raised eyebrow.

But no, Yang went on. I don’t actually mind, because… She paused, considering her next words, or signs. You must feel like you’ve got something to live up to, right? What with your dad, and all your brothers. I mean, if I’m out of line just tell me, but—

No, it’s fine, Lavinia signed, although she didn’t say anything else for a few seconds. I know what you mean. It is a lot. People expect a lot. Or at least it sometimes seems like they do. Maybe all they really expect is that I’ll get myself killed doing something brave and noble like so many of my brothers did.

I’m sure that’s not true, Yang told her.

I’d like to believe it isn’t, but I’m not sure, Lavinia replied. The point is that you’re right. My father was a great huntsmen, my brothers were brave, fearless even, true protectors of the people. My name, Andronicus, is a name to conjure with because of their courage and their accomplishments. If I did anything else, if I took any other path in life, I would be seen as… as having betrayed that legacy.

Would you want to do something else? Yang asked. If your name was something else, if you had a choice?

No, Lavinia signed back instantly. Especially not now.

Yang frowned. What do you mean?

Lavinia shrugged. You won’t have noticed, but the world isn’t always that kind to people with robot arms. As a huntress, I’m a hero; walking down the street I’m a freak, even if my name is Andronicus.

Yang was quiet for a moment, wondering if there was anything she could possibly say that would rise above the level of banal platitude, and whether — that being the case — it might be better to keep her fingers still. But then, that might seem indifferent more than anything else. That isn’t right, she signed eventually, feeling like it was a lame thing to say even as she said it.

Maybe not, Lavinia signed. But it is anyway. She paused. But, if I’ve made you think that I had some big dream that was ruined by societal prejudice, not really. After all, hunting things is what my family does. What else was I going to do? Just because I like horses doesn’t mean that I was going to become a groom, or even a jockey. I’m happy with what I chose. It’s a worthy cause, isn’t it?

Oh, yeah, absolutely, Yang replied.

But why do you ask, about my family?

Because… because it’s kind of the same for me. With legacy and all. I never had so many brothers, I’m the oldest in my family, but I do have something to live up… and something to live…

Lavinia tilted her head to one side. If you’d rather not talk about it—

Then I shouldn’t have started talking about it, should I? Yang signed back. My mom was a hero. She gave her life to protect the world, as a huntress, and because of that I’ve got a lot to live up to. But at the same time… there’s someone else, another person, a coward who ran away and abandoned the battle and their family, and that… half the time it feels as though everyone is just waiting for me to follow in her footsteps.

Just because people expect something doesn’t mean that it’s guaranteed to happen, Lavinia signed.

But that doesn’t stop them from expecting it, signed Yang. The point is, that’s why I’m here, because if there’s a chance to show that they’re wrong about me, that I can, that I will rise above the bar on the floor and get a little closer to my mom’s legacy then I’ll take it. I’ll take it every time.

Lavinia nodded. Understandable. Perfectly understandable. Even on a night such as this. She paused. If you have to go then that is fine. But until then, I hope you will permit me to enjoy your company while I have it.

---

Tempest didn’t like this.

She didn’t like being in this carnival, and she didn’t like the way that at least certain people were looking at her, but more than that she didn’t like the fact that Amber was here.

She didn’t know what the girl was thinking.

Of course, she had been down to Vale before, and it was possible that this trip was no different from the others, and that Amber had no notion of any greater danger than before.

That was possible, just as it was possible that there really was no greater danger than before, but Tempest doubted it. She doubted both of those.

As far as the danger went, there was the fact that Phoebe Kommenos, one of the Atlas upperclassmen, had been murdered last night; she knew that because her teammates — one of her teammates in particular — had stormed into the cafeteria to announce it loudly and angrily. Which, alone, she might have attributed to Sonata’s good work in stirring up anti-Atlas sentiment; except that not long after the late Phoebe’s teammate had accused Pyrrha of the crime, Sunset Shimmer had got up from the table and stalked off up to Beacon Tower. Now, why would she do that? Because she was scuttling off to see Professor Ozpin. Why would she do that? Because she knew something about this death.

And Cinder had left the house.

Tempest had not been too concerned when Bon Bon told her that Amber was going down into Vale for the carnival that night, but then Lightning Dust had called her in a panic to tell her that Cinder and Emerald were both missing, that neither she nor Sonata had noticed them leave, and that they didn’t know how long they’d been gone. That was bad enough, bad enough for Tempest to rebuke Lightning for her incompetence — she was considering leaving her with Sonata when all this was over, it was clear that Lightning would be of no use to her — but even worse because it put the pieces together in Tempest’s mind.

Cinder had killed this Phoebe Kommenos, although for what reason escaped Tempest. But then, Cinder’s motives were often opaque, especially to those who didn’t buy into her idiosyncratic way of viewing the world.

Regardless of the why, Sunset Shimmer thought that Cinder had done it, and that was why she had rushed off to tell Professor Ozpin about it.

And Cinder was still in Vale.

Did she know about Amber? Did she know that Amber was awake? Tempest didn’t know; certainly neither she nor Bon Bon had told her, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t know, she could have… she could have seen Amber on a wideshot of the fairgrounds on a news report about the tournament, although it would be bad luck if she had. But she was still in Vale, for whatever reason, and that meant that coming here was dangerous for Amber.

And they knew it too, Sunset Shimmer and all the rest, that was why Sunset, Pyrrha Nikos, Jaune Arc, and Penny Polendina were all arrayed around her, that was why Blake Belladonna was scouting ahead, and if Ruby Rose wasn’t up on a rooftop somewhere with her sniper rifle then Tempest would be astonished. They knew, or at least they feared. In which case it was foolish of them to bring Amber here, but then they were a sentimental lot, weren’t they?

That was why they would fail.

Did Amber know that she was in more danger than before? It was possible that they hadn’t told her of the risks, but that would have been unlikely. Why would her friends hide the truth from her like that? But, if they had told her, why would she come down here anyway?

It occurred to Tempest that Amber might have decided to come down here because she wanted Cinder to make an attempt on her life, and thus fall upon the blades of her protectors. It was even possible that she knew that Tempest and Bon Bon would have to kill Cinder rather than allow her to die; that was a very cynical thought, and it seemed unlikely coming from such a nice, sweet girl … but that was just the word, wasn’t it? She seemed so nice.

‘She seemed so nice’ was what the neighbours said on the news about the woman who had just poisoned her husband of eight years before smothering the children in their beds and taking enough pills to euthanise a small elephant. She seemed so nice.

They were, after all, talking about a girl who had decided to sell out her friends and her cause for the promise of safety for herself and her boyfriend, obviously she wasn’t that nice.

So when the idea came to Tempest’s mind that Amber might have engineered this entire situation to bring about Cinder’s death, or even just that she was hoping for that outcome, she did not discount it.

And if it happened, if Cinder attacked, then … she couldn’t be allowed to kill Amber, not now; not now that Salem had made the bargain with Amber. Not least since Cinder would undoubtedly work out that Tempest, and possibly even Salem herself, had betrayed her.

What would Amber do, once Cinder was dead? She would still betray her allies, or at least Tempest hoped she would. After all, even with Cinder dead, there would be other Cinders. She knew that Salem would never stop hunting the Fall Maiden until she had obtained the Crown. And so, even absent the most immediate danger, she would still give up the crown in order to preserve her own life, and that of the boy she loved.

Sentimentality again.

Tempest had decided against having Bon Bon join the others in protecting Amber; leaving aside the question of necessity — they seemed to have done a fairly good job regardless — having Bon Bon be armed would raise some questions. She had to decide to place some faith in Ozpin’s agents to do their jobs, while she scouted ahead looking for trouble, and for Cinder.

Hopefully she would not come, hopefully she didn’t know that Amber was here or even awake. Hopefully this night would pass quietly.

But if she did come, Tempest would be ready.

And if she had to end this, once and for all, and put Cinder out of her misery, well… that wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen, would it?

---

Cinder lurked behind a couple of bins — the big, almost industrial ones, that clubs and restaurants disposed of their garbage in at the end of the night — in a small, dirty, rather shabby little alleyway off Broadway; it was an intensely squalid place, but it was out of sight of the street itself.

A bin was hardly a place for a warrior to conceal themselves, but it would serve to conceal her until she was ready.

Cinder breathed in and out. Her obsidian blades were already formed, and held before her; in the darkness, with the moonlight obscured by the tall buildings that rose up ahead of and behind her, they were almost invisible. Mostly she felt them, rather than seeing them, she felt the hilts of the swords in her hands.

She would not really see them until she stepped out into the main road, and everyone else could see them too.

She heard a slight sound, a footfall, light and soft, so soft that she barely heard it. But she heard it nonetheless, a moment before Sunset— no, no it wasn’t Sunset, it was Emerald wearing a Sunset costume. That was rather amusing. It had tickled Cinder when she first saw it, and it still amused her now.

Although Emerald did not like wearing it, nevertheless it brought the slightest smile to Cinder’s face, the pricking of one corner of her lip.

Besides, although Emerald was dressed in some dark colours, Cinder could at least see her by the bright, fiery colours of her wig.

“How now, Emerald?” Cinder asked. “Is she there?”

“She is,” Emerald said, sounding a little breathless. “She — they — landed at the skydock, and now they have joined the carnival. She’s heading this way. But Cinder, she is well protected. Sunset, Pyrrha, Jaune, Penny Polendina, they’re all close by her, like bodyguards. Blake is up ahead, trying to catch sight of trouble before it gets too close to Amber.”

“And Ruby?” asked Cinder. “The other Atlesians?”

“I don’t know, but probably covering the others from high ground,” Emerald said. “Cinder… I think… I think this might be too much for you.”

Cinder snorted. “Tell me, Emerald, did you have to think long and hard whether to tell me that Amber was coming into Vale? Did you consider leaving me ignorant?”

“No,” Emerald said at once. “I don’t want you to do this, but… no, I didn’t consider lying to you.”

“No?”

“No,” Emerald said again. “Would a lady lie to her friend?”

“Oh yes, definitely, if she thought that she had a good reason,” Cinder replied. “Or simply because she thought that it would benefit her.”

There was a pause. “That doesn’t seem very honourable.”

“No, it isn’t,” Cinder acknowledged. “But in truth, there is very little honour to be found amongst the upper slopes of Mistral. In all those lofty palaces you will struggle to find anyone who isn’t primarily concerned with their own advantage.”

“That sounds a lot like everywhere else,” Emerald pointed out.

“But far more comfortably appointed,” Cinder said. “And with much greater freedom from consequence.”

“Hmmm,” Emerald murmured. Her voice remained quiet as she said. “I think this might be too much for you.”

“So you’ve said.”

“I know, but you didn’t take any notice of me the first time I said it,” Emerald pointed out.

Cinder was none too keen to respond to the point now, either, so she said, “Did you see Tempest or Sweetie Drops at all, when you were at Beacon?”

“I saw Bon Bon talking to Amber at Beacon, and Tempest far more recently,” Emerald replied. “She’s … trying to stay out of Blake’s way while doing the same thing that she is doing, or so it seems to me.”

“I see,” Cinder whispered. She closed her eyes. “So, they have betrayed me. Salem has betrayed me.”

“You don’t know that—”

“They would not dare do this without her leave,” Cinder declared. “Amber has betrayed Ozpin, Sunset, Pyrrha, and the rest; and Salem has betrayed me.”

“Why?” Emerald asked. “Why would she do that? When I saw Bon Bon with Amber… I don’t understand. I thought that perhaps she didn’t know that Amber was the Fall Maiden, and I didn’t tell her because I wasn’t sure that she was still with us, but I don’t understand. Why have they betrayed us? Why would Amber work with Salem?”

“Because Salem offers her protection from me,” Cinder said. “And because Amber knows where the Relic is, which I do not. Amber will give up the Relic of Choice to Salem, Salem will cease all further attempts on Amber’s life, and I…”

There was a moment when neither Cinder nor Emerald said anything. All the sound was the music of the carnival, the banging drums, the horns, the raucous singing. It drifted into the alleyway, like grimm drawn to the dark thoughts that swirled around Cinder’s mind.

The fact that these grimm promised only annoyance instead of death did not make them any more welcome.

“And you?” Emerald asked quietly.

“And I am no longer needed,” Cinder said. “They will kill me.”

She closed her eyes. So, we are come to it. The clock strikes twelve.

And so they wait for me, all my foes, just beyond the alleyway. All I need do is step into the light and find … my fate. I do not call it destiny, but fate. It waits for me. It calls to me. They call to me, Sunset and all the rest.

The readiness is all.

Emerald’s voice was scarcely more than a whisper. “Let’s go, Cinder,” she said. “You can’t fight them, not all of them, Sunset, Pyrrha, Tempest, you can’t beat them all and even if you did there would still be Amber to contend with and we barely beat her the last time when we had Mercury, and Lightning Dust. This is not a battle you can win. And you know that.” Her voice trembled. “I know that you know that, and that’s why I think that you… I know that you want to go out there but please, please don’t. Come away, with me.”

“Come away where?” Cinder asked. “Go where?”

“Anywhere!” Emerald cried, a piercing shriek leaping out of her voice for a moment, only to fall back into her throat as she became quiet again. “We can go to Anima, and get the treasure that you told me of, buried under the cherry tree. We can live … anywhere. Anywhere you like.”

Cinder smiled, although she didn’t know if Emerald could see it or not. “To live in a cottage in the woods somewhere together, you and I?”

“If… if you like,” Emerald said.

“Sunset offered me the same thing, once,” Cinder told her.

“Did she?” Emerald muttered. “And … what did you say?”

“That I could not,” Cinder replied. “I am… I have made myself… I am suited for battle, for this battle, and for nothing else. I do not have it in me to live a peaceful life.”

“You haven’t tried,” Emerald said.

“I could not try,” Cinder replied. “I could not do it.”

“So you’ll go out there and fight them all?” Emerald demanded. “Cinder, if you go out there, you’ll die!”

“Perhaps, if the gods decree it so,” Cinder said. “But I am still half a Maiden, I possess as much magic as Amber now. I may triumph in spite of all of them.”

“But you don’t care whether you do or not, do you?” Emerald asked.

“What better place to fight than this?” Cinder asked. “What better battlefield than in the sight of a great crowd, who will bear witness to the combat and to the outcome, whatever that outcome may be?”

“Cinder…” Emerald murmured. “Please… please don’t, won’t you at least, please just…” She sobbed. “I hate you. I hate that you have made me care what happens to you. Please, Cinder, you’re all I have.”

“And yet you have it in yourself to be so much more, once out of my shadow,” Cinder said. “Go now, Emerald. I release you from my service.”

“Go?” Emerald repeated. “You… you’re sending me away?”

“Your part in this tale is done,” Cinder declared. “Go to Mistral, and the tree upon the hill. Find the treasure, live… live in such a manner as seems best to you but for my sake and at my urging, live in comfort.” She lowered her swords down at her side, and bent down to kiss Emerald on the forehead. “You have been a better companion to me than I have deserved, but I have no need of company on this road I am on.”

“But I…” Emerald said. “I could—”

“No,” Cinder said, before she could ask. “This battle is mine and mine alone. Live, Emerald. Live, and remember me.”

Emerald was silent a moment, and a moment more. “Is that… is that your last command to me?”

“It is,” Cinder said. “If you will have it so.”

It seemed, from the movement of the wig, that Emerald bowed her head. “Then I will obey.” She sniffed. “Goodbye, Cinder.” She turned to go.

“To wind and sky be free,” Cinder said, as she saw dimly Emerald walk away, retreating down the alley in the opposite direction to the carnival.

Emerald’s step quickened, Cinder could hear it as a swift staccato beat, she was running.

“Be free,” Cinder repeated. “And fare thou well.”

But Emerald was already lost to her sight.

Cinder was alone, with her swords.

Her sable arms which did the night resemble as she lay hid behind the ominous bin.

Hmm, lacks something of grandeur at the end, doesn’t it?

Still, I have my arms. Arms black as night, black as my purpose.

Thoughts black, hands apt…

She was under little illusions. Emerald had been correct, this battle would doubtless prove difficult. But then, the greatest battles, the most memorable, were frequently difficult.

And yet they must be fought regardless.

The readiness is all.

She raised one of her swords up and kissed the black glass. She barely felt it.

Yet she was armed, and well prepared.

Cinder walked out from behind the bins and strode towards the mouth of the alley.

Her destiny awaited.

Comments

[AngelicTitan]

Wow. That is a much better premise for the fight with Cinder than in the OG story, and I love it. Cinder being smart enough to realize that she was betrayed, and her preposition for the dramatic making her have a final showdown in the middle of a crowd is very in character for her.
I would love to see a proper Sunset vs Cinder fight that has been always built up to, and was not realized yet. Seeing Cinder go with her head held high in direction of her death is something that just makes me love this version of her even more and I am excited to see how this will work out!

[Mastermind4892]

Pride cometh before the fall. Even when you see your doom lying in ambush, pride compels you to walk into the trap nonetheless.

With Cinder's realization, I find myself reminded of a moment from Star Wars comics, in fact. An ambitious scientist had approached the Emperor, offering enhanced cyborgs of his creation to take Darth Vader's place as the Emperor's servant and enforcer.

Emperor: "He came to me with a plan: Darth Vader had failed, and so he groomed replacements. I played to his ego and suggested he prove himself. But I knew my true apprentice would destroy those who sought to usurp him. Do you understand, Vader?"

Vader: "I do. If any of his toys had succeeded, you would be making this speech to them."

[Voltaje]

Wow, this chapter was very deep, Emerald should have suggested ti go change bands, and start the battles anew, but I guess Cinder is dramatic enough to reject that, until she was defeated that is.

[Kiue Jin]

11715147
Something to also consider is... well, the only real way in which Cinder survives the next few days is killing Amber. Officially, she doesn't know about the deal Amber has made on the side and thus can deny grander motions of spiting Tempest and Sweetie Drops to Salem.

11715212
This scene with Cinder and Emerald also puts me in mind of

Cinder would definitely feel a kinship with Dracula.

[Stet709]

“Sunset offered me the same thing, once,” Cinder told her.

Did she?
I recall her offering to take Cinder to her homeland (a.k.a. Equestria) for some much needed shelter, respite and healing, but I guess conceptually it's similar to what Emerald is offering.

[PoluBrony]

Just because people expect something doesn’t mean that it’s guaranteed to happen, Lavinia signed.
But that doesn’t stop them from expecting it, signed Yang

Nice rainbow rocks reference)

[Raul]

God this is so fundamentally different from the original version i am on the edge of my seat

[Luviere]

Lavinia and Yang ship maybe?

But in all seriousness, please don't let Cinder die. She is such a well designed and a cool character.